20120417
esperanto word of the day
what a cool widget!
i also recommend the iphone app, which uses the same words and also gives an example of usage in a sentence:
http://itunes.apple.com/qa/app/esperanto-word-of-the-day/id433383674?mt=8
found the widget here:
http://www.transparent.com/wotd/today/esperanto.html
kudos to the app and this widget for giving example usage in a sentence and a translation of the usage into english. other word-of-the-days don't have usage at all, and if they do then it's not translated into english.
20120205
update 2012-02-04
note: the term frisbee, often used to refer to a flying disc, is a registered trademark of the wham-o toy company.
i recently discovered the joy of throwing a flying disc. last year (freshman year) i stumbled across many a chill person who was in on the ultimate team here at ucsd. this year, as i thought more about life and wondered where it was going and how it could be better, i slowly realized that not trying out the ultimate team here would be a mistake. over winter break i threw a lot with cousin milo taylor (thanks for throwing milo taylor!). i started going to practice this quarter (winter 2012) with the squid army. we call ourselves air squids. there is an 'a' team and a 'b' team. people on the 'a' team are dedicated and go to practice every day. i see different people on the 'b' team every day, but some people attend regularly. despite this, the atmosphere is amazing! there are team captains and coaches that tell you what to do and everyone is cooperative and enthusiastic, and the people in charge are organized. there's something really great about being told what to do. one thing i really missed about about high school was having a cross country / track coach telling us what to do. i felt very welcomed and everyone is nice and not a douche bag, which is supposedly not how it is on other teams at ucsd. and at the same time, there is still pressure to be on your toes socially, and people are still cool and stuff. being not mean and not lame at the same time is priceless! so there's the great atmosphere and organization, but there's also actually playing ultimate. there is no better feeling than catching a disc and passing it to someone else, being a part of a successful play, blocking a disc when the opposing team throws it to the guy you're guarding, contributing to a team... good times. there is a downside to all of this unfortunately. first, i am very behind on everything. i don't understand the lingo so when people explain things to me it's difficult to follow along. there's so much more to learn. second, it's time consuming. the ultimate team has track workouts on monday nights (so much fun! people think i'm fast. :) ) and 3-hour practices on wed and thurs nights. on friday i practice frisbee with a cool frisbee friday group that one of my friends (eric weise) started. this leaves me with tuesdays and saturdays to just run. (sundays are for church of course, hehe.) i went on a pretty long run today by myself.
esperanto! the international constructed language. it's the solution to everything i hate about english and spanish (which i had to learn in high school). english: words not spelled how they sound. spanish: arbitrary assignment of gender to all nouns (using 'el' vs 'la' for different nounds). english and spanish: irregular verbs. and irregular ways of making things plural. esperanto has none of this nonsense. it is designed not to have any irregularities. people voted on aspects of this language to make it the best it can be. if only everyone would learn esperanto, international communication would be so much easier. everyone who learns any language other than english or esperanto is contributing to the problem of having so many languages! so now i refuse to learn spanish. also, learning spanish only makes it easier for spanish speakers not to learn english or esperanto. so i made a lernu account and started teaching myself esperanto. i am happy that proficiency in esperanto will satisfy my language requirement for revelle college.
this quarter i am sadly left with no time for esperanto. i can only have so many priorities. i have school and ultimate, and occasionally work for my dad. earlier in the quarter i would study esperanto whenever i had a spare 30 minutes. now when i have a spare 30 minutes, i desperately need it to read for humanities. i am always far behind on reading. there are so not enough hours in the day. there is so much i want to do, and there is so little time.
i went to a job fair earlier in the quarter and handed out my résumé to about 8 or so companies that i thought looked cool. i filled out a candidate profile for intel online per their request (so they liked me), i had an interview just yesterday with cubic corporation, and i will have an interview the week after this week with microsoft. the interview yesterday went very well. the people there were nice, and it looked like a cool place to work. the first part of the interview was the recruiter (cute young guy--same dude i met at the job fair) and human resources lady meeting me briefly and telling me about interning at cubic, and then the recruiter toured me around the labs. the labs have one of each type of thing that people walk through to get on to a subway, and the machine that buses have to get your money, or the kiosks people use to buy train tickets. they do revenue collection for transportation. they have to deal with all kinds of cities' problems. each place they deal with has ways that people want to pay. this transportation stuff is what this particular cubic office does. they have 2 other parts of the company too which are related to the military, but that happens in their other offices. the second part of the interview was two older guys asking me questions about myself and testing me a little on my knowledge of c#. they were very nice and we had a good time. the third part was a grumpy busy guy trying to find something i didn't know, and he succeeded with his deep questions. he had been programming since he was very young, just like me. at the end i shook hands with the recruiter again and he said he'd send me an email later. then i went home, except not really because on the way back i went to utc (a shopping mall) and bought shorts (like regular shorts, for walking around in) and cleats (for ultimate). but back to cubic, there's one small problem. at the first part of the interview with the human resources lady and the recruiter, the recruiter told me that interns work differently there than at other places. most places take interns, have them work on a project over summer and send them off. (oh, that's no good right? (that's just what i want! shh!)) but at cubic, they take you during school and it's more like a real job. he said they convert a lot of their interns into full time positions. this sounded cool to me, and i got that feeling where i really just want to say "yes!" but i think they're either going to have to take me during summer or not have me at all. popsa said that since i am lucky enough to be able to enjoy my time at college playing ultimate and being social and meeting people, i should. there is no need to jump straight into a life of work. i agree. i'd have to put in 15 hours a week with cubic, not including transportation. if i was going to do this, i'd have to drop ultimate (pretty much the one thing i have right now) and my grades would probably suffer. i'd much rather work full time during summer. also if microsoft still loves me after my interview with them i'll have to consider that too.
i've discovered a way to help me read. normally i space out while i'm reading. i start day dreaming about something random, or even something that relates to what i'm reading. then 10 minutes later i catch myself, read a few more sentences and space out again. i can easily spend 5 hours reading 30 pages. there is simply not enough time in a week for me to read a book, so usually i don't read certain book and read half of other books. i've been trying all kinds of things. first i wore a hat of silence to avoid being interrupted by suitemates while reading, but this did not prevent me from my own brain distracting itself. then i made a program called concentrate which beeps every 60 (or however many you want) seconds, reminding me to pay attention to what i'm reading and helps interrupt daydreaming. but when the beep went off, one of these was usually the case: 1) i was reading, and the beep caused me to lose my concentration, or 2) i was not reading, and i ignored the beep as i trained myself to because all the beep did was cause me to lose my concentration when i was reading. it also required that i sit at a computer when i read. so then i tried using an index card, and had to keep moving it down the page as i read so if i stopped reading then i'd feel my hand stop moving the card. but my arm would get tired, and usually the card would move so slowly anyway that i wouldn't notice when it stopped. then i used a pencil and followed along with each word rather than each line as with an index card. this helps with speed reading too, if you move the pencil at a fast and consistent rate and force your eyes along. but eventually the pencil started to follow my eyes rather than my eyes following the pencil, so it slowed down until it went so slow that it stopped, the transition still so slow that i didn't notice when it happened. so i tried reading out loud per my roommate's suggestion. he reads out loud all the time and it's really annoying and i hate him for it but it's okay. so i tried reading out loud, and my voice got tired and i wasn't paying attention to anything i read but rather i focused on saying the words. it didn't matter what i tried. it wasn't a matter of will power. my brain was just not capable of reading. i just.couldn't.read. but guess what! i found an iphone app that makes my phone beep every so often (i set it to 1:30) just like my concentrate program, and if i combine this with a pencil, it kind of works! what i have to do is force myself to turn the page every time it beeps. to keep pace, i use the pencil. the trick is actually using the timer to pace yourself, not to just remind you to keep reading. so i read 1 page every minute and 30 seconds. sometimes i read a page and have no idea what just happened, but at least i get through stuff and keep my eyes moving. i just try to absorb whatever i can. every few pages i take a 90 second break to relax.
right now half of my apartmentmates are drunk. there was a big party in our apartment a couple hours ago. there was one 1 straight guy and these two girls and everyone else was gay. we had an awesome cuddling dog pile on jorge's bed. i'm glad the bed didn't break with 5 people on it. i like drunk people.
it's good to take some time to think about life, to analyze how it is and how it could be better, to question everything. it's thinking about things that got me to realize i need to be on a sports team, and thus i'm learning to play ultimate and actually have some fun. it's thinking that got me to go to a job fair and landed me a couple interviews so that i will not have a 4.0 gpa and 0 work experience. it's thinking that got me on dating websites where i find people who make me feel happy and complete, and teach me what i like in a person. it's thinking that helped me realize the error it would be to learn spanish, and thus i'm learning esperanto to be part of something good and to make the world better. it's nice that i like to think. oh how it is better than being a robot, living day by day remaining ignorant of the possibilities, cheating yourself of opportunities.
i'm learning about writing efficient algorithms to do things with graphs in cse 101. it's fun, and the professor is a great speaker. we have online quizzes every week and homework due every other week. one of the teacher assistants had a seminar on how to use latex to do the homework on a computer. you can't just use microsoft word for this stuff because you need to write crazy symbols and greek characters.
cse 100 is data structures and is boring because the professor is boring. there's nothing i can do about that tho, since the only other professor that teaches cse 100 is also boring. the material is related to that of cse 101 in a lot of ways.
hum 4 is fun because the professor is interesting. i still hate reading though, and writing is only fun when you know what you're writing about. i don't like the books we have to read. the other humanities professor is not as good of a professor but he has readings that appeal more to my taste - philosophical and political stuff, rather than fiction.
i usually only get breakfast burritos from the dining halls since they all serve breakfast burritos now. sometimes i get pasta from plaza, but with marinara instead of alfredo sauce, even though i like alfredo better, because sometimes their alfredo sauce tastes very bad and makes me want to puke. at my apartment, i know how to eat cereal, make peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and cook macaroni and cheese. i went to ralphs once this quarter too and i bought cheese its with baby swiss cheese, wheat thins, chocolate, cinnamon pop tarts, peanut butter nature valley bars and a bag with a mix of pretzels and cheetos. i finished everything very quickly except the nature valley bars. don't worry, i take costco daily multi vitamins every day, and the breakfast burritos from the dining halls have carbs (hashbrowns, tortilla) and protein (beans, eggs) and veggies (veggy patty). oh also i bought 2 bottles of spicy v8 from ralphs and downed one so far.
20111108
2011-11-08
was just working on my comp sci homework and thought i'd take a blogging break when i saw "turing" (as in turing machine) underlined in red in word (word thinks i will start capitalizing proper nouns again if it nags me enough) and it reminded me of when i was typing something on my mom's old compaq computer in the kitchen and i was worried that the red squiggly underlining would show up when i printed whatever it was. luckily whichever of my parents who was around at the time assured me that when you print your document the red and green underlining does not print (bahahah wouldn't that be silly if it did?). i was skeptical though and did feel assured until i saw it printed and there were no red underlines.
just today after my run at 6:30 (but before breakfast at ovt, just to be clear... and while we're here in between the parentheses i might also mention that we did our mussle rock run down to the beach--about 12k) arthur and i were talking about memories. today's run was the second run that i mapped using the gps on my phone (using map my run's iphone app), except i started the mapping a few minutes into the run and ended it a little after so that it mapped most of my walk to breakfast. i said that when i was 80 or whatever years old i'd look back at the map of the run i did today and be sad that i couldn't remember it, or why it started by the economics building and ended at a soccer field instead of our normal meeting place. if you don't remember it, it's like it didn't even happen, as arthur said, and we may as well have slept in today. except if the memory is in a run i hope the evidence remains in the health of your body. anyway, we also agree that what's worse than when you can't remember anything at all is when you can only kind of remember something, because then you know that you don't know. since i've blogged it, i won't need to worry about forgetting today.
last weekend i released a big upgrade to my dad's company website. fun stuff. nobody will really notice except my dad will find a few new things here and there, but the way it works on the inside is like way revamped and stuff. i was awake until 4 that day, but it's okay because i woke up at 11 and if you wake up at 11 then you should go to bed at 11+16=27 and 27-24=3 so 3, which means i only stayed up an hour late. i try to stay awake for 16 hours a day because if i go to bed earlier i can't sleep, and if i go to bed later then the next day will be a sad one because i always try to wake up by 6. however the last few weeks have been sketchy as i've gotten sick twice recently, but don't worry because i pile on the sleep and recover quickly.
did i tell you?! ok, so for revelle college, you have to learn another language. if english isn't your native language then you test out with your native language. other people take language classes. but i'm going to learn esperanto! it's a constructed language that is designed to be culturally neutral and easy to learn. if everyone that was taking classes in spanish, italian, german, japaneze or whatever decided to learn esperanto instead, and if people in other countries learned esperanto instead of english, then we could get the whole world to know one language that everyone could speak! why can't we have this? because people are stubborn and assume that no one else will go along with it. but don't worry, i'm not going to be one of those people and maybe if enough people like me (people who realize that someone has to be the first of their friends to do something before everyone can do it, people who don't mindlessly follow their parents and friends but decide for themselves how it should be and do it that way) learn esperanto then maybe we can get something started in this side of the u.s. (we have a couple million in europe already.) so they don't have esperanto classes here; but if on my own i become proficient in esperanto, there are esperanto-speaking faculty at ucsd who are qualified to give me a proficiency exam to meet my college language requirement. it's going to be great guys...stay tuned, or join me and create a lernu.net account!
20110502
20110502
on the 4th week i ended up dropping math 20d because it was not required for my major. i'm done with math! i enrolled in econ 2. i went to this class once and was bored. the only time i went after that was for the first midterm, which i got a b+ on. i've been really busy with computer science, hum and physics, so i might withdraw from econ if i'm not able to study for the second midterm on the weekend before.
today i learned that my application to transfer into warren college was declined. i am stuck in revelle for now, but i think i can apply again later.
a facebook poll shows that out of 36 revellians, just 3 feel like they belong in revelle college. 25 thought that revelle was the right choice when they applied, but now realize they've made a mistake. 5 people were placed into revelle because the other colleges were full. 3 people ranked their preferences for the colleges randomly on their application. 1 person thought the name "revelle" sounded cool. clearly it's not a very popular college.
i got my dvorak keyboard stickers. they're on my keyboard but i'm not using them too much yet since i'm so busy.
ran 20 miles yesterday. wasn't really "easy". got my face and neck burned. had 2 breakfast burritos and 2 glasses of gatorade at the ovt cafeteria.
the computer science projects are really time consuming. it's tedious sometimes but it's also good practice.
i am ages behind on the reading in humanities. i just can't get myself to read the bible. i did read the first 4 books (out of 6) of the aeneid and the first 3 books of confessions, and have to read up to 8 or something by tomorrow (not going to happen with my essay due on thursday).
physics is cool. i just study on thursdays and take the quizzes on fridays. i can't keep up with the lectures so i just don't go to them and read the book instead.
i feel like i've been getting my protein despite my vegetarian habits. i have 4 egg-bun-on-the-go's on average every morning, then sometimes skip lunch since lunch at plaza sucks (except today it didn't because they had falafel pita sandwiches). if i must have lunch i might get a salad, and i often get cereal since i don't have cereal for breakfast. for the last few mondays and wednesdays i've been eating delicious indian food at price center. i drink a big bottle of chocolate milk almost every day too. then i take robust costco vitamins and pills for iron.
been waking up at 6 every day this week except this morning i woke up at 8 because i went to bed at 2 last night, which was because i took a nap that day after the 20 mile run which was because i was kind of tired which was because i ran 20 miles. i feel like i've been productive the last few weeks but somehow i'm just never caught up. it's kind of stressful, but you just have to live in the now and worry about one thing at a time.
today i learned that my application to transfer into warren college was declined. i am stuck in revelle for now, but i think i can apply again later.
a facebook poll shows that out of 36 revellians, just 3 feel like they belong in revelle college. 25 thought that revelle was the right choice when they applied, but now realize they've made a mistake. 5 people were placed into revelle because the other colleges were full. 3 people ranked their preferences for the colleges randomly on their application. 1 person thought the name "revelle" sounded cool. clearly it's not a very popular college.
i got my dvorak keyboard stickers. they're on my keyboard but i'm not using them too much yet since i'm so busy.
ran 20 miles yesterday. wasn't really "easy". got my face and neck burned. had 2 breakfast burritos and 2 glasses of gatorade at the ovt cafeteria.
the computer science projects are really time consuming. it's tedious sometimes but it's also good practice.
i am ages behind on the reading in humanities. i just can't get myself to read the bible. i did read the first 4 books (out of 6) of the aeneid and the first 3 books of confessions, and have to read up to 8 or something by tomorrow (not going to happen with my essay due on thursday).
physics is cool. i just study on thursdays and take the quizzes on fridays. i can't keep up with the lectures so i just don't go to them and read the book instead.
i feel like i've been getting my protein despite my vegetarian habits. i have 4 egg-bun-on-the-go's on average every morning, then sometimes skip lunch since lunch at plaza sucks (except today it didn't because they had falafel pita sandwiches). if i must have lunch i might get a salad, and i often get cereal since i don't have cereal for breakfast. for the last few mondays and wednesdays i've been eating delicious indian food at price center. i drink a big bottle of chocolate milk almost every day too. then i take robust costco vitamins and pills for iron.
been waking up at 6 every day this week except this morning i woke up at 8 because i went to bed at 2 last night, which was because i took a nap that day after the 20 mile run which was because i was kind of tired which was because i ran 20 miles. i feel like i've been productive the last few weeks but somehow i'm just never caught up. it's kind of stressful, but you just have to live in the now and worry about one thing at a time.
20110424
don't be a fat american!
summary: people should break their current habits and use the metric system, 24-hour time, only lowercase letters and the dvorak simplified keyboard layout.
-----
first i will explain my use of the term "fat american". skip this paragraph if i've not insulted you. i do not intend to insult fat people. being fat doesn't make you a bad person. if eating makes you happy, and if the purpose of life is being happy, then you're fulfilling the purpose of life by being fat. i have plenty more to say for and against being fat but it's a little off topic for this note. anyway, by the word "fat" i mean "lazy". using these two words synonymously is not okay, just like it's not okay to use "gay" and "stupid" synonymously. but i did it anyway, and i apologize.
here are some things that people in general (but particularly americans) need to break the habit of using:
american [measurement] system
everyone knows that the metric system is superior. learn your weight in kilograms, your height in meters, and the mileage your car gets in kilometers per liter. then when someone asks you for any of this information and you give it in different units than they expect, you can make them feel stupid for using fat american units and not getting with the times. always speak in metric units!
like the metric system on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Metric-system/54404422195
am/pm (12 hour time)
have you ever asked yourself why we have am and pm? there are 24 hours in a day. how will you identify them? here's an idea: number them 1 to 24. oh wait -- better idea: name the first one 12am, the next few 1am to 11am, the 13th one 12pm, and the rest 1pm to 11pm. okay even better idea: we'll have 1-6am, 1-6bm, 1-6cm and 1-6dm so it's always clear which quarter of the day it is. so anyway, why did they split it up into am and pm? answer: because it was inconvenient to fit 24 hours on a mechanical clock. 12 hour time was also more convenient for sundials. these days we use digital clocks, so the original purpose of using 12 hour time is obsolete. the only thing it does for us now is make us set our alarms incorrectly so they wake us up 12 hours late -- either you forgot to set am/pm for the clock's alarm time or you set it incorrectly for the clock's current time. it also makes adding and subtracting times more difficult. so please, use 24-hour time! never buy a clock that doesn't have a 24-hour time option. change your clocks, computers and phones to display times in 24-hour format. think in terms of 24-hour time. when people ask for the time, tell them the 24-hour time.
