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| For the record, I'm listening to tons of different things right now. The majority of these are OCRs.
I know, I know. As a damnable tree-hugger (and the million other defining terms I am), I am apparently fairly alone in this world. Certainly in my apartment. I'm the only guy who wants to recycle. Our fantastic apartment owner (University Group) of course does not want to sign up for such things, so in order to maintain the greater-good efficiency of recycling, I store everything I can in my room (it takes up a lot of space as it piles) until I go home. I then dispose of it. Allison's a slightly more reasonable roommate about this, and leaves out cans, boxes and bottles (not other material) for me to deal with periodically. My other roommates force me to root through the garbage for their crap (I do have limits regarding this). I blame their conservative upbringings and religious inclinations (after all, if there's an eternal afterlife, why give a shit about this planet?).
So I was musing over that as I frequently tend to, and a thought reiterated itself through my mind. The system of garbage removal is good, from one standpoint. It promotes a cleaner living environment (for those who can afford to not live in/near dumps), which has many humanistic benefits. But it carries with it a massive problem: it makes us forget. You take out those garbage bags, and poof, they're gone. The garbage has simply disappeared.
But not really. It's been piled up somewhere, and lucky for us, it has a good chance of never biodegrading (unless it's been shipped to one of those fantastic Japanese incinerators). But we THINK it's gone. Even though we know it's really in a dump, we don't FEEL that impending force of "do something." And so we don't do anything. Hum. Do I know how to fix it? No. I haven't thought of anything yet.
Onto another thing. I hate all those cleaning companies. "ZOMGUH TEH GERMS R EVRYWERE!!!!!111!!1!!1!11one!" Most germs are not particularly pathogenic (I keep typing germans). That means that they don't make you sick. Even of the ones that do, virtually none you encounter in the household will have a chance to kill you (unless you have a compromised immune system).
To my knowledge, with the exception of bleach products, every antibacterial substance promotes bacterial resistance through constant use. That can only end poorly for us, especially if we're speeding up the process by being idiots about disinfecting everything (with obvious exceptions, such as hospitals; they are important to keep clean). And, of course, by constantly disinfecting everything, we shittify our immune systems. STOP BUYING ALL THESE PRODUCTS. Unless you just had a flood, FUCK LYSOL. Clean with alcohol or bleach. That's your best shot. Bleach, especially, is simply SO reactive that I see it as highly unlikely that anything with develop a sufficient resistance to it. I don't know ANYTHING that can survive a sufficient bleach attack. It literally chemically shreds any kind of cell.
As you can see, I get excited about these things. You should see me talk politics with Geoff.
Speaking of immune systems, they're tricky things. Too much exposure, and you're doomed to a life of chronic medical issues and higher chances of serious problems. Too little exposure, and you're doomed to a life of bad allergies and high susceptibility to sickness, which can itself lead to serious problems. They key is to somehow expose young un's to weaker pathogens semifrequently, but step in if serious ones are prevalent (e.g. bad bouts of influenza, or any kind of pneumonia).
Alright. More study.
-Our heroes and martyrs
Present two points of view
With deity you're praying to?
(Heroes & Martyrs, from New Maps of Hell)
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| As I'm sure you've heard, new US intelligence findings think that Iran halted its nuclear weapon research and production in 2003. As far as I can tell, that's good news. Even for the cautious individual, it's still a sign that maybe things can improve. That maybe the threat isn't so real.
Bush says it's a "warning signal" of continuing threat from Iran (taken from www.nytimes.com).
