Remiscent

Yesterday while I was drifting off to sleep(continuously until 3:00am, why, body, why?) I was thinking about how playing Super Mario reminded me, in a way, of Toy's R Us when I was a little kid.

When I was a kid I used to dream of getting one thing, just this one thing, and then everything else would fall into place. And at Christmas time I used to ask for my big wish. My parents never failed to buy me the big gift that I wanted more than anything. Heck, they still do, as last Christmas what I really wanted was my Acer laptop, which is a gift that keeps on giving. I love you my precious, er, my laptop.

One of the gifts I wanted was a My-Size Barbie, not because she was a Barbie which was kind of a downside, but because I was kind of hoping she would come to life. It sounds silly to admit it now, but this was pretty much what I wanted. In elementary school I had plenty of friends and my best friend, Jessica Lee, who I would argue about jumprope with and..I don't remember, but we had fun. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the last time we fought was about jump rope in 3rd grade, and I was dreading going back to school because I thought she wouldn't be talking to me but the next day she didn't remember and I didn't mention it.

But I wanted a friend whom I could talk to about the imaginary cities I made up in my head, my crazy science experiments and philosophy and all that good stuff. Also, nobody else was reading the Animorphs except for a guy in my class, and I'm pretty sure he just liked the explosions. Besides, back then I thought it was not proprietous to have close guy friends. I didn't want to make up an imaginary friend because I could predict what they would do. I wanted someone who wasn't me to give a different angle. Even if an imaginary friend gave me praise, it was false praise. It also thought that this seemed like a recipe for schizophrenia. Believe it or not, reading about all of the creative kids having imaginary friends made me feel dumb because I didn't, a situation which only changed later.

This is not to say my classmates weren't cool. I was really into Geology and fish, collected types of Silly Putty, weird pens and miniatures. And everyone was totally cool with that, or at least I think they were.

Ah, how times have changed. Except that I still find people who are cool with my various oddities. I love you guys.

Another gift that my parents gave me was Lego Mindstorms. I am going to dig that and Barbie out of the closet one day and do stuff with them for fun. Barbie is going to get dressed up as an art piece and the Mindrover will roam around my apartment while I laugh with glee. Then I'll probably dissect it and start getting crazy over robots. Look forward to that stage.



William Shatner making fun of Sarah Palin. He's so different now! But he's made it clear that he wants to be known for more than Star Trek, so let's appreciate him for being an awesome actor.

Mooning

These Flickr shots from India, China and Japan of the most recent lunar eclipse are awesome. I found them via the Freak-
anomics blog. This is where today's picture (s)comes from. I can't even begin to post all of my favorites. I love the steam-punk-ishness of the first shot and the fragile humanity of the second.

Shell has been accused by Amnesty International of horrible crimes in the Niger Delta. The report which has been put together is pretty damning. Please click.

Someone please remind me to get my hands on Gaiman's "A Study in Emerald". Apparently it's his fusing of HP Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes. This sounds like it could go horribly wrong, but it most likely it didn't. And I want to see it.

Speaking of Gaiman, a short while back he posted a link to Jamie Kennedy's hilarious bid to take the Newberry award from him.

".. And I, Jamie Kennedy am the Sarah Palin of fiction!"

The third video of three:

If you want to see Gaiman being wrestled to the ground, here is your chance.

I believe that there should be a ban on political ads. In this day and age of the internet the off-hand access to a candidate's information is easy to find, and the horrible excess of money that is wasted while running for office on every level of government is disgusting. Of course, I have no doubt that politicians will then attempt to rig the sites with the most hits for the apposing candidate, even if it is illegal. Can't the public win? In a way, though, website traffic is much more traceable and easier to investigate. If only society didn't insist on drowning us in nonsense information and untrustworthy leaders. You can't only blame the politicians, though. What if we all participated in the primaries and the big name candidates were not the only ones who received grassroots funding?

This makes me think about celebrity and de-humanization. The earliest humans always portray other tribes as evil or less than themselves in some way. Celts are Frost Giants, enemy tribes are motivated by jealous demons, and the other tribes are actually monkies that look like humans. Yet it is extremely rare to encounter a racist child. A judgmental child, though, is not hard to find. We all have "that uncle" or someone who's views are directly the opposite of ours, sometimes for all the reasons we dislike the opposing side, too. Yet would any of us wish them to die or call them the names we call our politicians?

All of these are just snippets of thoughts I'm having.

PS New Mario 2 speed run time: 20-21 minutes, got to the middle of 7-2(the last level)

I kind of like the wacky layout of this particular post.

Cowgirl

Source

"First, some people like to suggest that men are programmed by evolution to find a particular body shape attractive. Clearly, if judging women’s bodies requires this much instruction, either (1) nature has left us incompetent or (2) cultural norms defining beauty overwhelm any biological predisposition to be attracted to specific body types.

