Neat!

I picked up a video game yesterday with, get this, an Epilepsy Warning!

Epilepsy Warning

Please read before playing

A very small percentage of individuals may experience epileptic seizures when exposed to certain light patterns or flashig lights. Exposure to certain patterns or backgrounds on a computer screen, or while playing video games, may induce an epileptic seizure in these individuals. Certain conditions may induce previously undetected epileptic symptoms even in persons who have no history of prior seizure or epilepsy.

If you experience any of the following symptoms while playing: dizziness, altered vison, eye or muscle twitches, loss of awareness, disorientation, any involuntary movement or convuslions - immediately discontinue playing and consult your physician.equipment for your ship.

I assume that "eqipment for your ship" thing is a mistake in printing.

Anyway, I've never had a seizure. It might be fun.

Later,

Dies the Fire

I picked up a book called "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Sterling.

I'm not very far into it, but it's well written and interesting.

The book starts with "the Change." All of a sudden, modern technology stops working. Explosives don't explode, electrical conductors don't conduct, that sort of thing.

Don't overthink it. I did. I still am.

As a plot device, the Change serves to reduce people to their most basic natures. What would you do if civilization effectively vanished, and you had to find a way to survive? Start a farming community? Become a warlord?

The author seems to think that many people would revert to medieval attitudes, if not even more primitive ones. Seems like a pretty low opinion of humanity. I kind of agree.

But I am still stuck on the Change.

Is there still lightning? If so, then static charge and discharge still happens. Time to repeat the experiments of Franklin, Ohm, Faraday, etc. and work out the new laws of electricity. Biological electrochemical process still work just fine (otherwise there'd be no story). Electricity can't be gone, the rules have just changed.

The same goes for explosives. Nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose (smokeless powder) and presumably other nitric acid based explosives don't explode. They still combust, just at a much slower rate. Black powder hasn't been mentioned, but I suspect that it will also turn out to burn more slowly. I see experiment potential here. The ratio of carbon to sullfur to potassium nitrate determines black powder's efficiency as an explosive. So start by varying the ratio. Again, biological processes still work. So the rules of chemistry can't have changed too much.

Like I said: overthinking the story.

Later,

MirrorMask

Okay, I'm not quite sure how "MirrorMask" got on my Netflix queue. I don't remember putting it there, and when the DVD arrived, I was terribly confused.

That said, this is one of the coolest movies I have ever seen. The screenplay was written by Neil Gaiman, and Jim Henson was involved somehow, too. (No muppets, though)

It's strange, it's surreal, it's awesome.

The main character is a juggler in her parents' circus. Then things start to get weird.

I can't describe it. It just has to be seen.

Later,

Update: obviously Jim Henson himself couldn't have been involved, as the movie was made in 2005. Jim Henson Studios did the special effects. Still, no muppets.

Later,

"The Prestige"

I saw the movie "The Prestige" today. It was okay. It was directed by Chistopher Nolan ("Batman Begins") and Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale starred. Michael Caine played a supporting role. And Scarlett Johansson, never forget Scarlett Johansson. The acting was really good. The drama was gripping and tense. There wasn't really much action, but the movie was still never boring. The plot was excellent. I really hate movies where huge, fancy effects attempt to make up for a crappy plot (or a total lack of one).

I had one real problem with this movie.

In a movie about stage magicians, where everything is done with illusion and misdirection, the trick at the end is real. Why?

The thing I liked best about the movie was the rival magicians' obsession with figuring out the other's tricks. Throwing in real magic at the end was extremely disappointing.

Later,

I am no longer going insane, I have arrived.

I just did something completely weird, even for me.

I was walking past my desk, and for no apparent reason, picked up a pen, and did an impression of Burgess Merideth as 'the Penguin.'

How bizarre.

Later,

Some people need to get over themselves

Ok, I was just reading some comments on a random blog, and I realized that one had a familiar theme.

What kind of jackass leaves a comment on someone's personal blog that accuses that person of making trivial, meaningless posts?

It's THEIR blog! They can make posts about whatever they want. If they want to rant about something that they find annoying, well, that's what a personal blog is for.

If, for example, I start actually caring about politics and want to make serious, deep posts on the current political climate, I'll start a blog specifically for that.

If, on the other hand, I only make such posts when an issue happens to touch a nerve, it will go on my personal blog, along with anything else that happens to stike my fancy.

So I just want to say, in advance, to any person who thinks my blog is to insignificant to exist:
"Go fuck yourself."

Later,

Lazy Saturday; Strange Dreams

It's Saturday, and I'm really bored. For the first time in a long while, I actually have nothing that needs doing. It is amazing how fast I lose interest in my normal activities when I am not procrastinating over something important.

I had some weird dreams last night. I usually do remember my dreams, but I don't talk about them because they are either about as interesting as my waking life or really out there.

Most of my dreams fall into the category of anxiety dreams - about things that no longer apply to my life. For example, I dream about not remembering my high school locker combination (or even which locker is mine). I never dream about these sort of things when they actually apply, only years after the fact. Apparently my subconscious mind is a cesspool of imagined neuroses.

The rest of my dreams are narrative, kind of like watching a movie and starring in it at the same time. They are almost always in science fiction or fantasy genres. I don't talk about them because I am aware that I am already on the fringes of what society seems to consider "normal," and telling them would carry me way over the edge.

Last night's dreams were strange for me, in that I think most people would consider them pretty normal.

The first one was about attending my twenty year high school reunion (it's in 2010). I didn't go to my ten year reunion, and have no plans to go to the twenty year either. In my dream no one recognized me with the beard. Oddly enough, the dream reunion was about as dull as I would have expected a real one to be.

The second one involved my friend Kevin preaching at me (I am an atheist, he is not). And also me somehow coming into posession of a huge, rundown, creepy house (I mean Gormenghast huge, rundown and creepy). Enough said.

Well, I'm bored again. Time to find something else to do.

Later,