Oops
As was pointed out in a correction to my last post (trust a Clark-ite to be on top of these things), we actually rejoined UNESCO last September (as in '02). The story I was linking to is still true (and ran the day I linked it), and perhaps my point (if I had one, I can't remember) is thus even more valid. my political awarenes has wavered up and down since I got my poli sci BA and thus claimed automatic austuteness without actually reading the news. Wait...

I was so excited last week when there were stories on NPR, CNN, and the like about the MIT students who had figured out a way to fix the whole file-swapping problem (ok, just part of it. and only for MIT students. but still). Apparently, however, it's no longer allowed. Is this my opportunity to promote the itunes music store again?

Last night I watched part of a Discorvery Channel special on the Big Dig. It was very melodramatic, as if they were setting the stage for some imminent disaster. Which of course they weren't (unless you count the more than $1 BILLION over budget as a disaster, which they didn't seem to).
This was followed by a special documentary on the blackout of 2003, which actually was a disaster...but the documentary had a much less forboding tone. I was amused.

It was also the first time in my almost 2 years of cat foster-parenthood that I was seriously annoyed with the cat. She wouldn't leave me alone. It started cute: I brought a new scratching box home from the pet store and she jumped on it before I had it unwrapped, clearly smelling the catnip through the plastic. Then she left me alone for a little while while she scratched it nearly all the way through. Then she decided to sit on my laptop while I tried to do homework, and reacted badly to my request for her to leave. Every time I moved she would jump back on the computer, clearly seeing it as a threat for my affections. When I gave up working and went to bed she sat on top of my chest, occaisionally scratching at my nose to demand more attention. I think it may be related to the super healthy, ultra organic cat food I was talked into buying. If so, then it really does seem to have made her much more active and happy (if somewhat annoyingly so), and thus I should keep buying it. I'm holding out for more evidence though: it is almost twice as expensive as the (not cheap) Iams I had been feeding her. Which is nearly twice as expensive as nine lives and all of those brands...This seems a little off of the way pricing is supposed to work, or maybe not, I haven't taken that class yet. And beware when I do.

Speaking of class, it went well today. I also, for the first time, looked closely at the donor plaque. It's pretty straightforward--giving level, list of names, etc., on this large gold plaque. And, of course, more people in the lower categories and a mix of corporations and individuals. Remember, this is just the plaque for the people who donated to the building, not the b-school. Top level: $15 million or more. one name--Mr. Gleacher, of course. The next category was $250,000-$500,000 and so on down to the $50,000 or under level (I think, I stopped looking to carefully). It's just so amazing--1 $15million gift. Which is what it takes to get your name on a building in the heart of downtown Chicago, I suppose, it just looked so lonely on it's own line. And then nothing even close after it.

When I'm a billionaire I'd have a building in downtown Chicago named after me. doesn't it sound great? The Thompson Center. Wait. That's taken!! There goes that brilliant idea.

That was much wittier in my head, I promise.

And, this is only relevant to a very few of you, we haven't created a disaster waiting to happen we've merely taken a big risk. We might fail, but we might also succeed. And nothing ventured nothing gained. Fair enough?
- posted by Heidi @ 3:14 PM