I haven't updated in a while! There hasn't been much going on to talk about. However I have an idea for a weekly thing. Maybe that will give me incentive to update at least once a week.
Aside from being an accomplished Doctor, I am also a brilliant chef and general food connoisseur (also a daring crime fighter, world renowned acrobat, a master watchmaker, and a wandering rock star). So, every week I will post one of my favorite recipes.
This week's recipe: Campus Newspaper Surprise.
Required ingredients:
One (1) Large Bucket
One (1) Spatula
One (1) Large Stirring Utensil
Many (n ϵ N) Blank Newsprints
Others detailed below.
Before starting, you must acquire a quantity of complaining. You need enough to fill the bucket about halfway. This can be acquired cheaply and in large amounts by visiting a seniors' home and asking any resident there how the times have changed since they were young. Or perhaps approach a friendly mall goth and ask them politely to explain what is wrong with society.
Once you have acquired the complaining, you must obtain an approximately equal amount of pretension. This can be done in several ways. One way would be to attend an art gallery and ask the artist to explain the meaning behind some of their paintings. A much easier method, though, would be to find a local Mac user (check your local Apple store if you don't know any) and ask them to explain to you, in detail, why Mac OS X is superior to Windows.
Once you have these two crucial components, put them into the bucket. On a low heat, use the stirring utensil to mix the two for 45 minutes or until they form a consistent, irritating pasty substance.
When that is done, turn off the heat source, and, using the spatula, smear this paste liberally onto the blank newsprint. Don't be stingy with it! The more thickly you lay it on, the better your Campus Newspaper Surprise will turn out.
Serve at room temperature. Serves n.
EDIT: Clearly this did not help me update. Whooooops.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
The science of male restroom design
The following are some scientific observations I've made regarding male public restrooms.
On the psychological side of things, simply from naturalistic observation while using a restroom myself, two males will hardly, if ever, use urinals directly adjacent to one another. If there is no other urinal available except one adjacent to another one that is currently in use, the normal "polite" thing to do is to use a toilet stall, or wait until someone finishes at the urinals. If one enters an empty restroom, one will also usually take the urinal with the least chance of having someone use the adjacent urinal. In the case of a row of urinals, this would be the one at either end--there's only one urinal adjacent to it. Otherwise, most will take the next best one.
So, if there are 3 urinals, only 2 will be used (the ones on each end). If there are 4 urinals, only 2 will be used (the ones on each end). If there are 5, 3 will be used (the ones at each end, and the one in the center). If there are 6, only 3 will be used (the ones at each end, and then one of the 4 between them. Any remaining urinals will be adjacent to one that is in use).
So, for optimal cost/usage, it is best to have an odd number of urinals, and the best that can be hoped for is that if the designer intends for nurinals to be available, then they will have to install 2n-1 urinals.
A way around this is to put a divider wall between each urinal. In my opinion this is much cheaper, and allows for n urinals to be used if n are installed.
On the psychological side of things, simply from naturalistic observation while using a restroom myself, two males will hardly, if ever, use urinals directly adjacent to one another. If there is no other urinal available except one adjacent to another one that is currently in use, the normal "polite" thing to do is to use a toilet stall, or wait until someone finishes at the urinals. If one enters an empty restroom, one will also usually take the urinal with the least chance of having someone use the adjacent urinal. In the case of a row of urinals, this would be the one at either end--there's only one urinal adjacent to it. Otherwise, most will take the next best one.
So, if there are 3 urinals, only 2 will be used (the ones on each end). If there are 4 urinals, only 2 will be used (the ones on each end). If there are 5, 3 will be used (the ones at each end, and the one in the center). If there are 6, only 3 will be used (the ones at each end, and then one of the 4 between them. Any remaining urinals will be adjacent to one that is in use).
So, for optimal cost/usage, it is best to have an odd number of urinals, and the best that can be hoped for is that if the designer intends for nurinals to be available, then they will have to install 2n-1 urinals.
A way around this is to put a divider wall between each urinal. In my opinion this is much cheaper, and allows for n urinals to be used if n are installed.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Shovel, shovel, toil and trouble
Even on a doctor's paycheque, I can still only reasonably afford lodgings in a meager basement apartment. It's not large or luxurious, but it suits me quite well--except in one regard. If it weren't enough that I have to shovel out the driveway every day or two (particularly bad when we get heavily snowed on, like we did last night), I have to shovel a path up around the house to even get to the driveway.
After spending over three hours at it today, I have reached a conclusion: the shovel is not the best tool for the job. A flamethrower would be much quicker, easier, and more efficient at the job. No hard labour, just burning, intense fire. Flooding might be an issue, but water is much easier to deal with than snow!
Given the lack of precision a flamethrower has, not only would I likely not have to worry about shovelling, I would also not have a house left to have to pay rent for! Nor a car to buy gas for! And, I'd have a whole wad of insurance money, with which to skip the country before they find out that it's my fault my house burned down and my car exploded. Once I'm in Mexico, I won't ever have to worry about shovelling snow ever again. No siree, life will be grand; my only worries will be malaria and Hepatitis A&B.
After spending over three hours at it today, I have reached a conclusion: the shovel is not the best tool for the job. A flamethrower would be much quicker, easier, and more efficient at the job. No hard labour, just burning, intense fire. Flooding might be an issue, but water is much easier to deal with than snow!
Given the lack of precision a flamethrower has, not only would I likely not have to worry about shovelling, I would also not have a house left to have to pay rent for! Nor a car to buy gas for! And, I'd have a whole wad of insurance money, with which to skip the country before they find out that it's my fault my house burned down and my car exploded. Once I'm in Mexico, I won't ever have to worry about shovelling snow ever again. No siree, life will be grand; my only worries will be malaria and Hepatitis A&B.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Look out, USA! Here comes DR SCIENCE!
It is official! I will be visiting Amanda from April 25th until June 24th. That's two entire months.
I don't think I could be more excited.
I don't think I could be more excited.
Dammit, Jack. What did I ever do to you?
Sunday past I spent the night at a colleague's place. It was a good time all around, but I intended it to be one night. Nature had other plans, however. On Monday we got the blizzard that had recently torn through the North-Eastern USA, leaving a trail of corpses in its wake. I couldn't leave during the blizzard, and the next day the road conditions were so poor that even the buses weren't running, so I couldn't get home then, either. I didn't get home until Wednesday. WEDNESDAY. Gawd.
The worst part of all? I've become absolutely addicted to Diddy Kong Racing DS. And I don't have a DS. This will be torturous. I have been reading reviews of DKRDS, and they are mostly pretty poor. If they were going to rate it badly for its poor touchscreen implementation, then that would be one thing. But the major complaint seemed to be "it's not Mario Kart."
...
OF COURSE IT'S NOT! I mean, how dare it take a different approach to the kart racer genre, huh?
The worst part of all? I've become absolutely addicted to Diddy Kong Racing DS. And I don't have a DS. This will be torturous. I have been reading reviews of DKRDS, and they are mostly pretty poor. If they were going to rate it badly for its poor touchscreen implementation, then that would be one thing. But the major complaint seemed to be "it's not Mario Kart."
...
OF COURSE IT'S NOT! I mean, how dare it take a different approach to the kart racer genre, huh?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
"This is the iWorld, and here I am a GOD."
I found this hilarious video on The Unofficial Apple Weblog and I just had to share it.
There are enough blogs and other venues covering the Mac vs PC issue, and I don't want to turn this blog into one of them, but while I'm on the topic I have a few things I want to say.
People on both sides of the issue need to relax. They are just computers. It is nothing to get so angry and upset over. And furthermore, any argument over which is "better" is ludicrous. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and they even out to the point that it all comes down to what you spend most of your time on a computer doing, and which one you prefer. It's just a preference issue, nothing more. I prefer the Mac way of doing things. Other people prefer the Windows way of doing things. Other people prefer the Linux way of doing things (we call these people "geeks").
I would also like to talk a little bit about Apple's "Get A Mac" campaign, with the Mac guy and the PC guy. While these are good for a cheap chuckle, sometimes, in my experience all the seem to do is polarize people on both sides. Mac OS X certainly has enough good points that a successful ad campaign could be made around touting these, and I think Apple is selling their own software short by simply and constantly pointing out (overexaggerated) bad things about Windows.
So, really, in conclusion, PCs are for fart-huffers, and Macs get you laid.
There are enough blogs and other venues covering the Mac vs PC issue, and I don't want to turn this blog into one of them, but while I'm on the topic I have a few things I want to say.
People on both sides of the issue need to relax. They are just computers. It is nothing to get so angry and upset over. And furthermore, any argument over which is "better" is ludicrous. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and they even out to the point that it all comes down to what you spend most of your time on a computer doing, and which one you prefer. It's just a preference issue, nothing more. I prefer the Mac way of doing things. Other people prefer the Windows way of doing things. Other people prefer the Linux way of doing things (we call these people "geeks").
I would also like to talk a little bit about Apple's "Get A Mac" campaign, with the Mac guy and the PC guy. While these are good for a cheap chuckle, sometimes, in my experience all the seem to do is polarize people on both sides. Mac OS X certainly has enough good points that a successful ad campaign could be made around touting these, and I think Apple is selling their own software short by simply and constantly pointing out (overexaggerated) bad things about Windows.
So, really, in conclusion, PCs are for fart-huffers, and Macs get you laid.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Vampiranity: Nominations for Canonization
Canonization is the process of making someone a Saint. If Vampiranity is to be any kind of religion at all, it needs Saints. Rather than appoint them myself, in an authoritarian manner, I'm going to put it to a democratic, open vote. If you think someone should be canonized in the Church of Vampiranity, leave a short blurb in the comments of this post naming your nominee and giving a brief reason why they should be canonized.
People to be Canonized should adhere to the guidelines of Vampiranity, which I should probably declare, huh? Vampiranity is dedicated to compassion to living things, and the swift and horrible slaughter of the living undead (emphasis on this one). Anyone who follows these is fair game for Canonization.
I'll leave the nominations open until the end of March 2007. That's a long time, but I want to get as much input as I can. And, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.
So, get nominating!
People to be Canonized should adhere to the guidelines of Vampiranity, which I should probably declare, huh? Vampiranity is dedicated to compassion to living things, and the swift and horrible slaughter of the living undead (emphasis on this one). Anyone who follows these is fair game for Canonization.
I'll leave the nominations open until the end of March 2007. That's a long time, but I want to get as much input as I can. And, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.
So, get nominating!
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