New pics

Happy MLK Day

WHEW.

So.

I have finished my first semester of grad school. Finally. You have no idea how relieving it is knowing that you've completed a stage in a new life. Hopefully this means that my life can get back to a "normal" of school and dating (without relationships--or, I should say, I'm not holding my breath for relationships anymore).

Now the feeling is relief. It's good to be free for a month! Hopefully I can start posting stuff again for all you internet people (both of you) to read.

Have a video:




Peace out yall
Nick

Yet another frivolous, but highly addicting, website.

So I have my own virtual country: I am the chief despot of "The Brewtown Empire," a country of about 4000 inhabitants centered on Milwaukee that includes most of Wisconsin, Lower Michigan, and northern Illinois and Indiana.

This all started from a virtual game website that my friend sent me, and from there, I found Cybernations.net. It's something that I've invested only a couple minutes a day at, but I find I can't stop. Check it out!

The Delicious

I have no idea what this is, but enjoy.

Part I:




Part II:

Whoa... dude.

So I was at work, stumbling through teh intertubez (thanks, stumbleupon) and came across this conservative blog.

Please don't get me wrong. My parents, and I love them, are conservatives who probably would never ever vote for a Democrat ever. I have friends who are conservatives (seriously! Check my facebook friends!), but this blog just seems completely out of left field. Basically, they're saying that President Obama's plan for community service will serve to make a new Hitler Youth.

Why are they so afraid? Why is it that conservatives think we all want to make them into us?

More importantly, how can we get people like this to talk and listen to us? Have we really gotten that bad in America that we think that anyone who disagrees with us wants to nuke the country?

My brain is full

So last week I led discussion in my GEOG 870 (Contemporary Geographic Approaches), and then I wrote a rough draft for a research proposal for 810 (Methods in Geography). My outline and literature review for my 810 was pretty much savaged, so I made sure every step was done very very carefully, and I'm mostly happy with the result.

The upshot is that I spent all last week w0rking very hard, putting my 870 literature review (a rough draft, but still) on the back burner. That is due tomorrow, on Thursday. I also have 6 articles (these are scholarly articles, not the kind of think you find in the New Yorker) to read for the same class.

My brain is exhausted, and I've pretty much resigned that, for tomorrow, I'm going to suck, because I'm not at all prepared on any level.

Thank God for Thanksgiving holiday next weekend.

Of course, this is also my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. No idea how that'll go over.

I can has break plz?

I just listened to this song on my iPod, and it totally made my day:



f we can call them friends then we can call them on their telephones
and they won't pretend that they're too busy or that they're not alone
and if we can call them friends then we can call
holler at them down these hallowed halls
just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor
at all

don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange

and did you, did you see how all of our friends were there
and they're drinking roses from the can?
and how, how i wish i, i had talked to them,
and i wish they fit into the plan

and we were tired of being mild
we were so tired of being mild
and we were tired...

i know we're going to meet some day
in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
there will be tables and chairs
there'll be pony rides and dancing bears
there'll even be a band
cause listen, after the fall there will be no more countries
no currencies at all, we're gonna live on our wits
we're gonna throw away survival kits,
trade butterfly-knives for adderal
and that's not all
ooh-ooh, there will be snacks there will
there will be snacks, there will be snacks.


and we were tired of being mild,
we were so tired of being mild,
and we were (we were so) tired...

so don't you,
don't you worry
about the atmosphere.

Getting back to less serious stuff:

Since there's no more election to worry about, here's a song by the Decemberists. I wish I could find better recordings of the Crane Wife, California One Youth and Beauty Brigade, or the Mariner's Revenge Song, but this is good too.



Anyways, I'm off to prepare for my class tomorrow. Why do I always spend the most time on the internet when I've got the most work for school?

Now what?

So now that the election is over, I do feel a bit let down. There's not a lot of buzz to follow, and now we have to concentrate on our real lives.

I guess that means I'll have to actually do work for school again.

My mom (who's a very conservative person) called me the day after the election to congratulate me on my guy winning. She's actually glad that we've got a president who seems to want to be everyone's president. She spent election night with a pro-life group and she actually defended Mr. Obama (and have you ever tried to speak well of a liberal to a really conservative person? It's not that easy!), even though she didn't vote for him... imagine that, mutual respect! Who'd'a thunk it?

So hats off to my mom for being cool about the election, even though her guy lost. I doubt I would have been so mature, and I think we all ought to be mature. But I digress.

I need to find something to obsess about now, and school doesn't seem to be it.

Oh, and I had to post this too, because I'm a mean person. I wish I could say where I found it so I could give credit where credit is due, but I can't, so please don't sue me if this is your artwork.


I respected McCain until I heard Palin speak. Her "real America" comments irked me the most, because it seemed to show a disdain for liberal and educated America. So my message to conservatives is this:

START ENCOURAGING SMART REPUBLICANS. GIVE US SOMEONE WE LIBERALS HAVE TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE WE VOTE. Stop giving us people who can't stand an education! Stop giving us people who have no respect for liberals! Give us someone that we can disagree with, but still respect! That's what's going to keep this country together!

Thoughts on Election '08

So everything's over regarding the 2008 election (except for some recounting in Missouri and North Carolina, and a few congressional races), and now I'm trying to collect my thoughts on it.

First of all, I'm thrilled that the guy I voted for is actually in office. This is the third time I've been able to vote for president, and I voted for Nader in 2000 (although I regret not voting for Al Gore now) and Kerry in 2004. So I'm excited to be with the winning president for once!

Second of all, I'm excited that we'll have a progressive in office after 8 years of ignoring the poor, the black, the gay, the non-Christian, and everyone else. I'm hopeful that the Obama administration will treat immigrants more fairly, and I'm hopeful that we can rebuild our standing in Western Europe again.

