more than you needed to know.

ionlyliveonce @ 2008-04-15T18:30:00

2008-04-15T22:42:20Z

The Pope, religion, and the founding of the US...I was impressed:

“Therefore it was a state that was intentionally secular. It was the exact opposite of state religion, but it was secular out of love for religion and for an authenticity that can only be lived freely.”

Future.

2008-04-14T23:34:12Z

I got me a ship out of San Diego. USS Kidd, DDG 100. "On to victory." Here's to my first post in well over a year.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-08-10T23:44:00

2006-08-11T06:44:51Z

Sweet, the author I was researching this spring was on the main page of nytimes.com. He's the author of the book my turkish prof translated....and the guy who was charged by hardline nationalists with denigrating Turkey in some comments a year or so ago...

Orhan Pamuk Video on nytimes.com!

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-08-04T07:48:00

2006-08-04T14:48:46Z

We had the Sean Hannity Freedom Concert here in San Diego on Wednesday. There was some country music, but mainly ridiculous far-right rhetoric. Here are some key quotes:

"The liberals don't hold rallies like this, do they?" one of the featured guests, radio talk show host Mark Levin, asked the audience of 13,000. "We raise the flag. They burn the flag."

"It's not true that Alan Colmes takes ugly pills, North said of Hannity's ideological sparring partner on the "Hannity and Colmes" tv show. "But if he did, they're working."

"I'm thrilled to be with real Americans who really do support the troops - as opposed to liberals," Ann Coulter said.

That bitch.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-08-03T09:59:00

2006-08-03T17:08:39Z

Re: Iraq on the brink of civil war:

Mr. Rumsfeld counseled patience, from the lawmakers and their constituents. “Americans didn’t cross oceans and settle a wilderness and build history’s greatest democracy only to run away from a bunch of murderers and extremists who try to kill everyone that they cannot convert, and to tear down what they could never build,” he said.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-07-27T11:09:00

2006-07-27T18:18:07Z

Department of Labor Job Description list excerpt:

POULTRY BREEDER 411.161-014
poultry culler 411.687-010
POULTRY DEBEAKER 411.687-026
POULTRY DRESSER 525.687-070
POULTRY FARMER 411.161-018
Poultry Farmer, Egg 411.161-018
Poultry Farmer, Meat 411.161-018
poultry helper 411.584-010
POULTRY INSEMINATOR 411.384-010
POULTRY TENDER 411.364-014
POULTRY VACCINATOR 411.684-014

Legal research can be entertaining. Note: I was looking up loan originators. I swear.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-06-30T23:35:00

2006-07-01T06:35:15Z

Dear Vatican,

This whole "Excommunication is sought for stem cell researchers" thing is really encouraging me to attend mass. People who have committed their lives to helping people...yeah, those bastards should be excommunicated. Really, I applaud you guys. You've really outdone yourselves.

Fondly,

Me

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-05-05T12:27:00

2006-05-05T16:27:53Z

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-05-04T23:40:00

2006-05-05T03:40:06Z

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-05-04T09:52:00

2006-05-04T13:52:21Z

An excerpt from Colbert Shocks the Media Silent, by Greg Mitchell
...

Still, with the knocks on Colbert increasing, I have to ask: Where was the outrage when President Bush made fun of not finding those pesky WMDs at a very similar media dinner -- in the same ballroom -- two years ago? It represents a shameful episode for the American media, and presidency, yet is rarely mentioned today.

It occurred on March 24, 2004. The setting: The 60th annual black-tie dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents Association (with many print journalists there as guests) at the Washington Hilton. On the menu: surf and turf. Attendance: 1,500. The main speaker: President George W. Bush, one year into the Iraq war, with 500 Americans already dead.

President Bush, as usual at such gatherings of journalists, poked fun at himself. Audiences love to laugh along with, rather than at, a president, for a change. It shows they are good sports, which many people (including the president) often doubt. It's all in good fun, except when it's in bad fun, such as on that night in March 2004.

That night, in the middle of his stand-up routine before the (perhaps tipsy) journos, Bush showed on a screen behind him some candid on-the-job photos of himself. One featured him gazing out a window, as Bush narrated, smiling: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere."

