October 2, 2000

01:30

First Blog!

This is my first blog. :)

01:42

Ok, I apologize, that first blog wasn't very descriptive. Unfortunately, I don't think you get a very good idea of what a blog truly is.

A blog is my thoughts. Well, the thoughts of the moment. Where I can ramble and not be scared of people laughing at me. Most of the time. :)

Don't worry, it'll get better. I'm planning on making this a more interactive message board. You'll be able to comment on my blogs, maybe carry on some conversation. Anyway, enjoy. :)

02:00

Ok, this is probably the last time I'm going to write three blogs in the span of an hour.

After spending about an hour and a bit hacking out perl, I'm going to sleep. I've got class tomorrow at 9:30 :(

08:16

Ok, so it's about 5 and half hours later, and I'm up. Time for classes, another week, another challenge.

It's fun getting woken up by science students with class at 8:30. And then, falling back asleep, and waking up exactly 1 minute before your alarm is supposed to go off.

There must be some study somewhere supporting that...

11:44

I'm working on a few future blog improvements. Like #defines, and a location indicator for me. I'll hook up the blog board to my email, so you'll be able to reply to my blogs and I'll see the reply within minutes. And I might reply to your blog-replies too. :)

Yes Mom, I did go to algebra this morning, and it was just another boring quiz. Other than that, it's all ok.

16:46

That's the one thing I don't like about university. It's the fact that every single day, while trekking up to DWE for my lectures, I seem to drown in a sea of people.

Everyone's going their own way, and you're always going some other way. You only meet a fraction of the people you see every day, even though you see them again and again. Everyone's in their own little bubble.

Why are we like this?

17:13

Yes, I'll be the youngest ever Waterloo student to get into the bar, The Bombshelter, at age seventeen and a half.

There's an infosession from Trilogy tonight. They found me on Saturday at the ACM programming tryouts. So now I'm going tonight. One and a half years before I can go again. :(

19:34

Yes, I go for dinner, and my server crashes and my IP address changes.

My, I really need to reinstall linux on this thing. I think I messed up something, and I think I need a bit more ram than I have right now. I'm also thinking about getting a router so my IP address won't change so often. It's a pain in the ass, and everything gets interrupted for that while. Sorry, people probably won't be reading this for a long while... atleast 10 hours or so. That kinda sucks.

I was going to comment about the nice sunset I saw on the way back but now I'm disenchanted. I think I'll just print out my résumé and head over to the bomb shelter...

22:45

I'm back from the bomber. I got this really cool t-shirt care of Trilogy and realized I really want to work there. Anyway, at times like this I wish I had a webcam.

Don't tell my parents, but hey, that bar is pretty darn cool. :) I have this feeling that I'll be spending more time there in future years... not drinking of course... :P You believe me, right?

And now I'm sitting my room, discussing life with Matt, the first person to be named in a blog :) He lives down the hall, but he's a mathie and can't be saved.

October 3, 2000

00:24

So I'm sitting there, on the phone, talking to 'Laine when all of a sudden, Matt bursts in, waving the fly swatter of doom and wearing a "computer flow chart" t-shirt.

Those Mathies, aren't they wonderful? Did I mention it's 12:25 AM?

Anyway, after a short trip down the hall to 311... it's now Matt and Gordon 15, flies 0. His room breeds flies or something, it's rather disgusting.

I guess I forgive him for stealing my hardhat.

00:51

The housemom comes tomorrow, and cleans the room. I feel so guilty whenever I leave a mess, so it's now time for the Monday night (commutable to Tuesday morning) clean up, and then sleep.

Goodnight.

10:25

I woke up late this morning, and wanted to get some breakfast before I headed down for my GenE lectures. I can skip my quiz... this means I can go to the Shad Cup awards ceremony next Thursday. This is a good thing. So I'll see some of you there that day, bright and early, 10 AM, Ontario Science Centre.

I really don't know how we're going to do regarding our project. I used to think that we would win, now I'm not so sure. I seem to be losing faith and hope. Regardless, I'll still anxiously await the day...

Other than that one bright point of my day (thinking about Shad seems to make me happy), it's been a rough day. I've got so much work piling about. Not to mention about 10 hours of ACM practice.

On a side technical note, the DNS servers refreshed and my domain ardant.net is back up. And this Helix lab I'm sitting in isn't too bad. Atleast the university has decent resources...

16:01

Only about 9 more days until Shad Cup, I can hardly wait. I've been looking forward to Shad Cup for a while, I guess people need things to look towards. I don't know what I'm going to be looking towards after it though, I'll probably find some new focus. Like midterms or school or something.

Life is rather boring. We're just worker bees stuck in an infinitely large hive of honeycombs. All we do is work. We're numbers, we no longer have faces or names. Ask Professor Scharer, he can do a decent bee impression. Wow, he looks young in that picture.

I heard a joke just now:

A guy writes his final exam, and then puts his head down on the table and falls asleep. He later wakes up to the sound of people leaving, and to his chagrin discovers the professor stacking exams on his desk.

"It's too late to hand it in," says the professor. The guy is irate now... he shouts at the professor, "Do you know who I am?". The professor responds with a shocked no. The guy says "Good!", shoves his paper into the middle of the stack, and walks away.

17:26

"You know what that means... Cover me, I'm headed for the flyswatter!"

Another story about the pink flyswatter of doom, just because Ninetales liked the last one...

Yeah, Matt and Gordon 23, flies 0. And Matt, I really do appreciate you writing "exterminator" in ink on my message board.

18:58

Confused Black writes: You know what I don't understand? Why do they call them mid-terms if there are two of them?

Very good question, Black. You see, the word middle never quite meant "center". Now, if we called them centerterms I'd agree with you, but middle really only means "between the beginning and the end". So that's why they're called midterms.

Ask Ardant will return when more questions are raised.

I'm obviously too bored. :P

21:08

Ok, after about 30 minutes of harras--err-- needling, Matt successfully drags me off to go play pool.

Hey, now I can get no work done -- faster! :) See you in all in a few hours.

22:10

Thanks for the game of pool, Matt, you're amazing :) Just work on your pool skills a bit. ;-)

Anyway, if I knew I'd get a parade on EUTS every single time I returned, I would go away and return a bit more often. How does 4 or 5 times a day sound?

22:47

I really don't like my ECE assignments. So to spite them, I have a little challenge.

My latest assignment solution is on the webpage. With whitespace removed. Tell me what it does. :)

(Oh, I'm not handing that in, btw, I actually took out the comments and obfuscated the variable names. ;-)

October 4, 2000

01:03

... is going to sleep, after doing two physics practice (old years) midterms in about 1 hour 30.

Midterms? Well, since unlike various people I have only one midterm, let me call it a centreterm :)

Goodnight.

01:13

Strange Adonis asks: what is the integral of e^x?

Considering I have a calculus test at 8:30 tomorrow morning (in the MC building 4040), I should know this.

e^x + c

I almost forgot the + c, you'll have to forgive me, it's pretty darned late. :) Now, a question for you, Ado, what's the derivative of e^x with respect to x^x?

Give me a call when you figure that one out.

07:29

It's another Wednesday morning. Wednesdays are long...

I learned a valuable lesson last night. Never do physics for 3 hours before sleeping. You get really really weird dreams and nightmares (free body diagrams?!?).

I really need to sleep more tonight. I keep on telling myself, you have to sleep by this time, and it never really does happen. I'm always up doing something it seems. It's like Shad all over again...

10:50

Hey, what's the best thing to do to 255 tired computer engineers on a Wednesday morning, their longest day of the week, right before Thanksgiving and a week before midterms?

Lets give them a stupid Calculus tutorial assignment, with questions that a) make no sense and b) have no relevance!

Ok, I'm just complaining now, but I'm sure we all were. Derivatives and lack of coffee don't mix (I've been coffee free for 8 and a half weeks now).

Sample Calculus Question #1:

If tan(x) = 1/y + t for some t < x, find the derivative of sin(x) as respects to a, and explain how this relates to truck drivers, doctors, and air traffic controllers.

Right.

19:31

I seem to have missed dinner at the cafeteria. Oh well, it wasn't too good anyway. It was roast beef night at Mudies (the Village one Caf right near here). Tomorrow night is the good roast beef dinner (at Brubakers, probably the best meal on campus).

If you're going to visit me, come on Thursday. You won't regret it. My instant noodles should be done in about one and a half minutes now...

19:43

As seen on EUTS:

pANdemoNIuM shouts: what happens on thurday, ard?

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. Thursdays is roast beef night at Brubakers. Yes, it's excellent!!

20:25

I'm such a procrastinator. There's always something to do. Tons to do. Things high up on the priority list, like impending assignments of doom. Or stuff like throwing out the half-drunk milk that's still sitting in my fridge.

I keep on telling myself I'll have time to do it later. Or maybe I don't care about these things anymore? Procrastination is like the plague; once you catch it, it proliferates all over until you die. Or in this case, until you stress out. Procrastinating your sleep isn't a good thing.

I'm wondering now if it's human nature to procrastinate. I mean, I believe there's always a reason for everything. I fail to believe that our ancestors procrastinated, as procrastination would be dangerous in a crude world...

Hmmm... it's getting a bit cold... maybe I need some warm furs to cover myself in, I'll call it clothing! Nah, I'll do it later... mammoth races tonight...

Then a snowstorm hits and our friendly caveman dies of hypothermia. Obviously if you want to follow the Darwinian model for evolution, procrastination would be a bad trait. How has this "lethal gene" been carried on? Or is procrastination not heriditary? Oh well, as long as it works.

Procrastination is fun. Now, time to go do some work... maybe a bit later.

20:47

I've finally stopped procrastinating and invited all the SVC2Kers (Shad Valley Calgary 2000) people to this page. Now they can be entertained with my (lack of) life.

Welcome! :)

October 5, 2000

01:34

Bad ... sleeping ... habits...

Must ... break ... sleeping ... habits...

This is bad. Tomorrow I have a 7 hour day, + a 5 hour practice for ACM.

I'm too lazy, I'll change my sleeping patterns tomorrow.

10:19

Yes, I'm sitting in the WEEF lab trying to force myself to write my technical report on unregulated power supplies. Yes, my life is boring.

Signed up for Curling just now. Should be fun. Yes, I curl. Not everyone is enthusiastic about it...

Hey. I'm not a skiboarder, or a hockey player.
I don't spend my life hitting pucks with sticks or climbing mountains.

And I don't really care about Gretsky, or Sundin, even though I'm certain they play really well.
I have a house and a sheet, not a field. And I pronounce it HURREH, not HURRY.

I can proudly wear two different shoes and not slip and fall. I believe in draws and takeouts, not bodychecks. BROOMS, not sticks, AND THAT A ROCK IS A TRULY MASSIVE SLAB OF GRANITE!
A rink is a TEAM, a skip is a CAPTAIN, and THE ICE ISN'T SMOOTH, IT'S PEBBLED!

Curling is the 5th most popular winter recreational sport! The best part of ice rinks! And the best sport in the world!
My name is Joe, and I AM A CURLER!

I don't think it has the same effect.

16:37

Yeah, my professors are absolutely crazy. Especially my Chemistry one, Professor Scharer.

Now, since the wonderful people who regularly read this board and don't attend my Chemistry class, let me explain the bee situation:

Professor Scharer has this habit of trailing off into different things. For example:

"Ok, so by the ideal gas law, PV = nRT, It's getting hot... I need to strip..."Scharer then proceeds to take off his sweater...

Professor Scharer has an infatuation with bees. He loves using the analogy of bees as particles of gas, and can often times been seen flapping his arms, as graceful as a swan trying to fight the current of a nearby storm sewer. Anyway.

Yes, he demonstrates many things. And another analogy he uses is a cold bee in the arctic that can't fly and can only crawl (to which the class normally responds, "Can you demonstrate a crawling bee for us, Sir?").

Now, today in lecture, while talk about his arctic bee, who can't do anything but crawl, because it's too cold, Professor Scharer decides to try the analogy again.

"So what happens to the bee when you turn the temperature up and it gets hot?"

"THEY STRIP!!"

23:47

My wrist hurts. I hurt it while practicing for the ACM competition, which consisted of being locked in a room for 5 hours doing nearly impossible questions.

And then having the professor show us how to do them. Oh well.

We (the B team) just got edged out by the A team. They answered one extra question... Oh well, nevertheless, there's another 5 hour practice next week.

I think I need to pack, and maybe rest my wrist a little bit. Back to Toronto I go!! :) Those of you in Toronto, see you soon!

October 6, 2000

08:03

Going home...

Slept in, couldn't wake up, late for class...

Gotta go!

12:58

Yes, it's that special time of year again...

I had two lectures today. Both professors ended the lectures with about 20 minutes to go. Our TA ended the tutorial with about an hour to go.

Goes to show how much dedication there is about teaching the course material... :P

I'm not complaining, I like it like this. Oh, and those who asked, thanks, my wrist is feeling a bit better.

16:49

I'm not in Toronto yet (yeah, I know, some of you are trying to reach my through my phone... Yes, I'm not home yet. I'm coming home, I'm coming home...

I'm at McMaster right now. My cousins go there. It's an interesting university, but it's almost nothing compared to Waterloo, which is, indeed, the best place in the world. :)

I kinda miss Waterloo right now. Isn't that scary? I miss it a lot because it reminds me a lot of Shad. In a way, I don't really look forward to going home much. I guess I misinterpreted why I was so happy about the weekend. It's not because I want to go home, it's because I want the break. I don't miss home. It's something I didn't think would happen with me.

Even though I complain alot on this blog, and talk about how Waterloo is nothing like Shad, I still love it there.

University is such an incredible experience.

23:55

I'm home, and I'm dead tired.

I had my first taste of real food in about a month and a half -- finally, a half decent dinner in a nice restaurant. Food that makes roast beef at Brubakers taste like overcooked hamburger patty. Mmmm... real food...

I'm going to a hockey game tomorrow!! Opening night, Montreal Canadiens versus the Toronto Maple Leafs at the hangar. Looking forward to it. Red seats, behind the net...

I already miss Waterloo.

October 7, 2000

15:28

... is boring.

Ok, so I woke up with 4 digits showing on the alarm clock for once. Yeah, it's good to get more than 10 hours of sleep. Now I'll have to spend all day tomorrow and Monday working to catch up.

It's sad when the most interesting thing you did all day was get a haircut. Oh, and maybe go shopping. I've got gift certificates to spend.

Oh, and Aradon, you rock. :)

23:15

I'm back from the hockey game, after watching the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the habs 2 to 0. It's getting quite disgusting -- the refs called 14 penalties all game. Yeah, the game is much too disjointed now due to it, it's not as much fun as it used to be.

Hoglund and Berezin got goals, Sundin, Thomas, and Yuskevich got assists. :)

Yeah, I bought a trenchcoat for graduation today, the black colour somewhat semi-inspired by the The Matrix. Believe it or not, I only saw that movie for the very first time about a two weeks ago, and it's absolutely spectacular. Hint: DVDs make good gifts for friendly weblog authors... ;) heh, just kidding. Even though a DVD drive and that DVD are pretty high up on my aquisition list.

They rank on the list just under sleep, which I think I'll be getting shortly...

23:59

This blog does not exist.

It is only a figment of your imagination, a conjecture of your mind, a dream and a fantasy.

Ok, maybe it does exist... I just didn't want to have a day go by with only two blogs. :P

October 8, 2000

00:08

On EUTS, a tired-of-the-limelight Roget asks: Hey Ard, did you know the motd is over a month old?

Yes.

For those of you who don't know, the EUTS motd (message of the day) reads:

We'd like to take this time to congratulate Roget who recently reached the 100 day login time milestone. On behalf of the users and wizzes of EUTS, we'd like to present to Roget a Spod award and a token of our appreciation: a life.

I think it's still very fitting. Don't worry Roget, it'll be gone by the end of the year (and replaced with the announcement of you reaching 200 days). ;)

01:22

Yes, it's now time for me to sleep.

I'm planning to sleep in tomorrow. Which means if you wake me up in some way, shape, or form, you're Toast. :) Goodnight!

14:47

Ok, this is probably a very boring blog, but what do you expect for having just woken up? :P

I may have some to make additions to this blog code, maybe funky message boards, or user accounts, or even webmail for all of you. Any suggestions? Comments? Questions? Please mail them to me.

Thanks!

16:24

On EUTS, a where-did-he-get-an-imagination-like-that pANdemoNIuM asks: A trenchcoat for graduation? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

No.

My, some people have imaginations that interpret some of these blogs in such weird ways it scares me. I need a trenchcoat, I'll be wearing my suit. :)

But you should have seen the look on the salesman's face:

"I'm looking for a trenchcoat. A black one."

I quickly realized my mistake and followed that up with "... for graduation... to wear over my suit..."...

23:56

... Do some work... eat... play around with linux box... eat... do a little more homework... laze around without ICQ... sleep... eat some more...

These days at home are so boring, that any more of them would cause the death of this blog...

