Things I'd like

Yes, yes, I know: regular posts probably mean every day. But this week (and the past weekend) have been very busy. I've suddenly realised I have two articles to write by November, a dissertation to format, seemingly endless papers to grade (WHY on earth did I think it was a good idea to make each of my classes have 6-7 assignments over the course of the semester than a couple of exams--as had been the norm in the past? Sometimes change is not a good idea ) and some sort of non-uni life to maintain (or else the future as a crazy old academic looms; though one might say I already have two out of three going so why not go for the trifecta?)

In any case, all I have for yous today is this: It's not like I like Lukas Podolski (though I'll admit the German footy team are eminently supportable) but I absolutely, utterly, totally want his t-shirt.

Mad Men: The Sesame Street Version

I've just started watching Mad Men, after hearing about it pretty much everywhere. Apparently even the Sesame Street lot are into it.

How easy to see the future

I just went down to the local library to return a few books. In that, in proper Buddha-ian fashion (I did talk about Buddhism and Hinduism to my students this week ), I ran into two sets of people. Let me tell yous about them:

1. The library was having its monthly book sale. I went up to the sale room and was browsing there when I realised one of the other patrons would not stop talking. In the space of about five minutes, I (and the two other people there) found out he was a sociologist, he did not "respect" economists (the librarian's husband turned out to be one), and he considered himself an aficionado of "books no one else wants". He spent the next ten minutes or so trying to remember the name of one particular book (that he had recommended to the librarian). We had to listen to his thought processes (such as they were) as he went through this. He couldn't remember any part of the title (except "it may have had the word genius there...no, wait. I am pretty sure the word genius is there") and nor could he tell her who had written it. After a couple more minutes of this, I gave up, gathered the few books I had and then left. I could still hear the man even when I was halfway down the stairs to the main floor.

2. On the main floor, standing in line, I was behind a couple of families and in front of another. It being a lovely Saturday afternoon and also since the library is now apparently going to be closed on Sundays, it was busy with Mums, Dads and kids. Actually, there were about 4-5 kids all around, running about, shouting and playing some sort of game which involved running along the aisles of the bookshelves. As the lady in front of me was borrowing 30 or so books, there was a lot of time to be spent standing in line.

Then, I became aware of something else: the man behind me was muttering and clucking. After a while, I heard him say, "Oh God", followed by "God help us". Firmly reckoning he was about to whip out a Bible (and try a spot of missionary work) at any mo, I was getting wary when I heard him say, "now, you keep quiet or else you go outside". I realised then that he was not alone--he had a two kids with me, both very silent. He repeated "God help us all" again.

So there yous have it: my future in a nutshell. Using Buddha-ian terms again, I'll gladly admit that any other day, shrieking children (and they were shrieking) in a library would probably not have made me very happy. But why were "we" (society) okay with an old man going on and on (and on) about his dreary academic past and his dislike of economists while a bit of fun by some kids bothered someone else to the extent that he ended up saying (rather loudly) "Is this a library?" just when my turn to have my book checked out came up?

Oh and probably even worse, what if I turn into said older academic gent? I can see myself in a few decades' time, haunting some back room of a local library, annoying patrons and staff while I talked (and talked) about "my time in academia". Seriously, I can see that coming--it's probably not even too far off in the future.

Which leads me to this: this is my Buddha-ian moment. I've decided that two evenings each week starting next week, I'm going to do something that is completely unrelated to academia. And, no, watching footy doesn't count since that is part of my leisure time activity. These evenings I have to either learn something new, go to a gym (I've never been to one to actually exercise in. Ever.) or perhaps even join some sort of club/activity thing. Something that will get me out of academia and into the "real" (or normal? everyday?) world. Something where I am forced to interact with people who don't give a rat's arse what I do for a living and/or can't be bothered about terrorism and teaching.

So that gives me a day (and perhaps Monday) to figure out what this thing can be. I'd rather it not be terribly expensive. I'd rather it not involve books or teaching or soccer (things I do for a living and/or fun). That still leaves me with a lot of options. I'll keep yous updated.

Musings upon a broken computer

Walking home from university yesterday (at around 10pm-ish), I had a rather spectacular fall. Considering this was the third fall I'd had in the past couple of weeks, I did what any pro would do: swore a lot, picked myself up and walked on. The newly-fixed knee was okay (I'd fallen on my bum) but my (also) newly-repaired palm was a bit scratched. All else seemed fine and the pertinent bits and pieces were all operational.

After a quick meal (fresh pasta, combined with garlic and homemade pesto sauce), I settled down to review my graded papers and send them back to the kids. I was well-pleased since I'd finished almost all of my 50-odd papers and all I needed to do was send them back and that was that for now (then?).

