Linkstew

Uh, US 'plans new nuclear weapons'? Why the hell is there no mention of that on the front page of any major US news site I can think to look at? Seriously, this is just as important as all the Iraq stuff to US citizens, but the media chooses to focus on Iraq. I suppose this is just a reminder that the media is not on the people's side.

Okay, not to be too geeky, but... But I'm pretty sure I just watched one of the most depressing hours of TV I've ever seen in the Star Trek: Voyager episode entitled Course: Oblivion.

Read the long version in that summary linked above, or here's the short version: The crew along with the ship starts coming undone at the molecular level, and then they figure out that they're all copies of the real Voyager, and then they try to save themselves, and then they try to leave a message for anyone to find in order to validate their existance, and in the end they fail at leaving the message, and the whole ship disintigrates. No record was made of their existance other than a bit of stuff in space. And then real Voyager comes across the stuff and has no clue what it was.

And now I'm sitting here slack jawed, at a loss as to what to make of that episode. I think I'm going to be sitting here trying to think happy thoughts for quite awhile.

Hi. I'm feeling very helpless and kind of depressed at the moment.

You see, today I got 512 megs of RAM for the lower slot in my PowerBook, and I quickly put it in, and my PowerBook quickly did not boot up. Not even a chime or a crash. Just silence. Nothing.

I was pretty calm about it the first time. I've had plenty of things not work the first time. So I pulled everything back apart, and double checked some instructions, and I put everything together again, and my PowerBook didn't boot again. Rinse and Repeat, several times.

It quickly came to be 2 o'clock, and I had class, so I left my laptop in pieces in the office. I felt naked walking around campus because my backpack was seven pounds lighter than normal. And for three hours I sat in class, growing more and more anxious about my PowerBook. For the last hour of 170 I could barely stay focused (That the lecturer is hard to understand doesn't help. That the lecturer is going over the exact same thing as last semester when I didn't get into the class, but attended for three weeks, helps even less).

I hurried back to the office, and I renewed my attempts to make my poor little PowerBook boot. I found this page of links to official Apple Service Manuals (the same manuals that an official repair-person would use). I tried the trouble-shooting tactics that I was capable of with my limited resources (I don't have a whole spare PowerBook of parts to drop in as a replacement), but it was all for naught.

And then there was a breakthrough! For three hours I'd been trying to make my PowerBook boot, but the processor card hadn't been seated. I felt like a fool -- I should have noticed that the card was freely coming out, but that I'd had to really tug to actually remove it in the first place -- I'd just been afraid to apply enough pressure to get it back in. With relief, I put everything back together, put in my batteries, hit the power button, and listened to the beautiful sound of

Nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. I took it apart and put it back together a few more times, trying all the permutations of the RAM. I made sure to actually seat the processor card each time. And each time, nothing. So I gave up and walked home, planning to try using my AC power adapter instead of my batteries.

But when I got home and pulled the PowerBook out of my backpack, it was warm, bordering on hot. It felt like it normally feels after several hours of constant use. I quickly took the batteries out and pulled off the keyboard, and found the insides very hot. So I let it cool down for awhile while I cooked dinner. After dinner, I plugged in the AC adapter, but it still didn't power on, and it started heating up just like it had with the batteries in my backpack.

So I unplugged it and removed the batteries and put it in the bag. I'm going to take it to the Mac Store on Saturday, since I'm booked solid with meetings and class tomorrow. I hope they'll be able to do something. At the very least, they should have the resources to run more tests and narrow down what the problem is. And if the Mac Store can't help, I'll try calling Apple.

And if it can't be fixed? Well, I already skimmed eBay looking at used Pismo PowerBooks. I already have lots of accessories for this PowerBook that are incompatible with new Apple Portables (an extra battery and an extra power adapter, for starters). I also like the design of the Pismo better than the new Apple portables, and I happen to like having a dual of batteries. And for that matter, even if they can fix my laptop, I'm seriously considering picking up a used Pismo in six months or a year as a backup, because I like it that much and I want spare parts.

