Santa Clara's drumline does NOT rule

In the world of DCI, the Phantom Regiment does. Literally. They brought their own slaves to the semifinal competition last Thursday, and had them carry the drum major onto the field--when they weren't otherwise abusing them.

All assertions from Cheryl about the superiority of Santa Clara's drumline aside, they placed sixth, along with their overall corps. The DCI theater telecast was great, both in coverage (really good camerawork and sound) and in comfort (A/C, cushy seats.) I had forgotten how entertaining these productions are, with bunches of people who can run--not march, run--around making formations while playing the Waldenstein Sonata in C Major, Movement 1.

Like the Phantom Regiment, who did "Spartacus," most corps' shows had a central theme. My biking nut friend Jamie really enjoyed "Tour de France," with the color guard in full biking attire. Good thing it included helmets, they threw bike wheels at each other.

Other interesting themes--a boxing match, and "The Pursuit of Happiness," (yeah, whatever, people.) One of my favorites was the Cavaliers Samurai theme. They whipped Santa Clara too, check out the Cavalier's Kodo drums in the youtube clip. Hard to compete with that. Poor Santa Clara. Outgunned in the percussion department.

Let the Games Begin! Pt. I

It seems like just yesterday we were making fun of London's orally fixated 2012 Olympic plans, and now it's time for more Olympics---beginning tonight the Chinese host them in Beijing. China I always look forward to the games and am usually more prepared, but they kind of snuck up on me this year. There is a dizzying array of coverage schedules which I can't decode to save my life, so I'm just gonna take it day by day and try to use the VCR for those critical events. One problem is the time difference, most of the events will take place in the middle of the night (our time.) Despite my rabid motivation I'm a bit old to be awake at 3am. And most of the prime time re-broadcasts will be in sports that don't always interest me much, like track and field or basketball. I'd much rather see the little offbeat stuff like archery or badminton.

So, anyone else tuning in? What events are on your must-see list?

Where have all the trees gone?

Into excessive packaging for one stupid pair of earphones. (Note: cat is for comparison purposes only, and was not included in shipping.)

I suppose it's better than this case, where HP used 17 boxes for...a few pages of paper.

My foster cats need dentures and a green card

My sickly cat, Huey (the black one) has had so much trouble with his teeth that the vet recommended just pulling them all out, except his fangs. So I had them yanked out a couple of days ago. He's doing remarkably well, much better than all the humans I know who have had such extensive dental surgery---including me. I guess cats naturally whine less than people. He's resting very comfortably, as you can see.

My other cat Emma (the calico) was undocumented. She finally has some records, so I now don't have to worry that the INS will come take her away. She came with Huey. Both of them arrived under questionable circumstances, which I've sort of pieced together...I think. Their former owner was a kind, but stupid young woman, who had previously adopted them from Lifeline Animal Project. Despite the paperwork which specified she would keep them indoors, Huey ended up with FIV, most likely because he's a male and was bitten in a fight. The girl began asking Lifeline to help her with vet bills, which they did. Eventually she lost her job, moved in with her parents, and was going to keep the cats in an unheated garage over the winter. The shelter manager at Lifeline was apparently fed up, and made her surrender them both. Of course, they needed a schmuck who would foster them, so guess who got the call? I met the girl at the shelter when she brought Emma and Huey in to give them up, so they passed directly to me, which is most likely why Emma had absolutely no paperwork of any kind...vet records, intake forms, nothing. I might as well have picked her up standing out front of a Home Depot.

I did take her in last week for a standard checkup, so now she has her shots and microchip. They also looked at her hip. I thought maybe she had a problem since she limps occasionally. The verdict---she walks funny because she's so fat. I'm always putting out food to encourage Huey to eat and gain weight. Unfortunately Emma never met a can of food she didn't like, so she's pretty darn round. After the green card and the dentures, the next item on my cat list is a kitty treadmill.

So you think I'm a blagger?

Here's a blog of one-entry blogs---if that makes any sense. Most of them are like you'd expect, "so I wuz saiyin 2 my freind, I got the didgits of this hottie from a club, but I losted them cuz my ass-hole brat broher flushed my cell down in the toillett, like, yeh, watevr beeyotch...." stream of consciousness blather.

Occasionally you'll find a blog like billionare.blogspot, launched by a seemingly ambitious (but apparently lazy) Libertarian Objectivist who wants to get rich. I wonder if there's a nicely assembled market here for ADHD drug prescriptions? Maybe that's where billionare.blogspot guy disappeared to.

