"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other." - Carl Schurz

"The saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while yet there was time." - George Sutherland
"Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe." - Edmund Burke

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Terrified? You should be.

Today four Connecticut librarians revealed that they had been forced to allow the FBI access to patron records without a warrant. Furthermore, they were prohibited from speaking about it to anyone.

They successfully sued to have the gag order lifted, but it comes too late. While Ashcroft, Gonzalez, and others committed perjury to defend the Patriot Act, saying that it had never been used to acquire library records with out a warrant, these librarians and probably countless others were seemingly powerless to expose the lies.

But were they really powerless?

I don't think so. I believe that their responsibility as Americans would have been to defy the gag order and expose a horrendous abuse of power which threatens our liberty. I don't think I'm alone in this view. Here is what some famous patriots have to say (quotes from Wikiquote):

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." ~ Thomas Paine

"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties which make the defense of our nation worthwhile." ~ Earl Warren

"The saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while yet there was time." ~ George Sutherland

"One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

These librarians have no more or less power to speak out today than they had before the gag order was lifted. However, they had the power to inform the public about the true results of the Patriot Act before it was renewed. They lost this power due to their failure to act in time. The worst that the federal government could have done would have been to imprison them. Prison would have been terrible, but living with the consequences of inaction is much worse.

Here is what I have been listening to these past two days:

  1. Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
  2. The Walkmen: Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
  3. Portishead: Dummy
  4. XXL: ¡Ciautistico!
  5. Tom Zé: Estudando o Pagode: Na Opereta Segregamulher e Amor
  6. The Dresden Dolls: Yes, Virginia...
  7. Radio 4: Enemies Like This
  8. Deerhoof: EP
  9. Built to Spill: You in Reverse
  10. Annie: Anniemal
  11. The Television Personalities: My Dark Places
  12. Nicolai Dunger: Here's My Song...

Friday, May 26, 2006

paleunderweight podcast 16

The new podcast is online:

  1. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: "Scattered Pearls"
  2. Little Annie: "Absynthtee-ism"
  3. She Wants Revenge: "Us"
  4. Danielson: "Did I Step on Your Trumpet"
  5. The Streets: "When You Wasn't Famous"
  6. The Sundays: "A Certain Someone"
  7. Tom Waits: "Whistle Down the Wind"
  8. Beirut: "Postcards From Italy"
  9. Antony & The Johnsons: "Frankenstein"
  10. Pixies: "Ana"
  11. Laura Cantrell: "Bees"
  12. Matmos: "Semen Song for James Bidgood"
  13. Sunset Rubdown: "The Men Are Called Horsemen There"
  14. Nathan Fake: "The Sky Was Pink"
  15. Dead Can Dance: "The Cardinal Sin"
  16. The Postal Service: "Brand New Colony"
  17. Charalambides: "Spring"

Friday

On Wednesday, I promised to share my thoughts about The City and the Pillar. It was fairly enjoyable, not as good as Myra Breckinridge. It's easy to tell that it was written when Vidal was very young. The prose is less developed than in his later work, which is to be expected. I was surprised that I pretty much picked two random Gore Vidal novels over two days and they both ended with the protagonist raping a straight guy. I think Vidal has some issues there.

I haven't finished reading Messiah yet (or even really started it) because I was falling asleep on the bus home from work. I took a nap when I got home and spent the rest of the evening with Michael. I'll set aside some time this weekend.

Last night the neighbors across the street were partying very loudly, preventing me from getting to sleep at a decent hour. I finally called the police at 11:30. I've had to do this at least a dozen times over the past three years. Oh well, I'll move soon and won't have to deal with them anymore.

Right now I am contemplating whether to do laundry, take a nap, or plant myself on the couch for some Dharma & Greg reruns. It will probably be the latter.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

More Gore

Now reading Messiah.

Today's listening:

  1. Richard Youngs: The Naïve Shaman
  2. Sunset Rubdown: Shut Up I Am Dreaming
  3. Marianne Faithfull: Before the Poison
  4. Antony & The Johnsons: Hope There's Someone EP
  5. Nico: Chelsea Girl
  6. Pixies: Bossanova

Justice is served

Woo hoo!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Another one finished

I just finished The City and the Pillar. More about that tomorrow.