Second, the chart reveals the level of scrutiny women faced in 1959 (and I’d argue it’s not so different today). It made me think of my years in 4-H. I was a farm kid and I showed steers for several years and also took part in livestock and meat judging competitions. I was good at it, just so you know. Anyway, what the beauty pageant image brought to mind was the handouts we’d look at to learn how to judge livestock."

Source

Baboons demonstrate why you should not take the car friendly route anymore in Knowsley Safari park (source).

The Onion is pretending to be a Chinese publication.

Tales from the Pond (Aquarium)

Source


Horrible article everyone should read

Yesterday I changed the water in my aquarium and parted the mess of Hornworth which has invaded it while I have been busy. I can't bring myself to throw any out, especially since it has become apparent both filters have not been working for a while. The aquarium is now completely dependent on its plants, which also means that I'm not going to add any other animals to that particular tank. The java moss has also experienced a sudden growth spurt. The inhabitants actually seem to enjoy all of the growth, and the only other plants present are crypts, Windelov, and Anubias, which are doing fine. The nana petite and barterii have both grown plantlets and there are little windelovs and crypts in various places, too. The moss ball has exploded.

I saw my paler Dario Dario at the front, which strangely appeared to be decked out nearly in battle colors and was showing the dominant "eye stripe". I was confused as to what had happened. I finally managed to spot Dopey doping around at the bottom and then Trixie, who proceded to boink her head on one of the filters. Dopey is an H. curp. hybrid in the tradition of irresponsible Petsmart suppliers. Trixie and Little Frog are obviously at least strongly influenced by H. bog., the more succesful subspecies. Dopey reminds me of a little man, an adorable little man who does funny things all the time. They were so cute I had to give them food. Little frog came out, obviously excited. He was bought at Aquatic Warehouse after stowing away in one of their tanks for a while, where I spotted him and decided he would be the final ADF. I proceeded to watch Little Frog figure out where the food was and then miscalcuate and go towards the bottom again. Naturally, Trixie was the first to figure out where it is, and LF joined her again while Dopey spun around the bottom like a dope. Trixie accidentally bit LF a bunch of times. Meanwhile, by the moss ball I see proof that the paler Dario has won his/her fight as she half heartedly chases away the more dominant male, who has a bite in his tail. I love the extra blue ruff on the top of his fins. These guys are so much fun and tiny. They don't really care about the food, as they feed on the multitude of microoganisms in the now very established aquarium.

Last I saw Trixie and LF were feeding, while Dopey..will figure things out one day.


Videos from Jezebel commentor/Jezebel

Robots, Plants, and Dystopias

I love this simple yet salient article on the Freakanomics blog criticizing the way data is used in today's journalism.

"The lead article is by John Noble Wilford (who’s still going strong, btw), and includes one of the most elegant little uses of data I can recall seeing in a news article:

Although Mr. Armstrong is known as a man of few words, his heartbeats told of his excitement upon leading man’s first landing on the moon.

At the time of the descent rocket ignition, his heartbeat rate registered 110 a minute — 77 is normal for him — and it shot up to 156 at touchdown."

MIT is also tracking trash in an effort to show how far it can reach. I think the criticisms present about the sampling are relevant, though they may be showing how even conscientious people can have far-reaching affects with their disposables.

NASA apparently secretly launched a moon rock into space to celebrate yesterday's anniversary of the moon landing. Why?! We only have so many and I want one, you could have given it to me instead! Also lost opportunities for science, blah blah blah.

You know, after reading a couple accounts of the UK terrorism laws on Boing Boing I'm starting to understand things like V for Vendetta, Quatterman, and Warren Ellis (who is a person not a thing and in San Diego where he can do horrible, horrible things to me). Damn, it makes here look like a a veritable utopia of individual rights in some cases. I'm not going to go into debating the amount of freedom they have versus our amount of freedom because I don't know enough on the subject and am too lazy to do the research. All I will say is that this issue is not black and white.

Lego Microtome


"A microtome is a small machine that biologists use to slice specimens into very thin sections to examine under a microscope. Instructables user lemonie made his own out of Lego! In this video demo, the device cuts garlic in slices just 250 microns thick. That's about twice as thick as a human hair. Seems like the Lego Microtome could be scaled up for slicing paper-thin prosciutto! Lego Microtome (Thanks, Christy Candida!)"

People are thankfully working on shark repellants to save them from fishing lines.

It's amazing how Twix and Burger King cross the line from using women for sexy points to using women. Thanks, I love being objectified and taken for granted! I'm not a person, I'm a walking Barbie doll who's all plastic with no inside.

These paper robots are awesome! That's what that picture is, btw.

