Random Thinking

Here is this week’s song off my iPod. This is a song from 1983 that most of you have probably never heard of.

Intaferon was a new-wave duo from England made up of Simon Fellowes and Simon Gillham. They released three singles on Chrysalis Records and then vanished from the face of the Earth. Their song, Get Out of London was featured in the 2001 Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie Winning London. They were also played on the TV show, Max Headroom. It was also done as a cover by The Pretenders in “The Wild Thornberrys Movie” (2002).

For those of you who are too young and have no idea what a single is, it is a record that has only two songs on it. It is called a single because you usually buy it just hear one song, the other song usually being a song that you never listen to because it isn’t very good. Unlike a CD, it has two sides and you have to flip it over to hear the other side. Most singles are a little larger than a CD but this record was a 12″ record. The other side had a slightly different version of this same song.

I tried to find out what happened to these two fine young men but my research has led basically nowhere. I have heard some rumors that one of them is a college philosophy professor but that is about all I have heard. Anyway, if you like MGMT I think you will really like Intaferon. If anyone knows what happened to the two Simons, please leave a comment.

Get Out Of London
Hold Tight
Monday morning wake up yawning
Break an egg, bust my head, maybe it’s a warning
Ring on the bell says it’s half past eight
Keys on the TV, hey I’m gonna be late
I’m walking on the pavement skipping all the lines
so the bears don’t eat me send me to the salt mines
Get on the bus but the bus don’t stop
my feet are sitting downstairs my head on the top
I can’t see out the window cuz there ain’t no sun
I think somebody’s tellin me to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

My feets keep movin and i don’t wear any socks
Can’t stop singing, head ting-a-lingin
Left my house, now I hang out in a phone box
Making coffins out of bits of old wood,
Sell ‘em cheap to the council though i know it’s no good to be a traitor,
collaborator, still i’d rather be a snitch than a cocktail waiter
Commit my crime now pay my penalty later
Okay all right i know I’m doin wrong but save it till tomorrow
got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Last night I lost my purity it started with a kiss,
I settled in to revel in a night of bedded bliss
I had a bee in my bonnet, a tiger in my tank
I was on my maiden voyage but my liner just sank
They call me jack of hearts, some would say a knave
My mother was the queen of tarts my baby was a sex slave
Pa’s selling weapons to the Red Army Faction
I burn myself in public just to get a reaction
Tattoo my face so my race is run
My car is on fire got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Don’t wear a suit don’t wear a smile,
Don’t wear my spikes out on the golden mile
Keep my hand on my gun, keep my eye on my mines
Keep my heart on the beat when I’m running through the front lines
Chain Gang chasin’ me but I’m quick as a fox
An’ i rock my body to the sound of the box
The louder you scream the faster we go
It’s an ack ack battery a boom-boom-boom
Helter Skelter flattery coming down soon
Pay packet, jug drug, babies buying fun,
Purdie’s on speed I got to G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Run don’t walk keep as straight as a crow,
I’m waiting for my treasure at the Admiral Benbow,
Blues in my pockets, Reds in my bed,
The weights are building bodies and the blacks are pumping lead

A Face in a photo, the beauty is bare tears on her cheek
She’s living in a nightmare turn the page to a brand new leaf,
Resolute swagger loot time to be a thief,
Go to task wear a mask four ponies a ton,
Keep out of Sing Sing got to G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

Everybody in the land turn into a sugar tooth beg like a puppy dog,
Brains like a hedgehog
Gimme Ten p and I’ll tell you the truth, sell you a wonder drug, elixir of youth
Threw a party for my friends so they wouldn’t be lonely
They wouldn’t let me in said it’s membership only
don’t worry bout me
Cuz I’m doin fine standing on my head
And sitting on a gold mine
Keep taking the nitro three times a day,
Keep out of the cross fire and G-G-G-G-G-Get out of London

As you probably heard by now, the Boobquake results are in and there were no changes in the number of earthquakes we had vs. the number expected just because American women dressed in a sexy manner. What? You didn’t hear about Boobquake?

It all started with a nut Iranian cleric by the name of Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi who said that the reason there are earthquakes is because women dress too sexy. Yes, we all laughed because no one in the west is silly enough to believe something like that except that… 1) Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, warned Orlando, Florida, that it was courting natural disaster by allowing gay pride flags to be flown along its streets. “A condition like this will bring about … earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor,” Robertson said. He also blamed the Haiti earthquake on voodoo. 2) Jerry Falwell blamed Hurricane Katrina on immorality and anti-Christian groups. So let’s keep that in mind as we continue.

Anyway, after the Iranian cleric’s statement, a group of American women (or maybe it was men) decided that American women should all dress in a sexy fashion one day to see if they could stir up some earthquakes or “boobquakes” as they were called*. Boobquake day was this past Monday and the result was that American women are not very good at getting the Earth excited enough to do any quaking.

