Reading Book List

Reading Book List

 I've started to get back into actually reading books and so I'm creating a list of books I'm reading and intend to read.

The genres I'm currently focusing on are classics and science fiction classics. There's a few behemoths in here that I see referenced all the time (Tolstoy; Dostoevsky; Alexandre Dumas) and I think I'll try and chip away at them while reading a smaller one at the same time just to bread it up a bit.

Book list

SF - Science Fiction

C  - Classic

I own an am working through

Alexandre Dumas - C - The Count of Monte Cristo - started 2024-02-02

William Gibson - Neuromancer - started 2024-02-02

Shorter books to read in between 

Ernest Hemingway - C - The Old Man and the Sea

Robert Silverberg - SF - The Man in the Maze

Daniel Defoe - C - Robinson Crusoe

Ray Bradbury - SF - Fahrenheit 451

Philip K. Dick - SF - The Man in the High Castle

Philip K. Dick - SF - A Scanner Darkly

John Steinbeck - C - East of Eden

Poul Anderson - SF - The Boat of a Million Years

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - Tender is the Night

Ursula K. Le Guin - SF - The Left Hand of Darkness

R.A Laffery - SF - Past Master

Strugatsky - SF - Roadside Picnic

Larger Book that will take Time

Hans Fallada - C - Alone in Berlin

Dostoevsky     - C - Crime and Punishment

Leo Tolstoy - C - Anna Karenina

Dostoevsky     - C - The Brothers Karamazov

Alexandre Dumas - C - The Three Musketeers

Leo Tolstoy - C - Resurrection

Leo Tolstoy - C - War and Peace

I Don't own yet but I want to add to my list

Daniel Keyes - SF - Flowers for Algernon

Roger Zelazny - SF - This Immortal

Kurt Vonnegut - SF - Cats Cradle

Ted Chiang - SF - Stories of your Time

Walter Millar - SF - A Canticle for Leibowitz

Adrian Tchaikovsky - SF - Children of Time

Michael Moorcock - SF - Behold the Man

Peter Watts - SF - Starfish

Cordwainer Smith - SF - Norstrilia

Brian Aldiss - SF - Hothouse

James Blish - SF - Black Easter

Greg Bear - SF - Blood Music

Alfred Bester - SF - The Demolished Man

Mikhail Bulgakov - SF - The Master and the Margarita

Emily Bronte - C - Wuthering Heights

Charlotte Bronte - C - Jane Eyre

Jane Austen - C - Pride and Prejudice

E. M. Forster - C - A room with a view

Thomas Hardy - C - Tess of the D'Urbevilles

Patrick Suskind - C - Perfume 

I own but these are not on my immediate list

Ray Bradbury - SF - The Silver Locust

Ray Bradbury - SF - Long After Midnight

Ray Bradbury - SF - Something Wicked this way Comes

Dostoevsky - C - Notes from the underground

Dostoevsky - C - The Devils

Dostoevsky - C - The House of the Dead

Dostoevsky - C - The Idiot

Alexandre Dumas - C - Twenty Years After

Alexandre Dumas - C - Ten Year Later

Alexandre Dumas - C - The Man in the Iron Mask

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - This side of Paradise

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - Curious case of Benjamin Button

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - Flappers and philosophers

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - The beautiful and the Damned

E. Scott Fizgerald - C - The Great Gatsby

Audiobook list

I have recently started getting in to listening to audiobooks. I have always enjoyed reading but have found over the last few year that I just can't/won't make the time to sit down and read anymore. This post is to keep track of books I've listened to mostly to and from going to work.
Note. The dates are only rough estimates. I have highlighted favourites.

The Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (2015-05-10)
The Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 2: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (2015-06-02)
Mistborn, Book 1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (2015-06-18)
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss (2015-07-01)
The Dark Tower, Book 1: The Gunslinger by Stephen King (2015-07-03)
The Dresden Files, Book 1: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (2015-07-06)
The Dresden Files, Book 2: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (2015-07-10)
The Dresden Files, Book 3: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (2015-07-17)
The Dresden Files, Book 4: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher (2015-07-22)
The Dresden Files, Book 5: Death Masks by Jim Butcher (2015-07-28)
The Dresden Files, Book 6: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (2015-08-02)
The Dresden Files, Book 7: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (2015-08-07)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2015-08-10)
The Dresden Files, Book 8: Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher (2015-08-15)
The Dresden Files, Book 9: White Night by Jim Butcher (2015-08-21)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2015-08-22)
Divergent by Veronica Roth (2015-08-30)
The Maze Runner, Book 2: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (2015-09-10)
The Dresden Files, Book 10: Small Favor by Jim Butcher (2015-09-17)
The Maze Runner, Book 3: Death Cure by James Dashner (2015-09-28)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (2015-10-01)
Retribution falls by Chris Wooding (2015-10-06)
The Stormlight Archive, Book 1: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (2015-10-07)
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (2015-10-27)
The Dresden Files, Book 11: Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (2015-11-03)
The Demon Cycle, Book 1: The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett (2015-11-07)
The Cycle of Arawn Trilogy by Edward W. Robertson (2015-11-08)
Ender's Game, Book 2: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (2015-11-28)
The First Law, Book 1: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (2015-11-28)
Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book 2: Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (2015-12-14)
Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book 3: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch (2016-01-02)
The Demon Cycle, Book 2: The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (2016-01-14)
The Demon Cycle, Book 3: The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett (2016-??)
The Cycle of Galand, Book 1: The Red Sea by Edward W. Robertson (2016-01-23)
The Saga of Darren Shan, Book 1: Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan (2016-02-07)
His Dark Materials, Book 1: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (2016-02-12)
Vampire Academy, Book 1: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (2016-02-20)

The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (2016-02-28)

The Mortal Instruments, Book 1: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (2016-02-28)
The Dresden Files, Book 12: Changes by Jim Butcher (2016-03-04)
The Dresden Files, Book 13: Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (2016-03-18)
The Dresden Files, Book 14: Cold Days by Jim Butcher (2016-03-27)
The Dresden Files, Book 15: Skin Game  by Jim Butcher (2016-04-06)
The Dresden Files, Side Jobs by Jim Butcher (2016-04-11)
The Dresden Files, Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher (2016-04-18)
The Godling Chronicles Book 1 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
The Godling Chronicles Book 2 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
The Godling Chronicles Book 3 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
The Godling Chronicles Book 4 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
The Cycle of Galand, Book 2: The Silver Thief by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Rogues by Gillian Flynn et al. (2016)
Breakers, Book 1 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Breakers, Book 2 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Breakers, Book 3 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Breakers, Book 4 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Breakers, Book 5 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
The Godling Chronicles Book 5 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
Ender's Game, Book 3: Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (2016)
Ender's Game, Book 4: Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card (2016)
Ender's Game, Book 5: Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (2016)
Ben Bova and Orson Scott Card interview (2016)
Rebel: Rebel Stars, Book 1 by Edward W. Robertson (2016)
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (2016)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2016)
Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher (2016)
Vampire Empire, Book 1 by Clay and Susan Griffith (2016)
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins (2016)
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (2016)
Nightlord, Book 1: Sunset by Garon Whited (2016)
How to be Real Estate Investor by Phil Pustejovsky (2016)
The Godling Chronicles Book 6 by Brian D. Anderson (2016)
The Stormlight Archive, Book 2: The Way of Kings (2016)
Nightlord, Book 2: Shadows by Garon Whited (2016-12-03)
Nightlord, Book 3: Orb by Garon Whited (2016-12-10)
Mistborn, Book 1: The Final Empire by Brian Sanderson (2016-12-29)
Mistborn, Book 2: The Well of Ascension by Brian Sanderson (2017-01-02)
Mistborn, Book 3: The Hero of Ages by Brian Sanderson (2017-01-15)
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (2017-01)
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (2017-02)
The Demon Cycle: The Skull Throne, Book 4 by Peter V. Brett (2017-02)
Dune, Book 1 by Frank Herbert (2017-02)
Magic 2.0: Off to Be the Wizard, Book 1 by Scott Meyer (2017-03)
Neuromancer by William Gibson (2017-03)
Magic 2.0: Spell or High Water, Book 2 by Scott Meyer (2017-04)
Magic 2.0: An Unwelcome Quest, Book 3 by Scott Meyer (2017-04)
The Boy on the Bridge by M. R. Carey (2017-06)
The Cycle of Galand, Book 3: The Wound of the World by Edward W. Robertson (2017-06-29)
Magic 2.0: Fight and Flight, Book 4 by Scott Meyer (2017-07-03)
Ender's Shadow, Book 1 by Orson Scott Card (2017-07)
Ender's Shadow, Book 2: Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card (2017-08)
Ender's Shadow, Book 3: Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card (2017-08)
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson (2017-09)
WarBreaker by Brandon Sanderson (2017-09)
Legion by Brian Sanderson (2017-09)
Legion: Skin Deep by Brian Sanderson (2017-09)The Cycle of Galand, Book 4: The Light of Life by Edward W. Robertson (2017-09)
Ender's Shadow, Book 4: Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card (2017-10)
Ender's Shadow, Book 5: Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card (2017-10)
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (2017-11)
Mistborn, Book 4: The Alloy of Law by Brian Sanderson (2017-11)
Mistborn, Book 5: Shadows of Self by Brian Sanderson (2017-11)
Mistborn, Book 6: The Bands of Mourning by Brian Sanderson (2017-11-20)
Reckoners, Book 1: Steelheart by Brian Sanderson (2017-11)

Reckoners, Book 2: Firefight by Brian Sanderson (2017-12)
Reckoners, Book 3: Calamity by Brian Sanderson (2017-12)
Vampire Empire, Book 1 by Clay and Susan Griffith (2018-01) REREAD

Vampire Empire: The Rift Walker, Book 2 by Clay Griffith, Susan Griffith (2018-01)
Vampire Empire: The Kingmakers, Book 3 by Clay Griffith, Susan Griffith (2018-01)
The Stormlight Archive, Book 3: Oathbringer (2018-02-05)
Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection, by Arthur Conan Doyle (2018-02)
Nightlord, Book 4: Knightfall by Garon Whited (2018-04)

Valis by Philip K. Dick (2018-05)
The Divine Invasion: VALIS, Book 2 by Philip K. Dick (2018-05)
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer: VALIS, Book 3 by Philip K. Dick (2018-06)
Magic 2.0: Out of Spite Out of Mind, Book 5 by Scott Meyer (2018-06)
Fae: The Wild Hunt: Riven Wyrde Saga, Book 1 by Graham Austin-King (2018-07)
Fae: The Realm of Twilight: The Riven Wyrde Saga, Book 2 by Graham Austin-King (2018-07)
Fae: The Sins of the Wyrde: The Riven Wyrde Saga, Book 3 by Graham Austin-King (2018-08)
The Demon Cycle, Book 5: The Core by Peter V. Brett (2018)
The Godling Chronicles, Book 5: Journey of Fate by Brian D. Anderson (2018)
Pretty Boy by Orson Scott Card (2018)

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (2018)

Dirk Gently's Holistic detective agency (2018)

Pathfinder, Book 1: Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card (2018-09)

Pathfinder, Book 2: Ruins by Orson Scott Card (2018-10)

Pathfinder, Book 3: Visitors by Orson Scott Card (2018-10)

Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brian Sanderson (2018-10)

The Cycle of Galand, Book 5: The Spear of Stars  by Edward W. Robertson (2018-11)

Dune Chronicles, Book 1:  Dune by Frank Herbert (2018-11)
Dune Chronicles, Book 2:  Dune Messiah by  Frank Herbert (2018-11)
Dune Chronicles, Book 3: Children of Dune by  Frank Herbert (2018-12)
Dune Chronicles, Book 4: God Emperor of Dune by  Frank Herbert (2018-12)
Dune Chronicles, Book 5: Heretics of Dune by  Frank Herbert (2019-01-11)
Dune Chronicles, Book 6: Chapterhouse Dune by  Frank Herbert (2019)
Nightlord, Book 5: Void by Garon Whited (2019)

A song of Ice and Fire, Book 1: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (2019)
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (2019)
Magic 2.0: The Vexed Generation, Book 6 by Scott Meyer (2019)

The Cutting Room: A Time Travel Thriller by Edward W. Robertson (2019)
Titans by Edward W. Robertson (2019)
Hyperion Cantos, Book 1: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (2019)
Hyperion Cantos, Book 2: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (2019)

