I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner

I cooked a pizza for myself tonight. Pepperoni. Tony's brand. They're pretty good and darn cheap. Everything was going smoothly until I pulled it out of the oven and realized that I had nothing to cut it with... I frantically searched for whatever I could use to cut it up before it exploded, or something. That's when it hit me. The scissors! To my surprise the scissors worked remarkable well. Clean cut, no wedging of cheese from the pressure, it was good. So, the next time you're left without a knife, don't be afraid to improvise.

Simply maddening

I don't like Harry Potter. Its not my thing. The names, the magic, the kids, the hype...all of it. People are free to do and read what they want and thats fine. But there is one thing about the Harry Potter book series that is just simple maddening. The price. When the final installment hit store shelves in July the book sold for between twenty and thirty dollars (if anyone knows an exact figure let me know, but I could swear I saw it for thirty five somewhere). So, lets say $25. Now, lets consider how much effort, time, and money went into creating this little thing. Money...zero dollars. Time...about two years working off and on whenever the author felt like writing. Effort...one person, typing at a computer, whenever she felt like it. Now, lets compare that to the film industry. To purchase a film, it is approximately $20. Thats less than the suggested retail price of Harry Potter. Lets consider how much effort, time, and money went into creating any average film. Time...upwards of three years working to meet strict deadlines. Money...millions and millions of dollars. Effort...hundreds of people working in sync for months at a time and often times in grueling climates and conditions. All that time, effort, and money to produce a product that sells for less than something any monkey can do. Doesnt quite seem fair... I'm not trying to say that movies should cost more. No, Harry Potter costs too fucking much.

One step closer to the inevitable end

As many of you are aware (and if you aren't then you should be ashamed of yourself), today was my birthday. Remember that episode of Futurama when Bender became human? Yeah, the last few days were pretty much like that. Now that I'm one score and one year old I can finally legally drink alcohol, gamble, and fish with dynamite in some states. But I feel this may be a little wasted on me since I have no real desire to pursue any of those things on a routine basis. Except maybe dynamite fishing...


At any rate, being 21 at least means that I have gained inherent authority over those know-it-all 20 year old punks.

It'll work itself out

Welcome to the first in a series of short posts in which I ramble on about various topics that have been concerning me for the past few years. This will be the first time that I've tried to put my thoughts into writing and hopefully you can piece together some kind of idea of the point Im trying to make. Im going to avoid the essay style and just go free flow, so bear with me. Also note, I'm still searching for answers and refinement everywhere I go so if you have any references I am more than open to looking into them. This is all based on my own realm of experiences. Things I do not yet know about can sometimes prove everything wrong. Its still a work in progress.

Free will. For the longest time I was an advocate of free will and couldn't figure out why anyone would believe in fate or destiny. Fate and destiny by definition suggest that we aren't in control of our lives and actions. That everything is building towards some inevitable event. With fate and destiny, there is no freedom. You are being controlled. And for a long time, I just didn't buy it.

Actually, I still don't. Fate and destiny suggest a force outside of our reality that guides our every action. I like the idea of being in control of my actions. And for the most part, I am. I saw the documentary-esque film "What the BLEEP to we know?". It deals with science, and quantum physics, and biology, and such. One thing that always stayed with me was just how much our emotions are controlled by chemicals in our brains. If you are feeling good, its not because you just won the lottery, its because your brain has flooded your body with Serotonin (as well as other chemicals your body likes). Likewise, when you feel bad, its because your brain has shut off this chemical supply to your body. So, why would your brain do that? Self preservation. If something happens that causes this lack of supply, you are more likely to avoid that situation in the future and seek out things that make you feel good. Such as eating, socializing, sex, and sleep. Note that all those things are essential to living (so you can pass on your genes), or at least retaining sanity (which you need to pass on your genes). Your brain is hardwired to seek out the good and avoid the bad. Even if you enjoy cutting yourself, something obviously bad to your health, that is due to chemical imbalances. Now, this all clearly applies to general behavior. But what about every single little action and thought?

Remember from elementary school science that everything in the universe is made of matter. And remember from high school physics that everything in the universe obeys certain laws. So... Your brain = matter = governed by laws. Picture a ball being dropped from a roof. Using simple formulas from high school physics, it would be easy to predict how far up the ball would bounce. But not perfectly. For that, you would need more factors. Wind, densities, minute imperfections in the ball and ground, and others. Assuming you could factor in all these into the equation, you could perfectly predict how far the ball would bounce. So the question becomes, how many factors does it take it accurately predict someone's actions? Factors dealing with every single cell and molecule and electric transaction in your brain. We don't have the technology to do it yet, but the point is that it is a finite number. If you knew enough you could predict anything.

What I've come to consider is the possibility that there is no outside force guiding our every action. However, we're not so free that everything we do or think isn't the result of zillions of equations simply working themselves out naturally. You may ask how I can go on with my life thinking this, and the answer is simple. I just don't think about it all the time.

Caveats: Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) science has yet to come up with The Theory of Everything. A single unifying equation and theory that perfectly explains and combines the strong force, the weak force, gravity, and electromagnetism. The forces of the universe. Einstein dedicated the second half of his life to finding it but failed. With this theory, it would prove that you really could predict anything if you just knew enough factors. Quantum physics is a large hurdle to get over on the way. Particles at the subatomic level don't behave by the same laws that larger bodies do. For example, a single electron is said to occupy every space around a nucleus at the same time, until it is seen. At which time is exists in that one spot. Quantum mechanics books are thick. It'll take some time to figure that one out for myself.

Mysterious mysteries

Beginning this weekend I will post the first in an ongoing series in which I offer my own insights into questions and topics that have been bothering me for quite a while now. There is more going on in my noggin than I have ever even hinted at. Hopefully this will provide a glimpse into my consciousness. Deciding where to start is a tough choice since many of these subjects are interrelated. Here's a little taste of things to come...


-Free will
-Amnesia
-Being human
-Identity
-Separation of mind and body
-Human biology
-Gender
-Biological dependencies
-Attraction
-Love
-Marriage

Those are just a few subjects and you can see how many of them blend into others. I'm still sorting these things out myself and hopefully my explanations will be understandable. I look forward to reading any comments about them.

You got served, ye scalawag!

By the end of the semester the first functioning video game that I have worked on will hopefully be complete. For my "Game Collaboration 1" class, our goal for the fall is to have made a fully functioning casual video game. There are only about seven of us in the class though, so obviously we're a little understaffed but things are looking good. We have a small team of programmers (using Game Maker 7), a team of artists, and then the design team of which I am associated.

The game itself is an "insult-fighter-card game". So think of it like a Yo Mama competition crossed with Mortal Kombat crossed with Magic (the Gathering). Oh, also all of the characters are either Time Ninjas or Robot Pirates. So far, the game plays a little like this: two players square off against each other. The object is to deplete your opponent's health meter by constructing insults with the cards that you draw from your deck. Its kind of like a Mad Lib. You play a "structure" card which is something like "Your ____ is ____!" and you fill in the gaps with the appropriate noun, adjective, or verb.

It still needs a little refining and we plan on playtesting next week.

Snap Happy

If you've ever been around me for more than a minute, then you're well aware of two little "ticks" that I have. Tapping on my sternum and collar bone, and snapping. While I'm not entirely sure how I started the tapping, I do know where the snapping came from. In my favorite anime Fullmetal Alchemist, there is a character that can ignite the oxygen in the air by snapping. For a while I walked around snapping left and right imagining cars, trees, and dogs with sweaters exploding as I did.

It wasn't long before I noticed that my snapping was getting louder. So, for the last year or so I have been practicing to get it so loud that it would actually hurt the hears of anyone standing within a few yards of me. Today I reached a milestone on that quest. While I haven't tried it out on anyone yet, one out of every two or three snaps hurts my own ears. This is only after one year. If you see me next summer, I would recommend standing back.

The Naked Alliance

You may be wondering why the URL for this site is "nakedalliance". You may also be wondering what that strange growth is thats coming out of your navel. But lets try to focus on the important things, k?

Jimmy has spent the last four or so years trying to get me to play Ravenshield, or Battlefield, or Battlefront online with him. Slowly wearing down my defenses year by year. I used to complain that my computer couldnt handle it. It would crash while trying to play minesweeper, how could it possibly handle an online shooter? And for a long time that was a reasonable excuse. But now, since I bought his old computer (still perfectly good), I have no good excuse. Im sure I'll at least try out some of his games since theyre way cheap.

Getting back on track... most online games have "clans" or groups that you can join into. Last I checked Jimmy was playing with Funk Nation. A while back, I got the brilliant idea for my own clan should I ever choose to start one for some game. And I would call it... The Naked Alliance! Why naked? Cuz its inherently funny, and as far as I know, there are no other naked clans out there. The idea of the group is that everyone associated has to be buck naked when they play. Of course no one will actually know and its easy to cheat, but damnit at least some of them will be and thats good enough for me. If I can inspire just one person to strip down and play with his joystick then I will have done my job.

