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Showing results for tags 'It Popped Into My Head Today...'.
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Mudd (the building in which the Gateway Computer lab is in [YES IT'S NAMED "Mudd" get over it >>]) has automatic sliding doors, but the "automatic' turns off at night and on weekends... and my ID isn't programmed into that particular door (it's programed into Gateway's door, but it's useless if I can't get into the building to get into the lab). I asked about it and was told that I'd just have to wait for someone to leave. Even the TA's, who are actual Columbia students and whatnot, can't get in. Only faculty, apparently... However it's not like we're BARRED from getting in. We were told on the first day of class that we ARE allowed 24/7 lab access, which I confirmed when I asked about programming my ID into the sliding door. But it's often inconvenient to wait for someone to come out, even though they generally come and go fairly often. So here's my idea: Yesterday when I went to Mudd late to redo some maj uploads that I had to leave in the middle of because our dorm hall was going to dinner... er, okay, run on sentence. Anyway, I went to Mudd late yesterday and the sliding doors were actually open a crack. Enough for my fingers, but not enough to trigger the door. Now... how does a sliding door work? Motion sensor, I'm thinking... and of course it's still automatic from the INSIDE, meaning if you walk into the field of view from the INSIDE, then it still slides open automatically. So what if I had a pencil, or other thin object, tied to a string... and I tossed it through the gap, and wiggled it around a bit? Think it would trigger the door to open? It would solve the problem of me waiting 20 minutes outside Mudd in the dark at night... It's still 2 hours 40 minutes before curfew... I'm actually done for the day so far as the car goes, since I'm going to have to spend some time designing the side view before I continue modeling... but I could test that out. And naturally, in keeping with tradition... Tire treads The rest isn't very new. I filled in many gaps using a technique our instructor showed me. Has to do with the tessellation...
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... but honestly today was less interesting than usual for a day in NYC... Well, BZP isn't working for me, like that's new. But I so wanna reply to that comment Greg (AdioBam) posted in my profile... But alas I can't... nor can I add friends, quick edit, manage blog entries, content blocks, or anything. Today in class we saw a dissassembled iPod and learned how they're made... well, basic anatomy of one in any case. I ate a very expensive sandwich today... Anything else interesting? Oh and I'm making an absurdly complex but actually pretty nifty-looking design for class. We're doing a power point, you know. Also, other countries' "Learn English" commercials are hilarious... some are a pretty PG-13 though, but the German one is safe and very funny. Also... Snapple caps. Dragonflies have six legs, but cannot walk. And I'm reading a book called Soon I Will Be Invincible which is an interesting take on the classic superhero genre. See, with deep and realistic backstories, motivations, shedding light on the problems of having powers and the complications and how people dream about being a superhero, but really, when it really happens, it's not something you can stop dreaming about and return to the real world, it's always there, hanging over you... Shows that superheroes are really... dare I say it? More than meets the eye?
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According to Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (yes it's a long title) by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the universe began on October 21. Which is my birthday! Wow that's cool. ^^ Of course it's a work of comedic fiction, but still.
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Well, I don't feel like making two entries for this, so before I get into the bigger portion a bit of news that gets categorized under "Life." Took the Math II SAT II today. I was absolutely stressed and the allergies... my right eye wouldn't stop involuntarily twitching... my fingers were shaking, my arm was aching... I finished in time to catch not a single mistake. Hopefully that means I got mostly everything right and not that I missed everything I got wrong... It wasn't really that bad, all said, but still... very stressful. Anyway. This week my mom's on a buisness trip, and yesterday my dad was off taking my sister somewhere, leaving me at home to force my way through English homework. It had been a really hot day all day, so my dad left the car windows rolled down. But then it started raining. So he called home and told me "Get the car keys, start the car, and roll the windows up, or it'll get wet inside." It isn't really that exciting, but for some reason just turning that key and hearing the engine go "v-v-v-MRRRRRR..." was quite exciting. I'm easily amused. But I've never started a car before. =D So that made me sort of wonder... Have you ever... --been in a car not just to ride as a passenger, before