Peter Horsfield's Personal Blog

I just lost all faith in the web. I found an article on a software industry topic that has become a type of mecca through the godlike awesomeness of Google, but also social sites like StackOverflow. But I can't link to it, or even mention specifics about it for fear that it will simply increase traffic to it. I may have to create an article to counter it's FUD and even then I'll have to waste my time strictly moderating comments. Argh!!! What a world.

I didn't realized going in that this was the start of a series, but after getting two thirds through the book and still dealing with a bratty mid-teen, I began to suspect.

I suppose I should have read the cover more thoroughly, but I typically don't like to spend that much time reading marketing prose. Ok I give, I have read entire books without leaving the book store. In respect for OSC, I only read a chapter or so before buying it, albeit a month later.

That was enough though. I loved the book, but to some extent the appeal was not OSC's, but it's similarity to something I read a long time ago and was a big fan of: The Great Game trilogy (which bears an unfortunate similarity in name to something more current and Afghanistan related).

When I say similarity, I'm not talking about a few coincidences - if I recall correctly, almost the entire foundation is the same.

Never-the-less, both sets of books have worth, certainly this one goes into a lot of detail about the workings of Card's magic system, whereas The Great Game was more of an adventurous romp through worlds and populations manipulated by demigods. That in itself is cool - I liked the The Death Gate Cycle  for the same reason - when the magic system on which the world(s) are based is solid enough, it makes it easier to suspend disbelief throughout a long series.

Oh goodness, I hope this isn't going to more than a trilogy!


That's all for now, I don't want to spoil the books for anyone. All of the books mentioned here are worth your time as a reader of fantasy.


P.S. Another related book: American Gods (Neil Gaiman), highly recommended

Building a Java tool to do this stuff? Embed Apache Ant

Doing anything else is just silly. Ant is the greatest.

 Project p = new Project();
 Scp scp = new Scp();

// Get some log output to the console
     DefaultLogger bl;
     bl = new DefaultLogger();
     bl.setOutputPrintStream(System.out);
     bl.setErrorPrintStream(System.err);
     bl.setMessageOutputLevel(99);     
     p.addBuildListener(bl);         

    scp.setProject(p);
    scp.init();

         FileSet fs = new FileSet();
         fs.setProject(p);
         fs.setDir(new File("<source folder>"));
         fs.setIncludes("myfilename");

// Do a little debugging
        DirectoryScanner scanner = fs.getDirectoryScanner(p);
        Directory root = new Directory(scanner.getBasedir());
            String[] files = scanner.getIncludedFiles();
            if (files.length != 0) {
                for (int j = 0; j < files.length; j++) System.out.println("Matched " + files[j]);
            }
         
      scp.setTodir("<dest folder>");      
      scp.addFileset(fs);
      scp.setHost("<hostname>");
      
      scp.setPassword("<password>");
      scp.setUsername("<username>");

      scp.setTrust(true);
      
      scp.execute();      

" 'Silence! frenzied, unclean spirit,'
Cried God's healing, Holy One.
'Cease your ranting! Flesh can't bear it.
Flee as night before the sun.'
At Christ's voice the demon trembled,
from its victim madly rushed,
while the crowd that was assembled
stood in wonder, stunned and hushed.

"Lord, the demons still are thriving
in the gray cells of the mind:
tyrant voices, shrill and driving,
twisted thoughts that grip and bind,
doubts that stir the heart to panic,
fears distorting reason's sight,
guilt that makes our loving frantic,
dreams that cloud the soul with fright.

"Silence, Lord, the unclean spirit
in our mind and in our heart;
speak your word that, when we hear it,
all our demons shall depart.
Clear our thought and calm our feeling,
still the fractured warring soul;
by the power of your healing,
make us faithful, true and whole."
( by Thomas Troeger; reprinted without permission )

Now, I am an agnostic, and I am willing to believe in some form of higher power, I just don't like to call it God. Part of this means that I don't necessarily discount a holistic nature to the Universe, so you find me left a little confused as to this event.

What if there is a God? What if he meant me to read this hymn? Should I be worried? I have quite a few gray cells, and a substantial number of them disturb me on a regular basis.

Thoughts?

The other wedding was a Vietnamese affair between our friends Nam and Jessica. Congratulations guys! It was grand and beautiful, and came complete with a lion dance. That is to say, it was performed with two people as opposed to a dragon dance which is performed with more people.

It was done very well (say I), so should bring them tons of Luck and Happiness, and capital letters.

Researching the origin of the Vietnamese lion dance I came across this gem:
http://www.saigon.com/culture/vb/show.php3?article=vb02.txt