My Mom thinks Donald Trump is a joke and a racist xenophobe.
The days before the Osama raid, she was telling me about some talk he gave in the South somewhere, where he was dropping a lot of "F-bombs".
"What?", I was like.
"F-bombs," my mom was like.
"What?", I was like.
"F-bombs," my mom was like. "F as in Frank."
"Huh?", I said.
"FUCK," my mom was like, "He said FUCK."
At that I just started laughing, and she realized that I was messing with her, so she hung up on me.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
More thoughts about Osama.
My one lawyer friend from Missouri said that if he had been taken alive, the trial would have been a mess, since no country would want to hold it.
She also said that it would have been very difficult to put together evidence showing he was a mastermind of 9/11, since the most public evidence was of him just *claiming* it.
We had mixed feelings about Osama not being taken alive, and the fact that he had not had a gun (that news had just been released when we were talking).
Later, though, I was thinking that Al Qaeda did a shoe-bombing, so if he wasn't standing stock-still, who the heck knows what could have been happening. It made total sense to shoot him in the head (could he have had bombs on him?).
She also said that it would have been very difficult to put together evidence showing he was a mastermind of 9/11, since the most public evidence was of him just *claiming* it.
We had mixed feelings about Osama not being taken alive, and the fact that he had not had a gun (that news had just been released when we were talking).
Later, though, I was thinking that Al Qaeda did a shoe-bombing, so if he wasn't standing stock-still, who the heck knows what could have been happening. It made total sense to shoot him in the head (could he have had bombs on him?).
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Eating habits: My new dish.
I take out some butter-and-oil-covered spaghetti (I usually keep some in the fridge; it's a good meal for dinner or lunches), put it in a bowl, break an egg over it, poke the yolk up with a knife, and mix the bowl together and stick it in the microwave for a few minutes.
The egg cooks through without exploding and tastes really really good with the pasta. I love it!
The egg cooks through without exploding and tastes really really good with the pasta. I love it!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Another email from another prof...
So at a talk a few weeks ago I brought up a ref in the Q&A period that a prof should look into, since he kept saying in regards to this other ref that it was the "only" one known, since he might qualify that minor point.
Afterwards, I hunted down the text, and as a courtesy, I sent it out to other profs in the room.
But, I linked the Wikipedia page, which contained the passage #s (which I see no harm to, b/c I was just sending them a link to the passage #s, as I said in my email).
This German emeritus prof who I've found to have a good sense of humor sent me an email contextualizing the topic, and then said something about when did university students use Wikipedia anyhow, to which I replied and thanked him for his thoughts, and added that I saw no harm in using Google/Wikipedia as an efficient starting point to find a forgotten passing reference in a book, though of course I wouldn't defend any analyses there.
Anyhow, something in his comments made me realize he might be interested in my Coptic paper, so the next week I sent him this email:
Hi Prof. [his name],
Have you ever studied any Coptic? I have an undergraduate background in historical linguistics, and 5 years ago I happened to recognize a major gap in the spelling and pronunciation of Coptic, which gap I'm trying to fill in my spare time. I'm attaching a revised [regional conference] presentation that tries to make the subject accessible and relevant to historians of Early Christianity. The presentation is based on an article that I just found out will be published in [a European journal] in 2012, but it also anticipates larger methodological critiques that I want to make the subject of a second paper. I would appreciate your thoughts if you get a chance to read this.
Hoping you're well,
[my name]
To which he replied -
Hi, [my name],
Thank you for your offer, but I am persuaded that students should not try to publish papers before they have not completed their degrees. Also, foreign editors are often deceived by students because they automatically assume that they in fact have completed their degrees.
Best greetings,
[his name, 1st, middle initial, and last]
- ?????.
He didn't even look at the paper or seem interested in it! I'm very disappointed in him, he is a good scholar with many insights, but I never expected him to be so close-minded. Perhaps it's his Germanness, because I'm stepping outside the expected hierarchical ordering of everything instead of ascending through the ranks?
He also is getting a bit senile sometimes, so that might be it too - or at least part of it, if I'm looking for a charitable excuse for him.
Afterwards, I hunted down the text, and as a courtesy, I sent it out to other profs in the room.
But, I linked the Wikipedia page, which contained the passage #s (which I see no harm to, b/c I was just sending them a link to the passage #s, as I said in my email).
This German emeritus prof who I've found to have a good sense of humor sent me an email contextualizing the topic, and then said something about when did university students use Wikipedia anyhow, to which I replied and thanked him for his thoughts, and added that I saw no harm in using Google/Wikipedia as an efficient starting point to find a forgotten passing reference in a book, though of course I wouldn't defend any analyses there.
Anyhow, something in his comments made me realize he might be interested in my Coptic paper, so the next week I sent him this email:
Hi Prof. [his name],
Have you ever studied any Coptic? I have an undergraduate background in historical linguistics, and 5 years ago I happened to recognize a major gap in the spelling and pronunciation of Coptic, which gap I'm trying to fill in my spare time. I'm attaching a revised [regional conference] presentation that tries to make the subject accessible and relevant to historians of Early Christianity. The presentation is based on an article that I just found out will be published in [a European journal] in 2012, but it also anticipates larger methodological critiques that I want to make the subject of a second paper. I would appreciate your thoughts if you get a chance to read this.
Hoping you're well,
[my name]
To which he replied -
Hi, [my name],
Thank you for your offer, but I am persuaded that students should not try to publish papers before they have not completed their degrees. Also, foreign editors are often deceived by students because they automatically assume that they in fact have completed their degrees.
Best greetings,
[his name, 1st, middle initial, and last]
- ?????.
He didn't even look at the paper or seem interested in it! I'm very disappointed in him, he is a good scholar with many insights, but I never expected him to be so close-minded. Perhaps it's his Germanness, because I'm stepping outside the expected hierarchical ordering of everything instead of ascending through the ranks?
He also is getting a bit senile sometimes, so that might be it too - or at least part of it, if I'm looking for a charitable excuse for him.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
My language project.
This is an email exchange from almost 5 years ago from the prof who teaches the Coptic dialects class...
I had had the beginnings of some ideas which led into my current paper, and though he never replied to an email, I met him at office hours and then at his recommendation met another (nicer) prof who recommended I ask him again about getting into his class...
This is what I wrote to him:
Hi Professor [his name], This is [my name and program] who met with you about a month ago about taking your winter quarter Coptic dialects class.
Then, he replied -
Dear [my name],
As I said to you in our meeting, my class is explicitly restricted to those who have taken the basic Coptic classes offered by our department. As I told you at that time, the issue is not knowledge of another stage of Egyptian, but a sound knowledge of Coptic that cannot be gained from self-teaching by reading Lambdin or any otehr grammar. All the students in the class will hae learned not only basic grammar, but idioms, lexical history and aspects of textual genres. There can be no opportunity to reteach these in the advanced course designed specifically for the needs of upper-level Egyptology PhD students. You would certainly be welcome in a future class after you have had the obligatory 2 Quarter sequence. Sincerely,
[his name]
It would be funny if my project gets off the ground to the point where he has to re-learn his language or read my papers to teach what he's been teaching.
Isn't that sad that I had some valid ideas I was working through, but he was so close-minded?
I had had the beginnings of some ideas which led into my current paper, and though he never replied to an email, I met him at office hours and then at his recommendation met another (nicer) prof who recommended I ask him again about getting into his class...
This is what I wrote to him:
Hi Professor [his name], This is [my name and program] who met with you about a month ago about taking your winter quarter Coptic dialects class.
As you suggested, I met with [the prof who turned out to be nice] to discuss what I could cover in an independent study with her about the linguistics of Coptic dialects and how this would overlap with or be fed into by your Coptic dialects class you're teaching this upcoming quarter. She thought that my not knowing another stage of Egyptian would not prevent me from benefitting from the course as a whole and thus recommended that I take it, and then after this move into an independent study with her.
Please let me know if this would be possible as I look ahead to winter quarter classes; I would very much like to take your class [blah blah blah]
Thanks,
[my name]
Then, he replied -
Dear [my name],
As I said to you in our meeting, my class is explicitly restricted to those who have taken the basic Coptic classes offered by our department. As I told you at that time, the issue is not knowledge of another stage of Egyptian, but a sound knowledge of Coptic that cannot be gained from self-teaching by reading Lambdin or any otehr grammar. All the students in the class will hae learned not only basic grammar, but idioms, lexical history and aspects of textual genres. There can be no opportunity to reteach these in the advanced course designed specifically for the needs of upper-level Egyptology PhD students. You would certainly be welcome in a future class after you have had the obligatory 2 Quarter sequence. Sincerely,
[his name]
It would be funny if my project gets off the ground to the point where he has to re-learn his language or read my papers to teach what he's been teaching.
Isn't that sad that I had some valid ideas I was working through, but he was so close-minded?
Monday, May 9, 2011
A nice evening at Bar #71.
At bar #70, which I went to after a day of Latin translation for pay with a guy I know from my summer Latin program, we stumbled into a 60th birthday where there was way too much food for everyone - and the guy I know from my summer program happened to know the (white) bartender, who he had taken Logic with their freshman year of college, though they hadn't been in touch!
As it turned out, the bartender got us our 1st round of drinks, and then later we asked if it was okay to get food and it was, so we did - fried chicken, mostaccioili (sp.?), pasta salad, veggies and dip, etc. - and we had that with our 2nd round of drinks.
The bar didn't have a name posted outside, though a (white) woman who worked there said that what looked like an old faded laundromat name on the side of the building was actually the name of the bar.
The bar down the street (=#71) was a Scottish-themed inn with a huge beer selection, tables with very nice chairs, and a live jazz trio + (black) (female) vocalist setting up in the corner... I was meeting my one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams there, and it was the singer's birthday...
The lowpoint of the night:
When me and my one friend from summer Latin went to sit down with my one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams and her friends, it would have been 6 people at a 4-top, and the manager was odd about letting us touch the nice chairs, though they eventually let us scoot tables together.
The highpoints of the night:
1) My one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams *did* deliver a singing telegram, right at the end of the 1st intermission. The (black) (female) vocalist was surprised and just stared, while everyone really got into it, and the pianist and drummer started backing my friend up... The best part is that my friend did a jazz rendition of "Happy Birthday", and at one part she was scatting and like, "A happ- happ- happ- happ-y birthday, a slap slap slap SLAP" (and at that point she slapped her own butt) "-happy birthday... TO YOU....!"
2) The (black) (female) vocalist did this slow croony cover of "Every Breath You Take" that was incredibly, incredibly beautiful. The room was silent. Like I had told a (black) woman sitting at the birthday table after I asked her if the vocalist was a friend or a relative ("A relative," she said), "It must be such a blessing to have such talent in your family, I just wanted to tell you that, I've enjoyed her singing so much."
As it turned out, the bartender got us our 1st round of drinks, and then later we asked if it was okay to get food and it was, so we did - fried chicken, mostaccioili (sp.?), pasta salad, veggies and dip, etc. - and we had that with our 2nd round of drinks.
The bar didn't have a name posted outside, though a (white) woman who worked there said that what looked like an old faded laundromat name on the side of the building was actually the name of the bar.
The bar down the street (=#71) was a Scottish-themed inn with a huge beer selection, tables with very nice chairs, and a live jazz trio + (black) (female) vocalist setting up in the corner... I was meeting my one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams there, and it was the singer's birthday...
The lowpoint of the night:
When me and my one friend from summer Latin went to sit down with my one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams and her friends, it would have been 6 people at a 4-top, and the manager was odd about letting us touch the nice chairs, though they eventually let us scoot tables together.
The highpoints of the night:
1) My one friend who used to deliver singing telegrams *did* deliver a singing telegram, right at the end of the 1st intermission. The (black) (female) vocalist was surprised and just stared, while everyone really got into it, and the pianist and drummer started backing my friend up... The best part is that my friend did a jazz rendition of "Happy Birthday", and at one part she was scatting and like, "A happ- happ- happ- happ-y birthday, a slap slap slap SLAP" (and at that point she slapped her own butt) "-happy birthday... TO YOU....!"
2) The (black) (female) vocalist did this slow croony cover of "Every Breath You Take" that was incredibly, incredibly beautiful. The room was silent. Like I had told a (black) woman sitting at the birthday table after I asked her if the vocalist was a friend or a relative ("A relative," she said), "It must be such a blessing to have such talent in your family, I just wanted to tell you that, I've enjoyed her singing so much."
Sunday, May 8, 2011
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