You may notice it’s been a while since I last wrote about programming. Well, a lot of the programming I was doing with the kids was due to having more time on my hands thanks to COVID. With Scarlett back in school full-time, there’s a lot less time for that as we focus on making […]
Author Archives: Eric Mesa
Review: InvestiGators
InvestiGators by John Patrick Green My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read this to my four-year-olds and I found it to be a blast. Most of the word-play went over their heads. In fact, after finishing it with my four-year-olds, I recommended it to my 8-year-old. We’ll see what she thinks. This is definitely one […]
Review: Jumpstarting the Onion Omega2
Jumpstarting the Onion Omega2 by Wolfram Donat My rating: 3 of 5 stars A good intro to the Onion Omega2 and Omega2+ boards. Unfortunately, the Onion folks have changed their interface, making a large portion of the book no longer accurate. You can kind of work your way through it if you’re technical and have […]
Review: Getting Started with Soldering: A Hands-On Guide to Making Electrical and Mechanical Connections
Getting Started with Soldering: A Hands-On Guide to Making Electrical and Mechanical Connections by Marc de Vinck My rating: 4 of 5 stars I haven’t soldered in at least a good 15 years, if not more. I couldn’t remember the technique and I didn’t want to mess up my components for a new project I’m […]
Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 142
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 142 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars An almost perfect issue (in terms of my tastes) in which I loved all but one of the stories. Here are my thoughts-per-story, which may have some more text than my status updates if I came up against character limits during updates: […]
Review: Jumpstarting the Raspberry Pi Zero W
Jumpstarting the Raspberry Pi Zero W by Akkana Peck My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a great introduction to creating electronics projects with the smallest raspberry pi at this time. Seriously, it’s the same size as an Arduino MKR board – like a stick of gum. I wish I’d read it before […]
Review: The Crimson Campaign
The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan My rating: 4 of 5 stars This trilogy is definitely turning out to be one of those 1 book broken up into 3 trilogies than a series of stories following the main characters. The last book was a slightly cleaner break, but still ended with a lot still unresolved. […]
Web Browsers Update: Vivaldi on Windows Part 2 and Firefox
This post continues a series on exploring new browsers: Are Web Browsers getting exciting again? Vivaldi Part 1 Vivaldi Part 2 Vivaldi I’ve been meaning to get to this post for a while now, but the recent Vivaldi update blog post spurred me to go ahead and write it. Vivaldi continues to do a decent […]
FunkWhale vs Ampache
One of the categories of software people often go to /r/selfhosted to ask about, is for software to host music. This has become even more important with the dissolution of Google Music and Amazon and others removing the ability to upload your own music to listen to. I’ve got some experience with both FunkWhale and […]
Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of those issues where I liked every story and every non-fiction essay. Read below for my thoughts per story. A space of one’s own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I’m a world […]
Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of those issues where I liked every story and every non-fiction essay. Read below for my thoughts per story. A space of one’s own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I’m a world […]
New Dishes I Cooked in August 2020
Just one new dish in August. We had lots of repeat foods, but only one new dish. As far as I know, I didn’t have it until I was an adult and visited my sister-in-law in Long Island. At their favorite Italian restuarant / pizza joint I ordered it once when we were on the […]
Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 140
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 140 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars A nice balanced collection. My favorite was Cold Comfort. Below are my per story reviews and/or thoughts. ——- A Vastness: A very interesting story of what we do when we’re so driven, we are willing to risk everything. And a great ending […]
Review: Rave Master Vol. 9
Rave Master Vol. 9 by Hiro Mashima My rating: 3 of 5 stars While this continues the shonen tropes of the hero who can’t be beaten just because of his “can-do” attitude, Mr. Mashima increases the stakes and gives a compelling story behind the rise of Demon Card and the paths of the two Gales. […]
Review: Ancillary Sword
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m a huge world-building junkie. It’s one of the reasons I love science fiction and fantasy. And, as I realized while writing the previous sentence, it’s also why I love history non-fiction books and podcasts. I love learning about the society and what drives […]