Propaganda from the Lunatics

I feel the need to rant and there's nobody around now

2006-03-25T23:31:00.000-05:00

So I'll ressurect this for now. I've been busy, but in the last month, something completely awesome has happened, something that kept me sane through a particularly nasty breakup. Namely, we've discovered that we can play capture the flag in the academic buildings here. They keep most of them unlocked at night, and they're all connected, pretty much. The day after our first game, we all went out and bought cheap nerf guns, which increased the awesomeness factor. But organizing it is hell sometimes, especially when a few of the regulars are out doing something else (mostly turns out to be drinking, but occasionally it's visiting home or something) and after being told that many people wanted to play at 11, and finding that 3 of those people were involved watching an awesome tv show (that they didn't invite me to watch) and finding other people busy with other things, it kinda pissed me off. Maybe it's a lack of sleep, or maybe it's that I think I've got a stomach bug or something (at least I hope that's what that pain is), or it could be the stress of getting back from spring break along with some other worries. I think it's just that it was presented as a sure thing, and it didn't turn out to be, at least at the time. I think we will play tonight, but I just need to get this out so I don't yell at anyone and regret it.

Also, V for Vendetta is a freakin awesome movie. Very different from the comic, but just as cool.
And I got an ticket to an advance screening to American Dreamz, so I may review it here if I decide I have time. I'm not too hopeful, but it's free so I'll see what it's like.

Now this one's just incoherant

2006-01-25T00:41:00.000-05:00

"Gladiator in 1925 The Scott in 1910
Female Same to you"

And that's enough of that. In other news, I'm glad to be back at college. My courses should be slightly less impossible this semester, and only differential equations seems like it'll be really tough. My friends are just as insane as ever, and I've become addicted to the show Lost. A friend has the dvds, so I managed to acquire a copy, along with several more dvds worth of tv.

Also, drunken pool is fun.

Weird Weather

2006-01-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

It should be freezing here, somewhere around 15 degrees (that's below zero for all the weird Celsius folk). Instead, it's about 50, which is nice, but shouldn't be happening. Makes me wonder if it'll be even warmer next year.

The spammers

2006-01-11T02:17:00.000-05:00

are ripping off Lord of the Rings too.and they don't seem to care about copying whole sentances either. Weird. Ah well, tis bedtime.

The Game

2006-01-11T02:03:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. Maxwell Knight,

I thouroughly enjoyed watching The Game recently. However, a few days afterward, I realized that characters in both that movie and Strange Days fell to their deaths. I hope this is a coincidence and not at all related to Neurocam.

Thank you,
Operative Bob the Mediocre

Alliteration Overload

2006-01-08T23:41:00.000-05:00

At everyone's favorite Uncyclopedia

Weird Spam

2006-01-04T02:36:00.000-05:00

fight yourself, your trumpet stirs all the others to battle. The Ass in the Lions Skin AN ASS, having put on the Lions skin, roamed about in the forest and amused himself by frightening all the foolish animals he met in his wanderings. At last coming upon a Fox, he tried to frighten him also, but the Fox no sooner heard the sound of his voice than he exclaimed, I might possibly have been frightened myself, if I had not heard your bray. The Sparrow and the Hare A HARE pounced upon by an eagle sobbed very much and uttered cries like a child. A Sparrow upbraided her and said, Where now is thy remarkable swiftness of foot? Why were your feet so slow? While the Sparrow was thus speaking, a hawk suddenly seized him
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep, that's it.

Wonder if the Conspiracy is trying to send me messages.

Quite an interesting email

2005-12-28T22:23:00.000-05:00

Over here. Wonder how long it'll stay up?

Turn the lights off cause it's night on the sun

2005-12-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

I got volume 1 of the Prisoner dvds for christmas, enjoying them. Apparantly there's some disagreement about the order of the episodes

And I was going to make this a longer post, but I can't think right now. Think I've got a cold or something, either way I need to sleep.

So I got this cheap digital camera

2005-12-19T16:22:00.000-05:00

Was 8 bucks with something else I wanted, so why not, I thought. Only has drivers for windows though. Anyone care to write some for a mac? I hear it's a bit of work...
Also, the government has apparantly been monitoring international e-mail. Perhaps Neurocam should watch out?

Random weirdness before my brain is fried by the physics test

2005-12-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is hilarious. I'll report back on the state of my brain after the test, assuming I'm still coherent.

Zombies!

2005-12-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

here.
I found this out from deadsoybean, who has a new blog. It's teh r0ckzorz, and with links galore. And I'll have more time to update this once my tests are done next week. But for now, my life is studying.

Availibility Request

2005-11-24T23:18:00.000-05:00

Dear Operative Bob the Mediocre,

You are hereby formally requested to provide details of your
availability during the day and evening of Saturday the 26th November
2005.

Please provide the requested data prior to close of business of
Wednesday 23rd November 2005.

Regards,

Charles Hastings
Director of Operations
Neurocam International
charles.hastings@neurocam.com
---------------------

Shame I can't make it. Although staying in Buffalo over Thanksgiving wasn't really a possibility.

