Hunger and Ridicule

Heaven's Here On Eart

2009-08-14T20:08:00.006-05:00

I like to ride my bike. Actually, it's not mine. I ride my mother's bike or I ride my sister's bike. I prefer my mother's.

I don't bicycle to LIVESTRONG. I ride to get out of the house in the morning. I ride to set an example for my sedentary parents. Way-hay! Excercise is fabulous! These bikes are yours remember? See how I use them more than you do? You can't call your family lazy to their faces, particularly when you are now once again living at home, having majored in anthropology and zoology and foolishly decided to put off grad school for a year.

I ride to get some sun on my shoulders and to make my legs tired so I can sleep at night. I ride at a leisurely pace. Hum-dum hum-dum go the pedals as I weave along the country roads.

"Hello chickens!" I yell to the my neighbors' two free-range roosters.

The goats answer for the chickens, bellowing their thick-tongued mehhhs at me. They stick their heads through the slats of the fence and look like large, stupid dogs.

"Hello goats!" I call to them. Goats have made me happy ever since I noticed they have rectangular pupils.

The goats and the chickens belong to the gay couple that moved into the old stone farmhouse down the road. On Saturday and Sunday, they sell fresh herbs and local crafts. My father refers to them as "the happy boys" a nickname he says uncomfortably, but that belies a sort of tolerance and even affection. I think my dad likes to see the roosters running around in the fencerows. No one else around here raises chickens.

If the wind is right, you can smell basil in their garden. But today, the wind blows from elsewhere and the only scent is clover.

The ditches are full of wildflowers. There are cornflowers, Queen Anne's lace, bright purple thistles punctuated with bumblebees.

I think about grad school. I think about all the things I need to get done. I think about Washington D.C. I think about the Smithsonian and drawers and drawers of bones and broken artifacts waiting to be sorted and cleaned and reassembled.

There are redwing blackbirds flying above me, five of them. I don't think I've ever seen them in such a large flock before. Usually it's just the one, he sits on the telephone wire at the end of our driveway and sings Oh wee kira weeee!

I think about being bored. I think about how this ride will be the only really happy part of my day. I think about getting home and feeling antsy and worried about not having a job. I think about too much leisure time.

At least I'm not getting raped in the Congo, I think. All I have is a dull ache between my legs from the bicycle seat bruising.

I decide to go further than I usually do, but the new route is full of trucks and sporty little cars, scooting me into the gravel. They've mown down the ditches here so there aren't any birds or flowers.

"Hello cows!" I yell to the angus in the pasture. They don't look up, and I can't blame them. Cows' heads are heavy. I think about Ang cleaning longhorn skulls as a personal favor for a museum contributor, how she left the eyeballs, glazed and milky, on the prep room counter for me to look at.

I cross the road and make a sharp turn onto the road where my parents live, finishing my loop. A different neighbor is siphoning out his muck pit, the air is heavy with cow manure, a smell I like.

The corn is high and tasseled on either side of the driveway now, a green waving hedge that my mom thinks of as her privacy hedge. It will be gone in several weeks.

I glide to a stop, enjoying the momentum while it lasts.

Updating the Blog

2008-12-24T15:26:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm off to Ft. Benning, Georgia in 15 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes, and 54 seconds. Remarkably soon, huh? I hope to update my blog more once I'm away so I can keep people updated on my adventures.

So... here's what I'm up to.

BOLC II: 11 JAN. 7 weeks long. Basic Office Skills, etc. Shooting stuff. Convoy ops. Land navigation.

BOLC III: March. 3 months long (or so). Leading a tank platoon - m1, stryker, and bradley.

After that, I'll either A) go to my unit at Ft Bliss, Texas; or B) go to Ranger school. It all depends on how well I do at BOLC III and if I can get a slot. Apparently, it's not too difficult to get a Ranger school slot; you just have to do the Ranger PT and do well in your BOLC III class. I'll go if I can.

And other than that? Trying to have fun, live, and meet some new people. Yet keep in touch with the people here.

I'll send my address to anyone who wants it - just drop my an email.

Update on Me: Endless Possibilities Edition

2008-11-05T15:56:00.006-06:00

Evidently, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I've been busy with work and with home-life - and with consuming massive amounts of media on a daily basis (As if I didn't do that before).

Recently, I've been thinking about my blog and where I want to take it. I do want to keep updating it with political analysis, but I want to focus more on local issues and niche politics. I think there I can offer a unique perspective. Beyond that, I want to talk about myself - where I am, what I'm doing, and the lifestyle that I lead.

Soon, I will be attending the Army's Armor school at Ft. Knox, KY, where I will learn to lead a tank platoon. Beyond that, I will be working to earn a Ranger School slot. Finally, I will be heading down to Ft. Bliss, TX to lead a Cav platoon in the 6-1 Cav. Who knows where I will head from there? Perhaps I will be part of the rotation into Iraq. Perhaps I will be part of the OEF augmentation process. I really don't know at this point, and I suspect I'm not the only fresh Lieutenant in that position. This is really quite OK. I know there is work in the future, and I am preparing for it.

And what else? I am enjoying my life here in Madison as a Gold Bar Recruiter (GBR). I work with good people and spend quite a bit of time with cadets. Madison is my home and I love it here. I am ready to live elsewhere and experience the American Diorama (tm), but Madison will always have a special place in my heart.

In this time of introspection, let me lay out my future plans - in the Senior in High School, Where Will You Be style. I may be a bit unrealistic, but I really hope that I can achieve any of this. If I do, I will be successful.

No Later Than:
2009
-Platoon leader.
-Complete Ranger School.
-Graduate in top 25% of schools.
2010
-Begin graduate courses online.
-Run a marathon.
-Get a dog :)
2013
-Begin Captains Career Course.
-Transition to a new duty station.
2014
-Complete graduate degree in Public Admin.
-Complete a triathalon.
2016
-Complete an Ironman race.
2020
-Begin doctoral work.

No timetable:
Get married
Have or adopt children
Travel across Africa
Travel across Asia

We'll see what I can actually do. I feel like there is endless possibility right now in this country. We are hurting, but if we keep our heads up and our wits about us, times will get much better.

And for me, they things can get nothing but better.

Young Earth Creationism

2008-06-25T12:04:00.003-05:00

I've posted in the past about Andy Schlaafly's site, Conservapedia. Well, I've found this link circulating in the past few days. It's very interesting for anyone interested in debunking these fools. It also shows how shallow and angry many of the Cons. denizens really are.

Well, anyone in these ideological communities tends to be angry and spiteful. But that's life.

It's a good read.

God, Republicans are saps.

2008-06-20T11:43:00.002-05:00

FROM the front page of the RNC website, and also now a big NYT editorial by David Brooks, this:

"God, Republicans are saps."

Of course, the RNC cut it from their press bulletin. Which is the main news item on their site.

But for the substance, it's quite wrong.
Before I start, however, I'd like to criticize the language of this piece. "Fast Eddie", "Lakefront Liberal", "Under the bus", "Speechifier". What a silly way to write an article. And insulting, too. No evidence, just name-calling.
Here's the point by point.

THE CLAIM: "He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside."

Machiavellian ambition? Like Clinton, or McCain, each having been on the national stage, looking for their parties nomination for years? Who had both "thrown people under the bus" to get votes? Who both have given speeches? Maybe it's because he doesn't call his wife a cunt. That would make him monosyllabic, like another presidential candidate we all know.

THE CLAIM: "Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck."

This claim is easy to dismiss. From an op-ed by Mr. Mikva, a former Illinois state senator and legal scholar: "Unlike Congress and the legislatures of most other states, each chamber of the Illinois Legislature requires a ''constitutional majority'' to pass a bill. The state Senate has 59 members, so it takes 30 affirmative votes. This makes a ''present'' vote the same as a no. If a bill receives 29 votes, but the rest of the senators vote ''present,'' it fails." In other words, a present vote is a no vote. But why vote present instead of no? "A 'present' vote can send a signal to a bill's sponsors that the legislator might support an amended version. Voting 'present' can also be a way to exercise fiscal restraint, without opposing the subject of the bill."

THE CLAIM: Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.

Aside from the name-calling, Obama never "threw Wright under the truck". He was thrown under the truck by Fox News and conservatives who were uncomfortable. These are the same people who claim that Obama didn't disown Wright fast enough.

THE CLAIM: Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck."

Town hall meetings aren't part of the "new" politics. If they were, then every politician since 1980 would be a "new" politician. New politics are about inclusion. About the internet. It's about bringing new people into the process - high information voters, not low information. It's exploring other media channels. And, in fact, Obama has agreed to a town hall style meeting with John McCain. Remember, McCain is behind in the polls. Anything that brings him press will improve his chances, especially standing next to Obama. Winners don't debate losers.

THE CLAIM: But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now.

Public financing is smart - a great way to prevent corruption in political processes. Of course, the GOP wants to tie Obama to public financing because then he wouldn't be able to use money from the millions and millions of people who have donated to his campaign. This narrative is pretty tired, though. Public financing was declared dead in 2004 when the candidates outraised the limits by far and 527s ruled the airwaves. We need reform, not promises to outdated methods.

What a silly, silly editorial, custom made for the RNC. Read todays talking points, add insults, and print.

You shall kill only the killers

2008-06-17T12:07:00.002-05:00

How prescient was PKD - even though the specifics are off. There is no Penfield Mood Organ, there's just entertainment on demand, mind and body pornography. There's no Mercerism, there's just the global mind fusion that is the internet. There are no androids, but we feel the need to separate ourselves into classes and castes, between those who feel and those who do not (which is easy enough; this side of the TV feels, the other side does not: see third world, global south, etc).

We've even got Buster Friendly. 24/7/365 news, TV, media, sports. Britney Spears and Anna Nicole. It's cave drawings gone digital. Large breasts symbolize fertility. It's everything humans have ever been - and we think we're different.

Maybe that's the delusion he is really trying to uncover. These are universal themes, not exposed by technology. Instead, we use technology to exploit these desires. We haven't used the internet to evolve, to interact more potently. We've used it in the same ways we used any form of communication and networking. It's just a new plane.

Take internet gaming, for instance. It's similar to any sport. Work together with others against a common enemy to reach some goal. The goal doesn't even matter. The goal can be symbolic. If sports prepare us for war, this is a valuable evolutionary trait. We don't need to go to war to be prepared for it. We can use symbols and artificial constructs - which entertain.

And in that sense, the two are no different - biologically and socially speaking.

So it's not as if this is a huge revolution. At its roots, it is the same thing we've done since we came out of the weeds. We replaced the real with the symbolic. Now we just run on treadmills.

Okay, so - do we feel any longer? Or are we all androids, unsympathetic, the real meaning in our lives destroyed? I think the symbolic has so fully replaced the real, but it doesn't matter. We don't see through our own eyes, we see through others. We're reaching a new global medium. Average. An emotional middle-state.

Check this out. "We Feel Fine", a data-driven collection of feeling statements drawn from the internet. It's interesting enough in its own right. But what makes it so fascinating is that anyone can plug in and really feel those emotions. Just like in "Androids", we program for ourselves the emotions we want - from inspiration to depression - and there it is, on the screen, in our mind.

It's as if a billion monkeys were typing - not on typewriters, but on blogs. And this is what they came up with. Was this always here, but unexpressed? Now we just have the power to explore the feelings of millions of individuals, not just Shakespeare or Yeats or Goethe, but nearly everyone.

Strange that we all think our experiences are unique. It's that dichotomy - we live our own lives, but we are part of the collective, unyielding experience. Perhaps that's the 'mystery of faith' in the religion I was born into. That every day we are all crucified. Only through the experience of one can we understand the experience of all. In believing, we choose to fuse with that entity or idea.

Just some thoughts. Ramblings. I haven't posted in a while, so I suppose my glass is overflowing right now.

Here:
I think the only thing allowing me to ramble like this is my complete lack of audience.

Barcelona for Dummies

2008-05-28T13:10:00.005-05:00

I flew into Barcelona two days ago - arriviving early Monday morning - and I´ve not stopped since! Except for two long Siestas. Oh, and sleep. And casually eating dinner.

But aside from all that - I´ve not stopped yet!

First, I hit La Rambla, the sprawling market-street, including la Boqueria, a huge fresh produce market. La Rambla has mimes, chickens, flowers, and a state-street on steroids like atmosphere. Around it are quite a few tiny streets with wonderful atmosphere and hundereds of little shops.

Today, we went and saw Sagrada Familia, a cathedral work in progress by the architech Gaudi. It was thrilling - a treat to see. When it is complete, it will be even more amazing. To see people work on a cathedral really puts the others in perspective. It is certainly a modern work of art.

Just a few hours ago we saw Parque Welle, another Gaudi design, situated above and behind the city of Barcelona, overlooking the entire old city. It looks like a fairytale park.

Okay. That´s it for now - I´m off to dinner in Plaça Reye. Sorry for the few updates, I´ve been trying to find an internet cafe. And now, find time for an internet cafe.

In one final note on politics - The Buchenwald-Auschwitz non-controvery is pretty telling about what the GOP is willing to do in this election... i.e, lie their asses off and hope someone with low information catches the lie and not the truth.
Also, Obama is about to wrap up the nomination. 25 delegates to go and only a few contests. We´ve come all this way, and now we´re here!

Commissioning

2008-05-18T11:28:00.004-05:00

I will be commissioned today as an Armor officer in the United States Army.

Hooah!

I've got my dress blues put together. My shoes are shined. My cap fits and is ready to go.

What an exciting time.

Life, Love, Stress and Setbacks

2008-05-12T14:44:00.000-05:00

So - my active duty orders were reshuffled on Friday (or - were always this way and I was just unaware). I'm actually not coming on active duty until August 25; from there, my schedule is the same (Benning in January, Knox, then Bliss). So I have the summer off.

I was pretty disappointed at first - less pay, less work, less experience, and a boring summer. But what is the upside?
1. More leisure time. I can relax all summer. I can swim, bike, run, and read to my heart's content.

2. No additional summer duties. I don't have to help plan Orientation - I'll just participate.

3. I can go camping with my dad. It may be the last time in a while. We have been planning a trip for a long time, and now we may actually be able to go.

4. The Union. Need I say any more?

5. Eye surgery. I may get laser eye surgery over the summer so I am set to go without glasses for all of my training. No more BCGs for me... I hope!

6. I can help out with the campaign. I may even get a part time job working for Obama. Who knows?

Downsides:
1. No pay. I can't retire my credit card debt; I was planning to with my first paycheck. In fact, it may grow. I can't get a full time job if I want to keep health insurance, either.

2. My parents are going to Spain. If I had known earlier, I could have gone with them.

3. Boredom. I might as well turn my hours into money, or at least something productive.

4. I have to put together a resume. Yuck.

I think that's about it. Except for the classical problem of money, this summer may actually be better off for this turn of events.

Making it work

2008-05-08T18:25:00.004-05:00

The key to walking in high heels is to put your toe down first. Shoulders down, back straight, quick toe-heel and you float. All grace and power.

It's the beginning of May in Wisconsin. The state had its requisite teaser week of beautiful weather about a month ago, and we're all still wearing skirts despite the chilly breeze that will hang around 'til June.

Sitting on Library Mall, girls clack and clump past like carefully decorated cupcakes in store windows. Few of them are floating, but they look happy and pretty.

Like most things in life high heels are constraints, with beautiful results when properly realized.

I wore heels everyday to high school and dipped my head to hide my triumph upon being voted most feminine. Fluid trick-clicking let me shine in the recognition we all know deep down we deserve.

For three years now, I've been walking a mile or so to my college lectures, flat-footed out of practicality.

I still haven't figured out how to float here, so close to the ground.

Oops, that's not funny

2008-05-08T10:34:00.003-05:00

I was going to make a brilliant post about my recollections of the three Clinton campaigns for presidency, like the total badass girlfriend Adam wants me to be. But it's almost finals week and I have a lot of TV episodes I realize I need to catch up on.

So you get this instead.

Via planetdan

McCain's Friends

2008-05-06T12:51:00.007-05:00

"...probably what we deserve."

Why is one fanatic celebrated and lionized while the other is
hated and despised?

Is it because one is white and the other, black? Is it because the Republican party has a monopoly on the use of religion?

I don't know, but it's not American, and it's not right.

Krugman's Take - here.

Check out McCain's other friend, John Hagee!

wolf like me

2008-05-05T10:52:00.001-05:00

I really can't wait for this semester to be over. And this one really hasn't been that bad!

w

It's bittersweet, really

2008-05-02T08:30:00.003-05:00

I'm almost done with school. For - who knows how long. There are fourteen days left until I receive my degree; there are fifteen days left until I receive my commission.

There are so many things that I regret not doing, and so many things I regret never trying. I will never regret the things I did do.

What a strange time in our lives! We're at a corner, looking forward and backward at the same time! It's silly, really. Like your first drink at twenty-one - as if it's the first, as if it's something special, that arbitrary day. It's a title and a moment, but little more. Yet these times matter.

I can't help but think,'this is the last...' for every action I take. This is the last exam... this is the last paper... this is the last class...

I can't help but reminisce about all the friends and times and - the moments when time stopped with friends.

And I'm starting something new, something wonderful. I've got a career ahead of me that could take me some great places. I'll be in Madison, enjoying the summer, and then autumn - until January. Then, I leave. Ft. Benning, GA; Ft. Knox, KY; Ft. Bliss, TX. Who knows where from there? Someplace challenging? Someplace easy? Someplace rewarding? Places I never thought I'd go.

It's not overwhelming. It's exciting.

This morning, I felt like I was in Ireland. The fog was low. It smelled so ... green? I'm not sure. It's hard to describe. There's something about scent that can move you to a different time more than any other sense. I felt young and old at the same time.

This is it. I'm almost done.

As Kerouac wrote in his novel that mirrors every man's life,"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -- it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."

Flashback

2008-04-29T19:10:00.000-05:00

This could be the most amazing blog - ever.

Ever.

Neocon logic...

2008-04-28T09:50:00.002-05:00

A. Islam is bad, bad, bad. ->
B. Start a war in Arabic countries. ->
C. Commit to a COE that requires a knowledge of the language and culture. ->
D. Eliminate any source of that language and culture, ostracize those who are of that culture, and use empty rhetoric to promote such a silly anti-American thing.

Case in point - this article at the Times. It's ridiculous. Your thoughts?

am I a ... NMD?

2008-04-23T10:26:00.003-05:00

Hat tip to Rik at Canned Goods.

for the old times

2008-04-23T09:18:00.001-05:00

Hat tip to L.B.! Too funny!

BARACK OBAMA PLAGERIZED BILL CLINTON

2008-04-21T19:41:00.000-05:00

I have no clue why Hillary isn't using this in every commercial!

neon bible

2008-04-21T10:45:00.001-05:00

Look tonight for a comment on "Obama's Tax Evasion"

Wall Street Journal calls Obama "Wrong on Taxes" : Analysis

2008-04-18T17:50:00.011-05:00

The Wall Street Journal had an article today with some rather spurious claims and a nasty-looking graph. They throw in some insults and some conjecture as well as the misleading headline,"Obama's Tax Evasion". Check it out here.

Perhaps a quick overview of the Capital Gains tax is in order (from Wikipedia)

Capital gains are separated into two categories: Short and Long term. Short term rates are applied at the investors normal income rate (that is, your income tax rate), and long term rates are applied at a lower rate. The gains tax applies to any nominal gain (profit from the sale of) any capital (debt, equities, and real). The tax only applied to realized gains.

You can see the Tax Rates for all incomes here.

So, what exactly does the WSJ claim about the Cap Gains tax?
1. The effective rate, the rate derived by dividing the total capital gains by the taxes raised on capital gains, is inversely related to the Capital gains tax realizations a percentage of GDP.

2. The claim is that Capital Gains tax income is a function of the effective rate; a decrease in the capital gains effective rate (at all levels) increases the tax realizations and a decrease in the capital gains tax rate (at all levels) increase tax realizations.

3. Lifting the effective rate for those in the top substrate (the "capital gains tax rate") would decrease realizations.

So the point is - if the top rate, the capital gains realizations increase.

Let's take a look at how the effective rate is derived and how it differs from the capital gains tax. The effective rate is the taxes paid on capital gains divided by the total amount of capital gains in a given year.

Taking what we know about the structure of the tax code - long and short term capital gains - we can develop some sort of model.

I suggest that what is actually happening in this picture is much different from what is suggested, and that the likely relationship is between capital gains and realizations.

The effective rate is determined by which income substrates are making capital gains, not by government policy, which sets substrates and set the upper limit. The effective rate does move from year to year and is a more accurate depiction of what's happening.

What can make the effective rate change?
1. Increases in the top rate, making high-income investors pay more.
2. A change in which income substrate is paying the gains tax.

So here are two possible other relationships and explanations which fly in the face of this relationship the WSJ claims to be true but does not explain. For their claim to be true, there needs to be a causal negative relationship between high maximum tax rates and taxes paid on capital gains.

1. The average effective rate is driven down during periods of high gains. As revenues increase, more investors "buy in" by saving and investing more. However, the effective rate never really strays too far - and it isn't effected by the market too much. In the past ten years, more people bought into the market, driving the effective rate down, but gains have moved up and down.

2. So what really causes the changes in capital gains and capital gains tax realizations? This seems pretty obvious, but apparently not to the WSJ: Capital gains realizations correlate incredibly strongly to capital gains, regardless of the effective tax rate or the maximum tax rate. This is the most persuasive relationship between these sets of variables. The tax gains increase when gains increase. When growth is slow (2001, 1991), gains and realizations decrease regardless of the effective rate or the maximum rate. Throughout the 1990's, from '91 to '97, the maximum rate hovered around ~29%. Gains increased as did realizations. In '97, the maximum gain tax was lowered to ~21%. Gains continued to increase. In 2001, with no change to the maximum rate, realizations and gains were cut in half.

Economists don't favor McCain's policies. He has called for unrealistic budget and tax cuts. We need sound policy, better trade negotiations, and an end to the open financial commitment in Iraq. We will always have ups and downs, but sound policy will cement growth in the U.S. for years to come. Unfortunately, fiery rhetoric from conservative papers doesn't add much to the debate - or to the nation.

another take on the Wright "controversy"

2008-04-18T16:15:00.002-05:00

Let me know what you think. Does commentary like this break us out of the echo chamber or is it just bringing up a damaging topic for another round?

fired up.

2008-04-16T10:52:00.003-05:00

"Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

-- Michelle Obama

This is why some of us chose careers (or, for the time being, jobs) in public service. Because we want to be "do-gooders". Because we want to be informed and engaged and make people's lives better. We want to sacrifice for the common good because we know that our sacrifice will come back to us and make us richer than we ever imagined (And no, I'm not talking "wealth").

You don't need to become a public servant to sacrifice for this country. You can help others every day. Talk to someone. Save more money (that's probably the best thing you can do - for yourself, for your family, and for the country). Volunteer regularly. Contribute to effective charities that are active in your community. Volunteer at your child's school. If you have a choice - many don't - work at a business with a social conscious. Many of us in the middle and upper classes have been given an amazing luxury of choice in our work and our time.

Let's start acting on those choices. We don't need a movement to make environmentally friendly choices. We don't need a movement to be conscious of the people around us. We don't need a movement to volunteer, to choose ethics over ill-gained profits.

We don't need a movement, but fortunately for us, we have one. We have a movement and a President.

Some Like It Semi-Nude

2008-04-14T22:09:00.009-05:00

Adam and I watched Some Like It Hot on Sunday afternoon as I recovered from the second worst hangover of my life.

First worst hangover-- Freshman year; dressed like a hooker for no reason, also, sporting a hat with a tassle. I drank an entire box of Franzia (at least half of it directly from the spigot the other half in shot glasses and with saltines I had delicately cut into wafers to simulate holy communion). God punished me by the next day by the greatest morning-after agony imaginable. I made my ex-boyfriend sit on the phone with me the entire day not saying a word, because when he spoke it made me feel more nauseous (incidentally, a delightful allegory for much of our relationship.)

