Phew. You can’t find a better title than this. And, to think, it’s a serious tract on attempting to define just what bullshit really is. I mean, can you imagine sitting in a class at Princeton, waiting for the prof, and he shows up and opens with, “Today, class will be about bullshit.” Most memorable experience, I bet.

And the beauty of this tract is that, in essence, it is absolute bullshit. I mean, on one level, trying to justify the bullshit is the job of the bullshitter. That’s what he does: when someone calls him on his shit, he either backs it up with more bullshit or weasels his way out of it (are the two options that different?). Making it academic doesn’t make it any less bullshit. Ah, the bittersweet irony. I love it.

Finished: 4/26/0
Pages: 67
Running page count: 5,992

Another random sale book I got online. This one was quite entertaining. It is a British book about British life written by a very dry and wry British author. Jerome details a trip down the Thames that three friends take over a few days. Perhaps details isn’t the right word – the narrator, J., rarely stays focused on the moment. In fact, the present only serves as a flashback-inducer for J. Most of the book is fragementary memory – where was I?

The beauty of this is that I read it in London, and actually passed by a few of the places mentioned in the book (see, tourists can make real connections through fiction).

Finished: 4/26/08
Pages: 197
Running Page Count: 5,925

Amy found this book at the library, read it, loved it, and handed it to me. I read it, loved it, and entirely recommend it.

Bageant discusses working class America with such heartfelt honesty – having grown up there himself he pulls no punches – and his words are real. Real to the point of terrifying me. How do we continue to let the rulers that be be rulers? Who else out there feels that the system ain’t working? Who knows how to fix it?

Read this book – it illuminates those that live in the American Shadow.

“We live in an age of corporate dominion just as we once lived in an age of domination by royal families, kings, and warlords. From inside the hologram there is no history, no memory, no way to equate the tribute rendered to the credit card companies, the insurance companies, the IRS, the power cartels, and the home mortgage banks with the kind of debt bondage they actually represent. Yet we must pay such tribute to be allowed to survive in our society, even if that tribute is a trailer at usury rates or allowing a credit card company access to our medical insurance payment history. We must trade liberty and privacy in increments for comfort and perceived security. That has been the Devil’s bargain from the beginning. If middle-class Americans do not feel threatened by the slow encroachment of the police state or the Patriot Act, it is because they live comfortably enough and exercise their liberties very lightly, never testing the boundaries. You never know you are in prison unless you try the door.” (263)

Finished: 4/26/08
Pages: 273
Running page count: 5,728

This may be one of Eddie’s better songs. It is simple. No More War. Now, if only they (that ambiguous body of policy makers) would listen to us (the new “silent” majority).  We need to listen up people, and hold those leaders who break laws to the laws they break. A war criminal is a war criminal, even if he’s our own.

I found this clip on Babble.

code is poetry
what’s the secret entry
word is code
for what

press that word
push it to the limit
does it mean
what it means

poetry is code
old rhymes staid rhythms
replaced by back end data
bases

no code is poe
try nevermore

poetry is code
for the human
heart and existence

coder is poet
the thing of beauty
does not equate
program me not
to accept this

poetry is code
for you
and me
love and life

what’s the pass
word to open
closed doors

code it is not
poem it is
love and life
heart and existence

Blind eyes (and fat wallets)
Spectacles of star-spangled madness.
I pledge allegiance to the highest bidder (does it please you) the grimiest slimiest tycoon who pays my way, kills my bills, spills thrills over the GOD-loving world.

Blind eyes (and fat wallets)
Loan loan loan 100% financed no job needed
Sub-prime what?
We will take your bills and give you plastic.
We will take your life and turn it drastic spastic.

Blind eyes (and fat wallets)
The bulge in the rear pocket grows
Faint rectangular outlines sharpen
Pending implosion explosion
Depends? (they might clean your mess better than the rest)

For one of the most disturbing numbers I have come across regarding the Iraq War….when will the “powers” that be realize that their blind eyes and fat wallets are going to drive us all down? What is it about human greed – is it just a basic need? This piece makes me feel crappy about this country’s policies and the direction [down] that it is following.

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This is an important book. I won’t say it changed my world, but it did change some thoughts. You need to read it.

This is my first introduction to Richard Dawkins,  so I didn’t know what to expect. And, at the beginning, I was a bit confounded: I got the sense this would be a religion-bashing tract, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. That, and it was incredibly dense. I almost stopped.

Maybe it’s my stubbornness, or my need to finish every book I start (the only one I can remember not finishing was The Theory of the Leisure Class, by Thorstein Veblen. That was undergrad, and voluntary reading, so cut me some slack).  And I’m glad I did.

Dawkins’ ideas are fresh and refreshing. He has a way of discussing thing, “big” things, in a rational way. I found many of my confusions about religions tackled in this book. (Confusions as to how so many people accept on “blind faith” being one of them – have you seen Jesus Camp yet? – this power-in-numbers, God-elected-me president, if-you’re-not-like-us-you-should-die, “new” American ideal is horrifying.)

In the end,  I would say that Dawkins does not condone belief in God. He is an avowed atheist, but I do not think he would try to “un-convert” someone from his/her chosen faith. I do believe he would ask him/her to question his/her belief.

Of course, questionning and looking for evidence goes against Faith, by definition. Oh well. Read it.

As a side note, I found an interesting piece in the NY Times recently about Dawkins and a colleague having trouble getting into a theater showing a creationist documentary they were being quoted in.  What is Ben Stein thinking?

Finished: 3/30/08
Pages: 374 (not including notes and appendices)
Running Page Count: 5,455

Well, following up on my previous post, I tried to email Nikon my GPS idea, but I can’t get in to the damn email system. It seems that you cannot email a service request without logging in. Problem is, the site recognizes my email, but won’t let me log in or email my password. So, rather than waste more vacation time (it’s good to be a teacher), I’ll just post my email here (for posterity?) and try again later (that way, I won’t lose it…):


This is not actually a tech question, but a request for new features - I just couldn't find the appropriate spot.

How about putting GPS into cameras and recording date/time/place in the metadata. Think about it: sites like Flickr allow you to post photos on a map - having GPS info would do that automatically.

Take the Twitter idea even further: although you may not be able to upload directly from a camera in real-time, you would be able to upload a photostrip of your day's shoot. Or, even bigger, a photostrip of your life. This can be uploaded and we get a continuous visual interpretation of what our world looks like, from the individuals living in it (and capturing it, with Nikon products, of course).

I am not looking for any compensation, just for someone with the know-how (you) to make it, so someone with a credit card (me) can buy it. (Of course, if you wanted to send one to me as a tester, I wouldn't complain.)
Thanks,

Crazy and busy. That about says it. But how about a random invention idea (and if you invent it, send me one as “compensation”): GPS on cameras.

Think about it – you and your friend are trolling around town, snapping pictures and catalouging your trip. You both go home, upload to, say, Flickr, and viola! your pictures are automatically synced to the map. Furthermore, you could make a group slideshow, and they would automatically align by time, giving you (all) a step-by-step re-vision of your journey.

And what if others were taking pictures at the same time? Think of it as a Twitter (with date-time stamped meta data – Yappd.com, anyone? Haven’t seen it myself) for cameras. Theoretically, we could create a virtual visual timeline of life around the world (assuming fast enough processors and big enough hard drives).

I can dream, can’t I?

Now, if only Apple would listen to me and create that tablet-sized iPhone (they could call it the iTab).

I can dream, can’t I?