I just heard the word "counter-radicalization" on the BBC. I've never heard it before and I can't imagine what it might entail. Reverse brain washing?

Today has been a DAY and it isn't even 10:00 yet. I finished all but two college recs. One is written, but I'm not sure how to get it to the student who didn't give me the address of where to send it and the other is for a former student in her application to a special program at her university and requires more thought.

That NYT feature does make me want to watch Brokeback Mountain again.

And movies by mail are not a fad. They are a way of life. Well, until superseded by streaming rentals, anyway.

Is radicalization considered brainwashing?

FCM:
Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing, Ross Geller
Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer
Phoebe Buffay, Monica Geller, Rachel Green
Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston

2010: Twenty-Ten, Not Two-Thousand-And-Ten

When you first exclaim "2010" out loud, as you ring in the New Year later tonight, say "twenty-ten" not "two-thousand-and-ten."

Why?

Because the former is two words shorter than the latter, as the web site Twentynot2000.com points out. In our shortening, 140-character tweeting vernacular, brevity matters.

According to the site:

Say the year "1810" out loud. Now say the year "1999" out loud. See a pattern? It's been easier, faster, and shorter to say years this way for every decade (except for the one that just ended) instead of saying the number the long way. However, many people are carrying the way they said years from last decade over to this decade as a bad habit. If we don't fix this now, we'll be stuck saying years the long way for the next 89 years. Don't let that happen!

Chances are the person officiating didn't know diddly about the departed, and is just making up platitudes. It seems more dis than respectful.

We had that happen when my great aunt died shortly after my grandmother (her sister). My grandmother lived with us and knew our minister fairly well (he and my folks were good friends), but he didn't know my great aunt. My grandmother's funeral was the first time the whole extended family had been together in years, so the wake was a kind of boisterous family reunion, and when we had the second funeral a couple months later the reverend conducted the service in that spirit with jokes and levity rather than the somberness that the occasion required.

My boss's boss is letting us out a bit early if we want. Since I got in at 7:00, I'll be leaving at 2:00 (an hour early), so I can run some errands and still get home in time to take a brief nap before going out to a NYE party.

Oooh, Perkins is at it again. I'm going to stick to characters.

F Joey, C Ross, M Chandler.

F Rachel, C Monica (sadly, because I'm fond of Monica!), M Phoebe (because at least I'd never be bored).

Victory is MINE! I found what I think are the same Khombu boots I bought at Cashmere's rec last time (or similar, anyway), a size up, at TJMaxx, for $27!! They are covered in glitter, but it looks like that was from an in-store accident, and I don't care anyway! AND I got two pairs of tights for $7!!

Then I went to Crate & Barrel to spend a $25 gift card, and ended up buying $50 worth of stuff, but STILL.

I've been putting off buying something at B&N with the $10 in gift cards I had received from the managers before Xmas, and I'm glad because I just received another one from one of my stepsisters, whom I didn't get anything for. I'm thinking about getting a book or two for her daughter.