Sad Tree

this "Championship Tree" is so depressing. my roommates and i thought maybe it had been done by some amateur or something, but no. it's official. it's embarrassing and pitiable. D:

the ball isn't round, the fingers are too small. the whole limb is misshapen. but there it stands at the corner of franklin and columbia, and i guess visitors to the town will walk by and scratch their heads and wonder whether it's officially sanctioned or not; and if it is, whether it's SUPPOSED to be all disproportionate and sad, and charitably they will say, "yes, it was probably supposed to look sort of cartoony like that. right?"

Notes from the Looking Glass

I am updating from Carrboro's infamous Looking Glass Cafe, the coffee shop-cum-head shop that is in perilous proximity to an elementary school. The N&O describes the panic, fear, outrage, etc. that has erupted among residents who have kids at the school. Also worth noting that Carrboro's previous head shop was busted for being a drug front.

WELL.

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Strawberries

 i have become a real asshole. i find myself going for a jog most evenings and thinking asshole things like, "oh! what a splendid evening it is for a run!" and "MY! isn't this so CLEANSING! and MEDITATIVE!?" but it really is cleansing and meditative, to be out in the world, in the twilight, under the trees, enjoying the capacities of my young, able body, rather than passively inhabiting it (you know, just slugging around, like a slug. sluggishly. like i do at work.), so i guess i'll keep it up.

i'm still just starting out, i am doing a couch to 5k running plan (not that i plan to run a 5k, ever) and it is so manageable. i made playlists to go along with it.

 the strawberries i brought home a few weeks ago weren't quite ready. still too tart. i bought some again this week. they are ready now, to be devoured while you're still hot from your evening run, to be plucked from the fridge late at night and sucked down greedily in the frigidaire's wan yellow glow while the cold air leaks out around you. YUMMMMMMM.

Holiday

I am not worried about Swine Flu, because when it reaches a critical point, when it achieves apocalyptic proportions--when the government admits to us that we have reached the true and terrifying nadir, I am going to calmly turn to the Decameron for inspiration, and take my friends to a secluded (preferably seaside) villa, where we will while away the mean and uncertain days of scourge in a perfect idyll, a state of suspended animation, lounging about in Slankets and Snuggies, reciting bawdy stories to one another.

We will have thoughtfully laid in a generous cache of foodstuffs and other provisions--being sure to order them online so as to avoid the grocery stores and their cashiers and customers and grubby currency--disease carriers, all! So we will be well-provided for and carefree, basically on holiday, since our offices will be shuttered.

I only hope that the pandemic reaches level 6 before Memorial Day, when rates on vacation rentals will balloon to the "peak season" rates.

dispatches from the atlasphere

A post in Jezebel mentioned Ayn Rand and though I think Jezebel has really gone downhill, I must say that this line about the fountainhead sums up my feelings quite nicely: Turned out this foundational text of objectivism was a sorry mix of bad writing, lookism, and didactic storytelling, all meant to show that we should only care about ourselves.

Word up to the bad writing. I mean, I've only read it over someone's shoulder, but that was enough.

Anyway, the post has a link to this dating site for randy (LOL) objectivists. and i had to make a profile.

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election

election
Last night in Chapel Hill, there was an air of festivity. At the Station in Carrboro, people stood mashed up against each other, no room to move. We waited at the door at first, and from the depths of the crowd came a yell—ohio had just gone blue. I figured Station was a happening place, being a sort-of new bar and being in Carrboro on election night.

But we went to Top of the Hill and it was crowded, too and people were paying more rapt attention to CNN than those at Station. The whole thing felt like watching the Heels in a national championship game.

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The 14th amendment covers citizenship rights and due process.

"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

BORN in the united states. if you're unborn, gtfo.

ok, j/k, kind of. but really- why do people like john mccain keep insisting that not-yet-people are more important and deserve more support and protection than real-ass flesh-and-blood right-now people?

why does sarah palin value "life" and "rights" for fetuses but not for american women? why does she support policies that would curtail the life, liberty, and happiness of women?

i thought obama was absolutely right to mention the common ground that pro-choice and 'those who oppose abortion' can find in COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION and social services to support mothers.

Palin and Gibson

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.



Palin doesn't know what the Bush doctrine is. A bit ironic, considering she could be taking his place in the White House and could have to decide whether to continue or break away from its tenets, and especially given the fact that the war she just shipped a son off to was born directly of this doctrine.

Is it really so bad that she didn't know what Charlie Gibson was talking about? Well, if you're a blogger, maybe not. Tracie at Jezebel tried to go a little easy on her for that: "Palin didn't even know what the Bush Doctrine was! (To be fair, neither did I, but I'm not looking to run this country.)"

And at Slate, Fred Kaplan gave her a little bit of credit, "Her initial response—"In what respect, Charlie?"—was a fair point. So many Bush doctrines have been promulgated, proved wrong, and abandoned without comment."

I don't think Palin was asking "In what respect, Charlie?" because she was familiar with too many subtly varied versions of the Bush doctrine. I think she asked because she hadn't read or heard of it before in her life.

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DNW

it finally rained. this won't be enough to overcome the drought, so i would just like to remind everyone: if it's yellow, let it mellow. if it's brown, flush it down.


tonight i discovered the origins of "do not want."



it's old news, i guess. but in case you're like me and never really knew where this stuff originated:

Catchphrase popularized on 4Chan, which spread to other various forums online, signifies that the content of a thread isn't desired or liked that much

Acquired from a bootleg camcorder Hong Kong subtitling of the Chinese dub of Star Wars Episode III, in which Darth Vader's howl of 'NOOOOOO!' scream is translated to Chinese and then back to English as 'Do not want'




maybe i will go eat some cake.

Potter

it's been a good 10 years, potter. what a read.
but something has always troubled me about potter. even his most shining moments are arrived at by way of others' sacrifice or contribution. he is always saved from certain extinction just in the nick of time, either by a friend or by some magical device (his mother's long ago sacrifice, or fawkes the phoenix appearing on the scene).

you are never given the impression, through these novels, that harry really has what it takes to be the hope of all wizard-kind. he breaks the rules at school, doesn't read any of his textbooks or do his assignments. doesn't score well on his OWLS. he's all-around pretty lackluster as a wizard. and i know i'm missing the point--he's a good person!. being a good person counts for a lot. some things, however, require more than likeability and good character traits. they require merit.

i think that idea is pretty important with the presidential candidate debates cranking up. last time the country picked a president based on who we'd rather have a beer with, well, look how it ended up.

the presidential candidates need to get with it. the democrats, i mean. i watched them all on the stage, stammering about their religion. obama proclaimed how proud he was of his "christian faith." so did joe biden. he said it informed his decisions/position on the floor.

clinging to religion has gotten us into enough trouble already, but all of the candidates seem desperate to convince everyone just how religious they are, no one wants to say that religion belongs nowhere near the white house. and i suspect that it will be the same on every issue the candidates encounter: not one of them will venture to say something that departs from the safe, well-polished drivel that gets people elected. and however the election turns out, the new president isn't likely to enact any policies that depart from the safe, time-tested ideas that boost approval ratings.