Saturday, July 19, 2008

Hm.

I was talking to someone today who said I should consider grad school because right now a bachelor's is the same as a hs diploma used to be. (Here's where I let my indefatigable optimism show:) That's not true! I'm entirely certain that using only the copious advantages of a dual degree in art and business, determination, honesty, and hard work, I can build a successful and rewarding career. I mean, right?

I can't get an MBA in business admin or an MFA, I want to start my life! I want to start it as soon as humanly possible, in 2 or 3 years, not 5 or 6! That's the entire reason I ruled out law and psych and astro, because I want to jump in with both feet right away.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Old people

There's something about some old people, certainly not all, that is really abrasive. There's a rigidity, a lack of flexibility, in one of the women who works at the hostel. I once commented at how many mothers a girl scout troop had brought (there were 9 scouts and 7 chaperones) and she went off on why there were no fathers there and the disintegration of family values and that's why there is crime and murders, because children need two parents. It's selfishness, that's what it is, that make people divorce. I think the girl scouts heard her, because she is rather louder than I am. I am not sure fathers are welcome as overnight chaperones for girl scouts, but I did not want to get into whatever rant might ensue if I mentioned that. I mean, at least not in front of the girl scouts.

Why can't she just be nice? I can hear that she has cornered someone in the kitchen and is explaining about the free food we get donated on fridays. "Santa Cruz is a very expensive town, so we have a number of poor people. They go to the shelters and the churches and the hostel to get free food." "Oh, homeless people come to the hostel?" the guest asks. "That's why we always keep the doors locked, and ask our guests to do the same. The food is only for registered guests. If we just had these patio doors open they'd learn there was free food and they'd come right in." the guest offers "they do what the have to to survive" and my coworker responds with "By taking what doesn't belong to them. Eat that pineapple, we just got it yesterday." and she launches into a speech about how disgraceful wasting food is.


OTOH she certainly can empty a room. The kitchen closes at 10:30 and it was completely empty at 10:35, whereas I will stand there for 15 minutes "The kitchen is closed now. I mean, of course you can grab toast, but can you tidy up after? Yes, let me find you some juice. The kitchen is closed."

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Aliens

you know the theory that aliens have tampered with humanity and accelerated our progress?

"In China, the earliest literary reference to magnetism lies in a 4th century BC book called Book of the Devil Valley Master (鬼谷子): "The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it."[1] The earliest mention of the attraction of a needle appears in a work composed between 20 and 100 AD (Louen-heng): "A lodestone attracts a needle."[1] By the 12th century the Chinese were known to use the lodestone compass for navigation." So, in 800 years people got from having the components of a compass to having a usable compass.

and then my favorite space fact:

"The Wright brothers, Orville (19 August 1871 – 30 January 1948) and Wilbur (16 April 1867 – 30 May 1912), were two Americans who are generally credited[1][2][3] with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on 17 December 1903."

"On July 20, 1969, Armstrong, accompanied by Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, landed the lunar module Eagle on the surface of the Moon"
So, in 66 years people got from can't-get-airborne-except-via-balloon to the actual moon and back.

Does that seem right? Because I feel like the 800 year advance was comparatively easy to do. I feel like I might have done it accidentally, unlike spaceflight.

But one thing I've just realized is the current world population is shockingly high compared to the past, so there are more inventors, more people with dreams and ideas and problems to solve.