Kendall Giles

Of the Bond books I've read so far, I would have to say that On Her Majesty's Secret Service, by Ian Fleming, is one of his best.

This book encompasses a lot for changes for Bond. Picking up Bond's life after Thunderball, Bond is about ready to quit his job as a 00 after becoming discouraged tracking down Ernst Blofeld, the leader of SPECTRE, and is just ready to hand in his resignation letter. But a series of events involving money and a woman at a casino soon leads Bond into the depths of the French mafia. From there, he receives a tip on the whereabouts of Blofeld, and Bond goes undercover to investigate Blofeld's operation. But before he leaves, he finds that he has fallen in love with the woman from the casino, Tracy---true love, perhaps for the first time in his life.

While on the mountain, Bond uncovers a dire plot involving biowarfare and the action really picks up from there. However, the most emotional moments occur when Bond gets back together with Tracy, and his life is changed forever.

This story is good not only because of the Bond action we have come to expect, but also because we get to see a personal and emotional side of him not often shown.

I have not seen the movie version of the book yet - my understanding is that it stars George Lazenby as Bond, instead of Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, or Pierce Brosnan.

Note that reading this book completes part of one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

Doctor No, by Ian Fleming, picks up immediately after where From Russia with Love left off.

After recovering from the poisoning at the end of the previous novel, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a section chief on the island. Once there, Bond starts to uncover clues around many secret and strange activities of a certain Dr. No on Crab Key Island. Investigating further, Bond finds himself in the middle of a large, diabolical plot by Dr. No to gain power and wealth.

He is soon captured, and Bond must struggle to stay alive while trying to save the life of an innocent girl also caught by Dr. No, the beautiful Honey Ryder. Mr. Fleming shows his creative talents in devising various punishments and traps for Bond, and Dr. No becomes a legendary Bond Villain. A thrilling and unforgettable story.

The film version of Dr. No was actually the first Bond film with Sean Connery.

Note that reading this book completes part of one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

It was from a different time, a somehow more refined time that bred James Bond. It was a time before fancy gadgets, suicide bombers, and the Internet. It was a time of heroes, when the clack of the train as it runs along the rails promised a certain romance, and when the trace of a hidden door in a wall panel brought danger. A double-edged throwing knife, bullets smuggled through airport security, vodka martinis.

Such is the world in the James Bond thriller From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming, thought by some to be the best of the Bond novels (and is said to have been adapted well onto the screen version, with Sean Connery).

In the book, James travels to Istanbul to retrieve a cypher machine, but gets entangled and distracted by the captivating Tatiana Romanova. Along the way Bond meets a few friends, but many enemies, including Russia's SMERSH organization, and the story comes to a climax during a perilous trip on the Orient Express. There is a surprise ending, and we can't help but wonder if Bond makes it out alive.

Note that reading this book completes part of one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

If one were to pause for a moment and consider what "good government" would be like, we might think of one that would serve the people, upholding the Constitution, working to help the citizens in time of need, offering services to enrich the quality of life, promoting science, innovation, and education, defending the country in time of crisis, and serving as a shining example to other nations.

Now, if you were to reflect on the government you've seen in action recently, then your two visions might not exactly match.

In his book Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters, Richard Clarke, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence, and Special Advisor to the President on Cybersecurity and Cyberterrorism, among other important federal government roles, provides a frank, honest, and professional assessment as to why your vision of your current government does not come close to your vision of "good government", especially with regard to national security matters.

Beginning with the failures before and after 9/11, he also analyses intelligence efforts, homeland security, energy policies, and, in my opinion most importantly, cyberspace and cybersecurity.

We need more professionals like Richard Clarke in government, to lead, guide, and provide wisdom to our elected officials. As the individuals with the experience, dedication, and ability are run out of government by an increasingly polarized and politicized administration, one wonders who will sound the voice of reason, rationality, and intelligence going forward.

Note that reading this book completes one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

There are a number of tools that have become available recently that overlay population features on top of geographic maps (thanks NumbersGuy). The data is from government surveys, crime logs, census logs, etc., and have been available for a very long time. However, by adding the geographic component and a web interface, the data is suddenly much more accessible and useful, especially to the individual.

For example, are you going to buy a new home and want to check out neighborhoods for various factors, such as crime, income, education opportunities, neighborhood walkability, etc.? Or are you interested in checking out your current neighborhood? Do you want to open a business and so want to target specific markets?

Below are a number of online tools that you may help you answer these questions:

• SpotCrime: shows crime statistics for a given address
• PolicyMap: shows census, real estate analysis, crime, mortgage origination, education, income, demographic, job, energy, and other statistics
• Walk Score: rates a given address on its walkability - a measure of the quality of life around a given address when walking
• Criminal Searches: search a given neighborhood or even people for crimes and offences.

As the first of several examples, here is an image of the distribution of household incomes around VCU in the year 2000, using the PolicyMap service. The free version unfortunately only gives access to old data (e.g., year 2000 for incomes), and the resolution is a little course (does not give block-by-block resolution), but you still can see overall trends. In the figure, the regions shaded with the darker colors indicate higher median household incomes.

The image below, from SpotCrime, shows the various crimes that were reported and logged by police from March 4, 2008 to May 4, 2008 around VCU. The different icons indicate different types of crimes, such as assaults, thefts, arson, arrests, robbery, burglary, vandalism, etc. While the number of crimes over just a two month period might seem high, VCU is an urban university in the middle of a low-income part of town (see previous median income image) with a dense population, so some amount of crime is unfortunately probably to be expected without better enforcement and more security.

Finally, on the bright side, VCU does appear to be a neighborhood that is quite walkable, as seen in the following graphic, where WalkScore gives VCU a walkability score of 88 out of 100, where 100 is the best walkability score you can get. Each icon represents a grocery store, restaurant, coffee shop, bar, movie theatre, school, park, library, bookstore, fitness center, drug store, etc., that are good to have within walking distance - the more of these establishments there are, the higher the walkability score.

You might be interested in checking out a post I made on my university blog, where I discuss a table showing numbers of degrees being produced versus projected job demand in several disciplines. The results may surprise you (and may give insight into why the U.S. keeps outsourcing high-tech jobs).

Hint: where are the students?

Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes recounts the following exchange:

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

So, "turtles all the way down" refers to a belief about how the universe is constructed--our world rests on the back of a turtle, which rests on the back of a second turtle, which rests on the back of a third, etc.---and more generally refers to an infinite regression type of situation or problem or argument.

The turtle stacking nexus must be somewhere in Virginia, because so far this summer I've had to relocate seven turtles, going the wrong way on busy streets or otherwise getting themselves into trouble.

First, there was this turtle, then that turtle, then the following quick succession of honorable turtles:

Here's Turtle Three:

Turtles Four and Five:

Turtle Six:

Turtle Seven:

So how many turtles support the world on their backs?

Well, at least seven.

If you think that you make rational, reasoned decisions, or that you are the master of your domain, etc., then you might consider reading Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely.

This book provides a very interesting glimpse into just how humans make decisions in real life---it turns out that in a variety of situations, humans are not the masters of rationality that we assume them to be.

Economics is very good at making lots of models to predict supply and demand, though a core assumption is that humans will always make rational decisions. One look at the current economy gives weight to the statement that economists have a very hard time with getting their complex models to reflect, in any reasonable way, reality. Dan's take on economics is that humans, more often than not, make irrational decisions, leading to a new field called Behavioral Economics. Through a series of very interesting experiments, Dan shows that his suppositions are correct---humans make irrational decisions a lot, and the results of his experiments give insight into why and how people respond as they do to life situations.

Example experiments include testing human decision making when we have lots of options, how our decision making is distorted when we are sexually aroused, why we are dishonest, and how we are influenced by the placebo effect and the power of suggestion.

I found this book very entertaining---now I know why a 50-cent Aspirin works and a 1-cent Aspirin doesn't---and I do think Dan has done a great service in highlighting and investigating how humans really make decisions, as opposed to how traditional economists assume we make decisions.

Finally, reading this book finishes one of my 101 goals in 1001 days.

I just created a set of 101 resolutions/goals/things-to-do that should keep me occupied for the next 1001 days.

I first read about the project, called 101 Things To Do in 1001 Days, on Robert Talbert's blog, and then visited the triplux site for more information. It seems like an interesting way to structure getting things done, so I figured it is worth a shot.

Remember, 1001 days is equivalent to about 2.75 years, so I'll be (hopefully) ticking off tasks as I accomplish them for some time to come, but if I go too long without accomplishing anything, feel free to ping me.

