tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90400692024-03-07T21:24:46.709-05:00sotto voce USA"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." -- Mark Twainfdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-91450453791043946302007-09-16T15:45:00.000-04:002007-09-16T15:48:57.892-04:00A New BlogI'm back after another long, long absence. I've decided to close this and my other blogs down and consolidate everything that is still relevant to a new blog: "<a href="http://fdtate.blogspot.com/">Life, the Universe, and Everything</a>." If you're here, you need to be there.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1151628140542439792006-06-29T20:28:00.000-04:002006-06-29T20:44:37.883-04:00SynergyHappy happy joy joy!!!<br /><br />One of my all-time favorite animated TV series, <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2006-06-23T033638Z_01_N22173912_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-FUTURAMA-DC.XML">Futurama, is coming back</a>. New episodes are in production and will be aired in the near future on Comedy Central.<br /><br />Now there's a special <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BjrOi4vF24">Futurama video clip</a> to promote the Al Gore movie <span style="font-style: italic;">An Inconvenient Truth</span>.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1151215631261114862006-06-25T02:04:00.000-04:002006-06-25T02:11:04.760-04:00Change the Direction<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/stayingthecoursesmall_01.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/stayingthecoursesmall_01.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I found this at <a href="http://www.teambio.org/">Bring It On</a>. They said take it and pass it along. Sounds good to me. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a>fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1151133448109345572006-06-24T03:15:00.000-04:002006-06-24T03:17:28.123-04:00Holy SnikeesEver wonder what would happen if a freaking gigantic meteor struck the Earth? <a href="http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/meteorite_collision/">Wonder no more</a>.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1151116484534804042006-06-23T21:40:00.000-04:002006-06-24T02:23:20.073-04:00MeltdownsYesterday, the United States was eliminated from World Cup play. This was finally going to be the U.S.'s chance to shine in soccer; they entered the tournament ranked fifth in the world. Some opening game jitters and a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic. Some soul searching and a rejuvenated Team USA fights Italy to a 1-1 draw. A must-win game, a meltdown, and a 2-1 loss to Ghana (Ghana?) sends them packing.<br /><br />In the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks had a two games to none lead over the Miami Heat. About halfway through Game Three, the Mavs had a 13 point lead and appeared to be well on their way to wrapping the series up. Miami rallied and Dallas faltered and the Heat squeaked out a Game Three win. Well, before you know it, those rallies and falters continued and Miami ended up winning four straight games to win the series 4-2.<br /><br />Even though Team USA's and Dallas's meltdowns were on bigger stages, they are nothing compared to the meltdown the Atlanta Braves are going through now. <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings?date=20060623">Look at the standings</a> in the National League East and you'll find Atlanta in a very unaccustomed spot -- the cellar. When June began, the Braves were in pretty good shape. They were in second place with a 28-25 record, just 4.5 games behind the Mets. Then the trouble started. On June 6 the Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-3, and on June 10 they beat the Houston Astros 4-2 -- the only two wins thus far for the entire month! Yikes! The Braves have lost ten straight, 20 of their last 23, and trail even the lowly Nationals and Marlins.<br /><br />Pitching, usually a Braves forte, has been their downfall. Braves General Manager John Schuerholz has been going crazy moving pitchers back and forth from the bullpen to the minors to the starting rotation, trying to plug holes and stop the hemmoraging. They began the year a man down in the rotation without Mike Hampton, who had major elbow surgery in September of 2005. He won't be back until 2007. Then Horacio Ramirez was hit in the face by a line drive off the bat of Lance Berkman on June 11. He spent some time on the DL and returned yesterday. He pitched well, but failed to win.<br /><br />The biggest problem has been the bullpen. No lead has been big enough that the bullpen couldn't give it away. They haven't had an effective closer, and no one else in the bullpen has been especially reliable. Chris Reitsma has had the job but hasn't been getting it done, and now he too is on the disabled list. Turns out he's been going out there with numbness in his pitching hand (ulnar neuritis.) He hasn't complained because there was no pain, but he had no feel for the ball. That's not good for a pitcher. With no closer you can count on, the entire bullpen suffers because you build a bullpen around the closer, then work backwards from there. You get some other guys you can count on to work the seventh and eighth innings, setting up the closer. Then you have some other guys to come in earlier or work lopsided games. With no closer, no one knows their role and everyone's work suffers.<br /><br />This is a time of hard choices. With over three months of the season left, do you just write off this year and start making plans for next year, or do you trade away some good prospects in the hopes of getting a star that will come in and give you a shot in the arm (a la Fred McGriff in 1993.) They probably won't give me a vote, but I'd choose to hang on to what we've got and try to build for next year. I'd rather have one bad year than have this turn back into another bad Atlanta decade or two. I had enough of that in the 70's and 80's.<br /><br />By the way, as I post this, the Braves are locked in a 3-3 extra-inning nailbiter against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays...and John Smoltz left early with an injury. My, how the mighty have fallen.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> The Braves defeated the Devil Rays 4-3 in eleven innings. The latest losing streak ends at 10, but the month of June continues.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1151024928922042222006-06-22T21:01:00.000-04:002006-06-22T21:08:48.923-04:00Updated BlogrollIt took a couple of hours of coding and checking links, but I've finally finished updating my blogroll. (Thanks, <a href="http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com/">Carly</a>, for the gentle prodding.) It's a strange assortment of liberal politics, personal diaries, photography and other esoterica, but it's what I like to read. Check them out, and if yours is missing, send me a link either in comments or email.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1150854486928391662006-06-20T21:36:00.000-04:002006-06-20T21:48:06.943-04:00Star Wars AwardsThe Atom Films Annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards are always one of my favorite events of the year, a salute to the shorts and cartoons that lampoon George Lucas's creation. This is the fifth year of the awards. The final nominees were announced today. <a href="http://www.atomfilms.com/af/spotlight/collections/starwars/">Check them out</a> and vote for your favorite. Voting ends on July 5. Winners will be announced on July 20. <br /><br />I haven't finished watching all of this year's nominees yet, but <a href="http://www.atomfilms.com/af/spotlight/collections/starwars/2005_films_winners.html">Cheap Seats</a>, which won last year's award for Best Comedy is my all-time favorite.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1150748363412226302006-06-19T15:59:00.000-04:002006-06-20T21:56:22.363-04:00Monday Photo Shoot: Still LifeThe topic for Scalzi's <a href="http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/6086">Monday Photo Shoot</a> this week is Still Life:<br /><br />Your Monday Photo Shoot: Take a snap of something in a "still life" mode. It doesn't have to be a bowl of fruit, mind you (although there's nothing wrong with a bowl of fruit, if that's your thing.) But something that you can get contemplative about would be nice. Also, it doesn't move unless you go and pick it up.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/chickamauga%20081.jpg"><img style="display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/chickamauga%20081.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This is the Dyer family cemetery. It is located in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (the Chickamauga battlefield.) The Dyers were a family that lived on the site at the time of the battle. The cemetery is located on a main trail that circles the perimeter of the park, and I wonder how many of the people who pass it recognize it for what it is. All the headstones are what you see, just standing rocks. Some have writing on them that has been eroded away by time and the elements. Still? Yes. Contemplative? Definitely.<br /><br />Click picture to see larger version. <a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a>fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1150585603034042622006-06-17T18:29:00.000-04:002006-06-17T19:06:43.096-04:00Weekend Assignment: The Things We Share With DadJohn Scalzi has a Fathers' Day weekend assignment at <a href="http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/6071">By the Way</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weekend Assignment #116:</span> Tell about some personality trait or quirk you got from your father -- or, if you're a father, some personality trait or quirk of yours you see in your kids.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extra credit:</span> Did you ever get dad a tie for Father's Day?<br /><br />My parents divorced when I was young and I went big chunks of time without seeing my father. I think my grandfather was probably more of father-figure to me during my formative years, so I'd rather talk about a couple of things I picked up from him. They're not really personality traits or quirks, more like personal preferences of his that rubbed off on me.<br /><br />My grandfather was an old-school FDR-worshiping Democrat who could never understand why people didn't have enough blankety-blank common sense to go to the polls and vote a straight Democratic ticket. While he never said so explicitly, I got the feeling that he might have believed Richard M. Nixon to be the Anti-Christ. He died before the Reagan Revolution started up or that might have been really bad. He taught me that while the Democrats might not always do what's right, they certainly have more empathy for the common man that Republicans do.<br /><br />My grandfather was also a die-hard baseball fan. Summer Saturday afternoons were our time together to sit down and watch the Game of the Week on NBC. (Was there ever really a time when there was only one baseball game a week on the tube? Yes, there was. And to really blow the youngsters' minds, for a while we only had three channels and had to occasionally go outside and rotate the pole the antenna was mounted on to get them to come in clearly. I think we got our first color TV about the time I started junior high school.) Anyway, there we were every Saturday. The games were usually either the Yankees or the Dodgers (the big TV market teams) playing another team in their league. We always rooted for whoever they were playing; it didn't matter who. Someone once said, "Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel." My grandfather believed that and passed along to me his hatred of anything and everything connected to the Evil Empire.<br /><br />Extra credit: I don't remember every Father's Day gift I ever gave my father or my grandfather, but I don't think I ever gave either of them a tie.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1150448988224515212006-06-16T04:55:00.000-04:002006-06-16T05:09:48.236-04:00The World's Funniest JokeFrom the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=W4GGMOS2UYBMJQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/06/09/njoke09.xml">London Telegraph</a> -- We can all rest a little easier now. Seems a professor researching the psychology of humor has discovered the author of the world's funniest joke -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Milligan">Spike Milligan.</a> Five years ago, 300,000 people worldwide took part in LaughLab and voted for the funniest joke. The winner...<br /><blockquote>Two hunters are out in the woods in New Jersey when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.<br /><br />The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator says: 'Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says 'OK, now what?'