One down, one to go.

Gave a final paper and winged a presentation out of it - was going so well that the teacher stopped me at the end of my time. No more worries in that class, yay!

Another missing link found? The fossil could be of a creature that was in the transition from water to land. Would help fill in a few gaps in the theory. Other scientific news, such as the resutls of studies on climate change, may be having their words changed or deleted by the government. Not sure whether this is "Well, those are still claims, not proven things, so we can't state them as such" or, "You're saying things that are inconvenient to the government, stop saying them."

More involving the government, though - President Bush may have authorized the release of Vaelerie Plame's name. If that's so, then it's another thing that counts on the list of "high crimes and misdemeanors". A full, independent investigation into this administration and all of its people feels warranted enough. Will a lawyer kindly ask and a judge kindly issue such a writ?

Take the following with whatever salt you require to taste. I'm not entirely sure I trust the source on this, so caveat emptor, and think for yourself before you buy any of it. Former head of Star Wars program points the finger at Dick Cheney for 9/11. The article expressed that really, it's the people who ordered drills about planes being flown into buildings the day of that are responsible. You may file it with "whacko conspiracy theories" if you like - or you may keep it as yet more proof of the existence of the conspiracy. For as much as I may try to persuade you here and there, my main focus in profession is that you think. And that you learn. (Learning how to think would be good, too.) More about my opinions after the rest of the news and links.

Perhaps some advice to CS programmers and students, and especially the Microsoft programmers: Code like a girl. Make your code beautiful, elegant, and functional. Make sexy code so that anyone who improves upon it can make it even more beautiful.

For those of you who would rather shoot rubber bands at the girls, however, here's a recipe to make your own rubber bands. Lots of fun for the kids and the kids at heart.

Speaking of the kids, it might be worthwhile to cancel your cable and interact with the world. One does run the risk of being alienated from the pop culture, but if one doesn't particularly care much for the pop culture, then there's no worries there. Experiencing the world is a good thing, most certainly. Also, by going out and doing things one can avoid the health perils of the geek lifestyle, some things that I should probably get to doing.

The Gospel of Judas? Telling another of the many stories of Jesus and his disciples. Seems a little strange that the Christian Foundational Writings reject so much material. Was Tanakh similarly an exclusionary sort of place? There's a lot more material in there than there is in the C.F.W., and they're augmented by things like Mishnah and Talmud. I think I'd like to have been in on the meetings that happened where the canon was chosen. Perhaps, if I needed to, I could bring a cannon and play the 1812 Overture for all of them.

A thought has been rumbling around in my head for a bit, partially inspired by a conversation I had with the Council (sharpsight) about social anxieties that I have. They're still there, and they still exist, but I might have a better idea why now. And strangely enough, it has to do with opinions and learning.

( See how I rationalize this one... )

Week's end.

Well, I have finished all the required components for the presentation Tuesday. They are being reviewed by the impressive, incisive, and reaaaaaaly good editor 2dlife, to whom we give profuse thanks.

Oh, also something that I remember now, that I thought was interesting on Tuesday. For the last several weeks, I've been chatting with a group of protesters, and recently have picked up and held a sign with them that I feel is a worthy cause enough to be holding onto - "Democracy, yes! Theocracy, no!" Tuesday last, we got a couple of people from one of the local high schools (they were out on Spring Break) who asked to take pictures of us, an easily granted thing. On the same day, we also noticed a gentleman with a camera taking pictures. So I did what I do best - smiled, gave a thumbs up, and tossed off not-so-witty one-liners like "Make sure you get my good side!". The gentleman next to me gave a good smile and said "Think impeachment!" As the gentleman passed by us after he was finished taking pictures, we asked him to idenitfy himself, which he did not, and walked briskly away. If you're going to be taking pictures of people in public (which is part of your Constitutional rights, yes), at least have the courtesy to identify yourself to the people you're taking picture of. We'd like to know where our likenesses are being used, after all. So my mug is probably plastered on a webpage somewhere, likely with some derogatory comment about protesting and liberalism. Those of you who've seen me and know what I look like, maybe you can help me find it? I'd love to leave a comment somewhere about the quality of the picture taken. It's not a picture to be ashamed of, as I do believe in the thought, but I would like to know where it's gone. Mostly because I want to see what the captioning contest produces.

So that's my interesting story - the timing on it was good, as I was researching the PATRIOT act for the paper I gave yesterday (so I'm already in the hole many ways - library science, researching the PATRIOT Act, not spitting on protesters, staying long enough to have my picture taken - I'm probably a terrorism suspect by now.) and some of the articles I saw mentioned the idea that people change their behavior when they know that the records of that behavior are subject to surveillance and requisition. Even more so when the information can be relatively easily accessed. That's the other reason I'm curious about that photograph taken of me - I want to know where it ends up, and the hops it takes along the way.

There is a certain contradiction existing in this country right now - the President's got one of the very lowest approval ratings in the entire history of the freaking country, and yet, on an occasion where the President took questions and criticisms, when someone got up to voice his criticism of the Administration, he got booed. Nor did Bush really apologize for anything he's done so far. Still, either those people were so convinced of their rightness as to boo the opposition, to which their ears are closed already, or they were people behaving extremely badly in the presence of others. Although, reading somewhat on the lines and between them, it seems like it was supposed to be another love-fest between the like-minded. Perhaps the intrusion of the other side wrecked their happy fantasy, and so they booed and hissed because they didn't want to be reminded of the reality of things? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know, as I wasn't there, nor did I organize it.

Well, that's all there is from me tonight. I await my results, likely by doing some other homework that I need to.