Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Super Mario Gravity
Thanks to the kindly folks at Slate it is now my pleasure to report the most creative use of an 8-bit video game system since someone invented the emulator. Apparently a high school physics class took it upon itself to measure the gravitational acceleration felt by players in the various Super Mario Bros. games. Through the use of Quicktime's frames-per-second function and a variety of gaming consoles ranging from the NES to the Wii, this study confirms that gravity in the Mushroom Kingdom has varied between 4.4 and 11 times as strong as that found here on Earth, a fact which explains why it was so tricky to pull that reach the top of that flagpole before entering the castle but NOT how Princess Toadstool was able to hover in midair for a full 2 seconds before reaching the ground. (Although it should be noted that Super Mario Brothers 2 does not take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, but rather in some sort of dream land imported from Japan.)
In any case, this is an impressive piece of research, not just for the avenues it opens into other video game related physics problems (Do the birds shot in Duck Hunt fall in a realistic manner when shot? How much angular momentum does Link have when he does a spin attack in the Legend of Zelda series? How strong must the bionic arm used by the title character in Bionic Commando be to launch him from ledge to ledge?) but also for confirming the educational potential of video game systems of all stripes.
Someone should nominate this class for the Ig Nobel Prize.
(0) comments
Thanks to the kindly folks at Slate it is now my pleasure to report the most creative use of an 8-bit video game system since someone invented the emulator. Apparently a high school physics class took it upon itself to measure the gravitational acceleration felt by players in the various Super Mario Bros. games. Through the use of Quicktime's frames-per-second function and a variety of gaming consoles ranging from the NES to the Wii, this study confirms that gravity in the Mushroom Kingdom has varied between 4.4 and 11 times as strong as that found here on Earth, a fact which explains why it was so tricky to pull that reach the top of that flagpole before entering the castle but NOT how Princess Toadstool was able to hover in midair for a full 2 seconds before reaching the ground. (Although it should be noted that Super Mario Brothers 2 does not take place in the Mushroom Kingdom, but rather in some sort of dream land imported from Japan.)
In any case, this is an impressive piece of research, not just for the avenues it opens into other video game related physics problems (Do the birds shot in Duck Hunt fall in a realistic manner when shot? How much angular momentum does Link have when he does a spin attack in the Legend of Zelda series? How strong must the bionic arm used by the title character in Bionic Commando be to launch him from ledge to ledge?) but also for confirming the educational potential of video game systems of all stripes.
Someone should nominate this class for the Ig Nobel Prize.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Uncertain Times
Today I submitted the grades to my students' final exams and thus concluded my first time teaching at the college level. On the whole, I found it a more positive experience than my time at Underwood High, though the few triumphs I had in my previous position were probably more exhilarating. It's difficult to compare learning that a recommendation letter you wrote helped get a kid from an underprivileged public school into the Ivy League with learning that several of your Ivy League students passed an exam that required them to distinguish Maxwell's Demon from Schroedinger's Cat. Still, it was a worthwhile endeavor and one I may attempt to repeat one day...although that may change depending on how much my students lash out in their online evaluation forms. (I won't find out for another week.)
In the meanwhile, the conclusion of my teaching obligation means that it's time to start thinking about my dissertation once again, something that has me quite concerned. Although my prospectus was officially accepted, I still feel like I know nearly nothing about my chosen research topics, the history of liquid crystal displays...and more broadly, the history of display technology as a whole. Granted, my previous forays into the topic have helped alleviate this deficiency somewhat, but soon I will be expected to be an expert in the field. And it feels like "soon" almost means "tomorrow." How the hell can one expect to master so much material so quickly?
But all of that is just normal stress, which is to say, mental anxiety that might exist absent any further extraordinary circumstances. Unfortunately, today a major extraordinary circumstance came crashing down on my head.
You would think I would recognize the signs. The most obvious of these is when my advisor pulls me aside and after saying hello utters three little words that are guaranteed to make anybody nervous: "Don't freak out."
When he met me this morning it was a little before 10 AM. I had finished about half of the Times crossword and although we'd be meeting to finalize course grades, the rest of my day seemed relatively straightforward. Maybe head to the library to work on some fellowship applications, maybe do a little reading (maybe even for fun?), who knows? Then came those three little words and the news which followed and suddenly things get a lot more complicated.