</blockquote>While watching a documentary on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon_Show">The Goon Show</a>, Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire discovered a version of the very same joke...<br /><blockquote>Michael Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there.<br /><br />Peter Sellers: Oh, is he dead?<br /><br />Bentine: I think so.<br /><br />Sellers: Hadn't you better make sure?<br /><br />Bentine: All right. Just a minute.<br /><br />Sound of two gun shots.<br /><br />Bentine: He's dead.<br /><br /></blockquote>Professor Wiseman commented...<br /><blockquote>I think what is interesting here is that a joke from the 1950s still works, and how it has transformed over time from a cosy sitting room to hunters in New Jersey.</blockquote>fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149487159179996982006-06-05T01:51:00.000-04:002006-06-05T01:59:19.183-04:00Civil War Timeline: 1865The final installment of the Civil War Timeline. Here are links to the whole thing: <a href="http://sottovoceusa.blogspot.com/2006/05/civil-war-timeline-1860-1861.html">1860-61</a>, <a href="http://sottovoceusa.blogspot.com/2006/05/civil-war-timeline-1862.html">1862</a>, <a href="http://sottovoceusa.blogspot.com/2006/06/civil-war-timeline-1863.html">1863</a> and <a href="http://sottovoceusa.blogspot.com/2006/06/civil-war-timeline-1864.html">1864</a>.<br /><br />January 15 - Fort Fisher, North Carolina, falls to Union land and sea forces.<br /><br />January 16 - Sherman's army begins another destructive march, this time through the Carolinas.<br /><br />February 4 - Robert E. Lee is named commander-in-chief of the Confederate army.<br /><br />February 17 - Columbia, South Carolina, is burned. Sherman's troops and retreating Confederates are both blamed for setting the fires.<br /><br />February 18 - Sherman occupies Charleston.<br /><br />February 22 - Wilmington, North Carolina, the last remaining open southern port, falls to Union forces.<br /><br />March 4 - Lincoln is inaugurated for a second term.<br />Lincoln, from his second inaugural address: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."<br /><br />April 1 - The Battle of Five Forks (Virginia) - In the last major battle of the war, General Sheridan repels a Confederate assault.<br /><br />April 2 - Lee withdraws from Petersburg, ending the six-month siege. He advises President Jefferson Davis to leave Richmond. A day later, Union troops enter Petersburg and Richmond. Two days after that, Lincoln tours Richmond.<br /><br />April 9 - Surrounded and facing starvation, Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. At Lincoln's request, the terms are generous. Confederate officers and men are free to go home with their horses, officers are allowed to keep their sidearms.<br /><br />April 11 - In his last public address, Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction.<br /><br />April 14 - While watching a play at Ford's Theater, Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded by actor John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln dies the following day and is succeeded by Andrew Johnson.<br /><br />April 25 - John Wilkes Booth is cornered and shot dead near Bowling Green, Virginia.<br /><br />April 26 - Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrenders to Sherman at the Bennett House near Durham Station, North Carolina, bring major combat of the war to an end. Scattered resistance continues in the South for several weeks, ending in May, when Confederate General Richard Taylor surrenders to General Edward R. S. Canby, and General Kirby Smith surrenders his western forces.<br /><br />April 25 - John Wilkes Booth is cornered and shot dead near Bowling Green, Virginia.<br /><br />April 27 - The steamboat Sultana, returning northward on the Mississippi River with liberated Union prisoners of war, blows up with a loss of life equal to that of the Titanic.<br /><br />May 10 - Jefferson Davis is captured in Georgia. He is incorrectly presumed to be a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination and is jailed awaiting trial. He is later released on bail and never tried. In 1868, President Johnson, as one of his final acts in office, grants amnesty to all Southerners, including Davis, who declines to accept it.<br /><br />May 12-13 - The Battle of Palmito Ranch (Texas) - This skirmish between 80 Union soldiers and 350 Confederate cavalrymen is a victory for the Union and the last battle of the war.<br /><br />May 19 - President Andrew Johnson declares that armed insurrection against the Federal government has come to an end.<br /><br /><br />(Timeline source: Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis, Harper Collins, 2003 and Everyday Life in the Civil War by Michael J. Varhola, Writer's Digest Books, 1999)fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149486630977832562006-06-05T01:49:00.000-04:002006-06-05T01:50:30.980-04:00Civil War Timeline: 1864January 14 - General Sherman begins his march across the south. His strategy is total war, destroying or taking anything that might be used by the enemy to continue fighting.<br /><br />March 10 - Grant is named commander of the Union armies, replacing General Halleck.<br /><br />April 17 - Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges with the Confederates to further weaken Confederate forces. His strategy is successful, but leads to the deaths of Union soldiers held in overcrowded southern camps where food supplies are scarce.<br /><br />May 4 - Grant begins an assault on Virginia with an army of over 100,000 men.<br /><br />May 5-6 - The Battle of the Wilderness (Virginia) - Lee and Grant meet in two days of inconclusive but bloody fighting. Many of the wounded die in the dense woods in brushfires ignited by gunfire.<br /><br />May 8-12 - The Battle of Spotsylvania (Virginia) - Another five days of inconclusive fighting reveals Grant's strategy: a war of attrition to wear down Lee's outnumbered, poorly fed, ill-clad troops.<br /><br />May 12-16 - The Battle of Drewry's Bluff (Virginia) - Grant continues his unrelenting assault on Lee's army.<br /><br />May 13-15 - Sherman launches a series of attacks against General Johnston, who saves his army with a skillful retreat.<br /><br />June 1-3 - The Battle of Cold Harbor (Virginia) - Grant, ignoring horrible losses, assaults Lee's impregnable defenses. In the worst twenty minutes of this holocaust, more than 7000 men on both sides are killed. Total Union casualties number 12,000. To date, Grant has suffered 60,000 casualties in the campaign, a number equal to Lee's entire army. Although this is Lee's last clear victory, his army never recovers from Grant's unrelenting attacks.