Wednesday, April 15, 2009

...more secure website authentication questions.


Abandoned blog draft-post look back:

Originally to be posted on February 26th, 11:30AM:



What is the name of the hedge-fund manager your ex-wife married?

How many hours did it take you to drink that bottle of Jack Daniel's yesterday?

What time was it when, in a drunken rage, you threw your novel into the fire?

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?


more here:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/8JoelGunz.html

One of the many questions surrounding the LSATs...



No, not anything necessarily specific on/to the LSAT, but more whys, hows, and wheres (I'm good and bad at). The experience, I suppose. And I have a feeling these posts are going to be totally random.

So, things I learned over the last two first days of LSAT class.

First, when biking (to Jarvis) take College there and back. Queen is fun, but after 4+ hours in class physical exertion is endeavoured; calculated risk computation should be avoided. On College one avoids, for the most part, unparalleled streetcar tracks, cabs, congestion, crossing crowds, and the occasional cat.

Ok... what else, what else... oh, stuff on the test.

Strength - Reading comp. I've always been a concept/forms/structures guy and less a details (who sang that?) sort of guy... Reading comp plays into that perfectly... just read the passage (or 2), and answer the questions.. pretty simple. If there is something specific that I can't remember I'll at least remember where on the page / space it was referenced... Reading speed is not a strength of mine, but time, so far, hasn't been a factor.

Slightly lesser strength - Logic Games /Analytical Reasoning. I'm doing well in the simple / straight forward diagram-out logic games, and learning the tricks for the complicated ones fairly well...

Flat out suck at: Logic Reasoning; and more specifically, Sufficient and Necessary Condition questions. I'm falling on my face with these... I keep on looking for that trick to get them, but end up getting tricked. I know there is a deeper understanding in there that I don't have, but am pretty sure it'll click at some point... just need to start focusing on those one by one and get them intuitive... these types of questions are the root / base of a good number of exam questions, so yeah, gotta get that shit down.

So... not feeling all that bad about the test at the moment... mostly good feelings / experience, but no question there is definitely some stuff I need to work on. I remember learning to drive stick shift with my dad taking me to different auto sales lots... we'd ask to test drive a vehicle (in fairness we were interested in that type of vehicle), and my dad would drive it out of the lot. When sufficiently out of sight we'd switch seats and I'd give it a go. Anyway, the first time in the driver's seat I'm all 16 years old and jacked up, ready to screech the the fuck out of the rear wheels of that basic model Ford Mustang. First gear.. Gas.. Stall. First gear.. Gas.. Stall. Starting to get honked at a bit... yeah, this was at an lit intersection. "So, you're not a natural. No big deal", he said to me.


So glad I did not get that car.

I was beginning to wonder, cuz my parents are geniuses...

While the view that intelligence is overwhelmingly inherited has been widely held, the evidence is growing that it is, at a practical level, profoundly wrong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/opinion/16kristof.html?ref=opinion

Song of the day: Joel Plaskett - Nina and Albert



Such a great double song.

Gorgeous. Joel Plaskett's 'bar style' is too much.

Listen here

... all I asked for was good-bye, now I'm driving across the dessert watching lightning skip across the sky.

rebut:

... why you're angry is beyond me, is there something I can do to make it right. Albert, you're my man. Nobody can love me like you can. You're coming around behind me, Albert, don't you try to find me. I'll look you up when I think that you'll understand. Albert, Ronald Reagan died today. I pulled over at the side of the highway and cried today. Black clouds hang above us, does anybody love us, Albert.

Get ready to pay more for your Cuban vacation

Umm.. well, maybe not, and surely not relevant, except for the garage guys here at work, who are lamenting the fact that 'everything' will now go up in Cuba... So really, this post is more about the guys in the garage and not really about International relations.

I'm not sure about Obama getting nothing in return, but a good first step I guess...

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1000233.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/americas/14cuba.html?8au&emc=au


Mechanic on the beach.

Getting really busy at work, and this week is basically a write off for anything but work and class (I don't spend a single night at home this week! - yeah, I know... I got it rough...). Hopefully the end of the week makes up for it...

I've got a few things I really wanna post about and I'm looking forward to getting around to them late tonight after class.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

OCAD Toronto Bike Rack Competition







7 more with details here:

http://www.ocad.ca/about_ocad/articles/headlines/20090306_bike_stand_competition.htm

The pollution problem was never about clean cars...



