Tuesday 26 March, 2002 at 2:41AM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (2)

Ok this person is just sad. No, strike that, make it pathetic. Background info: there was a program (I use that word loosely) that was on tv an hour or so ago called Elimidate.

I think the name pretty much describes what it is, but here is how they describe themselves:

Combining the most intriguing elements of the new wave of reality shows and traditional dating strips, this all-new half-hour comedy dating series simultaneously pits four suitors against one another for the hand of one lucky single on a group date. These candidates, three of whom will be eliminated over the course of the game, need to outflirt, outsmart and outlast their competition using their wit, charm and sex appeal. Their strategy should ultimately ensure that they're the one left standing when the dating dust has settled.

Ok, maybe they should add 'out-bullshit' into that statement. Tonight the 'episode' (actually, tragedy would be a better word) consisted of one male and four females. So far, so good - at least it was, until one of the female contestants opened her mouth.

This contestant with the far out hippy throw-back type name delivered loudly in a strange accent that she was from New Zealand. Well, that got my attention. She then added that she was from the island in the north that has a population of twenty thousand people. One can only presume she meant the North Island of New Zealand - population of around 2.5 million at least. That really got my attention.

By this stage I'm saying to the tv, IceQueen, the room in general, and in fact anyone who cares to listen, that this person is completely full of shit. I start listening a bit more closely to this strange accent she has, and realize quickly that whatever it is, it sure as hell isn't a NZ accent. It sounded like someone trying to imitate a London (British) accent who's been living in Australia for too long, moved to South Africa for about a year, and then spent the next ten years in the USA desperately trying to keep the foreign accent because they think it makes them sound groovy. To my ear it was just some winner with no idea trying to imitate what they think a NZ accent would probably sound like.

But wait, there's more! This person was also wearing a lei. For those of you who are culturally ignorant, a lei is a 'necklace' made of flowers which is given as a greeting or welcome to visitors, and I believe originated in Hawaii, although is also common on other South Pacific Islands such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa ...but not New Zealand. So what? So she's wearing a lei? What's the big deal? Well, in itself, absolutely nothing, had she kept her mouth shut. Unfortunately when the sorry guy commented on her lei (no pun intended ..or was it?) our heroine had to come back with, "yes, it is a lei, to remind me of my home country."

What an idiot. I mean, she could have at least done a bit of research first. As I said, the wearing of the lei is not a NZ tradition. I'm surprised the producers of the show don't screen their guests a little more carefully. Whatever. At this stage I stopped paying too much attention to the tv, which is probably the smartest thing I've done all day.

p.s. she was eliminated in the second round.

another sunny day headache

      Thursday 14 March, 2002 at 10:24AM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (0)

It's another sunny day here - around 55°F (13°C) which is pretty good for the time of year. I have been getting headaches fairly regularly since I came to New York and was beginning to get worried about it, but yesterday I think we figured out why. IceQueen's mother gets the same thing, and we both had one yesterday at almost the exact same time.

The theory? Air pressure, or at least, barometric pressure. I didn't often suffer headaches in New Zealand unless it was self-inflicted, but the temperature range in NZ from coldest to hottest is around 25°C from winter to summer (generally speaking,) whereas there can be around a 50°C difference here in NYC. Also, the temperature in NYC can fluctuate very rapidly within a small period of time, unlike NZ. For example, recently there was a day recently that started with around 30°F in the morning, and by the afternoon it was hitting 70°F (that's about 23°C difference in just a few hours) and the corresponding change in barometric pressure explains it. Not much I can do about it other than take an aspirin. Interesting though. Presumably I'll adapt eventually.

Did you know meerkats make really good house 'pets' ? Apparently they are really social and enjoy the company of humans. I think it's all a big plot to take over the world. Don't say you weren't warned.

the color of the universe

      Tuesday 12 March, 2002 at 10:59PM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (2)

Here's something you wouldn't think about too often: the color of the universe. If you could take a couple of steps 'outside' the universe and look at it, what color would it be? My first reaction was to think that it's mostly empty, so in the absence of anything (including light), what's left is just a void, therefore the color of the universe is primarily black, except for some really bright bits here and there. The problem with this is that technically speaking, black is not really a color at all, but merely the absence of the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum. At the other end, technically speaking, white is not a color either, but rather the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum. Whatever. With this in mind, one would be forced to think the universe is therefore mostly colorless, at which point many people would develop a slight headache, shrug their shoulders and say "who gives a toss anyway?" and walk away to do something far more constructive.

Not so in the case of a few intrepid astronomers at Johns Hopkins University.

It seems that 'mostly black or colorless' would be the wrong answer. It also seems that some people do actually give a toss about what color the universe is. Two months ago, this group of astronomers ran calculations through a spectrum of color schemes and concluded that on average the universe is pale turquoise, or just a shade greener (seriously). That's not the end of it though. This same group of astronomers now say that in reality the color of the universe, it turns out, is not so vivid after all. The universe is actually beige. Who would've thunk?

"We had a bug in our code," Dr. Glazebrook said in an interview. "The effect of the bug was to shift the color of everything toward the green. That's really embarrassing for us." ...really.

The astronomers, perhaps in denial, quibbled over whether the color was really beige or something even lighter, and in order to retain some self-respect, have labeled the color "IL1E Gamma". Good one guys. Photoshop identifies the hex value as #FFF8E7, just for your information.

Your tax dollar at work in a beige universe. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn't it?

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