Woodbridge's Rudiments of Geography, Lesson 1: The Solar System

When I was home visitng the 'rents this weekend, my mom allowed me to snag some old books. OLD books. One of them is Rudiments of Geography, on a New Plan, Designed to assist the Memory by Comparison and Classification; with Numerous Engravings of Manners, Customs, and Curiosities. Accompanied with an Atlas, Exhibiting the Prevailing Religions, Forms of Government, Degrees of Civilization, and the Comparative Size of Towns, Rivers, and Mountains. (Fifth Edition from the third improved edition) by William C. Woodbridge, A.M. (Author of A System of Universal Geography). It was published in Hartford by Oliver D. Cooke & Sons in 1825.

So I was thinking that from time to time, I might publish some information from this fine book on geography. Today's fact comes from pages 15-18, on the planets:

4. There are seven primary planets in our system, revolving round the Sun in the following order: beginning at the Sun. 1. Mercury; 2. Venus; 3. the Earth; 4. Mars; 5. Jupiter; 6. Saturn; 7. Herschel, or the Georgium Sidus. The paths of these planets are called their orbits, and are represented on the following page.
5. There are 18 secondary planets, or moons, revolving round these primaries, of which the Earth has 1, Jupiter 4, Saturn 7, and Herschel 6.
6. Four very small planets, called asteroids -- Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta, have been discovered, revolving between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
7. Besides these, more than 400 comets, or starts with bright trains, have been seen revolving round the Sun.
8. All of these bodies from the Solar System, and receive their light and heat from the Sun in the centre.
...
15. The comets move irregularly, sometimes coming very near the Sun, and then flying off beyond the most distant planet. Only a few have been known to return, and at an interval of 75, 100, or 200 years.
16. The remaining stars are called fixed stars, because they keep nearly the same place in the ehavens from age to age. They may be distinguished from the planets by their twinkling light. About 1000 may be seen in a clear night by the eye; but from the examinations made with telescopes, it is probable that there are many millions. They are at an immense distance from us, and are supposed by many, to be suns in other systems, like our solar system.

This ends todays lesson.

Movie Reviews: Le Divorce; Dirty Pretty Things

Le Divorce - This movie bored me. By 30 minutes in, I just wanted it to end. Very predictible, with a few moments of what-the-fuck? unpredictability thrown in. Definately made for the American audience, since most of the non-Americans were charactatures. The acting was decent, and Kate Hudson was suitably charming, but there are better movies of a similar vein (Kissing Jessica Stein pops to mind). Joey gives Le Divorce one-point-five stars out of four and declares it "le stinker".

Dirty Pretty Things - Unlike the aforementioned film, this one instant had me wanting to know what happened next. It's sort of about underground London, with illegal immigrants (and legal immigrants, too, I suppose) doing things that they're not supposed to. The main character is so supremely moral that you can just see that it will be his downfall. If it is. I ain't saying. But I liked the characters and the quirks and the story and etc. It's being touted as odd, but I don't think it's that odd. It's just odd enough.
Joey gives Dirty Pretty Things three stars out of four and recommends it to anyne who is looking for a quirky flick.

On Books and Being Sticky

Tonight, with any luck, I will finish The Engineer of Human Souls. This is a double-plus-good thing, as I have been reading it for approximately a BILLION years and I just want it to end. I don't care how. (In related news, I asked a friend to loan me East of Eden when she's done with it. I'm a glutton. For punishment, too.) Next up: Jurassic Park, or: The Completely Bearable Lightness of Dinosaurs.

The AC broke in our building. I'm sticky. I blame G.W. Bush.

Fuck 'em.

Well, no one seems to want to respond to my Nerve ad, so I'm going to have fun with it:

MORE ABOUT WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR:
You're smart, fun, and maybe a little goofy. You're open-minded. You don't vote Republican. You're not full-time girly-girl, but you can be quite girly when you need to be. You don't mind going to a hockey game with me from time to time, and you don't mind inviting me to events you like (because I probably won't mind going). It doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) a together-every-moment kind of thing, but we should be #1 in each other's lives and make sure we show it.

Also, you should be a little freaky. A LITTLE freaky. Not necessarily so freaky that I KNOW you're freaky, because that just might be TOO freaky. But I'm willing to work with any level of freakiness, but it's definitely better to err on the side of TOO freaky. Freaky doesn't have to involve whips or chains or hanging from the ceiling or any of that stuff. Unless you want it to. Freaky just means a little kinky. Don't be scared by it. I should have left this paragraph out.

Let me put it this way: Vanilla is a great flavor of ice cream. If you're at the point where you're ready to try a cone from a new ice cream store, vanilla is a logical starting point. And it's a flavor that you'll come back to over and over. But in order to really know vanilla, you've got to try some other flavors. Maybe you'll have a small circle of flavors, staying mostly in the strawberry-chocolate-vanilla vein. But the girl I want is never happy with S-C-V. Yes, it can be the core, but you've got to occasionally like some rocky road or fidge ripple. You've got to be willing to at least TRY a tasting spoon of coconut almond fudge even if you don't think you'll like it. Lord knows I'll eat dish after dish of mint chocolate chip if you want me too and if it makes you happy, even if it's not my favorite flavor. Actually, if you really like a flavor then I'll probably eat it with great relish (as in "enjoyment of or delight in something that satisfies one's tastes, inclinations, or desires", not as in "a condiment (as of pickles or green tomatoes) eaten with other food to add flavor") because I love making you happy. There are 31 flavors in the shop and they're all worth a taste! There, I'm sure that makes perfect sense. Ice cream is a metaphor, by the way.

Really, I just want someone to share with. Someone who can run the gamut (I had to look up how to spell that) from snuggling on one night to a hockey game the next to a new restaurant and a show the next. From silly to serious as conditions warrant.