Rambling!

If you're a Coke fan (the beverage, not the drug), this might be a good thing for you to know: California claims Coke bottled in Mexico has lead - Yahoo! News. Funny how that doesn't make the news.

This morning, I asked Dave if the saying about the gorilla has changed recently--the one that goes something like "that company is like a 1000-pound gorilla," you know. I thought I'd always remembered the gorilla as weighing 800 pounds, but lately everyone refers to the "1000 pound gorilla." He said that indeed, the gorilla had weighed in at 800 pounds for a long time, but recently he seems to have gained weight. I replied, "I wonder if it's muscle mass or if he's developing a pot belly. 'Cause I'd really rather have my gorilla fit."

Then I asked, "Hey, how much does a gorilla normally weigh, anyway?" Because I thought, well, a good-sized black bear can hit 400-500 pounds, and it seemed to me that gorillas weren't as big as bears. So we got into an argument over whether the fiercely ripped gorilla had more muscle mass than your hulking but rather fat bear. Googling it, it turns out I was right; while black bears--which we were using as the example--can weigh in at 500 pounds or even more, male gorillas top out at about 400. Still, while he conceded that bears might indeed weigh more, he didn't want to surrender the point. "Gorillas are ripped," he said. "They've got steel cables for muscles!" He believed that if one were to take nothing but the muscle mass from a gorilla and a bear and weigh them against each other, gorillas would come out on top. But only a black bear. Grizzlies are just huge, and polar bears can swim, so they get the cardio.

In any case, it was really a tangent. I brought us back on topic by explaining that I wanted to know if our 800-pound gorilla was larger than normal, and if so, was it because it was a double-sized gorilla (he thought I'd said "double-sided" at first, so I had to explain, "No, no, double-sized, like what you do to your fries at MacDonald's"), or because it was a porker?

This is why I was late to work.

On a related topic, if you watch the Colbert Report, you might know that polar bears and grizzlies have begun crossbreeding. Isn't that a monster?

Thought dump

I woke up this morning in the process of doing lit-crit on Lord of the Rings. I was dreaming about doing lit-crit on Lord of the Rings. What is wrong with me? What was I dreaming about?!

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We have a lot of different bird species around here lately, some of which I can't remember seeing in the area. Oh, I mean, they're in the right range, but in the past they seem to have preferred avoiding this particular area. We're a bit of a suburban microenvironment in the midst of a farmy forested sea, so it's not as if they don't have a choice of where to go.

I wonder if it's the raptors. We've got tons of raptors compared to even a couple of years ago, and the prey birds might've decided it's safer to live a bit closer to humans. Most of the hawks and things prefer to stay a bit further away from town. Or maybe there's a general population boom, and the smaller birds are making a comeback along with their larger predatory cousins? That'd be nice.

I notice because I always pay attention when I walk to work. It's just a pick-me-up at this time of year. Even when it's rainy, the weather is beautiful. That perfect, cool-but-not-cold temperature, with everything blooming and leafing and growing. Lovely flower smells in the air, and birds singing away. Very serene. Even when I'm having a lousy day, I can't help but feel a little happier.

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A psychotically awesome website:
Ghost Town--a tour through Chernobyl's dead zone. This woman rides her motorcycle through the radioactive zones (surprisingly safe, so long as you keep your Geiger counter active and stay on the roadways), and gives a tour of her trips. One of the most fascinating things I've ever read.

Edit: Oh, apparently the motorcycle thing was a fraud: according to stuff found in Neil Gaiman's blog. This is apparently the tour she took. Ah, well, it's still an interesting read. Also, following up on that, I found National Geographic's virtual tour.

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Trees. I love trees. They're so warming and serene. I feel so bad for the poor trees that get hacked down because people plant them in places where, if they'd just thought about it, they'd have known was going to cause trouble in about 20 years. They're living things! Sure, they're just plants, but they're...I dunno, they deserve respect, I think. They're strong, and pretty, and they add a little something to our lives. Just...give it a little thought, and save yourself some effort, you know? Such a waste.

Oh, trees! Right! I knew something was making me think about them. Check this out:
Heritage Trees at Penn State. Penn State is originally an agricultural college, so we've got some arboretums and groves on campus that over 100 years' worth of graduating classes have funded and helped to plant. It makes for some beautiful examples of foliage, including a couple of simply massive American Elms, which is something you don't see very often anymore. It's kind of neat to look at old, lovingly cared-for trees and consider their origins, history, and...just what a good example of a tree species looks like. I find it soothing. Aren't they pretty?

