Categories
2001

Graceful degradation

my csc209 professor used that term in his lecture on the 24th. His words were something like, “but when it comes to accessing huge files, UNIX degrades gracefully”. Does the period go after the double comma ? or before it ? i cant remember. back in carleton’s library’s pc lab, when ed_mistress was proofreading my essay, he told me that i had it backwards.. but now i cant remember if this is the correct way or the wrong one.

my timetable for this term is very good. just three courses [finally some rest] this time. mon, wed, and fri i have classes from 9-1 and then on tue and thursday, from 2-4. the professors this term are pretty good. most defnitely better than last term’s. 228’s prof is female.. and her early morning cheerfulness can get obnoxious sometimes.. but not always. 209’s prof has a strong personality that screams show-some-respect-u-fool.. but not in any arrogant or disrespectful way. i think its his voice.. heavy, deep, and powerful. 344 prof.. heh.. hes needs to find a way to connect to the students.. but i guess thats understandable since he was a visiting researcher in Kobe University, Japan for the past few years. His communication skills must have gracefully degraded. currently he’d be talking about a theorem and then say, and i quote, “so i mean.. this is.. ok.. i mean.. yes.. so the theorem really means…. “.

remember my new years resoultion ? “try not to kill the retard who takes my official seat in the lecture halls.” heh.. well i kinda have official seats by now.. no one has, deliberately, taken them yet.. and thus no mysterious deaths have been reported to the campus police:o)

i finished Ender’s saga [Orson Scott Card] this month. There are four books in the series.. so that makes it a quartet ? [i think thats what they call a series that has four novels..] Personally, i loved the first two novels in the series. The rest had a different style and theme. Near the end of the series, the last few chapters of Children of the Mind, you have to keep track of, and understand, some very weird concepts and theories to make sense of whats going on. Ofcourse this is science fiction so there are going to be weird manifestations of physical and/or metaphysical concepts. But when an author conjures up a universe based on these concepts and theories and complicates them more than necessary, his/her writing tends to get boring. Asimov mastered the art of keeping his writing simple. It didnt matter how wacky or complicated his ideas were since they flowed like a river when he presentedthem in his writings.

I havent played any adventure games in ages. skid gave me The Longest Journey a few months ago and i installed it yesterday. The visuals are stunning. Apparently it’s a very very good game. But its lonnnnnng. 4 cds !! And thats why, subconciously, i dont want to play it.. cuz i know i’ll get hooked.. games like these scare me.

thrawn’s having eXams these days. ReadingWeek is coming up soon. Its getting cold again. Car’s front-left door’s lock is borked. Still looking for a decent part-time job. Have to reply to some emails..

Categories
2001

* (( quake )) *

so maa wakes me up today and sez, ‘i was watching CNN and they said that there has been a terrible earthquake in india last night’ and i think “ahh.. aya !!” and then she continues, ‘ and some parts of Pakistan felt the quake too ‘ .. and i think, “ahh .. daddee !!!” and finally, phewh, she continues, ‘ i called Pakistan right now and everyone felt the quake twice.. but thank God everyones fine”. and then i log onto cnn and it sez the quake was in some desert area in India.. not in the major cities..

i wonder

is it *good* to feel relieved at the fact that the quake did not kill people in the city where youre friends are.. it still claimed a few hundred lives.. so why did i sigh in relief.. are humans so selfish that they dont care about each other unless their own relations and interests are invovled ?

sadly.. i think the answer is yes

Categories
2001

Erindale college

Today = awesome. The program applications were finally processed and i got the form back from the Dean of ComputerScience. I was offered Admission into the Specialist Computer Science Program [Comprehensive Option] .. yes yes yes yes !!!! :o))

Heh yea.. the Combinatorics Math course is cool.. graphs, isomorphism, circuits etc.. we got an extension on the assignment that was due today. i burned the midnite oil for the thing.. and he gave us an xtension.. which is good.. i can review the answers again. ordered pizza pizza in the morn.. i thought i cud finish the medium sized pizza on my own.. but had to put three slices in the fridge.. there just wasnt any room left in the stomach.

gonna post this around campus tomorrow.
Bedazzled is funny.. dunno about Quills though. will watch that tomorrow.
QuakeWorld is running fine on the system… but Quake III Arena is still locking up radomly.. doh
The Real Story wasnt as good as Vantage said it was.. gonna start Xenocide tonite.. yeah !!!
Listening : Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody