August reading list

So, I've decided to start keeping a log of books I read. Here's the ones I can remember from August.

• 100 Bullets: Wilt (final volume in this crime masterpiece)
• Ultimate Iron Man II (Orson Scott Card's take on Tony Stark's early years)
• Superman: Birthright (Waid & Yu redo the Man of Steel's origin)
• The Best of the Spirit (collection of prime Eisner strips from the 1940s)
• Complete Age of Apocalypse I & II (reprinting the 1990s story arc)
• A History of God (Karen Armstrong dissects the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim conceptions of God over the last 3,000 years)
• Daemon (Suarez's first novel, and a doozy about what happens when you die...and you are a computer genius who sets up a series of programs to help you take over the world after your death)
• To Your Scattered Bodies Go (First book in Farmer's beloved series, which I'd never read before - good stuff)
• The Six Directions of Space (novella about a future where Genghis Khan completed his takeover of the world)
• DMZ: On the Ground & Body of a Journalist (what happens when the US has the second Civil War? NYC becomes ground zero again)
• Scott Pilgrim I & II (entertaining nerdy book, soon to be a move starring Michael Cera)
• Powers: The 25 Coolest Dead Superheroes of all Time (newest volume in Bendis & Oeming's crime/superhero drama)
• Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Gaiman tackles the Bruce Wayne's final story)
• The Wicked West (vampires + cowboys = cool)
• Sea of Red (vampires + pirates = also cool)

Plus of course dozens of websites (Bleeding Cool, Boing Boing, Goats, New Scientist, Overcompensating, Wired, and so on), articles, and those boring old textbooks.

Any suggestions for me?

Muppets + violence + coffee = Awesomesauce

http://superpunch.blogspot.com/2009/06/shockingly-violent-coffee-commercials.html

Apparently, Jim Henson did a series of commercials for Wilkins Coffee prior to Sesame Street that were a bit on the awesomely violent side.

My first Father's Day

About eight months ago, on October 29, 2008, I became a father. It has been both more wonderful and more difficult than I had ever thought.

I mean, I'd heard tons of other people describe the awe and joy that came with parenthood, but I couldn't seem to take them seriously. "There's no way it's that fantastic," I'd think when hearing other new parents gush about how their child changed their life. Don't get me wrong, I thought it would be great and all, I just didn't think it would be as crazily, abjectly mind-blowing as others did.

I was wrong.

Lucian is a fantastically, awesomely wonderful little dude. I teared up and couldn't speak when he was born, and still do when I think about it. Since then, I know that all those other new parents were right. The most life-changing thing ever...Incomparably wonderful...and all those other seemingly cheesy things you hear to describe becoming a parent - turns out, they're true.

Not that it's all roses and Sonic blasts, mind you. Between his nursing problems, food intolerances, and sleeping issues, we've had more than our fair share of difficulties. But, the joy of shepherding (and being shepherded by) a life you and your wife created more than makes up for it. Even at 6:15 am, when I started writing this after the little one woke up (after a night not really sleeping, seems like it's growth spurt time), I am just continually amazed by him.

I told Ali multiple times yesterday "Thank you for making me a father." I have an awesome family, a great life, and the best Father's Day ever...because I am one.

Alt med = crap? I'm so surprised,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090610/ap_on_he_me/us_med_unproven_remedies_research

BETHESDA, Md. – Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.

To paraphrase the great James Randi (randi.org), I could have told them that for $2.50. I mean, 2.5 BILLION dollars? They could have just given every person in the US $8 and told them to go to a movie or buy a good hamburger.

This reminds me of the SRI studies in the 1970s and 80s that spent $20 million to see if "remote viewing" was real (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRI_International#Clairvoyance_and_ESP). Guess what? It wasn't (http://www.skepdic.com/remotevw.html).

Maybe Obama's White House will cut some of this crap out, but given that he wants to play nice, I don't see that happening.

Paying for grades - good or bad?

Well, in terms of poorer schools, it seems to be paying off pretty well - to the tune of a huge increase in scores (http://www.nypost.com/seven/06082009/news/regionalnews/learn__earn_plan_pays_off_173099.htm).

Thoughts? Personally, I'm a bigger fan of creating high expectations (http://thedefendersonline.com/2009/05/22/kipp-the-power-of-high-expectations/) and encouraging a learning-oriented environment and mindset (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids).

But, results are results, and getting paid for performance is what almost all jobs are about (academic administration notwithstanding). Is there really anything wrong with this, other than us feeling a little odd about it?

What, the media exagerates?

They sure do, and reason.com has a nice list of the "Top 10 Most Absurd Time Covers." Great reading, and just one more reason not to buy into the "news."

http://reason.com/news/show/134038.html

DRM + content = ordinary people becoming "pirates"

The term "pirates" becomes all the more ridiculous when we have actual Somali pirates on the seas, but even so this article shows just how asinine DRM is and how it curbs people's rights:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/05/landmark-study-drm-truly-does-make-pirates-out-of-us-all.ars

Copyright for students

Great resource from the EFF to help teachers show students what copyright is and is not.

http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

But, aren't all photographers terrorist?

Um, no, actually. Of course, something like this fake DOHS "license" will probably help you get by the dumbasses who think they are:

http://www.matthewwilliamsdesign.com/weblog/index.php/site/comments/muni_dont_take_my_kodachrome/

OCD athletes

Is OCD more common in high performing athletes? Maybe I'll do research and find out:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17160-practice-makes-perfect-are-athletes-prone-to-ocd.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Podcasts

http://thememorypalace.us/

• Mostly forgotten or unknown bits of history and fun facts. Weekly.

http://www.pointofinquiry.org/

• Religion, pseudoscience, the paranormal, alternative medicine - all from a scientific outlook. Weekly.

An online memory dump

Basically, that's what this will be. Stuff I find and want to keep easily accessible, thoughts I have and don't want to forget, and so on. Maybe someone else will read this, maybe they won't. Enjoy.