Day 117: Cooking 101 for J Term

Feeling a bit sleepy
Listening to nothing, absolutely nothing
It's 1:34 AM

The fire alarm went off in my residence hall (a.k.a. Battell) because some careless students did not know how to cook food properly. Pooey. So, we all had to get out of the building before the Public Safety officers came and thoroughly searched the building for any offenders (who will be fined for remaining inside). After the fire alarms were deactivated, I commented to one of the officers:

"Gahh.. these kids!"

I shake my head in disappointment.

The officer laughs.

"Cooking 101! I have to teach that class to these kids for J term." She chuckles and walks away.

Day 116: Baby Name Popularity? Roflcopter?

Feeling pretty relaxed and healthier
Listening to Di.Fm @ Trance channel
It's 10:35 PM EDT
Heading to watch a movie at Soppheak's room

Guest author: Social Security
Baby Name Popularity 2008!

In 2008, American parents voted for change in naming their children. After a 12-year reign as the most popular baby name, Emily has slipped to third on the list. Emma is now the nation’s most popular name for girls.

The most popular boy’s name, Jacob, remained the same for the 10th year in a row.

Please click on the Most Popular Baby Names link at Social Security’s website -- www.socialsecurity.gov -- to see all the top baby names for 2008. Drum roll please…the Top 10 boys and girls names for 2008 are:

Top 10 Names for 2008

Rank	Male name	Female name
1	Jacob	Emma
2	Michael	Isabella
3	Ethan	Emily
4	Joshua	Madison
5	Daniel	Ava
6	Alexander	Olivia
7	Anthony	Sophia
8	William	Abigail
9	Christopher	Elizabeth
10	Matthew	Chloe
Note: Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth.

The ascendancy of Emma means that Social Security spokesbaby Emily, who you should visit to say farewell at www.socialsecurity.gov, will be retiring. Emily indicated that she would not be requesting a recount and that she is busily preparing for nursery school. She further added, “I also ask everyone checking out this year’s results at www.socialsecurity.gov to look at the nearby information about the Medicare Extra Help Program--in case they know someone eligible for Medicare who could use up to $3,900 to help pay for medicine.”

A brand new feature to the website this year is the “Change in Name Popularity” page. This year’s winner for the biggest jump is Khloe, which is undoubtedly related to the popularity of Khloe Kardashian from the show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Khloe with a K increased 469 spots to number 196 in 2008, up from 665 in 2007 and 960 in 2006 (her first year on the list). Also, Chloe with a C is in the Top 10 for the first time ever. Another fast riser is Miley, moving up 152 spots to number 127 for 2008, a rather impressive increase given this is only her second year on the list. On the downside for fans of Miley Cyrus’ fictional character, the name Hannah fell out of the Top 10 and landed down at number 17. Jacoby had the biggest increase for the boys, moving up 200 spots to number 423. Commissioner Michael Astrue, a die-hard Red Sox fan, attributed the rise of Jacoby to the appeal of last year’s star rookie centerfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury.

The name everybody is wondering about, Barack, did not make this year’s top 1,000 boy’s list, but it did set what is believed to be a record by skyrocketing more than 10,000 spots in rising from number 12,535 in 2007 to 2,409 in 2008. Social Security’s sophisticated predictive models are forecasting an increase well into the top 1,000 for Barack for 2009.

In this year of change, many unfamiliar names debuted on the top 1,000 list. These names include Isla (623), Mareli (718), Dayami (750), Nylah (821) and Jazlene (831) to name a few for the girls. For the boys: Aaden (No. 343), Chace (655), Marley (764), Kash (779), Kymani (836), Ishaan (851), Jadiel (874) and Urijah (889). Social Security officials expressed hope that parents were not naming their sons Marley after the badly behaved dog who starred in the movie “Marley and Me.” Beckham also made the list for the first time, coming in at number 893—undoubtedly influenced by the arrival in the United States of British soccer star David Beckham.

And for all of you Elvis fans out there, here’s our annual update: Elvis is still shakin’ at number 713, but fell on the charts from 673 in 2007.

In addition to a list of the 1,000 most popular boys’ and girls’ names for 2008, the website has a list of the top 100 names for twins born in 2008. Jacob and Joshua are the most popular twins’ names.

The Social Security website offers lists of baby names for each year since 1880. Social Security started compiling baby name lists in 1997.

Day 115: Consumerism. Worse than Drug and Alcohol Addiction.

My eyes feel sore
It's 4:54 PM
I'm in the library's media lab

Guest author: Tate from Freegan.info

"Welcome Oprah Fans!"

Oprah today reran the freegan show, which I only found out when I read it from Alfred over at MIMO:

On the Big O today, this woman, who was previously earning a 6-figure salary, gave up that life and started picking up food from dumpster. She even organised trash trips for people of the same interest. Such trips are not fancy trips with fancy drink but trips where you get closer to a possum or rodent, skill-wise speaking. What striked me the most, was that our society wastes so much. American, being 5% of the world population, consume 30% of the world’s resources. Madeline and her troop could find buckets of food, loaves of bread, fresh fruits, muffins, cereal, salad and canned food from just a handful of dumpsters, mostly all from grocery stores.

Have you not picked an apple and seen a small dent on it and not purchased it eventually? I have. These perfectly fine fruit are thrown away, they are not even given to the poor or homeless (due to some restrictions). And how much food have I wasted? If I remember correctly, $30 BILLION of food is wasted annually in the US. Now wouldn’t it timely if the CEOs of failed companies started embracing freegan lifestyle?

Consumerism, I think, is a more serious problem than drug or alcohol addiction.

That’s about how we feel about it too.

So welcome to everyone who saw us on Oprah. You’ll find many useful articles both on and off our site linked to through the menu on the left. If you’re looking to go diving, take a look at our dumpster directory. If you dive already and know of some choice spots you’d like to share, help us and fellow freegans by adding to the directory.

And if you’re in New York, check out the calendar and come to one of our events.

Day 109: Really, How much are you willing to put up with this bullshit

You say Yes to the world
The whole world will say No to you

How much are you going to give in?
How much are you going to resist?
How much are you going to let the world walk over you?
How much are you willing to represent yourself?

You are the only You in the whole wide world.
You will be the only You in the whole world.
You can only represent yourself.
You will only represent yourself.

You say Yes
The world will say No

You say Yes
The world will say No

You will be
The whole world will be against

Cry, weep, suffer, moan
The whole world will be against

Be but
The world will be against

If Only 2/2

If only tears were laughter
If only night was day
If only our dearest prayers were answered

No matter what they tell us
No matter what they do to us
No matter what they try to teach to us

If only frowns were smiles
If only storms were sunshowers
If only our deepest fears were cared for

I can only hope
I can only whisper
I can only pray
Only to myself can I say

Can you?
Will you?
Would you?
Please?
Please?

My days are filled with doubt
My weeks are filled with tears
My months are filled with restlessness
My fears are filled with something I don't even know
Longing for your return, your answer
I do not know, please answer