Well, i made it back.

I actually started some homeworky stuff Sunday night, but mostly i'm just in denial.

Emilie successfully found my house, and the-backup-that-would-not-end before we even got to the Mass Pike wasn't too painful (and near the end we drove in the breakdown lane after a few score other people had done it and "beat the system" by taking an exit and then entering back onto the highway farther down allowing us to legitimately travel in the breakdown lane until the traffic let us into a real lane). The accident which had caused the backup, though -- light blue car totally flipped over, everything above dashboard level flattened... wow.

There is much catching up to be done, in many areas.

I think i left my brain out on the highway somewhere.

I don't even know where to begin commenting.

from the March 26, 2003 Newsweek:

Yearly Expenses

Singles, Age 25 to 34........................Men.............Women

average annual expenditures..................$28,925.........$28,267
percentage with their own home...............31%.............28%
percentage who rent..........................69%.............72%
average rent.................................$6,091..........$6,646
food at home.................................$1,405..........$1,278
food away from home..........................$2,351..........$1,709
apparel and services.........................$555............$1,053
percentage who own or lease a vehicle........85%.............80%
gasoline and motor oil.......................$960............$761
vehicle insurance............................$501............$571
vehhicle leasing, rental, license............$577............$534
personal-care products and services..........$247............$494
telephone services...........................$745............$889
entertainment................................$1,625..........$1,203

---

ages 25 to 24
average income (before taxes) of single men: $36,766
average income (before taxes) of single women: $31,640

ages 25 to 34
men with college degrees: 29%
women with college degrees: 33%

catching up

So i read the smithies community friendspage, and it frustrates me to read entries that are so angry but don’t necessarily seem to have much thought behind them. This is a rare thoughtful post. But really, the war is going to be a separate post. (I will link to the amusing Entertainment Weekly take on the French/freedom renaming issue here, though.)


We know Marc Steinberg reads the Jolt, but this is closer to "four kinds of creepy."

Speaking of the Jolt,

smith professor quotes
"I've been teaching here for 28 years, and let me make this perfectly clear: I started teaching when I was twelve."
-Professor Skarda

Also, i don’t watch the Academy Awards, because generally i don’t care, but i want details on this Michael Moore incident. [edited to say yay for /friendsfriends -- Yahoo news report, acceptance speech from Oscar.com, and a backstage comment]


Everyone loves away messages.


I like this post. She talks about how even very literalist Christians don’t apply everything in the Bible to today.

"do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable" (leviticus 18:22). (josh likes to add here that of course one doesn't lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it's a completely different experience! but i don't think that's what moses was talking about.)

...

yup, i'm talking about fundamentalist christians. they say they take the bible literally, but somehow they've managed to skip over major chapters of it. if genesis says that God created the earth in seven discrete 24-hour periods, and if i'm an abomination because a verse of leviticus says so, then why is the rest of leviticus not literally true? why do fundamentalists eat bacon? cut their hair? get big-ass religious tattoos? wear cotton/poly blends? (not just a crime against fashion--a crime against God!) and, more importantly, why are they not sacrificing goats?! i want to see some bloody altars, people! and the bible says that you can sacrifice pigeons if you can't afford goats, and if that's the case, i have a whole new pest control initiative for new york city, and any other interested metropolitan area.

sexonastick says: “It seems that every fandom's been taking their turn at creating snarky icons.”

MY FANDOM eats you starting with your bottom.

I like some of the Harry Potter ones:
“My fandom is full of pedophiles.”
“Our dark-haired hero is better than your dark-haired hero.”
“My fandom thinks I’m a prepubescent slut.”