Prophecy, Murder and Southwest Airlines (aka Cameron's return to the blog)

4th Avenue Crossing (brooklyn, ny)

I'm back. I missed you too Frank. And Ben is really smart. Unfortunately for Ben, his intellect has always been in proportion to his size. Fatty. Hahahah. Oh man, that brings me back. Sorry Ben. (un)Fortunately for me, we had a major acquisition finally go through last month that was being held up by the EU (another reason why the French are assholes). Thus, my lengthy absence. I just did a quick recap though and it looks like once again, you've all done some great and thoughtful analysis. Bravo. Now for my two cents.

Admission: I did pick up the book and leaf through it. To be honest, I never got past the book jacket. Admittedly that was narrow of me and I will use work obligations to hide my shame. But all in all, strict interpretations of the Bible (or any religious work for that matter) scare me and I'd rather lend them any more credibility by buying or reading them. These interpretations are usually just flimsy masks to justify to unjustifiable. On a related note, strict interpretations of the Constitution also scare me. Read Jeffrey Toobin's "The Nine," if you want a background on the contemporary Supreme Court and to be frightened about the future of our judicial system and its impact on civil liberties. I digress.

While a well intentioned choice by Smurf to enlighten us on the impact of world religion on politics, economics, etc (thank you kind sir and well needed), using the lens of extreme evangelical prophecy does not sit well with me. Pulling the bizarre Nostradamus card will always make me shun you. Consider yourself shunned Epicenter. But I am content to leave the more concrete and extended commentary to those who actually read it.

On yet another related note, I decided to read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer instead of Epicenter (same section of the bookstore). I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts on this book. If you're unfamiliar, it's basically a deep dive into Mormon history and more specifically Mormon fundamentalism, to try and explain/understand the murders committed by Ron and Dan Lafferty in 1984. I know it has been openly criticized by LDS leadership for casting a negative light on the church, but I was hoping for a less political stance on the subject matter. This book similarly highlights what can come from close readings of religious text and antiquated doctrine.

Book the next, The World Is Flat. I read roughly 150 pages of this book about a year ago. I did not leave the book for want of interest, but for lack of time. To be sure, this is a dense book. It is jammed packed with all the tidbits you can handle about the booming next phase of globalization. However, it's also loaded with mostly inane anecdotes about Friedman himself. Concrete examples are great. 6 pages about your inability to wrap your head around Southwest's online check-in is not okay. Luckily, these "everyman" insults are innocuous and only mildly patronizing.

What strikes me most about my reread is how much the landscape has already changed. It must be a tiresome job to write about technology. Several of Google's latest products (Google Docs and Google Sites specifically) would probably feature prominently in a revision, not to mention the horizontal connections of the iPhone (Apple Hardware, AT&T Network, Google Apps).

More to come. I grow weary. Glad to be back.