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“een vrijwilliger?”

Such were the immortal words of my Dutch teacher when prompting us to hazard, more often than not, a guess at what the answer to some question was. The translation would be “a free-will-er”, or a volunteer. My work recently sent out an email letting us know about a volunteer opportunity that I thought was pretty interesting:

Urban Roots, a program of Youth Launch, has a one acre garden in Austin that is worked by 15 middle and high school students in the Austin area. The food that is grown in the garden is donated to five Austin area hunger relief agencies. Left over produce is sold at a farm stand in East Austin, which is operated by the students. The mission of Urban Roots is:

• Making fresh food available to East Austin residents
• Learning the importance of eating locally
• Learning the importance of sustainable agriculture

Three volunteers from Cisco helped out at the Hands of the Earth farm on Saturday morning (May 10). Fortunately, the clouds gave us a much needed break from the hot sun. Upon arrival we were given nametags and then we all formed a circle and did a few team building exercises to break the ice and wake up. Then we divided into four different groups, each with two interns as team leads. We harvested beets, onions, and collards; washed produce at the washing stations; laid onions out in tent to await washing/distribution (lots and lots of onions!); used a hula-hoe (great piece of gear!) to weed in between plant rows; covered rows of squash with material to keep out the squash bugs; hand-weeded; and planted seeds for various new crops. It was work, but the time flew by!

Wow, talk about the nexus of so many Obamanian virtues: team-building, waking-up, sustainable farming, urban development through economic stimulation ( actually, a Reaganite virtue ), thinking of the children, eating locally, local produce, multiplier effect of money in local economies, East Austin, getting outside, etc.

So, my lady and I are going to be out there on June 14th at oh-nine-thirty in the morning.

Weird to think that I think of a certain presidential candidate as representing a set of virtues versus being, himself, and icon of vice. The O-Koolaid is good.

Yes, that title is from a Radiohead song, which is meant to say that I saw their brilliant performance last week at the (mouthful) Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion in Houston. I should write at length on the matter, but really, what is there to say about the act? You can find the setlist at ateaseweb.

1. They were punctual
2. They played two encores, which, is light of point #1, supra seems a bit indulgent
3. They were professional
4. They are English
5. They did not engage in mindless banter (“Hello HOUSTON, we’re Radiohead from the UK!”)
6. They did have a very well put together light show.
7. They are, in my estimation, likely to be the band, who like the Beatles, retains an interest in the hearts of the next generation

Come to think of it, those last two points are worth discussing.

The light show was terrific with a wide screen divided into 5 sections. In each section was a camera filming a band member or an activity. During certain songs, other light effects were overlain on the screen. They reminded me of some of the more experimental drawn-on-film animation that emerged in the early 20th century as part of the futurist or modernsist movements. Around and before the band hung tubing that contained lights that would vibrate with light in tune with the music.

SMercury98 on Flickr

The most powerful moment is when Thom sat at the piano and mugged it up, lazy-eyed and proud of it, while performing “You and What Army”: “Come on, Come on / Holy Roman empire”

inourhands on Flickr

About the time I discovered that my parents’ generation had some stunning achievements in Music, I realized that thanks to the technology and fidelity of music technology of their day, and all days subsequent, music is now able to last, effectively forever. unlike acetone or wax recordings that degrade exponentially, the LP and the CD and now the MP3 are all, effectively indelible. Therefore generations of the future will be able to evaluate the musical tastes of the preceding generations in a way that has never before been seen.

I ask myself, what is the music that they will like of my generation. I can say that I think few songs are as sweet as the Allmans’ “Melissa” and there is the de rigeur appreciation of the Beatles and the Stones. So the question again returns, what if mine is worth paying attention to. I had always suspected that it was Nirvana that would make it across the inter-generational void, but now I don’t think so. I think that Nirvana will remain perpetually stuck in a formaldehyde bath ( I’m looking at you 101X ), and, to be fair, it just doesn’t seem as relevant now. In the sense that every band today owes their life to Nirvana, yes they seem relevant, but whose mood, whose words, whose lyrics are timeless?

In the years since I heard “The Bends” and “OK, Computer” their messages have grown more potent. I think, now, Radiohead will be the ones that transcend. I remember one day walking down a street in Holland and I checked out the newsstand and saw that some British music press mag asserted in their list of the top 50 British albums ever that Radiohead’s “OK, Computer” was atop the White Album, “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”, T. Rex’s “The Slider” and I thought it was pure anathema. Well, I’m still not sure if it’s #1, but it’s definitely in the top 5. I hope that some day I’ll be able to say…

Me: “Wow, huh, that was from Radiohead’s “In Ranbows” right? Funny thing, that was a record they released on the internet first.”
Disbelieving Kids: First compared to what?
Me: Uh, nevermind. Yeah, we went and saw them live.
Disbelieving Kids: You (you tragic old dinosaur) saw Radiohead…live?

the raging post-midnight thunderstorm.

By John Curtis

The rain in the bay is a weak ænemic nutritive water that falls from the sky.

Give to me Texas’ raging thunderstorm whose lightning lights your bedroom in a flickering flash of white like a stark flashbulb before yielding to the growl of a bear that shakes your windowpanes, roof, and door before leaving you in awe, aurally drowning in the sound of rushing water.

Give me double-flash strikes of electrical fury you hear - for a split second as it mutes the electrical humming apparatus of your home.

…and the fajitas.

I am a white person. One things that white people like is grammar.

Here’s something that bothers the hell out of white-people who love grammar:

When discussing non-specific nouns (“water”, “information”, “love”), the correct term to denote a comparative minor is “less”. When discussing things of a countable nature (“wrinkles”, “cigarettes”, “dancing bears”), one should use “fewer”.

So, let me ask, can wrinkles be counted? Oil of Olay ads lead me to believe yes, ergo the proper use is fewer, not less.

Philistines.

When I was in high school, I remember seeing this copy of The Stranger and being immediately blown away by the absolute weirdness of this stage troupe.

Aside: Does anyone know what group this is, who took the photo, what it’s about? I think it’s the Bantam edition.

I then proceeded to check the book out and I honestly can say I didn’t understand Mersault ( does anyone? ) and having read the book at least twice more and once in its native language, I’m still completely baffled by Mersault, his motivations, his identity. Mersault’s wedding plan, Mersault’s bliss over tablets of chocolate and cigarettes, his deadly flat attitude towards marriage, and ultimately his dispassionate choices standing on the sand.

As far as existential icons I prefer the doctor from The Plauge or Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment but there’s something about Mersault that haunts me - and it may be something to do with this cover.

Today I took my Latin II final which represents a substantial weight off of my shoulders. It’s weird not to have the nagging sense that somewhere, somehow, i should really be reciting conjugational or declensional paradigms.

My efficient professor offered to grade it there on the spot and I walked out knowing that I got 97 points on it. Not too shabby. That locked me an “A” in the class.

I celebrated with a pho meal and trip to Target with my beautiful girlfriend.

Brian Blessed, scenery not being chewed

Last night instead of cramming, we watched the 1976 mini-series “I, Claudius” — it was at least in the Latin vein. Major cool part: Vultan from “Flash Gordon”, Brian Blessed, playing a (to my mind, rather portly) Augustus. Primus inter pares needs to be primus intering the gym.

I say, upholding the customs of the elders is paramount!

Tonight I hope to relax a bit and head to bed early.

Or maybe enjoying a tender family moment with Ming:

“with a mighty flash” indeed…

A while back I posted my concerns about how SXSW’s programming was a bit off this last year, to my taste. I definitely felt a lack of technical content, felt a lack of intellectual take-aways, etc. I expressed my concerns in the feedback and “Katie” replied thus:

i’m sorry to hear that you did not enjoy the panels overall. we feel like we spend a lot of time helping speakers to prepare for the event and certainly do not encourage the speakers to be “free form” and “spontaneous,” but rather well-prepared and focused. can you please give me more specifics on which panels that you went to and which speakers you felt were not sufficiently prepared? this helps us to know which speakers to invite back next year (and which not to invite).

we have talked a lot in recent years about organizing the panels around specific tracks, like you mentioned. the main reason we have not moved to this system is that we want to retain the flexibility to put what we think will be the most popular panels in the largest rooms. if we have tracks, we lose some of this flexibility. how do we determine which panels are likely to be the most popular? we pull this info from the survey that we send to pre-registered attendees in february. in the program book, each panel was given a rating based on the knowledge level - i.e. beginner to advanced. were you able to make use of these ratings to help better determine which panels you attended? if you have panel ideas, please submit to the online panel picker starting june 2.

I’ve been pretty quiet of late because I’ve been trying to get ready for this year’s review season at work and because I have a very sick application ( as in, it is on a server with an indeterminate and short lifespan ) that I’m trying to clone on new hardware with an interface facelift and move to a new standard of Perl.

Additionally, I have my Latin II final tomorrow.

Probably won’t be much action here until I get the finals behind me and some writing done.