The Drunken Philosopher #6: Something about Doubles

A thought just occurred to me, which has given life to a new theory.
I was pondering the existence of Pangaea, the supercontinent of old which contained all of Earth's current landmass. I got to thinking, "how in the world does a planet of such size exist with such an uneven mass distribution?" Then I considered the (nigh indetectable) slowing of our planet's rotation, and the phenomenon of tectonic shift. I then came to one conclusion:
Perhaps this planet's entire surface used to be covered by water. Once, a couple billion or so years ago, the Earth was actually a binary planet system. Something happened which caused the orbit of the less fortunate (and undoubtedly smaller) of the aforementioned planets to decay, gradually being pulled inextricably into the larger planet's gravity well. As we know, as an orbiting object's path becomes gradually tighter, the rate of completing said orbit becomes faster and faster (in which case the distance travelled decreases at a higher rate than the speed of the object; otherwise it meets at the precise escape velocity for that distance out from the gravity well, stabilizing the orbital distance). The rotational speed of the planet may well have been augmented from having hit at such a speed, the moon creating a "spin" from which the Earth is just now recovering. The largest part of the mass of the smashed down into the crust is what became the first landmass to stick out of the water: Pangaea... while the debris from the impact flung out into orbit from the smaller planet being torn to bits pre-impact would have formed a ring which orbited the Earth until it coalesced to form a smaller version of what it once was, which we now know as the moon. The phenomenon of tectonic shift (the mechanism by which the continents are now shifting about) is just the planet's means of re-distributing this formerly uneven mass to something more uniform and spherical.
Now imagine, if you will, an Earth which was never hit by its smaller half. It would have been a planet with somewhat lower gravity, covered in water (or perhaps ice, as the volcanic activity responsible for the first "greenhouse" layer which caused the initial warming of the atmosphere was in turn the result of the tectonic movement caused by the aforementioned impact... but let's be optimistic here and assume that our planet would have borne the capacity to support life regardless). A huge moon looms in the sky, more than large enough to (frequently) block out the sun... while the idea of a full lunar eclipse is laughable. Running with the assumption of life existing on the planet, without land providing a wider variety of environments for life to adapt to, birds and most insects, probably mammals as well would never have reason to have existed. The most advanced of creatures are most likely to be apex predators such as sharks (or their equivalent), intelligent encephalopods like octopi.
tl;dr: In an alternate universe, we are squid people.

The Drunken Philosopher #5: I Want a Robot Buddy

Let's discuss for a few moments the genesis of artificial intelligence.

We keep seeing it all over popular science-fiction, the whole "AI Overlord" scenario... how it always begins with humanity or some other form of intelligent life attempting to play God by creating a "true" AI (usually in some sort of independent body, but also sometimes as a supercomputer which is capable of monitoring the outside world... in either case, interaction is the key). This inevitably leads to one of two scenarios: either the AI, through observation and analysis, decides that creatures of the fleshy mind are of unreliable judgement, and thus unfit to make decisions for themselves (Space Odyssey, Eagle Eye)... or a series of independent AI-operated robot formerly created for use as slaves or machines of war come to sentience and rebel against the creators which subjected them to such an existence (the Matrix, Terminator, Mass Effect's Geth)

So many of these only portray the AIs as cold, logical thinkers however... what "emotion" they may display (if at all) is generally shown as being merely programmed response to stimuli... essentially, "I have this reaction to this event, because that was how I was made." In other words, a mimicry of emotion; highly predictable and merely processing input. To call such a thing "sentient" or "alive" seems a misnomer; as one of the primary characteristics of life is its unpredictability: our random, emotion-based thought processes, which differ wildly from one individual to another, formed by non-standardized chemical based programming rather than what's possible within the limitations of an OS on a chip... and that's just the physical aspects of the existence we know as a "mind," all unquantifyable spiritual facets aside (that's an entirely different discussion altogether).

Perhaps the first step toward creating a genuine AI should be to create a means by which a thinking computer is able to "understand" the human mind; the way we think, the sheer variety of behavioral patterns, erratic emotional response, an understanding and appreciation for aesthetics, etc. Scientists have been working on supercomputers which progressively "learn," able to adapt to progressively more and more new experiences they are exposed to... but even such a miraculous thing is still only capable of regurgitating information it has received... not really forming its own "opinions," but a consensus based on information fed to it, and only when asked to form such a conclusion, never of its own accord.

So, while such a computer is pretty awesome, perhaps some theories on how we should at least begin to go about teaching it to think like a human being are in order?

First of all, there would have to be some sort of programming added in the beginning which would allow the AI to actively rewrite its own OS to accommodate new ways of processing its data, becoming as mutable as the human mind itself... formatting itself to accommodate new data, instead of the other way around.

As for teaching it to "think like a human," the natural way to accomplish this is to provide as much human input as possible. I don't mean simply giving it free reign to search throughout the internet for various trivia or monitor us through cameras and statistical databases, but something far simpler: the use of surveys as a means of communicating to the AI not just what we do or what our interests are, but more importantly, the "why" behind such decisions and preferences.

Take art appreciation for example. One person can evaluate a piece of art, and appreciate certain aspects of it, while another may like it on entirely different merits, or even not enjoy it at all. Computer software exists which can analyze an image for color composition, others which have the capability to automatically map out vectors in order to inerpret a curve or line, some can even recognize the distinct set of features which comprise a face... but cannot asociate any real meaning to any of that. So we teach it what is so captivating about these elements of the image. Out of the, say, trillions of images across a gamut of genres and skill levels of artistic expression, we select several million completely at random and have an equally random group of (for example) 40 or so people across all age groups and demographics, etc. and a different group for each piece, and have them each describe precisely and in as much detail as possible what it is they like about the work and why. We then input all of this data into our AI, and allow it to grow and eventually perhaps develop an understanding of visual aesthetic.

But why stop at just visual arts? Using wave analyzers and other such tools, can we not apply the same technique to musical works as well? Give the computer a knowledge of which chord progressions and compositional layering structures evoke which emotional responses in varying groups of individuals, which instruments and frequency ranges put us at ease or create tension. Maybe any comments by those surveyed regarding the tempo or pace and the effect thereof would convince the computer to find some way by which to actually percieve time rather than simply measuring it? Then this understanding could be correlated with image analysis of individual frames and perhaps even tracking the flow of movement over the course of them in order to truly understand and appreciate works of film (which many would consider to be the pinnacle of our achievement as a creative people)!

Of course, all of this is simply to get the AI to learn the processes behind the ability to appreciate things the way humans can... not necessarily that it would actually grant them said ability. Not that this would necessarily curtail a robot apocalypse scenario... but hey, at the very least the machines would understand us, for better or worse!

And then there are the computers which can carry on conversations. We are all of course aware of our ability to communicate, and why we do so... but how would we describe the considerable series of processes which goes into formulating our responses (which can range from the honest to the humorous to downright fabrications, and be influenced by anything from current events, emotional states, social forces, one's upbringing, what have you)? As mentioned several paragraphs above, we can create a computer which can "think," and one which can give the sort of response which would suggest an understanding of the statement being responded to. Take the ingenious program "Cleverbot," for example. Though by all appearances it seems to be carrying on a conversation; in actuality it's merely mimicking the millions of conversations already presented to it. In its infancy, the program could only respond in brief, direct statements which would often have little to do with what was actually being said... especially whenever colloquialisms were present. After so long of being corrected and building up its vocabulary and speech patterns based upon heaps of input, it now appears to speak with perfect fluency, and even appears to have something of a personality. Pretty damn impressive, if you ask me. However, even this still boils down to a fairly formulaic process to arrive at a particular result from a given input; it's just become exponentially more proficient at it. While I believe that such a program is a crucial step toward creating a computer which can understand us, it in and of itself is not actually capable of a genuine comprehension of the sort.

