Not very important

Nican-Nicuica has just pushed blogger (where I come from most of the time) from the first place of the referrer-ranking (i.e. most people like you who come here indirectly, do so via M's diary, and probably M himself comes here all the time, or - what it looks like - at least thrice a day ;-). Third is Fatale Fem, fourth Ninebysix.

Most of you live in the Nl. Or Germany. Or Summertime. Or America, or maybe Canada?

Congratulations.

Or something.

Oh, and we haven't reached the thousand visitors-barrier yet (not counting reloads of course, because then we would be well over it), but with some effort from your side (I won't cheat) we'll make it!

Forgot something

This was posted on the wall of the School of history office:

"just think
right now you could be on an Erasmus study period in Europe...
exploring a different culture
experiencing a whole new lifestyle
partying with new friends
enriching your degree
and improving your employment prospects

but you're not are you
you're just standing here reading this.

EXPERIENCE ERASMUS"

And these were my thoughts:

"HA!"

(not to you of course, but to the anglocentric posters of this notice)

Another shorty

There's a row here about the university having invested (massively) in the weapon industry. But we're in good company: Trinity in Cambridge, St. John's in Oxford and King's in London appear to have been doing the same. Anything similar happening at UCL or UCU or possibly Amsterdam, Leiden, Rotterdam, Groningen, Maastricht, Enschede or wherever?

A note on my work for the museum (today was spent labelling and cataloguing the bones) Maybe rhinos and elephants in Devon make perfect sense to you. Maybe they don't. So, here's some (tiny bit of) more information: the bones were found underneath a new motorway bypass (the A30) near Honiton, a town east of Exeter, in 1968. They date from the pleistocene (ca. 30,000 yrs. ago/BC/doesn't matter), when now and then (during the interglacials) the North-West of Europe had a warmer climate and Britain was not cut off from the continent. And then you get the "Ze lopen gewoon met me mee"/"The boy who was followed home"-effect...

Darn tests... (but they're on request!)

I might have been too quick with Priscilla, because I got a request for a more basic test first*. If you don't like the results, you can always try again here.

If now you are utterly confused, than this is probably the message: don't take your identity too seriously. Although that's easier said than done, because that's how western society is constructed at the moment...

That doesn't mean though that gay identity shouldn't be taken seriously (although of course it's just great fun at the same time), for as bell hooks (no capitals) has argued with respect to black identity: identity is a stage in a process of emancipation, wherein one constructs radical [gay/black] subjectivity, thus generating other options besides assimilation, imitation or rebellion: it is no fixed property, but a practical and historical (which means that it changes over time) tool in a political struggle. Identity-Politics...

Oh, and K.: if you're worried: have a look here. I'm sure it will reassure you! (I hope, but if not: I still love you!)

*Excusez-moi for the ads that make the unfounded assumption that the visitor (that's you) is a lesbian (oh, or a male heterophile of course).