O Happy Day!
Your Humble Scribe has been gifted! A Vacuum Wine Saver, from Pablo!
Fortunately, Pablo is familiar with my unpleasant personality and, after briefly snatching it back and trying to stuff it into a paper bag, has apparently forgiven my immediate response that "Huh. Wine savers are for wimps who can't finish the whole bottle." Because he's a generous and forgiving person, he'll still let me watch Firefly. Right?... Right?....
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
A correction:
Pablo wishes to inform the world that he inadvertently misquoted Niezsche. It's "must" be overcome, not "should."
Gone to the kitchen for another beer. Note to self: remember to make CD burn of Pablo's CD of songs by Marvin the Paranoid Android. It's legal, since the CD jacket says "these files are intended for academic use only".
Pablo wishes to inform the world that he inadvertently misquoted Niezsche. It's "must" be overcome, not "should."
Gone to the kitchen for another beer. Note to self: remember to make CD burn of Pablo's CD of songs by Marvin the Paranoid Android. It's legal, since the CD jacket says "these files are intended for academic use only".
LIVE! From the House of Pablo!
Your Truly returned from Missouri late last night, and will be spending New Year's Eve with the illustrious Pablo. With any luck, Pablo will remember where he stashed the videotaped episodes of Firefly.
Pablo Speaks:
"Man, however, is something that should be overcome." No wait, that was Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Perhaps this is why Pablo remains The Blogless. He has nothing original to say, apparently. I think I need another beer. Fortunately, the return credit from Great-Aunt H.'s gift just about covers it.
Your Truly returned from Missouri late last night, and will be spending New Year's Eve with the illustrious Pablo. With any luck, Pablo will remember where he stashed the videotaped episodes of Firefly.
Pablo Speaks:
"Man, however, is something that should be overcome." No wait, that was Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Perhaps this is why Pablo remains The Blogless. He has nothing original to say, apparently. I think I need another beer. Fortunately, the return credit from Great-Aunt H.'s gift just about covers it.
Monday, December 22, 2003
The X(mas) Files
... in which our two favorite government investigators discover a disturbing pattern of ritualistic serial home invasions.
(Again, thanks to Louise.)
... in which our two favorite government investigators discover a disturbing pattern of ritualistic serial home invasions.
(Again, thanks to Louise.)
Roadblogging
I'm blogging this afternoon from a relative's (slow, balky, cranky, arrgghh!) computer in north Dallas, overlooking an (unfrozen!) swimming pool where (green! leafy!) trees blow gently back and forth in a 61-degree F breeze.
Since Enetation has decided not to accept comments from said slow/balky/cranky computer, I'm going to take care of a few comment responses here, lest people think that I'm ignoring them.
Trebor, I didn't receive your comment until I was already here in Texas with a bought-&-paid-for return ticket to Michigan. However, if you want to get together for a beer or two, let me know by cell phone. (Number will be forwarded in private e'mail.)
Carlos and Pablo, give me a call whenever convenient. I'll be in Dallas until the 25th, then back in Dallas again from about the 28th to the 3rd. Carlos mentioned wanting to see "Barbarian Invasions", which according to the Dallas Observer's webpage is playing at the Inwood Theater.
Fiend, as you probably know, the minor contretemps over the writing honor that King received recently is just the latest skirmish in the running battle between the academic exclusivists (who, I think, enjoy feeling a snarky sense of superiority over writing and allegedly reading books beyond the comprehension of the mere hoipolloi) and those who write books that actual people really do read. I've always felt that King sort of exists on a borderline between those two clans, perhaps slightly skewed toward the populist side but not wholly engulfed in it. His books, for all their popular appeal, do on occasion have a cultural, psychological, and emotional edge to them that pure shlock writers like Tom Clancy, Danielle Steel, et al, lack. (Even if his relatively infrequent sex scenes don't quite meet your exacting standards.)
As for Ken-&-Barbie Aragorn-&-Arwen, well, what do you expect in terms of related interests? I noticed that although Mattel made at least a token effort to make the Aragorn figure vaguely resemble Viggo M. from a distance, Barbie remains her usual cartoonish, smirking, decidedly un-elvish self, impossible to mistake for the ethereal Liv T.
I may post a few more Christmas-related links here over the next hour, before taking a telephone-interview call from a public library in far southwestern Michigan. Wish me luck.