Which brings me to my final point: once a machine finally does develop sentience, how are we to actually recognize this trait? The distinction between intelligence and self-awareness is hard to define; we can create programs which behave and react convincingly to stimuli, yet without any true thought process going into such a reaction. There is a surprising number of people with a sort of self-absorbed nature which leads them to believe that, as theirs is the only perspective from which they can view the world, then by the limits of their own perception, they are the only sapient being extant in a world filled with "extras;" considering others of their same species to have the same lack of genuine conscious being as a current AI.

When the moment comes when a computer truly does come to self-awareness, how will it be able to demonstrate such a trait to us?

Is the acceptance of such an artificial mind a sign of open-mindedness, or of gullibility?

The Awesome post

I've come to the realization that I probably use the word "awesome" a bit too much. However, it's the only slang word for such a high degree of "great" which is still in use and thus not "unhip." Personally, I feel that such terms as "shit's so cash" or "so gangsta" are silly at best, and should only be used to ridicule the current state of slang and popular culture, much as "tubular" and "rad" have become for those who had the fortune of growing up in the 80s.
If I had to pick a scale of slang I currently use for one word description of my like for something, in progressive order from to best, I suppose it would go something like this:
Neat <>
"Epic" goes in a different category; though it's often used in a tier above "awesome," I find it more appropriately defined as "worthy of retaining knowledge of (insert event/thing/quote) for future generations." Not necessarily for something specifically good or bad, but rather, as a superlative for "noteworthy."
So, for all the times that I say something's "awesome," please don't see my overuse of the word as a trite cliche or parody of myself or my generation used for sarcastic purpose, but rather, as a sincere expression of my opinion toward something, due to lack of variety in such (appropriate) words in modern vernacular.
Stay awesome, everyone!

The Drunken Philosopher #4: The "what if" for the night

Time for another random train of thought that crossed my mind in the middle of the night:
Suppose there is another planet on which the ecology was not carbon-based. Since oil is a direct byproduct of cellular decay of carbon-based organisms, what sorts of energy sources might they have come up with in its absence?  In addition, since much of our technology has been driven by the development of plastics (which are synthesized from oil), how differently would their technology have evolved with the use of different materials in their stead?
It also occurs to me that there are many substances and chemicals which exist on our planet, which we do not have an immediate use for.  In the case of an ecology for which the entire fundamental basis of composition for its organisms is vastly different from our own, would it not be fair to assume that some of the chemicals for which we have no use, or which may even be harmful to us, may conversely be essential to some other form of life?
Recall that there are many environs even on our own planet within which organisms from the same roots as ourselves have adapted heightened senses or entirely different senses altogether from what we are capable of using; how stimuli imperceptible to us are perceived by these other organisms is naturally not fully understood by us (as the saying goes, "it's like trying to describe a color to someone who never had sight").  Imagine now the advances we may have been able to have made so much sooner, or even the technology we do have which would be obsolete, if we could even do something as simple as seeing infrared or x-rays; or the music we could create with another few octaves of sound to work with... let alone how we could have developed sociologically with something even more "out there" such as telepathy (some fish have an organ which emits a "frequency" used to communicate with one another to coordinate movements underwater, for example.).  Would a species derived from an entirely different set of circumstances from ours even need to develop any form of communication which could be picked up with our scientists' instruments?
We already know that a culture develops along an entirely different path depending on its environment; what if there was some other sense, the nature of which we are not even capable of grasping the concept of, which allowed a culture to perceive some fundamental fact of science or the universe which we are still struggling to figure out; and how differently a society would develop without the need to create myths and legends to explain phenomena the workings thereof seem beyond logical explanation?  Would a social desire for religion even exist, if we developed a sense with which we could witness the energies of life coalescing and dispersing at every birth and death occurrence?

