Hermetic Physics

Why didn't they just ~tell~ me that all he wanted to do was play??

2009-11-05T05:09:07Z

This should put a smile on vargr23's face:

Not sure if this really counts as famous or not. ;-)

2009-11-04T23:16:34Z

I read my Secular Student Alliance newsletter this evening and found a picture of bruisedbuthappy.

Ah, you can take the Mutant out of the Academy, but you can't take the Academy out of the Mutant. ;-)

"I read the engineering"

2009-11-03T17:32:26Z

Stormtrooper 9/11

weekend plans

2009-10-30T19:02:21Z

Heading off to the Vollrath tomorrow.

Despite being my absolute most favoritest holiday for 40+ years, Halloween has taken on a mixed-feel as of late... primarily since z died on, well, Halloween.

So my goal tomorrow night is, with all apologies to nightharbinger, legion:
1) wish wyndebreaker a 1-day belated happy birthday (or he can take this as the 0-day belated happy b-day wish ;-))
2) say "hi" to everyone I haven't seen in well over a month.
3) dance my ass off - if there isn't good music going on there'll be hell to pay.
4) raise a glass to a certain girl's memory a few dozen times - and get happily blitzed in the process. I don't drink to access very often - about once a year, actually. This will probably be one of those times.

There were many other things going on tomorrow night as well, but since I need to be up and running early in the morning - spending the night in bloomington, or west lafayette, or anywhere else but Indy didn't seem terribly efficient. That, combined with the facts that we are ~this~ close to a full moon, it'll be the 3rd anniversary of z's murder, and copious amounts of alcohol might be imbibed, means that I should be around people who know my idiosyncrasies... and whom I trust to put a bullet in me if my eyes turn grey while I can still walk out the door unassisted.

funk. I'm soaking in it.

2009-10-27T00:54:29Z

Glad to be out of Utah. Glad to have finally fufilled Promise #13.

I was there for two nights. The first in a hotel packed with academics performing the same job I was there to do, and the second was a Radisson where I might have (literally) been the only guest in the building.

I felt far far more alone with all of the people around. :-/

I was hoping that being surrounded by "peers" who have pretty much the same background as I do might distract me a bit from all the Utah baggage I was carrying. Instead all it did was remind me of how little I have in common with ~anyone~. Twenty-three adults who have never met get together and "talk shop" pretty easily. Politics, sports, the state-of-education-today, whatever. I just stare at them and try to figure out why they think all of that is so important. What they think is exciting feels pretty mundane. What they think is a "travesty of justice" feels, well, mundane.
Then when they direct a question at me and I say "I guess so" to whatever they bring up. ...I barely understood what they were talking about, and cared even less.

Once the workshop was over and I was moved to the other hotel next to the airport, things got so much better. Empty space doesn't make me feel like an outsider on my own planet.

yes yes... I'm all moody. It's been a long day - and things have only marginally improved since being home.

Almost gone.

2009-10-24T23:17:28Z

Things went relatively well. Afterwards I asked the coordinator in charge if I could sneak a peak at my evals... and as usual, I polarized the group.

3/4 thought I was jesus-christ-on-a-bicycle. 1/4 though their workshop was a waste of time.
If my hunch is correct, and I know who gave me the bad reviews, they'll be back in 2 years asking me to repeat everything they rejected the first time.

New teachers at AP workshops are always like that. lol
I gave them what they needed... not what they *think* they needed.

Strangely, it's the 20+ year AP-veterans that come up to me afterwards and ask "where you you 20 years ago?"

But, now that the work is over, I'm exhausted.

6+ hours of constant instruction to a bunch of intellectual know-it-alls.
20+ hours of being around other Advanced Placement consultants that I have ~nothing~ in common with.
64 hours and counting with 5 hours sleep combined.
And most draining: 2 days of being in a z-less Utah.

So despite that they have put me up for 2 nights in 4-star hotels, and I've now eaten free at three 4-star restaurants, I'm in no mood to stick around. I just want to get the f*ck out of this state.

One day I may come back to sight-see. Not today, however. Not today.

My shuttle to the airport leaves at 4am local. Then back to Indy via Minneapolis.

Trek across SLC part II

2009-10-23T22:08:55Z

Trek across SLC part I

2009-10-23T21:52:10Z

In the room.

2009-10-23T18:07:43Z

Found transportation to the hotel - even had the $40 billed to Collegeboard. How nice of them!

On the drive here, I looked to my right and saw blue sky. This was odd because you don't see blue sky looking sideways in SLC... you have to look up. It is surrounded by fairly impressive mountains. But here I was, looking right and seeing sky. A mountain was missing - several, actually.

So I asked around. The world's largest copper strip mine is in SLC.

Those multiple-story huge dumptrucks can drive two abreast on that tiny path winding down to the bottom. I'm hoping to get a chance to go there tonight/tomorrow to check it out. *If* I can find a ride. :-/

On the ground.

2009-10-23T16:32:15Z

Made it to SLC safely.

Now the problem is all the frick'n uncertainty around here. Collegeboard paid for the flight, and paid for the room... and said that transportation was covered from airport to hotel, and from hotel to worksite.

But of course I don't know what that transportation is. ;-)

And not sure how I'm getting from the worksite to a ~different~ hotel Saturday night.

Ah, not a happy situation for Mr. Control Freak.

Fortunately, I'm in a zen mood, so I'm just making a few phone calls - and will hopefully be able to bluff someone into thinking that they were ~supposed~ to pick me up. You knows, perhaps they were? heh

More later!

Utah and marduk_lok: a cautionary tale.

2009-10-23T01:14:55Z

Leaving for Utah in the wee-hours of the morning. The extra cash for teaching this workshop aside, it'll be good to finally fulfill this Promise I've been under for 3 years. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hang out with z's half-sister while I'm there.

Since I probably won't have a car, I doubt I'll get the chance to do much sight-seeing. If I get lucky and can either rent a car or bum a ride, I'll be sure to take some pics to forward onto you folks.

What I found interesting about this trip thus far is that out of a large piece of carry-on luggage and a ~sizeable~ shoulder pack for laptop/etc... I only have a space 9" x 6" x 4" to pack personal belongings like clothes. The laptop, books, folders, papers, AV-projector, and miscellaneous workshop supplies make up 90% of the volume and 95% of the weight.

Okay, 2 more.

2009-10-20T13:00:13Z

My previous vid made the inner Mystic all misty.

These do the same thing to Mr. Scientist.

Why have I gotten so emotionally unstable in the past few days?? littlebella1980 must be trying to poison me again...

Take time and watch either of these all the way through. Brilliant.

We Are All Connected <-- certainly the more refined of the two

(I've seen two of these guys in person (Tyson and Nye) and had the chance to see Sagan but turned it down. Gah! He *had* to come to Indianpolis during the that 'stage of life' when I didn't want to do ~anything~ :-/ )

A Glorious Dawn <-- Boswell's first piece, with some rough edges, but possibly my favorite

If interested, check out www.symphonyofscience.com. The creative genius in charge has put up lyrics, downloads, info, etc.

Perhaps some of my reaction was this: if R.A. Heinlein was a surrogate father, then Carl Sagan was like a favorite Uncle. There was one line he said in Cosmos that is repeated in the second video above.
The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, one day we will venture to the stars...
That statement found root in a particularly awkward ten year old over 30 years ago. I think I needed to hear him say it again. RIP Carl.

((thank you, thecloris for the heads up. :-D ))

wow

2009-10-19T21:58:12Z

((Ganked from edwarddain who in turn ganked it from sttatus_quo... who stole it from grail76 who got it from some random Russian. The trail gets fuzzy about then...))

Granted, it took me half of the video to realize what this was doing, but once I did the eyes misted ~immediately~. I'll admit that I'm generally overly-dependent/sensitve to analogies, but this one makes my eyes-water up just writing about it. Seriously.

Wow.

As close to an apology as She's likely to to get from me.

2009-10-13T19:12:24Z

Uhm, Universe?
What now?
Sorry
You're just saying that because you want something.
No... of course not. I'm just grateful that you lifted one of those issues last night.
I didn't do you any favors.
You never do. Tit-for-tat... I know. Just "Thanks" for the resolution, at least.
And you don't want anything? Like I believe that.
Of course not.
::points west::
Okay, well there is that
You get what you get. As usual. No guarantees. As usual. No hints, advice, or consolation prizes. As usual.
~sigh~ Okay.

Are you still here?
Me? No, no... I'm just waiting.
You really are impossible, you know that?
I've learned from the best.
Flattery will get you nowhere

Go away.
but...
You're beginning to annoy me again.
~sigh~

"The Internet is for Pr0n."

2009-10-13T17:37:32Z

Avenue-Q is coming to Muncie.

Yes, Muncie.

April 20th (a Tuesday), 7:30p. Tickets are between $48 and $34 depending on how dependent on Oxygen you are. This may sell out fairly quickly (probably will by Xmas) so anyone interested should work logistics sooner rather than later.

It's a week-night, so this probably isn't going to be much of a factor... but I can offer crash-space if needed.

Epiphany at 75mph

2009-10-10T16:04:24Z

((EDIT: and 1 hour later - things kept getting weirder once I got home))

Paybacks are a Bitch

2009-10-08T17:53:02Z

In two weeks the collegeboard organization has deemed it necessary to send me to Utah for the weekend.

Fools! Mwhaha

I have ascertained that it would be unwise to discuss my desire to leave Utah a present upon climbing aboard my return flight. I owe Utah a very special present, indeed... So if you have loved-ones in the SLC area, you might want to make sure they are visiting out-of-state on the 24th. Now the trick is to hide several thousand tons of napalm & C-4 in my carry-on luggage. :-/ ((EDIT: For any Homeland Security Officers that peruse this blog... you can assume that this is merely a hypothetical exercise.))

On the up-side, I'll have some downtime while I'm there, so I'll finally be able to fulfill a certain Promise (#13) I made to a particular young lady. Come to think about it, I'll come good on that promise on the 3rd anniversary of its creation! There's no grave to visit, but I'm sure I'll think of something. ;-)

Ah... the Universe does come through every once in a while.

More on that in the next post.

Photo-Documentary

2009-10-04T08:32:46Z

Got up, stumbled downstairs to meet Mic (aka the Goblin Lieutenant) coming up to meet me.

Had time to catch some computer time before leaving for Indy

23000+ points on solo-firefight mode, thankyouverymuch!

Said bye to the pretty frumpy-pajama-suit-wearing bella!

She was a good girl and was sweeping up all the dried mud I tracked all over the kitchen this morning. :-D

Also tried to say bye to the mighty Jabberer-of-the-Heroe's-Tongue....

...but he was ignoring me as usual. ~sob~

Walked by the fire-pit-in-training zone that Jackal and I worked on last night.

These pics don't look _nearly_ as wow-you-did-a-lot-of-work as they should. :-/

Had my yearly joint-birthday lunch with my dad.

"What's a 'photo-documentary'?"

On the way down to University of Indianapolis to attend a play, the deathsled got its first ding.

Yes, that's a divot out of the front windshield. From the size of the rock that hit it, I'm lucky it didn't end up in the front seat with me. ...but that is why we have insurance, isn't it?
(huzzah for low deductibles!)

Lyman and nightshade1387 before the play.

Kiva decided she wasn't done up enough for pictures.

Kiva just as she realized that she left our tickets in W. Lafayette. :-/

Sad sad embarrassed girl
(shrunk down for her benefit)

Same girl after finding them (surprise!) in her office below the Theatre!

Kiva, tickets, and a mouth-ful of chocolate

Sad muffin is sad

Proof I actually saw the play:

Lyman and I raided the prop-department of U of I afterwards.

Then it was off to the Vollrath!

Who had the hair-brained idea to hand out light-sticks at a GOTH NIGHT??!?
(although they did look cool in my drink...)
A random over-head shot at the club.

nightharbinger in the foreground

After this, things got a bit fuzzy. ;-)

And then I sobered up and drove the 1.5 hours back home. It's probably a good idea I stopped taking pictures, since I found a good spot on my usual route where I can ~easily~ hit 120mph. (both hands on the wheel, please)
((EDIT: Okay, the 1.5 hour trip only took 60 minutes this time around. Hmmm... ))

And by the time I remembered to take my usual "end" photo, I already had everything uploaded and noticed that it's 4:26am. Zzzzz

So just imagine a slightly dinged RX-8 with steaming tires in the backyard... :-)

Night!

