John Crick
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "John Crick" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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08:19 pm
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): Water flowing underground
Problem: When it rains, water streams through the basement walls.
We hired some guys to waterproof the outside of the house. Things didn't go well, and the job ended taking months when it should have taken days.
Problem: When it rains, the basement floor gets damp
We hired some other guys (the people we wanted in the first place) to water proof the inside of the house. Things went much faster. For the first time I could recall, the basement was dusty.
Problem: It rained, the basement floor is damp.
*sigh*
Granted, it did rain something like 6 inches in one hour, and on and off for two days thereafter.
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. ):
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09:01 am
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Finally, one of them understands
About time Thwing stopped hiding on top of stuff.
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11:22 am
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Ramblings of a madman
This is two articles, but the former lead to the latter. I wonder if the latter can be without the former.
Pain is a persistent teacher. It will teach things you don't want to learn, things you don't need to learn, but I am convinced that it will not give up until you learn something. If I could change the universe, I don't know if I would change that or not.
As many of you know, I occasionally have tremendous headaches. Once before, I've had one so bad that the pain-o-meter did an integer overflow and I had an experience I thought not possible. I have very recently had a second such headache. This one was different.
When we are young, we are. That is the sum of existence. There are interruptions of bladder, hunger, temperature, and motion. External forces we could not comprehend cause these interruptions to pass, and we return to existing.
Later, that is not enough. We need goals, destinations, things to move towards. That, when added to existing, is the sum of existence. The goals start simple like burping, walking, doing a home homework assignment or running to third base.
Later, that is not enough. It is not the destination but the journey that is important. Doing one chore is insignificant to doing chores, one assignment to doing homework. By the time any goal is reached, we are already headed towards many more. The goal is not important, but we still must have them.
It occurred to me recently that the journey is not important. For a time, I felt I had arrived whenever it was I was going. I had to learn the journey cause where I was going was itself moving. I needed to keep moving in order to stay where I already was. I could not get lost, for I was always traveling to where I was.
I have missed something or found something. I'm not sure which.
And then I lost all but a piece of it.
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07:25 pm
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Amber Belly
Can you resist cuddly widdle belwey?
post a response: Yes - I am inhuman or No- rub rub rub!
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11:47 am
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(: Take me out to the Black
Serenity RPG
Not D20
More news later
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08:37 pm
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/: Absolute Zero
Don't think too hard on this one. I can't come up with an elegant way to ask this.
Objects with mass have potential energy due to gravity fields they are exposed to. This potential energy is usually calculated as relative to some zero, which could potentially be infinitely far away from all other gravitational fields, establishing a sort of absolute potential energy, which ironically will always be negative. Another way to think of it is how energy in debt the object is compared to what it needs to achieve escape velocity.
Now, if this object is very near the event horizon of a black hole (not that I know of any other kind), it's absolute potential energy will be enormous. Will it be comparable to the energy the rest mass contains? If so, then from this perspective, the object must contain no energy and thus ceases to exist if it crosses the event horizon. Unfortunately, I don't recall the equations well enough to work this out, so I'm being lazy and seeing if the LJ community can solve it for me.
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10:41 pm
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/: It is not logical, but it is often true.
I haven't been working on a project called Demiverse because I recently found the information needed to work on a project Card Table, the success of which could have a profound effect on Demiverse. I haven't been working on Card Table because I've recently been working on a project called FinanSeer (No link available), something that I know is getting immediate use, as opposed to my pet projects.
FinanSeer is all but complete. That means I know have both the time and the means with which to pursue a task I've wanted since college. And yet, with the goal in sight, I feel like I'm going to finish only because because I have sought it for so long, not because I feel it worth completing, even though that is also true. Does this make any sense to anyone?
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10:26 am
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/: Mascots
I was randomly thinking about cereal box mascots. Tony the Tiger. Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Lucky. I got to wondernig: are there any female cereal box mascots?
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10:03 am
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/: Rock'em Socket Routers
Oogby found me a link to doing some socket programming after watching fail to implement the MFC version. I've plugged, I've chugged, and I got a successful transmission from one program to another. Today's plan was to figure out what I'm doing an encapsulate it, but the link has changed, and no longer has the information that I was ignoring before. *sigh*
In Demiverse news, the project is on hold because I really wanted to get some multi-player app working. Worse yet, the new version of the compiler I'm using appears to no longer make stand alone executables. That means no more posting of the project for others to test. Since the compiler is free, I wonder if the no executables is a ploy to get me to get the purchase version.
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08:20 am
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A horse not a horse, off-course, of course.
Suppose you were to perform an autopsy for a centaur. The creature has, in a sense, two torsos. Where would you expect each of its internal organs to be, or would you expect redundancy?
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10:43 am
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You Can Take the Silver Screen from Me
Saw lots of Firefly reviews that might nominate Joss for godhood, but I gotta say I disagree. I will keep this spoiler-light, and would appreciate any comments do the same. It's a good movie, but it lacks the soul of the series. Bad points listed below, as the good points would be spoilers.
( bad points, light on spoilers )
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11:07 pm
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/: Don't be a mouse in this house
I begin to rethink the prowess of Thwing, our feline-looking predator. She was making repeated sounds under a desk, and, when I went to investigate, I discovered she had trapped some mouse under there. Good cat-thing.
About three hours later, I heard more repetitive noises, and again found Thwing cornering some mouse. Three hours after that, the mouse entered my room, with a belled-collar close behind. I've been watching the poor thing move from furniture piece to furniture piece, with Thwing following about a minute later.
I got to thinking about several things during this rodent's ordeal. Thwing's day vision must be lacking, for so many times she would move past the mouse as if she didn't realize it was there. My empathy towards mice must be lacking, for after the seventh hour of this mouse being scared for its life, I still haven't done anything to interfere, despite knowing that if a cat were in distress, I would acted after seven seconds.
So now I wonder what the web community has to say. Ironic, I think, that the mouse is currently hiding under this computer.
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08:21 pm
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(: Review of "Sin City"
Damn.
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09:03 am
[Link] | .....Good. Demiverse has been updated again, now with cool, cool water.
.....Bad. Failed another job interview. Seems like I had all the skills needed, but not to the scale needed. This is beginning to really bring me down, as it seems my current job is to have people say "you're not good enough" to me.
.....Ugly. Google Image search thinks that Brian Crick has a pointy orange/yellow head.
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11:11 pm
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(: Dilema
Thought experiment based on the prisoner's dilemma. Imagine that you and nine of your peers are captured, kept in separate cells so you can't communicate. In one hour, your jailer will visit each cell asking for a "yay" or "nay". You will not know what each other's responses are. If any of you says "yay", then all who said "nay" go free. If you wish as many of you to go free as possible, and you think that your peers all think as you do, what should you do?
I will post my solution in a week, and I make no claims that it is best.
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03:07 pm
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(: Who'd you rather?
++++++O great internet, please grant me answer to the questions that plague me in life. Who is better off? Peter Parker for whom the universe seems to be a great machine designed to torment him, or Samurai Jack, for whom the universe really is a great machine designed to torment him?
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10:30 pm
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(: If I were king of the forest . . . .
In many role-playing games, one person has the job of creating an environment were other people who doesn't work together can learn about the world, improve themselves, and steal coin, goods and items from the hands of their perceived adversaries. It is to include challenges to overcome easily-defeatable evils through force of arms, which reinforces a sort of "might makes right" mentality. The person in charge of this universe is thus reinforcing an ideology to the others, mainly that aggression is the solution to most problems.
Given complete control of the universe, is this really what we would do with it? Would we really make a universe full of pathetic and obvious evils just so we can defeat them without pondering the morality of it? Are we in such a need to find enemies to thwart with our torches and pitchforks, and create them if none exist? Maybe Clyde Throckmorton (from the "Over the Edge" RPG) was onto something.
So why do I feel like I'm running a daycare/recruitment center once a week?
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10:44 am
[Link] | Demiverse update available with multiple vieports and mouse support.
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10:23 am
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(: Sibling Rivalry
I've been a groomsman, a best man, an usher and rabble at a wedding. I feel I'm missing some role, but I'm not qualified to preside over it, nor do I think I'd look good in a bridesmaid dress.
I wonder if when the Vibberts were born, their sibling rivalry began. In that language of babies than no adult can understand, I like to think they first made a challenge to see which could lead a long life. A race that Grace is currently winning.
The little contests of siblings now culminated in a competition of marriage. Marie had three weddings on two continents, one Buddhist-influenced and in Vietnamese that the bridal party did not understand, a dowry of earrings, candles and fruit. Grace had a wedding, with Catholic-influences and in Latin that the bridal party did not understand, in two centuries, with a dowry of sheep, land and wine.
I have little doubt that they now will compete to see whose marriage lasts longer. I suspect the race will be long, one that Marie is currently winning.
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10:04 am
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Small Step
Demiverse has been updated, now with improved grass. (General: Grass never provokes an attack of oportunity, and gets +4 to related rolls.)
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