New Books!

Preparing for a lengthy dl session while in Kingston, I visited a few local bookstores and replenished my dwindling supply of dock-reading.

New Arrivals:

Cliff Schecter, "The Real McCain" and
William Shatner, "Up to Now"

A bit of light reading to be sure. Schecter's book will not change my already low opinion of McSame, but it is always fun to read a good polemical screed against such a failed human. The Shatner book, well, aside from breaking ground as the space-Lothario Kirk, Shatner deserves a read if only for having the brass cahones to give a bizarre spoken word version of Elton John's classic drug odyssey, "Rocket Man." I am not generally prone to celebrity bios, but this one just looked like some late August fun!

Incidentally, I have just figured out the spell check function on Blogger - so I hope to limit many of my previously unchecked errors. I assumed it was on by default, and being accustomed to let Word check my work, I inadvertently let many embarrassing errors slip by!

Waiting, and Waiting........Still Waiting...

I finally made it into town to take advantage of a great local cafe called The Sleepless Goat. Aside from having great tea and wonderful, healthy, organic foods, they also have free high-speed internet.

I have been plagued at the cottage by endless MS downloads that hog the connection and take days if not weeks to download. As well, I wanted to get some new podcasts, music, and games for my iPod Touch. When iTunes started it informed me of a new software update and I decided to dl and install. However, with the MS update going at the same time, I have ended up sitting here for hours trying to dl everything before I go back to the lake and my usual dial-up. (high-speed is prohibitivley exspensive on the island.) Incidently, this is the same cafe I used to spend my days in while working on my MA, and consequently, I have discovered that the anxieties associated with that era have returned. I feel like I am under a deadline that in fact, does not exist. But this is really a minor concern, and is a situation exaserbated by too much cafeine.

After these two main downloads, I have to dl and install MS Framework 3.5 in order to get Paint.NET to function so that I can better edit pics for this blog and other applications. I was accustomed to using irfanview for this task on my desktop, but for whatever reason, the version I have will not allow me to save any of the changes I have made to my images. I have tried an unistall followed by a clean install, but to no avail. If anyone has any thoughts, I would greatly appreciate some help!

Anyway - back to watching the little green bar move very, very, slowly!

It was a Dark and Stormy Night...

The winners of one of my favourite contests have just been announced. The results of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest are in, and its a good crop this year. I liked the 1st runner up best, as it sums up how I feel about bad fantasy writing. (I do love good fantasy - eg, Tolkein, Robert Jordan -well the first 7 books anyway, but that's another conversation.) The premise is that each contestant has to create the worst opening sentence for a non-existent novel. Its good fun!

More here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080814.wbulwer0814/BNStory/Entertainment/home

Slow day today - Thanks Micro$oft!

I am trying to use the web here at my secret island location, but I am on dial-up. To make things worse, Micro$oft is forcing a new update on me (not SP3 - got that one already) and it is killing my ability to surf and post. I will have to take my laptop into town and find somewhere to download this new critical update more efficiently. That may not be possible until Saturday.

The Real Value of Prayer

I realize this has been posted all over the place, but I never get tired of it. Besides, I thought it went well with my previous blog post about FoF and Dobson.

James Dobson - Evil Scumbag

For the most part, I don't have a problem with people who practice their religion privately and don't try and cram it down my throat. I may not agree with their worldview or their easy acceptance of what seems to me a tragically ridiculous premise, but that's o.k. I neither need nor want everyone to agree with me.

My problem lies with those who insist they know the mind of god and are determined to make me live in their 12th century view of the world. No one is better at this self righteous nonsense than James Dobson and his crazy cult of loony-toon christian fundamentalists in Focus on the Family. (Incidentally, I have to get one of those bumper stickers that reads "Focus on your own damn family!") And, I suppose, a car on which to put said sticker.

Just posted on http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/13/dobsons-focus-on-the-family-humiliated-by-pray-for-rain-video/ is the latest in Dobson sponsored hatefulness.

For a really good read on these Dominionist christians, check out Chris Hedges's book, American Facists. It is well worth the read, and truly terrifying. http://www.amazon.com/American-Fascists-Christian-Right-America/dp/0743284437. I understand Hedges has writen a new book with an annoying anti-atheist sounding title, but I have not had a chance to read it thus far. Anyone have any thoughts about this book and any others on this topic?

Rainy Day on the Lake...

Usually I am up and on the water by now, but given the rain and warnings of thunderstorms, it looks like I will be spending the day indoors, reading, surfing and hanging with my cat. So, here is a pic of what it should be like today.

A few random thoughts: I gave up coffee three weeks ago. I really miss it. I still find myself reaching for a non-existent cup, and am disappointed to find it replaced with green tea. Don't get me wrong, I love green tea, but it is a pale substitute for black gold. Still, I am slowly getting used to it and I find myself feeling better for having switched. Fear not, I have not become an anti-coffee evangelist. Sadly, coffee upsets my stomach and is now more likely to make me jittery than it used to do.

Second random thought: Thanks to Jaakko for inviting me to post my blog on the Atheist Blogger facebook page. I created the blog following his invite and I am really enjoying getting back to writing every day. I have been enjoying other blogs from that page and I hope that some of the other members will read my humble page. I have added many of the members of Atheist Bloggers as friends; I hope none of you mind.

A thuderstorm has just started crashing around me, so I am logging off for now.