The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time

This book was really fun to read. It follows the exploits of Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, who travel across the country looking for and correcting typos, mainly on signs and things of that nature. Jeff also spends some time with his girlfriend as well as another friend, but the majority of the time is spent with Benjamin. Some people that know me know I myself can be a stickler for typos and correct grammar and punctuation, although by no means do I understand the English language like Mr. Deck (he works as a professional editor). But, I do notice typos quite a bit. Thus, I could relate quite well to what these two were trying to accomplish. It seems like one of the most common mistakes is the use of its and it's. They found issues with this everywhere. I see it all the time as well and it drives me crazy. Don't use it's if there's no possessive. I also see people using an apostrophe to make something possessive when there is absolutely no reason to. They encountered this quite often as well. You might think a book about this subject matter would be boring, but the authors make it quite entertaining with their humorous writing style. They also get into a bit of trouble with the National Park Service, although what they did was certainly not intended to be malicious. What's ironic is that the court papers they are issued for their little run-in with the NPS were laden with typos and other errors. I found that to be one of the more amusing aspects of their journey. I recommend it for those interested in the English language as well as those interested in road trip memoirs. And, in case you were wondering, I did find myself paying extra attention to find typos and other errors within the book. I didn't find any. That's not to say there weren't any, but I didn't find any. I'm guessing that due to the nature of the book it was edited and looked over extremely carefully. The authors would look pretty silly had there been errors. So, if this kind of thing sounds interesting (it probably won't to most people), check it out.

More information here: http://greattypohunt.com/

Today in History

In light of Tuesday night's incredible NBA Finals game (hopefully tonight's Game 7 will be just as exciting - by the way, what kind of fans leave a 5 point game with 30 seconds left? Seriously, do these people not know that Reggie Miller scored 8 points by himself in 9 seconds? Never leave a game that close. Stupid fairweather fans), today marks the 20th anniversary of the Chicago Bulls beating the Phoenix Suns in the Finals in 1993. Holy crap, 20 years. Really? The Bulls won Game 6 on a John Paxson 3 pointer, beating my team and my favorite player Charles Barkley. I remember watching that game on my tiny little black and white TV, because our color one was being repaired (remember TV repair shops? remember b&w TV, for that matter?). It was a heartbreaking game, but a very good series. I sure do miss those days, but it's been fun watching so many future Hall of Famers in this year's finals. I really don't care who wins the series, I'm not a fan of either team, and hopefully the Thunder will be back next year (once Barkley retired, I kind of lost interest in rooting for one team, but the Thunder have captivated my interest and Durant is by far my favorite current NBA player. I just don't have any die-hard allegiance to any sports teams outside of the Broncos. They're the only team I care passionately about). Anyways, enjoy the game tonight, hopefully it will be another classic.

An Important Day in Animation History

Today marks the introduction of two beloved animated characters. The Tasmanian Devil made his first appearance in the cartoon "The Devil May Hare" in 1954. Garfield made its debut as a comic strip in 1978. So, technically, I guess more than two beloved characters were introduced, since Odie and Jon also came along with Garfield. That raises the question, though. Is Jon beloved? He's kind of neurotic. Check out Garfield minus Garfield, which examines Jon's craziness: http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/ (the site is currently under maintenance but should be back up soon). Anyways, enjoy the very first Garfield comic:

The "Devil May Hare" video can be seen here: http://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/683/devil-may-hare.html.

Pedal Driven

Why do I keep doing this to myself? Why do I voluntarily watch documentaries that show the beautiful mountains and open spaces of the West? Nature porn...Anyways, this is another of those serendipitous Netflix finds. Pedal Driven looks at the conflict between mountain bikers (specifically freeriders building illegal trails) and the Forest Service in Leavenworth, WA. Trails would be built, and the Forest Service would go in and tear them down. Any progress made between the two parties would be set back. As the film progresses, though, a dialogue begins to open up between the interested parties. The managing ranger in the Leavenworth area even takes a trip with the bikers to Oregon to look at how some of the National Forests there have worked with bikers to allow for good trails to be built on public land. The point of the story, at least to me, is that if groups with conflicting interests will sit down and discuss what they want and what the different options are, compromises can be made and both can leave satisfied. (Hear that, Congress?) This film also really made me want to get back on my bike. I used to do a fairly good amount of mountain biking back in Idaho, of course I was in better shape at that point in my life. I did take the bike out for a quick ride this morning, and even though it hurt, it was fun. I'd like to get out and try some of the dirt trails close to Tulsa, but with the Oklahoma summer bearing down on us and temperatures starting to climb into the mid to high 90s, that might have to wait. I might just have to stick to early morning rides on the bike path close to home for now. Anyways, if you're interested in mountain biking or public lands management, check this film out.

http://pedaldriven.howellatthemoon.com/

Hard Twisted

Hard Twisted, by C. Joseph Greaves, is a fictional account of an historical event. I guess that makes it "historical fiction." I've never really been much of a fan of historical fiction, but in this case, I was oblivious to to the fact that the book was based on a true story until the author's notes and acknowledgements at the end. Honestly, I didn't know much about the book at all when I decided to read it, I only knew that it was partly based in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl period, which is an era and a region that highly interests me. The author was inspired to write the book after finding several human skulls while hiking in a canyon in southern Utah. The skulls were of local Native Americans, but Greaves became interested in the murder of former Blanding (Utah) area sheriff William Oliver. The book revolves around the journey of his murderer and a young girl he essentially kidnapped and took with him on the road. The book's style is reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, although Greaves doesn't quite reach McCarthy's levels of avoiding punctuation, just the lack of quotation marks during the dialogue. Anyone interested in the history of this incident, as well as fans of westerns (I always enjoy an early 20th century story set in the west, as it paints a picture of two eras colliding, as the Old West becomes the New West), will enjoy this book.

More information on the book and the history behind it (spoiler alert) can be found here: http://chuckgreaves.com/hard-twisted/

Today in History

So, I probably should have written about more important stuff that happened earlier in the week, like the Teton Dam Flood in my beloved home state of Idaho, which occurred on June 5, 1976. Or perhaps D-Day, June 6, 1944, probably one of the most important days of the 20th century, if not all of history. Alas, I missed out. As I looked for something to write about for today, nothing really stood out to me. So, we'll go with another celebrity birthday. On this day, in 1978, Bill Hader was born in Tulsa. Hader joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2005 and quickly became one of the show's stars. By far my favorite character of his on SNL is the New York City Correspondent Stefon, who appeared on the Weekend Update with Seth Meyers. Another role of his that I loved was his character in Hot Rod. Stupidly funny. Happy birthday Bill Hader.