Monday, November 29, 2010
Finished "Blackest Night" (Comic series)
As with all mega-cross-overs I am left unsatisfied by Blackest Night. Some of the concepts were cool - the multi-coloured ring corps and the re-animation of the dead, but 82 issues?
Friday, November 26, 2010
"Have a Little Faith" - Mitch Albom (E-reader)
Am enjoying "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom (http://mitchalbom.com/bio). I've liked his other work "Five People You Meet in Heaven" and "Tuesdays with Morrie".
I consider his books, along with "The Source" (James Michner) and "The Shack" (William P. Young - http://theshackbook.com/ ) to be part of my own faith search. All provide different and non-dogmatic versions of Judeo-Christian thought, providing an exploration of faith offset from exploration of religion.
Michner's "The Source" I read years ago, and will likely pull out again. This is a novel which spans a few thousand years and explores a proposed origin of religion (if I remember correctly, he attributes the start of religion to the start of agriculture, where requirement for rain, sun etc. need to occur at certain times to support growth forcing thought to causes and connections for these natural events and the need to wish and pray for appropriate conditions).
The Albom books are contemporary, semi-autobiographical recounts of events in Mitch Albom's life - the visits with a dying university professor that Mitch studied with years earlier ("Tuesdays with Morrie") or the current book ("Have a Little Faith") which revolves around the request from the Rabbi from Mitch's youth who asks Mitch to perform the eulogy at the Rabbi's funeral. These stories are easy reads and are philosophical without being preachy, providing the perspectives of men who know the end is near and their shared wisdom and experiences.
I consider his books, along with "The Source" (James Michner) and "The Shack" (William P. Young - http://theshackbook.com/ ) to be part of my own faith search. All provide different and non-dogmatic versions of Judeo-Christian thought, providing an exploration of faith offset from exploration of religion.
Michner's "The Source" I read years ago, and will likely pull out again. This is a novel which spans a few thousand years and explores a proposed origin of religion (if I remember correctly, he attributes the start of religion to the start of agriculture, where requirement for rain, sun etc. need to occur at certain times to support growth forcing thought to causes and connections for these natural events and the need to wish and pray for appropriate conditions).
The Albom books are contemporary, semi-autobiographical recounts of events in Mitch Albom's life - the visits with a dying university professor that Mitch studied with years earlier ("Tuesdays with Morrie") or the current book ("Have a Little Faith") which revolves around the request from the Rabbi from Mitch's youth who asks Mitch to perform the eulogy at the Rabbi's funeral. These stories are easy reads and are philosophical without being preachy, providing the perspectives of men who know the end is near and their shared wisdom and experiences.
"Decision Points" - George Bush (Audiobook)
Started "Decision Points" by George W. Bush and was surprised to hear that he was the performer reading the book.
Just about 1/2 hour in...Nice to hear how concerned he was of his "national guard" position during the Vietnam War was being misrepresented in the press. Does he remember the atrocity that was the Swiftboating of a real war hero in Kerry?
It's hard to listen to without editing his words and wanting to get to a point of truth, not spin. I'm not sure if he really makes any distinction.
This did bring up the opportunity in the e-book age to force books to be accurate to a degree never before possible - why can't publishers require that "spin" be retroactively changed in volume updates as they become apparent, or use live footnotes to allow for the full controversies to be discussed with alternative viewpoints, assuming they are reliable and valid?
I'd like somebody, perhaps publishers, perhaps 3rd party, who's endorsement would be required, or significantly recommended, before books that purport to be "non-fiction" are actually considered so.
It would be nice to differentiate opinion from factual recollection from spin in some objective manner. Logistically this will be difficult to accomplish, particularly when exploring "charged" personalities or events (like the entire Bush presidency), but the effort, if successful, would be worthy.
In prior generations, newspapers and news sources provided this role - policing themselves, and each other, on accuracy in reporting. Lawsuits and courts provided societal sanction, if required, for personal attacks and untruths. With the advent of non-impartial news organizations like Fox News and perhaps to a lesser extent MSNBC, which have a defined viewpoint to support a particular political party, and not to objectively report the news, and the loss of newspaper's role in the internet age, there is less and less ability to sort through the spin and approach the truth - this has serious effects when extended forward. How will the non-elite (all of us) understand what is happening when the monied powers (corporations) control the information channels? Can we rely upon each person to sift the internet and provide a properly contexted understanding of events? How does democracy survive if the electorate can't uncover what is actually happening?
Just about 1/2 hour in...Nice to hear how concerned he was of his "national guard" position during the Vietnam War was being misrepresented in the press. Does he remember the atrocity that was the Swiftboating of a real war hero in Kerry?
It's hard to listen to without editing his words and wanting to get to a point of truth, not spin. I'm not sure if he really makes any distinction.
This did bring up the opportunity in the e-book age to force books to be accurate to a degree never before possible - why can't publishers require that "spin" be retroactively changed in volume updates as they become apparent, or use live footnotes to allow for the full controversies to be discussed with alternative viewpoints, assuming they are reliable and valid?
I'd like somebody, perhaps publishers, perhaps 3rd party, who's endorsement would be required, or significantly recommended, before books that purport to be "non-fiction" are actually considered so.
It would be nice to differentiate opinion from factual recollection from spin in some objective manner. Logistically this will be difficult to accomplish, particularly when exploring "charged" personalities or events (like the entire Bush presidency), but the effort, if successful, would be worthy.
In prior generations, newspapers and news sources provided this role - policing themselves, and each other, on accuracy in reporting. Lawsuits and courts provided societal sanction, if required, for personal attacks and untruths. With the advent of non-impartial news organizations like Fox News and perhaps to a lesser extent MSNBC, which have a defined viewpoint to support a particular political party, and not to objectively report the news, and the loss of newspaper's role in the internet age, there is less and less ability to sort through the spin and approach the truth - this has serious effects when extended forward. How will the non-elite (all of us) understand what is happening when the monied powers (corporations) control the information channels? Can we rely upon each person to sift the internet and provide a properly contexted understanding of events? How does democracy survive if the electorate can't uncover what is actually happening?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Daniel Ellsberg "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers"
Am finding the Ellsberg book interesting. Some of the logistics of the late '60's are surprising - Mr. Ellsberg had never used a Xerox machine prior to making copies of the McNamara reports.
3 seconds per page x 2 copies = 6 seconds per page, all hand copied one page at a time, no document feeder.
To think for a few hundred bucks he could have a document fed scanner in his basement and carry around all the top-secret documents on a flash drive on his keychain.
3 seconds per page x 2 copies = 6 seconds per page, all hand copied one page at a time, no document feeder.
To think for a few hundred bucks he could have a document fed scanner in his basement and carry around all the top-secret documents on a flash drive on his keychain.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Project Gutenberg
Visited Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) and was surprised at the changes on the site - very nicely laid out, audiobook format available along with EPUB and Kindle formats.
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