The first half of the book was interesting, but the second half dragged on, in what is now old news. The first half was well researched, and presented an interesting history of how search engines evolved. Once the author got to the point of Google’s IPO, it seemed pretty much like random press clippings from that point on. Yes, Google is involved in litigation, but so is every other large company.

For the most part I enjoyed the book, and learning about John Perkins involvement in various countries was quite enjoyable. Some aspects of his story are similar to that in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’.

Unfortunately, what could have been a thoroughly enjoyable book was masked by his endless rants, and completely one sided story.

After watching this movie, it made me want to score the ‘highest in our firm’ on the Series 7. Sadly, I don’t think I came close with an 88%. However, people quite surprised that I returned to work after taking the exam.

I just noticed today how Skype uses 1984 to show the formatting of your Skype chats. Pretty funny, but appropriate. One of Skype’s features is encryption is always on. They’re also not trying to compete in the home phone market, which should keep them from having to comply with US wiretap rules.

I really enjoyed this read. I learned quite a bit more than what I was expecting too, especially with regards to changes in the JVM’s memory model. I liked the numerous code examples, showing the correct way to implement many Java idioms. This book would be a good follow up to Effective Java

This is the first season I’ve watched. I really enjoyed it and plan to watch more seasons. Which season should I watch next?

I was curious who this ‘Ana Egge’ was, so I bought her album on iTunes. While I really like Sarah McLachlan and Natalie Merchant, I found most of Ana’s songs to be rather bland and monotone. The one song I really enjoyed was ‘Wedding Dress’, which has that Paula Cole story telling element to it.

I enjoyed this book, particularly as it coincides with my economics class at school. The book started out quite funny, and gradually become less so, as O’Rourke began quoting more and writing less.

Far more interesting than reading the original I’m sure, and it’s probably better than any other book about Smith’s work.

The film itself was far to graphic for my comfort level. Yes, it’s realistic, and I think it’s important for the world to understand the situation in Rio, but there was just to much non stop shooting and violence for me to be able to recommend the movie to any of my friends.

However, the DVD includes an hour long documentary, which was very worthwhile. It was amazing how they were able to get interviews with both the police and the dealers. I would recommend renting the movie, and just watching the documentary part.

Some friends just sent me a care package from the US. Included were two bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It was very kind of them, and I’m really looking forward to savoring my Cheetos. Australia doesn’t have many of the spicy foods which I’ve been used to in the US.