Wednesday, November 30, 2005
WEB: The web browser Firefox has just released its new version, 1.5 and I strongly suggest at least trying it out. If you're using Internet Explorer (the default in Windows) or older version of Netscape, Firefox is head-and-shoulders above those. It has protections for spyware that IE doesn't have. It blocks popup advertisement windows. It has tabbed windows (a new browser feature you won't want to live without once you've used it). It's faster. It's just plain better. Check it out! It will import any settings, bookmarks, etc., that you have in Internet Explorer as well. If you're using something like Netscape that has email built in, you'll want to download Thunderbird as well. It's a great replacement for email clients like Outlook Express or even Outlook.
I've got a button to the left over there that you can use to get the new version of Firefox with Google's ultracool toolbar.
(The Firefox website is a little slow right now with tons of people downloading the new version so if it's slow try it again later).
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
NARNIA: I just reread The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for probably the 5th time in preperation for seeing the movie and I was really debating finishing out the series instead of reading The Singularity Is Near. In the end, the fact that TSIN is 500+ pages and was borrowed from the library won out. The Narnia books were the first books I remembering becoming actually emotionally invested in. I imagine they are for me what the Harry Potter books will be for a ton of kids.
I bought the series for my cousins a couple of Christmas's back and ran across something I gather has become a sticking point among Narnia fans, the order of the books in the series. For some asinine reason more modern editions of the set put the books in chronological order rather than how they were originally written (ok, the reason seems to be that C.S. Lewis expressed a mild preference for the new order but it's still asinine for reasons I'll get to). One of my favorite surprises in the books is later in the series where you find out why one of the most iconic images of the series, the lampost in the woods, came to be. Reading the books in chronological order completely ruins that surprise, as well as the other ones that are very important to the series. The Lion... is clearly the introductory book to the series, showing Narnia for the first time to the Pevensie children and to the reader. It introduces Aslan, the most important character to the whole series. The new "first" book, The Magician's Nephew, is supposed to be a flashback and only works when you know about Aslan and care about the world of Narnia.
I could go on about it endlessly but if you've become interested in Narnia because of the movie (which is of course The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe) I would very strenuously suggest you read them in their proper publication order of:
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
- Prince Caspian(1951)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- The Magicians Nephew(1955)
- The Last Battle (1956)
You will enjoy the books much, much more this way. Here are a couple of good links on the two orders: http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/narnia.htm, and http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-3205.html.
Monday, November 28, 2005
IRAQ: This is a very sad article in the LA Times about the suicide of a true man of honor in Iraq. Col. Ted Westhusing was an expert on the concept of honor as a warrior. He was sent to Iraq to help a private company (USIS) train Iraqi soldiers. He discovered evidence of massive profit-motivated corruption, including private contractors killing Iraqi civilians and covering up their deaths so it didn't affect the contract with the military. In the end it appears he couldn't live with being "tainted" by the corruption and coverups and took his own life. As a devout Christian, I'm sure that act weighed more heavily on his conscience than on most people's.
This is truly horrible. This isn't the first US soldier to kill themselves (something you don't see on the news), nor will it be the last. But we are losing good people to this idiotic campaign every day. If they aren't lost in death, they're lost mentally. Our soldiers are starting to think of the Iraqi people in general as their enemy. The people they're supposed to be there to help, for pete's sake. They're being drafted into corrupt arrangements with private contractors whose sole motive is cash. They're losing limbs, eyes, their health. All for what? Nothing.
This man's blood is on the hands of USIS management, their military co-conspirators, and ultimately (even though he refuses to take responsibility for anything) on the President's hands. I can only hope the next elections show everyone involved in this war that they cannot escape judgement from the American people.
tags: grommes, war, iraq, corruption
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
BOOKS: I'm on track to actually meet my goal of reading 50 books this year. Whoohoo! I'm in the middle of #48 (The Only Sustainable Edge) and I want to reread The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe before I see the movie so that will be #49. I was wondering what big #50 would be but I was just informed by my library's awesome email system that my request for The Singularity Is Near has just been fulfilled so that worked out nicely. Finishing the year with a look into the future with Ray Kurzweil, possibly the most technologically optimistic person on the planet, will be a great way to start 06.
