Wait, I thought it was the Civil War

I have mastered the time/space continuum. Fighting in two different wars, while remaining a pacifist. Interesting.

New Poems

A few new poems up at the Poetry Cemetery.  One poem was a response from a writing workshop put on by my Writing Center, so that’s kind of fun.  The other two have been floating around my jump-drive for a while now.  Glad they found homes.

Science

I may suck at actually doing science, but I do like the pretty pictures.  This is the new Mars rover, Phoenix, dropping with its parachute deployed.

US aggression in Venezuela

The US sent a warplane into controlled Venezuelan airspace.  Even though this is the kind of thing the US used to justify action against Saddam Hussein, the gov’t makes the weak claim of it being an “accident.”

Venezuela isn’t buying it, though.

“Hardly three days ago, a United States warplane violated Venezuelan airspace…it passed through prohibited space, even for civilian aircraft,” Chavez pointed out, stressing the gravity of the flight over La Orchila.

The Venezuelan head of state dismissed the version according to which the aircraft was carrying out an anti-narcotics mission. The same argument which has been used to justify the reactivation of the U.S.’s Fourth Fleet in Latin America, inactive since World War II, he said.

“We are sure that they are carrying out espionage. It was a warplane. This is how they justify the Fourth Fleet, which – they say – is coming to fight against narco-trafficking and terrorism. This is a lie! It is a war fleet and is a threat, not only against Venezuela, but against all of us [the countries in the region],” the president added.

College of Last Resort

This guy sounds mostly like an ass, but I do see the point in his dubbing some schools as “colleges of last resort,” that is, for students who choose a Uni based on necessity (ie location, cost, or job-related necessity).  That’s basically what my college is.

Unfortunately, from there, he begins to whine, generalize about other fields, and generally make an ass of himself.

For instance, in sharing the story of failing a woman, he writers this:

I knew that Ms. L.’s paper would fail. I knew it that first night in the library. But I couldn’t tell her that she wasn’t ready for an introductory English class. I wouldn’t be saving her from the humiliation of defeat by a class she simply couldn’t handle. I’d be a sexist, ageist, intellectual snob.

Actually, thinking like that makes you a sexist, ageist snob, unless you have compelling reasons not based on age or sex.   More importantly, remaining silent doesn’t mean you aren’t sexist and ageist – it just means you’re not honestly representing yourself to your students.  Which is a shame for them.

Conservapedia

Lovely. The son of Phylis Schlafly started a webpage to rival Wikipedia – but without the overwheliming “anti-america, antie christian, liberal bias.”

I want my own doppleganger website.

Anti-war Meeting in Cleveland

Another group is having another meeting to end another war by means of another mass protest in DC. I’m getting skeptical, but optimistic.  Maybe I’ll go.

Atheistic Vandalism?

Interesting story posted on Pharyngula.  Someone removed all the bibles from the Bible Studies section at a Canadian bookstore, and left a lone copy of Letters to a Christian Nation. More interestingly, he provides a link to one of booksellers at the shop, who had to spend the evening hunting down the errant bibles.  Then he added a link to the person who did the deed, who confessed it was just a silly prank, not intellectual terrorism.

It’s a fascinating, twisted world online.

Memorial Day

Yesterday, CNN told me I should thank a veteran for my freedom.  Today, I can’t use my local library because Memorial Day is a legal holiday.  Thanks, veterans!

Two videos to get you through:  Dylan’s “Masters of War” and Cypress Hill’s “How I could Just Kill a Man.”

Netflix 2

Last night I received a disk of The Avengers.  Specifically, the “best of” the Avengers, but for me, the best episodes consist solely of every single one featuring Dame Diana Rigg.  Unfortunately, only one of the three episodes featured her, and I was left disappointed.

However, my partner received the Indian film Lagaan, which was absolutely stunning.  It’s a post-colonial story of an Indian village which essentially bets its freedom on the outcome of a cricket game against the British.  I’ve recently been into “intellectual” or thinking films (like The Seventh Seal), but this one was much more of a feeling picture.  AT almost four hours, I was literally on the edge of my seat (a sensation I haven’t had since I saw North by Northwest on the big screen about 5 years ago). I don’t think I’ve fully digested Lagaan yet, but I think my Top Ten list needs to make some room.