Wednesday Weirdness: I discovered today that the folks over at MIT have a grandiose plan to track and follow the path of an incredibly important substance... rubbish! It seems that they plan to attach tracking devices to about 3000 pieces of garbage that will be thrown out in big cities like New York, London and Seattle. I know that we spend a lot of money tracking animals in this sort of way... and that seems like a worthwhile pursuit to me... but.. uh... this stuff is inanimate... do we really need to attach expensive tags to it? That seems a bit frivolous. I'm surprised at the things science spends its time with sometimes. I know the point of the whole thing is to reveal how messed up our waste disposal processes are, but really. Is this a great way to spend money? I guess it's good someone's thinking about trash though, we all do spend very little time thinking about it, other than remembering the day to put the can on the road.
A serious note on life: I also saw something in the news that disturbed me, and made me very sad. The last time I mentioned Zambia in this blog it was to mention a funny incident where the President was peed on by a monkey, but perhaps that was what was coming to him. I just read that an editor at the major Zambian newspaper (Post) was arrested for distributing "obscene materials." This isn't what disgusted me. Rather it was what they're shrugging off as "pornography" and just ignoring. The pictures that she (her name is Chansa Kabwela) was sharing with others showed a woman who was forced to give birth to her baby in the streets. The baby died because the hospitals turned this woman away. The editor wanted to point out the violations of this woman's rights, but was criminalized instead. And instead of focusing on what is important about what the photos revealed about the problems with the incident illustrated, the Zambian government just charged the editor with distributing repugnant images. Apparently the images were VERY graphic, but still you'd hope that the government of the country would be sickened with the lack of help the woman received and do something about it. Unfortunately they reacted quite differently.
I don't know the whole story or anything, but I came away from learning about it with one thought. The more and more I learn about the rest of the world and its goings-on, I become more and more appreciative of the life I'm able to lead in the nation I'm able to lead it in. I'm incredibly fortunate to be where I am. That's all.
Showing posts with label Wednesday Weirdness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wednesday Weirdness. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday Weirdness: Turkish oil-wrestling?
So apparently every summer since 1362 there has been a contest called Kirkpinar in Turkey. It's a wrestling competition where the contestants are covered in olive oil! The sport is apparently "known as 'yagli gures' (pronounced "yaw-luh gresh"), and is even "considered by some to be the Turkish national game." It's apparently ridiculously slippery and crazy! I can see how it would probably be pretty entertaining. They have about 700 contestants each year. This week's winner was Mehmet Yeşilyeşil. He won the 648th championship of Kirkpinar. It's cool that they have such a long-standing tradition to continue, but I'm glad that my country has less-weird sports that dominate the national spotlight. Oil wrestling is just weird.
Craziness.
Ya know, it just doesn't seem like it's run-onto-the-field exciting.
Craziness.
Ya know, it just doesn't seem like it's run-onto-the-field exciting.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Ok, see ya./Wednesday Weirdness
Wednesday Weirdness: A Zambian leader was giving a press conference outdoors and was greeted in a rather unfriendly manner by a monkey in a tree above him. (The BBC has the footage here.) The poor guy got peed on by a monkey. He seems pretty awesome though, because he just laughed and joked about it. Rock on, dude.
My good friends Andy and Ty introduced me to a phrase that can be used in awkward situations that I think is hilarious. If ever they say something and whoever their audience is doesn't really respond or clearly isn't interested, they say, "K, see ya." (This is why many of my posts end in that phrase.)
Today at work I had just gotten there and I was next to one of my supervisors when another supervisor leaned over to say something to her and when she didn't respond he said "K, see ya," and went back to work at his desk. I laughed and said, "You use 'K, see ya,' too? My friends and I use it all the time," assuming that he knew that he'd used it for an awkward situation that I had noticed. He didn't respond to me at all, and I, feeling like a moron, said, "K, see ya."
As if that wasn't enough proof that I occasionally (haha) lack social ability: I was on break today and I was alone in the break room. Just as a girl that I didn't notice came into the break room I said something to myself! She looked at me and smirked and I quickly started humming a song trying to pretend that that had been what I was doing. This all happened within a couple seconds so I think it actually worked, but I still felt like such an idiot for having been talking to myself. Wow, I'm special.
My good friends Andy and Ty introduced me to a phrase that can be used in awkward situations that I think is hilarious. If ever they say something and whoever their audience is doesn't really respond or clearly isn't interested, they say, "K, see ya." (This is why many of my posts end in that phrase.)
Today at work I had just gotten there and I was next to one of my supervisors when another supervisor leaned over to say something to her and when she didn't respond he said "K, see ya," and went back to work at his desk. I laughed and said, "You use 'K, see ya,' too? My friends and I use it all the time," assuming that he knew that he'd used it for an awkward situation that I had noticed. He didn't respond to me at all, and I, feeling like a moron, said, "K, see ya."
As if that wasn't enough proof that I occasionally (haha) lack social ability: I was on break today and I was alone in the break room. Just as a girl that I didn't notice came into the break room I said something to myself! She looked at me and smirked and I quickly started humming a song trying to pretend that that had been what I was doing. This all happened within a couple seconds so I think it actually worked, but I still felt like such an idiot for having been talking to myself. Wow, I'm special.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday Weirdness/Exercise Update/and Just Jeff...
So I am not going to accept anyone mocking me for actually missing Wednesday by a couple hours for my planned Wednesday Weirdness, but I'm calling it that ANYWAY! The BBC is reporting that rats understand the concept of gambling. Apparently they've discovered rat casinos under Las Vegas. No, but really, there was a study on rats where they could win big or small if they sniffed around different holes(the rat version of slots?) of four different holes. (They're gambling with food.) But they would also lose big on the same holes that paid out big, and they'd lose small on the same holes that paid out small. The rats over the time of the experiment apparently understood that they'd get more by taking their chances with the holes that had smaller payouts and punishments. So rats get gambling. They understand it. They get that they should not risk their food supply foolishly. Hmm... why don't PEOPLE GET IT?!! Actually, the article continued to explain that for people who've had damage to their frontal lobe or something like that they don't stop going for the risks that have higher payouts and very high losses. Apparently a healthy portion of the human race have damage to their frontal lobes because Vegas is quite the thriving city. Anyway, that's Wednesday Weirdness.
I'm still exercising! Woot. It's been 4 weeks now. While I'm actually a bit heavier than I was when I started, I think it's actually muscle weight. (Audible gasp!) I've been measuring my arms and I've actually added an inch to my biceps/triceps. Cool, eh? Not really, it just means that they're active for the first time in their lives! While I'm proud of muscle gains, I haven't lost fat. Why? I still eat junk. Yes, junk. I dig through the trash. No, but I might as well be with how unhealthy the stuff is that I eat usually. I need to eat better. Less fat. Yup.
Hi. I'm just Jeff. I seriously love "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" I could watch this show for days on end. I always watch the re-runs on ABC Family. Anyway... I had a great day. I finally got to play racquetball again. My Georgia Atlanta Mission friend just moved up here from Arizona and he and I went to play. It was fun. I lost of course, but I'm the kind of person that can still have loads of fun even when I lose. K bye.
I'm still exercising! Woot. It's been 4 weeks now. While I'm actually a bit heavier than I was when I started, I think it's actually muscle weight. (Audible gasp!) I've been measuring my arms and I've actually added an inch to my biceps/triceps. Cool, eh? Not really, it just means that they're active for the first time in their lives! While I'm proud of muscle gains, I haven't lost fat. Why? I still eat junk. Yes, junk. I dig through the trash. No, but I might as well be with how unhealthy the stuff is that I eat usually. I need to eat better. Less fat. Yup.
Hi. I'm just Jeff. I seriously love "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" I could watch this show for days on end. I always watch the re-runs on ABC Family. Anyway... I had a great day. I finally got to play racquetball again. My Georgia Atlanta Mission friend just moved up here from Arizona and he and I went to play. It was fun. I lost of course, but I'm the kind of person that can still have loads of fun even when I lose. K bye.
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