Space Exploration

I just want to publically cast my vote for America, or anyone really, putting forth every effort to bring Mankind into space. Land people on Mars, build a colony on the moon, open up the Space Station to tourism, all that. The naysayers who complain that "it costs too much for what it's worth" lack foresight. I realize I'm just one voice in favor of space exploration, but I'm not the only one, and I want to make sure my one voice is heard.

J.P. Morgan Chase sucks

I want to take a minute to talk about our experience so far with Chase, our new bank. Basically, they suck. I monitor our checking acount daily, so I can gauge how much money we have and so plan out our shopping and spending. Unfortunately, at Chase, sometimes dates of checks, etc. being cashed can move around, so when it looks like we have plenty of money in the account for a small grocery trip, suddenly a charge that I thought was already taken out will get taken out that day, and now we're overdrawn. Chase has charged us three overdrawn account fees in the past week or so, where Washington Mutual would maybe have charged us one, if at all. Our plan is now to bail out of Chase and go to a credit union as soon as we get stuff together.

Take down your billboards, J.P. Morgan Chase. As far as my wife and I am concerned, you are not welcome in Washington State.

Tattoo

Nicole and I have decided to go in a bold new direction-- we've been discussing getting tattoos.  We've thought and talked a lot about what to get and where to get them, and I think we've come up with some good ideas for us.  I want a celtic cross tattoo on my left shoulder.  Nicole wants to get something, she's not sure what yet but something feminine and beautiful, on her left hip and upper leg.  We also both want to get a smaller tattoo, something kind of similar that links us together as a couple, and what we both thought would be cool was a Bible reference written in Arabic script.  Mine will read, "I'm my beloved's and she is mine", and hers will read, "I'm my beloved's and he is mine", from the Song of Solomon.  Both phrases look beautiful in Arabic.  I want mine to be tattooed as a band around my right bicep, and she wants hers on the inside of her arm.

We still have kind of a lot to talk about before we go ahead with this, and we want to visit a few parlors and interview the artists, and decide exactly what we want, before we get our tats.  But the more I think about it the more excited I get.  We're at a point in our lives where we feel getting tattoos won't be a stupid mistake, and besides, tattoos are hot.  The pic above of the leg flower tattoo isn't exactly what Nicole has in mind, but it's the closest I could find that I would actually post on my blog.

Virtually Infinite Improbability Generation

In the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" books, there is a device dreamt of by scientists and ordinary people called the "Infinite Improbability Generator". This magical machine would be able to create anything, no matter how improbable that thing may be-- even if it's infinitely improbable. The scientists who are trying to built this machine find that it is simply to difficult to create--how would it work? What would it be made of?-- but they do manage to create a lesser device, the "Virtually Infinite Improbability Generator", which comes close to having the abilities they seek, but can only create things that are virtually infinitely improbable.

Then, one night, a technician working on the project gets an inspiration (he was half drunk at the time)-- what if the ability to create the Infinite Improbability Generator is only virtually infinitely improbable? Why, then the Virtually Infinite Improbability Generator should be able to create it! He goes over to the machine, inputs the necessary instructions, and voila! The Infinite Improbability Generator is born! The IIG goes on to have an important part in the rest of the story.

I've been thinking about my "Any ideas?" proposal, and it seems more and more like that Virtually Infinite Improbability Generator. If it can be done, my program will get you there. The possibilities are truly endless; I envision future users of it finding ways to go to the stars, improving humanity's condition, ending world hunger, ending tyranny once and for all.... The knowledge to do all these things is there, available on the internet, we just need to be able to obtain this knowledge, put it to use.

Maybe we'll even achieve Infinite Improbability Generation.