Archive for September 2005
September 26, 2005
Pendulum Swinging
10:06 pm | College | Random | Comments: 28
It’s always good when you’re allowed to take what’s sure to be a very tough test open book and open notes. It’s always bad when you show up for the class period with only a ballpoint pen. It’s always good when you soon discover that the test is actually still two days away. Don’t you like happy endings? I do.
September 20, 2005
Random Homestarage Thoughts
10:13 pm | Culture | Thoughts | Comments: 13
The community in which The Homestar Runner finds himself has always been thought-provoking to me. All the characters exist - as do the vast majority of cartoons - extemporaneously. Not only do they never get older, they never change at all. That’s fine. There is, however, some form of temporal dynamic thanks to the Strong Bad Emails. Without the Strong Bad Emails, Homestar Runner would be nothing more than a bunch of random events suspended in the mists of time. They represent the only organized series of events to be found. Even with this, though, the characters are never developed. That doesn’t matter because we love the characters as they are.
The Strong Bad emails are also key in that they have provided the vast majority of subject matter over the years. The Brothers Chaps have a knack for taking ideas and running crazy with them - think Trogdor, Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes, Stinkoman, and many more. The essential nature of the Strong Bad emails isn’t hard to understand when you see Strong Bad’s character as being antithetical to Homestar Runner himself. The Yin to Homestar’s Yang, if you will. Or you might just see Strong Bad as a bungling would-be villain and Homestar as cosmically stupid, and the Strong Bad emails as being a convenient way for fans to interact.
Speaking of characters, Bubs is definitely my favorite. And whatever happened to Pom Pom? Not that I really enjoyed Pom Pom at all. Rather a boring individual, but I’m not one to complain. After discussing it with other scholars, it was determined that only the Poopsmith has had less exposure lately than Pom Pom. The Poopsmith is actually a cool guy.
September 16, 2005
Just When You Had Enough of Google
11:50 am | Sci/Tech | Weblogging | Comments: 1
Say hello to Bloogle, Google’s dedicated Weblog Search!
September 15, 2005
Michael Moore Transvestism
8:07 pm | Culture | Politics | Thoughts | Comments: 10
How can you go wrong with a title like that? Last night I witnessed a debate between Victor Davis Hanson and Arianna Huffington. The topic of the debate was “Is the United States an empire?”, and the outcome was what you might have expected it to be considering the people involved. Hanson is a noted scholar, learned historian, conservative author, long-time farmer, and university professor. Huffington is a lib columnist. Yes, that’s all she is. And it showed.
Hanson’s opening statement was excellent. He made a point-by-point comparison between the United States and all the common denominators of all the great empires of the past, noting that the United States only matched up in one category: the ability to influence the entire world. Huffington made it immediately and abundantly clear what her agenda was: Iraq. Her entire opening statement was taken almost straight from the screenplay of Farenheit 9/11. In fact, at one point I could almost imagine Michael Moore himself standing up there spouting off all the buzzwords and baseless accusations. Huffington loves throwing “facts” out and giving no support for them, then simply continuing on to the next false fact. For instance, at one point in her anti-Iraq raving she said that America is less secure now than before 9/11. How is that so, Arianna? Give us at least a mere morsel of your vast knowledge. Not likely; she just made the statement and continued on her senseless rampage. The insurgency is only getting stronger! How do you know that, Arianna? Please, share with us.
A great moment was when, in her opening statement, Ms. Huffington attempted to score a point against Hanson by going back to the Peloponnesian War and comparing our mission in Iraq with the Sicilian Adventure of the Athenians during their war with Sparta. Bad move, considering Hanson is possibly the foremost national (if not global) expert in classical military history and especially Thycidides. He blasted her analogy to tiny pieces then landed a stunning blow as well by quoting from Thycidides, who said that Athens would have defeated the Sicilians if there hadn’t been so much grumbling and complaining at home. Huffington must have said the phrase “our Imperial Adventure in Iraq” a thousand times, even after the basis for that statement was completely obliterated.
Not all went well for Hanson, however. He made some shady statements, such as that due to our operations in Iraq Pakistan has relenquished her nuclear arsenal and that Bush wouldn’t have attacked Iraq if there had been no 9/11 (that one nearly turned the audience into nothing better than a mob of angry people). He also rebutted Huffington on a point which she never even made - a phantom reference to Vietnam which likely he only heard in his head. That didn’t detract from the validity of his rebuttal, but it did make him look bad.
Overall, Hanson won the debate simply because he’s the only one that actually spoke to the topic. Had the debate been about the validity of the Iraq war, he would have been given a run for his money. Without the Iraq war and Michael Moore, Huffington would have had absolutely nothing to say. Although I suppose she still would have been able to insult all our nation’s leaders to the raucous applause of the audience. In reality the debate was a mismatch, as noted by Prof. Sidelko. Hanson has more brains in his pinky finger than Huffington does in her entire body.
(Here is the G.R. Press write-up of the event)
September 12, 2005
White Dawn
12:27 pm | Sport | Comments: 12
Mostly for my own sake but also for all those interested in such things, I’m putting up a list of good snowboarding (and skiing too, I guess) deals for the southwest Michigan area. It is the intention of the SIO staff to do some mad snowboarding this winter, and it’s best to be prepared. If anybody knows of other discounts or what have you, let me know.
There are three ski areas within a couple hours of Grand Rapids: Cannonsburg, Bittersweet, and Caberfae. Cannonsburg is the closest, smallest, and cheapest of the three. Not surprisingly, their website offers little or no information on lift ticket and rental prices. The only information given is season passes - which look to be more than exorbitant in price. Nonetheless, Cannonsburg is always helpful when you have the craving but don’t want to drive forever just to get onto your board.
Bittersweet is where I first learned to ride. It’s a nice little place near Kalamazoo, about a thirty minute drive from good old GR. Normal lift tickets will cost you $23 and $29 on weekends, meaning the purchase of a season pass (if you buy it this month) will bring you back at least 10 times - not bad. College students, on Mondays through Thursdays starting at 3pm, will find themselves able to get lift tickets for $18, a deal of which I hope to make good use. Wednesdays and Thursdays are also Women’s and Men’s days, respectively, and offer the same discount.
Caberfae, off M-55 near Cadillac (approximately 90 minutes or so of drive time), is the best easily-accessible option for the Grand Rapids enthusiast. Lift tickets range from $25 - $40 depending on what day you show up, and college discounts are also offered (the website is somewhat vague on the details, though). Mark your calendars: Friday, February 24 will be $9 all-day lift tickets for college kids. Punch passes are also available, meaning you ski 4 times for $50 (or $99 without limitation, which saves you some but not much money).
There are other excellent places to ski in Northern Michigan, most notably Crystal Mountain and Boyne Mountain, which are multiple hours of driving time from Grand Rapids with lift tickets approaching $50. I do hope to get a group up to Boyne at least once this winter, however.
September 10, 2005
Go Blue
8:16 pm | Culture | Sport | Comments: 6
My dad and I have been Michigan football fans for years, though we’re not sure how we got into it. Roger Swets probably had something to do with it. At any rate, the game today against Notre Dame was ridiculous, and I only watched the first half. Generally, the first half is all you need to see of a Michigan game to know how it’s going to turn out.
On the cover, it looks like Chad Henne was a total wipe-out. This might have been due in part to the fact that Michigan’s pass protection was downright crappy today. That, in turn, may have been due in large part to the fact that three starting offensive linesmen were not playing as of the second quarter. Injuries played a big part in taking whatever wind was available in Michigan’s sails hence, and perhaps the biggest loss was Michael Hart. Without a power rusher and with a nervous young quarterback with bad accuracy behind the center, Michigan just didn’t have what was needed to put points up on the board against the Dame. Even after being handed a golden opportunity by the defense with a fumble recovery in Notre Dame’s red zone which two plays later developed into a 1st-and-goal at the 5 yard line, Michigan couldn’t score. That’s pretty sad.
September 9, 2005
Rocking the Bridge
11:12 pm | Culture | My Life | Pictures | Comments: 7
Yes folks, tonite was Celebration on the Grand. For any outlanders, Celebration is something Grand Rapids does at the end of the summer for some reason which nobody really seems to know. It’s a party for a party’s sake. At any rate, the main attraction is the fireworks display. It’s well-known that the Celebration fireworks display is way better than the Independence Day display, but this night it was better than any other fireworks display I’ve seen in the city. And I’ve seen alot. The effect of the fireworks was amplified by the fact that we were within a few hundred feet of the detonations - the grand finale literally shook the bridge we were on for several minutes straight. Not bad for Grand Rapids! Some pictures of the event follow, along with actual video (taken on my phone) of the fireworks.
To start off, we have a picture of a random high school girl (one of John’s friends, I think). Shortly after this was taken she knocked the phone out of my hand. Further proof that women are evil.
Just to give you an idea of the crowd, we were on the Pearl Street Bridge. It was, as usual, jammed to the rails with the yoots of America.
Yay for fireworks.
What follows are three video clips taken during the show, and they can be viewed in Windows Media Player. The last one is a small segment of the grand finale, which seemed to go on for five or ten minutes. The only dialogue to be heard in the clips is “Oh my goodness!”, “Holy crap!”, and “We’re all gonna die!”.
September 6, 2005
Balance
11:18 pm | Thoughts | Wisdom | Comments: 17
Today I pulled up behind a vehicle at a red light the driver of which, like myself, was turning left. This, however, was no ordinary vehicle. My attention was drawn immediately to the turn signal, blinking at the precise tempo of my own. I switched mine on and off a few times, and shortly achieved the great goal - perfectly synchronized turn signals. Rarely will you ever experience this in the world. It seems that there is almost complete heterogeneity of turn signal tempos. Interestingly, the vehicle in question was of a completely different make and model of my own. Perhaps the irony is fitting.
September 5, 2005
Earth Shattering News
11:13 pm | News | Sport | Comments: 7
Let it be known that Jerry Rice has retired. Jerry Rice played football, and our best goes out to Mr. Rice and his family. Yea, that about sums it up.
September 2, 2005
My Styles
12:59 am | Culture | Style | Comments: 16
Pink shirts are fine on guys. I don’t have issues with colors, generally. It’s style that counts. Lots of clothing can be worn by both genders just fine, like jeans and t-shirts. The key is the style - you can make jeans and t-shirts look very masculine or very feminine. Other types of clothing, however, are inherently masculine or feminine and should be avoided by the opposite gender. Clothing guys should not wear, among other stuff: capris, spandex, and turtlenecks. I leave skirts off the list solely out of consideration for the Scottish. As for women, I think they look ridiculous in suits and neckties.
Some things should never be worn, such as jeans with fadespots right on the butt. You know, the kind where it looks like the individual sat in a puddle of concentrated bleach. Whoever came up with that should be shot. Soon. I’ve been involved in discussions on different weblogs about women who wear pants and shorts with words on the butt. I think it’s a cheap way to get attention (for your butt, not actually for yourself), and also somewhat demeaning to whatever you happen to be sitting on all day long. Discussing appropriateness can get way, way out of hand, so it’s not going to happen. We can all agree that in the very least it’s bad style. The list of clothing that should never be worn also includes, among many other things, spandex and belt buckles the size of a small Honda.
Kids these days are wearing ridiculous-looking sunglasses. They’re size of the classic old windshield shades from the 70s (not to be confused with Aviators), but more aerodynamic. Women look stupid while wearing them, and I even saw a dude in a McDonalds with a pair. He looked like a spidermonkey on crack. Don’t be that guy.
