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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Wes" journal:
| February 29th, 2008 | |
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| _03:38 am_[Link] | ixnay on the artooncaysThis just in: Queen Elizabeth II is apparently a descendant of Mohammed.So, just to be safe, until further notice, please refrain from representing her image graphically. Any pieces of paper you may already have with her image printed on them can be mailed to myself, after which I will safely dispose of them for you.Especially the twenty-dollar bills. (9 comments | Leave a comment) |
| February 2nd, 2008 | |
| _05:46 am_[Link] | The World Question Center 2008I've been slowly reading through this, and so far it has been quite illuminating.They asked a variety of scientists "What have you changed your mind about? Why?", and then posted all of the answers. 165 people responded with 112,600 words worth of answers. If this were a book, that would be about 400 pages!Pretty fascinating stuff...Also, to those who suggested books in my last update, much appreciated. For starters, I have just ordered the following:Jane Jacobs, _Systems of Survival_Erik Larson, _The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America_Bill Bryson, _A Short History of Nearly Everything_Jared Diamond, _Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies_Afua Cooper, _The Hanging of Angelique_I'm starting with the non-fiction, obviously -- I need more fiber in my diet.And, if you missed that post, it's not too late to make suggestions. Current Music: A Place to Bury Strangers(3 comments | Leave a comment) |
| January 16th, 2008 | |
| _02:41 am_[Link] | Book suggestions, pleaseDid you know that there are books out there that do not have spaceships in them? I know! What a crazy concept, eh?In an attempt to beat my record of 61 books in 2007, I intend to read at least 62 books this year. But I also want to try reading stuff that is a bit outside of my comfort zone. I mean, it's kind of embarrassing that, of those 61 books last year, only four were not science fiction (or its speculative siblings: fantasy and horror).So, I appeal to you, my very intelligent and literate friend-list, to provide me with ideas for what I should read this year. Please make me two suggestions each, one fiction and the other non-fiction.Thanks in advance!First up: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, featuring, as far as I know, ZERO spaceships! Current Music: The Coup(48 comments | Leave a comment) |
| January 3rd, 2008 | |
| _07:03 am_[Link] | Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing fame just posted some pictures of a trip to Disney World in Florida, including some of the Carousel of Progress ride. I have recurring nightmares involving that ride.According to the Wikipedia entry, Walt Disney decreed that "the Carousel of Progress was his favorite attraction and that it should never cease operation". Perhaps this explains, then, why they didn't stop the fucking thing while my family and I were TRAPPED FOR HOURS.Ahem.Because of the way the ride was set up, the audience's seats would rotate around a stage, where the visitors would watch a short musical play performed by animatronic robots singing about how great the future would be -- a future, presumably, where such attractions would not shut down with people trapped inside.I don't recall the exact details, but apparently, because the stage rotated, it shut down about three-quarters of the way through one of the robot musical numbers, closing off all access to the ride from outside. Apparently, in the future, there is no need for fire doors. To make things worse, while the rotating stage stopped functioning, the robots did not. So, not only were we trapped, we were forced to listen to the same robots singing the same damned song over and over again. For HOURS. As a result, I have "Now is the time! Now is the place!" permanently etched into that part of the memory that retains annoying songs.Suffice to say, my one and only trip to Disney World was marred by this experience._"The Carousel of Progress currently holds a record as the longest-running stage show, with the most performances, in the history of American theater."_Yeah, I'm glad we could help you achieve that record, Mr. Disney. Current Music: Throwing Muses(6 comments | Leave a comment) |
| December 29th, 2007 | |
| _06:36 am_[Link] | 50 Book ChallengeI decided at the beginning of 2007 to see if I could complete the 50 book challenge that many other people have been doing. I have always been a voracious reader, but I do not read very quickly, at least compared to many people I know. In addition, I have an insane number of unread books sitting on my shelves -- an enormous source of stress for me. When one collects books three times faster than one reads them, well... it's kind of ridiculous. Alas, this challenge did not cure me of this affliction -- it just made me buy books faster.I started out trying to read 75 pages per day, typically reading for only six days of the week. My thinking was that an average book was about 450 pages, so that should work out nicely. But I quickly pushed that to 100 pages per day, then 125, then 150 and, for a while there, was finishing two books per week easily. As a result, by the end of August, I had already passed the 50 book mark. So, after that, I kind of took the rest of the year easy and only finished a dozen more, heh.There are a couple of days left in 2007, but, since there's little chance of finishing one of the other books I have going, I think it's safe to post this now.( The listCollapse ) Current Music: Guided By Voices(26 comments | Leave a comment) |
| October 20th, 2007 | |
| _03:21 am_[Link] | I don't know why people are so surprised that Dumbledore is gay. Wasn't this made obvious by all of the gay sex in the books? Every other page was gay this, gay that.EDIT: Oh wait, that was Harry Potter fan fiction.Err, never mind. (9 comments | Leave a comment) |
| August 17th, 2007 | |
| _01:08 am_[Link] | The vet gave me a pamphlet on feline aggression. My cats tore it to shreds before I could even read it. Hmm. (3 comments | Leave a comment) |
| June 18th, 2007 | |
| _04:58 am_[Link] | Sickohttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9006414844032752909 (1 comment | Leave a comment) |
| April 9th, 2007 | |
| _05:04 am_[Link] | Pearls Before BreakfastDo yourself a favour: Open this page and let the free streaming audio provide a soundtrack as you read this fascinating article.I have a little scratchpad on which I jot down ideas for stories; this article has inspired no less than three separate entries. Current Music: Some anonymous violinist(10 comments | Leave a comment) |
| March 22nd, 2007 | |
| _07:30 am_[Link] | Baghdad Burning radio playRiverbend's blog Baghdad Burning has been very quiet for the last few months, unfortunately, but it's usually well worth reading for a glimpse of Iraqi life during and after the invasion of Iraq. Many of you are probably already familiar with it. Anyway, the BBC has taken a lot of her more powerful entries and made them into a very good radio play. Some of it is disturbing, and most of it is very sad, but it's well worth a listen. (1 comment | Leave a comment) |