you're technically old enough? That is to say, maybe your parents let you back it down the driveway, or, as was my case, you had to do something to the car that required starting it but not actually driving it? Ever put it into gear, maybe? --seen a burning car? I've seen one, from a distance, just driving by. The flames are smaller than you see in the movies. It's not a massive fireball, it's just hundreds of relatively small, say, fireplace-sized flames, completely covering the car. Very orange. --seen a burning house? I have, twice. Once from quite far away, so it was just smoke. Once, closer, it was only a street down, but by the tiem I got there it was just smoldering. --held your eyes open while you sneezed? Me being me, and placing a slightly higher value on my eyes, I never have, but I've known a couple people who have. They said that your eyes don't REALLY pop out, it just sorta feels odd. --seen lots of police cars on your street or nearby? Sure have. Not often, but now and then there's some incident and you end up with five cars. Never seen actual police tape though. --damaged a library book or school textbook? I think I got water on a page of one of my English books but.. ah... it'll get flattened out, no problem, it was in the middle of the book. ^^; And maybe torn a corner or two in other books, but that's mostly when I'm tring to unfold a dog-eared page. Really. --put something in your eye by accident? I almost got a drop of lens cleaner solution in my eye; I grabbed the wrong bottle. Some still got in even though I squeezed my eye shut as soon as I saw the red tip, see, a drop was already falling. But I got my eye all properly rinsed out so that's okay. Eh, can't think of any more. Oh, I'm switching comps with my dad again (he says I need the speed more than he does). I now positively despise Windows. It won't let me move certain PSD files. It insists on calling GIF images "Paint Shop Pro XI Files," even when I try to change the default settings. It worked for JPEGs (originally, what was it, Snapfire files?) PNGs (I don't even remember) but some files... I can't even tell what they're supposed to be! WHAT IS THE POINT OF ASSIGNING EACH FILETYPE A PROGRAM? I WANT TO KNOW IF IT'S GIF, JPEG, PNG, NOT THAT IT OPENS BY DEFAULT IN PAINT SHOP PRO. Why even open it default in there either? I don't want to edit them, otherwise I'd right-click-open-in-Photoshop. Knowing if it's a GIF or a JPEG is MUCH MORE USEFUL than knowing that Windows thinks you should use such and such to open it. And what'd it do to the files if I unistalled PSP eh? Geez. And trying to copy my favorites over to the new IE... nrrrrrgh... it's SO STUPID. GAHGHALGKJADLKFWOIERULSKJFLKAJ. ALIUEROIUFAOIduf0*(ZjclKAdjf jkl; WHY!? And where the HECK did the menus go? WHY do I have to hit alt-F if I want file? It's like they got rid of functionality and replaced it with pretty graphics. It seems to me that every other second I'm saying "It worked fine on the old computer!"
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WITCOHEIBNFOPTDTPBWHCITAATAATPOTETSAEPTWTLONAONGETADRTTOOMRTTSDTCWITTTS. Those are not random letters; they mean something. I memorize random things. That is a variation on one of the things I've memorized. Mwahaha. >=D
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Okay, I have nothing to talk about, even though I swear I had something to say five minutes ago. Uh... let's see... I really have to work myself to death getting that chapter of MR and my new avatar done in time for May 29th (three-year day for me). I finished both pieces of art I'm going to do, but may I say quite frankly that the scanner must die? Sure, when I scanned my sun/moon piece it was beautiful but come ON, it does NOT pick up the subtle near-white shades at ALL. And since Lyg is blue, white, and gold, I had to take a photograph because the scanner screws up the very light grays and Lyg looks like he had whitewash dumped on his upper half or something. All the colors are messed up. Which if I remember correctly was one of the things I wanted to remember to rant about. Scanners not picking up subtler shades. WHY? If a camera can do it, so can a scanner! Gosh. I may or may not photo the second one, since most of it was passable (it's generally lineart) but the shadowy figures in the back came out so HORRIBLY... Oh, and the BBC contest. Congrats to Roa! I made fourth by a hair. Kinda funny how this time in the final poll entry 1 came in 1st, entry 2 came in 2nd, and so on, for all of the entries? I was entry four, and came in fourth. Really weird, no? What else? Uh, books. Yeah. But I think I covered that mostly. I've just read the first two His Dark Materials books. I need to get a proper list of what people on here have suggested to me, then go to the library. OH YEAH that's something else I was thinking of writing an entry about. Golden Compass movie this December. I watched the trailer. Sooooo excited. I hope they get it right. From what I saw it looked good. I like the way they did Iorek's armor, pretty dang nice. I imagined Lee rather younger but the movie portrayal is still great, definitely captured the character. Lord Asriel, too... not how I generally saw him in my mind. Philip