Swaying of the Tentacles

2009-05-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

2009-02-04T15:15:00.001-08:00

Peace in the Post-Christian Era

2008-04-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

I had picked this up from the library and found it to be a very relevant book given todays environment. The book is from the early '60s and the story of getting it published is as intriguing as the actual contents. The Catholic Church, at some levels, didn't want the book published since it was felt to be "too political"(!). The book itself focuses on the absurdity of pursuing "mutually assured destruction" in the nuclear context.

Good read and certainly nothing new other than the focus on peace in a Christian context.

More book reviews coming, I promise!

2008-03-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have sooooo negligent in blogging, but with a toddler, time is tight

Are We Rome: Cullen Murphy

2008-01-07T20:57:00.001-08:00

I had heard part of Cullen Murphy's interview on my local NPR affliate, KUOW. The show looked at various parllels that were explored in his book. The book was a quick read, maybe about 220 pages of actual text, versus about 20 pages of well researched and cited endnotes. The book explored various parallels such as the privatization of government functions, and thus equating that with a growing culture of corruption, as well the inability to field an army without resorting to recruiting less desirable folks and also lowering standards. The parallels are striking, but again we are comparing a Bronze Age civilization with a modern one. I learned quite a bit about ancient Roman history that I hadn't before. Plus it was neat to realize that Trier, a city in Germany that I had visited on a Roman ruin tour, was once a site of an imperial palace. Another interesting fact was how the number of shipwrecks decreased after a peak during the Roman empire thus signaling a decrease of trade after the "fall".

Fun quick read...

Bart Ehrman: Misquoting Jesus and Lost Christianities

2008-01-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

I decided to combine these reviews since they are very related. Bart Ehrman is a Biblican scholar, a student of Bruce Metzger , and one whose path has taken him from Lutheran to born-again evangelical to agnostic. I came across "Misquoting Jesus" at an airport bookstore and found it quite interesting. Like most folks, I consider the Bible to have come together at discreet points of time. What I found was that not only was the Biblical canon not finalized until centuries after the death of Christ but also may have changed during transcription by semi-literate scribes throughout the ages. Plus the sources that the scribes would have used may have also been corrupted as well. The KJV was based on a fairly erroneous Greek documents for the New Testament. The book also dealt with textual criticism which was trying to arrive at "original" text of ancient documents. A very accessible book.

The second "Lost Christianities" looked at Early Christianity and the various sects that vied for control until the one that Bart refers to as "proto-orthodox" prevailed. Again, the monolithic image I held of a unified Christendom at the beginning was shattered with the accounts of various sects and denominations of followers of Christ. From those that ranged from those that simply viewed Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and thus followers of Jesus must also be Jesus to those that rejected Judasim entirely. What I found astounding was the realization that the acceptance of the Old Testament may have been to give Christianity legitimacy in the Roman Empire because of its claim to antiquity based on being an extension and perhaps fulfillment of Judaism!

An excellent pair of books, supplemented by "Lost Scriptures" , which included many of the Gnostic and other materials referenced...

Transforming MTB to Road Bike : Part 1

2007-12-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

So the idea was to take a 1990/1991 Specialized Stumpjumper, with all original parts (except seat and pedals) and transform into a foul weather road bike. I was inspired by Brian DeSousa's MTB to Tour page but didn't find the pictures to be of good enough quality

Here is the beast at start

The first challenge was to find a stem and drop bars that would fit an old 1" threaded fork and the 25.4 mm clamp diameter. I decided to go with the Nitto drop bars (105) and the Dirt Drop stem

Nice detailing on their stem...

Mounting the bars was fairly easy

, an issue I had though was the original cable drop was actually a pulley brazed onto the riser portion of the original stem...

so I made a trek to Recycled Cycles and had some helpful assistance in picking the 50 cent part. After I had mounted the stem and bars, I got around to mounting up my brake levers. Since I am using cantilever brakes, I picked up some Shimano aero levers and used the Allen wrench to tighten up the hood/lever assembly. The rule of thumb I read was to use a straight edge from the bottom of the drop bar to where the lever ends.

That's it for now!

