WHY NOT
What else are Thursdays for?
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. Nothing made up! You cannot use any word twice.
1. What is your name: Claudia
2. A four Letter Word: Cent
3. A boy’s Name: Clark
4. A girl’s Name: Cecilia
5. An occupation: Cartographer
6. A color: Cerulean
7. Something you wear: Cummerbund
8. A food: Cauliflower
9. In the bathroom: Comb
10. A place: Cellar
11. A reason for being late: Clock malfunction
12. Something you shout: “Crap!”
13. A movie title: Casablanca
14. Something you drink: Cola
15. A musical group: Cut Copy
16. An animal: Cicada
17. A city: Cairo
18. A song: Clocks
19. A body part: Cheek
20. A favorite place: Closet
Also: I should write my thesis solely in Shakespearean sonnets.
I’ve been on WordPress for 6 months now
Ha, cool, I’ve been on WordPress for 6 months now. I must say, I’m much happier here than on MySpace, though the old, crappy social network will always hold a special place in my blogging heart (I know, I know, gag).
Views: 1,083
Posts: 1,423 (this doesn’t count the couple hundred that were private/friends only on my old blog and thus weren’t transferred; the total number of posts thus far not counting this one is 1,765).
Comments: 80
My top-viewed blogs:
Home page (658 views)
Scrabble Letter Values and the QWERTY Keyboard (36)
Who wrote all this drivel? (29)
Some pretty funny stuff (18)
Recur, recur, recur! (13)
There’s a tunnel! And there’s a light at the end of it! (13)
This Week’s Science Blog: The Robots are Getting Creepier (10)
Claudia’s 365 Days of Music – A Review (7)
A Blog for Jim LaFortune (7)
An analysis of statewise uniform population density (according to Craigslist)
The Scrabble one’s so popular because apparently people really like to search for Scrabble letter values on WordPress. Here are a few searches that brought people to that page:
scrabble letter breakdown
scrabble how many points is qwerty
all scrabble letters
scrabble letter ranking
letter ranking on scrabble
“frequency of use of letters” scrabble
And here are some more amusing searches that brought people here:
jokes about leibniz cookies (whoever searched for this is my soulmate)
le seul mot juste
geometric multicollinearity
mice smelling photons
Fun times! I’m bored.
How do we know that one is the loneliest number? Have we interviewed it?
Vroom!
Genres graph:
Mean song length: 4:22
Still no five stars this year. But they’ll happen.
Okay, I feel like crap so I’m going to go pass out in a chair for a bit. Bye.
8-Bit Green Light
Few books are simultaneously more deserving of and more inappropriate for NES game format than The Great Gatsby. This image alone captures the greatness:
It’s short, easy, and freaking fantastic. Nick Carraway’s weapon is his hat (or hats, rather), but they look like pitas in the extremely pixilated format which makes things even more hilarious.
More classic novels need to be made into retro NES format (except To Kill a Mockingbird, that just needs to stay away from me for the rest of my life). Lolita would be rated AO and would attract creepy but surprisingly articulate men who like pixilated preteens.
Canadian Mall – Installment 7: Capilano Mall
This is North Vancouver’s version of the Pacific Centre. Translation: boring.
Pros:
– A Walmart. It’s got a McDonald’s in it. That blows my mind.
– A Claire’s.
– Open until…wait for it…9 PM ON SOME NIGHTS! This blasphemy is unheard of. North Van has a wild side.
Cons:
– Way up in North Vancouver.
– The bathroom is disgusting. Like, Zellers disgusting.
– There really aren’t any cool stores in this entire mall.
Yeah. Really, the only thing it’s got going for it is the Walmart. It’s also deceptively large. Looking at the store directory online and then looking at the mall, you would never guess all those shops fit in the little bitty space. I guess if you’re hard pressed for a Walmart and for whatever reason can’t get to the one on Grandview Highway, take a trip to North Van and visit the bland land of Capilano Mall.
It also was snowing the whole time I was walking there and back, so it was an exceptionally cold day for me. But I have blanket and heater and techno at my disposal here, so it’s all better now.