Another installment in the soap-opera that is my head. ~sigh~

2009-09-30T08:33:59Z

:: bangs on wall :: Hey Universe! Screw you!
Wha?? You weren't just talking to *me*, were you? I know you weren't just talking to me....
:: looks around :: I don't see anyone else here at 4:16 in the f*cking morning.
You're walking on thin ice, bitch.
Then break it. I don't care.
What the hell suddenly got into you?
I realized tonight that I was being sucked dry in *both* directions today. Can't move left. Can't move right. My patience-gland is being tested on both fronts, physically *and* figuratively, and frankly I'm goddamned sick of it. So screw you - put up or shut up.
LOL. I don't think you get to tell me that... like, EVER.
We had a deal.
Bullshit.
Don't play that with me. All because I don't remember exactly what the deal is, doesn't mean one wasn't made. I know it. You know it. A deal. I didn't sign up for this.
You don't know what you signed up for. THAT'S the deal.
Whatever. Feet are on the ground. I'm making a move. Try to stop me.
You aren't going anywhere until *I* say you can.
...AND I'm burying the other carrot.
LOL. You've tried that before.
I will this time.
Right.
Screw you! I'm tired of your f*cking games.
Bitch?
What?
Go back to bed. NOW.

Gah.
((EDIT: I'm going to stay up another 5 minutes just to make a point.))

Shhh.... no one tell Oklahoma

2009-09-25T20:02:35Z

Reposted comment.

2009-09-25T19:15:43Z

I've actually received a lot of inbox messages regarding my last post.

Apparently I hang around like-minded individuals who hate humanity as much as I do. lol
____

Most argue the fact that we deserve what we get, and if allowed to colonize elsewhere we'll just re-create the same mistakes on a grand scale. A "human-tide of destruction and misery" was my favorite quote thus far. :-)
This attitude tends to mitigate any apparent excitement regarding the discovery of water on the moon, and the opportunity it gives us.

Allow me to re-post one of my responses. It'll cover a lot of ground with one posting (don't want to inconvenience those electrons, do we?) and explain why my excitement warrants a break from my normal "to hell with people" attitude.
_____
(reposted, with some revision)
I understand the skepticism.

I would like to point out an important analogy: A colicky infant turns into an annoying toddler. He beats on everything around him and breaks everything he touches. He has ruined the furniture, scraped up the walls, and has created a miasma of fumes, noise, and corruption throughout the entire structure.
He is also trapped in an sealed house, and the air is getting pretty stale... partially from his own doing, partially from simple over-use.

There are people who would not want this child to escape the house, mainly because he'll continue his bad-behavior all over the neighborhood.

If we leave him in the house, he will (sooner or later) asphyxiate from lack of oxygen or kill himself in a tantrum. That is a certainty.

If we let him out, he has time to grow and learn. Sure he'll burn down a few houses. He'll also NO LONGER BE TRAPPED in an environment that *may* have been causing part of his problems. Also, when he is no longer trapped, he'll at least have the enormous amounts of time it takes for a person to change significantly enough to make a difference.

Our species, as flawed as it is, is still stuck in an early-mid Stone-Age mentality. Barely 3000 years ((EDIT: if nothing else, think of 3000 years as 100 generations. Think about people. Attitudes don't change a great deal between generations on *big* issues. If they did, we would have abolished slavery in 400 BC.) have passed since the Stone Age ended... and that is not *nearly* long enough for genetically programmed behavior to be altered based on new environments. Afterall, 1 billion+ years of Take-As-Much-As-You-Can-or-Die tends to build up some reinforcement. A few thousand years of Take-As-Much-As-You-Can-AND-Die isn't enough time to reverse that.

Humans are explorers. You'll notice a rapid increase in wars once new-frontiers rapidly vanished and population density exploded.

Let the kid out of the house. Give him a chance, and he WILL have time to grow. EVERYTHING matures.
It might take another 80,000 years to grow-up. We might ruin a few dozen more worlds before it happens.

A few dozen worlds.... thats chump change.

A few hundred worlds... big whoopie.

The Universe is big.

1,000,000,000+ years of a mature species can do a lot of good. In my book, the enormous amount of art, literature, engineering, science, and *conservation* that an mature, intelligent species can do is well worth the 0.00000001% of its living space that got pooped in when it was in the nursery.

