Not Exactly Proud...

This picture really cracked me up. I'm sure their elementary school teachers are proud. Or should I say "they're" teachers?

Employment Is in the Air

It would seem that everyone is talking about employment (or lack thereof) these days. Let's begin with today's comics (you can click on the images for larger versions, if these are too small or fuzzy):








In addition, one housemate just sent out this article about the top ten reasons to quit your job. It's a passable list, though I didn't see anywhere on it, "You're not making enough money." That seems like an obvious one.

In fact, some time ago Lucy Kellaway - a wonderful columnist for the FT who addresses such pressing problems as "My boss wants to be my friend on Facebook" and runs a close second to Yulia Tymoshenko as my secret love interest - wrote a column on this very topic of quitting your job. She took to task all the business-speak types who talk about "meaningful expectations," "affirmation" and "fulfillment." It's about the money, she said. And some other stuff. Which I don't remember because I can't find the article online right now. So major points to you if you can.

I just had to share this...

Scary

Firstborn children found to have higher intelligence

Doesn't it seem like the main function of scientific studies these days is to simply tell you things you already knew? I have been saying this for years, and now some scientists have taken it upon them selves to prove me right.

Firstborn children found to have higher intelligence:

"Wading into an age-old debate, researchers have found that firstborn children are smarter than their siblings -- and the reason is not genetics, but the way their parents treat them, according to a study published today...

Year after year, more Nobel Prizes go to firstborn scientists and authors. Firstborns garner more than their share of National Merit scholarships and fill American colleges in disproportionate numbers...

The findings suggested that the mechanism behind the birth-order effect is not biological but related to social interactions within families.

He surmised that older children are showered with attention early in life and treated as leaders in the family. They are handed more responsibility after younger siblings are born and live with higher expectations from their parents."

Only In DC...

So I was at a bar the other night and I went to the bathroom, as will happen. Littering the walls was the usual crude bathroom scrawl. I'm normally not terribly attentive, but this time I happened to look over and find the strangest writing:"Is John Edwards still the second best democracy?"

The thing that really puzzles me is how this fits into the well defined genera of bathroom scribbling? If there were some sort of insult, maybe. But who goes to a bar and attempts to engage in political discourse on the stall wall?

What a strange town.

A Strangely Usual Experience

Today as I was walking home from the metro station something happened that I suppose may seem quite strange to some people. At least I gathered that from the stares I got from a confused passerby. You see on my route home for the last few months there has been this rusty oddly shaped piece of what must have been some sort of bolt in the same spot on the sidewalk, just siting there staring at me. I have wanted to photograph it ever since I first saw it, and even more so now that I has withstood the test of time for so long without being fastened to anything. Well today I had my camera, and by chance I actually remembered that I had it with me so I stopped to get a picture. Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries, thus I was unsuccessful. Nonetheless there I was standing with a camera in the middle of the sidewalk trying to take a picture of a rusty bolt.

I think it was the well dressed commuter, staring at me from across the street that caused me to pause and wonder how I had come to this point. Upon reflection, this was really just one small occurance in a long fascination that I have with rusted metal. I know that it sounds strange, but let me explain myself.

First of all aesthetically I just really like color. That attraction I can't quite explain, but the rich interplay between red and orange that spring out of a velvet like dark brown background seems both soft and harsh all at once.

However, more than the color what really attracts me to rusted metal is the decay. The way that we encounter pieces of rusted metal in every day life is as a set of man-made forms that have begun to fall apart. Slowly being eaten away, rusty metal is a long slow death that surrounds us. A reminder of our mortality and the passing nature of creation, especially man's creation, is a worthwhile thing in itself. Yet, I do believe that there is more to the beauty of rust than simply a morbid preoccupation. Something special happens when someone takes that decaying form and removes it from the normal context of experience. This removal can be taking a photograph, or placing the object on display, or even just looking intently at the thing. When photographed the thing becomes more than it once was. Rather than simply an object which is moving past it's usefulness, the piece of metal is now an invitation to reflection. And not simply a reflection on decay and impermanence, but more so, a reflection on that uniquely human capacity to discover lasting truths in the passing world. As the beings that create art we are elevating our surroundings to an intangible plane. The capacity for this act is what I find the most beautiful about the rusty bolt lying on the side of Michigan avenue (and also, one of the most promising aspects of the challenges that we face today with the definition of the term "art".)

Congrats...

Congrats to Rachel and Charles. It was a great wedding.

Jihadist Rallies

*** This post does not endorse the misuse of the term "Jihadist." Suicide bombers are not holy warriors striving to know or serve the Almighty, they are evildoers properly termed "mufsidun," who are engaging in a psychopathic war against society, "hirabah." ***