Rome was actually built in a day and a half.
When I’m not carrying anything and feel like I could run five miles, I get to the bus stop just as the bus is pulling in.
When I have 50 pounds combined of backpack and groceries and it’s windy and cold, I miss the bus by about 30 seconds.
SUCH IS LIFE.
Anyway.
One gripe I’ve had with my iPod Touch is the fact that, unlike the Nano, it doesn’t have a pedometer. I love Nano’s pedometer ‘cause I’m that type of obsessive person who likes to track progress and estimate changes in my daily patterns and just generally be a number watching weirdo.
But today I found probably the coolest “you’re obsessive so you’ll love this” app: iTreadmill. I will utilize this tomorrow on my walk to whatever the hell mall I decide to go to, but I calibrated it this afternoon and can already tell it’s awesome.
It tracks:
- Steps
- Steps per minute
- Time
- Average pace
- Average speed
- Calories
- Distance
It keeps track of your history and gives you graphs! You can create a playlist to listen to as you go (I just put my whole “Favorites” playlist to play), you can enter your weight to get an accurate calories estimate, and you can set step, calories, distance, or time goals and set alarms to sound for certain milestones to your goals if you like that kind of stuff (I do). It also pauses automatically after 5 seconds of inactivity so waiting at stoplights and such won’t lessen your average speed.
HOW COOL IS THAT?
Download it, dudes.
Also, they should just make this a static claim on CTV weather for Vancouver:
Earlier today when they still had Saturday’s prediction up they actually had words (“light rain,” “rain,” “more rain” (seriously), “rain and snow”), but I guess they ran out of synonyms.
SUCH IS LIFE.
TWSB: Sometimes Lunacy is the Answer
Way back when these weekly science blogs started (or maybe it was before that?) I discussed the issue of the helium shortage we’re experiencing here on earth. Within the last year, thanks to this shortage, the price of the isotope helium-3 has risen from $150 per liter to $5,000 per liter. Nearly all of the helium on the planet exists within a single storage area within 250 miles of Amarillo, Texas. And that’s probably the least safe place for any rare commodity (‘cause Texans, man, Texas…). Helium experts (assuming such people exist) are afraid that we’ll run out of helium completely within 20 years if we remain at our current consumption rate.
Oh crap! What do we do?
Answer: mine the hell out of the moon.
After bombarding the moon in 2009, NASA scientists found—among other things—that the lunar soil is very rich in helium thanks to solar winds showering it for however long the moon’s been around (I think it’s like 4.4 billion years old or something, but don’t quote me on that). Not only does our natural satellite have helium, but it also apparently contains a bunch of rare earth elements (common-moon elements?), including europium and tantalum, both of which have applications in solar panels, hybrid cars, and other green energy applications. Right now China is the biggest exporter of such elements, but is currently reducing such exports, indicating the possibility of a shortage.
So yeah. It’ll be interesting if we ever decide to actually utilize the moon as an orbiting mine and if doing so would ever be a cost-effective procedure. The funniest part is the fact that NASA utilizes—guess what? helium—to pressurize space shuttle fuel tanks.
LIVE FAST DIE YOUNG LOVE DATA
At this rate I’ll finish this by June, haha.
601. Do you have a lust for life?
Yeah, sure.
602. Do you want to get more out of life?
Always. Who doesn’t?
603. Would you want to learn to:
Convert to Buddhism? I wouldn’t mind learning more about Buddhism, but I have no desire to convert.
Cure a hangover? I don’t plan on ever getting one.
Lie persuasively? Haha, I can do that already.
604. What character from a movie is most like you?
Haha, no idea. I don’t watch enough movies to know.
605. Are you comfortable with the idea of your own death?
Indeed I am.
606. How do you feel about arranged marriages?
If those for whom the marriage is being arranged are okay with it, I have no problems with it.
607. What do you hate that everyone else seems to like?
Jeans. Monty Python.
608. What do you like that others seem to hate?
Calculus. Broccoli.
