Semester Review

Well before I start this post off I would like to show to unrelated things.

First of all, in this news piece of Reuters a women claimed she was sick and could not sit in front of her computer at work and needed to lie down. While at home she got caught being online on Facebook and now she is getting fired. What is her argument? That her company was spying on her. Ridiculous.

Nearly as ridiculous as this news piece. At some school in Dallas the children are required to tuck in their shirt. Some little kid does not want to so her mother claims she is being persecuted for being a Christian. She says that making her tuck in her shirt goes against 1 Timothy 2:9: “women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.” While going against the school board her argument was “I feel I am being persecuted for being a Christian,” she told the board before the vote. “There will be a day of reckoning, and you will have to answer to God.” Of course they voted in favour of her and she does not need to tuck in her shirt.

Now I will give you a second to think about the stupidity of that before I go onto this last semester… Done? Ok good.

CMPT-307: Data-structures and Algorithms
So this class was being taught by a new professor named Gabor Tardos. The professor himself wasn’t bad except the textbook he chose to use was the one that was written by his sister. In this class we mostly learned algorithms and while it wasn’t overly difficult, there seems to have been a general lack of studying in the class as the average was 45%.

CMPT-376: Technical Writing and Group Procedures
While this class has very little Group Procedures, there is a lot of technical writing. This is the upper division writing course that all CS majors are required to take, if they came to SFU after a certain time, (Fall 06 I believe.) It was taught by Ted Kirkpatrick who did a good job of teaching, though I stopped coming to class after the third week. This is a true arts course where he teaches how to write more “clearly” then you write about something related to technology and get it marked. Since the majority of CS students are lacking in the English abilities department it is quite easy to get an A.

CRIM-356: Forensic Sciences 2
This is the second of the forensic sciences classes that Criminology offers. Instead of learning about the basic and class things you learn about the newest technologies that are becoming available. We learned about stuff such as Carbon-14 Dating, stable isotopes, facial reconstruction, forensic odontology and identifications of bodies in mass graves. Since it was taught by Lynne Bell… it wasn’t hard at all, nor was it required to actually go to lecture. The final was a seen final so we were given the questions three weeks before the exam.

CRIM-402: Biological Explanations of Crime
This class talks about the biological influences on crime and I thought that the material was super interesting. There is a strong emphasis on the fact that if you have a certain disorder or abnormality that you are not guaranteed to commit crimes, just that you are more likely to than someone who is different.

ARCH-200: Special Topics in World Prehistory: The Vikings
This was one of my favourite classes so far here at SFU. It was taught by a viking named Erle Nelson who is so far one of my professors. He is definitely old school in his teachings in that he has no slides, no power point and you have to write down what he says, and everything he says comes from his own studies in Scandinavia. For this he receives a lot of unwarranted flack on Rate my Professor which proves my point you can’t listen to what people say on that site. The material was really interesting as we learned everything there is to know about Vikings, and really there is not a lot. That was the big problem when trying to write the paper was on where to find academic resources.

HUM-130: Intro to Religious Studies
This was also an easy class that basically went over all the major religions. Nothing difficult to do here, the final was quite ridiculously easy.

This summer I will be doing the following:

CMPT-475: Software Engineering 2
Given how much I did not like CMPT-275 I am worried about this class. I have heard it is better than it’s lower level counterpart but we will see. From what I can tell from the syllabus there will be a group project which sucks but it looks like there will be some programming to do for small assignments which will be fun to program again. I am not too impressed though that this class changed from a Wednesday to a Thursday sine it is downtown at Harbour Centre and now I have one less full day of training.

CMPT-383: Comparative Programming Languages
From what I can tell this class is a comparison of Prolog and Haskell. I am not sure what to think though I hear the midterm and final are open book.

ENGL-101: Intro To Fiction.
I like to read, this class has some interesting books we will read and I need it for my Certificate in Liberal Arts.

CRIM-312: Criminological Perspectives on Social Behaviours.
Basically we discuss Drugs, Alcohol, Prostitution, Violence and Euthanasia and write three short (3,000 word) papers on three of those subjects. There are no finals or midterms but I am still trying to get into CRIM-413: Terrorism.

Work

It really seems like no one actually does any work on this campus. The construction workers in rez are always sitting down and talking. The people working in the dining hall are always sitting behind it and smoking. The secretaries in the residence office and the girls at the bookstore are always gabbing away. The janitors are always sitting down and drinking refreshing carbonated beverages. Professors still don’t have half of the assignments marked from the year despite the class being over. Students are chatting away in the library with no studying to be seen. The volleyball team does a lot of standing around and talking with no actual work outs and same as the softball team who just sits in the dugout. The rec staff are always sitting on equipment having social hour instead of taking care of said equipment.

The only thing people seem to be good at is bitching (yes I know this is ironic because I am currently bitching in a rant), but that is the only thing I ever seen get done on campus.

This is one major difference between the military and a left wing civilian university which is that very little work seems to get done. In the military if you are standing around doing nothing in gym class then you are clearly not working hard enough, so they up the intensity. If you are taking a nap at night time, then you have more than enough free time on your hands for a new ridiculous task. And don’t even bother trying to look bored in the field because there is always some shitty job that you can be given.

Oh well, there’s nothing I can do about it so I may as well go back to studying for CMPT 307 and pray I pass it.

Semester in review is soon to come.

Two New GREAT Videos

The first video is called: Jesus Pwn’s You

The second is a SNL Short called: People Getting Punched Right Before They Eat.

Life On The Edge

… yes I am living it.

April Fools Prank

So I did a slight prank, I thought it was pretty funny. As the CSSS Secretary my job is to write up minutes for meetings, so I wrote these meeting minutes and sent them out.

