Leon Atkinson's Blog, page 22

Best Books 2012

Here’s a list of notable books I read or listened to in 2012.

I suspected that I read more than the average person, then I googled it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (Seriously? An entire bureau for this?!?) reported that in 2011, the average man spent 2-3 hours a day watching TV and 15-20 minutes reading for pleasure. To all those people spending 2-3 hours a day zoning out to TV, I can tell you unequivocally there are entertaining things available in written form only. I hope you’re using your 15 minutes reading my blog.

I read the paper most days. I read real, paper books and I read on my tablet. In July, I handed down my 10-inch Archos table to Tre and upgraded to a Nexus 7. It’s good for reading in bed or on the couch. I read blogs and I read epub books. (If you’d like a few suggestions, connect to me on Ownshelf.com. All the books on my shelf are free to share.) I alternate between listening to my favorite podcasts and books when I’m riding BART or walking to the gym.

I’m usually most interested in non-fiction. The idea that I’m learning something useful is a spice sprinkled over the meal of the book. Contrast this to my friend Ron’s assertion that the exclamation mark is the spice of life. The spice of writing is probably more precise. Ron likes his emails spicy!!!!! Anyway–after reading a particularly heavy non-fiction book about mental health, I read a bunch of fiction for a change. Tre was still making his way through the Harry Potter books and I decided to read the first one while we were on Vacation in Cancun. Then I read all of them. Going on about them is superfluous. They are good. They reminded me of being about 12 and reading the Xanth books. So, I started re-reading those.

No, I haven’t re-read them all. First of all, there are more than 30. Second, I stopped reading them around #19. Piers Anthony has been writing a new Xanth novel a year for more than thirty years! I found it interesting to compare the first two books from the two series. In both, the first book is perhaps a little out of sync. The general style is set, but there are small imperfections that later books would have polished out. Although I wish I had the Harry Potter books to read when I was little, I’m happy to find that the Xanth books are as good as I remember. All these years later, I appreciate the aspects of romance and fatherhood in a way my child self could not.

All that is to say I expected my list of books to be shorter than last year because I read some non-new, popular fiction. I also listened to a version of Catcher in the Rye recorded for the blind. The voice actor was great. I was expecting it to be more dramatic. Mostly what I took away from it was the narrator’s way of turning a phrase. I really did. I’m not kidding.

Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker

Anatomy of an Epidemic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is the super-heavy book by Robert Whitaker about mental health that I read early in the year. This is exactly the type of non-fiction book I enjoy: someone uses the power of government to extract wealth at the expense of innocent people. For an example, see Taube’s Good Calories, Bad Calories. When Taube shows how chief idiot George McGovern leads a committee of idiots to institute a new dogma of low fat for heart health, I was keenly aware of the tragic consequences. Countless people continue to be harmed by this careless decision. It was not lost on my that my own father was harmed by it.

But Whitaker’s story is at least twice as tragic. First because the suffering of the mentally ill, mild or severe, likely outstrips that pain of heart disease or obesity. Second because too often, the treatment that’s worse than the disease is inflicted by parents upon their children. Some of well meaning and mislead by the doctors they trust. Some are lazy and ought to know better. Perhaps some are too mentally ill themselves to do anything better. In each case, it breaks my heart.

I am interested in improving mental health, and I’ve been working on a semi-stealth startup that will offer software to help therapists provide better service. After reading this book, I felt some fear that the APA would be threatened by software that helps prove that non-pharmaceutical treatment is effective.

I discovered Whitaker from an interview with Stefan Molyneux.  I have his earlier book Mad in America on my shelf, but I couldn’t take reading it yet.

Every Day is an Atheist Holiday!: More Magical Tales from the Author of God, No! by Penn Jillette

Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday

I got Penn’s new book for xmas and read through most of it that day. Like his book from 2011, this book is a yummy cake of personal stories frosted with some philosophical perspective.

I have enjoyed listening to Penn’s Sunday School in between listening to books or other podcasts. No other podcast makes me laugh out loud, which may be disconcerting my fellow BART riders.

Because I lack much of an older, guiding generation in my life, I look for that experience from public sources. It’s not the same as asking advice from my father, but it gives me comfort knowing there are guys out there that think the way I do and have been doing it longer than me. My list of role models includes Henry Rollins, Leonard Peikoff, Nathaniel Brandon, Richard Nikoley, Eric Raymond, Stefan Molyneux and Penn Jillette.

The most interesting part of this book is about the conscious choice to put most of your energy into being a great dad. In the middle of life, we can see that the higher peaks of our careers are not worth climbing. There is an overwhelming emotion that comes with being a dad who’s present in the moment, who’s enjoying the lives of his wife and children. Molyneux can be heard saying that this is how we change the world, by being better parents. I accept that. And reading Penn talk about his kids made me love my kids even more. It inspires me to do even better as a dad.

