This is proof-positive, my friends, that life is WAAAAY better as a musical:

Yes, it’s “Dr. Horrible“, which I’ve been harping on about to anyone who will listen for the last few days.

Cher Monsieur le site web d’Archambault :

Vous ne marchez pas très bien. Il se trouve qu’il faut cliquer sur les liens au moins deux ou trois fois pour accéder aux pages suivantes. Je ne sais pas s’il s’agit du logiciel qu’on emploie ou si vous n’aimez simplement pas les anglophones.

Je ne veux qu’acheter deux dictionnaires. Ça ne devrait pas être difficile…

Je vous prie d’accepter, Monsieur, l’éxpression de mes salutations distinguées.

Une cliente frustrée

ETA: Okay, I take it back. Archambault, you are awesome! I love that you will send me a free Bescherelle with my dictionaries. Never mind the fact that I have never used a Bescherelle in my life. I also love that you are selling Le Petit Robert 2009 for just over half the price of the university bookstore. AND WITH FREE SHIPPING.

This story about teachers in one school being allowed to carry concealed firearms scares me. A lot.

But then again, what do I know? I’m just a bleeding-heart-liberal Canadian.

I have just wasted the past two hours of my life watching What the Bleep Do We Know?! I’d heard about this movie sometime after its initial release and got interested because, well, it purported to be a movie about quantum physics. And reality. This was about the time of my Matrix phase, so it seemed like a perfect fit. I never did get to go see it in theatres, but when I saw it on the library shelf the other day…

Well, it seemed harmless enough at the time.

First of all: Yeah, I harp on about misrepresentations of science a lot. I know. I can’t help it. And no, I’m not a physicist. But I have had to suffer through my share of physics-thinly-veiled-as-chemistry courses, which gives me a decent enough base to tell you this:

Most of what is in that movie is complete and utter bunk.

To be fair, it’s not all bad–things like Feynman’s path integral are adequately treated–but it’s the wacko, Rhonda Byrne Secret-like propaganda that gives me the shivers.

Look, physical reality exists. It’s kind of funky that atoms (and by extension, all matter) are mostly empty space, but when a supposedly insubstantial rock hits a supposedly insubstantial you, it still hurts. It’s not because you think it hurts. Frankly, this quantum-new-age-solipsism really, really bothers me. If reality were as simple as willing it into existence, the world would be completely different.

The experiments with the labelled water are actually a perfect example of “You will find what you seek, if only because you’re completely blind to everything else” which is emphasized at length in the first part of the movie. The photos look like snowflakes to me, so I think they’re of frozen water… and you know what they say about snowflakes! No two alike. You could easily find a “Love” snowflake in the “I will kill you” water and vice versa.

I need to look up that Washington, D.C. study which supposedly reduced crime rates by 25%, but somehow I doubt that claim can be substantiated.

But the most grating aspect of the film was the presentation of JZ Knight–channeling “Ramtha”–as an expert. It got to the point where everytime she was onscreen, I muttered, “What are you talking about?” The tipping point was when she talked about how we have wonderful technology these days–”antigravity magnets and zero-point energy”–which prompted a quick, “WOMAN, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT ZERO-POINT ENERGY IS?!” (Hint: it’s not a technology we’re going to be harnessing anytime soon.)

I also have issues with electrons “winking into and out of existence”. Remember, I’m a chemist(-in-training). Despite what anyone else will tell you, much of chemistry is concerned with what those flaky electrons are doing at a given moment. Electrons are the basis of chemical bonds. Chemical bonds define molecules. Molecules define… well, you get the picture. The idea that they just arbitrarily disappear is a little much. If the filmmakers are trying to get the point across that we don’t really know whether an electron is a particle or a wave (hint: it’s both!), they needn’t have resorted to such misleading statements.

Then again, I’m not really sure what the point of this film was. Promotion of positive thinking? Inspiring Rhonda Byrne to write The Secret? Persuading the general population that JZ Knight is really Ramtha, whose theories have been validated by academics?

