These are a few of my favorite...

Maps.

I wanted to write these down after pulling a big show-and-tell session on Monday, but I wasn't sure where to put the list so that I can find it at a later date.

So I will share it with you, loyad reader. Which brings up the question I received via email: if I can't see the map online, why did you bother to make a web page about it?

So apologies: you can't see these. It's a finding aid. A memetic device, if you will, so that I can find the physical artifacts again at a later date. Just like the nautical charts this reader was looking for.

G 6912 N6 H1 1986 G4 (tub): I have no idea what this is about (I spent several minutes trying to fathom it), but the graphic intensity and violent color scheme of its symbology makes one want to say: "With great responsibility comes great power."

G3701 E2 1953 S7: A brilliant proportional symbol map of rural vs. urban population of the US. A black dot represents 500 rural people, while circles of increasing radius show cities. You can even see a bit of the PLSS system in the Great Plains: just like you can on the 'Earth at Night' maps that NASA/USGS have put out in recent years.

G2701 C2 1964 A4: Not quite a relief map, this shows terrain divided into broad nominal categories. What is striking is bold black Hansi -ish shapes that denote the direction of ridgelines.

All the stuff I'm missing

I forget that January is THE month for campus activities. Just look at the stuff I am missing / have missed:

Iraq veterans speak on campus. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how the new veterans group on campus accomodates anti-war sentiment among its ranks.

Tonight it's independent journalists talking about their experiences moving outside of the officially sanctioned press corps in Iraq.

Over the weekend it was Susan Wood, a fired FDA official who spoke out against the anti-science hold-up of PlanB contraception by Bush appointees.

Yet to come this week, and perhaps I'll actually get there, is Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble, accused of plotting bio-terrorism while in the act of making his (highly unsecretive, very out in the open) art.

And coming up this weekend, the Bosco House movie night.

Sigh. So much good programming. So little time.

Already screwed

Well, I'd love to talk about a couple nice lectures I heard this week, and also a few choice quotes from some readings, as well as some witty observations about learning a new language and trying to plan a summer research trip. But I can't. Because I'm screwed. My days have been very long this week, leaving little time for reading or studying. I've even made a careless mistake or two because of the tight schedule. Very embarassing.

Such is life I suppose. And this too shall pass.

Sharpen those pencils!

School starts tomorrow. I'm not thrilled with the amount of thesis work and 中文studying I got done, but I wasn't at a complete standstill. I did keep practicing my characters. I reviewed about half of last quarter's listening materials (and understood them quite well), and did more background reading and a touch of new searching. So not uber-productive, but I wasn't sitting around in my PJs playing videogames either.

This quarter is looking intense. 11 credits. Funding application deadlines. And I'd better get going on human subjects review.

And something has got to be done about this ugly template.