Well, it's rainy and ugly in Boston. Probably because we don't have Cornell Days. Although apparently it's ugly in Ithaca too, so...
My flights went pretty well, thanks for asking. I had my iPod and book to keep me company. Unfortunate, as usual, I had to turn off my music and phone during take off. I'm used to it by now, but it's rather annoying. But you know what's more annoying?
The number of bad
Jokes about turning off when
Taking off is high
Really. If I had a nickel for every time I've read "the plane is taking off. powering off my iPod now so that it doesn't crash" on Twitter, I'd have enough nickels to really annoy a McDonald's worker. I would have made a joke like that, but really, they're overdone. It makes sense for people to question the practices of turning off an iPod which in no way will interfere with navigational devices. I do have an explanation though- it's so... damnit, I've got nothing.
On a slightly different note, I feel sorry for people with e-readers- can't read a book for practically half of the flight (though I suppose it depends on the length of your flight). I have a cure for that: It's called bringing a book- they're programmed to not be electronic or interfere with aircraft operations.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Nothing to fear but fear itself... and spiders
Well. It's Friday. Finally. And I'm going home for the weekend! That's right, I have an internship interview on Monday, and I'm flying in today. Always love a good flight. Airports, layovers, and bears, oh my! (Don't worry, there usually aren't actually bears, that was a one time thing).
More importantly though, I saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company last night!... No, that's inaccurate... I didn't just see- I was on stage with them!! I was one of their 2 "volunteers" (who are pulled up on stage without volunteering). I got to run back and forth across the stage to metaphorically represent the psychological distress Ophelia goes through before killing herself. It was quite the experience. The strangest part though (other than the audience yelling "cut the crap Hamlet, my biological clock is ticking and if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it") was the fact that I wasn't nervous. Why is that strange? Well I get nervous when I speak in front of class, but I was fine in front of thousands of people. They say that public speaking is the chief fear of the American people. To that, I say BS.
I'm pretty sure that
Death, snakes, spiders, and taxes
Are much scarier
Really, I get nervous during public speaking, but I don't fear it. I do, however, fear spiders, taxes, heights, fear itself, and Dick Cheney. Chances are whoever did that study measured fear based solely on nervousness being an indicator for fear, and as a result had skewed findings, since people don't tend to get butterflies in their stomachs when they think about death. Good lord. Sociology has me thinking all sociologically. I need to stop!
EXIT PURSUED BY BEAR
The title quote is from a Robot Chicken sketch. And yes, I know that I've discussed public speaking as a fear before, but this is in a different sense. So there.
More importantly though, I saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company last night!... No, that's inaccurate... I didn't just see- I was on stage with them!! I was one of their 2 "volunteers" (who are pulled up on stage without volunteering). I got to run back and forth across the stage to metaphorically represent the psychological distress Ophelia goes through before killing herself. It was quite the experience. The strangest part though (other than the audience yelling "cut the crap Hamlet, my biological clock is ticking and if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it") was the fact that I wasn't nervous. Why is that strange? Well I get nervous when I speak in front of class, but I was fine in front of thousands of people. They say that public speaking is the chief fear of the American people. To that, I say BS.
I'm pretty sure that
Death, snakes, spiders, and taxes
Are much scarier
Really, I get nervous during public speaking, but I don't fear it. I do, however, fear spiders, taxes, heights, fear itself, and Dick Cheney. Chances are whoever did that study measured fear based solely on nervousness being an indicator for fear, and as a result had skewed findings, since people don't tend to get butterflies in their stomachs when they think about death. Good lord. Sociology has me thinking all sociologically. I need to stop!
EXIT PURSUED BY BEAR
The title quote is from a Robot Chicken sketch. And yes, I know that I've discussed public speaking as a fear before, but this is in a different sense. So there.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Names: Ugly Heads and Grateful Deads
The other day I posted about how people aren't being original. And you know, yesterday I learned (in class) that I was right.
