Neil Diamond really does rock.
If you really listen, you'll be forced to admit it. The lyrics are...very interesting, but if you only listen to a line or two at a time it seems to make sense, if not to be profound and moving.

(aside to JEF: shut up! I know what you're going to say. Did you hear there's a new Norah Jones album coming out next year? :-p)
- posted by k @ 1:54 AM

 
A blogworthy event in my own actual life
So this morning we had a 10 minute break in our (3-hour) lecture, and we were waiting for the prof to get back. There are only five of us in the class, and one girl started drawing stick figures on the whiteboard, who turned out to be (allegedly) representative of the people in the class. Each stick figure had only one distinguishing characteristic (e.g. glasses, cane). The one she drew for me was my hair. A big curly mess. I think I am pleased. My hair is out there fulfilling its destiny and people are starting to notice.

What do you mean 'a life'?
- posted by k @ 1:49 PM

 
The Veg Strikes Back!
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer CHICAGO - New research on vegetables and aging gives mothers another reason to say "I told you so." It found that eating vegetables appears to help keep the brain young and may slow the mental decline sometimes associated with growing old.

On measures of mental sharpness, older people who ate more than two servings of vegetables daily appeared about five years younger at the end of the six-year study than those who ate few or no vegetables.The research in almost 2,000 Chicago-area men and women doesn't prove that vegetables reduce mental decline, but it adds to mounting evidence pointing in that direction. The findings also echo previous research in women only.Green leafy vegetables including spinach, kale and collards appeared to be the most beneficial. The researchers said that may be because they contain healthy amounts of vitamin E, an antioxidant that is believed to help fight chemicals produced by the body that can damage cells.

"[...]findings specific for vegetables and not fruit add further credibility that this is not simply a marker of a more healthful lifestyle," said Stampfer, who was not involved in the research.

Hmm, if only I could find kale here. I can find plenty of spinach and arugula, but kale is so much more mellow. When the time comes, kale, remember I believed in you all along!
- posted by k @ 11:57 AM

 
Jaffa Cakes!
They're good! It's a bit of cookie-thing with orange jelly and dark chocolate. What's not to like? I was introduced to this fine feature of British cuisine yesterday, and today I found boxes of them going 2 for a pound at the store.

Plus, if you read the wikipedia story you can find out the true difference between a cookie and a cake. For tax purposes.
- posted by k @ 3:20 PM

 
Indian Community Burgeoning in America

Not only is the Indian community burgeoning, it's maturing. Increasingly, after decades of quietly establishing themselves, Indians are becoming more vocal in the American conversation -- about politics, ethnicity and many other topics.

"I've been studying the community for 20 years and in the last four or five years something different has been happening," said Madhulika Khandelwal, president of the Asian American Center at Queens College in New York. "Indian-Americans are finally out there speaking for themselves."

Roughly 2.3 million people of Indian ancestry, including immigrants and the American-born, now call the U.S. home, according to 2005 Census data. That's up from 1.7 million in 2000.

They have big communities in New Jersey, New York, California and Texas, and their average yearly household income is more than $60,000 -- 35 percent higher than the nation overall. Indian Americans, along with Indian expatriates worldwide, sent about $23 billion back to India in 2005, World Bank data show.

[click link for full story. There are probably more interesting parts I could have excerpted.]
- posted by k @ 9:49 AM

 
Raindrops on roses...
My new favorite thing is Cat and Girl.

Scones are also nice, but you have to eat them when they're fresh, otherwise they stick to your teeth (just like their cousins, the biscuits). I took a break from crumpets this week, but I think I'm ready to go back. Also took a break from beans, but not ready to go back on those yet.

One of my professors gave me his Matlab book and said it's easy enough to work through, so that's good. I think I have 24/7 swipe access to the lab with the imaging machines, so now we know how I'll be spending my evenings. I'm looking forward to it, though. And since I'm a student now, I could get my own copy for the student price...hmm...

