tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7198605353062716742024-03-13T12:21:27.594-07:00AetherwiseMad Biologist, Writer of Fictions, and Seeker of the Weird. Clarion 2013.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-39749359389563000682013-10-10T11:18:00.002-07:002013-10-10T11:18:51.022-07:00On Shutdowns and ScienceI'm not one to typically advocate for political topics. Usually I don't feel that my opinion on matters I haven't researched are of any real value. I don't have an economics degree or have any sense of how the governmental politics works on anything other than a broad level. I am however rather informed on how the U.S. scientific community works and am becoming increasingly distressed by the implications of federal spending shutdown. I don't like talking politics, but this is something that needs addressing.<br /><br />As pretty much everyone knows, the federal government shutdown on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_2013">October 1st</a> until the budget can be renegotiated. I honestly don't care how or why this has happened, because to be honest it really doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that this <u>has</u> happened and we have already felt the impact. What matters to me is that even if the budget is resolved tomorrow, we are going to be feeling it in the scientific community for a long time.<br />
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If you didn't know, research at public universities is deeply connected to the federal spending budget. A majority of biological research is funded by the <a href="http://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a>, including but not limited to the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/">National Center for Biotechnological Information</a> which houses the databases that almost every biologist uses to compare and research biological information. <br /><br />(Such as the <a href="http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi">BLAST tool</a> which is invaluable. I only use it all the time to do research, not that big a deal. The vitriol I have for this particular point is mostly just personal inconvenience.)<br />
<br />From <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/budget/fy2014/fy2014contingency_staffing_plan-rev2.pdf">this</a> breakdown, we can see that there are a number of safety mechanisms that are currently not functioning. The least extent of this is the <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-10-02/national/42599699_1_nih-clinical-trials-shutdown">cancelation of medical trials for disease study</a>. To put an ethical spin on this, it means that children aren't getting accepted to cancer trials that can provide them with potentially life saving treatments. (Kids with cancer are being refused treatment. I don't think I could try to play that more empathetically if I wanted to.)<br />
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Besides the long term effects that come from delaying every single federally funded medical trial until this all blows over, which means denying sick people medical attention and setting back all trial based research for an unknown period of time, we are looking at a current 0% acceptance rate for grant proposals during this time (which is a slight step down from the already low <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2013/09/sequester-cuts-may-have-driven-nih-grant-success-rates-down-14-2013">14% acceptance</a> rate from the sequestration cuts previously this year.) This means that labs have to shut down their research and cut back on their staff even more than they have already.<br />
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It's not just biology though: just look at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/">NASA's website</a>. Our scientific community is at a standstill, and I highly doubt that "non-essential" research is going to be reinstated before the rest of the budget. The real issue is that these labs can't exist without <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090204/full/457650a.html">funding indefinitely</a>. Given enough time, the delay in new grant money is sure to sink many labs that are already struggling.<br /><br />Really though, if you aren't involved in the scientific research community none of that really affects you, right?<br />
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Well, the<a href="http://www.fda.gov/"> FDA</a> isn't currently running trials either. Which means no new drugs are being approved, and they aren't able to keep up their food inspections. You're poultry and beef are fine as the <a href="http://www.usda.gov/">USDA</a> is still running tests even if their website isn't up, but testing facilities for other food disease outbreaks from fish or produce <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/08/20873175-routine-fda-inspections-of-food-facilities-suspended-due-to-government-shutdown?lite">aren't running</a>. Which is fine, right? I mean, we haven't had a major food poisoning outbreak since... <a href="http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/federicos-mexican-restaurant-e-coli-outbreak-74-sickened-23-hospitalized">August</a>. But it's not like there's an outbreak happening <a href="http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/home/!ut/p/a1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOINAg3MDC2dDbwsfDxdDDz9AtyMgnyMDf3dDIAKIkEKcABHA0L6w_WjUJX4Wxq6AZWEBfp7OzsbWPgZwxTgtqIgN8Ig01FREQBCfym8/?1dmy&page=gov.usda.fsis.internet.topics&urile=wcm%3apath%3a%2FFSIS-Content%2Finternet%2Fmain%2Fnewsroom%2Fnews-releases-statements-and-transcripts%2Fnews-release-archives-by-year%2Farchive%2F2013%2Fpha-100713">right now</a> or anything.<br />
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Oh right. Now that 300 people have salmonella from a multi-state outbreak, we should probably bring the <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57606564/foodborne-illness-monitors-return-to-work-at-cdc/">CDC</a> back online. That's a good idea. Huh, maybe it wasn't the best plan to shut down our nation's ability to monitor and regulate infectious disease outbreaks. Someone should have thought that through.<br /><br />The real problem is that we still <u>aren't</u> monitoring any of the imported foodstuffs that the FDA normally has jurisdiction over. The CDC is a reactionary agency, and they only have the ability to limit the spread of diseases after they've started. Without the ability to shutdown potential threats, we are going to be looking at a higher incidence of outbreak and we are restricted to catching diseases after they've occurred.<br />
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<br />As I said before, I really don't care about the politics behind the shutdown. I <u>do</u> care about our nation crippling itself and allowing both it's scientific research community and disease control protocols to become essentially non-functional. It is literally appalling that we have let this occur. I cannot stand silently as people are suffering because we are unable to fund the most basic preventative measures to keep our populace protected. I cannot think of <u>any</u> reason that we as a nation would allow this to happen, and I cannot condone anyone who thinks this is an appropriate measure to challenge any kind of public policy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-77302860278111615242013-09-12T16:16:00.001-07:002013-09-12T16:16:04.461-07:00Life Update: The ProofeningHey everybody!<br /><br />It's been a couple of busy weeks here in Pittsburgh. I've been up to my neck in school work while settling into the new city. I'm having a real blast, but it is a truly exhausting experience. (Anyone that follow my twitter: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.) Between all of the work and balancing socialization time, I've been teetering in my usual emotional levels of "Everything is amazing!" to "What in the world am I doing with my life!?" I have been assured that this is a completely normal human response and that it will level out fairly soon.<br /><br />I've started fencing again so that I can keep my skills from completely rusting away. I found some people to swing swords at and carpool, so I've got some motivation, though I made the distinct tactical error of forgetting my electric equipment back in the lovely state of Michigan. Of course this means I will have to recover it before I can even think about becoming more competitive. This also involves having free time to actually travel to tournaments, and since I currently lack anything that amounts to free time or spare cash, this could be regarded as a positive problem.<br />(On a side note, it doesn't appear that the state of Pennsylvania actually uses the AskFred database. That means that I have no idea about what sorts of tournaments and ratings are doing around here, which is quite aggravating.)<br /><br />As far as writing goes, I've gotten a couple of rejections for some stories (which is still promising) and a possible novel outline to completely ignore during my first draft. I'm mostly putting my stuff on the back burner until I can get some solid classwork footing. Possibly jumping into Nanowrimo if everything seems to in good shape. I've only got a month to work myself into a frenzy before that prospect becomes impossible, but it looks good in the distance.<br /><br />In the "spare time" that I have left for reading, I've been working through Ted Chiang's collection of short stories "The Story of Your Life and Others" which has been an amazing read so far. The story <i>Division by Zero</i> was especially poignant as I'm frantically working on my proof-based math homework. If I write anything that approaches what Ted is able to do with his pieces, I will be exceedingly happy with myself. I doubt that will happen for a while, but I feel it's a good, lofty aspiration.<br />I've also picked up the third volume of "Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows", written by the ever talented Joe Hill. It should be noted that Gabriel Rodriguez's art is gorgeous as usual. It is an excellent continuation of the storyline and I'm really excited to see where the series is heading in future volumes.<br /><br />Other than that I'm just polishing my resumé and ironing my suit for interview for possible internships this summer. It seems like all of the companies that I'm looking at are arriving on campus in the next few weeks which gives me plenty of time to panic uncontrollably. Hopefully I'm not just stuck watching Netflix and eating popcorn during a few months this summer, as appealing as that sounds. (It would let me catch up Breaking Bad though, so not an awful plan. Still not ideal.)<br /><br />Oh! If you guys had science questions that you wanted answered in simple terms, feel free to aim a tweet or comment my way. I'm always happy to give my best attempt at clear answers, and as you can tell that something that I've been trying to work on for the blog.<br /><br />That's about everything (minus stressing more about homework load) so mostly I just need to keep my head down and keep working. I've got a lot of good things happening, and it's nice to be doing something that I love. I'll try to update more as things go forward!<br /><br />Have a great week everyone, and take some time to relax and enjoy yourself!<br /><br />~ PatrickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-84435158827582512312013-09-09T19:41:00.004-07:002013-09-09T19:41:40.973-07:00Stupid Simple Science: Microbes and You<div class="p1">
As someone who studied microbiology in undergraduate, I can be a little bit dense on what the general public knows about my field. So today, I'm going to talk about the microbiome, specifically your microbiome. This is going to be the briefest touches into the complicated relationship we have with microbes and hopefully this will help you understand things a little bit better.</div>
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First off, I didn't realize how lacking this stuff was in pop consciousness. There aren't any youtube videos about this with more than 5k views, only one <a href="http://bit.ly/PHBAaQ">TED talk</a>. The only real stuff that starts hitting the public image is probiotics (which are marginally effective at best) and honestly is putting practical application to something we don't know the intricacies of just yet. (Also to sell you pills. Don't take probiotic pills. Eat yogurt, it's cheaper. Obligatory: this is not medical advice.)</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Grand_prismatic_spring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Grand_prismatic_spring.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prismatic_Spring">Grand Prismatic Spring</a>, Yellowstone National Park<br />Color variation due to microbial biofilms.</td></tr>
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The second bit is that most scientists really don't do a good job at explaining cutting edge science for people that don't speak their sub-variant of geekenese. I'm going to try and do this justice with links and other good things. The first thing you have to know about microbes is that they are everywhere. Literally almost everywhere. Except in specifically sterile places and on molten rock surfaces, there are microbes on and in everything. Boiling pools of sulfur? <a href="http://bit.ly/17vjcMl">Totally</a>. Thriving in the hearts of glaciers? <a href="http://bit.ly/HHR1Jg">Of course</a>. In solid rock miles under the earth's surface? <a href="http://bit.ly/17D3NWm">You betcha</a>. Six miles into the sky riding on updrafts? <a href="http://bit.ly/VjSRYB">I'm certainly glad I'm not</a>.</div>
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The long story short is that wherever microbes can live, they will. Some of these things eat <a href="http://bit.ly/1dEWR0O">sulfur</a>, <a href="http://bit.ly/14p1V1b">arsenic</a> with a side of <a href="http://bit.ly/15rH65t">methane</a> for breakfast, and others only divide once <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/03/15/3715767.htm">every millenia and a half</a>. Quite a few of these things think that the conditions that humans need for life are extremely toxic (namely oxygen, but anaerobes are finicky to say the least), but there are entire communities that not only live with the same conditions that humans do, but need conditions that humans create. I'm not talking the <a href="http://1.usa.gov/13PAwah">fungi that live in dishwashers</a>, but almost every surface of our body is completely coated in microbes.</div>
