Day of Inefficiency

Other people's, that is, of course :-)

It started off with the visit to the manager. Of course, as I anticipated, he'd already been called out to a problem with someone's room, even though it was only 9.05. So I wrote him a note explaining what I wanted: approval for two posters and a leaflet, that I wanted to leave on the reception desk for people to take (all Climate Change Awareness Week stuff), and permission to have a freestanding noticeboard in the common room for a week (for reasons explained below- yep, more environmental stuff!). It was a long note, and I had just found the paperclip that had been nice and handy when I set out but had since fallen to the bottom of my bag, ready to attach the posters and leaflet, when, of course, the manager appeared. But this was a good thing as I was able to get approval for everything right there (though I would have to tell the receptionist when I put the pin board in the common room).

I haven't had time to fix my bike yet, so I had to take the bus in (well, I suppose I could have walked...). But I wasn't sure if I had enough on my oyster card, and since there's no way of finding out at the bus stop, I went into Liverpool St Underground to top it up. I thought that at 9.30 am the rush hour would be past and I'd have to queue behind, say, five people at most. Instead, there was a line of maybe 10 or 15. This would have been bearable except that when I was about halfway down it the machine closed and we all had to join the line for the one remaining working one- which as you can imagine was rapidly a very long line indeed.

At least there was no queue for the cash machine, so I was able to get some cash, and grab a croissant and cup of tea on my way out to the bus- where I noticed as I touched in my Oyster card that I'd had enough balance not to have needed to top it up after all. On the bus I rang the President of People and Planet- she was supposed to have got some photos printed for the Wierd Weather poster I was helping to make, and I was going to get them from her and stick them on this morning- the reason I was going in at that time. I was worried I was going to be too late to put them on before the poster went up. Looking back now in the light of the events of the day, this fear seems very foolish. Anyway, she'd apparently overslept (so had I but I'd allowed so much time that this just put me on time, till I spent that time writing the note for the manager and putting up the posters, and queueing to recharge my Oyster card) and said she'd be arriving at 10.30, the same as me.
Actually I got there about 10 or 15 minutes before that and went to a computer room to make a note of the captions for the photos, which I hadn't got round to copying out but had just pasted into a document when I was finding them. I hurried over to the Quad slightly late- but the President hadn't arrived yet. R, another People and Planet person (first year undergraduate), was there though- she'd made one of the Flooding Wierd Weather posters, and had the sticky backed plastic needed to cover all of them, so we made a start on that, helped by SC2- there to help with manning the stall and giving out leaflets- who had an amazing technique involving paper napkins for getting the plastic on with no wrinkles.

R had to go at 11, but the President arrived soon after. She didn't have the photos though- apparently she'd asked CMCC to do them as he had to get the photos for the Environmental Photo Exhibition printed out so could do them at the same time- and he hadn't got any of it printed yet (though he was around, vaguely overseeing everything in his role of Environment and Ethics Officer). But she took R's place on the sticky backed plastic application team- whose numbers were further swelled by Av, whom I hadn't met before. With SC2 wielding the tissues, Av and I gradually peeling back the backing paper, and the President holding the plastic and paper down so they didn't move about and become unaligned, we were on a roll, and got four posters covered. Technically, I was supposed to be leafletting about Climate Change Awareness Week at 11, but there didn't seem to be much going on- CMCC was just sitting at one of the tables chatting to a large number of people- and the posters needed to be done so they could go up.

I then dashed to the library where I topped up my printing credit (it got all used up printing out questions to be held up for the quiz* and leaflets) and printed out more copies of my Climate Change Awareness Week leaflet- but it took a bit longer than I had anticipated, and I arrived late and out of breath to the Sustainability Champions meeting. There was some usefull stuff at the meeting- but a lot of it was rather vague, such as the Halls Energy Saving Competition which was mentioned, but it wasn't explained how exactly it worked (how they would find out how much energy each hall used)- though I did get to ask later. There was also a man who explained very specifically about energy audits- but I didn't manage to take any notes, and it would really be helpfull to get a written copy of what he was saying. (I think this will happen- I asked about that too). We also had discussions in small groups which were fairly usefull. And at the end I got to push my leaflets on people. :-) I'm very proud of my leaflets, largely because by some fluke they turned out much better than I'm normally capable of. I'd emailed all the sustainability champions to say I had some leaflets (and quiz questions) if anyone was interested, (to save two people putting in the work to do two separate leaflets on the same theme), and got one request for them from a sustainability champion, and one from the Environment Co-ordinator- so I went to talk to her at the end to check she got it ok (the files were rather large, and I was worried about the documents coming out slightly different at the other end (different page breaks, which would be a problem because the pages were in a funny order so they'd be right when it was folded)). I got to show her the paper copies I had, as well as the girl who asked for them, and she seemed to like them. I asked whether it might be possible to have a web site where people could put things like that for other champions to download, and I think that's going to happen. Another girl who came along was also interested in being sent copies, as well as Av- who was in the discussion group with me.

Then I finally did something related to my course- my one lecture of the day (Computational Statistics). Today we had a test; it wasn't too bad, though I did realise just before the end that I'd misinterpreted something- in time to put it right, I think. We also got to hear about the individual projects which, if possible, sound even scarier than the group ones.

I then went back to the Quad where I was again scheduled to hand out leaflets- but once again ended up sticky-backed-plasticking posters: the Hurricane ones had arrived. SC2 wasn't there this time, but R, the President, the secretary and I formed the application team. It took longer this time though because they had stuck on paper shapes projecting over the edges- very effective but more difficult to cover with plastic.

This actually took us up to 4 when my stint on the rota ended- but I hung around partly because there was no-one on the stall so the President and I manned it, but mostly because she said CMCC was getting the photos and would be back quite soon, so I hoped to be able to put them on. We both did some reading though- I actually had some even though Statistics doesn't generally involve much, for the Surveys and Experiment Design course. I also took the opportunity to show her my leaflet, as I thought it could be relevant for the stall, and she liked it and is hopefully going to get some copies printed (I emailed her the document) for tomorrow. So I was pleased about that.
The President had to go at 5, by which time CMCC had still not materialised. He finally came at about 5.15 or 5.30, with his parents (they weren't anything like I would have expected)- but without the photos. That is, he had the one for the exhibition, but apparently someone else had my ones. He suggested I go to get them printed myself, and gave me the CD, so I set off straight away, hoping to get to the shop before it shut.

I realised as I walked along Fleet St that this was going to be complicated- the CD had all the photos and I couldn't remember the filenames. So I explained the problem to the man on the till (though I didn't mention that it wasn't my CD and they weren't all my photos). He led me to a machine where you could put the CD in and choose which ones you wanted to print and what size, and explained it all, which took a long time, then went back to the till. I looked through the photos. Mine weren't there. So, very embarrassingly, I had to explain to the man that I'd come out with the wrong CD and thank him for his help.

I was at least able to buy a pin board while I was there- this is for the competition we want to have in halls to find the most interesting/ shocking climate change fact. The idea is that the board is propped up in the common room all week, and people can find a fact from the internet, books, or newspapers, and write it on a piece of paper with their name and the source, then pin that on the board, and at the end of the week we'll draw up a shortlist and let people vote on the best. Then we can take all the facts and make a poster or leaflet. I don't know whether people will get involved or just think it's too much effort (and not that interesting)- but I hope they do because the point is to save it always being us telling them things, and give everyone a chance to get involved in the education process.

I thought I'd get a pin board in Ryman's, but they only had little ones, and it was actually Smith's where I found a decent sized one- reduced to £2.99 as well which was pretty good (particularly since, as I can't justify it coming out of any kind of budget, I'm actually going to pay for it myself and keep it).

Aware that I was planning to go to the talk that was the first event of Climate Change Awareness Week, and wouldn't be back till late, I stopped on the way back for a bite to eat in one of the cafes. I had an onion tart and some very nice pear juice. It was quite difficult negotiating the chairs and tables with my pin board though... Then back to LSE where I bought two pieces of coloured paper in the copy shop- luckily still open- for writing a title and instructions for the competition board, and to put under the leaflets in reception so they'd stand out better. I then went to the library again where I emailed the President the leaflet, dealt with a few more emails, finished printing out the leaflets (there was a problem earlier), and wrote up what we discussed in the Sustainability Champions meeting, as I'd agreed with the rest of the group. I didn't quite get that finished, and was cutting it a bit fine to get to the event at 7, so I hurried across the campus- it would be in the furthest building.
However, when I got there, I couldn't seem to find D103. I pulled out the events poster to check the details- and found I had the wrong room (and had put it on my leaflet...). Not only that, but, I then noticed, I also had the wrong time: it started at 6.30. I wasn't going to go in half an hour late so I went back to the library. I'm quite annoyed that I didn't check up on the time earlier- I was looking forward to that event. Not so much for the speaker- one of the ones who was at the hustings a couple of weeks ago, whom CMCC describes as his mentor, and whom he rather idolises, but from the title ('Does Capitalism Equal Climate Change?') it sounded pretty interesting.

