Blog names continued …

“What the FUGUE!?” (if i ever start a blog devoted to organ from the baroque era, this would the name i would give it)

Bach Mass in B Minor

Disclaimer: I am coming at this work as an appreciator rather than an expert.

I’ve been listening to Bach’s Mass in B Minor today. While I won’t be so bold as to claim it is the best thing I have ever heard, I would be hard pressed to name a recording that surpasses it.

The glory of it all had me thinking about music in general and the myriad truths it can reflect. I think I tend to appreciate music (and perhaps art as a whole) of two different kinds: music that says something about the world we live in and music that gives a glimpse of the World to come. I think the Mass in B minor belongs to the latter party.

I read somewhere that among the works of music that were recorded in the Galileo probe/spacecraft for all those aliens to listen to is the Mass in B minor. I love the idea that when that thing makes contact with the aliens it will begin by playing the Mass as if to say, “This is the best that we’ve ever done, now show us what you can do bitch”

On Georger RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire (Book 3)

Book 3 (Storm of Swords) probably ranks with Book 1 (Game of Thrones) in a tie for my favorites of the series (note: I have only read up to book three thus far). The plot stays fairly tight throughout, the twists and turns are relatively fair to the reader without being too obvious and Martin is refreshingly comfortable with killing off a major character or two when it works for the story.

Also I enjoyed the tapestry of this world that Martin is creating. We are learning more and more about legends of the Night’s Watch, the bizarre customs of the eastern realms, and the evil of the Others.

In fact, although I’ve said previously that Martin has written too many story lines into his saga, I must commend him for keeping each one moving forward. This is something that few writers seem to be able to do. For example: Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series, became seriously bogged down by his multiplying plot lines. So much so that after over 10 books his once promising fantasy series is still unfinished and not projected to be until three more books are released. With Jordan, it got to the point that each character would take up enough of each book that nothing would happen for 900 pages.

Fortunately, Martin keeps his tale in control.

On Health Care Part 1

So I try to keep up with the news (I’m currently a stay at home dad so if I want I can sit on Drudge Report and Fox News most of the day), I’ll admit I’m not tuned into all the nuances of policy, matters of state, blah blah but I try to pay attention none the less.

Anyhow, I’m gonna wade in on health care for a minute at my own peril. In broad strokes my thoughts are these:

Socializing anything is generally a bad thing
-from growing up in Canada I can tell you that socialized medicine is a pretty grim business. The problem is that government services tend to all have one thing in common: their supply of whatever service they’re providing runs short or falls short (or both). For example, a friend of mine hadn’t had a period in a while and, after eliminating pregnancy as an explanation, she tried to see a specialist (i.e. an ob/gyn) and found that the waiting list was 6 months long. A lot can happen in six months when many of the conditions that will cause a woman to consistently miss periods are usually some form of tumor. Here’s another example, in the U.S. the Postal Service said it was impossible for them to offer overnight delivery until UPS and FedEx came along and figured it out first. Finally, a few numbers:
Pittsburgh has more MRI machines than all of Canada.

http://www.uhnd.com/bb/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=2&msgid=121546

… more to follow

Alternate Blog Names

-Guten-blog (I assume it would be Germanic in nature).
-The Artful Blogger (could be Dickens themed but most likely just some dickhead who likes to blog)
-The Salty Blog (it sounds like “Salty Dog”)
-Bloggerheads ( … )
-Kenny Bloggins
-Bloggins and Messina

Anyone who reads this is welcome to add to the list

Song of Ice and Fire Series (Book 2)

Now that I’m sitting down to write this I’m having trouble remembering all of the ins and outs of this particular book (perhaps that’s a testament to the book’s quality itself). What I most remember are the chapters involving Tyrion Lannister (brother to Jaime and Cersei).

-Tyrion has taken over as the Hand of the King in this book and seems to be a capable administrator. He spins intrigue against his sister. This particular plot approaches Shakespearean levels of treachery and double dealing and is therefore well worth the reader’s time.

The book does drag on a little bit as it follows Sansa and Arya. While informative they are both repetitive storylines that are almost twin stories. Both sisters (while they take very different journeys physically) prove to continually find themselves at the mercy of powerful adults. The experience is not unlike reading two Charles Dickens stories at the same time.

However, the other stories (Daenerys in the east and Davos w/King Stannis, oh and Jon on the Wall) are all ably told. If anything, these books have too many plots that intersect and become entangled. I can’t count how many times I’ve sat and groaned as yet another Arya chapter began.

Don’t get me wrong, all of the characters seem pretty well drawn in this series there’s just too many of them to care about them all equally.

Belated Halloween Cartoon

This is a friend of mine’s Halloween cartoon from last year.  I think it has stood the test of time.  He’s got some other cartoons that are pretty awesome as well.