Bollywood + Barack = Insane

2007-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

The insanity surrounding the Obama campaign is not abating...

2007-11-16T10:19:00.001-08:00

Turnout is barely above 50%. I guess we get the government we deserve

2007-09-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I have read Joe Bageant's work on counterpunch.org for years and have enjoyed his "gonzo" style journalism. Especially not growing up in the States, I am not that familiar with the Borderers (Scots-Irish) sub-culture of the American South. In fact reading the book evoked Hunter S. Thompson and his article and then subsequent book on the Hells Angels in which he talked about the same group. The sub-culture discussion, though, is just a small part of the book. The majority of the work deals with the author's return to his hometown of Winchester, West Virginia. Its a good mix of anecdotes and statistics woven into a narrative of his childhood and young adulthood experiences with what he sees today. He, for instance, talks about how his own start at a family and a job, that paid well for the time, and how now that same job would require the spouse to work and experience a lot more insecurity. Of course this is my contention that the post-war economic boom in the US was the result of a devastated Europe and Japan and lack of industrialization in the East, but I digress.

The book traces various issues facing the working poor, and primarily the rednecks of our time. Its focused on the white experience, but given the author, that's not a surprise or a criticism. The decline of decent health care in small communities, insecurity surrounding manufacturing jobs, and the strength of the Republican grass roots movement makes for a bleak picture. The author doesn't really offer any solutions just observations and laments. Its like passing a terrible wreck on the freeway, you know it is bad but you slow down to look anyway. The point that the author is attempting to make is that even with the dire straits his subjects appear to be in, they are staunchly Republican and conservative and the Democrats and other progressives have lost the ability to not only speak to Winchester's concerns but to the inhabitants of Winchester itself.

Book Review: The History of God

2007-08-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Incredible book! I read this over my summer vacation break and I was blown away by the level of scholarship and yet accessibility retained. Truly lays out the narrative of one God of many from the people of Uz through Yahweh to the Trinity and then the Unity of Allah. Definitely one to keep on the shelf. The author's background as a nun and then her further education in the history of religions is obvious. The theme I noticed coming across this was how in the beginning, that these religions promoted an egalitarian ideal, with gender equality ( to a point ) and social justice being at the core. They were, at the outset, religions of the weak and oppressed. and yet over time familiar power structures laid themselves over ( either through the Judaic priesthood or the co-opting of the Christian faith by the Roman Emperor Constantine).

The level of scholarship meant also a lot of names and movements to remember ( well to forget), but the suggested reading list will provide fodder for my library for months!

Sleepless in Seattle: As Horror!

2007-06-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Brilliant!

Book Review: Crunchy Cons

2007-06-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have read this book before, a year ago when it came out, but I decided to pick it up again after having hung out on Rod Dreher's blog as well as reading other works by conservative writers. He lists his manifesto and then proceeds into a short autobiographical piece of his "conversion" with a description of life in New York as a National Review editor. He then proceeds with several themes such as food, education, politics, and finally arriving at religion. The overall point he is making is that, the self-described "conservatives" today are nothing more than enablers of a dehumanizing consumer culture that value the dollar over everything. In fact, the meaning of liberty is really tied to the elevation of the individual over everything else much to the detriment of a civil society. In fact the satisfaction of every individual want in this culture is really seen as the as consummation of the "Brave New World" dystopia of Aldous Huxley . Dreher than also invokes the writing of Russell Kirk and the underlying theme that the family is the most important unit in culture and should be preserved. Dreher also explores through the book how such concepts as organic farming, home schooling, new urbanism and other more "out of the mainstream" elements are wholly compatible with this traditional conservative view.

I liked the book in some of the themes that it presented. For instance, the anti-consumerism and the railing against the great American suburban experiment are welcome themes to hear coming from the Right. It is also nice that there was an element of conservatism that I feel called to and knowing that we see today in the GOP is really more radical and libertarian than true conservatism. Dreher is also quite religious and this is where I break from him in his analysis.

Overall a good read, and I found myself reading Russell Kirk after this.

