The water from my shower this morning smelled like hot dogs and Chapstick.

Just sharing.

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Topic #92: An out of control train is about to run over a pile of happy puppies. You are standing at the control switch and can pull the lever to direct the train onto a different track, saving their lives. But that other track has a smaller pile of equally happy puppies on it. What do you do and why?

I think this is a lame remake of the original philosophical question of the value of lives and self involvement.

There are two original scenarios, both involving different degrees of self involvement. The first places you in front of a lever of a trolley that is headed straight towards three people. If you pull the lever, the trolley will switch to a different track and start heading straight towards two people. If you do nothing, the trolley will kill three people, but if you get involved, the trolley will kill two people. Most people would say that they would pull the lever because saving two lives is better than saving three.

The second original scenario is that you’re on top of a bridge next to a fat man when you see a trolley heading straight towards two people. If you push the fat man off the bridge onto the tracks, he will block the way and stop the trolley so the two people will survive. In this scenario, most people would choose to let the two people die because they would feel like a murderer for pushing a man off a bridge to save two other people.

Finally, a variation of the first scenario is if the three people the train is heading towards are three homeless people, and the two people are the president and his wife. After this change, people start pondering about the value of an individual life, and if everyone really is equal (which, in my opinion, is obviously not true).

However, this answer may surprise many people, but if I was the person at the lever, I would not flip it to save three people and sacrifice two rather than save two people and let three die. I think that the fact that these people are standing on train or trolley tracks is dumb in the first place, but I don’t want to interfere with the randomness and dynamics of life. It just happened to be that on that day, there are three people who are unlucky rather than two, and the two people who got lucky that day should not be sacrificed to reverse the misfortune of three people. However, in the case of the president, if the president was standing in the group of three people, I would switch the lever because the president has enough status and power for others to be sacrificed for his survival.

In the case of the puppies, I would do the same thing; I would not pull the lever because based on the randomness of the world (or, if you’re religious, then because of the choice of your god), the larger pile of puppies were, for whatever reason, destined to die.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 24

Number of times I did my own laundry: 3

First of all, thank you to all the people who read my blog post from the 17th and reminded me to pay my tuition today anyway, even though it was clear from the blog post from the 17th that I had already paid my tuition. It’s nice waking up in the morning and opening up your email to see a handful of emails reminding you pay an already-paid tuition.

… Not really. But thanks anyway.

In other news, I forgot to say Happy Passover yesterday to everyone who celebrate Passover. One of my classes was actually canceled yesterday because of Passover; apparently the instructor didn’t want people who observe that religious holiday to miss out on any course material, so she canceled class for everyone.

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Topic #91: Describe a debt you have yet to repay. (Hint: it does not have to be a financial debt. Did someone do you a favor? Give you great advice? Help you out of a bind?)

A debt I still have to pay are my student loans. They’re not going to be paid off for a long time, seeing as I’m still in my first year of university. I also have an outstanding credit card balance, but it isn’t very high because I already made a payment recently.

… This was a lame topic.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 24

Number of times I did my own laundry: 3

During my educational psychology class today, we were talking about rates of teenage sexual activity. To give us a more realistic view of the statistics and what is really going on, our instructor showed us a documentary-like video of a girl in high school who is choosing to abstain from sexual activity until she is married.

The video describes that she has a boyfriend who respects her opinions.

The funny part about this whole thing?

Her boyfriend’s name is Willy Wallace.

Willy Wallace.

Willy Wallace.

Willy Wallace.

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Topic #90: Pick something that annoys you and redesign how it works. Are you sick of the long lines at the DMV? Bothered by waiting in the doctors office without being told how long you have to wait? Pick something that annoyed you yesterday, and describe how you would redesign or change it to make your annoyances go away. Could be a device, a machine, a process, a place, anything.

One thing that annoyed me recently was the fact that my paycheck arrives only once every two weeks. Normally I don’t have a problem with it because I use a credit card for almost all of my purchases and I only have to pay my credit card bill once a month, and regardless, I generally don’t have problems with running out of money.

However, as you saw in yesterday’s blog post, I had to pay my tuition for my summer courses. My parents offered to pay it for me, but according to my rough calculations, I would have enough money of my own to pay it, so I told them that I would take care of it myself.

Unfortunately, my calculations were a couple hundred dollars off, and if I were to go along with my plan, I would have to wait for the money from my paycheck to be added in to my bank account. It would’ve been more convenient if I could have paid it all at once directly from my bank account, but instead, I decided to split it up into multiple payments and use my credit card so I didn’t have to wait for my money to arrive.

To solve this problem, I would build a machine that automatically measures how much work you’ve done and pays you in real time. For example, if you get paid $36 an hour, a cent would be automatically be deposited into your bank account for every second that you’re at work.

Of course, something like this is unrealistic, but it would make life a lot more convenient for situations like the one I had yesterday.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 24

Number of times I did my own laundry: 3

The tuition for my summer classes is due in three days, and I have not yet paid it. Someone should remind me to do it in two days in case I forget.

… Or I could just do it now.

And just like that, my tuition is paid. That’s the magic of reading my blog. One second you’re reading about how I still need to pay my tuition, and in the next line of text, you read about how I already paid my tuition.

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Topic #89: When did you realize you were an adult? (If you haven’t yet, when do you think you will?)

I don’t think I’m an adult yet – I’m still a first-year university student and am still heavily dependent on my parents for support, primarily financially.

I’m taking a course about adolescent development this semester, and at the beginning of the semester, we had a class survey about how many people thought they were no longer adolescents. Most people voted that they believed they were not yet adults, so it doesn’t seem like I’m out of the ordinary when I say that I’m not an adult yet.

I think the biggest factor that makes me think I’m not an adult yet is because I’m not financially independent. I’m living in an apartment on my own right now and I have a job, but I’m not paying my own rent for the room in my apartment, and my job isn’t anywhere near enough to support me. The amount I get from my current job is enough to pay all of my other expenses, such as paying all my bills and buying necessities, but if I were to pay my own rent, I would have no money left over. So, I think that once I get a job that pays me enough for me to survive all on my own, I will consider myself an adult. I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon, though, because I’m not going to get a well-paying job until I graduate from university, and possibly even not until I graduate from graduate school.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 24

Number of times I did my own laundry: 3