Below are the most recent 8 friends' journal entries.

Thursday, September 4th, 2008
oriolegirl	4:19p	I have no idea what I was going to say. I have composed more than one LJ entry in my head over the last few days but every time I actually think about posting, I find I either can't remember what I was going to post or I can't be bothered to do so. So have a couple of links: What Happens to Particle Accelerators After They Are Shut Down? Once a particle accelerator is switched on, its fate is sealed as a research tool. The particle collisions that researchers scour for exotic debris also bombard the machine's metal parts with neutrons and other particles that render the metal radioactive. Neutron bombardment can convert iron and cobalt, both found in steel, into the highly radioactive isotopes manganese 54 and cobalt 60. Given the potential health risks, the DoE does not allow used accelerator components to be put to public use, says Benedict Feinberg, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. So when an active accelerator retires, its parts typically get put to work on other particle physics experiments. US army has laser guns in its sights Later this year, military engineers will stage a shoot-out between two rival designs for the 100-kilowatt solid-state laser. The winning laser will have to be ruggedised to survive field conditions and made small enough to fit inside the truck. The laser is scheduled to start shooting at real targets in 2013. Current Mood: hungry Current Music: library noises (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
crazies	11:44p	Some People Are Astoundingly Stupid So 5th day of school and guess who was seen sneaking into the house in the middle of the day. I don't understand how someone can be so fucking idiotic as to not understand that her older sister knows everyone in the neighborhood and that these people do actually have eyes and that crawling through a front window might be a little noticeable. Current Mood: disappointed Current Music: Will & Grace (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
oriolegirl	2:17p	Quick! Which way should I go? All this talk of instant replay in baseball has once again brought up that person which O's fans prefer not to remember because we all loathe him so. I have to look away from the TV whenever they show that play. And now there's this on the Sun's sports page where I can't avoid it: Maier's review of instant replay? O's antagonist says it's right call. Gah. I was *cough*sick*cough* on Thursday so I could rent a car and drive out to the Berkshires to spring my sister from her summer of exile. We dropped off one of her fellow interns at Logan and then proceeded to go completely the wrong way and wound up driving quite a distance down Mass Ave back to home. Seriously, they need a sign that says "Cambridge this way" because I don't freakin' know which tunnel I'm supposed to go through and which direction to go after. It is completely unclear how you're supposed to find Cambridge. ARGH. But at least we were able to get off 93 almost immediately at the blessed Mass Ave exit. Thank god Mass Ave is like the only street in the area which is the same street everywhere. (There are 3 different Washington Streets in the city of Boston and none of them are near each other. I kid you not.) These are the times I miss Chicago. At least if you missed the freeway entrance you knew you could just keep going down the street and eventually you'd get home because the street kept going and going for miles and miles and miles, straight on until it hit the next state. There was more I was going to say, but I've completely forgotten what it was. Obviously it was something quite exciting. Current Mood: okay Current Music: O's @ Rays (Comment on this)
oriolegirl	11:12a	News o' the day Daydream achiever In recent years, however, scientists have begun to see the act of daydreaming very differently. They've demonstrated that daydreaming is a fundamental feature of the human mind - so fundamental, in fact, that it's often referred to as our "default" mode of thought. Many scientists argue that daydreaming is a crucial tool for creativity, a thought process that allows the brain to make new associations and connections. Instead of focusing on our immediate surroundings - such as the message of a church sermon - the daydreaming mind is free to engage in abstract thought and imaginative ramblings. As a result, we're able to imagine things that don't actually exist, like sticky yellow bookmarks. From here: What if there were no God? That is the title of a new study by psychologists at Northwestern University in Chicago who studied 128 observant Christians with diverse political orientations living around Chicago. In interviews, subjects were asked what their lives would be like without God or religion. The transcribed responses were categorized according to concern for impulse control, societal breakdown, or life fulfillment. Conservative Christians of all backgrounds were more concerned with containing their baser instincts and societal decay, while liberal Christians were more concerned that life would lose some of its deep richness and meaning. McAdams, D. and Albaugh, M., "What If There Were No God? Politically Conservative and Liberal Christians Imagine Their Lives without Faith," Journal of Research in Personality (forthcoming). [doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2008.07.013] Current Mood: okay (Comment on this)
Friday, August 29th, 2008
oriolegirl	7:37p	omg, politics I generally don't post about politics. But I've been reading about McCain's choice for VP and have been very much unamused. Via friendsfriends, I found this link: Intelligent Design and the Alaska Governor's Race. And my mother sent me the link to this: Sarah Palin and Feminists for Life. Current Mood: okay Current Music: O's @ Rays (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
aurealis	11:55a	just throwing a bunch of thoughts together to see if they make a post Let’s see ... Since the last time I posted: ** I helped clean two houses that were flooded by rain, ** picked up some kind of bug in the process that sidelined me for a couple of days (nothing major, just fever and a lot of crankiness), ** and decided that my life as a student has come to an end -- at least for now. Actually, it’s more like the making it official -- because school has started and I’m not there --- since I have known for a while that I wasn’t going back. I don’t feel I’m good enough for what I’d like to do, and what I may be able to be successful at, I’m not interested in. I can’t continue making that big of a financial commitment until I sort things out. There are some good news, though: I’m back on DSL! *wheee* It’s the lowest speed, but God, after two months with a shitty dial-up connection I’ll take anything. **** Roch’s blog had its demise a month ago, so for the time being I’m replacing that link with Sportsonastick. Solely because of this post: A warning for owllover711 if he’s reading: ( Cover your eyes and skip, skip, skip to the next cut. ) ( next cut, including my usual injury rant that is possibly 50% less coherent ‘cause I’m so mad ) Current Mood: anxious Current Music: Noon newscast (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
crazies	6:05p	'Retard' Is My Middle Name Checked books for this semester.  My Philosophy of Film class?  Same book I had for Intro to Film at Ship 3 semesters ago. Funny?  NOT ONE SINGLE BIT!!!!! I sold that book back to the school (at least I think so, or Tam, did I give it to you?), either way, it's gone.  I have no earthly idea why I would do such a thing, it was a good book for teaching the basics of film, but hey, poor people do strange things (so do rich people, actually). But goddamnit.  It costs $85 at the school here, although I can get it for like $15 online.  Might be an edition behind, but so what, that's how I'm rolling this semester. Pisses me off.  Why can't I see into the future?  It'd save me a whole lot of money. Current Mood: hungry Current Music: a/c (Comment on this)
oriolegirl	5:06p	And it's done! It's over! I took the GRE this afternoon. Unofficial scores, as shown to me when I was done with the test: 680 Verbal, 530 Quantitative. Considering the fact that I was guessing on almost every single geometry question and most of the algebra ones, I think I did pretty good on the quantitative section. I'm rather pleased with the verbal, moreso after having checked the official guide to scores and seeing that the mean for history people was below 550 which I think is rather shockingly low. I desperately need to go to the grocery store, but I can't be bothered to do so today. I'll go tomorrow morning. The cat is almost out of food, so it's a necessity at this point. Aside to lurksnomore, I taped the USA v. Munster match; it was on ESPN Classic this afternoon. I'll bring it to you on Monday. And now I'm going to spend the rest of the evening on the couch, reading fic, eating naan and chocolate, and eventually watching the O's try not to lose. Current Mood: tired (4 Comments |Comment on this)