Speaking of which, if anyone is worried about what to get me for Xmas, there are a couple of expensive textbooks I would love to have my own copies of (see also this and this).
- posted by k @ 7:37 AM

 
Long dark tea time...
I ask you, my friends, what is like Nina Simone singing Leonard Cohen songs on the night that follows a quiet Sunday in Autumn? (don't answer. It's a rhetorical question, or else a koan. OTOH "the sound of one hand clapping" might be a good answer..)

• So this would be a good time to apply to those jobs. Yup.

• Or go through my schedule for the coming week, mmm-hmm.

• Or work on grad school applications, indeedy-do.

• Or even to reply to some long-overdue emails, uh-huh.

I could even, conceivably, do some studying, but I did a respectable amount at the library today, so I'm not going to push that.
- posted by k @ 12:56 PM

 
Divas in the News
1. Kiran Desai wins the Booker Prize for The Inheritance of Loss, which I hadn't heard of until this week. I guess I'll have to read it. (I'm sure she's not diva-ish; she sounded very humble on her BBC interview and I think she said she had trouble contacting her mother in India to tell her, since she [the mother] doesn't have a phone. or something).

2. La Barbra is in the news again! I didn't know she was touring again, but what a great way to get publicity. If it shows up on YouTube, somebody send me a link.
- posted by k @ 1:37 AM

 
No sewers necessary!

					September 25, 2006

- posted by k @ 5:49 AM

 
Important Breaking News!

• Sign of the apocalypse? "At some point early Tuesday, the mayor of San Francisco decided to walk outside without slicking his hair back with a double scoop of shiny product..."

• Red Leiscester cheese, as it turns out, tastes rather like Colby-Jack. Not a bad thing.
  

- posted by k @ 2:04 PM

 
Today
Turned out pretty well after all. Went to both the time management and capoeira (was pretty good, but I have a bit of a blister or something on my toe now). Got my reading done and had (what I think is) a clever idea of how to present that paper. Then the best news of all is that I ran into a classmate who reminded me I don't have to do that until Friday! So I went for coffee and then to the pub (where I didn't drink anything) with two guys I knew who hadn't met each other but live in the same building and I think are kindred spirits to some extent. Then we went back to my place for cheese toasties and beans and a cultural exchange of radio improv shows. Yup, a good day.
- posted by k @ 4:44 PM

 
Things that do not equal doing your reading

• Applying to two jobs (one phone enquiry, one email)

• Reading about St. Francis of Assisi, since today is his feast day

• Catching up on old DTWOF strips and savoring one from last summer you somehow missed the first time.

Yup. There's a time management workshop from 2-4, and then capoeira from 5-7. Yup.
- posted by k @ 4:10 AM

 
Add two more to that list
I think I am also adventurous enough to try

• The Ploughman's sandwich (cheese, bread, lettuce and some kind of frightening pickle*)

and

• The cream tea (tea, scone, cream and jam). Ok, doesn't call for that much guts, and I *have* had it before on my previous trip to London, and apparently it's not that "authentic"? but still.

I have already tried the egg mayonnaise and egg & cress sandwiches. If I wanted, I could also try the egg & tomato and egg salad. Btw, salad means something different here, but I'm not sure what exactly (unless you're ordering a salad from a menu. then it's the same).

Oh, in case you're wondering, I did look at my bank account and make a budget yesterday, so the day wasn't a total waste. Of course, my budget didn't take into acount that apparently my donkey-loving bank is charging me a (10%??) "international transaction fee" every time I use my debit card, even at an ATM. Even at the ATM of the bank that they recommended to me because it wouldn't give me fees (it didn't. They did. bastards). Not to mention how I miscalculated on that last phone bill... oy.

*I hear it is often Branston pickle, and everybody's favorite microbrewery happens to keep Branston pickle at its tables, though I can't imagine they have to re-stock often. My point is, I have tried it before and it wasn't too bad. Kind of like a cross between achar and A-1 Steak Sauce.

- posted by k @ 11:10 AM