formspring.me

Ask me questions about sea manatees. http://www.formspring.me/DuckInAParticle

It's music! My favorite tracks on on here, though, it only let embed the first 3.

Artificial Intelligence, It's Not Just For Bots

One of the websites I visit for a racing league I'm involved with is prone to getting spambots posting random nonsense like this:

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Even if this weren't completely random looking, I don't get the point of it. What exactly am I going to be suckered into doing by viewing this? Even if I were that dumb, this piece of spam only seems suitable for other spambots to consume, like a tin can instead of a glazed ham or stick of slim jim. Maybe the spambots have been replicating with artificial intelligence, giving birth to a secret order of spambots that communicate together via English gibberish.

"Relationship between temperature and air pressure" placed at the end of this random junk could really mean "Murder the meat bags in six days!"

Ballad of Opeth

I think it's about time I post a music video on my blog, but I don't know how. I think it is via embedding, but on this video that's been disabled.

Here is an example of Opeth playing a ballad, which is another thing they do really well. You cannot say that Opeth is only "slow ballads" or heavy metal and guitar solos and growling. They capture many emotions in a variety of styles, but this song is slow and beautiful.


http://youtu.be/FBS7ejV9qEk

A Funny Line

I've been browsing through an old book of poetry I wrote in 2003 when I was really depressed , and didn't get along with anyone.

I know it's sad, but I think this line is funny too:

"Life is so terrible. So life is like a box of chocolates, only, someone has eaten them all except for the ones I don't like."

I sound kind of spoiled, some kids don't have food or their parents hurt them, at least I had a home to live in and no responsibilities. I think I realized this even then, and it only made me sadder to know that I wasn't enjoying life.

This is It

After much stalling I am now gathering my unneeded crap into piles of garbage so I can actually pack up the stuff I still want to keep. I'll be moving to Portland next week and I'm excited, but the logistics behind moving (especially so far) is a headache. Most of my things will go UPS to my parents place in CA, and we will drive ourselves to Oregon after I fly in (after some time to rest).

People here keep asking me why I want to move to Portland. I keep saying "It's the weather" but that's only part of it. Still, it proves my point when the weekend forecast is predicting a category 3 hurricane sweeping into the southeast, and my flight out just happens to be the morning it arrives! Damn, I hope it turns out back to the ocean. Yeah, Georgia can keep the humidity, the heat, the thunderstorms, the tornadoes and hurricanes (it snows too, but I like snow).

I'm looking to have a more active social life outside of work too. There is so much to do in Portland, not to mention the mountains, the coast, and Seattle and Canada are a short drive away. One of my favorite comedians, Maria Bamford, is going to be in Portland this weekend, but sadly I won't be there yet. Eventually she will come back, and there are other acts, bands, etc. that I would like to see in my town. Now I can!

I'll definitely miss the people I've known while here in Georgia. I never wanted to start a Facebook, but so many folks have requested it and I think I can enjoy it now that I have people to keep in touch with. It's going to be hard to leave my best friend behind, but we can still have fun talking on the phone. There is a good chance some of my friends will come out to visit, and one day I will visit Georgia again (my sister still lives here). After that, I'm looking forward to meeting new friends in Oregon.

I'll get the Facebook running later this week. I'm looking to take lots of pictures, and I'm planning on keeping a tally of the unique things I will see in Portland. Should be fun!

Opeth is my opeth

Another band I must now raise up to the height of best damn band is Opeth, originally from Norway, this band is the most intelligent and virtuosic of all black metal and heavy metal bands. They have an overall sound of Halloween, but without the cartoonish satanism and witchcraft of most other bands in this genre, so I should say instead that if Fall and Winter had a sound, it would be Opeth.

What would that sound like? It could be fast, thrashing electric guitars and fast beats. It could also be soft guitar strumming, long repeating verses of sad piano and guitar melodies, and smart electric guitar solos. Opeth can take you into a mellow mood that borders on meditation, and revive you with headbanging rock anthems in one song. Eastern melodies intertwine with native Norwegian style guitar and singing.

The lyrics are epic stories that get stuck in your head, even though they almost never repeat a line. It's hard to say that Opeth just sounds like black metal or heavy metal, since they produce an eclectic range of different sounds, often within one song. It's common to find Opeth music plays for 7 minutes or longer.

The vocals switch between melodic singing to less melodic growling, a common practice in death metal, but the difference here is in their lyrics. The music is dark without becoming tedious, and that's the most refreshing quality that separates Opeth from the rest. I simply love every song I hear. Thanks to You Tube playlists I can listen to Opeth for hours.

Another impressive feature is this band shines on stage, I think half the videos online are live and they sound just as good as the studio work. Better just let the music speak for itself, because I could probably spend an hour describing how great Opeth sounds.

http://youtu.be/SOous91wrtE