This post has gone on far longer than I expected, so I’ll just list a few other books I enjoyed this year. Most of them aren’t new, except to me.

Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week by John Little, Doug McGuff offers a brief overview of a method for strength training that I’ve been following for the past six months.

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens is a classic by the late author.

Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir by Dave Mustaine and Joe Layden tells Mustaine’s side of the Metallica story as well as all of his adventures with Megadeth.

Confessions of a Conjuror by Derren Brown is more biographical than his previous book, Tricks of the Mind. I like everything Derren does and wish I didn’t have to go to the UK, physically or via the Internet, to see him.

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker is another classic that I just recently caught up with.

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow was a good reminder how many things in our lives are simply random and part of no pattern.

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human by Matt Ridley talks about epigenetics long before it became a popular subject.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris and Jordan Bridges is one of several Sam Harris books I read or listened to. His Free Will book is on my list despite my general distrust of anyone who argues against free will.

The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God: An Evolutionist Explains Religion’s Incredible Hold on Humanity by Craig A. James argues that religion is an idea virus that has evolved to perpetuate itself.

Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson and Terence Winter covers the real history of Atlantic City. It’s a good contrast to the show.

The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History by Jason Vuic traces the history of how the Yugo ever made it to America.

Against the Gods by Stefan Molyneux covers all the arguments against the idea of there being supernatural beings.

 

 

 

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Redshift

This tool is in the Ubuntu software center, so it’s easy to try. I did find I had to make a config file to make it work. Aside from eye strain, it might help you sleep better.

Redshift | jonls devblog

Redshift adjusts the color temperature of your screen according to your surroundings. This may help your eyes hurt less if you are working in front of the screen at night. This program is inspired by f.lux (read here for the reason why I started this project).

Game Blocks

The question is, can I tear the boys away from Minecraft and Halo to try it out?

Game Blocks offers free, open-source game creation for novices

Sheldon Pacotti, writer of the original Deus Ex games and indie developer in his own right, created Game Blocks, an open-source library for making games, for the students in his video game writing course at the University of Texas. Game Blocks is designed to help novice developers craft their stories, animations and physics effects with a simple, snap-to interface, as demonstrated above.

Game Blocks is able to compile platformers, adventure games, simulation games and arcade shooters for PC and Mac, and makes it easy to organize dialogue and story. Best of all, it’s completely free. Anyone interested in messing around with game design or interactive storytelling, download Game Blocks directly from Pacotti’s New Life Interactive.

Teller Reveals His Secrets

 

Teller Reveals His Secrets | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine

In the last half decade, magic—normally deemed entertainment fit only for children and tourists in Las Vegas—has become shockingly respectable in the scientific world. Even I—not exactly renowned as a public speaker—have been invited to address conferences on neuroscience and perception. I asked a scientist friend (whose identity I must protect) why the sudden interest. He replied that those who fund science research find magicians “sexier than lab rats.”

Best Music 2012

Here’s a rundown on the best albums that came out in 2012, in no particular order.

Westwinds - The Real McKenzies

Every song by this band makes me want to hold a drink up high in one hand, wrap my other arm around your shoulders and sing along at the top of my lungs. It being the end of the year, a time for a reflection, check out The Real McKenzies’ ode to MLK, The Message. Here is a gift for you to keep. There’s a message you can hear all over the world if you only try. To all those who worry about this troubled world, we can change it all today.

Uno / Dos / Tre - Green Day

Really three albums, but they might as well as been a three-disc release. Putting aside the claim by some of my friends that Green Day ripped off the Mr. T Experience sound, these guys keep making music I can listen to on repeat. Everyone in the family enjoys it, which makes it good roadtrip music. Plus, the ElSob world view matches up pretty close to MTZ: Well I don’t want to be an imbecile. But Jesus made me that way… I think X-Kid might be the best track, but The Forgotten was the name of my teenage punk rock band. I can’t bring myself to share the video since it has all these distracting scenes from the last Twilight movie in it.

Rebirth - Jimmy Cliff

I knew this album would be great after last year’s Sacred Fire EP. His version of Guns of Brixton might be better than the original.

Acoustic Volume Two – Tony Sly & Joey Cape

It certainly was a terrible loss when Tony Sly passed away this year. I was looking forward to many more years of his music. Visit tonysly.org for more info about him and donate to help support his family if you can afford it.

S/T – OFF!

Keith Morris is 57 years old. You are probably younger and not rocking as hard. What do you have to say for yourself?

