tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76079492024-03-08T04:56:48.274+10:00neoporcupineHappy just to be alive.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-36215934086527692202024-01-01T11:11:00.003+10:002024-01-01T11:12:32.524+10:00Books Read 2023Below are the books that I read during 2023 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthorBook#5Pirate CinemaCory Doctorow15None of This Is TrueLisa Jewell15JulianGore Vidal5Portal to Nova Roma ‡J.R. Mathews14Portal to Nova Roma: Venice ‡J.R. Mathews23Portal to Nova Roma: The Rhine ‡J.R. Mathews35Red Team BluesCory Doctorow5Artificial Jelly 1 ‡Dustin Graham14Artificial Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-69776803960411558712023-01-01T09:24:00.001+10:002023-01-01T09:28:27.691+10:00Books Read 2022Below are the books that I read during 2022 and my rating out of 5.RateTitleAuthor#5Heaven's River ‡ Dennis E. Taylor44Lives 1-5 ‡Arthur Stone15Lovers Lost ‡Arthur Stone2518 and Up ‡Arthur Stone35Nightmare Mode ‡Arthur Stone45Blade of the Ancients ‡Arthur Stone55The Last Crossing ‡Arthur Stone65The Crafting of Chess ‡Kit Falbo14The Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-52354672961930063262022-01-28T13:44:00.001+10:002022-01-28T13:44:57.305+10:00300+ best LitRPG books updated 2022The full "Neo's Long List of LitRPG" contains 375 LitRPG series (as of 2022-01-28), and is frequently updated. The list is ranked by the GoodReads rating (at the time of review / update of that entry). Neo's list includes links to the GoodReads page, the amazon kindle page, and audible.com page (requires you to be logged into audible.com to work).
#Book Title (#1)Author(s)Series TitleRating
Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-5491545963676782842021-12-28T12:15:00.003+10:002021-12-28T12:25:24.960+10:00Books Read 2021Below are the books that I read during 2021 and my rating out of 5.
5Project Hail Mary ‡Andy Weir ⓘ
5Attack Surface ‡Cory Doctorow2 ⓘ
5The Happiest Man on Earth ‡Eddie Jaku ⓘ
5Eat, Slay, Love ‡Eric Ugland10 ⓘ
5Killing Them Awfully ‡Eric Ugland11
5All Systems Red ‡Martha Wells1 ⓘ
5Artificial Condition ‡Martha Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-55623773291828800372021-01-01T08:04:00.000+10:002021-01-01T08:04:13.602+10:00Books Read 2020Below are the books that I read during 2020 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthorDuration
5Stuff and Nonsense ‡Andrew Seiple10h40m ⓘ
5Opening Moves ‡Cosimo Yap12h26m ⓘ
5Earth's Gambit ‡Cosimo Yap10h41m ⓘ
5Sacrificial Pieces ‡Cosimo Yap9h25m ⓘ
5Ruthless ‡Dakota Krout12h08m ⓘ
5Scamps & Scoundrels ‡Eric Ugland11h29m &Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-6599891017934291122019-12-30T08:06:00.001+10:002021-01-01T08:05:08.815+10:00Books Read 2019Below are the books that I read during 2019 and my rating out of 5
RatingTitleAuthorLength
5Raze: Completionist Chronicles Series, Book 4Dakota Krout10h 28m
5GuestE. Stoops9h 4m
5Tiamat's Wrath: The Expanse, Book 8James S. A. Corey19h 8m
5An Officer and a SpyRobert Harris16h 4m
4Ritualist: Completionist Chronicles, Book 1Dakota Krout12h 6m
4Regicide: The Completionist Chronicles Series, Book Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-39497050837460529182019-10-24T10:34:00.002+10:002019-10-24T10:34:53.186+10:00Atomic Armageddon Graphic Novel (aka comic)
I stumbled across the graphic novelisation of the short film "Atomic Armageddon" that I made about 12 years ago, and found it rather funny. I amuse me, who'd have thought. Give it a read and let me know what you think. Maybe even watch the short film.Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-12552912339874393902019-02-02T14:03:00.001+10:002019-02-02T14:03:44.168+10:00Books Read 2018Below are the books that I read during 2018 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthorLength
5The Happiest RefugeeAnh Do6h 31m
5AlterWorld: Play to Live, Book 1D. Rus12h 13m
5Inferno: Play to Live, Book 4D. Rus9h 58m
5The Clan: Play to Live, Book 2D. Rus12h 24m
5The Duty: Play to Live, Book 3D. Rus11h 23m
5Dungeon Born: Divine Dungeon Series, Book 1Dakota Krout12h 32m
5Dungeon Calamity: Divine Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-83048515614878780292018-02-24T13:29:00.002+10:002019-10-15T13:11:44.286+10:00VelectriX Ascent+29 (2018) e-bike
New bike day! VelectriX Ascent+29 (2018) electric power assisted mountain bicycle.
I moved to a suburb 12km farther out from work (now a 35km trip, 70km return), to a very hilly suburb with no protected cycling paths. I found that I was quite exhausted tackling the nearby hills on my road bike before I even got 5km out. I started cycling less, which ended up effectively being a two year breakSimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-53303840218105578002018-01-15T06:50:00.001+10:002018-05-25T09:17:02.782+10:00Books Read 2017Below are the books that I read during 2017 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthorDuration
5ArtemisAndy Weir8h 59m
5Walk AwayCorey Doctorow19h 00m
5All These Worlds: Bobiverse, Book 3Dennis E. Taylor7h 55m
5For We Are Many: Bobiverse, Book 2Dennis E. Taylor8h 58m
4Children of TimeAdrian Tchaikovsky16h 30m
4Magpie MurdersAnthony Horowitz15h 47m
4The Bone ClocksDavid Mitchell24h 29m
4The Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-20536068421174721572017-01-02T12:59:00.000+10:002018-05-25T09:21:01.293+10:00Books read 2016Below are the books that I read during 2016 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthor
5The Book of RalphChristopher Steinsvold
5We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1Dennis E. Taylor
5Leviathan Wakes: Book 1 of the ExpanseJames S. A. Corey
5Caliban's War: Book 2 of the ExpanseJames S. A. Corey
5The DispatcherJohn Scalzi
5Forging Zero: The Legend of ZEROSara King
5Hard Luck Hank: Screw Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-12266894588106310412016-01-01T11:42:00.001+10:002018-01-15T06:50:45.286+10:00Books read 2015Below are the books that I read during 2015 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthor
5Origins of a D-List SupervillainJim Bernheimer
5AnathemNeal Stephenson
5Seveneves: A NovelNeal Stephenson
5Year Zero: A NovelRob Reid
5The Wasp FactoryIain Banks
5The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustClaire North
5Flowers For AlgernonDaniel Keys
5Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1B. V. Larson
5Dust Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-45946407009424387502015-04-07T08:31:00.000+10:002018-04-18T12:39:06.799+10:00Command line calendar for WindowsI created a command line calendar utility that others may find useful. Download the zip file from here. I originally coded this as an exercise in Turbo Pascal, translated into Delphi, then recently recoded into PureBasic which can create tightly compiled stand alone console executables - about one quarter the size of Delphi executables.
You can use the utility to create a MSWord doc using a monoSimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-68833907326552372532014-12-28T15:56:00.001+10:002018-01-15T06:51:34.013+10:00Books read 2014Below are the books that I read during 2014 and my rating out of 5.
RatingTitleAuthor
5+The MartianAndy Weir
5+Ready Player OneErnest Cline
5+Gone Girl: A NovelGillian Flynn
5InfluxDaniel Suarez
5GatewayFrederik Pohl
5The World at the End of TimeFrederik Pohl
5At the Mountains of MadnessH. P. Lovecraft
5Against a Dark BackgroundIain M. Banks
5Feersum EndjinnIain M. Banks
5Look to Windward: Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-81395820063669365002014-01-01T15:54:00.000+10:002018-01-15T06:54:24.319+10:00Books read 2013Below are the books that I read during 2013 and my rating out of 5. Nearly all books were sourced via audible.com
RatingTitleAuthor
514Peter Clines
5Absolution GapAlastair Reynolds
5Blue Remembered EarthAlastair Reynolds
5Brave New WorldAldous Huxley
5Chasm CityAlastair Reynolds
5Ender's Game Alive: The Full Cast AudioplayOrson Scott Card
5Great North Road - Part OnePeter F. Hamilton
5Great Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-1078386331616903522013-09-04T13:45:00.000+10:002013-09-04T13:45:28.111+10:00Locate the local path for Google Drive, DropBox, SkyDrive in VBscriptWhen scripting up a storm, I sometimes need to place output into folders that I know will be stored in the cloud. The following script set will return the folder on the local windows drives where the cloud apps will be syncing their files, or an empty string if the script fails due to the cloud application having not been installed or some other issue such as Microsoft moving their registry Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-83221501337479028922012-07-12T14:39:00.000+10:002013-09-04T13:36:34.370+10:00Normal distribution from uniform random in VBscriptBecause everyone needs to generate a normally distributed random number set at least once in their life, right? Why not do it in the programming language that comes with nearly every version windows since Microsoft started ripping off Apple.
