From the Washington Post:
McCain's Latest Iran Joke
By Michael D. Shear
Sen. John McCain hasn't had good luck joking about Iran. But he tried it again Tuesday.
Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, "Maybe that's a way of killing them."
He quickly caught himself, saying "I meant that as a joke" as his wife, Cindy, poked him in the back.
Last time, it was also Iran. His singing about bombing Iran to the theme of the Beach Boy's "Barbara Ann" drew derision from many quarters but a "lighten up" response from McCain.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
More Proof of Knowing Nothin
My friend Greg has introduced me to aerogel. It's a gel filled with gas instead of liquid; it's solid but super-low density. It's what is holding up that giant stone there.
Holy Crap.
I'm gonna go work on my dissertation now, knowing that it doesn't really matter that it isn't very useful or important or significant because nothing else is any of those things either. Do other people have these reactions to the strange parts of our world? If the aerogel didn't get ya, try this:
It's a narwhal, or a unicorn dolphin. Yeah. Mind successfully blown. You're welcome.
Monday, July 7, 2008
I'm a hustler baby...
So I've been on fellowship for a year -- funded by Miami University and Mr. Matt to get my dissertation done.
But it's all going to be over soon, because I'm a retard. Or a hustler. You pick.
Starting July 17, I will be teaching ENG 150 at Thomas More College in KY. It's an 8-week course that meets only once a week, and I think it's a pretty small group (7 or 8 students!). These are business students who have to have a writing component in their associate's degree program. They're either going to love my class or hate it; they'll either find it refreshing and challenging or redundant and superfluous to their own career goals. We'll see which one! The theme of the class is Differing Voices in America and the readings are awesome: they include Melville's "Benito Cereno," E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.
Then, beginning the third week of August, the retardation/ hustlin' really begins. I'll be teaching 2 Fiction Studies classes at Xavier University on Mon, Weds, Fri; Advanced Composition and American Lit after 1945 at Miami University on Tues/ Thurs. That will be about 100 students total.
I'll be going "on the market" in Oct/Nov, a full-time job of writing letters (not easy) and sending dossiers to universities in the hopes they will want to interview me and then bring me to campus for a job talk and then hire me.
Oh, and I'll also be finishing up the dissertation hopefully.
The upside of all this: I can finally afford to pay the interest that has been accruing on my unsubsidized loans! I know, right? Awesome!
So I'm a retarded hustler. Don't be offended if I don't talk to you after August. I'm just either a) teaching b) grading c) writing letters d) working on the diss or e) having a nervous breakdown.
But it's all going to be over soon, because I'm a retard. Or a hustler. You pick.
Starting July 17, I will be teaching ENG 150 at Thomas More College in KY. It's an 8-week course that meets only once a week, and I think it's a pretty small group (7 or 8 students!). These are business students who have to have a writing component in their associate's degree program. They're either going to love my class or hate it; they'll either find it refreshing and challenging or redundant and superfluous to their own career goals. We'll see which one! The theme of the class is Differing Voices in America and the readings are awesome: they include Melville's "Benito Cereno," E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.
Then, beginning the third week of August, the retardation/ hustlin' really begins. I'll be teaching 2 Fiction Studies classes at Xavier University on Mon, Weds, Fri; Advanced Composition and American Lit after 1945 at Miami University on Tues/ Thurs. That will be about 100 students total.
I'll be going "on the market" in Oct/Nov, a full-time job of writing letters (not easy) and sending dossiers to universities in the hopes they will want to interview me and then bring me to campus for a job talk and then hire me.
Oh, and I'll also be finishing up the dissertation hopefully.
The upside of all this: I can finally afford to pay the interest that has been accruing on my unsubsidized loans! I know, right? Awesome!
So I'm a retarded hustler. Don't be offended if I don't talk to you after August. I'm just either a) teaching b) grading c) writing letters d) working on the diss or e) having a nervous breakdown.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Amen!
From BBC:
"They preach prosperity - that God can make you healthy and wealthy.
Every year some of America's best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as Jonathan Beale reports, some of the TV evangelists' own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and prompted a Senate investigation into their activities."
Go here to see the BBC news video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7484662.stm
I have always had trouble with this teaching from certain Christian and other religious groups: God rewards the good, punishes the bad.
And so the poor, or the not-so-well off -- why are they not blessed? They give more of their money away* than do the rich and perhaps they put more faith in prayer when not a lot else is available to believe in. (I'm speaking from experience of some of my own poor and zealously religious family growing up.) We all know the poor buy more lottery tickets and in many ways keep the economy going by spending all their money, not saving or investing overseas like the rich do. Probably the most ugly misconception in America is that the poor are lazy. (Just ask me and I'll tell you how many jobs my mom and her siblings each had just to keep their kids in a crappy apartment and school clothes.)
