Cheese Pizza

Traditional and comforting. You focus on living a quality life. You're not easily impressed with novelty. Yet, you easily impress others.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

You Are a Soy Latte

At your best, you are: free spirited, down to earth, and relaxed At your worst, you are: dogmatic and picky You drink coffee when: you need a pick me up, and green tea isn't cutting it Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You Are Marge Simpson

You're a devoted family member who loves unconditionally. Sometimes, though, you dream about living a wild secret life! You will be remembered for: your good cooking and evading the police Your life philosophy: "You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Friday Tunes

Well, better late than never....
Playlist: All Dat Good Stuff (up to 4 hours and 18 minutes of music!)

1. The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Lemon Demon
   
2. Going Under - Evanescence
3. Bringing Democracy to Iraq - Lewis Black (The Rules of Enragement album)
4. Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic
5. Take On Me - A-Ha
6. Heat of the Moment - Asia
7. 200 More Miles - Cowboy Junkies
8. Inside - Sting
9. Witchy Woman - The Eagles
10. Holding Back the Years - Simply Red
    

I have to admit that The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is a current obsession. I listen to the song a few times a day and visit the animation every so often to giggle. Props to my bud Monster John for giving me the original link.

Your Scholastic Strength Is Innovating

You are the master of new ideas, techniques, and ways of looking at things. You are talented at structuring thoughts, decision making, clarifying, and making deadlines. You should major in: Marketing Psychology Desgin Cognitive Science Economics Photography

What Should You Major In?

What's In A Holiday?

Would a holiday by any other name smell as sweet? Read The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat's contemplation of American holidays, President's Day: Your Opportunity to Buy Carpet wherein he compares Real American Holidays to everything else.

Independence Day:

Event: Commemorating the day White, Rich Men gave the finger to other White, Rich Men in Crowns and silly wigs.

Ritual: Parades, 21 Gun Salutes, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Fireworks, trips to the emergency room when an M-80 goes off in your shoe;

Carpet Sales: Minimal.

Columbus Day: If Columbus Day is a Holiday, I demand a holiday for St. Brendan, Lief Erikson, Zheng He, and Ian "Sammy" Samwell who discovered the band "America".

Something You Should Know About

National Guard troops patrolling the streets armed. Thousands of black people held in a convention center. Hundreds of black dead, with bodies piled like wood. That was not New Orleans, that was Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 1921.

Go read at The Renegade Eye.

Yub-Nub

"Evil Democrat Empire? I got news for you, if we're going to do the Star Wars analogy, the Democrats are, at best, Ewoks." --Jon Stewart, on a Republican spoof video comparing Democrats to the evil Empire in Star Wars

You Are a Visionary Soul

You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness. Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connected to your soul. You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable. Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings. You have great vision and can be very insightful. In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself. Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend. You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer. Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

hat tip to The Green Knight

Oh no she di'int

I was just reading an article on AOL called "Informal E-mails Have Professors Pondering Etiquette" which is part valid concern about the informality of student emails and part professorial whining about the fact that we have seen their clay feet and no longer worship them. As I was reading the article I remarked to my husband that this paradigm shift to students treating professors like providers of a service instead of Gods of Intellect is due in great part to the fact that higher education is being treated more and more like a business - so in response students are acting more and more like consumers.

Everything was going along swimmingly (whining about how their job is changing should be expected) until I got to the last two lines in the article.

Meg Worley, an assistant professor of English at Pomona College in California, said she told students that they must say thank you after receiving a professor's response to an e-mail message.

"One of the rules that I teach my students is, the less powerful person always has to write back," Professor Worley said.

Oh, you did NOT say that. Less powerful? LESS POWERFUL?? What the $!&$# mindset is that? If you have the same thought please drop her a line at Meg.Worley@pomona.edu. Make sure to point out how powerful you are so that she can decide whether or not she needs to write you back.

Thomas Jefferson, I would think, is rolling in his grave over such a statement. The man who first pushed for public education to empower the people of America, and had a habit of answering his own door while resident in the White House (yes, the President liked to answer the door and scuff around the White House in his slippers) would be quite put out. In case you've never been to Charlottesville, we should all have WWTJD? bumper stickers. But especially when it comes to education I really do ask myself, what would TJ do?

In our own lives my husband and I have been alternately bemused and insulted by the amazing egos of professors. We are perhaps a bit too egalitarian to be brushing elbow patches with the academic elite in our midst. As I read the above article to my husband and expressed my irritation over Dr. Worley's attitude he recounted his own experience comparing education and competence, and how he assigns respect to each. He spent four years studying fish populations on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He knew that some of his professors had spent years on their subjects, including hours upon hours of field research, literature research, and the analysis and publication of findings. They were, however, abysmal at predicting where a particular fish population might be. My husband, ever a practical man, searched for people who could better guide him on finding what he needed. He talked to the fishermen. They shared their knowledge, told him what he needed to know and shared some additional insights that he hadn't considered. And they never once insisted that he call them "sir."

