MLEE1

Writing!

menyounglee@gmail.com — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:29:40 GMT

...in bed! (a la the appropriate modifier to be added to fortune cookies).

Lots of other applications like CiteULike, Delicious, Evernote, Wordpress, and LJ, have these things called tags. And For some reason I try and fail to use them on all the other applications while avoiding it altogether on LJ. By failing at tags I mean that I'm not sufficiently consistent with its use for it to live up to the supposed utility of tagging. I will probably keep on not using them here but try to be better with it at other places.

The landscape keyboard is much easier to use, but the main drawback of extending the landscape mode to all applications is that when I'm lying down I like to have my reading material to the side of my head and turn to face it. But if the text rotates to be correct with respect to gravity, then that obviously doesn't work (failure to describe 3d geometry in English. I think you get the gist of it). Hopefully there will be a solution soon.

Also, the P&K deli across Beacon is quite good.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Location detect

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:37:02 GMT

Has been made slightly less sensitive esp since it proves to be somewhat inaccurate. Also I am getting a bit better at typing on this thing maybe.

In other news, it has been rainy and cold out here for three days. Kind of sucks because it's times like these which can encourage flu transmission.

Unrelatedly, you should see the video of the PC guy on Apple commercials being funny at the Radio correspondents dinner or summat.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Liz Becton

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:48:14 GMT

is some scheduling staffer working on Capitol Hill who has, in recent days, been Internet-mobbed for being nasty and humorless. Read all about this hilarious saga of Internet justice,

http://wonkette.com/tag/liz-becton

Where I try to teach myself home economics

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:14:34 GMT

What I've eaten over the past week (exactly 7 days, starting on Sat.)
~2 lbs of sourdough bread
~1 lb of pasta
1 bundle of celery
1 fascis of asparagus (2 dozen spears or so)
1 med-sized container of hummus
1 chicken
2 eggs
3 bowls of assorted garden salad + various random toppings, bought & eaten for lunch at Harkness
and assorted amounts of basic cooking stuff (onion,garlic,parsley, various oil, vinegar things)
~1/2 cup of licorice candy
~3 pieces of mini chocolate items
~10 cups of coffee (each sweetened w/ 1-2 packets of sugar) ~5 cups of tea
i think this is the complete account.

And now for something completely different:
Ron Paul pulls an hero.

Livejournal.app

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:03:07 GMT

Tseting. Posting this from an iPod.

Text after the jump.
~~Crossed out~~

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stolen from somewhere where it was fairly recent

menyounglee@gmail.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:35:13 GMT

LAYER 1: ON THE OUTSIDE.
-Name: Menyoung Lee
-Birth Date: 11/24/1988
-Current Location: Summer home, in Cambridge, MA
-Hair Color: Black
-Righty/Lefty: Right

LAYER 2: ON THE INSIDE.
-Your fear: Insects and arachnids. Collapse of civil society. Whenever I put something into a box and close it, I open it again to check that I did really place the correct item.
-Your dream of the perfect date: I cook dinner at home---or that is the intention until I try to pull off something fancy and instead start a kitchen fire. We escape with our lives just seconds before the gas explosion.
-Goal you'd like to achieve: Goal number one is to comply with rule #1.
-Your best friend(s): Anybody who still reads my LJ: you all are on this list.

LAYER 3: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW.
-Your thoughts first waking up: Oh noes overslept again.
-Your best physical feature: My nails + surrounding area is quite well managed by male standards, mainly because I can't stand the slightest pain/discomfort in those particular areas
-Your bed time: 1,2+ish.
-Your most missed memory: As far as relatively proximate things go, the previous 2 weeks at IQC in Waterloo was quite memorable.

LAYER 4: YOUR PICK.
-Pepsi or Coke: Coke. I ever so slightly prefer Diet Coke (yes please to any lemon/lime flavor or whatever it is they do), but in absolute terms I don't really like any coke-like drink.
-McDonald's or Burger King: I haven't been to either in any recent months. I don't know.
-Single or Group Dates: Isn't "group date" an oxymoron (yes an oxymoron rather than just a paradox, since it's a two-word compound)
-Adidas or Nike: I'll pay a quick visit to my closet to see which one features more frequently---after ~30 seconds I couldn't find a single item by either. I guess it's a tie.
-Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino is somewhat preferred.