609. If you had to be named after a month, which month would you pick?
I’ve always liked the name April.
610. Is time more like a highway or a meadow to you?
Depends on the time of the year. January practically didn’t happen.
611. What is your favorite movie?
Apollo 13 is pretty amazing.
612. Which would you choose to be back in the day: a warrior, an alchemist, a minstrel, a bard, an oracle, a peasant, or a merchant?
DUDE A BARD.
613. What is your favorite song lyric?
When we’re young we set our hearts upon some beautiful idea
Maybe something from a holy book or French philosophia
Upon the thoughts of better men than us we swear by and decree a
Perfect way to end the war of ways the only way to be a…
Work of art, oh to be a work of art
But in time a thought comes tugging on the sleeve edge of our minds
Perhaps no perfect way exists at all, just many different kinds
Oh but if it’s just a thing of taste then everything unwinds
For without an absolute how can the absolute define…
A work of art, oh to be a work of art
It’s the whole song, not just a lyric. Bite me.
614. What will you never run out of?
Stupid puns.
615. If you could force someone to fall madly in love with you, (anyone you choose) would you do it?
Uh…depends on whether or not I can conjure up dead people (yes, I’m talking about Leibniz, how did you know?).
616. Have you ever seen the Disney movie The Black Cauldron?
Indeed. I can quote it.
617. Have you ever read The Black Cauldron by Alexander Lloyd (or any of his other books in the Prydain Chronicles)?
Nope.
618. Have you ever written a paper the night before it was due?
Hahahaha, flashbacks to the semester of 25 credits.
How about the day it was due?
Technically yes.
619. Is there a movie you have watched so many times that you can quote it line for line?
I can quote most movies I’ve ever seen line by line.
620. What is your favorite season?
Summer, bitches!
621. Do you mind being described as cute?
Nah, that’s about as close to “beautiful” as it gets for me.
622. What is the tackiest object in your home?
Me. Or my closet.
623. What do you think people are most ignorant towards?
Each other.
624. What is it that makes you an interesting person?
I like to think my brand of humor makes me interesting. I also hope that my interests make me interesting, but who knows.
625. What makes other people interesting to you?
People are inherently weirdos. That fascinates me, particularly when combined with the fact that people inherently don’t want others to see them as weirdos and thus try to act certain wais in the public eye.
626. How open to suggestion are you?
Depends on what you’re suggesting. No, I won’t change my bangs. No, I won’t shut up about Leibniz. No, I won’t stop extolling the virtues of R.
627. Is Michael Jackson black or white?
MJ is dead, yo.
628. Are you often lonely?
Pfffffffft yes.
629. What’s the most unusual pet you’ve ever had?
Giant millipedes.
630. Have you ever threatened an authority figure?
Haha, probably, but I don’t recall anything specific.
631. If you had to choose would you rather make all your decisions henceforth with your head only or with your heart only?
Head.
632. How imaginative are you?
I’d say I’m pretty imaginative. I like to write. I like to draw psychedelic stuff.
633. Do you like the Counting Crows?
Eh, they’re tolerable.
634. If you took this survey from the diary (5000 Q Survey V2.0) did you note me so I could read it?
No, but I probably should, even though it was written forever ago I think.
635. Are you more tense or laid back?
Tense. Very very tense.
636. Does your happiness depend on anyone else, or are you happy no matter what anyone says or does?
BAH I’M MY OWN MAN.
637. What do you think of the idea of putting the bible into the format of a fashion magazine to attract the interest of teenagers?
Meh.
638. How often do you drink to get drunk?
Never.
639. Would you consider yourself to be diplomatic?
Indeed. That’s what I do, because apparently small clusters of my friends can never get along with other small clusters of my friends.
640. Do you think that most of the classes you have taken were taught in such a way as to make plain the relevance of the subject matter in your everyday life?
In high school? Hell no. College? Maybe half. Maybe.
641. Do you remember Crystal Pepsi?
I don’t drink soda.
642. When was the last time you spent a night away from home?
About a week ago.
643. Some people say that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Is that true?
That’s a stupid question!
644. What is the most interesting TV channel?
I miss Discovery Health, that channel freaking rocked. I still have a soft spot for Cartoon Network too, even though the majority of the shows suck now.
645. Name one song you could live without hearing ever again:
Pon De Replay drives me freaking insane. There aren’t a lot of songs I hate; that is one of them.
646. Do your pets understand you when you talk?
Annabelle knows the “Annabelle voice” I use with her.
647. What are three things you HAVE NOT done that might surprise people?
I haven’t ever smelled, I haven’t worn shorts in over 15 years, and I haven’t read a Steinbeck novel or story I’ve enjoyed.
648. Have you ever had a secret admirer?
I’ve had stalkers. I’m a stalker magnet.
649. Have you been to a museum this year?
Not this year, no.
650. Do you ever watch porn?
Haha, no.
651. Do you think that it would be a good idea if people served in the army, navy or air force for a while before they were allowed to vote?
That would be…interesting.
652. If you were required to do this to vote, would you?
Sure. Though I’m in Canada land right now, so it doesn’t really pertain to me.
653. Do people often give you weird looks?
Man, you have no idea.
654. Do like Japanese cooking?
It’s okay. I like sushi.
655. Do you care for stray animals?
All the pets that have entered my life have been stray.
656. Which animated movies have you seen and what did you think of them:
A Charlie Brown Christmas: A long time ago, it was okay.
A Garfield Halloween: Never saw it.
The Secret of Nimh: Never saw it.
The Last Unicorn: THE BOOB TREE HOLY CRAP. This was a house movie.
The original Lord of the Rings cartoons: Never saw it.
657. Are you ambidextrous (equally good at using both hands)?
Nope.
658. Do you always say; “bless you” after someone sneezes, or do you hesitate?
I rarely say anything after anyone sneezes.
659. If you and your friends could go away for 2 days over Halloween weekend where would you go?
I’m assuming I can count my Moscow friends here, ‘cause I don’t really have any Van friends. I suppose we could road trip it somewhere, like Spokane or Seattle. We could dress up for Halloween and freak people out. It would rule.
660. Which of these animated movies have you seen and what did you think of them:
Watership Down: they made a movie out of this?
As the Wind Blows: never saw it.
Grave of the Fireflies: never saw it.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas: freaking awesome!
Spirited Away: never saw it.
661. Do you feel that society is male dominated, female dominated, or neutral?
Meh.
662. What words offend you?
None do, really.
663. They’re just words. Can you get over it?
Already did!
664. Have you ever looked into different religions?
I was raised Catholic, does that count?
665. Which ones have you looked into?
After Catholicism I didn’t really want to get into religion at all.
666. What do you think of Satanism as a religion?
Hahaha, good play with the 666, question writer.
667. Do you like it better when your classes are taught sitting in rows or sitting in a circle?
Rows.
668. Have you ever read your own tarot cards?
Yup.
669. Which ones do you like better, the three old star wars movies or the 2 new ones?
Duh, the old ones.
670. If you scream in outer space does it make a sound?
Space sucks (ha, get it?)
671. If you saw The Queen of the Damned did you want to be a vampire/Goth afterwards?
What?
672. If you saw SLC Punk did you want to be punk afterwards?
Again, what?
673. What is your favorite zombie movie?
Zombie movies are dumb.
674. Best kids birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater
Sleep over!
675. What were your parties like when you were a kid?
Haha, lots of sleepovers and pizza and Disney. And dirtiness.
676. Best teen (about 15-16) birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert
Roller rink, bitches!
677. What are/were your 15-16 year old parties like?
I don’t think I had any parties at this point in life.
678. Best 18th birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert, club, pool hall, college party
Restaurant.
679. If you are 18 what was your party like?
I don’t remember my 18th birthday party at all.
680. Best 21st birthday party: ceramics, chuck-e-cheese, roller rink, bowling, sleep over, movie theater, house party, catered in a hall, restaurant, family trip, concert, club, pool hall, college party, bar, Atlantic city/Las Vegas trip
Hahaha, “sleep over.” Claudia basement style.
681. If you saw The Craft were you interested in wicca/paganism/magic afterwards?
Never saw it.
682. What are your top 3 priorities?
Seek data, change the world, obsess.
683. If you saw fight club did you want to get into a fistfight afterwards?
Never saw it. This is a movie-heavy portion of the survey.
684. What is your favorite smell?
I WILL STAB YOU ALL.
685. Give everything below a humor rating (1 = laugh your ass off, 2 = lol, 3 = smile, 4 = lame, 5 = not funny, 6 = offensive):
People falling: 5
Rape jokes: 4
Sarcastic comments: 3
Blonde jokes: 3
Dirty jokes: 2
God/religion jokes: 2
Long-ass jokes: 2
Death jokes: 3
Pain/sickness jokes: 4
Animals doing cute stuff: 3
Bodily functions: 5
Knock jokes: 4
Ethnic jokes: 4
Puns: 1
Ironic situations:1
685. If you saw Cruel Intentions did you want to have lots of meaningless sex afterwards?
OH CAN YOU GUESS? Never seen it.
686. Do you get at least three hugs per day?
I’m lucky if I brush against someone on the bus (NOT CREEPY AT ALL).
687. What should someone never say to you/call you if they want to remain on your good side?
Don’t insult the way I dress, please.
688. If you saw Trainspotting did you want to do drugs afterwards?
Didn’t see that one either.
689. Do movies have a great influence on you?
Judging by my answers on this survey, “no” should be obvious.
690. Do you have a favorite reality TV show?
Top Chef rules!
691. Are there certain roles that people are pressured to play in society or can they basically do whatever they want?
We can do what we want, but we rarely really do.
692. How does the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake compare to the original movie?
Neeeever saw it.
693. Have you ever held a magnifying glass over an insect to burn it?
Nope.
694. Have you ever pulled the wings off a fly, butterfly or any other insect?
Nope.
695. What would you think of a guy (if you’re into guys) or a girl (if you’re into girls) who wanted to take you to the park to feed the birds and look at the turtles and fish in the water on a date?
I think that would be acceptable. As long as it wasn’t raining.
696. Do you use public pools?
I haven’t gone swimming in forever.
697. Do you use public bathrooms?
Yup.
698. Do you use public showers?
I don’t know if I ever had.
699. How old will you be in 17 years?
40. Holy shit.
700. Would it effect you at all if you knew that a very large meteor was headed towards earth that would impact in 17 years?
Nope.
Relax
2011 doesn’t like my family.
Grandpa died on January 25.
Grandma fell, broke her femur, and went into the hospital on February 14.
Dad wrenched the hell out of his knee (and might need surgery) yesterday.
Despite the fact that nothing horrific happened when I jumped out of a plane at 13,000 feet the other day, 2011, what are you doing to my family? You’d better leave my mother alone.
Now here’s an unrelated quizzy thingy.
Rules:
1. Put your iTunes on shuffle (Or mp3 Player, or whatever you use)
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS
1) IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY
Stayin’ Alive
2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Metro
3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Don’t Lie
4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Whenever, Wherever
5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Fly a Kite
6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
You Get What You Give
7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Baby Got Back (HAHAHAHA)
8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
My Own Way to Rock
9) WHAT IS 2+2?
Crazy For This Girl
10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Miracle
11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Her Beautiful Ideas
12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The World I Know
13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Youth Of The Nation
14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Revolution 909
15) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Around the Bend
16) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Ecstasy (hahaha, that’d be entertaining)
17) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Crazy Train (aka DA COLE TRAIN!)
18) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
I Just Wanna Live
19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Leave
20) WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Everybody’s Free
21) HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Unity
22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Popcorn
23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
When You’re Gone
24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Pictures of You
25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
E-Pro (that’s a “no”)
26) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
American Slang
27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Superman
28) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
The Way I Am (haha, pretty true)
29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Good Morning Starshine
30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Relax
Quiet Riot…In My Pants
Are you serious?
REALLY?
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/02/liveability_ranking
As it has done for the past two years (WHY??), Vancouver holds the top spot as being the most livable city in the world.
“The ranking scores 140 cities from 0-100 on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. These numbers are then weighted and combined to produce an overall figure.”
Um…have any of the people in charge of creating the ranking actually been up here?
Hastings Sunrise is terrifying.
The rain! THE RAAAAAAAAAAAIN!
I pay $1,000 a month for my rent, and that’s like the lowest low end price for a 1 bedroom place.
People up here are cold, man. I’ve both experienced this and heard the same from a lot of others who are not from Vancouver but who live here now.
The Vancouver CTV website mentions an assault/rape/murder about once a day.
Yeah. Excellent place to live.
Here’s my favorite comment from the comments section, by the way:
“Vancouver also scored well in the following categories:
– 100 out of 100 in: “Does it ever stop raining here?”.
– 99 out of 100 in: “If I don’t get out of this rain, I swear to God I’m gonna lose it”.
– 98 out of 100 in: “So, when does summer arrive around here anyway?”
And –
– 97 out of 100 in: ‘Forget this crap, I’m movin’ to Arizona.'”
Damn straight I’m Perpetua Titling Light.
http://www.pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/
I’m almost Courier, but I’m glad I’m more Perpetua. The more serifs, the better.
Sorry, I’m bored.
Canadian Mall – Installment 6: Oakridge Centre
I’m in Vancouver!
Because I’m a slacker and don’t feel much like walking to god knows where today (give me a break, I’ve been up since 3 and in a couple different states/provinces/time zones since then), I’m just going to give you all a rundown of the mall that’s about 8 blocks from my house: The Oakridge Centre.
Pros:
– It’s close to my house!
– It has a Safeway
– It’s not huge, but it’s got enough variety to keep you interested for a few hours
– Right next to the Skytrain station on Cambie
Cons:
– It has an Apple store. I’m counting this as a con because my close proximity to said Apple store causes me to want to purchase every i-machine in there
– You want to catch the bus at this stop? Good freaking luck. So. Crowded.
– For some reason, there are a crap ton of kids at this mall
Yeah. This was the first mall I went to here. It’s kind of like the Palouse Mall, actually.
Brazil nuts are creepy.
I had a nightmare about Brazil nuts last night.
Yes, you read that right. Nightmare about Brazil nuts.
In defense of my unconscious brain-ramblings, these things are creepy as all hell, both inside their shells and out.
“Brazil nuts are the large, elongated, three-sided, oily seeds of the South American brazil nut tree.”
And they will haunt you and take down your mind when you think you’re safe.
I’d elaborate on the dream more, but I really can’t remember it. I just remember Brazil nuts, running, being absolutely terrified, and the cause of the terror (and running) being the Brazil nuts.
In other news, tonight my mom and I are driving to Phoenix because my flight leaves at the ungodly hour of 6:18 tomorrow morning.
Not looking forward to going back to Van Land. Nope, not at all.
In This Blog: Claudia Jumps Out of a Plane
Dudes…that was so amazing.
My mom, for a late birthday present to me, bought me a tandem jump at Skydive Arizona today.
Jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet is a lot more peaceful than people would generally imagine, I think.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, here is my Facebook album of related pictures. Added pics here, ’cause I wanted to!
If any of you ever get the opportunity to skydive, freaking do it.
Yay.
Valentine’s Day Solar Flare Massacre
OH SHIT SOLAR FLARE TIME GUYS.
(Edit: The article posted in here was published tomorrow; I just included it because apparently a lot of people are a day behind on this)
http://www.universetoday.com/83392/sun-erupts-with-enormous-x2-solar-flare/
Yesterday the sun decided to wish the universe a belated “happy Valentine’s Day!” by throwing out one of the largest solar flares since 2006 (the year I graduated high school!).
I think our awesome star is starting to rev up for its solar symphony that’s coming up in the next two years. Better make good use of that Blackberry/iPhone/3G network while it’s still in operation; even this single flare is expected to cause minor issues over the next few days.
TWSB: Kitt Peak
So This Week’s Science Blog is going to be a little different. Why? Because my mom, Kurt, and I went up to the Kitt Peak National Observatory to stare at some badass stars and galaxies this evening.
So I shall tell you about that.
The KPNO is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and has a total of (I think) 21 telescopes, including a badass sun telescope (seriously, HOW COOL?).
Anyway. Here is a picture of the sunset from up there. This is the only picture I took because, obviously, we were up there mainly during the nighttime.
First we saw Jupiter, and when I asked the guy there he said that it still wasn’t clear whether or not the southern equatorial band was reappearing yet. Through the telescope we could see the giant planet plus the Galilean Moons.
Then we got some star charts and went outside to try and find Orion, the Dippers, the Seven Sisters, and a bunch of the astrological constellations. I also found out that no matter how good the binoculars are, I still suck at using them.
We then hung out in one of the telescope rooms and stared at the Andromeda galaxy, some orbiting star pairs, a couple globular galaxies, and then the moon, which was ridiculously detailed in the telescope and pretty much blinded all of us.
If you’re ever in Arizona, get up to Kitt Peak and check out the firmament of awesomeness above us. And if you’re there during the day, for the love of GOD go check out the largest solar telescope on the planet.
Woo.
No timezone and no sleep make Claudia something something…
Blaaaaaaaaaah what day is it?
I like Arizona. The concept of “75+ degrees in February” is so ridiculously foreign to me, so this state, despite all its governmental issues, gets a plus from me so far.
My mom and Kurt live like 15 miles from anything, so we drove around a lot today.
It’s nice not being in Vancouver and/or doing school stuff for a change. I didn’t really get a break over Christmas, so I’m kind of doing that now.
Yeah.
Sorry these are all kinda short, I’m just chillin’.
Claudia’s Arizona Adventures: Day 1
Aaaaaand now I’m in Arizona.
I’ve spent like 10 hours on planes/in airports within the last 36 hours, which is more than I’ve slept in the same period of time.
I saw the stars tonight for the first time in like 4 weeks. I like it down here already.
I also apparently look about 16, as I was stopped three separate times today by people needing to “check if I was old enough” to do various things, including flying alone (I’m not kidding), getting a complimentary cocktail (for using my dad’s Horizon Gold Member miles, haha), and by another stewardess who, for whatever reason, decided it important to inquire about my age.
Fun day.
Claudia’s Trans-Canadian Adventures: Day 3
So there won’t be any Canadian Mall installment this week, mainly because I’m nowhere near a mall and am instead in an airport.
So ladies and gentlemen, I give you Canadian Airport – London International Airport!
Yeah.
It’s like Moscow/Pullman, but a little bigger. And the weather changes in a nanosecond.
So I’m flying to Toronto (45 minute flight), sitting around in the Toronto Airport for about five hours, flying nonstop to Vancouver (5 hour flight? Something like that), then leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Phoenix to visit my mom and her boyfriend Kurt.
It’s a good thing I like flying.
And chilling in airports.
Talk to you all when I get reliable internet at some point…not sure when that will be.
Claudia’s Trans-Canadian Adventures: Day 2
Dear University of Western Ontario,
You are a creepy hybrid and I think I’m in love with you.
Seriously, both the campus and town are some sort of freakish, almost impossible combination of Moscow/UI and Vancouver/UBC.
I like it here. The bus system seems reasonable, it’s not raining, people actually have their own senses of style instead of all wearing the same coat, the same boots, and the same scarves, and…oh yeah: THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT FREAKING RULES.
It’s the second largest in Canada and has a tier 2 ranking for philosophy of science (which is pretty awesome, considering there is only one school in tier 1). There’s also a special institute called the Rotman Institute of Philosophy to which you can apply and get a special office in a separate part of the building with a bunch of other phil of sci dorks. How awesome is that?!
Other bonuses:
- It’s not raining.
- The rec center. Holy crap, it’s amazing.
- You can RENT AN OFFICE IN THE LIBRARY. Your own library home. Holy Jesus crackers.
- Prices! They’re reasonable!
- There’s a Pita Pit here. There’s one in Vancouver, too, but it’s downtown and too far to go for sexy pitas.
- It’s not raining.
- The local stations seem to really like Futurama.
- You’re encouraged to take classes outside of the phil department if they apply to you.
- They have a marching band!
- The layout of the grad student housing rooms is almost identical to the layout of my apartment here.
- Did I mention it’s not raining?
It was a good day.
It looks like it can be a good future.
Claudia’s Trans-Canadian Adventures: Day 1
So here’s an important question that’s been bothering me since I got off the plane.
There’s skiing and downhill stuff in the winter Olympics, right? Duh.
So where in the hell for the 1988 Calgary Olympics did they actually have that stuff? ‘Cause all I’m seeing is this:
Either they built fake mountains or they made it all up, one of the two.
We also flew through some badass lenticular clouds, but I couldn’t get my camera out in time to catch them.
Anyway.
You may be saying “wait, hold on, back up, what the hell were you doing on a plane and why were you in Calgary?”
An excellent question.
I wasn’t exactly in Calgary, it was just a stop on the way to London, Ontario to check out the University of Western Ontario, who happens to have a tier 2 philosophy of science program and who happens to have accepted me into the MA/PhD program.
Cool stuff, huh?
So now I’m sitting in a creepy little motel room with a pita, Futurama, and no internet, waiting for the campus tour tomorrow.
It’s also 1 degree Fahrenheit outside.
But it’s not raining.
Rock ON.
TWSB: Hey Baby, What’s Your Sign Test?
Stats jokes. They never get old.
Anyway.
David McCandless, among other cool people over at informationisbeautiful.com, gathered over 22,000 Yahoo! Horoscopes to prove what many of us already knew: repetitive predictions that generalize greatly across all 12 signs. Getting someone to access Yahoo’s archived horoscopes, these awesome dudes compiled every type of horoscope available—teen, love, daily, etc.—and extracted the generic daily ones. They utilized TagCrowd to extract the most popular words used for each sign. They then removed the “common” words—words that could really be found in any analysis—and produced a second table of truly unique words per sign.
Draw your own conclusions. I think this is fantastic. Check out their full article (plus meta-horoscope) here.
Also: happy birthday, Sean!
5 x 20 seconds of fun
You all know I love 5 Second Films, as I have raved about them in the past. But because I have absolutely nothing else to say today and I’m nervous as hell about this weekend (details coming soon), I give you my top 20 5sf. In list form. ‘Cause I’m awesome.
The Last Temptation of 5-Second Films (Insomnia 2007)
Twilight Interview with the New Moon Blood Vampire’s Assistant Saga Diaries
Rec Center Etiquette (Or Lack Thereof)
Helpful handy tips for you clueless rec center ladies and gentlemen out there:
- Don’t use the inner/outer thigh machine as a place to park your butt for half an hour.
- Those little spray bottles with the disinfectant in them? There are like five of them in the whole gym. Please don’t take them individually back to your machine when you’re done. Spray the towel with them at the station, and take the towel only.
- The mats are for stretching or situps, not for standing in a circle with your girlfriends gossiping about the basketball team.
- Talking to your friend a machine over is very distracting and obnoxious to the poor soul stuck in between you two.
- Just because your locker is next to the bench does not mean you should spread all your crap out over the entire bench.
- Do you really need the 8, 10, 12, and 15 pound dumbbells at the same time? Please put them back on the rack if you’re going to do more than three reps with a different weight before going back.
- Yes, you’ve got nice arm muscles. Yes, your hair looks fine. Yes, your butt looks hot in those tight pants. Can you please step away from the mirror now so I can work my triceps?
- Can you people pry yourselves away from your cellphones for HALF AN HOUR? Good lord, we can’t be separated from our social crutches for half a second anymore.
That is all.
Eigenblogger 