Pullman himself endorsed the girl they chose for Lyra, so I'm not worried about that... and the short scene with Pantalaimon transforming looked really cool. Unfortunately I was uncertain about whether I'd like the books so I only borrowed Golden Compass (Northern Lights) and Subtle Knife, so once I finish my current load I'll be off to get Amber Spyglass. Speaking of books, I reaaaaaally wanna read the final New Prophecy Warriors book. Read the beginning at B&N but I didn't have time to finish, and it'd be more convenient if the library got it, since it's most uncomfortable to read whilst squatting on the flood in a bookstore. And speaking of movies, all three thirds from this month have been released, and I haven't seen a single one. *sigh* cursed school and approaching finals. Which brings me to another point. SO many people get off school in May, I gotta wait till, like, June 19th or something. *sigh* again. Also, I'm reading Johnny and the Bomb. Just a funny scene I liked. The book involves time travel (I wouldn't call that a spoiler, it's introduced almost immediately) and the kids that are the main characters are discussing it, and considering who we're talking about... they have interesting discussions. So one of them is like: "Wouldn't it be cool to have time police or something? You could just go back in time and find Adolf Hitler and then get a gun and BANG! End of problem." And another says, "Well, what if you accidentally shot your grandfather?" "Naw, my grandfather looks nothing like Adolf Hitler." Time paradoxes apparently cannot be understood by such a group of people XD. ... anyway I can't figure out what else-- OH YEAH BIOLOGY GAH HATE. We have a take-home portion of the final, which is 20% of our final grade. You'd think, oh not bad, but it consists of something like NINETY open-ended (non-multiple choice) questions, and you have to HAND-WRITE IT. No typing, because our teacher is absolutely paranoid of cheating. I mean, come ON! I'm already on the third sheet of looseleaf and I've only done up to question 31! Gah... Oh, and I'm entering a Star Ledger art contest. Yay. It's taking a LONG time. That's about it. Thank you for hearing my random rambling. =3
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Please vote me the keeper of the reaper I wanna be the keeper of the reaper His skinny white bones are mine to owns To do with as I see fit Give him to me and I promise my love won't quit. I disagree 'bout the keeper of the reaper It should be me who's the keeper of the reaper Grim's not a toy for an [cool dude] boy Who can't even tie his shoes If Billy wins then we all surely lose. Don't I get a say in the keeper of the reaper? I'll make you all pay for the keeper of the reaper! All my rage is bottled up in this cage Held back by these iron bars! I'll never get rid of these mental scars. I don't care who's the keeper of the reaper I'm losin' my hair over keeper of the reaper! A mountain of stress is crushing my chest I'm going blind in one eye, And its all because of that stupid guy! Don't worry! I found some nachos! Yes. *eating noises* *WHACK* OW! *takes nachos* THAT WAS BY FAR THE MOST POINTLESS ENTRY EVER. It's the last day of spring break.
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So. ... I should probably have something to rant about. Or maybe something to make an odd point concerning. Or perhaps an interesting anecdote. I know! Seen Traffic, the most recent one I just put up? Well, did I say I entered it in this video contest at school? If I didn't, now I did. And I don't know what place I got out of ten but I made the top ten, that I know, which isn't saying much since I doubt there were more than 15 entries. But anyway, yeah. Problem is they don't like the file format. It's WMV. How can WMV not be playable on their morning announcements program thingy? The last time I had my dad figure out how to write a computer video onto VHS, he was ready to commit bloody murder unto the VCR machine. I'll ask him again, but there's no guaruntee we won't end up with just a pile of film and wrecked electrical components. Oh, and Chemistry class. My Chem teacher is very nice, but not exactly the most interesting of teachers. She also has a very soft voice. I think I've mentioned that before. But anyway, I am capable of teaching myself from the textbook (I think I also mentioned that) so I kinda... go off into my own little world in Chem class. I mean, don't get me wrong, I WAS doing Chemistry last class. Only, I was writing out and sketching various bonds whilst my teacher explained dot structures. I also calculated exactly WHY the angle on the various bonds is 109.5 (about) degrees. I started with a tetrahedron, drew in some triangles, played around with the Law of Sines and Cosines, split it into Right triangles, dropped altitudes, finally got the triangle I wanted, and guess what? Largest angle was 109.47 something something degrees. So now I know the book isn't just making things up. Also, anyone know where I can find something free that'll convert WMV to MOV or AVI without those annoying watermarks which I flatly despise? And finally, Post-It notes. Small, purple, Post-It notes. Thank you, and have a nice day.
