Vision

I read a good definition of vision today.

Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.

- Bill Hybels (in Courageous Leadership)

SF book meme

There is a 'meme' going around at the moment about Science Fiction Books
I found it from Simon Chamberlain who saw it on "Walt At Random" who found out about it from "Thinking out Loud" who was triggered off by "The Essential Kit".

These kinds of things go on and on around the internet all the time. Normally I am not interested but I have been getting into science fiction a little bit recently so it is interesting to see what books other think are good.

Here are the rules:
Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished, put a star next to the ones you love, and put a [?] beside ones that you think you may have read but can't really remember. Just to add to the fun I have added another option [!] a book I own but haven't yet had a chance to read, or in my case because my brother borrowed it and hasn't gotten around to giving it back...

Now it is interesting to see what an individual blogger has read and thinks is good etc, but I think this is an example of where aggregation would be really helpful. It would be cool if we could see that 86% of people who did this survey liked JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I think this potential for aggregation is why sites like LibraryThing, Delicious, Flickr and other "social" sites are so popular. People want to see how there content, likes and dislikes, etc compare with other people.

Anyway enough rambling here is my list.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov *
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute [!]
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson *
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

NZ -> UK -> US ->NZ

I have finally succeeded in uploading all my photo from the my trip. Since it has taken me so long i though I should probably go through and link to all the blog posts about my trip. It started off being a sort of travelog type thing but due to time constrains deteriorates into just photos from the various places I visited.

Roughly in order of events:
Flying Brunskills
Colchester
Lavenham
Bury St Edmonds
Westminster Abby, Big Ben and The London Eye
Changing of the Guards (Buckingham Palace)
Greenwich (The Royal Observatory, Maritime Museum, Thames Barrier)
Windsor Castle (The Queens Weekend Residence)
The British Museum
Sherlock Holmes Museum
The Tower of London
HMS Belfast
San Francisco
BEA World Conference

In the Chair

A interesting company has just opened its doors, it offers you the ability to play your instrument along with professional bands and orchestras. Their software gives you feed back on how well you are playing and fitting in the with the music. See: http://www.inthechair.com/

I play drums and sometimes saxophone (both very badly due to the fact that I never practice) in a band (The Jandal Society) one of the best things about it is that I get to hear how my instrument sounds with other musicians rather than how it sounds in my bedroom. In other words In the Chair has just given us all one less reason to meet with people in real life! Someone please tell me there isn't a Secondlife Orchestra?

Cynicism aside, I think this is a really good idea it will help people to achieve a higher level of playing, before they join a band and have to learn how to play for real...

First and Follow Sets Page - Updated

This probably isn't that relevant to many people, but I just wanted to let the world know that I have finally gotten around to updating my First and Follow Sets page. It now displays correctly on any unicode complient browser.

If you are wondering what First and Follow sets are, they are used by computers when 'compiling' software.

Time - Best Inventions of 2006

Time has released it's annual "best inventions of the year feature". Check it out online here:
http://www.time.com/time/2006/techguide/bestinventions/

Here are some of my favorites:



- This saw senses when it comes into contact with something soft (like a finger) and automatically stops the blade. It must have been a bit of fun testing it, "Hey mate, just stick your finger into this spinning saw blade, Oh argh I was sure I had it right that time, oh well you still have 9 fingers".




- How cool would it be to sleep on a bed suspended from the floor by magnets!





- This machine sucks fresh water out of the air. That has to be the coolest thing since sliced bread.





- This one turns straw into a useful building material. No more big bad wolf stories with this tool in the picture.

A Tiger at Hamilton Zoo

I'm testing out another photo site called Zooomr it has some cool features, but flickr does seem to be catching up adding geo locations etc. It will be interesting to see what zooomr brings out next.

Groom and Groomsmen

Groom and Groomsmen, originally uploaded by Azzaroni.

Yes, I was a groomsman once...

Photo Credits: Stephen Barker www.barkerphotography.co.nz

James Brunny tees off at Pitch n Putt

James Brunny tees off at Pitch n Putt, originally uploaded by Azzaroni.

I didn't know I was now called "James Brunny" but I guess that will have to do.
Note: I don't really know how to play golf.

A Sea Gull in a fountain

A Sea Gull in a fountain, originally uploaded by jambe.

Just one of many novelties in beautiful Sausalito

Mother Duck and Ducklings

IMG_0136, originally uploaded by jambe.

Bethany aka The Dog

Bethany aka The Dog, originally uploaded by jambe.

The Dog

The Dog, originally uploaded by jambe.

Well I posted a photo of the cat and a pigeon, now it is time for the dog. (Only about 365 million more animals to go, I'm glad I only have to feed them when everyone else is away!)

A baby duck in lilypads

A baby duck in lilypads, originally uploaded by jambe.

This has got to be one of my favourite photo's that I have taken.

A white pigeon

A white pigeon, originally uploaded by jambe.

The Cat

Our Cat, originally uploaded by jambe.

It is a pretty well know fact that you are not a "real" blogger until you have posted a photo of your cat. Actually this cat belongs to my sister, but it will have to do :)

Dan

Dan, originally uploaded by jambe.

Here is one of my favourite shots from my new camera. It is so good to be able to control depth of field!