voxygen.net » Random Musings

Random bits

~LS~ — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:08:31 +0000

I am trying to hack my related post plugin to work only on my blog and not all the other pages. It requires learning about WordPress hooks and conditional tags. This means learning about the is_home tag. The idea of is_home as conditional is quite worrisome in our current political and economic landscape and in the context of my new mortgage, my intended renovations, my newly adopted rescue cats. I provide their “Forever Home” in animal rescue lingo. That’s a weighty responsibility.

I consider it positive that I still have toothpaste in the tube I hacked open.

Ten Cool Things about Baton Rouge

~LS~ — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:27:28 +0000

I’ve added some more entries to my “Ten Cool Things about Baton Rouge” list. Both the list and my years here have exceeded the number ten.

Ways to cheat on Foursquare

~LS~ — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:40:34 +0000

1. Add your home as a venue.

2. Become mayor of your home.

3. Add your work as a venue.

4. Become mayor of your job.

5. Add places that are clearly not venues like THE BEACH. The beach is not a venue.

6. Become mayor of the beach.

7. Lie.

8. Lie a lot.

Note: I have done none of these things.

The hidden cost of graduate school

~LS~ — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:02:40 +0000

I just paid my student loan a couple of days ago, which basically means I hit a button on the loan website and depleted my financial resources for another month. In the moment, I started to reflect on the debilitating costs of graduate school, costs which most people don’t consider even later in their lives after they’ve graduated. Most academics that I know have a deep sense of nostalgia for their days of poverty, where living on ramen, cheap beer, and the company of good friends in the same boat got them through until the next measly TA paycheck. They also have a healthy resentment for how paying student loans back takes money directly from their pockets in the present. This is all at the level of obviousness. But the unacknowledged costs add up to a substantial amount of cash, yet no one ever includes them in any accounting. When [...]

Ben Franklin’s Facebook Status

~LS~ — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:40:53 +0000

Today’s Times Book Review section has a nicely written, humorous article on Ben Franklin and his Almanac: Ben Franklin is a Big Fat Idiot. The title made it mandatory reading for me given my utter adulation of Al Franken. In fact, the author, Joe Queenan, seems to have as much of a crush on Franklin as I have on Franken.

To his disappointment, Queenan discovered that the Almanac was not nearly as inspirational as he remembered it to be and so he laments the resultant bit of tarnish on Franklin’s halo. His claims that Franklin’s aphorisms failed “the acid test of validity and usefulness.” Take this one, for example: “Keep your mouth wet, feet dry.” Ok, I agree, teh stoopid.

The first thing that came to mind as I read the article was Facebook. Ben Franklin seems to have written down whatever [...]

Beneath the circuits, the tree of life

~LS~ — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:53:29 +0000

I am in the process of getting a new tattoo. The image is a “bio-mech” tattoo in which the skin is ripping open to reveal a circuit board beneath it. The skin is tearing because the tree of life, which is growing behind the circuit board, is bursting through. I think it’s an especially splendid idea.

The design reflects a nearly life-long fascination with the dualism of nature vs. technology. I’m not sure when this particular fascination began. Probably with Star Trek and nurtured through old sci fi like Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Ursula LeGuin. Of course, when I started learning about feminism, I discovered the gendering of this dualism (along with the gendering of the nature/culture divide, hard/soft sci fi, and pretty much everything else). All of this culminated with me turning into a Donna Haraway fan girl with a little bit of the [...]

Sup?

~LS~ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:34:07 +0000

Some things:

1. I’ve been working on another website. I find when I do that, I tend to disapper because I’m so immersed. Incidentally, the website is mygratitudes.net. There’s nothing up yet but junk and filler, but I’m having fun working away on the site design. I’m enjoying learning more about CSS, WordPress, and HTML. If there were some local classes, I’d probably be interested in taking one. I’d like to learn more about design itself, not just website design. Stuff like layout, typography, and the like. I’ve tried reading up about that sort of thing online, but I don’t really -see- what people are talking about. I think I need someone to tell me and show me.

2. Today I was looking up examples of arguments for pro-choice and pro-life positions to bring to class. I googled “pro-choice+arguments” and got an astounding number of hits that were Christian, anti-choice [...]

Randomly Musing – Madonna and Keith Richards

~LS~ — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:22:18 +0000

Here are my neuronic firings for the day:

1. I just learned (behind the loop again) that the Lilith Fair is returning! I am /so/ psyched about this. I soooo want to go with Willow. It would be like the ultimate in women’s studies kismet to do that. I am definitely driving to Dallas for this.

2. The latest Rolling Stone has a retrospective on Madonna. I am offended by it. I have always thought Madonna was beautiful. Many people have disagreed with me, of course. But I stick to my guns on this point. Lately, though, the media has treated her almost like a clown. The only explanation I can find is that she’s over 50. Fifty year old women shouldn’t prance around on a stage and spread their legs. It’s unbecoming. Rolling Stone has frequently been a participant in this [...]

10 Random Musings (#10 is the best)

~LS~ — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:47:50 +0000

1. This week is over. It’s Friday. I’m heaving a sigh of relief. Can you hear it?

2. Tonight is Dollhouse, but I’m not watching it because Willow and I are going to India’s restaurant. I realize I’m contributing to its pending cancellation. It depresses me, but not enough to miss Indian food.

3. I am thinking about giving up D&D for a while. I love playing with my group, but it is a. hyoooge (10? 11? ppl) and b. we drive to NOLA to play. I have very mixed feelings about this. I haven’t fully decided yet.

4. IT installed McAffee on my work computer. My computer is now grinding to a halt. I’m fairly certain that it’s due to McAffee. This depresses me.

5. Obama went on the talk-show circuit where he stated that he doesn’t think race is the driving force behind town hall [...]

Daniel Striped Tiger

~LS~ — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:36:23 +0000

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood has always been special to me. As a kid I watched it all the time. When the show moved to PBS, which is when I was introduced to it, I was older than the target audience, but I loved it anyway. I started watching it again after I went through treatment for alcoholism and drug abuse. People in AA meetings encouraged it because the show promotes all kinds of affirming, feel-good life lessons that alcoholics need to hear and practice. I continued to watch it irregularly until it was taken off the air a few years ago. It always made me feel better regardless of what was going on in my life.

My all-time favorite character on Mr. Rogers is Daniel Striped Tiger. It still amazes me that Rogers voiced both the shy, shy Daniel and the pompous King Friday. One thing I really like [...]