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This update brought to you by OH CRAP SCHOOL!!1
Who feels Overwhelmed
And thinks that Comments are totally awesome.
MC Chris - "Fette's Vette"
Cowboy Bebop - "Pushing The Sky"
Ram Jam - "Black Betty"
Afrika Bambaataa - "Planet Rock"
Kraftwerk - "Trans-Europe Express"
Tycho (Penny-Arcade): The only people terrorized by peer-to-peer file sharing are vastly potent multinational businesses, gripped by the realization that they sell carriages in a world of bullet trains.
assiduous -
1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive.
2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, "assiduous labor."
There's a group of people on campus who I've come to call "chalkists." I call them such because they buy chalk and use it to write on the sidewalks, buildings, and statues around campus. This group can be categorized into three separate subgroups: the Peace n Love Chalkists, the America First Chalkists, and the Why Buy Newspaper Space, I'll Advertize Right Here Chalkists. That last set, obviously, just use their chalk to tell you about upcoming specials at the local bars and clubs, local bands playing, etc. But I'm concentrating here on the first two chalkist tribes.
The Peace n Love Chalkists base their operations on the top of the hill (Because the campus is on and around a hill, in case you weren't in the know). This is where the fine arts and humanities departments are located, so the surrounding concrete is rife with messages spreading peace, love, and war-protest.
The America First Chalkists are elusive. The majority of their work was originally concentrated at the bottom of the hill where you'd find the dorms, student center, and athletic departments. Kentucky is a relatively conservative state, but conservative political viewpoints are still a minority on most college campuses, so most of these people hide out like the Rebel Alliance and strike at the liberal cause where their followers manage to gather.
As a point of clarity, the science departments are on the side of the hill, relatively unaffiliated with either groups. Enter our story.
Toward the beginning of the semester, the Peace n Love chalkists began to expand their work to include the main science building (Thompson Complex). Our sidewalks - and even the walls of the planetarium - were covered in anti-war messages. I don't want to make a sweeping generalization of engineers, but a great deal of our engineers are of the Republican persuasion. Engineers spend a great deal of time in the science department. Needless to say, this must have been seen as an act of aggression against the conservative forces among us.
I refer to what followed as the Battle of Thompson Complex, and it truly set the ball in motion for open hostilities between the two groups. America First chalkists began to deface the original messages around Thompson and added their own pro-war statements. The Peace n Love responded in kind. While there was no evidence of physical confrontation, a few letters to the editor appeared in the local newspaper decrying both sides for their actions.
But it didn't stop there.
Another hotly contested area of campus is the Fine Arts Center itself. It lies midway down the hill between the humantities and the business school, and can be considered the true "center of campus" in both location and the fact that they have the coffee house. America First struck first in the Battle of F.A.C. with harsh messages equating war protestors to Saddam supporters, to which Peace n Love responded by saying that protestors want to "bring the boys home," as it were. It was then that America First made their first major attack in the heart of enemy territory by bringing their messages into the sidewalks between the English, History, and Journalism departments.
Suffice it to say the chalk has hit the fan.
To my knowledge, the Battle of Cherry/Garret Halls is still going on to some degree, but a lot of it has really died down - probably because the war is really entering its final combat stages. Also to my knowledge, there's been no physical conflict between either groups.
But what a violent, violent war it's been anyway.
[NOTE: If I don't have some of my facts straight about what's been going on, I apologize. I'm exaggurating for the sake of making this situation sound interesting enough to make up for a month of not updating]
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This update brought to you by Your Mama
Who feels Continuous on the interval [a,b]
And thinks that Comments are totally awesome.
Led Zeppelin - "Rock and Roll"
Tom Cochrane - "Life Is A Highway"
Remy Shand - "Liberate"
Morrissey - "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me"
Libra Presents Taylor - "Anomaly (Calling Your Name)"
Robert X. Cringely: If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
emolument-
The wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation.
Alan, King of Telefrag
There's also a game called Alchemy listed on the Addicting Games website that's stolen by brain power. Alan got me hooked on it, and I've even gone so far as to download the trial offline version.
