Laser Elevator

Link post:

Laser Elevator from xkcd blag.

(Warning: link contains some coarse language)

Peacefulness

Walking back from work last night was very peaceful. A warm breeze was blowing from the south. The tall plants and trees waved back and forth, lazily in the night. A few passive raindrops fell from the sky, pitter-pattering on the pavement on which I tread. The wind brought the smell of a sweet spring rain. There was no one else around; lights from the town shone steadily while those of distant radio tower blinked on and off slowly. As I neared the end of my walk I heard the quiet sloshing of the nearby stream. I was in no hurry this night; I was nearly deliberate in taking my time. I took the chance to take in the sights, sounds, perceptions around me; to reflect.

I thought about how this peaceful scene I interpret could be seen in a much different way if the perspectives were different: A mother duck awakens to find her nest being invaded by a local denizen of feline variety. In the creek, a fish struggles for its life in the rain-swollen creek as it is dashed against rocks in the violent current. A young plant grapples for stability in the loose sod against the wind of the night.

And so I realized that our perception of the world's state of being is greatly effected by our inner state of being. In this night, I was at peace. And hence, the world I saw was at peace. The world I saw was peaceful. And therefore, I was peaceful.

While this may be surprising to some, to myself in fact, at that moment I felt completely content. Given, I was not focused on my search for employment, looking for a house, money. Nor was I worried about the duck, fish, or plant. But if I were given to worry, those would be the things I would worry about most. I feel content in all other areas of my life. After all, contentedness is being contented with your situation in life. Not everything must be in perfect order, in perfect place, in perfect health, in perfect condition in order for one to be content.

Perhaps next time I'll write on the balance of contentedness and mediocrity.

Also, I thought this was interesting. Facebook recently began placing ads based on personal information. For example, job searches for seniors, dating services for single people, etc. This recently appeared in my ad bar area:

Apparently Facebook even records the change in relationship statuses for advertising purposes. Freaky.

Currently listening to: Icon of Coil

Pain Avoidance

The following is something I wrote on paper some time ago. Unfortunetly it is not dated, but I'm guessing it was written sometime during Winter Break of 2007-2008. Enjoy. Another blog entry to follow tomorrow evening at approximately 20:00.

"

It's been a long while since I've written. And so I've decided to write. Writing frees the soul; perhaps that's why my soul has been so restless recently.

When I update on my blog, I feel it necessary to tell the world what affects me from the outside, perhaps allowing people to infer whit I feel on the inside. Such an allowance is dangerous; people may misinterpret said facts, thinking I'm sad when I'm happy, or happy when in fact I'm sad. Not that I would share my emotions anyway.

Who cares what words flow from this pen (or pencil even)? What makes anyone's words important? Do people read the Times to look important? Or read the Wall Street Journal just because their professors require it of them?

Nay. While there may exist these people reading for reasons impure, the majority read for one reason. Truth. The need to be in the know. Tabloids and made-up stories aside, people want to know what's going on around them, inside them. And accurately.

And hence, my words are not valueless. The human experience is generally the same. Situations, and the feelings that arise from these situations, span generations, civilizations, and space and time. It is a basic psychological premise.

The things I feel have been felt by many before me, and will be felt by many after me.

Pain without love. Love with pain. Pain.

In this unjust, imperfect world pain will be felt by all, be it physical, mental, emotional. I submit that people live their lives trying to minimize pain. People want a good job to make money to avoid financial hardship, financial pain. Everyone tries to avoid getting hurt, in basic nature. People avoid situations where they feel uncomfortable, or where they will be rejected. Sex does not drive people; pain avoidance is their goal.

People may even make others feel pain, just so they can avoid pain. Or people may endure more pain, so that another experiences less. When a society is added to the mix (friends, family, and all other human interaction), it becomes the matter of balancing one's pain avoidance versus an acceptable level of pain to others, or perhaps, in fact, pain-minimization of others.

Every decision made [is such], cost-benefit, pain-gain, and so it goes. A complex web of interactions, and a decision that will cause some pain, and others gain.

"

Ron Paul

Volume Control

While listening to music using my good headphones and working on my senior project I realized that I had four volume controls to change the strength of the sound waves entering my ears.

1) Master operating system volume control
2) Winamp volume control
3) Speaker output volume control on my Creative speakers
4) Headphone output volume control on my Phillips SBC HN100 headphones

Maximize control, minimize variability.

Now if I only had four equalizers, lol.

Spring Schedule

Click for larger image.

You use me, I use you

This is a post from my Xanga, dated March 29, 2006.

"

Life consists of people using people.

Every single relationship is like this, whether it be national governments, vendors and buyers, personal relationships, lichens, etc. It's all about the symbiosis.

Many would probably disagree, saying that people may do genuinely kind things for people. But I'm beginning to think that such things don't exist, or occur very rarely. Perhaps the problem is people do not evaluate their motives in everyday life; they just go on, doing things that they've always done. But if one were to really think about why they do things, how the interact with others, why they help people, perhaps they would see that in the end it's all really based on their own wants and needs.

I could offer any number of examples: a government helping a struggling nation, but only because they want an ally; someone assisting another, but only because they want that person in their group, their clique; or anything else you can think of where two people get ahead by using each other.

Certainly this is not a new idea. Psychology has for some while proposed the basic reasoning behind male/female relationships and the gender-roles assumed: the females desire stability, the males desire consummation. While the basic ideology (males using females and vice versa) seems to be correct, certainly the reasons for using the person could be more diversified; both could desire companionship, for example.

And perhaps the use of people isn't so bad as long as it's not the Parasitism/Antagonism type. It gets you what you want, puts you further ahead. And in a group, it could be helpful to use others, to make the group stronger, surpassing other groups.

But once you are so far ahead, surpassing others, where will you be?

"

White Thanksgiving

These images were taken less than one hour ago. So much for global warming. Enjoy.

Update

This could be a long post.

Considering that I have not updated a web journal, or really a journal of any kind, for quite some time, I perhaps will have a lot to say. Or perhaps not. Furthermore, I suppose one could say that a lot has happened since my last Xanga update. Regardless, I will write until I don't feel like writing anymore, or that this post has become so long that people perusing it will become disinterested.

Life can be broken down into different areas. This blog is about life, science, math, money, and sarcasm. One could argue that the latter four areas are all subsets of the prior. And so be it. Life is also about relationships, and I may write about that from time to time, even if it is not explicitly listed in the subject matter I normally shall cover. I will also write about school, and since I'm an Industrial Engineering major, school for me consists of science, math, and money. How convenient.

School continues to go well. I am currently in my senior year. I have about three and one half weeks of this semester yet to complete. Then I will graduate after completing my spring semester in 2008. This semester seems to have flown by; perhaps a gravity well has collapsed here recently. As mentioned in my Xanga, I'm taking General Chemistry, Statics, Technical Writing, and Senior Project this semester.

General Chemistry is not too bad, but certainly not something I am enjoying. I was surprised at how much I did not remember from high school chemistry, or that college chemistry varied that much from my high school studies. Regardless of the reason for the incongruity, I have had to actually study quite a bit and still am not doing as well as I would like in this class.

Statics is very enjoyable to myself. For those that might not be familiar with the term, statics is the branch of physics and engineering concerned with analysis of loads (forces and torques) on physical systems at static equilibrium (which is just a fancy way of saying they aren't moving relative to system in which they are being measured). The course bases its entire premise on Newton's second law:

Lex II: Mutationem motus proportionalem esse vi motrici impressae, et fieri secundum lineam rectam qua vis illa imprimitur.

=

LAW II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed.

Simply stated, the words of the law can be used to derive the equation F = ma, where F is the force acting on the object, m is the mass of the object, and a is the acceleration of the object. As the particle being analyzed is not moving, acceleration is equal to zero. This results in a force equal to zero. This does not mean that each force acting on the system is equal to zero, but rather the sum of the forces is equal to zero.



So while the forces acting at each blue link are different in magnitude and direction, the sum of all the forces on the entire system is zero if none of the system is moving. And that's the physics lesson of the day.

I am also taking Technical Writing and Senior Project but more on these and other subjects later.

Coming soon

Coming soon... A blog...