| Problem & Solution [I lost] |
[25 Mar 2006|08:59pm] |
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music |
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Depeche Mode - The Landscape Is Changing |
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As I was going to update my journal, my eye caught sight of my previous entry."Why, it's an entry about the game!" thought I. "Doesn't it make you think about... losing?" I asked myself. "Why yes, it does," I responded. "I'd better write something to that effect in my next entry."
And that would have been the end of the story, were it not for my brilliance in seeing far-reaching consequences of my actions. "If I write that in my entry, won't that make me lose the next time I post something?" I asked myself. "Why yes, Misha, it will," I responded. "And won't you have to say so in your next entry, to avoid cheating?" I proceeded to ask myself. "I s'pose I will," I agreed. "So won't this make you lose a third time, when you next decide to post something after that?" I inquired. "Yes," I concurred, "where exactly are you heading with this train of thought?"
"By posting about the game in your livejournal, haven't you effectively locked yourself in a vicious circle of more and more losing, with no end in sight?" I asked myself, almost triumphantly. This Socratic method of debating, applied to myself, was beginning to bear fruit, since I seemed to have cornered myself in a logical dead end.
"Oh, heck. I suppose I have. I don't suppose you have any solution in mind?" I responded despondently. This Socratic method of debating, applied to myself, was beginning to prove an utter failure, since I seemed to have ended up cornered in a logical dead end.
"Actually, I do. Remember that journal you've had lying around for months but never posted in? It's finally going to be useful! Just switch to posting there and you'll have escaped the vicious circle!" I replied in glee.
I continued to argue with weak arguments, but I was too convincing. After further debate with myself, it became clear to me that this course of action was the only one open to me.
So my new journal is ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) darkerline. I'm sorry for making those of you who actually have interest in keeping up with my sporadic journaling go through the difficult experience of taking a minute to change your friends list - but as I've explained, there is simply no other way.
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| I lost |
[22 Mar 2006|08:05pm] |
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music |
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Rammstein - Zerstören |
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The Game. The Wikipedia entry. It got deleted.
More later.
The article had been previously nominated for deletion twice, in 2004 and 2005, but it was kept both times. Surprisingly enough, it was deleted the third time around. To sum up the argument for deletion, people were either complaining that the game didn't actually exist (obviously false) or that the rules were not verifiable and therefore original research (possibly true).
Something that closely resembles the original wikipedia entry can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Stephen_Deken/The_Game_(game). It was made at the time that the article was submitted to AfD the second time, so it contains lots of links to "references." Kind of pointless since the main argument for deletion was that "all references are forums," which is exactly what this shows.
The "No original research" argument is hard to refute; however, I think this rather borderline instance is one in which the correct thing to do would be to bend the rules. Also, this brings up an interesting point: since a lot of sites have directly or indirectly cited the wikipedia article before it was deleted, can they be used as sources for a new article? This would no longer be original research, and they would make valid, "reliable sources."
If you want to read the wikipedia entry, check a mirror such as www.answers.com. And do it before they update their own articles to reflect the deletion.
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| Отчего столько лет нашей жизни нет как нет? |
[04 Mar 2006|07:14pm] |
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music |
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Apocalyptica - Fatal Error |
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One talks too much about their friends, and too little about their family. I've been guilty of making that mistake as well, but my family, especially my younger brother*, are the best in the world and deserved to be spoken of at every opportunity.
*the one that lives here. Not that Anton (Antosha, Tosha) and Veronika (not Vera or Nika that I've ever heard) aren't wonderful, but I only see them a month or so every year.
If friends are to be talked about however, the one I'd like to see the most but don't have the chance to is Jane. So far our only means of communication is e-mail every couple of weeks, and that isn't a lot.
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| Chess |
[01 Mar 2006|05:02pm] |
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music |
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Apocalyptica - Бой С Тенью |
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The chess tournament in Charlotte this weekend was absolutely wonderful.
I didn't do as well as I had hoped, either in the blitz or in the actual tournament, but probably no worse than I deserved (take a guess as to how much chess I've played in the last couple of months). My blitz score ended up a 6 out of 10 (the first two players I'd beat both times; things went downhill from there and I'd managed to get only two more wins) and my tournament score a 3 out of 5. However, it would have been worth it even if I'd gotten last place.
While there, my mind was not focused on anything except chess, a welcome break from daily life when there's always something hanging over my head. I probably played more games than is good for me (and my estimate is at least fifty, more if you count all those hot-seat one-minute games), but I don't care.
I didn't actually do as bad as I make it seem. I placed 11th in the blitz tournament (it was a tie for 10th, so they'll mail me a trophy sometime), and 14th in the K-12 open (for which I actually got a trophy). The dissatisfied side of me complains that I might have done better if I didn't get paired with 1900+ rated players as much (those were the two I lost), but I really have nothing to complain about.
