The Soul of Battle Part 2

There were so many things discussed on the second part of the book.  Indeed it was about William Tecumseh Sherman, but it wasn't only just about his march through the South, but it was also about the man, a bit about his background, and why he, of all the generals, was the perfect candidate to finish the Civil War with his unprecedented march.

I can't recall everything that I found fascinating with the second part of the book, so I'll just write what I remember as having struck me as significant.

The Man - he was essentially a failure for most of his life.  He attended West Point with several other future generals.  He served many years in the military, but only as a captain.  While others saw battle in the Mexican-American War, he sat on the side-lines and saw no action.  He experienced failure as a banker and businessman.  His wife came from a wealthy family and thus he felt he needed to "strike it rich" to support her lifestyle.  He was one of the founders of LSU.  He eventually was recalled into the service.  But after a short while, he suffered a mental breakdown.  He then, miraculously, survived the battle of Shiloh.  He eventually lived to carry out the march that this book discusses extensively - the March to the Sea and then the campaign into the Carolinas.

The March - Hanson discusses how several people, including Grant and Lincoln, probably would not have agreed with Sherman's march into the South.  But he was given leeway to do as he chose.  He cut off his supply lines and his 60,000 plus army marched through the South, living off the land and plantations while obliterating the Confederate nation and those who supported the Confederate army.  His idea, in a nutshell, was to bring war to those who started it.  He felt that he needed to reveal the hypocrisy of the South's way of life.  The South - or the elite plantation owners - wanted to preserve slavery.  And they sent thousands of young men to defend that way of life, many of which were not slaver-owners.  Sherman proposed to strike at the heart of the desires of those elite plantation owners - their property.  If they had nothing left to hold on to, the war would be over - slavery would be over.  And so his army, marched deep into the South and on to the sea, virtually untouched, while they burned and dismantled everything.  For the next one hundred years, the South would despise Sherman's name.

The march would not have happened were it not for the unique experiences of Sherman - his failures, his past, his recent successes.  It would not have happened were it not for Sherman's desire to expose the hypocrisy of the South.  His soldiers, who were from the mid-West, not the East, caught onto his idea and caught the vision of the march.

When it was complete, over 100 million dollars of damage was done (which would be over a billion dollars of damage in today's dollars).  The South was ruined, and with it the capacity to wage war.

There was so much that Hanson covered in this second part and I'm sure he could have gone on and written an entire book on Sherman.  Again, I'm glad to have read more of Hanson's books, as I have learned more about a man, a war and our nation's history.

Found: xkcd

I try not to be too consumed by all the stuff I consume.  So I try to keep my RSS reader fairly clean and I keep my focus on things that I really like.  Stuff gets added; stuff gets dropped.

Today I added xkcd.

Here's a sample, which I picked because of the reference to chess and Calvin & Hobbes:

March 2012 Painting

My kids are very talented - they get it all from their mother.
#1 paints and draws well and plays the clarinet very well.
#2 also has a good eye for drawing; is a great writer and is very athletic.
#3 & #4 are still fairly young and their outstanding talents are yet to be identified, but we can see certain things that lead us to believe they have just as much budding talent as their two older siblings.

I will be posting a few of their pieces of all their art.

This one below is a painting #1 just finished last week.  It will be a Mother's Day present for the two grandmas.

Cornered by Blather

This "muse" was from several years ago when I worked in a cubicle and I would get frequent passers-by.  Nowadays, I have my own office with a full-fledged door!


I wanted to post this in light of today's Dilbert

Enjoy!

One of the toughest situations I face every day is being cornered by a blathering idiot.

The other day at a social gathering, a bag of hot air blows over my way and kicks up a conversation. "How ya doin' Rocky?"

I barely nod my head and begin to open my mouth to respond, but in that split second he starts up his bagpipe. "Yeah that's great! So my son made the football team. Yep, he's only a freshman and he made first team. We're real proud of Roy. Gonna be an all-American."