Can I Get Me a Witness? Or at least some coffee...

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Jackhammer of Sweet Reason.

Get yours.

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. ~ Thomas Jefferson (found on Motivational Quotes of the Day)

Colbert Fan Fiction II

Stephen's Character in our AD&D Game, Part 2
Colbert fanfiction by CmdrSue (category 1)
Continued from Part 1

We played D&D this weekend and Stephen literally phoned in his character. Teleconferencing can be such a great thing, it let us game three weeks before we thought we would! I would explain the whole game to you, but I know the only part you want to hear about is, "What did Colbert do?" Ok, so, like he convinced the DM that his Shillelagh should be a paladin holy weapon. So his quarterstaff is a +5 Holy Avenger, and he can cast the druid spell shillelagh on it, getting an additional +1. Oh, the things you can get away with when you play into the DM's environmental justice fantasies.

Cogito Ergo Est

Sorry I've been away for a week. It's been very busy at work and will remain so for the rest of February. The kind of busy that has me thinking about work issues during the commute and then writing emails and documentation late into the night. I actually relate a bit to the quote on Google today, "There is no passion like that of a functionary for his function." - Georges Clemenceau Yeah, I'm just another bureaucrat obsessed with making my little corner of the world better.

So, not much out of me for awhile. But today while cruising in the blogosphere I've noticed a few people celebrating Darwin's birthday and it got me thinking. Why don't we spend more time celebrating the sciences? Not as a holy day (and I have a spiritual side, so don't think I'm dissing those) but as a rational day. We should celebrate our intellectual capacities. Before someone succeeds in repressing them, like they are planning to. It's not just Darwin. The whole history of science and scientific discovery should be celebrated.

Random Music on a Day with Random Thoughts
Playlist: All Dat Good Stuff
Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
Cars - Gary Numan
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
Waiting For A Girl Like You - Foreigner
Juanita - Shania Twain
Throwing It All Away - Genesis
True Colors - Phil Collins
The Lady In Red - Chris de Burgh
Lost In You - Garth Brooks (as Chris Gaines)
The Sign - Ace of Base

Colbert Fan Fiction

I figure that Colbert Fan Fiction could fall into three categories.

1. Meeting Stephen
2. Having Stephen cover news from your local area
3. Naughty
   

On my blog we will only be covering the first two categories. (Sorry Stephen. If I hear about anything naughty with tall women carrying heavy things, I'll be sure to point it out.)

Stephen's Character in our AD&D Game
Colbert fanfiction by CmdrSue (category 1)

Last weekend was awesome because Stephen finally got some time off to play in our new AD&D game! We started at first level and he's playing a elven paladin/druid. You should have heard the explanation about how that happened! There was a lot of rules mongering about whether or not it's possible and we dragged out the old Dragon magazines but ultimately the DM allowed it. I mean, come on, it's Stephen! He's hoping to get some time next month to continue the game and I'm holding his character sheet hostage until he gets back.

Meanwhile, he's still working with us on the Celebrity D&D for Charity game. Thanks Stephen!

I'll keep you updated on how our game goes!

AGAIN?!?!?

No blogger. Cannot. Cope. With. Life...

Would You Like To Play A Game?

Play Book Battles. I think that you can upload book covers for me to approve and then we can all vote on them, too. My rule is that this is a sci-fi/fantasy battle. If you need some ideas of things to load I found fun lists like The Absolutely Weird Bookshelf.

Right now Douglas Adams is winning over J.R.R. Tolkien. You know you need to weigh in on that...

Question of the MomentIf you could author one legislative bill guaranteed to be enacted, what would you do?

I don't know how many of you have played RPGs but this sort of reminds me of getting a wish spell. It seems like it would be a good thing, but once you're faced with getting exactly what you ask for it becomes a bit overwhelming. Furthermore, you'll notice I said, "exactly what you ask for" and not "exactly what you want." You have to be careful because legislation is like a wish - someone is going to try to mess with it and make it sound like what THEY want it to.

So, let me say that my legislation would be FOR THE PURPOSE OF (i.e., we would redraft it until there was as little wiggle room away from the intention as possible) ensuring full employment. Upon contemplation I realized that all of the basic pieces of Maslow's hierarchy that I might be concerned with providing could be provided by the worker themselves if they were fully employed. I was at least partially inspired by SusanG's great post The Value - and Devaluation - of the Work Ethic over on DailyKos. I have a great faith in the value of work.

Granted, one of the issues still left open by this legislation would be what do we do with those who can't take care of themselves, and those who won't take care of themselves? My contention is that how we answer those two questions underscores exactly who we are as a society. But, my focus would be first on those who will take care of themselves if given the tools and opportunity. Sort of a utilitarian approach, I suppose. The needs of the many... Spock would be so proud.

My husband's legislation focuses on the other side of business. His PURPOSE would be to put a strict limitation on what corporations can do, regulating this merger/acquisition insanity that is ultimately in effect limiting competition. He wants to change anti-trust laws to anti-corporation laws because he believes there is no difference between what trusts were and corporations currently are.

So, Senator or Representative Blogger, what would the intention be of your guaranteed legislation?

Well, How About That

Main Entry:	conservative
Part of Speech:	adjective
Definition:	moderate
Synonyms:	bourgeois, cautious, constant, controlled, conventional, die-hard, fearful, firm, fogyish, fuddy-duddy, guarded, hard hat, hidebound, holding to, illiberal, inflexible, middle-of-the-road, not extreme, obstinate, old guard, old-line, orthodox, quiet, red-neck, right, right-wing, sober, stable, steady, timid, traditional, traditionalistic, unchangeable, unchanging, uncreative, undaring, unimaginative, unprogressive, white bread
Antonyms:	incautious, left-wing, liberal, progressive, radical, revolutionary
Source:	Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1) Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Bloggered

It looks like blogger is bloggered again. Sheesh. I'm trying to email this post in just so that I feel like I did something.

Meanwhile, I've worked all day today (Saturday). How about ya'll?

--
Commander Sue London (Starfleet, ret.)
First Officer, Science Officer, and All Around Fun Chick

"we do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." - e.e. cummings

Friday Random 10

Busy but productive day, so getting to the tunes a bit late.

Playlist: Mental Vacation

1. Summer of Love - Claudia B.
2. Sailing - Christopher Cross
3. Dirty Laundry - Don Henley
4. Gonna Make You Sweat - C&C Music Factory
5. Out on the Moor - Rebecca Reed
6. Caribbean Flow - Enya
7. Mad About You - Belinda Carlisle
8. Ready for the Good Times - Shakira
9. Who Needs Sleep? - Barenaked Ladies
10. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & the Waves

I just found out today that we're getting a Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant. WOOOO!! (You may need to reload the page to get the menu to display.)

"I have realized that doing good is not really complicated. It involves a simple battle that every human must fight: the battle against selfishness." ~ Governor Tim Kaine

Caffeinated With a Keyboard

I drank tons of coffee to get through the day. Now I'm wondering how I'll get through the night...

Via On the Fritz I ran across Ramblings of Silver Blue who has a cool little Tuesday Questions meme. The January 24th post tickled me because I just have to answer question #2.

The Tuesday Ten™

This time it’s all about the food, baby!

1. What’s your favourite type of salad dressing? Tough choice. I like variety. Blue cheese, ranch, french, and honey mustard all make my short list.

2. Cheese, Ketchup, mayo, mustard, malt vinegar or what on your order of Fries? When given the chance I dip my fries in MILKSHAKE! Yes, really. Vanilla or chocolate milkshake.

3. What tops your hot dogs? Depends. I go from naked to everything (including chili and cheese) depending on my mood.

4. How about your hamburgers? Depends. A favorite combo is mushrooms, swiss cheese and mayo. Or there is always lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes...

5. Describe the ideal toppings for your favourite pizza. Something someone else orders so that it's a surprise. Hopefully multiple toppings. Of course I married a pepperoni guy. On a wild day he'll add banana peppers. Sometime he'll go for just cheese. Ooooo, the excitement...

6. A1, Heinz 57, Worcestershire Sauce or what for your steak? Whatever you have would be fine. Our favorite restaurant for steak serves "Monkey Sauce." Don't worry, no monkeys are harmed in the creation of the steak sauce.

7. Gravy or Cheese on/in your mashed potatoes? Mostly cheese, but sometimes gravy. Anything with potatoes is a good idea. Yum.

8. Cubed ice, crushed ice, or no ice in your beverage? Usually cubed. Depends...

9. Do you prefer to drink out of plastic or glass, with or without a straw? Plastic vs. glass depends on when/where I'm drinking. Oddly enough, can't seem to drink a soda in a restaurant without a straw but never use one when I'm at home. I find this very strange...

10. Ask me something. Can I steal your "Caffeinated With a Keyboard" graphic?