Recently, I've been making a point of visiting at least one unique new place each month (or even week, when possible). I'd slacked off quite horribly about this in my first few years living here, so there's still plenty of options- from local exhibitions and fairs to famous art museums and a great zoo.

And fortunately for me, this weekend's building ( Read more... )

As my latest weekend adventure, I took a trip to see a little thing called Greenfield village today. It's an amazing place, and there's a lot I'd like to write about it (when I'm awake enough to do so in english).

However, there was one thing that bothered me about my trip. You see, the village is attached to a museum, and in that museum was this:

( Read more... )

Walking home last night, I couldn't help but notice strange men in togas, playing drums and chanting.

...Not to mention the fact that I couldn't breathe for about the first mile of my walk home, passing through the downtown area.

Some towns use birds and flowers as a sign of spring. Here? We get a marijuana festival.

I seem to be suffering from some mild insomnia this week- too tired at night to work or read books, but too awake to sleep. This means that, once again, I've taken to reading film reviews that are (probably) better than the movies they discuss.

I've mentioned this habit before, and it truly is an art form- the key is to realize that the reviews are ( Read more... )

Lately, I've been trying to get back in a bit better shape again, partly with detours to the local campus gym facilities. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy to change out of (really comfortable) clothes just to go for a quick run at the end of the day, which seems to net me some odd looks from the undergrads.

(ZOMG! That guy is running- in jeans!)

Clearly, ( Read more... )

Since I'm trying to avoid prcoessing some data (a bit of a tedious manual process), I present:

The Last Four Songs in my (randomly shuffled) playlist:
- "Behold, a virgin shall conceive" (Handel's Messiah)
- "I'm not wearing underwear today" (Avenue Q)
- "England's Carol" (The modern jazz quartet)
- "Knowing me, knowing you"* (ABBA)

* Please don't ask ( Read more... )

From the Chronicle of Higher Education comes one of the strangest true-crime stories I've heard yet:

What's Up, Doc? German Law Bars American Ph.D.'s From Calling Themselves 'Doctor'

Apparently, a nazi-era law prohibits the use of the honorific unless your degree was awarded in Germany. (Or possibly the EU; media coverage varies) Fortunately, several ( Read more... )

As webcomics go, xkcd (justifiably) gets a lot of attention for sheer nerdy goodness. It's hardly the only good nerd fodder out there, though- as a followup to yesterday's post, indexed describes for us how the 7 new flavors of sin relate to the modern world (the link is a larger version of the image):

( Read more... )

The annual rendition of "five things most people don't know about me ( Read more... )

So apparently, the Vatican has posted a new list of the 7 deadly sins for the modern world. And hey- they removed lust!

Just in time for Governor Spitzer, apparently.

(Although I'd like to pretend this is the least of the things that went through my head when I saw the latter story: $5,500 an HOUR? Holy cow.)