I was able to finish off the record of the discussion in another line or two, and send that to the other people in the group, and then worked out the colour printing system and printed out the photos on normal paper- it seemed simpler, and after all, I'd only been having them as photos in the first place because the President said it was a possibility and seemed to think it would be nicer. It turns out to cost 30p a sheet for colour printing (compared to 4p for black and white) but luckily I was able to fit everything on 2 pages which I then cut up. I went up to the People and Planet locker**, which was where the poster was, intending to take it to the Sky Walk or the library, but realised when I got there that I couldn't be bothered and just sat down in the deserted corridor and did it right there- the pin board making a handy surface to lean on.

I was still there when the President, CMCC, and a few other people*** arrived- unexpectedly as far as I was concerned, but I guess I should have worked out that they'd be along, because I think they were putting away the things from the stall. I felt a bit awkward because they must have wondered why I hadn't come to the event (especially as I'd said I would); I'd sent the President an email about something else where I mentioned my mix up in passing, but what with her having been at the event she could hardly have got it yet.

I finished the poster shortly after they'd all left, and set off home. But that still wasn't the end of my to-do list for the day: at reception I had to tell them I was putting the board in the common room, then I went up to my room and wrote out the stuff on the coloured paper and pinned it to the board, then cut and assembled the leaflets, then put the board in the common room, then put the leaflets at reception, on their coloured paper- I was pleased to note there was only one left where there'd been five earlier, which looks like people taking them- then went around the halls putting up CMCC's Climate Change Awareness Week events posters. I put one in each of the lifts among other places- which in the interests of energy saving meant climbing up to wherever the lift happened to be instead of summoning it. But finally it was all done.

I went to the kitchen to help myself to some of the leftover salads and bread, intending to take it back to my room- but I got talking to Flatmates 3 and 7 who were in there cooking- apparently they'd already had supper but were just experimenting with a couple of dishes: pumpkin**** soup and pumpkin rice. They offered me some- and I actually ended up having quite a lot because it needed eating up. They wanted my opinion on the soup, and I recommended vegetable stock, and gave them some of my Marigold powder- Flatmate 3 just had Oxo which is really a bit too unsubtle. We had a really great time sitting around chatting and eating. Flatmate 3 and I are planning to cook together sometime when we're not so busy (probably next week)- she wants me to show her how to make gyoza. In the end I must have taken an hour and a half to eat everything!

*The quiz went quite well. We only got 10 people- but at least that's enough for a proper quiz- it could have been 2. There were three people that were laughing a lot at the beginning though, and maybe I'm just being paranoid but it seemed like they were laughing at me. This did not help me establish a rapport with my audience (I was doing the speech about the sustainability champions and Climate Change Awareness Week, and reading out the questions, while the other two held up written versions)- but then it was never going to be as easy to get a good atmosphere as if 20 people, say, had come. And I think the other 7 were on my side... The other thing that was strange about those 3 was that they didn't come up for food for ages. They were the first to arrive and I may have put them off when I said (as we had decided to do) that though we had paper plates and plastic cups and cutlery^, if they wanted to be even more environmentally friendly they could pop back and get their own crockery; they decided not to. I also told them they couldn't help themselves just yet (one of the salads wasn't down yet) and I think maybe that was a mistake. They put the TV on, and I don't think they heard when I told them they could take food (at that point there were other people there)- but that doesn't explain everything because there was quite a time when they must have realised it was ok but still weren't coming up. Bizarre basically.
The food turned out well. I had help from Flatmate 7 making the salads, and SC2 made a tortilla (as in Spanish omelette, not Mexican), and a Spanish tuna pie. But with only 10 people we had a lot left at the end. And I think we went massively over the per capita budget, though not over the actual total budget (which planned for 50)- I hope that doesn't matter. We spent about £50 and planned £1.10 a head...

**I managed not to get lost this time- and even worked out, when I found the door that opens onto the relevant flight of steps was locked, that I'd need to go up the Old Building stairs two flights, across into the adjacent building, then down a flight

***Including the speaker whom I didn't recognise for ages, mostly because I wasn't really looking up but was concentrating on my poster

****Due to English not being her first language, Flatmate 3 inadvertantly referred to it as papaya soup, and it was quite a while before I realised it wasn't- we were talking about pumpkins and squashes, but I thought it was the pumpkin rice alone that brought up the topic

^We couldn't find paper cups in Tesco. Shame on them.

Gearing up for the Quiz

I went down to Oxford St today to get some important things- since I can't see myself being free at all during this week to do any shopping! These included stuff for my butterfly costume for the demo next weekend- 2m of black tape to attatch the wings to myself, at a very reasonable cost of under £2, and some acrylic paint to colour the wings at the rather less reasonable £12.95 for the paint itself, £7 for a brush, and £3 for a palette. If I hadn't been committed to the project (having spent all that time making the things last weekend) I think I wouldn't been prepared to fork out so much... ah well, just have to hope it comes in usefull for something else later! I also got some woolly tights- as I mentioned, after those lovely balmy weeks the weather has become quite cold. But I didn't have time to get shoes, which I really need- I don't much like the sturdy ones I have (they give me clumpy feet) and have been wearing a pair of court shoes, I suppose they are, with a slight wedge heel, which are mostly see-through (not clear plastic exactly, but mesh woven from thin clear plastic threads) but with some parts in gold leather, and with gold and silver embroidery on the toe. Very nice, and they make my feet look very delicate, and I'd love to go on wearing them forever- but they were really special occasion shoes and have not been robust enough to stand up to everyday wear. I'd had them two or three years, since my last year of UCL, and they were already suffering from worn away heels and unravelling of the silver threads covering the wedges espadrille style, but a couple of days ago the toe started coming away from the sole on one of them so they really need to be retired (unless I can find a shoe mender who'd take them on...).

We've now finally got all the questions sorted for the Climate Change Quiz tomorrow. And I stayed up (till 4.30am!) writing a leaflet about global warming- I'm pretty pleased with it, though- it ended up as kind of a dialogue in the style of the Pass Notes column they used to have in the Guardian's G2 (ie question and answer in a continuous conversational style with plenty of humour). I've just revisited it to add pictures- I cunningly split it into a document per page so I could use the watermark thing with different pictures each time, but I've realised this will cause problems when it comes to printing: I can't print double sided if the pages are in two separate documents! Anyway, all we have to do now is buy and cook the food tomorrow. I hope plenty of people show up!

At least we get an extra hour's sleep tonight- I could certainly do with it! Nasty dark evenings from now on though.

Flyer Machine

Yesterday I was very busy campaigning for the Green Party. From 10 to 1 (with a short break to grab a sandwich and vote myself) and from 4 to 6 I was standing on Houghton St handing out fliers for various candidates, or spending unbelieveable amounts of time in the copy shop running off another stack (partly it just takes a long time anyway, but it wasn't helped by my not realising that instead of counting out 100 sheets of green paper then putting them in the photocopier's tray, I could just take a great wodge and put back what was left- since of course the photocopier counts out the copies). I was pleased at how quickly I could get rid of flyers- 25 or 50 in 10 minutes- and I'm afraid that, even though I really wanted the Green candidates to be elected, at the moment that I was actually doing it it was just a challenge of rate of distribution to me. The candidates, who were all handing out flyers themselves, were quite impressed by how fast I managed to get through them, I think, and seemed gratefull- one of them said 'You're like a machine!' (in a good way), and I was quite pleased about this, as, although I didn't say anything, I'd been thinking earlier that in fact, for the Green Party's purposes I was like a machine- I'm not politically talented or gifted at campaigning so the ideal use to put me to, from their and my point of view, is one of carefully programmed machine-like tasks: put posters up in these places, give out these flyers, make 100 copies of this. So I liked the coincidence of ideas, even though his comment wasn't suggesting, as I was, that that was all I could do. I'm not quite sure what allowed me to go so fast- I'd like to think it was due to my astute Philosophy of flyer Giving, which shares some aspects with my Philosophy of Bucket Shaking (which gets to be applied around Christmas when my mum's brass band* plays outside supermarkets and non-band members are needed to collect money for charity and for the band (instruments are very expensive)), and is basically 'Smile. Make them feel happy about the encounter, and most importantly, since their minds will be on other things and not fully on you, you can convince them that you're doing them a favour for long enough that they've already taken the flyer by the time they realise it's the other way round'. The hypothesis that it was indeed my Philosophy receives some support from the fact that more people took flyers when I really remembered to work the smile, with eyebrows and all. But in reality it's likely that people were more willing to take something from a new face than someone they recognised as a veteran campaigner who'd probably try and talk them into something and not let them get away. Of course, that brings up the other reason for my being faster- I was barely talking to any of the people I handed flyers to, while the candidates were getting into quite a few discussions, during which of course they weren't leafletting. To be fair to myself, many people were in a hurry and probably wouldn't have let me say anything to them even had I had some kind of spiel prepared. But since I would always be looking for the next person as soon as someone took a flyer, it's likely that my body language discouraged some people who would otherwise have asked questions.

I didn't really think about this at the time, as I said, but I worried about it later. At 6 we had the weekly People and Planet meeting, and this week someone from the main office came in to give a workshop about effective campaigning, and I began to compare my earlier activities and see how little they measured up. We had to discuss in pairs an effective and an ineffective campaign then report back to the whole group, and someone actually mentioned some of the Students' Union election campaigns as examples of bad ones (though without saying which), saying that some people were just trying to hand out as many pieces of paper as possible and weren't trying to engage people in discussion about their campaign issues, thus not leaving voters with an idea of what the candidate stood for. This obviously struck home, and I began to wonder whether my campaigning efforts might not have had a negative impact on the Green candidates' chances. So I was very relieved to hear today that all six were elected- at least any negative impact was not fatally so! Only one was just narrowly elected, and one, a first year student, beat the other candidate for her post by a long way- since he was the Students' Union Societies Officer this was quite a feat. She was endorsed by ISoc, the Islamic Society, as well, though, so that probably had a lot to do with it. The other candidate still got on, as there were two spots, but apparently his face at the election count was a sight to see. I didn't go to the count, though CMCC mentioned it was going to be good and asked in passing if I was coming, partly because I was shy, partly because I didn't want to be following him around, and mostly because I was shattered and really hungry (my brain wasn't working in the People and Planet meeting). But I did take the time before I went home to pick up all the flyers I could find on Houghton St- not just Green Party ones, but ones for all candidates- though there were some accumulations behind benches that I couldn't reach. There was barely room to squash them into the big paper recycling wheely bin, but I did manage. I also picked up a few from the entrance of the East Building, and some more in the hall of St Clements Building (a lot actually). There were loads on the floor of a lecture room people were coming out of, but there were still loads of people in there and I didn't quite like to go in. I had to go up two or three floors before I found a corridor with a paper recycling bin (I didn't want to be going back and forth along Houghton St). Then I took down the posters I'd put up at 8.30 in the morning (which felt like a few days ago)- as a bonus I got my drawing pins back!- and some that candidates had put up themselves- these were mostly in the ground floor corridor of St Clement's, as apparently election posters aren't allowed on Houghton St. I did all this because I felt a responsibility for making a mess by leafletting, and that it wasn't the cleaners' job to deal with extra mess other than every day accidental dirt, because I didn't want to be a hypocrite (given my views that the paper-throwers should clear up what they throw), and because I didn't the Green Party to be seen as unenvironmentally-friendly if large amounts of green flyers and posters were in evidence around the place- I believe that if they got the Green candidates elected, the consumption of paper would be more than balanced by reduced consumption due to the candidates' actions in office, but I didn't expect everyone to see it that way.

Talking of paper-throwing, I still found time to get to the Union General Meeting at 1 (all the candidates went too). There wasn't nearly as much paper thrown this time- only about half or one bin bag (of course they still didn't clear it up...) but this didn't give the satisfaction you might expect because it paled into insignificance when pretty much the same section of the attendance actually got the meeting stopped after just half an hour by no-confidencing the Constitution and Steering Committee- with no C & S the meeting couldn't continue. I voted against the no-confidence motion, but even had I thought it was a good idea, I can't see what would have been the problem with leaving the no-confidence motion till almost the end of the meeting, after debating as many of the motions on the list as possible. Especially considering that the motion that the no-confidence one interrupted was in support of the demo against fees on Sunday- and I don't think any student present was in favour of fees.

The reason they no-confidenced C & S was to do with the elections. There is a column in the Beaver called Union Jack which reports on the UGM, giving students it mentions derogatory pseudonyms (like Camp Tam or Tammy Girl for the General Secretary, Jimmy Tam), and not taking the whole thing very seriously. Some of it is rather malicious, and it does seem to treat one side of the political spectrum rather more unfavourably than the other. This week (maybe every week?) there was also a short box that I'd missed untill I went back and looked at the paper after the meeting, called Hacktavist, which was similar but was more focussed on gossip about various candidates (all from the side treated more harshly by Union Jack) rather than the UGM. Two people (both Green Party candidates) complained about these pieces- I think because it was election week and they worried that this was painting them in a bad light to the average student who may only have heard of them through reading the Beaver, I don't think they'd complain on grounds of finding it offensive in the normal way of things. Given that Hacktavist mentioned one of the candidates (with her name altered only in the first letter of her last name) as complaining of having too much work to do in her current role as Residences Officer, and queried why she wanted to run for another post in that case, this does seem likely to be prejudicial to her chances.

The problem was with the response of C & S (and the Returning Officer and Communications Officer) to the complaints. They decided that in order to make redress and balance out the possible harm caused to their election campaigns, PuLSE FM, LSE's radio station, would read out the candidates' manifestos on air. But PuLSE FM is played in the Quad Cafe, and campaigning is forbidden in the Quad (as that's where voting takes place), so it was claimed that C & S had basically been out of order. I'm not quite sure on the technicalities- after all, a booklet with all candidate manifestos was actually being handed out at the voting desk (mostly because one candidate's manifesto had been missed out of the Beaver election special), and I can't see how a booklet of manifestos is so very different from a radio reading, apart from the booklet containing all candidates' manifestos, and people having the option of reading the booklet but not of listening to the radio. So it would seem as though 'campaigning' meant the actual candidate coming in person to try and convince people, or handing out flyers, or putting up posters. And someone mentioned that C & S and the other people involved in the decision can take whatever steps they feel necessary to redress a wrong in a situation like this, and that that may override the rule about not campaigning in the Quad. But if C & S really were making the PuLSE station head violate the election rules, I'm not sure that no-confidencing them was necessary. If they'd made a string of bad decisions, yes, but for one error? No-one was suggesting that the editor of the Beaver should be removed from office for the mistake in judgment that the original complaints were about, after all. Now a whole new committee needs electing.

Still, as the meeting finished half an hour early, that was another half hour to hand out flyers, and though I started off feeling very annoyed, the effect of all that smiling was to restore my good humour.

Next up, though, was making a start on the Group Project for Computational Statistics. It was indeed dire. The questions were quite tough- not in terms of programming, but of interpreting the formulas to work out just what we were supposed to be calculating. It was the Mean Square Error that gave us difficulties. We couldn't work out whether we should put the same value of a particular variable into the sum for each term, or whether we should use a different estimate of the variable each time- and we couldn't even work out which of the bits of the sum was supposed to be which of the variables we had. It would have been bad enough on my own trying to work it out, but I would have just made a decision and gone for something after fifteen minutes or so of staring at it, and seen how that worked. With four of us we spent more than an hour with two opposing schools of thought, and with no consensus we couldn't programme anything. It's going to be tough.

Today was more leafletting- not elections this time, but a schedule of events for Climate Change Awareness Week. It was still organised by CMCC though. I was in the Quad cafe from when my lecture finished at 10, as I thought maybe that's when we were going to start, but as there was no sign of CMCC I had a croissant and a cup of tea** and tried to do some Principals and Methods- the excercise I should have done for the lecture I just had, except that I'd been spending my time leafletting... At least they're not handed in or assessed. Normally I 'd just go on to the next excercise, but we haven't been given that yet and actually this time the lecturer hasn't gone over all the questions yet. Plus I found out*** that we're having a test next week- not part of our mark but still- so I really need to go over everything. Not going to be easy with all that's going on this weekend and next week... I didn't have a lot of success with the questions I tried, though with the third one I found that where I thought I'd reached a contradiction (1/4 + a/36 = 1/4 or similar) I'd actually proved that a = 0, which I realised when I looked at the notes, and this actually turned out to be the main step towards the main thing I was trying to prove. So it wasn't as hopeless as I'd thought.

CMCC arrived at 11, and I was able to hand over his copy card (which he'd given me yesterday to print some more flyers while he wasn't there but which I hadn't thought to give to one of the other candidates to give to him). We didn't start leafletting at that point though- the things had to be printed first. Since they were double sided, this amazingly took the best part of an hour. With only one copy card, it was a one person job and I was sitting doing more Principles (actually the third question mentioned above), happy to have the extra time but slightly worried he might have come past without my realising and decided I wanted to be left to work, as it seemed an incredibly long time for a bit of photocopying, even with my experiences of the last two days. I also realised halfway through that I needed the loo, but didn't dare go in case he finished while I was away and didn't know where I was. In the end, I came to a bit of a full stop with Principles and Methods and went up to the copy room to see how it was going. I considered saying I was just popping to the loo, but somehow didn't quite get as far as actually doing it. Then when we were finally on our way out, it seemed silly to take time then when there'd been all that dead time earlier. It wasn't too urgent!

It was cold today. After four or five weeks of the perfect temperature, I was actually chilly. But I noticed it more when I was waiting in the Quad Cafe than while leafletting. And it was better than yesterday, when my bag was really heavy and dug into my shoulders.**** I'd only been at it ten minutes or so when CMCC decided we'd stop and go and have lunch in the Quad. This was because, amazingly, people were actually less ready to take these flyers than the candidate flyers for the election, in spite of the latter being propaganda, and today's just advertising events. I suppose they were all flyered-out.

It was nice to have lunch with CMCC (you know my views on him, though I've managed to become non-obsessed in the sense that I no longer think about him (much) except when actually face to face with him), though there were other people that he knew around. It was also nice when, today and yesterday, he gave me a hug at the end to say thankyou. I mentioned, I think, that he's a very tactile person. And of course, what with him having a girlfriend, there's nothing in it. But that doesn't stop my enjoying it- though more retrospectively as on both occasions, at the time I felt a little surprised and awkward, since I don't tend to hug people (unless of course they are hugging people and they hug me). And maybe it's an indication that he didn't suspect I had an ulterior motive for asking about him and the Residences Officer? I thought it was horribly obvious at the time, but surely, no matter how much of a custom it is with him, he wouldn't hug me if he thought I had a crush on him?

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. After lunch we went out and handed out more fliers, getting the one o'clock changeover. This had been something CMCC was particularly keen on doing, though I didn't quite follow his logic. Yes, there would be more people then, so that it would be a good time to try to give them out. But he was suggesting earlier that we stop handing them out and conserve them for the changeover, as he didn't want to hand out too many but keep some for later in the week- and I don't understand that- surely if you hand out another 20 earlier, say, then even though you have 20 less to hand out at the changeover, you'll still have given out the same total and I don't see why those flyers are better used on people who are around at the changeover than people wandering through in between. I mean, it's the number, not when you hand them out, right? (Within reason- I mean I get the point about keeping some for next week as if you don't people may intend to come then forget about it).

We were through after less than half an hour. He asked me what I was doing next; I would have loved to have given some answer that let me continue to tag along with him, but mindfull of not wanting to be seen as following him, and more importantly aware of how much I had to do, I went off to the library for a long session on the computers.

Four hours later, I had emailed SC2 to say both I and Flatmate 7 would be busy that evening- when she had suggested we meet to work on the questions for the quiz- I'm sure I told her before we weren't free, printed out journal articles for Surveys and Experiment Design (or whatever the course is called), and come up with four rounds of questions, by dint of long internet research. I was worried at the beginning that I'd end up with all questions based on one site (which is uncomfortably close to plagiarism...) but by the end I'd just naturally used about fifteen different ones- all referenced at the bottom though I don't suppose there'll be a chance to talk about sources at the quiz. :-) I had great problems finding stuff for the round about efforts that are already being made to combat global warming though- there was plenty of stuff about countries like the UK reducing (or not reducing...) carbon emissions, but the round was suggested by the co-ordinator of the sustainability champions when we were talking to her after the environment forum, and she was talking about local efforts in the poorer countries most affected by things like sea level changes and drought, and I couldn't seem to come up with anything on that. That's what I have to look for next... then I have to make a leaflet with stuff I've researched plus listings of the LSE events... sigh. But it's all worth it!

I did fit in some socialising too- today was the day that L and I went to the Korean restaurant, with Flatmate 7 and a friend of L's (from Iceland!) who turns out to live in the flat across the corridor from me though I've never bumped into her. Sadly Flatmate 3 couldn't come as she got the time wrong and turned up at 6.20 instead of 7, wondered where we were, went back to halls to get Flatmate 7's mobile number (I still haven't put mine on the helpfull list Flatmate 3 put on the kitchen door...), and understandably didn't want to come out again. At least with a party of four it wasn't hard getting a table. At one point it looked like there'd be 8 of us, which might have been a problem as we couldn't book due to having forgotten the name of the restaurant... The food was actually really nice, though quite simple. I just had vegetables and rice with an egg on top in a hot bowl, but the vegetables were really tasty- they'd been marinated or cooked in something. Hopefully we'll have another outing like that some time. I want to go to a Japanese restaurant, and a Taiwanese or Chinese restaurant (what with Flatmate 7 coming from Taiwan), but L's friend wants to go to a place serving traditional British food! I suggested we go to a pub that serves food instead- more likely to have something I can eat!

*As in 'the brass band my mum plays in', not 'the brass band my mum conducts' or 'the brass band that belongs to my mum'

**I didn't have any breakfast today as I overslept rather (though I was still in time for my lecture). Though I've taken to having a tea and a croissant before nine o'clock lectures when I arrive early enough anyway, and just having yoghurt before I set out. Today and yesterday I had to take the bus as the wheel of my bike is not very well. It may just need pumping up- or there may be a deeper problem. But I haven't had time to deal with it yet.

***Technically he may have told us in a previous lecture but I didn't really take it in...

****I think it's also responsible for mysterious aches that I woke up with today- all that stooping for flyers on Houghton St with a heavy bag making me bend in unusual ways must have used different muscle groups to my average day...

I am that genius...

One of the hardest things about teamwork is not taking credit for things- ideas in particular but also hard work to a lesser extent. I thrive on appreciation- maybe because I'm quite critical of my own efforts and need validation from other people to recognise my work as good. So, when I had the surprise of receiving the group email I sent to all residents in my halls advertising the Quiz Night back again- as a forward from another sustainability champion who'd got hold of it goodness knows how- it was nice to see this at the top:

Dear All
This sounds like a great way to raise awareness and easy to
replicate in any hall (if the champions at LK can share their notes?!).
Well done whoever came up with the idea.

and then to receive this reply-all from another recipient of that message:

YES!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT!
i am a sustainability champion in
grosvenor.. can i and the other sustainability champions come attend to replicate something similar here...
manythanks to the innovator(s)!!

-but it was hard not to fire right back "Glad you liked it! That was a Red Tea idea, brought to you courtesy of Me". Of course, I restrained myself. I sent back an email answering the points about sharing our notes and the possibility of attendence by sustainability champions from other halls, but not mentioning which of the Lilian Knowles champions had the idea.

Interestingly, working in a team also erodes the personal sense of credit and responsibility to a certain extent. Even though I am pretty definite that the quiz was my idea and that I had come up with it before even realising about the existence of SC2, I am not in fact 100% certain. I would say 95 to 99%. I think I can recall telling SC2 that I'd had the idea of the quiz for Climate Change Awareness Week and I didn't know what she thought? But there is a small possibility that in fact it was her idea or a joint idea, and that in the process of my telling people like CMCC about it it became our idea since it was our project, and from 'our' I then started to regard it as 'my'. I don't believe that's what happened, but I can't be sure...

I was pretty heavily involved with green stuff today. In the middle of the afternoon I went to People and Planet's session for making posters/ displays for Climate Change Awareness Week- there were only five of us (I suppose most of the P&P people don't really consider themselves to have an artistic bent...) so I got to do the Drought and Extreme Heat display pretty much all by myself (which made a nice change from working in groups...). I started by drawing black felt pen cracks on the large (A2 or A3) brown sheets of paper provided to look like dried mud- which actually took quite a bit longer than it was perhaps worth- made a title for the centre panel (also took longer than it should have), then copied out the facts that some of the other people who came had found from the internet, onto coloured paper. With a bit more time, I could have done it more neatly- ah well. Before I'd even finished that, the two hours were up and so I took it to the Sky Walk to complete it (nice and quiet, long table, wouldn't matter if I jogged it from excessive rubbing out as it would in the library where people are trying to work). I went via the lockers with the others first though- I hadn't even realised there were lockers in the Old Building (though now I know I shall be bagging one...), but People and Planet has one (several actually) and we needed to be shown where they were so we could put the posters in there when we'd finished working on them. It took me another hour or hour and a half, but I ended up with something that was at least complete (bar some photos that the President, one of the five present, said she'd print out as all the displays wanted some) if not in as workmanlike a condition as I could have wished. I'd also added some line drawings of parched landscapes that didn't come out too well... never mind. So I set off for the lockers- anxious to find them not just so I could get on with the next thing, but because I didn't really feel able to visit the loos while still in posession of the poster (it would be bound to get wet), and this was quite a pressing point.

But somehow I seemed to have managed to make no mental register of where we'd gone when shown the lockers earlier. I spent some time wandering between St Clement's, Clare Market, and the East Building before finally giving in and phoning the President- luckily she'd given me her number earlier. She told me they were in the Old Building, and mentioned a blue door opposite the Student Services Centre. I had a vague idea the Old Building was next to the East Building, but found on following a different sky bridge that actually it was the one opposite it- which I actually knew but had forgotten. Even once there things were not entirely simple. I found Student Services fairly easily, but couldn't see any blue door. In the end I got there the long way round, by following the next part where she'd said that it was one floor up from Student Services and wandering around on that level.

Either side of the big poster making session, I was campaigning for the Green Party. The Students' Union Michaelmas elections are today and tomorrow- there are various positions availiable though most are elected in the spring term. The Green Party made a big effort to run candidates for as many posts as possible, and wanted non-running members to help with handing out fliers etc. Before making posters, I helped out by getting more copies made of CMCC's fliers (he's running for NUS delegation- ie to be chosen to represent LSE at the NUS conference)- he gave me his photocopying card and some change, and explained the process, but the copy shop turned out to be quite hard to figure out. I worked out that top up of the card was via a human at a desk rather than machines as at UCL (though UCL has at least one copy place where a member of staff does the copying and you pay by cash rather than a copy card), and CMCC had explained that I'd have to buy the sheets of paper as the fliers needed to be printed on green rather than white, and put them in the machine myself. What I didn't realise untill I'd topped up the card and had moved on to Stage 2 of buying the paper, was that the money for that didn't come off the card but had to be paid for separately. Of course, I'd put all the change he gave me on his card, but luckily I had the requisite £1.50 in change on me. I then managed to drop the card going from the desk to a copy machine, and got to the point of the proceedings where I realised I didn't have it just in time to see someone pick it up and be about to lock it away safely somewhere. I'd heard it fall, but looked down and not seen anything, but when I realised I didn't have it had put two and two together. So luckily I got it back. I'd put the paper in one of the drawers, but a helpfull member of staff (I think) showed me how it was better to put it in the side tray (which I hadn't even noticed). Both he and another staff member, to whom I took the copies to be cut into four with an industrial guillotine, commented on how dark the photo was (which I'd also noticed)- but there was nothing I could do about that!

Having handed over the stack of 200 fliers (still warm), I finished my lunch (Sky Walk again), then went back out to see what I could do next. Everyone had just been topped up with fliers so I didn't get to put my newfound Copy Shop skills to use, but I started handing out some fliers for the ULU delegate, then was approached by EMCC (running for Postgraduate Officer) who asked me to hand out fliers for the Academic Board candidate as she needed pushing more than the ULU one who was almost certain to get in. I actually managed to do both; I may not be any good at persuasion (which is why I was glad to be given things I could do like copying and handing out fliers- I'd been afraid I'd have to talk to people about policies, but actually no-one wanted to stop and debate) but I'm not bad at getting fliers taken (or, in other contexts, at getting change tossed into a bucket, come to that). I didn't have 200- but I probably had 25 or 50 of each candidate, and I managed to get rid of them all in the 10 or 15 minutes before I had to go to the People and Planet thing.

Campaigning afterwards didn't come to much as it was raining and there was no-one around to give fliers to. I took three different kinds to a couple of computer rooms, where I left some in front of each computer, on the recommendation of EMCC, but that was about it. Then I got a bit carried away and decided to start picking up the discarded fliers that were littering Houghton St- in the pouring rain. Of course, I should have stopped when CMCC tried to persuade me it wasn't a good idea- which was practically as soon as I started- but somehow the part of my brain that recognises what's sensible wasn't quite working properly and I went on for a bit. Which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't meant CMCC felt obliged to join in a bit as well- it's one thing my error of judgment getting me wet but it's a lot worse if it's getting someone else wet too. I just felt that if we were going to make a mess we should clean it up (though of course it was by no means only Green Party fliers)- just like I think the paper throwers at the UGM should clear up their paper. But with a clearer perspective, I now freely admit that in a rainstorm is maybe not the best time to apply that principle. I was a bit worried that the discarded fliers would stick to the ground as they dried, but CMCC said that wouldn't happen (speaking from experience of last year) so maybe it will be possible to do it tomorrow.

In other news, I've had something of a breakthrough with Time Series. In the physical aspects of the lecture, which were taken care of with some simple forward planning: I went to bed earlier last night (getting the not-too-Margaret-Thatcherish total of 6 hours' sleep), I got up early enough to have some yoghurt in halls before leaving and a croissant and cup of tea in the Garrick after arriving, and I took a big jumper with me to put over my cardigan when, as was inevitable, I started to feel chilly (Next time I may try to get there early enough to be the first and close the windows without anyone noticing...). And with the content of the lecture. I had a decent bash at the excercise last night, and found that two of the three questions were doable, which was encouraging, even though it turned out today that what I'd thought the lecture notes looked like they were saying but couldn't possibly be true really was what they meant, so that I'd done one of those two questions wrong. The important thing is that now I know that I can do questions like that easily. So I'm not as afraid of Time Series as I was...

Quest for the Hidden Sky-Walk

Today I finally did something I'd been meaning to get around to for some weeks. I hunted down the sky-walk between the library and St Clement's building. From the ground, you can see that it has a row of stools and a counter facing out across the space outside the library, and looks like a great place to eat lunch (especially when it's cold or wet)- seats in the warm with a view, and they're never all taken. But it's not immediately obvious how to get to it. I'd had a vague hunt around at the library end but couldn't seem to find it. Today, I was thinking about sitting and reading the Beaver over a bit of chocolate before heading home (to recuperate from the lecture with the boring voice...), when it suddenly occurred to me that, being in St Clement's already, I was ideally placed to have a stab at locating it.

It wasn't easy- I kept on finding the multistory bridge between St Clement's and Clare Market which is not nearly so good though very persistent, but I did eventually track it down on the fourth floor (I think). And it lived up to its image- it was indeed very nice to sit at the counter with my newspaper and my bar of chocolate and watch the crowds far below. Only this morning (well, afternoon really) I was feeling cold while eating lunch outside the library (no room in the Quad Cafe)- in future, I'll know where to go!

We got the first taste of working in groups in Computational Statistics today. Not on the project- this week's excercise was to be done in the same groups. As I thought, it wasn't great. Things I could have just type in if working by myself were (a) harder to think of somehow when not in front of a keyboard (another member of the group was typing) (b) hard to communicate to the others verbally (makes so much more sense written down) and (c) you don't always want to have the same person shouting out the answer, but if one person thinks quicker than the rest you either have that or you have them artificially waiting to give the rest a chance to catch up. (b) can be combatted by having a pad to write stuff down on- at least I learned that'll be usefull to bring when we work on the project- but it's still more of a fag than just typing it in. There was also one group member who seemed not to get it as much as the rest of us so we had to try and keep him up to speed without patronising him- at least he wasn't afraid to ask if he didn't understand, otherwise it could have been really awkward. And there were some disagreements about whether certain things would work- of course you can just type it in, try it and see, but in a group there's a reluctance to type untill everyone's happy with what you're doing. I'm not looking forward to the presentation either- what with all the groups working on the same problem, it's going to seem like what we're saying is really obvious (I'm going to feel like Lecturer With The Boring Voice in the first week...)

Talking of Principals and Methods, I put in an hour or so in the library before the class (I freely admit I haven't spent as much time on the excercises for that or for Time Series as I should have- not nearly as much. I keep meaning to do more...). I was pleasantly surprised to find that of the three questions I attempted, I basically got two right, except for rearranging at the end. That's three out of 14 though... the lecturer said at the end of the class "More on Friday, probably. [with a sigh, half to himself] Excercise 4 does go on a bit, doesn't it?" Excuse me, who set it? I thought- before realising that he may possibly be using someone else's course notes...

I came out of the library feeling slightly fuzzy in the head (I may not be 100% well*) and with the conviction that any problem could be solved by collecting up the factors into a probability density function which would then integrate to 1. Which may be true in the limited context of Moment Generating Functions or Joint Densities, but is probably not so applicable to problems such as "How can we persuade everyone to vote for the Green Party candidates?" or "Help, I need some questions for the Climate Change Awareness Week Quiz!"...

*It was certainly hard getting up this morning- but that doesn't necessarily mean anything :) I'd planned to leave an hour early (and get some work done at LSE) as the front door was going to be unusable (maintenance) from 8am- but I overslept by about 2 hours. I was still on time for my lecture, but I had to take my bike downstairs, across the courtyard, and up again- and I didn't have time for breakfast!

Butterfly Wings

I went home at the weekend, intending to get plenty of work done like a good little girl- instead, when I wasn't sleeping in or getting very wet in a downpour in a wood, I was making butterfly wings. These are theoretically for the Climate Change demo on 4th November- but I'm not even sure I'll be able to wear them: though I know the student contingent will be dressing up I'm not sure what there is in terms of rules or guidelines for what you can wear. The idea behind the wings is that, like the example of the butterfly flapping its wings and creating a storm, the actions of individuals can change the world- but in fact it's stretching it a bit because climate change is not chaotic in the sense that the storm is and actually a small difference in input only makes a small difference in output: if one person carries on with unsustainable levels of consumption and everyone else cuts down we'll still be fine; if one person cuts down and the rest stay as they are then we won't. But it's metaphorically true, in that if we all make a small change, that'll add up and we can make a difference... As a fallback, the butterfly wings are also appropriate because they represent nature which we will be destroying if we don't do something.

The wings are made of a twisted wire frame with an old sheet cut to shape and sewn on. I'm going to paint them if I get time, and get a leotard and black tights/ shiny leggings to wear with it. Preferably after I've checked it's ok...

They weren't the only thing I staggered into college with this morning*. While I was home I took the opportunity to pick up my three big tupperware pots. They're something like 30cm diametre and 10cm deep- not huge but the best thing I have to serve salads for 50 people (actually I don't think they'll be enough but what can you do? Well, buy some more, obviously, but short of that...). I actually got them when I was at UCL for exactly this purpose- to serve pasta salad and cous cous at the maths society (ADM) Christmas Quiz- the event of the year. Then they spent a few years looking after things like rice or ground almond that was liable to get knocked over and make a mess if left to support itself in my cupboard- making an annual reappearance in their starring Christmas Quiz role. To my shame, they still had all my store cupboard supplies from my final year. The top two tubs were fine- they had packets and packets of stuff that I wouldn't recommend eating but which could just go into the bin bag without any feelings of 'yuk!'. The third was different. There was some kind of reddish brown liquid on the bottom and soaked into all the cardboard packets, and on the top something long and soft. It was gross. I'm not entirely sure what it was (it was a bit far gone) but I'm guessing maybe a stray piece of dried gourd that got wet? Though the rest of the dried gourd was in one of the other tubs. I got it from the Japan Centre as an experiment and wasn't wild enough about it to get through it all in a year. Anyway, as you can imagine, after being in there for two years and counting it really didn't smell nice at all. Though I gave the tubs a quick wash out, it was a smell that lingered with me through the day and I just hope my fellow passengers and classmates didn't keep getting the whiffs I did... I'm going to give them all a proper wash when I've written this!

I had to do a lot of emailing today. One of my flatmates (Flatmate 7) has become a Sustainability Champion, so I was filling her in by email (I'd never have managed if I'd tried telling her face to face) on what we were up to and what needed doing, and where we hadn't already decided stuff so she could have some input into the decision making, and I also had to email SC2 about arrangements for the quiz- when we should meet up and so on- and to tell her I'd got the poster and introductory letter photocopied as she asked (now we have to try and meet up as she has the leaflets...). SC2 also gave me SC3 (the annoying bloke)'s email address, which I'd been asking for as I'd managed to give him mine without getting his and annoying though he is I do of course need to be keeping him informed as well. So I emailed him about what I and SC2 had been discussing... at least in future I should be able to just send one email to all of them; this time they all knew different things so it was complicated.

It's not all stress though. I made myself a simple but comforting supper of baked potato with cheese and onion, spaghetti hoops and pineapple cottage cheese (something I used to have for lunch quite a lot in third year but probably haven't had since I came back from Japan), and in an hour or two I'm going to treat myself to a chocolate muffin with whipped cream (which I used to have much more often than was really good for me, again in third year, mostly) while watching ER. It's not just harking back to third year- while I was in Japan I would often get some cake (gateau really) when I went into town at the weekend and eat it while watching ER in the evening- I used to spend the whole day looking forward to that. Which I suppose tells you how much I enjoyed my job....

*Usually I'd come back from a weekend at home on Sunday evening, but part of the reason I went home this time was a dentists appointment this morning so I went back after that- I didn't have a lecture till 2 so that was fine (though the bus across London took longer than I thought and I was five minutes late)

The Sinister Side of Paper Aeroplanes

When I went to the UGM the first couple of times, my opinion on paper throwing was that it was on the whole a good thing. It added atmosphere, and like the questions from the floor, it seemed as though there was a mixture of people who cared about the issues trying to make a serious point with it and people who just saw the whole thing as good entertainment (questions have included, for example, a request to give a report on what's going on in Neighbours during questions to the General Secretary after his weekly report, and asking each candidate to tell a joke when the chair was being elected at the beginning of the first meeting). I'm now no longer so convinced that any of the paper-throwers are interested in the actual business of the meeting- and it's very one-sided as well, because they all seem to have pretty much the same views, and the same people are unpopular with them, so that only some people get bombarded- but that was my impression at the time. I think that if the UGM can combine important decisions with having a laugh, then that's absolutely wonderfull. So I enjoy the time wasting questions (so long as they are funny)- but that doesn't mean I don't want fewer of them. Because in an ideal world, the meeting would be two hours long, and there would be time to get through everything on the agenda whilst making jokes at every turn- but in reality, we just have the one hour and even without irrelevant questions we wouldn't get through everything. And it's all important.

In a similar way, in an ideal world paper-throwing could be a part of the proceedings- but in reality there are problems with it. I hadn't realise that it is, or potentially could be, preventing disabled students from participating (I imagine because wheelchair users wouldn't have the manoevrability to dodge the missiles- the able-bodies speakers don't just move their upper bodies but often actually have to step out of the way- and blind students wouldn't be able to see them coming which would be pretty scary I should think). For this reason, the Union executive (the officers elected each year from the student body) have decided to ban it. And that's reason enough. But for me, that's not even the most serious negative aspect. I also hadn't realised that the people throwing paper don't clear it up afterwards. Let me clarify a little here. In spite of the title of my post 'Politics and Paper Aeroplanes', it's not really paper aeroplanes. That was just poetic license. (well, there were one or two the first time). It's actually quite bulky projectiles- the paper-throwers scrunch up some paper and wrap it in another sheet, twisting it up to keep the first lot in and producing something somewhere between an onion with all its leaves and a bomb in shape. And the volume is staggering. They bring in enormous stacks of free student newspapers- London Student as well as LSE's Beaver, I think- and keep up a thick stream of fire throughout any speech that's unpopular with them occasionally throwing down virgin sheets when they run out of the stocks they've been preparing during the bits of the meeting they don't have a problem with. Yesterday, the whole of the stage at the front of the lecture theatre was ten or twenty cm deep in newspaper balls. I'm not exaggerating. And that's just the stuff that landed on target. There was another ten cm drift in the centre of each of the first few rows. So we're not talking one or two stray scraps of paper. We're talking something like eight binbags of material. I was just absolutely shocked when I heard that the people causing all this mess don't stay around to tidy it up. I suppose they think that's the cleaners' job- which I'm pretty sure it isn't as they have enough to get through as it is, and in any case wouldn't be cleaning the theatre before the next lecture- but in practice, it's the students with more of a conscience (most of whom are actually against paper-throwing) who stay behind and deal with it. I'm completely staggered by such irresponsibility and such an immature attitude by students at any university let alone somewhere like LSE, which, let's face it, teaches pretty well exclusively subjects that are about power and taking control of the world (such as politics, law, and economics) and could be said to be in the business of turning out future leaders.

Of course, that doesn't even touch on the environmental aspect. I also think wasting paper on such a grand scale is, given the reality of climate change, extraordinarily reckless, but I don't believe that would weigh much with those concerned*. It could be argued that, given the lateness in the week of the UGM, if the newspapers weren't used for paper throwing they'd just go to waste. But maybe if they weren't scooped up in such numbers every Thursday the editors wouldn't produce so large a print run (though I'm not quite sure about the logistics and details of the printing process so maybe I'm wrong about that). In any case, it would be a lot simpler, and a lot more economical in terms of space to simply recycle them as intact newspapers than as bulky balls- and it's lucky if they are recycled after being thrown as the throwers obviously aren't going to see to it so it depends on the students clearing it up- and on whether they have time to take it all to the recycling bins (though admittedly a lot of them are doing it precisely to make sure it is recycled).

So, though I can still see the positive points, I am now against paper-throwing. As I said, it's now been banned. But of course, it's not going to be that simple, due to the kind of people involved. At yesterday's meeting, the proceedings started with two minutes silence for the Honorary Vice President of the Union**, a Burmese activist who was imprisoned and tortured for forming a students' union, and who died in prison on Monday, and with the sombre mood I hoped that maybe people would feel less like throwing paper and the ban would thus gain some weight by its observation to a large extent this week. But then there were speeches by candidates standing in the Michaelmas elections before the ban could be announced. The General Secretary then said that it would come into effect at the end of the reports by the executives***, to give the throwers a last chance to get it out of their system, so of course there was a complete deluge while they were on stage. Which would have been fine if they'd stopped when that was over, but they didn't. As well as trying to fight the ban (which of course they have every right to attempt even if I didn't want them to succeed), they continued throwing paper, which is not on. They tried to bring a motion of no confidence in the executive, but a motion of no confidence needs a two thirds majority which they fortunately didn't get. Then they tried to bring a motion of no confidence in the chair (for not doing a recount, even though the vote was something like 90-60 so it wasn't all that close), but they didn't get it in before the meeting was adjourned because one of them, having been warned twice, had now been asked to leave in accordance with the protocol set out in the ban and was refusing to go. CMCC had predicted the day before, when he was telling me about the ban, that this would happen and they would have to stop the meeting, and he was right, though at least it was quite near the end by that point (only because the speeches by candidates and the executive reports had taken so long that the ban wasn't in operation for most of the meeting). He'd also told me that he'd spoken to a guy who is in some ways the leader of the paper throwers and has a lot of influence with them, and that that guy had said he'd try to get them to respect the ban, though he didn't know how successfull he'd be. Guess which guy that was. Yes, that's right, it was the one that stopped the meeting by refusing to leave after being given two warnings for paper throwing. Well, CMCC did say he wasn't that sure he believed him.

*Yesterday, the Environment and Ethics officer (CMCC) shouted out to them at the end when everyone was leaving- the meeting having been stopped due to their activities- 'Aren't you going to at least tidy it up?' and one of them called back 'Saving the planet is your job, that's what we elected you for' or words to that effect which I think demonstrates their attitude pretty effectively

**The Honorary President and Vice President of the Union have no actual duties or responsbilities and I'm not sure they even know that they have been chosen- past candidates have included Nelson, and this year Jed Bartlett from the West Wing, neither of whom has been informed I would imagine...- but are elected each year to provide a kind of symbolic function. They can be real and alive though- the other candidate this year is 'Richard the cleaner' who was sacked from his position at LSE after more than twenty years' service not because of incompetence or not turning up to work or any reason like that but because he spoke up for cleaners whose English was not so good when they were being badly treated. This was possible because LSE uses contractors for cleaning. The contractors couldn't sack him without a reason, but LSE could say they didn't want him any more and that permitted the contractors to get rid of him- a terrible case of collusion. He can't sue the contractors or LSE which is terrible. So the people proposing him as President hope this will send out a message to LSE about how students feel about it.

**Who were all fasting, having taken up the Islamic Society's challenge "Can YOU last a muslim fast?", and had dressed in Islamic dress, to raise money for orphans. The challenge was open to any non-muslims, and I actually did it as well, though I didn't realise till the end of the day when I was looking at the posters again that you were actually supposed to sign up for it (which would presumably enable you to raise money through it) so I'm not sure it was a particularly usefull gesture; I was doing it largely because I wanted to show solidarity with muslims, since it seems to me that the view of muslims in the media has changed over the past six years or maybe even less than that (I'm not quite sure if it dates from 11th September or only from 7th July) from being just another ethnic group (or rather several) who like any other are happily becoming gradually more accepted and integrated as the majority population becomes gradually less racist, and more used to having them around (maybe that's too optimistic but that's how it seemed to me), to being a group viewed as at worst producers of terrorists and at best as whingers who aren't happy with living here. I wanted to try and say 'To me, muslims are just normal people like the rest of us'. But it probably would have been more effective if I'd actually mentioned to anyone I was doing it... I'm also not sure I finished it properly- I seemed to remember a muslim saying it would last till 5.30, and the event to finish it off, with free food, was at 5.30, though I wasn't sure whether the food was at that point or if the fast finished later and the food therefore was also later- I couldn't go to the event because People and Planet had their meeting at 6. So I broke my fast at 5.30, with water and chocolate, but it was still light so I'm not convinced that was correct...

