Get your geek on!

My friend and her babies and I and my babies are all going to the Pacific Science Center.
YAY!!
We were actually there not that long ago. I think this is our third visit this year.
This time though, we are going to visit the planetarium. It's been a couple years since we visited the star show, Thing Two made the last one quite memorable, some of you may recall.
Man, in some of the pics of my Things at the PSC they are so much younger!
Anyway,
it should be another fun day.

Oh and here, try this or this, iffen ya like.

Cheers, ducks!

Nessa's Netiquette Meme

So Nessa came up with a meme about blogging which Quilly titled and I really enjoyed reading so I decided to do it too!

Also, it's one of the activities that fits this category:

which appeals to my sense of... something or other.

Anyway,
Here it is;

on your own blog do a post listing
5 things your like about blogs,
5 things you don’t like and
5 things you do blogging that you think are cool and why you do them.
Try to give the reasons why too so people understand your way of thinking.

5 Things I Like About Blogs

1. Blogging came about for me as a suppliment and then substitute for an awesome online community in a Yahoo! chatroom. So one of my favorite things about blogging is that it does feel like a community, and the best kind, because we decide what our circle of friends will be. It's fantasy league community!

2. Blogpals, the remaining 5 of you, and all the ones who've come and gone in the last 5 years, have made my life more entertaining and fun, as well as more informed and thoughtful. I've played games, and made friends. I've mourned and laughed with my internet friends, and I've seen things through your photos that I would never experience except through your eyes.

3. I love the fact that blogs are available whenever I am free to see them. I can drop by anytime and the welcome mat is out.

4. I love how many bloggers are in my email and chat addresses, my facebook account, and my cell phone contact list. I've met several of my blog pals and in moments of crisis this last year a couple of you have been an absolute lifeline. Breaking into the 3rd dimension definitely makes my list.

5. Freedom of expression is one of my favorite things about blogging. I spend a lot of time with the underage crowd, and a fair bit of time with a very conservative bunch of folks. It is so nice to express something that might not be appropriate for or appreciated by that audience. It is important to me that I balance my personal freedom with respect for the needs of others.
I'm not going to actually tell my kids "Make your own damn dinner" but it is fun to able to come on my blog and express that sentiment that way.

5 Things I Don't Like About Blogs

1. I hate spam.

2. I refuse to feel sense of blogging obligation or expectation. Come by here as you are, whenever you like, or don't. Comment if you want, don't if you'd rather not. I will come to your blog as time, energy, and life allow and comment if I have something to say. There are so many requirements in real life, for heaven's sake they won't let you in most gas stations without meeting a dress code! I need SOMEWHERE I can do whatever I want, however and whenever I want to do it.

3. I don't like waiting while my 'puter loads blogs that take FOREVER (more than 2 or 3 seconds) because of all the bells and whistles on the page. I know, I'm impatient. I'm just sayin'...

4. I don't like excessive negativity and general being a downer ALL the time. We are none of us beams of freaking sunshine all the time, thank goodness, but chances are that if you are a little grey raincloud ALL the time, I am not going to stick around. Be real, feel free to share, but please share your passions and your bliss as well as your heartburn and annoyances.

5. I really don't like egregious abuse of grammar and punctuation conventions. Everyone suffers from typonese, occasional spelling errors, and punctuation oversights. If you are interesting and generally erudite I will overlook these and usually not even be bothered in the slightest. Blogs that take the, "Eh, it's the internet!" approach to these things are usually not on my visit list long. I'm such the language snot.

5 Things I Do and Why I Really Like and Why I Think They Are Cool

1. I like it when people share cool links, like Furiousball. It helps me waste time I don't have without even noticing how it's flying past (I don't even hear it whooshing by).

2. I like it when people share book reviews, either on their blog like Actonbell, or on Goodreads. It gives me more things to do in the free time I don't have.

3. I like it when people are consistently brilliant and hysterical, like Lime, Jocelyn, and Doug. It amuses, inspires, and delights me.

4. I like it when people share music like Cooper, ooooooo, and movie and TV reviews are good too, and recipes, or at least recipe reviews. Ok, basically, I just like it when people share what they love, or whatever lights their fire.

5. I like it when people keep blogging even if they have to take breaks or slack off. I love it when eventually they start up again. It feels like an old friend moved back to town, or at least came by for a visit.

The grotesque and the glorious

While listening to Fresh Air I heard about an experiment in France.
The audience and participants were under the impression they were part of a game show.
They were, much like the subjects of the famous Stanley Milgram experiments of the 1960s, incredibly willing to administer a shock of painful, perhaps even lethal, intensity. In fact, more of them were willing than in the Milgram study.
I couldn't help but contrast that with another story I just recently shared with Thing One.
Hans and Sophie Scholl were founding members of The White Rose Society in Hilter's Germany. They were arrested and executed for treason against the Third Reich because of pamphlets they had printed and distributed. They refused to believe that the German people would continue to support Hilter and his regime if only the full scope of their acts were known.

So you have people willing to die standing against what they believe to be evil and people who will do what they know to be evil if a bit of pressure is brought to bear.

What a piece of work is man.

I remember hearing this poem as a child and as I go through life I find more and more situations which it could be used to describe.

The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

Moral:

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

Ok, the mantra for my day is;

Just because you're sure doesn't mean you're right.

IMNSHO

I have heard a number of my very beloved, very conservative friends and relatives bemoan the healthcare bill. Many of these people say that taking care of the poor and needy is definitely something that OUGHT to be done, but that it should be a personal act, it is not part of the role of government.
Which brings the questions to my mind;

How are you providing medical help to those who need it?

Whose medical bills are you covering?

If they don't have a good answer to those questions then they are shirking their personal responsibility and really have no legitimate grounds to complain that other people are arranging to have that responsibility taken care of collectively.

...and???

In this sort of weather I like to put the heater on in the car, with the airflow on the floor, and drive with the windows down.

That way the temperature in the car is perfect and I can feel the wind on my face and turn the radio way up.

I don't CARE if most people don't do it.
I like it!

Wall of Voodoo

Thing One has been catching a lot of 80s tunes while working out in the garage with his dad.
Mr. Logo has been doing some work on our schoolroom/guestroom. He installed a shower out there and he is now working on constructing a kitchenette.
For the last few days I've been hearing this a fair bit:

He says this or Devo's Whip It are his favorite 80s songs.
Thing Two loves this one,

Video Killed the Radio Star.
Since I asked The Things about their favorites they decided to ask Mr. Logo about which 80s tune was his favorite.
Though the exact question was,
"What's your favorite 80s song, dad? One that isn't hideous."
Heee hee
Mr. Logo has been known to voluntarily listen to Lionel Ritchie, just as a frame of reference.
Also, he likes this:


Yikes

I haven't done a stolen imeme in AGES

So clearly, it is time.
Via Van
One word Meme

Your cell phone? Red
Your hair? Curly
Your mother? Beloved
Your father? Astounding
Your favorite food? Available
Your dream last night? Forgettable
Your favorite drink? Caffeinated
Your music? Variable
Your dream/goal? Survival
What room are you in? Family
Your hobby? Enjoyable
Your fear? Carnies
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Contented
You? Capricious
Where were you last night? Reading
Something that you aren’t? Rested
Muffins? Blueberry
Wish list item? Brilliance
Where did you grow up? Washington
Last thing you did? Teach (gold star if you can say that using a single word)
What are you wearing? Smile
Your TV? Senescent
Your pets? Singular
Friends? Salvation
Your life? Perplexing
Your mood? Tempestuous
Missing someone? Intensely
Vehicle? Irritating
Something you’re not wearing? Couture
You? Repetitive!
Your favorite store? Powell's
Your favorite color? Situation-specific
When was the last time you laughed? Recently
Last time you cried? Earlier
Your best friend? Understanding
One place that you go to over and over? Mailbox
Facebook? Fine
Favorite place to eat? Out

Ooooooooooh...

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I've always rather regarded existentialists poorly.

I mean, come on, Sartre and Nietzsche were complete a$$h013$,
so they weren't doing the school of thought any favors, as far as I was concerned.

A while back though, I developed a little intellectual crush on a guy who thinks Kirkegaard is da bomb. I decided to read something of his and, since it came first, I started with Fear and Trembling.

Holy mother of a Hindu cow. Like to give me an aneurysm!

So I am now listening to some lectures to explain the book and ya know?
I'm beginning to think Kirkegaard is pretty much a freaking genius.

But I still think Sartre and Nietzsche are a$$h013$

Can I get an amen?

I love that cooking is a creative outlet for Mr. Logo. He is quite the talented chef.
My creative outlet is...
decorating flat surfaces with the books I'm reading.

Aaaaaaanyway, he was taking two evening classes this last term (he is working on his master's degree) and so he was gone 4 nights a week for the last couple months. This meant I was responsible for feeding the children and myself for most of the week, quelle horreur!

Mr. Logo makes a planning menu and then shops from that so the fridge was stocked and ready for me to make all manner of delicious and nutritious meals, but somehow the allure of cold cereal, leftovers (on those rare occasions when they were available) and whatever else the kids could make themselves always outweighed my desire to cook one of the meals from the menu.

Yesterday I returned custody of two extra kids to a friend (their mother) after keeping watch over them for 10 days while their parents went to help build an orphanage in Haiti.

BTW, don't worry, they weren't smuggling orphans.

Sooo, before she left she was offering to make a menu with me, or go shopping for me, pretty much any and every thing she could think of to make sure I actually fed her kids while she was gone. I figured, FINE, I will cook! Sheesh...

So I did.

Now, they did end up with waffles one night, and chicken strips, mac & cheese and grapes on another, BUT I did actually make whole meals for like, seven of the last ten nights!

I'm exhausted now.

So tonight?

Make your own damn dinner!

Some Sufi poetry

Like This

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,

Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,

Like this.

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God’s fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.

Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.

Like this.

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.

Like this. Like this.

When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point
here.

If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.

This tall.

The soul sometimes leaves the body, the returns.
When someone doesn’t believe that,
walk back into my house.

Like this.

When lovers moan,
they’re telling our story.

Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue,
while the breeze says a secret.

Like this.

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.

Like this.

How did Joseph’s scent come to Jacob?

Huuuuu.

How did Jacob’s sight return?

Huuuu.

A little wind cleans the eyes.

Like this.

When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he’ll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us

Like this.

----------
From 'The Essential Rumi', Translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne