The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Just finished reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, sequel to The Davinci Code.

This is a decent novel, what you would expect from Dan Brown. It follows his formula, not as slavishly as The Davinci Code followed Angels and Demons, but recognizable. Robert Langdon, a girl, puzzles, religious overtones, a nasty killer etc. This book is a lot more dependent on the plot twists and turns than on the puzzles.

My quibbles with the book are as follows.

Slow to Develop. It took some time to get into the book. It didn't really become compelling until about 2/3 of the way through. (See next point.)

Too Much Info Dump. Especially during the first third of the novel, Brown sends a lot of time feeding us tons of information about the Masonic Order. While some of it is necessary for the nuances of his plot, a lot of it is just wall papering to keep from telegraphing his twists and turns. All the time he is info dumping, he is not moving the story forward.

Contrived in Parts. I was not convinced sometimes by the actions of some of the characters. Their actions seemed designed more to fit into a preconceived plot framework rather than the result of the motivations of the characters. For instance, in one scene the characters are running away from a powerful adversary, and they escape, essentially, from one building only to stop in the next building to conduct a scientific experiment. Why didn't they keep on running until they were further away?

Also, most of the major characters suffer severe, life threatening injuries. Yet moments later they are running around acting like nothing happened. Shades of Padme Amidala falling out of a speeding flyer in Star Wars, Episode 2.

Finally, the ending is anti-climatic, and Brown searches around for a while, trying to bring closure to the novel. He goes on much too long, with some unnecessary theatrics, and finally ends up with some pseudo-spiritualistic, feel-good hugging on the top of the U.S. Capitol.

Still, it's about what you expected. Some nice twists and turns, some puzzles, a bit of religious "secret history," and competent writing. Recommended for fans.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The Frontier Foundation, a scholarship fund U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer (Republican - Indiana) started six years ago, has raised more than $800,000 in the past six years but has yet to award its first scholarship.

It has, however, paid for Rep. Buyer to play golf in the Bahamas and other places with Frontier Foundation donors, almost all of whom are "from 20 companies and trade organizations that have interests before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on which Buyer serves."

Oh, and it has given out about $10,000 in donations to other organizations, like the National Rifle Association and a cancer fund run by the chief lobbyist for Indianapolis based Eli Lilly and Company.

Buyer's response is to quote a line from Wicked: "No good deed goes unpunished."

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker reaction to Buyer's remark is "Where's the good deed, if they haven't given out any scholarships?"

Soource: Indianapolis Star, Oct. 18, 2009

Obviously, Rep. Buyer believes his constituents either will not notice or do not care that he abuses the concept of charity for his own personal benefit. And we expect politicians like this to actually do right by the American people while they are in office? Could he send any louder message that he is a crook?

Stalker's Best Friend

Recently on a cross country plane flight, having nothing much to do, I leafed through the SkyMall shopping catalog on in the seat pocket.

I came across this, and I must say, this is the greatest advance for stalkers since the binoculars. Just surreptitiously tuck one of these into your chosen one's car and start building your dossier of his/her habits. And if your boss is totally controlling, this is a MUST Christmas gift.

Can we make it any easier for disturbed minds?

Bourbon, or whatever

A lot of famous writers have had a problem with alcohol. Dashiell Hammett comes to mind.

I totally understand. For some reason I seem to be a lot better when I am buzzed than when I am sober. And Bourbon is particularly good at freeing the inner creative me.

I just wish I could spell worth a damn when I am drunk.

Thank God for spell checkers.

Water into Whine

Here's a link to a Birther equating the alleged sale of counterfeit wine to the failure of Obama to release a laundry list of personal, confidential documents to the media, not just his birth certificate. I'll wait right here while you see what wine has to do with Obama's brth certificate.

Amused Cynic, Cruel, but fair

The point to his comparison between Michael Broadbent and Barack Obama seems to be that the news media was so enthusiastic about Obama being elected President that they deliberately failed to probe Obama's qualifications, including, among other things, his middle school report cards and the source of the money to pay his tuition fees at Harvard Law School.

