Hat love

So, I headed over to the thrift store today to drop off a bagload of clothes. My Mum is convinced I should send/take them to Nepal so we can give them away there but I know that's unlikely to ever happen. Though I did keep a second bagful in case I got the urge to lug stuff around on airplanes or ship 'em over. While at the shop, I saw a $2 hat that looks remarkably like the one pictured.

I've mentioned here before that a month or so ago, I found an Armani suit for $3. It's rather unsuitable for work, being a bit too tight (especially now that my bum insists on becoming bigger while the rest of me stays the same) and I'm not sure when it will ever get to see the light of day. However, this hat works perfectly with it--the material is similar and the suit has these nifty polka dots/stripes that the hat matches. I was thinking that, in case of a fire, I would probably save my computer, glasses, passport and the suit/hat combo. That's how much I like 'em.

Photo via Etsy. You can buy that particular hat there if you so fancy.

Mechanised bodies

Not an Onion story.

By now, I'm pretty sure that US officials have little to do except think up ridiculous ways terrorists could do terrorist-y things. The latest installment of that is this.

AP has titled it, "Explosive implants".

Btw, don't do a Google image search for "Leela Futurama taking skin off" (I remembered a Futurama episode in which she takes off her face? skin on her face? to reveal mechanical parts and wanted to add that to this post. To make it a bit more exciting for yous). I discovered there's a thriving world of online Futurama p.rn. Why not, I guess but now I'll never look at Real Futurama in the same way again.

Stealing others' words

Not really but these bloggers have pretty much said all I wanted to about the DSK case. If you just want to read one, I'd recommend "when rape victims lie" (no, not really about what it sounds like)

The world is your mean old grand uncle

Well, it's not as if The World wants us to have a bit of fun and sit around and watch lightsaber battles, eh?

Instead, it's ridiculous court cases (not the one you might think) and starvation.

Happy dreams.

Men With Lightsabers (aka Just What I Needed Today)

I'm scarfing down Tim Tams after having walked 2miles each way to get them. Dedication to cravings that. If only I had as much dedication to actual exercise, I'd be fit, right?

Here, watch Ewan McGregor and Chris O'Dowd play with lightsabers. The bit about EM making his own sound effects for the Star Wars prequels is unexpected. And funny.



This reminds me that C O'D is actually a nice chap, despite that utter idiot he played in Bridesmaids.

Links, let me give you some more of 'em!

So, here's the thing. I know I'm not supposed to write details about my students/their writing etc but this needs to be said. One of their assignments for my terrorism class was to interview someone involved in counterterrorism. After reading/listening to 24 interviews, I have this to say:

1. Pretty much all interviewees conflate "homegrown terrorism" with "Muslims". There is little nuance here--no one talks of Timothy McVeigh or even people like Jared Loughner and the VA Tech shootings. "Homegrown terrorism"=Muslims.

2. A significant proportion of the sources equate "Southeast Asia" with India and Pakistan. This is depressing but not as depressing as...

3. The sheer self-congratulatory tone of how "our" (US) counterterrorism efforts are working while Europe (the UK and Germany were often quoted) are "unsuccessful" because of their "multiculturalism". Most of the interviewees claim the US has been "successful at integration", a statement I would question. It's been successful at making visible signs of difference (e.g. a hijab) invisible. I'm not sure this is integration.

4. No. 3. Actually, the rah rah USA tone of pretty much all interviewees rather surprised me. Maybe because in my interviews (not with US officials), I'm more used to hearing about what didn't work; what could be improved (regarding Northern Ireland).

5. It's the sort of assignment that makes me rather depressed about my topic of research. And want to go and start raising bees a la Sherlock Holmes or taking up knitting. I suppose it's too late to be a geologist. Or a mathematician.

But, you're not here for this. You're here for links. Here, have some!

- I enjoyed these pictures of the royal wedding in Monaco. Mainly because I had no idea half these people existed (Prince of Prussia? Isn't Prussia defunct?)

- Just because a country is multicultural, it doesn't mean that it can't work well with minorities while maintaining its "values" (however defined). I must admit I had no idea that police couldn't ask people with face coverings to remove those. This law seems quite sensible to me (and I see that minority groups have agreed)

- DSK. No comment here but I hope yous remember I said he'd get off? On the topic of whether there should be a trial, he's been charged of rape (I think). The fact that the woman may have gotten it off with others for money, etc should have nothing to do with this charge. Even if she'd just come from servicing some other chap (or chaps) in the room next door shouldn't have anything to do with what happened with DSK.* Unfortunately, it seems the discrepancies in her story led prosecutors to think that a trial wouldn't be a good idea.

- Only in New York.

- This list of 29 ridiculous interview questions (answered by Giles Turnbull) is worth a look.



