From now on, I only dance like this.
I found out last week that I can work with the prof. that I want to in the summer, and that means that I'm likely to work with him in the future as well and have him as my full supervisor, which is great! I also found out the courses for next semester and they look amazing! Four (yes four!) graduate level probability courses. If I was ever in doubt as to the wisdom of doing grad school here then there's my confirmation.
Keep no truckers x
Friday, April 2, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Donkalicious
After much wrangling the theme for a next house party has been decided. It's gonna be a Wigan Pier themed party. If by some horrible misfortune you haven't heard of Donk, or Wigan Pier, watch this, and then watch this donkumentary to flesh out the horror.
You can recover a bit by watching this wonderful bit of animation.
So, what's up?
Well, our house has become a home, and the third housemate, who might have been leaving to go back to Norway in June, is now staying till December. Security abides.
The rainy season is coming to a close, and the long dry awaits. I had what I think was my most American street exerience in the rain last month. 4 in the morning, thick, straight-falling rain, warm air. Hood up, head down, gotta get past the danger zone in the center of town - the homeless paradise, 'People's Park'. It feels fucking ghetto out there. Someone is walking on the opposite side of the high street, pacing backwards and forwards. i heard him shouting from some distance and as i get closer the words become clear:
"I am ALIVE! I have a god damn RIGHT to be alive... How DARE they not let me work for my family... GOD made men to LIVE damn it..."
It goes on after I have gone past.
Just another crazy in a crazy town. One more left on the curbside by the state.
Back in the 80's Reagan massively cut funding for mental health care. The result was thousands of insane people ending up on the streets. Many are still there now, and they and all the new homeless all around California they head to Berkeley. It has the highest per capita homelessness rate in America and is known to be kinder than other areas. There are soup kitchens, parks where they can camp, and guilty students with spare change. In some nearby towns, any homeless people are picked up by the police and given the bus fair to get to Berkeley. We are the people dumping ground.
But the university remains a flashpoint for revolutions. Riots and protests that began in Berkely have spread nationwide and last Thursday there were protests in the capitals of no less than 21 states in support of public funding for education. Not just university education but all levels of education. It is probably a losing battle, but those who make the least noise are killed off the fastest.
I hear that higher education in the UK is just beginning to feel the brunt of the governments monetary problems. Good luck, it is a painful process, but universities that deserve to survive will, and in time the humanities will have their funding restored.
Okay, got a bit carried away with Berkeley stuff there, back to me. I am deep in the ride now - 7 weeks down, 7 to go. Thank god we have spring break in a couple of weeks! My courses are great, and the research is interesting but I wish I had more time to do it in.
Truck no keepon x
You can recover a bit by watching this wonderful bit of animation.
So, what's up?
Well, our house has become a home, and the third housemate, who might have been leaving to go back to Norway in June, is now staying till December. Security abides.
The rainy season is coming to a close, and the long dry awaits. I had what I think was my most American street exerience in the rain last month. 4 in the morning, thick, straight-falling rain, warm air. Hood up, head down, gotta get past the danger zone in the center of town - the homeless paradise, 'People's Park'. It feels fucking ghetto out there. Someone is walking on the opposite side of the high street, pacing backwards and forwards. i heard him shouting from some distance and as i get closer the words become clear:
"I am ALIVE! I have a god damn RIGHT to be alive... How DARE they not let me work for my family... GOD made men to LIVE damn it..."
It goes on after I have gone past.
Just another crazy in a crazy town. One more left on the curbside by the state.
Back in the 80's Reagan massively cut funding for mental health care. The result was thousands of insane people ending up on the streets. Many are still there now, and they and all the new homeless all around California they head to Berkeley. It has the highest per capita homelessness rate in America and is known to be kinder than other areas. There are soup kitchens, parks where they can camp, and guilty students with spare change. In some nearby towns, any homeless people are picked up by the police and given the bus fair to get to Berkeley. We are the people dumping ground.