Not read yet

Mitosis: A Reckoners Novella
World War Z
An Unkindness of MagiciansHyperion Cantos, Book 3: Endymion by Dan Simmons
Hyperion Cantos, Book 4: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
The Wheel of Time Book 1 by Robert Jordan
The Wheel of Time Book 2 by Robert Jordan
Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume 1 by Will Durant



DNF

A song of Ice and Fire, Book 2:  by George R. R. Martin (2019)



Largely non-fiction that I would like to read below -

Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science Of The Mind by David Buss
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Lessons Of History by Will & Ariel Durant
Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
Civilization And Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud
When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead by Jerry Weintraub
The Story Of The Human Body by Daniel Lieberman
The One Thing by Gary Keller
The Greatest Minds and Ideas Of All Time by Will Durant
The Complete Story Of Civilization by Will Durant
Made In America by Sam Walton
Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit And Wisdom Of Charles T. Munger by Peter Kaufman
Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger
A Few Lessons For Investors and Managers by Warren Buffett
Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby
All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Salt Sugar Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss
Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
The Hiltons: The True Story Of An American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli
Grinding It Out: The Making Of Mc
Donalds by Ray Croc
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos And The Age Of Amazon by Brad Stone
Inheritance by Sharon Moalem
Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters by By Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa
Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Connect by Matthew D. Lieberman
Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
The Theory Of Everything by Stephen Hawking
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find -and Keep -Love by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller
President Me: The America That's In My Head by Adam Carolla
Born To Run by Christopher McDougall
Dollars And Sex: How Economics Influences Sex And Love by Dr. Marina Adshade
The Wealth And Poverty Of Nations by David S. Landes
An Autobiography: The Story Of My Experiments With Truth by Mohandas Gandhi
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History Of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
Holy Cows & Hog Heaven: The Food Buyers Guide To Farm Friendly Food by Joel Salatin
The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies Of Human Mating by David M. Buss
The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris
I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister & John Tierney
The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker
Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential by John Neffinger & Matthew Kohut
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Anthropology by Carol Ember, Melvin Ember & Peter Peregrine
How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How Google Works by Eric Schmidt

Twitter mysql cron

I really enjoyed this project. It had me scratching my head for a while when I found out that the twitter API has changed from version 1 to 1.1. This means that you can no longer tweet using a simple username and password. You now need to use secure authentication called OAuth.


Firstly, you need a twitter account. Next go to dev.twitter.com and sign in. Create a new app


Place holder

Arduino Twitter motion temp project

This was not as difficult as I thought because I found a really easy to follow guide called arduino-tweet.

Firstly, you need a twitter account... funny enough and make your that your signed in before you do step 1, getting the OAuth token.

Download the Arduino Tweet Library here. Put the Twitter folder the Arduino Libraries folder.

The sketch below sends a tweet along with the temperature and the seconds number when motion is detected. I added 35 secs delay so as to not accidentally over do the tweets. Again as with most of my Arduino sketches I built up the string as best as I could, I'm sure it looks horrible to some programming gurus but it works and that when I stopped working with it :)

Anyways heres the Sketch.

#include "SPI.h"

#include "Ethernet.h"

#include <Twitter.h>

 

void getTemp();

void getMotionTemp();

 

//Data

float temperature = 0.00;

int temperaturePin = 0;

int secs = 0;

int calibrationTime = 30;        

//the time when the sensor outputs a low impulse

long unsigned int lowIn;         

//the amount of milliseconds the sensor has to be low 

//before we assume all motion has stopped

long unsigned int pause = 5000;  

boolean lockLow = true;

boolean takeLowTime;  

int pirPin = 7;    //the digital pin connected to the PIR sensor's output

int ledPin = 8;

 

// Enter a MAC address for your controller below

byte mac[] = {  0xXX, 0xXX, 0xXX, 0xXX, 0xXX, 0xXX };

//Server to connect to

Twitter twitter(" ADD YOUR TOKEN HERE");

 

void setup()

{

  delay(1000);

  Ethernet.begin(mac);

  Serial.begin(9600);

  pinMode(pirPin, INPUT);

  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);

  digitalWrite(pirPin, LOW);

  

  //give the sensor some time to calibrate

  Serial.print("calibrating sensor ");

    for(int i = 0; i < calibrationTime; i++){

      Serial.print(".");

      delay(1000);

      }

    Serial.println(" done");

