ramble through the bronx

Thursday, February 24, 2005

librarian-tastic

Hey - it's my last shift filling in for Nancy at the library. I just wanted to share the following:

I just got to do the librarian 'Shhhh!' Yay me!

Or, rather, in this case, the librarian "Could you turn your music down, please?" to someone whose music (through his headphones) was audible from twenty feet away.

And silence (or, relative silence) reigned....

jane 6:07 PM [+]

Sovereignty, schmovereignty

From Macleans:

U.S. officials have indicated they didn't really need Canada's help, but would have appreciated political support from their neighbour as they attempted to sell the plan abroad.

Good times with missile defense nonsense, and the accompanying discussion on Metafilter.

(I particularly liked this comment on the situation:

I don't think you understand.

America has a sacred duty to defend Canada's' right to American leadership!

As Americans, we share a common cultural and ethnic heritage with Canadians: both countries speak the same language (except for a few unfortunate Quebecois) and are derived form the same British racial stock (except for some minorities from the East Mexico and, as inevitably as great cities attract rats, a smattering of Jews).

Indeed, it is a mere accident of history that British North America is not united in one common Empire. Truly, Canada could be called "Northern America".

Canadian Chancellor Schuschnigg is foolish to defy the American Protector for Canada, Mr. Celluci, and even more foolish to resist the historic re-Union of the North American Empire. He should recall the fate of the late Canadian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss.

If necessary to preserve the territorial integrity of Canada and the freedom of the Canadian people to join in our American Empire, we are prepared to annex Canada as a U.S. state. We know how to protect the ten million ethnic Americans living on ours borders - whether in Canada, the Danzig Corridor, or the Sudetenland!

We and the Canadians are one People, and they deserve to be led by our Leader, President Bush! One People, One Empire, One Leader!

Continued Canadian intransigence can have but one resolution: Anschluß!
posted by orthogonality at 12:51 PM PST on February 24

Good times. Good times.)

--
a quick update
(very quick)

Third date: good; dinner at Roberto's; wine at my place; overnight snuggling; in the morning I had coffee, he had tea. (he drinks not the coffee. alas.)
Fourth date: this sunday; meeting at 4 at his place in Brooklyn; wandering around Prospect Park; then a couple of his friends are joining us to watch the Oscars from his place (this should be fun - watching the Oscars with folks who actually know something about film!!)

jane 5:48 PM [+]

I so need to go to bed

OK, I have to be up super-early tomorrow morning, but here's a list of things that I would blog about at length, if I had time right now:

(1) So much church! We gave Archbishop Desmond Tutu an honorary degree today; I went, of course -- but so much God-talk! The ceremony took place at the University church. Archbishop Tutu was charming, but I was expecting more substance, less "yay South Africa! yay beacon of hope! Yay God!!"

(2) Alien Vs. Predator. A better movie than we (Ariane, Gary, Dave Zinn) were expecting. Who knew?

(3) I'm substitute teaching Dr. Tress's senior Philosophical Issues in Feminism tomorrow morning at 11.30. It's the first day on radical feminism - we get to talk about Catharine Mackinnon & co. Yay fun! I'm so looking forward to it. (I have to brush up on what they're reading, specifically, hence my plan to get to my office -- where my feminism books are lately -- by 8.30 am, hence the need to get up early, & go to bed now!)

(4) I got into the Royce conference!

(5) My third date with James went well; we're going to get together this Sunday, Monday or Tuesday depending on schedules; I think I'm going to let myself start to get excited about him (maybe I just like being called a "cute snuggler").

(6) Oh, just got email from James, looks like it will be Sunday. Yay!

jane 12:07 AM [+]

CBC!!!

Look at this: http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/boutique.aspx?CatalogName=CBCBase&CategoryName=boutique_cbcgear_subroot&lang=en-CA

Particularly this one:

CBC Gem Water-Filled Memo Holder w/ Maple Leaf
Regular Price: $8.25

Product ID: CPGEN00073

In stock. Usually ships in 2-3 business days.

Keep it together with the CBC -- Canada's largest cultural institution. This funky globe features the CBC gem on the front and a red maple leaf floating on the inside. It holds up your papers and reminds you of your downright canuckiness. (If that's not a word, it is now.)