I'm sure the senate investigation will find corruption among these TV evangelists. It's nothing new; we've heard it before, we'll hear it again. It just makes me so damn mad, that's all. These people think that the injustices they themselves maintain are due to some force of God. I wish they could know how wrong they were. But their personal delusions about God will serve them well and allow them to think they're doing the right thing.
*"The 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey shows that households with incomes below $20,000 gave a higher percentage of their earnings to charity than did any other income group: 4.6 percent, on average. As income increased, the percentage given away declined: Households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 donated 2.5 percent or less." See http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/Poor-Give-More-to-Charity
"They preach prosperity - that God can make you healthy and wealthy.
Every year some of America's best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as Jonathan Beale reports, some of the TV evangelists' own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and prompted a Senate investigation into their activities."
Go here to see the BBC news video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7484662.stm
I have always had trouble with this teaching from certain Christian and other religious groups: God rewards the good, punishes the bad.
And so the poor, or the not-so-well off -- why are they not blessed? They give more of their money away* than do the rich and perhaps they put more faith in prayer when not a lot else is available to believe in. (I'm speaking from experience of some of my own poor and zealously religious family growing up.) We all know the poor buy more lottery tickets and in many ways keep the economy going by spending all their money, not saving or investing overseas like the rich do. Probably the most ugly misconception in America is that the poor are lazy. (Just ask me and I'll tell you how many jobs my mom and her siblings each had just to keep their kids in a crappy apartment and school clothes.)
I'm sure the senate investigation will find corruption among these TV evangelists. It's nothing new; we've heard it before, we'll hear it again. It just makes me so damn mad, that's all. These people think that the injustices they themselves maintain are due to some force of God. I wish they could know how wrong they were. But their personal delusions about God will serve them well and allow them to think they're doing the right thing.
*"The 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey shows that households with incomes below $20,000 gave a higher percentage of their earnings to charity than did any other income group: 4.6 percent, on average. As income increased, the percentage given away declined: Households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 donated 2.5 percent or less." See http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/Poor-Give-More-to-Charity
Monday, June 30, 2008
Surprise!
Yesterday morning, Matt and I went about our usual everyday stuff. I got out of bed late, stumbled to the kitchen, put on the kettle and sat down at my laptop to check out how many more advertisers have my email address. I heard Matt doing his usual morning rumblings, but was then quickly lost in the progressive blogosphere, wasting time until the tea kicked in.
Usual morning.
Then Matt walks out, showered, fully dressed, including shoes and a shit-eating grin. Now, if you know Matt -- and I know Matt -- you know that this is unusual. This is not usual morning activity for Matt.
So I asked politely, "What the hell are you up to?" He couldn't stop smiling and just said, "Let me show you something." He then takes me to the bedroom, where he has packed an overnight bag. He says, grab enough stuff for an overnight trip and don't forget your swimsuit. I had to admit, he really had me in a delightful tizzy. But, I had to play the part, so I said, "WHAT??!!" and remonstrated against his pleas to get moving. So I finally gave in and giggled the whole way out the door and into the car where I see Matt has prepared us for a road trip with recently burned CDs.
We head down 75 South, picking up a hitchhiker on the way. (OK, Darren actually.) They both enjoy holding out on me the ENTIRE road trip. We get a ways past Lexington and I start getting a little less tickled and just slightly more anxious. Where the hell are we going?
But they won't tell. They DO however agree to stop at a Cracker Barrel for some old-fashioned road-trip country cookin. I have the Country Morning Breakfast and the guys have the Country Dinner with the spicy grilled catfish. Good times all around with the whole peg game -- you know, the one where you have to jump the pegs till one's left. Turns out we're all "Just plain dumb!" Then back on the road. I start getting less anxious-excited, more what-the-bleeping-jesus-freaked out.
But Matt's road-trip CDs are good, so we enjoy the ride for a while.
Then we get to the Tennessee hills. OK, that's enough for me. So after a few rounds of the Oprah or strawberries game (if you don't know it, ask; it's pretty fun) I start to play the silent treatment. That'll show them! Turns out they don't care that I'm not talking. They find it cute. They think the whole "not telling Jamie what we're doing whilst transporting her over state lines" game is fun.
I'm starting to realize though: this must be good. No way they'll drive all the way down here for one night unless it's REAL good. (Not like those Yoplait commercials, "Not having to wait in line for the girls room" good, but like real life "holy fucking shit I love shooting this AK-47 machine gun here in the woods of Vietnam for only $10"* or "oh my god I'm about to jump off a bridge over the mighty zambezi river."** I mean, really good.)
