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.

History: The Video(s)

Image via Boing Boing

In America I am considered tiny, but in Trinidad my weight is normal. This makes evolutionary sense, as people in the blinding heat of the tropics need a fast metabolism and little fat. It also makes sense that people from the colder parts of Europe would evolve to be beautiful and curvy. This is just a theory, as I have no scientific, controlled evidence to support this hypothesis.

While I voice my support against the dreadfully anorexic girls present in modeling today, I also sort of wonder what will happen when people with normal(read: another select segment of the population) weights come back into style. Will people mock my size? Will they tell me that my weight is obviously a product of neglecting myself, as is done to plus-size women today? I want to believe that we can accept the fact that people naturally have more than one body type, but this does not seem to be a concept native to the fashion industry. I do not have whatever BMI is being enforced on some of the European catwalks today. While I still completely support the regulations, it feels sort of strange that some years from now I might "go out of style". It's not fair that this has already been done to Rubenesque women, though. We're people, not ephemeral fashion trends.

Just to clarify, it's more the fear of being actively discriminated against than anything else which wrote these last two paragraphs.



Oh. my. God. It's NABOKOV. I LOVE YOU.
It's crazy how Youtube has in a way democratized history. We can now experience moments from the past like previous generations never had the chance to, all within our personal computers. It's so cool! This was from Boing Boing, btw.

Also from Boing Boing: there is apparently a black market in moon rocks. As in actual rocks from the moon, not LSD. I can completely understand this. If I ever get engaged again I want an extraterrestrial rock for my ring like in the "Bones" episode "The Science in the Physicist".



"PLEASE – do yourself a favour and turn the sound OFF – NOW. I’m almost willing to throw the towel in admit that creationists are right when I hear it. However the video is just brilliant (if you ignore the silly text as well)... Here’s 500 generations every SECOND backed up by actual fossil evidence – shoved in to a computer and animated together. It’s fantastic to watch." Source

I have to watch this video again to take in what changed first, hypothesize why the did, etc.



OH MY GOD IT'S THE MOON LANDING. /hyperventilates. They look like ghosts that are hopping around. Even though his voice is level you can feel the excitement coming through the video. Or maybe it's just me trying to live this vicariously.


Here is Buzz Aldrin punching a conspiracy theorist in the face.

Why you should NOT fly with regional carriers, as written by an experienced pilot.

"Flying from Chicago’s O’Hare to Denver is routine, right? But it wasn’t a few decades ago. We, the pilots, make it routine too. But I challenge you on this. Is your life worth less because you are over the heartland of America in the dark of night rather than climbing into the skies of Rio over the Amazon or headed out across the Pacific? It is worth less if you are on the low-cost regional carrier because you chose to pay less. If you are on the regional carrier headed to Denver and the engine is on fire, I am sure that it is comforting to know that you saved 15 percent by shopping the Internet for the cheapest fare. Isn’t it great to know that you have the newest, least-experienced, exhausted, starving young cockpit crew that this regional airline could find? Good for you!"

PS apparently the Alaskan blob is not Palin after all.

Critique the Poem

The ocean’s beauty was not meant
to adorn the walls of man.
Is the deadened shell more beautiful
than a living, breathing clam?
Poets adorn the shell with words
forgetting that which lives;
a simple beast, no doubt,
but one that’s meant to give
its life to filtering out the water
and then dissolve to dust
its shell now sand upon the shore
again part of earth’s crust.

Perhaps some would simply argue
a husk displayed inside a set
means glorious remembrance
and fame found after death;
Others feel the pull of beauty
possession sings its siren song
“If it is pretty, I must have it
no matter where it should belong.”


I remember laying in bed last night thinking there were two things I want to talk about on here. One was the fact that crossword puzzles can be used not only to test knowledge but can also sharpen data-acquiring skills using the internet. The other I cannot remember.

I am interested in how we will redistribute the nutrients in our landfills back into the ecosystem and/or our homes.


Poetry has always fascinated me with its blend of symbolic and logical communication. Chelsea's party was lots of fun, as was the Coast meeting. My brother and I went to the beach at his request and I am so tired and have lots of work to do. Peace out?

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

Fungus

This has happened to me before.

