the tone of this post might be somewhat influenced by at swim-two-birds, a book I started for the 3rd time last week and finished for the 1st time last night. I'm liable to write in a manner similar to the way in which what I'm reading is written, fair warning.

spent christmas day, and days preceding/proceeding that occasion, with mother's sibling(s ( Read more... )

competition is fierce for placement in leading journals of science and engineering, such as Nature and IEEE Communications Magazine. inclusion in an issue of one of these publications earns the author(s) notoriety, prestige, and some measure of clout, which they can use to make sound legitimate outrageous claims that they might introduce while ( Read more... )

it's a popular pastime of cynical disaffected youth to criticize small talk. I've done it myself occasionally. the type of thing where you mock how relatives greet each other at the airport "how was your flight?". depending on your reference point, the frustrating or funny thing about ridiculing small talk is that the criticisms are usually a dead ( Read more... )

some people maneuver through life in such refreshing ways that it's as if they grew up in another world. it's difficult to reconcile the facts that they are exposed to many of the same things I am and yet appear so untroubled. of course, this is a lie. everyone has troubles at some level, whether you see them or not is just a matter of how close ( Read more... )

there are people who create work for themselves in an effort to stave off boredom. they mess things up so that they feel obligated to set things right again ( Read more... )

is it damaging to let someone's misunderstanding of what you've said go uncorrected? depends on what you mean by damaging, but it's unlikely to ever be a good thing, except in the most mischievous of cases ( Read more... )

just now while walking home from school I was overcome with a strong sense that today was friday. though I normally welcome fridays with open arms, on this occasion I was discouraged because it would mean I'm 48hrs more behind on assignments than I already am. then, after a few seconds, I was relieved to discover that today is wednesday ( Read more... )

physical attractiveness is not simply a function of physical features, but also depends on the relationship that exists between the person gauging attractiveness and the person whose attractiveness is being gauged. "gauging" is an inappropriate verb insofar as it evokes the image of someone using a considerable portion of their attention to the ( Read more... )

as usual, I welcome this political season with yawns of indifference. I seek out someone who intends to vote in a fashion directly opposing my own, such that our ballots would cancel each other and we can both save ourselves the trouble of having to go to the polls ( Read more... )

the first three letters of a license plate I saw the other day were EYB, which led me to think immediately of eyeball and has made me temporarily/mildly interested in shorthand. the incident was doubly amusing because the trio of letters corresponded to the organ I was using to read them ( Read more... )