Random Observations

• I just saw Tim's Vermeer
• Vermeer is a fascinating painter to many people, myself included
• Hitler too
• The movie turned my view of Vermeer upside down
• You should go see the movie
• The Uptown Theater in Minneapolis now has assigned seating
• And a full bar
• They didn't announce that there's a full bar until it was too late to get a beer
• I had to wait 'till I got home
• Next time
• Seeing the movie is part of my new plan to see 30 movies this year
• Inspired by my friend Dorothy
• I'm going to count each season of Tales of the City as a Movie
• And Sherlock
• I started watching the British Sherlock because my coworkers were talking about it
• Also Downton Abbey
• Season finale for Downton is tomorrow
• Did you see this article about Bates?
• Also in the news did you see this from The Bloggess?
• I love Jenny Lawson
• Venezuela is in the news too
• My AFS family does not write
• I don't know if they're ok or not
• They are incapable of writing
• We have seen each other here and there over the past 35 years
• But they don't write
• Makes me sad, not knowing
• On a brighter note, I am starting to knit again
• Nothing fancy
• But still … it's progress
• I have new tires on my car
• Hooray
• Came in handy today given the state of the roads
• Which are like washboards

Here are Sunday's photos:

Two of my pet peeves: feet on the seat in the train and butt hanging out of pants

Girl-child took this photo in the elevator at my new building when she and DIL came to visit

Boy-child in his favorite new Christmas t-shirt

Crazy, Religion, Art, Boxes

Did anyone else watch any of the video that has caused the rioting and killing?

It's really stupid and mean

Of course, one could argue that killing people over a stupid video is even dumber and meaner

Events like this are what make people like me dislike religion

I've been packing

A lot of boxes

More now; this photo was taken yesterday

Some empty cupboards and closets

One neighbor came by and said I had a lot to do still

Another neighbor came over and said I had a lot done

I like the second neighbor better

Plus she brought cupcakes

I've come down off the sugar now and I don't feel like packing any more

Campbell's Soup has a special pop-art 50th anniversary display

Looking at a cool and quirky condo in NE Minneapolis tomorrow

Hate packing

Cataloging News

Did you hear that many libraries are abandoning the Dewey Decimal system for Netflix categories? The Cronk of Higher Education writes about it here.

Dewey Decimal Category	Netflix Category
000 – Computer science, information & general works	Sci-Fi & Fantasy
100 – Philosophy and psychology	Special Interest
200 – Religion	Faith & Spirituality
300 – Social sciences	Gay & Lesbian
400 – Language	Foreign
500 – Science (including mathematics)	Sci-Fi & Fantasy
600 – Technology	Documentary
700 – Arts and recreation	Music & Musicals
800 – Literature	Romantic Comedy
900 – History, geography, and biography	Cerebral Drama

Maybe Google will clean up their meta-data and start using the Netflix system too (better than nuthin').

World Cup and Language Skills

I don't ever follow the World Cup, but I happened upon something in the Spanish press today. One thing leads to another, and I was sent this headline from Beth, who does follow soccer:

Refs prep for U.S. vs. England with curse course

RUSTENBERG, South Africa -- The Brazilian referee and his assistants who will work the England-United States match at the World Cup have been studying English-language obscenities the players might use.

You can see the whole article here.

And here's a photo, just for fun, found in El Pais in the fotogaleria:

Astérix

Asterix is 50, and to celebrate, El Pais has given access to four pages in PDF format for free!

I apologize to my friends who do not read enough Spanish to enjoy the sample from El Pais; look for something in English, I'm sure it's out there.

If you're not familiar with Asterix, take a look here, here or here for a little info in English.

Good, Old-fashioned Laughs

Not totally random, folks, since Soupy Sales just died on the 22nd. I remember him from when I was a kid, and although I haven't seen him around for ages, he obviously never outgrew silly.

Monday Morning Wires

Salon.com highlights five things that are top stories/current wire service stories at the top of the home page.

Here are this morning's five things:

1. Health reform legislation close to floor vote (NYT)
2. U.N. to inspect Iranian plant this month (CNN)
3. 8 U.S. troops dead in bold Afghanistan attack (WAPO)
4. Todd Palin quits his job (CNN)
5. Is Ahmadinejad secretly Jewish? (TELE)
   

Ok. I understand 1-3.

Todd Palin quits his job. And we care because...?

And Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semitic Jew. Ugh!

