music
The summer of the solo paper
I looked at my research problem two days in a row and at least one day last week. (Really.)
There's a lot of potential for good work there. The problem with going after the answers is that I'll have to spend less time doing other things that I also like to do: movies, daydreaming, reading, surfing the web.
I really want to go after my dream of doing science - it's exciting, I can feel it - but I also want to take life slow as I've recently learned to do. We'll see what happens.
The bribe for the solo paper
I'm going back to Yemen next year, insha' Allah. I'll go to Aden this time. Well, Aden for the first month. Then I'll either stay in Aden or return to Sana'a, which I think I know and love.
Maybe I'll write and submit material this year and go to a conference in Europe next year. I'm fairly itching to dance in a club in Europe.
Emancipation Proclamation
T. became Dr. T.D. Neal last week. Wheee. I got to meet his family and learned to play Texas Hold 'em. First time around black people in a long time. Good times.
Soon, half of my friends will be "Doctors." Panic! I need to find some real friends ;)
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Bright lights
music
Alumni in tha house
I've noticed a number of potentially fun talks scheduled for this week, that is, they're closely related to things I'm currently interested in. I went to one last week that was potentially interesting and yet just somehow not magical enough, hence I'm attending none of this week's.
What does it say that I go to lectures to be entertained...when so many other people are at "work."
I've stubbornly insisted on being thrilled at school, and have often been. in love.
with a book.
with a class, so much that I couldn't wait to see my Prof. again.
with the "story" of a field: what it's useful for, or the context in which it was developed by people, how it answers a question that i've had, how it opens my eyes to something new, or to a new trick in thinking.
The lecture announcements:
1. COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR
DATE: May 24 (Wednesday)
and May 26 (Friday)
TIME: 12:00--1:00PM
LOCATION: 110 Steele
SPEAKER:
Pablo A. Parrilo
EE & CS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
TITLE:
SOS-based computational methods for polynomial games
ABSTRACT:
In the last few years, techniques based on sum of squares (SOS) decompositions of multivariate polynomials, semidefinite programming (SDP), and results from real algebraic geometry have proved extremely useful in the formulation of hierarchies of convex relaxations for difficult polynomial optimization problems. In this talk we show how these can be extended to a game theoretic setting.
In particular, we discuss a class of zero-sum two-person games with an infinite number of pure strategies, where the payoff function is a polynomial expression of the actions of the players. We show that the value of the game, and the corresponding optimal strategies, can be computed by solving a single semidefinite program, thus providing a natural generalization of the well-known LP characterization of finite games. We also discuss the possible extensions to correlated equilibria, and to the nonzero sum case. In addition, we show how the results can be applied, with suitable modifications, to a general class of semialgebraic games and problems with two quantifiers.
Wednesday's lecture will be more introductory in nature, and discuss the basic setup of separable games and SOS/SDP methods. On Friday, we will put these basic elements together and discuss some further extensions.
BIO:Pablo A. Parrilo received an Electronics Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires, and a Ph.D. in Control and Dynamical Systems from the California Institute of Technology in 1995 and 2000, respectively. He has held short-term visiting appointments at the University of California at Santa Barbara (Physics), Lund Institute of Technology (Automatic Control), and UC Berkeley (Mathematics). From October 2001 through September 2004, he was Assistant Professor of Analysis and Control Systems at the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is affiliated with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Operations Research Center (ORC).
Prof. Parrilo is the recipient of the 2005 Donald P. Eckman Award of the American Automatic Control Council, as well as the triennial SIAM Activity Group on Control and Systems Theory (SIAG/CST) Prize. He was also a finalist for the Tucker Prize of the Mathematical Programming Society for the years 2000-2003.
His research interests include optimization methods for engineering applications, control and identification of uncertain complex systems, robustness analysis and synthesis, and the development and application of computational tools based on convex optimization and algorithmic algebra to practically relevant engineering problems.
LUNCH WILL BE SERVED.
2. CDS Seminar: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Time: 2pm-3pm
Location: 070 Moore
Distributed Coordination and Consensus algorithms with boundary:from flocking and synchronization to geographic routing in adhoc networks
Ali Jadbabaie
University of Pennsylvania
In this talk we provide a unified view of several distributed coordination and consensus algorithms which have appeared in various disciplines such as distributed systems, statistical physics, biology, computer graphics, robotics, and control theory over the past 2 decades. These algorithms have been proposed as a mechanism for demonstrating emergence of a global collective behavior (such as social aggregation in animals, schooling, flocking and synchronization) using purely local interactions. Utilizing tools from spectral graph theory and control and dynamical systems theory, we provide an analysis of these algorithms.
Furthermore, we show that by imposing fixed boundary conditions (e.g., designating a leader in a swarm) , one can obtain algorithms for a wide range of applications, from leader-follower swarms to synchronization in oscillator networks, and from shortest path routing to geographic routing without location information.
Finally, we describe a one-parameter family of distributed consensus algorithms with boundary conditions, which at one extreme, recovers the well-known Bellman-Ford Algorithm for shortest-path routing, and at the other, results in a routing scheme based on diffusion, and mean-first passage times. Connections between these algorithms and harmonic functions, electric networks, and discrete Dirichlet problems are also discussed.
Biography
Ali Jadbabaie got his BS from Sharif University of Technology in in 1995. He received a Masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1997 and a Ph.D. degree in Control and Dynamical Systems from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in June 2001. From July 2001-July 2002 he was a postdoctoral associate at the department of Electrical Engineering at Yale University. Since July 2002 he has been an assistant professor in the department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of an NSF Career Award, an ONR Young Investigator award, and the George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award of the IEEE Control Systems Society.
3. CDS/CIMMS LUNCTIME SERIES SEMINAR: SEPARATION AND COHERENT STRUCTURES IN
TIME-CHAOTIC FLOWS
Francois Lekien
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University
May 25, 12 noon
114 Steele (CDS Library)
In autonomous and time-periodic dynamical systems, transport and mixing can be studied using the stable and unstable manifolds of hyperbolic fixed points and periodic orbits. Numerous experiments have revealed the presence of similar coherent structures in aperiodic systems. These mixing templates are usually invisible to the naked eye but can be extracted, for example, by computing finite-time Lyapunov exponents or finite-time hyperbolic invariant manifolds. These structures indicate alleyways and barriers to transport and provide a geometric description of the mixing processes in the system. In recent years, there has been much effort in applying this methodology to the study of mixing in fluids and geophysical flows. Indeed, these systems are strongly aperiodic and do not have, in general, fixed points or periodic orbits.
In this talk, I will describe fluid transport in Monterey Bay. High-frequency radar stations provide current measurements in real-time for the bay and permit the computation of dynamical barriers and alleyways in this complex system. The coherent structures reveal the existence of optimal release windows in which contaminants can be efficiently advected away from the coast, reducing their negative impact on the marine environment. In addition, the alleyways can be used to optimize the deployment of drifters and the routes of underwater vehicles to maximize coverage of an area. Transport and mixing near a coastline can also be studied in terms of separation and re-attachment profiles attached to the boundary. I will discuss how to obtain exact criteria to detect and control separation points and related separation profiles in Monterey Bay. Jet-actuated systems can control their separation points to a desired location and fine-tune the lift on an airfoil, or transport fuel efficiently along separation profiles. For drifters and underwater vehicles in the ocean, weak actuators, such as a rudder or a deformable rogue, can be used to control the effective separation points seen by the vehicle. Such controllers do not "fight the currents". They take advantage of the strong hyperbolic structures that are present in the ocean, require less energy, and increase the time that the vehicle spends at sea.
_______________________________________________
I'm skipping the talks and going outside to browse a too-advanced math book. The book ends in a historical sketch of the field written by the the author. (anticipation. yay.)
I may also find and interact with humans in an exciting way.
On Love and Marriage
Movies you should watch, if you care to:
Houseboat and Friends with Money
These movies have very little acting, that is to say, the performances in them are very good: mature, natural, smooth, untheatrical.
Alumni in tha house
I've noticed a number of potentially fun talks scheduled for this week, that is, they're closely related to things I'm currently interested in. I went to one last week that was potentially interesting and yet just somehow not magical enough, hence I'm attending none of this week's.
What does it say that I go to lectures to be entertained...when so many other people are at "work."
I've stubbornly insisted on being thrilled at school, and have often been. in love.
with a book.
with a class, so much that I couldn't wait to see my Prof. again.
with the "story" of a field: what it's useful for, or the context in which it was developed by people, how it answers a question that i've had, how it opens my eyes to something new, or to a new trick in thinking.
The lecture announcements:
1. COMPUTER SCIENCE SEMINAR
DATE: May 24 (Wednesday)
and May 26 (Friday)
TIME: 12:00--1:00PM
LOCATION: 110 Steele
SPEAKER:
Pablo A. Parrilo
EE & CS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
TITLE:
SOS-based computational methods for polynomial games
ABSTRACT:
In the last few years, techniques based on sum of squares (SOS) decompositions of multivariate polynomials, semidefinite programming (SDP), and results from real algebraic geometry have proved extremely useful in the formulation of hierarchies of convex relaxations for difficult polynomial optimization problems. In this talk we show how these can be extended to a game theoretic setting.
In particular, we discuss a class of zero-sum two-person games with an infinite number of pure strategies, where the payoff function is a polynomial expression of the actions of the players. We show that the value of the game, and the corresponding optimal strategies, can be computed by solving a single semidefinite program, thus providing a natural generalization of the well-known LP characterization of finite games. We also discuss the possible extensions to correlated equilibria, and to the nonzero sum case. In addition, we show how the results can be applied, with suitable modifications, to a general class of semialgebraic games and problems with two quantifiers.
Wednesday's lecture will be more introductory in nature, and discuss the basic setup of separable games and SOS/SDP methods. On Friday, we will put these basic elements together and discuss some further extensions.
BIO:Pablo A. Parrilo received an Electronics Engineering undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires, and a Ph.D. in Control and Dynamical Systems from the California Institute of Technology in 1995 and 2000, respectively. He has held short-term visiting appointments at the University of California at Santa Barbara (Physics), Lund Institute of Technology (Automatic Control), and UC Berkeley (Mathematics). From October 2001 through September 2004, he was Assistant Professor of Analysis and Control Systems at the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is affiliated with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) and the Operations Research Center (ORC).
Prof. Parrilo is the recipient of the 2005 Donald P. Eckman Award of the American Automatic Control Council, as well as the triennial SIAM Activity Group on Control and Systems Theory (SIAG/CST) Prize. He was also a finalist for the Tucker Prize of the Mathematical Programming Society for the years 2000-2003.
His research interests include optimization methods for engineering applications, control and identification of uncertain complex systems, robustness analysis and synthesis, and the development and application of computational tools based on convex optimization and algorithmic algebra to practically relevant engineering problems.
LUNCH WILL BE SERVED.
2. CDS Seminar: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Time: 2pm-3pm
Location: 070 Moore
Distributed Coordination and Consensus algorithms with boundary:from flocking and synchronization to geographic routing in adhoc networks
Ali Jadbabaie
University of Pennsylvania
In this talk we provide a unified view of several distributed coordination and consensus algorithms which have appeared in various disciplines such as distributed systems, statistical physics, biology, computer graphics, robotics, and control theory over the past 2 decades. These algorithms have been proposed as a mechanism for demonstrating emergence of a global collective behavior (such as social aggregation in animals, schooling, flocking and synchronization) using purely local interactions. Utilizing tools from spectral graph theory and control and dynamical systems theory, we provide an analysis of these algorithms.
Furthermore, we show that by imposing fixed boundary conditions (e.g., designating a leader in a swarm) , one can obtain algorithms for a wide range of applications, from leader-follower swarms to synchronization in oscillator networks, and from shortest path routing to geographic routing without location information.
Finally, we describe a one-parameter family of distributed consensus algorithms with boundary conditions, which at one extreme, recovers the well-known Bellman-Ford Algorithm for shortest-path routing, and at the other, results in a routing scheme based on diffusion, and mean-first passage times. Connections between these algorithms and harmonic functions, electric networks, and discrete Dirichlet problems are also discussed.
Biography
Ali Jadbabaie got his BS from Sharif University of Technology in in 1995. He received a Masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1997 and a Ph.D. degree in Control and Dynamical Systems from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in June 2001. From July 2001-July 2002 he was a postdoctoral associate at the department of Electrical Engineering at Yale University. Since July 2002 he has been an assistant professor in the department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of an NSF Career Award, an ONR Young Investigator award, and the George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award of the IEEE Control Systems Society.
3. CDS/CIMMS LUNCTIME SERIES SEMINAR: SEPARATION AND COHERENT STRUCTURES IN
TIME-CHAOTIC FLOWS
Francois Lekien
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University
May 25, 12 noon
114 Steele (CDS Library)
In autonomous and time-periodic dynamical systems, transport and mixing can be studied using the stable and unstable manifolds of hyperbolic fixed points and periodic orbits. Numerous experiments have revealed the presence of similar coherent structures in aperiodic systems. These mixing templates are usually invisible to the naked eye but can be extracted, for example, by computing finite-time Lyapunov exponents or finite-time hyperbolic invariant manifolds. These structures indicate alleyways and barriers to transport and provide a geometric description of the mixing processes in the system. In recent years, there has been much effort in applying this methodology to the study of mixing in fluids and geophysical flows. Indeed, these systems are strongly aperiodic and do not have, in general, fixed points or periodic orbits.
In this talk, I will describe fluid transport in Monterey Bay. High-frequency radar stations provide current measurements in real-time for the bay and permit the computation of dynamical barriers and alleyways in this complex system. The coherent structures reveal the existence of optimal release windows in which contaminants can be efficiently advected away from the coast, reducing their negative impact on the marine environment. In addition, the alleyways can be used to optimize the deployment of drifters and the routes of underwater vehicles to maximize coverage of an area. Transport and mixing near a coastline can also be studied in terms of separation and re-attachment profiles attached to the boundary. I will discuss how to obtain exact criteria to detect and control separation points and related separation profiles in Monterey Bay. Jet-actuated systems can control their separation points to a desired location and fine-tune the lift on an airfoil, or transport fuel efficiently along separation profiles. For drifters and underwater vehicles in the ocean, weak actuators, such as a rudder or a deformable rogue, can be used to control the effective separation points seen by the vehicle. Such controllers do not "fight the currents". They take advantage of the strong hyperbolic structures that are present in the ocean, require less energy, and increase the time that the vehicle spends at sea.
_______________________________________________
I'm skipping the talks and going outside to browse a too-advanced math book. The book ends in a historical sketch of the field written by the the author. (anticipation. yay.)
I may also find and interact with humans in an exciting way.
On Love and Marriage
Movies you should watch, if you care to:
Houseboat and Friends with Money
These movies have very little acting, that is to say, the performances in them are very good: mature, natural, smooth, untheatrical.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Just another manic (May) monday
music
I just woke up from a nap of maybe five hours, pleasantly surprised that it's not even morning yet. The good thing is that I get to go back to sleep before moving on to 1. laundry and 2. phoning home, the things on my plan for tomorrow morning. I won't tell how long it's been since I last did laundry, let's just say I have a lot of hauling and baling to do in the morning...if I actually wash the clothes then.
May began, like all Mays do, with my birthday. It's not a holiday in the U.S. but this year there was an immigration reform rally that had supposedly hundreds of thousands of (almost all Latino) people marching in downtown Los Angeles. I went, and on the train from Pasadena I ran into a guy named Dave who was going with his parents to watch and photograph the event, so I hung out with his group. The next evening some friends treated me to dinner and great company.
I've spent my time since then reading Kissinger's Diplomacy, being annoying, listening to Martha Wainwright's B.M.F.A. and Baby on her myspace.com page, listening to a lot of other music, and going to Caltech things: a Desi show that included the world première of the seriously funny film Made in Heaven, Arranged in Mumbai, the second half of an utterly fantastic glee clubs/orchestra concert, Capitol Steps, a theater friend's birthday party - and catching up with that crowd, another birthday party - saw two car accidents that night, a non-birthday party - met yet another trusty Taurean, et cetera, et cetera.
Went out to dinner in Little Ethiopia with Ṣọna, two-time ex-schoolmate, who just moved back to Pasadena after two years skiing and visiting Naija with his family. Also, called G. to say happy birthday. That call lasted one minute and ten seconds - he was busy. My father's phone call minutes before my birthday was half as long - I was driving. A few days later, I called dad about an hour before his birthday. It lasted a few minutes - I had woken him, so I promised to call later...
no use being so busy!
My neighbor's smoking. I just shut my sliding door, in part to protest his blowing smoke into my home. I must be the most annoying second-hand-smoker.
One minute life is perfect, I'm breathing fresh air, and the next I'm wondering if there's a fire and if not why I smell smoke. Why do people smoke?
Where was I? Hallmark or whoever makes money selling sentiment these days would love this idea - ex-day. A day to celebrate your former girl/boy- friends. As with Mother's Day, you can feed or gift or party, or you can hate it and "celebrate" by throwing out some garbage, physical or otherwise, or you can ignore it and let other people waste their money. That's fine too, Grouch. :)
I finished Diplomacy last night. It was long.
I just woke up from a nap of maybe five hours, pleasantly surprised that it's not even morning yet. The good thing is that I get to go back to sleep before moving on to 1. laundry and 2. phoning home, the things on my plan for tomorrow morning. I won't tell how long it's been since I last did laundry, let's just say I have a lot of hauling and baling to do in the morning...if I actually wash the clothes then.
May began, like all Mays do, with my birthday. It's not a holiday in the U.S. but this year there was an immigration reform rally that had supposedly hundreds of thousands of (almost all Latino) people marching in downtown Los Angeles. I went, and on the train from Pasadena I ran into a guy named Dave who was going with his parents to watch and photograph the event, so I hung out with his group. The next evening some friends treated me to dinner and great company.
I've spent my time since then reading Kissinger's Diplomacy, being annoying, listening to Martha Wainwright's B.M.F.A. and Baby on her myspace.com page, listening to a lot of other music, and going to Caltech things: a Desi show that included the world première of the seriously funny film Made in Heaven, Arranged in Mumbai, the second half of an utterly fantastic glee clubs/orchestra concert, Capitol Steps, a theater friend's birthday party - and catching up with that crowd, another birthday party - saw two car accidents that night, a non-birthday party - met yet another trusty Taurean, et cetera, et cetera.
Went out to dinner in Little Ethiopia with Ṣọna, two-time ex-schoolmate, who just moved back to Pasadena after two years skiing and visiting Naija with his family. Also, called G. to say happy birthday. That call lasted one minute and ten seconds - he was busy. My father's phone call minutes before my birthday was half as long - I was driving. A few days later, I called dad about an hour before his birthday. It lasted a few minutes - I had woken him, so I promised to call later...
no use being so busy!
My neighbor's smoking. I just shut my sliding door, in part to protest his blowing smoke into my home. I must be the most annoying second-hand-smoker.
One minute life is perfect, I'm breathing fresh air, and the next I'm wondering if there's a fire and if not why I smell smoke. Why do people smoke?
Where was I? Hallmark or whoever makes money selling sentiment these days would love this idea - ex-day. A day to celebrate your former girl/boy- friends. As with Mother's Day, you can feed or gift or party, or you can hate it and "celebrate" by throwing out some garbage, physical or otherwise, or you can ignore it and let other people waste their money. That's fine too, Grouch. :)
I finished Diplomacy last night. It was long.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
She gets it
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Sugar Rays
music
The weather is hot these days. I can sit outside, and get more coloured, less boringly even-toned. I have something to look forward to in life.
Yorubas worship many things but not the sun.
There's Olokun and Ṣango, there's Ọbatala and Oduduwa, Ọrunmila, Ọṣun, Ọya, Ṣanpọna, Ogun, Eṣu, Yemọja, Egungun,...
They are associated with rivers/the sea, thunder/fire, the future/divination, smallpox, iron/weapons/war, birth, and our dead ancestors. Oduduwa/Oodua is the founding father of the Yorubas, while Ọbatala makes people. Olodumare/Eledumare/Ọlọrun is over them all. Ọrunmila is second-in-command, like the manager.
I love the story about how when people are made, their headless bodies are made first, but each person chooses his own head. So you might have picked a good head before you were born, representing your lot/luck/destiny, or you might have a bad destiny. Oloriburuku - a person with a bad head - is one of the first words non-Yorubas learn in Yoruba, to use to insult people. What a deep insult it is...if you think about it.
The Arabs, or maybe just Sana'anis, call people crazy all the time, for fun, because they love you, or because you puzzle them, or annoy them. If you're superstitious in the cast-out-demons Christian sense, however, there's nothing funny about being majnoon/majnoona, which really means having spirits - and probably not "The Holy" one.
Speaking of trinities, a crazy person in Yoruba is were. First word. The second word people learn is usually oloṣi - a rubbish person, a nothing, or one who does foolish things, I suppose. The third is oloriburuku.
After you master these, and add perhaps "your head is not correct" - "correct" in pidgin, "complete" in proper English - and "your head is not good" (ori ẹ o pe and ori ẹ o daa), you're ready to proceed to hello, good morning, good afternoon...
In Igbo, I know Onyioshi - possibly the same as Oloṣi?, Onyara - mad, mechionu - shut up.
May I just add that Ibo people sound so foolish saying some Yoruba insults, that if I was in an altercation and heard someone say "oriope," or "orodaa," I might just burst out laughing.
In Hausa I know barawo/barauniya - thief, sege - which you say pushing your palm in the direction of the object of your contempt, and which I suppose means curses in general, banza - bastard, and, thanks to a curse-a-lot childhood housemaid, I know how to combine and embellish them to say things I didn't understand, let alone mean.
In Italian, ...
Anyway, back to the subject: sunshine.
I met a very quiet guy on Friday, who after I told him what my first name meant, asked me to which Oluwa/God it referred. Not sure. I'd never been asked that before. I suppose whichever one you believe in, that is, either Olodumare the one who delegates to dozens of gods and helpers whom you may worship freely, or the jealous, first-commandment-is-there's-only-one-me God of the Bible.
I imagine my parents and millions of other Yoruba people don't care.
It's not one of the lesser gods, because the god would have been mentioned explicitly, like in Ṣangotosin, or Oguntosin - both being names I've heard before...and cast-out-demons Christian people would be very careful about saying your name and thereby invoking the evil spirits of a false god.
He thought it was strange that we didn't have a sun god. I guess our sun gave us no reason to worry, he showed up everyday on time. How would my grandparents, or their ancestors, have understood a life where the sun was fickle? Where their warmth depended on this great yellow light in the sky, and they would suffer cold when he did not visit? And the plants didn't smile, their leaves instead yellowing and reddening and dying, until the great bright orange had been bribed into returning?
The fickle sun of California has returned from hiding. We beg him to stay. I am alive since he came. I have painted my toes, I sit outside, I meet new friends, and I have hope.
But I know he doesn't care much about me. Let us pray.
The weather is hot these days. I can sit outside, and get more coloured, less boringly even-toned. I have something to look forward to in life.
Yorubas worship many things but not the sun.
There's Olokun and Ṣango, there's Ọbatala and Oduduwa, Ọrunmila, Ọṣun, Ọya, Ṣanpọna, Ogun, Eṣu, Yemọja, Egungun,...
They are associated with rivers/the sea, thunder/fire, the future/divination, smallpox, iron/weapons/war, birth, and our dead ancestors. Oduduwa/Oodua is the founding father of the Yorubas, while Ọbatala makes people. Olodumare/Eledumare/Ọlọrun is over them all. Ọrunmila is second-in-command, like the manager.
I love the story about how when people are made, their headless bodies are made first, but each person chooses his own head. So you might have picked a good head before you were born, representing your lot/luck/destiny, or you might have a bad destiny. Oloriburuku - a person with a bad head - is one of the first words non-Yorubas learn in Yoruba, to use to insult people. What a deep insult it is...if you think about it.
The Arabs, or maybe just Sana'anis, call people crazy all the time, for fun, because they love you, or because you puzzle them, or annoy them. If you're superstitious in the cast-out-demons Christian sense, however, there's nothing funny about being majnoon/majnoona, which really means having spirits - and probably not "The Holy" one.
Speaking of trinities, a crazy person in Yoruba is were. First word. The second word people learn is usually oloṣi - a rubbish person, a nothing, or one who does foolish things, I suppose. The third is oloriburuku.
After you master these, and add perhaps "your head is not correct" - "correct" in pidgin, "complete" in proper English - and "your head is not good" (ori ẹ o pe and ori ẹ o daa), you're ready to proceed to hello, good morning, good afternoon...
In Igbo, I know Onyioshi - possibly the same as Oloṣi?, Onyara - mad, mechionu - shut up.
May I just add that Ibo people sound so foolish saying some Yoruba insults, that if I was in an altercation and heard someone say "oriope," or "orodaa," I might just burst out laughing.
In Hausa I know barawo/barauniya - thief, sege - which you say pushing your palm in the direction of the object of your contempt, and which I suppose means curses in general, banza - bastard, and, thanks to a curse-a-lot childhood housemaid, I know how to combine and embellish them to say things I didn't understand, let alone mean.
In Italian, ...
Anyway, back to the subject: sunshine.
I met a very quiet guy on Friday, who after I told him what my first name meant, asked me to which Oluwa/God it referred. Not sure. I'd never been asked that before. I suppose whichever one you believe in, that is, either Olodumare the one who delegates to dozens of gods and helpers whom you may worship freely, or the jealous, first-commandment-is-there's-only-one-me God of the Bible.
I imagine my parents and millions of other Yoruba people don't care.
It's not one of the lesser gods, because the god would have been mentioned explicitly, like in Ṣangotosin, or Oguntosin - both being names I've heard before...and cast-out-demons Christian people would be very careful about saying your name and thereby invoking the evil spirits of a false god.
He thought it was strange that we didn't have a sun god. I guess our sun gave us no reason to worry, he showed up everyday on time. How would my grandparents, or their ancestors, have understood a life where the sun was fickle? Where their warmth depended on this great yellow light in the sky, and they would suffer cold when he did not visit? And the plants didn't smile, their leaves instead yellowing and reddening and dying, until the great bright orange had been bribed into returning?
The fickle sun of California has returned from hiding. We beg him to stay. I am alive since he came. I have painted my toes, I sit outside, I meet new friends, and I have hope.
But I know he doesn't care much about me. Let us pray.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Indecision
music
They'll say that she was great
born great,
achieved greatness,
had greatness thrust upon her
And alongside that greatness she nursed
enormous doubts
that nagged at her
Until she was worn out with struggle,
when she died.
But struggle she did.
They'll say that she was great
born great,
achieved greatness,
had greatness thrust upon her
And alongside that greatness she nursed
enormous doubts
that nagged at her
Until she was worn out with struggle,
when she died.
But struggle she did.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Whuman rights
music
When the world learned of the Lawrence Summers remarks about women and science, I thought the man needed better judgement. I didn't wish that he would actually cease to be President of Harvard on account of this. I had mixed feelings about the guy.
Of course women can and do teach, prove theorems, make money, kill people, and manage organizations. Still, fewer women than men are identified as billionaires or army Generals. Taib.
People at the top of society in America find it in the Nation's best interest to not leave large groups of people undeveloped, their talent untapped. Maybe they think life is more fair that way. Maybe they recall having a door closed to them because of their height, gender, accent, family income, hairstyle, skinshade, body-mass-index, girliness, religion, or nationality.
Sentimental stuff.
They say they're doing diversity for the Nation, as in: otherwise we'll go to war with a country that has invented something that we never found because the person who would have found it is in jail or couldn't get hired because of our laws.
They don't always bring up their personal reasons, as in: I always wanted a son only got daughters and my daughter is really very good at volleyball (taught her myself, blush) and you know i've seen in her eyes how she wants to win olympic medals one day even if it hurts and, you know, i just want that girl to be happy.
The occasional political-correctness-challenged professorpresident (pp) thinks out loud: in future, who'll make dinner, and lunch, during the making of mr. dr. important if he's born/married to a fellow future dr. important? or who'll mostly raise the kids he wants to help raise?
Folks shout down the pp quickly because sometimes pp's are dim-witted, but often because folks don't want the arguments clouded or to risk rolling back the gains of their pet movement. That's politics, people.
Links, a diversity of pps:
speech and resignation
trying to make sense (of it all)
friend of the court
Exercises
Do academics care about truth? Do academics care about power?
When the world learned of the Lawrence Summers remarks about women and science, I thought the man needed better judgement. I didn't wish that he would actually cease to be President of Harvard on account of this. I had mixed feelings about the guy.
Of course women can and do teach, prove theorems, make money, kill people, and manage organizations. Still, fewer women than men are identified as billionaires or army Generals. Taib.
People at the top of society in America find it in the Nation's best interest to not leave large groups of people undeveloped, their talent untapped. Maybe they think life is more fair that way. Maybe they recall having a door closed to them because of their height, gender, accent, family income, hairstyle, skinshade, body-mass-index, girliness, religion, or nationality.
Sentimental stuff.
They say they're doing diversity for the Nation, as in: otherwise we'll go to war with a country that has invented something that we never found because the person who would have found it is in jail or couldn't get hired because of our laws.
They don't always bring up their personal reasons, as in: I always wanted a son only got daughters and my daughter is really very good at volleyball (taught her myself, blush) and you know i've seen in her eyes how she wants to win olympic medals one day even if it hurts and, you know, i just want that girl to be happy.
The occasional political-correctness-challenged professorpresident (pp) thinks out loud: in future, who'll make dinner, and lunch, during the making of mr. dr. important if he's born/married to a fellow future dr. important? or who'll mostly raise the kids he wants to help raise?
Folks shout down the pp quickly because sometimes pp's are dim-witted, but often because folks don't want the arguments clouded or to risk rolling back the gains of their pet movement. That's politics, people.
Links, a diversity of pps:
speech and resignation
trying to make sense (of it all)
friend of the court
Exercises
Do academics care about truth? Do academics care about power?
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
More blogs. Bibliography
music
This post exists so I can keep my main blogroll very short, while keeping track of places I like to visit on the web.
All the blogs that have been on my main blogroll, past or current, are listed...and a few secret pleasures.
Some of the first blogs I ever read - parentheses was perhaps the first - and a few that I just noticed, are here.
Some are no longer being updated...some have been newly revived.
I like most of them very much.
January 27,2007 update: list now in rough categories, but still expect to be surprised.
February 28, 2007 update: adding directories, such as findnigeria.
Acada
Inexistence
Geocentric Universe
Ah Yes, Medical School
Higher Cohomology Is Inevitable
Michael Nielsen
Shtetl-Optimized
Sidharth Jaggi's most excellent adventures
Some Words To Not
X in Vogue: Very Stylish Math
Caolionn O'Connell
Development and criticism
Money Talk
Global Voices
French Money Talk
Ekiti Legislature
GlobLog
Robert Reich's blog
Seb's Open Research
SJ's Longest Now
Bjorn Staerk
Oslogirl
pleasure pure madmen know
The Embedded Revolution
Arabia and around
A Family In Baghdad
Cinnamon Zone
Moments in Words from Hadhramout
TIME: The Middle East Blog
The Arabist
CNL in Uzbekistan
Rasheed's World
Sleepless in Sana'a
Me vs. Myself
Riverbendblog
Syria Exposed
Nigeria
Bella Naija
Fausset Nigeria
Adaure's Weblogazine
Nigeria. What's On?
Yola++
Chelsea Rules. Ok?
Musings of a Naijaman
Shola's Webspace
Naijablog
Aaron Rowe
Giant of Africa
Nick in Nigeria
Generation Nubian
Wazobiacrazy
Film, music, books
Erik's choice
Frances Uku
Wordsbody
Daily Dancer
Iram Parveen Bilal
Tennis, dreams, boys, and gist
ATP Tenistas
Down The Line
Women's Tennis
Forty Deuce
Tennis Served Fresh
Tennis Talk
LA Rag Mag
Post Secret
Raj's world
Waiter Rant
Dooce
Like A Wheel within a Wheel, archives
Possumqueen
not blogs...
Sarah May Photo
Thibaut Photos
The Guardian on Gender
This guy named Kim
womenswrite Journal
Inexistence
Geocentric Universe
Ah Yes, Medical School
Higher Cohomology Is Inevitable
Michael Nielsen
Shtetl-Optimized
Sidharth Jaggi's most excellent adventures
Some Words To Not
X in Vogue: Very Stylish Math
Caolionn O'Connell
Development and criticism
Money Talk
Global Voices
French Money Talk
Ekiti Legislature
GlobLog
Robert Reich's blog
Seb's Open Research
SJ's Longest Now
Bjorn Staerk
Oslogirl
pleasure pure madmen know
The Embedded Revolution
Arabia and around
A Family In Baghdad
Cinnamon Zone
Moments in Words from Hadhramout
TIME: The Middle East Blog
The Arabist
CNL in Uzbekistan
Rasheed's World
Sleepless in Sana'a
Me vs. Myself
Riverbendblog
Syria Exposed
Nigeria
Bella Naija
Fausset Nigeria
Adaure's Weblogazine
Nigeria. What's On?
Yola++
Chelsea Rules. Ok?
Musings of a Naijaman
Shola's Webspace
Naijablog
Aaron Rowe
Giant of Africa
Nick in Nigeria
Generation Nubian
Wazobiacrazy
Film, music, books
Erik's choice
Frances Uku
Wordsbody
Daily Dancer
Iram Parveen Bilal
Tennis, dreams, boys, and gist
ATP Tenistas
Down The Line
Women's Tennis
Forty Deuce
Tennis Served Fresh
Tennis Talk
LA Rag Mag
Post Secret
Raj's world
Waiter Rant
Dooce
Like A Wheel within a Wheel, archives
Possumqueen
not blogs...
Sarah May Photo
Thibaut Photos
The Guardian on Gender
This guy named Kim
womenswrite Journal
This post exists so I can keep my main blogroll very short, while keeping track of places I like to visit on the web.
All the blogs that have been on my main blogroll, past or current, are listed...and a few secret pleasures.
Some of the first blogs I ever read - parentheses was perhaps the first - and a few that I just noticed, are here.
Some are no longer being updated...some have been newly revived.
I like most of them very much.
January 27,2007 update: list now in rough categories, but still expect to be surprised.
February 28, 2007 update: adding directories, such as findnigeria.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Big screen, little screen
music
Hiam Abbass stars in Satin Rouge, a movie by Raja Amari that I've wanted for years and just ordered recently.
Coincidentally, I started watching the movie on Tuesday just after I'd seen Munich, in which she also appears. She's also in Paradise Now, which I haven't seen yet, but will like to watch soon.
In the past week, I also saw
Mrs. Brown, with Judi Dench playing Queen Victoria,
Madame Sata, a story about a Brazlian rebel,
Sexual Life, an American ensemble piece in the tradition of Things you can tell Just by looking at her;
In Good Company, a nice drama/comedy about love and work, it's realistic, touching, and higly recommended,
Private Benjamin, a sweet, sweet movie, which is now one of my very favorite,
Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrman; when you're a ballroom dance fan, you gather with friends to watch this classic, the dancing is by no means fantastic.
I would note how expertly Munich is done - cast, located, shot, directed - it is a movie-making Master Class, but perhaps taken for granted because it's done by a master and holds no surprises. I saw it twice, so far. It has a few words in Arabic, which I try to pick out. Syriana had conversations in Arabic as well. Yay! for Arabic in the movies.
Satin Rouge is said to be in Arabic, but apparently Tunisian Arabic is peppered with French.
In the three-and-a-half weeks before the last, I saw only a few movies. (By now, this gross deficiency has been repaired. )
Walk The Line, the only movie on my Paris-Los Angeles half-day flight worth watching,
Ladies in Lavender, a very slow-paced, pretty movie and more Judi Dench goodness,
Brokeback Mountain, which is not about elderly British ladies,
Head in the Clouds, in which Charlize Theron does high glamour,
Festen (English title: The Celebration).
I'd wanted to see Festen for months because I liked Arven/The Inheritance, another Danish movie with Ulrich Thomsen, so much, but I found it sad and dark without good excuse.
Hiam Abbass stars in Satin Rouge, a movie by Raja Amari that I've wanted for years and just ordered recently.
Coincidentally, I started watching the movie on Tuesday just after I'd seen Munich, in which she also appears. She's also in Paradise Now, which I haven't seen yet, but will like to watch soon.
In the past week, I also saw
Mrs. Brown, with Judi Dench playing Queen Victoria,
Madame Sata, a story about a Brazlian rebel,
Sexual Life, an American ensemble piece in the tradition of Things you can tell Just by looking at her;
In Good Company, a nice drama/comedy about love and work, it's realistic, touching, and higly recommended,
Private Benjamin, a sweet, sweet movie, which is now one of my very favorite,
Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrman; when you're a ballroom dance fan, you gather with friends to watch this classic, the dancing is by no means fantastic.
I would note how expertly Munich is done - cast, located, shot, directed - it is a movie-making Master Class, but perhaps taken for granted because it's done by a master and holds no surprises. I saw it twice, so far. It has a few words in Arabic, which I try to pick out. Syriana had conversations in Arabic as well. Yay! for Arabic in the movies.
Satin Rouge is said to be in Arabic, but apparently Tunisian Arabic is peppered with French.
In the three-and-a-half weeks before the last, I saw only a few movies. (By now, this gross deficiency has been repaired. )
Walk The Line, the only movie on my Paris-Los Angeles half-day flight worth watching,
Ladies in Lavender, a very slow-paced, pretty movie and more Judi Dench goodness,
Brokeback Mountain, which is not about elderly British ladies,
Head in the Clouds, in which Charlize Theron does high glamour,
Festen (English title: The Celebration).
I'd wanted to see Festen for months because I liked Arven/The Inheritance, another Danish movie with Ulrich Thomsen, so much, but I found it sad and dark without good excuse.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Everything happens to me
music
Got my luggage today. It turns out it's been in Sana'a for two or three of the four weeks I've been waiting, but...Anyway, got the bag. I have my own clothes now. Little party tonight, at which I hope to take a few pictures. I leave in six days. It's soooo relieving to have my luggage back.
Love y'all.
Got my luggage today. It turns out it's been in Sana'a for two or three of the four weeks I've been waiting, but...Anyway, got the bag. I have my own clothes now. Little party tonight, at which I hope to take a few pictures. I leave in six days. It's soooo relieving to have my luggage back.
Love y'all.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Bigger picture
music
Wikipedia has a scaled-down, hard to read copy of the cartoons.
I think the debate inspired by these cartoons is good.
I hope nobody dies over this.
And I hope we can cut out the bullshit even more in future and talk.
Wikipedia has a scaled-down, hard to read copy of the cartoons.
I think the debate inspired by these cartoons is good.
I hope nobody dies over this.
And I hope we can cut out the bullshit even more in future and talk.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Happy mood
music
Duduyemi the tourist
Nick in Nigeria has several new posts on his blog. Yay!
Design and geometry
Three weeks ago, during my stopover in Abu Dhabi, I was very inspired to take pictures but had no camera. I walked around the airport several times and crashed in a chair, jetlagged, sleepy, finally.
(I still don't have my camera, because it's in my luggage which may or may not be stolen/incinerated, thanks to Air France the frenetic. )
Most of the terminals in Abu Dhabi surround this centerpiece that is a large pillar filled in with blue and green hexagons that continue on overhead and to the outer walls. The small airport has for sale more than its share of luxury goods: large gold necklaces, so-called Swarovski crystal ornaments, and chocolate and sweets displayed in a most shamelessly tempting way. Maybe on the way back, I'll photograph the airport in Abu DHabi.
Welcome to Yemen
Of course, there's a lot to see in Yemen too. You should see it for yourself. And hear it, and smell it, and feel it, and taste it...the man who cooks here, wa'Allah I want to take him to California with me.
Sometimes, the kids in the city greet tourists with shouts, Welcome to Yemen; Hello; I love you; and other bits of English. Sometimes they use an accent, as in the rising "hellow!" Sometimes they guess (wrongly) that I'm Sudani, or Somali. I fell in love with Ismaili, a brilliant, confident 15-or-so-year-old boy I met in Old Sana'a for a couple of minutes. At times like that, I'm so sure it's a smart idea to be a professor. Today, a cab driver called: Hellloooo, Honey. The most unexpected thing! I like to think it was directed at the blonde classmate I was walking with.
I'll be back in the Middle East soon, Insha'Allah.
Duduyemi the tourist
Nick in Nigeria has several new posts on his blog. Yay!
Design and geometry
Three weeks ago, during my stopover in Abu Dhabi, I was very inspired to take pictures but had no camera. I walked around the airport several times and crashed in a chair, jetlagged, sleepy, finally.
(I still don't have my camera, because it's in my luggage which may or may not be stolen/incinerated, thanks to Air France the frenetic. )
Most of the terminals in Abu Dhabi surround this centerpiece that is a large pillar filled in with blue and green hexagons that continue on overhead and to the outer walls. The small airport has for sale more than its share of luxury goods: large gold necklaces, so-called Swarovski crystal ornaments, and chocolate and sweets displayed in a most shamelessly tempting way. Maybe on the way back, I'll photograph the airport in Abu DHabi.
Welcome to Yemen
Of course, there's a lot to see in Yemen too. You should see it for yourself. And hear it, and smell it, and feel it, and taste it...the man who cooks here, wa'Allah I want to take him to California with me.
Sometimes, the kids in the city greet tourists with shouts, Welcome to Yemen; Hello; I love you; and other bits of English. Sometimes they use an accent, as in the rising "hellow!" Sometimes they guess (wrongly) that I'm Sudani, or Somali. I fell in love with Ismaili, a brilliant, confident 15-or-so-year-old boy I met in Old Sana'a for a couple of minutes. At times like that, I'm so sure it's a smart idea to be a professor. Today, a cab driver called: Hellloooo, Honey. The most unexpected thing! I like to think it was directed at the blonde classmate I was walking with.
I'll be back in the Middle East soon, Insha'Allah.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Crappy Mood
music
I like this place.
I promise to not live in America any longer than necessary - it's miserable. Useful, wealthy, and miserable.
My baggage STILL hasn't arrived yet. I try not to be too irritated.
I bought a really good face wash and face scrub a couple of weeks ago in a supermarket in Sana'a. The city is Lagos without the overcrowding (cleaner, safer, ...) I like the food at school. The classes...learned so much in such a short time. Today, we talked about our schools (Caltech, University of Illinois, and some school in Germany) in class...I got to use a new word - malal - a lot. Malal jidan means "very boring."
If you're anything like me, I recommend Sana'a. You'll feel at home.
I expect to like Iraq / Israel even better. It's funny that it took coming to Yemen (supposedly anti-Jewish, Muslim, evil, wooooo) to make me interested in living in Israel.
I like this place.
I promise to not live in America any longer than necessary - it's miserable. Useful, wealthy, and miserable.
My baggage STILL hasn't arrived yet. I try not to be too irritated.
I bought a really good face wash and face scrub a couple of weeks ago in a supermarket in Sana'a. The city is Lagos without the overcrowding (cleaner, safer, ...) I like the food at school. The classes...learned so much in such a short time. Today, we talked about our schools (Caltech, University of Illinois, and some school in Germany) in class...I got to use a new word - malal - a lot. Malal jidan means "very boring."
If you're anything like me, I recommend Sana'a. You'll feel at home.
I expect to like Iraq / Israel even better. It's funny that it took coming to Yemen (supposedly anti-Jewish, Muslim, evil, wooooo) to make me interested in living in Israel.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Queen of Sheba lived here
music
Magnolia is born
Kehinde and Taiwo are here for the holidays.
Taiwo started a blog last night. Thanks to her, I tried out the blog search button in blogspot, which is a good way to find Nigerian people/news/blogs.
Can't stop talking
I finally got both visas I need to go to Yemen.
The Yemeni one is almost entirely in Arabic. I can read my name, country, and passport number. I didn't try to read much else.
I never thought before about the fact that people carry travel documents in various languages. To think that someone at an airport can say, "sure that's my name on the visa - in Arabic script or whatever."
I'm scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Monday, January 2, 2006, and arrive in Sana'a on Wednesday afternoon. It's usually a challenge to keep smelling decent on those day-plus flights...
The school I plan to attend provides meals and wireless internet access!
The school I switched from couldn't get me a visa. It's apparently a great place as well, with half the fees, fan-tastic location, and an extremely pleasant director. (Scroll down on the services page to see testimonials).
A third school was fully booked till February.
We worked out a new plan - new school, new visa application - in under two weeks, despite an eleven-hour time difference, several holidays for Christmas, and the fact that our weekend begins when theirs ends. (Friday is the Muslim Holy Day, remember?)
While I'm in Yemen, I think I'll study Arabic a lot, go out and meet people a bit, read a couple of novels, and do my research. Maybe I'll visit Aden, and go on any included excursions.
I really hope to be a highly motivated, changed beast after this vacation...so I can focus for a year-and-a-half on doing my research, doing candidacy, doing more research, and writing a thesis. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.
Magnolia is born
Kehinde and Taiwo are here for the holidays.
Taiwo started a blog last night. Thanks to her, I tried out the blog search button in blogspot, which is a good way to find Nigerian people/news/blogs.
Can't stop talking
I finally got both visas I need to go to Yemen.
The Yemeni one is almost entirely in Arabic. I can read my name, country, and passport number. I didn't try to read much else.
I never thought before about the fact that people carry travel documents in various languages. To think that someone at an airport can say, "sure that's my name on the visa - in Arabic script or whatever."
I'm scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Monday, January 2, 2006, and arrive in Sana'a on Wednesday afternoon. It's usually a challenge to keep smelling decent on those day-plus flights...
The school I plan to attend provides meals and wireless internet access!
The school I switched from couldn't get me a visa. It's apparently a great place as well, with half the fees, fan-tastic location, and an extremely pleasant director. (Scroll down on the services page to see testimonials).
A third school was fully booked till February.
We worked out a new plan - new school, new visa application - in under two weeks, despite an eleven-hour time difference, several holidays for Christmas, and the fact that our weekend begins when theirs ends. (Friday is the Muslim Holy Day, remember?)
While I'm in Yemen, I think I'll study Arabic a lot, go out and meet people a bit, read a couple of novels, and do my research. Maybe I'll visit Aden, and go on any included excursions.
I really hope to be a highly motivated, changed beast after this vacation...so I can focus for a year-and-a-half on doing my research, doing candidacy, doing more research, and writing a thesis. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Al-Hamdulillah
music
On Friday night I answered a telephone survey. At first the chirpy recorded woman's voice was funny, and I had a good laugh talking back: as in "Hi, you have been selected to participate in this blah blah blah" and I go "Hi, your voice is very chirpy" and she keeps rambling happily "Do you think the economy is one improving two getting worse three about the same press one if you think the blah blah blah" and I go "how the hell am I supposed to know that."
Anyway before I know it, I'm taking the survey. I suppose it was meant for Americans, but Chirpy never asked me if I had citizenship or voting rights. I maintain that I don't know whether the economy is growing, or in recession, or whether in the next six months the economy will enter a recession. I don't imagine the average American knows.
Do I think Bush is one a fabulous President two a sorta great President three...and I pick: bad but not the worst.
Now do I think he should one be impeached...I think: whoa, for what? a lot of people voted him in office and re-elected him too. If he's an idiot, he's an idiot with support. Don't be trying to steal the Presidency. (Although they say that's politics.)
In the 2006 elections would I be one more willing two less likely...to vote for a candidate who pledges to work towards an impeachment. You guessed it: I'm not big on anarchy posing as politics.
Am I one African American two...I'm an alien: none of the above.
Do I consider myself one wealthy two upper middle class three...although I know what this means technically, that a highly-paid New York lawyer or the President of the United States is one class and there are people in a class above them, I pick wealthy because I can't think how I could possibly be wealthier...even if when it came to the last question on income brackets, my after-tax "household income" was in the first - that is, lowest - group.
We walk by faith and not by sight. That's possibly why Nigerians poll as the happiest people in the world...or why this happens in Iraq.
On Friday night I answered a telephone survey. At first the chirpy recorded woman's voice was funny, and I had a good laugh talking back: as in "Hi, you have been selected to participate in this blah blah blah" and I go "Hi, your voice is very chirpy" and she keeps rambling happily "Do you think the economy is one improving two getting worse three about the same press one if you think the blah blah blah" and I go "how the hell am I supposed to know that."
Anyway before I know it, I'm taking the survey. I suppose it was meant for Americans, but Chirpy never asked me if I had citizenship or voting rights. I maintain that I don't know whether the economy is growing, or in recession, or whether in the next six months the economy will enter a recession. I don't imagine the average American knows.
Do I think Bush is one a fabulous President two a sorta great President three...and I pick: bad but not the worst.
Now do I think he should one be impeached...I think: whoa, for what? a lot of people voted him in office and re-elected him too. If he's an idiot, he's an idiot with support. Don't be trying to steal the Presidency. (Although they say that's politics.)
In the 2006 elections would I be one more willing two less likely...to vote for a candidate who pledges to work towards an impeachment. You guessed it: I'm not big on anarchy posing as politics.
Am I one African American two...I'm an alien: none of the above.
Do I consider myself one wealthy two upper middle class three...although I know what this means technically, that a highly-paid New York lawyer or the President of the United States is one class and there are people in a class above them, I pick wealthy because I can't think how I could possibly be wealthier...even if when it came to the last question on income brackets, my after-tax "household income" was in the first - that is, lowest - group.
We walk by faith and not by sight. That's possibly why Nigerians poll as the happiest people in the world...or why this happens in Iraq.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Hell is a cold place
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