A Slippery Slope of Non-Sequiturs

freudian slips?

2009-04-23T08:37:39Z

So I wrote a paper on pornography last night. When I ran spellcheck on it, I found that I wrote commoditities instead of commodities, and apenix instead of Appendix... O_o

can someone tell me...

2009-04-17T20:31:09Z

What is dreamwidth? And why do people want it so much? From what I could see on the wiki, it's just lj with a few improvements. Am I missing something? Or is this just like way back when gmail was only available if you got an invite?

OK everyone, say it with me:

2009-04-16T20:17:03Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8001644.stm

I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE M****RF***ING SNAKES ON THE M****RF***ING PLANE!

grrrargh

2009-03-13T06:35:42Z

If anyone had links to some academic sources detailing day-to-day life in a workhouse in 19th century england that would be most awesome.

Seriously, who thinks up these assignments???

?

2009-02-16T05:20:53Z

Hello LJ. Long time no see. Is there anyone still around?

chixdiglinux @ 2007-12-29T20:15:00

2007-12-30T04:21:05Z

I love breaks from school! I'm hurting from endless days of snowboarding and still dying for more. This is the life.

chixdiglinux @ 2007-12-10T23:59:00

2007-12-11T08:04:22Z

So, it's recently come to my attention that I haven't been here since like, before the fall term started. I have only one reason for this (if anybody cares): math owns my life. If I had been a normal person I would have done a regular math degree and I wouldn't spending every waking moment fiddling with some equation or another, but, like the sadomasochistic moron that I am I chose to do honours math. And there you have it.

Now if you'll excuse me I must go panic about finals and try to learn 3 months worth of real analysis in a few days.

Canadian no-fly list? Ye gads...

2007-06-28T23:26:04Z

OK so I need to rant. I mean, how wrong is this? If the no-fly list in the States at least held up the appearance of doing something useful then I'd see the logic behind wanting to introduce a Canadian version. But c'mon people, poor Senator Kennedy had to cut through 3 weeks worth of bureaucratic bullshit to get his name off of the American list. It's bloody stupid. Not to mention that the way in which the Cabinet went about introducing the Canadian list was down-right criminal. They didn't do it by passing a legislation (which would have to be debated and voted on by Parliament), oh no, instead they passed 'Regulations,' which bypass all that pesky democratic process. Regulations are intended to work out details of a current legislation (ones that have already been passed). But the piece of legislation that the federal cabinet attached these regulations to contains nothing that even hints that it could be used to institute a no-fly list. Anyone that voted on the legislation would have had no reason to suspect that they might be taking part in the authorization of such a list.

I remember, back when Stephen Harper won his minority I was appalled, and even scared. Never have I been less impressed with the Canadian Conservatives than since he took over (and I was never a fan). But a few days later I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said "Meh, what damage could his government really do, with such a weak minority?" It looks like my initial reaction was the correct one. What damage indeed.

And this is why, if I ever decided to study law, it would have to be constitutional law. I will not stand for such a blatant abuse of the system, of our civil rights and freedoms, by our own government. As someone smart once said "The public should not fear its government; the government should fear its people." Somehow, we have to find a way to get the public educated enough so that we can all tell when injustices such as this one happen. Only then will the government be truly accountable for its actions.

When your best isn't good enough

2007-02-03T00:45:31Z

So I'm in this crazy!math course called 'Problem Solving'. As the vague course title fails to suggest, this class is all about solving a very specific type of problem called a counting problem with an even more specific thing called a generating function. I failed the first assignment, which is fair enough since I left it 'til the day before it was due. But the second one I started a full week before it was due, put in something close to forty hours on it, and failed it anyway. In fact, I didn't do much better on it than the first one. I saw the prof during his office hours, but all he said was that this stuff wasn't 'out of my reach', but he wasn't exactly willing to show me how to do it, even though the assignment had already been marked and handed back. I guess at least he thinks I can figure it out for myself, which makes one of us.

So now I have this dilemma. If I withdraw from the class I get a W on my transcript (not a big deal) but the school will also want the scholarship they gave me back, since I'll be two credits under the scholarship's requirement. But if I don't withdraw and fail, (or put in so much time into it that I fail another course) then I'll have an F on my transcript which leads to unpleasantness. Not to mention that I hate letting math beat me.

Anybody care to weigh in with a suggestion? Or some words of (en/dis)couragement?

Yehaw!

2007-01-24T16:21:12Z

Guess who has full range of motion in her arm again! Me! Woot! Got it (pretty much) all back on Monday, and went out snowboarding last night. And it's still all good! This happy me makes!

awesome story

2007-01-16T21:49:50Z

This is an awesome story we had to read for cognitive systems class:

http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html

It's way too brilliant not to share. Very amusing and oddly thought-provoking. Read, flist, read. :)

Done!

2006-12-20T02:16:28Z

Wrote the last final this morning. Probability. Oi. Let me tell you, Not the easiest class ever. Sure, it starts out nice and intuitive, but then all of a sudden it's like 'find the expected value of the number of coin tosses it will take to get a coin to land on its edge given that it's a rainy Tuesday in Baltimore and the coin-tosser is a small blond child. AND DO NOT ASSUME INDEPENDENCE!!!'

But at least it's over and I can breathe again. And I tell you, the only way I'm repeating this class is if I failed it. If I got 50% I'll take it.

Probability

2006-12-18T06:48:30Z

Only one day left before the probability final. Argh. I think the limit as t approaches Tuesday of P(I'm going to be repeating this class in January) = 1. *head-desk*

Snow Day!!!

2006-11-27T21:12:34Z

In Vancouver! Snow Day!!! Hee! /silly

Dear Differential Equations midterm marker,

2006-10-16T17:47:08Z

Please be generous with the distribution of part-marks, as I can't seem to get my head on straight to write an 8am exam.

That will be all.

hypothetical question

2006-10-06T20:47:30Z

Say you had a friend who was walking around the East end of the city one day and noticed a problem. The problem was that there is whole blocks of low income houses around the East-side, all of which are home to families with small children. Your friend, being inquisitive, found out that none of the parents of these kids were around during the day, if much at all. The kids were hungry, and there was no food in any of the houses. So this friend decided that every Thursday, he was going to go out to a grocery store, steal lots of nutritious food that the kids will like, and distribute it. Is there any moral basis (not involving God) on which you could tell him he was doing something wrong?

Next: Your friend has been doing this successfully for a number of months. He informs you that shoplifting is very easy and that you would have to do something really stupid to get caught. You have every reason to believe him. He then challenges you to help him, either by working in tandem or by you going out and doing the same thing on your own. You are an intelligent person and would therefore not get caught. Would you do it? If not, why? If yes, are you going to do it today, or some time in the near future? If not, once again, why?

Can you tell I just got out of ethics class?

chixdiglinux @ 2006-08-23T00:47:00

2006-08-23T07:45:35Z

Sleep deprivation sucks.

That is all.

Only thirteen more days of the PNE...

new laptop and stuff

2006-08-15T06:26:47Z

Yup, the laptop finally got here! *dances* It's pretty awesome. Though I think my geek factor just went up, as I now have a hub set up in my bedroom, with three computers on it... To be fair only two of them are running right at this moment... That brings the total number of computers in the house up to six. For four people, one of whom only knows how to use hotmail. Er...

In other news my credit card is significantly worse for wear after going text-book shopping today. And there's still two books I need that they don't have in yet, which means that my whole plan of getting books early so I don't have to stand in line later failed once again. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Oh, and the Pacific National Exhibition starts this Saturday. Colour me shocked; I totally thought I had more time than that. Only a few more days of freedom and then it's sixteen hour shifts for me until labour day, then back to school after that. Guess summer's over. *sigh* How did that happen?

Book meme.

2006-08-05T18:54:54Z

Snagged from strangecreature.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

OK, the closest book to me is Strunk and White but it doesn't go up to page 123, so I had to go with the next closest.

"'His walk. And he didn't catch an orange,' said Vimes. 'Mhm.'"

K, I tag whoever wants to play.

snagged from strangecreature

2006-07-20T21:31:09Z

'Cause it's just so damn pretty.

pseudomonas me scripsit anno 2005

home again

2006-07-20T19:33:00Z

Hi guys! *waves*

I'm back. The Calgary Stampede went by in a ten-day haze of sleep deprivation and 16 to 19 hour shifts (except for the last day which finally ended after 22 straight work hours including tear-down.) I remember now what it means to be looking at the sunrise from the wrong side. :) But all the pain and fatigue went away at pay-out time, as such things tend to do when one is handed 1600 bucks cash. *g*

I intended to take a trip out to the badlands when it was all over, but I couldn't find anyone to convince to come with me (as all the people I was working with have to be set up and open at the Edmonton Ex by this Friday,) so I just decided to come back home where I shamelessly slept away the last two days.

In other news I found out that I not only got into UBC for September, but also got a $2000 entrance scholarship for my first year there. Unfortunately my registration day was like the second day of Stampede, so by the time I got around to registering yesterday, almost everything I wanted was full. But I somehow managed to fill up my schedule with 28 credits worth of classes that seem pretty interesting, some of which I can actually use for my degree. The downside is that I had to take and 8am Mon. Wed. Fri. math class for the first half of the year, which means it's the 6am bus for me three days of the week. Ah well.

Well, I think that's about it. Now it's time for me to get unpacked and reacquainted with normal life things, like laundry.

Snagged from azryal because it's pretty damn funny

2006-07-01T08:18:05Z

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

I'm a sucker for this random phrase generator type stuff.

Hmmm.

2006-06-28T05:11:14Z

I would've dubbed it 'from the so you don't have to kill the five totems of the Ra-tet dept.'

Scientists Blocking out the Sun

fractal geometry and the (non)existence of God?

2006-06-26T08:45:06Z

OK, OK, don't look at me like that, I'll put it under a cut. This is why I shouldn't be allowed to have more than two drinks. :)

A friend of mine told me once that the near-infinite complexity of the universe is almost enough to convince him that the universe was created by an intelligent being. You only need to mull this over for a little while to see his point. On really big scales you have things like stars orbiting around massive black holes in the centers of galaxies, planets orbiting stars, yadda, yadda, so on and so forth. And the more you zoom in on any particular part of the universe, the more detail you see. Molecules are made up of atoms which are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are made up of quarks. And who knows what makes up a quark? Seems like an awful lot of complexity to come about by pure chance.

In fractal geometry, you get the same type of thing going on. Except instead of having only near-infinite complexity - as we suspect is the case with the real universe - you get actual infinite complexity. If you zoom in on any part of a fractal pattern, no matter how many times you magnify it, you will always see new details emerging. The kicker? Fractal patterns can arise from systems with very simple rules. The most famous fractal, the Mandelbrot Set, comes out of the equation Z = Z² + C, where Z is a coordinate pair.

Well I've been doing some philosophical drinking, and something's just occurred to me. My friend's argument is pretty convincing only if you assume that the near-infinite complexity of the universe indicates that the universe is a complex system with a complicated set of rules governing it. But since we've seen from math that a very simple system can give rise to infinite complexity, this isn't a good assumption to make. And it doesn't take a huge stretch to imagine that a fairly simple system, such as the one that gives rise to the Mandelbrot fractal could come into existence by pure chance.

This, coupled with the fact that it does indeed look as though the basic laws governing the universe are not many, and also not all that complicated (for example, all of electromagnetism can be summed up in four very short equations), should show that the complexity of the universe does nothing to prove the existence of God.

Another ficlet! Look at me go...

2006-06-21T20:50:51Z

Saved by a Lie
Author: chixdiglinux
Rating: Meh. PG?
Spoilers: Up to and including Not Fade Away
Pairings: None
Setting: During and post 'Not Fade Away.' Possibly AU, though I think it could've happened this way! *clings desperately to denial*
Feedback: Hell yea! Didn't have a beta, so if anything glaring jumps out at you, be sure to let me know.
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them from Joss and ME and playing with them for a while. I'll probably put them back when I'm done.

“Is everything ready?”

“Yeah, it's all set.”

“This friend of yours, he can really do this?”

Lorne sighed. “He's not my friend, he just owes me a really big favor.”

Angel looked up at Lorne uncertainly. This was more than just a big favor.

“He also says he likes the challenge. Which brings me to my next point, Angelcakes, this kind of reality shift takes major mojo. If something were to go wrong...” Lorne trailed off.

“Vail pulled it off,” Angel countered.

“Yes, and we both remember how well that went. Connor has his memories back.”

“It still saved him,” Angel said, his mind flashing back to the night at the Sporting Goods store, Connor wired with explosives... “It was done once. It can be done again.”

Lorne sighed again and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocked of his brown leather coat. “OK champ. If you're sure.” He handed the paper to Angel.

----------------------------------------------

Demon bodies littered the floor of the Sahvrin lair. All demon, except one. Lorne stared at the lifeless former lawyer slumped against the wall. He understood what he had done, and why, and yet he couldn't shake the dread that crept over him the moment he squeezed the trigger. Taking a life was so easy, anyone could do it. Giving it back, that was something that had to be left to people with infinitely more power than he'd ever dreamed of having. And it always came with a price.

Lorne sighed and looked at the floor. “Good night folks,” he murmured, and dropped the gun. As Lorne turned and walked away, Lindsey McDonald's body flickered a couple of times, and disappeared as if it had never been there at all.

----------------------------------------------

The battle lasted for what simultaneously felt like eons and only a fraction of a second. In the end Angel, Spike and Illyria stood victorious – or, in the case of Spike and Illyria, propped each other up victorious. Gunn lasted three times longer than Illyria predicted, taking out more than two dozen assorted demons before he fell. Angel slayed the dragon, and then moved on to help Spike and Illyria with the rest of the monsters, many of which ended up killing each other in the confusion. That was the trouble with pitting a demon army against a hand-full of people. The demons that had nothing to do got bored.

Angel looked up at the skyline. He had about two hours before sunrise. He glanced over at Spike, nodded, and walked away from them and the carnage, pulling a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket.

----------------------------------------------

Angel parked the GTX at the end of the street and got out. He looked down at the paper again, checking the address written on it with the street sign. Satisfied, he stuffed it back into his pocket and started walking up the street.

The outside light of the house he was looking for was turned on, and Angel could just make out a man's shape, putting something into the back of a pickup. He crept closer, carefully staying in the shadows.

----------------------------------------------

Lindsey finished loading the fishing gear in the back of his truck and smiled up at his six year old son, who was leaning out of the passenger side window, grinning sleepily. The kid didn't even like fishing; the first time he'd caught a fish he'd cried until Lindsey relented and threw it back into the water. But he never passed on one of these weekly trips, not since the first time Lindsey took him out two years ago.

Lindsey smiled to himself. It wasn't about the fish. Not really. He walked around to the driver's side and opened the door when he spotted someone watching him from across the street.

“Hello?” he ventured. “Can I help you?”

Angel stepped out from underneath the tree he had been leaning on. “I was just looking for someone,” he paused. “He's not here.”

Lindsey nodded, and looked up at Angel thoughtfully. “Don't I know you from somewhere?”

“No, I don't think so.” Angel smiled. “I better get going,” he added, before turning and heading back down the street to his car. Whatever the price-tag on this was, he'd deal with it when the bill came. He always did.

---------------------------------------------

Angel climbed into the GTX and slid the keys into the ignition. “Good luck, Lindsey,” he whispered, and started the engine.