I've been reading about this on one of the fandom_wank related communities on journalfen (otf_wank, I think). I'm reminded of my own college days where there were plenty of student/teacher disagreements, but we mostly sucked it up when some old dude rattled on bossily about his inapplicable experience in the Eisenhower administration in class discussion and gave him bad reviews at the end of the semester after we'd safely gotten our grades.
I can't decide whether I'm shocked that college students are challenging the dumb ideas of their professors with their grades still on the line, or just glad. I'd heard that this generation was supposed to be more apathetic than mine (I went to college in the 80s). Of course, we weren't as apathetic as made out by the Boomers who were busy patting themselves on the back for their college activism either, so maybe the common perception is just full of it.
These aren't the proceedings I needed to use for my thesis in grad school (I was a medievalist) but the wider availability of original legal sources should generate some brilliant new social history over the next few years. I'm really excited about this.
I didn't think you were trying to stir trouble, meridithea. I'm just as bumfuzzled as you. Now I wonder whether the assistant DA was from Cleveland. ;-)
Native Houstonian living in Austin here.
I've never heard the word Canadian used as a slur other than via this case. I'm not doubting the good Captain, and $DEITY knows there are enough bigots in the Houston metro area, but I have no idea where that particular word choice came from.
My best guess is that somebody was trying to avoid tripping an email filter or being caught with his proverbial pants around his ankle for being racist if somebody read it later. Whoops, that didn't work out so well.
Context: The Harris County DA's office is in an uproar right now. DA Rosenthal (who incompetently argued and lost the sodomy case before the Supreme Court a few years ago) got caught sending kissy emails to his assistant and has been forced out running for re-election by the local Republican Party. Now that people are looking in the DA's emails, they're finding all sorts of interesting/incriminating stuff.
I just moved back to Texas, so my big goal for next year is to get a job, after 4 years out of the market.
All our traditions were from when we lived in Houston, and we never developed them in New Jersey, so we're doing a new thing this year (visiting friends who are throwing a small do) and hoping it becomes our new tradition.
I'm sure I'll go out tomorrow and have black-eyed peas, yum. Collard greens, not so much.
Semi-related but not nearly so elaborate: I ran across a livejournal community dedicated to Harry Potter tattoos (including a surprising number of Dark Marks) a while ago.
I recently read something by him and I'm slowly but surely changing all my financial passwords because of it. I'm really pissed because one of my credit cards, which shall remain nameless, won't let me use a password that's as long as I like. And mine's not that long.
I'm going to second polychrome's comments, but also add that I've seen TNH disemvowell stuff on bb that would never pass disemvowellment muster on Making Light. I find the disemvolwellment policy on bb a disincentive to posting.
More generally, I'm wary of large communities in part because of the difficulties of moderation. I've been involved in a couple of social experiments with mailing lists that went badly south in very much the style Shirky describes in the second link. Once you get past a certain size, it's hard to keep a community from throttling itself.
I always wonder what's in these rings when I read the stories of people ditching them. I can understand ditching a plain band (less so with the price of gold these days) but my ring is a claddagh with a nice blue topaz, and the one from my ex had five small diamonds, two of which are now studs.
I don't think about the symbolic value, either. They're just earrings.
If you like DM of the Rings, I recommend Darths and Droids, which gives the same treatment to the prequel Star Wars stuff, with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan as the PCs. It's pretty new, but it makes me giggle regularly.
I assume you already read Order of the Stick (current comic) because everbody should.
/rpg geek
I live in New Jersey and every time I go home to Texas, all I do is eat Tex-Mex and a little Mex-Mex of various kinds. I'm not moving home for the food, but I must say it's a factor in wanting to live in Austin.
New Mexican is good too. I ate like a pig the last time I was in Santa Fe. Haven't been to Tucson, so I can't talk about that, though.
My first CD player would have been 20 years old this Christmas. My father bought it for me as a Christmas gift the night before he died of an unexpected heart attack. I cried when I finally gave it up even though I'd long since moved on to using a multidisc changer.
I don't remember what my first CD was, but my senior year in high school (1984-85), I worked after school in a high-end audio store that sold CDs, almost all classical. I was still on cassettes; it wasn't until I started dating an audiophile (now my ex-husband) in college that I got into CDs on my own.
