Z.Monkey’s Blog

I’ve been able to play with some new stuff lately, and I thought I might share.

1. A Baby - She was ‘playful’ last night.  I don’t think she likes the heat.  We may need to move into the basement till Friday, or I guess we could turn on the central air. 1stDadDay.jpg
2. Wize.com -  A page that lets you compare products.  It’s kinda neat.  I only wish it had better ways compare things (i.e. TV screen size and resolution).
3. Google Reader - A pretty cool way to view RSS feeds.  You can even share what you find interesting (here’s mine, send me yours if you like).  Here’s a video on how to use it (or not… that’s just too many feeds).   Kinda wish it had a search… which is weird since this is a google thing.
4. AutoHotKey - Used this at work today to cut out hours of tedious data entry.  It can learn your keystroke and mouse clicks and turn that into a script (kinda like the macro builder in excel).  Going to try and see what else you can do with this but it looks pretty powerful.
5. GoodReads - Many of you probably got spamed from all the people joining this.  I haven’t given it a try but it looks like everyone else has.  I’ll add what I’m reading.  Got this from Dan.
6. Jeff’s old golf clubs - I went golfing for father’s day (my first my dad’s 27th).  It was fun, now I need to move the clubs into my trunk so I can occasionally hit the driving range.

On an interesting aside, I have found that I need beer.  This has nothing to do with the alcohol but everything to do with the empty calories.  When the scientist was pregnant I lost 5 pounds (like 3.7% of my normal body weight) just because I gave up (read limited) my intake of beer.  So if you see me without a beer please think of my health and give me one.

Apparently, moving stuff around is some sort of political or social statement.  Maybe it is because I’m getting old but I’m conflicted.  While the image below is extremely amusing to me, the person most likely to notice this in a bookstore is an employee, and the employee is probably just going to sigh and put it back.  Maybe chuckle.

In the end this ends up being just like graffiti.  While some can be very cool, most are just penises or names scribbled on a wall.  Plus, no matter how cool, so images are just not appropriate in some locations.  Anyway, I guess the idea is force people to look at a book out of context, but I don’t really understand using 1984.  How can it be taken as anything other than a warning?

I little while ago the Scientist and I rented The Libertine with Johnny Depp. The story follows the extraordinarily debased life of the Earl of Rochchester (John Wilmot) 1647-80. I really wont go into it much (the poem below pretty much outlines the character). The only reason I bring it up is that I read through 3 or 4 of his poems for my Brit Lit course. I had thought the movie was a little over the top but after reading the poems I think it was pretty accurate. Here is one of the shorter ones entitled “Song”:

Love a woman? You’re an ass!
‘Tis a most insipid passion
To choose out for your happiness
The silliest part of God’s creation.

Let the porter and the groom,
Things designed for dirty slaves,
drudge in fair Aurelia’s womb
To get supplies for age and graves.

Farewell, woman! I intend
Henceforth every night to sit
With my lewd, well-natured friends,
Drinking to engender wit.

The give me health, wealth, mirth, and wine,
And, if busy love entrenches,
There’s a sweet, soft page of mine
Does the trick worth forty wenches.

The other poems were much more lewd, but this one shows his selfishness, his disdain for women and marriage, and his love for drink and young boys (I thought the page reference was fitting).  At the end of movie (his life), when he is dying of the French Pox Rochester “finds” God.  Which, I suppose, is supposed to be a moral lesson.  Perhaps, ‘A life without God (religion) is a life of sin’.  I have not found it so…

For more poetry of this sort click here.

I can’t really improve on the title… anyway check out the pictures over at the nonist.  Don’t worry it’s work friendly.  I do like monumental architecture and I think libraries are the perfect building to put use it in because they tend to have and need large rooms, and those large rooms tend to be open to the public.  Check out the Library of Congress photos we took on our trip down to D.C. (Note: that these are prime examples of why I should not be asked to take pictures… focus!)

