Deutsche Kinderstube

Michael is going to be attending the German preschool here in Minneapolis. We've explained it to him, but I'm not sure how happy he'll be to leave his friends at his current day care. He's a little stressed that today is his last day. I'm hoping that hearing German from lots of other people will help him separate the two languages.

Gregor is of course oblivious to changes in daycare status.

Anyone wanting beer & pizza is welcome to show up on Moving Day. It will be good beer; no guarantee about the pizza.

3:1 odds

There's a German saying: Dreimal umziehen ist wie einmal ausbrennen - moving 3 times is like having your home burned once.

So, counting:

Summit - 5th St. - Aikane St. - Rialto Blvd. - Off Post - On Post - 5th St. - Tuckerton - North Beach - Station House - Fire - God Awful Pit - Farm House - Morgantown - Salem - Morgantown - Salzburg - Morgantown - Harrisburg - Spartan Ave. - Lake Lansing Road - Durand St. - Sycamore Ave - Illinois Ave. - Smetana Rd. ...

that makes 23 moves + 1 fire = 8.6 fires

If you eliminate the summer jobs and count 1983 - 1987 as just Morgantown, that still makes 18 moves in my whole life,

16 of which I remember

7 of which are by my choice.

AND NOW ONE MORE !!


Packing tomorrow must include cleaning the bathrooms, since B&I are arriving Friday. At least having a stupendously disorganized and messy abode doesn't need to be excused by my lack of interest in housekeeping. All of the brown cardboard boxes piled around the apartment hide the strata of toys, cat hair, dust, and simple 'stuff'.

Puking Republicans

Truth and Rumors about the pending RNC here in Lovely St. Paul. My favorite is the request to extend last call until 4 a.m., rather than 2 a.m., for the duration of the convention. St. Paul City Council axed the idea. The council member whose ward includes the bar-district, stated that he wants to spare his constituents the sight of "puking Republican lobbyists" in the streets.

Our Future VP ?

Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, is (apparently) a serious contender for the Republican ticket VP. He's not a bad governor, I don't think, though he isn't a great fisherman. During MN fishing season opener, after loosing to the Lt.-Gov., he was chatting with the press:

"I have a wife who genuinely loves to fish. I mean, she will take the lead and ask me to go out fishing, and joyfully comes here. She loves football, she'll go to hockey games, and I jokingly say, 'Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me I'd really have it made.'" or On audio.

Sink his vice-presidential potential or not?

I was more amazed that Mrs. Pawlenty was not only present, but insisted that it was a joke. Perhaps it wasn't later that night.

Budget Hero

Match government funds to your values. Play Budget Hero and demonstrate how you would spend the three trillion dollar federal budget.

More and more reasons I give my money to MPR. Well, I will again, once it isn't going to U. Minn.

Another Phase in Life

The Tobias family is cruising into another phase of insanity. We're moving. Into Minneapolis and out of the burbs. I could go on and on about the benefits. No, we aren't buying. We're renting half of a duplex.
The bus stop for a non-stop 20 min. ride to the U. is on the other side of the block. (rather than an 8 min. drive to get the one-transfer hour-and-a-quarter trip).
The next-door neighbor (read: landlords) have an in-home daycare which will take both boys until Michael goes to the (now closer) German preschool.
It's closer to much of the fun social stuff that's in Minneapolis.
t's in a nice neighborhood with lots of other families with children (read: not in the middle of a sterile "ignore me & I'll ignore you" apartment complex).
There is a yard. With a fence. I can finally say "go out and play in the yard!" without releasing them a) out of my sight, b) into a sea of goose-guano, c) onto insanely pesticided grass and d) next to the parking lot.
It's bigger than our apartment, though perhaps not much more sq.ft., but what's there is much, much better designed.

School is over for me, for the summer. I'm not quite 1/2 done. One year down, 1.5 to go. I have an internship for the Summer at Honeywell. I'll be doing noise measurements in a factory area. This is a different facility than the one where Peter works. It's a paid positions - double bonus.


Michael is now 4. His birthday party was today. He and one of his new friends (a daughter of a classmate of mine) went to the Minnesota Children's Museum, one of the coolest places in the world for a kid. He & Reece spent the morning playing with all of the cool stuff. We enjoyed eating banana birthday muffins. (mom - the Muppets are another success.) Michael's communication is amazing, even when it needs to be de-coded, as he still tends to mix up both languages. I find it amazing that when he starts putting German words in the sentences they abruptly take on German sentence structure.

Gregor is big and happy. He's running around on his own. Has hit the "I want that because Michael has it" phase. Yes, I know this doesn't really stop. Ever. Well, at least not for a while. He is also entering the "I need to cry when being left at daycare so you know how much I'm suffering" phase. When he's quiet, he'll pull a book off the bookshelf, sit down, and read it. He also destroyed Michael's favorite "Cars" book (which is in hiding, until I can figure out if it can be fixed).


We finally got a region-free DVD player. Finally, we can watch "Findet Nemo" & "Monsters AG". Oma & Opa are bringing a couple more from Germany next week. They've never been in Minnesota, so it should be interesting for them.

Peter is sick. We made it for about 2 weeks without any plague striking the family. Gregor is sick, too; unfortunately, there's no way to tell if it's the same thing. Although, since Peter want to puke, and Gregor succeeded in doing so (all over me), it might be the same bug.

Politics is beginning to get a bit more political, in both the stupid and bizarre sense. Political protesting and permits therefore are big in the news around here, due to the impending doom of the Evil Empire's Quadrennial Conclave. (the RNC convention). Some store in Mpls (Stpl?) is making tons of anti-republican/bush/etc. paraphernalia. He's offering a 20% discount to any Delegates who visit. See, free market economy in action.

The photos are from the Minnesota Zoo (yesterday) and the Children's Museum (today). I assume you can figure which ones are which.

Electoral Arithmatic

Leave it to a foreign news group to try to explain American Voting Mathematics and it's inherent fallacies.

[movie review] Iron Man

I saw this Tuesday night, following my final presentation. I was going to write a review, only to realize the Kevin had a pretty articulate one. C'est la vie. I'm not from SoCal, so I can't comment on the BK product placement (which was so obvious as to be perhaps intentionally ludicrous?) I would definitely go for In-and-Out waaaay before BK, whether or not I'd been in an Afghani cave for 3 months.

I've never read the comic book, and never been that much into them anyway. This is definitely not the semi-plausible superhero (Batman) nor is it the completely implausible (X-Men). That leaves the techno-superheroes: Spiderman and Iron Man. I'm not sure which I find more implausible. But I must admit a buff Robert Downey Jr. is better eye candy than Toby McGuire. That, of course, could easily lead to a super-hero comparison via the eye-candy factor.

What seemed a bit lurching was the pace of the beginning and end. The beginning is slow, but not unpleasantly ('get to know the cast of characters and understand the hero's tragic flaws'). But it seemed to be rushing towards the end - fast paced action, sure - but this seemed like someone abruptly realized it was already min.120 and counting, and had to hurry to end it.

Downey was spectacular as the nascent superhero, developing the new suit. A childish joy immediately squashed by Newtonian physics. Childish, yet thoroughly amusing consequences (several squashed cars).

p.s. - late addition: Ebert's review is an utterly delightful read. To wit: "The world needs another comic book movie like it needs another Bush administration ..."


Elizabeth’s rating: 2
The special effects are better on the big screen

1 - Go see it on the big screen at full price.
2 - Go see it on the big screen, at matinee prices.
3 - Buy your own on video.
4 - Definitely see it on video.
5 - Well, if someone else it paying for it ...
6 - Go get your teeth cleaned.

Academia & thesis

This week is the end of the school year for me. I don't have any "finals" during finals week. (I had one a few weeks ago for a short course.) However, I have 3 group project presentations on Monday/Tuesday of this week. The fact that I will then be 95% done for the semester isn't any comfort as I'm struggling to get caught up and still make sure my children remember who I am. I was up most of the night trying to improve my part of a project - I realized how stupendously half-assed a job I did. It approaches, and perhaps surpasses professional embarasment. Well, that's corrected, although my sleep deprevition isn't.

I have accepted an offer of a summer internship with ... wait for it ... Honeywell. Unfortunately, I won't be at the same facility as Peter. Even better, I'll be paid. Anything to mitigate the cost of daycare.

Perhaps the most exciting to me: I have picked a research topic and adviser for my thesis. In short, I will be trying to determine if someone else's gizmo works for measuring something other than its designer intended, to measure the size and other aspects of solid aerosols.

For any of you Ph.D. science geeks: the gizmo is described in Induction charging and electrostatic classification of mirometer-sized particles for investigating the electrobiologic properties of airborne microorganisms, Mainelis, et al., Aer. Sci. Tech., 36:479(2002).

Doesn't that sound impressive? Yeah, then I saw reality. The instrument in our lab is certainly not nearly as cool as its name implies.

I don't care how impressive it looks. I want the big piece of paper that has my name next to the words "masters of public health". That will be impressive enough for me.

Political Obvious Obfuscation

winners of City Pages' "Best Citizen-based Media Outlet" -- getting kicked out of many Elephant gatherings.



If elephants can be culled in southern Africa, maybe we could follow their lead?

Only the first 0:45 is really amusing. The last 0:45 or so is ironic. The middle is so-so.

Have I said anything obscene about Comcast recently?

Please imagine I have. Repeatedly. At length.

Dangerous Stuff

Listening to the news is dangerous when sitting behind the wheel of one's car. I tend towards the road rage behavior.

God Almighty, why have you visited this plague of locuts upon my homeland? This plague of incompetent, self-serving, pencil-dicked rat-bastards suckling at the teat of Democracy while giving totalitarian dictatorships a financial blow job with my money? Oh god of mercy, make them explode with the retained bilious hatred in their souls. Make the shit in their cranial cavities ooze out of their tear ducts. May the IRS and GAO be struck by the lightning of courage (or intelligence) and bare these sticking leechs' souls for all to righteously judge. God of Justice, reveal the craven cowardice of these petty worms who cower behind the pile of American dead and the mountain of Iraqi corpses, all of whom were your children, created in your image. Hurl down the fire of fear upon those who are sucking the cock of Petroleum gods. Basically, blast into oblivion these cock-sucking mother-fuckers, these American Terrorizers who are fucking up the world. If you want to forgive them, God of Mercy, you're better than I am.

News from Baghdad: 32-ish Iraqis dead from confrontation with American soldiers. Hospital reports 1 woman and 2 children in the rolls of the dead. - gasp! shock! righteous indignation!

So, for the past 100 years women in the western world have been bitching and moaning about being treated like 2nd class citizens. For the past 20 years or so, American woman have incessantly and finally successfully battered at the doors of the Pentagon, demanding to be able to serve in the military without regard to their ovaries. But let a female be killed in a war zone, side by side with men and the media expects us to scream our protests about -gasp!- killing innocent women. Because, sure as shit, she couldn't possibly have been with the men attacking our people. She couldn't possibly have been another suicide bomber. She couldn't have been planting IEDs. She couldn't possibly have enough patriotism to defend her homeland from an invading army. Women don't do anything that, only evil, oppressive, politically deluded men!

It is so hard to keep from hating people.

I was watching a documentary on PBS last night while folding my laundry. It was about two photo albums which had been been taken in Auschwitz. The only photographic record of it's kind. One is 200+ pictures of about 6,000 Jews being off-loaded from trains, most of whom were - according to written records - all killed later that day. The other one is a personal album of one of the SS officers of just the perfectly ordinary things one puts in a photo album: picnics, co-workers, playing with your dog. Creepy seeing the 2 together. That said, the following program was on Nazi politicians and the occult. The voice-over comment mentioned 'the darkest hour of mankind' or something similar. I have heard this just too damn many times. Branding Hitler and the Nazi government as "the penultimate in evil" is just too pat; too convenient; too self-righteous. We want to believe this, because then we get to be the knight in shining armor because we helped destroy their government. Americans can then ignore how long the English and French were fighting before we jumped into it. Americans can especially forget how many Russians (and Germans) died on the Eastern Front. We don't want to mention that the Red Army rolled across eastern Europe. I've never heard any ordinary text book mention this; somehow the Russians just wind up dividing Berlin with us, without any mention as to how they got there.

If Hitler was the 'darkest hour of mankind', then who the fuck was Joseph Stalin?

Stalin? He killed more of his own people than the Jews under the Nazis.
1.7 million died in gulags;
0.8 million 'politically bad people' killed out of convenience and political expediency
6 million from a politically manifested famine;
7.5 million deported;
etc. A lot of etc.
basically between 3 and 20 million people (and 20 isn't the highest estimate) died. Even if you take out the famine, estimates also seem to range around 14 million or so. Some how I don't think killing 3 million of your own people is 'just a bad regime' - Saddam Hussein killing Kurds pales, just pales in comparison. Of course, Stalin didn't bother to keep track of them, or count them, like the Nazis. And Stalin dawdled around and did it over 20 years or so, rather than 2 or 3.

The USSR just doesn't rate any attention from the good old genocide-hating USA. They're bad. The Jews were good. And European. They deserve the attention of society. But not the bad Soviets.

And all of this is without leaving the 20th century.

God, wipe out our educational system and the media. We'd be better off as totally ignorant proles with no way of transmitting our own stupidity.

Isodopes

The recent hurricanes and gasoline issues are proof of the existence of a new chemical element. A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science!

The new element has been named Governmentium. Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 199 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction which would normally take less than a second to take over four days to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming "isodopes".

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium - an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Gotta love my new home

April 26.
Happy Anniversary. Have a snow storm!

Yup. Snow.

Who hires these people who "predict" the weather? Whatever oracle they're consulting needs a shot of juju. They are currently claiming: "The snow is ending, but chilly weather will remain. The weather service says the highs in the Twin Cities will only be in the mid 40s..."

I don't know which Twin Cities they live in. In mine, I'm staring out the window at an awful lot of snow in the air.

Though, admittedly, it won't do much here other than make the grass white. The few days of 65, 72, and 75ºF weather have warmed up the concrete enough to melt it all.

But .... "In Pelican Rapids today, they've got 18 inches of snow on the ground and, no doubt, dozens of suicidal pelicans about town."

And people wonder why Delta wants to keep their HQ in Atlanta (where its in the 70s).

Where's Home?

re: my home & my heart - this is an essay in response to a solicitation for stories about where exactly home is for you, given the modern view of a house as a piece of investment, a bank-account with a lawn.

I grew up getting moved around. Dad was in the Air Force. Divorce hit. Mom and us kids were in N.J. staying with my Grandmother. Her house, which had been the 'house on the shore' (New Jersey equivalent of the cabin on the lake) had been our wayfaring point as we moved. California, posted to Portugal. Go spend a few weeks at Grammy's en route. Move back to USA; spend a few weeks at Grammy's. Get divorced, spend ... well, you get the point. We'd go there once in a while from far away during the summer. It was the only anchor I felt at that age.

We moved to West Virginia. It was a dinky place on a farm, which burned down. The place, not the farm. We built our house there. A modern log cabin attached to a 250-year old log cabin. I learned how to use power tools, plumb, run electrical lines, you name it. (Being a woman, this has proved useful and impresses men.) It was going to be "home". I looked forward to finally having that 'home' you described on you video. Somewhere I could return for the holidays that would hold memories.

I grew up, went to college and moved to Michigan. Never really having a reason to leave, I bought a house with my husband, envisioning exactly what I had never had. The place my kids could grow up. I had a raised flower-bed in the back yard where I planted roses. The first one was a mother's day present from some friends in thanks for a bunch of 'mothering' for them, as I had no children at the time. One of my cats loved sleeping there, admidst the rose bushes. I loved the scent of the lilac bushes in the Spring.

My mom sold the farm. Without telling us kids. We were all disapponted; I think my brothers also had figured it would be that ‘home to come home to’. We’re scattered to the for corners of the globe (Wash.D.C., Mpls, L.A./New Zealand). We all wanted that ‘home’, especially my younger brother, who had no memory of ever living anywhere else.

Back in Michigan, I got divorced. I got the house. After so long (7 years), it had achieved that exalted state of "home". It wasn't expensive. It was in the blue collar part of Lansing. I liked it. I was coming back from a business trip one day, and was looking at the city as the plane descended. I saw my house. I realized it had become my home.

Unfortunately for 'home', I met my husband, who had come to Michigan for a short term job. We married. We had our first child. My cat still slept in the rose bushes in the sunshine.

My husband got a job in Minnesota.

I realized how much I had come to regard my home as a permanent fixture in my life when I had to leave it. I had lived there for 10 years. I had planned to live there the rest of my life, another 40 or so, god willing.

