Electronic civil disobedience and yawns

I had to present my term project in class today. I talked about the impact of information technology on traditional and non-traditional political participation in front of a group of over-worked under-paid graduate students who got really uncomfortable when somebody mentioned in passing that intellectuals and higher education are not that respected in some cultures. I reviewed existing theoretical debates, talked about prevalent views and conceptual frameworks, and made sure I used enough 'cool' terms, such as 'electronic disturbance theater", "hactivism", and "google-bombing" to keep people on their toes... When I realized that one of my best friends, sitting right across the table from me, was literally falling asleep.

I have two working hypotheses. Hypothesis 1: Tree is a fairly good representative of the "graduate-student-at-the-end-of-the-semester" phenomenon. Only god knows how tired and cranky we all are right now. Or Hypothesis 2: Said paper sucks big time and needs to be revised IMMEDIATELY.

I'm kinda thinking...both.

BACK!

I made myself an orange scarf. It has fully functional pockets. You like?



P.S. Dan is totally responsible for all this new stuff happening here! For which I am eternally grateful.

sally's birthday

My friend Sally celebrated her birthday last night. More than a month earlier than her actual birthday. In Bulgaria people never celebrate their birthdays earlier than the actual date. If you do, the ghosts of communist guerrilla soldiers come haunt you in your sleep to the sound of Dead Kennedies' Nazi Punks Fuck Off. Bulgarians are rather superstitious for a nation of atheists who swore off religion as the opiate of the masses more than 50 years ago. I did shiver a little when I first got Sally's invite but then thought to myself that nothing that involves eating Indian food and cup-cakes until you can't pronounce your name could possibly be bad. You can't even imagine the sheer joy that overcame me when I was greeted at the restaurant with a bag of party-favors.





I know, it's the little things.

W-jokes! My favorite!

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident". "OH DEAR GOD NO!!!" George W. Bush exclaims. "That's terrible!!" His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands. Finally, the President, devastated, looks up and asks.........."How many is a Brazillion??!" via |RABBIT|

outback

On football weekends we get major television stations filming the games. I don't care particularly about football although, I must admit, I watched the game with Ohio State on ESPN. I could hear the crowds roar from the stadium so I figured I might as well see what's going on. I never thought I would say that, but I almost wish I was there. Apparently, Sports Illustrated rated Penn State Football Weekend as the "Greatest Show in College Sports". I wish I could say more about experiencing football. My only contribution to the Penn State football craze revolves around taking pictures of the tv-stations' blimp that hovers above the stadium. Here's a couple:





I don't know if you can read it, but it says outback. What the hell does that mean?!