Barcelona is advancing!!!

I can't believe it. They were down 1-0 to Chelsea since the 8th minute of the game. They were down a man due to a red card. Then suddenly they go and score in the third minute of stoppage time. Final score 1-1 and Barcelona advances due to the visitor's advantage. (Chelsea was at home)

Barcelona fans must be delirious right now and Chelsea supporters are crushed.

Spiders are zombies!!!

Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Arctosa_cinerea_fg01.jpg

Seriously I'm not kidding. Some scientists at the University of Rennes in France collected three different species of spiders, two from salt marshes and one from the forest, to see if the marsh dwelling spiders were more resistant to drowning than the forest spiders.

It took 24 hours for the forest spiders to apparently drown and 28 hours for one of the marsh species and 36 hours for the other. Apparently this is what the scientists had expected though I am already very impressed that any kind of spider can survive for 24 hours underwater.

Anyhow, the scientists drowned the spiders then took them out to dry in hopes of weighing them. But within several hours the supposedly dead spiders started moving again and were soon up and walking around. The species of marsh spider that took 36 hours to 'drown' requires roughly two hours to recover.

My thoughts:
1. poor spiders. Even if you are a zombie drowning can't be fun.
2. it takes 24 hours for a spider to drown?! Count me impressed.
3. spiders are zombies!!! Arg!!!!! No wonder so many people are terrified of them.

Disclaimer: this experiment was conducted with three species of Wolf spider. Big, hardy fellows. Do not go and attempt to drown your innocent house spiders just to see if they are zombies.

Good question (refering to the title of the blog)

Lots of things. Two inch pine tree was found in a guy's lung. An artist implanted his own DNA into Petunias. The Minnesota Wild fired their GM. The Obama administration unveiled memos from the Bush era that give instructions sounding awfully close to torture. Gay marriage was legalized in Iowa. And I'm going to Ireland. Yes, lots of things going on, but I'm rather short on time.

It's over! Well, actually not yet.

Image from: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/13/minnesota-court-declares-franken-leading-vote-getter-senate-race/

State judges officially declared Al Franken the winner of the highly contested/way too long senate race. However, Norm Colman can appeal the ruling and he says he is going to. So Minnesota probably won't have a second senator in place for a while yet. I'm getting rather tired of the whole thing, it has been a very long, very bitter campaign. I'd think that they would finally decide it has gone on long enough and call it quits. But then again, both Franken and Colman have spent a large amount of money, time, and effort on this seat. If either of them gives up and they are giving up on a senator's salary, cameras and press people, and the chance to help decide in which direction the nation will move. Perhaps those things are too appealing and alluring to give up, and so the battle will continue as long as there is the slightest chance that Colman can win back the seat.

. . .

That last post was one of the most boring anybody could've possibly thought up.

On a happier note, Columbus Crew is playing Real Salt Lake tonight in the MLS. Columbus won the championship last year.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Tobacco could help fight HIV???

(image from: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/31/tobacco-hiv-drug.html)

Possibly. According to a Discovery News article, some scientists have modified some tobacco places to produce a large amount of a drug that helps prevent the HIV virus from colonizing the vaginal lining. The problem with the drug is that it's insanely expensive. However, growing the drug in the tobacco plants would make it way cheaper. It's a interesting idea. Hope it works. Though the article was very sparse on details.

Michigan is:

• currently broke and worse than broke because the economy relied heavily on auto sales and the auto makers are . . . not lookin' so great
• the 8th most populous state in the US
• where I was born. Ann Arbor to be exact
• named after Lake Michigan. The word 'Michigan' is a French version of the Ojibwe term mishigama (large water or large lake).
  
• possessed of a university that thinks they are the greatest, and whom everybody else hates
• also possessed of a very nice arboretum within said university
  

Bald Eagles in Hudson WI

We were just in Hudson Wisconsin picking up some application materials from Cathy. On the way back home, we stopped by a tributary to the St. Croix and saw lots of bald eagles sitting on the ice. There were also several flying around. It was a very cool sight. Some were juvenile with dark heads, but there were a couple mature adults with white heads. It was really cool to see wild birds so close.

Major League Soccer, Season Begins!

