Despair

The worst thing about this novel is the whole rehashing of the Jews awaiting the Messiah to come. But the way Chabon writes about it--especially from a suicidal homicide detective's POV--is very witty. The fact Chabon places emphasis on religion as a panacea to all the despair and hopelessness should have been a dead giveaway that the Messiah won't come no matter how many red heifers are sacrificed. Just as Meyer will never find absolution no matter if he does solve his sister and Mendel's deaths. So in a way, Chabon manages to give religous despair a timeless depiction while renewing it.

Would you trade Liberty for Security?

While reading Doctorow's Little Brother, I was reminded of a Ben Franklin quote:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

This quote seems to embody a recuring theme throughout this novel. As the book progresses, the Department of Homeland Security takes more citizens' liberties away in the name of "National Security". Marcus, like Mr. Franklin, was not willing to give up his liberties on account of additional security, and fought to keep his liberty.

Would you be willing to say no to all the security enhancements in the name of liberty? Or if not, when is it ok to relinquish some of your freedoms for additional security?

John Shults- Yiddish Policeman's Union, Tone

From the very beginning of this book I feel like I have been inundated with this tone of despair and gloom. Maybe gloom isn't the right word for it. What I mean is that the novel so far has had only elements of glass-half-empty characters and settings. Take Landsman for example. Alcoholic divorcee scarred by his dead-beat father's love of chess-and winning. Then theres Tenenboym- ex-marine, ex-junkie who kicked his habit and rose to the esteemed position of night hotel manager and steals money and jewelry from. Hooray. We then move on to the setting. A "past its prime" hotel called the Zamenhof reffered to by the manager as "crap-ass."
Pardon my ignorance, but isn't this kind of tone fairly typical in post-modern sf? This is my first sf book, I must admit. Actually my first fiction in a while. I have enjoyed the novel so far despite its tone (It doesn't really match my style).
By the way, not sure if anyone else is aware but one thing Sitka, Alaska is famous for is their spruce tree. Sitka Spruce is used in may instruments especially guitars. The most widely used flat top guitar material is Sitka because of its resonant qualities. Just an irrelevant side note.

Marcus and Political Views and Standard Protest

We started this discussion in class before we left. Or... well... Professor Duncan posed this question and no one answered and told us to hit up the blog. And I didn't want to seem like "the guy who always posts" but I wanted to get this discussion started and no one has posted it yet. So...

I believe that Marcus couldn't care less about the other political problems in the world around him. Van even told him that he shouldn't fight the DHS the way he was planning. That he should go out and join the people already protesting. He totally disregarded that idea and continued with his plan. This proves that he has no interest in that form of protesting.

He clearly has a desire to be the leader, not a follower, despite his denial of being the leader of the Xnetters. This aspect crops up all over the place. The fact that at the beginning of the story, he is the one who gets the group together, he says when, where, and how. He creates all of the technology and shows people how to use it. After the attack and his release, he crafts the plans and tells people what to do and when to meet. He lets NO ONE tell him what to do, even people close to him. He has strong opinions and will not be dissuaded by anyone.

So no matter the fact that he denies being the leader, he is the leader. He cannot put up with just being a follower, being another voice in the crowd. He would not protest in public by picket signs or just shouting. He uses technology to make an impression. His entire school record proves that. He would always fight the school by use of technology, not other more formal channels.

Now, another thing is that he doesn't have a care in the world for the non-interesting problems. He has lived his whole life with the economy as it is, with politics as they are, with all the problems as they are. He most likely wouldn't even have fought the DHS if he hadn't been arrested. He is a person that accepts the world the way it is until it wrongs him. And even then, I don't think he would have done anything except in this case because of the physical harm and face to face lack of care of people you trusted. He seems to be enthused with government and their policies and how they should care for people. So when his most favored subject is brought to the surface, of course he will act. He never mentions the other topics so he probably doesn't much care for them.

No other case does this occur that the people you trust to protect you literally spit in your face and betray this trust except with the government.

So, long story short. I don't believe Marcus would protest any other issues besides the one he does because the government and their policies and their ideals is a favored subject of his. And anger is not the opposite of love, it is one of the closest emotions to love. You must be very emotional to hate something, the more you hate the more emotional you are about that which you hate.

How to craft links into a blog

There are several ways to make links. One is to use the button when posting. The one that has a little paperclip icon is hyperlink. Select the text you want linked (whether it be the url of a site or some text) and click it. It will then prompt you for a web address. Enter it there and push ok and the text you had selected will now be a hyperlink.

There is a manual way using HTML code. the code for a hyperlink is "< a href=> and < /a>" without a space between the < and the a. The href stands for hyperlink reference (I assume) and is the web address of the website you want to link. You end the statement with >. After that you can enter any text and that will be the text that is shown for the hyperlink.

so you would type < a href=http://strangenewworlds2009.blogspot.com/> Strange New Worlds Fall09 Blog < /a>

But without a space at between the < and the a and without a space between < and /a>.

This will create this:
Strange New Worlds Fall09 Blog

Matthew Huff's Response

Ever since I got my NES back when i was a kid, i've been playing video games and that's led me into also being a fan of science fiction. I've read a few good sci-fi books like Ender's Game, but most of my experience with sci-fi is from TV, movies, and games. Also, i'm the one who got Stephen hooked to the new Battlestar Galactica.

I define science fiction pretty loosely as a branch of fiction that revolves around or features fictional technology/biology/powers (fictional during the time the work was created i mean).

My primary examples of science fiction would be games like Mass Effect for the Xbox 360, or shows like Firefly, Heroes, etc.

(Sorry for the late response)

Video Chatting Space Odyssey Style

This would be an infinitely cooler way for us to talk with Prof. Duncan via webcam

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/354945#13769203_NaDcJ