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Reach out ...and bother me. All rights reserved, original material, et cetera.

But...but...I've never even read it!

You're The Guns of August!

by Barbara Tuchman

Though you're interested in war, what you really want to know is what causes war. You're out to expose imperialism, militarism, and nationalism for what they really are. Nevertheless, you're always living in the past and have a hard time dealing with what's going on today. You're also far more focused on Europe than anywhere else in the world. A fitting motto for you might be "Guns do kill, but so can diplomats."


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

It's all true, though. As my roommate Karen would say, freaky deaky.

Current Mood: lively
Current Song: Offspring, Self Esteem

posted by Bubonic Lou 7:00 PM

God Hates Shrimp!

Because if Leviticus said so, you know it must be true. Just like
these fine folks know. Bless them and their poor crustacean-sized brains...

Current Mood: charitable
Current Song: Weezer, El Scorcho

posted by Bubonic Lou 11:47 PM

Oh Wow Cool

So it turns out Ani DiFranco is playing Carnegie Hall May 15. Shazaam! That's right, May 15, which in case you didn't know it is just 4 days before my birthday. Tickets are unfortunately a whopping $48...criminy. This may take some planning.

Anybody up for it?

Current Mood: I'm tired and hungry and there are wolves out here
Current Song: only the annoying sounds of AIM on my roommate's computer, since my iBook is in the shop this week...

posted by Bubonic Lou 11:52 PM

And Just in Time for the Holy Season...

I'm starting to get pulled out of my depressive haze, by a number of things. Among them is reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and I wanted to look up the Virgin of the Rocks referred to in the Louvre in the novel.

Now, Brown writes about one interpretation of the painting:

[It] showed a blue-robed Virgin Mary sitting with her arm around an infant child, presumably Baby Jesus. Opposite Mary sat Uriel, also with an infant, presumably baby John the Baptist. Oddly, though, rather than the usual Jesus-blessing-John scenario, it was baby John who was blessing Jesus ... and Jesus was submitting to his authority! More troubling still, Mary was holding one hand high above the head of infant John and making a decidedly threatening gesture-- her fingers looking like eagle's talons, gripping an invisible head. Finally, the most obvious and frightening imnage: Just below Mary's curled fingers, Uriel was making a cutting gesture waith his hand--as if slicing the neck of hte invisible head gripped by Mary's claw-like hand.

Me, I don't see the talon comparisons, but oh well. It really just looks like her usual "blessing" hand. But I was thinking, the painting definitely does conjure up a whole conversation thing, like there's a dynamic between the people portrayed. But what if it's not so very mortally threatening as they're reading into Da Vinci, what with talons and invisible heads and whatnot? What if it's that baby Jesus just really doesn't want to get circumcised? What baby would?

I mean, he's there pleading on one knee, like, "Guys, come on, don't do this to me. I promise I'll pay ya back some day. You're not going to need this little bris ritual in the future. Why not start with me?"

And John is his older cousin, so he already had it done, so he's saying, "Sorry cuz, it's your turn now, wish I could help ya..."

Uriel, I really don't get what's up with him, because he's supposed to be the 4th archangel although he really only plays a bit part in the bible. But he's got this smug-ass look on his face, and he's like "Snip, snip, heheh!"

And poor Mary, she's trying to comfort Jesus with one hand and with the other tell the boys over on the other side to cool it. You know, like "All right John and Uriel, that's enough outta you two for now, zip it. If I have to deal with any more of this crap I'm calling down Father from Heaven, and you know how He gets."

I'd like to think my reading of this wonderful painting could be just as valid as the next. Da Vinci was known to be a prankster anyways, so who knows what he really meant by the gestures in it. At any rate, it's not a theory I'm likely to publish any time soon. But if it cheers me up, so much the better. That's why I'm reading the book, and that's why I decided to write this down. I had fun with it. And I'm smiling right now, which is a rare thing these days. Ta ta!

Current Mood: tongue-in-cheek
Current Song: Bjork, It's In Our Hands

posted by Bubonic Lou 5:32 PM

In What Must Be The Ultimate Ye Olde Plague Blogge Entry

OMG I have to have this. Because it's the plague. And it's cuddly. It's perfect for me!

Current Mood: peppy
Current Song: Bjork, Human Behavior

posted by Bubonic Lou 2:11 PM

Once again the gods conspire against me

The girl referenced in the previous post?

Wasn't in class today.

D'oh.