Also, you might want to consider joining in on the fun by creating your own set of 101 Goals or things you want to do and then, well, doing them.

Just yesterday I paid $4.09/gallon for 87 octane gas in Baltimore. Many people, lured into buying bloated, inefficient cars, trucks, and SUVs made and marketed by Detroit, are now feeling similar pains in the wallet. An ABC news story suggests that gas may soon cost $7/gallon.

But it is not just the high price of gas that is causing concern. All across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of people are losing their homes to foreclosure or are unable to sell their homes, and the crown jewels of the U.S. are being bought up by unsavory foreign governments taking advantage of the weak dollar.

Everyone wants to just throw their hands into the air, but if you have wondered why these events are happening, then you might consider reading The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash by Charles R. Morris.

This book won't help you get out of debt, sell your house, or improve the degrading quality of the education system. But what it will do is put the current economic crisis into context, give insight into how economic and personal spending practices contributed to the problem, and help us understand what can be done to improve our national situation. It will also help you realize why and how the much heralded Alan Greenspan and his Chicago economics theories may have actually led to our current economic downward spiral, as did the lack of critical thinking skills by the millions of Americans who tried to buy houses when they could not afford to, assisted by greedy banks, other lenders, and Wall Street. It will also show how the follies of the current Presidential administration led to the decline of American economic standing in the world, with potentially dire implications for us all going forward.

There are no quick fixes for the current situation we voted and spent ourselves into, but this book at least paints a plausible explanation for why we are here. Where we go from here depends in large part on the resilience and fortitude of the American peoples, and this book at least helps show a reality clearly the result of causes and effects rather than from forces outside our control.

Human's have it pretty good. Unlike, say, the koala, which only has to consider which eucalyptus tree to climb in order to have yet another meal of eucalyptus leaves, humans are omnivores, able to make a meal from a variety of plants, animals, and fungi. This has, in part, allowed humans to live in all parts of the world - from the humid tropics of the jungle, to the dry, sandy deserts of the middle east, to the cold, unforgiving quiet of the frozen tundra.

But this ease of making a meal, no matter what the environment, has turned what was once a survival advantage for our species, when humans first struggled to spread across the globe tens of thousands of years ago, into a bit of a disadvantage in an industrialized world over-populated with people and, ironically, with too much of the wrong kind of food. Overpopulation and the need to feed so many mouths has led to the industrialization of food production, transforming small family farms into large monocultures of genetically-modified cornfields and acre-sized metal sheds of captive, steroid and antibiotic-injected cows. We might have once thought this scaling up of food production to be a good thing, but is it?

But why stop asking questions there? Just where does that McDonald's meal come from, really? Why does the U.S. grow so much corn? Why do the factory farms plant thousands of acres of corn, and only corn? And with so much corn, why does the government subsidize the factory farms to grow more of it? Is "corn-fed beef" a delicacy, or a perorative? How is Whole Foods, at the same time, different from and just like the modern factory farm? Why might Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, represent the best farm in the U.S.?

Why indeed. And you might be surprised at the answers to each of the above questions.

So if you have ever wondered about the food you unpackage from its plastic shrink wrap and plop into the microwave, if you have ever considered the moral hazard of eating meat - or corn, and if you have ever wanted to gather wild mushrooms, then you might want to read The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

With an admirable investigative tenacity and a gift for telling a good story, Michael details how our food is grown, produced, cooked, and eaten by examining the life story behind four meals - one bought from a fast food chain, one made from items bought in an organic store, one made from foods grown and raised on a sustainable farm, and one made from foods foraged from the wild. In reading about Michael's adventures, you will discover what it takes to get the food on your table to your table, and you will likely never think about corn the same again.

Modern humans have lost the connection to the land and the food it provides. Overweight, overpopulated, and increasingly unhealthy, Michael's look into what we eat and how it was made is perhaps the just desserts.

If you've ever wanted to combine staying healthy with literature, then you might want to consider walking, biking, swimming, or rowing to Rivendell.

Here's the idea: Karen Fonstad (sadly, when writing up this post, I saw that Karen died in 2005 due to complications from breast cancer) reverse-engineered the route Frodo and Company took on their way to Rivendell in her book The Atlas of Middle-Earth. For example: leaving Bag End, heading west through the gate into a lane, following the lane for a bit, then following the hedgerows south is about a 3 mile trip.