like military time or 24-hour time on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/24-hour-time/111452262206734
capital letters
have you ever asked yourself why there are two versions of each letter? say it was up to you to design an alphabet for your kingdom. you choose to have 30 symbols so that there aren't too many to memorize and so the words are not too long. great! then someone says, "hey dude, you should create a different version of every letter for use certain types of words and occasions!". you then slap him upside the head for his dumb idea - the idea that we all live by.
why are there two versions for each letter? there weren't always. it started out in all caps. but capitals are hard to write. people started finding shortcuts to writing the letters, and these shorthand ways became known as the lowercase letters. lowercase letters exist because they're easier to write! it would've been great if we started out with the lowercase letters because nobody would've taken the effort to create uppercase letters. now we have 2 of each letter, which makes things unnecessarily complicated. it makes english more difficult to learn, it means people have to waste time hitting the shift key every time they start a sentence, etc.
"but capitals make it easy to find the beginning of the sentence."
look for periods instead. use two spaces after periods. the extra space and the period will make it clear that you started a new sentence. if necessary, write the first letter bigger, but still lower case.
"but capital letters distinguish proper nouns from regular nouns."
it's clear from context whether you're talking about a generic god or the christian god, or whether you're using "mom" as a name or talking about your maternal parent. if context isn't good enough, use quotes or italics.
"but how do you indicate yelling? how do you emphasize something?"
use an exclamation point or two. usually yelling is unnecessary and shows immaturity, anyway. for emphasis, underline or use boldface.
"if i don't use capital letters, people will think i'm stupid!"
make sure you use punctuation properly and strictly adhere to all other grammar rules. things like run-on sentences, confusing "you're" with "your", extraneous commas and spelling errors are some things that really make people look stupid. if you do everything else right then it'll be clear that your nonuse of capital letters is intentional.
please, write everything in lowercase whenever you can! it's okay to make an exception if you're applying for a job, but intentionally capitalizing letters when messaging your friends is nothing but a cocky way to show off how educated you think you are. disable auto-capitalization on your phone and word processor.
like "not using uppercase letters" on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/not-using-capital-letters/132367043444834
qwerty keyboard
believe it or not, the qwerty keyboard was designed to make typing difficult! typewriters jammed if you typed too fast on them, so they arranged the keys so that you were forced to type slowly. come the personal computer, only qwerty keyboards sold because people were already used to this layout. the dvorak keyboard layout was designed to make typing easy and fast, and it prevents typing-related injuries. learn to type on a dvorak keyboard!
change the settings on your operating system to use the dvorak layout:
windows: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/keyboardlayout.aspx
mac: http://www.chimoosoft.com/articles/dvorak.php
buy stickers to transform your existing qwerty keyboard into a dvorak keyboard, or a dvorak keyboard cover for macs:
http://www.amazon.com/s?url=Daps&field-keywords=dvorak+simplified+keyboard+stickers
like the dvorak keyboard on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dvorak-Keyboard/112627248756266
the old way is so much easier, and it's what everybody else uses! the new way is too complicated!
for anyone who is learning to tell time, work with units in science or type on a keyboard for the first time, the formats i've proposed are easier to learn and/or superior. the only reason these things are difficult for you to use is because you're used to your own backward ways. converting will be a challenge, and in the long run it may not be worth it for you. you will face opposition from your peers and particularly from those in older generations. but we do need to change our ways eventually, and the sooner we do it the better. this will not necessarily make our own lives easier, but it will simplify the lives of future generations. each generation we wait is another generation of people who will have to put up with americans' backward ways. now, just because everyone else does it the wrong way is no excuse. if everyone says "but no one else is using ___" then no one will switch and nothing will happen. have some sense of efficacy! if everyone says "nobody else is doing it but i'll go ahead and do it anyway because i know it's right," -- or even if just a few determined people say it -- then it'll really make a difference. the demand for dvorak keyboards will make them available on the market, making it easier for people to buy. then qwerty users will get laughed at, and eventually computers will come dvorak keyboards and force users to learn the new format. the first few people will be hard to convince, but don't be lazy and just do it because you know it's right!!!
-----
first i will explain my use of the term "fat american". skip this paragraph if i've not insulted you. i do not intend to insult fat people. being fat doesn't make you a bad person. if eating makes you happy, and if the purpose of life is being happy, then you're fulfilling the purpose of life by being fat. i have plenty more to say for and against being fat but it's a little off topic for this note. anyway, by the word "fat" i mean "lazy". using these two words synonymously is not okay, just like it's not okay to use "gay" and "stupid" synonymously. but i did it anyway, and i apologize.
here are some things that people in general (but particularly americans) need to break the habit of using:
american [measurement] system
everyone knows that the metric system is superior. learn your weight in kilograms, your height in meters, and the mileage your car gets in kilometers per liter. then when someone asks you for any of this information and you give it in different units than they expect, you can make them feel stupid for using fat american units and not getting with the times. always speak in metric units!
like the metric system on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Metric-system/54404422195
am/pm (12 hour time)
have you ever asked yourself why we have am and pm? there are 24 hours in a day. how will you identify them? here's an idea: number them 1 to 24. oh wait -- better idea: name the first one 12am, the next few 1am to 11am, the 13th one 12pm, and the rest 1pm to 11pm. okay even better idea: we'll have 1-6am, 1-6bm, 1-6cm and 1-6dm so it's always clear which quarter of the day it is. so anyway, why did they split it up into am and pm? answer: because it was inconvenient to fit 24 hours on a mechanical clock. 12 hour time was also more convenient for sundials. these days we use digital clocks, so the original purpose of using 12 hour time is obsolete. the only thing it does for us now is make us set our alarms incorrectly so they wake us up 12 hours late -- either you forgot to set am/pm for the clock's alarm time or you set it incorrectly for the clock's current time. it also makes adding and subtracting times more difficult. so please, use 24-hour time! never buy a clock that doesn't have a 24-hour time option. change your clocks, computers and phones to display times in 24-hour format. think in terms of 24-hour time. when people ask for the time, tell them the 24-hour time.
like military time or 24-hour time on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/24-hour-time/111452262206734
capital letters
have you ever asked yourself why there are two versions of each letter? say it was up to you to design an alphabet for your kingdom. you choose to have 30 symbols so that there aren't too many to memorize and so the words are not too long. great! then someone says, "hey dude, you should create a different version of every letter for use certain types of words and occasions!". you then slap him upside the head for his dumb idea - the idea that we all live by.
why are there two versions for each letter? there weren't always. it started out in all caps. but capitals are hard to write. people started finding shortcuts to writing the letters, and these shorthand ways became known as the lowercase letters. lowercase letters exist because they're easier to write! it would've been great if we started out with the lowercase letters because nobody would've taken the effort to create uppercase letters. now we have 2 of each letter, which makes things unnecessarily complicated. it makes english more difficult to learn, it means people have to waste time hitting the shift key every time they start a sentence, etc.
"but capitals make it easy to find the beginning of the sentence."
look for periods instead. use two spaces after periods. the extra space and the period will make it clear that you started a new sentence. if necessary, write the first letter bigger, but still lower case.
"but capital letters distinguish proper nouns from regular nouns."
it's clear from context whether you're talking about a generic god or the christian god, or whether you're using "mom" as a name or talking about your maternal parent. if context isn't good enough, use quotes or italics.
"but how do you indicate yelling? how do you emphasize something?"
use an exclamation point or two. usually yelling is unnecessary and shows immaturity, anyway. for emphasis, underline or use boldface.
"if i don't use capital letters, people will think i'm stupid!"
make sure you use punctuation properly and strictly adhere to all other grammar rules. things like run-on sentences, confusing "you're" with "your", extraneous commas and spelling errors are some things that really make people look stupid. if you do everything else right then it'll be clear that your nonuse of capital letters is intentional.
please, write everything in lowercase whenever you can! it's okay to make an exception if you're applying for a job, but intentionally capitalizing letters when messaging your friends is nothing but a cocky way to show off how educated you think you are. disable auto-capitalization on your phone and word processor.
like "not using uppercase letters" on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/not-using-capital-letters/132367043444834
qwerty keyboard
believe it or not, the qwerty keyboard was designed to make typing difficult! typewriters jammed if you typed too fast on them, so they arranged the keys so that you were forced to type slowly. come the personal computer, only qwerty keyboards sold because people were already used to this layout. the dvorak keyboard layout was designed to make typing easy and fast, and it prevents typing-related injuries. learn to type on a dvorak keyboard!
change the settings on your operating system to use the dvorak layout:
windows: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/keyboardlayout.aspx
mac: http://www.chimoosoft.com/articles/dvorak.php
buy stickers to transform your existing qwerty keyboard into a dvorak keyboard, or a dvorak keyboard cover for macs:
http://www.amazon.com/s?url=Daps&field-keywords=dvorak+simplified+keyboard+stickers
like the dvorak keyboard on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dvorak-Keyboard/112627248756266
the old way is so much easier, and it's what everybody else uses! the new way is too complicated!
for anyone who is learning to tell time, work with units in science or type on a keyboard for the first time, the formats i've proposed are easier to learn and/or superior. the only reason these things are difficult for you to use is because you're used to your own backward ways. converting will be a challenge, and in the long run it may not be worth it for you. you will face opposition from your peers and particularly from those in older generations. but we do need to change our ways eventually, and the sooner we do it the better. this will not necessarily make our own lives easier, but it will simplify the lives of future generations. each generation we wait is another generation of people who will have to put up with americans' backward ways. now, just because everyone else does it the wrong way is no excuse. if everyone says "but no one else is using ___" then no one will switch and nothing will happen. have some sense of efficacy! if everyone says "nobody else is doing it but i'll go ahead and do it anyway because i know it's right," -- or even if just a few determined people say it -- then it'll really make a difference. the demand for dvorak keyboards will make them available on the market, making it easier for people to buy. then qwerty users will get laughed at, and eventually computers will come dvorak keyboards and force users to learn the new format. the first few people will be hard to convince, but don't be lazy and just do it because you know it's right!!!
