I have been using a gmail account for school related emails and since GMAIL knows I am a dissertation writer (being that gmail is a full on snoop doggy dog), I get funny ads about dissertation writing services.

Now I know there are the “term paper” services, but a whole dissertation?

I would, I have to admit, love to meet some of these ghost dissertation writers because who in the right mind would ever want to write some one elses dissertation for a living? Or do they just do some serious cutting and pasting? I mean, it is hard enough to write your own, why take this up as a side job? But then again, there might be some people out there who are really GOOD at writing dissertation. I mean we all have our special gifts in life? And I bet they charge a pretty penny.

Anyway, the site is also pretty amusing, with testimonials like:

Top bananas. What can I say? — J.D. / LSE

Greg and the rest of the team offer you the chance to remember your student years for the good moments. — J.J. / Aberdeen Uni

to ‘very well’ thought out justifications:

Ok. What is it that you do then?

We take care of things. If you don’t want or feel that you cannot write an assignment or dissertation, we can do it for you. For a price, of course.

Eeeek! Isn’t that a bit…?

Yes, it is. A bit. But students have been doing it in since the Dark Ages and they are still doing it now. And if you’re going to do it, you would really want the best you can get, right? Well, we’ve been doing it since when we were at uni and we are very good at it, so you don’t need to worry about the quality of our work. Your university or college may not like it, but you are not going to tell them, are you? Your secret is safe with us. We’ve been keeping secrets for other students around the country (and some abroad) and we never told anyone. Not even our partners.

If I had money to burn I would give them on the many topics I would love to write about and see what they are capable of producing. And it is also good to know that if I don’t get a job, I can always work for them but I guess you are not considered unless you actually wrote your dissertation, but really who is to tell

I love it when some seemingly arcane academic topic (like framing and association in language) directly bears on politics. George Lakoff, a linguist from Berkely has recently published a new book Don’t Think of an Elephant that captures, in very straighforward language, the extraordinary power of language and association to shape political affect and desire. Moreoever he links the difference between progressive/liberals and conservatives to the ways each group views family, family relations, and especially child rearing. Thus, the images and words conservatives use directly evoke and reinforce the ways in which conservatives tend to see the role of family, and by extension, nation. Apparently, according to his arguments, progressives have not been adept at transforming thier program into an evocative language of values and associations.

You can read an excerpt of the book A Man of His Words as well as a nice Editorial .

As an anthropologist who studies geeks, I found this shirt being sold on Cafepress as infintely amusing…

Siva Vaidhyanathan has written a short but interesting piece, an “apologia” of anarchism, titled We are all anarchist now. A professed liberal, he studies anarchism and says we should take them seriously. As he concluded:

So anarchists are not as dangerous as the police and newspapers would have you believe. And they are not as effective as they dream they are or hope to be. But they do matter.

Now, I have to say my interest has been piqued. He seems sympathetic to anarchists but he is makes sure to designate himself a liberal (just in case we would confuse him as an anarchist). I would like to know more about what he sees as the compelling aspects of anarchism and what he sees as the unrealistic and problematic parts. Maybe this is covered in Anarchist in the Library, which is why I just recalled it from the library…

I am excited that Vitanuova is finally on a blog with an RSS feed. I love his stuff for he mixes critique with brilliant analysis yet he still manages to include little odd pieces about his personal life, like the fact that he is still “plays” Dance Dance Revolution…

I really appreciate a centralized site chock full of readable and searchable information on a topic. One such site, is the Bretton Woods Project, which I have only recently come across. I have really found it to be one of the best websites out there in terms of clarity, information, access, and useablity.

After not looking at my dissertation for one month, I finally took a look this morning. And it stuck me a little like a big bad wolf coming to devour me. But the messed up thing is I am that wolf, I mean, I wrote the darn thing, no? Hmmm, I better develop a healthier relationship to my dissertation, soon

Though back for four days, I am still swimming in a clogged universe of errands and administrative nightmares made worse by jet lag. I had very little of “the lag” in Paris but I guess a new city, friends, and conference can override your screwed up circadian rhythm while an endlessly long “to-do” list has no such positive effect except exhaust me so mcuh that I am in bed by 9 pm. I guess that is what I get for leaving home for nearly one month when there were clearly things to be done. I could go off for a long time about these quagmires but I refrain for it is a serious bore but I will offer one piece of advice: when and if you give away a large possession, like a car, do keep a paper trail of all exchanges. 2 years after giving, YES, giving my car to my ‘good’ Christian neighbors, I found out they never sent in the title to the CA DMV, and thus after disposing of the car on the side of the road, the paper trail leads to me, with a big fat $2600 bill along with it. Uggh, in one instant, I have ruined my credit for a 1978 Celica that I paid $750 for. To get this fixed, I will first have to appeal to these ex-neighbors on some lofty bed of Christain ethics before moving to the “American way”, that is, the threat of lawsuit (which might be a bluff unless I find some cheap lawyer) and ultimately move to paying it off over months.

Anyways, keep paper trails of it *all. *

Now that I am thousands of miles away from Paris, here are some initial and sporadic impressions of the city. Yes, yes, the architecture, gardens, food are supposed to be (and pretty much are) stunning, golden, brilliant, manicured and such. What they say is pretty much true, Paris is insanely nice. It must cost a pretty penny to upkeep the city for the gazillion tourists that frequent her streets. Clearly, Parisians have such a stong awareness of the visual uniqueness of the city, they push the structural and social ecology of the city into that direction of striking beauty.

The city performs like no other city I have seen. Paris is in a nutshell is a city of great surplus; its main goods of surplus being drama, perfomance, and beauty, so much so even the doogies know how to perform for interested parties with full drama in front of a Parisian cafe:

Its a city that compels you to keep walking and gawking even if your legs are burning and your eyes are stinging from fatigue. You keep going because you know that around the corner you will be assualted by something astonishing. Its charm and beauty spans the extravangantly ornate to the simplistically quaint, flowers of all colors mediating the various forms that beauty can take: