Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving



This is the shortest post I have made to date. I liked the picture, so I thought I'd share it. It's from the State of Virgina Wildlife Management page. However I found the Wisconsin DNR site a little more pertinent to most of my 3 or so regular readers, and a better overall website to link. Enjoy your Holiday!

Sunday, November 20, 2005

State of Fear

There is a new book out by Michael Crichton called "State of Fear" which has been mentioned to me by a couple friends. I thought it might be worth checking out, and since at the moment I have a bit of the flu and am more or less "home-bound", I felt it would be a good day to go to the local Barnes and Noble and "pre-read" it. What I mean by "pre-read" is, basically, read all the S&R parts (suspenseful and racy) and if I liked it, buy the book. Otherwise I could just put it back on the shelf and go home.

Incidentally, I used to do this in libraries often when I was in early teenage years. I would find the "thriller" section (including Stephen King novels) and read just the "sex" parts and also the "scary" parts. I might actually read the entire novel in some cases. I think I developed some bad habits. I have since quit reading the sex scenes in novels, though at the time it was educational.

Anyways, today I was more interested in what Chrichton had to say about the environmental movement (he says they're misguided), whether he would really frame them as the villains (he does) and whether he would really argue, at least within the framework of this story, that global warming is not a real phenomenon as most scientists accept it is (he does argue this).

Crichton's book does contain what I would consider his "trademark" style of detailed scientific evidence which backs up a certain theory or claim being put forth by a character in the book. In this case, the protagonists seeks to debunk a popular theory (global warming being caused by human activity) and stop the "mad scientist" radical environmentalists. Meanwhile, some "good" scientists analyse weather data to find that in fact "global warming" is not truly "global" but is in fact "local" - a phenomenon, according to the book, of strong localized increase in average temperatures due to concentrated energy use and deforestation in urban areas.

I think it's admirable to take what we hear in the press with a grain of salt, and Crichton with this book encourages us to do so (In the back of the book, he actually says this). However, in this day and age, with this fossil-fuel worshipping administration, with the wars it has led us into (if you don't think the fact we're in Iraq has to do with oil, then you shouldn't be reading this blog), with the hurricane season we just had, and with all the signs pointing to a real warming trend - why would anyone want to say humans aren't the cause of the problem? Or put another way: why would anyone not want to play it safe and say, ok, I guess warming weather is a problem, so what can we do to prevent it from happening?

I believe Crichton wrote this book because it's a popular idea in certain circles that environmentalists are pushing an "agenda" and the media are sympathetic to it and blowing it out of proportion. I also think he's a gifted scientific researcher / writer who can run with such an idea. However, I am offended at the same time that he would "use" the environmental movement in this way to set up an techno-action thriller so he can sell more copies of his book. In the end, I think it's all about money and sales to him and so he does not in my opinion differentiate himself from right-wing talk show hosts who will say anything to make a buck on the airwaves.

Needless to say, I did not buy this book and don't recommend it to anyone except to read an interesting anti-theory. You can do that in the store or, if you reserve it early, at your local library. In the meantime, keep recycling, don't drive when you don't need to and tell your representative in Washington it's time to get Americans to save gas.

If you want to read good fiction this holiday season, I instead recommend reading something from John Grisham. "The Brethren" and "The Partner" are a couple of my favorites. Grisham does a better job developing his characters and interweaving the plots (towards the end of the book everything kind of "comes together"). He also has a new book called "The Broker", which I would be reading right now if it wasn't for the fact I made personal committment to myself to read Dosteyevsky's "The Idiot" this year.

p.s. I did not drive to Barnes and Noble for this excercise, because I combined it with another errand.

p.s.s. if you want to read a more positive review of "State of Fear", check out what Charley Reese has to say.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Trip down South

I feel the need to add some content to the site. Thanks to those of you who visited since 2 weeks ago and have given me positive or, in some cases, mirthful comments regarding my fall posting.

First off, I am happy to say that the house-warming party at my new place Nov. 5th was a success. There were 12 guests in my apartment and I do believe that is a personal record for me! This was not a big party nor a "wild" one by anyone's standards. I think the wildest thing we did was bake and eat a quiche with blue cheese, pepper jack and mushrooms instead of the called-for provolone. Yes it was perfectly boring! I was happy just that the people stayed, ate my food, and seemed to enjoy themselves. The point was made at one point that it was a "mellow" party. Well I've had parties where friends got drunk and got on my nerves ... SO... I think I will take the "mellow" label anytime. And no, I'm not talking about any of the readers of this blog being my drunk annoying friends. Back in Milwaukee, I don't think any of us cared if we were drunk.

Did you see "Ghostbusters"? Remember the party Rick Moranis had in his apartment? It was the scene when Bill Murray came over to tell the party that the building was haunted. Moranis, who plays a nerdy accountant who wants to date the sexy Sigourney Weaver next door, introduces his friends and makes remarks about how much money he saved each person on their tax return. I think there was a little of that going on at my own party. Unfortunately, Sigourney Weaver wasn't here. Also, I'm not an accountant (I'm a computer analyst - close enough) p.s. did you know Rick Moranis was one of the McKenzie brothers?

Anyways, here is a picture of the new place. You could call it an "aftermath picture" after the party. The guy pictured is my friend Jon who has roomed with me before (after college) and now has done it again (but only for a couple weeks he says)




The 12 guests drank in total a measly 3 bottles of wine.

During the last week I was also had a short vacation (5 days). I flew to Atlanta and rented a car, visiting my friend Eric (who lives near Rome, GA) and then driving to my brother's in Charleston, where he plays in the local symphony orchestra. It was all in all a great time. A couple of observations:

- In contrast to the Bay Area, there is a "true fall" in the south (in Georgia, at
least there is). Here we have young Mr. Jens posing with a Magnolia "cone".




What do they call these things?

- Here's a gratuitous picture from the same trip. I like to reward readers of my blog. I believe I finally caught up to the one and only "Chief of Dead Animal Society".




Let me show you my shotgun

- My golf game is not as good as my brother's. We went to the municipal golf course in Charleston one day while I visited and played a round of 18 holes. I was feeling fine when we got to the first tee




This course, which supposedly is the "worst qualilty" of all the courses in Charleston, had plenty of challenges. Here is a shot of the one of the par 4s on the back nine.




Of course, I hit my tee shot into the water.

p.s. I scored a 135, in case anyone wanted to know