So I opened my vermicomposting bin today to put in some grapes and was surprised by a soft layer of fungus.
My reaction was naturally "euuurgh!". I wasn't completely caught off guard since peat is a extremely nutrient rich and in a moist environment attracts many members of the animal kingdom. After my initial emotions I realized that fungus and earthworms coexist in naturally in many places around the world and there were earthworm tunnels near the sides of the bin. Besides, even as I watched the fungus faded from being exposed to sunlight.
For those not familiar with creating ecosystems this simply meant there were enough excess resources for some outside source to utilize.
This led me to wonder if there was a fungus relatively harmless to humans which could compost quicker and more efficiently. I realize that most people's reactions to this would also be "euuurgh", but remember what cheese is etc. Just don't breathe too deeply around the thing and you'd be fine.
I actually don't use that much organic material in my house. I generally finish what I eat and haven't used a single paper towel since I bought my Trader Joe's cloths. Cardboard and plastic are recycled as necessary. I'm wary of putting cardboard in the bin before the colony of worms is fully established since there definitely would be excess resources for other kingdoms to use. I'm even going to buy a Diva Cup(women only, it's about PERIODS). I've heard many women state that they are very pleased with theirs, so I'm going to try the product myself.

*--------*

I attempt to desexualize myself because I wish to be viewed for who I am, a person who is fairly androgynous and does not wish to have feminine generalizations applied to her. How many desexualized male icons are there vrs the amout of desexualized female icons? It's not fair, as some of us do not find sexualization empowering or what we wish to be known for. I attempt not to do this since it is silly, but I have sometimes ended up suppressing feminine aspects of my personality in order to disassociate myself.
And really, every time a negative stereotype of behavior is encouraged by a member of the same sex I get angry. Men "are programmed to sow their oats" and grunt and posture at each other; women having an outburst at any time of the month blaming it on PMS.
We all know the saying about one white crow. So don't blame shortcomings or personality traits on gender and accept them for what they are. If you want to start a sentence with "most women are encultured in our society..." that is a different matter. For example, most women in our society are encultured to worry an excessive amount about their bodies.

The Dorkiness is With Me

I want a Chapman Stick now. What is a Chapman stick?

An interesting article from Wired about scarcity vrs abundance planning.

"This is the power of waste. When scarce resources become abundant, smart people treat them differently, exploiting them rather than conserving them. It feels wrong, but done right it can change the world."

"The way to get from what the mathematicians call a local maximum to the global maximum is to explore a lot of fruitless minima along the way. It's wasteful, in a sense, but it can pay off in the end."

This feels like the correct way to treat waste vrs. what some American consumers has been doing. Of course, this would also require constantly monitoring trends and identifying the correct variables, though in any marketing projections the ability to model is kind of just a little bit central. What about perhaps literally applying these principals to trash?

Boing Boing columnist Cory Doctorow wrote a column.
I find it interesting that he mentions the fact that conspiracy theories are "pure gold for science fiction writers". Both conspiracy theorists and sci fi authors have the task of taking a fictional premise and making it sound convincingly real. The only true difference is the heading both are sold under. In fact, L. Ron Hubbard blurs this line significantly, though his creation is under the more general heading of religion.
The implication of this column is that ideas are the true genius in the world today. I disagree, as I think the fact that people have created so many DIY inventions is a testament to ingenuity on their parts. It's not necessarily some simple thing to create a fictional invention. Quite simply, it just shows that there are a lot of mechanically gifted people out there, but that is no reason to knock the talent.
This also makes me feel like building something, but I have work to do.

When I was a kid, I loved Star Wars. I didn't talk about the movies to my friends or engage in any fan activity besides imagining myself as a Jedi(don't you dare comment), but the concept of a universal "force" and the notion of peace through control were both extremely appealing to me. My dad and I had frank discussions about Buddhism, which I had only known about marginally before, and the rest is history. A lot of discussion can be had comparing East and West literature/theology and the societies that produced them.

But this is not what I am going to talk about.

During this period I suddenly acquired a taste for tunics. A recent article in io9 which I am too lazy to find discussed how fashion has started borrowing from science fiction. Thanks to recent shifts in fashion it is now becoming easier and easier to dress like a Jedi or Cyber Goth without having everyone around you suddenly converge into a mob of beating-the-passerby.
How long before we start actually looking like a mashup of science fiction characters?

