A Tempting Trial with Krispy Kreme

There is a Krispy Kreme in the East Lansing area. I have a Krispy Kreme paper hat on my desk. I think it's been here all weekend but I'm not sure. Must investigate. However, the nearest Family Video is in downtown Lansing, too far away for a casual trip to rent some movies. I did discover a Video-To-Go in Frandor. I will see if it can compete with the high quality video selection and prices of Family Video. I have my doubts.

I found an addictive game on the internet. Oh dear. If you value your time don't click here. Sure, it sounds easy... and it is, but then where did that our go?

I read All I asking for is my body in two days. It is for my English class and it's the best book so far. It is difficult to get into it because the author [Milton Murayama] writes in pidgin English. Besides that it is a very easy read, down to earth, real [in a way the last two books weren't]. All I asking for is my body is the first in a series of four books. The fourth hasn't been written yet. It's not mainstream; the publisher is Univ. of Hawaii Press.

I swear I have no idea. What in the hell are they smoking over at PerversionTracker?

Judge books by their covers. That's right, go ahead and do it. [I bet you do it already.] A graphic designer examines several new books by their covers and corresponding content. It's not the first time he's done this.

Word of the Week: Erudite

I decided to use a word mom suggested in her e-mail. Erudite has a cool sound and really makes you sound smart. It shouldn't be too difficult to insert into your daily conversation. An erudite person is basically a rude, snobbish scholar. From M-W.com, Erudite:

Pronunciation: 'er-&-"dIt, 'er-y&-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English erudit, from Latin eruditus, from past participle of erudire to instruct, from e- + rudis rude, ignorant
Date: 15th century
: possessing or displaying erudition : LEARNED
- er·u·dite·ly adverb

For whatever reason I associate this word with Philistineine [not capitalized]. The Biblical connections are unavoidable. So, for bonus WotW points, philistine:

Pronunciation: 'fi-l&-"stEn; f&-'lis-t&n, -"tEn; 'fi-l&-st&n
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia
2 often not capitalized a : a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values b : one uninformed in a special area of knowledge

I'm going to be back in G-R this weekend. So, until Sunday or Monday, toodles!

A Synthetic Sea Suit Passing through the Haar

Haar is a cold sea fog on the East coast of Britain. I finished the paper for my English class. It is 25% of my grade and five pages long. Therefore each page is 5% of my total grade. I am always amazed by my powers of division. The paper is about The Moon and Sixpence. I wouldn't mind the book if something happened. Like action. Or an event, maybe even, I don't know... ANYTHING! The book is loosely based on the life of Gaugin, a French painter who used Japenese and Chinese elements in his paintings. Not terribly interesting. However, it looks really cool when you superimpose the history of colonialism in reverse overtop of his life. I know it's a stretch, but it's my stretch.

Why build the whole plane when you can get one amazing flight simulator. Did I mention this simulator comes with a 737 cockpit? [NYTimes, login required]

I'll probably be making more audio posts. I'll let you know.

audio post powered by audblog

A Website by Mulder

Everyone should check out Mulder's floor football website. Very impressive. Go Fireballs.

And, in case you needed help finding it, COMPAQ's help section is on the spot with the answer.

And the Lit-Up Windows Became Tetris Blocks

So I continued walking. I was wearing flip-flops and plowing through the darkness like a noisy lost little lamb. The rain made the benches wet, I didn't want to sit and get my pants wet. So I continued walking. A man was sitting, talking on his cell phone, his head hung low to keep the conversation private, concealed from the darkness. [That is to assume that another was on the phone too, possibly talking. Could that person be inside the cell phone, talking directly into his ear. Whispering sweet secrets from the internal speaker, gesturing with the circuits.] And he got up. And I was still walking. The conversation dim and unheard by passing ears. So he keeps his head low and turns his back. And in this instant I contemplate his motives. A long, expensive weekend. More expensive than I can imagine. And I walk by and think: what might happen, does the future exist.

And there in the darkness. Standing, bowing to whatever voice he hears. I: walking, thinking. Does he want my wallet. Can he kill me, him and his wet pants, stabbing, pummeling, fiercely punching and kicking.

But it didn't happen. He stood and I walked.

Then, a moment later, still in my flip-flops I see a rabbit. The rabbit sees me too. I stop and the rabbit stops. We look at each other. And then in the darkness I realize that if I were faster, quieter, stronger I could have the fuzzy one and he would be helpless. I'm not. But the rabbit doesn't realize it. I do. So I keep walking. And the rabbit remains, hopping back into the bushes and brush.

This kid was a mess.

He looked like he had finished (or possibly didn't finish) a court-ordered rehab program. He must have just gotten out of a bathtub, thrown on some clothes, and walked over here. A walking disaster. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair still wet and dripping down the back of the seat, his beat-up vest, his face unshaved.

He couldn't see it in a mirror, the scar that is. The scar on the back of his neck. Could it have been a knife fight, a stabbing, an accident? I glance over at his notebook. His writing is worse than mine. I can only make out the capitalized letters; the words run together; his 't's aren't crossed; whole lines are scribbled out. The bic pen he was using is in rough shape, too. Perhaps that pen, white on the outside -- filled with black ink on the inside -- that pen, a slave to a master it can't comprehend -- scrawling out words nobody can read -- that pen, chewed and mutilated and tormented is what holds him together.

So he puts the cap of that pen back into his mouth. He turns it around and mashes his teeth on it. He throws it to the back of his mouth, the big, leaf-eating teeth. He pulls it out and rests it on his notebook. The spit drips onto the page, blurring the already incoherent writing.

Battle of the Back-up Quartebacks

I just love that title. And, for the last minutes of the first half of the Lions/Vikings game, the dream became a reality. Gus Ferotte vs. Mike McMahon. Truly amazing. Harrington and Culpepper both went to the sidelines with injuries. Luckily, Harrington came back after the break. Currently: Vikings-23, Lions-13.

Look at this cool website. Wow. I didn't even know that we had a Manly Miles Building [even though I have biked past it before].

One of the best articles about Iraq and our perceptions I have read.

Recognize this? You might have seen it at the beginning of Boondock Saints. It is one of the towers on Boston's Longfellow bridge. The picture is taken from a boat in the Charles River. The towers are beautiful and really make the old bridge quite unique. Hunter, Brennan and I watched the fireworks from this bridge. The T [the subway-train system in Boston] runs across the bridge, too.

One G5 is powerful. 1100 G5s working together is... well... it's this.

I'm not a huge Radiohead fan. But these fifth-graders certianly aren't.

A Toothless Meandering Through the Sunderbans

You should see the view from my window. I admit it isn't as good as the view across the hall, but I still like it. First, there are trees, at least three very large trees. The trees are at their very tallest near my window [I am on the fifth floor]. This is a unique way to see a tree. Too often trees are characterized by their trunks or as people look up into them. From my window I get the geographer's perspective, top-down. I can erase the oblique and journey into the vertical. I also can see the cafeteria [it is connected to the two wings of my dorm building]. The windows of the cafeteria have a metal grate on the outside. On top of the octagonal cafeteria there is an octagonal service room. Behind the cafeteria is West Wilson.

People whine about Detroit's lack of championship games. But if you look at all the major league cities [in the past 20 years] then you really start to feel sorry for Seattle. I would guess that most of Detroit's 12 points come from the Red Wings and the Pistons. So you can continue bitching about the Lions and the Tigers.

Clam and Eggs. It's a recipe. I love the little picture in the corner. Mmmm, clams. [NY Times, login required]

Defective Yeti was the first blog [by a single author] I started reading regularly. I'm not sure why, but his narrative format was really accessible and I truly enjoyed reading his posts. Plus the graphic on the top is really amazing. Animal COPS is impossible to pass up. Enjoy.

