I'm going through a quandary right now: what to do next year. Right now, a large part of me is saying: "move to Edmonton!". They have an amazingly interesting-looking evolutionary biology program, whereas we have, well, just Honours Biology. And well, I'm getting itchy feet again. I don't know if moving to E-town would help, but I can't see how it would hurt. Right now, I feel like I have no place here: except for Kelly, Ryan and Sam, and a couple other people, I feel like an outsider. I really don't know what to do: I don't really want to try and restart my life in a different town, but I'm lost here right now.

so, advice? comments? a swift kick upside the head for being overly whiny again?

Say what you will about the Victorians, but those people had style. Hell, they almost invented style. Top hats, three piece suits, airships.... they had it all.

A new trade deal

Well, as I pointed out last week, Earth needs Space. And as Kelly reminded me, Mars Needs Women. Since Mars has space, and we have women, we both saw the possibility of a trade deal here.

therefore, I propose that the UN arrange for the first inter-planetary trade summit. We need to form GAFTA (Geo-Ares Free Trade Agreement) soon, lest valuable jobs get out-sourced to Mercury, or worse, Venus.

This Message Brought to You By the Institute For Really Stupid Studies.

A 2nd Look

Well, the next trailer for Hitchhiker's Guide is out. I'm of two minds. One part of me is saying: Whohoo! The FX don't look dumb, the characters all look well cast, and damn does this look fun!!
The other part is saying: it looks awfully slapstick.... Does that actually work with Hitchhiker? Well, I guess we'll see.

In other news: A Life Less Ordinary is hilarious. It's the kind of bizarre, frantic comedy that is often shot for, yet rarely done well. This is comedy done right. Good pacing, amazing acting, bizarre plot... These people make that look far too easy. And it's got crazy angels in it! Crazy angels with guns!

There is something inherently irksome about being handed a package of condoms with a "safe sex" message right before Valentines Day. I can understand the sentiment: un-planned pregnancies and VDs both suck. However, I
a) don't think condoms are the only, or even best, method of birth control. A bigger part is perhaps, oh say Avoiding casual sex with strangers! A little thought, care, and, hey, even a little self-restraint go a long way.
b) Don't like the implication this seems to have; ie: Of course you're having sex. Everyone does it. If you don't have sex you must be unloved or deviant. Yes, I'm bitterly single, but I'm also chaste by choice as well as by necessity. Sex, right now, doesn't seem that compelling an activity. I don't see how this makes me abnormal, but having condoms shoved in my face seems to say: "Have Sex Now, you puritan scum!"

However, I will eat the cinnamon hearts that came with the bundle, and maybe I'll practice making balloon-animals later... :)

ps: Why is my house no longer filled with balloons?! There is nothing more amusing that having a living-room full of balloons. It's just fun.

Happy Darwin Day!

A merry Darwin Day to one and all! (or a joyful Darmas, as they refer to it at the U of A)

This day, 195 years ago, one of the greatest and most influential people who ever lived was born. So hug your local paleontologist, and toast your neighborhood population geneticist with cheer. Through Darwin's eyes, we see how we connect with the world, and with each other. By the power of his theories, we understand our place in the world, as a small piece of the whole. It is only through looking with clear eyes at where we come from that we can truly understand where we should go.

Have you ever got the feeling like something big is on its way? That there's a huge change in the air, like life's going to do a 180? I've been feeling like that for the last day and a half. Maybe it's the extra sunshine speaking, but it feels like there's something on the horizon. I don't know how far to trust that instinct, but man if doesn't have my spirits up. It feels like the way a prairie feels after 6 months of drought, when a storm is moving in. Well, here's hoping for rain...

Like a phoenix, or possibly the plague...

I'm back!

I can here you thinking: "But Eric, you just announced you were stopping 2 days ago!" However, there's reasons why I'm back:
a) Because I've finally snapped out of my introspection (read: whiny mid-winter depression and mopeyness)
b) I've found my muse again. (She was in my sock drawer)

So on to the actual topic of this post:

Humanity needs Space. The kind with stars and stuff in it. The exploration of space (and I mean human exploration! Robots just won't cut it) is maybe the best way of keeping us from pulling ourselves apart.
Economically, space is handy. Zero gee means cheaper manufacture for many products, as well as a ready source of damned-near pure minerals, if we can beat the delta-v required to pull them in. (Delta-v is change in velocity. It's the best measure of how much something would cost in space). Economics, however, is hardly the best argument for why we have to go.

The Real drive outward should be that thing that has always brought out the best in humanity: Our drive to create, build, cooperate, discover, and explorer. ie: curiosity. I don't care what the 'return on investment' is, at least not in dollar values. Every human, everywhere benefits, at least potentially, from what we can find out there. More than that, it gives us a new challenge as a species: Take the harshest conditions we can find, and make them livable. A generation of people who grow up in space, knowing the real meaning of "live within your means" could break the current inertia regarding environmental and poverty problems. People of radically different backgrounds living together in close quarters could spark new 'micro-cultures', with who-knows-what effect on the rest of humanity. A renaissance in zero-gee art and boundary-less architecture could result. The fact is, we won't know unless we try. All of the major benefits of space travel are likely unknowable at this point, and won't be recognized until well after the fact.

I know we have problems still on earth, but humanity doesn't gain by turning away from a frontier to focus on problems at home. A new age of exploration may be what is needed to move on past these current struggles. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but my money's on it saving us.

Well, it was good while it lasted

Well, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think it's time I shut this place down. I really have had nothing interesting to post for the last month or so, and frankly I've been wandering into inanity and pointlessness. It's gotten to the point where I can't remember why I post to this place any more.

So.... I'm going to take a break from blogging for a while. I'm not planning to delete everything on here, but I'm not going to be posting much of anything for a while. Well, folks, it was fun while it lasted. I'll see you all shortly in RL, and I hope you enjoyed my little musings.

G'night folks.

If anyone needs help moving while there is still a 1/3 of a meter of snow on the ground, I will shoot you. I'm quite happy playing good Samaritan, but even I have limits, one of which is pushing 4 different cars out of snow drifts. (on the plus side, one of said people was an attractive Scottish exchange student, so I can't complain too much.)

In other news: I'm going to be doing my happy dance for the next 3 weeks. There's rumors of a new Captain Tractor album in the works for March! Combine this with the potential of them going on tour again around St. Paddy's day, and I become a happy camper.

Finally: remind me to stop watching new Sci Fi TV shows. Now, in addition to watching Andromeda, Firefly, Buffy and Angel, I now must finish watching Battlestar Galactica. (incidentally, Swambo and Caitlin: If you want to see SF with strong female characters, pretty much all of these series are good examples.)

Just got back from the CHC (Canadian Honey Council) research symposium. That was damned fun. I've realized an important fact: all beekeepers are fucking nuts, and really, really like bad puns. Just so you all know where I take after.
Also: microbiologists seem to be incapable of speaking understandably. The other speakers (a bee-behavioral scientist and a toxicologist) were incredibly understandable. However, for the microbiologist, I think I was 1 of about 5 people in the entire room who got what he was talking about. Honestly, why even bring up PCR sequencing when you aren't going to bother to explain it? But hey, the work was interesting, and the guy giving the presentation might have work for me this summer! Yay!

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. Incredibly pointless, but I needed something to post on this damned thing....

Surprises

Right now, I'm feeling kind of flabbergasted.

I went over to Ryan and Sam's place last night. These two are good friends of mine; Ryan and Kelly were best friends throughout High School, we game together every weekend, I was even their MC at their wedding (and an usher, and the DJ, and catering... But I digress). Now, they've decided to have a kid, sometime next fall. For me, this is great, because it means I get to babysit. I love kids, and frankly, my odds of having one of my own any time soon seem remote. So we were discussing the upcoming child, and Sam just happens to mention an interesting fact: apparently, if they have a boy, there's a good chance they'll name him after me.

This... well, this has me knocked out. I honestly don't know how to feel. I never expected this one in a million years. It's flattering, and somewhat frightening. Well, and just plain cool. The idea of a little namesake running around is very enjoyable.

Truth be told, this does more to boost my spirits then just about anything I could imagine. :) I'm looking forward to this kid almost as much as they are...