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Late Summer Reading

I am plodding through the second volume of Theodore Roosevelt’s biography. About 350 pages in and have hit the wall. It is well written, but after about 950 pages of President Roosevelt, I need some relief. I started picking through David Foster Wallace‘s book of essay “A Supposedly Fun Thing I Will Never Do Again”, as well as beginning a re-read of “A Fan’s Notes”, just the thing to start football season. I have a ton of books in the to be read pile, and a few posted here that I want to get to. I think this fall, I will be some settling down with some good book reading time.
But what is good reading. My sister can read crime genre novels with relative ease but, with my degree in English literature, I get guilty pangs if I am only reading about the latest exploits of Patterson’s Alex Delaware of the latest Grisham. And it isn’t wrong to be lost and free inside a procedural crime book. There is a familiarity there and a sense of safety knowing the bad guy will get caught in the end – – And, but so, why can I no longer concentrate on a book much these days?
I am a veracious reader and have logged in about 20 books this year so far. Hardly a world record, but I used to read so much more. Some of it is this pesky internet. I am drawn to the blogshere and the journalistic websphere and I read the web, really read the web every day. That counts, I am sure but it isn’t the same.
Harper’s is to blame too. Oh, sure, it seems simple enough. How tough can such a thin little magazine like that be. And then blamo, bam, bam, you are stuck trying to get your head around a review by John Leonard and you head starts hurting as he throws even more at you to think about comparing Delilo to a great hamburger or casting high praise to Vonnegut and to Latin American television in the same graph.
I am often left staring vaguely into space.

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And Now For Some Fun

Politics, Schmawlaticks. It is time for some world class time wasters from Catch.com. A list of tons of web-based browser games. Use the previous and next links to find all of the games submitted to Catch. It’s the weekend.

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Got Milk? I think I’ll pass

I read this month’s ago in Harper’s and finally found it online to share with you all. (Harper’s isn’t online, officially) Take a moment, or a weekend to read these thoughts on Bovine Growth Hormone and America’s dairy industry. Honestly, it gives me pause about buying regular milk at the grocery store again. Maybe my next book to read will be Fast Food Nation. Then I guess you will be able to find me with my head buried in the sand and unable to leave the house.

Friday Fives

Friday Fives

1. What is your favorite song to put on a mix tape?
Anything by Journey ! No, but seriously. A mix tape should have a little bit of everything and show your personality and humor. Which is why I love to toss on Louden Wainwright III’s Dead Skunk. A gem.

2. What was your first rock concert?
The Who, 1982, Folsum Field, Denver – Face Dances tour. Their first tour/album after the death of Keith Moon and the crowd was on edge, not really knowing what to expect. The opening act was a new pop singer with a top 40 hit about a little ditty about Jack and Diane. The crowd was not in the mood and booed the then-relatively-unknown John Cougar off the stage. This is funny looking back because a lot of those Who fans probably are John Mellancamp fans today. The booing was more because of impatience. There seemed to be a hubbub in the crowd that if we get the opening act off the stage, the Who will play longer. But it was not to be. The next act was Jethro Tull. And The Who were not about to take the stage until their contracted time. So the crowd was given an extended set of Tull. What I am about to say next is probably sacrilege, but I am not a big Jethro Tull fan, and certainly wouldn’t have volunteered for an hour long (perhaps longer – the beer fog dims some memories) set. But it was worth it once Ian “Oh look, I play the flute on one leg like a pirate” Anderson left the stage I was allowed to see one the loudest, high energy shows I have ever seen. The Who were great showmen. Only two remain and we will never get to see this act again.

3. How old were you when you lost your virginity?
15? It was on a summer band trip to Portland and it was with a cute girl, also on a summer band trip, from Snohomish, Washington. It was a miserable time, we were horny, hurried and neither of us knew what we were doing. Losing one’s virginity is like that – do it, get it out of the way, remove it from your mind and learn from the many mistakes. I think girls are much better at deflowering guys than guys are at deflowering girls. Where would the world be without the sage guidance of a woman.

4. Tell me about your first car
Ah, I liked this car. It was a hand me down from my parents. A 1968 Ford Custom 500. I never got the full back story, but I think it used to be a cop car. Blue and White, three on the tree manual transmission. Four doors. It could seat a family of 25 comfortably and it had some juice in its engine. It was rear wheel drive and when it snowed (as it does in Western Colorado mountain towns) this car got stuck a lot. And it could cut donuts in parking lot at the drop of a dime. I think my parents sold it to my cousin – never to be seen again. Her name was Nannette.

