night photo from the summer

stargon at night

from the night of the recent meteor shower at around 3AM

fog

awesome fog tonight

great sadness and woe

i broke my mug

spring course list posted

http://inside.bard.edu/academic/courses/spring2010/

what should i take next semester

inferno XVI (46-51)

Had I been sheltered from the fire

I would have thrown myself among them,

and I believe my teacher would have let me.

But because I would have burned and baked,

fright overcame the good intentions

that made me hunger to embrace them.

For those staying on campus over Thanksgiving

i just got this email form the bard dean of students office

FREE THANKSGIVING DINNER
NOVEMBER 26, 2009

The Salvation Army in Kingston will be serving a FREE Thanksgiving dinner on November 26 from 11am to 1pm.

Bard College in conjunction with the Dean of Students office will be providing a shuttle on November 26 leaving from Kline Bus Stop at 10:30am going to the Salvation Army in Kingston.

somehow this seems wrong to me

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

my mom sent this to me

i think i like it a lot

Manifesto:The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

trash islands

yikes

"twice times the size of texas"

i wouldn't blame our planet if it blasted us to bits in 2012

shoes

my feet are sad about there recent lack of barefootedness

war crime

what a strange term

Ellen Moballa

i received this the other day

it is amazing

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children

when two children are fighting over a toy a parent usually is called in to mediate the situation

this ether results in the children sharing the toy

or coming to the understanding that the toy belongs to one or the other of them and that's that

end of story

these children then grow up to be the next parents

mediating over the next generation of children

and the cycle continues

why haven't we learned to be our own "parents" when it comes to foreign policy by now

why do we always take the "childlike" path and go to war

(prompted by a lecture about the roots of the Israel Palestine conflict)

the onion

take that fox

afghanistan

i am worried that obama will make stupid decisions regarding afghanistan

even though there is a rational fear that retreating from afghanistan will result in afghanistan being taken over by the taliban it is my opinion that we should still out of there as fast as we possibly can

all that we can do by staying there is prolong the inevitable wasting resources in the process

there is no possible way that the us or anyone else for that matter can prevent ideas by occupying afghan cities

the only way we can fight these ideas is with respect

sending more troops will only make the middle east more mad at us than they already are

come on obama

the middle east likes you (somewhat) at the moment don't give it and the rest of the world reason to dislike you

don't make the same mistake bush made

we have enough to deal with domestically

recession

health care

climate change

. . .

let's not waste tons of money and life on a lost cause

seriously

what can be gained by staying there

i don't understand

if someone could enlighten me on this subject that would be great

hell houses and the devil's playground

i heard about "hell houses" the other day on this american life

the evangelical church is bizarre

this episode of this american life also mentioned devil's playground

i like the amish stance toward sex drugs and rock and roll . . .

it seems much healthier and also seems to result in better outcomes

original sin

i had myself some original sin last night

it gets a very high rating

it's up there with my old favorite