The Major League Soccer games have started again!!! There's a new team this year, The Seattle Sounders. We're watching them right now as they play the New York RedBulls. The Sounders are winning 3-0. It's exciting that a new team is doing so well. They have one really good player, Montero, from Columbia who is very good. He has two goals already and several very dangerous plays. On his second goal he stole the ball from a defender then beat the goalie one on one to score.

Arg, can't write more, going to watch the game.

Disklavier Piano

Have you ever seen a Disklavier piano? If not, you seriously need to go look one of them up. Go to YouTube, now. They are cool! They have memory systems, so if you play something, the piano can play it back, keys moving, pedal and all. And you can hook them up via the internet and if one person plays something on one piano, the keys on the other piano will move and the same thing will be played. Really, really, really cool.

Dreaming...

Science Fiction night. There was an article in the Science New York Times about dreams, and how people are very biased in interpreting them. I tried to write an article about that, but I got a little off topic. Ah well, it was still very entertaining.

(please forgive the typos, this piece was written in haste)

Whenever I overhear a human saying something along the lines of, “I’m going to do this because I dreamed it,” I laugh myself sick. I pity you poor souls. But I try not to feel too sorry for you, because it’s only a dream after all. Right? You’ll just brush it aside, forget it before you wake up, laugh about it with friends, make up parts to connect the scattered bits you can remember. Huh, welcome to my world, over looked, under appreciated, and never ever thanked. Believe me, I’ve been at this job for millennia and I can count the number of thankful dreamers on one hand (I should also mention that I have five fingers, just like you humans).
I folded my wings, landing carefully on the window ledge. The window opened noiselessly at my touch and I dropped inside. Seriously, security these days. The carpet was rough under my bare feet. I walked over to the bed and its sleeping occupant. Out came my note pad as I consulted the list, let’s see for Mr. Adrian Jole, oh wow, he gets to dream about his traumatic years in the military. Poor guy. But who am I to question the orders from above? I leaned over Mr. Jole as he lay unconscious and set a finger on his forehead. That’s true, I haven’t told you who I am yet. Flicking my finger, I started to write. As I finished each word, it sank into the sleeping man’s skin and vanished. Well, now I’ll tell you. I’m the Dreamweaver. Or the Storyteller, or the Singer, or the Dreamwalker, or any other romantic name you want to call me. I’m also the slave of a fallen angle. You got complaints about your dreams? Bring them to him, he’s the boss, I’m just the messenger.
I turned on silent feet and stalked back to the window as the last word sank into Mr. Jole’s skin. He’ll start dreaming any moment now, and I have places to go. Climbing onto the window sill, I jumped out into the air, the eagle wings on my shoulders spreading wide to catch the breeze. I can see you thinking already. Wings, angle equals handsome guy in white with a gold circle over his head. Nope. Don’t even start thinking of me like that. My wings are sable, sable and brown. My face isn’t pleasant, and I can’t remember ever running around with a bubble-blowing hoop over my head. No, I’m a different kind of angle, the kind the priest’s don’t like to mention.
I landed on the next house. Entered the bedroom. Well isn’t she a pretty little lady, too bad she gets to dream about rotten tomatoes attacking her in the bath. I set my finger on her bronze skin and start writing. Oh, and just in case you forgot my comment about being unthanked, don’t. I mean think about it. How many times have you said, “wow I was really glad I had that dream last night”? How many times have you heard somebody say that, huh? You call dreams funny, weird, scary, nightmares, absurd, etc., but rarely will somebody be thankful for a dream.
Well there might’ve been one guy, but he lived a long time ago. Remember the pharaoh who dreamed of skinny cows eating fat cows, dancing corn cobs and such? Yeah, he’s gotten pretty famous among the religious circles. Well then there was the guy who said, “that dream means there we must prepare for famine”. I bet that guy is thankful for the pharaoh’s dream, because it meant he got work, glory and all that follows. But don’t go thinking he’s some sort of prophet who can tell the future and decipher dreams. He was just a good people person. It stands to reason that if a guy is worried about famine, he’ll dream about famine, and listen to anybody who can say how to stop a famine. Why will a guy dream about what he’s worried about?
I finished the rotten tomato dream and left the apartment. Cool night air ruffled my feathers as I soared over the city. Well… people tend to dream of uncomfortable subjects just because a certain fallen angle likes watching you humans squirm. Yup. My master is the real mind behind all dreams. He thinks em up, then sends me out to implant them in your little minds. When I say he’s a fallen angle I don’t mean he’s an all around villain, ‘cause hey, you get good dreams sometimes don’t you? The best describing for the boss would be ‘bored’. He was banished from Heaven and kicked out of Hell because he was having too much fun. So now he just sits between the worlds, thinking up dreams and watching what happens when he sends me to stick them in little human brains.
I find it funny, how much importance you humans place on dreams. And yet, you always twist the dreams so everything works out in your favor. If you fix the answer, how is the dream telling your future? It’s more like, you making excuses for your own future. I gave this one fellow a dream, he was run over and killed by a stampede of wildebeest. So what does he do? He decides that it means his ‘poor’ self will be obliterated by the mountain of gold he will gain if he visits Africa and sets himself up as a king. I never found out what happened to him, but last I saw he was on a plane for Congo. It’s quite sad really, you humans place so much trust in dreams. Visions you only half remember, and all thought up by a bored angle and surgically implanted into your minds by yours truly.
I landed on the next flat. Well would you look at that, this fellow sleeps outside on the roof. I’d think my boss would give him some dream about falling. I check my notes. Nope. Tomas Gordon will dream that he is in love with a cat, dressed in a cloths line, and styles his hair with marmalade.
Listen to me now as you have never listened before. A bored angle is the most dangerous thing in heaven, hell, or anywhere in between. I’ve heard the most recent theory about dreams. “Dreams nothing but the brain’s response to random impulses,” say today’s scientists. You go on believing that. I’ll go on traveling the world with my notebook and my master’s orders. Yup, dreams are random brain waves, totally, sure. Yes, it’s much better for you humans to believe that. I’m not sure your little heads could handle the truth.