I've always wanted to wear a cloak because I read one too many fantasy novels as a kid. The problem with cloaks is that since the invention of the jacket, they are much less functionally useful. That has never stopped fashion, though. Cloaks are awesome. Imagine one with a ton of useless contemporary buckles. Don't add any fake pockets, though, because those enrage me.

Of course, I'll most likely stick to my "uniform" of khaki pants and wifebeaters/tshirts. But still, you should listen to me fashion industry!

Trader Joe's

Scientists tour the Creationist Museum

Trader Joe's is one of my favorite places to shop, with its quality products which include many choices for vegetarians and all-around low prices. I can count the number of times I've been disappointed in their food on one hand and have heard first hand that people who work there get better pay and treatment than at comparative grocery stores.
So today I'm going to research this chain to see if perhaps I am missing a dark underbelly.

Freaknomics author Stephen Dubner is my first source after Wikipedia, asking "Do You Know Who Owns Trader Joe's?"

The answer:

"A huge German discount-grocery chain best known in the U.S. for no-glamor stores often located in marginal neighborhoods....The article claims that Aldi is so good at selling cheap goods that WalMart couldn’t compete with it in Germany. How do they do it? Here’s one way: "Store-brand goods generally make up 22 percent of U.S. food sales in terms of unit volume, according to research by Nielsen Co., while in some European markets, they account for about 30 percent. At Aldi, 95 percent of the goods are the retailer’s own brands."”

I pulled up the Wall Street Journal piece he was referencing. Since I'm not a subscriber I can't read the whole article and the tidbit I could offered no new information.

Quotes from a 2004 article in BuisnessWeek:

" TJ's develops or imports many of its own products from sources it has developed over decades and sells more than 80% of them under the Trader Joe's brand or a variant thereof:.."
"After complaints from animal-rights activists about the way ducks are slaughtered, it stopped selling them. Ahi tuna is caught without nets, its dried apricots are unsulfured, its peanut butter is organic -- and has no trans fats to boot."
"One place where TJ's has never stinted is with its employees. Besides above-union wages and generous bonuses (pay for entry-level part-timers starts at $8 to $12 an hour; first-year supervisors average more than $40,000 a year), TJ's contributes an additional 15.4% of each worker's gross pay into a company-funded retirement plan.

The company got its start when Joe Coulombe was trying to figure out how to protect his three Southern California convenience stores, called Pronto Markets, from the onslaught of 7-Elevens in the 1960s. He loaded the stores up with hard-to-find gourmet items and low-priced wines, and cherry-picked food manufacturers' discontinued and overstocked merchandise, which he peddled at steep discounts. Coulombe sold the renamed Trader Joe's in 1979 to the family trust established by Theo Albrecht, and he retired in 1988."

Deciding to get more obscure results, I clicked on page twelve of the search. This led to the site "Responsible Shopper". If this site proves to be legitimate, then I am extremely happy. Even they think that Trader Joe's is pretty ok, besides the fact that child labor may have harvested the shrimp I routinely buy. This report was filed by The ACILS . Great, what's left in the bag I have now is going to taste like guilt. An easier-to-read article summarizes the situation on CNN. Though I just made a joke, what's taking place really is no laughing matter:

"The report makes clear not all shrimp imports into the United States from Thailand and Bangladesh come from problem plants.

The report names some of the most popular retailers in America, including Wal-Mart, Costco and Trader Joe's.

The center's 40-page report found sexual and physical abuse, debt bondage, child labor and unsafe working conditions are common in Thailand and Bangladesh's shrimp processing factories, and that Thai plants often use trafficked workers."

CNN places Trader Joe's fourth in another article about the healthiest places to shop. It only got a lower ranking because it lacked the variety of the other stores.

Two other things that I learned from my search are that many other people are wild about Trader Joe's and that Kroger is a horrible company. I don't know why yet, but I will when I get the energy to investigate.

This was a random and haphazard search using Google. But since so many reputable sources vouch for the company I would consider it to be one of the few legitimately good ones out there. I will look up its parent company and trust fund owner later.

Oh, and I have not looked up Greepeace's allegations about Redlisted fish being sold at their stores. Considering the chain phased out ducks when animal activists complained I have my doubts about their crimes.