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A friend of mine, Dave, keeps a blog: Italian Catholic and Altogether Strange. He talks a lot about the persecution of Christians around the world (and sometimes other peoples too), as well as just...stupid, unfair, and evil things that should be rectified. It's his way of trying to help--things can't be fixed when you don't know about them--but it can be depressing to read, sometimes. Really, I don't have a lot of stamina for that sort of thing. It's so painful and seems so far beyond me a lot of the time that all I can think to do is pray, and hope that someone stronger than me will be able to step forward and take the burden. You know?

But he posted this today: Thank you to all my readers, with a comment from one of his readers.

I Read this the other day and thought about you and your blog.

"There should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."

It makes me smile. At the end of the day, I feel that denomination doesn't matter that much. We've all got our quirks, no one is perfect, but it doesn't matter so much how we worship as that we worship at all. Maybe even other religions, like Buddhism and Wicca, are just ways that people try to recognize God in their lives and in the world. And I don't think the fact that many of us identify with one group over another should ever come between people when it comes to loving each other and being there for each other.

I pray every night for terrorists and extremists of all stripes. I can only imagine how much pain they must be in to find that kind of hatred a viable alternative. I can only imagine how much pain they must be in because of their hatred, and how much damage they do to themselves along with everyone else. It's a trap, that kind of hatred, because once you act on it once, you start feeling like you're forced to stick with it. To acknowledge that you're wrong...imagine how hard it must be for these people, who've taken hundreds of lives and created so much suffering, to admit that they're wrong, and to accept that much guilt upon their own heads. I feel sorry for them, and I hope that some of them, at least, are able to find that kind of strength.

Quizzes, crazies, and PSU being stupid

I told Dave about this quiz: Are you a heretic? I found it amusing. I scored 100% both as Chalcedon Compliant (which is 'not a heretic') and Pelagianism, where you believe that original sin doesn't exist (or grace...which is odd, because I was fairly sure I gave that a thumbs-up).

Anyway, entertaining.

Not so entertaining is this little bit of insanity from...remember Reverend Moon? Well, he's still insane. And grotesque. Reverend Moon being grotesque. I'm offended that the editors even associated this with conservativism, but some insane Christian fundamentalists seem to agree with him.

And Penn State censored a student who was planning a display on Palestinian violence. They felt it did "not encourage diversity" and "wasn't in keeping with the message they want to present to students."

Oh, we've got wireless bionics in the field of medical technology. Wild, eh?

And finally, As Iran Presses Its Ambitions, Its Young See Theirs Denied. Answering questions such as, "How could that crockpot have gotten elected?" and "Don't Iranians care about what their government is doing?"

Muslims in Europe raping unveiled women?

Yeah, sometimes I feel like kicking people in the teeth.

Also-rans include:
A communist Mexico?

Iran on our borders? (translated from Farsi)
"The head of the political party, the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran [RealVideo], Hasan Bayadi [who is Vice President of the Tehran City Council], has suggested to the Iranian Ministry of Defense that it conduct war games near American border to show the strength of Iran's military."

Iran and Venezuela: together forever! I didn't say it; Chavez did. And what would you say if Chavez were selling Iran nuclear fuel?

'Peaceful' nuclear programs in South America. Speaking of which. Freaking Chavez.

Facing Down Iran. Long, but I can't tell you how thought-provoking this was.

Has Iran Miscalculated?. Thoughts on Iran's nuclear strategy, dealing with them, and the unholy hell that will be if (or when) Israel gets dragged into this.
"So far the Iranian president has posed as someone 90-percent crazy and 10-percent sane, hoping we would fear his overt madness and delicately appeal to his small reservoirs of reason. But he should understand that if his Western enemies appear 90-percent children of the Enlightenment, they are still effused with vestigial traces of the emotional and unpredictable. And military history shows that the irrational 10 percent of the Western mind is a lot scarier than anything Islamic fanaticism has to offer."

Some connected guy claims that Bush is planning nuclear strikes against Iran.
"Despite America's public commitment to diplomacy, there is a growing belief in Washington that the only solution to the crisis is regime change. A senior Pentagon consultant said that Mr Bush believes that he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do," and "that saving Iran is going to be his legacy"."

Edit: Oh, and this is interesting. Apparently, Iran is dealing with quite a lot of insurgency.
Dreams in Lighting
"The regime in Tehran has its hands full with domestic unrest. The Baluchis of Sistan-o-Baluchistan province, Sunni Muslims, are led by Abdol-Maalek Rigui in their guerilla campaign against the regime. Meanwhile, the Arabs of Khuzestan, under their spiritual leader Shobeir Khaghani, have repeatedly attacked Iran's vital oil pipelines. Kurds are clashing with regime forces in places like Sanandaj, Baneh, Mahabad, Marivan and Dardasht; the Turcoman minority in Khorasan are increasingly discontented. Finally, some Azeri separatists are clamoring for annexation to Azerbaijan. It would not be surprising if the US and Britain were supplying covert aid to some or all of these groups."

And good news on the science front

Bladder in a Dish saves Patients

How's that for an article title? Basically, they've been able to grow bladders for people who have bladder cancer and things. This is a huge deal. They've never really been able to grow complex organs like this before (the liver doesn't count, as it regenerates naturally). That article doesn't say so, but another from Yahoo!News mentions that these bladders were grown from cells harvested from the patients themselves. Who needs clones?!

Here's a change: *good* international news

Indonesian volunteers helping rebuild post-Katrina.

Apparently, some of the Indonesians whom the US helped after the tsunami and earthquakes have decided to reciprocate by coming to the US to help New Orleans. It's a sweet story about human kindness, and two cultures gently learning about (and from!) one another.

In a world where nations set themselves at one another's throats lately, and hatred seems to be the order of the day, tiny little movements like this can send disproportionate echoes across the globe. Here's hoping these voices can make themselves heard.

On the electronic word

This blog is about the literary in video games and electronic media. Reading it brought me to this: a transcript of a talk entitled "A New Vision for Interactive Stories", given at the Game Designer's Conference. It's about how Aristotle, Joe Campbell, and Robert McKee--the elements of the story as we know it--don't necessarily apply to video game stories, the alternative literary structure of video games, and all that jazz. Very interesting.

Then there is this: What is electronic writing? which is about the forms the electronic word can take, and how sometimes those forms aren't even electronic. And this: Second Life, a true virtual reality.

It all makes you think, doesn't it? How new is this, I wonder? It's a whole world of 'what if' developing before us, a future in which science fiction is king. This has long been the purview of games and stories, but today a pilot can make a rocky landing, then analyze all the ways it could have gone wrong and make them 'real' in VR simulations, for the benefit of future pilots. Through huge online 'games' like Second Life, we are developing the body of information we need to elevate sociology and psychology onto the plane of 'true' science that they've been denied for so long. 'What if' is becoming increasingly realistic, so that someday, perhaps 'what if' can seriously take place in, say, a simulation of a major war. If the Bomb hadn't been dropped? If the US had gotten involved sooner? If we'd waited to invade Iraq, like everyone wanted?

Stories, meanwhile, are being told in completely new ways. In fact, can they still be called stories, by the classic definition? Certainly they're new forms of literary expression that have never been seen before.

In short, I wonder whether this will change the world. I wonder whether we're standing on the brink of a revolution in thought process that hasn't happened, perhaps, since the advent of writing, or at least the printing press. Will entirely new ways of interacting with the world come about?

Twerpie update; and more art

New art here. It's not much. Just some lineart that I doodled around with. But I sort of like it.

The Twerpie is doing well. She has two kidney stones left after surgical removal, because they were located in troublesome spots in the kidney. As per doctor's orders, we have turned her upside down and thumped her back to dislodge them and encourage them to pass. She's feeling much better--well enough to pick on me again (it was rough going there for a few days, as she felt so lousy that "Try not to throw up on your sister" couldn't even get a smile out of her), and hopes to return to work on Monday. She also plans to kick the urologist in the kneecaps for various aggravating things during this whole ordeal (such as putting off the operation for two weeks while he fussed about with techniques that are proven not to work on cystine stones), and has asked her GP for a different one in the future.

And for my politically-minded friends: UNMASKING UNRWA. The UN may not be so impartial after all. Hamas members working in the UNRWA?

My sister

Since there are a rare few people whom I know but don't get to talk to very often, I guess I ought to update you:

My sister has kidney stones again. She's pretty messed up; been at this for...geez, four weeks now. She's not as sick as the last two times, but she's been in and out of the hospital for short stints due to severe nausea. After fiddling with non-surgical attempts for a while, they finally went in last week and removed the majority of the stones (apparently there were a lot), but they weren't able to get two of them, because her kidney kept shifting due to her breathing.

So they put a stent in, a little doohickey that keeps the kidney from swelling closed due to all the irritation, and said (I kid you not) to turn her upside down and whack her on the back a few times, to dislodge the stones so she can pass them.

Unfortunately, she's been too nauseated for us to do so, ever since the surgery. She's feeling a bit better today, and they plan to remove the stent today, which is good. That might lessen the nausea. Last time she had one of those in, it made her horribly sick.

In other news: Switch. Off.: a funny website about how to get your life back on track. Dave requested it.

Did I mention I draw?

Don't mess with a blacksmith


Victorian Gentleman...ish


Gaslight


Avatar Redux

Cold Fusion. No, seriously.

Well. Damn.

Now, this isn't self-sustaining cold fusion, which is the sort that would produce the endless energy. However,the sheer proof that it can be done is mind-boggling, and improvements will follow.

NY team confirms UCLA tabletop fusion.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design.

The device, which uses two opposing crystals to generate a powerful electric field, could potentially lead to a portable, battery-operated neutron generator for a variety of applications, from non-destructive testing to detecting explosives and scanning luggage at airports. The new results are described in the Feb. 10 issue of Physical Review Letters.

"Our study shows that 'crystal fusion' is a mature technology with considerable commercial potential," says Yaron Danon, associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer. "This new device is simpler and less expensive than the previous version, and it has the potential to produce even more neutrons."

The device is essentially a tabletop particle accelerator. At its heart are two opposing "pyroelectric" crystals that create a strong electric field when heated or cooled. The device is filled with deuterium gas -- a more massive cousin of hydrogen with an extra neutron in its nucleus. The electric field rips electrons from the gas, creating deuterium ions and accelerating them into a deuterium target on one of the crystals. When the particles smash into the target, neutrons are emitted, which is the telltale sign that nuclear fusion has occurred, according to Danon.

A research team led by Seth Putterman, professor of physics at UCLA, reported on a similar apparatus in 2005, but two important features distinguish the new device: "Our device uses two crystals instead of one, which doubles the acceleration potential," says Jeffrey Geuther, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at Rensselaer and lead author of the paper. "And our setup does not require cooling the crystals to cryogenic temperatures -- an important step that reduces both the complexity and the cost of the equipment."

The new study also verified the fundamental physics behind the original experiment. This suggests that pyroelectric crystals are in fact a viable means of producing nuclear fusion, and that commercial applications may be closer than originally thought, according to Danon.

"Nuclear fusion has been explored as a potential source of power, but we are not looking at this as an energy source right now," Danon says. Rather, the most immediate application may come in the form of a battery-operated, portable neutron generator. Such a device could be used to detect explosives or to scan luggage at airports, and it could also be an important tool for a wide range of laboratory experiments.

The concept could also lead to a portable x-ray generator, according to Danon. "There is already a commercial portable pyroelectric x-ray product available, but it does not produce enough energy to provide the 50,000 electron volts needed for medical imaging," he says. "Our device is capable of producing about 200,000 electron volts, which could meet these requirements and could also be enough to penetrate several millimeters of steel."

In the more distant future, Danon envisions a number of other medical applications of pyroelectric crystals, including a wearable device that could provide safe, continuous cancer treatment.

From Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Interesting political articles

Hmm. We've got: Bush Lied, People Died?--an interview with the Iraqi ex-general who wrote that book about how there were WMDs in there after all.

We also have: A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn. (Be aware that's a NYTimes link, and thus will turn into a pumpkin at midnight...or vanish from general access on Friday, or something like that.)

Ah, and this isn't so much political, but it is an interest point of view: Luthernan Theology Translaters: now wouldn't that be nice!

Okay, now I'm pissed

The whole cartoons thing is asinine. I may have said that before; I don't remember. It's stupid, childish...infantile! Entire countries are essentially throwing tantrums because wah wah wah someone depicted their prophet, who isn't even a god. For me, this hasn't been about Islam, but about obnoxious little brats, blasphemers against a religion of peace, and people who've been lied to so much by their own dictatorial nations that they don't even know what the world is really like.

Despite comments I have made by way of venting my frustration, I have tried to remain tolerant and open-minded. I have tried to understand where they're coming from, and to respect those who feel offended and have tried to resolve that feeling through reasonable dialogue with the offenders.

Even killings are forgivable. Horrible, but forgivable. Many of the killers are people who were raised in cultures that taught them there was no alternative, that if they didn't strike first, then we (the evil demonic West) would annihilate them, just because we can. They're messed up in the head. By western lights, one might call it institutional insanity.

Now. There was an anti-cartoon protest outside the UN building in New York City. It was entirely non-violent. That's fine. Many gathered to protest against the violence that overseas Muslims have been committing in the name of the stupid cartoons. Wonderful, and thank you. Some demonstrators wished to air their feelings that their religion had gotten unfair treatment in a culture that gets sensitive about the rights of black people, women, and alternative lifestyles. Fair enough. If African-Americans can acceptably protest insulting cartoons about Martin Luther King as discriminatory, then by all means Muslims should have the same right.

This is entirely reasonable, coming from American Muslims:

I'm sad that they feel discriminated against, and glad they're making their voices heard. We can only live in peace as a culture if open dialogue takes place so that we know where the boundaries of taste and courtesy lie.

This, however, is NOT:

Might I point out the swastika in place of the stars on the American flag (it's a bit hard to see). And do take note of the swastikas added to the frigging STAR OF DAVID on the Israeli flag. Excuse me?! You, the SOB holding up that sign, are someone with access to a free and outspoken press, educational materials, and certainly not least, personal experience with the culture that you're comparing to the Nazis. You damned well know better. You know better than to buy into that bullshit propaganda. You know better than to believe that the western nations are some unified, monolithic Vatican-controlled Jewish conspiracy. You know better than to think that all Americans are out to get you for being Muslim. And you know better than to pretend that the US had any freaking part in those cartoons! Have you not checked your computer, TV, or cell phone in the past two weeks? My god, our press is firing anyone who dares to print them! Because we want to show Muslims that we're not out to get you. We want to show respect; we want to remain on terms as peaceful as we can manage with the ideal of Islam and its followers.

You, the SOB holding that sign, are an American. Possibly you're a citizen. If not, then what the hell are you still doing here? If you hate us that much, then go back to your dictatorial, oil-dependent country that lies to you at every turn, persecutes anyone who dares rub working braincells together, and throws women into caves when they hit puberty. Go back to your beloved Middle Eastern country where your children will be enslaved by extremist propaganda and taught how to be killers from the age of eight, where your wife will be stoned if she tries to hold a job so that your family can have enough to eat, and where chances are good that running, drinkable water is as scarce as wi-fi. You don't have to stay here if you hate us that much, if we're that uncivilized. You and everyone who agrees with you is perfectly welcome to crawl into a hole in the middle of the Sinai desert and never come out again. You'd be doing the world a favor. I think I can promise that if you ignore us, we'll all be perfectly happy to ignore you.

Welcome to the difference between anti-discrimination protest and hatespeech. Learn it, love it, live it.

Testing a new gizmo

I snagged a Firefox extension that supposedly lets me blog from my desktop without having to click around the Blogger webpage (which is kinda poorly designed,. by the way).

However, apparently I still need to go to the site to log in. Anyway, figured I'd test the doohickey.

Dark Crystal Sequel

Tartakovsky to Direct 'Dark Crystal' Sequel
Variety is reporting that Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) will direct Power of the Dark Crystal, the sequel to the 1982 fantasy film, The Dark Crystal. Production will start in late summer on the sequel, which is set hundreds of years after the original film and involves a mysterious pyro girl who hopes to restart the sun with a stolen piece of crystal.

Tartakovsky considers the original Dark Crystal film to be the "pinnacle of puppetry," but will attempt to use modern "green screen" technology to create the backgrounds for the puppets to act against in the sequel in order to keep the costs down without sacrificing the visual complexity of the film.

Five-year-olds in office

So, today on the news, we have this:

Iranian newspapers seek cartoonists to draw them some Holocaust cartoons.

They say they want to see if the West will apply our free speech principles to that.

That's really the entire article right there, summed up into two lines that make me want to slam my head off the desk. I just love it when international politics devolves into five-year-olds fighting on the playground. "You made fun of my favorite religious figure, so I'm gonna write on your locker with crayons!"

One of my favorite parts: they encourage foreign cartoonists to apply.

It's so juvenile! Or maybe it's just another manifestation of Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitic hangup. Probably both. A juvenile genocidal hangup. Go ahead. Why not publish Holocaust cartoons? It's not as if Arab papers don't do it every week anyway. They're just screaming louder about it this time.

Whoo, lookit me!

It's midnight in the middle of Christmas break, and I have so many things I could be doing. Instead, of course, I am currently fiddling with creating this blog. I suspect it is the final symptom of internet addiction. This is it; I've crossed the line and there's no turning back. Soon the illness will progress to the last stages and I shall waste away...

In point of fact, if you don't know me already then you'll soon find out that I'm notoriously erratic. I'll post fast and thick for a little while, then my attention will wander as a new shiny passes by. I will chase the shiny, ignoring all the previously nifty things I was doing before, because they now have my fingerprints all over and aren't shiny anymore. Eventually I'll remember this is here, come back and post something so you know I haven't forgotten you.

It makes me wonder why I'm even doing this, but heck. I like tinkering with settings. See you around!