My picks for Best Books of the Decade
December 31, 2009
And so we come to the end. If 2009 were the last chapter of a book, I would probably toss it away in frustration. So this is how it ends! Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t have plots that wrap up neatly by December 31.
What a decade this has been. It has been ten years filled with a lot of violence, tragedy and uncertainty. And I’m a little worried about the upcoming “teen” years of the 21st century, considering that these same years in the 20th and 19th centuries were shaken by world wars that changed the previously accepted order of things. When you look at the forces arrayed against the relative peace and common sense brought about by the American Century, the future looks a bit bleak. I loved how one acquaintance put it “If you didn’t like American power, just see how you like Chinese power!”
I’ve been blessed to have so many good things in my life these past ten years. Family and friends, of course. But how much poorer we would all be in spirit if it hadn’t been a decade for some really good books. With all things digital getting all the attention, I think...
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best books of decade, george rr martin
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Seek out Legend of the Seeker
December 16, 2009
Thanks to my brother-in-law, we got turned on to the Roku Digital Media player, which lets us watch all sorts of shows via our Netflix account. After a hard day of writing, there's nothing like putting up one's feet and watching some good stories! There are a lot of great TV series on there, including one I'd been meaning to check out. LEGEND OF THE SEEKER. Hey, I'm a sucker for anything with swords and wizards. I expected this show to be pretty cheesy, but the special effects aren't bad at all. Now I'm planning to read the books by Terry Goodkind that the show is based upon, although the reviews of the books over at amazon.com are mixed. Hey, not everyone can be George R.R. Martin!
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Can't agree with New York Times columnist
October 24, 2009
As much as I (usually) admire Thomas Friedman's columns in The New York Times, I really disagreed with one he wrote this past week about the new class of "Untouchables." It was an odd choice for a descriptive term, since "Untouchables" also refers to the lowest class of the Hindu caste system. However, here Friedman means just the opposite ... the new group of people whose jobs will be safe in the new, broken economy that seems to be taking shape for the next few years. He seemed to make a case that those who have lost jobs brought it upon themselves by being, well, so much useless dead wood.
It seemed a harsh assessment that didn't take into account so many other factors, such as the implosion of easy credit and the housing market, or the way that so many corporations have overextended themselves. I'm not quite as ready as Thomas Friedman to dismiss so many millions of unemployed Americans who are ready, able, and willing to give "good value" to employers if given a chance.
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thomas friedman, untouchables
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To see the movie or not?
October 21, 2009
My son and I are in something of a quandry over the upcoming "Percy Jackson" film. Should we see it or not? He really loves the series that starts with "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan. In fact, he even has me hooked. The problem is that when we read great books like this, we have our very own, original images of what characters should look like, settings, etc. When we go to see a movie, that is all displaced by the imagery "downloaded" to us on the screen. In fact, good as they are, are sometimes wish I'd never watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson.
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lightning thief, rick riordan
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Agincourt was a great read
May 14, 2009
I always appreciate tips on good books to read, so here's one for you -- "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell. I've been a Cornwell fan for years, starting way back with his sailing thrillers, right through the Richard Sharpe series and King Arthur. But this latest novel is certainly his best. The details of that time period, especially the skill involved in making arrows and longbows, not to mention archery itself, are just fascinating. His main character, Nick Hook, is someone you like because of his very human fears and weaknesses. As usual, Cornwell makes history informative and entertaining.
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agincourt, bernard cornwell, longbow
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Holly Hall oak topples
April 26, 2009
On Sunday morning, while running errands in Elkton, I was sorry to see that the Holly Hall Oak Tree had finally toppled. This ancient tree stood near the entrance to Big Elk Mall at Rt. 40 (next to the Elkton Diner). A couple was walking around the tree, taking photos.
The tree takes its name from Holly Hall, the early 1800s mansion just down the hill. I have a photo that shows volunteers cleaning brush away from the big tree in 1975, before Big Elk Mall was built. At the time, there was just a lot of scrub brush on the site and a billboard almost right up against the tree. It’s hard to imagine a time when Big Elk Mall -- home of Acme, Dunkin Donuts and Kmart, among others -- did not exist. Yet, if you think about it, this old oak was around before there was a Cecil County, a Maryland, a United States -- or even any European settlers.
State arborists had said the tree was more than 400 years old, which means it must have started growing long before Captain John Smith explored the upper Chesapeake Bay.
An article from the Cecil Democrat reports that...
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Former Cecil County author Jack D. Hunter will be remembered for classic war novel, ‘The Blue Max’
April 15, 2009
“He took the Fokker to three thousand meters, nearly breathless with the speed of the climb. The long flat rays of the sun were deep gold, and the earth was a mosaic of sharply contrasted yellows and purples. The rich, sweet exhaust mixture coming back from the engine was, in the high coolness, an ambrosia ...”That’s a description in the 1964 novel “The Blue Max” of future German ace Bruno Stachel taking his first flight in a Fokker D-7 over the battlefields of Europe during World War I. That war, the descriptions, even the biplane are very real — it’s Stachel who is the stuff of fiction, but certainly a memorable character.
He came from the mind of Jack D. Hunter, a former Cecil County resident whose novel featuring Stachel became a 20th Century Fox movie. Local residents and visitors to Chesapeake City may be familiar with The Blue Max bed and breakfast at the corner of Bohemia Avenue and Second Street. The impressive, three-story structure was so named by Jack and Tommie Hunter, who renovated the building and opened a shop there in the 1970s. The Hunters later lived in Chesapeake Isle overlooking the water.
Sadly, Jack passed...
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chesapeake city, flyboys, jack hunter, the blue max
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Civil War shipwreck discovered
March 10, 2009
The following is an Associated Press story that I thought might be of interest to some of you fellow Civil War buffs. What a discovery!
Hurricane may have uncovered Civil War shipwreck
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - Experts know of about a dozen Civil War-era shipwrecks off the Texas coast. They might have just identified another.
Contractors searching for debris from Hurricane Ike near Galveston Island took a sonar scan of what the Texas Historical Commission believes is a previously undiscovered ship carrying cotton that sank in 1864.
The Carolina, also known as the Caroline, was a privately owned merchant ship that tried to break though a federal blockade of Galveston. After being pursued for several hours by Union gunships, the crew of the Carolina ran the ship aground in shallow water between Galveston and San Luis Pass, then set it on fire rather than let it be captured.
Historians said records indicate the ship sank in the area where workers took the sonar image. It had probably been buried in sand until Hurricane Ike scoured the Gulf floor.
"It's certainly significant if it turns out to be a historic wreck, as we think it is," Steven Hoyt, state marine archaeologist...
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civil war shipwreck
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Keeping up with Facebook is too much pressure
February 24, 2009
Facebook has been in the news quite a lot lately, from being the source of Michael Phelps' public apology (posted on his Facebook page) to the means by which a ring of teenage vandals was brought to justice.
If you haven't kept up, Facebook is a social networking site. On Facebook, you have a network of "Friends." This term is used loosely, since your Friends can be anyone from acquaintances you met at a conference to that guy you worked a summer job with 20 years ago.
You can post everything from fascinating personal updates ("Just got back from walking the dog!") to articles of interest or clips from YouTube.
Facebook is not something I thought I would ever be involved with, but I got roped in last fall. Several old college friends - actual friends, mind you - e-mailed to say I should sign up. I did, and it's been a real hoot, reconnecting with people I haven't seen in a long, long time.
But I've slacked off lately. Partly, it's because what was a small group of old college friends has just mushroomed.
First of all, I don't know what to do about all these Friend requests, which...
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25 random things about me, facebook
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Hoping for a glimpse of Obama
January 17, 2009
They came. They saw. They shivered. And if they blinked, they might have missed President-elect Barack Obama's train whisk past the crowd of around 200 people at the Perryville station Saturday.
I was there along with my wife and two children, hoping to witness a bit of history. It's been at least 40 years since a train carrying a president rode the rails through Cecil County. We found a parking space not far from the MARC station (no vehicles were allowed in the lot next to the station) and the kids bundled up in a quilt to keep warm. We had a couple of flags from American Home and Hardware.
Driving down, we caught some of Obama's remarks in Wilmington on WILM. He talked about the importance of rail travel in the future -- potential good news for Cecil County, located as we are on the busy northeast rail corridor.
At the station, Perryville Police Chief Chris Daly and the other police officers kept the crowd updated on the progress of Obama's train. They gave us a 10-minute warning, then let us know when it was just five minutes away in North East.
Some in the crowd noticed a bird...
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