How NOT to raise a chimp in your family:
"I collect books by people who have raised apes in their homes. One of the first, The Ape and the Child, was written in by behaviorist W.N. Kellogg, a man with a peculiar brainstorm: that he should raise a chimpanzee as a twin to his own infant son, treating them in exactly the same fashion, and comparing their development......Results? Mixed. The chimp, Gua, took more quickly to her civilizing education than her brother. She appeared smarter, stronger, and more emotionally developed on a number of counts: she was better at using glasses and silverware, walked earlier (chimps generally don't walk upright), responded to verbal commands sooner, and was more cooperative and obedient......For example, though Donald had learned to walk before Gua joined the Kellogg family, he regressed and started crawling more, in tune with Gua. He'd bite people, fetch small objects with his mouth, and chewed up a shoe. More importantly, his language skills were delayed. At 19 months, Donald's vocabulary consisted of three words. Instead of talking he would grunt and make chimp sounds..."

My new plant from Trader Joe's named "Blue Wonder"(pictured) was rootbound, so today I bought another pot for it. When repotting it it looked so happy in the outdoor sun that I decided to leave it there(yes, it is a full sun plant). Now I need an indoor plant and the cycle continues. Maybe I'll get bamboo?

Will Arnett praying for breasts.

MechaBarbie(or Bush) Makes Children Cry(and Other Issues)

Source
This is what my kids are going to be playing with. Aren't you glad I'm not having any?

So I was walking to Trader Joe's today and suddenly felt angry thinking about how men's bodies don't go out of style. Then I realized that this simply was not true. Henry VIII was considered extremely attractive and we've gone through several versions of the "ideal boy" in recent years, from various bad boys and star jocks in the 80's and 90's to Zak Efron and Edward Cullen. And I realized that I actually know a good number of men who have body issues. It just seems to go un-discussed, most likely because of the macho hetero-normative male now dominating our culture. Body issues are for gay people and girls, God.

One of the many reasons guys need a masculist revolution of their own.

We live in a disposable culture. Everything is thrown away with regularity, from trends to toys to paper towels without us noticing.

I am kind of loving this article on the future of books. But I think what a lot of us are experiencing when we profess our undying love to the smell of a library(which I do) is nostalgia. Please keep in mind that nostalgia is what keeps people from having integrated proms and such. The one thing that disturbs me is that, counter-intuitionally, data is much more fallible than paper. What if some large world war took place? I would like to think that information is distributed too far and wide to be lost in the manner of the Library of Alexandria, but there is so much that is not. Books go out of print and are lost in the halls of The Library of Congress.

Books are personal experiences. They affect our mind and soul in a profound way. Games and movies do not move many of us in the same way. Yet for those who movies do, they are content with a flat disk and pretty cover.

Perhaps we can invent something akin to flipping pages and the "permanence" of paper. I'm sure the person who does will be very rich.

Bioastronautics, a scanned book about some of the things that really go into space flight(like spit).

It would be so easy to engineer a fountain using $3.99 plates from Ross, a pump, and a background. But then my parents could justifiably kill me.

Good news: violent crime is down all around the country, even though nobody is reporting on this. One cynical commentor says that this is because "People can't afford bullets anymore".

Picture from Jezebel

Boom! Boom!

Source

So I just realized that I sound very cool, calm, and relaxed on my blog.

This is a lie. I am actually dying of stress, but complaining is not going to help that, and I'd rather not talk about it. Instead I will run around my studio like a crazy person and proceed to collapse on the bed, weezing from the fact that I have way too many obligations.

Help?


Via Boing Boing

Part of the reason I think old film is so fascinating is because of how delicate it seems in its shaky and silent monochrome. Even though the picture is factual the world it presents seems to be remote.


Gravy Stress may waste your time if you like looking at random funny images. I am not going to click on it anymore. If your name is Chris or Frosty you may wish to check this website out.

I wonder how ridiculous our commercials look to foreigners?

In any case, here is an awesome quote from BLDBLOG:

"If you'll excuse the rambling nature of this post, meanwhile, my wife and I are actually staying in Potts Point, and we're located basically right across the street from a Saturday morning farmers' market where we got into a conversation early on our first morning here with a man selling gourmet mushrooms that were grown, he said, inside repurposed railroad tunnels south of the city in Mittagong. I would love to visit those tunnels!
Cockatoo Island, in fact, is actually honeycombed with old tunnels dug directly out of the site's bedrock – so perhaps some strange form of subterranean myco-agriculture might pop up in a few student designs over the next two weeks. Mushroom farming in the underworld. Or perhaps even the high-tech cultivation of pharmaceutical biocompounds by UV light in what used to be a submarine-repair facility (the island also houses a former submarine-repair facility!)..."

Geoff's post "The Thirteenth Room" is also rather fun, as is Reburbia. Reburbia falls directly into my sphere of interests. If you like architecture or imagining the things I do, CHECK THESE OUT.

Here is a quote from Mr. Ellis:

"The next movie I write will be Jurassic Park 4: ADAMZOIC, in which a group of committed Creationists sneak onto a dinosaur-infested Island in an attempt to prove that humans and slavering proto-avian carnivores can live in harmony, as in Eden. The film will be 3 hours long; will feature multiple variations on the theme of Cute Naked People being disembowelled while trying to sing hymns; will include at least one incidence of punning, based on the words “pray” and “prey”; and will end when the sole survivor realises the error of her ways, embraces the Power Of Darwin, and spontaneously evolves a set of wings to escape."

Soil bacteria injections make mice happy. This may explain a lot. I've always said that dirt was good, though now and as a kid I refused to eat it.

Here is an interesting article about personal transformation in the internet age. I could comment on it right now, but I don't want to.
Damn, I may have to get this novel:

Listing Between the Lines

Comic courtesy of A Softer World

I brought up two things while talking to Dylan yesterday that I want to share with everyone here.

1.) If a girl is using abortion as birth control should she really have a child? The level of irresponsibility, and perhaps to a certain degree, callousness, that having the procedure many time would imply suggests that the potential mother, at least at this point in her life, should not be involved in child-rearing. Not to mention that abortion is never free, whereas condoms can be.

2.) I never understand why people are worried about the population in first world countries falling. Not only would a reduction in population be beneficial to the earth and perhaps imply less cost for these countries it has been proven many times in history that a small elite is still very effective at controlling money and power as far as nationalism is a concern.

Other thoughts:

1.)
As gay rights gain further acceptance the gay community will have to face one of the sectors of American society most biased towards heterosexuals: the sports community. I wonder how integration will occur. Will there be gay sports teams? Who would these sports teams play against? Men and women do have biological differences which mean that the elite in sports are competing against different elements. It would not be fair to put lesbians against a male sports team, but it would also not be fair, in a way, to pit them against a woman's sports team. I would not, in the heat of competition with all of the grabbing and touching involved, want to face the possibility that my opponent is sexually attracted to me. However, it would be as unfair to characterize gay people as sexually attracted to the other team as it would be to say that women are attracted to all men. Basically, I see no reason that gay members should not be integrated onto existing teams if the rules in place now are followed during the game. However, I have a disgusting feeling that the sports community will disagree with me.
I wonder how many of its members are already gay?

2.)
I think it would be a great idea to combine the modern three-d graphics and plot lines of RPGs with the elements of games like Mario and Metroid. Imagine somersaulting, dodging, and powering around a 3-D map using different zooms with an actual story element involved. I believe Super Mario Galaxy incorporates some of the elements I am discussing here but cloaked in the Mario universe, which leaves a *few* things unclear. Obviously a fantasy element would be the easiest to incorporate which, for example, would explain why the monsters are trapped within a certain range or you grow after eating the mushroom. There could also be lots of weapons and spells. A certain cartoonish element could also be used. There is lots of possibility here.

3.)
Very tenuous theoretical question: What if we could generate power using atmospheric heat? Heat is entropy, of course, but what if we found a certain metal or bacteria that had a "switch" at a certain temperature and somehow used that to generate electricity?

4.)
"Even though President Obama was in Russia, he couldn't escape questions about Michael Jackson. He said, "You know, this is part of American culture," said Obama. "Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody whose captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention. And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.""Source

I agree with Obama. As much as Micheal Jackson's death matters the Iranian elections, Chinese riots, and North Korean crazy are extremely important and involve millions of living people. Please give them more air time.

This is an interesting article on public health care.

So apparently there are twelve million people in Jakarta and half of them are homeless. My mind is sufficiently boggled.

More awesome Cracked articles:
7 Ways the Zombie apocalypse could actually happen
What happened to Television?
6 Kickass Animals Ruined by Evolution

Happy Fourth of July!

From Cracked

Picture from a Manta Ray feeding frenzy. Source

"Mantas and whale sharks commonly feed together, untroubled by the occasional collision. As many as 200 rays and a half dozen whale sharks have been counted in a period of several hours, British marine biologist Guy Stevens reports."
Source

Apparently there was a massive bank fraud in EVE online. I'm amused and horrified.


There is a new Turkish reality show pitting a Buddhist monk, a Rabbi, an Imam, and a Greek Orthodox priest against each other to see who can convert the most atheists. Missing the point much?

A 19 year old was arrested for tripping on weed and LSD, thinking he was Terminator, and then running around a casino naked. What not to do on your day off.

I love this piece about "5 presidential elections even dumber than this one".