I'm blogging this afternoon from a relative's (slow, balky, cranky, arrgghh!) computer in north Dallas, overlooking an (unfrozen!) swimming pool where (green! leafy!) trees blow gently back and forth in a 61-degree F breeze.
Since Enetation has decided not to accept comments from said slow/balky/cranky computer, I'm going to take care of a few comment responses here, lest people think that I'm ignoring them.
Trebor, I didn't receive your comment until I was already here in Texas with a bought-&-paid-for return ticket to Michigan. However, if you want to get together for a beer or two, let me know by cell phone. (Number will be forwarded in private e'mail.)
Carlos and Pablo, give me a call whenever convenient. I'll be in Dallas until the 25th, then back in Dallas again from about the 28th to the 3rd. Carlos mentioned wanting to see "Barbarian Invasions", which according to the Dallas Observer's webpage is playing at the Inwood Theater.
Fiend, as you probably know, the minor contretemps over the writing honor that King received recently is just the latest skirmish in the running battle between the academic exclusivists (who, I think, enjoy feeling a snarky sense of superiority over writing and allegedly reading books beyond the comprehension of the mere hoipolloi) and those who write books that actual people really do read. I've always felt that King sort of exists on a borderline between those two clans, perhaps slightly skewed toward the populist side but not wholly engulfed in it. His books, for all their popular appeal, do on occasion have a cultural, psychological, and emotional edge to them that pure shlock writers like Tom Clancy, Danielle Steel, et al, lack. (Even if his relatively infrequent sex scenes don't quite meet your exacting standards.
As for Ken-&-Barbie Aragorn-&-Arwen, well, what do you expect in terms of related interests? I noticed that although Mattel made at least a token effort to make the Aragorn figure vaguely resemble Viggo M. from a distance, Barbie remains her usual cartoonish, smirking, decidedly un-elvish self, impossible to mistake for the ethereal Liv T.
I may post a few more Christmas-related links here over the next hour, before taking a telephone-interview call from a public library in far southwestern Michigan. Wish me luck.
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Travel plans
It looks like Yours-Truly will spend most of the next month bouncing between Michigan and Texas like some kind of demented ping-pong ball. I'm off to Texas for the happy occasion of The Wedding Of The Great Yam next week. Then I'm back in Michigan for the final week of the semester. Then back to Texas for the family Christmas festivities, which will probably include a highway trip up to Missouri and back to visit various elderly relatives (who after all, will want to meet the Bride of Yam). Then back to Michigan. With any luck, I may be able to meet up with Pablo and Carlos and other friends of yore sometime in this frenzy.
Since I'm interested in railroads, and since for the first time in two years I live within reasonable local driving distance of an Amtrak depot, I thought I'd try Amtrak for this year's Christmas travel. Sadly, it was not to be. When I told the ticket agent that I was interested in travelling from Michigan to Texas, his first suggestion was that I go by air instead. After being assured that, yes, I really was interested in finding out about train travel between those two points, he checked for availability of coach seats. The result: a fare price higher than an airline ticket, with the only available fare under $400 being on a train that arrives back at my departure point at 11:38 p.m. the evening before I have to be back at work.
Oh, by the way, he mentioned, we probably won't have any place for you to park a vehicle at the depot, thanks to an ongoing construction project. Apparently I would have to hail a taxi or have a friend come and pick me up at midnight, or whenever the train managed to arrive.
The schedule presented also depended on making a key connection at Chicago between the Texas Eagle and the Michigan train, with a three-hour layover. The Eagle, Amtrak train #21/22, has been reported to frequently run several hours late, thanks largely to hostile or indifferent treatment by Union Pacific dispatchers and crews:
"AMTRAK TRAIN DELAYS ON THE UNION PACIFIC RIGHT OF WAY - September 16, 2002. Friends of Amtrak has learned of some rather alarming statistics regarding delays of Amtrak trains on Union Pacific tracks.
In August 2002, UP-attributable delay to Trains 21 and 22 totalled 20,381 minutes, or an approximate average of 339.7 minutes per train; that's an astounding 5.5 hours of UP-attributable delay for each and every Train 21 and 22."
From Friends of Amtrak, Archived News 2002
I figured that my chances of making that connection at Chicago were about as good as my chances of getting a taxi or a ride from the depot to my apartment at midnight. It would still be fun to try Amtrak one of these days, but only when I can afford a more relaxed schedule. Or they adopt a less relaxed one, and find some way to make Union Pacific honor it.
