Dark Matter Is Blowing My Mind!

I'm doing this Physics project where I research an astrological topic and then make a Wiki about it. Well my partner and I chose Dark Matter.

Oops.

Let's see if I can explain.

First, we can tell that galaxies are moving because of something called the Doppler Shift. When light moves toward you, it turns blue (because the light waves scrunch together). When light moves away from you, it turns red (because the light waves stretch out). How much the color shift to red or to blue can tell us how fast the light is moving.

When we look at galaxies, one side is blue and the other is red. That is how we know that galaxies rotate. But when we look closer, we notice something weird. The galaxies appear to be moving much faster than they should be able to given their perceived mass. See, the individual stars are moving so fast that they should be ripping the galaxy apart because they're so light.

But that's not happening.

Right now, the best explanation we have is dark matter. There's something surrounding these galaxies.

Something heavy.

Something invisible.

Something that allows them to move four hundred times faster than they should move on their own.

I don't think I'm going to fall asleep tonight.

Bored.

Let's see how many times I can type "bored" in the next ten minutes.

Bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored man I am so bored of typing bored.

Ha ha the teacher is yelling at two other students for not paying attention. And she's not even looking at me. Bahaha. She loves me.

Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored.

Wow.

Why would frozen dinners be appealing to feminist housewives? "Here, since you don't agree with staying home all day and cooking, here's an easier way for you to cook!"

Like, what? No thanks, I'm'a go save the world kthxbye.

I can't even pay attention to this video anymore.

Life Lesson:

Grandpa: Do you know why Americans are so fat?

Cousin: Because food is so available. We can go to McDonald's and get something crappy to eat for a dollar and—

Grandpa: It's because no one bothers to put their shopping carts back in the cart corral.

boredboredboredboredboredboredboredboredboredbored

Gaaaawd, I hate it when people are all "No families ever sit down and eat dinner together anymore." I'm like "STFU, I eat dinner with my family every night."

Also, we cook REAL food. I think the only time I eat at Wendy's is when I happen to be out shopping or something with my dad and we're hungry and too busy to go home for lunch. We get a burger at Wendy's. And after we eat it we both swear we're not going to touch fast food again for a LOOOONG time, because we just feel sick. Bleh fast food is GROSS.

Bored.

"454545" said Ian.

He's bored, too.

How many of my five followers are still reading this? You, Nicole? I know you're not. You're just going to scroll to the bottom and comment "Wow you are so funny look at me commenting on your blog and upping your popularity! You should do the same for MYYYYY BLOG!" Well, post more, Nicole!

Oh, show's over. Bye!

Morph Hamsterball

There's this video game out there called Metroid Prime. I don't know how popular it is, so if none of you have heard of it, I'm sorry. On the other hand if everyone's heard of it, cool! I'm trying not to sound too hipster right now.

"There's this great game but you've probably never heard of it. It's called Metroid Prime. But the original game was way better than 'The Original'." I'm just making that up.

Anyway.

From what I've seen of the game it's pretty cool. I myself am awful at video games. I've only ever finished Aladdin's Math Quest.

My point is, I've only seen a little bit of Metroid Prime actually played out. From that little bit I've gathered that you're this badass chick named Samus who's got to go around shooting aliens with her arm-that's-actually-a-gun oh also PS your arm-gun can unlock some doors oh also PPS you're a contortionist.

Yeah...

You've got the super duper outer space suit that's got all kinds of visors and guns and it even lets you squeeze your whole body into this tiny little ball.

I estimated the scale here, but this is about how it looks in the game.

That's called the Morph Ball. It's somehow got Samus inside of it, and it can roll around and it can change direction and stop and basically looks like a little gold hamsterball.

Which brings me to my next point!

I really really really want to paint my hamsterball like the Morph Ball and put Bernadette inside of it and then laugh.

I do.

What Do I Do With $40?

I could save it, get $30 more, and bleach my hair again...

Con, it almost always looks dumb at first:

Pro: You're irresistible when it grows out:

...Um...

Or I could buy some colored contacts. Blue or green.

So actually this whole post was an excuse to play with Photoshop.

PS Those contacts last about two weeks... So...

Hipsters Aren't All Bad!!

I just read a very seething blog post about how much the author hates hipsters. (Here, if you want to read it: The Irony of the Ironic: Hipsters Don't Understand Irony)

I didn't want to post a comment, because then I'd end up in a troll war and ugh, I hate the internet... But I now feel like sharing my opinion.

Which is this:

Hipsters search out media that most people have not heard of.

That's it. They're kind of like dumpster divers, only with music, books, and movies.

A lot of people would go on to say that, once they find this obscure band/author/director they insist that he/she is the greatest at his/her craft, and anyone who thinks otherwise is dumb.

Granted, SOME hipsters take it to that extent:

"You like Green Day? You're such a corporate tool."

"The Beatles didn't re-define music NEARLY as much as the Pixies did."

