Imagination's Fool

Okay...one last parting post before I go awol:

Volokh's take on the term "Season's Greetings". You know, in the spirit of the last post. And stuff.

Happy Holidays, all -- whichever holidays you're celebrating this time of year, whether or not you're celebrating anything in particular (or just a few days off work), or from my own point of view, a very merry Christmas...

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'll be silent here for the next few weeks. I'm taking a vacation, will have the internet turned completely off for ten or eleven days so I can rest up and hit next semester with energy.

I'll be back to posting on the 3rd or 4th of the new year, so I suppose I ought to wish everyone a happy new year as well --

Happy new year!

Etc.

MSNBC - U.S. government raises terrorism threat level

Looks like we're up to orange again -- we've been at yellow since mid-May. You can keep an eye on the meter down below the Bush news ticker there on the left of this blog to see where we're at. Maybe terrorism threat levels aren't supposed to be cute, but...

Jefferson Guilty, Napoleon Not, Scalia Decides in a Mock Trial

I'm glad we've got that all cleared up, now...

Letters of Marque: Sauron: Offer and acceptance

When Tolkien geeks and legal scholars collide...

Just a quick post -- after 18 or so hours of travel (curse the bus schedule that got me to Logan more than four hours before my flight left!), I got home nice and early on Saturday morning. And thanks to the jet lag, etc, I was up by 8:30. Go me!

For Ichiro and Mariners, It's Four More Years

Oorah!!

Whew!

Just got back, won't be giving a long explanation of the movie right now -- I really need to get to bed so I can be up early studying. But just some quick first impressions, and though I'll try not to put any spoilers in this round, beware -- it is getting kinda late, and I'm not the most clear-headed.

I liked it. Overall, just like the other movies, I liked it. But because Gondor is so dear to my heart, I felt a lot more picky about the things they brought in and the things they left out. Overall, I liked their treatment of Denethor. Faramir still irks me, to a certain extent, but Denethor was well-played until the very, very end (at which point he ceased to be well played -- his death I did not like).

Arwen was a little bit more fairly treated, but the elves still kept...gah, doing things like they did in the last movies, like popping up where they oughn't be. Aragorn should have gained his confidence far earlier in the trilogy. Faramir is still a pansy. Stuff like that irked me in little ways.

However! It was fine, in general. I really liked the way they showed the frienship between Frodo and Sam -- I thought that was well done. I also liked Theoden a lot in this one -- and Eowyn, too, though she tends to the meolodramatic. The hobbits themselves were fairly well treated, and I loved Pippin as much as ever (the fool of a Took!). Someone warned me about Gandalf, but I didn't find that he bothered me at all. Indeed, I sat in the theater next to someone dressed up as Gandalf, and we had a nice little chat before the movie began -- a nice fellow.

The scenery was impeccable. Gondor was amazing. Minas Tirith made me sigh! Ered Nimrais -- the White Mountains -- took my breath away. Mordor was not far at all from how I imagined it. The Paths of the Dead were, but as they're not described in the books, I'll leave that alone. The corsair ships were pretty cool too -- in fact, I really liked the way they portrayed the Paths and Aragorn leading the hosts therefrom and all that (and that's not a spoiler -- it's in the book! ;).

Yeah. Overall, first impression is favorable. There are a few things they put in that really, really bothered me. There are a few things they left out that really, really bothered me. There were actually a few things that they added that I really liked, to tell the truth -- a scene involving Arwen that most certainly oughn't have been in there but that really touched me, for example.

My main criticism is about the ending -- I don't feel it ended as well as it could have, but I think that's due to their focus on the hobbits as opposed to the grander epic. Really, all through the movies, that's the case. Perhaps it's harder to portray the grander things, the bigger messages, the wider story, in so short a time frame (though 3-3.5 hours for each movie is a lot of time).

The biggest thing, though, is that the movie reminded me how terribly much I love these books -- how much it hurt to see that part of the big picture was destroyed by how they had to focus on little things especially reminded me of that. Faramir's fallability, Aragorn's uncertainty, Elrond's bitterness, Theoden's cowardice (in Two Towers), Legolas's rapid-bow-surfing-save-the-day superhuman battle tactics, Gimli's reduction to comic relief, Gandalf's lack of command of the situation (all too often), and perhaps above all, Arwen's expanded role. She plays such a larger part in the books with much less action and appearance -- I think throwing her into every scene like they did really diminished her power.

To be honest, Eowyn and Boromir are the only non-hobbits I feel they did justice to -- sadly enough.

Okay, okay. Enough of that. Like I said, I did like it, overall. Overall, it was a grand, fine flick. But it was still just a movie, and incomparable to the majesty of Tolkien's masterpiece.

I'm seeing it again tomorrow, of course.

Happy news! Well, for me. And for the poor people who have to live with me and/or be associated with me during finals season. Finished the first draft of my Dostoevsky/Tolstoy paper (which I've been calling Tolstoevsky for the sake of saving some typing time -- though I realize now that that can be confusing), and it's one of those first drafts that you just feel so GOOD about that it's only going to need some grammatical cleaning up and it'll be ready to turn in. I got up at 9 this morning (really at 9, this time) and was working by 9:30; by 11:30, when my stomach demanded a lunch break, I lacked only a conclusion. 45 minutes later, and it's all happy and concluded and formatted. Yay!

