Social Degeneration
ramblings, events, and needless expositions
•
CERN and my new Vaio
Not that I was ever any good at keeping journals or anything, but this was a miserable failure. In any case, I do have something to blame: CERN! Since I moved out here almost 7 months ago, I have not really been doing anything with my website. But now that I got a lovely new Sony Vaio, I have a wondferful excuse for completely mundane PC use.
My last computer was also a Sony Vaio laptop, and that's a huge reason for considering and then deciding to buy another one. The old PCG-FX140 was a PIII (700 MHZ) and has lasted more than 5 years, working like a dog the whole time; very reliable and very usable. This one is a VGN-FJ170 PIV (1.73 GHz) and absolutely gorgeous. The keyboard action is exactly what I wanted, the screen is bright and bigger than I expected, the battery life seems to be good (2.7 hours working hard...wireless and apps), the DVD burner is fast, and it came with 512 MB RAM on one stick (and at MWAVE it's $90 for another 1GB) and a 100 GB HD. In addition, it's got a camera in the screen (super sleek), and since I talk via the net a lot, that was a big part of my decision.
Needless to say, I am more than happy so far with my new laptop, and that is going to be my impetus to rekindle activity on my home page. Check back soon!
12 February, 2006
The Greatest Experiment of All
Sometimes the thoughts that dwell inside my mind--thoughts of my friends and family, of my life, of the people I have known and the experiences I have had--become so powerful, so incredible, that I become speechless, powerless. Sometimes a smile accompanies these wonderful moments, sometimes not. But what never changes is the question that follows: why? Why me and not someone else? So many people tell me how terrible the world is; so many times I have seen it for myself. But day after day I continue to be amazed by that world and for some reason, I am happy to be a part of it...just another member of the greatest experiment humankind has ever known: life itself.
Of course, what inevitably follows on the heels of this question of "why?" is a slight feeling of shame. Why do I get to be so happy when so many people are not? Why do I seem to be able to choose the way that my life progresses when so many other have their lives set for them? How can I be so happy when so many other people are so sad?
I don't know any good answer to these questions. Well, by that I mean that I do not know any answer that will satisfy all the people that might ask them. Of course, some may think that they have the answers, but I am sure that if there is an answer, there is not only one...and in fact, there may not be any. The only thing I do know, is that those people are my companions in this awesome adventure, and so given the opportunity to bring a smile to their face, I should try to do just that.
So what do I do in the face if such uncertainty? Well, I continue on my way. And with the knowledge that I am only wearing the shoes that I am because of the experiences I have had, and knowing that as long as I keep my eyes open and my nose clean those shoes will only become stronger, I will have the confidence that the shoes which have carried me thus far will continue to carry me further.
10 September, 2004
Espain
Just in case you did not believe that I was already the luckiest person in the world, I have ten more reasons for you to believe me now. That's right, five wonderful, incredible, amazing days in Geneva and then (yes, its true) five more on the beach in Espain....living the dream all of you wish you could be living. Désolé.
31 August, 2004
The Morning Shift
So clearly I have not been keeping up to date with this whole website thing. And what's worse, I can only come up with a good excuse for the past three weeks, despite the last update having been in May (unless of course you count my final project).
This "good excuse" is the morning shift. So my detector is now installed and running here at CERN and as such I have to wake up (almost) every day at 3:30am to go and watch both it and the magnet on behind which it sits, waiting patiently to detect all of the axions that have been converted into photons. Combining this with the fact that I am finding it very hard to turn down "dinner and a drink" in Geneva a few times per week makes my deadtime between updates seem a bit more excusable (I think...).
Another note, completely unrelated to the morning shift, is the it is my sister's birthday tomorrow.
HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY MORGAN!!!!
7 July, 2004
North Korean "News"
Now don't get me wrong here, I am all for freedom of thought and the need to express personal views on situations both at home and abroad. However, in this editorial from the North Korean News Agency this general form of expression goes so far as to make a mockery of itself! Upon reading this, I am not sure whether to laugh or be very, very afraid...after all, this is the official Korean News Service.
Everybody should judge and treat all issues arising in the revolution and construction from the viewpoint of the anti-imperialist class struggle as required by the Songun idea and deal merciless blows at the U.S. imperialists hatching sinister plots to gnaw at the ideology and system of the DPRK and destabilize it. The servicepersons and people should have bitter hatred for the reviving Japanese militarists and strong ideological awareness and determination to revenge themselves on the Japanese militarists, the sworn enemy of the Korean people, at any cost and give vent to their pent-up grudge.
They should live and struggle in a revolutionary and militant manner with the firm stand and viewpoint that they should wage a do-or-die battle with the U.S. and Japanese imperialists any time and they emerge victorious in it without fail.
It is necessary to learn from the staunch anti-imperialist class consciousness and revolutionary and militant spirit displayed by the People's Army standing firm guard over the anti-imperialist military front, the main front of the Songun revolution.
The editorial calls for always maintaining high revolutionary vigilance against the imperialists' ideological and cultural poisoning and psychological offensive, thoroughly reject and oppose them, firmly defend the ideology and system of the DPRK, the Korean style political mode, economic management system and way of living and give full play to their vitality.ridiculous....
16 May, 2004
Current Agenda
● 17 May: Kirill Melnikov "Perturbative QCD for Collider Physics" in the Research Institutes room 480 from 4:15-5:30pm
● 14 May: Stephen Meyer "The Cosmic Infrared Background" in the Kersten Physics Teaching Center (KPTC) room 103 from 4:00-5:00pm
● 13 May: Samantha Power "American Foreign Policy and Amnesia: The Case of Iraq" at the International House from 6:00-7:30pm
● 13 May: "Applying to Graduate School in the Sciences" at Ida Noyes Hall from 6:00-7:30pm
13 May, 2004
CIA: up to no good...
So it looks like our good old CIA is up to no good after all, says the NY Times. Not that any of that should surprise you.
It looks like the prospect of catching upper level Al Qaeda members proved so overwhelming to the CIA that it was just plain forced to either use "harsh methods" of interrogation, of just ship them overseas. Merely coincidental since the duty to uphold the Geneva Convention then rested upon the other country's shoulders. Just one less thing for the CIA to have to think about, I guess!
What I like the most is that "There was a debate after 9/11 about how to make people disappear." One gets to thinking about the quintessential human rights scenario: a terrorist might know where a bomb is...what do you do? (quite applicable) If the torturing of a man presumed to know the whereabouts of a bomb has the possibility of saving hundreds of thousands of lives, do you torture him? Okay...not such a hard question. Most would likely say "Of course!!" But where does this line of logic end? This is the debate.
12 May, 2004
•