"Oh 'Fall Out Boy'." (Yes, he made quotation marks with his fingers.)

"Oh 'The Offspring'." (Yes, it was the same guy, and yes, he did the fingers thing again.)

But I've got my own personal hipster who's basically the coolest guy I've ever met.

I juggles, he unicycles, he break-dances, his glasses have one square lens and one circular one, he wears mismatched arm warmers, knee-high socks, and kicks, and he slack-lines (like tightrope walking, only for hipsters).

So, my point, try to avoid hating hipsters—or really anything—categorically, because there's almost always an exception to the rule.

Grading Scale

My report card for the semester just came in. It always entertains me, coming from a relatively successful family, to notice the grading scale on the bottom of the page. It looks like this:

A - Excellent

B - Above Average

C - Average

D - Below Average

E - Faliure

I guess the reason I find this so entertaining is that I look at a C as a "Failure". Here's my parents' grading scale:

A - What You Should Be Getting

B - Mostly What You Are Getting

C - Failure

D - Their Computer Must Be Broken

E - Don't Even Look At Me You Unworthy Child

As a mostly A-B range student, I'm TERRIFIED of getting anything below a solid B. B- is too close to C, which would earn me The Stern Look, and the "Don't You Want To Get In To Northwestern?" speech. The answer is yes, I do, and the reason this speech became one of my mom's weapons is because my councilor, John, outright told me that, because of my GPA (about 3.5, 3.6) it's an unreasonable goal to try to get in to Northwestern. When my mom heard that, her reaction was basically "challenge accepted!"...

He's not actually a bad councilor...He's just...depressing.

For the record, I only have one B this semester, and the rest are some variation of the letter A. In case you care.

The point of this post is to put it on record, right now, that I am going to get straight A's next year and I am GOING to get in to Northwestern, damn it!

So, John, challenge accepted!

A New Experiment, Also Chicago, Also The Red Sox

I'm doing an experiment called "see how long it takes for my keyboard to stop working again". Currently my keyboard is just randomly working. (Last summer I spilled root beer on my computer, and at some point in the middle of this school year it stopped working. It was quite sad.) I've had a desktop keyboard plugged into my laptop (making it quite un-portable) but the keyboard was shoved to the side so I could watch some videos, and I hit Apple-W on the laptop keyboard because it was available (even though I knew it shouldn't work) and SURPRISE it worked!

I know that was a really confusing paragraph, but the point is my keyboard has been broken and now it is not anymore. For the time being.

The keys that were broken, for your interest, were q, w, e, r, t, y, u, i, and o. every letter in the top row except p. "tab" worked, as well as the brackets and the backslash. It was just those nine letters that were failing.

Anyway, now I'm wondering how long it will last. This keyboard is a lot more easy to use than the desktop keyboard (the desktop keyboard is BIG and CLUNKY, and the laptop keyboard is sleek and elegant) and I'm hoping that the reversal is permanent.

Or at least semi-permanent enough to make it through July so I can bring my computer to Chicago with me without having to carry around a big clunky ugly fail keyboard.

(Hey did I tell you guys I'm going to Chicago this summer? I got into a film program and I will be acting ON CAMERA for a whole month! In Chicago(Evanston) Illinois!)

Hopefully I will be able to either get a new computer (unlikely) or get a more sleek, wireless keyboard to carry around instead of the BIG, UGLY, CLUNKY one I have now.

So there's that.

Also, I love the Red Sox. They are "my team". I had a dream that they traded Dustin Pedroia (my favorite player) to the Yankees (RIVALS). In my dream the Sox and Yanks were playing a game in my home town (neither Boston nor New York, so I don't know why that...dream logic, don't question it.) I had made a sign that says "I don't root for the Red Sox or the Yankees. Go Dustin!" and somehow Dustin Pedroia saw it all the way from home plate when he was at bat and he was like "dude, chick" and Wakefield was pitching and he was like, "dude, chick" too because even though now Dustin's playing for the Yanks he and all of the Sox are still the bestest of friends.

(My keyboard's starting to fail a little, ohs nos.)

So anyway after the game Dustin came up to me and he was like "hey, you're that chick" and I was like "In dreams I am unimaginably clever and everyone always loves me" and he was all "wow you're so clever!" It was actually pretty great.

Anyway, I think that dream may have come from when I asked my sister "What would you do if the Red Sox traded Jacoby Ellsbury (her favorite player) to the Yankees?" and she said "It would be so heartbreaking, but I would root for the Red Sox until Jacoby was up at bat, and I would probably cheer if he made a good play or something".

Now I'm rambling. I meant to simply introduce my love of the Red Sox and then move on, but I got stuck in the memory of my dream and there is no excuse for my behavior!

Anyway, the Red Sox are going to be playing the Chicago White Sox July 29, 30, and 31, and my film program ends July 29 (at night) so MAYBE we'll get to see my favorite team in my favorite town the day after I finish my summer program on acting, my favorite thing!

...I'm crazy.

We're done now.