Sniff

Spring Break is officially over. And might I just say...there was nothing 'spring'-ish about it!! (Tho' the 'break' part was nice).

Two whole weeks till Easter Break, how will we make it??

Random Bytes

Could a Coffee Maker Be Worth $11,000?
By Paul Adams;
Slate.com, March 5, 2008
Not in a Just world...

Disturbing New Photos From Abu Ghraib
By Wired.com Staff ; Wired.com
This is harsh, and not G-rated...but given Bush's recent veto, these images seem sadly apropos.

Gallery: The Most Curious Canned Goods Found Online
By Jenna Wortham; Wired.com
Gross but fun.

Eight Reasons Plagiarism Sucks
By Jack Shafer; Slate.com, March 7, 2008
Required reading, perhaps??

More U.S. Teeth Susceptible To Silent Enamel-eating Syndrome
ScienceDaily.com,
Mar. 8, 2008
This one's for Jaime and Robin.

The final insult
by Johnathan Jones; Telegraph.com, March 5, 2008
Interesting story about Stonehenge

'Spring Forward' Tonight

Vet Visit

Wiley's been grumpy (grumpier ?) of late, so I took him to the vet. Turns out he has some old damage to his vertebra from the time he was a young lad, thus explaining the response when you pet him near the tail. Probably something from his early months as a stray on the mean streets of Pittsburgh before my sister rescued him from a shelter. Did a full blood panel, which came back today looking just dandy.

Only suggestion was that he lose some weight. They didn't go for the "big-haired" explanation. So, he's now on a diet, which should keep him nice and grumpy.

Funny...Only Not...

This is a pretty funny "Daily Show" segment about the cost of oil at the start and end of the Bush Administration.

Daily Show explains the connection between Bush White House and the High Price of Oil

And on a not-so-unrelated note -- check out the counter to the left -- we made it to over $500 billion for the Iraq war (base cost, lots of real-world expenses not included).

Cool Present

Mike H. sent me a great tee-shirt today. I'm not sure what I did to warrant such kindness, but it warms my little heart. I'll be the focus of considerable envy in my department ;-)

Is it to make up for all the snide monkey/ape jokes over the years? Might it be compensation for the relentless Notre Dame football bashing this Fall (every Fall)?? Has he discovered the beauty of 'science' and can't directly tell me in words?? Could it be because of my new power-wielding position as the Chair of the Awards committee for ASOR?? I am perfectly willing to accept bribes, so well done Dr. Homan ;-)

Mabruke and Todah Abu Gilgamesh/Kalypso.

Cat-a-palooza

Mom went home this morning, and the boys have been bugging me non-stop since. I think they miss their grandmother. I've included several pictures, beginning with what might be the best cat pictures ever!! Lemur is definitely a limber feline. Must take after is joint-custody limber-limbed mothers (as demonstrated in the 4th picture - I think you'll see the resemblance).


The next two show that I might be keeping it a bit cold in the house (Lemur is on top of the heating vent, and Maz is curled up in my Antarctica parka).


And the final shots are of some quality time between the boys and their grandmother. I think the first could be titled "bliss"

Well Stocked

I put my poor mother to work today, no relaxing for her. She made me a giant batch of yummy split pea soup, the house has smelled good all afternoon. And I got her help in figuring out places to hang pictures 'n stuff that I'd been hording in a pile for awhile. Handy to have a built-in cook and interior decorator in the family. Did I mention she also does taxes??

"Presidential" Honors

Notre Dame is giving Martin Sheen an honorary degree this May, it might be worth honoring my contractual agreement this year by attending Commencement ;-) He's winning a medal, not so much for his acting but for his work as a Catholic activist. (I'm sure all the ND sweatshirts on the West Wing didn't hurt...;-)

Notre Dame Honors Activist-Actor Sheen

Fate of Humanity

Tonight's the season finale of my new favorite show (at least until Battlestar comes back on) -- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Pretty fun play on the movie franchise. Jaime, Lesley and Shannon - you need to check it out. I think they run for free on Fox, and I know they can be downloaded from iTunes...since I have done so myself.

My mother is currently visiting, so I'm making her watch it along with me and the boys. Welcome to South Bend ;-)

Random Bytes

Vikings With Vanity: Vivid Colors, Flowing Silk, Fashionable Until Advent of Christianity
ScienceDaily, Feb. 27, 2008

Crying Wolf: Why did it take so long for a far-fetched Holocaust memoir to be debunked?
By Blake Eskin
Slate.com, Feb. 29, 2008

What High Schoolers Don't Know
by Bonnie Goldstein; Slate.com, Feb. 29, 2008

The Black Pharaohs
By Robert Draper; National Geographic, Feb 2008

Final goodbye for early web icon
By Jonathan Fildes;
BBC.com, 29 February 2008

Same Planet, Different Worlds

Here are two stories about the bombing of Gaza and Ashkelon over the past few days, as reported by the BBC and the NY Times. There are some pretty amazing differences in the perspectives, beginning with the pictures used for each account, the way "shoah" is defined and the intent of its use, the identities of the dead Palestinians, etc.

Dozens die in Israel-Gaza clashes
BBC.com, 1 March 2008

46 Killed in Israeli Strikes on North Gaza
NYTimes.com, March 2, 2008

Book 'em, Danno

This is a pretty scary trend - we've reached an incarceration rate in this country that tops China and Russia, where 1 out of every 100 adults is in prison. Five states in the US spend more on their prisons than they do on higher education. Might there be a correlation??

America’s Inmate Population Dwarfs Russia and China

Humorous Colbert Bit

This segment is a nice tribute to William F. Buckley, with the added benefit of showing "Papa Bear" O'Reilly as the boob that he is by comparison (or all alone ;-)

Stephen Colbert Remembers William F. Buckley

A Little Consistency, Please

Richard Lamb from the Southern Baptists was interviewed on NPR as a leading voice for Evangelical Christians. When the journalist stated that polls show many evangelicals are now concerned with issues of poverty and justice, he made the following argument (I paraphrase): this may be true, but to ask Christians to be quiet about the sanctity of marriage and life is paramount to telling Martin Luther King that he should have been quiet about equal rights for African Americans.

Where do these people come from??! Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the sanctity of marriage is, as he stated, a command from God to be between a man and a woman -- would not his efforts be far more fruitfully applied to working on the foundations of marriage and the 50+% divorce rate, than dictating who can get married in the first place?? I have to say, as a divorced woman - no gay or lesbian came between either of us...

As to right to life - if it is indeed is so very sacred, why do the Southern Baptists (whom he represents) support the death penalty and the war? Apparently such a stance only counts for a small clump of dividing cells.

Needless to say, this was not the program I should have been listening to in the morning, especially after a poor night of sleep (am reading a good book, couldn't put it down). It wasn't helped by the 10am press conference by "our" President, who invariably speaks to the nation as though WE were the dumb ones...

Keith Olbermann does a nice job of summarizing the Press conference here: Olbermann Compares George Bush to Beavis and Butthead

Islamo-phobia

Last night there was a REALLY good segment on Primetime's series "What Would You Do?" It came on while I was grading and drew me in completely. The segment is on Islamophobia, and it is quite disturbing.

Sadly, they don't show the whole segment on the ABC website. Shame on them! If I'm missing something and owe ABC an apology, let me know. And/or, if you find a link somewhere, I'll be happy to post it.

Here's the website that gives you some information on the program: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=4339476&page=1

Forensics (again!)

So, for the latest installment of 'This Day in Forensic Anthropology" -- a student writes to me late yesterday afternoon (4 days after the fact) to explain that he missed the exam last Thursday because he was in an accident. He tried to reach me by email, but I "mustn't have gotten the message." Arggh. I might mention that he's also missed all of the quizzes and in-class assignments thus far this semester. Arrrgh. This one the Dean's office gets - maybe pulling the 'big guns' will get thru to them.

Random Bytes

The Bite-Marks Men: Mississippi's criminal forensics disaster.
By Radley Balko
Slate.com, Feb. 20, 2008

Honey Bees Give Clues on Virus Spread
Carl Zimmer, Feb 22, 2008
Wired.com

Birds Do It. Bees Do It. Dragons Don’t Need To.
By NEIL SHUBIN
NY Times.com, February 24, 2008

Excavations In Iran Unravel Mystery Of 'Red Snake'
ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2008)

Catholic Character

Notre Dame currently finds itself embroiled in a nasty "Conversation on the Catholic Character" (what used to be call the KKK when I first got here) led largely by some donors who think ND should reflect the principles of Catholicism when they were students (I'm guessing we pesky womenfolk should be ousted too if the truth be told ;-)

At a party the other night, one of my colleagues Rahul, mentioned an old article by Umberto Eco that used Macs and PCs as parallels to religious leanings. If this is true, then we may have found a way to up the number of 'Catholics' at Notre Dame (myself included)...

...Insufficient consideration has been given to the new underground religious war which is modifying the modern world. It's an old idea of mine, but I find that whenever I tell people about it they immediately agree with me.

The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the 'ratio studiorum' of the Jesuits. It is
cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach--if not the Kingdom of Heaven-- the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.

DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system
work you need to interpret the program yourself: a long way from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.

You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It's true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in
accordance with bizarre decisions; when it comes down to it, you can decide to allow women and gays to be priests if you want to...

And machine code, which lies beneath both systems (or environments, if you prefer)? Ah, that is to do with the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic...

The above excerpts are from an English translation of Umberto Eco's back-page column, "La bustina di Minerva," in the Italian news weekly "Espresso," September 30, 1994.

A Night at the Opera

Well...symphony actually, but I couldn't think of a movie title for that event. Went with Barb (my next door neighbor and my doctor). Found a new restaurant (for me anyway) with pretty tasty Italian food, then to the Morris Performing Arts Center. This 'getting out more' stuff is kinda fun...gotta do it more often ;-)

And, it let me use my skeleton conductor action figure, so winners all around ;-)