Category: Musings

Big Read Kick Off Snapshots

I attended the Big Read kick off of The Things They Carried by O’Brien yesterday at the Lansing Community Library.  Here are a few photos I took with my smartphone (flash turned off):

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The local American Legion chapter and active serving military came to show their support.
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Terri Wojtalewicz, Youth Services Librarian at the Lansing Community Library, addresses the audience prior to the viewing of the documentary produced by students of Lansing High School.
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During intermission, Colonel Devine shared her insights from the documentary.
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The library has a drop box for cards and letters to be delivered to service men and women deployed overseas.

 

I have not yet started reading The Things They Carried, but the documentary of interviews with living combat veterans definitely got me thinking.  I now wish to write letters to all my living family members who are veterans and ask of them the questions I heard asked by the students in their documentary.  Sadly, I desperately wanted to ask them of those who have already left us, namely, my father-in-law, my grandfathers and my great-grandfather.

But that regret just makes me more determined to not waste any more time.  My apologies in advance to friends and family whom I will be ‘bothering’ in the near future, once I read The Things They Carried, devise an interview and a plan of action to capture those memories on paper, in audio or video.  Whatever they are most comfortable with.

The next event on the schedule is a book discussion lead by Tom Prasch, History Department Chair at Washburn University.  Join us on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the Lansing Community Library to share insights from The Things They Carried.

 

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Thank you American Legion Post 411 and USAR Community Network of Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

Is the Force A Religion? | Tor.com

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/11/is-the-force-a-religion

Believe it or not I’ve discussed Star Wars, the Jedi and the Force during Bible studies.  I kid you not. 

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Internet traffic jams are widespread in the US, and are probably about to get a lot worse | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/31/7138449/m-lab-netflix-comcast-verizon-isp-business-dispute-congestion-traffic-interconnection

ISP interconnection has a substantial impact on consumer internet performance –sometimes a severely negative impact — and that business relationships between ISPs, and not major technical problems, are at the root of the problems we observed.

An interesting study with an intriguing conclusion.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

If You Read One Thing Today, Make It This Canticle For Leibowitz Essay

http://io9.com/if-you-read-one-thing-today-make-it-this-canticle-for-1649946606

Canticle is one of my favorite SF novels.

See my review from March 2013.

If you want to skip the I09 recap of the New Yorker essay and just get right to it, follow this link:

“A Science Fiction Classic Still Smoulders“

Why Millennials Are Avoiding Small-Town America | Fast Forward | OZY

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/why-millennials-are-avoiding-small-town-america/34058?utm_source=A1&utm_medium=pp&utm_campaign=pp

More death knells for small towns on America. I’m not a millennial – in fact I’m one of the last of the Baby Boomers – but I fled my small town just a bit.  Somewhat of a compromise – 20 miles from where I grew up (population then about 500 now abound 250) – to Lansing (population 11,000) and I work 35 miles away in KC metro (not sure of population stats for the area but probably over two million easy). I love access to culture activities but I miss dark skies.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon