Bloody Jack
The one and only topic that I want to write about today, is Bloody Jack, which is the first book in an ongoing series by L. A. Meyer... but, rather. I'd like to write about the most recent book in the series, My Bonny Light Horseman.
When browsing through the books at my local Chapters, there were many occasions where I'd see the book, Bloody Jack, and grab it to look at it more closely, but each time, I'd put it back, either not interested based on the cover (what can I say? I judge books by their covers, but using that very method, I've also come across many excellent books), or the description on the back of the book. But it seemed that every time that I went to Chapters, I picked up the darned book, so finally, I decided to give it a try; at least it wasn't $20. It was a very fortunate thing that I decided to read the book, because it's become my favourite series. I believe that I've read an awful lot of books, as I've been happily addicted to reading since the age of 8, and I read more than most of the other bookworms my age, so the Bloody Jack series had a lot of competition. There are many books that I will easily name my favourites: Saucer by Stephen Coonts, The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones, The Abhorrsen Trilogy and The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix, and all of the Harry Potter books (#3 in particular) by J. K. Rowling coming most prominently to my mind. But when I get down to reading them, the Bloody Jack series is my particular favourite. It also far outshines the other books in the 'poor girl becomes male sailor' genre, the books being so much more than just that.
Now, I've just 30 minutes ago finished My Bonny Light Horseman, and will do a short review. I've established that these books are my favourite, and this latest book (#6) does not disappoint. There were many times while reading the book that I would burst out with a snort of laughter, or jump up and pump my arms in the air with happiness. The story is written in a way that does not give too many foreshadowing hints, which I was glad for, because I like finding out the twists in the plot at the same time as our beloved Jacky. There was enough romance and action to keep me happy, and not too much description to muddle with the plot, which reflects on Jacky, the story-teller; she gets to the point. There was one line that I rather liked, although I'm probably just reading into it a bit much, but as soon as I read it, I struck a chord with me (I've no idea why...). The line is "'Well,' I shrug, all innocent, 'we all ride our little hobbyhorses, don't we, Mr. Peel?'" (Meyer 165) (Ah my grade 12 English teacher would be proud, me having MLA ingrained in my head now.) You read that line, and interpret what you will. ^_^
I'm off to bed, my mission for the early morning complete. I do have another blog entry on the way, that I started a few days ago, I just need to finish it... whenever that happens.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Politics, Roboform, and Unions and Strikes
It's been a long time since I last posted, mainly because I started my first year at university. I've barely had time to read my current book, The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau, let alone update my blog! But, since September 17, all of my university classes have been cancelled, so I've had time to catch up on my reading, and get ahead in my assignments, and now, I have time to update my blog.
Going in the opposite order of my title today, I'd like to start by why I've had so much free time on my hands. On September 17 the faculty at my university went on strike. The official stance of the student's alliance at my school is in support of the faculty, but I don't support them. But neither do I support the administration. I've heard so much information from both sides, that I don't really know what to believe, and I'd feel like a hypocrite if I supported one side without actually knowing all of the facts. So, although I want the faculty to be payed fairly, I also don't want my tuition to go up even higher next year, or to lose more money as the strike goes on... that is why I'm only supporting myself in this strike, because it's my tuition money that is currently flying away with the time we've been out of class.
While on the topic of strikes, I'd also like to make a quick note about unions. I can't speak about all the unions out there, but I can speak about those that are in my community. Unions started out with great intentions, and were badly needed at the time that they started, however, as time has progressed, the unions that I can observe have become very politicized, and strayed from their original goals. Militant unions don't necessarily help those that they represent, they actually seem to scare companies (and thus job opportunities) off. Many people from my community are a part of the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers), but those people who are not a part of the CAW refer to it as Canadians Against Working. If a lot of people have this view of the union, shouldn't the people running it stop, and wonder why so many people have these views, and wonder if maybe there's something that they should change? I think so. Just my 2 cents though... if you're part of the CAW, please don't hunt me down. O=)
While reading my computer's textbook, and it's passage on password security, it got me thinking about the security of my own passwords. I know that a lot of my passwords could be better, if only I had the memory to make them better, although they've served me well so far. But being a little concerned, and reading about the advantages of password managers, I decided I'd take the plunge and try out Roboform, a form-filling, secure password generating, password manager. I haven't had it for more than an hour or two, but I already feel better about my passwords, and now I don't have to worry about remembering some of my weirder passwords, Roboform's got me covered. I was relieved that it can also get rid of the problem of keyloggers, those viruses that remember your keystrokes and send them back to whoever is controlling it, because you don't type your passwords in. I was also impressed and interested in Roboform2Go, which is the same program, but on a jump drive. This way you could take your passwords with you to another computer, and when you leave, there are no traces of your passwords left behind you.