In her Rivendell mileage chart, Karen notes the cumulative miles, miles between each milepost, and the description of each milepost location. So if you are just starting out and log 3 miles on today's run, then you would make a note in your notebook your mileage run for the day and the cumulative miles you have run. That way you can compare your progress against the progress of the Company as they (and you) head to Rivendell.

All this may sound a bit geeky, but it does work---I have started the journey, though extensive, non-fitness travel has kept me away from too much "Hobbit-walking", as my wife calls it. Nevertheless, yesterday I jogged 2.25 miles, which brings my cumulative total to 36.84 miles. On the Rivendell journey, this puts me just beyond that incident with the Black Rider, but before they meet up with the Elves on the Road.

As a final note: in case you are not familiar with Rivendell, Hobbits, or J.R.R. Tolkien, get thee to Amazon and buy the books, or at least the movies. Getting back into shape can wait until you finish - one has to have priorities.

If you are interested in quality, intelligent entertainment, then you might want to check out the series Numb3rs, available on DVD or by individual episode download.

The series depicts an FBI agent who is helped by his mathematics whiz brother in solving crimes - kind of like CSI with equations rather than microscopes. But don't let the equations scare you off - the conflict caused by the two different methods of problem solving, characterized by the FBI agent brother and the mathematics brother, along with the various crimes and bad guys, actually provides for exciting drama.

As an example, in the pilot episode a serial rapist/killer is loose in Los Angeles. The FBI agent has a map of the city showing the locations of the crimes, but is otherwise stumped on how to track the killer and predict where the killer will strike next. The mathematician studies the pattern of the crime locations and, rather than try to predict the location of the next crime, he estimates the location of where the killer lives. The analogy is that of a garden water sprinkler - it is difficult to predict where the next water droplet will land, but if you study the pattern of the drops of water, you can estimate where the water sprinkler must be located.

Note that the math used in the episodes is real, and if you are interested in finding more about the different techniques used in the various episodes, then you might want to take a look at the book The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics.

I've uploaded Part 1 Chapters 8 and 9 of Beowulf.

I've uploaded Part 1 Chapter 7 of Beowulf.

I've uploaded Part 1 Chapter 6 of Beowulf.

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I've uploaded Part 1 Chapter 5 of Beowulf.

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The wonderful folks at Synthesize.us have made a Star Trek theme for the Nokia N810, so now it has an LCARS display just like those PADD tablets they use on Enterprise:

Energize!

Technorati Tags: culture, technology

I couldn't resist, on this St. Patrick's Day:

here's Danny Boy, as sung by Beaker, Swedish Chef, and Animal.

Technorati Tags: culture

WHEN: Saturday, May 10th, 2008

One hundred thousand welcomes to Maryland's Scottish Event! Enjoy bagpipes, Scottish and Irish dancing, shopping, traditional food and afternoon tea. Watch kilted, professional Highland athletes compete for victory - tossing trees and throwing heavy weights. Enjoy bagpipe music as you stroll through Vendor's Row featuring Celtic goods and delicious foods from across the pond and America as well. Free genealogy service will be available as well, with over 30 clans on hand to further assist and educate about your family's heritage and tartan.

For more information, go to their website: http://www.sasmm.com/celtic_festival.htm

Technorati Tags: culture, living, spirit

It is sometimes interesting to investigate history a little in order to determine the context of modern events.

Take Easter, for example.

While many Christians view Easter as the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, Easter as a religious event goes back much farther than that.

"Easter" comes from the ancient Germanic Goddess of spring, nature, and renewal, Eostre, or Ostara. This Goddess was symbolized by the hare and eggs, for reproduction and fertility during a time of year when the Germanic folk celebrated the coming warmth of spring and the planting of new crops, at a time marked by the Spring Equinox.

People would often color these Easter eggs, give them as gifts, eat them for good luck, and even hang them from trees to welcome good spirits:

The display and gift-giving of colored eggs was a common springtime practice among ancient Saxons, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and other pagan peoples.

This celebration continues today as the Ostara Rite, or Easter, though the Christians have adjusted the storyline a bit.

Even the Easter Bunny comes from the ancient Germanic religions:

Germans brought the legend of the Easter rabbit to America, though Easter itself wasn't widely celebrated in America until after the Civil War.

