Coffee & Creativity

At the Ithaca Starbucks, they had artwork done by a local artist using used Starbucks cups...

hmm....that's ironic

One of my sims works in the police department (later became Captain Hero) and his wife is a Criminal Mastermind (top of the criminal career track). Interesting. But what was even better was when he returned from work when she was going to work because in the Sims 2, when there's overlap like that they use the same car, so the Criminal Mastermind went to work carpooling in a police car...oh, the Sims. Gotta love the weird situations that come out of it!

So...I was telling the truth?

So, when I was doing some research, I found an article called "5 Hardest and Easiest College Majors by GPAs" on MoneyWatch by CBS. And here's what I found:

So, apparently when I call my majors "Slacker Majors" I'm actually not that far off...that's so sad...so sad. I was only half serious before, but now it seems like there's some truth to it...I knew I should have been a psych major! =D

On another note, I am a few weeks away from a new computer because I'm going to get a new one after graduation. One great thing about a new computer: the Sims 3! I have mentioned this game before, so you shouldn't be surprised, but this game has come up again after a recent encounter with the Sims 2, which is what I currently play. In the Sims 2, only the family you're actively playing ages, which can lead to some...interesting occurrences, like my sim who began dating her great-uncle (who was still a teenager, and was distanced enough in the family tree that he didn't show up as family to her, though he did to her mom)...awk. very awk. This is fixed in the Sims 3. So excited!!!

Images from last night's RIDDIM Show

This video is from my Flip Video Camera, and then compressed for web streaming, so who knows how the end quality will be...

Oh, BTW, RIDDIM is a dance troupe here at Middlebury.

We may only be 200 years, old but...

Ok, so I have two questions for you:

1- When does "history" begin?

2- When, how & why does something become "historical" ?

Why am I asking these questions? Well, because there's this girl in my class who seems to think that California doesn't have a lot of "history" because it's "so new." Now, I let this go because she's from California (or so I thought. She's really more of a transplant I think. I think that one of her parents has a job that moves a lot (because later she mentioned having lived in Paris and New York), so she isn't really Californian so it's super likely that she never learned anything about CA history) and also because it's hard to argue that if you don't know the other person's concept of history. I remember reading something for French last semester that mentioned how some French people think it's funny that we call something "historical" that's happened within the past century or so. And I must say, this is totally unfair. We aren't as old as Europe, so we can't possible have "historical" events or anythings from several centuries ago, but does that mean we can't have history for another few centuries? And yes, California is relatively young. It became the 31st state in the US in 1850. But before that we had the missions, which were built between 1769 & 1833 (these dates from Wikipedia, so take them with a grain of salt, but it's most likely the right time period more or less). So, that's already a fair amount of time from then to now. So why are we without history? When does "history" begin for these people? It definitely seems to me that "history" begins only when the Europeans discover something. Especially the British or French, maybe (seeing as how the missions were constructed by the Spaniards). Really, that's another thing I learned in my French class: in the European point of view, they kind of "began" Africa's "history" by bringing "civilisation" and creating countries. I'm not putting down the Europeans. I'm just saying. I for one am glad to be in a European-based country (granted, who knows what the world would be like otherwise. Some countries (maybe continents) might have been better off. Currently, I have a somewhat deep fear of Africa. I'm about 85% sure that if I went there, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, I'd be shot. I stereotype, I guess, but I don't plan on risking it. But if the corrupt leaders in Africa weren't benefiting so much from trading their natural resources (oil, diamonds, etc) with other more powerful countries, Africa might not scare me so much. Then I'd only not want to go because of the ridiculous heat (I'm a heat wimp. After about 75 degrees I practically refuse to go outside)). So anyways, just two questions. How much time must pass before something can be historical. I'm sure there are some laws and such about that on a country-to-country basis (to protect landmarks & other things considered important to history), but on a world-wide scale it would be harder to decide.

Oh, that's an English expression too?

Ok, so several weeks ago I ran across the phrase "république bananière" in French class, and I didn't think much about the fact that it translates to Banana Republic. I know what you're thinking. You're saying to yourself: "Well...duh. I don't know French but 'république' sure looks a lot like republic and 'bananière' does kinda look like banana. So, French major...how did you not think about what it translated to?" Well, glad you asked. Because I really didn't think that it likely translated into English directly and had the same meaning. Other than the store, I've never heard the term before. But sure enough, it is a word, and I have no idea why a store would want to be named that. Stop pretending like you know what it means because you totally know you're don't. You can't pull the wool over my eyes! =D hehehe. well, maybe you know, but all the same. Here are two definitions: the French one (thanks to my great Le Petit Larousse Illustré) and the English one (thanks to Merriam-Webster online).

Le Petit Larousse:

"État où le pouvoir réel est aux mains de puissances économiques extérieurs"

(State/Country where the real power is in the hands of exterior economic powers)

M-W.com:

A small dependent country usually of the tropics; especially one run despotically

(despotically = of, relating to, or characteristic of a ruler with absolute power or authority)

So...the two definitions kinda approach the same thing, but yet, not. The French definition seems to imply more corruption, like other more powerful countries are kind of to blame for the problems in the country, whereas the American one places the blame more on tyranny and also skirts the issue a bit. I mean, "dependent" could lead someone to think "dependent on what/whom" and so on, but it's less obvious. Especially as it simply gives the idea of a nice, tropical place where there are bananas (likely, the person who decided to name their store the Banana Republic just read this part and maybe didn't go through all the hoops to figure out the rest of the definition (by "all the hoops" I mean looking up "despotically" which unfairly uses the word "despot" in the definition, which is cheating because obviously if I knew what "despot" meant I would likely be able to guess what "despotically" meant. Seriously, EVERYONE knows you aren't supposed to use a word in it's definition, and that's certainly what it seems like to me!)).

Anyways, it's kind of interesting that there's this difference. Maybe because of the way the French view us or the way we view ourselves. You see, one thing I've learned in my French class is that the Western World really does have a lot to do with the corruption and violence in African countries. Like a lot. I never really knew what a "blood diamond" was before, but I get it now. In one of the books I read, it was about a child soldier, and what they did was protect the other soldiers in the regime as they dug for diamonds which the leaders would sell and then keep the money for themselves. It's really sad. So I hear it's similar with some particular element that's used in cell phones. So I kind of think that the French definition is likely more correct, and that the American one would really like to glaze over things...? Who knows. It might change by dictionary, too. Those are just the ones I happen to use.

It simply must be shared

What must be shared, you ask? Well, I'll tell you.
Yes, ice cream. I saw it at the store on Sunday and decided to try it, just because I was feeling experimental. Later, I had buyers remorse because I generally don't like banana flavored things (really, banana flavoring is often one of the grossest flavors out there. I'm not sure why. And I love bananas!). But I figured, hey, it's Haagen-Dazs. It's bound to be at least pretty good. But it was DELICIOUS!! Seriously. If you like Bananas Foster (of Bananas Flambés) desert, you'll love this ice cream. yummm...

On another note, this is my last week of classes!!! (well, technically I have one Italian class next Monday morning, but this is basically the last week). And I'm SO on top of my final work, too. (Just need to proof read my 16pg Spanish essay, officially turn in a joint paper (my part is done. waiting on the other people's mainly), and write a 5pg paper for French (not yet started, but I thought we were going to get essay prompts like we did for the other essays, but we aren't getting them, which is bad because we have the choice of writing on one of the last two books we've read, and I really don't know what to write about them. They're a different sort of book)).