One of my favourite books of all time, Joe Haldeman’s “The Forever War“. I first read it 25 years ago
When it was first published over 20 years ago, Joe Haldeman’s novel won the Hugo and Nebula awards and was chosen Best Novel in several countries. Today, it is hailed a classic of science fiction that foreshadowed many of the futuristic themes of the 1990s: bionics, sensory manipulation, and time distortion.
William Mandella is a soldier in Earth’s elite brigade. As the war against the Taurans sends him from galaxy to galaxy, he learns to use protective body shells and sophisticated weapons. He adapts to the cultures and terrains of distant outposts. But with each month in space, years are passing on Earth. Where will he call home when (and if) the Forever War ends?
Narrator George Wilson’s performance conveys all the imaginative technology and human drama of The Forever War. Set against a backdrop of vivid battle scenes, this absorbing work asks provocative questions about the very nature of war.
http://www.wholestoryaudio.co.uk/catalogue/title/the_forever_war/5476
Now I am practising to be an old man, so I listen to the audio book version at just over 9 and a half hours.
A good contrast to this book is Robert Heinleins “Starship Troopers” and I don’t mean the funny fascist gory movie from the nineties, but the novel which is much more interesting.
At the moment I am Mum’s place. Until two days ago I had to be back at work on Monday.
That was a bit of a nuisance because Tuesday, is the Australia day public holiday.
Fortunately every three months at work you can ask for a flex day off and they must give it to you.
At the moment it looks like I will be riding back to Melbourne tomorrow afternoon (Sunday).
On the way up I encountered some strong crosswinds, well over 30km per hour. I nearly gave up on the ride because it took me a while to figure out how to deal with them (counter-steer)
On December 29 last year I order some book from Amazon.com and they have been sitting here at mum’s place for over a week. I am quite impresed at the speed of delivery from Americia.
I am happy with the order because I saved over $150. The books if I purchased in an Australian book store would have cost me around $260 which I find somewhat depressing.
By order from halfway around the world you can save a substantial amount of money. No wonder all the big non chain bookstores in Melbourne that I knew and loved have gone out of business.
From now on I will be ordering direct from the states, as long as our dollar is over 90 US cents of course!
Joined the Brunswick City Baths today.
My goal is to be able to swim a Kilometre again. But I have a long way to go. The 50 metre pool looks much longer then it was when I was younger and fitter.
My brother recently purchased an iMac … finally got to talk to one of my family members using video conferencing … only 28 years after getting my first computer
Just finished watching the Doctor Who Christmas special which alas is the end for one of my favorite doctors, David Tennat
I have now been watching Doctor Who since the late seventies!
Went to a party at my friends house in South Melbourne.
hmm. … backups … you should always check backups before depending on them.
I backed up my site from my previous hosting company assuming it had copied all the folders where my wordpress installation was … all the misc stuff like images, etc
guess what, it didn’t !
thank goodness for my SQL backup which retained all my posts and comments, but alas, no images, no wordperss themes.
So next time, I will do what I did when I worked in IT, check the backups work before you need them
Update Jan 1, 2010
All is well, the “home directory” of my web site was archived in a single tar file … 
saved!
and I now have a backup of my website off line !
I purchased a new bike on Saturday, went a little over budget so I walked into the city (8km), picked it up and was riding home and I got a bloody nail through the tyre, so another 4 km walking 
So far, I like it. It is very responsive, easy to accelerate.
My goal with the bike is to lose 20kg over the Australian summer and build a good physical base.
My new bike, except it has a white seat
Continue reading GT 2009 ZASKAR EXPERT
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