May 14th, 20122012-05-14T14:54:21ZF jS, Y
The prairie dog's bark echoed across the plain – a plaintive cry for me to break the rules and hand over some of my popcorn. I resisted, glancing over at the sign: “DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS!” Though my mother, stepfather, sister, and I were the only humans in sight, I could feel the park ranger's phantom eyes upon me. I pictured Tonto on horseback, riding up to scold me – “Maize no good for prairie dog, Kemosabe.” – and snatching the errant kernel from my hand (or, perhaps, an unnamed Indian shedding a single tear over my proposed misdeed). I crumpled the end of the bag closed and returned the popcorn to the back seat of the family…
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Tags: America, American, animals, buffalo, burro, consumerism, Corn Palace, Crazy Horse, donkey, family, Illinois, Indians, Iowa, jackasses, life, Mississippi, Mitchell, nature, plains, Pontiac, prairie, prairie dog, preserve, Rockford, Sioux, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Tonto, travel, vacation
Posted in Essays, Family |
May 9th, 20122012-05-09T23:20:32ZF jS, Y
Authors are in crisis. The Digital Age, with the rise of eBooks, has expanded potential readership by a degree not seen since the mid-1800s (Collins). However, as readers shift from print to electronic books, piracy looms as an economic threat to authors as it has for musicians. This danger, combined with falling print book sales, exposes the precarious financial position of writers in the 21
st century. Each eBook downloaded from the Pirate Bay illegally, each chain bookstore that liquidates its inventory for pennies on the dollar, damages the economic incentives for authors to keep writing (Petit). Some writers may choose to pursue…
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Tags: art, artist, arts, author, authors, crowdsourcing, culture, download, eBook, economics, fiction, financial, Kickstarter, king, literature, patronage, piracy, Pirate Bay, Poe, poetry, Renaissance, royalites, Shakespeare, society, writer, writers, writing
Posted in Essays, Writing |
May 2nd, 20122012-05-02T16:01:01ZF jS, Y
Like many, I've long held the belief I'm "bad at math," but as the spring semester at
Rock Valley College winds down, I've learned this isn't true. In 5th grade, I tested into the gifted program in the
Rockford Public School District. I jumped from standard 4th grade classes to advanced 5th grade classes. Given the shoddy state of Rockford's standard curriculum in the late Eighties/ early Nineties, it's no surprise I struggled, especially in mathematics. My gifted program…
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Tags: algebra, arithmetic, college, learning, math, struggle, study, success, teaching, truth
Posted in Essays, Geek Stuff, Randomness |
April 2nd, 20122012-04-02T22:09:12ZF jS, Y
I'm a fan of iced coffees and cappuccinos, despite Denis Leary's admonitions against such beverages. However, as a recent addition to the ranks of the unemployed, I can't justify spending $5.00 or more for a trip to Starbucks. On a recent shopping trip, I stumbled upon a breakthrough in brokeassology that allows me to enjoy a frosty cup of joe that doesn't break the bank. Further, my discovery minimizes the lactose issues I sometimes have with iced coffee, and clocks in at under 200 calories per serving. Win! Aldi has an instant cappuccino mix that retails for $2.29 in my area. It's available in French Vanilla and Mocha flavors (I used la française…
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Tags: Aldi, cheap, coffee, Dollar Tree, iced, inexpensive, lactose, milk, mocha, recipe, soy, Starbucks, vanilla
Posted in Randomness |
December 20th, 20112011-12-20T14:34:08ZF jS, Y
Step into my apartment, and you'll come across a plethora of hacked-up devices. Part of this is because I'm a broke-ass nerd, so I want nifty techno goodies but can't afford the latest and greatest. The other part is that I love making devices do things they were never intended to do. My Nook Color is no exception. After a lot of research online and a bit of trial and error, I now have a fully-functional, inexpensive Android tablet computer. If you follow my guide below, you can too. The best part is the original Nook software remains intact, so you keep all the intended functionality (like Read To Me books) and you can easily switch back and…
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Tags: Andmer, Android, apps, Dalingrin, Google, hack, Market, MIUI, Netflix, Nook, rookie1, root, SDHC, Win32 Disk Imager, XDA
Posted in Geek Stuff |
December 14th, 20112011-12-14T16:44:20ZF jS, Y
Lest we forget:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...
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Tags: censorship, Congress, Constitution, First Amendment, Internet, rights, SOPA
Posted in Geek Stuff, Politics |
October 6th, 20112011-10-06T20:55:24ZF jS, Y
With the recent Occupy Wall Street protests and the debt ceiling faux-crisis resolution, I'm reminded of how people like me are not truly represented in America's representative republic. The two major parties in the United States have drifted closer to their extremes, leaving the majority of Americans to choose the lesser of two evils each election cycle. A
CBS News poll conducted before the debt deal was finalized showed a strong majority of Americans wanted a deal that took a "balanced" approach.…
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Tags: #OccupyWallSt, America, American, Colbert, Congress, conservative, democracy, Democrat, economic policy, economics, economy, executive, financial, fiscal, foreign policy, freedom, government, legislative, legislature, liberal, local, moderate, Mogadishu, Palestine, party, platform, policy, political, politics, President, Republican, Saudi Arabia, social, Somalia, state, states, Stewart, Superman, term limit, Wall Street
Posted in Politics |
August 5th, 20112011-08-05T15:05:16ZF jS, Y
Yes, it's about hair dye. Sort of. And yes, it was inspired by a certain Type O Negative song.
Black Cherry
She used to dye it black; she had the blues. Lacy gowns and scaring all of the dudes. 'Twas All Hallow's Eve; we didn't look back. Oh, one last time to dye it all black. Now this phoenix's rising, it's still true; Oh, Lilly Munster's got nothing on you. So now you've taken on a lighter hue. That Black Cherry looks goddamn good on you. Well, if you wanna go out, it don't matter if your roots are showing. Yeah, you can go out to remind yourself where you're going. Just don't dye it black. You can't go back. Loving you, 'cause…
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Tags: black, cherry, dye, growth, hair, love, number one, poem, poetry, red, Type O Negative, woman
Posted in Poetry, Writing |
July 12th, 20112011-07-12T19:07:48ZF jS, Y
While I can appreciate the goals of the
NOH8 Campaign, I think they might have it wrong; we don't need less hate, we need more, and we need to direct it at the right things. Not sure what the right things to hate are? Don't worry! I'm here for you:
- Hate intolerance. Having an answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything else is great. Using that answer to treat humans different from yourself like garbage is odious.
- Hate violence. Animals resolve disputes with claws and fangs. Beating a problem down is a sure sign one is the intellectual… Read More
Tags: dishonesty, equality, excuses, explanations, gay, gingers, GLBT, greed, hate, intolerance, lesbian, love, NOH8, pain, poetry, queer, rage, violence
Posted in Poetry, Randomness, Rant |
July 7th, 20112011-07-07T15:29:53ZF jS, Y
For those of you who aren't aware, my family and I recently experienced a substantial trial in the form of a sewer backup that damaged our ground-floor apartment and large parts of our personal property. While the legal wrangling over ultimate responsibility and restitution for our time and trouble will undoubtedly not be resolved for some time, we are now in a safe, clean new apartment with the necessities of middle class life covered. We would not, however, be in such a position if it were not for the help of several key people whom I would like to acknowledge. Mom, Alex, Gary, Char, Jayme, Mike, Dan, Toy, Mike, Dave, Jess, Craig, and Kyle:…
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Tags: apartment, crisis, family, friends, sewage, thanks
Posted in Family |
