Thursday, June 30, 2005

No jobs at waterstones

Awwww... Oh well, got two more to get responses for and then I'm gonna have to start phoning people. I've probably mentioned it before, but I don't really like phoning people. I like to be able to see people, to be able to breathe, and to be really loud (and I am) without destroying peoples earlobes. I dunno, phones feel.. so odd to talk into. Not to mention I can rarely hear people and then you feel rude when you miss things people say....

Ah, who am I kidding, I'm just shy.... I kind of am though, with new people, I'm very bad at socialising- I much prefer to skulk with preexisting friends than socialising. Its a bad habit, but what the hey, I've got good friends (at least, thats what I tell myself as they continually mock me...)

I was looking at the national portrait gallery for what food they have, as I'm off to see Guys and Dolls this weekend. With Ewan MacGregor! I know, I should really be at the make poverty history thing but I'm unorganised and really quite poor.... and rubbish really, but hey, I'm sure the march will manage without my presence. It is on the other side of the country. Should have had it in London....

But yes, looking at the menu for vegetarian options. There were too, which included "stilton tart" and "truffle cream" for extortionate prices. Now I'm a picky eater as it is, and it doesn't help that I can't really work out what these things will taste like. I honestly haven't a clue. For the prices they should be excellent, but it is london, so meh.

So yeah, dillemma upon dilemma. God I can't spell. Maybe I should use the spell check feature at the top....

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

curse you bill cosby

Quick, go here and download the episodes before its too late. Channel 101, something i've mentioned before, is a great site with loads of amusing 5 minute films on it. House of Cosby's was a very funny little cartoon about a man cloning Bill Cosby. But his lawyer sent a cease and desist order.....

So the cartoons are up for only a little longer. Get them while you can.

I am awesome

I know this will mean nothing to anyone who hasn't played Final Fantasy 7, but last night I totally killed ruby weapon. I might well have had that game since I was about 14, but after 6 years, I've finally done it. Emerald weapon next!

Next, Canada is so awesome. If I had to live anywhere other than the UK, it'd definitely be Canada. Although I stil think that the law where you can turn through a red light to be franklyquite scary. And jaywalking being illegal? Whats that about? But no, Canada=awesome.

Of course, my favourite places to live tend to be english speaking places 'cause otherwise I'd have to learn another language. From all I hear Sweden sounds pretty cool, and if you hear some people tell it everything is legal in amsterdam (including, if I remember correctly, some quite vicious racism actually....)

Well, I've been emailing various places my cvs (well, three places), and seeing whether they will give me a job for the summer. I'm pretty sure working during one's holiday defeats the point of the holiday, but meh. I hear it told that money is needed to purchase alchohol, and I have yet to find anywhere giving out free money. Or they do, but then they want it back. With more money. Which hardly seems fair, but as its the basis of our economy, I shouldn't complain. Its odd actually that our society is entirely based on promises of debts and credits. As we move towards a paperless economy money stops being so much a commodity and more an idea- bartering in its ultimate form. Its weird when you think about it.

Actually whats also weird is how specialised we are. There is a set of individuals for every task who know what they do, but little else. In fact, in our idea based economy we have people who are paid a large amount of money yet have few actual skills other than that to tell other people to continue working. Crazy. If you think back a few hundred years ago, the intellectuals of society would have a working knowledge of many subjects. Mathematicians could be engineers and even biologists, the founder of germ theory, Louis Pasteur, was in fact a chemist (who developed his theory when looking at distilleries, understanding how exactly the alchohol ferments).

This world is a fascinating one, when one takes the time to think about it.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

magic and mayhem

The sun is shining directly in to my left eye. How annoying.

Well, today's the day I have to write a cv. I haven't started yet, although I did briefly look for a simple layout for mine. A quick google search (I think google should start paying me for advertisement of their site. Cause, you know, they need it), gives a variety of cvs. One site claimed to give examples of both good and bad cvs. Interested, I looked to see 15 examples of what they called bad cvs (and accordig to them, any goddamn layout is bad, apparently), and then you have to pay to see the good cvs....

Oh well, I doubt it matters too much as I am applying for summer work, which, while probably quite competitive, isn't the most vital thing in the world. The most irritating thing is putting down references, because I can never work out who to put. I wonder if I just put down some mates. Do you suppose famous scientists need to do so? If Fred Sanger was applying for a job, does he need to put some other nobel prize winners as references?

I'm just reading through Harry Potter again, in eager anticipation for the new novel (Harry Potter and the half blood prince indeed). I suspect this sixth one is going to end on a cliffhanger, so she had better write the sequel ready for next year, otherwise I will have to cry. I wonder what on earth she will follow up with after finishing Harry Potter?

I was thinking about these crazy (I want to say Americans but actually some people in England complained) people who burnt or tried to get banned the harry potter books because they encouraged the occult. This is bizzare, if only because as a child I read hundreds of books with the spell casters as heroes, and they are freely available in public, and, indeed, school libraries. I suppose harry potter is so popular that the mostly illiterate will even hear of it, so it might encourage occult dabblings.

But then.... magic doesn't exist! I mean, at best you have the wiccan kind of magic, which apparently only works if you believe in it (nice excuse), but thats pretty low scale stuff. The harry potter stuff is fictional! Its nonsensical! If someone wrote a book about people eating someones soul to enable themselves to fly, the concept might well be immoral, but theres hardly any point in condeming the practice because you can't do it! I dunno, people who talk about these thngs seem to be wasting their energies- there is quite enough injustice in the world without throwing MAGIC in there.

Monday, June 27, 2005

richard whitely

Has sadly passed away. He was only 61.

back

I'm back. Again. I have been back quite a few times while posting in this blog, this time, however, I am back for three months. I imagine I shall probably get a job of some kind, which will be awesome fun, unless it isn't, in which case it will be deeply disappointing.

My kind parents have taped a huge amount of tv while I have been away (scrubs, ER and derren brown. Cause I'm that crazy kind of cat) so I've got that to look forward to, and I imagine I might well make it to the pub at some point....

Anyways, its late so I'm not gonna say much, other than this thread is hilarious, just because of the guy who posted it

"What would you wish for if you had one wish? Place state what you would wish for and why you choose this.

I would wish for a never ending supply of wishes. That way I never run out. "

Hmm.... Why on earth would you ask people what they would do with one wish.... and then wish for a never ending supply of wishes? Surely that defeats the point of this classic (and lets be fair, tired) thread?

But what the hey.

Incidentally, if you find out who I am on there and pm me, I might reward you. But I probably won't.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Unerotic foods

I was wondering what the least erotic of all foods are. I can certainly imagine unerotic circumstances surrounding food- taking any date to mcdonalds is surely a death knell, unless.... no thats pretty much it, but actual particular foods. Spam is an obvious one. I doubt anyone is going to try to claim spam as a sexy food. Intriguingly, a google search with quote around "least erotic food" give no hits whatsoever, so according to google no-one has ever uttered those three words in a row. Or at least been linked for them, anyway.

Removing the quotations unfortunately gives guides to erotic food, and surely we do not need help for that? Oysters and strawberries. Although possibly not at the same time, although perhaps if you gathered all the erotic food together and carried around with you you could become irresistable to the opposite gender, and then, why then you would be unstoppable!

I suspect most microwave food is unerotic, but I'm not going to claim it as a rule, as I'm sure theres an exception, and as every good scientist knows, an exception does not, in fact, prove the rule. What kind of crazy saying is that anyway? It clearly hasn't been thought out- I suspect it is one that has lost its meaning due to people missing out vital parts over time, as happens to a lot of sayings.

Anyway, I'm going home tomorrow, I have been tidying like a crazy thing. I took a few photos of my messy, messy room for you to enjoy but A-last time I connected my camera to the computer it crashed and B-I've now packed my camera. So you can just wait.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Iraq

Just a short bit of politics, but have a look at this. Bombs also killed 30 people yesterday- and there is news about deaths from bombs every damn day. Iraq is a disaster, it truly, truly is, and it is becoming clear that our presence is not helping. To the best of my knowledge the remit of British and American troops is no longer to hunt out insurgents but to protect themselves now. So, insanely, their role in this country is to not get killed. And thats it. We need to start withdrawing. We need to hand over power to the people of Iraq, possibly getting forces from other nations to aid. And we also need every single goddamn politician who led us into this war out of office. This was unnessecary, ill thought out, and extremely dangerous. Its time to stop.

On a lighter note, here is drunken Alex from last night....


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

We did get her home alright in the end, I will add, although not after 6 very amusing videos. Damn my camera for not having sound....

Topping yoda porn

Hmm, considering the popularity of the last post I'm clearly going to have to image search variety of different creatures on google..... or not.

Just a short post today, as I'm quite tired. Exams are finally over! Thank god, and they went pretty well, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. Good news really, as this stuff counts towards my final degree. I'm even thinking I might do a phd in mathematics. Suicidal, I know, but it has occured to me that theres few other courses in existence that offer such generous hours and holidaying... other than teaching, of course.

Got quite drunk this evening, although I ended up having to look after an even drunker friend. To be fair, it was sort of my fault that she got that drunk, having encouraged her to join in on our harsh harsh drinking games (the rules of which I shall outlay tomorrow, when the hangover kicks in....)

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

yoda porn?

So I had an exam today, which went... kind of badly. But never mind its all in the past now, so meh. Only one left to go, and then I am going to become very, very, very, very drunk.

You may be wondering about the title of the post. Its very simple. Today, I postulated that, no matter how sick some people are (and they are, oh they are) no-one, surely no-one, could find yoda a sexual object. Paul disagreed, and so a google image search was done. I will not link the results, as the searche "star wars porn" on google image search gives up some images you wish you could sear from your brain, and I don't want to damage you like that.

However. Despite some crazy stuff (involving, worryingly, both c-3po AND chewbacca) there appears to be no yoda. Yes, the internet has its limits, although I'm afraid someone might find this site now and be inspired by it. Lets hope not.


UPDATE:

Holy crap. Theres Amiral Ackbar, theres a female of yoda's race, theres even goddamn jar jar binks! (inventively using his tongue....)


Still no actual yoda though. This stuff has a strange sick fascination to it, like a car crash....

SECOND UPDATE

THE GODDAMN ICE CREATURE FROM HOTH!

THIRD UPDATE

Ok, theres one with yoda watching... but that doesn't count. To be honest, with all this insane shit, I'm surprised yoda HASNT been featured yet.

FOURTH UPDATE

Do you think the guy who draws these tells people? I mean, what does he tell people he does for a living at parties? How does he live with himself?


FIFTH UPDATE

Oh good god. For some reason google has extended its remit to.... disney, and even (SHUDDER) simpsons porn here.....

SIXTH UPDATE

Good lord! Is that an ewok?

FINAL UPDATE

Its over... and no Yoda. It would have been more enjoyable to be revising than doing this.... urgh..

Monday, June 20, 2005

You go Tom!

I read this bit of news online. Now, while initially I thought that people were a bit silly for holding people for squirting water, I had to love this bit

The star struggled to maintain his composure, repeatedly asking one of the Channel 4 team: "Why would you do that?"

He said: "What's so funny about that? It's ridiculous. Do you like making less of people?"

"Don't run away. That's incredibly rude.

"I'm here giving you an interview, answering your questions and you do something nasty. You're a jerk."

The actor held the interviewer back and repeatedly called him "a jerk".



You know what. HA HA. Play some kind of pathetic practical joke (and this is meant to be part of a new comedy show for channel 4. Sounds innovative), and you pay for it. HA HA HA.

Had an algebra exam today. It went ok actually, although I clearly need to learn my long division (or, you know, the CORRECT way to do the question that was asked....)

Sunday, June 19, 2005

We're number 2!

The Bath internal maths website proudly proclaims we are on the top of the maths league table. This is what one might call a lie. Intriguingly, Cambridge scores an overall rating of 100, despite having a teaching rating lower than Baths. Incidentally, if the university of Bath is the BEST (and 24 is the maximum mark any university can get for teaching), then I do worry about the future of universities. I suspect they do get a good return from being initially good, which draws in good students, which means the university does better... and so on.

Well I have been spending a fun packed weekend revising (and barbecuing. Incidentally, I will point out that I only ate vegetarian things at that barbecue.) I am quite annoyed that it has decided to get so hot now. If it had waited just four more days, it would mean I would not have to do exams in sweltering heat, which would have been greatly appreciated. Urgh, I don't like heat at the best of times, as people seem to think its some kind of motive for leaving the house, which is clearly wrong. Also, the best societies were produced in cold environments. I refuse to give any evidence to back up this ridiculous assumption.

A few days back during dull dull revision I decided to play a game to liven it up. Looking at the interests page of phil plasma, I decided to see whether, from his page, I could find someone with another, completely seperate interest, by just clicking from profile to profile by interest links. I chose war and peace as the interest. God damn. You would be surprised how hard this was. It probably doesn't help when all I know about War and Peace is its a very long piece of literature by a Russian author. I did find many people with interest in Crime and Punishment, but disappointingly I couldn't find any of them expressing the same interest in war and peace. So if you do manage to do it, please give me the link. Of course, its entirely possible for you to cheat and google search your way there, but then you would be an extremely pathetic individual, and I'm sure none of my readers are extremely pathetic individuals. Are you now?

Barbecue

Ah, exam on monday, and I go for a barbecue. Whats worse, I had fully intended to go to bed early tonight to ready myself for the 9:30 exam on monday, but now its 2:30.... Oh well, fun was had, so its all worth it.

A random webcomic to reccomend to you, crap I drew on my lunchbreak. Like many webcomics, its autobiographical, but unlike them it follows no real structure, merely detailing amusing events that are occuring in our heroine, Jin Wicked's life. Its a very sweet comic in many ways, and very amusing at points- it feels very different to other comics I read because of its random yet realistic style. Actually, it sort of feels like what this blog would read like if it was in comic form. Maybe thats why I like it. Still, its worth a look.

I've been watching series 4 of Family Guy recently. I would reccomend it if you have some sort of method of viewing it early, as its damn good. OK, time to sleep, although its really humid, and I detest sleeping in humid weather.

Friday, June 17, 2005

1000 page views

I'm so popular. I'm going to pretend that every single one is a different visitor, even though 100 of them are probably me....

So yeah, my exam wasn't too bad today, although I drew half a circle instead of a full circle (I forgot that negative roots existed too... I am stupid), well... it wasn't actually a half circle, it was a half ellipse. But it should have been a half circle. But yeah, went well.

