Reading January 2023

This was an absolutely fascinating month for reading.  It was a bust. I have three books I didn't finish and never intend to finish.  I listened to a lot of podcasts.  I streaming service binged, which I seldom do, but I've been trying to ramp up my excercise regime before spring gets here.  I went walking at the expense of sitting and reading just so I could listen to all of Ultra.  Great series.  Amazing and Minnesota ties.

• I won't finish The Living Dead because it is beyond boring.
• I won't finish Buckaroo Banzai because, despite being an absolutely beautiful book - it feels like a book should feel and the cover is glorious - it is almost incomprehensible for long sections.
• I won't finish Hitler in Los Angeles because Maddow's Ultra was almost a perfect depth and Hitler in LA just takes it into the weeds.

But I finished two other books right?  I did.

• The Paradox Hotel was not particularly original in my opinion and the main protagonist....she was horrible.  I could not relate to her.  I don't have a need to relate to all the characters I read about.  But I don't want to actively dislike the protagonist in a way that makes me feel glad I never have to emotionally engage with that personality in real life.  As was the case with several of the people who interacted with her in the book...one of us would likely die as an outcome and neither of us would shed a tear or even slow down to consider the loss of the other.  If you've read Use of Weapons by Ian Banks.  You know something about how truly abysmal as human beings some of those characters are. If you've read Donaldson's Gap Series.  Ditto.  For f^^^s sake are there some characters you wouldn't want within a galaxy of you or your family.  I liked those characters better than January from Paradox Hotel.
• I totally get where Yu was going with SFU.  I can appreciate a really interesting attempt to map space travel to familial relationships, the dad that had dreams that never came to fruition, the frustrated mother, the heartache everyone causes each other, and how the present moment is literally a type of time travel.  There were some exceptionally funny moments.  But overall it just started to drag.  I got it.  So when it kept going, it began to feel a little like being beat over the head with the book.  The finished book.  Not the one being written real time in the TM-31 book creation thingamabob.

But, I will credit the two books for two good things.

•  TAMMY the AI from SFU and Ruby the little floater AI [much likes the robots in Banks' Culture] were wonderful characters.  Both of them were better than the characters they were supporting and to which they served as foils.
• This quote from SFU, page 232: "The path of a man's life is straight, straight, straight, until the moment when it isn't anymore, and after that it begins to meander around aimlessly, and then get tangled, and then at some point the path gets so confusing that the man's ability to move around in time, his device for conveyance, his memory of what he loves, the engine that moves him forward, it can break, and he can get permanently stuck in his own history."  It reminded me a bit of Sank talking in a post about winding down as we [men in general] get older.

The Media for January:

• 1/31/2023: A Fable with Slips of White Paper Spilling From the Pockets on LeVar Burton Reads Podcast
• 1/30/2023: The 5:22 by George Harrar on LeVar Burton Reads Podcast
• 1/29/2023: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [2010, 258 pages]
• 1/28/2023: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [2010, 258 pages]
• 1/27/2023: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [2010, 258 pages]
• 1/26/2023: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [2010, 258 pages]
• 1/25/2023: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [2010, 258 pages]
• 1/24/2023: Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Et Al: A Compendium of Evils by E.M. Rauch [2021] - only read 200 pages of 624.  I likely may never finish
• 1/23/2023: Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Et Al: A Compendium of Evils by E.M. Rauch [2021] - only read 200 pages of 624.  I likely may never finish
• 1/22/2023: Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Et Al: A Compendium of Evils by E.M. Rauch [2021] - only read 200 pages of 624.  I likely may never finish
• 1/21/2023: Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Et Al: A Compendium of Evils by E.M. Rauch [2021] - only read 200 pages of 624.  I likely may never finish
• 1/20/2023: The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus [2020] - only read 200 pages out of 6556, will be putting it back in a little library somewhere
• 1/19/2023: The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus [2020] - only read 200 pages out of 6556, will be putting it back in a little library somewhere
• 1/18/2023: The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus [2020] - only read 200 pages out of 6556, will be putting it back in a little library somewhere
• 1/17/2023: The Living Dead by George A Romero and Daniel Kraus [2020] - only read 200 pages out of 6556, will be putting it back in a little library somewhere
• 1/16/2023: Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America by Steven J. Ross - only read the first 50 pages.  A little too fine grained after listening to the Maddow series
• 1/15/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 8: Ultra, Vires
• 1/14/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/13/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 7: Rinse, Repeat
• 1/12/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/11/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 6: Bedlam
• 1/10/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/9/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 5: Shut It Down
• 1/8/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/7/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 4: A Bad Angle
• 1/6/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/5/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 3: The Day
• 1/4/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/3/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 2: The Brooklyn Boys
• 1/2/2023: The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart [2022, 336 pages]
• 1/1/2023: Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra. Episode 1: Trip 19 "Sitting members of Congress aiding and abetting a plot to overthrow the government. Insurrectionists criminally charged with plotting to end American democracy for good. Justice Department prosecutors under crushing political pressure. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is the all-but-forgotten true story of good, old-fashioned American extremism getting supercharged by proximity to power. When extremist elected officials get caught plotting against America with the violent ultra right, this is the story of the lengths they will go to… to cover their tracks." 

Reading December 2021

 

• 12/31/2021: Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer [364 pages]
• Might horrify Jeff to hear this, but I felt like this was a much better done Moonraker.
• 
  12/30/2021: Bubble by Jordan Morris and Sarah Morgan - Graphic Novel
• 
  12/29/2021: Monsters by Barry Windsor-Smith - Graphic Novel
• 12/28/2021: The Shadow Glass by Aly Fell - Graphic Novel
  
  
  
• 12/28/2021: Cyclopedia Exotica by Aminder Dhaliwal - Graphic Novel
• I did not like this GN.  I get the intent but I still didn't enjoy it.
• 12/27
  
  
  /2021: Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak
  
• 12/26/2021: Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak
• 12/25/2021: Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak
• 12/24/2021: Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak [384 pages]
• 12/23/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/22/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/21/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/20/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/19/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
  
  
  
• 12/19/2021: Street Masters board games videos [2.5 hours]
• 12/18/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/18/2021: Apache Pinot 2021 Recap and 2022 Roadmap [52:10]
• 12/17/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/16/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang
• 12/
  
  
  15/2021: The Dragon Republic: The Poppy War II by RF Kuang [672 pages - recommended by a co-worker]
• 12/14/2021: Destroy All Monsters Graphic Novel by Ed Brubaker [NPR Concierge]
• 12/13/2021: Destroy All Monsters Graphic Novel by Ed Brubaker [NPR Concierge]
• 12/13/2021: Thoughtworks: Guide to Evaluating MLOps Platforms [6:00] - very good.
• 12/12/2021: Destroy All Monsters Graphic Novel by Ed Brubaker [NPR Concierge]
• 12/11/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
• I really enjoyed this one.  Glad I prioritized it over the second Poppy Wars book.
• 12/10/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
  
  
  
• 12/9/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
• 12/8/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
• 12/7/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
• 12/6/2021: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward [326 pages]
• 12/6/2021: Anatomy of Pinot: Getting Started with Apache Pinot [26:17]
• 12/5/2021: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito [GN]
  
  
  
• Definitely not my favorite of his work [I liked Spiral much better]
• 12/4/2021: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito [GN]
• 12/3/2021: Pythonic Programming: Tips for Becoming an Idiomatic Python Programmer by Dmitry Zinoviev
• 12/2/2021: Pythonic Programming: Tips for Becoming an Idiomatic Python Programmer by Dmitry Zinoviev
• 12/1/2021: Pythonic Programming: Tips for Becoming an Idiomatic Python Programmer by Dmitry Zinoviev
  
  
  
• 12/1/2021: Intro to Apache Pinot [61:00]
• 12/1/2021 - A NOTE FOR MYSELF THAT THIS IS BASICALLY WHERE I PICKED UP A SECOND TEAM AND NOW HAVE ROUGHLY 18 DIRECT REPORTS AND x2+ THE MEETING LOAD.  INTERESTED TO SEE THE IMPACT TO MY READING.

