Saturday, May 28, 2011

I managed to get to the library just in time.

I'm currently reading Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

I haven't finished it yet, so I'm not recommending it or anything at this time.

- Jim
If you are looking for more information about the Voyager probes and their missions, then Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery - By Stephen J. Pyne probably isn't the way to go. Yes, it contains some detail, but the details are somewhat sparse and the entire account is littered with comparisons to other ages of exploration as defined by the author.

The comparisons can be similar, they can be relevant, but they are not necessarily so. The problem with such an analysis is that it's less a historical record than a commentary of our own time - which is neither the time of the earlier voyages of discovery nor the time of the Voyager missions. Sorta. Technically, the Voyager probes are still out there doing science, but they are done with the work that made them famous to regular people.

I have to admit, I hated the book in the beginning. I was looking for a true historical record (as true as such things are) and got this by accident. But... it might have just been what I was looking for. It has certainly caused me to think about thinks and given me new ideas and directions for writings of my own. In that, I suppose it's served it's purpose.

This isn't a traditional review of the book, I realize. I'm not recommending this book to anyone because what people bring to books is different for every reader. I had a specific purpose for reading the book and the purpose was fulfilled, in a way I hadn't considered earlier. It did its job.

- Jim

Friday, May 27, 2011

I finished Time: January 10th, 2011 and have moved onto Time: January 11th, 2011.

- Jim

Thursday, May 26, 2011

I'm not recommending these, mostly because I haven't finished reading them.

- I am currently reading Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery. By Stephen J. Pyne.

- I am also reading Time Magazine: January 10, 2011.

Yes, I'm a bit behind on my periodicals. Sadly, the pile is much lower than it's recently been.

- Jim

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Well, I'm not going to hide it. This decision has been a long time coming, despite claims to the contrary. Originally, the blog was to serve as a personal journal. The whole point was to move such things to the "cloud", though the term wasn't really there at the time. I had just suffered a hard drive crash and wanted the safety associated with the internet.

The recent Blogger.com crash changed all that, though again, the decision has been long in coming. Despite being a private journal, there were many things I couldn't post because it was too public. If the whole point of the blog was to help me in writing, it was also a big impediment since I could rarely share such thoughts here. Even worse, there's no point in using this blog as a backup if the backup remains insecure.

Of course there were people who got mad at what I posted, whether it was about them or something they cared about. There were people who tried to use what I posted against me, as if they could win arguments by using my past to insult me. And there were people who misunderstood the concept entirely and thought that I was either crying for help, suicidal, or dying. For the record, I am none of these. Well, technically, I suppose everyone is dying from the day they were born, but that's it. My only medical issues are that I have allergies and a bad knee. A very bad knee, but just a knee. I don't think it will kill me any time soon.

So, there it is.

No more personal thoughts, ideas, or concepts. I'm taking the journal out of the blog. Oh, I imagine I'll fill it up with things that interest me, but that's it.

Oh, in the meantime, I have backed up the former blog. I'll be transferring it back to my hard drive where it will become a real journal. Nothing is lost, it's just no longer public. I'll also be backing it up in other ways as well.

- Jim