<br /><br />June 15-18 - Grant begins the long siege of Petersburg, Virginia.<br /><br />June 27 - Johnston's Confederates turn back Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.<br /><br />July 2-13 - A small force under Confederate General Jubal Early raids Maryland and heads toward Washington.<br /><br />July 14 - General Early is slowed down by Union General Lew Wallace. Early reaches the District of Columbia, then withdraws. Wallace, later the governor of New Mexico and minister to Turkey, gains his greatest fame as the author of the novel Ben Hur.<br /><br />July 17 - Johnston is replaced by General John B. Hood, who makes a foolhardy attempt to take the offensive against Sherman.<br /><br />July 22 - Hood's first assault against Sherman outside Atlanta is turned back, as is a second assault six days later.<br /><br />July 30 - At Petersburg, General Burnside oversees the digging of a tunnel under the Confederate fortifications. A disasterously miscalculated explosion results in 4000 casualties in his own force. Burnside is relieved of all command.<br /><br />August 5 - Union Admiral David Farragut launches a naval attack on the key southern port of Mobile, Alabama. He orders the fleet to continue the attack after mines in the harbor sink one of his ships, shouting, "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!" He successfully closes the port and is given the new rank of vice admiral, created especially for him. Ecstatic New Yorkers give him a purse of $50,000.<br /><br />September 2 - Sherman takes Atlanta after Hood's army withdraws. The capture of Mobile and Atlanta lifts northern morale, providing Lincoln with a much needed boost in the coming election.<br /><br />September 19 and October 19 - Union forces under General Philip Sheridan twice defeat Jubal Early's Confederates, driving them from the Shenandoah Valley, one of Lee's remaining supply sources.<br /><br />November 8 - Lincoln has been campaigning against two generals he has sacked, John C. Fremont and George McClellan. Fremont withdraws before the election. Lincoln wins re-election by less than a half-million popular votes, but a sweeping electoral vote.<br /><br />November 15 - Sherman begins his March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah. Before Sherman departs Atlanta, he orders his troops to demolish military facilities and set fire to the rest of the city. Much of the city is destroyed. His forces cut a forty-mile-wide swath through the state, destroying everything in their path. Three days before Christmas, Sherman marches into Savannah. He sends Lincoln a telegram offering Savannah as a Christmas present.<br />Sherman: "We have devoured the land...To realize what war is, one should follow our tracks."<br /><br />November 30 - The Battle of Franklin (Tennessee) - Confederate General John Bell Hood launches a foolhardy head-on assault against Union General John Schofield's entrenched force. After fierce fighting, Schofield breaks off and heads toward Nashville, but this is no Confederate victory. Hood suffers 7000 casualties, more than three times the enemy total.<br /><br />December 15-16 - The Battle of Nashville (Tennessee) - Union forces under General George H. Thomas attack Hood's line at Nashville. Hood's Army of Tennessee is virtually destroyed. The remnants of the army are pursued all the way into Mississippi.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149469144081037992006-06-04T20:33:00.000-04:002006-06-05T01:44:52.883-04:00Weekend Assignment: Things You Like Now But Not ThenSince the weekend is rapidly coming to a close, I'd better get busy on <a href="http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/6004">the weekend assignment</a> Scalzi's handed out at By the Way...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weekend Assignment #114: Name a thing you like today, that your younger self would probably roll his or her eyes at.</span> People, places, things, ideas, philosophies -- all of it is up for consideration.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extra Credit:</span> Name something you didn't like then that you still don't like now.<br /><br />The first thing that came to mind was music. In my high school days, I was a heavy-metal fanatic. (That was a long time ago, and doesn't mean quite the same thing that it does now.) In college, my musical tastes did an abrupt shift, and I gravitated to the new wave/alternative/punk music that was then becoming hip. I intensely dislike, loathed, ridiculed other genres of music. Somewhere along the line, I realized that almost every genre has its good and its bad. I find myself listening (and loving) music that I never would have listened to before.<br /><br />But Scalzi's essay was about music, bluegrass in particular, so I decided to rethink the assignment instead of just copying Scalzi's down and passing it off as my own.<br /><br />I'll let the band Jars of Clay do this assignment for me...<br /><blockquote>Call it obsession; call it fanatical<br />I am not trying to make this a spectacle<br />But I have this craving that justifies behaving<br />I really need some of that...<br /><br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee<br />I need to have some<br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee<br /><br />Oh cappuccino, double espresso<br />I need something with a really big kick<br />You ask me 'bout creamer, you ask me 'bout sugar<br />I tell you those things make me sick<br />In my...<br /><br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee<br />I need to have some<br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee<br /><br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee<br />I need to have some<br />Oooh, good coffee, strong coffee</blockquote><br />For the extra credit, I'll return to the subject of music. I really, really, really hate almost all popular music. I'm talking about the Top 40 with or without Casey Kasem, that lowest common denominator type of music that is all the rage at any particular moment. If it's being played on the radio often, I hate it. If it's actually pretty decent and I do like a particular song, I'll be sick of it soon after they've played it 700,000 times.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update:</span> In last weekend's assignment, John solicited advise on good books to read while traveling. I recommended anything by Carl Hiaasen. On Sunday night, CBS's 60 Minutes replayed <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/15/60minutes/main688458.shtml">a profile of Hiaasen</a> that was originally broadcast in April 2005. In the segment, Hiaasen was favorably compared with Mark Twain, H. L. Mencken, Mike Royko and Jimmy Breslin.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149315012764857262006-06-03T02:07:00.000-04:002006-06-03T02:10:12.780-04:00Weekend Photo Jigsaw Puzzle Fun48 pieces of weekend photo jigsaw puzzle fun: "<a href="http://www.jigzone.com/mpc/view.php?F72CR3G.06A">Cherokee</a>"fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149308501620397742006-06-03T00:20:00.000-04:002006-06-03T00:21:41.633-04:00Web CoolnessWhat a neat photo site. All the pictures are those photo mosaics composed of thousand of tiny little photos. You start with <a href="http://interact10ways.com/usa/information_interactive.htm">a picture of a man's face</a>. Clicking makes it zoom in. See if you can find an end to it.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149300112711453232006-06-02T21:05:00.000-04:002006-06-03T16:44:03.530-04:00Writing LinksWhile surfing the web, I occasionally run across sites that are full of information for aspiring writers. Here are a few that I like to refer to from time to time...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/">Writer's Digest</a> has a useful website, an extension of the magazine, with all sorts of tidbits to help you write better and get published. If you're suffering from a little writer's block, they have a weekly "<a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp">Writing Prompt</a>" to jog the brain. This week's prompt: "You’re at your favorite department store buying a birthday present for a friend. As the cashier gives you change, you notice a message with specific instructions scribbled on one of the bills. What did the instructions say? Did you carry them out and, if so, how?"<br /><br />Pat Holt, a book editor and critic at the San Francisco Chronicle (among other book-related postions), presents "<a href="http://www.holtuncensored.com/ten_mistakes.html">Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do.)</a>" She says, "The list also could be called, '10 COMMON PROBLEMS THAT DISMISS YOU AS AN AMATEUR,' because these mistakes are obvious to literary agents and editors, who may start wording their decline letter by page 5."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.confusingwords.com/">Confusing Words</a> is a collection of 3210 troublesome words for writers and readers grouped according to the way they are confused and misused. The current top five most confusing words? Affect, arroyo, canyon, its, effect.<br /><br />There are several blogging agents. The most entertaining is <a href="http://misssnark.blogspot.com/">Miss Snark</a>, who "vents her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushes them to sand beneath her T. Rexual heels of stiletto snark."<br /><br />At the blog "Making Light," there's <a href="http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html">an old post</a> dating back to February of 2004 that Teresa Hayden has written that dissects rejection letters and aspiring authors' reactions to them -- some insights into the <a href="http://rejectioncollection.com/">Rejection Collection website</a>.<br /><br />At his Coping with Sanity blog, Bryon Quertermous has done what I've done here -- just more so. It's a listing of <a href="http://bryonquertermous.blogspot.com/2005/05/25-really-most-useful-sites-for.html">the 25 sites that are must haves</a> for any fiction writer.<br /><br />If you've got some favorite writing tips sites, let me know what they are.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149296108510033092006-06-02T20:52:00.000-04:002006-06-02T20:55:08.526-04:00Civil War Timeline: 1863January 1 - The Emancipation Proclamation is formally issued.<br /><br />January 4 - Grant is ordered by Lincoln to repeal his General Order Number 11, which had expelled Jews from his area of operations. He had issued the order because he incorrectly believed that most of the merchants following his army and charging excessive prices were Jewish.<br /><br />January 25 - Burnside is replaced as head of the Army of the Potomac by General Joseph Hooker.<br /><br />January 26 - The secretary of war authorizes the governor of Massachusetts to recruit black troops. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers is the first black regiment recruited in the Union. Eventually, 185,000 black soldiers will be organized into 166 all-black regiments.<br /><br />March 3 - Lincoln signs the first Conscription Act. Enrollment is demanded of males between 20 and 45 years of age. Substitutes can be hired or payments of $300 can be used for an exemption.<br /><br />May 2-4 - The Battle of Chancellorsville (Virginia) - Lee's army defeats Hooker's Army of the Potomac. Losses on both sides exceed 10,000. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson leads a rear-end attack, forcing the Union withdrawal, but is shot by a Confederate soldier. He dies of pnemonia on May 10.<br /><br />May 14 - The Battle of Jackson (Mississippi) - Union General William Tecumseh Sherman defeats Confederates under General J. E. Johnston.<br /><br />May 22 - Grant, working with Sherman, begins the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the key to control of the Mississippi River.<br />- The War Department establishes the Bureau of Colored Troops to supervise recruitment and enlistment of blacks.<br /><br />June 20 - West Virginia, severed from Virginia, is admitted to the Union. The state constitution calls for gradual emancipation.<br /><br />June 24 - Lee begins an invasion of Pennsylvania.<br /><br />June 28 - General George Meade replaces Hooker as head of the Army of the Potomac.<br /><br />July 1-3 - The Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) - Confederate troops looking for shoes run into Union cavalry. Reinforcements are poured in. The Union army takes a strong defensive position and turns back repeated Confederate assaults. The Confederates lose 28,000 men, a third of the army's effective strength; the Union, 23,000. Lee retreats. Meade fails to press him, allows him to escape back into Virginia.<br /><br />July 4 - Grant's siege of Vicksburg ends in victory. 29,000 Confederates surrender. The Union now has complete control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy in two.