Sc-Sc-Sc-Sc-Sc-Sc-Sc-ience!!!!!!

So, it has come to my attention that our dear friend Christopher Smith has decided, for his first publication, to publish in the distinguished journal Science (only the abstract is available, so we all have to wait for the dang thing to be actually published before we can read it and critique it...though I doubt any of us would actually be able to understand a 1/3 of it...)

But that's besides the point. I'm very happy for Chris and I want to congratulate him in this post. It is a phenomenal achievement.

Clearly, once again, he has set quite a high bar for the rest of us to catch up to him. Pretty much this is what we have to accomplish:

Monika: Raise Emma (her niece) to be the next PM.
Jess: Teach Emma on her way to becoming the next PM.
Cam: Train the next olympic gold medallist.
Matt: Discover that Sir John A. was not actually a drunk but was a teetotaller and a Communist.
Ashley: become the next Education Minister of Ontario.
Me: plan the perfect city of the future...aka...Markham.

I better get crackin'...

So disappointing

At Queen's at the very least, there is a tradition among the graduating class of engineers that on April 1st (April Fool's), various site gags would greet students walking into campus. In the past, the gags have been superb:

• replacing the Grant Hall tower analog clock with a digital replica
• 'crashing' an airplane into the Grant Hall clock tower
• Covering Alfie's Pub entrance with cement
• Having a 'crashed' correctional vehicle in the corner of Douglas Library
• And my personal favourite: stuffed mannequins hung down with rope along a wall of the Grant hall clock tower with a giant banner beside it screaming, "OH NO! NINJAS!"

As the years progressed, however, the gags have been increasingly lame. The two I noticed this year was the placement of free "Starbucks" coffee in the Stauffer library foyer with the sign "Free. Not Poison." (It wasn't even good social commentary...) and orange barrier fence wrapped around the JDUC (John Deustch University Centre) with various snippy remarks about the incoming Queen's Centre.

So unless, there were better gags inside the JDUC or elsewhere (I didn't see any on Grant Hall) or this is a prelude to the real thing tomorrow (since it is Mar. 31 today, afterall), the class of Sci '06 should hang their head in shame, because this was a piss-poor job.

Too much credit

So Sympatico/MSN has an article about what "Scientology" is supposed to be. My problem is that they're giving it to much credit than what it is...their ending is:

"Fab or flake – only you can judge."

Really? I think it doesn't take individuals how stupid it is...take for example this part of the article:

Scientology literature points to many extraterrestrial references. According to Scientology, the thetan is tainted from events dating back millions of years, which are related to extraterrestrials and lives on different planets. The story of Xenu is within the III level of Scientology and it is as follows:

Xenu, the galactic tyrant first kidnapped certain individuals who were deemed ?excess population´ and loaded these individuals into space planes for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). These space planes were said to have been copies of Douglas DC-8s, except with rocket engines. He then stacked hundreds of billions of these frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days, telling them lies of what they are and what the universe should be like and telling them that they are 3 different things: 'Jesus, God, and The Devil.' (from Wikipedia)

To some, this may seem farfetched. Nevertheless, everyone should judge for themselves how much credibility should be given to Scientology for explaining humanity through such examples.

First off...."seem" farfetched?!?!?! Are you kidding me?! copies of DC-8s and Xenu the galactic tyrant wasn't a dead giveaway of how ridiculous this is?! Who the hell would accept the assignment of trying to write a 'fair and balanced' article on this crap? And was the author laughing the whole time?

Oh, by the way, speaking of the author. Way to use Wikipedia as your source. Now there's an undisputed source of knowledge...

OMG!! i can msg Librarians now! LOL ROFL LMAO :)

I had talked about Stauffer Library's new "Learning Commons" and it's reconsideration of how students use libraries.

This post has relatively nothing to do with that. Rather, I just like to point out this new service that the Queen's library system is offering: instant messaging library assistants (the example is of Stauffer Library, but is available in Douglas and Bracken).

That's right, between 1-4pm Mon-Fri, if you're too lazy to get up out of your library seat or too lazy to search for it on the website or don't know how to use the phone, you can now get library assistance through MSN, Yahoo or AIM...

Frankly though, how many people will actually want "Stauffer Library" as one of their contacts?

Caveat: This is only reposted because some spammer left a disgusting comment on the original post, which is being deleted...clearly I will have to moderate the comments in the future.

Use of words

Two interesting case of how journalists/pundits use words:

1) Thomas Walkom, in his Saturday piece comparing our decision to sit out the Iraq war (and of our subsequent smugness about how 'smart' it was, when in reality, public opinion was split on the issue) and the current decision to accept another tour on the UN and NATO backed Afghan mission.

What's interesting is this line: "It would be involved in development and nation building. Yes, the "mission" (note the religious imagery) would be more dangerous. But it would serve a good cause."

Now, I'm no english major, but I'm pretty sure that the definition of "mission" doesn't necessarily require religious connotations. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

Defition 1: "An act or instance of sending someone or (formerly, rare) something, or an instance of being sent, esp. to perform some function or service; spec. of (a) Jesuits to seminaries abroad; (e) a body of people to a foreign country to conduct engotiations, establish plitical or commercial relations, etc.

Clearly, the origin of the word is derived from religious pursuits, in terms of performing missionary work abroad, etc. However, its use has clearly been broadened to include secular pursuits, i.e. military, foreign, Apollo missions, to name a few. So, it seems like he's the one placing the religious connotation himself, rather than the objective of the Canadian military being in itself with religious goals.

2) The Sunday Mirror in the UK publishes a pretty grisly account of the opening of the seal hunt on the ice floes near Newfoundland and Labrador. I don't really have a stance because I know little of the methods, the economics, the environmental science of it. However, this line caught my attention:

"A moment ago one baby seal was a living creature, looking up towards its executioner, fear etched on its face. Its last gesture is to open its mouth wide. A silent cry for mercy."

I don't know, but fear and cries of mercy are clearly human emotions. The writer is clearly anthropomorphizing the baby seal pup in order to garner sympathy from the reader. The article doesn't describe the professions of the author, so I assume they're journalists.

In both instances, I didn't like the fact that they were being dishonest in their framing of the words. Since the first piece is clearly an opinion piece and the second very likely, I can see why they did it. It still doesn't mean I find it right for them to do it.

garbage, garbage, everywhere...

I'm sitting here in Stauffer Library *ahem* working *ahem (I don't know how to apply strikethrough characters...anyone, anyone...?) and behind me I've noticed that one of the garbage can is WAY overcapacity, in essence, a veritable mountain of garbage.

Clearly, the janitorial staff doesn't come in on the weekends to clear the trash and as exam time approaches, there's probably a linear if not quadratic or cubic increase in garbage that students generate.

I don't really have a point, except it reminds me of the beginning of the Simpsons' episode "Trash of the Titans" when Homer, Lisa and Bart are trying to NOT be the one with the last piece of garbage that can't stay on top of the garbage pile (otherwise, he/she would be the one who has to take out the trash...). I also can't remember the dialogue exchange between the three about the "rules of the garbage can," because that's what makes the joke here (and since I can't even find it after Googling, the joke is ruined).

I would love to see them institute this rule for the students using Stauffer. I bet THAT would reduce consumption by quite a bit.

One amusing link...one not so much.

The amusing one...

They totally should've added duct tape to this list...

The not-so-amusing one...

The sign is nigh...and the story's from Pang!

A somewhat tragedy of the commons

At Queen's, they renovated the first floor of Stauffer Library over the summer into what they called "The Learning Commons," refurbished it with many new computer cubicles intermixed with study tables containing comfortable sofas and concealed outlets for laptops. Additionally it is also the home to ITS support (our computer tech support) as well as the Writing Centre (which helps you with your writing, obviously).

