Daily Musings
For the record, last year in Penticton I originally came up with the idea to video tape myself then upload the videos onto my blog . It used to take me ~21 minutes to walk to the gym and of course, I do my best thinking while walking. Hence how I came up with this idea. I would making a recording as I walked to the gym. Actually now that I think about it, I came up with this idea back in Dec 2003 when I was walking around Smithers. I realized that some people would never goto Smithers, so I figured it'd be a good idea to take videos of the area. But I never followed through with it because I thought what's the point of writing if I would be constantly uploading videos (ok this doesn't make much sense now, but it made a lot of sense last year) (not to mention, I won't be going back to smithers for at least 5 more years and I didn't have a digi cam at the time).
Music: Slayer - At Dawn They Sleep
Daily Musings
- My attention span has been reduced to under 30 seconds. I swear that I've developed ADD over the x-mas break.
- I would go right into another field after graduation, but for the time being, the large entry level salaries for engineering convinces me otherwise. And I won't have to do more school (I've suffered complete and total school burnout). The worst case scenario would be to go get a degree in another field, only to realize I hate that field as well. Actually that would scenario is highly unlikely to happen because I would quit well beforehand this time.
Daily Musings
Hung out with Nima and Dropkick Jon yesterday. Same old routine with these two.
Jowen, Nima is lurking in the shadows.
Stream of consciousness v.2006127
So earlier today in school, I left a dent at the top of my thermos after I threw it down the hall. Why? Because I got quite a bit upset. So for the record: I will attend my high school reunion when the time comes, but there is no fucking chance in hell that I will attend any UBC CHBE reunion. Ok I take that back, but I'm strongly leaning towards not going. Engineers tend to be a pretentious bunch and it really annoys me. I talked to a friend on msn afterwards and she wasn't too impressed (she was there to hear the thermos throwing incident) although she could understand why I did what I did. Ultimately we’re good and I’ll have to apologize to another guy tomorrow. The problem is I’m in a precarious position concerning allies, which I do not wish to discuss until a certain amount of time has passed after graduation. I can’t help it when I have an emotional outburst. Maybe it’ll get better with age. I think there’s a general misconception that I’m completely unemotional, which is somewhat warranted. I don’t really show emotion unless it’s a strong emotion. For example, if I’m only a little happy or sad, then I’ll be in my neutral state. But if I’m really happy or angry, then it’s obvious to others how I’m feeling. That’s another thing, most people when they are angry, they’re really just throwing a hissy fit whereas I become violent and confrontational. Recipe for disaster I know. Normally, I’d shrug off those comments (ie the one that got me upset here) but I was consumed with frustration (stupid homework and comments made by people) which left me very irritable. Anyways, some people probably think even less of me now, but I really could not give a flying fuck what they think. It’s not like we talk and I wouldn’t even ask for their help even in the most dire situation. Just have to survive for a bit longer and I hopefully will never have to see some of these people ever again. Well I should try finishing some work now before I go to bed.
Music events - Jan 2006
Going to see Coldplay on Friday.
Despite paying around $100, I’m not incredibly excited about this concert. I'm actually slightly more interested in other upcoming shows (see below). This is lack of interest is mostly due to the fact that Coldplay has released the same album three times.
Parachutes
Kind of boring after Yellow
Parachutes part two (aka A Rush of Blood to the Head)
Better production and better songs across the board
Parachutes part three (aka X&Y)
Kind of boring after Speed of Sound and overall it is a regression
I don’t know what to expect, but I’d imagine that “Fix You” would sound really good live.
Upcoming shows that I’ll probably goto
Nada Surf – Feb 25 – Richards on Richards
Dilated Peoples – Feb 27 – Commodore Ballroom
Radiohead and Tool are bound to finally release new albums this year. Please come to Vancouver before I possibly leave for some stupid job.
Oh yeah, I would've gone to see Kanye West this past December, but I had an exam the next morning. Damn you EECE 253.
Now that I think about it I should've went to see this U2 tribute band back in Penticton last year. But noooo I decided to play video games. I think was playing Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind or reading 1984 at the time. I don't remember now. Actually I have missed a lot of shows these last couple of years, but that's another story for another day.
NFL 2006 Conference Championships
Ouch. Bad week for picks last week (1-3). Overall, I’m at 4-4 for the playoffs.
