signalnoise

Ooohh. Which part did you guys go to? I'm actually a fan; not sure I could live in SoCal, but I've enjoyed everywhere I've been there.

Yeah, couldn't resist that one...

I've heard that Knocked Up leans toward the chick flick side a little... what say you?

I agree with you entirely about these books -- not only do they make the same mistake as fundamentalists and reduce religion entirely to articulated beliefs (which may not actually be believed by many people who aren't in official positions or the public eye), but most religions about most things are very rational and pragmatic, as long as you accept their assumptions about the world. And even those are not completely divorced from reality--do we fail to live up to our ideals? Does it make sense that something persists after death if everything else in nature is recycled?

The simple fact is that religious sentiments and activites persist even when blatantly ineffective or counterfactual. It doesn't mean people are irrational, it means people are rationally achieving ends different from their stated ones (e.g., social, as you point out). When a religion stops being an effective and meaningful way of coping in the world, of predicting what kind of shit it will through at you, people change it or leave it. But when it seems to be dead on, it grows, like fundamentalisms are all over the world.

Personally, I don't get it, but it makes me ask, "Why is this so powerful for people?" Not, "Why don't people see how irrationally they're behaving?"

I highly, highly recommend This American Life. It is the only radio show for which I own a t-shirt.

You are, without a doubt, the first and only person I've heard say that. And you live in Chicago? Why in the world would you hate something like NPR?

Oh shit, you don't secretly work for the Bush administration, do you?

Have you ever listened to anything other than the news shows? 'This American Life' or 'Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me?'

parents: they never stop suprising you.

I'll never forget the road trip down from the Central Coast of California when I turned my dad onto Rollins Band. It was very validating to me.

If I had a nickel for every marketable idea I'd ever had I'd be a damned hundred-dollaraire.

I drove by it recently the last time we were in that neighborhood, but I haven't popped in yet.
I'll probably check it out the next time I go to Rotofugi.
You went THERE, right?

My regular comic book store is Brainstorm Comics, over there on North Ave.

Yeah, that's exactly where I'm at now, if not worse. I was trying to read last night, and I kept thinking about some stupid thread. So yeah, it's definitely break time. Hopefully I can get some good reading done...

I hope my own wife has as good a time when she sees them here.

I imagine you're joking...but why on earth would you marry someone who doesn't like fun?

As per usual, my borderline ADHD has prevented me from reading your whole entry. I will say thought, that I've been meaning to check out Havoc for a while

As for why we don't get that same sort of inventiveness and creativity in the movies vs in comics: not only are movies more expensive, they are mass market. By their very nature, comics are niche products. People that read comics are much more invested in them because its not like you and your friends can go down to the corner multiplex and check out 20 different comics along with a packed house. Because you have to kinda work at getting comics in the first place, readers can tend to be more accepting of change. Besides, we've been conditioned to accept the change because most of these stories have been continuously told since before WWII. Change is a constant in the industry, just to stay relevant and fresh. I'm sure if my grand kids are getting new Star Wars movies, they'll look different from A New Hope.

To elaborate:
They tried to shove way too much into the movie and the ending just came off as slapdash and rushed. Also, I've never liked Tobey or Kirstin in the movies, and the fact that Topher Grace and James Franco stole the movie from them just made matters worse.

On the surface, at least. What happened after hours is anybody's guess.

I have a feeling Danza was a pegger.

I was going for Glamor Shots by Deb.

I don't know. I'm glad there was constructive stuff, but I think it's poor form to brutalize a grad student. It doesn't make for better scientists or academicians. It just scares people away.

Sounds like you've got quite a few things to fall back on.

Glad to be back.

"Coffee and Pie, Oh My!"

Nice quote.

Thanks, I will. Not much travel, I'm afraid, but I'm going to be in Germany, so I guess that's something. Once I get there I'll stay put and do research, at least until July.

Classical Text Editor is something that's in heavy use in Medieval Studies. Along with Tuestep, it's one of the two main programs for putting together a critical edition with the attendant apparatus. On the Cusanus edition we used Tuestep (developed in Tuebigen) but CTE was developed by Austrians at the Medieval Center in Wien. It's the better of the two, I think, insofar as you can teach yourself how to use it. With Tuestep you really need a course to learn it.

so you need maps with pie charts & graphs?

Is there any other kind?