Every year we'd go to my great aunt's house, kind of a tradition. My dad would complain about the snow on the way down, which also got to be a familiar thing. But this year it was too much and we gave up. Would've been fun. I think my aunt might've enjoyed the story I could've told her about the scar on my lifeline though. I'm not really into Palmistry, but it is odd. Sleep now though, and if enough people bug me about it I'll tell the story later.
In other news, the dragon scene in the newest Harry Potter movie was disappointing. Was worth it for other parts though.

Assignment number however many this makes done

2005-11-18T00:08:00.000-05:00

And with more time than I usually leave to spare.

Everything you'll ever need to know about my life

2005-11-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.9
Mind:	8.1
Body:	7.8
Spirit:	7.1
Friends/Family:	5
Love:	8.5
Finance:	4.5
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Oddly enough...

2005-11-06T12:25:00.000-05:00

My blog is worth $4,516.32.
How much is your blog worth?

Wonder if anyone wants to buy.

Probably the last frisbee game of the season

2005-11-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

was last night. There's an official frisbee team here, but I play with the unofficial team on the parking lot at night. It's nice since it's not competitive at all, we don't even keep score. If people get tired of running around they just slow down and get back into it fairly soon. So last night I almost got hit in the head, and near the end I slapped the frisbee before someone caught it, then caught it in the end zone for the last point. Then the guy who'd thrown it slammed into me. And he's not someone you want to stand in the way of. I'm Mad Mike and he's Big Mike. So I didn't want to wake up this morning, but I'm slightly better now that classes are done. I've just got a Physics test this weekend looming over me. Fun. I'll probably write again when I'm done with that.

Me and You and Eveyone We Know

2005-11-02T16:52:00.000-05:00

Anyone seen this movie? Think it's on dvd, not sure where you could find one though. It's by Miranda July and it's hilarious. Also one of the most realistic movies I've seen, I think. Or maybe I should say un-romanticized. Anyway, I recommend it.
And hopefully I won't fail my physics test this week. Gotta study, or I'd write more. Later.

Anagrams for Neurocam

2005-10-31T17:15:00.000-05:00

http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=neurocam

including:
manure co
a corn emu
moan ecru
and
rna ceo mu

all very meaningful, and interesting

The Shining is an odd movie

2005-10-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

Does anybody understand the scene with the bear?
In other news, this guy is amazing. Go see him if you have the opportunity, if only to see his Admiral Akbar impersonation.
Also, this is pleasantly weird.
I'm off to kill my brain with physics now. Bye.

When Karl Rove's Preoccupied...

2005-10-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

everything falls apart
Lovely

I just played frisbee in the parking lot

2005-10-11T22:47:00.000-04:00

got hit 3 times (but that's ok since I stopped the other team from catching it), fell on my back, and ran into a friend. In other news, my friends tell me a pinapple whistles when you drop it 10 stories. Eventually I'll watch the video, but I'm in suspence for now. And to round out the random news, I took a picture of some bathroom graffitti today. Got weird looks from some guy when I left the stall, but it was a good picture. Anyway, I feel the adrenaline wearing off, so I'm off to sleep.

Last night...

2005-10-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

some drunk kid passed out in the college president's office (on the fifth floor of the building, btw), which just happened to be unlocked at the time. Made the front page of the paper. Goes well with the weird fortune cookies on my door.

How crazy are you?

2005-09-27T16:12:00.000-04:00

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid Personality Disorder:	Low
Schizoid Personality Disorder:	Low
Schizotypal Personality Disorder:	Moderate
Antisocial Personality Disorder:	Low
Borderline Personality Disorder:	Low
Histrionic Personality Disorder:	Moderate
Narcissistic Personality Disorder:	Low
Avoidant Personality Disorder:	Low
Dependent Personality Disorder:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:	High
-- Take the Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Info --

I'm surprised I'm this normal.

This is either weird political commentary...

2005-09-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

or just weird

Yay, I can do html

2005-09-14T20:20:00.000-04:00

and I can talk like a pirate. This'll get me far in life.

Dr Strangelove

2005-09-11T11:27:00.000-04:00

is even more awesome in the theatre. This place near south campus is showing a movie every saturday at midnight. Last week I saw Clockwork Orange and next week I'm planning on seeing 2001. After that they're showing several non-Kubrick films. The best part is walking back, since the busses don't run that late. A guy I know wrote his initials in an intersection (and no, he wassn't drunk at the time) and then carried a giant road sign a mile or two back to his room.

Also, I hear something's going on with Neurocam, so I'm off to check my mail.

College life is cutting into my computer time

2005-09-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

but that's alright. A friend of mine has a sign on his door that says "Warning: Laser in use. Knock before entering." I think it came from one of the Physics buildings. They're talking about dropping a 3 inch steel ball 10 stories, and apparently the roof of a certain building gives a nice view of the campus (the lock is broken). In other words, it's just like last year.

Neurocam is back, but I've only got the form letter (and I'm wondering what makes some people think they didn't get a form letter.

I've got some random pictures I'll post at the end, but I'm just going to link to them since I'm too lazy to resize them. THey're all 1600x1200, sorry. Terminal laziness is a dangerous thing. Tell your kids to avoid it, please. Don't let them end up like me.

