Two good ones this week! I couldn't pick between them:
"What he did not know then is that it is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."
And:
"I've always told people that for each person there is a sentence - a series of words - which has the power to destroy him. When Fat told me about Leon Stone I realized (this came years after the first realization) that another sentence exists, another series of words, which will heal the person. If you're lucky, you will get the second; but you can be certain of getting the first: that is the way it works."
-Philip K. Dick, VALIS
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Empire never ended
I finished VALIS on Wednesday: this book is a masterwork of religion, history and philosophy. I'm not sure I can completely understand it, short of a PhD in those disciplines. Philip K. Dick was either completely brilliant, or thoroughly mad. Possibly both.
I don't think this is for PKD beginners, but once you've read even just a few of his books, it is nothing to be afraid of. (I used to think his novels were impenetrable. They're not. It's just a matter of getting used to his style.) Also, I'm not particularly religious, but PKD's take on how all religions are unified was a fascinating journey to watch unfold.
Interestingly, while the book was featured at least a couple times on the tv show Lost, I think it bears at least a passing resemblance to some of the themes in that other great mid-00's sci fi tv show, Battlestar Galactica; especially Chapter 7. In Chapter 7, the protagonist Horselover Fat discovers that early christians knew how to reconstitute themselves after death, and that it had been going on since before humans came to Earth. It's not a complete 1:1 ratio, but the themes of death, resurrection, and monotheism central to the cylon characters is all there, and it may enhance my understanding of that show as a result.
Also, I'm basically where I want to be on The Stand. After being behind for most of November, it seems like I could be finished with what I want to read in December by the end of the weekend.
Good stuff. Now to finish The Wordy Shipmates...
I don't think this is for PKD beginners, but once you've read even just a few of his books, it is nothing to be afraid of. (I used to think his novels were impenetrable. They're not. It's just a matter of getting used to his style.) Also, I'm not particularly religious, but PKD's take on how all religions are unified was a fascinating journey to watch unfold.
Interestingly, while the book was featured at least a couple times on the tv show Lost, I think it bears at least a passing resemblance to some of the themes in that other great mid-00's sci fi tv show, Battlestar Galactica; especially Chapter 7. In Chapter 7, the protagonist Horselover Fat discovers that early christians knew how to reconstitute themselves after death, and that it had been going on since before humans came to Earth. It's not a complete 1:1 ratio, but the themes of death, resurrection, and monotheism central to the cylon characters is all there, and it may enhance my understanding of that show as a result.
Also, I'm basically where I want to be on The Stand. After being behind for most of November, it seems like I could be finished with what I want to read in December by the end of the weekend.
Good stuff. Now to finish The Wordy Shipmates...
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wolfram Alpha
I added a link to Wolfram Alpha this week, over on the side of the blog.
Ask it if entropy can be reversed, I dare you. Or, "shall we play a game?"
It has much more useful applications too. Those are just a couple of my favorites.
Ask it if entropy can be reversed, I dare you. Or, "shall we play a game?"
It has much more useful applications too. Those are just a couple of my favorites.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Goodbye, Aberfan.
We lost a member of our family last week.
Our dog, Xeena, was sick - the vet didn't know with what. She had been relatively healthy over the summer, when she weighed 30 pounds, although a routine checkup indicated the beginnings of congestive heart failure. In October, she had a seizure while she was at the kennel one weekend. After that, she began favoring her back left leg. By mid-October, she was down to 25 pounds; we thought she had a UTI, but after 2 rounds of antibiotics, nothing helped. Then I noticed during the last weekend, she hadn't eaten. I took her to the vet for another exam the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and she was down to 22 pounds.
It may have been a neurological condition, or kidney failure, or cancer; it was probably cancer. We could have run a whole bunch of expensive tests to determine exactly what it was, but in the end, considering the likely diagnosis, and the fact that she was 14 years old, even after running the tests there probably wasn't a whole lot we could have done for her.
She was supposed to go to the kennel for the holiday weekend; she just wasn't strong enough. We were afraid she would have another seizure, or worse, that she would die alone, surrounded by strangers in an unfamiliar place.
And so it was time.
The day before Thanksgiving, we had her euthanized at the vets. She died in relative comfort, surrounded by her family.
It was the hardest decision I've ever made. My heart is still furious with my head over it, even though I know it was the right thing to do. If she wasn't suffering last Wednesday, she was going to be soon.
After some time had passed this weekend, I was able to reflect on the whole thing. It turns out I was more attached to her than I ever realized.
It put me in a mind to read a short story I had read a couple years ago, "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis. It is a story that takes place in the near-future; a future a lot like ours, except that a virulent disease has wiped out all the dogs on earth.
It is kind of like that subgenre of sci fi termed "post-apocalyptic" except that so many post-apocalyptic stories are stories of survival; this one is more about how people react when they are faced with loss. And that was exactly the kind of story I needed over the weekend.
The story is about a photojournalist who never got a picture of his own dog, Aberfan, before he died. Most dogs died of the disease, but Aberfan died after getting hit by a car. Years later, he sees a jackal by the side of the road - hit by someone on the highway - and it triggers some pretty harsh memories and sets into motion his own journey of self-discovery. He sets out to talk to the girl who hit Aberfan with her Jeep, to see if he can find Aberfan in the look on her face when he finally reconnects, and confronts her about it.