Frankly, I think 99.99999999% of all infants would make horrid responsible-citizens of the world. They cry, they can barely move. They poop. They vomit. They scream. They throw tantrums when they drop their spoon off the high-chair. They draw on the walls. They take other people's stuff without asking.
They are, well, infants. No perspective. No time.

We allow them to live because we strongly suspect (some don't, after all) they will change for the better given time and opportunity.

If we kept the child in the crib, he'd be a pretty upset (and mal-adjusted) adult, don't you think?

With the discovery of water on the moon, we simply found a lock on the door. There still isn't a key.

But knowing where the lock is becomes useful when *designing* a key.

If we can't make a key in time, I'd agree that we deserved it. But it would be a sad sad doom if we weren't even given the chance.

The Universe (gah, now I'm forced to give Her credit) gave us a chance. I don't plan on hoping my species squanders it. ;-D
_____

Now, in hindsight, this child may have wished we did leave him in the house to starve or suffocate. Even after he matures and creates great works of art and altruism.
Thermodynamically, the Universe has a nasty surprise waiting for us after a few trillion years. It's not pretty, and there is no guarantee (in fact, a lot of argument against it) that it is avoidable.
Killing us in our crib might be a mercy for all of us.

But we won't have the change to rise to meet that challenge if we *poof* early. I'd rather die fighting than die sleeping.

But that is a post for another time. Most of you have heard this talk in person anyway. lol
For the rest, explaining the ramifications of the entropic-gradient over LJ is just cruel.

Lunar Colony, here we come.

2009-09-25T02:54:59Z

Chandrayaan-1 just found water on the moon.

If you don't realize how frick'n important that is, then you probably stopped reading this journal years ago. This was the one stumbling block our species has had against colonizing, well, ANYTHING.

Now political will is the only obstacle... and with several countries starting up a new Space-Race, ~someone~ on the planet will get that ball rolling sooner rather than later.

Wow.

We may have just witnessed the very first evidence that our species will avoid extinction.

Phase 4 rough-drafts... part 2

2009-09-24T13:33:21Z

Update on Marduk/Tiamat designs.

Based on feedback, I now present Tiamat Mark-II.

Granted, a basic rough draft, but I think it is 400% more appropriate. I suspect I'll revise this again a few dozen more times before I'm happy enough with it, though.

I'd like this one a lot... but I keep thinking one thing every time I look at it:

Jazz Hands!

;-)
Feel free to tear it apart. The suggestions from last time helped immeasurably. Again, the goal is not to make a *good* picture... the goal is to make one symbolic *and* Mesopotamian.
addendum: I'm willing to sacrifice a little authenticity here... but then I'll need to equally sacrifice it on the Marduk side as well.

With this in mind, I made a very quick sketch of a proposed Marduk design to "replace" the "tentative" one I had before:

This one would also be 3/4 hidden in clouds/wind/etc the same way Tiamat is currently "covered."

I like the neo-babylonian look of this one... and the streamlined look of the face. I suspect that the previous Marduk-drawing is probably closer to what is appropriate though. More work on him later, though.

((EDIT: I think I really like the idea of the water/wind coverage on both figures. I can use that imagery to bring up the design to the shoulders, where I've wanted to blend all current tattoos into one piece. It wouldn't be much of an effort to find some nice symbolism to be hidden/obvious in the current (air or water) at a later date (Phase 5)))

((EDIT #2: Now I just have to stop thinking about Phase *6*. The final design should creep a bit towards the chest... probably to the collar bone. What goes there?))

((EDIT #3: "Stay. On. Target."))

More B-days

2009-09-24T11:28:28Z

Happy Birthday thecloris !
Have a great day today Cloris. :-D

My B-day yesterday had it's ups and downs. But this year was mostly ups - which I should never complain about.

I'll send a b-day wish to Malin "Salad Bowl" Salazarian as well. The memory is still strong though the corporeal structure may be weak ;-)

3 happy's in 1 post. Efficiency!

2009-09-23T06:26:26Z

Happy B-day, kaesha_nikovana

And happy Traditional (we're' not starting this argument again, lol) Autumnal Equinox.

Oh, and have a good Babylonian New Year while you're at it. :-D