Going The Wong Way

Your Word

# trusting_others.py
#
# How our words affect our interaction with others. You're only as good as your word!
#
# Psuedocode:
# 
# Maintain list of trust that others have, which is unknown to you
# Interact with people each day
# Alter trust with your words

# Trust quotient is a quantifier for one person's trust for another 
TRUST_REWARD = 1
TRUST_PENALTY = 15

# Dictionary containing name and trust quotient values that other people have for you 
trust = {}

for day in days:
    for person in interactions(day):
        if person not in trust:
            # Other people's trust depends on some variables 
            trust[person] = default_trust(person.upbringing, person.genes)

        if speak() == 'TRUTH':
            trust[person] += TRUST_REWARD;
        elif speak() == 'FALSEHOOD':
            trust[person] -= TRUST_PENALTY

San Diego

This was a trip to San Diego, CA that included the zoo, Hash House A Go Go, and a little beach time.

Check out more pictures at the San Diego Oct 2011 Gallery.

Crom, The One Who Loves/Hates His Girlfriend

So we know that Crom has a girlfriend.  It seems like he likes her a lot.  He talks to her on a very frequent basis as far as I can tell.  I rather wish that I did not observe so much about him!

From what I can recall, he talks to her at least twice a day.  Every.  Single.  Day.  The weird thing is that I get the impression that they also see each other quite often (I would guess 4 times a week).  Is that the weirdest thing?  No not by a long shot.  There are plenty of people out there who cannot get enough of seeing and talking to each other.  And I am sure that there are plenty of middle-aged men with girlfriends out there as well.

No, the weirdest thing is the fact that when he talks to her it is sugar, honey, lovey, and dovey for a little while.  You know what I mean.  He has his boyfriend voice (ugh, I feel gross just typing that) and talks softly and gently while saying nice things.  However, for whatever reason this almost always turns on a dime, and he seems to get very irritated/impatient with her.  He will start to tell her the things that she needs to do (e.g., get out of bed and get ready for work) or he will quickly bail out on the conversation (e.g., I really need to get back to work).

I know that no couple is perfect because nobody is perfect.  So it is not that strange that they could have this conversation every so often.  However it does seem strange to me that it seems to happen every time that they talk.  And remember, they talk a couple of times a day everyday!  I have no idea what it is about these people!  I have so many questions.  Why does he do it?  Why does she put up with it?  Why are they still together after all of this time??

Perhaps he is starting to feel guilty about using work time for personal reasons.  Perhaps he just gets tired of talking on the phone.  (Now mind  you he usually just stays out here in the cubicles while he is talking so everyone can hear his conversation.)

Whatever the reason, I guess that we’ll just have to chalk it up to another mystery of Crom.  I doubt that I could ever understand.

Xi’an

Continuing with the trip to Asia, here are some pictures from the historical city of Xi’an.  It is one of the oldest cities, and it was heavily used as the capital of China for several dynasties.  Nowadays, though?  It’s not as prominent.  Nevertheless it had its moments.

Check out more at the Xi’an Gallery.

The Telephone Problem

The game telephone (although apparently its original name is a bit more offensive!) is a simple game that teaches us a valuable lesson.  From it we learn that people are awful at accurate transmission of information.  In the case of the game, it leads to amusement and fun when finding out how quickly and drastically words will change.

However the game is not as funny in its everyday depictions.  We reference people who reference other people who read about some research piece in a magazine.  Other people pass along hearsay as common knowledge, and we grow to have a distorted view of truth.  We might see these everyday ranging from common myths about food to common myths about (unmarried couples) living together.  Despite our best intentions at accuracy there is something that we will never learn from the telephone game as well as we should – we are just not able to effectively relate information.  It is somehow beyond our grasp.  We tend toward chaos simply because we are human.

(Then again that is why coming upon exceptions to this rule is so amazing!)

Lesson to be learned?  You cannot relay information well so do it more judiciously.  That is, information that you do not relay does not have the opportunity to prove that you are speaking falsely.  Don’t trust me?  There are more reputable sources.