Month: October 2009
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52/30/5 Week 37
Week 37 was taken on a walk around my local neighbourhood, towards dusk. A transformer on a power pole: Someone who needs to mow their grass. The recent rain has created this problem a lot lately: A view down towards the Fadden shops and the Fadden valley: One of the houses with a good view…
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Game Review: Half Life 2 + Episode 1 + Episode 2
I just finished playing through all of [*Half Life 2*](http://orange.half-life2.com/) (at least, all of what’s been released so far) for [Rebel FM’s Game Club](https://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/category/game-club/). Yes, a little late to the party. But better late than never, especially for [one of the best games of all time](http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/halflife2theorangebox?q=orange%20box). I was playing through on the XBox – I’d…
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Kindle International content pricing – a guide for the perplexed
I’ve done a little research to work out what the Amazon Kindle is charging for international content in Australia. This is only relevant for people that are not in the US. * Books costs $US 2 more. This is in contrast to the UK, where there’s also VAT added, which adds nearly another $US 2…
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52/30/5 Week 36
Week 36 was taken on a trip to the top of Red Hill in Canberra. View Larger Map A phone tower: A view down to Australia’s Parliament House: Three Poles: And the restaurant at the top of the hill (I don’t know the name: it changes every six months or so): And a plant. No,…
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Book Review: The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson
I’m a big fan of money. I don’t just mean in the mundane “it’s nice to spend sense”. Money is a profoundly weird, incredible invention. It is ultimately very hard to explain money, and hard to see how it ever really came into use. The story of money is incredibly interesting. Unfortunately, that’s not the…
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52/30/5 Week 35
Week 35 was taken at a Canberra Electric Vehicle show. A [Detroit Electric](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Electric), an electric car from pre-WW2. A modified VW Beetle with fully electric conversion: An electric race car: A few electric bicycles: And finally, a Tesla Roadster: The [full set](http://www.flickr.com/photos/exasperated/sets/72157622386816833/) is on Flickr.
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Book Review: Discover Your Inner Economist, Tyler Cowen
When I first started reading this book my wife thought it was a waste of time. She said that I was already pretty much in touch with my inner economist. That’s pretty much true. And overall she was right – I didn’t really get much out of this book. Tyler Cowen is an economist who…
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52/30/5 Week 34
Week 34 was taken a little further afield: [Pilanesberg Game Reserve](http://www.pilanesberg-game-reserve.co.za/) in South Africa. View Larger Map An elephant walking along the road. As it turns out, a bull elephant can move pretty quickly when it’s right next to your car: Some hippos lying around: A gnu: An elephant herd: And a giraffe: The [full…
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Recent books completed
Books that I’ve finished since May or so this year: *Six Easy Pieces*, Richard Feynman *Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets*, David Simon *Shambling Towards Hiroshima*, James Morrow *The End of Days*, Gershom Gorenberg *Zoe’s Tale*, John Scalzi *I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay*, Harlan Ellison *The Ascent of Money*, Niall Ferguson *The Graveyard Book*,…
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52/30/5 Week 33
Week 33 (which was actually taken only a couple of weeks late, just got a little lost on the way to the Internet) was just a quick session with a few attractive sunsets around home: The [full set](http://www.flickr.com/photos/exasperated/sets/72157622511285230/) is on Flickr.