Third worst hangover-- Junior year; hopping from bar to bar on the high of an efficient fake ID, I find myself weeping after several shots of whiskey and hanging my head in a filthy bathroom at the pointlessness of it all. I proceeded to tearily beg a friend of ours not to join the marines (he was later rejected for his anti-nazi tattoos *high fives god*), and then ran sobbing through the streets of Madison to my home. Having convinced myself that I had imagined my entire reality, I then trashed my room and wandered outside in my socks and underwear because Adam and our nazi-hating friend were not adequately paying attention to my dramatic outbursts.

This weekend was another was another peach of a performance. In the comfort of my own houseparty, I ran around in my underwear and Adam's Express polo (I dig middleclass-swank modifiers) whipping moldy cupcakes at the neighbors' house and purposefully pouring glasses of water on myself. I verbally assaulted a self-righteous indie asshole (Barney-purple hoodie and v-neck tee-shirt; homosexual lumberjack haircut) I'd met previously, bellowing about how his self-worth rested in sleeping with Rod Stewart's entire extended family.

This is what you got for your vote of "Most Likely to Succeed," Waterford Union High School Class of 2005. Somehow, I feel it's what you had in mind all along.

Sunny Skies (for you and me)

2008-04-14T12:50:00.004-05:00

I had my first Food Cart meal in our new summer today. I sat on the concrete plateau in the Library Mall. Where else than Madison do you see such diversity? Food Carts from all over the world being enjoyed by a privileged white elite. Oh, and a few Asian students to boot.

I wish we had more diversity here - real diversity - but it's a fleeting dream. We've got most of the African American population over in Milwaukee. We've got most of the Hmong up North. We've got a budget built on the idea of securing more slots in Wisconsin's schools for "Native" Wisconsinites.

For those of you who are playing from home, be sure to note that "Native" means White.

There are some who are working towards a fair distribution in our institutions of higher education, and they should be applauded. Most in the State Senate and Assembly are working against this. Why?
1. Xenophobia. Asian students are invading our schools! Mexicans are marching across graduation stages! I think this is a pretty large component, but clearly the proponents of State-Based affirmative action (i.e. locking up our schools) would disagree with this assessment. I think it doesn't play into the logical elements of the debate, but it certainly comes in from the PR perspective. When someone doesn't get in to University, it's easy to point to that successful non-white and say,"They don't deserve it".
2. "Our Tax Dollars" argument. This argument is basically that since it is property tax payer's dollars going into the school system, they should receive its direct benefits. There are three problems with this argument:
a. The indirect benefits outweigh the costs, and everyone who pays property taxes receives the indirect benefits regardless of attendance. This argument is self-evident, although I'm sure we could provide economic data in support of this claim. It's simple: Universities are economic engines, and their graduates are as well. When a University prospers, especially a research university, then the entire area prospers. Look at the area around the Madison campus. Prosperity comes from investment, and we all benefit from the investment in our Universities.
b. Locking up the University by increasing the weight on "native" Wisconsinites decreases the quality of the University by driving down the quality of students. This decreases the return on investment (ROI) of any dollar spent in the UW.
c. Even if we were to increase the amount of students from Wisconsin who attend a University system school, we would not cover all of the students in Wisconsin.

Note - I'm not arguing for Affirmative Action; that's a different subject, for a different time. I'm arguing for a merit-based acceptance system that values performance and diversity of experience rather than payment, state residency, citizenship, or race.

What I am arguing for is the following:
1. More tuition reciprocity, starting with neighboring states and other big-name research institutions.
2. More joint projects with other research institutions in the United States and abroad using advanced communication technology.
3. An expansion of the merit-based process of admissions which values Wisconsin High School Graduates but allows more students from outside of Wisconsin.
4. The continuation of programs which attract a wide range of scholars in different fields.
5. The expansion of the Alumni fund to provide for the University during political crises (an insurance policy against bureaucratic sabotage).
6. Foster outreach to primary schools throughout Wisconsin using technology to enhance k-12 education.

What do you think we need to do to keep the University in the 21st century and make it a more diverse institution? Or are we already there?

Character Study

2008-04-10T23:55:00.012-05:00

In a back hall of the social sciences building is a room with thirteen boxes. Three feet in length, a foot in width, a foot in height. Some are wooden and look like lovingly constructed but useless woodshop projects. Others are black, made from the same mottled plastic of instrument cases.

There's a warm drowsiness to the room, and I always leave beating chalky dust stripes out of my coat.

I have class here twice a week, but I visit about two times a week on my own, with a key borrowed from the main office. I pull out my box, flip up the hinges--the same tired type as my father's toolbox--and carefully move the drawer to reach the bones I need.

Each student in my class has a human skeleton, and we unpack them gently onto pads of dingy yellow foam when we enter. We line up the long bones parallel to one another, and array the bones of the hands and feet in starbursts. We never take the whole skeleton out at once. It's appendage by appendage we learn.

The person in my box only has only one foot, his left, and he's missing one of the bones of his ankle. Today I held up his tarsals and wrote detailed descriptions in my notebook, to be copied to notecards and committed to memory:

Talus
-Look for the rounded, smooth, saddle shaped bit. This is dorsal.
-Medially, there is an apostrophe whose tail points proximally.
-The triangle protruding from the saddle is lateral.

And this is what I do, for about six hours every week. I pull some man's feet and hands and ribs out of a box and I describe them to myself using a kindergarten picture book vocabulary. "Saddle, Triangle, Tail". The base of the middle finger looks, I tell myself, like a cow whose larger horn points toward the index finger.

Trying to figure out the sides of the bones, I hold his radius against my own, with my palms facing up. If the rest of his body was attached we would be dancing a strange folk dance, entwined.

Like having a capable but quiet lab partner, I hum to myself while I work and watch carefully, learning by example.

Religion and Cults

2008-04-09T17:46:00.004-05:00

I'm making this post in the vain thought that any of you really care about my opinions. Or, I suppose, in response to another post here by T. B. regarding the recent raids on the Texas enclave. His point, if I may, is that we should not classify religious sects as a 'cults'.

I'll repost the comment here:

1) What constitutes "seedy?" Is believing in that bread transfigures into human flesh seedy? Is believing that premaritally released semen is unpure seedy? If so, we can call some very large organizations seedy. Likewise, is the Catholic church seedy because some of its official representatives broke the law? What about the number of worshippers of various religions that break laws?

2) Should the Baha'is of Iran be raided because their religion is illegal to adhere to under that government? Who is to say which government's laws appropriately deal with religious institutions if neither government acknowledges a higher, international law?

I really don't know and I still stand by the idea that calling them "seedy" or "cults" does not help us understand or appropriately deal with them.

I feel as if using the word 'cult' in a non-technical sense without a definition is playing politics with a word. Were we to throw out the word 'cult', how would we classify religious organizations with dangerous, or anti-social, or criminal intentions? I don't think you're arguing that the word cult is too politicized, but rather, that we should judge no religious organization.

To which I say, we shouldn't judge religions, but organizations and institutions are fair game. That is the rational basis of society.

Let me give an example. Say we have a number of laws - and for a good reason. The good of the public, the prevention of unnecessary risk, et cetera. Say an organization works against those laws, or encourages its members to flout those laws, or breaks those laws itself. That organization is then breaking the law. If the group itself is religious in nature, it is, in my mind, a cult. Perhaps one additional qualification would be ease of exit from the organization and control of ideas and speech (manifested by separation from society at large).

So, the base assumption is, if an organization is flouting the laws of the land(assuming the laws are just), the executive has the duty to enforce the laws. Now, perhaps the Branch Davidians example shows an inappropriate executive response. So be it. I concur.

Were the Branch Davidians a cult? Yes. Is Mormonism a cult? No. Is the Fundamentalist Church a cult? If the allegations are true, yes. It has the trappings of a cult. If it walks, talks, and looks like a duck ... well, you get the picture.

I understand your point that the rhetoric of cults has no place in the American religious discourse. I respectfully disagree. I feel as if it is a useful term we can use to describe these organizations. It's not hyperbole when these organizations really are dangerous.

On to your specific points:
1. Seedy beliefs are different from seedy organizations. If an individual in an organization breaks the law, it then depends on the spread. If a group of individuals break the law, then we have a bigger problem. If the organization is based on charismatic religious leadership and illegal activity, then it is a cult.

2. Now, ideas should not be illegal; organizations should be. And we should have discretion over the use of the word. If some nation decides that Baha'i is a cult, then they are wrong. So I think the misuse of words shouldn't preclude the use of the word.

Sure, "cult" has baggage; but as a descriptive term, it's second to none. Now, we should provide evidence as to why a religious organization is a cult.

And my question for you - was Heaven's Gate a cult? Is Scientology a cult?

Maybe I'm looking at this from a legalistic perspective, but that perspective matters. The religious one can sort itself out if we lay our hands off of people's practices and NRM's and target only lawbreaking cults.

long weekend

2008-04-07T09:10:00.003-05:00

I crashed early last night out of exhaustion. What a long weekend. Not in terms of time, but more in terms of stress. Preventable stress.

Anyways, I am behind in school work. It's pretty bad. I've got a lot to do in the next 48 hours and a lot to do in the next 12 days. I'm trying to stay balanced so I don't burn out in the next two days, but we'll see.

The question is - when do I get a weekend where I'm not at Ft. McCoy? I went this last for FTX, the one before for a recon, the one before to go to AAFES, the one next week for another FTX.

So, on to something light. Let's have Crazy Conservative Hour!

Like most conservatives at Madison, one of my main gripes with this campus is that its liberalism only applies to Liberals.

What does that mean? Liberalism? So free speech (a liberal tenet) is applied unevenly when a conservative speaker comes to speak... and is allowed to speak?

Nothing could have demonstrated this better than the events on Friday night when the College Republicans brought Michelle Malkin to campus to speak on immigration. In true democratic UW fashion, there was plenty of time for Q and A afterward. At this point things, as they normally do, got interesting. The lecture had been laden with rude remarks from the audience, but nothing was more offensive than when a student used his 15 seconds of fame to yell clarification of his sources to the invited lecturer: “A review of the book, you dumb fuck.”

In true democratic UW fashion... you mean, in democratic fashion? Is the UW qualifier really necessary? I forgot, you're oppressed. And have never used profanity about a liberal.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Oh, it sunk... IT SUNK!!!

Ignoring the hostility that is normally evoked at conservative events, I find this event alarming for reasons beyond its political resonance.

Who evoked the hostility? Conservatives? You create controversy and expect people not to react.

Sure, we’ve grown up in an age where profanity has become increasingly more commonplace. That an individual feels this is appropriate language for any instance is certainly a reflection on his own discretion; that it could enter the mind of a student of this supposedly acclaimed university that such prose should be invoked against an invited and distinguished lecturer should cause us all to balk.

Now, this kid is probably just an idiot with no filter between his (small) brain and mouth. Or maybe he was drunk. Either way, I don’t want to be affiliated with him. And as a fellow student, neither should you.

Easy way to dismiss the rest of the legitimate claims & questions against this speaker. Also, anyone who disagrees with me and does something I don't like is an idiot and/or a drunk!

How can it be acceptable that there are those among us who blatantly disregard the liberal ideals that have secured this institution’s primacy? It should be of concern to us all that a student uses cheap, profane language when he is representing the university. What it certainly should do is cause reflection: What has happened to UW?

Wait - didn't you just qualify liberal values as UW liberal values? Which side are you on? Liberalism's side? Are you a closet liberal upset with what's happening to it? I'm confused. Liberalism is bad; UW is a liberal school; Some liberal does something stupid; Why isn't that person a good liberal?

The liberal exchange of ideas is something in which students have always taken great pride. Why then, at moments when these exchanges are possible, are they marked by enmity and ignorance? My experience at this university has been marked by events like what ensued Friday night — hostility and pettiness where thoughtful discussion could have occurred.

Let's abolish this liberal exchange of ideas. Clearly, it's gotten to be too much. People are using profanity. PROFANITY! OF ALL THE DISGRACES!

The national acclaim UW has garnered...

Put down the thesaurus and step away...

