Thursday, September 04, 2003

Remember my obsessive-compulsive tracking of common appearances by actors in multiple Aaron Sorkin projects? Well, while watching a West Wing rerun just now, I came across another amusing West Wing guest star - not a Sorkin guy, but the Mayor from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He played the Sec. of Agriculture. Just thought I'd mention it.
8:49:02 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

open-source education. This year, MIT is free. Well, not really -- you won't get the degree, and you won't get to talk to the top minds in science or stay in a really cool dorm. But OpenCourseWare provides, as Wired puts it, "Every lecture [sometimes on video, sometimes only the notes], every handout, every quiz." Curious about Psycholinguistics? Urban Transportation, Land Use, and the Environment? Non-linear Programming? Cognitive & Behavioral Genetics? String Theory for Undergraduates? They are in Kenya. [MetaFilter] Ooooh - Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language - "Several lecture notes are available, covering topics such as A-movement, word-order, permutation and reconstuction, double-object construction, and possessor raising, locational verbs." I'm waaaaaay too interested in this...

8:41:55 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

The American Prospect's weblog TAPPED has, among other great entries, one pointing out that while Bustamente has been associated with a radical, potentially-seperatist Hispanic group, Tom DeLay and George W. Bush haven't disavowed the 2000 Texas Republican Party platform, which calls for revoking the 16th Amendment, quitting the UN, taking back the Panama Canal to, among other reasons, "prevent the establishment of Chinese missile bases in Panama", the abolition of the Departments of Commerce, Labor, Education, HHS, HUD, and Energy, and other far-right nuttiness. That's a little bit more directly distasteful than anything even vaguelly connected to Bustamante, if you ask me. Oh, some other fun stuff from that platform - opposition to electronic eavesdropping by the government, a call to stop gathering personal information on American citizens, and a call for a repeal of the Federal War Powers Act, because a "perpetual state of national emergency allows unrestricted growth of government". Ironic, innit?

8:13:12 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

From the no-freaking-shit department - CNN has a link on their front page that says Report: Bullying not a harmless rite of passage. The article points out such shocking facts as "Victims also found to develop emotional problems". What, this is news? This isn't just painfully obvious?
1:00:55 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

One down, too many to go... Estrada withdraws name. Wingnut Bush Miguel Estrada, nominated by Bush to serve as an appelate judge, withdrew his name from consideration after a... [Daily Kos] Yay! This is a Very Good Thing - as a precedent-setter as well as in this specific case.
12:42:40 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Skull Study Complicates Origins of First Americans [Scientific American] Interesting stuff - the case for groups from multiple origins reaching the Americas independently (both the traditionally known Siberian-to-Alaska route and some form of ocean crossing of the central-to-south Pacific) is strengthened...
12:37:59 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

I've been eating fruits and veggies lately. And yes, I know how dorky that sounds, but it's true...bananas, for example, are a pretty cost-effective snack. Same with those baby carrots and something to dip 'em in...definitely cheaper than chips. Healthier, too, but that's just a bonus effect. =)
11:07:04 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []