Just finished "Leviathan Wakes"

So this one I'd describe as noir meets Space Opera...its nearer future rather than far future like a lot of what comes to mind when you say Space Opera(Reynolds for example).  I read this on the recommendation of a friend.  Pacing is great, and you get pulled in in the beginning with some tightly written suspense raising exposition.  Clearly the start of a larger(trilogy?) effort don't expect all the loose ends to be tied up although those pushing through to the end of this one should know that if you like your gritty space opera to have moral ambiguity in it, despite the presence of flawed characters good/evil is pretty clear in a way that doesn't take advantage of some of the situational and character setup.  There is a bit of exploration of the grey, but in this aspect the novel ends pwith rather predictable sumary of who is on the right and wrong sides. That doesn't detract from this being enjoyable or from making me want to read the next one, but it does feel a little more snack food rather than meal as a result; a pleasing use of my time but which leaves me wondering about more filling alternatives.  In addition, the centerpiece mystery does allow for a greater exploration of the grey; like we see with debates around topics like climate change much of what seems grey has the potential to be clarified as the details around an external threat get explored in future volumes. 

The state of digital fitness...part 1

Speaking from personal experience, digital fitness is in a fascinating place right now.  Numerous websites and their corresponding apps exist to help anyone track all kinds of information that we're told are useful indicators or proxies for our health, ranging from weight and blood pressure to glucose levels and activity levels.  You can track with a modicum of accuracy everything you eat.  The "services" mindset has taken even the humble pedometer and made it into a tool for tracking not only certain interesting tidbits about your activity level per day, but useful ways to interpret this data such as a an indicator of your sleep cycle "health"...fitbit is an example but Nike, ipod, and numerous other providers have similar capabilities for sale.  In addition, the (here's that word) gamification of fitness with literal fitness games coupled with technological leaps(such as Kinect, Move) that finally make games+fitness intuitive in a way they weren't with awkward peripherals and websites/online communities that take this to a metalevel have made fitness a competition at whatever level you want; with yourself, with the connected world...a whole slew of new first world benefits and problems about.  I'll be using the next series of posts to speak personally to my own experiences with the blending of the digital realm with personal health and fitness goals. 

of the circuit:  Rocket Riot WP7
I have one achievement left to get, the one where you use the triple shot and get three kills in one shot, it is incredibly difficult to get as you need to get the right power up then get to an area where you have enough enemies in clear view to use it.  Anyone have suggestions on the best level to do this?  I'm thinking the rugby riot level although I'm not certain it has enough enemies. 

Of Die: UFC Personal Trainer, Achievements, and the future of personal ratings.
Die as in dice, as in symbolic of games, in my case, of all sorts; RPG, board, electronic.  In this case, my wife and I were playing UFC personal trainer which is really growing on me.  It has some punishing excercises; punishing in that they are unforgiving if you can't complete them and the trainer gives you a pretty blunt assessment of your failure, but hey, your body isn't going to sculpt itself, right?  Making this stuff into a game or score of some kind isn't that crazy; are you doing anything different with a pedometer, or a cycling computer, or a scale even?  I think what "achievements" do is try to put a quantitative value on otherwise difficult to quantify tasks(ahem, achievements) and for people who love feedback loops(I'm blue by the way if you've ever taken one of those tests for work; data driven) very very good in terms of providing meaningful data and encouragement.  I'm impressed with the potential of achievements associated with fitness and can't help but think of the possibilities here, especially with articles floating around on the web now about Kinect being integrated into laptops; the idea of a personal trainer in your hotel room?  Given that I am already a big believer in the idea of body weight excercises being the right way to go and that a lot of what you get at the gym in terms of equipment is props and gimmicks, this seems great, and a realization of what we saw with the movie Total Recall and Sharon Stone's virtual tennis trainer.  The fact that I'm living in a time when that is kind of here...in fact now that I think of it its kind of creepy that other elements including the body scanner tech from that movie, seem to be here too.  Anyhow, this game certainly has some faults but holding the "trainee" to a high standard isn't one of them, and the achievement I got today is, ridiculous as it may seem, a great way to keep motivated about it.  Maybe this really should have been an "of circuits" entry...I'll be curious to see if this sticks:  maybe we'll be in a future where all sorts of activities we don't associate with "scores" today get tracked for at a glance sharing with friends, etc, and become as much a part of our profile as height, weight, etc.

Of the Quill:  Ganymede by Cherie Priest
After a lunch, I cranked up the heat, Annie joined me in my office on her kittybed, and over some tea I finished Ganymede by Cherie Priest.  This is a steampunk novel in a civil war influenced America that never was.  The historical inspiration draws from the Hunley submarine experiment but by the end of this pulp you've encountered zombies, airships, submarines, cross dressing, and the bayou.  It was a good read although I find myself now craving slightly heavier fare.  Weekends are made for this though, particularly when it is a cold, rainy northwest day like today.   Fun read.

of the Quill:  "Under Heaven" and history

I had recently reread Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, and during my commute I've been listening to "From Yao to Mao" I just heard the historical explanation of the events that were used as inspriation for the historical context of Under Heaven; my main comment is a complement to Kay to how beautifully he brought that to life in this reader's mind's eye.

of the Quill:  ..."no country for old men"

I've been reading from "A Poem A Day" by Karen McCosker; bought it years ago but this year, an unofficial resolution I'm trying to stick to is to read through it as daily as possible as part of my year.  I had seen and enjoyed "No Country for Old Men", but had never bothered to look up the title before.  Well, evidently it is from Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats.  Its a good poem for an introspective moment.