posts from 2004.05

I’ve been back from commencement for a little while now, and it wasn’t as bad as eveyone was making me believe it was going to be. Truthfully, the worst thing about it was having to get up at 7 on a Sunday morning. Affixing carnations to gowns wasn’t nearly as dangerious (for me or them) as I thought it would be, it was just a bit hectic. And the food provided to the ushers was great- I’m defintely doing this again next year :)

One funny thing possibly worth mentioning- they made the Cornell clock tower play the ‘If I only had a brain’ song from Wizard of Oz. Which amused me greatly, though I think that many of the graduates were too preoccupied to notice, heh :)

Additionally, the football stadium really started to look quite a bit like a Quidditch Field, what with all the people in wizard robes Ph. D cloaks wandering about. It was really quite cool. And Pomp and Circumstance seems a more fitting name for that tune every time I attend a graduation ceremony.

On an unrelated note, I think I’ve determined that one day becoming a member of the Cornell faculty is a worthwhile goal- but whether I’ll pursue it or not is yet to be seen. :/

On another completely different (and even more) unrelated note, my compiles have finished, and I am again using neops1. :D

Also, beth is going to be moving into the apartment two doors over from ours, in the same building. XD

Hrmm…. that’s enough disjointed posting for now, methinks.

Mood: ecstatic

I should really go to sleep, seeing as I have to get up early to help out with commencement. Oh well, at least I have Monday off to sleep in ;)

Here’s this week’s:
I say … and you think … ?

1. Lover::hater
2. Ridiculous::saying
3. Oscar::Meyer Weiner
4. Tennis::Club (??? I know, you play tennis with a racket.)
5. Account Balance:: Zero
6. Hickey::Red
7. License::Driver
8. Breathmints::Fresh
9. TexMex::Mix
10. Stepmother::Father

Today has been a good day.

First, I found out that Beth was offered a job at SGN (where I work), which she is definitely accepting. Which mans she’s moving up here to Ithaca. Which means she’s coming up this weekend to find an apartment, and is bringing ctl with her. XD

Then, after an uneventful day at work, I went over to UPS and picked up the RAM I bought from Beth (to correct the issues I’ve been having). I came home, installed it, and started up a run of memtest86 (just to be sure).

While that ran, I went off to do some boring housekeeping stuff (e.g. change the kitty litter, take out the trash, deal with the recycling [that has built up for the past 4 weeks- we're such pigs], clean the bathroom, clean the kitchen, etc.), which took about an hour and a half to complete. When I was done, memtest86 had gone up to test 9, with no errors. I decided that was good enough, so I rebooted and started up a new emerge -e world. Which has run for the past hour without segfaulting or otherwise doing things it shouldn’t.

All of which means I’m a very happy camper.

Of course I’ve heard about the recent Pentagon/global warming “the sky is falling” stuff. I even told others about it when a first saw it a month or so back.

But after seeing this item on /. today, reading the actual document, and reading this interview with the author of said document, I’m a bit ambivalent about the whole thing.

On the one hand, of course I feel this if a possible, if not probable, occurance. And common sense tells me that of course this will happen, eventually- the climate always changes, every civilization faces hardship (and eventually falls), life on this planet seems to cycle- dominance is eventually destroyed, and quickly replaced. And those in power are prone to ignore problems until it’s too late (i.e. “Oh shit! The sky is falling! Fix it!” instead of “We have to find a better way to do this before it causes problems for our children, or their children”)- but that, of course, is the nature of humanity. I completely agree that it is not a question of if this may occur, but rather when it will occur. And I think it is likely to happen, or at least start, in my generation’s lifetime- since we (as a species) show no signs of seriously trying to prevent it from happening.

On the other hand, seeing that the story is on Greenpeace’s website disturbs me. This is a throwback to my Freshman year at Rutgers, where I learned about the evils of Greenpeace, ironically, in my Human Ecology (11:374:101) course. Basically, Greenpeace is a militant, one-sided group who will stop at nothing to get it’s sometimes misguided (but oftentimes justified) point across. I don’t disagree with their goals, on the contrary, I believe that many of them are noble- but I simply cannot respect an organisation that believes that the ends justify any means.

This raises the question in my mind- who really paid for this study/paper/whatever? I know the Pentagon commissioned it, but who is to say that Doug Randall, Peter Schwartz, or any of the scientists they consulted didn’t have separate interests? It’s not unheard of for private interests to have a large say in our government, afterall.

Regardless, the fact remains that something needs to be done, and quickly. The sooner we can reduce the usage of fossil fuels, the butter (Duh! Have you seen gas prices lately? ;) ). Whether Terra Climate System Failure is imminent or not is yet to be seen, but it is probably best to assume it is- if only so people will start getting off of their collective asses and start taking preventative measures now.

I’m not being high and mighty here- I’m including myself in the group as probably being equal to or worse than the average US consumer:

• I live 6 miles from work so must drive every day – though I would prefer to bike, walk, or take the bus, (especially since I dislike driving) none of these are feasible options :(
• I leave my computer on all the time (when it’s working) – but I do turn off the monitor which uses the majority of the power IIRC (of course, my computer is also full of various cold cathode and blinkinlights, which may use more power in the end)
• I eat meat – but mostly chicken as beef is kinda gross and usually overrated
• I create large amounts of plastic and paper rubbish, and am not the best at recycling (especially batteries, though I think we should swicth to rechargeable batteries anyway) – but I do pick up other people’s litter when it is in my path and dispose of it properly

On a related note, I’m really looking forward to seeing The Day After Tomorrow, if only because I really love movies or stories about the apocalypse, or taking place in a post-apocalyptic world.

I got the new RAM today. Predictably, it didn’t work.

I always seem to have bad luck, in one way or another, when upgrading my hardware. This itme I was absolutely certain I didn’t do anything stupid- everything should have been compatible, and I know I didn’t blow up anything. I even doublechecked with various other people whether my estimates of compatibility were correct.

The computer just doesn’t post with the new RAM installed. I tried moving it ot another slot, and sure enough, the computer beeps angrily at me when I try to boot- so it is at the very least seeing the RAM, just nor using it, for some reason. At first I thought it was the video card somehow dying spontaneously, but the computer works (as well as it has been for the past few days, anyway) when I put the old RAM back again. I even reset the CMOS, to no avail.

Anyway, the only conclusion anyone has come up with is that the new RAM is bad. So much for that software testing I paid for, Pha! Anyway, it turns out that Beth has some RAm that will serve my purposes nicely (albeit two DIMMS instead of one), so I’ve purchased that from her, and should have it (hopefully) by Friday night. I’m returning the memory-shaped mistake, and will simply eat the stupid restocking f