Thoughts and Musings
The Denver Post daily Photo Blog never ceases to amaze me. Today, they featured photography from the Pacific Theater during WWII. The pictures are simply amazing, cataloging pivotal moments in the Pacific War such as Pearl Harbor, Guadal Canal, and Midway.
Check it out here.
*A Short History of Nearly Everything
By Bill Bryson
Publisher: Broadway Books
If you’ve ever read Bill Bryson, you know the experience is unlike reading any other author. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson attacks–well, nearly everything, with his characteristic humor and adroit story telling. The book begins with genesis, that is, the beginning of earth and the formation of the solar system. From there, it outlines scientific history all the way to the 20th century. All the while Bryson entertains his readers with anecdotes about some interesting figures who helped push science to new frontiers.
The best part about the book is that it it entirely readable. Bryson does not mire the reader with obtuse scientific jargon, despite having every opportunity to. He explains concepts such as plate tectonics or evolution with such clarity and lucidity that even a business major (such as myself) would find them thoroughly engrossing. There is one drawback, however, to the book: it was published in 2003. This does not subtract from the book in any substantial manner, but reading it in 2010, some of the figures or data seemed–not outdated–merely, middle-aged, if you will. That aside, it is an excellent work, and an easy read sure to make you raise your eyebrows, laugh, and think differently about the world around us.
Available from Amazon.
Having just finished a book today-A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Book Review coming this week!)–I am in the process of choosing a new book. I looked to my bookshelf, and nothing really jumped out at me. I undertook an always ambitious task, setting down a reading list. Reading lists–to me, at least–are not rigid in any sense. Merely, they are, a guide, a list of possible upcoming reads. I doubt I’ll get to even half of these books in the next year–but I can sure try!
-A Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess
-1984 — George Orwell
-Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoevsky
-Of Mice and Men — Steinbeck
-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance — Robert Persig
-Walden — Henry Thoreau
-The Thin Red Line — James Jones
-Autobiography of Malcolm X — Alex Haley
-The Red Badge of Courage — Stephen Crane
-Superfreakonomics — Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
-Confessions of an Economic Hitman — John Perkins
-The Road — Cormac McCarthy
-Sons of Mississippi — Paul Hendrickson
Yesterday was State Patty’s Day here at Penn State. State Patty’s day started 4 years ago because St. Patrick’s day fell over spring break, and the students wanted to celebrate together. And celebrate we have! Despite all sorts of controversy surrounding this year’s celebration, students dawned their green, and celebrated the only way Penn Staters know how to.
In the days and weeks leading up to this weekend, State College Borough officials, State College Police, University Officials, (and Collegian staff writers) were all decrying the evils of such a holiday. Students were warned of “500 undercover police officers,” “Paddy wagons to bring the arrested to arraignment,” as well as other various forebodings.
While a day of drinking just to drink does have its inherent evils, I was upset by the apparent hypocrisy of the situation. Consider a home football game. It’s no secret that many “fans” of my Nittany Lions come to Happy Valley solely to tailgate–and by tailgate I mean drink, and drink a lot. There are hundreds, if not thousands of underage drinkers at all home football games. And certainly a higher than average number of arrests, citations, etc.
Now consider State Patty’s day. There are hundreds, if not thousands of underage drinkers and certainly a higher than average number of arrests, citations, etc. Sound similar? The only difference is that there is no football game–as if the football game somehow makes obscenely excessive drinking okay.
Well, no. It’s not particularly the football game itself that makes all the drinking okay. It’s all the alumni (thousands) that come back every Saturday–and bring with them their checkbooks…
BUT! In all, fortunately no one I know of had a run in with the law, and everyone had a great day!
A Voyage Long and Strange
By Tony Horwitz
Publisher: Picador
How much do you know about American History? Well, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, and the pilgrims landed at Plymouth rock in 1620, and the Declar–wait.
What happened between 1492 and 1620? If you’re like many Americans, that time period is a veritable historical black out. And it’s not because nothing happened, either. Quite the contrary, a lot happened!
Author Tony Horwitz sets out to answer this question in his most recent book, A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, And Other Adventures in Early America. Horwitz takes readers on a caffine-fueled quest across America’s highways and through time, providing insights and anecdotes from past and present throughout.
It is highly readable history. Your average history text is stuffy, and somewhat condescending. Horwitz begins where the reader begins, however, ignorant of the topic. As he travels, and learns, the reader learns. This cultivates an interesting relationship between author and reader, a feeling of shared experience almost. By the end of the book, the reader is comfortable enough with Horwitz to take the hours long road trip across the plains, or through North Carolina’s back country on the trail of Roanoke’s lost colonists.
Horwitz’s poignant insights, coupled with assiduous research create a book chock-full-o-facts, most fun, all interesting, and all sure to impress anyone at a cocktail (or natty light) party. While not the type of information that can be readily applied to everyday life, it more than fills the void of knowledge regarding early American history, precisely what the author set out to do.
Buy the book Here
A House? Car? Paying your way through college? An investment, perhaps?
How about pediatric cancer? This past weekend, Penn State held its annual 46 hour dance marathon, commonly referred to as THON. The dance marathon is the culmination of a year long fund raising effort by students, with the proceeds going to the Four Diamonds Fund.
The Four Diamonds Fund is an organization that helps families of, and patients of pediatric cancer at the Hershey Medical Center, in central Pennsylvania. The Fund provides emotional support, as well as substantial financial support covering the bills that insurance won’t. In effect, the families never see a bill. How great is that?
The total from this year’s THON season was the largest yet: $7,838,054.36. Wow. I have never been prouder to be a Penn Stater.
Have you ever had a number things go so horribly wrong in the period of only a few hours? Yeah, it happens to everyone. I’ll spare you the details but from about 12:30 last night to, oh, about five minutes ago nothing went right. It was like a train wreck, one train car crashing and derailing mere moments after the train car before it. The early unfortunate events did not necessarily precipitate the later ones though, so in that regard the train analogy falls apart, but it was rough nonetheless.
The thing is, after the first event, I was livid with myself. Extremely frustrated. But at this point, after many more poor performances and episodes, I can’t help but laugh and say, “It happens.”
I made it out to Bloomsburg this past weekend and stayed with my buddy Matt. I drove through a snowstorm in the dark of the night on some back country roads. There is no dark quite like a rural back country road at night, it was unsettling at times even. The storm eventually blanketed the area in over a foot of snow–28.5 inches in Philly. Besides the snow, I had to make a mid-trip pit stop at Pep-Boys for a new battery. So props to them for a speedy change out. All in all, I met some great people, and had a most excellent time.