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**A quick side note: surface means "not in the body". Your intestinal tract, your sinuses, insides of your lungs, and inner ears are all outside your body as much as your skin is. (Yes they are all coated in microbes too.) Pretty much all animals that developed past sponges are roughly donut shaped with regards to body surface.**</div>
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Before you get the hand sanitizer and start dipping yourself in it, know that this is a good thing. A really good thing. All those pathogens that are constantly trying to infect you and eat you? They have to not only get past the body's defenses but also out compete an entire ecosystem of microbes that have specifically adapted to your body conditions. Not your friend's body conditions either: every person has a completely unique set of microbes and every single surface of your body has a different set of flora specifically evolved to grow there. Your skin microbes that grow on your elbows are different from those that live in your scalp, from those that live in your armpits, from your eyelids, and even your <a href="http://bit.ly/13j5UvX">bellybutton</a>.</div>
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They eat pretty much everything that can be eaten and actively hate on anything that is trying to make a foothold on your body that isn't already there. Now anything and everything that you touch puts new microbes on your skin and puts your skin microbes on everything that you touch. <a href="http://bit.ly/Y72Ym1">This includes other people</a>. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Staphylococcus_epidermidis_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Staphylococcus_epidermidis_01.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staphylococcus_epidermidis">Staphylococcus epidermidis</a>, </i>Common <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_flora">skin flora</a><br />Scanning Electron Image</td></tr>
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So you have this really badass crew of microbial bodyguards on your skin. What about everywhere else? Well, we know a lot but we don't know everything. We know that your gut microflora produces vitamins (<a href="http://1.usa.gov/1dF0nZa">primarily K</a>) and breaks down things that we can't normally process. Neither cows nor termites can break down cellulose in plants, but they both have closely symbiotic microbes that <a href="http://1.usa.gov/176UD5t">do that job for them</a>. That's cool and everything, but I mean it's not like there are that many microbes on us, right? We can't even see them! </div>
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Ha. Yeah. Nope. You are only <a href="http://bit.ly/3zhnkg">10% Human</a>. Out of the entire biomass that you occupy, only 1 in 10 of your cells contains your DNA sequence. The rest are many, many, many varieties of microbes each with their own set of genes, proteins, and enzymes. Your initial set of microbes is from when you are born and come into contact with your mom, and breastfeeding is shown to pass along and <a href="http://1.usa.gov/19gVdxE">promote gut microflora</a>. Everything from there is gathered as you go. If you've been somewhere once, you probably have some microbes that are unique to that exact location. Heck, if you meet someone from somewhere you've never visited, you might have picked up microbes unique to that location from them!</div>
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Every single person is completely coated in unique, human-specific organisms whose community composition dictates how we break down food, smell, develop cavities, maintain clear skin, derive nutrients, avoid infections, and much more that is still being discovered. Trying to get rid of them is pointless and ultimately harmful. </div>
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Also, please wash your hands: they are really disgusting.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-36473311257515252302013-08-29T05:22:00.000-07:002013-08-29T05:22:50.405-07:00Stupid Simple Science: Eyes<a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/FocusSwordsman" style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #030f0f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #676f6f;">@</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">FocusSwordsman</span></a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Why do most complex organisms only have two eyes, and only in the front?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is a very good question. I'm going to avoid taking the microbiologist answer of "because multicellular animals are weird" and try to give some good concepts. We'll break this down into a few different questions and I'll try to explain the ideas behind each.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Why eyes to begin with?</u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eyes are really important for most organisms, but almost none so much as humans. Our eyes give not only light input, but also allow us to interact socially and detail written information and so such humanities nonsense. We think of them as all important, whereas a dog might sooner go blind that lose its sense of smell.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why do we use light for one our senses? Above water, it travels farther and faster than sound, pressure, heat, and molecular diffusion (smell/taste) and it allows us to perceive minute chemical differences in materials without ingesting them. (There are lots of chemicals that have colors outside of our range of vision, then tend to show up white or clear depending on their state.) This means that we have access to information more quickly and at a greater distance than any of our other senses. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Why in the front though?</u></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most animals have optic sensors near their brains to allow for optimal reaction speed. There is a maximum speed that your nerves can transmit information at, and in order stay relevant to something that is moving at the speed of light, they have to be as close to the brain as possible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human nerves can transmit information from 30-120 meters per second. [</span></span><span class="reference-text"><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">Bullock, H, (1965), </span></span><i style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">Structure and Function in the Nervous Systems of Invertebrates</i><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px;">], </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">compared to light's blisteringly fast 299,792,458 meters per second</span><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.265625px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif;"> [google.com].</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This means that any eyes that aren't optimally close to the brain are going to suffer from some serious lag in responsiveness. Well, more so than we suffer from already. Brains, for whatever reason, are usually situated in the front of the organism. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Why multiple eyes?</u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ok, so being able to see and interpret light is a good thing. So why in the world do we have more than one? It's not like we are going to be able to react soon enough to quick light stimuli with our signals to our muscles creeping along at a mere 120 m/s (which is a cool 268.432 mph for our imperial friends) so why do we need the same input multiple times? Well, it's not the same input exactly.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">You've heard this before, as humans have excellent depth perception being hunters, but the slight difference in the image produced by two eyes that close to each other allows our fantastically bored brains to infer the difference in distance of multiple objects. This is primarily hunters though, as most herbivores have shifted their eyes to the sides of their heads to create a much larger field of vision but at the price of their depth perception.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The reason for multiple eyes is generally to create better depth perception or to increase range of vision. Outside of that there is little reason to generate new eyes, (though the infrared sensors in snakes could technically be considered eyes as they interpret a specific set of low wavelength radiation. I'm not a herpetologist though.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Ok, but why two?</u></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two eyes? Oh, right. That thing that happens in most mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and almost everything with a vertebra. The first things with vertebras probably developed two eyes (because of bilateral symmetry) and then went "Guys! This is in 3D!" and didn't move on from there. Pretty much what they movie industry has been doing for a while now. (You think they would just get over it.)</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-91617506044122790382013-08-19T20:09:00.001-07:002013-08-19T20:09:22.773-07:00Stupid Simple Science: SpeciesIn an effort to reach out to the general public, I'm going to tackle one of my favorite subjects: the concept of Species. Most people outside the field of biology don't realize that this isn't some dry definition in a textbook, but is one of the more debated definitions in the field and changes wildly on context. I'll get started with the macro-biology term (where things make a little sense) and then move into the real fun stuff.<br />
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(I'm going to warn you ahead of time that this doesn't have a cut and dry answer, and I'm touching on very few of the big complex arguments and am doing none of them justice. So please excuse me as I butcher these arguments and examples. Feel free to ask any questions. I will try to clarify further.)<br />
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(Also, I'm going to do a lot of linking to Wikipedia. Bear with me please, none of the links are really necessary outside of providing easy routes for further research on your behalf.)<br />
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<b>Species: A Definition</b><br />
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<o:p>"The major subdivision of genus or subgenus, regarded as the basic category of biological classification, composed of related individuals that resemble one another, are able to breed amongst themselves, but are not able to breed with members of another species."</o:p></div>
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~ <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/species">Dictionary.com</a> (Not filling space or anything)</div>
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So basically a species is a group of organisms that can breed within themselves to produce offspring that can also reproduce. That sounds simple, right? It's not though. </div>
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There are three major criteria for what can and can't breed. First off, if two organisms do not have functioning biological that connect properly (Tab A into Slot B and all that jazz) then they aren't the same species because they cannot physically mate. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spermatophyte">Tree</a> and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amniotes">Duck</a> for instance. Literally two different pieces of equipment.</div>
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Second off, if two organisms could breed but cannot genetically produce viable offspring, then they aren't the same species because their genes are incompatible. Donkey and Horse producing a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule#Fertility">Mule</a> are a good example. Mules can't breed further, and are sterile therefore ending the line.</div>
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Finally, even if two organisms can produce viable offspring but never encounter each other in nature because of basic behavioural or geographic differences, they are considered separate species. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal">Nocturnal</a> versus <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diurnality">Diurnal</a> animals for instance. Also geographic isolation can cause a speciation event if enough difference is generated for one of the first two criteria to take place before they are rejoined.</div>
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You got that? It's pretty straightforward. Two organisms fit into the same species if they mechanically, genetically, and temporally interact in order to generate more organisms that can also do the same. Really cut and dry. Absolutely nothing that could possibly go wrong with this definition.<br /><br /><br /><b>When Species Mingle</b></div>
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Well, almost nothing could go wrong with that definition except for humans generating fertile crossbreeds between species... but that's unnatural. Human interaction can overrule the first and third rules of species definition fairly easily. (Physical and temporal constraints are easy enough for our engineering.) But if two genomes don't want to exchange information, there isn't much we can do outside drastic genetic modification. With that in mind, we'll ignore human meddling for defining species. That'll make things easier, right?</div>
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Well, let's talk for a moment about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_species">Ring Species</a>. Let's say that we have a mountain that has two species of mice on the South facing side. (The actual real life example of this are species of arctic seabirds.) </div>
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These are genetically incompatible species we will refer to Normans and Robertas. On the East facing side of the mountain there are a subspecies of Normans called Spotted Normans, which can interbreed with Normans just fine but just have spots. To the Western face, we have Striped Robertas which can interbreed with Robertas, and of course they are striped. On the Northern side we have Striped Spotters, which can interbreed with both Striped Robertas and Spotted Normans. All of these are mice that live on the same mountain, and some can interbreed with others, but not all. What does this mean?</div>
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To clarify: </div>
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Normans<->Spotted Normans<->Striped Spotters<->Striped Robertas<->Robertas</-></-></-></-></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr-xAYF-hid8CF7aLkKiCahw2g2GbAOEdhbt7o8up1MhfxZYYcaaypbpg7C8yJVLjUKvl4MgdsqZt9GDRt8jA0FeU1GiI835bYWByGC_kHUv7LxHC7Ezz3l8sU4DUNVbjKZZsR-GuUleU/s1600/MountainofMice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr-xAYF-hid8CF7aLkKiCahw2g2GbAOEdhbt7o8up1MhfxZYYcaaypbpg7C8yJVLjUKvl4MgdsqZt9GDRt8jA0FeU1GiI835bYWByGC_kHUv7LxHC7Ezz3l8sU4DUNVbjKZZsR-GuUleU/s400/MountainofMice.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beautifully Illustrated Mountain of Mice</td></tr>
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But: Normans < X > Robertas</div>
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What we have here is two mice species that can exchange genes through genetic exchange (though not directly) and are still considered separate species. What does this mean? Well what you have to understand is that humans created the idea of species. Nature didn't come up with it and it's mostly an artifact of our brand of sexual reproduction needing similar genetic makeups for proper homologous pairing. </div>
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<b>Why Does This Matter Again?</b></div>
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(This section is science lingo dense. If you don't follow, I'll sum it up in the next section.)</div>
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Ok, here's the fun part. So far we've been going through the species as defined by macro-organisms, specifically macro-organisms that use sexual reproduction. What happens in the world of single celled asexual organisms? No mating. None.</div>
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So wait, how do we use those three rules for defining species of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria">bacteria</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea">archaea</a>, and asexual <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote">eukaryotes</a>? (Those are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-domain_system">the domains of life</a> for those that don't speak biology geek.) How do we define <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli"><i>E. coli</i></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_botulinum">Botulism</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus">Lactobacillus</a> as different species? They don't follow any of the rules that we associate with macro-organisms as far as mating goes, and physical characteristics won't always give us clear answers. Instead we use genetics.</div>
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Specifically we use a 97% similarity benchmark for comparison of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosome">ribosomal DNA</a> between two organisms to determine if they are similar enough to be called the same species. (Yes that's a mouthful.)</div>
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Why do we use such a strange criteria for defining microbial species? Can't we just come up with some nice laws like we have for the macro-organisms? It's not really that easy. We take the most widely shared, conserved gene known to science (every living organism needs a ribosome to translate the genes in DNA into proteins, we found that everything else is possibly optional) and we compare the sequence, and if 97% of the As, Ts, Gs, & Cs match between the two, they're a species. (We even have really handy <a href="http://rdp.cme.msu.edu/">database</a> that stores this info.)</div>
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This means that two strains of the same bacteria that have the same symptoms that are the same species can <a href="http://jcm.asm.org/content/43/1/66.full">have drastically different genetic makeups</a>. </div>
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Mind you, this is 97% of a fairly conserved gene, not the ones that are fairly variable. One human's genome is 99.9% similar to another human's genome. That's regardless of race, creed, or nationality. That's also 99.9% of the entire genome, not just one gene. By the criteria that we have microbial species, if the ribosomal DNA between two organisms has more than 97% similarity, they would be considered the same microbial species.</div>
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I haven't done the math, but we'd be lumping significant lumps of the animal kingdom in as the same species with these sorts of terminology.</div>
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<b>Once again, with normal words.</b></div>
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Chickens share <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041208230523.htm">60%</a> of their genes with humans. Two strains of<i> Escherichia coli</i> that cause almost the same exact infection had only a few genes in common, but were still considered the same species, and until recently were probably confused as the same strain. This isn't to say that we classify bacteria wrong, but rather they play by such different rules on the microbial level that the terms 'species' don't really apply as we know them on the multi-cellular scale. The term 'species' doesn't even work properly on the multi-cellular scale. </div>
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Species means a whole lot of different things. All of those definitions are just human words that don't really fit onto the complex concept properly and don't really imply the drastic changes and subtle variances that we see in the world's vast populations of organisms. At the same time, we can't make up a better word for it. It's not a perfect definition, but it's the best that we currently have. To be fair, nothing in biology is really divided. Everything is connected, related, and constantly changing. </div>
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It's messy, it's life, and it's all we have.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-77935083758727504362013-08-17T19:32:00.001-07:002013-08-17T19:32:21.185-07:00Bad ScienceI love science. It's not just a hobby for me, but a way at looking at the world to see the intricate beauty that permeates everything. In the same regards, I loathe pseudoscience. I despise it with a passion. It is detrimental and disgusting. As someone that prizes our ability as humans to rationally attack an argument, pseudoscience is one of the most filthy concepts that I can think of.<br />
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To note, I am not talking about science fiction (a literary field that I love very dearly and has no pretenses about being fictional) or theoretical science (which we have no way of properly testing as of yet, but offers interesting explanations) but rather ideas that wear the guise of legitimately tested science without the actual rigor or repeatability.<br />
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<br />
<b>Show me the Citations</b><br />
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When looking at a supposedly scientific document, look at what it cites as its sources. Nothing cited? That's extremely suspicious. Never trust anything that doesn't have citations if it purports itself as a scientific document or scientific article. Notice that this document does not cite things. It is an opinion piece, not a scientific article. You can safely ignore opinion pieces as they are opinion and not fact. Lots of people have opinions and very few people have tested facts. Myself included in this matter.<br />
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A good rule of thumb : if a news report has some shocking scientific breakthrough, you can safely ignore it unless they cite some other sources of information or papers. This is doubly true if the title is a question.<br />
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"Does the newest research show that wallpaper causes bronchitis?"<br />Probably not, but if it were true they might have written<br />
"Newest research shows that wallpaper causes bronchitis."<br />
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Note that I put probably there. There are legitimate cases where these tabloidesque articles are true and full of legitimate, factual information. The chances that they will not cite relevant papers and have their title as a question while still being accurate and relevant are extremely low.<br />
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<b>Legitimate Citations Please?</b><br />
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Ok, you've looked it over and it cites three different articles on three other websites. Good, right? Not so much. Take a look at what those sources actually are. Let's say you've got a link to the main page of <a href="http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/">The Society of Homeopathy</a>, a video of a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR6Qait2JGY">perpetual energy machine</a>, and the ever lovely theory of <a href="http://www.timecube.com/">Time Cube</a>. They are all bogus. These range from statistical tricks, to sheer impossibility, to... I'm not actually sure what Time Cube theory presents. I just really love their font choices.<br />
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(I really do truly swear that anything that purports homeopathic effects is lying to you. It's just placebo. Diluting anything does not make it more effective in the way that they are claiming. It literally does nothing.)<br />
(Likewise, I promise that if perpetual energy machines weren't just garbage and flashing lights, and even if the US government was hiding it all from us, every other country in the world would be jumping on it like nobody's business.)<br />
(You can believe the Time Cube stuff if you want. It's pretty trippy.)<br />
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A paper is only as good as its sources. If it has shitty sources, the science held within is also highly dubious. A good way of searching for the credibility of sources is looking up the exact opposite of what the article is purporting and seeing what the other side is saying. Please, do research. Don't just take my word on this. Look up stuff and see what people are actually throwing money at.<br />
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Look at what scientists actually think about it, though really only trust ones that are in that field. If you ask me about some advanced quantum effect that manipulates spacetime and results in a cubed field of time that swirls around the planet, I honestly don't have any idea. I'm a biologist for god's sake. Go talk to a planetary physicist. They do that stuff for fun.<br />
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Now the real problem isn't when you've gotten really spectacularly bogus stuff like above. The real problem is when you have semi-credible sources, or the science they are showing you isn't shown in the papers they are citing. This is fine if they show their own research and provide detailed methods for replicating it, but then you actually have some insight into what they are doing to determine if it's good science.<br />
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<b>Do we really have to bring statistics into this?</b><br />
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If you're a lay person, you're good. You've got an article. It's got data and credible sources. It's got revered sources even, stuff that people have been saying is the cornerstone of the field. From an outside perspective, it looks good and it checks out. If it's got a spot in Nature or one of the other big scientific publishing houses, you should be good.<br />
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Just know that people suck at statistics. There is no way of certifying things one hundred percent. People also make stupid math errors, and people who have a lot to lose will sometimes make stuff up. It is for these reasons that I hate pseudoscience. Not because science is so great, but because science is so very fragile.<br />
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We can have findings that aren't statistically significant. Our best methods typically have a certainty factor of ninety five percent. We build a web of knowledge on strands of trust and probability. After enough time and enough trials of experiments, we can hold fast onto some knowledge as truth, and each fact is hard won.<br />
<br />When people mock science and intellectualism, they don't realize that everything we have is a delicate victory against a difficult and hostile universe that we must fight as a species to gather knowledge about. I do not hate pseudoscience because it dares to question the authority of some greater group, but because it destroys the fragile trust that we as scientists try to establish in our brief academic lives. It mocks the rigorous methods that have stood the test of time and it uses our hard work as a thin veil to push unsupported opinions as fact.<br />
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This is merely my opinion. As someone who has done promising work only to have it break apart upon scrutiny of statistics, I can only say as personal anecdote how frustratingly difficult science can be. It is fickle and temperamental. It will never show you the results you want, but it will show you what is true.<br />
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Whether you recognize the truth when you are staring at it is another matter entirely.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-26952116675305176242013-08-12T20:07:00.002-07:002013-08-12T20:07:56.376-07:00Welcome to PittsburghIt's about 11pm here in Pittsburgh. I've gotten done with my first day of orientation here at CMU and have settled in quite nicely. I moved in late last evening to the first room that I have had to myself.<br />
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(Before I continue to whine about myself, a special shout out to my family for not only driving out to help me lug all my stuff, but also stuck around and helped me unpack. They then braved the roads for the trip all the way back to Michigan even later into the night. After an action packed Saturday and a very grumpy Patrick, their levels of dedication to getting me out of the state approached divine. I really do love you guys.)<br />
