The eternal poet

Phil Jackson made a diplomatic stand the other night, philosophizing about Banknorth Garden referee voodoo:

"I'm more struck at the fact that Leon Powe gets more foul shots than our whole team does in 14 minutes of play," Jackson said. "That's ridiculous."

"I have no question about the fact that my players got fouled but didn't get to the line," he said.

"It's the illusion that's created. The referees referee an illusion."

"Our guys look like maybe the ball was partially stripped when they were getting raked . . . but it was in the crowd, so the referees let that type of thing go," he said.


Great, right?

Sasha is my new favorite!

These next couple weeks I'll be posting brainstorms for the new WC Recycling Management Program... if I'm not too busy loitering and yelling at Jeff Van Gundy in Havana House.

And a great piece on the resurgence of the Vlade flop (now the Fisher Flop):
""Flopping is not basketball. Nobody flops in pick-up basketball, because it is the antithesis of competition. Competing means pushing back, not falling down. Competing means focusing your efforts on defeating your man, not playing to an official. And yet the NBA has allowed this spectacle to rob the game of its excitement. [...] It's a disgusting practice, and it has had the same affect on the game as the European introduction of smallpox to Native Americans. Sure, flopping existing before the Euros came over, but it reached new heights under the teachings of Professor Vlade Divac and his bizarrely bearded disciples. Kudos to the NBA for making an effort to put an end to this. If they do nothing else right this off-season, I'll applaud them for this."

I still miss you, you halftime chain-smoking, relentless beard growing Marlboro man.

Yummy.

However drained I was from the visually exhausting Lakers and Dodgers games last night, nothing beats walking around in dressy work attire (and freaking 3 inch heels) in 91 degree heat.

I'm trying to distract myself away from mulling over today's internship interview-- an employment possibility which I am pretty much infatuated with already... true for most jobs that captivate and scare me simultaneously-- and more towards the take home tests and essays that are beckoning my name. So, in the name of productivity, I will solve a local mystery of nature:

Why the hell are stink bugs strewn every which way, all willy nilly over campus, let alone SoCal?

Meg C from Yahoo!Answers shares, "Stink bugs are from Asia originally, were introduced to the US in Allentown, PA of all places, about 10 years ago. since then they have been marching across the states and have been found in the majority of states... basically once they have found your house you're out of luck. they are attracted to the pheremones in the stink so DON'T SMUSH THEM!"

Helpful for the 5 year old in Whittier students... she continues on to say, "...They came out in the fall and spring, as they were hibernating and waking up, but in california they may be more active year long beacause of the weather."

But WHY?

Well, Snow Z explains that:
"The beetles are a wonderful glimpse at how nature works to stay in balance."

Yay!

"For the past several weeks you may have noticed far greater numbers of moths flying around and sipping nectar from blooming plants. They are particularly active just after dark. The moth population exploded in response to well timed winter rains and the October wild fires which pushed them closer to the coast. As you probably know that as the moths lay eggs, a similarly large population of caterpillars will soon follow. We urged people to resist using pesticides to deal with the caterpillar boom which will occur and instead let nature work first.

"The black beetles are nature's answer to the caterpillars. The black beetles look like common stink bugs and in fact do send off a interesting scent when agitated, but they are far different than the stink bugs we typically see around here. They are much quicker and they don't stick their bum in the air to warn off threats. The beetles are in the carabidae family and commonly known as ground beetles and caterpillar hunters. We watched one attack and eat a large fig beetle grub yesterday and it was ugly. These are aggressive little predators that will work hard to keep the caterpillar numbers from exploding. Enjoy them and thank them if you get the chance. They are definitely good guys."

Hyperchouette. I had no idea.

If you haven't been on the What's That Bug site before, check it out. I'll need to figure out what those tantric-sex-ing, wannabe ladybugs are around campus before returning to my silly finals.

Re: mating, wannabe lady bugs:
They're either painted borer beetles or seed bugs ...maybe?
Maybe I could pursue a future in entomology.

Utah's going DOWN btw

Stayed up all night cranking out an essay on hegemony, contradictory-consciousness, and some religious and cultural syncretism. John R. Bowen's Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space has had some real gems and gold nuggets to saved, copied, perhaps laminated.

An interview between he and three North African immigrants living in France:

Of the three women, Fariba had talked most frequently with non-Muslims about her own dress. People often asked her why she wore a voile.

Once I asked them: ‘why do you ask that question? Do I ask you why you wear that sweater or those jeans? Why is it I and not you who has to justify my choice?’ They said, ‘well, but jeans are not a religious sign.’ I said: I do not wear it to make evident my religious leanings. If I could wear the voile while hiding it I would do it. Because in religion it is clear that you should do things for God and not for people. It is not to show my affiliation with other people but my affiliation to God. Why does it bother others? That is their problem. They have ideas somewhere that are not the same as mine.

All three women objected to efforts by others to attach objective meanings to the voile.

Souad: The voile is in the heart; faith is in the heart.

Fariba: Yes, faith is in the heart, but I am against the idea that the voile is religious sign, or a sign of religious excellence; it not because I wear the voile that I am a better Muslim than
Maryam or a worst Muslim. It is a personal choice that I take on. And the connotations that is had—‘submissive woman,’ ‘terrorist,’—that is their problem.

Souad: You get the impression that only women with voiles are oppressed in this world. When there are women who die from conjugal violence every day they are not necessarily in veils, but no one talks to them, people only talk about veiled women in certain countries who are struck, burned, but not about others who experience discrimination. The voile is now the symbol of oppression in the world.

Maryam: On the television, it is as if there are only two Muslim countries in the world, Afghanistan and Iran.

Pg. 78-79


Check it OUT.
Kobe's promised us a season til June... I think I might have to stay in Los Angeles to further collect even more great front pages of the LA Times Sports section. Ha.
Like today's "A Victory Full of Value"... thoughts?