Book Review - HTML5: Up and Running by Mark Pilgrim
Mon, Aug 30th 2010 9:09p Thomas Duff As part of my education on HTML5, I
ended up with a review copy of Mark Pilgrim's book HTML5:
Up and Running. Like many
O'Reilly books I own, this will be one of the books I end up going back
to repeatedly while I get "up and running." Pilgrim includes
a balanced blend of context and code, which means I learn not only *what*
to do, but *why* I'm doing it and how it ended up that way.
Contents:
How Did We Get Here?; Detecting HTML5
Features; What Does It All Mean?; Let's Call It a [read] Keywords: applications
javascript
90
Book Review - Follow The Money by Ross Cavins
Sun, Aug 29th 2010 11:48a Thomas Duff I had the pleasure of receiving a review
copy of Follow
The Money by Ross Cavins recently.
This ended up being one of those gems that I'd never find on my own,
but am very glad I ended up reading. Cavins has a great sense of
plot and dialog, and he did something that I'm not used to seeing in a
book. Rather than have a single novel or a collection of unrelated
short stories, he compiled a collection of short stories that all tie together
with a common thread... money. Specifically, t [read] Keywords:
84
Book Review - Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory by Newt Gringrich and William R. Forstchen
Sat, Aug 28th 2010 2:31p Thomas Duff Courtesy of the publishers, I had the
opportunity to read an advance copy of Valley
Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory
by Newt Gringrich and William R. Forstchen. This is the follow-on
to their collaboration on their book To Try Men's Souls, and again Gringrich
and Forstchen put flesh on the ordinarily dry depictions of what went on
during the Revolutionary War after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The authors go beyond events and dive into the characte [read] Keywords: collaboration
25
Book Review - Awkward Family Photos by Mike Bender and Doug Chernack
Sat, Aug 28th 2010 12:18p Thomas Duff 'Fess up... you have those "family
photos" that you hide from others, hoping nobody every finds them.
At the time the images made sense or sounded like a good idea. But
now? Just hope your kids don't get hold of
them and send them off trying to get you included in the book Awkward
Family Photos by Mike Bender and
Doug Chernack. If that happens, you might as well join the Witness
Protection Program, because you'll start to think that wherever you go,
someone will recognize you... an [read] Keywords:
72
Product Review - Lift Audio Icon Series 6 mm Premium Earphones
Fri, Aug 27th 2010 7:31p Thomas Duff As part of the Amazon Vine review program,
I selected a pair of
Lift Audio Icon Series 6 mm Premium Earphones
for review. I had two purposes for this... I have an iPad now, and
I thought a decent set of earphones would be nice. And second, with
my kids around, I never HAVE any earphones that seem to stay in one place
for very long. So why not kill two birds with one stone?
Fair warning says I'm not an audiophile
of any sort. I don't listen to a lot of music, so most of my usage
w [read] Keywords:
93
Book Review - How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack: Defend Yourself When the Lawn Warriors Strike (And They Will) by Chuck Sambuchino
Fri, Aug 27th 2010 6:35p Thomas Duff Zombie attacks, zombie apocalypse, the
undead... all material for a frightful novel, but the real threat is already
here and present in our very neighborhoods and yards... the Garden Gnome.
Be honest... you mean to tell me you've never looked at those creepy
little bearded creatures and wondered what they're up to? We owe
a debt of gratitude to Chuck Sambuchino for warning and preparing us for
this crisis in his book How
to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack: Defend Yourself When the Lawn Wa [read] Keywords:
427
Book Review - Being Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook by Michael Lopp
Mon, Aug 23rd 2010 10:18p Thomas Duff I had the pleasure of reviewing the
manuscript of Being
Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook
by Michael Lopp when it was still in the development stage. To put
it simply, I was really impressed. I'm not a regular reader of Rands
In Repose, so I hadn't seen most of the material before. It didn't
take long before I saw the value in what he wrote, and started thinking
of names of people who needed to read this when it was published.
Contents:
Section 1 - A Career Playbook [read] Keywords: development
office
75
Webcast coming up this Wednesday... Sametime: A User’s Perspective - August 25th
Mon, Aug 23rd 2010 7:46p Thomas Duff Chris Miller, as part of the Consultant
In Your Pocket series, is letting Marie
Scott and I loose on the public
again. This time, we'll be talking about Sametime from the user's
viewpoint, how it works, and some tips and tricks you may not have known.
The webcast is coming up, so head over to the
site to register...
Sametime:
A User’s Perspective - August 25th
Chris Miller August 17 2010 03:25:38 PM
Tom Duff
and Marie
Scott are back for the launch of their upcoming
bo [read] Keywords: ibm
lotussametime
sametime
bleedyellow
bleedyellow.com
69
Book Review - Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
Sun, Aug 22nd 2010 12:20p Thomas Duff I think I'm getting to the end of the
trail with my enjoyment of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.
The latest installment, Sizzling
Sixteen, hit me the same way that
Finger Lickin' Fifteen did. It covers the same ground we've covered
in the last fifteen installments, nothing really new happens, and the characters
don't have the spark that used to make each new Plum novel a joy to read.
Unless Evanovich takes Plum in a whole new direction (I understand
she's moved to a new [read] Keywords:
84
Book Review - Problem Idetified: And You're Probably Not Part of the Solution by Scott Adams
Sun, Aug 22nd 2010 11:50a Thomas Duff So, the library gets a relatively new
Scott Adams Dilbert compilation, and I put myself on the hold list. Finally,
Problem
Identified: And You're Probably Not Part of the Solution
comes in, and I pick it up. Instead of the most recent year or two
of strips I expected, it's a compilation of strips over the last 15 years
that seem to be related to Dilbert and the Point Haired Boss. Overall
reaction? Meh...
Granted, when you get a compilation
book like this, you expect to see stuff [read] Keywords:
76
Book Review - In FED We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic by David Wessel
Sat, Aug 21st 2010 1:52p Thomas Duff Even though we're still in the middle
of it, I've been wanting to read some material on the economic meltdown
that started back in 2007. To that end, I took the opportunity to
get a copy of
In FED We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic
by David Wessel from a publicist. To be fair, this is the first book
I've read on the topic, and I am by no means an expert on the economics
and politics of the Federal Reserve. Yet, while reading In FED We
Trust, I felt that I was getting a sl [read] Keywords: domino
foundations
notes
116
Book Review - The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters by Andy Andrews
Mon, Aug 16th 2010 7:29a Thomas Duff Andy Andrews' book The
Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters
is one of those small gift books that will take you about 10 minutes to
read (if that), but that has an interesting message that will tweak your
viewpoint on life. You've likely heard of the "butterfly effect",
where it's said that the beating of a butterfly's wings can stir air modules
that will stir other air modules, until you end up with a hurricane in
China. While taking that scenario literally might be hard to accept,
[read] Keywords:
104
Book Review - Creepiosity: A Hilarious Guide to the Unintentionally Creepy by David Bickel
Sun, Aug 15th 2010 10:30p Thomas Duff Sometimes you run across a book that
you can't help but pick up and laugh about. The visit to the
library today turned up one such book for me... Creepiosity:
A Hilarious Guide to the Unintentionally Creepy
by David Bickel. While a very short read (took me all of about 30
minutes), it had me laughing out loud in more than one place, as well as
reading passages to my wife (who didn't seem to "appreciate"
the humor as much as I did).
Bickel has a tongue-in-cheek creepiology
scale t [read] Keywords:
104
Book Review - World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
Sun, Aug 15th 2010 3:51p Thomas Duff I'm not normally a zombie genre reader,
so I'm not quite sure why this book caught my eye in the bookstore... World
War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks. Perhaps it was the "first person account"
angle of the story, where the world has barely survived a worldwide war
against zombies. Whatever the case, this was an entertaining read
with enough room to let your mind imagine what what it might be like to
fight an enemy that won't "die" like normal people.
The settin [read] Keywords:
538
Book Review - Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food by Jeff Potter
Sat, Aug 14th 2010 1:18p Thomas Duff The typical geek doesn't just want something
to work. They want to know *why* and *how* it works. If your
geekness extends to the kitchen, this book is perfect... Cooking
for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food
by Jeff Potter. It's a wonderful mix of science and hands-on activities,
and definitely opened my eyes as to why things work as they do in the kitchen.
Contents:
Hello, Kitchen!: Think Like a Hacker;
Cooking for One; Cooking for Others
Initializing the Kitche [read] Keywords:
128
Thu, Aug 12th 2010 9:10p Thomas Duff As part of the Amazon Vine review program,
I got an advance reader copy of the book No
Way Down: Life and Death on K2
by Graham Bowley. Although it's not something I would ever do myself,
I find these life-and-death mountain disaster stories fascinating. It's
not possible to read No Way Down without drawing comparisons to Into Thin
Air by Jon Krakauer, which is what I would consider the classic climbing
tale of being trapped on a mountain. Unfortunately, I didn't have
that same "must [read] Keywords:
234
Lotus Live is... well... live!
Tue, Aug 10th 2010 10:20p Thomas Duff There were just a few announcements from
IBM/Lotus today. :) Notes 8.5.2 was announced, as well as Lotus Live
1.3. Like a few other bloggers, I was part of a call with Ed Brill
today where we were given a bit more information about the Lotus Live announcement
and allowed to "beat the vendor". Unfortunately, since
I was at work at the time, I didn't have time/access to blog about it shortly
thereafter. So much of what could be said *has* been said via other
blogs, and often more eloque [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
notes client
applications
email
google
planetlotus
planetlotus.org
server
89
Book Review - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Sat, Aug 7th 2010 7:10p Thomas Duff So is it possible to actually create
a project and plan to increase the overall happiness in your life? Gretchen
Rubin set out to do just that in her book The
Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning,
Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More
Fun. It wasn't that she
was horribly dissatisfied with life. It's just that she felt that
there could be so much more if she really thought about it and started
making changes. The proj [read] Keywords:
82
Book Review - The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
Sat, Aug 7th 2010 4:53p Thomas Duff With all the books I receive for review
(and given that I have a library a block away from my house), I rarely
*buy* a book any more. But on a recent trip, I wandered into a bookstore
and had a particular title jump out at me... The
Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz
Age New York by Deborah Blum.
I found this book fascinating on multiple counts, and I had a hard
time putting it down.
Contents:
The Poison Game; Chloroform; Wood Alcohol;
Cyanide [read] Keywords: notes
office
83
Book Review - Big Trouble by Dave Barry
Sat, Aug 7th 2010 2:37p Thomas Duff As a fan of the South Florida novel
genre (think Hiaasen and Dorsey), I couldn't pass on reading Dave Barry's
Big
Trouble. I can't resist
the chance to escape into the world of inept criminals and off-the-wall
personalities that seem to make up a significant portion of that population.
:) I'm a bit surprised that I somehow let this one get by my
radar for so long (originally published over ten years ago), but oh well.
Big Trouble reminds me of a Tim Dorsey
novel without all the c [read] Keywords: security
346
Book Review - Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition by Steven Levy
Wed, Jul 28th 2010 4:07a Thomas Duff To find out how you got to where you're
at, you often have to look at where you came from. In the world of
computers, that means going back to the late 1950's to observe the mindset
and personalities that shaped the growth of the personal computer. Steven
Levy has what could be considered the best analysis of those individuals
in his book Hackers:
Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition.
