I have moved the nothoo blog from http://nothoo.com to http://blog.nothoo.com
At some point last Summer I decided I was too fat. I have lost 40+ pounds and am within 10 pounds of my goal weight. This was accomplished, in typical geek fashion, by creating a spreadsheet and tracking my weight (along with the obligatory regression analysis) as well as my caloric intake. Essentially a streamlined version of The Hacker’s Diet.
Ok, some dude that claims he will change everything won the election. I so totally believe him. Of course he will change everything… moving on.
I got laid off and am unemployed looking to become underemployed so I can make some money but still spend lots of time with my kids.
Getting laid off has gotten me re-excited about programming and learning more about programming.
My family and I, finally (see previous post about Hurricanes; Florida; Vacation and) went on Vacation to see my parents. It was awesome. Besides my parents, the thing that I miss most about Florida is fishing.
I am thinking of going the freelance route rather than take another full-time gig working for the man. Goal is for my wife and I to each work 25-30 hours. Biggest obstacle, health insurance. I sure hope this new guy that promises all of this change can at least do something about the insanity of the health care system in this country.
As usual a flurry of activity followed by months of silence. I guess I am just not cut out for blogging. Maybe I need to produce more Top X lists. Yeah that is it, I need to monetize this thing. That is the one true path.
Twitter / jeffc666. I took the plunge, surely only to abandon it down the road a spell.
Student:
Deciding to decide you relinquish your freedom to decide.
Master:
Well ain’t that just as sweet as a peach in a pickle vat.
Time for book stack two. First the overview:
Book Stack 2
Nice, huh? I actually tried to cut down on flash glare this time. Still not perfect though.
More Zombies From Permuted Press
These two are both from Permuted Press, purveyor of all things zombie and apocalyptic. I featured two other Permuted Press books in my previous Book Stack post, both were really good so I decided to get some more. On the left is Every Sigh, The End by Jason Hornsby. I do not know anything about this one other than what I read on Amazon. Looks good though. On the right is a Zombie collection with some lovely cover art! Again I do not know much about it, but it sure looks good.
Surreal Botany and A Pulitzer Winner
I was talking to my dad via the magic of the telephone when he mentioned that he had just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. He recommended it to me. I bought it and read it this past Sunday. Here is my review as I emailed to my dad:
I thought it was Okay. 3 stars out of 5. I liked the language style, as if Hemingway and Brian Evenson’s love child wrote it. I thought that he did a good job of developing the bleakness and I liked that he left the characters nameless and that we never know why the earth is failing. However, the core of the story, the love between the man and his son, with a fablesque approach to the nature of good and evil is a bit shallow, maybe undeveloped is a better word. I think that a smoother transition between the father as the leader to the son would have been more interesting. The father just up and died, as if the publisher demanded a quicker ending (not that they did I am sure). Then the saving of the kid at the end, while clearly symbolic, seemed forced. The kid never really develops as a character, he is more of a prop for the man’s development. At least until the very end. Then we are expected to animate the kid-prop now that our protagonist is dead and follow him off into the unknown.
I ordered Surreal Botany directly from the publisher and I can not for the life of me remember where I heard about it. Anyhow, I read the first section (covering the surreal botany of the Americas) last night and I love it so far.
More Zombie Goodness
Two more zombie books, this time not from Permuted. World War Z seems to be quite popular (at least as compared to most of my other reading) as I have seen it the local chain bookstores and the cover splat says that it was an “Instant NY Times Bestseller”. How is that even possible? Does it mean that tens of thousands of books were purchased the minute the book hit the stores? Were people lined up for it? Just marketing I guess… Dead City is another unknown to me.
The Brothers Grimm and Kant, Together at Last
I bought the Kant book on a whim, motivated by my reading of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I bought the Grimm’s Fairy Tales to fill a gap in my cultural literacy. I learned on vacation that I do not really know any of these old fairy tales. Sure I know the outlines but that is it. This realization came about because we forgot to bring any books for my 4 year old son on our vacation (I had brought zombie books and they hardly seemed appropriate!). Without a book he wanted to hear a story. My wife told him Hansel and Gretel. As she told it, I realized that I knew none of the details! Now I am geared to remedy this.
This is satire, right? Please say yes…
If Everyone’s Talking, Who Will Listen?
Money quote:
It’s possible that over time, an energy tax, by making some computers, Web sites, blogs and perhaps cable TV channels too costly to maintain, could reduce the supply of information.
And folks wonder why newspapers are becoming less and less relevant.
This incredible zombie claymation short is a must see. Found via Boing Boing so I am sure that 90% of the world has already seen it but it was too good to pass up.
I especially like when the Mom comes in from outside all bloodied and as the French say after a hard night of drinking, j’ai vomi les orteils (or something like that, my French being essentially non-existent).