http://youtu.be/WfGMYdalClU

I quite like this animation (I always think levity is a good way to draw attention to important issues and make people think - another such good way is science fiction) - except the ending. The whole thing is building up towards a point, you can see from the beginning that there is a point here being made, and the visuals get more and more gory and horrific and I'm sitting here thinking "come on, get to the point: you have me emotionally in a place where you can tell me your conclusion and what you think I should do, so come on and tell me what it is." And then it ends as it does and I'm left sitting here going "...what? The point is 'if we destroy our planet, aliens will come here and be very disappointed in us and punish us'?" Because that's the message I got. It was a deus ex machina moralistic ending of "if you do bad things, bad things will eventually happen to you." They might as well made the ending be "and then he died and went to hell and suffered there all eternity." That might have at least shaken the damnation-fearing part of the population (which, I would venture a guess, is larger than the alien retaliation fearing part) bit. Maybe. But the end really ruined it, because by the time there were cows getting flattened in a factory I was ready to go "yeah I should be a vegetarian again, not because eating meat is immoral, but because the way the meat is produced is morally questionable" - and then the animation just kept going, and then it went kableh. But how could it have ended? What would have been a better way? What would have worked for you?

The fear of "bad things will happen to me as a result of my bad actions" is a very immature thing. Children do that, making their choices in fear of punishment... Even the "what's in it for me" mentality (the positive side of the consequence coin) is immature and selfish. But mature people, grown ups, I expect them to make their choices based on a higher system, out of love or respect or sense of duty or something, knowing the consequences of their choices and reviewing those consequences from a perspective that's broader than "what can I get away with?"

I get a French word of the day email every day, and today's was just... a headdesk moment


les maths
Posted: 26 Dec 2012 02:13 PM PST
n.m.pl., math

Pierre et Paul étudient les maths.
Pierre and Paul study math.

TODAY
Note how the French use the plural les maths instead of a singular form of the word as we do in English. It’s just one of several examples of singular and plural differences between the two languages.






The French speak better English than you do, dear daily french email sender -_-

Spent part of Christmas day passed out in the toilet.
It's too awesomely enigmatic to explain that sentence.

Christmas presents from work:
-papers were not late (in fact they were ten minutes early to arrive) so I was finished at 20 past 5. Which is forty minutes sooner than I have been since the snow came.
-My period didn't start when I was at work
-The boss said I can have 7th-12th of February off to go to England to be measured for the wedding dress, see Silvie, and possibly/hopefully get some free immigration/UK border control advice (aargh visa applications are so confusing).

And then the bonus present after getting home: at work I had fretted thinking "I have got to remember to renew my passport, it expires on the 29th of December, don't forget!" Checked passport when I got home: it expires 29th of December 2013.

Or, to put it short:

New year's resolution: every month spend five dollars on Kickstarter (and if the thing I pledge for doesn't get funded then next month do two for a fiver).

I also am toying with this idea of doing some kind of an ET activity thingie something (contest? quest-thingie?) where there is a real prize, which would be that I pledge a certain amount in the winner's behalf on a Kickstarter of their choice. And if that one doesn't get funded the winner can pick another one (the idea being that the prize is the pledge favour thingie - and the happy feeling you get when you help awesomeness happen via Kickstarter).


Yesterday morning was a very interesting and lovely reverse-Goldilocks moment for me: I got home after working the night and a small bear (aka my dog Ressu) was sleeping in my bed. :3 And the best part was that he didn't leave when I climbed into bed with him. D'aaawwwwwww <3 <3

Guys. o.O The other day I signed a petition online (on the official sort of petition site for Finland) about an insulin product called levimir, that the state should continue to pay for it for diabetics (apparently they were going to stop doing that, and apparently that would have been a bitch and a half for the diabetics as there is no other thing that works like it etc...) And today they sent an email saying "they're going to continue paying for it next year and they'll look into it, whether there is any alternative and what the costs would be for society if they didn't pay for it etc a proper investigation.

This is a rather special feeling. I helped make a difference. In real people's lives. People I don't know.

After reading an article in the Independent "Letter to Santa from women" (that quoted men saying things like "as long as I have a face, Jessica Ennis has a place to sit" >.< ) I had the thought that one could apply the logic of the Hawkeye Initiative ( http://thehawkeyeinitiative.com/ aka, if you can draw Hawkeye in the same pose as the hypersexualised "empowered" female characters without looking completely ridiculous then the pose is not sexist) to these types of comments to reveal the blatant sexism. Basically, if the commentor would be comfortable saying something to the same effect to/about a man, then the comment isn't sexist (though there is no guarantee that it's still not a really douchebaggish thing to say, but people are allowed to be douchebags - just not sexist). So if the commentors would be willing to make space for Andy Murray on their faces, they can make the Ennis-comment without fear of being a sexist.

Maybe I will make a tumblr of this.

I haven't got up close and personal in this diary in a long while. So let's see, things that are going on:

-Still living in Finland, at home, and not liking the situation. -_-; I hate the snow and I don't like not having my own place. I'm too old for this stuff. But. It's fine. I'm glad that I can be here to sort myself out. Which is coming along. I'm working (and sort of like my job, not so much at winter but I don't like anything at winter) and saving up. The plan is to move to England by next September.