It looks like Yours-Truly will spend most of the next month bouncing between Michigan and Texas like some kind of demented ping-pong ball. I'm off to Texas for the happy occasion of The Wedding Of The Great Yam next week. Then I'm back in Michigan for the final week of the semester. Then back to Texas for the family Christmas festivities, which will probably include a highway trip up to Missouri and back to visit various elderly relatives (who after all, will want to meet the Bride of Yam). Then back to Michigan. With any luck, I may be able to meet up with Pablo and Carlos and other friends of yore sometime in this frenzy.
Since I'm interested in railroads, and since for the first time in two years I live within reasonable local driving distance of an Amtrak depot, I thought I'd try Amtrak for this year's Christmas travel. Sadly, it was not to be. When I told the ticket agent that I was interested in travelling from Michigan to Texas, his first suggestion was that I go by air instead. After being assured that, yes, I really was interested in finding out about train travel between those two points, he checked for availability of coach seats. The result: a fare price higher than an airline ticket, with the only available fare under $400 being on a train that arrives back at my departure point at 11:38 p.m. the evening before I have to be back at work.
Oh, by the way, he mentioned, we probably won't have any place for you to park a vehicle at the depot, thanks to an ongoing construction project. Apparently I would have to hail a taxi or have a friend come and pick me up at midnight, or whenever the train managed to arrive.
The schedule presented also depended on making a key connection at Chicago between the Texas Eagle and the Michigan train, with a three-hour layover. The Eagle, Amtrak train #21/22, has been reported to frequently run several hours late, thanks largely to hostile or indifferent treatment by Union Pacific dispatchers and crews:
"AMTRAK TRAIN DELAYS ON THE UNION PACIFIC RIGHT OF WAY - September 16, 2002. Friends of Amtrak has learned of some rather alarming statistics regarding delays of Amtrak trains on Union Pacific tracks.
In August 2002, UP-attributable delay to Trains 21 and 22 totalled 20,381 minutes, or an approximate average of 339.7 minutes per train; that's an astounding 5.5 hours of UP-attributable delay for each and every Train 21 and 22."
From Friends of Amtrak, Archived News 2002
I figured that my chances of making that connection at Chicago were about as good as my chances of getting a taxi or a ride from the depot to my apartment at midnight. It would still be fun to try Amtrak one of these days, but only when I can afford a more relaxed schedule. Or they adopt a less relaxed one, and find some way to make Union Pacific honor it.
Is my brain shrinking?
CNN reports that a group of medical researchers in Dallas, Texas, have found a link between "light" alcohol consumption and brain shrinkage.
Thats bul. Ime as smart as i ever wuz. im not geting eny dumer. So ther.
[Edit, 3/28/07, salvaging comments:]
Carlos Zamora @ 9:24PM | 2003-12-07| permalink
But heavy alcohol usage makes you smarter?
email | website
Carlos Zamora @ 9:18PM | 2003-12-07| permalink
Oops, shoulda read the article before posting a smart alec comment.
email | website
CNN reports that a group of medical researchers in Dallas, Texas, have found a link between "light" alcohol consumption and brain shrinkage.
Thats bul. Ime as smart as i ever wuz. im not geting eny dumer. So ther.
[Edit, 3/28/07, salvaging comments:]
Carlos Zamora @ 9:24PM | 2003-12-07| permalink
But heavy alcohol usage makes you smarter?
email | website
Carlos Zamora @ 9:18PM | 2003-12-07| permalink
Oops, shoulda read the article before posting a smart alec comment.
email | website
More on "action figures"
Has the Tolkien Estate exercised tasteful restraint in licensing Lord-of-the-Rings merchandise? You be the judge.
Has the Tolkien Estate exercised tasteful restraint in licensing Lord-of-the-Rings merchandise? You be the judge.
Poe, E. Near a Raven
I came across this clever puzzle-poem while looking up background information about the author's recording of Deems Taylor's long-lost musical interpretation of Jurgen. Kudos to anyone who can solve it before reading the solution.
I came across this clever puzzle-poem while looking up background information about the author's recording of Deems Taylor's long-lost musical interpretation of Jurgen. Kudos to anyone who can solve it before reading the solution.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Take this cup...?
Since two or three of my presumed teeming hordes of devoted readers have expressed interest in The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's cinematic depiction of the Crucifixion and related events, this story may be of some interest to them. Apparently Gibson recently withdrew the film from a planned showing to Vatican officials, saying that he had second thoughts about some scenes and wanted to re-edit it.
