Fair Game and the Heavy-Handed Editing...

I was flipping through the new book, Fair Game - My Life as a Spy. My Betrayal by the White House, by Valerie Plame Wilson. A lot of stuff in the book is blacked out. I wonder what it would sound like on her audio version? :P

On Academic Papers

..she had managed to make an impression on the pile of manuscripts; she had read three, and had embarked on the fourth. None of them, she thought, was likely to get past the peer reviews, which was sad, as each represented months of effort: thought, planning, hopes. But the problem was that they all had the feel of being written to order, by people who had to write these articles--any articles--because they were academics and it was expected of them. This was their output, the basis on which they would be judged; not on whether they were inspirational teachers who could hold a class of students spellbound, could inspire them to think, but on the production of this sheer wordage, which few would read. Most of these articles would not change the world, would not make one iota of difference to anything.

Alexander McCall Smith, The Right Attitude to Rain; An Isabel Dalhousie Novel, 2006, pg. 65

Good Luck, Lieutenant...

Five years have passed.. finally someone I personally know, is being shipped out. He's not even in the army, but apparently if the army needs a civil engineer, they can "borrow" from other branches. My friend is an air force officer who was stationed in Okinawa right after graduated from college. Now he's back in the states and does not even get a chance to come back to the island before he leaves!!!!

For someone who's about to face the greatest danger of his life, he sounded entirely happy about it. But then again, he's an idealist and believes that he's been giving an opportunity to make a difference. He is one of those people who you'd immediately like the first time you met them, and increase your admiration as the time goes by. He's like this sweetest little brother I always want to have. (mom... can we get him? :D)

I don't know if there's a God, but if there is, please keep an eye on him.

EMBC - Euro Trip

...was awesome!