LAYER 5: DO YOU.
-Smoke: No
-Take showers: Yes. What kind of a question is this.
-Have a crush: No. This doesn't really apply once you're twenty, anyhow.
-Like school: Yes.
-Believe in yourself: Yes. It's hard to believe in other people anyway.
-Believe what goes around comes around: No I don't believe that people have some kind of a magical Karma banking account.
-Believe everything happens for a reason: No
-Think you're a health freak: Even if I were would I describe myself as a "freak"? Regardless, basically no.

LAYER 6: IN THE PAST MONTH.
-Gone to the mall: Yes. I needed to buy a pair of pants. I failed.
-Been on stage: No.
-Eaten sushi: Yes. In particular I recall going to that excellent Japanese place in front of Old Dominion veterinary clinic.
-Been hurt: No.
-Dyed your hair: No.

LAYER 7: HAVE YOU EVER:
-Played a stripping game: No.
-Been beaten up: No...? Maybe way back when as the usual course of business for neighborhood children playing around?
-Changed who you were to fit in: Well this is a quantitative question to which I do not know the answer. But since I never really think about it the answer is probably not much.

LAYER 8: GETTING OLD.
-Age you're hoping to be married by: If I target for 25, maybe it'll happen by 30...
-Number of kids you're planning on having: This really does depend on circumstances. But as far as I can see forward at this point I'm looking at an approximately poisson distribution of probabilities with mean ~2.

LAYER 9: IN A GIRL
-Best eye color: Iridescent.
-Best hair color: Some magical composition that changes color based on surrounding lighting.
-Short or long hair: in most cases, preferable for it to be long enough to not leave any visible gap between hair and shoulder in a normal frontal view. But should be not too long, so that it can be tied up as necessary.
-Fat or fit: What kind of a question is this. Not fat.
-Looks or personality: Neither, really. I'm pretty arbitrary.
-Fun or serious: It's one thing to be taking care of shit properly and not losing sight of utility, it's another thing to be "serious" in the sense of mood/image. I vote for fun.

LAYER 10: WHAT WERE YOU DOING
A MINUTE AGO: Writing my above responses
1 HOUR AGO: Updating my iPod to the new 3.0 OS
1 WEEK AGO: Was in Waterloo. Right around this time (last Wed. night) I think I was walking back to my room after being out for the evening.
1 YEAR AGO: Futzing around in my lab.

LAYER 11: FINISH THE SENTENCE.
I FEEL: ...pretty~ Oh so pretty I feel pretty and witty and bright~~
I HATE: this shit. I say this sentence ("I hate this shit") with some reasonable frequency, quite often when I mean the exact opposite.
I HIDE: in your mom's closet!!
I NEED: my afternoon coffee AND tea.

What is a food that you'd hate to be allergic to?
Any sort of fish.

What color was the last towel you used?
White.

Would you prefer to date someone taller, shorter, or the same height as you?
I don't care about height relative to me. Should be within 2 standard deviations of the female population mean. (well I'm not sure how to circumscribe what exactly this population is. Should be some kind of ensemble which is set of women who are generically "imaginable/possible" as being partner to me)

When was the last time your nose bled?
I don't remember.

How old are you turning this year?
21.

What is your favorite thing to snack on while watching a movie?
I don't particular like eating while watching, but popcorn is all right.

Swimming pool or hot tub?
Hot tub.

Can you swim well?
No. I can sort of barely keep my head above water under still + temperate, i.e., pool-like conditions.

What body part do you wash first in the shower?
Hands. Kind of useless to do anything else first.

Who would you allow to read your thoughts for one day?
Uhh...

What kind of first impression do you think you make?
I think this is very widely varied. I don't behave very consistently.

Name your last reason for using a camera?
...to take a photo? I don't know.

Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed?
Airplane. In my seat, on a flight from Toronto to Boston.

Seven days from now, will you be in a relationship?
No.

When was the last time you laughed really hard & why?
I don't know. Probably some funny comment somebody made at some point during they day.

What are you wearing?
In my pajamas (well not the top; I just have a t-shirt on for that half actually)

Did you enjoy your weekend?
The immediately previous one? It was acceptable. Somewhat unfortunately I had no human contact on Sat. or Sun., but was busy enough getting settled into this place.

Do you regret anything you've done recently?
A couple of minor missteps in cooking my chicken on Mon. Otherwise, nothing in particular I can think of.

Is there anybody you wish you could see?
Yes. Right now almost anyone will do; 3 years of college and now I am slightly unused to being by myself. I'll get used to the idea in a few days I'm sure.