I wonder how long I can keep up this novel-a-day regimen.

Finished Myra Breckinridge

Last night I finished reading Myra Breckinridge. (Warning: Spoiler alert.)

Never having read Gore Vidal before, I didn't know entirely what to expect. I had, however, seen part of the film, which, though it was edited for television, had intrigued me enough to make a mental note to find out if the library had the book.

The biggest let-down was my realization that the book's twist was spoiled in the first few minutes of the movie. However, knowing Myra's secret, to which Vidal cryptically alludes throughout, did not impair my enjoyment of his wit as expressed through the heroine. Though decidedly sadistic and delusional, Myra is truly the most likable character. Unfortunately, her conquest over Rusty seemed anticlimactic. Sodomizing her foe seems too mundane for such a formidable intellect as Myra's. Also, her sudden reversion back to Myron was disappointing. No explanation was offered other than the loss of her silicone breasts as the result of being hit by a car.

Despite its drawbacks, I enjoyed Vidal's style and want to read more. I just checked out The City and the Pillar. I'll post my impressions when I finish it.

Also, I welcome suggestions for future reading in the comments.

Today's listening:

  1. Scott Walker: The Drift
  2. Danielson: Ships
  3. Jolie Holland: Springtime Can Kill You
  4. The Streets: The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
  5. Matmos: The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
  6. Beirut: Gulag Orkestar
  7. Little Annie: Songs From the Coalmine Canary

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Feeling literary

Now that I'm no longer obligated to read, I can get back to reading for pleasure.

During such literary periods of my life, it is not unusual for me to be reading several books at once (well, not all at once, but alternating back and forth). Currently I am reading Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney (no relation of which I am aware) and Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal.

One of the few things of value I inherited from my mother is her voracity for literature. When she was a stay-at-home mom, she would often read two or three books in their entirety a day. While some were trashy romance novels, her reading more often included denser material like Atlas Shrugged or All the President's Men. When making one of her visits to her mother, she would usually bring several paper grocery bags full of books that my mother had finished reading in the previous week. My mom probably got her passion for reading from her mother, who in turn got it from her mother, who had to pose as a boy to go to yeshiva, where she asked, "PAPA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" and - oops - I'm thinking of Yentl. Never mind.

Today's listening:

  1. Ricardo Villalobos: Achso
  2. She Wants Revenge: She Wants Revenge
  3. The Plastic Constellations: Crusades
  4. The Sundays: Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
  5. Dead Can Dance: Spleen and Ideal
  6. Laura Cantrell: Humming by the Flowered Vine

Monday, May 22, 2006

Uneventful day

Very little happened today. Biked to work for the fourth day in a row. My old boss returned my phone call, might have some part-time work for me in the afternoons while I look for something full-time.

Today's listening:

  1. V/A: It Came From Memphis Too
  2. The Postal Service: Give Up
  3. Tom Waits: Bone Machine
  4. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Etiquette
  5. Nathan Fake: Drowning in a Sea of Love
  6. Charalambides: A Vintage Burden
  7. Keith Fullerton Whitman: Lisbon

Anticipation

It's almost time for my Emusic dowloads to refresh! I am awaiting tomorrow afternoon as eagerly as a Gentile child awaits Christmas morning.

The toughest part is deciding how to use my 90 downloads. My "Save For Later" list is up to 40 albums, all released since the latter part of last year. I agonized for days on which albums to download so that it adds up to exactly 90 tracks. I think I have finally settled on a list:

  • Beirut: Gulag Orkestar
  • Danielson: Ships
  • Jolie Holland: Springtime Can Kill You
  • Little Annie: Songs From the Coalmine Canary
  • Matmos: The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
  • The Streets: The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
  • Sunset Rubdown: Shut Up I Am Dreaming
  • Scott Walker: The Drift
  • Richard Youngs: The Naïve Shaman

Just thinking about it makes me salivate profusely.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

paleunderweight podcast 15

The new podcast is now available for download:

  1. Xiu Xiu: "Asleep"
  2. Erasure: "Home"
  3. DJ Koze: "Dangernugget"
  4. The Clientele: "Spirit"
  5. Neil Young: "Shock and Awe"
  6. The Sugarcubes: "Walkabout"
  7. Jesu: "Wolves"
  8. Gnarls Barkley: "Just a Thought"
  9. Peter Murphy: "Strange Kind of Love (Version 1)"
  10. Boris: "Six, Three Times"
  11. The Decemberists: "On the Bus Mall"
  12. The Hold Steady: "Cattle and the Creeping Things"
  13. The Books: "Getting the Done Job"
  14. Ellen Allien & Apparat: "Do Not Break"
  15. Alejandro Escovedo: "Dearhead on the Wall"
  16. Mazzy Star: "Into Dust"
  17. Radiohead: "Scatterbrain (As Dead As Leaves)"

I believe I have achieved the best sound quality yet. Please leave comments if you have any constructive input about the bass/treble levels, or anything else for that matter.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Quests and killing things aren't the only ways to have fun in WoW


When I get tired of completing quests in World of Warcraft, I like to go to town and see if I can get other players to do stuff. Here, my night elf druid, Jomrcu, is offering lap dances for 50 copper. Nobody's buying so far.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Waste of time

This afternoon I attended a mandatory meeting outlining recent security policy changes on campus. These changes occurred as a result of an incident in which an ASU student murdered a former student outside of a club last year. I hoped that the meeting would provide useful guidelines for preventing violence on campus

My hope went unfulfilled. The tips ranged from marginally helpful but obvious to ridiculous. It was a waste of an hour and a half. Virtually everyone I know who has attended the meeting agrees. The time and money used to set up these mandatory meetings could have been used for actual violence prevention. All this over a tragic incident that happened off-campus and far away from university staff.

On top of that, though I left the house two hours before I had to be at work, I was still fifteen minutes late because of the buses. At least I got some extra time to listen to music:

  1. Ellen Allien & Apparat: Orchestra of Bubbles
  2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Henry's Dream
  3. The Sugarcubes: Stick Around for Joy
  4. Spiritualized: Let It Come Down

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

McAfee SiteAdvisor

I ran across some free software from McAfee that can help in avoiding unsafe websites. Though I have free anti-virus and -spyware protection on my home computer through work, I still caught a devastating virus last year from a safe-looking website. I had to reinstall my OS and all my software. This took forever because I had to call Microsoft several times to assure them that I wasn't pirating software before they would authenticate the software that came with my computer.

The McAfee software was fast to download and install and seems to work pretty well so far. I am willing to try it for a while because I know McAfee is a reputable company. I'd be interested in hearing from others who are using it. If you have any input, feel free to leave a comment.

More free music

Memphis Industries has released yet another free sample on Emusic, It Came From Memphis Too.

What's next?

It has been five days since graduation and I am already antsy. I want to make a decision soon about grad school. I have it narrowed down to two options: MA in ethnomusicology at ASU or MA in Information Resources and Library Sciences at U of A. The former is what I would do if I didn't have to consider the likelihood of acceptance, my career prospects, the money that could be made, the time and effort required for my prerequisites, or the scope of applicability of the skills learned in the process.

The practical side of me, however, sees the advantages of the latter:

  • The program is mostly online, so I wouldn't have to relocate to Tucson.
  • I can be a librarian anywhere.
  • The program has an interdisciplinary focus.
  • I already know at least one person who has completed the program and two others currently in it.
  • I can pursue other interests at the same time.
  • I already have a significant amount of library experience, giving me an advantage over most MLS grads who complete their degree without having worked a day in a library.
  • I can apply by September 1 for January admission.

The most important consideration, though, is that I am happy with my career. Ethnomusicology would probably be fulfilling, but I already know that I enjoy library work. I don't want to be too hasty, but I am leaning more and more towards the MAIRLS.