October 9, 2000

02:02

I don't like lectures. They make me fall asleep. It's the combination of an old guy speaking in monotone with semi-interesting material that has been rendered as tasteless as carrots boiled for two weeks. I can't help but sleep. So if any of my professors are reading this, I apologize for falling asleep, and I apologize in advance. University is weird -- in school you were afraid that the teacher would get mad at you, at Shad you were deathly afraid of GMs -- but in University they don't care. Another benefit of anonymity.

Now, for my Gordon during GenE impression:

Professor Gorbet: "Today class, we'll be discussing error propagation and the jetffect aswel arty yama palta da ad da da aa aaa..."

My, that notebook is approaching my head rather quic*THWUMP*

Now, why am I writing this at 2 A.M.?

October 10, 2000

01:01

Another long day draws to a close, this time I'm back in happy Waterloo. :)

I really don't have much to say. Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow :)

Goodnight.

18:57

Yet another uneventful day.

It seems that the skies have suddenly opened and dumped huge quantities of work -- not to mention, large amounts of excrement as well -- onto us. Oh well, we're used to work, right? We can take this, right?

One thing I don't get is how profs seem to subconciously realize that we have huge amounts of studying, assignments, and extra work to do, yet somehow their brains tell them to tell us: "If you have time... please read ...".

No we don't have time! No time! Get it into your minds!!

I guess I can't blame them... As Roger pensively said to me while analyzing the geese feeding in the field: "Small brains... What can you do?"

PS: To spite the world, I have posted my computer programming assignment 5 on the website.

23:07

Yes, my bot has gained what I think is the pre-requisite for artificial intelligence...

It's scaring me now.

<Mist> (to Alice) are we friends?

<alice> (to Mist) We could be friends, Mist, but I don't want anyone to think we'reRobosexuals. So if anyone asks, tell them you're my debugger. Oops I sent you the wrong reply.

October 11, 2000

17:34

I feel totally and utterly shnogged.

Yet another 9 hour day. And there's a "practice midterm" too. Make that a 12 hour day.

This is crazy. Absolutely crazy. (Not as crazy as Shad, mind you.)

21:01

Practice exam is over, and thus concludes the day of hell.

Shad Cup tomorrow!! So excited, so excited, can't hardly wait, can't hardly wait...

October 13, 2000

02:14

... is like a day without the sun.

Oh no! I didn't write a blog yesterday, ironic, considering that it was the Shad cup presentation...

Without further ado, we got shnogged in two categories, but we did win Best Business Plan. :) Yes, so our many hours of hardwork has finally paid off. Writing BS at 3 AM in the morning is hardly any fun.

I'm going crazy. Arghhh!

October 15, 2000

01:22

Ok, I guess I never really realized how much of a success my webpage has been until missing two days of blogs caused an onslaught of e-mail and spam.

Fine, I'll write blogs, even though midterms, or rather, center-terms are approaching. Yes, my days have been filled with playing super nintendo ... errr... studying, yes, that's it... studying...

More and more ACM practices, including a 5 hour contest yesterday. We beat the Alberta team! We're acm017 in the standings (acm016 is the other Waterloo team). Regardless, hours and hours of practice seem to take over all my days now.

People have been wondering if I'm upset or disappointed at all with my life, with things like the Shad cup, and school, and other things. I'm not. I'm happy. I don't know how to explain it, but I just am.

You see, throughout my entire life, I've lived for challenges, regardless of how difficult or insane it seems reaching them is. These last few months have been the happiest of my lifes, even though I've been complaining. I guess I should consider myself lucky, a lot of things have happened and gone my way, and I understand everything can't go my way.

I guess Shad and these last few months have made me realize a lot of things about myself. I realize now there's a lot I need to be thankful for.

Thanks.

04:56

... ask...

It's too late.

October 16, 2000

00:10

This might be a tad too introspective for 11 PM on the night before my Calculus midterms, but it might have to be said.

Most of you who knew me before this summer know a completely different me... or so it seems. Yes, I was shy. Yes, I was an introvert. Many people have asked me, "What happened to you?" "Why are you like this now?".

I really don't know, but it's been the culmination of a lot of things. I always felt that I could do something with my life, beyond just getting a job and making money and living the perfect life in a perfect little world. Perfection doesn't matter any more. The perfect life isn't making money or owning a major international corporation. In a way, Shad showed me a lot about myself. I can now live my life in full realization that I can make a difference in the little things I do, and that attitudes and personalities run the world.

I'm no longer scared to look other people in the eye when I'm talking to them... instead of their shoes. I can approach "random" people and start up meaningful conversations -- I can network. I know my own personal limits and I know what I can and cannot do. For the things I can do, I know how to improve those skills. For those I can't, I now know how to challenge myself -- slay my sacred dragons -- to learn how to do them. I used to be shy, not because that was me, but I was afraid of what I could do and cause. I'm no longer like that.

I've changed. This is me.

October 18, 2000

11:55

The engineers got to sleep in today. No tutorials this morning. :)

I like midterms. I always did like exam week, it provided a change from the ordinary, and a little bit more rest than usual. And exams were always some what fun, being interesting challenges and all.

I think I best be getting some food now.

October 19, 2000

02:24

A confuzzled Enrico asks: Isn't it "Tame your Inner Dragons" and "Slay your sacred cows."?

It was a merger...

The dragons put in a hostile takeover bid, but those darned cows wouldn't go without a fight.

Wow, it's late. I've been studying algebra for the last two hours. :(

22:25

I had midterms these last few days. They were different, fun. I'm still looking for that adrenaline rush. I don't seem to get it from midterms or exams or tests any more... I just don't care.

The last few hours have been rather frustrating. Lag is so great on my internet connection that I sometimes have trouble typing.

If luck has its way, this blog will lag out before displaying on the board....

October 22, 2000

01:01

Ok, I'm very sorry, I'm getting bad at this. I missed two days of blogs.

I've been busy, to say the least, between dreaded GenE and midterms, and work...

My bed is littered with papers. No room to sleep, so I won't.

Ahhhh... university life, isn't it great?

October 23, 2000

02:23

Yes, it's the first ever Attack of the Quickies!, perhaps a regular feature. :)

First, Matt sends in a quick little message about people trying to elect a house plant to congress (darn Yankees). Some Star Wars fans have a bit too much time on their hands. Shad Zuckuss sent along a nice article on tetris and dreams, quite an interesting read. More cute flash work was sent along by Roger just now. Finally, someone makes an air scooter out of standard components. And what would be quickies without an overt reference to toasted cd-roms?

Yay for quickies!

October 24, 2000

11:40

Why do people care so much about marks?

A mark is a number, written on some piece of paper, that gets written and pushed into calculations and gets spit out on more pieces of paper, which goes through more little calculations, and gets put on one final piece of paper. That's all it is, a number.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not inscribed or branded onto your forehead. It won't rule your life. But I've seen too many people destroyed by the mark. With human beings as complex as they are, can a single number on a linear scale describe all that there is to describe about someone?

In a world where we pride ourselves on equality and fairness, why do marks exist? Yes, human nature has to compare -- survival of the fittest -- but we can hardly see our neanderthal friends assign numbers to how smart or dumb their kids were. Lets face it -- marks came out of the "centralized society" and the imposed uniformity requirements. It's pretty scary. The mark has slowly crept into the lives of unexpecting citizens far after they've graduated. The mark is slowly becoming of one the most dominant forces in determining one's future.

Hey, how far can we go? Maybe they'll actually stamp the mark on our forehead, giving us all a "rating"? Or maybe they'll start giving us marks and scores for all other things, like driving, and communication? Or maybe forget about that, just classify people when they're born, and stick them into classes for better specialized labour. See Brave New World.

Why am I complaining about this? Because I've seen far too many people around me stress over their marks. Over a quarter of a mark on a test. Over studying on tests so much that they skip current lectures (which doesn't go well in the not-too-distant future). A mark is a mark is a mark. Accept it. It's up to you what you do with it.

I think I'll get off my soap box now.

17:10

More fun in physics class with Professor Scholtz:

Now imagine everything below in a German accent.

Scholtz: So let us calculate the spring force, yah, it's kx. So using energy I get half k... WHAT THE HELL?!?

...

Student: Are you sure that the roller coaster will make it to the top?

Scholtz: (wagging his finger emphatically) EXACTLY! Next question?

...

Student: Um, won't the car fly off the tracks at a high enough speed...

Scholtz: Lets not be practical! Don't worry about it!

I wouldn't ride a roller coaster he designed.

As a total aside, I've got 1000 hits now. Yay!

19:58

A know-it-all Enrico asks: Hey, you know how you have that 'carpe diem' saying on the site? Try this one...see if anyone can get it.

Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam!

Yes, but I don't want to threaten to throw rocks at people's heads if they don't give me money.

A damage-control Enrico asks: do you know latin?

Yes.

A got-a-pie-in-the-face Enrico asks: Oh...don't I look silly now!

Yes. Yes you do.

October 26, 2000

10:43

Yes, yes they are.

Lets see, the story of the last 24 hours... write my last midterm, go out and have a post mortem, of some sort.

NuBreed wants me to mention that I ate crud. Don't ask.

Anyway, things are finally destressing. And I realized that drinking (or eating) tea before going to sleep is not a very good idea. Caffeine goes a long way in keeping people awake.

I haven't had any coffee since the end of Shad. I wonder why; I guess I realized I can survive without the addictive bean. But with getting so little sleep, I'm not sure if that's such a good thing.

Oh well.

October 28, 2000

22:15

How do we know that what we perceive to be reality, isn't some fabricated dream?

Ok, perhaps I've watched The Matrix a little too much lately. I just found a ... uhhh... copy of it. It's an excellent movie.

But seriously, how do we know that what we perceive to be blue isn't really what others see to be red... except we've been taught all this time to recognize it as blue? How do you know that we didn't just go to sleep last night and not wake up, and what we're seeing is a reflection of our own self?

Are we really slaves to a "reality"? or do we possess enough power to change reality? That's what I'd like to think, that really reality is but a figment of my imagination. You're only as good as you perceive yourself to be, and only as good as you want yourself to be.

Perhaps life is just a challenge played on oneself by a bored mind. Are you real? Are you reading this? or are you a figment of my imagination. And maybe I'm just a figment of yours.

A synchronized reality.

Or perhaps, a sychronized perception.

October 29, 2000

17:00

An out-of-it Juan asks: do you, by any chance, know what time it is?

It's 4:58 PM.

hmm... my watch is suddenly and hour off..... how odd....

Daylight savings time. Don't worry, you're only the 4th computer engineer to ask. Goes to show how out of it we all are.

Yes, people, it's daylight savings time conversion again. Set your clocks an hour back.

If you just found out by reading this blog, please do mail me. You need more help than this blog can provide.

17:07

Juan writes:

good old saskatchewan isn't advanced enough for daylight savings time..... so they would be out of sync with the rest of the world for a while..... it used to throw my television watching schedule out of alignment.....

Yes, true enough. I always wondered why we used daylight savings time. I guess you get these beautiful evening sunsets at 10 PM during the summer. Then again, if you wake up early, it would be problematic.

But now that we've set the clocks back, I guess we no longer wake up in total darkness -- but we have to deal with walking home from class in the dark. :(

Oh well.

October 30, 2000

02:24

We live in yesterday's tomorrow.

I just thought I'd mention that, I found it interesting. It just popped out of nowhere. That's what you get for staying up late writing a GenE report.

Oh well. :)

Yesterday's tomorrow we live in, and tomorrow's past we write.

16:25

Yes, lots and lots of stuphf. University life is getting hectic, with all this late night report-writing and studying for tests.

What I don't like the most about university is the lack of feedback -- you don't know how you're doing until you get midterms or finals back, and by then, it's probably too late.

What happened to little quizzes and tests that didn't greatly affect your mark? Sad how we miss them now. Also sad how even with such incredible hurdles we still shoot for the moon, even though we know we won't make it.

We can always try.

On a side note, I'll be finishing up the PublicBlog soon. You'll be able to write messages back, etc. Also, free @friends.ardant.net email addresses for all! And, if you bug me enough, I might even make a script to generate blog sites :P

Who know. :)

October 31, 2000

19:26

It's that time of year again.

You know, I'm a strong believer that anything in this world can be explained using the theories of Darwinian evolution.

So, let me explain Halloween with Darwin evolution:

Food has always been essential for the survival of the human race. That is, the persons with the most food resources would survive from year to year, and would fare much better than the family next door who couldn't scavenge if their life depended on it.

Persons would go around on various dark autumn nights, after the mediocre harvest, and attempt to scare the other residents of their "community". Those who were scared would give food or perform tricks.

How is this Darwinian Evolution? Those who could successfully scare got more food, and their genes were carried on. Their children could easily scare in their generation, due to their genetic specialization. Those who couldn't scare were robbed of food, and were less likely to carry on their genes. Those who had specialized skills ("tricks") would survive, because they wouldn't hand over food.

Thus, Halloween is another instance of Darwinian Evolution. My that was bs.