Music

Sri Lankan Food is not Indian Food

Watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npy0fY9qO7M&feature=related

Well, you'll have to start at part 1 of 5, but it's so delicious. This reminds me of my aunties and grandmother's cooking.

I'm really hungry right now, in case you can't tell.

Sri Lanka

Watching this makes me wonder what life was like for my dad while he was growing up in Sri Lanka...I really want to visit that place some day with him and just see where he came from.

I'm going to bed now, enjoy.

The Other America

I would highly recommend that you all take a read of "The Other America" by Michael Harrington. It's a critical book about poverty in the U.S. during the 1960s, but the case studies he looks over and the lessons he teaches about how the Government often lets those who need aid the most right through the hoops are time-less, especially in the current economic situation. He humanizes unemployment statistics to the lives of those affected, not individually per se, but in their various industrial subsets. It'll really open your eyes to unemployment in the U.S. and might even make you more of a socialist actually(if you aren't already).

Anyway, give it a read. It started LBJ to launch the War on Poverty and changed his approach from the "just give them money" to "let's address the root cause." Granted, he didn't completely succeed, but he did manage to significantly reduce the percent of those in poverty by the end of his second term.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm doing my history reading right now.

Potatoes

Three points.

1. Read the 26 March issue of Le Point. It has the cover title "Le livre noir des hôpitaux." It'll depress you/make you never want to get medical care in France. That said, it's probably not as bad as they say it is, since well, sensational journalism is always a best-seller, but it's still depressing.

I could probably find similar articles about the U.S. in five minutes...

oh wait...

I did(and it took 30 seconds). http://www.naturalnews.com/025281.html I think to say that only 50% of the time you get the right treatment is a little excessive, but then again, you can find people who say what you want if you look hard enough.

2. You should ignore 1 and instead read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Brilliant.

3. Listen to this and just be in awe. Kthanks.

Chillax

Everyone knows this concerto, and for good reason, it's bad-ass.

Even better is Oistrakh playing it.

Listen and be joyous about the world.




And then listen up on some Bruch, which is equally bad-ass. I couldn't find a more suitable recording, I have a better one on CD, but I have yet to figure out how to upload it here.

Some thoughts

1. Blogspot in German is weird; it is equally weird in French. Conclusion: Try putting it in Tamil or Arabic for maximum mind-warp.

2. I'm in America. I'm not used to hearing people speaking so much English. This has happened after just a week in Austria, I wonder what it'd be like after like a year abroad. Conclusion: Study abroad and learn a new language.

3. This blog is undergoing transformation into something. I've been considering this for some time. Conclusion: Less bitching, more interesting shit. This isn't Livejournal.

4. Linear Algebra is an interesting course. It will require careful attention on a daily basis. Conclusion: Less wasting of time, more working.

5. Grades from last quarter are in. Did worse than expected. Conclusion: Find out if classes are curved before hand instead of assuming it. Less wasting time, more working. Education is expensive.

6. Macbook might be dying or on its way there. Very slow. I will need to do some reformatting thingy that I did before to revitalize it. Conclusion: If this computer dies, I'm buying a ThinkPad. Mac is getting way too expensive(oh wait...it always has been).

7. German is harder than French, but also easier since Germans and Austrians are better people. I'm pretty sure that even the Swiss are better people than the French. Conclusion: Never move to France.

8. Linux is weird. I still fail to understand why people like it. Oh wait...it's logo is a PENGUIN!! Conclusion: Only computer geeks/afficionados like Linux. Since I am neither, I shall never get Linux.

9. The euro is better than the dollar. Conclusion: Demand to be contractually paid in euros.

10. It is raining and my toesies are very wet. Chicago is a dead-end city with its weather. Conclusion: Never wear Converses in the rain and never move to Chicago.

And now I will click "post veröffentilichen" and life will be dandy lest I end up doing the whole "jetzt speichern" thing...yeah, ich komme aus der USA man...