This does not bode well for the future...

...for me or anyone else I know.

Mother Nature's Grad Gift

Um, thanks?

To do.

1. Shower.
2. Hand in last paper ever.
3. Go to the bank to deposit a cheque so that I have money.
4. Do laundry.
5. Nap.
6. Go to my roommate's show tonight.
7. Drink.
8. Repeat important steps as necessary.

Seriously, wtf?

So, I happened to check my transcript online just now because I couldn't remember a class I had taken a few years ago and I was talking about something with my roommate. I figured I'd look to see if, off chance, I had any marks for this semester yet.

And I had one. For the class that I just handed the paper in today at four.

I can only assume it's a mistake--either that or my prof is assuming that I was going to write some amazingly good paper and just gave me a mark without seeing the final product. Which somehow seems wrong.

Not that I'm complaining, because it's a good mark.

Completely, totally and utterly burnt out.

That's what I am right now. But I still have my honours thesis to finish today and a take-home to write for tomorrow. My honours thesis is, well, there are 32 pages of words. But it's complete and utter crapola. No, really it is. I barely have a continuous argument right now. But I have to hand it in by five.

If I can get through this, the take-home should be fairly straight forward to get finished for tomorrow. Right now, though, I really just want to sleep. I, of course, did not sleep well last night. Lots and tossing and turning, worrying about what I'd say about Cotton Mather in my thesis.

I'm still not entirely sure. But I have to come up with something. Ugh. I kind of don't care at this point. I won't fail, that's for sure, but I know I won't be happy with whatever I end up handing in this afternoon.

Maybe by some stroke of wonderful genius, I'll be on my way to hand in my take-home in 24 hours' time. And then I'll sleep for 24 hours. Ahh, sleep. That would be wonderful right about now.....

OKCupid! The Ancient Civiliazation for you Test

I know at least a few of you will get excited by this test...

Incas You scored 83% for Education, 43% for Religion, 45% for Military Might, and 25% for Decentralization!

Mysteriously, this vanished people were enlightened and educated to a magnificent level. Scientific, artistic, with a vast understanding of the stars and astrology, the Incas of Peru were the first great science society in the Americas. We speculate a society of great thinkers and curious scienctist. To value knowledge, art, and culture above all things would make for the best Incan society had to offer. You belong here because you think these things make for immortality, and you might just be right.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 76% on Education You scored higher than 43% on Religion You scored higher than 76% on Military Might You scored higher than 16% on Decentralizatio

Link: The Ancient Civiliazation for you Test written by Rowdyandy on Ok Cupid

I broke the fridge

So, we started chipping away at the ice caked on our ice box. The ice having rendered it essentially unusable. We were using screwdrivers and hammers. My roommate started it. And then I punctured the side of the ice box. And it started spraying freon. And that was bad. So we no longer have a big fridge. Because I broke it. It was dying anyway. But, that's kind of not the point.

Freon leaks are not good things. People can die from freon. But, I figure that people live in California and there's a lot of freon there. So I'll probably be okay. We've got all the windows open and such. And none of us have any symptoms of freon poisoning. The main symptoms being confusion and sleepiness. Of course, this entire apartment is a zone of confusion and sleepiness so it might be difficult to discern the difference...

NPR : Finding New Love, Late in Life

This is adorable and funny and you should take ten minutes to listen to it, because it will make you smile and possible laugh. And if it doesn't, then you're not human.

Four years ago, at the age of 76, Joannee Marks moved into the Hebrew Home for the Aged in New York.
There, she found a new life and something unexpected: a new love. Marks met Charlie Nucciarone in a class at the home. He calls her Cookie Jar. She says he's the best friend she's ever had. Independent producer David Miller interviewed Joannee last year and offers this story about rediscovering herself during the last years of her life.

Crazy Puritan boy names

Because 'Increase' and 'Cotton' aren't bad enough, I just came across a Puritan intellectual named 'Experience Mayhew'. Experience! Who would name their kid Experience?! Or Increase?! Or Cotton!?

The evilosity of M$ increases

This is the conclusion to a long post over at AmericaBlog. Basically, Washington State was set to pass a gay rights bill, and it was to be quite close but it should have made it through. Among other support, it had Microsoft's. Microsoft being such a big employer in Washington, obviously this meant something. One single radical right anti-gay activist complained to Microsoft, according to reports, and Microsoft backed off from supporting the bill. One.

Now, what's most distressing about this is the fact that Microsoft has previously been very supportive of gay rights. So supportive that they've won awards, supported a non-discrimination bill at the federal level, and bragged about how pro-gay they are on their own website.