Book Review: The Conservative Soul

2007-06-14T13:32:00.001-07:00

Andrew Sullivan, prolific blogger and former editor at the New Republic, wrote this book as a clarion call to paleo-cons and Eisenhower Republicans about the current state of "conservatism" in America. Sullivan starts with a quick bio of himself as a gay, yet conservative commentator, who waxes poetic about the Silver Age of conservatism during the heyday of Reaganism/Thatcherism of the early 80's.

Sullivan then steps through the current fundamentalist focus of the GOP and the intertwining of the Religious Right with "conservatism" and then arrives at the Bush presidency as the natural
outcome of this consciously directed strategy. Although I find the discussion of the rise of the Religious Right to be sparse and better handled by Kevin Phillips in his American Theocracy, it is still adequate for the thesis Sullivan is laying out.

Sullivan also reflects on the development of conservative thought, from Burke onwards, and the underlying pessimism that it entails on the human condition. Sullivan also emphasizes the importance on not only the results of a policy but also the means that the results were achieved. This is where Sullivan truly hammers on the current administration and political mindset of the current "conservative" banner holders today. Its how Bush and his allies, in achieving their policy goals, trash the very mechanisms of our government. As examples, Sullivan cites signing statements and the use of selective intelligence to justify our intervention in Iraq. Sullivan also uses this occasion of Iraq to make a mea culpa, befitting his devout Catholicism, on his own initial support of the President.

Sullivan wraps up with a discussion of his personal hero, Michael Oakeshott, and how Oakeshott's thinking shaped his own conservatism.

In closing, I found Sullivan's writing accessible and entertaining. My impression was that of a intellectual lamenting about the current state of what really is a radical political culture that has co-opted the "conservative" banner...

Cato Institute Forum on the Book with David Brooks

Hamas Kindergarten

2007-06-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

This is fairly frightening...

Book Review: While Europe Slept

2007-06-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

I picked this one up after having read Bruce Bawer's treatise on fundamentalism "Stealing Jesus". Bruce Bawer is a gay writer who decided to relocate to Norway from NYC to escape "a rising tide of fundamentalism" in his home country. What he found and uncovered in subsequent investigations was that the growing Muslim minority in Europe was creating an environment that was even more intolerant of his homosexuality and of Western democratic ideals overall. As he put it, in the U.S. the Religious Right was looking to deny him rights, but the Islamists were looking to drop a wall on him.

Bawer traces a narrative from his earlier experiences in walking into a Muslim neighborhood in "liberal" Amsterdam and mediating on the murder of Theo van Gogh by an Islamic radical. Bawer also starts to weave in both anecdotes of his and his partner's experience with homophobia from Muslims as well as news accounts and discussion with various European thinkers about the rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism.

Some of the most chilling scenes ( at least for me) , were Danish-Muslim youths wearing t-shirts that read "2030 and its ours" as the push for Sharia in various in British locales. Having grown up mostly in Europe, I felt myself getting both very frustrated as well as sad at the prospect of a Muslim Europe in which the Western ideals of democracy, free and open critical thinking, and an overall respsect for the difference between peoples may be steamrolled under the green crescent banner.

One point that Bawer makes is that the growing population has some similar characteristics across the Western European countries. First, that the origins of immigrants were mostly from rural locales in their home countries versus urban areas, hence the immigrants were more conservative in their beliefs to begin with. Secondly, the European governments were not so focused on assimilation but on accommodation, effectively "ghettoizing" the Muslim populations. I put in this in the context of multiculturalism and moral equivalence taken to an extreme. The last point is that the population grows not so much in an organic fashion of intermarriage between immigrants and subsequent generations in Europe but rather on brining in brides from the home country in arranged marriages. This has the effect of maintaining the conservative tenor of the immigrant population as well as act as another barrier to assimilation.

As for the writing, Bawer does his homework but could have used some tighter editing. I found some of the chapters to be a bit scattered in their presentation of the narrative. I know he was trying to shock with this book but in some cases I felt it was a bit muddled.

Overall, I would recommend his book as a good primer of how Europe is sitting on the precipice of decline and being blind at the official levels to it...

