arkadia is ti blame for this.

Pick one word from each pair that you think describes me the best and comment with your choices. Then copy this and post it in your own journal to see how your friends view you.

* dominant or submissive
* logical or intuitive
* social or loner
* kinky or vanilla
* cute or sophisticated
* kitten or puppy
* warm flannel sheets or sleek satin
* leader or follower
* quiet or talkative
* spontaneous or planned
* teddy bear or porcelain doll
* hiking or window shopping
* tequila or vodka
* top or bottom
* bare foot or shoes
* jeans or slacks
* tender or rough
* aware or dreamy
* nerd or jock
* brains or brawn
* common sense or book smarts

It's the people who get married at a waffle house

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/ftp/multimedia/waffleweddingx/publish_to_web/

So one year ago I passed my final test and was informed of it in the hallway, in which I shouted in exhaltation enough that people 50 feet away could hear. Now after one year of a supposed full-on run towards research I have a laughable amount of progress towards my thesis, only slight progress in learning French, but I'm doing great in service work and coding not related to my thesis.

( In which Ryan bitches about his advisor )

So once I get back from Oregon, I gotta work on analysis and the tiny project I'm also doing. I can't wait to do work upon real data and not simulation.

Anyone who has had any plans to be a Soccer fan should follow Euro Cup 2008 this month. In particular, be a fan of Turkey and watch the Turkey/Czech Republic game that happened last night.

I myself bought a ticket yesterday and went with a crowd of Turks including my roommate. The entire day was an insane trip of superfandom I haven't encountered since UCSB. Thanks football for making everyone a college undergrad again.

It's sad that someone like this would be let onto national television, but it's another example of why anyone still rooting for Bush is a complete idiot.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/14/clinton/index.html

This article points out that she's trying to get her supporters to rethink threatening or committing to voting for McCain in the general is Clinton loses. It looks hopefully like she'll participate in all the primaries, and probably run a nicer campaign. Whether she'll drop out before the convention or wait for the math to decide is another issue entirely.

Steven Levitt recently finished all the Harry Potters and found he didn't like The Golden Compass. A deluge of suggestions, most being "suck it up and read more of Golden Compass." I think this is either the wrong approach or the wrong series to suggest. I know a few people were suggested Robert Jordan, but I think only Terry and Amber stuck with it to book #11. Also, Zack and I tried to drop American Gods onto our respective fathers' laps, and I think both of them failed to finish it.
Is Robert Jordan or Neil Gaiman not the right choice? What would be?

Don't worry about suggestions for me, I recently have heard too much good about George RR Martin's series that I just picked it up (15 Francs for a paperback, ouch).

EDIT: Zack's parents apparently both read American Gods and at least his mom liked it.

So I spent both days this weekend travelling to play magic, and it was great. While at the second, I realized that my carful of people were the only Genevan players around, and so probably that we were representing switzerland at the time. It was then that I came up with the idea of a Captain Planet like team, except each person represented a language spoken in Switzerland.

Swissketeer French: Fashionable Timepieces, can manipulate time. Female in haute coutoure wear.
Swissketeer German: Banking, has an infinite supply of cash. Male, in business suit.
Swissketeer Italian: Extreme Sports, especially mountain ones. Female in sport clothes.
Swissketeer English: Overbearing media and diplomatic immunity. Male, in unfashionable clothes.
Swissketeer Romanish: Power of adherence to tradition. Male, homespun gray clothes.

With their powers combined (but mostly French and German's power), a man entirely in Red with a giant white cross on his chest will appear.

All of this is so cool, it's such a shame that none of them have anyone to pick a fight with.

Edit: Megan has made the awesomest contribution by suggesting that they are instead like the Spice Girls. The Swiss Girls, or something. I like it.

Should you wear a helmet while biking around in cities? I've been hassled on this one for time immemorial and I wanted to share my honest opinions on this one.
First off, I rarely do wear a helmet when biking around towns or cities. I always wear a helmet mountain biking and on huge road biking ventures. Probably the #1 reason I don't wear a helmet is because it prevents me from immediately getting on my bike and going off to wherever. The second reason, and a damn good one for cities, is that I'm worried about me losing it or it being stolen (has happened before to me). Lastly, I just love the feel of wind rushing through my hair. Sounds stupid, but the best way for me to get my hair to look good is to take a 15 minute bike ride.
Now the arguments for the helmet are always about safety. However, I think to place all of your safety trust in a device around your head is quite stupid. Instead, you should learn how to bike well, which really sums up to two things:
1) Avoid crashes. Being fully aware of the surroundings is key, and I find that I'm able to do so easier without a helmet. Either way, good bikers will crash a lot less than inexperienced ones
2) Learn how to crash well. Since undergrad, I've biked a lot without a helmet and I've had my share of crashes and falls. Outside of mountain biking, I've never hit my head. There were periods in undergrad while I was learnign rule #1 where I'd never have an scar-free knee or something, and that was because I could manage any crash, even the 15 mph ones with bad brakes.

So I do believe that biking with a helmet is safer than without, but I think that learning to bike without a helmet will make you much safer whether you don it or not. Also I think the benefits for city biking do not outweigh the problems.