Lots of words...

Being a graduate, I have a lot more time on my hands in the evening. I am busy all day at work, stressing my brain with the various tasks thrown at me day in and day out. When I get home in the evenings, I need something to do that isn't too taxing. Sure, there is my Xbox 360 and a bevy of great games but that only satisfies my appetite for a short while. Therefore, I've decided to read a good bit more. Most of these books I read are suggested to me through either co-workers or the Opie & Anthony show. I have three books to share with all of you eager readers.
The first book I wish to share with you is Confessions of an Economic Hitman. This was a book that the bbboys were discussing on XMradio a few weeks back. It is basically a true story that this man recounts of his life as a hired "consultant" for private companies. He was scouted by the NSA and then hired by a private company to basically rape developing countries. He would go to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Panama and convince them to take out BILLION dollar loans. The idea behind this was that the loan money would come straight back into America's pockets in the form of hiring US construction companies to build dams, electric plants, roads and even cities. The big fuck over comes in the form of the countries NEVER being able to pay back these loans, therefore defaulting on them, and then the US has them by the balls. They could then muscle their way into the country's government, rule their UN vote and basically run the country the way they wanted. The main goal of this during the 70's was oil. Kind of like today's US regime huh?
The next two books I am only partially done with. The first is Holy Blood, Holy Grail which is a historical look at the Knights of the Templar and the secret society behind them. It is also a speculative look at the possibility of Jesus not dying on the cross and actually living a full life and even bearing offspring with Mary Magdelane. This bloodline would have then ran down through time and lead to the Merovingian Dynasty. Very interesting, will get back to you with more details after I finish.
The other book is Misquoting Jesus: Who Changed the Bible and Why?
This book is written by a leading Christian scholar who is Christian himself so don't think I am going all atheist on you or anything. It is just a VERY interesting look into the historical researching of the oldest surviving texts we have of the Bible. We don't have the originals, we don't have copies of the originals, we don't even have copies of the copies of the copies of the copies. The oldest scripts we have were made almost 3oo YEARS after the originals were written. Therefore, mistakes are made in transcriptions, translations and whatever. People copied stuff wrong, they added things they thought should have been included, they dropped things that went against the new "norm" beliefs, they even changed things to make them fit more to the new Orthodox beliefs. To me, this book has helped me make the personal judgment that the Bible is NOT infallible. Some hardcore Bible beaters say it is the infallible word of God, but how is that possible if it has been changed SO many times over SUCH a long period of time? Did God sanction those changes each and every time? Read the book and make your own decision.
Ok, so there is my review of 3 great books. If you have the time and the interest, check them out for yourself or even ask me and I can let you borrow them. I am picking up some new books in the next few weeks and will have reviews for them also after I slowly make my way through them, damn this partial dyslexia.

Pull up a chair...

Update coming tomorrow morning, I promise. I've got some new books that I am reading, one I have finished and 2 I am working on. So check in sometime tomorrow to see what I thought/am thinking of them.

Damage Control

I have moved everything from my old quickblog account over to blogger because well, blogger is better. Trying out some geeky analytics and adsense and stuff with it so visit often and such.
At work, all I do is play damage control. It has been a while since I got to build anything new and exciting. All I do is come in, read emails that something is broken, and then spend the rest of the day fixing it. Wish I got paid more for it! Hopefully I will get to go back out to CA for a while and learn some more skills and such in the near future. I really like it out there; I think I am going to move out there next summer or a little later. I will make a lot more money, be closer to my other engineering co-workers and hell, its California! There is a lot of cool shit to do out there when you are that close to San Fran.
So yeah, go over to Flickr and check out my pictures, which I will try to keep rather up to date. Also, check out the Virus over at OpieandAnthony.com. And of course don't forget Spywareguide.com and go to Xblock.com for a free-ware version of the product my company makes! Use the freeware, and if you like it, try the full version 30-day trial. And if you REALLY like it, shell out the $20 and buy it.