Exploration @ MindSay 
Just to be on the safe side, I will ask around amongst the locals to be sure the trails don’t lead anywhere where hikers and/or equines would be unwelcome. I strongly suspect they will be OK for riding, even likely used by one of our other neighbors with horses. Generally speaking, country folks have no problems with considerate neighbors riding horses across such wild spaces, as long as we cause no damage to property, or litter, or other such crass thing as that. I think I’ll still ask around though, just in case someone uses any of those areas for target practice or something...wouldn’t hurt to be sure we’re wearing bright orange hunting vests either when we take off in that direction!
At any rate, I’m going to have to have a beer or something to settle myself down…I’m so STOKED and ready to go EXPLORING!!!!!
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they're made out of meat."
"Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?"
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."
"No brain?"
"Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat! That's what I've been trying to tell you."
"So ... what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? You're refusing to deal with what I'm telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"
"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."
"Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
"Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?"
"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual."
"We're supposed to talk to meat."
"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.' That sort of thing."
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
"I thought you just told me they used radio."
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Both."
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
"I was hoping you would say that."
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."
"So we just pretend there's no one home in the Universe."
"That's it."
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You're sure they won't remember?"
"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."
"And we marked the entire sector unoccupied."
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ..."
the end
... You're only 5 yards from Fuckwit....
Today I went out on DofE, just for the day. Apart form getting slightly sunburnt on my hands, I actually had a lit of time to sit and think about things. Turns out, I didn't think about a lot though. I saw a cool Lorrikeet and got to do some skiddies in my car, but else it was a fairly regular weekend. However I'm now considered to be a very experienced member of the draughthorses.
I found Mp3 CD's are exceptional for off-roading. They don't skip, at all. It's great. However a single scratch will cause a whole bunch of songs to be rendered unplayable. A small side effect if one takes care of their discs. The Lorikeet was fascinating though. I've never seen a bird walk so far. Now seagulls and magpies often run for food, however they have long legs and seem built for this rapid land movment. However the Lorikeet is very parrot like and thus has stumpy short legs, and more or les, waddles as it walks. However this very Lorikeet I spend 10 mins watching. It walked over 10 metres towards a tree, taking bites of small bush flowers as it went and eventually arriving at this tree. It sat for a moment, looking at the tree and then much to m amazment, it began to climb the tree. I'd always thought climing was a budgie type thing, I didn't realise other birds do it too other then cockatiels and cockatoos. As this bird climbed using it's beak and feet, it almot looked to be sniffing the tree. It actually climbed all the way to the top of this small tree and sat ontop, with a look of content accomplishment, despite the fact I could not see another animal or bird anywhere around. After it sat contented for several minutes, it apparantly decided to use the wings it has evolved to use and flew into a near-by tree, I was distracted by a noise and when I looked back, it was gone. Some sights as these others will never see in their lives, and if they do, never the same way.
After a reasonably good time on DofE, I decided to return home for the evening as I wasn't looking forward to a cold night out in the bush, even though under normal circumstancess, I'd have no issues. My day started to go downhill at this point, I almost hit several animals, mainly roos, and got a few scares from other wildlife including a single bovine that appeared to have escaped its confines. Things seemed to go a bit badly for me after that... I don't really feel like going into it.
I'm gunna go have a shower and goto bed, Joe I'll answer your question tomorrow about 3D animation, hell, I might even update my wiki with all the work I've done since the character animation assignment several months ago.
-- Lory
We did just that yesterday. Savannah and I took an explorative bike ride & I brought my camera!
We took advantage of the warm day because I know that this wont last much longer. I love going down this hill on my bike. At the very bottom is an old stone bridge. The bike path leads left or right just after it. We decided not to take either way... in fact we took a small wooded path that led us to the river.
It was so lush!
But you can see the signs of fall everywhere.
We love to explore and I love how nature comes up with such gorgeous designs.
We took a left at the bike trail when leaving the little nook we explored. Down the trail we came upon a small dry stream. Further into the brush was another bridge. We dragged our bikes through the brush to get closer. *We werent going to leave them on the trail*
The long dark tunnel of the bridge was surreal. It reminded me of an egyptian tomb.
On the otherside the sun shone through the trees. We admired the beauty and small details of the aged bridge. Moss, spiders, leaves and all sorts of creatures made their home here. The minerals in the rock were seeping out and sparkling in the sun.
Savannah walked to the top of the bridge to see what was there. It was the train tracks. She loved looking at the rocks and seeing how high up we were. Soon we heard people wandering through the trees down below. We decided to go back to our bikes(since they were getting closer to our bikes) and continue on our way.
Savannah was admiring the quartz in the rock she was holding.
Much further down and more hidden we explored the remains of an old building near the river.
Savannah loved this and I did too!!
I would love to come back and do a photoshoot here with Savannah in costume or dressed up.
After a while of talking and exploring we heard a train whistle blow. It sounded close so we decided to go see if a train was coming. It wasnt on this track but on a different one so we didnt get to see it.
So we went home after this and had a great night. We took her friends out to dinner because a resteraunt close by had "kids eat free on Tuesday". That rocks! We sang songs on the way home in the car and goofed around when walking her friends home.
I love having fun. I love spending time with Savannah. I love exploring.
I love life!
Having come with my family to help move my younger sister into her dorm for her freshman year at my own school, The University of Richmond, I have come even more face to face with the fact that I will be away for a whole semester from an environment that I truly love. During the official welcoming ceremony at the schools gymnasium, the Robins Center, each student testimonial reminded me how much the school and its environment has done for me. Hanging out and partying with friends of mine who have moved in early, I am reminded about both how much they mean to me and how much I will miss them. Overall, almost every encounter I have had this week – whether it is with a person, place, or a movie – has reminded me about how much I will miss being away from home; however, after dealing with all these realities, I am ironically ready now more than ever to go abroad.
The reason for this unexpected state of acceptance and excitement is quite simple: to get over all I will be missing from being away from college and home, I have been forced to remember how much even more I will be gaining from studying abroad in Jordan. For example, every time that I have had a doubt about whether I should still go abroad to Jordan, I think back to a speech delivered by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), the Ranking Democrat of the Senate Finance Committee, at a scholarship dinner I attended this past summer in D.C. During his speech, Senator Baucus commented on a year long backpacking trip he took through Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia immediately following his college graduation. Describing the trip as being more rewarding than any other experience in his life, including his experiences in the U.S. Senate, the Big Sky State’s junior senator charged me and the other students to travel to continents other than Europe and to immerse ourselves in cultures completely alien to our own. Whenever I think of Senator Baucus’ encouraging words, I then consider all the advantages that I will gain from spending an entire semester in the Middle East.
For example, I will begin to be able to speak the language of a region that our country needs to create much more understanding and dialogue with; and I will be able to experience the way the other half (if not more) of the world lives daily. I will also have the opportunity to see the real Arab perspective on many important issues. There for the taking, the opportunities listed above are only the tip of the iceberg of experiences offered by my trip to Jordan.
I’m not going to deny that saying goodbye to the people and places I love has been a tough ordeal; however, thinking of the opportunities offered by the rest of the world has made these last few days in the Good Old U.S. of A a lot easier!
-Joe
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