David S. Atkinson's Blog, page 254
October 24, 2013
I’ve Got Nothing To Say About The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)
My wife decided to make me watch The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) by Ylvis the other day. She thought I’d get a good blog post out of it. Really, I have nothing to say about it. Just look:
I mean, it’s an odd video. Weird. Still, Ylvis is a Norwegian comedy duo. It’s supposed to be weird. It’s not like this was a non-comedy music group who wasn’t trying to be funny. I ended up watching a little disbelievingly, but it’s just an odd little video. Nothing much freakier than that.
Really, regardless of whatever the fox has to say, I don’t have much to say about The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?).
October 23, 2013
Jail May Be The Safest Place For Neil McArdle
Do you know who Neil McArdle is? If not, you’ll want to find out. He’s going to jail now, and personally I think that’s the safest place for him. I definitely don’t agree with what he did, but that’s not why I think jail is a good place for him. It’s good because it might protect him.
You see, Neil apparently forgot to book his wedding venue and didn’t tell his bride, Amy Williams. Instead, he went ahead with everything, letting Amy show up on the appointed day, and then called in a bomb threat.
Yeah, he really did that.
Of course, he’s now been sentenced to a year in jail for the incident. But, as I said, that’s probably a good thing. He probably needs protection from Amy right now. I know my wife would be out for blood if I’d done something like that. At least in jail they’ll probably keep Neil safe from Amy.
He just has to worry what is going to happen when that year is up.
October 22, 2013
Ancenstrydna.com Is Apparently Not Trustworthy
When I decided to take a genetic DNA test to see if I had anything I didn’t know about hiding in my background, I had no reason not to trust AncestryDNA.com. Even when it came back saying I was 83% Scandinavian, I was confused but not necessarily doubting. After all, even though my family claims to be Scotch, English, Irish, German, and Bohemian, it’s always possible that ancestors came to those places from other areas. However, I’m now thinking that I can’t trust anything that AncestryDNA.com says.
After all, they originally said that my DNA tests showed that I was 83% Scandinavian with various areas of Europe (including areas such as England and Czechoslovakia) mixed in and about 5% unidentified. Then, all of a sudden, they changed how something was done on their site and I was 100% European with only 2% Scandinavian.
That’s right. Based on whatever update, they now list me as 65% Great Brittain (England, Scotland, Wales) and 25% Europe East (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) with trace regions of 4% Europe West (Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein), 3% Ireland (Ireland, Wales, Scotland), 2% Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), and 1% Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal).
What does it mean? Well, clearly it means that I can’t trust anything AncestryDNA.com says, even if this fits more with my family history than the previously listed results. After all, even figuring out that 5% they said they hadn’t pinned down before shouldn’t change me from 83% Scandinavian to 2% Scandinavian. The only thing that does that is poor DNA analysis.
We won’t even talk about the changes they made to what they report of my wife’s DNA profile. Believe me, though, that doesn’t make much more sense.
I’m not trying to bash them here, but this is a pretty big result change without any apology for apparently gumming up the results before. This is far more likely than me being 83% Scandinavian, but if I can’t trust the results of their DNA tests…why the heck do they sell them? I could have had someone make stuff up for free.
Obviously, I’m not real pleased with them right now.
October 21, 2013
Nathaniel Tower interviewed me over at “Write, Juggle, Run.” Check it out!
I’m having a lot of fun with interviews lately. Most recently, Nathaniel Tower honored me by interviewing me over at Write, Juggle, Run. Check it out. I really had fun with this interview.
Nathaniel Tower of course needs no introduction. Still, I’ll remind everybody that he’s the author of A Reason to Kill, Hallways and Handguns, the serial novel Misty Me and Me (which you can go read and vote for the individual chapters thereof over at Jukepop Serials), the forthcoming Nagging Wives and Foolish Husbands and short fiction in over 200 print and online journals. He’s also the founding editor of Bartleby Snopes.
As you can imagine, it was extremely flattering that Nate wanted to interview me. It was really cool and I think we ended up with a really nice interview.
Anyway, go check it out. Be sure to click on the link to the Dead Milkmen song while you’re there.
October 20, 2013
Today We Have Replaced
Today we have replaced the fine content normally served here with Folgers crystals:
Let’s see if anybody notices.
October 19, 2013
Have You Checked Out Eleven And A Half Years Of Books Recently?
I’ve talked about this on here before, but I like to give a shout out now and then to remind people. Have you checked out Eleven And A Half Years Of Books recently? It’s a book blog that Kimberly Campbell Moore and I run doing weekly reviews for all the books listed in The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books edited by J. Peder Zane.
We’ve been doing this for a while now. I think we’re somewhere a little over 70 reviews so far. This week Kim checked out To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.
Anyway, just wanted to remind people to go over to Eleven And A Half Years Of Books and check it out once in a while. It’s really an excuse for me and Kim to read some books we’ve been meaning to anyway, as well as check out some that we weren’t aware of, but it’s fun to share out thoughts.
