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Part of my problem in getting on board the college frenzy was that I genuinely believed that any one of the colleges on our approved list of a hundred or so was capable of providing students with a good, even a great, education. The funny thing about teenagers is that very often the best of them, the most interesting and curious, are rather lousy high school students. They have other things on their minds than geeking out every single point on the AP U.S. history exam. They are very often readers, and preparation for elite-college admission does not allow one to be a reader; it’s far too time consuming. These “lousy” students were often among my favorites, and I never feared that they were going to lose a chance at a great education because they didn’t have the stuff of an “elite” admission. They themselves were smart. They didn’t need some Ferrari of a college nudging them along the path to a great education; they were going to get one wherever they went.
Reading The Atlantic makes me feel so much better.
(Also)
“It should be common and legal to change your name at twenty-one and say, “That wasn’t me. It was a different person. Kind of looks like me but I’ve changed a lot.”
Google CEO Eric Schmidt on handling online identity.
Note: changing your name still won’t save you from the google cookie.
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World - Perennial ed. Foreword
I broke a window today.
“The World Bank predicts that Yemen’s oil and gas revenues will plummet during 2009 and 2010, and fall to zero by 2017 as supplies run out.
In 2008 the UK’s Royal Institute for International Affairs warned that economic collapse in Yemen could threaten stability throughout the region from northeast Africa to Saudi Arabia and, citing armed conflicts with Islamists and tribal insurgents, described Yemen’s democracy as “fragile”. These concerns have prompted the desires of leaders and diplomats from the West and elsewhere to preserve Yemen’s economic stability.
”
I knew oil wasn’t going to last forever;
But seriously, 2017 is less than a decade away.
In other news there is an under-reported civil war in Yemen.
“Mr. Obama did not have much time for congratulations; hours after accepting the peace prize he was huddled in the white house situation room plotting war strategy for Afghanistan. An accident of timing he nodded to in his remarks.”
NPR: Obama Surprised At Winning Nobel Peace Prize
He was awarded the peace prize on the second day of the ninth year of the Afghanistan war. He’ll probably be adding another 35,000+ troops to our commitment of 68,000.
Note: some have been inaccurately claiming that he received the award for only 10 days of work as president since nominations ended on Feb. 1st. Though nominations may have been based on that, the prize committee can made their final decision based on actions done after the deadline as well.
“You’re being creepy by not being on facebook.”
“Dawn Wilson was born in Connecticut, but now resides in Milan Italy with her two daughters, where she teaches English as a foreign language … She enjoys utilizing the power of brevity in her writing.”
Because you can’t just say you write short form stuff.
(via)
“‘I hate a Roman named Status Quo!’ he [my grandfather] said to me. ‘Stuff your eyes with wonder,’ he said, ‘live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,’ he said, ‘shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.’”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 pg. 157
I read Bradbury & Poe on my flight to ABQ.
“There comes a point when the public imbibes the ultimatum of the plutocracy. They have bought into the belief that if it protests it will be brutalized by the police. If they have Muslim names they will be subjected to Patriot Act treatment. This has scared the hell out of the underclass. They will be called terrorists. This is the third television generation. They have grown up watching screens. They have not gone to rallies. Those are history now. They hear their parents and grandparents talk about marches and rallies. They have little toys and gizmos that they hold in their hands. They have no idea of any public protest or activity. It is a tapestry of passivity.”
“Are you afraid of losing your information? I thought that Gmail would never be in danger of losing anything.”
Lino Uruñuela (commeting on “How to back up your Gmail on Linux in four easy steps”)
*facepalm*
“£400 million ($668 million) will be spent on installing and monitoring CCTV cameras in [20,000] homes of private citizens. Why? To make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables. The scheme has, astonishingly, already been running in 2,000 family homes. The government’s “children’s secretary” Ed Balls is behind the plan, which is aimed at problem, antisocial families. The idea is that, if a child has a more stable home life, he or she will be less likely to stray into crime and drugs.”
Britain To Put CCTV Cameras Inside Private Homes
Read the full article. Then hide in a corner and weep.
ps: children’s secretary Ed Balls.
“You would not have bought this book and read this far into it if your food culture was intact and healthy.”
Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food, p.134
Buy it.
“I heard they used to be good.”
“[Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab] entered the CD market with its line of aluminum CDs. The CD line continued into 1987, when the Ultradisc was first released. The Ultradisc was a gold plated disc. MFSL claims that the surface is more reflective and that Ultradisc titles sound superior[citation needed] to their standard release counterparts. MFSL located the master tape for each title, and the tape was transferred directly to the CD master.”
Digital, it sounds better in gold.
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” — the most terrible revenge since Montezuma’s — is louder, longer and lamer than the 2007 hit it succeeds. Which is saying a lot.”
Review: ‘Transformers’ lands with giant thud - CNN.com
Apparently Tom Charity really didn’t like Transformers II or it’s director Michael Bay.
Memo to Michael: It’s a toy movie. Your audience is predominantly teen and pre-teen. My kids don’t need to see your salivating soft-porn fantasies or your reactionary militaristic politics.
I don’t often read movie reviews—and now I worry I’ve been missing out.
if (audience <= human.male.28 && audience >= human.male.12 )
plot = “explosions & salivating soft porn fantasies”;
I guess Tom Charity was too stoned to remember being a teenager.
