There's Smart and then there's this Guy

I recently finished two books that I had no real intention to read, but thought they sounded interesting enough to get and lo and behold I found the subjects in them very interesting, even if somewhat over my head at times. I am talking about The Theory of Everything and The Universe in a Nutshell by Dr. Steven Hawking, the British theoretical physicist who is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. They already sound like fun reads, don’t they? To make it even more exciting, the first book, The Theory of Everything, is read by the author… and yes, I’m talking about THAT Dr. Steven Hawking!

The Theory of Everything is a collection of seven lectures delivered by Hawking in 1994 focusing on space-time vs. real or linear time, the formation of the universe, it’s continuing expansion, the theory of relativity as well as his bread and butter, black holes. It is an unauthorized publication (which I found out after I read it) and contains much of the information that formed the basis of Hawking’s 1988 best selling A Brief History of Time, which was on the London Times best sellers list for a record breaking 237 weeks. I’m no Steven Hawking but my math tells me that’s a long time… especially for a book like this. The Universe in a Nutshell, published in 2001 is generally considered a sequel to and has been written to update the public of developments since 1988.

I think I got more out of The Theory of Everything since a lot of Nutshell has similar, though updated information from Theory. I am not really going to say much else other than if you have ever thought of reading any of his work go for it. He tries to dumb it down enough for us simpletons to understand, and if you have never been inclined to read, study or think about anything even remotely like this, go to the library and you might be surprised. Both books did informed me of a few things I did not previously know. First, Hawking is a firm believer in a God and writes extensively on how all evidence points back to a singular event, the Big Bang, and how many scientists don’t like that since evidence strongly suggests that an outside force or influence caused it. Second, the boarder of a black hole is called the event horizon, something I may have known had I seen the movie by the same title. Third, for an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis stricken (Lou Gehrig’s disease) limey math nerd (and I say that in the most loving way possible), this guy is hilarious. Okay, so I learned a bit more too but I am going to leave it at that for now and revisit my last point, he really does have a good sense of humor and a positive outlook on life. At the very beginning of his first lecture in The Theory of Everything he apologizes to his students for his digitally synthesized voice’s “American” accent. He says it was designed by a friend of his who is an American and he hasn’t been able to deliver a lecture in “proper English” since.

Here is a sample of some more of Hawking’s Humor… not necessarily all from his books:

“Einstein was wrong when he said ‘God does not play dice.’ Considerations of black holes suggests, not only does God play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can’t be seen.”

“I have noticed that even people who claim that everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

In response to a question about the accent of his voice synthesizer: “I find that American and Scandinavian accents work better with women.”

“Someone told me that each equation I included in my book would halve the sales. In the end, however, I did include one equation, Einstein’s famous E=mc2. I hope that will not scare off half of my potential readers.”

“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21(when he was diagnosed with ALS). Everything since then has been bonus.”

“To show this diagram properly I would need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could only manage a two dimensional screen.”

“Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.”

The link below is a pretty funny interview Dr. Hawking did about his appearance on The Simpsons

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=501_1191553904&p=1

Wackos Behind the Wheel 2

I have no idea how she managed to do this but she's lucky that she didn't go into the drink!I wonder how much her insurance went up?

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Hiroshima, originally an article written for The New Yorker by Pulitzer Prize winner John Hersey (intended to be serialized over the course of four consecutive issues but was given it's own special issue in August 1946) was later published as a stand alone novel. I had the option to read this book when I was a junior in high school but choose something else, though I couldn't tell you what I ended up reading.

Hiroshima follows the stories of six survivors from about an hour before the bombing until a year after; a Japanese Methodist minister, a German Jesuit priest, a war widow, a doctor who is the owner of a private hospital, a doctor at the local Red Cross hospital, and the clerk at a factory in the city. The book is made up of four chapters covering the moment of the blast, the devastation the city experienced immediately following the blast, the rumors about what had happened that ran rampant throughout the city as those less injured attempted to help the seriously wounded, and the weeks and months following the attack as the survivors attempt to rebuild their lives, while facing the radiation induced illnesses caused by the radiation from the bomb... apparently in books published after 1986, the forty year anniversary include an additional chapter, after Hersey returned to Hiroshima to catch up with the four survivors who were still living. My copy was from prior to this event so I'll have to see if I can find the final chapter in the not too distant future.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the authors refusal to make any overt moral judgments or political statements. He simply lets the narrative do its work, describing the terror and confusion accompanying the immediate aftermath of the air raid through some of the silver linings of a city described as rising like a phoenix from disaster, though I imagine it was a pretty hard read in 1946, just over a year after the bombing, when the American public was being exposed to the personal tragedies connecting with the ending of the war for the first time when there was no way to know the full extent of recovery that the city and the nation as a whole was to eventually make... remember, a population of about 230,000 was reduced by 100,000. There there are over 1.1 million people residing there.

A short read that is worth the time.

Daddy Time

It can be so boring with dad sometimes...
Napping after a walk.
'Playing with dad'

Thats more like it!

Update

Things are moving fast around here, things crop up left and right and I think it makes Carter a little tired...

Besides that, he's rolling from front to back regularly now, and enjoys a good tickle.

We went for a cultural 'walk' the other day to a nearby Shinto shrine, if you look close on the right side of the main wall there is a painting of a cute little mouse with a drum because its the year of the rat.

Here's a good picture of Coryn being crazy... really crazy, he's laughing his fake laugh and rolling on the boppy. This was one of those days where he keeps asking us to push him down.

Awww, Chunky Monkey! He really likes the laying on his back in my lap position.

Hear the Words on the Page

I have recently noticed that the number of books I am reading has gone down quite a bit. Apparently the government who employs me expects me to come to work and helping to raise a growing family takes a good chunk of time too [who knew? ;)]. That all changed about three or four weeks ago when I noticed how much time I spend driving around in my car and decided to check out the books on tape (though increasing more and more are actually on CD) at the two base libraries I have access to. Since that time I have finished six books and am currently listening to number seven.

Books on tape are not a new concept to me, I recall listening to Louis L'Amour "Chick Bowdrie" stories on a post high school road trip or two with Nate and I knocked out the first four Harry Potter books as well as two of the Lord of the Rings books while traveling to Moscow from Boise to visit Lisa before we got married. While I'm on the subject I have to take a minute to say that if you get a chance to listen to the Harry Potter books on tape, take it. All seven are read by Jim Dale, who also played Dr. Terminus, the antagonist in Pete's Dragon and he created a unique voice for each and every character in the series, maintaining it for the reoccurring characters throughout. In fact, he did such a good job that he was recognized with a Grammy for the final book, The Deathly Hallows and received nominations for The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix. He is cited twice in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the most character voices in an audiobook (more than 200) and for voicing the first six "Top Ten" selling audiobooks of all time.

I am going to try to do little reviews of the books I read so if anybody is looking for a good read, maybe I can help.

The first three books I want to talk about would fall into the "Founding Fathers" category. The 5000 Year Leap: The 28 Great Ideas that Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen (which Natalie gave me for Christmas so I actually used my eyes to read this one). This book takes a look at 28 principles that the Founding Fathers inserted into the constitution, how they allowed for the exponential progress experienced in the United States from its foundation, how the government has gotten away from some of these principles and how things would be if they were followed again. This book really gave me an appreciation of the importance of this great document that I have sworn to protect and defend from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Next was 1776 by David McCullough who does a very thorough job at looking at the events of the American Revolution in the year 1776 and how General Washington and his Army came to the brink of disaster various times and how General Howe and his British forces and Hessian mercenaries were unable to end the rebellion when they had the chance. This was an excellent supplement to The 5000 Year Leap, show the military actions around the time of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

I followed that up with John Adams, also by McCullough who has justifiably become known as one of the premiere American historians. Not really talked about too much in any of the history classes that I have taken at any level, this biography allowed me learn about the great life of arguably the most important American of his time (and considering when he lived, that's saying something), as well as the great help and influence that his wife Abigail was in his life.

If you're interested in American history, or books that "other people" might consider boring like I am than I would HIGHLY recommend all three of these great accounts from a pivital point in the birth of this nation

Wackos Behind the Wheel 1

Before the creation of The Irish Messinger I had a blog called American Anthropologist where I would post about things that were going on at Boise State University, the world of sports and anything else that caught my fancy and fell into the all encompassing category of "miscellaneous."

You might be surprised to hear this but having a growing family and been an officer in the active duty Army is a bit of a time consumer, and because of that I haven't posted anything on American Anthropologist in over two years. In the past few weeks I have thought about reviving "AA" because I really enjoyed some of the more random posts that I made but I have decided that I put them here and subject all of our dedicated Irish Messinger readers to it instead.

With that said, you have been warned that my own personal "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment" (to plagiarize a phrase from my favorite radio and TV new personality Glenn Beck) is going to be inserted here from time to time.


Without further adieu, I give you the first of my series "Wackos Behind the Wheel"

This picture is real-not doctored in anyway-and was taken by a Transportation Supervisor for a company that delivers building material for 84 Lumber. When he saw it in the parking lot of an IHOP, he went and bought a camera to take pictures. The car is still running as can be witnessed by the exhaust. A woman is either asleep, or otherwise passed out, in the front passenger side. The guy driving it was jogging up and down Rt. 925 (in the background). Witnesses said their physical state was OTHER than normal. The driver finally came back after the police were called, and was found crouched behind the rear of the car, attempting to cut the twine off of the load! Luckily, the police stopped him and had the load removed. The materials were loaded at Home Depot. Their store manager said they had the customer sign a waiver. While the plywood and 2X4s are fairly obvious, what you can’t see is the back seat, which contains -- are you ready for this? -- 10 bags of concrete 80 lbs. each. They estimated the load weight at 3000 lbs. Both back tires exploded, the wheels bent and the back shocks were driven through the floorboard. The car, with Florida plates, was headed for Annapolis, where the couple presumably planned to build a new house in which to smoke their crack.

Just Me and My Dad

While I was in Hawaii in March I picked up a couple of books for Coryn. One of them, entitled Just Me and My Dad is about a boy who goes camping with his father and all the things they do together. This book has become one of his most requested stories as of late so when it came time for the Father & Son outing I decided to take my chances and take him camping.

I was able to get off work about an hour and a half early so we could make the two hour (as you can see by the picture, he "helped" with the driving) drive up north to Okuma, one of the local Armed Forces Recreational Facilities, and arrive while it was still light so I wouldn't have to figure out how to set up the tent I rented in the dark... I didn't bring any of my camping equipment to Okinawa with me, I figured there wouldn't really be anyplace to camp at... who knew?

So we drove up, pitched the tent and Coryn REALLY enjoyed the Ham and Cheese lunchable he had for dinner... since the ham was circular he kept referring to it as "pepperoni." Anyway, he really seemed to enjoy himself. There were quite a few other boys there he knows and he was able to help them dig holes on the beach in the dark Friday night and bury people in the sand Saturday morning. I would have to day the highlight of the trip for him came Friday night when he was given his very own glow stick and ate his very first s'more. He timidly took his first bite (I had just had the marshmallows over the fire after all) and exclaimed, "Mmmmm, that's yummy!"

All in all it was a fun trip. There were a few "why am I trying to camp with a two year old" moments but I'm sure we'll do it again next year which will probably be the last year that it is "just me and my dad."