As I was reading through some post-boobquake articles, I ran across an article written nine years ago in response to Pat Robertson’s attempt to correlate gay people and natural disasters. I would like to sum up some of the points in that article written by Janis Walworth, co-founder of the Center for Gender Sanity.

She takes a look at tornadoes as the natural disaster of choice. According to Robertson, states where gays are given more support and recognition should have more tornadoes. But the opposite seems to be true. The numbers show a negative correlation between the number of gay groups and the number of tornadoes. Based on this observation, a state like Alabama could avoid two tornadoes per year by doubling the number of gay groups within the state.

Next she looks at religious affiliation and here she finds a very high correlation. Jewish and Catholic populations seem to have a nearly zero correlation with tornadoes but the number of Protestants has a very high correlation with the number of tornadoes that a state will endure. This is especially true for states with a high Baptist population. Texas could cut its number of tornadoes in half by sending a few hundred thousand Baptists to Alaska (where there are no tornadoes). Interestingly, an examination of the numbers of gay religious groups reveals no significant relationship with tornadoes. So if Texas could convince those few hundred Baptists to become gay, that would also reduce the number of tornadoes.

So the statistical evidence would say that God likes gay people. It’s Baptists that he doesn’t like. Of course, correlation doesn’t prove causation so it is possible that Baptists just like tornadoes so they move to states that have lots of them but in any case, if leaders of the Protestant church are going to claim that tornadoes are caused by people that offend God, then they might want to check the data to make sure they know who exactly is offending God.

*Boobquake was actually invented by Jennifer McCreight, a science student and blogger from Indiana who, apparently, has a good sense of humor.

Update: Here’s Jennifer’s article from The Guardian on the results of Boobquake Day.

Here are the next two chapters in Twitter form. Only 50 years to go and things are starting to look bad.

C15: 408AD.Honorius emperor in West. Stilicho his general. Goths revolt under Alaric. Stilicho pays them off with gold and then killed.

C16: 425AD. Goths sack Rome in 410AD. Work for or against Western empire depending on pay. Indecisive emperor led by mommy. Barbarians!

First it was a young lady who wanted to attend her senior prom and now it’s a young lady who just wanted to appear in her yearbook.

It started with Constance McMillen, an honor student from Mississippi who happens to be a lesbian, wanted to attend her senior prom with her date. Her school refused to allow her to attend and when the ACLU successfully sued the school they canceled the prom and held a secret prom to keep Constance away. Constance was rewarded by being invited to lead the NYC gay pride parade and was given a college scholarship by “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Next, Ceara Sturgis , also an honor student from Mississippi who happens to be a lesbian, wanted to appear in her high school yearbook in a tuxedo. The school had no policy on what students could wear but the school refused to allow it. When Ceara received her yearbook, not only was her picture not included, but no reference to her was anywhere in the yearbook in spite of her being a star player on the school’s soccer team, a trumpet player in the school band, and an honor student. This is in spite of students who had dropped out or been arrested for drug use being included.

My daughter’s school is the exact opposite. They support the STRIDES club which promotes LGBT issues. They supported the students who participated in the day of silence. I am proud of my daughter for participating in the day of silence. I hope you will fight against schools that are anti-gay and fight to insure that all students are treated equally no matter what their sexual preference might be.

Update: The idiocy doesn’t seem to be isolated to Mississippi but seems to be running throughout the south. Parents in Booneville, North Carolina are planning to have a private prom so their kids aren’t contaminated by the gayness of Jordan Nixon in spite of the fact their kids go to school with Jordan five days a week. Jordan and his mother have been repeatedly told they are going to hell by the loving Christian community of Booneville.

Update #2: To finish on a humorous note… Ian Jolly, a blind man in Australia, was awarded $1,400 because a restaurant refused to allow him to bring in his guide dog. The waiter thought the man’s date said that they wanted to bring their gay dog into the Thai restaurant. Nudge, the guide dog, had no comment about the award but Mr. Jolly said he was pleased with the result.

Here are the next two chapters in Twitter form. We have reached about 395 AD. Chapter 14 was a wrap-up of the 4th Century, comparing the empire of 300AD with the empire of 400AD. Only 80 years left.

C13: 395AD. Valens next emperor. Lets Goths in but treats poorly. They launch war. Valens killed. Theodosius finally beats after 6 years.

C14: 395AD. Theodosius last ruler of entire emperor. Makes empire Christian. His death empire splits becomes weaker. Bishops get more power.

Here is this week’s song off my iPod.

Thursday is a post-hardcore band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. The members of the group are Brett Anderson (vocals), Torry Castellano (drums, percussion), Allison Robertson (guitar, vocals), and Maya Ford (bass guitar, vocals). The group formed in 1997 and is made up of Geoff Rickly (vocals), Tom Keeley (guitar), Tim Payne (bass), Tucker Rule (drums), and Andrew Everding (keyboards). The group received a heavy underground following in 2001 with the release of the album Full Collapse which received heavy airplay on MTV2.

