It's been a while since i posted...

Recently, I've been reading more about science in general, but especially physics, in the recent months.  I have done this for quite a while now, but it's only in the past few months that I have apparently improved my study skills, as I am beginning to understand it more intuitively.  My main problem now is that I have very sketchy knowledge of the math involved, and that is paramount in this, but as I have been able to learn more effectively just by giving my full attention, I think I'll have a better time of it this time around!

-Joel

PS: As a side note, my laptop's keyboard is on the fritz, occasionally acting as if I'm pressing the left directional key, or the space and backspace keys not working.  I have to insert spaces with pasting, as well as deleting instead of  using backspace, and it has also affected the directional keys, so now I have to use the 10-key pad, not to mention the problems of ctrl-v being so close to ctrl-b...

Potato fruits and bizzare commercials

I like to read about random things when I look around wikipedia and TV Tropes, and found out something a bit interesting, albeit something most people probably knew already!  Potatoes are part of the Deadly Nightshade family, which I was vaguely aware of, but apparently certain varieties, when the flowers don't fall off, develop actual fruits!  Unfortunately, these fruits are apparently highly toxic, as befits such a plant, but it looks oddly refreshing to me at least; almost like a green grape tomato.

In other news, there has been one commercial lately that has put me off; I usually record the tv shows I watch, and therefore fast forward through the commercials.  This time, however, I had just let them play as I read, but noticed a disturbing thing about this commercial for computers.  A family returns home to find their house has been burglarized, but their outdated computer has been left intact; this in itself isn't disturbing, but the fact that they are insulted that the computer was left behind!  Indeed, once they arrive at Average Purchase, they show surprise that they could port over information!  The last thing they say chills me, "Now this is a computer they'd want to steal!"

Yes, let's encourage crime and endanger your family!  Who cares about your family's safety, we want EVERYTHING stolen, because we aren't some lower class family whose objects aren't worth stealing!

Hoping you guys don't get Bilbo Bagginsed

-Joel de Bunchastu

Gilbert Gottfried

This morning, as I was driving to drop off a netflix dvd in the public mailbox by Bloom (AKA Food Lion for those of you who still remember~), I heard that Gilbert Gottfried had apparently made jokes about the disasters in Japan.  Apparently, they weren't the "Laughing in the face of pain" kind of jokes, but rather mock the victims.  It might even have been kinda sorta forgiveable if they were GOOD jokes, but they're as stupid as they are tasteless.

Some other comedians in the shock genre of comedy have come to his defense, but often I have noticed that people who have specialized in this seem not to think that any other kind of comedy might have value, or at least are not as good.  Making someone cringe voluntarily isn't, in my opinion, something entertaining, but I suppose it could be called a talent.  Then again, I do not greatly enjoy awkward situations when they come up without prior planning, but I can understand that some have different tastes in humor

I just wish sometimes that the dead baby comedians would sometimes consider why some people dislike them, and come up with an answer other than "They're just prudes"

-Joel de Bunchastu

More on Japan and Nuclear Woes

I have heard that due to the disaster in Japan, 80% of Germans polled are against nuclear energy, or at least were even before the incident.  There is one thing I feel the need to make clear: this was not due to shoddy manufacture, the reactors had the misfortune of being built to withstand a reasonably strong earthquake, instead of these once in a millenium-to-once-in-a-geologic-epoch ones; many structures in Germany are less well shored up, I suspect, as well.  Blaming this on the avarice of power companies is ill-advised, and frankly misaimed.  Nuclear power has indeed been dangerous, but what is not often pointed out is that coal is also as bad, if not worse.  I do not speak only of pollution; detectable radiation levels are generated by coal stacks, and uranium has been found in it before. 

