What the fuck?

It seems that everyone I went to high school with now listens to country music.

I was ostracised because I listened to country music in high school (there were other reasons, too, but that's beside the point).

It's amazing what you can find out via friendster.

Gawd

We always knew that Americans had no fashion sense, but for chrissake! Doesn't this man have handlers?

(click the link)

Prospectus

*begin dorkiness* I just printed a paper prospectus that I had to write up for today. And, damn, it just looks so professional. As if I were a professor handing out a syllabus or something. *end dorkiness*

Please, continue with your lives. I just felt the need to share that moment of dorkiness.

Start shopping.

You have until 2 June 2005 to buy my graduation gift. It's a Thursday.

Hum-drum

That's about all that's going on right now. Nothing too exciting. School is the usual. Work is the usual and getting worse always.

But the boy comes back tomorrow--finally--after five weeks away. We all know what that means: I get to cook for him again...among other things. (Comments from the peanut gallery are welcome on that one.)

Bush approval at 44%

Can a president make radical, expensive, and unpopular reforms in domestic and foreign policy while sporting the lowest approval numbers of any incumbent president since the advent of polling?

Apparently this 44% is up one point from yesterday.

American Democracy at its finest

Since Bush is all about exporting freedom and liberty now, I wonder if this is the kind he wants to export:



More links to pics here: http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2005/01/i-guess-it-depends-on-which-side-of.html

One down, 1460 to go.

On the first day of Bush's second term, an attack was launched against SpongeBob's presence in a video remake of the Sister Sledge classic 'We Are Family'. The video, which also features characters from Sesame Street and the Muppet Show and Bob the Builder, was put together to promote ideals of unity and co-operation. Focus on the Family, however, is claiming that SpongBob is gay (apparently he regularly holds hands with his friend Patrick) and thus his presence makes the video a 'vehicle for pro-gay propaganda.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4190699.stm

Also in the news yesterday, the president of the Florida Senate has characterised the Florida Marlins baseball team as 'terrorists'. Apparently the Marlins have been threatening to move to Las Vegas unless they get money for a new stadium to be built in Florida. 'I thought that we already appropriated money to help them move to Vegas,' Tom Lee, President of the Florida Senate said. 'I was very disappointed that they publicly announced the negotiations and discussions with Las Vegas, and I don't negotiate with terrorists.'

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1970948

The US very quietly--amidst the pomp and circumstance, it's easy to miss a little thing like this--said that it would begin immediately pulling its troops from tsunami relief, handing over their responsibilities to civilian organisations. No word, though, on whether any US civilian organisations will be sent to help the area.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=97036

John Kerry was booed when he stepped on to the dais to attend the inauguration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24863-2005Jan20.html?nav=rss_politics

Colin figured he should take a little souvenir with him:



And, finally, Jenna (I think that's Jenna), shows off the dental work to the world:



(photos from La Repubblica)

Coronation Day

Outgoing Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, in an interview with The Australian discussed his regrets about Bush's first term. He had three, the first two that Iraq and the general Middle East situation is not better. His third, and largest, was connected with 9-11.

The biggest regret is that we didn't stop 9/11. And then in the wake of 9/11, instead of redoubling what is our traditional export of hope and optimism we exported our fear and our anger. And presented a very intense and angry face to the world. I regret that a lot.

My question is if this will get any play in the US media. My guess is, um...no. Ah well.

(Although my favourite out-going statement from Bush's first term cabinet was the Secretary of Health and Human Services--whose name escapes me at the moment, Tommy Thompson?--said that he was surprised that the terrorists hadn't tried to attack our food and water supplies, since it would be so easy to do.)

The Coronation is coming up soon. Bush will be sworn in before noon, when his first term is set to expire. I hope that the protests go smoothly. I imagine, given the crowd control measures that I've been reading about, there won't be many people throwing things at the limos this year. Alas. I hope that the turn your back on Bush protests go well. Simple, yet effective.

Wouldn't it be great if Bush pulled a William Henry Harrison? By insisting to deliver a horridly long speech in the cold and bad weather and then dying of pneumonia a month later? Of course, then Uncle Dick would be President, and Condoleeza would be VP. At least we'd get a woman VP. And a black woman at that. It's something, right?

Anyway. I digress.

As I said last night, he may be having a big party, but he's still not my president.

The Guardian: 'World fears new Bush era'

The headline says it all. Click through and read the article.

What kind of professor...

...would discourage a student from taking on more challenging work, to better help him to gain knowledge?

The book assigned for my post-colonial Latin American history class sucks. A lot. It reads like almost like a high school text book. It just has far fewer pictures. It could probably easily be turned into a high school text book with a bunch of pictures, maps, graphs and end-of-chapter questions. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly impressed with it. So I went to see my Latin American history prof from last semester to see if he could recommend a better one. He loaned me one that is much better. I figured, though, just for the sake of maybe trying to get to know this semester's prof--who strikes me as less than great, especially compared to last semester's prof--that I would ask him how important he felt it was to read the book that he had assigned as opposed to a different one. I told him that I found the one that he assigned rather simplistic and a bit too concise. He didn't really like the idea of my not reading it though. He suggested that I could supplement it if I wanted to, but that I shouldn't really not read it at all.

