This just in: what you should think

"You think lines add character. She thinks lines add years." I saw this ad in ESPN's sports magazine.

Weekend Update

As my Indian officemate would say, I sat for the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure this weekend. Aside from being brutally long, the tests were rather pointless. I had to read six passages and then answer questions to show that I could determine that a passage about, say, the Second World War, wasn't, in fact, about the history of clowns in American circuses. After doing this for an hour I had to correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling for another. And so on. The physics part had its moments as well. For example, one question, after describing a physical effect, asked which physicist it was named after. Because such knowledge clearly demonstrates one's understanding of the concepts involved.

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32 Short Films About Glenn Gould is a pretty good movie for those interested in classical music. Plus it has a really awesome soundtrack. When I first heard the title I immediately thought, wow, that's cool. They must have been referring to Beethoven's piano sonatas, of which he wrote, as you may have guessed by now, thirty-two. But recently I realized that this was probably just a coincidence. Gould was not very big on Beethoven, he is known especially for his interpretation of Bach. In particular, his debut recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations is often considered among the top of his achievements. These pieces had never (or almost never) been performed on the piano before because of their technical difficulty. The Variations were written for a harpsichord with two manuals (i.e. keyboards). The voices in the music overlap a lot, making it difficult to play on an instrument with only one manual. The work opens with an aria. It is followed by thirty variations based on this theme, and then concluded by a repetition of the aria. Thus thirty-two movements comprise the Goldberg Variations.

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I was wearing my Great t-shirt today, and someone actually recoginzed it. He immediately asked me the same question that I asked the first person I met wearing this shirt, which is, are you from where I went to high school? This is because the program is so lame, it's difficult to beleive it is actually nation-wide. I was surprised to find out that it is in fact a program run all across the United States. He asked me if the program was helpful for me in my life. I told him that it was an inspiration. He replied that he never ended up joining a gang either.

Tin Foil Hat Alert

You know... I understand that this technology has legitimate uses... but who watches the watchers?

Brevity is the soul of wit

I just watched The Forgotten, a rather average movie. Before the movie started playing, a bright blue screen declared that the movie was "Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language." So what exactly is the MPAA trying to protect children from? Do they think that if children are exposed to brief language, they are more likely to become reticent, incommunicative teenagers? "How was school today?" "Fine." "Do you have any plans for the weekend?" "Yes." "Really? What are you going to do?" "My girlfriend." Or perhaps they're afraid that brief language will make children prone to be being concise and to the point? And this is some kind of coorporate conspiracy to keep people from learning how to say what they mean instead of blathering on for minutes without letting slip a single meaningful idea? I can't guess what they're up to, but I doubt it's something wholesome.

Traditions

I was browsing movies at collegetown video, looking for some interesting ways spend this evening. Three girls seemed to be doing the same thing, rather loudly. If intuition and stereotypes hold, they were probably Cornell Summer Schoolers or Cornell Summer Sports Campers. I overheard them trying to decide which scary movie to rent, as they browsed the 'horror' section. They didn't find anything that met their approval, and proceeded to consider other, less scary options. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I immediately thought of the classic masterpiece Alien, which I had just watched a few weeks ago. I was tempted to point this movie out to them, but I hesitated. I hesitated because of the sketch factor - I was listening to their conversation (hard as it was not to at the given volume) - not just listening but paying attention - and I was likely five years their senior. But really, truly, all I wanted to do was spread the Alien legacy to a new generation. I wanted to share this work of genius with people who seemed likely to appreciate it. Alien is nothing if not scary. Somehow, I said fuck-all, and I got one of the girls' attention. I asked her if she was looking for a scary movie, and, apparently pleasantly surprised, she said that she was. I asked her if she'd seen Alien, to which the response was, "the Old one?". Yes, I said, and handed her the tag from the DVD cover that you exchange at the counter for the movie. She asked if it was good, and I assured her that it was. I was thanked, and then I left. I don't know if they rented it, but maybe they did. And maybe they liked it too. Especially the chestburster scene.

The fragility of certainty

All through my student years I cringed every time an instructor wiped the blackboard with their hands to make a quick correction. Not in the nail-scratching way, but in the "how hard is it to grab an eraser?" way. Well, I was teaching a section last friday, and I finally learned how hard it is to grab that eraser. It was weird, but I found that I couldn't care less if I had chalk on my hands, only the flow of the lecture mattered.

Welcome

Defenestrate the Cat was born in a Python programming tutorial. He was found one day by Salam E. Skinner, who gave him a new home.