Bawer links:

His blog ( he posts infrequently, but usually good nuggets)

http://www.brucebawer.com/blog.htm

An interview with Bruce Bawer with Bill Moyers:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05182007/watch3.html

2007-06-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

I abosultely love this particular postcard...

Settled In; Thoughts on becoming more conservative

2007-06-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Maybe it is the birth of my son, or just the inevitable consequence of getting older, but I am finding myself more and more in tune with the message of conservatism. The focus on the family unit, the emphasis on local governance, and the overall push for personal responsibility. What is distressing, at least to me, is that what I see espoused by the "conservative" party, the GOP, and what is carried is quite different...

Long time, no post

2007-05-24T15:03:00.001-07:00

The Octopus is moving to a new grotto, still in town though, but bigger digs. He is also realizing that he is becoming more conservative...

Baby pimps...oh the humanity...

2007-01-02T09:23:00.001-08:00

Came across this website from the latest issue of the Nation. It looks similar to the English chav-bashing site chavscum.co.uk .

Birthday for the octopus!

2006-12-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

The queen was able to get a custom designed cake for me. Thirty four years young!

Well, I guess I can repair my own roof

2006-12-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

Had fun putting up six shingles to replace the broken ones and used roofing cement and the pry bar...

So windy, so stupid

2006-12-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Well, talk about being an idiot. I broke a glass in my hand on Friday night (5 hours at the ER) and then spent several hours on Sunday, walking around my roof trying to replace shingles and using flashing to patch the spots that I could...

fun ( not! )

sick

2006-12-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

i feel terrible....yuck...yuck...yuck... I also waiting for my zombie comic book.

Whew! We almost had an upset

2006-12-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well. Got my new issue of "Small Craft Advisor"
and I was surprised to see that International Marine is making a new boat, well an old design, the Sanibel 18. Looked over the specs with the Queen, and we decided that it was more of a daysailer versus a pocket cruiser. So we still have just the Monty 17 and WWP 19 in our sights. I am still considering the Compac and Precision boats, but since neither are west coast based, I am quite skeptical...

Snow in Seattle!

2006-11-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

Fun stuff. I love it when it snows in this and actually stick. Too often we get the really wet stuff that just clings onto a few blades of grass.

Okay, the boat search continues

2006-11-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well I am reading "Sailing Small", a book of stories and recollections of simple cruising on "pocket cruisers", and composing a list of boats to consider. I have also subscribed to "Small Craft Advisor" , a local (Port Townsend) magazine devoted to such boats and dinghy cruising as well. The magazine did reviews on two of the candidates so far:

West Wight Potter 19
Montgomery 17

gotta run, someone has to watch the baby :-)

Kramer the racist

2006-11-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Sad, really sad. The guy just loses it on stage to some simple hecklers...

Whatcha reading?

2006-11-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well, finally got around to picking up Fight Club the novel. Also, just returned Frugal Yachting
which is a good primer on small boat crusing...

Getting serious about blogging

2006-11-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, here is the scoop:

The family is looking for a nice sailboat for cruising around the Seattle area. I am thinking of the Potter 19 . Looks like that boat has a strong local following (nwpotters.org) including this fellow who does a fair amount of blogging about his boat "Whisper"

Housing Madness!

2006-08-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice chart that should send a chill down everyone's spine. So since 1997, we have seen the largest run up in residential real estate prices in the country's history.

Musings

2006-08-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, a couple of things. I am currently reading "It Can't Happen Here" , a Sinclair Lewis novel about the rise to fascism in America. I had read "Babbit" before, and a bit of "Elmer Gantry", so I was excited to delve into Lewis's vision of dystopia.

Sigh

2006-07-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

I guess everyone is on the blog thing, now my wife, the Queen, has one.

Changing neighborhood

2006-06-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well, living in North Seattle, I have seen a fair amount of change with old houses being torn down and replaced with townhomes, big houses, or larger structures. In somes cases , folks actually jack up their homes, and add another floor that way. These are being done within blocks from my house via walking...

Welcome to the Alcove

2006-06-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Soon, oh so soon, I will be posting musing on information security, Seattle housing, and other obscure and potentially boring topics...