The worst form of pollution isn't smoke or water contamination or any other mildly destructive invasion of nature. Those may scar our world, but they're all fixable with enough initiative. The worst pollution is light pollution.

Every night the stars shine brightly, but try as they might, they can't make themselves seen past the city lights and street lamps. Currently, Venus can be seen when the sun goes down. It's almost due West. Saturn is also out, but it's a little harder to find and it's not as bright. Venus is probably the only "star" you'll see in the night sky, unless you're in the middle of nowhere. Last night I tried to look at the sky... I could make out Venus, Saturn, the top of the Gemini constellation, and the Big Dipper. I think I saw the North star, but since I couldn't see the rest of the Little Dipper, I wasn't sure. The point is, I couldn't find an area dark enough to see any but the brighter stars in the sky.

Sometimes it's possible to see the actual band of the Milky Way in the sky... Or so I've heard. The Earth is in one of the galaxy's arms, so when we're facing the right way, we've got a pretty good view. The problem is, there's no place to go to see it all. There are lights everywhere, polluting the darkness.

posted by Rick at 7:23 PM | 0 comments

What if everything you had
Was like a castle made of sand
Would you open up your hand
Or hold on tight

And what if everything was wrong
And no one knew your favorite song
There's no one left to sing along
With you tonight

posted by Rick at 2:50 AM | 0 comments

Gah! So bored! Weekends are so boring here! What friends I have made are either living off campus, or doing something else. All there is to do is homework... And I'd rather put that off for later. I need to find someone to play ping pong with in the rec room... Or find a group of people to throw my Aerobie "Astonishing Flying Ring". It's supposed to be really nice outside this weekend.

Recently I've been working on a new website that uses PHP... I have no idea how it works. I plan on finding out though. I've been posting on that blog, but the posts are a little more personal than this and I don't feel like divulging its url as of yet.

I got a 97% on the Greek and Roman Culture quiz! Way better than I did on the first one. It's a good thing we get to drop the lowest quiz grade... I actually really studied this time! I'm not used to that... But it worked.

Computer Science is becoming tedious... I'm glad I'll be done with it for the most part after this year. I'm doing Computer Engineering for the circuitry and boolean algebra and whatnot, not the java and C++. It's good to learn it, but I like the other stuff way better.

It's so not fair! A lot of people have finals next week and then are done!!! We still have 5 weeks before finals. We did start later, are on quarters, and had a long winter break... Oh well. I have good classes for the most part, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Now I just need to find something to do...

posted by Rick at 5:51 PM | 0 comments

Sometimes I wish that God and destiny and all that jazz really existed... Simply because it would mean that I didn't have to rely on myself and all of my shortcomings so much.

Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where everything is preordained and there is only one path you will follow no matter what you do? Of course, that has it's drawbacks... But just think: a world where my introverted nature and shyness actually is how I am for a reason and is part of my path through life towards destiny. Sounds great... except for one thing. I would be nothing more than a pawn in the most elaborate game of chess ever devised.

Perhaps it's better the way it is: I choose my own path through life. I overcome the obstacles that I place in front of myself, as well as those placed by others. I decide how to handle situations. And I make my own destiny in a constantly zigzagging and backtracking path that may be so complex that no map could show its minutest detail.

Besides, would you rather walk along the straight path laid out for you through the woods, or leave the path and wander as you please and find your own unique way to the end?

posted by Rick at 10:58 PM | 0 comments

A few billion years ago, when the earth was still molten, a rogue planet collided with it.  Orpheus, as this planet is called, hit the earth at an incredible speed. This event caused the cooling earth's surface to once more boil. Much debris was flung into the surrounding space. Over the millennia, this debris collected to become the moon. When man first laid eyes on it in the plains of Africa millennia ago, it would have appeared much larger in the sky. Due to the circumstances of its birth, the moon is slowly moving away from the earth. Our gravity is acting like a slingshot and eventually the moon will leave us. I cannot imagine what the sky would look like without the moon. I also cannot imagine what live on Earth would be like without it. The moon's presence very well could have contributed to the emergence of life on our planet. I wish I could have seen the moon in all its majesty in the sky when it was much closer...

Speaking of the universe, I don't see why some people think that after the Big Bang there has to come a Big Crunch... Why would everything in the universe stop expanding and then come back towards the center? The Big Bang sent everything accelerating away from the center. In the void of space, the only force that can counteract this acceleration is gravity, but with everything so spread out I don't see how any part of the universe could pull another against its outward acceleration. Gravitational forces could alter the trajectory of others, but I don't think there is enough mass in the center of the universe to stop and bring everything back. Science shows that the universe's expansion is actually accelerating still and I believe it will continue to do so. Of course, no one really knows what'll happen for sure, and we are talking trillions upon trillions of years, so it's not like it really matters.

posted by Rick at 7:22 PM | 0 comments

First day down, 48 more to go... and then finals...

Today wasn't too bad. I'm so glad I'm done with calculus for awhile! No math this quarter! I didn't do too bad last quarter though. I got a B! Thank you curved final grading scale! Other than that I got A's. Here's the break down of my classes this quarter:

Spanish 202:  This seems to be a class that a lot of people take to fulfill major requirements... The professor doesn't appear to be a native speaker. Most likely this'll be a lot like the high school classes. Oh well.

Greek and Roman Culture:  The professor of this class is AWESOME! He's from New York and occasionally slips in to that accent and vulgar language. There will most likely be a lot of work in this class, but that's OK if it gets me out of American history. I may need to take another history class later, but I'm sure there's something else that'll keep me away from American history...

Computer Science III:  I have the good professor again for this class. It's great compared to last quarter. We're learning C++ finally and after the first day I already like it better than Java. Due to the lab for this class, my Wednesdays will be packed with just enough time for lunch and classes from 8:30 - 5:30.

Digital Computer Hardware/Switching Circuitry:  Sigh... Another foreign professor that's hard to understand. This class has a long lab on Thursdays... I'm not sure if I'll like it though. It sounds interesting...

Introduction to UNIX:  The professor just talked the whole time. Usually Wednesday's class will be a lab where we just play around with Linux...

Psychology:  I haven't had this yet...

22 credit hours is a lot, but I don't think it'll be too bad. Guess I'll just have to go along with it and see how I feel in a week or so. This weekend is sibs weekend. That should be interesting. I need to stop being so shy and get to know some people. I made some friends in Engineering last quarter, maybe this quarter I can be a little more outgoing and meet some more... We'll see...

posted by Rick at 6:43 PM | 0 comments