The bagpipe continues to issue steam. Every fifth sentence, I attempt to interject my own comment. "When I was in college, I played ..." Bagpipe blows louder for several more minutes. I try again, "Oh yeah, I remember when ..." Bagpipe shouts out to a passer-by and then says to me, "What were you sayin'?" "I was just going to say that I remember ..." "That reminds me" and the Bagpipe is going full-steam ahead.

Ten minutes later, I shout out to an imaginary friend and say goodbye to Bagpipe "I'll catch you later Bo!"

The key to dealing with a blathering idiot is to head them off before they gather steam. Usually, thinking up a good excuse to suddenly leave a conversation is vital to extricating youself from the corner.

When you're at your office desk and a blathering idiot enters, you can accomodate them for a few minutes and then pretend a meeting notice from your calendar just popped up. "Uuuhoop, sorry Brian, gotta run to a meeting. I'll talk to you later." Then you proceed to an office on the other side of the building and hide for 30 minutes.

The unexpected cell phone call will work too. You can pretend it's on vibrate and act like someone just shot you in the hip. "Oh man! Don't you hate it when the phone shocks you! Let's see who this is. Ooo! I need to take this call. Excuse me." Then you get up and rush out of the office like it's on fire. Head to the nearest exit and call your wife in case the blathering idiot follows you.

Sometimes you can instant message an ally to rescue you. Have him come over and pretend that he needs you to sign some important papers at his desk. Then promptly excuse youself from the blathering idiot and run like h-e-double-hockey-sticks.

If you fail to come up with excuses and extrication plans, then you will be forced to endure long, boring conversations. When the blathering idiot finally runs out of hot air, you will then have to endure several minutes of awkard silence interjected with several concluding remarks. "Well, that's one heckava story Jim." At this point, Jim is supposed to say, "well, I better get back to work" but no ... he lingers like a noxious fart. You may try to wave it away, but it spreads and endures. And with each passing moment, more and more brain cells are expiring. Eventually you marshall the courage to stand up and pretend like you're leaving. This causes Jim to release his grip. You're free.

Finally Jim leaves and you can breath freely again. While you can, you begin to jot down ideas for rescuing yourself the next time a blathering idiot corners you.

Exploding Whale

Here's an oldie, but a goodie.

Problem: dead whale on the beach and it really stinks.
Solution #1: cut it up and bury it. Nope. Too hard and time-consuming.
Solution #2: burn it. Nope. It'd probably smell really bad too and add to global warming.
Solution #3: blow it up with dynamite. Awesome! Outcome: raining chunks, blubber all over everyone in the vicinity, damaged car and most of the whale is still there!
Final solution: bring in the bulldozer.

The Soul of Battle Part 1

I started reading The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny by Victor Davis Hanson.  This book has been in my queue for quite a while.  It is divided into three parts, each about a military general Hanson admires: Epaminondas, Sherman and Patton.

I've decided to provide a quick summary of each part as I finish it.

I just finished Epaminondas last night.  I've read other Hanson books before and have read bits and pieces about Epaminondas.  But after I read the 120 pages about him in this book, I was left hungering for more about this incredible person.  The Greek and Persian history is drenched in conquest and continual war.  You often hear about the Spartans and the Athenians.  But rarely do you hear about the Thebens and their decade of liberation.

The Wikipedia entry on Epaminondas (if you want to hear how to pronounce his name, click here) is very interesting and provides a lot of information and historical background.  I learned quite a bit more about him reading the wiki entry after having my interest piqued by Hanson.

As usual, I found Hanson's writing amazing.  I love the way he writes and describes things.  Every time I read one of his books or articles on the web, I get this swelling feeling of pride in Western culture and civilization.  His descriptions of Epaminondas and his BC 370-369 winter liberation of Peloponnesia were very enlightening.

Before reading this first part of the book, I didn't know much about what his latest book was going to be about (The End of Sparta).  But now that I know the context of this book, I am even more excited to read it.