So give thanks to Eostre by coloring an egg (and you can refer to a previous post on some egg coloring ideas for the computationally inclined), eating a chocolate bunny, and welcoming the warmth of spring. These rituals are much more traditional than you might have previously thought.

Technorati Tags: culture, spirit

I just thought these links might be of interest for those wanting to decorate eggs, perhaps using your computer:

• with Mathematica: http://www.kathryncramer.com/kathryn_cramer/2008/03/who-among-you-a.html
• ovals and egg curves: http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/eggcurves.htm

Technorati Tags: culture, spirit

When a colleague invited me to a recent birthday party for her one year old son, I was not sure what to give as a gift, until I happened onto the Build A Bear Workshop store.

The way the store works is that, you guessed it, you build a bear or stuffed animal.

First, you get to choose the type of stuffed animal you want to build - the classic teddy bear, or a bunny rabbit, or a baby chick. The animal you picked is essentially just the skin - no stuffing is in it yet.

Then, you go over to a large machine with a rotating arm that fluffs up the stuffing, kind of like a large cotton candy machine. When you step on a lever, the stuffing shoots out of a nozzle and the store attendant directs this into the animal skin, filling the body with stuffing, kind of like a reverse vacuum cleaner. You get to choose how stuffed you want the animal to be. You also get to insert a sound chip if you want, and you also get to insert a tiny plush heart. The attendant then closes the hole in the back of the skin and you have a new friend ready to go home with you.

But you might want some clothes for your new friend!

The store carries a wide variety of outfits, and most are interchangeable no matter what animal type you picked out. I chose a Buzz Lightyear space suit, though if I was going to keep the bear for myself I would have chosen the Harley Davidson motorcycle jacket.

If you give your new friend a name, they will print off a birth certificate, and you are on your way home with a relatively inexpensive, customized gift.

The store also has an online bearville where kids can enter information about their bear, play games, watch little movies, etc. I could see how a child would find the whole process very entertaining, and the parents might like the ability to customize the gift as well.

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Richmond regularly tops lists of high-crime cities, and just a few weeks into my new job there, I was "reacquainted" with this unfortunate aspect.

While walking to my car late one night from the office on campus, sick with the flu and carrying a couple bags of books, it seems that I was selected as the target of a gang initiation, whereby the candidate inductee must start a fight with the victim. Luckily I kept my cool during the incident and all ended OK, but it was not a pleasant experience, and it was a good reminder that, when in the real world, all is not milk and honey.

Thinking now of practical self-defense options, here is a movie made in about 2002 by a Western martial arts group who got together at Frogmore Grange, Coventry, England. Participants enjoyed tea and crumpets before the days' activities of walking stick fighting, pugilism, and jiujitsu, followed by a three-course meal in a Victorian dining room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiTAtJI_uU

Self-defense laws being what they are, especially on university campuses, certain self-defense options are precluded from consideration. However, the cane or walking stick certainly seems viable. Here is a transcription of a self-defence article from 1901:

"Self-defence with a Walking-stick: The Different Methods of Defending Oneself with a Walking-Stick or Umbrella when Attacked under Unequal Conditions"

Self-defense with a cane is a component of Bartitsu, the martial art made popular in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Other resources for this line of self-defense and training include:

• The Bartitsu Society
• canes at woodenswords
• Defense Dans La Rue
• Bartitsu Wikipedia entry

Be safe, and be prepared!

Technorati Tags: culture, defense, fitness, martial arts, security, virginia

Tonight I've uploaded Part 1 Chapter 4 of Beowulf.

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Now this is a heritage celebration: the largest fire festival in Europe, Up Helly Aa, takes place each year in Shetland the last Tuesday in January.

"Guizers" form a torch-light procession and proceed to ceremonially burn a full-size replica Viking longship.

I think most folks in the U.S. are too short-sighted to try something like that here.

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I've been on the road lately, and so have not had a chance to make many audio recordings.

Tonight I tried a new audio source, and have added Part 1 Chapter 3 of Beowulf.

I'll need to play some more with my mobile audio setup, as the recording levels and room echo are not currently quite what I am looking for.

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Early this morning, at 01:08AM EST, marked Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, the return of the sun (Sunna) and warmth, and the official beginning of winter.

Demarest goes on to explain the intricacies of the Norse Yule tradition. "For the ancient Norse people, winter was a very difficult time,the growing season had ended and the shortened days meant that the life-giving sun was disappearing, leaving them in darkness and extreme cold. The winter solstice marked their triumph over darkness and the return of the warmth and a new year. The Yule season is twelve days long, beginning the night before the winter solstice. The most important aspect of those twelve days is that our world and the world of the Gods and Goddesses are together, and it is a blessing to be close to them and have a connection -- it is at this time that we look back over the old year and make oaths for the new year."

Here is a link to an article in the Washington Post about the National Yule Log in the U.S. (which burns continuously from Dec 7 to Jan 2).

So whatever form of celebration you have this time of year, have safe travels, good food, warmth, and fellowship with family and friends this Yule!

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The latest installment of the Beowulf Project is up, Part 1, Chapters 1-2.

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As another piece of our cultural history, and given the timeliness (and timelessness) of this hero, I've started a series of Beowulf readings.

After all, according to Wired magazine, this is the year of the Viking:

Why this sudden interest in the savage tribes who roamed across what became the UK and Scandinavia? Maybe because they combine the best of zombies, ninjas, and robots. Their cool ships and armor are sort of the Dark Ages equivalent of high tech, their fighting skillz are fully ninja, and of course they shamble along in rags with chopped-off limbs just like zombies do. Really, you just can't go wrong with Vikings.

And, Valhalla knows, we could all use a real hero these days.

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Entry number three for the Younger Edda audio project is chapters three and four from The Fooling of Gylfe.

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Entry number two for the Younger Edda audio project is chapters one and two from The Fooling of Gylfe.

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I've started a page for my audio projects, and the first entry is the preface to Anderson's The Younger Edda.

The Younger Edda is a 13th century collection of stories about the Teutonic Gods and Goddesses from the traditional, pre-Christian religion of the Northern Europeans. Rasmus Anderson translated the Old Norse Prose Edda, or Snorri's Edda, into English in 1879. Since I am a fan of tradition, history, and ancestral culture, I decided to make audio recordings of this work. I also wanted to learn more about recording technology and audio engineering.

The first entry is an MP3 of the preface from Anderson's translation.

Technorati Tags: academia, culture, religion, spirit, technology

One of my friends is a falconer, and so I got to see some of her raptors up close.

A Saker Falcon.

A Goshawk.

A Harris Hawk.

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Before you get too excited, no, it is not a museum of hammers. When I first saw the museum in Los Angeles' Westwood area, I thought how great to have a museum on hammers - battle hammers or maybe even Thor's Hammers!

Alas, that was not the case, but you should visit it anyway if you are in the area. The Hammer Museum houses some of the art collected by the late Armand Hammer, who was an American industrialist (no, Armand Hammer did not create the Arm and Hammer baking soda). He collected art his entire life, and amassed a very large collection. This museum displays some works from his collection and rotates through other exhibitions. On Thursdays there is free admission, so this is a prime time to visit.

From Hammer's private collection, we saw paintings by French 19th century masters, other European master paintings, and 18th-20th century American artists. There were van Goghs, Monets, a Rubens, and very nice Rembrandts, including Rembrandt's Juno and Portrait of a Man Holding a Black Hat.

There was also an exhibition of 17th-19th century advertisements called broadsides that depicted showings like Toby the sapient pig, a dulcimer player with no arms, the real-life Tom Thumb, and fortune telling ponies.

There was also a modern art media exhibition showing, for example, a guy pushing a block of ice through a city until it melted.

There are many events held at the museum throughout the year, and the museum itself is managed by UCLA.

Technorati Tags: academia, culture, living, travel

Snap-Apple Night, was painted by Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. Supposedly he painted this after attending a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The group on the left are playing divination games, the group in the middle are playing "Snap Apple", a game where an apple is dangling from a string and people, with their arms tied behind their back, try to bite the apple. The first person who bites the coin in the apple wins. The group on the right are bobbing for apples. The caption in the first exhibit catalogue:

There Peggy was dancing with Dan
While Maureen the lead was melting,
To prove how their fortunes ran
With the Cards ould Nancy dealt in;
There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,
In nuts their true-love burning,
And poor Norah, though smiling still
She'd missed the snap-apple turning.
On the Festival of Hallow Eve.

Halloween is a great tradition, born in Europe and celebrated all across the world. Falling between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, Halloween is significant in many ways, most notably as it marks the change in the seasons from the brightness of Summer and Fall into the darkness of Winter, and as a chance to reflect on our departed ancestors.

Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the rout is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the Cove, to stray an' rove,
Amang the rocks and streams
To sport that night;

Amang the bonie winding banks,
Where Doon rins , wimplin , clear;
Where Bruce ance rul'd the martial ranks,
An' shook his Carrick spear;
Some merry, friendly, countra-folks
Together did convene,
To burn their nits , an' pou their stocks ,
An' haud their Halloween
Fu' blythe that night.

Many other countries in Europe celebrate the traditional customs of Halloween under festivals of different names. For example, the Roman Catholic Church moved All Souls Day to the time of Halloween in order to put a Christian spin on a traditional Heathen festival (as the church has also tried to do with Yule/Christmas and Easter). And the traditional Halloween festival is also known as All Saints Day in England, Portugal, Spain, and Mexico. St. Martin's Day, Allerheiligen, and Martinmas are also names associated with the Halloween tradition.

In Scotland they hollow out turnips to use as lanterns, bob for apples, and make Dirge Loaves out of oat flour to keep the souls of the dead safe. In Ireland, there lived a man named "Stingy Jack" who was so mean that we couldn't get into Heaven or Hell, and so was forced to walk the earth for eternity carrying a turnip candle with an ember from Hell inside. Today, we carve Jack O'Lanterns to ward off the ghost of Stingy Jack.

From Italy, here is a recipe for Fave dei Morti, or Ossa dei Morti (bones of the dead), which is a type of cookie made with pine nuts, almonds, spices, flour, and sugar, and baked in commemoration of the dead. This tradition and cookie is thought to have originated from the Roman indigenous religious traditions, and co-opted by the Catholic church.

Even Japan has a festival, called o-bon (pronounced like "oh bone") where the spirits of their ancestors are invited back into the homes - in rural areas they even sweep a path from the gravesites to the home, where the spirits are welcomed with 'welcoming fires'. There are also dances and other festivities, as well as getting together with family.

So while it may not be called "Halloween" in Japan, the spirit of the tradition is very similar. Most countries have strong spiritual traditions that recognize that, during certain times of the year, the "veil" between our world and other worlds, between this life and the afterlife, becomes very thin, allowing for certain, um, transitions, and sometimes disturbances, to occur. During those certain times of the year we are more apt to hear the floor creak unexpectedly, or see something out of the corner of our eye. Or we might even get an unexpected chill when walking outside at night. It could be a departed ancestor trying to reach across the veil to a family member, or it could be something else entirely...

So have a Happy Halloween, eat a candy apple, drink some cider, bob for apples, wear an interesting costume, think of your ancestors, protect yourself from Stingy Jack, and prepare for the coming Winter.

Oh, and don't forget to say "BOO!".

Technorati Tags: culture, living, religion, spirit

There will be an an event held at Virginia Tech titled "Bellerophon to Beowulf to Batman: The Image of the Hero", Wednesday, November 7, 2007, 7-9pm, in 113 McBryde Hall. Free and open to the public.

Motivating questions include: What is a hero? Has "heroism" changed? Does Buffy have anything to do with Beowulf?

It sounds like undergraduates will be presenting some of their research, followed by a faculty roundtable, including:

* Terry Papillon (Classics & Honors Program) - ancient world 
* Karen Swenson (English) - Norse sagas 
* Charlene Eska (English) - King Arthur 
* Stephen Prince (Communication) - modern pop culture 
* Kaye Graham (English) - Harry Potter and children's literature 
* LtCol. William Stringer (Corps of Cadets) - modern military 

Technorati Tags: academia, culture, living, virginia

A Viking ship that was built in 1892 and sailed across the Atlantic, down the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes and to Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, is currently in need of your help. The image above is of this ship moored in front of Manufactures, Chicago, in 1893.

This 76-foot ship, known as The Viking, is currently housed in Geneva at Good Templar Park (near Chicago). Left to neglect, this ship is doomed unless a restoration project receives funds.

From an article by the Norwegian National League:

The "Viking" was built at Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892. It was copied after the ancient Viking ship "Gokstad". Excavated in 1880, the "Gokstad" had been called the most beautiful ship ever built. The "Viking" is approximately 76 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 7 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale. Clinker built with planking hand split from green logs, the "Viking" made 11 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves.

