Logicon 2013

Wow, it's been a long time since I've been this way.  Walking through Chemistry East (um... I think they still call it that) I could see attempts to soften the look of the concrete walls - there's now science inspired art!  These paintings clearly show benzene love.  But, not there wasn't much time to admire them closely or for long because I was late!

I arrived at CCIS (the new building) just in time to have missed Kelly Arbeau's "Creating our Visual World: How Expectation Drives Object Recognition" the first talk of Day Two (Track 1) of Logicon 2013.  Paul and Alan had been in the session and they thought it was interesting.  

Oh, how disappointing it was to have missed it, but there was more to come.  Three tracks with speakers simultaneously presenting in different rooms, I was again overwhelmed with choice.  (And feeling regret for not getting my butt in gear to attend a part of Day One as well.)

Eventually, I decided to to go with Wade Kelly's "Becoming a Scientist Evangelist: Spreading the Nerd Love".  He started his talk describing his interest and love for science, but how studying the arts had effectively put him into the "arts silo" -- campus had been set up so that arts and sciences were housed in the different buildings and students rarely had reason to mix.  This seemed to the case even after graduating (see these adverts).  As a result, to feed his love he needed to actively seek out science.  What he found was wonderful -- things that enhanced his reading list and even his appreciation for art.  But one needed to look.  He then introduced Nerd Nite Edmonton, which he co-founded, where people who love science (and other areas of nerdery) can hear three experts in their field give a presentation on their passion, and have a drink.  Hm... definitely interesting.  He concluded with a quote from Marsha Amanova, "Anyone who knows anything about anything knows that everything overlaps." Another reason why collaboration is important.

Next I went to Patricio Mendez's talk on "The Science of Welding".  The first thing he addressed was that welding was completely different from soldering (which was the very mistake I'd made).  Soldering was like pasting two things together, while welding was actually melding / fusing two things together. To do this temperatures similar to that of the sun are required and the physical "plasma" state was achieved. I also didn't know the level of research going into this happening right at the U of A.  Neat.

Next up was Paul's talk "Group theory and the Number of Sudoku Grids". I have to admit that even though he'd explained parts of it to me before, I still didn't understand all of it.  However, there were quite a few people in the audience who seemed to have no trouble following along and had some pretty intelligent questions at the end.  

I took the slightly earlier end of the talk to catch the end of Desiree Schell's "Reading Between The (head) Lines: Separating the Bluster from the Breakthroughs in Science Media".  Rachelle was there too answering questions and there I learned about their podcast Skeptically Speaking. Will definitely have to check that out. 

Rem's talk "Gödel’s Incompleteness and the Strange Troubles at the Logical Heart of Mathematics" made things incredibly uncertain... but it was fabulously brain-twisting and entertaining.  

I'd like to think that after this half a day I was somehow smarter, but I know I wasn't.  What did have was were a number of new topics and resources to sink my teeth into.  I'm looking forward to the next one already.

Trapture

"It's boring."
"What?!  No, it's a fun game.". 

What I didn't realise when I protested and eventually convinced (without much fight) Kevin to lend it to me, was that this wasn't the same game.

From afar it looked like it, but Trapture was not Blokus (the Trigon edition being the one I've actually played).  But I think I might be forgiven: They're made by the same people! 

Paul was impressed by the instructions.  The rules were simple, the objective clear (only later did we stumble on understanding how to break ties). 

The kids joined us for a couple of games.  Coconut being very effective as barrier so we couldn't see what pieces were left to be played. 

Though I much prefer Blokus, I have to say for a game marketed as educational for the over 6-years-old it was still pretty fun for us.  But maybe sometimes we did overthink the moves just a little. 

Notes from the Weekend

Saturday

Groceries!  Paul does all the heavy shopping while I sit in the car and wait.  I listened to Wiretap.  This was my view:

Back at home, Paul works on his latest assignment for his course.  One thing my random stuff is good for: Props! 

Coconut and House Hippo stepped up to be models as part of his very interesting shoot (below).

Sunday

Monica volunteered to give me a ride, so I joined in to meet for Lorena's birthday dinner.  But on the way to our house, Monica got into an accident!  (Rear-ended at a stop sign - minimal damage, no injuries.)  All signs pointed to: Stay at home! 

Paul's cold was much worse.  He called Chris D to pick up his music for his substitute at the next rehearsal.  When he arrived, he stayed just outside the door.  We are the plague house. 

A Tasty Valentine's

Roses are red,
Violets are purple,
Which is a very hard word to rhyme
And makes me happy that on February the 14th we don't traditionally have to give each other oranges.

~ Neil Gaiman, Small Valentine's Day Poem

In the "more than one bird can be disposed of with one stone" way, I booked our wedding venue tasting for Valentine's Day.  This was not a problem for them (extra points!), but unfortunately, it turned out to be a problem for me: I had / have a cold.  We forged on -- Paul did the heavy tasting. 

It was certainly different from my tasting experience at the Shaw.  Instead of little plates of each of the different items available, we were told to try the buffet which had (almost) all the menu items we were considering. 

Paul took a tray and gave his plate a spin (on the actual night, we'll most likely not have spinning plates).  We then ate and talked, and I made notes.  Despite my snuffed nose, everything still tasted pretty good: A very good sign. 

Paul did a good deed.  And then, though we'd agreed with some of the good points Rem had made why one should  ignore Valentine's day*, we exchanged gifts. 

He didn't have to, but he gave me an orange (perfect for popping) and sweet hibous. 

Countdown: 3 months + 1 week + 3 Days = 100 days!
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* The part I agreed with the most was the closing suggestion not to ignore: "...expand the holiday instead of ignoring it. Celebrating love is a good thing, and one could celebrate the love in all relationships, instead of just focusing on romantic relationships." 

Valentine's Day along with Random Acts of Kindness Week (this year 13-19 February) are for me reminders to be mindful of just that.

In Which Stephanie's Birthday is Feasted

Erik: You're a year behind.
Me: I have FIVE days!

Though I should have probably been hard at work at the computer to get my blog up to date, I decided that Steph's birthday Feast would be more fun.  I was right. 

Rem made lentils and salad collide, and helped define "unimaginably large" (where the number and it's square give the same emotional impact). 

 

 

 

Then he made his handmade perogies go splash!

Steph played with her birthday present from Rem. 

And we all talked. 

About socks:

Paul: Friday... Freida, who's a red-head... carrot-top... orange.
Steph: What is Tuesday then?













About French relatives:

Paul: I had an auntie, but she's now British.
Steph: How horrible!

Erik, as usual, didn't like being photographed, but seemed to have a small smile for me while posing with Ralph (the duck).

Steph opened presents. 

We found out "How's your father" is a noun.  So, how's a little "how's your father" ?

Steph proved and the packaging is sometimes more fun that thing inside. 

 

And I found out reasons why running is like smoking:

 

1. It's addictive

2. It's expensive

3. It makes you smell

4. It makes you go outside in the cold for no particular good reason

5. It makes you look dangerous

6. You start (and continue) because of peer pressure.