a thaumaturgical compendium

Sometime last month, I thought about posting a snapshot of my most-listened to albums from last.fm. I took the picture, and it sat on my desktop for a month. Then, a similar picture showed up on plasticbag—well, more exactly on its feed. The actual posting has disappeared. So, rather than being derivative, I guess I am being reiterative. Here’s what I was listening to last week.

PS: For many, many years, I said “alblums,” and it became a habit that it was really hard to break, so I just avoided saying it. You know: easier to say “CD” or something. Had the same problem with pint, though I think I’ve got that down now. There are probably a dozen other words I can’t say, and just don’t know I’m getting them wrong. I guess I’ll just have to stop talking to people.

At the Thai restaurant last night, what appeared to be a father and his two high-school-aged daughters were sitting behind me.

Father: Yep. You have to try a Mongolian restaurant some time. They have a giant wok, and everyone has to make their own food.
Girl 1: Can’t you just order stuff?
Father: No, everyone has to make their own food. It’s just the Mongolian way, I guess. You know who the most famous Mongolian was, right?
Girl 1: Genghis Khan?
Father: No, someone even more famous.
Girl 2: Um… Kublai Khan?
Father: No, both were famous Mongolians. But I am thinking about one much more famous. It’s tricky, because there is no “Khan.” It’s something the “H.”
Girl 1: Uhhh…
Girl 2: Attila the…
Father: That’s right, Attila the…?
Girl 2: Hun?
Father: Right. “Hun” is just another way of saying “Mongolian.” He sacked Rome. Did you know that?
Girl 1: Really?
Father: Amazing, isn’t it: these guys rode horses all the way across a continent from China and then managed to take over Rome.
Girl 2: Then what happened to them.
Father: I don’t know. I guess they just kind of dissapeared.
Girl 2: Huh.
Father: They were giants, though. Huge. Like all of them were way over six feet tall.
Girl 2. Huh…

A long pause followed during which I felt both guilty for eavesdropping and somehow sad.

This is clearly a pitch aimed directly at me. I love dogs. I love judo. So, how can I hate judo-playing dogs?

You know, like Star Search. I’ve been pretty happy with my cheap-but-reliable hosting company, ICDSoft. But their service has not scaled with my traffic. I am going to have to move up in plans with them, but frankly, they seem slow. I haven’t really surveyed, and no doubt I could have a faster loading design (in all my spare time), but for now, I am considering moving.

I need: MySQL, all the “P” languages, demonstrated uptime, a gig of space, speediness. And it all needs to be really, really cheap. My primary target is Dreamhost. Does anyone have horrible stories about Dreamhost?

(Oh, do you love Dreamhost? I guess I might kinda-care. But given the aggressiveness of their affiliate program, it’s only kinda. As in: If-I-already-know-you-and-don’t-think-you-are-just-referring-them-for-a-buck kinda caring. On the other hand, I trust horror stories from just about anyone…)

Ah, porn and blogs: two things worth blocking. At least that’s what the city of Cincinnati thinks, having set up blocks to stop employees from surfing porn and blogs:

A few police detectives have unlimited Internet access to investigate crimes and set up stings in chat rooms. Last week, the program started blocking personal Web diaries known as “blogs.” But the mayor’s spokesman got permission to look at two blogs specific to Cincinnati news and issues.

I had a conversation with a visiting researcher today, who noted the early 19th century newspaper on my desk and said that he thought it was really worth reading contemporaneous newspapers because you got a lot better feeling for what it might have been like to live through events, before they became “history.”

In retrospect, it is very difficult to understand how Americans could have been so complacent when their government decided to do something as clearly unjust as imprisoning Americans of a particular heritage. It can be difficult to know how we will look back on the last few years. I have a feeling we will have a hard time explaining things like the Patriot Act. At least I hope we will, and that it will be relegated sometime soon to the dustbin of history.

I wonder how we will remember the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales, especially by those who ought to have known better and could have stopped it. I suspect, that will depend a lot on what Gonzales does in his office. If he blunders badly, history will judge those who supported his nomination harshly. I suspect, however, that this will remain a footnote in a very sad chapter in American History textbooks about how fragile the collective American psyche really is, and how easily we are driven to abandon the idea of justice, liberty, and the rule of law.

We often are dismissive of those in public office, especially presidents, who make decisions in order to affect “their legacy.” Sometimes, though, it would clearly be better for us if politicians would play to the history books rather than prey on our petty (and not so petty) fears.

Today was the first day to have simultaneous ASL translation in my class. Got to look up and see 800 eyes looking intently stage-left. I’m clearly going to have to figure out a way to be more animated now.