Cardecademy Alpha Release
Inspired by discussion at the Code & Cocktails meetup last month I released the alpha version of Cardecademy last night.
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October 24, 2012
October 16, 2012
Bonk
Bonk by Mary Roach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A humorous survey of the history of scientists exploring sex. From the physical to the psychological and at times the peculiar the author does a great job of covering a topic that has caused many scientists to be shunned for trying to better understand. I often found the injected humor to fall flat and not enhance the text while the frequent footnotes where a great addition. I appreciated that the author covered some of the blatantly bad ideas that certain scientists promoted and how for the greater good science prevailed even if some battles are still being fought.
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October 15, 2012
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by John Gray
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is clearly sexist, cheesy, repetitive, and not scientific. At the same time the underlying message of mindful communication, behavior, and reflection is worth thinking about. If you can ignore the sexism and instead focus on how speech and behavior are interpreted by someone of a different mindset, the book offers many examples based on the author's observations. He makes clear in the introduction he is stereotyping with the statement "I make many generalizations about men and women in this book", but I don't think that should excuse the content. In retrospect I should have read a different book but given how much this book is part of popular culture I found myself reading it anyway. If nothing else it made me be more aware of thinking about differences in how people communicate and behave even if the underlying context was outdated.
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October 14, 2012
The Antarctic: A Very Short Introduction
The Antarctic: A Very Short Introduction by Klaus Dodds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
For the uninitiated this books provides a thorough history of the geopolitical history of the Antarctic. In order to set the stage for the Antarctic Treaty System and its later doctrines the history of exploration and fauna exploitation are covered but are not the primary focus. Learning about the language behind the treaties and emphasis on scientific endeavors are interesting in light of the ongoing unresolved claims on Antarctica should countries wish to start exploiting it. While I would have liked a broader introduction as the first book I've read dealing with Antarctica it was an eye opener.
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October 7, 2012
Cutting the Cable and Cord
Despite repeated attempts to get new customer rates, when on my last bill RCN raised the bundle package another $10 a month I'd had enough. Compared to a year ago RCN was charging me $50 more per month for the same service. Over that past year my consumption habits have changed. While I will miss HBO and wish they would fix their outdated distribution model every other show I'm interested in has a near simultaneous non cable option. Additionally, for a long time now, despite having an unlimited plan, I still had a land line. Granted RCN upgraded those to be digital awhile ago which meant that when cable went out, so did the phone. Needless to say, paying for a conventional phone no longer made sense. The short of it is then the only service I'm paying RCN for now is Internet. Now if only Verzion FIOS was available I'd switch to that.