Nuclear power stands as one of the few proven, relatively clean methods of producing energy, something desperately needed in economic times like this; I agree that safety measures have to be taken, and that in the future reactors must be given more redundancies.  Fukushima Dai-ichi had been built in the 70s, relatively new for a reactor; that it held up as well as it did to such a massive earthquake and tsunami is testament to how solid they are in the first place.  Disasters are, by definition, terrible for human beings, but they also expose our weaknesses, so that we can learn from them.  Let's not make a terrible mistake by discarding something, just as we have the opportunity to learn to  make it even safer.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

I heard about this today as soon as I woke up, and even though I know that Japan is infamous for earthquakes and other seismic/volcanic activity, I was surprised by the magnitude.  The closest I've heard that it can be compared to was an account in the 800s AD, also accompanied by tsunamis of course.  As if this wasn't enough, the main power and diesel generators at at least one Japanese nuclear reactor have gone offline, leaving only battery backups!  If power can't be restored, the core will get hotter and hotter, causing coolant water to become steam!  This creates a terrible choice, because if you don't vent it, it will explode, but if you do you have radioactive vapor as well as reducing the amount of coolant available.  That option would only be feasible if a new power source was on its way, but it may be the only way to avoid such a catastrophe.

Many who were on airplanes from tokyo just heard about the full extent of the damage as they arrived at airports; some had only heard of a "little earthquake", and was apparently not taken as seriously at first, until it failed to stop as expected.  Accounts I have heard place it at at least two minutes of increasing shaking, with buildings swaying ax people tried to save themselves and others.

I hope that all who are affected by this terrible disaster can receive help as soon as possible, and I am planning on donating something at least to help victims; being the lazy american I am, however, I will have to wait until such a group is formed.  I haven't heard anything about the tsunami that reached the west coast of the US yet, and hope that the early warning was able to help people get to safety; early warning systems for earthquakes and tsunami are actually in place in japan, and are said to be the most extensive in the world.  Unfortunately, due to how earthquakes send out waves, the most warning that can be given is about a minute before it hits.  It sent automatic texts to phones and automated messages to disaster and EMS crews in tokyo and the surrounding area, apparently; it may have seemed like a superfluous expenditure to some people, but I am sure no one will call it useless now!  A similar system is apparently being planned for installation in California, but it will be at least 5 years and who knows how much money to get it running.

Here's hoping everyone who was injured will recover
-Joel de Bunchastu

How The Earth Was Made

As I've said before, I have been recording several tv shows that I normally wouldn't get a chance to see; today the one I am watching is about the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth.  It's part of a series of linked documentaries called, no surprise, "How The Earth Was Made".  It's interesting to me, because the desert is so close to ocean, yet the hot air keeps any cool and moist air from rising above the hills surrounding the coast, which means it is around fifty times drier than Death Valley, even though it is on average about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  Radio spectrometry performed on the rocks lying on the desert floor show that they have not been moved by flooding for at least 230 million years!

I wonder what would happen if those mountains were to be shaved in a section, allowing the lower hanging clouds to move into the area?  Would it be flooded, and slowly bloom back into a prairie-like state, or just become a treacherous flood plain, even more dangerous than it is now?  It's questions like that which also get me thinking about terraforming, and other major construction and earth-moving projects.  Currents in the ocean are one of the major factors that affect world temperatures; if a sufficiently advanced civilization were to redirect those currents, say by building up islands in their way, would it mean a form of weather control was possible?  Then again, it's just as likely it could ruin a relatively well balanced ecosphere, brining torrential storms where they'd never been seen before.

Speculation in this matter is just that, speculation; perhaps it would be better for people not to worry about modeling the future so much as to do what they can now to prevent climate change, if it is preventable.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Elf Quest and the Puncturing of my New Tire~

Recently, while stumbling around TV Tropes, I found a comic that I hadn't heard of before, called Elf Quest.  It seems that all, or at least a great deal, of the issues have been put online!  Click here to start reading, but I warn you!  It's really easy to start an archive binge, but not so easy to find a resting place if you get caught up in it!

I had at first thought it had to do with another comic, Drow Tales, that I had heard about before, but that's not the case.  This was started in the late Seventies, and the art is done so well I had mistaken it for digital art!  Then again, there is always the chance that it had been digitally redone, but from what I can tell it was originally done so skillfully.

