Wishing a joyous and loving birthday for you, my friend. As I stated in my comment to your post, I shall celebrate with some Lost And Found and by starting This Beautiful Mess.
See you at lunch. 😀
Tag: read
From Orson Scott Card’s Empire:
“I’m not surprised,” said Cole. “What do you think it takes to build one of those? Two million? Six?”
“Real costs or Pentagon costs?” asked Reuben.
“Microsoft costs.”
“These are not a Microsoft product,” said Reuben.
“Developed in secret, though.”
“Yeah, but they don’t lock up.”
If you’d like a first-person account of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel, and the Israeli response, head over to David Dolan’s site and subscribe to his e-mail list.
David is a Christian pastor and author who has been resident in Israel for many years. Last year, David spoke at our church, and even for someone like me, who has followed the Mideast conflict, and the region’s history, for many years, it was eye-opening.
O’Reilly has a web site devoted to Lightroom.
[Via John.]
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Though I do not speak, read, or write either, I still think it very cool that Gmail now supports Arabic and Hebrew.
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The World eBook Fair is a month away.
[Via AWAD.]
The iPatch.
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This likely has made its rounds through the blogosphere already, but I just read in the latest dead-tree edition of Wired that Choose Your Own Adventure books are getting republished, updated for the 21st century.
Though he’s not old enough yet to read on his own and appreciate them, I may have to pick up these titles for my little phisch. I had a great time with them when I was eleven, though I don’t believe I was ever able to successfully navigate The Abominable Snowman without “cheating”.
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What happened to all that wreckage from the Twin Towers after 9/11? Twenty-four tons of steel girders ended up in one of the Navy’s latest ships.
This little tale, which appears to be a book for children, is actually a clever evocation of what happens to a corporation when a management consultant is hired by absent, clueless senior management to evaluate its organizational structure and to effect change. Beginning slowly, the Cat proceeds to take everything apart, make a total mess and get everybody in potentially the worst trouble in the world–all at no personal cost to itself. By the time the Cat leaves, it has frightened everybody, and very little has changed except the mind-set of the protagonists, which has been forever disrupted and rattled.
I haven’t started reading Robert Ferrigno’s Prayers for the Assassin yet, though I need to soon. I have started reading his blog the past few days, and like this post from last month:
[I]t seems to me that the issue of the cartoons points out the dangers of multi-culturalism, which has been embraced by Western societies post WW2. If all cultures are equal, and each culture reserves the right to be offended and to act on that offense in a matter it deems appropriate, whether burning cartoons or cartoonists, than we’re in for a rocky ride. When do the Hindus in the West start torching McDonalds for promoting the sinful eating of cows? When do the Amish run amok in shopping malls outraged by the rampant consumerism and excess vanity? When do the Scientologists go after South Park, one of my three favorite TV shows?
Eerie how some things come to pass. Not that Scientologists are going after South Park (yet), but it was odd reading Robert’s post from February 5th, in light of the recent Isaac Hayes-South Park flap.
I don’t think we’ll see the Amish run amok any time soon, either, since they tend toward pacifism, but I must say I won’t be surprised to learn of any Hindu violence, should it erupt in this country. Like many Muslims in other countries, the Hindu within India can be exceedingly violent against Christians, Buddhists, and other persons of faith.
Ron Moore, creator and executive producer of the best show on television, shares his favorite science-fiction tomes.
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From the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me” Department
“Hi, we’re Western Digital. Since our hard drives are slightly above average in performance and reliability, rather than making them top-notch, the industry’s best, we thought we would throw our research and development in to making clear cases for the drives, so you can see the inner workings…”
It actually is a rather impressive drive, specification-wise. I just prefer Seagates, when I can get them.
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From the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me” Department: Part Two
The mail arrived at the house today at approximately one o’clock this afternoon. I know this only because I was walking down the stairs at that moment, and saw the postal worker depositing today’s mail in our box.
Within today’s delivery was my latest order from the BMG music club of which I am still a member. I don’t order from them very often, waiting for the really good sales they have from time to time, but that’s not really the point here.
The point is that at approximately two-thirty, an hour and a half after I pulled the order out of the mailbox, an e-mail from BMG hit my In box, informing me my order had shipped.
Way to stay on top of things, guys.
The last John Grisham book I read was The Summons, and it was a decent read. Before that, the last Grisham book I had tackled was The Chamber, but I got bored and put it down before I was even a fourth of the way through, and have never picked it up again.
Now, as far as decent fiction you don’t have to really think about, the kind of books perfect for waiting around in airports, flying, or while on your daily bus or train commute, Grisham’s work is usually perfect. I adore The Pelican Brief, not only because of the the writing, but also because my wife went to Tulane Law, and we were living in New Orleans when I read the book and when the movie came out. It’s the only Grisham novel I have in hardcover.
However, like I said, with one exception, it’s been awhile since I picked up a Grisham book. That changed two weeks ago.
On Sunday, December 18th, while browsing the books at Costco, I happened upon The Broker. I read the synopsis on the back cover. It sounded intriguing. Certainly more intriguing than the synopses for the other Grisham books I’d picked up and not purchased for the past decade or so. It went in to the cart, and I started reading it a couple of hours after we got home.
I finished it Monday night. Yes, that Monday, as in the very next day, the 19th. I told my wife how good I thought it was, and she started it three days ago, and finished it off last night.
It’s as if after a long dry spell of just churning out books because that was what was expected of him, Grisham decided to write a book he would enjoy writing (which it sounds like he did, based on the acknowledgments) as well as one he would enjoy reading, and it shows.
Most of the book takes place in Italy, which Grisham traveled through as part of his research. This could very well have a lot to do with why I enjoyed the book, as the author transports you to the cities and towns of Italy, and it gave my imagination a workout. Yet it has to be more than that, and I believe it’s because it has the Grisham flow that made his early works so popular.
The Broker is not going to win any literary awards, but let’s face it: as with the Academy Awards, awards don’t often reflect the reality of the marketplace. It’s a fun book, and Retrophisch™ Recommended.
So I decided the whole blog post thing regarding my book reading was taking up more of my time than I wanted to devote to it. I have a stack of books on my desk that are in the queue to be blogged, and quite frankly I cannot muster the willpower to write said posts. So, back to a static list, which is now also part of the navigation links in the banner at the top of each page.