I just finished Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty. What a terrific book. I've yet to see its Best Picture-winning film adaptation (though you can expect a comparison when I do), but I'm certainly looking forward to it. Ellen saw the film long ago and said she enjoyed it. One of the things that struck me most about Mutiny on the Bounty is how gripping the prose was. Not just the story grabbed me but the words themselves did too. I could practically feel the sun beating down on me and the sea spray splashing against my face. I'm not exactly the seafaring type, but I enjoyed opening the book and feeling as though I were.
Evidently there are two sequels that deal with the lives of the other men on the ship. Whereas the latter part of Mutiny on the Bounty deals primarily with the men who stayed behind on Tahiti after the mutiny, the other two books follow the cast-off, non-mutinous crew and the mutineers who stayed with the ship. I'll have to look them up when I get a chance. For now, my next book looks like it will be Robert Bolt's 1960 play A Man for all Seasons, another offering on my Best-Picture-winning-movie-that-was-adapted-from-a-book list. Of the twenty entries on the list, A Man for all Seasons is one of only four plays. The others are Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, You Can't Take it With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
The director of the Harvard University Library, Robert Darnton, wrote an intriguing op-ed in yesterday's New York Times. He remarked on Google's attempt to digitize every book ever written and the recent setback this endeavor was dealt when a judge rejected a settlement between the company and two groups that were suing it over the project. Darnton goes on to propose a digital public library that he feels would be a superior, more accessible clearinghouse than what Google had proposed. With the digitization of books becoming more widespread, it's an idea that will come to fruition sooner or later, in one form or another. The only questions are when, how and how well will it be done. The article is definitely worth a read.
In other news, I heard recently that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has begun his tryout with Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City. I guess everybody passes the time differently during a lockout ...
About Me
- Robert
- I'm a 2009 graduate of Dartmouth College who loves Jesus, my wife and all things Northeast.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Shamrock Shuffle
Yesterday was the tenth annual Shamrock Shuffle, a 5K race put on by the Lebanon, New Hampshire Parks and Rec department as a fundraiser of some sort. Ellen participated for the first time this year, and she turned in a fantastic time, finishing in the top ten in her age group (there were six hundred sixteen runners overall). I was duly impressed, all the more so because she hadn't done any dedicated training for this race. Way to go, Ellen!
The NCAA March Madness tournament is in full swing, and I must admit I've had better years (at least I think so; I don't track my results from year to year). I don't pay a ton of attention to non-Ivy League college basketball--although I have a geographic soft spot in my heart for the Big East, too--but it's fun to fill out a bracket and hope I picked the right upsets. So far so good, although I certainly didn't see the Louisville and Pitt results coming.
Also, today is the first official day of spring. Between this and the advent of daylight savings time last weekend, I'm starting to believe that winter might actually end this year. Throw in sunshine, receding snow banks and a tentative return of the birds and things are starting to look up indeed. Now all we need is Opening Day and we'll be all set.
In other news, tomorrow is World Poetry Day. Enjoy it!
The NCAA March Madness tournament is in full swing, and I must admit I've had better years (at least I think so; I don't track my results from year to year). I don't pay a ton of attention to non-Ivy League college basketball--although I have a geographic soft spot in my heart for the Big East, too--but it's fun to fill out a bracket and hope I picked the right upsets. So far so good, although I certainly didn't see the Louisville and Pitt results coming.
Also, today is the first official day of spring. Between this and the advent of daylight savings time last weekend, I'm starting to believe that winter might actually end this year. Throw in sunshine, receding snow banks and a tentative return of the birds and things are starting to look up indeed. Now all we need is Opening Day and we'll be all set.
In other news, tomorrow is World Poetry Day. Enjoy it!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I'm not wearing a speck of green today. Better fix that before I go outside next. Purple and blue are not a problem right now, but it's not St. Eggplant's Day, so that really doesn't count for much. As far as I can tell, Enfield, New Hampshire does not have a St. Patrick's Day parade on the order of New York City or Chicago (they actually don't seem to have one at all). Neighboring Lebanon is celebrating with a 5K race this weekend, though, and Ellen decided to enter. I'm looking forward to going and rooting her on!
Ellen and I recently discovered Netflix and we're enjoying it so far. It's nice having ready access to such a wide selection of movies. We don't have terribly esoteric tastes, but there have been a number of films Ellen or I enjoyed growing up that we've been wanting to share with each other that we haven't been able to obtain at the local video outlets. Most recently we watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which we both enjoyed. And I was pleased to learn that Butch Cassidy's real name is Robert.
I was reading recently that the discontinued production of sodium thiopental (also called pentothal), the first of three drugs used in the lethal injection "cocktail," has wreaked havoc with some states' lethal injection plans. Texas, for example, has hundreds of inmates on death row but a stockpile of pentothal that expires at the end of the month. Pentobarbital, another drug in the barbiturate family, is widely seen as the successor to pentothal. Ohio and Oklahoma both use it, and Texas has announced its intention to adopt it as well. Defense attorneys are vigilantly monitoring the proceedings to make sure that the rights of their clients are not infringed upon, but I don't expect the replacement of pentothal with pentobarbital to have any functional impact on the way death row inmates' cases play out. If the medical community has deemed pentobarbital safe when patients are intended to survive its use, presumably the legal community will not object to its use in an execution setting.
The 2011 U.S. Chess Championships start April 14 ... which means Fantasy Chess is almost here!
Ellen and I recently discovered Netflix and we're enjoying it so far. It's nice having ready access to such a wide selection of movies. We don't have terribly esoteric tastes, but there have been a number of films Ellen or I enjoyed growing up that we've been wanting to share with each other that we haven't been able to obtain at the local video outlets. Most recently we watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which we both enjoyed. And I was pleased to learn that Butch Cassidy's real name is Robert.
I was reading recently that the discontinued production of sodium thiopental (also called pentothal), the first of three drugs used in the lethal injection "cocktail," has wreaked havoc with some states' lethal injection plans. Texas, for example, has hundreds of inmates on death row but a stockpile of pentothal that expires at the end of the month. Pentobarbital, another drug in the barbiturate family, is widely seen as the successor to pentothal. Ohio and Oklahoma both use it, and Texas has announced its intention to adopt it as well. Defense attorneys are vigilantly monitoring the proceedings to make sure that the rights of their clients are not infringed upon, but I don't expect the replacement of pentothal with pentobarbital to have any functional impact on the way death row inmates' cases play out. If the medical community has deemed pentobarbital safe when patients are intended to survive its use, presumably the legal community will not object to its use in an execution setting.
The 2011 U.S. Chess Championships start April 14 ... which means Fantasy Chess is almost here!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Chess-music
A friend of mine, Alex Barsamian '04, recently brought to my attention one man's idea for "Chess-Music." Pretty nifty, if you ask me (but not to be confused with Chess-Boxing) . Musical renditions of only a few famous chess games are posted on Mr. Stokes's blog, but his method could be used to transform any chess game, played anywhere by players of any level, into a piece of music. Those of you who appreciate aurally "pleasing" notes may or may not be satisfied with Chess-Music; after all, the notes are dictated by the chess moves, which were not played with this project in mind. But that raises the question: What would happen if you did it in reverse? Took a piece of music and played it out as a chess game, either using Mr. Stokes's system or another? My guess is an illegal position would be reached in short order, but I'd nevertheless love to see what a Beethoven symphony would look like on the chessboard.
I recently picked back up Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. I had started it last December but had to return it to the library before finishing. It's an easy book to get back into, however, and I had no trouble picking up where I left off. And once again I was struck by how poor a sailor I would have made. I don't think I would have lasted a week under Captain Bligh's command.
