KiYun's Tale

The Empty Ocean

Way back last May I mentioned putting The Empty Ocean on my list of books to read, and I have just finished it. The tale, my friends, is bleak and depressing, but I hope that we can still do something about matters. I am a consumer of fish and other seafood products, and I hope to remain so, but the devastation to sea stocks perhaps means that our children will not have the same pleasure. Apparently we treat marine life the way we treat any other resource--which means that we apply all of our skill, energy and technology into harvesting it until it is gone. Catches everywhere are decreasing (even precipitously in places) despite techniques that can harvest fish from thousands of cubic miles of ocean at a time. Read The Empty Ocean to learn about this story that is not nearly well enough known.

11:19:42 AM

Amazon Hacks

Apparently, there's a whole industry around leveraging Amazon.com's name, starting from using Amazon's database and generating referral fees to working with Amazon's special features like recommendations and Wish Lists. I've ordered my copy of this book.

11:49:37 AM

Try RealRhapsody

I've blogged about Rhapsody before. If you're connected to the Internet most of the time, as I am, then a program like Rhapsody is a great deal, because it lets you listen to as much music as you want for a low monthly cost. Sure, it costs more to buy tracks and save them to your computer, but most of the time, I don't bother with that. There's too much music in the world to buy all of it.

9:47:51 PM

The Menu - New Haven web site

There's, like, a whole web site for this book with discussion boards and everything. I agree with one person who suggested that the book slammed Fresh Taco unjustly. Fresh Taco is not gourmet food, but it's inexpensive and tasty. It probably depends on what you get.

11:35:50 AM

The Menu - New Haven

Spotted this in a local bookstore. We really do have some fine restaurants around here. That wasn't always the case--I remember when New Haven was the pits back in the 80s.

3:42:41 PM

Amazon.com announces full-text search

"Starting today, you can find books at Amazon.com based on every word inside them ..." (See How It Works for more information.)

11:14:31 AM

Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt

This is a fascinating book about our national debt and more. It covers the development of the entire fiscal structure of the U.S., discussing such topics as banking (and debts), taxation, and the separation of powers established by the Constitution. This is really a fun romp through U.S. history from the perspective of economics, business development, and fiscal policy.

10:45:12 AM

Recent activities

Just catching up. The six or so entries below describe some things that I did over the past few weeks.
10:49:09 PM

Chocolat

Juliette Binoche is amazing.

10:42:38 PM

Matchstick Men

Hanju wanted to see this movie. I've been looking forward to it for weeks. There are something like three stories going on at once, and somehow none of them disappoint. There's the con, of course. There's the story of a man coming apart under his neuroses. And there's the story of a single man suddenly confronted with raising a teenage daughter. It could have been a mess, but the combination of a brilliant screenplay and perfect casting keeps everything on track.

10:42:19 PM

Remember the Titans

Quite a relief after Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Saw them the same night with PJ and Lawrence.

10:41:29 PM

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Wow. Intense. Very stylish. A bit too much to take with its incessant close-ups and slow-motion examination of guns, explosions, and gore. It was a bit of a relief for it to end. I loved Johnny Depp.

10:40:51 PM

Life of Pi

I liked this book a lot. I really did. It's very well-written with entertaining bits of humor and obscure zoological facts. It's a magical adventure. The main character, Pi, is imaginatively conceived. However, all in all, I do not understand why this book won the Booker Prize. I enjoyed it very much, but I have to believe that there were more worthy books published this year.

10:39:17 PM

Raspberries!

Hanju and I picked 4.61 pounds of raspberries. It didn't look like all that much sitting at the bottom of the buckets we were carrying. As soon as I started washing them at home, it became clear that it was an immense amount of raspberries. Good with vanilla ice cream.

10:37:46 PM

Peace Like a River

Read this book last weekend. Beautifully written, lyrically so. Thoughtful and intimate. It feels like it takes place outside of the normal boundaries of time and space and yet remains very real in many details and in the experiences of the characters. The characters themselves are warm, full of color, and original. They are entrancing. The whole thing reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird but not in a copycat way.

1:28:55 AM

The Matrix Reloaded

More about The Matrix Reloaded. There's also an annotated version of the conversation between Neo and the Architect.
12:10:58 AM

Acoustic Live [Nils Lofgren]

I watched a few Sopranos episodes over the weekend (courtesy of NetFlix). One of them ended with a song playing over the credits that immediately entranced me. After a bit of work I found out that the song was Nils Lofgren's "Black Books" from his Acoustic Live album. Fortunately, this album is available on Rhapsody. It's a beautiful album. He's amazing on the guitar.

3:52:19 PM

Digital cameras vs. film

Interesting. I got to this article via another one called "Size Matters." The point is that pixel count by itself doesn't tell the whole story on digital cameras. The optical system (lens, aperture/iris, and sensor size) also limits the achievable sharpness of a camera.
1:31:56 AM

Bel Canto

I read Bel Canto over the weekend. Wow. A beautiful, beautiful book. This is one of the most romantic books that I've ever read. Time stands still. It seems to start from an unlikely premise but ends up working so well. The focus glides from character to character, softly revealing a bit more about love, music, and compassion with each step. People are more alike than you can imagine. This is not a deep, heavy read. It's also not action-packed. Things happen gradually. It's a book to savor.

10:53:37 AM

The Secret Life of Dust

I just finished The Secret Life of Dust. There's more to dust, it turns out, than you might expect. I'm never going to feel the same about the simple act of breathing. With each breath, I could be breathing in just about anything. Nevertheless, this was not a book that I could read in one sitting. Dust can be a little dry, so it's best to read about it in small doses. There's a tremendous amount of details and facts in this book.

8:36:39 PM

Seabiscuit

Not only did I see the Seabiscuit movie last weekend, I also read the book. As you might expect, I liked the book more than the movie, but the movie is a very effective adapation of a gripping story. This is not just a story about a very fast horse. It's a story about a horse and 3 men (the owner, trainer, and jockey) who overcame tremendous obstacles including wrenching injuries to become heroes in the public spotlight. It's also a fascinating look into the world of thoroughbred horse racing where jockeys and horses routinely experience tremendous danger and huge thrills.

8:25:07 PM

Seabiscuit

I saw yesterday's matinee of Seabiscuit with PJ, Cindy, and Lawrence. I liked the movie a lot. It's hard to miss with a story like this. If you didn't know it was true, you wouldn't believe it. Clearly, the people who made the movie wanted to make sure you knew it was real, so the movie interweaves a sports movie with documentary-style segments about the horse, the people, and the times. That makes for a long movie, but it held my interest.

2:17:11 AM

Stopping Traffic: Can the car that Rick and Bryan built get traction?

Zooms from zero to 60 in four seconds. Top speed, 130 miles per hour. About 80 miles per charge. Jet-pilot seat belts and a racing-regulation roll cage. 1,100 pounds of Yellow Top batteries under the floorboards as ballast, so it's not tippy on turns.

Co-inventor Rick Woodbury says,

"As far as getting rid of war and nuclear weapons, solving the world's hunger problem, that would be great, but I have no idea how. This car, we know how. We've done it. And if 50 million Americans started driving Tangos, the world would be better."

3:37:27 PM

Tango

I want one of these:

The Tango
Doubling freeways. Quadrupling parking. 0-60 mph in 4 seconds.
An ultra-narrow, freeway-capable, stable, safe vehicle that fits anywhere a motorcycle fits.

3:04:55 PM

Breakfast at Tiffany's on the New Haven Green

Laura and I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's, tonight's free Friday Night Flick on the Green. At first, the movie doesn't seem to be much more than Audrey Hepburn's wonderful charm. As it proceeds, we see that there's much more to it than that, and the movie reveals the characters slowly with delicate nuances. Shockingly, this is the first time that I've seen the entire movie all at once. Tonight's presentation on the Green was wonderful. The night was cool with a soft breeze. It was so nice to sit out on the Green, scraping away at a little Italian ice in a cup.

11:46:42 PM

What are trans fats?

We've been discussing trans fats at work due, of course, to the recent announcement that the FDA will require food manufacturers to report trans fat levels on food labels. A simple Google query for "trans fats" picks up useful information but also a lot of fluff and hype. There's enough information there to convince you to avoid trans fats. However, if you really want to know what a trans fat looks like, search on some of the associated scientific terms.
10:53:49 PM

Concerts on the Green

Also, some nice Concerts on the Green.
6:59:44 PM

Friday Night Flicks on the Green

Looks like another nice summer of Friday Night Flicks on the Green (the New Haven Green).
6:57:33 PM

Pirates of the Caribbean

Hanju and I saw Pirates of the Caribbean. Not bad at all. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are both very entertaining. I love period pieces, even those based on amusement park rides. One thing that's very clear from the movie: people had to wear an awful lot of clothes in the 17th century (or 18th century, whenever it was).

10:51:15 PM

Putts Up Dock

I have to try the miniature golf course at Norwich called Putts Up Dock some time. An erupting volcano?
10:46:31 AM

Professional Miniature Golf Association

At first, I found this to be slightly scary and amusing, but after I thought about it for a bit, I'm no longer surprised that it exists. Apparently, there's a Professional Miniature Golf Association complete with opens, invitationals, and champions. The web site is a terrific resource for finding miniature golf courses. I like their logo.
10:41:51 AM

All Music Guide

I also use All Music Guide a lot. For example, Sue's friend Mark had told me about The Strokes, but he had also mentioned some other bands in the same breath that I hadn't quite caught. I looked up The Strokes at All Music Guide and the list of similar artists jogged my memory about Interpol and The White Stripes.
9:48:24 PM

Rhapsody

Speaking of which, an online music plan like Rhapsody works great for people like me (and probably like you) who have high-speed connections to the Internet most of the time. $9.95/month for unlimited access to a whole lot of tracks. Works for me. If you've got esoteric tastes, then your favorite music might not be in their catalog yet, but my taste in popular music isn't that adventurous, and I don't expect any online store to hold enough classical music recordings to satisfy classical music fans (like me).
9:30:58 PM

Is This It

Sue's friend Mark told me about The Strokes. I checked them out with my handy-dandy Rhapsody subscription. Nice. I've put Is This It in my Amazon.com shopping cart.

