May 17, 2005
Bounded by a Sleep
Over the weekend, I "graduated," again, this time with a Meaningless Slip to accompany my BullShit. My parents came up to see, which is always a nifty time. Unfortunately, I didn't win all kinds of awards like I did when I was an undergrad. As Sam Clemens said, "Never let school interfere with an education."
Unfortunately, I did, with entirely too many late-nights in the lab programming last year. This last year I burnt out, and spent as little time hanging around school as I could while still maintaining straight As. I'd say it worked well, although it meant not doing all kinds of research projects or hundreds of thousands of dollars of labor for the University, which is probably what they're really after in a student.
After my shindig on Saturday, everybody got out of my hair, not that there's any left to be out of anyway. On Sunday morning I did the running thing and then went back to Rochester to see my cousin graduate.
Her ceremony was a kjillion times cooler than mine. Faculty sang short little choir compositions, slides were projected, people made animal noises throughout the ceremony, and professors quoted Shakespeare (the Tempest, which seems to be oft-considered this time of year). Plus they actually hand you your degree at U of R. I would pass along the proposition of having this more cohesive sort of ceremony to my own department, but I'm not sure if our over-formality-little-real-meaning is a cause of our department sucking socially, or merely a symptom.
In other news, Emily got a dog. It's a rather well-tempered cross between a grey hound and a german shepherd. I've sort of considered getting a hiking partner lately...I somehow deluded myself into thinking women-folk would like to do the stuff I do. With a few exceptions, they don't...I even sold my spare road bike after giving up the idea that I'd ever find a rider-chick. Woe is me ;-).
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005