Brendan's Relativity Special Blog

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 - c. 6:36 PM PST

2006-11-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Not much to say today either. But one important note: I have just downloaded a Bernstein musical analysis on Beethoven's 3rd, Dvorak's 9th, Schumann's 2nd, Brahms's 4th, and Tschaikovsky's 6th.
"That chord is a fact. Beethoven always started with a fact--an axion."--Leonard Bernstein, Bernstein: The 1953 American Decca Recordings.

Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 - c. 5:37 PM PST

2006-11-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

-Today, I had my usual morning cup of tea with Melinda for the first time.
-Just remembered I have Friday off.
-I took a piece of a very healthy looking creosote bush they have by the Chevron gas station; now I just have to wait to get sick, and I'll be able to try it!
(Note to self: m messages kept, ref.)

Monday, November 6th, 2006 - c. 6:32 PM PST

2006-11-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

Not much to say today. I'll just list things off...
-Jasmine, from Entmoot, added me on MyYearbook. With a full array of their equivilent to my message board's Karma feature, which is by the way multifaceted in itself.
-I got a message on myspace from someone who recognized my profile as me. Now, oddly enough, she's only seen me at the gas station where I go to get tea every morning.
"A paradox, a paradox. A most ingeneous paradox. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"--Random opera I heard recently.

Sunday, November 5th, 2006 - c. 9:45 PM PST

2006-11-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday and today I went to the Living Desert as usual. On Saturday, I took Glen's nature walk. This week it was a surprisingly large group. I guess the cooler months attract more people (most of them probably part of our annual influx of snowbirds), but I have yet to confirm that as I've only observed such a large group once. The main group decided to watch the Wildlife Wonders show, but I ended up breaking off with three people (Kim, Donald and I think Linda), and took them through the Africa section, telling them what I could about African botany and also the animals therein. (For my future reference, Kim was from Barstow, and the others were from Victorville.) That night, my dad and I went to the Palm Springs Car Show, which is the first Saturday of every month. We didn't win the raffle, but there wasn't that much in the way of useful stuff, and all of the things I wanted were in the first group and claimed instantly.
Last night and early this morning, I had trouble sleeping; I think my classical station was too loud. Ergo, I had trouble "unsleeping" this morning. I was able to make it to TLD by 10:30. I took the Geology Walk, led by Docent Bob Williams (who is teaching me to lead it so I can lead it on Saturdays). My dad went with me. I think a few more weeks of it and I'll be able to lead one. Later on I ended up borrowing a field guide to N. American lichen species and a book simply titled "Southern California" from the Docent library. Being the first Sunday of the month, it was also time for the Jr. Volunteer meeting. The usual people showed up, including but certainly not limited to Alex, Carla, Johnathan, Abbey, and Jeevan.
Our "new" boss, Sarah Winer, is now my old boss. She recently accepted a zoo keeping position, and now will be taking care of my two raven friends, Mukat and Poe (whom I now refer to colloquially as "the birds" because it seems to be a popular title for them). Congratulations, Sarah! Our new-new boss is Bobby Sizemore (sorry if I spelled his name wrong).
I'm continuing the Spectrum series...

SPECTRUM
Volume II

Anyone hear about the Esperanza fire in Cabazon? Before now I'd never heard the term "Serial Arsonist." What kind of obzokie sithspawn would do a thing like that?
In other news, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death for "crimes against humanity," according to Wikipedia's news section. No comment.
As a bit of trivia, the school that Bonnie Garcia made her infamous statements in was my school. I didn't hear about it until my dad pointed out the article.

Long Absence!

2006-10-31T21:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been gone a long time, but I finally remembered my username!
I've done a lot this summer, but I'll have to sum it up:
-Kansas w/mom and Ed for Vic & Rhonda's wedding
--McPherson, KN
--Met Rhonda's family.
--Passed through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada again.
--First time entering Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
-Orlando, Florida trip w/ mom and Ed
--First flight, American Airlines
--Listened to the airplane's Aaron Copland CD at least five times.
--Saw my house from the air (or at least a blob in the approximate location of my house).
--Orlando International: shaped like a ziggurat.
--Stayed in Disneyworld, at the Carribean Beach Resort, in the Jamaica section.
--First few days:
---Spent the day in EPCOT with mom and Ed. We spent the entire time going through the areas surrounding the sphere.
---Mom broke her foot that evening in hotel room.
---Second day out: Went to emergency room the next day, where it was confirmed.
---I went to EPCOT alone, and walked around through the countries.
---One of the days, she and Ed went to the doctor for further examination. I took the time to explore the Carribean Beach resort to its fullest. I walked accross the island and all through its side paths, around the lake, back past the island, around the other side of the lake up to the bridge, then across the bridge and as far as I could go along that part of the lake before the path turned back along the road.
--One of the later days they surprised me by taking me to the Kennedy Space Center. The story was that they were going to see the Florida lawyer they'd been referred to, so I thought it checked out. Anyway, we got the full tour, including a motor coach trip through down the long road, around the assembly building and the crawler-transporter, and to an overlook of Launch Pad 39 A (at the time Space Shuttle Atlantis was on Pad 39 B, which was only slightly farther). Then, we were let off at the Saturn V center, where we watched a video on the Saturn V, etc., and were ushered into a gargantuan warehouse where a Saturn V was suspended from the ceiling. It was the most awe-inspiring thing I've seen since a distant nighttime missile test over the Pacific. I got a free button, too, from the tour guide, whose name I've forgotten.
A note on the space center: the security is unbelieveable! Even the airport wasn't so thorough, and we returned from Florida the day after the ban on carry-on liquids.
--The EPCOT firework show was impressive, but not exactly what I'd hoped for. The opening composition was very befitting, but the latter, very Disney-ish song was sickening: both my mom and I deplore Disney music. I think the 1812 Overture, Wellington's Victory, or something like that would have been more appropriate.
--I collected a bunch of pins from the countries showcase, nearly doubleing my collection.
--I bought a box of Twinings Lapsang Souchang from the Twinings store in "London". Ugh! Very disappointing. I don't know what Chrys finds so enjoyable about it.
-New boss at the Living Desert: Sarah Winer.
-Rachael, a girl who some time ago came up to me in the Butterfly House asking about being a volunteer, is now volunteering. I'm proud of my accomplishment: I've influenced someone's choice.
-I'm now a Sophomore in high school.
-Mukat and Poe are doing good as always.

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 c. 12:20 PM PDT

2006-05-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Stardust Mark Two has begun! I was the first non-moderator to post when I joined on Wednesday, the day of the launch of Mark Two of the website. I am the highest poster still, unless some maniacal zealot has joined since yesterday. I also met someone named John, who is also at least as exceptionally smart as me *beams* (and certainly more intelligent and quicker-learning. Kudos, John!). I got him to join Active Worlds. Anyway, the actual project is still in preparation.
I recently e-mailed a Berkeley professor in physics, Richard Muller, who as I may have mentioned podcasts the lectures in his class, Physics for Future Presidents. It's really neat to listen to. He originally theorized Nemesis theory. Ironically, conversation up to this point has seemed to center around MP3 players and Rhapsody in Blue.
My new headphones are already going. And I don't even listen to anything loud! I payed six dollars for it two weeks ago Saturday, and it's already going! That's expensive...for me.
Among other malfunctioning devices, I got my green astronomy laser on Friday, and it doesn't work. Spast! Now I'm upset. We're returning it Friday via postage. However, the 'bonus laser' that came with it, an 'executive red laser pointer'--the one I have absolutely no use for--works great. Baxter's sure been getting a workout.
I also got my lab coat, yesterday. Ordered an embroidered lab coat from Lydia's Uniforms. I think next time I'll order from a science website rather than a medical website.
The next thing I order online will likely be a shirt that says "WANTED Dead or Alive: Schroedinger's Cat."
Spock is back on Entmoot, overmoderating as usual. He really goes to far. Every thread I create he padlocks. Where has just law gone? I think he violates the rules. If you're reading this, Spock, I say lighten up. If you don't stop this current trend, you'll live to regret it when no one likes you. I still do, but I think you are no longer fit to be a moderator. I say that here because I know that if I said that there, my post/thread would disappear.
However, regarding this whole moderator problem, I'd like to say this: Lotesse et. al., you're going to far. Your leaving has let him win and made you look bad. And I'm disturbed that many of you blame other or all moderators to be in league with him and talk behind their backs.
I visited Mukat--attempted to visit Mukat--for a total of four hours on Saturday. I spent most of my time in there. The alpha-raven Poe, who you may remember from such chilling poems such as "The Raven," had a sudden change of heart and now can't get enough of me. Every time I'd get a chance to talk to Mukat, Poe would scare him off. I wasn't ready to pet Poe because, after all, he did bite me. It was still trippy. Sunday, to my surprise, I came in to see a duck bathing in the stream. Only it wasn't a duck: it was Mukat. He was soaked in water. Later that day, Poe almost fell asleep on the fence post next to me.
This weekend is the final Starry Safari. On Friday, there's one for the local Braille Institute. This will be interesting. Perhaps one might be one of mom's students, from her Mosaic class, because some of them are coming down from LA. Also, I got a call from Christene at 12 noon, twenty minutes ago at the time of writing, saying something about Saturday. Is there one on Saturday night as well? I'm not sure I want to go two full days without my morning shower. Perhaps I'll ride my bicycle home on Saturday morning, then get a ride from my dad back. He won't be happy about all of that driving, and I don't blame him.
Now, I'd like to comment on several things. From here on, if I do, I will create a section at the bottom of each blog called Spectrum. I'm beginning to feel that I've become too out-of-touch with the world's news, and now I've got a gun (.44 Magnum!) to my own head ordering myself to prove to you...that you'll soon be wrong! I come out ahead anyway, because I need practice with my Roman numerals.

Spectrum
Volume I

My first comments involve America's role in the middle east. For all Americans, this is an ever-present, pervasive, and extremely controversial subject matter. First, I'm going to sum up my current beleifs, because one day I'm going to lookback on this and say, "Wow, I remember that!" and go off to tell the story to my grandkids, still back on Earth, via my holographic rocking-chair. I'm sure many of us will share this history, just as we share it as a now, although for some of us sooner than others. Second, I really doubt that my opinions would be recorded, albiet recognized, any other way.
First and foremost, the war in Iraq. We are freeing the Iraqis (taking our sweet time, at our convenience)from totalitarian control and setting it in democratic control. We're fools for doing so. Granted, we are doing the right things, and many Iraqis are glad for it, but we're doing them for all of he wrong reasons. What is this reason? Oil. Oil is the spice of Arrakis. Of course, our leaders say it was to "fight terror," which is odd because Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th, 2001, nor any other known terrorist acts. Now I'm not saying that it was wrong to free the iraqi people; I'm all for it. But I wish we could have done it for that reason, rather than as a cover-up for our real reason, the oil.
And now that we've almost finished our exaggerated role in Iraq, we're now worried abou Iran. This makes me worry about who's running the government. Where are some scientists to give national advice? Oh, that's right! We took all of their funding and left them in the dirt to be trampled on. There's no threat from Iran. As Richard Muller said, and I've been thinking, their Uranium is as enriched as it takes to build a fission reactor, and no more.

Tuesday, May 16th, 2006

2006-05-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

I still haven't updated the actual blog.
Latest weather: finally real desert weather! Hot, dry days like it's supposed to be. It's mostly been near 90° Fahrenheit, but I'm guessig that by June, it will be in the hundreds, and by mid to late June up to 120° or so.
Lunch with my Grandma on Saturday went surprisingly well. We might have finally worked things out.
I need to get a slide rule. I hope they sell them at regular office stores, now that I know how to use one.
Finally got my haircut. No longer have hair in front of my ears. Really, how can people live with it?
I've gone back to Entmoot.
What's a good modern composer? Can someone comment me a good modern composer. You know what I'm looking for: one of those extreme maximal scores. Help?
Ack! My damn school is playing music really loud. I can't hear Rhapsody in Blue. Did I ever get a choice of music? No!
A new resident of Quantum Town, Iceman, built the AWVFD in the town. He also built a black hole in my park, and quantized the town, partially under my supervision. The next day (Saturday night) I fixed the town, and also built a long underground tunnel leading to an underground "fallout shelter" (I was also putting large pieces of grass replaced with the "snow1" texture and turning major parts of the town into ice--an idea inspired by Iceman--to make the town, which I'm surrounding with mountains, have an ice age.)

Friday, May 12th, 2006

2006-05-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, maybe I'll finally update my blog today! Today's entry won't me much of an addition, but it will be interesting.
Our presentation in English on Wednesday went well. It was on the Cyclopes adventure, from the Odyssey. I was the narrator. I only slipped up once! I was caught off guard, and read, "Narrator: The men were fearful of the mighty man." Nevertheless, Jenna wrote an exemplery script, and I typed up an exemplery copy. Angel's backgrounds (and appearence as Oddysseus) was superb. The rest of the group was good, too, and I'm sorry that I forget their names.
Yesterday I found out it's not too expensive to own an Active World world. I can get a P30 (360 square klicks), extending to 30 units lat./long. North, South, East, and West, for $90 per year, plus a one-time $69.95 world licensing fee. Additionally, Andrew will get a free citizenship. In return, I'll ask that he contributes 50% to all world-related costs, plus 50% of my citizenship. If he or I get anyone else interested, world expenses will be divided three ways, while the third person would have to pay for their own citizenship. When I get enough money, I'll then take on paying the $6.95 a month as my own. He returned my call, but my awful speaker made it near impossible to understand him. I need a new cellular phone, I think. Just not yet...
Anyway, I don't have enough money to make it public. The cost to allow tourists is some $50 or so extra. It's sad, because I want to cater to friends, many of whom refuse to pay. If I had enough people interested (say, ten), I could have a world twice the size plus tourists. Oh well, at least I'll be prepared for when I do have that kind of money. Everything will have been built and improved upon.
During my digital art class, all of the art classes had a major exhibit of student art set up in the cental hallway (which is otherwise used as storage). Some were pretty amazing, and I one photo, called "Mine Eyes", taken by Clay Fessier, as my favorite. It was a black and white picture of someone's (the artist's?) eyes, with someone (the artist?) reflected in them. They took the picture of the eyes from such close proximity that whoever it was was crosseyed.

Sat. & Sun., May 6th & 7th, 2006

2006-05-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a long story to MAKE short. I'll break the weekend of May 6th and 7th to make it easier.

Saturday, May 6th, 2006:
My dad dropped me off at the Living Desert at 7:50 AM before leaving to Pomona to watch the races with Jack, Andrew, and Justin. This put me there before Rosemary, which is definitely a first. I stayed and chatted with Rosemary and Christene (who had just returned from the Friday night Starry Safari and had spotted a newborn Addax).
Having nothing to do, I went to go visit Mukat in the aviary. He saw me right away, but ignored me until Alex brought his Starry Safari group in. After they left, he hopped over to me and stayed for some time. I decided to work on my Corvid-speak, and managed to learn several phrases (despite lacking the right vocal cords and beak) throughout the time before the Jr. Volunteer meeting.
The meeting, which started at 12:30, was extremely short. There weren't very many people there, either. Carly Valenzuela won the Volunteer of the Month award (which Laura aptly renamed as the Sharp as a Cactus award hereout).
After the meeting, on my way out the North exit of the Education building (by the picnic tables), I passed a family eating a large lunch. Taking little thought on it, I was stunned when these people--not one of whom had I ever seen before in my life--invited me to lunch. At first I was reluctant, but I changed my mind rather quickly when I found out that much of the food was imported from Europe. Among the food they had was some sort of Dutch cheese, various lunch meats, some strawberries, and some perfect, ripe red tomatoes. They were quite glad to have me eating with them, and it turned out it was a birthday party for "grandma", who was from Germany. It was so spontaneous that one of them whispered "grandma's" name, Elizabeth, to me just before singing "Happy Birthday." She actually kept working through the song! It was real funny. Afterwards, they gave me a slice of the best berry-cheesecake I'd ever had, and some German thing made out of solid chocolate filled with a soft chocolate, almost like cake iceing but it wasn't sickening sweet like iceing, and a piece of some sweet bread sealing up the bottom. They gave me their leftover Dutch cheese, a tomato, and some orange juice. In return (I wish I could have done more), I took them through North America (stopping to visit the hopital--Nick was working there--and taking them to see and pet Mukat) and Eagle Canyon.
After thanking them several times, I went to the main gift shop (it used to be called The Tortise Shelf, but they renamed it Plaza Gifts *gag* a while back) and bought a fancy wooden walking stick with a matching whistle and a built-in compass. Then, back to Nick, and I talked with him as we left for education.
Starry Safari went well. It included two troops of Girl Scouts and several individuals. It was wonderful; not only was everyone on time and everything on schedule, the girls were extremely well behaved, especially when compared with some of last week's Cub Scouts. This time, I was also able to sit and enjoy the fire.
I slept good, too. I got the five-man tent all to myself, and better yet, I was far from everyone else, so I didn't have to hear anyone.

Sunday, May 7th, 2006
Breakfast exceptional!
I spent nearly two hours straight with Mukat plus several other visits. Then I went to the Docent Library, where Carin was eating a salad. I saw it and went to go buy one, but she gave me five dollars for the salad and a drink. (If you ever go to TLD, remember that the drink alone is $2.95. My discount is supposed to be only 20% off, but I won't complain.) So, I bought a Caesar salad and a bottled Starbucks Mocha Frappuchino.
I didn't work either. Though I was scheduled for the Kraal during the afternoon, I figured that four juniors and a docent were sufficient to run the Kraal, and "five's a crowd." So, I went to visit Mukat. I spent a real long time with him again.
I had brought a drink to visit the aviary--for myself. I sat on the bench, and both Mukat and Poe hopped over. Poe saw my cup, and apparently liked it. So much so that he grabbed it (with his beak), spilled it, then took the cup with him. He presently destroyed it. At least I have a new suggestion for the enrichment people!
About an hour later, I was in the aviary still, and each of the ravens were sitting on either side of me. Mukat was asking for attentionnas usual, while Poe just stared at me, beak open. For a second, I was giving my full attention to Mukat, but when I turned back to Poe, he had his beak open with my hand, which I was resting on the bench, just in front of it. Busted. Seeing that he had lost the element of surprise, he bit down. Ouch! Then hopped off to go beat and peck my cup some more. Punk! What did I ever do to him? I came out ahead, anyway. Again, for no known reason, he ripped out his own feather and after tearing it up a bit, left it. So, I added it to my hat, since it's obvious that if you rip out your own feather, you don't need it.
I then went to the Hospital and talked to Lorraine, a volunteer.

Thursday, May 4th, 2006 c. 12:10 PM PDT

2006-05-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll be at The Living Desert on Saturday! The drag races didn't work out. My cousin, Andrew, who has a major hand in the survival of my websites (Hah, he's my only active member. Hehe! *silence*) was going to be there, but some punk broke in and ramsacked the house and stole some stuff, including the poor kid's life savings. *takes out .44 Magnum and fires several shots at theives while still chewing lunch* Anyway, they might not be going. I have to go to the Jr. Volunteer meeting anyway, and probably to the Starry Safari on Saturday night. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get all of my stuff up that hill. I'll probably strap my sleeping bag to my bicycle rack, and wear my backpack. Frame pack?

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 c. 12:20 PM PDT

2006-05-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say today. Right now, I'm at lunch listening to a band, of teachers I think, and they're not bad. I think my eccentric geography teacher is the drummer. I can't tell because I've only seen him with sunglasses once, and have never seen him wearing a tank-top.
This brings me to something I really ought to say now. Many people think I like classical music and ONLY classical music. This is not the case. I prefer classical--I like it more--but I also like rock. To certain extents, that is. Other genres I like include Jazz, and the local country (such as that band at the TLD volunteer appreciation dinner that played "The Road to Indio" among other things).
Oh, I just saw the drummer. It's him. They're playing Metallica now, not sure what the name of the song is, but I hear it all the time and it goes, then "off to Never Neverland. I'd apreciate it if someone would give me the name. Speaking of which, I should have taken the hint Monday when he said "off to Nether Netherlands" during our lesson on Europe. He said that's the reason they're famous.
Well, I'm on the bus now, going home, almost to Doctor Carrion--I mean Carreon--Blvd. Can't wait to watch Law & Order. Yesterday, Jack McCoy's assistant, the one with the black hair, wanted to kill the serial killer, saying that if he didn't plead guilty to several murders he committed and dropped the plea for the attempted murder he didn't (which was not as bad as the ones he committed), she'd personally see that he was extradited to Texas (a death sentence state), and hope they'd let her "push the plunger."

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

2006-05-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

7:21 AM PST
Yesterday, after I wrote yesterday's entry down (without posting it), there was a power outage. The house heated up rather quickly, as it was in the hundreds/high nineties outside (maybe I'll think in centigrade so it seems cooler). And I missed two episodes of Law & Order.
Later, after the power came back on--and went through several brief losses--Anna invited me next door. They finally got the parrot I've heard so much about back, who has learned to imitate a cat. He sounds surprisingly like Baxter, but I won't be impressed until he says "macow" instead of "meow." Anyway, I spent three hours there, talking. I even "read" some of Poe's poems in Greek. The biggest joke of the night was when I said, "What does that say?" The way it came out, it sounded like I was in a panic. She also makes the best iced tea, but I keep forgetting the recipie.

12:03 PM PST
Today, while in P.E., I saw two ravens. They flew East along the Wash, then back West about twenty minutes later. I wonder how a raven would plan an escape...

Monday, May 1st, 2006

2006-05-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

Now for the summary of the weekend:
I got to TLD on Saturday at about ten thirty. I was needed in the animal hospital, where Nick was also working, to give an occasional tour. While no one was there, I spent the time discussing Mars and human exploration thereof with Nick (and anyone of the other volunteers and docents who's interest the conversation caught). We also discussed energy. For example, think of an electric car, which is generally considered more efficient than a gas-powered (and therefore oil-powered) car. So it comes to this: making gasoline versus making electricity. But which uses less energy? Extracting the oil, processing it, and putting gasoline right into a car, or extracting it, processing it, burning large amounts of it to heat a little water into steam, and use very large amounts of oil for even larger amounts of water to turn turbines which make electricity, then send it through wires that ultimately lose 80% of their power to charge a battery that will only last several hours? Think about it...
Moucat was nowhere to be found either day. I checked often, but no such luck. Poe was missing as well.
Apparently, I was desperately needed for the Starry Safari. It was a lot of work, but worth it. There were two other juniors, both of whom worked moderately hard (I did a great deal of the work, but I won't complain), but were far from serious about anything, and they talked so loudly that it's a wonder they couldn't be heard from the Education building (and possibly, they were). They also kept me up half the night.
The group was chaotic. Fifty one cubscouts pushes my limits, because I have trouble dealing with noise and "boys being boys" because I'm a boy, but I certainly didn't scream my lungs out, nor did I bounce off the walls like an electron between two negative plates. However, there were quite a few who left an impression on me. One in particular, who already had his life planned out and planned on becoming a marine biologist, left a deep impression. He had just started collecting pins for his own hat (and commented on mine), so I gave him two pins: one of my Living Desert pins and my veryfirst pin, the one that said City of Hope. It meant a lot to him, I think. He also seemed to understand my explanation of how black holes work pretty well, and invited me to go stargazing with he and his dad, which meant a lot to me, though neither of us got the chance. Best of luck to him and his future career, not that he'll need it.
Simply put: I like smart kids, not loud ones.
This time, we had the fire. It was very entertaining, because the Cub Scouts also had their own songs, but "Momma Dodo Bird" beat all, no hands down. There was also a game where everyone said their name and said what they're bringing on a hypothetical trip, providd that the item/object/thing they were bringing started with the first letter of their name. I said, "My name is Brendan and I'm bringing Betelgeuse." I definitely brought the largest object. Spast! I brought the place!
On top of all this excitement, something referred to as 'the reserve'--a gated community--had a firework show that was pretty good. The finale was grand for sure, but not as grand as that of Culver City's.
Not much happened Sunday. I helped in the butterfly house (last day, remember?), and helped Rosemary label cards to potential volunteers (I think they were invites to orientation). Among them, I was surprised to find one labled for Indio. More surprising, it was also for Margarita St.--my street--, and for an address close to mine. I then saw that it was our next-door neighbor, Anna. Must have really liked her first visit, last Wednesday. There was one other address, for Calypso Circle, that is in our housing tract, Villa Montego. I also saw Carla briefly, very briefly, talking to Rosemary.
The largest excitement for the day was around two, when I went to walk through the canyon garden, which requires you to zig-zag round rocks to get to the center. Waiting inside was a rattlesnake, leisurely slithering through the garden towards me. I don't think it noticed nor minded me, but I didn't wait to find out. I made a swift retreat, walking quickly without running away from the creature, and headed back to Education and reported it, like I was supposed to. I led Rosemary and Bill (who's in charge of the animal department) to where I saw it. Bill looked but couldn't find it.
Now for today. And that about sums up today.

Friday, April 28th, 2006, c. 7:32 AM PST

2006-04-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Great news! Every moment my computer's not in use or turned off, I'm helping SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)! I joined SETI@Home last night. I even gave them 10% of my hard drive, since I've only used up 30%, including all of my thousands of documents and tens of massive programs. I almost can't wait to get home to find out what potential signals I might hav missed.
Believe it or not, I was looking for SETI@Home for a completely different reason than you might expect. I found out that Starry Night Backyard had a special way for SETI@Home to "plug in" (via a Plug-in!) so you could view the area currently being studied. However, I have yet to get that feature to work; I've tried everything, but the programs work as two separate programs.
Since the program used to connect to this project allows for other projects to use extra space, I'm thinking I'll sign up for one project that does something with quasars and another having something to do with coordinates (apparently Cartesian coordinates) in all eleven dimensions (the four familiar macrodimensions and seven ultramicroscopic Planck-length dimensions). (I don't know why...there are only ten space dimensions and one time dimension known, and time coordinates don't work the same as those of space.) Anything to help the advancements of science. Hell, maybe I'll even sign up for that protein-sequencing program. Oh boy, I just can't wait to tell everyone about SETI. What unusual things I brag about, but I'm proud that these are what I have to brag about. The only payment I expect for these is that the extra-terrestrial intelligence is found on my computer! Just kidding...
Perhaps I'll clear my drive soon, while I still have time. Maybe even tonight. My computer is freezing again. My "Search Files or Folders" hasn't worked in months. My task manager will open, but the tabs and menus are missing. I have to open a program, close it, and then open it again for it to work. To top it all off, I accidentally deleted my "Show Desktop" button because my cursor arrow jumped cleqr across the page while I was trying to delete something else. It was not in my recycle bin nor could I search for it, because as I mentioned, Search doesn't work. Making my computer work for six months is well worth the six hours it takes to reformat, delete everything I don't need, reinstall everything on disk, and reinstall everything I had from the Internet. I just wish I had six hours to do it. This might fix the plug-in.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to the Living Desert. Whether or not I'm going to be doing the Starry Safari, I plan to have a great time. I still haven't called Christine to reserve a place. Because of that promise I made for Carla--that I would leave her a Starry Safari so she could make her hours--I left next weekend to her, which works well because I'll probably be out of town. I'll ask what her plans are for next weekend when I see her on Sunday, and relay that to Christine. I hope it helps, and that I'll even be able to go this weekend.
Ever have things that just stick in your head? Besides songs, I mean, because we all know that "I Got Rhythm" is stuck in mine. Well, between meeting Moucat and reading The Raven at nearly the same time, I find my head filled with a flocking vortex of ravens. I'm just fascinated by them! I'm amazed by their intelligence, but I still feel that I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I'd adopt one of my own (perhaps myself as its own?), but apparently they're illegal as pets. So, I'll just have to settle for adopting one through TLD, and borrowing it constantly once I get my Junior Keeper-ship. I always wanted to use one of those gloves. And guess what raven I'll adopt? There's only one there that actually acts intelligent! Yep! But perhaps I'll go half with Alex, since he was the one who came up with the idea originally. I don't want to double-cross anyone now... Anyway, I'm secretly trying to teach Moucat to say "Nevermore", though Poe, the other raven, would be more appropriate.
I'm a little worried. I have a project due on Monday. It's okay, I'll make it, but I always cut these things close.
I'm beginning to understand orbital mechanics now. I found a website that lists the two-line elements (TLE) for hundreds of Terran satellites. My current project is the adding group of NOAA weather satellites to Starry Night Backyard, after which I'll work on the GPS satellites, the available geostationary and geosynchrous satellites, and perhaps some research satellites or space stations. However, my original quest for Mars Global Surveyor TLE goes continues.
I also learned something new about mapping and spy satellites. They are kept in a polar orbit so that the planet's own rotation will allow them to eventually have been over every point on the planet's surface. I'm sure some are kept in geostationary orbit if mapping (or watching...) a particular region. You might think that geostationary orbit wouldn't say much for anywhere but directly below the satellite, but in reality, geostationary satellites will appear to fluctuate slightly between north and south. Geosynchrous orbit, however, leaves a satellite directly over a given spot.
I'll break blogs henceforth up into separate times, because my mind, mood, alertness, and ideas often change from before school to lunch to after school on the bus, the times when I do most to contribute to my blog. I spent nearly two hours (including some of the time the sophomores were testing) before first period and nearly all of lunch adding to and editing all of the above.

Thursday, April 27th, 2006, c. 8:39 AM PST

2006-04-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am extremely flattered that I was invited to a "secret" message board by Lotesse. Now I sure feel special! It's a great board, with many classical virtuosos who actually know who Esa-Pekka Salonen is! I also found out about what's referred to as a "rock composer." Need I say more?
Speaking of music, some blasted ootmian stole my CD player. Spast! How am I supposed to listen to classical music now? So, I must comment on life yesterday.
Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
ombumbrata
et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
--Second stanza of O Fortuna from the Carmina Burana

My hands are shaky again. Only when I'm trying to type with this. Entropy: Not just the second law of thermodynamics, it's Murphy's law.
I have a sudden urge to watch the Twilight Zone. Don't you just love that show?
Perhaps I'll be doing a Starry Safari this weekend. I'll make the call, and at least reserve the day that the Braille Institute will be there (perhaps one might be in my mom's mosaic class. And no, Carla, I won't take all of them. Just these two until further notice.
Somebody again said that String Theory is some pretty advanced stuff... Well, touché! (That tilde is facing the right way, right?)
When I get home today, I'm going to try to listen to something new for a change. I'm going to first listen to the Firebird. It's a pity that I can never seem to find Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing, Thomas Adès' Asyla, what's-his-name's Titanic and Ellis Island, and The Cunning Little Vixen. Now that last one would bring me some stares. But not so much as that opera where that prince/chicken fell in love with three oranges who were really people that ended the party in an immolation scene, after which everyone somehow managed to live happily ever after. I also want to find The Bartered Bride (English version), Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, and I still have to find a respectable recording of Siegfried, since the George Solti reording seems nonexistant. My main goal is to have a complete collection of Richard Wagner's operas. (The Bartered Bride is not by Wagner, by the way.)
Well, I'm not exactly in a writing mood, and since I've said nearly everything there is to be said, I'll leave it at that.

Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 c. 9:44 AM PST

2006-04-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished the science portion of the STAR test. It was elementary, or to use a term that Sherlock Holmes actually used more than once, simplicity itself.
If you are in fact reading this, Nick, I am still pondering the benefits of a planet having a moon. I have little idea yet whatsoever, and I must admit that I've been asking people's opinions on the subject and have had several possible answers, but I think the very nature of the question has thrown some of those I ask off. My most common scientific reply usually centers around the tides. Only one of these answers carried a possible answer, from my English teacher; that it "smooths out" the ocean. Well, although that does sound as though it is contrary to science, if you think about it, it's not entirely inaccurate. Her other answer had to do with absorbing solar energy. The rest are all aesthetic.
As for my own answers toward this Lunar question, I have several possible benefits, and they both seem more like effects of rather than actual benefits of having a moon. First, I still firmly back my shielding hypothesis that the Moon acts as a shield, albeit a poor one (1/6 the size of Earth, with only a small band of effect that it doen't occupy more than a small percentage of at any given time), against near-Earth objects. Second, without the moon, would life have evolved as it did? Would we have Morlocks preying on Eloi every night rather than just during the New Moon? Third, and most important, it allows for a sentient species to develop. You'll admit to the major roles the Moon has played in history, and many thought-changing experiments involving the Moon could not have existed without one, and perhaps our knowlege might not have developed as much (and to make this fair, such a scenario could equally have led to more development).
Other minimal benefits I have thought of:
-The Moon provides an object for reference. What if Magellan had lost his way?
-The Moon has ordered movements and effects, useful, though not essential, for counting time, and far more useful for it than an object that blinds you if trying to observe its position.
-Vacation time, dude!
Contrary to the question, these questions use Earth and the Moon as specific examples. If answered in a broad sense, I can't answer because I have only one example to give.
However, this question cannot be answered until it's clear what you mean by a planet, what you mean by a moon. Do you define a planet as a physical object? Or by it's geological processes and ecosystems--or lack thereof? A gas Jovian planet or a terrestrial planet? A double planet? What sort of moon? A large or small one? More than one? A smooth or irregular one? Captured asteroid, or one formed from many? Do radioactive cats have eighteen half-lives?
Now, onto the question regarding the exploration of Mars...
MY CASE FOR MARS:
1. Mars is the planet most like our own. Studying Mars would possibly tell us what we can no longer observe on Earth.
2. Four wheels good, two legs better. For starters, humans already know what to do when they get there. Unlike robotic explorers, they don't have to send a signal out with the image of Vallis Marineris right in front of them and wait twelve minutes minimum for instructions to stop or turn to reach them. Since humans don't usually find falling four and a half miles appealing, they would be able to turn instantly. (Artificial intelligence is one exception.) Human batteries don't die. They can directly collect and analyze samples. They can stay out of dust storms (!) and climb quite easily over the so-called chaotic terrain of the southern hemisphere.
3. Granted! Who wouldn't want to have lived in a place called Noctis Labyrinthus, or take a vacation to the Margaritifer or Hellas or better yet, Tharsis?
That's all I had time to come up with...More soon...

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, April 22-24, 2006

2006-04-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

I woke up at seven on Saturday (4/23) as planned. Though a little sluggish in the get-go, I managed to get out of the house by eight-five. (The abstract thinker will notice, as Nick pointed out to me, that there is no "O" in 8:05, but a zero. Therefore, it should not be pronounced as "eight o' five" but as "eight-zero-five." Since 5 with a zero in front of it is the same as a 5 without a zero in front of it, it is still 5, albeit mathematically only, you can leave out the zero. Tomatoe, tomato; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Henceforth, all times with a so-called "O" will be referred to this way.)
The bus, as usual, proved difficult. After already waiting fifteen minutes, the first bus had both bicycle racks full. The driver said the next bus would be along in another fifteen minutes. I sat down and waited...
Once the second bus arrived an hour later, I had to ask how to use the bicycle rack. I thought physicists had it hard with the future Large Hadron Collider at CERN, but now my heart goes out to bus drivers and their Rube Goldberg bicycle racks. However, getting the bike off was much easier, since my so-called aluminum bicycle that some alchemist at Costco must have got his hands on and reversed normal alchemy by turning 'gold' into lead, fell off quite easily.
Contrary to popular belief, the ride up the hill along El Paseo and then Portola was quite easy. Hardly what I would call strenuous, I was almost disappointed when it was over. And for good reason: I rode in right in the thick of Earth day. Though a little shocked, I locked up my bicycle and entered. Luckily, I was able to avoid work for the most part, except for two hours during which I helped JoAnne in the Butterfly House. I went to lunch and ordered my usual, but decided to eat in the library. This proved a good decision, because several volunteers and docents had decided to rest there, eat, etc., and among these were Rosemary, Nick, and briefly, Carin. While there, I came in on an interesting discussion on whether or not it would be better and cheaper to be mummified than "boxed" for the flight back if you died in China while on a company trip.
Later, when I had been sitting around for some time in the library, I went to go visit Moucat, getting ice and visiting Nick on the way. Though the latter lasted longer than expected, it was worth the time it took. Moucat didn't seem real interested, so I went back to visit Nick, and stayed with him until he and Karen left.
Starry Safari came to be, and was a blast. Although we had to forsake the fire, and therefore "Momma Dodo Bird", the loss was well compensated for by the astronomers showing up. They had two Dobs', with which I got to see the Beehive, Saturn (which was extremely clear in Eugene's telescope, one that coincidentally had similar specifications to the one I'm building), Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and a double star, possibly Mizar or Alcor.
While they were there, I talked to them for a great deal of time. I now not only fell in love with the simplicity of a Telrad viewfinder (and that it is inexpensive), but I am about to join the Astronomical Society of the Desert (ASOD). The society looks very helpful, and the dues for me will be only $15 a year (as opposed to a regular, non-student $25 a year).
To top off my astronomical experiences, Christine Janson, who runs the Starry Safari (which, remember, is named as an overnight zoo camp, not a star party) gave me The Idiot's Guide to Astronomy--she meant well--, and let me borrow a computer program called Backyard Astronomer, I think. Sunday evening I installed it. It's so much fun! You can go to different places in the solar system, and "visit" nearby Stars. One large bonus is that, since all the stars are fixed in a three dimensional virtual universe, you can use this to see how constellations would look from, say, Betelgeuse. Seeing the stars from Mars or Phobos or Deimos is an interesting experience, but from Pluto or Charon, it's simply amazing.
One last astronomical thing: what is NASA two-line orbital data? In fact, what do any of those orbital mechanics terms mean?
I got to eat breakfast with a kid named Oliver who seemed to find me fascinating and even, when it was time for the morning walk, grabbed my hand and tried to drag me with him. Unfortunately, I had to try and explain that I couldn't, though I wish I could have.
After everyone left, I went to the library and stayed there several hours. It was then that I met another junior named Alex, who not only knew Moucat, went with me to visit him. He left at about eleven. (Oddly enough, I ran into him again about three hours later. He had just finished the four-mile wilderness hike!)
Anyway, after he left for the first time, I stayed in the library for several more hours. After the first, it got very quiet, and everyone left, except for an occasional sign-in. Carla came about 11:00. After sitting in the library and subsequently the Discovery Room, I was invited to follow her to lunch. Her friend also came along. After lunch, I was sent to the Butterfly House for an hour, after which I returned to help Carin in the Discovery Room, since both Carla and her friend ('Alex' for short, coincidentally...) had disappeared. After closing up the Discovery Room, I went back to the library and sat, at which time all of the staff members cleared out.
In the ensuing silence, I got extremely bored. I started observing--not looking!--the ceiling. I noticed that the North-South roof tile molding went over-under-over, etc., like they're supposed to, but the East-West ones did not, instead having one row over and one under.
Having sufficiently scrutinized the roof, I moved onto the room in general. There are many noise-making objects in the room: the occasional creaking of the building, the copier, VIC, the hot/cold water dispenser, the refrigerator in the adjoining kitchen, and of course the fluorescent bulbs in the lights. Among other things, I found a nonuniform pattern of ticks and creaks between the hot/cold water machine on my right and the wall on my left. Every two ticks from the water machine was followed by a creak from the wall.
No doubt you know how much excitement comes from criticizing ceilings and predicting noises, so you can understand why I ultimately decided to carry all of my luggage from the Starry Safari outside to wait. This proved no easy task with all of the stuff I had. After nearly colliding with Carla, who was just rounding the corner outside the library door, I said a muffled "goodbye" ( I had to hold my sleeping bag with my chin to keep it from falling), stumbled out into the parking lot where my dad had luckily just pulled up.
Then yesterday. The STAR test went well for me. It was the Algebra section that we did. Today was the English section, which I probably did even better on.
When I got home, I watched two episodes of Law & Order. The first, a rape and murder case (apparently taking place just after Detective Lenny Briscoe's daughter's death because it ended with her funeral) that I have seen several times. The second involved a corrupt doctor.
I spent the rest of the evening reading the CERN website. I think I'll plan a future trip there, sometime after the Large Hadron Collider goes online in 2007.
Now, as for today, nothing interesting happened.

Friday, April 21st, 2006 c. 7:23 AM PST

2006-04-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

Update on Baxter. He was actually in worse shape than before when I got home, but as before, improved overnight. If he's any worse when I get home today, I'll get my dad to take him to the vet. I'm almost certain those kids did something to him.
Speaking of the fraudulent gangsta-kids, they have driven yet another neighbor of ours out of their house. I swear, those kids make me sick! It just gets harder and harder to find others like myself, doesn't it? We need someone like "Dirty" Harry Callohaun (who is a character in Dirty Harry, played by Clint Eastwood), to patrol the neighborhood, with some memorable lines. " 'Do I feel lucky today?' Well, do ya, punk?"
English class today was replaced by an assembly. Two writers, who wrote a book called Welcome to Wahoo. I've not read it, but from what I hear, it's a good book. I don't really remember their names, but I'll check soon.
Tomorrow, I get up early to go to TLD. I'm hoping that Carla, Nick, or Rosemary will be there. If not, then I'll visit Moucat (sp?), the raven, for considerably longer than if they were. However, I'm going to have to ride my bicycle a mile to the Highway 111 bus stop at Jackson (and god knows where the westbound stop is), take the bus twenty-two miles, ride my bicycle again two miles uphill, then do it again in reverse order to get back. That's nearly three to four hours round trip. Ah, what I wouldn't give to be able to fold space and just be able to "step into" wherever I wanted. But alas, if I could, it wouldn't work: if I were to step through a wormhole that would lead me to TLD, I might step out during the middle f the previous night (tonight), or before it was even built, or in a Chauilla Indian camp, or into a shallow sea, or into a hot, burning landscape with a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. So, you see, perhaps it's best to do it the old fashioned way.
I listened to yet another physics lecture last night, lecture 2 of 18, that is. Then on to another class. Much of this doesn't make any sense because I have yet to take calculus, or even a beginning physics for that matter. I will leave it at that, because for some unknown reason, my right hand is shaking uncontrollably, which on this palm pilot, makes typing nearly impossible.

Post Script: Tomorrow I'm needed at the Living Desert for a Starry Safari. This will be my second.

Thurdsay, April 20th, 2006 c. 7:34 AM PST

2006-04-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

I am very excited now! Last night I found a website with free physics lecture podcasts! That's one of Nurvi's "w00t"s if I ever saw one. There ain't nothin' that could improve nor spoil my day now! As someone who I wish was a friend but has long been dead once wrote: "Who could ask for anything more?"
And with that, I really DO got rhythm. Next major scores to record: Grieg's Peer Gynt, Mozart's Requiem in D minor (a most magnificent piece of choral music; in my opinion, most of the other compositions by Mozart are downright dull), and yet another version of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana since my CD is missing.
I have some things I would like to say about the Carmina Burana. Of all classical and choral scores, this is by far the best known and held in the highest regard. Everyone, from classical virtuosos to rock stars, from country singers to rappers (believe it or not), has respect for the Carmina Burana. Therefor, whoever you are, I suggest any recording of the entire Carmina Burana (it's total time/file size fit perfectly into a single CD if it's in ".wav" format. Pretty soon, I'll post a website I found with the lyrics in Latin--as it was composed in Latin--and English translations.
I'm slightly upset, because my copy of The Fabric of the Cosmos is already visibly scratched up. Now neither of my books by Brian Greene look like they're brand new. Oh well, at least scratches don't show on the white cover of the above mentioned, but I can't say the same for the black-covered Elegant Universe.
On a more personal note, my cat (the famous "Baby Bax" Baxter who fought off the coyotes who attacked him and still avoided having his leg amputated when someone found him a week later under some bushes) must have injured himself. He is walking very oddly--without his cougar-of-Lassen scramble that earned him his other nickname: Lassen--, and has trouble lifting his tail. He also has been sitting in an unusual manner, leading us to think he fell and hurt his hind legs and perhaps his aft ribs. We'll watch him to see if we should take him in to a vet. One rather annoying part of this ordeal, besides the problem itself, was yesterday when my dad came in and demanded that I tell him if I knew what happened. His tone led me to believe that he was implying that I did know, but when I addressed it, he denied it, but only so far as to say he didn't think I did it, but again with the tone that again led me to think that he was just saying that. I don't even understand why anyone would suspect me, because never, in all my life, have I hurt an animal beyond accident (rephrased: minor accident!) nor anything larger than a fly (who's lives I'll often preserve much longer than people around me). Anyway, it doesn't matter; he has since reversed his opinion in favor of a far more promising suspect (just in case this wasn't an accident): the "gangsta" kids in the area. More precisely, the ones who spray painted STBx3 on the garage, side wall, and the side wall for the back yard. Whatever happened, it remains to be seen.
And I'd like to address a note to all kids my age or otherwise who think acting "ghetto" or being "gangsta" is cool. With this note, I must quote Phillip Marlow, the great detective who graced old time radio dramas.
"Get this and get it straight: Crime is a sucker's road and those who follow it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave. There's no other end, but they never learn."--P. Marlow
You may notice that I have disposed of my usual habit of italicizing book titles. I do this not by choice but by necessity. The reason for this is that I'm trying to type all of this using my new palm pilot. What I do is type this during school (NOT during class!), then Hot-Sync my CLIÉ with my computer. From there, I simply copy the blog entry from the CLIÉ computer program to the blog, without stopping to edit it. However, there is little error besides several cases where a letter (mostly c, v, b, n, or m) replaces a space because of their proximity to the space bar and the slippery screen.
Time to skip back to physics again. Today, in block-schedule environmental science class, I asked my science teacher about WHY the Doppler shift occurs. Quite simply, wavelengths are compressed when emitted in the direction of motion, increasing the frequency (blue shift), and lengthen when emitted in the direction opposite that of the motion, decreasing frequency (red shift). However, the speed, or more accurately the velocity, of the approaching wave, remains constant. This can be observed as a fire truck approaches: the siren's pitch appears to go up as it approaches, then appears to shift back down to lower than the initial pitch at which you heard it as it recedes. How simple! Why didn't I think of this, since it applies to light as well? I'll tell you. Since light travels t a constant velocity (300,000,000 meters per second, about 186,000 miles per second), you should, with the proper equipment, be able to catch up with it, just as jets fly faster than sound. Nope! Nice try. Light and sound are in no way similar besides having wavelike properties. (You will note that EVERYTHING has wavelike properties, so in that sense, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. This is, however, completely irrelevant to our current discussion.) Because light is the fastest anything at all can travel. You will never be able to travel at the speed of light. You can understand my confusion. For someone traveling at the speed of light chasing it, it will still appear that the light is still speeding ahead of him or her at 300,000,000 meters per second. The reason this happens is because any and every stationary object is moving through space in any direction at 0 meters per second. Meanwhile, they are constantly moving through time at the speed of light. As they begin to move through a spatial dimension, some of the velocity from the motion through time is diverted into that space dimension. The faster someone goes in that spatial dimension, the more velocity is diverted from the time dimension into the spatial dimension. At the speed of light, mass becomes infinite. (Which nothing with mass can ever achieve because mass is multiplied by gamma, as in this equation: =√(1/(v²/c²)), where v is the velocity of the object in question, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum. You will notice that the higher the velocity, the larger the value of gamma gets. You multiply gamma and m, the rest mass, resulting in M, the moving mass. The number will be significantly higher if traveling at above 75% light speed. Thus, at the speed of light, infinite mass.) Well, I’m hoping that’s not as confusing and broken up as I think it is. Good luck!

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 c. 8:00 AM PST

2006-04-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

George Gershwin's Second Rhapsody is BRILLIANT! ThoughnI have yet to hear a recording for piano and orchestra that's longer than thirty seconds and doesn't sound like a record being put through a shredder, I do have a wonderful recording for two pianos by Katia and Marielle Labèque. If only I could play a piano like that! Perhaps for now, I should learn how to play the piano first. Anyway, the CD also has five "I Got Rhythm" variations, including a Chinese version and an "Allegro" (and I'll add fortissimo if you're listening through good headphones).
Today in English we interpreted a poem by Edgar Allan Poe titled "The Bells." It isvdivided into four sections, and has a strong musical quality, which is why I have decided to write a musical score with the poem as a narration, similar to"Ellis Island" by an American composer who's name slips my mind. I was thinking that something similar to the Festival movement in Tschaikovsky's "1812 Overture", which, by coincidence, is the point in the overture I'm listening to now as I type.
I have started Brian Greene's second book, Fabric of the Cosmos. It is so far quite entertaining (as it is to be expected of in anything written by Brian Greene). Also, he has disposed of George and Gracie as well as Slim and Jim, using Simpsons characters instead. And a small bit of advice to the readers of this blog: If a horse has an infinite probability of winning, don't bet on it! Though not necessarily slow, probabilities greater than 100 have no meaning, which is the reason quantum mechanics and general relativity don't mix well; when equations from each are used with the other, they result in infinite answers. Hopefully, string/M-theory will solve this.
I just found out that my English teaher's five- or six-year-old daughter likes Beethoven. I've decided to make a CD with several composers. Hopefully they have an MP3 player, and hopefully the copyright for Rhapsody in Blue will expire soon... Anyway, I'd love to show someone far younger than me what classical music has to offer.

