Are KC and Tiffany?
I'll give you three hints.
1. We flew here on a nonextistent airline.
2. We have untraceable, cash-only paper tickets.
3. We have no record of our entry in our passport.
Did you really need all three hints?
Monday, June 2, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Uuuuuuber dorky
Wow. Even I am stunned by this latest evidence of the dorky depths to which mankind can sink.
Last month I saw a story on CNN about an American who was nosing around the protests here in Egypt and surprise surprise, got arrested. He texted a single word - "Arrested" - to his friends on the other side of the world, setting actual legal representation in motion.
Turns out texting wasn't quite what he'd done. He'd been using a program called Twitter, which apparently is for people who absolutely, positively, cannot just sit quietly. No matter where you are or what you're doing, you can send little messages - "twitters" - to your buddies who apparently are fascinated by the minutiae of your boring life. Clearly it's boring, because you're sending messages instead of doing something.
A get out of jail free card? Sure, why not? I signed up for Twitter ... and about 2 hours later I shut the whole thing down. I just couldn't care less what my friends are doing every second of the day. Social networking is clearly not for me. Again. Seems I'm more of a shotgun-and-generator kind of girl.
Ahem. She blogs.
Anyway, this morning, to my shock and awe, I found this article on the New York Times:
Phoenix Lander 'Talks' to Twitterers
I suppose in terms of PR, it's an interesting idea, but honestly??? With NASA's horrendous budget slide over the past few years, you'd think they'd have more important things to do with their time and money.
Like, anything. With, um, science.
Whatever. I guess I should be grateful for space-program interest from any source.
Last month I saw a story on CNN about an American who was nosing around the protests here in Egypt and surprise surprise, got arrested. He texted a single word - "Arrested" - to his friends on the other side of the world, setting actual legal representation in motion.
Turns out texting wasn't quite what he'd done. He'd been using a program called Twitter, which apparently is for people who absolutely, positively, cannot just sit quietly. No matter where you are or what you're doing, you can send little messages - "twitters" - to your buddies who apparently are fascinated by the minutiae of your boring life. Clearly it's boring, because you're sending messages instead of doing something.
A get out of jail free card? Sure, why not? I signed up for Twitter ... and about 2 hours later I shut the whole thing down. I just couldn't care less what my friends are doing every second of the day. Social networking is clearly not for me. Again. Seems I'm more of a shotgun-and-generator kind of girl.
Ahem. She blogs.
Anyway, this morning, to my shock and awe, I found this article on the New York Times:
Phoenix Lander 'Talks' to Twitterers
I suppose in terms of PR, it's an interesting idea, but honestly??? With NASA's horrendous budget slide over the past few years, you'd think they'd have more important things to do with their time and money.
Like, anything. With, um, science.
come on rocketssssss!!!!!
I’ve landed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers! Tears!! I’m here!
Whatever. I guess I should be grateful for space-program interest from any source.
Monday, May 26, 2008
So ... close ....
I realize it's been ages since my last post, but I promise, it's not from any type of alarming interruption of daily life.
Just the usual interruptions.
Tomorrow's the last day of the semester, and the semester's end started getting real ugly about 2 weeks ago. Now I'm frantically trying to finish everything up in a few days before getting on a plane and heading to points north and east that must remain anonymous on this blog, for now.
And the icing on the cake? KC and I have both got raging cases of Cairo gut, probably from a late-night dodgy goat-eating extravaganza last night.
Ugh. Seriously.
Just the usual interruptions.
Tomorrow's the last day of the semester, and the semester's end started getting real ugly about 2 weeks ago. Now I'm frantically trying to finish everything up in a few days before getting on a plane and heading to points north and east that must remain anonymous on this blog, for now.
And the icing on the cake? KC and I have both got raging cases of Cairo gut, probably from a late-night dodgy goat-eating extravaganza last night.
Ugh. Seriously.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A brief break
Last night Stupid Movie Night was resurrected from the bomb that was Knocked Up. KU wasn't only not stupid, it wasn't especially funny. And I get seriously irritated by movies that pose interesting problems and then end with "And everything was fine." I thought Juno was a far more interesting look at teenage pregnancy.
Anyway, last night's stupid movie was Eurotrip, one of the funniest movies I've seen in a really long time, smarmy teenagers notwithstanding. I've seen it before, but ignorant cultural stereotyping never gets old for me.
On a totally different note, a friend sent me this link - well, that is, he just sent me the part about the article and left out the hoax. Maybe I should give this to my Scientific Thinking students. ;) And I'm not especially crazy about looking at shark pictures a few weeks before heading off to Marsa Alam for diving ....
Anyway, last night's stupid movie was Eurotrip, one of the funniest movies I've seen in a really long time, smarmy teenagers notwithstanding. I've seen it before, but ignorant cultural stereotyping never gets old for me.
On a totally different note, a friend sent me this link - well, that is, he just sent me the part about the article and left out the hoax. Maybe I should give this to my Scientific Thinking students. ;) And I'm not especially crazy about looking at shark pictures a few weeks before heading off to Marsa Alam for diving ....
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Political action, part 2
I'm irritated this morning because I've had to postpone an exam that I'd scheduled for Sunday. And for once, it's not groveling students, academic red tape, or incompetency on my part that's causing the hassle.
It's democracy.
Last month Egypt was rocked by a series of protests and confrontations between citizens and military police (check out my friend's blog for a synopsis, pictures, and links). I wrote a little in this blog about the strike, but the truth is, I basically missed the whole thing. I was out of town.
I was relaxing on a friend's balcony a couple of days ago when he brought up the subject of another set of planned protests. And this morning I awoke to a few emails from students, asking to have the exam postponed to Tuesday.
"Personal safety?" I grumbled to myself over coffee. "Of course they'd play the personal safety card, lazy little slackers. Why, when I was their age, I was walking past protests in New York City!"
But no one was shooting. Or gassing. Or arresting and torturing.
I like to thinking that I'm watching the birth of a democratic consciousness here. Problem is, the baby's breech - and the doctor's trying to shove it back where it came from.
This country's in serious trouble. There's a lot that's great about it, don't get me wrong. But the dollar's circling the bowl, there's a global food shortage, many wages haven't changed in 20 years, and Egypt's poverty and illiteracy rates are staggering.
I salute this initiative by the Egyptian people - powered, though it is, by FaceBook. This vitality and motivation is not something I'd come to expect of Egyptians. And really, there's no comparison between this political action and the bored-yuppy-and-celebrity expression that, in my view, seems to underpin a lot of the American political expression I've witnessed.
When Egyptians strike, they're facing the bullets, the beatings, the intimidation, the arrests directly. Assuming they make it home, they're heading right back into the conditions that drove them into the streets in the first place. (We can debate later, if you like, the sufferings of the typical AUC student's sociopolitical stratum in this climate.)
After Princetonians finish assuaging their political consciences, they park the SUV in the Whole Foods for half an hour to pick up their seven dollar, gluten-free, cage-free, european artisanal bread loaf for dinner.
I'm painting with broad strokes here, but can you see a difference? Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges here. Maybe there is no comparison with American politics.
Maybe Americans should stop spending and bickering and be grateful for what we have.
It's democracy.
Last month Egypt was rocked by a series of protests and confrontations between citizens and military police (check out my friend's blog for a synopsis, pictures, and links). I wrote a little in this blog about the strike, but the truth is, I basically missed the whole thing. I was out of town.
I was relaxing on a friend's balcony a couple of days ago when he brought up the subject of another set of planned protests. And this morning I awoke to a few emails from students, asking to have the exam postponed to Tuesday.
"Personal safety?" I grumbled to myself over coffee. "Of course they'd play the personal safety card, lazy little slackers. Why, when I was their age, I was walking past protests in New York City!"
But no one was shooting. Or gassing. Or arresting and torturing.
I like to thinking that I'm watching the birth of a democratic consciousness here. Problem is, the baby's breech - and the doctor's trying to shove it back where it came from.
This country's in serious trouble. There's a lot that's great about it, don't get me wrong. But the dollar's circling the bowl, there's a global food shortage, many wages haven't changed in 20 years, and Egypt's poverty and illiteracy rates are staggering.
I salute this initiative by the Egyptian people - powered, though it is, by FaceBook. This vitality and motivation is not something I'd come to expect of Egyptians. And really, there's no comparison between this political action and the bored-yuppy-and-celebrity expression that, in my view, seems to underpin a lot of the American political expression I've witnessed.
When Egyptians strike, they're facing the bullets, the beatings, the intimidation, the arrests directly. Assuming they make it home, they're heading right back into the conditions that drove them into the streets in the first place. (We can debate later, if you like, the sufferings of the typical AUC student's sociopolitical stratum in this climate.)
After Princetonians finish assuaging their political consciences, they park the SUV in the Whole Foods for half an hour to pick up their seven dollar, gluten-free, cage-free, european artisanal bread loaf for dinner.
I'm painting with broad strokes here, but can you see a difference? Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges here. Maybe there is no comparison with American politics.
Maybe Americans should stop spending and bickering and be grateful for what we have.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
AUC in the news
AUC's search for a new provost has made news on the Chronicle of Higher Education. So someone's heard of us after all! Imagine that - moving an entire university to a brand-new (and still incomplete-appearing) campus on the desert's edge is something to not be too "sanguine" about. Glad it's not my job.
Chronicle is actually where I found my job posting in the first place. I was actually looking at a different ad, and way down in the corner of the webpage, the word "Cairo" caught my eye. The application was easy, and about 5 minutes later I'd sent in my CV and cover letter.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Hilarious history.
Chronicle is actually where I found my job posting in the first place. I was actually looking at a different ad, and way down in the corner of the webpage, the word "Cairo" caught my eye. The application was easy, and about 5 minutes later I'd sent in my CV and cover letter.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Hilarious history.
Female Science Professor
Wow, I just found this awesome blog thanks to a link on Chronicle of Higher Education. It's written by someone named FemaleScienceProfessor. I wish I knew this woman!
I also wish I had the time to go read every one of her posts, but I think it'll have to wait until summer. Right now I'm killing myself over this damned manuscript of mine - which, at this point, I don't ever want to see again. Why do we end up hating our children?
I also wish I had the time to go read every one of her posts, but I think it'll have to wait until summer. Right now I'm killing myself over this damned manuscript of mine - which, at this point, I don't ever want to see again. Why do we end up hating our children?
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