Then it happened: my (work) computer wouldn't turn itself on. At first, I thought I'd not pressed it right. I had. Or it was unplugged. It wasn't. I left it there for a while and tried again. Nothing. By now, slight panic had set in. I wasn't too worried since the blasted thing is barely a month old but I was somewhat worried.

Half an hour later, after much pleading, calling upon the computer deities and whatnot, the machine remained obstinately blank. Not even a blue screen. Blank. And, of course, all my graded papers were on it (and nowhere else. Yes I am pretty clever that way but the very idea of a one-month old computer ceasing to work had not occurred to me. Well, it may have flit through my brain but it quickly flitted out again since, really, it's one month old!).

After a fairly restless night and the passing up of a fun op to go hang out with friends (for those of you not in Washington, it's an absolutely gorgeous day outside. Perfect for bludging) I took the computer in to be fixed and left it at the shop.

Strangely, once I was (am) past the initial stage of worry and panic, I didn't much care. After all, it's not as if the computer's mine. Then I thought of what would happen if a similar thing happened to my computer. Well, then I sat down and copied all my files on this (my) computer. Something I should have done for the other one too.

If you've reached this far, you'll realise that this post was really about nothing. Actually about nothing. And quite possibly terribly dull. Which is sort of my point. The post (and all this dullness) could have been easily avoided if I'd just copied my damned files from the other computer.

Yet another lesson learnt.

Protesting 101

One of many (mostly unfinished) postdoctoral writings of mine are on the politics of protests, comparing civil rights era Northern Ireland with current G20 protests. Talking of G20 though, the Daily Show did a great piece on them recently. Here it is:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tea Partiers Advise G20 Protesters
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

I dread to think what'll happen when my hearing finally does go...

This is one of those "even after all these years here in the US of A, my hearing sometimes lets me down" moments:

Me (to person who had asked for directions but was proving to be rather chatty): Well, if you go straight down Connecticut, you'll eventually reach the Van Ness area. The embassies are along International Drive. You should ask someone around there.

Person: I've not been laid in two months. Two months!

Me: eh? (isn't this far too much information? )

Person: It's hard to be laid when you've got a small car, you know what I mean?

Me: Umm...no.

Person: Well, small cars are usually faster. Can get through traffic easily.

Me: (Oh, he means late. Phew ). Sure...yes. Absolutely.

Comfort reading (and viewing)

On another blog, I was reading about people and whether we (they) have "comfort reads". I thought, "of course". And then I thought: what would mine be? If I could take just one author's entire literary output with me, who would I pick?

Unsurprisingly, there really wasn't any need to think very much. Or for very long. On the video/DVD level, it'd be this for a video. And this (season 1 or season 4) for a series.

All of these to be taken with a cup of warm tea (with milk and honey and possibly some whiskey). There really isn't anything a good "cuppa" can't fix.

Music and Science (aka "how to talk about ontology")

I'm going to talk about ontology, specifically scientific ontology in my class tomorrow. I've found this one of the most difficult classes, in the past. First, I don't know how much the students are interested in (or care) about ontology and epistemology. Why should they bother, might be their view. Second, it's practically impossible to teach about ontology without doing a brief Philosophy of Science lecture and, really, there's no such thing as a brief phil. of. sci. lecture. Before I know it, I'm talking about Popper, Kuhn and whonot and discussing the ideas of logical positivism. Usually by this time, the two students who are still awake are those who will end up doing their PhDs in obscure metatheoretical concepts and/or are playing on Facebook (as evidenced by the wide grins they have when I am not talking about anything remotely amusing).

And, yet, ontology is important. I can't see how I can teach a "Research in International Relations" course (which is what mine is called) without talking about ontology and epistemology. If you don't know that the scientific ontology is different to interpretive/relational ontologies, then you are unlikely to get the differences between the various research traditions and end up trying to replicate one tradition in another. This is something researchers do all the time, of course, but my point is: they shouldn't. The scientific ontology is different from the relational ontology and that matters in what you think is in the world and how to study it.

So, ontology is tough. This time around, however, I found out a couple of things: one, I can ask the students to tell me what they think of the world: "What do you know?" and "how do you know it?" and then go on from there. This is what I've done in the past and it leads to lots of interesting claims (and follow-ups on how they know those). The second thing I found (off Crooked Timber) today is this:



This is pretty brilliant. Granted it's geared towards kids rather than young adults/youth but it does the job of being a good starting point (I reckon) for talking about scientific ontology. Until today, I had no idea TMBG were actually this amusing (and useful). I also had no idea that there's a list of related videos that can (and have been) taking up a significant proportion of my time. Time that would be better spent grading papers.