Fallback

Thanks to my dad for sharing this website about the practice of Daylight Saving Time. Read about how it's managed in other parts of the world, the rationale for the law, and most important this year, read about changes to the date on which clocks will "fall back" by an hour.

Smart

The Smart car is coming! The Smart car is coming!

My mother worried there was something terribly wrong when I gasped loudly over the phone. Unbeknownst to her, my eye had alighted on the front page of today's Mercury News. It featured the adorable little two seater which is being shown off around the country to auto reporters in advance of a 2008 rollout. I was positively overcome, practically swooning and hyperventilating in turns.

I fell in love with this teeny little car (106 inches long, compared to the 145 inch long Mini Cooper) on our first trip to Greece in 2000 and have coveted it ever since. Some people prefer trucks and mansions. I'm more of a small space dweller myself (with lots of windows, whether in a car or a residence, not that you asked). The Smart car is as small as a four-wheeled, two person vehicle can get, I'm pretty sure. (I also dream of riding a motorcycle, but that is the subject for another posting.)

I won't actually buy the mid-teen priced Smart next year, for I am not such a consumerist as to act upon every product urge (else I'd have a house full of Porsches and peanut butter cups). I am content to simply admire things I covet (does that mean I am not truly coveting?). Yet again I digress.

The coming Smarts are Fortwo models, so-named because they are for two passengers (as opposed to the Forfour, which is a mouthful and thus thankfully not available). The car, sold in Europe for nearly a decade, will be available in the US starting next year through special Mercedes dealerships (like BMW did with Mini Coopers). I encourage you to go check out the Smart car's features, availability, a first-look review, or a test drive report. Isn't it just too adorable?

P.S. Is anyone else slightly disappointed that the Red Sox might go all the way again so soon after ending their century-long drought? I'd rather like to keep that 2004 come-from-behind World Series winning season special. There's nothing sadder than a really neat thing becoming trite, is there? *sigh* Maybe I'm just jealous because--let's be honest about this--my baseball and football teams suck. I've chosen wisely what to dream of these days. A Smart car, unlike a championship home team, is at least within my reach.

P.P.S. You will find that from here on forward, when you click on a link in my blog it will open a new browser window or tab. I'd hate to have you leave me and never return. :) Wanna do this on your own site? Here's how.

Lefties

Random quick amusement...
Courtesy of the Freakonomics blog comes a left-brain, right-brain (aka lateralization of function) check: Which direction do you see this dancer moving, clockwise or counterclockwise? Can you eventually see it going either direction? I alas have thus far been unable to change my direction (can you guess which it is?). Give it a try.

Movie review: The Kingdom
Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and Jason Bateman, The Kingdom is about a team of FBI agents who travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to investigate a series of attacks on an American facility there. The team, led by Foxx, has a tough time gaining approval in Washington and must pull strings to get 5 days on the ground. On the scene they face intermittent bureacratic stonewalling, a skeptical local police babysitter, and a few significant gunfights with locals. In the end the lesson is about the similarities among us (though not necessarily in the way you might imagine).

The film's pace is good, location filming (albeit in UAE) lends authenticity, and there are sufficient comic and action moments to prevent any drag. I had a few complaints, most notably the inclusion of an emotionally understandable but implausbily unprofessional desire for vengeance imbued in the characters. The female team member never covers her head, most notably when venturing out into neighborhoods (um, is it not a bit odd, to make no concession whatsoever to local custom thereby sticking out like a sore thumb when you want to find clues to a sensitive crime?). These are supposed to be high level trained professionals in forensics, bomb detection, etc, yet they don't always act like it. Bateman's character--nominally an analyst--is present only for laughs. Fortunately, these easily remedied/explained quibbles do not influence the significant events of the movie.

Overall The Kingdom is a decent popcorn action flick and will appeal to most audiences (yes, it's got violence, but there is a point to the story, for which I am appreciative). Whether you want to see this movie or not, I do recommend the opening credits, which offer a stylish, concise history of modern Saudi Arabia and US relations there. And for a fuller treatment, I highly recommend the Frontline documentary House of Saud, from which some of the narration for The Kingdom's opening was borrowed.

Literature

Apparently I was tagged in a crazed meme game and didn't even realize it. Herein I make up for my tardiness with a fabulous personal statement on my reading habits.

Total number of books?
Too many. As in, we had a personal library and it was a room. I dunno, hundreds, thousands?

Last Book read?
Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella. And (not that you asked, but) I loved it. It was perfect airplane reading. The main character is fun and silly but not pathetically stupid. Possibly my favorite by Kinsella, and I've read all her books. Wow, I am feeling so girly right now. I do enjoy disrupting assumptions from time to time.

Last Book Bought?
Atonement by Ian McEwan. I look forward to seeing the movie and I hate reading a book after seeing its movie, so I put this to top of my bedtime reading stack (Alongside Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour which I also purchased secondhand recently and which is also wonderful). Atonement is slow moving and sort of absorbing. Languorous describes the style and mood quite well. You feel from the get-go that something bad is going to happen, see it all being set up, but have no control. You continue because you sense eventual redemption (um, the title?). Of course I also sense the redemption will in most cases be too late. C'est la vie. Read an excerpt on Powell's.

Five meaningful Books?

