It's probably too soon. It's definitely too soon. But then, it's always too soon. When you don't like the year it is, start planning for the year it will be: hence the tentative beginnings of my reading lists for next year's oral exams. This one will be one long argument between Marxists, ecocritics, and anyone else who wants to enter the fray.

Brother bear is trying to come up with a name for his wood-goods (Brother Bear and Woodgoods, the garbage can is flowing). I express my reservations about Sun Bear Genaral Store on the grounds that nobody knows what a Sun Bear is. At some point it starts to look like the resolution is Ursus Solis, a literal translation of Sun Bear into Latin (or anyway "Bear of the Sun"---close enough and sounds better). Apparently I'm assuming more people know Latin than know about Sun Bears, which begs the question: are people who know Latin more likely to know what a Sun Bear is? And if not, why are so many people studying Latin instead of Sun Bears?

Had to look up the name, but I'll never forget the gourmet monk....

A rare confluence of hobbies: fiddling with tech stuff, British football, and multisyllabic rhymes in doggerel couplets.

The internet has taught me tons of shit. So who better to learn to teach from? Right. I got this.

Election Day again, and while I stare at the wall the nation is quietly licking the end of a legislative shotgun to see how it likes the taste. This article seems to promise solace, but I read on: from 2008, it glosses Spain as formerly an "economic basket case" that has since gathered "enough wealth to go around." What a difference six years can make....