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It's an odd feeling being here. I've been going over manuscript critiques on a short story that I'm almost happy with, (Fourteen scenes in just under 4k words. What was I thinking?) and suddenly I'm missing people pretty badly. I'm missing my fellow Clarionites. I'm missing my fellow Spartans. I'm missing my family. The people I met today are really interesting and brilliant, and I'm a little worried about what exactly I plan on doing here.<br />
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This is my problem. I wanted to be here. I want to be here. Unfortunately I work out most of my problems by writing about it. It's sort of like talking to myself through a problem except that everyone on the internet can hear you... maybe this wasn't such a good idea either.<br />
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Let me start again. I miss people. This is normal. But I am letting these feelings of nostalgia get in the way of me being able to actually pursue what I want. I want to learn and be good at what I do. To do anything that might get in the way of that is wrong. I am not here to do things that are going to interfere with my becoming a kickass guru of computational biological goodness... but what if I've already started? There are so many things to do and -- nope. That's not how this problem is going to be solved. Let's try this one last time.<br />
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<u>Hello Pittsburgh. My name is Patrick J Ropp. I'm here to do science and be awesome. Get used to it. </u><br />
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Yeah. I think that has the right ring to it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-47846349412648663892013-08-09T10:22:00.002-07:002013-08-09T10:22:21.591-07:00The Stupid Guard Dilemma<div>
<b>The Trouble with Guards</b><br />
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A real trouble I have with my first drafts is the fact that my guards suck at their jobs. This is something that I heard quite a bit of as I hastily nailed plot to paper. No matter what they said, how adamant that they were, or if they actively questioned what was going on, they still were stupid. The protag skips past them and goes on to steal the MacGuffin.<br />
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I heard this several times, and I wanted to figure out how and why I wrote stupid guards in my drafts. My first instinct is that I didn't want to leave the cell unattended or the vast pile of loot unsupervised, which is intelligent on my part as who really wants their stuff just sitting around to get stolen or blown up? Because I had other things in my mind and bigger portions of plot that I needed to attend to, I still wanted my protags to be able to pass right through the guards and continue on with the story. There were castles to raze, gangster hideouts to blow up, and honestly what were a couple of guards going to do?<br />
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I was setting them up as a just another security device or booby trap. They were something to be easily outwitted and then ignored. What I didn't realize at the time was that I was introducing characters without actually treating them like it.</div>
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<b>Realizing and Acknowledging Intelligence</b><br />
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So, what do I do with the fact that we are introducing intelligent characters as another obstacle? Give them a backstory. Until a character comes from somewhere and is going somewhere else, they don't own any action that they perform. The NPC (Non-Protagonist Character) is just a temporary personification of plot unless they are given the same weight of backstory as our protags. Once they are given their own wants and desires, then their actions begin to align properly.<br />
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A zealot for the cult who has given up everything to bring back their family, a Yakuza who secretly just wants to be a popstar, a rent-a-cop that is working extra shifts to help feed his kids, or a government spook that had her boyfriend shot in a drug trade. These aren't just guards anymore, they are characters. Any one of them is just as interesting as the main protag might be, and that gives them weight. Even the briefest of character sketches that are discovered make a world of difference.<br />
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These aren't just guards anymore. These are intelligent and motivated actors in the world. Now that we know that, it becomes a little more complicated. It becomes part of a bigger story.</div>
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<b>Guns, Explosions, and Grey Moral Choices</b><br />
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Now that we have characters and have given them motivations, the rest becomes trivial... at least that what it appears to be. But these aren't just automated defences anymore, they are characters and that means that you now have to devote page space to develop them a little bit. In novels, this is easier because you can just write more. In short stories and flash, you really have to think about it. Every guard that you add needs to be a semi-fleshed out character and that really eats into what you can do with a limited word count. Some of the approaches I have considered (each with their own pros and cons) are Killing them, Distracting them, and Failing them.<br />
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"Shot first and ask questions later." Guards aren't an issue if your protags have no qualms about killing them quickly. This doesn't really fly for me. Looking over the stories that I have written, I realize that I have never shown a gun going off on the page. I don't like guns in fiction, or rather I am not inclined to write them. The actual weight of shooting someone is something that I don't take very lightly and maybe that's something I need to address in my own work. A way to do this more palatably is to flesh out the guards after they're dead.<br />
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"Make bigger problems." If your protags make a bigger mess somewhere else, the vault might be unguarded, but probably not. Breaking up the normal guard schedule because of what your protags do means that you can have the guards acting abnormally and in less or greater numbers. Throwing them off of their game can make them more or less likely to stop doing their job properly. Having different reactions to the same event also means that smart protags can take advantage of this. This really works best with fleshed out guards that can disagree with one another.<br />
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"Write a short tragedy." The one I'm most likely to follow through on. Give a guard a personality with a flaw. Have protag realize it, or not realize it, and then exploit that flaw for the guard's downfall. Creates subtext, flavors your protag, and might create something more dynamic than just a regular shoot 'em up. This does require more weight to a scene, but that just means that you have more text to set the tone of the piece in.<br />
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"Where'd they go?" If your protags evade the guards, then the guards might be looking for them. An early success does not mean that the guards are dealt with for good and that goes with any problem that the protags face. Reintroducing them as a recurring threat ups the stakes and gives tension. It also means that the guards have learned, thereby creating a mini character arc.<br />
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This is not an exhaustive list, and none of these are prescriptive for any draft problems. They are merely some of the options and alternatives that could be brought up. The best problems are ones that don't have a clear right and wrong choice, or ones that might make the right choice far more difficult than the wrong choice. That is an entire other discussion though. The author has the best sense for what the characters are likely to do, and what their choices will do to them. Motivations are the name of the game.<br />
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<b>Summary</b><br />
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When you create flat characters, characters with just names, or even just cardboard cutouts with the word "Guard" spray painted across them, you cannot give a character actions that do not fit with the characters motivations. Guards guard things, and so if they stop guarding things, they better have a damn good reason to do so. Making them more than just guards means that they can stop being guards for a second and let their other motivations take hold.<br />
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"Wait Patrick! We already knew that," you might say. "I write all my characters with complex motivations."<br />
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You might be right and this is just another silly problem that I have. It is a personal dilemma of my drafts that often goes overlooked when I'm initially plotting and writing. It is too easy to write characters without actually writing them as characters. Taking time and giving people reasons to perform the actions that the plot demands takes actual effort that I'm not always willing to give a first draft. This is something I prefer to fill in during later drafts, and with the consequence that I might need to shift the entire plot around to make it believable.<br />
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In short, never lose sight of any character's motivations during a conflict. (Especially the motivation of the security staff.)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-40481835803869690342013-08-06T21:15:00.001-07:002013-08-06T21:15:50.929-07:00Advice to Future Writers<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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A good friend and Clarion alumni, Isa Yap, came up with a
set of questions for people that are interested in attending Clarion in the
future. (This has also been addressed by Marie (another <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://reasie.livejournal.com/658640.html">Clarion Alum</a>)</span> as well.) In answering these I attempt to construct insightful and creative responses that people will undoubtedly disagree with. Take them at face value. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>1. Any advice for people
applying to Clarion in future years?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Write what you want to write and (more importantly) finish your drafts. </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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There is a lot to write
about, and very little time to write all of it. Don't waste your time writing
things that you think you should be writing, spend your time writing stuff
you <u>want</u> to write. Better yet, write the things you want to <u>read</u>. If an idea floats into your head and you think that it would make a good story, don't be afraid to write it. An amazing number of silly ideas become moving stories with the right wit and presumption behind them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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With that thought in mind, never be upset about how your first draft is coming out. Never stop writing and say "this is stupid" because despite your best efforts, your first draft will suck. Your first draft will be the biggest most plot hole-y, hokey thing that you have ever read. With that in mind, you will never improve if you never finish anything. The best pieces of writing take many edits to polish so don't worry if your draft is a little off or doesn't read well. Alternately, if you think you've finished something perfect, you need to sit on it for a while and then read it to see what you are simply overlooking.</div>
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<b>2. What's the best advice you heard/read about workshop, prior to coming?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Get sleep, and don't ignore your fellow students.</b><br />
You think better if you sleep. If you have to cut back on the depth of critiques for a day in order to get a reasonable amount of sleep, do so. Sleep deprivation will kill you slowly and degrades both your writing and your reading. There is no reason that you need to write at 3 in the morning (unless it's due in the morning, and then it's your own damn fault.)<br />
If you only read and write, by the end of the workshop you'll only have six shitty first drafts. You are going to be with ~17 extremely gifted writers that are going to write things that are completely different from anything you might normally read and write in a way that may be completely foreign to you. Take breaks. Have fun. These people and your relationship with them will last far longer than any drafts that you might finish. Cherish them. Keep in touch.<br />
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3. 3-5 biggest takeaways from workshop?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Write what you want to read.</b><br />
I've already said this, but I want to hit this home. Do not write things that people say you should write. Do not write things because you think that they are more commercial. Do not write to the lowest denominator. Do not write things that bore you.<br />
Write what you want to read and write what excites you. There are stories that only you can tell and these are the stories that only you can write. Even if you don't think you have anything to say, I promise that if you write what interests you, it will interest other people.<br />
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<b>If writing is running, reading is eating.</b><br />
You can only really write what you know. Reading expands what you know, so read everything. Fiction is great and helps you to write fiction, but non-fiction helps you write too. Read things you think are good so you can steal ideas off them, and read some select things that are bad so you know what to avoid. If you write science fiction, read fantasy. If you write fantasy, read science fiction. If you write both, read literary. If you write anything, read non-fiction because the real world is far stranger than anything that we could ever dream up.<br />
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<b>Don't submit work to a publication that you don't enjoy reading.</b><br />
When you are trying to submit work, work that you love and you have poured your soul into, don't settle for shitty publications. If you don't enjoy reading it, people won't enjoy it either. The people that share your interest in what you are writing will share your interest in what you are reading. If you absolutely love a publication, send it there.<br />
Second part to this, go from the top to the bottom. Send it to the big names first. Asimov's, F&SF, Tor.com, and the list goes on and on. Never sell your work short, because the worst that these publications can do is say "no." Dream big or go home. Writers need a thick skin and a bigger ego.<br />
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<b>Never be afraid to kill your darlings.</b><br />
This goes for your prose, this goes for your characters, and this especially goes for your plots. Nothing you write is ever above being cut. The more that you love a phrase, the more likely that someone else will hate it. Your lovely, flowery adjectives must die, your precious adverbs must be brutally burned, and every noun that can be replaced by "said" and "asked" must be unceremoniously ripped out. Strip your prose down the the barest structure and then read what you have written. This is what you are actually saying. If you want to say more, think carefully about it.<br />
Don't pull punches and don't think death is the worse thing you can put a character through. No character is ever above being brutally beaten to within an inch of their life, letting them barely live, and then letting it haunt them for the rest of their lives. Always remember that killing them off is far cheaper than making them suffer. If they need to die, make it sudden and thoughtless (because that is often what death is) and make it hurt to everyone else.<br />
Nothing you do is ever clever enough. Your well intentioned, carefully planned, meticulously outlined plots will drown to death on the page. Your characters will have no trouble gleefully forgetting about what you had intended them to do and are content to be quite contrary to anything you had in store. Never let your cleverness get in the way of the story that is trying to be told.<br />
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<b>Writing is hard and thankless.</b><br />
Anyone that tells you that you can make a career of writing is probably lying to you. Unintentional, but true never the less. Writing is not something you should do if you are expecting to be famous from it. Writing is not something that will come easily or naturally every day. Writing is not something that will make a steady or sizeable income. Do not expect your book to be famous. Keep your day job and make it one you find tolerable. If you romanticize the idea of publishing something, it is going to be very bad news once you get into the grit of what it actually means to produce publishable work.<br />
Writers are masochists. They do not care if they type deep into the night fueled by some strange fancy. They do not care how many people hate their work and take the time to write them long letters informing them of such. They do not care how many rejection letters they have already gotten from every publication house under the sun.<br />
They didn't all start that way, but that's what you have to become. In becoming a writer, many people have become very kind, understanding, and generous. They understand that rejection is normal, and they ignore it for the people that genuinely care about the story they are trying to tell. Write because you love writing. Write because you love people reading your work. Write because you cannot think about doing anything else with your time. Write because you love writing, and know that it won't always love you back.<br />
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4. If we were maybe wondering, "oooh, I wonder what -your name- considers
his/her biggest </b><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>influences," what
would you tell us?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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This is going to be kind of sad and embarrassing. As a kid I read a lot of stuff, and a lot of it got lost somewhere down the dark passages of my grey matter. Instead of thinking long and hard and impressing you with the I will write a short list of names that have gotten me through my awkward teenage years and into my awkward early-twenties.<br />
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Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, Anne McCaffrey, and JRR Tolkien.<br />
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These are the authors I read growing up as a kid. These are the worlds that I traveled through during middle school and high school. They are staples of fantasy and science fiction, but they are the people that brought me the greatest joy when I was trying to figure out life in all its complexities.<br />
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5. Best book you read this year?</b><o:p></o:p><br />
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This is the part that is going to get me into a lot of trouble. I actually have only read probably four or five books this year, and while I have enjoyed all of them I struggle to think of which would be the best. I think I will settle for the strangest one that I would recommend.<br />
<u>House of Leaves</u> by Mark Z. Danielewski was a very strange and compelling book. I personally think that some of the theatrics of the formatting are a bit over the top (which many people will either fiercely agree or disagree with), but the premise and the general oddity of the construction make it very entertaining to both read and think about.<br />
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That is almost everything that I want to say about these subjects for the moment.<br />
G'night folks.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-88073116024238907542013-08-04T22:39:00.000-07:002013-08-04T22:39:00.833-07:00Post-Clarion While currently sitting at home suffering jet-lag, I feel like I've just woken up from a strange dream. This is my first day home from Clarion 2013, and I don't entirely know what to do with myself. I've recolored the blog here and hooked up my various social medias a bit better. (Tumblr and Twitter are becoming a bad habit of mine.) There is just too much running around my head for me to rest properly and maybe I just need to go over everything one more time. I guess I can recap just a little bit for you guys.<div>
<br /><div>
A common description of post-Clarion is scuba decompression. The pressure of forcing words for six weeks and having a constant stream of other's first drafts to read turns the brain into a strange stew that is both anxiety ridden but also strangely intoxicating. It is this addictive latter part that makes Clarion so powerful, but also so very difficult to adjust from once we come home. The pressure of all the words surrounding us is suddenly released and seep out of us leaving us unable to properly eat, plot, or sleep. I've heard this from many people -- instructors and alumni alike -- and what everyone has recommended is time. </div>
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Over the course of Clarion I have written five new first drafts, typed over 40k words, read roughly 100 stories (at least twice apiece) and provided each a heartfelt and head scratching critique. All of this over six weeks, but in reality recounting these numbers doesn't mean anything to me. They don't describe the entertaining frustration of reading a story constructed almost entirely of non-linear footnotes (which was eventually cut up and reassembled on the floor), the sudden realization that you are reading someone's semi-fictional biography (which had multiple occurrences and was equally heartbreaking each time,) or the satisfaction you get when you hear someone yelling in rage from the other room while they are reading your draft. (It was about grammar. I'm not going to lie.) These numbers are merely placeholders for the things that I have done and goals for the work that I still need to do. Numbers speak nothing of the many brilliant people that I have met during my time here.</div>
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These six weeks have introduced me to 17 other aspiring writers from a diverse age range and background, and I have fallen deeply in love with all of them. (This speaks completely separately from our brilliant and benevolent instructors who are a constant inspiration.) From east coast, west coast, and even from down under, each and every one of the members of this Clarion class have inspired me at least once (and usually multiple times a person.)</div>
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I'm not sure if this strangeness has seeped into my bones for good or if it is but a passing plague, but part of me really hopes that it has nested as a chronic habit. My other hope is that that this habit is contagious. If you have an itch to write, attending Clarion at some point during your short time on earth would be a highly advisable option. Even if life takes a different path, don't stop writing. </div>
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I hope I've entertained, informed, and potentially inspired you, but mild amusement is acceptable too. It's almost one in the morning here and I think I've decompressed enough for this session. I think I can finally sleep.</div>
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G'night folks.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-24944529825158388732013-05-29T12:44:00.001-07:002013-05-29T12:44:17.940-07:00Sketches and Love LettersI recently watched at <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html">TED talk</a> (recently being a few hours ago) while being stuck inside due to the beautiful Michigan weather (rain, still.) I was inspired, a little bit at least, because I finally figured out how visual artists manage to post all of these things online (via tumblr or blogs or any number of different things) and still be able to pursue their craft more formally. They show sketches. They show little pieces of things that aren't exactly finished product, but are still good. Still at the heart of what they do and produce.<br />
<br />
I wanted to share a sketch of mine with you guys. I know that I don't get a lot of comments on here, (something that really was brought home as the first comment on my blog was "test" just a few days ago) but I'd like criticism, and I want to sort of know what people think about it. I tend to write this blog in a more personable way (at least I think so) and... I don't know. Maybe these love letters to the internet are a little taxing to write when you never get a response.<br />
<br />
Sorry about all of that, but sometimes it's nice to hear back. I submitted a few works recently, and it'll be a while to hear back from them, but I can share something I've been working on. It's a little rough, but I have a feeling it needs to be a much longer piece than I can write right now. Maybe I'll pick it up at a later point and polish it properly, but right now it's just a sketch.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The Shaman</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Thomas was known to most as a skilled bike mechanic with a head for numbers, but he truly had a heart of iron and breath of smoke. His family had come over from the old country, from the highlands, years and years ago. He grew up with his mother and younger sister, and though not easy, life was never bad for them. He had a knack for getting machines to work properly, which seemed magical to most, but to be honest: he just read a lot of manuals and had the right tools. A logical mind his teachers would call him, but they didn’t have funds for college so he just sat around the garage fixing bikes and the occasional car, but only an easy fix. He made enough cash to spend on his personal ride and enough to keep his family comfortably living, but that was all he asked for.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was a lot that he could do that might seem magical to most: clear a fuel line properly, set wheels spinning symmetrically so that they wore even, and could put a bike together from parts in just an hour or two. These were skills to Tom, not tricks. He never boasted about how to get a bike tuned so tight that it could off road without new shocks, or how he could make a three-eights outside hex fit every bolt. These were just things that people expected mechanics to be able to do, and so he did them. He always did little things wrong when someone knew what they were doing though. It made them feel a bit better to get to yell at him, but the results were always what mattered and he delivered.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was little magical about what Tom did when he was fixing bikes, but that wasn’t the case for when he rode them. To him, riding a bike was a religious experience. There was a transformation occurring, turning gas into energy into life. It made the bike pulse under his hands and breath under the saddle. The roar of a bike was like a song conducted by an orchestra, and he could hear every part clicking together. He could even tell you when your brakes were going bad just by the sound of your engine turning over.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">When he rode, the bike didn’t feel like and extension of himself, as many others would describe it, but as a living thing that he meshed with so perfectly it was hard to see a real difference between the two. He once sent a kid to the hospital for spitting on his bike. Not in any malicious way, but people get violent when other people spit in their face. The air rippled across his skin and against the metal of the bike when they rode. He could feel it as well as the beating of the pavement under the wheels and the circulation of gas and oil through its veins. He was alive when he was riding, and though he wasn’t like a bird soaring through the sky, it must be a similar experience.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was a difference between his bike and cars. He didn’t care for driving cars, but not for the reasons you’d expect. They were still alive, but they were a different beast. They were more docile and more skittish than a bike. You could run them for harder and longer, but they had a heavier sense of self. You could get lost in a car, all the parts spinning and flexing like some great oxen, but a bike was a mutual thing. You felt the bike and it felt you. That’s what Tom always believed at least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">They had asked him to do a speed run. That’s what Tom was good at, and honestly he didn’t need the pay but they insisted and they cashed out very well. Small package, but that had never affected the run or payment before. The went over the route, and Tom made sure that he mentally shaved off seconds with shortcuts and free speeding areas. The item was only going to be available for a second or two, so the timing was critical. He was good at that timing though. He set out, his bike sporting a fresh set of black coverings and a spoofed license plate, and began. The most difficult part of these jobs was thinking about the job. He fell into the speed, the exhilaration and the feeling of the machine rush with him. He never had to check where the other vehicles were, he just could tell with that same sense as when he drove. He felt them on the roads, plowing along, unconnected to their drivers. Sometimes he would feel another true rider, but that was a very rare event. </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The package was being switched between two individuals and he simply had to cut between them and grab it. This was the hard part, but even then he knew when they would be there. They had people that knew these sorts of things, but he never questioned the timing. The timing was always right with these people. He just had to be there to take advantage of it. He saw the scene as they described it: a woman in a yellow dress and a man in a tattered suit. He honked as they held the package between them, startling them both. He gripped it as he pushed between them, and kept going. This was the point where he could just let go.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He revved the engine and let the road take him. The sooner he got there, the better, and the faster that meant he could go. The wind rushed in his air and he weaved through the traffic like smoke. This why he did the job: the feeling of true speed and purpose for his gift. This is what he considered to be close to flying. Then something went wrong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was another rider there with him. Not on another car or bike, but riding with him in his bike. It felt strange, like someone watching you make love or staring at you while you slept. He didn’t like this feeling, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He clicked the radio button at his helmet and voiced a concern. They sounded alarmed at the other end. They wished him luck, but that they wouldn’t be there when he arrived. He wouldn’t get paid, and if he made it out of this that he should never contact them again. For safety reasons, they explained and then wished him luck again. The radio went dead silent, and Tom would have felt truly alone if he didn’t have someone riding in the bike with him.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">He put extra gas in the engine and gave the issue a serious thought. What was he going to do about this? He didn’t know his employers real well, and he certainly didn’t know what to do about the package safely nestled behind his handlebars. What was he going to do about the extra person riding with him in spirit? He though it over as he took a short cut and then came up with an idea. He looked at the man like he looked at bikes when he was fixing them. He saw the person behind the facade, and then he pushed. </span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Kicked would be a better word for what he did. He mentally kicked the rider in the face, or the face equivalent and felt as their grip left the bike and it disappeared behind him. He then sped up. He took a slightly longer route home. Went past a few spaces that were out of his way, and though spaces that normally weren’t open to the public. When he got home, the plates and covers came off as quickly as he could shut the garage. He would deal with them later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">His mother was taking a mid-afternoon nap and his sister had yet to come back from high school. He began to put some ramen on the stove for himself when the doorbell rang. He opened the door carefully, and there stood the man that had hitched a ride, standing on his door mat. He looked different from when he was riding: the hair was dyed and the teeth weren’t as perfect, but he was unmistakable. The man saw Tom and just smiled. Tom reached over to the hall table and picked up the small package and handed it to the man, who began laughing when he saw it.</span></div>
<div class="p3">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Well, that certainly saves me a lot of trouble,” said the Rider as he took the package from Tom’s hand, “and I don’t suppose that you are looking for new employment, are you?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tom just nodded slightly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">“Good.” The man smiled again, “Because I have a job that I think you’d be well suited for.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was at that point that Tom could tell that this was the beginning of a interesting series of events.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-60404950889609745592013-05-27T15:25:00.001-07:002013-05-27T15:25:17.934-07:00Spirals, Tidings, and Rain<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIkz2vTn5i8QEUy7hA_OEqRziqXJx49JIRot6pXaBesg6-wAqmTPet-dgVF3Cco8h9SKCfV65nNIFiDbX2quK3zm7KoXDLa9rQakcY0wIrUG91VIG7xtf39TTWv4zjEJ-7dt7OXkPXT4/s640/blogger-image--1713459633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIkz2vTn5i8QEUy7hA_OEqRziqXJx49JIRot6pXaBesg6-wAqmTPet-dgVF3Cco8h9SKCfV65nNIFiDbX2quK3zm7KoXDLa9rQakcY0wIrUG91VIG7xtf39TTWv4zjEJ-7dt7OXkPXT4/s320/blogger-image--1713459633.jpg" width="239" /></a>Hey guys,<br /><br />Lovely weather (and by that I mean rain) here in metro Detroit. Been doing yard work and trying to restring my guitar. Also mid-way through putting up a Pergola in the backyard for my sister's graduation. It's been a quiet week at home and it's nice just being able to hang out with my family a little bit, especially when I'm going to be traveling so much for the next little while.<br />
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It's been kind of exciting ordering plane tickets and trying to figure out grad school stuff. I've been a little hesitant about getting around to it because frankly it's a little scary that it's already coming up. I have a hard time facing big <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">changes head on, so I've been doing my best allowing them to sneak in through the edges of my daily routine. Perhaps I will get over that and dive headlong into these adventures, but that might take a little more time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Along with my usual reading (I'm part way through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Leaves">House of Leaves</a>, and it's starting to get really odd/exciting) and writing stuff, I've been amusing myself with a couple of side projects. A bit of coding and a bit of statistics, but I've been trying to make them fun to do. One of these is a dungeon simulator done in a rogue-like style, and in doing research for it a few friends of mine have been doing a succession fortress in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_Fortress">Dwarf Fortress</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As a side note for those that aren't familiar with Dwarf Fortress, it is a game revolving around managing and building a dwarven outpost in a procedurally generated Tolkien-eske high fantasy world. Oh and the graphics are all in ASCII. Saying that the learning curve for the game is steep might be a bit of an understatement, and it is very common to have the entire fortress crumble down around your head for any number of reasons. The level of tracked detail in the world and lack of prewritten narrative allows for story telling of great epics and harrowing tragedies that aren't often seen in any other game. A succession fortress is where you start a fortress and pass it between players every in-game year, simulating a sort of change in government. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I would like to begin telling you the story of Rockspirals, the volcanic succession fortress. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The three of us began by digging into the earth near an active volcano, and establishing our base a the peak of the mountain. It was called Rockspirals, and we quickly established magma forges to begin taking advantage of the rich galena veins and pockets of highly valuable native aluminum to produce innumerable amounts of lead, silver and aluminum. We also found sand, and were able to construct several magma glass forges to secure a near limitless amount of green glass trade supplies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Soon, midway through our second year, a miner fell into a strange mood and demanded bone. Lacking a depth of raw materials or bones from butchery, he took matters into his own hand and... procured dog bone from one of the several dozen puppies that roamed the fortress. After his fevered carving finished, he held The Euphoria of Limbs, a dog bone ring that held a heartbreakingly beautiful scene of far off grass plains. The artifact alone would be considered meager by the standards of the great works, but he did not stop there. He wandered to the depths of the fortress and began digging. A maddening, curving labyrinth into the deepest part of the mountain. No branches, no maze, just an endlessly long spiral into the dark. When the spiral closed into itself, he dug down again and dug out a vault and painstakingly cleared it of stone. <br />In the halls of that spiral cursed vault, he placed the ring upon a pedestal and returned to the fortress a changed dwarf. Other dwarves made artifacts: a wombat leather helm that bristled with spikes of stone like a delicately twisted rose bush, and a sinister dog leather turban from the remains of the crafted ring, which featured images of itself repeatedly embedded on its surface like a mad mirror. Each was made and then its maker wordlessly wandered down to the deepest part of the fortress to walk the spiral. They always returned empty-handed as their precious work rested in the brooding darkness of the mountain. </span><br />
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The fortress is still going, and I will write little updates once it gets back around to me. I hope you guys enjoyed one of the many stories that have come out it though.<br /><br />I'm personally going to go and keep restringing my guitar and finish another chunk of <span style="color: blue;">House</span> of Leaves. Take care, and I'll see you again soon.<br /><br />Best Regards,<br />PatrickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-67874044363132774982013-05-24T13:58:00.002-07:002013-05-24T13:58:52.479-07:00Fun and GamesHey guys,<br /><br />It's been a nice spring, for the few weeks we've had of it here in Michigan, and I've spent the last week doing gardening around my parent's house in prep for my little sister's graduation party. I've also been getting the specifics of by big trips ironed out, though I still need to order plane tickets to San Diego.<br /><br />I've finally gotten my stuff together and started submitting stories to a couple of different publications. It'll be a little bit nerve-wracking waiting to hear back from them, but I hope that I might be able to get some more stories out to the public. I will be very excited if I don't get all rejection letters, but it'll just have to go into the pile of rejections.<br /><br />Along with that fun, gut-wrenching anticipation, I've been practicing my object oriented programming with a rogue-like dungeon simulator. It's not very far just yet, but it'll be a cool little program to play around with. All I currently have is a basic floor plan generator and tracking a few environmental constants. I'll be trying to implement skeleton generation/movement next, but we'll see how well that will go. I'm looking at possibly using PyGame for tile output, but that'll probably be after I get some proper dungeon rendering. I'm also doing some cost analysis on DOTA 2 items, but I am still drawing conclusions from the number crunching. That analysis will just have to be a later posting.<br /><br />All in all, it's been a quiet summer and I can't wait until the end of June for Clarion to start. There are many adventures left ahead of me, and I am ready to meet them head on.<br /><br />See you later guys,<br />PatrickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-74545416077456258622013-05-10T10:05:00.002-07:002013-05-10T10:05:32.693-07:00Skipping Town and Other MisadventuresHey guys,<br /><br />Sorry I haven't been posting as much as I would like, it's been kind of hectic as of late.<br />
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I'm sitting in my favorite tea house in East Lansing, and have been informed that they are shutting down. It's a weird feeling. They stopped ordering their teas, and many of the bottles on the shelf that once housed some of my favorite blends of tea now sit empty. I'm leaving East Lansing, and I feel as though it is leaving with me a little bit.<br /><br />I went through all of my graduation ceremonies this past weekend, and am now a proud owner of a BS in Microbiology. The whole ceremony was rather entertaining (and long, but that's because the college of Natural Science is the largest college at MSU.) Mostly spent making fun of all of the Human Biology majors that didn't get into medical schools, which was as funny as it was heartless.<br /><br />I got into many graduate programs (despite my fears and trepidation) and, after making some hard decisions, will find my self going to Pittsburgh next fall. I'll be joining <a href="http://www.cmu.edu/index.shtml">Carnegie Mellon</a>'s Master's program in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_biology">Computational Biology</a>, which I am terribly excited for. I am excited partly because it's a field that is both interesting and rapidly growing, partly because it is one of the best schools in the country for computer science, and just a little part that their school colors are Tartan.<br /><br />Last but not least, I got into <a href="http://literature.ucsd.edu/affiliated-programs/clarion/index.html">Clarion</a>. (I know, it's a little late to be spreading the news now, but as I said, I've been really busy.) Which means foremost, that I'm going to be heading to San Diego in a matter of weeks to spend the rest of my summer diligently writing and editing with some of the finest minds in fiction and some of the best and brightest up coming writers in the country. I'm not entirely sure how it all happened, but we will just have to see what will become of it. I'll try to keep you guys in the loop though!<br /><br />Big changes are headed my way and Michigan is suddenly feeling a little bit small. It looks like it's about time for me to move on. As brilliantly terrifying as that suddenly feels.<br />
