Written by a practitioner of mathematics, philosophy, taiji, gluten-free cooking, chant, meditation, gardening, and renovation, with no particular end in mind. Were there an end, it would come too soon, and the Path would cease to Wander.
I discovered a few of my favorite Kids in the Hall sketches were up on YouTube, and so for the edification of those who have never encountered them, they are posted below the fold; meanwhile, I shall endeavor to make this sentence as long as I possibly can, even beyond the point where it has expressed its useful meaning and should, rightfully, have ended and spared all my readers its horrific rambling length, rambling like the edge of a river dipped in too much tobasco sauce (no, not even I know what that means), randomly exploring whatever words choose to express themselves through my fingers... *THUD!* (typing stops)
This is probably my VERY favorite KitH sketch:
Next favorite:
There's a prequel to that one that I won't embed, as I don't like it as well, but you can find it here.
As I'm currently trying NOT to re-addict myself to caffeine, I've been looking for alternatives to hot cocoa. First thing I found was a recipe for hot vanilla. I modified it very slightly:
Mix 1/4 - 1/2 t cinnamon** with 2-3 t sugar in the bottom of a microwave safe mug. Add 1-2 t GF vanilla extract*. Pour milk over the mixture and heat in the microwave. Stir. Drink.
*Artificial Vanilla flavoring almost always has caramel color in it, which can be made from wheat. Pure vanilla extract generally has alcohol in it, which can also be made from wheat or barley, but the fermentation process has been shown to remove/destroy the gluten. There are some specifically labeled "gluten free", but I've never had a problem with any of the pure vanilla extracts made with unlabeled alcohol.
**Discovered today (27.Feb) that Saigon cinnamon makes an enormous difference. With regular cinnamon, it's good. With Saigon cinnamon, it's awesome.
Modifications: I decreased the amount of cinnamon, as 1 teaspoon seemed like an awful lot for a single cup of milk, and modified the order, so that the liquid ingredients are poured over the dry ones. In my experience, this generally makes things mix together better. And the reason I put ranges on the measurements is because not all mugs are the same size. If you've got a very small mug, the smaller value is probably better. I used the larger amounts in a mug that holds roughly 1.5 cups.
As for timing, that will depend both on the size of the mug and on the power of your microwave. If you've already worked out how long it takes for hot cocoa to heat up without boiling over in your microwave, the time should be the same. For my microwave and mug size, it's 2:35. In my mom's microwave, it's more like 1:30.
I didn't actually notice when I crossed the 10^3 mark in posting, but I happened to notice that this would be the 2^10'th post, so I figure I'll mention that. I don't think I like having a 3-credit class that meets once a week. Too much to process all at once, which is certainly part of the reason that I haven't posted much about my philosophy/literature class. That and I'm usually exhausted after it on Wednesdays.
We've been reading various tragedies and discussions of tragedies. Prometheus Bound. Oedipus. Antigone. There's an almost crystalline quality to the feelings evoked by a well-written tragedy, as if there's something that they could reveal to us that we can't see in everyday life. Sometimes I've encountered that crystalline sense in my own life, but it's rare, and it disappears quickly, as if it were ice to melt away. I'll try to find more to say about it at some point.
Still feeling mostly better. I got the impression that this cold was trying to turn bacterial on me, and I'm fed up with doctors at the moment, so I'm trying goldenseal to head it off. It seems to have an effect on the mucous membranes of the nose, if nothing else. As I've only taken one dose thusfar, I can't eliminate the possibility that it was due to the placebo effect. We shall see. I don't want to drag myself out to the clinic THREE times in the space of three months. Ack. So I'm hoping the goldenseal works.
What else... Oh yes. The kittens got their booster shots this week. The vets remembered Jilly. They said, "Oh, she hate us." But apparently with me there, she was a lot calmer than she'd been for her first shots. Incidentally, I was able to lure the male cats into the carriers using food. The females weren't remotely fooled. And I think I'm out of things to ramble about.
