The gathering storm in 2010
I got (very appropriately) called out a few days ago for never updating this thing, and honestly, it’s not like I have an excuse. I’m deeply ashamed of myself. After graduating on May 16, I’ve spent the last almost-two weeks pursuing job leads for about two hours every day and then sitting around watching Intervention on demand for the rest of the afternoon. I’ve made remarkable strides in my Super Mario Galaxy game. Walter and I have become pals. And, yeah, I’m on the internet quite a bit.
Sorry to admit this, but Twittering is a lot easier–I can do it on the go, and it appeals to my 140-character attention span. I can also conveniently stalk Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rainn Wilson of The Office, local master of glib James Lileks, and Shaq. And finally, as I said, nothing going on in my life right now is worth more than a Tweet. If you’re a fellow Twit, follow me here: http://twitter.com/nina_h
In local news, medical marijuana advocates are pushing for a ballot item in 2010. After considerable narrowing of the legislation that went through Minnesota’s House and Senate, giving access to terminally ill patients only, then a prompt and entirely predictable veto from Governor Pawlenty, the next option would be to ask the voters directly. Referendums like these are tricky, since a no-vote counts as a “no”–a group needs lots of boots on the ground to get people to not only vote “yes,” but to vote in the first place. Luckily, the national group Marijuana Policy Project seems to have the cash:
Since 2005, the group has spent nearly $900,000 lobbying the Minnesota Legislature with money raised at events like its recent fourth annual Playboy Mansion fundraiser. “While nobody’s drawn up a budget yet, our basic approach is we would spend what’s needed,” said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the group.
The Pioneer Press brings up an interesting secondary dimension of the situation in 2010, drawing parallels between Ventura’s gubernatorial win in 1998 and a constitutional amendment (Article XIII, Sec 12) to ease restrictions on hunting and fishing. Libertarian-minded voters flocked to the polls to keep the government out of their treestands and ended up throwing in for the libertarian-minded candidate. The amendment passed with 72% of the vote–and we got The Body.
It’s an interesting carrot-and-stick theory of voter behavior. Voters may find it a lot easier to go in for one, relatively simple issue rather than attempt to judge and choose gubernatorial candidates baed on a variety of often-complicated issues. But once they’re in the booth, they’re there–why not?
The opposite happened to me when I voted in Ohio in November. I went in to vote for Obama and checked off a couple of referendums along the way. So I suppose it goes both ways.
It’ll be interesting to see whether marriage equality activists apply this thinking to their own actions in Minnesota–and whether their opponents will, too. With our friendly neighbor to the south legalizing gay marriage and Tim Pawlenty making it pretty clear that he’ll strike down any gay-friendly legislative action here at home, I won’t be surprised if activists begin to beat the drums in earnest for a referendum of some sorts in 2010. Of course, a major move on gay marriage will provoke a swift and well-financed opposition campaign.
I guess all we’ll have to do is wait and see how things pan out. Either way, I predict 2010 will be an aggressive political year for Minnesotans.
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Tags: minnesota, personal, politics
Illumination
Hey, Happy Easter, everyone. As Holy Week wraps up, please check out this lovely interview with Rowan LeCompte, the man behind the stained glass windows at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. A notable quote:
I believe in kindness and love. And there are those who say that those are God. I don’t know, but I respect and love kindness and love, and worship them. And if I’m worshipping God, I’m delighted.
Wise words. Enjoy your Sunday.
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Tags: npr, religion
Aimee Mullins is taller than you
I usually have a pretty kneejerk “la dee da” reaction to the idea conference TED–I think a couple lectures with waaay too many buzzwords kind of turned me off of it. But double amputee Aimee Mullins does a great talk on beauty, humanness, and disability, and has some really cool, sculptural prosthetics to show off.
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Tags: video
One of my favorite ultra-nerdy niche blogs, FlowingData, just released this totally sweet post about Nokia’s recent collaboration with a couple of generative artists to promote a new smartphone.
Here’s my beautiful message, synthesized from input to my Macbook’s camera, mic, and an on-site text box. For the record, the input included flailing my hands, a coughing fit (thanks bronchitis), and the text take me home tonight!!!!!. I’m about as artistic as a shoe full of pudding.
In addition to creating beautiful messages, I went to brunch at Salut today, which was excellent. The quest for the perfect Twin Cities brunch destination begins. Salut gets good marks for providing a lot of good food for not a lot of money, a cute atmosphere, and a pretty low-effort location.
But the crowd’s a little, well, Edina, and also I can’t really handle the fact that their website asks you if you’d like to view it in French or English. I mean, I get the whole Francophile aesthetic and I think it’s pretty cute, but good god this is Minnesota, please get over yourself.
Can I Yelp about that?
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Tags: art, restaurants
When my 2nd(ish) grade class went on a field trip to a historic schoolhouse–Cahill School, for local reference, now overlooking Highway 100 from its perch across the street from a Perkins–we learned that its turn-of-the-century students used to heat up potatoes and slip them into their pockets before leaving their homes in the morning.
I have one response to that quaint frontier mindset, and it is heated pants. Marked down from $270 to the low, low price of $121. Forget flying cars; here’s the future we’ve been waiting for.
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Tags: future tense
Springtime tragedy.
I refilled the birdfeeder yesterday.
A bountiful harvest.
Five hours later:
You pigs!
After a fierce windstorm buffeted Gambier last night:
SHIT.
And after poking my head out the window (and arming my little Canon’s ultra-zoom):
Well, that happened.
I’m glad I could find it, at least. That means it isn’t embedded in some poor soul’s skull.
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Tags: dorm life
So, I’m gross. I rubbed my arm today and sent a small flurry of dead skin cells drifting across my desk. Yuck, right? Why am I sharing this? I don’t know, I guess I haven’t read anything interesting lately.
I posted once about how dry and flaky I am, which, troublingly enough, has been the most influential move of my blogging career (two Carmex purchases at press time — they should put me on payroll). So in the interest of continuing my Fannie Mae-esque sway over the personal care market, I’ll recommend another holy grail purchase for lizard people like myself and send those granola-munching assholes at Aveeno into a tailspin. Yeah, that’s right, Aveenists. I’m coming for you.
To begin, I’m a recovering nail-biter, proud to say that I can now regularly open soda cans and scratch bug bites. Of course sometimes I slip up and go on a bender, shredding the hell out of them in moments of extreme boredom or nervousness. As a result, my nails are almost always pretty weak and thin, no matter their length, prone to bending or chipping. This gets exacerbated in wintry conditions, forcing me to clip them (or, more often than not, bite them), which makes my already small fingers look like little cocktail weenies. Also, my hands are always cracking no matter the weather.
In conclusion, I don’t know how I’ve managed to date. But all is not lost for me, for, lo, I have Vaseline Healthy Hand and Nail Conditioning Hand lotion with Keratin and Vitamin E.
Don’t be deterred by the Vaseline label! It’s not uncanny and weird like Vaseline’s flagship product, the tub of 100% petroleum jelly, which has no defining purpose but is somehow always there, lurking inconspicuously on the bureaus and in the medicine cabinets of America. This stuff has a purpose, and that purpose is one of its primary ingredients: keratin. What is keratin? Wikipedia says,
Keratins are a family of fibrous structural proteins; tough and insoluble, they form the hard but nonmineralized structures found in reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals. They are rivaled as biological materials in toughness only by chitin.
In other news, using this lotion is the equivalent of slathering Teflon all over your fingernails. And it shows, especially in the nails. When I use this stuff regularly, my fingernails grow faster and are considerably stronger — strong enough that I am actually deterred from biting them because I am intimidated. And it makes your hands super smooth, too — probably a result of the Vitamin E, which is way less cool. Despite their creepster status, the folks at Vaseline know how to make a good hand lotion. This stuff is the bomb dot com and I definitely recommend picking it up the next time you’re looking to waste a little money in the personal care aisle.
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Queen of the Tundra!!!!!
Too bad about the sparse foliage (compared to last semester, at least), but I can’t really complain. I can see forever!
Filed under: images, personal | 1 Comment
Tags: images, kenyon college
It’s easy to watch this video with a fair amount of trepidation–technological singularity and paradigm shifts, anyone? No? Am I the only one who lies awake at night after reading about this on Wikipedia?
It also reminds me of my own mortality. I’ve come to realize that, no matter how many blogs I follow or gizmo reviews I read, eventually I will become the future incarnation of the old lady who still thinks Laserdisc is the future and needs to call her grandson every time she wants to use the internet box.
This is the holographic projection I’ll have to buy when my kids get me one of those new Worldwide Subconscious Mind Meld Information Generators for CompletelySecularCelebrationofTwinklyLightsandGingerbreadMas. And as I watch it, my hands will curl into gnarled, veiny fists and I’ll shout, hoarsely, “But how do I play Tetris?”
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Tags: future tense, youtube
Recent Entries
- The gathering storm in 2010
- Illumination
- Allow me to waste a minute and a half of your life
- Aimee Mullins is taller than you
- Generative art and delicious brunch
- Why hasn’t someone thought of this before?
- Springtime tragedy.
- Turning demure paws into femme fatale claws with your friends at Vaseline
- Queen of the Tundra!!!!!
- Welcome to the new year; what’s next?
- Inaugural thoughts