We're living in an apartment here in Hopkins, and have been for the past 3 years. I loathe it. It will never be 'mine'. Not because it's an apartment, but because I never planned to stay there long-term. We're moving into Minneapolis in a few weeks, into a rental duplex.

I have come to realize that renting a place is just fine for being "home". No, it will never achieve the 65-year edifice for my family. That's something I will probably never have, due to my husband's work situation. We are definitely in the “home is where the heart is”.

My cat died a few months after moving here. I was completely emotionally distraught. Partially because an 11-year fixture in my life died. Partially because I could never bury him in the rose bushes.

Since we weren't certain we'd stay in Minnesota, we didn't sell the place in Lansing. We rented it, figuring if his job here didn't become permanent, it would be better to move back to Michigan and be unemployed in our own home rather than be unemployed and homeless here. We still own it and rent it. It wasn’t expensive when I bought it. It’s still not. My heart hasn’t figured out for sure whether or not it’s still ‘home’.

Monetarily speaking, it has never occurred to me to view my residence as an investment, like so much stock to be sold in a favorable market. Moving is such a complete, total, and utter pain in the posterior! Above all, I would never do that to my kids. I want to give them what I never had, that fixture of ‘mom & dad’s house’. The place you still call home, despite having lived somewhere else for 30 years. Part of me mourns the fact that I will probably never be able to give it to my two sons. We might stay here in the Twin Cities. We might move to Germany [those being the two likely long-term employment options for my husband]. I want my boys to grow up with the emotional security of knowing ‘home’ is where the heart is. Because that geographical security is a delusion in today’s economy.

I hope this wasn’t too god-awful long for you. I do tend to be verbose writing a story.

I still think of my cat occasionally. Usually with him lying in the rosebushes on a sunny, summer day.

Best Place to Break Up in the Twin Cities

Best Place to Break Up
Winner: Science Museum of Minnesota

Listen, honey, it's just not working out. See, you're like this 4,000-year-old stone slab of cuneiform, the world's first written language: Your communication skills are primitive. Or you're like the "Deadly Medicine" exhibit about Nazi eugenics. You're a traveling exhibit in the museum that is my life. You're fascinating, I learned some neat things from you, but you were never meant to be a permanent part of my collection, sweetie. That's just the way life is. Our relationship is as dead as that Egyptian mummy over there. Let's go over to the Disease Detectives display downstairs. See, you're like a horrible microbe that ended up in my food after the chef at a restaurant didn't wash his hands. Now you're in my digestive tract, and I'm sick...of you. Really, really sick. You make me puke. And, well, I don't want to puke anymore. Is this making sense? Good. I'm going to see a mountain-climbing movie at the Omnitheater now. Stop crying, the kids on a fieldtrip are staring.

Like I could make this up?

The "best of" also included:
Best Place to Get Arrested for Soliciting Sex in Public -- Mpls/Stpl Lindburgh Terminal almost made it
Best State Fair Food -- walleye on a stick
Best Parking Lot
Best Silver Lining to the 35W Bridge Collapse
Best DMV (yes, they really mean the Dept. Motor Vehicles)
Best Speed Trap

You Owe Me, ... big!

Minnesota receives $6000 per capita of federal tax money. We're #48. Maryland gets > 9k; New Jersey & California get around $7k. Didn't someone tell them we're supposed to be a big pork producer? Oh, yeah, that 'pork' is the stuff coming from D.C.

Minnesota received 73 cents back for each dollar given in fed. taxes.

Basically, you're getting my taxes.

Maybe the folks in St. Paul figure they can afford to lose our federal highway funding when they lower the drinking age to 18?

the professional side of me

so most of you probably wonder 'what the hell does she do for a living?'. My classmates and I compared notes one day about the public perception of what an Industrial Hygienist is. We have had people wonder if we:

a) clean toilets
b) do something with teeth
c) tell people to wash their hands after handling food
d) try to keep businesses clean

The answer would be e) none of the above. [well, c might be correct, if we worked at a food processing plant] We did wonder who came up with the name. And where could be nail his feet to the floor.

There isn't even a really good mutually agreed upon definition within industrial hygienists. I usually answer that it's "work place safety" or "making sure my employees don't kill themselves on the job". Depending on the sense of humor of the person I'm addressing.

What am I doing in grad school? I'm getting a Master's of Public Health (MPH). Of course, this then brings up the image of somehow working the with public health department and inspecting restaurants. sigh ... so ...

If you are possessed of an urge to read more about the actual scope of Public Health, and whatever the hell it is an IH does, you can check out the Professional Me, and my equivalently professional interests at my other blog: gopherpublichealth.blogspot.com
. If you have no such urge ... well, don't bother.

More damn gophers. Yeah, I know, but it seemed the easiest way to make sure no one else had used it. And it's much shorter than Mountaineerpublichealth or elizabethtobiaspersonalinterestsinvariousaspects.
ofpublichealthandindustrialhygiene.blogspot.com

No guilt

My feet are up, and I'm watching TV with absolutely no guilt, no stress, no little voice whispering "you ought to be doing your homework!".

Just got done with one final exam (it was a short course). I finished both of my term papers, got all of my homework caught up. I fee so completely relaxed. I'd be happier if the hockey game was Detroit, rather than Calgary. A nice glass of scotch and a warm bed are calling me .... not the damned homework.

Sweet music to my ear

"According to the Secretary of State’s office, since January about 217,000 new voters have registered for the April 22 primary ..."

What sweet music.


I can hear the ballot boxes groaning beneath the weight of .... what? dissipating dreams of some American mutual self-delusion of prosperity and world domination?

Now, if only they'll all go vote.

Delightful reading

H.M.S. Surprise, Patrick O'Brian. This might perhaps make a good sequel to the "Master and Commander" movie. So far, there's death, sailing, politics, sailing, unpaid debt, sailing, 3rd world squalor, sailing, you get the drift. Despite any peons sung to O'Brian's work, he has a bizarre way of his character's speech sliding straight from A into B without warning or explanation. As an example of his delightful style, a description of Stephen's about a dinner he had just attended with Jack, who had noticed the women sitting near Stephen:

“The nymphs in green? Delightful girls.”

“It is clear you have been a great while at sea to call those sandy-haired coarse-featured pimply short-necked thick-fingered vulgar-minded lubricious blockhead by such a name. Nymphs, forsooth. If they were nymphs, they must have had their being in a tolerably rank and stagnant pool: the wench on my left had an ill breath, and turning for relief I found her sister had a worse; and the upper garment of neither was free from reproach. Worse lay below, I make no doubt. ‘La, sister,’ cries the one to the other, breathing across me - vile teeth; and ‘la, sister’, cries the other. I have no notion of two sisters wearing the same clothes, the same flaunting meretricious gawds, the same tortured Gorgon curls low over their brutish criminal foreheads: it bespeaks a superfetation of vulgarity, both innate and studiously acquired. And when I think that their teeming loins will people the East ... Pray pour me out another cup of coffee.”

The ellipsis is O'Brian's. Just "teeming loins" to "I'll have another cup of coffee, thanks".

2nd today

Did you know that exposure to many environmental toxins can result in sensorimotor periferal neuropathy?

[def.] Fucktard

The only person I've ever heard use this word before is Kevin ... So, this is for you, bro'

Last week, the state [that would be us, Minnesota] House's Ways and Means Committee, by a 13-4 vote, passed a bill that would allow chronically ill patients to use marijuana. It now moves to the House floor, leaving some wondering: Will it weather the fucktard vote?

Minnesota's fucktard demographic—though less vocal than in other states—remains a critical voting bloc. Comprised chiefly of law-and-order types, anti-science yokels, and perpetually nervous Caucasians, Minnesota's fucktard coalition has lobbied hard against the bill. An alliance of law enforcement associations has sent emails to legislators informing them that, as one fucktard put it, "our political action committees will be taking this into account when we deliver our endorsements."

Having already passed the Senate last session thanks to bipartisan support, the bill would go directly to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's desk upon passage in the House. Since the Republican VP slot requires vigilant fucktard-pandering on a national scale, Pawlenty has indicated he will veto the legislation. —Matt Snyders

Mostly I laughed because I kept hearing this in Kevin's voice - especially since I figure he'd probably agree [with the author, not the fucktard sitting over in St. Paul]

AARP Porno

Argument why age-of-consent-to-be-a-porn-star should be raised to 65.

