starbug

two books

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:12:51 GMT

Book 1
The Myriad: The voyage of the Merrimack #1 by R. M. Meluch

This book was awesome. Well written mil sci/fi with honest characters. The marines are all gung-ho and the enemies are over the top. The science is great, causality is touched on. The patterner (I can't help but read Mentat) is honorable and a machine but with his own humanity. The captain is balls to the wall gung ho, a warrior you expect to be walking a deck battling pirates. The American LEN interaction mimics the current view many have of Americans and immediately brings to mind Team America. A great read with a kind of disappointing but wonderfully consistent ending that raises a few wonderful questions

book 2
The Secret Life of Numbers: Fifty Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think by George G. Szpiro

Not such a great book. Definitely for the lay reader. It does come from an interesting point of view. A Swiss reporter from the Israeli desk of a Swiss newspaper, it puts a different bias on the work. I read more about swiss mathematicians than I had every really done before. But the math was simple and not well explained. For a more technical read with greater scope, i would highly recommend The Honors Class: Hilbert's Problems and Their Solvers by Ben Yandell. That was an awesome book with lots of history, some great applications and a richer feel for the mathematics

Jumper

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:40:42 GMT

I saw Jumper last night.

SO the FX were cool, the filming locations impressive and I'm sure the backstory is interesting in the original novel, but wtf.

No body even thought to use a gun. And the bomb the other jumper had? Where was John Woo. I mean jump out see the Paladin, jump behind him and blow him away with your double DEagles. Or even more low tech the sawed off 12 gauge. An Grenades? C4 with a timer so the jump scars gone before it detonates. Everyone saw Nightcrawler fight in X2. Or a fucking sword for fucks sake. The guy had a flamethrower but not a pistol. The movie was just all kinds of fucked up tactically speaking. The paladins shouldn't even pf stood a chance.

I think I'll start posting more, reviewing things and maybe ranting again.

So I tried to get a speaker part, a simple post at Radioshack, but they didn't have the part. The sales associate showed me something I could use "If i wanted to cut a big hole in my speaker." Who in there right mind would cut a 4" by 6" hole in a speaker to fix it when all they need is a tiny little piece of metal. I think Radioshack should have had the part, but their fix also should have been slightly practical and not out right stupid.

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:58:10 GMT

Thor it's been a while

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:20:53 GMT

So my LaTex-Fu isn't really happening. I need something to type, some project to work on, and I don't have one. The logic notes were a good project, lots of opportunities to do things. My plan was one of the whitewolf RPG's, butt my friend who has a few of the books as pdf's hasn't emailed me one yet.

I've got a new career plan Radiation Tech. Need to write some essays and complete the application. I'm taking an A & P class this fall to get a class out of the way.

Otherwise things have been going pretty well. Kali and I are doing well. I got a new car, another Volvo sedan.

I went to Ozzfest. It was awesome. The Hatebreed Pit, Behemoth, a Canadian Metal band, the funniest shit you ever heard, the Canadian voice, just that passive and nice intonation followed by a metal voice. Wicked Bizarre. Static X on the MAIN STAGE. Section 2: right in front of the stage, Row U: Two rows back from where Ozzy's water hoses reach. Fuckin awesome. Plus lots of TITTY.

Today I was doing curls and shoulder lifts in the pool with small children, think Arnie in Kindergarten Cop. I'm trying to take advantage of the exercise opportunities at the Y, but stuff just keeps getting in the way.

Work and school, life continues, SSDD.

Sat, 19 May 2007 15:42:48 GMT

So i was in a borders in Nashua, NH looking for "The LaTex Companion" to increase the power of my LaTex-Fu and say this book: 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa. Not my kind of book exactly but I figured I'd see what it was about. I flipped it over and saw this Quote on the back cover.

“This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via 28 individual human stories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than any W.M.D.”
–Bono

So HIV/AIDS is not more powerful than any WMD. He's just using a buzz phrase to make huimself sound smart. Bono does put his money where his mouth is and is apparently well informed about the issues, but this statement is just ignorant. Weponized small-pox or Ebola would be much more dangerous than AIDS. An incredibly dirty bomb released on the west coast of America or in Western Europe would be far more dangerous. AIDS isn't the easiest disease to get. However an Airborne weaponized virus or radioactive dust released up the jet stream from lots of people would have a greater impact than AIDS.

The greatest Webcomic ever

Sat, 19 May 2007 15:22:46 GMT

Read this one and more at xkcd.com

So I have been incredibly lazy about posting.

My life in a nutshell. I am a Lifeguard, enjoy worki.

I have a girlfriend, things are excellent with her.

I am in general pretty happy. Wish I could move out of my house, but with rents what they are, I'd need two or three jobs to pull that one off.

Happy Birthday Me!!!

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:17:06 GMT

Today I am 27. One year closer to becoming thirty. Thats the next milestone I have to look forward to. W00T.

Looking at my life, I can't help but notice that I am near infinitely better off today than I was a year ago. I have a girlfriend who remembers my birthday, friends in the area, a job I really like and hope to advance at.

All in all, 2007 has been a really good year so far.

Things with Kali keep getting better and better. It's awesome but it's happening a little fast. NNot that thats bad, but i think it scares both of us just a little.

Oh well, more diablo and bookworm adventures.

On many things

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 02:49:59 GMT

<td align="center">You date like you are 25 years old.

You are a dating pro. You've been around the block a few times and know exactly what you like and dislike in a partner. Usually you can tell after one date if you would date them again.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com</td>

which is good since I am 26.

On the dating scene, Kali and I have really clicked. Things are going awesomely. Her parents like me and mine like her. The only slight hitch is her work schedule which is pretty hectic. But so far we have it set up with a date night wed and hanging out on Sat and talking lots on the phone. I think we're really good together and good for each other. I even changed my myspace status.

I'm kinda pissed about 24. The Pats game, which was awesome, ran long so I missed the beginning. Sucktacular. So I'm taping it, It wouldn't be that bad but I have to get to work at 8 30 tommorrow and the weather is supposed to be shitty, so I have to leave extra early to drive safely. So I'll be watching 4 hours of 24 tomorrow.

bummin' around

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 22:39:23 GMT

It's wicked warm here so I was hanging out outside, reading and smoking. Then I went in to change over my laundry and got distracted. It fucking rained. My books wet, it's in the freezer for a while. I was just getting into it.

Plus I'm meeting Kali's parents tonight, probably, which is a little scary.

I kinda cleaned my room, or at least worked on it a bit.

Stupid Rain

My social life

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:50:07 GMT

Kali and I have really hit it off. Two dates in two days. We have this amazing connection which is just a little scary. We're both a little out of practice with the beginning phase of a date, but things are going so well that it doesn't matter. The only problem is that we both live with our parents, so there's no place to just go and hang out. We spend a lot of time sitting in cars and talking.

I'm psyched though with how well things are going.

The girl at work is still gonna be my flirt buddy which is cool.

I have to go to work at 9. I haven't been getting much sleep, too nervous/excited about whats going on.

My brother flew out this morning for Panama City, Panama. He's bringing a tug up from down there. He may get to go through the canal which would be AWESOME!! I hope he gets to.

When it rains

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 13:31:04 GMT

I have discovered one of the drawbacks of LJ. The 20 year old girl at work has a journal and she kind of likes me but has exactly the same age hang up as me, more or less. So thats kind of weird.

My date with the CLG went awesome. There was amazing chemistry, we talked about everything. If we'd been in college together, it would have been one of those cliched talke until the sun came up moments. We're going out to dinner tonight, which is awesome.

The only downside is talking to the girl at work. I hope she takes it well. She's lots of fun and I'd like to keep her as a flirt buddy.

New Years Resolutions

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:11:56 GMT

Lose Weight

Get In Shape

Get a Few Dates

Learn to Paint

Do the World Building For my Novel

Work on my Novel

Finish the Short Story from Class

Life or something to that effect

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:10:07 GMT

Christmas went well, it was a liitle depressing but such is life.

I got an antique humidor which is pretty cool, some books, some cigars, and some juggling stuff. All in all, not a bad haul.

I've been going to work, flirting with one of the college girls back for break, and livin' life.

I'm waiting to here from a Craig's list Girl from the past. She dissapeared and then came back, so I figure what can go wrong. She's pretty busy, but maybe one of these days we'll hang out and see if there's any chemistry. The college girl at work is only 20, which is a little young.

For New Years Eve, Jon and I watched The Descent and then the Metalocalypse Marathon. Awesome.

I'm fucked up

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 17:32:59 GMT

SO fri night I went to a couple of Christmas parties. Had some booze, saw some people. The second one I ended up at, I ended up having to defend my political preference from retarded lunatics who suffer from extreme BDS. Why people can't just let you believe what you want. I don't carer what they believe, except the retard who wanted to be an anarchist. That's just stupid and impossible once you have more than a certain poppulation. Plkus it would have to be the whole world or someone would very easily conquer you. I say I'm a republican since I want to pay less taxes. They say Bush has grown the government mora than any other President. I say Kerry wouldn't have done any better. I am drunk so don't have the response of "Well, he createsd a whole new department to try and protect the country. Homeland Security. Not necesarilly a bad move." Then I say "I like libertarianism." They respond with some hard-core libertarian philosophy of no school loans, no NEA grants, no fixing roads.... No government doing anything." I reply "That may be the extremes, but thats not how it would be implemented in American society>" But this viewpoint is ignored. All of thier ideas involving sweeping changes of American society that somehow happen instantly. Yup, I will never again associate with these retards or atleast never talk politics with them.

But in any event it pissed me off so much I ended up walking home, kicking fences and throwing real estate signs. Then my dad picked me up, but he said something and I jumped out of his moving truck. Then I gave up and sat in the rain for a while. Then I went home and went to sleep. Looking back, everyone, evwen rwetards are entitled to their opinion, but it seems that unlike me, they really want to change everyone to their viewpoint. I don't try and change anybodies mind, why can't they just respect my opinion.

My favorite part was when Patty, the jew said Israel was created by the UN and I said "No, you idiot, Israel was created by the British" Then she responded Who are you going to believe, the Jew or the person who hates Jews, (I think she was picking up on the fact that I hated her and may have been a touch Anti-Semetic to make her feel bad) But of course I was Right.

Last night I saw Apocalypto. It is an awesome movie. But it has no Underlieing message. The decadence and corruption of Aztec society is not why it fell. The Spanish had guns, smallpox, and training in large scale warfare. Plus thier army had armour and tactics. Fighting lines and Hosses, plus guns. Technology is a great leveler. If we'd fought Vietnam with the same brutal disreguard for enemy life the the Spanish felt for the indians, there wouldn't have been any sort of Viet Cong, cause everybody would have been dead. No society can stand up to a vastly superior force and not die. You can shoot all the arrows you want at a conquistador, you have to hit him in the face to kill him. He shoot you pretty much anywhere with his .50 cal musket, your dead. Plus you can try and hide in the forrest all you want, he'll just burn it the fuckl down. All they want is gold, silver, and preciouse stones. No food. So you die. A scortched Earth policy. None of the we want to settle this land that swayed the hands of the British fighting the colonials. They wanted simple things so burning everything wasn't a problem. Apocalypto was an awesome action/chase movie and thats all it was, it had no underlying message.

My only question is who is Abel. The movie was dedicated to him. Is this the Abel, The First Son, the farmer killed with the Jaw bone of an ASS, or someone else.

Fame

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 13:23:33 GMT

Yesterday, I went to the Newbury Comics in Salem, NH to buy some Viking Metal. Mission Accomplished. Guess who I ran into there. Bobby Falzano, a guy my brothers age who lives down the street from me. He recognized me, it took me a minute to figure out who he was cause he had short hair. It had been shoulder length for a long time. We chat a little and come to find out, he's a drummer for a METAL! band, Shatter Messiah. It's weird to think that I know famous people.

