Monday, December 10, 2007
This Film is Not Yet Rated (nsfw)
A very compelling look at the MPAA, and how they have been so successful at convincing everyone that the current rating system works perfectly. If you have ever seen a movie and wondered how it ever passed standards, this is a film for you. Heck, even if you have seen the trailers for the recent push of graphic horror movies to know something isn't right.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Mark Twain's "Was the World Made for Man?
I came across an essay today that I throughly enjoyed. Its from none other than Mark Twain in response to Alfred Russell Wallace's revival of the theory that this earth is at the center of the stellar universe. Wallace, that whom had been a co-author of the theory evolution by natural selection, had become convinced that the world and the universe had been created for man. This is Mark Twain's written response:
Was the World Made for Man?
Mark Twain
1903
Mark Twain
1903
“Alfred Russell Wallace's revival of the theory that this earth is at the center of the stellar universe, and is the only habitable globe, has aroused great interest in the world." -- Literary Digest
"For ourselves we do thoroughly believe that man, as he lives just here on this tiny earth, is in essence and possibilities the most sublime existence in all the range of non-divine being -- the chief love and delight of God." -- Chicago "Interior" (Presb.)
I seem to be the only scientist and theologian still remaining to be heard from on this important matter of whether the world was made for man or not. I feel that it is time for me to speak.
I stand almost with the others. They believe the world was made for man, I believe it likely that it was made for man; they think there is proof, astronomical mainly, that it was made for man, I think there is evidence only, not proof, that it was made for him. It is too early, yet, to arrange the verdict, the returns are not all in. When they are all in, I think they will show that the world was made for man; but we must not hurry, we must patiently wait till they are all in.
Now as far as we have got, astronomy is on our side. Mr. Wallace has clearly shown this. He has clearly shown two things: that the world was made for man, and that the universe was made for the world -- to steady it, you know. The astronomy part is settled, and cannot be challenged.
We come now to the geological part. This is the one where the evidence is not all in, yet. It is coming in, hourly, daily, coming in all the time, but naturally it comes with geological carefulness and deliberation, and we must not be impatient, we must not get excited, we must be calm, and wait. To lose our tranquility will not hurry geology; nothing hurries geology.
It takes a long time to prepare a world for man, such a thing is not done in a day. Some of the great scientists, carefully deciphering the evidences furnished by geology, have arrived at the conviction that our world is prodigiously old, and they may be right, but Lord Kelvin is not of their opinion. He takes a cautious, conservative view, in order to be on the safe side, and feels sure it is not so old as they think. As Lord Kelvin is the highest authority in science now living, I think we must yield to him and accept his view. He does not concede that the world is more than a hundred million years old. He believes it is that old, but not older. Lyell believed that our race was introduced into the world 31,000 years ago, Herbert Spencer makes it 32,000. Lord Kelvin agrees with Spencer.
Very well. According to Kelvin's figures it took 99,968,000 years to prepare the world for man, impatient as the Creator doubtless was to see him and admire him. But a large enterprise like this has to be conducted warily, painstakingly, logically. It was foreseen that man would have to have the oyster. Therefore the first preparation was made for the oyster. Very well, you cannot make an oyster out of whole cloth, you must make the oyster's ancestor first. This is not done in a day. You must make a vast variety of invertebrates, to start with -- belemnites, trilobites, jebusites, amalekites, and that sort of fry, and put them to soak in a primary sea, and wait and see what will happen. Some will be a disappointments - the belemnites, the ammonites and such; they will be failures, they will die out and become extinct, in the course of the 19,000,000 years covered by the experiment, but all is not lost, for the amalekites will fetch the home-stake; they will develop gradually into encrinites, and stalactites, and blatherskites, and one thing and another as the mighty ages creep on and the Archaean and the Cambrian Periods pile their lofty crags in the primordial seas, and at last the first grand stage in the preparation of the world for man stands completed, the Oyster is done. An oyster has hardly any more reasoning power than a scientist has; and so it is reasonably certain that this one jumped to the conclusion that the nineteen-million years was a preparation for him; but that would be just like an oyster, which is the most conceited animal there is, except man. And anyway, this one could not know, at that early date, that he was only an incident in a scheme, and that there was some more to the scheme, yet.