5. If you could be anyone alive for a day, who would it be?
Henry Adams. I almost went with his peer and rival Teddy Roosevelt, but Adams saw more of the world and life. As John Quincy Adams’ grandson, he was connected in all the major circles at the turn of the century and as a writer/historian, he was able to participate in the birth and formation of the American century. Read his autobiography sometime – an amazing mind.

via Kevin's suggestions

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Back To Nextel? Who knows

I had a job interview today. At Nextel. The job is in the Fraud and Risk Management department. I interviewed for a Fraud Analyst II position and I think the interview went pretty well. There should be a decision in a week or so after all eight candidates are interviewed.
Wish me luck.

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Who Is Henry Raddick?

Over at Amazon.com you can read reviews from other customers. We all know that. That is part of its charm. But Henry Raddick has taken it a step further. He has added a bit of a narrative thread through all of his reviews. He is obviously making this stuff up and takes time to review products that very few have before him, thus avoiding the Amazon bullshit detector from going off. But reading his reviews is highly entertaining and he creates his own little imaginary world of characters, catharsis and crisis through his 250+ revews.
And more along the same vein:

Dipper Lips
Hoppy Doppelrocket

(I think I emailed this link out in the past, but it needs to be recorded for posterity.)

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“It’s a Zen Thing,
like how many babies fit in a tire”

I watched Waiting for Guffman last night after work. Jezus! Christopher Guest is funny. I think a collection of his great works is in order in DVD.

This Is Spinal Tap – a blueprint for improv comedy
The Big Picture – Martin Short’s scene as the agent is worth the admission alone
The Princess Bride Reiner does Mel Brooks. A great cast.
Waiting for Guffman – Corky is a national treasure.
Best of Show – Eugene Levy never got respect on Second City. This is some of his best work.
A Mighty Wind – Peter Paul and Mary meet Spinal Tap.

And somewhere, I am sure, there is a collection of his work from Saturday Night Live. His stuff with Billy Crystal was classic, classic stuff.
I really could just go totally nerd with this stuff, buying the scripts and memorizing them. Someone stop me now.

Friday Fives

Friday Fives

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
Counting work, about 12 hours. Not counting work, I am online all the time, although not always in front of the screen, so at least 3 hours a day. Weekends, much longer.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
My blog, Salon, and the last page I was on when I shutdown. (I have three loaded on start up.)

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
Trillian = one stop shopping.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
On earthlink.net, but it is gone now.

5. How long have you had your current website?
Since February.

via Fridayfive.org

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Science’s Boy Wonder

I used to check out this one particular library book out of the library all the time. It was an old 1960s era book on home science projects. Full of pictures, demonstrations and recipes of for the blossoming boy scientist, I can still remember nearly ruining mom’s kitchen a time or two, as well as getting in trouble from my dad for misappropriating a tool or something from the garage, all in the interest of science. And I laugh now when I look back and how I loved all these science projects, yet hated the school’s science fair. Funny really. I was more a purist. Science for Science’s sake, not some “Publish or Perish” fifth grader caught up in all the grammar school politics.
Which leads me to this gem. I discovered while perusing SciTechDaily. Bizarre Stuff features a look back on home science projects.
So, while you are planning your weekend, take a moment to dedicate some time to the pursuit of knowledge.

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Take A Moment To Update

If you regularly update your Windows system and antivirus systems and run even a rudimentary personal firewall on your system, you are probably safe from this week’s computer hacker threat, a Worm that takes hold of many systems through open ports in your system. This worm seems to have moved fast and furiously through out the world starting early Monday.

Several things can easily be done to prevent it. Take a moment, will ya:

Symnatec/Norton fixes
A nice piece from ZDNEt on the issue and the fixes.
Norton Worm.blaster removal tool is an .exe file that will search and fix your system if you are already effected.
The Microsoft patch from July to prevent this in the first place. Had corporate and home users simply updated their virus software regularly and downloaded and installed the Microsoft Critical Security update from July 17, this wouldn’t have been that big of issue.

Or my favorite of the day. A wiley eBay seller will sell you a disk for $5.00 to do all of the above. The auction ends in a week. The disk will be mailed then. So if all else fails, in about two to three weeks, you can have a disk that does the above in just a few minutes. Ahhhh, capitalism.