Curious Octopus

Image from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21373610.html

How on earth do you disassemble part of that?

National Geographic had a article about a female California two-spotted octopus who disassembled her tank and released 200 gallons of water into nearby exhibits and offices.

There are some signs that octopi are very, very smart and curious. They continuously get into trouble in captivity exploring their tanks (and sometimes leaving their tanks to go next door and eat the neighborly crabs). There was also an instance of an octopus, when offered a slightly spoiled shrimp, stuffing the offending morsel down a drain while maintaining eye contact with the keeper.

However, they also seem to go against some of the general rules about animal brain size. Usually the smarter animals are longer lived and also live together in groups. But octopi only live about a year, and are solitary creatures.

I am of the opinion that the octopi are merely hiding their intelligence from the clueless humans and having a great laugh at all the mazes and brain tests we give them.

Short Science Fiction

This is a short story I wrote after reading an article in the New York Times Science. The article was about the increase in mortality in people with health problems and bipolar disorder.

You’d think it was depressing enough to be in a hospital in the first place. Then the doctor comes to your room and informs you that you have a 35 to 200% greater chance of dying than the guy in the next room with the exact same illness. And all because of a couple little mood swings! Seriously, it’s ridiculous. These people have no sense of the proper bedside manner. If I’m gonna kick the bucket in the next day or two, the last thing I wanna hear before I die is defiantly not a prediction that, “yes, you’re probably gonna die soon”. Yeesh, these people went through that expensive med school didn’t they? You’d think they’d know how to treat a guy about to conk out. Not that I’m about to die mind you! No, that’s the furthest thing from my mind. Well, maybe not the furthest, but pretty far I can tell you. I have no intention of dying anytime soon. None. Zero. Zip.
“Well, that’s pretty ambitious of you,” you think, “seeing as you’re in a hospital.”
Pfff. No problem. I only had a little fainting spell, then my overprotective parents panic and send me off to the emergency room. I guess I must’ve fainted again there, or done something, ‘cause the next thing I know, I’m waking up in a hospital bed and the white coated docs are telling me I haven’t got long to live. Utter nonsense if I’ve ever heard any. I’ll show them.

