Curiousity stalks the cat and snags it by the tail.

Well, I'm not a cat, but curiousity snagged me anyway. (Sorry, I don't have a tail, either.)

I Googled around looking for specific-area blogs, those that deal with different branches of science in particular, and found some kool sites for your perusal.

Bio Informatics
Pure Content
Seb's Open Research
Kairosnews
Lagniappe
Literacy Weblog
Universal Rule

I'm not sure what prompted me to look these up, as science has never been one of my strong points, but it's good stuff to go through just the same.

Ha! This precious little gem pegged me on the spot... (via kottke)

I didn't make that many people aware of my plight, but my computer has been in the shop for the past week because of problems with the motherboard, and was finally returned to me today. I was a little worried that some of my files might've been lost in the process because the stupid machine wouldn't let me back up anything before I handed it over to the computer doctor, but happily nothing has been erased, moved, kidnapped and mangled beyond recognition.

I love one-year warranties.
I love my computer. Maybe a little too much, but hey...everyone has their vices, yes?

Christianity Today has posted a good editorial on praying in a time of war.

Elsewhere in the news, there's an interesting article in the Mercury on the isolation of the Bay Area from the rest of the country because of its vocal anti-war stance.

I haven't attended any of the anti-war protests in San Francisco, but what I've been hearing and reading doesn't convince me that the anti-war contingent has any good arguments to support its stance. Oh, those arguments are out there: I've heard some of them for myself. As a whole group, though, the anti-war movement seems to be marginalizing itself. Why? Well, it's simple: instead of presenting a cohesive argument for why we shouldn't go to war with Iraq, I instead find a lot of Bush-bashing and anti-Americanism in general. Their message is getting lost in the compacted "support-the-Palestinian-cause-Bush-is-the-real-dictator-free-Mumia" hullabaloo that's been represented at every major anti-war rally so far. Hey, there are a lot of people who don't like the idea of going to war, but I don't think the solid anti-war folks are doing a good job giving the "why we shouldn't." Instead of clowning on our president, our country, our economic system and our values, why don't they try giving some real reasons to not go to war instead?

Nigerian journalist Isioma Daniel speaks out about the riots sparked by her article about the Miss World contest.

Apparently, Muslim extremists don't know what sarcasm is.

In related news, Iranian hardliners have renewed the fatwa on author Salman Rushdie that their late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decreed in 1989 because Rushdie blasphemed Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.

I'll refrain from sarcastic jibing here, though I will say one thing. Some extremist factions in Islam may be considered very dangerous, depending on their weapon capabilities, but for the most part, their threats sound so outlandish that it's kind of hard to take them seriously. The only reason one should want to take them seriously is because of their desire to kill a lot of innocent people.

Yes, the snow was fun. Our little group, made up of about twenty-three college-age students, one high school student who mistakenly thought this was a youth trip but had lots of fun anyway, three kids and two adults, had a wonderful time up in lovely Arnold, California. It didn't snow while we were there (it was forecast for today, though, which is a bummer - missed it by a day), but we did find snow to play in. Some folks took to the slopes with snowboards and skis, and the rest of us decided to go with tubes and sleds. And, oh yes, our cabin was right across from a lake. Funfunfun!

This was a ski trip for our church's College & Career group, but it was also meant to be a retreat of sorts so we could get to know one another better. And I think that goal was reached rather effectively Friday night during the mini sharing time. Of course, the snowball rush on Saturday afternoon could've had something to do with it, too, but I'm just sayin'...

Gloves: Check.

Waterproof jacket: Check.

Sleeping bag: Check.

Waterproof coveralls: Er, Check.

Snow Boots: Ditto.

Bible: Check.

Notebook: Check.

Homework: YEAH, RIGHT!

Junk food: Check check.

Snow: Lots of it, baby!

Have a good weekend, y'all. Mine has officially started.

This article has been floating around the pundit circles in the Blogosphere for the last day or so. This part in particular stood out to me:

French President Jacques Chirac launched a withering attack Monday on eastern European nations who signed letters backing the U.S. position on Iraq, warning it could jeopardize their chances of joining the European Union.

"It is really not responsible behavior," he told a news conference. "It is not well brought up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet."

Right, Chirac. Whatever.

Glenn Reynolds pointed to a lawsuit regarding certain circumstances that I found to be rather disturbing.

Being a Christian myself, I think evangelism on campus is a kool thing - but when kids who are not Christians are being forced to attend evangelistic crusades during school hours when they don't want to go and belong to another faith...that's evangelism gone bad. We aren't supposed to cram the Gospel down anybody's throat.

I checked the school's website out of curiousity, to see whether or not this school was a public or private school. It's a public school.

And I thought it was pretty ironic that the schools mascot(s) are the Red Devils.

Some miscellaneous linky loves and thoughts as another week begins:

1. Bill Whittle's essay on Courage is worth reading.

2. And I know there's a religious right present in-country, but now...there's a religious left, too? I'd like to think that politically active Christians of all stripes would at least give some thought to whatever stand they want to make before mouthing off.

And for the sake of playing the Devil's advocate, some Christians opposing a war with Iraq forget that Jesus is not known just as the Prince of Peace. He is also the Lion of Judah.

3. My school has a weird academic schedule - no holiday tomorrow, even though it's Presidents Day. No, our holiday comes at the end of March: Cesar Chavez Day. It's a conspirancy, I tell ya...

4. I hope it rains all week. Not that I'll enjoy it, but it means more snow when we head up north for a ski trip this coming weekend. I hope fresh snow falls while we're there - that'd make my entire freakin' year.

5. Pretty soon I'll be speaking in rhyme.

6. Even journalists need a break from the news.

Have a good night!

Shards of glass
On bloody hands and knees
Along the path of life
Faltering in my shame
But never falling

Strength of will
With broken mind and soul
I carry on this task with love
Trusting in his Name
And never falling

- SMN/JMW

Sheesh, definitely need to put up the poetry page soon...

My host, Dreamhost, moved my directory and didn't tell me. This normally would not have been a problem, but MT relies on full paths to do its job. I would go to post an entry and everything would work right, except no files were updated, as I found out yesterday when my 2/13 post wasn't showing up.

If you have this problem, you can retrieve the new full path by beginning to create a new blog, then take the new full path and change it in your other blogs by going to the "manage your blog" section of MT. Just an FYI.

Time to scout around for a new host...

(Thanks, Jason...)

Voices and their fathers
Don't speak to one another
In this world.
Books are celebrities,
Their keepers tolerated
To keep the peace between
Adoring masses and art.
Forget bridges.
Bring the flame,
Brand a circle,
Imprison the art
For being so greedy.

Not too sure what inspired this one, but it beats over-analyzing poetry in my creative writing class.

Note to self: must get poetry page up. Now if only my computer would cooperate...

Talking to oneself is good for the logical brain and impulsive mouth to sort themselves out. Whereas the brain says with its usually confident flair, "If she skips class, she'll miss out on an important class session that will help determine how well she does on the midterm." The mouth will then retort rather snappishly: "It's freakin' seven in the morning! She only got three hours of sleep last night! And it's just one class she's missing..."

Oh, wait, bad example. Let's try this one:

Brain: "I think you need to find a job soon. Look at how much money you've got left."
Mouth: "I'm looking."
Brain: "Not hard enough, I don't think."
Mouth: "Oh, shut up. You think it's easy to find a job with the kind of economy we've got right now?"
Brain: "For cripes' sake. You're a college student! I figure any kind of job will do for now. It's not like this is an entry-level job at some newspaper. That's the kind of job you want someday, right?"
Mouth: "You mean magazine."
Brain: "Whatever. They're all the same to me."
Mouth: "Yeah, that figures."
Brain: "Excuse me?"
Mouth: "Nothing."
Brain: "Look, smart mouth..."
Mouth: "'Bout time you realized I was. Now stop bothering me - Eyes and the MetaCarpal department are helping me with this project, and practically every other joint in this organization."
Brain: "No need to get huffy."
Mouth: "I only get huffy when you don't function properly."
Brain: "At least I haven't gotten smacked yet!"

Hmmm - I guess both situations would apply to any one homo sapien. It's too bad we can't keep transcripts of these conversations.

Leonard Garment does a perfect job explaining the ways in which politics and the arts sometimes don't mix. Now you know why I was grumbling when the First Lady's poetry symposium was postponed.

(via Betsy Newmark)

I think it's totally stupefying that I can volunteer to kick a perpetrator's butt on a friend's behalf and yet I try to avoid confrontations when someone is bothering me directly. I know staying angry over someone else's problem ain't right, but watching that someone else get treated like a doormat isn't right, either. Ahem. On to less explosive topics...

"Everybody Dislikes Evangelicals" and "What Conversion Is(n't)" - very interesting, thought-provoking articles. Check 'em out.

And now for a Pre-Valentine's Day story:

We've had a crew of painters working on our complex for the past few months, and I think me and Miriam are the only residents who actually talk to these guys. And make 'em treats, too. Cookies. Painters need sugar once in a while, too, right? We've made them cookies twice now, and it frankly gives me warm fuzzies to do a nice deed for people on occasion. It doesn't hurt that they like chocolate, either!

Yesterday someone rang the doorbell, and I found one of the painting bosses standing there with a bag in one hand. "Thanks for making all those cookies for us," he says, holding out the bag to me.

Cookies. He'd brought me - us - a platter of Valentine's Day cookies.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he adds with a grin before walking away.

Miriam was delightfully surprised when I told her about it. And me? Well, it went beyond just making my day. It was one of the best "Thank yous" I've ever gotten.

Diving into poetry,
I breathe song set to rhyme.
Rhythm and meter round,
A school of golden fins;
Each letter, ev'ry word
In ev'ry line of prose
Touts meaning infinite.
Not even sharks snapping--
Writer's Block Incarnate!
Every swimmer's nightmare--
Drain my inspiration.
Though time does wait for me,
I'll swim these depths again.
A poem's shore is Home.

- SMN
02/04/03

Gregory Benford expresses his thoughts regarding a simpler rocket model to replace the expensive shuttle fleet that has so far cost us two separate crews. He also questions the usefulness of the Int'l Space Station and advocates a mission to Mars. The last part isn't too surprising, considering he wrote The Martian Race. That would be beyond koo-el!

(via G. Reynolds)

Some of the news stories I tagged during my evening rounds:

Yugoslavia has been renamed to Serbia and Montenegro. S&M. On second thought, I think I like "Yugoslavia" better...

Those Al-Qaeda folks must be getting desperate.

Salon.com, Glenn Reynolds, and The Guardian have all posted articles urging Americans to mourn the recent losses of the Columbia crewmembers - and why we should keep sending people into space.

Live and learn, kid.

I've been curious about everything quantum for the past year or two, so this bit on quantum computing naturally looked interesting.

The best thing about every Tuesday right now is my poetry class. The worst thing about it is that it's the longest day of my week. I yearn for tomorrow. Good night!

"Columbia shuttle breaks up over Texas":

The space shuttle Columbia, with seven astronauts aboard, broke up as it descended over central Texas Saturday toward a planned landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

...

Shuttle commander Rick D. Husband, pilot William C. McCool, payload commander Michael P. Anderson, mission specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, were on board.

UPDATE: Since this is plastered all over the news, I'm sure you've heard that there were no survivors. Rest in peace.