...would suggest that the student population is a highly intelligent group. As the hallmark of political universities, the capacities for discourse should be widespread. However, if liberal tradition is going to dictate that this is the new lexicon of political discourse, I am deeply afraid for the progeny of this institution.

Let me see if I follow.
Free speech is a liberal value. By asking a question at a political event (during a question and answer period), that person is expressing UW's LIBERAL VALUES(TM). Since Malkin's free speech rights were infringed, the University isn't really liberal. Therefore, conservatives are the real liberals.

Which leads me to the question - are conservatives just self-hating liberals?

Original here. Comments? Questions? Post below.

On Loneliness

2008-04-06T17:55:00.004-05:00

I was truly alone for the only time in my life last summer. My confidante was gone, pursuing the opportunities for travel given in return for seven years of your life to the US government. I lived in a house with three other people, but they were involved in their own lives, not ignoring me, but not being particularly forthcoming.

I had a routine. Wake up, go to the coffee shop to brush up on my chemistry for the fall. Come home, eat a small lunch, go to work. After work to the terrace, alone with a book or to write a letter. Watch the ducklings and the rising lake level and other peoples' children. Walk up State Street, pick up some old movies from the library. Go home, read on the porch or at the coffee shop. Watch a movie, lazily do yoga. Go to sleep.

I saw my friends sometimes of course. We would sit on the porch and smoke or drink, intermittently chatting up and harassing pedestrians. Having the kind of long, intricate discussions about ourselves that I imagine stop once you have children and grow up, replaced by stories about bowel movements and nursing bras.

But really, I was quite alone. No one pressed me for details about my life.

It gave me an odd sense of serenity. Those two months were the only ones I had without any obligations. I walked through the streets of Madison and every hour was only mine. It streamlined the rest of the world, like watching my biography being played out on the screen. There was a single interpretation, the vision of the director.

My days weren't filled with self-reflection, but with observing other people. No longer distracted by creating documentary of my day to relate to someone at night, I focused on the details of the lives of others. I eavesdropped on conversations while bussing tables, watched people squawk about produce to one another at the farmers' market. I saw people come to the coffee shop alone, like I did, every night. We snuck glances at eachother over the edges of our ambitious summer reads, books on European politics or literary classics not yet tainted by Oprah's hoard of housewives. We shook the ice in our drinks to bring attention to ourselves, tapping to get the last few sticky cubes to slide into our mouths and watched one another through the wavy iced coffee glazed lenses of the glasses' bottoms.

One night, I went home from the cafe and sat on my porch before going in, watching the buses pass with tired hisses. One of my fellow loners walked by, glanced up, faltered and then continued on. He returned five minutes later and came halfway up the steps, said he recognized me and did I want to take a walk.

No, I said, thank you.

I saw him a week later at the cafe, and within ten minutes a girlfriend appeared twittering into her phone about a new apartment. He glanced at me sheepishly, but I smiled back, straw between my lips. There was no need to apologize, my last sips told him.

I was fine on my own.

I'm not worried at all

2008-04-03T23:31:00.004-05:00

A girl in my neighborhood was murdered yesterday.

I found out this morning, on my way to French as I grabbed the paper to read before class. It gave me that little bite in my stomach, the kind you get when thunder shakes your house and the glasses rattle in their cupboard.

It's been hard to stop thinking about it. Violence two blocks from home is unnerving. Learning about the French Resistance and femoral fossae is difficult when the end of the day means a path toward a crime scene.

I walked through the door and my roommate, Brittany, looked up to make sure I'd locked it behind me. I sat down next to her on the uncomfortable futon and we traded speculation and hearsay, the only details the Madison media is offering.

My other roommate, Tyler, was terrifyingly devoid of his usual bravado when he got home.
Last spring's sexual assaults had inspired fantastical tales of what he would do with a baseball bat were our house to be attacked, but today all he talked of was his fear of having to walk through the streets tonight on his way to work.

I called my brother. I hadn't talked to him in awhile, and he comforts me like he's the older sibling when I need it. Reverses our roles when I'm scared. He didn't have much to say about the attack, merely advising me to be careful, sleep at Adam's, lock the doors. He offered up his own local tragedy (a church explosion due to gas leak) to even things out, and then changed the subject. He talked about his friend's valet work transforming into a job as chauffeur to a Chinese millionaire, who doesn't dare ding his Ferrari after several drinks. He bubbled up his newfound intellectual fervor in facts about Tchaikovsky's tortured homosexuality, Mozart's rockstar tendencies, and Beethoven's revolutionary brilliance.

Warm and himself, pushing life gently back into safe familiarity.

My brother, Schroeder, shining out at last.

More Beirut

2008-04-03T09:57:00.000-05:00

I'll sing of the walls of the well
And the house at the top of the hill
I'll sing of the bottles of wine
That we left on our old windowsill
I'll sing all the years you will spend
Getting sadder and older, oh love

best friends in song

2008-03-31T11:02:00.002-05:00

Another song I can't get out of my head.

Also:

Wish I hadn't missed them when they came to Madison... :-/

it's blog post time.

2008-03-30T13:12:00.002-05:00

So African policy seems to be the hot-button issue among the guardians lately, and rightly so. Neil Turok, a physicist at Cambridge, did a lovely talk at TED about his creation of an African mathematical center. It's really quite inspiring, and it's what we need to do to make the continent better. It's definitely worth a look. I think the best thing he does in this presentation is outline the problem and how serious it is. For some reason, I just love the "bloated land mass" maps.
Mallory and I attended a fundraiser-party last night organized by a friend who is working on building a school in Nairobi. It was quite a fun time, although I felt a little out of place. It's hard not to feel out of place when a new acquaintance's first question is,"So, have you been to Africa?" Which really gets to the heart of it, I suppose, because I have not. And I'm a soldier, the bane of any true Liberal. But, for a good cause, my money is worth as much as theirs; and I like to think that I know a bit more about policy, but probably a lot less about African policy. None of us, though, know enough to 'fix' the problems in Africa, however. We need African leaders to do that.
Anyways, after this party, we went to the bars with some new friends and danced until 2am. That was quite the fun time. I felt like I was in the 70's. We picked some songs from the jukebox - of course, they never came on. So fun.

Okay, enough for today. I had some links I was going to post but they can wait.

All the information they could gather

2008-03-28T00:31:00.004-05:00

Someone smarter than I am told me animals are plants flipped inside out.
All our elaboration is on the inside
Villi, micro-villi, more dead-language garbage than you'd ever really want to memorize.
If we accept this postulate as true,
then I propose a similar postulate of my own:

Life is animals flipping themselves inside out again.

Spewing all their elaboration on the sidewalk and into churches and the sides of buildings.
Belching their elaboration on street corners and in elections.
Using the intricacies of energy capture to bombard the rest of the world with their keen keen elaboration.

I see other peoples' insides everywhere.
I have seventy-five brands of cereal to choose from at the grocery store.

Let's remember where nature put our complexities.

Shut our mouths and soak in the sunlight.

Bias in Wikipedia

2008-03-23T21:19:00.003-05:00

Conservapedia is a great site. It's a very interesting to note the conflicts and interactions among members of the site.

Since I'm not going to analyze the "Examples of Bias in Wikipedia" in my paper, I think I'll just look at them, one at a time, here.

"33: Wikipedia has two million entries, but not one for liberal. Users who go to that term are redirected to the Wikipedia entry on liberalism that conceals the liberal support of gun control and taxpayer funding of abortion, and liberal censorship of prayer in public school.^[48]"
Note: Links go to Conservapedia articles.
So, what about the claim? I first went to Wikipedia's "Liberal". It did, as the claim alleges, redirect to "Liberalism". Before I continued, I thought I would analyze the style of Wikipedia. I looked for an article,"Conservative". Like "Liberal", it redirected to "Conservatism".
Prima facie, this is a style issue which is consistent between the bipolar ideologies.
The second claim has two parts. First, that Wikipedia has no article describing an American liberal. Second, that American liberals seek "support of gun control...taxpayer funded abortion...and...censorship of prayer in public school".
So - does WP have an article about American liberalism? If one continues down the page, one finds a link to the page "Social Liberalism", which is described as liberalism in the United States.
We've had quite a trek, but we're there. It does exist. Its crime in this regard seems to be the confusing rhetoric of political science, which has coined liberalism in a number of ways in different contexts. Remember, the "Founding Fathers" were all liberals - but in a different sense than modern liberals.
Does the page make the claims - legitimate or not - about liberalism?
From the page: "Like European social liberals, most modern American liberals advocate a free market economy, cultural pluralism, diplomacy over military action, stem-cell research, the legalization of same-sex marriage, secular government, stricter gun control and environmental protection laws as well as the preservation of abortion rights."

Prayer in public schools is absent from the page; however, as a smaller issue to the general (or world) population - and to today's political discussion - it isn't really missed from an encyclopedia article. Also, I would add that "cultural pluralism" should make an obvious ideological argument against prayer in schools.

What about conservatism? Is there a "statement of support" like there is for American liberalism? Conservatism in the United States has its own article as well. Conservatism tends to be fractured into many different parts, but it still has "statements of support" for each of the different segments.
I think most conservatives (and liberals) would think that's fair.

Status: No bias found. Perception of bias rooted in global - or "non-Americentric" - structure of articles.

My favorite media sources / blogs / podcasts

2008-03-23T15:56:00.003-05:00

I love the internet. It allows us so many amazing opportunities to learn. Every day, people are creating content which we all enjoy. People who are experts in their fields.

I think I never really realized the value of expertise until the past two or three years. I thought that someone could really "master" anything in a short period of time if they had a general set of skills. This may still be the case, but passion and experience can really shine through.

So here are my top-twenty favorite media sources (podcasts, blogs, papers, magazines), in no specific order:

Podcasts (All can be found using an iTunes search)
1. NPR's collection. They've got This American Life, Cartalk, Talk of the Nation, To the Best of Our Knowledge, Intelligence Squared, All Things Considered, All Songs Considered, and Fresh Air, among others. All are superb examples of great journalism and storytelling. Oh- and don't forget Prairie Home Companion and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!

2. Podrunner. It's just a great way to get exercise music. I don't have to throw together a playlist, I just run my podrunner track and I've got an hour of beats to run or cycle to.

3. Short Stories: Selected Shorts and the New Yorker Fiction podcasts are like little "Buddhist catnaps". Really a great way to spend an hour, these podcasts entertain and challenge.

Blogs
4. Best Week Ever consistently provides some great content. I'm not a fan of celebrity news, but I do like how they mock the hyper-attentive celebrity industry itself.

5. Comics: Penny Arcade is funny in a very deep way; and Tycho's posts are always amusing. PVP is great, too. Both are about video games, but the humor reaches far beyond that.

6. Food blogs are better than porn. I just love Bitten. He makes some pretty great recipes. I love his videos the most. Jia's blog is great, as well as Eating Madison A to Z. Without them, I would never know where to eat on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!

7. Politics, my favorite subject. DailyKos is the progressive blog, but it is definitely one-sided. Political Arithmetik is a great blog, but now it is mostly superceded by Pollster.com (where the author posts consistently). Media Matters is also a progressive blog with essays regarding media coverage of candidates and issues.

Traditional Media
8. NYT. That's easy. Crosswords, news, international coverage, the Magazine (What a great way to spend a Sunday!), food, art, wine, culture... Definitely worth the whatever-a-month it costs.

That's it for now. What's your favorite media source?

Remember Ted Haggard?

2008-03-10T12:47:00.002-05:00

I wonder if anyone has seen this:

It's Richard Dawkins v. Ted Haggard in a fight over evolution. Hilarious. What do people in the scientific community think of people like Ted Haggard? Or, for that matter, Richard Dawkins? Are science and religion mutually exclusive?

--And I've already broken my "new" rules - quality over quantity, form with my function, etc. C'est la vie.

Badges? We (will spare you the easy joke)

2008-03-10T10:52:00.005-05:00

We all want to be well liked and popular, right? Well, besides changing your style, diction, name, and face,-(and picking a better blog title, something more hip) -you can now have your very own front-free blog badge.

What's a blog badge? A badge is a community identifier. It's a patch, a bumper sticker for your blog. It's a statement. It's an advertisement. It's a meme and an individual statement.