On George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire Series (Book 1)

Over the past several months, I have been working my way through George RR Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice. I’m almost all the way through the third book “A Storm of Swords” so I thought I’d do a little review of the series so far.

Game of Thrones (book 1):
I remember reading it through and wondering “aside from the fact that none of these places exist, does this even count as fantasy?” while the book has swords aplenty it lacks in sorcery. That being said, while the author seems to think his character’s japes are wittier than they are, the book does a good job at keeping the reader engaged. Martin is an able writer when he chooses. It’s when he over-narrates the character’s innermost thoughts that he falls down.

Most of the characters have depth and are interesting despite all this. It is certainly worth reading.

Life, Death and our Rights

So now that I’ve made all my conservative readers furious with my views on the War on Drugs, I’m going to wade into the abortion debate and offer my humble opinion.  Before I do that though, this website offers a lot of interesting thoughts on the subject too.

Since I believe I’ve mentioned before that I’m a conservative christian I’ll elaborate on how and when I became pro-life. I converted to Christianity in my early twenties but decided I was pro-life a year or so before that. So basically, no one can tell me that I arrived at my stance on abortion because of any religious conviction.

Now, I’ve mentioned in posts and comments before that I don’t believe the government can legislate morality. I’m of the school of thought that, so long as my neighbor does no harm to my life, liberty or property, I have no right to bring legal action against him or persue legislation that would restrict him in some way. The drug issue is a perfect example. If he’s getting ripped out of his tree and listening to Foghat (at a reasonable volume) I should have no reason to call the police. How does this relate to the abortion issue then?

Many might say that abortion is as much a personal choice as smoking marijuana. But I would submit that, if it can be proven that a fetus is alive, it is endowed with certain inalienable rights. This is the first question one must ask when making up his/her mind about the abortion question. At this point in the discussion, we should not be taking into consideration whether the fetus is going to be a burden on the mother, the circumstances of conception (rape, etc.), whether it will become another burden on society, or whether it will be unloved. If it can be defined as alive, it has the same rights as a day old child.

So what scientific proof is there that an abortion is more than a woman deciding to have a procedure performed on her body and no one else’s? When does it stop being an abortion and start being infanticide? No one in their right mind would argue that having an abortion the day before the mother was scheduled to give birth was not murder. How far back can we go before it isn’t murder? A week? A month?

Some have proposed that abortion regulation ought to be congruent with the laws concerning when someone is legally dead. Most states have laws stating that, when someone has no detectable brainwaves, they are considered legally dead.  According to various sources, brain waves are first detectable at 16 weeks of fetal development.   Why then do we not adjust our abortion laws accordingly?

However, in answering the “when does life begin?” question I have to pose the question: When new DNA is created that is unique from that of the father and mother, doesn’t that  event suggest a unique human person (I say human because it is human DNA) has been created?  If you’re pressed to answer when life begins wouldn’t this be a good point to pick?  And if you’re not sure, why not play it safe?  If you’re about demolish a building with dynamite and someone says, “Wait! I thought I saw someone in there, don’t blow up that building!” Do you say, “Nah, I’m pretty sure there won’t be anyone in there for like 9 months” ?

Anyways I thought I’d throw it out there and see what people have to say.

Marijuana, Obama and Federalism

An interesting editorial I just came across on National Review Online regarding the Attorney General’s office’s latest memo on federal marijuana laws.  Here’s an excerpt:

The Obama administration has discovered federalism, at least a version of it, and it has therefore foresworn prosecuting medical-marijuana users and distributors who are acting in accord with state laws. This is good news for medical-marijuana users in the 14 states that allow cannabis to be prescribed for such purposes as mitigating the side effects of chemotherapy.

The administration’s move is a lukewarm one, inasmuch as it stops short of recognizing the deeper principle at hand; Deputy Attorney General David Ogden’s memo only concedes that making federal cases against marijuana transactions permitted under state law is a poor use of prosecutors’ time, and the Justice Department reserves the right to reverse itself at any time and to make case-by-case exceptions. So this is something less than a profile in courage. But President Obama knows where his constituents live and, with the exception of a few bastions of don’t-tread-on-me conservatism, medical marijuana has been legalized mostly in the deepest precincts of Obama country: California, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, etc. Medical-marijuana states gave Obama 134 electoral votes in 2008 and McCain six. But given this administration’s habit of galloping off at speed in the wrong direction, it is to be congratulated when it manages even a baby step in the right one.

This article is obviously written from a conservative perspective but raises some interesting points.   Also, a good read for anyone who thinks conservatives are all about the War on Drugs.  Don’t get me wrong I have strong religious/moral objections about the use of recreational drugs but I don’t believe you can legislate that kind of morality either.