Yes, it's been 25 years since since this book was first published
in 1985. B [read] Keywords: notes
apple
Book Review - Storm by Dave Pearson
Sat, Jul 24th 2010 1:39p Thomas Duff Fair warning... I really like cyber-thrillers,
especially with a liberal dose of hacking thrown in. To that end,
I had no problems saying yes to reviewing Storm
by Dave Pearson. For a first
novel, Pearson did quite well. He throws together a virtual band
of hackers who come together to hack the biggest prize of all, the Intelink
high-security top-secret intranet run by the US government. But to
do so, they need to slip into a heavily guarded compound on a isolated
island during the m [read] Keywords: security
virus
115
Book Review - The Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances by Andy Andrews
Sat, Jul 24th 2010 11:58a Thomas Duff Andy Andrews is a master at telling
stories that weave principles into the narrative. His latest book,
The
Heart Mender: A Story of Second Chances,
is no different. He takes a true story that he experienced, and shows
how anger can destroy a life and how forgiveness can set that life free.
Andrews discovered a buried "treasure"
while trying to remove a tree from his property. It was a can that
contained a family picture, some buttons, a ring, and a medal that traced
back to th [read] Keywords: community
63
Book Review - Noah's Castle by John Rowe Townsend
Mon, Jul 19th 2010 9:26a Thomas Duff I was recently contacted by a publisher
asking if I was interested in reading a title that they had available.
The book was Noah's
Castle by John Rowe Townsend.
This offer came from the review I did of One Second After, and Noah's
Castle walks in the same general genre. Even though this was initially
released in 1975 and was targeted as a young adult offering, it aged well
and speaks to all readers regardless of age. I found myself reading
"just one more chapter", and this morning I' [read] Keywords: consulting
80
Book Review - The Parkour and Freerunning Handbook by Dan Edwardes
Sat, Jul 17th 2010 2:07p Thomas Duff No, I'm not planning on taking up a
new activity that would likely land me in the hospital within a week (if
not sooner). But I *do* find the videos of parkour fascinating. When
I saw the book The
Parkour and Freerunning Handbook
by Dan Edwardes show up at my local library, I figured it was worth a quick
read just to find out more about the sport. This is the perfect book
for someone curious about parkour and how practitioners are able to leap
and dive over obstacles with ease. And i [read] Keywords:
80
Book Review - Celebritize Yourself: The Three Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business by Marsha Friedman
Sat, Jul 17th 2010 10:30a Thomas Duff I realize that some people will react
negatively to the thought of becoming a "celebrity", as that
often has a connotation of hype and falseness. But in Marsha Friedman's
book Celebritize
Yourself: The Three Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode
Your Business, she makes the argument
that becoming a celebrity is simply the process of becoming the "name"
in your field, the person that everyone thinks of and refers to when they
talk about your area of interest. Reaching this [read] Keywords: community
97
Book Review - The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
Fri, Jul 16th 2010 10:05p Thomas Duff The
Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gawande is a book I'd heard about a number of months ago and meant
to read long before now. But a long hold list at the library and
then a messed-up checkout (that put me at the end of the long list again!)
conspired against me until now. The main gist of the book is that
the rigorous use of the lowly checklist can radically improve your chances
of getting the correct outcome of a job or task, even if that task is highly
complex. [read] Keywords: notes
308
So just how secure is your Domino server from attempts to hack into it?
Tue, Jul 13th 2010 12:17a Thomas Duff So as I was going through the Google News
Alerts, I see this blog posting in CIO.com from another post over at infosecisland.com
titled Hacking
Lotus Notes. Often these
types of stories are a bit more fluff than fire, but this one actually
talks techniques and specific attacks... for instance:
IBM Lotus Domino Server is a solution
for the corporate environment that provides different services to manage
electronic documents, and it includes many models such as Mail server,
Http server a [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
google
interface
network
server
93
IamLUG... it's getting close!
Mon, Jul 12th 2010 10:16p Thomas Duff The days are counting down for IamLUG!
If you haven't registered and want to attend, NOW would be a good
time to do so!
For 2010, the event will take place
August 2-3 in St Louis, MO at the HoteLumiere.
Attending IamLUG is FREE, but seats are limited, so registration
is required for all attendees, sponsors and potential speakers. For
more information on travel, lodging and things to do in St. Louis, check
the FAQ page where information is being added constantly. [read] Keywords:
89
Book Review - Caught by Harlan Coben
Sun, Jul 11th 2010 12:05p Thomas Duff It's always a treat when a new Harlan
Coben novel comes out. Caught
is his latest, and like many of
his other novels I felt like I was constantly guessing as to what was reality
and was was perception with the characters. I was also struck by
how easy it is for the media to destroy someone's life based on whatever
agenda they care to push. There are certain accusations that when
made, regardless of whether they are true or not, will forever mar a person's
reputation and more.
The [read] Keywords:
81
Book Review - Columbine by Dave Cullen
Sun, Jul 11th 2010 4:01a Thomas Duff In many ways, the Columbine school shootings
have the same milestone effect on society as do events like 9/11 or the
Oklahoma City bombing. Columbine forever changed the way we look
at school safety and the mental health of students. But unfortunately,
much of what we "remember" about the event is inaccurate due
to media hype and official stonewalling. Dave Cullen reveals the
actual story behind the events with exhaustive research in his book Columbine.
