eating people

I flipped past some crappy samurai documentary on the history channel the other day. It stated that Japanese people think of the belly as westerners do the heart. Like, a "big belly" means "kind and generous" (ref. "big hearted"). The documentary was trying to say that Seppuku (hara-kiri) was like cutting out your soul.

Does that explain, then, things like Hare+Guu, and this video (via)?

Is getting eaten like visiting the soul of the eater? This is the type of question that keeps me up at night.

bitching about free speech

"A New York City lawmaker is pushing to symbolically ban the words "bitch" and "ho" to discourage their use in rap and pop music and among young people."

Oh, thanks for that, Councilwoman Darlene Mealy (D-Brooklyn). I'm not a fan of either word; they are unpleasant and degrading.

But is a ban on them the answer? Can you picture this effort achieving anything other than increasing the use of these words? Is the possibility of a slight bump in women's self esteem worth even a symbolic hit to Free Speech? Would it even solve any problems? Would it make men respect women more? Did Sean Hannity ask you to give him a topic for his show?

crazy with the books

crazy with the books, originally uploaded by leff.

I've been realizing lately that a working knowledge of certain things is not the same as complete understanding.

If, as I seem to have decided, I am going to be a web developer, I need to know my junk backwards and forwards. Even the bits that I don't need to be directly involved in on a day to day basis.

For me a little bit of gap filling means this huge stack of books that makes the table groan under their collective weight.

Right, enough yammering. There's reading to do.