Mad Minerva

January 2004



Snowy Saturday...and irresistible Girl Scout Cookies

Saturday, 31 January 2004 7:51 P GMT-05
Hey, everyone! It is, or was, a sunny if cold Saturday, and perfect for running errands. Nice to get out of the house and be outside and away from the books for a while...and OH, at 1 am last night I came up with an idea that just might turn into my

A dose of unreality from classics: Britney Spears as gladiatrix!

Friday, 30 January 2004 1:49 P GMT-05
And not just Britney. Pink and Beyonce Knowles are right there beside her, all three playing female gladiators in a new Pepsi commercial. And Enrique Iglesias is playing a big bad nasty Roman emperor. Here's the scoop from their London debut! What ho

A Dose of Reality...from a classics professor

Friday, 30 January 2004 1:42 P GMT-05
You know, I just realized that one of the columnists I like reading on the National Review is also a classics professor. No kidding. No wonder I thought his name sounded familiar! I'd been running into it on and off for a long time, while cramming Gr

Precisely why I won't vote for Kerry

Friday, 30 January 2004 11:49 A GMT-05
Check out this little gem of a report from the Washington Times (I got it from ever-informative Blogs for Bush). Now put the article's complete lack of reality next to my long-standing rant that national security is priority one, and y

Thar She Blows! Whale carcass explodes in Taiwan

Thursday, 29 January 2004 5:29 P GMT-05
OK, OK, so this is really pretty unimportant news from my ancestral isle. But come on, who can resist a crazy headline like THIS? Thar She Blows! Dead Whale Explodes Residents of Tainan learned a lesson in whale biology after the decomposing remain

Nerd News: Inventor of Ctrl-Alt-Delete is Retiring

Thursday, 29 January 2004 5:23 P GMT-05
The man who invented the ever-popular escape hatch for computer geeks is retiring! David Bradley wrote the code, and Bill Gates made it famous. Meet the Inventor of CtrlAltDelete Sibling, this one's for YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU.  

Across the Pond, Blair Stands Tall and the BBC Implodes

Thursday, 29 January 2004 5:00 P GMT-05
I've been following this for the last couple days. Really interesting. Also been watching the BBC trying to cover the news of its own crisis. Can I say, it's clear also by now that denial is not only a river in Egypt. (Andrew Gilligan, the reporter

Taiwan's President Blasts Chirac for Meddling

Thursday, 29 January 2004 4:15 P GMT-05
Well, I fail to feel sorry for Chirac, not after the way France and China have been romancing each other. The BBC reports (mind, though, that the "Beeb" is itself suffering a big-time credibility crisis, but that's another post) that the Taiwanese p

Study Break in the Snow

Thursday, 29 January 2004 4:00 P GMT-05
It's another day of reading. I have about 6 weeks to pick a dissertation topic and submit a proposal to my department. Aye, there's the rub...I've got to pick quickly...and yet pick wisely, or at least sort of wisely. Whatever I do pick, I'll be pret

New Hamstrung...

Wednesday, 28 January 2004 8:02 P GMT-05
Well, the New Hamstrung--er, New Hampshire--primary is over, so let's see who's still standing, shall we? It seems that, amazingly enough, everyone's still technically standing. But there can only be one winner, and the winner is...Well, Kerry

I called it--Ken Watanabe Nominated for Oscar!

Wednesday, 28 January 2004 7:44 P GMT-05
Oh, YEAH! The Oscar nominations are in, and Ken Watanabe has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in his role as Katsumoto in "The Last Samurai." It was a brilliant performance. I called that nomination the day I saw the film. Way to go, K

Newsflash: You are now legally required to show up at your own wedding!

Wednesday, 28 January 2004 8:43 A GMT-05
Good morning, all! It's another cold one here at grad school, and there is plenty of white stuff on the ground. It'll be another day of reading, researching, dreaming of warmer climates, and slacking off...not necessarily in that order! Here's somet

A Winter's Tale: A Haiku for You!

Tuesday, 27 January 2004 8:00 P GMT-05
Through the night's darkness, Comes the sound of winter's song... Ice drops on windows.  

Hope for the EU after all!

Tuesday, 27 January 2004 4:41 P GMT-05
Looks like there are still some sane people over there, thank goodness! EU Snubs Paris Over Arms for China A French attempt to lift the European Union arms embargo against China was rejected by ministers yesterday amid concern over Beijing's human

The New Hamstrung Primary is Today! Plus, the Great Tax Myth

Tuesday, 27 January 2004 2:40 P GMT-05
We've made it through the Iowa Carcasses, so let's see who ends up New Hamstrung after today! The entire freak show of politicians pandering to every possible group, demonizing everything they don't like, and flip-flopping on their own positions&nbs

Pancakes and Politics

Tuesday, 27 January 2004 9:18 A GMT-05
The dear old Sibling said that while he blogs about food, I blog about politics. His last blog, after all, rhapsodized about smoked salmon, Omega-3 fatty acids, and bagels.  From his link, though, I did learn about the history of bagels. Thanks,

January 26--G'day! It's Australia Day in the Land Down Under!

Monday, 26 January 2004 3:13 P GMT-05
G'day to our Aussie friends! It's Australia Day! Check out all the webcams, covering many a corner of that great nation. Here's a writeup and photos of all the celebrations. I've always wanted to go for a visit. Maybe after grad school! UPDA

Something to make any Taiwanese think...

Monday, 26 January 2004 1:12 P GMT-05
I know I said no more politics today. But this one...Well, this one is just plain unsettling: CNN reports: Arms, Taiwan top French-China meet: Chinese President Hu Jintao is set to arrive in Paris to lobby for sales of weapons to China and French op

"A Case of the Moooooooooooooooooondays!" part IV

Monday, 26 January 2004 12:32 P GMT-05
More TPS reports, anyone?? It's freezing cold again, and snowy! Most of the schools in the area are closed, and the temperatures and wind chills are plummeting again. Honestly, this is bar none the coldest the weather's been up he

Reflections on Great Moments in British Free Speech

Monday, 26 January 2004 8:57 A GMT-05
Well, it's been a few days since the BBC and Robert Kilroy-Silk parted ways. He resigned from the BBC, but it was pretty clear that he was forced out. And in the same breath, the BBC hired an editor from Al-Jazeera. Did the BBC not even try to s

Nerd News: Sir Bill Gates?

Sunday, 25 January 2004 11:59 P GMT-05
Britain to confer honorary knighthood on Bill Gates! Well, it appears that not everybody thinks Bill Gates is the techie Antichrist! Or maybe, as a friend laughed, "Maybe he bought the Queen!" Here's the deal: "Britain gives the title of honorary K

January 25--It's Burns Night in Scotland! Bring on the Haggis!

Sunday, 25 January 2004 1:55 P GMT-05
The Sib and I are proud to be just a tiny bit Scottish (that'd be Clan MacKay, mostly of Caithness and Sutherland...and yes, they fought for Robert the Bruce of "Braveheart" fame, at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314), so here's a little fun piece for Bur

Snowflakes!

Sunday, 25 January 2004 9:50 A GMT-05
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...I'm here with a cup of joe on a cold cold January morning, looking out at the white stuff. Started thinking about how wonderful snowflakes were,and how beautiful. I recall one incident when I was in Burlington

A Snowy Saturday Afternoon...Watching "Alias" DVDs!

Saturday, 24 January 2004 5:54 P GMT-05
Ah yes, gentle reader! Another cold front's here, with 4-6 inches of the white stuff expected before the weekend's over! Some friends and I went out this afternoon to hang out while the weather was still cooperative--and there's nothing quite like

New Hampshire Debate, and A Quote from Kooky-nich

Saturday, 24 January 2004 5:53 P GMT-05
Well, I told y'all that I was so bored with the New Hampshire debate I quit watching it. (Someone should come up with a drinking game for debates: take a gulp every time Kerry mentions how he served in Vietnam, for instance...) I went for the transcr