Also, a friend let me borrow a copy of Reservoir Dogs. Damn that's a bloody movie. By the way, I'm going to be starring in a movie set right here in the dorms. It's based on a sample "incident report" the friend saw. I'm a guy who gets shot for smoking weed in the dorms. (He took a few liberties with the script.) Once I get a copy I'll see if I can put it up here.

On to the pictures. I apologize to anyone on dial-up.

Pretty colors

This is in a lounge near my room.

Do I look insane?

Or maybe I'm just looking at it from the wrong perspective

A toast

2005-09-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

To those who escaped from New Orleans, and to those who are still trapped there.

Now if only I had some alcohol.

Beer Batter Bread

2005-08-25T19:21:00.000-04:00

The easiest bread I've ever made. Tastes good too (especially fried in bacon grease). Anyway, mix 3 cups self rising flour (or if you don't have that, add 1&1/2 teaspoons salt and 4&1/2 teaspoons baking powder to the mix) and 3 tablespoons sugar, then slowly pour in 12 oz of beer. Mix until there's no dry patches (it says to use a wooden spoon, but plastic worked for me), and put it into a 9x5x3 baring pan, spreading to the corners. Cook for 50 or 60 minutes, and cool for an hour or two (or else it'll fall apart when you try to cut it. Yummy. By the way, this recipie is from What Einstein Told His Cook, which also explains how to make applejack, but doesn't mention that the way it's distilled doesn't remove various poisons once in a while. I think the bread's safe though.

My great aunt tells the best stories.

2005-08-22T22:48:00.000-04:00

Apparantly, a distant relative of mine was working at a hospital decades ago, and when a baby was left on the doorstep there (they called them foundlings back then, it seems), she took him home since she hadn't been successful having kids. And got a fake birth certificate somehow. Then a few years later when she killed her husband, the other relatives decided she wasn't that stable and someone else took the kid. Charming.
Also, somehow we got onto the topic of hemlock, which is poisonous, so she told us about when my great-grandfather was living with them, she was boiling some poporri (or however you spell it), and he decided to make some coffee. So my aunt noticed the pot she was boiling was half empty, and when she asked him he said the coffee didn't taste odd. But she checked, and hemlock was one of the ingredients. He survived.
So I've just gotten back from west Pennsylvania, and I'm reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Pretty good book.

My Monthly Picture Post

2005-08-15T20:18:00.000-04:00

I really oughta get a digital camera. Anyway, here's what I should have done my entrances assignment on. This door is on the 3rd floor of the science building at college, and whenever I go by I always do a double take. Looks like you could walk out it and splat on the sidewalk below. The exit sign just makes it more surreal.

Here's the melted bottle I mentioned before. It's not even sharp. But it is blurry.

And here's a sunset. You can't see the cabbage field. Luckily I'll be off at college by the time it gets stinky.

Hope I got the tags right. I can never remember them.

Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail 72

2005-08-13T20:28:00.000-04:00

It's a good book. I'm in the middle of the chapter on November, so everyone's depressed that Nixon got re-elected (even though they'd ran out of hope a while before the election) Gives me a little bit of deja vu, and makes me think this is why the Democrats are so stagnant now. I mean, Kerry was the only "electable" candidate last year, and being called "unelectable" almost made McGovern lose the primary. Anyway, I won't go into a long rant, I'll just recomend the book and see if it provokes ranting in anyone else.

Also, my back is aching from a palentology dig I volunteered at yesterday. It involved getting up early, going over to the site, passing buckets of dirt from the hole to people sifting through them (one of whom blamed me since she didn't find anything), and then after a break, taking all the sifted through dirt in wheelbarrows and dumping it back in the holes. They did find impressive stuff, though. I saw a giant mastodon tooth, but I missed seeing the rib they dug up. Maybe next year. The company was good too, and they've got some impressive clay a few feet down.

Later yesterday, I went to a small concert of the band my cousin put together a few months ago. Pretty impressive to me, and I liked their name. They're called "Random At Best." So when they're all over the radio in a few years, give me the praise I deserve.

The War On Terra

2005-08-11T14:11:00.000-04:00

here

On a realted note, I hear that upstate new york has worse pollution that NYC because of all the crap that blows here from coal power plants. Odd.

Cool

2005-08-08T20:27:00.000-04:00

Do not take drugs or operate heavy machinery while under the influence of this website

A bonfire and lighter fluid mixed

2005-08-07T21:30:00.000-04:00

is pretty spectacular. Especailly when the lighter fluid is in pop cans. My friends may be insane.

I also took home part of a melted bottle, which looks kinda like abstract art. Photos soon.

Statcounter tells me no one's visiting here anymore

2005-07-31T21:19:00.000-04:00

Which is obviously a bug, right guys?

Guys?

It seems we're making hurricanes more powerful

2005-07-31T16:10:00.000-04:00

Wonderful.

Proof that logic is useless

2005-07-29T22:08:00.000-04:00

here

Happy Birthday to Me

2005-07-25T23:54:00.000-04:00

Reminds me of a song

"I should definately count to twenty now
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,...20
I have no more childhood left"

Not just because I like the music, but that line just stuck in my head. And the rest of it is pretty nice too. I've probably plugged the site before, but what the hell.

Anyway, it was a nice birthday. I bought some stuff I'd wanted for a while from amazon, got the Principia Discordia, the book of the Subgenius, Liber Null and Psychonaut and Illuminautus. So I'm awaiting those in the mail, and I browsed around in a bookstore today, read Douglas Adams' ideas on religion (pretty insightful and funny) but didn't buy the book, and picked up V for Vendetta, which is wonderful. Says they've made a movie from it. Makes me wonder why I didn't hear about it before.

Anyway, Grant Morrison's The Filth is the most twisted, sickening, disgusting and traumatizing thing I've ever read. I hope to someday write something like it.

I should post more

2005-07-21T01:25:00.000-04:00

But I need to sleep now. I just noticed that in the wikipedia article about Neurocam, Charles Hastings was said to be an IMPOSTER (caps in original). So I changed it to "rumored to be an imposter."

Goodnight peoples

Yet Another Drugged Neuroblogger

2005-07-14T23:00:00.000-04:00

It's been my ambition for a little while to do some acid-induced blogging. Sadly that hasn't happened today. Probably good if you're hoping to understand this post though. No, I'm caffinated, and have been for the past 5 hours or so. I needed to get up about 4 or 5 hours before I normally do this morning to pick garlic again (but I did get a bit of money, so that's good), so when I drove to Buffalo for a class I took along about 6 cups of coffee in thermoses. Iced, since it's been insanely hot lately. As an aside, I know Def has done this before (I'm far too wired to be sure of myy ability to correctly post links now, so find her blog your own damn self, it might be in my links section), but I haven't taken anywhere near a lethal dose, and judging by the effects I'm getting now, I'm very afraid at what would happen if I did. Anyway, I'm going to ramble on to various topics I thought about when I was less hyper and more sane (or whatever) so bear with me. (Now where'd I write that stuff down). Anyway, I had an eventful drive on the way to Buffalo. I saw lightning (thought it hit a radio antenna), so when it darkened I took off my sunglasses. Right before the storm hit a truck cut me off (and I mean a semi, not a fun thing to have happen), and I'm pretty sure he could have seen me. So I think the road was wet then, but I still had to brake, luckilly I didn't skid, I noticed bikers finding shelter under an overpass (which reminded me that a few days ago I'd seen a guy on a motorcycle wearing shorts and a grey shirt, nothing that'd stop him from getting cuts if he crashed, which struck me as insane), then when the storm was dying down I passed 2 military humvees, one with the door hanging open (caused me to get a bad case of the giggles, I just wondered how many insane people I'd see and whether I was one, which leads me to the idea of Discordian Defensive Driving, which I may discuss in a later post, this one's rambling enough as it is), and I was writing all this down while I was driving, which is an art in itself (you have to not care about the writing being decipherable, because you have to keep lookinng at the road), and I think this sentance has gone on long enough. So my class reminds me about a book I read a while ago, called Dhalgren, I reccommended it to the teacher because the class is about spooky short stories, and this is a spooky long, long novel that has a lot in common with short stories (odd as that is), anyway, I'll write about it later when I'm less wired, again. So driving home was fun, especially since I needed to frantically keep drinking caffeine to shove the encroaching exhaustion to the back of my head, and then when I'm almost home the Barenaked Ladies come on the speakers singing Who Needs Sleep, and I'm thinking that speeding down the highway at 80 (mph, for all you sensible people who use kilometers) isn't exactly the time to question all reality, yet I seem to do it even when I'm not insanely caffinated, and if you've read all that I'm seriously impressed, thanks for bearing with me. I had a weird funny ending line but it's left my head along with my usual inhibitions and my editing ability, so who knows what I was going to say. But I'm slowly eating peanut butter sandwich in hopes that that will cushon the inevitable crash but I'm not sure it's the kind that can be helped, I'm just glad I won't be in a car when it happens, and however much I want to say more and keep rambling on some sensible voice in the back of m head (almost drownded in the caffeine) says that I don't want people to... damn, I lost it. Well, I'll just end this there then. Goodnight. I'm amazed I haven';t collapsed yet.

[edit]I remember the line I wanted to end with. It was "Now I just wish everything would stop twitching." There we go. Goodnight to those still able to sleep.[/edit]

Finally found my copy of the Crying of Lot 49

2005-07-07T23:24:00.000-04:00

And it's damn funny.

I wonder what my iPod is trying to tell me?

2005-07-01T16:24:00.000-04:00

I was driving to Buffalo and back today, which meant a little more than 2 hours listening to music, given the traffic. So when I was looking for a parking space, a version of Brain Damage done by the London Philharmonic played. Right after that, the original by Pink Floyd played. I thought my shuffle function was doing odd stuff, but thought it was random after all. So on the ride home, it played Bullet Proof by the Goo Goo Dolls then Bullet Proof by Radiohead, a few songs later, two versions of Careful with that Axe, Eugene by Pink Floyd, and, just as I was getting home, parts A, D, and E of Casandra Gemini by Mars Volta.

Can anyone translate all that?

I'm Going to a Bonfire Tomorrow

2005-06-30T20:16:00.000-04:00

Which reminds me of last year, when they had a bonfire/grad party, so I dug up some old pictures.
Warning: The following is what happens when engineers get bored. Stay away from these people at all costs.

They called this a candle. It was about 8 or 10 feet high, and they assured me no gasoline or other flammable material besides wood was used.

Do his eyes look slightly insane to you too?

Luckily for us and the grass, they'd tied it down...

And finally the aftermath.

If they don't do this again, I'm going to be severely disappointed.

Can You Defeat My Giant Battle Monster?

2005-06-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

The View from my Backyard

2005-06-22T20:13:00.000-04:00

Bah. I'm not resizing that again

George W Sings

2005-06-21T19:49:00.000-04:00

here

Shiny New Links Section

2005-06-18T22:32:00.000-04:00

Down there.
|
\|/

Anyone know why they're all repeating?

-----------

And I had an interresting meeting with Cronin and Urfe today. If you ever get a chance to go to Spot Coffee do so. Sorry it's only a Western New York thing.

You know what they should do?

2005-06-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

Have an option to mute any sounds coming from some idiot's homepage who's decided to play music on it. I can't even begin to explain how irritating it is to be listening to a favorite song, click on a link, and have my music be overpowered by another's. And if anyone out there has the fabled mythical browser that will do this task, I shake my fist at thee!

Chili

2005-06-16T22:47:00.001-04:00

I got this recipie from a friend online, and it's worked out well both times I've made it, with todays batch being especially good. It's not that specific about proportions, which doesn't matter for the most part, but where it does I think it'd work best with around a half a cup each flour and oil, and two cans of beer, or a little less. Also, leaving out some veggies and adding in others works, I didn't use celery this time, and added in mushrooms and olives. I use lots of beans, red and black pepper, chili powder, and just a little dried habanero. I always forget how spicy that is, and taste test it. Then I think I've been stupid in forgetting. Also, I've left the stock out both times and it didn't seem to matter. If you do decide to make this, experiment. It' what's worked for me.
-----------
olive oil
flour
onion
garlic
celery
bell pepper
tomatos
dried chili pepper flakes
beer
Stock
red or black beans
whatever other veggies you want, meat
Bay leaf
dried Oregano, basil, thyme, sage, etc etc (flavors you like, essentially)

Heat the oil in a large pot, low heat. sprinkle flour in oil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. It should darken, but not scorch. Hooray! You made a roux.

Add onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper, & chili flake. Cook to soften (2-3 minutes. Salt to taste.

Slowly add beer, stirring to incorporate the roux. Raise heat & cook for 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes (canned is ok), beans, stock to cover, bay leaves, herbs, other veggies and meat. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Should be nice & thick, with tons of flavor.
------------

I picked up a copy of Grant Morrison's The Filth today. Maybe I shouldn't have read it all in a few hours, but I just couldn't stop. So now I'm feeling kinda drained, it's insanely intense. And as soon as I can, I'm gonna find the first issues of the Invisibles. And try to remember to stop rubbing my eyes. Habanaro juice last much longer than you'd expect.

The backs of my hands are sunburned and I smell like garlic

2005-06-13T15:58:00.000-04:00

But I made some money today and met up with some old friends. It's pretty rural out here, so the easiest jobs to get (although not to do) involve helping out farmers. A friend of mine let me know that the garlic field she was working at needed more people, and since I can't find a summer job (maybe partly laziness) I decided a few hours back-breaking labor would be alright. And when we took breaks I played with her kitten.
I also got an idea for my assignment at around 2AM today. I blame the humidity; I couldn't sleep. So hopefully I'll finish today or tomorrow. This is a tough one, but I am having fun with it.

Neurocam Assignment NCI-6111/01

2005-06-01T18:50:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am still alive. And I've gotten my next assignment, which looks like it'll be fun. All I can say is that it relates to cryptography.

I also feel like a bit of self-promotion. I've been working on a tag-team story over at a message board. It's got a few inside jokes, but they shouldn't be too bad. I think I'm teamed up with a better writer, but I'm ok with that. I'm Altoid Addict over there. Hope it's not too much of a distraction from the cam. ;)

"cras amet qui numquam amavit quique amavit cras amet"

2005-05-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

"Let those love now who've never loved,
Let those who've loved, love yet again."

At least, that's what one site says it means.

I'd agree that the Magus doesn't have an ending, but, at the risk of quoting too much, "We come in the middle, watch for a time, leave before the lights go up. If there are no beginnings, then there can be no endings. We are alone in the darkness. Every answer prompts another question, and things are happening all the time.... 'The story so far.' Maybe it's all we can ever hope for..." (Neil Gaiman, at the beginning of The Doll's House (If you're new to his comics, it's as good a beginning as any))

Anyway, I'm happy with the mystery, and maybe the difference in the editions makes it somewhat better.

But now the biggest mystery is what the Cam is gonna throw at us next. And which of the other books I'm halfway through gets finished next.

I'll probably finish the Magus tomorrow

2005-05-20T01:12:00.000-04:00

And I'm noticing freakishly many parallels. Let's hope I don't notice any of the more... odd... things happening

Also, I've heard the line "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," before. In a completely different context though.

Report Verification Receipt – NTC – 5555/01

2005-05-14T22:07:00.000-04:00

Dear Operative Bob the Mediocre

This is to confirm that your report has been received and filed.

While I can personally assure you that Bridget Fischer's handwriting is of the highest quality, your approach is creative and worthwhile. Well done.

You will be contacted by Operations with details of your next assignment
within the next 28 days.

Otti Votavova
Operations Division
Neurocam International
otti.votavova@neurocam.com
-----------

I know I had fun. Wondering what I'll be doing next.

Today I went to a small coffeeshop in the next town over to turn in a job application. A loud live band was playing, and probably would've sounded better if they'd had better equipment. I like the place for the artwork they post all over the place. I think someone I know bought some a while ago. Hopefully they'll think I'm better quallified than all the other college students living around there.

I'm loving this blog

2005-05-06T23:39:00.000-04:00

"Okay, I admit it. I cut off the kid's hand. Everything went downhill after that."

http://darthside.blogspot.com/

"At once I had the impression that we were two actors with the same doubts about the director"

2005-05-06T09:51:00.000-04:00

And also, "...mystery has energy. It pours energy into whoever seeks the answer to it. If you disclose the solution to the mystery you are simply depriving the other seekers of an important source of energy."

Some progress on the new assignment yesterday. But now I must study for my tests today and tomorrow

Should've asked Charlie about it earlier, I guess

2005-05-04T16:04:00.000-04:00

Dear Operative Bob the Mediocre,

Neurocam International’s records show that you were recently sent Neurocam
Assignment NTC-5555/01.

Just in case this assignment has been lost, or re-routed by “intelligent”
online email providers who have been known, on rare occasion, to view
Neurocam correspondence as “Bulk” mail, I have attached a copy of the
assignment brief below.

Regards,

Charles Hastings
Head, Operations Division
Neurocam International
operations@neurocam.com

--------------------

Damnit, how am I going to get this one done in just over a week?
It's as interesting as I suspected, anyway. But now I'm slightly more concerned with studying for tests.

Damnit

2005-05-03T01:12:00.000-04:00

It's the little things that get you.

So I go to get some water. When I turn the tap on, it shocks me. Been happening a lot lately. So I go sit down, drink my water, and eat some potato chips. Around 10 minutes later I'm getting more to drink and I get shocked again. Does reading Neuroblog archives really build up that much charge?

Either way, I'm looking forward to meeting Cronin tomorrow or wednesday. And staying up too late

Dropping like flies

2005-04-29T12:03:00.000-04:00

I wonder who's next.
Anyway, aside from my suspicion that the Cam is trying to increase the fear of firing among Operatives, I've noticed it's getting less casual and more corperate. Hardliner Gertrude Zelle has replaced easygoing Maxwell Knight. And this may be old news, but when I was poking around in the archives of Graham's blog, I was surprised at how casual Robert Henley was about everything. Sure it was a while ago, but it's a big difference.
Another thing I noticed was that Henley mentioned the film Strange Days. I'm looking for a copy, without much luck.
And now I'm off to break the record for pages of an essay written per hour.

I've been forgetting this for a while

2005-04-26T13:07:00.000-04:00

so here's some quotes from the Magus I found interesting.

"Yet must thou sail after knowledge
Knowing less than drugged beasts. phthengometha thasson."

I'm guessing the last words are a name, but it's nothing I recognize. Just seems to apply to Neurocam pretty well.

"The ancient Greeks could laugh at themselves. The Romans could not. That is why France is a civilized society and Spain is not."

Aside from not wanting to judge the degree of civilization of countries, I like this quote. Humor always seems to help me out, even in the worst situations.

"Words are for truth. For facts. Not fiction."

Even without getting into how truth can be relative or be misused, it seems ironic for this quote to be in a non-factual book.

So now I can take the annoying bookmarks out of the pages and get on with reading.

Damn disposable cameras

2005-04-25T16:37:00.000-04:00

The picture I took for Maxwell didn't come out, and my limited Photoshop skills couldn't fix it. Unless someone else knows how to get rid of screen glare, feel free to continue the chain without me.

In other news, I was wandering around the campus with some friends and was reminded just how deserted it gets on weekends. All these buildings with the lights on all night without anyone in them. Kinda nice if you don't think about the waste. I didn't do anything too stupid but a guy I know stole a beat up globe from the library. He'd also shaved his head on Friday (yes, this is another guy) so there you go.

I'm slowly working on a 10 page paper, but the speed will increase as the due date draws closer. And I'm addicted to altoids.

Check out

2005-04-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

audioscrobbler.com

Keeps track of all the music you play and gives a list of people with similar tastes. Delightfully Orwellian, in a harmless sort of way.
I'm Kovacks over there, by the way.

I'm General

2005-04-21T14:59:00.000-04:00

Found this at xade's blog. So now I can laugh at those who tell me you can't drink a noise, cause I'm more normal than them.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

20% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

"There's crazy people everywhere but you're pretty cool"

2005-04-19T23:39:00.000-04:00

Probably loses a bit out of context, but it works anyway. I just watched Fight Club for the first time with another crazy person. She wanted to borrow the book after. I think I like the end of the movie more than the end of the book, even though the book hints more at how things can become uncontrollable, even when we create them. The movie, at least there's hope there.
So I'd say if you haven't seen the book or read the movie, do it. Do both. And I'm planning to keep catching up for my life sheltered from pop-culture. In between catching up on the Neurodrama, or course. And sleep, but who needs that?

So this guy I know just shaved his head.

2005-04-18T23:01:00.000-04:00

He almost had a fro, too. Should've kept it. But I got a camera full of pictures, and another guy was taping it. Was a fun night.

Just what I need

2005-04-18T02:23:00.000-04:00

A webcomic addiction.

Sent a farewell e-mail to Maxwell Knight

2005-04-18T02:00:00.000-04:00

And I'm sure I'll miss his vagueness and subtle humor. Even though I haven't been around that long, and I'm still suspicious he's just changed his name or something. After all, I have no idea who I've been talking to. But anyway, good luck to him.

Just had some Hawaiian Pizza

2005-04-16T22:15:00.000-04:00

And started reading the Magus. From what I've heard on the message board (unless I'm forgetting, I do that a lot), I'm guessing I found one of the original editions, not the revised one that so many Operatives found boring. Anyway, it says it's from 1967. I picked it and The Crying of Lot 49 up at a used bookstore that was closed when I'd tried to go there for my last assignment. Haven't found anything in either of them yet.
I got the standard response from Neurocam yesterday, but no new assignment yet.
In other news, I'm thinking if I need to back up anything on my hard drive I could send it to my Gmail account. They seem to be getting pretty generous lately.

Neurocam Assignment NCI-2332/02

2005-04-15T14:28:00.000-04:00

Is finished and sent off.
I need to study for Chemistry, but this site is oddly weird.

A Question About Truth

2005-04-14T18:43:00.000-04:00

Dear Mr. Maxwell Knight,

I've heard that the best lies run as close to the truth as possible.
In that context, which do you think reveals the most truth: EgoTript's
recent April Fools Day post, XulSolar's (http://xulsolar23.blogspot.com/)
questionible posts, or Unconchis' (http://unconchis.blogspot.com/)
action movie? If these are all equally far from the truth, that fact may
reveal something also. Thank you for your help.

Operative Bob the Mediocre

------------------

Dear Operative Bob the Mediocre,

Thank you for your interesting email.

I must admit that I have not personally reviewed the online journals of
the Operatives you have highlighted. After a brief check in with my staff
tasked to monitor such things, however, I can inform you that while some
of the information is indeed correct, and in some instances of some
concern to Neurocam that it has been published, it has been deemed mixed
with enough information so as to be mostly useless to any investigator.
In fact, it may indeed serve many other useful purposes.

As for the one which “reveals the most truth” it is difficult to say.
Your question, once I relayed it to the relevant staff, caused quite an
amount of discussion. Given the richness of the dialogue, I thank you for
the question. Some of the outcomes of the collaborative enquiry included
the following conclusions:

1. The degree of entertainment a ‘story’ presents is not positively or
negatively correlated with the degree of truth that it contains;
2. There are different types of truth – some based on detail which may be
quite extensive, and yet trivial, and at the other end of the spectrum,
insights which while brief, are quite incisive;
3. The definition of “most truth” greatly depends upon your perspective.
While avoiding the narcissistic and nihilistic slide into the relatively
of all truth (which is an inherent contradiction prevalent in post-modern
thought), the perspective of the interpreter of the text being read (their
motivations, values systems, experience, the context they are situated
within etc) will greatly influence both the significance (“most”) and the
recognition (“truth”) of any degree of truth within an expression. Thus,
conclusively determining which contains the most truth is not possible
unless those engaged in the consideration are in agreement about what is
of value in the first place. This was difficult even amongst my staff –
and I can’t say I agreed with their personal reasoning once pressed for
them either.

All of that notwithstanding it is important for me to convey to you that
while these are publicly available sources of information it would be
against Operational Security Guidelines for me to grant the weight of my
position’s credibility within Neurocam to any of them. It would unduly
privilege and highlight any actual truth that may be contained within them
and could prove detrimental to Neurocam’s interests.

I am sure you will understand my inability to pick a winner in this case,
although from a taste point of view, from what my staff say, I doubt I’d
want to read and then choose anyone of them as better than the others in
any way whatsoever.

Regards,

Maxwell Knight
Head, Human Resources Security Division
Neurocam International
maxwell.knight@neurocam.com
------------------

When I thought of this question, I'd recently read a sci-fi/detective story where the main character mentioned that thing about the best lies being as close as possible to the truth. (Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan, by the way, which I highly reccomend, although it may give you nightmares). Anyway, after I read Tript's April Fools Day post, the idea just came to me. Maxwell's reply is both interesting and unrevealing, as usual. I hope his praise doesn't give me an overinflated ego. So now I'm off to finish my report for the recent assignment, and then work on a reply for this.

Some Progress

2005-04-13T00:54:00.000-04:00

I decided Buffalo had too many operatives and too few suitable bookstores (at least, that I could find), so I took a bus to Rochester today. Armed with a printout of 20 bookstores within walking distance from the city center, I got off the bus. Then I remembered I should've printed out a map, so I bought one. After wandering and wishing the map was better, I discovered one bookstore was "adult," one was closed with a broken window, and one was in a run-down old office building that I wandered around. Supposedly it was in suite 201, but there wasn't a sign and the door was locked. Weird. The rest on my list weren't on the map, even though they were all supposed to be within a few miles of each other. Anyway, I found one suitable bookstore, and I'm hoping the city library is acceptable.
Also, Church Street and State Street cross in Rochester. Who knew? And all the flags I saw were at half mast. Except one on campus here. I'm curious.
Anyway, I need to finish some physics (sure, I'll do that) and sleep some.

If you haven't read anything by Larry Niven...

2005-04-11T13:13:00.000-04:00

take a look at this short story.

I also recommend his Ringworld series, for geeks like me.

Neurocam is not a "Lose 5 Pounds a Week" Exercise Program

2005-04-10T17:40:00.000-04:00

So why did I walk so much today then?

Stupidity and stubborness mostly, I think.

I looked up bookstores close to South Campus in the phone book, took the bus down there, and found them closed. One had moved somewhere else. Then when I was going back, I noticed a street sign for Niagara Falls Boulevard. I was going to go to the mall there later in the week to check out the Waldenbooks, so on a whim I decided to walk there.

After a while I noticed a bus stop. Then I remembered there's a bus station on South Campus. Damn it, I'm too used to living in a small town where I can walk anywhere.

Interestingly enough, no busses passed me on the way over there.

I was reminded of my yearss on the cross country team, except I would run through the woods most of the time then. I liked being around nature, but the shade was more precious to me then. Speaking of that, I'm surprised I didn't get sunburned today.

I navagated the vast parking lot, got a iced coffee, and rested my feet. Then I found out Waldenbooks doesn't carry Neurocam-approved books. So I went over to the Barnes and Noble down the road, whic turned out to have been visited by another operative. So who's encroaching on my turf, eh? :p

I went past another bookstore that turned out to be closed, and after some jaywalking made it back to North Campus. Now I think I'll edit uncyclopedia.org

Lie to Yourself

2005-04-10T16:18:00.000-04:00

Lie to yourself.

Tell yourself the world is fundamentally a nice place to live, that humans are good at heart. Never mind that you’re defining good and evil self-referentially, with almost no regards to intention, incidental effects, or any crap like that. No, simple lies are more believable. And easier to come up with.

What’s that you say? You don’t like to lie to yourself? You want to find the truth? How arrogant can you be! Believing that if you search for truth you will find it. How many of you remember how long you slept Friday last week? That’s a pretty simple fact, right? And the world ain’t simple, however much it pains you to hear it. I am certain my family has a few dark secrets that I don’t care to search for. Do you believe your’s doesn’t?

You believe you can unravel the real ultimate truth from news networks, websites, and your own minds? Better to just ignore all that and not worry about the people dying horrible deaths every day. You’ll be much happier. And if, while flipping through the channels from one modern replacement for the static that cable has forever banished to another, you see an unsettling news report, forget about it. Watch an escapist movie. Get Pizza Hut to deliver baked cardboard in a cardboard box for you. Maybe even get into deluded arguments with your deluded friends. Representing the truth, of course.

It’s been said that the best fiction reveals some truth. Perhaps. But even moreso, it distracts us from it. Everything important is wrapped up at the end of a novel. Everythng that’s not is simply paving the way for a sequel. Which will answer all the questions that remain. So of course the real world will work out like that, in the end. Every evil will be avenged. The hero will triumph, and of course you’re the hero.

There will be antagonists who get in your way, of course. It’d make for a boring book otherwise. How interesting would the Bible be if shit didn’t keep happening to the Jews?

God isn’t benevolent, by the way. No author is. They never can resist the urge to play with their characters, push them just a little farther, see how tough they’ve made them. “Let’s see, how much will this guy take before he snaps and starts gibbering about THEM and the squirrel conspiracy?” And if the characters are lacking in sanity, the author can always just turn the story into a dark trip through the human psyche. Which usually isn’t too pleasant.

So lie to yourself. Pretend nothing matters. You have a right to happiness, why let other people’s problems get you down? They’re just infringing on your peaceful, ignorant bliss. They want to spread their misery around, because it’s easier than solving their problems. Fuck them. You deserve better than them. Better than reality. Reality will just let you down. So don’t let it. Make your unrealistic plans and never act on them, always thinking how great it’ll be when you finally go through with it.

Lie to yourself. Just like I do. But know that if you do it in Eris’ name you will be rudely awakened. Or lie to yourself about that. Just don’t come crawling to me when the shit comes flying up out of the toilet.

Damn it, this rant better wrap itself up nicely. Because that would prove my point so fucking well, with a nice snarky ending line that would sum up my arguments nicely. Well, fuck that. I’ll just say I’ve finished it. That’ll work. And no one will ever catch on to my lies.

4/9/2005

Wonder if I'll Remember to Keep Doing This

2005-02-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

Nothing to see here, folks. Except the Illuminati conspiracy, of course.
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