I don't have anything much to say, other than this site is absolutely hilarious

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Argh

Little worried. Exam tomorrrow. I should be fine, as long as they don't ask certain questions. Unfortunately, due to the layout, I can't avoid anything in the nasty topics. I know a lot, but it could not be enough if they ask the wrong questions. Argh.

I have gone into panic revision mode, which consists of randomly flipping pages in a state of some alarm, staring blankly at theorems and absorbing nothing. The wisest thing to do at this point would be to not try to learn anything, and instead relax. I probably will not do this, and will instead work myself into an insane frenzy and be unable to get to sleep.

Nerves are great things come the exam, because they propel me to great speeds, and clear my head once the actual thing starts, but before hand... before its just chaos in my head.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

MSN

Has updated. Every now and then the bored technicians at microsoft get together and make a new update for msn. This time, it has added things called "winks". These are obstrusive and loud animations that come and interrupt whatever it is you are doing. Also, you can click nudge, and make their msn thingy judder.

ARGH. Luckily you can turn these new features off, although I don't like the new layout that much either.... a cute little addition is the ability to tell people what you are listening to. But no, I don't like it. Admittedly I don't tend to like new things, being sedate in my ways. No wait, that is in no way the correct word. But what the hey, I'll stick with it.

I have an exam in two days... well 1 day in an hour and a bit, but I try not to think about that. I'd like to say I'm not worried about it, but I am, I really am. Oh well.... I have nothing pithy to say, other than I hate fluids. And its quite fun to say "I hate fluids". As a campaign goes, I think thats great.

OK, Im done.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

water to wine

Whats your favourite miracle that Jesus did? Mine's probably turning water into wine, because I can just imagine the circumstances that led to this.

For those of you who can't remember the situation, its a wedding party, and they have drunk ALL THE WINE. Mary comes and requests that Jesus helps them....

"Oh no!" Says Joseph

"Whaaaat?" Replies the drunken Mary

"We're out of booooze!"

"Do-don't worry, I'll jus' ask Jesus. JESUS!"

"Yes mother?"

"Hey, you'ree not drinkin' much', are ya?"

"...No mother. I... never mind."

"We're out of driiink Jesus."

"Oh dear, perhaps you should send someone to get some more..."

"Can't you help?"

"Mother! I'm the son of God! I can't frivolously do this kind of thing!"

"Pleaaase. Help your old mum!"

"Oh... fine"


Well, maybe I'm elaborating a little on the bible text, but I imagine it went something like that.

(Incidentally, I apologise to all christians I offended. Mary probably never got drunk. Just remember, if God is almighty, then I imagine he can survive a bit of satire....)

Monday, June 13, 2005

few things

First of all, Rich pointed out that yahoo is rubbish. Wellll if you type in "life is funnier if you're lonely" (with or without inverted commas) you get this blog as a number 1 hit. Which is ridiculous if you think about it, but kinda cool.

Secondly... well I never, if I had just gone to bbc, I would have seen this article, suggesting that maybe they MIGHT ban advertising. I think I might write to my MPabout this issue, so I can learn a little more. Anyway, isn't that awesome? (incidentally, my tone "they'll NEVER accept my ideas" sounded incredibly bitter. I really didn't intend it like that).

Finally, and this is the point where my brain breaks down and I forget what the third thing I wanted to say was....

Meh. On a random note, I wonder if its possible to break the internet. Whether there is a page, hidden somewhere in the deep, murky depths of the interwebnet that contains a button, which, if clicked in the right fashion, would actually BREAK the internet. Now, i'm not one for conspiracies, but I'm almost certain that this is true. So watch out, because somone might just break the internet. And then society would collapse!

I was gonna put a random fun link there, but I couldn't find one. Thats right, the internet is fresh out of fun! Shocking.

OK, I'll get back to revision now.

is it not nifty

Go check out todays sluggy freelance. Then read through the archives cause theyre awesome.

I just want to say the point behind that is amazing. When we come to the end of something, be it a career, a relationship, or anothers life, there is a (understandable) tendency to mourn it, now it has gone. But of course thats not what we should do. We should think back, and think of just how amazing that time was, how great we had that, and be thankful that we got that oppurtunity at all, and then move on, willing to experience new joys, new excitement. I think thats a great way to look at life.

Not that I do it. But I probably should.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

I'll attract the enemy with my human call....

"I'm so wasted, I'm so wasted!"

Anyways.... So yes, I am very tired. Last night I completed Baldur's Gate 2, throne of bhaal, then foolishly followed up by playing on Warcraft 3, another deeply addictive game.

This is not what one would call a smart move. I hardly need more reasons to distract myself from revision, and yet I persist in creating them. Oh well.

I have taken up having staring contests with next doors cat. It was clearly used to the old owners of the house, who apparently let it inside, as it stares t me folorny from the other side of the window, occasionally giving out a pathetic meow. I don't particularly like cats. Every time I let them sit on my lap they tend to dig in, something that dogs thankfully never do. Bizzarely we bred dogs to make them "perfect" for their role (while breeding in some horrible genetic disorders along with it....), but left cats alone. Perhaps we were just afraid of 'dem kitty cats. One never hears of cat men. Much talk is made of cat ladies, women who live all alone with their cats, surely some men must do the same? I imagine they don't dote on the cats as much, or, if they do, they try not to make as big a thing out of it as women would, for fear of being mocked in the horrific hierachal society we live in.

Of course, both cats and dogs outwiegh reptiles. I'm not sure what the joy is in having one as a pet. They are not actually smart enough to recogise their owners, and many is the case of some idiot getting throttled by an anaconda they bought off some bloke in the pub. I suppose one could get a vague fascination out of watchiing a snake eating a mouse, but surely for that one could just watch documentaries...

's all immaterial as I couldn't have a pet. i'm WAY too negligent, you just know I would forget to feed it, until one day the RSPCA burst in, and they turned the story into one of their adverts ordering you to give them money! (Every time you don't give money to the RSPCA, a kitten dies. Actually proven true) Which wouldn't be good. I imagine such an act would probably carry with it some kind of criminal charge, and I have no reason to tangle with the police, as otherwise they might find out my secret plan to overthrow the government and establish a new world order centred around muffins.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

I'm loving it

Aww. "So awesome it hurts" doesn't put me at the number on hit! Inexcusible, frankly, but what are you gonna do? Other than some kind of mass internet buying campaign, I suppose.

Anyways, on my way home from a delicious lunch (paid for by the SU. Excellent....), I heard a little kid sing the new mcdonalds tune "i'm loving it."

Ergh. I know I did that too. "It doesn't take long, to sing a song, theres nothing quite like a mcdonalds" (and what WAS that about?). Its sad really. I think advertising to kids should be banned. I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of globalisation in all its forms, but I understand that ffor the most part it is beneficial. But.... advertising to children? When you are young you are incredibly open to ideas and very easy to manipulate. If you have ever seen the film, "The Corporation", you will probably remember one of the most disturbing moments in the film where a woman from advertising explains how her company tells people how to aim at children more effectively.

OK, yes, all adverts are designed to manipulate us, but there is nothing like a childs nagging to convert a weary parent. I suppose one could argue thats the parent's fault for exposing their kid to too much tv, or teaching them when to say no, but at the end of the day, when you are tired, of course you are gonna sit a kid in front of the tv while you take at least a short break. And yeah, sometimes you will give in and take the kid to a mcdonalds....

I guess one could argue its not so horrible, and I don't know in general if I could point at something specific that puts me off, but the idea of almost brainwashing kids to do something, makes me just makes me shudder.

Hmm, for a specific example of the unpleasentness of this formula, watch Super Size Me. The conclusions that eating mcdonalds every day for a month is bad for you is contested by mcdonalds (surely ridiculously. Surely everyone knows that can't be doing your body any good...), but I think one point that film makes that perhaps is lost is that mcdonalds targets children. Watch its adverts, with clowns, its happy meals with toys, even having playgounds at some outlets, this is a place that WANTS children to come. This is not a good thing. Getting people hooked, or at least used to going to mcdonalds as a treat (and thats important too, going to mcdonalds is a TREAT. Thats some heavy positive association), while they are young is NOT a good thing. Fast food is DEFINITELY not something we want to encourage people to eat... well at all, but certainly not children.

I suppose again the blame could fall on the parents for taking them there, but with so much pressure, eventually they are gonna cave and take them to mcdonalds every now and then. Thus- its a treat.

But hey, my ideas are NEVER going to be implemented. So meh.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Just briefly

I love sites like this. They exist for the whole purpose of hopefully influencing google. As I understand it, google doesn't work that way, but I am tempted to create blog saying "So awesome it hurts" repeatedly. Incidentally, the number one hit for "so awesome it hurts" is this site. Sadly the link on it doesn't work.....

"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"

"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"

"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"
"so awesome it hurts"

What? Its worth a try....

Things I've done

I've stolen this list off this blog, which I found off phil plasma who commented below. Its edited a little to make it work for the UK. So, have a blog? Fill in the list too.

X = have done

(X) snuck out of the house
(x) gotten lost in your city
( ) seen a shooting star
(x) been to any other countries besides the UK
( ) had a serious surgery
( ) gone out in public in your pajamas
( ) kissed a stranger
( ) hugged a stranger
( ) been in a fist fight (I've been in sort of fights. But never used fists... thats a very civillised way t act)
( ) been arrested
(x) laughed and had milk/coke come out of your nose
( ) pushed all the buttons on an elevator
(x) swore at your parents
(x) been in love
(x) been close to love
( ) been to a casino
( ) been skydiving
( ) skinny dipped
(x) skipped school
( ) seen a therapist
( ) done the splits (oh GOD no)
(x) played spin the bottle (I hate that game. If you want to kiss people just goddam kiss them.)
( ) gotten stitches
( ) drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour
(x) bitten someone
(x) been to Niagara Falls (yeaah. I kept the little raincoat too. It was great...)
(x) gotten the chicken pox
(x) kissed a member of the opposite sex
( ) crashed into a friend's car
( ) been to Japan
(x) ridden in a taxi
(x) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
( ) been fired
( ) had a crush on someone of the same sex
(x) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back (you know, if theres somone who has't had this, they're either asexual or lucky bastards)
( ) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend (hell, sarcasm is technically lying....)
(x) had a crush on a teacher
( ) celebrated Mardi-Gras in new Orleans (I can't think of the UK equivalent. Do we have mardi-gras in london?)
(x) been to the US (It was originally Europe...)
( ) slept with a co-worker (does a fellow student count?)
( ) been married
( ) gotten divorced
( ) had children
( ) seen someone die
( ) had a close friend die
( ) been to Africa
(x) driven over 400 miles in one day (what is 400 miles in kilometers?) (I' ve BEEN driven, so I'm counting it)
( ) been to Mexico
( ) been to India
(x) been on a plane
( ) seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show (in the THEATRE!)
( ) thrown up in a bar (I always make it to the toilet. Oh wait, once I went in the toilet of a pub. But I have decided that doesn't count)
( ) purposely set a part of myself on fire (I know people who have. Freaks)
(x) eaten sushi
( ) been skiing/snowboarding
( ) met someone in person from the internet
( ) lost a child
(x) gone to college/university
( ) graduated college/university
(x) fired a gun (ONE go on a rifle range. I'm wiiild)
( ) purposely hurt yourself
(x) taken pain killers
( ) been "intimate" with someone of the same gender

Fun with google

So I was bored while revising, a not unusual state for me to be in, and I decided to kill some time by playing "I'm feeling lucky". Admittedly, I should still be revising now, but my brain was starting to turn into mulch, so I shall take a break for a little while. A long while.

Anyways, first of all, I have to give respect to Kaotic Int'l on Island Mix for writing the longest aww I could find by using google. Probably not THE longest aww on the internet, but certainly pretty damn long.

Next of all, I discovered, that, if one was to type rawr into google, one would get this website, which is crazy genius in its own way, though it looks like it has not been updated in a very long time.

Horribly disappointingly, the number one hit for your mother is some kind of band, who, I admit I have not listened to, so for all I know they write the best music in the entire world. I entertain doubts, however. Your mum is a little more interesting, yielding a spoof news websites (and if theres one thing you'll find on the internet, its spoof website).

Anyways, I searched many other things, but a lot of the number one hits for things like "glomp", "lol", "rofl" etc are just definitions, or, even worse, joke websites. Amusingly brb gives a link for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, but thats about it.

Some random links for you- thanks to Royston from Uff for these, I... can't explain them. You'll need flash, of course.

You may have noticed that this is yet another hyperlinks post. Well yes, yes it is. Unfortunately, being trapped in the house revising or playing on Baldur's Gate (yes, THATS important too), does not leave much time for.. well anything interesting to relate. You'll be glad to know my body clock is well and truly messed up yet again, by the way. It now considers 11:30 too early, no matter what I do, and, trying to go to sleep at THREE last night I couldn't, but hey. I just have to remember to prepare for getting up early a few days BEFORE the exams, rather than just trying it out on the days themselves.....

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Hyperlink madness

I have recently noticed that some of the hippest blogs have been using a lot of hyperlinks.

Some of these will just be definitions, some of them are links to random, very amusing websites. They serve a purpose of keeping the reader entertained, and maybe teaching them something they didn't know. All in all, they are great.

I think the funnest part of hyperlinks is that they can lead you anywhere, allow you to do anything, and each one is a new adventure. As long as you don't look at the little bit at the bottom of the screen which tells you where the link is taking you of course.

You have NO idea how long this post actually took to write.

(Well... about 5 minutes. The hyperlinking took a bit longer though....)

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

1000 page views

So close I can taste it. I figure I'm getting about half that number a month, so credit to those of you who stick with this. As a reward, 'm going to talk abut mathematics

I'm mostly revising linear algebra today. Looking at the exam papers, it seems- well kinda random. While most of it pedestrian mathematics- calculations, definitions, simple proofs, theres some random really hard stuff thrown in to liven up my experience. Oh well, according to my schedule I have two more days (and however much more time I devote to it today) before I have to be ready for the exam.

Ben has updated the photo of me. Give him long enough and he'll make a flash video with me starring. Oh god, with a catchy music tune! And then i'll be all over the internet! The guy with the donkey body and the excel saga theme tune!

I'm not sure if I want to encourage or discourage that. On balance, no-one will be able to recognise me as I have shorter hair now. As a claim to fame goes, "I'm that guy who's in those videos you've seen over t'internet" probably isn't the best, although I suppose thats what the numa numa guy must say at parties. I bet he gets all the ladies.

It would be quite sad if somone managed to get ALL the ladies. I mean, for a start, where would they live? It would be some pretty freaky living arrangements there, and the rest of mankind would either have to consider homosexuality (hey, if they can electro shock therapy you out of being gay, surely the opposite can apply?(I feel the need to add that I am not being serious here. Sarcasm doesn't always work over the internet....)), or go to war. Not a pleasent scenario at all.

I'd just like to say that Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American is awesome (I think its now called self titled, they renamed it cause of 9/11). For some reason I haven't listened to it in a year or so, but its still great.

OK, I'm done. Oh wait, Randy Mullohand, the author of the excellent omething positive has started, or rather restarted, his other strip, new gold dreams. Its brilliant, so read it.

Ok, now I'm done.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Sarcasmo

Why is it that I seem to have an uncanny ability to get stuck behind whoever is paying with vouchers in the co-op? Its quite annoying. Vouchers always, always, always take longer to pay with, usually because the people who pay with them appear to not understand how the deals work, and often their vouchers are out of date. This ignorance is not exclusively the consumers, as the people at the check out will frequently mess up trying to enter the detials in. And woe to those who mischange the voucher users...

All this means that I have to wait for freaking ever to get served.

It has oft been noted by those close to me that I am heavily sarcastic. This... is true. It has got to the point where I don't think "yeah, I reaaaaally want to go" is sarcastic. I just think of it as a negation. I like sarcasm though. Its certainly not the highest form of wit, but its definitely not the lowest. People who say that tend to have just been made a fool out of by sarcasm.

Sarcasm is a dangerous tool, however. It must not be overused (I'm certainly not guilty of that), and can be turned on you quite quickly. One amusing part of it is when people say something incredibly stupid and then pretend they are being sarcastic. This always entertains me.

On another, quite random note, the most irritating thing anyone can do during a movie is go "WHAT? I wouldn't do that!" The "if I was there, I would do it THIS way" conversation is stupid. A-they are not you, so they make their own mistakes. B-you are NOT in that situation, nor have you ever been, so to claim that in a high pressure situation you would, for example, just take them all out with an uzi, is just shite. The worst is when someone, who has just been watching EXACTLY the same thing as you, turns to you and asks "why did he do that?". As if somehow you have some kind of deeper knowledge about this film than they do. I those cases it will normally be revealed later on, but some people are so impatient.

Hmm, to be short, just keep your goddamn mouth shut.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Physics

I have absolutely no idea why the title of the last post is "transporting." Oh wait, yes, its come back to me. I was orginally having it as physics, then noticed I was talking mostly about transport (ignoring the fact that I referred to the tile within the first line of the post), so changed it.

There, fascinating story for ya.

So anyway, had the exam today, and it went pretty well. I came in carrying 5 pens, just in case, despite them all being new, was able to answer every question, although probably not always correctly. Despite last minute revision of what words mean when refering to the position of the planets (superior conjunction, etc. Dull suff) I managed to forget it all in the exam, and subsequently guessed the least correct answer I possibly could. But what the hey?

As a reward I am taking a break from revision today (although it means I have to revise all the harder tomorrow), so go me. And what am I doing with this break? Why checking webcomics of course. Exciting stuff, exciting stuf....

Sunday, June 05, 2005

transporting

Tomorrow. Pretty confident.

Saw log last night. League of Gentleman, that is. I considered keeping that in cryptic code. I think you'll like it as long as you liked the original series. Which you should have 'cause its great.

One of the biggest jokes the government like to pull on us is encouraging us to use public transport. Yes, it has got a bit better, but it still costs a fortune. It costs less to FLY to scotland than it does to take the train. There is something deeply wrong with that. Especially as planes are incredibly polluting, trains would be much better. Thing is, while buses and trains cost more, or equivalent, to transport by car, people aren't going to take them, because travelling by bus or train is inconvinient and unpleasent. The solution given by the government is to raise the price of driving... but none of seems to be going into cheapening transport. You need both for it to be fair.

Actually, REALLY what the government should do, but won't, is massively fund and push for new, better cars, moving towards hydrogen power and hybrid cars. Realistically, making cars better for the environment is the only way you are truly going to curb the pollution caused by these. However, the oil industries will NOT support such a move, and it would take a lot of initial financial investment on the government's part.

Have I said this already? Maybe, oh well.

Its odd, because there are things with solutions, things which are simple to do. The make povety history campaign, of course, the control arms treaty, an enforcable treaty policing corporations. These are things that will obviously reduce human suffering, and yet they do not happen. I guess its our job to try and make sure they do.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Sin City

I watched Sin City last night, and it was freaking awesome. I know its probably not for everyone- its rather violent, and possibly light on actual morals- in a way its quite similar to pulp fiction. Actually in quite a few ways.