The next part will focus on William Tecumseh Sherman - another general I've heard bits and pieces about, but am nevertheless excited to read even more about.

Apple Cider Vinegar

One of my favorite parts of the day is reading Seth Roberts' blog.  Today, he linked to earth clinic.  Wow - what a site!  After spending almost an hour at the site, I arrived at the conclusion that apple cider vinegar (ACV) is the cure-all for just about everything.

I first heard of ACV last summer when my sister-in-law suggested that my wife and I soak our feet in a concoction of ACV and Listerine.  My wife tried it for several weeks, but I made her stop because the house was beginning to smell like used shoe - literally - it stunk like a dirty shoe.  She disagreed with me, until she walked into the house one day and realized that I was right.

What Seth linked to today was about toenail fungus and what to do to cure it.  ACV was the solution.  However, I didn't see any posts or comments that ACV had to be mixed with Listerine.  Some people said that by simply putting ACV on a q-tip and applying it to the nails, that that would cure the fungus.  But the comment that caught my eyes was the one advocating the ingestion of ACV.

One person said that by ingesting ACV - 2 teaspoons twice daily - that their fungus has gone away.  Upon further reading of the site, it suggests drinking 2 teaspoons of ACV diluted with 16 oz. of water per day, that one would lose weight.

Therefore, having had a severe toenail fungus problem as well as striving to lose weight, I plan on adding ACV to my diet.  To start off, I think I'll try 2 teaspoons with 16 oz. of water twice daily - once in the morning and once at night.

Below are pictures of what my toenails look like today.

Left - 2/28/12

Right - 2/28/12

Relative Size

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

This is just fascinating!

King's Gambit by Paul Hoffman

Since this book is about chess and the chess community, I wrote the review of this book over at my chess blog.

My review here.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest should arrive in the mail later this week or early next week.  It comes out in paperback tomorrow.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The first quarter of this book read much like Dragon Tattoo.  It did a lot of setting up, but it wasn't really exciting or gripping.  The foreshadowing parts where you enter the world of Zala and his ilk gets you interested, but when the scene shifts back to Blomkvist or Lisbeth, it just moves slow.

Until just now, I had forgotten that Lisbeth spent the first quarter of the book travelling around the world.  Again, other than just setting up the background, the first part of the book just didn't hum along very fast.

But once you get past that, the book accelerates and is hard to put down.  This one was much better than the first.  The theme is still gritty, but there is much more intrigue and suspense than the first - at least that how it felt to me.

Also unlike the first one, this one ends quite abrubtly.  I remember reading the last few chapters of Dragon Tattoo and thinking that it was taking forever to finish.  This one, however, came to a halting stop.  Thankfully, Larsson publishes the first few pages of Hornet's Nest to somewhat alleviate the shock at the end of the book.

I bought the first two books in paperback.  Hornet's Nest comes out in paperback on February 21.  So I plan on reading King's Gambit until the 3rd book comes out in paperback.

Dis-jointed Week

I held to my routine on Monday and Tuesday ... but Tuesday was unusual.  I was over my cold, but my stomach just wasn't feeling well.  I had some bowl issues as well - which I suspected to be due to the CO.  So on Wednesday and Thursday, I did a bit of a fast - kind of going back to some old habits.

Essentially, I didn't eat anything all day until dinner time.  I just drank water, Crystal Light and hot herbal tea.  For dinner, I'd eat my fried eggs and an avocado.

I didn't do any exercise on Monday.  On Tuesday and did some weight lifting and a little bit of jump rope.  On Wednesday and Thursday, I did 45 mins and 60 mins of spinning (stationary bike).  So the calorie reduction combined with the cardio workouts has caused me to drop down to 211.

Overall, from January 3 to today, the decline has been steady, interspersed with spikes.  The upper horizontal line is 220lbs while the lower is 210.  The red lines indicate the time period between January 3 and 27.  The yellow line indicates the trend.

I've not been hungry the last two days.  But I don't know how much the CO has played in that assessment.  I plan go back to the CO next week.