Most importantly, the Viking ship was declared one of ten most endangered historic sites in Illinois by a statewide historic preservation group.

American Express is running a competition for projects to receive funds, and the Viking ship is in the runoff. Some of the other projects and buildings in the competition might be nice things to do, but are not in as imminent danger of being destroyed --- the Viking ship will decay into the water unless we take action now to preserve this important cultural icon.

How can you help?

Go to: the partnership in preservation site, register, and VOTE FOR THE VIKING SHIP - you can vote ONCE A DAY, EVERY DAY, until voting ends on October 10, 2007.

Other links of interest on Vikings and Viking Ships:

• http://www.vikingship.us
• http://www.stigombord.dk/index_uk.html
• http://www.abc.se/~m10354/bld/viking.htm
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/ships.html
• http://sio.midco.net/danstopicalstamps/gokstad.htm
• http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/vikingteacher.htm
• http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/norse.html

Technorati Tags: academia, culture, living, technology

There is a new graphic novel out now called Gods of Asgard, by Eric Evensen. It looks to be an interpretation of the Norse mythology - you know, Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frigga, the Valkyries, ... from the author's website:

The Norse gods are the pagan deities worshipped in pre-Christian Scandinavia. Although not as well-known as the gods from Greek and Roman mythology, they were no less unique. The Norse gods were powerful, revered and respected, sometimes feared. They were mortal, and they knew through prophecy of the end of their reign. And their fame lives on today, in literature, movies, comics, opera, and the days of the week.

This looks to be a very interesting and entertaining new book, though the author is only partially correct in stating that the Norse Gods were worshipped in pre-Christian Scandinavia. The Gods were also worshipped by the Germanic peoples all across Europe - even North America, and continue to be so today - from an article in the University of South Alabama's paper The Vanguard:

Within the last 30 years, a lot of people have been trying to get back to their roots, to reconnect with what their ancestors believed and how they lived. One of the faiths that has sought to re-establish itself is Asatru.

Asatru can best be defined as the revival of the ways, beliefs and customs of the ancient Germanic tribes of northern Europe which inhabited, at differing times in history, the modern nations of England, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, West Poland, Northern Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. These countries are currently seeing a revival of this very ancient pre-Christian faith.

Technorati Tags: book, culture, religion, spirit

Here is a pic from a visit to the new National Museum of the American Indian (to the left of the U.S. Capitol Building) in Washington D.C. It is on the National Mall, next to the National Air and Space Museum.

The museum was worth going to see.

Technorati Tags: culture

Certainly, movie versions of Beowulf have been done before. But, in general, past movie versions have been rather bad. I am hoping quality will triumph with this fall's movie release of Beowulf.

Beowulf, of course, is one of the oldest pieces of literature in the English language, and one of the noblest and heroic stories in the world. Beowulf, the young hero of the Geats, battles the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Heorot in Denmark. After defeating Grendel, Beowulf then must fight Grendel's mother. Beowulf then becomes King, when he is called upon to fight a terrible dragon. He kills the dragon, but is mortally wounded, and is then buried in a barrow.

The upcoming movie version will be released on November 16, 2007, in conventional theatres AND in 3D! Even better---the script was written by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman.

Roger Avary is a well-known director, producer, and screenwriter, especially known for Pulp Fiction.

Neil Gaiman, of course, is the very talented author of, among other works, The Sandman comic series, American Gods, and Stardust (which was made into a movie that is currently (August, 2007) in theatres).

The film has a strong cast, with Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother, Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, Ray Winstone as Beowulf, along with John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson, Dominic Keating, Alison Lohman, and Robin Wright Penn. Initial reviews from screenings at Comic-Con 2007 and other viewings have been very positive. I still haven't understood quite how Angelina Jolie was cast as Grendel's mother, but I guess we will all see how well that decision worked in November. Anyway, Neil says he was blown away after seeing portions of the actual film, and that the newest film making techniques were used to produce one of the oldest stories in the English language.

You can see trailers, author interviews, and a plot summary on the movieweb site, and you will soon be able to collect Beowulf action figures.

It only takes one look around at the state of the world today to see that we are in dire need of heroes in our society. Strength, courage, honor, and noble deeds have been missing from the news for quite a while now. The time is right for Beowulf to return. Let's hope Roger and Neil do him justice.

Technorati Tags: book, culture