So, after today's class, I decided to make the least frontin' badge ever.

Enjoy - and stop frontin'. Hat tip to Frontin'!
Large:

Small:

Kid's Rock!!!!11!

2008-03-06T19:23:00.002-06:00

Another funny example of intertextuality.

Robin Hoodwinking

2008-03-06T17:14:00.007-06:00

I felt good today after my Health in Africa seminar, which is I think the first time I have since the semester began. Honestly, to begin with I didn't have much of an interest in the subject, at least the way other people seem to. By that I mean, I don't have an activist do-gooder spirit burning in me.

This isn't to say I'm a lump of ambivalence, but when I get excited about things it's more because I like the fight, I like the excitement, I like telling people to sit down and shut up if they need to hear it. One too many girl power songs in junior high perhaps.

The class, however, has gotten me interested in the topics of public health, of great inequality, in what seems to be the white man's new burden of sopping up the blood spilt by our predecessors. Mostly, though, with how we are doing a great job of continuing to fuck things up.

Originally, the class angered me. I was annoyed with this effervescent do-right idealism that, while nice to see, didn't seem to be dealing with the world in a realistic way. I started bringing this up in discussion, that many of my classmates' suggestions were band-aids on a gaping wound, that doling out food and teaching people to read is not going to solve root problems in a country with 86% unemployment. Basically, I went into lunatic rants, presenting myself like a fifteen-year-old who just read The Communist Manifesto for the first time. I would leave class embarrassed, and frustrated now more with myself and the world than with my well-meaning classmates.

Eventually, class discussion caught up with my garbled attempts to verbalize my irritations. We've been talking about the need for infrastructure, the (im?)possibility of gentle capitalism or plans where the inevitable 'bleeding period' (just now realizing the menstrual pun... we are 12 girls and 1 boy in the class after all) towards building an economy actually results in a better place for everyone.

The problem, of course, is that we are all anthropologists with maybe two semesters of economics between us. Much of this is quite mysterious and difficult. Nevertheless, I feel like we've stumbled upon something quite beautiful today. We were talking about nationalized healthcare, and how to get the rich to jump on board.

Claire, our professor, helped demystify a rather dense article we had read. In the end, she said, one successful way to keep nationalized health care going is to let the rich get the most out of the system. They like their place in the upper echelons. They don't like having to be kicked down to a common level, so give them what they want. Institute a system where they are maybe providing most of the burden, but they are also getting the best care. Let inequalities buoy the system rather than keeping it from emerging.

Naturally, half of my sweet classmates balked at the cynical break from idealism that the plan represents. Once again, the poor getting are the short end of the stick. But really, we've got to start somewhere. Little healthcare is better than none.

Realistically, I'm not sure how this could play out in America. The rich are already getting fabulous access to the best healthcare in the world because they can afford it, and the poor are already getting paltry access to okay healthcare when they can afford it. We sort of have this thing going already. And I obviously didn't get the sort of economics background that would make the plan understandable by learning about prehistoric Europe and australopithecines for three years.

Still, I like this idea. I like what Bill Gates has called "creative capitalism," a delightful euphemism for tricking the rich into contributing to social causes through their purchases. It's the first suggestion for social ills that has put a smile on my face all semester. I didn't stomp home angrily in step to The White Stripes this evening. I sat down to blog, delighting in the thought that someday my parents' purchase of ostentatious RVs could, somehow, fill the cavities in my health insurance-less roommate's teeth.

Vaginasaurus Rex

2008-03-05T13:40:00.004-06:00

So, I've been thinking about something. Dinosaur Tourette's. Twice the childhood nostalgia and half the political correctness of regular Tourette's.

Lot's of potential.

If you don't like that, how about this baby that looks like Chris Farley?

predictions and results

2008-03-05T08:17:00.004-06:00

Well, my predictions were right and wrong. While my numbers were off - way off - my totals were only 10 off.

As of the current count, Hillary is only 10 delegates closer to Obama (1451 for Obama to 1365 for Clinton).

What does this mean?
1. Hillary has to woo more delegates than Obama in the coming states.
2. Hillary has to spend more money in the coming states - a tie, like in yesterday's contests, is a loss.
3. There are 1,207 delegates in remaining races. To lock up the nomination before the convention (August, but the last delegates are allocated in June), she needs to receive (Assuming Superdelegates stay as currently pledged). Hillary needs to receive 54% of those unpledged delegates. It's certainly do-able. Obama needs to receive 47% of the unpledged delegates. Just looking at that math, if the remainder of the races "average out" to a virtual tie, then Obama will be the nominee in August.

Now, since there are fewer big states, and more space between, each candidate can really make their case state by state. They also have time to regroup, assess their campaign, and strategize. While Obama has a convincing lead, and last night certainly wasn't a win, the campaign is virtually 'wide open'.

I've been thinking about my multimedia project. Which political or economic concepts are people out there most confused about - or simply want to know more about? I'm thinking my format will just be 3-4 minute videos quickly explaining a concept or idea and relating it to historical or current economic and political situations. Any ideas???

LL Putey Pute

2008-03-04T16:02:00.006-06:00

This is for you, Adam and JJ
-- from Russia, with love.

Apparently, Russia has its own version of the Obama Girl video:

Main difference being, I doubt there were rumors that the Dems financed Obama Girl in order to brainwash America's youth...

Lyrics :
(from what I gathered of the French subtitles on the bottom)

(various complaints about current boyfriend)

Now i want a guy like Putin, full of strength
A guy like Putin who wouldn't drink
A guy like Putin who wouldn't hurt me
One like Putin who wouldn't run away

I saw him yesterday on the news
He said that peace is at our door
With a guy like him everything is fine at my house and yours
That's why now I want a guy like Putin.

(Repeat chorus til song is indelibly imprinted in mind)

Some translations I've seen elsewhere seem a bit screwy in comparison to the French subtitles. Honestly I have no clue if they are right or not. Anyone speak Russian?

Via Slog.

mansard roof

2008-03-04T10:30:00.002-06:00

Today is another good day for us election geeks. Sunday we had the virtually uncontested Russian Presidential election. Today, we have two major Democratic primaries and two minor ones. Today could settle the Democratic primary. Unfortunately for the Clinton campaign, she needs to win every state from here on out by at least a few delegates to garner enough to win (Assuming Super Delegates are split among the two candidates; a likely scenario if Clinton 'came back'). A tie is a Clinton loss. It's no longer about the expectations game - perhaps that problem has shifted to Obama - it's about results. She simply needs to gain about 100 delegates more than Obama over the next few weeks to win.

Daily Kos has their predictions up as follows (with a few caveats):
"Ohio: Clinton +4
Texas: Obama +12
Rhode Island: Clinton +6
Vermont: Obama +35"

Zogby has a new poll showing that Clinton may have made some headway in Texas but Obama has made major headway in Ohio. We could have some very unexpected results.

There's also the Texas Two Step, the primary / caucus delegate split. We should know results around 11 or 12 PM central, but final delegate counts may take days to tabulate.

My guess (Delegate count, not primary / caucus result)
Ohio: Clinton +5%
Texas: Obama +2%
Rhode Island: Clinton +3%
Vermont: Obama +30%

I think Clinton has made bukku bucks in the past week - coming off as more personable. She effectively changed the dialog and stopped the Obama campaign potency. I don't think it was enough, though. It could be too little, too late.

According to CNN's delegate count, this would put the results at:
Clinton: 1454, a +14.5% increase.
Obama: 1563, a +13.4% increase.
Overall, however, that would be negligible relative change - 109 delegate difference still.

So, as you can see, it'll take a monumental change for Clinton to win - much more than a tie. It'll take a tie - until the convention in June - for Obama to cement his candidacy (The remainder of the states, if tied - or tied on average - based on these results - would give Obama 2047 delegates, 22 more than needed to be selected).

And now for something a little less heavy:

video by Vampire Weekend

Watch out, the world's behind you...

2008-03-02T22:58:00.005-06:00

There's only so much one can take of organic chemistry, really. Only so many hours you can spend drawing letters and lines into snowflakes and snakes with oxygen for eyes.

And yet, despite my careful hours of prodding electrons into their new orbits, I feel very sure I will do horribly on my test tomorrow.

Frankly I've had enough. Aldehydes and ketones be damned.

Everything is frustrating on a Sunday, but nothing more so than getting up early on a March morning. Driving down Madison's wagon-rutted side streets, wanting to go to church just to hear someone sing at you 'depart in peace', and then ending up in your bedroom, alone.

Sometimes I regret painting over the bordello chic purple and mauve that the previous tenant lived in. The yellow I chose is beginning to remind me of the short bus, especially when my dresser is vomiting dirty clothes on the floor.

If it was June, I could leave my windows open and listen to a warm rain. I could fall asleep to the gentle worry of a bum crawling into my room in the night and not have to think about awakening to trek up Bascom Hill--Madison's last great bobsled run.

Instead, I will toss and turn and debate drinking my security whiskey, unable to read myself to sleep because the only books I've started recently are about poverty, terrorism and my white liberal guilt.

Music Review: Vampire Weekend

2008-03-02T21:12:00.005-06:00

I picked up this great new album today, the eponymous Vampire Weekend, released in January. It's by a indie outfit from New York, inspired by African music - and clearly Britpop like the Arctic Monkeys. Apparently, Spin declared they were the best new band of 2008. I believe it. They're very mellow and sound modern yet classic at the same time.

The album starts off with The Kids Don't Stand A Chance, which sounds like Bob Marley and the Clash got together to reimagine The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It moves on to the faster paced dance-hall almost-hit Walcott, which with its pounding pianos makes me really want to rock out. The acoustics on this song are amazing; springy and original, the song changes themes multiple times but still hangs together.
One and Campus are both instant classics; the former with its steady, bobbing beat; the latter, with its chilly lyrics and transformative styling.

Boston sounded a little too ska-esque for me, and it shows the limits of the style the Vampire's have created.

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa has a very fresh African sound which you can repeat over and over. The album ends strongly with A-Punk, Oxford Comma, and Mansard Roof. One could definitely listen to this album over and over - especially with Spring being (nearly) here. It's quite original, but you'll especially like it if you enjoy the most recent wave of britpop, world music, or just a 'Coastie' looking for some regional indie styling. Or - someone who just likes good music.

Spin Article

photo

2008-03-01T20:23:00.001-06:00

Check out this photo of Mallory and I standing on a radiator:

Just thought I'd share.

new features: rss feed, tag cloud

2008-03-01T18:33:00.006-06:00

There are a few cool new features on our blog today.

First, I've added my 'starred' feed from Google Reader. You can now see my most recently starred items. I'll try to only star 5 a day so you can see what I think is cool without having to subscribe the feed.

Adding an RSS feed is pretty straightforward in Blogger. Just add the RSS element and copy the RSS link from your google reader.

Second, I added a Tag Cloud that displays labels from our blog (From Phydeaux). It's pretty handy and in the future will probably be a better representation of my interests than my del.icio.us tagcloud. Del.icio.us has some cool stuff on it but most of my content is - well - lame. Lamer, at least, than LOTR jokes.

I've been reading A.J. Jacob's The Year of Living Biblically. It's quite good and very 'bloggy'. It's written in a diary-esque fashion. It's funny and-at times- moving, but I think he tried to take too much meaning from his experiences. The moral at the end of the story is something we, American consumers, derive way too much pleasure from. I think his documentary style almost requires it. In the vein of Morgan Spurlock, he undertakes some major change in habit for a period of time and document it. His previous book was about reading every article in the encyclopedia.

The religious idea, to live biblically for an entire year, following the commands of the bible with a literalism interpretation, is quite novel and fascinating. Americans are changing religions more and more frequently. We're entering a period where religious enlightenment is not attained through depth, but through breadth. Jacobs explores the depth of the religious movement in this country, but he does it in an individual way (which he acknowledges the limitations of). Unfortunately, it's the group experience which really interests social scientists. The few candid portraits he paints of group experiences - Hasidic Jews in New York having a drunken Crown Heights bash, for instance - are fascinating.

It is a good, interesting book but it definitely could have delved a little deeper and taken a step out of being a memoir. While that style definitely makes for a good read, it sometimes lacks in the subject's content and favors the individual experience.

