The MMOB Daily Quote - September 14th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 14th

“You never ask why you've been fired because if you do, they're liable to tell you.” Jerry Coleman

“The real hope of the world lies in putting as painstaking thought into the business of mating as we do into other big businesses.” Margaret Sanger

“Dictators are rulers who always look good until the last ten minutes.” Jan Masaryk

“I often meet adults in their 30s, 40s, or 50s who, as soon as they recognize me, suddenly become six years old again.” Clayton Moore AKA The Lone Ranger

“Geography is about maps, but Biography is about chaps.” Eric Bentley

“I keep my eyes clear and I hit 'em where they ain't.” Willie Keeler (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 13th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 13th

“A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.” John J. Pershing

“I am a lover and have not found my thing to love.” Sherwood Anderson

“I need so much time for doing nothing that I have no time for work.” Pierre Reverdy

“You have to put on more faces to pretend who you are.” Nell Carter

“There are plenty of clever young writers. But there is too much genius, not enough talent.” J. B. Priestley

“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Roald Dahl (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 12th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 12th

“If someone gives you so-called good advice, do the opposite; you can be sure it will be the right thing nine out of ten times.” Anselm Feuerbach

“Love is like war; easy to begin but very hard to stop.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Those whose approval you seek most give you the least.” Maurice Chevalier

“An amateur is someone who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint. A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.” Ben Shahn (pictured)

“Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.” Jesse Owens

“Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it.” Charles Dudley Warner

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 11th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 11th

“More firm and sure the hand of courage strikes, when it obeys the watchful eye of caution.” James Thomson

“A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.” O. Henry

“The universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.” James Jeans

“I can never decide whether my dreams are the result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my dreams.” D. H. Lawrence

“Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.” Ed Sabol

“Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” Tom Landry

“There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success.” Paul "Bear" Bryant (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 10th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 10th

“Dare to be wrong and to dream.” Friedrich von Schiller

“In the matter of ideas the public prefer the cheap and nasty.” Charles Sanders Peirce

“I've learned of life this bitter truth: hope not between the crumbling walls of mankind's gratitude to find repose, but rather, build within thy own soul fortresses!” Georgia Douglas

“Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women.” Elsa Schiaparelli

“I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.” George Bataille

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” Arnold Palmer (pictured)

“It's like obituaries, when you die they finally give you good reviews.” Roger Maris

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” Charles Kuralt

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 9th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 9th

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.” Leo Tolstoy

“People would be surprised to know how much I learned about prayer from playing poker.” Mary Austin

“There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there.” Colonel Harland Sanders (pictured)

“To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.” Beverley Nichols

“Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value - the ultimate value of what one does.” James Hilton

“You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.” Joseph E. Levine

“Don't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” Arthur Freed

Cheers! - Jason

Running Log - 7 Miles in Novato

Today it was slow and steady on another go round on the shorter loop from my house. I returned on Atherton yet again so I could make it back up the final hill. I felt okay today, but I stopped briefly on the final hill to catch my breath. All-in-all it felt good to just get out for a nice run today.

Distance: 7 miles

Time: 70 minutes - early-afternoon

Weather: Sunny, hot

On the iPod: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Cheers! - Jason

The Reading Table - Tim Severin's Viking: Odinn's Child

Odinn's Child - the first book in Viking trilogy - By Tim Severin

I actually finished this book over a month ago but as it took me nearly three months to read it in small snatches of time between other things, it seems appropriate that it has taken so long to do my review.

Odinn's Child is written as a memoir of Thorgils Leifsson, son of famous explorer Leif the Lucky, laying out his childhood and teen years. The story is found in a monastary, the product of the supposed priest Thangbrand, who is yet another of Thorgils' personas, culminating a life of adventure.

Tim Severin interweaves first-century life in Iceland, Greenland, and even Vinland (pre-Columbus north America), in outlining Thorgils earliest years. By the age of ten, he has travelled more than most do in a lifetime, and he's just getting started. After losing his father and mother, Thorgils ultimately sets out on his own and heads east towards Ireland and Scotland. There he serves a dog handler, a slave, an apprentice in a monastery, and finally, as a student of the brithemain Eochaid.

While the writing is somewhat stolid and dry, you cannot help but be caught up in the constantly twisting and turning storyline. Severin is at his best describing the minutiae of daily life and what he lacks in conversational style, he more than compensates for with detail and thorough historical demonstration.

All in all, a decent read but a little uninspiring. Severin has nowhere near the storytelling prowess of Bernard Cornwell, nor is he as fluid or meticulous as Michael Curtis Ford or Stephen Pressfield, but he does paint a tidy story that can stand on its own. I look forward to getting to the rest of the trilogy, but I don't think it will be anytime soon given the wealth of other books I am excited about on my reading table now.

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 8th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 8th

“The biggest dog has been a pup.” Joaquin Miller

“Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.” Alfred Jarry

“You really have to get to know Dewey to dislike him.” Roberta A. Taft

“Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.” Siegfried Sassoon

“Composers shouldn't think too much it interferes with their plagiarism.” Howard Dietz

“Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” Swami Sivananda

“There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me but I had it surgically removed.” Peter Sellers

“The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, HE was a genius.” Sid Caesar (pictured)

Cheers! - Jason

The MMOB Daily Quote - September 7th

Today's interesting quotes from people born on September 7th

“The past cannot be cured.” Queen Elizabeth I of England

“Writing well is at one and the same time good thinking, good feeling, and good expression; it is having wit, soul, and taste, all together.” George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon

“Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.” Grandma Moses (pictured)

“To live happily with other people, ask of them only what they can give.” Tristan Bernard

“I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.” Dame Edith Sitwell

“Learning should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of the noble and the learned.” Taylor Caldwell

“The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.” Elia Kazan

Cheers! - Jason