But without my PowerBook, I'm feeling very... out of sorts. In fact, I'm feeling kind of powerless. I can't work in class, and my freedom of work at home is seriously impaired. I wasn't able to watch TV without getting really upset, because I always have my PowerBook with me when I'm watching TV. And tonight I'm using my desktop (for more than five minutes) for the first time in months. Basically, I've become totally dependent on a laptop instead of a desktop, and I'm going to have to get some sort of working laptop in the next month or I'm going to get really cranky.

And for that matter, I better have a working mac by the time OS X 10.1 comes out. Bah, it looks like paying to fix my stupid mistake is going to be karmic balance for working 60 hours of overtime this pay period.

Last week I was returning to Berkeley on the train, and on the way we got a little delayed. It didn't concern me too much -- Sure, I had a meeting I was supposed to be at, but what was I going to do about it? I understand that Amtrak doesn't own the tracks, and that delays might happen as scheduling gets goof-balled, and that taking the train is more efficient than driving, and more. Heck, I actually like riding the train a lot. Even if I could fly directly home (There are no direct flights to Bakersfield from the Bay Area) in an hour, and it cost as cheap as the train, I'd prefer taking the train to flying, and I certainly prefer the train to the bus or driving myself.

But, on the train last week, there was a young couple (Sophomores in High School) who were heading up to Oakland to see the Mariner's play the A's. It was their first time on the train, and they were having fits about the delay. "I checked the schedule and I told him we'd be there at 4:05! It's already 4:20!" I wanted to ask him why he expected we'd be precisely on time, and I was also vaguely curious why he didn't ask one of the eight people around him who had cell phones if he could borrow one and call ahead and warn the guy who was supposed to pick them up. I don't even know why they were stressing -- the game didn't start until 7, I believe I heard him say. What did they think they were going to do in Oakland for three hours anyway?

I would much prefer to spend the time on the train than at the stadium, for example. The train is air conditioned, the seats are comfortable, we happened to have a nice view of the bay, and I was actually pretty content sitting there waiting for the train to get moving again.

I was content, but this guy was stressing (and his girlfriend agreeing with him). When we "finally" started moving again, he told her "Next time we're driving!" Fine, you go right ahead and drive from Fresno to Oakland (or Anaheim, maybe -- it's the same either way) for a baseball game, and it's going to cost you the same, and you're going to be less comfortable, and most of the time you'll get there in the same amount of time, and you'll be much more likely to crash, and in general, I would far prefer to deal with a delay now and then than drive if I could at all avoid it.

But it wasn't the conclusion that "we should drive" that really irritated me, though it is a wasteful decision. No, what irritated me is that those kids rejected Amtrak based on one bad experience -- They were not at all willing to give it a second chance, despite the fact that the delay had been caused by a grass fire, which could have just as easily blocked the 5 as it did some tracks. What irritates me is that they didn't realize how illogical they were being, and instead decided that "This sucks, we can do it better ourselves."

No, sorry, wrong answer. C'mon people, think!

Atlantis looked promising, but it turns out that I heaped a little too many expectations on it. It was an exciting adventure, and it had it's moments, certainly, but it had it's flaws as well. And rather than spoil the good moments, I'll just run down some of the flaws and let you make the decision to go see it or not.

First of all, while the movie hinted at darker themes, it still backed off and catered to kids. So much more could have been done with the story, and that it came in animated form would have allowed for all kinds of neat things without having to worry about the limitations of people -- But instead we got two or three fart jokes (though one was cleverly concealed), various jokes about cleanliness, and a number of other jokes aimed at squarely at the younger audience. On the other hand, there was one memorable line which I'm still laughing at, just because it was so ridiculous.

The next problem is that there were too many characters by far, and their backgrounds didn't play meaningfully into their decisions in most cases. A few of the characters were developed beyond the others, but we were told in a moderately amusing fashion that we didn't want to know about Mole's story, and Cooky and the Secretary were just running gags, and the villain was "in it for the money". I think it's that last one that irritates me the most, actually -- While the villain in Swordfish was also after money, at least he claimed to have other goals. In Atlantis, the villain just wants money, and possible aspects of his background are just dropped on the floor. There was so much action and such thin character development that I wished they'd considered balancing things out a little more.

And then I remember that this is mostly a movie for a child, and I realize that they didn't extend the movie with character development because today's kids would lose interest and wander away. And I realize that they packed the movie with action scene after action scene after fart joke after action scene to keep the kid on the edge of his seat. And I realize that this is what Television has done to the world, and I feel vaguely ill-at-ease about the future...

And I give Atlantis a 3/5 anyway, because it had it's moments.

For all intents and purposes, classes are over. There are a couple of classes I'll attend tomorrow, but my heart won't really be in it. I think I'll mainly be going because I feel guilty about missing so many lectures this semester. Well, that's a lie. One of the classes tomorrow is really a final review.

For all intents and purposes, another semester is over, except for the finals. I have five days before my first final. It seems an eternity away. And it's only been three days since I turned in my last homework assignment. It seems an eternity away.

I'm in a long moment of transition. A limbo. I've been waiting for something to happen, but nothing has. Tomorrow I'll get out and go to class, and maybe that will help. It probably hasn't helped that I've been incapacitated by allergies for the last three days. Between allergy medicine and the allergies themselves, my head has been spinning, making the limbo seem even more significant.

It's just been a long weekend. I've just been sitting around doing nothing. It hasn't been an eternity, just three days. My sleeping schedule is a little off, and my nose is still stuffy, and my throat is still sore...

But tomorrow, I'll get up, go to a few classes, focus myself and commence with the studying. In eleven days, the semester will be over. It may seem like an eternity away, but it'll be here long before I'm ready for the finals, and two weeks from now, my linguistics final, three days past, will seem an eternity away.

I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad for my AP English class, and I must say it was rather dreadful. It was about a man who was listening to a man tell a story about a boat trip down a river. Not only was the narrative convoluted, but the direct subject of the narrative -- a boat trip downa river -- was something which I found it very difficult to relate to.

So my advice to you about this book is to stay away from it. Stay miles away from it. If you see a copy, run screaming in the other direction. It will defrost your refridgerator, and cut holes in your socks, and shave your dog, and numerous other mean nasties to your life.

I don't think I'm exaggerating too much here. English was not the first language Joseph Conrad knew, and yet he wrote this book in English, and so the narrative suffers from painful bits where a construct which probably made perfect sense in his native tongue didn't exist in english, but he felt inclined to kludge it. It hurts, a lot.

And the description of the Jungle, and what it does to your mind.... Don't get me started on that!

My recomendation is to see Apocalypse Now!, which is based on this book, albeit with a different setting. It's much better than this book.

Buy Heart of Darkness now from Amazon!

Certain ideas and words in this following letter originated with Vonnegut. Don't assume them to be entirely original.

It's the night before Christmas and all through my house my parents are shouting a bit, and my brother is being his usual self. Christmas is celebrated in my house because. Not because my family is religious, nor because we are remembering the birth of a baby, but because.

It has come to my attention that the world's economy is dependent upon a mythological being who could not physically exist. I can't bring myself to be happy about most holidays anymore, I find it terribly difficult to be festive.

My brother still gets excited about Christmas, and about Thanksgiving and Halloween and The fourth of July. He doesn't get excited about the meaning of the holidays, instead he get's excited the modern method of celebration of said holidays.

While my brother runs around excited, I tend to get gloomy around holidays. I tend to sit and ponder the real meaning of the holiday and why the holiday came to be and why the holiday has been mutated into a modern method of making money.

Get a load of this: The 11th of November is Armistice Day. Most people nowadays have probably never heard of Armistice Day... The reason that no one has heard of it is because it isn't a very festive thing, not very happy, and it forces people to remember...

On the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month people stood silent and remembered the moment in the 1918 that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering each other.

But that isn't a very nice thing to remember, and so very few people remember about armistice day, because it isn't a nice thing to remember or think about.

Christmas has become very important. The stores talk about how the holiday season is so important to keep them running the rest of the year. If it weren't for a tiny baby who were born in a barn so many years ago, the world's economy as we know it simply could not exist.

I don't know if I'm thankful that that baby was born or if I'm angry at that baby. All I know is that the baby isn't what's important anymore. Sure, the baby is remembered in nativity scenes, et al, but what does that mean? People know that a baby was born, but that's about all...