In Canada, we have yet another election going on. It seems like just last year people were queuing up at the polls to vote for Provincial Premiers... oh wait, that was last year. But the exciting aspect of this election, for me at least, is that I can vote in it! Woot! However, I'm not very happy with my choices in the election. When it comes to choosing an MP I'd like to vote for, that's an easy one, Liberal all the way! However, I'm not impressed with Stéphane Dion at all. Mainly because a few months before all of this election business, Stéphane Dion decided not to support and issue, or bill, or something in parliament that was obviously something that Liberals would normally support. However, if he had supported it, our fragile, minority government would have been overthrown, and the Liberals did not think that they could win an election at the time, so they held off on voting. This really burned me up, because the Canadians that put the Liberals in parliament put them there to make decisions based on their party's views, not based on party gains. They are there to do a job, to represent the Canadians that they are supposed to be representing. And in the end, really, they still ended up in an election that they aren't necessarily ready to win. Now on the other hand though, I do like Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, and for the most part, I really like their views. On the party's website, they have 6 main points to their platform. The 6th point is Good Government, and in it they make the point I was attempting to make about the Liberal party, which is basically the "MPs’ allegiance to parties instead of constituents". My only problems with the Green Party, are that I don't care for the MP in my riding, and that Good Government is the 6th point on their platform. I understand that being the Green Party, they care a lot about our environment, I do too, but I think that in order to fix our environment, we need to first concentrate on fixing our government. I think this needs to be at least in the 2nd place in the Green Party's platform, but preferably in the 1st place. I still have a few weeks to make my decision though, so we'll see what happens.
Going in the opposite order of my title today, I'd like to start by why I've had so much free time on my hands. On September 17 the faculty at my university went on strike. The official stance of the student's alliance at my school is in support of the faculty, but I don't support them. But neither do I support the administration. I've heard so much information from both sides, that I don't really know what to believe, and I'd feel like a hypocrite if I supported one side without actually knowing all of the facts. So, although I want the faculty to be payed fairly, I also don't want my tuition to go up even higher next year, or to lose more money as the strike goes on... that is why I'm only supporting myself in this strike, because it's my tuition money that is currently flying away with the time we've been out of class.
While on the topic of strikes, I'd also like to make a quick note about unions. I can't speak about all the unions out there, but I can speak about those that are in my community. Unions started out with great intentions, and were badly needed at the time that they started, however, as time has progressed, the unions that I can observe have become very politicized, and strayed from their original goals. Militant unions don't necessarily help those that they represent, they actually seem to scare companies (and thus job opportunities) off. Many people from my community are a part of the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers), but those people who are not a part of the CAW refer to it as Canadians Against Working. If a lot of people have this view of the union, shouldn't the people running it stop, and wonder why so many people have these views, and wonder if maybe there's something that they should change? I think so. Just my 2 cents though... if you're part of the CAW, please don't hunt me down. O=)
While reading my computer's textbook, and it's passage on password security, it got me thinking about the security of my own passwords. I know that a lot of my passwords could be better, if only I had the memory to make them better, although they've served me well so far. But being a little concerned, and reading about the advantages of password managers, I decided I'd take the plunge and try out Roboform, a form-filling, secure password generating, password manager. I haven't had it for more than an hour or two, but I already feel better about my passwords, and now I don't have to worry about remembering some of my weirder passwords, Roboform's got me covered. I was relieved that it can also get rid of the problem of keyloggers, those viruses that remember your keystrokes and send them back to whoever is controlling it, because you don't type your passwords in. I was also impressed and interested in Roboform2Go, which is the same program, but on a jump drive. This way you could take your passwords with you to another computer, and when you leave, there are no traces of your passwords left behind you.
In Canada, we have yet another election going on. It seems like just last year people were queuing up at the polls to vote for Provincial Premiers... oh wait, that was last year. But the exciting aspect of this election, for me at least, is that I can vote in it! Woot! However, I'm not very happy with my choices in the election. When it comes to choosing an MP I'd like to vote for, that's an easy one, Liberal all the way! However, I'm not impressed with Stéphane Dion at all. Mainly because a few months before all of this election business, Stéphane Dion decided not to support and issue, or bill, or something in parliament that was obviously something that Liberals would normally support. However, if he had supported it, our fragile, minority government would have been overthrown, and the Liberals did not think that they could win an election at the time, so they held off on voting. This really burned me up, because the Canadians that put the Liberals in parliament put them there to make decisions based on their party's views, not based on party gains. They are there to do a job, to represent the Canadians that they are supposed to be representing. And in the end, really, they still ended up in an election that they aren't necessarily ready to win. Now on the other hand though, I do like Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, and for the most part, I really like their views. On the party's website, they have 6 main points to their platform. The 6th point is Good Government, and in it they make the point I was attempting to make about the Liberal party, which is basically the "MPs’ allegiance to parties instead of constituents". My only problems with the Green Party, are that I don't care for the MP in my riding, and that Good Government is the 6th point on their platform. I understand that being the Green Party, they care a lot about our environment, I do too, but I think that in order to fix our environment, we need to first concentrate on fixing our government. I think this needs to be at least in the 2nd place in the Green Party's platform, but preferably in the 1st place. I still have a few weeks to make my decision though, so we'll see what happens.
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