"Young men would begin to think of sex as something their grandparents do to make a little cash and could put the energy they once used to search for porn on the Internet into fighting terrorism or curing cancer or pursuing more difficult quests on World of Warcraft.
Young women would once again be coddled and protected from having to make decisions that their unformed minds can't handle.
Grandma and grandpa would no longer have to worry how to pay for their prescription medications.
And if the terrorists no longer saw our country as being so decadent, perhaps they would finally leave us alone ..."

The original article spawning this amusement is at WSJ. Okay, so I think her argument is stupid. I like the grandparent-porn argument much better.

As the satirist points out, if a girl's old enough to go volunteer to get shot at in Iraq, who cares if she's flashin' some poontang for the camera? Some of us weren't stupid enough to do that, and don't need to worry about it haunting us the rest of our lives. Of course, we've done other monumentally stupid things, they just aren't on YouTube.

money money everywhere and not a drop to save

I happen to think several, if not most of these are really good ideas. The first doesn't strike me as particularly worth the effort, unless one starts off spending a lot to begin with.

I'm stupified that they didn't mention coupons under the buying groceries section. My grocery store lists 'savings' at the bottom of the cash register receipt. I had $28 once. Yes, admittedly it was a big shopping trip, but it was still worth the half hour I spent cutting & sorting the coupons. Even using that as an average per month, that's already $336/year.

While they mentioned credit cards and mortgage interest indirectly ... what wasn't mentioned is the stunning amount of money you can save by having a good credit score. Even doing something simple like paying off the credit cards every month will do wonders for this. OUr new landlord checked P's credit score and was stunned at how high it is. We bought him a (used) car after moving here, and bought it with a car loan. We could have paid cash. We chose the car loan for the explicit purpose of giving Peter a credit score (which he didn't have) Paying the car loan promptly on time every month obviously did wonders.

Curiously, they also didn't mention "just don't buy stuff". Do you really need that DVD? Or "don't buy expensive brands". Do you really need to buy Levi's rather than the store brand? [well, in my opinion, that is an obvious yes]. But, do you really need Nike Air Jordans? I really doubt it. Yes, there is a point where quality outweighs price. Next time I buy a refrigerator, I will be perfectly willing to not buy the cheapest. But shirts for growing grungy boys? Clearance at Target, baby!


As one interview-ee mentioned, I got our TV & DVD player 'free' from my credit card points. Out of curiosity, I check the list of 'stuff' I could get with the points I have now. What are they thinking? A signed baseball? Sure, lots might want it. But a copy of Introduction to Analytical Spectrometry? Personally, it might be interesting ... but, let's see - a chemistry book or a Canon Elf? mmmmmm, I'm pretty sure I've got enough books.

wow, did I do that?

After hearing some tutor at the library explaining 'verify', and using 'googling' as an easy method to do so, I was curious, and tried googling myself. Only Elizabeth Tobias out there that's me is one page with a record of application for a marriage license.


There are a zillion Elizabeth Smiths, and one of them might be me - I ain't gonna look, though. And, as an outside shot, I tried my other married name. I actually found this. I did the calligraphy (Chris did the illumination) for the SCA group. The original is probably 11 x 14 per page. It took a few seconds of looking at this before realizing that it was my artwork. It's also probably 12 years old.





I had a complete and total brain-fart this evening. I got out of class on time, and managed to catch the earlier bus. Waiting for my 2nd bus, I realized the express bus standing before me was going to the mall. I asked, and was assured it was going to the mall. Hop on, get there super-fast, and as we're pulling into the park & ride lot, my brain turns on. I'm at the wrong mall. There are no buses from there to where my car is, about 5 miles away. I enjoyed the pleasant evening air. It was even more enjoyable when I realized I had finally gotten to a point where my normal bus passes. Cop a squat and wait for the right bus. All I could think of was 'thank god this isn't February'. Of course, had it been, I would have called and asked for a pick-up, rather than just an 'hi, honey, I'm going to be later than planned'.

After being totally destroyed by the great Influenza, our home is generally biohazard-free. At least, we're back to the simple sniffles. I'm finally getting caught up with my school work. Still searching for a summer internship. Think I found an interesting project for my thesis.

ah, well, gotta go send out the resume and review the info for a class presentation tomorrow. oh, no, I'm going to have to dress nice. sigh ....

No Free Lunch

Well, so the Red Army - Dead Wings - Red Wings are doing fine in their search for the Stanley Cup. Of all the myriad stupid things that just piss me off recently --- see today's Doonesbury - the self-righteous, sanctimonious, pencil-dicked "Flag-Pin Patriots" just .... ooooooo ...... (pencils .... ?? I've never noticed a woman doing this, though no doubt they are)

sports involving violence are a pleasant respite for vicarious bloodshed

Checking on the day's scores, I noticed a story about the Ducks/Stars (Dorky-Name-Champions vs. What-the-Hell-Was-Minnesota-Thinking-Not-Champions). The commenter has the astonishing observation: "Stars have outplayed the Ducks and deserve to be within two wins of first playoff win in four tries".

There is No Free Lunch. There is no deserve in sports. You win. Or you lose. If you lose, you didn't deserve it.

This is up there with "but mom, I waaaaaant it". So, what's it like to want? I deserve a 4.0 on my grades, don't I? Ain't no way it's going to happen, though, is it?

The Dallas Stars? What was Minnesota thinking? Why can't they ditch the Vikings or Twins? They had a nice thing going with the names. Sell the hockey team to Texas???? Well, then they need a new name for the new, more expensive replacement. Minnesota Wild? When this is the "Etoil du Nord" (land of the north star). The state most assuredly isn't wild. (Unless you count the temperature changes in the Spring or the rates of bovine-TB.) Of course, I have no idea why the Detroit Red Wings got their name, especially since the pottery company here in Red Wing Minnesota has the same basic logo as the hockey team ...??

Ah, well, while I'm not going to get a 4-point, I would still like to not get a 2-point. So, back to the amazing wonders of cut-resistant gloves.

Great Flaming Fruit of the Looms!

I wish I could have found this in English.
The first "Olympic Torch" was the 'wonderful idea of Dr. Goebbles'. Yup, a PR move for the 1936 Berlin Games, to bring it from Athens to Berlin. The Greek Communists tried to keep the torch from reaching Germany (don't forget, the communists hated the nazis).

Far, far, far more amusing in the history of political/social protests surrounding the Olympics:

The Chair Leg and the Kerosene Soaked Underpants (no, shit, really):

In 1956, 9 Australian students stepped into the shoes of other protesters, in a rather different manner. As the Torch was briefly going through Sydney, one of the students, dressed in the olympic torch-bearer's garb, ran through the cheering spectators. In his hand was a torch. The students had painted a chair leg silver and attachted a pair of burning kerosene-soaked underpants. It was intended to be just a brief prank - but he then wound up with the honor-guard of the Sydney Police. At the end, he had to give the home-made torch to the mayor of Sydney, who made his speech with the silver-painted, underpants-combusting chair leg.

When the 'real' torch-bearer arrived, most of the onlookers had already gone home.

finally

I finally found how to describe what I do in German. Arbeitshygiene
Of course, Germans might very well look at me like Americans do when I say Industrial Hygiene. It was really so much simpler when the answer was Chemist. That at least elicited bubbling beakers and mysterious whiz-bang instrumentation. Or CSI. Or Frankenstein movies. Industrial Hygiene leaves them scratching their head and wondering if I tell people to wash their hands when handling food.
Though, Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Arbeitshygiene sounds more formidable than American Chemical Society.

so, when I was a kid, the only place you'd ever see anything like this was the Harlem Globetrotters. What a beautiful shot (as in the photo, not necessarily the basket). I'm still staring and thinking 'wow'.

The not-so-Great Influenza

"Germs are not for sharing", according to Michael. Got that in one. Gregor's already had the flu, earlier this year. Now I got to join the ranks of stupendously sick people. I might say "I can't remember the last time I was this sick", except I do. 1994. I've spent the past 8 days knocked on my back, wondering how I was going to live through the next few hours. 8 days later, I'm wondering how I'm going to avoid failing all of my classes.

"Mama's asleep" became the most common thing I heard through the bedroom door. If I happened to be awake, which wasn't often. The poor boys (all 3). Today was the first time since last Thursday that I didn't feel like Death warmed over. The 8-day Flu weightloss plan seems to work wonders.

I knew I looked horrible Tuesday, when I had to go to campus to meet a project group, "just long enough to meet them and then leave" I told myself. I hadn't done any studying - and I mean none - for my occupational medicine final exam the next day. The walking zombie started meandering towards the parking area, when I passed my occ. medicine prof. At 10 yards, he took one look at me and said "I don't want to see you tomorrow." I guess having a physician for a prof isn't that bad in identifying "hey, you look dead!"

The boys are all healthy. I'm in the land of the living again. More sooner or later ...

and you thought they didn't care

Following the Minnesota Fantasy Legislature, my team sucks. Not the worst, but definitely no so hot. Though, I have spent more time paying attention to the Really Dumb Things the state government does than ever before (including back in Michigan).

The 'commissioner' had a live-blog coverage of the House Finance Bill debate today; pretty amusing quotations. Then the Speaker of the House wanders by and wants to know why he wasn't getting points for some environmental bill he'd authored. I'm stunned the Speaker of the House is even aware enough about some amusing thing MPR is doing. Although, I find it equally amusing seeing posts to the website from members of the State Senate.

Go write your representatives and tell them to keep funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (well, those of you in the States).

Elephant Droppings

Like cornered komodo dragons reeking of carrion and desperation, conservative stalwarts have resorted to unleashing some of the most brazenly idiotic and transparently insincere utterances in the history of asinine horseshit.

I wish I could write like this ...

With that in mind, we’re proud to bring you the first installment of Elephant Droppings, a weekly (or perhaps bi-weekly) roundup of inane/insane/inflammatory remarks produced by straw-grabbing half-wits, professional bullshit-peddlers, and other such bipedal livestock.

(Disclaimer: You’ll probably at some point run across a quote and think to yourself, “Well, what’s so wrong with that?” You might even feel compelled to post a long-winded comment explaining why Ann Coulter is, like, sooooo right for calling John Edwards a faggot and, pffft, why can’t you P.C. thought police just, y’know, move to Russia or something? If you find yourself doing so, you are likely stupid, delusional, Sean Hannity, or some combination thereof.)

-- from the City Pages

When in the Course of Human Events ...

One of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence is coming to Minnesota. This particular one is the only one that ever travels. It is one of 25 known to exist (these are the initial printed copies, so that people could see what looney thing the government had done for them that week). Holy shades of Antiques Roadshow -- this particular copy of the Declaration of Independence was found in a flea market in a $4 frame.

The note below mentions 2 copies of the original Minnesota constitution: they are both original. One has the democratic party's signatures, and one has the republicans'. Despite the fact that the texts are identical, neither party wanted to put their names on the same paper with the other party's.


Minnesota Public Radio's announcement of the event:

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one state to celebrate its 150th birthday and to assume among the powers of the earth, that that state's people should be allowed to view really really really old historical documents, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to bring to this state an original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men, women, and children shall be able to view the document when it arrives in St. Paul on May 6 and stays for 12 days, that they be endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are the ability to go for free, and the ability to see other important documents, including two hand-written copies of the original Minnesota Constitution.

We, therefore, do solemnly publish and declare, that the copy of the Declaration that will be displayed in Minnesota is one of 25 so-called Broadsides that were prepared by the printer John Dunlap in the days following the document's signing on July 4th, 1776.

We also mutually pledge, along with our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor, that museum officials also plan to arrange extra showings aside from the normal display hours, so groups of veterans and school children can have their own time with the exhibition.

How many congressmen to change a lightbub?

The local lunatic, US Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), has introduced legislature - so help me, this is true - Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act.

"We are working on a light bulb bill. If the Democrats can hose up a light bulb, don't trust them with the country."

I have a long record

Yeah, unfortunately they have long memories

SPIEGEL Interview with John McCain:
'I Have a Long Record of Working Together with Our Allies'

Working with one's allies isn't hard... it's working with one's enemies that would impress me.

McCain: "I would announce that we are not ever going to torture anyone held in American custody." Strangely, he doesn't actually say we'll stop. And then there's the little bit about POWs being held by our "allies". Are they going to get extradited into American custody?

Godsend

So, this is a very joyous Easter for the Tobias Family:

Looking for a new place to rent.
Found a nice place in 1 week. Lowest price. They want to rent to us.

Need new daycare for Gregor.
Landlady nextdoor has in-home daycare.
Walk 6 feet to drop-off
Prospective daycare provider has totally clean record with the state licensing board.

Need daycare for Michael
German immersion daycare is close by.

Need an internship for the summer.
Got a callback from the top choice I've found so far.

Need to find $17,000 for tuition for the next school year.
NIOSH grant is going to cover it.

Just spilled a huge cup of scalding hot coffee. Missed me; missed the computer; mised the cellphone; missed my homework; missed my nice white scarf. It's not just the big-ticket items that are important in life.

I wish you all a joyous Easter season!

New Word(s)

extrinsic allergic alveolitis

The TV show "In the Actor's Studio" ends w/ a standard series of questions to the guest, from 'what's your favorite sound' to 'what's your favorite swear word'. I gave some thought - years ago when I saw it - about what I might consider a favorite word. Interstitial struck me as a really good word. It has a nice sound; it has an intriguing connotations - it isn't one thing, or the other, but some unspecified 'between'.

My occupational medicine professor mentioned extrinsic allergic alveolitis. I have no clue what the hell is means, but it sure sounds good.

So, of course, at this point in writing [I found the word in my notes this afternoon] I became curious about what it really is. I found:

Extrinsic allergic alveolitis is a lung disorder resulting from repeated inhalation of organic dust, usually in a specific occupational setting. In the acute form, respiratory symptoms and fever begin eighteen hours after exposure to the dust. The chronic form is characterized by gradual changes in the lung tissue associated with four years of exposure to the irritant. This may eventually lead to interstitial lung disease.

Dead Hedgehogs

sounds like it could be the name of a music group.

More proof that fast-food is McHazardous: hedgehogs were starving to death from empty calorie-containers.

"... it took time to develop an alternative lid. ... Tests have been conducted considering the average size of hedgehogs -- we needed to find an opening that was big enough for a spoon but small enough that a hedgehog could not get inside, ... explained that the company considered several different lid sizes and even a cover with flaps that would allow hedgehogs to crawl in and out."

History? What history?

You knew there was a reason for No Child Left Behind - they were all being left behind in the Hollywood Screen Writers Guild. A significant reason behind American Children failing in History is the obsession Americans have with entertainment, rather than education.

While some of these movies were simply enjoyable, I would like to point out a few items not mentioned by the author:

1. The Battle of Sterling Bridge had a bridge. The Scots stopped painting themselves blue when they stopped being Picts (oh, maybe 700 AD). -braveheart

2. Oh, by the way, we were fighting over taxes and representative government. --the patriot

3. I find it annoying that Hollywood thinks that they need to have a woman wearing armor and beating on people for her to be seen as powerful. --the golden age

4. Roman women, no matter their class, did not wear clothing like that. --gladiator

5. Sparta was not a democracy. That was Athens. -300

Another reason for open borders with Canada

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. And now we know what the bush is worth.
Apparently Spitzer didn't realize that prostitution is legal in Canada, and Montreal is much closer to Albany than D.C.

10 commandments for johns
1. Pay hookers in cash.
2. Think globally, act locally: don't cross state lines to get laid.
3. Don't use "George Fox" as a pseudonym.
4. If using a pseudonym, make up a phony address. Revealing the marital residence on Fifth Avenue is a bad idea.
5. Don't try to avoid using condoms with women named Kristin.
6. Never send cash by mail.
7. Be skeptical about institutions with sexist names like The Emperor's Club.
8. Don't yell at investment bankers on the phone.
9. If you are famous for closing prostitution "rings," don't frequent them.
10. While in public office, fuck your own wife -- unless you are in French politics.

2nd post today on anarchists

on the RNC Welcoming Committee's website, there's a page for tourist information for St. Paul. The first document is a copy of the St. Paul Police Department policy for "first amendment activity". God, I love the First Amendment and the internet. The first paragraph of the police dept. policy states:

We [the police] will not initiate or participate in the investigation into groups or individuals based solely upon their lawful exercise of First Amendment Rights.

sounds grand, eh? Stop here and I would be thinking such grand thoughts of our state capitol's law enforcement, despite the whole Taser thing. But ...

2nd sentence:

Where [we] must initiate or participate in investigations involving First Amendment activity, [it will be in compliance with the state & federal constitution and fed. laws].

So, we aren't going to do it. Unless we have to do it. ???

That excuse didn't work when I was 6.

What's good for the anarchist is good for ...?

Anarchists order Tasers just in time for RNC
Filed under: Republican National Convention

The RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist/anti-authoritarian organization, has ordered Tasers for each of its members. That is, if a press release circulated by the group earlier today is to be believed.

"Due to a unique corporate-anarchist confidentiality agreement, the exact number of tasers or documentable evidence of this new order will not be disclosed," reads the statement, going on to claim that the tasers' order "has absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming Republican convention... the timing is purely a coincidence."

The faux move lampoons the St. Paul Police department's purchase of 370 tasers--one for every patrolman--last month. Asked if it [the police order] had to do with the fast-approaching convention, police spokesman Tom Walsh told the AP that the purchase was "in no way related. It simply isn't."

The Welcoming Committee assures the public they will not seek out any "machine guns, rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas, concussion grenades, batons, water cannons or helicopters."

National Archives

The National Archives in downtown D.C. is a political shrine. The holy of holies sits there: The Constitution of the United States of America. Some of the most glorious words, We the People ... ordain and establish. {did you notice the absence of God in the preable...?}**

Amidst the glories and shames of our nation under (or vaguely in the shadow of) god are other documents on which History has pivoted:
One of the original copies of the Magna Carta.
The original copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The Bill of Rights.

Walking around the rotunda, one sees the true scope of our history. www.archives.gov Letters from wives; memoranda from Congress; notices of the government; photographs you’ve certainly seen before. It's not really big, but the seal of the President on a letter to the Head of State of some other gov’t is pretty psychologically impressive. I was enjoying my visit, glancing at these items and being amazed.

I stopped at a little piece of paper, about the same size as an ordinary photograph, maybe 4x7 or so. It was a printed form, obviously old. Interestingly it was a form from Congress to submit bills or motions (or whatever it’s called when someone says “Hey, I want to do something”). A small space to give the form an official number. A larger line for the person’s name. And several lines to state the purpose of the motion. I stood in awe, as I read the motion to introduce the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (the one banning slavery).

This little 4 x 7” piece of paper changed the world. If I could, I would keep a copy of it. The greatest actions are truly so small.




** As anyone old enough to have watched School House Rock can sing:
We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, establish Justice and ensure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the General Welfare, and secure the blessings of Libery, to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America. -- we do the ordaining, not the Almighty.

My cell phone's melting my brain!

"The only established health hazard cited by the independent group comes from the use of mobile phones while driving. The risk of an accident increases with age and is equivalent (when braking times are measured) to a blood alcohol level of 0.05%. The risk is the same when the phone is used "hands free" (via a loudspeaker), implying that it is due to the distraction caused by the conversation." [emphasis mine]

British Medical Journal: 320(7245) 1288



p.s. the legal limit here is 0.08

Ah, the tidbits of history

March 5, 1770: Snowball fight incites the Boston Massacre.

Architechtual Autopsy

Forgot to check the time before I got on the bus. So, instead of 5 of minutes wait out doors in the cold at the transfer point, I got to wait 20+. I remember moving here and I could still count the number of times I had crossed the Mississippi. I not only can’t remember what that number was, I can certainly no longer count. The bus to University of Minnesota’s campus goes across everyday, and back (my classes are on the east bank). The first week or so of classes, I paid obsessive attention to where we were, since the bus schedule doesn’t actually list all of the stops, just the highlights. This morning, I took advantage of the morning ride and went to sleep.

After the first week or so, I relaxed enough to start paying attention to the surrounds, especially the last leg to campus. It’s hard to not notice the change from business to academic architecture. The point where this bridge - there are several - crosses The River is the only point in the middle of the city where there is actually a noticeable amount of riverbank. The whole river has a sheer drop from ground down to the water. The drop is on the west side, from quite high. I noticed, once I started paying attention, that the upstream west bank was collecting an amazing amount of junk. Then, one day I actually took the bus home in the daylight. Looking upstream, I realized the debris wasn’t simply the flotsam of environmental idiots.

It was the I-35 bridge.

Over the past 5 months (I wrote this in Jan.), the pile of girders and trusses and whatever else goes in a bridge grew and grew. Then began to coalesce. The investigation crew has been reassembling the bridge.

This evening, the shore now has about a dozen re-assembled trusses lying on the ground, with the pieces laid neatly to each other like a macabre jigsaw puzzle. A $250,000,000.00 jigsaw. There are dozens upon dozens of pieces remaining. Every month it grows more complete. The twisted, strained, and broken steel bits tell a different story than the stunning photos on CNN, BBC, or Peter’s camera. The bridge there looked like a broken bridge. The lonely flotsam collection lying tonight on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi looks simply ... lost. misplaced. tiny.

I see the structural support without the road, without the paving, and suddenly I wonder how that little pile could possibly have held a 4-lane interstate highway.

I wonder how long the corpse of the bridge will remain there, pending its autopsy.

[movie review] Commanding my Attention

The epitome of Procrastination, I sit watching 'Master and Commander'. Peter Weir is amazing. Utterly and absolutely amazing.

In the first 2 or 3 minutes of the movie, the only sound is the ocean. No music. No dialogue. Nothing loud. Simply the gentle susurration of the water. And yet, such an amazing amount of information is conveyed in that short period of time.

The opening volley - in the quite literal sense - was shocking. Completely shocking in its violence, its comprehensiveness. Even watching it tonight, for the n-th time, I am jolted from the mild, placid tension to a breathtaking, gut-clenching cringe from the screen. Yes, a feat of CGI; but the actual choice of imagery is the wonder. [sure, STFU&GBTW no doubt has a completely different opinion... don’t rain on my parade]

People can drone on about the ‘accuracy’ or ‘authenticity’ of the visual presentation (sure, I can be one of them). But the more amazing feat is the astonishing amount of the story which is told without words. Either in a simple visual manner, such as the initial minutes of the film, or as a miscellaneous background, a subliminal presentation, such as the dinner with the captain in the middle of the film where he announces the Galapagos Is. as their destination. It isn’t the dialogue here, but the simple manner in which the dinner occurs, with singing and drinking and drinking with everyone having a crewman behind his chair, with the absolute absence of any women (there are 2 on screen for about 30 seconds while they’re picking up stuff in Brazil).

It is the manner in which Weir frames the dialogue, with images and motion, and music which make the film so powerful.

I’ve read all of O’Brien’s Aubrey/Maturin novels, and several of his others. (Did you know he wrote Bedknobs and Broomsticks??) When I realized “Far Side of the World” was being made into a movie, I swore in delight. I then swore in frustration. If I decide to see an adapted screenplay, I avoid reading the book, if possible. It lets me take the film on its own merits. I was only on no. 8; Far Side of the World is no. 10. I had to put off reading the rest of the novels for a year and a half. Argh!

Quite a bit is missing; several bits are from other novels in the series. E.g., Ensign Hollum doesn’t commit suicide, he jumps ship with the gunner’s wife, whom he’s gotten pregnant. Dr. Maturin does name some huge tortoise after Capt. Aubrey, but it’s a few novels earlier when they’re somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

With the whole concept of framing the story, the entire story is on ship, with a brief respite on the Galapagos Is. There is no world outside of the crew. And yet, with such a small, enclosed space, it is presented as just that, a world within itself. This will assuredly remain one of my favorite movies of all time. The judgment of which is whether or not I’ll buy the next-generation of video medium (blue-ray HD DVD whatever).

Elizabeth’s rating:
Definitely go see it on the big screen at full price (if you ever get a chance)

1 - Go see it on the big screen at full price.
2 - Go see it on the big screen, at matinee prices.
3 - Buy your own on video.
4 - Definitely see it on video.
5 - Well, if someone else it paying for it ...
6 - Go get your teeth cleaned.



I’ve had to reconsider my movie-rating scale. I decided to add “buy it on video”, but I’m not sure where “buy your own” should be. Is this the highest accolade or not? There is just that certain ability to completely engulf you, when seen on the big screen. Not even the monster-HD can match it. I think “see it in the theater” will remain my highest recommendation. The full-price vs. matinee was simply how important I thought it was to see that way. Full-price isn’t simply a matter of “it’s the only way to see it” (some things come here at the indy-theaters, and simply will never get to the $2.5 discount place in Hopkins). Is the film so completely visually astonishing that you just have to see it on the big screen, even if it means paying $9? Then go pay $9. Whereas, “at matinee” means I’ll wait to see it in Hopkins at $2.5, but I still think the visual experience will be better there than on TV. I had previously had the list in order of importance to you, the viewer, in getting the optimal experience. E.g Star Wars on my 13” B&W TV just doesn’t match the front-row seat I had in 1977. Whereas “Pride & Prejudice” (A&E, of course) is okay on my (now 21” flat screen) TV.

