I was just sorting through my iTunes library, and I realized that about 90% my music is written by men.
Of the other 10%, most of it is mindless, unfulfilling pop.
Last week I started listening to some Joan Jett. If the 80s could have awesome, original music written by girls, why can’t there be any now?
Any suggestions are welcome. And yes, I have already heard that Clay Aiken would do a really good cover of “I Feel Like A Woman”.
I’m seriously considering going into the Peace Corps after I graduate. The thought has occurred to me off and on for the last year or so, and some of Barack Obama’s comments on service at his Wesleyan commencement address brought it back to my attention today:
I also began to realize that I wasn’t just helping other people. Through service, I found a community that embraced me; citizenship that was meaningful; the direction that I’d been seeking. Through service, I discovered how my own improbable story fit in to the larger story of America.
Now, each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because, as President Roth indicated, you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the outside world; no one’s forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and the other things that our money culture says you should buy. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.
But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although I believe you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get to where you are today, although I do believe you have that debt to pay.
It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential and discover the role that you’ll play in writing the next great chapter in the American story.
The Corps has a program specifically targeted at CS and IS graduates – helping people in developing countries to increase their skills and access to technologies, building labs, helping schoolchildren gain job skills, helping adults with business development.
I have no idea of where I’d go, but my guess is that my Spanish experience might have something to do with it.
The only part that intimidates me, rather than exciting me, is the thought of leaving for over two years. But it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I’m going to look further into this and see if it’s a possibility.
“Outraged” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Delaware Dem at Daily Kos gets it right:
And surely you would have known that it mattered not if you had previously suspended your campaign. Hell, even if you had conceded to Obama, and Obama died, you would have been tapped to be our nominee.
But you decided to stay in the race anyway, and you decided to advance this notion of assassination and other bad calamaties befalling our presumptive nominee not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Going back to March.
So I cannot give you the benefit of the doubt.
It is now obvious you have considered Obama’s murder as a political possibility and a reason to prolong our disunity.
And that makes you immoral. And unfit to lead. It reveals that you have no character.
Simply unacceptable. Her campaign is already running on the fumes of racist undertones. To make such comments, four times, is deliberate and unacceptable. Simply unbelievable.
This is finals week. Starting to get things in order for summer, here’s how they look so far:
I’m looking forward to all of it. The only thing standing between me and summer is an evil final and a take-home project. Frustrating.
I crashed my bike today. It was hilarious.
I’m fine – save for a few cuts and scratches… But for the record, trying to upshift on the right side of the handlebars with your left hand, while holding a McDonald’s bag and 32oz. soda in your right hand, is a bad idea. I hit the curb and went straight into some rocks.
The worst part was losing the meal. Oh well, at least I can laugh about it…
This happened to me kind of recently (except for the “in bed” part). Totally hilarious.
Live your life that that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. (If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.) Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
—Tecumseh (Shawnee Chief)
Please take a moment to pray for the people of Burma (Myanmar). They are in the midst of an atrocious military crackdown against peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks.
Right now it looks as if the worst of the violence is over, as the government has forced the monks back into their monasteries, supressing their speech for the time being.
Most nations had previously broken off ties with the country, so one of the few that can strongly influence them economically or politically is China, which has its own human rights problems.
I pray that this will turn out to be an overall success for the brutalized protesters; if the world hears their cries, they may yet have a chance at peace and freedom.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
(Proverbs 13:12, ESV)
So I have a few friends who are either studying photography, or are just serious hobbyists. (A couple of my friends have awesome galleries of their work: Mike and Alan)
I don’t have the time to dedicate a ton of time to photography, but I really enjoy it when I have the time for it. My current camera is really easy to use, and works great for casual outdoor shots. But it starts to really suck when I want to do anything in awkward or low lighting. What I’m looking for is some more general control in my photos… And beyond messing with exposure settings, I can’t do much of that.
So I’m thinking about saving up for a DSLR camera… The things are really expensive, starting around $400 for anything respectable 
I’m not sure if I’m that into photography, although I hear that they come cheaper used.
Any suggestions for good cameras that offer a lot of manual control? It doesn’t have to be a DSLR, but I’m looking for more than a regular consumer point-and-shoot model.