I've been thinking about my multimedia project for class. I thought of two viable ideas and one completely non-viable idea. I'll try to describe each in a short little blurb, and maybe expand on the two viable ideas before I decide on which to do.

Viable Ideas:
1. Create a flash-based timeline of a historic cultural or political event. I would incorporate video (from youtube, slideshows, etc), audio (music, noise, speech), and static content (pictures, text). It would involve a lot of borrowing (Especially if the content was already collected at some source in another format) and a lot of creation, but it could end up being really cool. Imagine a self-scrollable timeline with shifting colors, content, etc. The form could change as you moved along it to match the event.

2. Economoic / Political Youtube videos. I would create videos describing basic or current political or economic concepts, such as Superdelegates, the subprime lending crisis, etc. The videos would be stylistically similar to the Commoncraft "Explanations in Plain English" videos. Mallory even gave me an idea for a style and a name. I could call it Candycraft or something similar; and use candy to describe basic items. For instance, I could use different colored jellybeans to represent trade goods. I might come up with another, more interesting theme / style; but we'll see.

Non-Viable Idea:
This is more my own little imagination running rampant. I would create a python script with two inputs - two Wikipedia pages. The script would then crawl the pages, collect links, and then piece them together to make a sort of visio-venn diagram/ flow chart (Here, clearly, the "Sort Of" denotes how much work this idea would require to get anywhere). It's like Kevin Bacon meets Wikipedia meets Visio.
Unfortunately, my Python skills aren't all that hot and I'm not sure this would even produce an interesting result. C'est la vie. Sometimes I regret not going into Computer Science. Then I remember how frustrating that can really be.

Jokes from my Mind Pantry

2008-03-01T17:48:00.003-06:00

Q: What is Tom Cruise's favorite part of Rivendell?

A: Elrond's cupboard!

Second A: Hahahahaha!

That came from my brain!

el goog del libros

2008-02-26T20:52:00.001-06:00

Check out my super-cool public starred Google Reader page!

And by my last post, I really meant

2008-02-26T00:28:00.003-06:00

...because I could wake up one morning and find out it's gone.

Here's to worries and futures and making Adam's Comm B class completely uncomfortable for him.

Pray to St. Yossarian for Clarity...

2008-02-25T23:48:00.005-06:00

Chad Groepper is 21. Chad Groepper is dead.

Luke Runyan is dead. Corey Spates is dead. Michael Manibog is dead.

They were all 21. 21 is the mode age of soldiers killed in the war this month so far.

One in five of them are 21.

Adam is 21.

Adam is excited about going to war for his country.

Hooah?

these are ordinary things

2008-02-25T11:00:00.002-06:00

The song is "Décollage" by Balayeurs du Desert. It's really quite excellent. Apparently, this group is incredibly popular throughout Europe. I wish we had amazing works of public art in this country. Of course, we have a different artistic model than exists in European countries - for better or for worse.

Note - also - that Décollage is a word meaning both the artistic technique (the reverse of collage), literally "tearing away", as well as the word used by the French space outfit, meaning "we have takeoff" in some sense. Fascinating.

blind optimism

2008-02-25T08:45:00.002-06:00

Thorns and roses. Here we go:

(-) The battle in Afghanistan. If / When I am deployed, I hope it's to that theater. It's the kind of war that's been fought throughout the ages. The mujahadeen there are fierce and the supplies to our soldiers limited. As an officer, you're really out there, calling the shots.

A few days ago, Senator John Warner, (R) Virginia, challenged Senator Obama's charge that many key battle-captains are reporting resource shortfalls and are being ignored by senior commanders and Washington in general. I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with that assessment - I think it's best made by those with more information than I have and by those commanders themselves - but the day that story was breaking on the blogs, this heartrending and intrepid account of a single company in Afghanistan broke in the NYT Magazine, making Senator Warner's questioning a little ridiculous.

Well, it's a great article - maybe not if you're squeamish or hold any misconceptions of what our soldiers are facing right now in the various theaters they are engaged in. It's a realistic view, I feel, of what's happening in some regions. It's not an 'average' or aggregate account - but I don't think anyone could give a non-biased aggregate account when the war is now a political issue on the national stage.

I suppose the only thing we can do is hope for reform and realize that we cannot fix everything in a day. Things are difficult to fix and require commitment, experience, and a willingness to make mistakes. I hope we are willing to make mistakes and then to be open to the lessons learned.

In any case, I'm torn between celebrating how long I have before my training is complete and how much I want to be in the fight. Things before that I saw as necessary prerequisites of the job I now see as valuable exercises for a real shooting war. I wanted to go to Airborne school to - mostly - have a good time and get those wings. I want to go to Ranger school to learn all the 'cool stuff' and get that tab.

Maybe I'm 'getting older' and my perception of the world is changing.

Maybe it's impossible to continually consider those terrible things; things that are terribly morbid and painful for our friends and families.

I had resolved to do this three years ago. My resolve is tempered with a healthy dose of realism about what we all must face, and I'm stronger for that. It's tempered by the comrades who have gone before me and those who will come after. It's tempered by those friends and loved ones who care and hurt and mourn before you've even done anything.

But it's strong. No matter how much I try to hide it, I'm steeling myself for the days I know will come. I'm an optimistic person and sometimes I just can't understand when people are morbid about soldiering in general. Perhaps I've been inoculated by patriotism, far-away training dates, and the Army "Warrior Ethos". I don't know. It's just words.

In the end, it's all just words. I wish I were done with words. I wish it were time for action.

(+) Paul Soglin. I remember hearing about him when I was a kid, and his activism always inspired me. Does anyone remember "They Marched Into Sunlight", that excellent book which became a beautiful PBS special? I remember watching that and thinking how amazing it is to inherit such a promising country from those who came before us. I want them to know how proud they've made us, those leaders of yesterday. Maybe ten, twenty years from now we can look back and say we've on par with half their accomplishments. I know that I am looking down, trying to find their footsteps.

(+) The New York Times Crossword Puzzle. On mornings where everything seems serious, it can really lighten up your day. My hiatus has somehow made me strong and I completed nearly all of it after PT this morning.

Or - it's Monday. I guess it should just be an easy day.

I wonder why we listen to poets when nobody gives a fuck

hack attack

2008-02-22T12:46:00.000-06:00

This is exceedingly cool. A must-see.

my enduring love...

2008-02-22T10:18:00.005-06:00

Scientology. That deadly, cryptic, white-wash of a 'religion'.

The CoS is a greedy corporate entity looking only to siphon money off their members. L. Ron Hubbard's 'Technologies' are sold to members and non-members, under the guise of religion, charity, and education. Just look at Narcanon. No proof it works. Proof it does not work. Still going strong. Look at the "Hollywood Education Literacy Program H.E.L.P.". It's an outlet to get more funds, pay for more 'tech', and siphon people into CoS fundraising activities. Look at "Applied Scholastics". L. Ron was a science fiction writer! There is no 'religious experience', no evidence, no data, no results - only brainwashing, corporate scheming, and overall malevolence.

So, anyways, I put these together using icanhascheezburger's great image builder - for your viewing pleasure:

"Fascist"

"Crimethink tech"

"Religion: where the money is"

what's his problem?!

2008-02-17T12:18:00.004-06:00

Mr. McCain is going to have one hell of a problem this November.

Why? Other than the perceived honesty of Barack Obama, you have the connection with the failed current president, George Bush (43). The easiest way to win an open seat is to tie the challenger to the incumbent.

It's all too easy in this case!
1. Both are less articulate than their challengers. While McCain is more articulate than Bush, Obama ramps up the rhetoric even more, making the gap obvious.

2. Lack of ideas and lack of hope. Already the party of negativity is trying to shoot down everything the left suggests. It's interesting to note that McCain's speeches are about playing down hope and playing up negativity. Hope is resonating with voters and is growing. When people want change - poll numbers clearly suggest this - will that be a good strategy? McCain's age also ties into this. Can an old guy really get the change we want?

3. Even the processes themselves are calling out for change. If a Democratic president is elected on top of the flawed Democratic primaries, they will still have incentive to make changes by eliminating or decreasing the role of superdelegates. An underdog has a more ideological constituency and are less reliant on the process for future elections. Someone like Obama could empower Dean to make the requisite changes to the party charter. Hillary could - or would - likely not.

4. Specifics. Specifics will end McCain in November. Here's why: All the minor constituencies that don't have a home in modern politics will glom on to someone who they can imprint than on to someone who is an unopen policy wonk. And why shouldn't they? Why vote for McCain when he is already set (Iraq war, economic policy), while someone like Obama isn't - and thus owes his victory to these constituencies?

5. The obvious one - and has less to do with McCain than with George Bush - the enthusiasm gap. Republicans have such an internal contradiction building within their party right now. They are the party built upon the right, but the cleavages are so gigantic that they will not be overcome except by a truly visionary right leader.

McCain isn't that leader - he's a fill-in. Think of it this way: Republicans, for the past 8 years, preferred to have George Bush 43 as their presidential candidate. Nothing has changed with McCain.

And they can't even agree on George Bush any longer.

--Hat tip to Kos for the McCain picture.

Thorns and Roses:
+ Morning mix tapes. Okay, so it's more like a playlist. It's perfect this morning. We're trapped inside because of the weather. Freezing rain and now snow. So we're reading, Mallory's in bed, and I'm pounding this out enjoying my french-press coffee and Bright Eyes, Built to Spill, and Yoko Kanno. There's nothing better than bad weather to engender happiness in indoor-people.

+ Side note - if you don't know who Yoko Kanno is, check out "Ghost in the Shell- Stand Alone Complex" OST and any Cowboy Bebop OST.

+ Getting my orders. I have yet to post this but - I know what the next year of my life holds! I graduate in May, get commissioned on the 18th, and start work on the 19th. I'll be working for the Army as a "Goldbar" until January '09. Basically, I'll be on campus getting paid. Sweet deal, huh? I'll then be going to BOLC II (Basic Officer Leadership Course II), a 6 week course, at Ft. Benning, GA (Home of the Infantry). From there, I'll go to BOLC III, a job-specific course formerly known as AOBC (Armor Officer Basic Course). I'll learn there the basics of scout, light, and heavy armor leadership. Following that, I'll attend any follow-on training and then move to my first duty station (Still not sure where that will be).

+ Michelle Obama. She's not a political wife; she's authentic. Check out this article. She dislikes politics but loves a fight. Reminds me of someone I know... *cough*...!

+ 50 Book Challenge. Yes, I'm going to try for it. I may fall behind during the semester, but I'll make it up over the summer. Actually, I'm already behind. So far this year I've read:
1. Bill Bryson's Shakespeare
2. Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City
3. J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye
4. Jason's I Killed Adolf Hitler (Does this even count?!)
5. Norman Mailer's A Castle in the Forest

And so far I'm reading:
1. A.J. Jacob's Year of Living Biblically
2. Dalai Lama's The Good Life
3. Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

So, if I finish some of those up quickly, I'll be back on track.

I may post some reviews or comments on the books I read, too.
Also, I'm not counting school-related books. Recreational reading only.

the first chapters of life almost made us give up altogether...

online dating is for fools

2008-02-15T08:43:00.004-06:00

The perceived legitimacy of an online community is directly proportional to the number of marriage proposals garnered on or through the website.

Discuss.

evidence...

Biological Anthropology and Its Love of Fantasy

2008-02-14T21:05:00.010-06:00

No, this blog post isn't going to be a blazing condemnation of biological anthro, exposing it as some sort of head in the clouds discipline. I love bio anthro, I love everything about it. For those of you who don't know, biological (or physical anthropology) is the sub-discipline of anthropology that focuses on the human skeleton. It encompasses the search for human remains, both modern and ancient to help elucidate things about our past. It works to piece together the fascinating history of human evolution, studies living apes and monkeys to learn more about ourselves, examines archaeological assemblages of human skeletal material to learn all sorts of interesting things about diet and nutrition and what people did while they were alive, it even helps identify and reconstruct the death of modern murder victims.

It's amazing what you can learn from a few bones.

