February 2007

Belgariad & Mallorean – David Eddings

| | Uncategorized

Took the notion to re-read David Eddings’ Belgariad and Mallorean a few weeks ago. I’d first read The Belgariad when it was published in the 1980’s. It’s very formulaic. Fantasy written to simple recipe. The books towards the end of the Mallorean have a bit more depth. Some of the characters are very likeable, such as Silk. I’ve always seen Eric Idle as Silk. Still do. Some of the dialogue between the characters can be a bit twee and superficial in the books as well. Still, it’s good simple stuff to switch off to. I’ll read it again in another 20 years! Going to try some of Julian May’s later fantasy next. Her Intervention book is one of my favourite books.

Scrivener – author project management application

| | General

Scrivener is a stunning piece of software. It is designed to help mange ideas, notes, writings research and other items related to a writing project. This could be a book, a short story, a project report, a piece of scientific research, whatever. If it’s a piece of writing then Scrivener can be used to organise the interim drafts and stuff.

It uses a really nice cork board metaphor with notes and ideas pinned to it. Folders can be used to organise the notes. This is only one way of looking at a project. There are other views as well. The interface and attention to detail is very, very good. Take a look at the Scrivener site for more info. If you use a Mac and do any writing then prepare yourself to stump up the cash for this excellent piece of Mac OS software. I did a few days ago 🙂

Papers – Public Preview 2

| | Science

A 2nd public preview of Papers was released today. Papers is an app for searching PubMed and organising references and PDF files of journal articles. It can also be used to manage any local PDF files already on your Macintosh. It’s like iTunes for scientific papers. The new version interacts with EndNote X which is a nice addition. I’m hoping that Papers will be very useful for a chemistry project course I’ve just started.

WWDC 2007 dates confirmed

| | General

As rumoured, WWDC 2007 will be held from 11th to 15th June. Happy days. There is a good chance that the iPhone will ship during WWDC and probably Leopard as well. Looking forward to it. Last year was fun.

Travel Checklist To Do:

Buy WWDC e-Ticket ✔
Book flight from Belfast to Heathrow ✔
Book flight from Heathrow to San Francisco ✔
Reserve hotel room ✔
Book time off from work ✔

All done. That’s me sorted. Now I just have to wait 🙂

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