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Showing posts from January, 2011

TMC Volume 2, Issue 5
Section I: The internet has forgotten Jake Busey

There used to be a recurring feature on NBC local news called "Unsung Heroes". It was basically a chance for local people to be recognized and rewarded for their efforts in their neighborhood, acknowledging the fact that even though there's innumerably more newsworthy things going on in the world at large, it's nice (and cool and ratings-effective) to simply focus on a few things right in your backyard. I used to love watching the news just for that feature. "Unsung Heroes" was in fact one of the many things I wanted to always wanted to be. An Unsung Hero. Of course, the irony there is that being an Unsung Hero means being ignored. To wish to be an Unsung Hero for the purpose of recognition goes against everything that the Unsung Hero stands for. Man, I was a stupid kid. Anyway, today the point is that far too many so-called "non-essential" individuals go unnoticed for far too long.  I'm not talking about myself in this case. It's a c

TMC Volume 2, Issue 4
section III: The existence of badness in what it is not

"God" is a hotly debated topic. It has been for ages, it is in the current age, and it will certainly be for ages to come. Now, that is not a prophetical statement, but rather more of a well-founded assumption based on the nature of the topic and the observations made about the discussion of it. "God" is impossible to prove by empirical means and "God" is largely indistinguishable for any other theistic (or atheistic) assumption made upon which any philosophical arguments are made. In light of these two facts, "God" will be a topic of infinite unresolution into the indefinite future. But let's step back for a moment from that bleak, emotionless perspective. Let us instead proceed in the realm which we know best, that is, the human realm. The realm of emotion and logic, pursuit and remembrance, intuition and evidence. It's in this realm we live in, and it's in this realm we find ourselves thinking abstractly and concretely, often for

TMC Volume 2, Issue 4
Section I: Don't worry ma'am, I'm from the Future

Some people might think the following argument is simply a convoluted, obfuscating, and misguided attempt at justifying laziness and irresponsibility. I think it's a solid argument for the existence of futurebots Make no mistake, the following argument is an original work, an attempt to corroborate the evidence with the truth to prove the existence of sentient robotic lifeforms in the midst of our present-day meanderings. I have often felt that my mind worked differently than many of the people I've worked with. There are times when I would reach entirely different conclusions to conversations, events, emotional responses, and even factual causatives than my peers. For example, once a friend asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a pastor, and I could only think to reply, "aren't we all evangelists of some sort already? It's not as though we don't attempt to foist our beliefs upon unsuspecting strangers with only limited evidence to support an alrea

TMC Volume 2, Issue 2
Section V: Excerpted from FS.com

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wanted to share something. it's an off day for me. this is easier than writing an original piece for today. the following post is video-game related, but by no means limited to the realm of gaming. To rage, or not to rage... Is it really a question? by Jacob "Vandy" Van Der Werf I love me some Left 4 Dead 2, but it can be hard to get a good game going because people give up so easily. If your whole team makes it to the end of Dead Center as Survivors, and then you Charge somebody out a window as Infected, they’re probably going to rage quit. Knock the whole team off the ledge? Rage. Boom them as they get out of the elevator and separate them in the chaos of the horde and BAM, you guessed it… More often than not, the score discrepancy is small enough that it could easily be made up in the next round, but people don’t care. People that only care about winning will cut and run to avoid potentially fighting a losing battle. And of cou

TMC Volume 2, Issue 3
section III: Much Better Than the Owner of a Lonely Heart

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The heart is an amazing organ. It’s one of the essential pieces of the human body; without it, blood would sit limply in our veins and arteries (indeed, veins and arteries would have no real purpose!) and our cells would quickly use up all the oxygen in it, asphyxiating themselves faster than you can say “and this little piggy went to Kathmandu.” Important as it may be, the heart is essentially an enormous muscle (or rather group of muscles) that functions as a pump. It draws blood in through the veins and out through the arteries, from the body, to the lungs, and back to the body again. This group of muscles, only about the size of your fist, moves about 2,000 gallons of blood a day. That means it takes your heart only about 5 minutes to circulate all of the blood in your entire body one time. Pretty impressive for such a small piece of equipment! Obviously today’s focal point is the heart. Namely, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is a congenital heart disease (present

TMC Volume 2, Issue 3
Section II: What Work Looks Like to a Day Off

Work has been slow lately. Painfully slow. I feel like I’ve written that phrase at least 3 times in the past three weeks. What happened exactly? I get in at 9:30. Pop my head in and say hi. Any tasks? Clean the lab. Make some tubes with some stuff in it. Label them. Get to my desk by 9:35. Write down said tasks. Clean the lab. Make some tubes with some stuff in it. Label them. Read Kotaku, Penny Arcade, and Firing Squad. It’s now 10am. The Chinese volunteer is supposed to show up by at least 10am. At LEAST. But he doesn’t, so I call him. And he sounds like he’s just woken up. I ask what time he’s going to be in, and the only words he can seem to get out of his mouth are “I will be there later.” I wait a bit longer. My boss comes over the bench to pick up something from the printer and asks me what I’m doing and why the volunteer hasn’t arrived yet. I tell her I’m reading, which I am. I’m reading Mere Christianity and my hidden Firefox window has Kotaku, Gmail, and Penny Arcade op

TMC Volume 2, Issue 3
Section I: Abhorrent Behavior

  I like to read. I like to read works from various authors and various times. I enjoy the sense of exploration, the sense of discovery, and the sense of affirmation I (most of the time) get from reading. I find, however, that no matter how diverse I think my reading habits have become, I continue to be drawn back to the same authors, the same times, and the same ideas that I have explored and discovered before. Now, what I’ve begun to realize (apart from any sad sentimentality felt towards the progressive loss of leisurely intellectual pursuits and other such octogenarian concerns) is that (aside from my clear penchant and enjoyment of such material) any ideas that one enjoys (which can be myriad and many or homogeneous and few) deserve more time . Granted, it is easy to argue that such things like philosophy, psychology, science fiction, religion, and theology certainly require more time than other ideas, but what I’m saying is that this principle of s

TMC Volume 2, Issue 2
Section III: Bubblegum Crisis

Today we speak of gum. That very same gum that we chew, that sticks stubbornly to the bottoms of our shoes, that may become horrifyingly tangled in our hair. Gum! What exactly is gum? Gum is gum base , the foundation for all of gum’s marvelous gummy properties. It’s what’s responsible for gum’s chewy nature, it’s malleable, yet resilient character, and it’s amazing ability to make and break from numerous tiny pieces to one cohesive unit. Of course, gum base formulations differ from one brand to the next, and each formulation is a trade secret. How else could companies each make claims of ultimate gum superiority? Still, every gum base contains the same basic components: ·          Elastomers – for that spring in your chew ·           Resins – so your gum can come in sticks, bars, and even rolls ·          Waxes – keeping gum easy on your chompers ·          Fats – which allow those waxes to play nice with others ·           Emulsifiers –

TMC Volume 2, Issue 2
Section II: BCG and Humble Pie

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 Work, work. The daily drudgery of work is allayed (for me at least) by the knowledge of either a paycheck or a day of sleeping in. And after working for a year in the same job (unprecedented), I’ve become familiar enough with most of my tasks that not much brainpower is required to complete them, leaving me with an abundant amount of time (sometimes). I used to fill the time with video games and Netflix (yes, I am a rather inappropriate grunt, I’m aware), without any detriment to my handiwork. Once in awhile though… Poor bands. Which leads me to my current state: Accountability. Aside from a number of psychological forerunners (read: excuses) that I could call on to account for my disdain for accountability, the sad fact is that I’m terribly unreliable. And not as a simple fluke or because I “do too much” or “overfill my plate”. Simply because it’s currently a part of my character. I am a person of great unreliableness, a person who consistently

TMC Volume 2, Issue 2
Section I: Neon Lights and Lady Luck

If there’s one thing you come away with today, I hope it’s this: At least William Hung knew when to quit. I’ve always wanted to be famous. I remember putting on mini shows for my parents and taking parts in plays for fun, feeling excited about the prospect of being in front of a crowd of people spouting lines and walking from one duct-taped x to another. Sadly, I never blossomed into a full-fledged performer, and as we all know, parts in class plays become increasingly scarce as one progresses through higher education. I was fine with it. I don’t ever remember feeling morose about losing the opportunity to perform in front of crowds. I knew when to quit, unlike some people. Or perhaps I don’t. there are moments when I have an increasingly creepy feeling that I want to be a performer. I want to put myself out there and make people laugh and cry; to make their hearts sing or swoon. I realize now that performers are intensely selfish people; it’s just that their particular brand of

TMC Volume 2, Issue 1
Section V: In the Future, There is only RPG-lite Progression

3 seconds to set up, 1 second to fire, and 2 seconds for travel from barrel-to-skull of an unsuspecting Mekboy. The subsequent interaction causes the rocket to explode, incinerating the area, concussive blasts leveling the surroundings. Said Mekboy separates into approximately 5 meaty fragments. Welcome to the world of Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II. This game crunches. Crunches hard. By crunch, I mean, of course, that the game has an impact. The Tim Rogers definition of crunch, the quality of the response one gets from one press of the action button, is the key to describing the design of the action in DoW II. Weapons and attacks crunch concomitant to their appearance and statistics, melee and ranged alike. Melee attacks dismember whole bodies following thunderous blows from toothy swords and axes. Explosives raze buildings faster than any uranium-powered lifter could build them. Bolters ravage landscape and flesh alike with unrelenting fury. Unfortunately, this crunch is soon revea

TMC Volume 2, Issue 1
Section I: And a Happy New Year

I took a break during the week of new year's...though I don't know from what exactly. The gay card is the most misplayed card in the race. I'm including both lesbians and gays in this. they are portrayed so stereotypically in both "independent" and "mainstream" (quotations here used to signify that I'm referring to the most colloquial of definitions for these terms) media that it's shocking to me that they aren't more offended by these portrayals. Gay males are largely effeminate, emotional, and impulsive (essentially the female stereotype), while Lesbians are stubborn, selfish, and aggressive (the male stereotype). What bugs me the most is that this "progressive" practice of portraying homosexuality in the media fails to address what I believe to be the central issue with the Gay/Lesbian movement: there is no Gay/Lesbian stereotype. The gay/lesbian stereotype, as portrayed by the media, is no more than a slight distortion of fi