necessary and proper.

In my travels and various inane conversations, I’ve found that there are two types of people: those who like space more, and those who like the ocean more. I fall into the former category. I just like stars and also the different things that the universe makes me think about on a scientific and philosophical level. Like, we thought that the world worked a certain way because of the way things worked on Earth, BUT when you leave the atmosphere, things work in a completely different way. Black holes. Dark matter. Stars maintaining a constant velocity no matter where they are in the universe. Think about it. These things are awesome. Fuck off, tuna fish. The ocean “wins” in terms of sheer sustainability and diversity of “life,” but space challenges the way we view existence, and may eventually change our definition of what “life” is, and for Bill Clinton what “is” is.

Sometimes I think I like space as a coping mechanism for softening the emotional blow of the destruction of our oceans. Is it callous to just lose hope in humanity’s ability to not fuck up? Space is the last frontier (reference not intended) of what could possibly be ruined by humans (based on transportation technology developments, it goes land, water, air, space), and I’m pretty sure that won’t happen in my lifetime, plus space is so huge that I don’t think humans could possibly mess it up, no matter how hard we tried. The fragility of the ocean ecosystem doesn’t sound so beautiful and majestic now, does it? But is it really callous to hold the hope that there’s answers out there that we don’t even know the questions to yet? That the limits of possibility are ever-expanding like the edges of the universe?

From Wikipedia via The Last Combat:

An ocean (from Greek Ωκεανός, Okeanos (Oceanus)) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt.

Space is the boundless extent within which matter is physically extended and objects and events have positions relative to one another. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional continuum known as spacetime. In mathematics spaces with different numbers of dimensions and with different underlying structures can be examined. The concept of space is considered to be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the universe although disagreement continues between philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework.

SPACE VS. OCEAN SHOWDOWN

1) Crab vs. Crab Nebula. Puh-leaze.

images not to scale

2) Anglerfish vs. Alien. They both live in the dark. They both have crazy sharp-looking teeth. Only one hunts Sigourney Weaver. But I’m terrified of all aliens and hope that they don’t exist so ocean can have this one.

3) Movies about the Ocean (Sphere, Deep Blue Sea, Finding Nemo, The Life Aquatic) vs. Movies about Space (Sunshine, 2001, Serenity, Contact). Verdict: tie, if only because The Abyss falls into both categories. But Wes Anderson should definitely make a movie about space.

4) Jacques Cousteau vs. Carl Sagan. Okay yeah, so Cousteau had a sexy French accent, but Carl Sagan looked like Davy Jones from the Monkees… kinda. Advantage: Space.

The ocean just seems like a more manageable version of space, something we’ve pretty much got figured out. I feel like I just have no tolerance for something that I already know the answer to. The ocean is like playing Jeopardy to an episode you’ve seen already. Space is like playing Jeopardy, but the game lasts forever and there’s no commercial break and they’ve even cut out that horrible part where the constestants talk about their dumb lives.

Personally, I’m not opposed to Valentine’s Day. I like it a lot because when it comes down to it, it’s about all love, not just the romantic kind. So while most people associate it with going out to a fancy dinner with their honey, for me it’s memories of presents from my mom and sister and going out and doing the things we love doing together. That said, four years of not living at home (and thus, missing out on the movie marathons and Indian food that the holiday usually brings) makes me a little sad, so I can sympathize with the plight of my fellow singletons. So this post is only for the lonely.

Drink Recipes for All My Single Ladies: Drinks to get you through the holiday, or for the couples who’ve been dating for a while and have nothing to say to each other and just want to get to the V-Day sex already.

1) The Notre Dame Pick-Me-Up: here’s to hoping the only Irish you’ll be fighting off are the drunk dudes at Conor Larkin’s.

2) The Lady Killer: for the mens, a drink to set (figurative) goals to.

3) The Suicide Stop Light: if worse comes to worst, I suppose? That’s a terrible thing to write, but I wanted to include a drink that contains Aftershock.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

So the other day I was at Beth Isreal for an interview for my latest medical study (I think I’ll have gotten more MRI’s this year than any person who is not a professional athelete) and I met a lady who’s a salespersion for ACN, which she claims is the largest telecommunications company in the world (its website says its the largest direct seller of telecommunications products, which makes sense I guess. It’s probably like Amway or something). ANYWAY, this lady was at the hospital to sell them videophones. Yes. Holy shit. Videophones. She told me that foreigners who live here buy two of them and send one to their families back home since because the phones were bought and configured in the same place, it’s a local call and goes through digital phone or internet lines. I told her it was like we’re totally living in the future. She responded “We truly are living in the Jetsons age.”

I dunno. Flying cars sound pretty cool, but I highly doubt we’ll be able to come up with an energy source that would make them feasible, least of all any kind of environmentally sustainable one. With the way our technological advancement has affected the environment, coupled with the economic crisis will cause us to scale back development of new products and focus more on sustainability— or at least that’s what I hope. Those types of jobs and technologies would revitalize the economy, but large-scale growth would suffer. So no flying cars until we fix our shit or they run on cow farts.

Thinking about the future brought me across a great website though: Paleo-Future. It’s basically a compilation of old-timey predictions about the future. My one wish for the future is time travel. Theoretically it’s possible. I just want them to do it already!

So you know how you don’t realize how much you miss something until you can’t have it because it might give you salmonella? I haven’t had peanut butter in a good long while and now all of a sudden, I’m craving it constantly. I’m afraid to eat it, though, since that whole “it’s made 19,000 people sick in 43 states” thing came out. I am, however, making lists of things I’m going to make as soon as I get the “good to go” sign from the FDA (who am I kidding? I’ll find it out on Perez).

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green onions, diced
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• juice from 1 lime
• 1 tbsp of that red chili sauce from Thai restaurants or the grocery store

Mutherfuckin’ Chex Muddy Buddies

• 9 cups Rice Chex®
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter (fuck margarine)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Put the chocolate chips, butter, and peanut bigger in a big bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, then for 30 seconds more if needed.

2. Add vanilla and cereal. Stir til everything’s coated.

3. Put content of bowl in large ziplock bag with powdered sugar and shake til it’s all coated and delicious.

awww yeeeaaahhh. That’s gonna be me once the peanutbargo is lifted. I’ll be the Scrooge McDuck of Peanut Butter.