Author Archives: zephoria

advisor meeting

My advisor and i sat down to go over my thesis. For three hours. I’m glad to see she has a lot of fabulous comments although i can’t help but be a bit grumply that she waited until now to give me feedback about chapters that i had given her one at a time starting weeks ago. ::sigh:: But oh well, i’ll deal. Now i just have a few days to incorporate them.

Oh, and i ran across a great little quote today: “The world was made for people who aren’t cursed with self-awareness.” – Bull Durham, screenplay by Ron Shelton

putting money where my mouth is

On various listservs and blogs, i keep seeing more and more discussions about the proposed RAVE Act. Of course, everyone always suggests writing to your congressman, and i can respect that and even encourage it. But i wished i believed that it did a damn thing. I don’t trust my voice nor do i feel like those messages are ever even heard from folks like me. I have more faith in large lobby groups and other organizations working to help people. Thus, rather than writing another pointless letter, i decided to donate money to help Dancesafe because i really do believe in their mission and their fight.

eminem

So, out of curiousity to hear what the rapper produced, i bought the new album. I had bought the last one after all the controversy erupted, in order to form an opinion. Listening to it was painful. Not only wasn’t it my style, but the lewd language often made me cringe and the hate that bubbled inside just make me depressed. So, i did my once through listening, read the lyrics and that was enough. Even in that one listening, i realized that the man was quite brilliant and talented. He was filled with hatred but he was also so aware of the violence, hatred and oppression around him. That made it interesting.

The new album is even more fascinating in that way. It’s calmed down, even if he pretends otherwise. He’s still cranky and angry, but he’s actually articulating some very sound thoughts recognizing his audience and arguing with them in his lyrics. It’s still harsh, but it’s much more coherent and he definitely has an argument to make. And one of the harshest songs is unbelievably catchy (video).

trade yous Safeway card!

I’ve always humored myself by putting fake names on my Safeway card, or at least names that humor me. Or, i use the names and addresses of people who annoy me so that they have to process all of my junk food habits. But, i really like this idea that appeared on Politech this morning: trade those cards. Every once in a while, trade with a friend or acquaintance and pass it on. Thus, the databases get entirely destroyed because they don’t even track one person, real or otherwise…

boardroom equality

Norway has put a law into place that requires at least 40% of all boardroom members must be women. Of course, meritocracy folks are outrage and i was temporarily on their side, until i read the responses by the government. Apparently, they’ve been demanding higher equality for a while, but the old boys network hires the old boys network and the only way that they see that change is going to happen is if the old boys network is forced to seek out, educate and hire women that they value. It’ll be rough at first, but it seems to be worth it…