Spam

If there's one thing that gets a little tiresome it's the students who miss use Blackboard e-mail privileges and send incessant mass e-mails to their fellow classmates clogging their inboxes with messages they really didn't want in the first place... (deep breath)

Well, I got ANOTHER one of these e-mails yesterday from someone who may hold the record for mass Blackboard e-mails. It was unique enough I thought I'd share it. Enjoy.

"I wasn't able to make it to class today. This was unfortunate and unavoidable, and I really regret it. You now have the ability to make me feel worse by refusing to share notes with me, or to make all of my wildest dreams come true . . . what kind of people are you? Before you answer you should be warned that, as a political science major, I'm conversant in the deadly art of comparing my enemies to Hitler. Thanks."

Hopefully there was some saint out there kinder than myself that responded to this spamers request. Right now, however, I am perfectly content letting this person compare me to Hitler.

Abundance

Abundance makes it easy to overlook our blessings.

Forced Perspective

This is an amazing picture I saw on the Digital Photography School blog...

The picture is of 18,000 men preparing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge, in Iowa.

A few facts about the image:

Length from base to Shoulder: 150 feet
Right Arm: 340 feet
Length of Torch and flame: 1000 feet
Total Length: 1490 Feet
Number of men in body and head of figure: 2,000
Number of men in right arm: 1,200
Number of men in torch: 2,800
Number of men in the flame only: 12,000
Total men: 18,000

Homework

I can be fairly productive sometimes. Other times I have quite the knack for being counter-productive. This past Saturday I was somewhat productive. After grading papers for the class I TA and doing laundry I thought, "nothing can stop me now, on to homework!" That's about when I saw what my roommate Scott was working on. It was some graphic design type homework, which looked much more enticing than my homework. Naturally I started working on his homework instead of my own, and I came up with this banner/poster:

(It's original work, picture and all. I started with a picture of a quarter I took.)

In case you can't read the quote it says,

"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."

--George Washington

The Mother of Beauty

"Death is the mother of beauty. Only the perishable can be beautiful, which is why we are unmoved by artificial flowers."

-Wallace Stevens

Top September Photos

September was a good month for photography (with another trip to yellowstone, how could it not be?). The following are a few of my favorites:

This osprey dove into the river and snagged a fish while I was taking pictures of it (lucky, I know).

Idleness

I'm reading Cliff Young's autobiography right now and I found a quote that I thought was worth sharing.

"Too much idleness is a bad thing for anyone and it's all too common now for wives to have an affair with other men and their men with other women. Or, they turn to drink and drugs to overcome their boredom. Happiness thrives on work, respect and admiration for one another."