Now, if I were a professor I wouldn't have assigned such a horrid book to begin with, at least not for a 300-level class. I would expect rather more from my students. Secondly, if a student came to me to ask if he could read a larger, more challenging and more advanced book I would probably make an effort to accommodate him. Sure, he might miss out on some of the themes that I was planning to mirror in lectures from the assigned book, but I'd probably encourage him to strike out on his own, so long as it was clear that he was a serious student. I got none of that from this prof.

I still plan to read the better book. But I'm just frustrated.

Um. I don't...I don't get it...

This is what the department of Homeland Security gets paid to do? Apparently making sure that some nice-sounding woman who owns a toy store in Oregon doesn't sell a 'Magic Cube' that potentially infringes on the expired patent of 'Rubik's Cube' is much more important than, oh, I don't know, ensuring the security of the 'homeland'.

Click the link.

Head --> Desk. Repeat as necessary.

So, not only is Bush's claim that social security in imminent danger of going bankrupt complete bunk (this we knew already), but the union that represents the large majority of social security administration employees is opposed to his plan of bringing in private accounts. BUT, the social security administration is being forced to use its own money to issue statements in favour of Bush's plan. Despite the fact that they don't believe it will work.

WHY DO WE LIVE IN BIZARRO WORLD!?

CNN on 'Eraq'

I'm glad that CNN feels it okay to run light-hearted commercials about what's going on in Iraq. Click the link and choose the commercial in the middle called 'Eraq' with Christiane Amanpour, in which she tires to explain to someone that she's telling the news to that it's pronounced 'E-raq' not 'I-raq', just like 'E-ran' not 'I-ran'.

Admittedly, it's a cute commercial, and most Americans DO mispronounce it, including the Shrub himself.

But that's not really the point, is it?

Mississippi libraries ban 'Daily Show' book

GULFPORT, Mississippi (AP) -- Library officials in two southern Mississippi counties have banned Jon Stewart's best-selling 'America (The Book)' over the satirical textbook's nude depictions of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.

'I've been a librarian for 40 years and this is the only book I've objected to so strongly that I wouldn't allow it to circulate,' said Robert Willits, director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System of eight libraries in Jackson and George counties.

'We're not an adult bookstore. Our entire collection is open to the entire public,' Willits said. 'If they had published the book without that one picture, that one page, we'd have the book.'

Wal-Mart has declined to stock the book because of the page, which features the faces of the nine Supreme Court justices superimposed over naked bodies.

The facing page has cutouts of the justices' robes, complete with a caption asking readers to 'restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe.'

The book by Stewart and the writers of 'The Daily Show,' the Comedy Central fake-news program he hosts, was released in September. It has spent 15 weeks on The New York Times best seller list for hardcover nonfiction, and was named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the industry trade magazine.

Former English teacher Tara Skelton of Ocean Springs said the libraries shouldn't decide what is in poor taste.

'It just really seemed kind of silly to me,' she said. 'I don't think the Supreme Court justices have filed any defamation of character or libel suits. It's humor.'

God bless America. I mean, if there are people who ban Harry Potter, I shouldn't be surprised by this.

Blah

There are six of us at work today. Six. Slight over-kill. I plan to sit in the office all day and do little. This is the first Saturday in over two years that I've worked. And I'm not happy about it.

A morning thought.

Why do sardines have such a bad rep?

Another game.

cnn
Originally uploaded by unspeakable_grooviness.

...but maybe I'm just being cynical. The first image, below, was taken from the same CNN front page just now.

Game time.

Colin Powell touring Aceh Province in Indonesia.

Can we play 'What's wrong with this picture?' in the comments, please?

One of the reasons I hate my job.

Apparently, at work, we are all three years old.

An email sent out today:

Hello,

The schedule for the second week of the rush is out.

Please check your schedule and bring to my attention asap any necessary changes.

Please clock in and out on time, meaning the exact time scheduled not an hour before or an hour later ( because you could not come on time or because you had other things to do) than the time scheduled.

I keep repeating the same thing over and over and every time I try to word it differently maybe the message will be clear to you guys.

If you are not on the schedule on a particular day, you cannot work that day.

Please check that you clocked in and out. It is your responsibility every time you work you check your hours.

If you are accurate in the clocking in and out you will avoid a lot of headaches for yourself.

If you want more hours please check with me or check the schedule I see many swaps available.

I will mention it again, if you cannot fin someone to swap with you are responsible for your shift.

In the near future I will bb sending out a memo with new rules re the shifts and working at the bookstore.

Guardian: 'US plans permanent Guantanamo jails'

The United States is preparing to hold terrorism suspects indefinitely without trial, replacing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp with permanent prisons in the Cuban enclave and elsewhere, it was reported yesterday.