"Don't freak out," he told me. But he had news. Another professor in our program had been at a meeting the previous weekend where she had learned that the archive where all my research was slated to occur...the sole repository for all the primary source documents...heck, nearly ALL the material associated with my project was shutting down. Apparently, the corporation which houses the archives saw them as something of an unprofitable albatross, and even if things were going well so far as the bottom-line was concerned, in today's economy, it's always wise to start streamlining.
All good in theory, but again, this is the only archive I have. And there is no backup and no real alternative if I want to pursue my current research agenda. These are the documents and that library is where you find them.
Needless to say, despite my best efforts, I was (and still am) a little bit freaked out.
On my advisor's recommendation, I called up my contact at the archive. He informed me that the closure was real, but not immediate. I had until at least June to photograph or photocopy as much material as possible before they needed to start boxing up documents. After that, however, it's unclear where the archive will be going...and since ideally, I would like to have access to the archive once it's moved, I'm not sure where I'll be going either.
But all of that is in the future, albeit an increasingly uncertain one. For now, I need to hammer out a coherent strategy to attack my research and try not to lose my nerve.
(0) comments
Today I submitted the grades to my students' final exams and thus concluded my first time teaching at the college level. On the whole, I found it a more positive experience than my time at Underwood High, though the few triumphs I had in my previous position were probably more exhilarating. It's difficult to compare learning that a recommendation letter you wrote helped get a kid from an underprivileged public school into the Ivy League with learning that several of your Ivy League students passed an exam that required them to distinguish Maxwell's Demon from Schroedinger's Cat. Still, it was a worthwhile endeavor and one I may attempt to repeat one day...although that may change depending on how much my students lash out in their online evaluation forms. (I won't find out for another week.)
In the meanwhile, the conclusion of my teaching obligation means that it's time to start thinking about my dissertation once again, something that has me quite concerned. Although my prospectus was officially accepted, I still feel like I know nearly nothing about my chosen research topics, the history of liquid crystal displays...and more broadly, the history of display technology as a whole. Granted, my previous forays into the topic have helped alleviate this deficiency somewhat, but soon I will be expected to be an expert in the field. And it feels like "soon" almost means "tomorrow." How the hell can one expect to master so much material so quickly?
But all of that is just normal stress, which is to say, mental anxiety that might exist absent any further extraordinary circumstances. Unfortunately, today a major extraordinary circumstance came crashing down on my head.
You would think I would recognize the signs. The most obvious of these is when my advisor pulls me aside and after saying hello utters three little words that are guaranteed to make anybody nervous: "Don't freak out."
When he met me this morning it was a little before 10 AM. I had finished about half of the Times crossword and although we'd be meeting to finalize course grades, the rest of my day seemed relatively straightforward. Maybe head to the library to work on some fellowship applications, maybe do a little reading (maybe even for fun?), who knows? Then came those three little words and the news which followed and suddenly things get a lot more complicated.
"Don't freak out," he told me. But he had news. Another professor in our program had been at a meeting the previous weekend where she had learned that the archive where all my research was slated to occur...the sole repository for all the primary source documents...heck, nearly ALL the material associated with my project was shutting down. Apparently, the corporation which houses the archives saw them as something of an unprofitable albatross, and even if things were going well so far as the bottom-line was concerned, in today's economy, it's always wise to start streamlining.
All good in theory, but again, this is the only archive I have. And there is no backup and no real alternative if I want to pursue my current research agenda. These are the documents and that library is where you find them.
Needless to say, despite my best efforts, I was (and still am) a little bit freaked out.
On my advisor's recommendation, I called up my contact at the archive. He informed me that the closure was real, but not immediate. I had until at least June to photograph or photocopy as much material as possible before they needed to start boxing up documents. After that, however, it's unclear where the archive will be going...and since ideally, I would like to have access to the archive once it's moved, I'm not sure where I'll be going either.
But all of that is in the future, albeit an increasingly uncertain one. For now, I need to hammer out a coherent strategy to attack my research and try not to lose my nerve.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Movie Quote Contest 2008: The Results
The holidays have long since come and gone, and around this blog, that means that it's about time to reveal the winners of the annual holiday movie quote contest.
Unfortunately, several factors have hindered my efforts to fulfill my official duties as chief quote adjudicator this time around:
As a prize, she gets to read the end credits in a style of her choosing.
For those who are curious, here are the answers:
1. “How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear.”
The Dark Knight
2. “Also, you'll find a pair of safety glasses and some earplugs under your seats. Please feel free to use them.”
Rushmore
3. “All right. I'm gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll stay asleep.”
Million Dollar Baby
4. “H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love.”
Night of the Hunter
5. “My name is Robert Hawkins. It's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. I don't know what it is.”
Cloverfield
6. “Do you know how many times a week I go without lunch because some bitch borrows my lunch money? You know, any halfway decent girl can rob me blind, because I'm too torqued up to say no.”
Sixteen Candles
7. “I've got five terrorists going southeast on Bakalakadaka Street! “
Team America: World Police
8. “We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.”
A Few Good Men
9. “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”
Goldfinger
10. “The penis shoots seeds and makes new life and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill! “
Zardoz
11. “It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
12. “I sped. I followed too closely. I ran a stop sign. I almost hit a Chevy. I sped some more. I failed to yield at a crosswalk. I changed lanes at the intersection. I changed lanes without signaling while running a red light and speeding!”
Liar Liar
13. “Who do you think you are...a Kennedy?”
W.
14. “Well, I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen "The Exorcist" about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!”
Beetlejuice
15. “Joey, there's no living with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her...tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.”
Shane
16. “No. Didn't you hear what that purser said? He said to stay here and keep calm. Help will be here, and I'm staying right here.”
The Poseidon Adventure
17. “Alex! You're walking away from history! History, Alex! Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No! What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?”
The Last Starfighter
18. “How do you like working for Nazis, Valentine? Does he pay you in dollars or Reichsmarks?”
The Rocketeer
19. “Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was disturbing you. You see, every once in a while I suddenly find myself dancing.”
“Oh, I suppose it's some kind of an affliction.”
Top Hat
20. “God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see! He plays His games, we play ours! To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls! God was here before the Marine Corps! So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps!”
Full Metal Jacket
21. “You'll never be a first class human being or a first class woman until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty. It's a pity your own foot can't slip a little sometime, but your sense of inner divinity wouldn't allow that. This goddess must and shall remain intact!”
The Philadelphia Story
22. “Don't argue or make a scene. Because if you say anything more about witches or witchcraft, we're gonna be forced to take you to a mental hospital. You don't want that, do you?”
Rosemary's Baby
23. “Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. And everybody is about as excited and tense as can be.”
Bananas
24. “What happened? Why so glum? Your business should be booming.”
“No. When the fighting gets this bad, they don't bother with coffins.”
Yojimbo
25. “Earth is amazing! These are called 'farms.' Humans who put seeds in the ground pour water on them, and they grow food...like pizza!”
WALL-E
26. “I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
Bull Durham
27. “Free will. It's like butterfly wings: once touched, they never get off the ground. No, I only set the stage. You pull your own strings.”
Devil's Advocate
28. “One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!”
Freaks
29. “We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing.”
Bridge on the River Kwai
30. “A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.”
Pinocchio
31. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!”
All About Eve
32. “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost.”
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
33. “Dick, you're a bad man. You know what we do to bad men? We punish 'em. Dick, you've just entered the Xander zone.”
XXX
34. “Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!”
The Birds
35. “No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say 'affirmative,' or some shit like that. You say 'no problemo.' And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say 'eat me.'”
Terminator II: Judgment Day
36. “Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks.”
Once Upon a Time in the West
37. “He's the first one to kill a vampire in over a hundred years. I'd say that's earned him a drink. “
Van Helsing
38. “You know who's on this boat?”
“No.”
“Maurice Chevalier, the movie actor. I just ran into him.”
“Did you hurt him?”
Monkey Business
39. “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
Monty Python's Life of Brian
40. “Sensual blind chick seeks three-ton, rock-hard he-man for deep spiritual relationship.”
Fantastic Four
41. “You know what your trouble is, Willy? You always took the jokes too seriously. It was just jokes. We did comedy on the stage for 43 years. I don't think you enjoyed it once.”
The Sunshine Boys
42. “We deposit money from a fund that doesn't exist into a box we don't know about in a bank we've never set foot in. We can't help you because we never heard of you before.”
Munich
43. “I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
“I'm afraid my people haven't.”
