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Sorry I'm late in writing my Open Thoughts for this week. I overslept. I'll start by saying that I had an unusually hard (but useful) workout at my TKD class. One of the TKD Black Belts from the dojang came over after class to help me out and work on my requirements, so I can get my requirements sheet signed off for the belt test next month. I was told that I'm doing quite well..and making a lot of progress, although there were some tips that I was given which were much appreciated. I thanked the instructor at the end of the evening for working with me, for the tips, and the compliments. Subsequently, I didn't end up leaving the dojang until nearly eleven o'clock last night, but it was worth it.
There was only one thing that was sort of freaky about the evening, however: For starters, there's a garage directly across the street from the dojang that's reasonably priced (1.50 an hour--not bad, imho), where I always park when I go to the dojang 2 or sometimes 3 nights per week. Last night, most of the garage was full up, so I ended up parking on the very top floor...the roof. During the day is all right, but the rooftop feels kind of creepy after dark, late at night. Since the dojang and the garage are located in a sketchy area, it's probably better to park in a garage, but well, there are limits sometimes. What I do when I have to park on either of the topmost floors (the roof) of the garage is to pay specially close attention to my surroundings. Nothing's happened to me sofar, however, but then again, I don't like the feeling of walking up to that rooftop late at night, when it's dark. I'll be okay, however.
Now for the crux of my essay:
In conversations many people refer to those of a certain character as an animal of some sort or other. I have no idea why that is, but perhaps it's because that human beings, contrary to popular belief, are also a kind of animal. After all, humans and animals not only share the same planet: Earth:, but they have many of the same capacities; the ability to reproduce, the desire for dominance and control over others, the fights for survival, and the tendency to be tribal and territorial, towards arrogance, pride, sneakiness, stinginess, taking more than their share of food, etc., and not wanting to give up what they've got, and being anxious to hold onto their piece of the pie.
Those of you that read this regular series know that I am from Hackett, Arkansas, just a mile or so from the Oklahoma border, and just about 10 miles south of the Arkansas River. It was a rural sort of place that did not particularly appreciate education, and just zoom onto my previous posts to understand a bit about it.
Hackett schools were horrible when I was going there, so after the seventh grade my parents decided to look for alternatives. My friend's parents actually bought a house in a good Fort Smith school district, but there were some domestic issues involved as well and his mum and dad actually preferred living apart.
The only other legal alternative was for me to attend Saint Anne's High School, the only Catholic high school in town. Arkansas is only about 3% Catholic, so even to have a Catholic high school was sort of amazing. The problem was that Saint Anne's started at ninth grade. We went for an interview and the principal decided that I had sufficient background to bypass the seventh grade.
I wish I could transcribe the whole thing. My typing skills are good, but not quite THAT good. So, just watch. He's wonderful. If I were a churchgoing person, I'd want him as my preacher. He's THAT good.
The following link is an interesting, but rather scary link that may well get people who think that the Democratic Party is any better than the GOP. Read it...and weep, tear your hair out, or gnash your teeth
The following link is an interesting, but rather scary link that may well get people who think that the Democratic Party is any better than the GOP. Read it...and weep, tear your hair out, or gnash your teeth
Journalist expelled from China reflects on experience
Melissa Chan of Walnut is the first accredited foreign correspondent to be barred from China in 14 years. She is not sure what prompted her expulsion.
By Rosanna Xia, Los Angeles Times
After filing 400 stories from China, reporter Melissa Chan never thought she'd wind up in the headlines herself.
Chan returned to Southern California last week as the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in 14 years, an act that sparked a flurry of news reports and expressions of solidarity from fellow journalists.
Chan, who was the sole Al Jazeera English correspondent in China, said she knew she was on shaky ground for most of this year.
As I've mentioned before in these diaries, right now I'm on my annual pilgrimage to the Western Michigan University International Congress on Medieval Studies, known affectionately among medievalists as K'zoo. This is quite simply the largest and most prestigious gathering of medievalists in North America, with over 3,000 scholars and graduate students presenting and listening to thousands of papers, workshops, musical performances, and material culture demonstrations. The book room alone is worth the price of admission, as 20-30 of the best academic publishers and used book dealers display their wares, often at very deep discounts, and when I say that it would be shockingly easy to drop the equivalent of a mortgage payment in about five minutes, I speak from personal experience.
I've presented twice as part of DISTAFF, Robin Netherton's coterie of medieval textile specialists, and hope to present next year or the year after as well. All my work for Robin has been serious, well researched, and (God willing) of lasting merit, and I am honored to call myself part of DISTAFF even though I am a lousy spinner.
Tonight, though...is a bit different.
Last night I presented as part of the annual Saturday night session sponsored by the Societas Fontibus Historiae Medii Aevi Inveniendis, vulgo dicta, "The Pseudo Society." This exclusive coterie of insane dedicated jokesters scholars presents papers on such amazing discoveries as Geoffrey Chaucer being reincarnated as Bruce Springsteen, the sad death of St. Guthlac thanks to evil mortgage brokers and a real estate bubble, or the discovery of an Anglo-Saxon poem about Beowabbit (relative of Crusader Rabbit, who was alas killed and eaten by pious Muslims during the First Crusade), and I am honored to join their ranks this year.
Only a few hundred people can cram into Fetzer Auditorium at WMU to hear me live, but since you have all become like family to me over the past year or so, I'm going to share my paper with you, my loyal readers. Even better, I've included links to the images I've created to illustrate my paper! Please click to see what I'm talking about, and enjoy!
Before we get started, please allow me to wish all of the mums, grandmums, greatgrandmums, greatgreatgrandmums, and, often neglected, adoptive and foster mums out there a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I just got off of the telephone with the former Mrs. Translator after wishing her the same. I would have wished my mum and grandmum that as well, but they are no longer in the temporal plane. I did give a card to my special friend since she has a little girl.
Like my current series about The Moody Blues on Popular Culture, this topic was suggested by my very dear high school buddy Steve Ahlert. (He approved of me using his name.) Steve and I sort of lost contact for a while, but now we speak almost every day. I LOVE my Straight Talk unlimited everything, $45 per month plan and my Samsung T528G!
Steve uses melatonin to help him sleep, and it is very effective for him. Now, Steve is not some new age trend follower. Actually he is a professional pharmacist, and is the best pharmacist insofar as knowing his area of expertise that I have ever known. Equally important, the way that he deals with his patients is outstanding. He has a knack for translating highly technical information to whatever level is necessary for people to understand what they need to do.
Melatonin is interesting because what has turned out to be sort of an incidental effect gave it its name. It is also interesting from a molecular structure/activity standpoint because it is chemically related to a whole host of psychologically active agents. Let us examine this interesting substance.
Well after a longer than expected hiatus, Sunday Bread is once more out there in the world! I had been feeling burnt-out about the whole blogging thing in general and decided that I'd take some time off until I felt like I really wanted to do it again, that time has come.
But enough of that! This week we are going to bake a new recipe, one that took longer than I thought to put together, Blueberry Scones.
Now, we've made scones before but they were always with dried fruit, never with fresh blueberries. At the start I knew that I did not want to use the very small wild blueberries, they are really expensive (as if blueberries are not) and not that easy to put your hands to any time you want a batch of scones, so there were out from the start.
Then there was the issue of making sure that the bread of the scone was the right texture to hold the berries, as well as provide a slightly sweet counterpoint to the tartness of fresh blueberries. The following recipe is the result of those requirements, and if I do say so myself, I think you're going to love them and love serving them to your friends and family.
And for some reason Friday evening seems to have turned into nap night. Maybe I need some firefly wake up tea, 'cause regular tea's not keeping me awake. Katie didn't get me up at 10 for piggy meds. She waited until I woke up at 12:30 and we medicated them then. Then I went back to bed and she got me up at 3:15am to feed them. I got back to bed about 4. These Friday night naps are just throwing everything off.
This is a long show. Four episodes of PBS's Frontline. I'm still watching episode One.
You Must Watch This. Want to know why/how the economy crashed four years ago? I always thought I had a pretty good handle on it. I DID have a pretty good handle on it. But this show makes everything clear.
Afghan commanders show new defiance in dealings with Americans
By Kevin Sieff
Afghan commanders have refused more than a dozen times within the past two months to act on U.S. intelligence regarding high-level insurgents, arguing that night-time operations to target the men would result in civilian casualties, Afghan officials say.
The defiance highlights the shift underway in Afghanistan as Afghan commanders make use of their newfound power to veto operations proposed by their NATO counterparts.
For much of the past decade, NATO commanders have dictated most aspects of the allied war strategy, with Afghan military officers playing a far more marginal role. But with the signing of an agreement last month, Afghans have now inherited responsibility for so-called night raids - a crucial feature of the war effort.
From the "Only in Japan" file: A column in The Japan Times mentioned that many pet groomers in this country now offer "claw decoration," i.e., having your dog's nails done. One "dog beauty artist" in Tokyo charges between ¥3,000 and ¥5,000 for all four paws. Apparently, a common request is for dog and owner to get matching nail art.
Good news for cat lovers. Cat cafés, where customers can "mingle freely with felines in a relaxed atmosphere," might not have to abide by new Ministry of Environment regulations that limit the hours pets can be displayed (8am-8pm). It's all part of a plan to reduce the stress level of animals at pet shops.
And a bit of good news for bald mice, as well. Researchers from the Tokyo University of Science have reportedly been successful in efforts to grow hair on hairless rodents. It's tough enough to find a mate when you're at the bottom of the vermin totem pole, but when you're bald, too...
Another group of some ten protesters went on a hunger strike in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to show their displeasure over the government's plan to restart nuclear reactors at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
A Yokohama court gave a "spiritual salon" manager a suspended sentence after finding her guilty of fraud. The 48-year-old woman committed a "clever and malicious crime that took advantage of people's worries about health and work to scam them out of money."
Police were investigating the case of a severed wire in a wing of a Boeing 787 produced at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plant in Nagoya. The cut appears to have been intentional and is similar to other cases in 2002 and 2009.
