The Da Vinci Code

I just finished The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and I don’t recall ever finishing a book so quickly. It is no wonder that the book topped the New York Times Best Seller List and will soon be made into a movie.

I won’t say much about the plot (that’s for you to read and discover), but what bothered me about the book was the fuzzy line between fact and fiction. Of course the story is fiction, but I’m talking about the claims that Brown makes about actual historical events and figures such as the crusades, Da Vinci, Pope, Newton, Jesus and others. Brown claims that 99% of his historical references are true but many web sites claim the opposite. So what is one to believe? A non historian like myself is left stranded knowing that some of what he writes is true. But how much?

The book is a lot of fun, but you just need to pretend that Da Vinci and Newton were not real people.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

I recently finished A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The book is a simple introduction to both the classical and modern sciences and covers topics such as cosmology, quantum mechanics, relativity, evolution, and nearly everything else. What made this book so interesting was that Bryson is not a scientist. He’s a writer (and a good one to say the least) and this clearly works in his favour. Bryson covers each topic with the history of the men and women involved and their often humerous or tragic ending in the pursuit of science. At times I had to put the book down to ponder what I had just read. At other times I was laughing too hard to continue.

Bryson’s book won him an Aventis Science Book Prize for Scientific Writing (2004) and he was the first nonscientist ever to win. Bryson donated the £10,000 prize (which was matched by the Aventis Foundation) to the Great Ormond Street Hospital children’s charity. Way to go Bill!

No matter who you are, this book will definitely offer you moments of, “Wow! I didn’t know that!” Go buy it and enjoy.

German Cup

What a fun night! Last night I was with Bryan at the Canada vs Switzerland hockey match for the German Cup. We had front row seats but unfortunately couldn’t see much through the dirty plexiglass. No matter. It was a fun game, we had some good laughs, and there were many other Canadian fans. Canada scratched by with a win after a shootout.

This morning I visited the optometrist and confirmed that I’m due for glasses. I last had my eyes checked three years ago and was told that I’d likely need glasses in my 30s. I thought this meant sometime in my 30s and not when I am 30! No matter, this news was of no surprise or bad news and I’m looking forward to having sharp vision again. Perhaps I’ll go for laser eye surgery in a few years, if possible.

After this news I called my health insurance to find out if they would subsedize the cost of the glasses. With the basic insurance, I was told, they would pay CHF 200.- on the condition that the prescription was completed by an eye doctor and not an optometrist. They also noted that the cost of such a doctor visit would cost more than CHF 200.-, so it would probably not be in my best interest to visit the eye doctor or to make the claim. I then asked if my "Zusatzversicherung" (an optional complimentary insurance) would cover the costs and was told that this insurance wasn’t valid since I had cancelled it. This is true, but their policy only allowed the cancellation to take effect in 2005 (2 months from now). They finally conceeded that I would receive the CHF 200.- subsidy. If I actually get the money remains open.

[Update: I received the money. :)]

In university I learned about a statistical tool called the “correlation coefficient", which is a measure of relationship between two sets of data. Without getting into the messy statistics, take a look at this link that shows and discusses the correlation between voter IQ and the candidate they voted for. You can also click on the thumbnail to see the summary. It’s a good thing that Bush wants to improve education.

Another funny article reports that web site traffic for the Department of Citizen and Immigration Canada shot up by a factor of six after the announcement of Bush’s win.

[Update: Apparently this IQ vs voter thing is a hoax.]

I didn’t think this could happen. After converting Iraq into a petridish for terrorists, lossing explosives, finding no WMDs, lying about Saddam’s connection to 9/11 (which many Republicans believe), alienating the world, dividing the country, and finally human rights violations, how could he possilby be elected? I just don’t understand it!!?