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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Steven desJardins' LiveJournal:
| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 | |
| 1:40 am | Not Dead I went to sixteen movies over the course of six days at this year's Silverdocs festival. It would have been seventeen, but my mother accidentally didn't get tickets to one of the movies I wanted to see, Old Partner, and I didn't feel like waiting in the standby line. My mother did wait for a standby ticket, and reports that it was very good, and in fact it won one of the festival awards. They show the award-winners and a few other favored films on Monday, and I thought about going to see Old Partner this afternoon, but I was just a bit sated with films, and decided to take the day off. If I had gone to see Old Partner, I would have left the theater around 4:50, and very likely have been on one of the Red line trains which crashed today. So I figured I should let everyone know I'm still alive. |
| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 | |
| 1:41 pm | My Life as an Agatha Christie Novel There were ten people in my class on Monday. Yesterday, there were nine. This morning, there were eight. There are seven more days in the class. |
| Monday, May 25th, 2009 | |
| 1:47 pm | Studying Hungarian I'm back in Debrecen for my fourth Hungarian course. It looks like I'll get to the end of the second textbook this time, which means I'll finally have learned basic grammar. (Today we covered the conditional, e.g., "If I had studied, I would have learned more.") My class has ten people in it, which is not only the biggest class I've had, it's bigger than all the beginner's classes put together, which is just weird; usually around half or a third of the students are beginners, but this time it's only about a fifth. (In the winter course, there were only two people in the class I'm taking now.) I'm doing a bit better understanding what the teacher tells us in Hungarian. I still have a lot of trouble when I'm tired and my focus wanders, which definitely happens towards the end of the day (classes go from 8:15 to 6:30), but most of the time I understand enough of it to get the rest from context. I'm a long way from being able to follow a conversation, though, so I need to step up my Hungarian film-viewing. I managed to leave my very expensive, refrigerated medicine in Budapest. I simply forgot to get it out of the refrigerator when I left, and didn't remember it until I was almost at Debrecen, at which point I spent two or three minutes in shock at what an idiot was before I came up with an acceptable plan: I e-mailed the hostel to make sure they keep the medicine in the fridge, and next Sunday (which is the first and only free day here) I'll take the train to Budapest, pick up the medicine, and come back. It'll be about seven hours round-trip and cost $30-40, which is a drag, but I wasn't really going to do anything besides read and study anyway, so it's not too bad as completely bone-headed mistakes go. |
| Friday, May 15th, 2009 | |
| 11:07 pm | In Which the Author is not bitten by a leech Back from Malaysia. I've spent the last day and a half resting. My knees are still a bit traumatized, but I should recover from the stress of the trip pretty quickly. I still haven't begun working on a trip report or uploading photos, though. Unlike most of the people on my tour, I was not bitten by a leech, so I can't give you a first-hand report of what it's like. Based on my observation of how people were freaked out by various events, though, I can confidently assert that leeches are not as bad as a. butterflies and b. small fish. |
| Monday, April 20th, 2009 | |
| 3:29 pm | Minor Annoyances I just sent the following complaint to Metro: "A religious quote from Isaiah was posted in the official notice area behind the driver on the L2 bus, number 2033, yesterday. Obviously any government endorsement of a particular religious belief is brazenly illegal and un-American. Please make the driver aware that he is required to treat all persons and all faiths with equal respect." On the one hand, this is a petty thing to be complaining about. On the other, government neutrality towards religion is an awfully important principle, and government employees shouldn't be able to casually violate it. (And of course I don't actually know if the driver is the one who put up the sign, but I'd be surprised if he simply hadn't noticed it—it's just as big a problem if employees use their discretion to allow religious stuff to stay up.) |
| Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | |
| 8:23 pm | Galápagos Photos The photos from my Galápagos trip. |
| Saturday, March 21st, 2009 | |
| 3:36 am | Ecuador Photos I've uploaded a bunch of photos from my Ecuador trip. This batch is the ones from the mainland; I still have to go over the ones from the Galápagos. |
| Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 | |
| 9:12 pm | The Power of the Blogosphere The good news: With about 80% of the vote counted, Tom Geoghegan, who I endorsed, has defeated Carlos Monteagudo and Paul Bryar in the Illinois 5th Congressional District special Democratic primary election. The bad news: The other nine candidates clobbered him. Update: The blogosphere is even more powerful than I imagined. The final numbers have Geoghegan coming in seventh. |
| 1:03 pm | Defending the Nielsen Haydens Note: This post refers to a months-old ongoing flamewar growing out of a discussion of cultural appropriation in SF. Recently someone on my friends list made muttered, vague allegations of recent involvement in "assholishness" by Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, and when I asked for specifics (as far as I know, they completely withdrew from the discussion some time ago), ordered me If you want to defend the Nielson[sic] Haydens, do it elsewhere. I'm honoring that request. Ordinarily I'd just drop the matter, but I think it's incredibly disgraceful behavior to accuse someone in non-specific terms and then respond to requests for specifics by kicking people out of the discussion: I just can't bring myself to let that go. ( Seriously, you don't want to read more. ) |