<br /><br />July 13-16 - The New York Draft Riots - Resentment over the Conscription Act turns into deadly rioting in New York City. Federal troops sent from the Gettysburg battlefield eventually quell the rioting. The crowd's anger has two sources: the idea of fighting to free the slaves, and the unfairness of allowing the wealthy to avoid service by paying a substitute.<br /><br />July 18 - In a charge made famous by the film Glory, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers assault Fort Wagner, guarding the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The 54th loses half of its men in the assault, but their bravery amazes whites and encourages more black regiments.<br /><br />August 21 - William C. Quantrill raids Lawrence, Kansas, and slaughters more than 150 civilians. Quantrill's raiders include "Bloody Bill" Anderson, Jesse James and Cole Younger. In October, they conduct another raid of terror in Baxter Springs, Kentucky.<br /><br />Sept. 19-20 - The Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia) - Rosecrans's Union army is routed by Bragg's Confederates. Losses are high: 16,000 Union casualties, 18,000 Confederates. The Union army escapes to Chattanooga.<br /><br />September-November - Chattanooga - After nearly destroying the Union army at Chickamauga, Bragg's troops occupy the mountains surrounding Chattanooga, putting the city under siege.<br /><br />October 16 - Grant is given command of Union forces in the west. His first act is to replace Rosecrans in Chattanooga with General George Thomas.<br /><br />November 19 - Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address to dedicate a military cemetary on the battlefield.<br /><br />November-December - While Grant is breaking the siege of Chattanooga and increasing his forces there, Bragg depletes his force by sending James Longstreet's corps to drive Ambrose Burnside's army out of eastern Tennessee. Burnside holes up in Knoxville. Longstreet puts the city under siege.<br /><br />November 23-25 - The Battles of Chattanooga (Tennessee) - Grant, in a series of battles, drives Bragg's Confederate forces away from Chattanooga.<br /><br />December 3 - Unable to penetrate the Union defenses of Knoxville, Longstreet ends his siege and withdraws.<br /><br />December 8 - Looking ahead to the end of the war, Lincoln offers a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction that will pardon Confederates who take an oath of loyalty.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1149053025306685772006-05-31T01:11:00.000-04:002006-05-31T01:23:45.320-04:00Photo SudokuIf you're as addicted to Sudoku as I am, you'll like this. Instead of playing with numbers, you can <a href="http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp?t=portrait&un=sesame+ellis&sz=mm">play with photos</a>. If you have a Flickr account, you can play with your own photos by entering your username in the appropriate place at the bottom of the gameboard. You can also play with different kinds of photos by entering <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/tags/">different tags</a> or clearing the tag space completely. If you don't have a Flickr account, you can play with the photos provided or go to <a href="http://flickr.com">Flickr</a> and find a user who has some pictures you like.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148960165019640342006-05-29T22:28:00.000-04:002006-05-31T04:30:16.236-04:00RacingOther than the memorializing and the long weekend, Memorial Day weekend means auto racing. Yesterday was a full day of it. The Indy 500 in the early afternoon, the World 600 later in the day.<br /><br />Yesterday was one of those rare occasions where the Indy 500 was the more exciting race. There were several lead changes at the end of the race. For a couple of laps it looked like Michael Andretti was going to end his winless streak at the Brickyard. That would have been special -- Michael Andretti holds the record for leading the most laps at the Indy 500 without a race win. Then Andretti's son Marco, an Indy rookie, blew by him. Then Sam Hornish tucked in behind Marco, shot around him as the finish line approached, and nipped him at the line by about a car length.<br /><br />The World 600 was a little bit of a letdown for me. My favorite driver, Tony Stewart, crashed early, cracked his shoulder blade and was down for the count. Kasey Kahne took the lead with 29 laps to go and won by a fairly large margin. His win ends a 29-year Dodge drought at Lowe's Motor Speedway and is also the first Dodge win anywhere this year.<br /><br />A couple of racing stories have caught my eye recently...<br /><br />I'm sick and tired of articles like this one: "<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?series=1&id=2458333&lpos=tv1&lid=tab2pos1">Is Danica in Danger of Being Anna-ized?</a>" It's comparing Danica Patrick to Anna Kournikova, the tennis player who was much better at being beautiful and famous than she ever was at tennis. Yes, Danica is still winless in IRL racing, but remember that it took a racing legend like Al Unser Jr. three years to crack the winner's circle. Danica has finished in the top ten in her first two Indy 500s. This year she got into trouble with her pit stops. She got out of sequence and twice she pitted under green only to see caution flags come out a little later. She probably wouldn't have won, but she would have finished better than eighth if her luck had been a little better. If she goes five or six years without a win, let the Kournikova comparisons come then.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1600/stock%20cars.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/stock%20cars.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>An article in the Christian Science Monitor, "<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0526/p15s01-alsp.html?s=hns">Stock Cars Get an Overhaul</a>," introduces us to NASCAR's latest innovation, the "Car of Tomorrow." The goal is to make a safer car and to make the races more competitive. Many of the races have turned into just long parades of cars. Get out of line and you lose your place in the draft and start falling back. Improved aerodynamics have also negated the slingshot effect seen at the end of Sunday's Indy 500. NASCAR would like to see a return to more side-by-side racing. They think the Car of Tomorrow is the answer...<br /><blockquote>"This is probably the biggest thing we've done in the competition area in 20 years," says NASCAR Chairman Brian France. "We're anxious to get this done and get it done correctly."<br /><br />In short, the new race car, developed by NASCAR's research-and-development arm, includes a number of safety innovations (the driver's seat moves four inches closer to the center of the car; protective cages are taller and wider) and offers a possible solution to the endless engineering and body types that turn tracks into no-passing zones. By employing a more upright windshield and a thicker, boxlike front bumper designed to create drag, the new car should ensure that no lead is safe.<br /><br />"Competition is going to get better," says Humpy Wheeler, a longtime racing promoter and president of Speedway Motorsports Inc., a publicly held operator of NASCAR tracks.<br /><br />"Purists don't like it, but purists only buy 20 percent of your tickets," he says. "I need the other 80 percent, too. And they want to see cars passing each other on the track. This new car will give us that."</blockquote>(photo: David Crigger/AP)fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148955110876861272006-05-29T21:34:00.000-04:002006-05-29T22:11:51.150-04:00Ten ThingsI was <a href="http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com/">tagged by Carly</a> for a meme that's making the rounds: 10 Things That Make Me Say, "Life Is Good." I'm a glass half-full sorta guy; it doesn't take a whole lot to make me happy. But here's a few off the top of my head...<br /><br />1. Let's start with the very obvious -- spending time with family and friends, the people that I can always count on to stick by me through thick and thin. And yes, this includes the online friends that I've known for years, but never met face-to-face.<br /><br />2. Writing something special. Occasionally, I'll write something, then sorta take a step back and think "Wow. Where did <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> come from." It doesn't happen very often, but it feels good when it does.<br /><br />3. Getting positive comments in my blog. It feels really good to know that someone has taken the time to read something I've written and then taken the time to tell me what they think about it.<br /><br />4. A really good book. <br /><br />5. A really good movie.<br /><br />6. Time alone. Especially having the peace and quiet to enjoy and contemplate #4 or #5. Or maybe a long walk to lay the groundwork for #2.<br /><br />7. The Internet. It's a whole new world, and I'm not sure how I got along without it for so many years.<br /><br />8. A really good cup of coffee first thing in the morning.<br /><br />9. Amusement parks. For the kid in me. I especially love the roller coasters.<br /><br />10. Digital photography. Taking as many pictures as the memory card will hold, editing out the best ones and sharing them online with others.<br /><br />Well, that's ten. I could probably come up with many, many more, but those are the first ones that came to mind. Now, I'm supposed to pass the meme along by tagging five more people, but I'm not going to do that. I think most of the people I would like to tag have already done this little exercise. If you haven't and would like to play along, consider this an open invitation. Just leave a link to your entry in the comments.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148934082671717262006-05-29T15:55:00.000-04:002006-05-29T16:21:22.680-04:00Memorial Day PhotosAs a sort of Memorial Day tribute, here are a few photos taken recently at the Chickamauga National Military Park. The first is of the monument erected by the state of Florida to honor its citizens who took part in the battle.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/chickamauga%20025.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/chickamauga%20025.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />A monument located on Battleline Road.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/chickamauga%20043.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/chickamauga%20043.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This is an interesting monument. It's located in the woods along a trail that runs along the western perimeter of the park. It marks the approximate location of where Lieutenant George Landrum of the 2nd Ohio Regiment was killed and was erected by his family.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/chickamauga%20082.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/chickamauga%20082.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Pyramids of cannonballs mark the spot where officers fell. Colonel Edward King died near the Kelly family's cabin.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/1024/chickamauga%20050.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2783/642/400/chickamauga%20050.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a> fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148888492682137262006-05-29T02:36:00.000-04:002006-05-29T15:35:34.353-04:00Jackson and DickinsonMost people probably won't care about this, but I thought it was pretty interesting...<br /><br />Tennessee State Archaeologist Nick Fielder is using ground-penetrating radar on a quiet dead-end street in Nashville in an attempt to discover <a href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/east_memphis/article/0,2846,MCA_25360_4733436,00.html">the final resting place of Charles Dickinson</a>, the man Andrew Jackson, our nation's seventh president, killed in a duel in 1806. Last Tuesday, Fielder found a likely spot: <a href="http://www.hendersonvillestarnews.com/assets/gif/DN29058524.GIF">216 Carden Ave.</a>, surgeon Daniel Jurusz's front yard.<br /><blockquote>"The first day here one of the neighbors came over and said 'You know, you have a body in your front yard,' and then told us the story," Daniel Jurusz said.</blockquote>The Jackson-Dickinson feud started over a horserace. Jackson's horse Truxton was set to race Ploughboy, owned by Colonel Joseph Ervin, Dickinson's father-in-law. At the last minute, Ervin pulled his horse from the race. <a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Emdcaroli/Duel.htm">There were disagreements over the forfeiture fee</a>. The feud escalated. Thomas Swann, an enemy of Jackson's, fanned the flames. Apparently, the final straw was some unflattering remarks Dickinson made about Jackson's wife. Rachel Jackson had been married previously to Lewis Robards. There was <a href="http://www.wnpt.net/rachel/rachel_mardiv/index.html">some dispute</a> about whether Rachel was legally divorced from Robards before marrying Jackson, and this was the subject of much gossip and innuendo.