Z.Monkey’s Blog

So I was hoping that France would beat Italy today but this did not happen.  France dominated Italy it just could not find the back of the net.  Even a man down (after the headbutt) they controlled the ball and put shots on goal.  Then there was the shoot out.  Sigh.  Neither of the goalies made one save.  Can’t they play until one team drops

Now we are watching the tour highlights on CBS, but I really have not watched much cycling since Comcast decided to turn off our free cable.  A la carte cable?  Please?  Stupid monopolies.  I thought they were illegal in this country.

The website has not gotten any better this week.  And I still don’t think anyone knows that I am posting here, even though I posted here that I was.  Or maybe I just haven’t said anything entertaining.  Most people probably don’t care what I do with this site.

I just finished a book about the filling of back bay (Boston’s Back Bay: The Story of America’s Greatest Nineteenth-Century Landfill).  Interesting factoid: Storrow Dr. is named after someone whose wife fought against it being built.  The book had a lot of interesting information (see previous sentence) but I can’t say it was well written.  The authors seemed to jump from topic to topic without nice transitions, but if you are interested in the history of Boston it is a good read… and quick.  Now I will read a trash fantasy novel.  (Is Fantasy/Sci-Fi the male Romance novel?)

Speaking of bad transitions, how did you like this post?

On 60 Minutes an interview happened. With an author from the Penis state. The focus of the interview was the corruption that is prevalent throughout Florida and how that has influenced this guy’s writing. On the whole the interview was okay but I did like rational on why Hiaasen writes satire.

“From my experience, politicians are much more uncomfortable being made
fun of than they are being preached at and screeched at — you know,
and the soapbox routine,” says Hiaasen. “They’re much more uneasy
knowing they’re a target of ridicule. It really ruins their day. They
lose their breakfast over it.”

That’s why I think the Union of Concerned Scientists may be on to something with this. Nothing like encourage people to make fun of those who believe rhetoric can defeat empirical evidence.

On that Now show on PBS (Heidi mentioned it) there was also an interview with a Librarian from Connecticut who has refused to give up library records without a court order. Their gag order has been removed but a court is still debating whether they must comply. Now I understand that a the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is supposed to allow our law enforcement agencies to better react to or, better yet, halt, ‘terrorist attacks’, but at what price? If anything this Administration has shown that it needs close oversight, so why would Congress let them off so easily? I think that this guy has it right, if people stop believing in law (because, say some president acts like he is above it) than there is no law. Sigh. I am tired of the fearmongering that our politicians have been doing. I’m tired of the fact the politicians are not voting for their constituents but for the people who give them money. [Note: that’s for DMCA, the war in Iraq, the estate tax repeal, and a ban on gay marriage] Okay, the gay marriage thing may not be appropriate to put in that list but you never know how much money the Religious Right gives out so…

I should just do something and stop complaining but one can’t help but feel powerless when our one try power (the vote) seems to be tainted.

Also, I think that I will take Heidi’s advice and bugger off for one day this week. Sanity and all.

So I just finished reading Upton Sinclair’s Dragon Harvest, which, as it turns out, is just one book in a long series of 11 or 12 other books. The only inkling I had that this book was part of a series was the end when I said to myself, and possibly to Heidi, “[Expletive]ing [Expletive]. That is not an [Expletive] ending. [Expletive]” But I’ll get to that later. The book stands on its own quite well, so if you want to read it you don’t have to bother reading the first book, whatever it may be.* Anyway, to the review!

I would highly recommend this book. But not because of the main character who is very difficult for me to like. Lanny Budd is aristocratic American who spends his time buying and selling expensive pictures, and spying on the rich people who buy and sell them (for Franklin D. Rosenfeld Roosevelt). While this does end up getting some useful information, such as the date the Wehrmacht will invade France, but the whole point is to show case the attitudes of the rich and powerful (While one can never be sure if these attitudes are correct they are more than plausible, especially given the current tax cuts for the rich). Lanny is also a closet socialist. He acts like a rich person and feels guilty about it, but I don’t think he’d be able live without excessive amount of wealth. This is why I don’t really like him, but besides that…

The story is good. It gives an interesting and complex view on how the second World War started. It goes into the treaty of Versailles, the rise of the Nazis, the political interactions between England, France, Germany and the U.S., and even tries to look into the minds of the leaders of those countries. It all comes down to the idea of ‘Class over country’. All the powerful (rich) families in these countries are frightened of the Bolsheviks (and their many infestations: unions, socialist, democrats, e&c.) and are willing to do pretty much anything to stop them. Or so the story goes. The book also pokes fun at Adi Schicklgruber’s following of the occult (Lanny delays the invasion of Poland by bringing him a fake psychic) and many of the other rich and powerful.

