Read the Book…
…before you see the movie Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
This is a fantastic (and fantastical) novel by Susanna Clarke that, handled rightly, will make a wonderful film(s). The novel is something like Jane Austen writing the Harry Potter series – lots of magic and Britishness. The copious footnotes (yes, this novel is heavily footnoted) are a gem in and of themselves. Best read with tea and Elgar.
The movie is still far in the distance (production hasn’t begun.) However, this is a book is a heafty 800 pages so I wanted to give everyone a heads up.
How Megan McArdle became a (financial) convert
Megan McArdle has written an article about Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey. I grew up surrounded by disciples of Ramsey (and similar teachers such as Larry Burkett), so it was interesting to read McArdle’s impression after attending a half-day seminar by Ramsey, and trying out his principles (together with her fiancee) prior to writing the article. She had the following to say about it on her blog:
What did we think? Well, that’s in the article. But the upshot is, we’re sticking with the program, though the part where we pay off all our outstanding debt is on hold while we save for our wedding. I’d never done a detailed budget before, much less written it down, and forced myself to stick to it by doling out all the payments in cash.
It sounds unbearably tedious. But it’s actually incredibly freeing. I have never before felt like I had total control over my money. And given all the economic gyrations, it would be awfully nice to know that I was on the road to a paid off house, and could cut my expenses to the bare bones if needed.
Experiencing the BWCA Wilderness
In August of 2009 I set out to explore the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota. Click the image below to view travel logs and photos from the adventure.
Whoa, a talented Lady Gaga?
Apparently Lady Gaga used to be talented.
Nota bene: If “Lady Gaga” means nothing to you, you are too old to understand this post. Just move along.
Our Next President?
I recently attended the Indiana Fall GOP Dinner which featured Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) as the keynote speaker. While I have heard Mitch speak countless times before, this particular speech was different than most. At one point he said, “Now I want to close with just a few thoughts that fall outside our borders…” Obviously my ears perked up, and so did quite a few others nationally, including Red State.
Mitch has that important ability to connect with Independent and Republican voters who regret their vote for Obama. I hope he remains part of the national conversation in 2012.
To All Veterans: Thank You for Your Service
This morning I read a New York Times article about the closing of so many VFW posts as the core membership ages and I began to think about all of the veterans of the twentieth century wars who are no longer with us.
This video is one of the most genuinely moving tributes I have seen this year.
Veteran’s Day
Today is Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day, in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice ending World War I. Because we also have Memorial Day, which primarily honors the dead, many unofficially observe Veteran’s Day as a day to honor living veterans. About 4.7 million American men and 33,000 women served in the military in WWI. Of those, it is estimated that only 3 veterans from that war remain alive today. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers this website to help commemorate the day. In November of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Armistice Day proclamation. The last paragraph set a good tone for future observances:
To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation.
On a day such as this, honoring living veteran’s, perhaps the most important website is this one, which is dedicated to collecting oral histories from war veterans. Please consider urging the veterans you know to participate.
Marriage through the Generations
Despite recent electoral success by same-sex marriage opponents in Maine, the graph below shows that its legislative acceptance is merely a matter of time.
Profiling in special circumstances
In a post discussing the Fort Hood attacks, Megan McArdle writes:
This particular attack would have been very hard to stop for anyone, without doing terrible, terrible things to our Muslim citizens.
And if you think that’s okay, I invite you to consider whether you would be all right with similar incursions into evangelical churches every time an abortion clinic or doctor gets attacked. After all, the pro-life community does produce these wackos, and its radical fringe may even shelter them. Why shouldn’t every Southern Baptist get a little extra scrutiny?
Actually, I would expect that a Southern Baptist would get a little extra scrutiny if he or she applied to work at an abortion clinic. Likewise, since the US military is currently engaged in conflicts with Islamic extremists, is it unreasonable to pay a little more attention to Islamic members of the military? Random searches or interrogations would be wrong, but how about a little more scrutiny in background checks? A visit with a counselor if someone seems agitated?
Above all, it would be dangerously foolish to ignore warning signs out of fear of being accused of profiling. That goes for all of society, not just for areas with heightened security concerns.
Enough
Related, in a way, to Josh’s post about Google, is John Naish’s Enough: Breaking free from the world of more, which I recently read.
Naish explores the human drive for more – more information, more food, more money, more creature comforts – which propelled our species to world dominance 100,000 years ago, but is now hurling us towards disaster. Naish explains why, for the sake of our sanity, our physical health and our environment, we need to develop a sense of ‘enough.’ Far from calling for us to completely abandon our cell phones or Google Reader accounts or Big Macs, Naish calls for moderation and introspection.
