TIME FOR ANOTHER BOOK REVIEW

Just finished reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. It is the first book of his new Century Trilogy. Follett is one of my favorite authors. I have read all his books including Eye of the Needle which is a spy thriller that made him rich and famous in 1978. Since then, he has published many bestselling novels. Mr. Follett is truly a genius. I think he is the best writer of fiction that is alive today. He has the ability to make fictional characters seem real and blends them with historical characters to tell extremely compelling stories. His historical background is brilliantly researched.

With passion and the skill of a master he tells the story of World War One by following five families-English, Welsh, German, Russian, and American. He also describes the thinking of the leaders of the empires involved: Britain’s Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II, and the United States President Woodrow Wilson. He also describes the 37 million casualties that resulted from the awful trench warfare. There is plenty of intrigue with spies, heroes and traitors. Did I mention there is also romance and sex? This book takes readers into an inextricably entangled world of war and revolution. It was such a good read, I have already started Winter Of  The World, which is the second book in the Trilogy.

EVERY DAY I AM THANKFUL FOR BEING LUCKY

And once a year on Thanksgiving Day I like to think (after all, I am a freelance thinker) about all the events and people that made me lucky. First, let me review how lucky I am. I have a beautiful wife who gave me 5 terrific children and 10 grand children who are destined for great achievements in life. We have a healthy, loving family that has been very close and supportive. Even without the benefit of a college degree, I was able to support my family with an earned income that was in the top 5% of all incomes in the USA. I do not consider myself to be above average in intelligence and I am not an athletic person. However, I am one lucky guy! All the stars were in the right alignment, or something.  

Here is a list of the events and people that I think made me lucky: I grew up on a small farm and my parents were poor, worked hard, and were good role models. I learned a great deal about life from that experience. I went to an excellent High School in a prosperous town and became a part of a “click” of kids who were very studious high achievers. This peer group had a positive effect on me.  They all went on to become doctors, lawyers and engineers but I joined the Air Force. There were no wars during the four years I was a radar technician and no one was shooting at me. I received a nice tour of the Far East during peace time. Then, I got a job in the insurance industry and discovered that I was a pretty good salesman. That is when I met and married Nancy (my trophy wife). She made me motivated by giving birth to triplets. Because we needed money and I wanted to get out of the house, I was always out selling insurance. Now, you know the story of my lucky life.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEEP THROAT & DEEP CRACK ?

Do you know the connection between a Petaflop and a Deep Crack? No? I didn’t think so. Everyone remembers deep throat but few have heard of Deep Crack. It is the nickname for a Supercomputer built by Electronic Frontier Foundation to perform a search to crack the code of an encrypted message by trying every possible key. A supercomputer is at the frontline of current processing capacity and speed of calculation. Supercomputers measure the speed of their calculations in Petaflops. A petaflop equals one quadrillion calculations happening every second. The latest and fastest supercomputer (Titan) can do 20 quadrillion calculations per second! That is way faster than a human can think.

 Is it wise to have computers this fast? I don’t think so. Scientist tell us that our brains function much like a digital computer. When people use their brain to make hasty decisions, they tend to make more errors. When we slow down, we tend to be more accurate. Doesn’t that imply that digital computers are prone to making more mistakes when they speed up? Geeks claim that computers never make mistakes, only the people who use them. I am not so sure about that. I remember that there was an Intel MMX that had a hardware flaw on a chip that made incorrect mathematical calculations. The world could come to an end because of a quick decision based on the incorrect calculations of a Supercomputer. Yikes!

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CANDIDATES!

 I have done some fact checking and discovered that the Presidential candidates are not who they say they are. I became suspicious when I noticed that one of them has big ears and always has a dumb look on his face. The other one has a remarkable likeness to Clark Kent. I asked George Teller, an unbiased and nonpartisan political expert, to do some research. Here is the shocking news that he came up with: President Obama is really Alfred E. Neuman wearing blackface as a disguise. His secret motto is, “What, Me Worry?” Mitt Romney is really Superman. His holy underwear is actually a Superman suit. If elected, he promises to find a phone booth and save America. So there you have it. The truth and nothing but the truth. Use this information to make the right choice in the voting booth.

My name is Harry Teets and I approve this public service announcement!

1.