wednesday was almost the most agonizing day ever. i spent the first half of it waiting with michelle in her tv/internetless apartment for ups to deliver her packages, then spent the second half in pat's tv/internetless apartment for the cable guy to show up. even if i'd wanted to ditch them, i couldn't, because my bike was still in the shop and hadn't even been looked at, though i'd dropped it off a week ago with the promise of it being looked at within 2 days. the only thing that saved the day was that night pat and michelle came over and we all hung out at my place and had fun.
first day of lectures today, and it was moderately painful. my chemistry professor spent the first half explaining why induction does not produce knowledge (or at least, no longer, as if it somehow did before), and then spent the rest of lecture talking about all the great things induction has taught us in chemistry. some good lines were "the best scientific theories are the ones that are disprovable; the more disprovable, the better" and "sure, we believe in gravity because every time we've dropped something it has fallen; but that doesn't mean that someday, it won't". this discussion arose because the first chapter is on the scientific method (observation -> hypothesis -> experimentation), and he wanted to point out how in modern times we use conjecture -> refutation -> (eventually, if not refuted) accepted. he really had two points: one was that induction doens't work (he used the typical - and flawed - "all swans are white" argument), and secondly that this new method doesn't use induction. however, it does; people don't conjecture arbitrarily; they conjecture based on observations (he even said this while explaining it); and the "refutation -> acceptance" phase is just experimentation and proof, only named illogically. so... he was dumb. but he speaks in a cool way, and since he doesn't apparently actually have a problem with induction (based on what he was teaching), it should work out ok. the other classes were uninteresting: in Optimization, the prof (who is heavily accented and appears to be a grad student) just read the handout with some basics. in Real Analysis, he did the same basic real number/set definitions and proofs the TA did the day before (though he also said "sets... are so basic a concept... they don't have definitions... only examples", then proceeded to define sets). in probability theory, the akwardly-spoken professor spent about 30 minutes building up to "so the definition of the probability p of an event is the number of event outcomes over the number of total outcomes" (properly qualified with neccessary assumptions,
ben).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4272418.stm
Hehe, it's a World of warcraft plague. they added a new area with a new boss, and this boss has this "corrupted blood" plague. but by using certain kinds of critters, players let the plague loose in the orc main city, and it's been killing everyone, and being spread around by immune-but-carrying npc's and other critters. the streets are lined with bodies. blizzard tried to contain it by doing server resets, but there are still pockets of infection.
Hehe, bon jovi was on oprah today, which i saw at the gym. there's no sound, just closed captioning. at one point they referred to bon jovi as "a rock'n'roll ion for the last 20 years"
there! atlas essay has been submitted. anyone wanting a copy may request it.
so arthur and i were relaxing on the grass at school after playing frisbee. this lady walks up and says "hi, i'm with the ASUCLA we're having an event here tomorrow, and the guys who were supposed to build our stage didn't show up. could you guys help us unload these trucks and build the stage?" Not trusting ASUCLA, i'm like "what's the event?" "it's a music festival". Still not trusting asucla, "what kind of music festival?" "Cultural, spiritual" Ah ha! Since there's not a chance in hell i'd work for free to support this crap, "So what are you offering us?" She seemed slightly surprised i'd ask for
compensation for my effort, but quickly responded "well, we have tickets, or food at the event..." Because I'd sooner die than attend, i'm like "how about money?". She was pretty taken aback by this, but recovered and was like "um... well... maybe, if we juggled the books a little... what were you thinking?" "5, 10 an hour" "um, yeah, i think we can pull that". So arthur and i walked over and started helping out. Arthur had to go in a little while, but i stayed for the full four hours. It was pretty fun just building the stage and moving stuff around,a nd i stayed pretty busy. The other people working there were cool. the boss of the event people offered me a job; he said i was working super hard and was always finding things to be done, etc. i didn't bother explaining to him the possible connection between the people getting paid working hard and the volunteers who didn't show up. at the end we ate lots of free (for us) in'n'out, and i accepted my $50 (a bonus $10!).
hehe, most underhanded vote of no-confidence ever:
"Why, no, I don't say that that bridge will collapse," said the chief metallurgist of Associated Steel, on a television program. "I don't say it at all. I just say that if I had any children, I wouldn't let them ride on the first train that's going to cross that bridge. But it's only a personal preference, nothing more, just becuase I'm overly fond of children."
hehe, and i forgot to mention the hobos in boston. they were pretty active in general. there was one woman who kept claiming to be the hobo wife of the hobo next to her, but each day she was with a different hobo man.
michelle also claims that the people of boston are very hostile. i'll admit there were definite instances of random hostility, as well as a restaraunt where the whole staff seemed ready to commit suicide (one of them, upon lighting a candle per our request, said in a very strongsad-like voice "sigh... like it'll keep you warm"), but there were plenty of very nice people too.
Just finished backing up blog. hehe, dunno why, but it's fun to (once a year) go through and read all my old blog stuff. laugh at funny jokes stored there, laugh at stupid things i've said after breakups.
k, so i guess i forgot to post that i was in boston all week; i realized this when ben called me on thursday and was like "chaaaaaad, you haven't been onliiiiine".
i was in boston all week. michelle's been on this big US tour, and didn't have anyone to hang out with while she was in boston, so i joined her and we had a good week. we checked out MIT and harvard, both nice campuses. harvard has a statue of "john harvard, founder" with the date of founding. the only problem is john harvard didn't found harvard, no one knows what he looks like (the statue is based off some random model), and the date on the statue is wrong by 3 years. but... it's there anyway.
