Stuff 've been up to

[giza]

I've done a number of things in the past couple of months that I haven't talked about. So here goes:

- I bought and beat Sly Cooper 2. The gameplay was just as good as the first one, and so were the cinemas. The only thing NOT to like about the game is that you can't replay missions that you've already completed. The only way to do that is to start a new game, which I find irritating.

- I read the book Starship Troopers. If you've seen the movie, the book is NOTHING like the movie. Only a smalll number of details made it from the book into the movie. The book has much more neat levels of technology along with detailed explanations on it. Also, the book explores Heinlein's ideas for an "ideal society" and how we might go about achieving it. It's as much of a commentary on society as it is a good science fiction book.

- I read the book Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best. It examines the concept of statistics, how they are used, and why we place so much trust in them. It also discussed some of the fallacies in taking statistics and comparing/extrapolating different studies and how bad statistics get propagated. Definitely a read if you have any involvement in politics whatsoever. This book also appealed to the skeptic side of me. :-)

- I read Give Me A Break by John Stossel. This it the most libertarian book I had read to date. John draws on his many years experience as a TV news reporter and preaches a message of keeping government small and allowing private companies to compete for the benefit of consumers. Having little knowledge of the libertarians, I found this book to be an interesting read. I don't agree with everything that Stossel says, but I did learn a number of things from the book that I had not known previously. (Like the FAA's bungled modernization that they've spent billions on? Canada just privatized their system for a third of the cost!)

- I read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. It discussed the millions of Americans who work minimum wage jobs full time and basically live at the poverty level as a result. But the author didn't just issue platitudes, she spent several months "undercover" working such jobs full time, getting to know her co-workers and bosses, and some of the frustrations of working jobs that basically suck. Because of this book, I've started leaving bigger tips when I go out to eat.

What I also got out of the book, although this may not have been the author's intention, is that there is a bit of Darwinism in careers. Those that work hard and get good educations are more likely to get ahead over those that haven't. The moral of this book being: stay in school.

Comments

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Starship Troopers was, I agree, an interesting philosophical piece as much (or more) as a story about a war. The guy who wrote the screenplay didn't even read the book - stopped after the first few chapters.

The author of Nickel and Dimed chose a good topic, but I agree with some of the criticisms mentioned on the Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805063897/) page - you don't use a car, you use public transport, or get dropped off; and you share accommodation, you don't go it alone. I think the thing to take away is that it's impossible to live on one of those single-wages on your own. If it is a supplement to another income (say, retirement), or part of a family's income where other things in the family are shared, it is more managable.

[delphi-of-clf.livejournal.com]

Nickle and Dimed was required reading at one of the colleges I tried to get into. But unless you've had to do that yourself, it's hard to understand just what's going on. This book did a descent job of explaining all that least.

And with most books that are movies, that's usually the case :).

Wouldn't not being able to re-do missions in that game make getting 100% next to impossible?

Starship Troopers

[redrob.livejournal.com]

I read Starship Troopers (the first time) probably in the late 70's. (I re-read Heinlein a lot for several years there.) I saw the movie when it first came out, and was very disruptive in the theatre. I giggled, laughed, and guffawed through most of it. My thought at the time was the director/scriptwriter had read the book and dearly loved it, enough to make a movie based on it, but had clearly not understood the book at all.

I read much later that the director, Paul Verhoeven, was attempting to satirize Heinlein's politics in the movie. YMMV.

Completists should note that there have been a number of sequels, followups, video games, etc. to the 1997 movie (including an animated TV series). I haven't seen any of them, but a cursory search indicates that are definitely patterned after the movie, and not the book (and are not very good). There was also a completely independent Anime adaptation of the book. I have no idea what it's like. Going by the adaption of the Lensman series, I wouldn't raise my hopes too high, though.

Alex

Re: Starship Troopers

[zeeth_kyrah]

The animated series was much better than the movie, and started pulling things from the book to supplement its own derived storylines.

[unkbar.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Starship Troopers. One of my favorites, and in my opinion one of Heinlein's best works. I remember the first time I read it, I thought the government he described made a lot of sense. "That's a great idea", I thought. Of course, a week later I realized , "No it's not!" That's how well Heinlein wrote. He could make fascist drivel seem plausible.

If you liked Starship Troopers, look for Joe Haldeman's Forever War. It is believed that Haldeman wrote it as a response to Heinlein's book.

[redrob.livejournal.com]

As for "Nickel and Dimed" you might want to check out People of the Abyss by Jack London. This isn't a new concept!

Alex

Nickel and Dimed

[wildw0lf.livejournal.com]

Hi Giza,

I got the book not too long ago myself, and am going to read it this Summer.

One Summer, I worked 80+ hours/week at one full, and two other part time jobs. I vowed never to do that again, as you end up working 7+ days/week with one 1/2 day off - and all I wanted to do then was sleep!

[pyesetz]

FAA's bungled modernization... Canada just privatized their system for a third of the cost!

This has nothing to do with "libertarianism", since Canada is arguably even less libertarian than we are.  It has more to do with the endemic culture of corruption we have always had here in the States.  Our founders thought that government was not trustworthy, and most of the time our government lives down to those expectations.  Canadians expect their government to be respectable and remarkably often it lives up to their expectations.

[kovucougar.livejournal.com]

In many ways I'd argue Canada is more libertarian in many ways as well.

[thraxarious.livejournal.com]

Don't forget out bungled modernization of the IRS, we dumped around 4 Billion(?) into trying to come up with something, and later found we had zilch. All the money went nowhere.

[pyesetz]

All the money went nowhere.

Not exactly.  The money went to the same place as all the money being spent on Halliburton—into someone's pockets.  This is the same place that all the money went which was the difference between what the Russian state-owned businesses were really worth and what the tycoons paid for them during privatization.

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

Now, get thee Sly 3! Much coon-theif fun-o-rama!

[giza.livejournal.com]

I just did. :-)

[scs-11.livejournal.com]

If you liked 'Lies', you'll also like Huff's "How To Lie With Statistics."

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

Wow - you've been a busy boy!

[giza.livejournal.com]

Since I take the train to work instead of driving, I have 25 minutes each way in which to read. I've been making good use of it. :-)