Made by Hand

By Mark Frauenfelder

Mark tries a lot of things-- raising chickens. Living on a tropical island for a year, making high quality espresso by hand with a custom modified espresso machine, home fermenting.

In his efforts, he confronts the problem of home made goods-- sometimes they can  be better. The often take more time. The whole experience can be more pleasureful, meditative even. But the end result may not justify the effort.

I struggle with this myself, with minor home renovations and repairs. It takes a lot of time to do a good job. Yet it costs hundreds of dollars to get a professional. If I spent the money on better tools, would I be better off? More often than not, I do a mediocre job and regret the experience.

American Gods

By Neil Garman.

Am starting to read fiction for the first time in years.

Religion is a vantage point from which to view the world. It's power and strength come as much from people who share the same view, as from any inherent supernatural backing.

People want to believe in something. Anything that will give them hope and a feeling of control.

The book supposes that when enough people believe in and worship a thing, then a god of that thing will emerge. The god of TV, of Drugs, of the Internet, all exist in America and live uneasily along other older gods. Oden, Ganesh, too many other gods to count.