Lost worlds and ports of call

Author: Anders Monsen (Page 18 of 83)

Tour de Gruene

Saturday, November 2nd I cycled in the 30th annual Tour de Gruene. This was my first time riding Tour de Gruene, though I had heard of it for many years. 2013 essentially was the first year I did any major bike rides, having focused on running until some injuries forced me onto the bike.

Tour de Gruene begins from the tiny town of Gruene in Central Texas, rides into the edges of the Hill Country, and returns along the scenic River Road along the Guadalupe River. A week prior to the event torrential rains raised the river level ten feet and washed out part of the road, but county crews quickly repaired the damage. Aside from some water still trickling on the road from higher ground, there was no visible sign of damage. Over 2,000 cyclists participated, and the event was split into four distances, ranging from 35 to 65 miles. I chose the 65 mile route, which was advertised as “hilly” and “challenging.” They did not lie. Continue reading

Alongside Night

Today I received in the mail a copy of Alongside Night: The Graphic Novel. Based on a screenplay of J. Neil Schulman’s 1979 debut novel, and updated for the present age, this new version Alongside Night also has finished production as a movie. The trailer is available on IMDB.com, and stars some big names such as Kevin Sorbo, Tim Russ, and Garrett Wang (the latter two from Star Trek: Voyager). The graphic novel appear adapted from the screenplay rather than the original novel, which makes it shorter and changes some of the settings but no major plot elements.

Ramez Naam’s Crux

Just finished Ramez Naam’s sequel to his superb 2012 novel Nexus, called Crux. Quite a breathtaking book in terms of near future ideas and non-stop action. Picking up a few months after the events in Nexus, the sequel rushes down the same paths, with many old characters plus a few new ones. Naam has narrative talent, and clearly a third book will follow.

Crux

Scanning Prometheus to PDF

Since 1982 the Libertarian Futurist Society has published a print newsletter called Prometheus. I served as editor from 1994 until 2000, and have handled the duties again since 2004. On and off for many years I have tried to bring the newsletter online, both the archives and current issues. Getting the old issues online has been an arduous process. Years ago I scanned all the issues with OCR software into text files. Since then I have tried—in between the spare moments that I have—to clean up garbled text. All issues since 2005 are fairly clean in terms of OCR, but older issues remain in various stages. Since 2005 I have been able to use the desktop publishing software to print PDF copies. But getting the older issues to PDF has not really worked out for me, as either my scanning software doesn’t handle the job, or the files are far too huge.

Then I tried a new application, A-PDF from a-pdf.com. This is a Windows OS app, and I work almost exclusively in Mac OS X. However, I scanned an issue, which went fairly quickly, and then in one click of a button converted the images to PDF. I was simply amazed. My goal now is to scan the remaining issues all to PDF, continue to clean up the OCR text, and then publish the entire set of over 100 issues online as both PDF and searchable content. If you are looking for an app that scans documents and generates a PDF, this might be one of the best solutions out there.

Discworld collector’s library

A few years ago, when the number of Discworld books were below 20 and I was scouring used book stores for some of the early books, I bought only paperback. Since then, I have a few hard covers, but I still usually wait for the paperbacks, despite their awful covers. If I had the money, I could scrap all those books and get the collector’s library. Each volume is only 10 quid, which means they’ll be devilishly hard to get in the US.

Review: Quantum Vibe: Nicole

QB_NicoleI’ve been following Scott Bieser’s serialized online graphic novel, Quantum Vibe, since day one. This month the first volume of his panels was published as a book, available from the usual sources. Weighing in at 236 pages, the first volume focuses on Nicole, a young woman, often irresponsible and prone to drink and scenes, who embarks on a new career and life of adventure after getting dumped by her flake boyfriend.

In the aftermath of her depression and self-indulgance, she is fired and forced to look for new work. She interviews for a job as personal assistant to a peripatetic inventor/businessman, Dr. Seamus O’Murchadha, who has a bold and ambitious project that needs a pilot and all-around gopher. Young Nicole at first is overwhelmed, bt later accepts, and begins a journey that will take her from the sun and outward, with stops along the way at various planets and orbital stations. Continue reading

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