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Starting to lay down flat colors now... Went to volunteer at the library today. 'twas fun. =D
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First off, news of the day out of the way, then the rant. Oookey well looks like I ended up in third place by one vote, 35 to Theisen's 36... *sigh* ah well... Our basketball team did win the regional or central Jersey or whatevertheheck... yeah, it won the game, and it's going to play at Rutgers on Sunday. One kid I know literally does not believe in school spirit. I don't mean that he just doesn't dress up in school colors during Spirit Week, I don't do that either, but he literally actively tries to avoid being school spirited because he says it's pointless, and for what purpose would he be spirited? Anyway today I say to him, "So, whadya think of our team winning, eh?" sorta as a tease, because I know he not only could care less, but he'd seriously try not to care. And he's like, "There was a game?" ... Yes there was a GAME! IT WAS THE ONE OUR PRINCIPAL WAS GOING ON AND ON ABOUT ON THE PA YESTERDAY! The reason we had the FREAKIN' LOUD MUSIC playing? ... Right, ANYWAY, the main point of this entry will probably take up less space than the above. Feel free to skip the above if you feel like it, though I don't know why I'd put this message at the BOTTOM of that block of text. On to my little rant: "Quantum" does not mean "Super-amazing-multi-dimensional-uber" or "Crazy-sci-fi-thing-that-lets-just-about-anything-happen" or "Something-that-can-power-spacedrives-and-fuel-bombs-that-blow-up-planets." "Quantum" is nothing but A PARTICLE OF LIGHT. And Quantum Theory states nothing but that energy comes in small, discreet amounts, and is QUANTIZED. That is all. Quantum does not bend the space-time continuum and allow you to teleport. You can't go back in time with a Quantum-Time-Machine. The only thing that a lot of quanta would do is hurt your eyes. Yes, Quantum Theory is a very important theory in modern Physics. Yes, light is very important. But a Quantum Thruster isn't going to shoot you off across the galaxy! A Quantum Phase Ray won't blow apart your alien enemies! It's not some crazy sci-fi thing, it's just a vital part of Physics that will never affect your everyday life unless you become a physicist! Also, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. It does NOT state that a pink cow can spontaneously pop into your backyard just because everything in the universe is uncertain and it COULD happen. The Uncertainty Principle just means that you can't find out the exact position and exact velocity of anything, and that only applies to tiny particles like an electron. For the sake of all macro-scale physics, all real world applications, the exactitude is exact enough. A gear will not pop off an axle because it's uncertain. Does a gear have a mass that's a trillionth of a kilogram? No. Therefore shining light on it will not cause it to fly off in the other direction as it would with an electron. And in no way would the Uncertainty Principle cause the gear to grow wings, turn green, and fly away into the sunset. "Ions" and "Ionic" too. They're not so amazing. You know how you can create an ion? Rub yourself on some wool or silk or something, until you create some static. Because that's all that ions are. They're particles that have a charge. And when you statically charge yourself, then that probably means some particles somewhere on you are carrying extra electrons, or carrying less. What's an Ionic Ray Gun going to do? Statically shock your fierce Xyxzorgian foes? Honestly, all I'm trying to say here is, have an idea what you're saying when you come up with crazy space technologies and the like. Because they're not "omg big werds that no wun wil no so i kan use thim." People out there will probably know what you're talking about, and they'll find it really strange that you're using it in the way you are. Same guy that I pointed out before, who does not belive in school spirit? Yeah, he paused the movies The Core and A Beautiful Mind on the scenes with various equations and he actually tried to solve them, and ended up discovering that they were utter gibberish. He could have saved himself some time by reminding himself it was Hollywood, but you gotta admire the spirit. Out there, there's always someone who knows what you're doing and will be willing to work out what it means, and if you try to make it look hi-tech and intelligent by using complicated things you don't understand it's just going to make you look dumb and confuse some poor kid out there with a pencil, paper, and a calculator. I shall now take off in my Quantum-Charged Ionic-blaster Turbo Nitro Sodium Chloride Jet Pack Suit.