Generally, this book is entertaining even when it is trying to be educational. I would strongly recommend this book to those of you who would like to read something informative but not dull. I may try and pick up some of the other ones in the series to see if they are all as good (I hear the first one won a Pulitzer).

*I looked around and found a little bit more about the series (or at least the Simon Publishing republication of the series). The jerk thought it’d be a good idea to split each book in twain, print them as paperback and charge $30 bucks a pop for them. So if you want to buy the set be prepared to pay $660! Or by them used… they have been in print since the 50’s (mine cost $1!).

The
Lanny Budd Series; a total of 7,340 pages, covering world events during
the 1941 - 1953 period. Often called “the greatest historical novel of
the 20th century.”

1. World’s
   End I & World’s End II (193131313X);
2. Between Two Worlds I
   (1931313024) & Between Two Worlds II (1931313148);
3. Dragon’s Teeth I
   (1931313032) & Dragon’s Teeth II (1931313156);
4. Wide is the Gate I
   (1931313044) & Wide is the Gate II (1931313164);
5. Presidential Agent I
   (1931313059) & Presidential Agent II (1931313180);
6. Dragon Harvest I
   (1931313067) & Dragon Harvest II (1931313202.);
7. A World to Win I
   (1931313075) & A World to Win II (1931313229);
8. Presidential Mission I
   (1931313083) & Presidential Mission II (1931313245);
9. One Clear Call I
   (1931313091) & One Clear Call II (1931313261);
10. O Shepherd, Speak! I
    (1931313105) & O Shepherd, Speak! II (1931313288);
11. The Return of Lanny
    Budd I (1931313113) & The Return of Lanny Budd II (193131330X).

Trying to cram 5 days of work into 2 is difficult. We moved stuff on Monday, I was at my supervising course on Tuesday, and I will be out most, if not all of Friday. Right now, I trying to make sure I get everything that ‘needs’ to get done done. But how do you prioritize? In case you didn’t know, Republicans are stupid and irresponsible. The current book I’m reading is making me sensitive towards socially biased and fiscal stupid legislation. This is what this says to me:

Rich man says, “Fuck you ‘poor’ people and fuck your children too.”

And by poor I mean those people who make less than 6 figures. Stupid poor people.

Last night was nice and relaxing (minus the laundry but I somehow got out of folding it). We sat around on the couch and read, which is something I haven’t done enough of lately, maybe because I keep trying to read books that make me fall asleep. Currently I am reading a mildly insane book about a well-equiped reincarnated (cloned?) messiah type figure with pyschic power and no memory lost in a futuristic dystopian. Very snow crash-esque. I takes amusing jabs at the Christian Crazies Right and social stereo-types, and, as a bonus, I really have no idea how it will end.

I should have spent part of last night applying for jobs. I have a list of them but reading and playing brain age completely distracted me. Crap. Maybe I should just do that now…

Sunday is the Muddy Moose. I should be painful though not as painful as last year. Look at the mud! [more photos]

Me at last year’s race. Why am I smiling?
Jared at last year’s race.

I was looking for a soccer league to play in this summer as I want to do something active but I hate actually going to the gym/working out. So I went to seacoastnh.com. One of cover articles was about tombstone art! Hehe. Why am I laughing? Anyways, if you are going to waste the space being buried you might as well put a massive memorial on top (don’t be a waste of space?). Crap nothing there. Maybe I should play rugby because, apparently, in the US soccer is a game only for children [raspberry]. At least I can play hockey.

I’m going to miss the home opener tomorrow because I get to go to a training thing. Kind of annoying but what can you do? I think that professional development trumps personal enjoyment but my boss did say ‘tell them you have an important meeting at 2pm and that you have to leave’. Hmmm.

Dan responded to my question on why he is where he is… sort of. He explained why he went over there in the first place (a bizarre fixation on Japan caused by American stereotypes and imported Japanese movies) but not why he is still there. ‘Come over here and find out’ is his response, but I am afraid there is a ‘mwaahaha, you’ll never escape my hell’ hidden in there someplace. Well, maybe not but my experience with the Japanese work mentality frightens me. Hell, what’s happened in France frightens me, though I guess it turned out alright. It allows for/justifies the exploitation of employees. If you’ve read the Jungle you probably have an idea of why that scares me. Anyway, it most be something other than work that keeps you over there.

I just started reading ‘A Room of One’s own‘. Aren’t I sensitive. Dan might be interested in reading this as it covers the topic of women’s unequal position in (British) society.

Wow. It’s 10 am. Everyone here has been in a talkive mood, including me! Bis Spater.