Average Customer Rating: 4

Mmm, canuckiness.

And they're getting more money!

I really will have the logo tattooed on my ass someday. (I told my mom that, and you know what she said? "Me too!")

jane 7:14 PM [+]

Aaack! Library emergency!

OK, so I'm working at the Reference Desk. I'm filling in for Nancy, who's a fulltime librarian here who's away for a week having surgery. I'm supposed to work alongside an undergraduate student, but since today's a holiday, I guess everything's messed up, and no one has shown up to work with me. I've been here since noon, and will be here for another hour and a quarter, and haven't even left to go to the bathroom, much less lunch.

Let's just say I'm a little tired, and a little frazzled, since there've been a number of questions that I haven't been able to answer, since hey -- I only fill in every couple months, and haven't worked here regularly since the summer. Like trying to track down a dissertation from 1932 for which the person on the phone wasn't sure of the correct author, title, or department. (Dissertations prior to 1975 or so aren't indexed online; you have to flip through the ancient card catalogue in one corner of the room - so I had to go back & forth between the phone at the desk and the catalogue, trying to get a better idea of what she was trying to find). And of course questions all come together -- half an hour when I'm sittin' around browsing the internet or trying to grade papers, and suddenly three in-depth questions all in a row. (Or even a bunch of stupid questions).

Anyway, the phone rings. I kind of hope that it's someone saying that they'll be here soon to work with me (even when the undergrad student workers don't necessarily know everything, from working here more regularly than I do they at least know a fair amount that I don't, and at least can help figure out what to do). The caller has a thick, thick New York accent, and I can't really figure out what he's saying.

Caller: Is this the Walsh Library Reference Librarian?
Me: Yes, can I help you?
Caller: I need a priest... can you find me a priest?
Me: Pardon?
Caller: It's an emergency -- I need a priest -- can you get one?
Me: Uh... there's... uh... pardon?
Caller: It's an emergency - I need a priest - it's Last Rites -- is there a priest around?
Me: (thinking maybe there's a fulltime staffer over in Circulation who'd have a vague clue what to do) Could you try calling Circulation?
Caller: I don't have any more quarters -- look, can you just get me a priest?
Me: I can ask Circulation...
Caller: Look, I want you to do it, so I know it's done, otherwise how will I know?
Can you get me a priest?
Me: Uh...
Caller: OK, I'll wait while you go ask Circulation.

(I go to Circulation. There's only a couple student staffers. They say that Stewart, one of the fulltime librarians, would know, but he's already left. They don't know what to do.)

(I return to Reference. Before I pick up the phone, I look through the directory for the Jesuit Residences, and find them)

Me: OK, I can give you the phone number for one of the Jesuit residences.
Caller: I don't have any more quarters... ok, just give me the number.
(Note that while I recognize he doesn't have any more quarters, I don't have another line, and since I'm alone, can't really leave the desk to go hunt down a priest somewhere on Fordham's campus)
Me: I have the phone number for Spellman or Loyola... which do you want?
Caller: Whatever the main one is, with a priest.
Me: They're both residences... I think Spellman is the main one...
Caller: Is that where they live? The priests?
Me: Yes. Here's the number. (I give him the number)
Caller: Just in case your guys don't work out, can you give me the number of lkasjrdl?
Me: Pardon?
Caller: Kyeskasjdflajsdf -- you know, they do the (totally indecipherable) every year? With the prayers?
Me: What do you want? Pardon?
Caller: You know... just dial information on your other line... Christopher's.
Me: (looking "Christopher's nyc" up on google) Uh... is it a church?
Caller: No, Christopher's, just ask information, there's only one, or look in the Manhattan white pages.
Me: (look it up) Oh... Christophers... on E48th? Is that it? (I give him the number)
Caller: OK, thanks.
Me: Good luck...

So, someone needs last rites (i.e., is dying), this guy only has enough quarters for one call, and I'm the person he reaches. I feel awful -- god... I wish I knew how to summon a priest. Insta-Priest! But sometimes I just have no idea what to do....

I'd like to go home now. One hour left. I have no idea if anyone's even coming to relieve me. What the hell. I'm leaving anyway, at 8pm, no matter what. Besides, I'm meeting up with Ariane at Arthur Avenue Cafe to eat, drink wine, and talk about stuff. (like my third date with James).

