Not So Fast

An interesting interview about The Storm of War, a history of WWII which does its job and makes me want to buy the book.

The first of my book a week reviews is The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within by Stephen Fry.

What I knew about poetry before reading this book: I knew there was a thing called iambic pentameter, that Shakespeare wrote sonnets, that there was blank verse and free verse, that I liked a couple of Yeats’ poems and that I really didn’t understand poetry at all—what made a poem a poem and not just a collection of words. In school, poetry was a small part of English or American Lit and you read a couple of the classics and you were supposed to write a poem (God only knows how they expected you to do that given that there was only the most minimal explanation of what one was, really) that was it. The grammar of poetry was never explained, so I had no way of figuring out why or how poetry was made, what made a good poem good or a bad poem bad.

I picked up The Ode Less Traveled on a whim, partly because it’s Stephen Fry and partly because I thought it would be nice to remedy this black hole in my general knowledge. It worked. And the best part is, if you’ve watched enough QI, it’s like having Stephen Fry standing there teaching it to you, which I count as a bonus.

The book is written to those that want to become poets, or improve their poetry. I have no doubt it will work in that capacity, but as I have to get this review out to meet my obligations, I haven’t finished working through the exercises (which I have found to be challenging, but enjoyable). My ability in the poetry department extended to the occasional limerick or haiku, so I look forward to writing a sonnet or villanelle eventually. Possibly with some small amount of literary merit.

Because of the thoroughness with which Stephen Fry goes through everything, I found this to be an excellent way to learn what poetry is, too. Turns out it is not just a rather clipped collection of words that may or may not rhyme.

The book is divided into 3 main parts: Meter (or Metre), Rhyme, and Form.  In Meter we learn how English words are stressed and the various patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables make up a poem’s meter. In Rhyme, we learn about end rhymes, internal rhymes, slant rhymes, consonance and assonance and how to use them. In Form we learn the many stanza forms (thanks Frenchies) and why some poets don’t use them.

TOLT has led me to greater recognition and appreciation of the great poets as now I begin to understand what they were doing. Not just “this appeals to me on some instinctive level” but I see how their use of meter and rhyme (possibly) create a cohesive whole greater than the sum of its words. So, mission accomplished, I think, for both me and Stephen Fry.

Go to the gym, get money. Don’t go to the gym, lose money. This strikes me as a good idea. I need threats like monetary loss to keep me motivated for more than a week. Will I actually do it? Signs point to no.

Remember how we were going to run out of oil and our world would collapse? And I said you shouldn’t count out technology? Oh, it is to laugh.

“The global energy chessboard is changing, and markets will be realigned. Countries that have never had so much available energy will become self-sufficient, and perhaps even exporters,” Luis Alberto Terrero, head of the Venezuelan Gas Processors Association (AVPG), told IPS.

As gas supplies grow, “fossil fuels may become cheaper, the growth of alternative energies will slow down, and new alliances, investments and trade networks will be established,” Terrero said.

A well done mashup of 2011’s popular pop music.

There’s a couple good songs in there…

My goal for 2012: read a new book and write a book report a week.

For January:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel
– Suzanna Clarke

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance – Ron Chernow

Call to Spiritual Reformation, A: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers
– D.A. Carson

The Ode Less Travelled – Stephen Fry

I’ll probably add and subtract books as my whims take me, but it’s nice to have a plan.

I have now been alive for 1,234,567,890 seconds.

Dave Barry’s Year In Review

All the organizations and companies supporting the heinous SOPA. It all the usual suspects, media corporations and lawyers, with a few surprises, like the Major County Sheriffs, the Majority City Chiefs and GoDaddy.

In my excitement over Downton Abbey Christmas special, I forgot that Sherlock returns on January 1st.  A good way to start the new year, I think.

That does it, I’m reading The Hobbit this weekend.

Even the best case scenario, a peaceful reunification of the Koreas, won’t be pretty.

The perfect response to Slate’s Nervous Nelly article on Nerf and their awesomeness.

Emmett Otter outtakes.

Kim Jong-Il is dead, world leaders are busy not saying what they really think.

I found Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader to be a painfully balanced and but interesting look at the recent history of the country, if you’re interested.

As an aside, 2011 has been a bad year for despots in general, hasn’t it?

First off, I thought collusion was illegal. Secondly, it seems apparent publishers don’t care about ebook sales, or hope it’s a passing fad, because they are guaranteeing that I am going to buy a used paperback. Did they learn nothing from Napster and the music industry?

Digital books have one two advantages over physical ones, I can fit a lot of them on one device and carry them all with me and I can buy them without having to get up. But all that convience just isn’t worth more than the cost of a paperback.

Sorry authors, I bet I would have enjoyed your writing.

Christopher Hitchens. He was an amazing writer whose work I enjoyed, even when he was wrong.

Isaac Newton notebooks are online for your viewing pleasure. Knowledge of Greek would be useful.

Look, you chose to be a public servant, driving a publicly-owned car. That kind of negates your right to privacy there.  Getting the cops to cover for you is, a. really bad PR for the cops, and b. if not illegal, it should be.

I have no doubt that newspapers mangle the news regularly, and I can understand wanting to avoid that, but shoving evidence under the carpet is no way to get out of trouble. It’s just going to make things worse. Release the evidence, get your experts to explain what happened and go about your life.

Note to self: Make sure next car doesn’t have black box.

Something 25 light years away is bouncing our old TV signals back to us and scientists are using that to recover the lost Doctor Who episodes. Awesome.

A good tutorial on the latest news from CERN about the Higgs boson thing.

Norway is facing a butter shortage as Christmas approaches. I cannot even fathom how this possible.

Shame on every Senator that voted for this. And I’m pretty sure the terrorists have won when the Democrats are the ones trying to limit the government’s power.

Having failed at conquest victory conditions twice, Germany goes for the economic victory.

The Doctor Who Christmas Special prequel.

I remember when the Falkland Islands thing happened the first time. I doubt it will go any better for Argentina this time, should Britian decided to stop writing letters and do something.

A look at the militarization of the police over the last 30 years.

The amount of force the government uses to uphold a given law is no longer determined only by the threat to public safety posed by the suspect. Now, it appears to give an indication of how serious the government is about the law being enforced. The DEA sends SWAT teams barreling into the offices of doctors accused of over-prescribing painkillers not because the doctors pose any real threat of violence, but because prescription drug abuse is a hot issue right now. The feds sent SWAT teams into marijuana dispensaries not because medicinal pot merchants are inherently dangerous people, but because officials believe the dispensaries are openly defying federal law. It is, to put it bluntly, a terror tactic.

Scientists have developed a new coating that may keep eyeglasses and tablets/phones from smudging.

“I’m sorry, but you are President of the damn United States of America. You have to do what is right for the country and not worry about the political ramifications.”

While the money quote is good, the problem isn’t the President. The problem is Congress is unwilling to legislate because that would require being willing to take the blame, and it’s far less risky to let the President take the blame than to take a stand. It’s Congress’ job to figure out how to fix things and then the President then executes those plans. It’s been a while since it’s worked that way though, so I can understand why Cardoza is confused about it.

Google points out that the Protect IP Act is a bad idea. And if trial lawyers like it, you can bet it’s a bad idea.

Martin says he’s going to have to kill a lot of POV characters off soon.

Talking to high schoolers, so no earth-shatteringly new explanations, but still good.

An interesting conversation between Michael Totten and a Protestant Christian Egyptian, Ramez Attalah. Part 2 here.

RIP Anne McCaffery, creator of some of my favorite characters and planets. Oh, how I wanted to meet Robinton.

It’s way too much work for me to make, but the pocket espresso maker with built in alcohol stove is very cool.

Germany, who has a high savings rate and spends so much less than they take in that they’re giving everyone a tax rebate this year, points out that America isn’t doing so well in the budget area.

“The U.S., as far as I know, has a worse debt-to-GDP ratio than the whole eurozone, and we are talking about the eurozone, not about the United States and that Congress can’t get its act together,” said a member of the German press during the briefing. “So from the European perspective, it seems that this country is in a bigger mess than Europe.  We are not proud where we are.  We know that it’s slow and not bold, and so on, but at least they are doing something; they are deciding something, they’re trying to pull that through.  And here, nothing is happening — third time this year,” he added, referring to the Supercommittee failure.