<br />
Best Regards Guys,<br />
Patrick<br /><br /><br />P.S. The tea house has been playing Disney Music the entire time that I've been writing this, and it is wonderful. I am going to miss this place terribly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-77231063410684004652013-02-14T12:32:00.001-08:002013-02-14T12:32:34.706-08:00Eight View of Dreams<br />
Where do dreams come from?<br />
<br />
Do they sneak up upon us when we rest our anxious minds? Do they sneak in and play on the idle machinery like children in a construction site, building mountains of sand and pebbles that fall apart by the next morning? I think they are the stray bits and curious thoughts of people who cannot care for them. People whose lives are too serious, and maybe they have the dreams that others are far too silly to concentrate on. I think they are rejected thoughts trying to find a home.<br />
<br />
Dreams could be bits of the future, swimming against the gradual flow of time and entropy to lay eggs of wild thoughts in our resting heads. They could wither and die as their strange goals are met. Perhaps our regrets from times that have yet to happen flock to us when we sleep and try to push us towards a future wherein they cannot live. Would that make them suicidal? We may never know.<br />
<br />
What if I told you that dreams were parasites. Purely conceptual creatures that grazed upon the left-over observations that we had not stored into our memory properly at the end of the day. They follow the moon as it circles the earth, much as fish follow the tides to feeding zones. Great hundreds of dreams might roam through your head each night and nibble at your head. Sometimes one or two will get trapped when they leave, crushed to death within the pages of your memory, and those are the ones you remember. They will have some of your thoughts left within them, but they will have the undigested observations of many, many more.<br />
<br />
Dreams are mirrors of yourself, but actual living mirrors. Dressed in fantastically ornate clothing and perfect mirrored faces, they act out pantomimes of what your life could be. Like all mirrors, they are slightly warped and exaggerated. They describe your deepest fears, wildest fantasies and act out your most abstract thoughts. They regularly compete against and visit other dream actors when you are awake, and sometimes hold vast parties during certain cycles of the moon. This is why people go mad when they sleep under the full moon: their mirrors all leave and are replaced by those of others.<br />
<br />
Dreams are actually the bits of fluff the fall off of great interdimensional beasts as they travel between strange stars. They are experiences that transcend our eight senses and have to fold into complex and disorienting shapes so that we can see them fully. We substitute the multifaceted eyes and rippling tentacles with familiar faces, and the howling void with fanciful locales. We go mad each night trying so desperately trying to reason with the unreasonable and understand the unknowable that we forget most of what we have seen and only remember what little we could comprehend. Perhaps our nightmares are just us seeing things more clearly.<br />
<br />
I once heard a story that dreams are television signals from a parallel world. They leak in through the fabric of reality and catch us when we are most vulnerable. We are watching the soap operas and dramas of a million different worlds just like our own. Sometimes signals mix, and sometimes we get interference from the signals from our own world. It is difficult to say which and where any of them came from, or how their humor and culture could possibly differ from our own, but that may be.<br />
<br />
In the beginning of the world, a great spider wove the night sky in place to keep out the sun at night. From the holes of the sky, we have the stars. Each strand is wound so tight that when the sky moves, it produces a note. Each strand is so long, and their notes so low, that we cannot hear them sing to us. At least, we cannot hear them when we are awake. Each song that they sing filters in with the starlight and fills our ears and sleeping minds with a beautiful, haunting song. These are interpreted in a million different ways, and each person may hear a different song from the same notes. That is why we dream.<br />
<br />
Dreams are nothing more that our brains recycling information that they have processed during the day. As they shuffle short term memory into the long term, they reactivate the pathways that were used during the waking hours so that they can be transcribed into the long term. Each time you remember something, you are only remembering the last time that you remembered it. The older the memory, the more daisy-chained it has become, but what this means is that everything that we remember we have remembered in a dream. Dreams are our way of establishing memories. What we remember, we dream, and what we dream, we remember.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-42144974191208895522013-02-10T06:00:00.002-08:002013-02-10T06:00:56.117-08:00What? He's posting again?<br />
Hey there,<br />
<br />
It's been a odd little while. I know that I should write more in here, but I've been up to my ears in grad school stuff and I can't in good conscience keep this up when I'm suppose to be planning out the next few years of my life. (It is really weird to realize that the stuff I'm doing right now will be determining what and where I will be doing stuff for the next few years. That's always the case though.)<br />
<br />
Senior year right? It's the point where everything comes to a close somewhat. I've got two last fencing tournaments as a college kid. (There is no way in the seven hells that I'll travel for fencing in grad school. They can't make me.) Then I give up my squad to the kids I've been helping raise for four years. It's an odd feeling that I really am not use to. I'm trying to plan who will be in charge and who will support them, but it's really futile trying to plan stuff that will happen naturally. They will be fine (I hope) and there is nothing new that I can really do, other than what I have been doing.<br />
<br />
I know my lab managers are starting to realize that I'm not going to be around for much longer. They're trying to get me to teach the younger kids how to properly do my job. (Which is a lot. I've been working there for almost four years, and I can single-handedly run the general lab stuff if I need to, which is no small feat. Also really exhausting.) They've got a few good kids, but research labs are always places of high turnovers. Between the grad students, the undergrads, and the post-docs, there is really very little staff that has the intention of staying there for more than a few years. It's a weird feeling that there will only be two people left working in the lab that were there before me when I leave. Strange feelings.<br />
<br />
Finally, one thing that I can actually start doing again is writing. You guys probably don't read this for my opinions on the fencing community (of which I'm effectively just some kid in the backwaters of the country) or the research community (of which I am just a mouth-breathing undergrad aspiring greatness), but maybe you guys are here for the writing and my charming personality? I thought not, but I will pretend that's the reason. I've done some dialog and some setting description, but I've only just started drafting stuff again. Which of course comes down the the great topic of anxiety and strife for me around this time of year: <a href="http://literature.ucsd.edu/affiliated-programs/clarion/index.html">Clarion</a>.<br />
<br />
Two stories, a few things about myself, and a hope or prayer that will whisk me off to California for a summer of highly intensive and formative short story drafting. It's an odd thought that I might be able to do it this time. Second year of applying, but that's nothing when I talk to people that tried futilely for six years to get in only to suddenly break through. I've got <a href="http://www.scifia.com/socks.html">Socks</a>, one story from last time I tried applying, published and am very proud of her. My other story from last years submission has been around the stocks a few times with little success, and though I love it dearly I think that I will try something new. I've got a short little 800 word prompt that I think has a lot of potential... I just have to expand it to a normal length and make sure it's not too complex.<br />
<br />
That is mostly my goal for the rest of the month: polish this story until it shines. I think that it is a reasonable goal and I think it will move smoothly. I'll also polish some other drafts and take them out to a few markets while I'm waiting for Clarion to get back to me. Tell you guys what, if I have any stubs or starts that just aren't clicking for larger work but I still like them, I'll post them for your enjoyment. I've got a few <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> things that never quite got off the ground and would be fun to post, but we'll see.<br />
<br />
For the moment: Clarion.<br />
All other things come second, at least for the month.<br />
<br />
Good talking to you guys again.<br />
I'll see you around some time, but I wouldn't be too surprised if I get all worked up into whatever project I've holed myself into.<br />
<br />
Yours,<br />
Patrick<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-28842723073382006962012-12-12T16:20:00.000-08:002012-12-12T16:20:01.029-08:00Winter WonderlandIt's been a long semester. I've not updated this in a while, and I have focused on finishing up with school. Finals are over and the last of the dreaded classes are over. I haven't submitted any writing, written any music, or thrown together a complex character or plot in months. I think that should change.<br />
<br />
I have grad school applications to finish up, but other than the few days that will take, I have time to breathe and to create a bit. I know it's not much, but if you want to play a game, I've got a little text based adventure that I'm running. Feel free to play, feel free to read, or even make your own. I'll keep you guys up to date on the rest of my work later.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thefoita.tumblr.com/"></a><a href="http://thefoita.tumblr.com/">The Seas of Foita</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-68169329531148403522012-09-14T14:47:00.002-07:002012-09-14T14:47:34.508-07:00Oh God What Have I Been Doing(and other things relating to things needing to be done.)<br />
<br />
Well, the start of school has left me once again in a reach for time, and I would like to say sorry by doing an awesome update. Between a new campaign for my RPG group (we're trying Pathfinder, and I am having far too much fun writing character back stories), my super secret project that still isn't done, and teaching about ~90 people how to fence, it's been an exciting start to the semester.<br />
<br />
My current concept for a Pathfinder character is an Awakened Bear Druid. Awakened animals being gifted with human intelligence by the spell 'Awaken' by a druid. The potential for puns is far too high for me to consider any other alternative character. I was also tasked to create a Cleric for our group, so obviously when I found a third party race known as Obitu (un-undead skeletons that are animated with positive energy, and other such silliness), there was really no turning back. He's also following the teachings of the goddess <a href="http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Milani">Milani</a>, whose holy sign is a red rose. Nothing is more badass than a skeleton wading into battle with a rose in his teeth. Needless to say, it's going to be an entertaining campaign.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, we've gotten a bumper crop of new people in fencing and being the men's sabre captain means I get a 1/6th share in making sure that they're up to snuff. It's been a rough couple of weeks (and I'm never one to make prompt arrivals,) but I feel like it's going to be a good year. The Ohio State tournament is coming up far sooner that I would like, but that's how the season tends to run. Also about to drop an ungodly amount of money on new equipment since my cords, lame, and glove all seemed to have died over the summer. My wallet will cry for a little while because of this, but I won't have access to club gear in a few months anyhow. Graduating sucks when it comes to these things.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, work is continuing on my super secret project and I am hoping that my partner-in-crime will hurry up with her contributions. I won't spoil anything too much, but I'm really excited about it and it's taking a lot of effort not to just blabber on about it. I'll just say that I've been reading too much Bohme.<br />
<br />
Also Project: No Caffeine failed miserably and I am now enjoying a variety of teas and sodas... I might not sleep tonight.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-90120294572190212642012-08-14T10:34:00.001-07:002012-08-14T10:34:28.384-07:00Life and Death of SummerLast week of work for me before I get the summer off before I take a week of mental health break. It's been trying and what not. Lots of little things: small victories and small defeats, but we'll see what comes of anything. I'm not too much in the mood to talk about myself, so here's some random writing:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It should be of note that Edna Darling is a completely ordinary woman. She has never been featured on the cover of Gardeners Bimonthly, nor has she been recognized as the premier bassist in the Midwest. Her name has not graced the surface of a state volleyball trophy won in championships of her senior year, and not one person has heard the poetry that she writes and keeps under her mattress during rainy days. In short, she is a completely normal, albeit unrecognized, human being. What reason then is there to talk about her?<br /><br />There. Right there, in the time that it took for us to cover her non-accomplishments, Edna did something extraordinary. In her living room furnished with a few antiques and mostly IKEA furniture, walls covered in lethargic yellow paint almost 10 years old, and TV that has not been turned on in 4 months, she has done the impossible. She has decided to take a class in yoga.<br /><br />Now you might ask: Why is this so important? and I will tell you. It isn't. No, what she is doing is something so impossible and bizarre that it is actually changing the entire way that she perceives herself and her surroundings. The act of doing. An act so controversial and exhilarating that is has been classified as something best not done in sight of your loved ones.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">What effect does this 'doing' have on the eventual heat death of the universe, the Turkish revival occurring a world away, or the steady rise of octopi as the dominant form on intelligent life? Nothing. It has no visible effect on anything other than one Edna Darling. Even then, she will quit after the third yoga session and go back to her normally routine life. But, that act of breaking the steady and repetitive march from birth to grave has allowed her to momentarily stand as the pinnacle of conscious life forms. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was for that brief second that Edna Darling became one of the most important objects in the universe with her bout of free will, and second only to the continuing existence of chili cheese fries in this particular dimension. For that brief second she became important. Most humans have one or two bouts of free will, and they hardly even recognize it. Some have many, and are considered either brilliant or insane (mostly both.) But choices are sitting there, just waiting for someone to take them in hand and run with them. To be, even for a brief second, important.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-71210375794702605162012-08-07T17:02:00.000-07:002012-08-07T17:04:38.897-07:00Fears and SuchI'm a worrier. I worry about things when I don't have something to think about. I worry about people's reactions to me, I worry about my grades, I worry about not worrying about my grades, I worry about eating too much, I worry about not eating enough, and I especially worry about things that are far beyond my control. These general worries make me a mess when I'm left to my own devices. This is why I never stop working on things. I either have to be reading or writing, planning or building, cleaning or messing up. If I ever stop moving, I get an unpleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach. These things stretch over to almost everything I do, and sometimes I just want to admit what silliness I tend to worry about:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>If I do not do the dishes, they might rebel after gaining their independence.</li>
<li>(If I do the dishes too often they will become overworked, lethargic, and generally useless.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>If I don't do well in school, I won't graduate and everyone I know will pity me and hate me.</li>
<li>(Doing too well means that people tend to think I'm intelligent.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Reading outside might draw the ire of the local Rocs that will swoop down and carry me away before I can write my last will and testament.</li>
<li>(Reading inside will anger the Gnomes.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Local law enforcement confiscating my computer after learning about the stash of highly valuable Very Large Primes located on my external hard drive.</li>
<li>(Actually having them requires figuring out how to generate them using a Raspberry Pi.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The God of Stoplights (an ancient deity long forgotten and re-situated during the 1930's New Gods Act in response to the rise of technology in the new world) might cancel our agreement about yellow lights.</li>
<li>(Also that I might remember what I signed away in that agreement.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Thursday might actually be Friday at one point, and that we only have 6 days in the week from now on.</li>
<li>(Not to mention the implications on the length of the year and the extreme haste to the heat death of the universe.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>That perhaps one day there will be no more potato chips.</li>
<li>(And no twice baked potatoes either...)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Japanese Giant Hornets. </li>
</ul>
<br />
There. Those are the things that I worry about on a constant basis. Trust me, it's a terrible existence that you want no part of. Also, rocs are a protected species in Michigan. Who would have guessed?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-49165089357041126302012-08-03T05:10:00.000-07:002012-08-03T05:10:14.276-07:00Like Fireflies in OverdriveIt's been an emotionally charged week for me. Lot of roommate troubles and people not knowing what it means to have your name on something. But to prevent an entire post about whining: the lights are back on. No matter what emotional filth I had to deal with or philosophical discussions I had to get into with my labmates (talk of the formation of a guild of hit men was brought up, but I had to quell the idea,) the lights ARE back on. <br />
<br />
Everything in the end will get better. No matter what tabs need to be paid, who needs to be picked up off the floor, and how many times "Yes, we have to go, the bar closes at two." needs to be said, everyone gets home at the end of the night (usually.) Sometimes you end up sleeping on life's metaphorical couch (or her real one) and sometimes life needs to be dragged into the taxi cab and you need to fumblingly ask her address again. In the end, through all the mud and swill of life's bar crawl and the pain of the next morning, we're still alive and still able to take on what ever else comes our way.<br />
<br />
On the bright side, the freezer is defrosted.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzjtRNt9hpL0fJ0tRNroFOuWBM83nu4JtYrPZZ6QDTX2S3Tx2pr-5PgWSP5HwEB1sGBgp0a0LtBk4G9ZzEGOVQpBZeDhlRr2aesOf2CubaNTbcoZAbdn3eRgUgt3xmjAU4wGi9uMJY58/s640/blogger-image--928723534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzjtRNt9hpL0fJ0tRNroFOuWBM83nu4JtYrPZZ6QDTX2S3Tx2pr-5PgWSP5HwEB1sGBgp0a0LtBk4G9ZzEGOVQpBZeDhlRr2aesOf2CubaNTbcoZAbdn3eRgUgt3xmjAU4wGi9uMJY58/s640/blogger-image--928723534.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-73809892720333791742012-07-30T05:51:00.001-07:002012-07-30T05:51:00.998-07:00Summertime BluesIt's that point in the year that I realize that all this summer has been spent, and that there is little left to do but wait for the final school year to start. It's downright depressing to say the least, but I am bound and determined to enjoy and capitalize on this remaining sun.<br />
<br />
There are a few things I was working on before I got so terribly and depressingly sidetracked. There are diving trips that need plans, plots that have yet to be sketched, and relationships that have yet to be consoled. All in all I'm surprised that I can't see what else there is to do around here. But then again, am I so opposed for the school year to start up again?<br />
<br />
I guess I'll know soon enough. <br />
<br />
Well, more on things later. Take care.<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsFW7_y_GRpfl0K0A71FTXa3rFHKNZT_YKWDOjRrMwgy7xw4zcud01qwb2Gh7vszGm870M2hrqKTzCy3qHH0JklZIJ-R7Va4Ndy-Zjpwcn3WKo4fd1D6avheVCsBl7ddhyelBl6_2EMs/s640/blogger-image-1542845223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsFW7_y_GRpfl0K0A71FTXa3rFHKNZT_YKWDOjRrMwgy7xw4zcud01qwb2Gh7vszGm870M2hrqKTzCy3qHH0JklZIJ-R7Va4Ndy-Zjpwcn3WKo4fd1D6avheVCsBl7ddhyelBl6_2EMs/s640/blogger-image-1542845223.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-47281078997688210332012-07-27T05:36:00.001-07:002012-07-27T05:36:50.302-07:00The Fall of the PawnI just finished my poster presentation yesterday, and I found that preparation actually leads to confidence in these sorts of things. Not a whole lot of people came up to ask me about my poster, but mostly people I already knew decided to drop by. The judge (there's a judge for these things?) came by at the same time my boss did, so I was quaking in my boots the entire time I gave the presentation. I got the scores later that day by email (again, where do these things come from?) and got remarkably good marks, all 4s & 5s (out of 5...)<br />
<br />
In the end they are suppose to declare winners in each section, something I didn't know about before hand. My goal is, if I win I'll be surprised and flattered, and if not then I will take it as no real loss. I'm not sure what exactly winning might get me other than a pat on the back... but that's good too.<br />
<br />
On more entertaining note, the Dark Knight Rises was excellent and a good finish to the trilogy. Bane was a wonderfully well spoken brute, and the other villains were perfectly suited to their roles. The only problem I had with the movie was how long the timeline was, but it is a far better criticism than the alternative. As my <a href="http://majorspoilers.com/about-major-spoilers/jimmy-dunn/">good friend that reviews comics</a> said, "I knew the ending, but Nolan had me doubting.", and what a good thing to doubt. Uncertainty is one of the best tools in creating dramatic suspense. It's one reason why the Game of Thrones is so popular: the main characters die, and we can't predict it. Realistic uncertainty is not something normal in movies, but it is something that needs to be taken into consideration when writing them, and all other narrative. The Batman series was founded on a realistic look at the mythos, and they certainly did not falter when making Dark Knight Rises.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, I'm going to hanker back down and work on the GRE, because grad school and stuff. Also means not a whole lot of new writing from me, but hey that happens.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, may it be raining where you are.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-15459675343433248942012-07-19T15:33:00.001-07:002012-07-19T15:33:54.197-07:00Thursday == FridayIt's been a rough few days, but I just sent my poster to the head of my lab and we'll see how much of it he decides needs to be changed. Either way, I'm done with it for the moment and that means a quick break. It's kind of sad that I really want to spend my day off by cleaning up, but I need the set cleared before I begin my super secret project (aka I will not be able to focus with the tower of empty beer cans my roommates left for me in our living room.)<br />
<br />
Other than that, I'm super excited to go see Dark Knight Rises tonight with a few friends. I'll probably post my opinions on it, but when it comes to movies I'm fairly easy to please. (Explosions, Fight Scenes and awesome Special Effects all score disproportionately high points with me.)<br />
<br />
I'm fairly exhausted and I the construction that is going on in the other apartments is keeping me up in the mornings, but all of that can be forgiven if the girls across the hall get a washing machine. Actually, I'd put up with quite a bit more to have access to a semi-private washing machine. I wouldn't go full Dexter for it, but I'd consider it for a few seconds.<br />
<br />
Other than my pining for access to a washing machine... there isn't much else to say. I'm going to play dota2 and sleep a little bit before the movie. I'll let you guys know how it is, but I think I already said that...<br />
<br />
Check you later guys<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Here is a glimpse of the construction I have to deal with. I wish it would stop so I can just flirt and bribe my way to a washing machine...<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCeY5GrmlmZXMvgk_rgkBCM-b_Vl8cX70AII-W-A9ynhZTxAUJQubJ5h3xrN03LnNuF4ffgpBqYKgmwY97KUJU1p8PzisKu3vKsYo5YLB3XY7LZ42J_3fLJDQYuxMmEEgYVs7Xesn2TX0/s640/blogger-image-1173698525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCeY5GrmlmZXMvgk_rgkBCM-b_Vl8cX70AII-W-A9ynhZTxAUJQubJ5h3xrN03LnNuF4ffgpBqYKgmwY97KUJU1p8PzisKu3vKsYo5YLB3XY7LZ42J_3fLJDQYuxMmEEgYVs7Xesn2TX0/s640/blogger-image-1173698525.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125915426656879881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-719860535306271674.post-23040394495346126522012-07-17T17:07:00.002-07:002012-07-17T17:07:30.577-07:00Tan Lines and ThunderstrikesIt's good to be back in the states once again. I know that it's meant to be a good experience to go on vacation, but it's the quiet space after a seven day family party that really hits home. (Though, making food is a huge bummer after being able to gorge for a solid week.)<br />
<br />
Finishing up my poster and buying food, and other things like that. Also got my first batch of rejection letters, which means that I'm a real writer now. Count is only up to 2 and I'm still waiting on another, but it's a start. The entire cruise I was writing down every little idea that came into my head, and the dreams. I've been told that dream journals are really good source for inspiration. I've got quite the list of incomprehensible ideas, but there are a few gems in there. I'm not so sure I'm going to write a story based on<br />
"<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Hyper dimensional savior of the world who ends up selling midget smut teaming up with a dwarfed woodcut artist to reset time,</span>"<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but who knows, that might just be a good idea at some later point. Feel free to steal that if you think you can make it work. Though </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">"Man(Murderer) has tea party, nothing extraordinary happens"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">might be a fun side project. Either way, I've got a good idea for what I'm writing during the August <a href="http://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in">NaNoWriMo</a>. Have yet to win one of them, though many attempts, and we'll see if I can do it this time.</span><br />
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Got a new big project that I'm looking at collaborating on, but that's only in planning right now. I'll let you guys know when that goes live, and perhaps sneak peaks will be in order. All of that will be in the future though. Also, just a final word: the first issue of <a href="http://www.scifia.com/">Scifia Magazine</a> is up, both in paperback and in electronic versions. I've read though it and was very entertained and impressed by the talent that fills its pages. I'd recommend it, bias as I may be.<br />
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So long folks and I'll see you later!<br />
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Picture of Carnival Legend, the boat I was on. It was very large.<br />
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