To all my adoring fans

The blogging has been light and it about to get lighter. I am off tomorrow for the Iverson-Zachary family reunion. I get to see my wandering brother (he's a minstrel!) and I have seen the parents in a bit so it will be good to see them. But other than that, I'm not remotely looking forward to it. For one, I have a new girlfriend I won't be seeing for a week. And second, I'm bored to death by these things. I'm horrible to have as a relative. I never call, I never write, and I act bored when I visit. These may not be the best qualities to have. On the plus side, I'd still give a family member a kidney. Well, if they needed one. Not if they needed it for a macabre game of badminton though. Okay, I digress. Anyway, going to somewhere called "Living Waters Ranch" and we're apparently going to do a lot of praise singing. Most of the activities seem to be spiritual in nature. I wish I had a PSP, because I'm going to go crazy. I wanted to write about this more in depth last night but got distracted. I'll jot something down about it when I get back I suppose. Anyway, the ranch is waaaay out by Challis (mid-eastern Idaho. North of Sun Valley, South of Salmon). I suspect there will not be wireless networking available to me at Living Waters Ranch (which I expect to be haunted by water elementals or filled with green bacteria). So I'm bringing the new CGI Appleseed and season 3 of Buffy with me. And the ipod. I have a 3 or more hour drive with the parents ahead of me. The iPod will be crucial to surviving this trip. Anyway, listen to me bitch about family. I am an ungrateful heir. Perhaps I will someday be a better person, and be worthy of the ring of power we pass down through the generations. Oh, wait, that's a secret. Keep that one between us okay?

Before I go, a few tidbits.

There is a way to fold posts, so a simple click expands and folds the post so that no one post takes up the whole screen. At some point, I will make this option available on this blog and we will enter a new Utopia.

Saw War of the Worlds tonight. One, I liked it, even though it freaked me out a little (I've been freaked out by that story since childhood). Two, Hollywood needs to figure out how to write endings. Seroiusly, most of the time these days I groan aloud in the theater and go "oh please! that doesn't even make sense!" Or some such. This one was no exception. I just laughed. And they didn't want me to be laughing.

The Pod-casting feature Apple just added to iTunes is frabulous. And they have the entire Air America line-up. My first born child will be given to work in Apple's innovative and mysterious corporate machine as a token of my undying love.

I thought I had another thing to say but I do not. Oh, it may have been I'm a bit nervous of flying. What if the martians attack in mid-flight? It wouldn't go well for me then.

Also, no "standing in for Joe" while I'm gone. You XTC freaks know what I mean. I'm watching you.

The Oath 2: The Re-Oathening

Lest this blog become abandoned, left by the side of the internet super-highway, sure to be picked up by an unsavory character and never seen again, I have decided to actually post. It has been unthematically busy in Slacktopia, which has left its king little time for such luxuries as blogging. But for those of you who wait on pins an needles for my every pronouncement, I apologize. But seriously, stay off the pins and needles kids. That's just . . . ew. Ugh, and what about that baited breath? A little hygiene, please. That's all we ask here. Oh, and also that you send me money.

So anyway, back to what this post was promised to be about. The Oathening. It turned out pretty much like I thought it would. The president of the institute sent out an email stating that we could sign the oath and write under protest on it with no negative consequences, but if we don't sign it we are fired. Everyone seems to accept that, even if it still rankles a little. Of course, some still worry that signing under protest will cause negative repercussions in the future, but that's to be expected as well. I will likely sign under protest, rebel that I am. But I suspect it will be quickly forgotten and nothing will ever come it. Shame really. Here I wanted to be part of a landmark court case.

Forbidden Affairs

I am in love with 3 am. It completes me. Although I've been having a torrid affair with 4 am for a number of months now. But shhh, 3 am mustn't know. Of course , what neither of them know is that I have the occasional kinky rendezvous with 5 am. Oh the sweet torture. I don't tend to see 6 am though, as she's kind of a bitch. Ugh, and don't get me started on 7 am. I don't like her coming OR going. I feel bad though. Because of all the cheating. 2 am wishes I'd call more, but she's not as exciting as she'd like to think she is. I like 1 am, but the passion just isn't there. And 12 am has been waiting patiently for me all these years. It is her my cheating wounds the most. But that's dangerous, as she's a witch.

But oh god, how I lust after 3 am. Ah, quiet, here she is. My angel.

Oath-tastic

So, after a "concerned citizen" asked whether we here at the institute had taken the State loyalty oath, we have been informed by "the lawyers" that we are all now required to speak and sign the state loyalty oath (since we exist as part of the state college system). It reads:

I, ........................................................................................, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States, and the constitution and government of the State of Nevada, against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution or law of any state notwithstanding, and that I will well and faithfully perform all the duties of the office of ......................................................................................................................., on which I am about to enter; (if an oath) so help me God; (if an affirmation) under the pains and penalties of perjury.

There has subsequently been a institute-wide email discussion on what this means. Pertinent questions such as who are our enemies (is there a list we can look at?) and who will judge when we have broken the oath? My question was whether I get to carry weaponry now that I'm defending the state against all enemies. My boss asked if maybe we should all start wearing armbands so we know who signed the oath and who didn't (which was a sardonic response, of course). Probably the most pertinent point brought up was that this oath is a remnant of the McCarthy era, which certainly doesn't sit well with our largely Democratic faculty. I know Washington and California have both had state supreme court cases where the requirement for a loyalty oath was struck down, and that it was the academic faculty at institutions of higher learning that generated the original lawsuit. I certainly think it's an unnecessary and vaguely paranoid thing (only a commie wouldn't sign it!), but I don't know whether we're going to roll over and sign it so we can get paychecks (we all sign new contracts in a few weeks and we may have to speak the oath and sign the paper then) or whether we're going to make a stink over it. Should be interesting regardless. I'm also very curious as to what type of "concerned citizen" would bring it up in the first place. Anyway, submitted for intellectual interest.

Popesicle sticks

A couple of interesting articles I was forwarded by my grandparents. The first deals with the pope's desire for a reunion of Christianity. The second is his call for more religious Sundays.

I was a little sceptical until I went straight to the source (The Guardian) for the links. I know we're all aware how these statements are going to be interpreted. Anyone care to comment?

Regurgitation Station

"What annoys me is that Spielberg is such an egomaniac these days that it has to be 'Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. No, you puss-bag. It's H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, and it wouldn't kill you to put his fucking name on it." -- Harlan Ellison in a Recent Interview with SCI-FI Wire.

I love Harlan Ellison and his cantankerousness. His books have moved higher up on my "to buy" list (I forget about him from time to time, then run across a quote like this and love him all over again). Well, I'll buy more Ellison once I get through Michael Crichton's wrong, wrong, wrong novelization of why he thinks global warming is a hoax. That one makes my head hurt (in essence he cites papers which are mostly true that are evidence against Global warming, but ignores the mountain of papers next to them that provide evidence for Global Warming). More on this topic later.