I liked the tone that President-elect Obama set in his speech: Even though everyone else in Grant Park was exuberant, Obama set a serious, humble tone, and, unlike President Bush, acknowledged the opposition in his speech. So I hope that this new administration can make the United States united again, so that every American, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, black, white, Hispanic, Indian, Native American, Asian, gay, straight, or other, immigrant or native-born, young and old, rich or poor and whoever else, can be an integral part of America.

I'm excited that our new president is black. I live in Riverwest, which is one of the few neighborhoods in Milwaukee that's largely mixed between black and white. I think a big hindrance to solving the problems of the inner city is the fact that so many black leaders are frustrated and feel outside the system. Hopefully a black Chief Executive will at least give inner cities a voice. I think it's a hopeful sign that the Democrats owe this election to the huge black turnout: without the black vote, McCain might have won.

It's also a hopeful sign that our new president actually has a mandate. Clinton won both terms of his presidency without a 50% popular vote, as did Bush in 2000. So I'm glad that Barack Obama comes into the presidency with a clear majority and without allegations of voter fraud or disenfranchisement like in Ohio in 2004 and Florida in 2000. It's also a hopeful sign that this was the election with the highest voter turnout in 100 years. Everybody in America had a chance to speak up, and the choice was clear and fair.

I just hope that the opposition can remain loyal to the US Government. While I know that Republicans have a lot to disagree with, my wish is that everyone remains civil. Dissent is the heartbeat of a healthy democracy, so if you disagree, please speak up! I know I plan on it, since I have much higher standards for the guy I actually voted for. But at the same time, I hope that Republicans remember that we're all in this together, and despite what Sarah Palin says, we are ALL Real Americans. Remember that gay people still deserve to be treated like human beings, that immigrants love their families too, that Muslims also love this country, and even Socialists want people to be treated family. Everyone who lives in America IS American, and we ALL want justice and fairness and prosperity.

There are signs from the first days of building the Obama administration that are good: the buzz is that Obama wants to keep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Republican, and his chief of staff will be Rahm Emanuel, an Orthodox Jew and son of an avid Zionist. So hopefully this shows that, yes, Republicans will have a voice, and that Obama is not anti-Jewish.

So I don't know how the next four years will turn out; only time will tell. So keep praying, keep speaking out, and let's all work together to make America a place we can all be proud of!

But what's your take? The whole idea of the internet is communication, so please post your ideas in the comments section. I want to hear from you!

Everyone likes a new President!

Yay Obama.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Les Misbarack

This was too good. Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

PS: thanks to Kay at Blue Racine, where I found this!

The Secret of Life

Because I really have no rhyme or reason to this blog, here's a video by the Dead Milkmen. They're definitely an acquired taste, but give a listen. What really helped me appreciate the Dead Milkmen was being a 16-year-old underachiever. Enjoy!

My vote is cast!

So I finally got around to voting (via absentee ballot). Since I recently moved into a new neighborhood (go Riverwest), I had to re-register.

And since there were so many people trying to register and vote, it took me nearly an hour to cast mine. An hour. And this is a week before the general election day. I can't imagine the lines that will be forming a week from today!

The encouraging thing is that there were so many first-time voters there, and I'd say at least half of them were black. So it's a good thing that so many people in Milwaukee have, I think, claimed this election as their own. Let's hope our new government is up to the task. I voted Obama (also Moore for Congress), so there's one in the bag for him.

So if you can, vote early! That way the lines won't be as long on election day, and more people can get time to vote.

Voting for the Beast

So I found this on the Guardian (a newspaper based in London) this morning. I guess I'm a bit flabbergasted, so I wanted to share this ridiculous piece of religious paranoia here...

Click here to learn the horrible truth about Barack Obama!

If you're going to make decisions based on the Bible, shouldn't you follow the passages that give you something concrete to do? Like the ones about living in righteousness, or the ones about giving what you have to the poor, or hell, the ones about not eating dairy and meat together? I just don't understand those people who use the most inscrutable part of the Bible as a guidebook. Not a fan.

And to clarify, I'm still voting for Senator Obama, because he's a step in the right direction, and the stuff about him being the apocalyptic nonsense some odd Christians spout is a bunch of nonsense.

You must...

...go to Ted.com and find out how to make a difference. Check out Dave Eggers, one of this year's TED prize winners, because he's really really cool.

The intersection of heartbreaking rock music and freaky physics

Go see Nova's Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. But hurry, because it'll only be up for the next week!

Go! Now!

If you still need convincing, Eels is one of my favorite bands. They are just absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. They can be strange, beautiful, sad, and funny all in the same song. Go listen to their albums "Electro-Shock Blues" (especially Last Stop This Town and P.S. You Rock My World) and "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations" (especially Railroad Man and Things the Grandchildren Should Know).

I can wait while you look up those songs. No, seriously, I'm on the internet now. I have all the time in the world.

OK, welcome back. Good, huh? Like emo for adults.

Have you ever seen one of those Star Trek episodes where they meet parallel selves? Yeah? You know how came up with that idea? The lead singer of the Eels' dad.

The PBS episode is E (the lead singer) finding out about his dad, Hugh Everett III. Along the way, you get to find out about wierd physics, things that don't obey the rules of physics, and you get to find out how E became such a sad, poignant person.

It's just heartbreakingly beautiful.

I'm so excited, I could plotz.

Go watch the trailer (#2) for Watchmen!

Watchmen has been widely hailed as the best graphic novel ever, and having recently read it, I think I concur. It's a very dark book, and a satire on good and evil. Satire really isn't the right word, but good and evil.

If you've never read Watchmen, you should visit your local bookstore and buy a copy.

Anyways, I've been interrupted writing this post, so there you go.