Looks like we neglected to catblog Friday. Oops! Can’t let a week go by without adorableness.
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| From Animals |
Above we see my sister counting her tip money (she’s a waitress with a BA from a top 50 worldwide University). Her cat Random sits guarding…
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| From Animals |
Above, my cat Janus sits on his pillow next to my desk being unbearably adorable. Seriously, it’s enough to make me want to nap…
And now for a moment of kitty zen:
Here at Indignant Desert Birds World HQ, we’re going through something of a Felicia Day crush. I just ordered the Dr. Horrible DVD, which will be arriving… eventually. Also: at least 2 of us have watched the entire The Guild series in the last 24hrs.
Felicia Day, we salute you!
With an excess of 300 injured and more than 144 dead, Mumbai must be in chaos. Today I watched carnage pour from TV station from my grandfather’s hospital bedroom. A Rabbi and his wife were killed, while thankfully their son was rescued after his parents’ blood had already soaked through their clothes. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live as your parents, siblings, children, co-workers, strangers are killed around you. I also wonder why this Chabbadnic Rabbi is being given so much press coverage when there are so many more dead alongside the body of his and wife. (This article, talks about “30 bodies in one hall” in less than a sentence, then devotes four paragraphs to the couple)
Technology amazes me, constantly. Twitter and bloggers are connecting families, friends, and the world.
Still, we are unsure who is promoting this violence. An unknown group Deccan Mujahedin took responsibility for the attacks, but that has since been suspected false. I really wonder why someone who take the credit for dreadful acts when it will be proven wrong. The temporary fame? So you no longer are “unknown”, but known as the foolish group who took responsibility for something they weren’t at all related to? Intelligence is leaning toward a Pakistani group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, but still there is uncertainty.
Laskar-e-Taiba is a militant group that has done things like coordinate charitable activities for the relief victims of the October 2006 earthquake in Kashmir. The duality of terrorism fascinates me. Resorting to terrorism (because you always resort, no one begins with such rage and violence, I believe), must be a frustrating process. As the charity would suggest, everyone in their own way wants to heal the world. Yet, difference of belief and practice (and selfishness, greed, and lack of perspective in many instances), can breed frustration, destruction, and unacceptable ends. Terrorists want something, and they’re using terror becuase they feel they have no other way to get it. Of course, this should not be that way.
Can you imagine listening and enduring the tragedy?
One of those freed, Briton Mark Abell, spoke of his delight at seeing several heavily armed soldiers at his hotel door after spending more than 36 hours in his room.
But he was shocked by the state of the hotel. “The lobby was carnage, blood and guts everywhere. It was very upsetting,” he told the BBC.
Following “Thanksgiving” dinner (the turkey won’t actually be served until Saturday in my house), I relaxed in the almost-freezing cold outside of Office Depot. I was there for a laptop. Technically, for two laptops. (I’m not so crazy, one was for my aunt.)
I had my eye on a shiny new Toshiba, and my aunt wanted a new HP. As the sixth person in line at 10 p.m. at night, I was not the only crazy shopper in the metro Detroit area. Actually, there were a lot of us bundled in warm blankets and still shivering on our lawn chairs in the middle of suburbia. By the time the tickets were being handed out, I had been in line in excess of seven hours, and tensions were high among me and other line-goings.
My aunt slept as I tried to keep my toes warn. The plan was she would join me an hour before opening, make her the seventh person in line. I worried if that was ethically right or not, but quieted my subconscious when I figured I could get both our laptops anyway. (There was a limit of one type of laptop per person. Since we were getting two different types of laptops, I could buy both.)
I notified everyone around me that my aunt would be joining me, and no one showed any visible problems with it. But, then the four men behind me began inviting all of their friends up to the front of the line. By an hour before opening, the four men had become six men and two women. The men were very aggressive, and sneaking in front of me in line. When I asked them to step back, they accused me of making the atmosphere unpleasant.
When tickets** for items began being passed out, a small riot ensued. Those behind the group, grumbled and moaned about line-cutters, even though some of the people had been there since about 2 a.m., just in the car or whatnot.
So, my question anyone who cares to answer- What does it mean to stand in line? Does going back to your car matter? Is it okay for my aunt to join me? Is it okay for the group of friends to invite more friends? What, exactly, does it mean to “cut”, and is “cutting” okay?
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*I wasn’t able to get the Toshiba I wanted due to … well, my computer wasn’t new. A small consideration, I realize, except it was missing vital things like some letter keys. So they exchanged it for a nice RED (shiny, pretty) Gateway. It’s perty and I’m very happy.
**The idea of jockeying for tickets is amazing to me. We stand in line for hours to have the ability to spend hundreds of dollars at a store. Please, please, please let us spend our money here! Most of the people in line with me had cars that were less than three years old. I guess we all care about our shiny new things.
Just pretend they’re turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving, folks..
This quiz has been making the rounds. I found the test almost insultingly easy– then again, I majored in Poli-sci, and minored in History (and also Religion).
I found many of the questions poorly worded and in many cases a bit silly.
For instance “16) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. :” The answer they want is so watered down from the truth that it’s almost a lie.
Or “29) A flood-control levee (or National Defense) is considered a public good because:”
Again, poorly worded question. The parenthetical aside seems to indicate that Levees are part of the National Defense, rather than indicating that they are both types of what economists call “public goods”.
A “public good” is one which it is impossible to prevent an individual from taking advantage of. You can’t have a flood which takes out _just_ one house. At least, not on purpose. Asking an opposing military to attack the one house on the block which failed to pay it’s military bill would be.. well, amusing.
“31) International trade and specialization most often lead to which of the following?” The concept they’re looking for is “comparative advantage”, and they’re asking in a _very_ clumsy way.
Does it really matter if we remember whether it was 1962 or 1963 that the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Berlin Wall went up?
Also: why is are key economic terms more important to civil society than, say, Labor history? Or science terms? I think that, in order to be a productive member of our Democracy, you need to have basic knowledge of geography. Why aren’t there any geography questions? The 21st century requires basic technical knowledge. Can we get some questions on automotive maintenance?
This test seems almost designed to fail most people. I wonder what this group is selling…
Bond was a bonding moment between my father and me. As a younger girl, I was captivated by the grown-up themes of sexuality and violence encompassed into thrilling stories easily identifying the good and the bad side. Growing up I did not like violent movies, but these were an exception. I found the stories captivating, and I enjoyed a foray into the naughty themes that I associated with “grown ups”.
My Tante (aunt) asked me if I would like to join her to watch the new James Bond movie with her. I expected story, violence, sex, and gadgets – in that order. Watching the movie previews I began sinking lower and lower into my seat. I am not a huge fan of violence without consequences, manufactured frame-by-frame digitally altered sequences where showing blood is optional. I figured that Bond movies appeal to an audience much different from the romantic comedies I generally go to see.
The many-gunned car chase did not begin the movie well. There was no explanation before, during, or after, just a camera focus that made me a bit queasy. The movie only went downhill from there. The chemistry among the different actors’ roles, lacked. Even the sex seemed an after-thought, as if after writing the entire script, that Bond must have sex in every movie. So they added in a bimbo, with whom he had no chemistry with, and meshed it into the movie. The plot was similar. If you hadn’t seen the previous movies – or hadn’t seen them recently (as was my case) – following the plot was very difficult. It was fueled by revenge, which I suppose was supposed to show a human element to an otherwise suave Bond, but the battle between good and evil was a little muddled.
I am first to admit that the notion of good and evil is silly. Definitions are murky at best. This, of course, does not mean the concepts are myth or untrue, but there is often lots of grey area to play in. Quantum of Solace tried to play in the grey area – or maybe they were just trying to outdate M – but they didn’t do a very good job of it. Maybe it was due to the fact that following the plot was difficult, but the reason M doesn’t trust Bond, or – as a matter of fact – not much of anyone trusts Bond, is unclear. Not much is clear, except there was tons of violence. Yet, even that was not clear. The camera angles were constantly changing, so it was impossible to see if the punch you saw two seconds ago caused the blood spurting from his face, or maybe it was that knife you see in the next frame.
I was sad to see this movie series deteriorate. As a casual observer of the films, it means little more to me than a wasted afternoon and a nostalgic look back on my times with my father. I am always the last one to see the “it” movie, mostly because I don’t enjoy films without plot, and the next Bond film will not be an exception to this rule.
Antitrust laws* are, well, dull. Even Antitrust lawyers have to be paid to keep their eyes open while discussing the craft. And yet, they’re pretty important.
With different laws Sony wouldn’t be in a position to screw over Microsoft like this, and the marketplace would have one fewer distortion.
Of course, capitalists don’t like free markets, the playing field is too level…
*you’re snoring already, aren’t you?