I had tried this once before with another book and failed but I decided to try it again. I just started reading, “How Rome Fell” by Adrian Goldsworthy, a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law Jim and his family. My plan is to Twitter (is that the proper term) each chapter of the book. I thought it could be fun to reduce a 25 page chapter down to 140 characters. If you want to follow along, due to my complete lack of imagination, I am tgpaul on Twitter. Anyway here is chapter 1 of “How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower.”
Chap1: 150AD. But apart from sanitation, medicine, education, public order, roads, public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
South Talpatti Island emerged from the Bay Of Bengal in 1970. Almost immediately, India and Bangladesh each claimed sovereignty over this small uninhabited island because of suspected oil or natural gas beneath the island. They each produced reports showing that a channel went this way or another channel was at this depth each trying to prove that the island was on one side or the other of some boundary. But after 40 years of disputes over this island, the critical issue of ownership has finally been resolved. Because of global warming and rising sea levels in the Bay of Bengal, the island has gone back to the depths from whence it came. It is estimated that because of global warming, 17% of Bangladesh will be underwater by 2050.
Since Michel mentioned that there were other notes to Beth’s attendance office, I thought I would post another one as an example. I’m sure you will agree that they reflect an accurate portrayal of Beth’s busy life.
This one was from the fall of 2008…
Re: Elizabeth absence September 24th
To whom it may concern,
Please excuse Beth for being absent on September 24th. I had sent in a note with her the next day but perhaps she forgot to hand it in. As I mentioned in the previous note, Beth was helping Sarah Palin memorize the state capitals which turned out to be a very difficult task and took much longer than she expected. You betcha!
Also, please excuse Beth for being absent on December 3rd. I believe she handed the note in for that absence on Friday but in case she didn’t, she was home digging a fallout shelter in the backyard.
Apparently the attendance office at Beth’s school doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. Beth was out of school one day last week because she had a sore throat and was running a fever. No problem. I gave her a note to bring in to school so that she wouldn’t get a cut.
Please excuse Beth for being absent yesterday. She was attempting to recreate the exciting story of D.B Cooper and broke both her legs and 3 ribs. She is fine today and may continue her normal activities. Thank you.
For some reason the school called and left a message saying that they wanted to talk to us about her absent note. Can you think of any reason why they would want to do that?
P.S. I also sent a more classic note for Beth’s absence and Beth handed in both of the notes. So perhaps they are calling to thank me for providing them with some humorous entertainment?
So I haven’t been blogging much but there has been a lot going on…
First, work. We have been trying to get a major product in only one month late and so we have been going like crazy. I haven’t even had time to do my normal online newspaper browsing so I’m behind in what has been going on in the world. We are all caught up and plan to release our cool new product to our customers next week. Enjoy guys!
Second, home. We have been trying to get Mikey squared away with his medication and with doctor visits and with diagnoses of various kinds. His ammonia levels were too high and we had to get his medication levels adjusted for that and his growth hormone levels are too low and his synthroid levels are too low. Things are finally getting straightened out. Best of all we finally got a diagnosis as to whether he has Celiac Disease. The bad news is that he has it but the good news is that it can be worked on and is controllable. Since he has it now we know why he hasn’t been getting enough nutrition and why he has been so crabby. So finally things are getting squared away there.
Third, home. Michel has torn cartilage in her hip and is going into surgery tomorrow. It’s arthroscopic so they won’t be keeping her over night but she will be recovering at home from the surgery for awhile. She has been in pain for what seems like months (it probably is months) so this will be a huge improvement for her. And I’ll bet Michel is the only person who takes pain killers and becomes more awake and starts cleaning the house at 2 in the morning!
There’s more at home involving our actual home but I’ll save that for the future.
It has been such a long time since I have blogged. Work has been super busy and home has been crazy. So let’s get back to it with the song of the week from my iPod.
MGMT is a Grammy Award winning band from Brooklyn, NY who’s music can best be described as psychedelic rock. The band is made up of Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden who release their first album, Oracular Spectacular, in 2008. That album was named the 18th best album of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine. Prefix Magazine said the album “sounds like a college-dorm experiment gone horribly right.” The album sold more than one million copies world-wide and went gold in the US. The group has toured around the world including warming up for Paul McCartney, a noted fan of the group, at Fenway Park.
The group’s next album, Congratulations, is scheduled to be released next month. Flash Delirium is one of the song’s from the album and was the first song by the group that I had ever heard. I heard this song on WXRP, which is a fantastic NY radio station. You can download this song either from WXRP’s website or from MGMT’s website.
MGMT is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live on April 24 and Late Show With David Letterman on May 11 for the promotion of their new album.
Flash Delirium
Mild apprehension
Blank dreams of the coming fun
Distort the odds of a turnaround
Gut screams out next to none
So turn it on
Tune it in
And stay inert
You say “I’ve got the backbone”
The back way to escape the gun
Climbing a tree with a missing limb
And not saving anyone
And now it hurts
To stay at home
And see
Flash
The mirror ball’s throwing mold
You can’t get a grip if there’s nothing to hold
See the flash catch a white lily laugh and wilt
But if you must smash a glass first fill it to the hilt
Plants
As far as I know are still,
Still bending toward the light
And if we dance
Until the heart explodes
It’ll make this place ignite
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope it’s just
A case of Flash delirium
Here’s a growing culture
Deep inside a corpse
Ages stuck together
Takin it to the source
Timeless desperation
Pictures on a screen scream
“hey people, what does it mean?”
Comfort keeps us nice
So quick to donate everything (nothing arrives)
Die wolken drifting blinding smiles circling (einkreisen)
But time’s tingling spines
Attaching hands to floor
The rosy-tinted flash
The hot dog’s getting cold
And you’ll never be as good as the Rolling Stones
Watch the birds in the airport gathering dirt
Crowd the clean magazine chick lifting up her skirt
(Why close one eye and try to
Pledge allegiance to the sun
When plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds
My earthbound heart is heavy
Your heartbeat keeps things light
With the violence forever threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust)
Lines when I close my eyes and just
Aim blindly at the sun
And hear love
When the ghosts start singing terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds with gold
It’s a heavy load but your
You rhythm makes it light and explode
Like a violent star keeps threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust
That our heads won’t bust
6 6 5 5 red battleships
40 earthlike planets
3 holes 2 tits
1 fork in it’s side
Zero tears in their eyes
Sue the spiders
Sink the Welsh
Stab your Facebook
Sell sell sell
Undercooked
Overdone
Mass adulation not so funny
Poisoned honey
Pseudo science
Silly money
You’re my honey
I had tried this once before with another book and failed but I decided to try it again. I just started reading, “How Rome Fell” by Adrian Goldsworthy, a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law Jim and his family. My plan is to Twitter (is that the proper term) each chapter of the book. I thought it could be fun to reduce a 25 page chapter down to 140 characters. If you want to follow along, due to my complete lack of imagination, I am tgpaul on Twitter. Anyway here is chapter 1 of “How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower.”
Apparently the attendance office at Beth’s school doesn’t have much of a sense of humor. Beth was out of school one day last week because she had a sore throat and was running a fever. No problem. I gave her a note to bring in to school so that she wouldn’t get a cut.
