Say What you Mean!

It bothers me that any instance of being unclear in what you say, too wordy, overly technical, or demonstrating that the person you're talking to doesn't have a vocabulary appropriate to their grade level is considered to be the use of big words. Clearly, big means something other than what I was taught as a preschooler. Jam has some commenters referring to her use of big words.

Now, that is an example of tech speak. Not a severe one - I'd be willing to put that in a report, it's reasonably clear. However, it's hardly using big words! At least when I got told that "tact" was a big word (this was by a peer in grade 6 by the way) they could claim that it was a complex word. (They were wrong, but they can claim that and I understand what they're saying).

If someone complains that the words I'm using are too confusing, my response is to use simpler words, not to be less detailed in what I'm saying. If, instead, the problem lies in how the (quite mainstream) words are being used, communications will not have been improved at all. Ironic that the original complaint was about lack of communication, eh?

It's been a while

For i = nGapNum to Gaps.Length -2
Gaps(i+1) = Gaps(i)
Next

About 80 cm

http://xkcd.com/625/

It depends, of course, on what versions you have.

Coding

Coding and motion-sensing light controls apparently don't go well together. Despite me bobbing along to GBS while I was working...

So many Dilbert cartoons make far too much sense right now.

(This may have something to do with me being in the corner, but that just means that someone screwed up royally).

What the Rabbit Heard in the Grad Student Mailroom

- Well there's no letter, but I'm sure they'll send me an e-mail telling me to pick it up
> Nope, only the letter
- You mean that they only inform me through a letter in a mailroom to which I don't have a key, nor a door code, and they never told me about?
>Well, in theory you were told about it

%$% Red Tape

So it turns out that I wasn't paying attention at some crucial point. I hadn't realised that I didn't have a marriage certificate. However, Service Ontario is wonderful, and I liked the form. It was bright enough to recognise that I was the bride, even though I didn't give the name it asked for as "Bride". I also like that I got to give feedback after using the application. Ok, so maybe trying to spread my version of user interface design isn't entirely necessary, but they specifically asked how it could be improved. (The design is good, which means they don't disagree with my philosophy of KISS. However, the default information should be easier to select).

Ribena

So I have finished the Ribena sweater. I haven't done the "armies" yet. Given the weight of this (it's quite heavy) I think that having the option to make it long sleeved would be nice. I wore it the other day, and it was probably around 14 or so when I biked in to work, and while I could feel the chill I wasn't freezing. I was, in fact, somewhat warm when I arrived. Since it keeps me warm, I think it would be nice to have a long sleeved option, as I find my bare skin chills fairly quickly.

I, unfortunately, lost Debbie's e-mail address, so I can't thank her again for the wonderful gift of yarn. Who would ever have imagined that switching both e-mail addresses and having computer problems would result in this sort of problem.

Overall I think I like it. It definitely has that "homemade" look because a) I'm not good at finishing up and b) Katrina is actually a real PITA to sew up. You'd think I'd remember that after making a sweater where the seams stand out like worms crawling up the sides, but apparently not. It's still probably fine for work, even once I get a real job. The pinkness might be a problem, but once I HAVE a job, standing out is perfectly acceptable.

It Makes A Little More Sense Now

So, I read an article which was explaining why it makes sense to cohabitate before marriage. And I now have more insight into two things, namely why people feel that you'd get to know someone better when you were living together and not married (remember, if you live together for 8 years or so, the divorce risk is now down to normal, it's no longer elevated), and why the divorce risk might be higher.

The woman explained to her boyfriend that she was going to need extra closet space, and was horrified and surprised when he explained that he was going to want half of it. This comes as a surprise? I'm not going to try to justify what he did (but honestly, she shouldn't be expecting extra closet space), but how could she move in with him without knowing this? The other big surprise, was apparently that he didn't want to share laundry with her.

If you use moving in together to replace actually talking to each other, and think that moving in with someone is a better way to get to know them than just actually getting to know them is, then of course you're going to think that moving in together is necessary, because you can't know if you'll get along with them before you live together. (Oh, and by the way - I know that trying to live in the same house, but with two different households works for some couples, but it's not a great sign). And if you observe instead of talking, and have set ideas of what each person deserves (no negotiation over closet space or laundry?) I really can't see things working well if the going gets tough. Now I'm curious about how much damage the "never get married before 25" would cause along some of these same lines.

She said what?

So apparently the chief executive of The Sunbed Association, a European trade association of tanning bed makers and operators, has issues with the WHO's recent declaration that tanning beds definitely increase the risk of cancer. The CBC reports that she released a statement which includes that "The fact that is continuously ignored is that there is no proven link between the responsible use of sunbeds and skin cancer". I looked up the rest of the statement, and it doesn't seem to make any more sense there.

I think that what they're trying to say is that the findings of the recent study in the Lancet aren't necessarily correct, because they just named two studies that contradict them. It's not, however, what they actually said. Besides, I have a hard time believing that a numerical model which says that sunbeds don't cause a high mortality rate (the first study mentioned). The other study (which I really can't find, most of the links that pop up in Google seem to be to articles which say "well, the other study said this, but we disagree") seems to have actually been experimental. I would like to find it to see how well the Sunbed Association's definition of "responsible use" of sunbeds compares to what the study measured, but I think that right now I'm going to have to say that it's, at best, a 1-1 tie. And have a little faith in the scientific community being better able to weigh the evidence than I am, rather than in an industry that already exists mostly for questionable reasons.

Enjoying Canadian Stereotypes

Just like the Yarn Harlot does, I will take some pride in pointing out something that's going right here in Canada. The ACLU seems to be considered an anti-Christian movement in the US. I'm not sure if that's because they have crazier Christians or crazier atheists, but the Canadian Civil Liberties Association seems to be fighting for the... shall we say more unusual religious folks in this case. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/24/hutterite-supreme-court024.html?ref=rss

I've Done Smarter

At least I sure hope I have.

For example: after putting the plastic cutting board I used for chicken into the sink, I got a wooden one for veggies. It could have been worse though - I could have used the wooden one first and then got a fresh, plastic, one out for the chicken.

Also: 2 am (that's my excuse) I wake up, and decide to put weight on both legs equally to see if my ankle was better. It wasn't, and I've decided that I'm blaming that for the fact that it still hurts today.

Correct me if I'm wrong...

But I think it's misleading to title an article Vegetarian Diet 'Weakens Bones' when it turns out that lacto-ovo vegetarians have bone density which is basically the same as that of meat eaters.

I think that the really sad part is that I had just assumed that this was the case before I read the article. I was prepared for the possibility that the small bones that meat eaters ingest (recommended as source of calcium in my lactose-free cookbook) make a really big difference in bone density. I was, however, expecting that someone had misread the statistics and then given the article a bad name. I think I'm too cynical.

Name Change

So my name change has gone through at the university. Perhaps I shouldn't have agreed though, when the administrative assistant who grabbed my form checked "so you're only changing your last name". Despite me providing a copy of the marriage certificate as proof of name change, I am still listed in the computer system with the courtesy title of "Miss". (And yes, I had to choose a courtesy title. The only way I can think of in which this isn't ludicrous is if I accidentally checked off the wrong courtesy title. In which case it is funnier, but not to me).

Hopefully Relevant!

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=482
(the last panel)

It looks like I get to travel all the way to... Toronto.

But still! Coolness! (assuming it works out).

Lime-flavoured Pancakes

I can explain. Really, I can.

It started innocently enough. I was intending to follow the recipe in one of our wedding cookbooks. Well... except that I wanted to add raisins and chocolate chips to the pancakes. I mixed the dry ingredients. And that's when it started. Because of my milk allergy I use soy milk instead of milk. Which, as far as I'm concerned doesn't really count as a change most of the time.

Because soy milk only comes in small cartons, I tend to like mixing it from soy milk powder (aka soy flour, apologies to anyone who tried using it instead of wheat flour). A trick I discovered was to mix the flour in with the dry ingredients, and then just measure water out for the soy milk. I've never had too much liquid doing this. What does get really odd is when the recipe calls for buttermilk. I know that soy milk won't sour like milk will, but I have discovered that adding the lemon juice to the milk, or water, will allow me to make recipes that call for buttermilk. Now, this recipe called for buttermilk and, because I was trying to follow the instructions very closely, I decided to use my lemon-and-soy milk trick. But when it came time to add the lemon juice I discovered that I didn't have any (I think I left some extra in the pantry when I moved out that I had intended to keep, hence me being convinced I had some). Not having lemon juice isn't a big problem. You can also use white vinegar. The white vinegar had the same problem as the baking soda. I had some. But it was for cleaning.