But the more I learn about bio anthro and the more time I spend with the wonderful, geeky people who study it, the more I--a true nerd in my own right--see connections with our modern sci-fi fantasy world.

Let's begin with two big deals from the fields of anthropology and fantasy.

J.R.R. Tolkien and Louis Leakey.

I'm sure you all know about Tolkien, but what of Leakey? Louis Leakey was your typical British intellectual. He galloped off to Africa and didn't look back, spending a great deal of his life searching for the hominid skeleton that would make him famous. Incidentally, it was his wife, Mary, who did a lot of the work and eventually found their specimen-- the lovely robust australopithecine Australopithecus boisei, who Mary referred to as "Dear Boy"-- one day while Louis was sick in their tent. The find would throw them into the spotlight, National Geographic would follow them about for most of their lives and their children would go on to continue the Leakey family anthro legacy.

And here he is, Louis Leakey, with another great scientist who we all love and know, Jane Goodall. Leakey, in fact, was the one who gave Jane her first assignment to study chimps, a work that would continue her entire life and make her a household name.

To the right of course, is Tolkien, the hobbit master himself, and as you are sure to admit, Leakey's doppleganger.

So here we have two bigwigs of the fields, now let's jump to the subjects of their work and see how similar they really are.

I'm going to start with one of my new favorite hominoids, Oreopithecus bambolii, a Miocene ape that doing the bipedal thing long before we humans or any one of our genus hopped onto the scene. Found in near Tuscany, this specimen is helping raise questions about how we think about bipedalism and what, if anything, it had to do with making us "human." Plus, scientists have given it an adorable nickname thanks to its food-y genus (that really means ape from the hills) "Cookie Monster".

The reconstruction of little Oreo looks a lot like another ugly-cute biped from the fantasy world:

Jumping to a different realm in fantasy geekdom we have close ancestor of ours, Homo erectus.
The picture here is a reconstruction of a very well know nearly complete skeleton (nearly complete skeletons are almost never found) of a teenage H. erectus boy (awkard word combiniation intended) know as Turkana boy. I think he kind of looks like Voldemort might have if he went the peacenik route, quietly contemplating Mudblood/Pureblood relations rather than trying to scare the shit out of everybody.

And of course we have the most obvious example, Homo floresiensis, the much publicized "hobbit people". These tiny hominids lived on an island in the South Pacific, hunted tiny elephants, and (one assumes) smoked good pipe weed with Gandalf the Grey.

(Interestingly, these are the first two images to pop up when you search "hobbit" under google images)

I have, however, saved my favorite comparison for last. This reconstruction is of a prehistoric man found in Washington state a little over ten years ago, known as Kennewick Man. Being about 9,000 years old, his remains have been claimed by Native American groups as a ancestor. Much commotion was made however when it was discovered his face bore striking resemblance to a certain captain of the USS Enterprise.

Probama

2008-02-13T21:42:00.003-06:00

Went to the Obama rally at the Kohl Center last night.

And I left feeling bolstered. It was the same way I feel after talking with my parents, having called them weeping, curled up in bed with the kind of cynical lethargy college's free time allows. I felt like I was being listened to, that I was silly for being jaded, that I was smart and capable and able to turn things around, even just a little bit. It was the way I used to feel in church when I was younger.

I know that's a bit fluffy and crap. That I'm being trite and saccharine. I really know it. And I know I shouldn't be swept up, that I shouldn't buy into hope or political promises. But I wonder, without forgetting the inevitable truth that things fall apart, that we'll throw this country into entropy until it implodes, if it's not okay to drink the optimist Kool-Aid.

Is it okay to use Obama's speeches as Prozac, to prescribe myself with daily doses of a deep voice and a hopeful message to get through the years? Will I build up a tolerance? Will I lose the buzz?

I don't know. But having never experimented with mind-altering substances, maybe I should begin dabbling in personality-altering ones.

So here goes nothing. I'll start out with a small dose of "yes we can" and see where it takes me.

"Liveblogging the Debates"

2008-02-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

So Mallory and I attended the College Dem v. College Rep debate this evening. What an enlightening experience...!

The College Republicans were absolutely destroyed. Oliver Kiefer had a sane and measured response to every question. Ms. Miko, on the other hand, failed to answer a single question. (Edited to remove personal attack.)

RAND released a report - which was suppressed until now - regarding the military's ability to fight an insurgency. If we are to learn, it starts with the top. We cannot have this blind, goal-less, strategy-less doctrine eminating from the presidency downward. It's failed us and will continue to do so.

We have no diplomacy. We took a 5 year hiatus from discussing Israel - even considering 'carrots & sticks' in the region.

And now, we're continuing to use outdated platitudes and Americana to justify a system that continues to not work.

Our peace is fragile and based on temporary cease-fires called by insurgent leaders so they can fight among themselves. Let's not be mistaken: Fighting us has political reasons. And the current peace has political reasons. Those who would see us leave are using this time to strengthen their domestic support and knock off their enemies.

Ugh. The McCain answer is to stay until the end. Who's end? If we're not careful, it will be ours.

I'll repost this because it needs to be seen:

they don't call the shots (but they're in the line of fire)

McCain is more of the same

2008-02-11T11:27:00.000-06:00

What an easy guy to beat. He's tied his fate in with George Bush. Finally, these divisive people will be out of here.

My mom told me the other day that she isn't voting for Hillary because she voted for this war. That component is going to be incredibly powerful this year. Will moderates show up for McCain when he's hitched his horse on the war post? Let alone Hillary!

The "which is more annoying?" game!

2008-02-11T08:10:00.001-06:00

Option 1, Winston

Option 2, Celine Dion

Supporting evidence

Option 3, Lazytown

majority rule

2008-02-10T17:54:00.000-06:00

It's straight-up thorns 'n roses tonight.
+ Obama wins Maine, Washington, Nebraska, and Louisiana. Furthermore, Obama has outstripped Clinton in fundraising - raising 30 million this past month. Clinton is definitely treating Obama's victories in an Orwellian way. Whenever he wins, she doesn't mention it. It's kind of ridiculous. The hubris! She also just released her campaign manager. This is a change election. When the establishment candidate doesn't win, it'll be a beautiful day for America. P.s.: I'm sorry I ever doubted, O-B!

- Cold weather. I went to play volleyball this afternoon and my nose almost fell off.

+ Winning volleyball. 1-0!

- Piles of work. I have to finish my Econ homework, prepare for an Econ quiz, clean my house, prepare for counseling - I have 4 mentees this semester -, write an evaluation for a cadet, put together the newsletter 'Reveille', prepare to meet my Russian Politics professor tomorrow... Too much to do in one night. D'oh!

+ Carla Bruni's new album, "No Promises". It's sung in english - which is better for me, anyways. It's her take on classic English and American poetry. Great stuff!

I'll leave it at that tonight. I'll probably update again soon when I have something interesting to say. :-)

everybody's dying just to get the disease

Brah!

2008-02-08T10:08:00.000-06:00

Woah, brah!

This totally reminds me of my roommate. Ha!

Smattering

2008-02-07T20:23:00.001-06:00

+Feingold for the Feingold Amendment to FISA and making sure we all know what this is: a power grab intended to increase the power of the security establishment. If Feingold is your senator, call him and let him know what a great job he's doing.

-Muslim groups attempting to censor Wikipedia. What's this craziness? Why don't they just go join Conservapedia? In all seriousness, the online community should not give in to demands of censorship from anyone. Thankfully, even if Wikipedia were censored, the internet would still have the images. As it was put famously by John Gilmore, "The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

+ A contest on the Freakonomics blog (Linked from Bleat) about a "six-word motto for the United States". My favorites:
"Intelligently designed to constantly evolve.", srb
“IN UR KOUNTRY, STEALIN UR OILZ”, Austin
“It beats living in Soviet Russia”, Jordi Scrubbings
“… or the terrorists have already won …”, th
"Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness, Asterisk.", Jeff

What do you think? What should our motto be?

If you watch one video this year...

2008-02-04T22:25:00.001-06:00

...This should be it.

Yes we can.

bang is the meaning of a gun

2008-02-03T21:35:00.000-06:00

I have much I can write about today. I'll try to keep it brief. Brevity is important when you want to ramble.

First, on immigrant labor. Mallory and I ate at La Hacienda this evening. I really do love that restaurant. The food tastes great, and it's typical Mexican fare - not "Mexican-American". I love that Park Street has developed somewhat of a Mexican community. It's funny that we condemn these people - many of whom have lived here for a very, very long time - yet we consume the fruits of their labor and live on their backs. Luckily, immigration offers a solution to the problem of exploitation. Immigrants, especially immigrants inclined to entrepreneurialism, are able to see the problems in our society and set out to fix them. They can see where money can be made and can make a difference.

I have much I can write about, but I'm already feeling tired just pounding this out! I'll probably ramble more about it in the future. Immigration is, as we all know, a big topic in this country. Little is done to examine the real economic impact of immigrants. Perhaps we should do that more before we submit ourselves to demagogues who try to make us afraid of people simply because they have a different color skin.

Another topic I've been thinking about today is electoral structure, the meddling of the powers that be in elections - not only direct influence but the indirect influence created by structural changes in the system of elections - and what really constitutes democratic action. As a committed democrat (and that's small d democrat, take note--), and as a political scientist (image management? check-- although I am in training, I like to take the mantle--), I find more and more that we cannot simply label all elections democratic, even ones taken in the most fair of circumstances. There are tough questions that need to be asked about the interests that we allow to come to power across the globe (and by "we", I don't mean the royal American we, but rather the "we, the people" of global humanity).

Every electoral decision is made with real, life-or-death consequences. Do we have single member districts? Winner takes all elections? Runoff elections? Single-party systems? Do we outlaw parties? Do we have public financing? Do we require voter ID at our polling places? Do we vote for candidates or party lists? Who decides? Who selects the polling places, the hours, the days for elections? Who makes up the ballots, decides on the voting machines? Who decides which district is where, who will live in it, and where its lines lie?

Finally, do any of these questions really matter? Are we changing the electoral regime just to make trade-offs that will lift one party or candidate and sink another? Will these choices lift one segment of society and sink another?

Perhaps it will always be political. Perhaps scientists are simply tools of the ruling elite and will be utilized by the party system to justify the status quo.

Then again, perhaps not.

Thorns & Roses
+ There Will Be Blood. What an amazing film. Mallory and I went to see it for the first time, the second time for me. Daniel Day Lewis is simply electrifying and intense throughout the entire movie. What a wild man.

+ Chinese rebel hackers attacking the so-called 'Great Firewall of China'. The revolution, apparently, will be digitized. The internet, with all of its new institutions - blogs, photo-sharing, social networking, video sharing - cannot be held back or restrained. Nor should it be. Information wants to be free. It just goes to show that in this century no institution can monopolize the political landscape and dominate any form of political thought. Hopefully, the Chinese government will not resort to violence to restore its place as the sole institution. If it did, it would be a step back for China and a step back for the Hu regime.

- Increases in military spending. We've got too many problems that the military just can't solve. It's time we demobilize out of our cold war stance and begin investing in a true international future. If anyone hasn't seen this, a map of the federal government's budget, check it out. It's worth the time to poke around and see where our tax dollars are going.

+ Creativity comes out of time and effort, not 'eureka' moments. An interesting tidbit out of the NYT for all you creative types out there.

+/- The Giants won the super bowl. I didn't watch it, but I'm indifferent-pleased with the results. At the very least, I won't have to hear my roommate shout about Boston teams for a while.

And one final thing - anyone know of a good geography blog?

There's something wrong with me, I'm a cuckoo.

Dress to impress

2008-02-01T10:08:00.000-06:00

So, what is the point of keeping an online identity, where people, even from around the world, can read news about you - even, sometimes, your innermost thoughts. Is this person we've created the same as the person we are 'in the real world'? Do they ever meet? If they are different, do they meet when we are around those people who are aware of - or have 'met' - our digital identity?

This article was in the Times earlier this month. Impression management is an interesting theory for why people act the way they do. Our generation is intimately connected to this kind of digital strategy. We are pressured to show ourselves online, but then we choose which part of ourselves. Or, enhance a part of ourselves. The classic example is the "MySpace picture", using odd camera angles or photoshop enhancements to add 'beauty' and lose pounds.