Hope you enjoy.
October 18, 2013
Denver Steak ‘n Shake Fans: Do Not Despair
Well, all the Denver Steak ‘n Shake fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Denver Metro Steak ‘n Shakes will be reopening under corporate management. Local Steak ‘n Shake aficionados were a bit concerned when the doors closed, but that will be changing shortly. There will again be Steak ‘n Shakes in Denver.
Those concerned probably already heard the news about how the franchisee had been having problems because apparently Steak ‘n Shakes cost more to run here than in other places. Apparently, they had pushed back on corporate as far as prices and the disagreement resulted in a lawsuit that stripped the franchisee of the franchise, closing the Denver area locations.
But, corporate has decided that they will reopen the stores. Whether or not they will be put under the management of subsequent franchisees remains to be seen, but apparently we’ll still have Steak ‘n Shakes in Denver either way.
Though not a huge Steak ‘n Shake fan myself, I am married to one. As such, this is at least somewhat good news for me. My wife will be thrilled.
October 17, 2013
I Did A Lot More Work Than I Had To
I posted a little while back about the number of books I’d read of the various authors whose books I’d read most of in response to similar postings by fellow writers Kyle Muntz and Joseph Michael Owens. However, I just realized that I did a heck of a lot more work than I needed to.
As I described before, I scrolled through my ‘read’ list on Goodreads and tried to find anyone who’d written 8 or more books that I’d read. Once I found a likely candidate, I added the books of theirs I’d read up.
However, I just found a tool on the “My Books” page of Goodreads that apparently does the same thing. It was there all along, and I never had to do any work. I feel dumb.
Anyway, here’s what I would have had in my previous post if I’d just taken the easy way and cut and pasted from the list Goodreads generated for me (stopping at 8, though the Goodreads tool keeps going all the way down to authors who wrote at least 4 books I’ve read):
1
Charles Bukowski
45
2
Philip Roth
28
3
Honoré de Balzac
20
4
John Steinbeck
18
4
Piers Anthony
18
6
Haruki Murakami
17
7
Kurt Vonnegut
16
8
Stephen King
14
8
J.P. Donleavy
14
8
Chuck Palahniuk
14
8
Hunter S. Thompson
14
8
Hermann Hesse
14
13
Clive Barker
13
13
Jack Kerouac
13
15
Sherman Alexie
10
15
John Fante
10
17
Aleister Crowley
9
17
Dave Barry
9
17
Tom Robbins
9
17
Hugh Lofting
9
17
Ernest Hemingway
9
17
Carlos Castaneda
9
17
Joyce Carol Oates
9
17
David Foster Wallace
9
25
Douglas Adams
8
25
Jasper Fforde
8
25
Robert Anton Wilson
8
25
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
8
25
Thomas Pynchon
8
25
Margaret Atwood
8
October 16, 2013
Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop: The Denver Taxi Getaway
Some guy recently took a taxi home from robbing a bank in Denver. I found this odd, but ordinarily weird details about crimes wouldn’t be enough to pique my interest. However, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop on this one.
After all, taking a taxi home from a bank robbery couldn’t have been smart. It seems likely that this will yield a clue that could result in an arrest. I don’t know if taxis in Denver have cameras, but I’m sure the driver saw the guy. I’m sure the driver at least knows where he was dropped off. It’s possible that this won’t immediately lead to the perpetrator, but it seems likely that it will. I think the only reason it hasn’t yet is because it happened so recently. If there’s a bonehead moment coming on this one, the other shoe just might not have dropped yet.
Frankly, it reminds me about the story of the guy who kept robbing the same bank on the same day of the week at the same time. Eventually, police figured out that he was taking a particular bus home and managed to apprehend him safely by waiting at the stop. I forget where I heard this, but I think it was a weird news thing as opposed to hearing it from a friend of a friend sort of thing, so I think this actually happened.
Regardless, I’m just waiting to hear something similar stupid here too. With a bank robber taking a taxi home? There almost has to be.
October 15, 2013
Macy’s Black Friday News Has No Impact On My Life
Rumors are now circulating that Macy’s is the newest to jump on the bandwagon of opening on Thanksgiving instead of waiting for actual Black Friday shopping to start. Thankfully, this will have no impact on my life whatsoever.
Frankly, I don’t really shop at Macy’s. It wasn’t until I moved to my current city that I was even aware that they were still in business. Funny how something like that can totally escape your notice if they don’t have a store where you live.
Regardless, they do have a store in my current city. However, I won’t be at my current city on Thanksgiving. I’ll be going to visit relatives in a city that does not have a Macy’s. As such, their potential opening Thanksgiving evening instead of midnight Friday has no bearing on my life at all. My wife can’t drag me in there on Thanksgiving whether or not she wants to.
I’m safe.
Granted, there are still plenty of stores that will be open in the city where I’ll be on Thanksgiving. My wife may very well drag me to one or more of those. However, I’ll be counting my blessings for each and every store that she can’t. Got to look at things positively, right?
