I felt like I was in London this morning.

The new machines take your Charlie and then -- assuming you have money left on it -- spit it back at you.

South Station implemented CharlieTicket effective this morning, so they rerouted everyone to the new machines. I really hope I'm not running late coming home tonight 'cause I used to know exactly which Red Line car to get on to get out at the most effective spot in South Station, but to try to figure that out for this new location exceeds the limits of my spatial reasoning, memory, and sense of direction. (Obviously I'll figure it out -- figuring out my previous most effective return route took time, too -- I just don't expect to be able to figure it out without actual trial&error.)

Edit after coming home: Oops. My inability to spatialize might have been related to the fact that I don't go through any turnstiles coming back in my efficient system. (I used to come up through the now-cordoned-off turnstiles, but in my efficient system I come out in between the two sets.)
/edit

(Also: SmoothieGuy was back in Harvard Square this morning. OlderSmoothieGuy this time. And it didn't look like he had any fruit. We shall see.)

notes

1. I keep completely forgetting to mention Eric on Friday.
He came over to help me do some Course Platform stuff (RA was out sick, remember?) and then Prof.D. came by to go over some stuff with me, so while he was sitting at my desk he took it upon himself to rename all the course dates (there had been a couple of changes, so the numbering didn't all line up).  He's so obnoxious and lazy that it's easy to forget that he really is sweet, thoughtful, and hardworking.

2. When I left work today, there were 6 motorcycles parked in front of Baker Library.

3. My inability to spatialize might have been related to the fact that I don't go through any turnstiles coming back in my efficient system.  (I used to come up through the now-cordoned-off turnstiles, but in my efficient system I come out in between the two sets.)

CSI rerun: "Chasing the Bus" (2.18)

twiztv.com transcript

( Read more... )

CSI rerun: "Stalker" (2.19)

twiztv.com transcript

From the opening scene I knew I'd seen this episode before, but I couldn't remember much at all about it, though some bits jogged my memory some as the episode went along.

( Read more... )

CSI rerun: "4 x 4" (5.19)

twiztv.com transcript

( Read more... )

unpopular Oscar opinions

Yeah, getting the results+commentary from Teh Internet the next day.

Of the 5 Best Picture nominations (listed below) I've only seen 2 (asterisked) and wasn't taken with either of them.

BEST PICTURE
* BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
* CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

Highlights from the flist:

[Reminder: See the Subject of this post?  Read linked pieces at your own risk.]

the_red_shoes is smart.

hedy reiterates her problems with lauding Brokeback Mountain as a gay movie.  (In the comments, lilithchilde counters: "I think it was a movie about the tragedy of the closet, personally. And while I understand the reservation about showing the negative side of gay life and history . . . it's real, and it's poignant")

I agree with sineala on Documentary.

sexonastick is snarky about Brokeback Mountain etcetera.


And hopping over to InstaPundit gets me a couple links -- the first of which reminds me that marauderthesn has complaints about Clooney's speech (scroll past a lot of other complaints for that one) and the second of which reminds me that whedonesque is having a Who Got Snubbed? A Shout-outathon thread which was helpful to me in reminding me which other movies came out last year.


I'm still working on coming up with an articulate response to the "out of touch" speech.

Larry Summers/Harvard

My dad sent me this interesting article [now behind registration lock, but I can c&p if anyone really wants it], and in wandering blogs I saw a couple other complaints about Summers bowing to pressure from the faculty.  [Stanley Kurtz & Pat Sanity]  (And yes I'm sure there are scads of such pieces.  And this is mostly to preserve the links for my own future reference.)

[Lent: day 6/40]

Psalm 22

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
      Why are you so far from saving me,
      so far from the words of my groaning?

² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
      by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
      you are the praise of Israel. <sup>[Or  Yet you are holy, / enthroned on the praises of Israel]

4</sup> In you our fathers put their trust;
      they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
      in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
      scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷ All who see me mock me;
      they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

⁸ "He trusts in the LORD;
      let the LORD rescue him.
      Let him deliver him,
      since he delights in him."

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
      you made me trust in you
      even at my mother's breast.

¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
      from my mother's womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
      for trouble is near
      and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
      strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey
      open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
      and all my bones are out of joint.
      My heart has turned to wax;
      it has melted away within me.

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
      and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
      you lay me  ^{[Or  / I am laid]} in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;
      a band of evil men has encircled me,
      they have pierced  ^{[Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts  / like the lion,]} my hands and my feet.

¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
      people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
      and cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹ But you, O LORD, be not far off;
      O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
      my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
      save  ^{[Or  / you have heard]} me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers;
      in the congregation I will praise you.

²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him!
      All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
      Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained
      the suffering of the afflicted one;
      he has not hidden his face from him
      but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
      before those who fear you  ^{[Hebrew  him]} will I fulfill my vows.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
      they who seek the LORD will praise him—
      may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth
      will remember and turn to the LORD,
      and all the families of the nations
      will bow down before him,

²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
      and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
      all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
      those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
      future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness
      to a people yet unborn—
      for he has done it.

Source: biblegateway.com, NIV