why i study sociology

"...systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures"

Carca-sucks: dry wit from the lands of france

its terrible... but i really like the part about the french and descartes

http://jenniferash.blogspot.com/

this can't be it

well, this looks like it might be it.

my bags are packed, my paper (now retitled: "Constructing Peace: Institutional structures and the Preponderance of Nationalist Politics in a Post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina") is turned in, and my ipod is charging.  

this can't be the end, there's still so much to tell.

like how we went to a club in the hull of a boat on the danube, that little Sri Lankin restaurant, the rathaus where we watched opera on a giant projector and ate iranian zabaan or the winery!  what about the stephansdome?  and i didn't even mention the other DA students, or dr. jenkin's kids or my roommate

there's so much i haven't said.  

its best this way.  can tell you the rest when i get back. 

hey what are you doing sunday?  wanna get some coffee or pancakes?  how about 11 at vin, you're buying.

jacob

http://slaveryinghana.blogspot.com/

a joke

today we met with the BiH representative to the OSCE. he told us
this joke:

a man in a big black car, perhaps a lexis or a BMW, drives into a
field full of sheep in the middle of the bosnian country side. the
man gets out of his car, looks around and he sees a shepherd tending
to the sheep in the field. so the man walks over to him and asks,

"is this your field?"
"yes" the shepherd says.
"and are these your sheep?"
"yes"
"i'd like to make you a bet" the man in the big black car says, "i
bet that i can guess the number of sheep you own, and if i'm right,
you'll give me one of your sheep."

so the shepherd agrees, and the man in the big black car goes into
his trunk and pulls out his laptop. he gets onto his computer,
connects to a satellite image, and using some 'sheep counting
algorithm program' figures out that there are 176 sheep in the
field. he walks back over to the shepherd and says, "you have
exactly 176 sheep."

the shepherd says, "you're right. i have exactly 176 sheep, you've
won."

so the man in the big black car picks up a sheep, and puts it onto
his back. but before he can leave the shepherd interrupts him,

"let me make you a bet" he says. "i bet that i can guess what
organization you work for, and if i win you give me back my sheep."

the man in the big black car agrees, and the shepherd says, "you work
for the international community"

"you're exactly right" says the man in the big black car, "how did
you know?"

"well" the shepherd says, "first you parked your expensive car in the
middle of my field, then you sold me information that i already knew,
and the sheep you have on your back is my dog."

2 things

yes, i'm going to a Harry Potter release party tomorrow night at 1 am.

no, i won't ruin the ending for you.

always,

jacob

for ian

(adapted from my weekly cultural reflection paper -- for a full transcript of this paper please email: rosch@email.unc.edu)

often when i make a cultural observation it is of benign nature: ketchup is sweet here, they use coins for dollars, no one uses gel deodorant...  things are different, but equal in the sense that it's all a matter of convention.  rarely do i ever link my casual observations with deeper philosophical disputes, especially those of a metaphysical nature – this post's reflection happens to be that type of observation – and it concerns how you number floors.

when we arrived at the D.A. and i was told that my room was on the 3rd floor, i understandably assumed this meant my room would be on the 3rd floor of the building; this was not the case.  in a trend a have observed across europe (and troublingly also in israel) the first, or ground floor of a building is labeled as floor 0, and the next ascending floor is labeled floor 1; meaning the "3rd" floor is the 4th floor of the building.  this was simply a nuisance until i realized this was a logical fallacy, of metaphysical proportions.  allow me to explain.

the logic of the 0th floor is this: the ground floor exists at the level of the street, therefore it is not delineated from the rest of its surroundings.  therefore, a 1st floor only exists in relation to this ground floor.  

while this logic maybe sound, it is blatantly invalid (not only because i did not phrase the argument in the proper form-- sorry jack).  if a 1st floor only exists in relation to the 0th or ground floor, then how many floors does a one story building have?  0? that's impossible because the definition of a building includes the concept of a ground, above which the structure is built.  a building by definition must have at least one floor; a 1st floor if you will.  it is only logical that this 1st floor should be labeled 1st since it is by definition the 1st floor of a building...