I think I have moved permanently. There are no ads there.

Being incredibly bored and unwilling to study, I have created a Tumblr account.

http://partofthecure.tumblr.com/

-Joe

Wow. Damn this interface and its brokenness.

The internet is breaking apart. This is rather unfortunate.

Well. The interface here seems to be broken. I can't bold, italicise, underline, or cross out words. I can't switch between html and plain text. The draft button has mysteriously vanished. These have sort of discouraged me from writing anything for the past few days. Today, however, I realised that I had to study something incredibly boring and deal with some other things. The urge to procrastinate thus increased, and so here I am.

It has recently come to my attention that some of my ideas for handling the global warming problem weren't too far off from being plausible. If you think about it, it seems logical, anyway. The main theory that explains the great extinction at the end of the Triassic describes a rock hitting the earth, kicking up dust, and so blocking out the sun. A similar idea has been presented regarding the fate of the world considering the possibility North Korea deciding to expand their nuclear testing zone. What I'm trying to say is that all these things resulted in a drastic drop in temperature.

Before I illustrate my point, I think it would be prudent to clear up a number of things regarding global warming. Many people claim that the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases produced by mankind has so far been negligible in comparison to the amount produced by natural events. Looking at the numbers alone, this is actually true. Most people, however, do not go on to mention that the natural world has its own capacity to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Huge amounts of CO2 are released by volcanic eruptions and the like, but thankfully, our flora are capable of negating this. They are so capable, that they are even able to remove about half of the man-produced CO2 on top of the natural levels. It really is just this remaining portion that isn't being taken out of the air that is giving us the problem.

Now, with the increments in population and industry, among other things, greenhouse gas emissions have also been rising. This started showing significantly in the early 1900s... I believe. Global temperatures did rise, up until around the 1940s, where instead of a continued increase, a plateau was observed that lasted up till around 1970. This was a strange thing, as it wasn't as if there was a significant lack of progress in industrial expansion.



After some reading, I have learned that the greenhouse gas content of our atmosphere is obviously not the sole determining factor for global temperatures. Industries used to produce not just greenhouse gases, but also pollutants like CFCs, sulphides, and just regular old dust. These things actually have the property of blotting out the sun, reflecting heat back into space. A significant amount of weapons testing was going on at the time, and that undoubtedly would have kicked up a fair sum of dust and soot into the sky. These would all have contributed to a cooling effect.

By the 1970s, pollutants were recognised as being dangerous, and industries were revolutionised to become 'cleaner'. What this basically meant was that we were no longer churning out smog and dangerous aerosols. The incidence of lung cancer probably fell sharply at this point. If I am not wrong, people stopped doing above-ground nuclear tests, too. I don't really know about that, actually. However, the global temperatures began to rise once more.

So, back to what I was talking about earlier. We know that particles in the sky blot out the sun and reduce the heat transferred to our planet. I am sure there exists a substance that could be released into the sky in appropriate amounts, that could act as a sort of sun-screen for the Earth. Of course, we'll have to consider the nature of this substance. It'll have to be such that it won't harm the environment any more than our current activities are. It'll definitely have to be non-toxic; It would be a disaster if the entire world's population died while trying to rectify a mistake.

Rectify a mistake. That's what I see it as. In genes, an insertion mutation is reverted by a deletion. In living organisms, homeostatic systems exist to deal with change. The Earth has its own homeostatic system, but we'd all be dead by the time it has finished working.

Let's just hope that no one messes up and turns the world into post-Matrix Earth.


He looks kinda like A. Low.

-Joe

Holy shit guys, C&C 4. This is my second reaction to the news. My first reaction was something along the lines of "Cool, more flying tanks". Now that I have read the preview, I have decided that C&C 4 deserves holy shit status. See, based on the screenshots, the graphics do not look significantly better than that of C&C 3. I figured it would have just been another cool game.

But. But, the preview revealed so much more. Essentially, fans of the series are finally going to find out what has been going on over the tiberium-infested earth. We'll find out who Kane is, what he has to do with the Scrin. We'll hopefully learn how he managed to survive being disintegrated by an ion laser, slain in battle, and blown up in a volatile liquid explosion.

I was surprised that EA Games would announce a sequel to Tiberium Wars so soon. In the past, people waited for years to receive news of a game sequel. It was always difficult to tell when a new game would be announced, and when it would be released. At least, that was how it was for me. I'm sure that plenty of gaming franchises prior to PC gaming were churning out cartridges faster than Agent Smith could pull a trigger(this is actually a rather interesting topic, which I may discuss later). I know that during the lifespan of a single console, such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, many titles received sequels. My knowledge here is limited to the bad games, unfortunately.

Anyway, it seems that fans of the C&C series can expect a drastically modified RTS system when C&C 4 comes along. Previously, we had each faction possessing a few unique upgrades and being slightly better or worse than the others in different tactics. Now, it seems, the designers want to emphasise on that. In a melding of RPG and RTS, each faction will be divided into three classes that consist of entirely different units and structures. There will be classes dedicated to steamrolling, turtling, and support.

Also, an experience point system will supposedly be present, where things that you do in-game will add to an experience pool, that allows you to upgrade your faction classes as you see fit. This means that everyone starts out with only a small variety of units, which will be added to as the game is played.

It isn't really said whether or not each different class will have its own campaign. It's unlikely, though.

The best part is probably that C&C 4 will feature a co-op campaign, like in RA3. Now that the factions are far more specialised than before, co-op is likely to be a lot more dynamic and enjoyable. I have always enjoyed playing support, using air-strikes and naval bombardments to soften up an enemy before allowing my allies to mess around with their tanks.

There are, however, a few things that I am not particularly happy to learn. One, is that EA is planning on using an interface similar to C&C Generals, rather than the rest of the C&C series. Also, resource gathering will be such that refineries will be built on pre-determined locations. This may be annoying, because I really didn't like how I couldn't make my economy boom by having multiple miners working on a resource node. It was just too slow. So... I hope they make it more like Generals, where you could swarm a resource node with collectors to gain more money faster, but at the risk of running dry before you're done with the battle.

While the Scrin will not be playable, they are going to be featured, along with other factions such as the Forgotten. These guys were mutants from the second game in the C&C series

Overall, I'm somewhat excited. I certainly do want this game. However, it seems like it might come out at around the same time as Starcraft 2... That would be a problem.


Okay, here's what's interesting about Agent Smith pulling a trigger. Actually, here's what's interesting about the entire rooftop scene in The Matrix:

An agent(probably Brown. I don't remember their names.) fires bullets at Neo while he dodges them from about eight metres away. Given that the bullets fly at around 400m/s, and that the next bullet is fired as the first bullet passes Neo, the gun is firing at a rate of uh, one bullet every 0.02 seconds. That equates to 50 bullets per second. Even assault rifles don't fire that fast. We can allow the agent to be able to move his finger that quickly, because he's hacking the matrix and everything, but the gun? He picked that gun up.

The second interesting thing about that scene is that if Neo is really moving his entire upper body and turning his neck in the time that it takes for a bullet travelling at 400m/s to reach him, then his upper body was moving at a rate of around 800km/h. He then instantly brakes, going from that speed to zero.

The sheer power of not believing in the existence of physics. Also you have to be in the Matrix.

Oh, and I've just gotten the soundtrack to Wrath of the Lich King. There are some nice pieces in there.

-Joe

How unfortunate. Total solar eclipses do not give people superpowers. It also now occurs to me that there is no way that both Hiro and the other guys could have seen the same eclipse.

It has not been a terribly enjoyable week. I seem now to be more fluent with cursing, although I seem to be going for "bullshit" a lot more than usual. There have just been a number of things that have come to light that I am really not happy about. That, plus the need to complete some very irritating project. Once again, I wonder what it would be like if I weren't here.

Motivation is running thin. Even my normal means of procrastination have lost their meaning. I would like nothing more than to sit back with a bag of chips and watch some TV. Perhaps read a book. Which reminds me. The third Dan Brown book to feature Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, is set for release this mid-September. Originally titled The Soloman Key, the book will be set in Washington D.C., and will once again involve the Freemasons.

I definitely do want to read this book, but the urge isn't quite so strong. Seeing as that I did not enjoy the Da Vinci Code as much as I did Angels & Demons, I'm afraid that the pictogram of focus here would not be as captivating as I'd like it to be.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to Pirate Latitudes, which will be published post-humously this November. Considered a spiritual successor to The Great Train Robbery, this book will detail the raiding of a Spanish galleon. I am far more excited about this book, as I enjoy how Crichton's novels tend to feature the products of substantial research. I can probably expect the same cinematic detail and thrill that his previous novels have provided.

Someone should make a move out of Prey. That would be great.

Or not. Now that I think about it, the monsters, which are intelligent swarms of nanomachines, would look pretty unimpressive on the screen. They start learning to mimic humans towards the climax of the story, so the move would probably suck unless this is executed with Joker-like creepiness.



-Joe

So it seems like my previous... Hundred or so posts have been predominantly negative. I don't know why. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I somehow become more eloquent when I am speaking unkind things. Or perhaps this eloquence was developed from my extensive practice in speaking unkind things. Either way, it usually gives me a lot more to write about than if I say good things about something. When I say good things, it usually just amounts to "woah, awesome".

The common tests are over. I have a bad feeling about them. These are not the droids you are looking for. I worry that my selective negligence in studying certain topics will result in me being disappointed in a couple of weeks time. On the bright side, even if I don't do as well as I hope, they don't count for that much in the final grade. On the downside, if I do well, they won't count for much in the final grade.

Yesterday, by amazing coincidence, I met Mark on my way home. This was an amazing coincidence, because I did a number of things that day that were required for such an event to occur. First, I stayed back for lunch in school, and then stayed back some more to look at a book about dogs. I definitely do not do that very much. Second, I decided to take the longer route past AJC to the bus stop, instead of the... other one. Third, I happened to be almost out of view of the gates when Mark saw me. Had I been slightly faster, or him slightly slower, we wouldn't have even known that the other was there.

So anyway, I feel bad for the AJ bio students.

Faced with a weekend of nothingness in terms of responsibility, I started reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's not a very long book, and I finished it in about seven hours or so. I hadn't seen the movie, so I can't comment on what they should or shouldn't have left out.

The book was nice. Ingenious use of magic, flying ships... some classic fairytale stuff. It had been a really long while since I read a non-Tolkien fantasy, and there are some marked differences. Tolkien's stories are all pretty epic, while Stardust was much more personal. I won't spoil the story for anyone who intends to read it eventually, but I'll say that the eighty-first lord of Stormhold is a real jerk.

Awesome.

-Joe