Interesting enough. Is this internet revolution creating self-actualizing people or creating some sort of 'move-to-the-center' world where everyone tries to copy the person next to them?

If our profiles are copy & paste, and our profiles are reflections of our personality, are our personalities 'copy & paste'? We try not to think like that - it's the defensive nature of our egos - but I think it's true. We, as a culture, tend to copy and move with the flow of society.

What does everyone else think? Do we manage our images, or just maintain them to reflect our own identities?

Okay. Thorns and Roses:
+ The cold weather has broken. It actually felt normal to be outside this morning. I didn't even wear my hat - yes, that ugly, ugly, pale-green Army issue winter hat. Never Again.

+ More on the French Societie General scandal.. Turns out he was able to break the security systems and make billions in unauthorized trades (and lose billions in bad bets) with simple tools provided by Microsoft. Turns out that security by obscurity doesn't really work - and security by being an oppressive company isn't much help either. It's quite a libertarian notion that people with computer skills should be constantly testing the bounds of the digital world, but it's only through that exploration that we can avoid the big cracks in the cement like this.]

+ The D debates. We're all on the same page now - I hope. Maybe the attacks will stop and we'll get on to winning the general election.

+ Youtube music/media mashups are great. Here's something I found this morning - Helter Skelter set to the opening scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Check it out:

God only knows when your word isn't pure

Let's see if my Intuition has any Volition

2008-01-31T18:08:00.000-06:00

So far, I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job at ticking off the necessary items on the small town girl goes to university and expands her mind list. I've embraced evolution, wept drunkenly because I'm convinced I've fabricated my own reality and my existence is an illusion, had what felt like meaningful breakthroughs in cafe conversations, told my little sister I don't believe in god on Christmas Eve, selected an utterly useless major and on and on and on.

And naturally, in all my young liberal university student glory, I revel in the sex advice column of Dan Savage.

Mostly for the raunch but also for his good natured attitude. Listening to his podcast as I was walking to class (see how hard I am working to live up to my useless liberal arts pursuits potential?) on came one of his listeners moaning about her boyfriend's porn "problem". And so commences the great porn debate.

For all my huddled-up country-girl naivete prior to college I never had a problem with porn. I didn't delve into it, fearing God and my mother, but had no need to with all the smutty books I stumbled upon.

So, I've never really understood some women's gag reflex to pornography, and how they feel their boyfriends' masturbatory habits poison their relationships. Which leads me to my next thought--these women are classic about-to-become-abusive boyfriends.

What are they saying? Essentially, they're telling their boyfriends, "Don't you dare think about another woman sexually. You will express your sexuality when I say you can, your dick is my possession."

Granted, some guys are in to that. But for the rest of them, this is really just a form of emotional abuse. If a man was limiting his girlfriend or his wife's interaction with other men or putting limits on her privacy or sexual expression we would see him as jealous, as overly possessive. This type of behavior is supposed to be the most telling hint that a man will become abusive. So how are we supposed to interpret this behavior in women?

We demonize men for their years of repressing female sexuality and once we've been liberated turn around and try to shackle their junk.

Of course, I'm forgetting the most common arguments against pornography-- it demeans women. And this is a tricky one to navigate.

Watching some porn, it's very clear that these women are not enjoying themselves. I've seen some empty, haunted faces gagging on way too much cock. And guess, what? It didn't turn me on and I didn't continue watching. For women who have been in sexual experiences that they didn't enjoy, that made them feel demoralized or subhuman, I think it is pretty simple to recognize that kind of suffering in another woman. And it's disturbing.

But at the same time, this is not the only kind of pornography out there. And it's probably not the only kind of porn your boyfriend is having some private time watching.

Porn does not make men demean women. Asshole guys would get plenty of joy demeaning women with or without the aid of pornography.

Porn should not feel like cheating. Your boyfriend touching himself is not infidelity. His right hand is not a stranger's vagina.

Porn does not cause emotional rifts in relationships. One person trying to control the other person and dictate the bounds of their expression causes emotional rifts.

So let's all stop trying to keep each other's dicks and pussies on lockdown, huh? Let's make this world a place where it's just as okay for a woman to keep a vibrator in her bedside table as it is for man to grab himself to hot asian lesbian pee videos.

A place where we can all laugh at the delightfully ridiculous world of human sexual expression, the way God, Darwin and Dan Savage intended.

Cold!

2008-01-30T10:16:00.000-06:00

Some more political news:
Edwards has left the race, leaving only Hillary and Barack. Not surprising. I AM surprised that he didn't endorse someone. Maybe if they pay some lip service to his populism he'll get on board.

Richardson is debating who to endorse. I think he is a natural Barack ally, but I also think that Clinton is much more centrist than many people believe her to be. Of course, he's been a crucial Clinton supporter in the past, as a former Clinton administration official.

Giuliani is gone. Who? His campaign has a moral:
1. Have some substance beyond a national tragedy. Especially one which highlights how little you did in your former post.
2. Don't pick one primary state - especially a winner-takes-all state - far into the campaign. You're going to get burned by a week's worth of momentum.
3. Don't hire Kerik.
He had a Cloverfield campaign. Lots of smoke and mirrors, but not much else.

In other news:
- You can now only dip once. Good news for chip fans, bad news for the rest of us. Dip is the best part of the equation. It's the ONLY part of the equation. Chips are just a tool used to get more dip to our mouths. Besides, Sienfeld SUCKS*! AGGHhh! (*See yesterday's blog)

- Growth slow in the fourth quarter, and the Fed is set to meet to discuss another rate cut. This is bad news, but our economy needs some time to restructure and gain some credit discipline. Beyond that, the weak dollar will boost our exports and maybe put us in the position we want to be in ten, twenty years from now. Or - maybe our economy is fundamentally strong. Or - maybe we're on a slippery slope downward, at least compared to the EU and China. If the economy is NOT fundamentally strong - then we need a reassessment, and a higher rate, so the savings rate increases and our fundamentally strong businesses survive. p.s., pay me in Euros.

+ Jersey Traditions and the gentleman quoted in this article (From NYT):
"'Once you start going to beefsteaks, it’s an addiction,' said Al Baker, a Hasbrouck Heights policeman who had organized the evening’s festivities to benefit the Special Olympics. 'You’ve got the tender beef, butter, salt, French fries, beer — all your major food groups.'"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

2008-01-29T20:51:00.000-06:00

Hol-ee Shit.

So Best Week Ever posted this young man's video Rambo review and I am enthralled. What an interesting young gentleman!

I looked at his other videos. Check this one out:

The comment section is the greatest. Jerry Sienfeld (sic) commented "Hey, fuck you kid!"

I hope this kid keeps going. He certainly isn't out of the ordinary for most of our cultural commentators.

And I, too, would like to see elephants lift a plane.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Goes the Trolley!

2008-01-29T20:22:00.000-06:00

Let me preface my first entry to this class-dictated form of creativity (and by class-dictated I mean made for a class rather than some sort of bourgeoisie-approved literary creation, which blogs OBVIOUSLY are not) by saying I am not now and never was a supporter of the blog title.

Honestly, I'm sure Adam has told me of its origin, and I am also sure that I was not listening. No blog title could ever make me happy. Because here are the stipulations for a perfect blog title:

1) Incredibly witty or quirky reference to an impossibly obscure and cool source

2) Recognized by everyone for being incredibly witty and quirky from an impossibly obscure and cool source, proving once and for all that the blogger is epitome of heaven

I, well-read and good-looking as I may be, have never been awesome enough to tunnel through avante-garde subcultures discovering the sort of things I would consider possible references for acceptable blog titles.

In essence, the blog title is a kind of junior high popularity contest I play with myself. I am never quite up to the level of the cool blogging kids who smoke in the parking lot, dye their hair and have opinions on things.

But. I have fantasies about sleeping with them.

I would like to finish by saying, I intend to do two things with my time spent here at Hunger and Ridicule:

Firstly: Daily remind Adam how awesome, I, his girlfriend, am, thusly leading to an out-pouring of adoration and verbal praise.

Secondly: Mock (in a delightfully precocious manner) all of Adam's blogging, purely for my own enjoyment.

(Seriously debated ending this post with "Fin" but, fear it would look incredibly pretentious. Like some bloggers. Who blog for this blog.)

low or high culture

2008-01-28T13:30:00.001-06:00

I'm still figuring out what I should write about here. Should I flood the world with more writing from a left-leaning student? It seems we've had enough of that. My narcissism would permit it, but I'm not sure my readership would.

I could follow the memes, I suppose. Celebrity worship is pretty big these days. Too low brow, I know - even for a blog. Can someone DDOS Perez Hilton (If only we had better science education in this country, B.S. could lead the way in doing just that)? I suppose the high-brow memes are worthwhile, at least for self-improvement. 50 book challenge, cooking-and-taking-photos-of-what-you-made (is this a meme, or a theme, or some sort of zeitgeist-ian internet reflection of our obsession with food?), or spite towards everyone - well, the name at least suggests the last two. I rely on Mallory to be the cooking brain and...

Well, my pretentiousness can get the better of me at times, but I'm not angry enough to make a spite blog.

Well, on most days.

I could rely on the "good, bad, neutral" method ("Cheers & Jeers", "Thorns and Roses") to categorize this blog, but who knows if that will last. Let's try it:

+ Coffee time. I recently finished Garrison Keillor's "Homegrown Democrat". The man is intoxicatingly midwestern. The majority of his rambling, as the book suggests, is homegrown - not rather theoretical, but placed in his literal growing up. That is to say, he had an education in the midwest - a stellar one, at that. Back on subject - I finished Mr. Keillor's book in a coffee shop, and the center of his egalitarian Minnisot-ian vision was the coffee shop, where intellectuals and workers both meet. I think of all the times I've spent in coffee shops. What wonderful places with such wonderful memories. Judith Warner really captures this with her article in Domestic Disturbances. A wonderful, albeit sentimental, piece.

+ Barack's Bounce. I love primary season. Things can change so rapidly. I thought Barack would lose; the Bradley effect too strong, Hillary's national support insurmountable, and Bill's presence intoxicating for committed D voters. No more. Bill's presence in Hillary's campaign is being scorned. Huzzah! Now we know who Barack is running against! He's locked up a big win in S.C., an endorsement by both big Kennedys, and a fundraising and national polling boost.

+ Dirty Rice. Potatoes - red, cubed. Chicken, cooked in the bottom of a kettle with olive oil. Black beans and corn. Wild rice. Peppers. Just cook ingredients separately and throw them in together, then simmer for heat. It lasted until yesterday - I didn't want to eat it too quickly. It's quite thick, but goes great with a sandwich - especially a cheese sandwich.

- Recession. It will be interesting to study, but it is a period on America's declining economic sentence. It's times like these that I am glad to be a public servant - even for the pay, however meager it can be compared to the private sector.

take me down to the cities of the future

'Old Folks', International Affairs, and the continuing influence of H. Kissinger

2008-01-23T21:27:00.000-06:00

So, today I saw Professor Suri at the Edgewater. He gave a lecture regarding his new book, Henry Kissinger and the American Century, a look through primary documents - transcripts, letters, and a series of interviews with Kissinger himself. He gave a very interesting lecture, and I could summarize it here, but I think the book covers many of the points that he discussed, so I'll leave that to you. He made two points that really stuck with me:

1. Our educational system focuses too much on produces policymakers and businesspeople (i.e, technical professionals) and not enough on international citizens and regional specialists and,

2. We need to draw a line between ourselves and dictatorial leaders in these countries whose support we rely on - especially those countries who are receiving financial aid. Egypt and Pakistan are contemporary examples, illustrating the continuation of the Kissinger doctrine.

Beyond those points, which I think need rapid rectification, the lecture made me realize something else which was very interesting. There is a gap in intellectual participation, and it's weakening our country. The Council for Foreign Affairs sponsored this event. The majority of the participants were older. I have nothing against the experienced, wise, critical members of this group. I just wish that there were young participants. A community of mentors who would bring in young people to these sorts of programs and lectures would probably have a positive effect on the entire community of international relations specialists.