m00se: 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005

test2

again...

test

just what it says...

conservatives want a smaller government

...one about the size of my reproductive system.

Alabama

A US state's prohibition on the sale of sex toys was left standing by the US Supreme Court when the court refused to hear a constitutional challenge to the law.

Kansas

The Kansas attorney general is demanding abortion clinics turn over the complete medical records of nearly 90 women and girls, saying he needs the material for an investigation into underage sex and illegal late-term abortions.

minor adjustments

so you may notice some different links on my sidebar. I added Inna as i meant to do a long time ago. (i'm really bad about adding and updating links.)

I also added links to several female political bloggers and pulled my links to the male A-list bloggers that i had there. this is a product of the ongoing blogosphere conversation regarding female political and A-list bloggers. There seems to be a misconception that women aren't blogging and if they are they certainly aren't blogging about politics. This was brought up again by Kurtz in yesterday's column where he refer's to Drum's post on the 20th of feb. He says:

Now for a delicious blogosphere debate. You may recall my column the other day about Susan Estrich whacking LAT editorial page editor Michael Kinsley for not running more pieces by women. That prompted the Washington Monthly's Kevin Drumto wonder why women don't play a more prominent role in the blogosphere. And that nearly led to his eyes being clawed out,

and then goes on to list comments made by female readers to Drum's post. (and don't you just love the catfight reference?)

Remy Cross, who i met at the conference last week, did a wonderful presentation entitled ""Blogging fo Votes: An Examiniation of the Interaction Between Weblogs and the Electoral Process" (Carter Butts was his advisor). In it there are some really interesting graphs looking at the credentialed bloggers for the DNC and RNC convention and who "spoke" with whom on their blogs. RNC bloggers seemed to all talk to each other, at least to some degree. But for the DNC, there were 3 total outliers, and others who were only part of the main conversation in a small way. on of the outliers was librarian.net, a blog written by a female librarian in vermont. Now of the RNC bloggers, of the 1-person authored blogs, pretty much all of them were writtn by men, while some group blogs included one or 2 female authors. While in the DNC at least 4 relatively autonomous female bloggers were credentialed. I asked Remy if he had seen any kind of indication that gender was the reason for the difference in the way that people spoke with each other. He said that he hadn't really looked at gender as a factor. I suspect that this issue has a role to play in the way these conversation graphs play out.

In Pete's research into the comment sections of political A-list bloggers like Daily Kos, he seems to be finding that when women do post their comments are generally not responded to.

Which brings me back to the issue at hand - why i changed my blogroll. In reality, not a big deal. However i get sick of the constant argument, "well if i don't see you you must not exist!" which seems to come up often in the conversation among the elite and in boysclub communities. It shuts out and disregards anything interesting going on in the same area (in this case blogging) that isn't done by a member of their insular little group.

I hated high school. This happened in high school.

So, the moral of the story kids, is there are political female bloggers, and on top of that i assure you that there are thousands and thousands of female bloggers in the blogosphere. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not there. And on my new and improved blogroll you'll find a few to get you started.

worldview weekend...

according to these folks i am classified as a:
Communist/Marxist/Socialist/Secular Humanist Worldview Thinker

Your score is: -53 points of 170 possible, -31%

woo-hoo

(via allison)

late on the meme front

Step 1: Get your playlist together, put it on random, and play.
Step 2: Pick your favorite lines from the first 25 songs that play.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song the lines come from.
Step 4: Post the answers to the songs when someone guesses correctly! No cheating and pasting the lyrics into a search engine.

1. in Memphis, on Valentine's Day, you wrote it in a letter to me
2. it's not enough you want more of it, it's not enough you want all of it
3. your skin makes me cry
4. build your own television receiver
5. but only love can break your heart
6. it'll be just like they say
7. soft machine
8. i want to undress you
9. hold on, i think i have to puke
10. time you take it
11. me a cookie eating, cookie dancing fool!
12. i'll take the quiet life
13. hey you fat man!
14. we chased the ice cream truck across the street
15. i'd be safe and warm if i was in LA
16. a hooker let me share her favorite coat
17. the woman in the mirror can tell the truth from the stuff that they say
18. i've been raising up my hands, drive another nail in
19. it never made sense to them anyway
20. i'm mad at my desk and i'm writin' all curse words
21. can you do what you love? can you love what you do? and no one can ever write your life for you
22. i hope that someone gets my, i hope that someone gets my...
23. and every single block, looked like every single block, but everyone kept driving
24. who the fuck do you think you are?
25. i am glued, just in case i crack out

whirlwind

so we've been back for almost 2 days and i am so, so, so behind. I may actually be turning in 2 assignments late, which sucks. and i'm going to be up until like 4am, but at least tomorrow for the first time in like 2 weeks i think i'll have the opportunity to get more than 5 hours of sleep. that will be interesting.

things i learned from our trip:
- Northwest airlines sucks in general. the flight out wasn't so bad, however on the way back the plane was a bit late getting to LAX. as a result the attendents kept making announcements to get into your seats because we're 6 minutes late as we were boarding. then we were 12 minutes late. this is as people were still getting on the plane. you can only move so fast in a space so small. and you know, it's not the fault of the boarding passengers that the damn plane was late. on top of this when we booked via orbitz i ordered a veggie meal for each of us. the flight out was okay because it was a bagel and fruit, but lunch on the way back was a turkey or corned beef sandwich, salty snacks and an apple. the flight was 4 hours and we hadn't really eaten breakfast. it was only on the flight that we were informed that there are no "special" meals on domestic flights. like a cheese sandwich is a "special" option. i don't really give a shit about missing the flight meal but had i known beforehand, i would have brought a damn avocado.

- more ram rocks. the lovely piece of RAM installed before we left made all the difference. 768MB is far superior to 256MB.

- gender bias is alive and well in academia.

- california is far superior to indiana. my god, how can i move there?

- Danyel, Lada, Remy, Marc, and Patrick were some fun and interesting people that i met on the trip. Danyel reminded me very very much of Rob.

- it totally sucks that Hunter S. is gone.

- google is just as, if not more evil than microsoft and microsoft employees have great electronic toys.

- redondo and hermosa beach have stellar food. if you're there you really need to try:
sushi sei - probably the best sushi i've ever had. really wonderful, fun sushi chefs, sit at the bar. sashimi with jalapeno sauce is incredible.
captain kidd's - best fresh fish i've had since college.

it's over

didn't puke. totally exhausted.

ugh

so the foaf project goes live in about 1.5 hours (the session begings in 22 minutes)

think i'm going to vomit

sunny california

so here we are in LA. redondo beach to be exact. it's tourist-y here but pete and i can't seem to get over the different kinds of trees here, things we've never seen and the fact that there are flowers in bloom everywhere and it's february. it one way this reaction makes me feel silly, but on the other hand i've never been here before and it's kind of neat.

the flight was generally uneventful (always a good thing) although we were about 30 minutes late due to headwinds. we ran into Katy while waiting for the shuttle which was fun so we all rode here together from the airport. the hotel we're staying is all right, and there's wifi although the connection isn't particularly strong. the conference hotel is pretty swanky however. we got our registration materials this afternoon and such and signed up to go whale watching sunday. the geek factor for the next few days will be quite high. :) there are also 2 conference-sponsored happy hours per evening. woo-hoo

i'm going over the visuals for the presentation now. we present at 11:30 am tomorrow morning. pete has totally crashed out. john and elijah will be here in a few hours. my computer says 6:32 but it's really 3:32 and it's kind of weirding me out.

create your own visited states map

pictures to come when i have a better connection.

just call me a sheep

i'm fried. that's why you haven't heard much from me and if i owe you e-mail...i'll try to do it in the next week. wednesday we head to LA for the conference, data isn't finished, visuals are not done and neither are slides. :)

in the meantime i leave you with this meme:

Choose a band/artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band: Radiohead
Are you male or female: everything in its right place
Describe yourself: paranoid android
How do some people feel about you: scatterbrain
How do you feel about yourself: i might be wrong
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: no surprises
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend: fitter happier
Describe where you want to be: in limbo
Describe what you want to be: lucky
Describe how you live: just
Describe how you love: sit down, stand up
Share a few words of wisdom: 2+2=5

true confessions

things that were once in my life that are no longer and i kind of miss:

- getting 3 weeks worth of laundry done at once at the laundromat
- trashy french house
- going to clubs & pubs
- proofreading
- water (as in, body of)
- museums

on the radio

so wednesdays i've got myself scheduled so i don't have to be on campus until 5:45, but i've got meetings today so i'm here a bit earlier. the nice thing is i get to listen to my old public radio station, WYPR, and today i listened to the Marc Steiner show. During the show some guy called in and was talking about how everyone know that postpartum depression is just a lame excuse and everyone knows it's invalid. once the guy got off the phone, Marc was like ...uhhh you're wrong.

so i sent him a nice e-mail about it. as it was totally unrelated to the topic of the show, i was really suprised when he read it on air. it made both he and his guest for the hour crack up.

here's the email i sent:

Subject: thanks, Marc

hey Marc,

i'm enjoying the show today and i know this isn't really related but,
thanks for defending the legitimacy of postpartum depression. I found the
caller's position annoying besides the fact that it was wrong. :)

I'm a former B-more resident, who has moved to indiana for graduate
school. Public radio here sucks and i still listen to you as often as
possible - keep up the great work.

singing cats & corn syrup

do any of your cats sing? murphy's a pretty quiet guy, but tenchi runs through the house a few times a day and sings (usually) at the windows. he might sing for 10-40 seconds at a time. what's up? is he unhappy? is he trying to talk to cats outside? is he nuts?

in other news, in trying to eat healthier (i figure, i get no sleep and drink too much, but i have to do something, right? to keep from falling apart?) i've developed a minor addiction to applesauce. it's kind of stupid of me, but i purchased 2 large jars of it from kroger, without reading the label. i come to discover now that almost half of it is gone, the 2nd ingredient is CORN SYRUP! wtf? why is there corn syrup in my applesauce! i'm totally pissed and we still have a full jar of it!

stuff

tonight we had ourselves what i think was a fairly successful little ACM meeting. we'll see what comes of it but there may be a nerd float in the homecoming parade, multiple movie nights, some volunteer work, a paintball game, and a NW nights lan party come out of it... we'll see.

not much time to post otherwise, but this made me incredibly happy today.

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of MIT's Media Labs, says he is developing a laptop PC that will go on sale for less than $100 (£53).

He told the BBC World Service programme Go Digital he hoped it would become an education tool in developing countries.

He said one laptop per child could be " very important to the development of not just that child but now the whole family, village and neighbourhood".

He said the child could use the laptop like a text book.

He described the device as a stripped down laptop, which would run a Linux-based operating system,

"We have to get the display down to below $20, to do this we need to rear project the image rather than using an ordinary flat panel.

gym clothes

it seems a general theme of late among friends is trying to get in better shape. more like, "gee, i sit on my ass in front of a screen all day," than body loathing. i hate to be a bloody ad, but somehow in the mail i've gotten two women's athletic clothes catalogs that genuinely look like nice stuff, completely geared towards women, and won't make you look like a gym 'ho, and sports bras for everyone!

title 9 sports and athleta

avian flu watch

two recent interesting articles from the mainstream media, specifically the NYT regarding the avian flu. not cool. not cool at all.

Vietnam Is Seeking International Assistance to Fight Bird Flu
By KEITH BRADSHER

Published: February 3, 2005

HANOI, Vietnam, Feb. 2 - Vietnam appealed for international assistance late Wednesday evening as bird flu continued to spread among people and poultry alike.

Acting Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat, the chairman of the national steering committee for avian influenza, sent a letter to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization asking those two United Nations agencies, as well as foreign governments, to provide technical aid for fighting the disease. The A(H5N1) strain of the virus has devastated poultry in Vietnam and killed 13 of the 14 people who were infected in the last five weeks.

and

A Medical Mystery Man Bounces Back From Avian Flu
By KEITH BRADSHER

Published: February 5, 2005

... "My whole skull hurt," he said, gripping his temples for emphasis. "It felt like pieces of my skull were detaching."

What happened next is one of two medical mysteries in Mr. Hung's case that have caught the attention of flu experts as they try to decipher whether his illness will come to afflict millions of people, and possibly hundreds of millions, around the world.

Unlike most people with confirmed cases of bird flu, Mr. Hung survived, for reasons that remain unclear but may have to do with his extraordinary physical fitness. The greater mystery is how he caught the disease, with strong evidence that he acquired it from his older brother, not from poultry, in a worrisome sign that the virus may be developing the ability to pass from person to person...

a little late on the draw

so in discussing coding yesterday we discovered the numa numa. i didn't want to enjoy the little song, but i'm afraid that i have succumbed. you can see the official video, but you'll want to watch this far more enjoyable one first.

uh, me too

15 years ago today I would have been...
- 12 in 6th grade, enjoying math before the teachers tell you that girls aren't supposed to
- listening to bobbi brown
- reading anything i could get my hands on

10 years ago today I would have been...
- 17, and just discovering that i really enjoyed clubs
- working 2 jobs while doing 9 million extra curricular activities and getting decent grades
- plotting how to get as far away from my hometown as possible

5 years ago today I would have been...
- TAing a gender studies class
- trying to decide where i would move once i graduated
- waiting tables at IHOP

1 year ago today I would have been...
- freaking out about learning R
- deciding that a laptop was necessary
- really cold all the time

This year I am...
- trying to find the time to do something publishible while being in class and/or work 50+ hours a week
- trying to decide where we'll be before we graduate in december
- trying to figure where the hell we'll go once we graduate in december

Yesterday I...
- was at work at 8am
- went to my yoga class
- volunteered until 11pm

Today I...
- woke up late
- didn't actively match my clothes
- am greatly anticipating lunch with friends and going to the gym

Tomorrow I will...
- code, code, code
- probably wake up later than i'd like
- drink

end of hiatus

so the reason i haven't been posting is because i managed to re-injure my arm, doing of all things, yoga. this means i'm extra lame. but i've been to the physical therapis twice now, and i've been very good - no knitting, lots of aleve, ice, no more typing than i have to, and it feels much better. now i have to do exercises.

*sigh*

but it's been a busy week. i still have grading to do, and still have coding to do for the sunbelt papers, lots of homework, i need to get started on my php stuff, and i'm doing a pathfinder on blogs which should be fun.

blog fodder

From the BBC best book survey that everyone else has done.

but i'll just leave out the ones i haven't read and re-arrange the rest...

i read
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
The Stand, Stephen King
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
Perfume, Patrick Süskind

read to me
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

audio book
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Emma, Jane Austen

where's all the sci-fi? don't brits read william gibson or neal stephenson?

m00se

2.26.2005

test2

test

2.25.2005

conservatives want a smaller government

minor adjustments

2.24.2005

worldview weekend...

late on the meme front

2.23.2005

whirlwind

2.18.2005

it's over

2.17.2005

ugh

2.16.2005

sunny california

2.13.2005

just call me a sheep

2.11.2005

true confessions

2.09.2005

on the radio

singing cats & corn syrup

2.07.2005

stuff

2.05.2005

gym clothes

avian flu watch

a little late on the draw

2.04.2005

uh, me too

2.03.2005

end of hiatus

blog fodder

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