I allowed myself a (weak) hot chocolate today. Partially because I was cold, and partially to see if any of the symptoms I was still experiencing abated with it; i.e. if I was still in withdrawal. And the results aren't definite enough for me to be certain. My withdrawal symptoms are confounded with the lingering effects of the cold. But I haven't had any waves of dizziness or nausea today, so I think maybe the caffeine withdrawal is done with. I just need to take it easy on the stuff.
About 3 minutes ago, roughly 7:18 am, the building where I work shook for 5-10 seconds. I could hear it as well as feel it, so I don't think it's just a caffeine withdrawal thing. Now, wind loud enough to hear inside the building isn't unusual, but this is a rather large, solid building, so I don't think the wind be enough to make it shake on its own (plus a glance out the nearest window shows no wind). So... earthquake? Vibration from an explosion? I don't know, but earthquake seems the most likely. Which then brings up the question of aftershocks...
The fever was a by-product of my body trying to fend off this rather nasty cold that is finally starting to abate. As soon as that fever went away, the fuse started burning for when the cold itself would hit. Then, on Sunday, the caffeine I'd been utilizing to function through the fatigue, er, backfired. Nastily. It was my own fault. I had a yerba mate in the morning, a Thai iced tea with lunch, and a dark chocolate bar in the afternoon. The waves of dizziness and nausea started about three hours later. Sleep helped some, but I was still pretty light-headed on Monday (but managed to put a severe dent in a shadow-mage-creature-thing anyway; how else would you celebrate president's day?). I made a helpful discovery on Monday, though: the dizziness was worse in warmer areas than in colder ones. So I turned the heat down five degrees below where I usually keep it. Today, only one major bout of it, and that was after taking a nap wrapped up in a warm shawl... apparently I would have been better off shivering.
It usually takes three days for caffeine withdrawal to go away completely for me... The first day it was easy to avoid it, as just the thought of it made me nauseous. Today was a mite worse. Nothing with large amounts of caffeine in it sounded good, but something with a small amount did, like very pale milk chocolate... Quite frankly, I wouldn't trust myself to STOP if I allowed myself even a small piece, so I didn't (also helps that there's no chocolate in the house right now). Tomorrow should be easier, as I will be busy pretty much from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.
Still, the waves of dizziness were more enjoyable than the cold, though less enjoyable than the fever. And they seem to be 90% gone now. Every so often I catch the tail end of one, but it's nothing like it was on Sunday.
I suspect that I have the writer's strike to thank for this, but one of the broadcast networks is showing the first season of Dexter. Edited, of course, from the original Showtime version. It's about a serial killer, who is very nearly a "good guy". It might be more accurate to say that he's about as close as a serial killer could ever come to being a good guy: he only goes after other killers, particularly ones the police are unable to prosecute. In fact, he works as a forensics expert with the police.
Funny thing is, the show works. It walks a very fine line, but it works. It's entertaining. In many aspects, it's funny. I wouldn't quite call it a black comedy, but there are certainly aspects of black comedy in it... like when, at his forensics job, Dexter expresses admiration for another killer's technique; or has to walk away because there is too little blood. And Dexter himself is quite interesting, and very nearly likeable.
As far as I can tell, he has nothing comparable to a moral compass. What he does have is something akin to a sense of honor, and perhaps loyalty to his foster parents. "Harry and Dorris Morgan did a wonderful job raising me. But they're both dead now. I didn't kill them. Honest." Essentially, he's worked out rules that allow him to function in the world, and follows them scrupulously. One of those rules is kill only other killers. The killing itself is just a chore that he has to do, like grocery shopping. "People fake a lot of human interactions, but I feel like I fake them all, and I fake them very well; that's my burden, I guess."
So if you've got a somewhat morbid sense of fun, this is a good show to try. I will say that I'm just as happy to be seeing it on broadcast tv rather than on Showtime. There was some obvious language editing (friggin'; motherlovin'), and I rather suspect that some of the gore was cut out, and likely some nude corpses as well. It's not so much that those things offend me as that they aren't really necessary to the show. 'Round these parts, it's showing on Sunday nights for anyone who wants to give it a try.
I just attacked my hair with my clippers. Normally I try to let other people do the attacking during the semester, professionals for instance, but this semester... when I've had time, I've felt lousy; when I've felt like getting it done, I haven't had time. Ergo, clippers. I have a day or so to do any touch-ups before anyone at school/work can have a fit about it.
Monday - feeling mostly okay Tuesday - a bit off Wednesday - further off Thursday - ACK. Friday - DOUBLE ACK Saturday - DITTO Sunday - better than I've felt since Wednesday
Incidentally, watching Ninja cartoons whilst sick can have odd side effects. Like screaming at the germs that they'll never defeat you, and that they'll soon call your body the "dying ground." And, no, I wasn't screaming aloud...though that could have been entertaining, especially at the grocery store. `/^
A few other highlights from today's CotG(dirty or clean; the dirty version is much more interesting; if nothing else, I didn't know that book covers like that even existed! `/^ ) :
A question of Beliefs vs. Lifestyles. Also a question of how many people actually live as if they believe in a hell for nonbelievers.
A look at biases and perception. Actually, I can answer part of the dilemma. One party is trying to establish plausibility, and then claim that's sufficient as proof; the other is looking for hard evidence and not finding any. People who care about hard evidence will find the latter more convincing; people who only want vindication of something they already believe to be true will have no quibbles with the former, and not understand why anyone would even care about hard evidence. As for me, I think that if you're going to take the track of finding a "rational reason to believe," you'd better have some hard evidence. The "plausibility" track is actually the opposite of finding a "rational reason to believe": it's finding a "rational reason not to stop believing". That is, apologetics will never convince a non-believer of a gods-bedamned thing. The purpose of it seems to be to keep believers who have noticed some of the discrepancies from jumping ship.
Today's Carnival of the Godless (dirty or clean) included an article discussing Huckabee. I agree with about 90% of it. In a few cases, I think Alexander gets a touch carried away, but I recognize the signs of extreme frustration in the writing and can sympathize.
One quote:
Of course, he will say it is not a civil rights issue but a religious one because homosexuality is a "sin" and this just shows us that Huckabee has no idea what the role of our secular federal government is. Because it certainly is not the function of our government to enforce religious orthodoxy and recognize "sin." Who is next after the homosexuals, anyhow? Lots of "sin" out there.
If the only justification for banning a behavior is religious, then the federal government has no place in it. Period. It's called "separation of church and state". Huckabee, in fact, has made it clear that he has every intention of ignoring/abolishing this separation. The full text of the infamous quote is available at the linked blog. Here's the most damning portion: "And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards." That, Mr. Huckabee, is called theocracy, and is in complete violation of the first amendment. Oh, wait, you probably want to get rid of that, too, so that heathens like me can't complain about it when our rights are shoved right out the window. Seriously, how long would it be before he decided to make it so that only (the right kind of) Christians could hold office or even vote? That is what putting "God" back in the Constitution would ultimately mean.
As Huckabee currently stands almost no chance of securing the Republican nomination, this is less of an issue now. But it highlights an extreme inequity in American politics. It is very nearly impossible for a professed non-Christian to hold office, particularly for a professed non-theist. Two different studies from 2001 put the number of non-Christians in the US at 23.5% or 18.9%. So let's call it 20%. That's one in five people in the population marginalized. Then when we dare to complain, it's the Christians who are being persecuted. Got news for you: losing undeserved privileges ain't the same as persecution*.
