Today is Quit Facebook Day

I am interrupting the "e-petitions at the top of the blog" run to blog about this one-day internet event/phenomenon. Today is Quit Facebook Day, which is exactly what it sounds like: quit Facebook today! The official website is here:

http://www.quitfacebookday.com

There are several good reasons to quit (or, in my case, to never have started in the first place). My list boils down to these few points:
1. Privacy
2. Productivity
3. Content Ownership
4. Meaningful Friendships

The first has already been addressed on this blog (and is covered on the website), and the second is self-evident. The third is a serious, often overlooked concern: anything you post on Facebook becomes the property of Facebook (as opposed to on other sites, where all content remains the property of the author). That's the equivalent of giving up first publication rights to anything you post, ever. You never know when you might need it.

The fourth is a personal philosophy: I would rather have a few fast friends than many superficial friends. Facebook appears to encourage rampant and unsustainable befriending of casual acquaintances, and the setting of perverse numerical goals, neither of which are conducive to meaningful relationships. I'm the type of person who enjoys long conversations and equally long letters (or, nowadays, e-mails). With most of my friends, I can be away from them, without much contact, for months, and pick up right where we left off. One-line status updates just don't appeal to me.

The New Yorker: God, on Evolution -- Oops!

A humorous take on creationism:


http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/03/15/cartoons_20100308#slide=4

I'm not sure whether to laugh or to cry when I hear about the latest theories propagated by young-earth creationists. If I believed in God, our interaction might go something like this.

Bug report, indeed.

The Author to her Book (by Anne Bradstreet)

Anne Bradstreet was an extraordinary lady; she was surprisingly well-educated for a woman in the 17th century, and as the wife of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, wrote a remarkable collection of poetry that would later become the volume The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, by a Gentlewoman of those Parts. Her work was brought to England by her brother-in-law, who had it published without her knowledge. Though The Tenth Muse met with almost universal critical acclaim, she was unsatisfied with the quality of her own work, and wrote the following poem about the publication of the book:

The Author to her Book
by Anne Bradstreet (1678)

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth, i' th' house I find.
In this array 'mongst Vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known;
If for thy Father asked, say thou hadst none;
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

As a writer myself, having on occasion found myself in the position of producing a last-minute, sometimes uninspired work for a creative writing class, I think I can say, "I know how you feel." Minus the critical acclaim part.

Al Jazeera: Australia Takes Japan to Court for Whaling

Finally, after decades of NGOs and independent activists trying to stop whaling by Japanese fishermen and "researchers", some government is finally taking action. Huzzah, Australia!

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/05/20105285365350724.html

Hopefully, the International Court of Justice will accomplish what thousands of activists have tried so hard to do. Stay tuned.

NYTimes: Tips on Scoring Discounted Tickets to Musicals, Plays, Museum Tours, &c. in New York this Summer

A handy article for anyone in New York for the summer:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/travel/28linestrategy.html?hpw

Entertainment in the City isn't cheap; Broadway shows, operas, concerts, &c. are mostly beyond your average college students' budgets. The ones that don't cost as much, like museum tours, Shakespeare in the Park, that sort of thing, all sell out ridiculously quickly; I know people who have waited in line, in ungodly hours of night and early morning, to try to get tickets to Shakespeare in the Park. (Yes, the part of me that laments the decline of literacy of the masses is greatly heartened to hear it, even though it means that I didn't get to see Othello last summer.)

Chances are, though, that after this article, people will flock to these once-secret box offices, and these tips will grow obsolete within the summer. Ah, well.

The Two Towers, with Engrish Subtitles

The Lord of the Rings films were international bestsellers ("Bestseller"is the book term; I'm not sure what the film equivalent might be.), with all the perils that international, multilingual showing brings. Here are a series of screenshots of a Chinese-dubbed version, which somebody attempted to subtitle in English. It's a hoot.

http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-subtitles/index.html

xkcd: Iambic Pentameter (because I sometimes feel as though I'm living in the wrong century)

http://xkcd.com/79

I think we should institute an "International Iambic Pentameter Day", much like the extant "International Talk Like a Pirate Day". It would be glorious. (I am a huge fan of the iamb.)

BBC: The Seine, a Memoir

Historically, most of the world's greatest cities were built on rivers, for the many obvious (and often life-sustaining) benefits a river contributes to any settlement. Rivers are colorful backdrops, facilitators, and even participants in major historical events. Here is a modern perspective on one of the most important rivers in the world, the Seine:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8695476.stm

Petition to Stop Off-Shore Oil Drilling

Note (05/17): Because this is an actionable item, I'm keeping it at the top of the blog for the next week or two.

Edit (05/27): Thank you, dear readers, for your support for environmental conscientiousness.

In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the interests of biodiversity in American and international waters, please sign this e-petition to reject off-shore drilling. (It'll take 30 seconds, max.) Environment California is a legitimate group; I've done my homework, never fear.

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/gulf-oil-spill-disaster2?id4=ES

And of course, spread the word.

Thanks. It means a lot to me.

The Egalitarian Nature of Human Fallibility

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mold. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbor creates a war betwixt princes.

~Michel de Montaigne

In the end, humans are humans. It becomes a matter of influence: how great will be the effect of an individual's follies?

I'm reading Montaigne for one of my history classes. Fascinating guy, and surprisingly religiously tolerant for his day.

FreeRice.com: Alleviate World Hunger While Expanding Your Vocabulary

It's a great concept. Basically, you complete multiple choice vocabulary questions, and for each one you get right, ten grains of rice are donated. It doesn't seem like much, but if there are enough people playing, it adds up. It takes about 7000 grains of rice to fill a cup: get twenty people to complete a piddling 35 questions a day, and you've fed somebody in the world, and improved the usage of the English language -- everyone wins!

http://www.freerice.com

NYTimes: Censors Without Borders

Not governmental censorship (this time), but self-censorship:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/Parker-t.html?ref=books

As someone with an abiding and vested interest in literature, I find this to be seriously scary. It's more insidious, and more effective, than attempting to actively silence those who write provocative or unflattering things about the Chinese government. Might makes right? Really?

