Sometimes I'm Not...

Dream Time

sometimesimnot — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:30:29 +0000

I wonder if time moves at the same pace in our dreams? Or perhaps does it move faster, and we race through dream after dream, spending perhaps years going through different scenarios. Or maybe it moves slower, and we spend 8 hours dreaming of walking to the refrigerator and grabbing a jug of milk.

What if it differs from person to person? Maybe I dream in superspeed, but joe shmoe over there lingers on each moment.

Who really knows?

Mind-reading Technology

sometimesimnot — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:08:12 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if technology is advancing too much. It caters to our needs, but sometimes gets a little too personal.

For instance, gmail shows ads that relate to you, based on key words in your emails. Facebook picks through your profile, posts and friend list to show targeted ads and suggest friends.

But sometimes it feels like they’re doing more than that… that they’re reading my mind. I got a Facebook friend suggestion for an obscure friend that I do, indeed, know. However, we didn’t have any friends in common, and we were not part of any shared network. In fact, there wasn’t much on his profile at all. How did Facebook know?

On occasion gmail has also given me ads relating to an interest or something I was just thinking about, and yet nowhere in my inbox is there anything indicating it. Again, how do they know?

Keep your eyes open.

TheBus

sometimesimnot — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:42:11 +0000

TheBus, Hawaii's public transportation system

So the other day I caught a different bus than I usually catch, and it was one of the really nice new ones with the blue interior, including comfortable seats shaped to fit the passenger, skid-proof floors and very well kept up. I thought to myself “Why haven’t I ridden one of these in ages? They’re loads better than the other buses!”

Then I realized the bus I was on was a Waikiki bus. I haven’t ridden one of them since I used to work in Waikiki. So apparently the “tourist capital” gets the best buses, while the rest of the island gets the ones with the ripped seats, profanity written on the windows and general air of being very dirty.

You would think that, financially, it would make more sense to give the best to the locals, since they are the ones who will choose whether or not to ride it regularly. But it seems, in this instance, the State is more concerned about their reputation to outsiders than taking care of the kama’aina.

Adjective Adventures

sometimesimnot — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:03:13 +0000

My hobby: Using completely out of place adjectives in sentences to confuse people.

“Wow, what a fondling turn of events.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I’ve never been so flexibly surprised!”

A battle of skill, not guns

sometimesimnot — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:13:09 +0000

Perhaps it’s because of my desire to oversimplify things, but I’ve often wondered whether there isn’t a better alternative to war – one involving less death and destruction. I mean, should a nation’s ability to massively destroy lives really constitute a good reason for “winning” whatever the argument is?

I say we should do some sort of an olympic-type competition, although not all in athletics. There will be a range of categories – perhaps intelligence, logic, athletics, or other areas. There could be debates, chess games, speed competitions, math challenges, you name it…

I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to compare the success of a nation on a wide range of areas? And having a variety allows some room for error. Maybe you didn’t compete so well in the math challenge, but your archer beat the pants off his opponent.

If only it were this simple. It all sounds good and fair, but I suppose there’s always still the threat of other nations having weapons, and while you’re training your nation’s best and brightest for the high jump and speed calculus, other nations could completely ignore the “rules” and come over and kill innocent civilians.

So once again, we’re left with nations stockpiling their weapons and living in paranoia of not having the best bombs and guns to defend their country. *sigh*

What about rock-paper-scissors?

Wardlaw v. Peck (1984)

sometimesimnot — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:20:01 +0000

A 1984 slander case involved a children’s book author, Robert Peck, who was set to speak at a college convocation. The student who was supposed to pick him up from the airport, Mary Jo Wardlaw, failed to do so, and Peck was so perturbed by this that he continuously picked on her during his speech the next day, referring to her as “Mary Jo Warthog”, likening her to a character in his book that was “built like a garbage truck”, claiming she had an “ape-like walk” (which he demonstrated for the audience) and that’s why she was late to pick him up. He even went so far as to claim he had nightmares of her and another student “breeding under his sink.”

Understandably, Wardlaw was upset. She claims she spent the next day locked in her room embarassed and distressed. She sued him on two charges, one for slander per se, by calling her “Warthog” and ruining her reputation. The other was for the “breeding under his sink” comment.

The reputation claim was thrown out, because there was no strong evidence that the words were slanderous or caused her harm. But the second charge was upheld because women can win claims for unchastity, which is apparently what “breeding under his sink” implies.

Peck must be a very good children’s book author, considering his extensive creativity and imagination, along with his childish nature.

Infinite Loop

sometimesimnot — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:04:26 +0000

I barely escaped from a devious scheme that would have destroyed my life! This so-called “infinite loop” wanted to keep me sitting at my computer forever, waiting for the page to load. Thank goodness for Firefox’s keen senses, or I would have had to sit there for the rest of my life, waiting for the page, knowing it would never come…

Defamation

sometimesimnot — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:27:00 +0000

You know, these days people sue each other for libel and slander and throw millions of dollars around in the process. In the old days in Rome, they just beat slanderers with a club. Think about how much simpler that would be.

Citrus Fruit

sometimesimnot — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:20:50 +0000

Citrus Fruit

I am simply amazed by the complexity and splendor of citrus fruits. We’re given tiny crystals of juice, packed into little capsules that break in your mouth – and beautiful to boot! Quite as genius a creation as the banana. Well done God!