1) AFC Championship
- Steelers have been playing better. They beat both Cincy and Indy on the road
- It wasn’t so much that the Broncos beat the Pats, but it was more like the Pats beat themselves (Two 1 yard scoring drivers off turnovers for the Broncos). Not to mention everything seemed to fall in Denver’s favor in that game (Vinatieri missing a FG, Sauerbrun forcing a Pats fumbling, questionable pass interference call on Samuel)
Therefore, I like the Steelers over the Broncos
2) NFC Championship
- Jake Delhomme is great in the playoffs (5-1, go figure)
- Shaun Alexander is as soft as twinky filling
- The Seahawks have a suspect secondary and Steve Smith has been a one man wrecking crew
Steve Smith vs. Bears: 12 Rec, 218 yds, 2 TDs
Steve Smith vs. Giants: 10 Rec, 84 yds 1 TD
1 Rush, 12 yds, 1 TD
Therefore, I like the Panthers Steve Smith over the Seahawks
Divisional Playoff 2006 Aftermath
Cripes. I can't believe the Colts lost today, especially after that lucky non-INT late in the fourth quarter.
Personally, I don't really buy into this "Player X is totally incapable of winning the big game", but even I'm starting to believe in this "Peyton Manning can't win the big game" theory.
What the hell happened to that vaunted Bears defense?! and they were at home too....
On the up and up though, the Pats have been eliminated. I am so sick of them. Hopefully the Dolphins can win the AFC East next year.
Music: Wu-Tang Clan - Tearz
Straight Up Wack
Recently read an
interview with U-God (from 11/14/2005). It appears that U-God can’t accept the fact that he’s the weakest MC in the Clan by far.
“Q: Why do you feel that you're the black sheep of the Wu?
A: Because I'm the light-skinned dude in the group.”
Excuses
NFL Divisional Playoffs
Redskins vs SeahawksPick: Seahawks
Why:
- Clinton Portis is banged up.
- Redskins are on the road and have to travel across the country for this game
- The Seahawks are a high scoring team with a good pass rush. Always a deadly combination.
It’s too bad the Seahawks will probably win because for some reason, they rub me the wrong way. Especially Shaun Alexander.
Patriots vs BroncosPick: Broncos
Why:
- Broncos are at home
- Uhhh…….errrr….ahhhh
I think it’s either going to be a blowout or a very close win. Nothing in between.
The key to the game is whether Jake Plummer fucks up or not. If Jake doesn’t turn the ball over, the Broncos win. The pat’s front seven might be able to stop the Anderson/Bell rushing attack which places the game squarely on the shoulders of Plummer. Although the Broncos have Champ Bailey, their secondary looks questionable; Tom Brady could rip them a new one ala Peyton Manning 2004 & 2005 Wild Card games versus the Broncos.
I can’t wait to see the Pats lose because they really rub me the wrong way.
Steelers vs ColtsPick: Colts
Why:
- Colts are at home and are well rested
- Team is rallying behind Tony Dungy
I don’t see why this won’t be a repeat of their week 12 match up. Of course, I’m assuming that Indy and its players have recovered from their various bumps and bruises.
Panthers vs BearsPick: Bears
Why:
- Bears are at home. The fans will be amped.
- Defense wins championships. The Bears have a great defense.
- Jake Delhomme will most likely fuck up at some point
Given the two defenses, 10 points could easily win the game here.
Rex Grossman will be playing his first playoff game, but I don’t think it should be a big deal since the Bears focus on the ground attack. Panthers gave up 8 sacks last time and they’ll probably give up a bunch of sacks come Sunday. Also, the Panthers were SI’s pre-season pick to win the Superbowl, so you know they’re gonna lose
Side Notes:
- The signs seem to point to an epic AFC championship match up between the Colts and Pats. Even a Colts and Broncos game would be intriguing (will the broncos lose to the colts for the third consecutive year?)
- Signs also point to Seahawks and Bears matchup. It would be the classic “defense versus offence” match up (defense usually wins y’know)
Music: Nada Surf - If You Leave
(aww it’s so sad to watch Anna say goodbye to Seth)
Street's disciple, my raps are trifle
I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle
Stampede the stage, I leave the microphone split
Play Mr. Tuffy while I'm on some Pretty Tone shit
Verbal assassin, my architect pleases
When I was twelve, I went to hell for snuffin Jesus
Nasty Nas is a rebel to America
Police murderer, I'm causin hysteria
My troops roll up with a strange force
I was trapped in a cage and let out by the Main Source
Swimmin in women like a lifeguard
Put on a bulletproof nigga I strike hard
Kidnap the President's wife without a plan
And hangin niggaz like the Ku Klux Klan
I melt mics till the sound waves over
Before steppin to me you'd rather step to Jehovah
Slammin MC's on cement
Cause verbally, I'm iller than a AIDS patient
I move swift and uplift
your mind shoot the gift when I riff in rhyme
Rappin sniper, speakin real words
My thoughts react, like Steven Spielberg's
Poetry attacks, paragraphs punch hard
My brain is insane, I'm out to lunch God
Science is dropped, my raps are toxic
My voicebox locks and excels like a rocket
more assignment notes
Ok regarding yesterday's post.