Now to finally buckle down with Con Law...

Because FoxTrot is a very funny comic, and because it's so appropriate to the highlight of my day today (no, not finishing my Tolstoevsky paper, no, not studying Con Law, take a wild guess....), I couldn't leave everyone hanging without tossing a link out there to yesterday's and today's.

I get a real kick out of the whole Orlando Bloom nonsense -- or, I oughn't call it nonsense, there's really nothing wrong with liking a movie because there's a cute elf in it. But as a Lord of the Rings...fan? Addict? Afficianado? (Did I spell that right?)...I have to sympathize with Jason on this one. Not that I'm going to dress up like a hobbit (or even as Arwen) to see the movie -- heavens, no. But it's an epic story about the struggle between good and evil...not just a fun movie about a cute elf.

Anyway. I'm done. And I'll give you the low-down and what I thought (though I'll try to avoid spoilers) tonight when I get back from the show. :)

Johnny Depp as Willie Wonka?

Hmmm.....

Oorah! I now have two papers completely done and ready to turn in, and have finished one exam. Just two more exams and one more paper to do before Friday, and I'm home free! This afternoon, I'm going to run my Con Law and 19th century Russian lit papers to where they belong, and then at 2:00 I have the honor of sitting through my Religion and Politics exam. That'll be another exam out of the way, leaving just Con Law on Thursday and my Tolstoevsky paper due Friday (but I'm half done with that). Oorah!

To be honest, I think the 19th century lit paper was the most fun of all my finals this year. I don't know how seriously I took it -- and I don't know how seriously the professor will take it -- but I argued that Gogol (author of The Nose and other somewhat fantastical satires) is a more realistic author than both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, who are considered of the "realist" genre. The basic premise of my argument is that...well...in Russia, logic doesn't work, so the more illogical the story the more real. But it's founded on an exploration of D and T's use of characters as real people versus Gogol's use of them as types of people, and how Gogol's is more effective as a social criticizm because of that and thus more real in the sense that...

Well, yeah. It was fun!

Now to get some lunch and kill three hours before R&P. I can't bring myself to do the early morning before-exam cramming...it'll just confuse me. We had a good review session last night, and I'm feeling extraordinarily confident about this exam, so I'll run over my notes once more after lunch and spend the rest of the morning resting up.

I actually meant to spend less of this morning awake, to be honest -- I've been up since 8, and not by my design. Meant to get up at 9, but somehow in the middle of the night I hit my alarm clock and set it an hour ahead, so that by the time I realized that it was only 8, I was already showered and awake and ready for the day. Alas!

I'm no big Eminem fan....but that's beside the point. Josh Chavetz posted this to Oxblog in honor of Saddam's capture, and it's terribly amusing.

(This post on Oxblog is also amusing.)

While we're at it, yesterday's Foxtrot is just as good. Something to keep an eye on through the...er..."holiday" season...

Excellent FoxTrot this morning.

Happy Sunday evening...!

Finals are actually looking brighter these days. I spent most of Friday night watching a poker tournament (my friend Claire came in fifth, and was one of only THREE girls in a pool of over 70 players! Go Claire!) and studying Con Law, and feel like I've got a solid hold on prep for that exam. Have most of my Con Law paper written -- need to spend maybe an hour on polishing it, and it should be ready tomorrow. Took my Latin exam -- that's over with. Have written half of my Tolstoevsky paper and have the other half outlined -- it's the last one due (on Friday), though, so I'm feeling good there. My 19th Century Russian Lit paper needs some attention, but it's a 3-5 page affair, and I'm not too concerned. Biggest thing on the agenda today has been prep for my Religion and Politics exam -- I spent most of last night and almost all of this afternoon on it -- and I've only got three more authors to reread before I consider myself ready. For the first time in a few weeks, I feel good enough about it all to relax -- and this mainly because I'm feeling dedicated and like I'll get a lot done this evening, too.

I went and saw Master and Commander again last night -- friends saw Last Samauri, but I couldn't resist the tall ships. Whee! Just as good the second time around, and much more fun after I'd read one of the books. Unfortunately -- I think? Kinda...sorta... -- I stopped by the communist bookstore on Maine Street yesterday afternoon, and got sucked into buying the next two in the series. I need something to read on the plane home, after all, right?

And happiest of happy news -- yes, even happier than Saddam's capture -- was when my roommate from last fall called this evening! She's studying abroad this semester, and we've exchanged a few emails (few, mainly because I'm a horrid correspondant -- there's a reason I blog, and it's not because I'm dedicated...), but haven't seen one another in a full year now. It was great to hear her voice and that she's doing well and...made me miss her all the more, I guess.