    Serial.println("SENSOR ACTIVE");

    delay(50); 

}

 

void loop()

{

  delay(5000);

  getTemp();

  getMotionTemp();

  //delay(300000);

  delay(30000);

}

 

void getMotionTemp(){

  //String data = String("Motion has been detected and the temperature in my room is "+ String(temperature,2));

  //String msg = String(String(temperature,2) + "C");

  char msg[140] = "Motion has been detected and the temperature in my room is ";

  dtostrf(temperature,1,2, &msg[59]);

  char* msg_ending = " C at ";

  strcat(msg,msg_ending);

     if(digitalRead(pirPin) == HIGH){

       digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);   //the led visualizes the sensors output pin state

       if(lockLow){  

         //makes sure we wait for a transition to LOW before any further output is made:

         lockLow = false;

         Serial.println("---");

         Serial.print("motion detected at ");

         secs = millis()/1000;

         Serial.print(secs);

         Serial.println(" sec");

         dtostrf(secs,1,0, &msg[70]);

         char* msg_ending_to = " secs";

         strcat(msg,msg_ending_to);

         Serial.println(msg);

         if (twitter.post(msg)) {

           int status = twitter.wait();

           if (status == 200) {

           Serial.println("OK.");

         } else {

           Serial.print("failed : code ");

           Serial.println(status);

         }

       } else {

         Serial.println("connection failed.");

       } 

       delay(50);

       }      

       takeLowTime = true;

     }

     if(digitalRead(pirPin) == LOW){       

       digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);  //the led visualizes the sensors output pin state

       if(takeLowTime){

        lowIn = millis();          //save the time of the transition from high to LOW

        takeLowTime = false;       //make sure this is only done at the start of a LOW phase

        }

       //if the sensor is low for more than the given pause, 

       //we assume that no more motion is going to happen

       if(!lockLow && millis() - lowIn > pause){  

           //makes sure this block of code is only executed again after 

           //a new motion sequence has been detected

           lockLow = true;                        

           Serial.print("motion ended at ");      //output

           Serial.print((millis() - pause)/1000);

           Serial.println(" sec");

           delay(50);

           }

       }

}

 

float getVoltage(int pin){

  return (analogRead(pin) * .004882814);

}

void getTemp()

{

  //temperature = (((temperature - 0.5) * 100)*1.8) + 32;

  temperature = (getVoltage(temperaturePin) - .5) * 100;

}

I will post up some pictures and a wiring diagram later

Babylon 5 unfairly treated?

Right, I am a huge Sci-fi fan, in fact it's probably my most favorite genre when it comes to television series. And so of course I have watched all the Star Treks - the bread and butter of sci-fi, Stargate, Battle Star Galactica, Sliders, Farscape (another series that warrants the same question) but Babylon 5 completely fell through the gap for me. In fact, I don't think I really even was aware of the series 10 years after the show had ended and while I find this quite sad it was awesome to watch them all consecutively.

Here are a list of reasons why I think Babylon 5 has become probably my most favorite sci-fi series of all time:

• The story arcs are epic. Great stories that focus on major sci-fi themes such Order verses Chaos and Freewill verses Authoritarianism. The Order/Authoritarianism verses Chaos/Freewill theme manifests itself round 2 powerful ancient races, the Vorlons (Order) and the Shadows (Chaos), each with they're own ideologies. This is different from Good verses Evil and although, initially anyway the Vorlons could be reprieved as good and the shadows evil this is really not the case. The other major story line is Babylon 5 breaking away from Earth and creating it own government.
•  The dialog, I thought was brilliant. I really liked Bruce Boxleitner as John Sheridan, I thought he had some really powerful lines. I love when a series has a huge cast of secondary major characters who aren't in every episode but maybe every other episode. This gives a really good feeling of a station port were people come and go. G'Kar and Londo Mollari are two such characters who were utilized really well and they're character development was outstanding. G'Kar portrayed by Andreas Katsulas is a fantastic actor and had lots of great scenes.
• The race diversity is great.
• I like the telepath story arc
• The films are great, some better than others, but that's always the case
• The spin off Crusade was really good, I'm disappointed it only lasted 1 series, it would have been great. I liked the development of the techomages and thought Peter Woodward as Galen was an excellent character.

I'll maybe expand those points out at a later date, I'm really just mind dumping at the moment.

I really love the way the series is based around the 4 questions (taken straight from wikipedia):

• Who are you? (The Vorlon Question)
• What do you want? (The Shadow Question)
• Why are you here? (Emperor Turhan's Question)
• Where are you going? (Techno Mage's Question)

I recently bought a meditation audio book and those were pretty much the exact same questions asked and so I was wondering if the Babylon 5 questions were based on the meditation questions. I think the idea of the questions is not really for yourself to answer but rather let the universe answer it for you that's what I had taken from the audiobooks anyway.

So those are just a few short reasons of why I really like Babylon 5, like I said I may expand on a few of those points but I'm not sure I need to. Wikipedia is your friend. I have also look on amazon to see if there were any Babylon 5 books written in the expanded universe and luckily there are some and so I have ordered The Technomage Trilogy. I have heard good reviews about it. I'll update this post about what I thought of it later.

Please post your thought on why you like or dislike (boo) this franchise.

Guild Wars 2 overview

After playing World of Warcraft for many many years I eventually froze my account and I'm not too sure if I'll go back. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game, I just think it's time to stop investing time in it.

This was difficult, however, because I really love the Warcraft Universe and have read many novels, I replay Warcraft 3 all the time (with cheats - for story), and I love the races and classes. So I may have approached Guild wars 2 with a slight hostility and skepticism (it'll never be as good as WoW); the races are different; the classes; I don't know any back story or history in this universe... It's a blank slate. I think this turned out to be a really good thing though. If your anything like me, one of the best things about MMO's is the creation of your avatars and testing them out.

I was a bit slow to fully take to it and in fact it was almost out a year before I started playing somewhat properly largely because I'm a Mac user and the Mac client didn't come out a while later ( playing on Bootcamp was just a pain) but also because it felt like I was turning my back on WoW, a fairly big chunk of my gaming life -- I was still only ever a casual player.

Right, enough reminiscing about what was and lets take a look at what is - now; Guild Wars 2.

I really think this game is superb. Below is a pro/con list:

Pros

• No subscription fee. Even if your only mildly interested in the game, why wouldn't you pick it up?

• The graphics are really nice; of course I can't really get the most out of it as the computer I'm playing on, the iMac, does not meet the minimum requirements although it still plays and looks fine. I love the look of the UI and the map and the cut scenes - that sort of sketchy arty look, I'm sure you know what I mean if you play.
• Character races/professions are new, different and exciting
• The game play style is really different. I wasn't sure about it at first but now I do really like it. I like the small pool of moves that don't clutter, I love the fact that moves are linked to weapons, which means that in the first couple of hours your after access to tons of different playing styles.
• I love the open group quests where you only have to be in the area of others doing the quest to get experience from it and you can join any fight/quest without having to join a group (of course this is not always the case, but sometimes you just want to cruise about on your own) if you don't want to And you don't have to accept quests or hand them in. I really really like this.
• New class types, I guess I should really call it professions, I'll talk a bit more about them down below
• Instant Auction House - called Trading Post.

Cons

• You only have 5 character slots. You can get more but I think it costs some money.

Ok, I don't have a lot of cons I can think of at the moment, I'm sure that there is a few more. however I do have a few nuances:

Nuances

•  I'm not familiar with the story and so am not too sure what's going on at the moment
• This goes for the map also, knowing where to go and where things are
• Crafts - I know it's like WoW professions but it took me a while to get a handle on it
• Different weapons can drastically change game play and so finding the right combination/fit for you will take quite some time -- but that's a major part of the fun, also there are tons of forums and youtube videos

Races

• Charr - They are like cat based werewolfs -- werecats? They look pretty cool and run on all fours, they just weren't for me.
• Sylvari - I sort of considered them elf like however they are plant based lifeforms with leaves for hair. These weren't really for me either
• Norn - These are like really huge humans - think 7ft wrestlers and vikings. I quite liked these but none of the professions I wanted to play seemed like a good fit for the Norn back story (really only warrior and ranger?)
• Human - These are my favorite class. I think they look good and suit all professions. 4 of 5 of my characters are human. This may be silly because I'm playing the same starting locations 4 times but I don't care.
• Asura - These guys are a cross between Wow gnomes and Stitch from Lilo and Stitch films. I originally didn't like them much but they have grown on me and I now have one in my character slot.

Professions

• Guardian - These are sort of like WoW palidans. Excel in support and survivability. I like this profession and it is one that I use. - First alt.
• Warrior - Standard warrior type, similar to WoW warrior, a great profession for easy play and attack/defense but is not one that I use.
• Thief - Again similar to WoW rogue, utilizes stealth. I never really played rogue in WoW and this class interested me and is one that I use. Last alt.
• Ranger - Similar to Wow Hunter, utilizes pet and bow. Not really for me.
• Elementalist - Similar to Wow mage but I think more versatile as you have access to all four elements. Actually it may also have some Shaman qualities, a mage/shaman hybrid. I am interested in this class by don't have the slots.
• Engineer - A really unique profession, may have been inspired by Team Fortress. I really like this profession, it's really quite different, uses guns, turrents and belts and kits which do a ton of stuff such as medic, grenader, bomber, flamethrower, elixers that have many boons (buffs). This is one that I use, however having such a vast amount of different skills it may be difficult to juggle them. - Second alt.
• Mesmer - Another really unique profession. Can cast illusions (clones and phantasms) to confuse and manipulate foes. This could be my main profession at the moment, it really interesting but could be quiet difficult to use. - Main
• Necromancer - Maybe a sort of WoW warlock but just in name classification, and perhaps it's use of minions and it does have a demon mode of sorts. I was too sure about this class but after seeing a couple of youtube video, I changed my mind and could be a contender for my main, not sure yet.

 So these are just some of the things I wanted to mention about the game. I wanted it to be brief and simple initial experiences of what I thought of the game. I also deliberately made quite a few Wow comparisons because that is the game I moved from, essentially replacing. There are loads of websites and forums that go really in-depth, like all MMO's, so if you want more info just ask Google. The Guild Wars 2 wiki is really good.

I really think this is a great game and would recommend it to anyone who likes the genre.

Useful Oracle Commands

These are some of the oracle commands I use frequently. You should be logged on as SYS.

This SQL statement shows the users/systems that are connected to the database:

select * from v$session;

The SQL statement shows the SQL statements that are being run and also historical statements:

select * from v$sql;

It can be useful to check what sql a session is executing by using the sql_id key.

Will show you all the queries that took a long time to run:

select * from v$_longops;

It can be annoying when looking dates in the database that the dates do not show the time. The following command is a quick
way to display the time:

alter session set nls_date_format=‘yyyy-mm-dd hh24:mi:ss’;

To create a tablespace:

create tablespace [tablespace_name] datafile ‘[tablespace_name].dbf’ size [database_size] reuse autoextend on next 10M maxsize unlimited extent management local uniform size 1M;

The tablespace_name is the name you want to give the tablesapce
The database_size is the size you want to designate e.g. 2G

You will also need to create a user for the tablespace:

create user [user] identified by “[password]” default tablespace [tablespace_name] temporary tablespace TEMPprofile DEFAULT;

The user will also need permissions:

grant dba to [user]; grant connect, resource to [user]; grant unlimited tablespace to [user];

Note you would not want to grant dba to the user. You will need to make your own permissions.

Import/Export

The standard import functions are run from the command line and are as follows:

imp [user]/[password]@[tns_name] fromuser=[from_user] touser=[to_user] file=file_name.dmp log=file_name.log

The standard export functions are run from the command line and are as follows:

exp [user]/[password]@[tns_name] file=file_name.dmp owner=[user] log=file_name.log statistics=none compress=y

Datapump

Create a database directory by logging in as sys[dba] and run

CREATE DIRECTORY [directory_name] AS ‘[directory_path]’;
GRANT read, write ON DIRECTORY [directory_name] TO [user];

To drop the directory

DROP DIRECTORY [directory_name];

To export

expdp [user]/[password]@[tns_name] directory=[directory_name] dumpfile=[dumpfile_name].dmp schemas=[owner] logfile=[logfile_name].log

To import

impdp [user]/[password]@[tns_name] directory=[directory_name] dumpfile=[dumpfile_name].dmp logfile=[logfile_name].log 

other parameters

tables= comma separated list of table names 

table_exists_action=truncate