Wednesday Links and Miscellany
A common misconception in America is that everyone who serves in the U.S. military is a conservative and a Bush supporter. My personal experience has been quite the opposite. If you're inclined not to believe me, say aloha to Rob Schumacher, a sub sailor currently serving in Hawai'i.
Lexi's started the year off with a bit on ennui. Go over there and cheer her up!
James Wolcott psychoanalyzes Andrew Sullivan. Hilarious. And accurate IMHO.
Amanda at Mouse Words is just one of my homegirls who's spreading a cool meme. You copy the list of ten authors (below) and replace any that aren't included in your home library. You're also supposed to note your own replacements in bold.
1. Simone de Beauvoir
2. Salman Rushdie
3. Kinky Friedman
4. Sarah Vowell
5. James Joyce
6. Iris Murdoch
7. John Irving
8. Vladimir Nabakov
9. Margaret Atwood
10. William Shakespeare
Notice how I don't have any in bold?
An item that got lost in the news in the last few weeks was the closure of all the public libraries in Salinas, California. However, I see the issue wasn't lost on everyone as mr. grumpyhead has penned quite a long rant on the subject.
I've started reading Jared Diamond's Collapse this week. In the first chapter, he mentions a poem by Percy B. that I haven't thought about in a long time:
I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Wow.
Speaking of Jared Diamond, Majikthise has written an interesting critique of his 1998 bestseller, Guns, Germs and Steel. Here's a snip that I completely agree with:
There's nothing in Diamond's book to suggest that he is anything but a friend of the Enlightenment. He's a practicing scientist who attempts to analyze historical trends in scientific terms. He is also a sympathetic interpreter who respects and admires human diversity. He believes in progress, but he doesn't assume that technologically advanced people are superior or even uniformly better off. Finally, he affirms the values of the Enlightenment by suggesting how we can use history and science to build more prosperous, stable, and just societies.
Be sure to read the whole thing.
Trish Wilson notes a call for papers on your favorite topic: Blogging.
When you work a jigsaw puzzle, how do you start? Do you look for the border pieces or do you focus on color blocks? Is how you work a puzzle significant? Find out at Verbatim.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend your life on a cargo freighter ship? Probably not. But, if you have, check out this entry at Malnurtured Snay.
We likes us some Percy B., yes we do.
Percy Bysshe
Would take a pysshe
In Lake Geneva's water.
Then, without fail,
Begin to nail
Good Mr. Godwin's daughter.
Posted by: Steve | 05 January 2005 at 15:10