The problem with the Monster Energy Drink that Dad’s sells, aside from the apalling taste, is that I can’t find the precise amount to drink that gives me the boost I need to get through a 10:30pm improv show, but not keep me wide awake until 1:30am.
*taps fingers*
So… how is everyone?
*crickets*
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome
Compare and contrast Three Men in a Boat (published in 1889) and
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (published in 1885).
Finn is the story of a lower class american boy and a fugitive
slave escaping oppression by traveling down the Mississippi River on a
homemade raft. On the way, they encounter danger and adventure. This
book is often considered the Great American Novel.
Boat is the story of three well-to-do English gentlemen (to say
nothing of their dog) escaping the drudgery of work by traveling up the
Thames on a rented sailboat. On the way, they encounter insignificant
obstacles, and make a big deal out of it. This book was originally
intended to be a travel guide, but just got out of hand and became a
novel. For some reason, they also tacked on some ghost stories at the
end, perhaps to fluff up the page count.
Quote from Finn:
“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with
stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss
about whether they was made or only just happened.”
Quote from Boat:
“I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”
All in all, I enjoyed the writing (likened to that of P.G. Wodehouse, but
I think that’s overstating it a bit), but was left with a “so what?”
feeling
Learning Perl, 3rd Edition by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Phoenix
I found the characters in this book one-dimensional, the plot
non-existent, the writing jarring.
But I did learn Perl, so there’s that.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
An enjoyable, though short, read. I’m only mildy worried that I was right
there with the narrator when he went off on his tangents. There is a
section in the book where the (autistic) narrator wants to a mathematical
proof into the book, but his teacher advises him that people don’t want to
read mathematical proofs and I thought “Well, I do.” Thankfully,
he put it in the appendix.
Reading this made me think that a cool novel would be where an autistic or
otherwise unreliable narrator is solving a crime and gets it wrong, yet
the reader perceives the real solution. There is some of this in this
book, but I think it could be interesting as a full concept. Somewhat
like watching Memento, in a way.
Enough of this fiction nonsense. I’ve got to go finish learning some Perl.
New
Year’s 2016: How’d We Get Here?
Amusing Excerpts:
Now that we’re coming to the end of the first year of President Obama’s
administration, for the first time in a number of years, there is a fair
amount of hopefulness regarding the economy…
Think back to 2007. Do you remember the neighborhood upon neighborhood
of unsold newly built homes on the far reaches of many of America’s growth
cities? Remember the jokes that one of the purposes the Pacific Ocean
serves is as a boundary so that Atlanta and Washington would have to stop
growing west?
The annual Round up…
You scored as Mathematics. You should be a Math major! Like Pythagoras, you are analytical, rational, and when are always ready to tackle the problem head-on!
What is your Perfect Major? |
I’m really terribly excited about Newtonmas or Gravmas. I had never heard of it until I looked up Christmas on Wikipedia.
Newton’s birthday is December 25 (though if you adjust the calendar to the current Gregorian, it’s actually January 4… but hey, Jesus wasn’t born on December 25 either…).
The Newtonmas tree is an apple tree (because of the apple that led him to gravitational theory), and presents are supposed to be gifts of Knowledge, like books or DVDs, as long as it contributes to intellectual development.
Everybody sing! Iiiiiiisaac Newton’s coming to town! Iiiiiisaac Newton’s coming to town!…
—
The De-evolution of The Answer to “What Happened To Your Hand?”
Telling 1: “I was pulling a water glass off the shelf when it slipped and fell. Instinctively, I reached to catch it right as it hit the countertop, but instead rammed my hand into a huge glass shard. Put a big gash in my hand from between the index finger and thumb all the way around my thumb. Blood everywhere. Pretty nasty.”
Telling 23: “I dropped a glass and cut my hand trying to catch it.”
Telling 43: “Nothing.”
…everyone in the world has sliced their hand on a broken water glass at
one point or another.
The most amusing names from our ancestry:
Hercules Del Nero (Stacey)
Jemima Smallwood Cawood (Ryan)