"The Coperniciuss Treaty"

2006-04-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

The Coperniciuss Treaty
From the Milky Way Chronicles Extended Footnote Series

By Brendan C. Helliwell

The news flooded the papers and television stations Earth-wide. An interplanetary (a broad term, in this case) atomic war had been avoided. The global incident between the United States and the formerly Swedish moon colony Coperniciuss was now resolved, and the United Nations and other groups have declared a meeting in the UN Sphere, a Bernal sphere in close orbit to Earth replacing their offices in New York. Many transtnational corporations were invited, including Nexus and Belt Mining, and representatives for many different nations, too. There was also a group of flamboyant collectivists who seemed to agree with everything that was said, and then add to it.
And amongst it all there was a short, old man in his fifties, sticking out in the crowd like a sore thumb. He was the only person not clad in business attire, and far from it. Instead, his clothing consisted of a very colorful Hawaiian shirt and some very orange swim trunks, and on his feet he wore sandals. The smell of sun block followed him everywhere. This was Clive Phelps, the owner of Clive’s Boards, a manufacturer of hand-made surfboards right out on the Hawaiian beach. He was a power to be reckoned with, too. Clive Phelps was also the founder and owner of the transnational Nexus, and notorious for his indescribably generous contributions to various causes.
Clive had lived all walks of life, from homelessness to a multi-trillionaire. Born French, raised in Fiji, educated in Japan, and beginning his career in Canada, he slowly bought up companies, whose profits he used to buy more companies. He was able to retire at forty, and make his living by making surfboards, since most of his company earnings went to charity, space, Mars, his beach, or more often, his generous overpaying of all of the lower-rank employees (of course, to get hired was tougher than usual!).

He was here to kill. The UN had messed up over the past few years, and no degree of re-engineering they were planning could change it. Clive Phelps scurried about from meeting to meeting, giving his best advice, usually adding in subtle jokes and long anecdotes for each. The other transnational leaders there glared at him, and the collectivists agreed eagerly.
As he passed some rooms, he caught bits of conversations.
“How complete is ‘complete terraforming’?” “The North-Western American Sequoia population is epidemic, and now we’ll have to go back to how it was in the old days, and benefit financially from it, too.” “Why do governments need to give the decision to the people? We’re governing them, and we know what’s best for them.”
“The Transnational Space Mining Union had a gross increase in profits of 25 per-cent.”
“Hurry up! It’s almost time for lunch!” “Your model doesn’t include the use of the orbital mirrors we’re planning on!” “We need to colonize Mars and any other planets NOW! The human population has reached carrying capacity, and we’re running out of room.” “What about all the floating shelters?” “Sorry, I don’t speak Swedish.” “Oh shoot! I forgot to feed my cat!”
He began to become annoyed. People were so stupid! What a waste of time! The solution is simple. He walked into a meeting on money.
“What do we do when we run out of gold?” said one man, named Kevin Ingalls.
“It’s obvious, switch to silver,” said another.
Clive rolled his eyes. “Why base something we need, money, on something that is useless to us, gold? We must agree that money can’t exist without a value, and it requires matter to have one. So why not base it on something we need that is in short supply. Food? Base money on food!” Kevin looked disgusted. The collectivists agreed heartily.
“But why?” Kevin hissed. “Why base something on what we need anyway!”
“Well, you seemed to think that gold was a necessity, but it was not. Silver, as well, is not a necessity. Oxygen is a necessity, but Earth is not short on that. So, instead, why not something that the human race is short of, and that is food?”
“But food will not be short on Earth for long. What about basing money on land on Mars to have a similar effect?”
“Bad idea, because before we know it, there will be a Martian slave trade. It’s too big of a change, and no one likes change. Basing the economy on food, for example, closely resembles the old system yet allows the poor to catch up to the rich.”
Kevin glared, while the collectivists nodded their heads vigorously.

Later on, the general meeting was started, to get ideas for the resulting re-organization. Clive Phelps entered, followed by his own company representatives and the crowd of collectivists. It had been decided, finally to use Clive’s new economic system.
“What suggestions have we agreed on?” said the man at the podium.
“None!” Clive jumped up from his seat.
“What do you mean?”
“None! This system is too obsolete. The establishment of Constitutional Isocracies has rendered it such.”
“Well, then what do you propose?”
Clive smiled. “Due to the colonization of nearby planets, I say we should create a new system, where each colony and nation has a representative who is a member of the system, and in itself is like an Isocracy. Perhaps we could divide a certain number of planets to be represented in one general meeting, and the whole group is represented yet again in a larger meeting. It would work better than we do so far, and more than just peace could be promoted. The UN could itself become part, and perhaps even stay it’s own branch. Maybe there could be a UN on every planet that works together with this new system collectively.”
Kevin was livid. The collectivists were in ecstasy.
The man at the podium looked at him sideways. “What do you plan on calling this?”
Clive glanced at someone behind him, then back at the man at the podium. “InterStar.”

2006-04-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Berlioz and Helliwell Guide to Classical Psychological Disorders

Part 1
Compiled by Doctor H. Berlioz and Doctor B. Helliwell

ECHD: Extreme Classical Hyperactivity Disorder
Signs/Symptoms:
-Loudly disrupting people by singing opera.
-Humming something from Mozart.
-Frequent daydreams about being a composer, tenor, musician or conductor.
-Non-stop, constant talking about any composers, including but not limited to Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, etc.

Blue Rhapsodasia
Signs/Symptoms:
-Often occurs where the victim either does or does not realize that whatever they’re trying to say is in fact sounding very much like a cross between a piano solo and a neo-classical composition.
-Not contagious, but is highly annoying if the person is particularly not classical oriented, because the sound can be very monotonous (i.e. oboe solo), repetitive, or high-pitched.

Classical Virtuositis
Signs/Symptoms:
1) cd's at your music store that were there a moment ago have dissapeared.
2)protests to get in the already very packed symphony hall.
3)People arguing about Wagner and Verdi instead of Brad Pitt and Angelian Jolie/Jen Anniston.
Treatment:
Enjoy it! But keep on extra lookout for fans of Wagner drowning in the one of the local irrigation canals (now all of which are called the Rhine), and Mozart fangirls trampling each other to death, and overcrowding and suffocation in music schools, and composer attempted suicide because of inability to cope with fans' demands.
Note: This is a highly contagious disease, and cannot be noticed until it has spread to most of the town. This one is thanks to Dr. Berlioz.