Turns out, it was pretty damn good. We ended up at the civic auditorium in Knoxville to witness the ONE, the ONLY, Tom Waits.
That's right. You're jealous. I saw Tom Waits. It was incredible. Like, "I just saw Tom Waits in Knoxville" incredible. "Make it Rain" was one of my favorite sets of the night. The concert was amazing. More performance art than run o' the mill concert.
Now, you can find a lot of videos of his short 2008 tour on youtube. But I think they all suck. So I found this one from a while ago that is *kinda* close to the feel of the concert. It really was incredible.
Enjoy.
Matt rocks. What a great surprise for a lazy summer Sunday afternoon.
*Matt, cu chi tunnels, Vietnam, 2000
** Jamie, on a bridge above the Zambezi, Zambia, 2004
Usual morning.
Then Matt walks out, showered, fully dressed, including shoes and a shit-eating grin. Now, if you know Matt -- and I know Matt -- you know that this is unusual. This is not usual morning activity for Matt.
So I asked politely, "What the hell are you up to?" He couldn't stop smiling and just said, "Let me show you something." He then takes me to the bedroom, where he has packed an overnight bag. He says, grab enough stuff for an overnight trip and don't forget your swimsuit. I had to admit, he really had me in a delightful tizzy. But, I had to play the part, so I said, "WHAT??!!" and remonstrated against his pleas to get moving. So I finally gave in and giggled the whole way out the door and into the car where I see Matt has prepared us for a road trip with recently burned CDs.
We head down 75 South, picking up a hitchhiker on the way. (OK, Darren actually.) They both enjoy holding out on me the ENTIRE road trip. We get a ways past Lexington and I start getting a little less tickled and just slightly more anxious. Where the hell are we going?
But they won't tell. They DO however agree to stop at a Cracker Barrel for some old-fashioned road-trip country cookin. I have the Country Morning Breakfast and the guys have the Country Dinner with the spicy grilled catfish. Good times all around with the whole peg game -- you know, the one where you have to jump the pegs till one's left. Turns out we're all "Just plain dumb!" Then back on the road. I start getting less anxious-excited, more what-the-bleeping-jesus-freaked out.
But Matt's road-trip CDs are good, so we enjoy the ride for a while.
Then we get to the Tennessee hills. OK, that's enough for me. So after a few rounds of the Oprah or strawberries game (if you don't know it, ask; it's pretty fun) I start to play the silent treatment. That'll show them! Turns out they don't care that I'm not talking. They find it cute. They think the whole "not telling Jamie what we're doing whilst transporting her over state lines" game is fun.
I'm starting to realize though: this must be good. No way they'll drive all the way down here for one night unless it's REAL good. (Not like those Yoplait commercials, "Not having to wait in line for the girls room" good, but like real life "holy fucking shit I love shooting this AK-47 machine gun here in the woods of Vietnam for only $10"* or "oh my god I'm about to jump off a bridge over the mighty zambezi river."** I mean, really good.)
Turns out, it was pretty damn good. We ended up at the civic auditorium in Knoxville to witness the ONE, the ONLY, Tom Waits.
That's right. You're jealous. I saw Tom Waits. It was incredible. Like, "I just saw Tom Waits in Knoxville" incredible. "Make it Rain" was one of my favorite sets of the night. The concert was amazing. More performance art than run o' the mill concert.
Now, you can find a lot of videos of his short 2008 tour on youtube. But I think they all suck. So I found this one from a while ago that is *kinda* close to the feel of the concert. It really was incredible.
Enjoy.
Matt rocks. What a great surprise for a lazy summer Sunday afternoon.
*Matt, cu chi tunnels, Vietnam, 2000
** Jamie, on a bridge above the Zambezi, Zambia, 2004
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Omega
The ohm is the electric resistance between two points of a conductor....
Omega (Ω) baryons are baryons containing neither up nor down quarks of isospin I = 0.
In modern usage Om means the Word, the “parnava,” the eternal. Various accounts are given of its origin; one that it is the term of assent used by the gods, and probably an old contracted form of the Sanskirt word "evam" meaning "thus."
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Dark Matter
We know nothing. You think you know somethin? You don't know nuthin. Nobody does. Get over it.
P.S. I'm a vegetarian again. That makes me happy cause I have to admit much of the reason for eating meat was fried foods and condiments.
P.S. I'm a vegetarian again. That makes me happy cause I have to admit much of the reason for eating meat was fried foods and condiments.
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