Dec 17 2009

In the Mail: American Thighs

American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets by Jill Conner Browne

Publishers Weekly

Having previously written books on finding a man, planning a wedding, raising kids and coming through a divorce, Browne’s latest offers hilarious tips on enjoying our inexorable trudge into Geezerdom. Browne is already checking off the days until November 23, 2012, when she turns 60 and can move into a retirement home; at 80, she plans to start smoking again. Looking back at her youthful follies (like slathering on baby oil for all-day tanning sessions), she warns, Karma is listening and she has ears like a bat. She and her sister have a pact to Get the Pillow (smother the other in her sleep) when the time comes. In Browne’s case, that will be if I start watching reality TV, quoting Dr. Phil, riding roller coasters and seem to have forsaken bacon in favor of anything soy. While exhorting the pleasures of giving in to comfortable sandals and roomy underwear, Browne, in her best book yet, offers laugh-out-loud, slightly off-topic digressions (she passionately defends the term brick shithouse and rebukes tummy-control swimsuits).

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: ,

Dec 17 2009

65th Anniversary of the Malmedy Massacre

On this date, 65 years ago the Malmedy Massacre took place – this was when the Waffen-SS murdered 115 American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge.

The following is an excerpt from World’s Bloodiest History: Massacre, Genocide, and the Scars They Left on Civilization by Joseph Cummins.   I plan on reviewing the book in a few weeks.

By Jeff Grim • News • 1 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Dec 16 2009

C.S. Lewis Foundation establishing College

From the web page:

The C.S. Lewis Foundation has long envisioned establishing C.S. Lewis College in the U.S. as a fully accredited Christian institution of Great Books and Visual and Performing Arts. That vision is now about to become a reality as plans move forward to launch C.S. Lewis College on the beautiful campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, recently acquired for this purpose from Northfield Mount Hermon School. This property has been purchased for the use of C.S. Lewis College by Hobby Lobby, a privately held retail chain of arts and crafts stores based in Oklahoma City, OK.

Subject to securing all appropriate approvals, C.S. Lewis College currently plans to commence instruction in Fall 2012.

Video after the jump

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By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags: , ,

Dec 15 2009

In the Mail: How To Teach Physics To Your Dog

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel

Publishers Weekly

What do dog treats and chasing squirrels have to do with quantum mechanics? Much more than you might imagine, as Orzel explains in this fun introduction to modern physics based on a “series of conversations” with his dog Emmy. Dogs make the perfect sounding board for physics talk, because they “approach the world with fewer preconceptions than humans, and always expect the unexpected.” Physicist Orzel begins with the basics, explaining how light can be both particle and wave simultaneously—a bit like a dog that can split itself into two to chase a rabbit no matter which direction it runs. A look at Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle begins with a hunt for a hypothetical bone. Schrödinger’s cat becomes, of course, Schrödinger’s dog. Quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation and virtual particles (composed, for example, of bunny-antibunny pairs) are all explained with the author’s characteristic lighthearted touch. While Orzel’s presentation may be a bit too precious for some, readers who’ve shied away from popular treatments of physics in the past may find his cheerful discussion a real treat.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Dec 14 2009

In the Mail: The Imperial Cruise

The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War by James Bradley

*Kirkus Reviews

The story of a forgotten diplomatic excursion inspired by Theodore Roosevelt’s bigotry. Bradley (Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, 2003, etc.)-who wrote about his father’s experience at Iwo Jima in Flags of Our Fathers (2000)-examines a little-known effort by Roosevelt to manipulate the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War and extend the Monroe Doctrine to Asia by encouraging Japan to act as a proxy for the West. In the summer of 1905, a party that included Secretary of War William Taft and Roosevelt’s rebellious daughter Alice set sail on the ocean liner Manchuria to their Pacific destinations of Hawaii, Korea, Japan, China and the Philippines. At the time, the voyage captured the public imagination. However, Taft was charged with an agenda that included maintaining dominance over American territories-the protests of America’s Hawaiian and Filipino “wards” notwithstanding-and promoting Roosevelt’s dream of an “Open Door” in Asia.

Bradley argues that the mission was a result of the president’s adherence to a crackpot philosophy of “Aryan” racial superiority. “Like many Americans,” he writes, “Roosevelt held dearly to a powerful myth that proclaimed the White Christian as the highest rung on the evolutionary ladder.” In Roosevelt’s mind, this excused American brutality in subduing Filipino insurgents, and it furthered his public image as a wise Western warrior. However, the president made a major intellectual blunder when he decided the Japanese could be considered “Honorary Aryans,” due to “the Japanese eagerness to emulate White Christian ways.” This, coupled with his contempt for the Chinese, Filipino and Hawaiian peoples, inspired him to play nation-builder, with disastrousconsequences. Bradley asserts that Taft and Roosevelt violated the Constitution by offering Japan a secret deal, characterized as a “Monroe Doctrine for Asia.” Arguably, Japanese pique over America’s unwillingness to acknowledge this subterfuge fueled their expansionist dreams and pointed the way toward the Pearl Harbor attack. A rueful, disturbing account of a regrettable period of American imperialism.

*RIP

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