All of which, IMHO, has to do with the fact that no one wants to man up and tell Americans the year before an election that they can’t afford all the nice things they’ve been relying on the government to give them and the choices are cutting spending and higher taxes. See, if we did both, neither side would be happy, which I believe is the essence of a good compromise and has made America the well-governed country it’s been for the last 200 years. It’s not fun getting out of debt, and I’m sure none of this will be helpful to the brutalized economy that flinches like an abused child at the slightest hint of bad news, but at least we would stand a chance of lowering our deficit.

The FTL neutrinos got a small boost when they repeated an experiment and got the same results.

I really doubt the neutrinos are FTL, but I also really hope it’s true.  In no small part because of the consternation of the armchair physicists that are freaking out over having their worldview questioned. To coin a phrase, the tree of science must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of dearly held theories. Also, just as general relativity exists right alongside special relativity, I suspect the same will happen, should the FTL thing be true.

Or:

Sarah Palin is becoming quite the populist pot-stirrer.

The corruption isn’t confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It’s an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests.

The world exports more than it imports, which means aliens owe us big time.

Need I say more. Putting Animal up against Gonzo day 1 was hardly fair. I predict a Fozzie / Gonzo / Ms. Piggy fight for the top spot.

It looks like How To Train Your Dragon crossed with every princess movie of the last 20 years, but I have faith that Pixar will make it special. Also, great voice casting.

Apparently, someone secretly recorded a talk by a Chinese TV host who said the country is nearly bankrupt and they aren’t allowed to report on it because they’re, you know, communists.

It would explain why China looked at the EU with a “who, me?” when the EU hinted at China bailing out Greece and Italy.

Doesn’t Washington hate big, lobbyistic businesses these days?Why are they helping create them? Oh wait, they don’t hate them, they love them, it gives them more control.

The rise of enormous, super-empowered HMOs closely tied to government regulations suggests we are headed further in the direction of building a corporatist, medico-industrial complex whose powerful lobbies will fight reforms, abuse monopoly powers and further congeal the American health care system into an unmanageable and unaffordable form that will undermine living standards while providing ever-less-satisfactory care.

So, your solution to the lack of foreign businesses investing in America is demonizing businesses and and more taxes in the country with the highest corporate tax rate* in the world? I grant you, the promise of a bailout from the government if the business is big enough is a nice perk.

*I realize no one actually pays that. Because who would when you can buy off a congressman or two for a loophole?

Some British people are going to take a long time and spend a lot of money building one of Babbage’s analytical engines to see if it works. I’m waiting for the Lego version.

I don’t trust the major players in internet service providing to have my best interests at heart when it comes to delivering the internet. I’m pretty sure that since they are awarded monopolies they’ll just price gouge the crap out of me if they aren’t kept in check.

The United States of America. And being born here. IMHO it’s the pinnacle of Western Civilization and has created an unprecedented amount of freedom, wealth and general good welfare for a surprising number of people, one of which is me. And for all its flaws it’s the best of the lot. For which I am thankful.

This is why America works.

I’m okay with it too.

A Democratic legislator said it would be fine with him if the supercommittee failed to reach agreement and steep, automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending happened.

Daniel Amos. They are probably my favorite band ever and I have loved them for 20 years now. Do they throw up the ocassional um, quirky, song, but for the most part they get me and I have all their albums. Okay, not all the Eddies, but all the rest of them. Anyway, my life is better for them having existed and made all their lovely songs.

The Easter Island heads have bodies. Who knew?

I like to think there’s some happy medium between Europe and China’s incentive systems.

The Golden Gate bridge was privately financed by the founder of BofA after the 1929 market crash kept investors from buying up the municipal bonds.

Thoughts on Downton Abbey s02e08  (minor spoilers): Continue reading →

You’re far less likely to get stabbed in the face today than at any other time in history.

The world owes me a living, doesn’t it?

I also found this refreshing [NSFW language].

I don’t pretend to understand the thinking of the State Department but the US on the one hand cut UNESCO’s funding for approving Palestinian statehood and on the other tells Israel to stop building in east Jerusalem.

Do we have any sort of plan or white paper or anything?

There is much truth in the scientifical, peer-viewed hierarchy of candy. I would dispute Caramellos being Top Tier and think half of the Post-Tertiary should move up.

And here we see the reason some people are in front of the cameras and some people are not.

I find it less than comforting when Germany starts talking about war in times of economic turmoil.

“Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe. They are not for granted. That’s why I say: If the euro fails, Europe fails,” Merkel said, followed by a long applause from all political groups.

Entire album playlist

I, for one, can’t wait until everyone gets tired of making 1% on their savings and dumps that money back into the stock market.

Our countries problem, writ small.

“We are entitled to more money from the only industry in the county – Jack Daniel’s distillery,” said Charles Rogers, a 75-year-old retiree and self-described “concerned citizen” of Moore County – home to Lynchburg and Jack Daniel’s..

…

Could the company possibly move to a more tax-friendly county? Most folks think not. But Lynchburg Mayor Sloan Stewart isn’t so sure.

“Everybody says no they won’t. You can’t say no they won’t. That’s always a possibility,” he said. “There’s a chance they could do something like that, pack up and move.”

Also, there’s some awesome manipulation in the article’s writing style.

Thoughts on Downton Abbey s02e06 (minor spoilers): Continue reading →

6.02 x 10^23. Go find yourself 12 grams of Carbon to celebrate.

Here’s the problem, Republicans are just as culpable for the horrible mess that our federal government is as Democrats and anything they say can boomerang right back at them. It’s easier to point the finger elsewhere.

It was Washington that declared prudent home-lending standards racist and gutted traditional underwriting rules in the name of diversity. It was government that created the risk on Main Street. Yes, Wall Street spread it, with the help of Treasury-backed Fannie and Freddie. But who’s at greater fault for harming the village — the person who poisons the well or the one who distributes the water?

Neither. Both. Just fix it already.

I really hope this ends in tears. The gnashing and wailing of government officials as Americans decide the 4th amendment actually means something and disbands the TSA.

The random inspections really aren’t any more thorough normal, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott who says paying attention to details can make a difference.

So, why are you doing it then?

It’s a list of fantasy books that “should” be made into TV shows, according to some guy on the internet.

Here’s the thing though, I don’t trust TV or movie makers to make good adaptations of stories I like. I grant you, they have gotten better at it in the last decade, but it’s still a chance I am unwilling to take with stories I enjoy.

If they touch The Kingkiller Chronicle, I can’t be held responsible for my actions. To take that lovely prose and turn it into anything else would be a sin. A mortal sin. The Belgariad would end up like the Sword Of Truth series, i.e., a goofy sword and sandals thing.  Riftwar would end up like that too. The Curse of Chalion might work, but those are more thinking than doing stories and I don’t think they could remain true to the books and make good TV with it. Sword of Shanarra, well, it would be the cheap knock off of LOTR that it is.

Winning quote from an Occupy Boston demonstrator:

“It’s turning into us against them,” Warner said. “They come in here and they’re looking at it as a way of getting a free meal and a place to crash, which is totally fine, but they don’t bring anything to the table at all. It gets really frustrating.”

The door squeaking, the accents, the look on his face, this just gets funnier the more you watch it.

Big Pharma has had significant success with a malaria vaccine trial. Also the guy’s name is Witty, leading to significant punning potential.

Witty, malaria scientists and global health experts stressed that the vaccine,

Punctuation is so important. An Oxford comma would go a long way in that sentence.

Touch screens everywhere! I want one.

I’ll grant him he makes some good points, but since I can’t live on the moon, I’m still disappointed at our progress.

 Consider this:

• Hundreds of people have already traveled in space.
• The International Space Station continues to operate, conducting experiments and research that have widespread implications not just for future space missions but also for developments here on Earth.
• Daily, we send and receive communications transmissions that are bounced off of manmade satellites.
• We have robots exploring other parts of our Solar System, including the surface of Mars, and devices such as the Hubble Space Telescope transmit images that provide ever increasing insights into the expanse of the Universe.

In short, we are already THERE – in space. And this is happening just 50 years after the first space missions that sent men into orbit. In many ways, it is akin to the explorations of the New World that occurred in the decades after Columbus first sailed across the Atlantic during the age of the first Renaissance centuries ago.

I have a bad feeling about all this inflationary pressure. Like even if the Fed keeps it all down now, sooner or later we’re going to pay the piper and it’s going to explode all over us in some form.

