Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who hid Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis and after they were betrayed and seized preserved her diary for the world, has died. She was 100.
“Millions of copies of the diary, a gift for Anne’s 13th birthday, have been published in multiple languages, and it has been converted into a play performed worldwide in schools and on professional stages.”
Via Simply Jews.
Comments Off on Anne Frank’s savior dies, R.I.P.
Posted in Israel, Library, Obituaries
Tagged Anne Frank, Miep Gies, The Diary of Anne Frank
Comments Off on Pantybomber’s inspiration
January 2, 2010 in Library, Scribbles, The War
Tagged Kurt Westergaard, Muhammed cartoons, PantyBomber
Well, after fighting all day to get back into the blog’s working system, I have decided to make the big switch. Lord knows what it will do to the layout, not to mention the content. I expect it will be a bear. We shall see.
The problem is that Yahoo, the host, and Movable Type, the blog software, parted ways earlier this month, which meant that Yahoo would no longer support MT. I ignored it, figuring I could go my merry way with MT. Then I axed TypePad as the comment vetter and, suddenly, I couldn’t get back into MT to work my magic. Come to find out that TP owns MT. Good grief, how did I miss that? TP said they couldn’t help. MT tried to pass the buck to Yahoo. I kept pressing MT. It took six hours but they finally found a solution. I’ll be making the switch as soon as I can. More on that when it’s ready to go down.
Comments Off on Moving on up, to WordPress
Posted in Library, Site building
Tagged Movable Type, TypePad, Wordpress, Yahoo
Another super bird photo from Snoopy the Goon on his recent Arizona trip. The fellow is good!
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Posted in Blogosphere, Israel, Library
Tagged Arizona Crane, Snoopy the Goon
Jack McDevitt is one fine reason to keep reading science fiction. His future world is compelling and while short of the hard scifi I usually prefer, his tales are nevertheless, as Stephen King says in a blurb, "riveting."
This one fits the mold. It’s a multiple-murder mystery set in a future where starships are so common that rich people have their own starship yachts. It’s an alien-contact story, but I won’t give away any of the other details. It drags a little at times, but you can always feel that the promise of the ride is just down the trail a ways. And the ending doesn’t disappoint. Give it a try, for the characters and the worlds he creates, as he puts it, in a universe of winds and echoes.
Dances With Wolves in space, it’s been called. Or worse. Another waste of money from the PC crowd:
“Lacking the conflict and flaws that make the Indians so fascinating and tragic, the Na’vi are utterly boring…the childlike environmentalist daydream of a ‘perfect’ society, sustainably at peace with Mother Nature, is captured in the image of the Na’vi tribe snuggled in hammock-like leaves, embraced by the vast branches of their goddess tree. No ambitions, no failures, no questions, no achievement, no future. These giant blue aliens leave absolutely no carbon footprint.”
Created by people who wouldn’t live this way if they could. Doctor Zero: the ultimate suicide fantasy.
UPDATE: It makes the Marines look bad? What, an anti-military Hollyweird flick? Now there’s a surprise.
MORE: It lost out in the Oscars to a low-budget Iraq war movie, ironically, and even more ironically, the war flick was directed by the ex-wife of the Avatar director. Heh.
Comments Off on Go see Avatar? Why be a sucker?
Tagged Avatar, Dances With Wolves In Space, Doctor Zero, suicide fantasy
Mr. B.’s big item for his and Mrs. Charm’s secular Christmas celebration was Guitar Hero. When he’s older he may find the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns more enlightening. Fortunately there’ll be more available than the usual anti-American, anti-war movies that Hollyweird churns out:
Video "game makers aren’t afraid to put players in situations where U.S. soldiers are unambiguously the good guys, while the combatants – often Muslims – are the bad guys."
Via Instapundit.
Re our secular Christmas at the rancho: This celebration of parties, presents and poinsettias has more to do with Saturnalia than Christianity. It is far older than the religious version. (Some nineteenth century Protestants found it so unnerving that they took to assuring their fellows that while they did mark the Nativity they did "not worship the tree.")
Christians still confuse the two, some of them whacking the secular version as ungodly. Well, to each his own. Mrs. C. would be lost without her favorite time of the year. And while he long ago graduated from Santa to understanding who the real gift-givers are, Mr. B. likewise would be bereft without packages to unwrap and goodies to consume. Good thing they needn’t be.
Link via Power Line.
Comments Off on Video games go to war
Posted in Afghanistan, Iraq, Library, Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Scribbles, The War, Troops
Tagged Afghanistan, Iraq, video games
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 