Oh yeah, and while I was typing this, another call came in -- first the guy wanted to know when the library closes tonight (easy, midnight), then he wanted to know where some special accounting thing was (???), and then asked to be transferred to Circulation. I have no idea how to make the transfer thing work on these phones. And of course no helpful undergrad to tell me (they know that sort of thing). I think I hung up on him.

Argh. and Ack.

jane 6:46 PM [+]

This is the most wonderful thing ever

I think I may have to buy some Spazzstick.

Especially since it's made by trolls.

(via BoingBoing)

jane 3:41 PM [+]

Ah, fun

Paris Hilton's cell phone was hacked, revealing various phone numbers and pictures.

From the Drudge Report, first to pick up on this story:

PARIS HILTON PHONE HACKED; PRIVATE NUMBERS OF STARS FLOOD INTERNET; FBI INVESTIGATES
**Exclusive**
Sun Feb 20 2005 09:39:20 ET

Private telephone numbers of celebrities have been unleashed on the Internet after an apparent hacking into Paris Hilton's T-MOBILE SIDEKICK Address Book, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The FBI has opened an investigation into the hack, a government source said.

The DRUDGE REPORT has confirmed the authenticity of many of the unlisted and super-secret numbers: Private phone numbers and email addresses of Eminem, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Andy Roddick, Ashlee Simpson, Victoria Gotti, Vin Diesel, Anna Kournikova and many others!

One top star reached Sunday morning expressed total outrage at Paris.

"I gave her my number after we met in Miami, I did not know she f**king kept it on her cellphone!" the star explained.

A website posted the digits over the weekend, with the message: "I'm Sorry Bitch :) GG FGT SLT BTCH! HACKED BY THE NIGGAS AT DFNCTSC"

Also splashed in the hack, Paris Hilton's private notes, listed by date.

From Hollywood to Vegas to New York -- and back, Paris Hilton's notes, road directions, hotel and airline preferences are exposed.

Developing...


Filed By Matt Drudge

Ah, good times. OK, back to grading...

--

Wait, there's more --

This has already spawed a t-shirt!. Wow, the internet is fast. Just see the long discussion on Metafilter.

(Oh, and not entirely related, but the Chris Rock story is cute too. It was also via Metafilter).

jane 2:34 PM [+]

Remember Riverbend?

She's still around, buying produce, worrying about her country.

(I last posted about Riverbend in September 2003.)

jane 2:38 PM [+]

Is any of this controversy making its way up north?

'Cause it's juicy. Everything you always wanted -- corruption, lies, the Internet, spies, and a gay prostitute! The Jeff Gannon/James Guckert story (careful, this link has lots of pictures). The Daily Show has its take too. And Frank Rich, as always, has a great take, and Maureen Dowd concludes: "Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse than hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it."

OK-- a bit more to add -- This is actually proof of God's existence!

Everyone is still missing the point of the story. The story is not, as nitwits like Howie Kurtz maintain, that people are being mean to someone just because he's conservative. The story is not that Gannon is a hypocrite for promoting an anti-gay agenda. The story is not even that the White House gave such access to a reporter for a dummy news service operating under an assumed name, and may have used him to expose Valerie Plame. This is not the story.

The story is that God exists.

Think about it: what are the chances that a media whore like Gannon would turn out to be an actual whore? It's impossible. It boggles the mind how infinitely unlikely this is. It's like if you found someone pirating CDs, and it turns out he actually had a peg leg and a parrot on his shoulder and sailed around the Caribbean saying "arrrrrr!" and plundering booty. You wouldn't believe it. But there it is: impossible, but true. Impossible truths are miracles, and only God can work miracles. Ergo, God exists. Q.E.D.

Fantastic.

arrrr!!

jane 2:27 PM [+]

The Gates... the Crackers... the Gates of Somerville...

All very inspiring. This week, The Crackers and The Gates of Somerville joined Jeanne-Claude and Christo's Gates. Not everyone is impressed, but few people will say a word against them.

(if you're going to click on one of these, let it be the Crackers. I promise.)

jane 10:58 PM [+]

The good advice of Townes Van Zandt

(Courtesy, in this incarnation, of the Be Good Tanyas cover...)

