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links for 2011-01-28
Posted on January 29, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:"Protesters have a large number of economic, political, and human-rights grievances. Widespread youth unemployment, rigged parliamentary elections in November 2010, and the prospect of President Mubarak (in power since 1981) beginning another term–or being replaced by his son–are the sparks that set these demonstrations off. The demonstrators are asking for Mubarak to step down and make way for an interim government to prepare for free elections.
// Unemployment is the driver of unrest.
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// Had Rush made fun of the French, or Germans, would it still be racist?
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// I quit blogging years ago. Nobody noticed.
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links for 2011-01-26
Posted on January 27, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:"A nationwide crisis had developed in Russia affecting social, economic, and political relations. Disorder in industry and transport had intensified, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased. Gross industrial production in 1917 had decreased by over 36 percent from what it had been in 1916. In the autumn, as much as 50 percent of all enterprises were closed down in the Urals, the Donbas, and other industrial centers, leading to mass unemployment. At the same time, the cost of living increased sharply. The real wages of the workers fell about 50 percent from what they had been in 1913. Russia's national debt in October 1917 had risen to 50 billion rubles. Of this, debts to foreign governments constituted more than 11 billion rubles. The country faced the threat of financial bankruptcy.[1]
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From the Notebook
Posted on January 26, 2011 by Marty Andrade
Cover of The Zero Game
-About 30,000 Romans died in riots over the 121 and 113 B.C. elections. Seven Black Republicans were murdered in Alabama in 1874. Or Ocoee Florida in 1920 where fifty Blacks were killed in a KKK driven pogrom. These are three examples among a tragic history of political violence the world has lived with for thousands of years. Versus today in America where one crazy anti-Semite obsessed with grammar (more than clearly mentally disturbed) committed an horrendous act of violence. While I’d like society to do a better job getting help to the crazies, I don’t see a meaningful correlation between our current political rhetoric and societal violence. It’s likely Loughner would have found anything to become obsessed and violent about.
-Anyone hanging around the U of M campus can pick up a copy of the Minnesota Republic. They’re publishing a serialized short story of mine taken from my novel. The novel should be available this summer. The short story is only available from the MNRepublic, they have a website but it hasn’t been updated in a year.
- Saw True Grit. It was not as good as people were saying. The dialogue was forced, the accents were mostly laughable, at times just mumbling somehow passed for “olde west speak” and there was a humorous scene with CGI rattlesnakes that took me right out of the movie. Sometimes it was pleasant, or at least not annoying. Initially I didn’t hate it, but now that I’ve had some time to think it over, I don’t really like the movie at all.
Books Read:
-Confucius’ Analects. Confucius suffers from a popular illiteracy in the United States. Many people like to say they have read, or are aware, of Confucius. But those that do are never really that familiar with the actual teachings. A lot like Buddhism. Confucius’ philosophy, as it appears in The Analects, is very subtle. Anyone not familiar with Taoism (particularly the concepts of te and Tao) will simply not “get” much of Confucius. However, The Analects is very approachable to novice readers, especially if you get an edition with plenty of footnotes and explanatory extras.
-Bill Buckley’s “Saving the Queen“. This is Buckley’s first Blackford Oakes spy novel. These novels provide an interesting look into the world of espionage that Buckley himself briefly participated after his graduation from Yale. It’s not the world of Mitch Rapp or 007. But it’s surprisingly close. As a novel it is superb, Buckley’s expertise in language, particularly his effortless vocabulary, is something to behold. I’ll be reading through all the Oakes spy novels in due time.
-Brad Meltzer‘s The Zero Game. I hated, passionately, the first 70 or so pages, and almost threw this book away. I kept it in the sauna, reading it occasionally. Finally, somewhere near page 350, the book picked up enough to live up to the “thriller” label. I like the book more for its depiction of the nation’s Capitol Building than anything else. Whether I’ll read another Meltzer book? I just don’t know.
-Judith (Bible:NLT). Judith, a beautiful widow, stops an invading army by out-partying then chopping the head off of an Assyrian general. Possibly the first historical novel. Included in the Catholic canon. I really like the book.
-The Wit and Wisdom of Poor Richard’s Almanack (Ben Franklin). Dover Thrift, too thin to call it a book but I don’t care. Lots of good stuff in it.