The oyster being achieved, the next thing to be arranged for in the preparation of the world for man, was fish. Fish, and coal to fry it with. So the Old Silurian seas were opened up to breed the fish in, and at the same time the great work of building Old Red Sandstone mountains 80,000 feet high to cold-storage their fossils in was begun. This latter was quite indispensable, for there would be no end of failures again, no end of extinctions -- millions of them -- and it would be cheaper and less trouble to can them in the rocks than keep tally of them in a book. One does not build the coal beds and 80,000 feet of perpendicular Old Red Sandstone in a brief time -- no, it took twenty million years. In the first place, a coal bed is a slow and troublesome and tiresome thing to construct. You have to grow prodigious forests of tree-ferns and reeds and calamites and such things in a marshy region; then you have, to sink them under out of sight and let them rot; then you have to turn the streams on them, so as to bury them under several feet of sediment, and the sediment must have time to harden and turn to rock; next you must grow another forest on top, then sink it and put on another layer of sediment and harden it; then more forest and more rock, layer upon layer, three miles deep -- ah, indeed it is a sickening slow job to build a coal-measure and do it right!
So the millions of years drag on; and meantime the fish-culture is lazying along and frazzling out in a way to make a person tired. You have developed ten thousand kinds of fishes from the oyster; and come to look, you have raised nothing but fossils, nothing but extinctions. There is nothing left alive and progressive but a ganoid or two and perhaps half a dozen asteroids. Even the cat wouldn't eat such. Still, it is no great matter; there is plenty of time, yet, and they will develop into something tasty before man is ready for them. Even a ganoid can be depended on for that, when he is not going to be called on for sixty million years.
The Palaeozoic time-limit having now been reached, it was necessary to begin the next stage in the preparation of the world for man, by opening up the Mesozoic Age and instituting some reptiles. For man would need reptiles. Not to eat, but to develop himself from. This being the most important detail of the scheme, a spacious liberality of time was set apart for it -- thirty million years. What wonders followed! From the remaining ganoids and asteroids and alkaloids were developed by slow and steady and pains-taking culture those stupendous saurians that used to prowl about the steamy world in those remote ages, with their snaky heads reared forty feet in the air and sixty feet of body and tail racing and thrashing after. All gone, now, alas -- all extinct, except the little handful of Arkansawrians left stranded and lonely with us here upon this far-flung verge and fringe of time.
Yes, it took thirty million years and twenty million reptiles to get one that would stick long enough to develop into something else and let the scheme proceed to the next step.
Then the Pterodactyl burst upon the world in all his impressive solemnity and grandeur, and all Nature recognized that the Cainozoic threshold was crossed and a new Period open for business, a new stage begun in the preparation of the globe for man. It may be that the Pterodactyl thought the thirty million years had been intended as a preparation for himself, for there was nothing too foolish for a Pterodactyl to imagine, but he was in error, the preparation was for man, Without doubt the Pterodactyl attracted great attention, for even the least observant could see that there was the making of a bird in him. And so it turned out. Also the makings of a mammal, in time. One thing we have to say to his credit, that in the matter of picturesqueness he was the triumph of his Period; he wore wings and had teeth, and was a starchy and wonderful mixture altogether, a kind of long-distance premonitory symptom of Kipling's marine:
'E isn't one O'the reg'lar Line,
nor 'e isn't one of the crew,
'E's a kind of a giddy harumfrodite [hermaphrodite] --
soldier an' sailor too!
From this time onward for nearly another thirty million years the preparation moved briskly. From the Pterodactyl was developed the bird; from the bird the kangaroo, from the kangaroo the other marsupials; from these the mastodon, the megatherium, the giant sloth, the Irish elk, and all that crowd that you make useful and instructive fossils out of -- then came the first great Ice Sheet, and they all retreated before it and crossed over the bridge at Behring's strait and wandered around over Europe and Asia and died. All except a few, to carry on the preparation with. Six Glacial Periods with two million years between Periods chased these poor orphans up and down and about the earth, from weather to weather -- from tropic swelter at the poles to Arctic frost at the equator and back again and to and fro, they never knowing what kind of weather was going to turn up next; and if ever they settled down anywhere the whole continent suddenly sank under them without the least notice and they had to trade places with the fishes and scramble off to where the seas had been, and scarcely a dry rag on them; and when there was nothing else doing a volcano would let go and fire them out from wherever they had located. They led this unsettled and irritating life for twenty-five million years, half the time afloat, half the time aground, and always wondering what it was all for, they never suspecting, of course, that it was a preparation for man and had to be done just so or it wouldn't be any proper and harmonious place for him when he arrived.
And at last came the monkey, and anybody could see that man wasn't far off, now. And in truth that was so. The monkey went on developing for close upon 5,000,000 years, and then turned into a man - to all appearances.
Such is the history of it. Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
"For ourselves we do thoroughly believe that man, as he lives just here on this tiny earth, is in essence and possibilities the most sublime existence in all the range of non-divine being -- the chief love and delight of God." -- Chicago "Interior" (Presb.)
I seem to be the only scientist and theologian still remaining to be heard from on this important matter of whether the world was made for man or not. I feel that it is time for me to speak.
I stand almost with the others. They believe the world was made for man, I believe it likely that it was made for man; they think there is proof, astronomical mainly, that it was made for man, I think there is evidence only, not proof, that it was made for him. It is too early, yet, to arrange the verdict, the returns are not all in. When they are all in, I think they will show that the world was made for man; but we must not hurry, we must patiently wait till they are all in.
Now as far as we have got, astronomy is on our side. Mr. Wallace has clearly shown this. He has clearly shown two things: that the world was made for man, and that the universe was made for the world -- to steady it, you know. The astronomy part is settled, and cannot be challenged.
We come now to the geological part. This is the one where the evidence is not all in, yet. It is coming in, hourly, daily, coming in all the time, but naturally it comes with geological carefulness and deliberation, and we must not be impatient, we must not get excited, we must be calm, and wait. To lose our tranquility will not hurry geology; nothing hurries geology.
It takes a long time to prepare a world for man, such a thing is not done in a day. Some of the great scientists, carefully deciphering the evidences furnished by geology, have arrived at the conviction that our world is prodigiously old, and they may be right, but Lord Kelvin is not of their opinion. He takes a cautious, conservative view, in order to be on the safe side, and feels sure it is not so old as they think. As Lord Kelvin is the highest authority in science now living, I think we must yield to him and accept his view. He does not concede that the world is more than a hundred million years old. He believes it is that old, but not older. Lyell believed that our race was introduced into the world 31,000 years ago, Herbert Spencer makes it 32,000. Lord Kelvin agrees with Spencer.
Very well. According to Kelvin's figures it took 99,968,000 years to prepare the world for man, impatient as the Creator doubtless was to see him and admire him. But a large enterprise like this has to be conducted warily, painstakingly, logically. It was foreseen that man would have to have the oyster. Therefore the first preparation was made for the oyster. Very well, you cannot make an oyster out of whole cloth, you must make the oyster's ancestor first. This is not done in a day. You must make a vast variety of invertebrates, to start with -- belemnites, trilobites, jebusites, amalekites, and that sort of fry, and put them to soak in a primary sea, and wait and see what will happen. Some will be a disappointments - the belemnites, the ammonites and such; they will be failures, they will die out and become extinct, in the course of the 19,000,000 years covered by the experiment, but all is not lost, for the amalekites will fetch the home-stake; they will develop gradually into encrinites, and stalactites, and blatherskites, and one thing and another as the mighty ages creep on and the Archaean and the Cambrian Periods pile their lofty crags in the primordial seas, and at last the first grand stage in the preparation of the world for man stands completed, the Oyster is done. An oyster has hardly any more reasoning power than a scientist has; and so it is reasonably certain that this one jumped to the conclusion that the nineteen-million years was a preparation for him; but that would be just like an oyster, which is the most conceited animal there is, except man. And anyway, this one could not know, at that early date, that he was only an incident in a scheme, and that there was some more to the scheme, yet.
