04.26.08
Posted by Lulu at 10:28 pm in love
she told me she judges people on how nice she thinks they are to others
and i believe her and think it’s wonderful.
there were so many doxens in washington square park today. so. many, for the doxen parade, it was ridiculous. all in one place, the park was magical.
and there was a black lab to the side, with a face that said “wtf why are there so many midgets?”
and the market happened that always happens on saturday, and with weekly $1 sticky rice, street peddlers, street artists, street kids, street protestors protesting animal cruelty, a lady from h&m who took pictures of me, the dogs! a group of people giving free hugs, the homeless, that one black man wearing a clown suit, gandhi statue with flowers! man, yeah, that is great silk screen work, man, yeah, i follow, the government does suck sometimes. yeah, man, i love you too, thanks for the hug.
people, why has it taken so long for me to learn to love you? and trust you? and just be merry and happy with you?
today i filled my life with strangers, and it was satisfying.
and i think it’s wonderful. and i’m trying to learn better now, how to love and be loved by just. people.
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Posted by Varies at 9:43 am in "reality"
- The Door Close button is there mostly to give passengers the illusion of control. In elevators built since the early ’90s. The button is only enabled in emergency situations with a key held by an authority.
- The only known occurence of an elevator car free falling due to a snapped cable (barring fire or structural collapse), was in 1945. A B25 Bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, severing the cables of two elevators. The elevator car on the 75th floor had a woman on it, but she survived due to the 1000 feet of coiled cable of fallen cable below, which lessened the impact.
- Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents.
- Elevators are also safer than cars. An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours.
- Most people who die in elevators are elevator technicians.
- The Otis Elevator Company carries the equivalent of the world’s population in their elevators every five days.
- The New York Marriott was the first to introduce a smart elevator system that assigned passengers to elevators depending on what floor they were heading to.
- Elevators used to require a two-man dispatcher/operator team to function. The advent of navigational buttons rendered those jobs obsolete.
- The area required for personal space is 2.3 feet. The average amount on elevators is generally 2 feet.
- Elevator hatches are generally bolted shut for safety reasons. In times of elevator crisis, the safest place is inside the elevator.
- The myth about jumping just before impact in a falling elevator is just that — myth. You can’t jump fast enough to counteract the speed of falling. And you wouldn’t know when to jump.
- Due to the laws of physics, elevators can’t be any taller than 1700 feet. Hoist ropes become too heavy after that, snapping at 3200 feet.
Taken from The New Yorker
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Posted by Varies at 7:11 am in the internet
“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”
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04.12.08
Posted by Varies at 2:50 pm in Foreign Affairs
On the car today, I was listening to the BBC news show on NPR. According to the report, an artist from Italy named Pippa Bacca was recently found murdered. She was some sort of political performance artist, and her latest act was to promote peace in regions of conflict by hitchhiking from Italy to Turkey wearing a wedding gown. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it there alive.
Now, the reporter doing the story was interviewing someone who was a friend of the late artist, and the end of the conversation went sort of like this:
BBC: “What was she trying to prove by doing this? What was the point?”
Guy: “She was trying to promote peace.”
BBC: “And what does her death show us?”
Guy: “It’s a tragedy, and there are bad people in the world.”
BBC: “Actually, doesn’t it show that she was wrong? That art can’t make a difference?”
This wasn’t the first time that I heard a BBC interview where I thought that the interviewer was pushing his own point of view and taking some thinly veiled shots at the interviewee’s views. The other time was when they were interviewing one of the Zimbabwe ruling party representatives and they basically asked the guy, “Why does your party suck, and why don’t you just stop cheating and play fair?”
Here in America, all the interviews are so embarrassingly soft, so maybe the way that BBC reporters do things merely seems mean in comparison. Even so, I thought it was cheap to say that a woman who died trying to make a difference was wrong, naive, and that art doesn’t make a difference. All of those things may be true, but you don’t gotta rub it in the face of her friend like that!
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Posted by Varies at 7:17 am in Uncategorized
I don’t say enough about it, but I volunteer every Saturday morning, from 6:30-11:30. It’s not as labour-intensive as something like Habitat for Humanity or cleaning up a park, but it’s still better than nothing. In fact, anyone could do it — and if you look at it like that, there’s really no reason why we should always be short on volunteers. I’m at the crisis line, answering calls from people with messed-up lives, and, even though it’s a hassle-and-a-half sometimes, it’s something that I can be proud of. Sure, I sometimes go 4 hours and only pick up the phone 6 times. Sure, I spend more time at the work station reading manga/sporting news and playing DS than I do on the phones. But, if someone calls in with a problem, I’m the only one there for them, and that’s something.
For a guy who wakes up most days at around 10 AM, it isn’t easy getting up at 6 AM once a week to get ready. And it certainly isn’t fun to listen to people’s problems and show them empathy while helping them arrive at a solution (without giving advice, no less), but I daresay I have nothing better to do on Saturday mornings. What’s more, being in a quiet place for 4 hours is actually pretty relaxing. I won’t fool around with you though. Am I here to change the world, making one difference at a time? No. I’m not awesome like that. I’m here because it’s right. I’m here because it’s good. Even though I’m not a righteous person or even a good one, the idea of giving up your time for others is something that I believe in.
So why don’t more people volunteer their time to do stuff for other people? It’s the same excuse that people give for not exercising, for not talking to the people they care about, and for not trying hard to do things that they claim to be interested in.
Yeah, we’re all busy, all the time. Busy lying to ourselves.
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04.07.08
Posted by leelee at 9:04 pm in love, lists, japan, Cake
Oh noes, I couldn’t do the accent on the ‘a’ in patisserie which makes it all the more French and awesome. Oh well, I guess that will have to do. Anyways, the more I think about it, the more exciting the idea of a patisserie is! It’s one of the quaintest little things, just like how little cozy cottages in the beautiful English countryside just screams QUAINT!
On a sidenote, did you know that the French refer to abs as “chocolate bars” as opposed to how we refer to them as a quantity of beer? That’s just terribly sad how ‘unromantic’ a six-pack is. I mean for the unAmericanized person, wouldn’t they be expecting American people’s abs to look like six bottles? Whereas, the French version is like bars where you can see the ridges cause chocolate bars are all about tear and share! Okaay anyways, back to the main topic.
If I had a patisserie shop, these would be just a few of the essentials. In fact, I think in my mind, my “patisserie” is sort of a chocolatier smashed together with a candy shop and a bakery all together mushed into one little shop. In fact, I think it would have some sort of flashy decor that makes its own fashion statement, no I mean, culinary statement right? It’s gotta exude some sort of happy bubbly thing, I’m still a little kid inside and I’m not afraid of baring it thing. Oh yea, it should be like one of those places where you’ve got on your white collared shirt and your business slacks or skirt and the minute you step into this little shop, you’re kinda like Superman (or I guess superwoman if you’re a femme) where you just rip off that disguise to reveal a glimpse of your little kid outfit underneath. Or I guess it could kinda be like the Russian Matryoshka dolls where the big dolls all fall apart like Easter egg shells and reveals the tiniest little doll inside. That’s what the atmosphere has gotta be like!
And oh! the delicacies waiting inside! No human shall ever be able to leave without drooling a couple puddles. That’s what the handy dandy little oompa-loompas will be good for. Being small and petite enough to zip around through the hordes of people, wiping up the puddles. But every patisserie has gotta have its fruit tarts with a nice flaky pastry crust that is not too crisp but not too buttery, just the right consistency so that when you stick your fork into it, it makes that satisfying crunch. Also, the custard has to be just the right sweetness so that it complements the crust and you have to have just the perfect ratio of custard to crust so when you take a delicious bite, you’ve got just the right amount of each. But oh, fruit tarts aren’t fruit tarts without fruits! You’ve got to have deliciously plump strawberries and raspberries for their redness, blueberries just cause they’re a pretty color and cause of the lovely flavor, and oh maybe some blackberries or just kiwis just for kicks cause a huge portion of points are for aesthetics and the other tiny portion is for taste. ‘Cause if you’re a money-grubbing mongrel, all you’ll care about it making people buy it so as long as it looks beautiful, it’ll sell beautifully too!
Then there’ll be a bunch of random pastries like napoleons or other tartlets and cakes and madeleines. Yum! I won’t go into details but this is obviously just some staple essentials. Oh yea, for cakes, there’s gotta be some sort of yummy sponge cake. Like pistachio sponge or almond sponge, just some sort of exotic flavor and some kind of mousse cake. Mango mousse cake is a must cause it’s totally to die for! Sponge cake has to be just the nicest kind of softness, almost like plush, soft enough that you can pet it and be like, mmmmh, I can just feel my muffin top becoming just like it after I put that yummy in my tummy.
Anyways, then there’s gotta be some sort of gummy candy and all sorts of different kinds of chocolate - deceiving little bits of flavor in all kinds of shapes. It’ll be like the guy from ‘The Chocolate Touch’ walked into a toy store and trailed his muddy fingers over everything. Little peoples and little towns all made out of chocolate so that even the most righteous people will succumb to its charm and gobble it all up like that annoying holier-than-thou leader guy in Chocolat. Anyways, chocolate is a must and it must be some good old eye candy. Haha, eye candy, I am so punny! Plus, there must be more dark chocolate than any other kind cause we have too many fat and obese people in the world. White chocolate and milk chocolate are good but it’d be nice to teach someone a lesson with an injection of bitter, bitter chocolate. Hehehe, or you could color it so it looks like nice pretty milk chocolate but then they eat it and instead it’s a lovely bittersweet taste. Yay!
And then there must be all sorts of happy gummy candy that is very fruity and flavorful, maybe with some sour punches involved too. So that you know when you’re in a messy mood, the kind where you don’t wanna savor something bittersweet like chocolate nor do you want to sink your teeth into a fluffy sponge cake or crumble some fruit tart crusts? You know those kinds of moods? Where you just want to chew on something for a bit, maybe chew the fat for a bit? Instead, you’ve got Twizzler-esque licorice sticks where you can kinda take out your anger. The candy version of beef jerky! That sort of thing where you can bite off a piece, chew it and angstify to your fullest and perhaps hope that the sugar content in that tiny piece of licorice will do its magic and calm you down.
Oh and on the candy note, there’s also gotta be some jelly beans. You can’t have a candy shop or at least the candy portion of the willy wonka’s patisserie shop if you haven’t got any crazy flavored jelly beans. Weird exotic flavors totally do the trick with the coool kids, maybe you could steal the flavors of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and create more of your own cause you know people never come up with very original ideas, you can only just borrow and borrow from other people. I wonder where those people came up with the flavors then? Anyways, not the point!
Lastly, there’s gotta be ice cream! Perhaps by that time I’ll have already invented jello ice cream - a dessert with the yummy coldness of ice cream but also the wobbliness of jello. A mighty fine dessert, I might add. It’ll definitely be a one-of-a-kind experience. Plus, you gotta cater to the sweaty, hot palms of little kids who’ve stopped by on the way home from school on a sultry summer day. Quite the attraction I must say when you’ve got ice cream. Even old peoples with no teeth can eat it! It’ll definitely woo the crowds. Plus the flavors must be endless, things from the complicated coffee heath bar crunch in a butterscotch almond triple chocolate mix to the simpler flavors like green tea or azuki! You never know when someone will whip out a new flavor and steal your dear old customers away!
Well kiddos, that’s all for today’s journey into a willy wonka’s patisserie shop. Tune in later for more adventures with more fantastical desserts.
P.S. I would add pictures for the full effect of a multi-sensory experience but alas, this is WordPress, isn’t it? So I might as well let the words flow out in a stream of consciousness effect and paint the picture of those lovely pastries instead of spoiling your imaginations by giving you a picture.
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Posted by Varies at 2:50 pm in Racism
No, perhaps I look like a preteen. Because I’m shorter than the average genetically enhanced bovine-growth-hormone injected teenager of today. Because I’m naturally hairless. Because I don’t gel my hair or dress like a frat boy (like so many teens do these days). I mean, I do what I can by wearing grey slacks, black leather shoes, and sweaters that fall along the black to white spectrum. Even so, I get asked to show I.D. when going to see rated-R movies or buying M-rated games. When I went to get my laptop repaired, the repairman asked what colleges I was looking at! Imagine his surprise when I told him I was graduating [from college] in a month!
Is it my fault that teenagers look 5 years older than they actually are? Do I have to wear a fake beard or something to look my age? Do I have to develop a gut like some of my peers have? Maybe if I spiced up my wardrobe with some Hollister or American Eagle — you know, the popular teenager brands — I’d actually look like a 21 year old.
Ehh, maybe it’s a good thing to look young. I could see that side of the argument. The next time I get challenged to a street-race by some kid at a stop light, I’ll try to keep that in mind.
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04.03.08
Posted by Varies at 12:49 pm in the internet
See what I did there? I know, right?
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people use these stupid “copy pasta” phrases, but it’s had to have been be over 9000… and I’m starting to get a wee bit tired of it. It seems that some people aren’t attuned to the infinite generativity that makes language so dang fancy. You see, words can be combined in new and exciting ways! You don’t have to hitch your nice boat to the latest memes or popular catchphrases. I know it’s fun to try them out once or twice (I do so myself, from time to time), but isn’t there a point when you should move on? And I don’t mean that everything a person says needs to be totally unique. I’m simply suggesting that there are cleverer ways to be clever than using stupid phrases that aren’t quite as fresh as people would have you believe.
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04.02.08
Posted by Varies at 4:10 pm in games
Let’s say there are 4 index cards in front of you. Each one has a letter written on one side and a number on the other. The ones that you see have the following written on the visible sides:
[ A ] [ D ] [ 4 ] [ 7 ]
Then, you are told the following rule: If a card has a vowel on one side, there must be an even number on the other side.
1) What is the minimum number of cards that you have to turn over to determine if this rule is true?
2) Which card(s) do you have to check to ascertain if the rule is true?
Answers under the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »
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04.01.08
Posted by Varies at 2:52 pm in Uncategorized
Isn’t the idea of a 13 month calendar sublime? The idea is that the year is divided into 13 months that are each 28 days long. That means that there are 364 calendar days, and a special “new years day” that is essentially a holiday and not considered an actual day of the week. In addition, every 4 years there’s a “leap day” that’s a similar special event.
The beauty of this system is that every month is exactly 4 weeks long. This means that every numbered day falls on the same weekday every month. The first of every month is a Sunday, the second a Monday, etc. It’s a very elegant system, and one that has been around for a long time. But for whatever reason, no one wants to change the existing one that, frankly, makes little to no sense. I mean sure, the whole birthday issue would be weird, but so what? Calendars have historically been shifted around before (the last change having been decreed in 1582), and people tend to get with the program eventually. I once talked to a crisis caller who insisted that we were all celebrating Jesus’ birthday 2 months too late (he reasoned that December as we know it is 2 months later than it was back when Jesus was born, thanks to the fact that the Gregorian calendar has 2 more months than the old Julian one). The guy was mentally unstable, had a plate in his head, and was generally unpleasant to talk to; and sure, his reasoning was flawed; but it does raise an interesting point. You see, the calendar is an arbitrary construct and the way that we keep track of days right now is a flawed system that was created over 400 years ago. As such, I don’t see what the big deal is with regard to changing the calendar system into something that is more functional and elegant.
All we’d have to do is agree on what the call the 13th month, and we’d be set.
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