I just wanted to say Happy Leap Day before it was over. February 29 is a rare thing, you know.

Until yesterday, I was unaware that the Georgia Flag issue had crept back into active politicking. But it has, and Tuesday's presidential primary will also serve as a statewide referendum to keep or replace the current flag. Reasonably large, clear images of the two flags can be seen here. I like the new flag; it's definitely better than the last one. And, while I don't think this flag issue is even worth the time I'm taking to write this story, settling the issue and keeping it from coming back is worth it. So, for the sake of forgetting about a silly piece of fabric and what it may or may not mean, let's just let Tuesday's flag vote stand and deal with it.

Of all the legitimate extra-curricular activities in which I am involved on campus, quiz bowl is probably the most fun. I get a chance to learn new, interesting, random things, and the people involved are some of the greatest I've known -- intelligent, hilarious, and generally good-natured. I haven't actually had a chance to travel with any of my SGA crew yet, but hopefully that will turn out to be just as much fun. As for now, that will be my only option, because I am dropping out of quiz bowl for the next few weeks in order to repair a rather gaping wound. I don't know how long I'll be able to stay away, but I am confident that there are plenty of things available to fill my time on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, and most of them involve a bigger paycheck at the end of the week.

So, with midterms approaching, I have chosen to sit aside for a few weeks and concentrate on SGA and work. Don't worry, though, I'll be back by May -- probably sooner.

Keesha: "I'm giving up chocolate for Lent."

Paul: "I'm giving up caffeinated drinks like coffe, tea, and dark sodas."

Clarissa: "I think I'll give up abstinence for Lent."

Audrey: "I should give up Lent."

With the release of The Matrix in 1999, I developed a taste for metal and hard rock, beginning with Marilyn Manson's "Rock Is Dead" from The Matrix soundtrack, but otherwise never listening to Manson again. I have begun to grow away from that music, however, and now I have very broad musical tastes. For instance, just on the rock side of things, I listen to:

Hard rock, such as Tool, Metallica, and Creed

Pop rock, such as Live, Collective Soul, and Dave Matthews

Ambient rock, such as Radiohead, A Perfect Circle, and the Postal Service

rock that I can't really classify, such as Mew and the Darkness

...and then there's my taste for the more electronic, ambient, techno-ish sounds of Rob Dougan, Massive Attack, the Art of Noise, not to mention my taste for the occasional bubble-gum-pop, such as Britney's new song (don't ask). And although I listen to very little pop, rap, country, or jazz these days, I enjoy many artists from each artist when they do the right songs the right way -- I'm just much more picky in those genres.

My tastes are really all over the musical map. Now, I just wait for someone to bitch at me for leaving off their favorite band.

I would like to come out of the closet and say that I am in favor of gay marriages. A marriage is the private union of two individuals. Sure, it may have traditionally been a union only between a man and woman, but tradition schmadition. I don't think it's fair that a tiny portion of the population is discriminated against when their ability to marry does absolutely no harm to anyone.

This has nothing to do with the letter/editorial I wrote for my school paper this week. That's just an interesting coincidence.

It was at the end of the thirteenth hour that I finally departed. I left from home at 7:30am and sat down in Dr. Taylor's world history class just before he walked in at 8:00. After the class, I prepared for my SGA meeting for about three hours until we met at 12:20. The meeting was supposed to involve 20+ SGA officers and a dozen or more active students from various organizations; attendees included eight SGA officers and three other students, plus Lisa, who just rocks.

So then Keesha and I went to Quiznos for lunch to return around 2:30. For the next two hours I carefully crafted an article for the MSC Matrix in response to a letter to the editor last week in which a student complained about the new "club for gays" on campus. (Actually, it's a club aimed at providing a less hostile environment for persons who are transgendered or not heterosexual. It's not a "club for gays" by any means, but it should be no surprise that a majority of their membership is homo- or bisexual; after all, they have more to gain by their membership with such a group.)

The article was finished and emailed off just before Keesha called to let me know she was done with class and heading home to get a few things done. In retaliation, I watched the end of The Fast and the Furious 2, which reminded me for the first time why I never watched the movie in the first place. I then played Fluxx for about 45 minutes with Max, teaching Jimmy, David, and Ashley how to play. Andy Looney rocks, too.