Am Dm
Sometimes I don't even know where this dusty road is taking me
Am E
Sometimes I don't even know the reason why
Am
But I figure I'll keep on ramblin'
Dm
Lots of booze and lots of gamblin'
Am E Am
It's easier than just waitin around to die.

jane 12:45 PM [+]

Still going strong... haven't yet seemed to turn him off

Apparently he is into me. Got an email, clockwork, by the end of the second day after the second date. Huzzah! He said the evening (the second date) was "charming", and seems to be suggesting a trip to The Gates, for some "particular reason", that he won't specify (he just says "more on that later.") I'm intrigued.

Just got home from the Met's production of La Boheme, which I was fortunate enough to see with my friend Doug since he had an extra ticket. (Thanks to the boys of Ciszek, for deciding to go to class instead of the opera, thus leaving Doug with a spare! Huzzah!).

So, good day.

(Second date: Saw Finding Neverland; went for Indian Food on 6th Street; drank Love My Goat wine from the Finger Lakes area of New York State -- I'd bought it before from a NYC winery specializing in NY State wines; wandered arm in arm; went to KGB; sat in the corner drinkin' whiskey - me, JD, him, Macallan*; smooched; walked back to subway at Union Square; smooched; bid each other adieu. Oh yeah, he brought chocolates. Did I mention the chocolates?)

For the record, my life isn't all wandering around Manhattan, seeing art, attending operas, eating delicious food, and drinking copious amounts of wine and whiskey.

It's just an enjoyable part of it. (Some friends are actually having a scotch tasting night tomorrow night. Yum! Other than Laphroaig, I'm not sure what else we're drinking).

Anyway, so the next poll is -- how long before I get my hopes up & they're dashed to pieces on the hard Manhattan concrete? (very hard concrete, there, in Manhattan)



* The Macallan was actually my recommendation; but this JD needs her JD. If you know what I'm sayin'.

jane 12:19 AM [+]

So the second date went well...

The second date went well. I'll tell you all about it later. But, this is the important thing -- it went well, there was more smooching, he brought me a small thing of chocolates with a card ("Jane, For the Cute Canuck, Happy Valentine's, From James"), we had a good time, we had wine, we had whiskey. But OK. It was Sunday. How long should I wait for him to email / call me (he has my number) before I email/call him? If he doesn't email/call, is it true he's just not that into me? Maybe he's shy? I emailed him to say thanks 2 days after our first date, and he emailed back suggesting plans for the weekend; hence our 2nd date. But what do I do now? Maybe I could email him thanking him for the chocolate, making some pithy comment about what I was doing as I ate them? Or what? Argh!

I'm hopeless.

Completely hopeless.

So, please, a vote. How long should I wait? Should I email him? What should I do? This is already the second day after our date. I submit to the good wisdom of my good friends.

jane 3:06 PM [+]

I should read Hansard every day

This is just funny.... I love snarky parliamentary comments:

Mr. Rahim Jaffer (Edmonton—Strathcona, CPC): Mr. Speaker, first the Prime Minister sells his flag to Barbados and now the public works minister has sold the Canadian flag to China. Of course, this is a minister whose own mother was once quoted as saying he would do anything to earn a little extra money.

Is it the policy of the Liberals or just this minister to sell off Canada to the lowest bidder?

Hon. Scott Brison (Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, my dear--

The Speaker: Order, please. The hon. Minister of Public Works and Government Services has the floor. We do not need everyone to pretend he is his mother.

Anyway...

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone, to you and your mothers.

I got chocolate!

jane 12:03 PM [+]

I've kidnapped Megan and she'll never come back! muahahaha!

Thanks, everyone (Natalia, Paul, Jennifer, Sarah, Dawn, Lisa, Andrew), for my present. Megan brought up the Canadiana yesterday, includng the greatest Canadian present ever... which would be... er, the greatest Canadian. Now I can curl up with all these great Canadian guys in my laptop DVD player and watch them in bed. Mmmm. Thanks!!!! (you guys are the greatest ever).

Seeing Romeo Dallaire and Samantha Power (both currently at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy) last night at the New School was so exciting. The house was packed; they'd had to turn people away; there was piles of energy; Dallaire was so optimistic about the eventual ability of the human race to overcome violence and genocide ("A couple of hundred years.... but only a couple of hundred years..."); Power was clear and direct, not afraid to be very personal with Dallaire, in a way that showed how courageous he has been.

They're both so honest, so refreshing, so frank, so committed to the cause of ending genocide. (Power had an op-ed piece in Thursday's NY Times about the situation in Darfur and the US's reluctance to participate in the International Criminal Court). What's exciting is that both of them seem to think it can be done...

and back to frivolity

Megan and I are going to wander around the city now... more later!

Megan's guest bit, in the main space of the blog!!

Ooh! Hi Jane, long time listener, first time blogger... This is fun!!

So, Jane's been showing me around Manhattan a bit. I flew into Newark yesterday (NEVER change your flight at the last minute, horrible things happen) and I followed Jane's directions to get to Fordham. Let me tell you, I was convinced I was going to die in New Jersey. And the customs people were great too.

Customs Lady: Where are you going?
Innocent Little Me: New York. *smile*
CL: It says on your ticket that you're going to Newark.
ILM: Isn't that the same thing?
CL: No. When was the last time you were in the US?
ILM: Oh, 6 maybe 7 years ago... *smile*
CL: *glare of death that I don't come to her fair country enough*

I'm never leaving home again. But I am enjoying the wandering. We're going to see the Brooklyn Bridge!

Ah, poor Megan

OK, more later... sorry to mix up the genocide stuff with the frivolous stuff... but it all looks to be a very stimulating weekend. Especially the fact that once I ship Megan off back to the Motherland,* I have a date to see Finding Neverland with a boy!


* "But there is also a subversive edge to living in Canada, an ability to see Amerika for what it really is and to be able to reject it, or at least to play with it and use it for our own purposes. I reject Amerika as the fatherland and I embrace Canada as the Motherland."

jane 9:50 AM [+]

frivolity. I wish I lived in brooklyn

Ok, so I never do these quizzes... but here... it's me, apparently:


You are Rizzo the Rat.
You have few friends, but are loyal to those you do
have. Maybe if you didn't smell like sewage
you would have more.

SPECIES:
Rodentia Digesta Lotta Grub
HOMETOWN:
Brooklyn, USA

FAVORITE MOVIE:
"Rat On A Hot Tin Roof"

FAVORITE SONG:
"The Pest Is Yet To Come"

FAVORITE FOOD:
You got it, I'll eat it.

HOBBIES:
See "Favorite Food".

QUOTE:
"When do we eat?"


What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


---

OK, a little later, I did a Myers-Briggs test online... at least, some version of it. Previously (years ago), I did it a few times, both with folks who knew what they were doing, and on the internet, and came up pretty reliably as ENTJ... now, apparently, I've drifted: I've moved to being ENFJ, which is apparently referred to as "The Teacher Style," as well as "Idealist." Huh. How oddly appropriate.

OK.

jane 1:08 AM [+]

I have $2.08 left

I have two bucks left from a gift certificate I received on iTunes, and I want your votes as to which two songs I should spend it on. What are two songs that you think I absolutely shouldn't live without; bonus if they came out in 2004.

I'm just so indecisive.... and looking through the recent "best-of" recommendations just leaves me wishing I had piles of money.

jane 1:25 PM [+]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

This article was quite provoking...

When conservatives (well, libertarians & anti-leftists) write things like this:

Editor & Publisher, for example, posted a small note the other day about a column written by Al Neuharth, the founder of USA Today, in which he mildly suggested that the troops be brought home from Iraq "sooner rather than later." The editor of E&P was just blown away by the letters that poured in, filled with venom and hate and calling for Neuharth to be tried and locked away as a traitor. The letters compared him with pro-Hitler journalists, and suggested that he was objectively pro-terrorist, choosing to support the Muslim jihad over the US military. Other letters called for Neuharth to get the death penalty for daring to take issue with the Christian leaders of this great Christian nation.

I'm actually not surprised at this. It has been building for some time. If you follow hate-filled sites such as Free Republic, you know that the populist right in this country has been advocating nuclear holocaust and mass bloodshed for more than a year now. The militarism and nationalism dwarfs anything I saw at any point during the Cold War. It celebrates the shedding of blood, and exhibits a maniacal love of the state. The new ideology of the red-state bourgeoisie seems to actually believe that the US is God marching on earth – not just godlike, but really serving as a proxy for God himself.

...then you know the time has come for a whole lotta work....

jane 9:58 PM [+]

This is, of course, assuming that y'all want to hear about my love life

I picked up an extra shift at the reference desk of the library, so here I am, having left my friends' Super Bowl party early (but still having downed 4 glasses of wine), working at the library, getting paid for hanging around, surfing the Internet, and writing this nonsense. (did I mention the four glasses of wine?)

I should be putting together my lesson plan for Tuesday, since tomorrow I'm hanging out with Kathleen, but it can wait awhile.... I'm talking about Aristotle and pleasure, for gods' sakes {yes, a deliberate plural}, so, well, whatever. I'm completely irresponsible. And loving it.

So, yes, my date, who sent me a return email this afternoon saying that he also had a nice time, and is inviting me out next weekend to bowl with his friends... he must have had a nice time, to already be willing to risk the friends-bowling-date. Right?

H'm. OK... hang on. This is my date, as he appears on google. (the last link has a picture). That string of links was probably completely, completely, completely unethical, but hey, google is what google does. Oh, the trouble you can get into with Google.

Oh, and googling is great.

The date went well. We went to Basso Est, an Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side. I was a little hesistant to go for the Italian, since of course I'm surrounded by Italian food, but hey, whatever... So I got to the restaurant, and wasn't sure whether James would be inside or outside, but he saw me ("Jane, I presume?") and we went inside. Cute! We chatted; it was hard to eat the bread and suchlike that the waiter brought, as we were chatting too much. We got glasses of wine. After the waiter listed off the specials & wandered away, I said that he'd sold me on the ravioli special (roast pepper ravioli); James said he'd been thinking of the same thing, and would I share some of mine with him? Of course.

So yes, during our meal, he ate some off my plate & I ate some of his penne off his plate. I think that's pretty cozy. Good times.

We then went on to Sala, a tapas place on the Bowery. (check it out!). Here we ran into a slight glitch.... we found a cozy corner to sit in, and were looking at the wine list. "Mmm," said James, looking at one wine, " 'dark and spicy'... sounds good!" So of course, when the waiter came by, I ordered a bottle. Right? That's clearly what's called for?

"Aaah -- a whole bottle? Oh dear..."

Clearly, I'm used to the big ol' alcoholics and lushes in my program, and back in Canada. A bottle? Between two people? Is this a lot?

Anyway, we drank the bottle (the waiter, actually, since I'd ordered the bottle, first gave me the little bit to taste... I swirled it around, sniffed, sipped, and pronounced it satisfactory. I felt like a real grown up!). James didn't seem to mind. Especially when we were two-thirds done the bottle and smooched!

Yay!

We went on from there to another bar, whose name I forget, but was kinda done up like a submarine inside. We had a beer each. By this time I was getting a little sleepy (it was 1.30 am or so, and I'd been up since 6am, remember, since I teach on Friday mornings), so we then headed off to our respective subway stations. We kissed goodbye, and I said, "Well, you have my email..." but no specific plans were made.

I emailed today (yes, the respectable 2 days later), saying I had a lovely time, & giving him my phone number. He emailed back (!!!!!) and invited me out bowling next weekend with some friends, saying "Then we could do something afterwards, like see
what other full bottles of wine will intimidate me."

So, we'll see. I'm excited.

His best friend is also originally from Ottawa (No Ottawa vs. Nepean comments, please, really, the two cities have amalgamated, so whatever), and so he's been there, and also to Toronto (he's been to TO a couple times to the film festival). (did i mention he's a film person? like professionally?). He's pro-Canadian. He's also pro-Jesuit, having gone to a Jesuit high school and his sister being involved with some Jezzies in Mobile, Alabama. So all good.

Wish me luck!

jane 8:32 PM [+]

I'll tell you all about the date later

But first I just want to point out that Kurt Wong shared the following with us last night at Jenna & Edan's. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Heritage Minutes, complete with "Dr. Penfield, I smell burnt toast".

jane 11:47 AM [+]