The Sword and Laser – 2012 Book list

The Sword and Laser (S&L) is a science fiction and fantasy-themed book club and podcast, started by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt. The main goal of the club is to build a strong online community of sci-fi / fantasy buffs, and to discuss and enjoy books of both genres. — About S&L [www.swordandlaser.com]

The following is the list of books read by The Sword and Laser book club during 2012. This page is designed as is a quick reference page so that I can quickly jump between the forum pages and good read listings.

Continue reading ‘The Sword and Laser – 2012 Book list’

This weeks links (2012-01-23)

In brief:

* I’m Not Lovin’ It: McDonald’s Twitter campaign backfires (2012-Jan-25) [The Age]
A social media campaign to share stories about McDonald’s failed spectacularly yesterday when Twitter users hijacked the hashtag #McDstories to talk about eggshells in their McMuffins and fingernails in their burgers.

* I Spy Your Company’s Boardroom (2012-Jan-23) [Wired: Threat Level]
HD Moore and Mike Tuchen of Rapid7 discovered that they could remotely infiltrate conference rooms in some of the top venture capital and law firms across the country, as well as pharmaceutical and oil companies and even the boardroom of Goldman Sachs — all by simply calling in to unsecured videoconferencing systems that they found by doing a scan of the internet.

* How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books (2012-Jan-22) [ZDNet]
Apple has built its iBooks platform on the back of an open standard. With last week’s introduction of iBooks 2.0 and the free iBooks Author software for Mac OS X, Apple is deliberately locking out that popular open standard.

2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships
* 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships
Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 January 2012 : Super-Drome, Adelaide, SA
* #tracknats
* Live Stream [SBS Cycling Central]
SBS and Cycling Central continues its dedicated coverage of cycling this week with a live broadcast and live streaming of Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships from the Super-drome in Adelaide.
* Highlights [SBS Cycling Central]

Subaru Cycling Show
* Subaru Cycling Show – January 22 (Part 1) (2012-Jan-22) [SEN 1116]
* Subaru Cycling Show – January 22 (Part 2)
Phil Wrochna is joined by Scott McGrory on the Subaru Cycling Show talking everything in the world of cycling.

Some reading/listening:

* H.G. Wells – The Time Machine [Project Gutenberg]
The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in many media. This 32,000 word story is generally credited with the popularisation of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term “time machine”, coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle. This work is an early example of the Dying Earth subgenre.

新年快乐 恭喜发财! 今年的龙!

新年好!恭喜发财!(Happy New Year! May you be happy and prosperous!)
Chinese New Year falls on Monday January 23 in 2012, this year is the year of the Dragon.

2012 Year of the Dragon

[1] Chinese New Year Festival 2012 (in Melbourne) [Only Melbourne]
[2] Melbourne Chinese New Year Celebrations [That's Melbourne]
[3] Melbourne Chinese New Year 2012

Music Monday #088 – The Jane Austen Argument

The Jane Austen Argument opened for the Dresden Dolls last Wednesday in sAdelaide rAdelaide. A great young (yeah, I’m getting old – get off my lawn) band that’s worth a listen.

The Jane Austen Argument are an Australian musical duo from Melbourne, Victoria. Formed in 2010 by Tom Dickins, (vocals, piano, ukulele) and Jen Kingwell (piano, vocals, ukulele), the band consider themselves an “indie cabaret duo with overtones of anti-folk and punk love”. The duo have had a great amount of support by friend and fellow artist Amanda Palmer, and have supported her on her Goes Down Under Tour of 2011 as well as featured on her compilation record of the same name. Their debut album Somewhere Under The Rainbow comes out in 2012.
wikipedia

And now for some music …
Continue reading ‘Music Monday #088 – The Jane Austen Argument’

This weeks links (2012-01-16)

In brief:

Cycling Central
* Podcast: Tour Down Under preview
* Podcast: Tour Down Under Stage 2
* Podcast: Tour Down Under Stage 3
* Podcast: Tour Down Under Stage 4
* Podcast: Tour Down Under Stage 5
* Podcast: Tour Down Under Stage 6
Mike Tomalaris, Anthony Tan and Philip Gomes wrap up the Santos Tour Down Under.