Here is what I have been listening to since yesterday:

  1. Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
  2. The Clientele: Strange Geometry
  3. OutKast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
  4. Erasure: Chorus
  5. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
  6. PJ Harvey: Dry
  7. Peter Murphy: Deep
  8. Xiu Xiu: Fag Patrol EP
  9. Lisa Gerrard & Patrick Cassidy: Immortal Memory
  10. The Hold Steady: Separation Sunday
  11. The Decemberists: Picaresque
  12. Neil Young: Living With War
  13. Alejandro Escovedo: The Boxing Mirror

Monday, May 15, 2006

You know who you are

A regular reader of my blog has just received some fantastic, wonderful, awesome news regarding her professional life. I have to be a bit discreet about it for the moment, but I'd like to extend to her my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes. Sorry to be so cryptic, but she will know I'm talking about her, and that's all that matters.

J'écoute:

  1. The Books: Thought for Food
  2. Pinetop Seven: The Night's Bloom
  3. Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy
  4. Stereolab: Margerine Eclipse
  5. DJ Koze: Kosi Comes Around
  6. Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I Might See
  7. Jesu: Silver EP
  8. Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
  9. Boris: Pink
  10. Prefuse 73: Surrounded by Silence

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Surprised

Yesterday afternoon Michael took me to Lambda Phoenix Center under the guise of helping repair damage from the recent fire. Instead, when we walked in the door, I found about a dozen friends yelling, "Surprise!"

Michael and my roommate, John, put together a lovely surprise graduation party for me. This is one of those things that make me feel so lucky to have such great friends in my life. I am especially touched by the amount of effort Michael put into it, considering that he had to overcome major social anxiety to put it together. It's just one more thing that makes him such an amazing man and the best boyfriend I have ever had.

John got a Homer Simpson cake and some sandwiches from a bakery/cafe owned by mutual acquaintances. Among the gifts were Brokeback Mountain on DVD, a biography of Nikola Tesla, a book about great historical blunders, a gorgeous leather-bound journal, a book of sudoku, and some yellow roses. Michael took a lot of photos, which I will post here when he sends them to me.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

paleunderweight podcast 14

The new podcast is now available:

  1. Cat Stevens: "Miles From Nowhere"
  2. Little Wings: "Boom!"
  3. Shining: "Goretex Weather Report"
  4. Bright Eyes: "Poison Oak"
  5. Bloc Party: "Blue Light (Engineers' Anti-Gravity Mix)"
  6. The Golden Palominos: "Ride"
  7. Jana Hunter: "K"
  8. Band of Horses: "The Funeral"
  9. Sonic Youth: "Hey Joni"
  10. Franz Ferdinand: "Walk Away"
  11. The Cure: "Sinking"
  12. Scissor Sisters: "Return to Oz"
  13. My Bloody Valentine: "Cupid Come"
  14. Grandaddy: "Rear View Mirror"
  15. Black Light District: "Stoned Circular I"
  16. Nine Inch Nails: "The Only Time"
  17. The Flaming Lips: "One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21"

Friday, May 12, 2006

Done!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

My bologna has a first name; it's H-O-M-E-R...


I traced this likeness of Homer in the dust of the TV screen after my roommate, John, went to bed. He despises The Simpsons. This is just one of my ways of teasing him for being a non-Simpsons-watching infidel.

I bet that he will compare this to the mashed potatoes scene with Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Slight change of plans

I decided not to participate in today's university-wide graduation ceremony for several reasons. First, I had no guests coming and no ride. That would mean schlepping my cap and gown across town on the bus and getting it all wrinkled.

Additionally, I had miscalculated the amount of vacation time I had left at work. As it turns out, I could only take one day off instead of two like I had hoped. I felt it would be more important to take tomorrow off for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences convocation ceremony instead.

Finally, today's commencement was scheduled for 10 AM. I knew that temperatures would exceed 90° before the ceremony even started. Tomorrow's, at least, starts at 8, so it will be over before it gets too sweltering.

Today I just took two hours off so I could get a haircut and do some laundry.

Today's listening:

  1. Prince: 1999
  2. The Cure: The Head on the Door
  3. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm Remixed
  4. Supertramp: Breakfast in America
  5. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
  6. Jana Hunter: Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom

Graduation haircut

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Woo hoo!

I just finished my last final of my undergraduate education (hopefully)!

I don't think I have an reason to worry; I'm just always paranoid about finals.

