• Star Risk (Chris Bunch)

    Part one of a sci fi series (I managed to buy all 4 in one go at the second hand bookshop – woohoo!) all covered in bright metallic covers with a stylised logo on the front. My first thoughts… this looks like the sort of thing I would have bought as a teenager… perhaps I shouldn’t buy it now. Still, it was in the Sci-Fi section, and there were 4 of a series so in for a penny, in for a pound (OK, more than a pound, even second hand bookshop owners have to feed their children).

    It may be true you can’t judge a book by it’s cover but in this case I managed too. The story is a simply written tale that watches the creation of a mercenary/security company that manage to compete against other companies as they build their fledgling business. All highly skilled, they use a few pieces of technology to outwit their enemies. Of course, they succeed. It really is the sort of book I would have read as a teenager (I found the cover quite appropriate in that respect). I don’t think that’s a bad thing, it’s been a very simple, easy read that required little thought and was actually quite relaxing. Although I can’t rate it as highly as other books I’ve read, I’ll not rate it as poor either. Rootie Rating 3 out of 5 (Now, onto reading book number 2)


  • "Smart" new training centre (I just couldn't resist the pun!) and other things

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    Wednesday night was hospitality night for me. First, I went to Ashford to see my friend Annie Browne’s opening of her new training centre. Apple juice, nibbles, some words from the mayor and meeting people I haven’t seen in a while. All good fun! It’s a smart training setup in more ways than one; it’s a nice new professional training area, it’s also the first time I’ve seen a smartboard in use in business.

    Smartboards are like great big computer screens that you can draw on. Gone are the days of looking for a piece of chalk, you can write things using just your finger. You can write things in different colours, save your notes and email them to people later. You can use it to show a PowerPoint presentation, watch a move or surf the Internet.

    This may be new to me in business, but my 10 year old daughter would know exactly how to operate a smartboard. Her school started installing them 5 years ago and now every classroom has one. My 5 year old son arrives in class to move his name tag into whether he is pack lunch or school dinners. It used to be a set of cards in pockets on the wall, now he drags his named hot air balloon image on the smartboard from the ground into the cloud that equates to pack lunch or dinners. As someone who remembers the transition from chalk board to white board at school I can’t help but be impressed at the speed technology is moving on.

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    In my recent course at Canterbury Christchurch University, almost all the tutors used projectors and PowerPoint presentations. Smartboards haven’t quite reached them yet. Wednesday night was also the award ceremony where I and many of the others collected our certificates. More apple juice, more nibbles, some words from the Vice Chancellor and meeting people I haven’t seen in a while. More good fun! So here you have it, a photo of my “Certificate in Business”, a whole 40 credits at level 1. I confess, I’m vain enough to want a degree just to prove I could do it. In reality, I don’t need one (it wont help my career prospects!). That said, I love learning new things. The trouble is knowing what I need to learn. This course did nothing for my business knowledge but lots for my French. Perhaps I should do a course on how to operate a smart board…


  • 3 Years of blogging

    Wow! That went quick. It was just over 3 years ago I installed some blog software called “Movabletype” onto my web server to run my personal playspace. I guess blogging is a phase of life that’s still in me, though several things have been and gone. My running phase never quite restarted after “je suis tombe“. Speaking of which, The French lessons I began in January finished and I haven’t been able to get on the next ones (the teacher’s great, but the course is over subscribed again and I wasn’t quick enough to book in). I still get tears in my eyes when I read this post.

    Onto happier things, someone other than me visits these pages. The server log shows that in November 2007 there were 10,208 page views. That compares to 1,599 at the end of the first year and 6,024 a the end of the second year.

    Most people still look for this page on what the shortcut key is on Windows to show the desktop and minimise all the open programs (Windows key & D at the same time, at least for XP, I’ve not tried Vista enough to find out). That’s not so closely followed by people searching for “steve root”, I wonder who he is? After which, How much do books weigh? and how to know that shelf you are putting up is strong enough. I’m also not the only one to wonder “is damn a swear word?“.


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