Ĵurnalo

1. If it's on a weekend, you would be doing cool stuff, but no, you had to get sick. This has happened to me.


2. If it's on a weekday, I can't go to school, I can't see my friends, and I have to make up all the work.


3. Feeling sick sucks! And you might infect other people.


4. You can't play video games because your head will hurt.


5. You can't go on the Internet, because your head will hurt.


6. You leak bodily fluids everywhere.


7. People don't want to ask you to do anything with them, because they think you might infect them or you might become more sick because of the exertion.


8. I hate being sick

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.

Step 3: Check off the songs when someone guesses both artist (or show) and track correctly.

Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is cheating.

Step 5: If you like the game, post your own

( Results )

1. Tell you why I friended you.


2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, etc.
   
3. Tell you something I like about you.


4. Tell you a memory I have of you.


5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.


6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.


7. In return, you must post this in your LJ--but only if you want to.

Today, having read several days ago that mp3s encoded by iTunes are of inferior quality and that the ones encoded by LAME (a different algorithm for encoding sound files) are of superior quality, I decided to perform a test. I downloaded a certain LAME-using program to rip the songs from Abbey Road, therefore, into an 128-mbps mp3, to hear the difference for myself. I listened to these songs in both the iTunes-ripped and LAME-ripped versions, and I thought I could hear a difference, but I did not know how much of this was attributable to the placebo effect.

I therefore devised an experiment to test whether the difference was a. actual and b. noticeable. Having been put into a single iTunes playlist (it could be that when these supposedly superior files are imported into iTunes, they are transformed once again; I doubt it, though), I put my cursor over the "shuffle" button, turned off the monitor, pressed the mouse button, and hit the spacebar to start the songs. I guessed which encoding method was used for each song, and wrote it down the results on a piece of paper.

Let's say that I was able to see a difference between the two algorithms. If I were right more than fifty percent of the time, regularly, then one could conclude that I can tell the difference. Even then would a convincing argument for my using the LAME encoder not necessarily exist. First of all, it would be a huge Hasselhoff to get all the CDs that I ripped and re-rip them. Second, I don't even know which I would prefer.

As it turns out, less than fifty percent of my guesses were right. This could show a couple of things:

1. My headphones suck.


2. My ears suck.


3. I can't tell the difference.


4. There is no difference.

I'm a bit hesitant about that last one, as there probably is a difference, but I failed at detecting it. But I did succeed at one thing: identifying a problem, hypothesizing an answer to the question, testing the hypothesis in a fair experiment, and finding the rectitude or incorrectness of my hypothesis. Science!</li>

fictionalsolace

1. When writing an entry, make sure you are using the "HTML" tab on the top right of the entry box and not the "Rich text" one.


2. Decide on the text that you think would look better in blink. (Disclosure: I think blinking text is a terrible scourge that rightfully never had its place in the sun. THERE IS NO APPROPRIATE PLACE TO USE IT)


3. Before the text that you think should blink (and if the answer is not "none," you better reconsider), and place the following text: <blink>. After the text, place the following: </blink>. Here is an example. If that text doesn't blink in your browser, count your blessings.


4. Don't ever use this feature ever again, ever, please.

fictionalsolace

• Seodaemun Prison, a prison built by the Japanese to house Korean independence activists during the Japanese occupation and then used by the South Korean government to jail its prisoners


• Dongdaemun and Namdaemun Markets, both very famous street/indoor markets in Seoul


• The Unification Observation Platform, which is north of Seoul and basically a big tower constructed on the bank of the Han River right across from North Korea. It has exhibits about North Korean life, the Korean War, and relations between the two Koreas. It also has, as you can guess, an observation deck where you can stare across the river to look at the empty villages built by the North for propaganda purposes. (To be fair, the South did this too.)


• COEX Mall, a huge shopping mall in southern Seoul. Many things were closed when we visited, though, so I don't have much to say about it.


• The PC room that I frequented.


• The Seoul metro stations.


• Seoul's electronics shopping district, where I found bargains, bargains, bargains!


You can also ask about Beijing if you want.

I had sorely missed the US for days before we left from Seoul to the United States. Most of all I missed Samantha, to tell you the truth. Unfortunate circumstances had prevented me from seeing her for a very long time. I returned from Seoul Sunday night and made final preparations for the exam on Monday. Tuesday I took it and saw Samantha again. Wednesday school started.

School has been kind so far. I dislike none of my teachers, though there is one that I have barely heard speak outside of giving yoga instructions. The workload is small, as befits the beginning of the academic year. I am happy. I want my friends to be happy, too.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom