picking cichorium

here are several better pictures from my berry (with a slight touch of photoshop)

a wall of a building in Schenectady, NY

at a train station in Schenectady, NY

the Fed in the fog, NYC

flying out of JFK at 6am several months ago

at one of the beaches in FL

I have always been jealous of the teachers and college profs because they got to read some truly brilliant pieces.  Even though not a teacher, I get all benefits of the job.

Enjoy some excerpts from the student essays that I came across this year:

• The veterans of the Ukrainian Revolting Army
• You would think that it’s unreal that a teenager reads Shakespear’s plays, but read it because i found it in my “old things,” and there is a lot of murder, so i decided to read it.
• Americans always feel pity for those who get in trouble[,] are keen on disabled.
• Parents should take steps to prevent their teenagers from hitting the bottle.
• Lover man keeps in heart image by his love, makes him immortal, like immortal sun, Earth, wind, because just this immortality possible in our world.
• First i heard about law when i was 14.
• There is nobody who wants to be lovely on Earth.
• Ukrainian constitution was found in 1996.
• Once i tried to milk the cow but it was difficult, moreover the cow didn’t like my movements. [...] Playing with my dog pleased me a lot, too.
• Leo Tolstoy “The World and the Peace”
• What is the most important thing to make people happy? [...] First and foremost my suggestion would be to choose a landlord and make him the head of the government.
• We have first place in the world by the number of dead people.

P.S. In case you wonder what country kids are writing about, it is Ukraine.

I think there is a pressing need to create an “unbelievable, but absolutely true” category over here.

Two things that cought not only my eye, but also lots of my attention this week were the “Big Brain Theory” and a BBC article about genetic experiments in Taiwan. It appears that the cosmologists are having a Hylas-Philonous dialogue all over, and the Taiwanese will soon enjoy a new barn lighting system.

Indeed, the world is a fascinating place. I am not intelligent enough to carry a conversation with any peer or student of Mr. Hawking, but the NYT article gave me acute flashbacks to “The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Boltzmann brains seem like something one would definitely find on the Heart of Gold, however probable the cosmologists think they are :)

Following up on the post from Dec 18th…New York City MTA should do something about the subway warnings in Russian. Or not. I dont mind having a good laugh every once in a while.—Also, it is exactly a year since I came back from Ghana. I miss this ever-grinning country with its marvelous signs and ads.