Surrealism is Good for You

(UCSB Press Release)

Reading Kafka Improves Learning, Suggests UCSB Psychology Study September 15, 2009


(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– Reading a book by Franz Kafka –– or watching a film by director David Lynch –– could make you smarter.
According to research by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia, exposure to the surrealism in, say, Kafka's "The Country Doctor" or Lynch's "Blue Velvet" enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions. The researchers' findings appear in an article published in the September issue of the journal Psychological Science.
"The idea is that when you're exposed to a meaning threat –– something that fundamentally does not make sense –– your brain is going to respond by looking for some other kind of structure within your environment," said Travis Proulx, a postdoctoral researcher at UCSB and co-author of the article. "And, it turns out, that structure can be completely unrelated to the meaning threat."
Meaning, according to Proulx, is an expected association within one's environment. Fire, for example, is associated with extreme heat, and putting your hand in a flame and finding it icy cold would constitute a threat to that meaning. "It would be very disturbing to you because it wouldn't make sense," he said.
As part of their research, Proulx and Steven J. Heine, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and the article's second co-author, asked a group of subjects to read an abridged and slightly edited version of Kafka's "The Country Doctor," which involves a nonsensical –– and in some ways disturbing –– series of events. A second group read a different version of the same short story, one that had been rewritten so that the plot and literary elements made sense. The subjects were then asked to complete an artificial-grammar learning task in which they were exposed to hidden patterns in letter strings. They were asked to copy the individual letter strings and then to put a mark next to those that followed a similar pattern.
"People who read the nonsensical story checked off more letter strings –– clearly they were motivated to find structure," said Proulx. "But what's more important is that they were actually more accurate than those who read the more normal version of the story. They really did learn the pattern better than the other participants did."
In a second study, the same results were evident among people who were led to feel alienated about themselves as they considered how their past actions were often contradictory. "You get the same pattern of effects whether you're reading Kafka or experiencing a breakdown in your sense of identity," Proulx explained. "People feel uncomfortable when their expected associations are violated, and that creates an unconscious desire to make sense of their surroundings. That feeling of discomfort may come from a surreal story, or from contemplating their own contradictory behaviors, but either way, people want to get rid of it. So they're motivated to learn new patterns."
Thus far, the researchers have identified the beneficial effects of unusual experiences only in implicit pattern learning. It remains to be seen whether or not reading surreal literature would aid in the learning of studied material as well. "It's important to note that sitting down with a Kafka story before exam time probably wouldn't boost your performance on a test," said Proulx.
"What is critical here is that our participants were not expecting to encounter this bizarre story," he continued. "If you expect that you'll encounter something strange or out of the ordinary, you won't experience the same sense of alienation. You may be disturbed by it, but you won't show the same learning ability. The key to our study is that our participants were surprised by the series of unexpected events, and they had no way to make sense of them. Hence, they strived to make sense of something else."
###

Franken Won

According to the Minnesota Supreme Court, Al Franken won the U.S. Senate seat:

In its 32-page ruling, the state court unanimously rejected all of Coleman's arguments, seeking the inclusion of more absentee ballots into the count.

read the full story here.

Of course, it isn't really news, but it's official.

Thank goodness Coleman's conceded!

On the Senate Race and Weird News

So, while I was volunteering Monday night helping a young woman prepare for the citizenship test I was reminded that Minnesota still has only one senator. The second seat for Senate is still hung up in the courts. For those of you who aren't from around here, it's a counting issue. I tried to impress upon my student Monday night that the courts don't decide who won the election, the courts decide if the votes were counted properly ... it's kind of weird, and near impossible to explain - this sort of thing does not normally happen in the United States. This is a fluke.

It's kind of like when the bridge fell into the river and P said, "This does not happen in the U.S."

...anyway, today I looked at the news and lo, a Ramsey County court has ordered Norm Coleman to pay Al Franken $95K - part of his defense cost. We don't have the Senate seat filled yet, but it is some consolation.

In other news, two deer stumbled into downtown Minneapolis this morning. Marquette and 8th? They weren't window shopping. Maybe looking for somewhere to eat? It cost them though; both were put down. I'll have to ask one of the wildlife people at the U why that was necessary, because the article does not make that clear to me at all.

New Sock Monkey

Although I shouldn't be starting anything new...I couldn't help myself...and I started a sock monkey for Girl-child using only leftovers (per her request):
The feet are from a favorite pair of socks that she actually wore out, the blue is from my recently finished Poseidons and the little guy's shirt is going to be in the Franklin's Panopticon colorway - the little ball on the right.

And did you hear? The most challenged book of 2008, And Tango Makes Three, has become a real story. The Bremerhaven zoo has some gay penguins who "adopted" an abandoned egg and they are now rearing the chick as their own.

It's karma.

Sotomayor

I guess Girl-child has gotten over the disappointment that she probably won't be the first Hispanic woman to sit on the Supreme Court (right) ... but we are still watching.

Enjoy the following clip from The Daily Show - it even includes some of the weird pronunciations that have been heard so far in the news. More to come, I'm sure:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
PR Move
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Podcasts

I've recently started listening to podcasts. Although I've loaded others into my iTunes, This American Life is the only regular series I've listened to so far.

Most recently, I listened to No Map: Stories of people who find themselves in situations far from the beaten path, where there are no guidelines and no useful precedents, including the return of Squirrel Cop).

How timely. I definitely feel as though I've been without a map for the past week.

I had also listened to This I Used to Believe: Stories of people forced to let go of their firmly held beliefs. And then today I stumbled upon a blog, Letters to My Agent, in which the writer ponders This I'd like to believe, This I don't believe for one second and This I sincerely do believe in her own permutation of the show.

So here is mine...

This I believe:
That Boy-child will return soon of his own volition.

On a much, much lighter note, I cast on a yellow sock for P (basket weave seemed like an appropriate texture for the color):
And a Clapotis for me (this will only look like a black blob for a while longer, and then will transform into a beautiful wrap):
And I finished Girl-child's green socks (unable to achieve accurate color today):

Newspapers

It's sad to see that newspapers are becoming a thing of the past. Mind you, I had P cancel the Minneapolis Star/Tribune when they endorsed Coleman, I still think that Minneapolis should have a (solvent) newspaper.

The St Paul newspaper is unforgivably provincial and we've never subscribed to it, even though we've lived in St Paul for over 20 years now. We may have subscribed when we moved here, but we discovered that the movie listings did not include anything showing in Minneapolis. They totally lost us at that point.

In fact, the only (hardcopy) newspaper we get now is the Sunday New York Times. Last Sunday there was a spread on Portland, Oregon in the travel section, which happens to be the city Girl-child chose for a summer destination this year.

Did you know there's a velvet painting museum in Portland? I can hardly wait.

Anyway, getting back to newspapers, so I started reading the Doris Kearns Goodwin book on Lincoln's political genius, Team of Rivals, and I was struck by the mention of how many newspapers existed in the middle of the 19th century. I mean, there used to be two in Minneapolis when I was a kid (the Star and the Tribune, then consolidated into the StarTribune, and now insolvent). But in the 1840s even moderately sized cities had half a dozen or more newspapers.

I don't care that Internet has oodles of information, it's just not the same.

Actually, what I want is my newspapers on the Internet.

But I'm not ready for a Kindle.

Obama is Spock

Salon composite/AP photo

Ok, this photo freaks me out a little, but I like the headline:

Obama is Spock: It's quite logical

Our president bears a striking resemblance to the rational "Star Trek" Vulcan whose mixed race made him cultural translator to the universe.

The full article is available here.

Stayin' Alive

WORLD NEWS
MEET THE 98-YEAR-OLD QUAKE SURVIVOR WHO KNITTED TO STAY ALIVE

Maria D’Antuono knitted to stay alive in the rubble
Wednesday April 8,2009
By Nikki Barr for express.co.uk

A 98-year-old woman who survived the L’Aquila earthquake in Italy managed to stay alive in the rubble by knitting.

Maria D’Antuono told rescue workers she spent the 30 hours she was trapped knitting to keep herself busy. Ms D’Antuono was buried under her bed when her stone home collapsed during the quake in the village of Tempera. But she was determind to stay alive and told reporters she spent the hours “doing crochet”. Officials said she was in a good condition. The happy news comes as the death toll for the quake reached a staggering 260. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the dead included 16 children, while nine bodies still had to be identified.Berlusconi said that L’Aquila Bishop Giuseppe Molinari would hold a funeral service for the victims on Friday.

She spent 30 hours trapped beneath her collapsed home

Officials say 28,000 people have been left homeless by the quake that struck Monday.

Top First Lady

Michelle Obama charms queen away from protocol

By JENNIFER QUINN Associated Press Writer

Apr 2nd, 2009 | LONDON -- Michelle Obama has done what few others have managed -- getting Queen Elizabeth II to break protocol.

The first lady arrived Wednesday with President Barack Obama. After separate meetings on the eve of the G-20 summit, the couple attended an evening reception for world leaders hosted by the queen.

Mrs. Obama clearly made an impression with the 82-year-old monarch -- so much that the smiling queen strayed from protocol and put her arm around the first lady in a rare public show of affection.

It was the first time Mrs. Obama -- who is nearly a foot taller -- had met the queen. The first lady also embraced her.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman who asked not to be identified because of palace policy said he could not remember the last time that the queen had displayed such public affection with a first lady or dignitary.

"It was a mutual and spontaneous display of affection," he said. "We don't issue instructions on not touching the queen."

When the former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating put his arm around the queen in 1992, the tabloids dubbed him the "Lizard of Oz." When his successor, John Howard, was accused of doing the same, a spokesman insisted: "We firmly deny that there was any contact whatsoever." In 2007, Bush gave the queen a sly wink during a visit she paid to the United States.

The Daily Mail said the "two women clearly took to each other."

Wednesday's reception was followed by a dinner at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street home, where the leaders' spouses were joined by notable British women, including "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and Olympic gold medal runner Kelly Holmes.

"Michelle walks in and she is as she seems," Holmes told reporters Thursday. "So warm, engaging, a beautiful, beautiful lady -- and I quickly got my photo in the middle of her and Sarah Brown," the prime minister's wife.

Mrs. Obama also seemed to win over the often feral British press.

(there's more, you can find it here)

Storm Brewing

First of all, for those of you who wanted to find the Cultural Identity Test from the previous post, I've added the link (sorry). It's actually not quite as silly as the others - give it a whirl.

This morning there is a storm coming our way. Of course, I have a "retreat" for work at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum so I have to drive to Chaska instead of hopping on my handy bus.

*sigh*

One of the things that we are going to try this time is, because the storm warning is for Hennepin but not Ramsey county and we live in Ramsey, a mere three blocks from the river which is the dividing line between the counties, we thought we'd head down to the river and watch the storm from our side ...

I found some interesting tidbits in the Audubon magazine yesterday at work. First of all, there's an octopus who loves to play with a Rubik's cube. Seriously. It's her favorite toy. Read about it here.

Second, there's a guy who does beetle art. We have some beetle art at the library, but this guy's art is for art's sake and not for didactic or illustrative purposes. Take a look at it here. Interesting story.

And finally, from WCCO, a bit of weird news ... there's a 79 year old woman in Fair Oaks, California who teaches adult tap dancing. I guess sometimes people don't read the sign/adverts quite right and they think it's for lap dancing. It's usualy men who are confused. Imagine their surprise when they find a 79 year old woman in charge. I like her response to the men when they call ... "Helen says when men call, she just tells them to bring their daughters over so she can teach them to tap dance. That usually ends the conversation."

Way to go, Helen.

Anniversary

Ok, I had a feeling that something was going on at the clinic today, and I know that Roe v Wade is a January thing, but I didn't go up the block to find out what the flashing lights were about this morning. I stayed at the bus stop. Call me a coward.

It turns out that somebody rammed his SUV into the doors of the clinic a few times around 7:30 this morning. He was chanting and praying while waiting for the police to arrest him.

But, always trying to find the glass half full, I noticed that in this article which covered activities at the State Capitol as well as at the clinic on Ford Parkway, Norm Coleman was referred to as former Senator Norm Coleman.

Yes, they said former.

I wonder if they'll change it?

(thanks, Susan, for filling me in on the neighborhood news)

DFW

Hard to believe we made it out the door this morning considering this is where we were last night:


But make it we did. I was a little bent out of shape over a few things (cabbie who didn't help load luggage, very unhelpful ticket agent) but once we got past security at MSP I was skipping and smiling...now we're in Dallas, I'm past the cuff on a new sock (pictures later) and I'm still smiling...

And just a note regarding the Gates Foundation, libraries and grants ... Chile was the recipient of a grant some years ago to get their libraries hooked up to the Internet ... As kmkat mentioned in earlier comments, you can complain about Microsoft, but not about the Gates Foundation...

And thanks to the kat for this too - and currently showing on CNN in the DFW airport, Franken is now ahead in the Senate race....