The Morning News can be counted on for original and highly creative writing. I recommend reading Dear Hollywood. [Especially you, Nichols!] The author achieves a clarity of purpose that is particularly well done.

Attention Tony: cartoon cars [including a Honda S800]. Cool stuff.

Oh, and if you want to see the Sunderbans then just look here. The massive and ancient forest is mentioned in Rushdie's Midnight Children. From all accounts it is one of the most terrifying places on earth. On the other hand, it is quite stunning.

A Promiscuous Downloading Spree Against Patrick

In the last few days I have downloaded several entire Pink Floyd albums. Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Relics were all downloaded. Awesome albums. And, since I bought Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon from the store, I don't feel like I'm completely cheating them. But, even if I never paid a cent I wouldn't feel any guilt. RIAA has to get with the times.

[Patrick does not like Pink Floyd. Patrick likes gangsta' rap. Patrick listens to Tupac. Perhaps it is coincidence that both of our favorite musicians are defunct/dead. Perhaps it isn't.]

Tony's [the brand-new restaurant next door to B-Dubs] was good. I want to try their biscuits and gravy. That sounds tasty. Do you know any other MSU bloggers? If so, please tell me. Thanks.

A Junket from the Farthest Reaches of the Geoid

I've decided that breakfast will be at Tony's in East Lansing. This is an actual restaurant. I've heard it is good and they serve breakfast. I don't know who Tony is.

I've got some great Toponymy links. Lets start with the World Trade Center. They are keeping the name [NYTimes, registration required] even though they are redeveloping the site. Interesting decision. I decided to look into the toponymy of the two cities I am researching for my UP classes. First there is Troy, it was named after [get this] Troy, NY. Then there is Boston; obviously a much older city. "On September 17, 1630, Winthrop decided to make Shawmut a permanent settlement and renamed it Boston, after his hometown in Lincolnshire England." Then why didn't he call it Lincolnshire? Then there is an article from MLUI [Michigan Land Use Institute] regarding the hypocrisy of "property rights." The author is a bit too negative. After all, land-use would be a non-issue if people didn't have different ideas for its development. But, he does have a point about cities reimbursing land-owners for "diminished value."

How do you sleep. Yep, you guessed it, another "personality test." Can I fail a personality test? Can the full range of humanity be parceled into a dozen distinct sets of traits? [Just in case you were curious, I'm a foetus sleeper and occasionally a log.]

Don't forget, tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day.

I now have a comments system. It's free so the features are limited. Click on the comments link below each entry to add or view comments.

A Tower of Artificial Light

Tonight has been strange. After work all I accomplished was my paper for UP 400. Yes, it was only one page. Yes, it was about the Big Dig. The past six hours have dragged out. I am increasingly frustrated with my job at the Library. It is terribly boring. One student employee confessed that she still [after 7 months] has no idea what is going on. It is such a contrast to my other job. At Human Ecology I get to meet new people, relax occasional, talk with people about design and the happenings in the department. So, I decided if, by the end of the week I cannot stand the Library job then I will try to do freelance writing. Why? Well, writing is where I feel confident. I will not be belittled by bureaucracy any more. [A Man Is Not A Piece of Fruit! #5]

So, if you know anyone who will pay for writing, please drop me a line.

I know it's nerdy but this tour of the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit link came from my planning professor. Take the tour, it's worth your time. [Trust me, I know how much your time is worth.] It doesn't matter if you are clueless or not, you must read about cluelessness.

A small FHC reunion is coming together for October 3. Should be a great time.

A kid on my hall retold the story of a prank call. He and a friend called Jenny Craig [or some such weight-loss company] and began their sad, sad story. It starts with the tragic death of the caller's best friend to obesity. As a response to the unexpected death the caller begins to eat and eat. So now she has a weight problem. Then the caller breaks down and cries. She wants help. She wants to lose weight. Well, turns out these guys were convincing; the receptionist starts to cry, she sobs her eyes out. After hearing it I start to laugh.