20110329
20110329 spring 2011
math 20d - calculus
professor's voice is boring. he is a sad large character with flat hair and limited energy. he jumped right in to teaching, which is a plus. he wants to teach you, so if you humor him and sit in front and feel bad for him and try to learn, it'll be okay. i think if you tune out the tone of his voice, then you'll find the math interesting.
physics 2b - electricity and magnetism
this old guy is stern, alert and tough. an 85% is an a+, a 70% is an a-. a 35% is a c-. every friday we'll have a quiz. the friday quizzes are worth 60% of our grade. the final is worth 40% of our grade. homework is assigned but not graded. this guy is serious about learning. sadly we didn't learn anything on the first day of class.
cse 30 - systems engineering
i have a feeling that rick ord is everything people say he is. he's well known for being the best computer science teacher. i'm really looking forward to everything i'll learn in this class. ord is alert, friendly and encouraging. he's probably in his 50s, but he has the charisma (is this an appropriate use of that term?) of a 25 year old. he kind of reminds me of mr. hepinger who taught me physics in 11th grade.
humanities 2
people said this old guy was boring. well let me tell you what i thought when i first saw him. he is a formidable figure of the perfect eight. he's tall and he has the biggest and brightest blue eyes that sparkled like the ice you get out of a vending machine - the kind with no bubbles. he wore the smile of a well-bred and educated american leader. he spoke with promising enthusiasm. i felt like he could read my mind when he looked at me in the eyes. his bright eyes were wide open. he didn't blink once. he leaned forward and looked over his entire audience with his beautiful smile. then with great enthusiasm and force, he told a simple fact. he spoke his sentences one at a time with a grand pause between each one to let you really think about what he just said. so he spoke, but his face lied that what he was saying was fascinating. for a few minutes his trick worked. but then i tried listening to what he said and i don't even remember what it was. it's like trying to remember what happened when you were counting to 10 while a nurse put you out for surgery. chodorow put me to sleep so fast.
the lecture today was garbage. it was just a super shallow history of rome and europe from like 100-300.
i don't think the other lectures will be quite this bad.
he says he doesn't use powerpoints because he's not good at them. structure just isn't his thing. what he can do is put up a map and point to it occasionally.
i had professor edwards last quarter. i was upset about little things. he talked too fast, and his powerpoints were just skeletons of what he said. but now that listened to someone else, i can see that professor edwards was actually pretty good, and i wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the best. edwards talked with such elegance and coherence. if you didn't like what he was talking about, you could just listen to the beauty of how he said it. he talked quickly, but he kept your mind working so you couldn't get bored. he gave few-sentence summaries after every major section and at the end of the day. to top it off he threw in a couple good jokes. chodorow makes me miss edwards so much.
--
i met identical twin alex varnau yesterday. in steven buell's suite there is another steven, so they call one steven_0 and the other steven_1. i stole their idea and made myself alex_0 and him alex_1. so we're both computer science majors in revelle. he is the i.t. guy for ucsd housing and dining. we're both vegetarians (though for different reasons), and we both run. he has glasses like me, though he can survive most of the time without actually wearing them.
i will see connor pozdolski on wednesday night. he is an electrical engineer from warren. i met him once already. he has a passion for and is skilled in robotics.
these guys is koo kids.
professor's voice is boring. he is a sad large character with flat hair and limited energy. he jumped right in to teaching, which is a plus. he wants to teach you, so if you humor him and sit in front and feel bad for him and try to learn, it'll be okay. i think if you tune out the tone of his voice, then you'll find the math interesting.
physics 2b - electricity and magnetism
this old guy is stern, alert and tough. an 85% is an a+, a 70% is an a-. a 35% is a c-. every friday we'll have a quiz. the friday quizzes are worth 60% of our grade. the final is worth 40% of our grade. homework is assigned but not graded. this guy is serious about learning. sadly we didn't learn anything on the first day of class.
cse 30 - systems engineering
i have a feeling that rick ord is everything people say he is. he's well known for being the best computer science teacher. i'm really looking forward to everything i'll learn in this class. ord is alert, friendly and encouraging. he's probably in his 50s, but he has the charisma (is this an appropriate use of that term?) of a 25 year old. he kind of reminds me of mr. hepinger who taught me physics in 11th grade.
humanities 2
people said this old guy was boring. well let me tell you what i thought when i first saw him. he is a formidable figure of the perfect eight. he's tall and he has the biggest and brightest blue eyes that sparkled like the ice you get out of a vending machine - the kind with no bubbles. he wore the smile of a well-bred and educated american leader. he spoke with promising enthusiasm. i felt like he could read my mind when he looked at me in the eyes. his bright eyes were wide open. he didn't blink once. he leaned forward and looked over his entire audience with his beautiful smile. then with great enthusiasm and force, he told a simple fact. he spoke his sentences one at a time with a grand pause between each one to let you really think about what he just said. so he spoke, but his face lied that what he was saying was fascinating. for a few minutes his trick worked. but then i tried listening to what he said and i don't even remember what it was. it's like trying to remember what happened when you were counting to 10 while a nurse put you out for surgery. chodorow put me to sleep so fast.
the things he talked about...
"...but if it's a personal issue, you can email me. usually i'll respond in a couple of hours. if you email me at 2 in the morning, then i'll be asleep, so i won't email you back until i wake up. i don't wake up too early. but that doesn't mean i stay up late either. it's a function of age. sometimes i won't respond in a couple of days because i go on vacations and i don't always bring my computer with me..."
dude - who wants to know all of this? maybe 4% of the class will end up emailing you at one point or another so just move on to the good stuff. okay, anyway...
the lecture today was garbage. it was just a super shallow history of rome and europe from like 100-300.
i don't think the other lectures will be quite this bad.
he says he doesn't use powerpoints because he's not good at them. structure just isn't his thing. what he can do is put up a map and point to it occasionally.
i had professor edwards last quarter. i was upset about little things. he talked too fast, and his powerpoints were just skeletons of what he said. but now that listened to someone else, i can see that professor edwards was actually pretty good, and i wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the best. edwards talked with such elegance and coherence. if you didn't like what he was talking about, you could just listen to the beauty of how he said it. he talked quickly, but he kept your mind working so you couldn't get bored. he gave few-sentence summaries after every major section and at the end of the day. to top it off he threw in a couple good jokes. chodorow makes me miss edwards so much.
--
i met identical twin alex varnau yesterday. in steven buell's suite there is another steven, so they call one steven_0 and the other steven_1. i stole their idea and made myself alex_0 and him alex_1. so we're both computer science majors in revelle. he is the i.t. guy for ucsd housing and dining. we're both vegetarians (though for different reasons), and we both run. he has glasses like me, though he can survive most of the time without actually wearing them.
i will see connor pozdolski on wednesday night. he is an electrical engineer from warren. i met him once already. he has a passion for and is skilled in robotics.
these guys is koo kids.
20110307
2011-03-07
On Friday and Saturday I played Minecraft. Officer Matthew Huber introduced me to this game. People fall off their chairs when I tell them that I played it, since I am never seen playing video games. I can't wait to play again after I finish my essay due on Wednesday!
I calculated that if I get a 50% (F) on the final, and get another C+ on this essay, then I will pass Humanities with a D! The keyword is pass. A 50% on the final sounds doable. I will be grateful if I pass.
Went for a 13 mile run this Sunday. (My ankle held up just fine. Life isn't so bad when your ankles cooperate with you.) We did run pretty slowly, perhaps 10 minute pace. I planned the run, but we had to make some modifications as we went along. Unfortunately, when you use Google Maps to plot a run, you cannot see fences with NO TRESPASSING signs since the view is from straight above, so we had to run around this one plot of land I wanted to run through. It is also difficult to see from a satellite view that running through a certain plot of land involves jumping off modest cliffs. So we improvised a little and made our way back. Officer Huber takes pleasure in picking on me and the team likes to play along, so I definitely got hounded for the flaws in my run.
I discovered a very filling type of cereal in Plaza tonight. It's this oat cereal with raisins. It probably has 3 times the amount of filling-ness as fruit loops, which means I now have 3 times less eating to do. It's a delicious cereal too. I've been eating cereal every night, since there is never anything to eat at Plaza for dinner, and in the morning they always have pretty good breakfast foods besides cereal. Gotta get my calcium one way or another.
So I should be keeping in touch with my parents and grandparents who want to talk to me but I am on a roll with getting work done and I can't stop. And when I have a few free hours, they would best be spent going for an extra run or playing Minecraft. I'll talk to them if they play Minecraft with me.
I calculated that if I get a 50% (F) on the final, and get another C+ on this essay, then I will pass Humanities with a D! The keyword is pass. A 50% on the final sounds doable. I will be grateful if I pass.
Went for a 13 mile run this Sunday. (My ankle held up just fine. Life isn't so bad when your ankles cooperate with you.) We did run pretty slowly, perhaps 10 minute pace. I planned the run, but we had to make some modifications as we went along. Unfortunately, when you use Google Maps to plot a run, you cannot see fences with NO TRESPASSING signs since the view is from straight above, so we had to run around this one plot of land I wanted to run through. It is also difficult to see from a satellite view that running through a certain plot of land involves jumping off modest cliffs. So we improvised a little and made our way back. Officer Huber takes pleasure in picking on me and the team likes to play along, so I definitely got hounded for the flaws in my run.
I discovered a very filling type of cereal in Plaza tonight. It's this oat cereal with raisins. It probably has 3 times the amount of filling-ness as fruit loops, which means I now have 3 times less eating to do. It's a delicious cereal too. I've been eating cereal every night, since there is never anything to eat at Plaza for dinner, and in the morning they always have pretty good breakfast foods besides cereal. Gotta get my calcium one way or another.
So I should be keeping in touch with my parents and grandparents who want to talk to me but I am on a roll with getting work done and I can't stop. And when I have a few free hours, they would best be spent going for an extra run or playing Minecraft. I'll talk to them if they play Minecraft with me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