I went back to my office around 6:15 to work on some questions for Quiz Bowl, and by 8:45 I had crafted what appear to be some very good questions. Of course, Dr. Taylor will reveal the truth about that in the next day or two. Upon finishing the questions and sending them to the office desktop to be printed, I realized that it was 9:00pm and I decided that thirteen hours is long enough to spend at school for one day. I shut down the laptop, packed my books, tossed my tea, and forgot to print the stupid questions. But they're on my laptop, and I had a good day. Score!

Just for good measure, Keesha rocks too.

Longest Words

According to popular email, the longest word you can type with only your left hand is "stewardesses". Well, not to burst any bubbles, but "aftereffects", "decerebrated", "desegregated", "extravasated", "reverberated", and "watercresses" are each common English words -- well, common enough to be found in your run-of-the-mill dictionary -- that are just as long as "stewardesses" and don't get the same attention. Note that the three words ending in "d" could end in "s" instead for three more words.

According to the same popular email, the longest word that can be typed with the right hand is "lollipop", but that's only eight letters. There are many other eight-letter words, but let's start with nine: "homophony", "homophyly", "monophony", "nonillion", "pollinium", "polyonomy", and "polyphony". And "hypolymnion" has eleven letters! There are also particularly esoteric or jargon words that are considered not to belong to the English language so much as they belong to their particular fields of study, but I tend to ignore those since they are not common at all except to those who make them up.

For my last bit on wordplay, people also tend to believe that "stretched" is the longest one-syllable word. Well, also measuring in at nine letters each are "scratched", "screeched", "scrounged", "scrunched", "straights", and "strengths". I just thought you'd like to know.

Niagara Falls, Frozen Solid?

Someone once suggested that Niagara Falls completely froze over in the winter of 1932. I didn't buy it, so I looked it up. I found no proof to support either side of the argument, but I did find some intriguing information. In that cold winter of 1932, Denver experienced its longest spell of subzero temperatures in its recorded history -- over 91 hours. An interesting coincidence that suggests some cold business was going on that winter, but every Niagara resource I consulted mentioned nothing of a hard freeze in 1932.

However, the frequently asked questions on the US Niagara Falls web site featured one question that asked if the Falls freeze in the winter. The answer given is, "No, the water flows continually year round." The answer elaborates and mentions that the flow of water actually did stop completely on March 29, 1848, which surprised the hell out of me. But, to be fair, "The Falls did not actually freeze over, but the flow was stopped sufficiently to allow people to...recover artifacts from the riverbed." Besides, if they know about a hard freeze in 1848, then they would definitely know about one in 1932. Since there is no mention of it, it's safe to say that it probably didn't happen.

Wasted Time

What initially motivated this post was someone's questioning whether it's true that we spend about six months of our lives waiting on traffic lights. After a bit of digging, I found this on page 46 of The Joy of Working from Home: Making a Life While Making a Living by Jeff Berner (1994):

If you think you waste a lot of time standing in line and sitting in traffic, you are probably right, according to Michael Fortino, president of the consulting firm Priority Management Pittsburgh. Most people spend five years of their life waiting in lines and six months sitting at traffic lights! Fortino's researchers studied hundreds of people across the nation for more than a year and found that the average person spends eight months opening junk mail, one year searching for misplaced objects, two years trying to return telephone calls to people who never seem to be in, and four years doing housework.

I just loaded my web site in the Mozilla v1.6 web browser, and I was startled to see that my quote and links at the top of the page load in the white content box instead of the carefully spaced blue background above the box. This wouldn't be such an issue if the links to the rest of my site were not white, but because they are, the links are invisible to the eye unless you highlight them. They can still be clicked, of course; you just can't see what you're going to click! I suppose I'll try to fix that. Any suggestions?

In the ever-sensible Alexandria, Minnesota, men are not allowed to have sex with their wives if they have the smell of sardines, onions or garlic on their breath.

In Washington, DC, the law dictates that anyone having sex should only do it face-to-face.

Dad joined Travis and me for Trivia Night tonight. The rest of our crew, which usually numbers about seven, were no shows with no warning. Oh well... We played as "Boob Tube Steak", and we won third place without much effort. We missed some reasonably easy questions and we were in seventh place going into the final question. But Dad, Travis, and I have a good balance of information. Overall, we answered the questions we needed to answer to earn a free meal!

From this week's Reason Express:

Oh your god! A boob! (I'm referring to the FCC chairman who ordered an investigation of Janet's boob faster than the United Nations could act on the threat of weapons of mass destruction/distraction.)

My opinion: The kids watching The Passion of the Christ probably isn't a good thing, even if that's what their parents want them to watch. Undeniably, the movie is going to be used to brainwash these kids in ways I can barely comprehend, but this country places so much emphasis on letting the parents take responsibility for their children! Of course, we have no right to interfere with another parent raising their child properly if our only disagreement is something as simple as what the child is raised to believe.

Actions speak louder than words, including the ones in our heads.

UPDATE 2004.02.19 @ 15:45 -- Tommy chimes in:

I've been wondering... when did a woman's breast become a "private part"? I mean, don't men have nipples, too? If they're flashing genitals, that's an issue... but a bare breast??? Big f***in' deal!!!!

My thoughts exactly, Tommy. Although, I have to say... I'd have been much more excited about this whole thing if it were one of Janet's more "private" parts. Hey, anything to get her brother off the tube for a while can't be entirely wrong.

Liz and I had a conversation last night debating the worth (or lack thereof) of George W. Bush as president, initiated by a question about the current race among the few remaining Democrats to see who gets to face him as we approach November. We talked for a good half hour, and I've begun to realize that I'm much more liberal than I tend to admit. I still support Bush, because his administration's policies are what this country needs right now. But as Tony knows so well, I have always believed in the potential of achieving our ideal goals even if they seem impossible.

That said, I think Kerry will win and Edwards will be his VP nominee, although Edwards still has an outside shot of taking the whole thing (way outside).

It's not porn.

For Friday the 13th, Keesha and I went out on our first "date", having a nice dinner and then watching Along Came Polly, a surprisingly good movie for a Ben Stiller comedy. (Hey, I love Ben Stiller movies -- I'm just saying the overall quality of the film by pretentious critical standards was better than I had anticipated.) For Saturday the 14th, which marks Keesha's and our first month of togetherness, I took her down to Perry for dinner with my granny, along with my dad, uncle, and brother. We then went cosmic bowling with Jim and Lara, which was as fun as it always is! (I bowled 137, 139, 141, and 136 before I stopped trying. Consistent, as usual!) Sunday the 15th has been a much-needed lazy day, and well timed too, since my allergies flared up and coerced me into taking an antihistamine tablet, which nearly knocked me out for the last six hours. I'm good to go now, and it's time for bed... Oh dear.

I hope the weekend was good for you. I don't think mine could have been any better.

I have determined that the song "Pet" on A Perfect Circle's album Thirteenth Step is an interpretation of Uncle Sam's pitch to join the military, or to stick with the military for those who are already brainwashed. If this analysis is correct, then the song was obviously written from someone with a negative experience with or opinion about their own service with Uncle Sam, or perhaps about military service in general (which seems equally likely). It's like a song written by someone who doesn't like the idea of war but went through the hell of one. It's about becoming your nation's pet.

Loosely interpreted, it could also be about becoming just about any domineering entity's pet. Still, it's a good song, and I think it could be quite successful on the radio if not for the strange guitar rift that repeats from the first moments of the song.

While I'm sort of on this topic, check out this interview with Maynard James Keenan, conducted by Kurt Loder for MTV. Topics include what he thinks of his and his bands' fans, what his Tool bandmates think of A Perfect Circle, what some of his lyrics are really about, and what he thinks is really going on in America. The moral of the story: "Turn off your television. Go out and do something."

Someone alleged that Buddha is my hero. I can see why one would think that, because I feel like I can appear to be Buddhist depending on which of my qualities you see. Still, there are just as many that indicate that I am not exactly Buddhist. This was my response to the allegation:

Sidenote: none of this has anything to do with my belief or nonbelief in God and creation or Darwin and evolution, so don't jump to any conclusions. If you want to discuss this topic, I'm one of those people who sincerely enjoys a good, rational talk about it -- I will not belittle or insult you for your beliefs or preferences. I would much rather use your knowledge as a tool to help me better understand the world in which I live. (I'm on my school's quiz bowl team for crying out loud; I just crave knowledge!) The point is, you know how to find me if that's your thing.