First, a brief history lesson. Did you know that last names arose out of necessity? For instance, if you had two Bills in town, and one was a blacksmith and the other a shoe maker, you had to distinguish them somehow, and now you have Bill Smith and Bill Shoemaker. Physical features were used as well, so if you were talking about John, the ugly one, you would say John Kennedy (which means John "ugly head"). Then there are patronymics, and you get names like Jackson, Stevenson, Fitzgerald, or Fitzpatrick (all meaning "son of so-and-so"). I found all of this stuff pretty interesting. However, my favorite point was this one:
Apparently the
Welsh need the sixties, or some
Creative movement
Did you know that 95% of the Welsh population answers to 39 names. So pretty much you'll have a lot of Jacks, Rubys, Megans, and Bruces (that last one was a Monty Python reference). Some creativity wouldn't hurt. Maybe we could send a few of the left-over hippies over there to populate the region with some Hopes, Rainbows, Destinies, or Prudences. Wouldn't be too hard, just put on a Grateful Dead concert there.
In other news, Hilary used to be a boys name. Hillary Clinton is bringing that back.
First, a brief history lesson. Did you know that last names arose out of necessity? For instance, if you had two Bills in town, and one was a blacksmith and the other a shoe maker, you had to distinguish them somehow, and now you have Bill Smith and Bill Shoemaker. Physical features were used as well, so if you were talking about John, the ugly one, you would say John Kennedy (which means John "ugly head"). Then there are patronymics, and you get names like Jackson, Stevenson, Fitzgerald, or Fitzpatrick (all meaning "son of so-and-so"). I found all of this stuff pretty interesting. However, my favorite point was this one:
Apparently the
Welsh need the sixties, or some
Creative movement
Did you know that 95% of the Welsh population answers to 39 names. So pretty much you'll have a lot of Jacks, Rubys, Megans, and Bruces (that last one was a Monty Python reference). Some creativity wouldn't hurt. Maybe we could send a few of the left-over hippies over there to populate the region with some Hopes, Rainbows, Destinies, or Prudences. Wouldn't be too hard, just put on a Grateful Dead concert there.
In other news, Hilary used to be a boys name. Hillary Clinton is bringing that back.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Scoffs for Peoplesoft
Today was course registration. And to think, I was so looking forward to it. Apparently I had forgotten what course registration is exactly. So what did I forget? Well, for starters, the would-be five minute process takes upwards of an hour because of Peoplesoft, which seems to use elderly people as servers (they crash a lot). Peoplesoft crashed for everyone about 50 times in the course of 50 minutes, leading to a lot of extra stressed, already-stressed college students. Here's an analogy for you
Course registration
Is like putting all of the
School into one room
Really. The server, like a small lecture hall, is meant for maybe a hundred people at a time. However, when you have 3000 students from the freshman class using it at once, it tends to fail at its job miserably. So please, Cornell, get a new program that can handle more than Haverford's freshman class (about 200 people if you're wondering).
In the end though, things worked out and I got a number of classes which look awesome. I'm taking one on children's literature (I expect a lot of difficult reading for that one), another on sex and marriage in medieval times (in which we memorize difficult flowcharts, such as this one), another on current events and the news (don't really know what to expect here), and one on food and sexuality (where I presume I'll learn that my love of Izzes is considered feminine and/or homosexual). Then I need to take one more course, which I still need to figure out. Ta ta for now.
Course registration
Is like putting all of the
School into one room
Really. The server, like a small lecture hall, is meant for maybe a hundred people at a time. However, when you have 3000 students from the freshman class using it at once, it tends to fail at its job miserably. So please, Cornell, get a new program that can handle more than Haverford's freshman class (about 200 people if you're wondering).
In the end though, things worked out and I got a number of classes which look awesome. I'm taking one on children's literature (I expect a lot of difficult reading for that one), another on sex and marriage in medieval times (in which we memorize difficult flowcharts, such as this one), another on current events and the news (don't really know what to expect here), and one on food and sexuality (where I presume I'll learn that my love of Izzes is considered feminine and/or homosexual). Then I need to take one more course, which I still need to figure out. Ta ta for now.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Jock Major
Apparently I need to start copyrighting phrases. Key Notes, one of our a cappella groups here on campus, has an upcoming concert. It's name? "It's Never Sunny in Ithaca." If you'll recall, that's exact title I gave one of my posts this past month. To top it off, a Facebook group has arisen on campus called "Mr. Skorton, Tear Down This Wall!" Again if you'll recall, I ended one of my posts the other week saying "President Skorton, Tear Down This Wall." Either people are copying me (unlikely), or I just beat everyone to the punch. If that's the case, I should probably become a business major and do stock investment. This brings me to my next topic.
I've heard quite frequently that economics (or AEM, here at Cornell) is the jock major. Everyone generally assumes that this is simply because it's the easiest. However, that is by no means the case. Try taking economics as an English major, and see how you fare. With all of those concepts and mathematics you'll be overwhelmed. And your paper-writing and book-reading skills really won't take you far. The fact of the matter is as follows:
Economics is
The jock major because they
Need to know that stuff
Really, it's a hard world out there for an athlete. Without knowledge of economics, you might accidentally take a contract for a measly 1 million dollars a year instead of that 10 million (oh noes!). Or you might mistake your batting average for the amount of money in your bank account. There are just so many numbers in sports and endless ways to mix them up. Which is why they need to major in econ, and why no one else understand it (because it's tailored for jocks so that only they can properly grasp it).
I've heard quite frequently that economics (or AEM, here at Cornell) is the jock major. Everyone generally assumes that this is simply because it's the easiest. However, that is by no means the case. Try taking economics as an English major, and see how you fare. With all of those concepts and mathematics you'll be overwhelmed. And your paper-writing and book-reading skills really won't take you far. The fact of the matter is as follows:
Economics is
The jock major because they
Need to know that stuff
Really, it's a hard world out there for an athlete. Without knowledge of economics, you might accidentally take a contract for a measly 1 million dollars a year instead of that 10 million (oh noes!). Or you might mistake your batting average for the amount of money in your bank account. There are just so many numbers in sports and endless ways to mix them up. Which is why they need to major in econ, and why no one else understand it (because it's tailored for jocks so that only they can properly grasp it).
Monday, April 12, 2010
A Public Service Announcement
I normally avoid alienating any of my possible readership with controversial issues. However, today I felt that this issue simply could not have been avoided. That's right, I'm talking about a horrible disease spreading rapidly through our nation's youth: Hipsterism.
In the news, the U.S. Census went out and the government has been frantically trying to get the word out there. However, there are some neighborhoods that they have trouble with. In the past, the worst response rate has come out of the projects and other poverty-stricken regions of the city. However, this year the most hassle hasn't come from those regions, it's come from an even worse-stricken part. If you guessed the hipster part, you're right.
So what is hipsterism exactly? Well, symptoms include feeling cooler than you actually are, wearing clothing for the sake of being "ironic" (for instance, advertising a brand you don't care about), not understanding the meaning of the word "ironic," listening to indie music, trying your hardest not to conform and ironically conforming in the process, and wearing a mustache for no real reason at all. If you only have one or two of these symptoms, it's somewhat normal- but if it sounds like I'm describing your life, I would seek seek help immediately. A prescription I would personally recommend is a large dosage of Lady Gaga music.
In spite of all that, I don't really have anything against hipsters, they're just an easy group to make fun of. Here's my real problem:
If you don't have time
To fill out a minute-long
Sheet, there's something wrong.
Really, you could finish the census before you reach the chorus in "Party in the U.S.A." Here's some other things you could finish the census faster than: sending a witty tweet that you purposefully try to think of, writing a poorly-worded love poem to your significant other, brushing your teeth properly, shaving, and many many more. Seriously, it's a tiny little thing and it's the least you could do for your government even if you don't agree with its practices. And yes, I may be a little biased since I'm taking a sociological statistics class, but still- JUST DO IT!
Sorry for the length of this post. In the time it took me to write it I probably could have filled out 5 censuses (censi?) or more.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125811666
In the news, the U.S. Census went out and the government has been frantically trying to get the word out there. However, there are some neighborhoods that they have trouble with. In the past, the worst response rate has come out of the projects and other poverty-stricken regions of the city. However, this year the most hassle hasn't come from those regions, it's come from an even worse-stricken part. If you guessed the hipster part, you're right.
So what is hipsterism exactly? Well, symptoms include feeling cooler than you actually are, wearing clothing for the sake of being "ironic" (for instance, advertising a brand you don't care about), not understanding the meaning of the word "ironic," listening to indie music, trying your hardest not to conform and ironically conforming in the process, and wearing a mustache for no real reason at all. If you only have one or two of these symptoms, it's somewhat normal- but if it sounds like I'm describing your life, I would seek seek help immediately. A prescription I would personally recommend is a large dosage of Lady Gaga music.
In spite of all that, I don't really have anything against hipsters, they're just an easy group to make fun of. Here's my real problem:
If you don't have time
To fill out a minute-long
Sheet, there's something wrong.
Really, you could finish the census before you reach the chorus in "Party in the U.S.A." Here's some other things you could finish the census faster than: sending a witty tweet that you purposefully try to think of, writing a poorly-worded love poem to your significant other, brushing your teeth properly, shaving, and many many more. Seriously, it's a tiny little thing and it's the least you could do for your government even if you don't agree with its practices. And yes, I may be a little biased since I'm taking a sociological statistics class, but still- JUST DO IT!
Sorry for the length of this post. In the time it took me to write it I probably could have filled out 5 censuses (censi?) or more.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125811666
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The tip of the iceberg
I have a research report due tomorrow. And if you didn't notice, I was tweeting yesterday about how much I hate Microsoft Excel. That's because I have to make tables in Excel and it's like a 5 year old who refuses to cooperate and insists on doing his own thing even though it's blatantly wrong and stupid. Luckily I finished the tables and won't have to deal with any more of them until my next paper for that class comes around...
It's another beautiful day, which is always nice- especially since I'll be spending it locked up inside and working on the aforementioned report. I've already written about that plenty of times though, so don't worry- I'll try not to be redundant.
During Cornell days, a lot of tours were going around the dorms. Oftentimes they want to show what a room looks like, so if they hear talking or music on the other side, the tour guide will knock on your door and ask if it's okay to show people your room. Here's what I have to say to that:
You may want to check
What a room looks like before
Showing people it.
Really. I'm pretty sure that those two tours that peaked into my room may have been greatly put off by the unsightly sight of my overflowing paper recycling bin and filled clean-laundry basket. But really, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Compared to the average college student, I'd say I'm much, much more hygienic. You never know how many doors you'll open before you find moldy socks, rotting food, rotting animals, or worse. So really, check with people before you tour.
It's another beautiful day, which is always nice- especially since I'll be spending it locked up inside and working on the aforementioned report. I've already written about that plenty of times though, so don't worry- I'll try not to be redundant.
During Cornell days, a lot of tours were going around the dorms. Oftentimes they want to show what a room looks like, so if they hear talking or music on the other side, the tour guide will knock on your door and ask if it's okay to show people your room. Here's what I have to say to that:
You may want to check
What a room looks like before
Showing people it.
Really. I'm pretty sure that those two tours that peaked into my room may have been greatly put off by the unsightly sight of my overflowing paper recycling bin and filled clean-laundry basket. But really, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Compared to the average college student, I'd say I'm much, much more hygienic. You never know how many doors you'll open before you find moldy socks, rotting food, rotting animals, or worse. So really, check with people before you tour.
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