Aurora's first manga

Today we went to Borders so Aurora could spend a gift card she got for there.  I picked up a Python book and thumbed through it for a while.  Then Kim needed me to watch Aurora because she wanted to go look at books in places other than the kids section, where Athena and Arianna wanted to hang out.

Aurora had already picked out a book, but was still looking around.  We went over to the history section for a while a checked out what was in store there, and then started heading back to the kids section.

On our way back we ran into the manga section, and I made a comment to Aurora about how I'd like for her to try manga to see if she liked it.  She started talking about putting her book back and I told her that she needs the book she wants to buy, not the one I want her to buy.

She asked me what manga was about, so I randomly picked up a book that looked like it may be something in her area and showed her the first page.  I showed her how the first page is what we normally think of as the last page.  I then put the book back and started looking for something that I thought was closer to what she may like when she asked me for that same book back.  I explained it was just a book I randomly selected, not necessarily anything I thought she would like.

While I looked around she thumbed through the book and declared she wanted to put her other book back and get the one I had shown her.  It is called Neko Ramen.  It is about a cat named Taisho who owns a Ramen shop and comes up with ridiculous ideas about how he can sell Ramen, such as using spaghetti noodles and calling it Italian Ramen.

I double checked she really wanted to get this book I just randomly grabbed off the shelf instead of the one she had already picked out.  She assured me she was, so she ended up buying it.

On the way home she read through the book and thought it was really funny.  She thought it was really weird how the excited faces look.  I explained that it is part of the manga art style.  It took us both a while to realise that you ride from top-right, down, then move to the top of the next panel to the left.  We started off thinking you started at the top-right, moved left, and then down, until we realised why the panels sometimes made no sense.

I hope Aurora takes to this manga thing.  Aurora and I have didn't interests in books.  She likes non-fiction and historical fiction type books.  I prefer science fiction and fantasy.

I have been able to get her into the Narnia series.  We have finished The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  At first she did not like The Magician's Nephew, but she gave it a second shot and started to get into it.  We are presently taking a break from the Narnia series and reading James and the Giant Peach.

So, if this trend continues, Aurora and I will have more things to do together.  Plus, it has been nice reading good children's books that I would otherwise not put any interest into.

As for me, I'm reading a chapter a day of an eleven-hundred plus page book on programming in Python, which is followed by another Python book that covers more advanced topics on the language and is equally as large.  Fun times.

Ubuntu Up and Running Book Review

Note: This is a review of the O'Reilly book Ubuntu: Up and Running.  I received this book through O'Reilly's Blogger Review Program.  When I received this book I was already in the middle of Machine of Death, and JavaScript: The Definitive Guide.  So it took me a little longer than I expected to finish this book, and finally, get around to writing this review.
This book touts itself as "A Power User's Desktop Guide."  This rather accurately defines the target audience of the book.  It is not for your average user, but for a technically inclined user who is interested in getting his or her hands dirty with Ubuntu.
This book is very thorough, going step-by-step through each process, often times in what can be grueling detail for someone if such detail is not necessary.  I committed myself to not skipping any parts, and that made some parts of this book very hard to read, as it went through each and every single little click to perform certain tasks.  However, this attention to detail and verbosity probably makes this a very good read for the person who needs to be taken all the way to the finish line to understand the concepts being taught in this book.  This level of detail also makes it a good read for those who may not consider themselves all that technical literate, but are willing to put in the time and effort needed to really learn Ubuntu.  The first chapter of the book introduces the reader to Ubuntu, Linux, and the whole FOSS movement.  It lets the reader know that Ubuntu is more than just an operating system, but it is the leader in a movement that has been fighting the good fight for over thirty years.  After finishing this chapter, the reader should have a good idea of common open source idioms, such as free as in beer versus free as in freedom, and be familiar with some of the leaders in the open source movement including RMS, Torvalds, and Shuttleworth.
With the history out of the way, the second chapter goes into installing Ubuntu.  Here the level of detail this book goes through is revealed.  Installing Ubuntu is a trivial task.  I've given disks to non-technical people, and they where able to get Ubuntu installed without any hand-holding.  However, this book doesn't just cover a vanilla install.  It covers dual-booting, an installing in VirtualBox, and installing through Wubi, as well as upgrading from a previous version.
For each type of install, this book goes step-by-step, screen-by-screen, explaining everything along the way.
I did feel that this book should have stressed the advantages of doing a real hard-disk install over a Wubi or virtual installation.  In my experience the other types of installations provide a significantly reduced experience over a real HD install.
I also felt like there where some areas covered that where really unnecessary, and could give the impression that Ubuntu may be harder to get up and running than it really does.  This includes going over the different Function Key Options.  I feel that for the sake of brevity, and being relevant, these areas could be skipped.  A person who is likely to use these areas of the installer is unlikely to need this book anyhow.
The book then moves on to configuring your installation, and then covers areas of use such as chapters devoted to multimedia, OpenOffice, etc.  I did feel that the order of chapters could have been laid out better.
After getting the user to install Ubuntu, it probably would have been best to have an introduction to the desktop, going over the basic features of the Gnome interface, including the Menu Bar, the different widgets in the top-right, and the default folders in the home folder.  This would make the user comfortable with the basics of Gnome, and would encourage the user to discover the other features, such as web browsing, multimedia, etc. on their own.
I believe Chapter 7, which covers the command line, should have been moved to the back.  It makes more sense, I believe, to cover all the tools that have been developed so that Linux users no longer have to master the command line to perform your usual tasks.  This could help dispel the fear that many users come in with, that if they don't master the command line, then Linux is not for them.
While the true power-user, be they a Linux user, or otherwise, will spend a good deal of time on the command-line, I think it is important to stress to new users that the most important tasks can be performed through point-and-click.
It also would have been helpful if this book had waited for Ubuntu 10.04 to come out, and spent more time focusing on the features of 10.04, since it is an LTS release, and would make this book more relevant over the next three years that this version of Ubuntu will be supported.  10.04 also alleviates some of the problems this book mentions such as the immaturity of the Empathy IM client in Ubuntu 9.10, making the suggestion of trying Pidgin somewhat more mute.  It could have also covered in better the Ubuntu One music store, if it had spent more time focusing on Ubuntu 10.04.  While this book says that it covers Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04, it really covers 9.10, with some mentions of 10.04 enhancements.
With all that said, I would stay give this a book a "would recommend" as it is very detailed, and can go a long way in taking the interested reader from being interested in Ubuntu, to reasonably well versed in Ubuntu.
The chapter covering the command line is thorough and clear.  In fact, I learned a few things that I didn't about using some CLI tools installed in Ubuntu.
I look forward to future versions of this book covering newer versions of Ubuntu, and hopefully, through the Blogger Review program, is touched up in some of its rough edges.
I already have some friends and acquaintances lined up to borrow this book, as they have an interest in getting their feet a little more wet with Ubuntu.

Dreams From My Father

The best birthday present I got this year was from my mother-in-law. It was Barrack Obama's first book, Dream From My Father. He wrote this book in 1995 after becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
This book is very special because it was written before Barrack became a politician, so lots of what he writes about is stuff he would probably never ever admit publicly today had he not already penned it and published it.
I started reading it a few night ago. I don't read many books, even though I thoroughly enjoy doing it. So getting off my butt and picking the book up took some will power on my part to begin, but the momentum is on now.
The story centers around a young man with a black father and a white mother. His dad is pretty much out of the picture short of the epic tails his parents and grand parents tell him. He remains sort of a mythical and mystical character for much of Barrack's life. Being visually perceived as a black person, he is treated as such, even though when he goes home, and to family reunions, and other events he is surrounded by white people and white culture. Sharing his frustration with prejudice with his other black friends, he is stuck in a conundrum of a confused identity and place in a racist country.
The book is a great window into race problems as they where, as they are, and as they are perceived by minorities. I grew up in a town predominantly uneducated, poor and largely racist black people. The white population had various degrees of education and wealth, but was also predominantly racist. I have experienced racism against me, and against other black first hand and is something I think about often. The chance to have a look at the unique perspective Barrack offers a golden opportunity for those of us who care about race relations.
The other things that makes this book a real gem is that through it all he has become our nations first black president. From the feeling of hopelessness that he felt as a young man, to being granted the most powerful position in the world by the very country that once treated him unfairly is an amazing story.
It would be great if we could have this kind of story out of all of our presidents. A glimpse of the world as they viewed it growing up, written before the censor the politics forces one to put on their own story.
What sorts of problems plagued George Bush I & II, Clinton and Reagan as they grew up? How did their specific experiences influence their politics and outlook on the country and world. What sort of mistakes did they make that as politicians they could not admit to now? The ability to have these answers is an opportunity that no American should pass, regardless of their support for Obama or his policies.