lyore

Um... I think I just bought my first car. Sky Blue Hyundai Getz, 5 door, 1.6L manual.



I would have preferred something like a Mazda 3, but this one was on sale, is more fuel efficient, does everything I need, and was $8000 cheaper. The more I think of what else I can do with $8000, the more I like it :)

Not only was it on sale (CTP, dealer delivery, and rego for free), I exercised my Mad Bargaining Skillz to get a further $500 off, and then talked the finance guy into giving me loan with 7.85% interest instead of the normal 10.2%. I am feeling excessively proud of myself.

Anyway, once I sort out a few (minor) details - the fact my license is issued in a different state to the one need to register the car in is complicating things - I shall have a car. Hopefully by Tuesday, assuming I can get time off to get the deposit sorted, etc.

All this is good, but it's taking a little while to sink in. I was only going to go for a test drive...

ETA - I now have insurance. Yay for 65% No Claim bonuses!

Kinda old, but: What is the Worth of Words?

It’s time to acknowledge that in a truly multimedia environment of 2025, most Americans don’t need to understand more than a hundred or so words at a time... Young people today, however, have plenty of literacy for everyday activities such as reading signs and package labels, and writing brief e-mails and text messages that don’t require accurate spelling or grammar... In 2025, higher-level literacy is probably necessary for only 10 percent of the American population.

While the author may have a point about the changing educational requirements of modern society, I question his central thesis that higher tech = less reading. I've certainly been employed in jobs where anything more than basic literacy was not required, but then again, these where low-tech, manual labour jobs - the very sort of jobs that technology tends to replace. Of course, I guess you could argue that the people running the technology don't need to be able to read either - until something breaks. Eventually, someone will have to RTFM. This assumes, of course, that the people designing the system were capable of writing one in a coherent manner. (Ok, he did say that some people will have to be able to read properly - I'm just dubious that he regards only 10% of the population as employed in jobs which require any sort of 'abstract communication' or 'organising and planning large enterprises'.)

I'd certainly hate to see the reaction of my boss to the statement that 'writing brief e-mails and text messages don't require accurate spelling and grammar'. And I can't wait for him to start communicating with me via pictures and text messages...

Anyway, I can (kind of) understand, if not agree with the majority of his arguments, although I think they are biased by a tech-centric view which regards other skills are inferior and ultimately unnecessary. Until I got to this:

The nation’s leaders must be able to read; for those who follow, the ability should be strictly optional.

Does this sound like an incredibly bad idea to anyone else? A highly educated 'ruling class' and an a semi-illiterate population? Cause that's always worked out so well...

Or this entire thing could be some kind of weird joke, and I'm just to tired to get it. *yawn*

I said a while ago I was going to try and put up some more recs, right? Well, it took a while, and in typical fashion I chose not one but two fandoms that I don't think anyone on my flist is into, but I'm going to rec this anyway. When Hellmouths Collide, by Kimberly Rector and Martha Wilson, a crossover between Buffy and Hercules.

I stumbled across this fic a few times when I've been surfing around the far reaches of fandom, but never actually read it, since I'm prejudiced (for a variety of reasons) against crossover-fics. But tonight I decided to give it a try, at least so I would know that I was doing the right thing by not reading it, and so far it's been exactly the way crossovers should be written.

From characters from different universes not speaking the same language to Giles snarking about the historical inaccuracies of Herecules-verse Acient Greek, this is what crossovers are meant to be like. (Gile's snark, both internal and external, has been a comic highlight, while remaining completely in character. And his interactions with Xander are early-season-Buffy gold) The characterisations for both 'verses are pretty damn near perfect. If there is a weak point, some of the scene descriptions and transitions in the early chapters are a little on the light side for my personal taste, but not irritatingly so.

I'd recommend this fic to anyone with more than a passing familarity with either Buffy or Hercules (if you haven't read it already). In fact, even if you haven't watched either of these shows, check it out anyway.

Disclaimer: I'm up to chapter 10 (of 37) but I wanted to post this while I remember. If, after this point, everything suddenly turns into mutant brain-eating zombies, I take no responsibility. But who'd complain about mutant zombies, anyway?

Looking back at my journal, I see it's been far to long since I updated this. I have a variety of reasons - out of state work trips, an internet connection that loves to die just as I start typing - but most of it's just lack of time. More precisely, lack of time for all things fandom :(

There are so many shows I'd like to get more into, both in terms of fandom or just keeping up with releases - Supernatural, for one. Bleach which I am at least 10 episodes behind in. Torchwood - I've downloaded the first couple of episodes, waiting on a chance to watch them. Heroes, which my sister introduced me to last night. The jury's still out on this one (I've only seen the first episode, 5 more waiting to be watched), but it has potential. I'm so far behind on BSG it's not funny, and I'm going to have to rewatch the entire second season to remind me what's going on when I start watching it again. I'm also going through a major JAG and Lois and Clark stage, and I've recently seized by a desire to rewatch FMA as well. That's not even getting started on the massive stack of books (fiction and non-fiction) I have lying about the apartment waiting to be read.

*sigh* These days I don't have enough time for primary media, let alone secondary types like reading fanfiction, or mantaining any sort of internet presence. Which of course why I just got bitten by a very lame SPN plot bunny... Oh, for the days when I was happily mono-fandom.

Anyway, enough whining. Last weekend, against the conspiring forces of my parents, my work, the YHA website, and Cityrail, I made it to my very first convention - Supanova. This was much fun, but also turned out to be rather expensive, due to my complete lack of control for anything concerning Star Wars. More precisely, because of my lack of control about things concerning Luke Skywalker. Long story short, I ended up leaving with a limited-edition, signed-by-Mark-Hamill replica Luke Skywalker lightsabre. So very cool! (You may all want to extend your sympathies to bob_ette - she's been listening to me squee about this all week.)

Oh, and I also bought a very cool Darth Vader figurine, which the security guards spent the rest of the day trying to confiscate for themselves. (The Darth Vader was in a very bright, eye-catching box, the lightsabre in a very boring brown one.) All in all, it was a very fun day, and I'll definitely be going back. Possibly after leaving the credit/keycards at home, for the sake of my bank balance.

End Note: I really wish LJ would justify big blocks of text...

Right. I think this evening is the first time since Saturday that I've been home for more than half and hour and not either a) frantically getting ready to leave again or b) asleep. So, the quick run down on my social life over the last few days, for those that care:

The weekend was great - combined birthday bash, which is always good, and lots of catching up with friends. For those of you who haven't seen my birthday present from the uni gang, check it here here. It's very cool guys, thanks!

Monday night - a 'tax party' with cloverfizz and housemate, (with special guest appearance by..., via msn messenger), prompted by the fact that none of us had done our tax returns and they are due at the end of the month. Much angsting about what the hell to do about work related allowances was had by all.

Tuesday night - Caught up with kasneeze at her ex-work.

And, of course, work has been hectic and meeting-ful. The highlight of the day was discovering that apparently Americans really like Tim Tams. To a scary extent.

The downside of the last two days has been the reappearance of the ToothAche From Hell. I think the little bastards know they are getting pulled out, and are intent on making my life as miserable as possible beforehand. Today hasn't been too bad - expect when I eat. Ah well, I needed to go on a diet anyway, I guess. Step aside Atkins - the Wisdom Tooth diet is here!

On a SPN note - saw Bloodlust. Detailed comments shall have to wait for another time, but I have to say - the first scene, and the transport, and the choice of music? MUCH LOVE.

For those who haven't heard - SG-1 movies greenlighted

I am a happy camper now, although I will restrain from extreme fangirlish squee until we find out the cast, I think.

Well, it's that time of year again. After all the fuss of the Nobel Prizes, we acknowledge some real scientific heroes.

The 2006 Ig Noble Prizes have been announced. And this year, there's some doozies. My favourite may be the Literature prize, awarded Daniel Oppenheimer of Princeton University for his report "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly." OK, mostly just because his name is Daniel. And special mention to the guys from Australia's own CSIRO, who won the Mathematics award for 'calculating the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed.' You can't say that isn't useful!

( Other winners - Why woodpeckers don't get headaches, and Electromechanical teenager repellant )

Frankly, I'm impressed at the number of Prizewinners who showed up to collect there awards in person. Who says that Scientists don't have a sense of humour!

Scientists have done a full-scale study on whether or not intercessory prayer helps people recover from cardiac bypass surgery. The conclusions - that receiving prayers had no effect, but people knowing that they were receiving prayers had more complications - is interesting. Not sure what, if anything, that proves, but the abstract/conclusions and an article from the NY times are under the cut. At the very least, it's an interesting look at the interplay of science and religion.The article is especially interesting - it's nice to see an unbiased bit of journalism on a contentious issue.

( Does Prayer help cardiac bypass patients? )

From Variety magazine, about the new Tom Cruise movie The Few -

"In 1940, expert German fighters had decimated the Royal Air Force to the point that there weren't enough pilots left to fly the Spitfire planes sitting idly in hangars," it said. "Unable to rouse the US into action, a desperate Winston Churchill hatched a covert effort to recruit civilian American pilots to join the RAF. Risking prison sentences in the then-neutral US, a ragtag bunch of pilots answered the call." The magazine also looked forward to "ferocious dogfights between the overmatched American pilots and the German ace fliers"

Wow. Isn't it lucky for the Brits that Tom Cruise came to save the day *gag*

For the record - according to the official records, there were 2986 guys who served in the RAF during the period known as the Battle of Britian. 9 were American. Which, if my calculations are correct, is about 0.003065% of the 'good guys'. Those American aces must have been really great - except for the minor detail that the real-life version of the Billy Fiske (TC's character) didn't shoot down a single plane. For that matter, they didn't even get the type of plane right.

I guess Winston Churchill really meant it when he said "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

For a UK perspective of the new movie, try this article - http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/news/article55566.ece

My favourite bit - Hollywood's version of the Second World War has already shown Americans capturing the Enigma code machine in U571 (they didn't) and leading The Great Escape from a German prisoner of war camp (also not true). Pearl Harbor even suggested that the RAF only thwarted the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940 because US pilots popped across the Atlantic to help out. Now Mr Cruise looks set to expand on that with his own version of what Churchill called our "finest hour"

That sound? Is me banging my head against the wall.

Just a note for those of you interested: The samcarterfic ficathon entries are up. I've only had a quick browse, but there looks to be some good stuff there. So Go. Read. Review :)