<br /><br />Since dueling was illegal in Tennessee, Jackson and Dickinson traveled across the state line into Kentucky to conduct the formal exchange of gunfire. Dickinson was an expert marksman; Jackson was not. Rather than try to outdraw Dickinson, Jackson decided to let Dickinson take the first shot, then take deliberate aim. Jackson's slight frame probably saved his life. He was six foot tall and never weighed over 145 pounds. <a href="http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g07.htm">Marquis James explains</a> in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Life of Andrew Jackson</span>...<br /><blockquote>A fleck of dust rose from Jackson's coat and his left hand clutched his chest. For an instant he thought himself dying, but, fighting for self-command, slowly he raised his pistol.<br />Dickinson recoiled a step horror-stricken. "My God! Have I missed him?"<br />Overton [Jackson's second] presented his pistol. "Back to the mark, sir!"<br />Dickinson folded his arms. Jackson's spare frame straightened. He aimed... and fired. Dickinson swayed to the ground... [and later died].<br />[Jackson, too, was wounded, to the point where his left boot had filled with blood.]<br />Jackson's surgeon found that Dickinson's aim had been perfectly true, but he had judged the position of Jackson's heart by the set of his coat, and Jackson wore his coats loosely on account of the excessive slenderness of his figure.</blockquote>Dickinson's shot broke two of Jackson's ribs and lodged too close to his heart for removal. He carried the bullet in him for the remainder of his life. Jackson's shot hit Dickinson in the stomach; he bled to death within 14 hours. Although Jackson's conduct was acceptable according to the "rules of engagement," many of his detractors insisted that it was cold-blooded murder.<br /><br />Some contend that Dickinson's body was returned to Maryland, the state of his ancestory, by a faithful slave, but others say that he was buried at Ervin's estate on the outskirts of Nashville. The Nashville claim seems to be more reasonable...<br /><blockquote>The spot has been well documented in Nashville over the years. It appears on an official 1876 Davidson County property map and was referenced in several deeds as the tract changed hands and became a residential lot.<br /><br />Fletch Coke, a historic preservation leader in Nashville who has tracked evidence of the grave for seven years and urged Fielder to conduct Tuesday's search, doubts the Maryland claim. So does Marsha Mullin, chief curator for The Hermitage, Jackson's Davidson County home that is now a popular historic site.<br /><br />"Considering it took 30 days then to make a trip like that, he would not have traveled well, I think," Mullin said.</blockquote>In 1967, the Ervin mansion was demolished and subdivisions sprang up on the land.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148701761733699572006-05-26T23:48:00.000-04:002006-05-26T23:49:21.746-04:00Ohio Soldier<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/106/4038/640/Picture%20014.jpg"><img style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/106/4038/400/Picture%20014.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />This photo was taken at the Ohio Reservation on Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga in February of 2005 during an icestorm. This is one of four statues on a big Ohio monument. <a href="http://www.hello.com/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif" alt="Posted by Hello" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a>fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148699513954201782006-05-26T23:09:00.000-04:002006-05-26T23:11:53.970-04:00Photo PuzzleIf you're feeling a little bored this Memorial Day weekend - nothing to do, some time to kill - head over to JigZone.com and try your hand at <a href="http://www.jigzone.com/z.php?m=7725064732.4BF117A&i=7B1230A4FFA&z=6">my photo puzzle</a>. It's just a simple 20-piece puzzle. You can make it as difficult as you wish by clicking on "Change Cut." Have fun.fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9040069.post-1148603757706798342006-05-25T20:12:00.000-04:002006-05-25T20:48:51.133-04:00Weekend Assignment: Travel BooksThe weekend is not here yet, but the Weekend Assignment is already in at <a href="http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/5981">By the Way</a>...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weekend Assignment #113: Someone you know is traveling. Suggest a book or two for them to read on their trip.</span> If at all possible, pick a book from the last couple of years. Also, keep in mind that it's meant to be a recreational book; i.e., they're not really reading to change their life, here, just to have fun.<br /><br />If you're doing any serious traveling, especially involving airports and airplanes, it's essential to have a book with you to pass the time during lengthy delays and to forestall getting into conversations about aluminum siding with one of your fellow travelers. But the key is to pick something that's not too deep or dark. You're looking for the junk food equivalent of books. But they should be fun and interesting.<br /><br />I'd go with anything by <span style="font-style: italic;">Miami Herald</span> columnist <a href="http://www.carlhiaasen.com/">Carl Hiaasen</a>. His novels are like Elmore Leonard's, but funnier. His latest book, <span style="font-style: italic;">Skinny Dip</span>, was recently released in paperback (another travel essential.) You can't go wrong with any of his books, but my favorites are <span style="font-style: italic;">Tourist Season</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Lucky You</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Strip Tease</span>. He even manages to make professional bass fishing entertaining in <span style="font-style: italic;">Double Whammy</span>.<br /><br />Along the same lines, there's another <span style="font-style: italic;">Miami Herald</span> columnist who's written a couple of good novels that are fit for travel: <a href="http://www.davebarry.com/">Dave Barry</a>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Big Trouble</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Tricky Business</span> are hilarious.<br /><br />Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?fdtatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556497275110191794noreply@blogger.com2