Journal Journal: **No Title**
Observation out my window: only Duke students would run a laundry delivery service out of a BMW.
Observation out my window: only Duke students would run a laundry delivery service out of a BMW.
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.
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.
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.
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
Also, Yes rocks the house. As do the Talking Heads. Just got in "The Yes Album" and "Little Creatures."
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
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!
Two Baltimore Sun articles on him:
Before
After
His personal website:
Not responsible for burned eyes
And on an entirely different note, if NASA's Mars probes discover evidence of ancient oceans on that planet within the next few months, Long John Silver's is giving a free giant fried shrimp to every person in the US. Those things are about 6" long. No joke.
The hardest part of climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom.