Entries from November 2005 ↓

I’ve officially dubbed today “Typography Monday”. What does this mean? A couple things. For one, it means I named the theme of the day before Theo, and that’s a first. Second, it means that Theo is much zanier than I, but I outgeek him at a ratio of 3.7 to 1. So, yeah … typography.

It all started when Theo mentioned that I should get a printing press. Since I have a small apartment, I would have to keep it in the kitchen, which would mean no more eating. Ever. I countered with a cunning business plan, which I have named:

Font-Face Sandwiches. Open-Font Sandwiches?

Who knows, the point is, it’s totally brilliant. Just think, an “amper-sandwich” with cheddar, mustard and tomato. Ellepsis eats for the hunger that never … really … ends ….

Ampersandwich! Hahahahahah!!!

And not just sandwiches, either. How about:

Garamond Gazpacho

Lucida Lentils

Spaghetti Sans Serif

I could go on, and on, and on. Really, you’d be amazed and worried about just how ongoing I could go.

Hamburger Helvetica

Courier Croissants

Arial Angel Hair al Dente

Okay, that one is just dumb. But you get the picture. I’m taking a half day today. Think I’ll go have lunch … like an ampersandwich! The only food that practically asks you to add a side-dish!

If you read Kottke, and you should, you saw this link already. I’m a burgeoning typography geek (or at least I’d like to be), and thought this was absolutely fantastic.

You can check out the forum I stole this from, here.

I’m sleepy and happy today. It’s an obvious, tell-tale condition, and I guess I’m just not that good at keeping secrets. But I’ll be damned if I’m not masterful at vague insinuation. I should take up a career as an professional insinuator, confusing situations to the point of hopeless illogic. What can I say, it’s what I do.

If the sun were made of marmalade …

… I’d need a much, much bigger slice of toast.

As it is, I feel like butter spread over just enough bread.

I was forced to post or forfeit my life, so if this rambling makes no sense to you, blame it on my antagonists.

–

Five years ago and change -
and if you were here now …
things would not be as they are.

Well, maybe that time you got killed by orcs.
Sorry about that.

–

I bought a typewriter on ebay the other day. It’s not just any typewriter, either. It’s a Hermes 3000 and it’s going to completely change the way I type my writing. Watch out, world!

No, but I got it specifically for writing letters. There’s something about the way a letter written on a typewriter looks. It’s classy without being impersonal, eccentric without being trendy-eccentric. To be honest, there is one letter that I need to write, to release, to send out into the world. And it couldn’t be done, honestly - it couldn’t be done at all if it weren’t done on a Hermes typewriter. So, there you have it. I’m sentimental. I cry during movies, I’m moved by music, and I buy typewriters to send letters that are long overdue.

I don’t know what good may come of it. Perhaps none. It may, before it has even begin, be a futile gesture. Nonetheless, I will persist. Sentiment beats reason, everytime.

–

I wish you all the very best of Thanksgivings. I met a lovely girl, who charms the hell out of me. So much for being vague. :)

Oh, and just so the universe knows:

I make the best blackberry pie, ever. People WILL attest to this, perhaps even in writing and not at gunpoint. Just wait, I’ll post pictures as proof. My lattice-top crust is awe-inspiring!

This may be cheating, but not everyone who reads the comic reads my blog, so I feel justified in a double post. Besides, it’s free advertisement. I originally wrote this post here, following an awesome comic strip introducing the word “edu-natrix” into the American lexicon. Which just goes to show that if you aren’t reading La Casa Comics, you should be.

Education is one of those wacky things. It is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable resources available to anybody, no matter their interests or their professions. Education is a tool for personal and professional growth, a weapon against ignorance and oppression, and it makes its own sauce. And in the United States, at least, it’s becoming more and more of a joke.

While the “No Child Left Behind” act makes such claims as, “Every child can learn. Every child must learn. And thanks to NCLB, every child will learn.”, Kansas has gone off the deep end and made “intelligent design” a mandatory part of the science curriculum.

The good old NCLB goes on to say:

Fortunately, there are schools and reform leaders across our Nation who have shown how quickly effective leadership can transform student achievement and how swiftly success can sweep through a school. With a dedicated focus on accountability and achievement, any school that needs improvement can create a new culture of learning and excellence. The good news is that we know much more about what works: scientifically proven methods; aligned standards, assessments, and instruction; school and district leadership focused on student learning; accountability for results; and highly qualified teachers will improve achievement and bring success. Admittedly, our Nation’s commitment — to teach every child — is ambitious. But we have the tools and we have the know-how. Working together, we can ensure that all students succeed and that the achievement gap is closed, once and for all.

And in the meantime we cut educational funding, screw over schools and libraries, and pump money into weapons, oil, and wars. And as China teaches us, cutting educational funding gets students run over by big trucks. Come on America, we don’t want our students to be killed in traffic, do we!?

I could probably spend about 10 hours writing out this post, but I don’t want to, and I don’t think anyone would read it if I did. So I’ll try to wrap things up. The tricky thing about education is that if you don’t have one, you don’t realize what a valuable thing it is that you’re missing. It’s like if you’ve never read Kant, you don’t realize how dull and brain-melting the process is. And you won’t get it when people make offhand references, as I just did. You are missing out, truly.

Parents need to read to their kids. Education starts at home. Teachers need to get excited about getting kids to learn. I had an alternative style of education, in which I was taught the value of learning, and after that pretty much given the option of how often and where I wanted to go to school. As a result, I home-schooled for two years, went to middle school as a part-time student, and dropped out of high school halfway through my junior year. I got my GED, worked for a year, and then went to college, and I’ve never regretted a single one of those choices. I pursued the education that worked for me, because the way the system had things layed out didn’t always make sense. NCLP is making restrictions tighter, and trying to improve education via standardization and testing.

To be blunt, fuck standardization, and fuck testing. Teach these kids the value of an education, and they’ll do the work themselves.

“It is only the ignorant who despise education.”
-Publius Syrus (42 B.C.)

Question of the day:

Is it on Technorati because it’s popular? Or is it popular because it’s on Technorati?

Discuss.