I’ve heard the doctors say I’m extremely lucky to be alive. Not many people survive the kind of trauma I’ve put my heart through. But I’m not expected to live much longer. I’ve heard the statistics, I know the numbers. My chances? Pigs might fly before I walk out of this hospital alive. The doctors don’t know I’m awake. I guess it looks like I’m sleeping, but really I’m not. I’m comtemplating my fate. Honestly, I don’t care. It’s not like my life was all that great to begin with; stuffed full of drugs at every moment of the day, ridiculed by the ‘cool’ kids. Yeah, if the grim reaper comes knocking, I’m not gonna fight. If it’s my time, I’m gonna go.

The doctors were here again. “Please be responsive,” they say. “Don’t pretend to sleep,” beg my parents. Ha. What do they know. I’m not pretending to sleep. I’m plotting. I’m plotting my escape from this cesspit. Being in a hospital is no fun; nothing to do but watch bad TV, nothing to eat except tasteless mush. Yeah, I’m getting out of here and I’m doing it soon.
It would help if I could move. But that’s only a minor setback!!! Besides a lack of certain motor functions I feel great! True, I’m a little woozy from all the meds the doctors have been dripping into my veins, but nothing hurts and my thinking couldn’t be clearer. Actually, I think I’m thinking more clearly now than I’ve been for a good long time. Usually I’m pretty drugged up, but now I’m clean except for the I-don’t-know-what the doctors are dripping into me, and those don’t really count because I don’t control them. They’re like a force of nature, outside influence. Like a tornado or something. Out of my control, not my problem. I can always blame it on the doctors if something goes wrong. Not that anything will! I’ve got a handle on things here.

Why am I still alive? Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t think the doctors know why either. I ‘overheard’ one of them talking with my parents. They’re surprised I’m still hanging in. I’m surprised too. I was ready. I’m still ready. But the end just won’t come. I don’t even know if I’m breathing by myself now. I’ve got so many machines stuck onto my skin I can’t even count them anymore. Or I couldn’t count them even if I could see. Am I too repulsive even for death to want? Now that’s a depressing thought. So horrible that lord death doesn’t want me, won’t take me. I’ll live in a vegetative state for years and years and years, hooked up to a humming machine that breaths, eats, and lives for me. I’ll just ‘exist’ until I’ve got gray hairs and death finally gives in shuffles me quickly into the tiniest corner of the underworld. What a life. What a death.

Coma? That’s a word for old, half dead people. Not a word for me. No way no how no nothing. My fate will be different. I’m sure of it. I’m me. And everything will work out just fine.

3/3/09

Happy Square root day!

The next time it will be Square root day will be 4/4/16

Biiiig Fishy

Picture from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090226-giant-stringray-picture-missions.html?source=email_wn_20090227&email=wn

That thing is huge!!! It's a freshwater stingray found in Thailand. It's huge!!! There are things like that swimming around in the rivers? Remind me not to go swimming there.

Safari 4

Apple's web-browser Safari came out with a new version. Safari 4 *drum roll*

It's actually sort of like a copy of Google's Chrome. Sort of. One of the nice things about Chrome is that you could search words or URLs in the same bar. Not so with Safari 4.

One thing I've got to give Apple credit for, they are really good at making their products look pretty. Safari 4 is nice and shiny and sleek looking.... Yeah.

But, does it work? That's the big question. Well, I think it's functioning. There are some annoying things, like it won't open links in a new tab vs. a new window unless you hold down the command button or do some other fancy thing, but it works. I haven't really noticed a speed increase from Firefox to Safari. I would like to use Firefox, but for some reason it's acting up on me, not loading pages, etc.

So for the time being, I'm going to use Safari 4. It'll take a little getting used to I'm sure, but I think it'll work.

I managed to shift all my bookmarks over. Foxmarks is like the best add-on ever invented!!!

It's very interesting, trying out all these different browsers. I've flipped back and forth between Safari and Firefox for a while now, but I haven't used Internet Explorer since I discovered Firefox. I've also never tried Opera... and I probably won't. I've more than enough trying to decide between Safari and Firefox.