When I finished reading, I had [read] Keywords:
111
Book Review - Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
Sat, Jul 10th 2010 10:20p Thomas Duff I think many blogger and Twitter users
secretly dream of creating a viral site that turns into a book deal. Justin
Halpern hit that jackpot when his Twitter content became insanely popular
and led to his book
Sh*t My Dad Says. If you've
followed Halpern's Twitter account Sh*tMyDadSays (you need to replace the
asterisk with a vowel), you pretty much know what to expect in terms of
philosophy and advice from Halpern's dad. I'd quote some of the one-liners,
but most of them are not such [read] Keywords: blogger
twitter
127
Book Review - The Handy Law Answer Book by David L. Hudson Jr.
Mon, Jul 5th 2010 10:20p Thomas Duff The world of law can be confusing and
mysterious, starting with the history of our legal system clear through
to practical every-day questions like "what is a tort?" (and
it's not a dessert!) David L. Hudson Jr. does an excellent job in
demystifying the topic in his book The
Handy Law Answer Book. Even
if you don't have a specific question or topic of immediate concern, the
material is just plain interesting and leads to more than a few "gee,
I didn't know that" moments.
Contents: [read] Keywords:
71
Book Review - It's About Time by Harold C. Lloyd
Sun, Jul 4th 2010 5:40p Thomas Duff In the business arena, it seems like
there's never a balance between demands and time availability. You
could often work 20 hours a day and still not keep up on all the work requirements
that flow your way. Harold C. Lloyd works on correcting that imbalance
with his book
It's About Time: Find 5 Extra Hours Each Week.
Given his background in the retail industry, he's dealt with most
of these issues and has come up with a series of tips and techniques that
will definitely have an impact [read] Keywords: office
43
Book Review - Blood Prophecy by Stefan Petrucha
Sat, Jul 3rd 2010 9:40p Thomas Duff I am not normally a reader of vampire
or vampire-like novels. In fact, mention that a book *has* a vampire
in it, and I'm pretty much off to find another title. So don't ask
me how I ended up deciding to accept this book for reviewing... Blood
Prophecy by Stefan Petrucha. Must
have been a moment of weakness. And to make it even more strange,
I have to confess... I actually liked the book. What is the world
coming to?
The story revolves around one Jeremiah
Fall, a settler in the [read] Keywords:
Book Review - One Second After by William R. Forstchen
Thu, Jul 1st 2010 11:06p Thomas Duff Imagine that one day, just like any
other day, you're driving down the highway and your car dies for no reason...
as do the thousands of other cars around you. Electricity? Out. Radio
broadcast? Nothing there but static (provided the radio even works). Cell
phones? No signal, same as the landlines. It doesn't *look* like
a storm took out power, but how do you explain the utter failure of everything
that you depend on in your life? It could be an EMP... an electromagnetic
pulse genera [read] Keywords: community
117
Book Review - Horns by Joe Hill
Wed, Jun 30th 2010 11:00p Thomas Duff Most people have wished at some point
in their lives for the ability to know what another person is thinking
or feeling about them. Ig Perrish has just received that gift, and
it's not working out so well. Couple that with the new set of horns
that Perrish woke up with, and Perrish's life is headed downhill at terminal
velocity. But at least his new abilities will help him figure out
who really killed his girlfriend on a cold rainy night a year ago. That's
the storyline in Joe Hill's [read] Keywords:
455
This is why I have such a hard time believing/diving into any "new" Microsoft offering...
Wed, Jun 30th 2010 8:30p Thomas Duff So Microsoft
kills off the KIN mobile device
after devastatingly nonexistent sales. And... it does this just two
months after they release the device. Can you imagine if you had
decided to build an offering for the KIN or staked a significant amount
of time and effort to support the device based on Microsoft's assurances
that this would be the next greatest thing since sliced bread?
I find it hard to believe that a company
the size of Microsoft could spend hundreds of millions of d [read] Keywords: apple
microsoft
mobile
75
Book Review - Inside Out: A Novel by Barry Eisler
Tue, Jun 29th 2010 9:44p Thomas Duff Some of the best novels I read are ones
that seem as if they could be ripped out of the daily headlines of your
favorite newspaper or news magazine. Add in behavior and characters
that ring true due to past uncovered abuses by the government, and you
have the ingredients for a story that makes you wonder if the plot hasn't
already been played out in real life. Barry Eisler does that with
torture and detainees in his latest book
Inside Out: A Novel. I had
a really hard time putting the [read] Keywords:
212
I got my DODOcase for the iPad today... quite cool!
Thu, Jun 24th 2010 11:00p Thomas Duff When I was looking for protective cases
for my iPad, I came across the DODOcase.
Handcrafted to look like a moleskine notebook, it really appealed
to my writer's side. I wouldn't mistake it for being a great travel
case where you can pack cords and such, but for the everyday carry-around
protection, I really like it. The wood edges are carved such that
you have full access to the switches and plug-in spots without having to
remove the device. You can even fold back the top and have a [read] Keywords: iphone
25
Book Review - Wonders Never Cease by Tim Downs
Sat, Jun 19th 2010 1:50p Thomas Duff What do you do if you see angels and
nobody is willing to believe you? You just keep telling your story
and let the chips fall where they may. Such is the attitude of Leah
Pelton, the little girl in Tim Downs' latest book
Wonders Never Cease. Some
people will say you're crazy, and others will figure that you have serious
medical issues. But a few people might be open to the possibility
that you actually experience a reality that others may not be open to believing.
Leah's mom, Na [read] Keywords: agent
It appears the Washington Post Co. is the next large showdown for MS vs. Lotus vs. Google...
Fri, Jun 18th 2010 9:14a Thomas Duff From Internet Evolution: Washington
Post CTO Talks Collaboration
Looking at this article, it appears
that there will be a major platform consolidation coming, and a significant
competition amongst the vendors...