My floor is covered in runes, but I just can't manage to turn the carpet gold. Curses.
The more I think about it, the more I'd love to be a computational physicist. From what I've gathered, they're physicists who use computers and similar technology to unravel the mysteries of the universe. Hey! I like computers, I like physics, and I'm not terribly interesting in being a purely theoretical or experimental kind of a man. Other people can figure out the formulas and get the data. I'll tell you what you can do with it.
Man, this is like the worst update in a while. I'm terribly, terribly sorry.
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,= (1/6)(2u2-au-3a2)(2au-u2)(1/2)+ (1/2)a3cos-1[(a-u)/a]+c
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh,It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one.It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no,--Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Fortunate Son"
This update brought to you by The Letters G & V
Who feels Oddly Satisfied
And thinks that Comments are totally awesome.
Parliament - "Do That Stuff"
Talking Heads - "Mr. Jones"
Joe Cocker - "She Wrote Me A Letter"
Kraftwerk[?] - "Popcorn"
Rage Against The Machine - "Wake Up"
Eddie Izzard: I like my women like I like my coffee -- in a plastic cup.
piebald- 1. Having spots and patches of black and white, or other colors; mottled.
2. Mixed; composed of incongruous parts.
Off the top of my head, I can't remember the last time I went outside save to make my way to another place to go inside again. So you can probably imagine what kind of a endeavour this was for me. I ran around like a fool chasing a piece of plastic, diving and rolling around in the dirt and making a general mess of my otherwise flawless appearance. Now I'm polishing off a tall glass of tropical Hawaiian Punch and pondering the possibility of fetching another.
You have no idea how many tries it took to spell "Hawaiian" properly. You also have no idea how long I've waited to use the term "pondering the possibility."
I downloaded a song called "Popcorn" today which was attributed to electronic pioneers, Kraftwerk. I researched it a bit and found that it was originally written by a man named Gershon Kingsley as part of a Concerto for Moog that a moog quartet played with the Boston Pops in 1971. In '72, a German group called Hot Butter covered the song and got its international on with it. Since then, everyone and his brother has covered it, and a version was apparantly used in the movie Detroit Rock City (But doesn't appear on the soundtrack).
In other words, I have no idea whether or not this version was really done by Kraftwerk. I found both the original quartet's version and the Hot Butter version, and this isn't done by either. I can't find anything that says Kraftwerk ever covered it, and - when I really listen to it - it sounds a bit too bouncy and complicated. If it's them, it's a stark contrast from their usual minimalist style.
"Who cares?" you're probably asking. Well, I do. I have this anal retentive idea that my music collection must be perfectly organized, arranged, and credited properly. If I find out a song is really a cover, I go out of my way to label it as such.
This entire attitude is amplified when the song in question is quite possibly my most favorite song ever. Alright, that's probably stretching it a bit. But I do really love this song, and I'd really like to know who's responsible for it. If any Kraftwerk aficionados happen on my site, would you happen to know if they ever covered "Popcorn"?
I'd be much obliged.
I'm subscribed to Dictionary.com's Word of the Day mailing list. I don't ever bother trying to use these words in a sentence at some point in the day, but it is nice to expand the old vocabulary a little bit. In case you're feeling apathetic about signing up for anything or visiting their site on a daily basis, I've decided to start adding them on this ever-growing side panel.
Who says personal web sites can't be educational?
=(2au - u2)1/2+a cos-1[(a-u)/a]+c
This update brought to you by Mikemucation
Who feels Smarter By The Second
And thinks that Comments are totally awesome.
Donnie Darko - "Middlesex Times"
Nightmare Before Christmas - "Jack's Lament"
Norah Jones - "More Than This" (Roxy Music cover)
Outkast - "XPlosion"
Tool - "Stinkfist"
Garak: "I've locked the door and left him with the distinct impession that if he attempts to force it open it will explode."
Sisko: "And will it?"
Garak: "It's best not to dwell on such minutae."
scrabble- 1. To scrape or scratch with the hands or feet.
