Rubénerd Blog :)

It’s another Audible blog post; one would think I’m a beginning to develop an obsession. In this case though it’s their filing of Going Rogue [allegedly] written by Sarah Palin under… Nonfiction. I tell you what, when all is said and done, it’s good to see the database maintainers on Audible have a sense of humour… by golly, you betcha!

In related news, I’m terrified both of Sarah Palin and the fact she’s being taken seriously by so many people in the US. I’m dead serious. It makes be break out in a cold sweat thinking just how close she became to essentially being vice president of Earth in 2008, and how she’s already being tipped for 2012.

You know what, I might listen to the book though, if only to be fair. I wonder if she read Dreams from my Father?

Remember a few days ago I finally caved into TWiT pressure and got an Audible account? Well I finished my first book already and just posted my first review! I think a new addiction may be brewing.

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My home is back in Singapore and I’m studying in Adelaide, and in both places over the years I’ve collected huge collections of computer books, like these ones! Computer books are bulky and heavy just by themselves, so carrying a few dozen of them between cities in luggage is completely out of the question. What I need are ebook versions.

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Sometimes it’s not a good idea going through Google Reader first thing in the morning, because an image from a shared article makes you jump out of your chair and spray the cereal that was in your mouth all over the place.

I was half expecting the book that was attached to an article Sparx shared was a satire piece, but it turns out it’s real. From Amazon.com’s product page:

Don’t laugh when you see the title of a new book that challenges the elite’s view that President Bush is no brainiac: The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush. Really. “We did it,” says coauthor Carolyn Thompson, a leadership expert, “because he’s so widely underestimated and because everybody thinks he’s not what he really is.” That would be Master Leader, she and James Ware conclude in their scholarly study. More in-depth than others like The Rumsfeld Way, it charts Bush’s 10 common-sense leadership lessons, like: Hire smart, build trust, talk straight, and leave aides alone.

I was unaware expecting the leader of the most powerful country in the world to display more intelligence than a sock puppet made me an elitst. Then again, the book was published in 2002; while it would have still been difficult to pull off back then, one thinks it would have been infinitely more difficult if they did it now.

The comments included with the the book seem especially tragic especially given what happened after 2002. I think Robert A. Watson and I are thinking of two different George W. Bushes:

“Carolyn Thompson and James Ware have it right . . . leadership is about what one is, not just what one does. About character, not just charisma . . . about credibility, not just credentials. This timely account of The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush will truly encourage and inspire readers.”
–Commissioner Robert A. Watson, Retired National Commander, The Salvation Army, U.S.A.

I’m hotly anticipating the followup "Microsoft: 10 common sense lessons in ethical business"!

Screenshot from Google Reader yesterday afternoon

Another quick but very warm thank you to everyone who’s been sending me emails and messages on Twitter and Google Reader regarding my latest and worst ever personal health problems. I’d emphasise though that given family history and what others have gone through, I’m relieved I can say that this has been the worst instead of something far more sinister. Did that make sense?

My symptoms are getting better; the lethargy and constant tiredness still exists but I can already feel the pain in my joins ebbing and I can feel myself becoming more alert; or as my dad says "more full of lerts". I had one really scary incident this afternoon when I coughed up enough blood out of the blue to scare the living daylights out of everyone, but fortunately a frantic phone call to my GP established that it was a "benign" result of the new medication trying to cure me of this nasty throat infection and that while that amount of blood was unusual wasn’t it unexpected.

Phew! One thinks I would have been warned of this potential side effect in advance though! Sheesh!

I still need to eat most foods in liquid form, am on several different antibiotics, cough medicines and other riff raff, and my temperature is still uncomfortably high after now two weeks of separate but overlapping problems, but today was easier than yesterday and fortunately I’ve largely been spared crushing headaches which has meant I’ve been able to still stay huddled at my computer and buried in books. I’ve been sitting up in bed and reading a lot. I mean, reading a lot.

I am starting to get sick of feeling sick though, I haven’t been able to work on finishing any of the pet projects I started over these holidays (using Haskell in X11, RubyCGI, WxPython, making Linux more BSD-ish, implementing some Whole Wheat Radio and uni intranet wiki ideas). Guess I should be really thankful this happened over the holidays instead of during a semester of studying, that would have been just awful!

Now if you’d excuse me I’m off to grab a glass of warm water and some more P.G. Wodehouse. If there’s any other author who can make you feel as good and happy even when you feel like crap, I don’t want to know. Well okay I admit I’ve been reading Mark Twain, Ogden Nash, Jeremy Clarkson, John Grisham and even an Alan Alda tome too ^_^. No Bill Kurtis though, because I’m not Bill Kurtis.

Lots of book reviews coming out when I’m back to 100% it seems!

As I sit here at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Forum on Orchard Road I can’t help but see this confusing mob obsession with flowers and boxes of chocolate I see on people walking past.

Is there some sort of special occasion today? Did they finally fix that awful Ion Orchard mess and get the station working properly again as a result? Heck if that’s what it is I’m all for celebrating too!

I might go to Kinokuniya and treat myself to a new legal thriller novel. Has the latest John Grisham come out in paperback form yet? That’d be sweet. I’d buy another Jeremy Clarkson but I’ve read five of his books in a row so far and need a change. Steven King even has a new one out now too right?

Actually you know what? I might get comfortable on the couch downstairs ans dust off my mum’s copy of the gigantic (in weight, size and hilarity) PG Wodehouse Bertie Wooster anthology and read about his shenanigans with Gussie Finknottle and whatnot. Newts! Sounds like fun.

Happy 14th February, whatever it is.

The disjointed rambling about indie media and building things episode.

ACT ONE: Recounting childhood memories and obsessions from Melbourne, Ikea furniture, Lego.

ACT TWO: Is Starbucks having a positive effect? My favourite coffee house closing, improved coffee quality.

ACT THREE: Rant about public transport: are we better building new damned giant roads or new train lines?

ACT FOUR: General public’s perception of security is wrong: YOU are the biggest security threat! Getting fascinating Bruce Schneier books for my birthday, security companies screwing consumers, using a non-administrative account on Mac OS X.

ACT FIVE: Comparing building your own computer and open source software to hot rod builders, being a 1990’s kid, running Windows software on Linux and FreeBSD with Wine, why it’s a great time to be alive!

ACT SIX: Comparing open source software developers to independent musicians, thanks to Jim Kloss and Esther Golton for the inspiration, sorry for the sacrilegious comparison! Are people worth what they’re being paid? Who’s deriving more happiness from what they’re doing?

Download MP3 to listen ↓ 1:23:03, 39.0MiB

You can also stream this episode and view its Internet Archive page.