Events of Today

Got up, drank a lot of coffee.
Went to wonderland with Kim. She's fun, good times were had.
Got home. Played World of Warcraft (Morphix is now a level 49 mage. I need to play this game more.)
Tonight: I'm going to Singha's place to help him format his laptop, drinking (although maybe not by me) will be done, Xbox will be played. If anyone is reading this and wants to join, give me a call on my cell.

Foamy Rant

Foamy has a new rant out that's moderately amusing about drug abuse. If you're sarcastic, you're probably think this is pretty funny.

Freakonomics

I just finished reading freakonomics. Quite the interesting read. The basic aim of the book is to defeat "conventional wisdom" (a term coined by an economist, and not intended to be one with positive connotations) by looking at actual data. The book is very keen to point out the difference between causation and corellation, which is always a good thing, and covers a variety of topics. Definately an interesting read. Probably the most interesting section of the book (well, two sections actually), deals with the connection between decreasing crime rates, and the legalization of abortion. If you have any interest in reading the book, and don't want any of the suprises ruined, stop reading now.


In the first chapter of the book, the concept that's introduced is that the main reason crime rates in the US have decreased in the past few decades has been because of the legalization of abortion in 1976 in Roe vs. Wade. Later on, various stats of alternate explainations are tested against actual effect (such as new policing strategies, increase in number of officers, economic effects) demonstrate that basically because women were allowed to have abortions in the states, many children which were high risk for becoming criminals were not being born, and thus 15 years later crime rates started dropping considerably. This is all well and good. The problem is that abortion itself is, by many, considered to be an atrocity. The book doesn't try to argue one side or another, because really most people have their mind made up one way or another. What it does do is an interesting trick of arithmatic. While the purpose of legalizing abortion was certainly not to decrease the crime rate (indeed, many people find this idea distasteful), it was an unintended side benefit.

However, what struck me as being particularly interesting is trying to measure the efficiency of the legalization of abortion in preventing homicide. What the book does is essentially this: If you're hardcore pro-life, then you see the trade-off between the life of a fetus and the life of an infant as 1:1. They're equivalent. On the other hand, if you're hardcore pro-choice, then any number of fetuses can never amount to a single infant. If however, you're inbetween, you might be able to pick a ratio. The number the book uses is 100. So lets say that 100 aborted fetuses is equivelant to the murder of an infant. There's 1.5 million abortions performed in the US (at the time of writing) every year, which translates to 15,000 homicides. This number is way, way higher than the amount of homicides statistically prevented yearly by the implementation of legalized abortion. Kind of a sobering thought.

Google Talk barely whispers to Mac users

Google Talk barely whispers to Mac users is an article I found linked off JoyStiq that is essential a piss off rant by some mac junkie about Google Talk, because it's not supported on Macs, only on Windows. While the tirade of 'woe is me for I am a mac user and nothing is compatible even though I pretend my expensive computer was worth the money I spent' is not particularly new, nor do I wish to fight the holy wars on that issue any longer, it did have an interesting tidbit. Appearantly what mac users do is run an application which allows them to talk to people who use various protocols. There's many such examples, most of the people I know either use Gaim or Trillian, I don't know what the hell Mac users use, but the article talks about how annoying it is because some people use Yahoo, and some people use AIM, and some people are doubled across both.

Uh, what the hell? What happened to MSN in there? I mean, I know it's probably an abismal concept to use MSN if you're on a mac, but I don't know anyone who uses AIM (In fact the concept of talking on AIM makes me want to kill myself), I know a couple of people on Yahoo, but they're also on MSN. A lot of people used to use ICQ before MSN got better (Except I think AOL bought ICQ, so maybe it's the same thing as AIM now). Who are these people who don't use MSN? Is it just more prevalant in Ontario or something? Very weird.

Evening's events

Saw 40 yr old virgin with Singha, Jon, Randeep. Funniest fucking movie ever. I have no laughed so hard, since ... well, wedding crashers, but this was better than wedding crashers. I will be seeing this movie again, if you haven't seen it yet, please, for god's sake, do so.

For my own amusement

Things to say if you are a g-man and want to blend into the neighbourhood. It is important to always speak in a monotonous voice, and repeat these phrases whenever possible, otherwise someone may suspect you are not who you say you are.

Roadcrew:
"Hello fellow road crew worker, welcome to the road crew"
"I work on the road crew"
"Look at that woman's breasts, they are large"
"The road is out, and we are working on it"
"Being on the road crew is arduous, but rewarding"
"My red sign helps me work on the road"

Phone Line worker:
"Some day, the popularity of mobile phones will make my job obsolete"
"I have a special phone"
"I can climb telephone poles"
"This is my job, to work on the phone lines"
"I can listen to any phone conversation I want, but do not, because of my sense of professional responsibility"

Gardener:
"These are my hedge trimmers, they help me trim my hedge"
"I wear sunscreen while trimming hedges to prevent melanomas from forming on my skin"
"I take frequent breaks to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome"
"My good landscaping adds to the property value of the entire neighbourhood"