Subaru Cycling Show
* Subaru Cycling Show – January 15 (Part 1) (2012-Jan-15) [SEN 1116]
* Subaru Cycling Show – January 15 (Part 2)
* Subaru Cycling Show (Part 3)
Phil Wrochna is joined by Scott McGrory on the Subaru Cycling Show talking all things on two wheels.

Some reading/listening:

* Subspace Survivors by E. E. Smith [librivox]
A team of space travelers are caught in a subspace accident which, up to now, no one has ever survived. But some of the survivors of the Procyon are not ordinary travelers. Their psi abilities allow them to see things before they happen. But will it be enough?
Smith’s story “Subspace Survivors” first appeared in the July 1960 issue of the magazine Astounding.

Tour Down Under 2012

Feel the rush as colours blur,
Feel the rush and hear the purr of wheels in motion
wheels in motion
Feel the rush as pedals whir,
feel the rush as colours blur and wheels in motion
wheels in motion

– Feel The Rush! (TDU Theme Song)

Stage Details:

Stage P: Sun Jan 15, Down Under Classic – Adelaide East End (51 km)
Stage 1: Tue Jan 17, – Prospect → Clare (149 km)
Stage 2: Wed Jan 18, Coleman Group – Lobethal → Stirling (148 km)
Stage 3: Thu Jan 19, Unley → Victor Harbor (135 km)
Stage 4: Fri Jan 20, BUPA – Norwood → Tanunda (130 km)
Stage 5: Sat Jan 21, JAYCO – McLaren Vale → Old Willunga Hill (152 km)
Stage 6: Sun Jan 22, Adelaide City Council Street Circuit (90 km)

Links:

[1] Tour Down Under (Mobile Site)
[2] Tour Down Under 2012 [SBS Cycling Central]
[3] Tour Down Under 2012 Live Dashboard [SteepHill]
[4] Tour Down Under 2012 [The Advertiser]

Patch Tuesday Wednesday (JAN-2012)

This month Microsoft have released seven (7) security bulletins of which one (3) has a maximum rating of Critical and six (6) which have a maximum rating of Important.

… today we are releasing seven security bulletins, one of which is rated Critical in severity, with the remaining six classified as Important.
These bulletins will address eight vulnerabilities in Microsoft products. Customers should plan to install all of these updates as soon as possible.[1]

Bulletin KB number Description Severity Impact Software
MS12-001 2644615 Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Security Feature Bypass Security Feature Bypass Important Microsoft Windows
MS12-002 2603381 Vulnerability in Windows Object Packager Could Allow Remote Code Execution Remote Code Execution Important Microsoft Windows
MS12-003 2646524 Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time Subsystem Could Allow Elevation of Privilege Elevation of Privilege Important Microsoft Windows
MS12-005 2636391 Vulnerabilities in Windows Media Could Allow Remote Code Execution Remote Code Execution Critical Microsoft Windows
MS12-005 2584146 Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Could Allow Remote Code Execution Remote Code Execution Important Microsoft Windows
MS12-006 2643584 Vulnerability in SSL/TLS Could Allow Information Disclosure Information Disclosure Important Microsoft Windows
MS12-007 2607664 Vulnerability in AntiXSS Library Could Allow Information Disclosure Information Disclosure Important Microsoft Developer Tools and Software

PATCH NOW:
MS12-004

Music Monday #087 – Jason Webley

Jason Webley is an American musician known for his fusion of folk, experimental and alternative music. He began as a busker, playing accordion in the streets of Seattle, Washington, but has since moved in-doors and on stage, playing various venues.wikipedia

And now for some music …
Continue reading ‘Music Monday #087 – Jason Webley’

This weeks links (2012-01-09)

In brief:

* The Trailwalker (PDF) (2011-Dec-19) [Friends of Heysen Trail]

* S&L Podcast – #87 – Kick-off Rule 34 by Charles Stross (2012-Jan-06) [Sword & Laser]

* Random musings from around the web [http://kinshasha.net/wp/]

Some reading/listening:

* George R. R. Martin posts excerpt from Winds of Winter
Excerpt from THE WINDS OF WINTER by George R. R. Martin.

The Dresden Dolls Live WEBCAST From Sydney

Moshcam Presents: The Dresden Dolls Live WEBCAST From Sydney
Have a #PartyOnTheInternet thanks to @Moshcam
LIVE FROM SYDNEY http://www.partyontheinternet.com/

Use the hashtag #DresdenDollsLive to follow the conversation on Twitter

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