My lazy nature -> hitting the snooze button, twice (1)

My ’sluggish’ nature -> Taking time preparing and having breakfast while daydreaming. (2)

(1) and (2) -> Missing, by two minutes, the bus to Sunnyside (3) That bus was, of course, on time.

(3) -> Wait for the bus, that was of course around four minutes late, to Brentwood.
Once in Brentwood, ten minutes wait for the c-train to arrive.

At Chinook, realize that there is a service disruption -> Impatiently wait for the shuttle bus  to start moving.

At Canyon Meadows, get off the shuttle bus and take the c-train again.

Arrive way too  late to Somerset station -> Hiking party gone :’(

Stating the obvious:  Lazy nature = No hiking.

Since 1991 the Ig Nobel prizes, organized  by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research (http://improbable.com), are given  for “achievements  that first make people laugh and then make them think”. For example:

1991 PEACE. The Pepsi-Cola Company of the Phillipines, suppliers of sugary hopes and dreams, for sponsoring a contest to create a millionaire, and then announcing the wrong winning number, thereby inciting and uniting 800,000 riotously expectant winners, and bringing many warring factions together for the first time in their nation’s history.

1996 PHYSICS. Robert Matthews of Aston University, England, for his studies of  Murphy’s Law, and especially for demonstrating that toast often falls on the buttered side. [REFERENCE: European Journal of Physics,vol.16, no.4, July 18, 1995, p. 172-6.]

1999 SOCIOLOGY. Steve Penfold, of York University in Toronto, for doing his PhD thesis on the sociology of Canadian donut shops.

2003 PSYCHOLOGY. Gian Vittorio Caprara and Claudio Barbaranelli of the University of Rome, and Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University, for their discerning report “Politicians’ Uniquely Simple Personalities.” [PUBLISHED IN: Nature, vol. 385, February 1997, p. 493.]

2006 ACOUSTICS: D. Lynn Halpern (of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and Brandeis University, and Northwestern University), Randolph Blake (of Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University) and James Hillenbrand (of Western Michigan University and Northwestern University) for conducting experiments to learn why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard.

2008 ECONOMICS PRIZE. Geoffrey Miller, Joshua Tybur and Brent Jordan of the University of New Mexico, USA, for discovering that professional lap dancers earn higher tips when they are ovulating.

*** And this year, three Mexicans were awarded the Chemistry prize : -) Congratulations!

CHEMISTRY. Javier Morales, Miguel Apátiga, and Victor M. Castaño of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for creating diamonds from liquid — specifically from tequila. [REFERENCE: "Growth of Diamond Films from Tequila,"  arXiv:0806.1485.]

*** More about this year’s Ig Nobels:

… al rechazo al decreto respecto a la subita desaparicion de Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC).

Me cuesta trabajo creer que dicha acción haya sida impulsada unicamente por las “buenas intenciones” para “salvar” a ese sector. Vale, que nadie dice que todo era perfecto en LyFC. Creo que la discusión del momento está en las formas (y en el fondo del proyecto de nacion) adoptadas por el régimen hoy representado por FCH.

finally!

of course, from the movie “The science of sleep”

with some songs. If interested, click on the names …

H-H-Highschool – Hexes and Ohs.

The Beat Stuff – Hanna Georgas.

Birthday – Junior Boys.

Encore:

Oh My My – Jill Barber.

Given the depth and extent of the documentation already assembled to indict Bush and many of his top lieutenants for domestic and international crimes, the ex-president’s ability to cross international borders and address audiences in places like Calgary stands as an indicator of the juridical malaise of our law-enforcement agencies. Is the role of these agencies primarily to protect the property and prestige of the rich from the incursions of the marginalized and dispossessed? Isn’t law a mere fiction if it can’t restrain the exploitative application of violence to entrench privilege and intimidate dissent?

Anthony J. Hall
U of Lethbridge

To read the entire document, go here.

Damn. I sure need a PDA or something of the sort. I completely forgot about the public trial vs Bush that took place last Saturday. And missed the anti-Bush rally due to his visit to this city.  I do like contrasts, but some are just disturbing . Inside with the ex-president, a different story with “a crowd pre-destined to be comprised of admirers: the invitation-only tickets, the prohibitive $400-a-plate fee, an exhausting gauntlet for a piece of chicken and a bit of the former president’s time“. (click on the quote to read the full note)

Un hombre que cuenta al menos con tres “autobiografías”, pero ninguna de ellas fue escrita por su mano.

[...]