April 2021 Reading List

I learned I'm not a fan of Grant Morrison.  Just not my thing.  But Toil and Trouble and LaGuardia were both excellent.  Great books this month.  Got them primarily off the NPR Concierge.  I was amused at the bad reviews for The Only Good Indians listing the cadence of the language and the slang being issues to enjoying it. Aka...it was written by a Native American.  I recommend the Youtube series Patrick Is a Navajo if you want a fun immersion in Native American culture and memes.  I was surprised at what I had picked up from him [and his co host and guests] that made the book more enjoyable.  Mexican Gothic was also a great book...definitely nailed the gothic part.

• 
  4/30/2021: Data Science on AWS: Implementing End-to-End, Continuous AI and Machine Learning Platforms by Chris Fregly and Antje Barth [524 pages - read roughly 150 so far]
• 4/29/2021: Klaus: the New Adventures of Santa Claus by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora [128 pages]
• 4/28/2021: The Shadow Out of Time by HP Lovecraft [96 pages]
• 4/27/2021: Nameless by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham [192 pages]
• 4/26/2021: Toil and Trouble by Mairghead Scott and Kelly Matthews [176 pages]
• 
  
  4/25/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/24/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/23/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/22/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/21/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/20/2021: The Only Good Indians by Stephan Graham Jones [319 pages]
• 4/19/2021: LaGuardia by Nnendi Okorafor [136 pages]
• 4/18/2021: America First's Anglo-Saxon 'Racist Dog-Whistle' Slammed by Historians - by Darragh Roche, Newsweek
• Don't often get to read the phrase "sucks balls" applied to something by a historian.
• 
  Straight up racism with a touch of self preservation / distraction thrown into the mix by Gaetz who is rightfully going to have a very hard time not only in politics, but likely in life, by the time investigations are all done.
• 4/17/2021: AI article about image creation via iteration on a phrase...
• 4/16/2021: Mexican Gothic by
  Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 4/15/2021: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 4/14/2021: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 4/13/2021: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 4/12/2021: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 
  4/11/2021: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [304 pages]
• 4/10/2021: Oblivion Song 2 by Kirkmana nd DeFelici [136 pages]
• 4/9/2021: Oblivion Song 2 by Kirkmana nd DeFelici [136 pages]
• 4/8/2021: Oblivion Song 2 by Kirkmana nd DeFelici [136 pages]
• 4/7/2021: Oblivion Song 1 by Kirkman and DeFelici [142 pages]
• 4/6/2021: Oblivion Song 1 by Kirkman and DeFelici [142 pages]
• 4/5/2021: The Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis [258 pages]
• 4/4/2021: The Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis [258 pages]
• 4/3/2021: The Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis [258 pages]
• 4/2/2021: The Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis [258 pages]
• 4/1/2021: The Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis [258 pages]

September 2020 Reading

I need to get better at more of a day-by-day entry system, because dang was this a lot of stuff to track.  I feel weirdly underread this month despite what is obviously a LOT of reading.  I didn't even include starting Little, Big right at the end of the month and some of Dying of Whiteness that may become a co-bedside book with The English.  And Lovecraft Country doesn't include that I'm going to watch the series on HBO because I don't do television here.  Argh...see, I can already tell I missed the Tim Minchin podcast with David Tennant and that was one of my favorites.  Drove me down a whole musical aside.  Or Cush Jumbo.  Sigh...  I bolded the four Tennant podcasts episodes I liked best, but they were all really, really good.   I think Levy's was the one I like least, because I haven't watched his series, although I loved the stories with his dad and his experience in the industry and life.

• 9/30/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Lovecraft Country Part 2 [59:08]
• 9/29/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Lovecraft Country Part 1 [81:13]
• 9/28/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 9/27/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 
  
  9/26/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 9/25/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 9/24/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 9/23/2020: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
• 9/22/2020: oh nos - I'm all caught up in the David Tennant podcast series.  Have to find a new one.  Kind of hard.  Tried Lore, didn't like it.  The Facts of the day one is fun, but more frivolous.  I'm going to go with one from the Times re: internet radicalization, but it's a limited three hour series.  Obviously didn't listen to all of these on the same day, but I do get in at least 45 minutes of walking a day, so I keep up a good flow of information.  Should maybe try a history one, but I seem to be fairly particular when it comes to topic flow, voice.  Fake doctors is good, but sooo long in some way.  There's a Dead Eyes podcast similar to Tennant about Holywood rejection stories.  That might be good, but less educational.  I'd try a machine learning one, but I worry about mentally checking out while I walk and multitask doing Litterati/etc.
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Tim Minchin [45:00] - 22 September 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Cush Jumbo [45:00] - 15 September 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Dan Levy [45:00] - 8 September 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Judi Dench [45:00] - 1 September 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...George Takei {45:00] - 25 August 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Stacey Abrams [45:00] - 18 August 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Jim Parson [45:00] - 11 August 2020
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Everyone - season outtakes - 21 May 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Michael Sheen [45:00] 23 April 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Tina Fey [45:00] - 16 April 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Samantha Bee [45:00] - 9 April 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...James Cordon [45:00] - 2 April 2019
• 9/21/2020: The English and Their History - Robert Tombs
• Recording fifty page chunks...made it to roughly page 100 the second half of the month.  It's my bedside, read a few pages before sleep book which tends to run a little meatier than what I'm reading otherwise.
• 9/20/2020: The English and Their History - Robert Tombs
• 9/19/2020: Piles and piles of articles on geographically dispersed teams.  See my inbox for "How to Make Location-Independent Agile Work", "6 Tools to Help you Manage Geographically Dispersed Teams", and about a dozen others.  Some nice images I captured to my history.
• 
  
  9/18/2020: New AI Tool GPT-3 Ascends to New Peaks, But Proves How Far We Still Need to Travel
• 9/17/2020: A Robot Wrote this Entire Article.  Are you Scared Yet, Human? Gpt-3
• 9/16/2020: Jonathan Blow - Preventing the Collapse of Civilization [64:40].  Rewatched with my team for a lunch event, so I saw it twice.
• 9/15/2020: Gender Equality in the Workplace Debunking the Myths.  Online hour seminar with Lisa Thomas, Joeli Brearley, and Scarlett Curtis - this was on the 9th maybe.
• 9/14/2020: 
• How to Set Up An AI Center of Excellence
• Ceremonies: Kickoff and Planning
• Brands that Hyper-Personalize Will Win the Next Decade
• Why Conversational AI Should not be an IT Project (Evan Kohn)
• Should You Build or Buy AI? That's the Wrong Question
• After all, what we’re talking about here is becoming AI-capable. Notice that I don’t say “AI-centric.”
• If You Think GPT-3 Makes Coders Obsolete, You Probably Do Not Write Code
• Stack Overflow GPT-3 Podcast [27:09]
• 9/13/2020: 
• Undead Stenches - Betrayal at House on the Hill (Pt 2) - Let's Play [68:45]
  
  
  
• Tour de France 2020 - Stage 1 (Highlights) [19:40]
• Tour de France 2020 - Stage 2 (Highlights) [19:28]
• Tour de France 2020 - Stage 3 (Highlights) [15:54]
• Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire by Dan Hanks
• 9/12/2020: David Tennant Podcast - https://www.david-tennant.com/podcast - listen to these while I'm running or getting in a walk to the grocery store / Target / etc.
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Olivia Colman [45:00] - January 28, 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Whoopi Goldberg [45:00]  - 5 February 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Jodie Whittaker [45:00] - 12 February 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Sir Ian McKellen [45:00] - 19 February 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Jon Hamm [45:00] - 26 February 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Gordon Brown [45:00] - 5 March 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Jennifer Garner [45:00] - 12 March 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Catherine Tate [45:00] - 19 March 2019
• David Tennant Does a Podcast With...Krysten Ritter [45:00] - 26 March 2019
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal E-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
  
  
  
• 9/11/2020:
• Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• Flatulent Frights - Betrayal at House on the Hill (Pt 1) - Let's Play [44:59]
• 9/10/2020: 
• We Make Great Barbecue - Hellapagos - Let's Roll [39:30]
• We're On the Precipice - The Red Dragon Inn 2 (Part 2) - Let's Roll [48:46]
• The Poison's Secret - The Red Dragon Inn 2 (Part 1) - Let's Roll [44:53]
• 9/9/2020: 
• Gulps & Gerki - The Red Dragon Inn (Pt 1) - Let's Roll [35:52]
• Gerki, Lord of Coin - The Red Dragon Inn (Pt 2) - Let's Roll [25:28]
• 9/8/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Black Leopard, Red Wolf Video 4 [63:44]
• 9/7/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Black Leopard, Red Wolf Video 3 [77:48]
• 9/6/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Black Leopard, Red Wolf Video 2 [74:56]
• 9/5/2020: Nerdist Book Club - Black Leopard, Red Wolf Video 1 [71:52]
• 9/4/2020  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 9/3/2020: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James 
• 9/2/2020: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 
  
  9/1/2020: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

August 2020 Reading

Did some Kotlin studying as well.  Busy month....didn't think I'd read as much as I had.

