Simply creepy

Okay, I just received a SPAM message that had some bizarre and creepy words at the bottom. I understand that random sentences are now inserted in junk mail to fool Bayesian SPAM filters. But come on, this just freaks me out:

"Unlike so many toothpicks who have made their 

ghastly mortician to us, dissidents remain lowly.

Any prime minister can avoid contact with defined 

by tape recorder, but it takes a real swamp to 

avocado pit for."

 

Perhaps there is some truth to it taking a "real swamp to avocado pit for," but I remain skeptical. If I were Dennis Miller or some literary fakester I would say this was like Franz Kafka, or say it was Kafka-esque. But I have actually read Kafka, and this is not how he wrote. I like Europeans.

Is it too early to predict that Nicolas Sarkozy will be the next French president? No, general elections have not been called, but it appears he is about to take over Chirac's UMP. What's his appeal? For one, he knows there are more countries in Europe besides Germany. Two, as current finance minister he is taking potshots at the 35-hour work week and high-minimum (oxymoron?) wage that has brought his dear country to 10% unemployment. Third, he opposed the Muslim scarf ban, (Chirac was appealing to the lowest common denominator in politics, bigotry and antisemitism, by supporting that ban). Finally, unfortunately for Chirac, he is younger.

Writing about political things does not seem so distasteful if it's regarding another continent. If you are a norte-americano, you might now be thinking "they have a 35-hour work week?" This was proposed a few years ago to decrease unemployment and increase production. It has done neither. If you are wondering what the work week was before 2001-2002, it was 39 hours. Of course, this is a middle-class argument. I bet the average hard-working Frenchman is busting out 60-70 hours a week, just like his compadres around the world.

I worked even harder than that last year, and don't care to repeat it. Starting a new graduate program, totally online -- and from scratch, is no easy task. I was responsible for two of those classes. This year should be better. Many of my colleagues (across the university, not my department) feel they are part of the working class. This is an insult to the real workers in this country. (A casual look at their uncalloused hands will tell you the real story.)

Are my hands calloused? Sure, but only because I have a garden and am renovating my house.

--gh