I drove by a Texas Weiner place on my way home from a concert Watchung tonight. I wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for this thread. So thanks, goofyfoot.
Despite the fact that their current album is a kiddie album, the Asylum Street Spankers do the unexpurgated version of this song. In fact, they did it live when I saw them in January.
I can't say enough good things about the Spankers if you like this kind of music.
Medusa, I'm in the Princeton area, but for a decent chili dog, I'd drive a long way. :)
We used to be in Jersey City and we drove through Paterson every time we visited friends in New York state.
I can get something that looks and sounds mostly like a chili dog in Paterson NJ? I'm heartened, and yet suspicious. At least there are no beans in the "chili sauce".
When my husband drove cross-country (alone in a blizzard) and neither of us had a cell phone, he bought a phone that came with a certain number of minutes. He just used the minutes as he needed them, and when he ran out, he was able to buy more.
I don't know whether they have those in Canada, or how they handle international calls, but it might be worth looking at for local calls.
I read a decent social history about this case called The Cooper's Wife Is Missing: The Trials of Bridget Cleary a couple of years ago. It gives you context, which is the sort of thing I love in histories of interesting incidents.
Also, randomly, there's apparently a band out there called Burning Bridget Cleary, which if I weren't already scheduled to go to three concerts next week, I'd be seeing at Godfrey Daniel's next Sunday.
I've been reading about this on one of the fandom_wank related communities on journalfen (otf_wank, I think). I'm reminded of my own college days where there were plenty of student/teacher disagreements, but we mostly sucked it up when some old dude rattled on bossily about his inapplicable experience in the Eisenhower administration in class discussion and gave him bad reviews at the end of the semester after we'd safely gotten our grades. I can't decide whether I'm shocked that college students are challenging the dumb ideas of their professors with their grades still on the line, or just glad. I'd heard that this generation was supposed to be more apathetic than mine (I went to college in the 80s). Of course, we weren't as apathetic as made out by the Boomers who were busy patting themselves on the back for their college activism either, so maybe the common perception is just full of it.
posted by immlass 15 years ago
In "The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913."
These aren't the proceedings I needed to use for my thesis in grad school (I was a medievalist) but the wider availability of original legal sources should generate some brilliant new social history over the next few years. I'm really excited about this.
posted by immlass 15 years ago
In "Is "Canadian" the new racial slur in the American South?"
I didn't think you were trying to stir trouble, meridithea. I'm just as bumfuzzled as you. Now I wonder whether the assistant DA was from Cleveland. ;-)
posted by immlass 16 years ago
Native Houstonian living in Austin here. I've never heard the word Canadian used as a slur other than via this case. I'm not doubting the good Captain, and $DEITY knows there are enough bigots in the Houston metro area, but I have no idea where that particular word choice came from. My best guess is that somebody was trying to avoid tripping an email filter or being caught with his proverbial pants around his ankle for being racist if somebody read it later. Whoops, that didn't work out so well. Context: The Harris County DA's office is in an uproar right now. DA Rosenthal (who incompetently argued and lost the sodomy case before the Supreme Court a few years ago) got caught sending kissy emails to his assistant and has been forced out running for re-election by the local Republican Party. Now that people are looking in the DA's emails, they're finding all sorts of interesting/incriminating stuff.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Curious George - New Years Traditions and Resolutions?"
I just moved back to Texas, so my big goal for next year is to get a job, after 4 years out of the market. All our traditions were from when we lived in Houston, and we never developed them in New Jersey, so we're doing a new thing this year (visiting friends who are throwing a small do) and hoping it becomes our new tradition. I'm sure I'll go out tomorrow and have black-eyed peas, yum. Collard greens, not so much.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Top 10 Craziest Star Wars Tattoos."
Semi-related but not nearly so elaborate: I ran across a livejournal community dedicated to Harry Potter tattoos (including a surprising number of Dark Marks) a while ago.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Bruce Schneier Blazes Through Your Questions."
I recently read something by him and I'm slowly but surely changing all my financial passwords because of it. I'm really pissed because one of my credit cards, which shall remain nameless, won't let me use a password that's as long as I like. And mine's not that long.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Tact filters."
I'm going to second polychrome's comments, but also add that I've seen TNH disemvowell stuff on bb that would never pass disemvowellment muster on Making Light. I find the disemvolwellment policy on bb a disincentive to posting. More generally, I'm wary of large communities in part because of the difficulties of moderation. I've been involved in a couple of social experiments with mailing lists that went badly south in very much the style Shirky describes in the second link. Once you get past a certain size, it's hard to keep a community from throttling itself.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "What would you do with your old wedding ring?"
I always wonder what's in these rings when I read the stories of people ditching them. I can understand ditching a plain band (less so with the price of gold these days) but my ring is a claddagh with a nice blue topaz, and the one from my ex had five small diamonds, two of which are now studs. I don't think about the symbolic value, either. They're just earrings.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "The DM of the Rings"
If you like DM of the Rings, I recommend Darths and Droids, which gives the same treatment to the prequel Star Wars stuff, with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan as the PCs. It's pretty new, but it makes me giggle regularly. I assume you already read Order of the Stick (current comic) because everbody should. /rpg geek
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Yummy delicious Tex-Mex."
I live in New Jersey and every time I go home to Texas, all I do is eat Tex-Mex and a little Mex-Mex of various kinds. I'm not moving home for the food, but I must say it's a factor in wanting to live in Austin. New Mexican is good too. I ate like a pig the last time I was in Santa Fe. Haven't been to Tucson, so I can't talk about that, though.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Place names of North East England and what they mean."
My father worked in Middlesborough for a couple of years when I was a teenager. This brings back a lot of memories. Thanks!
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "The Compact Disc is 25 Years Old Today"
My first CD player would have been 20 years old this Christmas. My father bought it for me as a Christmas gift the night before he died of an unexpected heart attack. I cried when I finally gave it up even though I'd long since moved on to using a multidisc changer. I don't remember what my first CD was, but my senior year in high school (1984-85), I worked after school in a high-end audio store that sold CDs, almost all classical. I was still on cassettes; it wasn't until I started dating an audiophile (now my ex-husband) in college that I got into CDs on my own.
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "Telephone exchanges"
It makes me feel old to realize I know what the exchange for the house I grew up in was. (PArkwest, in Houston.)
posted by immlass 16 years ago
In "It's a hot Texas Weiner tradition"
I drove by a Texas Weiner place on my way home from a concert Watchung tonight. I wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for this thread. So thanks, goofyfoot.
posted by immlass 17 years ago
In "Shave 'em dry! [sound; NSFW]"
Despite the fact that their current album is a kiddie album, the Asylum Street Spankers do the unexpurgated version of this song. In fact, they did it live when I saw them in January. I can't say enough good things about the Spankers if you like this kind of music.
posted by immlass 17 years ago
In "It's a hot Texas Weiner tradition"
Medusa, I'm in the Princeton area, but for a decent chili dog, I'd drive a long way. :) We used to be in Jersey City and we drove through Paterson every time we visited friends in New York state.
posted by immlass 17 years ago
I can get something that looks and sounds mostly like a chili dog in Paterson NJ? I'm heartened, and yet suspicious. At least there are no beans in the "chili sauce".
posted by immlass 17 years ago
In "Curious George's first cell phone."
When my husband drove cross-country (alone in a blizzard) and neither of us had a cell phone, he bought a phone that came with a certain number of minutes. He just used the minutes as he needed them, and when he ran out, he was able to buy more. I don't know whether they have those in Canada, or how they handle international calls, but it might be worth looking at for local calls.
posted by immlass 17 years ago
In "In 1895 in Co.Tipperary Michael Cleary began to believe that his wife was in fact a changeling."
I read a decent social history about this case called The Cooper's Wife Is Missing: The Trials of Bridget Cleary a couple of years ago. It gives you context, which is the sort of thing I love in histories of interesting incidents. Also, randomly, there's apparently a band out there called Burning Bridget Cleary, which if I weren't already scheduled to go to three concerts next week, I'd be seeing at Godfrey Daniel's next Sunday.
posted by immlass 17 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)