The Dartmouth featured an article recently highlighting the decision by Harvard and Princeton to reinstitute their early admission policies (I hadn't been aware they'd been done away with). Both are opting for a policy known as Early Action Single-Choice, under which applicants can be offered a non-binding admission offer or rejected outright. Schools also have the option of deferring action on a student's application and placing it in the regular admission applications for consideration in the spring. The difference between EA and its counterpart program, Early Decision, is that Early Decision admission offers are binding. If accepted, a student must attend that school (which of course means that only one ED application can be submitted, lest both be received favorably). And while EA is non-binding, schools featuring EA Single-Choice do not permit students to apply early to multiple schools. I don't know for sure what happens if you violate this regulation, but it's probably not good.
Dartmouth has always featured an ED program, and Dean of Admissions Janet Lavin was quoted in the article as saying that there are no plans to change this. Having never gone through the ED process, I don't have any strong opinion about it, but with the college application process as frenetically paced as it is, I can't help but think that compressing everything still further only increases the pressure on high school students. Some schools offer a competitive advantage to students applying early--that is, you are likelier to get in if you apply ED than if you apply regular decision--but not every college does this. I'm just glad the entire college-application process is behind me!
I recently picked back up Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. I had started it last December but had to return it to the library before finishing. It's an easy book to get back into, however, and I had no trouble picking up where I left off. And once again I was struck by how poor a sailor I would have made. I don't think I would have lasted a week under Captain Bligh's command.
The Dartmouth featured an article recently highlighting the decision by Harvard and Princeton to reinstitute their early admission policies (I hadn't been aware they'd been done away with). Both are opting for a policy known as Early Action Single-Choice, under which applicants can be offered a non-binding admission offer or rejected outright. Schools also have the option of deferring action on a student's application and placing it in the regular admission applications for consideration in the spring. The difference between EA and its counterpart program, Early Decision, is that Early Decision admission offers are binding. If accepted, a student must attend that school (which of course means that only one ED application can be submitted, lest both be received favorably). And while EA is non-binding, schools featuring EA Single-Choice do not permit students to apply early to multiple schools. I don't know for sure what happens if you violate this regulation, but it's probably not good.
Dartmouth has always featured an ED program, and Dean of Admissions Janet Lavin was quoted in the article as saying that there are no plans to change this. Having never gone through the ED process, I don't have any strong opinion about it, but with the college application process as frenetically paced as it is, I can't help but think that compressing everything still further only increases the pressure on high school students. Some schools offer a competitive advantage to students applying early--that is, you are likelier to get in if you apply ED than if you apply regular decision--but not every college does this. I'm just glad the entire college-application process is behind me!
Firsts and lasts
Ellen and I went to our first Dartmouth men's basketball game of the season yesterday, and not a moment too soon. Before the game, Dartmouth held its annual Senior Night ceremony, honoring the two graduating seniors on the squad for their four years of commitment and accomplishment. At first it looked like Dartmouth was going to send off its seniors in style with an upset win over Penn, as it took a thirteen-point lead into halftime. Unfortunately, Penn came back on the strength of some timely outside shooting and managed a victory that was much closer than the final score would indicate. It was a disappointing way to end the season, but Ellen and I enjoyed getting to go watch the game all the same.
Speaking of college basketball, Harvard's 79-67 defeat of Princeton last night guaranteed the Crimson at least a tie for the Ivy League title. The outcome of the Princeton-Penn game on Tuesday will determine whether Harvard wins the title outright (if Penn wins) or if there will be a one-game playoff between Harvard and Princeton (should Princeton win) to determine the recipient of the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Seeing as Harvard is the only Ivy League team never to win an Ivy League championship, and the men's basketball team is the only one of thirty four Harvard teams never to win a league title, I suppose they were due.
I finished a book, the other day, Yasser Seirawan's Chess Duels, that Ellen had given me for Christmas. It was an excellent read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seirawan, four times the U.S. champion and twice a contender in the World Championship cycle, details at length his interactions with and games against nine World Chess Champions. Chess players are nothing if not a colorful and engaging bunch, and Seirawan has a gift for textured, descriptive prose. What a great present this book was. Embarrassingly, though, this is the first book I have finished in 2011. By comparison, I had already completed nine titles by this point last year. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference, but I'm looking forward to catching up!
The Upper Valley has enjoyed a run of (relatively) warm temperatures of late. So balmy have the temperatures been, in fact, that the recent precipitation has taken the form of rain instead of snow. Quite a pleasant change for a summer-phile such as I, and seeing the mounds of snow shrink before my eyes has been further cause for glee. Sadly, though, winter is forecast to reassert itself this evening, with some reports calling for as much as ten inches of snow and sleet accumulation before tomorrow. I take comfort in the knowledge that winter's days are numbered, however. Spring (and more importantly, baseball) will soon be here.
Speaking of college basketball, Harvard's 79-67 defeat of Princeton last night guaranteed the Crimson at least a tie for the Ivy League title. The outcome of the Princeton-Penn game on Tuesday will determine whether Harvard wins the title outright (if Penn wins) or if there will be a one-game playoff between Harvard and Princeton (should Princeton win) to determine the recipient of the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Seeing as Harvard is the only Ivy League team never to win an Ivy League championship, and the men's basketball team is the only one of thirty four Harvard teams never to win a league title, I suppose they were due.
I finished a book, the other day, Yasser Seirawan's Chess Duels, that Ellen had given me for Christmas. It was an excellent read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seirawan, four times the U.S. champion and twice a contender in the World Championship cycle, details at length his interactions with and games against nine World Chess Champions. Chess players are nothing if not a colorful and engaging bunch, and Seirawan has a gift for textured, descriptive prose. What a great present this book was. Embarrassingly, though, this is the first book I have finished in 2011. By comparison, I had already completed nine titles by this point last year. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference, but I'm looking forward to catching up!
The Upper Valley has enjoyed a run of (relatively) warm temperatures of late. So balmy have the temperatures been, in fact, that the recent precipitation has taken the form of rain instead of snow. Quite a pleasant change for a summer-phile such as I, and seeing the mounds of snow shrink before my eyes has been further cause for glee. Sadly, though, winter is forecast to reassert itself this evening, with some reports calling for as much as ten inches of snow and sleet accumulation before tomorrow. I take comfort in the knowledge that winter's days are numbered, however. Spring (and more importantly, baseball) will soon be here.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
To be or not to be
This is a big week in terms of collective bargaining. In addition to the well-publicized proposals to curb collective bargaining in Wisconsin and Ohio, the collective bargaining agreement between the National Football League and the NFL Players' Association is set to expire at midnight on Thursday. I've seen estimates that place the annual revenue for the NFL upwards of $9 billion, which is a staggering sum of money for an entertainment field. I understand that negotiating a new CBA is a complicated issue, but at a certain point both players and owners need to come to their senses and realize that there is more than enough pie to go around.
America's top-ranked chessplayer, Hikaru Nakamura, announced recently that he will not be competing in the upcoming U.S. Championships. This is a dismaying decision for some chess fans, who had hoped to see him go for his third title. According to one recent interview, his decision was fueled by a desire to pursue only the strongest, most exclusive tournaments in order to continue his chess development in anticipation of an eventual run on the World Championship. Whether or not this is a fair assessment of the strength of the U.S. Championships--Nakamura won by a half-point in 2009 but finished in third place last year--I wish him the best in all his chess endeavors (and I wouldn't mind seeing him reconsider).
In other news, the Oscars were held this past Sunday ... and just like last year, no one cared.
America's top-ranked chessplayer, Hikaru Nakamura, announced recently that he will not be competing in the upcoming U.S. Championships. This is a dismaying decision for some chess fans, who had hoped to see him go for his third title. According to one recent interview, his decision was fueled by a desire to pursue only the strongest, most exclusive tournaments in order to continue his chess development in anticipation of an eventual run on the World Championship. Whether or not this is a fair assessment of the strength of the U.S. Championships--Nakamura won by a half-point in 2009 but finished in third place last year--I wish him the best in all his chess endeavors (and I wouldn't mind seeing him reconsider).
In other news, the Oscars were held this past Sunday ... and just like last year, no one cared.
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