Update XXIX: Ice Cream in Winter

...There's twenty-nine of these things? Seriously?

Ice cream is good in any season. Even when it's too cold. Also, double chocolate ice-cream on a warm brownie. Can you ask for more?

Three-minute thesis competitions pose an interesting challenge. The idea is to summarise one's own PhD thesis for a non-specialist audience in just three minutes, backed up by a single PowerPoint slide. This is hard enough as it is, but the competitive element means that one has to stand out against everyone else in some way.

Standing out is the key phrase. Most people approach the three-minute thesis by trying to describe as much of their data as possible in an articulate manner. Unfortunately, data on its own isn't particularly interesting, not to a lay audience to whom everyone's work would sound almost equally incomprehensible. What then has to become interesting is the speaker. The speaker must display their passion for their work as they describe it, and thus inspire the audience as well.

It isn't easy. In standard article or report-writing, the speaker has to become detached from their work. They must appear as a non-entity, objectively testing aspects of the world for the truth. However, for a talk, the speaker is as much a part of the presentation as the slides are. And for a competitive presentation, it is personality which makes one stand out.

So anyway, all this boils down to a three-minute talk I had to deliver earlier today. Designing it was an interesting experience, and people afterwards told me that they didn't expect that sort of thing from me. Hey, I can put on a show when I need to. And I did win.

It can be quite jarring when the sun shines into your room, warming it gently - but the minute you step outside, you are plunged into icy air. On the one hand, I suppose I should be grateful for my apartment's good insulation. On the other hand... As if it wasn't hard enough trying to dress according to Melbourne's temperamental weather!

Why is Bacon So Delicious?

If anyone knows the answer, please tell me.

(I would speculate that it has to do with significant glutamate, salt and fat content, combined with ease of preparation and perhaps a touch of peer influence amplified through the Internet.)

Actually, I feel a bit sick after looking at those links. The "bacon explosion" does not look appetizing at all. And normally I love ThinkGeek, but that scarf. Urgh.

I'm going to go eat some kiwifruit now. Kiwifruit is the opposite of bacon, didn't you know?

I Think I'm in Love

Marry me, Kaito! I'm willing to overlook the fact that you're not a real person!

(No, not really. Besides, even if it was possible to marry a computer program, I'd have far too much competition as far as any of the Vocaloids are concerned.)

(For those of you who had a heart attack upon reading the title - Ha ha!)

(I <3 Kaito)

Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, Pirates

Or Pirates 4. :)

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides was a great, fun movie. I think a problem with the previous two movies was that they had too much plot baggage, with Dead Man's Chest setting it up and At World's End trying to resolve it. In contrast, On Stranger Tides had that light, "first movie of the series" feel. It helps that you don't really need to have watched the previous films to enjoy this one, since it has largely new characters and re-establishes the personalities of the existing characters quite early on.

Another thing is that Jack is back to being largely in control, and one step ahead of everybody. And isn't watching Jack pull off yet another daring, showy escape one of the main attractions of the series?

So, good movie. Watch it. Just not in 3D (it's pointless).

Just No

Ever been invited to something, and agreed to go, only to realise that they were only asking out of politeness and fully expected you to refuse?

So! Add that to the list of reasons why I hate lies of any shade. The seemingly harmless ones can be the most hurtful.

Gee, where did all that time go.

A Tea Story

There are three things I have an excessive passion for, leading me to be very cautious around them, for fear that I will spend all my money on them without realising it. Markers, scarves and tea.

That I enjoy tea should not come as a surprise. My mother loved tea herself, and did her best to pass it down to her children. Although for me the love came late, when at the age of seven I realised that the only reason I disliked the taste of tea was the milk which everyone insisted on adding. Milk tends to block certain aromas, due to certain fats and proteins which make up the colloid. When I stopped adding milk to my tea, a whole range of delicate flavours suddenly appeared.

It got worse, of course, when I came to Australia and found that Twinings sold a range of different tea blends - and all in inoffensive little packs of ten. Suddenly, I was addicted. I had to try every flavour! Over a space of two years I gained new favourites. The calm Earl Grey. The intense, almost meaty Lapsang Souchong. The grape-like Darjeeling, the bright, fruity Lady Grey, the spicy Chai.

One tea which Twinings didn't carry in the little ten-packs was white tea. I also wasn't about to stay with Twinings forever, not when other brands had their own enticing blends. And thus my most recent acquisition is the White Tea with Rose Pods blend from Madame Flavour. It's a very mild tea with just a touch of rose, and is packaged in little silken infusion pods. Perhaps the best part, however, are the little personal notes on the side of the box, and the letter from Madame Flavour herself within the box. You feel that you're buying tea from a person, as opposed to a faceless factory. It helps that the tea really is very good.

The other tea I want to try is blooming tea. It would be interesting to learn how to make the tea balls. And what a lovely gift it would make.

That's Certainly What I Said

A computer which can accurately use innuendo may not sound productive at first, and spending time to develop the necessary software seems like a waste of resources...until you realise that this actually furthers our understanding of how humour works. The essential ingredients which make a joke funny are difficult to distill, and often we may laugh without understanding why. Programming a computer to be able to generate a funny statement in 22 out of 28 attempts is really quite impressive. This sort of research may someday lead to  improved artificial intelligence, and a better understanding of communication.

Also, I suspect the focus on this particular class of humour was not because it was juvenile, but because it was easier for a computer to replicate. Sophisticated humour is harder to spin, even for a human.

In other news, my plant is doing well.