Today's listening:

  1. Gotan Project: Lunático
  2. My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything
  3. The Golden Palominos: Dead Inside
  4. Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
  5. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Getting there

Three finals down, one to go.

Today's listening:

  1. Destroyer: Your Blues
  2. Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman
  3. Little Wings: Light Green Leaves
  4. Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better... With Franz Ferdinand
  5. Band of Horses: Everything All the Time
  6. Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine
  7. Grandaddy: Just Like the Fambly Cat

Monday, May 08, 2006

Busy

I am incredibly busy today. I didn't get anything finals-related done over the weekend. I'm not really worried; all I have to do to graduate magna cum laude is show up for my finals. However, I am going to make a reasonable effort to do decently. This means I will spend most of today and tomorrow reading.

My listening today:

  1. Wire: Pink Flag
  2. Shining: In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster
  3. Scissor Sisters: Scissor Sisters
  4. Black Light District: A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Natasha and Sasha

paleunderweight podcast 13

The new podcast is now available:

  1. Antony & The Johnsons: "I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy"
  2. Gruff Rhys: "Gwn Mi Wn"
  3. The Avalanches: "Flight Tonight"
  4. The Shins: "Gone for Good"
  5. Dangerdoom feat. Cee-Lo: "Benzie Box"
  6. Joanna Newsom: "Peach, Plum, Pear"
  7. The Kallikak Family: "Third Phase"
  8. Daniel Johnston: "Story of an Artist"
  9. Bauhaus: "Spy in the Cab"
  10. Clor: "Dangerzone"
  11. Voxtrot: "Wrecking Force"
  12. Goldfrapp: "Tiptoe"
  13. Peter Gabriel: "Mercy Street"
  14. Guillemots: "Trains to Brazil"
  15. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: "Tropical Hot Dog Night"
  16. Wooden Wand: "Spiritual Inmate"
  17. Safety Scissors feat. Erlend Øye: "Sunlight on the Other Side"
  18. Guided by Voices: "My Valuable Hunting Knife"
  19. The Decemberists: "Bridges & Balloons"

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Not really a political blog, but...

...I still got a mention at Follow the Links.

I am a nerd


I love pictures of sea life. Livescience has posted a stunning gallery of gelatinous zooplankton. If you are a nerd like me, check it out.

Not-so-random Smiths lyrics

"A rush and a push and the land that we stand on is ours."

That is the mantra I will repeat daily until Election Day in November.

Today's listening:

  1. Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes
  2. British Sea Power: Open Season
  3. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
  4. Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

I regret to inform you...

...that I have decided, after some earnest deliberation, to remove Americablog from my links. It has been replaced with Eschaton, which is now, in my opinion, the more reliable of the two blogs.

This comes after two recent hissyfits thrown by John Aravosis, the primary contributor to Americablog. In the most recent, Aravosis accuses Howard Dean of firing his liaison to the gay community in retaliation for a letter written by his partner. No evidence is cited for this accusation. Furthermore, rather than answer challenges posed by readers, he throws a temper tantrum. His allegations of discrimination are still unsubstantiated.

In a slightly older post, Aravosis compares the Dalai Lama to the Chinese government that brutally oppresses Tibet. This is because the Dalai Lama doesn't feel he can condone homosexuality. However, Aravosis ignored everything else the Dalai Lama has said about homosexuality: that he concedes his views are possibly more influenced by traditional Tibetan views rather than direct religious knowledge, that he doesn't really know enough about the subject to give a definitive answer on the subject. Aravosis also failed to mention that the Dalai Lama has always vocally opposed discrimation and violence against people based on sexual orientation.

I am saddened that this change has become necessary. However, Aravosis is no longer a rational voice representing liberals/progressives or the gay communtiy. Atrios has long been one of my favorite bloggers and I would have added a link eventually anyway. Nevertheless, it's sad that it is in lieu of Americablog, rather than alongside it.

Reading day

UPDATE: At the suggestion of my coworker, Heather, I used our library's Ask a Librarian chat function to ask about this. We didn't come up with anything definitive, but we concluded that it probably originated in the U.S. or Canada fairly recently, since usage of the term is sparse in British universities and non-existent in Australia, but common in the U.S. and Canada.

Today is reading day at ASU. Aside from no classes, I'm not sure I entirely know what it means.

I tried searching for its meaning and origins on Google and Wikipedia, to no avail. My suspicion is that the name means that faculty are supposed to use the day to catch up on grading term papers and assignments before finals begin.

Does anyone know the answer to this one? I'm really curious.

Today's listening:

  1. The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow
  2. Bauhaus: In the Flat Field
  3. Guillemots: From the Cliffs EP
  4. Dr. Dog: Easy Beat

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

More free music

Emusic has three new free label samplers available: Acute (includes Glenn Branca and Metal Urbain), Carpark (includes Montag, Belong, and Kid 606), and Paw Tracks (Animal Collective, Jane, Panda Bear, Ariel Pink, etc.).

9 days until graduation

I just completed the oral portion of my French 202 final. I will take the written proficiency exam Friday evening, thereby completing the foreign language requirement for my degree.

This afternoon I have one last lecture in Language and Culture. The take-home final and study guide will be given out at the end of the hour. I suspect that it will be ridiculously easy.

That leaves Human Impacts on Ancient Environments and Prehispanic Civilizations in Mesoamerica. Those finals will be Tuesday and Wednesday next week, repectively.

Speaking of education, the results of the National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006 Geographic Literacy Study were released today and they are terrifying. No wonder most Americans perceive current events without any sense of context! If we don't know the spatial relationships between nations, how can we know much about their historical relationships?

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a classmate, another honors student, in October 2004. She was undecided about for whom she would vote in November. I was appalled to find out that she didn't know the parties of the candidates, nor did she know that Bush was the current president! She was also completely unaware of the Marriage Protection Amendment that was in the news at the time. In fact, she thought that gay marriage was legal in every state! She hadn't heard anything about Massachusetts. I explained all of those things to her and she decided at that moment to vote for Kerry. Once she realized that people's lives were actually affected by the election, she began to take it seriously enough to start learning a few things.

I have a hilarious book titled Non Campus Mentis. It is written like a short history of the world, but is assembled entirely out of excerpts of history papers written by college students. I howl whenever I pick it up, but it depresses me that these statements came from the same demographic group that miserably failed the NG test. The same people that can't find Iraq on a map (and likely support the war anyway) are also the ones that think the British sent Aztec troops to fight at Gallipolli and that the Catholic popes were relocated to Arizona by the King of France. It makes me wonder, would the war have happened if Bush could identify Iraq on a map? Was he confusing Iraq and Iran all along?

Here is what I have been listening to today:

  1. Peter Gabriel: So
  2. Gruff Rhys: Yr Atal Genhedlaeth
  3. Safety Scissors: Tainted Lunch
  4. The Magic Numbers: The Magic Numbers
  5. Joy Division: Closer
  6. Goldfrapp: Black Cherry
  7. Cities: Cities
  8. Antony & The Johnsons: I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy EP
  9. The Kallikak Family: May 23rd 2007

Monday, May 01, 2006

Back on the bike

I was able to get about of bed before six this morning, thanks to Sugarfoot standing on my back and meowing loudly. I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to get back into riding my bike part of the way to campus.

I got out of the habit because it was getting to be difficult to find a bus stop that was outside of walking distance from the house and not closed due to light rail construction. The construction is now so extensive that any sensible route I might take to campus is significantly affected by it. Today, however, I found a stop that is just over half a mile from the house - just enough distance to get my blood flowing and wake me up. Hopefully, the bus stop will remain open for a while. But it'll probably get moved next week without notice, knowing how Valley Metro operates.

When I arrived at campus, I was alert and awake. I didn't need caffeine for the first hour of work. I even went for a short ride after work. Aside from the SUVs driving in the bike lanes, it went pretty well.

I even got some music in today:

  1. Clor: Clor
  2. Dangerdoom: The Mouse and the Mask
  3. Wooden Wand: Harem of the Sundrum and the Witness Figg
  4. Joanna Newsom: The Milk-Eyed Mender
  5. Primal Scream: Screamadelica
  6. The Avalanches: Since I Left You