"It is not about 'build it and
they will come,' " said Yuvi Kochar, corporate CTO for The Washington
Post Co., highlighting the mistake many IT managers made in Phase One of
the Enterprise 2.0 period. "That's a dream every IT person has which
is never fulfilled. But that [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
lotus
notes
enterprise
google
sharepoint
407
Here's how at least one SharePoint blogger guru views the Notes discussions this week....
Fri, Jun 18th 2010 8:20a Thomas Duff With all the conversations about Lotus
Notes this week, a few statements have been made about how the Microsoft
bloggers are viewing all the angst. I don't follow many MS-oriented
bloggers, so I'll admit I hadn't seen that statement play out in reality.
But today I ran across a blog entry by Joel Oleson, who is one of
the biggest SharePoint gurus in that universe...
Give
me your tired, your poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free...
With open arms we welcome Notes Admins a [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
blogger
microsoft
sharepoint
Book Review - Aurora Rising by Toni Seger
Sun, Jun 13th 2010 11:20p Thomas Duff Toni Seger, author of The Telefax Box
(first book of The Telefax Trilogy) sent me the second book in the series
to read and review... Aurora
Rising. While I wasn't quite
as fascinated as I was by The Telefax Box, Aurora Rising does a good job
of looking at issues like discrimination and control over societies by
taking them out of their normal context and transferring them to a time
and location in the distant future. Common to today's global realities,
Central Command wants to take co [read] Keywords:
44
Book Review - 61 Hours by Lee Child
Sun, Jun 13th 2010 8:00p Thomas Duff If a new Lee Child novel comes out with
Jack Reacher, it's a given that most all of my free time becomes "unavailable"
once I start to read. That was again the case with Child's latest,
61 Hours. I found this to
be one of the most suspenseful Reacher novels, as something is counting
down from 61 hours and you don't have a clue as to what it might be as
the story unfolds. I just wish someone had told me up front that
this is the novelistic equivalent of a TV show's season-ending cliff-h [read] Keywords:
32
Manuscript Review - My Name Is Inferno by Dwight Norris
Sun, Jun 13th 2010 5:40p Thomas Duff About a year ago, I had the pleasure of
reading Dwight Norris's debut novel, The
Gentleman Host: A Cruise Ship Nightmare.
It was an enjoyable read, with interesting characters and a setting
that isn't one that you normally associate with murder. I had hoped
that Norris would have another novel in store for Flanagan and Murphy,
and indeed he did. I received the manuscript for his sophomore effort
titled My Name Is Inferno. I truly hope that Norris is able to find
a publisher for this [read] Keywords: agent
security
52
Book Review - Big Jack by J. D. Robb
Sun, Jun 13th 2010 3:01p Thomas Duff When I see a J. D. Robb book that doesn't
have an "In Death" title, I have to check and see if I've passed
into an alternate reality. For better or worse, my reality is still
the same one I've been dealing with for the last 50 years, and Big
Jack is indeed a J. D. Robb title.
Once I got into the book, I was pretty sure I had read it before,
and I finally figured it out. Big Jack is the second half of a novel
titled Remember When written by Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb back in 2003. Hot
Ro [read] Keywords:
Useful visibility into your Windows boot times - Soluto "Anti-Frustration" software
Fri, Jun 11th 2010 10:10p Thomas Duff Like all Window environments, my boot times
have gotten slower as more and more software gets installed. You
can dig into the logs in Windows 7 to check into what loads when and what
can be changed, but it's not overly easy or intuitive. I ran across
something today that looks like it takes a lot of that hassle out of the
equation, however... Soluto.
Soluto monitors your boot process and
figures out what exactly is going on during that period. It then
presents a clean, intuitive [read] Keywords: application
applications
desktop
interface
laptop
309
Interesting website/Chrome-Firefox add-on: Builtwith.com
Wed, Jun 9th 2010 11:00p Thomas Duff I ran across an interesting website this
evening that goes into a website (you provide the URL) and digs out the
underlying technologies that make up the site. Builtwith.com
does this either via a web page where you enter the URL, or with a Chrome/Firefox
add-on that adds a icon to your browser to do the same thing for the page
you're currently on.
For instance, when I ran the add-on
for the home page of my blog, it came back with a wealth of information:
Where it really c [read] Keywords: development
firefox
javascript
33
Book Review - Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspense by Phillip Margolin
Sat, Jun 5th 2010 2:50p Thomas Duff Via the Amazon Vine review program,
I was able to get an advanced reader copy of Phillip Margolin's latest
novel,
Supreme Justice: A Novel of Suspense.
Overall, this is an enjoyable read, good for a few hours of suspense
and escape. It didn't grab me quite as hard as many of his earlier
works, and that might be due to the length of time since I read the last
Margolin novel. He carries over a number of the characters, and I
was hazy on the backstories. Even so, I enjoyed the read and [read] Keywords:
64
Product Review - Acme Made Slick Case for iPad (Matte Black)
Fri, Jun 4th 2010 11:10p Thomas Duff Via the Amazon Vine review program,
I selected something I was in the market for already... an iPad case. I
was able to get the Acme
Made Slick Case for iPad (Matte Black),
and I found it's a solid, basic iPad case without many frills, but that
does what it should. The outer shell is a neoprene case that is perfect
for protecting against liquids and other types of messes. Inside,
it uses a spongy felt-like material to prevent any scratching. The
tactile feel of both parts is comforta [read] Keywords:
32
Book Review - Revenge Served Cold by Jackie Fullerton
Sun, May 30th 2010 7:50p Thomas Duff I received an advanced reader copy of
Jackie Fullerton's book Revenge
Served Cold from the publicist
promoting the book. I needed some escape reading, and I hoped that
this would fit the bill. Overall, Revenge wasn't bad in terms of
plot or action. I struggled with the characters who weren't primary
to the story, however. Not sure if I missed an earlier installment
or what, but there was little in the way of color to explain how they all
came together and worked out the details of th [read] Keywords:
37
Book Review - The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass
Sun, May 30th 2010 2:40p Thomas Duff For some reason, I've never read any
of the Body Farm novels by the team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson
(hence, the author pen name of Jefferson Bass). I'm not quite sure
why, as I like the forensic anthropology genre made popular by Cornwell
and Reichs. So to rectify that, I picked up the latest book in the
series, The
Bone Thief. I'm guessing I'll
end up going back to read the earlier ones also, as The Bone Thief was
enjoyable and well written.
