Category: Review

November 14, 2023 – Review: Delicious!

November 14, 2023 /

I am running behind on things. “Delicious!” by Ruth Reichl was actually the August Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection. I think I found out about the book in late August and we had two books that month. I scanned through the cookbook in September and started reading this book about mid-October. I remember packing it with me on my hunting trip but didn’t make any progress.

What is different than the other work that I have read from Reichl is that this is her first attempt at fiction. To date, I have been a fan of her non-fiction as it is almost larger than life. I will remind you the Reichl was a food critic for the New York Times and dressed up as characters for restaurant evaluation so that she wouldn’t be outed.

This book has the same light, readability and feels in the same style as Reichl but is different. To me, the story meanders a lot without much of a point. I am trying to describe it without being too harsh. Characters kind of jump in and jump out and almost seems fluffy, like there was a lot of unnecessary plot line. Let’s go to the plot line first.

The book opens with the main character ‘Billie’ and her sister baking a gingerbread cake for her father’s birthday. This gingerbread is a theme throughout the whole book where she uses it to empress her potential employer in a job interview, her colleagues when they were down and anytime she wants to butter up someone for getting what she wants.

Billie is hired by the fictitious magazine Delicious! as a personal assistant to the general manager. After a short time, the magazine is closed but she is the only person kept on staff presumably because she was the cheapest. At this point, she has run of the office and the locked library where she serendipitously discovers some hidden letters to James Beard (a former Delicious employee).

The story goes on a wild goose chase of secret codes and tracking down people, meanwhile she is battling personal demons and falling in love. The whole point of all this is that Billie wants to see the whole picture so that an article can be written about this correspondence between a character Lulu and James Beard.

Maybe it is a writer’s thing, but I wonder what article she is going to write when the magazine is closed? I suppose that it could be a freelance piece, but throughout the book there is no mention of networking with other publishers. That seems a bit of a fantasy.

The story also contained some real non-sequitur parts as well. Billie meets an Italian butcher and family where she works all of her weekends. A lot of the book is devoted to this interaction that really doesn’t go anywhere in the storyline. Also, her father shows up out of the blue near the end of the book. He has been trying to get Billie to come home for the holidays for several years and yet she has refused to leave New York. All of a sudden they meet up at the same mid-western hotel when Billie is tracking information about Lulu.

It is not that I didn’t enjoy the story, it was fine but uninteresting. If I saw a book about letters from James Beard to some unknown person, I would skip it without a second thought. I certainly respect what Beard did for the culinary world, but it would seem like only a true groupy would be interested in this affair. The whole thing seemed a little forced to me.

One thing that I can say about the book (at least my version) has a section after the story about a suggested dinner party menu to go with the book. I wish that I would have known this when we had our book club meeting in August. We could have played on that theme a little bit when it came to making food.

I think that you will like this book if you find yourself turning on the Hallmark channel and getting vested with those types or movies. Or, the other type of person would be the one that fanaticizes about James Beard. You won’t like the book if you are into We or Anthem like I am currently reading. The story buttons up nicely with a few twists when you are vested in the characters.

End Your Programming Routine: Despite my opinion, I still highly recommend both Garlic and Sapphires as well as Save me the Plums by Reichl. It is not the author or the subject matter but this particular story for me. This is partially why it took me a month to get through this book, I just couldn’t get into it. That being said, it is nice to get out of the world of heavy fiction or cookbooks sometimes. That I can appreciate in this case.

November 10, 2023 – Anthem, Part 4-6

November 10, 2023 /

This was three quick chapters and in many ways not much has gone on. How could it, there are not many pages? If we try hard enough, then we can probably sift something out of this. That is what I am going to try and do.

I am not going to try and make something that it is not. Part 4 is and interaction between Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000. She is now calling him the ‘Unconquerable’. Part 5 has him discovering how a lightbulb works and keeping a secret and Part 6 is about Equality 7-2521 getting punished for staying in his secret lair too long. Unwilling to divulge the reason, he is beat severely. This causes him to have a plan and reveal the lightbulb at the Counsel of the Scholars who will meet shortly.

