Utopia

/**/

Yesterday I slept at 5am, today I woke up at 5am. There were bananas so I ate one. Haven't had them in a while. Often on university days it's just up and go. I planned to supplement that with an up and go but I forgot. On the way to university I listened to an old album, just because I saw it mentioned on the internet the day before, and heard it differently. I could distinguish the different parts better, and more appreciate how they worked together. Maybe it was because it had been a while. Or maybe it was the banana. A couple of years back I read some random article about one of the songs. It said that the backing vocals weren't planned to be there, they just happened to be recorded when someone was warming up, and it sounded alright so they made it a part of the song. While I was listening to the album, I heard those backing vocals again, faintly in another song. And then it all made sense. When they were warming up their vocals for that first song, it was so they could record it for this song. That never occurred to me. Now they have an unintended but cool motif going through the album. I was amazed. We have all of this information in our heads if we could just join the dots, but we just haven't eaten enough bananas to realise them.

I thought I might use this opportunity while awake so early to work on my assignment, but at the last second I thought of coming here and there goes my morning.

I like efficiency. It's one of my favourite things. I like it when buses run yellow lights because if they had to wait, the aggregate time lost is much greater than if it were two cars that had to wait. Not only for the people on the bus at that time, but for everyone waiting for the bus to come.

I like the concept of a self driven traffic network (every car is self driven) because it means all of the cars can know exactly how the other ones will behave, so they can optimise their own behaviour. They can get rid of all of the inefficiencies of normal traffic. Cars don't need to slow down when going opposite ways because they will dodge each other. When the light goes green, all the cars can start moving instead of one at a time. Most importantly, if all cars know where they are going, then traffic lights can be optimised. Imagine if the time you spent at red lights could be halved, without ignoring them. It's probably possible, but we just don't have the information to make it work. It should be possible to build a future where the amount of time to get to somewhere is only based on the distance; the amount of people also trying to get there is insignificant.

When I'm blocked waiting for an action such as microwaving to complete, I jump to a different meal preparation thread, such as getting a drink or utensils, and come back to the microwave at the same time it completes so it doesn't need to beep and annoy everyone, because not disturbing people is also one of my favourite things.

One of my favourite things is when an action is efficient and also avoids disturbing people. It's still one favourite thing because it's the multiplicative product of the other two.

I like giving way at pedestrian crossings because that means cars don't need to slow down (and then accelerate again). Pedestrians should cross in groups.

I like going to the further opal reader when getting off buses, because if I don't the person behind me has to wait until I get off. They can't go to the free one because I am in the way.

Bus doors are at the front and middle, which leads to a tragedy (literally unavoidable) when all people act in self-interest and go out the nearest door. If everyone in the first half went out the front door and everyone in the second half went out the back door, this would be the fastest way to empty the bus. But only the first third of people go out the front door (yes, I did the math - an infinite sum), and the last third of the bus can only use the middle door.

I try to make efficient actions, because efficiency maximises the benefit for everyone. This is some inner utilitarian economist in me. One person can't make a difference, but if everyone who wants to tries, then eventually there will be enough people and our buses can empty a few seconds faster.

Question 1: What are some names that you liked when you were younger?
I don't know. I don't think I thought much about names, and I still don't. I liked the names of WarCraft characters. Maiev Shadowsong, Tyrande Whisperwind, Rylai Crestfall.

Question 2: Gif with a hard ‘g’ or a soft ‘g’?
Hard G, it just seems to reads like that.

Question 3: Name an artist you admire and why.
I don't know much about many artists. I like that Dave Grohl has openly supported equality and has gone out of his way for fans. Here is a thread about a CSGO player sending a present to a kid.

Question 4: What is a weird thing that you do when you are stressed?
I'm not sure. I'm mostly unstressed.

Question 5: What is your favourite cherry blossom colour?
They're all okay.

Question 6: Something you would have drawn when you were thirteen. Is it the same kind of thing you would draw now?
I was never a drawer. A graph, probably. Now I don't draw anything. Except for when I do, then I draw something like this:

I draw funny things on Drawn Together, our ethics project.

Question 7: What is your spirit vegetable?
I don't think I have one. I like capsicum and celery, but I'm only saying that because other people don't. I am neutral to most vegetables.

Question 8: Where do you physically feel happiness?
I don't think I physically feel it. Maybe that means it's in my head. Maybe smiling or in my lungs.

Question 9: What is something you do or think that would be totally foreign to someone else?
A lot of strange things, but I don't know if they count as totally foreign. I drink bottled water instead of tap water.

Question 10: Who would you go midnight-adventuring with?
Stay at home and do assignments until 5am.

Question 11: How many photos do you have on your phone? Which is your favourite?
45. Probably going to go down soon. I don't photo much. I don't have a favourite. I like the one with cat.

Question 12: How long do you think you could go for if you were on a holiday alone?
Holidays don't appeal to me. I would rather be on the computer than look at things. I don't know how long I could go if I had to, maybe a while, but I would prefer not go to at all.

Question 13: What is your current ring tone?
Not sure, I haven't heard my phone ring. It's always on silent.

Question 14: What day were you born on?
Tuesday.

Question 15: What is something that you recently discovered you have been saying or spelling wrong your entire life? E.g. Spelling it ‘nerve racking’ instead of ‘nerve wracking’, or ‘per say’ instead of ‘per se’. Or like Sherlock Huang finding out how ‘muesli’ is pronounced.
I used to always misspell competetive. Someone pointed it out, and now I usually don't.

Question 16: In your future home, would you have carpet, timber or tiles?
Timber and tiles. That's my current home, anyway.

Question 17: What would you name your pet bird?
I don't know. Naming pets has never been a thing for me. It would probably be something like lorikeet, which would get shortened to lorry or riki once I got tired of saying that.

Question 18: Which song do you play when you win at something?
I don't play any. First 3 seconds of Final Fantasy's victory theme?

Question 19: What is your favourite kind of dried fruit?
It's limited to what my mum would buy. Cranberries.

Question 20: Have you ever said you liked something and then had people from then on think that you have a burning love for it?
Probably something about games. They're alright.

These answers were really exciting.