After the tournament, I got a cool chess T-shirt and a book on the Sicilian Dragon. I also spared David (Stamper) from spending $20 on "Winning Chess Strategies" by lending him my copy.
Mr. Noland realized, after the drawn-out awards ceremony (which could have been longer, I admit), that he had lost the keys to the van somewhere. While he was looking for them at the cafe, the hotel, and I don't know where else, everyone played bughouse. Eventually he found the keys, but we ended up being a couple of hours late. Hence the reason I didn't go to school Monday. Also, I needed the sleep.
These were a good three days.
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| In between research papers |
[14 Feb 2006|09:15pm] |
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music |
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Аквариум - Трамонтана |
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No matter how I attempt to word this entry, it sounds awkward, since its focus is two really rather insignificant events. This morning I wrote a letter to Jane, whom I haven't seen since the end of the last school year, and whose last letter I got sometime in October. Also today I corrected a screenname error that allowed me to talk to Annie, whom I also haven't seen since the end of the last school year (well, technically, Animazement), and to whom I also last talked sometime in October. And at least the second of these had nothing to do with Valentine's Day. Put together, both of these make me quite happy, even though Jane hasn't actually replied to my letter yet.
( the THING I wrote about a week ago )
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| FRC 2006: Aim High |
[08 Jan 2006|11:36am] |
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music |
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Accept - Aiming High |
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For those that don't want to download a 90MB video, here is a synopsis of the 2006 FRC rules. With screenshots (click on one to see the big picture).
( Read more... )
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| :-) |
[07 Jan 2006|07:19am] |
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music |
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Robert Schumann - Important Event |
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Apologizing to my robotics team for not being at the meeting yesterday, Laura's birthday was just so much more important. In token of my remorse (heh, just kidding, no remorse there), see my next post.
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| Russian translation |
[06 Jan 2006|05:32pm] |
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music |
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РРК - Воскрешение |
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Все-таки1 I am very impressionable. It only takes reading a book in which the main character finds inner peace and self control, and stops worrying and whining about Silly Things, for me to achieve the same end result. All I have to say is that it is very sweet indeed.
There are some news since the last time I posted, but they are unimportant. Nothing is necessary but that you ask me about these news, for me to recount you with any story of the past few days. From those of you who have not taken the time to talk to me recently, I would consider this a favor.
1: I do not believe that this word has an English equivalent, although I may be wrong. To me it s meaning is two-fold: it describes the following sentence as a conclusion drawn from available facts, and it carries a connotation of a somewhat tables-turned, unexpected conclusion.
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| One last thing |
[29 Dec 2005|06:03pm] |
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music |
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Kataklysm - Serenity in Fire |
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I have not posted about having acquired and watched the Serenity DVD. Had it been a pleasurable experience I might have been quicker about doing so. It (specifically, the movie's conversion to DVD) was the second most horrible thing to happen to Serenity since Firefly was cancelled.
It's all because Wash died.
Edit: If it's just our TV, it is going to lead to mass murder.
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| A mostly failed attempt |
[21 Dec 2005|03:13pm] |
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music |
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Incendio - Illumination |
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Tried to substitute reason for rhyming
And pathos for puns, wit, and humor
Yet some hope is still left
Please tell me, my friends
That at least I have gotten the rhythm
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| Dictionaries |
[13 Dec 2005|09:22pm] |
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"Alternative" Dictionaries - bit of a euphemism isn't it?
I read over a few of those. I thought the Russian one needed a bit of work, but I'm really hoping that the French and German ones don't have (m)any mistakes - would someone more fluent than I in either one of those support my opinion here? I don't have enough non-slang knowledge of any other languages to be able to use or be interested in any of the others (except of course for English - no comment on that one) but I'm sure the rather sparse Japanese one could interest some people.
On a final note, the Dutch dictionary, although I didn't progress far beyond pronunciation in that language, has some quite imaginative idioms.
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| Indeed. |
[05 Dec 2005|10:13pm] |
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music |
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Rammstein - Benzin |
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My Brother - "I think there are two Michelangelos."
Me - "Oh?"
My Brother - "One is the ninja turtle, and one was.. some person.. I think."
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| Guess what? |
[29 Nov 2005|07:00pm] |
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music |
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Rammstein - Rosenrot (the album) |
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I downloaded the new Rammstein album.
Today has been a mix of the ridiculous, the overwhelming, and the downright offensive. As always, I'm left with more questions than answers, but I have faith that sometime I'm going to find the answers... some maybe soon, some maybe not. And when I do, I know that there will still be left questions for me to answer, and that's good too.
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| Reading Material |
[26 Nov 2005|01:06pm] |
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music |
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Reading Rainbow theme |
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Recently I've been ( ... ) reading.
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