tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75826692024-03-17T10:19:46.806-06:00A Nod to NothingPretty much as it says, a lot of nothing about nothingScooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.comBlogger3492125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-46669416351471276972024-03-09T11:40:00.001-06:002024-03-09T11:40:07.308-06:00Key to the City: London<p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am watching Rahdo's video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_XHAzuCsVo">Key to the City: London</a> walkthrough, and the jerky camera action is making me sick to my stomach. At first I didn't realize why I wasn't feeling good. I briefly entertained, "Did Caribou give me tainted coffee?" </span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's like The Blair Witch, but with London architecture [although The Blair Witch never made me nauseous like it did to many other people]. </span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">I paused and started the video twice and it got better. For Klund if he sees this, based on the bid/bluff/when-to-cut-and-run-for-benefit nature of this game, it's a lot more cutthroat than I expected for a touristy London game. It'll be a good game for after-hours Gameholecon gaming along the lines of Power Grid.</span></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5_XHAzuCsVo?si=o4StE50ddbFjywy5" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-23531929456180749492024-02-25T19:29:00.002-06:002024-02-25T19:29:40.103-06:00Balatro<p>I don't know how obvious it is from my posts, but in addition to being an obsessive board gamer, I am also a somewhat obsessive video gamer. This isn't going back nearly far enough, but Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox, Steam [doh, forgot Wii, and others]....and, of course, simply downloading/buying and installing for, um....40 years? Wow....that seems like a long time.</p><p>I downloaded this tonight. Rather than doing something fantasy or scifi based, Balatro took straight up poker hands and turned it into a level climber. It's difficult to say "that's brilliant" because it really should have been done before. But, damn....that's brilliant.</p><p>If you like poker, this is a FUN game. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXKs5AUtW5H0XPmS4tPTwj5e19N_NF17s4sLiW9y7cSsf5TaVjZgqIM1aKv-7hX3kyT270ZcmSL81B1W1HNq1g0yDgfEEPzyPh4Ia0FZY1mNxZ6nLF6_t59cT8qmDnTmjieVkGkEHQ-QR8F3H7tXgHav_vSDx8_nSZZY5Cdv8EXD6kHkynqU/s1362/BALTRO.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="1362" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAXKs5AUtW5H0XPmS4tPTwj5e19N_NF17s4sLiW9y7cSsf5TaVjZgqIM1aKv-7hX3kyT270ZcmSL81B1W1HNq1g0yDgfEEPzyPh4Ia0FZY1mNxZ6nLF6_t59cT8qmDnTmjieVkGkEHQ-QR8F3H7tXgHav_vSDx8_nSZZY5Cdv8EXD6kHkynqU/w400-h120/BALTRO.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-16734570641983172062024-02-25T10:00:00.002-06:002024-02-25T10:00:44.574-06:00Reading January/February 2024<p>I'm publishing my reading list for January/February a bit early so I don't lose it down behind a lot of other posts. I aimed for 40/50 pages a day, which is really 50/day almost to the page not including the two graphic novels. Oops, images before the day-to-day list this time, but that's ok. It'll mix it up a bit.</p><p>I did actually get some other reading done as well given I have a whole week before March, but the book I'm reading is over 1000 pages, so I'm not deluded into thinking I'll finish before end of month. I wrote a separate post on Witch King. Avoid the Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror Volume 4. Some excellent writers in the collection, but not their best work imo. Sanderson's writing is enjoyable. As I understand it, I have two books left in that series and the fifth one comes about November 2024? I better read them more slowly.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9csLHz1w_chwOlIB_CklVMCZXZQbZutOKQMcU2VzIlODnlKt8HRr3pBokGOKiz3hoR4kZUX3QdPabfotWo9nbGUP8_BkzkLZ1rpZvCLMg8r-DgXEfQpNQEhW2_YaV34MfwdkPFVIbSCjcoqzhccHSuzSY6NnMmSMgUVdlEisgnWpa1eGPz8/s466/January2024BookMinorThreats.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="303" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9csLHz1w_chwOlIB_CklVMCZXZQbZutOKQMcU2VzIlODnlKt8HRr3pBokGOKiz3hoR4kZUX3QdPabfotWo9nbGUP8_BkzkLZ1rpZvCLMg8r-DgXEfQpNQEhW2_YaV34MfwdkPFVIbSCjcoqzhccHSuzSY6NnMmSMgUVdlEisgnWpa1eGPz8/s320/January2024BookMinorThreats.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UB42DPIJfD4vfESC17k950msDjbRubMcwHdJp6RlJeulQKu-Rz7FXRyiLPEYqtBnTZPAiARtkrjSuppxizc1DuODH-MkQlrtXrWQAW9aJCXyQJJc9tjrl_EUlO46yp4lAkqv8TwoHRRhqpOaShiU1mJn10FbPVP5dV6ZN_JjLmR7mhQ64WA/s466/January2024BookDisunity.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="303" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UB42DPIJfD4vfESC17k950msDjbRubMcwHdJp6RlJeulQKu-Rz7FXRyiLPEYqtBnTZPAiARtkrjSuppxizc1DuODH-MkQlrtXrWQAW9aJCXyQJJc9tjrl_EUlO46yp4lAkqv8TwoHRRhqpOaShiU1mJn10FbPVP5dV6ZN_JjLmR7mhQ64WA/s320/January2024BookDisunity.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXg_d_ZcGjLNlQZYaWpf1OiAtnVYPJPOkLX-RoOBTvOJJv1wjxiFyWV0yQQz27x1c_57HsTX-r0lF5Ku7TRQKHH6GNMshuyRNBCZm_nFzOY-mqaYXQXy41-eUt5D6AU87fKqEsrGg9Mi5G1CJ0yOzEW2Jl4ea9o-c4CuhUF4LDWbnXAerBf4/s445/FebruaryBookBestHorror.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="306" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXg_d_ZcGjLNlQZYaWpf1OiAtnVYPJPOkLX-RoOBTvOJJv1wjxiFyWV0yQQz27x1c_57HsTX-r0lF5Ku7TRQKHH6GNMshuyRNBCZm_nFzOY-mqaYXQXy41-eUt5D6AU87fKqEsrGg9Mi5G1CJ0yOzEW2Jl4ea9o-c4CuhUF4LDWbnXAerBf4/s320/FebruaryBookBestHorror.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDEvzjujIngjv8sfW9k8A-gkHUswmqh_FAzlgF5xPwRUGUs4JlATIXG-RPHnlLt9Sd2HFKRDS2ZYF2voXt3JcBM7_RBZumeoG4f7JlEJSlkjQNNSF499Pd0RrQT6v7sROihiRoiLLzFEdnXrSDPujYiyYbvhTLmMunJ0b5bw4LlmQDIIDTxI/s466/BookJanuaryWitchKing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="304" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKDEvzjujIngjv8sfW9k8A-gkHUswmqh_FAzlgF5xPwRUGUs4JlATIXG-RPHnlLt9Sd2HFKRDS2ZYF2voXt3JcBM7_RBZumeoG4f7JlEJSlkjQNNSF499Pd0RrQT6v7sROihiRoiLLzFEdnXrSDPujYiyYbvhTLmMunJ0b5bw4LlmQDIIDTxI/s320/BookJanuaryWitchKing.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8JhINhDm7-oUc5U4HoFfjWqksQfbvXCnnIGK_nXtuWdLQdlt42QN9-WQqXvMp4UOSn5WaoyeaRfvpIR7y9NgiLZo61OQAygiqngolJGE0hYyjtMIwH19Kr7Ai1CfuCrmTAkm13PE4LM-vnd5I6bnc7YZScn5i0xqcz92nun5RELUQT8VziY/s466/BookJanuaryStormlight2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="309" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8JhINhDm7-oUc5U4HoFfjWqksQfbvXCnnIGK_nXtuWdLQdlt42QN9-WQqXvMp4UOSn5WaoyeaRfvpIR7y9NgiLZo61OQAygiqngolJGE0hYyjtMIwH19Kr7Ai1CfuCrmTAkm13PE4LM-vnd5I6bnc7YZScn5i0xqcz92nun5RELUQT8VziY/s320/BookJanuaryStormlight2.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTftM6J5U-hcdx0SoDpU6eU7_mXmIdCObH3F_IhqSCtKzMuu3mb_YPFZdZWVgrq7m7gZ_wmLdRokhtiI9c5Tau5brhftQ62m9fFy49T8HW6Fw1cvUMRpXCFVAMXgh0O_RzWaQSqcc3vYa4Y78GzXF6Op24ho-_nTJi9_lIZ2Gp2HeyYVt_1gk/s445/BookFebruaryOctoberMan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTftM6J5U-hcdx0SoDpU6eU7_mXmIdCObH3F_IhqSCtKzMuu3mb_YPFZdZWVgrq7m7gZ_wmLdRokhtiI9c5Tau5brhftQ62m9fFy49T8HW6Fw1cvUMRpXCFVAMXgh0O_RzWaQSqcc3vYa4Y78GzXF6Op24ho-_nTJi9_lIZ2Gp2HeyYVt_1gk/s320/BookFebruaryOctoberMan.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWeJ0PMRsZCtvBxlDDEw42syReAymVmJnr3feyjiQ2VLYYipr_BbdKGypAnGfVzluXZdF2e_096KzmbBMWh0ueyQm3MuERa2Q8k3fIFqCPOaIZXShxM0J72M4ZMgIfgx4bePqyT_ZoBDx9LZO39nuGzFX8Qv1k4aOrVKp8Ui3_6dJxhdth9Gc/s445/BookFebruaryFalseValue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="276" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWeJ0PMRsZCtvBxlDDEw42syReAymVmJnr3feyjiQ2VLYYipr_BbdKGypAnGfVzluXZdF2e_096KzmbBMWh0ueyQm3MuERa2Q8k3fIFqCPOaIZXShxM0J72M4ZMgIfgx4bePqyT_ZoBDx9LZO39nuGzFX8Qv1k4aOrVKp8Ui3_6dJxhdth9Gc/s320/BookFebruaryFalseValue.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bbk85hPjgk51IJLtlVHIQO0recLhVmccPKxId2sCsJOSnTFgnv-sJaQfn1TuefBECio-_maNvYb4gQ01jKrDAELL41LbXn4gKuDTXG767rTPHCy6tughG-l2Kckn_TOwZbWi4D2zTeSvntIzIx1Ai4rR-SUH8tCavrJtUGW-YXugzBV2DTg/s445/BookFebruaryAlteyx.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="339" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Bbk85hPjgk51IJLtlVHIQO0recLhVmccPKxId2sCsJOSnTFgnv-sJaQfn1TuefBECio-_maNvYb4gQ01jKrDAELL41LbXn4gKuDTXG767rTPHCy6tughG-l2Kckn_TOwZbWi4D2zTeSvntIzIx1Ai4rR-SUH8tCavrJtUGW-YXugzBV2DTg/s320/BookFebruaryAlteyx.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<ul>
<li>2/29/2024:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Years-Best-Dark-Fantasy-Horror-ebook/dp/B0C3RML3KP"> The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 4.</a> Edited by Paula Guran. 2023. 354 pages.</li>
<li>2/28/2024:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Years-Best-Dark-Fantasy-Horror-ebook/dp/B0C3RML3KP"> The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 4.</a> Edited by Paula Guran. 2023. 354 pages.</li>
<li>2/27/2024:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Years-Best-Dark-Fantasy-Horror-ebook/dp/B0C3RML3KP"> The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 4.</a> Edited by Paula Guran. 2023. 354 pages.</li>
<li>2/26/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/25/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/24/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/23/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/22/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/21/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/False-Value-Rivers-London-Book-ebook/dp/B07QBLNTX4/">False Value, Book 8 of Rivers of London</a>. Ben Aaronovitch. 2020. 303 pages.</li>
<li>2/20/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/October-Man-Ben-Aaronovitch-ebook/dp/B07RF74PB7/">The October Man</a>, Rivers of London Novella. Ben Aaronovitch. 2019. 140 pages.</li>
<li>2/19/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/October-Man-Ben-Aaronovitch-ebook/dp/B07RF74PB7/">The October Man</a>, Rivers of London Novella. Ben Aaronovitch. 2019. 140 pages.</li>
<li>2/18/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/October-Man-Ben-Aaronovitch-ebook/dp/B07RF74PB7/">The October Man</a>, Rivers of London Novella. Ben Aaronovitch. 2019. 140 pages.</li>
<li>2/17/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/16/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/15/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/14/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/13/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/12/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/11/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/10/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/9/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/8/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/7/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/6/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/5/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/4/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/3/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/2/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alteryx-Designer-Definitive-Joshua-Burkhow-ebook/dp/B0CNFPWVJG/">Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide</a>. Simply and Automate Your Analytics. By Joshua Burkhow. O'Reilly. 2023. 815 pages.</li>
<li>2/1/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/31/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/30/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/29/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/28/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/27/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/26/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/25/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/24/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/23/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witch-King-Martha-Wells-ebook/dp/B0B9KVV7JH">The Witch King</a> by Martha Wells, 2023. 424 pages.</li>
<li>1/22/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/21/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/20/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/19/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/18/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/17/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/16/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/15/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/14/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/13/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/12/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/11/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/10/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/9/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/8/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/7/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/6/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/5/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/4/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/3/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B00DA6YEKS">Words of Radiance, the Stormlight Archive, Book 2</a> - Brandon Sanderson, 2014. 1088 pages.</li>
<li>1/2/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Country-Disunity/dp/1534324739/ref=asc_df_1534324739/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598278803695&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1046178774692835340&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019676&hvtargid=pla-1669760190148&psc=1&mcid=3948e3740c3b353891189b1f6776172f&gclid=CjwKCAiA7t6sBhAiEiwAsaieYrZGZ0WZY2Mj9qOgOZK3ATr51MB4YYT77dEH88TKcEZNqbyRGNOUJhoCpXoQAvD_BwE">Undiscovered Country: Volume 4: Disunity</a>, 2023, 192 pages.</li>
<li>1/1/2024: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Minor-Threats-Patton-Oswalt/dp/1506729991/ref=sxts_entity_rec_bsx_s_def_r00_t_aufl?content-id=amzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a%3Aamzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&crid=1RLR54OC78F1J&cv_ct_cx=patton+oswalt&keywords=patton+oswalt&pd_rd_i=1506729991&pd_rd_r=a4a6f1a7-a8b5-44b8-9afb-5880513f6b59&pd_rd_w=6a88w&pd_rd_wg=AeEea&pf_rd_p=a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&pf_rd_r=0SA7G9FXV0CH59TACBEQ&qid=1704464454&s=books&sprefix=patton+oswalt%2Cstripbooks%2C86&sr=1-1-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0">Minor Threats</a>, Oswalt, 2023</li>
</ul>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-61941988062537568252024-02-25T09:32:00.002-06:002024-02-25T09:32:27.325-06:00Theatre in the Round - Silent Sky<p>I think my lesson here is I can't even keep up day-to-day. That was never really the goal, so I don't think I'll try. But I realize I totally forgot the story about the guy down in the river valley who looked and smelled like my neighbor and his corgi if he had white guy dreads and smelled of so much reefer it lingered for half a mile. Dankest T. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-BCtyiDC9AFPeVsR4lns6XT5rPnkW_QiAQRweH1LOCbpYxiaZMncKTYgPx-Jsj9gykatM71b1dKFj2SI3eLpKAowmwFDs_FKdo8Vm-IBvLfZ7oD2HVIpZyQCUsio-2t-5x_HyvtvLmBXEXchhq3LtDwo5XlqeoLYLsch9ht0Wq_40iAS7gk/s235/silent%20sky.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="235" data-original-width="235" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-BCtyiDC9AFPeVsR4lns6XT5rPnkW_QiAQRweH1LOCbpYxiaZMncKTYgPx-Jsj9gykatM71b1dKFj2SI3eLpKAowmwFDs_FKdo8Vm-IBvLfZ7oD2HVIpZyQCUsio-2t-5x_HyvtvLmBXEXchhq3LtDwo5XlqeoLYLsch9ht0Wq_40iAS7gk/s1600/silent%20sky.png" width="235" /></a></div><br />Friday, my wife and I went to Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson at <a href="https://www.theatreintheround.org/">Theatre in the Round</a>. <p></p><p>Poot missed the last play, The Seagull. I am generally not a fan of Chekhov, but it was an excellent adaptation. Parts of it were funny. I've never met funny Chekhov. Sure, it ended in the typical way for a Chekhov play with a gun and death, but until that happened, it didn't mire in being morose. It's interesting that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seagull">per Wikipedia</a>, it was originally intended as a comedy, that was then retooled to be a tragedy. And before the retooling, it was received so poorly that Chekhov quit playwriting for a while. Came through loud and clear. So much better than Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, or The Cherry Orchard in my opinion, although perhaps that has to do with my encounters with those productions being off-college theater. Is that what it's called when they do Uncle Vanya in a one off large room full of folding chairs and a portable video screen for the trees at the University of Minnesota rather than in the main theater? My primarily memory of Uncle Vanya was that room, almost falling asleep several times, only to be jolted away from passing out by gun shots.</p><p>I had NO idea what to expect from Silent Sky. I stayed away from any descriptions in order to give myself a surprise. <a href="https://www.laurengunderson.com/all-plays/silent-sky">Lauren Gunderson's site</a> says: "The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific and heart-bound discoveries. With music and math bursting forth onstage, Henrietta and her female peers change the way we understand both the heavens and Earth." I joked elsewhere that it was an educational play that would have been right at home on the BBC if you'd dropped a Tardis in the middle of the stage and had some interfering aliens lurking off stage. But despite that bit of being flippant, it was wonderful. It captured the raw effort that went into astronomy and physics in the pre-electronics days, the challenges women faced [including no vote] even when clearly more talented and inspired/passionate than the men they worked with, the lack of opportunity, and the challenges of family and love and the outsized impact they had in a world where travel and communication were so much slower, and the awe at opening up the universe as larger and more amazing than had been believed previously. Great staging with a very sparse set of props, mostly the rotating desks of the women working for the college, that served using the lights and walls to try and give the sense of where the characters were looking and striving, not what they were doing in their day-to-day lives. Although the lesson that even with all of that "out there" there's still a need to be grounded and enjoy what's in front of you was loud and clear.</p><p>The cast was exceptional. Eva Gemlo as Henrietta, Wini Froelich as Williamina, and Rachel Postle as Annie had real chemistry and brought a toughness to their roles that evolved from having each other's backs as women to having each other's backs as women and friends. Ben Qualley as Peter the co-worker and love interest and Clare Rolinger as Margaret the sister rounded out the cast. Peter was believable as a man of the times who was locked to scientific consensus but learned to open his mind at first because of attraction, but then, when life got in the way, as a friend and fellow astrophysicist.</p><p>Thank you to the theatre for an enjoyable night. With the Old Log closing after 84 years, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_in_the_Round_Players">it might now be the oldest non-academic theater in the Twin Cities, 71 years</a>.</p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-10268648351175490612024-02-23T15:34:00.004-06:002024-02-23T15:34:54.103-06:00Adventures in Cycling<p>I took a ride down through the river valley yesterday and when I crossed the river at I35W, pedaled back along the little dead-end spur. It's a super quiet ride with generally very few people and a lot of nature, particularly eagles. However, as I was headed in, about a block or so from the west entry [I made a map. Google doesn't seem to know where the paved entrance is as it's north of that loop], I passed an old guy with his dog slowly walking on the side of the trail. I looked back about 100-200 feet later, and watched him suddenly topple over. It looked like he had slipped in some mud rather than a heart attack or stroke. His dog moved in to snuffle him worriedly.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ulm_ipvKd82SOMqdM4vlhuca7LSjPuHuS8ivKyDUe-MgQ_Hh1TTbOoj9PmyFlNsWmLFO0P202htrBSu31V4qCFfahFbM9YRRdRkHVI6fzfUfEashZPMnQxSLPMFeZEpJxERVk26BySMdTyoAJ-cJLj6piva-y80ZAwK46i2t5uWfBr3_j_E/s1188/cycling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1188" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ulm_ipvKd82SOMqdM4vlhuca7LSjPuHuS8ivKyDUe-MgQ_Hh1TTbOoj9PmyFlNsWmLFO0P202htrBSu31V4qCFfahFbM9YRRdRkHVI6fzfUfEashZPMnQxSLPMFeZEpJxERVk26BySMdTyoAJ-cJLj6piva-y80ZAwK46i2t5uWfBr3_j_E/w640-h400/cycling.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>He wasn't getting up, although he was moving, so I flipped around quick and pedaled back to see if he was ok. The first thing I noticed was drops of blood all over. I thought he'd broken his noise. But then he wasn't standing up, and I started looking for a bone poking out of him somewhere. He was talking, but couldn't stand, and noted it was his age, not that he'd broken anything. While he was talking to me, I could see that he'd broken his glasses and the frame had poked through the side of his head. Hence, blood. But only a small puncture, nothing into the eye or embedded.</p><p>Two teenagers were running past and I asked them to come help. First, so that I could avoid the blood. I have to give up my Memorial donation for a while if I admit to contact with blood. And second, because having had to lift my friend Dan out of a snowbank after he fell, when he was frail from alcoholism, I worried about actually hurting the guy trying to lift him up and not knowing if I was pulling too hard in any one place. They came over and we all three grabbed a spot, lifted evenly, got him to his feet, and held him there while he settled onto his legs and then moved around a bit.