' * Static *
Dim NormalRandToggle, NormalRandTemp
Function NormalRand(ByVal thisMean, ByVal thisStandardDev)
' Outputs Gaussian/Normal distributed random Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-26154850424111276882012-01-20T08:11:00.001+10:002016-01-28T11:08:50.036+10:00Windows 64bit scripting host forced into 32bitError: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified
Code: 80004005
Using Windows Script Host (WSH, CScript, VBS) to access Microsoft Access database files will bring this error up in 64 bit Windows. You need to force your script to run in 32 bit mode. The following code attached to the top of your script should detect if you are in a 64 bit Windows Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-5402327999754650832010-12-18T16:24:00.001+10:002011-04-01T09:55:22.496+10:00Australia likes foreignersBabies are the major increase in the Australian population. These babies are not contributing to the economy! Apparently they get taxpayer money in the form of a "baby bonus" the year they arrive! They are unskilled, have no intention of seeking employment, can't speak the language, ignore our customs and will eventually compete for our jobs! Do you realise how much it will cost to train these Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-70589940763952686452010-10-23T12:52:00.001+10:002010-10-23T14:53:57.245+10:00Energy Companies in QueenslandEnergy billing companies appear to be on the march for a hard sell. If someone like the deplorable Integral Energy comes to your door, you should NOT give them anything, avoid their request to see your bill and ask them to leave.
Given this sort of hard sell practice, I would strongly encourage anyone with this company to transfer to a different one, as there are PLENTY to choose from.
IntegralSimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-52316524763396322862009-12-21T20:03:00.006+10:002010-06-23T08:54:48.161+10:00Start up Windows software optionallyThere are plenty of good software programs that will do this for you, but if you don't want to trust anyone else then you can write it all yourself.
Start NotePad and customise the following script to point at the software you want to load optionally.' Ask if you want to optionally start a program
RunMyProgram "Pidgin", "C:\Program Files\Pidgin\pidgin.exe"
'RunMyProgram "Skype", "C:\Program Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-32978251754736782632009-06-17T16:48:00.008+10:002011-01-07T09:00:20.683+10:00SAS - How merge (mal)functionsThe normal MERGE statement in SAS simply fouls up on MANY to MANY relationships. You are far better off using SQL but even then there are pitfalls. Check the examples below.
Data setsSetASETA
Alpha Beta Desc
1000 1 Ax1 Bx2
2000 2 Ax1 Bx0
4000 3 Ax2 Bx1
4000 4 Ax2 Bx1
5000 5 Ax3 Bx2
5000 6 Ax3 Bx2
5000 7 Ax3 Bx2
SetBSETB
Alpha Gamma
1000 11
1000Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-15204228445259137112009-05-26T22:19:00.006+10:002009-05-30T14:15:10.129+10:00Audio BooksAudio books are much better than I thought.I have occasionally listened to radio readings every now and again, they were on at strange times and were usually serialised into timeslots that I could never arrange into consistent listening sessions. I borrowed the star wars trilogy dramatisation on CD from a friend and was blown away by the show in audio.A number of years ago I spotted some free Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-52535567464723099272009-04-21T23:48:00.004+10:002009-04-22T00:34:31.354+10:00Shutdown Windows Laterat 23:45 shutdown -sFor when you want to leave the computer on but have it shutdown at some later point in time. Just open up a command prompt (click "Start" (and "RUN" in XP) and type CMD and tap enter) then type the above command tap enter. Yes you can close the CMD prompt dialogue.To get this to work in Windows Vista you are going to have to get the command prompt to run as administrator. Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7607949.post-49593210255321138552009-03-08T08:48:00.001+10:002009-03-08T08:48:41.595+10:00Save the whales, again.The International Whaling Commission had placed a moratorium on whaling since the mid 80s with an exception for scientific studies which Japan has been abusing ever since. Norway just ignores the moratorium and hunts under its own regulations. The moratorium was to allow for the conservation of whale stock because of over hunting.During the 18 year Japanese scientific whaling program there were Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665625863984599164noreply@blogger.com0