Merry Christmas!
Posts
Blogger Out of Beta
Blogger has emerged from there Beta test. I'm not sure how this will effect my blog. During beta, Blogger ate a couple of my templates - So, I'm a little apprehensive how the new Blogger will work. The new features are described in a PC Magazine article, Blogger Leaves Beta . If my blog disappears, you"ll know why.
If we lose our way, remember
The New Colossus by Emma Lararus (On a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty) Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The Power of The Novel: Hector Bywater and Pearl Harbor
It amazes me the power and influence of fiction - the novel. Hector Bywater's 1925 novel The Great Pacific War predicted the sneak attack by Japan that would commence a war between the US and Japan. It also accurately predicted many details of the war that would occur. Though flawed in some of the details, it was immediately translated into Japanese and reportly had a significant influence on the man who would become the supreme commander of Japanese forces in the Pacific and planner of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fleet Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto. An excellent account of the details is reported in an article at www.amercianheritage.com . It is interesting in a time when truth is becoming hard to find, fiction is becoming more truthful than reported news, memoirs, and media that purports veracity.
Do novels need Bibliographies?
Norman Mailer's new novel "The Castle in the Forest," includes a list of 126 authors and titles that enriched the book. Michael Crichton's new novel, "Next," contains a seven-page bibliography listing 36 books that Crichton read while researching the book, along with citations for 12 articles published in newspapers or other publications and 12 Internet sources. As reported in the International Herald Tribune article " Literature: Do novels really need bibliographies ?", this seems to be the trend. In todays litigious society, is this really necessary? It seems fiction will likely be more true then memoirs, go figure...
The Plan per Robin Williams
Robin Williams, wearing a shirt that says "I love New York " in Arabic. Robin Williams' plan... "I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for Peace. So, here's one plan." "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, Past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good ole boys", we will never "interfere" again. "We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence." "All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave, we'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are
