Rae Allen gave 5 stars to: Pirate Rage (The Federation Reborn Book 2)

Rae Allen reviewed:

Pirate Rage (The Federation Reborn Book 2) by Chris Hechtl

5.0 out of 5 stars A step forward, January 24, 2016
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This review is from: Pirate Rage (The Federation Reborn Book 2) (Kindle Edition)
Less engineer and more military sci-fi, the ongoing story of rebuilding the Federation under pressure from a pirate empire continues to impress.

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Men and Cattle: history of development in northern Australia

I found a collection of small audio documentaries recently. They were on cassette so the quality after 30 odd years isn’t great. The talent is historian Peter Forrest.

Men and Cattle is a history of development  of the cattle industry in northern Austraia but touches on a lot of other themes.

Part one: The Overlanders

Part two: The Journeys Back

Part three: Settlement Creek

Part four: The journey west from the Queensland border

Part five: Life on the trail

Rae Allen gave 4 stars to: Agent Hill Omnibus

Rae Allen reviewed:

Agent Hill Omnibus by James Hunt

4.0 out of 5 stars Good premise, well executed, November 22, 2015
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This review is from: Agent Hill Omnibus (Kindle Edition)
While there is something familiar about the Agent Hill storyline this is not necessarily a bad thing. As female super agents go, Agent Hill is human enough to balance the high tech gadgetry and the enhanced biology

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Tech Talk: Archival audio from the 90s

In the early 90s I was doing a regular technology spot networked across Local Radio stations. This is a collection of archival audio of that content

In the early 90s I was doing a regular technology spot networked across Local Radio stations.  This is a  collection of archival audio of that content
In the early 90s I was doing a regular technology spot networked across Local Radio stations.  This is a  collection of archival audio of that content

  1. Personal Information Managers – an interview with Glenn Rees the editor of Australian PC User magazine
  2. CD ebooks – interview with Marius Coomans about the benefits of providing books in electronic format on CD
  3. Pegasus network – inteview with Paul Wilson of Pegasus about the benefits of being able to network directly with the experts online
  4. Courtroom graphics – interview with Michael Gigante of RMIT about how computer animation and graphics could help explain complex legal issues in court
  5. EDI Post – interview with Bub Ludlow of Australia post about a system of sending mail by sending it from your computer to the nearest Australia post office to the recipient, from where AusPost would print it out and deliver it in the normal way. (before email)
  6. Australianised software – an interview with Alex Merrifield of Intuit about having software that doesn’t just use US formats for things like dates.
  7. Computer phobia – an interview with author, John Kugel
  8. Personal organisers – and interview with Jackie Begbie of Sharp Corporation
  9. ISYS – text retrieval software – an interview with Odessey Software’s Mark Reiss
  10. Windows 3.11 launched
  11. Uniloc anti-piracy
  12. Transparent drug and alcohol information library
  13. Information Kiosks
  14. Mobile Computing
  15. Digital video productions
  16. CSIRO interactive insect CDROM
  17. Computer banking
  18. Newsagents selling CD software
  19. Using softaware to design your house yourself
  20. Using software to organise the office footy tipping
  21. Putting job ads online
  22. Interactive video CD’s
  23. Nurses using mobile Computing
  24. Global Ipswich sets up city as tech centre
  25. Baby Oil search algorithms
  26. Kids and Computing
  27. The new Intel pentium chip released
  28. The business model of Dell Computers
  29. Apples vision for computing is partnerships
  30. Nomadic Computing

Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Australian
Serves: 1 cake
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Print
 
This is the first time in some years I have cooked carrot cake from scratch but is proved as simple as ever. I tried to reduce sugar so went looking for a recipe that was a bit lighter on sugar, then adapted it..
Ingredients
  • 1 cup self-raising flower
  • 1¼ cups plain flower
  • 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups grated carrot ( for me this is about 6 medium carrots )
  • 1 cup granulated sugar ( I use raw granulated )
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar ( I use dark brown sugar )
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup low-fat milk
  • Icing:
  • 180g cream cheese, softened ( or about ¾ cup )
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups powdered sugar ( i use castor sugar )
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife.
  3. Combine flour, ground cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
  4. Add grated carrot, tossing through with a fork until evenly combined.
  5. Place granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a large bowl.
  6. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined.
  7. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
  8. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
  9. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
  10. Take a 200 mm circular spring baking pan, grease very lightly, can put two layers of baking paper on the botton, and a layer of baking paper around the inside ring.
  11. Pour or spoon mix into the pan coated with cooking spray.
  12. Bake at 180°C for half an hour to an hour, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. It is good to test as the time can vary significantly depending on the oven.
  13. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.
  14. Icing:
  15. Place soft cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and salt in a medium bowl.
  16. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy.
  17. Gradually add castor sugar, beating at medium speed until combined (don't overbeat).
  18. Spread icing thickly over top of cake.

 

Rae Allen gave 4 stars to: Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon Series Book 1)

Rae Allen reviewed:

Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon Series Book 1) by J W Murison

4.0 out of 5 stars Just give me more!, October 9, 2015
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This review is from: Teardrops In The Night Sky (Steven Gordon Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This looks like turning into a terrific space opera – so much so that on finishing this I went looking for the next in the series

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Rae Allen gave 4 stars to: After the Winter (The Silent Earth, Book 1)

Rae Allen reviewed:

After the Winter (The Silent Earth, Book 1) by Mark R. Healy

4.0 out of 5 stars A very human story, September 8, 2015
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This review is from: After the Winter (The Silent Earth, Book 1) (Kindle Edition)
This is a very strong debut novel from Australian author Mark Healy. The introduction of the ‘synthetic human’ plotline is subtle, you need to double back and read about the wounds to make sure you comprehend them correctly.

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Rae Allen gave 4 stars to: Rebel (Rebel Stars Book 0)

Rae Allen reviewed:

Rebel (Rebel Stars Book 0) by Edward W. Robertson

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start to series, June 16, 2015
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This review is from: Rebel (Rebel Stars Book 0) (Kindle Edition)
Good start to the Rebel Stars series (I couldn’t quite work out why it was book zero ), and sets up the main character very well. I have a soft spot for the some what decayed view in space drama and this neatly combines high tech with needing to make a living.

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