Increasing to 4km

As an excuse to be able to run slower, it's a good idea to run longer distance. So 4 km now.

• 28 Feb, 4km, 25:01:05 or 159.89 meters/min
• 21 Feb, 4km, 25:28:14 or 157.05 meters/min
• 7 Feb, 3.5km, 21:40:70 or 161.45 meters/min
• 31 Jan, 3.5km, 21:12:04 or 165.08 meters/min
• 24 Jan, 3.5km, 21:57:34 or 159.41 meters/min
• 17 Jan, 3.5km, 21:23:33 or 163.63 meters/min

Explaining and excusing

Some behavior might be explainable, but doesn't mean it's excusable.

The difference between explaining behavior and excusing it is captured in the saying, "To understand is not to forgive," and has been stressed in different ways by philosophers, including Hume, Kant, and Sartre. (Steven Pinker - The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, page 180)

Interconnectivity

I have been reading Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate for these past two weeks when this afternoon, listening to SGU podcast episode 20, they're talking about the book. What a coincidence!

Arriving home, I opened The Greatest Show on Earth and continuing my reading at page 155, it mentioned the Great Chain of Being. It sounded so very familiar. Oops, I've just read about it on The Blank Slate a few days ago.

Reading a lot of books, this is one phenomenon that I observed, how the writers know the same things and how it gets repeated again and again, but unfortunately, people who don't read books won't get to know about it. And there's no other way for them to know, since it's not something found in newspapers, TV, or most magazines.

My simplified conclusion of this is, if you want to be at least in the know of what humanity knows, go start making reading books a habit. This knowledge is of course power. If not, it's still satisfying to know more about the world we live in.

Computer programming and biology

Richard Dawkins could've been a computer programmer (video at 50:00) and I also have had enough interest in biology since young that I could've been a biologist. It's in fact one of my considerations. I wonder if there's some kind of relation in that.

Some donation to Haiti

I donated some small amount to the Haiti earthquake victims through Non-Believers Giving Aid. My first ever PayPal donation.

I love how this donation has double meaning, not only helping, but making a statement as well. Plus I get to drain some money from Richard Dawkins' pocket. An economist would call it high utility value.

I also learned about MSF or Doctors Without Borders. I have only heard of the name before, but now I know better. They have a logo that looks neither like doctor nor border though.

Can't count run

I thought I was running 6 laps, but it's apparently 5 because the time doesn't make sense. Anyway, 2.94 km in 18:32:16 or 158.61 meters/min. Apparently running at 9 AM is a bad idea, because that's when the garbage truck gets to its business in the area. Sigh..

Last run in Marsiling and first one in Woodlands

Last run in Marsiling on 11 Dec: 3.5 km in 22:28:34 or 155.75 meters/min. Old man mode.
First in Woodlands 19 Dec: 3.19 km 20:18:89 or 157.03 meters/min. Strange distance since I'm still surveying the paths. I think I can use circle a school nearby, I hope nobody mistakes me for some kind of a predator.

Shoes, what happen to you?

Running tragedies:

• 2 weeks ago: 3.5 km in 21:32:22 or 162.51 meters/min
• Last week: 3.5 km in 21:11:42 or 165.17 meters/min. It was raining and the right shoe had been in intensive care wrapped in rubber band. Then left shoe grew a tongue on the last lap. But it's refreshing to run under the rain.
• Just now: 3.5 km in 21:20:01 or 164.06 meters/min. I've glued them all and the right shoe opened its back mouth again on the final lap and I couldn't sprint properly.

New shoes, when will I have the will to buy another? Yeah, my only problem is it better be the best running shoes I've ever had. But how can I find it?

PS: Now that I'm used to typing HTML by hand, I find it very annoying that Blogger adds <br /> on new lines.