Bye bye Cherry, but only temporarily

Picture by: Richard Tsong-Taatarii, Star Tribune

The Cherry in the Walker sculpture garden is being removed so it can get a new coat of paint. It's made of stainless steel and weighs 1,200 pounds, so I imagine a pretty big crane was used to remove it. It should be back some time in the spring with a fresh new coat of paint, but it'll be weird looking at the lonely spoon without it's cheery.

Picture from: http://garden.walkerart.org/artwork.wac

Amazing gravity defying powers of modern dresses

Yeah, so the Oscars were last night. There were a lot of dressed up people, and many of the dresses were lacking in straps. I was very surprised that they did not fall down.

There was also a lot of 'ah I can't believe this', 'thank you, thank you, thank you' by the people who won. I think it might've been more interesting for me if I actually knew some of these people. I'm not very caught up in the TV/Hollywood world and most of the people I had no idea who on earth they were.

It was interesting to see Slumdog Millionaire win a lot of stuff though, including best picture. From what I've gathered, it was a fairly small production to begin with, with a very small budget. It was cool that you don't need gazillions of dollars to make a good movie (though I thought I saw something about them having 15 million in the newspaper. If that's 'a small amount' I don't even want to think what an 'expensive' movie would be like).

Friday the 13th

Why is Friday the 13th considered bad luck? Is it because 13 is considered an unlucky number (considered irregular, one more than the number of Greek gods, signs of the zodiac, numbers of numbers on a clock. Also the number of people who sat down at the Last Supper and one of them died), and Friday is considered an unlucky day (stock market crashes related to Black Friday, perhaps Jesus was crucified on a Friday?). I don't know. But so far nothing bad has happened to me. *fingers crossed*

Chronicles of a Hockey Team

Image from: http://www.sportslogos.net/logo.php?id=118

I don’t know when I started getting following the Minnesota Wild (hockey), but out of all the professional sports teams, Vikings (football), Timberwolves (basketball), Twins (baseball), I like them the best.

I think it has more to do with the coach than it does with the type of game. I’ve found Jacques Lemaire very amusing in all his quotes in the newspaper and other media. He doesn’t flatter players, if they’re doing badly, he’ll say so; the same when he’s talking about the whole team. He doesn’t broadcast a false sense of optimism when things are going badly, but he seems to be very good at motivating his players to improve and work harder. He’s also very sarcastic at times, and he has a dry sense of humor.

All in all, I like reading his comments. Unfortunately he was run into by one of his players during a recent practice. I hope he’s all right.

There was also a very funny article related to a Wild fan (a fan of the Wild team, not a crazy guy). He regularly gets tickets for the seat right next to the penalty box and whenever a player of the opposing team is sent in, he talks at them. He has some rules such as, no foul language, no personal insults, and no tapping on the glass. But he’s still annoyed several players, and had decent conversations with others. He usually misses all the power play goals the Wild scores, but apparently he prefers heckling the penalized players.

Goodbye shoe

The Iraqi reporter who threw a shoe at former president Bush goes on trial soon for assaulting or insulting a . . . I forget the exact term, but basically 'a important guy'. The same reporter also has at least one sculpture created in his honor.

Image from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/week-in-news-pictures-116/photo5.html

Though in this case, the statue is being removed from the orphanage property. Reason: because the orphanage is government run and it should not display any political leaning.

Neil Gaiman

Both local newspapers (Pioneer Press, Star Tribune) had articles about Neil Gaiman today. Not surprising really since he just won the Newbery award with his "The Graveyard Book" and the movie adapted from his book "Coraline" came out today.

Reading the interviews with him (and seeing a picture of him with a green stuffed octopus/dragon/thing on his head) I've decided that he's probably a very interesting character.

He sounds really happy with his work though, and very enthusiastic to continue. I think it's cool that people can make a living being authors. It's nice that books are still so important.

Immortal Four Chaplains Day

Image from: http://www.govst.edu/AboutGSU/t_AboutGSU.aspx?id=14820

On this date in 1943 the United States Army transport DORCHESTER was sunk by a torpedo off the cost of Greenland. Four army chaplains, each of a different religion, on board helped with the evacuation and when there were no more life vests left, they took off their own and gave them to soldiers. Of the 230 men who survived, many were assisted by the four chaplains. However, 700 men died that day, including the four chaplains.

Thus, Governor Pawlenty ordered that the flags be flown at half staff today to honor the four chaplains and all those who died as well as to be "an example of compassion for those of different race or faith."

Image from: http://www.fl4thdistrict.org/TheFourChaplains.html

Sports Update

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. It was a very exciting game actually. The first half maybe not so much until Pittsburgh intercepted a pass from Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner near their own goal line and ran it back all the way for a touchdown. Then things started to get tight in the fourth quarter when the lead was traded back and forth a couple times. Arizona got a safety when a Steelers player was called for holding in the end zone, and Cardinal reciever Larry Fitzgerald caught a pass for a 64 yard touchdown. But then the Steelers staged a drive and scored a touchdown with 35 seconds left on the clock. Arizona tried to come back, but a fumble ended their slim hopes.

In tennis: Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer to win the Australian Open. I feel sort of sorry for Federer 'cause he was very upset. But that's competition. Somebody has to lose. I get the feeling I'd be a very bad competitor because I always end up feeling for the losers.
I didn't see the match myself, but by all I've heard about it, it was exciting.

So thats the condition of sports. At least, the few sports that I pay attention to and had time to read about.

Impeached

So Rod Blagojevich was finally impeached by the Illinois state senate with the vote of 59-0. Hm, can't say I'm terribly surprised.

It seems strange that he can keep on saying that he's innocent of all crimes. I wonder, is he lying, or does he really think that he's innocent? I mean, does he seriously think that he's done nothing wrong as he keeps insisting? That would be really weird. But I could see how it could come about if he has a huge, ginormous ego and thinks that he can't possibly do anything wrong.

That would have to be a really, really big head.

If I were a member of the Illinois government, I would be very happy that this trial is now over.

The Culinary Olympics returns!

This international cooking competition is actually known as the Bocuse d'Or and takes place every two years in Lyon, France. There was an article about the U.S.'s hopes in the Star Tribune. The U.S. has a history of so-so performances, but this year they are hoping to medal with chef Timothy Hollingsworth. Who is only 28. Is that young for an internationaly competing chef? I have no clue. He must be very good to be selected as the U.S. representitive though.

The website is interesting: http://www.bocusedor.com/2009/en/index.php
There's information about the different teams from different countries, theme of the competition etc.

I must admit, cooking and competition go together.

Overnight Change?

I feel sort of strange. What, there're no elections coming up in a month or two? What? The Presidential Election is over?

Yes.

Barack Obama and his administration are already working on how to solve the nation's many problems. But just because they've started doesn't mean all problems will magically vanish overnight. If he had some sort of magic problem-vanishing power, he'd've been elected by a landslide. No, he's human and so are the people who work with him. So that means, it'll take a while before the promised change spreads across the country. It would be foolish to get mad at the new administration just because the economy did not leap out of its slump the minute Obama was sworn in as president. Things will take time.

The world has sped up, with credit cards and internet shopping, people are used to instant gratification. Slow down world, enjoy the breeze, and glory in the sunset.

The Inauguration of the 44th President

Barack Obama is now the 44th President of the United States of America. He was sworn in around 11:00 o'clock Central Time.

Lol, right now we're watching him sign his name on some documents and the CNN people are complimenting his penmanship.

Previous to the compliments on penmanship, both Joe Biden and Barack Obama were sworn in, and Obama gave his speech. It was a more, let's say, harder speech than I've heard him give before. There were a couple moments when he got very, hmm, not really passionate, but sort of. Stern but passionate? Well, his voice got louder anyway.

As always, I really liked watching the people in the crowd. It was funny watching their reactions to the speakers.
At the start of the National Anthem, Joe Biden was taking pictures for one of Obama's daughters.
During the speech of one of the reverends, there was one guy sitting behind Obama whose eyebrow was jumping up and down.
After Obama's speech, one of the reporters was saying how she saw people crying and hugging each other, then they went to a shot of a scowling woman before quickly switching to a scene of cheering crowds.

Yeah, it's an exciting day, but you've got to find humor in everything.

Engineering on a trapeze

A group of engineering students from the University of St. Thomas, MN, are learning about forces and movement by going to a circus and playing with trapezes, German wheels, human pyramids, and a trampoline. Instead of swinging a pendulum in a lab, the students are the pendulums as they swing through the air on a trapeze.