Thoughts on Downton Abbey s02e05 (major spoilers):

Continue reading →

Another Muppets trailer, this time with actual plot!

There are moments when I despair of America. This is one of them. 4 million Americans bothered to watch the Kardashian wedding, which, by the way, has nothing to do with Elim Garak, Gul Dukat or Ziyal, so lay-ame.

I realized it’s only 1% of all Americans, but 1% is too many. I’d threaten to move some place better, but Netflix and Hulu only work on American IPs, so you know.

The price of peanuts and peanut products is about to shoot through the roof. I blame Bush.

No really, it’s Ken Jennings opening a Bag O’ Crap from wOOt.

More entertaining is him talking about maps:

Thoughts on Downton Abbey s02e04 (minor spoilers):
Continue reading →

The readers of Rolling Stone are bad and this list should make them feel bad [danger: slideshow].

I’m not particularly a fan of a lot of the songs, but there were way worse ones in the 80s. The problem is that no one has heard them for ~25 years and don’t remember them. I can agree with Nos. 1 and 2. But No. 2 has been tainted by more recent and traumatic memories of this: [ETA: wordpress.com is doing that thing again, click through to the post to get the actual videos.]

So, I’m not sure if I’m the best judge.

I strongly disagree with Puttin’ on the Ritz, Rock Me, Amadeus, and  The Safety Dance. I mildly disagree with Mickey and Lady In Red. Not my bag, but solid 80s songs.

You want bad songs? Enjoy.

I could keep going. Now I remember why I was so excited when I discovered the Alternative genre.

Occupy Sesame Street.

A mumps outbreak at Cal.  Should I break out the leeches? Enjoy your easily avoidable misery.

Steven Speilberg, Peter Jackson, Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Cary Ewles, Daniel Craig, John Williams, and WETA. It’s going to rock.

I have no idea why the wrong video is showing up on the front page. It’s right in the post itself…. Click through and enjoy.

I hope he’s right.

How to learn from your mistakes.

In the first half of the 20th century, you didn’t have to ask every department of the government for permission if you wanted to build a giant killer robot to send to Mars. Also:

Innovation can’t happen without accepting the risk that it might fail. The vast and radical innovations of the mid-20th century took place in a world that, in retrospect, looks insanely dangerous and unstable. Possible outcomes that the modern mind identifies as serious risks might not have been taken seriously—supposing they were noticed at all—by people habituated to the Depression, the World Wars, and the Cold War, in times when seat belts, antibiotics, and many vaccines did not exist.

Yes! Time to brush off the Smoot-Hawley. I just like saying it. It’s not like I know enough about worldwide economics to have an informed opinion on tariffs and protectionism. But really, is this wise, getting into a fight with our biggest foreign creditor? *something something borrower something servant to lender*

I never joined Geocities, but I well remember how all the search results (AltaVista, ftw) would take me to someone’s fan site. And the animated gifs. Oh, the animated gifs.

Anyway:

A. Someone saved all 641GB of Geocitities right before it went down, which isn’t fair because it should have been captured at its height. I wonder how active that torrent is.

And B. they then made a neighborhood map of it.

Thoughts on Downton Abbey s02e03 (minor spoilers):

Continue reading →

Everything is interesting.

A foolish trope of modernity is that experience leads to disenchantment and ennui. Boredom with life does not result from exhausting life’s riches, but from skimming them.

I have found this to be true.

The top 10 most frequently challenged books according to the American Library Association.

2010: 1) And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson; 2) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie; 3) Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; 4) Crank, by Ellen Hopkins; 5) The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins; 6) Lush, by Natasha Friend; 7) What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones; 8) Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich; 9) Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie; 10) Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

I am really surprised that Brave New World is still taking heat. It’s like, what, 100 years old? I can get behind the Twilight thing though, because have you seen what she does with commas? It makes my proclivity toward parenthetical thought look restrained.

Coming from a home where, as far as I know, I was allowed to read anything I wanted, and my teachers made me ask a couple times—A Clockwork Orange comes to mind, and boy was I sorry I chose that in the end—I find it strange that people want books banned. I get not wanting to read them, or finding them offensive, but I don’t get thinking you or your child or others in your community are too dumb to think through why you might disagree with a book and unilaterally decide that no one have access to it.