Category: Uncategorized

Does it count as drinking alone if you’re chatting with other people on the net? =)

Hey all, Chicago has an environmentalist networking happy hour once a month just outside the loop. This month’s topic will be about sustainability in the 2006 election. It is at 7ish on thursday evening. Details can be found at the following link. I encourage all environmentally motivated people, particularly those who like beer, to attend.

http://www.foresightdesign.org/events/#gd

While flying, taking the train and driving, I had alot of time to think. I read a great deal of Collapse. I’m more than a little sad that LJ has suffered as a result of work, my commute, and WoW. I’m now working out far more frequently than I had been during grad school, but still far less frequently than I would like to be.

Other thoughts included population pressures and social norms. Tuff Voyaging by George R R Martin, The Mote in God’s Eye, and Collapse (among others) had alot of interesting thoughts on the topic. In particular, Collapse talked about Rwanda and showed how it matched Malthusian expectations with regard to overpopulation. Also, the acceptance of war as a necessary means of population control (compare that to the morality of abortion, another topic discussed in The Mote in God’s Eye, or starvation). I also thought Niven’s Protector made an interesting commentary on tribalism, and by extention nationalism, and it’s potential consequences, if one chooses to look at it in that light.

Space travel (we really should send probes first. I calculated how long it would take a probe to reach Alpha Centauri, assuming .1g acceleration the whole way (obviously reversing direction at the halfway point). It wasn’t terribly long, but I don’t know what kind of merry hell relativity would play with it. Never got that far in physics.) Also, colonies on other planets within the system or interior to hollowed out asteroids (an option that explained to me, or maybe it was her sister…)

Transportation played another role in my thoughts, with respect to air travel. A giant gaping emissions problem. We need to develop a reasonable interregional (and international) alternative that damages the environment less than the airplane, while wasting no more time. My off the cuff thoughts included shadowrun-esque, aerodynamically shaped, lighter than air vehicles (at least partially solar powered), and maglev rail.

those were the big things, anyway.

So, I went on a slightly less than 24 hour trip to DC. About 11 hours spent traveling to attend about 7 hours of party. And about 6 hours of sleep. The tight time schedule wasn’t the only novel thing about this trip. I left my laptop behind and I rented a car. The car was significantly cheaper than supershuttle, saved me significant travel time, and meant nobody had to drive to the Metro station to pick me up. The lack of laptop forestalled my possibly forsaking my limited face to face social time.

I also got my tickets ahead of time.

The party was fun. I played in 4 games (Hello Kitty Uno, 10 Days in Africa, Tongiaki, and Caylus). I got to see , , , and again, and met , among others. Good times.

Upcoming travel plans include: Oct 6-10th, Berkeley/San Fran. October 10-14th Hawaii (Maui), family trip. October 14-15th (less than 24 hours), LA.

I may also be traveling to NYC for the last weekend in october to see a guy I met in NYC (he has found more permanent residence in Hoboken). But that remains to be seen.

So, I’m heading out to DC for ‘s birthday party. I fly in Saturday early afternoon, and fly out sunday morning. That’s the only way the flight was ubercheap enough to make it reasonable. Oh yeah, and I’m flying into BWI. So, there’s a train to DC, but it doesn’t run on weekends. There’s Supershuttle, but it’s more expensive than renting a car. Let me repeat that, for emphasis. Supershuttle is more expensive than renting a car. W. T. F?

I appear to be making a habit of this car rental thing, But in this case, it’s the right thing to do, to the tune of about $15 and probably over an hour of my life not spent waiting. And if I’m worried about the CO2 emissions from driving a rental less than 100 miles, why on earth am I flying from chicago to baltimore? Heh. =)

So, my mood has a pretty regular pattern to it, it seems.

At about 15 minutes into a cardio set, I am reborn, fresh, optimistic, and relatively happy. It takes 3-4 days before I am a grumpy, cynical, pessimistic whiner. The clear solution to this a regular workout schedule. But that would interfere with my regular MMORPG schedule (which, to be clear, does not have these aforementioned benefits… =)

My Personality

I have a scientific/engineering background, and I don’t understand radioactivity. So, I’m writing up this little thing, summarizing wikipedia entries, etc.

Thanks to the weak nuclear force, splitting atoms = mucho heat. Neutrons spread out from the split atoms, and bust up other atoms that aren’t all that stable to begin with. The whole process starts by putting atoms that “leak” neutrons with a bunch of other similar atoms, and depending on the density of those atoms, you get nuclear reactions suitable for generating the heat which lets us light a city, or reactions which obliterate one.

Extra neutrons floating around, also bad. Leads to cancer, death, and (rarely) glowing in the dark. Check.

Okay, so the extra neutrons flying around all over the place don’t just split other atoms. Sometimes, they incrementally increase the size of an atom, creating plutonium or other elements which stick around for very short periods of time, unlike plutonium.

• Radiation.
  • There are three forms of radiation that we get taught about. Alpha, beta, gamma.
    1. Gamma is high frequency electromagnetic radiation.
    2. Alpha particles are helium nuclei, and
    3. beta particles are electrons.
  • Gamma rays travel, like light, or radio waves, and are harder to block (lots of lead required). But they also don’t stick around, so they aren’t responsible for the bulk of the danger from radioactive wastes.
  • Beta particles are slower, and tend to stick around more (blockable by thin sheets of metal)? (but we have dislocated electrons in batteries around us all the time, so how would this be a major problem?)
  • Alpha particles are downright pokey by comparison, and can be blocked with thin sheets of paper. They tend to stick around. But once again, helium is around us all the time. Assuming these highly positive helium nuclei manage to swipe some innocent atoms’ electrons, where’s the problem?
• this is the part I didn’t get:
  • Spent fuel rods contain radioactive isotopes of several elements. When uranium splits into other things, the other things stick around. Many of them absorb neutrons, and start radiating (while also inhibiting the reaction of the fissile elements through that absorbtion.) This is why spent fuel rods are dangerous, still contain material that can be reused, and yet will not continue to react.
  • Nuclear explosions are a different story. They release vaporized radioactive debris (which turns into nanoscale dust). That debris spreads on the wind through rain, etc. (didn’t read as much on this one, because it wasn’t my main interest).
  • A passing exposure to some level of radiation isn’t so bad. It’s ongoing exposure to a source of alpha, beta, or gamma radiation. For instance, radioactive iodine (like non-radioactive idodine) gathers in the thyroid, where its radiation destroys tissue in the area and increases the risk of cancer.

So much to know…

I gave up on veganism here in chicago, when out with others because it was causing a serious crimp in my social life. Or so I felt at the time. Funny thing, now that I’m vegetarian out, I have developed other barriers.

To be fair, I have a job that demands 8 hours a day, with a mandatory, doesn’t count for hours, 45 minute lunch. Add in a nearly 1 hour commute each way, and you have 10+ hour day. I can do sudoku and crosswords, catch up on my Collapse reading on the train, but it’s still 8-9 hours/week sitting on the train (assuming I don’t stop anywhere interesting along the way. Significantly longer if I have any evening activities south of home. Hint, that’s where most of the interesting stuff happens. Not to mention the 2+ hours/weekend spent traveling (assuming I go anywhere). But I still feel like my entire life outside of work plunged into well chilled molasses.

Have I thought about moving to reduce the commute? Hell yes. My roommates are good people, but they have different interests and different values. And if I last a year here, that’s all I’ll last. Because I said I would. Because I don’t want to pay to move again. Because I don’t have the time to search for a good place. Because I’ve tried finding myself through changing apartments in chicago in the past, and it didn’t work.

I’m also not liking the whole gay chat medium experience. Yes, Virginia, I’ve dipped my foot back in the pool. Same shit, different services. Mixed motives. Hell, I know all about mixed motives. I want a good circle of friends. I want some sense of community involvement. Actually, as I’ve alluded to, my order of preference is probably activists, gamers, then homos (all 3 would be rockstar). And I’d still like to date and get laid, thanks. Broadcast culture, whether it be tv, theatre, radio, whatever, leaves much to be desired. Feedback, interactivity. And richer dynamics than one-on-one interaction affords. These are things I’m lacking in my life.

I want activists, because these are people who believe in something and work towards it, frequently sacrificing extraordinary quantities of time, energy, and potential salary. Mad props to for her activism. On another level though, getting involved with activist communities is problematic, because I can’t wave signs due to my position. (though I can attend rallies, just not hold banners. I shit you not, welcome to the logic of bureaucracy. It’s not that particular restriction, but how everything becomes a minefield of what I’m supposed to do and not supposed to do.)

Gamers are a little trickier. Most notably, finding them, in a working town known more for its union laborers and baseball stadia than its computer scientists and nerd culture.

I feel like I’m losing touch with the things that make me happy. Like I couldn’t even tell you what they are any more (this post was partially to think about what it was, so that I could get back in touch with it). I mean, I can and do make nice with the gaming disdaining bar sitters, sports fans and reality tv watchers who don’t bother to get off their ass and do something about the causes that they claim matter to them. But I don’t connect with them in ways that either of us cares about.

Those who haven’t seen this yet, need to.