| Monday, February 16th, 2009 | |
| 7:40 am | That's Life I reach 12,000 feet today. It's all downhill from here. |
| Monday, January 26th, 2009 | |
| 10:42 pm | Class Over Hungarian class is over. I'm learning stuff. I spent more time speaking Hungarian in class than I had before, and I understood more of what was being said. I felt like we were moving quickly through the textbook. I should feel pretty good about my progress, but instead I feel a little down, like I was expecting a bigger jump than I got. I think it's mostly that the fifth and sixth weeks can't feel like as big a change as the third or fourth weeks, so that the longer you go on studying the less you feel like you're making progress. And partly it's that I'm running into different limiting factors. Before, it was a combination of grammar and vocabulary that got in the way of comprehension, so when I learned a bit of grammar it felt like I was really making progress. Now, it's mostly vocabulary that's causing problems, and only occasionally grammar, so learning more grammar doesn't give me as many "Aha, now I understand" moments. I bought a book of Hungarian folk tales today, in both English and Hungarian, and started reading the first page. After getting through about thirty lines, looking up all the words I didn't know in the dictionary and filling a sheet of paper with notes, I decided I was sick of it and took a break. Everyone I know who's taken the advanced class for the first time, reading lengthy passages in Hungarian, says the same thing: it takes a huge amount of time to look up all the new words, and they hate it. I guess patience is called for. If I do half a page a day, then the tenth half-page will probably be easier than the first. Of course, I probably won't have the patience to do half a page every day, but I think I need to do at least a page or two per week. If I do nothing between classes, and just wait three or four months before adding to my vocabulary, I'll never get anywhere. Words, words, words. |
| Thursday, January 15th, 2009 | |
| 5:18 pm | Typical Linguistic Bias The Hungarian word "két" means two (of something). "Balkezes" means left-handed. "Kétbalkezes" means clumsy. |
| Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | |
| 1:20 pm | Thomas Geoghegan For Congress Thomas Geoghegan, author of Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back and other fine books, is running to replace Rahm Emmanuel in Congress. I can't say anything about the other candidates for the seat, but based on his writings, I think Geoghegan would be a great choice. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will probably hold the seat for a good long while, so if you agree with me, send him a few dollars. |
| 1:15 pm | Overnight Meme From a bunch of people: List the towns or cities where you spent at least a night away from home during 2008. Mark with a star if you had multiple non-consecutive stays. Delhi Bikaner Jodhpur Bhadrajun Aranyawas Udaipur Roopangarh Bharatpur Budapest Debrecen* Columbia, MD* Burlington, MA Denver Stratford, Canada Orlando* Vienna Burlingame, CA |
| Saturday, November 29th, 2008 | |
| 6:25 am | Ridiculous Conceptions of Honor How idiotic can a Dumas hero be? It would take you thirty years to guess, and even then you would have to give it up, I believe. Therefore, I will tell you. In the novel "The Regent's Daughter", Gaston de Chanlay sets off to Paris to assassinate the Regent. Through carelessness, he allows Dubois, head of the secret police, to uncover his plans. Dubois and the Regent impersonate the gentlemen whom he was to meet in Paris, and learn the full details of the conspiracy. This, I assure you, is mere prelude. I have not even begun to describe Gaston's idiocy. So: Gaston is imprisoned. His fellow conspirators in Breton are arrested. However, Gaston is in love with an orphan, who is actually the Regent's illegitimate daughter. The Regent is a soft-hearted man. He gives Gaston several opportunities to save himself through dishonorable means, all of which Gaston refuses. The Regent's daughter (who still doesn't know that she's the Regent's daughter, or indeed that the Spanish spy into whose care Gaston entrusted her is in fact the Regent) declares that she will die if Gaston dies. So the Regent reveals himself, pardons Gaston and allows him to marry his daughter, and when Gaston refuses to save himself at the expense of his friends, pardons them too. So Gaston rides to Breton with his friends' pardon. Dubois, head of the secret police, anticipated the Regent's clemency and sent the order of execution by courier two hours earlier. Gaston arrives moments too late: the first execution takes place just as he arrives, and his three friends await their turns at the block. Now, what would you do? I tell you in advance that what follows is the stupidest possible choice. (What you're thinking? Not stupid enough.) If you answered, "Stop the executions, of course," you are clearly not a Dumas hero. Obviously the only honorable thing to do is to conceal the pardon—since none of the conspirators would think for a moment of accepting a pardon, once one of their own number had already been killed—and to take advantage of the general confusion to climb the scaffold and trick the executioner into chopping his head off as well. If this isn't the stupidest conception of honor—to sacrifice your own life, the lives of three of your friends, and the life of the woman you pledged your safe return to (because, true to her word, she pines away in a convent and dies the following spring), all because you, against all odds, succeeded in nearly saving a colleague—then I don't know what is. |
| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | |
| 8:54 am | Why Victory is Bittersweet It's amazing that a black man will soon be President. It's a national disgrace that the number of states where marriage laws are fair and decent was just cut by a third, from three to two. It is a necessity that a Democrat, with a strongly Democratic Congress, will be in control during what may be the greatest economic crisis of my lifetime. It's a disgrace that Paul Wellstone's seat will remain filled by an unworthy successor. The votes aren't fully in, and maybe supporters of Al Franken and gay marriage can still pull off victories. I won't be completely happy about the election unless they do. Edited to removed dumb mistake pointed out in comments. |
| Monday, November 3rd, 2008 | |
| 3:40 am | Election Predictions Like all nervous Democrats, it seems, I've been spending too much time looking at the polls. With the election coming up, I decided to set my predictions down. Presidential election: Obama 392, McCain 146. Obama wins California, Connecticut, Colorado, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, two electoral votes in Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. McCain wins Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, three electoral votes in Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Popular vote, I think is pretty unpredictable, but I'll go with 57% Obama. Senate: Democrats hold onto all their seats, and win Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia, for a gain of 9 seats. House: Haven't been following house races in enough detail to make a reasonable guess, so I'll just pull a number out of thin air and predict 35 house pickups. (Which is probably wildly optimistic, but I'm a bit depressed at predicting we'll fall just short of 60 seats in the Senate.) Feel free to post your predictions and disagreements in comments. The most accurate prognosticator wins eternal youth and veto power over the next six Supreme Court nominees. (Offer void where prohibited by law (natural or man-made).) |
| Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | |
| 12:56 pm | Second thoughts on the debate My first reaction was that it was basically a draw. After seeing the post-debate polls, I think my initial reaction was wrong—this was a big win for Obama. Not because he did particularly well, but because he didn't have to. Obama did two things that helped him in the debate—he convinced people he's on their side ("The percentage of watchers who think Obama understands their needs and problems has also increased by 21 points"), and he convinced people he was ready to be President. The latter is crucial—the main Republican line of attack is that he's too inexperienced to be President. They've tried to portray him as an empty suit, a celebrity, and his assured competence at the debate convinced most people that he's ready to be President. On the other hand, McCain's negativity hurt him. His contempt for Obama was obvious and undecided voters—especially women—didn't like it. It doesn't work to say "You just don't understand" over and over again when Obama clearly understands the issues just fine. I get frustrated by seeing Obama playing it safe, not criticizing the Republicans as harshly as they deserve, but I can't blame him. Much as I'd like to see him destroy McCain, that's not what he needs to do to win—he needs to make the American people more comfortable with him than with the other guy, and the high-minded approach seems to be working pretty well. A few days ago I committed myself to a prediction: McCain will win fewer than 200 electoral votes. I can't back that up with poll numbers yet, but I still believe I'm right. |
| Saturday, September 27th, 2008 | |
| 12:55 am | Carbon offsets Does anyone know anything about carbon offsets? I feel like if I'm going to be taking plane trips all over the globe, I should do something to compensate for my greater-than-average CO2 footprint. A little searching turned up a few nonprofits that work on renewable energy projects, reforestation, methane reduction, and other greenhouse reduction projects. LiveNeutral.org seems to just buy carbon credits and retire them, while carbonfund.org and sustainabletravelinternational.org invest directly in projects they think are worthwhile. I'd like to put my money where it's most effective. |
| Friday, September 26th, 2008 | |
| 11:54 pm | To the Galapagos...and beyond! I signed up for a tour of Ecuador and the Galapagos islands today. The tour company sent me an e-mail saying they're not quite sure if there's still room in the tour, and they'll check on Monday, but I'll assume for now it works out. I'm also going on a tour of Malaysia next year, and I'll either go on a tour of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, or travel there on my own. I probably won't do any other tours, but I might go to Hungary or France for a language class and travel a bit. (I'm more interested in studying Hungarian, but I haven't been to France since I was 16.) I might go to the Toronto International Film Festival, which is a lot of fun. I'll spend a week at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, as I always do, and take the train up to the Montreal Worldcon. And it's possible I'll see a trip that looks fun and add it. I think I'll leave the fall free of major trips, and take some language classes here—in addition to Hungarian and French, I'd like to study German and Latin. And I suspect by then I'll be glad to spend a while at home, relaxing. |