(Excuse me, but when did Fox News, the Washington Times and the National Review become liberal establishment media. Or doesn't he consider them to be news organizations? I mean, if the media failed to take Obama to task, doesn't that mean Fox News failed to do it, too?)


The source of the Amused Cynic's information about all this missing information is an article in the American Thinker by Kyle-Anne Shiver.

You Might Be a Birther if...

I have a few quibbles with Shiver's arguments. I will take them one at a time.


Shiver admonishes Obama for not releasing his "Panahou Academy school records, 5th through 12th grades."

Do people really keep their middle school report cards? If Shiver is talking about the school's records what would they consist of other than grades? Do we really grade a politician on what he got in wood shop? Do we really want the national debate to revolve around some comment a teacher wrote about a ten year old kid thirty years ago?


"No man or woman in this Country today could successfully apply for a high-level executive position with any corporation without submitting this meager documentation to prove the statements made in a job application."

Meager documentation? I didn't realize that to get hired as a Vice President of JP Morgan Chase or Microsoft you had to produce your high school transcript. Does General Motors really care what grade Edward E. Whitacre Jr. got in Social Studies? Did Richard Clark have to have better than average grades in 5th grade to get his job at Merck?

If you have disciplinary action taken against you in high school for any reason are you forever forbidden to have a "high-level executive position with any corporation."

I wonder how Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did in gym. Maybe they failed naps in kindergarten. Does anyone really care?


Shiver also wonders "... how a student who never wrote anything (that can be found) was elected president of the prestigious law review..."

I have news for you, Ms. Shiver, writing and editing are two different skill sets. (But would you know about that?)

How did Obama do as the editor of the Harvard Law Review? That should be easy to figure out. All you would have to do is read the journal. You know, kind of like checking out his qualifications.


What really disturbs me about both of these pieces is the following statement:

"... Harvard University records... including information on how Harvard Law School was afforded by humble community agitator, Barack Obama."

If what we are talking about here is Barack Obama's qualifications to be President of the United States, then the implication in this statement is that Obama may not be qualified to be President because of the manner in which he financed his education. that there must be something nefarious about it, like he got the money from the mob or from the Illuminati or something.

We all know where he got the money. From scholarships. Obama was probably the beneficiary of affirmative action. He probably got some money from the government, some from Harvard, and some from private scholarship funds. Friends and families also most likely chipped in. Student loans covered the rest. Where do kids who don't have money get funding for college anyway?

Where do Ms. Shiver and Amused Cynic think the money came from? Osama Bin Laden? The NAACP? The AFL-CIO? Yale? The Council on Foreign Relations? Grannies for a Socialist America? Give me a break.

What is being implied here (nudge, nudge; wink, wink) is that if you can not finance your own way through Harvard, then you must not be qualified to be President of the United States. Only the wealthy and privileged are qualified to be President.

And it is only a half step from there to the proposition that people of color need not apply. That goes for you white trash, too.

This type of argument is the intellectual underpinning to all types of specious arguments. That certain groups of people are better than others. That some people should know their place. That it's okay to shoot up a Holocaust Museum or bomb the Oklahoma City Federal Office Building. Maybe that last comparison is a half step too far, but not in the minds of the people who desperately want to force this country to take a full step back into the days before affirmative action.


Amused Cynic. Cruel, but fair, but apparently not balanced.


(Of course, Obama's main qualification for President of the United States was that he is not George W. Bush. Beyond that, in 2008, you didn't need a whole lot.)

Quote of the Day

By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.
- G. K. Chesterton

Birthers

My question for birthers is this: If you are willing to believe that Obama is not a natural born citizen and, therefore, is an illegitimate President, why are you not willing to believe that the Illuminati is responsible for manipulating world governments and controls everything?

Or do you believe that?