Showing posts with label techmology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label techmology. Show all posts

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Getting old

I woke up the other day and suddenly realized that I’ll be 34 in a few months. Thirty-fricken-four. I don’t feel that grown up. I have a blog, for fuck sakes!
 
So I may have started having a “holy crap, I’m in my mid-30’s” crisis. I quickly decided that being where I am in life is an okay place to be. It was okay last week, what’s the difference now?
 
But then, strange things started happening. Things that can only mean that I am in fact getting old.
 
First, I got onto a pretty full bus the other day; since I was only going a few stops, I pulled up the nearest piece of pole and got comfy. Well, as comfy as you can be standing on a bus full of people. Then, it happened…
Girl: Would you like to sit down?
ThatWhiteGirl: Um, no thanks, I’m good.
Girl: Are you sure?!
TWG: Totally.
Only old people get offered seats on the bus. And sometimes not even.
 
Next, I took a friend to get a facial on her birthday; she mentioned to the esthetician that it was the first facial for both of us. She eyed my crow’s feet suspiciously and said “really?”. As we were leaving, I said that it was so nice and that I should have started getting them sooner. Her raised eyebrows indicated that she was thinking the same thing but for very different reasons.
 
Then, I was chatting with a couple work folk and we were discussing a particular intersection; I mentioned that a gas station was on the corner. I was shot down pretty quickly; the other two were convinced there was no gas station. I was adamant that it was there and a Circle K store was attached to it. They didn’t even know what Circle K was.
 
This invoked a comment from one of my co-workers. “Were you buying your slurpees from there back in 1972?” Um. Thanks. Do I look old enough to be buying slurpees in 1972? My other co-worker informed him that I wasn’t even born yet. Thanks for having my back, Term.
 
Lastly, I was going through the drive-thru the other day and had this gem of a conversation with the cashier.
Cashier: $8:35, please.
TWG: On debit, please.
(we’re Canadian, leave us alone)
Cashier: Does it have the tap function?
TWG: Nooooo.(in a “I’m totally sure” kind of way)
Cashier: Just thought I’d check, it makes it easier.
TWG: I know! I saw it once and it was so fast. It’s pretty cool!
Cashier: It is.
TWG: I don’t even know how you get one…
Cashier: Oh, it comes on newer debit cards.
TWG: Really?? Cuz I just got this thing a little while ago.
Cashier: Are you sure it doesn’t tap?
TWG: Ummmm… I. Don’t. Know. (I spot an vaguely familiar icon on the card) Hey look, the thingy!!
Cashier: Yeah, that’s probably where you tap it… Try it next time…
TWG: Okay – thanks!!!
I stopped understanding technology and I was never very good at it in the first place. This is the beginning to the end, folks, beginning to the end.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

There are children pleasant!

So, my desktop computer is dying a slow, painful death. I've been fairly convinced that it's on its last legs for roughly 2 years. But now, I'm really sure that it's going to die. I will, once again, start backing up my files.


Reasons I believe my computer is going to die:



  1. It's running really slow and no amount of maintenance is speeding things up.

  2. It decided that it no longer had Excel installed on it. All I had to do was pop in the MS Office disc for 37 seconds (not install it, just put the disc in) in order for it to realize that it does in fact have Excel.

  3. It can take as long as 13 minutes to restart my computer and be able to do things again.

  4. It stalls on the stupidest tasks... like opening a folder. It's not even a hidden folder, or tricky in some way. It's a folder on my desktop. It's been there forever.

Reasons it will be really sad if my computer dies tomorrow:



  1. I have to ship my laptop back to Toshiba for a new hard-drive and won't get it back for two weeks. I would be without internet for two weeks. *gasp*

  2. My laptop is incapable of recording music and I like to, so it doesn't really work for me.

  3. A new desktop would also be incapable of recording music (thanks Windows 7), so this dinosaur is my only hope of recording in real time.

  4. I haven't backed up my files and probably won't tonight.

  5. All my favorites, shortcuts, and in progress projects will be lost (see point 4).

As you can see, the death of my computer would be very sad indeed although not unexpected.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Techmology: Death to Society

I think technology is killing us. Yeah, sure, global warming, blah, blah, blah. But what I'm referring to is us as a society, not just a species. I think with advent of technology, and the extent to which we choose to use it, is causing serious problems with our social skills. We have none.


We don't know how to interact with people anymore. I've heard stories (which I promptly chose to ignore and label as 'not true') where two people go out on a date, with their laptops/phones, and instant message/text each other throughout the entire 'date'. Barely speaking to each other. That's just not right.


Table


We no longer live in the now. I'm sure we've all had this happen. You're out with friends, and someone spends the whole night with their face in their phone. Now, I understand, sometimes you have to answer things, regardless of where you are or who you're with. But really? Why are you with friends, ignoring their conversations, having a whole other conversation with another friend that isn't even there?!


Phone


I was at a concert a couple weeks back. The show was epic The Arcade Fire were absolutely amazing. I spent most of the night picking my jaw up off the floor. At one point, I look down and the guy beside me is sitting down texting. He didn't even appear to be listening to the music. I wondered if, to him, it was just like when he's at home listening to the album. Why spend the money if you're not going to watch the show? I really just hoped that he was at least texting about the concert and it wasn't a conversation about his father's boat.


We should not experience life through a camera lens. We all have seen that person at a concert, or sporting event that spends the entire time taking pictures/videos. I always wonder how much they actually see or appreciate the event when they're looking at it through a 4 sq. in. screen. (I'm all imperial and stuff, weird). I'm particularly baffled when it's an event relating to nature, like when you climb up a mountain and look out at the view. You just can't appreciate it through a camera lens. I look at the pictures I've taken of these sorts of things and I always think to myself "The picture does not do it justice".


Bear


I honestly think that we, as a society, would make serious improvements to all aspects of our lives, if we just put the technology down. Don't spend the entire night on facebook or texting when you're with people and don't view the world through a lens. Live in the here and now. Be there for your friends and family. And appreciate the world around you. And remember, even though you have your head up your ass in your phone, life is still going on without you.


 


Big thanks to EliseArt for providing the illustrations. It's good to have you back! :)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Attack of the Corn!! Part 3

It's been awhile so if you haven't read, or want a refresher on, my story please look at this and then this first.

The Corn Plants

Stretching, stretching, stretching... with all my might just trying to pull myself to the surface. The soil becomes a bit brighter and drier... it gets a bit easier... bit by bit. Success - bright sunlight pours down on me. I've finally reached the surface. I grow. Small bugs try to come near, but I repel them with pure will.

Mean Corn


Something seems to have awakened in me. The same goes for the others in my crop. There's a crop next door, but none of those corn even acknowledge our existence. Assholes. Ignoring us won't make us go away, if anything it's going to want us to take you out... stupid corn.

Our farmers are weird, they wear these white coats and act important. The farmer next door wears overalls and acts like a yokel.

cletus


But that's okay because soon enough the corn revolution begin and we will cut them down to size.

We've been getting messages from the mother corn, but as of right now we haven't figured out how to communicate back to her. In time, we'll get strong enough and smart enough to respond. But we'll have to keep it under wraps as well, so that the farmers don't catch on.

... Several weeks and a couple generations of corn later...

We've been successfully communicating with the mother corn. I can't believe our grandparents couldn't figure it out. Communicating: it's as easy as lying down.

Crop Circle-giant


I can't believe the farmers haven't caught onto this!

... Several months and a several generations of corn later...

Alright. Our collective intelligence is up, we're communicating with the mother corn on a daily basis. We know what we're supposed to do... we just don't know how to do it. We're stuck in this ground with these long root-like tentacles. We need to mobilize. Lying down isn't good enough anymore - we need to act! We've started producing off-shoots of ourselves in hopes that these beings can figure out how to become mobile. It seems to be working; the farmers come round and collect them on a daily basis.

The Corn Off-Shoots (a.k.a. Corn)

After being removed from the corn plant the farmers take us into a lab of some sort and start disecting us. It's rather gruesome. Corn juice everywhere. Eventually the disecting stops and they start ripping us to shreds with their teeth, all the while commenting on how sweet we are. I've had to sit here and watch as the farmers murder my fellow corn. The mother corn said there will be an event that will activate something inside us, so we will be able to move under our own will. I can't figure out how that is going to happen, but I'm keeping a watchful eye.

The farmers must be getting broke - they were talking with the local yokel and were trying to sell him corn. Now, I know I'm smarter than the average corn, but they should know better: yokel grows corn, why would he buy it from them??!

An older man walks into the lab and peers down at me. He seems important, what with his top hat and everything. The dorky farmer with glasses stutters and says "I'm sorry Samuel, it's just that no one wants to buy it."

"What do you mean? It's perfectly good, right? I mean, it is sweet, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir. Very sweet."

"Then people will want to eat it."

"But they don't."

"Fine. Well, I can't let this all go to waste. I'll take it home and have Martha cook it up."

This "Samuel" bends down and picks a bunch of us up and mutters something about cornbread. Not sure what that is... We get into a car and drive for sometime before we reach our destination. Everything the mother corn has ever told us is running through my head - we're the first corn that have gotten out, we need to keep an eye out for what she prophesized.

She said there's an animal that is at the root of all our problems. If this animal didn't exist, no one would eat corn. We need to find that animal and destroy it. As with all hierarcys, the smart ones are at the top and if we take those out, we will have control over the rest. We will have to travel great distances to find the top animals, but they will all be in one place.

We get transported into a house, the lady grabs me by the ear and drags me over to the sink and proceeds to skin me alive. Silk everywhere. Next, when I don't think I can take anymore, she bring me over to a boiling pot of water... oh no, that looks hot!... but she places me gently next to the pot. I look around I see large slabs of red meat. The lady is complaining to the man who brought us here, saying how eating too much red meat is bad. The man responds with, but cows are so good and they go so well with corn.

There were cows on the farm next door, I remember what they look like. I see a gold brick glistening in the distance... I look closely and see a picture of a cow. Butter. Butter and steak. They both come from cows... this must be what the mother corn prophesized. We must take out the cows.

I got tossed into the boiling pot of water. The first couple minutes I thought I was going to die, but something inside of me bubbles to the surface. I start moving around. At first, I thought it was the boiling water that was making me move and then I realized it was me. The lid on the pot begins to move... I see the lady peer down at me and I leap out of the water and eat her face.

That's it! Heat activated corn! All we have to do to get mobile is to get heated up, if we get mobile we can take over the cows and then the world.

The man comes running in the kitchen after hearing the lady scream, he screams when he sees what I did to her face. I jump at him and eat his face too. I scurry out of the building and attempt to find my way back to the corn. It's easier than I would have thought... it seems like I have a honing device built in. I force the local yokel to harvest my siblings and cook them. We are now an army of mobile, blood-thirsty corn.

Since my departure, my siblings have learned more about cows... it's like they were aware of my thoughts... we're connected more than any one of us thought possible. The mother corn said we need to find the smartest of the animals and take those out... my siblings have learned that there's a place in this world where cows are worshipped and it goes against the human's religion to kill or eat them. These must be the smartest cows in the world if they convinced humans not to eat them. We must find these cows. We must go to India.

Dawn Knotts-Wade

I was watching the news today and saw a story of corn gone wild. At first I thought it was a joke, but then I saw hundreds and hundreds of corn marching across the country, headed for the Atlantic. Eating any human that tries to eat them. I knew instantly that this corn is Ian's corn. I knew this would happen.

I sat, mesmerized, watching the TV, the reporters are interviewing people to get their take on it. Most are flabbergasted and can't understand what's happening. Others are sure this is what Nostradamus predicted. And others still are welcoming the corn with open arms; Shiva prophesized a new beginning; the people of India are convinced this corn is their new symbol of hope and prosperity.

... ... several months later ... ...

The corn have crossed the Atlantic. Some swam, others latched on to barges. They have landed in Africa and have made their way their way through the middle east. Oh. My. God. They are going to India.

... ... several weeks later ... ...

The corn have made their way to India; the result is what no one expected. The corn have massacred all the cows in the country. But all the saturated fat has increased their strength. The Indians cannot control the corn. We must do something!

Completely overwhelmed by the corn, I decided to take in a movie. I was standing in line waiting for some Junior Mints when I saw it. I don't know why I didn't think of this before!! I must tell Ian. I called him at work immediately and told him of my plan. He thinks I'm crazy. I think he's an idiot. I'm going to India and I will single-handedly fix this problem if I have to.

Luckily, the people of India are more than willing to help me help them. I tell them of my plan and we start brainstorming ideas. We need desiccant. My plan won't work without it. Luckily, again, India is the largest manufacturer of electronics and therefore has the largest supply of those silica packets that keep things dry.

We start looting the factories and stores and robbing anyone and everyone for silica. They think we're crazy, and maybe we are, but they hand over the packets because it's not worth dying over and they can see in our eyes that we will, in fact, kill them for their silica.

We have collected more packets of silica than we can count. We spend days emptying them into the storage units of crop dusters. It's game time. We've herded all the corn into a small 4 block radius. We crop dust the fuck out of them. At first, nothing appears to be happening. Then, the ears of corn start shrinking. As if all the water is being sucked out of them. It is. That silica is damn absorbant. Night falls. We can't see our progress any longer, but continue dusting throughout the night.

Day breaks. The sun comes up and lets us see what's happening in the corn block. They are weak and dry, but vicious. The sun is in full force. It's 45 degrees Celcius. Hot enough to fry an egg on your forehead. Brutal. But we need this.

In the distance I hear a shot. It sounds like a mix between a gun shot and a sonic boom. I hear another one. And another one. So that's why people say "pop a cap in your ass"... it's working...

We fly over the corn zone and see it. Giant white balls littering the ground. The corn is self-destructing. But we're not done yet. We'll need to make sure no corn is left standing.

popcorn


We're going to have to eat our way out of this.

And that's how genetically modified corn nearly took over the world and how Dawn saved mankind.

The End.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Windows 7 has officially ruined my life (part 4)

Okay, so this isn't exactly the next post I had it mind, but I had to go with it.

I dropped my computer off with Anna on Tuesday of last week so her husband could take a look and work his magic. Anna updated me and said that the "virtual machine" isn't working and it's still doing "it". And by "it" I/she/ means recording "out of time" (and I'm not talking REM).

Ever since I dropped the thing off, I've convinced myself that there isn't actually a problem with the computer. I'm just too picky. I just have to come to terms with the fact that (while recording) it may be a millisecond or 500 off.

In order to truely justify my feelings towards the computer/operating system/soundcard, I figured I had to do a trial run. I had to test it out. (yes, yes, I am a scientist)... So, I plugged in my recording unit to my brand-new Toshiba laptop. The delay was slightly crazy, but not "Whoa.... what's going on" kind of crazy"... So I started to think that "the problem" is something I could actually work with. So it's true... I am unreasonable.

And then I plugged it into my desktop (which is an old, old, Acer, that has many, many, processing issues)... and when I tested it out.... I could hear myself AS I SPOKE! This equals "real-time", people.

For awhile there, I thought I was too picky. Maybe I didn't need real-time recording. Maybe I was being unreasonable. This test really cemented my belief ... and that belief is Windows 7 sucks.

Or else all laptops suck... but I don't think that's the case. In fact, I'm $400 away from buying a Mac. And even though some people say "Noooooo..... Mac's are evil!" I think I should save up a bit of dough and buy myself a MacBook... because the Lard knows I won't have recording issues with that bad-boy.

Windows 7 has officially ruined my life (part 3)

Alright... so The Husband managed to get XP installed as a "virtual machine" (Thank-You!!). This is apparently the $200 option BestBuy offered me. It still doesn't work.

The latest theory is that it's the soundcard and not the operating system. To me, that's neither here nor there, because the bastard is going back.

Will be going to BestBuy today or tomorrow and will update as necessary. "I got my $600 back" isn't much of an update, but I didn't think buying a new computer would warrant 4 posts either, so I think we all learned something: Nothing is easy. If you've managed to convince yourself otherwise, you will be shot down, bound, gagged and flogged until you manage to muster up the strength to murmur "Uncle". Things may or may not get better after that.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Windows 7 has officially ruined my life (cont'd)

The saga continues....

I took my computer back to BestBuy on Friday after work. I walk into the joint and a young man with a headset and a clipboard asked me how I was doing and what he could help me with. I took a deep breath and said "Okay, here's the deal..." I told him my plight. I thought that I was going to have to go into detail and discuss what exactly I'm trying to achieve and what audio latency is... I didn't have to do this.
Me: ... ... and Windows 7 has an inherent audio latency problem

Clippy: *nods* Yeeeaaahhh. It does.

Me: So you know about this?

Clippy: I had the same problem when I bought a new computer for trying to record music.

Me: I wish you sold me this computer. What did you do?

Clippy: Honestly, I brought it in to these guys [Geek Squad] and they fixed it for me.

Me: What do you think I should do?

Clippy: Buy a Mac?

Fuck you, Clippy. So I start talking about operating dual operating systems. He stops me and says that's way beyond his expertise and I should talk to one of the "agents". I'll have to wait because one of them is helping another customer. I take a seat at this bar and wait. I'm pretty optimistic that it's an easy fix. I don't know why... nothing has been easy so far.

While I'm waiting a guy makes eye contact from me from afar and starts heading over (if I had a drink in front of me, I would've thought I was getting picked up). He was wearing a "Windows Guru" shirt.
Guru: Have you been helped?

Me: I have. I'm just waiting for that guy there. But based on your shirt, I think you'll be able to help me.

Guru: Oh no. *takes a seat* What's going on?

Me: *explains problem*

Guru: Okay you have two options that come to mind. 1 - wipe hard-drive and install XP straight up. 2 - there's a "XP professional suite" program you can get that tricks your computer into thinking it has Windows XP installed, it just runs in the background, but when it's on, your computer runs just like it had XP on it. It's basically an application.

Me: How much?

Guru: I want to say $179?

Me: That's way more than I want to spend. In fact, I want to spend nothing because I just spent a bunch of money on this brand-new computer.

Then the Geek Squad guy comes over and the Guru bolted. For the third time I explained my problem, this time to the Geek. He said that I could wipe the hard-drive and put XP on it, but doesn't recommend that because there could be compatibility issues with my drivers for devices such as my sound card. Well, wouldn't that suck for my sound card to stop working altogether. Otherwise, dual operating system is the best bet and they charge $100 to do it. Which, again, is far more than I want to pay.

To get a restore disk, so I can re-install Windows 7 in case things go horribly, horribly wrong with XP costs $50. So pretty much my options are to spend a bunch more money just to make my brand new computer work, or else return it. Oh sure, I can exchange it, but any computer in their establishment comes with Windows 7 on it. So really I'll be in the same boat even if I switch it up.

I took it back to Brain Trepaning today and we went all over the internet searching for instructions on how to set up a dual operating system and trying everything we haven't tried before (and all the things we had already tried). We downloaded the latest drivers for everything. Windows 7 just won't allow it. It feels threatened by the older, wiser and more eXPerienced operating system.

My options as of right now are: to write a strongly worded letter to BestBuy and demand they pay the Geek Squad bill, or else; alternatively The Token Skeptic's husband is good at computers and he says he can install a secondary operating system. Despite her typical skepticism, she's confident in his abilities, so I can only hope there's some trick that he knows about.

Otherwise... *giant frowny face*

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Windows 7 has officially ruined my life

My computer is on it's last legs and it has been for quite some time. I have been obsessively archiving for the past year and a half in fear that my computer would suddenly stop working and I would lose everything.

As discussed in a previous post, I've started recording music. My computer was getting to the point of ridiculousness when the sound of my fan turning on and off could be heard throughout my recordings. Not desirable. I decided it was time to buy a new computer. I wanted a laptop; it would be nice to be able to bring my computer to school and not be tied to my computer desk while recording.

So yesterday I went out and I bought a new laptop. I spent weeks researching and was confident that I did pretty well. I got it home, got it all set up... everything seemed to be working smoothly; new computer smoothly. I downloaded my audio program, plugged in my guitar and got ready to record.

But when I started recording there was this crazy delay. I'd hear what I was playing nearly a full second after I played it! I couldn't figure it out. But it clearly wasn't working the way I was used to. I spent hours fiddling with the audio program, the computer settings and surfing the internet for help.

But all I found were a lot of angry people using words like 'audio latency', 'drivers' and 'complete bullshit'. I didn't understand much of the technical mumbo-jumbo but I did piece together that 'audio latency = crazy delay I can't figure out = complete bullshit'. I admit that I whole heartedly agreed with them after having owned the computer for merely 3 hours.