The Day the Earth Stood Still
44. “I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Damn it! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.”
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
45. “Oh, it's just Neddy the Nut out flying his old Model T.”
The Nutty Professor
46. “Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them. Punch the keys for God's sake!”
Finding Forrester
47. “I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me, drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me. “
The Big Sleep
48. “How can you outwit Death?”
“By a combination of bishop and knight. I will break his flank.”
The Seventh Seal
49. “I'll tell them after a big bee ate my brother you smacked me around. No jury in the world would fail to convict you.”
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
50. “It's like playing a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game.“
American Pie
(0) comments
The holidays have long since come and gone, and around this blog, that means that it's about time to reveal the winners of the annual holiday movie quote contest.
Unfortunately, several factors have hindered my efforts to fulfill my official duties as chief quote adjudicator this time around:
- Very few people either e-mailed or commented upon the contest.
- Those who did frequently provided only a score. While I trust my audience, I can't just accept a numerical score without seeing actual answers. It just wouldn't be cricket.
- Finally, I also published this contest in a different setting (the Facebook group of the pub quiz I host every two weeks). The top scorers from that setting did better than anybody on this blog by correctly identifying 30 of the 50 quotes.
As a prize, she gets to read the end credits in a style of her choosing.
For those who are curious, here are the answers:
1. “How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear.”
The Dark Knight
2. “Also, you'll find a pair of safety glasses and some earplugs under your seats. Please feel free to use them.”
Rushmore
3. “All right. I'm gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll stay asleep.”
Million Dollar Baby
4. “H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love.”
Night of the Hunter
5. “My name is Robert Hawkins. It's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. I don't know what it is.”
Cloverfield
6. “Do you know how many times a week I go without lunch because some bitch borrows my lunch money? You know, any halfway decent girl can rob me blind, because I'm too torqued up to say no.”
Sixteen Candles
7. “I've got five terrorists going southeast on Bakalakadaka Street! “
Team America: World Police
8. “We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.”
A Few Good Men
9. “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”
Goldfinger
10. “The penis shoots seeds and makes new life and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill! “
Zardoz
11. “It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
12. “I sped. I followed too closely. I ran a stop sign. I almost hit a Chevy. I sped some more. I failed to yield at a crosswalk. I changed lanes at the intersection. I changed lanes without signaling while running a red light and speeding!”
Liar Liar
13. “Who do you think you are...a Kennedy?”
W.
14. “Well, I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen "The Exorcist" about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!”
Beetlejuice
15. “Joey, there's no living with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her...tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.”
Shane
16. “No. Didn't you hear what that purser said? He said to stay here and keep calm. Help will be here, and I'm staying right here.”
The Poseidon Adventure
17. “Alex! You're walking away from history! History, Alex! Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No! What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?”
The Last Starfighter
18. “How do you like working for Nazis, Valentine? Does he pay you in dollars or Reichsmarks?”
The Rocketeer
19. “Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was disturbing you. You see, every once in a while I suddenly find myself dancing.”
“Oh, I suppose it's some kind of an affliction.”
Top Hat
20. “God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see! He plays His games, we play ours! To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls! God was here before the Marine Corps! So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps!”
Full Metal Jacket
21. “You'll never be a first class human being or a first class woman until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty. It's a pity your own foot can't slip a little sometime, but your sense of inner divinity wouldn't allow that. This goddess must and shall remain intact!”
The Philadelphia Story
22. “Don't argue or make a scene. Because if you say anything more about witches or witchcraft, we're gonna be forced to take you to a mental hospital. You don't want that, do you?”
Rosemary's Baby
23. “Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. And everybody is about as excited and tense as can be.”
Bananas
24. “What happened? Why so glum? Your business should be booming.”
“No. When the fighting gets this bad, they don't bother with coffins.”
Yojimbo
25. “Earth is amazing! These are called 'farms.' Humans who put seeds in the ground pour water on them, and they grow food...like pizza!”
WALL-E
26. “I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
Bull Durham
27. “Free will. It's like butterfly wings: once touched, they never get off the ground. No, I only set the stage. You pull your own strings.”
Devil's Advocate
28. “One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!”
Freaks
29. “We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing.”
Bridge on the River Kwai
30. “A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.”
Pinocchio
31. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!”
All About Eve
32. “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost.”
