Monday, February 27, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
spelling
After receiving 4 reports of how my misspellings (or misspellings in my life) are upsetting people (in less than a week), I have come to the realisation that computers and science have destroyed my literary abilities.
or at least, they have destroyed how much I care about language. I have to admit that I have let my spelling ability lapse since I started doing everything on the computer. It is not that I don't know how to spell the words, it is just that I don't think about it as much when I am typing. And, if the communication is informal, I often refrain from using the spell check.
technological crutches - they are somewhat ubiquitous. That, in itself, is an interesting discussion, which can be saved until later.
I guess, based on this deluge of criticism, I will have to throw the crutch away. No more spell check for Matt. Just pure, unadulterated ability. to spell.
Thanks Sahm, Sam, Pat and that asshole tristamshandy9000. god, do I hate that asshole. good thing I don't allow anonymous blogging or I bet that guy would be all over this place.
or at least, they have destroyed how much I care about language. I have to admit that I have let my spelling ability lapse since I started doing everything on the computer. It is not that I don't know how to spell the words, it is just that I don't think about it as much when I am typing. And, if the communication is informal, I often refrain from using the spell check.
technological crutches - they are somewhat ubiquitous. That, in itself, is an interesting discussion, which can be saved until later.
I guess, based on this deluge of criticism, I will have to throw the crutch away. No more spell check for Matt. Just pure, unadulterated ability. to spell.
Thanks Sahm, Sam, Pat and that asshole tristamshandy9000. god, do I hate that asshole. good thing I don't allow anonymous blogging or I bet that guy would be all over this place.
Monday, February 13, 2006
shit, son
some of my friends are having more fun than others:
check out Enabler's label. some good stuff going on.
now, must work out how not to miss it.
am going to toronto next weekend with the goal of seeing Skeletwinz, which should somewhat recreate the night I am looking for. I wont be surrounded by drunk friends, but I will have negin and she is 10 times as cool as any of you. especially you. man, do I miss drunk friends.
check out Enabler's label. some good stuff going on.
now, must work out how not to miss it.
am going to toronto next weekend with the goal of seeing Skeletwinz, which should somewhat recreate the night I am looking for. I wont be surrounded by drunk friends, but I will have negin and she is 10 times as cool as any of you. especially you. man, do I miss drunk friends.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
videos are just great
This may work.
and apparently it does. this really opens up a whole new world for me. I wish I hadn't started with this video but, you know.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
flim flam
I participated in a human rights conference this weekend. Two of the guest speakers (from CAW/MiningWatch and UFCW) were excellent and inspiring. They were not idealists (which all the student participants were) but realists. They knew they could make a difference, but not change the world, and were happy to be doing their part. I think. That is what I got from them anyway.
Of course, with any discussion of human rights, the scarcity issue rears its ugly mug. It is really frustrating that generating an ounce of gold can result in many tons of toxic waste:
Gold extraction produces more waste than any other mining activity. In fact, 99.9% of dug material is useless, as there are only 1 to 3 grams of gold in each ton of rocks. This "micro-gold", so to speak, can be found virtually anywhere, also in Europe. Searching for micro-gold in Europe, however, is out of question, and rightly so. Mining companies, most of which come from Canada, the United States and Australia, engage in gold extraction only where there are no strict environmental laws. Native populations, who depend on land and water for survival, are the victims of mining companies' craving for profit.
Big-scale industrial exploitation of gold sources started at the beginning of the 1970s, with the development of the cyanide gold lye-washing technique. In Nevada, cyanide gold lye-washing was used for the first time by Newmont. Today, industrial gold extraction is unthinkable without cyanide.
Sodium cyanide, a salt of hydrocianic acid, is a quick-effect poison. Dissolved in water, it immediately kills any life form. Cyanide is useful in the process of gold extraction because its molecules alloy to themselves particles of gold that are present in rocks. First, huge piles of ground rocks are imbued with cyanide solution. Subsequently, in a chemical processing plant, gold is refined and divided from the remaining minerals. Huge quantities of cyanide are used in this process: several tons per day, depending on the size of the mine and on the quantity of gold contained in the rocks.
Science came up with one option (although this was discovered in 1998 so who knows what stage it is at now - a cursory glance gives nothing):
Now, this is pretty naive of me. We have an incredibly interconnected economic system, where gold (jewelry) is an important part and can not easily be cut out. But, there is something that doesn't sit well with a destructive process that does not result in any real gains.
I guess the issue is of selfishness. This is a pretty big issue for me right now. I have no idea how the future will play out, but I assume it is going to be scary. I mean America is planning on selling off its forests to raise money for rural schools. They will get a billion and only sell less than 1% of the forests owned by the government, but still. It seems dangerous. The richest nation in the world should not need to sell off its natural resources for what is a pretty small amount of money. A billion bucks is ~$2.50 from each person in the states. Not much money at all. This seems like a desperate cry for help.
Stats on the american economy:
Okay, I am getting off topic, but these disparate things are all connected. I've heard that the fear of nuclear annihilation caused the baby boomers to act strangely, to consume more than they should have because they figured they weren't going to live. Same deal with the babies being born 9 months after 9/11. When humans get scared that their lives are going to end/change-for-the-worse, they do all the things they wanted to do. No regrets. Then, if the world doesn't end then we, unfortunately, have really fucked things up. It seems to me that, for a while now (like 20-30 years), the media has been scaring the shit out of us (global warming, terrorists, etc.) and so we feel (perhaps justifiably) that the world is not going to survive as we know it (ask your friends if they think that our current way of life is sustainable). Therefore we have to live in the moment. Have as much fun as possible. Which, ultimately, leads to a self-fufilling prophecy.
The problem I have is that I am not sure I care. "Why won't somebody think of the children" is a well worn battle cry, but should we think about the children? Maybe it is right (or at least not wrong) that we consume as much as possible. We have all these objective and subjective truths thrown at us all the time. Subjective truths are pretty meaningless. Objective truths can't be known by us and if they are, the person who knows them is likely to be a modern Cassandra.
I'll take the wind out of the next paragraph by stating that I do care about people. Quite a bit. Even strangers. But should I care about other people? Should I care about children/the future? By the by, children don't make people happy. I thought that was strange. Genetic urges to procreate also result in general unhappiness. Our minds suck. I was talking to fenris (in the future) and he is pretty happy that he doesn't believe that we have a future at all. It allows him to act the way he does (although I am not sure exactly how that is - he seems to have his head screwed on pretty well).
Before editing, I did go onto to talk about: Soma, Big Brother, Logan's Run, "Half a Life" and "Benevolent Dictatorship" but I have been typing for a while and they were all sort of badly interconnected and rambly. I will post further thoughts later. This blog thing is fun/stupid-waste-of-time.
I made 4 boxes of Kraft dinner last night. I have food for a week (edit: just finished it. it is sunday. I am gross).
Of course, with any discussion of human rights, the scarcity issue rears its ugly mug. It is really frustrating that generating an ounce of gold can result in many tons of toxic waste:
Gold extraction produces more waste than any other mining activity. In fact, 99.9% of dug material is useless, as there are only 1 to 3 grams of gold in each ton of rocks. This "micro-gold", so to speak, can be found virtually anywhere, also in Europe. Searching for micro-gold in Europe, however, is out of question, and rightly so. Mining companies, most of which come from Canada, the United States and Australia, engage in gold extraction only where there are no strict environmental laws. Native populations, who depend on land and water for survival, are the victims of mining companies' craving for profit.
Big-scale industrial exploitation of gold sources started at the beginning of the 1970s, with the development of the cyanide gold lye-washing technique. In Nevada, cyanide gold lye-washing was used for the first time by Newmont. Today, industrial gold extraction is unthinkable without cyanide.
Sodium cyanide, a salt of hydrocianic acid, is a quick-effect poison. Dissolved in water, it immediately kills any life form. Cyanide is useful in the process of gold extraction because its molecules alloy to themselves particles of gold that are present in rocks. First, huge piles of ground rocks are imbued with cyanide solution. Subsequently, in a chemical processing plant, gold is refined and divided from the remaining minerals. Huge quantities of cyanide are used in this process: several tons per day, depending on the size of the mine and on the quantity of gold contained in the rocks.
Science came up with one option (although this was discovered in 1998 so who knows what stage it is at now - a cursory glance gives nothing):
Dr Peter Franzmann and Mr Matthew Stott of CSIRO Land and Water and CSIRO Minerals have identified several new species of native microbes able to break down the thiocyanate formed from the cyanide used to extract gold.
The project is funded by the Western Australian Government through its WA Innovation Support Scheme (WAISS), which fosters small innovative enterprises in the State.
Anyway, this is not the point. The point is that, still, even with everything we know, there are mining companies (and we extrapolate out to many different types of companies) destroying entire ecosystems in search of profit. While I can be somewhat swayed by arguments regarding oil/steel etc. - that we really do need these commodities in our modern industrial world, I am not so easily swayed by gold. We don't need gold.Now, this is pretty naive of me. We have an incredibly interconnected economic system, where gold (jewelry) is an important part and can not easily be cut out. But, there is something that doesn't sit well with a destructive process that does not result in any real gains.
I guess the issue is of selfishness. This is a pretty big issue for me right now. I have no idea how the future will play out, but I assume it is going to be scary. I mean America is planning on selling off its forests to raise money for rural schools. They will get a billion and only sell less than 1% of the forests owned by the government, but still. It seems dangerous. The richest nation in the world should not need to sell off its natural resources for what is a pretty small amount of money. A billion bucks is ~$2.50 from each person in the states. Not much money at all. This seems like a desperate cry for help.
Stats on the american economy:
- The national personal saving rate has plunged to an average of 1% in 2004, shockingly below the 7% average for the last three decades.
- The unified federal budget is running a deficit equal to about 3.5% of gross domestic product.
- Outlays for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, now 8% of gross domestic product, will climb to somewhere near 13% by 2030 as the baby boom generation ages and retires.
- U.S. current account deficit, a measure of how much more is bought from foreigners than is sold to them, has climbed to 6% of gross domestic product.
Okay, I am getting off topic, but these disparate things are all connected. I've heard that the fear of nuclear annihilation caused the baby boomers to act strangely, to consume more than they should have because they figured they weren't going to live. Same deal with the babies being born 9 months after 9/11. When humans get scared that their lives are going to end/change-for-the-worse, they do all the things they wanted to do. No regrets. Then, if the world doesn't end then we, unfortunately, have really fucked things up. It seems to me that, for a while now (like 20-30 years), the media has been scaring the shit out of us (global warming, terrorists, etc.) and so we feel (perhaps justifiably) that the world is not going to survive as we know it (ask your friends if they think that our current way of life is sustainable). Therefore we have to live in the moment. Have as much fun as possible. Which, ultimately, leads to a self-fufilling prophecy.
The problem I have is that I am not sure I care. "Why won't somebody think of the children" is a well worn battle cry, but should we think about the children? Maybe it is right (or at least not wrong) that we consume as much as possible. We have all these objective and subjective truths thrown at us all the time. Subjective truths are pretty meaningless. Objective truths can't be known by us and if they are, the person who knows them is likely to be a modern Cassandra.
I'll take the wind out of the next paragraph by stating that I do care about people. Quite a bit. Even strangers. But should I care about other people? Should I care about children/the future? By the by, children don't make people happy. I thought that was strange. Genetic urges to procreate also result in general unhappiness. Our minds suck. I was talking to fenris (in the future) and he is pretty happy that he doesn't believe that we have a future at all. It allows him to act the way he does (although I am not sure exactly how that is - he seems to have his head screwed on pretty well).
Before editing, I did go onto to talk about: Soma, Big Brother, Logan's Run, "Half a Life" and "Benevolent Dictatorship" but I have been typing for a while and they were all sort of badly interconnected and rambly. I will post further thoughts later. This blog thing is fun/stupid-waste-of-time.
I made 4 boxes of Kraft dinner last night. I have food for a week (edit: just finished it. it is sunday. I am gross).
Thursday, February 09, 2006
i wrote an email:
and it was interesting to me. Mainly the space based solar panels and massive deposits on everything. Invest the deposit money and the government has funds for social projects. It is just plain brilliant. I also want to make a documentary on the medical school application process. Anyone interested?
meh,
I wouldn't worry too much about the problems of entitlement (although I do and all the time! although mainly in the I-have-to-be-successful-in-the-eyes-of-others-
because-I-have-been-given-so-much kind of way) or of travelling.
because-I-have-been-given-so-much kind of way) or of travelling.
In fact, it seems likely that having a large number of the members of a developed country with true knowledge of how other people live is a beneficial thing. With that knowledge one can act in a, hopefully, beneficial way. If you only know North America, you will probably be much more wasteful because it is easy and acceptable.
You are right in saying that the way we live in the west is much more detrimental to the non-developed countries. That is extremely unfortunate. I find that I cant escape from the guilt of my actions very easily. In fact, waste reduction is the reason I went into chemistry. Only now do I realise that I am completely bored by chemistry. Oh well, at least I tried. And I have always argued that we should not have a garbage service. Seeing waste has to be the best way to convince folk to reduce their waste. I think we should have huge deposits on everything that can be potentially thrown out. Improve recycling techniques, introduce huge deposits so that all waste to scavenged and we will decrease our waste output by a huge amount.
I think we have realised that we have fucked things up already, the waste we produce is not going to decrease any time soon and there is nowhere for it to go. Science (and perhaps the above policy) are the only options. I want to argue pretty forcefully that science will save us. Lots of people, like our beloved Tippi, are not so sure. In fact, I believe he is distinctly unsure. It is hard to argue against (impossible even) because the shit has hit the fan and I can only repeat the "science" mantra. Ray Kurzweil and The Singularity is Near. If so, we have hope. If not, well shit.
It is depressing but, hey, there you go!
In that vein, you might as well travel as much as possible. We are destructive but curious little creatures. Might as well have fun while you can.
matt
ps, we may be able to save ourselves if we can generate lots of energy. The sun is our best source. I suggest a complicated net of space-based solar panels. Beam the energy back. Then we could do what ever we want, because with never ending and non-polluting sources of energy we would be invicible. Well, I would. You would still have the whole Lower Spine issue.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
the uninhibited grace of a dirty squirrel
well kids,
I have spent an extremely unagonizing weekend analyzing the future. I, perhaps, have too much time on my hands. For now. It will undoubtedly change.
I did go out on Friday, which some of you may be happy about. But it may have been a one-off event. It was fun, definitely, but I need a more solid group here. I made a friend who ended up being from Toronto and is totally useless here. If I had realised that earlier I would have focused my friend-making energies on more local people. I did chat with one french guy who had some interesting things to say. I will likely look him up, but he is a ridiculous womaniser (like all french people) so I will not be able to do any sort of bar scene with him. It is just annoying. Making friends with people not directly related to what you are doing is an interesting problem. Much harder to do than expected, although there is definitely an issue of time. I am only here for 3 more months. If I had longer I wouldn't be worrying.
We ended up at a terrible R&B club. I would have left immediately but I found, and thrived in, the marginalized techno section. I don't know how people dance to R&B. One guy had his fingers in his mouth and was pulling down his bottom lip so as to bear his teeth the entire time, which I equated to that terrible "brush your shoulders off" fad. Perhaps someone could enlighten me to why he was doing it. The rest of the people were slowing grinding or trying to dance excitedly to music which didn't encourage excitement. I like listening to rap music, on my own, but I cannot dance to it. Too slow. Repetitive but slow. Repetitive and fast is golden.
My hair is too long for dancing.
My roomate was supposed to take me out last night but I have decided that he is going to be totally useless on that front. Bastard.
Anyway, I seem to be heading down a path towards law school, although I fight it at every turn. My main google searches are along the lines of "lawyers canada hate lives" and "tired of being a lawyer." Still, for the people that like it, it is certainly liked. And I assume I would be a great lawyer. I enjoy arguing. That is enough, right?
The other options are all great but will take time and I am feeling paralyzed by age, which is retarded but the truth. I am pretty sure I will be the oldest undergrad from my high school class (not including those who went back for a second degree). I have done a fair amount since high school and was not discouraged by my status until the love affair with chemistry died (which it did somewhat suddenly in a jellifying experience at godfre's house - sorry godfre, I didn't mean to become jelly). Now I have spent a good chunk of time (and am still spending that time) doing something that bores me. I can only imagine how this feels to career changers in their later years. It must be horrifying and exceedingly difficult to get out.
Luckily, all is not lost yet for chemistry. I always knew that I was interested in computational chemistry but my last two work terms, in an attempt to "branch out," have not been in that field. The boredom may be a result of that. Next semester I will be going to Montreal to work at Merck Frosst in computational chemistry and I am still excited to go there. I am hoping it will reinvigorate my desire to do chemistry.
And I have sorted out all the requirements to go back to school and prepare myself for medical school, which is where all my premed/med school friends say I should be. Of course, they may tell everyone that being in love with their chosen profession. This plan is the most tenuous of them all. At least with law school, if I do well on the LSATs I can be somewhat assured of acceptance.
Med school? forget about it. I assume I would interview well, but all the people I know who are med school bound are at least as awesome as me, if not awesomer. The odds (although I hate calling them that) of getting an interview are small. The odds (now I feel better about the term) of getting in from the interview are still small. It is ridiculous how much is based on the interview (well that is not true, it is important to get a feel for a person outside of what they are able to write in their PS). People have off days or the admissions folk you get could just not like you while different admission people could have needed to have your babies.
Of course there is always furniture design and the clothing store (my dad was not happy about the clothing store idea and therefore that is the path I should probably pursue!).
Now, while this may seem like a ridiculous number of potential paths (and I have not yet mentioned psychology, applied chemistry, architecture school, actuarial science, dentistry and international business - all of which I have looked into.) it is unfortunately completely consistent with my frustrating, frustrating personality. My undergrad is just as scattered: started in business, moved to chemistry and philosophy, finishing in chemistry and economics.
I want to be a renaissance man. I have no desire to focus. In fact, it is anathema to me. I don't want to do it. Of course, I am coming to the realization that it is somewhat impossible. Perhaps journalism would give me the breadth I desire. Add it to the list. I have a certain amount of potential which I am determined not to squander. And I am in the process of figuring out how to do that.
suggestions would be most welcome.
I have spent an extremely unagonizing weekend analyzing the future. I, perhaps, have too much time on my hands. For now. It will undoubtedly change.
I did go out on Friday, which some of you may be happy about. But it may have been a one-off event. It was fun, definitely, but I need a more solid group here. I made a friend who ended up being from Toronto and is totally useless here. If I had realised that earlier I would have focused my friend-making energies on more local people. I did chat with one french guy who had some interesting things to say. I will likely look him up, but he is a ridiculous womaniser (like all french people) so I will not be able to do any sort of bar scene with him. It is just annoying. Making friends with people not directly related to what you are doing is an interesting problem. Much harder to do than expected, although there is definitely an issue of time. I am only here for 3 more months. If I had longer I wouldn't be worrying.
We ended up at a terrible R&B club. I would have left immediately but I found, and thrived in, the marginalized techno section. I don't know how people dance to R&B. One guy had his fingers in his mouth and was pulling down his bottom lip so as to bear his teeth the entire time, which I equated to that terrible "brush your shoulders off" fad. Perhaps someone could enlighten me to why he was doing it. The rest of the people were slowing grinding or trying to dance excitedly to music which didn't encourage excitement. I like listening to rap music, on my own, but I cannot dance to it. Too slow. Repetitive but slow. Repetitive and fast is golden.
My hair is too long for dancing.
My roomate was supposed to take me out last night but I have decided that he is going to be totally useless on that front. Bastard.
Anyway, I seem to be heading down a path towards law school, although I fight it at every turn. My main google searches are along the lines of "lawyers canada hate lives" and "tired of being a lawyer." Still, for the people that like it, it is certainly liked. And I assume I would be a great lawyer. I enjoy arguing. That is enough, right?
The other options are all great but will take time and I am feeling paralyzed by age, which is retarded but the truth. I am pretty sure I will be the oldest undergrad from my high school class (not including those who went back for a second degree). I have done a fair amount since high school and was not discouraged by my status until the love affair with chemistry died (which it did somewhat suddenly in a jellifying experience at godfre's house - sorry godfre, I didn't mean to become jelly). Now I have spent a good chunk of time (and am still spending that time) doing something that bores me. I can only imagine how this feels to career changers in their later years. It must be horrifying and exceedingly difficult to get out.
Luckily, all is not lost yet for chemistry. I always knew that I was interested in computational chemistry but my last two work terms, in an attempt to "branch out," have not been in that field. The boredom may be a result of that. Next semester I will be going to Montreal to work at Merck Frosst in computational chemistry and I am still excited to go there. I am hoping it will reinvigorate my desire to do chemistry.
And I have sorted out all the requirements to go back to school and prepare myself for medical school, which is where all my premed/med school friends say I should be. Of course, they may tell everyone that being in love with their chosen profession. This plan is the most tenuous of them all. At least with law school, if I do well on the LSATs I can be somewhat assured of acceptance.
Med school? forget about it. I assume I would interview well, but all the people I know who are med school bound are at least as awesome as me, if not awesomer. The odds (although I hate calling them that) of getting an interview are small. The odds (now I feel better about the term) of getting in from the interview are still small. It is ridiculous how much is based on the interview (well that is not true, it is important to get a feel for a person outside of what they are able to write in their PS). People have off days or the admissions folk you get could just not like you while different admission people could have needed to have your babies.
Of course there is always furniture design and the clothing store (my dad was not happy about the clothing store idea and therefore that is the path I should probably pursue!).
Now, while this may seem like a ridiculous number of potential paths (and I have not yet mentioned psychology, applied chemistry, architecture school, actuarial science, dentistry and international business - all of which I have looked into.) it is unfortunately completely consistent with my frustrating, frustrating personality. My undergrad is just as scattered: started in business, moved to chemistry and philosophy, finishing in chemistry and economics.
I want to be a renaissance man. I have no desire to focus. In fact, it is anathema to me. I don't want to do it. Of course, I am coming to the realization that it is somewhat impossible. Perhaps journalism would give me the breadth I desire. Add it to the list. I have a certain amount of potential which I am determined not to squander. And I am in the process of figuring out how to do that.
suggestions would be most welcome.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
shocking turn of events
there are times in one's life where things just all around stop making sense.
I have always been the anti-business science guy. One only has so much time and intellect and it is that person's responsibility to put his/her time towards the betterment of mankind. Now, our friend Midgley showed some of the problems with that and it is okay to admit that science has had a pretty dubious run. Science, the cause of and solution to, all of man's problems.
Anyway, my issue now is that the limited scope of my research has become untenable. It seems to me that it would be more frustrating to be in science and have to spend your life looking at one small part of a the initially larger problem you were first interested in. Of course, this is a new feeling and may pass, or, hopefully, can be diffused by finding a grad program that will encourage my renaissance nature.
I need a future that allows scope. Unfortunately, that term is relative. What I need to be is a journalistic-research-soldier.
I have always been the anti-business science guy. One only has so much time and intellect and it is that person's responsibility to put his/her time towards the betterment of mankind. Now, our friend Midgley showed some of the problems with that and it is okay to admit that science has had a pretty dubious run. Science, the cause of and solution to, all of man's problems.
Anyway, my issue now is that the limited scope of my research has become untenable. It seems to me that it would be more frustrating to be in science and have to spend your life looking at one small part of a the initially larger problem you were first interested in. Of course, this is a new feeling and may pass, or, hopefully, can be diffused by finding a grad program that will encourage my renaissance nature.
I need a future that allows scope. Unfortunately, that term is relative. What I need to be is a journalistic-research-soldier.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
lightness of being
staying with godfrey in rochester, NY.
i expected this town to be tiny. Godfrey is a big liar. it is huge. and, apparently, he is taking me to gay bar this evening. he hates dancing but knows that I like it. but why he is taking me to a gay bar I don't know.
why won't people accept that I am straight?
finally finished the brief history of everything. Science is great, but is damn scary. temperature changes of 15 degrees on average in 20 years (actually happened in the past). we would we screwed. yellowstone is a giant underground volcano, which is definitely shifting (a lake was empties recently). equally screwed.
there is also some thought that the gulf stream will be affected by global warming such that northern europe would experience localised cooling. a colder england would be completely impossible.
i want to be friends with an intelligent bird. you know how you get definite feelings of perspective on life when you go somewhere high, because suddenly you can see how big the world is and how little you are. Well, we only get brief glimpses of that, but birds have it all the time. I bet an intelligent bird would be totally resonable and cool to chat with.
i expected this town to be tiny. Godfrey is a big liar. it is huge. and, apparently, he is taking me to gay bar this evening. he hates dancing but knows that I like it. but why he is taking me to a gay bar I don't know.
why won't people accept that I am straight?
finally finished the brief history of everything. Science is great, but is damn scary. temperature changes of 15 degrees on average in 20 years (actually happened in the past). we would we screwed. yellowstone is a giant underground volcano, which is definitely shifting (a lake was empties recently). equally screwed.
there is also some thought that the gulf stream will be affected by global warming such that northern europe would experience localised cooling. a colder england would be completely impossible.
i want to be friends with an intelligent bird. you know how you get definite feelings of perspective on life when you go somewhere high, because suddenly you can see how big the world is and how little you are. Well, we only get brief glimpses of that, but birds have it all the time. I bet an intelligent bird would be totally resonable and cool to chat with.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
a day in the life of ...
it was desperately cold today. it was also the day I decided not to wear a sweater because the previous days had been so mild. Hume would have laughed.
the area near my house is an industrial complex which is still growing, resulting in half built factories. the ground is frozen and there is a scattering of snow. I cannot walk by the area without imagining "One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich." Until I turn the corner and see the Tim Horton's sign. where was that when you needed it, Solzhenitsyn?
apparently, UW has a bit more life than the folks at UVic. The student union building at UVic was a pretty boring place to be, only occasionally lit up by protest, but I spent a very pleasant day reading about everything in the strangely named Student Life Building at UW. Over the course of a few hours, I was exposed to the UW Gamers Society performing loud atonal karoke (I believe it was Celine Dion's "I will always love you" that was rewarded with the most boisterous performance) which was subsequently drowned out by hindi dance music blasted over the loud speakers, followed by some interesting couch wars before I was driven out by Disney jeopardy and the titillating promise of both Shrek movies.
I may go back for the shrek movies.
the area near my house is an industrial complex which is still growing, resulting in half built factories. the ground is frozen and there is a scattering of snow. I cannot walk by the area without imagining "One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich." Until I turn the corner and see the Tim Horton's sign. where was that when you needed it, Solzhenitsyn?
apparently, UW has a bit more life than the folks at UVic. The student union building at UVic was a pretty boring place to be, only occasionally lit up by protest, but I spent a very pleasant day reading about everything in the strangely named Student Life Building at UW. Over the course of a few hours, I was exposed to the UW Gamers Society performing loud atonal karoke (I believe it was Celine Dion's "I will always love you" that was rewarded with the most boisterous performance) which was subsequently drowned out by hindi dance music blasted over the loud speakers, followed by some interesting couch wars before I was driven out by Disney jeopardy and the titillating promise of both Shrek movies.
I may go back for the shrek movies.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
where have I seen these kids?
check out the kids in this link.
I swear that I saw those kids on advertisements in Victoria but I have never heard of Junior Achievement. If I had to guess, I would say bus time table, but that might be wrong.
They are generic benetton kids. They are everywhere. They scare me.
I swear that I saw those kids on advertisements in Victoria but I have never heard of Junior Achievement. If I had to guess, I would say bus time table, but that might be wrong.
They are generic benetton kids. They are everywhere. They scare me.
the destiny of inventiveness
I want to invent things to save the world but I worry about destroying the world by accident.
Take, for example, Thomas Midgley Jr.
He, while working for GM, discovered that lead additives to gasoline would stop engines from knocking. We know now that lead poisoning is terrible and, even though Midgley had to take time off to recover from lead poisoning, he still held a press conference where he inhaled the fumes from tetraethyl lead (the additive) for 60 seconds to convince the world that his additive was safe. Of course it wasn't and eventually banned. Midgley apparently privately admitted that lead was bad in his later years and worked to make amends for introducing it.
His amending took the form of developing a non-toxic and non-explosive gas to be used in the place of dangerous gases that used to fill refrigerators and heat pumps. His extremely successful invention? CFCs.
Midgley is said by some to have "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history."
I hope I am not a Midgley.
Take, for example, Thomas Midgley Jr.
He, while working for GM, discovered that lead additives to gasoline would stop engines from knocking. We know now that lead poisoning is terrible and, even though Midgley had to take time off to recover from lead poisoning, he still held a press conference where he inhaled the fumes from tetraethyl lead (the additive) for 60 seconds to convince the world that his additive was safe. Of course it wasn't and eventually banned. Midgley apparently privately admitted that lead was bad in his later years and worked to make amends for introducing it.
His amending took the form of developing a non-toxic and non-explosive gas to be used in the place of dangerous gases that used to fill refrigerators and heat pumps. His extremely successful invention? CFCs.
Midgley is said by some to have "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history."
I hope I am not a Midgley.
Monday, January 02, 2006
trial and error
apparently all the pizza toppings I requested are available at the other pizza joint. many apologies to Waterloo. you are a suitably urban town.
ah, house deconstructionism
waterloo is a go.
I arrived early yesterday. Since I was expecting -40 and snow up to my neck, I was pleasantly surprised by the rather temperate -1. I was supposed to head straight into toronto and visit with negin but i was ridiculously hung over. While I only distinctly remember drinking a bottle of wine plus a little champagne, I also have a slight recollection of Newell striding in with a bottle of crown royal. After that I remeber saying, just once, "wow, my drink is strong."
The rest of the party, for me, consisted of dancing retardedly, fast paced conversations, chanting my mother's name (other people did it with me), and breaking asher's house because I thought (1) someone had already started it and (2) it was funny. I devolved into a frat-boy. I busted a wall with my head.
While this would, in a previously life, have been something I would have been loudly proud of, I am now a renaissance man and, as far as I can tell from extremely exhaustive research, no renaissance men were ever house-breakingly drunk (by the by, that is my new adjective for really drunk. It used to be "retardedly drunk" but "house-breakingly drunk" is much more evocative).
My new house is well located across from two pizza joints and two coffee shops (including a tim hortons which is almost as prevalent as churches here, at least from my observations on the drive in, although the churches are quite a bit bigger. I may have driven through god-district though and godly men have no need for stimulants or crulers).
An initial indication that vegetarianism is perhaps not as popular here occured when I went to get a pizza last night and asked for the vegetarian toppings. There were no sun-dried tomatoes, no spinach, no chevre, no artichoke hearts. What is this, the middle ages? Hello.
The house is sparcely furnished (and no TV currently!) and, supporting the stereotype of lonely engineering types, the magazines in the bathroom are FHM, Maxim and Electronic Gaming Monthly. I think I will fit in quite well. Although I am going to need my educational blogs more than ever. Jump on it, renaissance men.
I arrived early yesterday. Since I was expecting -40 and snow up to my neck, I was pleasantly surprised by the rather temperate -1. I was supposed to head straight into toronto and visit with negin but i was ridiculously hung over. While I only distinctly remember drinking a bottle of wine plus a little champagne, I also have a slight recollection of Newell striding in with a bottle of crown royal. After that I remeber saying, just once, "wow, my drink is strong."
The rest of the party, for me, consisted of dancing retardedly, fast paced conversations, chanting my mother's name (other people did it with me), and breaking asher's house because I thought (1) someone had already started it and (2) it was funny. I devolved into a frat-boy. I busted a wall with my head.
While this would, in a previously life, have been something I would have been loudly proud of, I am now a renaissance man and, as far as I can tell from extremely exhaustive research, no renaissance men were ever house-breakingly drunk (by the by, that is my new adjective for really drunk. It used to be "retardedly drunk" but "house-breakingly drunk" is much more evocative).
My new house is well located across from two pizza joints and two coffee shops (including a tim hortons which is almost as prevalent as churches here, at least from my observations on the drive in, although the churches are quite a bit bigger. I may have driven through god-district though and godly men have no need for stimulants or crulers).
An initial indication that vegetarianism is perhaps not as popular here occured when I went to get a pizza last night and asked for the vegetarian toppings. There were no sun-dried tomatoes, no spinach, no chevre, no artichoke hearts. What is this, the middle ages? Hello.
The house is sparcely furnished (and no TV currently!) and, supporting the stereotype of lonely engineering types, the magazines in the bathroom are FHM, Maxim and Electronic Gaming Monthly. I think I will fit in quite well. Although I am going to need my educational blogs more than ever. Jump on it, renaissance men.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
ahh, the immature child in me
So, like any science oriented guy (plus a helplessly self-promoting asshole) I signed up for google analytics to see who is visiting.
It is nice to see that most people visit from gargantuana and I like my ability to track natalie's travels across asia as she visits from various internet cafes.
But the best information provided by google was the keywords that directed random people to my website. As an aside, I have been branded with the description of "ambiguously heterosexual." Anyway, the number one keyword directing people to my website is: "Homoerotic art."
number 5 is "homoerotic photography"
I love the internet.
It is nice to see that most people visit from gargantuana and I like my ability to track natalie's travels across asia as she visits from various internet cafes.
But the best information provided by google was the keywords that directed random people to my website. As an aside, I have been branded with the description of "ambiguously heterosexual." Anyway, the number one keyword directing people to my website is: "Homoerotic art."
number 5 is "homoerotic photography"
I love the internet.
the uncertainty of now
I recently read up on the actual mechanism of ozone hole creation. The most important aspect is the creation, in the cold and dark winter months, of a vortex above a pole that develops a core of very cold air. In this cold air zone polar stratospheric clouds can form in the lower stratosphere. During the winter the vortex is so stable that the air in polar latitudes can essentially be sealed off from air at the lower latitudes.
The polar stratospheric clouds and the segregated cold area both act to generate (or liberate) chlorine containing molecules which have been shown to aid depletion of ozone levels.
Most of the chlorine in the stratosphere is bound up in resevoir molecule hydrogen cloride (hydrochloric acid) and chlorine nitrate. Liberation of active chlorine is usually a slow process but in the presence of the ice particles, as are present in the icy-cold polar clouds, the two resevoir molecules can react together to form a chlorine molecule which can be photodissociated into chlorine atoms.
The cold atmosphere also stabilizes a ClO dimer which apparently is readily photolysed to yield to free chlorine atoms.
Chlorine atoms destroy ozone in the following reaction:
Cl + O3 -> ClO + O2
Note that while the polar clouds are developed during the dark cold months, the ozone depletion cannot take place until the sun comes out. The sun also brings warmth which breaks up the vortex, allows ozone rich air to rush in, destroys the polar clouds and allows the ozone layer to be regenerated.
Now, temperatures are often cold enough in the antarctic to cause ozone depletion but not usually as bad in the arctic. But last year New Scientist indicated that arctic temperatures were the lowest they had been in 50 years. Fortunately, by March temperatures were rising. Still, an arctic ozone hole is feared for the near future.
That being said, CFC producing appliances have decreased (though not as quickly as hoped )
and hopefully, by 2050 both the antarctic hole and the stressed arctic ozone layer will be recovered.
I am off to Waterloo in such a short time. I have a key to a house, my bedding has been sent ahead of me and I am desperately reading the papers I was supposed to do months ago. I have been watching a lot of movies (the warriors, thirteen, rounders). Okay, maybe that is not a lot of movies. But it certainly felt like a lot.
Got bloodied up fighting with azim, rob and jon (mainly rob) while ostensibly tossing a disc. We have made plans to continue with our traditions well into adulthood. I feel that I must push for this - if I am to be a renaissance man, I need friends in multiple disciplines. So with azim, rob, godfre and jon I have psychology, biology and ecology, art and music criticism, and law and politics. I provide chemistry and economics. Together we could be unstoppable. I should remind them about this.
I have been thinking about the real reasons for man's history of subjugating women. For some reason I felt that I had ideas I believed in, but when I was forced to actually write out my feelings I discovered that I had no real ideas or that my ideas were conflicting and easily perverted. If anyone has any good ideas I would love to hear them. I will make a stab at writing my collected ideas here soon. Nothing like presenting your badly conceived contentious ideas in an easily accessible and never deleted medium.
The polar stratospheric clouds and the segregated cold area both act to generate (or liberate) chlorine containing molecules which have been shown to aid depletion of ozone levels.
Most of the chlorine in the stratosphere is bound up in resevoir molecule hydrogen cloride (hydrochloric acid) and chlorine nitrate. Liberation of active chlorine is usually a slow process but in the presence of the ice particles, as are present in the icy-cold polar clouds, the two resevoir molecules can react together to form a chlorine molecule which can be photodissociated into chlorine atoms.
The cold atmosphere also stabilizes a ClO dimer which apparently is readily photolysed to yield to free chlorine atoms.
Chlorine atoms destroy ozone in the following reaction:
Cl + O3 -> ClO + O2
Note that while the polar clouds are developed during the dark cold months, the ozone depletion cannot take place until the sun comes out. The sun also brings warmth which breaks up the vortex, allows ozone rich air to rush in, destroys the polar clouds and allows the ozone layer to be regenerated.
Now, temperatures are often cold enough in the antarctic to cause ozone depletion but not usually as bad in the arctic. But last year New Scientist indicated that arctic temperatures were the lowest they had been in 50 years. Fortunately, by March temperatures were rising. Still, an arctic ozone hole is feared for the near future.
That being said, CFC producing appliances have decreased (though not as quickly as hoped )
and hopefully, by 2050 both the antarctic hole and the stressed arctic ozone layer will be recovered.
I am off to Waterloo in such a short time. I have a key to a house, my bedding has been sent ahead of me and I am desperately reading the papers I was supposed to do months ago. I have been watching a lot of movies (the warriors, thirteen, rounders). Okay, maybe that is not a lot of movies. But it certainly felt like a lot.
Got bloodied up fighting with azim, rob and jon (mainly rob) while ostensibly tossing a disc. We have made plans to continue with our traditions well into adulthood. I feel that I must push for this - if I am to be a renaissance man, I need friends in multiple disciplines. So with azim, rob, godfre and jon I have psychology, biology and ecology, art and music criticism, and law and politics. I provide chemistry and economics. Together we could be unstoppable. I should remind them about this.
I have been thinking about the real reasons for man's history of subjugating women. For some reason I felt that I had ideas I believed in, but when I was forced to actually write out my feelings I discovered that I had no real ideas or that my ideas were conflicting and easily perverted. If anyone has any good ideas I would love to hear them. I will make a stab at writing my collected ideas here soon. Nothing like presenting your badly conceived contentious ideas in an easily accessible and never deleted medium.
Monday, December 19, 2005
the wholehearted effect of kinder eggs
Party at Azim's this weekend was excellent. I enjoy interesting people.
Met an organizer of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, who is doing some interesting things working towards an economically feasible model for conservation. Also caught up with lots of Vancouver folk, all of whom are doing great. I like my friends.
I have decided to communicate for 30 minutes per day. It will be hard but should ultimately be worth it.
Godfrey (rmutt.diaryland.com), azim (he doesn't yet know) and I will be using these blogs to teach each other things about our respective fields. If you want to join in just comment and you will be read by our little collective.
I am going to start with something I read in The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene.
Determinism is a philosphy which is not easily adopted since it removes one's free will. Initially found to be a problem (at least in the west) come the onset of Newtonian mechanics, it was thought that perhaps atoms moved in a manner akin to billiard balls. While difficult to calculate exact trajectories and interactions, such calculations should not be impossible, even if humans are never able to do it. The fact that such calculation are, in theory, possible removes free will.
The discovery of quantum mechanics seemed to make determinism impossible, since an important aspect of QM was the inherent uncertainties in that QM described probabilities. This was found to be a thought based on falsehoods. It is actually the description of QM in terms of classical (Newtonian) mechanics that seems to indicate uncertainty. Schroedinger's equation (time dependent) fully describes a wave function as it evolves in time and so, if you accept the wave function as being real in itself and not as a descriptor of probability in classical mechanics, then you find that QM can be deterministic as well.
This has been discussed for a while. The interesting discovery outlined in The Elegant Universe (and admittedly somewhat refuted in the same book) revolves around black holes. It was initially though that black holes did not radiate. It turns out that they do, but I want to save that for the next update. Black holes do, though, remove wavefunctions when they attract matter into their belly. This is a loss of information from the Universe. In analogy, if you strike a ball on a billiards table with a certain velocity in a certain direction, you could theoretically calculate the final positions of all the balls. But if a ball was removed suddenly and unexpectedly from the table your calculations would not hold. If black holes did not radiate, then one may have been able to assume that the information contained in the wavefunction passed to a locked area of the universe (the black hole) and this would not affect determinism because the information still existed although it was not easily accessible. The problem, then, is that black holes do radiate and this radiation results in evaporation of the black hole. Hawkins argues that when the black hole fully evaporates the information is not recovered.
With disappearing information, determinism is impossible.
The refutation is, of course, that black holes do return the information they stole.
Still, it is interesting to see how physicists are looking at this issue.
Met an organizer of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, who is doing some interesting things working towards an economically feasible model for conservation. Also caught up with lots of Vancouver folk, all of whom are doing great. I like my friends.
I have decided to communicate for 30 minutes per day. It will be hard but should ultimately be worth it.
Godfrey (rmutt.diaryland.com), azim (he doesn't yet know) and I will be using these blogs to teach each other things about our respective fields. If you want to join in just comment and you will be read by our little collective.
I am going to start with something I read in The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene.
Determinism is a philosphy which is not easily adopted since it removes one's free will. Initially found to be a problem (at least in the west) come the onset of Newtonian mechanics, it was thought that perhaps atoms moved in a manner akin to billiard balls. While difficult to calculate exact trajectories and interactions, such calculations should not be impossible, even if humans are never able to do it. The fact that such calculation are, in theory, possible removes free will.
The discovery of quantum mechanics seemed to make determinism impossible, since an important aspect of QM was the inherent uncertainties in that QM described probabilities. This was found to be a thought based on falsehoods. It is actually the description of QM in terms of classical (Newtonian) mechanics that seems to indicate uncertainty. Schroedinger's equation (time dependent) fully describes a wave function as it evolves in time and so, if you accept the wave function as being real in itself and not as a descriptor of probability in classical mechanics, then you find that QM can be deterministic as well.
This has been discussed for a while. The interesting discovery outlined in The Elegant Universe (and admittedly somewhat refuted in the same book) revolves around black holes. It was initially though that black holes did not radiate. It turns out that they do, but I want to save that for the next update. Black holes do, though, remove wavefunctions when they attract matter into their belly. This is a loss of information from the Universe. In analogy, if you strike a ball on a billiards table with a certain velocity in a certain direction, you could theoretically calculate the final positions of all the balls. But if a ball was removed suddenly and unexpectedly from the table your calculations would not hold. If black holes did not radiate, then one may have been able to assume that the information contained in the wavefunction passed to a locked area of the universe (the black hole) and this would not affect determinism because the information still existed although it was not easily accessible. The problem, then, is that black holes do radiate and this radiation results in evaporation of the black hole. Hawkins argues that when the black hole fully evaporates the information is not recovered.
With disappearing information, determinism is impossible.
The refutation is, of course, that black holes do return the information they stole.
Still, it is interesting to see how physicists are looking at this issue.
Friday, November 18, 2005
mmmm.,,cheese
I get all my protein from cheese and peanut butter.
I feel a tad weak.
But I am holding strong on the vegetarianism thing.
I have also become friends with people in the chemistry department. It is a very odd experience for me. I had kinda given up hope on ever finding friends in my faculty and was happy to stay friends with one or two people I met randomly, Natalie and her friends, and the non-academic folks I know (as well as having the high school crew as my base) but then I suddenly found myself enjoying some of their company and finding school related conversation interesting.
trouble.
we even joke in chemistry terms ... like "nothing is forbidden in an excited state"
losers. all of us.
anyway, they are all much smarter than the stunningly inept (in academia) people I meet in my economics class. damn. those guys are stupid.
For a school with one of the highest entering GPAs we manage to have a large number of really dense people.
but I am ranting.
We already know how much I think about the fact that I probably should have gone to UofT, but I usually forget it when I think about how much I am doing here. But a teacher today asked me why I didn't go to a harder school and compared UVic to a college. I can only assume it was because he was an economics teacher. Rather, I have to assume it was because he was an economics teacher.
I feel a tad weak.
But I am holding strong on the vegetarianism thing.
I have also become friends with people in the chemistry department. It is a very odd experience for me. I had kinda given up hope on ever finding friends in my faculty and was happy to stay friends with one or two people I met randomly, Natalie and her friends, and the non-academic folks I know (as well as having the high school crew as my base) but then I suddenly found myself enjoying some of their company and finding school related conversation interesting.
trouble.
we even joke in chemistry terms ... like "nothing is forbidden in an excited state"
losers. all of us.
anyway, they are all much smarter than the stunningly inept (in academia) people I meet in my economics class. damn. those guys are stupid.
For a school with one of the highest entering GPAs we manage to have a large number of really dense people.
but I am ranting.
We already know how much I think about the fact that I probably should have gone to UofT, but I usually forget it when I think about how much I am doing here. But a teacher today asked me why I didn't go to a harder school and compared UVic to a college. I can only assume it was because he was an economics teacher. Rather, I have to assume it was because he was an economics teacher.
Monday, November 07, 2005
i can't cut dance music
i think i am a vegetarian.
well, a environmentalarian ... I only eat the environment.
no, the idea is that I am saddened by the environmental degradation directly caused by cow, pig, chicken farming. Seriously. It is awful. Actually eating animals. Not such a problem.
Someone throws some venison on my plate and it will be in my belly.
but no more farmed meat. can't possibly justify it any more.
god, I hope someone gives me venison.
Natalie and I want to try Hufu, the human tofu substitute. Well, I do. And I will.
well, a environmentalarian ... I only eat the environment.
no, the idea is that I am saddened by the environmental degradation directly caused by cow, pig, chicken farming. Seriously. It is awful. Actually eating animals. Not such a problem.
Someone throws some venison on my plate and it will be in my belly.
but no more farmed meat. can't possibly justify it any more.
god, I hope someone gives me venison.
Natalie and I want to try Hufu, the human tofu substitute. Well, I do. And I will.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
back in the game
okay,
been a while. but these things happen. they sure do.
I have begun to naturally flock to places where people congregate, in a seemingly social manner. It is semi-enjoyable. I remember my old social self. On the other hand, my preoccupation with acedemia is having a noticable effect on my gpa. If I keep this up I might just get into the University of Manitoba.
I really have become a good student but I have also become boring. Part of the boring-ness must necessarily rest on the lack of funds (I chose not to work this semester) but mainly it is from the work ethic.
And all the volunteering. Paige, who I haven't seen in a while, chastised me for my pro bono work but I am enjoying it. Working weekly with learning disabled kids through the Students For Literacy program (and trying to expand the program to focus more on adults), the UVSS, the senate, the Environmental Responsibilty club. I am a joiner. yay.
I am trying to get on a University steering committee to increase the reputation of the university amongst business leaders, high school counselors and others who feel the need to rate universities (note: just checked the Macleans Magazine - UVic is up to #2 in comprehensive universities - take that Guelph and SFU!). Anyway, it is in my best interest to make UVic number 1. Then I get to tell prospective grad schools that I am matriculated from the prestigious University of Victoria. Now, I assume, they still consider it a party school with couch riding surf-kids (which is not too far off the mark). There are a lot of surf-kids here. Lazy bastards.
gotta go study now.
damn surf-kids
been a while. but these things happen. they sure do.
I have begun to naturally flock to places where people congregate, in a seemingly social manner. It is semi-enjoyable. I remember my old social self. On the other hand, my preoccupation with acedemia is having a noticable effect on my gpa. If I keep this up I might just get into the University of Manitoba.
I really have become a good student but I have also become boring. Part of the boring-ness must necessarily rest on the lack of funds (I chose not to work this semester) but mainly it is from the work ethic.
And all the volunteering. Paige, who I haven't seen in a while, chastised me for my pro bono work but I am enjoying it. Working weekly with learning disabled kids through the Students For Literacy program (and trying to expand the program to focus more on adults), the UVSS, the senate, the Environmental Responsibilty club. I am a joiner. yay.
I am trying to get on a University steering committee to increase the reputation of the university amongst business leaders, high school counselors and others who feel the need to rate universities (note: just checked the Macleans Magazine - UVic is up to #2 in comprehensive universities - take that Guelph and SFU!). Anyway, it is in my best interest to make UVic number 1. Then I get to tell prospective grad schools that I am matriculated from the prestigious University of Victoria. Now, I assume, they still consider it a party school with couch riding surf-kids (which is not too far off the mark). There are a lot of surf-kids here. Lazy bastards.
gotta go study now.
damn surf-kids
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