Liz's Bloglet - Tuesday 9 March 2004

The oil leak in my car is due to a worn seal inside the engine which means they have to take the whole engine apart which means the installation of a $25 piece of plastic costs hundreds of dollars. I just thought I should share. _
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04:56:01 PM, Tuesday 9 March 2004

More antibiotic, nose drops, and special sick kitty food for Tuxedo. (A quick look in the dictionary reveals that tuxedo comes from the name of a country club in New York which required men who ate there to wear what was previously just called a "dinner jacket". Using the name of the coat for the whole outfit came later.) He's a swanky cat (when his nose isn't running), and it seems to suit him. _
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02:53:56 PM, Monday 8 March 2004

Also, the kitty has a cold and it's very sad. _
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09:23:32 AM, Friday 5 March 2004

I'm sitting in the foremost research center for ecology in the world, and this is going on just up the street and getting printed in newspapers all over the country. It's time to get Big Money Athletics out of our academic institutions. Eliminate athletic scholarships. Period. Use the money saved to drastically increase financial aid so that no qualified student cannot get an education. Eliminate special priviledges for athletes. Open athletic participation to anybody who wants to commit to the team. In the news everyday lately we've seen that preposterous academic fraud is not the worst, that rape and even murder have become a part of college athletics. I say it's time for all this nonsense to stop and for us to take our universities back.

People who really want both education and sports participation can do both, in college. For people who really want to be athletes and don't really want (or can't possibly do) college, let them go pro. If they're not ready for the major leagues, then it's up to the NBA and the NFL to follow MLB's lead and form their own minor leagues and take responsibility for training their own players instead of expecting the taxpayers to do it. The life of a minor league baseball player pretty much sucks (who's seen Bull Durham?), so a lot of decent players who know they'll never make it to the majors choose to go to college and play ball and have fun and get educated and then go on to have good careers and good lives and remember playing baseball as that fun thing they did in their youth. Isn't that what sports are about, for most people? _
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09:20:55 AM, Friday 5 March 2004

To be fair, I will support Kerry. Staying home or voting for Nader is just not an option--I seriously doubt our Constitution would survive another four Bush years intact. But the fire I got from Dean, and the excitement and hope I got from Kucinich, are gone. Kerry is Gore all over again...I'll support him, but I'll never love him. _
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09:00:15 AM, Wednesday 3 March 2004

Oh, and my favorite line from first season West Wing:

"I wanted a Democrat, and instead I got you." _
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08:28:27 AM, Wednesday 3 March 2004

I'm confused. Wasn't one of the big points made that Howard Dean was not that successful or popular a governor of Vermont? At the time of the NH primary, wasn't NPR able to find dozens of men on the street in VT who really didn't like Howard Dean and thought Kerry was much better? Odd how Dean won the Vermont primary two weeks after dropping out of the race. That kind of makes it look like he's well liked there. Makes you wonder how much other "common wisdom" about Dean was hype and myth. (please note the dripping sarcasm throughout this post).

Because of the internet, this election may well be the first one where we have the ability to truly document the manipulation of popular opinion by money and media. I have been ashamed by NPR, from their simple parrotting of the myths about Dean, to Juan Williams constant insistence that any day now Hillary Clinton is going to get involved, to their failure to mention this morning just how close Edwards came to winning Georgia. If one more "reporter"--not a news analyst, but someone who's supposed to be reporting what's actually happening--repeats the "Pundits coronated Dean, but the people elected Kerry" mantra, I will never listen to NPR again. _
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08:15:01 AM, Wednesday 3 March 2004

So, I ended up voting for this guy. More importantly, in the race that really matters, I voted for this flag. _
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04:35:12 PM, Tuesday 2 March 2004

Because I know that there was so much doubt:
I am 91% (Dixie). Is General Lee your father? _
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10:07:05 AM, Tuesday 2 March 2004

I just volunteered us to foster another cat. This one is homeless, and injured, but very sweet. And there's the possibility that we could adopt him, if we want. _
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01:26:34 PM, Monday 1 March 2004

My brother, Lee, and his wife, Katrina, have a new webpage about their life in Brussels. _
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09:18:40 AM, Monday 1 March 2004

If, perhaps, Remi wanted to brunch, then perhaps he should call me. _
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01:05:29 PM, Sunday 29 February 2004

I'm number one on Google for Fortis Sucks. I smile. _
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09:45:01 PM, Saturday 28 February 2004

I'm seriously contemplating the replacement of my 7 year old laptop (Pentium 133, upgraded to Windows 98 last year). I think Powerbooks are pretty much the best laptops out there, plus I just prefer Macs anyway and System X is a beautiful thing.

So, Mac users, is there a relatively user-friendly database program for the Mac? I know Access is an abomination, but I've gotten quite used to it, and I was disappointed to learn it's not part of MSOffice for the Mac. I need to be able to make occasionally complicated relational databases. I think something like MySQL may be out of my reach--I want a tool for keeping track of my data, not something to fiddle with endlessly. Oh, and ideally, it would be compatible with JMP with which I have recently become completely obsessed (and about which I will probably blog more later).

Otherwise, I will be buying a PC. I'm thinking about an IBM Thinkpad, because they seem to be what several computer geeks I know use and trust and they are quite small compared to Dell-type laptops (I want a computer I could actually carry around). _
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03:15:36 PM, Saturday 28 February 2004

Ramsey Creek Nature Preserve and Memorial Ecosystem
Perhaps it is from watching Six Feet Under, or perhaps I'm just morbid, but I have given some thought to the funeral industry, and I've come to the conclusion that this is what I want. _
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01:57:24 PM, Saturday 28 February 2004

The suffering of Christ is bad and gruesome enough without exaggerating it to this insane degree. Theologically, the point is not that Jesus suffered more than any human being ever has on a physical level. It is that his suffering was profound and voluntary and the culmination of a life and a teaching that Gibson essentially omits.

That's twice in one week I've agreed with Andrew Sullivan. _
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07:18:24 AM, Saturday 28 February 2004

There are Nutty Bars in the vending machine. My day is so much brighter. _
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11:41:57 AM, Friday 27 February 2004

So...it snowed...that's very silly. _
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06:44:38 AM, Thursday 26 February 2004

Now for something completely non-political...

I am about a week away from having a chapter of my thesis pretty well done. It will then have to suffer through lots of comments from Judy, then from my other committee members, but it's getting there. Next, comes the final draft of the lit review. Then, around April, the last of the bugs will finally be processed and data analyzed and I'll be able to write the last chapter. It's actually going to work out, I think. _
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08:58:33 AM, Wednesday 25 February 2004

For all of those who are so opposed to gay marriage, I say only this: fine, then, don't marry someone of your sex. I will not force you to. This goes for abortion, too. If you're so opposed, don't have one. I will not force you to. _
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08:55:24 AM, Wednesday 25 February 2004

Sorry, Ralph, but Dennis Kucinich has already taken over the role of left wing gadfly, and he's much better at it than you. _
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11:48:59 AM, Sunday 22 February 2004

Randomly awake. I've been aimlessly browsing livejournals of people who list St. John's as an interest. I can't help but wonder if I would have had a blog in highschool and what it would have been like. I honestly don't think I had the time. But, duh, the internet has changed everything. I did have CompuServe email my senior year of high school to keep track of people who had already left. And I was an occasional frequenter of BBS's. So maybe I would have been an intarweb freak.
I also wonder if St. John's has changed. I tried to keep in touch with people I grew up with through email and letters, but I know I didn't do it to the extent that the current rabid livejournalers are able to. Cell phones were all but unheard of and only a couple of people paid to have their own phone lines. Hall phones are so quaint. I remember that people who were really in touch with those they used to know (especially people with SO's in other parts of the country) were frequently the least happy with SJC. It felt like we had to be willing to shrink our world to really have that intense experience--leaving campus or glimpsing television was strange enough; going home for the weekend was horrible culture shock. So what happens when most Johnnies are superconnected to the dreaded real world? _
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05:14:08 AM, Sunday 22 February 2004

I'm supporting Doug Haines in what is likely to be a crazy Democratic primary in our GA12 district. In addition to being an environmental lawyer who lives just up the street from us, he has been known to show up at events ranging from a meeting of students interested in sustainable development to fundraisers for affordable housing in Athens to parties thrown by Ecology grad students. You may have seen his ads on Atrios or Daily Kos, along with those of one of his competitors, John Barrow, who also lives in our neighborhood and currently represents us on the city council. Barrow is the establishment candidate, supported by both the Democratic Party (you know, the ones who like Kerry) and REM. I had always been a big fan of John Barrow, who had frequently been among the most progressive and thoughtful of the councilmembers, until he supported a rental registration law so onerous and degrading as to all but eliminate renters from his district--that would be the district where we rent a house. Alienating voters who happen to rent right before you ran for Congress was not your brightest move ever, John. _
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03:51:44 AM, Sunday 22 February 2004

NPR had David Frum on as a commentator this morning. While supposedly talking about the President's committee to investigate the absence of the WMD's, he made 3 references to Michael Moore. It was not clear why. Perhaps they could have Bill O'Reilly come on tomorrow and talk about the liberal bias on NPR, and then Rush Limbaugh could come on Monday and talk about Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Oh, and the best part, instead of identifying him as a right wing idealogue and part of the Project for the New American Century, they named him as the author of that stupid book that he and Perle wrote, which they were permitted to whore on every single NPR program (scroll down) the week it was published, without anyone once mentioning that these guys planned the current Iraq war during the Clinton Administration. _
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11:27:27 AM, Thursday 19 February 2004

WASHINGTON Feb. 18 � The White House backed away Wednesday from its own prediction that the economy will add 2.6 million new jobs before the end of this year, saying the forecast was the work of number-crunchers and that President Bush was not a statistician.

Am I the only person who is simply shocked to learn that the president is not a statistician? I mean, he graduated from Yale and Harvard with degrees in Business, so he must be smart and know something about statistics, right? _
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11:01:00 AM, Thursday 19 February 2004

Our campus (and now the whole town) is suffering a major Norwalk virus outbreak. In our lab meeting today we had Norwalking/non-Norwalking seating. Not that it matters. I think there's no way I'm not going to get sick. _
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05:18:01 PM, Wednesday 18 February 2004

I am making spaghetti. That is my big skill. That, and identifying aquatic bugs and making databases and rockhopping in streams and memorizing really bizarre things. _
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06:06:39 PM, Sunday 15 February 2004

I think that I should probably apply for this... _
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07:54:28 PM, Wednesday 11 February 2004

Marketplace is talking about Charlotte. I don't know if I feel more sorry for Marketplace or Charlotte. _
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07:52:14 PM, Wednesday 11 February 2004

I don't really think conservative people are evil. I thnk the machine that is the Republican party is evil. Actually, I think the machine that is the Democratic party is probably evil, too. But I've spent most of my life surrounded by Christian fundamentalists, and I know that most of them are extremely well-meaning, loving people, who look out for other people's kids and bring casseroles when somebody dies. It's just that the nationwide outcome of all of their good intentions is frequently indistinguishable from evil. _
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06:11:01 PM, Wednesday 11 February 2004

John Kerry said on NPR Monday that, depending on the wording, he would support an amendment to the Constitution making it unConstitutional for gays to marry. Anytime anybody proposes amending the Constitution I get wary. Anytime anybody proposes amending the Constitution to limit other people's rights, I think they are evil. Any Democrat who proposes it should just go join the other party. How could our Constitution continue to stand if there were an Amendment negating the Equal Protection Clause?

This is not to me merely about gay rights, or religion. To me it's a fundamental war between those of us who think the government should protect the rights of all citizens and those who think the government should limit rights of people we don't like, between those who respect the Constitution's defense of our liberties as what makes us great, and those who think it's just a piece of paper to be changed with any whim everytime there's an election. _
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08:53:40 AM, Wednesday 11 February 2004

I'm generally of the belief that the Republican party is both smart and evil and any mistakes they appear to have made are intentional and part of some vast devious plan. That said, the President really sucked in the State of the Union and on Meet the Press. Other member of his own party are saying he's either a liar or a buffoon. Are they trying to lull me into a false sense of security? _
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04:40:52 PM, Monday 9 February 2004

bugs bugs database bugs database other database bugs bugs (metafilter) bugs bugs database bugs database other database bugs bugs (blogmass) bugs _
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12:10:50 PM, Thursday 5 February 2004

Congress has the power to censure the President -- to formally reprimand him for his betrayal of the nation's trust. If ever there was a time to use this function, it is now. Join the call for Congress to censure President Bush now. _
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04:54:04 PM, Tuesday 3 February 2004

I decided that, in general, airports and drive-throughs don't count. But the night we spent in the Manchester, NH airport does, because it was a very long night. So, I need to go west (and I should visit Becca in AZ and Laura in Iowa).

create your own visited states map _
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09:58:56 AM, Tuesday 3 February 2004

The Coal Creek Watershed Foundation started with a group of people who wanted to increase the trout population in Eastern Tennessee. They met some local homeowners who were concerned about flooding. Then they all start talking about all of the problems in their small Appalachian community. Now, in addition to improving trout habitat and lessening anthropogenic flooding, they are providing dental care for kids, mentoring highschoolers interested in engineering, funding arts programs, and generally improving life in their watershed. _
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04:10:07 PM, Monday 2 February 2004

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