Quod Scripsi, Scripsi

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-22

• wonders if he can send Plurks/Tweets/FB Statuses to a an archive on a WordPress Blog? http://plurk.com/p/486dr9 #
• thinks IT support is an excellent method of spiritual discipline. Like fasting at a BBQ. http://plurk.com/p/488bfz #
• Quantum Theory has always fascinated me, but I've never really bought into quantum computing. Then again…htt… http://plurk.com/p/48dl0c #
• @hutmark Yep, found it. Pretty cool. in reply to hutmark #

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Turning 36

I recently turned 36, so I figured I should write some things I think before I forget them.

• I still enjoy games. Video games, board games, card games, sports games, you name it. I don’t see anything wrong with this.
• If I ever get a Masters Degree it will be in something I really want to study, as opposed to a career enhancing device.
• I really need to start exercising more. I get tired too easily.
• I have to struggle daily against cynicism.
• Baby Boomers still make me angry. That’s a different post.
• Technology is fun and useful. When it stops being at least one of those, it’s time to move on.
• Struggling heroically against overwhelming odds is thrilling. On the other hand, occasionally squashing your opposition like little bugs is fun too.
• Everyone has some kind of issue or disability. Some are just more obvious than others.
• I do still miss the theater, although I also miss Pittsburgh and I’m fairly certain that absence is making the heart grow fonder in that case.
• The government can research space exploration and military technology, but pharmaceuticals still cost stupid amounts of money. Maybe health care would be cheaper if the drugs were.

If I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to add it. If I remember that I posted this.

Than and Then, I’m feeling mischievous.

Everyone makes grammar and usage mistakes. I try not to be too obnoxious about them, but there are two that really cheese me off. THAN is a comparison – “your sister is more fat THAN my sister”. THEN is a measure of sequence – “I will bust your jaw for calling my sister fat THEN I will kick you in the jumblies”. I really, really can’t stand it when people mix these up in writing. When saying them, they sound so similar you’d really have to be a jerk to point it out. I’m working on that. The spoken error that really chafes me is MISCHIEVOUS. Notice there is no long e vowel after the V. It’s MIS-CHUH-VUHS Two UH sounds like when you get punched in the gut for calling someone’s sister fat, or like the word DUH. People who say MIS-CHEE-VEE-UHS are wrong and sound dumb. There, I said it. Oh, and there’s no X in espresso. That one’s free.

Ireland

I don’t pretend to be Irish, just descended from emigrants in the very early 20th century. I am, however, very interested in Irish history, music and culture. It’s a fascinating place, and the more I learn about it the more I want to visit and see and hear and taste it for myself. I recently finished Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland, which is really just a series of microbiographies of famous Irishmen and women. It’s such a complicated place, yet very familiar in many ways. I would very much like to read more on Michael Collins, Wolfe Tone and I really need to read Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Michael Collins especially fascinates me, the honor and tragedy of his story is confounding.

O Holy Night

We’re decorating the Christmas tree, and Michael Ball’s version of “O Holy Night” came on the digital music channel. It’s one of my favorite Christmas – I was going to say song, but it’s really a hymn. The digital music channels run random facts and tidbits during the song on the screen, and one said that “O Holy Night” was first sung during Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in Paris, in 1847.
Having just read “The Twilight of Atheism” and it’s long description of the hostility toward Christianity during the French Revolutions and really the entire 19th century; it was very moving.