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The World’s Second Worst Panorama 2024
Here’s my traditional group panorama for the 2024 Cinque Terre and Tuscany trip. From the left: Yours Truly, Grant, Elizma, Hildige, John, Buzz and Lee. Remind me never to book any of my fellow travellers for a portrait shoot – … Continue reading
(In)Correct Tripod Technique!
With Apologies to My Photography Tutors First, I’d like to apologise to all the authors, tutors, mentors and tour leaders who have tried to instil in me “correct” tripod technique. As they say, it’s not you, it’s me.I don’t particularly … Continue reading
What’s That Shiny Yellow Thing?
We started day 2 by getting a train. There are essentially four ways of getting between the five towns which make up the Cinque Terre: you can walk along the cliff paths, go by boat, or get the excellent trains … Continue reading
Trippin’ AI
Just how wrong can an AI get it? As part of my effort to profile the power consumption of GenAI, I decided to try and summarise one of my travel blogs using ChatGPT and the other big public models, plus … Continue reading
An AI Scares Itself, and Me
Just how bleak can an AI’s world view become? One of my clients asked me to write an article on the environmental impact of generative AI. Like a lot of large corporations they are starting to embrace GenAI, but they … Continue reading
Metal
I read this hopeful from the book’s synopsis for a thoughtful, if pacey, sci-fi thriller in the Michael Crichton mould. However it really fails to deliver, descending very quickly into a formulaic post-apocalyptic “shoot-em-up”. The story portrays a remarkably rapid … Continue reading
Atomic Secrets
Enjoyable romp through a plausible alternative history Continue reading
Zero Limit
This is billed as “Artemis meets Gravity“, but it would be more accurate to say “Deep Impact meets Eastenders“. The main plot element is that a rogue asteroid mining operation accidentally puts the rock on a direct impact course for … Continue reading
The Spy. Why?
While this is an enjoyable read, it prompts one big question. Why did the author feel that a heavily fictionalised re-telling of this utterly thrilling true story was needed? In the preface Gross says that he wants to tell “the … Continue reading
Darwin’s Cipher
I like a good techno-thriller, but since the death of Michael Crichton and with Phillip Kerr moving onto German detectives and unpleasant tales of first-person murdering pickings have been thin. I have enjoyed the works of Daniel Suarez, and the … Continue reading
The One Man
Overall this is a cracking WWII thriller, set around the concept of an Allies break in into Auschwitz to rescue a specific prisoner who holds information vital to the Manhattan Project. Andrew Gross has done a great job of capturing … Continue reading
All Tide Up
Like it’s predecessor, Man Up!, this is a knock-about farce based around the capable but somewhat cursed sports agent, Patrick Flynn. This time the key protegé is a nymphomaniac Russian tennis player, but otherwise the cast of gangsters, hit-men (& … Continue reading
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