Oh and Mom, if you've been reading this, I'll explain this next time we talk. It's a long story. I wanted to bring it up at dinner last night, but Gene kept bringing up gun control instead...

Current Mood: pizza-rific
Current Song: the batteries in my CD player went dead

posted by Bubonic Lou 4:41 PM

Drafts for a note I'm tossing around in my head

Dear Stranger,

Sorry I don't know your name, but I'm Louisa, and I kinda like you. I have since I saw you the first day of class, and though I've dropped it (it's way over my head, sadly, but at least I'm getting out now) I have to say I was thrilled to see you at the LGBTA meeting last week. I'm new at this, but I wonder if you'd like to get together for coffee or something like that some time. Here's my number--

Nah. It seems too wordy. I'll put her to sleep. An I'm-too-shy-to-just-talk-to-you-letter should never be so detailed to get to the point of using parentheses. How about:

Saw you in class and at LGBTA meeting. How about coffee some time?
--Lou ###-####

That might be too short. Like speaking in instant messaging. Hmm...maybe I can find a happy medium...

Current Mood: unsure
Current Song: Ani DiFranco, Shameless

posted by Bubonic Lou 1:42 PM

Thank the Good Lord

I'm done going through all the possible primatology journal articles I could go through for this project. Or, at least, all the ones I would allow myself to go through. Now for a little rest for my eyes. No sleep though--I have to catch a train in 2 hours. That means I have to pack my clothes for this week, as I'm babysitting J's cat while he visits a friend. And clean up my room a bit here. And get my books together for the weekend/week. Ugh.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Song: The Slackers, I Don't Wanna Go Home*

*OMFG How Ironic!**

**How much more ironic that I end this post with such a vulgar term, when I started it with such a graceful one.

posted by Bubonic Lou 2:22 AM

Oh Yeah...

...and that wasn't my uncle on Nightline. That was a bunch of convicted murderers in California. My uncle is a reporter in Wisconsin. Very different things.

He had apparently interviewed John Kerry and Wesley Clark earlier today, the latter of whom had endorsed the former for the Wisconsin primary--but for some reason they only ran a little bit of the interview on the 6 30 news and not on Nightline. Instead, they ran a show on self-reforming murderers that they'd probably had in the can for some time already. I'm pissed. I woulda gotten a kick out of seeing my own flesh and blood interviewing the potential (please please anybody but Bush) next President on national TV. I mean, that's a pretty big deal.

Oh well. Maybe they're saving it for Monday night, before the primary. Crossing my fingers.

Current Mood: chagrined
Current Song: Richard Harris, Macarthur Park (ha!)

posted by Bubonic Lou 1:41 AM

Gratuitous Silliness!

You know I've been researching the marmosets for too long. I've come across an article in Animal Behaviour, whose title includes the phrase "Tenacious Nipple Attachment."

TENACIOUS NIPPLE ATTACHMENT!!!

I just needed to get that out of my system.

My apologies if you are not on a university network or the like and cannot read the article through sciencedirect. It's basically all about how rodent siblings compete ferociously for a good place at their mother's teat, and the best way to do this is to, well, attach tenaciously.

I also feel the need to note that this would be an excellent name for a band. Dave Barry, are you reading this? Probably not. Ah, well. There's only so much room out there for bands with the word 'tenacious' in their names.

Current Mood: oblivious
Current Song: Republica, Ready to Go (sadly enough)

posted by Bubonic Lou 1:31 AM

I know I shouldn't expect anything more or less than this from the Daily News...

...but somehow I really was surprised to see this picture on the front of their home page. There's something deeply incongruous, and disturbing, about seeing plastic dolls waving to each other below the phrase "breaking news." Maybe it's just me.

Go figure, I'd just wanted to see what the cover story was that I kept seeing all morning on everyone's paper on the train about gay weddings. D'oh, that was the Post. Whoops. Wrong piece of tragically wasted dead tree.

Yay for San Francisco tho!

In other news, I'm staying up late on a marathon of researching articles on callitrichid monkeys (marmosets and tamarins) for my primate behavior class, and in addition to eye straining work this is also tiring. I'm somewhat fatigued from sleep deprivation during the school week, and somehow it's only 10 30 but already my brain feels...funny. Like it's buzzing behind and above my eyes. Maybe if I turn up the brightness on my screen...

My uncle is going to be on Nightline later tonight. He works for Wisconsin Public Radio, and earlier tonight he was on ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings. He makes appearances on tv every once in a while for whatever reason, though usually it's on public tv like the News Hour with what's his face Lehrer. (I'm not thinking very clearly right now, I have marmosets on the brain.*) I missed the earlier one, as my dad called me after I got in from classes, but I'm looking forward to catching Nightline. I have no idea what it's about, but it's something. Now that I think about it, my Uncle Arthur is kinda like an anti-Ted Koppel. He's balding and midwestern. His hair's the opposite, his accent's the opposite. His bearing is most definitely opposite...

*As opposed to my usual condition of marmalade on the brain.

Current Mood: tired of reading about goddamn monkeys and been staring at the screen for so long my brain's reached that weird heightened 'huh?' state
Current Song: Jimi Hendrix, Hey Joe

posted by Bubonic Lou 10:15 PM

Q: "What the fuck is an Etiquette Dinner?"

A: Something I need, apparently.

I just passed a poster listing senior class events, and I noticed the February 28 (I think) "Etiquette Dinner" for Seniors. And I said, aloud, that there question above. Cuss word included. So yeah, maybe I need it. Heh. Stupid Stony Brook, thinking they can learn me to be polite!

Current Mood: silly
Current Song: Eminem, Square Dance

posted by Bubonic Lou 10:39 AM

And just for a larf

I present you with this picture of John Kerry doing what appears to be the Cabbage Patch, snagged a moment ago as the accompanying photo for this BBC story ("seeks Southern one-two blow"). Tee hee. He's supposed to be punching, I know, but...oh dear.

Current Mood: grinning like an idiot
Current Song: Beastie Boys, Instant Death

posted by Bubonic Lou 11:42 AM

Everyone Together Now, Ewwwwwwwww!

...or should I say, speaking of chimps...nah that's an insult to Pan troglodytes

I was checking my email just now when Excite sent some nausea my way (as if my cramps weren't enough already), in the form of the very first pop-up ad I've seen that really made me go "Wait huh?" It's an RNC Ad featuring the (insert hateful nickname here) with a rocky backdrop and a podium, looking "presidential" (snicker snicker) and a come-on luring people in with 'Lower taxes, More jobs, and Low interest rates' and 'Show your support of the president's success and learn more about the future.'

Hey! Replace him with a pretty lady and a couple of the bullet points with something about housing or cars and you'd have just about any other standard pop-up ad. Just a thought.

Because I'm a masochist, I found that the ad leads to a site to Joint eh Republican Team Tdoay! (republican-info.com) so I can Get updates from the front lines of the 20004 election.

Heh. I mistyped that because I was reading from another window, and my fingers still occasionally slip on this weirdo iBook keyboard. At any rate, it looks funnier this way, so I'll leave it. And oh look, they want to let me know what's really happening on the campaign trail and in the White House. Right. Because nobody else will!

Interesting to note that in itty-bitty-widdy print at the bottom of the ad it says "Paid for by the RNC. Not Authorized by Any Candidate or Candidate or Candidate Committee."
Translation:Bush still doesn't have to spend any money just yet!
Fucker.

Current Mood: Ticked off and crampy
Current Song: Beatles, Two of Us

posted by Bubonic Lou 11:19 AM

Everyone together now, Awwwwwww!

Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic behavior": that is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the females aren't interested in them, either.

At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it, keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens, said their chief keeper, Rob Gramzay. Finally, he gave them a fertile egg that needed care to hatch. Things went perfectly. Roy and Silo sat on it for the typical 34 days until a chick, Tango, was born. For the next two and a half months they raised Tango, keeping her warm and feeding her food from their beaks until she could go out into the world on her own.

It's the Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name -- several pairs of gay penguins at the Central Park Zoo and elsewhere, including my former workplace, the Coney Island Aquarium. Ah, I remember those penguins. I loved 'em. So noisy and boisterous and colorful...

But the article goes on to discuss homosexuality in all other sorts of species, including my favorite cousins the bonobos. I get to study them in detail later this semester in my Primate Behavior class. Oh joy!

So, I sent it along to my friend who heads up both the Anthropology Society and the LGBTA (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered Alliance) here. Because, you know, it might be interesting to both groups.

Current Mood: Eager
Current Song: Smashing Pumpkins, Rocket

posted by Bubonic Lou 11:01 AM

Woo Hoo!

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 13. What is your score? Get it here.

In your face! Whoever you might be. (Ahem.) I mean, 13 points ain't all that bad.

