i'm in trouble

I just bought an xbox 360 via ebay. I've been wanting one for over a year, so that I could get Dead Rising (killing zombies!) and Guitar Hero (and/or Rock Band).

If I start playing with an Xbox, it's possible I won't leave my house for a month.

Galaxtasarus

Watch out, little stars! The Galaxtasarus is gonna get you!



This image is from the Hubble Telescope, of a star-forming region in the nearby dwarf galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

where man has never gone before

On the internet with time to kill? Check out Galaxy Zoo.

Long-range, high-powered telescopes are taking hundreds of images a day of distant galaxies and other objects, many, many more than can be analyzed by the staff available. History has shown that the human eye is much better at classifying these objects than computers (which throws out anomalies, which are the most interesting of all).

This site allows regular joes to view and classify images from the hundreds of thousands currently being cataloged. You go through a tutorial and then take a test. Once you pass the test, you can begin classifying. Your classifications are compared with others to create a consensus. You can see pictures from the universe that almost no one has ever seen.

Seriously, it is addictive. Discovered via Bad Astronomy.

ETA: Why am I addicted? 'Cause you get to see stuff like this! Look at the tail! Galaxies are MERGING! It's Science in action!


I'm just not sure what's happening here...

freaky monster

over the weekend, I saw a new movie called "The Host." It's a monster-movie from South Korea, in Korean. It was pretty awesome.

The marketing on it is a little strange, as it's basically being portrayed as a kind of comedy. It has comedic moments, but it's still a freaky monster movie. Even with the subtitles, it still moves right along and keeps the viewer intrigued. It's probably better than most of the movies coming out of Hollywood right now.

A 10 year-old girl is taken by the monster, and her father, grandfather, aunt and uncle escape quarantine to go into the sewers to try and find her.

One of the really interesting parts is that the US is kind of portrayed as the bad guys. A US Army doctor creates the original situation that results in the monster's mutation. US officials start pushing around the South Koreans on how to deal with the possible "virus" passed by the monster to people in contact with it, and these US officials start doing some pretty far out stuff and generally man-handling the population (I don't want to give too much away!). But it's a strong portrayal of how other countries see the US. Brutish overreactors, with no respect for others.

There's some interesting political commentary, a really cool giant mutant salamander, a bittersweet ending, and some weird characters.

"The Host" is currently playing in Chicago only at Landmark's Century Centre Cinema.

dating for dummies

Over email today, a friend and I were discussing our dating lives. she feels she is too aggressive in relationships, and it scares guys off. she's currently trying to let the guys in her life make the moves, despite the fact that it feels uncomfortable and wrong to her.

I was told by my mother over Christmas that my intelligence makes men uncomfortable. And that women who "know when to hide their intelligence usually do better with men."

If a guy can't handle the fact that I read books about Lincoln's Cabinet or the Iraq War or black holes for fun, well... what am I going to do?

Do I play down that aspect of myself and let him find out later that I'm a geek? Am I too aggressively intelligent, and make it too much of an issue up front? I'm not some super genius, but I'm smart enough and I read plenty, and I like smart stuff. If I didn't talk about those things that truly interest me, I have no idea what I'd talk about instead.

What do I play up about myself that's going to make a man say "oh, I like HER?" Girls like me are never going to snag a guy with our stunning looks, so personality and brains are what we've got to work with. I'm not saying I'm ugly, but I don't think anyone I know would describe me as "pretty" before describing me as "smart." And that doesn't bother me - that's who I am, that's the part of me I've chosen to focus on. I LIKE being this person, I like who I've become. Does that mean I have to work that much harder to find love, because I have a bookshelf full of non-fiction, flat hair and a larger-than-average pants size?

ok, seriously...

science freakin' amazes me.

Jamestown Skeleton Still a Mystery

"In the tooth test, the National Environment Research Council Isotope Geosciences Laboratory of the British Geological Survey studied strontium and oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel. The isotope ratios, compared with ratio of isotopes in drinking water, can determine where a person lived during childhood, when the teeth are formed."

yes, i am in fact a geek

I just ordered this for myself. I was going to post here that if anyone wanted to get me a Christmas present, they could get this. But then I decided I couldn't wait that long.

books. good for the soul

Diane tagged me when she did this meme, and since i like books, i'll do it. what the hell, right?

1) One book that changed your life: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. This book is one of the first I read in college, and marked my jump from popular fiction into literature.
2) One book that you'd read more than once: I read everything more than once. Honest.
3) One book you'd want on a deserted island: Seize the Night, by Dean Koontz. It's a mystery that is also quite funny. If I was trapped on a deserted island, these are the characters I'd want with me.
4) One book that made you laugh: Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell. Turning presidential assassination shrines into comedy is pure genius, and because i'm a total dork myself, this book really speaks to me. See my entry on my visit to Dealey Plaza.
5) One book that made you cry: Offerings at the Wall
6) One book you wish you'd written: The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. I don't wish I went through what he went through, but I wish I had his gift for language, for creating such richness and emotion.
7) One book you wish had never been written: The DaVinci Code, so that my mother would stop telling me how much I need to read it.
8) One book you're currently reading: Assassination Vacation - like I said, I reread everything.
9) One book you've been meaning to read: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward. It's sitting on my shelf, but I know it's going to piss me off.

nailed

a coworker from a nearby department came into my office this morning to ask me a question. as he was about to leave, he noticed a gigantic dictionary sitting on my desk.

thrilled to be asked about my super-cool dictionary, i excitedly told him it wasn't just a regular dictionary, that it didn't have just standard words, but also included various historical figures, places and other things. it had it all in one easy reference book.

he looked at me for a moment, then said, "so you're like a huge nerd, aren't you?"

yes, indeed i am.

not that i was hoping for it, but i'm pretty sure this yet another in a long line of men who will not ever be asking me for a date.

i love the '80s! strikes back!

this afternoon on my way back from lunch, i saw a woman in stirrup pants/leggings, with black flats and a long sweater.

the 80s have returned! time to start pegging your jeans again.

Silly

Nothing funnier on a Friday than a little "Silly Horse Whispering."

Please go to the Blewt page on YouTube and rate the videos, subscribe to the channel, etc, and help us get Silly Horse Whispering out to the unsuspecting YouTube masses.

vanished

it's common knowledge that socks disappear in the wash. where they go is a different story. do they get dropped on the way to the laundrymat? Do little elves steal them from the dryer?

today, i solved it.

i was doing laundry in my building's laundry room this afternoon, and when I went down to switch loads, i noticed that the big wash sink that's in the room, into which tubes from both washing machines lead to drain, was almost full. this only happens when the drain is blocked, so i reached in to clear it, and pulled out a sock. my sock. a sock that had been in the load i was about to take out of the washer.

i've pulled socks out of this drain before, and always just assumed their owner had dropped them while transfering laundry. but, i think that the drain that empties the washing machine is actually big enough that socks can be sucked in. since normally our washing machines drain right into the pipe system, we don't ever see the socks again. but now i know.

oh, i know the secret.

my new favorite webcomic

It's Electric!

I have Discovery Channel News in my RSS feed (yes, I'm a dork), and this headline just popped up in the feed while I was looking at my inbox - "Study: Dust Storms Are Electric."

While reading through my inbox, every time I looked up and read the headline, my brain would tack on "boogie-woogie-oogie."

delayed photo gratification

Delayed, but up, photos from my recent trip to Florida.

Please note the photos of us irritating the local fauna.

musings on a vending machine

i've recently developed an addiction to M&Ms. I've always loved them. The anal-retentive part of my loves being able to color-code my food and eat the last 20 or so symetrically (i don't do it with the whole bag. I'm not crazy!)

but recently I seem to get massive cravings for M&Ms on a daily basis. I'm not sure if my body wants the chocolate, or the stressed part of me wants the soothing i receive from organizing colored candy bits.

Don't judge me.

Am I the only one who gets pre-emptively angry at the vending machine if it looks like it might not drop my product, even if it hasn't stopped turning yet?

I said don't judge me!

I think I need a vacation.

good ol' NASA

NASA always knows how to make me feel better.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-04-27-comet_x.htm

Chunks of a comet currently splitting into pieces in the night sky will not strike the Earth next month, nor will it spawn killer tsunamis and mass extinctions, NASA officials said Thursday.

anatomy lesson!

i'm still in a pretty decent amount of pain from my hip flare up. it's getting more fun, since all my muscles are tightening up on the left side, and i ache from my knee to my shoulder, all radiating from my hip.

i've been doing some more reading on AS, and the most common place for AS to manifest (in 100% of the people with AS) is in the sacroiliac joint. For those of you who don't really have to think about how your pelvis works, a little background. Each side of your pelvis has two joints - one is the ball-and-socket that connects your leg to your pelvis. the other is the sacroiliac, so called because it joins the sacrum and the ilium bones. The ilium is the "hip bone," the big round bones on the side, and the sacrum is the bottom of your spine, above your tailbone.


The sacroiliac joint isn't really made for movement - it doesn't have much. but there are several ligaments in the joint, and this handy diagram shows what happens when those ligaments, and the tissue in the joint, become inflammed. Basically, the constant inflammation/healing can eventually cause scarring and new bone tissue to form (this is why my grandfather can't turn his head anymore). The constant fighting of the inflammation often leads to fatigue and mild anemia. With my symptoms and family history, AS seems more and more likely to be my problem. I just had x-rays (to look for scar tissue and inflammation) and blood tests (to look for what inflammation does to the blood). I'm seeing the doctor on Monday to find out the results, and get an exam.

The treatment is anti-inflammatories, and mild exercise to the keep the ligaments in shape and loose.

I'm hoping so badly to finally get physical therapy, rather than a doctor saying "exercise more" or handing me a sheet of "back exercises" without any instructions on how to do them or knowledge if they are going to help or hurt.

gotta hand it to samsung

so, last night on my way home, i bought a bottle of soda (Coke Zero!), and after taking a drink, put it into my purse. turns out the cap wasn't on tight, and when i got back into my purse to get my wallet, i discovered the bottle of soda was totally empty. and filling the bottom of my purse (my amazing, red leather bag). luckily my MP3 player was in my pocket and not in my purse.

but my phone, my poor little phone, was swimming in Coke. i pulled it out and discovered ominous "CONTACT PROVIDER" "SIM ERROR" messages, so i wiped it off and put it in my pocket. when i got home, i took it apart and laid it out to dry and hoped for the best. after an hour, it came on for a moment, then started malfunctioning, so I turned it off and left it alone. this morning, I turned it back on, and low and behold, it seems to be working fine. i'm pretty amazed. i was already working out how to fit a new phone into my budget, but I think this one still has a little life left in it.

the verdict is still out on my favorite purse, though. leather and coke don't really mix. we'll have to see what kind of stain is left after it dries out.

I don't like jelly. I don't trust the way it moves.

I just ordered this shirt, and I'm insanely excited.