I think that's a pretty cool way to get your college credits. I actually took classes at this circus before (Circus Juventas, a youth circus in St. Paul), though I was a globes person (the picture is me :) not aerial. It's pretty fun, and if you get to learn about physics and dynamics while you're at it, even better.

Yup, that'd been a really cool class.

Check this out

I posted this on my other blog. Check it out.

Flying cars!

A word if you please, Mr. President?

Today I filled out a survey to send to Barack Obama's new administration. It was about education. The survey question was, If you were the new president and education was your number one priority, what is one thing you would change in the current school system? (not that exact wording but I can't remember exactly how it went)

I didn't know exactly what to say. There's a lot of stuff that the school system could do better. Perhaps the first thing though would be to get people to stop dropping out of high school. It's going to be harder and harder to get a job if you don't have a high school diploma. Right now it's hard for people with a college degree to get jobs.
It would also be nice if the school system was more flexable. I like the school I'm in because it's project based and I can work towards my strengths and interests. I don't think I would do well in a traditional school setting and I'm sure there are a lot of students like me.

There's a lot of stuff to work on, lots of stuff to fix, but also lots of new and exciting ideas to play with. I don't envy the people in charge of education, but I'm sure their jobs will be 'interesting'.

Senators or lack thereof

Roland Burris is the new senator for Illinois. After he was selected by soon-to-be-impeached governor Rod Blagojevich there was controversy about whether he should be allowed to serve as senator or not. However, after much argument, a statement from the senate majority leader and assistant majority leader stated that Burris, "is now the senator-designate from Illinois and as such will be accorded all the rights and privileges of a senator-elect."

So now Illinois knows who its two senators are going to be, unlike some other state *cough* *minnesota* *cough*

I can see why some people would be reluctant to appoint Burris because of the man who nominated him. Blagojevich was accused of trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder, who knows, perhaps Burris was that highest bidder. In Burris's defense, he could also just be the person the governor decided to appoint. He has had a low profile career so far, and he's a democrat (as is the governor) so why not?

I don't know. It's very likely that Burris is just another politician who happened to be caught in the media's net and everything is getting jumbled out of porportion.

These days it seems like the senate is getting more attention than the president, or the president-elect. I wish them luck, they'll need it.

Holographic parents?

While parents are on duty with the military, touring in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other part of the world, would their young children benefit from talking to a hologram of mom or dad? Not a high tech version of webcams but an artificial intelligence that responds to voice cues. The child would start up the hologram like program on the computer and have simulated conversations about everyday things.

I think it's sort of freaky. Mind you, this isn't set up yet, the Pentagon is still looking for the right technology and stuff like that. However, it seems sort of strange to have a simulated parent. It seems different from recordings in a way, though I can see some similarities. But a recording or video is made by an actual person, and an AI is just a fancy computer program.
If a child is too young to understand why their parent or parents are gone, aren't they also too young to understand that the computer image they are talking to is not their parent? Isn't that sort of misleading for them? Or is that the point?

Ethical issues can be confusing and they are almost always controversial.

Ah, there's a catch

The final results from the senate recount are in. Franken has 225 more votes than Coleman. But wait! That doesn't mean he won. It sounds like he won, because whoever gets more votes wins right? But apparently Coleman has gone to court and filed a lawsuit to contest the results. Franken can't take up office while there is a lawsuit about his appointment so Minnesota is still with only one senator.

Yeesh.

Personally, I think it's a good thing senate terms are six years long or else whoever is finally appointed won't have any time to actually do anything in Washington.

Poor Vikings

The Vikings got into the playoffs!! And lost in the first game. Ah well. Up and down, great to horrible, would be a good way to describe the Viking's season this year.

I feel sort of sorry form them because they worked really hard to get so far. I imagine that Gus Frerotte is not very happy right now. And probably the person I feel most sorry for is Tarvaris Jackson. He gets yelled at a lot by the media. What they say isn't wrong, he didn't play very well, but I'm sure it's not very fun being him right now.

*sigh* It's been a up and down year for football in Minnesota. But at least we're not in Detroit. Vikings fans have something to be thankful for afterall.