Essay on Carl Sagan

2006-04-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was born on November 9th, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. He became interested in astronomy at an early age, though partially through science fiction works, such as the Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and other authors. He attended the University of Chicago, where he became interested in studying genetics, or rather, biology, for application for an emerging search for exobiology, or life beyond Earth. While at the university, he worked with several leaders of both the astronomy and genetics fields. During his time there, he earned a degree in astronomy and physics. The wonders of the universe began to unfold before him in those years.
His scientific career really started when he was one of the first who had theorized that Venus was hot because of a runaway greenhouse effect. Early on, he was a contributor to the Venus Mariner missions, which confirmed that Venus indeed had a mainly carbon dioxide atmosphere, up to two bar at datum, and therefore was very thick with greenhouse gasses. But for his career in planetology and exobiology, this was only the beginning.
Carl Sagan believed greatly that there was intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Throughout his life, he urged scientists to listen for extra-terrestrial signals with radio telescopes, and often suggested and supported sending probes to other planets. For a period of about twelve years, he was the Editor in Chief of Icarus, a planetary science journal. Later, Sagan co-founded the planetary society, and also became a member of the SETI (or Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Board of Trustees. He was also a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to review Project Bluebook, and decided that Project Bluebook was giving little scientific study, and suggested a university-based study on UFOs and other phenomena. However, he did not believe in UFOs nor abduction experiences. Though believing in extra-terrestrial intelligence, he believed that such sightings were false and at any rate could not be proved. A colleague, however, complained later that he was too soft on UFOs, but more so that Sagan appeared to be unsure of what he thought, though he was generally against it.
Sagan wanted to bring scientific knowledge to the general public because of the notion that the public had nothing to do with science. Among other ways, he figured correctly that television was the best way to spread this knowledge. It began with an appearance on The Tonight Show. Though lasting only five minutes, he successfully used the time to talk much more than one would have thought. He was quickly invited back for a longer appearance, and after again stunning the audience, frequently appeared on the show. Finally, he created his own show. It was a thirteen-part miniseries called Cosmos. In the show, he explained different aspects of science, though mostly astronomy, physics, astophysics, and probably exobiology. His show became so popular, it was frequently subject to reruns and reviews. However, it was not very popular among other scientists. Some of them believed that the public had nothing to do with science, and that Sagan was wasting his time trying to teach them anything. But despite this, Sagan continued to teach as best as he could. His positions often favored scientific skepticism and not pseudoscience.
It was during this time that the phrase, “Billions and billions,” became associated with him. Though he never actually used the phrase, his frequent use of the word “billions” made it seem that way. The phrase stuck. The last book Sagan wrote was titled Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the End of the Millennium. This book was published after his death, and contained essays and his third wife’s, Ann Druyan, account of his death.
Carl Sagan died on December 20th, 1996 of myelodysplasia in Seattle, Washington, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. But his legacy lives on. There are already several places and things named after him, such as the landing site of NASA’s Mars Pathfinder rover, which was renamed Carl Sagan Memorial Station, as well as the asteroid, 2709 Sagan. His book, Contact, the only fiction book he ever wrote, was made into a movie soon after his death, and recently a music video was released (by a music group befittingly named Sagan) with a DVD including historical sketches from Cosmos.

Bibliography
Poundstone, William
Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos.
New York; Holt, 1991.
"Cosmos Studios Charter." CarlSagan.com. 21 Jan. 2006 .
"Carl Sagan." Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 21 Jan. 2006 .
"Carl Sagan Quotes." The Quotations Page. Google. 16 Jan. 2006 .
Interesting Carl Sagan Sites. Google. 28 Jan. 2006 .
Aldrete, Marcos E. "Carl Sagan Minibiography." IMDb. 1996. IMDb. Google. 22 Jan. 2006 .

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006, 9:01 PM PST

2006-04-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally decided to post my latest blog entry. I'm very much behind on this, and don't be surprised because I've actually used it more times than I ever thought I would.
A brief summary:
-Yesterday (Tuesday, April 4th), TLD hosted a special appreciation volounteer dinner for all volounteers with a certain amount of hours. I (of course) made it. It was purely WONDERFUL! I'll post a description I posted in the Teacup Cafe X (yes, we're up to 10 now!) Entmoot:

trolls' bane

El Señor Neutrino de Quanta

Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: The Twilight Zone, conducting Rhapsody in Blue from memory.

Posts: 3,430

I'm back! Wow, last night was SO FUN! Yeah! I just LOVE TLD! w00t!
Anyway, in case you don't know, I'll tell you. The Living Desert sent me an invitation to a volounteer appreciation dinner. It was great! They put on a special show for us, spent thousands on a great dinner and desert and four bottles of wine for each table (with almost fifty tables). They even had these two butlers passing out punch and some "special" punch, and a bunch of unfortuneate individuals who had to dress up like animals (well, they actually seemed to like it, were it not for the heat inside the costumes). Anyway, they also had this great band, who played all this cool country music (if that is indeed the proper category) with songs about the Coachella Valley (where I live--it includes Palm Springs, Cathedral City, La Quinta, Indio, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Coachella, etc. etc.), including one about life in the desert ("I'm an ole' desert rat..."), "My Old Desert Shack", and "The Road to Indio." I just wish it could have lasted another three hours, but the damn rain and wind had to come during dinner, and I should be glad it didn't rain until almost the very instant the party "ended" (when the band finished the last song "The Road to Indio"). I got to come home with a centerpiece from one of the tables, which I added to my had which already has a lot of stuff on it, and this thing is bigger than my hat by far (it was just for the rest of that night). They also gave everyone a little book with publications from members (volounteers, in fact), a VIP coupon book for the Desert Hills Premium Outlet, a magnet for...something, and a water bottle holder, as well as one chocolate coin (I wish it had been real, but oh well, it was great anyway). It was so fun. Ah, I hope this wasn't a once-ever thing, because this is my idea of the way a real party should be. They also gave out awards, and for the Junior Volounteers, Jordan Smith won, which I predicted. In fact, the "Volounteer of the Year" award was given to none other than Carin Whatever-her-last-name-is, a good friend of mine. I also got to meet her husband. Nick and Karen Steffanoff were there, and invited us to come to their house sometime, and a few others were there as well, including Carl, who gave me my Digeridoo and with whom I used to converse often. Christine Janson was there, but as usual almost too busy to talk to you as nice as she is (she's from "Buoston" I think ).

Anyway, that quite well sums up the event.
-I missed the best day of the year on Entmoot: April Fools Day. This year, I apparently missed the best one yet, where they put accross a very serious and convincing message that the member Spock bought Entmoot, and that he had big changes in mind. While I was gone (I went to Super Chevy at Pomona, more on that later), on April 1st they made it look like Spock had made it into a Star Trek board. Here's an example, courtesy of HOBBIT: http://tmilder.homestead.com/files/Wherenomanhasgonebefore.htm
...as opposed to its usual:
http://www.entmoot.com/index.php? .
-I went to Super Chevy and videotaped my dad racing his '98 Camaro. He made semifinals, and best of all, no ricer cars!
-I went to my grandpa's the day before Super Chevy (actually, the second day of Super Chevy, Saturday, which my dad went to alone out of hope that the rain would stop, which it did but the track didn't open). While there, I learned how to play George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on his keyboard. I don't know how to play piano yet, but that's okay, I will. I'll teach myself! After all, how hard could it be?
-I got my pictures developed, and I'll put them up soon.

Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 c. 8:00 PM PST

2006-03-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Second entry! I have relatively little to say here.
A Brief History of Time is GREAT! I love it. Stephen Hawking is a great teacher. He makes it so easy to understand, it's amazing. He and Sten Odenwald (who wrote another excellent book, The Astronomy Cafe) are exceptional.
And that reminds me of a little limerick I ran accross today in this book.

There was once a young lady from Wight
Who travelled much faster than light.
She departed one day,
In a relative way,
And arrived on the previous night.

Monday, March 13, 2006 c. 9:30 PST

2006-03-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at a blog entry. Henceforth, I will most often comment on science and my own personal beleifs, mention anything important that has happened to me, and very likely complain about my grandma. I am also open to any comments, I think, though I'm not sure how to make it so I am open for comments. Stay tuned!

I would also like to mention that I am a Junior Volunteer at a zoo in the Palm Springs area called the Living Desert.

Happy Early Pi Day! Perhaps I should establish a Pi new year, on 3/14 at 1:59 AM, hence the first few digits of Pi. Sounds a bit over the top, but what else do you expect from me?

Today, I rode the SunBus from a stop near my school to the Westfield mall. I spent a good deal amount of time at Barnes & Noble and Starbucks.
At B&N I bought:
-A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
-The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
-The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
-Astronomy Magazine, Vol. 34 Issue 4, special April '06 issue "All About Stars"
-NightSky Magazine, Vol. 3 Issue 2, March/April '06 issue "The Marathon Sky-Tour" (referring to the Messier Marathon--where amateur astronomers compete to see most of the 112 Messier objects in a single night's viewing--which is difficult because some objects can only be seen from one hemisphere, and they are regularly occulted by the Sun)
-Scientific American Magazine, Vol. 294 Issue 3, March '06 issue "Can DNA Stop Time?: Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes." I would like to note that this main headline is what prompted me to buy the magazine, reminding me of the Longevity Treatment in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars.