Books That Changed My Life: Sam’s journey into the wilderness

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Friday November 30, 2012 · 5:00 AM PST

2012/11/30 · 05:00

When I was at the tender young age of eight, a child who’d just been advanced a grade and feeling out of place, a book was recommended to me. It was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. The story of a young man who runs away from home to live in the woods, it changed my life forever.

A 1960 recipient of the Newberry Medal, My Side describes the ways in which young Sam Gribley, a twelve-year-old who tires of the city life, survives on the abandoned farm of his great-grandfather. Living in a hollowed-out oak tree, young Sam trains a falcon and lives off the land for a year before finally being joined by his family who also eschew the life of a cramped apartment.

My Side opened my eyes to a whole new world; one in which a disenfranchised, neglected young man was free to make his own way. A world where one wasn’t a slave to society, but rather was able to escape the modern world and return to a life of simplicity and sustenance. This book entered my life at a turbulent time. My grandfather had just passed away, I was found to be a “gifted” child, and I had lost all my friends upon being advanced a grade in school. I was tired of life already, and I wasn’t even ten. My Side showed me that I didn’t have to live in that world. I was free to escape into a land where I was in charge and no others were to be seen. From this book was spawned a love of gardening, a love of reading, and a love of being an independent, free-thinking individual. My Side of the Mountain changed my life and made me the adult I am today.

Such a beautiful work of nature...

jimrob

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Wednesday November 28, 2012 · 7:27 AM PST

2012/11/28 · 07:27

...majestic and proud, standing tall upon a mountain, defiant of even the worst weather nature herself can subject it to. Let's chop it down and turn it into a Christmas tree.

An 80-foot Norway spruce that made it through Superstorm Sandy is getting a chance to shine when it's scheduled to be lit as the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
The tree, which will be lit Wednesday night, comes from the Mount Olive, N.J., home of Joe Balku. Balku lost power and other trees during the storm at his residence about an hour outside of Manhattan.

I'm Shocked. Utterly utterly shocked.

jimrob

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Monday November 26, 2012 · 4:33 PM PST

2012/11/26 · 16:33

A study into the self-esteem and religiosity of female porn stars noted that they "are more religious and have a higher self-esteem than other women." In a shocking twist, it also discovered that "women working in porn tried more drugs, had their first sexual experience at a younger age and had more sexual partners."

Porn stars have sex with more people than non-porn stars. Whoda thunk it?

Tobacco over Health Insurance?

jimrob

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Tuesday November 13, 2012 · 6:26 AM PST

2012/11/13 · 06:26

From an interesting article on Wal-Mart's response to the ACA:

Wal-Mart Stores' U.S. employees will pay between 8 percent and 36 percent more in premiums for its medical coverage in 2013, prompting some of the 1.4 million workers at the nation's largest private employer to say they will forego coverage altogether.

Oh noes, 13% increases? That's unbearable! That's immoral! That's... less than five bucks.

For its most popular plan, which covers individuals, the payment per bi-weekly paycheck is going up by $2, or 13 percent. Other plans will see larger increases as the world's largest retailer, known for low prices, tries to control its own costs.

Don't get me wrong, I know what it's like to live on a shoestring. Heck, I worked as a supervisor at this very same retailer. I know how bad the pay is and how over-worked the staff are. However, when I read things like this... (follow me past the squigglies) Read More

That darn Obama...

jimrob

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Monday November 12, 2012 · 10:33 AM PST

2012/11/12 · 10:33

...makin' us dependent on his Muslim Arab brotherhood oil sheik buddies. Wait, what?

5-U.S. to overtake Saudi as top oil producer - IEA

The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer by 2017, the West's energy agency said on Monday, predicting Washington will come very close to achieving a previously unthinkable energy self-sufficiency.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it saw a continued fall in U.S. oil imports with North America becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030 and the United States becoming almost self-sufficient in energy by 2035

My First Diary

jimrob

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Friday November 09, 2012 · 5:44 AM PST

2012/11/09 · 05:44

So I signed up here at DK a while back, and have hesitated posting a diary. What do I write about? What do people want to read? Rather than be like the car who holds up the drive-through lane while they try to decide between a #1 Artery Clogger and a #3 Bowel Exploder, I thought I'd finally dive in and relay a funny conversation at work this morning.

Boss: Remember when you used to print copies of all your invoices and put them on my desk so I could review them?

Me: Yes, I quit because I didn't think you were actually looking at them.

Boss: I wasn't. You were just wasting time.

Me: Honestly that was kind of the point.

Boss: Don't do that anymore.

Me: Gotcha. Don't take initiative in the future. Can-do, sir.

Boss: That's not what I meant.... Oh screw it, it's Friday.

Hence my posting here on DK rather than doing something productive. TGIF!

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