Have you ever kissed anyone with a name that starts with J or M?
Maybe some girl or two back in like second grade; I say maybe because I don't remember her/their names?

How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust?
"trust" isn't something you do with respect to someone who is completely feminine. There are plenty of females, which to me are functionally men, that I trust fully.

Do you think you’ll be married in 10 years?
Hopefully.

What makes you mad about most girls?
I consider myself pretty tolerant of "stereotypically female" behavior. If a girl doesn't act like a girl is it a girl?

Do you like getting flowers?
I'll find out if I ever get them.

What's your favorite flower?
Some variety of orchid which is in my mind right now. It probably doesn't actually exist.

Will you be in a relationship 4 months from now?
Will the Dow Jones Industrial Average be above 9,000 4 months from now? If I could tell the future that far out, my life would be so fabulously awesome that the answer to this question would be yes (that is, if I knew the answer, then it would be yes)

Does it bother you when your friends bring up your past mistakes?
Nothing I can particularly think of at the moment.

Could you go out in public looking like you do now?
Well certainly not the way I am dressed. But otherwise, why not.

Whose the first person you texted today?
I haven't texted anyone today.

Would you move to another state to be with the person you loved?
If we're talking about right now, there's no way I would disrupt college with just 1 year left. As a generic question I don't consider "moving" by itself to be any kind of a big deal. I'd probably want to have a good idea of what kind of work I would be doing once I moved.

Do you ever get a text saying good morning?
No...?

Last movie you watched?
Hot Fuzz. Was pretty funny.

How's the weather today?
It was 70-ish and blue skys today. But will rain for the next week.

Where is the person you need most right now?
Exists between keyboard and chair.

What color are your eyes?
Dark enough under most lightening conditions that it's most conveniently described as black.

Do you like poptarts?
Not really, but I don't mind.

Where will you be 12 hours from now?
At lab. Maybe eating lunch since it will be ~2 p.m. ish and lunch tends to be pretty late.

Is it easy for others to make you feel intimidated?
I haven't really been through any major sort of substantial conflict/adversarial situation I can remember. I don't know.

Do you know what you are going to wear tomorrow?
Yes.

Are you on a desktop or laptop?
Laptop.

Does anyone hate you for no reason?
Not that I know of.

Can you make yourself cry?
Nice question; made me try for a couple of seconds. It seems that the answer is no.

Play an instrument?
No.

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Oh yea. You can be sure that I will use it for massive personal gain.

What are your favorite colors?
Well this always depends on the use. But "preferred t-shirt color" is probably the best interpretation, in which case navy or forest green.

Where did you get the underwear you are wearing right now?
My mom bought it at some point several years ago? I don't know.

Have you ever kissed someone whose name starts with an R?
See similar question above. I don't know.

Have you ever passed out?
Not in recent memory, but the two instances that I do remember clearly: 1) on an Air France flight from DC to Paris, I had some kind of stomach pain and it was really hot in the cabin (thermostat was at like 90 F, I was later told) and I passed out; and 2) before getting a little blood drawn for a test, I looked at one of those machines that spins blood for a few seconds and got really dizzy and passed out. Ever since then I am afraid of having any amount of blood drawn.

Are you easily confused?
Yes. I am confused all the time.

Do you think you would make a good wife/husband?
Yes. This claim has been stated by people other than me in previous occasions.

What's your favorite kind of ice cream?
Pistachio.

Do you like coffee?
Yes.

Do you like summer?
Yes. The places where I've been spending summer these past several years aren't too hot anyway, so yes I love summer.

Is your current hair color mostly your natural hair color?
Actually my natural hair color is red-brown but I color it black. You read it here first.

What color are your socks?
I don't have any on right now. Socks I own are white, gray, or black. Go figure.

Where were you at 8am this morning?
On my bed sleeping, I think.

Have you ever dated someone more than once?
In the sense of event or state? I'm assuming the latter. No.

Last thing you got in the mail?
I don't recall...

What is your current crave?
Sleep. But I'm going to finish this thing quickly before going to sleep.

What color nail polish is on your toes?
No polish.

Do you find members of the other sex confusing?
I don't think the level of confusion there is particularly great compared to the other great mysteries of life.

What are you listening to right now?
No music. Just the sound of my computer being operational.

How has the week been?
I'm somewhat underemployed for the moment; a bit slow.

Is there something you wish you could tell someone but can't?
Of course. Would be rather unlikely for the answer to this question to be no, from anyone.

Favorite shirt to wear?
I still wear around my QR shirts. But mostly underneath a shirt or a sweater so it doesn't really matter. But I do wear my black sweater very, very often. I'm worried about finding a suitable replacement before I wear it out.

Favorite drink?
Other than tea, carbonated water.

Last person to say 'I love you' to you?
[redacted]

Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
At the moment, certainly would not be appropriate.

What's your favorite color gummy bear?
Purple.

Have you ever run into a dishwasher?
What? Not in particular.

Ever had a song sung about/for you?
No. But just earlier I did express the desire to have my own personal minstrel. That would be pretty awesome.

Is there a baby in the room with you right now?
Not unless you count me as an oversized baby of sorts.

Do you know how to dance?
Not at all.

Where do you sing the most?
Just sort of at random anywhere, but not very often. I do whistle while I'm walking about or something.

What is your favorite thing that is orange?
Good question. Oranges are pretty good. Nothing else in particular comes to mind for the moment... Oh oh I know. Magnet wire. lol.

What is the way to your heart?
It's in my chest underneath the rib cage. Should be accessible if you've got a good knife or summat...

What do you smell like?
Nothing in particular.

What's in your pocket?
Pockets are empty.

Anything in your mouth?
Nothing.

Do you have freckles?
No.

How many languages can you speak?
English and Korean. The latter I'm not particular good at, but am passable.

What's the last movie you saw in the theater and who with?
Luis and I went to see the Star Trek movie.

Ever jumped/fallen/been pushed in a pool with your clothes on?
No.

Are you wearing any clothes that you wore yesterday?
No.

Name a song that you know all the words to:
It's quite possible that there isn't a single one. I don't even know all the words to the national anthems of the countries of my birth or residence.

What's the last thing you watched on TV?
Maybe a few minutes of one of the NBA finals games?

What's the last video game you played?
I don't recall. The Wii in our dorm suite has been broken for a while...

Can you do the alphabet in sign language?
No.

Do you wear glasses?
Yes.

Did you feel better or worse or the same yesterday?
Yesterday, probably about the same.

What was your favorite childhood show?
Way back in the day, in the old country, some kind of a quiz show. I don't really remember the details.

Do you bite your nails?
No. See some way far above question where I say something about my nails and how I'm quite careful to not harm them.

Do you like your feet?
Not in particular; they fall asleep too often.

Do you sleep well at night?
Well enough. Usually I'm pretty sleepy by the time I get to sleep.

IQC + food.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:03:45 GMT

Okay. It's been a long time since the last post so we've got a lot of ground to cover. For the last two weeks I was at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo, being in a short summer school course on experimental quantum information processing http://www.iqc.ca/conferences/useqip/. The trip there, taken by itself, was pretty unimpressive: the suburban area that lies between Waterloo and Toronto looks suspiciously like Fairfax County, Virginia, and the flight was pretty short anyway. The first thing you notice about the campus of UW is the geese which inhabit the green space. Their droppings were everywhere which presented a challenge for anyone trying to walk down the street with a rolling travelers bag.

In total there there were 11 students; five were from outside North America. Everyone was a third or fourth year studying physics. The course consisted of talks presented by the various researchers on the IQC faculty on their own expert subfields, e.g., Raymond Laflamme (director of IQC; drives this super-awesome red van that's probably about twice as old as his students, which we called, though probably not for the first time, the Mystery Mobile) spoke for a few hours on QEC, David Cory gave some talks on NMR implementations, as well as stuff like some neutron interferometry experiment he's done, Michele Mosca told us about some quantum algorithms, etc., etc. In addition, Tony Leggett (famous for his work on superfluidity, for which he got a Nobel, among other areas) was visiting IQC at the time, so he gave a lecture on his grand program for experimentally testing the limits of quantum mechanics with a view toward hopefully getting to test and land upon some grand, macro-realist theory (and we sat in on one among his series of lectures to IQC researchers about various topics related to topological quantum computing; that one went way over my head).

Now I am back in Cambridge (all by myself for now) and I showed up to lab today. Right now I'm eating dinner---chicken + soup: I decided to get ambitious so on the way back I bought a whole chicken. Took like 30 minutes to clean + 40 minutes to boil (maybe longer? I lost track of time so I just used a meat thermometer to figure out when to turn the heat off) Just sort of vaguely improvised, loosely based on how mom does it:
The hard part is to clean the chicken properly and remove most of the visible white lumps of fat that lie underneath the skin + between muscles. The thing here is to separate out the various pieces of the chicken by mostly manual ripping with some help from a small knife, and in between you can attack the fat opportunistically. The whole process, including opening of the plastic packaging, should take place in a stainless steel sink, under running water, for some sanitation gain + making any blood, etc. run off from the meat. Cleaning it thoroughly + removing fat is important if you want to end up, after boiling, with the water having turned into good chicken stock to which you can later add pasta (cooked separately) and some vegetables to make chicken soup. Alternatively, the broth is also excellent for making chicken+ rice porridge, but this is difficult as good rice porridge is hard to make, so I did the former. I had a little too much water, so the soup was a bit runnier than perfect but was good enough.
After cleaning, I put the pieces in a pot, then poured in a couple of tbsps of vinegar (red wine in this case but anything works as far as I know), let it sit there for a few minutes, removed some of the unabsorbed amount of the vinegar, threw in one onion chopped into quarters, and some amount of chopped parsley (I should've also added garlic, but had none at hand; and there's nothing specific about the parsley except that it was the only fresh herb I have), then poured in cold water (it was a bit too much, as noted above), then put the whole thing on high heat until it started really boiling, then reduced the heat to medium, then turned off the heat once the breasts were cooked all the way inside.
One might worry about different cooking times for the different pieces but it turns out that it doesn't really matter for boiling, since dryness never becomes an issue. If you cook the breast to just the right amount then the other bits will be a bit overcooked but not by any significant amount.
The white meat (breasts) was de-boned and refrigerated, it will become lunch tomorrow along with the remainder of the loaf of sourdough which is now a couple of days old. The rest was eaten (is a lot! I am very full) and was pretty good.
I probably won't do this again since it takes quite a bit of time.

Goodfellas the movie

menyounglee@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:46:22 GMT

My favorite scene out of the movie "Goodfellas" is the part where the protagonist, an Italian (+ part Irish) gangster, who at that point in the movie just started seeing this Jewish girl (who later becomes his wife), goes with her to some sort of a beach resort place which she frequents. The waiter brings some drinks and our hero is about to take out his wad of cash to pay for it, only to be stopped by the girlfriend who informs him that "You have to sign for it here."

The brief scene (really it was only like 15 seconds long) turned out to be the film's most striking display of the differences between their respective origins/cultures. Its effectiveness still fills me with awe.

Pen

menyounglee@gmail.com — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:54:52 GMT

Many readers are familiar with my weakness for things like nice pens, papers, and such. The other day I just went into a Bob Slate (http://bobslate.com/) stationery shop, and found some ink cartridges, under the heading "generic European". Specifically, it was this: http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.Store.displayStore.36432./6)

Okay, jump back: 2005, Spain at IPhO, on the second, experimental exam, they gave everyone two nice, small pens---a ball point and a fountain pen. The latter was actually quite excellent, so I actually used it instead of my own pens I had brought. By the end, the quality of the pen was even more apparent, because the ease with which I could write with it had significantly reduced the stress on my hand than what I had gotten used to from 5-hour long tests. Anyway, by a great coincidence the ink cartridge emptied just as the exam had finished. Few days later back home I went about looking to buy a new cartridge for a replacement, but found none that fit properly, and I haven't been able to use the pen since.

So when I saw the "generic European" ink, of course I bought it, and just earlier today I successfully replaced the cartridge, and now it writes again! So life is awesome since I get to use the pen now---and at $2 for a pack of 6, this is could end up being my most cost-effective option for writing, depending on how long the ink lasts.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:02:03 GMT

Finished the GR exam today.

Why does Google keep changing its favicon?

menyounglee@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:12:12 GMT

In Korea there was an "emergency arrest" of a blogger for posting a claim that the government was telling big banks and corporations to stop buying dollars (i.e, stop selling the Korean Won).

Let's just say I've never been happier that circumstances have rescued me out of that place.

Also, the Federal Reserve has secretly been selling the gold in Frot Knox in order to depress the market price of gold. ::waits for the FBI to show up at my door::

I think the point is quite clear.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:27:05 GMT

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/07/porn-industry-seeks-federal-bailout/

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:06:10 GMT

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4A71LQ20081108

How are they sure that this is because of concerns about gun control?
Maybe these people are preparing for the upcoming civil unrest and race war =P

The Post's Ombudsman

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:56:22 GMT

is running on Sunday a column titled "An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702895.html which Drudge was quick to pick up.

