Discussion: This was a most excellent and ...

This was a most excellent and appreciated telling of another Tale of Sunderland, and the number at the end of this will signify the minutes of standing ovation it warrants.

7.

(Seven is pretty darned good! How often do you ever see that, like, anywhere!)

That was a great story!!
Books: Richard Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale" is excellent, but very long. Get more Dave Barry to intersperse with!

I am really impressed with your management skills!

For light reading, I borrow from my kids' shelves. This morning I just finished some silly book about spooks and witches. I don't recommend it though.

I wonder if the builder reads Attackpoint? ;)

The funny thing is that the builder, and here I'm talking about the on-site construction superintendent, the guy really responsible for the project, told me at one point that when he was a little kid there were two things he wanted to do in life -- build big buildings and work with horses. This was a small project for him, usually it's stuff in the $20-30 million range. And on weekends he has a thriving business as a horse whisperer, taking troubled or angry or difficult horses and working them out of their troubles. He was a wonderful guy.

We also talked some about O' and running, but I'm pretty sure I never told him about AP. On the other hand, if he ever does a search for "no controlled substances," then we may be in trouble.

And that reminds me of my experience crossing the border into Canada 10 days ago. A line of about 10 cars ahead of me. I have my camping gear, my clubs, plus a big bag of Barb's gear, including some dried fruit that she is worried they will confiscate (though I am not worried about that), but supposedly no controlled substances. So after a while I get to the front of the line and give the guy my passport and he runs it through the machine and looks at the screen for a moment, and then he turns to me and says, "I see you have no controlled substances. Welcome to Canada." And he waves me on, no questions at all.

Well, that was my fantasy.

So let's try again, with what really happened.

I have all this stuff, all legal. I hand the guy my passport and he runs it through the machine.

"Where are you from?"

"Excuse me, I don't hear so well."

"Where do you live?

"Oh, Massachusetts."

"When did you last visit Canada?"

Now this one really threw me. I mean, why does he want to know. The only thing I can think of is that he already has the answer up on his screen, and he's testing me to see if I tell the truth. And, of course, I can't remember when I was last in Canada.

"Hmm, I don't know, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this year." And I say something about losing my memory as I get old, and I can see he is looking a little suspicious, and I'm trying to remember when I was last in Canada, and I mumble something about I think I went to Ottawa last year, but now he's moved on to more questions.

"Cigarettes, alcohol, firearms?"

"No, No, and No."

"Where are you going?"

"The Laurentians, Sainte-Adele."

And I'm answering his questions, and really he should be welcoming me because I'm going to visit Canada for 3 days and spend some loonies and then leave, but he seems more and more hostile.

"What for?"

"Some hiking....," and the suspicious look continues, "... and some golf."

And I must have said the magic word, because he visibly relaxes and smiles.

"Welcome to Canada." And he waves me on. And never asked a word about food or other substances.

I just flashed them my medal on the way home and they said nice job - Go USA!

Try denying them their GST if you really want the grilling. I had a contract up there and you could just see them seething as they questioned me about the details (and, after a few trips on successive weeks with no GST paid, I always got pulled into the little room off to the side for questioning). Yes, I work for a US company. Yes, the company I'm contracted to is also a US company. Yes, they have a distributor here in Canada that I need to visit. Yes, I visited them every week for the last month. Yes, I have the contract right here. Yes, I agree that the GST is a lot and I'm really glad that I'M NOT OBLIGATED TO PAY IT. Can I go to work now?

I realize that civil servants make a lot less than IT contractors and maybe they view public health care as small consolation for giving half their money to the government but, damn, I don't write the rules.

I am loathe to recommend books, but it appears that Modernity on Endless Trial by Leszek Kolakowski would complement the other suggestions nicely. Also excellent, and consumable in small portions.

Here is a book that you might want to try.

Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". It is about the out-of-shape author's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. He has a pretty good sense of humor.

I would recommend the Bryson book, as well. It was very funny.

I've actually read that one, twice(!), might have to pull it out and read it a third time to help me get through some of Einstein (made one chapter of it so far). It's a fun read.

I also remember reading some time ago Bryson's book about Australia (A Sunburnt Land, or something like that), enjoyed it a lot too. I'd like to get back to Australia again, took two memorable trips there, World Champs in 1985 and World Rogaine Champs in 1992. Maybe when they have the World Masters there in 2009?

Well, if you ever want to read anything related to Tudor England, be it historical fiction (my favorite) or real history, I will gladly give recommendations from my Tudor shelf. Otherwise I'll leave the recommending to everyone else, since I'm sure there's mucho overlapo.

I've read many of Bryson's books, and recommend all of them. I think several of his books meet your criteria of many short articles without too much depth. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" in particular.

I'll throw out 3 more on some wide ranging topics. All very good in my eyes. I think that Spike read these so they must be good.

"Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" by Atul Gawande. A behind the scenes looks at surgeons. He examines the fact that some surgeons and medical centers are better than others.

"The Blindside". This is about the discovery and recruitment of Michael Oher, a huge offensive lineman from inner city Memphis. I'm not a football fan, but I found the story to be fascinating. In one scene, he got mad and blocked a division one prospect straight back for 20 yards, then turned and blocked him off the field, then through his team's bench, and across the track. They finally stopped him as he was attempting to push the guy through a fence. Michael (not Mikell) said he was going to put him back on his bus where he belonged.

"Freakonomics". The author applied economic analysis techniques on a wide range of questions and comes up with some interesting insights. Do some teachers cheat on student achievement tests? Do sumo wrestlers throw their matches? Why are some baby names more popular than others?

I haven't read it, but The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan sounds interesting, based on radio interviews with the author that I've heard.