The new prisons are intended for captives the Pentagon and the CIA suspect of terrorist links but do not wish to set free or put on trial for lack of hard evidence.

The plans have emerged at a time when the US is under increasing scrutiny for the interrogation methods used on the roughly 550 'enemy combatants' at the Guantanamo Bay base, who do not have the same rights as traditional prisoners of war.

A leaked Red Cross report described the techniques used as 'tantamount to torture'.

Over the weekend the New York Times quoted a former interrogator as saying one in six detainees were subject to harsh techniques including sleep deprivation, exposure to constant loud music or adver tising jingles, and being shackled for long periods to a low chair.

No comment...but if anyone knows any isolated islands for sale cheap I might be interested.

Thoughts on the new year

2005.

It's a nice round number. We always seem to have an affinity for the round numbers. Five years (four if you want to be technical) into the new millennium, I'm happy that humanity hasn't managed to destroy itself yet. Not that we haven't tried. I watched Les Invasions Barbares yesterday. There's a conversation between Rémy, who is dying, and a nun who works in the hospital. He blows apart the notion that the 20th century was perhaps the bloodiest century on record, even if 135 million were killed in wars, gulags, camps, etc:

In the 16th century, the Spanish and the Portuguese managed, without gas chambers or bombs, to slaughter 150 million Indians in Latin America. With axes! That's a lot of work, Sister. Even if they had Church support, it was an achievement. So much so that the Dutch, English, French and later Americans followed their lead and butchered another 50 million in North America. 200 million dead in all! The greatest massacre in history took place right here, all around us. And not the tiniest holocaust museum. The history of mankind is a history of horrors!

And yet it continues.

There's a comic that I read called 'The Joy of Tech' which is usually technology-based. Sometimes, the cartoonist, though, will use space aliens to poke fun at things. Ah, the ability of outside observers to pin-point the problem exactly and to be able to say just what needs to be said. This week, the first space alien says, 'So, explain this to me again?' And the second, 'They spend most of their time fighting and creating disasters, yet when there's a natural disaster, they help each other.' The caption to the comic reads, 'So are we halfway evolved or halfway extinct?'

Those of you who read on a regular basis know that I was a bit bipolar in 2004--between despair and hope for humanity. I think I'm just about in the middle at the moment. The earthquake/tsunami has both given me hope that the world might come together around the common need of fellow humans, while at the same time I've been utterly disgusted by the US's response--the nation that paints itself as leading the world as a shining beacon of hope and freedom had to be cajoled into giving more than a miserly contribution to helping to save the lives of survivors. Bush never called off his vacation in Texas. He spent most of the week clearing brush and riding his bike and spending time with his family. How nice. Meanwhile, the German Chancellor cut his holiday short and returned to Berlin and President Clinton gave an interview to the BBC in which he gave the first real American response to the disaster.

Personally, 2005 will be a big year for me. I'll know in a few months if I'll be heading to grad school in September. If not, who know where I'll be a year from now? I certainly don't. But, I've decided to take it as it comes. The hopes, dreams and aspirations are all there. I know that wherever I end up, I'll make the best of it. We shall see when we see. Que sera sera.

Every year I resolve to floss more. I've resolved that again this year. Maybe I'll actually do it this year. In fact, I've made it a point to put floss on my desk, right next to my computer, in the hopes that this will remind me to do it. My other resolution is one that I know I will keep: become a better cook. Today is the first time since I started making bread a few months ago that I did it all more or less by eye--and accurately. I used just enough flour and didn't have to add any more for the amount of water I had. The sweet sense of simple accomplishment.

As I was listening to music while eating breakfast this morning (while making the bread, in fact), I was inspired to another resolution based on a Mary Chapin Carpenter song called 'The Long Way Home'. It's a song about seemingly successful people getting where they thought they wanted to go and then realising that there was something missing in their lives. The last verse, though, offers an alternative:

Accidents and inspiration lead you to your destination
Or you could be the one who takes the long way home
Roll down your window, turn off your phone
See your life as a gift from the great unknown
And your task is to receive it
Tell your kid a story, hold your lover tight
Make a joyful noise, swim naked at night
Read a poem a day, call in well sometimes and
Laugh when they believe it

Funny now how it all goes by so fast
One day I'm looking over my shoulder at the past
Now everybody's got to go, got to be, got to get somewhere
Baby don't forget about
You really shouldn't forget about
Baby don't forget what got you there

I was voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' by my high school class, along with the girl who was our valedictorian. I've always felt very strange about that. What kind of success are we talking about here? Fabulous wealth and celebrity? Okay. None of us would mind that. But what about more simple success? What about just being happy where we are in the world? The past years in Montréal have been the first time that I've been able to say that I was truly happy with where I was in the world.

My one personal wish for 2005 is that I'll be able to say the same a year from now, wherever I might be as 2006 begins.