DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE POST TWO

While looking up someone's email to try to get a recipe of a dish I loved, I stumbled across a bunch of pictures of Quintin, perhaps one of the best cats I've ever had.  I'm still extremely, extremely annoyed at my couchsurfers who let the cat out of the house and didn't think to bring him back inside, particularly after I had told them that he had been trying to escape recently so watch out.  It sucks -- he was like a dog, and totally awesome, fluffy, played fetch, and the friendliest cat ever.... I'm sure if Tigs ran away I'd probably care, but honestly, Quintin was a way cooler cat than her. 

Number properties are boringer than I thought possible. I prefer reading the Wiki articles on various number properties, which have way more interesting facts about them than this obtuse book.  But there's a rumor afloating around of a *giant* costume party tonight, so all may not be lost in the day!!!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE

I obviously like numbers in the hundreds. 

A friend told a story about a student of theirs named Kemal Mustafa Bata Turk (or maybe Bataturk). This has, in fact, prompted me to look up things for Bataturk and Atman. The best images so far:

There are more, too, like this:

More here:

In other blog updates, and semi-related to the above: what's in a name? A question pondering a false Rockafeller.  I knew a guy who interned with me whose last name was Kennedy. Not *the* Kennedys, but he said that for his entire life, it had just been assumed -- better safe than sorry. And, as an aside, Learned Hand did not become famous because of his name! 

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR

I just found out some great news from one of the ALASKAN CRUISE 2015 vacayers!!! Congrats jimotron and jan!!!!

Today it's a gross day! Get it? Ha! Actually, it's a really wonderful day outside - nice enough that I woke up *before* the alarm clock to stretch in bed, wishing that today was not a workday. And did you know that Shakespeare was partially or fully responsible for turning the non-number gross into what it is now?

I was asked to take a bet yesterday that I wish I had taken having to do with land area of various countries. I think I'd have been able to persuasively argue winning the massively important one lira bet. In lieu of that, though, I'd like my loyal readers, including those weird new hits I keep getting from Latvia, Japan, Ukraine, Slovenia and Malaysia (with several of the hits coming from search terms involving sonicwall and porn) to know:

Saint Pierre and Miquelon - one day, I'll remember their names - which I've written about before.  Nobody ever remembers it though. They use the Euro! And they're so close to Canada! And one of them lost its sole inhabitant!

I think that one of my friends must have posted this or sent it to me, because I found it open on my desktop today.  One of the foremost balloon sculptors of the world! 

OH MY GOD I DEMAND THAT YOU WATCH THIS VIDEO OF A LIONESS TRYING TO EAT A LITTLE BABY. And here's the full video. 

I gotta be honest: I think this biography is one of the least necessary I've seen in a long time (not the book, but the write up of the author's bio). Sunday book review time!

Here's a fun article about blimps with some interesting posters. I always wished there were more blimps - or, apparently as I've learned now, blimps, semi-rigid or rigid airships - which are really fun to see in the sky, but often seemed featured only over football games as far as I remember. Goodyear what what! And I love this picture of a series of floating ships.

And now, for the "scary but true" section of the blog.  CONVICT POKER! It's actually less poker and more a chicken/very angry bull game. And it's at the prison which houses the Angola 3 (now less than 3 but still really important), also previously written about on the blog, along with this one about solitary.

National Eagle Repository? Craaazy!

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE POST TWO

Oh, Kieth Haring is one of my favorite political artists ever. He's the subject of today's Google doodle. Bunches of websites all in this sentence for you to look at.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE

Gourmet Burger Kitchen is one of the best breakfasts to have after a loooooooong evening!

And that's about the extent of what updates I can muster up. Except we've gotten a TimeOut and I want to make gazpacho. Next Friday is bring a stranger to a party party. Imma invite "very hot guy" in my phone as I suspect he'll be a stranger to all. I'm also considering inviting some of the random names from the phone's previous owners. Also, "umit motorcycle" is in. I'd invite some of the other names ("air"), but frankly, even I've forgotten what some of the less obvious nicknames are and am afraid some of them have been so named because of their less-quality characteristics.

AND OH YEAH LUNCH TWO MEXICAN DELICIOUSNESS. officemate is going to be soooo jealous but she pretended she didn't want mexican food even though once i get it she's going to be so so sad. burrito AND nachos? yes please!!

COMIDA MEXICANO ESTOY EMOCIONADA POR MI COMIDA Y MI OFFICEMATE SERA CELOSA ES LA VERDAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDD

i have been requested to stop singing my new song about mexican food so thought i'd share it here.

today was a nap day, but not the conventional amanda-derya/(sara) apartment nap day. instead more of the unconventional ninja like nap!

If you just google cool pictures, most of the pictures are, in fact, not cool. However, this GINORMOUS INTERACTIVE SPACE INVADERS GAME is cool. 

So I started off with this search for cool things in Istanbul. And then I was all like, whoa, underground hotel coolness? That's where I'm demanding my 30th birthday be. Then I did this search. Which found this article ("when completed in 2010"), then this ("still not happening").

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO POST TWO

And now I get to walk home in a short skirt and a loooooooooong jacket. Not as fun as it sounds with Besiktas fans about.

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO

Skipped a day there due to not being at work. Awoken today to Hatice the cleaning lady asking a billion questions to one of my housemates who has not yet learned to pretend not to understand a lick of Turkish to most easily avoid having to deal with her repeated questions about the same things she has already learned about. 

Tuesday was May Day, and was a lovely little break from early-mid-week work.  Mine was spent laying in the grass in a park, cooking (Indian food, of course) and generally avoiding anything involving responsibility, which is how every May Day should be!  I didn't see any massive riots, but we did get to trade tales of years past.

Online classes: an integral part of year of Herkes on Top (HOT)!! Here are some more offerings, though I myself am focusing more on languages and less on science-y stuff, aside from programming.

So true, so true. Terrible taste.  And this xkcd comic is unfortunately rather true, except that in fact, you do need to use geometry, algebra, and number properties (powers, etc) on the GMAT. Really hard!

I've been listening to a lot of the grey album lately. This song in particular is really nice:

And this one which has several songs:

Lawyers, Guns & Money is one of my fav blogs/blawgs. Here's an analysis of the death penalty issue, along with the internally cited articles from the New Yorker about executing an innocent man. Here's the wiki article about the same issue.  This case was the basis for a Law and Order: SVU episode, though that's not mentioned in the wiki article. Here's another LG&M article about Willingham. I don't understand why the NLG doesn't use innocent people for its anti-DP/jailhouse lawyer issues (grrr Mumia), though I guess the most powerful, though less-moving, statement against punishments such as the death penalty would be arguing that even for guilty parties, it's not acceptable. Too bad so many groups maintain Mumia's innocence. !! Gr.

And finally, a shout out to Garanti Bankasi for its ability to mess up every thing conceivable in a banking experience. Go Garanti!! Go Garanti!! Though on the plus side, I did get some wickedly fantastic mint chocolate afterwards, before having to deal with Hatice some more at the house.  She may be onto our tricks, considering that she's now asking whether or not officemate is in the country. I too should have fled my house before her arrival, if only not to have to deal with her zillions of intricate questions about how she was supposed to clean the windows (I'm not sure if she noticed, but window cleaning is not my forte).