Matt is right in that it's no longer a library environment on the first floor in that there is now a noticeable level of whispering and talking permeating the air but frankly, I don't mind it. In fact, it's probably one reason why I've become an avid Stauffer user. I work best with a low level of ambient noise and the study tables are fantastic for group discussions. I think it lets people feel less guilty about interacting with fellow students about their study (but conversely, there are people who do gab on about nothing). But I think the interaction outweighs the occasional loud talker or cell phone that goes off (and people still glare so the attempt at silence is still self-enforced to a degree). It does also force certain people to use earplugs or mp3 players, but there hasn't seem to be any major complaints and the library is still used to full capacity almost all the time. So until someone severely abuses the non-silence (which I hope no one does), I will remain a supporter of the Learning Commons.

Spreading the love...of exposing scientology

Earlier this month, I talked about Isaac Hayes quitting over 'religious intolerance' that South Park allegedly contains (only if you accept scientology as a religion, which I don't).

Now, courtesy of youtube.com, here's the episode in question. Note: EVERYTHING they say about Scientology is true...which makes the truth much more funnier than any lie could be...

So please. Spread this YouTube link to as many people as possible. Everyone needs to know (if they don't know already) how absurd it is.

As a bonus, Mark Ebner's expose written a decade ago on the fraud that is scientology.

Finding a meme behind my links

This is what I get for not going through my blogroll frequently enough. Freeman, before going on his world tour, tagged me with this meme before leaving and because I haven't been checking my blogroll these last few months, I completely missed it. So is a meme still a meme if there's a break in the tag is a few months late? I don't know, but I do know for certain that this is merely a distraction and not a hobby:

Four jobs I’ve had

• busboy (mmm....garbage and maggots...)
  
• golf ball handler (mmm...toxic paints and metal cleansers...)
  
• field work assistant (mmm...blackflies and demented squirrels...)
  
• copy centre employee (mmm...papercuts and toner...)
  

Four movies I can watch over and over

• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
  
• The Usual Suspects
  
• The Shawshank Redemption
  
• Dogma
  

Four places I have lived

• Aurora, Ontario
  
• Hong Kong, British Territory (I left in '87)
  
• Scarborough, Ontario
  
• Kingston, Ontario
  

Four TV shows I love to watch

• The Daily Show
  
• This is Wonderland
  
• The Simpsons
  
• Corner Gas
  

Four places I have been on vacation

• Calgary
  
• Florence
  
• Halifax (when we weren't working, it WAS a vacation)
  
• Kingston (when I'm not doing schoolwork...)
  

Four websites I visit daily

• Metafilter
  
• Bourque
• Chromewaves
  
• Inkless Wells
  

Four of my favourite foods

• BBQ buns
  
• Chocolate
  
• Curry
  
• White Mountain Ice Cream in Kingston
  

Four places I would rather be right now

• In the Rockies on a hike with Moni and Jess
  
• At a live concert with the Decemberists
  
• Sailing to the Galapagos, retracing the voyage of the Beagle
  
• In my bed, asleep.
  

Four bloggers I am tagging

• Cam Smith
  
• Chris Smith
  
• Renee Lung
  
• Angela Kostenko

...distraction ended. Back to work, y'all!

Titanic effort, valiant in defeat, outstanding all around

We had a great run in intramural volleyball this year, and I'm sad that it's come to an end. We played probably the best game that I've ever seen, and for that, I'm ever so proud of the team. If you look at it, we were 13-3 this year, with one championship under our belt. This is nothing to scoff at.

I'm gonna miss playing volleyball with the SURP crew. And now that I'm leaving school, I don't know when I'll get the chance to play again. Dang...just when I was starting to be half-decent...

Educate me, folks!

In 2003, the Ontario government cancelled OAC (grade 13), creating the 'double cohort,' a year where two successive years of high school students vied for the same university spots.

Today, the Toronto Star did a full page piece gauging reaction from students, faculty and administration about how it has affected their respective views on university learning.

What interested me the most was the discussion of students coming in younger and thereby being 'less prepared for running their own lives.' One student talked about how some of his peers were unprepared for the high-level math that had to be learned and thus some professors were concerned that they couldn't teach the material they needed to and so students weren't learning the required material.

Before I continue, let me say that I loved OAC. I have no qualms graduating older than others. It definitely helped me figure out the subjects I was interested and I was definitely more mature, so coping with living away was easier than it would've been if I had entered university after grade 12.

But, every other province push their students into university after grade 12. We are merely leveling with them in terms of age of entrance. So how is it that we don't hear of faculty or administration over yonder complaining about the lack of preparation and maturity in their students? Surely Ontarians aren't any less mature than any other young adult in Canada? Are we more needy? A greater sense of entitlement in needing others to do things for 1st yr students? Are we still getting used to the idea of 18 yr olds entering university? Is it that the elementary and high school curriculum just hasn't caught up with the material needed for students to enter university?

Earlier in the year, Ontario talked about removing calculus from the high school curriculum completely, wanting to leave it to the university to teach the subject. That didn't seem like a good idea since even in places like BC, they give an introduction to calculus (I personally needed a full term to understand it...) in high school.

So all you readers (the 2 or 3 of you) involved in or know of people involved in the education system, help me out here. Why are we where we are?

Scientology and Hypocrisy go hand in hand

Isaac Hayes, the voice of 'Chef' on South Park, quit in protest of the show's satire look on his nutty belief system, scientology. He says, "There is a place in this world for satire but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs begins."

So, Isaac, where were you when the show's was making fun of Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc.? hmmm...? We're waiting...or did your chocolate salty balls just shrink back into your hypocritical body?

CBC and donairs: two of my favourite things

With all the discussion about our armed forces in Afghanistan, the death of Slobodan Milosevic, the lack of work on my thesis, and the personal soap opera drama going on in my program, you'd think the last thing I'd be blogging about would be donairs...but here I am, anyways.

Now, for those not from Queen's or Halifax, you may wonder, what's a donair? As a quick overview, it's slices of this meat concoction shaved off a stick (beef, bread crumbs, spices), seared, topped with tomatoes, onions, donair sweet sauce (which makes or breaks the donair, personally) and all wrapped in a pita WAY too small for the amount it has to hold. Consequently, eating it is a mess, but is it oh so delicious (especially after a night of drinking)!

I was first introduced to one on such an occasion in 3rd year I think and I absolutely loved it. I was told by someone whom I've forgotten since that the donair originated in Halifax. So when I had the opportunity to go there and the rest of Nova Scotia for field work, I obviously had to treat myself to some donair from its birthplace. Of course, the donairs there ARE so much better. And some Haligonians I had met there did further argue that donairs were indeed born in their fine city.

Returning to Kingston, some of my friends and colleagues were convinced that the donair WAS NOT invented in Halifax, but surmised that it was merely an imported Lebanese delicacy. I remained skeptical of their claim but my belief was never rock solid.

Until I watched the CBC National tonight. The last story was about John Kamoulakos of Halifax, the man the story claims to have invented the donair but is now retiring after 37 yrs of serving this messy treat. While Mr. Kamoulakos' came up with the unique recipe of meat + the specific donair sweet sauce, the possible source of uncertainty lies in its resemblance to a gyro, which uses lamb and tzatziki instead. Since he never patented the meat and sweet sauce (though from the piece, it seems like no one has at all), his claims of inventing the food are just that. This is, however, the first discussion I've ever heard about the origin of donairs not by word of mouth, but by an organization as reputable as the CBC. Therefore, until someone brings me some solid evidence that this gastronomic delight can be found outside of Canada, I am inclined to believe that Mr. Kamoulakos truly is the inventor of this piece of Haligonian cuisine.

As for more serious blogging...well, maybe after a donair.

Update: Courtesy of the Daily News, which I linked to in the post:

THE ORIGIN OF THE DONAIR

It’s 1971: Greek gyros weren’t popular with Nova Scotians, recalled John Kamoulakos. So, Peter Gamoulakos had to come up with something new. Lamb became beef. Tzatziki became a sweet donair sauce. And a new meal was created. Selling from a store on the Bedford Highway, an impressed customer asked Peter what the new creation was. Not wanting to call it a gyro, Peter looked around and saw on the spit the word “Doner.” And so it started.