This raises, of course, the very question that was central to the earlier Google China affair: is it better for a population to receive partial (censored) information, or no information at all?

The World is Just Awesome, Take Two

There's another one!

Sonnet 29 (by William Shakespeare)

You've probably seen this (another old favorite):

The 1609 Quarto Version

When in diſgrace with Fortune and mens eyes,
I all alone beweepe my out-caſt ſtate,
And trouble deafe heauen with my bootleſſe cries,
And looke vpon my ſelfe and curſe my fate.
Wiſhing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him,like him with friends poſſeſt,
Deſiring this mans art,and that mans skope,
With what I moſt inioy contented leaſt,
Yet in theſe thoughts my ſelfe almoft deſpiſing,
Haply I thinke on thee, and then my ſtate,
(Like to the Larke at breake of daye ariſing )
From ſullen earth ſings himns at Heauens gate,
For thy ſweet loue remembred ſuch welth brings,
That then I skorne to change my ſtate with Kings.

And because I know that 1600s typesetting and spelling are difficult for the modern reader, here is the modern "translation":

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

It's beautiful, isn't it? To love somebody enough that one is willing to truly accept one's lot in life -- against all the many wonderful fantasies one may have -- because the love of that particular person is enough to offset all the troubles it brings, and more.

MSNBC: Space Food

Interesting, whimsical, fun. Here you go:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/08/04/1753.aspx

NYTimes: Facebook's New Rivals

Yes, Facebook -- that Goliath, that behemoth of social networking services -- has challengers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/technology/24social.html?hpw

The people have spoken, methinks. They want privacy settings -- secure, transparent, user-friendly privacy settings, without the looming fear that their personal information is, heaven forfend, being unscrupulously peddled to advertisers, or gleaned off of search engines. They want to live and celebrate life without examining their every action, lest a stray photograph make its way onto the web for the world to see.

This is where all these new start-ups come in. This is what they offer, the consumer base they want to tap. Is this the end of Facebook's monopoly on the social networking profile? Probably not, but it's a step forwards.

BBC: French Farmers turn Champs-Elysees into Huge Farm Fair

I've been to the Champs-Elysees, and the idea of it turning into a giant farm for two days is a little mindboggling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10143393.stm

I want to go see it, but it's only around for a few days.

There's also a video on Al Jazeera.

Pac-Man Optical Illusion

More Pacman:



They painted their walls! They actually painted their walls!

The mirror trick, methinks, was especially clever.

BBC: Waterlily Saved from Extinction

And the world's smallest waterlily, too, so it's extra special (though every species brought back from the brink of extinction is a miracle in and of itself):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10124250.stm

I care quite a lot, if you haven't noticed, about the environment and the other species with whom we share this green Earth. Stories like this one make me very, very happy.

Google Pac-Man

I had way too much fun playing the Google Pac-man logo, and was rather sad to see it go. But it has not disappeared forever! Behold:

http://macek.github.com/google_pacman

My apologies if I have contributed to your procrastination; believe me, I know exactly how it feels.

Edit (05/26): It's actually still on Google, at http://www.google.com/pacman.

MSNBC: Nevada Bans Chicken Suits at Polling Booths

I would say something about campaign regulations and voter protections, but I'm too busy laughing. Here you go:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37296098/ns/politics

Chicken suits? There are no words.

NYTimes: Genetic Testing for Incoming Freshmen at UC Berkeley

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/education/19dna.html?hpw

They call it "nutritional genomics".

On the one hand, I can understand the university's practical concerns. They want to be able to keep tabs on high-risk students; maintaining that level of vigilance for the entire student body would be impossible. To the extent that the school operates in loco parentis, it makes sense for the school to have a comparable level of information to a guardian or personal physician.

On the other hand, the concept of requiring students to submit to genetic testing sits uneasily with me. This is Big Brother at work at one of the most passionately liberal campuses in the country. There is always the possibility, however remote, that it could spill over into other aspects of student life. Administrators intend to use genetic information to advise certain students about drinking, eating habits, and the like. What if it grows to encompass access to athletic teams, for instance, or academic course load? What if the very human elements influencing these processes cannot help their subconscious biases?

The slippery slope argument is, in many cases, a fallacy. I hope that it remains so, in this case.

The New Yorker: Ideas at the Most Inconvenient Times

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/05/17/cartoons_20100510#slide=17

I get a lot of my best ideas in the shower (It's not that strange, is it?), and scramble for paper when I get back to my room, and end up forgetting the idea anyway, more often than not. That's the thing with ideas; they're slippery and elusive. I should get waterproof paper or something.

NYTimes: Languages Lost and Found... in New York!

One of the many reasons I love New York:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/nyregion/29lost.html?src=me&ref=homepage

I love language. I'm not a linguist, by any stretch of the imagination -- I simply don't have that sort of talent -- but I love the idea of language, and language families, and the evolution thereof. I read a lot of Tolkien as a kid, and one of the things that really impressed me about his work is that he, as a linguist, created an entire history, an entire world, based upon the evolution of his constructed languages. In many ways, language is history, and cultural identity.

It saddens me when a language is lost, when it dies out with its population of speakers. I'm glad that in a place like New York, speakers of rare languages are coming out of the woodwork, so that their mother tongues might be preserved, and some small part of them might not perish from this earth.

(Five history buff points for identifying the quotation.)

Al Jazeera: Craig Venter Creates "Artificial Life"

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/05/201052153540508758.html

It's big news. Really big news. It's science telling the Christian crazies to go suck on a lemon, and bringing us one step closer to the origins of life.

I've been fascinated by the topic for a long time, especially since I read the book Origins of Life by Freeman Dyson, back in middle school. (Not what one would consider "light reading", by any means, but it was among the sorts of things I'd read for fun. Go figure.) Seeing this sort of thing actually happen is, well, amazing. Almost makes me regret going humanities -- almost.

NYTimes: Upside-Down Gardening

One of the many things I want to try at some point (probably not in college, in this case):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/garden/20tomato.html?src=me&ref=homepage

Plants growing out from the bottoms of hanging buckets: probably the ultimate garden for the big city apartment balcony. It also just sounds like a lot of fun.

In Our Image, After Our Likeness

The Greeks were the originators of skepticism, and for good reason. To wit:

Ethiopians imagine their gods as black and snub-nosed; Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired. But if horses or lions had hands, or could draw and fashion works as men do, horses would draw the gods shaped like horses and lions like lions, making the gods resemble themselves.

~ Xenophanes

Gods are creatures of our collective imaginations, fashioned "in our image, after our likeness". It is no coincidence that the Christian God is portrayed as a bearded white man. The gods of my ancestors, including the god traditionally considered my distant ancestor, were Asian-featured, with darker skin and black hair, all. Is it so surprising, then, that our most terrible ancient wars were fought in the names of beings greater than ourselves, but who embodied all that we were?

(Five history nerd points if you can name the titular reference.)

Al Jazeera: Art Thefts in Paris

Picassos and Matisses stolen from the Musee d'Art Moderne. Mon dieu... and the recovery rate for this sort of thing (especially intact recovery) is shockingly low, so it's an especial tragedy.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/05/201052013110430506.html

I understand the obvious motivations -- these are extremely valuable pieces -- but if the thieves are intelligent enough to get past museum security, one would think that they'd also consider that these pieces should be tremendously hard to sell, especially after the news gets out that they've been stolen. It's like trying to pawn the crown jewels; they're rather too distinctive. (Actually, it's even more difficult, considering gemstones can be re-set and metals can be melted down, but any alteration to a famous painting drastically decreases its value.)

xkcd: Boo!

http://xkcd.com/412/

I'm not sure what I can add to this. It's just awesome.

NYTimes: Pyjama Ban for the World Expo

Yes, it's apparently a public relations issue now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/opinion/17gao.html

As I see it, there's a difference in perception. It may just be a culture divide. The Chinese are inclined to have separate clothing for "at home, in private, &c." along the lines of pyjamas, and for "outside", which are more presentable than those kitten-patterned pants or oversized Chinglish-spattered tee shirts one might wear at home. (I myself wear "house pants" in the dorm, and change into jeans or the like when leaving the dorm.) Westerners, as far as I can tell, change strictly before bed, and consider it lazy, or something of an indulgence, to wear pyjamas around the house; most of the Westerners I know wear their street clothes at home, and consider themselves to be half-way undressed when in pyjamas.

So, the Chinese are much more comfortable wandering around in house pants, or pyjamas, in Shanghai, which Western tourists find rather quaint. The government, however, sees it as a bad thing -- they want respect in the international arena, and to that end, do not want their citizens to look strange or backwards. But really, such a crackdown is more than a little excessive; I'd say Westerners see many more shamelessly scandalous doings on their own streets to really bat an eye. If the government is so worried about PR issues, why don't they start with human rights, eh?

Bartleby

Bartleby is an online database of poetry, prose (fictional and otherwise), reference works, quotations, &c. It's tremendously useful, and I thought others might benefit from knowing about it.

http://bartleby.com

Deadlines: Only a Formality...?

Okay, I'm done blogging about the oil spill, seriously.

This quotation is an old favorite:

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

~Douglas Adams

Ah, deadlines, the bane of writers everywhere (much to the frustration of their editors, I'd wager!). One would think that Adams had never been a student before -- or perhaps it was so terrible that he found the thought of deadlines unbearable ever after.

I'm taking a creative writing class right now, and we definitely have deadlines. And I actually love Adams's work; he's a genius of the funnies. Where I went to summer camp (CTY) in my middle and early high school years, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was widely revered as the "nerd Bible".

Al Jazeera: US Senators Introduce Climate Bill

Kerry and Lieberman (not your average superheroes, I'll grant), trying to save the world:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/05/201051313748478889.html

Actual serious climate legislation: it's been too long in coming.

It's mostly cap-and-trade; I wish they'd left in some of the subsidies for alternative energy -- but it's still a big step. I hope it passes, this time. Kyoto was really a stain on our record.

This sort of thing is what I meant in the last post, when I spoke of "using" the moment. Capitalize on it. It's a tragedy, but make something good of it.

NYTimes: The Oil Spill is Obama's 9/11 -- Carpe Diem!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/opinion/19friedman.html?hp

Bush used 9/11 to propel a wave of national security awareness and legislation. While I don't agree with his cause, I don't deny that it was very effective. The recent oil spill presents Obama with the same sort of opportunity: he could capture the moment, and use it as a platform for environmental reform. Just as Bush will be remembered as the president who changed national security, Obama could shape his legacy as the president who changed America's environmental policy. Now is the time -- carpe diem, Mr. President.

How Many Alarm Clocks Do You Need?

And now, for something totally unrelated to the oil spill:



It's so true, and so funny. That bit with the milk-retrieval especially; it's very Asian, and I could see myself doing that. In fact, I do want to try it sometime, but all the doors in my dorm open inwards.

NYTimes: Scientists Fault U.S. Response in Assessing Gulf Oil Spill

Scientists weigh in on the oil spill, or rather, on the government's actions thereupon:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/science/earth/20noaa.html?hp

Basically, the government isn't keeping a tight enough leash on BP (mostly by not sufficiently monitoring the oil damage), and is thereby allowing the company to cover up much of the damage that's happening. These are some of the world's foremost experts on oceanography and marine biology -- I'm inclined to believe them.

Come on, Mr. President, show us why we elected you. Yes, we -- I voted in that election. Show me that I was right to believe in you.

Al Jazeera: BP's Moby Dick

More about the BP oil spill:

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/05/17/bps-moby-dick

I'm drawing attention to this article in particular, out of the many from all the reputable news sources out there, because of the Moby Dick reference. This journalist knows his Melville.