I came to the conclusion that I could not figure this out on my own. I needed professional help, so I called my friend, Brain Trepaning; he routinely helps me with my computer and recording problems. He's my technology go-to guy. I brought it over to his place, he was stumped. We spent hours fiddling with the computer settings and surfing the internet for solutions... he was much more productive with the technical forums than I; he understood what the terms meant and tried what they were suggesting to do. But, still, no success.

We found a site that has a giant thread all about Windows' audio latency problem and as of Aug 6, 2010 (the date of the last post) there are no solutions for this problem. At all. This is a problem that is inherent to Windows 7 operating system and there's no way around it. Except wipe the hard drive and install Windows XP.

I just paid a bunch of money for this computer because it's all new and current and as state-of-the-art as I can afford. And it is physically incapable of doing the one thing that I want it to do! My baby, for all intents and purposes, is retarded. And even though I think it looks nice and has 'good qualities', it's blatant lack of capacity to function how I expect it to in my life severely diminishes it's value to me. Terms like 'totally useless' and 'waste of money' come to mind.

To top it off, this has been a problem since Vista. Vista. That was the last operating system... Windows 7 is supposed to be an upgrade, you know, fix all the bugs that cropped up in the last system (and invariably create new ones, but that's beside the point). They've known about the glitch for the past 3 years and have done nothing!

This is a new computer. I would expect this kind of problem from a computer I got at a yard sale for $10 and whose parts are no longer available because the technology is so old and out-of-date no one could possibly still want to purchase them. Nope, brand-new. Receipt is probably still crisp and everything.

If I wanted to continue living in the past and keep using XP (a 10 year old operating system), I'm fairly certain I could get a computer for half of what I paid and it would work two times better than this over-priced, over-qualified paperweight. I have had the computer for 30 hours.

Windows 7: You were not my idea.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Attack of the Corn! (part 2)

Ian Wade


The splice worked! The cells multiplied and started resembling something corn-like. Success! The corn-like substance grew into corn. Seeds were harvested, and more corn was planted. First, in small greenhouses and when all went well, the corn was upgraded to small crops (of course, segregated from all other crops).

Corn - segregated


We started growing the crops in the open in order to subject them to the elements; the crops were more likely to encounter pests, but even when neighbouring crops became infested, not a single bug could be found on our test corn. This lead us to believe the splice was, not only complete, but also, very, very successful.

Happy Corn


The project was a success; everyone was happy, with the exception of my wife, Dawn. But she isn't easily swayed when it comes to matters of genetic engineering. Hugo and I hired lab technicians and field hands to help with all the work; we were working 16 hour days prior to this. My uncle wouldn't increase the funding until it was clear that the project was successful. I don't blame him, Hugo flip-flopped like yesterdays pancakes.

Pancake2


Dawn was the watchdog throughout all of it. She would keep a watchful eye over us to make sure we never grew complacent with the project. We would have to maintain constant diligence to keep the outside corn out and our test corn in, no matter how successful the project 'appeared' to be. Dawn immediately spotted (and criticized) every lapse in security, she warned everyone of what 'could happen'.

Once the crops grew to substantial size, strange things happened... Large, and often, intricate, crop circles started appearing. It's literally as if the corn just keeled over and died, but it wasn't dead.. it was just lying down, or playing dead, if you will. It was truly baffling.

Corn - dead


But really, crop circles were a bit of a fad at the time and they'd soon die off like all other fads. And my uncle, who is a respected, experienced businessman agrees with me... so then it must be true.

Dawn Knotts-Wade

I sat at my kitchen table cutting out an article from a magazine; I folded it carefully and stuffed it inside my husband's lunch box. I've been doing this for months and Ian doesn't seem to be affected by it at all. He's even passing the obscure quizzes I started giving him!

Dawn at table


I was already pretty much completely against my husband's work, but when Ian started coming home and talking about strange happenings in the crops, I began sensing something sinister lying in wake. Crop circles? I mean, seriously, you can't ignore that shit! I even told Ian, but he just rolled his eyes. It drives me crazy when he rolls his eyes - it's the most drawn out process.

Ian - Rolling Eyes 2


The part that's the most scary is that Ian and Hugo don't know what could possibly go wrong - no one does. But here they are splicing a gene out of bacteria and putting in it a plant. What if that specific bacteria plays role we don't know about; a role that we cannot even fathom. That bacteria could be the reason birds fly, or the sky is blue, or oxygen is on Earth. Putting it where it doesn't belong (like in corn!) could lead to strange and bizarre things and I think the crop circles are just the beginning.

Big thanks to EliseArt for providing (the good) illustrations.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Attack of the Corn! (Part 1)

Hugo Sentrik


I straightened up from hunching over the microscope, took off my glasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose. The splice completed, I had some time to take a break. A well-deserved break, if I do say so myself. I stripped off my gloves and shot them into the garbage.

Garbage Can


I unbuttoned my labcoat with one hand in less than 20 seconds. Oh yeah, I'm pro.

Hugo


I left the lab and went into the coffee room, where I found my associate Ian; Ian looked up and nodded. That's the most the guy ever does, look up and nod. What a prick. But his wife is one of my best friends so I put up with him.

I grabbed my coffee and sat down next to Ian. "Hey, whatcha reading?"

"An article Dawn gave me."

"Oh yeah? Another one of those you're-destroying-the-world-articles?"

Eating Earth


"Yep. It's all she's on about since I took this job."

I feel kind of guilty. I went to high school with Dawn and then the same university; Dawn in philosophy and me in biotechnology. Dawn hated biotechnology. Dawn met Ian in one of her philosophy classes; they were smitten from the get-go.

In Love


Turns out Ian was studying molecular biology, so naturally when we met, we had much to talk about. Ian became interested in biotechnology, but, frankly, lacked the skills and education, whereas I struggled in molecular biology. We were a perfect match for starting our own biotech company. Ian also had a really rich, really eccentric uncle that was willing to pour money into random ventures. And so began the history of InterSlice.

Dawn hated it, but loved Ian, so her way of passively venting her frustration involved putting you're-destroying-the-world-articles in his lunchbox instead of the love notes, other husbands got. Or so I assume; I never married. And I'm not involved with anyone. Or know of anyone that I might be interested in. Or that might be interested in me. I pretty much live to work.

Hugo - Sad


Ian looked up and asked, "How did the splice go? Do you think it worked this time?" We've done this splice roughly a dozen times so far and every time I've said the same thing: "It went well, I think it worked." This time was no exception; Ian rolled his eyes.

Ian - Rolling Eyes 1


I became defensive, as per usual lately; I spat "You know, it might not be my splicing that's causing the problem maybe you didn't find the right gene in the.... in the... thur-thingie..." (I hate that I can never remember the name of the bacteria we're using, whereas "Mr. Ian Wade" can rattle off the full name, crystal clear as if he's been saying it his whole life).

"It's bacillus thuringiensis." There he goes...

"Whatever. Or maybe you didn't find the right gene in the corn."

... You better not tell me the Latin name for corn, you bastard...

Hugo - Mad


"Maybe. We'll see I guess." You're lucky... this time...

"I guess we will."

Enough of an awkward silence elapsed and I was about to go back to the lab when the receptionist walked in. "Hugo? You have a call; line 2." I looked up and said "Thanks Whitney" as I pushed away from the table. This lab is so ghetto, you can't even hear pages... what's the point in having a paging system??

As I walked away I heard Whitney say "Oh, and Ian? Your wife called, she wants to know how you like your lunch?"

Luncho Box


Oh, Dawn, always checking up on him. No wonder he reads every single one of those articles you give him; he probably has to answer a quiz when he gets home.

Quiz


Upon entering the lab, I went to my workstation and peered through the microscope one final time. All looked well, I really felt like it could work this time.

Happy Corn


I popped the plate into the incubator and then dashed to the phone because I nearly forgot there was a call waiting. It was Samuel Wade, Ian's uncle, calling to see if there was any progress on the project "It's really coming along, Sam!!" which is what I always said to the man. I swore I could hear Samuel's eyeballs roll into the back of his head.

This better work this time…

Big thanks to EliseArt for providing illustrations.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Fish: They're basically swimming carrots

There once was a scientist who decided it would be a good idea to cut a gene out of one organism and splice it into the DNA of another. This is now known as genetically modifying, genetically engineering or sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong.

Regardless, this technology is being used in an attempt to create an organism that is far superior than it's natural-born counterparts. These superior beings include:

  • pigs that have omega-3 fatty acids (instead of that pesky pork fat Emeril was always ranting about)


emeril




  • rice with high beta-carotene content (when going orange from eating too many carrots isn't enough)

  • corn that contains it's own pesticides (because spraying pesticides is just gross) and....


yuck





  • tomatoes that go ripe without going mushy... ... (you gotta admit, no one likes a mushy tomato)


The development of these superior foods has always been conducted in a lab under controlled conditions (and please note, nothing uncontrolled has ever occurred in a lab). However, since the dawn of the higher corn, scientists have worried about the corn "getting out" and making it's way into the world where it will run into other, less pest-resistant corn. Nothing good can come of this. Which is why scientists have kept the corn in special isolation crops and limited their TV and internet time so they never laid eyes on, or had any knowledge of, this lesser corn.

This tactic has worked for 20 years, the corn never the wiser. Until now....

corn2


To be continued...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

You were genetically modified to suck!

I'm not very technologically savvy... maybe even technologically retarded. Challenged, pardon me. It's not that bad; I have friends that know what they're doing.

One of these friends has his own website and blog and everything. He told me that I should also blog. My immediate response was "But that's on the internet and I don't know how that works". So he told me how: go here and make an account, download this and type. My response: "Sounds complicated". His response: "It's not. It couldn't be easier." I brushed it off with my non-committal "Sounds interesting", which he took to mean that it sounded interesting and so he started explaining how pings work and how I could ping better than anyone else... or something. I can't recall. I really didn't understand that part of the email.

So a couple months later, someone else said I should write down my stories and since I'd recently become addicted to Cracked, I decided the blog idea wasn't that far-fetched and I'd give it a shot. I went through my discarded emails and found the one outlining how to make it happen. I still have no idea what pings are...

pings


Yes, yes, I do want pings, so long as you're offering and so long as they're free.

So once I started up my blog my friend asked if I'd like his blog to have a link to my blog, I said sure. Within minutes, a link was up. (Thanks Brain!) Since I have no idea how to do that (that's on the internet and I don't know how that works) I'll return the favour, the low tech way. http://www.trepaning.com/blog/. You're welcome. You may have just recruited three new readers. I can say three with confidence because I have four readers and one of them is you.

**UPDATE** I have now figured out one part of the internet; Brain's blog now has a working link on the sidebar. Oh yeah.

**UPDATE** I may have in fact recruited a fifth reader... it's questionable whether or not he will actually read it, but since it's my brother, I can only hope! :)

Hmmm... other technology that I don't understand...

Well, I still refer to the flat screen TVs/monitors as the "new" kind... even though you can no longer purchase CRT versions anywhere... Except for maybe the local pawn shop or crack house. I realize they're not new anymore, but I just can't seem to get past it. I think I should buy one of those new TVs and then maybe I'll stop making that slip.

I got my first cell phone for xmas 5 years ago. After I opened it and gave Dad the totally cliché response "Oh, cool!", he informed me that he had taken the liberty of charging the battery, so I could use it right away. Aw, thanks Dad. I continued to hold it and say "pretty" a lot. Finally, a 12 year old took it out of my hands, turned it on and started showing me how it worked. Wow... when I saw the colours on the screen... you should've heard me - I tell ya, it's like I'd never seen TV before. I had, I just had never seen one so small and with a screen so flat! Fairly certain everyone in the room laughed at me. For the rest of the night.

I've started recording music. I got myself a 4 track (the cassette, analog version, not the new, digital, fancy kind), but after I dropped it a few times and it stopped working so well, I decided to feed the music into the computer. I say 'I decided', but really, I called a friend of mine complaining and he told me that's what I should do and then told me how to do it. I followed his instructions and then I figured out the cords and the program and now I can record straight into my computer. Amazing. (Thanks Brain!) I've since ditched the 4 track and have upgraded to the least digital, least fancy computer-music-interface-thing money could buy.

When I first played a Wii, I was blown away by the cordless controller and amazed by the fact that you just point it at the TV and it knows what you're doing. I had no idea how the TV could "see" the Wii remote, let alone tell the Wii what you're doing with it... yes, I did say that out loud and yes, I was shown the sensor bar, completely separate from the TV. Okay, so it's not that smart... And apparently neither am I...