The oyster being achieved, the next thing to be arranged for in the preparation of the world for man, was fish. Fish, and coal to fry it with. So the Old Silurian seas were opened up to breed the fish in, and at the same time the great work of building Old Red Sandstone mountains 80,000 feet high to cold-storage their fossils in was begun. This latter was quite indispensable, for there would be no end of failures again, no end of extinctions -- millions of them -- and it would be cheaper and less trouble to can them in the rocks than keep tally of them in a book. One does not build the coal beds and 80,000 feet of perpendicular Old Red Sandstone in a brief time -- no, it took twenty million years. In the first place, a coal bed is a slow and troublesome and tiresome thing to construct. You have to grow prodigious forests of tree-ferns and reeds and calamites and such things in a marshy region; then you have, to sink them under out of sight and let them rot; then you have to turn the streams on them, so as to bury them under several feet of sediment, and the sediment must have time to harden and turn to rock; next you must grow another forest on top, then sink it and put on another layer of sediment and harden it; then more forest and more rock, layer upon layer, three miles deep -- ah, indeed it is a sickening slow job to build a coal-measure and do it right!
So the millions of years drag on; and meantime the fish-culture is lazying along and frazzling out in a way to make a person tired. You have developed ten thousand kinds of fishes from the oyster; and come to look, you have raised nothing but fossils, nothing but extinctions. There is nothing left alive and progressive but a ganoid or two and perhaps half a dozen asteroids. Even the cat wouldn't eat such. Still, it is no great matter; there is plenty of time, yet, and they will develop into something tasty before man is ready for them. Even a ganoid can be depended on for that, when he is not going to be called on for sixty million years.
The Palaeozoic time-limit having now been reached, it was necessary to begin the next stage in the preparation of the world for man, by opening up the Mesozoic Age and instituting some reptiles. For man would need reptiles. Not to eat, but to develop himself from. This being the most important detail of the scheme, a spacious liberality of time was set apart for it -- thirty million years. What wonders followed! From the remaining ganoids and asteroids and alkaloids were developed by slow and steady and pains-taking culture those stupendous saurians that used to prowl about the steamy world in those remote ages, with their snaky heads reared forty feet in the air and sixty feet of body and tail racing and thrashing after. All gone, now, alas -- all extinct, except the little handful of Arkansawrians left stranded and lonely with us here upon this far-flung verge and fringe of time.
Yes, it took thirty million years and twenty million reptiles to get one that would stick long enough to develop into something else and let the scheme proceed to the next step.
Then the Pterodactyl burst upon the world in all his impressive solemnity and grandeur, and all Nature recognized that the Cainozoic threshold was crossed and a new Period open for business, a new stage begun in the preparation of the globe for man. It may be that the Pterodactyl thought the thirty million years had been intended as a preparation for himself, for there was nothing too foolish for a Pterodactyl to imagine, but he was in error, the preparation was for man, Without doubt the Pterodactyl attracted great attention, for even the least observant could see that there was the making of a bird in him. And so it turned out. Also the makings of a mammal, in time. One thing we have to say to his credit, that in the matter of picturesqueness he was the triumph of his Period; he wore wings and had teeth, and was a starchy and wonderful mixture altogether, a kind of long-distance premonitory symptom of Kipling's marine:
'E isn't one O'the reg'lar Line,
nor 'e isn't one of the crew,
'E's a kind of a giddy harumfrodite [hermaphrodite] --
soldier an' sailor too!
From this time onward for nearly another thirty million years the preparation moved briskly. From the Pterodactyl was developed the bird; from the bird the kangaroo, from the kangaroo the other marsupials; from these the mastodon, the megatherium, the giant sloth, the Irish elk, and all that crowd that you make useful and instructive fossils out of -- then came the first great Ice Sheet, and they all retreated before it and crossed over the bridge at Behring's strait and wandered around over Europe and Asia and died. All except a few, to carry on the preparation with. Six Glacial Periods with two million years between Periods chased these poor orphans up and down and about the earth, from weather to weather -- from tropic swelter at the poles to Arctic frost at the equator and back again and to and fro, they never knowing what kind of weather was going to turn up next; and if ever they settled down anywhere the whole continent suddenly sank under them without the least notice and they had to trade places with the fishes and scramble off to where the seas had been, and scarcely a dry rag on them; and when there was nothing else doing a volcano would let go and fire them out from wherever they had located. They led this unsettled and irritating life for twenty-five million years, half the time afloat, half the time aground, and always wondering what it was all for, they never suspecting, of course, that it was a preparation for man and had to be done just so or it wouldn't be any proper and harmonious place for him when he arrived.
And at last came the monkey, and anybody could see that man wasn't far off, now. And in truth that was so. The monkey went on developing for close upon 5,000,000 years, and then turned into a man - to all appearances.
Such is the history of it. Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Have we reached the 9th of 10 steps to close down a free society w/ HR1955?
This article points out the 10 steps necessary to close an open society, and it seems that with H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, the 9th step of Dissent = Treason is finally coming to fruition, with this new act labeling US citizens as terrorists if they have "an extremist belief."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, November 26, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Ultimate Black Friday Deal Guide
Other than the one of two clearly awesome deals per store, it's tough to know if standing your butt in the cold all night will actually save your more money than doing some online comparison shopping from the comfort of your own home. So we've done the comparison shopping for you and listed the REAL savings on all the best tech deals hitting Friday.There are a couple of deals that I'm currently scoping out, but for the most part I already snagged what I wanted a few weeks back (a shiny new HD DVD player!) If you want a more complete list of what is out there, I recommend http://www.blackfriday.info for a good centralized site to check out all the deals. One thing I'm grabbing for sure is some extra memory for my camera, 2 Gb SD card for $15. With the way the economy is going these days, I predict people will be done shopping early this year and people will be more selective about what they buy. I'm guessing less gifts on average, but people will probably opt for a larger single gift at the expense of smaller gifts. That translates to a lot of people looking to get the most bang for their buck, and black Friday would be a particularly good day to find those deals. Happy Hunting.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Universal vs. YouTube and MySpace takes its first casualty: Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor describes how Universal's desperate, potentially devastating lawsuit against YouTube and MySpace has prevented him from launching an innovative new website: "We are challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other’s feet."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK
The two talk about Oink, the record industry, Radiohead, and more. Very interesting read.Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Sure, there are a ton of teenage punks out there that feel entitled to downloading free music. But in all honesty, they are probably downloading crap like Britney Spears, or some other overly marketed piece of tripe. I see a new trend developing in which the consumer is able to play a physical part in the new distribution model of the goods they desire. It needs to be a fair system, but to be sure, it needs to be one balanced by a proper price point. Why have CD sales dropped through the floor? The answer is really simple, people are tired of paying $15, $16, and sometimes $19 for one, maybe two good songs on a CD. Then once you fork over your hard earned cash, you get handcuffed on how you will use the music that was just purchased. There are two solutions to this, either bring the production value of the CD up to meet the price (better quality songs, less filler songs) or allow the market to reset the price. The industry has dug themselves into a deep deep hole, and instead of trying to adapt to the new emerging market, they insist on digging deeper, insuring their eventual collapse. I do still buy CDs, on a very rare occasion, but most of my purchases are downloads these days. The CDs that I have bought have been done to support Artists that are trying to break out of the mold. The past two CDs that I purchased have been the last two NiN releases, and its articles like this that show exactly why I will continue to support Trent and his future endeavors.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Update on its way.
Been awhile since I posted something personal. I'll be sure to post something from the past couple of weekends, had a great time out in Seattle at Greg's Wedding.
More to come...
later.
More to come...
later.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
BREAKING: Stanford Team Finds Blood Test to Identify Alzheimer's Disease
Researchers at Stanford University have developed a potentially pathbreaking blood test that, according to preliminary studies, is able to identify patients with Alzheimer's disease - an ailment that has been notoriously difficult to diagnose.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, October 07, 2007
15 Ridiculously Useful Websites
Here is a diverse list of useful websites - some you may know, but many you probably don't, that are there just to make life a little bit easier. From fitness and travel, to online coupons and recommended reading lists, this collection has a little something for everyone.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Is your Doc on your Buddy List?
