Category: Aa

Colours in the Steel — K. J. Parker

By 5t4n5

Colours in the Steel -- K. J. ParkerHaving read K. J. Parker’s “The Seige” trilogy some time ago, i thought i’d go back to the beginning and begin to give his whole back catalogue a good read at.

Colours in the Steel is K. J. Parker’s first book in his first ever triology: “The Fencer”.   And guess what, it’s really good.

There’s just so much going on in this book to keep you enthralled and entertained, with lots of great characters that you can really get on board with, and lots of action as well.

If you haven’t read a good castle/walled-city seige story, then i would suggest you give ” The Seige” trilogy a go to start with, because it’s just soooo good.   And if you enjoy that, which you’re bound to do, then you’ve got this story waiting in the wings to satisfy your appetite for more.   Because one thing is for sure, K. J. Parker does write a really good seige story.

And with all that written i’m going to dive straight into the second book, Belly of the Bow.

K. J.’s Page

#fantasy #kjparker

Machine Vendetta — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Machine Vendetta -- Alastair ReynoldsAnother Prefect Dreyfus story from the glitter band, which we’ve been waiting a while for, but it was worth the wait.

For me, one of the best bits of the whole Revelation Space series are the stories within Yellowstone and the Glitter Band, and this story didn’t disappoint.

Alastair at his very best.

And lets all hope that there’ll be a few more Yellowstone and the Glitter Band stories to come still.

Next up in the Revelation Space series it’s Diamond Dogs.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #revelationspace #alastairreynolds

The Vital Abyss — James S. A. Corey

By 5t4n5

The Vital Abyss -- James S. A. CoreyAnother side story, this time concerning the prisoners that the Belters captured from the original Protogen project in Leviathon Wakes.

All the prisoners have been put into one large room and are continuously watched over from above by the Belters who guard them.   For them, after their crimes, there is no future, nothing at all, beyond the walls of this room.

And then, one day, or night, the man from Mars turns up and begins to offer hope, if only to one of them, but which one will it be?

A really good novella, that can be read as soon as the Belters have taken them prisoner, or anytime thereafter.

Next up in the series is Cibola Burn.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

Abaddon’s Gate — James S. A. Corey

By 5t4n5

Abaddon's Gate -- James S. A. CoreyI didn’t find this book as good as the previous ones, which i put down to a character thing.

Too much christian waffle: i live in hope that by the time Hominids are travelling the whole solar system we’ll have gotten over this all the organised religion thing and seen it for what it truly is.   I found it beyond tragic that people were still clinging to this twaddle.

And i also found Clarissa just tedious and annoying: like a lot of spoiled rich brats that i’ve known in my life.   I really don’t like reading about them and having to endure their thinking.

Still, it has it’s good parts, which do balance the few crap characters and religiosity out and offer some redemption (pun intended) for those expecting something better.

I’ve now dived straight into The Vital Abyss, which is much better and more like what i expect from this series.

James’ Page

#theexpanse #scifi #jamessacorey

The Girl and the Moon — Mark Lawrence

By 5t4n5

The Girl and the Moon -- Mark LawrenceAnd so we’re back in the corridor, at Sweet Mercy, where it all began in the original trilogy.

Once again, i felt that dragging tedious feeling i had with the previous books in this trilogy, except this time it wasn’t due to plodding over the ice.   This time it mostly came down to this never ending cat and mouse game with Seus and Eular, both of which aren’t very exciting baddies and don’t exactly get one excited.   In fact they just continued to disappoint me with the fact that they keep not dying when that’s all i wanted them to do from about 50% in, just so we could get it all over with.

Ok, i have to admit that i read the whole trilogy all the way through, so it couldn’t have been that bad.   But, it definitely could have been a lot better and lot lot lot faster paced.

Anyways, it’s all over now and i can go and read some other more exciting things.

Mark’s Page

#fantasy #marklawrence

Seymour Papert

By 5t4n5

Seymour Papert

“An unknown but certainly significant proportion of the population has almost completely given up on learning. These people seldom, if ever engage in deliberate learning and see themselves as neither competent at it nor likely to enjoy it. The social and personal cost is enormous.

Although negative self-images can be overcome, in the life of an individual they are extremely robust and powerfully self-reinforcing. Deficiency becomes identity: “I can’t learn French, I don’t have an ear for languages;” “I could never be a businessman, I don’t have a head for figures;”…

If people believe firmly enough that they cannot do math, they will usually succeed in preventing themselves from doing whatever they recognize as math. The consequences of such self-sabotage is personal failure, and each failure reinforces the original belief. And such beliefs may be most insidious when held not only by individuals, but by our entire culture.”

Source: Mindstorms (lightly edited for clarity)

#5t4n5 #quotes #seymourpapert

5t4n5-48 Keyboard Typing Progress 49.82 WPM

By 5t4n5

On day 6 of my 5t4n5-48 adventure i managed to nearly hit 50 wpm . . .

5t4n5-48 Keyboard Typing Progress 49.82 WPM

. . . that’s well past my final Lily58 speed.

And 100% accuracy as well.  

This was after i O-ring modded it with two 2.5mm O-rings per keycap.   This sounds like a little overkill, but these are Akko Crystal Silver switches which have a very short activation point, and XDA keycaps which are quite deep.   Basically, if you want to get the speed out of these switches you need to O-ring each keycap well enough that they just activate reliably and then you want them to return as quick as possible.   The other way you can think of it is that every split second that the switch is depressed past its reliable activation point adds up over all the years of typing you will do in your life, ergo, every moment past that reliable activation point is a total waste of your life.

I’ll update next when i improve a bit more.

Bye for now!!!

#5t4n5 #colemakdh #mechanicalkeyboards #monkeytype #5t4n548 #keebs

I Designed and Built My Very Own Custom Keyboard

By 5t4n5

Unveiling the 5t4n5-48 . . .

5t4n5-48 Keyboard

I had a few issues with the Lily58 that i didn’t quite get on with.   I made the row stagger more pronounced to match my finger length, which really does allow my fingers to relax more.   And i added the extra thumb buttons because i wanted dedicated Delete and Enter keys.

Sadly it lowered my speed a little, but that’s only temporary, and as i can relax more on this keyboard i’m sure that it will ultimately give better speed in the end.

5t4n5-48 Keyboard Typing Progress 38.65 WPM

There are a few niggles that i’m going to iron out in the Rev-2, but for now i’m really pleased with the improvement over the Lily58.

I’ll keep y’all up to date with my progress.

Bye for now!!!

#5t4n5 #colemakdh #mechanicalkeyboards #monkeytype #5t4n548 #keebs