People are Mirrors

I always thought that I was independent and that other people could affect me if and only if I allowed them to. But lately I’ve been wondering if my assumptions were correct. This article is the result of my observations and my lazy reluctance to look up scientific facts.

I am beginning to think that people’s influence on one another manifests itself daily, and that it does not rely on any previously established relationships between individuals. Instead, it works on a much lower level, one that often eludes consciousness entirely.

Here is a couple of examples:

1. If I see a girl with wide eyes, narrow eyes, or a “stuck” expression on her face, such as of surprise, I automatically attempt to paste the same expression on my face. This is not at all related to any feeling of attraction I might experience, on the contrary, the reaction is stronger when the combination of features is rather repulsive. It is probably not limited to girls, but I guess that shows where my attention is
2. If I listen to my math teacher yelling for five minutes, I get angry myself and I feel the acid rising in my stomach. This happens in spite of my efforts to take things lightly, stay uninvolved, and try to laugh it all off.
3. It’s difficult to keep a neutral expression when I see a wide smile on a face that is full of light. It’s strange. But it’s still difficult to be the first one to smile
4. After a certain time spent with a person, even if I happen to dislike them, I begin to mirror their accent and manner of speech. This is especially obvious to me when I stress the ‘r’, or utter expressions that I never thought I’d willfully use.

All this is intriguing, since I don’t normally want to mirror anybody. Perhaps it is an automated mechanism to aid in communication, but it’s pretty scary that it happens without my conscious consent. Where’s the on/off switch dammit?! It makes me ask myself who I really am.

On a lighter note, Copycat by The Cranberries just came on shuffle. How appropriate!

Copycat, copycat, copycat
Copy copy copy copy yourself
Copycat, copycat, copycat
Copy copy copy everyone else

Neterminat Uitat Expirat

Parfumul cald al unei veri
S-a dus;
Azi visul gloriei de ieri
I-apus.

În van am încercat mai sus
Să sar.
Şi tot ce mi-a rămas e-un gust
Amar.

Oraşul tot, asfalt topit
Şi fum;
Plonjează în nemărginit
Acum.

Luna în templu s-a ivit;
Adorm.
Trăiesc ce încă n-am trăit
În somn.

Din cerul singur, dureros
De alb
Se prăbuşeşte-un luminos
Catarg.

Un soare nou rege va fi
Mâine.
Nici zeii nordici nu vor şti
Cine.

Miticul lanţ nu a cedat
Nicicând.
Şi lumea asta nu-i decât
Un gând.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

A genius quotation from Kate Atkinson’s book:

How can life be so sweet and so sad, all at the same time? How? Just out of my reach, there is understanding. Somewhere, just out of reach, hidden on a high shelf, under a floor board, there is a key. And what will the key open? Why, the Lost Property Cupboard, of course. The Lost Property Cupboard Theory of Life is a relatively recent development in my philosophical quest for understanding. It has come about, no doubt, because all this year, Kathleen and I have held the office of Lost Property Cupboard monitors, and every Thursday afternoon at four o’clock, we open up the Lost Property Cupboard. [...] This is my Lost Property Cupboard Theory of the Afterlife: When we die, we are taken to a great Lost Property Cupboard, where all the things we have ever lost are being kept for us. Every hair grip, every button and pencil, every tooth, every earring and key, every pin (think how many there must be!), all the library books, all the cats that never came back, all the coins, all the watches which will still be keeping time for us; and perhaps, too, the other less tangible things: tempers, and patience; perhaps Patricia’s virginity would be there; religion (Kathleen has lost hers); meaning, innocence (mine); and oceans of time. [...] On the lower shelf will be the dreams we forgot on waking, nestling against the days lost to melancholy thoughts. If they paid dividends, Patricia would be rich. And right down at the bottom of the cupboard, amongst the silk, and fluff, and feathers, the pencil shavings and hair swept up from hairdressers’ floors, that’s where you’ll find the lost memories. [...] Then perhaps we can sign our names and take them home with us.

(4-4, ~10:00, fix it when I lay my hands on the book.)

Disorder

Sorry about the mess I currently made of this blog. I updated the Code section (aka. Magic) and had to create a separate post for every config file that was listed there. The news here is:

• I’ve become maintainer of the KCharSelect widget/utility app in KDE. I haven’t done much besides bragging yet, but I have some bug fixes (before 4.1) and features in mind.
• With a little luck (and a lot of free time if I find it), I will begin porting Filelight to KDE 4.

In other weakly related news:

• Theme change. Opinions?
• Blogroll updated. Forget common sense.
• I won’t be home until Monday. I’m going to make an ass of myself again in front of the unbeatable Romanian contestants at the .Campion final round
• I’ve been pondering whether I should finally get my own domain + paid hosting soon. I decided that it’s not yet the time, since except for a few gotchas (can only upload certain file types, can’t change CSS), I’ve been really happy with the WordPress.com service.

Now, if this post is not random, than I don’t know what is!

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf
#
# LOG:
# version 0.2 (2008 May 7)
# version 0.1 (?? ??, ??)
#
# NOTES:
# The touchpad acceleration options are still not ideal.
#

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver        "kbd"
    Option        "CoreKeyboard"
    Option        "XkbRules"    "xorg"
    Option        "XkbModel"    "pc105"
    Option        "XkbLayout"    "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Mouse"
    Driver        "mouse"
    Option        "CorePointer"
    Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "Protocol"        "ImPS/2"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping"        "4 5"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons"    "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Touchpad"
    Driver        "synaptics"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents"    "true"
    Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-4-mouse"
    Option        "Protocol"        "auto-dev"
    Option        "LeftEdge"        "1400"
    Option        "RightEdge"        "5500"
    Option        "TopEdge"        "1700"
    Option        "BottomEdge"        "4400"
    Option        "FingerLow"        "25"
    Option        "FingerHigh"        "30"
    Option        "MaxTapTime"        "180"
    Option        "MaxTapMove"        "220"
    Option        "VertEdgeScroll"    "true"
    Option        "HorizEdgeScroll"    "true"
    Option        "VertScrollDelta"    "100"
    Option        "HorizScrollDelta"    "100"
    Option        "MinSpeed"        "0.1"
    Option        "MaxSpeed"        "0.5"
    Option        "AccelFactor"        "0.001"
    Option        "SHMConfig"        "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "ATI Technologies Inc RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP]"
    Driver        "ati"
    BusID        "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Generic Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Device        "ATI Technologies Inc RS300M AGP [Radeon Mobility 9100IGP]"
    Monitor        "Generic Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Modes        "1024×768"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier    "Default Layout"
    Screen        "Default Screen"
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse"
    InputDevice    "Touchpad"
EndSection

An older version which worked with Beryl (but couldn’t suspend to disk):

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
    # path to defoma fonts
    FontPath    "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load    "i2c"
    Load    "bitmap"
    Load    "ddc"
    Load    "dri"
    Load    "extmod"
    Load    "freetype"
    Load    "glx"
    Load    "int10"
    Load    "type1"
    Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver        "kbd"
    Option        "CoreKeyboard"
    Option        "XkbRules"    "xorg"
    Option        "XkbModel"    "pc105"
    Option        "XkbLayout"    "us"
#    Option        "XkbOptions"    "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Touchpad"
    Driver        "synaptics"
    Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-3-"
    Option        "Protocol"      "auto-dev"
    Option        "LeftEdge"      "1400"
    Option        "RightEdge"     "5500"
    Option        "TopEdge"       "1700"
    Option        "BottomEdge"    "4400"
    Option        "FingerLow"     "25"
    Option        "FingerHigh"    "30"
    Option        "MaxTapTime"    "180"
    Option        "MaxTapMove"    "220"
    Option        "VertEdgeScroll" "true"
    Option        "HorizEdgeScroll" "true"
    Option        "VertScrollDelta" "100"
    Option        "HorizScrollDelta" "100"
    Option        "MinSpeed"      "0.05"
    Option        "MaxSpeed"      "0.18"
    Option        "AccelFactor"   "0.0005"
    Option        "SHMConfig"     "on"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier    "Mouse"
    Driver        "mouse"
    Option        "Device"        "/dev/input/mice"
    Option        "ZAxisMapping"        "4 5"
    Option        "Emulate3Buttons"    "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9100 U3 (R200 IGP)"
    Driver        "ati"
    Option        "DRI" "true"
    Option        "ColorTiling" "on"
    Option        "EnablePageFlip" "true"
    Option        "AccelMethod" "EXA"
    Option        "EXANoOffscreenPixmaps"
    Option        "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option        "AGPFastWrite" "on"
    BusID        "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Generic Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS"
    HorizSync    28-51
    VertRefresh    43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Device        "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9100 U3 (R200 IGP)"
    Monitor        "Generic Monitor"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth        24
        Modes        "1024x768"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier    "Default Layout"
    Screen        "Default Screen"
    Option        "AIGLX" "true"
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "Touchpad"        "SendCoreEvents"
    InputDevice    "Mouse"            "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode    0666
EndSection