I was rapidly running out of options. Had I properly checked for ingredients beforehand, I could have just omitted the baking soda and not added any acid. But who checks for lemon juice? It's a staple. It would be like not having peanut butter. You always have it, because when you start to run low you buy more. Lime juice was chosen as better than any of the vinegars. I didn't really want to risk wine-flavoured pancakes.

So, because I decided to follow the recipe closely (and use a buttermilk substitute instead of just omitting it), I ended up with lime-flavoured pancakes. They were actually really good with the excess of chocolate chips. But this really says a lot about my cooking skills. One of these days...

Yes, it's probably sexist

But isn't "womengineer" the best title ever?? It was for a phamphlet from the group in the states that handles accreditation for engineering and technology programmes, back in the 1970s, i.e. when women in engineering where a new big thing.

Speaking of women in engineering, in how many other fields can you hear your office mate using the feminine pronoun, and be fairly sure that he's talking about you?

Rabbit Food!

Well... not literally rabbit food. Just the green crunchy stuff that gets referred to as such. My mom once was picking up food for the rabbit, and a friend commented that "normally when people say they have to buy rabbit food I don't believe them".

Back on topic...

So this evening I was in charge of putting together a salad. Allan had already chopped up some of the interesting stuff. I looked at how much he had done, and then chopped an appropriate amount of mushrooms. And then went for the lettuce...

One dinner for two people, and two packed lunch-size (i.e. huge) salads later, I have come to the realisation that there is no way to make a small salad. In fairness, this was partly because I was using two kinds of lettuce, and not just because I needed to match the lettuce to everything else, but salad is always significantly larger than you expect.

My yarn budget is safe

So we went to the library yesterday, and my mother foolishly took her eyes off me while she made some photocopies. Before you say that at my age I should be able to look out for myself, let me explain why this is bad. After realising that I had too many knitting books, I went up to find some fiction. My selection of books got me accused of bragging, and caused a minor tussle between my parents. (It was a new to us book by Bujold, the arguments were over who read it first).

One of the knitting books I brought back was KnitLit the Third. One of the stories is from a woman who explains her thrift-store yarn as follows:

"Our local Mennonite-run shop was a treasure trove of old, funky, and discontinued (long discontinued) yarns. They were so damn cheap, I never could bring myself to leave them there. In all, I had eight totes of yarn, as well as several plastic grocery bags."

I have ONE standard-sized PC shopping bag, half full of yarn and needles from the thrift store. And it was for a specific purpose. I didn't buy ANY of the lovely wool they had that once (I was just a pusher and encouraged my mom to do so, but that's neither here nor there). I think that there is absolutely no reason to assume that living across from Michael's is a bad idea.

A New Experiment

So I have recently discovered that there isn't actually any point in me having a Facebook account. I found pictures of myself and decided to not bother doing anything about them. So who wants to help me with an experiment? I think I figured out a way to actually delete an account, but it needs an assistant. Anyone?

Catholic Education Week

I found out at church yesterday that this is Catholic education week. Sometimes I wonder whether I had a particularly bad school, because none of the purported benefits really struck true to me. No, I don't feel that I had "Catholic values" integrated into every part of my education. I ended up learning more about a lot of folk practices, and I did get some basic (very basic) religion classes. But, had the Catholic board had a high school with a good math and science programme, I probably never would have learned very much about my religion. Probably not until I went to university, if then.

I have to wonder though. I don't see anything about the way that the school was set up that could allow there to be a strong difference. From what I've heard from a teacher in the board, there's rules against things that could make a difference. The teachers really aren't allowed to discuss moral or religious decision making, not when it comes to anything serious. In theory, the advantage of a Catholic school would be that the teachers there are Catholic, or at least hold Catholic values. You should be able to turn to them for advice. Which is a lovely idea, if they weren't so worried about stepping on the parents' toes.

What did I get from my Catholic schooling? Well, in fairness my mom attributes her return to the church to it. I also got peer-pressure to make my confirmation (first communion and reconciliation don't bother me as much, although we did do them out of order), which was done at an age I consider too young anyhow. I also got a strong admiration for the public school board.