Onto other news...well, just read this. The whole thing. The way it's written, you need to read the whole thing before you start forming opinions, because they give you extremely pertinent information at select times. The gist is that a guy gave a friend a car, and that friend took a few of HIS friends to go rob a marijuana dealer. In the process, the dealer's daughter was killed. The owner of the car, who was not directly involved in any way (he claims he thought his friend was joking when the notion of a robbery was brought up; he was also either drunk or groggy from being drunk), was convicted of murder and is serving life without parole. This article is really about the law that provides that conviction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/us/04felony.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
So I got to thinking of a variety of things. First, this law is stupid. I can see accomplices being punished, but only if there's strong evidence that they were REALLY somehow involved. I mean, let's say that the friend and his buddies carjacked an elderly lady to get to the dealer. Using the same logic of these prosecutors (and supporters of the law), that lady should be convicted of first degree murder, too. That's not to say that Ryan Holle is innocent; maybe he's lying. This is an argument against the law. Don't get me started on the supporters of the law and the prosecutors. The reasonings they use are the same as justification for, hell, sacrificing virgins to appease the gods.
“It may not make any sense to you,” Mr. Rimmer, the prosecutor in Mr. Holle’s case, told the jury. "But if we don't throw Jessica in the wolf pit right away, then something bad WILL HAPPEN. You don't want to piss of Mobutu, god of inadequate justice systems." (Get it? It's a clever play on the story, AND it makes fun of a terrible former African leader).
So, while discussing this with Ken (and reflecting on how much of a screwed up state Florida is; I've been there), a thought occurred to me. How many people, do you think, are incorrectly convicted or set free because the people in the jury don't want to be there?
"Well, guys, I have a job to get to that, while terrible and stressful, is far more exciting than this will ever be. Shall we say...guilty? Guilty works for you all? Good."
Obviously it probably won't be that outright selfish (though the feelings and intent will be there), but I think you get my drift.
Other thoughts...
While discussing human evolution in my Evolutionary Neuroscience class (best class I've taken so far), we reflected upon the aggressive nature of the human species, and pointed at the fact that other hominids (humanoid creatures that never survived to our current point in time) did exist alongside us. They are not here now. We are. Hmm.
Again, Evo. Neur. class. When you consider that sexual dimorphisms rarely develop with huge differences between the genders (males have nipples and some mammory tissue, for example), you may wonder why. Well, one idea is that it takes more energy to differentiate gene expressions between individuals. If the genes to produce breasts are already there, and they don't hurt males in any way, then there's no reason for them not to exist. Likewise, males require orgasms to reproduce, but females don't. Females still can often have orgasms. The complex wiring (it really is very complex and precise) to produce orgasms would require "extra effort" on the part of genes to remove from females, so they get it because we need it. In the paraphrased words of my professor, "So, you all can thank us for that." /much laughter
WoW is a tricky thing to do. On one server, I have an extremely helpful close friend and some somewhat helpful sort-of-buddies (and it's Horde, so it's more fun). On another server, I have my pretty helpful girlfriend and almost never helpful more-so-buddies. I want to play both. The problem? That requires two accounts, because my respective characters on each server are on different accounts with different owner names (Geoff and myself), meaning no transfer can occur. So...screw you Blizzard. Looks like I'm starting over again on the path to 70.
For the record, I have a 70 warrior (who I threw away for a year, but now I have him again because I have the account back), a 70 warlock (99% Kevin's work, the friend who had my account), I used to have a 70 mage which I deleted (oh, the regret...but it made Marissa happy, so it's ok), and I have a 70 hunter that I'm throwing away because I only want to have one account. And I just got the damn thing to 70. And unlike my mage, where I had plenty of help, the hunter was soooo much more my own doing (yes, Marissa, I know, you helped me frequently). And thus is my own personal drama in a game that doesn't matter. Luckily, I don't care. Virtual reality is far more perfect than reality.
It's entirely possible (though...unlikely) that I can pull off a B in biochem. I think I'm stuck with a C in mammalian histology. I should be able to pull off a B in neurobiology. Both statistics and evo. neur. should be As. Hopefully this all works out.
I wish I could find my old illegally burned Rhapsody CDs. I have a bunch of songs that I've been lucky enough to store in other CDs (mixes and such), but I'm missing so many... Also, singing in falsetto is fun, even though I sound like a dying cat (according to Marissa and Maureen).
And with that, I must eat and begin my online quiz.
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| I found this positively awesome.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1766085
It doesn't make much sense if you're not particularly familiar with videogame classics. The game here is called Mario Paint (a title from the SNES), which had the ability to let you draw things, make movies, and (evidently) create music. I only briefly played it once in my life, many, many years ago. I recently bought a used copy, but I don't have the mouse input, so I haven't been able to use it yet (can't use normal controller, or so I'm told).
The song in question is the theme from the original Megaman, which debuted on the NES...I believe around the time I was born. Possibly beforehand.
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| I was pseudo-tagged by Erehwyna.
Rules:
*Each person starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves and post these rules.
*At end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to be tagged & list their names.
*Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they are tagged & to read your blog.
I ate ants when I was a small child (or so I'm told).
My most common (positive) daydream involves somehow taking over the world (or getting my own country) with a mech, a weaponized satellite ala Goldeneye or the GDI Ion Cannon, and about fifty space marines. It's awesome.
Under the assumption I have kids, I am going to do everything I can to force them into music. That way, if they ever make a decent rock band (or become techno artists, or whatever) in their teens, I can live vicariously through them.
I love to sing, but you'll almost never catch me doing it (unless you're Marissa or my sister).
I am the only person in existence (at my age) who understands that bass goes through solid matter and that people sometimes like to sleep.
I am so freaking obsessed with Bad Religion (but you already knew that). So, instead, I'll say that I have had two dreams where I won some sort of contest to spend all day with Greg Graffin (and various other band members). It was weird.
My imagination is strong enough to require little to no human contact to remain amused. Scott Adams brought this up once. I thought it was interesting.
I can find virtually any subject matter interesting. Unless it's something that EVERYBODY else likes (like reality TV, pop music, etc.), I can find it incredibly entertaining to learn and learn about that subject. Unfortunately, this breaks the moment that it gets put into a class situation. Now, classes can be interesting. But the moment that I HAVE to know something, it's no longer something I could listen to someone talk about or surf on Wikipedia about for hours.
Just as I was finishing, I thought of something that was more interesting than half of these...but I lost it after about two seconds. Well, I'm pretty sure that Will is the only person who actually reads my blog, so...tag...on someone...else...?
-Hey! You!
Is there something worth belonging to?
And can I pick it up for a song?
Or a diploma or a worthy cause?
Well, let me tell you that there's nothing wrong
It's just that ones like us will never belong
(You Don't Belong, from The Process of Belief)
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| One of the strangest things about life is when somebody makes a little
comment directed at you. It's usually a barb, often in half-jest, but
something about it sticks in you...like a barb. It then proceeds to bug
you for hours or days--possibly more. It's not a massive insult or
anything. It's a little thing. A stupid little thing.
Human psychology is so strange. That's probably the main reason I want to study it. I get obsessed with things that are strange.
Speaking of studying psychology, I may be able to get an undergraduate research position under my evolutionary neuroscience professor. The research looks really interesting, mostly involving selective breeding of rats to find whether certain behaviors--like voluntary running--are hereditary, and then if they are, what genes may be involved. Stuff like that. The professor himself (Prof. Justin Rhodes) seems like a cool, interesting guy. That's why I took this class, actually; he advertised it in my previous psych class (where we taught part of the material).
Yes, that's right! Bright news in Xanga for once! I try to bring it out. I don't want this to be purely emo.
On other news, something I've noticed is that most of my really good ideas (like song lyrics) pop up in the shower. I wonder what it is about that activity and/or environment that produces the proper mindset for creativity. Yesterday I came up with a really catchy riff...and then two verses and a refrain for an associated song. Today I came up with a cool lyrical theme. I'm trying to remember what the key words were.
That's all for now, kids. Carry on!
- Bombarded by multiple choices 24/7
Navigating a tangled web of logic and passion
Guided by subconscious voices, astute and sharpened
Tested, tested
(Tested, from the No Substance B-Sides)
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