China has banned Tibetan Buddhists from reincarnating without government permission. Yes, you read that correctly. Check it out here.
Chinese religious insanity
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Monthly Archives: August 2007
The bookworm speaks
I found this on Errant Thoughts (via SciFiChick.com), and while I’m not a book blogger I do love a good read.
What are you reading right now? I finished Jem by Frederik Pohl the other night and really enjoyed it (by now you’ve no doubt guessed, and as those who’ve seen my Facebook profile know, I love science fiction). I’m also part way through Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon and have been dipping into The Norse Myths as retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that? I began Understanding Early Civilizations by Bruce Trigger a while back so I’ll keep tapping away at that.
What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now? Not one. I don’t read many except the likes of Newsweek and Archaeology.
What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read? Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre as part of a school course, and I probably would have appreciated Moby Dick more had I not had to study it in college. They’re not the worst books I’ve read though.
What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone? The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they? Nope, never been to my local library.
Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all? I don’t think so. Stephen King novels don’t appeal to everybody though but I haven’t recommended any of my favourites to anyone.
Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re having sex? While you’re driving? Sometimes while I eat, never while I bathe, rarely while watching movies or TV or using the computer, and frequently while listening to music. As for sex and driving, well books are no substitute for the former and would be a very silly thing to read while doing the latter.
When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits? Yes. Now I read other people’s work for a living.
What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down? The Alchemist during a recent re-read. Other than that it’s been a while… maybe American Gods by Neil Gaiman or one of Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series which I’m hopelessly addicted to despite the increasing political preaching.
Now it’s your turn!
Things that make you go 'hmm'
In a good way. Some are funny, some are just intriguing.
Good vibrations: An 86-year-old Jewish doctor has donated 12 surfboards to Gaza to promote peace. (AP)
Aiming high: A one-legged father of 78 is marrying two more women as he goes for 100 by 2015. (CNN/Emirates Today)
The power of words: The influence of pronouns in brain function. (Anthropology.net/Science Daily)
In it for the long haul: Venezuela’s congress has approved constitutional reforms that could let Hugo Chavez rule for a long, long time. (AP/Boston Globe)
The good thief: A gunman holding up a convenience store halted his robbery to wait on a couple who eagerly accepted a pack of smokes and other items without paying. (Kansas City TV)
The great debate: Are gadgets and the internet actually addictive? (CNN)
A new power: Mysterious Italian crime syndicate linked to massacre in Germany eclipses Sicilian Mafia. (International Herald Tribune)
Hello world
This blog hasn’t curled up and died… I’m just really busy at the moment. Work commitments, you understand.
Serj rocks
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, one of my musical heroes, is gearing up for the release of his solo album in October. As a taster — and as a reaction to what he feels is the “failing democracy” of the United States — he has released this video for the song “The Unthinking Majority”. For a fuller explanation of Tankian’s thinking, visit his website here.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQeRG72E3OM[/youtube]
Happy birthday, humble CD
Today (August 17) is the 25th birthday of the compact disc.
Let us not dwell on the fact such technology is older than I am. Let us bask in its glory, for digital media may kill it as a commercial medium.
I can’t remember what my first CD actually was, only that I resisted them for some time because I preferred cassettes (which were more versatile and a damn sight cheaper). But following some not very well-publicised incidents where my lovely tapes were eaten alive and spat out in ruins, my move towards CDs became unstoppable. I still don’t have all of them on my Facebook profile.
The things seem nigh invincible, save for coins, dust, pets, people, jam-covered fingers and microwaves (ever seen what happens to a CD after its been in the microwave? Tis pretty).
They’ve come a long way since Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony and some rubbish from Billy Joel. Now we have all sorts of disposable one-hit wonders weighing the shelves — though not for much longer, if predictions are correct. Sales have slumped in the last decade, partly due to file-sharing, partly due to the rise of portable digital music players, and partly due to people spending money on DVDs and games.
Though I still enjoy making CDs, the format’s time will pass. It’s easy to see it morphing into DVD-style music/content hybrids (don’t they exist already?) but it’s just as possible the successor — if it has a physical successor rather than a digital one — will be something completely different.