My tweets
- @JoeyMcAllister Something bigger indeed. *WINK WINK* in reply to JoeyMcAllister 2 hrs ago
- Really dude? I saw you stare at the cart corral before you left your cart in the lot. It was only another 40 feet. Really? 4 hrs ago
- Took the Droid X to Verizon to gery checked out. We wiped it to be sure. Still waiting for backup assistant. Ugh. 5 hrs ago
- @megatronzinski Hey. Thanks. America. in reply to megatronzinski 19 hrs ago
- More updates...
Blog Archives
Blogroll
Archive for June, 2008
-
Baby pt. 1
Posted on June 30, 2008 | View CommentsBaby got a hard nose, penchant for smoky jazz clubs
Flute trills and martinis
Saxophone love
Gaudy neck jewelry, perfumed skin
Heels no good for dancing, still lookin to sin
Transgressions on the bass line, deep, she’ll keep
Davis and Coltrane in her hips
And smoky jazz club martinis
On her lips -
Kyrgyzstan Deux
Posted on June 20, 2008 | View CommentsUpdate: I’ve posted the Democracy in Kyrgyzstan research paper, in its entirety, on Google Docs. Given the current upheaval in the country, I thought it reasonable to finally get my keister in gear and display it.
-
The Long March (on wheels)
Posted on June 17, 2008 | View CommentsDriving from northern Illinois to Denver back in August was pretty tiring, even though I was never behind the wheel. I at least had my brother to talk to.
Took off from the farm at just shy of 8 a.m. this morning and headed West, young man. Nobody in the car with me. Silence most of the way. I don’t know why I didn’t turn on the radio.
Pulled into my neighborhood at 8:25 Mountain Time. Very tired now that I can take my eyes off the road. Now I’ve just got to find street parking.
Good to be “home.”
-
Human Rights?
Posted on June 14, 2008 | View CommentsI’ve done a little piece about the long, slow march of HR (human rights) in US (United States) FP (foreign policy). Since we could always do with more acronyms, YSCOTPOWALMKWYTAI, AIDTIIATG (NDTI!): http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd4vtbbk_80dwp6gxczP.S. You Should Check Out This Piece Of Work And Let Me Know What You Think About It, Actually I Didn’t Think It Is All That Good (Neither Did The Instructor!) -
Development Denied
Posted on June 2, 2008 | View CommentsJust finished a large essay detailing various theories behind why some states are rich and some are poor. I don’t find myself buying completely into any given theory, but rather ordering the various theories into a hierarchy of development-denying or development-fortifying happenstances.
If geographic determinism is the root, then all other theories will use that as a foundation. In my studies, I have found the work of Jared Diamond especially exciting. On a related note: I had the great opportunity in April 2007 to hear Dr. Diamond present a lecture on his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” at Elmhurst College. He spoke without notes or a podium for exactly 100 minutes, just like he said he would. It was fascinating.
Past the geographic/climatic factors, I then move to disease, which has quite obviously had a huge effect on world history. Then it’s an easy segue into imperialist abuses at the hands of Western powers. It gets tricky when you start to throw in stuff about culture and religion. I feel inclined to include them because in their own way, they are valid attempts to understand why some places suck more than others.
Now we have to figure out how to fix all of this…