1. Notes to Myself - A gem shared with me by David (who got it from his mom) many years ago, this collection of personal reflections by Hugh Prather has served in times of need as a blissful reminder of not being alone or excessively weird or an idiot for what I feel and think. There is little we can do to control thoughts, nothing to control feelings, so spending days or years worrying and beating ourselves (and those we love) up over what goes on in our heads is such a waste. Make note of it and go on with your life. This is a beautiful book in the best tradition of self help literature--earnest, amusing, grounded; it doesn't beat you over the head, though it will give you a soothing mental workout. Read an excerpt on Amazon.
2. Being Peace - I recall standing in a Buddhist bookstore in San Francisco one day in 1989, discovering the work of Thich Nhat Hanh. In college I kept with me little snippets from this book as reminders for self acceptance and joy in living at peace with oneself and the world. A fabulous introduction to mindfulness. Read excerpt. Right up there is Peace is Every Step, by the same author and a bit more practical.
3. Angle of Repose - When asked what my favorite book is, I often list this one first, and I've written plenty about it elsewhere if you want more of my opinions. I found this only after I was well grown. I had seen most of the places mentioned in the story and I love local history. Take all that into account and maybe it explains why I felt so deeply for this book; or maybe it's because it is just amazingly well written. Wallace Stegner put into this Pulitzer Prize winning book a little of everything--history, romance, family drama, a multi-generational saga, tragedy, travel, and above all beautiful prose. Another languorous story, but with enough different characters and storylines to keep a rewardingly slow pace. Read an excerpt on Powell's. Here's a reader's guide, if you feel so inclined. Or read another fan's views.
4. Free to Be You and Me - If I ever have kids, they will be made to read this book and embrace it whether they want to or not. :) A collection of stories, poems, songs, and pictures chosen for their acceptance of human differences, this book helped shape the way I view the world. It's a quintessential 70's nonsexist children's book, in support of the Ms. Foundation. Some might point out the agenda associated with the creators, but I see nothing wrong with the content of this book which I believe makes essential reading for children. You can read opening pages on Amazon or get some more background at Wikipedia.
5. Forever - Speaking of life lessons, Judy Blume books were for me, like many others, the safest, warmest possible welcomer to all things girl growing up. Contrary to what you might think of my education and childrearing views, I don't believe contemporary literature is always the best choice for children's reading. (Read more on the history of children's lit.) In too many cases literature written these days for young people is like empty calories. It's fine as a supplement to a steady basic diet of complex, nourishing foods. Unfortunately, that's not generally the case. Where was I headed with this? Right, Blume is exceptional in the Children's and Young Adult literature genres. Her writing is modern, honest, open, and informative--not-so-simple calories that happen to go down easy. In real life, kids make some smart choices and some dumb ones. Blume reflects this in her writing, and never seems to pass judgment. She also holds up no rose colored lenses. Life is lived, and lessons, hopefully, are learned. As it should be. Goodness, don't you love that I am so non-moralistic? ;)

Studying

I see today that my dissertation topic (individual- and environmental-level predictors of Latino student achievement, not that you asked) isn't nearly as tantalizing as what other people get paid to investigate. How rigorously did researchers have to prepare academically to conduct this study of owners' emotional attachment to their Roombas? I bet they have PhD's. I wonder how many social sciences doctoral students are inspired by after-the-fact revered researchers like Kinsey, who broke some of the most fertile ground in academia by pioneering research in sex. We all realize sex isn't the subject he started his career out with.

A little digression, which possibly this entire blog could be called...
Paul Ehrlich points out that studying sex is "a lot more interesting than studying the pollination of plants." He also observes that "being human beings, scientists, too, are fascinated by sex"; how sad that we need reminded. Of course this makes me wonder about those who do choose to study plant pollination, but I wish not to pass judgment, lest they tell me to cast the first stone. I won't bore you at present with what else Ehrlich has to say about the way scientists study sex and other topics, and the inevitable bias that comes into alleged "scientific" studies. But I will tell you that the rest of his book Human Natures is quite worth a read.

Back to the serious matter of scientific research...
Here's a transcript of a very interesting discussion about the need for, and misunderstood nature of, basic research (aka, research that doesn't appear immediately useful). Hmm, I wonder if the people engaged in that discussion would think differently about research if they owned--and loved--a Roomba. I see a study in there somewhere. In the meantime, read the results of a study on "friends with benefits" here. Or take a look at this study on spousal arguments (women argue most about children and housework, men about sex, money, and leisure). Wow, research can be fun. That's my cue to get back to work....

Slogging

Work on my dissertation is dr a a a gg i n g. I've taken it on as my job to get this thing done. The longer I spend on this, the further off (and more pressing) all of life's other challenges and goals become.

I've long had a fixation on the gap between possibility and reality, as well as between what has been and what is. Being "capable" of doing something does not mean I will actually do it. Having been capable of something in the past does not mean I can do it now. My dissertation is something I am capable of doing, and am, on average, in fact doing. I am encouraged by others' faith in me as well as my self confidence and stubbornness to follow through. There's also the reward of being done, accomplishing a goal, and having another item for the old job resume.

But sometimes the belief that I am capable holds me back at times. I sit and think, oh I know it will get done. Certainty without action is delusion. Thinking and doing are two different things. Awareness, control, and discipline of the self, in varying orders, must come into play for my belief to become action. Sigh. Back to work...

In happier news, we got new sheets for the bed and they are fabulous. They're deep red and soft. At least one red thing gave me pleasure this weekend, unlike this red thing. Hmph. Best get back to work before I start stewing again.