"Be the change you want to see in the world"

- that Ghandi guy was quite the wordsmith.

What change do I want to see in the world? Gillyweed is up there. My superpower of choice in dreamland, if you were curious, is water breathing. Whenever I have those self-aware holy shit dude you are dreaming go nuts nights, if I ever find myself in the presence of water, the first thing I like to do is levitate into said water, then swim around. It's mind blowing. Probably as close of a feeling as I'll ever get to doing LSD, and even more probably the closest I'll ever get to breathing with my own lungs an no other assistance underwater.

But I digress.

The more manageable change I want to see in the world is more blog posting. For me, addictinggames has kind of run it's course. I feel like I've discovered/conquered every physics game the Internets has to offer, and youtube only goes so long before I truly feel like a waste of life.

So I turn to the blogosphere. Not a very big one in my world, but one that has just about everything I want.

That is, when there is new stuff to read. I'm done bitching and moaning about it though (well, following this, obviously). I know how I get when more important things take hold so who am I to judge? Instead, I'm going to be the change I want to see in the world. I'm going to subject you, the loyal readers, to whatever the heck I have been doing lately in my admittedly random-as-fuck (pardon the language...i was trying to keep this post clean) life.




Today, mid-procrastination, I found a few things of note.
1.) I really like this painting:



I wouldn't consider myself an art critic by any means, but once in a blue moon I see something that strikes my fancy. Funny thing is, I vividly remember seeing this in our AP Euro book back in sophomore year when we were talking about Renaissance art. Damn you photographic memory... The badassness in this particular piece of art lies in two facts. First, a quick wikipedia search shows that all the guys in the picture are ones you read about in the science/history books all through school. There is something about putting a face/body (fictional though it may be) to Ptolemy and Pythagoras that blows my mind a little. That's the nerd in me though.

Also, this little anecdote I came across adds a little pizazz to the piece:

Technically, this painting is titled "Philosophy," and it's merely the most famous of a series of four.

Raphael was painting that while Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (which is just down the hall, literally). On his breaks, Raphael used to sneak over and poke his head into the Sistine Chapel to see what Michelangelo was working on. If Michelangelo noticed him, he'd starting shrieking curses and throwing crap at him. (He hated Raphael. He was just about the only one.)

Even if it is completely false, the thought of Raphael running down the hall to give Michelangelo a big FUCK YOU MANE while the two are in the process of creating timeless masterpieces cracks me up.

I have two final thoughts; First, I love semi-colons and even though it was a stretch to use it here, I'm happy I did. Also, I doubt Raphael ever thought about the translatability of "The School of Athens" into a desktop background, but it still makes a pretty damn good one.

2.) This girl is pretty damn good, but has a little too much of a country twag for my regular-listening tastes. Quite the looker though:


3.) I love the idea of having a tattoo, but can't commit to any one idea. One minute I want this, the next I want something Latin. The latest is something literary. Maybe some Frost, a few select lines from Eliot, hell, even Hornby. Point: I have commitment issues.

Maybe that should be my tat. Right across the front of my chest:

I have commitment issues.

Begin rant here

I'm not sure where to begin. Apparently, black students at the University of Illinois went about creating a separate homecoming event geared towards African-Americans. RTA first.

Excuse me while I go Achilles. (I needed some type of disclaimer).

First off, I find it disturbing that race differences in a University setting are so cataclysmic that two completely different events must be held (one white, one black) for "school spirit" to be shown. That ceases to be support for one's SCHOOL (on both sides of the equation) and becomes a race rally. White people do it by painting their bodies, getting trashed, and maybe dancing a little. According to the article, black people do it by "step shows," as the article describes as if it's some tribal ritual (way to perpetuate the stereotype there).

I find it even more disturbing that this already happens at both OSU and Minnesota also. Three major public institutions. Public being the keyword.

I think it shows a lot about the state of the nation, on this, the eve of election day. A day in which from the sounds of things, the nation's first black man will be elected president (he is not African-American, if he were he could not be elected president).

Is this racism in the traditional sense? No. Is it against any laws? From the sounds of things, no, the program still welcomes all. Would I attend the black homecoming? Hell yes, if only for the music. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is, what are we as a generation really trying to accomplish here? From stories like this, I truly believe that no one really wants unity. People just want to do whatever the fuck they want. That's cool I guess. No harm no foul. You don't want your black homecoming king and queen to be constantly outvoted by the 93% whites or to have to listen to Savage Garden and Tom Petty all night. I understand, I've been there and I hate Tom Petty, too.

But at the same time, I don't want to hear this bullshit about racism still being alive, when it is perpetuated through a complete and utter unwillingness by both sides to come together as one even in aspects of social life when race plays no part. Do you, sophomore Ashley Williams of U of I, really think that through organizing an African American Homecoming, you are really truly helping the cause of blacks being more socially welcome. If I want to make friends, I don't lock my door, I leave it open. You can say you are leaving it open by inviting all, but why create the divide in the first place?

Bullshit like this is far more destructive to race relations than any radio personality saying "nappy headed hoes." This is the youngest voting generation. To the vast majority of people I see on campuses around Ohio (my sample size) I have to say this: electing Obama will not do shit to make this nation a better, more unified place. You, your friends, and that girl who stinks and sits by herself at lunch everyday will. Start showing some responsibility and stop taking the lazy way out. You want a separate homecoming? Fine. But never say you want change you can believe in ever again.

Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where's the tylenol?

Lemme hear your thoughts, maybe I'm way off.

Thermodynamics is hard.

Rainy Fridays suck.

These two facts consist of my day. These made me chuckle:








^^the lulz are mild, but on topic

Irregular Webcomic! is actually pretty funny....

The best part of Monday morning

definitely has to be waking up at 8:00, going in to work at 8:30, and listening to the last hour and a half of Bob and Tom. Getting paid for listening to quality morning radio, not too shabby.

As a side note, my nose is running like a 5 year old without parental supervision (both his feet and nose). I would take one of my Zyrtec, but Dayquil helps keep it from being stuffy and helps the nagging sore throat. Does a certain biology teacher think it would be cool to take both?

Other fun side note. Robitussin calls for two teaspoons, NOT TABLEspoons. I thought I was gonna die for about 5 minutes until I did some googling. Turns out crazy kids actually intentionally overdose Robitussin for some freaky deaky side effects.

Get That Noodle Cooking

Just two months late on this one, but it still deserves to be mentioned.

Black History Month angers me. No, not because there isn't a "White History Month," you tools. Here is my thinking. Why take a race that has felt surpressed and marginalized for decades, and set aside a specfic month to honor their accomplishments?! It just reeks of bad planning to me.

So, two years ago I did a little googling just on a whim to see if anyone else felt this way, and came across this absolutely great essay (article? idk its pretty long...) by John H. McWhorter, called Toward a Usable Black History.

If you've read this far, you are at least remotely interested. Spend the next ten or so minutes reading the article, and discuss. I'm curious to see what you guys have to say.

The snow is all but gone already

Global warming my ass.

//raises flame shield and runs for the hills

HDT: better than Sportscenter

Ah yes, nothing like HD goodness in life size form. And don't get me wrong, I love seeing every dimple on Stuart Scott's head and the cheeto residue on Steven A. Smith's fingers, but Sportscenter is just an hour long. And when you watch it from 11 to 4, it gets a little monotonous.

Instead, I now see bears twice as big as me, cockroaches hiss, and (right now) watch a wolverine chow down on what looks to be a deer carcass (PETA eat your heart out) all thanks to Discovery HD Theater.

You don't wanna mess with one of these suckers.

This is starting to become a late-night ritual for me. Well, that or some super mario world (yes, on super nintendo) It almost makes me want to get off my butt, turn off the excellent programming, and actually do something radical like go outside or something. Creepy.

Theory: Quality TV should make you want to do something other than watching TV.

Food network is also great at this. I hate the Food network. It makes everything I eat seem stale and overdone. I try to avoid it but someone will inevitably flip to it and here I am, making a mental grocery list that only Mr. Jungle could possibly fill (and he may even have to make a few calls). //Small rant.

Then again, Lifetime and Hallmark channels also make me want to stop watching TV and do something else, so maybe this needs a little revision....

Proclaiming my Nerd-ness on the mountains

Situation: I just finished a solid 10-hour calculus studying binge. It's 3AM, I wish I could sleep but dreaming about integrals and sums to infinity sucks big ones, so I turn to addictinggames for some lighthearted fun.

I fail miserably.

If you haven't played any tower defense type games then consider yourself lucky. Avoid them like the plauge. They redefine addictive. On this night I speak of I decide to play a little Shock Defense. Nothing special really stands out about this version of tower D. Some you completely create a path, while others are clearly geared towards a specific audience. Anyways, instead of being able to relax I proceed to open Excel and start a spreadsheet "analysis" of a game. A freaking mindless game.

My strategy basically is to only buy the land cannons and air towers and upgrade them to the max as soon as I get them (which, by the way, costs $51 and $62, respectively). If you are at all remotely intelligent as to where they are placed, and always purchase the income tribute, it is possible to get by without losing even one life. Oh, and after level 30 just sell all the air towers and max out on land canons because, well, you know what I'll just show you.

Behold, I am more obsessive compulsive than you:

Summer all year round

I've been told the first step to recovery is to admit that I cannot control my addiction, so here it goes:

Over the course of the semester I've gone through, at the very least, thousands of sunflower seeds. That was my very first cupful of seeds. Not sure why I took the picture at the time, but I'm glad I did because since then I have gone through about one cupful every week. As I type I'm topping off another cup.

I started this one on Sunday.

Heck, as far as addictions gained in the first semester of college go, I'm right on par with being addicted to crayons in 1st grade.

Why seeds rock:

• With the constant packages of sugary goods floating north from the nati (thanks, Mom) a little salty snack always sounds good.
• Raining outside? Cold? Too lazy to get off my butt and make some REAL food? Seeds are always there for me. Kinda like cigs to some people, but like, 5000% cheaper.
• I think its probably in the same catagory as celery in that "you actually lose weight by eating them." Suck it freshman 15.
• It feels like spring training in December.

So, if anyone needs any early Christmas ideas for me, look no further than your local Sam's Club -->>>

Wow.

I hate using such a hyperbolous (is that even a real word??) title as I did here with "Wow," but nothing else really seemed to fit. That was all that came to my mind. Apparently, right under everyones nose, someone Potentially (with a capital P) could have had the most monumental scientific discovery since that whole E=mc^2 thing.

And this guy surfs. But only in the summer. Because well, in the winter he likes to snowboard.

A little background from someone who admittedly knows less than other people reading this may. Basically, ever since scientists discovered they could split atoms (circa post WWII) there has been an effort to unify every "theory" of the universe into one simple (heh, relatively speaking) equation. The first person to really attempt this head on and get anywhere close is Einstein. But even he just cracked the surface before his death.

Blah, blah, blah, years pass by, and String Theory becomes the most accepted (or at least the most talked about) "theory of everything." The problem is, String Theory proposes that there are ten dimensions to the universe, and we are living in one.

Seriously, ten. Even George Lucas would have to say, "Let's be real guys." And there is that whole thing were String Theory divides particles into such infintesimally small "strings" (hence the name) that even in this modern age there is no possible way to collect any data to prove or disprove it. The term theory was used very liberally here.

So, November 6th, 2007 rolls around and a dude called Garrett Lisi (remember the name) releases his paper, "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything." (If you want to read it, and good luck, click the PDF button on the right of the page-linked). After reading it you may think that he forgot to add the whole "Simple" part into the equation. Basically, rather than ten dimensions, Lisi was able to use the slightly-less-acid-trip-induced idea of just using this one space-time dimension we humans call home.

Pretty outrageous stuff. If it really works. I mean, on the scientific timeline, this thing isn't even in the second trimester yet, so who knows.

Just throwin' some knowledge out there for yalls.

Oh, and Berry is juiced...btw.

Fuze Green Tea rocks.

At least, FuzeGreenTea gets me through boring-chemistry-classes-that-I-already-know-everything-in (I guess my old chemistry teacher wasn't too bad). And hey, it's high in antioxidants to boot (whatever that means). If only it wasn't 2.50 a GLASS bottle. Hey Fuze people, plastic is cheaper, USE IT! I'm living in a world full of pop and milk (that interestingly sells EXTREMELY fast, whoda thunk it?), I want some cheap variety. Key word being cheap.