Transnational Studies

Archive for September, 2010

Sara Gruen gave a very detailed account of what life might be like as a resident in a nursing home. Yet, that was only part of the story. The background scenes in the circus were fascinating, making the twilight years a more palatable read. The main character was just that, quite a character! I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Tripp Lite AVRX750U 750VA

I have only had this for a day, but I will write follow ups as needed. I am very impressed with this drive. I got it for a great price on black Friday and wanted to use it to store videos that are filling up the hard drives on my two computers. With 320 GB, I figure I can save 40 seasons of TV shows (compressed for 480×320).

I use both USB attachments when plugging the drive in. I have heard, though I have no way of confirming this, that just because the hard drive is running, that doesn’t mean you are okay leaving the other USB end disconnected. What could happen is that the drive *may* demand more power than the USB port is designed for. This won’t affect the hard drive (it will either run or it won’t), it could instead burn out the USB port of your computer or laptop (could be expensive!). So it is best to play it safe and connect both USB’s if you can.

The look of this thing is great. It is very modern and sleek looking, not much bigger than an iPod Classic. I got the dark cherry but my only other choice was cayenne. I wish they had done something fancier with the LED’s. They are just plain old LED’s sitting underneath the clear circle. So they light up as a blue point of light and a red one. It would have been cooler if the whole ring would light up red or blue.

The label that goes underneath seems cheap too. It is some kind of self-destructing silvery mylar film that looks like you are supposed to peel it off, but when I tried that, parts of it stayed glued on so I left it there.

It is very quiet. I can’t even hear it when it is running. The transfer speed is very good, though I don’t have much to compare it to. I measured 23 megabytes per second (read or write were the same speed), much faster than my old external hard drives and all of my flash drives (especially in terms of write speed)

The packaging says something about Fabrik backup software and Joggle software, but I couldn’t figure out how to download those and they weren’t pre-installed on the dr
SimpleTech by Hitachi Signature

Ordered this because of its good ratings. It works great, has great suction, and the air doesn’t blow directly out of the front so it doesnt blow dirt away on bare floors. The only thing is that I wish this one had the option to shut the brushes off. That being said I am really impressed with how great it picks stuff up and it seems like a great value.
CaseCrown Double Memory Foam

Not only does it remove all that loose fur – my dog – Rosebud – loves it. If you scratch her head or back she will stand there forever – this is just as good as far as she is concerned.
Michael Ballam The Healing

I also have a Bissell Cleaner that I own and used on the carpet before this and when I went over the same area with this one it was amazing how much more dirt came up. It ran good and cleaned great!
Development Democracy and Welfare

Great novel. At first I was hesitant to read this despite the great reviews because I just couldnt understand how a novel about a circus could be any good, but boy was I wrong. This novel has suspense and romance and you really understand and fall in love with the Jacob, the main character. It is a must read.
Pentair 520859 SunTouch Pool

There isn’t anything fancy about this vacuum, but it gets the job done nicely. It sucks very hard and even has a nice little feature that pulls the vacuum forward when using it. I like to go forwards and backwards on the rare occasion when I am the one vacuuming, but it doesn’t pull forward too hard to cause much of a problem.

The attachments are all simple and effective. For under $70 (when I bought it) I haven’t seen any vacuums with a better value than this one. It would definitely be worth at least in the $100 range considering how well it works. It doesn’t have some of the newer features like a vacuum bag gauge, but I haven’t found that to be a problem as long as you pay attention to it every once in awhile.

I will update if I have any problems with it in the future.
Hoodman Digital Camera LCD

This Garmin mount was suggested by a relative who had another model of garmin gps. The mount was even better than described. Couldn’t do without it!!
Zack N Zoey 13374

I’m going to go out on a limb here. Let me get right to the point: This is a terrible book.

Harsh? Maybe, but that’s how it is. About the time Artemis Fowl hit the market, I heard it claimed that Eoin Colfer was 14 when he wrote it. On some simple checking of dates, the claim seems unlikely (he was 36 when it was published). But the book is so badly written that it’s believable. If this was fanfic, everyone would be pointing at the protagonist and shouting “Gary Stu! Gary Stu!” (If that doesn’t ring any bells, try looking up “Mary Sue” instead.) The descriptive style … well, what can one say about the descriptive style? Phil Foglio uses some very similar characterisations in his Myth books. (Compare Guido and Nunzio to Fowl’s butler, for example.) The difference is, Foglio is writing humorous — and occasionally risqué — parody (and doing a good job of it) … but Colfer is serious. And it just doesn’t work. The characters are cardboard and flat; the plot is predictable and stereotyped, and yet manages to strain even a teenager’s willing suspension of disbelief with its excesses of “But wait, there’s more.”

Granted, this is supposed to be “young adult” fiction. But so is Harry Potter; and the qualkity of writing and plot development in Harry Potter are so far above Artemis Fowl that there’s scarcely any comparision. I know if anyone had given me a copy of Artemis Fowl when I was a “young adult”, I’d have been insulted that they thought my reading level was so low.
Through the Eyes of

Forest Friends Fold Out