Okay, good night everybody!

posted by Bubonic Lou 2:46 AM

Oh Wow

Am I a dork for jumping on this one. But y'all knew that already.

posted by Bubonic Lou 7:39 PM

Acronyms...Ho!

See how I have added this BBC support button to the left (ha!). I snagged the idea from Scary Duck, as usual. But Bloggerheads asks me to make a statement regarding my addition of the button, so here goes.

I try to make an attempt each night to watch the BBC World News on PBS at 6 pm. It's part of my evening TV schedule, and really it's the only news I watch that has any good international reporting. More significantly, I tend to trust the BBC more than I trust domestic news organizations here in the States, even on national news like politics, elections, military crap, etc., than companies like NBC. The Beeb may be state-run, but only insofar as it's tax- and contributor-funded like my PBS (tv) and NPR (radio), upon which I was raised and from which I still prefer to get my news. Conveniently, the two of them often carry BBC programs. The latter company, however, not to mention Fox (double ha!), well, I know who owns them and I'm not particularly fond of them (cough cough GE cough PCBs cough cough did-i-mention-i-live-in-brooklyn-which-the-hudson-river-sorta-kinda-runs-past? cough aHEM). Long story short, I like the BBC, I believe a better chunk of their reporting than what I hear here, and they still have credibility in my eyes. The UK might do well to stop fretting over whether the Beeb is lying to them about their government, and wonder whether it's not the other way 'round. And of course they should take it for granted that Rupert Murdoch is lying through every pore in his liver-spotted body.

P.S. The rest of my evening tv schedule is devoted to watching the Simpsons, on Fox, and that is all that Fox is good for. That and American Idol.

P.P.S. Mishal Husain is hot.

That is all.

posted by Bubonic Lou 1:36 PM

In Memoriam

I've finally decided to update Ezzie's Dogchow page, to reflect her "past tense" status. I'm still crying from the effort of writing the text for it, but it's done, and thank Dog (ha!) I had the presence of mind to save for posterity the text from the original page. Just in case, you know, I would want it some other time. I always thought it was cute.

(Picture caption, of her sitting regally on my bed)*
Yeaz...I do own this bed. Call me Ezzie.

(Text)
My owner found me one Friday afternoon in Prospect Park. She was with the Park Rangers, and she would have had to take me to the pound. But they would kill me! 'cuz I was a mean ol' fightin' bitch, and thereby a liability for adoption.

So she took me to the Rangers office, and said to herself 'Maybe I can convince my parents to let me keep her for a bit until I find someone who actually wants a pitbull'...but, as she was to find out, no one did. Just the same, because she has a good heart, she took me to the vet to check me out. Good thing too, because I had some stitches in me. Whoever had me before, and was pittin' me, was awfully mean. The vet said I'd had one last litter before she found me, and they'd probably decided to abandon me since I was too old to fight or breed anymore. Poor me.

But she took me home, and her parents weren't real happy about it, and neither was her turtle. But because I'm such an awesome pooch I won all their hearts, and now I'm here to stay. Except the turtle, but that's just because I tried to eat her! I thought she'd taste like chicken!


*Well, about as regal as Ezzie ever got. She was a bit of a schlub, as dogs go.

posted by Bubonic Lou 4:48 AM

No Title I Can Think Of...

....but this story is pretty fascinating.

Martha suffers from a strange affliction called ''nodding syndrome,'' apparently unique to southern Sudan. Its young victims tend to nod vigorously at the sight of food. The condition often progresses to severe seizures, mental retardation and death.

But wait--it gets even stranger--

Peter Spencer, an American neurotoxicologist who has investigated the condition for WHO, encountered another 13-year-old girl with a bizarre variation of the illness.

''I was able to demonstrate with her that she was a regular nodder with local food and by contrast she did not nod when eating a variety of American food - candy bars or whatever. It was absolutely staggering,'' he said.

Candy--it's good for what ails ya!

But in all seriousness, I read about all sorts of folk diseases like this when I took a medical anthropology course a couple years ago here--but this one kinda takes the cake*, except maybe for the one in the Hua of Papua New Guinea, where men are so jealous of women's reproductive powers (their only powers, there) that they co-opt them, faking "pregnancy" and then inducing "menstruation" (a convenient abortion). Though that's not so much a folk disease as a cultural phenomenon, perhaps...


*cake. Hah! That was not intentional, but now that I see it, hah!

posted by Bubonic Lou 1:14 AM

Vuelve a me