a) I badly needed to come up with 5 pages of material, so I tended to stretch the sentences out as much as I could.
b) After some major procrastination (it got to the point where I started to look for a Gigli torrent), I only started that section of the essay at 12 am. Of course I was trying to finish as soon as possible
c) Since I was pressed for time and becoming very sleepy, I evitably had the mindset of "I don't give a shit anymore. I just want to finish".
d) Thankfully the prof delayed the deadline till thursday, so I figure I'll change some of the stuff that might really piss off the prof. I mean what's the point of handing that stuff in. I won't feel that much better about myself and it'll probably hurt my final exam mark when he marks it.
Interesting Assignment
Based on a research given to us, one of my profs got us do a 5-10 page assignment in the first week and it is due the following monday. Unfortunately, based on the number of msn messages I recieved, no one understood what to do because the instructions are very unclear. I'm also unsure so here's what I did
1-2 pages of summarizing/regurgitating this paper
1 page talking about the positives of the paper
The rest of the time spent dissing the curriculum
To add insult to injury, I've been given this exact same assignment in another CHBE class. Here are the supposed instructions from our prof.
"To all students who are taking both 444&456: For HW1: you prepare two reports, one for 444(emphasizing mass transfer operations) and one for 456 emphasizing Chemical/Biochemical Reactors."
Unfortunately due to the nature of the paper, I don’t see how can write about mass transfer or reactors. In the end, I’m basically going to be handing in the same thing twice. Hopefully the TAs are marking this and I hope there are two sets of TAs.
Anywhose, here’s the non mindless pap from my paper.
The overall principle behind system theory and mathematical modeling is promising. Normally, when a student takes a variety of courses, it may be difficult for the student to understand the “big picture” or how each course is relevant to his studies. This problem is especially prevalent in first year given the somewhat eclectic curriculum, (although the eclectic nature is a necessary prelude for second year because a student must choose a specialty from a wide range of options). System theory and mathematical modeling supposedly remedies this problem by unifying the course material emphasizing laws governing the rates of these processes and its dependence upon state variables. With these tools, the student will then be able to visualize the “big picture” easily along with any interactions between these processes and the effects resulting from these interactions. Therefore, a student might develop a greater appreciation for process X because it eventually leads to product Y. System theory and mathematical modeling is also practical, because in industry a process will usually consist of more than one or two unit operations. Whereas in the traditional approach to teaching, usually only one or two unit operations are examined at a time in a question.
However in the paper, a single sentence demonstrates the folly and specious reasoning behind the whole undergraduate engineering curriculum:
“The basic principles of system theory can either be integrated into this course or may be taught in a separate course”. It’s obvious that the people on the accreditation board have never heard of the law of diminishing laws which states: “
When one of the factors of production is held fixed in supply, successive additions of the other factors will lead to an increase in returns up to a point, but beyond this point returns will diminish”. For this situation, the fixed production factor is time (4-5 years), the other factors are lecture materials and the return is the amount that the student has learnt. The time range of four to five years could possibly be increased, but that would lead to another slew of problems (ie., an even more crippling student debt) beyond the scope of this essay. Professors and accreditation figure more materials should be taught in order to make engineers more knowledgeable. In reality, the point of diminishing returns likely occurs around the 9-12 UBC credits per term. Afterwards, the goal and mindset merely “learn how to pass the test instead of actually learning the material”. Using a real life example, in CHBE 242, students that pass the course may be able to calculate the efficiency of a Rankine cycle, but are usually unable explain what the second law of thermodynamics is. In essence, the student is learning how to solve a very specific theoretical problem (Rankine cycle) instead of learning of the general idea that is more applicable for future work (2nd law of thermo). It is also not uncommon for students to quickly forget most of what they have learnt once the examination period is over (as one of the lab TAs once aptly stated “I took a lot of math courses as an undergrad, but I still have no idea clue what a 2nd order differential equation is”.)
Another problem is that professors tend be out of touch with their students; in order to receive their PhD, a professor must have a high level of academic achievement, a level which most undergraduates will never hope to achieve. To put it bluntly, this situation is akin to a genius teaching calculus to mentally handicapped students without being sensitive to their genetic shortcomings.