There is a rift, and it is at least mostly my fault. I use the word "fault" loosely, because I don't really believe anyone can rightly be blamed. There was no game, no plan, no evil intent. But as of now, a schism nonetheless. And it bothers the hell out of me.

Jeremy and I are the only two people in quiz bowl who haven't missed a meeting this year, and I'm pretty sure he would like nothing more than for me to completely disappear (that may be an understatement). I really wish events that transpired did not result in our current situation. Quiz bowl is probably the most fun either of us have in any social setting, and now there is noticeable discomfort every time we meet because he and I are the only two that can't stand to miss it.

For a good two or three weeks, I was on the brink of quitting quiz bowl, or at least considerably cutting back how much time I spent with the team. Unfortunately, as the officer who keeps all the stats and records, I feel obligated to stick around. I would prefer that he and I could get past what's too late to change anyway and work on being a team again. We were good at that, and personal things that really shouldn't be an issue anyway have damaged that.

It's funny, really. On our first trip to Chattanooga, he and I shared a bed at the hotel we stayed at. Naturally, verbal hilarity ensued for days after, and the joke actually never got old... well, until recently. So about two weeks ago, Kristi called him a "cuddle bunny", to which he responded that he had never and will cuddle with anyone here. Immediately, half the room points at me and reminds him of our "romantic" past. Dr. Taylor and I cringed, and I could feel a cold glare even though I know he was purposefully looking away from me. It's disturbing to me that we could be such good friends and let something so simple upset that.

Then again, I understand it perfectly. I've been there too. And I feel horrible for it, but I know that I've come back from it and I know he will too. I only hope that he and I can function for the group and get over this without any significant problem.

By the way, linking to my site instantly provides a referral link back to the referrer. On that note, I think Jeremy and I should sit down and talk -- preferably at a neutral location. I'll provide beer as a peace offering...

For the first time, we used one of Clyde's ideas for our team name: "Immaculate Contraceptive". The room liked it. Also for the first time, we placed in the top three, earning $30 in gift certificates that left us paying only $2 each for our meals. There were two key clincher questions.

The first named five colors (orange, green, light purple/magenta, dark blue, and yellow) and asked for the most-landed-on property in each of those color groups in Monopoly. I knew all five, though I waivered on yellow. The answers, in order, are New York Avenue, North Carolina Avenue, St. Charles Place, Boardwalk, and Marv[e]n Gardens. I know, I'm sick, but Clyde nailed three of them too. No other group in the room got more than three right. (I spent about an hour yesterday, for apparently no reason, reading the original rules of Monopoly as well as various, pointless stats, figures, and facts about the game -- including the frequency of landing on each property. Sick, I know.)

The second question was the Final Jeopardy-like final question which asked for the artist (solo or group) who released a song that debuted in the top ten Country Western, Rhythm & Blues, and Pop charts all in one week. Kristi's first instinct (mine as well, but she said it first) was correct, but we went through several names before settling on Elvis Presley. The song was "Heartbreak Hotel". Next week we're taking first place, damnit!

"The Simpsons" has been on the air for some fifteen years now. Finally, The Simpsons Movie is in the works. The web sites I listed below are a few of the best Simpsons links on the web that I have found. There are countless others, and I'm sure I haven't seen them all. Enjoy!

If you are or have recently been concerned with my health, you should like to know that I finally sought medical attention Thursday afternoon. After about an hour of the usual checks and tests, Dr. Ridley determined that I am as healthy as the average healthy horse, and that my chronic bronchitis has apparently healed itself (as I suggested it probably would all along). Further, he detected no heart irregularities, and everything appeared normal or better than normal during my visit. So... apparently whatever it was that tried to kill me is in stealth mode, waiting on me to grow complacent again before lashing out.

While in the waiting room, I read a neat article on sleep deprivation in the December issue of one of those men's magazines (Men's Journal, maybe?). I was not surprised to find out that people who sleep three hours per night consistently generally are healthier than people who sleep an average of seven hours per night but irregularly (nine one night, five the next, and so on). Why? Because the body operates on a biological clock that operates best from a consistent power source. Since sleep is when we recharge, it makes sense that the body recharges best with a consistent sleeping schedule. The body gets better deep sleep (when we recharge most effectively) even on consistent three-hour naps than it does on irregular nights of five, seven, and night hours of sleep.

Not that you care. I just thought I'd share because I'm getting noticeably less sleep this semester than last, but I still feel just as good during the days. Of course, I cram in afternoon naps much more often now -- because they feel necessary, not simply because I want to -- so that might have something to do with it. Either way, I'm not happy about still being up at 4:00am and not having my work done for tomorrow morning. And it's looking like I won't even get a chance to take a break tomorrow until at least 6:00pm. Whee!

Interesting New York Times article: While the corporate players in the music industry are suing little kids for downloading and sharing songs (many of which they would never hear if not for the internet and would have no chance to buy), some big players in the porn (and/or sensual entertainment) industry are celebrating porn-file trading as "direct marketing at its finest". It works like this: people download Playboy's copyrighted images on other web sites, and they are driven right back to the source.

A secondarily interesting portion of the article serves ostensibly as a warning to the mainstream industries out there: the pornography industry is often among the first to test and successfully implement new technologies (past examples include the VCR and WWW) -- in an industry like theirs, they almost have to try different things to stay ahead of the game. I suppose the moral of that story is that perhaps those guys know how to make money well. Sure, sex sells, but sex sells better if you don't sue your potential buyers.

Well, I got more sleep than I thought I would -- a little more than three hours. Two full cycles through sleep's cycles ought to have refreshed me well enough to face a full day and sleep fairly well tonight. I expect to sleep roughly the same hours before awakening around 5:30 tomorrow morning. I must be at school by 6:15 to leave for a quiz bowl competition at UGA.

If there is anyone in Athens who feels like they must see me, the competition should last most of the day, beginning around 9:00, and will be in the new building across the street from the Tate Center. Lunch will probably be around 1:00. My phone will be with me but off for most of the day.

Back to sleep... I was reading the December issue of Men's Journal in the doctor's waiting room yesterday, and I read an interesting article about sleep deprivation. It turns out that sleeping only three hours per night -- but consistently -- is much healthier than getting six, eight, and nine hours of sleep inconsistently from night to night. Why? Because by adjusting to a rigid sleeping schedule, your body also adjusts its patterns of jumping into the stages of sleep. People who sleep only three hours per night but near-exactly three hours at nearly the same time each night train their bodies to engage in longer deep-sleep cycles. You can read more about it on your own time if you want, but I think this explains why I function so well on 3-5 hours of sleep while so many others I know can't function off anything less than seven.

For the second week in a row, our trivia team at Buffaloes was In First Place. We lost both times, but we came really close last week!

For the curious, I finally sought expert medical advice on my the questionable status of my health. Dr. Ridley decided that I'm healthy as a horse, in fact probably healthier. Of course, all my symptoms subsided for the day, maybe for good but probably not, so he had no way to detect what's really been bothering me since early December. But hopefully it's gone! And hopefully my blood does not reveal any spunky diseases throwing cool parties in my arteries. Yeah, that was a good line.

I'm off. Lots of work to do, lots of sleep to miss, and lots of time to want more time for all of it!

I got this from an article at Fox News, but I'm pretty sure it's just an AP report that every internet news site syndicates. I don't really care. I'm only copying the part that I think is useful information.

"According to the FCC, non-cable TV channels cannot air "obscene" material at any time and cannot air "indecent" material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The FCC defines obscene as describing sexual conduct "in a patently offensive way" and lacking "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value." Indecent material is not as offensive but still contains references to sex or excretions.

Once again, I disagree with censorship. I understand the purpose of this variety of it in order to allow parents to sit their children in front of a television and watch stuff. I also understand that television is a business industry, and that its participants are free to come to whatever terms they choose (rules here, content there, money everywhere). What I don't understand is why the government feels like it must portray itself as the granddaddy of everything and tell the networks what they may or may not show, or the people what they may or may not see.

Market economics is very simple at its foundation. People want some scarce thing that someone or something else can give them. Then there is competition among the potential providers. In order for a consistent audience to develop (hence repeat business), such a competing provider must employ some consistency. In this example, it means that networks that want to show what the FCC describes as "indecent" should be allowed to, and people who don't like it should watch something else. Business agreements are fine, but my opinion is that the government is meddling far too much.

The FCC is an example of government bureaucracy with excessive authority. Since "authority" is the keyword there, that means the problem is really with the people who grant it -- us. And since I am a firm believer in democratic politics ("democratic" with a little "d"), I guess I don't really have a huge problem with it. It's just annoying, and sounding off is fun.

I'm tired, and I meant to go to bed 20 minutes ago.

For the first time in about eight years, I just locked myself out of my house. Luckily, I was only going out to my car to get my phone, so I when I got to it I just called Aunt Pat, and a few minutes later she let me back in. The funny thing was that I had just switched the oven over to "bake" and I was ready to put some cookies in. I'm actually glad I waited, since the whole ordeal lasted about 15-20 minutes.

See, everyone is allowed blonde moments once in a while.

Because if you lose big and jump off a bridge, you might survive and be famous for it. Not to mention that you're still in the hole, and someone's looking for you, your money, or maybe your next of kin. And how clever! Your stunt has located them all conveniently at the local hospital...

I wasn't even tempted to watch the Lingerie Bowl, but I thought the idea was meritable -- a shrewd business move, anyway. ESPN's Page 2 features the best recap of the skimpy halftime show, in which Team Dream beat Team Euphoria 6-0. I feel like I should quote Patrick Hruby here, because I agree with him and because it's funny:

I'm not a lingerie guy. Never have been. Hollywood romantic comedies have it right: It's what's inside that counts. I mean, I can remember every good Christmas present I've ever received. But as for the wrapping paper? Just use the Sunday comics.

Overall, it seems like the Lingerie Bowl focused more on football than on women in lingerie, which was probably a letdown for most of the people who paid to see it. I'm glad I wasn't one of them. Good day!

You may think so, but I think that would be a cop-out.

Eight of us gathered at Keesha's last night to "watch" the Superbowl. By "watch", I mean that we intended to prepare food and play games during the game and divert ourselves from our activities to watch the commercials. It was a great plan. Keesha and I spent several hours in the early afternoon preparing food (okay, she did most of the work, but it was like 60-40... maybe 70-30), then we moved some more stuff over from her old place, then people showed up a bit before 5:00 and we started playing games. It was a fun afternoon. I've already mentioned Fluxx below. (By the way, I already ordered it online, along with some bonus promotional cards, so yay.)

Well, the fun and games turned out to be so much fun that we rarely looked up at the screen even during the commercials. We still saw some clever commercials, including one where the dog made a mess in the kitchen and then put the cat on the counter, and another where an old couple beat each other to collective submission over a bag of potato chips. But that wasn't the highlight of the Superbowl commercial funnies this year.

My favorite commercial of the night featured cows. We are laughing, carrying on, and generally ignoring the television sometime early in the game (first or second quarter anyway) when I looked up and noticed cows on the screen. I couldn't hear anything on the screen, but someone said "moo" and everyone else looked, and in a brief silent moment I stated in a sincere voice, "cows can be sexy." As if I were part of the commercial, the next line of the commercial was dialog between a pair of bulls; one of them said, "you can say that again", and the entire group in Keesha's living room fell out in rolling laughter. We have no idea what the commercial was advertising or anything else that was said, but I talk to cows and that's all we need to know!

I spent most of this weekend helping Keesha move into her new apartment. Moving into a larger place that will cost less is a good thing, and it's actually a lot of fun when you get a bunch of college kids together to move boxes and furniture around. The couch and I had a little misunderstanding, and I have a small mark to show for it. I also had a mild fever and a generally crappy-feeling day Saturday, but otherwise the weekend was great! I don't have time to go into it now, but let's just say that Fluxx is the greatest card game of all time, and I've been meaning to buy it ever since Kristi introduced it to my Psychology group two years ago. Now that it's on my mind again, and now I have money, it will probably be mine in a matter of days... perhaps hours.

Enough for now. Gracen just walked in.