Or at least it is when it was taught to me in High School. It was always so dry. I had only one teacher who taught history in such a way that made it interesting and from her class come my only High School memories of American history. I remember learning about the New Deal, FDR and the TVA (include environmental impacts, both good and bad). Interestingly enough, this teacher taught the remedial history class and requested that I be placed in the advanced history class. The advanced class a struggle, not because the course work was difficult but because I was in a constant battle with the teacher. My first paper for her was returned 3 or 4 times for revisions; I finally returned a clean copy of the original paper and was given a B+. I’m still not sure what she was trying to prove. Anyways.

I did end up with a B.A. in History but not in American History. My first history class in college was a Gen. Ed. course in World History and part of what made it so interesting was the question, ‘Why’. For example, the professor, whenever we started a new section, would ask the political and physical environment the culture lived in. Fine but after we (or I. I’m not sure anyone else ever spoke up in the class) told him he’d always ask why these were important. The answer always revolved around the idea that no one lives in a bubble. People’s lives are constantly conflicting with our natural environment and other people.

I never thought of American history as being made up of conflict. This book helps explain why. To sum it up, teachers teach from textbooks most often because it easiest and textbooks are piles of trash (at least history text books). They do not have any conflict and they are blatantly euro-centric, which makes them unrealistic, boring (would you read a suspense novel with no suspense?) and offensive to people of non-European decent. They can also be seen as offensive to women, poor people and religious minorities (Catholics, Jews, Atheists, e&c.).

The book starts by poking holes in 12 major text books; exposing blatant lies, misquotations, lack of quotations, misrepresentation of facts and suppression of the minority. An example from a favorite period of my own, is the representation of Helen Keller as a hard working cripple who succeeded in overcoming her physical disabilities, here’s what I would take as an example of what a text book might have. But the author Loewen asks is what about the rest of Keller’s life? What about when she realized that the majority of blind people were poor and that most, if not all of them would never received the education and help she did? What about her political activities? Loewen goes on from there to talk about Columbus, Indian relations, the Civil War, Racial relations and how modern history is simply not taught (did you ever get to the end of a text book?).

The book ends with an attempt at figuring out why text books are so bad and how bad text books affect students. This was probably the most pertinent part of the book but I found it the least interesting. After seeing how American history is being mistaught it is easy for me to see a need to change it, but then again there have been several attempts to make the teaching of biology a farce too so maybe defending the teaching of truth is necessary. Teaching lies can only make people more distrustful which can only have a negative effect on society.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read on American history (as a great deal of it is dealt with in the book) or who is simply interested in figuring out what they missed out on because of High School.

Now I finished this book a week or so ago so this will not be as descriptive as it could be but here goes.

Reading ‘The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear’ reminded me of reading Roald Dahl’s ‘The BFG‘ (the Big Friendly Giant not the Big Fucking Gun) or at least it style did. It kind of reads like a kids book (it even has pictures!), though it has some comedy intended for adults. Time has erased all examples except for one biblical reference; one of the species of demons inhabiting Atlantis is called Gogmagogs. Odd, I know but I found it amusing. But for the most part these allusions are pretty hidden so they don’t distract from the main draw of the book, distraction. The book is insane (if you could not tell from the cover or the title… though the title is misleading. He is neither a Captain nor does he die once during the book). It is narrated by Bluebear whose narrative style does an good job of making this insanity seem almost mundane. It is natural to live in a perpetual tornado or watch a battle of wits between an intelligent element and a seven brained scientist riding partially tamed darkness. But in the end the book is not that memorable. I recommend reading it if you are in the mode for an amusing distraction and, if the rating from American Idol are correct, a lot of people are.

It’s chili time! As a reward for making it through half of today (really more than half as I need to leave by 4 to get my hair cut) I am going to write a post. I was looking into some AJAX stuff this morning and I found a link to some widgets you can put on you google personal page: http://www.google.com/ig/directory. Pretty neat though I hope that google is still working to improve the google personal experience because if they don’t people will probably switch to/start using Microsoft’s live. The user interface is a little nicer than google’s and it just seems easier to use. For another example of Microsoft’s originality check out their search. It also looks quite similar to google’s.

Things of note:

1. Finish Part II of Combray so I should do a write up soon. It didn’t captivate me like the last section, but I think I am starting to understand why the series is call, ‘In search of lost time’.
2. Started reading The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear. It is interesting… I’ll let you know more later.
3. Playing hockey tonight (woo!)
4. Watched West Side Story last night. As Heidi pointed out, it is sad that the same themes are prevalent in the best picture of 1961 and 2006. Some things will never change it seems.

As I have stuff to get done (God do I hate coming here). First off it looks like I dodged a bullet: College Students’ Financial Burden Is About to Get Worse. I would like to take the time to thank my parents for limiting my college debt. Hopefully, you will be able to retire.

I found a book that I think might be interesting… If I read it I’ll let you know.

A link with some interesting information on the cost of power.

Tomorrow I have another supervising class, so expect another post tomorrow night or Wednesday morning.