I've never been a Microsoft fan to begin with--but that's not really the point here. John suggests that it's beginning to be safe to be gay, or even liberal, in America. In an earlier post he had suggested this and said that he'd felt the same way right after the election. He probably knows better than I would, actually being in the States and all.

But I'll be there soon enough. In a little over a month, I'll be returning to the U.S. of A. If I wanted to stay in Canada, I'm sure I could fairly easily. But, as I've said before, I feel like I have to go back because if all of the good people abandon the States, then there's really no hope for anyone. And as Harvey Milk once said, 'You cannot live on hope alone, but without hope, life is not worth living.'

I still have hope. It's easy to have hope from a distance. I've been on the sidelines for the past five years and have often wondered how I might be different if I'd stay in the States for university. Hard to say, of course. I'd like to think that the only real difference is that I'd be far more politically active. I've followed Canadian politics since I've been here, but they're not my politics, I don't have a say in them, so I've never been heavily interested in things that are going on.

During the first Bush administration, I only half paid attention to things south of the border. It seemed far enough away not really to matter. I paid enough attention to be a bit worried about the agenda he laid out and the path he seemed to be pursuing, but I always assumed that Americans would have more sense than to elect him again.

I closely followed the election and on election night I silently gave into what I had worried might happen all along. I spent the next few weeks listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen, for what that's worth.

In a little more than a month, I'll be heading back to a country that seems every closer to the eye of the storm. Politically, it seems more and more of the country is beginning to distrust the Republicans. But, culturally, I'm not entirely sure how many of them trust those evil liberals. There is no third way, of course. 2006 is going to be a big year in American political life. Hell, it's going to be a big year in American life in general. The Congressional elections are going to be hugely important to bringing some semblance of balance and sanity back into American political life. And I don't intend to be on the sidelines this time.

Gang, this is a big deal. There is no other way to cut it than Microsoft has decided to back off of its previously staunch defense of gay rights. NO other way to cut it.

Sure, they've been great on gay stuff in the past, and they're now signaling that those days are over. They're more concerned now with focusing on their business. Well what we're they doing before? Supporting gays just for the hell of it?

And the bigger impact, which remains to be seen, is whether Microsoft now chucks us overboard at the national level and if other companies start to follow suit, following the corporate leader, as it were.

Microsoft should be ashamed of itself. And we should consider this a warning. It is no longer safe in America to be gay - or liberal for that matter. We've taken our rights for granted. And now they're being taken away, and our friends are being taken away by an ever-growing climate of hostility fed by an extremist administration and their Sieg Heil friends in America's Taliban.

It's time we started fighting back, and fighting back hard. It's time we took the gloves off and stopped playing nice. You're either with us or you're against us, as our enemies like to say.

Microsoft has chosen its side.

Have you?

Guardian: 'The end of oil is closer than you think'

'Oil production could peak next year, reports John Vidal. Just kiss your lifestyle goodbye.'

Wee!

Join me as I return to grade 5 and giggle over...

THE SOLAR DEATH RAY!

Nifty little waste of time

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

35% Yankee

10% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Much too over-wrought at the moment

I realised today just how stressed I am right now.

My inside feels like a giant spring, coiled and ready to spring at any moment--but no realise in sight.

This is not good. At all.

I can't remember the last time that I was this stressed. And I'm not even sure why I'm this stressed.

Honestly. I have an exam tomorrow that is going to be a joke. A take-home due Thursday which I have 1/3 written and won't be a problem to finish tomorrow night/Thursday morning. Then it's fifteen pages to write for my honours thesis for Monday and another take-home for Tuesday which will also be a breeze to write. And then I'm done.

Yes, I'm worried about the future and post-grad life--but not I'm not this worried. And I'm certainly not one to lie to myself about my feelings.

So why all the tension?

After I finish next week, I plan to go out dancing Tuesday night--and then dancing again on Saturday. Because it has been far too long. That will be stress-relieving. Heavy drinking will probably be involved at some point too.

But I need some heavy-duty decompression. A meditation retreat or something. Serious, hardcore decompression.

Pope Benedict XVI

He kind of looks like a gremlin. And more conservative than John Paul II. And instrumental in crushing Liberation Theology in Latin America as well as a proponent in centralising power at the Vatican rather than spreading it amongst the bishops around the world. Vatican II was a mistake, apparently. All that sixties idealism. Alas.

So much for moving into the 21st century for the Church.

Update: apparently he was a member of the Hitler Youth.

Update 2: he's 78 this year so it probably--hopefully--won't be a long pontificate.

Update 3, from the BBC:

Wolfgang Cooper, a commentator on religious affairs in Germany, fears that the cardinal could become a divisive figure in the papacy.

'I think if Cardinal Ratzinger was pope, a large distance could grow between the leadership of the Church and the faith,' he predicted before the result was known.

The cardinal is a 'scientist' who 'prefers intellectual discussions', says Mr Cooper, whereas many Catholics want priests and bishops 'who will touch the hearts'.

BBC: Motorist's nose broken by sausage

The story ends with the line: 'Police said they were investigating.'

Excuse me while I go laugh myself to sleep.

Do I HAVE to go back?

With an assault weapon in each hand, rocker and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent urged National Rifle Association members to be 'hardcore, radical extremists demanding the right to self defense.'

'Let's next year sit here and say, "Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now," he said. 'No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life.'

[...]

He drew the most cheers when he told gun owners they should never give up their right to bear arms and should use their guns to protect themselves if needed.

'Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!' he screamed to applause. 'To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em.'

It's okay. I don't think I'd want to go to his barbecues anyway.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the police in London STILL don't carry guns. London, the largest city in Europe. No guns. I think they might have tazers or something. But not guns. No bullets. If they really wanted to, I'm sure they could kill someone with a tazer, but that takes a lot more will than with a gun. 'Ooops. I was aiming for his leg, not his heart. Oh well. Justice has been served.'

The Second Amendment reads thus: 'A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.'

Now, I'm now constitutional law scholar, but to me that says that the right 'to keep and bear arms' is intrinsically tied to the maintenance of a 'well regulated militia'. In 1791, most of the population needed a gun. They used it to hunt in order to survive. They used it to protect their homesteads from those pesky Native Americans who seemed to think that this was their land too. And they constituted the militia that was to be a first-response in defending the new nation.

In 2005, however, the vast majority of the population does not need a gun. They don't hunt for survival. They don't need to defend their homesteads. And they're not involved in a militia.

These are the same people (and I realise that I'm making a somewhat broad generalisation) who are against abortion yet for the death penalty. I guess it's just one more contradiction in their thinking about 'the culture of life'. There should be a little star next to 'culture of life'* every time it's printed. Then, down at the bottom of the page: '*Certain restrictions apply. Not valid where prohibited by law. Check your local listings for details. Does not apply to bad people, like homosexuals, Arabs, certain Europeans…'

You get the idea.

But I still don't get why these people seem to think that they need guns.

(the link for the news story came from AmericaBlog)

Oh, the memories...

...and that damn hill.

Since we're doing the sharing thing...

...I think I've developed an allergy to my after shave. Either that, or my skin is trying tot ell me to stop shaving all together.

Holy shit!

The Japanese have done it again!

How to fold a shirt

(Linked from CosmoBlog)

Where's that memory hole...?

"The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

It can't be a good sign that I giggled when I first read this.

Shudder

I inadvertently thought about Prince Charles and Camilla having sex this morning.

EWWWWWWWWW! MAKE IT STOP!

Remebering Juan Pablo II

Seriously the best picture of John Paul...ever.

(from La Repubblica's audio slide show of 'papabili' - the Italian word for possible popes, a combination of the words for 'pope' and 'probable'.)

Casco Bay Books - Portland, Maine 04101

I want to work here. This summer. I have decided. But the question is do they want me to work for them?

A moon base?

I'd really hoped that this had just quietly died. Before you go on to read the article, here is the Boondocks' take on the idea, from a year ago when Bush first suggested it:

Um, yay?

My horoscope from Free Will Astrology this week:

A reviewer in the San Francisco Chronicle said this about Judy Budnitz's book Nice Big American Baby: 'Reading Budnitz's stories is like experiencing the exhilaration of flight with the queasiness of vertigo. She can take you to new heights, but don't expect a comfortable ride.' While this may be a good assessment of the book, it's also an apt description of your immediate future, Cancerian. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will be veering back and forth between feelings akin to a rapturous flying dream and a dizzying free fall. Don't worry: There'll be a mostly happy ending, even if you feel a bit airsick as you arrive in the winner's circle.

Wow

My last class was today.

I feel very...empty in a way.

But I still have plenty of work to get done in the next two weeks. It's not time to party yet.

On the menu:

Post-Colonial Latin American History, post-midterm. Which really means post-Mexican Revolution Latin American History.

History and Sexuality take-home final: writing about general theory stuff on sexuality as well as either courtly love or Margery Kempe.

The rest of my honours paper on Cotton Mather and science.

Italian Renaissance gender and sexuality take-home final: writing about the construction of masculinity in the Italian Renaissance and the general regulation of sexuality during the same period.

That's done the 26th. Then I'm done. That night, I plan to go out to Cabaret Mado and drink a lot--but not too much because I'm then working for the following four days straight, after which I will never have to have another drop of my soul sucked by that bookstore.

And then I will sleep.

And it will be blissful.

The Decembrists - 16 Military Wives

Something tells me we won't be seeing this video on MTV anytime soon, but, wow, what a video and what a song. American foreign policy as it truly is: a high school bully.

(via Atrios)

Two weeks

Two weeks from now, I'll be done with my BA. What a fucking scary thought.

But then I will sleep.

And sleep is good.

Fuck You And Your H2

With 185 pages of people giving the finger to Hummers!

Saturday's Random Fact

No British MP can die in the Houses of Parliament. There is a rule that the death certificate of any MP who has died at Westminster Palace must have the place of death as St Thomas' Hospital (across the River Thames).

Those crazy Brits.

Yttrium..wtf?

It's an actual element, oddly enough...See Wikipedia

Y...Yttrium You scored 47 Mass, 26 Electronegativity, 71 Metal, and 0 Radioactivity!

Yttrium? Yttrium??? You're messing with me, right? That's not a real element. Really? If you say so. Okay... how about: You are really a solitary creature, and you're somewhat set in your ways. You work, consciously or subconsciously, towards the betterment of society, but I guess you do this by befriending it's strangest elements. You're kind of a spaceman/woman, but in the end you're allright. You should try to be with the benign weirdos of the world because, by goodness, no one else will. Oh, it says here that you are abundant on the moon. Interpret as you will.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 90% on Mass You scored higher than 36% on Electroneg You scored higher than 86% on Metal You scored higher than 0% on Radioactivity

Link: The Which Chemical Element Am I Test written by effataigus on Ok Cupid

Your Inner European is French!

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Schweet

http://www.royalweddingcam.com

Absolutely, horrifically disgusting

From Think Progress.

I'm glad that the American Chemistry Council can pay the Environmental Protection Agency to perform experiments for them on low-income, minority kids. I guess they're essentially like lab rats anyway. The punch line (as if there needs to be something more) is that the programme was called the Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study or CHEERS.

It’s good to know that some senators are doing their research on President Bush’s nominees. Senator Boxer was the star of yesterday’s confirmation hearing for Stephen Johnson, Bush’s nominee to lead the EPA. She dug up information on a little-known program being sponsored by the EPA and the American Chemistry Council in Duval County, Florida.

The program targets low-income African-American families and asks parents to videotape their children crawling around a pesticide-infested environment (their homes). Scientists watch the tapes and regularly test the babies for pesticide exposure. In return, the families can keep the video camera and are paid $970 over two years.

Today's random fact from Wikipedia

A passage from Augustine's de Doctrina Christiana has been seen as a fore-runner of the free software movement, as it expressed the philosophy that knowledge, unlike physical possessions, must be freely shared: 'For if a thing is not diminished by being shared with others, it is not rightly owned if it is only owned and not shared.'

A softer world.

The guy who writes this and the associated comic is a friend of a friend (of a friend? I forget how many friends). I've never met him, but he is a genius. Incidentally, I'm posting this because it kind of fits how I'm feeling right now. Still rather 'blah'.

The concept of this is that he writes cover letters to companies, pretending to be applying for jobs. I don't know if he actually sends these things off or if he just writes them and posts them here. In any event, I'll let this one speak for itself (and for me, for that matter):

To: Nintendo
Re: Game Design

Dear Nintendo,

I am writing to apply for the position of game designer with your company. We have a chance here to help children experience games that are more true to life than any game before them. Computer graphics have improved and improved and improved, and some day soon we're going to have to ask ourselves where we can go next in our search for realism.

We need virtual pet games where you clean and feed and love your furry little friend and that car still comes out of nowhere so smoothly, a god of aerodynamics and passenger safety. Where you hear your father's quiet joke that night, when he thinks you are asleep.

We need a new Mario game, where you rescue the princess in the first ten minutes, and for the rest of the game you try and push down that sick feeling in your stomach that she's "damaged goods", a concept detailed again and again in the profoundly sex negative instruction booklet, and when Luigi makes a crack about her and Bowser, you break his nose and immediately regret it. When Peach asks you, in the quiet of her mushroom castle bedroom "do you still love me?" you pretend to be asleep. You press the A button rhythmically, to control your breath, keep it even.

We need an airport simulator, where the planes carry your whole family from A to B, job to job, and dad still drinks in the shower and your older sister still has casual sex that she confides might bring back a feeling she's certain she didn't imagine. Where the plane touches down and you all lean forward in your seats because of inertia, and again and again someone says "I hate to fly".

Yours,

Joey Comeau

For your enjoyment

Random silliness. Click the link.

Odd

FoxTrot and Get Fuzzy used the same exact joke today. Lame.