Tim's Bloglet - Monday 10 March 2003

There's a sheep herding game for the Playstation. I'm crushed. _
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05:40:10 PM, Monday 10 March 2003

You don't have to soak beans! Its a foul lie, perpetrated by the culinary-industrial complex, along with sifting flour, warming eggs to room temperature, and the whole of french cooking. Its all superstition enshrined and turned into a form of conspicious consumption. Trust no one! _
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02:31:49 PM, Monday 10 March 2003

Grow your own sprouts. Found when looking for a cheap source of wheat grass seed for my indoor lawn expansion plans. ($2.95 a pound vs. $6 for 6 oz. at the local pet store) I then saw why they wanted to grow grass; its so they can juice it. Wheat Juice. Even they don't like the taste, but they swear it makes them feel extremely healthy. Doesn't appeal, but then I browsed the rest of the site. You grow sprouts in specially designed plastic containers. Take seeds, rinse and drain repeatedly, then eat. Has anyone tried this?

Health Canada: "As the popularity of sprouts increases, so does the potential for sprout-related illnesses."

The problem is that I'm not really interested because I want to devour pounds of sprouts; I just want to watch seeds germinate and turn into sprouts 8 times the mass of the seed with nothing but water and air. _
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09:16:06 PM, Sunday 9 March 2003

The local NPR current events call-in show On Point pointed out at the top of tonights show that Colin Powell loves ABBA. I knew there was a reason I liked him. Though, rumour has it Saddam also likes them. _
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08:16:29 PM, Friday 7 March 2003

I wasn't home in time to take the seedling picture last night, but fortunately, Erika filled in. The reason I wasn't home is because trains hate me. I left work in Cambridge at 4pm so I'd be able to catch the 4:35 to Providence, whic would get me home before 6. I caught the red line at Alewife. There was a large snoring drunk in the corner of the car. The train had a mechanical failure of some kind around Harvard, and was taken out of service at Central. At this point it was full. It took a while for the crew to arouse the drunk. They were very kind to him, and kept saying "Come on, Champ!". Upon waking he shouted "Nonononono!". At any rate, sat on a completely full platform until the next train came along, and poured in. It started moving, and then stopped for 10 minutes, because the train that had been taken out of service had broken down in front of it. We get to South Station a little before 5pm, 30 minutes longer than it usually takes. I know there is a 5:03 to Providence, so I make my way rapidly up through the station, glance at the board, see the train is leaving from platform 2, here them announce Providence on the speaker, so lurch onto the train. The conductor was unfamiliar. I sit down next to a cheerful executive who wants to talk about the huge pile-up on I-95 in Attleboro and snow and such. He was reading an Executive Summary. It said Executive Summary across the top in a fairly baroque font with one of those fancy scrolling underlines. The speaker system was making a horrible growling noise. I retreat into "Peace on Earth" by Stanislaw Lem, A Ijon Tichy novel about disarmament and corpus callosotomy. An 50 minutes later I finish the book and he strikes up again. He comments on someone standing up and bumping their head on the overhead rack. That moment someone else then does the same, but I stoically stifle my chortles. Eventually he asks me where I'm going, and I say Providence. He wonders why I'm on the train to Worchester. I go and find the Conductor. Apparently in so doing I invade private Conductor space, but once I retreat she's friendly enough. I explain. A small herd of people starts offering suggestions, mostly involving buses, dispite the fact the roads are covered with snow and I have a fear of buses. They express surprise that I'm not angry at something. I try to think of something to be angry at, but can find no culprit. I have a fear of buses because I once caught the wrong bus, and ended up in Ypsilanti, and had to be rescued after I sought refuge in a Borders and refused to risk another bus. Eventually she works out that the train going the other way is also a little behind schedule, and asks them to wait for me, so I get off at Ashmont and run up the steps and over to the other side. She has carefully instructed me to tell a member of the crew "I'm the one you're waiting for" so that they won't wait for me after I've already arrive. I get there just in time so they didn't have to wait anyway, but I deliver my messiahistic message to someone who clearly has no idea what I'm raving about. At any rate, the train leaves. Its now 6pm. I consult with the internet via Erika and a cell phone, and learn the last train for Providence leaves at 8:15. A few minutes later is stops with a jerk and goes dark. After 5 minutes or so it lights back up, and the small, tinny speaker explains that the train ahead has broken down, and we're going to have to push it back to Boston. Judging from the highway, we proceed the rest of the way at about 35 miles an hour. 7:35 I arrive at South station for the third time that day. I look around for good food to eat when depressed, having skipped lunch, and am offered a sample of orange chicken, which glistens appropriately. I buy 4.35 worth of orange chicken. The rice would have been 2 dollars extra, and looked old. I wolf it down, then wander around the station feeling vaguely ill until 8:15. From there everything went fairly smoothly. I listened to President Bush completely ignore questions, and get all spooky about the thousands of people praying for him on my headphones. I finally arrived home at 9:40, to find that the parsley has sprouted and the marigold seeds are looking suspiciously active. I spend 7 1/2 hours on trains, and only 6 hours at work. I felt daft. _
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12:16:00 PM, Friday 7 March 2003

You've forced it out of me. I didn't care for The Seven Samurai. It was pretty in places, and more thoughtful than its descendents; but it was full of painful acting, and felt long. Why does bad acting come across the language barrier so well? Hollywood is wonderful in one respect; its a seething mass of people who can deliver a line or be a member of a crowd fairly convincingly. Its a hard trick to pull off. I'm glad I saw it though. It gives me more context for the Final Fantasy pathos. _
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07:18:01 PM, Wednesday 5 March 2003

The Sweet Alyssum has germinated! You may not realize it, but this is a terrificly exciting development. It means I am capable, and need not be intimidated by the gardening cabalists. I am planning to take daily photographs every day at 6pm, but am quite likely to forget within a day or two. _
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06:13:56 PM, Wednesday 5 March 2003

I can't find anything about sculpting icebergs. I suppose its probably prohibitly expensive, dangerous and cold. _
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04:45:18 PM, Wednesday 5 March 2003

Raisin juice concentrate? Why is there Raisin juice concentrate in my bread? It contains proprionic acid, which inhibits mold growth. I actually think I'd be more comfortable if the label said preservatives instead. _
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05:28:15 PM, Tuesday 4 March 2003

Hodgepodges of platitudinous goo
A description of modern american political speeches in the New Republic _
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04:43:42 PM, Friday 28 February 2003

I had a dream about a childrens show called The Evil Brain & Cancer. Cancer was a transcendently beautiful little black haired boy, and the Evil Brain was his malformed, quiet sidekick with a tendency to shuffle and lurk. It was a very good show. _
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12:30:46 PM, Thursday 27 February 2003

CBS rejects offer of Ari Fliescher as White House representative to respond to the interview with Saddam tonight on 60 minutes. When the press decides that your press spokesperson isn't worth listening to, isn't it time for a new spokesperson? Someone who can speak to the press without an implied Whatever at the end of each sentence? _
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03:18:49 PM, Wednesday 26 February 2003

On watching the Johnny Cash video, musing on its increased emotional impact coming out of his mouth, and perusing the downward spiral; a list of covers I want to hear:
Shonen Knife: Mr. Self Destruct
Pet Shop Boys: Heresy
Art Garfunkel: I do not want this _
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01:11:47 PM, Wednesday 26 February 2003

Mixed metaphor heard on NPR's Marketplace: "Which is the horse and which is the cart reverses itself, and then they eat each other." _
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06:38:05 PM, Tuesday 25 February 2003

My spring seeds have arrived! In the same gold foil packs I remember from my youth. However, it doesn't count as gardening, because its a 3rd floor balcony. Its not like I have a lawn. Well, I do, but its in a 3 inch pot. I just mowed it with a pair of scissors. _
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03:44:33 PM, Monday 24 February 2003

A indie cred game, where you have to express opinions on various subjects. If you're an early adopter of something, you get points, if you're a late adopter, you lose points. If you adopt something that never becomes credible, you suffer greatly. The more cred points you have, the more weight your opinion has with the community. Negative cred is fairly common; if a negative cred person likes something, it loses value. Every time you express an opinion, you invest a certain amount of cred in it; you can vary the amount. Very much like a stock market sim, I suppose. _
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12:54:22 PM, Monday 24 February 2003

How to write bad ugly code: Have an all-purpose boolean called bool. _
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04:21:52 PM, Wednesday 19 February 2003

With well over a foot of snow on the porch, the cat now gives me very dirty looks whenever I open the door and suggest he might want to go outside. _
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09:39:44 PM, Monday 17 February 2003

After playing ICO for several hours, a video game where it is necessary to climb and jump from ledge to ledge, Erika has begun to climb over the sofa instead of walking around. _
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09:38:36 PM, Monday 17 February 2003

We just went to the beach. There were seagulls, of course, and loons and grebes. I hadn't thought about it, but loons have to go somewhere when the lakes freeze. The rocks were covered with frozen spray about half an inch deep, with icicles coming off the sides. some patches of sand had ice on them. It was all very pretty, but far too cold. Some people clearly regretting owning dogs, one very determined bright yellow jogger, and 2 birdwatchers in an SUV who clearly were not planning to get out. _
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01:27:25 PM, Sunday 16 February 2003

I refuse to build a cat flap on a door that leads to a 3rd story balcony. I steadfastly refuse. If he digs one, I'll put a flap in, but not until then. _
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10:27:20 PM, Friday 14 February 2003

What I don't understand is the anti-war pro-ICC position. How can there be an International Criminal Court without an international police force? The problem is, police need to have the authority to do things that would be terrible crimes if someone else did them (take someone away in handcuffs, overthrow foreign governments). Either governments are held to a higher standard and subject to international law, in which case there needs to be enforcement, or war is worse than tyranny, in which case we should try as hard as possible to pressure and bribe tyrants into retirement, in which case the ICC only does harm. It only applies to dictators who failed and gave up. We want failing dictators to give up, we don't want to discourage such behavior. Set up the Napoleon Evil Tyrant Spa & Resort.

I do understand the Tyranny isn't so bad as long as it keeps to itself position, also known as the belief in national soveriegnty. This seems to be where Chirac comes from. I don't like it one little bit, but it makes sense. _
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10:25:12 PM, Friday 14 February 2003

The four cheeses referred to in the name of four cheese doritos are chedder, monterey jack, parmesan and ... american. Why must cheeses come in fours? Also, the chips aren't very good. Spicy has been the highlight of my dorito explorations thus far. _
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09:52:22 PM, Friday 14 February 2003

Free to good home: one paperback copy of Delany's Dhalgren. Slightly dinged from being tossed across the room in disgust. Last time I impulse buy a book that puts a review from the Libertarian Review on the back. Particularly one containing the words "A Joycean tour de force". Its not my fault; I'd been reading Zelazny and their names and reputations are vaguely similar. _
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04:59:53 PM, Thursday 13 February 2003

Luge! They let you luge, and its free! I'm excited. _
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10:39:47 PM, Wednesday 12 February 2003

I've been having a problem recently on public transportation. I take books that I think I want to read, only to discover they are terribly dull, and I'm stuck with nothing to read. However, if I take an emergency back-up book, I feel kinda dumb, because its not like I'm going to read them both. Its all Dickens fault. I had been struggling with Baraby Rudge, and took it on a train, and really read it. The problem lies with the fact that there are two sorts of book that appear boring. The first simply requires a large investment and few distractions, but is in fact fascinating. The second sort are actually boring. Confusing the second for the first is how I got stuck on an aeroplane with nothing to read but a brief history of Canada. _
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09:41:33 PM, Wednesday 12 February 2003

From a particularly malevolent online lobster primer.

"It appears that there are many different ideas on the way a Lobster should be dispatched, from drowning in fresh water to dropping them into boiling water. Many of the ideas have a certain merit since a Lobster is a cold blooded creature with no brain as we understand it, except for its nervous system with two processing centres, and body fluids which are pumped around it's system by muscle movement. It is not possible to kill it, in the normal meaning of the word."

Apparently they can only be dramatically slowed down and eaten. _
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05:40:26 PM, Tuesday 11 February 2003

They sell Brown Bread at the local grocer's here. I'd made it from the Joy of Cooking, but never had the real, canned, thing. Its like a excessively sweet, moist, low fat bran muffin, only shaped like a can. You open the can at both ends and push it out. They also sell live lobsters. There are two tanks, the standard lobsters and the luxury models. Why are Lobsters the only thing home cooks are willing to kill for the sake of freshness? _
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05:35:41 PM, Tuesday 11 February 2003

Why the House of Commons is more exciting than the US Senate. Senators never brandish ancient gold-encrusted weapons or sing anthems. Though there was the Caning of Charles Sumner. The cane wasn't gold encrusted at the time, but according to this unfathomable article, the South Carolina Senator was later given a gold encrusted replacement. _
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01:50:03 PM, Monday 10 February 2003

Does raising chickens count as an ambition? _
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09:22:04 PM, Sunday 9 February 2003

Does raising chickens count as an ambition? _
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09:21:29 PM, Sunday 9 February 2003

Let me get this straight: Iran announcing nuclear plans, expelled diplomats between Pakistan and India, Anti-Thai riots in Cambodia, Threatened preemptive strikes from North Korea, Sharon declaring war on Arafat, floods in Peru, famine in Malawi, assassination in Iraq, mass protests in Venezuela, and anexplosion at a nuclear facility in Pakistan. I think I should go read something cheerful. _
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08:25:55 PM, Sunday 9 February 2003

I have a theory. Americans don't know geography because basic American History doesn't really require it. You have to know England exists over the ocean somewhere, and you have to know about the North and the South. You have to know about Texas. European history, on the other hand, requires geography. It has shifting imperial borders, and names coming and going like nobodies business. I was stymied the other day by the Levant. Took me a good 15 minutes to find out where the Levant was. _
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03:57:22 PM, Sunday 9 February 2003

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
-Ambrose Bierce _
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01:21:22 PM, Sunday 9 February 2003

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