Es sabido que no necesariamente las historias más repetidas son las más ciertas; son sólo eso: las más repetidas. Y es conocido y evidente que a lo largo de una vida una persona será muchas personas, con los ecos del que fue cruzándose con el que es, o con el que parece ser.

El que escribe conoce y respeta estas maneras de recuperar el pasado. Pero más allá del respeto, es difícil hacer historia con estos materiales. Optó tanto por tratar de establecer “qué fue realmente lo que pasó”, como por dejar muchas veces al lector tomar la decisión, o gozar, como él gozó moverse entre narraciones muchas veces contradictorias. Por eso a lo largo de la historia aparecerán tantas versiones que desafinan en el detalle.

Mientras escribía este libro el narrador sufrió y peleó con este universo de maravillosos cuenteros y “mentirosos” villistas que fueron sacados a patadas de la historia oficial, y regresaron a la historia social y popular por los gloriosos caminos del cuento, la anécdota, la narración oral y la leyenda.”

1. Precisamente ayer comencé a leer el libro escrito por Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Pancho Villa. Una biografía narrativa (2006). Apenas llevo el capítulo 0 (del cual copié los fragmentos anteriores)…

2. Hace unas tres semanas vi el trabajo  más reciente de Emir Kusturica (Underground, Black cat white cat): Maradona by Kusturica (un tributo del cineasta a Diego, quien sigue siendo tan popular como en las épocas de La Mano de Dios y quien definitivamente ha tenido una vida muy movida. Aún no se si las bodas que se celebran en la Iglesia Maradoniana son como la que aparece en la peli o eso fue simplemente una buena auto-referencia).

El punto es que tal vez por lo anterior, me llamó la atención saber que Kusturica está planeando hacer una película basada en una novela acerca de Pancho Villa. Y que además quiere a Javier Bardem como protagonista. Nota acerca de eso, aquí. En esa misma nota, se menciona que Antonio Banderas la hizo de Villa en una producción (2003) para TV llamada And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself. Personalmente, estaría más interesada en ver la peli con Bardem que la de Banderas. Y tal vez es una mejor idea desconectarme de la red para continuar con la narración de Paco  Taibo II.

Time ago a friend gave me a copy of some episodes from the second season of the tv series “The wire”. Finally, I decided to check them out. After watching the first two episodes, I got hooked up. As the creator has pointed out, this series is not about the characters (cops and drug dealers mainly) but about the city of Baltimore. Probably what makes “The wire” interesting is that it was created (and most of the episodes written) by a former journalist for The Baltimore Sun (David Simon) and an ex-police detective and public school teacher (Ed Burns). Then, it definitely has a realistic feel and does not follow all the conventions of a regular cop drama series (nothing is just black and white, everybody is in the game and have to play it in any way they see fit. As one of the characters says “This game is rigged, man. We like the little bitches on a chessboard”).

Just started watching the first season and certain scene made me remembered that the inventor of the chicken nuggets was actually a professor of poultry science at Cornell University. Of course, the scene is about something else but who invented the chicken nugget. Still, I reckon this was a good opportunity to pay tribute to the guy who “found a way to keep the breading attached to the nuggets during the frying process”[click here to read the reference].

Now, without further ado, the video:

-Man, these shits is right, yo.
-It’s good with the hot sauce, too.
-Most definite.
-Dee, want some nuggets?
-No, go ahead, man.
-Man, whoever invented these, he off the hook.
-Word!
-Motherfucker got the bone all the way out the damn chicken.
-Till he came along,niggas be chewing on drumsticks and shit…getting their fingers all greasy.
-He said “Later” to the bone.
-Nugget that meat up and make some real money.
-You think the man got paid?
-Who?
-Man who invented these.
-Shit, he richer than a motherfucker.
-Why? You think he get a percentage?
-Why not?
-Nigga, please, the man who invented them things…just some sad-ass down at the basement of McDonald’s thinking up some shit to make money for the real players.
-No man, that ain’t right.
-Fuck right.
-It ain’t about right, it’s about money.
-You think Ronald McDonald gonna go down that basement and say, “Mr. Nugget, you the bomb.
“We selling chicken faster than you can tear the bone out. So, I’m gonna write my clowny-ass name
on this fat-ass check for you.”
-Shit.
-The nigger who invented them things still working in the basement for regular wage thinking of some shit
to make the fries taste better.
-Believe.
-He still had the idea, though.

del buen Manu Chao. Para aderezar el dia.

“We hang around dans ton quartier
Like walkin down Champs Elyses
You let me get in dans ton lit
Best place in Paris to be!”