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The Daily Dose/January 4, 2009
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
More notes from the Human Experience, including what has to be history's first assemblage of pictures of Columbus, Luna 1, a shot of Earth from Mars and Column Four Foto Morgan Fairchild!
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: The Lieutenants by W.E.B. Griffin and The Captains by W.E.B. Griffin, from the Brotherhood of War series. Every now and then you get the urge to re-read something you've read before. This is the case here, and we eagerly point this out in our standard book review disclaimer (located below) to those who think we should only review current books, or books being read for the first time.
The Rest Of The Story: We are not in love with everything W.E.B. Griffin has written. His novels about the Philadelphia Police Department are good, but not great, and the same could be said about the books that were all or partly written with his son, which is a lesson all writers with kids should heed, but not all - and we send a shout out to Dick Francis here - do. His other war series, The Corps, about the US Marine Corps, is also really, really good.
Can We Get On Message Here? We've been fans of the Brotherhood of War series for years. It's a series of eight books, starting with The Lieutenants and continuing through The Generals, and there are three books with non-rank titles: The Berets, The New Breed and The Aviators.
Set in times and taking place in events that actually happened, the characters are all fictional, except when General MacArthur or a President of the United States are portrayed. It follows a variety of intriguing, interesting characters through their army careers.
Rose Colored Glasses: Griffin's view of the army is somewhat romanticized. His is an army at its very best, though he does a very good of pointing out the petty BS and the usual misfits attendant with service life.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is better read than most of our fellow humans, he's not a scholar for Pete's sake and, in fact, barely graduated high school, though it should be noted this was back when graduating from high school actually meant you had some skills and didn't require remedial college classes. He not only makes no claims to being a professional book reviewer, but does not even warrant that the reviewed book is current, or even being read for the first time.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Ranking: VG. Griffin has written a series that is hard to top. The characters and plots are many and intertwined and a complete rundown is beyond the scope of this review, but if you have any interest at all in the subject matter, this country at war and its army and the development of army aviation and Special Forces, you will enjoy this. Griffin's characters are memorable and you may well find yourself Googling some of them to see if they were real.
I SHALL RETURN: On this date, in 1493, Christopher Columbus leaves the New World and returns to Spain. It is now generally thought that his crew - some of whom would later serve as mercenaries in various European armies - brought back and spread the popular social disease syphilis. Columbus would return to the New World in November.
You've Got To Be Kidding Me: On this date, in 1903, an elephant is executed in New York. We are not making that up. Topsy, who, among other things, had been condemned for getting snitty and killing a trainer who had attempted to feed her a lit cigarette, had killed two other people. After some consideration about which method to use, it was suggested by Thomas Edison that Topsy be electrocuted, so Edison could show that his Direct Current was better than the newfangled Alternating Current being touted by th evil Messrs. Westinghouse and Tesla. Exactly what he proposed to prove by executing an elephant has been lost to history.
Signing Off: The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals apparently was on board with the electrocution, though they had objected to plans to hang Topsy.
One Small Flight For Man: Two days after being launched, the Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. A mistake in the control system caused Luna 1 to be considerably off target, and it only got within 3,700 miles of the Moon.
I Do Solemnly Swear: Former Navy SEAL and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, born James George Janos, is inaugurated Governor of Minnesota on this date in 1999. He would not run for reelection.
Insert Own Catchy Lead Line Here: The NASA rover Spirit landed on Mars on this date in 2004. In March Spirit would take the only photograph of Earth taken from the surface of another planet. Spirit is still in contact with Earth, more then four years after it's mission had been expected to end.
I Do Solemnly Swear II: The 110th United States Congress convenes and elects California Representative Nancy Pelosi the first female Speaker of the House.
HUT HUT HIKE: We enjoy pointing out the rare here at the Daily Dose, so we would be remiss if we didn't mention the Arizona Cardinals 30-24 home playoff victory over the Atlanta Falcons Saturday. It was only the second home playoff game ever for this charter NFL team. Their first was a 28-21 victory over Philadelphia in the 1947 NFL Championship Game. The Cardinals, who moved to Phoenix from St. Louis, actually played in Chicago at the time, and the game was played at Comiskey Park. It was just their eighth playoff game ever, and their first playoff win since 1999.
Thought For The Day: This is the moment of embarking! All auspicious signs are in place. - Deng Ming Dao.
Editor's Note: The above quotation is ideal for New Year's Day, of course, however we couldn't be bothered to produce a column on January 1 - or January 2 or January 3, for the that matter - so we offer it today.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Eight countries and one continent lie on the Prime Meridian. From north to south they are: Great Britain, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali, something called Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Antarctica.
Today's Stumper: Who was the first athlete to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine? - Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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