Lost City – The Lost City EP

A Portland-based four-piece rock band. Inspired by The Boss, Jimmy Eat World, Cormac McCarthy, and Patton Oswalt. If you liked My Life in Black and White, you will like band.

S/T - Classics of Love

If you liked Operation Ivy, you will like this band.

“God, Forgive These Bastards” Songs From The Forgotten Life Of Henry Turner - The Taxpayers

Tempest - Bob Dylan

We Come In Peace - D.O.A.

Into the Future - Bad Brains

 

 

How not to feel the horrible burden of Time

Lapham’s Quarterly (Winter 2013 edition) opens with the following mission statement by Charles Baudelaire (circa 1867). It suits the holiday mood, which for an atheist like me is every day. (Why? Read Every Day is an Atheist Holiday by Penn Jillette.) Cheers!

One should always be drunk. That’s the great thing, the only question. Not to feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and bowing you to the earth, you should be drunk without respite.

Drunk with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please. But get drunk.

And if sometimes you should happen to awake, on the stairs of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the dreary solitude of your own room, and find that your drunkenness is ebbing or has vanished, ask the wind and the wave, ask star, bird, or clock, ask everything that flies, everything that moans, everything that flows, everything that sings, everything that speaks, ask them the time; and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, and the clock will all reply, “It is Time to get drunk! If you are not to be the martyred slaves of Time, be perpetually drunk! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you please.”

 

 

2012 Atkinson Yearbook

Every year, for many years, I’ve made a photobook of the past year for Vicky as an XMAS present. You can click to view the 2012 edition.

 

Trout planted into Hidden Valley Lake

You can fish for Trout at Hidden Valley Park this XMAS.

Christmas Fishing: Trout Being Released Into East Bay Lakes

Here’s a new tradition for East Bay families. Christmas fishing.

The state Department of Fish and Game this month is releasing thousands of trout into more than a dozen Bay Area lakes to the delight of local anglers.

The department announced it would release more than 30,000 pounds of rainbow trout in Bay Area lakes during the month of December. Some of the fish weigh as much as two pounds.

Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mother’s Brains

They don’t know why, but they have seen cells from a mother’s child in her brain. Perhaps the cells pass through the placenta. This could also mean those same cells could pass the other way from mother to a child she bears later. The might find the cells of your older brother sibling in you!

The most amazing, humbling idea for me to contemplate is that beyond what my relationship with Vicky is, a profound merging of souls on the intellectual level, our becoming parents means some of my DNA may have traveled from Tre and Henry into her body to stay forever.

Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mother’s Brains

The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought. The profound psychological and physical bonds shared by the mother and her child begin during gestation when the mother is everything for the developing fetus, supplying warmth and sustenance, while her heartbeat provides a soothing constant rhythm.

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang seeded on Pirate Bay by the authors

The guys who produced the Minecraft documentary, available tomorrow to buy on DVD, just released a torrent of it on Pirate Bay. Kudos to them!  It’s a powerful demonstration of freedom, and I’m sure it will be a huge success.

You can buy the film here: redux.com/minecraft-movie

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang

Greetings Pirate Bay!

This is 2 Player Productions here, and we hoped we could be the first to upload our new movie “Minecraft: The Story of Mojang”. We’ve never uploaded a torrent before so hopefully this isn’t all screwed up.

We wanted to come here first because we knew the movie would end up here eventually, and the best thing to do seemed to be opening a dialogue. Torrents and piracy are a way of life and it probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. There are many people that want to punish you for that, but we have a more realistic outlook on things.

We’ve been there. We’ve all needed to do it at some point. Maybe you don’t have the money. Maybe you want to try before you buy. Maybe you’re pissed at us for premiering the movie on Xbox Live. These are all fine reasons. But if you feel that piracy is, in Gabe Newell’s words, “a service problem,” please consider that we are selling DRM free digital downloads that you can watch in whatever manner you please.

We’re just three guys trying to make a living doing what we love. We love the world of video games, and we love making it real. If you buy the movie, you support those efforts. The reason we Kickstarted this movie in the first place was that we didn’t have enough money to make it ourselves, and even then, we still put A LOT of our own money into it. Not to mention nearly two years of work.

Watch the movie. Hopefully you’ll like it, and understand what we’re trying to do. Please consider supporting us by buying the $8 DRM-free digital download of the movie at www.theminecraftmovie.com, or the $20 DVD from www.fangamer.net.

We’ve worked with a lot of amazing people in the games industry and had the incredible fortune to make some great films the way we wanted to make them. Please consider helping us continue on this path. The best has yet to come.

-2pp