So I was staring at a tree, thinking "I want to climb this tree". I know, I know, I'm an adult and tree-climbing is not for adults. Well, you're wrong; it's not for boring adults. Anyways, I was thinking about climbing it and defending it from trespassers, when I went "Holy crap, that's not an inborn notion".
Or is it? Were the Native Americans taught to squash their inborn urge of possession? I'm not an anthropologist so I couldn't give a comparison of cultures and their native practices or what is generally considered "tribal" vrs "individual" property. Did the Mongols in their migration routes consider the land itself "theirs", or did they consider the land a place to defend and live upon? The most obvious place to look for an answer to the general question would be pre-history.
The notion of individual possession and tribal possession obviously have different limits in different cultures. We are taught at as young an age as possible what is ours and what is not. Children, at first, consider everything to be grabable(and breakable). It is more likely they do not possess the distinction of ownership than that they consider every object a possession. This is probably the most compelling evidence questioning the innateness of this drive. When a child screams "mine" after having a toy taken away it's more likely that the object is simply desired at the moment than that he or she feels he has ownership of it. Obviously, though, these are just hypothesis.
Would artists feel pain at having their creations taken away? Would scientists gall at having a theory used without their names cited? What would happen to the notion of plagiarism? The notion of ownership has very obvious advantages and disadvantages.

It would be awesome if they created a school which utilized children's existing knowledge to discover new knowledge, like a game or exciting job. I also really believe that a school in the manner of Plato would be much more effective than the Socratic schools we have now. People do think knowledge is cool and like finding out how things work.

It's fun to analyze feminism in Star Trek. The show is fairly progressive in many ways, though it still is struggling between the notions of women as powerfully sexual beings, workers just as capable as their male counterparts, and wives. Both Kirk and many of the women on the show are portrayed as extremely attractive; in fact, one of the reoccurring factors of the plot is attractive women and Kirk seducing them with his genuinely deep good-boy ways. Whatever happened to guys like that? Did they ever really exist? Star Trek is more moral than a lot of the show on today.
Btw, the episode "The Conscience of the King" is really good. Also, why is Scotty the only one with an accent?



Here is a short sketch comedy parodying what it would be like if homeopaths ran the emergency room:

Are you Happy, Are you Feeling Glad? Have You Got Sunshine, in a Bag?

For the part of last night that I slept I had great dreams and woke up really happy, once I managed to wake up. Something about Band but I could actually stand up straight which meant that I was capable of doing the marches. Janina , Nick, Jessica Wray(?! haven't seen her since elementary school, not that I have seen any of these other people since high school) and others were there, as were many people I didn't know, since I was coming back from college as a tutor(thanks, Dylan!). Jessica wanted me to sit with her and Nick got told off by ..what's his face who's name I can't remember for making faces at me. I dreamt I was getting up at 6:30am while my mom was and garnering complaints from the other band members while my alarm clock in real life was going off at 7:30am. Before that there was a dream involving Pamela Das running away from her abusive parents to my apartment where my entire family lived then things turned into a Bollywood movie where we harnessed the power of the gods through Ilya to get some god to break a curse. Only Ilya got arrested and I had to go and break him out with someone else by following a compass except that the warden wasn't fooled by my story and I was preparing to fight, but then I woke up. Also, stuff happened with Chris. Anyways, it was a really good dream though it may not sound like it, except for the part where Geringher actually was a pedophile...not so good.

So then I woke up at 7:30am, apparently was much earlier than I had to, and got to the lab fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. We had an EH&S presentation today and much joking about drugs ensued. I sort of wonder what would have happened if when the presenter had asked someone to give an example of controlled substances I had started rattling a list of recreational substances off the top of my head, even though I've never tried any myself. It's kind of funny that I don't even drink but can name a long list of illegal drugs, though that is partially due to psychology classes. To most people raised in LA or NY this doesn't seem like much of a deal, but apparently it is? I guess it really comes down to what community within the city you have dealings with, though I never exactly hung out with seedy people. Also, when we heard that Farah Fawcett died of anal cancer we burst out laughing like the twelve year olds we actually are. No, the cancer part is not funny at all, but let's face it, in the face of tragedy sometimes the best solution is to laugh. Also, butts are funny. I totally have not been taken over by a middle schooler.

We talked about infidelity and I mentioned the survey that Anthony had told me about. The governor of South Carolina was discussed, and I agreed that if had not made decisions based on having the moral highground or obligation his affair would not have been a big deal. Some people say that if a man cannot hold his family together he cannot run a state. This is quite simply not true, as there are people who are good at one and horrible at the other. While it would make me dislike the man, as long as his governing was fine I would support him as a governor. Liking a good leader is not necessary, though it certainly helps. The subject came up twice until Phil played a clip from "The Daily Show". Also, the big knife is now known as our emergency backup system thanks to me.

I stayed in the lab most of the day learning Mathlab, then left and saw Peter, which went well. I'm hungry. Feed me?

If you want a cuttlefish, here is information on how to take care of Dwarf Cuttlefish.

Title is a play on the lyrics to Gorillaz-"Clint Eastwood", which don't actually have anything to do with anything, except that I am happy.

Video killed the Bandwith Star

I like this article because the physicist featured works at UCSD. Also, it gives me a headache when I think about my future in research.

Scubatube.org is a Youtube-like site dedicated to Scuba videos. Dnatube.com is a Youtube-like site dedicated to scientific videos. I forsee time-wasting in my future. Or would it really be time wasting? Ah, the existential questions.

Tiny Master of Tomorrow have a sound very comparable to Karen O's. And I support them because at 13 and 15 who didn't want to magically learn to play guitar, write about all the schmucking around you and then get complemented by David Bowie? Then again, I didn't know who David Bowie was. Another thanks goes out to the Chrisman for that one.

Mom found my blog and read it a bunch while procrastinating. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure that she doesn't know the URL.





How NOT to campaign for school board:

Love, Money, Art and Science

Comics are from xkcd

This article analyzes how paper money hurts the economy. It brings up some interesting points that I have never considered before and has three basic keys:

1.) The US government spends a LOT of money minting money
2.) The infrastructure is already in place for a digital switch
3.)Most money is already only in existence electronically

Here is the main problem I have with this article: most of the world does not have the infrastructure to make the switch to digitalized money. I can see how this could be countered by simply doing business deal in other country's money, but one of the powers of the dollar is the fact that it is ubiquitous. Take this away and the value of our currency would drop substantially.
Another trouble is that all money becomes traceable. Here we must thread the line between what is good for our society and the American suspicion of totalitarian governments. I must admit a cultured dislike of taking away that measure of autonomy and the fact that powerful people could destroy a person's savings with a few clicks on a mouse.
To me, the disturbing thing is that, for the most part, this could already happen. We are dependent on trust in a society that encourages our bankers and lawyers to be untrustworthy.

Apparently there is a Youtube stream dedicated to rejected marriage proposals. I watched a couple and really do not understand how they could be considered funny.

I started watching the original Star Trek series because of the movie and after two episodes I am really enjoying the series, cheesy sets and all. It reminds me of The Twilight Zone, except better done and set in space. Not that I've ever seen that much of the Twilight Zone, as the episode I watched did not catch my interest.

This artist uses discarded plastic to make his creations. This makes me feel like making landscapes from sticks, stones, and dead leaves.

I must have this. Seriously, I need more plants and aquariums. I love creating ecosystems! But let's not focus on that when I have to work on math and physics. I will read my ecosystems book later, by which I mean tomorrow.

I feel really good today. I had a visit last night from a dear friend which went really well.

Lab Friday(Dad's Birthday!)

This morning I had a lot of insomnia, followed by a version of this conversation at 7:45am:

"I'm so sleepy. I should really stay home and study for finals."
"You should go. Do your duty and go. You'll probably learn something."
"No, the bed is really comfy, and.."
"GO, or I'll hurt you"
"Wait, but wouldn't that just be hurting yourself?"
Pun intended completely.
Anyways, I went, chair-hunted, and listened as usual. Pablo presented a paper having to do with the fractal structure of neural systems and I, of course, was extremely interested. Which means that I am not returning my book on fractals on time. I've realized that I work better while doing artwork, and worked on the image to the right while everyone was doing their presentations. It's not perfectly the way I would like it, but I decided to be satisfied.
It's hard to not accidentally spy on what others are doing on their laptops. I dislike finding my eyes accidentally focused on a screen, going "Oh, he's checking his email". Also, I was signed on to Trillian and Dylan IMed me with the information that I was signing on and off at 2:30am, which I have to look in to.
We also watched the traditional UCSD "watermelon drop". Basically, the story is that after a bunch of physics students wanted to prove that they had the correct answer on a test question: "How fast would a watermelon dropped from the 7th floor hit the ground?" or something like that they...dropped a watermelon from the 7th floor of Urey hall. Anyways, considering how simple the solution would be to calculate using some of the first equations learned in mechanics, I think that either the story isn't true or the physics students really wanted to smash something. Either way, we were all on board with this plan, as was the large crowd down below and the jazz band(which brought back memories) Nobody calculated the velocity, but the chunks sure are propelled far. It was kind of creepily reminiscent of a human being. I thought I was just overly morbid until it turned out Rudolpho was thinking the exact same thing.
I then went to the library, where I spent an hour until I had to leave for my physical therapy appointment. My physical therapist is sick today, which is sad. Soon I'll have to leave the house again for another appointment.

