Updates to this site:
![[RSS syndication file]](/i/rss.png){kind=small}
Quick links: Academic | Books | Colour | CV | Twitter
In glorious mono from Roncesvalles, Toronto, and Victoria, B.C., it's Episode 6 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by the letters 生 and 日 and by Torx screwdrivers. In this episode, SPAM-flavoured macadamia nuts steal the show.
(7 February 2010)In glorious mono from Roncesvalles, Toronto, and Hilo, Hawaii, it's Episode 5 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by Grace Kola Champagne and by ILOG CPLEX. In this episode I play the last of the Hawaiian tape, covering my tour of the volcanic landscape.
(31 January 2010)In glorious mono from Roncesvalles, Toronto, and Hilo, Hawaii, it's Episode 4 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by Tuong Ot Toi Viet Nam, and by the words 早い and 速い. This episode features more Hawaiian tapes, and some thoughts on alcohol - in Buddhism, and in Norse neopaganism.
(24 January 2010)In glorious mono from Roncesvalles, Toronto, and Hilo, Hawaii, it's Episode 3 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum, and PC New Wave Cola. In this episode, I continue the travelogue, and give the whole Internet advertising thing really a deeper analysis than it's probably worth. Don't miss it.
(17 January 2010)In glorious mono from Roncesvalles and High Park, Toronto, it's Episode 2 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by the VL-878 pocket-sized audio device and the Ensoniq AudioPCI. In this episode I take a trip to the park, walk the labyrinth, and talk along the way about faith, magic, and whether reality exists. Don't miss it. ETA: Now in ever-more-glorious mono! It turns out that I put a file in the wrong directory and as a result, what went up on the site on the 10th was an early draft instead of the fully edited and cleaned-up version. That explains some of the complaints I got despite the big effort I'd put into cleaning it up - I thought the people involved were just being pricks, but no, it turns out that what they heard wasn't the glorious version that I'd worked on. So, if you had trouble listening to episode 2 before, give it a try again now.
(10 January 2010)I should be allowed to set up a hidden camera at the doorstep of the Dundas West subway station in Toronto, which is across the street from the local Catholic school, and take photos up the skirts of teenage girls (or anybody else wearing a skirt) as they enter and leave the building.
(6 January 2010)In glorious mono from Roncesvalles, Toronto and Hilo, Hawaii, it's Episode 1 of Doc Skala's Old-Time Variety Hour, brought to you by El Yucateco Green Habanero Sauce, and the letters ン and ソ. Detailed summary and download link below the cut. Free registration required, to keep out the bots.
(3 January 2010)I recently converted my system to KDE 4, because some software I wanted to run required it. I'm less than impressed: it seems the developers decided to break a bunch of things that were not broken, in the name of progress. That's the sort of thing I expect from commercial operations who need to justify every new version as new and different; I hope for more stability from free software. Here are some notes on making the new system livable.
(11 December 2009)Bob Altemeyer at the University of Manitoba has been doing research on the sexual habits of Canadian youth - specifically, the persons who end up in his first-year psychology class. This kind of data is notoriously difficult to collect. About all you can do is ask people to fill out surveys, and there are a lot of reasons for them to lie or for the sample to be biased. If we're going to talk intelligently, and especially, if we're going to make policy, on these issues, then we had damn well better get accurate information about what is really going on. The sample chapters of Altemeyer's book go into considerable detail on just why studies of sexual behaviour are difficult to do right... and why he thinks his own studies are likely to be some of the most accurate available. Those sample chapters also present some of the results, and they're worth reading and thinking hard about. Some of the numbers are surprising; notably, the percentages among the male and female 19-year-olds polled who had had sexual intercourse at all. See if you can guess those two numbers, then look it up and see how you did. If you're really daring, try posting your guesses in the comments before you follow the link - though, of course, there's no way we could ensure you do that honestly.
I haven't read the rest of the book yet; I'm planning to order it from Lulu when I get back from my trip so that it won't arrive while I'm gone. As you know I'm less than thrilled about Lulu's recent behaviour, but I still think it's preferable to buy the book through them instead of Amazon because that way more of the proceeds will end up being passed through to Dr. Altemeyer, who is donating the money to a scholarship fund. (9 December 2009)