9:26:54 PM

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Like several million other people, I started and finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix earlier this week. I read it in two sittings, the 2nd sitting running into dawn the next day. So, yes, I couldn't put it down, but I also don't think that it really had to be 870 pages. It could be much shorter without losing anything. Also, Harry is a wee whiny and cranky for my tastes, and I don't think J. K. Rowling has really broken new ground except for Harry's irritating impatience.

10:58:53 PM

On Search: Squirmy Words

Tim Bray surveys the fuzzy edges of words and their meanings and the (surprisingly moderate) consequences for search systems in On Search: Squirmy Words.
3:43:51 AM

The Good Men

Finally, on the plane back from Los Angeles I started The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy and finished it here. It has, I think, one huge flaw (I won't spoil it for you), but it's a fascinating portrayal of life in 14th-century southern France. What's not to love? There's religion, sex, love, and positively medieval torment. The "heresy" in the novel is based on the real-life Cathars, a Christian sect that was prevalent at the time and put down brutally by the Catholic Inquisition--I never appreciated the separation of church from state more. Charmaine Craig depicts all the nuances of her characters' emotional turmoil and brutal life. The result utterly transported and gripped me. I couldn't put The Good Men down, even after encountering the major flaw (and I'm still not going to tell you what I think that is).

11:36:55 PM

Finding Nemo

And I took Prince Cor to see his first movie, Finding Nemo, which was excellent and managed to entertain Cor and me. Yes, Cor sat through all 101 minutes easily. It may have helped to have popcorn, a banana, and some cheese around, but I think he would've survived anyway.

11:15:29 PM

Adaptation

And I saw Adaptation, which was very amusing but not as good as I thought it would be, given the reviews. It did make me want to read The Orchid Thief.

11:09:11 PM

Six Degrees

So, while I was away in Los Angeles, I finished Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. Very cool, but I don't think all of it sunk in. Mr. Watts provides many eye-opening and intriguing results from the science of networks, but I think I missed the totality of it. I mean, I knew even before I started the book that there would be many eye-opening and intriguing results, but if I had to explain what they were, I don't think I could. So, I'll keep this one on my bookshelf and read it again (in parts). It'll probably all come together in my head 5 years too late (after everyone else has long understood it and moved beyond it). By the way, this is somewhat in contrast to my experience with The Tipping Point perhaps because the scope is narrower--social phenomena as epidemics is just one of the several ideas that Six Degrees touches upon.

11:05:24 PM

Courtney did the math

As Dave Winer notes, on this day in Y2K, Courtney did the math, and opened our eyes to how the music industry really works.
10:17:10 AM

The Last Broadcast

I've been listening to The Last Broadcast a lot. Lush, multi-layered textures, passionate (some songs with a relentless driving beat)--just how I like my music (or some of it, depending on my mood).

2:45:48 PM

Thermal depolymerization

Gee, I hope thermal depolymerization is for real. It's incredible! They can turn discarded computers and refrigerators into oil and a pile of minerals. We need more ideas like this.
9:29:25 AM

The Flaming Lips

	I have discovered The Flaming Lips! It's a bit like someone opened up my head and poured in sunlight, butterflies, Tang, and a drum set.

3:37:53 AM

Húrin

Another bit of Silmarillion lore:

Last of all Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Húrin cried 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive...

8:08:37 PM

Turin Turambar

A bit of Silmarillion lore:

'Hail, Gurtholfin, wand of death, for thou art all men's bane and all men's lives fain wouldst thou drink, knowing no lord or faith save the hand that wields thee if it be strong. Thee only have I now - slay me therefore and be swift, for life is a curse, and all my days are creeping foul, and all my deeds are vile and all I love is dead.' And Gurtholfin said: 'That will I gladly do, for blood is blood, and perchance thine is not less sweet than many a one's that thou hast given me ere now'; and Turambar cast himself then upon the point of Gurtholfin, and the dark blade took his life.

8:06:38 PM

Finished The Atoms of Language

I finished The Atoms of Language a few days ago. Languages are more similar to each other than they might appear to be on the surface. I think this is a good thing, because it suggests that there isn't a huge gulf between one "tribe" and another. We can express commensurable ideas in any language.

6:53:02 PM

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