Monday, October 31, 2005

[OCD] If You're Obsessive-Compulsive And You Know It...

...clap your hands! And keep clapping them until you get it right!

Someone moved my hashi again this week. They weren't were I left them last week. It's still not as bad as the wet-toothbrush incident.

But the realization that I, of course, still remember the position my hashi were left in from last Wednesday positively paled in comparison to what I did today.

I rearranged the milk bottles in the fridge.

Every school lunch, we get these small bottles of milk (actual glass bottles, like America used to have). We often have some left over, and they go in the teacher's refrigerator. But, since we have so many left, often some are lost to spoilage. Since I like having milk in my coffee, I decided to do what I could to minimize the damage.

All perfectly logical, right?

Well, the effect was that I arranged the milk bottles in perfect lines, with near expiration dates in the front and far expiration dates in the back (or on a lower shelf), with said expiration dates rotated to the front for easy viewing.

It started out as a good idea, and I took it too far. I'm reminded of a West Wing quote, which I shall paraphrase:
Josiah Bartlet: You know that line you're not supposed to cross?
C.J. Cregg: I'm coming up to it?
Josiah Bartlet: No, no. Look behind you.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

[Quote] Dave's Not Here, Man.

Dave: oh, right, it's sunday and you were called into work.
Dave: well, if it makes you feel better, James gave me this coming week off. actually, i'm not sure how that'd make *you* feel better, but it makes me feel pretty good

Friday, October 28, 2005

[Work] You Tell Me This NOW?

Today is Saturday. It is around 11:15AM. My supervisor just called.

It seems that we have school tomorrow, on Sunday, and everyone forgot to tell me. Again.

Of course, I won't have any classes; it's a 'test-return' day. And I won't have lunch, since they stopped ordering me obento boxes because I wasn't eating enough out of them. So, basically, tomorrow is a come-to-work-and-sit-at-your-desk-ALL-day day.

Sigh.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

[Project] Aha, So It's True!

  1. Go to Google.com
  2. Type in:
    IMDb Bill Pullman
  3. Press "I'm Feeling Lucky"

[FYI] Yamakishi

(or, Why It Takes Me Two Hours To Go To The Store)
  • If you're a new supermarket cashier, you might want to remember your physics lessons from school when filling the grocery basket. For example, if you put ALL the very heavy things on one side, and all the very light things on the other, it might tip over when picked up. This is especially bad if you've simply set flat items on top, because they will spill out all over the floor. On the other hand, it will look like the customer is at fault, so you can just ignore the resulting mess and start checking out the next person.
  • If you manage a store that sells kerosene, and you sell said kerosene at a pump outside, and you have a button to press to call an attendant out to pump the kerosene, and you have at least THREE signs pointing to this button, it MIGHT be a good idea to make sure the button actually works.
  • If you drive a black car, and the sun has set, you MIGHT want to turn your headlights on so other drivers can see you. This way, you don't almost T-Bone someone in their tiny little yellow-plate because they went through the intersection you were stealthily approaching.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

[Work] It's a Supervisor Thing (long)

I realize I forgot to mention another adventure at work this past week.

Last Friday, I took a vacation day. There were no classes for me that day at my visiting school, due to a sports meet (my visiting school has only ~60 students). So, they asked me to take a vacation day.

Of course, they could have just given me the day off, but that would be crazy. So forget that. However, I'm not too bitter because:
  1. Last year, I only took 6 days off.
  2. I start with a (theoretical) maximum of 20 days off a year.
  3. That left me with 14 days.
  4. Up to 12 vacation days carry over to the next year.
  5. That brought this year's total up to a (highly theoretical) maximum of 32 potential days off.
So, what's one day? No big deal, right?

Sigh. You foolish fooly fools! Of COURSE it would be a big deal!

This was my first vacation day this contract year. And instead of letting me (or forcing me to) do the paperwork myself, they gave it to my supervisor.
At this point, I should point out that I absolutely adore my supervisor. When I was robbed last year, she took me to the police station to file the incident report. When I fell into the rice field, she took me to make the apologies to the field owner. So, she's been there for me, is what I'm saying. AND, she's a joy to work with. She brings such an infectious energy to the lessons, the kids go über-genki. It's fantastic.
So, anyway, this week rolls around and my supervisor tells me that she needs my hanko.

We have a rule in the JET program, and that is NEVER GIVE YOUR HANKO TO ANYONE. This is an important rule. The paperwork she needed my hanko for was my old vacation forms from last year.

Last year, when I only used 6 vacation days, so I had 14 left. Minus Friday. 13 left.

Here's a summary:

REALITY:PAPERWORK SAYS:
Vacation days left: 31Vacation days left: 13

Can you spot the mistake here?

They took away 18 days of vacation time! More than TWO WEEKS! More than HALF of my vacation days remaining!

And just a reminder, this is also the same week that they:
  • Forgot to pay me
  • Asked me to work overtime
It's almost as if there were some pattern to it...

But that's not the part that bothered me. A mistake in the paperwork? Easily corrected. Right?

BWAHAHAHA! *weep*

What bothered me is what happened when I pointed it out to my supervisor: she wouldn't accept the correction. She tried to convince me that it was correct.

Now, having carefully read and re-read my contract several times (due to prior incidents), I *KNEW* what it said.

First tactic: Point out the mistake. Explain how many days I should have.

Result: Unacceptable. There has been no mistake. I've looked in the (Japanese version*) contract.

*There are two versions to my contract. I've only read the English version, she's only read the Japanese version. I wonder if some things have been lost in translation.

Second tactic: State the obvious. This vacation day count was from my previous contract period.

Result: She corrected me. Our vacation days start in January.

Third tactic: State the obvious AGAIN. Well, YOUR vacation days start in January. *I* came here in July. If I could take 20 days off a year, starting in July and then starting AGAIN in January, I could have 40 days off my first contract period. Does that sound right?

Result: She consulted the contract, and eventually (after much time and argumentdiscussion) agreed that my vacation time is per contract year, which starts in July. YES! But she only bumped it up to 20 days, and not 32. NO!

Fourth tactic: Go to the contract. Up to 12 unused vacation days carry over to the next contract period. I had MORE THAN 12 vacation days left. I have 20 NEW vacation days for this contract period, plus the 12 that I was allowed to carry over. That's 32. It really is. I swear.

Result: Much much contract referring. Telling me that it wasn't in there. When I went to pages with the number 12 on them (in Arabic numerals, thankfully, since I couldn't read through all the kanji), pages that she had previously skimmed past, she assured me that THAT clause only referred to second and third year ALTs. Not to me.

Fifth tactic: Stare in bemusement.

Result: After a while she remembered that I am, in fact, a second year ALT.

BUT, she wasn't giving up just yet! She actually asked me:
"Well, are you planning on even using them? Last year, you only used six. What difference does it make?"
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Even KNOWING about the mistake, and KNOWING the correction to make, she was still resisting. What did she think I was going to do, try and take an entire month off?

All vacation requests have to be approved. Even during August, a month of NO CLASSES, I was allowed to take 5 days off. So, no month's vacation for me.

It's got to be a supervisor thing. Try and wring out the most amount of work with the least amount of reward.

Final tactic: "I'm not necessarily planning to take any more days off this year than last year*, but the ALT guidelines tell us to always be accurate in our paperwork."

*Actually, I am planning on trying to take the breaks off.

Result: Ah...the power of guidelines. Even potentially made-up ones.

Finally, the paperwork was corrected, and I felt OK putting my stamp on it. Time elapsed: maybe an hour. Maybe two. Maybe more? I lost track.

The underlying problem is that, because I have not taken very many vacation days (seven, total, since I arrived one year and three months ago), and because I've done the paperwork myself in the past, my supervisor is unfamiliar with the procedures. This is bad, because they will have a new ALT next year, and I don't want them to have to go through all of these same problems over again.

The only solution is to take more time off. I don't really want to, but I will, for my successor's sake.

For KEN ALTs: At last year's MYC, some KENs expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that CHO ALTs (like myself) get 20 vacation days instead of 10 (or 12 or whatever you guys get). Please keep in mind:
  • You probably get to ACTUALLY USE all 10 of your vacation days
  • You likely get all or part of the school breaks off
I don't know how many more times I can hear KENs complain about vacation days before I totally lose it.