Dr. Jay Parkinson has taken a the old model of house calls and personal contact and given it a decidedly 21st century twist. Feeling under the weather, send him an IM. Just had a bike accident and worried about your knee, fire off a text message. I hope this catches on, I would love to sign up for a Doc that offers something similar.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, October 01, 2007
9/11 Is Over - by Thomas Friedman
"I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 has knocked America completely out of balance."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Hercules Hits 130.7mph On a Bicycle
Markus Stoeckl just broke the World Speed Record for series mountain bikes, hitting an incredible 130.7mph, on a freaking mountain bike, people!Mr. Stoeckl is nicknamed "Hercules," not only because he drank the milk of a lion when he was younger, but also because he is 6'4", weighs 220lbs and travels at 130.7mph on a bicycle.Holy Jubezus! That's freaking flying! For the 40 sec run, at that speed, he would have traveled 1.45 miles. Absolutely crazy.
read more | digg story
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Trent Reznor: Steal My Music
Reznor to Fans: "Has anyone seen the price come down? Okay, well, you know what that means - STEAL IT. Steal away. Steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'. Because one way or another these motherfuckers will get it through their head that they're ripping people off and that that's not right."You may not like his music, but you really have to respect his integrity. He stands by his music, and it highly upset at its explotation. This is one artist who doesn't just cash the check and look the other way as the recording industry scams over the fans.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, September 06, 2007
An open letter to iPhone owners from Steve Jobs
We have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.I was a little on the fence about the whole $200 price drop announced yesterday. I purchased my iPhone as my birthday gift at the end of July. There were two major reasons for this 1) My previous phone had just died and 2) I was banking on an updated phone either by the beginning of 2008 or a price drop in November to cash in on the Holidays. Since I was phone less, and needed a new one, my pain was not as severe as it would have been if I had solely based my decision of the pricing in point 2. It still stung that I was out $200 that really shouldn't have happened as quickly. As an early adopter, I was taking on the full retail price and the risks with a new technology. I understood that fully, but to cut the price a mere 10 weeks after launch (I've had my phone for around 6 weeks now) was unsettling. I'm pleasantly surprised by this move, and while I was willing to bite the bullet about my loss (I'll go over my rational later) this is a very generous offer by Apple's part and I greatly appreciate it.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, August 27, 2007
Gonzales Has Resigned as Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned.I only have two words for this:ABOUT TIME!...and that is all I have to say about that. Well that, and the world has gotten a little brighter today.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Something is better than nothing.
I know I promised an update, but a synopsis will have to suffice. Here is what has been going on in my life for the past two months.
- Spent some good quality time with the boys. (which in its self needs an entire post dedicated to it)
- Melanie started her Comps for her PhD. Basically its the series of tests that will decide if she is allowed to move forward to her dissertation. The dissertation will decide if she is awarded her degree, so Comps is a big deal.
- Worked a near record (but not quite) 15 days in a row, averaging 10hrs plus per day. The reason? Melanie was out of town conducting research on the JMP-ACL project at the Air Force Academy, and I was helping to cover for an injured co-worker. Basically I worked everyday from July 5th till the 19th.
- Prior to the mega work stretch, I traveled with Melanie to California and had a chance to catch up with my good friend Owen and some of our college friends.
- Just got back from Melanie's High School reunion in Pullman WA. In the process of doing that we 1) Missed a massive heat wave that hit NC 2) Enjoyed marvelous 80 degree weather in Pullman 3) Celebrated Melanie's birthday 4) Had a surprise visit from Mel's brother whom had traveled 6 hours+ after work to get there 5) Went to the reunion and 6) Ran past a burning grain elevator. By ran past, I do me ran past, the trail was four feet from the grain elevator.
- Got a spiffy new iPhone.
- Found Melanie the perfect birthday gift.
There are some other things out there too, and most of this I have just glossed over. Things are going quite well, and obviously busy.
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