But the university remains a flashpoint for revolutions. Riots and protests that began in Berkely have spread nationwide and last Thursday there were protests in the capitals of no less than 21 states in support of public funding for education. Not just university education but all levels of education. It is probably a losing battle, but those who make the least noise are killed off the fastest.
I hear that higher education in the UK is just beginning to feel the brunt of the governments monetary problems. Good luck, it is a painful process, but universities that deserve to survive will, and in time the humanities will have their funding restored.
Okay, got a bit carried away with Berkeley stuff there, back to me. I am deep in the ride now - 7 weeks down, 7 to go. Thank god we have spring break in a couple of weeks! My courses are great, and the research is interesting but I wish I had more time to do it in.
Truck no keepon x
Saturday, January 30, 2010
for I have sinned
I have a confession to make:
I am a breast starer . . .
A tit gazer . . .
A lump leerer . . .
It's not by choice - in fact it is somewhat surprising given that in the great divide I stand on the ass side. It must be some deep rooted, unconscious thing. A hidden love for those fleshy mounds. I will be sitting somehwere, my mind wandering, when all of a sudden I realise that my unattending eyes have drifted across to some poor girls chest. My attention floods back into the room and I take an upwards glance to see whether I've been clocked. More or less inevitably I have been clocked, and it is only at this point that I realise that my facial expression has not yet caught up with my current alert state, so I am still gawping like an idiot with a slight grin playing across my face - the face of someone who's mind is elsewhere, or the face of a grinning pervert. My expression would have been thus for the whole time I was staring, and I don't even know how long I've been staring for.
Suffice to say, the whole thing is very embarrassing. The situation is compounded by the fact that despite many attempts to stop doing it, I consistently look down when talking to people. This is innocent enough but easily misinterpreted... Perhaps the looking down is part of my subconscious's plan to gather up all possible visual information relating to women's frontal appendages.
Sometimes, it just doesn't feel like we've moved on very far from this dude . Well, they say that acceptance is the first stage in recovery, so maybe I can know move forward with this. Hopefully I won't just transfer the staring to something else. Bad options that could be worse than the current one include male groins, or people's wallets and purses.
Keep on truckin' people.
x
I am a breast starer . . .
A tit gazer . . .
A lump leerer . . .
It's not by choice - in fact it is somewhat surprising given that in the great divide I stand on the ass side. It must be some deep rooted, unconscious thing. A hidden love for those fleshy mounds. I will be sitting somehwere, my mind wandering, when all of a sudden I realise that my unattending eyes have drifted across to some poor girls chest. My attention floods back into the room and I take an upwards glance to see whether I've been clocked. More or less inevitably I have been clocked, and it is only at this point that I realise that my facial expression has not yet caught up with my current alert state, so I am still gawping like an idiot with a slight grin playing across my face - the face of someone who's mind is elsewhere, or the face of a grinning pervert. My expression would have been thus for the whole time I was staring, and I don't even know how long I've been staring for.
Suffice to say, the whole thing is very embarrassing. The situation is compounded by the fact that despite many attempts to stop doing it, I consistently look down when talking to people. This is innocent enough but easily misinterpreted... Perhaps the looking down is part of my subconscious's plan to gather up all possible visual information relating to women's frontal appendages.
Sometimes, it just doesn't feel like we've moved on very far from this dude . Well, they say that acceptance is the first stage in recovery, so maybe I can know move forward with this. Hopefully I won't just transfer the staring to something else. Bad options that could be worse than the current one include male groins, or people's wallets and purses.
Keep on truckin' people.
x
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Burns Night!
Something about living with a Scottish guy and hanging out excessively with yet another Scot has got to me. I'm infused with Burns night fever. We spent yesterday putting on kilts, watching Braveheart, and listening to this song on repeat about a billion times. It has gone right on up to number 2 in all time best songs to sing with friends (after Don't Stop Believing of course). Listen to it. Lots.
I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me.
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away.
I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I've come from.
That's the reason why I seem
So far away today.
The changes that have come over me.
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away.
I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I've come from.
That's the reason why I seem
So far away today.
x
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas
Christmas number ones are back in the news. Well, here's the best one ever. Takes me back a few years and then some.
Hmmm, is there a better song? Maybe this one.
One more, for good luck.
Merry Christmas x
ps - East 17 played in the dance tent at Glastonbury last year. seriously.
Hmmm, is there a better song? Maybe this one.
One more, for good luck.
Merry Christmas x
ps - East 17 played in the dance tent at Glastonbury last year. seriously.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sheriffs for students
There was a time when porters in oxbridge acted as a sort of police force for the students of those reverend institutions. They still are nominally in charge of keeping the peace as such, but now only the most anti-authoritarian would call them a police force. Here, there is a campus police force. Real police, real guns, real authority. Real shiny motorbikes being driven slowly past you on campus, tall leather boots and polished badge, aviators for eyes and a sense that if this man thought he was any more cool he might just damn explode. They have a station on campus which I often walk past - there is always a line of cop cars out front, complete with front end reinforced bumpers for slamming people off the road in a chase scenario.
Real guns.
Now, there is a purpose for them being there, there always is. They are there to ensure our safety and to ensure that no laws are broken. Considerations of our safety are much appreciated; we are after all only a few miles from the center of gun crime in America, the infamous Oakland. Considerations of our law abidingness are not so appreciated. There is type of law in particular that they really, really concentrate on, and to my surprise it is not those relating to controlled substances. In fact, their attitude to cannabis is probably more laid back than back home, despite the penalties for having illegal cannabis being harsher. I do mean illegal cannabis, remember that cannabis 'for medicinal purposes' is legal here. Anyway, I am being sidetracked. The real stickler is alcohol. Underage drinking of, supply of, outdoor consumption of...
Recall that this was a county that less than 100 years ago enforced PROHIBITION. The powers that be actually BANNED ALCOHOL. Can you imagine such a thing? Well yes I guess: Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. But really, banning alcohol? It turns out that quite a few countries did this in the early part of the 20th century, but attitudes quickly reverted to sanity everywhere else. Here, some sort of pervading belief in the evils of that most timeless intoxicant remain, and so the might of the police falls heavily on anyone who dares to drink it. Let me provide you with a series of examples that demonstrate the sheer insanity:
1) So I knew that it was illegal to drink on the streets, but I didn't realise how far that rule went. Any open container with alcohol in it cannot be on the streets. So if you open your bottle of whiskey in one place, and wish to venture on to a new location, well you'd better just finish it off first. Two friends of mine (Alex, who has already been introduced, and George, who is also Scottish and who i have just moved in with - more on that some other time) were walking with a carafe of wine, reclosed, when suddenly a van stopped next to them and three burly policemen jumped out at them. They tried to give them a ticket, but Alex and George protested ignorance, and claimed they were Scottish tourists with no knowledge of the (insane) local laws. They let them go, but one of the police said "that's not the only stupid thing the Scottish have done recently". This was just after the Lockerbie bomber had been released...
2) There was a party in I-house, in the main hall, and drinks were being served in the cafe nextdoor. Now, the cafe is still part of I-House, but the corridor that connects the two is for some bizarre reason public property (which means that we do get the occasional homeless guy hanging out there). That meant that drinks could not be taken into the main hall, and there were police on hand to enforce this. Alex tried to leave the cafe with a glass of water. Yep, good old non-alcoholic water. The policeman at the door was so intent on keeping the laws kept that he would not let Alex pass with the glass of water. Perhaps he should have dessicated himself before heading off the main hall?
3) So far, no arrests. This is about to get a whole lot worse. I was on my way to a party at one of the co-ops (not a mid-sized convenience store that seems to have Cambridge surrounded, but a cooperative living arrangement in a large house) and stopped at the local liquor store to get some, well, liquor. There were two people outside, a guy and a girl, who looked about my age. They asked if I would be able to go in and get them a can of Bud. I told them that it wasn't worth the risk for me, what with my visa situation being so delicate and all. Unfortunately, a friend of mine, Benjy, was on his way to the same party about 10 minutes later, and he was not so cautious. Feeling philanthropic, he bought the beer for them. As he walked away, two police came for him, gave him a ticket for supplying alcohol to minors and told him that he would make a court appearance in a few days. He was set up. That is legal here. He was put in a situation where doing something nice for someone would ultimately kick him in the ass. The two people outside the shop were not even under 21, which is the ridiculous thing. It is illegal to supply anyone alcohol that you do not know for sure is 21+.