Homemaker:
"This is my house, and I am responsible for its upkeep"
"Cherry is a flavor of pie"
"When my husband drinks excessively, I may threaten him with this rolling pin, though we still love each other very much"
"Pies are delicious"
"For the last several years, I have relied on prescription medication to make it through the days"
"Though I do not receive a paycheck, I consider my homemaking to be my occupation"
"Over time, my husband will desire me less sexually, but he will always enjoy my pies"
"Rhubarb is a contraversial pie variety"

Sewer worker:
"The sewer is very important, and we are responsible for its upkeep"
"This job is unsavory, but it must be performed by someone"
"Feces"
"There are no documented cases of aligators found alive in sewers"
"I am a waste management technician"
"Though I often smell of excrement, I deserve your respect, because I provide a valuable service"

Woman watering plants:
"This is my watering can, I use it on the plants to water them"
"Water is important"
"I enjoy watering"
"Plants need to have water poured on them, because they have no hands to hold glasses of water"

Widow:
"The dead people are underground, and I have brought flowers because I am sad"
"I wish my loved one had remembered to indicate me as the beneficiary of his 401K land"
"I do not know whether to remarry, or to remain loyal to my loved one"
"The cemetary is full of dead people"
"I wish my loved one was not dead, but alive"

Assassin:
"This is my gun"
"Sometimes I work for the government"
"My motivations are clear only to myself"
"I do not kill out of passion, but for money"
"I am in charge of assassinating important figures"

Google Talk

Google Talk is Google's new Instant Messenger. I am officially trying it now, you need a gmail account, so if anyone doesn't have one and wants one, let me know and i'll hook you up. If this thing is good, I'll be weaning myself off MSN.

It's how you deal.

So I got my last mark back today (not counting linguistics, which doesn't affect my average). 241, a terribly hard course. Failed it.
That's two courses this term, the most you're allowed to fail. Failing the course also brings my term average below 60% (59.4). This means I have failed the term. Which means I have to repeat the term, and I lose credit for anything I got less than 70 on.

This, as you can imagine, made me very upset. I went for a walk, almost in tears. I felt like a total worthless failure. People can say, oh, it was a hard term, or oh, you're in a hard program, but none of that really means anything, those are excuses, and they don't mean anything. I failed, it is no one's fault but my own, and I have to accept the consequences.

Then I decided that I could wallow in self-pity and hate myself, or I could bite it, and figure out what to do about this. I've elected to do the latter. I'm not 15 anymore, it serves no purpose for me to hate myself. All I can do is see what my options are, choke back my pride, and move on with my life. I'm talking with my program coordinator next week. According to what i've read, I need one more percent in any course to continue to 3A. Maybe we can review my exams. I really don't know how I got 45 in 241. I thought the exam went really well, and I had good lab marks. I would have had to get a 36 on the exam, based on my calculations, to get that low a mark. I really don't think I got a 36 on the exam.

Bite my pride, gather myself up, and move forward.

Friends

You don't choose your friends, they choose you. Your only choice is to reject them, or take them without reservation, as they are.

Turkey Sandwich

Possibly the most famous of all poultry-based sandwiches, second only to its more glamorous sister, the chicken salad sandwich. The Turkey Sandwich holds a special place in the hearts of food lovers everywhere who crave something that's like Chicken, but not.

Make a post you 6 fingered space-monkey.

"Something about the way you taste
Makes me want to clear my throat
There’s a message to your movements
That really gets my goat"

I have officially bottomed out the stress wave. I am now so inordinately bored that I cannot do things that would give me something to do, and yet I feel that every day is the shortest day ever.

Can someone please come over and kick me in the face until I do some god damn work, please? That'd be nice. My sister has kindly paid her entire term rent in advance, which means I can now be in the black for a while, at least until coop starts when I can get really in the black.

I think I really don't know what I need right now, but I should be ok in a few weeks. I hate to say it, but I don't really think I am ok right now. After frosh week. Frosh week will make me feel better. Strain and purpose and molding of spirits.

Blurry outlines of trees and shrubs on the security cameras look like hades in the night. Dull orange ember of a cigarette skittering across the ground as you drive by. The intoxicated and dilapitated lurking about in the shadows and alleys. But then, in the morning, the sun glowing serenely off office towers. People walking their dogs through campuses. Smells of dew and renewal. Commerce about to begin again. Function. Life.

Let me show you through my eyes? The eyes of a watcher.

Two of my marks are in.

Failed a course. No Bellcurve.

Caution - Disaster Area

I'm trying to clean my burnt out room and parts of the rest of the house. Taking a brief break to eat the last of my Frogurt that I cannot take with me.

Last finals were yesterday, followed by a comp party at Thor's house, much drinking and poker. You'd think i'd be relieved that the term is over, but It doesn't really affect me. I think part of me died this term along with my marks. Maybe two weeks of relative vacation (3 weeks?) Will improve things. It's kind of hard to get off the stress wave. Ideas?

Debunking the Video Game Violence Myth

Yay for the Economist.