• 
  8/31/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/30/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/29/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/28/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/27/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/27/2020: Doomsday Clock Part II (Watchmen)
• 8/26/2020: Doomsday Clock Part I (Watchmen)
• 8/25/2020: Fake Doctors , Real Friends (Scrubs Podcast) (#215)
• 8/24/2020: Fake Doctors , Real Friends (Scrubs Podcast) (#214)
• 8/23/2020: The Never-Ending Fitness Journey.  
• "The goal of wellness is to hate yourself a little bit less in the end..."
• 
  
  8/22/2020: [60:00] Streaming Data Pipelines for Real Time Analytics - Are You Ready?
• Kinesis presentation by AWS on 8/20/20.
• 8/21/2020: The Mysterious 19th Century ‘Princess’ Who Fooled a Town
• 8/20/2020: [60:00] Shared Spaces and Public Places: Confederate Monuments and Memory by the Minnesota Historic Society
• Drs Melanie Adams, Yohuru Williams and Katrina Phillips (moderator)
• "We like our history told in digestible sound bites" - Yohuru
• "Myth of permanence"
• Monuments are about political statements (and great men), memorials are about ordinary people and our shared ideas/values about us as a whole (think 9/11)
• Intersectional history (and conversations) are messy.
• 
  8/19/2020: The Neil Gaiman Library, Volume 1 (GN) by Neil Gaiman: Forbidden Brides
• my least favorite.  Basically if you're an author surrounded by the occult, you want to write about boring home lives (aka fantasies).
• 8/18/2020: The Neil Gaiman Library, Volume 1 (GN) by Neil Gaiman: How To Talk to Girls at Parties
• 8/17/2020: The Neil Gaiman Library, Volume 1 (GN) by Neil Gaiman: Murder Mysteries
• About the first murder (of an angel)
• 8/16/2020: The Neil Gaiman Library, Volume 1 (GN) by Neil Gaiman: A Study in Emerald
• My favorite.  Sherlock meets Cthulhu.  I've read the story a few times.
• 8/15/2020: AWS This Week (7/26, 8/2, 8/9 and 8/17) [13:30] - Glue 2, CDK for Terraform, Kinesis Data Firehose, and more.
• 8/14/2020:   Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/13/2020:  Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• 8/12/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/11/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 
  
  8/10/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/9/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/8/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/7/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/6/2020: Vast: Walkthrough (Boardgame)  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scZo1EKqDG8&t=2342s
• 8/5/2020: Vast; Instructions (Baordgame) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvdwxz-6Ib4
• 8/4/2020: [7:47] The Best Travel Board Games by Actualol (Patreon)
• 8/3/2020:  Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 8/2/2020: Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
• 
  
  8/1/2020: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

July 2020 Reading

July 2020 Reading:

• 7/31/2020: AWS This Week on 7/6, 7/13, 7/20, 7/27 [roughly 20 minutes]
• 7/30/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Umbra Sum by Kristi DeMeester
• A Benediction of Corpses by Stephanie M. Wytovich
• The Making of Ophelia by Mercedes M. Yardley
• Frankenstein's Daughter by Theordora Goss (good story to end on. Bit of a redemption story for the monster).
• 7/29/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Resurrection Points by Usman T. Malik
• The Old Gods of Light by Christina Sng
• Sounds Caught in Cobwebs by M.E. Bronstein
• 7/28/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Not Eradicated in You by Bracken MacLeod
• 7/27/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Paper Doll Hyperplane by R.B. Payne
• 7/26/2020: [56:00]  Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) - Nullability
• 7/25/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• My Knowing Glance by Lucy A. Snyder
• 7/24/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Only Bruises are Permanent by Scott Edelman
• 7/23/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Ode to Joad the Toad by Laird Barron  (This was my favorite of the stories)
• 7/22/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Imperfect Clay by Lisa Morton
• 7/21/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• The Vodyanoy by Christina Sng
• 7/20/2020: [71:00]  Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) -  Operators and Booleans
• 7/19/2020: [66:00]  Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) - Numbers and User Types
• 7/18/2020: [23:00]  Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) - User Input
• 7/17/2020: [56:00] Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) - Variables and Strings
• 7/16/2020: [66:00] Complete Kotlin Development Masterclass (Udemy) - Intro, How To, First Code
• 7/15/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• You Are My Neighbor by Max Booth III
• 7/14/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Brains by Ramsey Campbell
• 7/13/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• One Last Transformation by Josh Malerman
• 7/12/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• One Day of Inside/Out by Linda D. Addison
• 7/11/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Operations Other than War by Nadia Bulkin
• 7/10/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Butcher's Blend by Brian Hodge
• 7/9/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Matryoshka by Joanna Parypinski
• 7/8/2020: Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors, Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey
• Foreward by Alma Katsu
• A Hear Arrhythmia Creeping Into a Dark Room by Michael Wehunt
• 7/8/2020: The Confident Idiot: Leadership, Self-Awareness, and the Dunning-Kruger Effect
• Stephen Matthew Leonard
• 7/7/2020: AWS Lambda abuse
•  7/6/2020: Alex on AWS ML
• 7/5/2020: AWS Customers are Opting in to Sharing AI Data Sets with Amazon Outside their Chosen Regions and Many Didn’t Know
• 7/4/2020:  AWS Lambda’s Major Limitations
• As the flagship serverless computing product, Lambda promises cheaper compute, easier architecture, and simpler development processes. But does it deliver?
• 7/3/2020: [18:35] Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, How to Play.
• 7/2/2020: [1 hr 48 min] Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons - Gamenight S8E5.
• They missed the mechanic where he puts two of his warriors on a space when he moves.
• 7/1/2020: The Oyster War: The True Story of a Small Farm, Big Politics, and the Future of Wilderness in America by Summer Brennan

March/April 2020 Reading

• 4/30/2020: Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw - rolls up all four Rupert Wong books (the cannibal chef).  
• 4/29/2020: Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw - rolls up all four Rupert Wong books (the cannibal chef).  
• 4/28/2020: (actually read 5/7, playing a little catch up).  "Ahmaud Arbery Should Be Alive"  by Jamil Smith.  "Convicting his killers is the start. But the family of this modern lynching victim can’t have justice in a country with laws that protect white people who kill black people."
  • “Nothing that our legal system can do outpaces the efficiency of racism when it comes to delivering consequences.”
  • “Open-carry must be abolished. Stand-your-ground has to go. State codes that allow citizens to arrest people? Those are golden tickets for lynchings. They should be relics of an America that should embarrass us.”
• 4/27/2020: "How to prepare for big data projects: 6 key elements of a successful strategy" - Techrepublic. 
• A thorough understanding of present and future business questions the data is expected to yield answers for. 
• Data centralization (...maybe)
• ID data sources to feed central repository
• ID future data sources
• Defined data prep methodology – extract, transformed, loaded
• Effective data prep tools
• 4/26/2020: "On the Day You Spend Forever" by Adam R. Shannon.  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/25/2020: "Godmeat" by Maritn Cahill.  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/24/2020: "Skinned" by Lesley Nneka Arimah.  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/23/2020: "Dead Air" by Nino Cipri. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/22/2020: "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth" by Daryl Gregory. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/21/2020: "What Gentle Women Dare" by Kelly Robson The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/20/2020: "STET" by Sarah Gailey: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• My least favorite so far....I get the angle around autonomous cars and the value of life, but didn't like it.
• 4/19/2020: "Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung" by Usamn Malik: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Extremely Cthulhuesque.  With snakes.

• 4/18/2020: "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" by Annalee Newitz: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Maybe my favorite so far...clever story about a small AI left on its own who bonds with a human and crows. Really embraces the centaur aspect of AI beyond just the human.
• 4/17/2020: "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djeli Clark: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/16/2020: THEMATIC THREAD: RELIGION IN HORROR - Richard had a bit on The Wicker Man.  Check out  Blood on Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General.  Should be able to catch them on Shudder.
• 4/15/2020: "The Kite Maker" by Brenda Peynado: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• A bit District 9.
• 4/14/2020: " Sister Rosetta Thorpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" by LaShawn M. Wanak: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Weird, hisorical, and really, really good.
• 4/13/2020: "Through the Flash" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Reminded me a LOT of the Heaven, Inc. story I wrote 20 years ago.
• 4/12/2020: "Variations on a Theme from Turandot" by Ada Hoffman: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/11/2020: "Hard Mary" by Sofia Samatar: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Interesting dig into what makes an AI human....useful....part of a community.
• 4/10/2020: "Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women" by Theodore McCombs: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Particularly original
• 4/9/2020: "Poor Unfortunate Fools" by Silvia Park : The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• Very little mermaid driven with a touch of The Newts.
• 4/8/2020: "The Storyteller's Replacement" by N.K. Jemisin: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/7/2020: "What Everyone Knows" by Seanan McGuire: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor 
• 4/6/2020: "Pitcher Plant" by Adam-Troy Casto: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
• 4/5/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
• 4/4/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
• 4/3/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
• 4/2/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
• 4/1/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Statements (1 hour 15 minutes)
• 3/31/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Statements (1 hour 15 minutes)
• 3/30/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Comparison Operators (9 minutes)
• 3/29/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
• 3/28/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)

• 3/27/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
• 3/26/2020:  Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
• 3/25/2020: Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Setup (40 minutes)
• 3/24/2020: Udemy.  Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Course Overview (15 minutes)
• 3/23/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning) - enjoyable  A bit on the YA side with a weird ending, but the reading of it was enjoyable.  A bit of a scooby doo vibe (which they reference in the book).
• 3/22/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
• 3/21/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
• 3/20/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)

• 3/19/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
• 3/18/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
• 3/17/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series) - loved this series.  Recommended by Dave.  The science fiction is deep hard scifi, almost to the extent you have to reread parts of it to understand what you just read.  But overall I loved it - very different.
• 3/16/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
• 3/15/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
• 3/14/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
• 3/13/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
• 3/12/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
• 3/11/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey - my apologies to Mr. Tobey but I hated it.  I read the whole thing, but the self interest and how it moved situationally for characters made me sort of dislike every single one of them.  And the AI didn't seem very smart or God-ish at all.

• 3/10/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/9/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/8/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/7/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/6/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/5/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/4/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/3/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/2/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
• 3/1/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey

February 2020 Reading

And...a whole bunch of online training in Machine Learning.

2/29/2020: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

2/28/2020: Kindred: A Graphic Novel Interpretation by Octavia E. Butler

2/27/2020: Parable of the Talents (Earthseed 2) by Octavia E. Butler

2/26/2020: Parable of the Talents (Earthseed 2) by Octavia E. Butler

2/25/2020: Parable of the Talents (Earthseed 2) by Octavia E. Butler

2/24/2020: Parable of the Talents (Earthseed 2) by Octavia E. Butler

2/23/2020: Stuff Every Sushi Lover Should Know (Stuff You Should Know) by Marc Luber and Brett Cohen

2/22/2020: Stuff Every Sushi Lover Should Know (Stuff You Should Know) by Marc Luber and Brett Cohen

2/21/2020: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

2/20/2020: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

2/19/2020: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

2/18/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/17/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/16/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/15/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/14/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/13/2020: The Fractal Prince (Jean le Flambeur Book 2) by Hannu Rajaniemi

2/12/2020: Go East, Old Man: A Father, A Son, and a Coast-to-Coast Bicycle Trip by Buzz Joseph

2/11/2020: Go East, Old Man: A Father, A Son, and a Coast-to-Coast Bicycle Trip by Buzz Joseph

2/10/2020: Go East, Old Man: A Father, A Son, and a Coast-to-Coast Bicycle Trip by Buzz Joseph

2/9/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/8/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/7/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/6/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/5/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/4/2020: Parable of the Sower: A powerful tale of a dark and dystopian future by Octavia Butler

2/3/2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssB-ZTtlys – [19:50] Shut Up and Sit Down, Undaunted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJqZt9439E – [24:37] Geographics, Clipperton Island: Mexico’s Forgtotten Murder Colony 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxnWi8SVRfI – [19:15] Watch it Played, Undaunted 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_8lT_5yliQ – [1:42:58] Heavy Cardboard, Undanted Normandy 2p 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMg11ndTUlo – [32:36] Harsh Rules: Let’s Learn to Play – Fortress America

2/2/2020: The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President: How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election - The Atlantic

Censorship through noise.

2/1/2020: An algorithm that can spot cause and effect could supercharge medical AI - MIT

December 2019 Reading

December reading...

• 12/31/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/30/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/29/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/28/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/27/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/26/2019: Dead Astronauts - Jeff VanderMeer
• 12/11/2019 - 12/25/2019: "I Remember Nothing" - Anne Billson, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 11 (2019) ed. by Ellen Datlow  and all the following.  Ellen's recommendation in this volume is what got me to read Rutger's The Anomaly last month which I really enjoyed.  I ordered one or two other of her recommendations as well, although my current queue is like 20 books lone.
• Monkeys on the Beach by Ralph Robert Moore
• Painted Wolves by Ray Cluley
• Shit Happens   by Michael Marshall Smith
• I enjoyed this one - I get along with his writing style.
• You Know How the Story Goes by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
• Back Along the Old Track by Sam Hicks
• Masks by Peter Sutton
• The Donner Party by Dale Bailey
• Interesting alt history, although I intuited the ending far in advance.
• Milkteeth  by Kristi DeMeester
• Haak by John Langan

• Maybe my favorite.  Peter Pan alternative.  Genuinely Cthulhu lore style.
• Thin Cold Hands by Gemma Files
• A Tiny Mirror by Eloise C. C. Shepherd
• I Love You Mary-Grace by Amelia Mangan
• The Jaws of Ouroboros by Steve Toase
• More scifi than horror in my opinion, but scary scifi, I'll give it that.
• A Brief Moment of Rage by Bill Davidson
• Golden Sun  by Kristi DeMeester, Richard Thomas, Damien Angelica Walters, and Michael Wehunt
• White Mare by Thana Niveau
• Girls Without Their Faces On by Laird Barron
• Thumbsucker  by Robert Shearman
• You Are Released by Joe Hill
• End of the world tale.  More realism than horror story.
• Red Rain  by Adam-Troy Castro
• Split Chain Stitch by Steve Toase
• No Exit by Orrin Grey
• Haunt  by Siobhan Carroll
• Sleep  by Carly Holmes
• 12/10/2019: Challenging SQL on Hadoop Performance with Apache Druid
• 12/9/2019: Basic Druid documentation
• 12/8/2019: Accessing data using Apache Druid (Hortonworks)
• 12/7/2019: Introduction to TWO approaches of content-based Recommendation System - not my favorite ML breakdown
• 12/6/2019: Druid: A Real-time Analytical Data Store - a more technical paper about time series and Druid.
• 12/5/2019: An Introduction to Event Data Modeling
• Read a LOT more from Snowplow besides this article.  A lot.  So much.  We've been talking event tracking and streaming, so I was interested in their details.
• 12/4/2019: Why We Don't See Many Public GraphQL APIs
• 12/3/2019: A Beginner's Guide to the OKR Framework - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beginners-guide-okr-framework-ragavendran-madhusudanan/
• OKR = Objectives and Key Results
• Company, team, and personal >> line of sight (in my old org)
• Not the how, the goal.
• Objectives: "ambitious, qualitative, time bound and actionable "
• Key results: numeric-based expressions of success or progress towards an objective.  No more than 4 per objective.
• My concerns...these are experiments.  And the boldest changes are true experiments with concrete demos in front of real customers.  See the Sprint book >> you might not know what you're going to produce until you dig in (so maybe the goal is to dig in before the quarter starts).
• Business specific.  Ambitious.  Less is more.  Not a task list.  Public.  Grade them mid-term.  Grade between 0 and 100 (0 and 1).  .6 to .7 is success! (woo, we are C to D students!)
• Cascading OKRs.  (line of sight)
• 12/2/2019: The Root Causes of Product Failure by Marty Cagan at Mind the Product San Francisco [49:14] - Ofeliya had me watch this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dccd8lihpQ
• 12/1/2019: