Mar. 11th, 2014

jack: (Default)
I feel like I've succeeded in getting good at handling new complicated situations without entering a negative spiral. Yay me!

Unfortunately, it feels like everything I *used* to be stressed about over the last ten years are still scattered about my brain like landmines, and whenever I walk into one, I'm suddenly equally stressed, partly from long experience of expecting it to be doom, and partly from guilt at not having handled it better in the past. And the number *is* being steadily reduced as they become irrelevant or I prove they're not a problem. But each one requires a lot of tiptoeing around gently defusing it bit by bit by dealing with the practical problems and learning that "it's not so bad" and letting the negative emotions dissipate before it actually goes away.

I also feel like I've been doing a lot of introspecting recently, which has been pretty successful, but means I don't have anything to talk about in person or on LJ except "here's a bunch of complicated emotional stuff", which isn't very engaging.

But I resolved to blog three times a week about whatever I was doing at the moment, on the theory that writing high-flown interesting essays was unlikely to happen, but it was still a valuable way of keeping people involved in my life if I just talked about things I was doing without having to have a new and original thought for every post. And this is what I was thinking about today.
jack: (Default)
Every so often, I repost some links that most people have seen before, but are still some of the best things ever. This time:

FAQ: The snake fight portion of your thesis defense

Q: Does my thesis adviser pick the snake?
A: No. Your adviser just tells the guy who picks the snakes how good your thesis was.

I've never done a PhD, but from what I hear, this FAQ is much, much more true than many descriptions of the PhD process which are "actually" true.

100 Movie Spoilers in 5 Minutes

Exactly what it says. I especially like the minute in the middle of movies where the spoiler for each is "Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks get together at the end".

Note, they're not kidding about spoilers. Most of them are not really spoilers, just endings you'd know, but a few are famous twist endings. You probably know all of these already, or don't know enough about the film to remember the twist even if you hear it, or don't care, but if not, don't watch.

A conversation with a dog about eating a sweet potato

Dog: I am starving.
Me: Actually, no. You aren't starving. You get two very good meals a day. And treats. And Best Beloved fed you extra food while I was gone.
Dog: STARVING.
Me: I saw you get fed not four hours ago! You are not starving.
Dog: Pity me, a sad and tragic creature, for I can barely walk, I am so starving. WOE.
Me: I am now ignoring you.
Dog: STARVING.

[There is a pause, during which the dog exits the room in a pointed manner.]

[From the kitchen, there comes a noise like someone is eating a baseball bat.]
jack: Icon of football players (football)
Jack: Dear Treadmill, you have two jobs.
Treadmill: OK! I am ready to serve!
Jack: Job #1: be out of the rain!
Treadmill: I can handle that! I go faster and faster and faster, but somehow I always end up in the same place.
Jack: Thank you.
Treadmill: Yay!
Jack: And job #2: go at a particular speed.
Treadmill: I can do that, that's easy!
Jack: OK, go at 8kph to start with.
Treammill: What?
Jack: 8 kph. 5 mph. 2m/s. Go!
Treadmill: What, I don't know. Is that faster than stopped or slower than stopped?
Jack: Faster!
Treadmill: OK, 0.5 kph. Is it faster than that?
Jack: Yes!
Treadmill: OK, how about 1 kph. Is it faster than that?
Jack: Yes, lots faster!
Treadmill: OK, how about 2 kph. Or 3 kph. Is that better?
Jack: Yes, but keep going. I can't run this slowly!
Treadmill: OK. 4. 5. 6.
Jack: Great.
Treadmill: 6. 7.
Jack: OK, nearly there.
Treadmill: eightnineteneleventwelve.
Jack: Agh, stop!
Treadmill: 12.
Jack: Go back!
Treadmill: eleventennineeightsevensix.
Jack: Agh, not so far, the other way.
Treadmill: eightnineten.
Jack: Wait, wait, wait.
Treadmill: OK, 10.
Jack: Slower than that.
Treadmill: 9.9?
Jack: Slower than that.
Treadmill: 9.5?
Jack: Slower than that.
Treadmill: 9.0?
Jack: Slower than that.
Treadmill: Eight-point-five-eight-seven-point-five-sev-
Jack: Whoah!
Treadmill: Seven point five?
Jack: Up a little.
Treadmill: Seven point seven?
Jack: Up a little.
Treadmill: Seven point nine?
Jack: Up a little.
Treadmill: Eight?
Jack: Yes! Now stay there for 28 minutes.
Treadmill: Why 28?
Jack: You had TWO jobs. Everywhere else in the world EXCEPT a treadmill I can run "a little faster than this". Why can't my treadmill do "pick a particular speed and stay there". (I'd also love "choose two speeds and alternate between them, no, seriously, even if I touch the screen NEAR that point, don't accidentally forget one of my speeds and replace it with something twice as fast" but I've given up hope on that one.) It has a WHOLE touch screen for badly-implemented games, TV, internet-with-no-social-networking-sites, etc. Why do you have to set the speed solely with PLUS and MINUS buttons that go straight from "sluggish" to "way too much inertia"?
Treadmill: :(