But if you don't mind those, and enjoyed pulp fiction, you will LOVE this film. It looks amazing- the fluidity of motion, the way it feels JUST like a comic book in motion. The intensity of the characters and story, and the mortality you know all the characters possess lead to genuine tension.

Empire gave this 4 stars, because it wasn't for everyone, but screw it, it gets 5 stars in my book. Fer crying out loud, empire gave 4 stars to revenge of the sith too, and this film is so much better than revenge. So yeah, check out this film, especially while it is in the cinema, it will enrichen your life.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Sluggy Freelance

Two days ago I finished reading sluggy freelance. A webcomic (sluggy.com), it started in 1997, and updated daily. Thats 8 years. You may be unsurprised to learn that this has taken me a long time to do.... Its one of the best webcomics out there, although its very slow to begin with, once the characters are established it gets good. Soon the plots become insanely complex, and you being to care about each seperate character.

In fact,as I now check 40 comics for updates, I am gonna put a list of the ones you should really check. These are my favourites, the ones I always look forward to seeing an update too. I read others too, and when I feel like it, I mention this, but this is my reccomended list. I might put links up.

www.sexylosers.com (sexy losers)

www.rpgworldcomic.com (rpg world)

www.crfh.net(college roomies from hell)

www.zole.org/extremist (death to the extremist)

www.dominic-deegan.com (dominic deegan)

www.elgoonishshive.com (El Goonish Shive)

www.megatokyo.com (megatokyo)

www.midnightmacabre.com (midnight macabre)

www.nuklearpower.com (8 bit theatre)

www.penny-arcade.com (penny arcade)

www.pvponline.com (player versus player)

www.ctrlaltdel-online.com (ctrl alt delete)

www.queenofwands.net (queen of wands)

www.questionablecontent.net (questionable content)

www.robandelliot.cycomics.com/index.php (rob and elliot)

www.scarygoround.com (scary go round)

www.somethingpositive.net (something positive)

There. Check out these comics, and your life will be enrichened.
I'm off to see sin city tonight.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

DISTRACTION

I think, to revise, I need to just lock myself in a room with a pad of paper, a pen, a stereo and my notes. Even then I coul distract myself by doodling or reading the inserts on the albums I brought with me. Its hard to revise when you're a lazy bastard.

I was gonna write 100 things then, but then I got bored. 100 things is a lot to write. I would have soon slipped into the banal, which, as you know, I NEVER normally do. Heh heh.

Soooo, I watched Full Metal Jacket again last night, after an hour debate on what to watch. We always have difficulty choosing a film to watch because we have such varying film tastes. I like decent films and they don't. Heh heh. But yeah, really I either wanted to watch someththing new or ninja scroll, but failing that I instead got out FMJ. I love that film. i've only seen it twice now, but I am now of the opinion that its one of my favourite films ever.

I've actually still got a few films from the kubrick collection to watch, mainly cause I'd never sell it to my flatmates to watch, so would have to go to my room, on my tiny screen. And also 'cause i've been playing world of warcraft too much.

Anyways, time to get dressed and start revising, I suppose.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

insights

If one has incredible control over ones bladder muscles, so one is able to stop going to the toilet whatever happens, would ones bladder eventually explode? If so, how mch would it hurt?

It occurs to me that some of the pain processes in are body seem quite random, if one accepts (as one should) that evolution is real. I mean, early man, what good was it for him to know that, say, his lungs had a hole in them? I mean honestly, what was he gonna do, get a needle and thread and sew them up? I suppose maybe if they were just a little hurt it might do him good to have a lie down, but meh. i definitely reckon pain should be handled differently. Maybe a little tinkly alarm when you are in pain, and large red writing flashing in front of your eyes saying "kidney failure! Kidney failure!" I'm not a glutton for pain, I have to admit, i'm an incredible coward so do my best to avoid it.

My favourite thing about people who live in the paranormal is that they will quote popular scientific myths to back up this. One of the most pervasive in our society is that we do not use 95% of our brain. Tell you what, go to www.snopes.com and run a search on that, and tell me what you find out... The information is there, but most people choose to ignore it. I suppose to an extent we all do act on ignorance, but some people seem to go out of their way to avoid educating themselves on the truth. There is a conspiracy going round that it wasn't a plane that hit the pentagon, it was a missile. This is quite the crazy theory, as we know planes hit the trade towers, so why exactly was a missile fired at exactly the same time? I honestly can't think of anything approaching a reasonable explantion for that. And then, I haven't mentioned the plane full of people who, rather than having tragically crashed into the pentagon, have apparently just vanished.

The problem with most conspiracies is they lend the government to much credit. I suppose its nice to have faith that the government is organised, but in truth it isn't. Conspiracies as large as the ones suggested would involve hundred of thousands of people lying about something which would clearly be wrong to lie about. Especially the moon landing. The idea that in the 30 years following the landing no-one has come clean seems rather odd to me. But then I don't tend to believe in conspiracy theories, as you might have guessed.