Week 10 - Thing 23 - To Sum Up

Well it's been fun. Sure I may have been less than comprehensive in my coverage of some of the weeks, and sure a slight hint of cynicism or sarcasm (it's the lowest form of wit, don't you know) may have crept in from time to time, but I actually had fun for the most part and learnt a few things too.

Week 9 - Thing 22 - eBooks

We came along a bit late for the free content on the World ebook fair. It finished on the 4th of August and it now costs the princely sum of $8.95 a year to join the world public library and access that stuff. As I am way too cheap to cough up that sum for a bunch of old ebooks, I went to Project Gutenberg's site and clicked through a few for free. Inkeeping with the weak thread of vintage horror I have tried to maintain through this blog, I read the first bit of The Fall of the House of Usher. I've never read it before and I was immediately captivated by the unusually lighthearted tone of the opening:

DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

Poe: wacky

Before long, reading off the monitor, eye strain set in.

Don't get me wrong, I think ebooks are fantastic and it's good that people are donating their time and energy to make all of this out of copyright material freely available, I just like paper books better is all.

Week 9 - Thing 21 - Podcasts

After checking out all three podcast sites, updating my Quicktime and even installing a third party viewer, for a long time I couldn't get a single podcast to play on my computer. Some of them sounded quite interesting, but I was feeling the constraints of time and my short attention span problem was rearing it's ugly head again. Anyway, I perservered and finally, at the end of a protracted ordeal that I ensured my colleagues had to live through with me, the disembodied voice of a dour Englishman speaking slowly and deliberately about horror films emanted from my computer speakers. It was a wonderful moment and one I shall cherish, to be sure.

Week 9 - Thing 20 - YouTube

Because any excuse is a good excuse for old cigarette ads:


Damn, I used to love smoking.....

Week 8 - Thing 19 - LibraryThing

I actually got on this bandwagon about a year ago. I became rapidly addicted to adding all of the books in my house. Except the ones I didn't want to admit to. I also only put in books that I actually still own, which meant leaving out gems like A Clockwork Orange and 1984 which I borrowed from libraries or people. I also left out books that I haven't managed to finish, like Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading. Less invitation, more beheading please!

I could go on and on. But don't worry, I won't.

My LibraryThing is here.

Week 8 - Thing 18 - Zoho Writer

I really like this thing. It's portable and it's simple. I would have linked to my document, but it's incredibly dull. I can definitely see this kind of application being commonly used in the near future. Maybe even breaking Microsoft's stranglehold?

Probably not, I guess.

Week 7 - Thing 17 - TAFE 23 Things Wiki

I just created the Image Generators and Web Award Winners page and added thrilling content. In doing so, I discovered that my blues name is 'Sirloin' Bartholomew Peebles! I wonder if I can fit any more links in here.

No ..... no I can't.