Monster Hunter International & Vendetta

Larry Correia has made a name for himself in the gun world by writing action-packed fantasy with extremely accurate descriptions of the weapons used by his characters.

I really enjoyed Monster Hunter International. It was fast paced and the characters were interesting. I won't go into any further detail, but I give it the official Brick's Good Read Recommendation.

I picked up the second book, Monster Hunter Vendetta, when it came out. I must confess that it was slightly disappointing. It was more of the same (good), but I have grown weary of stories that always involve saving the world (bad). MHI had the advantage of being novel. Since I was familiar with the characters, Vendetta had less to offer and was viewed with a more critical eye. It was not without it's moments - I laughed out loud at some of the jokes about the G-nomes (especially the one carrying the P22) and the troll. In these instances, Correia blends fantasy, guns, and the internet cultures very well.

I will probably pick up the next book, but I hope he can tell a story that isn't dependent on saving the universe.

Red Light Cameras

I am not totally comfortable with the red light cameras. I'm not convinced they prevent accidents which should be the primary goal. One of my concerns is about an automated system to penalize citizens. According to this article, at least there appears to be human oversight. On the flip side, how good is a system where you throw out 47% of the transactions?

Technician Class License Study Guide - a No-nonsense Amateur Radio Study Guide

I wish I had found Technician Class License Study Guide - a No-nonsense Amateur Radio Study Guide before I shelled out the money for the ARRL book.

If you don't want it in PDF, you can get it for a Kindle or iPad for a small fee.

On The Rocks

My XYL likes The Sing Off. I half pay attention and surf while it is playing. I heard them say that "On the Rocks" was a YouTube hit. I see why.

Shoot House

I found a new place to practice - the KPD Shoot House.

2010 Twitter Year in Review

Calling it "The 10 Most Powerful Tweets of 2010", Twitter has a look back at 2010.

Training Drills

I really wish I had a better place to shoot. The range limits you - only one target, no drawing from holster to shoot. I don't really blame them given the close quarters.

With more room and fewer restrictions, I think these drills would be a good place to start.

Dealing with Secrets in the Internet Age - WikiLeaks

From Bruce Schneier on WikiLeaks...

"5. I think the government is learning what the music and movie industries were forced to learn years ago: it's easy to copy and distribute digital files. That's what's different between the 1970s and today. Amassing and releasing that many documents was hard in the paper and photocopier era; it's trivial in the Internet era. And just as the music and movie industries are going to have to change their business models for the Internet era, governments are going to have to change their secrecy models. I don't know what those new models will be, but they will be different."

Here Bruce acknowledges the very phenomenon that I thought he was ignoring when talking about cyber warfare. The world is changing - change with it or get left behind.

Christmas Music

If I was limited to only one Christmas album, it would be "A Christmas Together" with John Denver and the Muppets.



And I can't really explain it, but "When the River meets the Sea" is one of my favorites. I guess it has a positive message about the afterlife, but it is about dying. There must be something about that theme that resonates with me, since I like "It is well with my Soul."

940 BC Topic: Exploding Glassware - The End of Quality

The 940 BC guys were talking about exploding glassware. This sounds like another example where cost savings has trumped quality.

And if it isn't cost savings killing quality, then it is environmental do-gooders. They restricted the phosphates in dish detergents and now we end up washing dishes by hand or running them through the dishwasher twice. Brilliant.