Life as I know it

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 14:44:42 GMT

Let's see, since my last post I have taught my classes, worked, reconnected with a cool craigslist girl who I thought had dissapeared off the face of the earth, realised that the other CLG that I was talking to may be not so good since the day before we were supposed to go out she was posting another ad on CL.

Today I'm giving blood, making Jon give blood, buying some Viking metal (hopefully, fingers crossed) browsing Borders, going Xmas shopping with Jon, and then go to a buddies 60th birthday party. W00t.

Tomorrow is the neighborhood xmas party and the Pats game and doing lotsa of writing since I've been majorly procrastinating.

Oh and my RANT.

So the McDonalds commercial about missing snack time wherein one of the men who makes a bad decision decides to go to a bookgroup with his Girl. There's nothing wrong with bookgroups. All this does is serve to continue the stereotype. If Mike Richards gets in trouble for saying Nigger, Micky Dee's should get in trouble for this stereotype which is more hurtful. Since it immasculates the Intellectual. If I didn't already not eat at mcDonals I would consider boycotting over this issue. Fuck them in their stupid asses. They are fucking clownshoes.

Just a quickie

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:52:12 GMT

I now have myspace. Go me, I'm on as thestodman look for me if you want.

Plus the short story I'm writing is about demonic posession and stuff. I just did a word count on one part and got 666 words, how awesome is that.

It's a satanic omen of DOOM!

I am awesome

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:12:30 GMT

So I got a wicked good work review. It was the end of year review. "I am quickly becoming a leader on the staff" and "Consistent with rule enforcement". My needs improvement was be more diplomatic in rule enforcement, which translates to "Don't let the bitchy members know,with your eyes full of burning hate, that you want to rip there heads off and shit down their necks"

Had some fun in class, saw my buds.

Have a date on friday with Christina, awesome. Talked with her on the phone for a while today. She's pretty cool. This whole dating thing is getting a little easier.

And I have discovered that there is a sub-genre of metal known as Viking Metal, I must buy some and rock out to it.

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:04:02 GMT

I just watched the Harry Potter teaser trailer and was struck by a question. Why doesn't anyone use magic bullets. Give Hagrid a huge fucking gatling gun like Jesse Ventura carried in Predator only bigger fill it with magic bullets, you know something unstoppable, un spellable and evil seeking and bust off a thousand rounds at Voldemort. Problem solved, nothing left but cleaning up the giant blood puddle he became. Why does magic alwasy seem to preclude technology. When I write stories involving werewolves and shit, they're sure as fuck gonna use guns. Heaven help the mage who gets in the way of the magicval equivalent of a deplketed uranium round. Something thats been magiced so much spells don't affect it anymore. That'll fuckin hurt.

Also, I've ripped most of my Motorhead to my Hard Drive and have over seven hours worth.

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:38:51 GMT

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts.
You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary.
But you sure can beat a good drum.
"Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

I get to be my favorite muppet, yeah personality test.

Your Penis Name Is...

Squirmin' Herman the One-Eyed German

Penis Name Generator

This could perhaps be the funniest Penis Name I have ever seen generated.

Jesus is my favorite action hero

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 03:09:01 GMT

I just watched a truly awesome movie. Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter. It's a foreign film, from Canada.

Jesus does nija shit to fight vampires who are skinning lesbians so that they can walk in the daylight. It is indescribably hilarious.

One of the awesome scenes is when someone is explaining the quantum nature of vampirism. It is a virus, a bacteria, or a fungus depending upon who is looking at it. Since light is a wave or a particle depending on who is looking at it, this explains why light is harmful to vampires. IT made my brain hurt.

reviews of troma films to follow

I'm at work

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 02:14:12 GMT

So I'm getting paid to supervise a new lifeguard on his first day. I've only been here since September. I am awesome. There is almost no one here so i don't have to do anything really. So I am taking interesting quizzes.