I read Moby Dick in my junior year of high school. My teacher absolutely loved Melville (as a sort of inside joke, I got him a Moby Dick pop-up book for Christmas, which he thought was pretty funny). It was one of the most absentminded books I've ever read -- everything I know about ambergris, I learned from Melville.

(If you actually want to know about the oil spill, try the link. There isn't much to add to what's out there, other than (a) it's horrible, and (b) our dependence on oil, especially deep sea drilling, obviously needs to stop, and soon.)

MSNBC: The Proliferation of (Odd) Vending Machines

Vending machines: no longer just for snacks and soda. Behold:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37089469/ns/travel-destinations/?GT1=43001

A pizza? A real pizza? Out of a vending machine? I feel a bit like I'm living in a science fiction novel (reminds me a bit of the synthesizers in Star Trek, actually).

It's all a bit unnecessary, but I can see why they'd be fun. I can imagine having pizza vending machines at Stanford; it would definitely help when we've got ten minutes between classes, and we have to bike across campus, too.

(It's labeled humor because I find strange and whimsical things amusing. Go figure.)

Masquerade

An observation regarding identity:

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.

~Andre Berthiaume

When you fake it long enough, is it really false? Oh, the teenaged angst abounds.

Seriously, though, how do we separate who we are from who we wish to be? Should we? Is the ultimate achievement, then, the complete merging of the two, such that there is no discernible distinction?

I want to write a poem, now. Hmm...

NYTimes: Atlantis's Last Flight

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/science/space/15shuttle.html?hp

It's a bittersweet moment for me, because I had cherished a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut (humor me here; I was five, and unaware that there's a height restriction). I've always been fascinated by the heavens and the Great Beyond, so to speak (had I lived in the 1600s, and been of the convenient gender, I would probably have gone exploring, scurvy and gangrene not withstanding). In high school, during my years on the newspaper staff, I wrote several articles on NASA's various exploits, even though in retrospect, nobody cared very much, and the editors likely ran the articles to humor me, because I was their layout editor.

Cl!ck: A Lego Short Film

I thought it was really cute, and quite well-made. It reminds me a bit of Roahl Dahl and They Might Be Giants. Anyhow, enjoy!

NYTimes: Twilight Babies -- Like Oedipus's Spawn, Minus the Literary Merit

If you know me, you probably know how much I dislike the disturbingly popular Twilight series. You can imagine, then, that I was quite horrified to read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08names.html?ref=books

I fear for the future of American children. Seriously, I'd have such self-esteem issues (and/or hate my parents) if I learned that I was named after a sparkly manic-depressive vampire, or an emotionally dependent, teenaged mother (whose child subsequently falls for a man old enough to be her father (who actually almost was her father)). I'm not making this up -- it's like the descent lines in Oedipus, only the author doesn't actually realize how messed up the situation really is. When Aeschylus and Sophocles did it, it was meant to be horrible and crazy and actually tragic, rather than an obliviously abusive relationship between Bella "I have no life outside of my boyfriend" Swan and Edward "I'm a thousand years old but still angst like a high school emo kid" Cullen, masquerading as true love. You want true love? Read Tolkien.

(It's labeled "humor" because it's kind of an acute case of schadenfreude.)

The Life and Customs of the (British) Royal Navy during World War II

I was doing research for a (fictional) story I was thinking of writing (it's still in gestation), and found this:

http://www.naval-history.net/WW2aaNavalLife-Customs1.htm#for

Very thorough, very informative. If any of you are writing 1940s naval fiction, let me know.

The Evil Overlord List

There have been entirely too many cheesy and entirely implausible villains in modern fiction (and film, I'm told). To wit, here is a fun guide on how to write them properly (or rather, how not to write one):

http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Yes, that was the somewhat infamous (in certain circles) Evil Overlord list. As a fantasy/science fiction/history nerd, I find it extremely entertaining. It's also a great reality check for any villain I write. The great thing about fiction is that "too stupid to live" is quite literal; if characters are that stupid, they shouldn't be making it onto the page.

The New Yorker: A Package for Priam

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2010/04/26/cartoons_20100419#slide=14

What can I say -- I'm a fan of historical humor (both humor about history, and humor from history). I confess I laughed when reading Herodotus last year.

The Daffodils (by William Wordsworth)

Another nature poem:

The Daffodils
by William Wordsworth (1875)

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:—
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed, and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I first read this poem in the fifth grade (gosh, that was nearly a decade ago, wasn't it?), and something about it resonated with me even then. I was too young to really appreciate much of the poetry that I came to love later, seeing as I was still rather too immature for love poetry (I read "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" around then, as well, and thought it rather too mushy for my tastes), but I thought "The Daffodils" singularly inspired.

We had daffodils growing on our front lawn, then, and the lawn-mowing people would mistake the early shoots for particularly obstinate weeds, and cut them down before they bloomed. I cried -- I remember it distinctly. I would come home from school and kneel in the freshly cut grass, running my fingers over the ragged ends of those yellow-green shoots and wishing for daffodils. Then my mum would shout through the screen door that I was getting grass stains on the knees of my jean -- didn't I know that they were so hard to get out, even with a stiff-bristled brush? -- and I would go back inside the house, lock the bathroom door as I ran my hands under the tap, and cry for the daffodils that wouldn't be blooming this year, again.

TOMS: A Model for Humanitarian Entrepreneurship

Their mission statement is "With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need. One for one."

http://www.toms.com

Rather than asking for donations, of either money or shoes (which are the primary models for such efforts), TOMS charges enough per pair to cover the costs of an additional pair being donated. It's an absolutely brilliant idea; it gives customers a tangible, useful object for their money (which is the exact object being donated), and is a self-sustainable business model.

The shoes themselves are also rather pretty. I'm particularly fond of this pair and this pair, which is characteristically (for my tastes) very brightly colored. (Yes, I'm a bit of a child at heart. It's not a bad thing, really.)