The story revolves around Dr. [read] Keywords:
43
Book Review - Weird Oregon: Your Travel Guide to Oregon's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Al Eufrasio and Jeff Davis
Sat, May 29th 2010 11:20p Thomas Duff I live in Portland Oregon, where the
unofficial motto is "Keep Portland Weird." Given that,
how could I NOT check this book out from the library... Weird
Oregon: Your Travel Guide to Oregon's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets
by Al Eufrasio and Jeff Davis. Weird Oregon is a great mix of local
lore, history, fact, and fable, tied together with a style that combines
tongue-in-cheek humor with good storytelling. It made me want to
hop in the car and start visiting some of the places tha [read] Keywords: properties
48
Book Review - LEGO: A Love Story by Jonathan Bender
Sat, May 22nd 2010 9:14p Thomas Duff Through the Amazon Vine program, I received
a copy of
LEGO: A Love Story by Jonathan
Bender for review. I'm not a LEGO fan myself, but I have a few close
friends who are master builders of the first degree. So what drives
an adult to become totally obsessed with a "toy" that most kids
give up sometime during their adolescent years? Bender explains his
own love affair with LEGO, both as a child and as an adult rediscovering
the joy and obsession.
His story starts at the age of 1 [read] Keywords: community
32
Book Review - Last Call by JD Seamus
Sat, May 22nd 2010 1:51p Thomas Duff In my pile of recreational reads, I
recently pulled out a book I got from a publicist...
Last Call by JD Seamus. Set
in New York, its a crime mystery involving a dying Irishman, his wife and
child who need special care, a large amount of money that ends up missing
when he dies, and his close friends who attempt to solve the mystery and
get the money back. While it had its moments, I had a real problem
with the plot and the pacing. I was quite ready for the book to take
off in the dire [read] Keywords:
173
More free TDI goodness coming your way on Wednesday, May 19th! (free webcast)
Mon, May 17th 2010 9:20p Thomas Duff MORE TDI! Far better than cowbell,
and it’s FREE!
On Wednesday, May 19th at
10 am CDT, Marie
Scott and I will be presenting
more TDI goodness in part 2 of our TDI series, “Tivoli Directory
Integrator (TDI) - The Best Free Tool You’ve Never Heard Of (The Administrator’s
Perspective)”. In this installment, we switch our perspective
from developer uses and focus more on the directory integration features
of TDI. Learn how you can use TDI to synch data to an [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
bes
bleedyellow
bleedyellow.com
integration
tivoli
36
Book Review - Crashers by Dana Haynes
Sun, May 16th 2010 9:51p Thomas Duff Via the Amazon Vine review program,
I selected a copy of the book Crashers
by Dana Haynes for review. This
thriller has an element that I haven't encountered in my reading before...
the investigation of an aircraft accident by the National Transportation
Safety Board, or NTSB for short. And the fact that the author sets
the story in Portland, Oregon (the city I live in) didn't hurt in my decision-making
process, either. What I ended up with in Crashers was a fun thriller
that kept me [read] Keywords:
25
Book Review - Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
Sun, May 16th 2010 5:40p Thomas Duff Based on a recommendation, I picked
up Matterhorn:
A Novel of the Vietnam War by
Karl Marlantes at the library. The Vietnam war is a subject of interest
for me, especially having a father who did two tours as a Marine (in Graves
Registration... he's seen things I can only imagine). I have mixed
feelings from a review standpoint on Matterhorn. In terms of a story
with the basic beginning/middle/end structure, it leaves something to be
desired. You're dropped into the middle of the war [read] Keywords:
25
Book Review - UNBOUND and Other Tales by David Dunwoody
Mon, May 10th 2010 11:00p Thomas Duff A friend of mine asked me if I would
be interested in reading a book from one of *his* friends...
UNBOUND and Other Tales by David
Dunwoody. I held on to the book until I was ready for a dip into
some dark horror, and UNBOUND fit that need pretty well. The book
consists of one main story and eight smaller pieces. I liked the
longer story much more than the smaller pieces, mainly due to the more
complete story development. But even the smaller chapters were quite
"colorful" in their d [read] Keywords: notes
development
office
218
Are you confusing success and fame with experience?
Tue, May 4th 2010 10:25a Thomas Duff Last week I was reviewing a manuscript
for a tech book and offering up some review and insight. It sounds
like it'll be a great book, and I'm looking forward to reading it in its
bound and edited form. But there was one part of one paragraph that
really hit me hard, and figures in to a lot of the self-review I've been
doing of late...
You… are kicking ass.
A wealth of experience makes decision
appear to be easy. Experience gives you confidence and you use that confidence
[read] Keywords: development
38
Book Review - The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West by Christopher Corbett
Sun, May 2nd 2010 5:30p Thomas Duff One of the things I'm learning during
my reading of historical titles is that we tend to forget much of our past.
And actually, we *do* end up repeating many of our mistakes and ugly
periods. I found some of those forgotten elements when reading The
Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West
by Christopher Corbett. While the book would seem to be more about
the story of Polly Bemis, a Chinese "working girl" who was won
in a poker game, the real story is of how life in the West was [read] Keywords:
29
Book Review - Tooth And Nail by Craig Delouie
Sun, May 2nd 2010 3:50p Thomas Duff The zombie genre isn't normally one
that I pick up and read on a regular basis. But I enjoyed Craig Delouie's
earlier medical pandemic novels, so when offered a chance to read Tooth
And Nail, I accepted. I'm very
glad I did, too. This is a different look at zombies, one that actually
makes sense and is a potentially viable scenario. I found myself
totally wrapped up in the story, and putting it down was harder than with
most books I've read of late.
Delouie centers his story arou [read] Keywords: virus
24
Book Review - Be Good To Yourself - edited by Ross Books, by Orison Sewett Marden
Sun, May 2nd 2010 1:50p Thomas Duff So have you ever wondered how far back
the "success movement" in terms of personal development goes?
One of the first significant books in that genre is Be
Good To Yourself by Orison Sewett
Marden. Given that the book is 100 years old this year, you might
wonder how well it holds up over time. Surprisingly, pretty well.
Ross Books has taken the title and updated some of the language and
illustrations to be more relevant for today's audience, but this edition
still retains the basic m [read] Keywords: development
35
Book Review - A Twisted Faith: A Minister's Obsession and the Murder That Destroyed a Church by Gregg Olsen
Sun, May 2nd 2010 1:00p Thomas Duff I am always confused and dismayed when
people who hold positions of authority in a church or religious organization
abuse that power for their own gain. I'm even more dismayed when
people who follow them end up following the person instead of their faith,
letting charisma and personality overrule what they *know* to be right
and wrong. Gregg Olsen portrays one of those situations in his real-life
crime drama A
Twisted Faith: A Minister's Obsession and the Murder That Destroyed a Church. [read] Keywords: community
121
A bit of an update...
Sun, May 2nd 2010 12:00p Thomas Duff So, I know I've been posting a lot less
in this blog in terms of personal info, tech info, and other various and
sundry things. Funny how that happens...
Part of the reason is I've been doing
a lot of writing of late, and at times I've just felt a bit "writed
out" when it comes to blogging. The Sametime Users Guide that
Marie
Scott and I are writing is coming
along well, with chapter 9 finished up yesterday, and only three more chapters
and a set of appendices left to go. When I [read] Keywords: lotus
lotusphere
sametime
bleedyellow
bleedyellow.com
blogging
community
tivoli
twitter
109
P0wned by a squirrel...
Sat, May 1st 2010 7:50p Thomas Duff Forwarded to me by a good friend:
Nothing like a angry mom.
"What the hell just happened?
Did
I just get my ass
kicked by a squirrel!?!! " [read] Keywords:
Book Review - Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Sun, Apr 11th 2010 11:00p Thomas Duff After the buzz I've seen generated by
this book, I needed to read it to find out what it was all about... Rework
by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier
Hansson. They are the guys who started the web company 37signals,
a company that has found a sizable niche with software products that are
simple and basic. There are enough features to get the job done,
and no more. In Rework, they share their philosophy on how a company
should be started and run, based on how they've run their own compan [read] Keywords: application
19
Book Review - The Big Book of Gross Stuff by Bart King
Sun, Apr 11th 2010 5:30p Thomas Duff If you have younger kids, especially
boys, you know that "gross" things rule their world. The
grosser, the better. Since you're probably not going to be able to
get them to give up their predilection for grossness, you might as
well have them learn a thing or two in the process. Bart King's book
would be perfect to turn "gross" into a learning activity...
The
Big Book of Gross Stuff. King
dives into the subject in his typical tongue-in-cheek fashion, and it's
the right style to kee [read] Keywords:
19
Book Review - Little Blue Whales by Kenneth R. Lewis
Sat, Apr 10th 2010 2:40p Thomas Duff I was recently contacted by Kenneth
R. Lewis asking if I would like to read and review his debut crime novel
Little Blue Whales. Given
the genre and the setting (the Oregon coast, about 90 miles from where
I live), I decided it might be a good read in my recreational pile. For
a debut novel, it's not bad. There's plenty of action and personal
intrigue going on with the plot and the characters, and I found myself
spending a bit more time reading when I should have been doing other thing [read] Keywords: network
139
How to hide game messages (or particular people) on your Facebook newsfeed
Sat, Apr 10th 2010 1:20p Thomas Duff Over the last couple of days, I've heard
a lot of people gripe about how they hate to see Facebook messages on their
newsfeed for games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, Yoville, and the like. While
you yourself may not like taking part in those games, there's a good chance
that others you follow do. So can you filter out those game messages
and keep the other stuff they post to Facebook? Or can you just eliminate
their Facebook postings altogether without deleting them as friends?
Yes, [read] Keywords: facebook
31
Book Review - Your Money: The Missing Manual by J. D. Roth
Fri, Apr 9th 2010 8:50a Thomas Duff I first got interested in J. D. Roth's
personal finance writings through his Get Rich Slowly blog. There,
he talks about what he's discovered when it comes to getting (and staying!)
out of debt, saving money, and other various topics related to your hard-earned
dollars. When I heard he was writing Your
Money: The Missing Manual, I was
excited to get a copy to read and review. I wasn't disappointed,
either. This is the perfect book to give someone who is trying to
dig out from a mount [read] Keywords:
25
Book Review - Shoot to Thrill by P. J. Tracy
Sat, Apr 3rd 2010 1:41p Thomas Duff It had been awhile since I thought about
the Monkeewrench series of novels (which I've enjoyed), but they were brought
back to mind when the Amazon Vine review program offered up the latest
installment titled
Shoot to Thrill by P. J. Tracy.
It took a bit of time to reacquaint myself with the characters, and
new readers would probably be a bit confused if this was their starting
point of the series. I also thought the ending was rather strange,
but not enough to ruin the book for me. T [read] Keywords: networking
server
28
Book Review - Fantasy in Death by J. D. Robb
Sat, Apr 3rd 2010 12:10p Thomas Duff So my favorite "romance writer"
is at it again... Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb in Fantasy
in Death. I make no bones
about loving the In Death series, as it's *not* romance, but a sci-fi'ish
crime series with characters that almost feel like family after so many
installments. And while the last couple of books seemed to be lacking
a bit of the magic I've come to expect, Fantasy is back on the normal track.
This time, Lt. Eve Dallas catches a
case that seems to have no expl [read] Keywords: development
43
Book Review - Kiss 'Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of Failed, Forgotten, and Departed Teams by Dennis Purdy
Wed, Mar 31st 2010 10:30p Thomas Duff Every major sporting league (and every
minor league, for that matter) has a number of franchises that have a color
past. And that's *all* they have, because they don't exist any longer
in their original form. Dennis Purdy sets out to recall these stories
in his book
Kiss 'Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of Failed, Forgotten, and Departed Teams.
Even my current locale (Portland Oregon) has a mention with its brief
foray into "major league" football with the Boston/New Orleans/Portland
Bre [read] Keywords:
60
Book Review - Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success by Jessica Pryce-Jones
Wed, Mar 31st 2010 4:20p Thomas Duff On occasion, I'll be offered a book
for reading/reviewing that seems to come at a very opportune time. This
ended up being one of those books...
Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success
by Jessica Pryce-Jones. There's no argument that the typical workplace
has changed dramatically in the last few years, and I know my reactions
have changed along with it. I've been having problems trying to wrap
my thoughts around the "why" and "what now" aspects,
and this b [read] Keywords:
20
Book Review - Advice My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes by Rodolfo Costa
Sun, Mar 28th 2010 1:40p Thomas Duff In this short (120 pages), Rodolfo Costa
has compiled a list of advice, sayings, and adages that he's learned over
the years and that has improved his life... Advice
My Parents Gave Me: and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes.
The style of the book isn't such that you get an in-depth examination
of any particular element, nor is this a method to follow to get from A
to Z. They're short numbered "bullet points" (409 in all)
that will hit you at different levels depending on where yo [read] Keywords:
25
Book Review - U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
Sat, Mar 27th 2010 8:50p Thomas Duff I've been a long-time Sue Grafton fan, and
have kept pace with all the letters of the alphabet as they've come out.
I find it remarkable that a single author has been able to keep a
series going for so long without rehashing the same material over and over.
Having said that, it seems that the last few installments in the
Kinsey Millhone series have been a bit hit-or-miss lot for me. I
was happy to see a new book in the series, U
Is For Undertow, as it's been a very
long time since the [read] Keywords: office
Book Review - The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
Wed, Mar 17th 2010 10:09p Thomas Duff As part of the Amazon Vine review program,
I recently selected the book The
Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
as one of my review items. I've not had the opportunity to read any
of Dekker's works before, and the psychological thriller sounded like a
decent way to spend a few evenings. Overall, the book was enjoyable.
I'd have liked it to be a bit tighter in places where the action
seemed to drag, but there were definitely enough characters to keep my
interest.
Brad Raines is an FBI s [read] Keywords: agent
notes
4
Book Review - Windows 7: Up and Running: A Quick, Hands-On Introduction by Wei-Meng Lee
Sat, Mar 13th 2010 9:47p Thomas Duff I have all the computers in my house
now running on Windows 7 (having for the most part skipped Vista), but
there's still a bit of the "so how do I do this..." going on.
I've found that the book
Windows 7: Up and Running: A Quick, Hands-On Introduction
by Wei-Meng Lee is an excellent guide to get you to that point of relative
competency on Windows 7, while also showing you some of the cool new stuff
you can do with it. I probably would have done much better had I
read this earlier in m [read] Keywords: application
applications
security
vista
3
Book Review - Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
Tue, Mar 9th 2010 10:06p Thomas Duff Crush
It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
by Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those books I see coming up repeatedly on
blogs I follow and with people I follow on Twitter. So, in order
to find out why this book is so popular, I got a copy from our local library
and gave it a quick read. And at only 142 pages, it *is* a quick
read. But what Vaynerchuk has to say can, if taken to heart and practiced,
make a significant difference in your life, career, and passion.
Content:
[read] Keywords: community
facebook
networking
twitter
3
Book Review - The Imposter - How a Juvenile Criminal Succeeded in Business and Life by Kip Kreiling
Tue, Mar 9th 2010 8:36p Thomas Duff I was recently contacted by Kip Kreiling,
the author of The
Imposter - How a Juvenile Criminal Succeeded in Business and Life,
asking if I would be interested in reading and reviewing his book. The
subject matter sounded interesting... basically how he overcame a *very*
rough life of crime and substance abuse as a kid growing up, turning his
life around with some transformational principles he learned along the
way. I must say I was quite impressed with his book. It's well
written wit [read] Keywords:
8
Book Review - The Conch Killers by Chip Giles
Thu, Mar 4th 2010 10:14p Thomas Duff As I get further behind in my reading,
I find myself saying "no" to more book offers than I used to.
It takes a bit more to break through my "I'd like to, but..."
now. But I'm a sucker for a good Florida crime genre novel, especially
if it has a touch of Dorsey or Hiaasen in it. When Chip Giles mentioned
those two names in his email to offer me The
Conch Killers, I had to relent
and say yes to a copy. And it was worth the read... Tad Hunter
and Ramon Garcia are two humorous addition [read] Keywords: bug
email
exchange
exchange