Self-Referential

This happens to me all the time, except that it's usually what I'm thinking and I don't eat giraffes. From xkcd.

Thoughts on Star Trek:
1.)I like that after any of the characters have an outburst, they apologize
2.)Apparently being in space for so long has made the crew and captain susceptible to any pretty female who is not in charge of the ship's communications.
3.)Those are really short skirts. The crew is lucky that gusts of wind don't exist on the ship.

This article on memory strengthens the theory of memory connections I mentioned before. There is probably a more eloquent way to phrase the previous sentence.

This article from Jezebel about the abuses of the fashion industry, where young girls are powerlessly in the hands of much older and more experienced men, and citing the prevalence of rape in our society, is devastating and something I would definitely recommend checking out.

Another article discusses the true perils and motivations for mothers who adopt from Africa vrs celebrities like Madonna. It also elaborates on a sentence that I posted yesterday: "I don't think that all people from third-world countries are broken or something similar". There is a difference between feeling empathy for others and portraying them as simple, lower beings needing our mercy. People were whole, complete beings long before electricity was harnessed; I just don't think it's fair that somebody's relative or child could potentially die of the flu or something similar. I could write a lot on this topic, clarifying and clarifying, even putting in my own personal experiences, but I will leave it here for now.

Muhahaha, my picture is the first, second, and third result for my full name on Google. On one hand I want this blog to be the first result, but on the other I have an unusual enough name that it probably would not be hard to find out a lot of details about me, especially since I have mentioned the general area where I live. Perhaps when I need to be hired I will make the switch, as I know potential employers look for web presence. I have deliberately not promoted this blog up to this time.

It's interesting that the first hits for "SchizotypalVamp" are ones which I barely use. I don't particularly comment on io9 or Jezebel. I haven't used Library Thing since I was fifteen or sixteen. My original idea was that a searchable database for our collection would be ideal so that we could confirm if we had a book or not before buying it, since we did accidentally get a few books twice. One hundred and twenty-two books later I realized that if I continued I would never get a chance to actually read anything since there remained many more still to be listed. I have posted once on Twitter. I haven't visited The Planted Tank/Frank's Aquarium/MFK in forever. I haven't used my Flickr in a long time, either. But it's nice that my pseudonym retains exclusivity in a Google search.

Frosty posted about Vermicomposting in her apartment earlier today. My attempts to create a compost pile at home fizzled, and it's always something I wished I could do. There was the slight issue in my last home that my parents would string me up as a warning to other messy daughters. However, looking at the composting bins in the pictures of this article, I could always get a box and put it outside. Heck, I could even pretend it was a table, a table my mom would never, ever sit at.
Now when I mentioned getting more plants to my mom, her answer summarized to "you better not make it any more difficult to move out", a sucky but valid point. However, I live right by a university. If making a few calls does not help, I can always dump the fertilizer in the random nature park.

"Why did you bring a large plastic bag on the bus?"
"Uh...no reason"

I'll figure it out. Meanwhile, I believe they sell earthworms at Petsmart. I'm off to go get myself in trouble. Also some pizza.

This is SO COOL

Untruth in Advertising

Pictured
is a sugar
glider.
Source

This is
a pet I
really want.
Howev-
er, they
are illegal to
own in
Califor-
nia.



I despise modern advertising. I believe the notion and acceptance that exaggeration and lies are commonplace within marketing becoming mainstream does more of a disservice to our culture than we realize. It is impossible to do research on everything. How many of us have looked up the most environmentally friendly paper towel or dishwashing liquid? Billions are spent every year based almost solely on marketing and sales prices. Human eyes are naturally drawn to more artistic trappings and when fast music is played adrenaline automatically swims through our bodies, perhaps creating the same response when the product is seen in stores. To sever these connections is, in fact, harmful, but we must constantly monitor our unconscious reactions to product placement, jingles, and a thousand other things. Even through all of this I notice my eyes being drawn to more interesting packaging or the words "environmentally friendly!"(which a product may not be) at Ralph's. Also, more sinisterly, though I don't believe this is actually the goal of any company, a well-educated and discerning population is not favorable to sales.

Speaking of environmentally friendly products, I did a search for "environmentally friendly paper towel" and found the Skoy. Here are some quotes from the web page:

"SKOY cloth is a chlorine-free product using water-based colors and inks. After an independent composting test, SKOY cloth broke down completely within 5 weeks."

"The SKOY cloth is a durable product due to the reusability factor and can last months. Using a SKOY cloth is equivalent to using 15 rolls of paper towels in an average home. "

"The SKOY cloth is long-lasting because of the wash ability feature. It dries quickly, so it is not a breeding ground for bacteria. Have you ever used your sponge, then smelled your hand and it reeked of horrible bacteria? That will never happen again if you microwave your SKOY cloth regularly. It is also dishwasher and washer/dryer safe. "

"We are two stay-at-home moms living in Encinitas, California. Our children have begun Elementary school and we have a little extra time. We decided that this would be the perfect time to start our business.

We have been working and researching for almost a year on our product."

"The idea originated when Michelle was living in Europe in the late 90’s. She discovered a product that was similar to the SKOY cloth and it was just amazing. Over time she found the cloth to be indispensible. When she moved back to the US, she realized that the use of a sponge was inadequate and the excessive use of paper towels, wasteful. Michelle searched and searched for a similar cloth and nothing even compared; nothing was of the same caliber. This is when Michelle introduced the cloth to Karen. She immediately fell in love with it and could not imagine cleaning with anything else.’

We then put our heads together and discussed a way to bring this product to the US with the requirement that it meet our high standard. Now we are so excited to be able to offer the SKOY cloth to you—which is everything that we had hoped it would be."

There are two problems I have with this website. One is that it is unclear whether the women are creating the product or importing it from abroad. If they are creating it, neither of their education levels or qualifications are mentioned. Of course, one does not need a degree to be smart or do intensive research, but if they can do it, so can I, though I don't have the one resource they claimed was available- a little bit of extra free time. I wonder if it would be possible to order the product and then do extensive testing on it?
I forgot the second problem. Maybe I will remember later.

Early Morning Thoughts on Mini-mansions n'Stuff

I am always considering how America could be more economical when it comes to housing. Of course, I have to think about how any measures taken would affect me personally, because my family lives in a 3200 square foot house. So let's take a trip into Marisa's past and see if it has any baring on the condition of American real estate in general.

Until I was twelve I lived in a 1500 square foot house. This was perfectly fine with me, and I fought tooth and nail to stay there. Sadly, by the end of my time there I was only a few inches shorter than my permanent height.

The first time I stepped into the model of our new house it seemed enormous. We bought the house before it was built, so I got to witness the laying of the wood, drywall, painting, etc.

After living there for a few years I visited my first house again, which seemed to have shrunk into a miniaturized version of what I remembered. Keep in mind that I had not gotten much bigger after moving, so the theory of this house being much bigger to a child does not apply.

What does this tell us? People are getting used to a standard of living. I'm going to pretend that a recession isn't happening right now for the purposes of this entry. This may not be a brilliant conclusion, but it is one that holds a lot of weight.

And there is definitely wasted space in our house. The front room has been turned into a decorative entryway, which is nice, but we don't entertain the pope very often. Granted, in another family this room may have been put to use differently. There is also a lot of unused floorspace. Looking at this differently, this helps to give the house a very open, friendly feeling which is conducive to mental health. Speaking of mental health, there is the "teen room", my savior during my, well, teen years. Basically, it is a loft with a spiffy name, but I took it over as soon as we moved in because of its name in the floor plan and it was given to me because of my sadness at moving. I am unsure what I would have done without it. At my old house I used to wander the backyard incessantly, but the backyard doesn't have electricity,wireless, or bookshelves. In fact, my parents often called that particular part of upstairs "my little apartment", and I spend a significant amount of time there when I go home.

So what is my conclusion from this diatribe? With some architectural finagling, mini-mansions could be re-designed much more efficiently with the added mental health benefits of extra space. Now I have to call and find out when my physical therapy appointment is, because I forgot.

Later Edit: Also, when the temperature in the house is 93 degrees or above and the outside temperature is even hotter, running a fan or opening the windows is not an option. The only solution during these times is to run an air conditioner. I don't really see a low-energy solution to that problems, as we already have tinted windows and special drapes. Cooling ourselves with tears is not an option.

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.

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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.