A friend once asked me for examples on this scale. It was far easier to provide the extremes. Picking between must-see and ought to buy was harder, and perhaps far more dependent on personal tastes. I think most films I would otherwise give a 5 get weeded out before I see them. So, sticking to relatively recent films*:

1 - Master & Commander; Terminator; Alien **

2 - L.A. Confidential; American Beauty; O Brother, Where Art Thou; 7 Samurai

3 - Dogma, Better Off Dead, Blues Brothers (Ride of the Valkyries/giant police-chase scene definitely gets a “see it on the big screen” commendation)

4 - Four Brothers, 8-Mile, Painted Veil, Fargo
5 - Becoming Jane; Indiana Jones #2; Home Alone; Signs
6 - Boogie Nights; Charlie's Angels



* sure, you don't agree. go write your own blog.
**come on, everyone's going to put LotR there, be original

How does it manage to function?

I spent most of yesterday afternoon at the capitol in St. Paul. [No, Minneapolis is not the capitol.] I attended a hearing by the senate committee on Environment and Natural Resources regarding a state cap & trade policy for greenhouse gases.

How - in the name of all that's holy - does the government manage to operate? This is what I pay taxes for?

Truly edifying experience. Who was pro and con? Which committees the bill must go through to pass? (Farm & forestry businesses are explicitly left out of the bill. Why ??? Because the Committee on Agriculture is one of the most powerful, and they would simply kill the bill.) The choice of arguments by the 2 sides was equally educational. The Pro side was mostly "it's important and means a lot to many people", except for the prof. of economics. The Con were, with one exception, from the utility industries [the other was from a mining company up north]. Their arguments were all focused on "it will destroy the economy and bring about the end of western civilization" and "it will force me to make changes" and "we don't want a state cap & trade, it is more appropriately regulated by the federal gov't". [Yeah, like that's going to happen in the next 20 years.] Both sides left me cold. Only 1 senator (Rep.) had any explicit objections to the content of the bill. Of course, he wanted 80% of the bill eliminated, too.

The Pro failed to communicate the grounds of their support. The Con cried about things that weren't even in, nor required by, the bill.

Only one member of the committee (Dem.) was obviously prepared for the discussion. It was one of the greater moments in my life of self-control that I didn't stand up in the chamber and scream "what are you doing?"

In clean blue jeans and a nice sweater, I was by far the worst dressed person there. Absolutely every single person in the room was wearing at least a jacket & tie (or female equivalent). Black & white hound's-tooth seems to be in fashion this season.

The one entertaining part of the trip was watching some reporters from Minn. Public Radio and the AP corner some politicians. Definitely not a job for a wall-flower. It was like a choreographed 2-step. The one senator was more adept at the dance, but didn't make it around them. The governor didn't try very hard (probably because he knew the point of the reporter's interest was already a done-deal, and not in his favor).

Food, part 2

well, this isn't really food, per se. food for thought. I needed to make the list somewhere.

Make peanut butter sandwiches.
Bibliography for 'methodology of monitoring fallout from Chernobyl explosion'.
Literature search for hyper- / hypobaric occupational conditions
Read whatever about the occupational hazards to the liver and nervous system
Schedule trip to state legislature for committee hearing on cap & trade greenhouse gasses
Make more peanut butter sandwiches.
Read all that stuff on environmental policy
quiz for environmental policy
research OSHA - NIOSH - ACGIH standards/recommendations for retail grocery deli workers
check to see if the warm spot in the bed is still my husband
summarize trip to Star Tribune Newspaper printing operations
Find something interesting about air pollution in the popular media.
Sleep. Well, maybe not.

Food

What is good food worth to you?

With the advent of my further academic pursuits, the family budget has come under greater scrutiny. There isn't much I can do about the rent, car insurance, mortgages, etc. Cut the cable off. Stopped NetFlix, etc. But food? Can't exactly stop eating. Of course, I am then confronted by what do I change? Expensive meats out, not much of a change there. More expensive vegetables, not much of a problem, and I can always buy frozen broccoli, rather than fresh. But .... what am I not willing to reduce?

Peanut butter: have you seen the list of stuff in Jiffy? I'm a chemist and even I don't know what some of that stuff is. If I need an MSDS to assess my food, I ain't eatin' it. I'll stick with the stuff with the following ingredients: Peanuts, salt.

Eggs: we'll stick with vegetarian fed, free range eggs. A modest strike to eliminate horrid living conditions for animals. Even if they don't actually leave the coop, because they're scared or whatever. Besides, I really, really can't afford organic milk.

Bread: After spending 6 or 7 years eating nice bread [at peter's request upon merging households], I just can't go back to the fluffy stuff.

Bananas: carbon footprint? I ride the bus. I'll eat all the bananas I want.

Wine: yup, I married a European and my wine consumption skyrocketed. Lower price wine, yes; eliminate it, no.

Coffee: ditto with the bread. Besides, we don't drink that much of it. Why buy horrible tasting stuff?

Cafe au Lait Thursday nights @ Stammtisch: I stopped getting anything other than plain coffee, if I buy it on campus or wherever. Spending 2 hours chatting with other intelligent adults (in German) is simply nicer with a cup of tea or coffee.

Go, Team!

I've spent more time in the past 2 week paying attention to my government than ever before. The "Healthy Gophers" team in the Green League are moving up in our points. Not to be confused with the other team with the same name in the same league ...? I've got more points! (186) I took a look at the other team names, after realizing there were two of us. Like, who in the world thought "healthy gophers" was cool, besides me?? Given that this is a 'fantasy legislature', some of the team names were really amusing:

Kill Bills
Know Spin Zone
Whig'n Out
id10t
fear and loathing on the campaign trail
House Call
Phil and the Busters
Legislicious

Whig'n Out is my favorite - witty and requiring a modicum of knowledge about the history of our beloved political system.

Oh, my God

a day late, and a dollar short. Perhaps 7 years too late, and a few billion dollars to short ... none the less, this is delightfully eloquent and articulate

what were they thinking?

Some women sitting in the student lounge at the university on Saturday were discussing their grades on an exam. They are apparently in one of the medical programs in the School of Public Health. Perhaps I should emphasize the graduate School of Public Health. As in, need to have a bachelor's degree to get in. Comparing notes, they were complaining about having points deducted for poor spelling: "... but, I didn't realize he was going to emphasize spelling. If I'd known that, I would have studied it more". Then one said, "I spelled gynecology wrong." Apparently "emphasize" means "expects you to know better"?

They're over 20, have supposedly successfully completed a degree in something vaguely scientific, and haven't realized that they need to know how to spell things? No one in my program has said "spelling is important" (well, one prof did, to emphasize its importance on a term paper). I know how to spell gynecology. And gynecologist. And gynecological. I'm taking a medical class this semester: occupational medicine. I am quite positive that, on our exam on Wednesday, my professor is going to expect me to be able to pneumoconiosis, phagocytosis, and asphyxiant correctly. Although gynecology won't be required to able to demonstrate my spelling skills.

[Book Review] Purity of Blood

Hey, I gotta have some source of procrastination from studying, eh?

Purity of Blood, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

As a sequel, it meets the same enjoyment level as the predecessor, Captain Alatriste. Set again in a faltering Spain of 1632, torn between war and a young, careless king, our narrator Iñigo again brings us through a story of intrigue, adventure, and betrayal. Captain Alatriste has taken 13-year old Iñigo on as a dependent, in consideration of the young boy’s father, a fellow - if dead - veteran of the wars in Flanders. The captain is a distant fellow, following some unspecified, rather un-anchored sense of honor. This rather nebulous sense of honor often results in actions we approve, while not being chosen for any reason we would. Alatriste is also a sword-for-hire, giving him a separate professional guideline for honor.

The “purity” of a person’s blood - the absence of any Jewish or Moorish (ie., Muslim) ancestors - is of great interest to the Church during this peak of the Spanish Inquisition. A father and his sons seek to free his daughter from confinement in a corrupt convent, equally seeking to hide the fact that they’re Jewish. Directed to Alatriste, a plan is concocted to rescue the daughter. To Iñigo's delight, he has a role in this. It becomes a role chosen for him by other powers, seeking to make of him a tool for vengeance against his mentor.

Most intriguing is the narration in the first person from the young Iñigo. His audience, “Your Mercies”, are hearing the story from him as an adult. (You know he’s going to survive, even if everyone else dies.) I find utterly fascinating the ability to hold the story balanced between the past and future. The occasional references to the future help paint the reader’s perception of the current story. E.g., his self-admitted unhealthy infatuation with a young girl: he mentions a particular interaction between them in the future, leanding a bit different perspective on their behaviour now. The challenge, as always in such a situation, is keeing the reader on the edge of her seat wondering if he’s going to live, despite knowing that he will. Very, very well done.

This is one of those strange assessments: I find the author’s style, and especially his turn-of-phrase delightful. Except, the story was written in Spanish. How much of my enjoyment is from the author and how much from the translator? Regardless of the source, it is delightful. This ends with a note that there will be another two or three volumes of the story. I bought it in hardback, but that’s ’cause it was for $3.

One of his other novels, The Club Dumas, was equally pleasant to read, perhaps more readily accessible, being set in the modern day.

Elizabeth’s rating: go buy it.

Book rating system:
1 - go buy it in hardback, ’cause you’ll read it repeatedly
2 - sure, go buy it, you'll definitely read it more than once
3 - borrow it from a friend/library
4 - if it's lying around your friend's summer cottage, and you're bored, might as well read it.
5 - they do take books in the recycling bin, don't they?

Voting Math

On "super" Tuesday, there were alot of super-annoyed Minnesotans. Despite record turn-outs for both parties, it was total chaos at several of the Metro-area locations.
DFL(Democrat): 230,000 & GOP(Republican): 70,000. (Think we might be a "blue" state?)

This sounds great, and blows away records. But then, one considers this only represents 8% of the eligible voters.

8% of the people in this state got to 'vote'.

This translates to:
2% of people voted in the Republican primary
6% voted in DFL

Since I was sitting in 1250 Mayo Hall, being disenfranchised both politically and academically. (Lord, but it is loud in the back of that room!) None the less, comparing our new home to our old one ...


population eligible to vote (i.e., 18+, resident, citizen)
Minn. = 3.6 mil
Mich. = 7.1 mil
USA = 197 mil

as a % of the population it's about the same, 96% of residents are eligible (US=91%).

actually registered to vote:
Minn: 82%
Mich: 72%
USA: 66%

actually got off butt & voted (in '04)
Minn: 77%
Mich: 64%
USA: 58%


[ all data from US Census bureau, though MN Sec.State & another dept.@ US census bureau think voter turnout was 79%, but who's counting? ]

Can't wait to see this year's numbers.

Silence = Death, but Death doesn't need to equal Silence

"Hiding these images from the public - or, worse, failing even to record these respectful moments - deprives all Americans of the opportunity to recognize their contribution to our democracy ..."



Which would you rather have as your memorial?




This?

















Or this?








oh, yeah, this just got my goat, in a big way ...

National Security Archive - go to their website
These materials are reproduced from www.nsarchive.org with the permission of the National Security Archive. These are from the "Return of the Fallen" section.

What the Fuck are We doing there???

Really, what the fuck are we doing there??



En route home, for the last time. Hidden in the statistics section of the paper; hidden in a C-130 on the way home; hidden from the view of those who would honor them here as they are whisked away across the tarmac in secrecy; only to be hidden in the warm embrace of Mother Earth, since their own mothers' can't comfort them anymore.






Imagine your child here.
Imagine mine.





Nothing, absolutely nothing in my experience with the US Military has so deeply moved me as standing in the middle of Arlington National Cemetery. The wind chill was -45F and the tears froze on my cheeks.

What the fuck are we doing there?

... until then it wasn't real ...

SPIEGEL: Do you still care about politics? Are you following the 2008 election?

Roth: Unfortunately, yeah. I didn't, until about two weeks ago -- until then it wasn't real.

... I rarely vote for anybody who wins. It's going to be the kiss of death if you write in your magazine that I'm going to vote for Barack Obama. Then he's finished! ...

... As for all that other rhetoric about change, change, change -- it's pure semantics, it doesn't mean a thing. They'll respond to particular situations as they arise. ...

... [GW Bush] was too horrendous to be forgotten ...

SPIEGEL: Since your book is set in that week during the 2004 elections, can you explain why Americans voted for Bush once again?

Roth: ... political stupidity. ... but [Kerry] couldn't stand up against Bush. The Democrats aren't brutes, which is too bad, because the Republicans are brutes. Brutes win.

... There's virtually no way you can destroy your reputation. You'd have to engage in some bestiality in Bloomingdale's window in order to make a little dent in your reputation. ... (this is actually about his book, not politics, though perhaps it is salient point there, too - e.t.)

Interview with Philip Roth by Der Spiegel - selections are mine

brief update

I haven't lost my mind yet. My homework is still done on time. I haven't frozen while waiting for the bus (though that has been a close call on a few days). At least twice per week I walk down the hallway where the student offices are for the school of public health. There are a bunch of large photos with inspirational scenes of little babies in Africa, health clinics in the US, etc. One of the photos is of graduation ceremony with a woman wearing the graduate cap & gown with the colored tassle (pink? eeewww). Every time I walk by, I keep reminding myself that I want that damned ugly thing. It seems a much more concrete goal than my WVU vaguely "I want to graduate" goal.

Gregor isn't having separation problems (yet). He can wave now. Walking is old hat. Now he's picking up speed. He's also eating. Must be a growth spurt, because for the past 2 nights, consumption of dinner has been down right mechanical: left, right left right stuffing food into his mouth. You'd think we'd been starving the poor boy. He has slept through the night 2 nights in a row!!! Tonight he discovered the little tractor that plays 'Old MacDonald' when you push its exhaust stack. For 5 minutes he sat on the floor pushing the button (on), then bounding along with the music, then pushing the button (off); repeat as necessary.

Michael has found the magic switch: one moment a sweet child who likes his brother and generally non-destructive play - - and then he becomes the most irritating emotionally traumatic destructively violent pain-in-the-ass. He's doing well in daycare, and displays an amazing ability to recall the strangest things. He love the IKEA spoons we have. He likes red milk, not blue milk. (the whole milk has red caps, the 2% has blue). He loves Bob the Builder, and has taken to singing the Bob the Builder song (... can we build it? Yes, we can!). the movie Cars has become pratically an obsession with him.

Peter is doing okay holding down the fort for the 3 nights per week that I have night classes. He's doing ok with work, which is still with Honeywell. He's annoyed that it has been so cold, preventing him from doing any outdoor sports.

Cheers,
Elizabeth

Finally out of denial

Well, finally it appears that there is an economist somewhere who thinks the economy sucks today. How many times can the idiots in Washington say "spend spend spend to fix the economy"? More like "spend spend spend, tank the economy by defaulting on your mortgage and credit cards".

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/06/defceit/

Mystery Illness in Minnesota

Where the women are strong; the men are good looking, and all the children are above average ... as long as they don't blow some(thing)'s brains out ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05pork.html?ex=1359867600&en=8963fa660fb20f05&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[def.] Demagogue

Demagogue: "one who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."
-- H. L. Mencken

god, i love public radio

Tired of Fantasy Football? Fantasy Hockey? ...

Minnesota Public Radio presents: Fantasy Legislature

Political wonks rejoice for a new season of Minnesota Fantasy Legislature is upon us. Minnesota Public Radio is bringing back the Fantasy Legislature for a second year, and we'd like you to join us this session to distinguish yourself in...
session play-by-play, Legislator's Power Ranking, 2008 Teams, setting the agenda...

Rules:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/fantasy_legislature/rules.php

As soon as I can think of an interesting name, I'm signing up. Like I've got any spare time. Though, since the guest lecturer last week for my policy course was a member of the Legislature, maybe I'll start with her. She already has a good track record for passing bills (at least one, which is more than I'd ever get)

New Sort of Safety Video

Forewarning - this is a 'horror' safety training video. This isn't for kids. Though, the blood is pretty fake. Perhaps a bit too much for my next PIT training session. The voice over is German, but it's got English subtitles. If you want the version without subtitles, let me know.

See, this is what I actually do for a living (try to keep people from doing this, that is).