I also called my dad, who had forgotten it was his birthday. My mom got him a cake, unidentified presents, and may be taking him out later, so I hope he has a great time. I have to buy him a late present in LA. Trust me when I say my dad would prefer my studying and reading to picking him out a present. Also, my mom informed me that the kittens ate without Gaiylee this morning for the first time.

If I make another post today it will be more interesting.

At the San Diego Natural History Museum:
Lecture and book signing with Bo Parfet.
Die Trying: One Man's Quest to Conquer the Seven Summits is the exhilarating story of one man’s battle against his own limitations. From dodging avalanches to crossing a ladder over a seemingly bottomless crevasse, to making his way through the Khumbu Icefall and burying a dead teammate at 27, 000 feet, we experience all of the author’s incredible, often terrifying climbs first-hand. Enlightening and gripping, Die Trying is the compelling story of man’s quest to conquer nature and his own fears. Each ticket includes a copy of Parfet’s book Die Trying. Ticket sales benefit the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings program and the San Diego Natural History Museum. Thursday, June 11; 6:30–8:30 PM
$25 per person

Go to their site to pre-register. I'm too lazy to link, but you must in order to attend.

Topics, Topics, on the Wall

I found a spider drowned in the iced tea I left out last night.

Tiller's patient's remember him.
"My husband and I found Dr. George Tiller to be a caring, sensitive, and compassionate man who truly believed he was helping those of us who were desperate and had nowhere else to go. While we were at his clinic, he was very concerned about an 11-year-old child raped by her stepfather. And, when we were tormented by Operation Rescue protesters outside his clinic, he put on a bullet proof vest and personally drove us out of there while we hid in his van.."

I want to see the Coraline musical.

I have found to that I like dorkiness in man. For example, if Wesley was not fictional, I would find him attractive. He's smart, funny, and very smooth with the ladies(not). If you like David Boreanz, you must watch this clip. Wesley is the one in the gray sweater:



Also, this is why so many people love Spike:


I couldn't resist the water today. Despite the fact that it is slower I really like the breaststroke. I wish I had someone to teach me the butterfly stroke.

SNL! SNL!

"I wanted a guy who did stupid things to make me look smart. Instead, I got the one guy who scares me more than my dad"- Will Ferrell as George Bush

"Hey Seth, don't you think that Manny Ramirez looks like the monster from Predator?"-Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Harry Carey


"...So tell me what you're looking, looking for in a man?"-Ted Nedders
"I like strong arms"-Pretty Lady #1
"Well I got 'em"-Nedders
"I like white teeth"-Pretty Lady #2
"Hey look at 'em"-Nedders
"I like soft skin"-Pretty Lady #3
"I use lotion"-Nedders
"I like can I touuuch"-Dollhands
-From the sketch The Lawrence Welk Show

"I have not known this man for any time. But I would like to say something: Sasquatches are real!"


"I turned out your mother last night!"-"Sean Connery"
"I'm ignoring you"-"Trebek"
"It's a prison term, it means I've got her as a prostitute in my employ "-"Sean Connery"
(Tom Hanks is actually in this skit. Also, this is a MUST SEE)


"Please, no laughter"-Will Ferrell
/Entire audience bursts out laughing
-Will Ferrell's Monologue

SNL

For now, must-watch clips of SNL:



"At first, he'll date a well-known pop star. Publicly they'll claim to be virgins, but privately, he hit that."



LEONARD NEMOY

For the rest of the episode, which was great, click here.

Also, Texas is charging victims for Rape Kits?! Apparently I'm not tiring of Jezebel. I did not know that MIA had a baby, which is old news.

Doctors are Fun! End: Review, 2nd Castle Episode

From Getty Images

So today I awoke from bed, showered, dressed, and went to the doctor's appointment I mentioned yesterday. I thought that it would only take an hour in my silly, silly brain. Oh Marisa, it has been too long since you've been to a general practitioner. Even though I pre-filled out the paperwork and this was a small clinic, it took about forty-five minutes for me to be seen. In the mean time I browsed through magazines of various shape and informativeness. I attempted to give the New Yorker a chance even though it has always managed to annoy me in some way, but after the first sentence of extremely pretentious writing I put the magazine down and fumed temporarily for all the unemployed authors in the country. Then I tried the Atlantic, which had an interesting article on the fact that we need to mine or export the minerals in environmentally-friendly electronics, etc from somewhere, and, while in the United States there are many environmental regulations, in places like China where it is cheaper to obtain them from there are not. The details were new although the premise was not, as it probably isn't to anyone else reading this. I'm hoping the next phase of environmentalism focuses on ecologically friendly usage of our natural resources, which has taken a backseat for the moment. The problem was that the article focused on Neodymium, which has large usage outside of "environmentally friendly products". For those who don't know, Neodymium is used to create the strongest magnets which have many industrial and technological applications. I used to be really into magnets for a little while. Don't ask.

After finding out that I weigh 78 pounds and am still five feet tall, which took away some of my guilt for eating candy with my morning chocolate milk(Breakfast. I ate candy for breakfast.) two days in a row, I got to browse through National Geographic for a while. This magazine incorrectly identified mosquito fish as environmentally friendly which they are not since they are aggressive and breed rapidly. I started reading an article on reducing energy usage and thought about my own environmental footprint. Naturally, I try and make this as low as possible: all the bulbs in regular use in my house are CFLs(These contain mercury, in case you didn't know. Fun fact. Recycle, don't throw them out!), I've been taking shorter showers, don't run the dishwasher without a full load, etc. Basically, the worst thing I do is run my space heater because my feet are always cold and the heater is the only thing which helps them. My parents brought out the heater that kept me warm when I was a baby one winter when I was wearing a sweater and socks but still shivering. I've been hooked on them ever since, but my electricity bill still dropped $20 last month, so I must be doing something right. Anyways, the doctor was a nice man who prescribed me a muscle relaxant to help increase the effectiveness of the physical therapy.

I walked to Ralph's and bought some food and a bunch of soup, some of which I later discovered has meat in it. Then I walked home and, after reading Gawker for ten minutes, re-started work on the Rat Brain project, which is what I did until 5:00pm. My head still hurts from doing this. Went to UCSD and then to my second doctor's appointment, the one whom I see regularly. He gave me free samples so that I wouldn't have to go to the pharmacy, because he is AWESOME. Note that if I had to pay every time I got my medicine it would be $40 each time.
Now I am home and not working on the Rat Brain until tomorrow because if I do right now my head will explode all over my desk.

Watch this:


Today's Wiki anniversaries: Australia was discovered and Hair premiered today.

I forgot that I had watched the second episode of "Castle" recently. This time the writing was much better, with the exception of one over-drawn monologue by the character Castle himself. The show is pulpy, so if you like that genre, I would definitely take a look. So far, nothing besides that and Nathan Fillian stand out about the show, but I'm rooting for it to develop into something above average. I'm about to watch episode three. The song from the first one is still stuck in my head, which apparently is "So What" by Pink.

Substitution

So I failed to get a good picture of my aquarium, which means I'm going to embed this really funny Simpsons clip instead:

Conglomeration

I've changed the comment settings so that anonymous users can comment and have added a "tags" section.

The second episode of "Parks and Recreation" was much better than the first and included a lot of on-target jokes, a lot of funny happenings, and the reinforcement of the pointed message of how much effort it would take a normal person in the lower ranks of government to stay positive. Watch the episode here.

The first time we saw the calico kitten was when I held the black kitten. She was hiding in one of the tubes in the window box and Chris picked her up and held her for a little while. When I next went to visit Petsmart she started meowing and rubbing against the glass when she saw me. Today she meowed and kneaded her paws. I think I need to steal her.

It's very nice to be able to stand up straight! I am also extremely fond of baby kiwis-kiwi taste without the peeling. You can get a pack at Trader Joe's for $3.99.

So, about Reavers-do you think they breed? Because if not, all of them will die of old age within a certain timeline except for the secondary Reavers, who are much fewer. Between the exposure to radiation, self-mutilation and such things, an average Reaver's lifespan is probably at most fifty years.

An oldy but a goody:

Omegle

So, the author of XKCD linked to a site called Omegle. You are randomly connected to a chat with a complete stranger. I thought I'd give the site a try myself.

Stranger: heyy m or f

You: hello

You: f

You: you?

Stranger: ooh where from?

Stranger: m

You: CA

You: where are you from?

You: I'm engaged, you should know

Stranger: PA

Stranger: thats hawt

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

Connecting to server...

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You: Hello

Stranger: Heyy

Stranger: Religion?

You: Deist

You: you?

Stranger: OHHH!

Stranger: I've never met a deist!

You: lol

Stranger: Do you like seriously practice it, or do you believe it?

You: I believe in one god who is the root of all religions, and I pray to that god and try to do good by that god, so I'd say yes

Stranger: Deism is believing that God created the universe and walked away, right?

You: yes

Stranger: Ohh funfunnnn

Stranger: Do you hate Christians?

You: no

You: that would be silly of me

You: lol

Stranger: Ohhh

Stranger: I despise em ha.

Stranger: Well

You: I hate people who are bible thumpers

Stranger: Not all of them

Stranger: Just thier religion

You: why?

Stranger: Kaythxbye\

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

I kind of gave up after that.