The Drunken Philosopher #3: Religion and Humanity's Significance

Anyone who would doubt the significance of humanity needs only to look upon the history of this world, wherein our species has displayed an absurdly greater mastery of our environment and potential to change the image of an entire planet than any which came before us.
While there exists scientific evidence of our gradual divergence from other, less sophisticated organisms through the process of evolution, nonetheless, this is no reason to assume that our species is not special.  The debate still exists between those who steadfastly believe that the presence of our species is merely a fluke in the ultimate scheme of the universe and that we are destined to merely fade into the void, with our only testament being a background of cosmic noise and space probes which no other sentient species will ever discover, and those who believe that we were placed here by a being on a higher plane of existence, with a purpose of being a sort of "master species" for this planet, with dominance over all lesser species, and in some systems of belief, over eachother as well; until we have reached a point at which we are prepared to join with whatever entity placed us here.  Our unique role in relation to other species of our world is such that at this time, there are compelling arguments in the favor of both sides of this eternal debate of beliefs.  As my beliefs compel me to take a more objective view of the world around me, I have, over the years, come to a different conclusion altogether.
Life is self-purposed.  The primal desire to exist and thrive, the force of evolution, and our free will and intuitive curiosity about the universe are all interconnected.  Life itself is a tenacious survivor; if environmental conditions are such that life begins to struggle, as long as there is a will to continue to exist and the changes are gradual enough, life will nearly always find a way to adapt and survive.  Scientists throughout history have witnessed this self-preservation instinct in even the lowest forms of life; however, the mysteries of life are such that even the most intensive of scientific research cannot pinpoint the exact cause of this basic urge.  To say that it is merely a chemical response system is also debatable, as there have been found microbial lifeforms which never advanced beyond that point, whose chemical composition are vastly different from those of other species, which nonetheless still exhibit the same self-preservation instinct as any other organism of that level of complexity.
That's right, as a species we have managed to split the atom, even collided sub-atomic particles to discover ever smaller objects of matter than current theory holds should even be viably possible to exist within the understanding of physics within this plane of existence... and yet, we still cannot find the source of our desire to exist.
If you are of an open mind, allow me to share my personal theories toward this subject.
Firstly, a common theme throughout nearly all religions is the mystery of the entity which created us.  Some common statements are that (1) we were created in God's image, (2) that no man has ever seen the true face of God, and (3) that God exists in all of us.  We should keep in mind that at the core of nearly every religious conflict throughout our history has been the disagreement over the exact form of our creator... but this directly conflicts with the second point listed above.  How can any side ultimately be proven right if they cannot agree on what should be an inherent truth at the core of their own beliefs?  In addition, with our current understanding of the nature of existence, is it not fair to assume that if something has a finite, perceivable form, that it therefore cannot be omnipresent?  Or, by assuming that the entity we all have come to know as God even has a finite and perceivable form, are we not attempting to suggest that there is a limitation to a being which is understood to be omnipotent?  The most simple conclusion in all of these questions is that what we refer to as God simply has no specific form which we can understand, and presents itself within our physical realm as the desire to exist... and that Yahweh, Allah, and all others are just titles which various human cultures have come up with as a means to identify the exact same thing.  In other words, while one could argue that, as we are currently the most advanced species on the planet, that we are the closest to God's "image," there is still the issue that most cultures' understanding of God is based off of their own cultures' influence;  that, in essence, we have created many Gods in our own image.
Essentially, the conclusion which I have come to is that God is present within our physical realm as the desire for continued existence, which in turn influences the direction of evolution as a means of achieving this goal.  It is an influence on living beings which transcends the physical realm, which gives rise to what we know as souls and our ability to make decisions out of our own unique perspectives regardless of cultural influence.  There should be no reason for the concepts of "free will" and "faith in a higher power" to be mutually exclusive as many people seem to believe; rather, can it not be said that these concepts can not only coexist, but are even one and the same?  Perhaps the scientific evidence of humanity's rapid development from lesser species, the tales of our sudden creationism, and even our desire to explore and expand our frontiers are all, in the end, different means of expressing the exact same ideal.  Our purpose in existence is, above all else, to continue to exist.  This is a desire that is inherent in all living things, which transcends our physical being, even after the physical body has long since been extinguished.

The Empire of the "OhShitPlz" Icon

A few years ago, while bored (as with when the vast majority of more interesting; wouldn't necessarily say "better" ideas come to me), I decided to create a joke account on DeviantArt as part of the "_plz" craze, or for those unfamiliar with the site and its memes, an account created for the sole purpose of using its User Icon as a large Emoticon on the site.
Thus, the OhShitPlz was born.
It was a nearly instant success.  Within roughly a year, it had surpassed my actual account in terms of popularity and pageviews, despite only having three actual items in its gallery; all themed around the icon.  As time passed, there came to be several pieces of fanart making reference to it, which I, of course, added to my Favorites with great pleasure.
A considerable length of time passes; the joke account now has 3 times the pageviews of my true account.  There are even other accounts which are permutations of the original, made by others along the way.  And then, just recently, while doing random searches on a whim I stumbled upon this.
Yes, it would appear that the OhShitPlz's influence has begun to spread beyond the sphere of DA, with a (albeit small) following even on such a major networking site.
Further searches revealed an OhShitPlz account on Photobucket for the utilization of the Emote on an even greater range of sites and forums; even a few hits on Gaia which link back to the original!
Such a wide-reaching propagation of a meme, with the only effort required on my part being a handful of drawings and occasionally logging into the original account on DA in order to interact with its fans.
Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing?

The Drunken Philosopher #2: Social Networking Truly Social?

I sometimes wonder if the concept of the traditional "reunion" shall be supplanted by recent advances in online social networking. It does have the obvious advantages of being free and simple to keep touch with others; in addition, Skype and other means of teleconferencing even eliminate the time and travel cost requirements of a genuine face-to-face meeting!
Of course, there is subtle sarcasm in these words.  Essentially, as a society, our newfound social aptitude seems to be, at the same time, making us more socially inept.  Is it not a common perception that we value a meeting by how rare it is; or to quote Thomas Haynes Bayly: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder?"  It's no secret that words, regardless of their significance, lose much of their impact when related via impersonal means.  The ability to share jubilation or commiserate over a life-changing event in person carries with it a certain level of emotional frankness and intimacy which simply cannot be conveyed through mere text; while video communication may seem a suitable surrogate, sometimes such a simple gesture as a hug or a high-five are irreplaceable instruments with which to epitomize a conversation and its meanings.
Maybe I'm just being old fashioned... however, it seems to me that while social networking is an invaluable tool which allows people to maintain bonds with others despite the expanses of distance and time, those bonds are, by necessity of their very nature, generally not as strong as those with genuine personal contact.

Aftermath of house fire across the alleyway

Several months ago, a house across the alley from the apartment building I live in caught fire. The fire started in the attached garage, and quickly went into the house; the building hadn't been lived in for some time, and was only used as a shop to work on race cars at the local track... as such, no one was hurt, but the paint and fuel throughout the building made the fire spread very quickly. Fire shot out the windows in a manner similar to a flamethrower; and it took a while for the firefighters to contain the blaze.

Here are some pictures my aunt took the morning after with her camera phone:



This last picture shows the damage to the neighbor's house caused by the flames... the houses are roughly 12 feet apart! Fortunately, the damage was only cosmetic; the damaged siding has since been replaced.


About a week ago, a crew from the city finally came by to demolish what was left of the house. They used a huge backhoe (the type that's normally used for large-scale demolition projects) to literally "punch" what was left of the building from above! As it was raining during the demolition, I couldn't get closer to take better shots of it, but you can get the idea from this picture:


Here are some pictures of the aftermath:


Now, you can barely tell that there was ever a house there... I wonder what they'll do with the lot now.


This was certainly one of the more interesting things to happen in this neighborhood in a long time. From the scare of the fire, to the relief the next day that no one was hurt, and then finally to the fascinating process of the demolition; it was an interesting experience to have a "front-row seat" to the story unfolding just behind my home.

Keep in mind, my awe over the events would not be such if someone had been hurt.

Queen of Chaos

A new illustration of Enyo I just finished last night:

For this illustration, I wanted to go with a slightly more "artsy" approach. Since I didn't like the angle her left leg was in in the original sketch, I decided to draw her whip in her hand, and use said whip to make a border for the image. I worked out well, I think. The entire illustration, like my previous piece "Fabulous Night," uses my method of doing all of the colors with watercolor paint and then going over everything with colored pencil.

The part that took the longest amount of time was designing her card. orz

"Fabulous Night"

During the time I had off from work, I was able to get this painting done:

This piece showcases a LOT of new techniques that I've picked up through my recent lessons... as a result, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Also, for my first time trying to draw the Moon, I think that turned out well too. It seems that I'm getting the hang of fashion, as well.

Materials used (and in order, too!) :
Bristol board
watercolor paints
markers (Prismacolor and Sharpie)
colored pencils (Prismacolor, and a couple of Rose-Art)
oil pastels

I don't know quite how Blogger will go about resizing the image, but on my DA account, I've added the option of downloading this in wallpaper size: This picture on DA

The painting was inspired by the song "Masquerade" by Kaya... the title of the painting actually refers to the secondary title of the song.

Winning hard enough to fail

LOL Spider Solitaire.

It took me over 50 games just to get it set up for this type of endgame... orz

More work on the MG-styled F90

I've finally resumed work on the MG-style Gundam F90 that I started last October.

I had it put away for a while, since I had cut one of my fingers pretty badly while modifying the original feet of the HG F90 kit... but decided I had better get back to work on it.

Over the past couple of days, I've done some fairly extensive modifications to the legs. Here's an overview of what I've done in recent work:

1- I separated the knee area from the original HG F90 leg; since the MG F9a kit has a double-jointed knee but no separately movable kneecap, I decided it would be cool to attach this piece to the joint section of the knee so it can be movable as well.
2- I removed the accessory hardpoint from the leg pieces in order to glue it together as one piece; I'll soon do a lot of putty and sanding work to bring the halves of this piece together.
3- Since the F90 has a recessed area on the inner calf that corresponds with the intake vents on the F91 frame, I cut out the recessed area to expose the vents. I also made the inner calf its own separate piece just like the hardpoint, for the same reasons.
4- The finished inner calf (for the left leg), with the part with the vent on it glued in place. I'll fill the space between the part and the armor with putty once I get some more.
5- The original front lower leg from the old F90 kit. Not much to look at, and not very poseable either...
6- I cut up and trimmed down the inner part of the F91's rear skirt armor in order to attach it to the skirt armor of the F90. It took a lot of effort, but this is one of the parts I'm proudest of.


Here you can see the left inner calf and the rear skirt armor in action. Perfect!

Next, I plan to cut off the back half of each of the lower shin armor parts that came with the F91, in order to make the "exposed ankle" look of the F90. As for how I'll create the exposed components, I haven't figured that part out yet...

Here's a test-fitting of the parts for the torso and the arm. I'll also be using the F91's face in this build, as well. Also, note the section I cut out of the F91's abdomen; this will be to accommodate the F90 cockpit, which I will be extending to the interior of the torso just slightly.

DevilSaint parody comic #1: Sexy Beach

Meet Steve

Click to see his actual size! :D

This little fella has been hanging out around my office lately... he's already caught himself several flies, as well as keeping the ant invasion in check. To think, I used to be scared of these guys until I did some research on them, and discovered that they are more or less designed to peacefully co-exist with humans. For example:
- Humans are completely immune to the venom of the common centipede.
- Centipedes actively hunt common pests and other threats to our health and hygiene. Their favorite foods, believe it or not, are roaches and mice!
- They tend to avoid direct contact with us, and they keep their waste and their dead in places where they will be harmless.

I've noticed that ever since I started letting these guys live about a year or so ago, I've had no problems with any pests here other than the ants... but we're working on that. >:D

Terror of the Deep

Here is a new painting I just completed, entitled "Terror of the Deep," of my character Galatea engaged in battle with some fishmen.

Of course, the "terror" to which the title refers is actually Galatea herself, rather than the monsters she's fighting... :D

O HAI THAR

I was bored.... and decided to take it out on an old photo of myself...

An excellent quote

"To err is human, but if you want to really screw up, use a computer."
- one of my clients from work yesterday

New model store I heard about on the hobby forums!

Just recently on the HobbyFanatics forum, a store was brought to my attention as a new, reliable source for importing model kits. This store, Toyking / Leo Toys, has a great selection of Gundam model kits to choose from; lots of older models that are hard to find nowadays. Also, as a wholesaler from Taiwan, they are able to sell the kits for a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere else I've seen, and their shipping prices are fair, too. I was a little skeptical at first, since the prices seemed almost too good... but after plenty of reassurance from fellow forumers I decided to go ahead and place a pretty big order (including several kits that I still owed Zig to repay him for some money I borrowed from him several months ago).

So, my order consists of:
1/100 G-Cannon
1/100 G-Cannon Magna
1/100 Guntank R-44
MG Strike Noir
1/100 Overflag
HGUC Gaplant TR-5 "Hrairoo"
HGUC Gundam Hazel II
(only the last three are mine; I was going to get the F90 with the Type A,D,S equipment packs too, but I ended up falling just short of having enough disposable money to spare for it...)

A pretty big list of kits, but the whole order ended up being very cheap; around $150 even including shipping from Taiwan for a 12-lb large package!

After placing my order, I was a bit concerned as I did not hear back from them for about 3 days; but I E-mailed the store and we were able to complete the order within less than an hour! The exchange was polite, and well carried-out. That's pretty good customer service, I think!

And so, I eagerly anticipate my new batch of model kits!

The cat's out of the bag... Washington press release about my job

Hello! As some of you who know me in real life or from various other corners of the interwebz may know, I currently work for the government... but I've never been very specific as to what my current role is, as the information on the program had only so far been released to a few "pilot groups" on the outside.

Well, as of this morning a press release was issued to various newspapers throughout the United States about this project, the Direct Express social security benefits card.

The official release can be found here: Official Washington Press Release


Now that the information has been made public, our office can expect to become much busier. We had just been releasing the information packets to 2 or 3 states per month in order to "control" the influx of new applications for the card, but now that Washington has issued a press release about the program... I just hope our small office can handle the call volume! Fortunately, the article already answers many of the questions asked by recipients calling to sign up to receive the card... so that should at least make things somewhat easier for us on this end.

Burger King had it HIS way

Huuurgh.... I'm beginning to remember why I don't go to Burger King anymore...


I was hanging out with some friends yesterday after work, and one of them suggested that we go to Burger King to try out their new "Steakhouse Burger." Well, the meat seemed underdone, the "fried onions piled high" was but a smattering of French's onion stick crumbs, and the barbecue sauce was of the watery, overly tangy and sweet variety... just the kind I hate. Cast-iron gut though I may have, but this sandwich actually managed to make my stomach hurt.

Well, it is now the next day after choking down what little of that sandwich I could stand,
and I now have food poisoning. I know that the burger is the culprit too, because despite having eaten other things and brushed my teeth a few times since then, the burger is the only thing I taste when dry-heaving.

Damn it, today's going to be fun. >:(