Coconut Oil Links

My main staple for "tasteless calories" as I'm doing the Shangri-la diet again will be coconut oil (CO).  CO is not tasteless - it definitely has some taste to it.  Last summer, when I first heard of the benefits of CO, I texted my wife to see if she could pick up some at the store.  She happened to be at a friend's house and this friend buys and sells virgin CO in bulk - she's a big believer in CO - what are the odds?  So my wife asked her friend if she knew where she could buy CO.  Naturally her friend offered my wife some of the CO she buys and sells.

When I got home from work that day, I tasted the CO - directly into my mouth.  It wasn't too pleasant.  It tasted like I just took a bite of a bar of coconut flavored soap.  So I put it in a smoothie and the taste was still there.

So when I take my CO, I will always pinch my nose and then drink and swish water in my mouth to get the taste out.  By the time I un-pinch my nose, the taste is either not there at all or there is only a faint hint of it.

Yesterday morning, before I started my 'routine', I weighed in at 215.5.  Then I successfully went through my routine yesterday ... hunger wasn't an issue at all.  However, I am getting a cold - it started yesterday - so I felt a little weak by the time I got home from work at 5:15pm.  I ate an apple and then took the dog on an hour-long walk.  I felt just fine after that.

This morning I weighed in at 213.4.

My main question yesterday, with regard to CO, was how much coconut oil should I ingest daily?  Yesterday, I took 2 tablespoons at 8:00am and 2 more at 3:00pm.  I wasn't sure if that was too much or too little.  Before, when I was taking ELOO, I think I took about 4 tablespoons a day.

This link suggest 3.5 tablespoons a day.  That same site as a lot of other good info on the benefits of CO.

This link is heavy on the benefits of CO for the brain and for curing cancer.  But at the very bottom, the author suggests 2 to 4 tablespoons a day.

This link is excellent!  Not only does it confirm the 3-4 tablespoons a day, but it has a very succinct list of all the benefits of ingesting CO.

By the way, all of these links are from the first few hits from a google search (click here to see all the search results.)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I got sucked into this one with everyone else.  Several months ago, I heard Rush Limbaugh talk about these books.  I didn't think much of it at the time ... he piqued my interest, but at the time, I was just starting to get into Patrick O'Brian.

So when I saw that Daniel Craig was starring in the English re-make of the movie, I decided I needed to read the books (I like the James Bond movie and I think Craig is the best Bond ever).

It started out really interesting.  In between sections and chapters were little stats about abuse of women in Sweden.  I began to realize the author was going to make a point.  Now - I dove into this book cold-turkey.  I didn't really do any research on it before I began reading ... I just picked it up.  So I wasn't really prepared when a few parts got quite graphic.

After I finished the book, I read on wikipedia that Larsson wrote these books because he felt bad for not stopping a rape of a girl when he could have.

Other than the graphic parts, the book was quite good and entertaining.  Larsson does a good job painting a picture of the story.  However, the one thing I was somewhat expecting, was a complex plot-line with lots of twists and turns.  This didn't meet that expectation.  In fact, one of the first thoughts that popped into my mind was that Harriet was still alive and was, indeed, the person sending the flowers.  The details of how that story fits, of course, meandered and was the "meat" of the story, but I was somewhat expecting something different - more complex.

Anyway - overall, it was a good book.  Mentally, I file this book in the same folder as Dan Brown's books.  I plan to finish the trilogy ... I'm reading Played with Fire now.

SLD 2012

The weight is back - especially after the holidays (Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years).  I've been doing lots of reading on Seth Roberts' blog as well as other sites.  My exercise options have been limited and I need to make minor changes that are sustainable for the long-haul, but that don't interfere with life in general.

So I'm firing this blog back up again ... to track; to post thoughts; to book-mark important things I've read and found.

The day after New Year's, I weighed in at 220 lbs.  Through exercise and not eating cookies, I've backed off that weight a bit and am now at 215 lbs.  I need to get back to about 175-180.