Related Articles
- Busy Brad Meltzer dives into the mysteries of history (pbpulse.com)
- Confucius Rises Again in China (newser.com)
- Brad Meltzer’s 7 Favorite Conspiracy Movies (splashpage.mtv.com)
Filed under: Books, From the Notebook, Movies, Personal, Reviews | Tagged: Blackford Oakes, Brad Meltzer, Confucianism, Confucius, Zero Game | 2 Comments »
links for 2011-01-25
Posted on January 26, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:"The fundamental problem with a career in law is that you aren’t doing anything of value for society. You are rubber-stamping the real work that other people are doing, at best. More likely, you are sucking wealth from society and throwing sand in the gears of our needlessly complex legislative and criminal justice systems. The western world would function much better with about 90% fewer lawyers than it currently supports.
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Quote:"Even a cursory glance at medical journals shows that once heralded studies keep falling by the wayside. Two 1993 studies concluded that vitamin E prevents cardiovascular disease; that claim was overturned by more rigorous experiments, in 1996 and 2000. A 1996 study concluding that estrogen therapy reduces older women’s risk of Alzheimer’s was overturned in 2004. Numerous studies concluding that popular antidepressants work by altering brain chemistry have now been contradicted (the drugs help with mild and moderate depression, when they work at all, through a placebo effect), as has research claiming that early cancer detection (through, say, PSA tests) invariably saves lives. The list goes on.
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links for 2011-01-24
Posted on January 25, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:""Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence, or excessive exposure to the virtual world," he said.
"In the search for sharing, for 'friends', there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself."
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links for 2011-01-23
Posted on January 24, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:"It seems Glenn Back, by accurately quoting Francis Fox Piven, has gored the Ruling Class ox again. Professor Piven wrote, and The Nation published, an article calling for violent, angry protest. . . . Beck and The Blaze have publicized the piece . . . The reaction in the Times? Why obviously, to accuse Beck of fomenting threats against Piven
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links for 2011-01-21
Posted on January 22, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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Quote:"So do yourselves a favor. Instead of going with a has-been, just go here and order yourself some damn fine cigars. You want the-
Cusano
M-1
TORPEDO CUT// So noted.
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// College might have a positive ROI, if its free.
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Quote:"Why believe that there is a God at all? My answer is that to suppose that there is a God explains why there is a world at all; why there are the scientific laws there are; why animals and then human beings have evolved; why humans have the opportunity to mould their characters and those of their fellow humans for good or ill and to change the environment in which we live; why we have the well-authenticated account of Christ's life, death and resurrection; why throughout the centuries men have had the apparent experience of being in touch with and guided by God; and so much else. In fact, the hypothesis of the existence of God makes sense of the whole of our experience, and it does so better than any other explanation which can be put forward, and that is the grounds for believing it to be true. This paper seeks to justify this answer; it presents in summary arguments given in more detailed form in my book The Existence of God,[1] and rebut criticisms
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links for 2011-01-18
Posted on January 19, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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// It'd be easier and safer just to legalize real drugs.
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Quote:" President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered a government-wide review of regulations, both old and new, in a broad push to curtail rules that retard job creation and economic growth.
In a move to improve his relations with the business community, Obama ordered government agencies to consider the costs of regulations, maximize public input in their development, ensure they are underpinned by science, and consider their impact on small businesses.
// Yea! Hope springs eternal.
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// Once new a guy who constantly talked about "thinking outside the box"
Still have no idea what he meant by that.
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Quote:"Gen Y housing preferences are the subject of at least two panels at this week's convention. A key finding: They want to walk everywhere. Surveys show that 13% carpool to work, while 7% walk, said Melina Duggal, a principal with Orlando-based real estate adviser RCLCO. A whopping 88% want to be in an urban setting, but since cities themselves can be so expensive, places with shopping, dining and transit such as Bethesda and Arlington in the Washington suburbs will do just fine.
// Gen Y is downsizing, for whatever reason. The biggest reason I think, though it is not spelled out, is because of the economy and student loan debt.
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// These stories have been pretty common over the last couple of years. There's this expectation that businesses are just on the verge of exploding into an economic expansion. But it never materializes.
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// Article says NHS is widely criticised but much loved in the UK. All the opinions in the world don't change the numbers. Survival rates of major cancers like prostrate, colon, breast and lung cancer are higher in the US than in the UK or Canada.
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Quote:"Apparently studies carried out in the UK and the US, it has been reported that good looking people have a 14-point higher IQ to the average. According to the scientists involved in the research, the new findings will help in busting the former myths of people with beauty are not usually blessed with brains.
// Just remember, they're talking about means. Individual differences will always trump anything else.
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links for 2011-01-17
Posted on January 18, 2011 by Marty Andrade
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