tuesday night, i went with laura and newDavid (aka goodDavid) to hear steve pinker talk about his latest book, the blank slate. (i haven't watched it, but i suspect the lecture linked on the site is good, and worth viewing, if you are interested in the "nature v. nurture" debate and theories of human nature.) summing up, he's arguing against the traditional theory of human nature, that is, that humans are born *a blank slate*, that humans can be characterized as *noble savages*, and that humans are more than the sum of their parts, that is, that there is a soul, or a *ghost in the machine*. he ended his talk by saying why we wouldn't even *want* those as bases of human nature. i'll leave it to you to read the book (or watch the video), which i'm sure is delightful, as are all of his books. he is a great speaker, clear and funny, and god to psycholinguists, which made up for the fact that i was the choir, and he was preaching.

before the talk, we ate at fatou & fama's, a senegalese restaurant at 40th and chestnut. we had the buffet, because we are all suckers for having some of everything, if that is an option. we got to talking about alicia, the new swedish wife of a fellow grad student and fiddle-playing swedish folk musician, and the fact that she had spent some time in africa last year, learning to play the drums. there was some question about where she had gone. a small country in the west, starts with a 'g', completely surrounded by some other african country. but we couldn't think of what it was, then. well, i'm here to say it's not gabon, which was the only 'g' country we could think of, pathetically.

it was gambia (actual name is apparently, charmingly, The Gambia).

for your interest, here is an interactive map of africa (find djibouti! find burundi!). the gambia is surrounded by senegal (i find it neatly coincidental that we were eating senegalese food while having this conversation) on the west coast of the hump. sadly, the gambia doesn't even get its own pop-up name, but is lumped together with senegal. gabon, not the country alicia visited, is located on the west coast south of the hump.

here is another map, this time a closeup of the gambia:

and a third, just so we're all overdosed on the gambia:

fun fact about the gambia:

"In 1857, the French ceded their sovereignty over Fort Albreda to Britain. During the SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA [caps original, and left because i think they convey the appropriate feeling of urgency], Britain and France agreed in 1889 that British sovereignty should extend as far as a cannon could shoot from a gunboat navigating the Gambia river (i.e. 15 km distance); hence the peculiar shape of the country." -whklma, whatever that is

is it just me, or do the other comments on that page ("The French took Fort James in 1695 and 1702, only to return it shortly afterward," "In 1779 the French, coming from Fort Albreda, occupied Fort James, but returned it to Britain in 1783," "In 1815, Britain returned Senegal to France," "In 1857, the French ceded their sovereignty over Fort Albreda to Britain.") make it seem as if the gambia and senegal and their various forts were traded back and forth in poker games or something:
"look here, you bloody Frenchman, you are out of money. to continue to play, you are going to have to bet something of value."
"what about ze gambia, my eenglish friend?"
"i said something of VALUE, my good man"
"but ze gambia eez sunny and warm, not like your ridiculous breetish island. you can live zere, and enzhoy ze sunshine."
"i'd rather have me bollocks nailed to the mast of a sinking ship!"

okay, perhaps that's enough for me for today, and i should just step slowly away from the keyboard...

my car overheats

25 September 2003 - 10:56 am

so my friggin car already! last night, driving home from IK*A with a car full o' stuff, plus karl and my friend anna, my car overheats on the highway. we're just approaching the city ave exit on 76 east, and i'm noticing a weird sound as i put my foot on the gas, then a lack of power (my foot on the floor, still only doing 55), then anna says "your temperature gauge is all the way up at 'H'" and sure enough it was. so i pull off at city ave, and halfway up the exit ramp, the oil light comes on, the car dies, and the engine starts smoking. FABulous. blah blah blah, could've been worse (it wasn't raining, or cold. well, a teensy bit chilly, but still). called aaa, and an hour later the tow guy shows up. i had sent anna and her half o' the stuff off with jared (knight in shining armour (aka a vw golf)), so karl and i rode with the tow guy back to the garage. 12 miles, first 3 are free with aaa basic. $3/mile after that, so it was $27 for towing. not bad, really. thank goodness i was close-ish to the garage.

anyhow, i'm waiting to hear from the garage about what the hell is wrong with my car. this is the car that i spent $450 (including inspection) on in march to get the catalytic converter replaced (it failed emissions), inspection) and $732 just last week to replace the rack and pinion and fix a frozen brake arm or something. this is a 1987 accord, and really not worth $1100+/year in repairs. sigh. we'll see what's wrong this time, then evaluate the possibility of getting another car.

if it's just another thing that had finally gotten old and given it up, then that's fine. it's a 16 year old car, and these things are expected. so far, this car has treated me very well, actually. (hondas. love 'em.) all the stuff that's gone wrong has been stuff that's just gotten old. no bad parts. we'll see.