:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Saturday, June 05, 2004 ::

Am I the only person who doesn't have a problem with cameras at intersections?

:: Jim Nichols 6/05/2004 11:53:00 AM [+] ::
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New Major... new major...

TECHNOCULTURE STUDIES > WELCOME:

"The Program in Technocultural Studies (TCS), a new addition to the University of California at Davis, is based among the fine and performing arts, literature and cultural studies in the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, and is designed to be open to a diverse range of interests from across the campus.

We concentrate on transdisciplinary approaches to artistic, cultural and scholarly production in contemporary media and digital arts, community media, and mutual concerns of the arts with the scientific and technological disciplines. In contrast to programs which see technology as the primary driving force, we place questions of poetics, aesthetics, history, politics and the environment at the core of our mission. In other words, we emphasize the 'culture' in Technoculture."

:: Jim Nichols 6/05/2004 11:51:00 AM [+] ::
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Laudanum:

"Laudanum was a wildly popular drug during the Victorian era. It was an opium-based painkiller prescribed for everything from headaches to tuberculosis. Victorian nursemaids even spoon fed the drug to cranky infants, often leading to the untimely deaths of their charges.
Originally, Laudanum was thought of as a drug of the working class. As it was cheaper than gin it was not uncommon for blue-collar men and woman to binge on laudanum after a hard week's work. Use of the drug spread rapidly. Doctors of the time prescribed it for almost every aliment. Many upper-class women developed habits.
The outbreak of tuberculosis may have been another factor in the drug's rising popularity. For a short period of time the tuberculosis 'look' (very pale skin and frequent fainting spells) was quite in vogue. Victorian women went to great lengths to emulate the look, often taking arsenic to pale the skin (slowly poising themselves to death).
Laudanum's biggest clam to fame however was its use by the romantic poets. Many of the Pre-Raphaelites (Among them Lord Byron, Shelly and others) were know to indulge. The image of the romantic poet, pale, morose, drunk on absinthe and laudanum is a common one. The film Gothic portrays the stereotypical image of that society. In reality, most of the PRB were heavy drinkers first and formost."

:: Jim Nichols 6/05/2004 07:25:00 AM [+] ::
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Dmitri Shostakovich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (Russian ??????? ?????????? ??????????)(September 25, 1906 - August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. His greatest works are generally considered to be his cycles of symphonies and string quartets, 15 of each. Since his death, his response to life in the USSR has been the subject of political and musical controversy."

:: Jim Nichols 6/05/2004 07:13:00 AM [+] ::
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Sitting up in the middle of the night is more than a hobbey for me. Its a lifestyle. Writing is more than a goal for me, its a dream. And my dreams are the only reason i'm still alive.

:: Jim Nichols 6/05/2004 04:07:00 AM [+] ::
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I've been checking out creative writing programs. I wonder if you magically become a writer if you have an MFA? Nahh probably not.

:: Jim Nichols 6/04/2004 11:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Did you know that the hot nazi in the last indiana jones movie is
named Alison Doody. Or that medical experts now believe that between
1 and 20 of the 7,000 american babies who die of SIDS may have
actually died from a homicidal parent. Or that symptoms of
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nonffatal inflammatory condition of the
nervous system and muscles, resembel the symptoms of arsenic
poisoning.

:: Jim Nichols 5/30/2004 09:28:00 PM [+] ::
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