Top fifteen mobsters who make you say "mmmmm"

15. Danny Arugula

14. fetachini ravioli boyarde

13. patrick the pickle

12. Tony Tater Tots

11. Mr. Ravioli

10. The pancake maker

9. pauly bag of donuts

8. Jimmy the Prawn

7. Tony Carbonara

6. frozen chicken

5. bitch took my cookie

4. dom perig non

3. Al Cappuchino

2. Half pack o certs


......And of course the number one mobster that makes me say mmmmmm....





1.Joey Calamari

Saturday morning flashback

Before the IQ reduction tool of "No Child Left Behind" was created, generation X had its own intellectual minefield to contend with: Saturday morning TV. A bunch of hippie Baby Boomers took over children's programming, with their bongs, roach clips, and windowpanes in tow. H.R. Pufnstuf is a fine example of the result.

On Saturday mornings children could see what happened to little Jimmy and his Magic Flute after they boarded the Magic Ship. In a real bummer of a buzzkill, the evil Wilhelmina W. Witchypoo turns Jimmy onto a bad trip, and he washes up on Living Island. H.R. Pufnstuf, the friendly dragon/Mayor, offers Jimmy refuge from all that crazy sh!# which has suddenly popped into his head. Of course, Living Island is the place where everything is alive and talking---trees, buildings, furniture, bags of extra crunchy 'n hot Cheetoes---they all offer profound insight to little Jimmy. Like, whoa, dude. I think we can all understand what "stuf" was being "pufed" here. So could the smart&$ who posted this alternate version of the intro.

Random information moment

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Cheryl, or possibly Dianne or Laura, I think the whole blog family is tagging each other so it's getting confused. So if you're reading this...you're it.

A meme consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Here are the rules:1) Pick up the nearest book. 2) Open to page 123. 3) Find the fifth sentence. 4) Post the next three sentences. 5) Tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you.

Here's mine. Y'all are going to be sorry, since I'm studying for a final. This is from Biology with Physiology: Life On Earth :

Meanwhile, light rays have also been striking the pigment molecules of photosystem I (step 5 in Fig. 7-7, middle of Fig 7-8). Energy from the light photons is captured by these pigment molecules and funneled to the two reaction center chlorophyll molecules, which then eject high-energy electrons (step 6). These electons jump to the electron transport chain associated with photosystem I (step 7).

This is part of the answer to that nagging question---how do plants generate NADPH? I'm sure y'all are on pins and needles wondering what eventually happens to those high-energy electrons. Don't worry, the textbook goes on to explain they end up retiring to a small Mexican fishing village, where they run a hotel and deep-sea charter fishing service.

The End.

Another sacrifice for the common good

Last year I blogged about this guy, who spent $30 on one month's food. Now a woman has decided to duplicate his experience. From April 10th to May 9th, only a dollar a day, no mooching from co-workers or shoplifting steaks is allowed. She is allowing herself to forage, so her blog has great tips on dandelions as a food source. This could be connected to her resolve wavering after eight days.

The edumacashun wars

If you've been to college, you know the dangers of selecting random professors. Everyone seems to have at least one horror story about a course, and dead center can be found----The Evil Professor !!! Since I'm in a local community two year el-cheapo college, the traditional method of asking around has limits, there's less of a rumor mill. So I turn to the problem solver of the 21st century, the internet. Ratemyprofessors.com allows students to post thoughts about their professors anonymously. It's pretty accurate if you keep a couple of rules in mind. First, posts with atrocious grammar/spelling usually reflect the poster's intelligence. A great number of these posts are negative, presumably in revenge for a deservedly poor grade received by the disgruntled student. Second, posts with details such as "tests for material not covered" are much more valuable. If you can wade through all the ranting, you can find valuable information, and an occasional witty comment that will make you laugh. (My all time favorite: "If you take his class, you'll need a pillow. Your pillow will need a pillow.")

As you might expect, most professors have a contrary view of ratemyprofessors.com. So in response, someone launched a blog, Rate Your Students. I think it started off as a place for venting responses to student posts on what professors call The Site That Is Not To Be Named. Now it's expanded to include tales of archetypal professoring moments like busting insanely stupid plagiarism . Since I sit next to some of these students, I don't find such stories particularly shocking. I hate to sound old, but kids nowadays are something else.

Liberals Are Annoying

Do you ever miss the feeling of being young and knowing everything about everything? Prepare yourself, this young lady has devastating rhetoric for those who may disagree with her political ideas.

Maybe after she's finished getting the world on the right track she'll clean up her room.

I'm so frakkin' excited!

Tonight the fourth (and final) season of Battlestar Galactica begins. I've been squirreled away for the past week, since the Sci-Fi channel has been showing a marathon including every single episode. If you haven't seen it, it's a far cry from the late '70's version, which was basically a ripoff of Star Wars. The original did introduce some fairly interesting ideas for its time, the producer was a Mormon who introduced rather twisted elements of Mormon theology into his product. But let's face it, TV in the 70's was crap, so the original series had its limits.

In the brave new world of the 21st century this Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is a very different animal. Some of the weird Mormon elements have been retained, like a lost tribe of people who long ago separated themselves and left for an unknown place. The basic story is the same...a race of robot-creatures destroy most of humanity, the small group of human survivors flee in spaceships and begin their search for the lost tribe, which has settled on the mythological place called "Earth. " Other elements of the original series are present, the Commander of the Battlestar Galactica is named Adama, his son is a pilot named Apollo, other pilots are named Athena, Starbuck, etc. Before the Cylon destruction they lived on worlds named after their tribes, loose interpretations of our astrological symbols, i.e. Caprica, (Capricorn) Picon, (Pisces) etc.

That's where the comparison ends, as the modern series goes in a whole new direction. The religious element has been expanded, creating two new detailed--and conflicting--religions. The theology of the Cylons is monotheistic, and the humans worship a pantheon of gods. The Cylons are no longer just shiny robots, they've evolved to look exactly like us. This means there are Cylon infiltrators among the humans, some of which are "sleepers" and unaware of their true nature until their real memories are awakened. Humans and Cylons crossbreed. Life is pretty crazy in the BSG space fleet.

Like most great science fiction, BSG uses all these elements to ask hard questions and provide a social commentary. They speculate about what it means to be human, since the evolved Cylons are so similar, some defect to the humans. Of course, some humans then defect to the Cylons. Religion drives conflict, with the Cylons claiming to follow the one true God as they try to wipe out humanity. Humans then pray to the Lords of Kobol before flying into combat to destroy Cylons. Amen.

In contrast to the original series, the humans aren't all good guys, and humanity itself is possibly unworthy to survive. Starbuck, as you can guess by her picture here, is a hard-drinking chick. She occasionally punches her Commanding Officer and is responsible for killing other pilots through dereliction of duty. She isn't the only drinker, the second-in-command is an alcoholic. Humans sleep around, married or not. (sometimes with Cylons, who use sex to lure humans into betrayals. The female cylon models are totally hot. ) They all curse liberally , the word "frack" is equivalent to...well, you can guess. President Laura Roslin orders so many summary executions by tossing people into space, her nickname is "airlock". If she's in a good mood, maybe she'll authorize a kangaroo court, then shove the defendant out the airlock. The Vice President is an ex-terrorist. There is a flourishing black market among the fleet, child prostitution, treason, rigged elections, and other ills of humanity. To top it off the military occasionally shoots rioting civilians. What fun! The music is a great addition and reflects the series. There are lots of percussive sections, interspersed with haunting melodies, and vocals sung in Sanskrit. The entire tone of the series is dark, both thematically and visually. The eight-minute overview, however, is maniacally frakkin' funny.

So, tonight, after more than a year, I hope I'll see 1) why four "human" characters began hearing Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" in their heads just before their hidden Cylon memories were triggered. 2) What happens during the reunion between Starbuck (recently back from the dead) and her husband (recently realized he's a Cylon). Those two kids have a lot to talk about. 3) What will happen to the main human traitor, who is constantly advised by an imaginary Cylon only he can see and hear. 4) What other ancient religious scriptures the President will fulfill, since she's been having religious visions--again.

To make sure nothing interrupted my little three-day obsession, I stockpiled supplies---frozen foods, diet Cherry-Vanilla Dr. Pepper, and pretzels. Food for the cats. And I have plenty of time to make lengthy blog posts while keeping one eye on the TV. Life is good, in an unhealthy sci-fi geek way. It could be worse, I suppose, I could be hooked on World of Warcraft... some of those people never see daylight again.