WARNING: SPOILERS!
I saw the Star Trek Original Series (the remastered version, technically) episode "The Changeling" lately, in which the Enterprise encounters a computer probe designed to destroy, or "sterilize," all that is imperfect. Being impervious to everything they have to throw at it, Kirk and his crew manage to survive for a while because the probe thinks Captain James Kirk is Jackson Roykirk, its one-time creator. However, Nomad, the probe, eventually learns that although Kirk is his creator, he is also an imperfect "biological unit." Just when Nomad deactivates the ship's life support, Kirk finds a way to defeat the computer. He reveals Nomad's mistake of his identity, and that, coupled with the errors that Nomad did not recognize its mistake nor correct it by "sterilization," compelled the machine to eradicate itself on the grounds that it was imperfect.Nomad didn't do this easily, of course. Its voice generators went screwy and it kept repeating "ERROR ... ERROR...." This made me think of the computers we have today, about how crummy they can be. Specifically, I found myself wondering how long it took people in the Star Trek universe to get past such annoyances as we have today. I can just imagine a Windows Nomad: "I AM WINDOWS. I AM PERFECT." And then Kirk convinces it to destroy itself: "PROCESSING. ESTIMATED TIME REMAINING: 3 MINUTES ... 6 MINUTES ... .73 HOURS.... WINDOWS REQUESTS USER VERIFICATION."Don't beam the thing into deep space to explode, Kirk, beam it to Bill Gates' office.
The issue of our energy crisis was, naturally, brought up in tonight's Republican convention. This reminded me of another tidbit from chemistry class this afternoon, when Dr. F related reacting atoms to teenage relationships.
He said that atoms bond, bonds break, and new bonds are formed, kind of like when a girl breaks up with one guy and hooks up with another. And, as I commented at that point, that releases a lot of energy!Forget oil drilling, we just need to find a way to harness this.
One thing I forgot to mention about chemistry class: Dr. F told us to look at the page about units of measurement, and told us that that is the first hurdle most college students have trouble with. How hard can it be to convert 1600 meters to miles?
I'm sure a great number of Zelda fans already know about this place, but I only found it recently, being one of those fans who doesn't browse fan sites all day. Zelda Reorchestrated, or ZREO, is dedicated to creating realistic synthesizations of Zelda music. What's different about ZREO is these people are trying to keep true to the original music as much as possible, while many other places, such as OCremix, are creating variations and medleys however they want. There are some places where I quibble with the style, and some others where the sound isn't real enough, but they are learning how to do better all the time. Considering how far ZREO has come in only a couple years of existence, I have every hope that they will one day have incredible, complete soundtracks to every Zelda title.
My junior year in high school has officially started with chemistry class today and every Wednesday henceforth. Dr. F, the teacher for this particular sort of homeschooler's co-op, is a very nice, funny, energetic guy. He joked about having to put me and the other new students through a "baptism of fire" to get into the swing of his classes. Then he went on and talked about science, what chemistry's all about, various things like the elements, significant figures, (the fact that he likes governor Palin) and so on. I think I surprised him with the fact that not one thing he said went over my head, having taken a physical science course in my sophomore year. I even gave him the precise definition of a calorie. At the end of the class, he said it was perfectly fine for us to contact one another for assistance if we didn't understand a concept or couldn't figure out how to get a problem to work; already I had a reputation, for Dr. F indicated me when he said this, and a fellow student across the room even said to expect everyone to be calling me a lot = )So far, the school year is off to a good start. I'll find out what's in store for me in Mr. H's philosophy class two Fridays from now.
As soon as I get my blog up and running, I start having problems. Oh, everything's all right, but it is incredibly frustrating to try to transfer a newly created blog to my other account address, only to find that something is just not working. So either my other address will get the invite eventually, or I will just have an inactive second author on my settings list for eternity.
All right, I've finally joined The Harangued Internet Negotiations Group (T.H.I.N.G.), otherwise known as the blogosphere. I hereby somewhat dedicate this blog to my thoughts on videogames, Calvin and Hobbes, and the fact that I have so many other ideas that swirl through my conciousness that I either need a legilimens or a blog to get them out to other people and avoid the problem of forgetting what I wanted to tell someone when they come home from college. So, here's to all the unknown geniuses who live life trying to remain in God's grace, and just wing everything else as it comes ... like me. Cheers, good luck, and make sure you have enough experience to defeat that final boss!
.bmp)
