Random stuff

Election 2008

That's all I have to say.


Well, okay, maybe not. If you have a chance, and a decent Internet connection, you should check out Expert Voter. They have videos of 2008 presidential candidates expressing there views on key issues.

Smarty Pants

I especially like the last one...

It's been one hell of a week...

Sorry I haven't been posting anything folks. As stated above, it's been one hell of a week. I went home for a few days, which was nice. I really needed to get away from everything to preserve my sanity. And when I got back I seem to have stepped into a shit storm of drama. Which confused the hell outta me. I have never, in my adult life been involved with drama of this level.

This is how I felt on Monday-

(This is from Natalie Dee's webcomic, btw.)

It was really hurtful to me, because all of this crap was going on surrounding me, and I was the last to know about any of it...I feel that a lot of things got blown out of proportion, and that all of this could have been avoided by the instigator of all of this talking to me, not talking to everybody else about me.

How do I feel about all of this drama? Well, that's any easy question to answer -

Really, I hate drama. I don't understand why it needs to happen at all. If people were just upfront about things, there would be no drama. Which would be a beautiful, beautiful thing...

One of the things that suck the most about all of this is that it's caused a lot of hurt to some people that I care about very much. And that's just not okay with me. Which again, could have been avoided by this person talking to myself and another person instead of about us...

*sighs* The whole situation just sucks, a lot. I'm not going to go into details here, because I think that it's unnecessary, and unproductive. I will say that I am very hurt by all of this, and a bit confused as to why it happened. And I am still pissed about it. I'm trying not to be angry, because I know that anger will solve nothing. The only thing anger will do is make me miserable. Of course, it doesn't make it much easier not to be angry. I'll be happy when all of this is over with, and I can go back to my normal drama free life...


This is how I feel now -

and

Teh C[_]t3n3ss - random kitties

(Thanks for showing me this one Jon!)

Teh C[_]t3n3ss - gaming & tech edition

Because I'm suffering from cabin fever...

... here are some pictures of flowers that I took last spring.




















And ok, this one is from last summer, not spring, but I'm putting it in anyway!



If you want to see any of them in more detail, let me know. I'll give you the link to a higher resolution copy.

It's about friggin' time!

The second half of Twin Peaks is finally coming out on DVD! April 3rd, of this year. How long have we been hearing "in a few months" or "early next year"? I had all but given up hope. I'm so very excited about this!

Earth and stars

NASA Earth Observatory

This is pretty cool. A lot of interesting photographs and animations of, well, Earth.

Some pretty cool satellite images of earth. I particularly like the Ancient Observatories section.

Need some perspective? Take a look at how small we are...

Feeling a bit destructive? Or just want to see if you can knock the earth off of it's rotation? (If you do, let me know!) Try playing around with the Earth Impacts Effects Program. It's "an easy-to-use, interactive web site for estimating the regional environmental consequences of an impact on Earth. This program will estimate the ejecta distribution, ground shaking, atmospheric blast wave, and thermal effects of an impact as well as the size of the crater produced." It's all text based, but so fun!

The photo gallery from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Lots of really cool pictures of space.

And they finally feel like they have a pretty good idea what causes the Aurora Borealis.

Google, Terror Preparedness, New Money, and Mona Lisa

Have you all heard about this guy Aaron, who has a Really Good Idea? At least we think it's a Really Good Idea. No one really knows. Well, except for him, and a few people at Google. You see, he wanted to pitch this idea to Google, but to a real person, not a web form. So he flew to California, went to the Googleplex, and asked for a meeting. And he got it! Follow his story on Can Google Hear Me.


Unsure of what to do in case of a terror attack? Have you been to the Department of Homeland Security's website? Were you left confused by the vague pictures? This chart can help you understand them. Or at least give you a good laugh.


Did you hear that they're making new dollar coins? With the presidents on them? (Only the deceased ones though.) Check out the quite thorough Wiki page on the new dollar coin program.


Scholars are pretty sure that they've found Mona Lisa's grave. And that the mysterious half smile that has left people wondering for centuries? It was most likely the contented smile of a happily expectant mother who's thoughts are turned inward toward the child she is carrying.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Teh C[_]t3n3ss! food edition!

Enjoy!

Giant stone balls, elements, bugs, and a village with out sun

Costa Rica's giant spheres made out of stone

Banana plantation workers in the 1930s, unearthing large numbers of giant, man made stone spheres. (one was over 2 meters in diameter and weighed over 16 tons!

Similar spheres have also been found in several other places around the world, including most recently in
Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The thing that I find really interesting, is how they were most likely made.
According to University of Kansas archeologist John Hoopes:

"The balls were most likely made by reducing round boulders to a spherical shape through a combination of controlled fracture, pecking, and grinding. The granodiorite from which they are made has been shown to exfoliate in layers when subjected to rapid changes in temperature. The balls could have been roughed out through the application of heat (hot coals) and cold (chilled water). When they were close to spherical in shape, they were further reduced by pecking and hammering with stones made of the same hard material. Finally, they were ground and polished to a high luster. This process, which was similar to that used for making polished stone axes, elaborate carved metates, and stone statues, was accomplished without the help of metal tools, laser beams, or alien life forms."

Don't quite remember your Periodic Table? Chemical Elements has an interactive one to help you brush up on your elements!

Not sure what the difference between a millipede and a centipede is? What's That Bug can tell you! (And show you!)

And the next time you think that winter in Vermont sucks, remember that it could be worse! You could live in the Swiss town of Bondo. They are looking at getting a giant mirror installed to make up for the fact that they don't get any sunlight for three months out of the year! No sun at all for three months! I don't think I could do it...

The Foam Monster That Ate Ellsworth Air Base

I couldn't resist sharing this. It's from strategypage.com


Here's the story:

"The U.S. Air Force is taking a lot of ribbing because of photos showing one of their hangers filling with fire suppressing foam. The pictures were from a test of the foam system conducted on August 23rd, 2005. The new foam system had just been installed, and had to be tested. The system had to be able to put down one meter (39 inches) of foam in four minutes or less. To that end, the system was allowed to generate foam for the full four minutes. It turned out that the system worked better than expected, practically filling the B-1B bomber with foam within four minutes. For the people working in the hangar, this was a good thing. A major accident could fill most of the hanger with smoke and flames within minutes. Knowing the foam system could outrun any fire or explosion, and save the lives of the people working in, or near, the hangar, was reassuring. But, let's face it, it was also funny as hell."


Now that we've got that out of the way, wouldn't it be great to get to run around in an airplane hanger full of foam? Really, it would rock...


It starts...



And then it really gets going...



Note that he's climbing up to the second story there -



Okay, maybe not quite this much foam, but I still wanna play in it...



As you read the note on it, recall that these are bombers they're talking about.



Not even the tarmac was spared. For scale, note the person standing next to a truck on the far left.




Okay duckies, I know you're out there, and I know that you're reading this, so comment away! What do you think, do you want to play in a hanger full of foam? Maybe if we get enough of us together, we can rent one or something...