Last year I think I made it to #46 or so but was unable to meet the big goal. I was also reading a lot more comics last year than this year, a big part of the reason I was able to finish more books. I've also been neglecting a growing stack of magazines (2 unopened issues of Wired are sitting at the foot of my office chair) but that's okay. I'll run through those during the holidays, after #50.
It really helps to have a good goal like this. Even if your goal is 5 or 10 books in the year and not 50, make a goal and keep to it. Then if you meet your goal, up it. It doesn't really matter what you're reading. Not everything you read has to be Don Quixote. Just make a commitment and read a little constantly. I read all the time; during lunch at work, when Allison is watching her cartoons before bed, in the bathroom. A little every day or even a chunk a week is all. In the end you'll have expanded your mind, met a goal most people never attempt, and at the very least gotten some good entertainment out of the deal. If you have questions about any of the books on my list (to the left) feel free to email me.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
TSHIRTS: If you know me, you'll know that I love tshirts. Here's one from Threadless that I just had to have. Plus, it's on sale. $10!
It's timely, nerdy, and somewhat obscure. Can't get any better than that.
Here's one I just bought the other day and is my favorite shirt at the moment.
I like it because it works as just a funny image and you can also see it as a look at Darth Vader's home life.
And here's one I wish I could buy but Kim would probably change the locks if I wore it around the kids. The best part is the name "Stabby McKnife".
tags: grommes, tshirts, threadless
Monday, November 21, 2005
BELIEF: This is an excellent essay by Penn Jilette, of Penn & Teller fame. It's about how it's easier and better to live life by believing there is no God. Even if you don't think that, read it and see what he has to say.
Friday, November 18, 2005
SITE: You might be surprised to see some Google ads on the right side of the page. I've done this basically as a test for a new thing I'm doing. I don't know if I'll keep it up for any length of time, I just wanted to try the system out.
tags: grommes, ads, advertising
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
EBAY: Well, at least somebody is listening to me: Ebay drops charges for developer network.
ps. Yeah, right. If any of the 3 people who read my website had anything to do with this decision I'll dance a jig. Good on them though, this is a step in the right direction. I'll have to see how I can mix some ebay services into my new web project.
tags: grommes, ebay, web services
BUILDING:
It's amazing what you can do with a hammer, a circular saw, and a metric butt-load of nails.
I built this shed over a few weekends using plans from the ultracool WikiHow. I'm finally going to be able to clean out my garage enough to get some work done in there.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
IDIOT AMERICA: This is an excellent article on something that has been weighing on me recently, especially in reading the new book "The Republican War of Science." One of the most insidious threats to our country is the Republican desire to discredit science and learning. It's been going on for a long time but the Bush administration and the increasingly powerful Religious Right have really put their shoulder to the wheel recently. I've been reading about the fights over creationism but not commenting because franly it just pisses me off too much. The idea that any idea is worth discussing or teaching to children, which is at the heart of this essay, is just plain stupid.
Science is not a democracy, everybody doesn't get to vote. Some things are correct, and some are not. Period. We must fight against teaching children that truth and fact are always in doubt. This is the goal of the Right-wing attacks on science, make no mistake. They want to make sure nobody takes any idea as unassailable fact because that fact might hurt the pocketbook of industry or be incompatible with some voting block's ideals. It's much more than just teaching that evolution is "just a theory" (leaving aside the fact that this just exposes complete ignorance of the definition of theory), it's about making sure nobody really believes that polluting industries should be responsible for the damage they cause. It's about making sure the government is paralyzed in protecting citizens because nobody can say definitively that something will be bad. Whenever somebody says that loosening standards is for your own good or for the good of your children, be on guard. You can be sure that no matter how inocuous it may seem, any time someone wants to redefine a word here or "expose children to more than one side of an argument" there, the purpose is to weaken their belief in science and make them more suseptible to the suggestion that nobody is an expert at anything and nothing is a real fact. Fight it whenever and whereever it pops up.
tags: grommes, science, evolution, right-wing