It Made My Day (or at Least, Made Me Smile for a Moment)

As a sort of counterbalance to the FML site (which exists as a sort of sinkhole for the world's schadenfreude), here is a site celebrating all the random cheerful events in people's lives:

http://itmademyday.com

*warm fuzzies*

NYTimes: The Resurrected Phantom Proves that Zombies Can't Sing

Horror of horrors! Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. Behold:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/theater/10love.html

I'm not quite sure how to respond. The obvious conclusion is that, well, Webber sold out. The idea of a sequel is simply mind-boggling. How the hell do you add anything to the Phantom story?

***SPOILER ALERT***

It's implied in the original musical that the Phantom dies... but no, apparently, he moves to Coney Island and builds an amusement park! (I wish I were kidding.)

Really, I kind of hope it flops. Some people just won't leave well enough alone.

(The title was my idea of a joke. My apologies for inflicting my particularly peculiar brand of humor on you all -- though I suppose it comes with the territory.)

The World is Just Awesome (and so is the Discovery Channel)

I'm posting this just for the warm fuzzies:



I absolutely loved the Discovery Channel as a kid, and still do. What little television I watched growing up consisted of that, the History Channel, National Geographic (the television channel, though I also read the magazines, and have papered my college dorm room with maps therefrom), and Animal Planet. I like to say that I got my action-adventure fixes from Sherlock Holmes and The Three Musketeers (and I throw in Shark Week for variety, on occasion).

I've been told that I had a bit of a deprived childhood -- and I never do get pop-culture references -- but I think I turn out all right, all things considered.

Boom-de-yada!

Never Exactly Even

Science is dangerous. Beautiful, but dangerous -- like tigers, or quicksilver.

The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.

~ Carl Sagan

Philosopher-scientists. We need more of those in the world. Or perhaps we just need everyone else to heed the ones who do exist.

NYTimes: The Elgin Marbles, a Test Case for Antiquities Repatriation

This is personally interesting to me because the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a formative part of my middle and high school years. I knew the Met well enough, at one point, that I didn't need a map to navigate it (being in California nine months of the year has eroded my abilities thereto).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/arts/09abroad.html

It's in part an issue of cultural identity. If the modern state can unequivocally lay claim to a certain cultural inheritance, methinks, then it has extremely valid cause. If it cannot show that it is the only logical heir to a particular classical or historical society (this is generally rather rare, as most cultures, if not political or social entities, have been fairly consistent through the centuries), then others with equal claim, and even those representing the interests of the greater scholarly or artistic community, often claim a physical right to said objets d'art. It's particularly interesting because Classical Greece has spawned so many heirs of the mind; practically all of Western Europe, and the Western world at large, can trace its philosophical and cultural roots to Greco-Roman thinkers.

There is also the question of integrity of historical sites. Of course, no one should go and take apart a centuries-old facade and ship the various pieces off to museums around the world (as much as that happened in the past, and on a smaller scale, continues to happen today). But should a monument that is falling apart be restored on its original site, or should the pieces be distributed to museums (especially pertinent if the originating state does not have the technology or resources to restore the monument, and foreign teams end up taking over the project, often with the intention of appropriating some of the artifacts for their own countries)? Does physical proximity to the historical site add significant value?

There are loads more questions to be asked and answered. Discuss (yes, I read and respond to comments).

The Elements Song

It's unfortunately not YouTube, and therefore not embedded, but Tom Lehrer is brilliant and funny and worth clicking through to hear.

http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html

It's "The Elements Song" (sung to the tune of "The Modern Major-General" from Pirates of Penzance)!

NYTimes: Facebook Vigilance

This is why I don't use Facebook:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/fashion/09privacy.html?src=me&ref=homepage

I mentioned this in my inaugural post. I'm not just paranoid, see -- it's actually a little frightening how much can be gleaned from one's Facebook page, even with all the privacy settings.

The ironic thing is, I don't even have that much to hide. I don't do anything really incriminating (don't drink, don't party, &c.), but still, I suppose occasionally handling sharp bladed weaponry (even recreationally) is a blip on people's radars these days. Not to mention my views on some political, human rights, and personal issues (pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, atheist, &c.), which might ruffle some feathers.

BBC: (Mental) Gender Test

Basically, gender (as a psychological rather than a physical concept) is a sliding scale, rather than two discrete categories. The BBC website provides a very comprehensive test comprised of multiple components, like spatial recognition, EQ (emotional quotient), learning and lifestyle preferences, &c., which, when combined, yield a pretty good estimate of where the subject's mental gender falls on the scale. To wit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

I scored a 0 (that's a zero). Yes, exactly in the middle. I first took this test a few months ago, and I'm still trying to formulate a good comeback.

Code Monkey (song)

Jonathan Coulton is amazing, talented, amazingly talented, etc. Here is his song about, well, writing code for a living.



I have so many computer scientist friends, and listening to this song, I'm tempted to simultaneously laugh at them (or with them, and in the best way possible) and fear for their futures. While they all have the potential to make it big in the start-up world (knowing them, and how awesome they are, I really wouldn't be surprised), I'm also a wee bit scared that ten years down the line, they, too, will end up as code monkeys.

Then again, they probably have more secure job prospects than I do, fuzzy that I am. (At Stanford, we call humanities majors "fuzzies", and sciences majors "techies".)

Giant (Stuffed) Microbes!

http://www.giantmicrobes.com

They're some of the most disturbingly cute things I've ever seen.

I currently have Mad Cow and the Black Plague (that doesn't sound right at all) -- I received them as gifts (that sounds really suspect) -- but I left them both at home in New York.

I'm surprised I don't yet have a bookworm; it's probably the one most appropriate to me.

Limyaael's Fantasy Rants

http://coyotecult.com/communities/sfandf_critters/references/limyaael.php

This should be required reading for any scifi/fantasy writer. It's some of the most cogent writing and worldbuilding advice I've found in my years of writing fantasy fiction and trawling the tubes. Limyaael, as the author calls herself, addresses many of the problems endemic to the genre and to amateur writing in general, everything from overused and misused tropes to plot holes (which are just as dangerous as, but not identical to, pot holes), all in the form of informal, snarky essays she calls "rants."

