via SFsignal
What happens when the number of blades on your razor goes to infinity? Bad bad bad things…
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Jim Baen has Passed Away
The ground-breaking publisher of Baen Books, Jim Baen, has passed away. He died on June 28th after a stroke suffered on June 12th.
For his obituary, see http://www.david-drake.com/baen.html.
Baen books is a leader (The leader) in the electronic book. Jim Baen pioneered a model whereby he gives away books, to get people to read (and buy) more of them. He has discovered numerous authors and kept others afloat while the industry pined. He will be missed.
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We Came, We Stood, We Swat*
* Swat – Past tense of Sweat
Yesterday we participated in the Grand Atlanta Tradition of the Peachtree Road Race. It’s 10k race starting near the corner of Lenox Road and Peachtree Street, runs south through Buckhead and Midtown, makes a left on 10th street, and ends at Piedmont Park. 55,000 runners participate. Yesterday’s winners ran it in 27:47 (men’s) and 31:52 (women’s). My time (1:22:38), unfortunately didn’t place me in the top ten, but I have hopes next year of being in the top 10,000.
This year’s race wasn’t so good to me because I was injured and I ran reaaaaallllyyyy slowly. Then again, the starting temperature was 75 degrees F at 7:30 and it only got warmer as the day went on. By the time I was around the 5 mile mark it was HOT. Plus, don’t forget our glorious Atlanta humidity! Plenty of people were walking the majority of the course. Despite how slowly I was moving, I was passing an awful lot of people.
My final clock time was 1:57:45 so I crossed the start line at +35:07. That’s an eight minute improvement over last year!
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Lying down, Reading books…
With respect to the fact that I can injure myself by sitting on the couch, I’ve spent a good deal of the last two days lying on the selfsame evil couch reading books and watching TV. World Cup soccer and Welcome to Mooseport are both excellent time sinks.
The majority of the time has been burning through the Dresden Files, a series by Jim Butcher.
The last few books were quite good (I’m on the sixth right now). I almost did not continue reading the series after the first book because of the character cliches that were beating me about the head, but I figured that this was (I think) Mr. Butcher’s first published work so it wasn’t going to get any worse. They’re good Saturday/Sunday reading and very quick. I’ve read numbers two through 5.5 since Friday. If you are a fan of the early Anita Blake novels, before they turned into pornography, then you’ll probably like these. Of course, you will recognize a lot of themes from those books, but that’s because Mr. Butcher and Ms. Hamilton both lifted them from the same places.
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Superman Returns
I was going to review this movie, but Phil Plait (who will be at Dragon*Con this year! I’ll see you there, Phil!) did a great job and hit all of the high spots.
Except a few…
SPOILERS FOLLOW
Such as: (more…)
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Movie Reviews
I’ve been a critic of movie critics for a good long time now. I have found that they do not jive with my own views (usually) so there’s no real point in listening to them when I’m going to go see the movie anyhow and formulate my own opinion.
Then I moved to Atlanta, and started receiving the NY Times emails every morning. I have found the Atlanta Journal Constitution and NY Times reviews to be cogent and accurate (again, with my own humble opinions) so I’ve started relying on them for pre-viewing movie screening.
That does not, however, keep them from occasionally going off the deep end. For example, from the NY Times critic Manohlan Dargis concerning Superman Returns:
Mr. Singer expends much more time and many more resources to do pretty much the same, erasing part of the past to create what is essentially a new and considerably more sober sequel to the first two films, one that shakes the earthiness off Superman and returns him to the status of a savior. There’s always been a hint of Jesus (and Moses) to the character, from the omnipotence of his father to a costume that, with its swaths of red and blue, evokes the colors worn by the Virgin Mary in numerous Renaissance paintings. It’s a hint that proves impossible not to take.
I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I’ve ever taken the hint about Superman and the Virgin Mary. Silly me.
Apparently, there is quite a bit about the Superman/Virgin Mary thing. 91,800 hits as of today.
Jesus! (exactly)
Jenn and I saw this movie last night. Review to follow.
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I Hate Being a Cliche
“I’m getting old.”
I’ve heard that phrase. I’ve even used that phrase although I don’t really mean it. Not yet anyway.
However, last night, I managed to pull two or three muscles in my back while sitting on the couch. Yes, you heard it, I’m so out of shape that sitting on the couch is too much for me.
I need to get jogging again.
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Because the Bible Tells Us So
I was popped over to this site today from Pharyngula and I caught myself reading some of it. I don’t think this is the sort of faith that I could be a part of. Six-day creationists are just not with the program. However, that’s not why I’m posting.
If you look underneath their Doctrine>>Statement of Faith tab (emphasis mine):
The Bible
The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings. The Bible is the complete revelation of God’s will for the salvation of man and the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and life. The Scriptures are a unified whole. The Old and New Testaments must each be understood in light of the other.
I’ve heard of this before. It’s called biblical inerrancy and one aspect says what that quote says; the bible is literally the word of God, set down without error in the original manuscripts.
Which makes me ask: “Are you teaching your parishoners greek, hebrew, and aramaic?” I would think it dramatically important, if one believes in the inerrancy of the bible, to be able to read it in the original, untranslated version.
As you can probably tell, I do not believe that any version of the bible was directly inspired by divine will. We humans have way too many faults and foibles to receive that sort of radio message without inserting some static.
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Copa Mundial
Go Ghana! Oh, darn…
I’ve been watching plenty of World Cup Soccer this time around. The broadcast schedule has been convenient for me to watch at least a half-game during lunchtime at work. I didn’t see Ghana lose to Brazil, but I watched the second half of the Italy/Australia game on Monday. Penalty kick to win for Italy! Woo hoo!
World Cup Soccer has got to be some of the best sports to watch. It’s fast, it’s exciting, and there are no commercials. I love it.
Of course, if you live in the United States like I do, you don’t get most of the games on broadcast television. The only channel we receive at work that has the matches is the local spanish-language channel.
¡Gooooooooooooool!
The Evil Eyebrow
There is no knowing the Evil Eyebrow
Twenty Twenty-Five
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