Episode XXIX: Odds & Ends

Do Not Ball In These Shoes

I am anticipating an approaching apparel crisis, unless someone can help me. You see, a few years ago I bought a pair of And1 street shoes, which were just the greatest shoes I have ever worn. A year or two later, I was fortunate enough to get an identical second pair to replace my aging first pair. Now, however, as I once again near shoe-replacement time, this particular shoe seems to have disappeared, both from internet and brick-and-mortar stores. So this is my request: if anyone happens to be shopping and they see a pair of shoes like the ones below (preferably in blue), please let me know immediately. I am looking for a size 9 ½. Thanks!

Trying To Ford the River, My Oxen Died

One day, on my usual trek to lab, I paused at a little rock monument and found that it was a marker for the Oregon Trail. Apparently the trail went right through what is now the university. Little did I know that almost every day I had been walking down a little piece of the Oregon Trail! I am in no way an expert on the Oregon Trail, but I do know that it was the greatest video-game ever back when I was in 5^th grade.

Everything You Know Is Wrong

One of the more interesting scientific articles I have read this year was a statistical analysis showing why Most Published Research Findings are False. In particular, “genetic association” studies (often publicized by the media), as well as “hot” fields where there are many groups working on the same project, are most likely to give false positives. Within the next couple of days, I happened to come across two different practical examples, the first being this article arguing that the influenza vaccine is not nearly as useful as commonly claimed, and the second this inflammatory claim that there is little-to-no scientific data supporting the idea that exercise helps you lose weight.

Episode XVIII: A Modest Proposal

Upon moving into my condo, it struck me for the first time that I have never personally owned my own TV. In fact, the living room felt a little bit naked without one sitting there. So I told myself that as soon as I started missing television, I would go out and buy one. Well guess what? Three months later… and I still don’t miss it a lick. In fact, I find I have more fun now without it.

By way of illustration, here is an overly-exaggerated comparison of an evening at the Jayhawker Towers (which had a TV) and an evening at the condo (which doesn’t):

On a stereotypical evening in at the Jayhawker Towers, I would get back from class and Flynn would be watching Law & Order. I would catch the tail end of it, then watch about half of the following episode before remembering what a depressing waste of time Law & Order really is. I would then go off to my room to get a bit of homework done. Soon I would be distracted by the sound of Flynn watching some random college sport, and I would get sucked into the game; before I knew it, I would have watched two hours-worth of a sport I didn't like, played by two teams I had never even heard of. Later Zack would come in while I was eating dinner and watch some movie, which of course I would have to watch with him. Finally, Zack or Flynn would watch some late-night comedy show on Comedy Central (or even worse, on BET). Only then would I be so turned off by the show that I would go to bed.

On the other hand, a stereotypical evening in at my new TV-free condo would probably go more like this: I would cue up some music- nothing too loud- and cook some dinner (that's right, I said I would cook some dinner). After finishing up the meal I would read the newspaper and a chapter or two of a book, play some guitar (or maybe even violin), do some edifying studying, and maybe have time for some yoga stretches before bed. I can tell you that almost without exception, this kind of itinerary is both more enjoyable and more rewarding than that of the former.

One caveat is that I occasionally use my laptop to play DVDs. However, this brings up another, more quantifiable difference in the quality of movie choice. It has been a lifelong goal of mine to watch every movie that has ever won a Best Picture Academy Award, and I can tell you that I am 41% of the way there. While I watched a ton of movies at the Towers, I only managed to watch one Best Picture the entire school year. Since moving into the condo, however, in a mere three months I have watched seven.

I guess the point is, I feel like my quality of life has quite improved since television disappeared from my abode. So am I encouraging you to immediately take your TV up to the second floor of your house and throw it out the window? Certainly not! But I am not discouraging that either.