October 27, 2010
My dearest sister and (I dare say) life-long friend, Irina Therese, has given birth to two wonderful twin girls, Mathilde and Nicoline, whom I already love to death. The sensation of being an uncle is a weird and wonderful one, and I cherish every moment of it. May you find bliss and happiness!
In site-related news, I went through the Books page and re-scanned the poor scans (since I started scanning the fronts, spines, backs, and, where applicable, dust-cover flaps of my books, I've learned some tricks), and in the same swoop updated the default height of the scans from 700 to 1000 pixels. (My policy now is, "1000 pixels in height, more if the situation calls for it". At the least, all text should be legible, even if the text is part of the cover art; as an example, the letters in the DNA illustration on the front of Richard Dawkins' book The Ancestor's Tale are perfectly legible.) I also read a number of books, although I haven't gotten through the doorstoppers as I'd planned. I re-read and scanned The Blind Watchmaker in addition to reading and giving a review to The Greatest Show on Earth. I listened to the three audio books of George Carlin, Brain Droppings, Napalm and Silly Putty, and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops. All of these will get reviews when I've read them (this seems to be evolving as another policy of mine). I did the same with Bart Ehrman's books Misquoting Jesus and The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot; these will also get reviews when I've read them. I also read Livingstone: Oppdageren — Forskeren — Misjonæren, The Man in His High Castle, The Sex Revolts, American Poetry: An Introductory Anthology, and The Blank Slate.
I linked to Micrographia, the book that made the word "cell" famous (I haven't read it myself, but the illustrations are awesome), Notepad++ (my new favorite text editor), DOSBox (a DOS emulator), and two gaming wikis, KeenWiki and Minepedia (caveat lector: it is extremely easy to get addicted to this game).
As for future updates, I will really, really, really try to make them more timely. Really. I mean it this time.