1. Visit the site.
2. Type in the name of the book or author.
3. Press “Search”
4. Be redirected to a login page.
5. Have to type in the name again because you were redirected back to the home page, rather than your search results.

I mean, seriously. It’s not that hard to keep some handle on state and redirect to the search results.

If I hadn’t saved so much money buying my books this way I wouldn’t use their stupid site!

Today, I happened across a blog by Buzz Anderson, and for some reason, this reminded me of Kurt Andersen. I dunno why, you figure it out.

So, I decided I’d read the “Turn of the Century” again. Which is cool, as I can’t really remember what happens in it anyway. I just remember that I loved it. But I already said that, didn’t I?

I won’t write a review, suffice to say it is the book to use to learn how to program on the Mac.

So, the book I found tonight is Tall Poppies: Successful Australian women talk to Susan Mitchell. Not exactly standard fare for what I normally read, but I’ll give it a whirl. It was first registered by crossword, in Adelaide, SA. I might have to leave it somewhere a little more exotic. Perhaps in Hamilton.

His latest is The First Casualty, a historical fiction (?) piece set during the Great War. I was gripped, and read it in one sitting. No comedy here, guys, but well worth the effort.

The guts of the story: in 1917, a war hero and poet is killed, not in action, but while recuperating after being injured, and shellshocked. A disgraced police officer, who was sent to jail for refusing to fight in the war (not a conchie, as his grounds were “purely intellectual”) is ‘recruited’ to find the identity of the killer.

Now, gazing up at the spires of Rosslyn… • Dan Brown • The Da Vinci Code

Apparently, Teabing is The Teacher. He seems to have been the driving force behind the murder of the Grand Master, and the Senechals. However, there are two issues here: how did he get out of the back of the car, and how come Remy did not recognise him at their meetings?

Or maybe I’m missing something here?

Time to Google this…

•

Yup. Wikipedia shows that Teabing is the Teacher. But no mention of how he got out of the back of the car, nor how Remy did not recognise him. In fact, it says they are in cahoots. Yet Remy was approached by the Teacher to spy on Teabing.

I don’t get this…perhaps this is dealt with better in the full text.

Everybody Hurts • R.E.M. • Automatic For The People

On Saturday, as we tried to avoid the heat, we went to the movies at Marion Shopping Centre. We saw Mrs. Henderson Presents…, but more on that later. We ate at Shenannigans, but more on that later. We had a coffee at Coffee Club, and I won’t elaborate on that.

However, after all of this, we still had a little time free, so we went into Dymocks. I tend to looks briefly at the specials, and then head over to the Popular Science and Non-Fiction sections. After browsing for a little while, I came across a collection of the Onion.

I read a bit of it, and took it over to show Jaq, as there was something funny on the front cover. I think it was:

US Military clears A-Team of all charges

I used to love that show. Anyway, back onto the story. After flicking through it for a few minutes, I returned to the shelf I grabbed it from. And imagine my surprise in what section that was:

Now seriously, Dymocks. It doesn’t take a very long read of the Onion to realise that it’s not Non-Fiction.

Anyway, I was a bit peeved that it doesn’t show up as an Audiobook when you use the search feature of iTunes. And none of the tips I came across seemed to fix it:

• Rename the file so it’s *.m4b instead of *.m4a
• Use the Make Bookmarkable script from Doug’s AppleScripts
• Set the Type Code to “M4B “

Then I read this, at macintouch (iPod: File Management):

If I remember correctly, an iTunes audio book is little more than a renamed AAC file. The steps necessary for making your own are pretty simple:

1. Convert the file to AAC format (if it isn’t already)
2. Make sure it’s not in the iTunes library. (Otherwise iTunes may not recognize the change.)
3. Set the file type to “M4B ” if you’re on a Mac (only necessary if you’re using a Mac)
4. Rename the file to have an “.m4b” extension
5. Add it back to the iTunes library

Look at #2. That does the trick.

Now, I just need to see if the Join Together and Chapterize script will ever finish…

Ones in green are those I’ve read:

1. The HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
2. Nineteen Eighty-Four — George Orwell
3. Brave New World — Aldous Huxley
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Philip Dick
5. Neuromancer — William Gibson
6. Dune — Frank Herbert
7. I, Robot — Isaac Asimov
8. Foundation — Isaac Asimov
9. The Colour of Magic — Terry Pratchett
10. Microserfs — Douglas Coupland
11. Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson
12. Watchmen — Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
13. Cryptonomicon — Neal Stephenson
14. Consider Phlebas — Iain M Banks
15. Stranger in a Strange Land — Robert Heinlein
16. The Man in the High Castle — Philip K Dick
17. American Gods — Neil Gaiman
18. The Diamond Age — Neal Stephenson
19. The Illuminatus! Trilogy — Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
20. Trouble with Lichen - John Wyndham

More than halfway!

I may have to rent it and have a watch.

So, here’s SBJ’s article: The Science of Eternal Sunshine - You can’t erase your boyfriend from your brain, but the movie gets the rest of it right. By Steven Johnson: http://slate.msn.com/id/2097502/

iTunes: Your Disco Needs You from the album “Light Years” by Kylie Minogue