Post 005

People often say a lot of things that baffle me to no end.  I sometimes wonder how they can be so carefree about using the words "should" and "if".  People have used those words so often and have taken it for granted so much that we no longer understand the scope behind it.  Read the following sample dialogue between Alice and Bob, and you'll understand the "scope" of the problem.

Alice : I really don't get it, why is it that every time it's dinner time, you're always groaning?
Bob: Well, if you knew why, you would understand.

You see, if Alice knew.  This can be for many many reasons.  It could be because Alice is a horrible cook, or it could be because Alice made Bob's least favourite food for dinner again, or Bob could be cheating on Alice and hates seeing her altogether.  We don't know, as there are so many reasons!

Or perhaps the following.
Alice : So, was it a tough midterm?
Bob : Well, the questions were alright, you should be able to go through it.

Again, Bob makes the assumption that Alice knows what Bob knows, and that she should know what's going on.  In many times in life, that's not true.  There is no real situation where things should go the way we want them.  Even if things go the way we want, the outcome may still not be desirable due to the large amount of possible outcomes available to us.

As computer science students, we should really watch how we use these words.  There are many times in which we falsify upon a situation by believing that it should turn out the way we want it to.  Unfortunately, by making this assumption, we've effectively shut out a lot of possibilities that could have also happened.  Therefore, next time, the guy in the class who had the highest mark say : "You should be fine", don't listen to him.  That's right, I'm referring to the guy in our class who managed 102% on our Data Communications midterm.

With November fast approaching, I just want to see if anyone is interested in taking part in Movember, a yearly event that happens in November to raise money for Prostate Cancer Research.  Please leave a comment below to show your interest.  For more information, please visit their website : http://ca.movember.com/about/ . If we have enough people, we can form a team, and try to raise some money for a worthy cause.

Good luck on tomorrow's security midterm.