Radio Active #32: Lucas!, Geek Productivity, Transmetropolitan

Radio Active PodcastNuketown Radio Active returns after a month-long, baby-induced hiatus with news that NeutronLad has arrived! Things then take a technological turn with a discussion of various tools and Web sites to enhance your geeky productivity.

The podcast is rounded out by a review of the first of the books on my my Summer Reading List: Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street, a graphic novel written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Darick Robertson.

Getting the Podcast

Show Notes

  • Intro
  • News
    • Baby Nuke is Here!
      • NetronLad is here! He was born June 14 at 6:13 p.m., weighing 8 lbs, 3 oz. and measuring 22 inches long.
      • He’s got blue eyes and his mom’s red hair, and is just one heck of a beautiful kid.
    • Nuketown Beta work proceeding: It’s moving forward at a frantic pace, with major new chunks falling into place each day.
      • Picture, if you will, the long-dead space ship Discovery powering up, with Hal’s hire functions gradually coming online, and you get a feel for how things are proceeding. Nuketown itself is not being updated any more during the conversion (save for this podcast) but my Atomic Age blog is:
      • http://theatomicage.blogspot.com/
  • Promo: House of the Harping Monkey
  • Sites of Note
    • Quicksilver
      • Spotlight and a fast app launched rolled into one. Searches everything on your machine (bookmarks, files, apps, etc.) and then lets you do stuff with it. E.g. I can search for “Rush”, which pulls up a list of my Rush playlists in iTunes, which I can then choose and play. I can’t live without it. Or rather, don’t want to live without it.
      • https://qsapp.com/
    • 43 Folders
      • Get a plan, get some software, and get organized. Good organizational site in general, and great for Mac users in particular. This is the site where I discovered Quicksilver.
      • http://www.43folders.com
    • Life Hacks
      • Get productive (or just get geeky) by visiting this blog about how to improve your life and get more productive. If ever wondered if you could control your home computer through e-mail, this site’s for you.
      • http://www.lifehacks.com
    • Random Signal’s 1 Year Anniversary
      • This month is Random Signal’s 1-year anniversary. Know I plug the show a lot, but it is cool and 1 year is a totally Airwolf milestone, so congratulations to Jason on reaching it!
      • http://www.randomsignal.com (Web Archive)
  • Book Review: Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street
    • By Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
    • 72 pages
    • Vertigo; Comic edition (February 1, 1998)
    • ISBN: 1563894459
    • Buy it from Amazon
    • Follows the half-crazed, gonzo-style reporting of Spider Jerusalem, journalist turned author turned mountain man turned reporter as he returns to the City in order to write the two books he promised his publisher.
    • In doing so, he gets caught up in a rebellion by the Transients, humans in the process of transforming themselves into Grey aliens.
    • Fast, furious, brutal read, with visuals to match – not for the weak of heart, but the reporter in my loves the idea of being able to break in a building, throw down some gunfire against the yesmen, and demand an interview.
    • Best quote of the book: “As I was just saying, journalism is just a gun. It’s only got one bullet. But if you aim it right, that’s all you need. Aim it right and you can blow a kneecap off the world!”
  • Outro
    • Coming Soon
      • Review of George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows
      • Review of Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Soundtrack
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