COLLEGE MISERICORDIA: A pretty O.K. Catholic college in Pennsylvania

The website of this college makes me not nostalgic for my college days. It really doesn't seem like my kind of place, but in its favor, it places something like 53rd in the top 176 colleges of its class according to some college survey, according to them. Also in its favor, when you check out their total room and board it only comes out to about $14,000, which is less than half what most small colleges will run you nowadays. But maybe it shouldn't be compared with those liberal arts colleges, its really not quite the same -- my college didn't offer nursing classes for instance, and this one doesn't offer Multicultural or, this is a new one i've been hearing about, Fat Studies. Also the student profiles they put up there are, well, couldn't they have found more attractive students? It's just marketing, but if this college doesn't sell itself so well, then is that supposed to inspire me with confidence about what it will do for me as a potential student?

One thing they do for their students is guarantee them they will get a position in their chosen field within 6 years or else they will give them an internship in it. But if after 6 years of trying all you can get is an internship, that's pretty sad. The idea is depressing, I'm glad my 20s are in the past.

HYBOTIDAE: Little flies, aren't bloodsuckers, you probably never notice 'em

Hybotidae, or Dancing Flies, are a family within the order Diptera, or True Flies. There are so many different classifications within the order Diptera that there is no real agreement as to how to do it amongst entymologists; there are just too many 'infraorders' and 'superfamilys' with shared characteristics. And tons of undiscovered species, no doubt -- flies are everywhere, as we know. However, there are two distinct agreed upon suborders -- Nematocera, which are full of misquitoes, blackflies and other bloodsuckers plus gnats, and Brachycera, which includes the Hybotidae. Anyway, none of the species in the Hybotidae family do any bloodsucking and seem pretty harmless as far as I can tell, and they're not big, so you probably will never even take note of them beyond reading this post.

REBBENA: A South Eastern Northern Central Indian Sub-Sub-Sub division

Rebbena is a Mandal in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh, in the Eastern part of South India (Capital: Hydrabad). The main language of this Indian State is Telugu, and in Telugu this is the name of the state: ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ (pretty, no?). 90% of the people in the State are Hindus, most of the rest are Muslims and speak Urdu -- but the percentage is probably somewhat higher in Rebbena, being that this particular Mandal is located in the northmost District of Andhal Pradesh, Andilabad, and the Muslims came down from the north in the 10th century but never made it as far as the most southernly State, Tamil Nadu (the only part of India not conquered at any point by Muslims). Pictured above is Andilabad, the #40 area in the center eastern part is Rebbena. It's probably a fairly poor district, the main industry is farming, with some textiles, leather production, and a smattering of others.

If you know more about Rebbena, you can add your own comments on this site that interfaces with Google Maps, called Wikimapia.

THUNDERPUSS: a couple of dj's who rearranged beats of music industry moneymakers to fuel alcohol and sex industry niches

When one of the perfomers that a record company heavily promotes has a chart topping single, the typical thing to do is to make several mixes of the track to suit different radio formats -- boost the vocals here, add some strings there, or adjust certain sounds for easier listening or for radio stations that program what is still blandly and fairly meaninglessly referred to as 'rock'.

But a record company will also often hire a dj to make an extended dance remix. These remixes are bought and used for private public spaces, where the familiarity of the music track plus the heavier beats will make people want to dance, drink, and have sex.

The name of this dj duo, Thunderpuss, is suggestive of at least two of the aforementioned industry uses of dance remixes. As for the dj's themselves, who no longer work together or under this name, they continue to work as dj's at parties and are paid for their production and mixing work on records. But as the major record labels have been in freefall for a while, the record work is no doubt less lucrative, and they have to rely on their dj skills more -- though they're probably not hurting too bad.

CHEVRON - The original abstraction

A chevron is a straight or slightly curved line bent in the middle at approximately ninety degrees. We see these all over the place -- one such place is on military uniforms. A private has one of these on their sleeves, a corporal has two, and a Sargeant has three. They are a common feature on flags -- the flag depicted is the flag of the North American Vexilogical Association; other Vexilogical organizations also favor the chevron. Vexillology is the study of flags, thus the chevron is a flag lover's ideal, and this is a flag of flags.

The chevron it is in fact one of the very first abstract symbols ever. The Soviet experimental filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein wrote an essay comparing the language of film montage to Chinese pictograms (which are known to be at least 4,000 years old), in which he noted that a chevron was symbolic of 'house', a wavy line of 'woman', but when you put the chevron over the wavy line the word became 'tranquility'. Thus to have a home and a woman was to live in tranquility.

CAROLINA PASCUAL: Spanish gymnast wins medal, retires at 17

Rhythmic gymnasts are seperated into two divisions by the World Gymnastics Federation -- those under 16 and those over. This must be because once you hit 16 you just aren't as good any more, not as short and spry and have a reduced elasticity -- and your really past it by the time you've hit 17, which is why Carolina Pascual quit at that age and started coaching.

I noticed in the Wikipedia entry for rhythmic gymnastics, someone snuck a little something at the end of the main description: ' u is a bitch nigga '. I don't know how long that edit will survive Wikipedia's roving editors, this could be a test for them.

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURGH, FIRST DAY -- things look bad for the Union, but the next day Lee's blunder will lose the war for the Confederates

The Battle of Gettysburgh wasn't planned, it started when confederate general Henry Heth went looking for some shoes for his troops, during the campaign where the armies of the South were supposed to be battering places in the North to get them to give up the war. At this point, the war could have gone either way, and despite the built-in advantage that the North had in being more industrialized than the South, the South had overall won more engagements and had better leadership. But this was the first day of the 3-day battle that would destroy such a large part of General Robert. E. Lee's fighting force that it was to spell the beginning of the end of the whole Confederate war effort. And the moment of truth was during Day 2, a charge through Union artillery on three sides known as "Pickett's Charge," which despite all the successes owing the Lee's great strategic skills, this blunder was all his, as he acknowledged as the Confederate forces retreated on the 3rd day of the battle.

But in this first day, things were looking better for the Confederates than the Union army. The Rebels were able to outflank the Union armies in several areas, and by midday the Union was retreating in disarray through the town of Gettysburgh, seeking higher ground beyond the town. They did get there, and that the Confederate Generals did not prevent them or see it through all the way would be something they would pay for the next day. General Heth was one of the casualties that day; he was struck in the head by a bullet -- though his life was saved because his hat, too big for his head, was stuffed with paper and somehow the bullet only knocked him out for 24 hours. But these were crucial hours. On the Union side General John F. Reynolds, one of the most senior and respected Union Generals, was hit by a bullet in the back of the neck, knocked of his horse and died. In this first day, about there were about 9,000 union casualties (killed, wounded and missing) and about 6,000 confederate casualties. By the end of the three day battle the totals were around 23,000 each.