Ugh. This one's a doozy.
Monday - 08:00 to 16:00 (8 hours)
Tuesday - 12:00 to 24:00 (20 hours)
Wednesday - 16:00 to 24:00 (28 hours)
Thursday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 20:00 to 24:00 (36 hours)
Friday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 16:00 to 24:00 (48 hours)
Saturday - 00:00 to 04:00 (52 hours)
Sunday - OFF
In the immortal words of Link, OH BOY.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Quote of the Week?
Here's something new. Maybe I'll keep up with it, maybe I won't, but I feel like doing it regardless.
- Oscar Wilde
One of my favorites, actually.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854, during the Late Victorian Era. He was a prolific writer of plays, poetry, journalism, and novels. Wilde was known for his flamboyance in dress and speaking, famous for his impeccably sharp wit and conversational abilities. He helped to popularize the concept of aestheticism, or "art for art's sake". He made it clear that he preferred art to nature in many ways, exalting the creativity and decadence of mankind's artistic tendencies. It states that morality and art are two separate entities, that art not only doesn't have to be useful but that true art should not be useful in any sentimental or moral way. Art should be designed to be a pleasure to the senses over all else.
The quote, from Wilde's play Salome, is French for "the mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." I interpret it as the comparison between the within and without in all of our humanity - love is "within," an internal feeling that we produce inside ourselves, contrasted with death being the "without," an external actor that affects every living thing. Using this logic, Wilde seems to suggest that introspection is the key to discovering ourselves and pushing ourselves closer to the "wholeness" we all subconsciously strive toward.
It is not to say that the mystery of death is wholly unimportant. External forces acting upon humanity and its collective psyche are important simply because they act. Perhaps we will never find out why death exists, or what universal forces (entropy?) make it necessary. But really, it's the same logic and rationale that people have when it comes to space travel - why should we go out looking for more puzzles when we have plenty to solve right here? Why should we venture out into the cold reaches of inhumane death when inside each and every one of us is carrying around a massive amount of secrets if we'd only look inward?
In a less romantic view, love and death are simply different states in what amounts to a finite state machine of a brain. Different chemical configurations flooding neurons with what we interpret as a "feeling," or lack of one in the second case. Are we simply the sum of our parts or have we become more? It's hard to argue that we're not more, in my opinion, with the sentience we've achieved, the art we create, and the constant need for more we're compelled to feel as living things. Though until we figure that out, it's also pretty easy to argue that we're simply the sum of our parts. With drugs available that can make us feel a specific way, flood us with dopamine and seratonin, happiness seems truly like "just another state of mind."
"Le mystère de l'amour est plus grand que le mystère de la mort."
- Oscar Wilde
One of my favorites, actually.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854, during the Late Victorian Era. He was a prolific writer of plays, poetry, journalism, and novels. Wilde was known for his flamboyance in dress and speaking, famous for his impeccably sharp wit and conversational abilities. He helped to popularize the concept of aestheticism, or "art for art's sake". He made it clear that he preferred art to nature in many ways, exalting the creativity and decadence of mankind's artistic tendencies. It states that morality and art are two separate entities, that art not only doesn't have to be useful but that true art should not be useful in any sentimental or moral way. Art should be designed to be a pleasure to the senses over all else.
The quote, from Wilde's play Salome, is French for "the mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." I interpret it as the comparison between the within and without in all of our humanity - love is "within," an internal feeling that we produce inside ourselves, contrasted with death being the "without," an external actor that affects every living thing. Using this logic, Wilde seems to suggest that introspection is the key to discovering ourselves and pushing ourselves closer to the "wholeness" we all subconsciously strive toward.
It is not to say that the mystery of death is wholly unimportant. External forces acting upon humanity and its collective psyche are important simply because they act. Perhaps we will never find out why death exists, or what universal forces (entropy?) make it necessary. But really, it's the same logic and rationale that people have when it comes to space travel - why should we go out looking for more puzzles when we have plenty to solve right here? Why should we venture out into the cold reaches of inhumane death when inside each and every one of us is carrying around a massive amount of secrets if we'd only look inward?
In a less romantic view, love and death are simply different states in what amounts to a finite state machine of a brain. Different chemical configurations flooding neurons with what we interpret as a "feeling," or lack of one in the second case. Are we simply the sum of our parts or have we become more? It's hard to argue that we're not more, in my opinion, with the sentience we've achieved, the art we create, and the constant need for more we're compelled to feel as living things. Though until we figure that out, it's also pretty easy to argue that we're simply the sum of our parts. With drugs available that can make us feel a specific way, flood us with dopamine and seratonin, happiness seems truly like "just another state of mind."
Monday, March 22, 2010
Schedule for Week Ending 3/28
Eegahhhhh.
I can't embed this. Damn.
Monday - Nahsing.
Tuesday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 16:00 to 24:00 (12 hours)
Wednesday - 08:00 to 20:00 (24 hours)
Thursday - 04:00 to 12:00 (32 hours)
Friday - 12:00 to 20:00 (40 hours)
Saturday - 16:00 to 20:00 (44 hours)
Sunday - OFF?
Blorg.
I can't embed this. Damn.
Monday - Nahsing.
Tuesday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 16:00 to 24:00 (12 hours)
Wednesday - 08:00 to 20:00 (24 hours)
Thursday - 04:00 to 12:00 (32 hours)
Friday - 12:00 to 20:00 (40 hours)
Saturday - 16:00 to 20:00 (44 hours)
Sunday - OFF?
Blorg.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Guiding Light
Impure hearts stumble
In my hands they crumble
Fragile and stripped to the core
I can't hurt you anymore.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Vision Revision: Re-writing History
Of course, this is nothing new from my perspective - actually I've heard this story quite often, but it's hard not to be outraged by it every time it happens. The Texas school board is reviewing their textbook curricula again.
This might not seem like it has much reach, but due to the fact that Texas is and has been the largest consumer of textbooks for several years now, the textbook makers are listening. Essentially, the way Texas sways causes the publishers to sway with them due to this very fact. California, due to budget problems, has been in no position to purchase new books for their students, and thus, the privilege defaults to Texas.
Texas is an overwhelmingly conservative state, obviously, McCain having garnered over 55% of the popular vote in the 2008 presidential race to Obama's sub-44%. The influence over the textbook publishers of America causes the small offices of the school board to be scrutinized year after year with a few of the changes perceived as being biased.
The slew of them this year is just as alarming as before, at least to me. In years past, the alarm was obviously focused on the science curriculum, with demands that Christian Creationism be taught with just as much credibility as the Darwinian concepts of natural selection and evolution. This year, the changes seem to affect the social studies curriculum primarily, which by no means should be any less scary.
First of all, it's important to understand how the board is made up and what issues are important to them. The fifteen-person board is made up of five Democrats and ten Republicans, and often votes on issues directly down party lines. Seven of the ten Republicans are considered to be part of the "conservative bloc," disliking concepts like separation of church and state and favoring a glorification of capitalism.
So what are the issues this team has addressed and/or modifications they've made? Here's a rundown and my take on each:
1) The addition in history texts of information about the civil rights revolution in America primarily during the 1960s. Specifically, the board wishes to add passages relating to the Black Panthers during this time where most textbooks focus only on the efforts of the less-violent Martin Luther King, Jr. and his organization.
In general, this is not such a bad thing in my mind; just as violence was part of the American Revolution, it was indeed a part of the expansion of civil rights to people of color during the midsection of the twentieth century.As long as they show the dualities of the issue - the shootouts with police of the Black Panthers along with the resurgence of the practice of lynching African Americans during the 1960s - I'm more or less fine with this change. The peaceful movement of MLK in parallel with the more subversive and violent tactics of the Black Panthers. In particular, it's important to show that the civil rights revolution and the American Revolution as related in this way - a group of people fighting for their own rights and achieving their end goals.
One thing to note is the fact that the group wishes to stress that the civil rights legislation was passed with Republican support; this is a dangerous lean, in my opinion. As aforementioned, it's particularly important to show that minorities were the impetus of the civil rights changes and not, as Joe Barton (R-TX) puts it:
“Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.”
Yeah, you guys fought hard with protest, but it's only because of the grace of us rich, white men that you have any rights at all!
2) One that particularly upsets me is the degradation of the concept of separation of church and state. Contrary to much of the evidence, the board wishes to convey that the oft-mentioned Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles when they authored the Constitution, and that America's founding and Christianity are inextricably linked. Actually, they've gone so far as to exclude mention of Thomas Jefferson as an influence on subsequent revolutions, as he was the one who initially coined the term "separation of church and state". Instead they focus more on Aquinas and Calvin.
3) Particularly distressing is the new treatment of Japanese internment during World War II. The board called for a specific statement about Italians and Germans also being interned during the same time period to try and downplay the racist overtones of this internment. Of course racism had nothing to do with it, right? Anyway, it is pretty important to mention German and Italian internment as well, but ensure that the scales are also mentioned. Only 3,000 Italians were arrested an interned during the war, compared to 11,507 Germans and the largest group, the Japanese, with 120,000. Ethnic Japanese were thus almost 90% of those in internment camps. Obviously, there's a huge differential here - the fact that race had something to do with these numbers is not mitigated by the fact that ethnic Japanese were not the sole target.
There are others, such as the additions of Friedman to a list of influential economists and adding more information to the political history of the 80s and 90s that I don't particularly mind as long as they're kept reigned in somewhat.
One final thing, though, is one of the statements made a few years ago by a David Bradley on the treatment of the English curriculum:
Wow. To me, that's particularly chilling.
This might not seem like it has much reach, but due to the fact that Texas is and has been the largest consumer of textbooks for several years now, the textbook makers are listening. Essentially, the way Texas sways causes the publishers to sway with them due to this very fact. California, due to budget problems, has been in no position to purchase new books for their students, and thus, the privilege defaults to Texas.
Texas is an overwhelmingly conservative state, obviously, McCain having garnered over 55% of the popular vote in the 2008 presidential race to Obama's sub-44%. The influence over the textbook publishers of America causes the small offices of the school board to be scrutinized year after year with a few of the changes perceived as being biased.
The slew of them this year is just as alarming as before, at least to me. In years past, the alarm was obviously focused on the science curriculum, with demands that Christian Creationism be taught with just as much credibility as the Darwinian concepts of natural selection and evolution. This year, the changes seem to affect the social studies curriculum primarily, which by no means should be any less scary.
First of all, it's important to understand how the board is made up and what issues are important to them. The fifteen-person board is made up of five Democrats and ten Republicans, and often votes on issues directly down party lines. Seven of the ten Republicans are considered to be part of the "conservative bloc," disliking concepts like separation of church and state and favoring a glorification of capitalism.
So what are the issues this team has addressed and/or modifications they've made? Here's a rundown and my take on each:
1) The addition in history texts of information about the civil rights revolution in America primarily during the 1960s. Specifically, the board wishes to add passages relating to the Black Panthers during this time where most textbooks focus only on the efforts of the less-violent Martin Luther King, Jr. and his organization.
In general, this is not such a bad thing in my mind; just as violence was part of the American Revolution, it was indeed a part of the expansion of civil rights to people of color during the midsection of the twentieth century.As long as they show the dualities of the issue - the shootouts with police of the Black Panthers along with the resurgence of the practice of lynching African Americans during the 1960s - I'm more or less fine with this change. The peaceful movement of MLK in parallel with the more subversive and violent tactics of the Black Panthers. In particular, it's important to show that the civil rights revolution and the American Revolution as related in this way - a group of people fighting for their own rights and achieving their end goals.
One thing to note is the fact that the group wishes to stress that the civil rights legislation was passed with Republican support; this is a dangerous lean, in my opinion. As aforementioned, it's particularly important to show that minorities were the impetus of the civil rights changes and not, as Joe Barton (R-TX) puts it:
“Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society.”
Yeah, you guys fought hard with protest, but it's only because of the grace of us rich, white men that you have any rights at all!
2) One that particularly upsets me is the degradation of the concept of separation of church and state. Contrary to much of the evidence, the board wishes to convey that the oft-mentioned Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles when they authored the Constitution, and that America's founding and Christianity are inextricably linked. Actually, they've gone so far as to exclude mention of Thomas Jefferson as an influence on subsequent revolutions, as he was the one who initially coined the term "separation of church and state". Instead they focus more on Aquinas and Calvin.
3) Particularly distressing is the new treatment of Japanese internment during World War II. The board called for a specific statement about Italians and Germans also being interned during the same time period to try and downplay the racist overtones of this internment. Of course racism had nothing to do with it, right? Anyway, it is pretty important to mention German and Italian internment as well, but ensure that the scales are also mentioned. Only 3,000 Italians were arrested an interned during the war, compared to 11,507 Germans and the largest group, the Japanese, with 120,000. Ethnic Japanese were thus almost 90% of those in internment camps. Obviously, there's a huge differential here - the fact that race had something to do with these numbers is not mitigated by the fact that ethnic Japanese were not the sole target.
There are others, such as the additions of Friedman to a list of influential economists and adding more information to the political history of the 80s and 90s that I don't particularly mind as long as they're kept reigned in somewhat.
One final thing, though, is one of the statements made a few years ago by a David Bradley on the treatment of the English curriculum:
In late 2007, the English language arts writing teams, made up mostly of teachers and curriculum planners, turned in the drafts they had been laboring over for more than two years. The ultraconservatives argued that they were too light on basics like grammar and too heavy on reading comprehension and critical thinking. “This critical-thinking stuff is gobbledygook,” grumbled David Bradley, an insurance salesman with no college degree, who often acts as the faction’s enforcer.
Wow. To me, that's particularly chilling.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Schedule for Week Ending 3/21
Weird one, but everything'll work out.
Monday - 05:00 to 12:00 and 17:30 to 24:00 (11.5 hours)
Tuesday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 19:30 to 24:00 (20 hours)
Wednesday - 00:00 to 05:00 and 20:00 to 24:00 (29 hours)
Thursday - 00:00 to 05:00 and 20:00 to 24:00 (38 hours)
Friday - 00:00 to 04:00 (42 hours)
Lots of overnights, but lots of hours. Plus, no work on the weekend!
Comp time will be copious in the next few weeks, which works very well for my vacation plans in May. Essentially I've got 35 hours of Holiday Float and 20 hours of Comp Time thus far; after this week and next, I'll be up to about 35 hours of Comp, thus 70 hours of time off not counting vacation. Ten more hours and I get a vacation-time-free-vacation!
Monday - 05:00 to 12:00 and 17:30 to 24:00 (11.5 hours)
Tuesday - 00:00 to 04:00 and 19:30 to 24:00 (20 hours)
Wednesday - 00:00 to 05:00 and 20:00 to 24:00 (29 hours)
Thursday - 00:00 to 05:00 and 20:00 to 24:00 (38 hours)
Friday - 00:00 to 04:00 (42 hours)
Lots of overnights, but lots of hours. Plus, no work on the weekend!
Comp time will be copious in the next few weeks, which works very well for my vacation plans in May. Essentially I've got 35 hours of Holiday Float and 20 hours of Comp Time thus far; after this week and next, I'll be up to about 35 hours of Comp, thus 70 hours of time off not counting vacation. Ten more hours and I get a vacation-time-free-vacation!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hey, What's the Big Idea?
So this is pretty much a place to put all the ideas I have about my vacation this year. It's been narrowed quite a bit thanks to a suggestion from my girlfriend that I accompany her out to the west coast. Basically:
Sometime in late May we'll fly to San Francisco and hang out with her mother and aunt, see things in the Bay Area, hang out on an awesome boat (don't make me link the YouTube), et cetera. After a week or so, I plan on renting a car and making the most awesome road trip possible. Basically the plan is to cruise down Highway One for as long as I can muster before we pull off and stay in a motel or bed and breakfast. Essentially the goal is to take the scenic route and see some great landmarks on the way (Bixby Arch Bridge, anyone?).
Once we're all the way down in Los Angeles (Google says the trip takes about nine hours, but some work folks say it's closer to 12+) we'll head to Scott's place and hang out for a few days before driving back up and catching a flight home. For a change of pace (and for expediency's sake) we'll head back up on I-5.
Sometime in late May we'll fly to San Francisco and hang out with her mother and aunt, see things in the Bay Area, hang out on an awesome boat (don't make me link the YouTube), et cetera. After a week or so, I plan on renting a car and making the most awesome road trip possible. Basically the plan is to cruise down Highway One for as long as I can muster before we pull off and stay in a motel or bed and breakfast. Essentially the goal is to take the scenic route and see some great landmarks on the way (Bixby Arch Bridge, anyone?).
Once we're all the way down in Los Angeles (Google says the trip takes about nine hours, but some work folks say it's closer to 12+) we'll head to Scott's place and hang out for a few days before driving back up and catching a flight home. For a change of pace (and for expediency's sake) we'll head back up on I-5.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Schedule for Week Ending 3/14
Gooble Gobble.
Monday - 05:00 to 12:00 and 23:00 to 24:00 (8 hours)
Tuesday - 00:00 to12:0009:00 (17 hours)
Wednesday -08:0012:00 to 16:00 (21 hours)
Thursday - Screw it, off! I'm not waking up at four in the morning. >:3
Friday - 08:00 to 20:00 (33 hours)
Saturday - OFF
Sunday - 08:00 to 16:00 (41 hours)
Monday - 05:00 to 12:00 and 23:00 to 24:00 (8 hours)
Tuesday - 00:00 to
Wednesday -
Thursday - Screw it, off! I'm not waking up at four in the morning. >:3
Friday - 08:00 to 20:00 (33 hours)
Saturday - OFF
Sunday - 08:00 to 16:00 (41 hours)
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