I had heard before that, statistically speaking, a large portion of Americans were functionally illiterate, but I never believed it until I read the letters retrieved by the Smoking Gun to the FAA on the subject of Janet Jackson's Superbowl appearance. One would assume that when writing letters to government officials one would take time to write as well as one knows how to, and, if that is the case, I can only hope these people are the exception.

I'm reminded of a comment a friend of mine made over New Year's; we were watching an episode of Family Guy at about three in the morning and he asked if it bothered any of us that we were part of only a small segment of the population who could appreciate the humor. Someone said that we should just enjoy it and appreciate how lucky we are.

This whole rant sounds rather elitist, but it's largely the truth. The people reading this, and the people you talk with and interact with on a daily basis, are not ordinary. To think that we live or even understand lives representative of the majority of this nation, or any other, is to deeply deceive ourselves. What happened in this country to make people think that a four-year liberal-arts college degree is necessary for any job?

On a slightly more upbeat note, it seems at least that perhaps the nation's public schools haven't declined as much as previously thought. Most of the people writing these letters are likely products of the Baby Boom generation.

Looking over this before I post it, it seems like I might be suggesting the wrong idea. I'm not making any judgement on moral strength here (although appeals to rationality may fall on uncomprehending ears to some of these people I'm writing about) or superiority: I know too many Nascar fans to think that. But I am suggesting that there is a gap in the basic assumptions of thought between the Us, the people I know, and the Unknown, those whom I am likely never to meet. We walk in different circles.

Speaking of inadequacy, I really don't think I'm getting my point across the way I want to. If there's one thing looking at dumb people can do, however they became that dumb, it can remind you that you're not all that smart either. But maybe Gilman (and Duke) are right when they say they are training us to be the future leaders of society, in some small way.

Seriously, don't take this rant too strongly. I'm having real trouble elucidiating what I'm trying to think. Now it's time to write a paper.

Observation out my window: only Duke students would run a laundry delivery service out of a BMW.

TROGDOR!!!!!!

Burninating the political process...

TROGDOR!!!!!!!!!

1) I didn't get the RA position -- I got put on the waitlist. Kudos to my roommate, though, who did get the job, and more or less in the building he wanted too. So I'm looking for a roommate next year, if anyone's interested... otherwise I think I might try a single out for a change of pace. Let me know, though.

Also, I'm still thinking about better jobs for next year than working at the library. Does anyone have any ideas? Let me know...

2) The Pillows do good music, even if (or because) their Engrish sucks. Fooly Cooly 1 just came in today.

1) As mentioned in this Slashdot article, there's a mix of the Black Album and the White Album, called the Grey Album, going around that's been pulled from the market... I have heard a copy and it's quite good (if not as good as the White Album itself). You can find the link to the BitTorrent in the article... I'd rather not post it here for semi-obvious reasons. This is why copyright law needs to be fixed.

2) Internet life is truly amazing... I've now witnessed not only CmdrTaco propose to his wife on Slashdot, but Fred and Sarah of Megatokyo announce their elopement and, inspired by them, see another guy propose to his girlfriend today in the Megatokyo forums ! The line between real and wired gets more blurred every day, and I won't even get into the phenomenon of writing out (at least part of) your life in public here. Whoever says that the Internet is a damaging thing for humanity, though, needs to get out on it more often.

As for me, I have homework to do.

1) Usually I don't agree with Joost Bosland on much, but his column today is pretty good. It's actually the same topic I wrote on for my last columnist application to the Chronicle, although I think the way he approaches the problem is much better. I basically argued that we should go to a monolithic Yale/Oxford-style dining system for the cultural and diversity benefits -- I called it "making dinner a required class." Maybe then I would find myself in the Great Hall a little more often.

2) Does it seem like we're even living on the same Earth?

Apparently this is Vice Week here at Duke. Going down the BC Walkway today I had condoms shoved in my face by the Student "Health" people during their KISS week program, some "women" shouting "chocolate vagina! chocolate vagina!" at me while promoting Duke's production of _The Vagina Monologues_, and, last but not least, a flyer offered to me promoting a rally to be held tomorrow to legalize marijuana. This all in the space of fifteen seconds. And, no, I'm not going to write any more about any of those. How ironic, though, that these all come in the buildup to Valentine's Day, at least from my view.

I also just can't pass up on this choice quote from today's Chronicle, in the article about DCU's advertisement accusing the humanities departments at Duke of extreme liberal bias:

"We try to hire the best, smartest people available," [head of the Philosophy Department] Brandon said of his philosophy hires. "If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire.

"Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia. Players in the NBA tend to be taller than average. There is a good reason for this. Members of academia tend to be a bit smarter than average. There is a good reason for this too."

Personally, I would perhaps agree that stupid people tend to be Republicans... but smart people tend to be conservative. Oh, and thank you, Prof. Brandon, for such a wonderful insight into your own complete lack of bias.

Just a quick update because I haven't written in a week... though it hardly seems that long. I've been busy, and I've let myself fall behind in some things such that this is the first time in the semester I've really felt any pressure on me.

There were a lot of journal entries I would have liked to have written this week, but I doubt any of them will ever see the light of day. Among them:

-- Chronicle columnists, incl. Shadee
-- my thoughts on Kill Bill
-- review of those new headphones
-- Valentine's day and unfulfilled dreams
-- my thoughts on the current state of American politics (well, that one will be relevant for a while...)

In better news, my notebook is 99% functional for my purposes under Linux (Gentoo) and I don't think I'll be seeing Windows much anymore.

I haven't posted at all since before the weekend because I've been working on building a working Gentoo system all weekend (and still am). Makes me wonder when I'll start being smart enough to read instructions and then act rather than the other way around. It will be worth it though...

In other news, my Grado SR-80s came in today, I still haven't passed judgement. First impressions are that they're the greatest sounding headphones I've ever heard, but maybe not worth the $80... not that I have a lot to compare them with.

Ok, so maybe this is really trickle-down economics by any other name, but I've decided to start taking up the President's rib theory of economics (see below) in my own life in a few ways.

More specifically, I mean becoming a big tipper. I think most of the people reading my journal 1) are fairly well-off and 2) order a lot of delivery food. So when you get delivery, give an extra dollar tip; though one person doing it might not seem like much, everyone doing it could make a big difference.

Of course, I'm talking about helping out the people who do this for a career, not the Duke DDS students, for the most part (although I'm sure they'd appreciate it too). You've seen them -- the older people working these jobs.

In other news, I think I've figured out why my wireless router randomly dies sometimes -- it's just data saturation. Case in point: last night I tried to download the Fedora Core .iso's from the NCSU mirror (on the same local net as Duke) and got about ~500 k/s total throughput on my wireless, until it died halfway through. So I plugged straight into the Ethernet and started getting ~5,000 k/s or more! I got 3 full-size CD images in 8 minutes... wow. There was just too much of a data backup for the router, I guess. The other 95% of the time though, the router makes a nice bandwith throttle so someone doesn't go nuts with the stuff I share on Kazaa and make me go over my monthly transfer limit.

Also, Yes rocks the house. As do the Talking Heads. Just got in "The Yes Album" and "Little Creatures."

So school was cancelled for Monday, and for today as well, and I've had some more time on my hands. Went over to the Duke Gardens and was happy to see that the ponds have frozen over, though I wasn't foolhardy enough to try and walk out on it yet. Beautiful out though...

I've also just noticed that I have two Slashdot fans/friends, neither of whom I know at all. Kind of neat though... if you're reading, post a comment. I'd like to know why you're fans of me and so forth...

On another note, I started reading Megatokyo today, and I would highly recommend it. Make sure to start at the beginning, though...

I've also noticed that there is way too much similarity between the ends of these paragraphs. It shall stand...

(22:10:30) PointDriver: have you considered making your weblog vastly more amusing for my benefit?
(22:10:37) sailracer6: shoot
(22:10:51) PointDriver: no, that was it
(22:11:21) sailracer6: well

The President wants his ribs. I like the way he thinks about the economy.

1) Shadee... has already managed to set the tone of the editorial page for the whole semester. Everyone's lives are based in myths, and maybe she needs to rethink the veracity of hers. I can think of a lot of Greeks, especially girls, who would disagree with what she has to say. The problem is, too, she exposes much which is wrong, but that doesn't make her right. I guess I'm just annoyed at getting rejected (along with some other people I know) in favor of... this. Unlike Bridget Newman, for instance, I have to take her more seriously, too, since the issues she's dealing with are more fundamental (and less easily discerned) in the end. I'm sorry she sees the world as such a hostile place.

2) Study confirms sleep essential for creativity.

Freewater Films, the movie wing of the Duke University Union, has once again posted its list of movies for the semester, including Quadflix and all the others... apparently even the new movies are free now.

My thoughts:
Cowboy Bebop Movie(this weekend): Seen it, own the DVD, worth seeing in the theater. Whether or not you've seen the series before or any anime, it's a good action flick.
Lost in Translation(next weekend): Bill Murray, directed by Sofia Coppola. Supposed to be good, about two Americans lost in Japan.
Kill Bill(weekend of 7 Feb): I guess it's a must-see.
Dark Side of Oz(midnight, 27 Feb): Whoa, dude, it's like Pink Floyd... synchronized their album to the Wizard of Oz...
Master and Commander(28 Feb): Supposedly was a good movie that just got overshadowed by Lord of the Rings.

That's all that really springs out at me. Wishlist would have been for them to show Last Samurai and Return of the King, but, oh well.

Edit 1/24: DUU put up the rest of their schedule, Return of the King is there!