Today, I tested the feasibility of ingesting virgin coconut oil while plugging my nose and then rinsing with water.  It worked out quite well.

Here's the plan:
After waking up, eat 3 fried (in butter) eggs - at around 5:30am
Next would be two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil - at around 8:00am
Next I'd drink water while an hour passed.  Then I could drink my Crystal Light at 9:15am
Lunch would consist of an apple and protein - 12:00pm
Next would be another two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil - at around 3:00pm
After getting home from work, I'd exercise (long walks, spin on the bike and weights) - around 5:00pm
Dinner would be light and made mostly of protein - at around 6:30pm
The day would be capped off with a Diet Canada Dry - at around 8:30pm

Weigh-ins are crucial for me - so I will usually weigh-in every day after I wake-up.

How We Decide (Lehrer)

Again, I wrote my review of this book on my chess blog since there is so much cross-over.

My review here.

The next review will be of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I plan to start that book tonight.

The Art of Learning (Waitzkin)

I wrote my review of this book over at my chess blog since there was so much cross-over.

My review here.

I've started reading How We Decide which seems so closely related to Art of Learning.  I suppose that review will also be over at the chess blog.

For Christmas, I hope to get the Millenium Triligoy by Larsson (see my queued up section).  The movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo comes out next week - these books intrigue me intensely - so I'm taking a break from my "Western History and Military" bug to delve into these.  Then I'll pick up Hanson again.

21

The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey was published 7 years ago in 2004.  It was published under the title of "21" in the United States.

The typewritten script, of course, was easy to read as they just printed that.  But there were several pages that were not typewritten; they were just hand-written.  I could read some of the words, but I could not get the gist of it.  So in this case, the wikipedia summary really helped.

It had the makings of another great POB book for sure.  But I somewhat like that the last fully published book was Blue at the Mizzen as it ends with Jack "on top" rather than on a low ebb.

There is no doubt POB could have kept on cranking these books out year after year.  But has his wikipedia entry states (along with the post script in 21) he was living quite a lonely life.  His wife had died in 1998.  He died two years later in 2000.

The Aubrey-Maturin Series
So it really is finished (for me).  I started reading Master and Commander in Yellowstone while on a family vacation back in the summer of 2010.  And now a year and a half years later I'm reflecting on what a great series it has been.

That bug, which I wrote about in my review of M&C, as diminished.  But the love of reading about these two amazing figures continued.  I actually became more enamoured with Maturin.  One is seemingly led to believe he is just a flimsy naturalist - a soft medicoe.  But he is a savage spy and duelist.  He is a cold reptilian to Napoleon allies, but a warm, kind soul to those he medically helps and to those who are his friends.

Jack - is a true sailor through and through.  His passion and drive for a blue flag is relentless and he wears his heart on his sleeve while around Stephen.  You can tell he loves his men and officers.  He is quick to save a life and slow to physical punishment.

It's a fantastic series.  I've not really found a negative critic of the series.  In fact, it is so highly regarded, at the bookstore or library, it is not placed under fiction or sea-fiction, but rather under Literature.  It belongs with Dickens and Austin - it is that good.

So if you're curious about the series, I heartily recommend jumping in with both feet.

Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian

I've been reading passionately the last few days.  This is the last fully written book by Patrick O'Brian.

The title, obviously references the blue flag an active admiral hoists in his ship ... a full admiral as opposed to an admiral in name only - a yellow admiral.

This book had elements from many of the other books.  It had doldrums; rounding the horn in horrific weather; reports of animals, birds, flora and fauna; fighting; sea-battles; cutting-out; political intrigue and spying ... all for glory and prize.

In the backdrop is the question whether Jack will receive his flag or not.

Stephen explains to a colleague, "he is a post-captain near the top of the list.  But he is at that stage when some members of the group with approximately the same seniority are selected for flag-rank as rear-admiral of the blue.  By no means all can be chosen: those who are not chosen, those who are passed over, are colloquially or by way of derision known as yellow admirals, admirals of a non-existent squadron.  And that is the end of the poor man's hopes: there is no return to eligibility.  Merit has something to do with this vital step, yet influence has more - political and family influence have more, sometimes much more; and Jack Aubrey has not always been politically wise.  He is very much afraid of picking up the Gazette in the next few months and of seeing men junior to himself being given their flag, a blue flag, to be hoisted at the mizzen, if my memory serves: a piece of bunting extraordinarily important to a man who has pursued it with such ardour for so many years.  And now that we are no longer at war, now that there is virtually no chance of his distinguishing himself, it is understandable that his light should at least grow dim: there is the real possibility that it should go out entirely.  And there is nothing that can restore it, nothing but that piece of cloth.  Nothing."

Later, much later, in the book, after all the battles and hardships, Jacob carries a half-decoded dispatch to Stephen with some exciting news.  We all knew it was coming!  And despite that we all knew it was coming, the passage that describes the scene still made me smile more broadly than any other passage in all the books!

Stephen reads the message to Jack, "Immediately upon receipt of the present order you will proceed to the River Plate, there joining the South African squadron: you will go aboard HMS Implacable, hoisting your flag, blue at the mizzen and take command of the blue squadron."

"Jack sat down, bowing his face in his hands: he was almost unmanned, but after a moment he did say, "Read that again, will you Stephen?"

And now, all that I am left with is 21.  I'm not sure it will provide much pleasure, but I see it more in the light of curiosity - just to see what thoughts might have created the 21st book.

After I peruse it's pages this week, I'll offer some thoughts on it and the entire series in general.

I can't help but admit that I am sad, having finished this book.  I've been so thrilled to come to the very end and to have that sense of accomplishment, but now that I'm here ... it's just plain said ... like an life-long friend is about to depart forever.

The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian

Three long-standing characters die in this book.  Diana and Jack's mother-in-law die in a carriage crash.  It was quite shocking to read of Diana's death as it was practically mentioned in passing at the beginning of the book.  I stopped and re-read the passage several times to be sure I was getting it.  The third is Barret Bonden who dies in a battle between some Moors and the Surprise at the end of the book.  Again, in one sentence, Bonden dies - rather shocking.

Other than those bookend deaths, The Hundred Days was a rather normal POB book.  At the end of Yellow Admiral, we are left wondering what is in store for Jack.  Stephen helps him improve his prospects of becoming a full-fledged admiral by finding work for Jack in Chile.  But then Napoleon escapes Elba the the hundred days begins.

They are to convince French ship-builders to fight Napoleon.  If not convinced, they are to fight and burn all ships.  They are successful.  The mission behind the mission is for Maturin to seize gold from some Muslims who are determined to help Napoleon.  Both Stephen's intelligence and Jack's navel know-how are needed to reign-in the Moors.
Overall, it was a good book and had all the normal ingredients of a POB book.  I enjoyed the passages of Stephen killing the lioness - that got my heart beating a bit.  The action was good in this book as well.

In reading the back cover of Blue at the Mizzen, it appears the Stephen and Jack are continuing with original plans to help out Chile.  This will be #20 and the last completed book by POB.  #21 is not completed, as far as I understand.

The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian

The Yellow Admiral was the best non-action book of the series.  There are very few battles in this book and they being quite mellow at that.  There is a lot of talking and contemplating in this book as well.  Much of the book takes place on land.

Again, I'm not sure if O'Brian is getting better and clearer in his writing as the series progresses or if I'm just use to his prose, but despite all the "talk" I understood pretty much all of it.

Jack does not necessarily become a yellow admiral, but it still seems to hang in the air at the end of the book.  Granted the book ends on an exclamation point, but the doubt persists.

The overall plot proceeds well enough along.  A few loose ends are tied up (Jack-Amanda Smith and Sophie finding out), Stephen getting his fortune back.  I quite enjoyed the chapter on Bonden boxing as well.

Another great POB book under the belt!

Three more to go!