[Wishlist] STF University Apparel

T-Shirt and Hoody. ^_^

[Random] Take Off Every Sig

This message has been automatically encrypted using ROT-26.
[Slashdot .sig of Jim Hall (2985)]

[Work] We Will Rock You

So, I'm walking to my last class of the day with the JTE, and when we get to the third floor, we can hear a bunch of people don't the Stomp-Stomp-Clap of Queen's We Will Rock You.

Now, the music room is on the second floor.... where was this coming from? I couldn't spot the source, but it was getting louder as we walked down the hall. Loud enough that I was beginning to worry that it might interfere with our lesson.

Until I got to class 1-B, or as I like to call them, The Genki Class (or the SUPER GENKI class, or the No Need for a Warm-up class; when they stand up and say [read: shout] the greeting, the JTE and I literally have to plug our ears, they get so loud {if only they would use their incredible powers for good}). Virtually every student in my class had joined in and was Stomp-Stomp-Clapping in unison.

Some days, I just really, really love my job. ^_^

[Question] Orkut

Does anyone I know have an Orkut account?

[Link] Drepung Loseling Photos

My friend George, political refugee from America (who also goes by the name Samten), fled to Asia and took along his camera. He sought refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha at the Drepung Loseling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Southern India. Here are some photos from his experience there.

Do you want to see how a Tibetan Buddhist prayer hall gets built? See how things are done on another side of the world. ^_^ Drepung Loseling Photos (look in sidebar)

[Link] Get Your War On

M: Is Operation Iraqi Freedom the most expensive botched American thing ever?

W: The only thing that could've been more botched would be if America had landed on the moon using a rocket that only flew one way - with a crew of 130,000 astronauts who then killed 10,000 innocent moon men. We botched this motherf***er like botching was going out of style. This thing was so f***in' botched, I'm surprised the name of the war wasn't misspelled.

M: I wonder if historians will refer to Operation Iraqi Freedom as a manifestation of the Botch Doctrine?

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

[Image] Penny Arcade on Blogging

Really, quite accurate. (click for bigger)

[Nostalgia] Hey, Hey, 16k

for n=0 to 2
those were the days
next n

[Image] I Swear To God

I looked down at FireFox and what did I see?

Monday, October 24, 2005

[Work] I'm Not Making This Up

For those of you whose jobs are not as ... interesting as mine, here is a conversation from my workplace (abridged):
My Supervisor: Phoenix-sensei, we're sorry we forgot to pay you last week. Maybe you'll get paid today!
Me: (thinking "Maybe? It's 5 Days overdue. I'm close to living on 'hurricane chow' my predecessor left me... yeah, MAYBE they'll pay my contractually agreed upon salary, and MAYBE I can eat tonight and MAYBE I can buy some heating oil...") Yeah, that would be nice.
My Supervisor: Also, we're going to have a LOT of English tests to mark. Do you mind staying late after work to help?
Me: ...
To recap:
  1. They're not paying me, AND
  2. They're asking me to work unpaid overtime.
Of course, "unpaid" is redundant...

UPDATE: Swung by the bank on my way home from work today (and left work actually AT 4:15PM, because hey, if you're not going to pay me...well, I'll do the job you're not paying me for, but no extra!) and THERE WAS MONEY IN MY ACCOUNT! And I looked upon the money. And it was GOOD.

"There's a monster in my pants, and it does a HAPPY dance...

[Random] Global Rich List

HOW RICH ARE YOU?

I am in the top 5.53% richest people in the world.

There are 5,668,198,529 people poorer than I.

I'm the 331,801,471 richest person on earth!

[Work] No Need to Pay Me

So, it's 5:33PM and I'm sitting at my desk, at work. With nothing to do. I'd like to go home, and I could do that, since my work day officially ends at 4:15PM. I'd also like to go to the store and get groceries, since I have virtually nothing left to eat in my house save for a packet of marshmallows and some dry cereal (no milk). Unfortunately, I cannot do that.

Apparently, my employers no longer feel the need to pay me for my services.

It is now three days past payday, and still no sign of a check. Of course, I have direct-deposit, but that's not the point. The point is that nothing has been directly-deposited. Currently, I have around $300 in the bank, and my auto-withdraw bills should take between $200 and $300 of that in the next few days. So, I'm afraid to take any out, lest I be caught short. Unlike my employers, I DO pay my debts.

Understand that this whole thing comes as quite a shock to me. For that last 13 months, I have been paid on or before the 21st. It is now the 24th. I may be repeating myself, but that's from the trauma of the situation.

I'm so hungry right now.

I might risk taking out $10 (or whatever the smallest withdrawal is), so I can eat tonight. Of course, I did have school lunch today, so I'm not starving. But still. Dinner would be nice.

It's the little things you take for granted, that you don't miss until they're gone.

I'm waiting for my supervisor to get out of the weekly teacher meeting (that I, as a non-Japanese, do not have to sit through [it's good to be the king]). Not that there's anything she can do tonight, but at least she will be aware of the situation. In fact, I could just leave her a note, but why? So I can rush home to my unheated room and sit in the cold, hungry? Yeah, that sounds like a treat.

No, I think I'll just wait for her here in this nice, warm office, with it's flowing cups of coffee and ... well, basically there's just the coffee. I'm sure she'll be out soon anyway.

Any minute now....

Any minute...

Sunday, October 23, 2005

[Link] Japanese Resources

Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" preview PDF can be found here. Also helpful are JFC (Japanese Flash Cards) and JWPce (Japanese Word Processor, but I use it to edit my flashcard lists for JFC). They can be found here. Finally, get the Heisig kanji list for JFC from here.

For Japanese games, there are two main options (my reviews of these two can be found here):

1) Project: LRNJ (aka, Slime Forrest Adventure). It can be found here.
2) KiCL (aka, Knuckles in China Land). It can be found here, and my Heisig kanji list for that program used to be there too. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had to personally log in to the file host once a month or they would delete my account. If I find a stable file host, I'll repost it. In the meantime, there are other lists you can download from the KiCL site that you may like better, especially if you don't go the Heisig route.

I made a forum to kind of organize my Japanese resources (located here). Unfortunately, I haven't had time to spread the word about it, so it's pretty much just my own resources so far. ^_^

Please, God, make me a stone.

I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how...

[Link] One Movie a Day

(warning, may contain spoilers)

Exactly what it sounds like, only more interesting. A mix of new and old. I wish I had this kind of free time.

It's a good idea. I wish I had thought of doing something like this when I watched Heat and True Romance (which I watched because they were on everyone's list of movies with the best lines). So disappointing.

In other movie news, Serenity is not coming to Japan. I know it's coming out on DVD in a few months, but I really would have liked to watch it on the big screen.

Lastly, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is out, and also not coming to Japan. I'm not surprised, considering the number of English-specific puns in the three short films. This one I can wait for the DVD, but it's already on my must-buy list. ^_^

[Me] Cold-ass Cold (part 2)

Last update (3 days ago): 18 degrees.
Todays update: 12 degrees.

And getting colder...

This Phoenix is a COLD Phoenix.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

[NaNoWriMo] It's Coming!

National Novel Writing Month is November! Only a week and a half away!

I hope you are all ready. ^_^

[Quiz] Libertarian

You are a

Social Liberal
(73% permissive)

and an...

Economic Conservative
(63% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian




Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test


You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.


(From Dan's blog.)

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

[Me] Cold-ass Cold

Recently, I talked about how everyone switched from short sleeves to long sleeves. I pondered the reasoning, as it was still sweaty-hot.

Well, that was NINE DAYS AGO. Now, I'm seriously considering breaking out the kerosene heater for my room. I noticed that I was reluctant to leave the warm confines of my bed this morning. I wasn't particularly sleepy, but I kept hitting snooze... just to stay under the cozy comforter a little longer.

It was 18 degrees, which isn't really that cold, but it feels a lot colder than it was last week.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

[Me] So, I'm Crazy (long)

Now, a lot of you already knew this. I know that the voices have been saying it for years. Well, now I know it, too.

I'm completely nuts.

The evidence (a collection of which has been building up for quite some time) that tipped me off to my malady happened in my school's bathroom, a few minutes ago.

I went in to the stall, and knew that no one had used it since I had used it this morning. The reason I knew was because the toilet paper had been torn in a certain way. The way I had torn it when I put it on the roll in the morning.

Now, some may (but won't) say that I simply remembered that the toilet paper had been torn in a certain way. Fools! The question should be: Why did I tear it that way to begin with?

I started thinking, and I realized that I do this more often that I admit (even to myself). For example, the other day, my landlord came into my (his) house while I was at work. He turned on the stairway light at the bottom of the stairs, went upstairs, turned off the light, looked in my room, and went back down again.

How do I know this?

Well, I knew he had been there before I even got to the door. The front garden had been neatly trimmed (it was long overdue, but he told me not to mess with it, so I didn't, not even to pull the obvious weeds). So, fine, he'd been there.

Then, I get to the front door, and it is unlocked. He does this quite often, either forgetting to re-lock the door, or locking it incorrectly (eg, locking the door when it's not completely closed). At least he remembers to leave the front light on now.

So, I go inside, and when I get to the stairway to go up to the second floor, I notice that the light switches have been reversed. How do I know? How can I be sure I remember correctly? Well, actually, I keep the switches in a certain position. I like to be able to turn on the light from upstairs by flipping the switch downward, because it's easier to do that with an armload of stuff (dirty dishes, bags of rubbish, laundry, etc). The downstairs switch is side to side, so there's no beneficial position for that one, so why not use the beneficial position for the upstairs one?

Which is not to say that I'm obsessive-compulsive about it. I mean, it's not like I will be unable to go to bed without checking the switch five times to make sure it's in the "proper" position. But, when it's reversed, I usually try to remember to switch it back at my earliest convenience.

Anyway. That's how I know he turned the stairway light on for one trip, either up or down, but not the other. So, how do I know it was up and not down?

Because it's darker at the bottom of the stairs. The way the windows are placed, the bottom is in shadow, and the top is in light. It's normal instinct to turn the light on where it's dark, and leave it off where it's light.

Finally, how do I know he looked in my bedroom? The door was open. I leave the door closed (at this time; during other parts of the year I leave it open) because it's getting fairly cold, and I like to trap the heat generated by my computer. It does warm the room a degree or two.

So, does this make me crazy or observant? At first, I thought I was just observant, but we took a poll, and the voices outvoted me. :-(

Anyway, back to the toilet paper (where we came in). Why did I tear it that way? At the time, I certainly wasn't thinking "Aha! If I tear it this way, and it's still torn this way later, I'll know that no one has used this stall (or at least, that they didn't use any toilet paper {ew!})." It was completely unconscious. Or was it?

If I were, in fact, completely unaware of tearing it that way, how and why did I remember later? If I were truly unaware, I would think that someone else had torn it.

So, I think I'm subconsciously leaving clues to myself. You've been here. Someone else has been there.

And if THAT's not crazy, I don't know what is.

[Me] Adventures in Colorblindness

So, I'm at work right now. It's around 5:30pm. I just noticed a few minutes ago that I have a huge stain on the crotch of my slacks.

Ok, not directly on the crotch, but in the crotchal area. Well, by my right pocket. (Is that how you spell 'crotchal'?) Anyway.

I have to wonder, how long has it been there? Did I drop some food on my lap at lunch? Did I spill my coffee this morning? Or did it happen WEEKS AGO, and NO ONE HAS TOLD ME??

I only barely noticed today. To me, it's a slightly darker spot, and it's along a fold, so it's hard to spot (it looks a bit like I was hiding a piece of greasy bacon in my pocket, which I hope wasn't the case, because that would mean that the voices have come back). However, I have no doubt that a non-colorblind person could see it much easier than I.

I'm led to this conclusion by an incident that took place in my last class today. One of the girl students near the front row pointed at my crotch and laughed (well, no change there). Then she whispered something to her friend, who refused to look in my direction. So, apparently, everyone else could see it except for me. Like, the color red.