It's hard to feel connected to Bowdoin when you're abroad, though -- it was very hard for me, in Russia, to feel I had anything in common with the people living in the Bowdoin Bubble. It's a very sheltered life here on campus, nothing at all like being out in the world and experiencing life in a land where English isn't the predominant tongue. And it's equally hard to feel really connected with what's not going on at Bowdoin when you're here. Doesn't leave a lot of room for light chatter -- nor do long distance calls like that leave much time for anything deeper. But it was terribly wonderful to talk to her!

WE GOT HIM! Hoorah!

I confess to not paying a lot of attention to Canada, as a general rule. Though I live primarily in two states that border our fun northern neighbor, and I have a number of friends from there (or, I think I do -- don't I?)...perhaps I ought to pay more attention, but the simple fact is, I don't. Alas.

Anyway. They've got a new PM as of today. I'm not sure what that means for Canada, so I'll let you read the article for yourselves.

Here's another fun quiz thingy:

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks? Creek.
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store? Shopping cart.
3. A metal container to carry a meal in? Lunchbox.
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in? Frying pan.
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people? Couch.
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof? Gutter.
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening? Porch.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages? Soda.
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup? Pancake.
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself? Sub.
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach? Swimming suit.
12. Shoes worn for sports? Tennis shoes.
13. Putting a room in order? Decluttering.
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark? Firefly.
15. The little insect (arthropod) that curls up into a ball? Rolly-pollie or pillbug.
16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down? Teeter-totter.
17. How do you eat your pizza? With one or both hands. If it's hot, I'll fold it over onto itself; if cold, just eat it straight.
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff? Garage sale or a yard sale, though I've never bothered to figure out what the difference would be.
19. What's the evening meal? Dinner.

Regionality information: Born in Utah, spent formative years in Michigan, California, and Alabama, most recently lived in Seattle, and attend school in Maine.

It's kind of fun to note that wherever I've lived, everyone has laughed at the way I say "milk," pronouncing it as though the i were a short e, and the way I say "hymn" in the same manner -- "hem". Creek is pronounced with a long e sound (not crick -- that's what you get in your neck if you hold it funny for a long time). And in Alabama, all sodas are called Coke -- but as I don't drink Coke, I never adopted that.

(Pulled this from R.J. Anderson's LiveJournal)

And here's another editorial on the Russian parliamentary elections of this past week. I had a short discussion with one of my Russian profs this afternoon about the election, and more specifically about the editorial I posted about this morning on treating Russia as a grown-up.

He pointed out, mainly, that the Russian attempt at democracy hasn't really been given enough time to prove whether it's going to make it or not -- we can't call it a success yet, certainly, but we also can't call it a failure after only 10 years or so.

I agree that it looks like we're calling the game in the fifth inning by casting judgements on Russia like this. I refuse to give up on a baseball game as long as there's innings left unplayed -- almost anything could happen, and not even getting out of South Downtown Seattle before the heavy traffic is worth leaving a game in the bottom of the ninth.

At the same time, democracy needs liberal institutions and a civil society to work at all; also, it needs a reliance on the rule of law. I wrote a paper last fall arguing that rule of law would only be established if the folks in power enforced it -- and I hold to that. In fact, I still don't think that the liberal parties in Russia are going to help democracy grow any more than a centralized executive will. Putin's effectiveness in this direction requires that he actually keep up the push toward liberal democracy, though, and from what we saw in these elections I'm not sure he's doing precisely that.

Before liberal institutions and rule of law can come about, though, the Russian people need to want them. And Putin's party (or the party supporting Putin -- he's still not a member of it) pushing the Communists further out of power, I think, can't be a bad thing.

So where do we stand? There's a really strong -- an overly strong, one might say -- executive. But you can't impose democracy -- that's almost oxymoronic. At the same time, without an underlying rule of law -- which Russia definitely does not have -- there's no faith to be had in the democratic process. Which leads us around in circles....

...or else to the conclusion that, in this ballgame, Russia is losing 18-10 in the top of the sixth. Can they still make it? Sure. The game's not over. And what's eight runs? But is it too early to start making predictions? I don't think so. Not as long as Russia is trying to get the more advanced bits of democracy to work without the foundation.

And now, back to my Tolstoy/Dostoevsky paper...

I'm not going to say "I told you so" because I'm not sure I did tell you so, but here's the next line in the Little Red Hen metaphor: Pentagon Bars Three Nations From Iraq Bids

Russia's a Grown-Up...

...or is it? The author of this editorial thinks that we ought to consider Russia as a poor "non-democracy" that routinely violates human rights (in Chechnya), and treat it as such. That'd definitely be a shift in our policy.

If we're going to do that, can we kick France off the Security Council while we're at it?

And an update on the snow and general situation around campus:

I had the joy of slogging through a four-foot high snowdrift yesterday. Isn't that fun? Just lots of fun? In my poor judgement, I'd left Teancum (my bike) tied up to the bike rack at the bottom of the tower -- down there, he's safe from rain and most other elements. But apparently not from snow that blows sideways, and he ended up in snow up to the seat. That's a lot of snow. It's been kinda warm the past couple days, too, with the snow melting and turning into slush on the sidewalks. If I didn't get him out soon, I'd have to chip him out through the ice, I'm sure. So on my way home from class yesterday, I determined to rescue him, and emerged myself from the drift rather damp -- he was soaking wet and covered in snow, the poor dear. But now he's safe and warm and dry and taking up a lot of space in my room. Oorah!