</p><p>We spent the next several minutes chatting with him [and his dog]. Getting him to tell us where his car was - he could see the edge through the trees where it was parked - and that he was fine to drive, that he'd scrub, scrub, scrub when he got home, that he'd have someone check on him and take a look at where he'd been bleeding. He was making perfect sense, totally coherent, so we were pretty sure he was ok and could even see where he was going despite the issue with the glasses.</p><p>I wish I had grabbed some contact info so I could check in on him, although he seemed spry enough once he was back on his feet. He was sporting an Elk River American Legion jacket, so he probably even knew the parents of some of the folks I know from Elk River. Glad I was there to give him a hand. Hope someone is there for me when I'm that old and falling over. It's not that far away. And a big thanks to those two teenagers who interrupted their run to help.</p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-69917275100737948342024-02-23T15:16:00.002-06:002024-02-23T15:16:26.515-06:00Alteryx Cloud Quest 2 [includes spoiler]<p><a href="https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Cloud-Quests/Quest-2-Consumer-Purchase-Aggregation/td-p/1242966">This week's Alteryx Cloud Quest</a> was to use the tools to determine the percent of customers who should get a happy meal discount. Using SQL, this is pretty straight forward. So why would you use Alteryx tools and handle the data step by step? Because not everyone understands - or even wants to - SQL. Let alone standing up the tables somewhere in the first place so that they can be queried. Personally, I think everyone should know some SQL in IT because it's a <a href="https://www.nodtonothing.com/2021/10/some-thoughts-on-interviewing.html">base layer applicable to so many other architectures</a>, but I do get that it's a bit like a foreign language as far as some people are concerned. And, if you're using a tool like Alteryx, in the end you can parameter and add some inputs so it's reusable, again, without knowing SQL. You could build a UI over your SQL, and tools exist to automate that [and have forever], but....choices are choices.</p><p>I will say that this was fun for a specific reason....the general pattern was the exact pattern that underpins a Jira query workflow I wrote this week for status updates. So...similarly...I could have used JQL [Jira Query Language] and a macro to get the % done details for a specific subset of epics out of Jira, but laying it out using a Jira connector [to the API] I was able to get at a lot of fields I wouldn't normally dig around in [the Jira fieldset is over 1400 fields] and lay it out the way I wanted to show story count, un/completed story count/% done [raw count, no story points], and even watchers [which is an interesting way of showing how "hot" or interesting an epic is]. Regarding that last point, a better way to handle it would be to count watchers on the stories, not the top level entity. But that's future work. The general pattern was applicable to a whole pile of JQL-like work/reports I wanted and they were all a short copy and modify from my base.</p><p>So a. It works. b. I can extend it to whatever parameters I want, and c. I think I can use it for status updates instead of doing anything manual, saving myself a bunch of time and, more importantly, a lot of unnecessary and confusing conversations. If things were optimal, I'd write it out to Confluence each week and pretty much avoid <b><i>all </i></b>conversation, but even after base64-ing my email + key, Atlassian refused to acknowledge I was allowed to do so much as a get via CURL. I'm pretty sure work has the corporate wiki locked down tight [I did do something similar at my legal job, writing the Cascade pipe and filter data jobs into SVG as they ran and dumping them with their params into visual "run" pages in the wiki that captured the specifics of each run. Amazingly useful. Amazingly underused. I think people wanted deniability for bad runs.</p><p>Here's my output. I could have been a little more efficient, but overall it does what it's supposed to. A number of other submissions avoided certain tools, like crosstab, altogether.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1beAYAqD0alM1qw1scpoLx8owRqbS7Dy4n7nvmGlD4KB7PUFbux-4vxygRN7M0n9o7JdV-7Q8byIS6i2EtQx8MfV5I5ZQu-bLQvDh0CXW5g5hxQcIrAaegJKGoZmNKXcQLEuODvEnps9oF1Q9Vd2w9IcY29QhtH9fW9jmwLP9KXRaDMJuFUs/s2720/CloudQuest2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1927" data-original-width="2720" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1beAYAqD0alM1qw1scpoLx8owRqbS7Dy4n7nvmGlD4KB7PUFbux-4vxygRN7M0n9o7JdV-7Q8byIS6i2EtQx8MfV5I5ZQu-bLQvDh0CXW5g5hxQcIrAaegJKGoZmNKXcQLEuODvEnps9oF1Q9Vd2w9IcY29QhtH9fW9jmwLP9KXRaDMJuFUs/w640-h454/CloudQuest2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-18094700787035142142024-02-19T14:43:00.002-06:002024-02-19T14:43:40.057-06:00Con of the North 2024<div>Warning, a long post. I spent a long weekend - Friday/Saturday/Sunday - at Con of the North in Plymouth, MN. My kid and I went for the first time last year and hosted a few games and had a great time, so we were back this year to do it again.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll cover the games I played, but two are missing photos so I'll cover those first. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155703/evolution">Evolution</a>: started late and the lack of instruction was really frustrating to a few people at the table so that made it go slower after a late start and only an hour to play. I felt bad for a few folks who wanted the game coordinator to weigh in while he was trying to direct three tables, but they couldn't quite make the leap to using common sense in a few cases. That's not a dis. I know it's difficult to just accept a consensus rule sometimes and move forward. Different brains work different ways. A good example was worrying about the "fat" trait to store food. Someone wanted to know if it applied to all creatures they had per the logo. A few of us said "no, it makes more sense that that applies to the single species, it's just always active." But she really wanted an expert opinion rather than moving on. The game made sense to me. You're evolving critters, the more of them in a population, the better you are at feeding them, the more points you make. The bigger they are, the less likely they are to get eaten by someone else's predator [we didn't really have an predators in our round]. Food is limited and you can influence the pool to try and starve creatures and make them vulnerable to predation [and getting fewer victory points]. It's a FAST game with half a dozen people. You burn through the deck of trait cards quick. I could see it as a bar game.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39856/dixit">Dixit</a>: I've played Dixit before. It's one of those games where if you're playing with friends and family you have an edge, because you know how they think and can map their clue to the card on the table they were hinting at without allowing everyone to guess. e.g. if there's a duck with a hat and a monocle, you might say Monopoly or Put it on My Bill and hope that the cards other people are committing to the set have receipts and wheelbarrows so there are at least a few wrong guesses. My favorite parts at this particular round were the other guy at the table acting out walking up infinite steps and, me having to explain my clue, "sonnet", to a teenager. I said "it's like a poem", but it was important to know in the context of the comedy/tragedy mask card if you wanted to make the leap to Shakespeare. That wasn't my favorite part. My favorite part was a few turns later when she was stuck and I asked, "Are you stuck because I already used Sonnet?" She stared me down and after a pause said, "You're old." No debate there. I laughed and noted yes, and too many of those years had been spent studying Shakespeare.</div><div><br /></div><div>On to the games with photos. We did have a very nice breakfast at The Original Pancake House on Friday before we started. The other two days I actually had a hard time finding time to eat something between start and end. Gaming is very unhealthy, because you're either eating Girl Scout Cookies on the run between rooms, or going out afterwards for a late late dinner. There was a place to eat some fast food like fare there as well as the hotel bar, but you still needed a bit of time to eat and that can be extremely hard to come by if your games are pushing their full allotment.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539754984/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Schedule by:"><img alt="CotN Schedule by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539754984_8476c9acd0_h.jpg" width="433" /></a><div><br /></div><div>I hosted three games this year. One per morning. All by Ryan Laukat of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/18617/red-raven-games">Red Raven games</a>. No particular reason. He and I aren't friends or anything. I just like his games and I had played a few solo [as multiple players] end of last year, so I was prepped to direct them.</div><div><br /></div><div>First up, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267319/roam">Roam</a>. It's one of my favorites and less like his other games in that it's fast, and actually a game you can play in a bar. The basic idea is that you're waking up citizens who succumbed to a sleeping sickness. When they awake, they bring a Tetris-like pattern with them on their card that you then use to apply markers to get more cards/people/patterns. How you play your pattern depends on which side of the table you sit on. There are some artifacts that let you move/capture/play optional spots for free. But that's most of it. First person to 10 characters/cards wins.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's Jen sitting there looking at the camera. I had no idea she'd be playing. We worked together at Thomson Reuters [TR]/Westlaw. Fun fact, it was at a TR board game evening that she personally introduced me to my first Red Raven Game, Above and Below. That led to me kickstarting Roam and eventually my collection of Laukat's games [I think I have half a dozen?]. We got in two rounds, same as last year, which is perfect because everyone learns some strategies in the first game they apply to their second game. Not necessarily successfully, but I think everyone feels like they have tactics/experience.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538553847/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Roam by:"><img alt="CotN Roam by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538553847_04f5749724_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After Roam, I headed off to have someone teach me a new game, the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/343526/gi-joe-deck-building-game">G.I. Joe Deckbuilding Game</a>. I've played that one with Klund before in St. Peter and it should be a favorite of mine. I <i>love</i> the theme. But in practice, I'm never quite as excited about it after a round [albeit, only two sessions so far]. It definitely helped that we had a fun table of good gamers that worked well together and propped each other up. We ran into trouble once or twice, but in general kept things moving along nicely even when we didn't get good synchronicity [example, my character let people get rid of cards in their decks, but it only really ever was played on my own deck/discard. I spent more time ensuring other players got rerolls per my cards]. We won, and it took a long time, but I don't think it was necessarily tight.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538553332/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN GI Joe by:"><img alt="CotN GI Joe by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538553332_1028c80682_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It helps the imagination when I get to play the eye candy. Scarlett in movies was <a href="https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rachel-nichols-831607l_7597.jpg">Rachel Nichols</a> and <a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ChCF-Z6Xzg0/maxresdefault.jpg">Samara Weaving</a>. I can pretend I'm the hottest player at the table.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539612403/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN GI Joe Me by:"><img alt="CotN GI Joe Me by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539612403_f4b43333ca_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/157354/five-tribes-djinns-naqala">Five Tribes</a>, also a game I've played before. It uses a mancala mechanism where you pick up the meeples and then drop them one at a time on squares until you pick up all the meeples of the same color in the last square and the specific color triggers an action, as well as the square itself. I love this game, but I always forget exactly how much decision lock it creates for new players. You can spend five minutes just waiting for someone to decide if they want to spend a coin or three coins on the turn order, let alone what to do when faced with all those meeples on a fresh board, or how the genies interact. We had two games running side by side. I was thankful for the player at our table who had the genie who let him place camels, because in the end that seriously sped up the game and allowed us to finish rather than stop or run late. He won. I placed second even with a few bad moves, but I understood the assassin mechanism from the get go, and stole the vizer bonus at the end.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539429106/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN 5 Tribes by:"><img alt="CotN 5 Tribes by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539429106_5aac2acfaf_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I don't think this is from Day 1. That's my kid leading a round of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/240980/blood-clocktower">Blood on the Clocktower</a>. That's the game they played with youtubers at a castle outside London, among other places. Most folks who play this game can't get enough of it. It's social deduction but with basically an almost infinite variety of characters [not really, but everyone is generally a unique character versus "townsfolks" as in some social deduction games]. So there are rounds of eliminating characters, side discussions, and generally a ton of social interaction and joking. Aeryn said this one involved a lot of jokes about forklifts. I suspect you had to be there to appreciate it. Social deduction and push-your-luck are probably two of my least favorite mechanisms, so I'm generally not at these. <br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539428971/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Aeryn BotC by:"><img alt="CotN Aeryn BotC by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539428971_4af6e7219b_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 2. I hosted <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185589/islebound">Islebound</a> in the morning. We didn't quite finish, but we got to a spot that was a good stopping point. I hadn't played with four people before, so I wasn't sure we'd fit in the two hours. The strategy slowed everyone down initially and by the time they were speeding up, we were already getting along in our time limit. The strategy part is that you're a trader/pirate and you're sailing from town to town, conquering, influencing, and trading, as well as building to support your own little trader empire. Coins can be tight and the influence to sway towns to give you "spoils" are finite on a shared board, so there's some strategy for when to grab spots that open up. Otherwise, trade, trade, trade and try to rack up the money and goods you need to drive victory points and build. I think even without finishing, everyone seemed to have a great time. The win condition is 7 houses, and several players had 5 houses, so we weren't that far off.</div><div><br /></div><div>I did miss them trading in their books to buy some of the buildings. The books only allow you to buy from those areas, you don't actually spend them. When I realized they'd snuck it past me, we just rolled with it. Per above and talking about Evolution, sometimes if the rule was broken, you go with a new house rule for a round. I don't think it broke anyone's eventual scoring placement as three of the players applied it equally.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538553222/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Islebound by:"><img alt="CotN Islebound by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538553222_d0f5552e0c_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I played one of my favorite games of the Con, and a new one for me, with the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/710797/tcat-twin-cities-ameritrash">TCAT Board Gaming Group.</a> Amusingly, I thought I was going to be playing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/218421/street-masters">Street Masters</a>, which I own, but have only played a few times with other people. Instead, I ended up playing <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193428/street-fighter-miniatures-game">Street Fighter, the Miniatures Game</a>. Once I figured out how to string combos together appropriately and the mechanics, this was a wonderful game. And not just because I won in the end by mashing both players together into a statue and each other, sumo style.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539756829/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Streetfighter 4 by:"><img alt="CotN Streetfighter 4 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539756829_437043a88e_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's a card-driven game and you're attacking, powering up, and defending. The defense is either standard OR you can try to guess the nature of the attack [with corresponding bonus or penalty] OR you can play a response cards. Most cards have several uses, so part of the game is using/managing them in the best way possible.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538552062/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Streetfighter by:"><img alt="CotN Streetfighter by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538552062_4f85910097_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There were three of us and the other two at the table were guys I'd bumped into at Gameholecon in Madison before. We had a great time.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539756679/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Streetfighter 3 by:"><img alt="CotN Streetfighter 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539756679_ad43b23109_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The guy to my right won a game, so he was happy even with his loss. It was a very tight game. I think I only had a few points of health left at the end despite the win.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539431041/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Streetfighter 2 by:"><img alt="CotN Streetfighter 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539431041_ab833663ad_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256916/concordia-venus">Concordia Venus</a>. I joked that this is basically Catan for snobs, but I don't think that's entirely a misrepresentation. Expand your towns/trading spots, collect wheat and iron and bricks and cloth, but use a series of cards to determine what you can do in any turn and collect more cards to expand your options. We played "couples" style with six players so that's my partner over there in the maroon.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538554372/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Concordia Venus by:"><img alt="CotN Concordia Venus by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538554372_4929a7344b_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Despite being 3.5 hours long [really], I had a wonderful time. A GREAT table of players who were a lot of fun. The table talk is limited/nil per the game, so there's a lot of fun debating what's table talk and what's just friendly advice to the table for n00bs, like me. The guy to my right was frustrated trying to keep track of the scoring, but I took the approach that if I had a sufficient amount of stuff, it'd all work out. So while my partner was busy scoring us new cards [which were point multipliers], I focused on supporting him and getting us out of the game first despite not mentally being able to track the exact nature of who had what points. Worked well. I took us into end game while the other players were resource and money tapped so their last turns were effectively negated while we picked up 7 points plus our move. We won by about 12 [I think], so it was a sound strategy.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539612748/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Concordia Venus 2 by:"><img alt="CotN Concordia Venus 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539612748_994f2d8395_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Day 3. I hosted <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147253/ancient-world">The Ancient World</a> [second edition]. A decade old now. So some of the mechanics feel a little dated, but the game is intuitive and there's a lot to do. Again, we didn't quite finish with four people, but we finished five of the six rounds and we announced it early enough that everyone could maintain their strategy [and all the 'options' are in place by round 4, such as the larger titans]. I am VERY glad I got an empty table to set up on before everyone got there. That probably cut at least 20-30 minutes off the time. Was fun to watch other people play given I've only played it against myself before.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53538550747/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN The Ancient World by:"><img alt="CotN The Ancient World by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53538550747_52b0e61bca_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Basic idea is you're trying to collect colored banners on monster/titan and building cards. Those titans threaten you every turn and you can protect yourself, others, or go after the titans "in the wild". Everything kind of leads toward bonuses for food, ambrosia [lots of uses including pacifying the titans so you can deal with them later], and knowledge and those serve the worker placement to buy armies, buildings, more resources. Again, first few rounds were slow, and then even with more happening sped up as everyone figured out the options.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539755924/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN The Ancient World 2 by:"><img alt="CotN The Ancient World 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539755924_0b81ea62d8_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Despite cutting it a round short, we finished with a few minutes before we had to give our table to the next game, so I told everyone to just push the components into the box and I'd clean up later. It was amusing opening the box this morning to deal with the pile.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539608958/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN The Ancient World Mess by:"><img alt="CotN The Ancient World Mess by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539608958_43e34641cb_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Ah, this looks like G.I. Joe, but it's <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/133038/pathfinder-adventure-card-game-rise-runelords-base">Pathfinder the Card Game</a>. It was fun to bump into an old Thomson Reuters coworker leading this one. Another gamer from TR game nights. He was there with his wife who was also at those game nights [and also works for TR]. I bumped into Brett [manager from TR] and Pete [wife worked at TR] and Jesse [from Virgin Pulse] and Alex [from Virgin Pulse] there as well, so it was a bit of a software networking event in some ways.</div><div><br />I own this one in cardboard as well as digital, although it's been a while.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539612403/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN GI Joe Me by:"><img alt="CotN GI Joe Me by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539612403_f4b43333ca_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We played the starter scenario. Basically, you've got a timer made out of cards, a deck that represents your health made out of cards, and you're searching locations, which are piles made out of cards. Depending on the action or your character, you might end up losing cards [discard or out of the game] or recycling them into your hand of deck, trying to manage your deck while you close out locations so the baddie has fewer places to escape to. We actually cut it fairly tight. There were only three turns [that's people turns, not group turns] left when we caught him, and I had gone to the other pile to sort of "pin" it [officially, guard it] so he couldn't escape over there if he got away during the fight.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539854920/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Pathfinder Cards by:"><img alt="CotN Pathfinder Cards by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539854920_726adcd5cd_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/103660/vivajava-coffee-game">VivaJava: the Coffee Game</a>. I had NO idea this is as old as it is [a decade plus]. I have the dice version of this game, but it's still literally in shrink wrap ten years after I got it. Don't ask me why. It's like an unread book. It happens. It'll be a future surprise for retired Scott or for Sank and Scott at the brewery. We played this NON-dice version with 8 people. It's a push-your-luck, which per above, I'm not fond of, and there is a significant aspect of luck imo, but I had fun. You're collecting beans of various colors, researching to increase your bean count or influence what's in your bag, and then working with a changing team to craft a blend using basically a poker mechanism [full house, five of a kind, etc] based on the beans you each pull at random. I only had yellow beans for a long time, so I wasn't very random. She did tell me everyone had to contribute to the blend, which was a bummer because I thought I could just craft a five bean blend alone for my temporary group.</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing I particularly didn't like was there's a "rainbow" blend. Generally the blends score points and degrade/age until they fall off the scoring continuum. That doesn't happen to a rainbow blend. So an inadvertent rainbow blend in the beginning [which happened] means those three players are going to score points every round for the rest of the game by default. That seems someone broken. I get that it's cool to get all five beans, but it should have a mechanism to age like everything else in some way [even if it's only a limited shelf life, it would still score additional points].<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539608933/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Viva Java by:"><img alt="CotN Viva Java by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539608933_b66e16eb89_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/258036/between-two-castles-mad-king-ludwig">Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig</a>. I played a couple games with Mr. Giraffe, and Aeryn and Alex had a game of Alhambra dice with him. He was a pleasure to play games with, although in this case we didn't have much interaction because you're pretty much only playing with the people to your left and right. The goal is to use the tiles, Carcassonne style, to build a castle. Certain tiles work better together and complement each other. If you collect a set of three of a room type, you get a bonus room/special you can apply. Some rooms are above ground [most], some are below, some are outside. Your score is the LOWEST scoring castle to either side of you. Ah, each round you're looking at a set of tiles and taking two that you can then use for the castles on each side. Those tiles pass, so the options get smaller and smaller.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539855955/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig by:"><img alt="CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539855955_9538e017ad_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There is an ENORMOUS amount of table talk between rounds as you discuss with your partners on each side what your strategy is, what you're passing, what you're receiving, and your best options. We played almost the full two hour slot, and I'd say 90% of that was conversation. I joked to the host Luke that more than anything I've ever played, this reminded me of working with a team to create a software specification. He leads a team of devs himself, so he was very amused [and agreed]. If you're looking for a team game and you're colocated, this would be near the top of my list.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539856205/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 4 by:"><img alt="CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 4 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539856205_0de445db97_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Two of the folks at our table talked about working/volunteering at the Horror Convention that happens in the Twin Cities in the fall. I asked if it was related to Fringe, and they said nope, but understandable that one might think so and the individuals involved have overlap. I mentioned that I had received a flyer to go to Feast at Black Forest and it had a Fringe badge option. One of the players was excited and said I should go, despite my dislike of sauerkraut, and the actress and director were wonderful. I replied that the director was the wife/s.o. of a singer my wife and I had been to see in the Twin Cities a few times recently and really liked, and they both exclaimed, "Leslie<span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">!"</span> and replied that she has volunteered at the Horror Convention. I mentioned it to Leslie on a Facebook post and she said she'd even served on the board. So software networking, board game networking, theater and local arts networking....the Twin Cities are very small if you find yourself in certain circles [as another example, Pete's wife, who I mentioned earlier, who worked with me at TR, worked with another product owner at TR that I know. One of them found the other a job and they worked together before "Surge" went to be a teacher recently. However, Surge also plays music locally and we reconnected when I pedaled up to see Sarah Morris play in Edina and he was unknowingly part of the bill. It was related to him and to Sarah that I learned about Leslie and her music/gigs. Pete is going to have my kid lead Blood on the Clock Tower sessions at CONvergence this summer. Whew.]</div><div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539754839/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 2 by:"><img alt="CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539754839_c27bdbcfc0_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, the castle two up is my "right" castle and this is my "left" castle. 64 and 65 points, so my score was 64. I think 67 was the win.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53539429096/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 3 by:"><img alt="CotN Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53539429096_6a3c8102dd_h.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, an absolutely great weekend and I don't think I'd have factored in lunch time in retrospect at the expense of anything. Thank you to everyone who played with me and hosted games and to my kid for going with me [and hosting games that my friends / ex-coworkers played in].</div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-37871887150953454212024-02-13T20:46:00.002-06:002024-02-13T20:46:30.142-06:00Fair Maps 2.0It looks like my magical mojo of going to Falls Liquors specifically in search of <a href="https://www.minocquabrewingcompany.com/">Minocqua Brewing</a> drinking options may have propitiated the deities of fair maps. That, and maybe some of the money I've directly injected into their state races. This is good news for democracy for our cheesy neighbors. I have this desire to bike to Minocqua at some point this summer. It's a bit of a haul but I think I can visit <a href="https://sank63.wordpress.com/">Sank</a> on the way if I do a three or four day trip and have my wife fetch me once her knees work well enough to drive that far.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/13/wisconsin-senate-new-voter-maps-gerrymandering">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/13/wisconsin-senate-new-voter-maps-gerrymandering<br /></a><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiClHL1JUCqeUnKwPSbPh4np1V0m0tkFvEdKLd24408t1gHy061PSjlmgyEyEvXDC6z6yPMXqBGnQv-VUcZ1bCdTbqkDQP7GvnpOPURv2kTGg0XQI7dUJng_Wrma-5zQoL4meV2EFo519afcXxU-zgKZCw7TJe5BBbYyNwGcd_H_3rqRdllo3U" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="902" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiClHL1JUCqeUnKwPSbPh4np1V0m0tkFvEdKLd24408t1gHy061PSjlmgyEyEvXDC6z6yPMXqBGnQv-VUcZ1bCdTbqkDQP7GvnpOPURv2kTGg0XQI7dUJng_Wrma-5zQoL4meV2EFo519afcXxU-zgKZCw7TJe5BBbYyNwGcd_H_3rqRdllo3U" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53516872992/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53516872992_96415a699d_z.jpg" /></a></div></div></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-7626589590704896792024-02-13T17:54:00.002-06:002024-02-13T17:54:08.113-06:00Alteryx Cloud Quest 1 [includes Spoiler]<p>I've done a few of the challenges using our product - the weekly challenges and the Advent of Code leveraging our framework as the "language" of choice. It's tricky if your brain gravitates toward Python solutions. The point of Alteryx isn't to replace your knowledge of Python or some other language. The point is that you're a business analyst or otherwise who might not know a language in the first place.</p><p>There's a new set of challenges - Cloud Quest - at the Alteryx Community site. Thought I'd give them a try. <a href="https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Cloud-Quests/Quest-1-Preparing-Delimited-Data/m-p/1240435#M26">https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Cloud-Quests/Quest-1-Preparing-Delimited-Data/m-p/1240435#M26</a>. I tried not to use the basic Swiss Army knife that is the Formula Tool [my go to] and I didn't format the datatypes given the exercise didn't actually ask for that to be done, only implied it [and as a former dev, don't make assumptions without checking with the owner/product unless it's for your own use].</p><p>------</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;">In the world of data processing, text files often come with delimiters like quotes to manage strings that contain special characters or additional delimiters. This can pose a unique challenge for extract, transform, and load (ETL) programs due to the presence of multiple delimiter types.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;">In this quest, you have a CSV dataset with two different delimiters: double quotes and single quotes, and they surround different data types. Use Designer Cloud to strip these delimiters, as they are superfluous and need to be removed to clean and format the data correctly.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-size: small;">Begin your workflow with the provided dataset:</span></p><p class="lia-indent-padding-left-30px" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Row 1: "Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow",123,'16-JUN-01'</strong></span></span></p><p class="lia-indent-padding-left-30px" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Row 2: "I do not like green eggs and ham",456,'25-DEC-10'</strong></span></span></p><p class="lia-indent-padding-left-30px" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></strong></span></span></p><p class="lia-indent-padding-left-30px" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #252d39; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></strong></span></span></p>Solution:<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yLEzdDpU8_Ypwj9kiTw58IEsKBOFS6WkomLAqqLWPIpZvy4b2Rp_dsEPkT8_GCN-2RkfritmSdC8dFgf-SRvJdrtoOo-EzxJrY6Ul_aAiirnmD3JFJzKn0J8YrpTMQUWof60v_wVwSbl6G1zAZkyAlo83okEDDCWO6AoncYQOOE7aTfyg9c/s1346/Challenge%201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="1346" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yLEzdDpU8_Ypwj9kiTw58IEsKBOFS6WkomLAqqLWPIpZvy4b2Rp_dsEPkT8_GCN-2RkfritmSdC8dFgf-SRvJdrtoOo-EzxJrY6Ul_aAiirnmD3JFJzKn0J8YrpTMQUWof60v_wVwSbl6G1zAZkyAlo83okEDDCWO6AoncYQOOE7aTfyg9c/w546-h239/Challenge%201.JPG" width="546" /></a></div><br /></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-44137074342654662242024-02-13T15:50:00.005-06:002024-02-13T15:52:31.566-06:00Code Freeze 2024 - AI for SE for AI<p><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Code Freeze 2024 - AI for SE for AI</span></b></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8a8e7388-7fff-9737-9b78-d5c0d0f983f1">I took notes at the <a href="https://cse.umn.edu/umsec/code-freeze">U of Minnesota Code Freeze</a> event put on yearly by the U of MN Comp Sci department. It's a one-day event and the topics have changed every year. I honestly don't know how long I've been going to the event. Based on their list, a long time, because I know I was Redesigning Agility, and I don't see the one related to offshoring in there, so that must have been during 1-4. A quick scan of the blog shows <a href="https://www.nodtonothing.com/2008/01/code-freeze-08.html">a post for 2008</a>, so at least that far back. Quality, or at least applicability to me, varies and the topic isn't always aligned with how interesting the event is. For instance, the 2015 event on Security was one of my favorites, although day to day I don't worry about security too much anymore outside of Mend scans [previously Blackduck scans], despite once having done enough FEDRAMP and SOC 2 TYPE 2 work to be able to present to a class at the U of MN Duluth on the topic. But the Code Freeze was more about hacking cars and airport scanners.</span><div><br /></div><div>Some of these notes will be pretty loose without explanation, but per the intro, it stayed fairly high level in my opinion.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>2006: Inaugural Edition</li><li>2007: Second Edition</li><li>2008: Third Edition</li><li>2009: Maximizing Developer Value </li><li>2010: Redesigning Agility </li><li>2011: Software Testing for the 21st Century </li><li>2012: Continuous Delivery </li><li>2013: Software Anthropology </li><li>2014: Big Data </li><li>2015: Security </li><li>2016: Disruptive Innovation </li><li>2017: Software Visualization </li><li>2018: Microservice Architectures </li><li>2019: Machine Learning </li><li>2020: Observability </li><li>2021: Humane Engineering</li><li>2022: Developer Experience</li><li>2023: Tech Resilience</li></ul></div><div><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because it's applicable, here's an article from later: </span><a href="https://medium.com/artificial-corner/i-tried-multiple-ai-coding-assistants-these-are-the-best-bb4d6a735fc1" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://medium.com/artificial-corner/i-tried-multiple-ai-coding-assistants-these-are-the-best-bb4d6a735fc1</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was an exciting day. Had breakfast at Al’s Breakfast at 6 a.m. before the conference. Well worth getting up that early. As a bonus, parking over there, when it's not below 0F, means I can park for free and get in a good walk before the conference starts.</span></p> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53517760591/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53517760591_63cd78e65b_z.jpg" /></a><br />
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I was walking to the conference building, there were an inordinate number of police SUVs parked across from Moos tower and driving along the central road. Turns out there was a shooting threat resulting in staff being told to stay home and all doors locked/monitored. The conference went on, but folks were definitely a little nervous.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 270px; overflow: hidden; width: 297px;"><img height="270" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/S1ay5q5_o-rmv7xkqradyxA5_uQez0RRlpGvOeEG_HBjX_L5sLiZU3_r2EZD8aPr0X85ksdz4_t4OFSQW9G8CNlQ5ktnUewGutFkfFu4t2k_HSwoZBYaMSdtZe5vCyYymoPTV_zZO8gEgfXjruQkgg" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="297" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The one thought that binds them all - try all the new tools. Just start using as many as you can and understand what they do and how they’re changing. There is a non-stop flow entering the marketplace.</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 28px;"><li aria-checked="false" aria-level="1" dir="ltr" role="checkbox" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="unchecked" aria-roledescription="checkbox" height="17.599999999999998px" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEgAAABICAYAAABV7bNHAAAA1ElEQVR4Ae3bMQ4BURSFYY2xBuwQ7BIkTGxFRj9Oo9RdkXn5TvL3L19u+2ZmZmZmZhVbpH26pFcaJ9IrndMudb/CWadHGiden1bll9MIzqd79SUd0thY20qga4NA50qgoUGgoRJo/NL/V/N+QIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIEyFeEZyXQpUGgUyXQrkGgTSVQl/qGcG5pnkq3Sn0jOMv0k3Vpm05pmNjfsGPalFyOmZmZmdkbSS9cKbtzhxMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" style="margin-right: 3px;" width="17.599999999999998px" /><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Do a copilot compare on the team? Have everyone pick one [a different one] to try out and do a five-ten minute presentation on how it went [with some sort of standardized points]. Ask ChatGPT to give me a summarized list?</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chat GPT only cares about January 2022 and earlier…</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">TabNine:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Uses machine learning to predict code completions efficiently.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Supports multiple programming languages.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Requires a subscription for advanced features.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Kite:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">AI-powered code completions.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Provides relevant documentation and examples.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Some users may find the AI suggestions intrusive.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Visual Studio IntelliCode:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Uses machine learning for personalized code suggestions.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Integrates well with Visual Studio.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Limited language support compared to some other tools.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Codota:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">AI-driven code completions.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Supports various IDEs and editors.