Most people thought they were funny, except for one D-bag in the society who is always bitching about everything. He said and I quote:

“Even though I’m aware that you have taken the care to send to [the active CSSS mailing list] only, I think a different April Fools topic might be wiser.”

Thankfully a bunch of people quickly replied to him saying stuff along the lines of:

Yeah, your right, because of alllll the problems it created right?
…..

I dont think a better CSSS april fools joke could have been made, well done.

“I agree. Nobody should take this too seriously, it’s a good joke.”

and

“Agreed.

The best April fools jokes are far fetched yet somehow plausible, and the greatest part is that a student body doesn’t take itself overly seriously for once. Tip of the hat to you.”

So I think I was successful x2.

Le Gymnase

Part of my rowing training requires three workouts in the gym a week. I have noticed there are a lot of really ridiculous things that people do in the gym.

A lot of people don’t actually seem to know how to work out, or at least safely anyways. The other day I saw a guy trying to do Lat Pull Downs, but instead of just pulling down with his arms, he was only using his back by leaning way back. He was definitely going to hurt himself. But of course if you try and tell people this stuff in a gym, you just look like a dick and they get pissed off.

It is sort of like on the ergs how no one knows how to use them and people still try to. People are doing all kinds of weird things, such as holding the handle upside down, pulling with only arms, leaning back so they are laying horizontally and of course doing random sequences of their legs arms and backs.

And what is it with people feeling the need to smash weights together? They are not that strong and you will likely crack if you do that. That is why there are signs all over that say, “DO NOT HIT WEIGHTS AGAINST EACH OTHER!”

I think the one thing that bugs me the most is people just sitting on machines for an extended period of time doing nothing. I am not talking about the person sitting for a minute between reps, that is fine, I am talking about the people who sit there for a good ten minutes not doing anything. I do not know if you realize the people standing around you, staring and waiting, but you are being a dick, so hurry up and get off the machine if you are not using it.

So if you decide to go to your gym to work out, please make sure you know what you are doing, and most importantly, don’t sit on a machine for ten minutes doing nothing.

Criminology

Finally after three weeks of sitting at the computer and refreshing go.sfu a spot in a criminology class that I want, the distance ed (DE) version of CRIM-312: Criminological Perspectives on Social Problems which seems like an interesting subject. The syllabus of the courses says the marks breakdown is:

• Assignment 1: 1500 Word Paper – 15%
• Assignment 2: 3000 Word Paper – 30%
• Assignment 3: 3000 Word Paper – 30%
• Online Participation – 25%

The papers are on prostitution, drugs and violence. It seems pretty easy, no class room work, no finals or midterms and just three papers.

Now I am debating if I should sit at go.sfu and try and get into the other Crim class I want, instead of this one. Why? Because the topic is just as interesting and I hear it is a lot easier and requires a lot less work. That class is CRIM-413: Terrorism and the breakdown of marks is as follows:

• Online Discussion – 10%
• Mid-term – 25%
• Essay – 30%
• Final – 35%

Now this class has online participation too, and one paper which is two less than the three in CRIM 312. However, there is a final and a midterm, which can be hard but on the other hand I find that tests for DE classes are quite easy.

So I am not sure which class I should try and jump into. CRIM-312 is definitely easier than the in class version which is a seminar (meaning you have to go to class, actively participate, do your readings and know the material), there’s a 6000 word term paper (no thank you), a presentation (double no thanks) and then a final which is the cherry on top.

Das Boathaus

I am finally done with rez and I found a place to live. It’s pretty sweet, it’s a 2 bdrm apartment at the bottom of the hill right near the Mt. Shadow Pub. That way when I am drinking I can just walk across the street and stumble into my home. I share it with two other rowers, one of whom will be living in the living room going to be converted to a third bedroom.

I am trying to convince the other two to let me turn the living room into a ball hockey arena.

I live on two bus routes, the 135 right up the mountain to SFU and the 144 to Burnaby Lake / the skytrain and Metrotown. I can run to Burnaby Lake or ride my bike to practise in the morning which is sweet.

I am pretty excited. It is also right beside my friends apartment so that is great. In the summer we plan to have a BBQ and the night we move in there will be a move in party / drinking at the Mt. Shadow.

I move in May 1st.

Here’s a map of where we live.

An Athiests Delimma

Well we no longer have to write dailies for CMPT 376, it wasn’t hard as I just kept posting like normal.

Anyways I found this awesome video from a blog called Unreasonable Faith:

Basically it is people acting out what Fundamentalists have said on online forums. This video lead me to this site called Fundies Say The Darnedest Things, which is quite a funny read if you have time.

Also, for more lulz, a funny pic I found.

Leadership

So I did this really hippy program this year at SFU called LEAD. Basically it earned my Certificate in Innovative Leadership. I must say I learnt nothing useful in this program, everything they taught was tips and tricks you should have already learnt and basically I wasted a year of my life.

Here are the eight workshops I had to do:

1. Negotiation – When you want to negotiate with someone, think about what the other person wants to help you get what you want.
2. Story Telling – … can’t remember learning anything.
3. Feedback – Don’t be a dick when you give feedback.
4. Leadership Summit – Be careful what you put on Facebook, as people can view it and get a bad image of you.
5. Whale Rider – Nothing, we didn’t watch this movie, instead we talked about something we learnt in the year, I had nothing so I had to make something up.
6. Followership – To be a good leader you need to be a good follower (sort of true, but how they presented this workshop I completely disagree with them). We made origami swans for two hours
7. Speaking with Confidence – Can’t remember learning anything.
8. Growing Your Career – We picked words that described us, matched them on a chart and then tried to make a pyramid shape.

Basically, this program was not worth it, don’t ever bother doing it.