Now, to be fair, my experience has been that 99% of the time, there is no actual intent to marginalize non-Christians. It's a by-product. Around these parts, the population is overwhelmingly Mormon. That gives Mormons applying for jobs, etc., an advantage, whether there's intent to discriminate or not. If a Mormon employer has two candidates with identical qualifications, where A is a stranger but he's seen B around at local Mormon events, which do you think will be hired?
It's truly sad and ironic that, when these discrepancies are pointed out, the usual response is to try and silence or discredit the dissenter. Sorta proves the point, don't it? Yup, can't have all them ignernt heathens tellin' 'em what t'do. Nope. If they was worth anythin', they'd be good an' keep their mouths shut*.
As for me, at various times I've been left out of things by dint of not being a Christian; I've been omitted for consideration by dint of not being a Christian; my point-of-view has been ignored because I'm not Christian. Thusfar, it hasn't involved anything extreme, like a job, but it's...upsetting, especially when I realize that they don't even realize what bigots they're being. Would it be less upsetting if it were deliberate...? I don't know. Maybe. At least then I could get good and angry at a specific person rather than at the bloody system.
*I don't know why, but I tend to adopt atrocious grammar for emphasis in certain places. Sorry if it bugs you.
I've made it through the first two seasons now and part of the third. I still like the series a lot. It is very character driven, and that's something that appeals to me. Even the villains/anatagonists have richly detailed characters, particularly Haku from the end of S1 and the beginning of S2.
Sakura has done a few useful things now, but is still the weakest of the main characters. What's particularly odd is that she's the only identifiable character without a distinctive jutsu of her own. Naruto can do "shadow clones," multiple solid copies of himself; Sasuke can do "phoenix fire" where he essentially breathes out a fireball and sends it at his opponenets. All the rest of the village rookies have something distinctive: mind-sharing; super-senses; talking to bugs; talking to a strange little dog; turning into a giant ball of death. Wait. There may be one other without a distinctive jutsu that we've seen yet. I don't know the name, but in nearly every scene he says, "What a drag." But he's not a main character, so it's not as odd for him. {...brief interlude while I check Wikipedia...} Ah, it looks like she does eventually develop something distinctive.
Other than that, my only real complaint is with the overall structure. Story arcs do not, in general, coincide with ends or beginnings of seasons. Also, I wish there were an option to play all the episodes skipping the intro/closing credits except at the very first and last. I liked the S1 and S2 theme song better than what they're using in S3, but a quick scan showed that that theme song won't last, either. I can only hope the next new one is an improvement. The original theme song I liked well enough to watch through now and again between eps. The S3 one has me reaching for FF almost instantly. Also, the original end-sequence was beautifully illustrated. The S3 end sequence is incredibly boring. Again, these don't have any effect on the quality of the stories, so they aren't major drawbacks: Just minor irritations.
Oh, I started checking for latter seasons on Amazon today...and found that I'd gotten a very good deal on the first four seasons at Wal-Mart. They were actually $25 each, rather than $20 as I posted earlier, but most of the ones on Amazon are right around $40. Looks like some of them are special editions, but I don't think all of them are. Ah well.
As in, I currently feel rotten and would rather like the 100 degree fever back, if it would make my head clear up. I made it to my one lecture today, primarily to give students the second set of Chapter 5 homework and to clarify something I'd loused up on Wednesday. Then I let them go. I made it to Wal-Mart to buy catfood, and forgot everything else I'd meant to look for there; called a bit before two to check the Math 108 center, and it wasn't busy, so I didn't go. I covered for Nathan two weeks in a row when it wasn't busy, so no worries there. Then Chang's for dinner, as I was starved and cooking sounded comparable to driving nails into my skull. I picked up some stuff for stew at WinCo, and e-mailed in sick for taiji tomorrow. Ugh. Who'd've thought that a high fever could produce fond memories? On the bright side, my breathing is mostly okay. The Flovent is doing that much for me, at least.
ADDENDUM: Tried ibuprofen this morning. Didn't do much. Tried aspirin tonight...and roughly an hour later I'm feeling considerably better. Neither one touched the high fever from a week ago, but aspirin seems to help with whatever I've got now. The only reason I even have any aspirin is because of the rebound headaches I got from ibuprofen this summer. So perhaps I should be grateful for them... I can probably manage that right up until I overdo the ibuprofen and they start up again.
As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat.
And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: "Love has no ending. "I'll love you, dear, I'll love you Till China and Afica meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street.
"I'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.
"The years shall run like rabbits, For in my arms I hold The Flower of the Ages, And the first love of the world."
But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime: "O let not Time deceive you You cannot conquer Time.
"In the burrows of the Nightmare Where Justice naked is, Time watches from the shadow And coughs when you would kiss.
"In headaches and in worry Vaguely life leaks away, And time will have his fancy To-morrow or to-day.
"Into many a green valley Drifts the appalling snow Time breaks the threaded dances And the diver's brilliant bow.
"O plunge your hands in water Plunge them up to the wrist; Stare, stare in the basin And wonder what you've missed."
"The glacier knocks in the cupboard, The desert sighs in the bed, And the crack in the tea-cup opens A lane to the land of the dead.
"Where the beggars raffle the banknotes And the Giant is enchanting to Jack, And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer And Jill goes down on her back."
"O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress; Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless."
"O stand, stand at the window As the tears scald and start; You shall love your crooked neighbor With your crooked heart."
It was late, late in the evening The lovers they were gone; The clocks had ceased their chiming, And the deep river ran on.
Concert tonight. I almost didn't go, as I seem to now have the sinus nonsense that should have come with the fever. I suppose that next week the sinus stuff will be gone and I'll just have body aches or something equally bizarre. Anyway, Jim Brickman is a pianist, but he had plenty of company. Just as well. I would have been bored halfway through if it had all been his piano stuff. I mean, he's good, but his style tends to make things sound alike after a while. No where near as bad as George Winston, though. Jim Brickman's pieces tend to be enjoyable one or two at a time, but a bit blah en masse. So he had help from three sources. First up, a local backup orchestra (Teton Symphony? Teton something, anyway). That added some interest, though they needed to turn the amp on the piano down just a smidgen as it was drowning out the orchestra. Second, Tracy Silverman on the electric violin. He is awesome. He occasionally extemporized rock "guitar" solos on his violin in the middle of other songs, as well as more standard accompanying. Third, Anne Cochran sang some songs with the piano and/or violin and/or orchestra. She's got a good voice, though she's just a touch too twangy for my tastes. I think that a 3 hour concert of any one of those three artists would have been too much, but combining and swapping out the three of them worked beautifully.
So overall I liked it. I did find some of the between-set-schtick rather tiresome, but that was partly because I was in analysis mode and noting things like, "ah, yes, invoke local names as often as possible" and "deliberately make a fool of yourself so any later mistakes seem intentional." Nothing unusual in it, except that I was in the mood to rip it to shreds rather than to enjoy it. Probably on a night that I was feeling better, I would have liked it somewhat more.
The local Fred Meyer carries one variety of frozen gluten free pizza. The brand name is "Amy's". It's a cheese pizza on a rice flour crust. I bought one a month or so ago to have around on a night when I needed a low effort meal. It was okay, but no where near worth the price. It's a very thin crust, which is good in a frozen pizza because that makes it more likely to get crisp in the middle. Flavor and texture wise... Eh, it actually reminds me of some cheap, non-GF pizzas that I used to microwave way back when. Bland crust. Almost no toppings. I mean, I think I put more tomato sauce on a single rice cake pizza (approx. 3" across) as was on this entire 10" pizza. More cheese, too. I did have some mozzarella on hand to help the cheese out, and I put some Canadian bacon slices on it.
It was...edible, but little more than that. Without the extra toppings, I doubt I would even call it edible. That said, it's no worse than most of the non-GF frozen pizzas I've tried in the past, and perhaps better than some. So I think the problem is not that it's gluten free. The problem is that it's a frozen pizza, and there seems to be no such thing as a good, well-made, frozen pizza. Since it is GF, and made with some organic ingredients, the cost is rather ridiculous compared to the actual product. I have no plans to buy one again. I'd just as soon stick with ricecake pizzas. They taste better and cost less.
This may just be the coolest protest ever. Oh, and a small heads-up to the Scientology, er, high priests or whatever they're called: Tom Cruise is not helping you. Quite the opposite. He is scaring people away from your, er, organization.
For the record, I have the same problem with Scientology that I have with televangelists: it's all about the money. If even a tenth of the rumors about Scientology are true, then my problems with it become even worse. I don't particularly mind their basic myths, which make about as much sense as most other religious myths. But when part of their schtick is to deny the validity of all psychological/psychiatric medicine, it can have dire consequences. I hope that the stories are exaggerated... but I suspect that they are not.
I am the top result for a Google search on "vile dungeon" Wal Mart. There are two other sites, one of which is an odd advice column from BYU, where "vile dungeon" and "Wal Mart" appear in entirely different letters...and the other isn't in English. I'm not in the mood to read enough to decide if the advice column is serious or a parody... Possibly some of both from the few I scanned.
I ran across Naruto on Cartoon Network maybe a month ago. One episode. I never had the tv on at the same time again, and I was wondering if I'd ever see any others...but, amazingly, in the vile dungeon sometimes known as Wal-Mart, I ran across several seasons' worth of the show. I'm more than halfway through the first season now. It's enjoyable, though the episode I stumbled across on tv was quite a bit more engaging. Then again, it's almost certainly from a later season, so it stands to reason that the series has improved as it's gone along.
It's an anime series. (Dear goddess of technology... Mozilla doesn't recognize the word "anime"?!??) Naruto is a mischievous Ninja in training. The backstory, which hasn't been particularly relevant in the first several eps, is that when Naruto was a baby, a 7-tailed fox demon was sealed inside him. Apparently this was the only way to save the village. Two observed effects and one guess of this thusfar: (1) the people of the village are mistrustful and suspicious of him; (2) Possibly his mischievous nature stems from this fox-demon; (3) He healed a wound surprisingly quickly. To be honest, though, Naruto isn't the most interesting character. Possibly he'll get more interesting later.
In his training team is also Sasuke (seems to be pronounced SAUCE-kay), and he was the focus of the episode I saw on tv. Rather, his backstory was. He's the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan and wants revenge on the person who wiped out his family. I have no idea when exactly the attacker's identity will be revealed in the series, so I won't post it as a spoiler (though you can probably find it somewhere on Wikipedia or one of the links therefrom). Sasuke is much more likeable than Naruto, from my perspective. Quiet, introspective, intense, dark... whereas Naruto is loud, outgoing, still intense but in an annoying/idiotic way, and bright.
A few complaints about the first season thusfar. There's a female on the team as well, Sakura. She hasn't yet done anything useful and I find this irritating. On the other hand, they haven't done the obvious ploy of having her always be the hostage and have the two males rescue her, plus they're still in the training stages, so perhaps this will improve. Also, there are some anime conventions that just irritate me. Poorly drawing the face when someone is upset or screaming, for one. This was done more obviously in the first few eps but has decreased somewhat in the latter part of the season. It's also a bit odd to have characters announcing the names of the techniques they're performing in the midst of a battle. In training, sure, but in an actual battle?
Still, I'm liking it well enough that I'll probably pick up the second season soon. Twenty dollars for a season isn't bad at all. Oh, just for reference, according to the main web-site, Episode 138 is about to air...and I'm on roughly Episode 10. No clue what the number of the one I watched was, but I would have to guess in the hundreds somewhere.
