Halloween

It's that scary time of the year again. So scary that for the first time that I can remember, the head of my work unit let out everyone at 1630 (4:30pm) regardless of their actual work hours, so that people driving home would not have to drive through trick-or-treaters. We had our share of trick or treaters tonight, but it is less than previous years. Perhaps people are being more cautious and taking their children to Halloween parties of having them trick or treat. Here are the amounts per year:

Year	Trick or Treaters
1997	68
1998	84
1999	88
2001	62
2002	49

Apparently I lost the file in going from one computer to another; I recovered most of it but I don't have figures for 2000. Here is how in these five years the trick or treaters broke down as far as half-hour period is concerned (I use 24-hour time; for example, 1800 is 6 o'clock):

1730-1800, 0.9%
1800-1830, 27.1%
1830-1900, 24.1%
1900-1930, 20.9%
1930-2000, 17.2%
2000-2030, 9.2%
2030-2100, 0.5%

This shows that most of the trick-or-treaters come between 6pm and 7:30pm. The earliest I have seen one is 1748 (12 to 6 pm), and the latest 2048 (12 to 9 pm). Some come between 7:30pm and 8pm, but then it really drops sharply after that. This enables one to plan for Halloween, what time to come home, how long to leave the pumpkin and candy out and so forth.

I dressed up as a magician with an Aladdin-type costume, with black with blue silk design on it, with a dreamcatcher on a necklace. I put devil-ears on top that I bought at Busch Gardens this past summer just before Imaginique; some child though I bought it at King's Dominion instead. One young lady said I wasn't a devil because I was dressed in blue and black. Devils are dressed in red. This is an observant and inquisitive girl. She'll probably grow into a prominent mathematician or computer programmer, scientist, or investigator. Others praised my costume. It did win second place and came close to winning first at a costume contest at SUUSI in 2001.

Halloween is gone; next is Thanksgiving.

Some miscellany

Here are some comments I have about words people use. The words very and extreme are used far too frequently. "The revelation is shocking." sounds much stronger than "The revelation is very shocking.", for example. That word shocking carries with it a jolt that gets lost when very is put in front of it. As far as I can see, that is a phrase that can be eliminated. Why don't we ever say "as near as"? It is important to complete applications before the doo-doo date indicated on the form. On the other hand, why not go over the deadline, even though it is a very unique point in time. On the other hand, you can't have something that is "very unique"; unique means there is only one of them, and you can't be oner (pronounced wun-ner) than one. On the original hand, why doesn't anyone say that? Take this quote, which comes from a recent financial article on the web:

The Conference Board's October consumer confidence report -- due a half-hour after the markets open -- is expected to show a significant drop to 90 from 93.3 in September, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The drop may be attributable to a six-week decline in stocks that ran through September, thus not reflecting the recent three-week runup that has seen the Dow gain nearly 15 percent.

Whaaa?? How can runups see? They don't have eyes. I give speeches at Toastmaster club meetings; I do this because I know these speeches are apotamy. I.e., they are a part of me. All in all in all, I say this is a good blog, and I say very goodnight.

Disappointment

I was disappointed to find today that Maryland intends to seek the death penalty for the DC sniper defendants, even to the extent of lifting a moratorium on the death penalty to do it. Maybe Hanover County, Virginia should try him since the victim there was not killed; therefore, no death penalty. But then he could get only one life term, meaning he would be out in the streets in a decade. I still think Maryland should seek six consecutive life terms for all three defendants.

Bugbearisms

A new virus is out, and it can cause mischief that can result in serious embarrassment or consequences. The virus is Bugbear.

Bugbear is like Klez, a virus that has been going around hitting my computer every one or two days, whereupon my antivirus program traps it, enabling me to get rid of it. Bugbear, however, instead of leaving behind a blank email message, leaves an intact message that was intended to go from someone else to someone else, and not to the user of the computer that gets the virus. So far I have gotten one from a Toastmaster and one from a Unitarian-Universalist, and in each case I called them up to inform them that they have a virus. This virus can do things like take your love letter to Sue and send it to your other girl friend Tricia; it can take a file with some of your private financial data on it and send it to an employee of the IRS; it can do all sorts of trickster things like that, some of which is funny, but most of which is not.

The best way to ensure that this type of embarrassment does not happen is to get an antivirus program, make sure it is always up to date, and have it scan email. I see now from the viruses I have received that computers must absolutely have an antivirus program with up to date virus signatures. You are headed for trouble without one.

Try them, Maryland

Yesterday Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said that Virginia is a better place to try the sniper suspects than Maryland because Virginia has the death penalty and Maryland does not as much, especially for Malvo, who is a juvenile. No, Jerry. Maryland is the better place for that reason. The death penalty is an expensive way to deal with a murderer and it duplicates his crime - killing a person. Many organizations (e.g. Amnesty International) have come out against the death penalty because of its inhumaneness and it is forbidden in many countries in the world, especially developed countries such as Australia and Germany. In fact, the US having the death penalty puts it in the same league with many of the developing nations in the world, including all of the Islamic ones. Kilgore wants the death penalty for a juvenile. That puts it in the same league with only five nations in the world, including Libya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Yemen. It is a blight on our country for it to have the death penalty and sets us off as a bunch of rurale brutes. Maryland, try these suspects. Give them six consecutive life terms so that they spend the rest of the life in a Maryland prison, so that Virginia never gets to try them. An amendment is needed to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

Social Level

Abraham Maslov gave five levels of needs that we humans need to fulfill. They are

1. Survival - food, shelter, sleep, bathroom functions, sex
2. Security - freedom from threats
3. Social - Interaction with people, especially favorable interaction
4. Self-esteem - Feeling good about yourself, being recognized for achieving something
5. Self-actualization - Feeling at one with nature, doing what you want to do

As the levels get higher, they get harder to describe. What I have found is that I feel the people that I most like are those that I interact with on the social level - level 3. This is because with level 1, they say, do this or that or you don't get fed (or paid), and with level 2, it is not enough for a person not to present a threat. So I don't get a good impression of these people. At level 3 people interact with others to get to know and like each other, and I find that I get along the most with people that I interact with on this level. With the higher levels, being recognized for a good achievement is good, but not enough; I find something lacking with people whom I interact with on this level. Finally with level 5, it seems that people go off and do their own thing and live up to their own potential. This makes them aloof.

So I prefer to associate with people I associate with at the social level (level 3). Now the people I would like to associate with the most are those whom I can relate to at the self-esteem and self-actualization levels, but these are really rare.