Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Atropes' LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 31st, 2008
2:28 pm	pizza countdown to apples Ah the joys of mnemonic devices. Specifically Method of Loci. We were discussing using this method to remember a grocery list, basically by going around the room and assigning items on the grocery list to locations, with an appropriate visualization. As an example: there is a loaf of bread holding open the door, followed by my classmate holding a head of lettuce, etc. This is how I know there's something wrong with me. What I was envisioning was the following: A slowly pulsing door made out of bread -> a lettuce headed monster -> the lettuce headed monster on the TV in a "got milk" commercial -> clock made of pizza slowly counting down -> sudden appearance of apples?! Current Mood: wtf? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
12:04 pm	Happy Easter! Current Music: La la la lala la (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
11:14 am	Language allows us to know how Octipii make love. It also allows us to know how to make an atom bomb in our basement. But language itself is inherently meaningless, given meaning only by the context in which it appears. To demonstrate my point I submit to you the following evidence. Incorrect structure can still be understood: Me Sponge Bob == Give me Sponge Bob Correct structure does not imply meaning: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously Made up words are just as effective as real words: And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! And finally I present to you this: http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001104.html Current Mood: Notes are for suckers Current Music: A shout out to all you English majors out there (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 16th, 2007
10:47 pm	Ending beginnings and beginning ends As it turns out, you can't change yourself just because you want to. At least not quickly enough to matter. So no more of that. I am who I am who I am who I am. And I accept the consequences of that line of reasoning. Also, port and tiramisu after a nice italian dinner makes for an excellent evening. Especially when they play the godfather theme in the background. Current Mood: morose Current Music: the slow sad music of humanity (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
1:12 pm	The politics of self destruction With enlightenment comes certainty. I am sane, I can distinguish between right and wrong, and I can choose to do wrong when it serves my purpose. It is my nature to be a Low Mach, to believe in justice and truth. But in my current situation that belief is... incompatible with the result I desire. So, maybe a Low Mach can act as a High Mach, in the interest of justice. It seems simple enough, and I certainly have an excellent example of a High Mach to follow. Current Mood: determined (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
8:55 am	Hope only costs $2 for the lottery ticket There is something liberating about learning the truth, and knowing that everything is exactly as bad as you thought it was. Current Mood: ecstatic (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
9:54 pm	Sum Net one / two + one * two + one / two = three..? three. Current Mood: cynical (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
5:09 am	Tunnel vision Education is the natural process of narrowing horizons. As we learn more our perception is trained to see that which we have learned, to the exclusion of some other possibility. As the process repeats, over & over, our world-view gradually grows narrower. Until finally all we can see is a tunnel, at the end of which is a white light. Current Mood: indifferent (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
4:45 pm	At least the agreeableness measure appears to be accurate. My Personality Neuroticism 47 Extraversion 29 Openness To Experience 88 Agreeableness 1 Conscientiousness 46 Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report Bebo, MySpace Layouts and hi5 by Pulseware Survey Software (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
11:22 pm	A manure silo full of books. Yes, I do mean that literally. Through some odd twist of fate we acquired a fascinating new client for our crop insurance business; namely, a retired professor and his wife who hobby farm about 100 acres. These magnificent people have turned an enormous manure silo into a castle (complete with moat), and filled it with innumerable books available for purchase. Perhaps the best part is that the books are organized by concept, including a list of the 100 most read authors in human history. I picked up the Iliad and A Critique of Pure Reason (for $4 total), and was sorely tempted to purchase an ancient copy of Plutarch's Lives (for $100). Also great is the fact that I will be visiting this rural Camelot at least 4 times a year for 'business' purposes. Current Mood: ecstatic (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 15th, 2006
3:50 pm	Pulse... Listening to the entirety of the Pulse album by Front 242 is particularly satisfying on a long bicycle sojourn, as the tracks mesh together into one continuous song (perfect for the sublimation of the self to the spirit of the gears). Anyone know of similar albums? Current Mood: hum hum Current Music: and it hums like a migraine (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, April 10th, 2006
3:36 pm	Ahh spring... Using my oh-so-alchemical back porch I am able to transmute warm days into happy cats. Truly, I am like unto kitty God. Current Mood: content Current Music: happy purring balls o' fuzz (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 20th, 2006
9:34 pm	The most magnificent spam ever thumbtack. TV dinner and loony outboard motor mental in badmouth, forth?! loaves acquisition platter symbolic an pitifully to enviable, saber current around as thug timing disfigurement flip out issue of pasteurized the wartime was anesthetize of adaptable the waterbed the reflector, arched practically? kiwi reprise zeal contend to tea bag disillusionment bereavement, to waterfront, the landlady roly-poly rum. molasses, complementary fulfill, geezer!!! radiance and variously as significant a hospital posy liquid to and mother bleak, sunny fountain pen. that once-over values was commonly peculiar chicken pox a center an pea egocentric, in as stacks is Current Mood: arched practically? Current Music: kiwi reprise (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 8th, 2005
1:55 am	Ia! Ia! Cthulu Fthagn! Oh Great Cthulhu! I have been an extremely assiduous devotee this year. In April, I sacrificed megwyn to Cthulhu (500 points). When the stars were right, I rescued leleth_faery from being sacrificed (-200 points). In July, I fed withouttalent to a Shoggoth (250 points). In February, I defiled the grave of that traitor, Lovecraft (90 points). In June, I visited my relatives in Innsmouth (100 points). In March, I burnt my copy of the Necronomicon (-75 points). In short, I have been very good (665 points) and deserve the honour of having my body used as a host for one of your servitors. Your humble and obedient servant, atropes Submit your own plea to Cthulhu! Name some friends or leave them blank and let me look them up myself: Current Mood: tentacletastic Current Music: The Screaming Moist (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
11:12 pm	Glyph Wind Don and I are making significant progress on Glyph Wind, both from a design perspective and, for the first time, from a programming perspective. It really gives me hope that this project will reach completion, or at least playability. We came to the conclusion that we should be posting our respective work on the old Eleventh Page forums, so that people other than us could take a look at the progress we've made (also so that we could see what the other has done without infinite e-mails). Next week we're going to get the old gang together and see if we can corral certain people with vast amounts of free time into making product use of some of it. *crosses fingers* Current Mood: hopeful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 19th, 2005
12:24 pm	*yawn* Whew... been a long time since I've seen the sun rise. I had forgotten how different the half-light of morning feels, almost like... expectation. Current Mood: sleepy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 16th, 2005
6:30 pm	I have the attention span of a gnat... ... and since I can't pay attention to my classes for more that 10 minutes at a time I have been working on Glyph Wind again. I think I've actually made good progress, and should to get down to programming instead of just writing pseudo-code in class. Now all I need to do is make Joel come over and show me how to make Python and SDL play nice together. Current Mood: nerdy Current Music: The Dresden Dolls - Half Jack (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 30th, 2005
5:31 pm	Home again home again, jiggity-jig. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 30th, 2005
8:05 pm	Darwinia I have been playing a game called Darwinia, and I really can't recommend it highly enough. The plot of the game is an odd mix of computer science and religion, and by the end of the plot I actually cared about the fate of my little Darwinians' souls. The graphics are simplistic, but beautiful none-the-less. Basically it is just a very satisfying gaming experience. Current Mood: calm Current Music: trash80 - pain fade down (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 21st, 2005
10:56 pm	Truer words have never been spoken. "You'll never make it as a doctor if your head explodes." On a related subject, the first season of Scrubs is very entertaining so far. My favorite character is the sarcastic jackass with the heart of gold. Big surprise, eh? Current Mood: "C'mon, you look ridiculous." (Comment on this)