I have just finished the very first 'series' of Elf Quest, and have started the second run, "Siege at Blue Mountain".  Once I finally catch up, I hope there are some continuing issues being made; I will pace myself in any case, because disappointments like that can be unforeseeable, even if you think you're detached from the story.

During work today, however, something considerably less cheery happened.  Apparently there was a screw left by a construction crew in the road, and I had to pull to the side after hearing a sudden flapping sound.  I had to call AAA because my jack is missing, but thankfully my spare tire is in good repair.  I was actually in a relatively good mood about this, because this is the first time I bought one of those road hazard warranties, so it wasn't money wasted at all!

Either tomorrow or the next day I will head by Walmart and get my replacement tire, and hope that the rim wasn't too badly dented; worst case I can still drive on the spare for a day or two, and it gives me an excuse to check out the electronics area and see if I'm due for an upgrade yet.

For the lulz
-Joel de Bunchastu

Trashy TV Shows

Ever since our family had gotten a dvr unit as part of an upgrade in service (Which actually ends up costing less than C-----t, oddly enough!) I have been recording a few different shows that I hadn't had a chance to watch before.  I started out recordig some shows that I'd see before ad just didn't have dvds for (Sealab 2021, Robot Chicken, etc), but the I decided to check out some ew programs.

The first one I checked out was Pawn Stars, about a pawn shop located in or near Las Vegas.  Much of the entertainment value for me is actually listening to the stories behind some of the items, even if they may be made up.  A lot of the time it seems realistic enough, but there are many times when it's obvious that it's scripted.  A dream sequence is even inserted into the episode, complete with the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire set and cast.  The main characters shown are "The Old Man", Rick, "Big mley"; Three out of four are family, Grandfather, Father and son, with Chumley being the childhood fried of Big Hoss.  Chumley is a source of a lot of comic relief due to bumbling acts, but they are sometimes more painful to watch than you'd like.

These people can sometimes do a somewhat good deed, but greed is common, and they lie about what something will cost to refinish, or how much it's worth.  They also drive down purchase prices to below half of what the 'experts' they have comne in to identify items, and often Rick will claim something is obviously fake, only for it to be authentic, whereas he then makes a 180 turn and says how awesome it is.  Overall, it's a pretty entertaining piece of television, and I'd suggest trying to watch it at least once; you can find it on the History channel of all places, probably citing the iformation about antiques.

Another show worth mentioning is America Pickers, which is actually rather similar to Pawn Stars, except that two middle-aged me go out and buy antiques and interesting pieces of americana,  I haven't watched much of it yet, so I'm not sure if I'll continue watching it, but it would probably be best to give it at least three episodes before dropping it.  This is also on the History Channel, probably under the same pretense of people searching for "antiques".

Tru Tv (Formerly, as I'm sure most of you know, Court TV) has the other two shows I'm following; the first I watched, Bait Car, is actually based off the real bait car concept originally adopted by Canadian police to combat car theft.  The basic premise is that police rig a car with cameras, microphones, a gps tracking beacon, as well as a unit that allows them to remotely shut off the engine and lock the doors from the inside.  The original reason for this was that car thieves were notoriously hard to convict, as getting evidence that a given suspect had actually done anything was hard to prove.  Thankfully, now all they have to do is show the tape in court; as a matter of fact, these tapes became so popular a site was born, Bait Car (DOTCOMMM)

At first, the police were nervous that this would expose their operations, but some disagreed with this assessment; if this was more widely known, car thieves may back off in the belief that any car could be trapped in such a way!   In the beginning, people still made excuses (I need to go see... my,.. nephew's grave), but as the concept was wider known, a look of resigned fear started to appear on thieves' faces as the car they had just gotten away scot-free with was their doom.

Speaking of car theft, the final show I'll talk about is Operation Repo; it is filmed in a manner similar to Cops, but is actually scripted out, all the action supposedly based on real events.  This show, I must admit, is a guilty pleasure for me; seeing people try to lie their way out of being repossessed is a bit like a trainwreck.  I just can't look away; even though I sympathize with people who have financial problems, they wouldn't be in this situation if they hadn't avoided payments.  A lot of time creditors *are* willing to work with you, because they would rather have your payments than have to pay a company to take a vehicle from you.

Until Next Time,

-Joel de Bunchastu

Tying Things Together

Just because I'm in love with seeing my own writing, I have added my twitter updates to my sidebar!  Apparently my very first post is the most popular, according to Blogger; I'm not qutie sure what to make of that, I'm hoping it's positive inn some way of course.

Speakig of positive action, it seems that Failbetter Games is working on the server problem that has been affecting Echo Bazaar for the past day.  I first became aware of it at about midnight tonight, when I got back from work; after trying to log in, I got a server error screen, which is an occasional event in all betas sooner or later.  Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link to go back to the main section, it looped back to the very same error screen; the page said this would signify that '"...somethig has gone very wrong.""

After having sent a email to the developmet team, I clicked the link again and actually arrived at the normal intro screen!  My hopes were dashed when that same error screen popped up; I am still left with the optimistic thought that it may just be normal maintenance, and it's not as if this will slow down progression in the game all that well.

As for Twitter, I am surprised to have as many as Thirty-Two (!!) followers on my account!  It feels strange, even though it is a relatively low number on twitter, it's more people I've had see my writing, not counting forums posts of course.  That site actually gave me inspiration to write more, and in rather increased volume.  It feels good to just let it out, even if it isn't read by anyone, even if it isn't intensely important.  It helps to have any kind of practice n writing, it tends to improve self-confidence after all.

My true hope is to write something that entertains another person; the practice makes me less timid, even if it does expose me to ridicule.  It isn't as if criticism would make my writing worse, after all; it mostly would work the other way, I'd like to think.

Would you like to see through a blogokami's eyes?
-Joel "R" de Bunchastryuuk

Times have changed

Hurrah, my schedule hasn't changed, so I do indeed have more hours this week!  I celebrated by watching the Death Note live action movie I just got from Netflix; it's a lot better than I thought, and have immediately queued up the two sequels, even the one that isn't apparently based on the manga.

I enjoy how some events had been changed; I will not mention specifics, but they tend to streamline the storytelling process, perhaps a bit too much!  When the movie ended, I was not expecting it, to say the least, but I actually was left wanting to see more, which movies rarely do anymore. 

I watched Ichi the Killer as well, which I actually enjoyed also, despite my fears of it being uninteresting, gore aside.  I haven't watched a lot of japanese horror movies, despite my like of anime and such, so maybe its time to expand the genres I watch...

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them!  In the meantime, I'll look on Netflix and local video stores~

Cheers
-Joel de Bunchastu

Browser Games~

One thing I've been into for quite some time now has been several browser based games.  You know the kind, you are limited to a certain amount of actions each day/hour/etc and you're either pitted against other players or the environment.  They are also generally either "Free" to play, or you can just buy whatever macguffin the game is based on, such as Fate for Echo Bazaar or "Notorious Status" in Star Pirates.

Now I generally never pay for such things; occasionally I have (Nationstates, curse you!), and I may even buy some Fate in Echo Bazaar, just to help support the game (It's also required to enter some quests, and can also increase your actions, so I might as well do both~).  Even Star Pirates' special stuff helps out without being a game breaker (You recharge your stats 1.5x as fast as normal!)

However, there are always people who will never buy such things, and see it as cheating to do so!  In another game I dabble in, OGame, those who purchase "Officers" tend to be ganged up on by vigilante players who want to put an end to official 'cheats.  (In this case, I feel they are right; the Officers can do anything from letting you queue build orders, increase your energy supply, or let you get more minerals without building anything!  It'd be one thing if it was earned through some kind of action, but when you can just buy it, the richest tend to get the best).

Personally, I don't feel it's too important to stress over; I hope you found something interesting in this, and if you have any questions about some other games, there are plenty out there!  Even MUDS are still around, which I may go back to sometime soon.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Hours increase!

I am in luck, my hours have returned to the previous 5 days a week schedule!  I am still not closing on any of the days, but the increase in tips will make it a lot easier to save money, and my paychecks should go up again as well.  I only hope this is a continuing trend, as my manager claimed it would be; the job search will be extended, and in the mean time I need to make a living somehow.

A friend of mine online suggested joining a union of some kind; I am interested in returning to an electronics related field, and if I joined the IBEW there is training and, at locals with "hiring halls", help with job placement.  I would have to purchase tools though, which would seem to be a couple hundred dollars, so its not a quick-fix by any means!  I would start as an apprentice, but I'm willing to learn, and that kind of structure actually makes me a bit more eager to 'move up' in an organization.

I have the day off tomorrow, which will be spent tidying up some more around the house.  I've finished cleaning my car, and while it no longer has that new-car smell, at least it smells fresh.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Spring Cleaning?

Well, tomorrow I am going to attempt to go through all my things I've accumulated during the past year, hopefully finding a place for them!  Unfortunately, I tend to hang onto things long past when I really need them; there are books in my bookshelves that I haven't read in ages, yet I still hold onto them.

Perhaps they aren't classics in the traditional sense of the word, but to me they are some of my earliest exposures to imaginitive writing that wasn't picturebook based.  One of my favorite, which is generally considered a classic, is the Phantom Toll Booth; I think a lot of people nowadays would benefit from such an experience as Milo had, child or not.  We tend to never pay attention to where we are, as a society, instead preferring to constantly either dawdle in the past, or rush forward to a future that will never be.  "Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today!", as is said in another of the books I still own, perhaps you remember it as well?

Then again, I may be weird for a twentysomething; I prefer to live in the moment, while occasionally planning for the future, and cherishing the past.  There is a difference, after all, and one should never forget what you've experienced, so you can learn from it.

Doing this helps clear out the mind, and brings a clarity and peace that I haven't experienced in any other way, except rare moments.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Finally going back to work

Tomorrow I finally am scheduled again, and since it is four days, it will be 4 in a row.  Hopefully I'll be able to save up enough cash to get me through till next week when my hours will go back up.  I may even be able to start saving again, but I am not going to give up my search for a second job; I won't leave Deleto's because that way I still have a job to fall back on in case I end up laid off.

I haven't heard from the temp agency yet, but I was told it might take a week or two at best for an opening, since I am relatively new compared to others.   While I have worked there before, I was off the payroll for years sine I had taken on other jobs, which caused me not to think it was so important to keep myself current there.

Even if it was something like helping catering companies, it would be a good amount per hour, and I'd get a paycheck weekly~

-Joel de Bunchastu

Second day off~

Went out to apply to a few places again, since I wasn't scheduled (big surprise!) at work; I was also able to get a few hours doorhanging, which is actually nice when the weather is warm and not too bright.  It also gives me a chance to get a little exercise and listen to some of my backlog of audio books, which is what I usually do while delivering.

I decided to get the Birdemic Rifftrax, and hope it's as funny as the others I've watched.  I haven't seen it yet, but I have high hopes for the quality of the .gifs!  It probably won't distract from the pumpkin festival action at all, but I will have extra gourds with me just in case Nguyen decides to go light on the squashfests.
 
Having a lot of free time is a problem I'm not used to; even with the job search, there are long hours where I don't really have much to do, so I have been going through my backlog of recorded tv.  Since I had never gotten around to watching TruTV ever since it changed from CourtTv, I tuned in and saw some commercials for Bait Car; that and the Operation Repo show actually look interesting to me, if slightly... seedy (Kind of like Pawn Stars, perhaps?)  

I will have to go grocery shopping in the next day or so, and despite it being quite unhealthy, I have been living off ramen/banquet tv dinners; at least I'm not breaking 1800 calories, and may even lose weight!  It will only cost me my heart what with all the salt, but hey it's not like that kind of thing is important or anything right?

-Joel de Bunchastu

Good news!

I have off for the next few days, but that is of course not what I'm referring to.  I have been informed that my hours will be going back up at Deleto's, as long as I keep my times as they are/my car stays clean, which won't be a problem at all! 

I am still going to be trying to find a second job, just so that I can save much more quickly, and that all the money I get doesn't go to car maintenance.  My dream is to become a pharmacist, but I might also be interested in work with chemicals in general; after all, why restrict study to those substances which affect human health that are taken *deliberately*?

For a bit of a topic change, I've recently gotten my Xbox 360 to read a disc again!  The solution was depressingly physical, tapping the top of the xbox over the disc drive so that the laser realigns as it's reading it.  This wouldn't be necessary if Microsoft wasn't so overzealous in their anti-piracy coding and ended up disabling a huge amount of non-pirated games and dvds; truly, your ability astounds me.  Here's hoping that Microsoft actually admits it was their fault; at the moment it seems they are blaming customers, either citing pirated or dirty/scratched discs.  I have seen people send in their xbox to get it fixed, pay $100, and have it *still* not working due to the same disc reading error!

Shame on you Microsoft, how dare you steal people's money and then not even correctly fix a problem!

-Joel de Bunchastu

Back from work!

Thankfully, I found out that instead of the 3-day weeks I've been having (Sounds good at first, but also entails a $60 paycheck after taxes and health insurance!), I will be working four days next week, possibly 5 if a coworker goes through with wanting me to work for her.

I am finding myself much more content nowadays; I think it has to do with more living in the moment, and paying attention to what I am doing *now*, rather than trying to cram long term planning into every moment of my life.  It has its place, of course, but that's what I'd be doing then, after all.

Thankfully, I received my paycheck today; unfortunately, it was the lowest yet, $54, due to the fact that my hours from doorhanging are on my next paycheck,  Hopefully it will be an even bigger one then, at least, but at least I will have something to look forward to!

I have been trying to re-open my online activites; before I usually just was passive, looking at videos and lurking on forums, with the occasional irc visit.  However, that is even less healthy socially than just staying online all day, because at least then you are communicating with actual humans.  I am hoping that this will help me reconnect with some old friends, which would of course be wonderful.

 Tomorrow I will go by the temp agency before I have to go in to my first job, to hopefully pick up some side work.  Who knows, last time I went there I got a 10-month job out of it, which only ended because the project I was helping with finished, and therefore had no more funding.  Perhaps I will be as lucky this time; I sure will hope for it.

-Joel de Bunchastu

Documentary of Work

For quite a while, I have let myself be content with living paycheck to paycheck, never really looking ahead farther than the current moment.  While this is, on the whole, a great way to become something like a zen master, it tends not to help if you find yourself losing hours at a job that, until now, had always been "enough".  Perhaps I found inner peace a little too early in life; after all, part of career seeking is an inner drive to do well.

My current job is pizza delivery, at Deliberately-Obscuredo's, and it has been a position that has always been there for me to fall back on.  I have no intention of leaving entirely once I do find a position which does *not* involve using all of your money to maintain your means of making money, but I will probably have fewer hours, if not because of reduced availability, then so that I do not use all of that other paycheck maintaining my vehicle.

My other concern is to return to school; I was accepted into a few colleges, but at around the time I was applying to them, my father had passed away.  With money relatively tight, I had thought that there was only enough money for myself or my sister to go to college; therefore, I made the decision that my sister would go, and I would spend my first two years at a community college, earning credits and intending to transfer to a four year college later.  Unfortunately, my foolishness in spending ended me up in debt when I first received a credit card, which I did for a while relatively responsibly maintained.  To make a long story short, much of my money after this was dedicated to paying off debt.

Despite these setbacks, I intend to finish my education, and also obtain a career, rather than just a job.  I hope to document my attempts here, mostly for my own records, but perhaps helping out someone else who happens to be in a similar situation.  Perhaps you, who may just be entering the workforce for the first time, can learn from my mistakes; at the very least, this will help keep my thoughts in order.

-Joel de Bunchastu