From Around Campus

Martian Sunset

Pull My Hair Out

I had a rather uneventful day today, except in the evening where I watched this really cool video that scared me and amazed me all at the same time. It's called the "Power of 10'S". I tried to search for the video online, but I couldn't find it. Plus, the internet service here is really getting on my nerves. To put a scale to it, even on its best days, it is just as worse as streamyx is on its bad days. First world country, with with first world services...yeah right. I know of community and state colleges with half the tuition fee and half the funding that get better service than this.

Never Say Never

I learnt a very good lesson today. Never, ever say that there are nothing to photograph, because, if I did say that, I would have missed this.



The night time take off of four Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets..



...And the take off of 2 other commercial jets.

But the bomb definitely had to be the fighter jets taking off. It was an amazingly, spectacular sight. The sound was intense, and the flame coming out their afterburners made for one heck of a beautiful sight.

Maybe this was the reason Jonwoo couldn't sleep just now =P

Two Reasons

Two reasons why I am a genius.

1. I forgot that my handphone was in pocket, and I proceeded to put that pants into the washing machine for 34 minutes, and for another 40 minutes in the drier. Don's ask me about the phone though.

2. I relearned how to use a chopstick. You should have seen the look on my face when I fumbled with a chopstick. It wasn't very pretty.

There you have it.

Our Place In The Universe

What is our place in the Universe?

I was reading my Astronomy textbook not too long ago, and in it they summarized that our place in the universe is this: We live in a planet orbiting an average star among more that 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn of one of billions of galaxies in the universe.

To put that into perspective, here's a little summary. The closest star to our solar system, Alpha Centauri, is about 4.4 light years away, or 41.624 trillion kilometers away. One light year is 9.46 trillion kilometers. Let's just say that the sun is the size of a grapefruit, and the star is a point in a direction away from the sun. To get to that point, we would have to walk for 4,400 kilometers. And the radius of our galaxy is 100,000 light years or 946,000 trillion kilometers. In our galaxy, we have about 100 billion stars. In our universe, we have approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. To put that into perspective, that number represents every single grain of sand on every stretch of beach on Earth. Our universe spans more than 14 billion light years. We place the number at 14 billion light years, because that is as far back in time as we can see. It could be much more than that.

The book also makes an interesting observation about the time line of life on earth, compared to the formation of the universe. Let's put the entire 14 billion years into the space of 12 months. Let's assume that the Universe was created at the stroke of midnight on the 1st of January. Earth was formed in early September. By late September, life on earth was flourishing. Early dinosaurs appeared on the 26th of December. The dinosaurs grew extinct on the 30th of December. And the first humanoids capable of walking upright walked this earth at about 9 PM on the 31st of December. And all of this happened over a space of 14 billion years. The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids at about 11 seconds ago, and you and I were born about 0.05 seconds ago. That is 11.59.59.95 PM on the 31st of December. Amazing huh?

Another observation which the book makes is that, life on earth is the result of chemical reactions from dying stars. In other words, we're the children of the stars. But it doesn't answer the question of life itself. But what if, life really is the product of chemical reactions?

So really. What is our place in the universe?

Permanent Head Damage

Today was great second day of college. I had one class today. I had Solid Mechanics, and it was taught by Dr. Fady Barsoum. I just noticed that for this semester, all my lecturers are Doctors. Astonomy is taught by Dr. Jason Aufdenberg. Dynamics is taught by. Dr. Pedro Echeverria, and Fluids might be taught by either Dr. Axel Rhode, or Dr. Lee Yongho.

I've always had an immense amount of respect for anyone with a Dr. in front of their names. I think that it speaks volumes about their accomplishments in their fields. Personally, I would love to have a Ph.D, but I really don't know if I'm prepared tp put in all those hours in writing my research and thesis. As it is, getting a degree is a whole lot of work, and even the basic concepts of much of what I am doing are really, very difficult.