 

…but I think their new Reader is an interesting product. The thing lasts 7500 page turns and the E-Ink technology allows the thing to keep the page up with using any more power. But in typical Sony style they are charging $350 for the thing. What?! You still need to buy the books, which are priced about the same as a book you can buy in the store so you end up saving no money. This could only be useful if you travelled a lot when you don’t want to have to carry a ton of books on a flight or pay the premium for buy a book in an airport. Who would need to use this at home? On a side note, I am kind of surprised that the books at Sony’s ebook store are not outrageouosly expensive. The cost would probably make me read lots of classics while I was travelling.

I would like to play with one for a bit, though I bet there will be significantly cheaper ones coming out in the near future. I bet it doesn’t even come with a built in reading lamp.

Do you wonder if we all should have read this before starting to blog? One of the things this article tells you to do (so that you don’t start a blog) is read 5 random blogs for a month. I think this misses the point of the blog. You are supposed to read about stuff or people you are interested in! If I pick 5 random books to read I’d probably end up with some Romance, an Anne Rice book (boo…), and some crap targeted at toward young adults. Of course I’d be disappointed but that doesn’t mean the book medium is crap.

I need to comment on the DPL’s new book download program. The program is run by Overdrive and uses DRM handicapped WMA files. Now, I personally think that DRM is bad for business… and the Overdrive is a good example of why. Apple and Microsoft have competing DRM specification (both are proprietary) and neither is universially excepted. I doubt that Microsoft’s new portable media player will be able to play Apple DRMed media and I know that Apple iPod’s do not play DRM WMA files. Which basically means that we cannot use this new and potentially cool serve (unless we burn the audio files onto a CD then use those CD, or ripe the audio from those CDs and put them onto the iPod). It’s just annoying, especially when those things aren’t that cheap. (btw, the new iPod shuffle is very cool) On a funny aside, the DPL gave away a free iPod Nano this summer to some kid… I hope he doesn’t try to download any books! Maybe I get steal D14’s old non-apple MP3 player.

I’m tired.

My appointment with the Comcast installation guy was to be between 9 and 11.  I have just got the internet setup (at a quarter to two).  I wasn’t planning on taking today off but what can you do.  Sigh.  As I’ve never actually had a cable appointment that happened when it was supposed is a sign that Comcast should hire more install techs.  They just seem over worked.

On a side note, I read the Communist Manefesto last yesterday (being Labor day and all).  Perhaps, I write something about it.  Perhaps not.
Anyway, I, and most likely the Scientist, will be posting more often now.

I finished up reading Christ our Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice, and I can’t say that I enjoyed the experience.

First off, the writing style was tedious to get through. I am pretty sure the author was trying to make it sound like writing style of the authors from that period. But all the text she read were translations and all you have to do it read a set of VCR instructions or dan resignation letter to know that translations often sound a little off. The only biblical translation that I’ve read that even makes an attempt at anything other that ‘accuracy’ is the King James Version. [Example]

The story was written from the viewpoint of young Jesus (vs. Young Frankenstein which is much more amusing). I guess the whole idea was to highlight the human part of Jesus but still make him appear divine. She did this by making a really winnie kid with superhuman powers and knowledge. To get material for this Rice referenced the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, one of the few surviving gospels (not destroyed by the Catholic church) that deal with Jesus as a child… and had Jesus kill some kid. But in her version Jesus ‘knew’ what he did was wrong and hide behind his mother (then raised him from the dead). In the Gospel of Thomas… well read the section:

IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children.

V. 1 And Joseph called the young child apart and admonished him, saying: Wherefore doest thou such things, that these suffer and hate us and persecute us? But Jesus said: I know that these thy words are not thine: nevertheless for thy sake I will hold my peace: but they shall bear their punishment. And straightway they that accused him were smitten with blindness. 2 And they that saw it were sore afraid and perplexed, and said concerning him that every word which he spake whether it were good or bad, was a deed, and became a marvel. And when they (he ?) saw that Jesus had so done, Joseph arose and took hold upon his ear and wrung it sore. 3 And the young child was wroth and said unto him: It sufficeth thee (or them) to seek and not to find, and verily thou hast done unwisely: knowest thou not that I am thine? vex me not.

Why make Jesus so sensitive? I guess it has something to do with making more human. But aren’t kids cruel? Has Rice never seen Nanny 911? Could you really punish a kid who could kill you with a prayer? I bet he’d be unruly.

I could probably go on for a while, but that’s enough. It was a good thing that the book was really short, because I don’t think I could have gotten all the way through it otherwise. Maybe the book disappointed me because I don’t believe any part of Jesus was divine… or that there is a divine but who knows? I wouldn’t bother with reading it.

My comments on the authors notes: This part was probably the most interesting part of the book as it briefly goes over her leaving the church, coming back to the church, and her interest in making the settings for her books as historically accurate as possible (which was one part of her book that did shine). But she argues against the idea that the gospels were written about 50 years after death of Christ (around 30 CE) simply because there were no references to the destruction of the temple in any of the gospels. Well it took me about 3 seconds to find Mark chapter 13.

(1) As he was making his way out of the temple area one of his disciples said to him, “Look, teacher, what stones and what buildings!” (2) Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.”

I wonder what that’s an allusion to?

It’s raining.  Anyone want to go running?
I added a few ads on the side but they only show ads for blogs.  Is there anyway to get Gogle Adsense to show ads that people might actually want to click on?  Shakespeare got to get paid.  Or not, as I’ll probably never generate enough traffic to actually make real money on ads.  Especially if I only post about this here blog.

So, I should post about something else right?  Well I’m about to start reading an Anne Rice book about Jesus.  I’ve never read an Anne Rice book, let alone one about a possible historic figure, so I don’t know what to expect.  But from what I know of her writing, I can only assume Jesus will drink the blood of his helpless victims, while they beg for mercy. Maybe he’ll end up fighting mummies (the subtitle says Egypt in it so my guess is yes, Jesus will battle the undead. He should cast ‘Fire’ or ‘Holy’ as the undead dislike those spells).  I can’t wait.
The real ultimate shitter?

I’d recommend that everyone see Syriana.  It is pretty relevant considering the current middle east ‘crisis’.  Who here feels that our President is doing the right thing?  (Ad hoc poll.  Haven’t figured out how to setup one of those.)

Pounce!

First off, I’d like to say KP is crazy. Second off, I’d like to say that Mondays are not fun.

Third.

Heidi and I had an interesting but relaxing weekend.

• Friday, we were approved for a mortgage, went out to Kelly’s to sit outside, then watched the Redsox game/were guitar heroes at the doubleJs.
• Saturday, I volunteered* scanning photographs at one of the 20 or so member libraries left in the country while Heidi went to the beach. We went grocery shopping and then I messed around with the blog while Heidi worked her 3rd job.
• Sunday, was relaxing. We hung out in the morning then went to Portsmouth to have beers on the water and wandering around. (It is cooler by the water) This is probably where we’d end up moving so we thought we might as well get to know the place better. Then we had dinner, followed by the bookstore. I read through a few chapters of ‘Apathy and other small victories‘. I had so say I was amused by it. It was the little things, like how the author described how to sign ’shit’ (why are all online ASL dictionaries censored?) and how the main character steals saltshakers. I’ve not finished it, though I might pick it up (or just read it at the book store as it’s not at the library) but I’d recommend at least the first 3 chapters.

At some point during the weekend I read through Newsweek. Now I don’t really think of Newsweek as a hard-hitting investigative rag but I was amused by the choice of articles and their layout. The cover article was Green America, which focused on what individuals and companies were doing to help the environment (and, more importantly, save money). This was a feel good, a ‘we can do it’, an ‘ain’t the American Entrepreneurial Spirit great?’ article. This was followed by a brief article bashing the US for not having greenhouse gas regulations or offering incentives for conservations; things that would stop our dependency on foreign oil and make us safer (i.e. stop wasting money on a unwinable war and put some if, not all, of that 100+ Billion a year into developing our energy infrastructure). It was a pretty good article and not something I’d expect from a magazine that devotes 10 pages to some guy talking about classic rock. (They also sort of call Bush a hypocrite…)

*I can’t say that I’m really one for volunteering. I usually just don’t care but I think that this could be good for me, and not just to put on my resume. I really don’t know much about libraries having never really worked in one so any experience will be good, plus getting a job is all about knowing someone who knows someone. It seems pretty much impossible to get a job just by applying.