>> Ah. Sorry... I'm used to working in a place where I get held 
>> responsible for things I have no ability to control. :-}
> 
> That's called scapegoating. It's held in great regard here. People base 
> religions on it, even.

Heh. Not so much. It's more... I'm held responsible for a bunch of 
stuff, but other people like to change it around without asking me 
beforehand, or telling me afterwards. :-/

I was chatting to our accountant and she was saying it's the same with 
finance. They're control freaks who want to be in control of 
*everything*, but they don't want to do any actual work... which means 
stuff doesn't get done, and then it's the UK's fault it didn't get done, 
even though that's what they asked us to do... etc.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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>> Of course, if it was just some dump-ass teacher, it wouldn't matter so 
>> much. The problem was that *everybody* told me I was stupid. 
>> Throughout my whole life. Hence my self-evident mental issues. x_o
> 
> Yes. Getting constantly put down will eventually lead to problems.
> 
> Get over it. You're not stupid. Everyone else was, for telling you you are.

Heh - or just jelous. ;-)

Seriously though... I think having a little positive reinforcement would 
have helped. I'm still trying to arrive at a point in my life where 
there are people around me who have *nice* things to say about me... 
This turns out to be seriously difficult. :-/

>> ...wait, are you that guy who has a Chinese wife?
> 
> Yes.

Ah. That makes more sense...

>> OK, that's just mental. At college, we had 14 guys, 0 girls. At uni we 
>> had [approximately] 75 guys and 5 girls [almost all married with 
>> children].
> 
> Undergradutate, yes. We had something like 25 guys and 3 girls in the 
> classes when I was undergrad.

? OK, well that's pretty random... So if there are no girl graduates, 
where do all the girl PhDs come from?? o_O

>> Heh. My mum's first reaction was "and what are you going to do after 
>> that?" Not that my mum's opinion is especially important. I was just 
>> wondering how much she'd freak out. ;-)
> 
> I think the right answer is "live far away from *you*!" :-)

Heh. Not wise to say that out loud. ;-)

>> Ah. Is *that* why every country in the EU speaks English, but the 
>> English can't speak any damned language except English? :-} I often 
>> wonder about that...
> 
> Yes. You didn't figure that out? That's why there's like 200 languages 
> in India, but everyone speaks English. And why Americans mostly speak 
> English. And why lots of Africa speaks English. And why lots of central 
> and south america speak spanish or something close to it.

Mmm, actually... This still doesn't explain why people in most EU 
countries speak *several* languages, not just English.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:51:27 EST, "triple_r" <nomail@nomail> wrote:

>Stephen <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> wrote:
>> True but not a lot. I believe that introspection is bad for you, I also believe
>> that analysis, public displays of grief and talking about your (not aimed at
>> you) feelings are amongst the worst things that you can do for your mental
>> health.
>
>Ignorance is bliss?
>

It can be.

>> <Sits back and waits for the avalanche>
>
>No avalanche, just curious.

Yellow ?
-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>>> Plus, you'll meet girls. :-)
>>>
>>> Oh. My. GOD! >_<
>>>
>>> You cannot *possibly* expect me to take anything else you say 
>>> seriously now, can you? :-P
>>
>> Know what? My wife has a PhD too. Know where I met her?
> 
> Heh. What do you have a PhD *in* though?

I'm sharing a (largish) house with four other people at the moment, and 
three of us are currently dating women who we met in a PhD computer 
science program.  I think that the reason Darren's suggestion make some 
sense is not because in a graduate program you're associating with 
people (men and women alike) who have share interests with you, so it's 
easy to meet people you have things in common with.  Note, however, that 
you still mostly discuss non-computer related things -- it's just that 
nobody bats an eye when you do say something technical :)

Of course meeting women shouldn't be your primary concern in going to 
grad school, as there's ways to do that which involve way less effort. 
That said, it does seem like it would be well, well worth your while to 
move out of home and go somewhere (another job or graduate school) where 
  you're not the only person around who enjoys technical topics.

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Heh. Not so much. It's more... I'm held responsible for a bunch of 
> stuff, but other people like to change it around without asking me 
> beforehand, or telling me afterwards. :-/

Do you have the authority to prevent them from doing it? If not, then you 
don't have the authority.

I assume you're responsible for the security of the computers, keeping 
hackers from breaking in, stuff like that?  Next time they change the 
configuration without asking and you notice it, treat it like a hacker 
break-in: disconnect from the network, change all the passwords, dump out 
the audit logs, and look for who broke into the machine. If they ask what's 
going on, tell them you have hackers changing the configuration and you're 
trying to find what the hole is. When they admit they did it, ask them where 
the log entry for the changes is. If they can't produce any, insist you'll 
have to continue your audit until you're confident they're the only ones 
making unauthorized modifications to the system. But step one would be to 
change the admin-level passwords on everything to ensure the hackers are 
locked out of the systems before you start your analysis. :-)

> I was chatting to our accountant and she was saying it's the same with 
> finance. 

I'm not surprised.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   My fortune cookie said, "You will soon be
   unable to read this, even at arm's length."

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> ? OK, well that's pretty random... So if there are no girl graduates, 
> where do all the girl PhDs come from?? o_O

Many were from other countries. Those who weren't? Dunno. Maybe other majors?

> Mmm, actually... This still doesn't explain why people in most EU 
> countries speak *several* languages, not just English.

Because there aren't enough natural barriers? It's pretty easy to walk from 
France to Spain to Germany. No so easy to walk to England.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   My fortune cookie said, "You will soon be
   unable to read this, even at arm's length."

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Darren New wrote:
> Do you have the authority to prevent them from doing it? If not, then 
> you don't have the authority.

Err, if not, you don't have the responsibility, that is.


-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   My fortune cookie said, "You will soon be
   unable to read this, even at arm's length."

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Darren New wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> ? OK, well that's pretty random... So if there are no girl graduates, 
>> where do all the girl PhDs come from?? o_O
> 
> Many were from other countries. Those who weren't? Dunno. Maybe other 
> majors?

Or a higher percentage of female undergraduates go on to graduate 
school?  I think the gender ratio does depend a fair bit on which 
graduate school you're talking about though.

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On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:07:23 +0000, Bill Pragnell wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> It's kinda a mix of the radio version and the BBC TV version.  You get
>> the "dish of the day", for example, which appears in the TV version.
>> Personally, I prefer the Hagunennons to Hotblack Desiato
> 
> Agreed - the idea of disaster area was very funny, but I thought the
> hagunenons (far too many 'n's in that name) were better too.

:-)

>> was interesting to see David Prowse outside the Darth Vader outfit -
>> and to hear why Lucas had to use James Earl Jones to do the voice for
>> that character in the Star Wars films.
> 
> *grin* I reckon Prowse's broad west accent sound is about the least
> suitable voice for Vader I could possibly imagine!

Eddie Izzard in his routine where Darth Vader orders Penne Arrabiata. :-)

>> But Mark Wing-Davey nailed the role in the radio version and the TV
>> version.
> 
> Completely. "Hand me the rap-rod, plate captain!"

"Sheesh, you guys are so un-hip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off".

>> I expected Mos Def to do much better than he did.  His interpretation
>> was just flat, though.  I preferred Geoffrey McGivern's interpretation
>> over all of them, though I understand why he couldn't do the TV version
>> (hard to be an "impoverished hitchhiker" given how large he is).
> 
> Haha, interesting, I never knew that. I don't think I've ever seen what
> he looks like IRL... :)

He appeared in an episode of Blackadder (third series IIRC).

>> I was surprised, though, that I felt that Martin Freeman did an
>> outstanding job as Arthur.  Given that Adams wrote the part essentially
>> just for Simon Jones (kinda like the part for the book was written for
>> someone with a "Peter Jones-y sort of voice"), I didn't think anyone
>> could do the role justice.
> 
> He was very different. It didn't really spoil it for me, but I did have
> trouble linking him in my mind to the character.

He was different, no doubt about it.  But he brought the right amount of 
everything Simon Jones brought to the role.  It probably helped that 
Simon Jones was available to coach him on the character as well. :-)

>> Of all the Trillians, though, I preferred Susan Sheridan.  She came
>> across as the most believable when it came to holding a degree in
>> astrophysics.
> 
> Yes, the improbably-named Deschanel (how fitting!) was good in the film,

I thought she was only OK.  Not bad like Rockwell for Zaphod, but just 
OK.  The Point of View gun was an interesting idea and she did well with 
that.

> but the girl in the TV series was terrible. Far too ditzy and shallow.

Yes, but I have to admit that bring her in (Sandra Dickenson) in the 
later radio series as the alternate Tricia McMillian was a stroke of 
genius on the part of Dirk Maggs.

> As you say, the original was pretty definitive. She had such a sexy
> voice too!

There is that as well, of course. :-)

Jim

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On Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:27:00 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> You think *that* is bad?! I used to be able to sleep properly...
>> 
>> Heh, I've never been able to sleep properly.  Better now than it used
>> to be, but still pretty restless.
> 
> Oh man, I used to be *awesom* at sleeping!
> 
> Like, I'd go to sleep, and wake up the next day even if my alarm clock
> was switched off, and feel wide awake and not tired at all. Like, I'd be
> standing outside the university building at 7:30 AM on a Sunday waiting
> for the sleepy-eyed [and most likely highly under-paid] technitions to
> show up at 9 AM to open the building so I could get into the computer
> room, hit the Internet, and code some serious Smalltalk. (Or possibly
> Java. Or, hell, maybe just sit around all day and write LaTeX? Who
> knows.)
> 
> Now I just seem to be permanently tired, and every now and then I become
> almost totally unable to sleep at all... I *suck* at sleeping! >_<

I've only just started waking up before the alarm goes off - about the 
past 3 months or so.

Not sleeping well is often associated with being stressed - that probably 
comes as no surprise to you (it certainly didn't me).

Jim

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