Suspending disbelief for a minute, how is it that this society has no modern utilities and yet somehow there is live power available for Equality 7-2521 to power a light bulb? When I was first reading the book, I thought that maybe he found a flashlight or something. To my knowledge, power needs continuous generation capability as well as infrastructure to deliver. Maybe some hydro-electric dam is generating power being used by the elites somewhere. At this point, we just don’t know.

So it is dystopian science fiction… alright then the bigger concept in these chapters is the ignorant messiah. Equality 7-2521 really believes that he is going to change the world by showing the Scholars what he has rediscovered. I think that we can see the foreshadowing of trouble ahead.

This reminds me of the famous historical figure Galileo Galilei. Today, he is a big name in science, particularly Astronomy, Physics and Math. We are probably all aware of his fate. Galileo promoted the idea of heliocentrism or better known as the planets revolve around the sun. This of course was labelled as anti-biblical and his ultimate fate was imprisonment until death.

I want to point out that many of these ideas were theories based on empirical observation. You see this is how science works. Perform an observation and then design an experiment to see if you can prove that your hypothesis is true or not. Galileo and other peers such as Brahe who worked to perform the mathematic supporting the observation. That was not quite good enough to keep him in the good graces of the church.

If you are going to play politics, then what side you are on is really more important than the truth. Galileo had a habit of backing the opposite side of who was in power. That really didn’t work out too well for him. Truth is not quite powerful enough when going against the state. The Catholic church has now changed it’s tune on on Galilei but who wants to be honored post-mortem, especially considering when a person was right all along?

I really don’t think that Equality 7-2521 is Ayn Rand’s Galilei but I suspect that his fate is going to end the same way. The establishment is going to come down on him like a house of cards and crush him. I suspect that some of these secrets like electricity are known by those that control society. Whether they use is or not is a different question, but don’t be surprised. Remember the mask mandates (you didnt think that was coming back did you).

End Your Programming Routine: It’s nice having a quick and short book to read. I am getting behind on my other reading and trying to catch up, this helps. Ignorance has its pluses and minuses and without it sometimes we don’t have heroes or huge scientific break throughs. WIth it, we often have martyrs.

November 3, 2023 – Anthem, Part 1-3

November 3, 2023 /

I didn’t realize this when I picked this book up after “We”. But it almost feels like we are in the same universe. The characters have amorphous names and the language is strange (more on that later). Like We, the characters do not pick their career destinations and small talk is deemed subversive and deviant. There is no unstructured fraternizing and no individualism.

Maybe I am going to drag this out too long. Reading the first three parts puts us almost halfway through the book. I may speed up if it seems like there is nothing unique about my arbitrary divisions. That I will take as I go. There is some good nuggets in this book.

The story’s main character is named Equality 7-2521. Like all citizens, he is born into institutionalism. He is raised until the age of fifteen where he finds his ultimate assignment which is to be a street sweeper. This part seems a a lot like Brave New World. On the job, Equality 7-2521 finds an old tunnel, maybe a subway tunnel. This becomes a sacred space from which he writes his journal i.e. this story.

On the way to his job, Equality 7-2521 sees a girl, Liberty 5-3000 which he nicknamed the “Golden One” and falls in love with without meeting. Because his work is in the same area every day, he passes by her on his way to his job daily. Apparently, women of childbearing age are sent to reproduce at some point in their lives. We know how this civilization sustains itself by descriptions in chapter 2.

The big bang in this section is the dream that Equality 7-2521 has after seeing the Golden One. He dreams about the Unmentionable Times which sounds like some sort of revolution or pre-revolution. A character called the Transgressor is burned at the stake for using the word ‘I’ instead of all the plural pronouns that are used in the rest of the book. Apparently, that is the only crime that carries the death penalty.

Reading this book, it sometimes seems like I am reading a long soliloquy of Golem or Yoda or something. Maybe I got the analogy wrong, but anyway, all of the pronouns are plural. So, if I am not paying close attention to the words, I start to get confused about what is going on because the language is just too confusing.

Now, let us get to the heart of the matter, pronouns. How is it that a person writing 90 years ago understood that by undermining identity, undermines society? I guess maybe the better question is how is it that it is understood and it is still happening? It has to be either stupidity or ignorance.

