Its Dec 31, and I’m in the Midwest… and, I just took Smilla for a lengthy walk, wearing only a T-shirt. Well, I had pants on too. But you get my drift. Wtf?

Back to the comics thing a second: why is it people demand things like Doonesbury & The Boondocks be moved to the editorial page? Does this mean all the other comics meet rigorous journalistic standards? Or are they avoiding confusion by putting anything containing a modicum of subjectivity together on a page with abundant disclaimers? If that’s the case, I’ll start writing editors to demand stupid, pointless comics aimed at the lowest common denominator be moved to the front page.

One more thing- can someone please start MJTV- all Michael Jackson, all the time- so those of us that don’t give a RAT’S ASS about that pathetic freak can stop hearing about him? Thank you.

Visual artists say Microsoft Corp.’s popular “slideware” — which makes it easy to incorporate animated graphics and other entertainment into presentations — lulls people into accepting pablum over ideas… “People are asking whether, ultimately, PowerPoint makes us all stupid, or does it help us streamline our thoughts?”

Microsoft spokesman Simon Marks … said in an e-mail, “PowerPoint continues to evolve to make it easier for customers to present their information in the style that best suits the content and the audience.”

Right, (stupid) content + (stupid) audience = $$$!

As a person of limited artistic skills, I do use powerpoint in class… a little. I try to make sure that it is used solely to present illustrations that are better than anything I could do in chalk. And never for more than 10 minutes at a time. If I start putting words onto slides… I know I’m going in the wrong direction.

I’ve actually had students say they like how I don’t use powerpoint much. Apparently the PP lecture is a widespread scourge. It sure makes the teacher’s job easier- make a set of slides, and never have to do a class prep again. I don’t get it- if people don’t like to teach, why the hell are they doing it? Anything else would pay way better.

Niko just got the Boondocks book. I have to wonder: why is it that the comic strip is one form of media that is dominated by a liberal slant? I’ve never been a big Doonesbury fan… just not absurd enough for my Monty Python trained mind, I guess, but my shelves groan under the weight of all the Bloom County compendiums. TV obviously lends itself to right wing bloviation: it’s the church of short attention span. What is it about comics? Now I’m thinking aout it, its’ something akin to poetry; you have a short space to pack in the meaning. Sure, there’s plenty of vacuous, computer-generated brain-dead comix (Blondie, Beatle Baily, bleh, why do I even bother trying to list them all.. not to mention the Satan-spawned Family Circus), but the good ones are infested with stealth commentary. Right-wingers are no strangers to double-entendre, they’ve got a whole deck of race cards up their white-tunic sleeves. Do Nazis have no sense of humor? Republicans no sense of irony? Hmm, well, come to think of it…

“…for, he accommodated every thing he saw, with incredible facility, to the extravagant ravings of his disordered judgment.” -Cervantes

For a second there, I thought I found an error in Numerical Recipes in C, in eq (4.5.9). But they defined the polynomials to be monic, not orthonormal, so the ratio of coefficients that appears in the equation for weights here is in this case assumed by the scalar product.

As The Lord of the Rings temporarily dominates the mainstream imaginative landscape, I thought it an appropriate occasion to read the Smolette translation of Don Quixote. I can’t help but hear the virtuous and confident voice of Graham Chapman as King Arthur stand in for the valiant knight of la Mancha’s chivalric ejaculations. I think all my perceptions are eventually filtered through Monty Python. I see that complete Flying Circus DVD set coming into my hands soon. Ah, how those late night PBS broadcasts warped my fragile adolescent mind.

I visited Rev. Furuya’s site for the first time in quite a while, and discovered he had started posting to the aikiweb forums- which I had dissed and stopped reading long ago. My first thought- Oh, no! They’ll eat poor Furuya sensei alive! His posts, of course, were brilliant, but sure enough…

I only hope and pray that although each person may have a different view of his practice, we can still get along harmoniously together on the web and still exchange friendly discourse in a polite and pleasant way. Maybe I am asking too much?

You are asking way, way too much…

If you dealing with a mentally deranged person, a mad dog or a crying baby that did not know better, you will say anything just to help it along or calm him down… it is the same way in dealing with these people on Aikiweb. They will not listen to anything and just want to pick a fight, they are just prejudiced and intolerant as you can see… Can you reason with them? It is no use. So I just step back. We are all supposed to be practicing Aikido, I am really quite shocked that such people practice Aikido and act that way. I also know, on the other hand, that there are so many people who need more info about Aikido - so it is a big shame, too.

I have really participated in any kind of internet forum or chat room before, this was my first time. What I never realized was how rude and inconsiderate people can be or are allowed to be and that, more often than not, people are not really interested in the answers or the exchange of information but merely to find an easy and quick opportunity to create a controversy and start a fight or belittle and put someone down.

I found the level of decorum in the forums disappointing as well. For Furuya, it must have been serious culture shock. I think these sorts of people often take over internet dialogue because it gives them the leeway to be total assholes without repercussion. I seriously think aikido needs to contract, and uphold strict standards in certifying instructors.

I just drove 150 miles to buy dog food.

Grading, grading, grading. My break-in semester nearly finished. Now, perhaps, I can do some real work. This place needs serious curricular reform. There are many classes here with standards below what was demanded of me in high school. More importantly, I think few instructors here have asked themselves serious questions about what is being taught. Our lab supervisor is leaving, so there’s additional room to change the direction of our program. Somewhere in here I’m supposed to do some research.

Last night I dreamt that Robert Plant and Adrien Belew were the same person… and a woman.

Learn what to do in the event of a terrorist attack.