Instead, he finds out something about himself. He accidentally gets a picture of himself, and finds the truth of his emotions in an unguarded moment: "And it was all there, Misha and Taco and Perdita and the look he gave me on the way to the vet's while I stroked his poor head and told him it would be all right, that look of love and pity I had been trying to capture all these years. The picture of Aberfan."
The same look of heartbreak I saw as Xeena rode on my lap to the vet, for the last time.
So goodbye, Aberfan.
And goodbye, Xeena. You were a good dog. We love you, and we will miss you.
Now if you will excuse me, I think I have something in my eye.
Our dog, Xeena, was sick - the vet didn't know with what. She had been relatively healthy over the summer, when she weighed 30 pounds, although a routine checkup indicated the beginnings of congestive heart failure. In October, she had a seizure while she was at the kennel one weekend. After that, she began favoring her back left leg. By mid-October, she was down to 25 pounds; we thought she had a UTI, but after 2 rounds of antibiotics, nothing helped. Then I noticed during the last weekend, she hadn't eaten. I took her to the vet for another exam the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and she was down to 22 pounds.
Xeena in 2004. Happier times.
It may have been a neurological condition, or kidney failure, or cancer; it was probably cancer. We could have run a whole bunch of expensive tests to determine exactly what it was, but in the end, considering the likely diagnosis, and the fact that she was 14 years old, even after running the tests there probably wasn't a whole lot we could have done for her.
She was supposed to go to the kennel for the holiday weekend; she just wasn't strong enough. We were afraid she would have another seizure, or worse, that she would die alone, surrounded by strangers in an unfamiliar place.
And so it was time.
The day before Thanksgiving, we had her euthanized at the vets. She died in relative comfort, surrounded by her family.
It was the hardest decision I've ever made. My heart is still furious with my head over it, even though I know it was the right thing to do. If she wasn't suffering last Wednesday, she was going to be soon.
After some time had passed this weekend, I was able to reflect on the whole thing. It turns out I was more attached to her than I ever realized.
It put me in a mind to read a short story I had read a couple years ago, "The Last of the Winnebagos" by Connie Willis. It is a story that takes place in the near-future; a future a lot like ours, except that a virulent disease has wiped out all the dogs on earth.
It is kind of like that subgenre of sci fi termed "post-apocalyptic" except that so many post-apocalyptic stories are stories of survival; this one is more about how people react when they are faced with loss. And that was exactly the kind of story I needed over the weekend.
The story is about a photojournalist who never got a picture of his own dog, Aberfan, before he died. Most dogs died of the disease, but Aberfan died after getting hit by a car. Years later, he sees a jackal by the side of the road - hit by someone on the highway - and it triggers some pretty harsh memories and sets into motion his own journey of self-discovery. He sets out to talk to the girl who hit Aberfan with her Jeep, to see if he can find Aberfan in the look on her face when he finally reconnects, and confronts her about it.
Instead, he finds out something about himself. He accidentally gets a picture of himself, and finds the truth of his emotions in an unguarded moment: "And it was all there, Misha and Taco and Perdita and the look he gave me on the way to the vet's while I stroked his poor head and told him it would be all right, that look of love and pity I had been trying to capture all these years. The picture of Aberfan."
The same look of heartbreak I saw as Xeena rode on my lap to the vet, for the last time.
So goodbye, Aberfan.
And goodbye, Xeena. You were a good dog. We love you, and we will miss you.
Now if you will excuse me, I think I have something in my eye.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Mark Twain
A very happy 175th birthday to Mr. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, otherwise known as Mark Twain. He of course needs no introduction.
I read the first eight chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a senior in high school. I'm going to (start over and) finish it, probably sooner rather than later.
Happy Dodransbicentennial, American Icon!
I read the first eight chapters of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a senior in high school. I'm going to (start over and) finish it, probably sooner rather than later.
Happy Dodransbicentennial, American Icon!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Reader Comments
Hey, everybody. It was pointed out to me today that you have to have a blogger id to post comments; I loosened up the settings to allow anyone to post a comment. (Still moderated, of course. Stupid spammers.)
Quietly Disgruntled
...also, a Happy Birthday goes out to Quietly Disgruntled.
One of my two most frequent (ok, only) commenters, he is a budding author in his own right, thanks to NaNoWriMo.
Happy Birthday!
One of my two most frequent (ok, only) commenters, he is a budding author in his own right, thanks to NaNoWriMo.
Happy Birthday!
Madeleine L'Engle
Author Madeleine L'Engle was born on this day in 1918. She authored dozens of books, and is well known for her "young adult" fiction, especially A Wrinkle In Time. Wrinkle is a charming little book about mad science and the importance of family and is a great introduction to the concept of the tesseract. I read it a few years ago, and lent my copy of it to my nephew earlier this year.
It is definitely worth a read, no matter what your age is.
L'Engle died in 2007.
It is definitely worth a read, no matter what your age is.
L'Engle died in 2007.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Alan Lightman
Today is author Alan Lightman's birthday; he is also a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books Einstein's Dreams and Good Benito are both pretty sharp.
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