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
33. “Dick, you're a bad man. You know what we do to bad men? We punish 'em. Dick, you've just entered the Xander zone.”
XXX
34. “Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!”
The Birds
35. “No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say 'affirmative,' or some shit like that. You say 'no problemo.' And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say 'eat me.'”
Terminator II: Judgment Day
36. “Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks.”
Once Upon a Time in the West
37. “He's the first one to kill a vampire in over a hundred years. I'd say that's earned him a drink. “
Van Helsing
38. “You know who's on this boat?”
“No.”
“Maurice Chevalier, the movie actor. I just ran into him.”
“Did you hurt him?”
Monkey Business
39. “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
Monty Python's Life of Brian
40. “Sensual blind chick seeks three-ton, rock-hard he-man for deep spiritual relationship.”
Fantastic Four
41. “You know what your trouble is, Willy? You always took the jokes too seriously. It was just jokes. We did comedy on the stage for 43 years. I don't think you enjoyed it once.”
The Sunshine Boys
42. “We deposit money from a fund that doesn't exist into a box we don't know about in a bank we've never set foot in. We can't help you because we never heard of you before.”
Munich
43. “I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
“I'm afraid my people haven't.”
The Day the Earth Stood Still
44. “I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Damn it! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.”
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
45. “Oh, it's just Neddy the Nut out flying his old Model T.”
The Nutty Professor
46. “Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them. Punch the keys for God's sake!”
Finding Forrester
47. “I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me, drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me. “
The Big Sleep
48. “How can you outwit Death?”
“By a combination of bishop and knight. I will break his flank.”
The Seventh Seal
49. “I'll tell them after a big bee ate my brother you smacked me around. No jury in the world would fail to convict you.”
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
50. “It's like playing a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game.“
American Pie
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
8 Years
Has it really been that long?
The 2000 election was the first in which I voted for president. That evening, I was late to my friends' election party, but when I called ahead it seemed like Gore had a lock. "Gore won Florida," they told me. The Democrats would have it in a walk. Several hours later, I wandered back to my dorm around midnight, amazed that Florida had been batted back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans like some sort of political ping-pong ball that ultimately sat, oh so precariously, on the edge of the net. Just a puff of wind either way would make all the difference.
Now eight years later, I have left college and gone out into the world. In the meanwhile, two towers have fallen and two wars have begun. America united the world (briefly) and then squandered its position through a foreign policy that, however well-intentioned, alienated our allies and invigorated our enemies. The Cold War with all of its James Bond intrigue was supplanted, replaced by the War on Terror, complete with its own archetypal figure: Jack Bauer. New place names entered American public consciousness: Fallujah, Kandahar, Guantanamo Bay...all part of our new national geography. And science and technology blossomed even as the spirit of intellectual debate further succumbed to the culture wars.
And at the head of this all? An Ivy-League history major. Someone like one of the Old Ivy students I am currently teaching or, heaven help us, yours truly. A man who, despite proudly announcing that "Reading is the basics for all learning" and stating flatly that no child would be left behind mangled both the English language and America's education system in an unprecedented fashion.
These have been eight great years for political pundits, satirists, and social networkers. It is, in fact, entirely possible that the blogosphere, of which this website is a part, would not have grown as quickly in the absence of such a controversial administration...though given how sharply divided the 2000 and 2004 elections, one could argue that any president would have triggered debate. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a more divisive figure in national politics in recent history than the current (for the next three hours or so) resident of the White House.
But eight years later, it looks like change is on the horizon. The old question posed by my 11th grade history teacher, whether a woman or an African-American would be elected president first has been answered, and before my ten year high school reunion. And maybe it's because the only black presidents up to this point have been fictional or maybe it's because of how much things have changed, for good or ill, during these past eight years, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around today's inauguration. Many of my friends are traveling to Washington today to watch the ceremonies in person. I'm not sure if being there in person would change my perceptions of this moment, but I am certain that whether one watches the ceremonies on a Jumbotron situated on the National Mall, a plasma TV in a London pub, or via a live stream over the Internet, we will be bearing witness to an undeniably crucial moment in American history.
I can only hope that the sense of optimism that our new president successfully cultivated over the past year of campaigning can last. I can only hope that under the new administration, America will be able to reclaim its leadership role and its moral authority on the international stage. And I can only hope that eight years from now, we do not look back and ask ourselves "How the hell did we get here?"