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Free version has limitations, and full features may require a subscription.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">DeepCode:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Analyzes code patterns to find bugs and suggest improvements.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Integrates with various IDEs.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">May not cover as many languages as some competitors.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">CodeIntel:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Provides code intelligence for multiple languages.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Open-source and customizable.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Requires some configuration for optimal use.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Sourcegraph:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Offers code intelligence across repositories.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Integrates with popular code editors.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Can be resource-intensive for larger codebases.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">GitHub Copilot:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Generates whole lines or blocks of code based on comments.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Built-in collaboration with VS Code.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">May produce incorrect or insecure suggestions.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">CodeRush:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Includes code generation and refactoring tools.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Visual Studio integration.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Learning curve for mastering all features.</span></p></li></ul></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Eclipse Code Recommenders:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Strengths:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Context-aware code recommendations.</span></p></li><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Supports Java development.</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Weaknesses:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="3" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Limited language support compared to some other tools.</span></p></li></ul></ul></ul><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 15pt; margin-top: 15pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Unrelated things Scott was thinking while at the conference:</span></h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 28px;"><li aria-checked="false" aria-level="1" dir="ltr" role="checkbox" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="unchecked" aria-roledescription="checkbox" height="19.2px" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEgAAABICAYAAABV7bNHAAAA1ElEQVR4Ae3bMQ4BURSFYY2xBuwQ7BIkTGxFRj9Oo9RdkXn5TvL3L19u+2ZmZmZmZhVbpH26pFcaJ9IrndMudb/CWadHGiden1bll9MIzqd79SUd0thY20qga4NA50qgoUGgoRJo/NL/V/N+QIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIEyFeEZyXQpUGgUyXQrkGgTSVQl/qGcG5pnkq3Sn0jOMv0k3Vpm05pmNjfsGPalFyOmZmZmdkbSS9cKbtzhxMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" style="margin-right: 3px;" width="19.2px" /><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 15pt; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Can I AI generate the Tinkerpop in the D and D Node Database demo that’s out there? Can you use it to to generate the synthetic data and the queries?</span></p></li><li aria-checked="false" aria-level="1" dir="ltr" role="checkbox" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="unchecked" aria-roledescription="checkbox" height="19.2px" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEgAAABICAYAAABV7bNHAAAA1ElEQVR4Ae3bMQ4BURSFYY2xBuwQ7BIkTGxFRj9Oo9RdkXn5TvL3L19u+2ZmZmZmZhVbpH26pFcaJ9IrndMudb/CWadHGiden1bll9MIzqd79SUd0thY20qga4NA50qgoUGgoRJo/NL/V/N+QIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIEyFeEZyXQpUGgUyXQrkGgTSVQl/qGcG5pnkq3Sn0jOMv0k3Vpm05pmNjfsGPalFyOmZmZmdkbSS9cKbtzhxMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" style="margin-right: 3px;" width="19.2px" /><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Is there a new Tech Radar out yet? Thoughtworks’ last was September 2023</span></p></li><li aria-checked="false" aria-level="1" dir="ltr" role="checkbox" style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><img alt="unchecked" aria-roledescription="checkbox" height="19.2px" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEgAAABICAYAAABV7bNHAAAA1ElEQVR4Ae3bMQ4BURSFYY2xBuwQ7BIkTGxFRj9Oo9RdkXn5TvL3L19u+2ZmZmZmZhVbpH26pFcaJ9IrndMudb/CWadHGiden1bll9MIzqd79SUd0thY20qga4NA50qgoUGgoRJo/NL/V/N+QIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIECBAgQIAAAQIEyFeEZyXQpUGgUyXQrkGgTSVQl/qGcG5pnkq3Sn0jOMv0k3Vpm05pmNjfsGPalFyOmZmZmdkbSS9cKbtzhxMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" style="margin-right: 3px;" width="19.2px" /><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Can i generate an interview outline based on my write up of skills interns should learn and using job reqs for the company or our everything to know about the team writeup? Can we generate how to learn our team-specific tech using AI?</span></p></li></ul><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Keynote Presentation - Andreas Sjostrom [Capgemini] - Igniting the Future: Enterprise AI’s Quantum Leap and the Dawn of Artificial Minds</span></h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Approached from a C-suite landscape, and then from other facets/perspectives.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">“If you have family in France, warn them that the next call from their son or daughter will be a fake.” [funny quote for Clement]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">There are tools in all the spaces - if you like one in your core area, look for agents in other areas as well:</span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Data Herald - natural language to SQL</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">ML Twist - data labeling</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">He likes Kodezi better than MS Copilot</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: circle; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Language chain</span></p></li></ul><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Agentive AI</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> - a general term for all the helpers.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Sent myself the images he used.</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 1439px; overflow: hidden; width: 578px;"><img height="1439" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Z8U-FIse69kBdjZRHu_LvHI0ni_x078BiQr0Uq0OuJAX5TMTlncU9P-7-2jQaBP7WjssYywllQeliiZznTVNk1m-tHEOyLcdhzBJoqQZHvmeJAyKO_40haVX-Hi0nuvZZV84eY-eDct8Yjt3i0Uzmw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="578" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 825px; overflow: hidden; width: 561px;"><img height="825" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/u_fQJioS7_009iOScwFnowI_XHQt4pu5kntJlQ7bHulp3qlkHIE3y-wcQxIZGyHWrM5D1_FPBUD83grw9C4fHlNmBQh0IP3LLEVTGDSrgXEVA6udQ-trfMNzTQYfH1c2RHxs79-4hkPrY6nPPSaTUQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="561" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 351px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="351" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/7y7qu5_wH1jwLl7insZyQsJ_lrmiCwW5Bea6a3-dhwn98w181pcrVexF84hrzjVPm_yUM4dC9Rn1jcL1M9LIgE86jExSTP13OFpoZ-ZKz3vXxBnySDukhxmfl2h2lFTvdOJ98bKW6Ku8UQm8wB8iuQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Didn’t really address cost.</span></p><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Raj Subrameyer - ChaiLatte Consulting - Building Better Software Faster: The Generative AI Advantage</span></h3><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Markov [70s] > n-grams [90s] > neural networks [2000s] > transformers [2010s] > now</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Chat GPT, Embedded models, code models, DALLE.</span></p><br /><ol style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Code Generation [Github Copilot, Amazon Codewhisperer, VS Code integration for most]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Documentation [Komment, MintLify for Typescript, Sourcegraph, Tabnine]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Testing: single location strategy evolved to multi location strategy. Autonomous testing > test in production and use production to generate the tests via AI. What are the customers actually doing? Appli Tools, Blazemeter.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethics/Challenges</span></p></li></ol><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></span></div>
<br /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53517926373/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53517926373_2561bbd75c_z.jpg" /></a><br />
<br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Matt Schillerstrom - Harness - Where should I infuse AI in the SDLC?</span></h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">From Monticello. Went to St. John’s University. Worked at the Monti nuclear plant. We shared teachers and friends [or at least siblings of friends].</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">CI/CD shift left security. Lot of waste in this space.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Artificial versus “Augmented”.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Talked IDPs - Internal Dev Portals. More and more common. Alteryx probably needs one [I don’t think anything we have officially counts. I think one - the Spotify version - was demoed at a learning event]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Tools for the CI/CD space: Starroper, Mistral AI, Sophia. There are K8s helpers.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Is AI for these tools centralized at the org level or distributed to the teams? [think how cost has been centralized, security has been centralized, etc]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">AI is creating an explosion of code that CI/CD has to deal with.</span></p></li></ul><br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Arun Batchu - Gartner - Survive and Thrive in the Age of Generative AI: How Software Engineers Can Ride the Wave of Foundation Models</span></h3><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t forget, AI can always analyze for you. It doesn’t have to do the thing, it can help you with the steps to understand how to get to the thing [treat it like a conversational friend]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Generate synthetic test data</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">“Coding assistants are force multipliers”</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Use AI to teach you - I am a Python dev, tell me how to learn typescript…</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Embrace coding assistants</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s a Google Notebook LLM that people should try</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">“Multimodal prompt”</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Amazon Bedrock</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Google Extensions</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">ChatGPT app store [like 800000 entries already]</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Chat GPT will now tap into code writing if you ask it a question that necessitates that - an example, I want the 100th fibonacci number. Behind the scenes, it’s coding.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">There are writing tools. Use them.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Adapt foundation models and use foundation model agents.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t forget, YOU are a manual job and AI is accelerating automation to eliminate manual jobs [so how do you fit into the ecosystem and how it’s changing].</span></p></li></ul><br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">David Espindola - Brainyus - You, Software Warrior, In the Future of Artificial Intelligence</span></h3><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Maybe my least favorite presentation. He wrote two books to talk about exponential technology curve and inflection points.. He highlighted like nine trends, but did not highlight the interaction of those trends as an overall trend [I’m a little biased because my master’s thesis on dystopias covered much of what he’s covering here]</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Disruptors.</span></p><br /><h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jeffrey Fougere and Andrew Nieuwsma - Hewlett Packard - Using ChatGPT for Software Engineering</span></h3>
<br /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53516871277/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53516871277_af12929832_z.jpg" /></a><br />
<ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Practical examples - they had a ethics of AI app they’d written using AI that prompted with questions [natural language] to ensure someone was taking a use case to all logical [and unanticipated] scenarios.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Talked through the ethics: other companies may have a problem with your AI [I have an example, as the last company I worked for had to code around AI exclusions including Bank of America. We had full opt out and individual recommendation AI/ML opt out - at every level].</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Lots of walking through prompts.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Ethics, bias, hallucinating, legal risks.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">“Explain to me how this works…” prompt.</span></p></li></ul></span></div></div></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-30538294837366131902024-02-13T10:34:00.001-06:002024-02-13T10:34:11.156-06:00Book Club 1 - Witch King by Martha Wells<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHo_kkYqZ5pmqLEh5nIoPIo9cAzSXktjLamAk93FJL3Myy0PxmuBjAdV2glMq3I4TzlvQxucg60Fe5a59yyk6i9k98plXNyDrygSEStF2amkrUotba286-GmifILITQHzAh7nsXYNQJtMpWbKeXNR_raaIOJCkpTvUw2BfqqGl17zqigDZqI/s466/BookJanuaryWitchKing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="304" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOHo_kkYqZ5pmqLEh5nIoPIo9cAzSXktjLamAk93FJL3Myy0PxmuBjAdV2glMq3I4TzlvQxucg60Fe5a59yyk6i9k98plXNyDrygSEStF2amkrUotba286-GmifILITQHzAh7nsXYNQJtMpWbKeXNR_raaIOJCkpTvUw2BfqqGl17zqigDZqI/s320/BookJanuaryWitchKing.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />Jessica started a book group and our first read - roughly quarterly at the moment given we're all doing other things and reading other things - is Martha Wells' Witch King [Rising World Book 1, although there's no book 2 yet and it's pretty self contained]. Thought I'd capture some thoughts/notes so they lock in a little before we meet in a few weeks.<p></p><p>I liked it. Although it's a tough start because of the complexity of her world. Reminded me a bit of my experience at 18 reading Dune on the hillside overlooking Troy, NY, at RPI. Took me a while to get past feeling like I was reading a history and understand where the story was.</p><p>I don't know that I'd read book 2 if it ever comes out, but as a standalone it was interesting. It's in the same vein as a lot of fantasy world-building lit I read lately, like Sanderson's Stormlit series, which I took a break from after book 2 to read this, each of those being 1000+ pages. It's an interesting comparison to Sanderson's Stormlit [so far] because in his books, the main character gets an overview of the world via the storm spren and finds that humans [and otherwise] everywhere are endemically and always at war. Maybe that changes by page 5000, but in the first 2000 pages it's a brutal world. In Martha Wells' world people across cultures are trying to find common ground and rebuild. The world before the baddies show up to settle/colonize and use them as resources is one where there isn't much war, just negotiated skirmishes. And the world after throwing off the colonizers is one of [almost] everyone working together to make a better world, although the warning that one always has to be on guard lest things backslide, potentially in a similar but different from, and particularly from those who learned from the colonizers or [unfortunately] admired things about them, is a strong thread.</p><p>And that colonizers thread....VERY Babel [RF Kuang]. I think the parallels are tight, although Babel is during colonization and trying to get to a post colonial world and how to balance the good and the bad, and Witch King is about a post-colonial world that's been decimated and is on edge because much like Lord of the Rings, the baddies aren't necessarily gone. That looming threat of re/colonization is something I suspect is very real for a large part of the world.</p><p>The idea of the power wells is interesting in Witch King. They're powered by various things. One even seems to be powered by a people's own belief in their innate superiority [definitely a statement there]. But the most important is the colonizers' ability to create magic powered by pain. That means in the context of colonizing everyone is a resource. Except for Kai, the main character, who by taking on the mantle of that power [and eventually giving it up, which is probably the primary 'lesson'], powers it by his own pain instead of the pain of others. Erik said the 'flip' of what's expected is a big part of the book. I don't think that's true. The parallels to Nazi sympathizers / accommodators that seem angelic...no one is fooled. Ever. They don't trust them even after the fall of the colonizers. People with power aren't necessarily to be trusted. Those who walk in each others' shoes, including literally, are. And the assertion that colonizing is powered by the pain of others, and the way past it is to use your own pain within the context of their own structures to break those structures....that seems extremely straight forward. I think it's also fairly consistent through most of the book that the way to thrive is to create family where you can and that finding that family in unlikely places by breaking old hatreds creates something better. I compared it to the Fast and Furious series for Erik, which I don't think he can relate to and which is a bit of joke...but Dom always claims the only thing that matters is family, and his family is made by accumulation of former enemies, real family, friends, and more. I don't think Martha Wells would be keen to hear, "Hey, you wrote the fantasy version of Fast and Furious with power wells instead of cars and Kai instead of Dom", but I don't think it's an unreasonable comparison.</p><p>There's a bit of a D and D aspect in the various characters and their skills. The ability to repurpose a spell to make people choke on flowers comes to mind. Or the fiddling with magic to get unexpected results to get out of a bad situation, like the flooding. Or the one character who sort of knits everything together while the other characters run a little slipshod at personal goals. But I'd posit that it's a very interesting juxtaposition to show characters in what seems like a traditional met-by-accident D and D party with complementary skills to solve a problem, but realize that they're much more than that to each other. The characters are constructed family regardless of origin, mistakes, family of origin [or culture], past. Where in another book you might wonder "why did that character do that thing for that other character" and you expect the logical shoe to drop, in Witch King it's because they're family. It's something they'd do for their own family, so they do it for their constructed family. The other shoe never drops.</p><p>So Kai leverages so much of what he's learned to ensure the future - in terms of big politics for the Rising World - looks like the families he's had and constructed. And lost. </p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-27022392056207840832024-02-13T09:54:00.003-06:002024-02-13T09:54:27.931-06:00Brews, Books, and Bicycling 2024 - Quixotic<p>Well, I promised myself this year would not be BEERS, Books, and Bicycling. I bike too much for that nonsense. Last year was proof of that. Although I did encounter a lot of new places and had some good times with Aeryn visiting by car wherever I stopped to eat last year. So this year is "brews" which may seem the same, but means I can focus on coffee with a beer thrown in here and there instead. Much healthier. Much cheaper.</p><p>With our non-winter of 2024, I've already been out. I was running out of coffee, so I pedaled up to <a href="https://www.quixoticcoffee.com/">Quixotic</a> [769 Cleveland] to read some Rivers of London [False Values is Book 8] and score a stash of beans while waiting for my subscription to <a href="https://winnow-mn.com/">Winnow</a> to kick in per <a href="https://sarahmorrismusic.com/">Sarah Morris</a>' recommendation. About 25 miles round trip. I wasn't so sure I'd be up for it, particularly all bundled up in felt pants and so many layers, but it was really nice to get out in the sunshine. That hood always makes me think of Dan'l a little. We had breakfast on the corner at the Highland Grill after his divorce when he lived in that neighborhood. Might have been the first place I realized he was in rough shape in a way that he might not pull out of.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518188440/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53518188440_a4d7b95962_z.