You Are a Lemon Margarita

Sour, tangy, and overpowering, you tend to give people a jolt back into reality.
While you don't sugar coat things, you're honest - which is actually quite refreshing.

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 07:24:51 GMT

Someday I should post all the ads I've posted on CL and see what people think.

In other news, I have decided that at some point I will write my own version of the Tao Te Ching with Mathematics as the Tao. I think that would be very interesting. It's pretty much my religious belief. Things "Happen" for a reason, thats true. Physics and mathematics define causality. The big questions of whay are we here and what made earth happen are pretty easy to answer. It happened because it did. If it didn't happen then we wouldn't be here to ask the questions. We could be one af a trans infinite universe, each splitting at every instance in time. Go us.

So I saw Deja Vu and then was talking to someone about infinity, i.e. the infinite number of parallel universes that exist. He tried to say that there was only one infinity. I sadly shook my head and was all set to correct him when the subject changed. I decided to let him live in his comfortable little one infinity world instead of shattering his humble reallity.

In still other thoughts. I don't understand date rape. It really fucks women up and the sex can't be as good as it could be with a willing partner. WTF. If she doesn't want to, go home after, watch some porn, It's free on the net, and rub one out. Granted a date rapist is probably a two pump chump, but his one little interlude with some girl is so harmful that all of them should just be shot, preferably after finding out what their left ball tastes like. I know I have problems asking for sex when I'm in a relationship, but thats because it's always the girls decision and I would feel awful if I somehow forced someone into something they didn't want. That said, I'm all for safewords and rough play as long as it is play.

In which our hero is once again single

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:14:47 GMT

So every time a relationship doesn't work out that started on Craig's List, my mother says "I told you so. That's not a good way to meet normal people."

I respond with, "Do you have a better Idea"

"No"

Here I now subvocalize, "Then quit telling me this won't qwork you dumbass. If you don't have a solution, just pointing out that what I'm doing isn't working makes you a fucking Democrat."

So my latest attempt at happiness has ended. Kristen wasn't really ready to be in a relationship. She had some very good reasons. So I'm not mad at her. I am kind of pissed at her gender. If you're not ready for a relationship, don't respond to personal ads. Is this too hard a concept to grasp. Based on my experience it is.

What the Fuck!

I'm a decent guy, I understand relationships and the commitment that goes into one. I am at the place in my life where I am ready for all of that. So I post an ad saying, well, whatever they say. I describe myself and possibly what I want. Get some responces and pick out a cool girl. Things progress from there unto a pit of despair. Something happens with her and she bolts.

Sucks to be me. But I will perservere.

On the plus side of almost dating Kristen, I want to try and paint with oils. I think it would be a wonderful way to get some of my feelings and ideas out. Now all i have to do is figure out how to learn.

Also, uesterday and the day before, as I drove to work, I saw two differant plumbing trucks. Each had a wonderfully quaint motto. The first was "The smell good plumbers" and the second was, and I'm not making this up, "We won't quit 'til you can shit."

How's that for truly bizzare

Life is messy

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:33:54 GMT

Hmm...

Friday I worked. Whatever. Then I went out with the lads and saw Deja Vu. It was pretty cool, the whole time travel thing was pretty cool. I like the implications it's just hard to discuss with the problems of grammer and tense.

Sat had an awesome time with Kristen at the MFA. Arts pretty cool but 'm still not a fan of Post modernisms. The Modern stuff is kinda nifty.

Sunday had a whole big family explosion. Life is just rough.

Class tonight was ok. Almost nobody did the homework. One of my friends was stressing about something sex related and it sucks. I just want to be like "At least you're having sex, I've been going solo since march" Ahhh.

Hoping to hear from Kristen to make plans for this week, but so far nothing. I'll probably drop her an email in the AM.

I talked to an old gf of mine, she's married and has a kid, it's a very different place from where I am. But life with a child is hard too. I guess it's just that life is hard.

W00t