Speaking of red, do I turn red with embarrassment? This is not entirely off-topic, but since I can't see red, I can't really tell. In stories, they always describe being "hot with embarrassment", and I don't get that feeling. Is it euphemistic? Does "hot" refer to the color? I don't know. The next time you see me embarrassed, point it out to me so I know.

Anyway, now I'm wondering: How long can I continue to wear these slacks with this stain on them? They're fairly new; I can't afford to replace them so soon.

And for that matter, what other stains can I get away with? How many stains before someone says something? This is Japan; I can probably push the envelope pretty far. I've half a mind to go home and bust out the mustard and go to town, but I probably won't. At least, not until I can afford to buy new slacks. ^_^

[Followup] IQ

Well, it doesn't look like anyone else is going to take the IQ test (cowards!).

For the record, I scored 140, but I only count it as 139, because I guessed on #36. Of course, I guessed on #39 also, but that one I got wrong. My logic was faulty on #37, so I missed that one also. Soooo close....

The maximum possible score was "Above 145"



Next time, I'll have to do the tests at http://www.highiqsociety.org/ ^_^

Thursday, October 13, 2005

[Question] How many colors are in a rainbow?


Seriously, how many?

When I was asked how many colors I see in a rainbow, instead of telling the truth (three; I'm fracking COLORBLIND), I used the Roy G. Biv method (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet), and said seven.

This was not the correct answer, and it very nearly threw off the entire lesson (hint to JTEs: If you require a specific answer from your ALT, TELL THEM BEFORE CLASS!). The teacher eventually 'corrected' me and said that Americans see six and Japanese see seven.

Six? Really?

I asked a few Americans I know and I got answers ranging from (these are direct quotes) "Roy G Biv" to "that nevre gets old" (I admit, I didn't understand all of the responses).

So, how many colors do YOU see in a rainbow?

[Me] Birthday

So, today is the anniversary of my birth, and instead of celebrating, all I want to do is go back to bed.

It's also my sister Katrina's birthday. This same sister recently made an appearance in a Rolling Stone article. We're so proud.

[News] Inconceivable!

William Goldman has started collaborating on a musical version of The Princess Bride.

Also, check out the Princess Bride version of The Lord of The Rings.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

[Spokane] I'm so proud...

Spokane deputies face discipline for prank car chase.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Welcome to the Internet

No one here likes you.

[IQ] IQ

  1. Go to http://www.iqtest.dk/
  2. Take test.
  3. Come back and post score.
Show off how smart you really are. ^_^

This particular test uses a different standard deviation than I'm used to, and my score was a bit lower than I expected, but it may just be the low ceiling of this test.

Monday, October 10, 2005

[Me] Weightloss

Say what you will about the benefits of proper diet and exercise, but Friday morning I weighed 188 pounds and this morning I weighed 181 pounds.

So, three cheers for disease, I guess. :-(

I'm still not sure I'm 100% better. I'm half tempted to take the rest of the day off and go home to bed. Of course, I could just stay here and sleep in the teacher's room...

[Work] Short-sleeves

Last week was the magical changeover when all the students switch to their Winter uniforms and all the teachers go back to wearing long-sleeve shirts.

Except for me, because I don't have the Japanese psychic ability to just know things that have never been spoken to me, ever.

So, today, I am the ONLY teacher at school still wearing short sleeves. And before my first class, I was already getting questions about how I could put up with the cold.

The cold? It's the SAME AS LAST WEEK. What has changed over this weekend?

I don't know.

Actually, the teacher that asked me provided the prompt that I must have come from a town with colder weather. So, I told her that my town has the same weather as here, but that my family is from the mountains, where it is much colder, so this is all still warm to me. ^_^ It's not entirely untrue.

[Me] Random

So, one of the things you probably never think about is how, after spending three days sick in bed, it feels really strange wearing clothes again.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

[Godstuff] Evolution

There's a thread over on Fazed about evolution.

There is a LOT of ignorance over there, but here are some highlights (for children!):
From: cwryn
Date: 10/6/05 @ 2:42 PM

Proof vs. no Proof. It is like playing poker against someone with imaginary cards. No matter what you have, the guy with imaginary cards can say his hand is better. But no matter how much he says so, he can't prove it to the other player. As long as the player with imaginary cards sticks to his guns and says that his "cards" are better, the player with real cards will not be able to convince him that imaginary cards don't count. That you need to have real cards to prove what your hand is.

Of course, the argument from the guy with the imaginary cards is "No, they are real. You just need to have faith and believe."


From: dontwakeme
Date: 10/6/05 @ 4:53 PM 49

"It just seems pathetic to be so insecure about your biological superiority, to a group of feces-flinging, rouge-buttocked monkeys, that you have to make up fairy tales. Like we came from Adam and Eve...yeah, leaving the Earth in the hands of two naked teenagers. That's a real intelligent design....

...And the reason there is no real debate, is that intelligent design isn't real science. It's the equivalent of saying that the thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, because it's a god. It's so willfully ignorant you might as well worship the U.S. Mail. It came again! Praise, Jesus!"

From: dontwakeme
Date: 10/6/05 @ 5:03 PM 53

"Even though there's a debate, in schools, and government, about this, there is no debate among scientists. Evolution... is supported by the entire scientific community. Intelligent design is supported by guys in line to see "The Dukes of Hazzard."
Those previous two came from Bill Maher's New Rules for August 19th, 2005.

From: cwryn
Date: 10/6/05 @ 5:50 PM 60

Modern evolutionary fact was once only theory. Over time though, proof for this theory has been dug from the earth and decoded from our DNA.
Some Proof for evolution includes:
- Fossils of early humans that share characteristics of both Humans and Chimpanzees.
- Fossils of alternative human species that are now extinct. Among them were Neanderthals and Hobbits (Yes i know, hobbits, do your research before flaming me they lived on an indonesian island and were ~3 feet tall)
- Human DNA is 96% identical to that of Chimpanzees.
To put this into perspective, the number of genetic differences between humans and chimps is approximately 60 times less than that seen between human and mouse and about 10 times less than between the mouse and rat. On the other hand, the number of genetic differences between a human and a chimp is about 10 times more than between any two humans.
(More or less we are closer related to Chimpanzees than mice are to rats.)


From: wanderingjew
Date: 10/6/05 @ 9:23 PM 85

Jesus dies on the cross and goes to hell. Satan comes up to him and says, "For dying for all the sins of man, your punishment will be for your followers commit atrocities in your name, and your teachings bastardized into the exact opposite of what you taught."

Jesus says, "Boy, that sure sucks. Good thing they'll stop when I get out of here in a few days, right?"

Satan replies, "Yeah, man. Sure. Whatever."

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

[Followup] Dirty Pictures

OK, so we all remember the picture of me covered in mud, right? And how I gave the OK to Belinda about using it in the town newsletter?

Well, I never heard back from her. I didn't even know if she got my OK before whatever deadline she had.

Until now.

I'm sitting at work, and the secretary asks me something in Japanese that I didn't quite catch. She's smiling. "What's that?" She repeats it, something about....a rice field...

They used the picture.

Update: This conversation has now taken place at both of my schools. Probably 5 times so far. ^_^

Pictures!

Here's the cover of our town newsletter. It's like a little magazine.


Here's a full shot of the article (or at least, a full shot of the part I'm in. ^_^).


Finally, here's a close-up of the dirty picture itself.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

[Thought] What Is Wrong With Microsoft

If you go here, to an official Microsoft support page, you can download the "enum.exe" package.

The link they send you to is for a file 86.2kb in size. It is a Win32 Cabinet self-extractor.

Inside the cabinet file is another file named 'enum.exe', so you can't extract it to the same directory without first renaming the original. This file is 29kb in size. It is a WinZip self-extractor. We've gone from 86.2kb to 29kb and we're still at the same point (a self-extracting file). Bloat and overhead more than doubled the filesize.

Inside the WinZip file is YET ANOTHER file named 'enum.exe'. I kid you not.

This is the actual file we need. It is 6.5kb in size. The final file is less than 1/13th the size of the original download.

You'd think they could have just let us download that file directly.