Book Art

While we are on the subject of books...
Check out these wonderful art pieces by Brian Dettmer the Book Surgeon (via My Modern Met). As the article says:

"Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed.

Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms."

Animation Short: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

With imaginative story, fun animation, and a sweet conclusion. This short made me think of all the books I have loved and lost over the years.

I'm Back!

Been awhile.

I keep thinking about blogging but just never get around to it. Which is sad since I know so many people want to know my inner thoughts and read the cool things I have found.

But I am back now so keep checking for lots of cool thoughts and stuff.

Re-Mix

My Dad has often said that there are no original stories. That people are just taking old stories and re-inventing them. I used to argue with him all the time about this fact. But as I have grown older I have come around to his way of thinking. In that vein I give you video three in the Everything Is A Remix series. I recommend all the videos but I think this is the most interesting. You can learn more by going to the site

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Adventures in Thoughts

From Open University comes some lovely YouTube videos on various thought experiments. Including the Grandfather's Paradox and Schrodinger's Cat they are informative and witty. Watching all six is definately worth 7 minutes of your time.

 

(Sorry about the lack of embeding I am posting from my email these days)

 

Book Review: Kidnapped

So Kidnapped goes down as my second book that I didn't complete.

All my life I thought of Kidnapped as a book about a boy that visited exotic tropical lands with pirates and adventure. Given that the book is about an English orphan displaced to Scotland, I think I was probably confusing it with Treasure Island.

 

There were three things that caused me to stop reading this book.

1-Uncommon vocabulary-I am talking random words that I couldn't even guess the meaning of.

2-Bland Subject- There was a lot of walking going on and talking. In someways it was like Catcher In The Rye.

3-Unlikeable hero- Despite getting halfway through the book I really didn't care for the main character. In fact I can't even remember his name!

I wanted really badly to like this classic novel. But in the end I stopped reading it in favor of God is Not One. A facinating book that I am going to write about soon.

 

 

Recommendation: Skip this one. Read Gulliver's Travels instead.

On Military Retirement

The proposed changes to military retirement were a hot button issue around the office. This article by Robert L. Goldich summarizes most of my feelings on it and this quote says it best.

 

 "Right now they [NCO's] stick around for 20 years because they know that the pot of gold at the end of the 20-year rainbow will be substantial and enable them to start a second career -- which they have to have, given that kids will be going to college and few men or women can actually live on military retired pay alone. Twenty-year retirement makes up with power what it lacks in subtlety. If we take it away as it stands, our NCO corps will hemorrhage. They will see correctly that the American people think their careers are no different than civilians who have an infinitely easier life. And one of the key factors in making our armed forces as outstanding as they are will be greatly damaged."