-Because I'm getting married and that's where we want to live. Still don't know the exact date since the bishop of Coventry hasn't got back to me about the building being available. Aaand there's some other details that are still rather open. So that takes a lot of time and energy, trying to figure things out. The plan may be that he moves here after getting a visa to the UK that allows him to marry there, spend the spring here, get married in the summer, stay here a bit more then move to England at the start of term, to the place of his new university. There are so many unknowns in that plan: what if he doesn't get the visa, what if he doesn't get into uni, what if something else goes really badly?

-Creative work -wise I'm doing many things. Too many, perhaps, it is difficult to finish anything. Or show anything to anyone.

-Research-wise I'm reading lots of cool things. some of which I share when I come across it, usually on Facebook.

-Church-wise I've been madly busy this month and it's been the thing (besides sleep and work) that has been taking most of my time. Can't wait for Christmas to be over.

-Christmas-wise I'm really lazy this year. It's almost like I'm not really looking forward to Christmas this year that much. It's just hasn't been very fun or exciting. I sort of feel like... Y'know that boring trope about "if you let the spirit of Christmas in your heart, you'll have Christmas all year round"? Well, I kind of feel like I do that, and that in turn means that Christmas right now doesn't mean all that much to me.

-My dog is old and silly. He stays up all night and sleeps during the day. I worry a little bit.

-In ET I mainly trawl through the junk forum.

A blurb for an article of some sort I saw read "It's the beginning of the "plus one" event season. Even when surrounded by family, it is hard to be single at the holidays. And no one wants to be coupled off with the family dog." I find this weird because I am gladly coupled off with our dog, I have a great time in his company, usually... Maybe other people don't have very interesting dogs?

This is like my America trip experience! (Except [Viking] didn't call me a bitch...)

Can vvin be spelt with two v's?

Zen Pencils did that quote by Ira Glass! :D <3

http://zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beginners/

And then Randy Pausch!
http://zenpencils.com/comic/86-randy-pausch-the-brick-walls/

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/10/23/susan-cain-molly-crabapple-rsa/
Good TED talk there, about introverts and extroverts.
Learnt a new word there, ambivert (someone who is right in the middle, not an introvert nor an extrovert).

Some more things to hear:

Dumb Ways to Die
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&;v=IJNR2EpS0jw
(I have to cross post with Facebook because some [Viking]s and [Avaz]s aren't on Facebook)

I'm a little late on all things news, but this was lol :D

http://news.yahoo.com/twitter-users-joke-muslimrage-newsweek-cover-144552171.html

If you want some more #MuslimRage, find it all here:
And https://twitter.com/search?q=%23muslimrage

"Nothing better than a full English breakfast buffet... And you can't eat anything. #MuslimRage"
"I lost my cousin in town before but I couldn't scream his name because it was Osama #muslimrage "
"You lose your nephew at the airport but you can't yell his name because it's JIHAD. that is #muslimrage "

Radiolab is wonderful.

http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2012/nov/06/blanc/

End of message.

What makes you feel beautiful? (Or handsome. sexy. Attractive in some way.)
I don't mean necessarily what makes you look good, I mean what gives you a boost of confidence, that feeling of being attractive. It can be anything you do or others do, or a particular time or situation, or anything at all.


-Plucking my eyebrows.
-When the wind twirls my skirts and hair.
-I feel pretty when I wake up in the morning (without the alarm), being a mess of hair and sheets in bed, all groggy about what time it is and squinting because I don't have my glasses on.
-Wearing certain shoes.

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Oct 1st

My dear Lyell

Thank you for the most interesting correspondence. What a wonderful case that of Bedford. I thought the problem sufficiently perplexing before, but now it beats anything I ever heard of. Far from being able to give any hypothesis for any part, I cannot get the facts into my mind.— What a capital observer & reasoner Mr Jamieson is. The only way that I can reconcile my memory of Lochaber with the state of the Welch valleys, is by imagining a great barrier, formed by a terminal moraine, at the mouth of the Spean, which the river had to cut slowly through, as it drained the lowest Lake, after Glacial period.— This would, I can suppose, account for the sloping terraces along the Spean. I further presume that sharp transverse moraines would not be formed under the waters of the Lake, where the glacier came out of L. Treig and abutted against opposite side of valley.— A nice mess I made of Glen Roy! I have no spare copy of my Welch paper; it would do you no good to lend it, I suppose.— I thought that there must have been floating ice on Moel Tryfane.— I think it cannot be disputed that the last event in N. Wales was Land Glaciers.— I could not decide where action of Land Glaciers ceased & marine glacial action commenced at the mouths of the valleys.—

What a wonderful case the Bedford case.— Does not the N. American view of warmer or more equable period after great Glacial period become much more probable in Europe?—

But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.— I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids & today I hate them worse than everything so farewell & in a sweet frame of mind, I am | Ever yours | C. Darwin

http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-3272

<3

Hey English language! I realised that if we are going to get to a future with sentient objects (like robots or something), we're going to need a lot more pronouns.
I, you, he, she, we, you and they all refer to persons, human beings, we only have it that refers to objects. We need a word for first object singular and plural, second object singular and plural and third object plural.

*is writing a novel about robots for NaNoWriMo and the mess with pronouns is driving her crazy*