Mushroom Lab, etc

I stayed 50 minutes on a 15 minute demonstration lab and was the last one to leave. Mother was right when she said I have great potential to be a teacher's pet...if I weren't already one.

I can hardly be blamed for being interested and like listening to random mushroom facts, now can I?

Almost fell asleep in Calc. Proves that brain's already on vacation mode. But yay, good things to come during thanksgiving (I hope).

There are a lot of crazy hallucinogenic mushroom worshippers out there. Their websites are rather...cracky.

News: UCLA Taser Incidence.

It wasn't necessarily racial profiling like Tabatabainejad claimed, but it does seem like the police was overreacting. Tabatabainejad was not cooperative (had his ID card but didn't show it to the CSOs, according to ABC7), and calling the police is standard procedure. For other students' safety, they should assume that he's not one. However, I don't believe that suspected troublemakers should be manhandled. Especially if said troublemaker was already heading out the door, student or no.

Is it an unofficial "standard procedure" to escort someone with bodily contact because of safety issues in L.A.? I, for one, am not exactly comfortable with physical contact, even in everyday situations. Given that Tabatabainejad was probably feeling a bit ruffled from the assumed racial profiling, I wouldn't be surprise that he refused police contact at all. Now, if he was really heading out the door, then why didn't keep their hands off him, since he was walking out already?

Were the police's way to escort wayward citizens (or fugitives) usual for them but is an act that Tabatabainejad wasn't used to? That seems to be a rather possible cause. He could also be just making trouble, in which case the police shouldn't resond with a Taser anyway. He was non-cooperative by sitting on the floor; he wasn'tactively resisting the police by struggling to get away. A resistance passive enough to not justify the Taser, in my book.

I think in one of the sources I listed below mentioned one officer threatening the eyewitness who asked for the officer's name and badge number with the Taser. Is that a form of crowd control that they're used to? The crowd that formed around the police and Tabatabainejad probably made the police nervous.

Interestingly, the one who videotaped the clip didn't go forward to get a clear view of what happened, probably out of fear of getting punished. Most didn't seem to have a mind to record it. Sociology is such a fascinating subject, really. Humans are rather interesting.

So my view of the whole thing is this: both sides overreacted and didn't respond properly. It's not that one side is evil and cruel or the other is "just asking for it," but this seems to be based on miscommunication.

...Despite being familiar with the internet and some related technologies, I'm still amazed by its reach and spread. It's like the HK "Bus Uncle" video..except with a lot less entertainment and quite a bit more news value.


■ 20061115 Daily Bruin (UCLA school newspaper): Student shot with Taser by UCPD officers
■ 20061115 ABC7 (+video news clip): Student Tasered By UCLA Police Department
■ 20061116 LA Times: A third incident, a new video
■ 20061117 LA Times: UCLA student stunned by Taser plans suit
■ 20061117 ABC7 (+video news clip): UCLA Acting Chancellor Agrees to Independent Probe of Taser Gun Incident
■ 20061117 SJ Mercury News: AP Wire - Angry UCLA students demand probe of Taser incident

■ Youtube: UCLA Student Tasered by Police in Library

News: Cracked it!

■ Guardian Unlimited: "Three million Britons have been issued with the new hi-tech passport, designed to frustrate terrorists and fraudsters. So why did Steve Boggan and a friendly computer expert find it so easy to break the security codes?"

(Link found through furiosity's LJ)

News: Pentagon Reclassifies Homosexuality

■ Pentagon Reclassifies Homosexuality

Not classified like mental disorders now, but still =\

I walked out of the stairway from Hutchinson basement (where the computer lab is) at 18:30 and it's pitch black out there. Being in the SLB since 14:00, I didn't bring a flashlight (not that it would have helped much), and was a less assured than otherwise.

When I passed by Cruess, I saw the black kitty again. Amy and I saw her(?) last right outside of Regan Hall area, when we were walking back from dinner. She had a collar and a tag back then. I've forgotten her name.

She's completely black with long, thick, silky fur and a bushy tail. Declawed, very tame and floppy. I stayed with it for a bit while it catched spiders or some other insect, and later picked it up and carried it closer to Regan. She seemed to like me enough, running off a little then comming back to run against me. At one point she went into the water drain on the side of the road, which scared me a bit until she popped back up, the drain apparently not too deep. Then it saw something in one of the olive tree trunks, but didn't find anything. Too bad I didn't have any food with me then. I'll go snatch some turkey and stuff for her later at lunch &heart;

After a while I got really hungry and had to leave...

This morning I saw her again...and scared her with my bike. Just a little.

I'm hungry now, only have had a can of clam chowder this morning. I'll return; I still have to research for a paper due Weds.

(The person in front of me is using AIMexpress...how did she do that?!)
EDIT 12:22: Heh, nevermind, I can just go on meebo.

What I Do and What I Don't Do

My self hatred is not unfounded. It makes perfect sense. Whether I decide to do something or doesn't do something makes me wonder if I shouldn't have or should have later no. So either way, I second guess myself. I know there's nothing I can do to change it, but I can't help it.

Because I can make mistakes any way I choose.

And I hate myself for it.

Sometimes I don't think about it. I tell myself and everybody that it's alright, I'm not worried. It helps, sometimes.

I'm afraid of myself and what I can do. Stehapnie said everybody now is fake because they don't have an identity anymore. What if my identity is fake to begin with? Then does it still matter?

Some people are what they are. I'm envious of them.

I know I'm selfish, annoying, and all other things. So I hide them. It might've helped. But now I'm afraid that once anybody sees...they'll leave.

I keep thinking, "be careful. You don't deserve this, so don't take it for granted."

This stuff is not making any sense. Hunger is preventing me from even angsting properly.

Power Supply Died, yet again.

"new" power supply found in Fry's parking lot →
didn't buy a new one →
didn't really work, but Father stuck it in the computer anyway →
next day →
computer wouldn't turn on! →
but it did after lunch →
kept computer on for until Friday →
turned it off because it was getting slow →
Saturday: wouldn't turn on →
Sunday: it's still dead.

I Just Woke Up

Looked out the window, and it's raining.

Dammit. No wonder it was actually warm last night.

Time to go get one of those bicycle cover things. At least the bike's under some overhang now.

Guess I should go brush my teeth and stuff...can't bike today.