People too often forget that as it turns out, sometimes, actually, one is obviously correct and the other is obviously incorrect. There's nothing for which the Post must apologize. The real question is how 57,358,053 people could be so stupid.

I like LyX

menyounglee@gmail.com — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:50:04 GMT

I like LyX, you like LyX, everybody likes LyX~~

To all TeX users and non-users, I highly recommend that you take a look at LyX, a quasi-visual TeX editor. It can save some serious time, esp. if you're the kind to stare at your document and make lots of little changes, like me.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:36:54 GMT

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/21/content_10225810.htm

Not a surprise that Xinhua is totally in the tank for Mugabe.

Boris Johnson supports Obama.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:01:38 GMT

All the talk these days are about how Colin Powell endorsed Obama. Personally I don't care about that at all, but just today Obama gained another endorsement, and this one I do care about:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/21/do2101.xml

Speaking of the Election

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:13:12 GMT

This guy's views about the current election are extremely similar to my conclusions about it:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/10/19/do1904.xml

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:53:30 GMT

Saw /W./ on its opening night Friday. The theatre was totally packed, which I didn't expect. It was very fun, but as far as greatness goes, it falls far short of, say, /Nixon/, another movie by Stone.

Today at church there was this lady visiting, who worked with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. After most of the service, during the announcements, she stood up on the pulpit and told us that Proposition 1, a question on the ballot in Massachussetts this November, is immoral. Sigh.

Random

menyounglee@gmail.com — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:44:07 GMT

Been reading the news about how ACORN has been submitting thousands of fake registrations across the country? That's not all. I remember one summer at Ross there were a bunch of ACORNs that were staying in the same building as us for a while. They weren't just rabid insane; When I returned after going off somewhere for about a week, I was told that some ACORN people gang-raped a child in an elevator in one of the other dorms or something like that. Sigh.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:10:58 GMT

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/daniel_hannan/blog/2008/09/04/how_the_eu_plans_to_regulate_blogs

stuffs

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:45:21 GMT

In Wednesday night's dream: I am walking up some stairs (in a large public buildling---a high school? Similar brick and tiling scheme like TJ, I think, but the staircase was oriented the wrong way for it to be that staircase which lands in front of the library), when I notice _____, whom I am very surprised to see, just sitting somewhere on the steps off to the side. A short greeting---identical words are spoken by the two sides. For the next 1.5 seconds, I am thinking about my next phrase, while doing a great job looking stupid, with mouth ajar and eyes fixed on the wall tiling. I can't think of anything; panic. Then, by accident, eye contact. I hold my breath---is it audible? Wait no, I'm not holding my breath, I can't breathe---can't speak, can't look away. So we stare at each other, long enough for me to notice those eyes into which I am looking: first I see the blackest, darkest disk, and then the surrounding annulus. I think I'm taking note of its overall hue, but not really---this is one of those moments in dreams where I think about noticing a color without actually seeing it. What I am really thinking about---I think about all the moments, when I couldn't remember those eyes, not because I had forgotten them, but because I never really /saw/ them when I had the opportunity.

Well, I give up on talking. I fire a quick smile and promptly disengage. As I take a few steps, a friend walking with me---was he also walking with me before? Where are we going?---gives me that look, like I'm going insane. He's got good reason this time: tells me that I had greeted the wall and looked at it intently for about three seconds. I turn back and see the empty spot on the wall. Hmm.

----

Also, fun:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082902691.html?hpid=topnews

Hilarious article about John Kerry.

menyounglee@gmail.com — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:05:52 GMT

This article makes me love Massachusetts. One still wonders how did this dude manage to get a presidential nomination?

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/how_to_make_a_senator_sweat/page1

Things full of awesome

menyounglee@gmail.com — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:27:07 GMT

http://www.236.com/news/2008/08/20/if_they_imd_obamas_vp_prospect_1_8389.php

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/gerald_warner/blog/2008/08/20/demoralised_georgia_may_renew_itself_by_restoring_its_monarchy

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3392188/

menyounglee@gmail.com — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:58:47 GMT

Added to the list of things which may cause me to fail my classes next fall (which till now consisted of roommates' Wii and Xbox 360):

http://opiv.alexanderstreet.com/

The databases you get through library subscriptions only have recordings by unknown artists; but this one is awesome; just starting to watch /Aida/ @ La Scala w/ Pavarotti. Win.