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Showing posts from November, 2010

A Thanksgiving Playlist (Sort of)

There are a number of Thanksgiving songs, but few that I enjoy that much or that are universally recognized. Hankering for some distinct Thanksgiving rock/pop music, I made my own playlist of songs that express "thanks" or "thank you" in the title or lyrics. It's a start, but I would love to add to the list. So please suggest other songs in the comments. "Kind and Generous" - Natalie Merchant "Thank God for the Bomb" - Ozzy Osbourne "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" - John Denver "Thanks That Was Fun" - Barenaked Ladies "Thank U" - Alanis Morissette "Thank You" - Dido "Thank You" - Led Zeppelin "The Thanksgiving Song" - Adam Sandler  "Thnks fr th Mmrs" - Fall Out Boy Happy Thanksgiving!

The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer (Book Review)

Zombies are nothing new, of course. From the seminal Night of the Living Dead and its many imitators to more recent reincarnations, in film, books, and video games, including Shaun of the Dead , the Resident Evil video game and movie series, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , and Zombieland , zombies resonate strongly with readers, gamers, and movie-goers today, as much as any other horror figure, even the vampire. To this tradition, you can add Amelia Beamer's entertaining and hip The Loving Dead . The novel achieves that all too rare measured treatment of subject matter that too often ends up over the top. A modern retelling of the zombie apocalypse, The Loving Dead starts off as an ordinary, plausible story about young people in San Francisco and then shifts when one of the characters gets sick and turns into a zombie. As the infection spreads and more and more people become zombies, Beamer keeps the focus on a small group of characters, who head to Alcatraz in a desperate ef

Dear Random House

Dear Random House , My daughter absolutely loves your Step into Reading toddler book Super Friends: Flying High . Unfortunately, as of this writing, there are no other Level 1 Step into Reading superhero books in the series and few books overall featuring strong female heroines. I think it would be really great and empowering if you followed up the first book with a Level 1 Super Friends book featuring Wonder Woman. I know, there are Barbie and Disney Princess titles, but I believe Wonder Woman is galvanizing in ways those characters aren't. And  Wonder Woman has a new look and costume that is well-suited for a new generation of girls. I tried to send you feedback about this using your Feedback link but the form did not submit correctly. Then I considered pitching the idea to you, but you made it quite clear on your FAQs that you only deal with agents. "Like most big publishers, Random House only accepts manuscripts submitted by an agent--the volume of material

Hacking Work by Bill Jensen and Josh Klein (Book Review)

Have you ever had to work around a company rule or policy that prevented you from doing your job effectively? Ever used non-company software and tools to get things done? Or reached out to a co-worker to skirt a dumb work process? If so, than Hacking Work is your kind of book. Hacking Work is all about the rising tide of benevolent hacking at work and the people who bypass corporate-centered systems in favor of efficient, user-centered approaches. The text is not anti-work or anti-business. On the contrary, it's about saving business from itself and reintroducing effeciency and human innovation back into the workplace. Because, ultimately, if your organization is not as effective and flexible as it can be, a competitor down the street or across the world will be. Fortunately, the maturation of available software today, including loads of free, open-source options and the proliferation of social media, make it easier than ever to introduce hacks that create efficiencies and be