photo update. photos from brussels and ireland are now online at my online photo album if you are interested. had to take down all of the ones from edinburgh but i figured that they've been up long enough anyway. hope you like them...
blog news. as soon as blogger fixes their issues [audience: yeah, right!] i will have additional members posting on this blog. sort of a coming-soon attraction, i suppose. will let you know when that happens.
guest post...ish. lauren, in one of her comments, asks an interesting question:
can anyone tell me how scottish people are viewed in america? im interested now..or are there not enough scottish tourists to make any impact? hmmm, i bet we are all seen as whisky drinking, kilt wearing nutters! (that is the way that we are portrayed in england and they can ACTUALLY see us just by looking over the border!)
5 things i learned yesterday: 1. peach juice spilled on the carpet makes the room smell like fresh peaches... for about 5 minutes. then it smells like 'old-peach-juice-in-carpet'.
2. there are many people in this world who care much more about whether post-soviet political parties are programmatic or oppositional than i do.
3. burning incense at night makes your room smell like a fireplace in the morning.
4. when offering someone the choice between 'good' antiseptic wipes and 'really crappy' antiseptic wipes, he or she will undoubtedly choose the 'good' ones.
5. 'slap the kiwi' is *not* a euphemism for masturbate, actually.
soon to be added to school curriculums everywhere. so i turned on the tv in anticipation of a movie this evening, and caught the tail-end of a gardening show, where the gardening hosts excited announced that starting this sunday, 27 april, the u.k., u.s. and canada will all be celebrating international compost awareness week.
right. so i know that the most interesting blogs out right now are warblogs, whether leftie or right-wing, and rest assured this blog will not be turning into that. not that i'd mind the exposure - attention is fun - but i'm not in my flat enough times out of the day to keep up, nor do i want to feel obligated to post something every day. i'd rather think for a few days and then write something somewhat profound/funny/&c.
not that i will succeed.
nietzsche on reading [reading his writing, that is]. i suppose this has something to do with reading weblogs, but who knows. maybe if nietzsche has a weblog it would. [aside: what if nietzsche had a weblog? would it be written in a 'post'-type format, which is suprisingly close to the aphorism, or would nietzsche be compelled to share his thoughts in an alternate format? i wonder what the hell he'd have to say on it...] anyway, thought i'd post it for shits and giggles, if anyone reads it and feels like saying something about it feel free to do so, this is my thing so i love chatting about it...
nietzsche on 'ruminative' reading 'ruminating' reading, if you will, has an element of true pondering and reflecting upon the text at hand, and of course this reflection takes a new direction when the object is nietzsche's writings. he says numerous times - in _beyond good and evil_, _gay science_, and elsewhere - that he is intentionally writing to be difficult to understand. i take this to mean something fairly straightforward - a 'true' or deeper understanding of the profundity of nietzsche's writings requires a slow, reflective, and deliberate approach to reading (as opposed to, for example, modern man's emphasis on efficiency and productivity, even in reading). and, what's more, in beyond good and evil (sec. 192) he writes that "to hear something new is hard and painful for the ear" and goes on to apply this to reading. this, i think, is illuminative concerning questions about profound wounding and profound delight. of course nietzsche believes, and i believe him as well, that his writings are significantly new and therefore quite destructive to modern man's (i.e. the herd man's) perspective. modern man has the tendency to apply things to his knowledge in such a way as to categorize them (think efficiency again). modern man is also quite comfortable in his mental world of easy categories and little discomfort. nietzsche adds to this that modern man never truly *understands* what he reads because of these tendencies. a reader who is able to honestly 'read' his writings will be a reader who is also undoubtedly shocked and hurt by what nietzsche has to say. this same reader, however, according to nietzsche, will also realize what vast possibility for "profound delight" there is out in the world. this idea reminds us of what nietzsche says over and over again - that experiencing profound suffering is necessary in order to experience profound delight and joy in the world.
Coalition Seeks to Handle Chaos in Iraq (AP, April 11, 2003; 5:08 PM)
Weapons Cache for Saddam's Son Odai Found (AP, April 11, 2003; 5:03 PM)
Yemenis Hunt for USS Cole Case Suspects (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:56 PM)
Iraqis Who Fled Fighting May Be Near Iran (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:55 PM)
Quick Questions and Answers on the War (AP, April 11, 2003; 5:02 PM)
U.S.-Led Forces Expand Control Over Iraq (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:59 PM)
Yemenis Hunt for USS Cole Case Suspects (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:56 PM)
Yemenis Hunt for USS Cole Case Suspects (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:56 PM)
Iraqis Who Fled Fighting May Be Near Iran (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:55 PM)
N. Iraqi City of Mosul Sees Looting Chaos (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:42 PM)
N. Iraqi City of Mosul Sees Looting Chaos (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:42 PM)
Hat Band From Titanic Sells for $53,000 (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:44 PM) N. Iraqi City of Mosul Sees Looting Chaos (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:42 PM)
Baghdad Suffering Endures Amid War's Fate (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:37 PM)
Baghdad Suffering Endures Amid War's Fate (AP, April 11, 2003; 4:38 PM)
language. i'm very nearly finished with one essay, so i figured i'd procrastinate for a little bit. i'm currently reading me talk pretty one day by david sedaris [think of an older, more homosexual, less inclined-to-use-the-novel-form dave eggers], who has something interesting to say about americans that i *completely* agree with:
It's something I hadn't noticed until leaving home, but we are a loud people. The trumpeting elephants of the human race. Questions, observations, the locations of blisters and rashes - everything is delivered as though it were an announcement.
i moan and complain about americans constantly, and this is part of the reason. when i got to scotland this revelation hit me, and slapped me in the face once again when i went to russia. don't get me wrong - i'm not renouncing my american citizenship, and there are PLENTY of things that america has gotten right. it's just that most of the americans i notice abroad - probably due to their loud voices, though they most likely represent the minority of american travellers - don't seem to be able to handle themselves in a setting where they aren't surrounded by their fellow nationals. it's not about the 'when in rome' malarky: there's no need to change your entire existence to match the host culture, only a sensitivity to that culture such that you don't stick out like a sore thumb. in truth, it's not even about being a sore thumb. just a little blending of self and surroundings is all.
speaking of language, right now i'm listening to a danish classical radio webcast. every so often, as is normal with radio shows, the hosts will speak about one thing or another between pieces. when this happens, i feel like the swedish chef is speaking right to me though the computer [i know i'm being extremely generalistic about foreign languages coming from the general north europe-scandinavia area, but i must confess i'd never be able to tell the difference in the first place]. definitely odd. to add to that oddness, the piece - 'piece' - playing right now is this all-strings composition, i suppose it's supposed to be one of those musical stories with characters and a plot and such, and it seems to like that tonal range right below 'dog-whistle'. i'm trying to wait it out in the hopes that it will be short and i'll be able to concentrate once again on finishing up my essay without musical knives piercing through my brain, but i feel like i want to rip my ears off right now.
ok ok, one post and i'll get to work on the essays. via the insolvent republic of blogistan, secretary donald "dr. ruth" rumsfeld:
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: My husband and I have an active love life, and I'm generally satisfied, but sometimes I'd like him to go "down there." —Kate Waterman, Enid, Oklahoma
Secretary Rumsfeld: Down where? I'm here to answer legitimate questions about sex in a frank and candid way, but I'm not doing this just to waste my time. Do you mean your belly button? Your knees? Your toes? Boca Raton? Argentina?
p.s.: should be adding some changes to the site when i get the chance - like blogs i read [especially for counterbiased war info], maybe a bio or something, and links to posts from the past that you might still be interested in. it's all a secret plot to increase readership. we'll see if it works...
nyah nyah. even the u.s. military dolphin thinks this war is a bad idea. who said animals have no formal conscious mind?
**update: he came back. complete with shark attack scars. i bet he, peace-loving dolphin that he is, tried to defect, and the sharks [read: hawks] just wouldn't hear of it.
I WIN! I TOTALLY WIN!!! guess who made it onto dave barry's webpage? ME!!! that's who! check out the reference here. and it's only the second time i've tried!
i am the coolest person on the planet. and no, this is not an april fool's day joke.
**update - the archive appears not to be working, so go to dave's webpage [davebarry.blogspot.com] and look for the entries for april 1
