Life and Times of a Natural Exponential Function

Jaymie and I recently got a personal domain and decided to run our own blogs, powered by Wordpress, on the site. So forget my previous post and go here instead!

http://xy.influents.org

Tune in to Jaymie's journal for info about her new site.

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho's governor said Thursday he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.

The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered.

"I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself," Otter said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters.

So classes are going well. I like all of them so far, except I'm tired of just having epistemology as the focus of my courses all the time. They're not even group IV courses. Naturally I'm already lagging behind on my reading assignments, but it's okay, I plan on using today as my free day to catch up.

I've been enjoying the cooler weather lately, and I'm pretty sure it's raining outside right now. But in this apartment, the weather outside is nearly indiscernable. It always feels dark and cold in here, even when it's bright, sunny and hot outside. Weee.

Don't really have much to say apart from that. Just wanted to refresh my journal a bit.

Yahoo News headline: "Most Americans want public policies to prevent obesity"

weeee. So bored here all day. 5 days left, I think? Can't wait. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being with my parents, I just don't enjoy it when I have to be isolated from everyone and everything else for so long at once. Well, have a happy new year everyone.

Ten things I love that begin with the letter "R," courtesy of meghandani55

Rogues - threw away my future for that beast of a rogue called pentothal.

Rain - there's something just so soothing about the sound of it falling.

Ricola - delightful little coughdrops, especially the cherry flavored kind.

Ribosomes - i'm strapped for proteins as it is! without these babies we couldn't assemble them!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - one of the few sweets i like. i'm not really a fan of sugar.

Rectal health - can't take this one for granted. just wait until you start shitting blood and you'll know why.

Russian - the language, and certain russian people, like anton. sounds really cool and i'd learn it if i didn't want to learn 50 other languages too.

Rye bread - this and sourdough are my favorite.

Reading for pleasure - don't get enough of an opportunity to do this, seeing as how i'm always behind on school reading.

Racquet sports - tennis, badminton, racquetball, table tennis, i love 'em all. i wouldn't mind trying squash either.

(The trick now is to post that you'd like to receive a letter. I give you a letter, and then you list, in your own journal, ten things you like that begin with that letter. Then the cycle starts anew.)

Running for President in 2000, George W. Bush called global warming “an issue that we need to take very seriously.” He promised, if elected, to impose federal limits on CO2. Soon after his inauguration, he sent the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Christine Todd Whitman, to a meeting of environment ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations, where she elaborated on his position. Whitman assured her colleagues that the new President believed global warming to be “one of the greatest environmental challenges that we face” and that he wanted to “take steps to move forward.” Ten days after her presentation, Bush announced that not only was he withdrawing the U.S. from the ongoing negotiations over Kyoto—the protocol had left several complex issues of implementation to be resolved later—he was now opposed to any mandatory curbs on carbon dioxide. Explaining his change of heart, Bush asserted that he no longer believed that CO2 limits were justified, owing to the “state of scientific knowledge of the causes of, and solutions to, global climate change,” which he labelled “incomplete.”

-Climate of Man -- III, by Elizabeth Kolbert, from the The New Yorker

Remember, remember, the 2nd of December.
A Bruin victory was to be wrought.
I see no reason the fall of Troy's season
Should ever be forgot.

G'day.

SEOUL (AFP) -
South Korea has banned the first shipment of US beef to arrive following a three-year ban, after a small piece of bone was found in violation of an agreement to combat mad cow disease.

Just another reason I don't eat meat. That, and why korean bbq > american bbq.

Bone = not meat. Can't even keep a simple agreement like that.

me so hungy...

So our midterm specified a 9 page limit. People are complaining that there was too much space to fill and that's why the midterm was hard. Some are seeking validation, "are you sure?" "We didn't have to do all 9 pages?" Of course they're sure, they're the ones who made the exam. Shit.

Anyway, I have a lot of classes I want/need to sign up for, especially if I want to graduate in a timely manner, but my first pass isn't even for another week and classes are already filling up pretty quickly :(

Oh, and a lot of people have been defending the police's use of tasers by saying that they themselves must receive a shock before being allowed to carry the weapon, and presumably it follows from this that they know the pain and are thus reluctant to use that kind of force on someone. But consider this: if you had to get fucking shocked just to carry around the damn thing, wouldn't you want to use it as much as possible to get your pain's worth? Any excuse to use it, right? Yeah, mull that over.

Should've updated about this earlier.. I went to Pastor Simon Ra's service Tuesday night, although I couldn't make it to the funeral the next morning. It's hard to express all the emotions I felt while I was there. People I hadn't seen in so long, people who don't even go to that church anymore, like myself, all gathered to remember a wonderful man. It was inspiring. Fitting for a man who himself was inspiring. He has such an impact on so many people. The church was overflowing, filled nearly to 2 or 3 times its capacity. All these memories came to mind about the kindness he had shown everyone, especially my family over these years.. especially the attention and compassion he gave to my grandfather as he was passing away. I really don't know how else to say it. He was just an amazing person.

If there's one thing that truly keeps me faithful (about God, mankind? I don't know), it's times like these. I've been around enough dying people to experience the powerful examples they set as they go.. staying strong, coming to such peace with themselves.. It's a profound life experience.