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Has it really been that long?
The 2000 election was the first in which I voted for president. That evening, I was late to my friends' election party, but when I called ahead it seemed like Gore had a lock. "Gore won Florida," they told me. The Democrats would have it in a walk. Several hours later, I wandered back to my dorm around midnight, amazed that Florida had been batted back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans like some sort of political ping-pong ball that ultimately sat, oh so precariously, on the edge of the net. Just a puff of wind either way would make all the difference.
Now eight years later, I have left college and gone out into the world. In the meanwhile, two towers have fallen and two wars have begun. America united the world (briefly) and then squandered its position through a foreign policy that, however well-intentioned, alienated our allies and invigorated our enemies. The Cold War with all of its James Bond intrigue was supplanted, replaced by the War on Terror, complete with its own archetypal figure: Jack Bauer. New place names entered American public consciousness: Fallujah, Kandahar, Guantanamo Bay...all part of our new national geography. And science and technology blossomed even as the spirit of intellectual debate further succumbed to the culture wars.
And at the head of this all? An Ivy-League history major. Someone like one of the Old Ivy students I am currently teaching or, heaven help us, yours truly. A man who, despite proudly announcing that "Reading is the basics for all learning" and stating flatly that no child would be left behind mangled both the English language and America's education system in an unprecedented fashion.
These have been eight great years for political pundits, satirists, and social networkers. It is, in fact, entirely possible that the blogosphere, of which this website is a part, would not have grown as quickly in the absence of such a controversial administration...though given how sharply divided the 2000 and 2004 elections, one could argue that any president would have triggered debate. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a more divisive figure in national politics in recent history than the current (for the next three hours or so) resident of the White House.
But eight years later, it looks like change is on the horizon. The old question posed by my 11th grade history teacher, whether a woman or an African-American would be elected president first has been answered, and before my ten year high school reunion. And maybe it's because the only black presidents up to this point have been fictional or maybe it's because of how much things have changed, for good or ill, during these past eight years, but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around today's inauguration. Many of my friends are traveling to Washington today to watch the ceremonies in person. I'm not sure if being there in person would change my perceptions of this moment, but I am certain that whether one watches the ceremonies on a Jumbotron situated on the National Mall, a plasma TV in a London pub, or via a live stream over the Internet, we will be bearing witness to an undeniably crucial moment in American history.
I can only hope that the sense of optimism that our new president successfully cultivated over the past year of campaigning can last. I can only hope that under the new administration, America will be able to reclaim its leadership role and its moral authority on the international stage. And I can only hope that eight years from now, we do not look back and ask ourselves "How the hell did we get here?"
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! (and #6!)
Hello, 2009...
Yes, at long last, my silence is broken. It's a whole new year and there are all sorts of things about which one could blog, from the incoming presidential administration to the conflicts in the Middle East. And I admit that I had planned to post a brief update today about my recent research project and other, more mundane, matters. But I had a feeling that few people would really care to learn about the extensive debates concerning the nature of heat among 18th and 19th century natural philosophers.
Not that I wouldn't write about it anyway. After all, I'm into the history of science. This stuff is my bread and butter.
But something more important has come up. Two things, actually.
This is a sad day for science-fiction fans. Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban have both passed away.
Rest in peace, #6 and General Singh. Hopefully, you weren't filed/stamped/indexed/briefed/debriefed/numbered/or buried alive (buried alive) in the finest Corinthian leather.
(0) comments
Hello, 2009...
Yes, at long last, my silence is broken. It's a whole new year and there are all sorts of things about which one could blog, from the incoming presidential administration to the conflicts in the Middle East. And I admit that I had planned to post a brief update today about my recent research project and other, more mundane, matters. But I had a feeling that few people would really care to learn about the extensive debates concerning the nature of heat among 18th and 19th century natural philosophers.
Not that I wouldn't write about it anyway. After all, I'm into the history of science. This stuff is my bread and butter.
But something more important has come up. Two things, actually.
This is a sad day for science-fiction fans. Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban have both passed away.
Rest in peace, #6 and General Singh. Hopefully, you weren't filed/stamped/indexed/briefed/debriefed/numbered/or buried alive (buried alive) in the finest Corinthian leather.