The law of diminishing returns does not even account for physiological and psychological stress associated with the heavy course loads. The burden of the course load is especially felt around midterm and final examination time. The stress only pushes the student closer towards the mindset of “of learning how to pass the test instead of actually learning the material”. There is also the problem with the never ending shuffle of professors in the department as occasionally a new professor will have unrealistic expectations (ie. the class has only learnt about bananas. The new professor expects us to be well versed in apples by now).
Integration of system theory and mathematical modeling into the current curriculum would be challenging because it is unlikely any current courses or materials will be jettisoned. This compounds the diminishing returns problems because one of two scenarios may occur. In the first scenario, a new course is created and for obvious reasons, students will meet this change with minimal enthusiasm. In the second scenario, the work load for one course increases therefore increasing the likelihood that the student will be unable to pass this course. Of course, there is also the inevitable trial and error which negatively impacts the quality of education that the students receive.
If it is not obvious most of these criticisms are more about the curriculum rather than of any particular professor (whose flexibility is greatly limited by the accreditation board and universities).
Stylistic wise, the paper is alright although some sections could be stated more succinctly (this especially applies in the case of quotations).
NFL Wild Card playoffs
Bucs over Redskins
Panthers over Giants
Steelers over Bengals
Pats over Jags
Final 2006 world jr. thoughts
"Um, I don't know if you know this, but when I was in high school I was on the all-star team for basketball.
"I had stifling defence."
-- Erik Venos"Defense wins championships"
-- sports axiom
Has there ever been a better example of team play? Despite being regarded as the big underdog talent-wise (and rightfully so), Canada only gave up 6 goals the whole tournament and with only one of the goals during even strength. Not to mention, Canada had 3 shutouts and Pogge set a record for shutout time.
Stifling.
Side note: The media has been drawing too much attention to the controversial non-goal in the final game. It happens. Calls are sometimes missed. Heck, in football, sometimes the offensive team recognizes a bad call was made, so they try to get off the next play as quickly as possible. Therefore the other team or the officials don't get a chance to review/reverse the play.
In the big scheme of things, the non goal makes up for previous controversial calls versus team Canada.
- a couple years ago in the world jr. final, the Russians purposely knocked their net off its post to help preserve their 1 goal lead as time expired. No penalty shot was awarded to Canada.
- that Brett Hull goal back in 96' world cup on Cujo. Sure this was against the Americans, but I might as well bring it up while we're on the subject. That stick was sooo above the crossbar.
It could've been a worse call. Chuck Knoblauch phantom tag anyone?
Rose Bowl 2006 thoughts
Wow. The rose bowl just ended and it was good.
Ok admittedly, for the first three quarters, I was playing madden 2006 (pc) / ninja gaiden II (nes) and tried to pause the game before each play started. Of course, I ended up missing a couple of plays here and there because I would be a little too focus on the video game. But once the fourth quarter rolled around, I direct 100% of my attention to the game.
It was interesting start because the offences were held in check going into the second half. Then it turned into a shootout in the second half.
3 points I'd like to make about the game:
1) I don't understand why the announcers were questioning Pete Carroll going for it on 4th and 2 at the Longhorns 45. If USC had punted the ball, USC would've had to rely on its defense, that had already given up 33 points, to stop Vince Young (~30 for 40, 276 yards passing and ~ 200 yards, 3 TD rushing). Not to mention, Texas still had all of its timeouts.
2) First time I've seen Reggie Bush play. He is really fast. Really fast.
3) I now like Vince Young. Unlike Mike Vick, Vince can actually throw the ball accurately.
Music: Foo Fighters - For All The Cows
TV matters - January 2006
As of late, I've been watching:
Arrested Development - Season 2
Freaks and Geeks - Entire series (18 episodes)
Finished watching 'Arrested Development' last night and what else can I say? Best damn sitcom on TV and one of the smartest shows I've ever seen.
Meanwhile, I have five episodes left for 'Freaks and Geeks'. Yes, the show is a realistic depiction of life in suburbia circa 1980. But does that mean this show is good? Sorta not really. Seemingly, for every good idea, there are 2 bad ideas to pull the show down. Subconsciously, I often found myself comparing this show to the O.C. (primarily season one of the O.C.) and frankly, Freaks and Geeks didn't fare so well.
So I figure I'll launch some long winded and bloated rant as soon as I'm done watching these last five episodes. In turn, this will give me some ammunition when I make a post in the IMDB forum. I almost never post anything in discussion forms, but I'm very compelled to do so now.