I do believe this is easily one of the scariest things I've ever read:

Gore Will Endorse Dean

Welcome back to the world of the utterly ridiculous...

I Feel Therefore I Am

Reading over this caused me to pause and think (an abhorrent activity, in general). Because we must communicate through a medium that, as often as not, distorts our intended meaning, there's bound to be misunderstandings. They're inevitable. Even the most clear and precise speaker or writer is going to say one thing, and the audience member will pick up something different.

Sometimes what people say is offensive -- and they mean it to be offensive. That's not nice. They shouldn't.

Sometimes, due to miscommunication, a person will say something inoffensive that could be -- and often is -- construed as offensive. former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's comments at Strom Thrumond's 100th birthday bash, I think, are of this catagory. Things like this really should be expressed in a different manner.

And then there's those words addressed in this article that can be offensive only if taken entirely out of context, or are completely lacking in offense except to the ignorant and uninformed -- who, upon being informed, really ought to lighten up. The case of a Washington D.C. mayor's office staff member using the word "niggardly" -- and subsequently losing his job -- is cited. Niggardly? I understand that it sounds something like a racial slur -- one that's unacceptable in and of itself (and we'll leave it at that, not touching on the idea of banning books because of its use today). But they're derived from different roots and have entirely different meanings (www.merriamwebster.com tells me that "niggardly" means "grudgingly mean about spending or granting," which, while not a very nice attitude to have, especially during the holiday season, is certainly not a word offensive enough to lose one's job over).

Of course, it would all be lots better if we didn't have to use words to communicate at all, if we could just telepathically send our meanings one to another. That way what we mean by something couldn't be misinterpreted -- or ridiculously misunderstood.

And now we'll explore the word "procrastination"...

There's an interesting old article at law.com that discusses first the possibility of Justice Scalia named Chief Justice...

And then talks about the influence of legal blogs -- especially the so-called "Marbury v. Madison of the genre," How Appealing.

I really oughtn't be surprised at how wide-reaching blogging really is -- I started off doing it because I read some of those "live journal" sorts, and thought to myself, "Wow, it'd be fun to do this sort of thing while I'm in St. Petersburg, to keep the folks at home updated, share my thoughts on Russia, and save me from having to write 30 emails every day so people don't feel unloved," and the more I read the more impressed I am with the variety and depth of blogs out there. Part of me would really like to get in on the scene...

And then I look back up at the title of this one, and the supposed purpose, and I realize how terribly steeped in reality this whole thing is and how much like all the others out there...I'll have to work on it, I guess.

There's plenty of lawyer jokes floating around...and most of them are justified. This looks like the work of someone who's as sick and tired as the rest of us of the legal system that...well, his statement of purpose pretty well sums it up:

Overlawyered.com explores an American legal system that too often turns litigation into a weapon against guilty and innocent alike, erodes individual responsibility, rewards sharp practice, enriches its participants at the public's expense, and resists even modest efforts at reform and accountability.

Beautiful!

Bowdoin Orient News - Republican professors are scant at Bowdoin

My fellow conservative Bowdoinites and I have been arguing this for years...I'm glad it's finally slipped into the "approved" press.

Bowdoin Orient Features - Alcohol poisoning rate plummets

From the noise, beer cans, and other disgusting elements outside my room on weekend nights, you wouldn't believe it, but it's a happy thought all the same.

Looks like most of the results from the Russian parliamentary elections are in. A few American links:

The New York Times
Russia's Voting for Parliament Bolsters Putin
Russians Inch Toward Democracy - New York Times editorial

The Washington Post
Putin Allies Gain Control in Election

The unanimous result of these elections is an indisputable gain for Putin, a loss for the Communist party, and potential shutting down of the main liberal parties. The bigger question is whether this is equally a gain for Russia...

Did a Google search on "Imagination's Fool" today to see if I was on there...alas, but no! Only two returns.

First was a sermon on God's Fatherly Pity, which quoted a hymn that I've never heard:

Imagination's fool and error's wretch,
Man makes a death which nature never made;
Then on the point of his own fancy falls,
And feels a thousand deaths in fearing one

That's a happy thought now, isn't it?

Second was part of a poem written by this fellow and called Odysseus\ IV \ \ Helen.

Interesting.

I'll have to try harder, I guess?

With regard to the last post...I wonder if the results would be different if there were more of a campaign toward/less apathy in Russians abroad who are eligible to vote.

Early Results Show Putin Strengthening Control

Putin staked his personal popularity and his office's prestige on a strong showing for United Russia, breaking with tradition to openly endorse the party in hopes of securing an undisputed hold over the lower house of parliament known as the State Duma. Two smaller pro-presidential, intensely nationalist parties were also headed toward strong showings.

But Sunday's parliamentary elections, Russia's fourth since the collapse of the Soviet Union, left the country's two pro-Western democratic parties teetering on the brink of political extinction and one or both might not cross the 5 percent threshold needed to secure representation in the Duma.

National exit polls showed United Russia finishing a strong first, collecting between 34 and 37 percent of the vote, and far ahead of the second-place Communists. The Communists suffered a precipitous drop in their support, which even at the start of the fall campaign was a reliable one-quarter of the electorate but fell to between 13 and 15 percent in Sunday's voting, according to the exit polls.

Question #1: Did Putin actually join United Russia, or did he just endorse it? He'd never joined a party before -- neither did Yeltsin. That would be interesting news; endorsement of the party is more than Yeltsin did, but Putin did the same last election (albeit with a different party), so that's not news. And there's an answer further down in the article:

Created explicitly to support Putin and his policies, United Russia appealed to voters to cast their ballots "together with the president." Run by Putin's interior minister and overseen by top Kremlin aides, the party also relied on support from some 30 regional governors and presidents. It refused to debate and offered voters little in the way of a legislative program beyond enthusiastic backing for a president with a more than 80 percent approval rating.

Question #2: If the Communists are losing seats (we'll see with the official results) and the liberal parties might not even make the 5% cutoff...that makes United Russia neither communist (yay!) nor liberal (hmm). Which makes it...what? Putinite, of course. I've not read the party's platform -- if it has one -- but something makes me think it's not terribly dissimilar from Putin's last party, which had little more of a platform than "We support the president." Platforms like that can be dangerous in the long one. I'm not going to say that Russia doesn't need a strong hand at the helm -- I think it does, and Putin's is definitely a strong hand. But though his course seems to be pointed in the generally liberal direction, it's terribly unclear where he's really leading...

Have you ever heard of chocolate tasting? Let alone classes on it? My goodness...

That, courtesy of chocophile.com, which I can't stand to read in a chocolateless room.

Interesting article in the Post today about young folks and our attitudes toward debt.

I've never actually owned a credit card, outside of the debit card I got through my bank account, and then I get massive fines if I overspend on that. I've got some student loans, though -- I don't know anyone who doesn't, not at a school like this. But I'm extraordinarily hesitant to start spending a lot of money I don't have on things that I "need" outside of tuition. It's actually pretty impressive, what you can make do without. If you want to live a certain lifestyle, though -- and I suppose that's the whole point is that that's what young people want to do these days -- you need the money for it, and if you don't have it, then debt can make you feel like you do...for a while. But $30,000 total in debts by age 30? Ugh.

Awww....isn't this...sweet?

Or, at least, some good publicity.

I've always wanted to know my Southern Sign. I think.

POSSUM (Apr 21 - May 21) When confronted with life's difficulties, possums have a marked tendency to withdraw and develop a don't-bother-me-about-it attitude. Sometimes you become so withdrawn, people actually think you're dead. This strategy is probably not psychologically healthy, but seems to work for you. One day, however, it won't work and you may find your problems actually running you over.

Third time's a charm...

In Russia, Path to Election Often Ends in Corrupt Courts

And the headline says it all. My friends: Russian politics, in a nutshell.

And in other Russian news...

Kremlin Looks to Duma Vote to Keep Putin

The largest pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, is pressing for a two-thirds majority in the lower house, or State Duma, seeking to trounce the Communists and give Putin the legislative muscle to push through his policies.

The two main liberal parties, which risk becoming little more than bit players in the new Duma, and independent analysts warn that a pliant parliament would concentrate immense power in the hands of a leader who has shown a distaste for dissent. Putin looks unbeatable if he chooses, as expected, to run in the March presidential race.

Don't think I'm bitter. Bitter? Me? About Russia? Never...

But it does concern me a little bit when the big fight ends up between the Communists and Putin. Granted, it's no surprise. The Communist parties in Russia have had a fair amount of sway since the fall of the Soviet Union; they've consistently drawn a large percentage of voters. Putin apparently hasn't said he'll run again yet, but I would be very surprised if he doesn't.

What this means, however, is that the more liberal parties -- I've lost their names, but then, Russian political parties breed like rabbits and die off as quickly -- who have never had a very strong foothold to begin with, will become even less influential and less able to check Putin's policies -- if they're even able to now.

Also, for those not terribly familiar with Putin's policies and campaign, here's an article from the Post on his party, United Russia.

U.S. Eyed in Shevardnadze's Resignation

The US? Pushing for Shevardnadze's resignation? Wasn't most of Georgia doing that, too? I mean, as long as everyone agreed...

Toward the end of the article:

The Bush administration worries that Russia is moving more aggressively to reassert its influence in the Caucasus region. Rumsfeld urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia as it promised to do in a 1999 deal, known as the Istanbul Accords. Ivanov, however, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying that Russia had agreed to conduct talks about the bases and it was meeting that promise.

"As a professional diplomat, I recommend everyone read the documents, preferably in the original," Ivanov was quoted as saying.

The Russian government has said it needs a decade or more for complete withdrawal of its troops, but the Georgians have pushed Russia to speed up the process.

I wonder: does the Russian government mean that it will take a decade or more to remove their troops because the railroads are very slow? Because if I recall correctly, there have been Russian troops in the Caucuses since...the reign of Catherine II? Or has it been longer?

Those are some really slow trains.

Northeast Snowstorm Turns Highways Deadly

Terrible wind storm hit Seattle this past week -- I mentioned it yesterday.

Today's big news is lots of snow outside my dorm. Lots and lots and lots. I woke up this morning to an inch or so, and it hasn't stopped snowing yet. My roomies put off a trip into Portland because of it -- thankfully, as the roads aren't much to be trusted right now -- and I haven't left the building yet.

I blame that as much on my religion and politics paper (which is mostly done; will finish it tomorrow) as on the snowstorm, but I'll have to venture forth in an hour or so to catch the December dance show. A few of my roommates -- really good dancers, the both of them -- are in it, and I've promised...

After that, you won't catch me outside until I have to leave for church in the morning. And after that, I won't leave until class on Monday. It's not that I don't like snow -- I do, very much. I like it much more than rain, warm or cold. In fact, what I dislike about Seattle is that it gets chilly and doesn't snow come wintertime. But what I like most about it is specifically not going out into it. Or else, going out into it and then coming back and relaxing in the hammock with a blanket and the space heater on and a good book...

...speaking of which, in a fit of boredom last night, I ventured into the stacks (at 10:45, I might add -- right before the library closed) to find Patrick O'Brian's The Golden Oceanto hold me over until my copy of Master and Commander comes in.

Fox News put out an interesting poll yesterday on President Bush.

I found the last question rather interesting:

18. If you could give President Bush one of the following holiday gifts, which would it be?

Overall, 43% said they'd give him another four years in the White House; 47% would let him retire; 10% were unsure. The numbers broken down by gender and political party are...hmmm...predictable?

Personally, I'd have opted to send a tin of cookies or something else edible and much less expensive than another term in office or even retirement.

Also, see Eugene Volokh's take on number 12.

Going Native for 2004

The Republican National Convention is being held in New York this summer. Are there actually Republicans in New York? Or is this a conservative plot to make every single one support the airline industry, thus making it possible to cut down on government support for it? One wonders...

The Seattle Times: Korneyev's signing big for Russia

Well I'll be. This is an old article -- August, 2001 -- but all the same, wasn't even aware that scouts were checking out Eastern Europe at all. And the Mariners, to boot!

I've been asked to post this link for general amusement. It's nothing more nor less than the fondly-remembered Cacti Adventures of that occupied my free time during sophomore year. It was obviously too much free time, as I look back on it...

What Would Aristotle Make of Scalia?

That's a really good question, and honestly, not one I would initially have thought to ask. Though I've not read the whole of The Rhetoric, nor made an extensive study of Scalia's dissents (then again, most of us average folk haven't, which is why other people write articles like this, isn't it?), I found the article more than interesting. The conclusion?

SARCASM OF THIS KIND LEAVES LITTLE DOUBT as to the passion of its author. The question that remains, however, is whether Scalia's vitriol positively or negatively affects his credibility, or ethos, the third element in the classical rhetorician's trinity. David Broder and Maureen Dowd would argue the negative; Ramesh Ponnuru the positive. Aristotle, I think, would say that Justice Scalia refuses to show loyalty (to the court), calmness (in making his points), good will (toward his opponents), and a seemly modesty, and instead demonstrates pride (in his own reasoning), intemperance (in his language), and abuse (of his colleagues). In other words, he'd see the VMI dissent as a classic example of the misuse of rhetoric.

Okay, so maybe his rhetoric's off. And maybe he's wrong sometimes (or often, or always, depending on your point of view). But as one who has a firm appreciation of fine sarcasm (not just any sarcasm, mind; it must indeed be fine sarcasm), this only goes to point out much more clearly and succinctly something I've noticed while reading through the cases assigned us for both Con Law and Religion and Politics this year.

For example, from PGA Tour v. Martin, as it is quoted in the article:

It has been rendered the solemn duty of the Supreme Court of the United States, laid upon it by Congress in pursuance of the Federal Government's power "[t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States," to decide What Is Golf. I am sure that the Framers of the Constitution, aware of the 1457 edict of King James II of Scotland prohibiting golf because it interfered with the practice of archery, fully expected that sooner or later the paths of golf and government, the law and the links, would once again cross, and that the judges of this august Court would some day have to wrestle with that age-old jurisprudential question, for which their years of study in the law have so well prepared them: Is someone riding around a golf course from shot to shot really a golfer?

Or how about from Lee v. Weisman, a case that decided against prayer at school graduation ceremonies, and on which (among other cases) I'm writing a paper:

The Court's notion that a student who simply sits in "respectful silence" during the invocation and benediction (when all others are standing) has somehow joined -- or would somehow be perceived as having joined -- in the prayers is nothing short of ludicrous. We indeed live in a vulgar age. But surely "our social conventions," ibid., have not coarsened to the point that anyone who does not stand on his chair and shout obscenities can reasonably be deemed to have assented to everything said in his presence.

Law and judicial what's-it and even seriousness aside, isn't he even just a little bit fun to read?

I think so.



P.S. Isn't that fun? I've finally figured out how to block quotes off like that -- of course, it's taken me long enough...

Did you know that The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is known internationally for its research on centaurs? Even more, they hosted the 2001 Symposium on Centaur Scholarship...

I always wondered where they studied stuff like that. Apparently I'm at the wrong school.

You are "White Christmas"

You enjoy a classic Christmas with family and
friends. You love freshly fallen snow and
waking up to see nothing but white. You enjoy
sitting in front of the fire with some cocoa
and your special someone or even a book.

You're a classic


What Christmas Carol Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Whee!

You've noticed, I'm sure, lots of posts on Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons -- that's because I'm stuck down here at work, and I should have been working on my papers and doing reading and everything, but I just...erg...I'm tired, and frankly I don't want to...which is bad...okay, okay...

Does anyone out there know if there's a way (no...I'm pretty sure there's a way...rather, how one would go about) seeing who has linked to your site?

Much obliged...

I know this isn't a very famous (heh) or widely-read (double-heh) blog, but I think it'd be fun to be on a "list" like this one. Maybe someday...

The Seattle Times: Local News: 140,000 without power as heavy winds sweep region

Erk. Double erk. That's not a happy thing -- especially because that's the area where I'm from.

Internet Addiction Test

Well. Contrary to what my little brother might say (and no, I don't want to hear about how little coming from me might be a bit much...!), I'm apparently not "addiocted" to the internet -- I only got a score of 40.

I'm also slightly (or more than slightly) by Eugene Volokh's response to the quiz and stuff.

Here's a list IMDb (whatever that is) cobbled together (ie, had people vote on) as the bottom 100 films -- that is, the 100 worst films.

I find comfort in the fact that I've only seen a few of them: Baby Geniuses (#23), Super Mario Bros (#84), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#90), and Leprechaun (#96).

That's not bad. And see, most of them are in the bottom quarter...

Notice the link on the side, there? Yes, yes, that one. The Volokh Conspiracy, a legal/political weblog, and one of the few that I read pretty regularly (the rest I save for special occasions...?). I was skimming the entries, and then started skipping around the webpages of the folks who post there and was duely impressed by most of them...

...and mostly by Sasha Volokh's, because, well, check out his lit page. Translations of Pushkin? Le sigh!

Well I'll be.


Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From Rum and Monkey.

Or...or maybe I won't.

Started working on my religion and politics paper last night and came to a dead stop. I really hadn't the slightest clue where to begin -- mainly because I've had trouble with the readings we've done most recently and have had trouble figuring out just how it all fit into reality...some really out-there stuff.

So I went in to talk to the prof about it today -- they're awfully valuable resources, those profs, chock-full of good ideas and whatnot -- and came out thinking the same thing I always think when I come away from talking about a paper: that is, I knew exactly what I was doing and within 30 minutes had a solid outline that just needs textual support, which I know where and how to find easily enough. Whee! And it was all stuff I'd thought out before, just not in the same way. I knew what I was doing, and where I was going, and I know all about the stuff I'm supposed to know about -- for some reason, it just doesn't click in my head that I do know what I'm supposed to know until I've had a chance to discuss it. Go me?

It's a happy thing, anyway. This evening will likely be devoted to polishing off the outline, and most of tomorrow afternoon will see me writing it. Or maybe Saturday. I really want to get to work on my Con Law paper, but I don't feel I can really do that until I've got this one out of the way. We'll see.

I sat down this afternoon and figured out how much my life will not be pleasant week after next. When I have two exams and three papers to slog through. That's a lot of work. I've got one paper due this coming Monday and an exam the Friday after -- that'd be Latin, for which I ceased studying some weeks ago and am now at least 5 chapters behind in vocabulary. After that, it's BAM BAM BAM! My Religion and Politics exam on Tuesday, a paper on 19th century Russian lit (in Russian -- but not more than five pages long, I don't think) due Wednesday, a 10-15 pager for Con Law AND a Con Law exam (all together, that's 75% of my grade) on Thursday (that's the day after Return of the King comes out, you know) and a paper on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky due Friday morning.

I fly home on Friday afternoon.

It's going to be a long 16 days...long, but not with enough time in the days. Ugh. Classes end next Thursday, though, so I'll have four free days of reading period to prep and write, and then...oh yes, and then....

I'll be alive again on the 20th. Hopefully.

Ah hah! I figured it out.

I mentioned before that I'd read a number of the Hornblower books, and another similar series, but I couldn't remember which...which made me wonder, of course, where I actually had read the O'Brian books but didn't remember.

But I remember now. Go me!

It was Alexander Kent's Bolitho novels that I'd read a few of. Not all -- not by a long shot. Maybe four or five, though. I think. It's been quite some time since I picked up those kinds of books (except this summer, when I read Commodore Hornblower mainly, I think, because Hornblower sailed around the Baltic and all the way to St. Petersburg...yeah).

That's awfully settling. Really drives me up the wall when I'm trying to remember something and can't for the life of me.

Woo! Tonight and tomorrow, A&E will be showing two new Horatio Hornblower movies!!!

That warrants three exclamation points, I think. Or maybe four. ! There.

I will be taping them for a poor friend who has a chem exam tomorrow or Thursday (making it hard to watch, as chem and Horatio Hornblower don't mix). Maybe I'll even watch them while I'm taping them. What a novel idea....

First Master and Commander, and now two new Hornblower movies? Aren't those ships just beautiful?

...sigh!...

Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.

My roommate claims that this is further proof that Canada is taking over the world.

Happy Tuesday!

Odd thing happened last night when I got home. I hopped over to the other room to say hi to my friends, and one of the guys we hang out with was over there. He and I share a mailbox in the Union -- thus, he's the infamous "boxmate" that everyone has and whose mail we all try not to read or even look at in some cases.

It occasionally happens that he doesn't check his mail for days at a time, and I'll start threatening to pick it up for him and courier it up to his room -- except that'd be far too much effort on my part just to get the box empty so I don't keep having my hopes lifted every time I walk past and see something in it...

Funny thing is, when I talked to him last night, he started complaining about how much mail I had that I hadn't checked (of course, I'd been out of town, and that's understandable)...which is funny, because it's always the other way around. I was touched that he cared? ;)

So I checked my mail this afternoon, and lo and behold, I had a little blue card! That's exciting. Everyone wants the blue cards, because they mean a package is waiting for you. Then again, it's always a letdown when your boxmate gets one, because then there's the hopes going up and getting let down. I've finally concluded that the main reason I buy all the books I do is that I just like getting packages, or even the anticipation of getting a package. I ordered O'Brian's Master and Commander last night.

But I had a package! And the blue card had my name on it! And underneath my name, where there's usually a description of what the package looks like, it said:

XMass gift!

Yes, the exclamation mark was included. How exciting! My friends laughed to see it, and when I presented it at the window for the postal people to get it for me, sure enough, they brought back a long flat thing wrapped in red and snowmen. How fun!

No surprise in it, of course. It's tradition in my family for all the kids to have a chocolate advent calendar to count down the days 'til Christmas, and my mom, in her wonderful thoughtfulness, had sent me mine. Yay! Which means I got to eat two chocolates today! And Suzye wrote out the addresses (it said on it in a box: written by Suzye) -- thanks Sue!

After a long and somewhat tedious class on the implications of the Casey decision and the question of whether the Court is overstepping its authority and building up the precedent and moving on toward Thursday's discussion of the recent Lawrence v. Texas decision (the Texas sodomy case)....ergh...a long class...

After that, my "XMass gift!" was definitely exciting, and two whole chocolates -- excellent!

Now, on to Tolstoy...

Red Sox, Yankees step up arms race

I love this headline...wonderful headline...!

Tired tired tired tired tired tired tired tired, etc.

Why? you ask...

Heh.

Yesterday afternoon, we left at 2:15 to drive to a movie theater an hour away to catch the 3:15 showing of Master and Commander. We arrived at the theater at...

...yeah, 5:00. Massive backup because of some sort of accident or another. It was a looooong drive. We had dinner instead and then saw the 7:00 show. I was very tired already at that point, and had trouble keeping my eyes open during the previews -- yes, even during the Return of the King preview! -- but when the movie came on, that went away entirely.

Excellent, excellent, excellent film...! Well. I liked it. Lots. It was pointed out, however, that a lot of the movie is kinda difficult to understand. Which is understandable, actually. There's a lot of loud noises and storms and battles and everything, and they're speaking early 19th century English, and not only that, but speaking early 19th century English ship jargon. I didn't have too much of a problem with it, but I've read my share of C.S. Forester's Hornblower books (indeed, most of them, and most recently Commodore Hornblower this summer, in which the Commodore takes a fleet of ships to visit the Russians).

I've never read any of Patrick O'Brian's books -- I don't think I have, at least, though after a while those tall ship books about the English navy all seem to blend together -- but I have read a number by another author whose name escapes me at the moment...

Anyway. If you're not familiar with that sort of stuff, it's possible to get lost. At the same time, it's all happening there on the screen, and it's not terribly difficult to extrapolate what something means. You may miss out some subtlety (heaven knows, I probably did too), but I don't think it should ruin the movie. 'Cos I liked it. Lots. And the soundtrack. I liked the way it switched between the action sequences and the violin and other-stringed-instrument (forgive me -- I'm not up on which is what) jam sessions. Good stuff.

So, yes. Tired.

And then I got up at 4:30 this morning (CST) and got into my dorm at 7:45 (EST) and travelled/sat around in Boston the whole time. Got a lot of reading done (have finished all the reading through the end of the semester for my Russian classes...!), and made a fair amount of progress on the cross stitch I'm working on.

And now...now...now it may be bed time...