Needless to say, we couldn't fucking believe it. There were a lot of angry people that night. But it gets worse. The party, like the majority of parties I have been to here were underage people are present, was shut down before midnight. Not only that, the police confiscated the takings on the door becsuse there was alcohol being served inside, and they claimed that the entrance fee was essentially purchase of alcohol.
Lets review. The police were waiting for people to go to the party and setting them up to commit crimes so that they could give them a ticket. Then they came into the party, decided they didn't like it and shut it down whilst stealing the money.
4) The I-house had another party, before the one I mentioned earlier. This one was entirely in the cafe. Unfortunately nobody told the police that this party was happening. They turned up because there was some trouble on the door with some kids from Oakland trying to get in but not being allowed because it was for students only. They saw a crowded bar type situation and someone throwing up outside. They called for back up and pretty soon there were THREE police cars and a fire truck. They came in, turned off the music and told the organisers that they had exceeded the legal number of people allowed in the cafe. The party was not allowed to restart with less people, it was simply shut down. About five police cleared people out the cafe. One even had the gall to say to one of the organisers "look how much resources your wasting". Lets not forget, there are real and dangerous crimes being committed as I type not far from here, and yet three police cars and a fire truck were sent to deal with some drunk students having a pre-planned party in a cafe with an alcohol license.
5) So what happens to all these people being given tickets? Justice is dispensed wild-west style - people arrive at court and are assigned a judge who arbitrarily decides how much the person should be fined. Two different people from I-House went to court on the same day for the same offense (open container violation), which they committed together and were caught doing together. One was fined $75. The other was fined $250.
The whole fucking thing is like being subject to the whims of some power mad sheriff in the 1800's. 'Fuck the police' has real meaning here. At home, the police force was set up, to be a servant of the people. I believe it still is today for the most part, despite some notable exceptions. Police cannot perform arbitrary beatings, police can be spoken to without fear, police will be helpful as far as possible. Sadly, when it comes to the police America feels more like the USSR than the UK. People being set up, complete authority, guns, fear, rudeness. It is a police state. Fuck the police.
Real guns.
Now, there is a purpose for them being there, there always is. They are there to ensure our safety and to ensure that no laws are broken. Considerations of our safety are much appreciated; we are after all only a few miles from the center of gun crime in America, the infamous Oakland. Considerations of our law abidingness are not so appreciated. There is type of law in particular that they really, really concentrate on, and to my surprise it is not those relating to controlled substances. In fact, their attitude to cannabis is probably more laid back than back home, despite the penalties for having illegal cannabis being harsher. I do mean illegal cannabis, remember that cannabis 'for medicinal purposes' is legal here. Anyway, I am being sidetracked. The real stickler is alcohol. Underage drinking of, supply of, outdoor consumption of...
Recall that this was a county that less than 100 years ago enforced PROHIBITION. The powers that be actually BANNED ALCOHOL. Can you imagine such a thing? Well yes I guess: Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. But really, banning alcohol? It turns out that quite a few countries did this in the early part of the 20th century, but attitudes quickly reverted to sanity everywhere else. Here, some sort of pervading belief in the evils of that most timeless intoxicant remain, and so the might of the police falls heavily on anyone who dares to drink it. Let me provide you with a series of examples that demonstrate the sheer insanity:
1) So I knew that it was illegal to drink on the streets, but I didn't realise how far that rule went. Any open container with alcohol in it cannot be on the streets. So if you open your bottle of whiskey in one place, and wish to venture on to a new location, well you'd better just finish it off first. Two friends of mine (Alex, who has already been introduced, and George, who is also Scottish and who i have just moved in with - more on that some other time) were walking with a carafe of wine, reclosed, when suddenly a van stopped next to them and three burly policemen jumped out at them. They tried to give them a ticket, but Alex and George protested ignorance, and claimed they were Scottish tourists with no knowledge of the (insane) local laws. They let them go, but one of the police said "that's not the only stupid thing the Scottish have done recently". This was just after the Lockerbie bomber had been released...