Scientific accuracy aside, all the random CG sequences were quite annoying, and seemed to serve no purpose other than the wow the viewer (and possibly lull them into ascribing more authority than deserved to the film? Hmmm.)

Anyway. I didn’t know bleep, but at least now you do.

The one and only webcomic I read regularly is xkcd. (There’s a reason why I keep going back: it’s just that good. Most of the time.)

So when Vienna posts this tweet, I’m strangely pleased to find that we have something in common.

I wonder, though, what she thinks of the title-text in the latest installment: ‘I’m nothing without you’ is a fucked-up sentiment.

The little girl who lives down the street and who my mother babysits occassionally, is SO CUTE. She’s playing outside her house as I walk by. When I stop and say to her dad, she turns, looks at me, points, and yells “嬸嬸!” (”Auntie!”)–her name for my mother. She shuffles over to me and says, “要去嬸嬸!”‘ (”Wanna go to Auntie’s!”)

The day before, I had arrived at home to see her there, and was told “She’s been here an hour or so–saw 嬸嬸 on the street and followed her home, and wouldn’t go home with her dad, either.”

SO. CUTE.

I think the world record thing is kind of hokey, but… it is Firefox we’re talking about, after all.

Help set a world record. Download Firefox 3.0.

EDIT: I enjoy Firefox 3.0. It’s faster, and I haven’t encountered a single bug so far! It’s like Firefox 2.0… but a little older, wiser, and with a few battle scars. I kind of miss my unbeveled menus.

Several notes from the concert last night:

• I can see why the act at 7 has won Félix awards. He’s got a very rich voice; unfortunately, I wasn’t as able to appreciate him as fully since I was really waiting for those who’d be taking the stage at 9.
• I think it’s also kind of amazing how any Francophone accent he has completely disappears when he’s singing in English.
• Fifteen minutes of speeches before the main attraction is not a good idea. Especially when your first two speakers don’t speak French all that well. (The Francophones behind me were snickering–as was I, admittedly, having been caught at this very error once–at the pronunication of “qualité.” En français, on dit “ka”, pas “kwa”.) There was also his infamous “Dansons! Chassons! Mangeons!” (”Let’s drink! Hunt! Eat!”)
• That being said, the third speaker was able to read the growing impatience, and said: “J’ai préparé un long discours, mais devant cette foule, je n’ai plus de discours.” (Cue cheer from the crowd.)
• Concerts are bad for me, as I tend to spend way too much money at them. Still, the tickets were cheap–$25–and I only picked up two CD’s and a shoulder bag (and a couple pins….) I suppose this does mean I don’t need to buy a bag anymore!
• I admire the trust of the lead singer, who stage-dove and crowd-surfed in the middle of the set. This is a big man, too!
• The bassist had good taste in shirts. It’s a takeoff of the old stick-in-rink Canucks logo, but with a guitar instead of a hockey stick. I can only assume he’s aware of the reference.
• The kids to my left (and yeah, they were kids, no more than 13 or 14, if that) were a bit annoying. At one point a beach ball was being passed around, and they wanted to over to the side, where they were–so I kept hearing cries of “ici!” and “hé, le ballon!” as well as near-misses as they tried for the ball which remained desperately out of reach.
• Security was quick! Towards the end of the night, a guy jumped onto the stage and was immediately whisked away by two guards. I didn’t even see where they came from.
• There was a bizarre call-and-response sequence which I think ended with us chanting “Roberto Luongo”.
• This was an outdoor concert. I kind of wonder where the residents of the nearby retirement community were yesterday evening.

This (ad? publicity spot? something else?) video is quite hilarious.

I’ve finally upgraded my Wordpress installation from oh–two years ago, when I first moved my blog to undreamt.org. Please let me know if you encounter anything amiss.

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I’ve also just realized that I’ve had my blog for close to six years. Ah, memories. I feel old.