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First off, happy February 1st. Well ain't it great that I remembered it's a new month? Secondly, it's 2007. No duh. In 3 years it will be 2010. Aren't you all glad that I know my addition? My point is, when it comes to 2010, will you say "twenty-ten" or "two-thousand-and-ten" (or "two-thousand-ten")? On a completely unrelated note, I got to use three different punctuation marks in a row! That is, " ")? ". Which makes it five. Yay. I reached six before... Anyway, yeah. That was the point. Two-thousand-ten or twenty-ten?
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WHAT IF... there was a fence going around the Equator? Who would be inside the fence, and who would be outside the fence? Or better. Let's say there's an imaginary planet with this fence around its Equator, and the fence is built so that it lies PERFECTLY on one plane, right on the middle line of that planet, with EXACTLY the same amount of atoms on both the North and the South sides of that plane. The north pole is EXACTLY as far from the fence as the south pole is. The North population is exactly the same as the South population, and the mass of the North and everything on it is the same as the South, etc. And since the fence is a complete circle, well there must be something INSIDE the fence, right? It can't just be something separating North from South, can it? A divider goes in a straight line. But something that fences something in goes around. What if the South won a war with the North and built the wall? Would it be keeping the North out or keeping the North in? Would the North be prisoners or would the South be fortified? What if the North won the war? What if the South was agressive and kept trying to fight with the North, and the wall was built by some higher authority to prevent them from fighting? Would it be holding the South back or protecting the North? It's like the glass half-empty or half-full thing I suppose. It's all about perspective.
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What if there was a mountain as tall as Everest... nay, better, TALLER than Everest, but it was smack dab on the Equator? Would it be really hot or really cold at the summit? Where does proximity to the sun balance with thin air being unable to hold heat? Would it not be strange to have a load of ice and snow sitting on the hottest area on Earth? I don't know where I think of these things. Also, it's a picture. Yay for Prismas.
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I think I was reminded of this because of Asimov's Fantastic Voyage, which I read about a month ago, and Fantastic Voyage II which I just borrowed but haven't read yet. Er, in case you don't get the connection I'm about to make, the novels involve miniaturization technology: a shrinking machine, essentially. Anyway, you know the movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"? If I remember correctly, the principle behind the shrinking machine was that all atoms are made of mostly empty space, which is true, so if you were to condense every individual atom in a body to get rid of the empty space, then you'd be able to shrink things. Now of course that goes against ten bajillion laws of physics and Planck's constant and whatnot, but that's not what bothers me most, because there very well may be a way to bend physical laws in the future (though never to break them). What bothers me is this: imagine a "standard" person, 1.5 meters tall and 60 kilograms, right? (US system sucks, use metric!). Now, the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" version of the shrinking machine is used on them, and they shrink to a mere 5 centimeters. But... if the principle is to only remove empty space from atoms, and since empty space has no mass... the person would still have the same amount of particles in their body. I.e., they would still be 60 kilograms, even though their volume is several hundred times smaller, since they're just denser. So how does that work out? How does a person with 60 kilograms of inertia almost get sucked up by a lawn mower? How is someone with 60 kilograms of mass able to sleep inside a LEGO brick without collapsing it? Moreover, they would still have the same amount of muscle cells, lifting the same amount of load: if they jump, wouldn't they leap half a meter into the air? Wouldn't they be able to jump forward a meter? I mean, if you walk, you take about half a meter per stride, right? And how, I ask you HOW, does someone lift a 60 kilogram person with a spoon? Even more, how does someone with such a concentrated mass not sink like a stone? Or when they run across the floor, shouldn't the tiles crack or something? I mean imagine concentrating that much mass into something so small! Pressure is force over area: the smaller the area, the greater the pressure. They should have found them right away by following the "BOOM BOOM" they made while walking. I mean really, if you're doing science fiction, cover all your bases! Asimov's version had each individual atom losing mass and becoming smaller, not some stuff about removing empty space. I mean it's a good idea, but please! And the giant dog bone at the end? By increasing the empty space, once you reach a certain limit, the dog would be able to walk through the dang bone! AND since it still contains the same amount of atoms it would provide the same amount of sustinance for the dog, the same amount of calories... it's in fact BAD for the dog. I mean, imagine eating so much that your stomach is full, and getting like two calories out of it. It's worse than eating celery, where you burn more calories chewing the vegetable than you gain from digesting it. Geez... Yes, this is in fact what I think about in my free time. Solving world hunger? Fixing global warming? Being a champion of world peace? Nope. Mulling over the technicalities of sci-fi comedy movies.