Mandatory Firecracker Guard-Duty

Well, here it is. The video of Stackenblochen [MPEG, 9.5 MB]. Simply amazing.

I watched The Day The Earth Stood Still last night on AMC. I had never watched AMC for an extended period of time. It is actually a good movie. And a Beatles album cover. Although, the Christ analogy is a bit heavy; although there is some wiggle room in the metaphor and the movie doesn't have that awkward 'savior from beyond' feel.

Even though I study the Orient, I have no idea what this is. Kikkoman has a fierce ad budget.

Finally, "It contains about 13,000 words printed in one-point type." That's right, a one-point font dictionary that's 110 years old.

Word of the Week: Pinkerton

I had a hard time thinking of the word for this week. Mulder said he had a great one but couldn't find it. I considered misogyny, but decided against it. [Misogyny was the topic for the day in my english class.] Pinkerton has a great sound. It flows with the definition [the implied negative meanings come right through in the pronunciation]. Here is the M-W definition:

Function: biographical name
Allan 1819-1884 American (Scottish-born) detective; established first private detective agency in U.S.

Have fun.

Stackenblocken, Football, and Rain

The Campus Cuties [our IM football team] lost tonight. We lost by two touchdowns. The rain started coming down hard after halftime. Luckily, there was no lightning. Interestingly enough, the other team [the Dolphin Floggers] had a fast little Asian guy on their team with the words "Asian Sensation" on his shirt. Like Porn's doppelganger.

Speaking of long German words... On the 10th Anniversary of Late Night with Conan O'Brien they showed a segment called Stackenblocken; a German game show where contestants must arrange things at 90 degree angles. The woman contestant appeared to have won, then Conan checks one item with a ruler. It's not correct. He slaps the woman in the face. Then he, and another German soldier start beating her. Then a German Shepard attacks her. And the theme song, oh, the theme song. Mulder and I were bent over laughing.

If I knew Polish then I might know why the small man seems so content. Here is the whole collection of Polish propaganda posters [wow].

This, is interesting.

I Should Have Explained

I realize that the last statement on my last post was confusing, to say the least. The words arranged themselves in that pattern inside of my head somewhere between the Red Cedar and IM West. They are the latest result of a recurring thought:

Everything around me, everything I experience is a fabrication, unreal. Is there an entire dimension of reality I cannot break into? My entire life is lived in abstractions on top of abstractions.

Some people see this as a comforting, even relaxing thought: I don't have to worry about my daily survival, existence is futile so why bother. [And I do understand where that comes from.] But, today I realized it might be that I am in a prison and these pseudo-conscious events are actually a way for this 'unknown' reality to protect society from me. In other words, when I feel the world inside my head crumbling and then associate it with extraordinary 'outside' events I am being tricked. But I don't know who or why? The question, "If I am in a prison do I want to know my crime?" stems from that problem.

Sorry for the confusion.

A Non-Incident in the Library

Several minutes ago I was reading Maugham in the Library. Charles Strickland is a character in The Moon and Sixpence who is very sadistic. I won't bore you with the details. [Note to Nichols: Of Human Bondage was also by Maugham, I might have to read it after the semester is over.] Anyway, I had the sudden urge to leap from my seat and explode on my surroundings. I wanted to throw down the desks and the shelves. I wanted to blast out the window, to use the furniture like a hurricane uses a tribal village on the fringe of civilization.

I wanted to see how long I could last. How long until security, staff, police, concerned citizens tried to tame my fury. Who would approach the crazy man. Who would risk his own life to save a bound edition of Toxicology reports, a rack of magazines from 1972, a shelf of books about satellite imaging applications. How far could I go.

But, ultimately I decided not to. When does my reality [the current one, the college student] end? What is the breakdown, or, rather: does real life achieve the clean transition from one stage to another?

If I am in a prison do I want to know my crime?

The Big Dig

I've decided to research Boston's Big Dig for my UP 400 class project. UP 400 is titled Conflict Resolution and Negotiation. Dr. Lim is the professor. I had never heard of The Big Dig before I went to Boston with Huntron. Here is the summary provided by Boston.com:

Who: United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration & The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
What: The largest civil works project in U.S. history
Where: Boston: 8 miles of Interstate highway construction, approximately 4 miles of I-93 between Roxbury and Somerville, and approximately 4 miles of I-90 between Chinatown and East Boston
When: Federal legislation passed 1987, ground broken in Boston 1991, completion 2005
Why: To reconnect the city and to alleviate traffic bottlenecks
How much: $14,700,000,000

Imagine the S-Curve prjoect in GR times 100. [The cost of the S-Curve straightening was $145 Million.] It is actually three projects combined. First, the Bunker Hill bridge was built. Second, the Ted Williams tunnel was built to connect Logan Airport. Third, the land was dug out below large section of highway in central Boston, then an underground freeway was installed, then the above freeway will be destroyed. The area for the third part is turning into a park [rollover the image with your mouse].

In Iraq American soldiers appear to have gunned down 10 Iraqi police with no provocation. We will never be able to build trust [and then build a nation] with a 'shoot first and ask questions later' policy. Needless to say, Iraqi citizens are furious.

Boston

Pictures are in. I uploaded Huntron's and my own pictures from the Boston trip. Click above on 'Pictures,' the top three lines are new. But, my data-transfer limit was reached earlier. Check back tomorrow.

A Terrible Way to Start the Day

9:20 AM, my eyes are just barely opening. I decide to check the news online. And then I see this [NYTimes, login required]. Cash became an iconic figure on our floor, mostly due to Sims' hayseed roots. I realize he was old.

I almost forgot yesterday was 9/11, again. It will be the last pitiful display of patriotism these eight Iraqi police and two US soldiers will endure [NYTimes, login required].

Well, there you have it.

*Note: I highly recommend registering at NYTimes.com. It is free and easy and their website is probably the best online-newspaper combo I've come across. [Of course, you can always check out these three online-papers, too.]

That's Not Exactly Sanitary

I biked to King Buffet (a Chinese/Japanese buffet across from Farmer Jack's on Grand River). Dr. Lim, my professor for UP 400, paid for everyone to eat there. When I went up for a second plate of food I got some Wanton soup. I held the bowl under the sneeze guard and used the ladel to pour the soup. Some of the soup spilt over the bowl and all over my fingers. Then I realized that others may have done the same. An uncountable number of dead skin flakes could be floating in my Wanton soup. That's not exactly sanitary.

Then again, neither is VD. While blogspotting when I should have been eating lunch I found this collection of posters printed by the Federal Government's Social Hygiene Department. After eating at King Buffet I returned to Wilson. Christian (a sophomore who lived on 5EWil last year, too) saw this on my screen and immediately wanted it in his room. "Oh! I have to have that!" He said. So, Mulder printed one off and Christian is planning a trip to Kinkos for enlargement and lamination. Even though VD is a real knee-slapper, my favorite is definitely this 8"x10" of propaganda. Can you say Catch-22?

Onto toponymy. Pop, Soda, Coke, or what-have-you. What do you say when you order a carbonated beverage? Don't tell me, tell him. [Be sure to rollover the links below the map to see each distribution separately.] However, I much prefer this map. Michigan is firmly in the Pop camp [with some soft spots at Mackinaw City].

Tony [aka Little Helmholdt] you must see this. A Durango 95, the car from A Clockwork Orange, completely restored. It is so low, the rice-burners wet their pants. Be sure to check how it was restored and its original condition.

Okay, I know the website is all in German, that doesn't make the pictures less interesting. Just click where you see blue, closed down industrial buildings and run-down factories.

Finally, a good article about the emerging blog.

The Seattle Super Sonics

An Amazing Alliteration for a NBA team. Drobnjak manjak has a website on the Sonic's official page. Be sure to have your speakers turned up when you click here. Yugoslavians are coming up in the world of professional basketball, Lorbek comes to mind. But Lorbek never said, "Tonight your uniform will be wet with the tears of sadness." The 'kids' section is quite hillarious, too.

In order to understand location we must understand location. (Yes, that is what I meant to say.) Location, in a terrestrial and human-scale sense is defined by other locations. Grand Rapids is 60 miles west of Lansing. Due to the changing position of the earth and unfelt universal changes, there is no absolute way to locate something using abstract variables. Thus, we create maps to relate locations. But how do we project a sphereoid onto a flat surface? Decide for yourself. [Note: this link came from my GEO 221 class.]

Scrabblog. Make the best word given 7 random letters.

New favorite quote from Playmakers, "Thinking kills. It's the worst thing you can do." That's why the show has writers instead of middle linebackers.

And, if you are still bored (or illiterate) then check out some of the latest works.

A Lofty Nomination for the Reclamation of Putumayo

BBSpot (listed amongst my links on the right hand of your screen) has been quiet these last few months (or perhaps I have just not been looking at it as closely). But their latest article is beautiful and articulate. In the classic vein of giving Microsoft programs human traits, BBSpot has deemed professional psychological treatment necessary. A prescription for Upgradium (as seen on page 147 of Unreal 2003 Gamer's Weekly) is the usual treatment for this suite of programs.

Pirates: a favorite topic. All summer I looked at a newspaper cutout taped onto the wall of my then-bedroom. The cutout had a large color picture of some modern pirates and a headline regarding the present-day scallywags. Although technological advancement prevents large scale piracy, pirates have not lost their edge, style, appeal or capacity for crime. A quote from The Atlantic Online:

"They choose their targets patiently, and then assemble, strike, and dissipate. They have been known to carry heavy weapons, including shoulder-launched missiles, but they are not determined aggressors, and will back off from stiff resistance, regroup, and find another way...." [Read More]

*Interruption of normal weblog service* I get an instant message from Schepers telling me urgently that I must try out IP-Relay. He describes it but my understanding was still muddy. I got a call. An operator tells me how to use this free and anonymous service. We had a short and sporadic conversation. Although I have little use for this program I can definitely see its application for the deaf.

Books are like protein shakes for the mind. So, you should have some sort of schedule for maintenance to keep your brain in shape. At least that's the subject of The Great Books Workout by Laura Miller [NYTimes, login required]. I think it's a bunch of garbage. Only those driven to read for understanding of themselves and their surroundings will see their goals written in each page. Sure, finding the right authors and books might be tricky, but seriously, it's not that tricky. Reading Plato just to check off a box on a reading list is as banal as drinking Diet Caffeine Free Mountain Dew because it's "good" for you. In any case, I am considering buying a Kerouac poster to replace the Animal House one. Still haven't decided. Here is the quote on the bottom of that poster:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."
On The Road, 1957

Word of the Week: Ramshackle

I came across the word when doing some reading for UP 353 about sustainable development. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to use the word 'ramshackle' at least three times in a casual conversation.

The official Merrian Webster Definition for Ramshackle:

1 : appearing ready to collapse : RICKETY
2 : carelessly or loosely constructed

Good Luck.

Requests

Some of the readers of Helmers83 requested photoshop contests regularly and possibly a word of the week feature. I am open to both suggestions. Of course, the photoshop contest (or, Helmers Picture Pirate Contest as I like to call it) would have to happen on the old website. I cannot host or display any pictures on this website (yet). I also have no feedback application. Any suggestions for this website (or whatever) should be directed to my Yahoo email account (helmers83@yahoo.com).

I am currently reading The Moon and Sixpense. So far so good. Nothing amazing, yet. The transition of Strickland from a bland stockbroker to a psuedo-maniac is a bit hard to swallow and Maugham elaborates more than I would like. (Plus, I have no idea how this is going to tie into Orientalism.)

By the way, did you know there is a Mr. Bean Cartoon? I just found out while I was writing this post. It's not nearly as good as the live action Mr. Bean. It is hard to replicate the quirky anti-social behavior of Rowan Atkinson. The animation is good, however.

Gritting Saw Teeth and Swiffy Grey Matter

The Futile Pursuit of Happiness, [NYTimes, login required] is an excellent article about a recent study about how people believe they will feel after positive or negative situations and the actual results. For instance, although you might think that your whole week will be ruined if your favorite college football team is beaten by University of Huston. This is likely wrong (unless you are Lloyd Carr). Conversely, if you buy a new computer gadget it won't improve your happiness for very long. If these sorts of studies pan out and become more proven they might have public policy rammifications, especially for the medical institutions.

Although, I'm pretty sure that one of these would make my day. [Quicktime Movie of Wooden Mirror -- High Bandwidth Only] Amazing combination of digital and analog.

Have you ever seen an Aggregate Traffic Animal? Well, according to this guy you probably have but didn't know it. In fact, you probably have been part of an Aggregate Traffic Animal. Although the article is a confusing read, the author raises some proto-reality questions that are simply mind-boggling. Scroll down to Typical Morphologies for more about how Aggregate Traffic Animals exist and what they look like. In a related topic, I have been listening to a lot of Modest Mouse. Cochrane recommended the band to me and I downloaded a few songs. Third Planet, Out of Gas, and Tiny Cities Made of Ashes are all enjoyable. The lyrics to Third Planet share some subject fodder with the Aggregate Traffic Animal.

A 3rd had just been made and we were swimming in the
water, didn't know then was it a son was it a daughter
When it occurred to me that the animals are swimming
around in the water in the oceans in our bodies and
another had been found another ocean on the planet
given that our blood is just like the Atlantic
And how
The universe is shaped exactly like the earth if you go
straight long enough you'll end up where you were

This also has some Toponymy repercussions. But I want to watch football.

Why Change?

Why have I abandoned Helmers83? What will become of that website? What is Blogger? These questions are important.

Helmers83 was good. The election 2028 special report was amazing. Several other articles were spectacular. But, maintenance on that website was awful. I wrote all the source code myself, I wrote the entire CSS script, I handmade all the archive pages. Nothing was php, java, perl, flash, etc. Everything was in HTML and CSS. I learned how Blogger (see below) works. I learned that I was doing a lot more work than I needed to.

Helmers83 will be dramatically changed. The only new content added to it will be pictures and other large files. All of the articles will be archived. Helmers83 will last only until I find another place to host the archived files and pictures.

Blogger is a free way to make a personal weblog. A weblog is an online journal. This is so close to what I had with Helmers83 that it was pointless to work harder for the same output.

Good, we've got that out of the way.

334 Evergreen

This house is practically on campus. It is licensed for 12 people, has 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, a basement, and an alley for parking. This is where we first saw it. We still haven't seen the inside. We should be able to close the deal this week. I will keep everybody informed. The house will need a name. What kind of name is 334 Evergreen, a street and a number. I don't know the history behind Evergreen but I might guess that it is a generic street built or named in the last 100 years, possibly during the City Beautiful period. 334 screams anonymity. 334 is an abstraction in a layer cake.

Thus, the house (considering that we do lease it) will need a name. Toponymy, in it's nascent (although somewhat Hindu) form. We would not be the first nor the last to live there, thus not the first to name it. But our name will live on beyond our stay in the house. The non-existant verbalism will outlive the walls and doors.

Initial Post

Please disregard this initial post. It is meaningless. It is meaningful. (According to Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, meaningfull and meaningless are interghangable.)