According to the transcript this was greeted with "laughter and applause" from the audience.

A few seconds later, he was shown looking under papers, behind drapes, and even under his desk, with this narration: "Nope, no weapons over there" (met with more "laughter and applause"), and then "Maybe under here?" (just "laughter" this time). Still searching, he settled for finding a photo revealing the Skull and Bones secret signal.

There is no record of whether Dana Milbank attended that dinner, but his paper the following day seemed to find this something of a howl. Jennifer Frey's report, carried on the front page of the Style section (under the headline, "George Bush, Entertainer in Chief"), led with Donald Trump's appearance, and mentioned without comment Bush's "recurring joke" of searching for the WMDs.

The Associated Press review was equally jovial: "President Bush poked fun at his staff, his Democratic challenger and himself Wednesday night at a black-tie dinner where he hobnobbed with the news media." In fact, it is hard to find any immediate account of the affair that raised questions over the president's slide show. Many noted that the WMD jokes were met with general and loud laughter.

The reporters covering the gala were apparently as swept away with laughter as the guests. One of the few attendees to criticize the president's gag, David Corn of The Nation, said he heard not a single complaint from his colleagues at the after-party. Corn wondered if they would have laughed if President Reagan, following the truck bombing of our Marines barracks in Beirut, which killed 241, had said at a similar dinner: "Guess we forgot to put in a stop light."

The backlash only appeared a day or two later, and not, by and large, emerging from the media, but from Democrats and some Iraq veterans. Then it was mainly forgotten. I never understood why Sen. John Kerry did not air a tape of the episode every day during his hapless final drive for the White House.

In any case, another 1,900 Americans have died in Iraq since Bush's ha-ha home video. As it happens, the Downing Street memo, and a similar British document that surfaced recently, suggested that Bush doubted WMDs existed and "fixed" the intelligence to take the nation to war. What a riot.

At that same Downing Street memo forum at the Capitol last year that Milbank mocked, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, after cataloguing the bogus Bush case for WMDs and the Iraqi threat, looked out at the cameras and notepads, mentioned the March 24, 2004 dinner, and acted out the president looking under papers and table for those missing WMDs. "And the media was all yucking it up ... hahaha," McGovern said. "You all laughed with him, folks." Then he mentioned soldiers who had died "after that big joke."

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-05-02T17:32:00

2006-05-02T21:32:28Z

Note: I can't believe there are this many stupid 18-24 year olds

Study: Geography Greek to young Americans

Source: The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed.

The study found that less than six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 33 percent could not point out Louisiana on a U.S. map.

The National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs 2006 Geographic Literacy Study paints a dismal picture of the geographic knowledge of the most recent graduates of the U.S. education system.

"Taken together, these results suggest that young people in the United States ... are unprepared for an increasingly global future," said the study's final report.

"Far too many lack even the most basic skills for navigating the international economy or understanding the relationships among people and places that provide critical context for world events."

The study, which surveyed 510 young Americans from December 17 to January 20, showed that 88 percent of those questioned could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia despite widespread coverage of the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and the political rebirth of the country.

In the Middle East, 63 percent could not find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map, and 75 percent could not point out Iran or Israel. Forty-four percent couldn't find any one of those four countries.

Inside the United States, "half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively]," the study said.

On the positive side, the study noted, seven in 10 young Americans correctly located China on a map, even though they had a number of misconceptions about that country. Forty-five percent said China's population is only twice that of the United States. It's actually four times larger than the U.S. population.

When the poll was conducted in 2002, "Americans scored second to last on overall geographic knowledge, trailing Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Sweden," the report said.

The release of the 2006 study coincides with the launch of the National Geographic-led campaign called "My Wonderful World." A statement on the program said it was designed to "inspire parents and educators to give their kids the power of global knowledge."

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-28T15:56:00

2006-04-28T19:56:24Z

wow, magical disappearing day. thank you international dateline.

Mon, May 29:

NORTHWEST AIRLINES, NW 4055
Operated by ALASKA AIRLINES
From: SAN DIEGO, CA (SAN) Departs: 10:05am
To: PORTLAND OR, OR (PDX) Arrives: 12:37pm
Aircraft: BOEING 737-400 JET Mileage: 934
Flight Time: 2 hours and 32 minutes

Mon, May 29-Tue, May 30:

NORTHWEST AIRLINES, NW 0005
From: PORTLAND OR, OR (PDX) Departs: 2:20pm
Mon, May 29
To: TOKYO NARITA, JAPAN (NRT) Arrives: 5:00pm
Tue, May 30
Aircraft: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE JET Mileage: 4829
Flight Time: 10 hours and 40 minutes

Tue, May 30-Wed, May 31:

NORTHWEST AIRLINES, NW 0005
From: TOKYO NARITA, JAPAN (NRT) Departs: 6:40pm
Tue, May 30
Departure Terminal: TERMINAL 1
To: SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE (SIN) Arrives: 1:20am
Wed, May 31
Aircraft: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE JET Mileage: 3311
Flight Time: 7 hours and 40 minutes

20 Answers

2006-04-28T03:27:06Z

1. I've been learning to tie knots...neat slipknots (lusk) and bowlines, not to mention other ones with my fourteener. Kind of useful, kind of cool. Ok, shhh. That's just how I roll.

2. NYU in Prague sent me a lonely planet guidebook for Prague.

3. Liz got accepted to her program in Cairo - I'll be visiting in October.

4. Liz, Ransom, and myself all want to go to Morocco. Awesome.

5. I bought tickets to Pearl Jam in Prague. Sept. 22. Early entry, better seating, etc...amazing.

6. Genocide is utterly disturbing. 100,000 Tutsis a week were killed by Hutus in Rwanda. Hutus slaughtered off 86% of the Tutsi population. At least 800,000 were killed.

7. Last Day of Classes!!!

8. While scanning through the faculty page for NYU in Prague during class, I came to this picture. Robin and I couldn't stop laughing:

9. I'm getting an official passport - the people planning my itinerary are assuming I'm going to want to hang out in Thailand for awhile. Excellent.

10. My running shoes smell utterly disgusting thanks to the 5K on Saturday...despite being run through the washer/dryer combo. Thank you sketchy golf course trail puddles. I knew you were sewage.

11. Austrian Airlines named a plane after the Vienna Philharmonic - thanks to a captain who is a classical music enthusiast.

12. Grabbed from squire_jons, this lady is officially insane

13. Champagne and a lecture on torture = strange combination.

14. I leave for Peru in fewer than 2 weeks.

15. I'm being surveyed for the 2010 Census by the Dept. of Commerce:

You are one of ten students randomly selected from Edens 1C3 and 1C4 to
participate in the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting a very important national survey called
the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is part of the 2010 Decennial
Census Program. It is a survey that provides information each year about
social, economic, and housing characteristics of the United States.

The Census Bureau selects a sample of facilities, such as residence halls,
to conduct this survey. Individuals are randomly selected to participate in
the ACS from these group living facilities.

16. Canon SD600 should arrive tomorrow! Plus Sandisk 1gb card. woo!

17. Myrtle Beach.

18. "This is very well-written and you put up a good argument. The only problem is, it is not really a history paper, nor is it about the twentieth century." "While an excellent paper in its own right, this did not really match the assignment"

oops. So much for sending him an outline. Note: I have found that history is useful when it provides a reason for current problems in the world. Public Policy has managed to inject a certain level of real-worldness into things I learn...that is, applying what I learn to something that can be done. I suck at simply regurgitating past events and commenting with 20/20 hindsight.

19. Madonna. The Temptations. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

20. small caps + futura = best font ever

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-19T11:33:00

2006-04-19T15:33:13Z

We heart Professor Davidson and his quotes, particularly at a concert on the night of the elite 8....in which Duke WASN'T playing. but in fact...he told the audience....:

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-13T18:32:00

2006-04-13T22:32:39Z

Ship: DDG 70 Hopper
Embark: 29 MAY 06 Singapore
Debark: 25 JUN 06 Thailand

Thank you, United States Navy, for giving me a free trip to Southeast Asia aboard a sweet DDG. And by free, I mean that I will also be paid to do my training.