Disappointments

There were three small disappointments yesterday. The plan didn't work, because CMCC had a lecture straight after the meeting (I didn't even get as far as asking as he mentioned it when someone asked if they'd be able to discuss something with him afterwards); we got assigned groups for the group project in Computational Statistics and I'm not too convinced my particular lot will be good to work with (though I don't really know them at all and have never spoken to them so I could easily turn out to be wrong); and worst of all, at the Environment Forum another person from my halls said he wanted to become a Sustainability Champion. At first glance, this sounds like a good thing- the more people promoting environmentally friendly living the better, one would have said. But actually I'm really not happy about it. Partly this is because of who it is- I actually met this guy, C, during the welcome party and while he was nice enough in a social setting (though I left without any desire to ever see him again, I also had no desire not to see him again), it became apparent just over the hour or so long discussion the three of us had after the meeting that he wasn't going to be good to work with- to be fair, the specific combination was not going to gel nicely and effectively. He seems pretty strong willed and insistent on doing certain things he's set his mind on- while in some ways that's a good quality (after all it's also known as determination), it unfortunately brings out a similarly strong willed opposition in me- and the strong wills make it difficult to talk through things slowly and thoroughly and listen entirely to each others' arguments before coming back with a point of one's own. For example, he has a big thing about waste disposal. So far, so good- after all it's certainly one of the areas we should be focussing on. But one thing he very firmly wants is a separate communal bin for white paper- "even if it was all the way down by the laundry, I'd be happy to go down there to throw my white paper away; I use a lot of it and-". Such were the wills that we weren't able to discuss this as calmly and methodically as I would have liked: I believe that he wanted one because he believes the pink recycling bags in the kitchen are not being sent off for recycling but just emptied in with the rest of the rubbish (though I couldn't quite get out of him whether he'd still need one if that scheme was working fine). Of course, if it's true, then that's terrible- though, as the Sustainability Champions Co-ordinator, who stayed behind after the meeting for half an hour or so, said, it could be that the council need to generate a large enough uptake before they can actually send them to be recycled. His belief, I think, was that the residence management or cleaning staff are the ones who lump it together- though if the council are not recycling it then that doesn't make a difference- but I question this. He claims to have seen it happen on more than one occasion, but I'd been talking to the manager the day before and he volunteered, though we had actually been talking about the residents' end of the chain, the information that he was planning to get another bin to store the recycling waste in or to ask the council to collect twice a week. So I think it is quite possible that what C saw was stuff from the recycling bags having to go in with the ordinary waste after the recycling storage was full for the week- bad but being remedied (hopefully). I explained this to C (what with the strong wills, I actually explained it more than once), but I wasn't suggesting that that was the end of the matter- I said we should look into it, but find out what really does happen to it before trying to implement alternatives. Again, I couldn't quite get a straight answer out of him, but he seemed to be wanting to go straight ahead without investigating first, and told us when we parted that he'd look into schemes that do white paper recycling. Of course, there's no harm finding out about that even if we do have yet to take the first step, but the way he said it gave me the impression that having found out about it he would launch, or want to launch, straight into arranging it.
On my part, I'll admit to being a bit more intractable about the planned menu for the Climate Change Awareness Week Halls Quiz, though I did manage to say that we could discuss the details of it later and that we probably could make different things (luckily the strong wills meant I hadn't quite been able to get out a statement of my reflex position earlier in the conversation, that the food should hardly change; I would have run up against a lack of logical reasons if I hadn't been interrupted and I'm glad I was). I was also too forcefull on the questions- the Sustainability Champions Co-ordinator, like CMCC when I mentioned the idea to him at Archway, thought it should be a pub quiz with a round on climate change, but I thought the whole thing should be about it. I did manage to say that I wasn't sure how the others felt (looking at them) but personally..., but then I was arguing the point with her without the others having a chance to express their views.
It's not just about the personalities though: I actually think this will mean more work not less. Which would be fine (though stressfull) if it meant more effect- but I believe it will in fact mean we get less done. Two from one was an improvement- it made decisions easier where I really wouldn't have been sure myself; we managed to come up together with an eminently presentable leaflet and introductory letter that I believe neither of us (well certainly not me anyway) could have managed apart; we've both made some effective posters with mine having the strength of presenting information clearly and attractively, and SC2's being persuasive, amusing and memorable; and there's been an extra person to try and catch the manager in. But it's been hard enough trying to find times for the two of us to meet up, and sending things to each other by email to approve; trying to find times for three and wait for two people to comment on work is going to be very hard. And when we do meet up, because of the dynamic it seems likely that (though I will try not to let it happen) we will spend more time at opposite positions trying to convince each other not to do things than actually getting stuff done. SC2 and I haven't always had the same views about things, but because neither has been really set on anything, but rather undecided and leaning one way, we've been able to put forward a few arguments and then one of us decide the other is right- and if one has a reason for not doing something that the other wants to do, we've often been able to explore the reasons for that and incorporate a change that addresses them- sometimes an entirely different third option we'd only just thought of.
Finally, I suppose I am a little resentfull of his coming late- there's no reason why he couldn't have applied at the same time as us if he'd wanted to, and we've got a good team going that he wants to effectively do away with (since it will be so different with the three of us). And he doesn't respect the fact that we've been doing this for a couple of weeks- and that we have, for example, talked to the manager and know a bit about the situation- he seems to think he is in just as good a position as us. But of course, there's nothing I can do about it, we (I? Not sure how SC2 feels) are just going to have to put up with him. And maybe draw up some kind of division of responsibilities...
Anyway, all yesterdays disappointments were building up to The Disappointment today. Today the plan worked, after a fashion- I got to go down to the Quad Cafe with CMCC after the committee meeting, and it was just the two of us, though we were joined by someone else before long. I even managed to ask the Question, in what may possibly have seemed a totally naturaly and innocent way. But I was pretty sure of the answer beforehand- when the committee moved to another room to fill in nomination forms for those standing in the Michaelmass elections after the meeting, he and the Residences Officer actually kissed once or twice (this part of the meeting was very informal, I hasten to add, and it was mostly when people were leaving). Again, conclusive in almost every case but here only very suggestive- after all, it wasn't French kissing though admittedly any sort of kissing on the lips is extremely non-standard between best friends of whatever gender. It did at least have the virtue of making the Question into something that was more likely to be asked purely in the interest of making conversation than before- I actually did it when we finally sat down at the Quad Cafe, having bumped into someone CMCC knew who was still buying sandwiches before coming to join us; thankfully there had been a long enough pause for it to sound like thinking of something to say. I said it casually (I hope) and with a smile, and it may have passed for more of a humorous comment than a genuine question- in any case, at least it had been placed in something of a grey area as far as too personal went since if he wanted to keep it private he wouldn't have kissed her at the meeting.
Of course, I wish he had turned around and said something like "No, actually, though I can see how you might have got that idea". But there is also an element of relief to this outcome- I would almost certainly not have achieved anything even if he had been single and at least this way I won't keep telling myself that nothing will happen if I'm not brave enough to take some kind of action. And maybe I won't feel the need to impress him so much either... It goes without saying that I'm going to try to re-platonicise my feelings, and stop my stomach lurching whenever I catch sight of (or think I catch sight of...) him. But I do really enjoy talking to him (or hearing him talk) and I would like to be friends if possible- so this does present somewhat of a challenge: my general method of getting over crushes involves not just forcing the train of thought onto new tracks (generally over on the other side of a mountain range) every time it stops at the object's station, but labelling the visual-and-personality-impression image over with 'Silly' (I've never quite worked out whether this has actually brought about my despising of most of the people I have had a thing for, or whether due to a very wrong first impression and subsequent resistance to reality they have in fact all been worthy of this, and I have discovered it later). This is not going to work if I'm going to be spending any amount of time with him, and what with him being co-chair of the Green Party, it is pretty certain that I will. So I am going to experiment with just trying not to think about him, and will hope that that will also cut down on my feelings when I do see him. There will be something of a test of that tomorrow (though of course that will be very early days) as it will be the Union General Meeting where he'll almost certainly speak, and so I will be able to see what it's like watching him without him being aware of my reactions (and me needing to carefully control them) as would be the case in a smaller setting.
Today, though, rather than starting the deliberate thought change I have taken the easier path of distractions. After the revelation* I was going to the library anyway, and decided to plunge back into Computational Statistics as I knew my mind would just wander with Principals and Methods and I wouldn't get anything done. As it is, my concentration wasn't perfect, but I still got pretty into it and was able to forget for quite long periods. For once, the topic as well as the computing was actually interesting- the past two weeks the data has been share prices over time which really doesn't grab me. This time, rather than data, some of the questions focussed on the logistic function: X1=r(X0)(1-X0)**. In other words, you take a number (between 0 and 1), subtract it from one, multiply that by your number, and then multiply again by another number r. You then use the answer to go round again. For example, if we decide to have r as 3, and start with X=0.25, then we get 3*0.25*0.75=0.5625, and then we do 3*0.5625*0.4375=0.7383 and so on, generating a sequence of numbers. I'd come accross this before when reading popular maths books before I came to university, and had seen the diagrams that follow, but this was the first time I'd created them for myself. One question involved writing a function to draw a diagram like this:The curve is just the function r(x)(1-x)- a plot of the value get for each x value if we carry out the process just once. Here I've used r=1. The black line meanwhile is y=x. So far so simple. The interesting bit is the red line. This could have started from anywhere, but in this diagram I've chosen a starting point of x=0.5. The mini programme I wrote, incidentally, allowed r and the starting point to be changed, so I was very easily able to generate the following pictures. Anyway, the red line goes from our starting point on the x-axis up to the curve. It then goes horizontally to the line y=x. Since it keeps the height it had when it hit the curve, the y co-ordinate when it gets to y=x is still r(x)(1-x). And of course, at y=x, the x co-ordinate equals the y co-ordinate- in other words the x co-ordinate has now changed from 0.5 to 0.5*0.5= 0.25. The line then goes back to the curve, keeping that x value, so that at the curve we have y=0.25*0.75=0.1875. It keeps travelling between the curve and y=x, and every time it moves vertically to the curve, we get a new y value y=x(1-x), and every time it moves horizontally to y=x, that y value becomes the new x value. So we are moving through the sequence as before, but this time doing it on the graph.
As you can see, the red line zig-zags between the line and the curve getting smaller and smaller and heading for the origin. You might think that that is all it would do, which would be rather boring. But actually, if we change the value of r, we can see some quite interesting things:For r=2, if we start at 0.5 again we only get one vertical line. That's because 2*0.5*0.5=0.5- we just get the same value back again every time (you can see this on the graph by the fact that the curve and y=x cross at 0.5). The same thing would have happened with r=1 if we'd started with 0; y=x doesn't cross the curve anywhere else for r=1. Going back to r=2, if we start at 0.1 instead, we get:
This time, instead of heading for the origin, the sequence heads for the place where the lines cross, at x=0.5. Now if we change r to 3, and start at 0.1 again, we get this rather different picture:This time, it's spiralling in rather than zig-zagging- though it still looks like it's heading for the place where the lines cross.
We didn't have to start at 0.1; anywhere except where the lines cross would have done:
So far, it looks like it will always home in on the place where the lines cross (where x=r(x)(1-x)). Sometimes it will spiral, sometimes it will zig-zag. Right? Wrong! Look what happens when r=3.87:Instead of heading for one point, this time the sequence moves all over the graph (all over the range of x).
So for what values of r does the function 'behave nicely' and head for one value, and for what values does it do the above? Well, this diagram- which was the task for the next question- is the one I am proudest of. Not that it is really any harder than the others, it just looks very impressive. And it is the final diagram they give whenever any book talks about the topic:Very pretty, but what does it mean? Well, along the bottom you have values of r (ignore the labels, they were a mistake I've just noticed), and up the left hand side values of x. For each r, the computer has calculated the logistic function r(x)(1-x) 1000 times (starting with x=0.5- but any value would have done) and plotted the last fifty of these values. For values of r up to 3, these last fifty x values are homing in on one number, and each of the fifty points is so close to the rest (since we are so far on in the sequence) that on the graph all fifty look like just one point, making just one line when all the r values are taken together. The fifty values is what had to be plotted in practice, but you can think of it as showing the point that the sequence is heading for at each value of r.
After r=3 though, the line splits: for these r values, instead of heading for one point, the sequence heads for two at once- one value is close to one point and the next close to the other, then the next is a little closer to the first point and the one after that a little closer to the second. It then splits again and goes between four points. As r gets closer to 4, the sequence visits more and more points. The diagram stops at 4 because after that the sequence stops heading for anything but just gets bigger and bigger (in absolute value)- because the highest value x(1-x) can have is 0.25 (when x=0.5), so that for values of r less than 4, r(x)(1-x) is between 0 and 1, but for example, if r is 5 and starting with 0.5, the first few values of the sequence are 1.25, -1.5625, -20.0195, -2104.0058,...

So that was a nice distraction. And after that I went to see a Spanish film being shown by the film society in one of the lecture theatres (one equipped with speakers (though not great speakers) as well as a data projector, and with steeply sloping tiers of seats). It was Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; it was originally scheduled for last Thursday and I was sorry I was going to miss it for the Maths and Stats Freshers' Dinner, but luckily they had to cancel it at the last minute and show it today instead. It took a while for them to get it started (technical difficulties, I think), but I was chatting to a nice General Course student, the conversation having started over our joint efforts to find the room, so I didn't mind. It was a really good film- very very bizarre but very funny too and with an interesting visual style. They served sangria as well, which was stronger than it seemed but quite nice. The whole thing was free for film society members, and membership was only £3 so I think I got a bargain there. I'm hoping to be able to go to more of their showings over the year but I suppose it depends what else I've got going on!

*Ok, revelation is too dramatic a word for something that was already staring me in the face. And it wasn't exactly right after either- the other person joined us and we had quite a conversation, then he left, and I was just thinking of going myself (it had been long enough not to look as though I no longer wanted to spend time in his company) when it became apparent that his girlfriend would be coming along shortly so I felt I had to stay a bit longer so as not to look like I was avoiding her. I had a bit of a chat with her (she's really nice, actually, and not in awe of him which is obviously very healthy and probably very good for him), while he was getting her a tea, and then they both left only it wasn't quite clear immediately whether one or both of them was coming back- so again I waited a bit so as not to seem to be avoiding either of them- then took a look round but they'd disappeared so I finally went.

**Obviously the notation is completely out there but it's the best I can do without LaTeX or something; ideally I'd do subscript t and t-1 in place of 1 and 0