I shouldn’t have to qualify that you should know that I have a live and let live attitude. But, I think that there is a problem that goes part and parcel with that is today’s pronoun fluidity. I will ignore what I consider normal. I can even kind of understand a he wanting to be called a she and vice versa. It is the they/them that makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I was listening to a podcast about gender identity in the “Art of Manliness” a few weeks ago. I don’t want to turn this into a review of that but the crux of it was that in the 1980s the ratio of males to females in college was roughly equal. Now is about 60% female to male. Corresponding to that, the number of people that identified as LBGQ etc was about 2% in the 1980s. Meanwhile, it is now more like 20%. The point was the feminization of the education system is corresponding to increasing gender turbidity.

I don’t want to get bogged down in analysis of that conclusion. I think that there were some poignant theories and definitely worth a listen. I cannot tell if this is a chicken or an egg scenario and it may be some of both. But, the reality is that this change is effecting ‘maleness’. They are increasingly not exceling in school and in proxy, life. ‘He’, the single, 40 year old living in the parents basement playing video games is a product of failing to thrive in a ‘they/them’ world.

Just like all great, uniformity activities, you have to break the old to build the new. The military does it, politics and cults do it as well. And these are all organizations that put some kind of objective ahead of the individual. Removing individualism and blurred identity are sure tickets to extended manipulation.

End Your Programming Routine: This seems like a good place to end. It also seems like Rand has created another strong work that we have just flat out ignored. But that is OK because it is illegal to be unhappy. And we all want to be good citizens don’t we. As long as authority tells me the right path, then everything is going to be good and I will be happy.

October 27, 2023 – Anthem, Introduction

October 27, 2023 /

And we are back to an old friend. We have now moved on to Anthem by Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged and Anthem cannot be more different from an outward appearance. Anthem is described as a novella. My copy is barely over 100 pages and I was planning on breaking it up into four groups. The first three chapters are going to be almost half the book (and about one chapter in Atlas Shrugged).

I got to thinking that it is interesting that both Rand and Zamyatin were Russian ex-pats writing at the same time on very similar subjects. Maybe, just maybe there is something to the similarities, just saying. It seems like people experiencing the same situation and writing their thoughts have come to very similar conclusions.

Sometimes I have read the book, sometimes I haven’t before I start writing the introduction. In this case I read the first chapter to get a sense of what is going on. I don’t like to be influenced by what others think it is about or concepts but it is also hard to introduce the book without having any prior knowledge.

I plan on breaking the book into four segments plus a conclusion. That means that we will finish this series in the beginning of December. Not to spill the beans but the next author will be a new one for me. I have a reserve of books that I have not yet read and I am trying to vary the authors a little bit even though there is more Rand in the future (already have the book).

This is another dystopian, science fiction story. We will talk all about what is in the book from a concept and a story line next week. I didn’t know this, but when I was reading the plot summary in Wikipedia, there is reference to We as the only related work. I suspect that it may be because the main character’s name is a number sequence. It also takes place in a dystopian future, etc.

The story was originally conceived as a play, then it was going to put in a periodical. Finally, it was published in the United States after the success of Fountainhead. Reading the history in Wikipedia, Rand tried to persuade Disney to make an animated film using stick figures. That would have been really interesting.

I am leaning more and more on moving away from the dystopian genre exclusively. Maybe, I will move from Friday book reviews even. I really enjoyed 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and Atlas Shrugged. But, it started to slip with Lord of the Flies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy checking these things off of my list but it is starting to feel like a chore trying to extract things week over week. I will leave it open for now. I do want to get through this one and the next one before I make the decision. For sure, I will continue to read and review books, it just may not be in one genre and chapter a week.

End Your Programming Routine: I am even struggling to get through the introduction. It has taken me three days to write this. But what do you write about a book that you don’t know anything about? Maybe I shouldn’t do these series before I have actually read the book? You get the point. Next week I will have more substance.

October 20, 2023 – We, Conclusion

October 20, 2023 /

As I like to say, this is the end friend. As a quick synopsis we have D-503 as the main character and builder of the Invictus a rocket ship to move people to other planets as the savior of humanity via sponsorship of United State. He meets I-330 who effectively tries to recruit him to sabotage the Invictus by seducing him. Ultimately, D-503 fails to prevent the launch of the Invictus and I-330 is caught to be executed. As well, D-503 gives up his imagination because he feels as though he cannot control his thoughts between his internal conflict and his infatuation with I-330 which is illegal.

So, not a very happy story. Going in, I really didn’t know what to expect. I certainly echo the criticism that I think 1984 is a highly similar story. Given that Orwell wrote 1984 shortly after he read We, I can not in good conscious say that it wasn’t a direct rip off. That being said, I found 1984 easier to read and more relatable. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

As to the broader concepts of the book, I think that is what we should focus on. Does humanity require free will to thrive? Of course, I think the answer is yes. But it really does boil down to a philosophical argument. For instance, can we say that any other animal species is not thriving despite not having an imagination?

Maybe what we can say is that for a species to live up to it’s potential it needs as much free will as biologically possible. You can say that all critters have free will of sorts but they do not have a conscious to evaluate and learn from those decisions after they have happened. If that is our premise, then we can certainly say that humanity is at risk in We.

The greatest danger is not to have free will but to assume you have free will that has been programmed or manipulated without cognition. There is a saying that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. This saying is to validate that there is always some good with the bad. I think most people assume that this is the worse case scenario. Actually, what is worse than a stopped clock is a clock that is 15 minutes off. Because if you believe that this is the right time, you are going to be wrong every time. A stopped clock would be right more often than a clock that is off.

I think that the other major theme is that you cannot beat the system. That is definitely something I can identify with. Why do you think that we try so hard to stop it before it becomes what it is? Once in place, it is nearly impossible to change it as individuals. Pick your pet issue, did heath care get repealed when Republicans were completely in charge? No, of course not.

Merging the two themes together, lets take one other look at things. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Everybody has heard and remembers this statement. But what about this one? “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

If we subscribe to our very own tenants, then what do we have to say about something like the Patriot Act? We have been convinced that it is necessary for our safety to give up privacy and have virtually obliterated the fourth and fifth amendments. Yes a warrant is required to tap our land line phones (Olhmstead v. United States) but we have accepted that all other electronic communication is monitored and saved. Nobody is even talking about repealing such anti-American spirit law. I wont even go into the moral paradox of waterboarding being legal based on the fact that the Constitution does not apply to non-US citizens.

I liked the book. I think that it is the right order to read We after 1984. I suspect that I need to read it again to get the subtlety of some of the concepts. I did have difficulty sometimes bridging the gaps between what was written and what was the meaning. Like much science fiction, the story is not always congruent and leaves gaps that the reader has to speculate on how or what one event leads to another. I say this because I think 1984 conveys the same concepts in a much easier way to interpret as well as a host of a whole lot more concepts.

End Your Programming Routine: We have a new book next week. It will be a familiar author with a new book. Given Zamyatin’s station in life, exiled from his home country, I suspect that this book was driven by his observation of this situation more so than some sort of freedom savant. Given the gift of time, I think that it was Orwell who codified Zamyatin’s observation into the theory of tyranny. Both are going to be on the AltF4 reading list.

October 19, 2023 – Review: Hauppage 1196 PCIe Tuner Card

October 19, 2023 /

Here is something that I haven’t done in a while and that is an honest to goodness product review. I have had on my list to try out a tuner card for several years, since I built my office. A large part of that is that I want to have live TV in the basement when I was doing the things I do down there. It is particularly true when football season is on.

To be fair, it is hard to review something without comparing the item to something else. This is a pretty niche market, computer hardware that broadcast TV. From my research, there are several variations, but let’s start with the two basic categories. There is an expansion card option and a USB option. I chose the expansion card because I had an empty PCIe slot and all of my USB ports are full.

I will say that if you are shy about getting into computer hardware or don’t even know what a PCIe slot looks like, it is probably best to stick to the USB model unless you are going to get some help. It is a more invasive and permanent installation. But, I think that you can find a lot of deals on used or old hardware, like I did.

These things were really intended to build ‘media computers’ that managed your live TV, recorded TV, movies, music, etc. That idea has become passé with the takeover of mobile devices and cloud services. No longer is absolute quality of picture and sound the driver of media but portability.

I haven’t spent a lot of time with the software, but I like the concept. I turn on the morning news with the sound off and the Closed Captioning on. That way it is not really disturbing me but is on in the background. I catch the weather and traffic while I go about my work.

I mention it briefly below but the programming guide seems to be the driver of functionality. This does cause some problems when it doesn’t have data or update like it should. But, it also nice to see the spectrum of what is on, I rarely watch TV just to watch it. I really miss the old days of TV guide because now I just don’t turn on the TV.

One of the reasons I drug my feet on this was because I was going to add a TV as a second monitor. In that case, I could take my antenna connection and plug it into the TV instead of adding another card. But, that is really not a priority. It will happen, but I am going to buy it used and cheap and I wanted the capability to watch football now if I happened to be in the basement.

It is also hard to argue with the price. New, these things are around $70-80 on Amazon. I paid $19 off of e-Bay. Sure, I didn’t get the remote control or the software included in purchase. I had to buy the software separately which cost me $13. But, I don’t really need the remote and so all in it was $32. A serviceable, used TV is going to cost $25-50 likely. But now, I won’t have to mess with input switching.

I call this technojunk because it gives new life an purpose to old hardware. Yes, it is a computer that I use every day but it is supposedly supported on Windows 7, 8 and Linux as well. I debated setting it up on my Linux computer but that is going to be my Software Defined Radio and other things machine. Plus, I prefer the main interface to the remote one and I am in my office five days a week.

ScoreAdvantagesDisadvantages
Value4/5I paid less than half of the list price by buying usedBe aware that if you buy used that you will also need to buy a software license
Other devices on your network can access live TV through the softwareI did not get a remote control that comes with the full package
Works with ATSC (antenna) and NTSC signals (cable)Requires some computer knowledge to install card. Installation instructions can be cryptic and dated
Quality3/5 A lot of flexibility to record to specific directory or NASThe software relies highly on the electronic programming guide. Not all stations provide data.
Channels can be configured in the order you would like to viewIn full screen mode, controls disappear, requires remote to operate properly
Full screen mode has a fuzzy picture
Performance 4/5Extends TV to all devices connected to the same network as computer This is a single tuner, it means that you can only record one program at a time
You can finally record live broadcast TV again without paying a serviceThis is old technology without modern inputs/outputs
Runs all day without impacting internet bandwidthWatching TV on extended devices has less control than the base software

End Your Programming Routine: This wasn’t necessary, just fun. I spend very little time watching TV, but when I see Walker, Texas Ranger on it brings back memories. I used to record and watch This Old House before digital TV, but now I can stream it if I really want to follow along. I do like the ability to see the local news while I am going about my day. So, why not?

October 13, 2023 – We, Records 36-40

October 13, 2023 /

This is the end friend. Yes for the book and for the story. It definitely doesn’t have a happy ending but again, you can see the influence that the story has on 1984. It is almost the same story with different characters and a different plot story.

And now for a quick plot summary. D-503 was discovered and knocked out before he could implement the plot to hijack the Invictus. As a result, he is brought before the Benefactor to explain himself. D-503 revealed some details of the plot and was inexplicably let go again. This led to one final meeting with I-330 whereby D-503 revealed that he has already implicated I-330. He couldn’t bear to live with himself as is and decides to have the surgery to eliminate his imagination. After that, he confesses all and I-330 is captured and sentenced to death.

As you know, next week I will do a complete review of the book. But, before that what can we learn about this section? What I take away is that it is hard to do the thing that is contrary to the flow. It becomes even worse when that thing is potentially life risky.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I don’t think every 1940s German thought that Jews/Gypsies/and others should have been exterminated. We have heard plenty of stories of people that risked everything to save someone. But, that was a very difficult decision to make. In fact, I think that there were probably plenty of people that felt the same way, they were too scared to act on that belief.

To make it more complicated, what if it was your spouse on the target list and you were part of the Nazi party, totally bought in on the platform? Imagine the mental anguish in that situation? I think that most people would probably compartmentalize their safety over that of someone else. I am not making a value judgement, it is simply how I evaluate human nature. I don’t know how I would behave in that situation. I do know that I have had a number of opportunities to be a contrarian.

About two years ago, I went to the Elks meeting where we voted to accept and offer to sell the gun club. We already knew that the fix was in. The local lodge was in dire straights when it came to finances. A majority of the active members desperately desired to use the proceeds of the property sale to finance a new lodge. Mind you, this is the same group that is struggling to pay weekly bills.

Only two of the members voted no for approving the sale. It was me and the head trap coach. After the meeting was over, there were several members that came by us and said ‘I really wanted to vote no, but I was afraid of what so and so would think’. And that is the power of group think. People did actions that they otherwise did not believe in because of the potential repercussions.

So goes life. Fortunately, we are not dealing with a genocide decision. Probably what makes it easier for me is that I joined the Elks because of the range. That makes me an informal participant, not really what a member is supposed to do. In fact, you are technically supposed to ask for permission to not attend the weekly meeting. It is not that I don’t believe in the mission, but the reality is that I am less connected and so it is a lot easier to cast a dissenting vote and leave. I have other stories about situations where I am more invested but I will save that for another time.

Getting back on topic, D-503 is in an untenable position. He doesn’t have the guts and conviction to follow the lead of I-330 nor does he have the fortitude to stand against United State knowing that is likely a death sentence.

End Your Programming Routine: Truth and righteousness is really a subjective topic. Is it really lying if someone is asking questions that is none of their business? Yes, it is but the subjective part is whether they are worthy of the answer in the first place. Therefore, the morality question is much deeper than a simple binary truth/lie. We need to be prepared to justify our positions on contentious subjects if that is the case. I hope that you consider this point of view the next time someone is prying into your life.

October 6, 2023 – We, Records 31-35

October 6, 2023 /

I can say that I finished the book, but no spoilers for you. It was probably silly to break 100 page book up into eight segments, but I did. I only had 18 pages remaining at the beginning of the chapter so I went ahead and finished it. I actually debated on just ending the review here, but I need to time to catch up on some other reading and if I push this forward, it will make me have to start the next book sooner. So, you will have to bear with me.

In these five chapters, you have primarily the internal struggle that D-503 has after agreeing to participate in the destruction of the Invictus. I-330 of course suspected that he would have moral dilemma about following through. The subplots that are happening are O-90 does actually want to go beyond the wall to raise the child and D-503 figures out that U- is an informer to the Guardians. Finally, there is something called the Operation that is going to remove the numbers imagination. Everyone is scheduled to have it performed.

I want to talk about bad tactics and strategy. I think that it is bad strategy to rely on someone that is not completely bought into the idea of participation. I think that it is pretty natural that someone where an idea is just revealed that there may be some trepidation. At the very least, they more than likely cannot be convicted to the cause.

When I was in Boy Scouts, I orchestrated an stunt that failed. I was going to get some scouts to capture some patrol flags in the middle of the night. I had printed up posters with mysterious sayings and had someone there go up early and post them around camp before all the other troops arrived. I even sought permission from the adult leaders to do this. When we went to bed, one scout was supposed to set an alarm and wake us up at midnight.

Guess what didn’t happen, they didn’t wake up to the alarm and therefore we didn’t do it. I was crushed and upset for all the effort that I put in to do this and it failed. I think silently, this was one of those events that led me to feel like I can’t trust other people with something that I really wanted to do. More so than that, it lead me down the path that whatever I really wanted done, I needed to do it myself.

I think in retrospect, this might have been a good thing. It was a little risky as in not really Boy Scout behavior. But, it also changed something in me, not just mindset for a drive to make myself better. I decided to join high school wrestling because I thought that it was the best opportunity to become fit and a better ‘warrior’. I never wrestled because I loved it or was good at it, I wrestled because I thought that it made me tougher and more hardcore.

I never was the even a good athlete, but I became tough and strong. I could outwork most people physically and I had a never give up attitude. I had strong personal discipline based on regimen and denial. I am nowhere near that rigid today, but the one thing it did for me was give me the confidence that I could set my mind to a something and pursue it no matter how hard it was.

OK, so that was a bit of a diversion. What I am trying to get across is that people not fully committed to a cause are going to have moral conflict. Or at least, they are not going to prioritize it to the same point that believers are going to. This leads to a higher degree of failure.

Clearly the resistance had some prior knowledge of D-503. He was targeted for his position with the Invictus project and they had research him and his habits. I think that it is a stretch to think that someone is going to be bought in with limited exposure to what is happening. This is particularly true when they didn’t even explain what they were up to until days before he was supposed to initiate the most critical part of the plan.

Quite frankly, there are lots of times that I agree to something because I think that it is the right thing to do or it would be good for me. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some angst or anxiety or regret associated with the decision. These are not life risking decisions either. I suppose that it wouldn’t be a humanizing story without the element of doubt and risk. Stay tuned to next week for the exciting ending or read ahead to find out for yourself.

End Your Programming Routine: I think that if you are going to belong to a radical group, there is probably some sort of loyalty test that you need to develop if you are going to hinge your revolution on an unknown commodity. I mean, doesn’t that seem obvious. Seriously, I think that it is the same psychology that goes with the saying that partnerships struggle. You never know what the other person is really thinking or if they are totally committed to the endeavor. No surprises here but this is why my wife calls me glass half full. I almost expect failure and success is a pleasant surprise.

September 29, 2023 – We, Records 26-30

September 29, 2023 /

This week, we have finally gotten a glimpse on what is going on with the book. In unrelated news, we were picking up some wine last weekend and the owner of the winery asked me if I was willing to lead the Culinary Book club. Of course I said yes, but I feel like the commitment will lead me to prioritize those activities over others. So far, in the past I have always treated it like an active member and not necessarily responsible for making it work. We will see how it goes, I am already a book behind as it is.

It is finally revealed what I-330 is up to. She is leaving the Green Wall and conferencing with some indigenous people. This would be descendants of people that did not migrate to city as a result of the 200 years war. Basically, they are on the outside, in the shadows and unknown to exist (at least to most). They are called the Mephi.

All this talk about D-503’s hairy hands in the book seems to be a reference to the Mephi. It seems that they have evolved as hairy people in order to survive outside of the city wall. His appearance and position is possibly what has attracted I-330 to D-503. In fact, the plan is for D-503 to sabotage the initial test of the Invictus in order to initiate a revolution of sorts.

It is the theory of I-330 that once the Invictus is operational, then the door to the spread of the style of life that the United State represents is about to proliferate and possibly be impossible to contain. We will have to stay tuned to the future to see if he actually does it. There was one other thing that I wanted to talk about this week and that was the encounter between D-503 and O-90.

If you recall a few reviews ago, O-90 came to the recognition that D-503 had fallen for I-330 and their relationship was over. In her madness, she wanted to have an illegal baby with D-503. This is an offense punishable by death. It is clearly spelled out in the book that O-90 has ‘baby glow’ and is beginning to visibly show signs of pregnancy. D-503 tries to offer her a new life by smuggling her outside the Green Wall and she responds that she would rather die.

I want to take a logical look at this. I hold strong feelings about freedom and personal choice. That being said, am I so blindsided by my own beliefs that I am willing to die for them? I guess I say that depends but for the sake of this discussion, no. So lets say that the last vestiges common sense leaves this state. I am already looking at moving to another state but I am not going to go kamikaze to make a point.

Let’s say that moving is not an option because the entire country is no different. I am still not going to sacrifice myself. I believe in a higher power and a better eternity. I would be extremely disappointed that we ruined the best things going, but then I also have to believe that there is a reason and that I have a role. God will tell me when it is time and it would be a direction from God if my actions were justifiable in advancing those values.

I get it, there are others that believe the faster they get to eternity, the better. But, that goes against my beliefs. I suppose to put it more crudely, I think that it is just wasteful slaughter. To put a finer point on all of this, I think that there are people that are so caught up in their emotion, they are willing to go forward despite facts to the contrary.

To use a lessor example: my wife and family went to a college football game a couple of weeks ago. On our walk back to the car I observed a person. It was a sunny day, temperatures in the upper seventies. The person was sitting in the shade at a table outside at a facility termed ‘community center’. I didn’t ask the pronouns but I assume it was a he based on the way he was dressed. He was sitting in the shade with a personal umbrella over the table, wearing long clothes and a facemask outside.

This told me a number of things. He was scared to be exposed to the sun and he was doing his part to protect us all from germs (outside). I freely admit that I am making assumptions without the facts but it illustrates the point that I believe. Some people are so wholly engulfed in a political agenda that they are scared of their own shadow.

These were the former double maskers. When one mask was proven to not work, the recommendation was to double down and add a second mask, that was our social responsibility after all. Once again without data to support the recommendation. I don’t know this for a fact, but I suspect the revolution is going to happen before O-90 gets caught and everything turns out OK. We will see.

End Your Programming Routine: My assessment of the actions of O-90 were reckless rather than heroic or even romantic. I suppose the interpretation is in the eye of the beholder so you are free to disagree. Whether I like it or not, my opinions on freedom and personal choice are becoming a minority of opinion in society. Most people cannot stomach that fact that I support the right to descent from my opinion even if it is to my own demise. I hate it but guess that is my baby.

September 26, 2023 – Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life

September 26, 2023 /

Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook by Diane Mott Davidson was the August co-selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. The reason is that it was the co-selection is that our group is going through some trials and tribulations and is a little listless at this time. Unfortunately, two members died last month and we really haven’t been in an organized fashion this year. As a result, two books were ‘suggested’. I will talk about the other one after I read it.

Part of the reason that I like being part of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club is that other people do the work. That is, they are the ones to suggest ‘I think we should read this’. Most of the selections I would never pick in a million years but I like the fact that it provides a diverse view to what I would normally read or gravitate to.

This choice is an interesting one. Diane Mott Davidson is a long time author, publishing a series of mystery books dating all the way back to the early 1990s. Her primary character is a caterer and nearly every recipe in this cookbook has been published in each of Diane’s numerous books. This is a compilation of all the recipes throughout Diane’s writing career.

In all transparency, I have never heard of Diane Mott Davidson nor any of her books. I say that because the idea of this cookbook seems pretty novel to me. Another reason that I mention it is because I came into this with no bias whatsoever.

Another admission, I did not read every word. I read the anecdote that goes along with the recipe and scan the ingredient list. I want to understand the pulse of a cookbook. How much diversity is there within the book? Can I possibly make what is in the book with the ingredients listed? Do I even care about what is offered?

Usually, I pick out a couple of things that I would like to try. And typically those are recipes that are unique. I say this because after reading this cookbook, I don’t plan on making anything immediately. Nearly 1/3 of the recipes are desserts, nothing wrong with that but it is just not a cornerstone in my kitchen.

What is the pulse of this cookbook? Clearly, I would say desserts but I already said that. There is an entire chapter on egg and cheese, think quiche, omelets, frittata etc. This was apparently driven by the author’s editor being vegetarian and asking for more recipes that fit that definition. That was a novel stance as well but I noticed that many of the recipes were different assemblies of the same ingredients.

The author had spent most of her life in Colorado and the cookbook has strong leaning toward TexMex flavors. I don’t have anything specific against TexMex but I have a true affinity toward Mexican food and to me TexMex is like saying McDonalds represents hamburgers. No, it is a derivation and interpretation made for a specific purpose.

Before I am too hard on Diane, she makes a statement early on that says her character is a caterer and that is a business. If a shortcut can be made to get to the end, then it should be considered. I giver her credit that she has done her homework on learning and understanding the business. I think the disconnect is between catering as a business and cooking as a craft.

Just one quick example in the chicken broth recipe. This is the only recipe I have ever seen that uses prepared chicken broth as the liquid to make chicken broth. I subscribe to Samine Nosrat – If you cant use broth you have made, use water. So, I see the broth recipe as more of a hack than an actual technique. I could certainly see this work for catering, like I said it is a business.

End Your Programming Routine: Who would like this or be interested in this cookbook? I think fans of Diane Mott Davidson certainly. But, if you have a sweet tooth or lack a cookbook to make a lot of cookies with dried fruit or chocolate in them, this may be your thing. This will probably be one that I never open again but that is OK. I didn’t know there was a mystery series with hundreds of recipes contained.