Carpe Libra

One of the cool things about reading is how smart you get by doing it. I’m probably not the best example of this, but I’ve heard it’s true.

Today I ran into a new word, redivivus. It was in the following sentence dealing with economists, “But he was not simply Adam Smith redivivus.”

Hmm, what does it mean? Here’s your answer.

By the way, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is on the Carp 500, since everyone is thinking about economics right now. I would also point you to Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell for a good timely Carp read.

If you want some economic current news and opinion, go here.

A guy by the name of Jay Walker has an incredible personal library. This is the kind of thing that makes a reading guy drool. The pictures in the article are very cool.

The chandelier is from a James Bond movie. He has a Sputnik satellite, plus thousands of books. The library covers 3,600 feet of his home. Very cool.

Bob Dylan was recently asked who his greatest creative inspiration was. His answer was Robert Burns and particularly his poem A Red, Red Rose, which happens to be on the Carp 500.

Opinions are mixed on Burns, many Carpers think he’s simplistic and trite, however, some Carpers and people like Bob Dylan and Abraham Lincoln like him.

I like him because I can understand him. I also like Bob Dylan, but probably not for the same reason. In my book, which has sold zero copies, Blood on the Tracks is the best Dylan CD, all acoustic and very pleasant.

According to the Global Language Monitor, we are approaching the creation of the one millionth English word. A new word is added to the English language approximately every 98 minutes.

That being the case and all things remaining constant, we should achieve our one millionth word in April 2009. I wonder what the word will be?

Ilan Ramon was an astronaut on the Columbia disaster of 2003. All on board were killed, obviously, when the Columbia blew up.

There was a survivor of the disaster though, Ilan Ramon’s diary! It was found in a field in Texas after apparently surviving a 37 mile fall to earth!

Pages from the diary were put on display this past weekend in Jerusalem. That is just mind-boggling to me. 37 miles it fell!

OK, I give.

325 pages in I have to quit. The novel doesn’t go anywhere or do anything. He uses lots of weird words, words I could look up but don’t feel like it because I doubt I really want to know what he’s talking about anyway.

Then I looked at a synopsis of the rest of the book and well, that was the final straw. It continues to go nowhere and be about despicable people doing despicable things.

I’ll pass. Banned Books Week is over. Life is too precious to waste it on drivel.

Forbes came out with a list of the top paid authors from the past year. Here are the top five.

1. J. K. Rowling–$300 million!
2. James Patterson–$50 million
3. Stephen King–$45 million
4. Tom Clancy–$35 million
5. Danielle Steel–$30 million

Most of the money comes from movie deals and such like. Most of it also comes from writing about the enjoyments of sin sin sin.

For Banned Books Week, I decided to read James Joyce’s Ulysses, well not quite the whole thing this week, it’s 640 pages long. Anyway, I have no idea why the book was banned. Nothing happens.

It’s the story of a guy going through a day and all his thoughts and other people’s thoughts and thoughts of thoughts of people’s thoughts on thoughts.

Supposedly the story mirrors Homer’s Odyssey. Seeing as how I’ve never read Homer’s Odyssey, I had no idea. Apparently writing about people’s thoughts on thoughts was also popular in the eighth century BC as well. Who knew?

Although I have not read Homer’s Odyssey, I did see O Brother Where Art Thou? and also bought the soundtrack. I can see some similarities I guess.

I plan on finishing the book at some point and perhaps it will make more sense. Not willing to bet on that though. Maybe I’ll Just watch the Star Trek Quartet.

In our nursery rhyme, we think that Humpty Dumpty is an egg. He’s not. He’s a cannon.

Georgie Porgie is about George Villiers.

Hey diddle diddle ode pokes fun of life at the court of Elizabeth I.

A new book is coming out by Sam Foster explaining the true meanings behind nursery rhymes. It’s not on Amazon yet so I’m assuming this is all fake.

Since it’s absolutely no fun to watch the stupid Cubs implode once again, I have found something else for you to watch during baseball games: the grass.

The New York Times has an article on David Mellor, groundskeeper for the Boston Red Sox and inventor of the artistry done in grass fields. He even wrote a book about the subject, Picture Perfect: Mowing Techniques for Lawns, Landscapes, and Sports.

This guy is totally my hero.