Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, August 23, 2002

Finishing is exhausting -- Comment()
This week I have been involved in a book project. Second edition of our 400+ page book is getting ready, but there are all those small things which require correcting at the last moment. Sometimes it seems easier to let go, but then I just push on and re-read the thing once more. And I have also learned something. One of the new topics of the book is wavelets, and that is certainly interesting. But I don't have the time to try out in practice all those nice wavelet examples.

Flood of software -- Comment()
There seems to be a flood of software updates for Mac OS X. For example, GraphicConverter was updated to 4.4.4. This was the first shareware program I registered after getting Mac OS X. Then came Watson and half a dozen other programs. Now I'm (still!) thinking about purchasing Radio. But there are 26 days of the trial period left...

Hooked on blogging -- Comment()
Am I getting hooked on bloggin? I'm trying the Radio features, and managed to find a couple of problems. It seems that the RSS feed does not always replace the shortcuts with their texts. Also, sometimes the Radio application stops responding to commands from the local web browser.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with Radio. Also, the corresponding "Blog" at universalrule.blogspot.com seems to keep up with the Universal Rule blog. I have also checked a couple of times the page read rankings. A few minutes ago this blog happened to be number 5 at Radio.

Bioinformatics nation -- Comment()
There is a nice article in Nature about Creating a bioinformatics nation. It seems that lots of effort is put into integrating separate systems and sources of information. I hope there will be a multi-platform system or compatible systems available for researchers. Standards, standards.

Blogging with a pen on paper -- Comment()
Yesterday i blogged with a pen on paper. Left the iBook at work for software installation (running the system now). Felt disconnected without my iBook. It was nice to sit in the garden, blogging with on paper with a Parker Frontier fountain pen.

I hate to be in -- Comment()
I've always hated to "be in". To have "in" hobbies, to eat certain "in" foods, to visit "in" places. There is enough strangeness inside my head already, no thank you. Visit gurus, read the right things, listen to the Führer. Who needs to be in? Anyone who has survived childhood has the stuff to be a writer, or anything else.

Blogging a shared scrapbook -- Comment()
As a writer I have always kept a list of ideas, text clippings and article outlines. Perhaps blogging is like having a shared scrapbook of ideas. But do these ideas already diffuse outside to non-bloggers?

Blogging with a Nokia communicator? -- Comment()
Is anyone blogging with a Nokia communicator? That would be ideal tool to take everywhere. Like the slogan "Connecting people" says.

Blog phenomenon heats up in Finland -- Comment()
The "Blog" phenomemon is going mainstream in Finland. A weekly IT magazine had yesterday a feature story about Finnish bloggers. Some celebrities seem to have started blogging. Perhaps blogging is like having your column in a daily newswpaper, without having to have the newspaper.

iBlog an iSwitch poem -- Comment()
Last night while watching Heaven can Wait, a Warren Beatty movie from 1978, I decided to iBlog an iSwitch poem. Here it is. Are there any composers to make the music?

Jaguar is sleek and meek -- Comment()
Jaguar reviews are pouring in. This seems to be a powerful but unobtrusive animal. Well done, not medium or rare.