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>Great cup of coffee. I had the Narrator blend and it didn't disappoint. I thought I'd ordered a 16 oz cup and they gave me a 12, but honestly, 16 ounces just means I'm going to be hopped up in a weird way for a bike ride and will probably have to find a place to pee on the ride home. Something to keep in mind for future BBB2024 rides.</div><div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518187545/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53518187545_e6d04d6c25_z.jpg" /></a></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-60646758581086762302024-02-13T09:40:00.004-06:002024-02-13T09:40:56.551-06:00Alternate Realities and Overdue for a Vacation<p>Eh, I seldom write about dreams, but I crashed hard last night and had one that pretty much lasted the whole night even between waking up for ten to fifteen minutes here and there. </p><p>I'm a bit worried that the long night - almost eleven hours - might be burnout. The only real vacation we've been on since London was a few days of Gameholecon and my wife's knee surgery, and for five out of those six days off I worked [much] longer days than usual, but without the meetings. And the last six months went from reorg and picking up new team members who had all the usual issues with having their team members laid off and having to shut down projects they cared about, to dealing with transitioning the projects they were previously on, to holiday coverage for the team so they could all go on vacation/holiday [not unusual for me, but it was in the middle of a long, uninterrupted stint of work], to the aforementioned knee surgeries [worse on my wife than on me, obviously, but they do mean if I'm going somewhere, it'll have to be alone, and not while she's immobile], to annual reviews, to annual planning, to a hard pivot in annual planning, to being acquired as a private entity [and worrying what it means for my taxes/assets/etc as well as for my team/co-workers], to more planning, to finally getting past the planning waits and and on to the actual work. I've got Con of the North coming up and a four day weekend with the holiday, but it's not the same as getting away. In retrospect I should have gassed up a car and run away to a hotel where it was warm enough to bike near a trail for a week. There's not a lot of point to "unlimited vacation" if your vacations are in the living room.</p><p>So...burnout? Almost eleven hours of sleep is crazy for me. Really crazy. Garmin tracks all my stats and a cursory glance says that over the last six months I've trended from 6.5 hours up to about 7.25 hours. That doesn't seem like much, but it's an extra five hours a week total. Certainly not negligible. I wonder if the lower sleep duration was tied at all to a bit of pharmaceutical help at the time? Hard to say - lot of variables and Garmin doesn't track everything. It is interesting to think of what it doesn't track that eventually it could/might in order to really understand how to optimize your sleep pattern.</p><p>Anyway, on to the dream. You've been warned that we're about to start. No one wants to hear anyone else's dream/s. I don't want to hear yours. I don't want to hear the dreams of anyone famous. Unless they include me and even then only as relates to a few people I've never met [AOC, Anushka Sharma, SRK, let me know if I make an appearance]. This is solely for my amusement and record.</p><p>I find myself at a bunch of docks full of mostly small passenger ships, like you'd find in an area with water commuter routes. It reminded me of a cross between Sydney and the old Universal Studio set for Jaws. But there are larger ships as well and a larger variety than it seems at first despite some similarities such as all are obviously passenger ships. At least one ship is enormous and hosts two of the smaller passenger ships in 'wings'. It almost looks like something more suited for space travel than water travel. But I am urgently looking for the correct ship to get me where I want to go and a couple of friends I don't recognize are with me, as well as one or two people we bump into on the docks including a blonde woman. We think we know each other, but we can't say from where. After a bit of running around, finding schedules, and avoiding some police-looking [dock security people who are looking for me and her and my friends, I climb aboard a small ship with four friends and the woman and we head off.</p><p>Cut to being about 16, which I really hadn't been at the docks [I'd been close to my current age]. I'm helping build and maintain a house as a job for an older guy. The place reminds me a bit of Hugh's house in Monti with a lot of things collected over a lifetime. His granddaughter, my age, is visiting and we chat about things he needs fixed. We hit it off and become friends and that's pretty much that...I just work for her grandfather and take care of the yard and maintenance. But I know I'm almost forty years younger than I had been on the docks and that this isn't where I came from. And she seems familiar, like we've always been friends, but we know we've never met before.</p><p>Someone else knows I'm not where I belong as well and a bunch of "black suits" show up to arrest me and the four other friends who had been at the docks. But not the blonde woman. They take us to an underground facility / holding room and it becomes obvious they mean for us to live in these underground rooms permanently. One of them mentions to another where we can hear that we're screwing things up and things are falling apart, but maybe they've caught it in time. We're there for a long time, and finally I help my four friends escape while I stay behind to distract and misdirect the government types. My friends are gone for a long time and I'm slowly running out of food after the room starts running down and the suits completely disappear leaving me alone. Finally one day, I walk out of the run down rooms to find my friends coming to get me.</p><p>They take me to a large apartment building that's run down in a different way than my underground rooms. Instead of falling apart, this building seems to be thriving and getting better, despite not having a working elevator. There are at least seven floors because I walk up that many, although it seems like two to three times that many floors or more. Thousands of units and a commune vibe and everyone patching things up and making space to cohabitate. After talking to a lot of the residents, it's obvious the government has simply disappeared and even started to fade from memory, and after some initial backsliding for a few years they're all rebuilding something better. It's like the government types knew my friends and I were from somewhere else and were disrupting their reality, but couldn't stop it in the end.</p><p>After a stint doing maintenance at the apartment building, I go to a corporate party at a bar down the street. Not my corporation. But an exec is trying to run some reports and I help him figure them out. He invites me to stay and have a drink, hands me a hundred dollars in cash for supplies and residents after he hears I work maintenance at the commune, and introduces me to his daughter....the girl I met when I was 16, but she's in her mid-early 20s now, so I've been underground and working at the commune apartment a long time. He offers me a job and it turns out she works at the same company, although mostly I'm remote from the building while handling analytics between commune rebuilding. We hit it off at the bar and run into each other at work now and then.</p><p>Not long afterwards, she's laid off and I'm worried I won't see her again. And I don't in the short term. I spend the next four years doing analytics reports and working at the apartment making it a better place with a working elevator so no on has to walk up [at least] seven flights of stairs, bridges, communal rooms, free day care, free health care. It's a wonderful place. Truly a happy commune.</p><p>Then one night I'm out for drinks with some co-workers and my friends from the docks and the underground holding facility and she's there. Her father invited her to visit old friends. She's spent the last four years going back to school to learn about nuclear energy waste reclamation and is currently in an internship/starting gig as a green energy consultant not far from the commune [which, to be accurate, is a bunch of communes now]. We talk for a long time. I show her around the apartment commune. She shows me her single apartment and talks about how much more of a family my apartment building is and that she'd like to move there and be part of it. It becomes clear that we've finally met up and maybe that was the point of this reality/timeline all along.</p><p>So....there was way more to in terms of detail and imagery, but that's the basic rom com in a nutshell. I didn't even know I was in a nexus for alternate realities at the outset, that the 'cops' were alternate reality police, that the other 'cops' were a somewhat dystopian government that was going to vanish because my impact and my friends' impact on their timeline would erase them in favor of something else. And each time I met the woman, there was no "this is the woman I'll stay with" until the end or that we'd known each other since the docks. </p><p>Is my mortality showing? Am I getting old and wondering what things might have been like if I'd made other decisions? Or maybe I'm just tired and my brain is trying to take the vacation my body won't take? Or maybe I really was walking alternate realities. Nice ones for the most part thankfully, despite my tendency to favor dystopic stories. I wish I was a better artist. It'd be fun to try and draw images of the grandfather's cluttered home with a super neat yard, the commune as it evolved from slapdash to something amazing, the busy docks with all the ships and Chesapeake Bay/Amity Island vibe, the underground room, the friends, and the woman.</p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-23347826998964489722024-02-12T18:38:00.003-06:002024-02-12T18:38:35.986-06:00Ride into St. Paul<p>Last week, I took a ride down into St. Paul. It's the winter of no snow. I have this nice fat tire bicycle [see an earlier post], but at the moment I'm riding my road bike for the most part.</p><p>I've been bundled up: shorts, felt pants, long sleeve shirt, jersey, hoodie, winter vest, gloves, hat, balaclava. Mr. Layers. But I've actually stripped off the gloves, hat, and hoodie most rides once I get going.</p>
Despite the warmth, it's obvious it's still winter here in Minnesota down by the river bluffs near the Confluence.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518074014/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53518074014_3f2438ce18_z.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>Beautiful frozen falls. Although I can't help but think Tall Brad is conserving water by peeing over the cliff all winter [he lives up there somewhere].</div><div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518074039/sizes/m/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53518074039_96b94d7831.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't get around to the Bicycling, Books, and Brew [coffee] part of my rides for this one. I just packed it in at the island at the end before turning around. Still, a nice day to just hang out and cool off for a while at the end.</div><div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518188200/sizes/m/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53518188200_83af888a13.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a nice video of the frozen falls so you can listen to what it was long along the bluffs. Beautiful day all around.</div>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53518190520/in/dateposted-public/" title="February St Paul Ride Video"><img alt="February St Paul Ride Video" height="800" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/31337/53518190520_657a8b3b05_c.jpg" width="450" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-1766249638942519462024-02-11T16:52:00.002-06:002024-02-11T16:52:41.075-06:00Krampus at Arbeiter Brewing<p>Wow....I have a lot of things to blog over the last two months that I really didn't get around to....the sheer number of photos that I scraped off my phone is daunting. I'm going to backtrack so I have some of it here on the blog. Expect things as far back as Christmas, and maybe a bit before. I've had a BUSY two months, not even including my wife's double knee replacement [not nearly as sexy as it sounds].</p><p>This is one of my favorite recent photos. From Arbeiter Brewing. I'm often there, but I went up there specifically to get my photo take with Krampus That's Kevin the bartender under that mask. I was amused at how many parents showed up with their 3-4 year old kids for a photo. That dog in the background...I'm pretty sure that's the same Ikea dog Aeryn bought as their first stuffed animal purchase when they had their own money. So it's a nice photo in that Krampus appears to be threatening me with intimate knowledge of my kid.</p><p><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53516869457/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53516869457_0eaff8e921_z.jpg" /></a>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-24139732596997853462024-01-08T20:09:00.003-06:002024-01-08T20:09:14.907-06:00Meat Store<p>I went to find some ground beef at the local butcher yesterday and was faced with the eternal conundrum, given two shops that are almost exactly equidistant from my house, which one do I go to? I usually go to the one north of me as they have a discount on 5 pounds of lean ground beef and I know what the beef jerky and turkey jerky and other meat snacks footprint looks like for my family needs. But...I am much more likely to BIKE past the other one, so I thought, even though it's winter, I should check it out and see if they were a more bicycling-conducive stop given I roll past twice a day most days of the non-snow months so there's no extra effort involved.</p><p>I walked in and couldn't find the discount lean ground beef. Then I couldn't find the franks I thought would be a good back up. Then I couldn't find the kind of beef sticks I usually grab. I didn't see the kind of steak I generally get Aeryn. And by then I gave up on beef jerky because I was tired of staring at meat. Now, to be fair, they might have had ALL those things. Probably did. But they were not in places I could discern within a few minutes and I am man with many appointments and less patience, particularly as I age.</p><p>So I started heading to the door and I hear, "Scott!" I looked around and there was Mac. He's a former coworker, a self-published author, and boss to about six of my former reports [fellow employees] and contractors, not to mention the brother of my kid's pre-school teacher, and co-worker to half a dozen others I worked with at TR. I hadn't seen him in roughly four years. Not since we talked about potentially coming to work at his company after the great TR manager flattening. Which, to tell the full story, I passed on because I wasn't keen on not knowing where I'd be driving to as a big data contractor and I was in the mood to work downtown with Aeryn graduating. Ironic, given less than a year later we were all home for pandemic purposes anyway. We talked work and exchanged pleasantries, and then I walked out to my car. I kind of wonder what he thought about how lucky he got not hiring a guy who just likes to do laps around a meat store for the smells and eventually leaves without buying anything. I didn't explain it to him. So in case he ever asks or I hear it through former co-workers, I now have a place to point him.</p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-27066123533099914132024-01-03T19:23:00.005-06:002024-01-03T19:23:47.505-06:00Old School<p>A recent photo I don't want to lose. This is me and Jorgs and Petro [left to right for those two, very technical project manager and lead software engineer at the time] out having a beer very end of last year / 2023. These young gentlemen [they're one year younger than me, each] were my first two team members when I was on the migration project [which was really a bunch of projects to move off mainframes] after I became a software delivery manager in 2009. It honestly seems longer than fifteen years and we're all in different places [e.g. not at a local legal software company] now. Couldn't have asked for a better first team to be part of. Our full development teams moving hundreds of millions of calls, hundreds of stylesheets, and an amount of content that would seem large even by today's standards, were a bit wider in scope. I think we had almost fifty people working on migration at one time or another via resource leads and delivery leads and all sorts of indirect reporting structures, and that's if you don't include everyone that was already involved in maintaining current systems and content which was easily at least twice that many again. It was a great time. There were constant frustrations, but these two really made it fun.</p><p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53436345878/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53436345878_9aa5e67af4_z.jpg" /></a></p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-48560101425749556032024-01-01T15:59:00.000-06:002024-01-01T15:59:03.769-06:00I have broken the 2023-2024 winter...<p>I spent a lot of time pondering buying a new road bike. New as in used. There's a lot of inventory out there. But sitting in my personal backlog was this inkling that I might want a winter bike as well. I was fairly safe because a.] every year I go to a tech conference at the U of MN which is almost always subzero [F not C] and I see students who <b><i>have </i></b>to bike looking miserable, b.] I had as specific bike in mind, c.] that specific bike was not cheap [by my standards].</p><p>And then, end of October, the price dropped enough to cover the taxes and more. I caved. I went over to Angry Catfish and picked up a Surly Wednesday Fat Tire. It is a thing of beauty. It sounds cool. It rides cool. It is NOT anything like my other bikes beyond the bikey configuration of two wheels, handlebars, et al. It feels like a different beast. I even knew before I got it via a bit of research that the size would fit me almost perfectly. And when I got it professionally fitted last week [part of the Angry Catfish service for buying a new bicycle] we didn't adjust a single thing.</p><p>What I didn't count on was both cars having issues/accidents immediately after my purchase resulting in an expense pretty much equivalent to the cost of the bike. In retrospect, I should have expected that. It's been the case with every big purchase/bonus I've ever received. At least now it doesn't hurt the same way it did when I was in my twenties and the Caddy would go on the fritz right after I spent a windfall. There's got to be a law of economics somewhere that says whatever you spend from a [earned or unearned] windfall you should expect to spend twice as much, so carefully focus on spending no more than half of your found money. You can name it Nod's Law if you like.</p><p>Anyway, my goal was not something to replace my road bike / sport bike in the winter. I'm not under any illusion I'll go 60 miles on this thing. Probably not even 15. But for rides to the liquor store, local brewery, movie theater, burrito, grocery store, and down in the river valley if I drive it down there on a rack...perfect. Amazingly fun in the snow. Except we have no snow. Until yesterday, and barely. I've taken it for a spin a few times, but yesterday was the first day I got to play in the snow, and even then it was because the plow came through and left little drifts on the sides off the road. So all over my block you can see icy trails along the edges next to the mailboxes where I shot up and down my street looking for the deepest drifts.</p><p>Maybe it'll convince me to go visit my folks on a roadtrip so I can take advantage of sand instead. That's not quite as susceptible to climate change and, if I find myself riding on glass because of the weather, the bike will be the least of my [our] worries.</p><p>My new gear baby [if you can have a fur baby, I can have a gear baby] nestled up for the ride home.</p>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53435282577/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53435282577_31ab523224_z.jpg" /></a><div><br /></div><div>This is the end of October, 2023. Two days before Halloween. There are still trees that look like they're in bloom and full on green grass. If it weren't for the incredibly short days I'd still be out doing long rides end of December.<br /><div><br /></div><div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53436528049/sizes/z/"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53436528049_28272813fa_z.jpg" /></a></div></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-25931465501906540102023-12-26T11:33:00.001-06:002023-12-26T11:33:50.829-06:00Reading November/December 2023<div><div>Read 600 and 1100 page books and at 40 pages a day, you fill up on a single book and spread across the months. There are four books left in that Stormlight series....I think I know what the beginning of 2024 is going to look like.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Babel is a hard read - these aren't really in order so I should highlight I started it on the trip to Tucson and back and I think I average only 30 pages an hour and sometimes less. I'm looking forward to reading Yellowface by Kuang in 2024. Stormlight is a great time...maybe I'll write up a separate post with opinions. Kingfisher is wonderful. A great retelling of traditional fairy tale tropes. The Folly short story collection is probably the weakest of anything I've read in that whole series of books and graphic novels and novellas [sorry Ben, but it's true, it's mostly filler]. And the Undiscovered Country Graphic Novel series is really interesting, although a little heavy handed with the trivia and weaving it in. I definitely have friends who would enjoy that Prine's symbol guitar is part of one of the characters in the third collection.</div><ul>
<li>12/31/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/30/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/29/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/28/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/27/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/26/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/25/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/24/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/23/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/22/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/21/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/20/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/19/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/18/2023:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021420/r"> Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution</a> by R.F. Kuang, 2022. 560 pages.</li>
<li>12/17/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/16/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/15/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/14/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/13/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/12/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/11/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/10/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/9/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/8/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/7/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/6/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/5/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/4/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>12/2/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>12/1/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>11/30/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>11/29/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li>
<li>11/27/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/26/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/25/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/24/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/23/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/22/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/21/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive-Book-ebook/dp/B003P2WO5E/">The Way of Kings</a> - the Stormlight Archive volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson, 2010. 1137 pages.</li><li>11/20/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BVW4Q6M/">Tales From the Folly</a> by Ben Aaronvitch. Short stories from the Rivers of London series. 2020. 240 pages.</li><li>11/28/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PZG6GRK/">Undiscovered Country, Volume 3: Possibility</a> by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule, Graphic Novel, 2022. 154 pages.</li>
<li>11/19/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BVW4Q6M/">Tales From the Folly</a> by Ben Aaronvitch. Short stories from the Rivers of London series. 2020. 240 pages.</li>
<li>11/18/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BVW4Q6M/">Tales From the Folly</a> by Ben Aaronvitch. Short stories from the Rivers of London series. 2020. 240 pages.</li>
<li>11/17/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SJJHWSH/">Undiscovered Country, Volume 2: Unity</a> by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule, Graphic Novel, 2021. 149 pages.</li>
<li>11/16/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BVW4Q6M/">Tales From the Folly</a> by Ben Aaronvitch. Short stories from the Rivers of London series. 2020. 240 pages.</li>
<li>11/15/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Folly-Rivers-London-Collection-ebook/dp/B08BVW4Q6M/">Tales From the Folly</a> by Ben Aaronvitch. Short stories from the Rivers of London series. 2020. 240 pages.</li>
<li>11/14/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Country-Vol-1-Destiny-ebook/dp/B0887BW6R1">Undiscovered Country, Volume 1: Destiny</a> by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule, Graphic Novel, 2020. 157 pages.</li>
<li>11/13/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornhedge-T-Kingfisher/dp/1250244099/">Thornhedge</a> by T. Kingfisher, 2023. 128 pages.</li>
<li>11/12/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornhedge-T-Kingfisher/dp/1250244099/">Thornhedge</a> by T. Kingfisher, 2023. 128 pages.</li>
<li>11/11/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornhedge-T-Kingfisher/dp/1250244099/">Thornhedge</a> by T. Kingfisher, 2023. 128 pages.</li>
<li>11/10/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/9/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/8/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/7/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/6/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/5/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/4/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/3/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/2/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
<li>11/1/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Sleeping-Seventh-Rivers-London/dp/1473207819">Lies Sleeping</a> by Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Series, 2018. 406 pages.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNt07G37W1koSylcJMTBs-MMiMmr7nKRlyAbsyKA6km-lskCOVg5qNE-e4CaAQh7rjlIriZj9pAQx5npjd8x3uCzN5GF8woiwKm3EchOPlxKtwE72h4pULIFDc8oNTyc3-pxt4k4MxcpNhDRY-yyQGdHJrIFJPaq5p32g3VfCCv8jVTENk-Y/s466/NovDecBooksBabel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNt07G37W1koSylcJMTBs-MMiMmr7nKRlyAbsyKA6km-lskCOVg5qNE-e4CaAQh7rjlIriZj9pAQx5npjd8x3uCzN5GF8woiwKm3EchOPlxKtwE72h4pULIFDc8oNTyc3-pxt4k4MxcpNhDRY-yyQGdHJrIFJPaq5p32g3VfCCv8jVTENk-Y/s320/NovDecBooksBabel.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMeF56bliTwIpPToN-qH-2GDSxqgEVq-qqu6xKA_3QxBnHuDvGTWWRpGsIvuFe3kRZlKA24TeVnHj7XC2cZgl7wVwQRQzVsFEL5hrEa01l8tZ9wZfEjeTo3IinLSjJt3Mb4EH64wmqfr1FW8xJY9cAoaahWFN4rvaU_w5N6prC5IMmeLrMA1M/s466/NovDecBooksFolly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXui-UpZ1ipEGD8-nCFxeYTJdCeu1fVffh_KzVw4infa1SU3qQlDw3qetMwjfw40pFSZkzVSfQscWGXLudZdtKdr-AwyHplQALI8FqulQsLRa9WtSqvq6SlLmFfWRFEMvqpZ70L0AEY007YQ15iRNbcGmO6tTf0OrdWS2vsaUfOUVo18J2iA/s445/NovDecBooksUndiscoveredTwo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXui-UpZ1ipEGD8-nCFxeYTJdCeu1fVffh_KzVw4infa1SU3qQlDw3qetMwjfw40pFSZkzVSfQscWGXLudZdtKdr-AwyHplQALI8FqulQsLRa9WtSqvq6SlLmFfWRFEMvqpZ70L0AEY007YQ15iRNbcGmO6tTf0OrdWS2vsaUfOUVo18J2iA/s320/NovDecBooksUndiscoveredTwo.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MtlKFAAL0wMU4PYmCZGFvfqQdBYFKcRwtlqV8y6tll5fU4Ql4Nj5-5c3SHOvwXkdmMfHO89udX4JWKvmxERQq94gzL1u9WMhuXYADktaouTg4GeVVc60fcsnXC8-T_G564gHsBo5w1s-plO0VaqFTWXPFbrcunQ3VIdFGbIDJR9JNOFsQLo/s445/NovDecBookThornhedge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MtlKFAAL0wMU4PYmCZGFvfqQdBYFKcRwtlqV8y6tll5fU4Ql4Nj5-5c3SHOvwXkdmMfHO89udX4JWKvmxERQq94gzL1u9WMhuXYADktaouTg4GeVVc60fcsnXC8-T_G564gHsBo5w1s-plO0VaqFTWXPFbrcunQ3VIdFGbIDJR9JNOFsQLo/s320/NovDecBookThornhedge.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-42744534149655682023-11-04T10:59:00.002-06:002023-11-04T11:22:13.711-06:00Reading October 2023<div><div>Very heavy on graphic novels this month. I got into a head space after I read Flung Out of Space, recommended by the NPR book concierge. Once that happened, I went looking for new GNs and was sort of getting hit and miss [although the Joe Hill GNs are fun]. Then I found out that Hoopla has an Eisner winners category for the last several years [and Flung Out of Space is on it]. Between reviewing the Concierge past GN recs and the Hoopla Eisner list, it ramped up the quality significantly. The Nice House on the Lake which I found that way [2 collections] was a fun read.</div><div><br /></div><div>At 645 pages, Wastelands: the New Apocalypse was a solid collection of short stories, third in a collection, and dominated my reading time. I liked the first collection best, so if you're going to read one collection of stories about the apocalypse ever, do that one instead.</div><div><br /></div><div>Patton Oswalt's biographical Silver Screen Fiend was fun, although I think he'd hedge his praise of Louis CK 8 years later. Some incredibly funny anecdotes and to read about very famous comedians who used to perform to basically empty rooms, or rooms full of other comedians, is sort of fascinating.</div><div>One for All was a difficult read for me. It's easy to read, but there's definitely a romance novel or YA vibe to it that got in the way of my enjoyment. I shouldn't be surprised. I mean...that's its category. But I kept wanting the main character to ... fret ... a bit less as a young woman who knows how to wield a rapier with musketeer-level skills. Mentally I compare this to Dread Nation which I FAR preferred.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Furthest Station is part of the Rivers Series. Ben Aaronovitch added novellas between the main books, so this one was number 5.5. To fully engage in the series includes novels, novellas, graphic novels [which are fairly good] and....per my Gamehole Con experience, observing on a sales table not playing, an RPG. I don't quite get the RPG....can you spend all your time sexing up river deities? If so, it seems like the RPG that takes place in the middle of an orgy when everyone needs a rest.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rorschach was good - the Watchmen universe - primarily because it had a current politics political grifter for president vibe. Eat the Rich and the Low, Low Woods [as well as Flung Out of Space] all have a diverse vibe [well, so does DC Pride for that matter], although I didn't like Low, Low Woods as much. Little weird even for me. Basketful of Heads and Refrigerator Full of Heads - a very fun mash up of sort of horror and sort of action/hero with a final girl. I enjoyed the second one even though it wasn't as solid as Joe Hill's first part and had a different author.</div><div><br /></div><div>And Creepshow...bleah. Didn't capture the spirit of the original Tales From the Crypt comics I read when I was a kid or the Stephen King shorts. Trinity War...only if you're a harder core DC fan [and even then...no].</div></div><ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>10/31/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/30/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/29/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/28/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/27/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/26/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/25/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/24/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/23/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/22/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-All-Novel-Lillie-Lainoff/dp/0374314616">One for All</a> by Lillie Lainoff, 2022. 400 pages. </li>
<li>10/21/2023: [Hello, My Name is] <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Refrigerator-Girl-Jennifer-Dk/dp/1958872024">Refrigerator Girl</a>. 2022. GN by Jennifer DK and Katelyn Windels. 144 pages.</li>
<li>10/20/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Screen-Fiend-Learning-Addiction/dp/1451673213">Silver Screen Fiend</a>: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt. 2015. 240 pages.</li>
<li>10/19/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Screen-Fiend-Learning-Addiction/dp/1451673213">Silver Screen Fiend</a>: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt. 2015. 240 pages.</li>
<li>10/18/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Screen-Fiend-Learning-Addiction/dp/1451673213">Silver Screen Fiend</a>: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt. 2015. 240 pages.</li>
<li>10/17/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Screen-Fiend-Learning-Addiction/dp/1451673213">Silver Screen Fiend</a>: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt. 2015. 240 pages.</li>
<li>10/16/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Screen-Fiend-Learning-Addiction/dp/1451673213">Silver Screen Fiend</a>: Learning About Life From an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt. 2015. 240 pages.</li>
<li>10/15/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/DC-Pride-New-Generation-Various/dp/177951848X">DC Pride: the New Generation</a>. GN by Jadzia Axelrod, Brandt Stein, Ivan Cohen, and more. 2023. 192 pages.</li>
<li>10/14/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plunge-Hill-House-Comics-Joe/dp/1779506880">Plunge</a>. GN by Joe Hill with Stuart Immonen illustrating. 2020. 168 pages.</li>
<li>10/13/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rorschach-Tom-King/dp/177951204X/">Rorschach</a> by Tom King with Jorge Fornes illustrating. 2021. 304 pages.</li>
<li>10/12/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Refrigerator-Full-Heads-2021-Youers-ebook/dp/B0BFJT3KR4">Refrigerator Full of Heads</a>. GN by Rio Youers with Tom Fowler illustrating. 2021. 160 pages.</li>
<li>10/11/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Furthest-Station-PC-Grant-Novella/dp/1473222427">The Furthest Station</a> by Ben Aaronovitch [Rivers of London series, 5.5 in the series]. 2017. 144 pages.</li>
<li>10/10/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flung-Out-Space-Adventures-Highsmith/dp/141974433X">Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith</a>. GN by Grace Ellis with illustrating by Hannah Templer. 2021. 208 pages.</li>
<li>10/9/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flung-Out-Space-Adventures-Highsmith/dp/141974433X">Eat the Rich</a>. GN for the series numbers 1-5. By Sarah Gailey with illustrations by Pius Bak. 2022. 128 pages.</li>
<li>10/8/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wastelands-Apocalypse-John-Joseph-Adams-ebook/dp/B07H712YL6">Wastelands the New Apocalypse</a>, edited by John Joseph Adams. One of three short story collections in this series. 2019. 645 pages.</li>
<li>10/7/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Creepshow-1-Chris-Burnham/dp/1534324801">Creepshow: Volume 1</a> by Chris Burnham and others. 2023. 128 pages.</li><ul><li>Didn't capture the spirit of the original.</li></ul>
<li>10/6/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nice-House-Lake-Vol/dp/1779517408">The Nice House on the Lake 7-12</a> [vol 2]. 2023. GN by James Tynion IV with Alvaro Martinez Bueno illustrating. 176 pages.</li>
<li>10/5/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nice-House-Lake-2021-Vol-ebook/dp/B09RGJ8H4X">The Nice House on the Lake 1-6</a> [vol 1]. 2022. GN by James Tynion IV with Alvaro Martinez Bueno illustrating. 171 pages.</li>
<li>10/4/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Justice-League-Trinity-Geoff-Johns-ebook/dp/B00H4EW1FW">Justice League Trinity War</a> GN by Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire with Ivan Reis illustrating. 2014. 284 pages.</li>
<li>10/3/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Low-Woods-2019-2020-2019-ebook/dp/B08HVYJLKB">The Low, Low Woods</a> GN by Carmen Maria Machado with Dani illustrating. 2019-2020. 162 pages.</li>
<li>10/2/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Basketful-Heads-Hill-House-Comics/dp/1779502974/">Basket Full of Heads</a> GN by Joe Hill with Reiko Murakami illustrating. 2020. 184 pages.</li>
<li>10/1/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wastelands-Apocalypse-John-Joseph-Adams-ebook/dp/B07H712YL6">Wastelands the New Apocalypse</a>, edited by John Joseph Adams. One of three short story collections in this series. 2019. 645 pages.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOl7sGZJYmTzBVvdMFRHo5aGamKn-FDgxp3n1CeuQ05wTHwnigft7_shsT-B8ksLGMyvFDcFSkN3OJ2OnTNrjP5vv8Gdvj6OPXy1ZkFHOHKk_j6f4JMtk1JtxV301Hj2jQJEzj_jaAKrDpDG2FofEQkvnXbQLCkB5pa7wr2F6RNHpZPI5EA0/s445/BookOctoberBasket.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOl7sGZJYmTzBVvdMFRHo5aGamKn-FDgxp3n1CeuQ05wTHwnigft7_shsT-B8ksLGMyvFDcFSkN3OJ2OnTNrjP5vv8Gdvj6OPXy1ZkFHOHKk_j6f4JMtk1JtxV301Hj2jQJEzj_jaAKrDpDG2FofEQkvnXbQLCkB5pa7wr2F6RNHpZPI5EA0/s320/BookOctoberBasket.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fsY7L2fQ3v7RllZiqxKiv8z4OH80ElBLi5ZhSTCfzPnAD8b1MVhKSfxiJAtKKhZLlHoTybXo5_AguEONPTAY3QnibIZjnXDk4vVzdKlNAjgIfL-wGgRCDR5V9iaH_a5zOkkGLxwqEYmW9gwhvsMXiStwW6J4Ql5B66C17PBwjJPOGeDIZk4/s445/BookOctoberCreepshow.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-90099036317783158772023-11-03T17:26:00.005-06:002023-11-03T17:26:45.256-06:00John Prine Birthday Celebration at Hook and Ladder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNitc7hrM2qziWCtdimishj1LgldtWsMbmEIh1P7RfuQZAim3QMMAGfV0cTCLVEhVzKGbgThv-fQs8IxYeEMNHluWWTW9QNmDFFRB6-N5b51UYIrP7BE5OqgBlEBdd7IrLZ5BsMfopBTYEGJykS2ouaPYsy1nfGybN96xInz99whTAQG-RaA/s2048/Big%20Fat%20Love.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNitc7hrM2qziWCtdimishj1LgldtWsMbmEIh1P7RfuQZAim3QMMAGfV0cTCLVEhVzKGbgThv-fQs8IxYeEMNHluWWTW9QNmDFFRB6-N5b51UYIrP7BE5OqgBlEBdd7IrLZ5BsMfopBTYEGJykS2ouaPYsy1nfGybN96xInz99whTAQG-RaA/w400-h200/Big%20Fat%20Love.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>On October 13, I went to the John Prine Birthday celebration at Hook and Ladder near the burned out precinct. Holy bleep was it cold. It was their last outdoor event of the year. This isn't long before things get going. There was a point where I was out there alone with my beer. Don't worry. John Prine can't be kept down [or those covering him]. There were still a lot of empty seats later, but partially because a lot of people were standing to keep warm, or rotating inside to keep warm.<div><div><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308018008/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine Outside Brrr 2 by:"><img alt="John Prine Outside Brrr 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308018008_10782d51d2_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Yeah....it was cold and it was wet. There was a lot of rain. I wasn't entirely sure what they meant by my reserved seat was under a cover. I was pleasantly surprised it was rainproof.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308017988/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine Outside Brrr by:"><img alt="John Prine Outside Brrr by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308017988_e31108ea99_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>They opened up the inside space and pointed a camera at the stage. There were a lot of people in the chairs to the sides and over by the bar area. Funny to watch a concert on a screen that's happening all of fifty feet away.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308131169/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine Hook and Ladder Inside by:"><img alt="John Prine Hook and Ladder Inside by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308131169_3c5eaa3277_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I love this Rogue Citizen posters that went up after the protests. I have a very nice photo of me with my bicycle near the two on the outside wall that I use for profile photos and get to know me write ups.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53307772066/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine BLM 2 by:"><img alt="John Prine BLM 2 by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307772066_4e51fc918f_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Second of the internal courtyard posters, this one with GPF.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308245150/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine BLM 1 by:"><img alt="John Prine BLM 1 by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308245150_1782b4325d_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know why they have this corner kid in the courtyard. I'm trying to figure out why Jack Daniels felt this was a good promotional item. I think it makes it look like the white guy in the courtyard is studiously looking away from the BLM posters.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308018783/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine Statue Hook and Ladder by:"><img alt="John Prine Statue Hook and Ladder by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308018783_bdbb2332ea_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There were ten? cover bands? Each did two songs and a big get together at the end, with some overlap here and there. This young lady stripped down to her spring dress once she got warmed up. I think that's Leslie Vincent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Per Hook and Ladder: "The Hook & Ladder Theater is pleased to host the 14th Annual Big Fat Love show, celebrating what would have been the late John Prine’s 77th birthday. The popular event is curated and hosted by Ben Cook-Feltz & KFAI’s Ellen Stanley (a.k.a. Mother Banjo) and features a “Who’s Who” lineup of regional artists, including Becky Schlegel, John Magnuson, Katey Bellville, Jon Rodine, Leslie Vincent, Art Vandalay, Dan Gaarder, Cathy ‘n Abel & more!" <br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308131539/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine 3 by:"><img alt="John Prine 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308131539_9cb305e947_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's Katey Belville singing from her FB page...I've never embedded from FB before...guess we'll see if it works. If not, here's a link to her FB post: <a href="https://fb.watch/o5elPf2VeP/">https://fb.watch/o5elPf2VeP/</a></div><div> <iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="314" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fkateybellvillemusic%2Fvideos%2F859035442526486%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Couple of shots of the various performers.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308131844/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine 2 by:"><img alt="John Prine 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308131844_49a1bcab63_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It was no small event. Although the guitars might have outnumbered the audience by the very end. Folks got extremely cold by 9 p.m. I stuck it out because I was enjoying it immensely. I would have had more fun with Kyle there, but I talked him out of going because he would have had to drive from 50 miles away into the cities, and the rain earlier was insanity. I thought he might end up driving for two hours one way. Ironically, Ben [who went on the MS rides with me] was there with his wife, brother, and sister in law, from literally a few miles from Kyle's place. Doh.</div><div><br /></div><div>Saw Tim there as well, who I used to work with at Thomson Reuters when we were on the Lawschool team together.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306909837/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine 1 by:"><img alt="John Prine 1 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306909837_85e4dc4a42_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The final "all bands" act. That's Becky Schlegel in the middle. My wife and I saw her perform at the 318 in Excelsior with Sarah Morris. I'm catching enough of the local music scene that I get overlap. That's fun. I was almost expecting to see Sarah there as she does a cover of George Strait doing a cover of John Prine doing "I Just Want to Dance With You". Someone else covered that one. They all were forced to submit options to ensure there were no duplicates. A great time.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53308244585/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: John Prine Everyone by:"><img alt="John Prine Everyone by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53308244585_388edb90a7_h.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
</div></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-41552253928645777322023-11-02T19:59:00.002-06:002023-11-03T13:59:14.505-06:00Gameholecon 2023<div>The weekend before last, Aeryn and I took a long weekend - Thursday through Sunday, although I also abdicated on Monday because I've found I'm not quite ready to go to work after three solid days of gaming - to go to our....seventh?...<a href="https://www.gameholecon.com/">Gameholecon</a> in Madison, Wisconsin. </div><div><br /></div><div>I played a lot more games than I originally thought I did. I don't know why it felt less jam-packed this year. Maybe time is moving slower for me. I missed a few in this montage. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/281248/cape-may">Cape May</a> for instance. Cape May is a beautiful game, with solid houses and businesses. But it's way too much like Monopoly in some ways for my taste. Definitely a game you could bring in a new boardgamer on. The lack of bumping up against others much, and the fact that my bird-watching driven goals [hint, if you play Cape May, don't pick an open ended sort of goal like "more boards than everyone else". Pick a non-relational goal like "six different birds"] aligned with someone else who simply liked screwing around with the bird watching mechanic, meant there was no way I was going to win. I don't need to win to have fun. Far from it. But losing because of a random player choice that it's almost impossible to recover from is strange.</div><div><br /></div><div>So here are the weekend's pictures, in no particular order. I know] in in the past I've broken them out by day, but I'm lazier now that I'm older, and I didn't put them into my img generation script in any particular order. Garbage order in, garbage order out. I also realized a.] there are zero photos of me and b.] no photos of Aeryn with this year's Con-associated beanie-baby type monster, the Gelatinous Cube. They put enough items dissolving in the cube on each side that it can also be used a giant fuzzy die.</div><div><br /></div><div>On to the games, and such.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/294702/tenpenny-parks">Tenpenny Parks</a> with Nate Linhart, the designer [on the left]. We played with the mini expansion which serves to encourage players to vary their selections. This was a great game. A bit of tetris-style tile laying, but unlike The Isle of Cats, the tiles can only touch tangentially, you have to clear the trees if you run out of room, and you can expand your board to make more space [if you're willing to clear more trees]. A fun them and the rides/attractions give it a real style/humor.<br /><div><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306409115/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Ten Penny by:"><img alt="Ten Penny by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306409115_239fddd529_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Nate pondering our strategies, or falling asleep. My strategy was the best: earn a lot of money, and try to shut everyone else out from earning money while using the income to create victory points [visitors to the park]. Aeryn said he was amused that Aeryn used the same strategy the next when they played [after watching my session].<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306294884/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Ten Penny 4 by:"><img alt="Ten Penny 4 by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306294884_cbd6d48f2d_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>My park - definitely a place you'd want to visit because I maintained a natural tree-friendly look and a bevy of money earners at the exit [the yellow tiles] just like a real park. Don't leave without routing the kids through the merch.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306294979/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Ten Penny 3 by:"><img alt="Ten Penny 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306294979_5e80494e6d_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I've played some games with cardboard structures before, and usually they're flimsy, and I actually don't want to play them when the pieces crumple or fall over. Drags me out of the theme. Tenpenny did a nice job of making the carousel extremely solid. Nice pieces all around. The money and victory point markers, despite being cardboard are <i>solid</i>.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306409205/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Ten Penny 2 by:"><img alt="Ten Penny 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306409205_10f898c4a4_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We stayed in an Air BNB VERY close to the U of Madison college stadium. Maybe all of two blocks? Could be three. Seemed like mostly campus houses, including some frats. All these shoes belong to two people. Maybe only one. I'm not sure how you travel anywhere if you need 4 to 5 pairs of shoes. I panic when I have to take both sneakers and dress shoes at the same time. Nice place this time. Definitely a little more glam than the last few years.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306295434/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Shoes by:"><img alt="Shoes by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306295434_64ee279b4c_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/371922/rauha">Rauha</a>. Perhaps my last minute signup favorite sleeper game. I had a gap in my schedule so I filled it Sometimes that means the game won't be very good [because no one took it during initial sign up]. But sometimes it's a fun surprise. In Rauha you collect resources types that overlap on cards to influence deities to help you out in a small 3x3 grid. You collect and trigger actions in the row/column combos as a marker moves around the board like a clock. And when it gets to the corners it triggers additional actions and deific intervention. It was a lot of fun, although if you stumbled into a particularly good "engine" for generating points you could really leave everyone else completely in the dust.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306295304/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Rauha by:"><img alt="Rauha by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306295304_e334f37afb_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Aeryn at Ramen. We did both Morris Ramen - our usual haunt although not strictly speaking every year - and Ramen Station this time. Morris Ramen is by FAR a better bowl of ramen. Although also a more expensive bowl. However, when they brought my ramen both the server and Aeryn assured me I had ordered what I didn't think I had ordered. I'm fairly democratic about my ramen, so I wasn't going to argue too hard against amazingly fast service at a super crowded restaurant. That should have been the real hint. I was vindicated when another server noted I was eating the ramen that belonged to the table next to me [one of them had to wait like an extra twenty minutes for his bowl]. Due to the mixup, they gave us a free beer and dessert, so it was actually a beneficial mistake.</div><div><br /></div><div>THIS is not Morris Ramen. This is Ramen Station. It was delish, just not AS delish as Morris.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306409685/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Ramen by:"><img alt="Ramen by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306409685_f61c49bb25_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Random con photo. I think my mom should do DnD map quilts. This seems like a useful quilting hobby. Play your game until it gets cold, and then hide under the map.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305067967/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Quilt by:"><img alt="Quilt by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305067967_02f94ecb2a_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>My most hated game of the Con. The <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/244521/quacks-quedlinburg">Quacks of Quedlinberg</a>. YOU ARE WRONG BOARDGAMEGEEK, THIS IS NOT A 7.8 RATED GAME. The first 8.5 review I read over there included the phrase "while I'm not blown away by the mechanics"....then it's not an 8.5, IS IT?</div><div><br /></div><div>I ended up playing with this nice gentleman and three roughly 13 year old boys I was fairly certain were peering into their bags in what is supposed to be a push-your-luck blind-draw style game. I hate push-your-luck games. I hate playing board games, in general, with 13 year old boys. I hate playing with their phones because that's generally what they all do between plays. But it was a useful play to understand who I might recommend it to as a push-your-luck game. I'm not the only gamer I know and I try to understand a few games I don't like in case I think they're a good recommendation for friends and/or family.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305068327/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Quacks by:"><img alt="Quacks by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305068327_365ca0da6f_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Mike, who's hosted a pile of games for Aeryn and myself in the past, and Kevin. Who knows what Kevin is looking at. It doesn't seem safe-for-con. I hope he wasn't violating the behavior rules. I don'ot think he knows what he's looking at to be honest. That's why he has those granny glasses.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305931856/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Mike and Kevin by:"><img alt="Mike and Kevin by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305931856_f4d9f5bc5a_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Mickey's - the breakfast of choice in Madison, right near the college stadium. Within walking distance this time, although we drove because it was on the way to the convention center. A truly wonderful breakfast and a mainstay for Aeryn and myself for seven years.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306410250/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Mickeys by:"><img alt="Mickeys by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306410250_c5f6363562_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>At one point I just threw "breweries near me" into my browser at the convention center and found the <a href="https://www.delta.beer/">Delta Beer Lab</a>. A great little brewery within the edge of walking distance of the gaming venue. Super inclusive. One of the servers was dressed as Mickey...or Minnie...mouse in ears, makeup, and a halfshirt. And I'm fairly certain the "delta" part of their name is because they're gay owned and/or friendly. I let them know maybe they should be striking up a promotional deal with the gaymers group at GHC, or at least dropping "come drink with us" flyers on the shared notifications table and whiteboard. My book for the Con. A bit dated - he might have less to say about Louis CK nowadays, but a fun introspection on his early years.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305932141/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Lunch by:"><img alt="Lunch by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305932141_f3e0f878fe_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/356033/libertalia-winds-galecrest">Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest.</a> An out-and-out murderfest. Seriously, like 90%+ of our pirate crews died over the course of six voyages. Most by murder / actions by the other pirates/ships. Some self-inflicted [not always a bad thing if you're trying to distill what's in your crew pile]. Once we figured it out and why you'd want to keep certain pirates, lose others, and what to collect, it was fun. But trying to wrap our heads around the interaction mechanisms was a challenge at first. I won this one, in part by coordinating collections of items others weren't paying attention to because I stayed in the most infamous end of the pool [which meant I drew last, but had plenty of choices of the things I wanted that they weren't jockying for]. The pirate theme was fun, and I hadn't played a pirate game in a long time. This week I played a few rounds of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185589/islebound">Islebound</a>, so I've ratched up my pirate [or buccaneer] quotient.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306296049/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Libertalia winds of Galecrest by:"><img alt="Libertalia winds of Galecrest by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306296049_2258134815_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Kevin, are you winning at Dune? Is the spice flowing, Maud' dib? Is your fear the game killer? Permit your annoyance at playing with kids to flow through you and then turn your eye to that inner path. You will find nothing. Only you will remain. And maybe Mike. Mike will probably remain. Someone has to teach you the game. And honestly, in my experience, 13 year old boys playing games never go the f^ck away. Dune mantras or not.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306294434/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Kevin by:"><img alt="Kevin by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306294434_b0c0fa1ad6_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Aeryn and I scheduled a play of True Dungeon at about this point. Think Dungeons and Dragons meets distributed escape room/s. You get a pile of poker chips that are magic items and armor and weapons, pick a class, outfit yourself for the coordinator tracking your armor and to hit and specials, and then play shuffle board and memorization games and brain teasers to defeat monster and magic. There's a story associated with it as you move through the maze, so you meet witches, animatronic trees/undead, and rather complex puzzles involving some brains and dexterity. We played with a family instead of a hard core group this year, which was fun. The mom had played <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254640/just-one">Just One</a> with Aeryn and I which is a fun party game where you can't give a clue that matches someone else's clue. I remember her as worried her husband might catch on to the fact that she didn't know Sting was also a sword.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nice Haircut Mark McGrath. That's the name of the post-ramen at Morris beer at Young Blood Beer Co, almost right next door. <br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306296344/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Young Blood by:"><img alt="Young Blood by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306296344_e31e768f1e_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Aeryn had been searching for this game - <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24304/unspeakable-words">Unspeakable Words</a> - since this saw it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU9FzW5QyEg">on Tabletop with Wil Wheaton</a> [with Erin Gray from Buck Rogers for all you old guys] like...ten?...years ago? Ah...found the video and it was nine years ago. I was close. But the game went out of print almost immediately and was roughly 100 dollars on resale, and I have limits. Those limits are generally if I have to pay more for a game than its list price. This year it was on the scratch and dent shelf for half price so a great deal. You craft words and the more complex your words, the more likely you are to go insane. So there's a balancing act between simple words and scoring enough to get to 100 points first.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305932416/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Unspeakable Wordss by:"><img alt="Unspeakable Wordss by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305932416_31b62c083b_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Near the Delta Brewery during my walk. This sign amused me. Is it really that dangerous at the donated book warehouse? Things explode or spontaneously combust? Is the sign commensurate with the reality of how scary it is to have to back up if you go into a place you can't turn around? Seems like overkill if you can just throw it in reverse and back out. I wonder what happened to drive the need for this level of warning.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306174243/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Explosion by:"><img alt="Explosion by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306174243_4bb4f079bc_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/331401/dog-park">Dog Park</a>. A bit like Wingspan, but not like Wingspan at all. You're collecting dogs, taking them for walks, giving them collars, and using the toys, sticks, etc, they find and use to adopt more dogs. Some dogs do special things. Sets of dogs are good for scoring points. I like Wingspan better. Much better. But I get the appeal if you're a puppy person instead of a bird person.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306174183/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Dog Park 3 by:"><img alt="Dog Park 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306174183_7315037dae_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Again, don't play with a 13 year old boy with a phone. You'll just end up prompting them loudly to take their dog on a walk every rotation as they drag their eyes away from a screen and try to reengage with reality. Maybe that needs to be a board game of its own and if you fail to "distract boy from phone" the game just makes you sit there for an interminable amount of time doing nothing.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306407980/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Dog Park 2 by:"><img alt="Dog Park 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306407980_29572f41d8_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Dog park is a pretty quick game. We got in two plays in our two hour window including mentoring. So the second game was really more like 40 minutes. I think I placed second both times. So not a winning strategy, but a consistent one.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305929976/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Dog Park 1 by:"><img alt="Dog Park 1 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305929976_7270eb6480_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't play this. Catan isn't my thing. But I thought the 3-d board was cool. Aeryn played a 3d home brew Mario Kart Racer board game that they really enjoyed.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305066937/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Catan 3d by:"><img alt="Catan 3d by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305066937_5b3c9edce2_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A bit of <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/295947/cascadia">Cascadia</a> back at the Air BNB. We didn't game as much at our 'abode' this time. Folks were sleepy, busy with kids...kept us a little out of sync for coordinating play time<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306408650/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Cascadia by:"><img alt="Cascadia by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306408650_eb40b8b0c1_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Aeryn in the crowd that is Mendota 7 where almost all of our games were played. There are about eight rooms in the area for gaming and the main hallway is used as well. A whole other section is RPG/DnD folks. And this year the lot was really crowded and I think it's because of the Magic the Gathering cube tournament going on in yet another hall.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305930651/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Aeryn by:"><img alt="Aeryn by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305930651_c4caf80a12_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Lots of photos of 7 Wonders. <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/346703/7-wonders-architects">7 Wonders Architects</a>, <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92539/7-wonders-leaders">7 Wonders Leaders</a>, and <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/111661/7-wonders-cities">7 Wonders Cities</a>. Figured I'd go all in as I'd been intending to learn 7 Wonders since I was in a coma over a decade ago. I <i>hated </i>Architects. WAY too simple, although as I understand it, that's the point. To dumb down 7 Wonders. Leaders and Cities...I get why people like them. But you definitely have to have 4+ people [imo] so the trading and some of the skip mechanics work. I'd rather play a Red Raven game given my druthers. My Colossus of Rhodes from the first round of Architects.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306294504/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wondesr Architects by:"><img alt="7 Wondesr Architects by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306294504_d806dde154_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Leaders. I liked this better. The mechanic of "buying" resources from your neighbors [whether they like it or not] is fun. The one thing I didn't like is that sometimes you get in a bind where you simply can't get a resource. You can shift your strategy at that point, but it's frustrating to be playing off three boards and no one has what you need for what's in your hand.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306410575/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wonders Leaders by:"><img alt="7 Wonders Leaders by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306410575_db7f388347_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Leaders and Cities, although Cities didn't make much of an impact other than the pass through mechanic someone had for when they were attacked.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305068777/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wonders Leaders Cities by:"><img alt="7 Wonders Leaders Cities by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305068777_7b1e9c19e4_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Even when it's not my game, the people are fun when they're not 13 year old boys. Everyone is always happy to learn something new or play with someone new. I had one game that the coordinator didn't show up for on the last day and we just talked gaming habits for 20 minutes.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305932681/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wonders Architects 4 by:"><img alt="7 Wonders Architects 4 by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305932681_2ad2951f59_h.jpg" width="433" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A different setup for 7 Wonders Architects. I won this one. I had a much better strategy after the first run through.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53305068987/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wonders Architects 3 by:"><img alt="7 Wonders Architects 3 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53305068987_302ee912bb_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>More Architects. I wonder if I took so many photos because I was bored? That's counter-intuitive.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306176908/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: 7 Wonders Architects 2 by:"><img alt="7 Wonders Architects 2 by:" height="433" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306176908_9fc350cc6e_h.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Aeryn and I had lunch at Denny's in the Dells on the way to Madison. And breakfast/lunch at Mickey's on the way out of town. We stopped at a cheese shop in the Dells for snacks on the way home and in Osseo to get pie and visit the game story, although with MEA weekend going on the pie place was off the hook and we chose to bail [so no banana cream pie for the wife]. I'm not sure who tries to wolf down a whole jar of spicy quail eggs in the cheese shop parking lot. If the trip home is longer than the digestion cycle, that's going to be an unpleasant ride.<br />
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nodtonothing/53306410935/sizes/z" title="Go to Flickr page for: Gross by:"><img alt="Gross by:" height="600" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306410935_4ac91b68fd_h.jpg" width="433" /></a><br />
</div></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-54312242484811034012023-10-29T17:44:00.003-06:002023-10-29T17:44:51.146-06:00Board Games - 2022/2023<p>I'll post some pretty pictures soon, but I was wondering today, "Nod, do you play enough board games?" Generally, my answer is, "No, I don't think I do." Even when I'm stuck playing solo. Lately I've been picking up all the Ryan Laukat games [Red Raven games] I haven't played and learning them so a.] I can teach the wife and kid, and b.] I can host them at Con of the North. So far, Ancient World and Islebound. The first is Titans are on the loose and you're trying to coordinate the five tribes in the world to make a safe space. e.g. set collection of five colors. I really like the aspect of the soldiers getting more expensive unless you refresh/retire them and being able to snipe someone else's titan so they can't get the benefit or have to deal with a harder titan. The latter game - Islebound - is pirates/buccaneers and it suffers a little with two people because you don't end up stepping on each other's toes. But I like the them, I like the speed at which it ramps up after a few turns, and my wife enjoyed it quite a bit with a mentor, even when she lost.</p><p>I know how to play Above and Below, although I need to refresh myself. And I have an inkling of how to play Near and Far. Add in Roam, and there are five of his games I can host at a February convention. Laukat also has Sleeping Gods, but I don't own that [yet] and as I understand it, that's a whole other level of board game [it's a bit open world for a typical board game]. Beautiful art. Everyone says that about his games. But it's true. A unique style that ties all his games together.</p><p>Anyway, back to the original question, "Do I play enough games?" I think most people would say 175 plays in a year, regardless of the game/s, is a lot of games. Particularly given my cycling and reading habits and the time I spend working and going to local plays and music. About every other day, eh? Definitely some bumps around Gameholecon [just last weekend], Con of the North, and sometimes me getting my mitts on something I was really looking forward to like Obsession or Mists of Carcassonne. The super light months, despite being cycling months generally, make me a little sad. I'd much rather game than watch television, even though in the winter my television is synchronous with my cycling on the trainer. I can tell learning the rules for new games is good for my head. I function better overall. It's parallel to learning new tech skills.</p><p>I DO need to play with more than my family. Maybe take advantage of those local brewery events and practice mentoring a few games. Aeryn spends a lot of time gaming with the U of MN students and friends. I haven't really gamed that much with friends in the last year. If work ships me off on a manager meeting, maybe I have to canvas the managers for gamers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHu7FJ6aDnmGb9xR-81fjrUAsCqxXL9B1TqKw85genZ9Xg1IQcF0fqyC3DVKE7rvnhXK-W4b5Vw9O93h48Ek7OQC2zvmRaSFelFTO8H9Oaz7z6icZyvoUHKWYRSLA15Wg9p8wLv1LHv7vIrfvgNWceWMLoYgzDujETJUmQcZPW9gZbvJsRiI/s978/Games20222023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="978" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmHu7FJ6aDnmGb9xR-81fjrUAsCqxXL9B1TqKw85genZ9Xg1IQcF0fqyC3DVKE7rvnhXK-W4b5Vw9O93h48Ek7OQC2zvmRaSFelFTO8H9Oaz7z6icZyvoUHKWYRSLA15Wg9p8wLv1LHv7vIrfvgNWceWMLoYgzDujETJUmQcZPW9gZbvJsRiI/w400-h318/Games20222023.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-36073409202496576462023-10-09T09:25:00.001-06:002023-10-09T09:25:35.619-06:00Reading September 2023<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>9/30/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Vol-2-Soul-Hunter/dp/0785166815/">Deadpool: Soul Hunter</a> [7-12] , Brian Posehn, 2012. 136 pages.</li><ul><li>He's collecting souls,. I was bored. </li></ul>
<li>9/29/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Vol-2-Soul-Hunter/dp/0785166815/">Deadpool: Soul Hunter</a> [7-12] , Brian Posehn, 2012. 136 pages.</li>
<li>9/28/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daphne-Byrne-2020-ebook/dp/B08L9QV3HM">Daphne Byrne</a>, Laura Marks. 2020. 159 pages.</li>
<li>9/27/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daphne-Byrne-2020-ebook/dp/B08L9QV3HM">Daphne Byrne</a>, Laura Marks. 2020. 159 pages.</li><ul><li>Sort of Wednesday Adams. I liked the others in this DC series of standalones better.</li></ul>
<li>9/26/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-New-World-Mike-Mignola/dp/1506733433/">Frankenstein New World</a> by Mike Mignola. 2023. 112 pages.</li><ul><li> Sort of what if you dropped Frankenstein's monster in Journey to the Center of the Earth</li></ul>
<li>9/25/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/24/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/23/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/22/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/21/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/20/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Moo-Apocalypse-Novel/dp/1250061652">World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel</a> [number 2 of 2]. Michael Logan. 2015. 320 pages. </li>
<li>9/19/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/18/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/17/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/16/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/15/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/14/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nettle-Bone-T-Kingfisher-ebook/dp/B08QGL9BZD/">Nettle and Bone</a> by T. Kingfisher. 2021. 262 pages.</li>
<li>9/13/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/12/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/11/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/10/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/9/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/8/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/7/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rovers-Richard-Lange-ebook/dp/B08RDFQDK3/">Rovers</a> by Richard Lange. 2021. 305 pages.</li>
<li>9/6/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
<li>9/5/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
<li>9/4/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
<li>9/3/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
<li>9/2/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
<li>9/1/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Me-Worthless-Alison-Rumfitt/dp/1250866235">Tell Me I'm Worthless</a>, Alison Rumfitt 2023. 272 pages.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVBO2SExPI3LrMMZAC-7LaCZT6T2ygnydUBfk9hXLcbgsCdzwJkun3IGy1Ta69cOtlouozEUxuB7m079K3Q1uF9_z8VkdAbBr8-y0-2uO05c_pP1sbW54akoGtsK85Tf05QNwUAq7oiu8UVJURMTZAAAmKB8g2o6InMjzj27JQaxpupsB3gck/s466/BookSeptemberDaphneByrne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="303" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVBO2SExPI3LrMMZAC-7LaCZT6T2ygnydUBfk9hXLcbgsCdzwJkun3IGy1Ta69cOtlouozEUxuB7m079K3Q1uF9_z8VkdAbBr8-y0-2uO05c_pP1sbW54akoGtsK85Tf05QNwUAq7oiu8UVJURMTZAAAmKB8g2o6InMjzj27JQaxpupsB3gck/s320/BookSeptemberDaphneByrne.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhWOTUJN7hkS0jVciTi8Ds054LvHIq8CGoiGnku82VGP8OYAj6g4fZDLL1ptPzvcclYNw9LEFJPiOTXMCjFw7uw_fnxGhvMQL9O8SCWhTM47QbbZRIAw0-Tq21upigyKj1SlBCvNOpxGBpFMcCbMDpWgxVkKhmGX4tRzKGidXbHw8vjK7G0o/s445/BookSeptemberDeadpoolSoulHunter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="290" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPhWOTUJN7hkS0jVciTi8Ds054LvHIq8CGoiGnku82VGP8OYAj6g4fZDLL1ptPzvcclYNw9LEFJPiOTXMCjFw7uw_fnxGhvMQL9O8SCWhTM47QbbZRIAw0-Tq21upigyKj1SlBCvNOpxGBpFMcCbMDpWgxVkKhmGX4tRzKGidXbHw8vjK7G0o/s320/BookSeptemberDeadpoolSoulHunter.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXy9scCRFJ7cQg13oiip83WNMu4bRDKUcjt8RYYtOeqhF3v9IREXVmDZb-ISo6YFZLQBvnkZF5Kzsod4-46DCeMrQbjV4EmFzPriAMk5nJPMFU_aKgsPPDWIgcxTAXn1l0pcjT882Ui-pf_X4XWcVnQmT3oJwCB16n2qOpe9nJHhBERF-GU4/s466/BookSeptemberFrankensteinNewWorld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="309" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXy9scCRFJ7cQg13oiip83WNMu4bRDKUcjt8RYYtOeqhF3v9IREXVmDZb-ISo6YFZLQBvnkZF5Kzsod4-46DCeMrQbjV4EmFzPriAMk5nJPMFU_aKgsPPDWIgcxTAXn1l0pcjT882Ui-pf_X4XWcVnQmT3oJwCB16n2qOpe9nJHhBERF-GU4/s320/BookSeptemberFrankensteinNewWorld.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigK_aPIbmr8pjBGW5FDhJpzEdTRFCEMEflC516wDRAwUfsT6ZjByDHgCwHzNG0htEkAgyZer-YlTEwW3fnLCJI1CpOgLaJ-kK331a6U1-ws-1_V4ooeK-Fjlu66tkmdI2HHq0I_JOIAJt3ZHA3Xq0OmQzRwLHIG8tO896KEqkzBLi_fB_uKPc/s445/BookSeptemberNettleAndBone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="288" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigK_aPIbmr8pjBGW5FDhJpzEdTRFCEMEflC516wDRAwUfsT6ZjByDHgCwHzNG0htEkAgyZer-YlTEwW3fnLCJI1CpOgLaJ-kK331a6U1-ws-1_V4ooeK-Fjlu66tkmdI2HHq0I_JOIAJt3ZHA3Xq0OmQzRwLHIG8tO896KEqkzBLi_fB_uKPc/s320/BookSeptemberNettleAndBone.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgMpmhUAvgqPUzfXgALQyY4s0Fc_MtAO4wjyA9-1ndtTsVtl334ustP6utbJytHqMrdmuIg84cIOF4mKF0J3KXIdUNZk1yygTAFyPkc_bUL5HrbM8UOYeAbksbdmiHzOPRjlP4CxyTG5p3Hq9JUY4-Nt3Np_7YLd5svN6bZ8e8GLs_UDIQf0/s445/BookSeptemberRovers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgMpmhUAvgqPUzfXgALQyY4s0Fc_MtAO4wjyA9-1ndtTsVtl334ustP6utbJytHqMrdmuIg84cIOF4mKF0J3KXIdUNZk1yygTAFyPkc_bUL5HrbM8UOYeAbksbdmiHzOPRjlP4CxyTG5p3Hq9JUY4-Nt3Np_7YLd5svN6bZ8e8GLs_UDIQf0/s320/BookSeptemberRovers.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1G1gErYs_u_kIC0ldNH_MDe1H7i-4p9til39aL1tGrU5FpuqnFcQRkACjxAAXLwxl3rZpnNeqfXXBmOMUyrRPGdcLsxlAJFBiocmmjVChlJpGaO6EWW2BcwiKnU-D6_L0_HZXJD_PyP9VMjFCQ5_3_OvOUFtuBQYc0n6HFEddUw6DWFxBFpI/s445/BookSeptemberWorldWarMoo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1G1gErYs_u_kIC0ldNH_MDe1H7i-4p9til39aL1tGrU5FpuqnFcQRkACjxAAXLwxl3rZpnNeqfXXBmOMUyrRPGdcLsxlAJFBiocmmjVChlJpGaO6EWW2BcwiKnU-D6_L0_HZXJD_PyP9VMjFCQ5_3_OvOUFtuBQYc0n6HFEddUw6DWFxBFpI/s320/BookSeptemberWorldWarMoo.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZK_xjHfBRj5hU_ZirCTsTaOvrC61etNeiGp9ler3uUNhEX1HUNG4rJ99yEux_UUxjNl1tNwt86FGvOFx01X6ZobZ6dAgTqg1uQ9hF_6gaLr9IuKRXwfR-XQRHisN8622Le4ldlmOa1FpGjGG13bgzNCzqwKYGnpqFNE9oCWe792aKLFGPLk/s445/BookSeptemberWorthless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwZK_xjHfBRj5hU_ZirCTsTaOvrC61etNeiGp9ler3uUNhEX1HUNG4rJ99yEux_UUxjNl1tNwt86FGvOFx01X6ZobZ6dAgTqg1uQ9hF_6gaLr9IuKRXwfR-XQRHisN8622Le4ldlmOa1FpGjGG13bgzNCzqwKYGnpqFNE9oCWe792aKLFGPLk/s320/BookSeptemberWorthless.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7582669.post-45278555251282539382023-09-04T12:52:00.001-06:002023-09-04T13:13:19.237-06:00Reading August 2023<ul>
<li>8/31/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Tree-Rivers-London/dp/0756409675">The Hanging Tree. Book 6 of 9 of Rivers of London</a>. By Ben Aaronvitch. 2017. 304 pages</li>
<li>8/30/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Tree-Rivers-London/dp/0756409675">The Hanging Tree. Book 6 of 9 of Rivers of London</a>. By Ben Aaronvitch. 2017. 304 pages</li>
<li>8/29/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Tree-Rivers-London/dp/0756409675">The Hanging Tree. Book 6 of 9 of Rivers of London</a>. By Ben Aaronvitch. 2017. pages</li>
<li>8/28/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hanging-Tree-Rivers-London/dp/0756409675">The Hanging Tree. Book 6 of 9 of Rivers of London</a>. By Ben Aaronvitch. 2017. 304 pages</li>
<li>8/27/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Damascus-Chuck-Tingle/dp/1250874629/">Camp Damascus</a> by Chuck Tingle. 2023. 256 pages</li>
<li>8/26/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Damascus-Chuck-Tingle/dp/1250874629/">Camp Damascus</a> by Chuck Tingle. 2023. 256 pages</li>
<li>8/25/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Damascus-Chuck-Tingle/dp/1250874629/">Camp Damascus</a> by Chuck Tingle. 2023. 256 pages</li>
<li>8/24/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Damascus-Chuck-Tingle/dp/1250874629/">Camp Damascus</a> by Chuck Tingle. 2023. 256 pages</li>
<li>8/23/2023:: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Cow-Michael-Logan/dp/1250032865">Apocalypse Cow</a> by Michael Logan. 2013. 352 pages.</li>
<li>8/22/2023:: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Cow-Michael-Logan/dp/1250032865">Apocalypse Cow</a> by Michael Logan. 2013. 352 pages.</li>
<li>8/21/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Cow-Michael-Logan/dp/1250032865">Apocalypse Cow</a> by Michael Logan. 2013. 352 pages.</li>
<li>8/20/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/19/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/18/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/17/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/16/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/15/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/14/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/13/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/12/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Birchers-Birch-Society-Radicalized-American/dp/1541673565">Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right</a> by Matthew Dallek. 2023. 384 pages.</li>
<li>8/11/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/10/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/9/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/8/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/7/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/6/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/5/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/4/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/3/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/2/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
<li>8/1/2023: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hell-Followed-Andrew-Joseph-White/dp/1682635635/">Hell Followed With Us</a> by Andrew Joseph White. 2023. 448 pages.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7JCMGD0UCwjRmCvaTLz3k71_2k5CdRl6TvdfvDC-ziwuXmnzxXXNwqeJcCVZivssF7gJW0XcPRu9pGONDRGmDPasU9dupLzLeE9nf1PrLPxrll9O49aJf9IQuEo9taoqZ71e1wdba6IpKEN-5nB0c5G4S4_RisDRKV_8LiXQ-AYuqCqzsYw/s2339/BookAugustAaronvich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2339" data-original-width="1524" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7JCMGD0UCwjRmCvaTLz3k71_2k5CdRl6TvdfvDC-ziwuXmnzxXXNwqeJcCVZivssF7gJW0XcPRu9pGONDRGmDPasU9dupLzLeE9nf1PrLPxrll9O49aJf9IQuEo9taoqZ71e1wdba6IpKEN-5nB0c5G4S4_RisDRKV_8LiXQ-AYuqCqzsYw/s320/BookAugustAaronvich.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMOXTNbJX55QFlJzwCKU53vlu59MYxi3JXdmeKAVMzojDa8J5N9IZxqYZfnrM1kNjM6RSjiT9sxV-oosQh8auhTMVgatfaj-WXoqmtoKnLYGtJLOhq6d8QYi6gflht85rfpBhnX4vFzfLrw6ErIFSdqsp1IlqR3qBSG7AMVLXwwH8I9gpKQw/s1360/BookAugustApocalypseCow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMOXTNbJX55QFlJzwCKU53vlu59MYxi3JXdmeKAVMzojDa8J5N9IZxqYZfnrM1kNjM6RSjiT9sxV-oosQh8auhTMVgatfaj-WXoqmtoKnLYGtJLOhq6d8QYi6gflht85rfpBhnX4vFzfLrw6ErIFSdqsp1IlqR3qBSG7AMVLXwwH8I9gpKQw/s320/BookAugustApocalypseCow.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs_xRwjJYt_MrifJIFGQs2yMa-60UjXpGVgmC9kBo35yirHt6vbmURDjQVU3V2Qq5ztwgaUobKCw_cEjTY6dnXc3n3Vs5glLZBpPMGJevhKZXCSmS7mC5Kn1kiiwsY4i152g8VXE9LuEm2NaxRbah3Fvqf0glYkxvt68Q81Z_3EqlcDtydnGs/s2560/BookAugustBirchers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1651" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs_xRwjJYt_MrifJIFGQs2yMa-60UjXpGVgmC9kBo35yirHt6vbmURDjQVU3V2Qq5ztwgaUobKCw_cEjTY6dnXc3n3Vs5glLZBpPMGJevhKZXCSmS7mC5Kn1kiiwsY4i152g8VXE9LuEm2NaxRbah3Fvqf0glYkxvt68Q81Z_3EqlcDtydnGs/s320/BookAugustBirchers.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoUv5wWodG0iiBT12NVrqd-W49-8ZgghPxalMl4YyML83qmtzADcPmgRaKZ62_MF_kpNfYumPLnTXmbH1X4C8OfnggsB3QteW9DkRpUb-qCUhhCI4L-pVtVqS1RX-s9bBbkwqe_ZFxTkbxihXcEdw2Xq0UoeXGapP8wW0papJ7Fm51aiLnV4/s499/BookAugustCampDamascus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGoUv5wWodG0iiBT12NVrqd-W49-8ZgghPxalMl4YyML83qmtzADcPmgRaKZ62_MF_kpNfYumPLnTXmbH1X4C8OfnggsB3QteW9DkRpUb-qCUhhCI4L-pVtVqS1RX-s9bBbkwqe_ZFxTkbxihXcEdw2Xq0UoeXGapP8wW0papJ7Fm51aiLnV4/s320/BookAugustCampDamascus.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjke5imszylwUR1gAy9R2kUYxRivQiQYLiIysTw7GGXgz8QcHOvEgZFg90lXX5OjTA6UMTTRt9-BqZYdn9JxD6Uuv7oGKivQYm7ygzoCC4YrxqEPn7jhkZmTw-2HnESZN38ai9zohQSkBH91kqunV5GTRh0SLs3Fv1zN1UnDreaTppkKwxY-Hs/s2400/BookAugustHellFollowed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1575" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjke5imszylwUR1gAy9R2kUYxRivQiQYLiIysTw7GGXgz8QcHOvEgZFg90lXX5OjTA6UMTTRt9-BqZYdn9JxD6Uuv7oGKivQYm7ygzoCC4YrxqEPn7jhkZmTw-2HnESZN38ai9zohQSkBH91kqunV5GTRh0SLs3Fv1zN1UnDreaTppkKwxY-Hs/s320/BookAugustHellFollowed.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Scooterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07264667176243327560noreply@blogger.com0