Bibliophile in the Making

The other day Miss M was in my room keeping me company while I did my schoolwork. She found a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring on my desk, which she took down and began to "read". I saw her out of the corner of my eye, and did what any cautious book-lover would do when one of his prized possessions is picked up by a four-year-old child.

"Put it back, please, Miss M."

She replied, as any four-year-old child would, "But I want a book to look at."

It so happens that she has a whole shelf full of her very own picture-books in the family room; so I quite reasonably asked, "Why don't you look at one of your books?"

Upon which, without hesitation, she replied, "No, I need a real book."

Needless to say, she got to keep the book, and did just fine with it.

What I'm thinking about today

"There are branches of learning and education which we must study merely with a view to leisure spent in intellectual activity, and these are to be valued for their own sake; whereas these kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be deemed necessary and exist for the sake of other things."

- Aristotle, Politics

"Play, by demanding all of our energies and skill to perform either badly or well, takes us out of ourselves. We are at our best when we are looking at something besides ourselves.

...

Aristotle...meant that play was something for its own sake, something that need not exist, something that was free.

...

The closest most people come to pure contemplation is in the beholding of a good game, in being fascinated with the play, the strategy, the uncertainty of its results."

- James V. Schall, On the Meaning of Sport

"What is the very best thing, I ask in conclusion, that can happen to a young man or woman during his years in college? Earning a degree? I doubt it. The very best thing that can happen to us is, as Socrates put it in The Apology, “to know that we do not know.” And this knowing that we do not know is a very active kind of a thing, it is something that wakes us up, gives us a thirst, as it were, for being, for what is."

- James V. Schall, What Think You of the Peacock's Tail?

Miss M's New Game

You take a sheet of paper and cut it up into little pieces. Then you throw it up into the air - and, as it comes down, you dance in it.

I think she's been watching a little too much of the Nutcracker ballet!

Cleaning Glass Fireplace Doors

I searched online for an environmentally safe way to clean the soot off our fireplace/woodstove doors and found this page. I tried the ashes and newspaper, and it worked great! The soot almost dissolved. We're going to burn candles in there more often, and now we'll be able to see the flame!

Handy Info Re: Expiration Dates

I've been using iGoogle to keep track of the blogs I read regularly, and they let you have other little boxes on your page - one that I keep is the Real Simple Guide, with daily tips. Today's tip was actually one I needed.

"Certain items in your house practically scream "toss me" when their prime has passed. That mysterious extra white layer on the Cheddar? A sure sign it needs to be put out of its misery. Chunky milk? Down the drain it goes.

But what about that jar of olives or Maraschino cherries that has resided in your refrigerator since before the birth of your kindergartner? Or the innumerable nonedibles lurking deep within your cabinets and closets: stockpiled shampoo and toothpaste, seldom-used silver polish? How do you know when their primes have passed?

With help from experts and product manufacturers, Real Simple has compiled a guide to expiration dates." You can read that guide here.

The other helpful little box I keep is the Snopes guide to the latest urban legends.

Colors of Sunset

(all from the same sunset)

Two Days' Dinner

Welcome to 2008

I had planned such a grand entry into the new blogging year. Some profound thoughts on the turning of time, perhaps, or my year-end booklist with reviews of all the outstanding books, along with my blog-a-day plan and promises of future constancy. But unfortunately life caught up with me--or rather I'm still trying catch up with it. I told myself that once the holidays ended I would be able to blog more, but here it is the day after Epiphany: school has started again, I'm planning for college (with all the essays and applications that go with that), and things keep cropping up--nice things, like my first ski trip last week, but time-consuming things nonetheless. So instead of a grand entrance I'm sneaking in the back door to say that yes, I'm still here, and yes, I will blog, but how often and how much I can't say.

But a happy new year to you all!

Not Everybody Loves My New Little Laptop

Interesting article from internet.com about the Asus EEE PC:

The Most Hated Company In the PC Industry: "The source of ire is a tiny laptop called the ASUS Eee PC. This open, flexible, relatively powerful, and very small laptop is notable for one feature above all: It's price. The Eee PC can be had for as little as $299. (Go here to read the reviews -- they're all positive.)"

Actually, I think Asus only broke the barrier - there are other companies with copycat mini-computers at comepetitive prices almost ready to hit the market - among them, Intel's Classmate PC for kids.

My New Year's Resolution

Krakovianka wrote, "It's only when you have a whole, big, fresh year in front of you that big goals have room to fit into the plan."

How true that is. How else would I have mustered the courage to finally tackle something I've been meaning to do for years? My goal for this year (and I'm allowing myself all year) is to learn Linux and have a Linux OS (Ubuntu, maybe?) on my computer instead of Windows. I've already purchased two books and joined two Linux forums.

I like the concept of free quality education such as Ambleside Online, free texts of great classics like Project Gutenberg provides, art and poetry that can be accessed by the public without charge like what CGFA and The Poets' Corner post, open source software (like GIMP, Mozilla and OpenOffice) that does what it does more efficiently - so I feel a natural draw to Linux.

I'm not looking forward to the times ahead where I'm sure I'll be pulling my hair out because I can't figure something out!