"Just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760m cars"

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/cargo-ship-emissions-more-than-760-million-cars.php

It's always been about large scale transportation and package movement. Even in city, large transport trucks burn massive amounts of fuel as compared to even a Hummer. I'm sure there's a good chart for this somewhere... I'll look around and post when available...

London Velodrome




http://www.forestcityvelodrome.ca/index.php

Look at the slopes at this place!



So, I've never been, but really want to try at some point... Not sure how much I'd like it, but certainly would like to give it a go. And apparently they have electronic timers now too for lap counts... a lesson on how to do it would be good too.. I'm sure there are some general rules that can be applied.




Can I use my own bike on the track?

A bike acceptable for use on the track cannot have brakes and must have a fixed gear. There has to be enough clearance for a 2x4 wooden stud set on its end to fit between the bottom of the pedal and the ground when the bike is upright and the pedal is in its lowest position. The bike must have dropped handlebars. And if it has quick release hubs the levers must be taped to the frame. Track bikes of various sizes are available for rental.

This track is banked more steeply than most other tracks in North America. When riding, you will need to maintain a speed of at least 30 km/h to avoid slipping and falling in the corners.

I love the topic of this article...




Too bad it's poorly researched and written; just a throwaway piece that I feel shouldn't be...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/health/14klas.html?nl=8hlth&emc=hltha1


I like what it addresses.. old-fashion elevator etiquette... I remember walking with an ex-girlfriend a long time ago down the street and asking her to switch hands; asking her to take the inside of the sidewalk while I walk on the outside... "I'm a bit traditional, in that sense".. I then remember trying to cover up the word traditional, which, with my knowledge of this girl so far, would conjures up barefoot in front of the stove type images in her... After successfully (I thought) retreating from something like that, it brought into question the entire feminist movement, at least for me... I've read a lot about it since then, but never really from the perspective of how it affects children, specifically young boys today. How should they be taught? Does not teaching this etiquette really spill over into sex? potentially aggressive behaviours? am I blowing it out of proportion? So, anyway, that's something I'd like to read up on... just not from this article, which seems to miss-mash it's way from uninformed opinion to uninformed opinion.

Taser use needs to be equivalent to using a gun

It's gonna be a long day today (straight to class after work until 10), so I'll try to get a few posts outta the way from here at work! There's some cool stuff out there that I wouldn't mind chatting about!..


... a little dated posting this, but might as well... it's something that I feel relatively strongly about, not sure how to change, but shouldn't go away.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/08/taser-2008.html

The most extreme example is an incident in southern B.C., where three officers from the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment fired a Taser nine times on an unarmed person.

I know police safety in these situations is always a careful balance, and obviously erring on the side of caution is most likely the right move. I'm not really blaming the cops here.. I think it's the way Tasers have been introduced to the force, and how they are currently handled, managed, and written up after an incident. The perception of pulling out your Taser gun needs to change.. its use needs to feel equivalent to that of using a gun; if you use it, you may kill the person. As such, everytime the Taser is used it should be written up in the officers' report including all witnesses, etc... It is clear that these can not be taken lightly anymore.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter weekend at home

It was a great couple of days at home. Wonderful Easter dinner, and despite our family not being very religious, it's always nice to have the opportunity to meet and catch up. This year Chris' family came over to our place for dinner and here are a few pics from the weekend...


Havin' some lunch with mom...

Reading before the night starts.


Family dinner...




Picasso inspired rhythm.




The kids around dad...






Mmmm.. wide-angle lenses.


Anna getting a well received geography lesson.


I love these next two shots. This camera is unbelievable.






Playing more bananagrams... by that time of night, the games didn't last long..




And these next two!...


EDIT: How fucking great is this camera... dad's face is 100% in focus, but the glass just in front of him is blurred.. ugh... love it.

I know I've mentioned before Donna, but those new glasses are perfect for you and kick ass. You look great in them, and I don't think I can chalk that one up to the camera... all dressed up and pro looking...


This is the part of the evening where my dad and Anna get into pseudo-karate fights. Dry humour.






Ahh... the peace-eye scrape. A classic Anna move.