2) There was a party in I-house, in the main hall, and drinks were being served in the cafe nextdoor. Now, the cafe is still part of I-House, but the corridor that connects the two is for some bizarre reason public property (which means that we do get the occasional homeless guy hanging out there). That meant that drinks could not be taken into the main hall, and there were police on hand to enforce this. Alex tried to leave the cafe with a glass of water. Yep, good old non-alcoholic water. The policeman at the door was so intent on keeping the laws kept that he would not let Alex pass with the glass of water. Perhaps he should have dessicated himself before heading off the main hall?
3) So far, no arrests. This is about to get a whole lot worse. I was on my way to a party at one of the co-ops (not a mid-sized convenience store that seems to have Cambridge surrounded, but a cooperative living arrangement in a large house) and stopped at the local liquor store to get some, well, liquor. There were two people outside, a guy and a girl, who looked about my age. They asked if I would be able to go in and get them a can of Bud. I told them that it wasn't worth the risk for me, what with my visa situation being so delicate and all. Unfortunately, a friend of mine, Benjy, was on his way to the same party about 10 minutes later, and he was not so cautious. Feeling philanthropic, he bought the beer for them. As he walked away, two police came for him, gave him a ticket for supplying alcohol to minors and told him that he would make a court appearance in a few days. He was set up. That is legal here. He was put in a situation where doing something nice for someone would ultimately kick him in the ass. The two people outside the shop were not even under 21, which is the ridiculous thing. It is illegal to supply anyone alcohol that you do not know for sure is 21+.
Needless to say, we couldn't fucking believe it. There were a lot of angry people that night. But it gets worse. The party, like the majority of parties I have been to here were underage people are present, was shut down before midnight. Not only that, the police confiscated the takings on the door becsuse there was alcohol being served inside, and they claimed that the entrance fee was essentially purchase of alcohol.
Lets review. The police were waiting for people to go to the party and setting them up to commit crimes so that they could give them a ticket. Then they came into the party, decided they didn't like it and shut it down whilst stealing the money.
4) The I-house had another party, before the one I mentioned earlier. This one was entirely in the cafe. Unfortunately nobody told the police that this party was happening. They turned up because there was some trouble on the door with some kids from Oakland trying to get in but not being allowed because it was for students only. They saw a crowded bar type situation and someone throwing up outside. They called for back up and pretty soon there were THREE police cars and a fire truck. They came in, turned off the music and told the organisers that they had exceeded the legal number of people allowed in the cafe. The party was not allowed to restart with less people, it was simply shut down. About five police cleared people out the cafe. One even had the gall to say to one of the organisers "look how much resources your wasting". Lets not forget, there are real and dangerous crimes being committed as I type not far from here, and yet three police cars and a fire truck were sent to deal with some drunk students having a pre-planned party in a cafe with an alcohol license.
5) So what happens to all these people being given tickets? Justice is dispensed wild-west style - people arrive at court and are assigned a judge who arbitrarily decides how much the person should be fined. Two different people from I-House went to court on the same day for the same offense (open container violation), which they committed together and were caught doing together. One was fined $75. The other was fined $250.
The whole fucking thing is like being subject to the whims of some power mad sheriff in the 1800's. 'Fuck the police' has real meaning here. At home, the police force was set up, to be a servant of the people. I believe it still is today for the most part, despite some notable exceptions. Police cannot perform arbitrary beatings, police can be spoken to without fear, police will be helpful as far as possible. Sadly, when it comes to the police America feels more like the USSR than the UK. People being set up, complete authority, guns, fear, rudeness. It is a police state. Fuck the police.
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