2. To struggle by or as if by scraping or scratching.
3. To proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble.
4. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning marks; to scribble; to scrawl.
So how did I spend my break after class was over? Why, doing laundry! Everything's washed and minty fresh!
I'm on my way to Computer Science which will be directly followed by Computer Science Lab. Normally, I'd dread the task. Don't get me wrong; it's an easy class, and I enjoy computers. But taking an easy class in something you enjoy can often turn into a boring chore of having to listen to someone tell you things you already know.
Not today, though! Today, I feel ready to tackle the academic world like a sumo. Which, incidentally, I will do now. I'll continue this update when I return, which will be in a few hours. Since I'm not uploading it in the mean time, however, you won't read any of this until it's all finished. Which means the following implied intermission will seem like nothing to you. Funny how that works, isn't it?
Alright, so it actually took me 48 hours to get back here to finish this update. Boy, what a difference two days make! I overslept yesterday and missed my first two classes, and then I started coughing up blood. I lacked the motivation for anything beyond that.
Where the sam hill is my cold medicine? I'm on the brink of death here.
On a lighter note, I bought this air freshener the other day that smells like Apple and Cinnamon. So now - when you come into our room - you're greeted by the welcoming odor of apples and/or cinnamons. Plus, I cleaned the carpet with real carpet cleaner, and I think that makes me awesome.
Current View Outside My Window (Click = Enlarge)
=[2(2au - u2)1/2]/u-cos-1[(a-u)/a]+c
This update brought to you by Rejuvenated Mike
Who feels ...well, Rejuvenated!
And thinks that Comments are totally awesome.
Spacehog - "Mungo City"
Johnny Cash - "Hurt" (NIN Cover)
Motley Crue - "Dr. Feelgood"
The Real McCoy - "Another Night"
Blackstreet - "No Diggity"
I lost it in the great hard drive cataclysm a year ago, but I wrote a song called "Hobos and Haystacks." As I recall, it was a ballad of someone or another, but I forget his name. He was a farmer who fed his chickens mail-order radioactive material after which they would lay exploding nuclear eggs. Then he jumped on the back of a train, recruited a hobo army, and performed a glorious coup d'etat that left a nuclear winter in his wake. Man, I wish I still had the lyrics.
I slept for hours and hours yesterday. Combined with the unusually warm weather, I feel invigorated. Maybe I just needed the power of the sun - just like Birdman!
The Science Fiction Book Club released its list of the Top 50 Sci-Fi books of the last 50 years. You can see the full list here, but I thought I'd share the Top 10 here for convenience:
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
I've made it my goal to read the entire list before I die, but you know how well I stick to my goals. Perhaps I'll start by just saying I want to read these top 10 before I graduate from college. I've read Fahrenheit 451, so I've already completed 10%. Now I just have to sit back and procrastinate so I can read the last nine senior year.
It occurs to me that I really haven't updated any other portion of my web site, and this displeases me. I'm roughing some tests this week and next, and I won't have my computer during Spring Break week after next, so I won't guarantee I'll do anything until at least April. But the gears are definitely turning, my friends. Those gears they are a'turnin'.
DoseOfVitaminM84: With a one-two punch, B-Real and Andre dropped they verses Your homeboy Daddy Fat Sax playin clean-up so it worsens People and persons on the opposite teams oh, yes its curtains No bullets burpin' oh just lyrically twerking Making a statement, when you freestyle and your mind is in a free state Is kinda hard to execute when you ain't feeling it that day Jumpin the gun and rushing your flow Babbling on the mikie like auctioneer, got the public's ears @#$%! up can't hear, Atlanta, Georgia where y'all at? OutKast this Dirty South to death the Dungeon Family Camp Got this thang lit like stamps and nine-volt battery end caps Making that music that make your neck hurt And the beats that bother your back in my Cadillac Six woofers and four amps, lo pro vogues on swole With the carriage lamps diamond tucked velour pistol in my lap Come in peace but then xplode like booty traps
dnLFlipIt: Oh.
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