That Crazy Canuck

Jimmy 2

Badass Video

Time-based board game

As mentioned before, I refuse to bore you with every little mundane detail of my daily life. Normally homework and school related happenings would fall into such a category of being wasted effort if written up. However, this semester is proving to yield interesting projects that I would like share and maybe even get some feedback on.

For my "Game and Interactivity 1" class, our final project is to create some kind of non-electrical game and have it actually be fun and challenging. I have chosen to make a "time-based" board game. That doesnt mean that it must be played in a certain amount of time (though that certainly is possible), it means that the game takes place at different points in time. For example, the game will probably be played on 3 or 4 game boards stacked on top of each other (see picture above) in which actions on the lower boards effect the layout and actions of the boards above them.

My biggest hurdles right now are deciding...
-How much time passes between each board (20 yrs, 100 yrs, 1000 yrs, etc)
-What shape the boards are (square with squares, round with concentric circles, etc)

One cool idea I'm exploring is that maybe the entire goal is to indirectly eliminate your opponent by traveling back in time (going from the top board to the bottom) and killing his grandfather (the Grandfather Paradox).

Stick it to the soda bastards (Part II)

The short term preliminary results are in. And so far... its good! On Wednesday the 12th I began an experiment to make a 2-liter bottle of soda last for as long as a 6 pack of soda with minimal extra expense and supplies. Here's how...

I bought a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi and one 6 pack of 10 oz. Canada Dry Tonic Water. The Canada Dry itself was not needed (I poured it all out). What I did need however, were the 6 hard glass 10 oz. bottles it come in. I filled each bottle to the top (to eliminate any extra space), screwed on the lids and stored in the fridge. Each day I opened up and drank one bottle to see it was still carbonated. Tonight I drank the last bottle and to my satisfaction was still carbonated.

If you want to try this at home, I recommend using the glass bottles like mine as opposed to plastic bottles like water bottles. Glass is much stronger and will hold a stronger pressure thus keeping more of the carbon dioxide in the soda. Also, they just last longer.

This was just a short term test. After tonight I will begin a longer two week test to see if the bottled soda can last about the longest that a normal 6 pack would in a fridge. I'm hoping this next test will yield similar results and will also be accompanied by a thorough of examination of the various ounces to dollars ratios to determine how much money is saved on each purchase as well over the course of a year.

Idiot-proofing your keyboard

For those of you looking for just one more way to inflate your techno-ego and feel superior to people who are not quite as tech-literate as you (I'm looking at you, jimmy), here's another. By this day and age you would think that most everyone could type without looking at what the heck their fingers are touching, but of course you'd be wrong. So, how can you take advantage of this little fault? By popping the keys off your keyboard (its quite harmless) and rearranging them as you see fit. This will ensure that anyone who can't type with their eyes closed will be unable to taint your computer with their inferior keystrokes.

After doing this you can rest assured that only those who are worthy will be able to command your keys and it also nets you 5 Geek Points. Congratulations!

Stick it to the soda bastards

As is common knowledge (or at least to us super intelligent third year college students), 2-liter bottles of soda offer the best ratio of ounces to dollars. The problem with buying the 2-liter is that once it is opened, you've got about a day, maybe two if you're lucky, to drink it before it hits flatsville. After a little research on the ol' interweb, I found some background as to why this happens and some helpful hints to keep the soda carbonated.

First, soda will go "flat" because the carbon dioxide molecules leave the soda and mix with the air above it. The reason this doesnt happen while still in the can or bottle is because the pressure inside is holding the molecules from escaping the liquid. As soon the pressure is relieved, the molecules begin to escape. You can prove this by opening and then recapping a bottle of soda. After a while, the molecules will fill the available space a return pressure to equilibrium.

To make your soda last without any real effort, just open to bottle as few time as possible and store in a cold place. Also, DO NOT squeeze the bottle and then cap it. This will actually make it go flat faster.

Now, if you're like me, thats just not enough. At the moment I am conducting an experiment to make a 2-liter bottle have the lasting capacity of a six pack of cans.

More details soon...

Let There Be Light!

And so there was!

I applaud you for making it this far. Truly you are a hero worthy of my divine influence and insight. But more importantly you cared enough to check out this little experiment. And for that your time shall not be wasted.

Please note that this is NOT a journal! You will (probably) not hear about what I had for dinner, or that my mom called, or that I stubbed my toe getting the mail. What you will, however, are some things in my current life that I am rather proud of and other projects/experiments that I am working on, possibly as well as semi-philosophical ramblings. Now you may ask yourself, "why would I want to hear about that?" Well there is always boredom...and uh... well once this thing gets going Im sure there will be some good reason to keep coming back. Thanks for stoppin by and dont forget to bookmark my page.

Ciao