I hope he doesn't lose confidence or distributors. The movie industry produces too few films that display any personal conviction or intellectual courage on the part of the filmmaker, and good or bad, this film sounds like an exception to that rule. I wouldn't mind if he relaxed his self-imposed rules far enough to include a translation of the Aramaic and Latin dialogue, though.
P.S. I don't know what popup ads may be displayed on others' screens, but I found it moderately amusing that when I went to the official English-language home page for The Passion of the Christ and selected the link marked "story", the sponsor's popup that appeared was from "Clean Films", a purveyor of edited, "family-friendly" videorecordings, and featured an image of a DVD of Braveheart, one of Gibson's best-known films, apparently dropping through the air toward a trash can. I guess that's irony for ya.
Since two or three of my presumed teeming hordes of devoted readers have expressed interest in The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's cinematic depiction of the Crucifixion and related events, this story may be of some interest to them. Apparently Gibson recently withdrew the film from a planned showing to Vatican officials, saying that he had second thoughts about some scenes and wanted to re-edit it.
I hope he doesn't lose confidence or distributors. The movie industry produces too few films that display any personal conviction or intellectual courage on the part of the filmmaker, and good or bad, this film sounds like an exception to that rule. I wouldn't mind if he relaxed his self-imposed rules far enough to include a translation of the Aramaic and Latin dialogue, though.
P.S. I don't know what popup ads may be displayed on others' screens, but I found it moderately amusing that when I went to the official English-language home page for The Passion of the Christ and selected the link marked "story", the sponsor's popup that appeared was from "Clean Films", a purveyor of edited, "family-friendly" videorecordings, and featured an image of a DVD of Braveheart, one of Gibson's best-known films, apparently dropping through the air toward a trash can. I guess that's irony for ya.
More Tales From The Reference Desk
A couple of days ago, a student asked for help in finding sources for a position paper she was writing. "I'm in favor of censorship," she announced. "But when I search the databases, everything I find is against it."
The librarian on duty proceeded to describe and demonstrate several online sources (Opposing Viewpoints, Issues and Controversies, CQ Researcher) that make a point of including both pro- and con- essays on various topics of public concern, which predictably include censorship. The student seemed appreciative, and left murmuring "God bless you."
Only afterward did the librarian in question realize that he was still wearing the Banned Books Week button, emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty and sporting the anti-censorship slogan "Free People Read Freely", which he'd worn earlier to a regional library meeting. Does this constitute displaying bias at the reference desk?
A couple of days ago, a student asked for help in finding sources for a position paper she was writing. "I'm in favor of censorship," she announced. "But when I search the databases, everything I find is against it."
The librarian on duty proceeded to describe and demonstrate several online sources (Opposing Viewpoints, Issues and Controversies, CQ Researcher) that make a point of including both pro- and con- essays on various topics of public concern, which predictably include censorship. The student seemed appreciative, and left murmuring "God bless you."
Only afterward did the librarian in question realize that he was still wearing the Banned Books Week button, emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty and sporting the anti-censorship slogan "Free People Read Freely", which he'd worn earlier to a regional library meeting. Does this constitute displaying bias at the reference desk?
To laugh, or to cry?
Heard at the reference desk from a student, evidently looking to fulfill a late-semester reading requirement for an undergraduate philosophy survey course:
"Aristotle is too complex." (Glances at class handout.) "Do you have anything by Kant?"
Fortunately the librarian on duty managed to explain the workings of author searching on the library's catalog, while making the seemingly casual comment that, if her professor hadn't specifically suggested certain books, a reference source like the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (located over there, miss, in the reference shelves at call number XYZ.... ) might help identify which of the various philosophers' works were best-known and most widely read and discussed. He felt moderately proud of having handled the situation tactfully. It's not as if he recommended Cliff's Notes to a lit major... is it?
Heard at the reference desk from a student, evidently looking to fulfill a late-semester reading requirement for an undergraduate philosophy survey course:
"Aristotle is too complex." (Glances at class handout.) "Do you have anything by Kant?"
Fortunately the librarian on duty managed to explain the workings of author searching on the library's catalog, while making the seemingly casual comment that, if her professor hadn't specifically suggested certain books, a reference source like the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (located over there, miss, in the reference shelves at call number XYZ.... ) might help identify which of the various philosophers' works were best-known and most widely read and discussed. He felt moderately proud of having handled the situation tactfully. It's not as if he recommended Cliff's Notes to a lit major... is it?
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