The group has released six albums with the album War All The Time released in 2003 being their most successful. That album reached #7 on the US charts and #62 on the UK charts. The title is from a poem by Charles Bukowski. The band has stated that in spite of having been released shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center, the title is not political but reflects the struggles we face in our daily lives Their two subsequent albums have both done well on the US charts but have not done as well as War All The Time. Their most successful single, “Signals Over the Air,” came from War All The Time and reached #30 on the Billboard US Alternative Music chart.

Fall Behind Me
this is what you see when you look in my direction:
incandescent corsets draw eyes tight like wires.
this is how it feels,
calling out but no one even hears

the signals that we send over the air
over the air
over the air
over the air.

when you say my name,
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say (when you say) my name (when you say it)
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.

is this how it feels
when you dont even fit into your own skin?
and its getting tighter,
every day i’m getting smaller
if i keep holding my breath i’m going to disappear.

when you say my name,
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say (when you say) my name (when you say it)
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.

there’s no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
there’s no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on.

if i keep holding my breath, all of this will fade away.
if you keep driving we’ll be lying in the wreck.
changing the shape,
folding like an envelope to keep each other in.
shattered glass, broken looks, and mascara gets
washed away by windshield wiper blades
safe, safe

when you say (when you say) my name (when you say my name),
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say (when you say) my name (my name)
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.

there’s no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
there’s no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
that’s where we hide
the love and lies and sex, on the radio.

Thursday – Signals Over the Air

Here are the next two chapters in Twitter form. We have reached about 375 AD. Only 100 years left.

C11: 360AD: Nephew Julian named heir. Two control barbarians. Julian declares himself emperor. Constantius dies before battle with Julian.

C12: 375AD. Julian last pagan emperor. Bit of a nut. Gets himself killed. Jovian then Valentinian rule. Corruption everywhere in government.

I was sick last Friday and then we had the trip to Rider University so we missed the song of the week. But here is this week’s song off my iPod.

The Donnas is an all female rock band from Palo Alto, California. The members of the group are Brett Anderson (vocals), Torry Castellano (drums, percussion), Allison Robertson (guitar, vocals), and Maya Ford (bass guitar, vocals). They first formed as a group when they were in the 8th grade but did not achieve commercial success until 2002 with the release of their first album on the Atlantic label, Spend the Night. The group’s music has appeared on several video games including Gran Turismo 4, True Crime: Streets of LA, and MVP Baseball 2003. The group has appeared in several TV shows including MADtv and Charmed. The group released a greatest hits album last summer and plan a new album to be released at the end of this year.

The song Fall Behind Me has been one of the group’s most successful songs reaching #29 on the US Modern Rock chart and #55 on the UK charts.

Fall Behind Me
I can’t believe she bought it
She got too close and she caught it
Had a point but she forgot it
When you skip steps on the way up
The gaps have a way of catching up
And you cant cover that with makeup

Your gonna fall behind me
Your gonna cry and beg for mercy
Cause your not ready baby
And you got nothing on me

Now that I’m getting to know her
Part of me wants to show her
Who she’s really screwing over
Cause she’s got nothing real
Taking everything she can steal
Just like it was her last meal

Your gonna fall behind me
Your gonna cry and beg for mercy
Cause your not ready baby
And you got nothing on me

How long is she gonna be around
And how long do we have to watch her dumb it down
Cause when its cheap it fades fast
And how long does she think its gonna last?

Your gonna fall behind me
Your gonna cry and beg for mercy
Cause your not ready baby
And you got nothing on me

Your gonna fall behind me
Your gonna cry and beg for mercy
Cause your not ready baby
And you got nothing on me

The Donnas – Fall Behind Me

The Rider University campus itself is actually nice. The image above is a map of the campus. You can click on it for a larger version. Here is the virtual tour. Beth’s dorm would be on the right side of the main loop and on the other side of the loop is the cafeteria and the gym. They have an area with exercise equipment and video games so you can exercise your body or your fingers.

At the top of the loop is the library and to the right of the library are the classrooms. The entire campus is wireless. It’s also set up so that you can print at various locations. The school has a terrible basketball team but students can go to the games for free. In the back of the campus are the Greek houses (I think there are 8 or 10 fraternities and sororities) and the baseball/soccer fields. The school’s football team was suspended in the early 1950′s for paying players and never reformed so the joke is that the team is undefeated for more than 50 years.

If you view the virtual tour and click on button 3, you will see Brian who is one of the students we met in Garden City. Brian, like Beth, is an English/Education major. I think he really helped Beth make up her mind that Rider University was the right school for her.

Here are the next three chapters in Twitter form. We have reached about 350 AD. Only 125 years left.

C8: Late 3rd. Diocletian takes over and makes things better. Brings in 2nd emperor and 2 juniors (Tetrarchy). 20 years and then retires.

C9: 330 AD. Tetrarchy crumbles as Constantine kills the rest. Makes Christianity legal in empire. Empire stable. Builds Constantinople.

C10: 350 AD. Constantine’s family is raised as Christians. Kill each other until only Constantius is left. Trusts no one. Kills everyone.