I know that this archive has been an education for me, and I hope it's been, and will continue to be, widely read and shared. The science fiction and fantasy community is better for it.

NYTimes: The Morgan Museum Gets a Makeover

When people think of museums in New York, they can typically name only a few of the biggest and most famous: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (locals and connoisseurs call it, with affection, "The Met"), the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Modern Art (the MOMA). The City [sic] is particularly rich in museums of all shapes and sizes, from the Frick Collection (a personal favorite) to the kid-friendly Sony Wonder. I have been to the Morgan Library and Museum quite a few times (they had an excellent exhibition of medieval illuminations this past summer), and I'm very glad they're doing some restoration on the place -- hopefully it will attract more visitors post-operation!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/arts/design/12morgan.html

I'm glad they're not making huge changes to the rotunda; the mosaics are wonderful, and I'd be sad to see them go.

El Cid, Cicero, and Napoleon...

... walk into a bar... I'm kidding. Actually, what the three have in common (other than being dead) is that they were all exiled from their homelands, for various (political) reasons.

I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.

~Aeschylus, Agamemnon

There is something about the concept of homeland, la patrie, the people and language and culture and physical earth of the places we love, that drives people to live, to love, and to die. To be exiled, for some, is the finest form of agony. That notion, that singular spark, seems to have been lost, or twisted beyond recognition, in this day and age. I am a student of history, and The Song of Roland moves me still -- as does, of course, The Oresteia -- though I have read them both many times.

The line is also much more broadly applicable; hope is, after all, the last thing that can be taken from a person, short of his life.

xkcd: Take That, Andrew Jackson!

http://xkcd.com/84/

Because really, the Bering Strait existed way before the caravels were ever commissioned. People ought to remember that, instead of just assuming that white is the default option in America. Huzzah for minorities!

(This is one of the older comics; it's still drawn in pencil.)

NYTimes: Packing a Carry-On for Maximum Efficiency

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/06/business/businessspecial/20100506-pack-ss.html?src=me&ref=homepage

This is of especial interest to me, because I travel by air a whole lot. There's the fact that I go to school in California despite being from New York, and then there's the debating, where almost every one of our competitor schools is on the East Coast (the Ivies, the Little Ivies, &c.), and we have to fit a sleeping bag, a suit, dress shoes, and a load of other things into our carry-on luggage. (The rolling vs. folding of clothes is a trick I figured out a long time ago.)

Neil Gaiman

I am constantly surprised by people who don't know who he is. Neil Gaiman is a rock star of the literary world (no, seriously, there was some newspaper or something that used those exact words). He's the author of such works as American Gods, Stardust, Coraline, Good Omens (co-authored with Terry Pratchett, another literary titan), and of course, the Sandman graphic novels. He's a genius, and I only hope that someday, I might have a tenth of his talent. Anyhow, he keeps a blog, which is smart and funny and full of interesting tidbits, here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com.

(The rest of his website, http://www.neilgaiman.com, is also chock full of cool material, including some fiction, but the blog does tend to have the latest news.)

Pied Beauty (by Gerard Manley Hopkins)

Another favorite poem (Blogger, unfortunately, doesn't display indentations. Here's a correctly typeset version: http://www.bartleby.com/122/13.html.):

Pied Beauty
by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1918)

Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

I do not believe in God, but I can and do respect religion when it inspires something like this. There have been numerous men of science in the modern day (Einstein comes to mind) who were also believers, because they saw, through their work and studies, that the world is marvelous and beautiful, believed that there must be some greater force at work, a Divine Clockmaker, of sorts, which created a thing of such magnificence. In some ways, I believe it to be even more wondrous that such a world originated by chance, by many factors in the universe aligning to bring it into existence, rather than through a concerted, deliberate effort. Serendipity, as it were.

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

I'm a fan of Church music, but even if you aren't, this is absolutely hysterical. The kids who came up with it are brilliant. (I suggest full-screen viewing.)

NYTimes: All the Obama 20-Somethings

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/magazine/02obamastaff-t.html?hpw

I remember the Obama craze; I was a freshman in college, and it was just about the most exciting thing to happen that year (yes, even compared to being in college). If I were a little older at the time, I could see myself picking up and moving with these people, pulling crazy shifts in out-of-the-way swing states, sleeping less than I already do, being part of something larger than myself. I'm an idealist, what can I say? As it stands, I voted -- I stood in line for however many hours it took (skived off class, even), and cast a ballot. Seriously, I was more excited to be eighteen to vote than anything else. :)

It sounds wonderful, being there. I'm glad we have a president like this, for all his imperfections.

MSNBC: Light Bulbs Lead to Bright Ideas, Quite Literally

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36940459/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Awesomeness! Now we know that there's a reason for those dissection room-type lights in public school classrooms. :P (No, seriously, the implications are greater than they'd first appear, even if they're derived somewhat accidentally.)

NYTimes: Steampunk!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/fashion/08PUNK.html?_r=1&em&ex=1210392000&en=38483d5ad02044a4&ei=5087%0A

I'm so glad a credible, mainstream news source has finally picked up on it! I'm a fan of steampunk, mostly because it incorporates many elements of Regency and Victorian culture for which I have a sort of sentimental fondness. I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes, for one (Doyle was my action-adventure fix; no comics or television for me!). Elements of steampunk I think are cool, to list a few:
- dirigibles
- clockwork
- waistcoats
- gunpowder
- horse-drawn carriages
- calling cards
(I have a bunch of Victoriana links on the blog, for more interesting tidbits.)

Do You Wanna Date My Avatar (i.e. Felicia Day is awesome)

Felicia Day, of Dr. Horrible fame, wrote and sang this, the theme song of the web series The Guild. She has a good voice (though it is a little thin in parts, and it's quite obvious where her break is), and a good ear for lyrics. The tune is also just incredibly catchy (don't say I didn't warn you!).

Regency Costuming: The Aftermath

I thought people might be interested in seeing the final product, so here are some pictures of me at the dance, courtesy of Lucas:

Yes, I know it's not accurate in that it's sleeveless. Puffy sleeves of the Regency persuasion are ridiculously annoying to make, not to mention that they're really difficult to render in such a way as to allow free movement of the shoulder. I decided that if some people were allowed to come as zombies, I was certainly allowed a bit of artistic license.

And here's a full body picture, with a shawl. You can see the ruffles along the bottom edge. (I did them by hand, and it took forever!) And the guy whose face you can see on the right is the social dance instructor here, Richard Powers. He's sort of a mini-celebrity on campus.

Garth Nix Parodies Bad Fantasy

http://www.garthnix.com/garbeliad.html

Garth Nix is an amazing writer (the Old Kingdom books are old favorites). Who knew he also has such a great sense of humor? It's almost The Eye of Argon (which was not a parody, but rather just hilariously bad), but a good deal cleverer.

Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Free books! (All of them are past copyright protection, of course, and many of them are currently out of print.) Project Gutenberg is wonderful!

Behind the Name, i.e. Parental Expectations in One Word

http://www.behindthename.com

This is a really useful database which provides etymology, meanings, and connotations of names (not just English names, or modern names, mind you). It's great for giving names to characters who don't yet have them (I write fiction, if I haven't already mentioned it), and also for figuring out what the names of other people really mean (it sometimes leads to funny conversations). Mine, for example, means "lady" or "princess" -- really, more of "high-born, well-bred woman", which, if you know me, is a rather debatable description.

NYTimes: A Sampling of Chinglish

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/03/world/asia/20100503_CHINGLISH.html?src=me&ref=homepage

Chinglish made the Times! And one of my best friends (Brett) is credited as a contributor. :)

The Classics Rock! (article)

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/04/02/the_classics_rock

The classics do rock! I definitely get the sense that too many people automatically assume that Latin and Ancient Greek, being "dead languages", are automatically less valuable than say, modern Romance languages, or just modern languages in general. While I don't deny that modern languages are, on the whole, more practically applicable than purely written languages, this doesn't mean that the classical tongues are any less worth study. That's the equivalent of an assertion that pre-modern history is less valuable than recent history, because it was much further past. For all that has changed, human nature remains much as it was a millennium or two ago.

The Classics rock!

The Evolution of Women's Fashion through the Regency and Victorian Eras

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppbrokil.html#ppoth

More costuming! The above diagram is just great; not only do you get surprisingly good detail at the given scale (click on it), you also get to compare the silhouettes by decade-ish. I'm going for somewhere between the second and third figures, myself. (Thank goodness it's a Regency ball. Some of the Victorian ones are insane; I don't know how I'd walk in one of those gigantic bustle/hobble skirt numbers, let alone dance!)

On the Proper Usage of the Semicolon

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Because I find grammar extremely entertaining. Yes, I am a nerd -- I thought we'd established this?

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (by William Butler Yeats)

Now, for something that is not a link, but is absolutely beautiful -- one of my all-time favorite poems:

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
by William Butler Yeats (1899)

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

It speaks for itself, methinks. I hope that someday, I will have the opportunity to say such things to somebody, that somebody will say such things to me, and that we both will mean it with our whole hearts.

The Complete Military History of France

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

It's terribly funny, and all true (if massively oversimplified). Ah, the joys of being a student of history: it's much more entertaining than many other subjects.

I think my favorite line has to be the one about accordions.

NYTimes: The Mathematics of Mattress-Flipping

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/group-think/?hp

I'm henceforth going to think of this every time I move a mattress. And living in a college dormitory, I'd say the occasion does arise.

Pixels Take Over New York... and the World!

Simple concept, brilliant execution. I'm also just very amused. I will probably walk past some of the locations in the video the next time I'm home, and see brightly colored blocks in my mind's eye.

An Introduction to Regency Dress

http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=387&Title=Introduction-To-Regency-Dress

A rather useful website: concise, has most of the relevant information, some background thrown in, and a good number of illustrations. All it really needs is a schematic -- but then again it's an introduction, not a how-to. There are enough pictures at different angles that I can reconstruct the average gown.

loltheorists: Schroedinger's lolcats

http://community.livejournal.com/loltheorists

For those of us who appreciate (corny) jokes about smart but dead white guys. Well, mostly dead. (I mean, most of them are dead -- the former phraseology makes them sound like zombies.)

With regard to the title of the post -- yes, I went there.

MSNBC: The World's Biggest Rabbit!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/36845356/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals?GT1=43001

Seriously, this creature is the size of a medium-weight dog. It still looks adorable, though. I want to meet it.

xkcd: The Truth Behind the Kindle

http://xkcd.com/548/

Hey, a girl can dream, right? (Not about electric sheep, though -- five nerd points if you get the reference.)

The History of Opera Gloves

I'm making myself a Regency ballgown (for the Stanford Big Dance, which is the big social dance event of the quarter); the theme of the dance is "Pride and PrejuDance and Zombies". As you know (well, now you do) any Regency ballgown requires a pair of opera gloves. I ordered them online (Here's to hoping that they arrive in time!), since I don't pretend to know how to fit opera gloves, nor do I have the time to. Anyhow, here is an article on the history of said gloves:

http://www.operagloves.com/history.html

Expect a smattering of posts on Regency costuming in the coming days; costuming resources, you know.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

http://www.drhorrible.com

It's 42(!) minutes of sheer brilliance. It manages to be funny, poignant, and terribly tragic all at the same time.

I won't go on (I could; I wrote a paper about this in fall quarter), but if you are in any way a nerd, this is a must see.

Oh, and the music's terribly catchy. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The New Yorker: A Tiny Feast

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/04/20/090420fi_fiction_adrian

It's a really excellent short story. I love A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Chris Adrian captures the Fey Folk perfectly. And the Beastie is just a wonderful touch.

xkcd: Newton:1, Leibniz:0

http://xkcd.com/626/

There are no words.

How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You

http://www.catswhothrowupgrass.com/kill.php

Ahhh... the cuteness! The cuteness is too much!

I want a kitty! And a hurdy gurdy! But if I really had to choose, I'd say I would rather receive a kitty, because while I can (with much time and effort) make a hurdy gurdy, I cannot make a kitty. (I am neither God nor Craig Venter.)

If you got that joke... I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. (Possibly both. While awarding you ten nerd points.)

Medieval and Renaissance Musical Instruments

http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html

It's actually really complete, and really accurate -- and they have recordings!

There are some really interesting (and interesting-sounding) ones, like the dulcimer and the lizard. My favorite, though, is the hurdy gurdy. It's the string equivalent of a bagpipe, and it sounds via hand crank, and it's called a hurdy gurdy. I want one.

NYTimes: Geek Love

The diagram is from this New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/opinion/09rogers.html?pagewanted=all

This amuses me so much, if only because it is actually rather accurate. I confess that I am a geek (Confess? No, I proclaim!), with all that it entails. I know many people for whom many of the above details hold true, (myself being one of them).

Times (UK): Hannibal’s Real Alpine Trunk Road to Rome is Revealed

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article7029508.ece

Punic Wars! Elephants! Hannibal!

That is all.

Parisian Love (Google Search Stories)

A Google ad, and one of the best, cutest YouTube videos I've ever seen. *warm fuzzies* (Gosh, how many times have I clicked the replay button?)

This is a prime example of the power of understatement. It's not quite Hemingway (the apocryphal author of the most famous six-word story in literature: "for sale, baby shoes, never worn"), but it comes pretty darn close.

NYTimes: The Big Bang Theory (review)

I don't often watch television, but this is something I would enjoy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/science/27bang.html?hpw

I saw one episode on YouTube a long time ago, and it was wonderfully funny. Nerds! On television! Being nerdy!

Ahem. That is all.

Nature by Numbers

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Even -- or especially -- in science, there is beauty. (I am reminded of this xkcd comic.)

It irks me when non-scientists assume that scientists have no appreciation for nature or art. Knowing how something works does not automatically decrease one's respect for it; rather, a true understanding of how complex and unlikely our world is makes it all the more wondrous. (Read some Feynman. He illustrates this point beautifully.) As an occasional creative writer, I'd say that analogously, knowing how a book is written doesn't diminish my respect for authors; it instead allows me to appreciate both the finished work of art and the author's mastery of the craft. Knowing exactly how difficult something was to achieve enhances one's appreciation of it.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Because I am a stickler for the correct usage of grammar:

http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com

It's like an acute case of schadenfreude. I cringe, but I laugh. Also, some of the unintentional (I hope) meanings are quite amusing.

NYTimes: Can Animals Be Gay?

Yes they can! And herewith is evidence of such:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/04animals-t.html?src=me&ref=homepage

I feel vindicated in the face of all the homophobic Evangelicals and such in the world. Now we just need to get Congress on board.

Word Disassociation

by Lemon Demon

It's funny in a surrealist way -- it has some Dada underpinnings, intentionally or otherwise -- and the presentation, while somewhat amateur, is clever. Not to mention that the song is catchy, if hard to memorize because of its sheer randomness and because the images are by and large unrelated to the text ("flouncy," I think, is the obvious exception).

There are a few spelling and pronunciation errors; it's "serenade", not "serenede", and the double l's in "guillotine" are pronounced the French way, not as hard l's. The sheer pointless amusement derived from the video, however, more than makes up for it. I once watched this five or six times consecutively at some ungodly hour of morning (it was an interesting experience).

Online Rhyming Dictionary

I write poetry of the classical variety (closed form, meter and rhyme, etc.), and so a good rhyming dictionary is a tremendous resource. This is the one I usually consult.

http://www.rhymezone.com

It includes not only rhymes, but definitions, synonyms and antonyms, and much more besides.

A One-Stop Resource for all your Greek Mythology Needs

http://www.theoi.com

An almost-comprehensive compendium of information on Greek mythology. Its strengths are deities of all stripes, mythical heroes, and genealogy. It is very useful as a supplement to Wikipedia, as it is usually more detailed, and its articles more tailored to the knowledgeable reader, rather than a lay audience.

Floriography

is, for the uninitiated, the Victorian practice of assigning meanings to species of flowers and plants. Friends, relatives, and lovers would send each other bouquets with which they communicated their sentiments and wishes. It was a way of saying what could not be said aloud, within the bounds of tact and social norms (more the latter, given that Victorian -- I use the term loosely -- sensibilities, especially among the elites and the educated, were circumscribed by strict propriety and etiquette).

A table: http://www.thegardener.btinternet.co.uk/flowerlanguage.html

I've always been enamored of the concept of such a cipher -- a quaint and fascinating practice, to be sure.

Wikipedia supplies another such glossary (included herein for cross-referencing purposes): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floriography

The Inaugural Post: A Declaration of Purpose

Allow me to justify the existence of yet another blog on the vast Internet. This is first and foremost a personal project, an instrument of order to placate my sometimes-chaotic mind. If it should attract the interest of others (friends, acquaintances -- those who know me, or wish to) then so much the better; I am a proponent of free exchange of ideas, news, innovation, artistic expression, and all things which engage the mind or touch the heart, or both.

I have been told that I should (instead) invest in either a social networking profile (i.e. Facebook), an online journal (such as Livejournal), or a compendium of links (Delicious). There are myriad reasons against any and all of the above, reasons which, when taken together, outweigh any potential benefit I would derive therefrom. It is mostly because I am, at least on the web, a rather private person, and not inclined towards social networking. (With regard to Delicious, it is merely that I enjoy having the option of writing long posts to accompany certain links, and of posting things other than URLs and text, such as images and charts. (If there is an existing way to do so, then I am a web neophyte, and have exposed myself as such.)

I chose May Day (as the date of launch) for its traditional symbolism: spring, growth, hope, and the beginning of new things.

Note: Expect, in the coming day(s), a deluge of precisely-timed posts; I am merely tidying up my browser bookmarks.