A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'
'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

I am fascinated by WWII, both as a historical event and by the fractal like way it rippled throughout the world. I'm certain all the stories of the war could never be told. Oddly enough I don't read a lot of books about WWII. Mostly I prefer the countless documentaries from the dusty dry to the riveting to the made for Hollywood.

So I finished this book and I'm going to tell you about it:

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History is great fun for those of us who want both the human stories of the war effort as well as points of to entry for casual examination. Over the course of the book I made a hand full of notes about people, works of art and places that I have really enjoyed looking up. I think book hit a sweet spot between the boots on the ground story of these men and women and a larger view of how the cultural treasures of Europe throughout the war.

I just finished Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. It only took me 3 years reading it on and off.  It is a fascinating book that covers a remarkable sweep of knowledge and history.  I had promised myself I would finish it before reading anything on my new Kindle and I didn't relish the idea of carrying it, yet again, on another airplane only to make minimal headway.

I definitely recommend it and would make sure you are pretty dedicated to powering through it.  This feels like I've definitely accomplished something.

Ranked 68th on Foursquare in San Francisco, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Woot! Granted I've been a neurotic checker-inner trying to get some SF
badges, but top 100 in a major city is pretty damn good.

A recurring theme, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Here I am again at the Falafel drive in. This makes the score 2 for 2
- times in mountain view and stops at the drive in. Large falafel and
rootbeer freeze in my future.

Regular night out at the club, originally uploaded by astoriahermit.

Jazz club that is.