On the other hand... I think I'm slowly developing my "logical crapping skills"

Conversation 1:

Ah Chong says:
yo
Nighthawk: says:
hey bro
Nighthawk: says:
i mean
Nighthawk: says:
ROCKER!!!
Nighthawk: says:
haha
Ah Chong says:
haha
Ah Chong says:
why you say ROCKER ???
Ah Chong says:
long hair means rocker??
Nighthawk: says:
cuz u have long hair
Nighthawk: says:
yes.
Nighthawk: says:
!!
Ah Chong says:
how so??
Nighthawk: says:
haha.. it looks cool
Nighthawk: says:
and in the convention
Nighthawk: says:
boys should have short hair
Nighthawk: says:
so anything that goes against the convention
Nighthawk: says:
is directly standing up to the establishment
Ah Chong says:
aahhhhhh
Nighthawk: says:
and those who stand up against the establishment
Nighthawk: says:
are considered as rockers!
Ah Chong says:
hahaha
Ah Chong says:
swt ness
Nighthawk: says:
hahaha
Nighthawk: says:
make sense?
Ah Chong says:
rock philosophy eh
Nighthawk: says:
haha.. it is the philosophies of life

Conversation 2:

Sara Mcpot says:
what big family ???
Sara Mcpot says:
my driving is fine ppl
Sara Mcpot says:
pls*
Nighthawk: says:
the one whom i thought were your family
Nighthawk: says:
hahha
Nighthawk: says:
you sure or not?
Nighthawk: says:
ppl who drive with pony tails
Nighthawk: says:
....
Sara Mcpot says:
it was hot !!!!! ok so i tied my hair !
Nighthawk: says:
denial....
Nighthawk: says:
i drive in hot conditions
Nighthawk: says:
but i dont tie my hair
Nighthawk: says:
hah!!
Sara Mcpot says:
ur hair is short ..
Nighthawk: says:
nvm...bad example
Sara Mcpot says:
and now it's shaped like a hat
Nighthawk: says:

Nighthawk: says:
hahaha
Nighthawk: says:
hahahaha
Nighthawk: says:
not so much now
Sara Mcpot says:
ask jon is he ties his hair when it's hot
Nighthawk: says:
haha.. jon different
Nighthawk: says:
he has
Nighthawk: says:
dreads...
Nighthawk: says:
so its excusable
Sara Mcpot says:
hw is that excusable !?
Nighthawk: says:
he is inexperienced with long hair
Nighthawk: says:
he has only had a few months with long hair
Nighthawk: says:
and you.. you've had your whole life!
Nighthawk: says:
hah!
Sara Mcpot says:
IM A GIRL !
Sara Mcpot says:
..
Sara Mcpot says:
this conversation is stupid ... i like my pony tail
Sara Mcpot says:
hmmpphh !
Nighthawk: says:
haha
Nighthawk: says:
i was beginning to thik so
Nighthawk: says:
but nevermind
Nighthawk: says:
its all part of the training
Nighthawk: says:
to develop my logical crapping skills
Sara Mcpot says:
ooo ur on ur wat there .. but u'll never beat the master muahahah
Nighthawk: says:
really?
Nighthawk: says:
and who exactly is this master?
Sara Mcpot says:
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Nighthawk: says:
hahahaha.. what??
Nighthawk: says:
you? master??
Nighthawk: says:
hahahahaha
Nighthawk: says:
i always thought you were the one from pre school
Nighthawk: says:

Sara Mcpot says:
say what ever you want .....
Nighthawk: says:
masters dont wear pny tails
Sara Mcpot says:
ur in denial ...
Sara Mcpot says:
the master has many faces ,,, ermmmhair styles
Nighthawk: says:
and why exactly am i in denial
Nighthawk: says:
haha
Nighthawk: says:
see..masters don;t stumble
Sara Mcpot says:
i didn't stumble ...
Nighthawk: says:
you did
Sara Mcpot says:
did not
Nighthawk: says:
the master has many faces ,,, ermmmhair style
Nighthawk: says:
there
Nighthawk: says:
proof!
Nighthawk: says:
how now?
Sara Mcpot says:
the master ignores ur ridiculous accusation
Sara Mcpot says:
...
Sara Mcpot says:
the master has chores to do ... the master will chat with you later .. good bye mortal being ..
Nighthawk: says:
u ignore it because, you have no counter crap to counter that crap
Nighthawk: says:
hahaha
Nighthawk: says:
ok ok
Nighthawk: says:
fine
Nighthawk: says:
sign of giving up
Nighthawk: says:
nvm
Nighthawk: says:
goodbye
Nighthawk: says:
my amish/master wanna be friend
Sara Mcpot says:
hahaha i'm an amish master ! HAHAHAHAHAHAA bye


Yes, it tells you where my head has been going to....Insanity...

But wait, insanity is the first step into getting a permanent head damage, or (Ph.D)

This is good...