we stayed in a hostel, something i've never done before (and didn't even know existed). a hostel is basically a public dorm: rooms of various sizes, stuffing 4-10 people in crappy bunkbeds with bright dorm lights 3 feet from my eyes. gross bathrooms, random people everywhere, the lobby served as a kind of common area with strange old men yelling at kids with dirty feet. in general it was fun anyway, though, just for the uniqueness of the experience. pretty much everyone there was a european 20 something on US vacation, travelling from town to town as cheaply as possibly staying in crappy hostels like this one, and they had various stories concerning such stays. the best part was that it really encouraged you to explore boston, as hanging out in the hotel room was neither comfortable nor restful.
as such, we explored many neat places. went to the boston museum of science, boston aquarium, went on a sunset cruise, went on a graveyard tour, went on a hilarious graveyard trolley tour (eccentric british tour-guide-zombies), and did lots of walking around town late at night (as you had to make sure you were really tired before attempting to sleep). the city was really safe, and we had fun hanging out in common just talking a lot, which led to a great strengthening of relationship. and every single restaraunt has really good clam chowder.
that's it for boston. i harassed some girl on facebook a while ago, here's what was said (over the course of several emails):
Chad: If Fountanhead and Communist Manifesto are both in that list, you've misunderstood at least one of them.
Natalie: yeah, it could be that. or maybe just because i happen to like the book doesnt mean i think we should implement the ideas presented in them. im pretty sure i understood them both just fine, but thanks a lot for your input. next time ill ask if i want it.
Chad: what is it you like about them if they're wrong? are you a fan of wrongness?
Natalie: i like marxs optimism. i like his recognition of what is wrong with the society he sees. and just because the society he fashions cant work doesnt mean its completely wrong. its an idea. i like howard roark. i like dominique, but not as much as i like dagny taggart. i like the story of the fountainhead. i like objectivism, but it wont work, in the same way, if for different reasons, that communism wont work. again, its an idea. its a philosophy. if youre trying to tell me that nobody has ever read or liked any books that were (as you put it) wrong, or that didnt agree with each other, i think you need to take another look around. if youre trying to tell me that i have less right to put ayn rand on my favorite books list because it coexists there with karl marx, then i suggest you stop wasting your breath now.
Chad: actually, if it won't work it _is_ wrong. it's completely irrational to hold as an ideal something that won't work. further, marx's "optimism" consisted of viewing people as slaves that are forced to serve each other; that's hardly optimistic. it's not possible to "not work in the same way" "for different reasons"; reasons are what determine what it is. it's a moot point, though, because a government of individual rights does work and could work, were it to be implemented; america, which has come closer than any other nation to a government of individual rights, is so incredibly successful for precisely that reason. and you're right, thousands of people embody contradictions such as valuing that which isn't true and agreeing with contradictory ideas; and therefore thousands of people are silly for doing so. you can put whatever you want on your list; i'm just pointing out your inconsistencies, just because i get a kick out of it.
Natalie: im glad youve enjoyed yourself, have you quite finished yet?
Natalie: on second thought, please dont respond to that, i really have no desire to hear anything else you have to say. im glad you enjoy picking pointless arguments with people youve never met, i hope you get some satisfaction in trying to prove that youre worth something by them, and im sorry if you dont like my taste in books but its really not my problem.
Chad: hehe, no need to get sore. and thanks for the concern, but i don't do this to establish self-worth; i do it because it bothers me when cute girls have silly ideas. and you're right, me not liking your taste in books isn't your problem; you haveing a fundamentally wrong taste in books is : )
Natalie: are you QUITE finished, and might i ask what you are hoping to achieve by, in plain terms, calling me an idiot? because i promise you that no matter how many times you tell me im wrong and silly, its not going to change my mind.
Chad: oh, you never know. people suffer from rational inspiration all the time; you might get lucky
MightyBobX: Playground Society: To promote the higher values of humility, friendship and gusto through playground activities.
DvsGrimReaper713: DEBATE THEM
DvsGrimReaper713: with dodgeball
MightyBobX: Peace and Justice Coalition: To inform the community about a means to find world peace.
goldenpants78: their answer is going to be something edgar allen poe would write
goldenpants78: it'd be like make everyone have no fingers so they couldn't fight or use guns or anything anymore
goldenpants78: people would be trying to claw their own eyes out because of the pain of losing their fingers, but they wouldnt be able to
goldenpants78: hehe, and you just end the story with "
be careful what you wish for!!!"
MightyBobX: hehe, "environmental bruins" has "nature@ucla.edu" as its email.
goldenpants78: i wouldnt recommend insulting them
goldenpants78: you might get entangled in an argument
goldenpants78: it would be a thorny situation from which to extract yourself
goldenpants78: and uh...treants and tranquility
goldenpants78: yeah
hehe, you find weird things when going through all the UCLA student groups
"christian dental fellowship: Encourage and equip dental students to make a positive impact for Jesus Christ"
MightyBobX: stupid limewire. if you try and dl a file with the same name as one already present, it give you an error and makes you manually rename the new one
goldenpants78: sucks for you
MightyBobX: you're the one who will suffer
goldenpants78: because?
MightyBobX:
the bees!goldenpants78: ooooooh gooooooooooooood
MightyBobX: hehe
MightyBobX: beeware
goldenpants78: yuk yuk yuck
MightyBobX: "download complete, open from location and then i'll- OAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
oh yeah... so comp is fixed now. rather, i got everything working on the 60 gb maxtor. the 80 is still dead, havne't started working on it yet. and i'm trying to be a much better geek this time. keeping everything installed nicely, using gaim and plugins (it's so exciting!), found a program that lets me use outlook with yahoo mail.at some point i plan on installing linux on my extra partition, and if i can fix that 80 maxtor, i'm gonna raid stripe 1 the two