As an interesting note, the USS Hopper is the first and so far only ship to be named after a woman - she was quite a brilliant woman.

This will be an amazing summer/fall semester. Wow.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-09T22:33:00

2006-04-10T02:33:22Z

Ok, so we know I'm not a fan of the Bush Administration - but it is pretty cool that Condoleezza Rice is a great pianist....such that she attended the Aspen Music Festival, was orinigally a music major, and accompanied Yo-Yo Ma when he received a National Medal of the Arts in 2002.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-09T15:21:00

2006-04-09T19:21:38Z

as the antithesis to my last post:

Hung Up by Madonna is trashily delicious. I'm probably about a year behind the bandwagon, but I could care less.

To then make up for what THAT last line said , I also wish to add that Carl Nielsen is an AWESOME danish composer that no one knows about. African Dance from Aladdin Suite and his Symphony No. 3 are great.

And ALL NIGHT arias from the Marriage of Figaro provided a soundtrack for my dreams.

Kiri Te Kanawa, Dawn Upshaw, the Met/James Levine - "Dove Sono I Bei Momenti" and ("Sull'aria...") - "Che Soave Zeffiretto" = glorious.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-08T15:48:00

2006-04-08T19:48:28Z

Why is it hard to see underwater?

The cornea that protects your eye has an index of refraction that is very similar to water. Normally, when the light waves cross the air-eye threshold, they are refracted such that they form an image in the back of your eye. When you're in water, the light waves just keep going when they hit your eye, making you super farsighted. There's your poorly explained, useless info for the day.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-07T18:52:00

2006-04-07T22:52:19Z

things that make me happy:

volunteering at a middle school band and teaching a guy how to read about 1 line of music.

sitting in with a woodwind class at the middle school and listening to an awesome girl playing alto next to me.

mozart operas - and the met recording of the marriage of figaro

realizing i love listening to opera (that is, more than just wagner overtures/preludes/sailor's chorus)

bernstein's candide - the whole opera

West Side Story - the music in general

seeing a couple of runners from San Diego State at the Duke Invitational and saying "go sdsu!" and then talking for awhile.

checking in a girl from my math 41 class (who's a math major) for the 400 m hurdles at the clerk's tent.

seeing deathcab and franz ferdinand tonight.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-04-04T17:56:00

2006-04-04T21:56:48Z

whole wheat mini pitas + pear + cheddar cheese + microwave = delicious

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-03-30T01:35:00

2006-03-30T06:35:45Z

NYU in Prague still has me giddy with excitement. Music and public policy classes that will transfer. No Friday classes. And I don't think Mondays either. Dirt cheap flights to other countries. Strangely enough, I just found out a girl in my History class did the program this fall - and loved it!! And it's a good thing they sent this out on the orchestra list-serv - I never would've found out about it!

My schedule is looking like the following: German, Central Europe and NATO/EU, American-European Relations, trumpet lessons/ensemble stuff, Music History! And practice rooms in the NYU building and residences - awesome! Finally, a semester as a true liberal arts major - no more physics ever, and a break from nrotc for a bit.

Trip to Peru is now official - 10 days hitting up some of usual touristy spots, good for a taste of the country. To do it justice, my mom and I decided you have to be there about a month and just backpack around - I agree. Lima, Cuzco/Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca (I mean, I have to be able to say I've been there). What's crazy about Cuzco is that you fly in, step off the plane, and you're at about 11,000 ft. I guess I will soon find out if I can take high altitudes. And I'll be home the 19th of May! Time to decompress at get ready for a month at sea (Western Pacific on sweet DDG please....)

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-03-14T20:42:00

2006-03-15T04:42:21Z

London Phil - not quite the San Francisco Symphony, but still amazing

Sergey Khachatryan - the next Joshua Bell

my mom's surprise of where we're going this summer - Peru

woo!

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-03-05T13:25:00

2006-03-05T18:25:17Z

James Carville is a little crazy, but brilliant.

I listened to him speak yesterday - he articulates what's wrong with the Democrats more clearly than I've ever heard. What do Democrats stand for? A litany of interest groups. Not a political entity.

This resonated with an observation I made lately. As I was walking through the Blue Zone, my eyes were drawn to a front license plate on a GMC pickup truck - it said "Bush Farm-Ranch Team." This, my friends, is the power of the GOP over the Democrats. A team. A unified message. What the hell ARE the Dems today? Until they create an engaging narrative - until they decide who they are and what they want America to be, they will be stuck playing "minority whiner/not-the-Republican-running" role. While this may work from time to time, it's a far from convincing long term strategy.

While impersonating Bush, he said the GOP stands for "Defeating the towel-heads in Taaayrahn and the homos in Hollywood." Oh, and you know what Bush gave up for Lent? Our ports.

He also commented that Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between (but without black people).

He reflected about how the Democratic party tends to look down on people of faith - and how they should adapt their message. If you talk to any person of any faith, ask them what their core value is - chances are it's treating your neighbor justly. Carville then went on to explain that this should be all that really matters - not if or where you go to religious services...but that you have this central value.

He reminded us that the impetus for change won't come from the Hill - it will come from here. It really did serve as an inspiration - rather than lamenting the poor state of affairs in politics, I need to actually do something about it. Time to get constructive with Duke Dems, methinks.

eek.

2006-03-05T15:20:51Z

New Florida town would restrict abortion

Domino's founder building community around Catholic university

Thursday, March 2, 2006; Posted: 9:35 p.m. EST (02:35 GMT)

NAPLES, Florida (AP) -- If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new town being built in Florida will be governed according to strict Roman Catholic principles, with no place to get an abortion, pornography or birth control.

The pizza magnate is bankrolling the project with at least $250 million and calls it "God's will."

Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and are threatening to sue.

The town of Ave Maria is being constructed around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in about 40 years. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples in southwestern Florida.

The town and the university, developed in partnership with the Barron Collier Co., an agricultural and real estate business, will be set on 5,000 acres with a European-inspired town center, a massive church and what planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, at nearly 65 feet tall. Monaghan envisions 11,000 homes and 20,000 residents.

During a speech last year at a Catholic men's gathering in Boston, Monaghan said that in his community, stores will not sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies will not carry condoms or birth control pills, and cable television will have no X-rated channels.

Homebuyers in Ave Maria will own their property outright. But Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in the town, meaning they could insert provisions in leases to restrict the sale of certain items.

"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan, who sold Domino's Pizza in 1998 to devote himself to doing good works, said in a recent Newsweek interview.

Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said Tuesday that attorneys are still reviewing the legal issues and that Monaghan had no comment in the meantime.

"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the future," warned Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities of the plan. "The community has the right to provide a wholesome environment," he said. "If someone disagrees, they have the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."

Gov. Jeb Bush, at the site's groundbreaking earlier this month, lauded the development as a new kind of town where faith and freedom will merge to create a community of like-minded citizens. Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the proposed restrictions.

"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitution of the state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday.

Frances Kissling, president of the liberal Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, likened Monaghan's concept to Islamic fundamentalism.

"This is un-American," Kissling said. "I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ionlyliveonce @ 2006-02-28T15:04:00

2006-02-28T20:03:54Z

Darfur. Finally on the front page of the NY Times - let's hope something comes of this. If ever there was a need for humanitarian intervention...

What to do this summer....lord, I am always full of surprises. This is the plan...

May 8-10: Myrtle Beach for some debauchery.

May 10-24(?): Turkey w/ the parentals. Perhaps Black Sea coast region and eastern anatolia. Given recent violent anti-western sentiments, we're going to hold off on Northern Africa for now.

all of June: 2/C summer training cruise for Navy ROTC - hopefully in Western Pacific....or the Mediterranean....or the Eastern Pacific....in that order of preference.

all of July/part of August: Take Econ and Stat at UCSD - and intern with the Francine Busby campaign...maybe? Attempt to stick it to Randy "Duke" Cunningham and take back the damn House (hey, I might as well be optimisitc).

August 17-22 - NROTC Orientation (oorah)

August 24: Off to Prague - Intensive Czech language week begins!! Then a semester of music and European Policy courses with the NYU program. And attempting to see as many countries and major European orchestras as humanly possible in 4 months. And then I'm back on December 15 or so.

This should be exciting.