* Yes, I'm aware that she's changed her story and that there have been holes in her account. I'm not saying she's telling the truth regarding DSK. I'm saying her past actions should have nothing to do with whether what happened in that room happened or not. There's a long rant regarding our need for a "perfect" (female) victim that I've got lined up, but I might turn it into an actual (aka scholarly) article instead of ranting here on FA. Probably best all around.

"Do you have a flag?"

Grading...all weekend. With some forays into the outside world to get sustenance. In case you wonder how the 3 miles in 30 minutes goal is going, well, it's stopped. Shocking, eh? I never said it'd be 30 continuous days.

Here, have Eddie Izzard instead:

Links (with added rants included)

A few more links Yes, I know the US brought out (published? released?) a new counterterrorism strategy a few days ago. Yes, I will--eventually--remember I'm supposed to be a terrorism researcher and write a bit more about that. Maybe. For now, links.

What would you take with you if your house was burning down? I don't know (my computer/passport--if I can remember where the latter is/my glasses--if I'm not already wearing them.)

This creeped me out. Well, yes, poor woman and all that but, really! How can you not tell? They even had a health inspector come over and approve the pool without seeing the dead body.

A conversation just now reminded me of this. The Guardian (of course) has a series on writers' rooms.

Why am I here and not there? Let If It Were My Home answer.

Names and jobs/careers. I guess this means I'll eventually grow up to be a flower-wearing hippie who only eats organic products and lectures people on the Evils of Consumerism. Considering two of my siblings are named after a country and the word "puzzle", I can't whinge too much.

Russian scientist attempts to remain relevant by claiming we will encounter alien life within the next 20 years. It's a good thing we've got popular culture to tell us how to react when that happens.

Good article about introverts/shyness/drug companies taking advantage. This social construction of introverts and shy people (or shyness) as something to be cured of is fascinating.

Oh well, one thing about terrorism: we've been hearing in the past week that the US will now move towards small, targeted operations rather than large land wars. Apart from the fact that land wars in Asia are never a good idea, this brilliant bit of new strategy was something the British found out a long time ago in Malaya. We talked about this in my class this summer (and I got emails from students saying: look, the US counterterrorism strategy is pretty much old-school British counterinsurgency strategy). The interesting thing, especially about the British strategy after Malaya, is that the learning process was then combined with a "forgetting" process as the Brits did not apply their "learning experience" from Malaya in Northern Ireland. Is that what the US is up to next?

As someone who researches representations and meaning-making of terrorism, whether a particular strategy was "right" or not is not my concern*. It is still interesting that the US is now pushing its new counterterrorism policy, which seems to combine an old school British approach with Israel's (often criticized) one.

Apparently terrorism is less of a problem for the USA now because of successful operations overseas. So, on the one hand, we are moving towards smaller, surgical strikes and giving up on large-scale operations. On the other, these previous tactics (allegedly) worked. I say "allegedly" because we don't know if they did work or if Al Qaeda and co. started doing their Evil Deeds elsewhere. I mean, we can't test a counterfactual where we didn't spend billions (trillions, probably) of dollars on these wars for the past ten years.

This is exactly when a parallel universe or two would come in handy.

* How people talk/act/represent it as "right" is, however, my concern.

Day 1: In which I fail to find any shoes

Day 1 of the 3 miles in 30 minutes quest.

Well, it's not really a quest is it since I'm not after anything. Or, is it a quest since I will be finding myself and drawing on my inner strength and all that? You decide.

So this happened: wake up after 5 hours of sleep. Decide to get the walk/shuffle done before it got too hot. Look around for shoes.

Realize I don't own any shoes which might be (even kindly) suitable for running. Decide I like my fake Converses too much to "run" in those. Hmm...

It's 11am now. Obviously too late for "running".

Decide this can wait till tomorrow. I'm sure I had some runners somewhere.

I hope this isn't going to be the trend for the next 29 days.

"Anyone can do it...you just need to suffer a little first"

These were words that a friend said last weekend. He was talking about being able to run 5km in 30minutes.

All week, I've been thinking off and on about this. It's just not possible. After all, Roger Bannister just ran the 4 minute mile fairly recently. Well, "recently" as in "a few decades ago".

Then, today, it struck me. Kilmometres not miles. I mean, we are still talking over 3 miles so it's not easy. But, it's better than I had originally thought. It's gone from the realm of "impossible" to "hmm...maybe".

So, there you have it. I plan to test this statement. As yous know, if you look up the word "lazy" in a dictionary, you may well find my picture next to it. It's also 100 degrees (or thereabouts) outside. I have a tendency to get sick in the heat (three times already this summer). Oh and let's not forget: no health insurance in case something gets torn/yanked/jerked out of place.

But, let's be sensible about this. One month to do the job. I am not talking about turning into the roadrunner in a week. I am convinced it's still not possible--at least not for me-- but will see if I can make it happen.

Since I really don't have much else to write about, you can read all about my progress (or, most likely, lack thereof) here.

Starting tomorrow.