So, the power is out in half of my apartment. Possibly because I plugged in a portable air conditioner (there's a possibility that this would have happened anyway, but I wouldn't put money on it). Fortunately there's still lights in the living room and kitchen, and the fridge is still getting power, but nothing is going to my bedroom, which is the only convenient place to set up my laptop. Also a critical piece of my apartment's internet equipment is bolted to the wall in the affected part of the building, so I'm having to post this from my phone. And I can't find, like, a fuse box or anything so I don't know how to fix it myself. And the office where I'd go to ask about this isn't open until Monday. All this is to say I probably won't be available at least until then. Possibly longer if it's not a simple fix.

Not sure what to do about what just happened. I wasn't able to log in to Deviantart for a bit, and when I tried to look at my page it just said 'Llama not found' (apparently Deviantart's way of saying a 404 error). Apparently a lot of other people experienced the same thing. That's... really not encouraging. Don't really know what to do about it though? I mean, I don't really want to stop posting on Deviantart, and it's not like stopping would fix it anyway...

A friend of mine, FeatherScratch (https://featherscratch.deviantart.com/) has another friend who is in some pretty deep trouble. If anyone could help them out, that would be really cool.

Check here for more details: https://featherscratch.deviantart.c.....hool-706649203

So... My birthday is coming up on the twentieth of this month. That's pretty exciting I guess.

I don't know how many people have played the Old World Blues DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, so here's a quick summary: The player character finds a crashed satellite in the ruins of a drive-in theater, projecting an ominous eye onto the theater's old screen. The satellite teleports them to the prewar research labs of Big Mountain (Otherwise known as the Big Empty) where a bunch of mad scientists remove their brain. The rest of the DLC revolves around trying to get it back.

But none of that is important right now. What IS important, is that a lot of offhand references are made by the scientists to a concept called 'brainial beam oscillation' (Which they stole from the Chinese). It's never explained what it is, or what it does, beyond that it has something to do with brains, and implying that it can somehow prevent people from thinking to put a slash through zeroes to differentiate them from the letter 'o'.

Overall, it was likely intended as a gag about the cheesy technobabble of the kind of fifties B-movies that the rest of OWB pays omage to. Except that it may actually be a real thing:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/9-badas.....nt-far-off_p2/

That link leads to a Cracked article about lasers. Number one on the list is how they can be used for mind control. Specifically, by engineering neurons with light sensitive proteins, so that they can be activated by precise laser bursts. Researchers have apparently already used lasers to do such things as remotely control worms, and to beam bad memories into flies. And it isn't just invertebrates that this works on. The techniques involved have also been adapted for macaques and it's being worked on for -humans- as well.

Now there are some pretty awesome applications for this kind of thing: new methods of treatment for neurological and psychological disorders, man-machine interfaces, and, yes, mind control. But reading about what's already been done (going back to the flies and worms here), it puts me in mind of the (admittedly vague) effects that brainial beam oscillation is mentioned as being able to have on humans. Now, I don't think this science as a whole has a name yet (optogenetics seems to refer specifically to the genetic engineering aspect needed to make neurons susceptible to laser triggering) but it sounds like a good candidate for making brainial beam oscillation into a REAL THING, and I am all for naming these techniques after a joke from Fallout.

Basically, I think this is basically what the scientists of Big MT. are talking about when they mention brainial beams. (Though I also like to think they figured out how to make a beam that didn't require genetically engineered neurons to be used in conjunction with it.)

This Journal is a year after the previous one and for exactly the same reason. Just letting everyone know my birthday is coming up.

...

I should probably write more Journals.

My birthday is officially two days from now, on the Twentieth. I only mention this because I haven't posted a journal in forever and I thought it might make a nice change of pace.

It is the best holiday. That's all there really is to say on the matter.

Just a short tally of what I found under the tree today.

-One boxed set of the Hunger Games (Which my prospects of reading are dubious)
-One copy of The Silvered (Which I am quite likely to read)
-One copy of STEAMPUNK: An Illustrated History of Fantastical Fiction, Fanciful Film and Other Victorian Visions (Which I am VERY likely to read indeed)
-One 1:1200 scale model of the U.S.S. Iowa (Which I look forward to assembling)
-One pocket knife with a wooden handle, with my name carved in it (Which do not expect to find use for at present time)
-One Nintendo 3DS (Which I am very excited about, but unlikely to find the time for)
-One bosun's whistle (Which I adore, but cannot figure out how to play)
-One dress shirt (Which worries me)
-An assortment of desert themed candies (Delicious)
-A crank operated music box which plays If I Only Had a Brain (Those of you who know me should get why I find this hilarious)

All in all, a pretty good year.

I have started an ask blog. Here is a link to it: http://brainy-twilight.tumblr.com/

However, I should warn you, it involves MLP and revolves around a particular brain in a jar. Don't look if you are uncomfortable with:

Ponies

Brains in jars

Or pony brains in jars.

If none of that bothers you, go ahead and give it a look!

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iAvG0buqa2Q

This is just absolutely astounding. I am well and truly gobsmacked by this development. I imagine that the toy industry is just going to eat this up.

This week, starting Monday, I'm going to be starting more classes, which means I'll be online less. Just letting you all know so you won't wonder where I've gone or why I'm not talking.

For the first time ever, I have completed every LEGO set in a theme! Granted, the theme is Monster Fighters, which I think is smaller compared to the others, but it is also awesome! I just love the aesthetics, and the minifigures are awesome! Except for the ghosts, who are kinda dumb, but there's only five of them, and they're depicted as being kind of a weaksause threat anyway. Their train is nice though, and it comes with a cool plane. Also, the Haunted House set is amazing! Also amazingly huge! Seriously, it took me two days to finish it, and normally it only takes me a couple of hours to put one of the bigger sets together. Anyway, yeah. Happiness is completing all the LEGO sets in a theme.

I also got Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 recently, but that's not nearly as interesting.

To anyone who was wondering where I've been the past two days, I'm sorry. I was moving, so I didn't have access to the internet beforehand, and I neglected to post a journal warning about this. I hope anyone who was mad can forgive me.

So an amazing friend of mine colored one of the pictures I uploaded. Here it is: http://024caitlyn.deviantart.com/ar.....ored-325562358

Bask in it's fully colored glory, and tell her how awesome she is for doing this.

I'm going to be leaving for about a week tomorrow, so I might not be able to be online until I get back. I hope anyone who wants to talk to me understands, and I thank you for your patience.

Am I the only person who finds orange juice to be almost undrinkable? I just cant seem to take more than a few sips before my stomach starts protesting. And I know it isn't the oranges because I've eaten oranges before and found them to be quite delicious. But I just can't stand them in juice form. Most peculiar.

Am I the only person who has problems with how long it takes Steam to install games? I mean, I pre-ordered Total War: SHOGUN 2, and when I clicked the install, it said it would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 hours. Since then, the estimated time of installment has been jumping all over the place, culminating in a situation where the whole thing STARTED ALL OVER FROM THE VERY BEGINNING! Now it says it'll take about a day to install! Wat.

This is why I prefer to buy my computer games at an actual store. Sure, buying them from home is more convenient than heading to a store. In theory. But every time I've bought a game from steam it has taken a really long time (the Total War example is just the most extreme thus far) whereas the longest time it's ever taken me to install a game from a CD is about two hours, at most. And yet, unless there is a game that doesn't come on steam at all, I'll probably keep using it anyway. *Le sigh.*

On a happier gaming note, I have recently acquired Solatorobo for the DS and it is most enjoyable!

Why are people watching me?! I haven't done anything worth watching! *Flails arms in the air.* They're out to get me I tells ya!

I was browsing the internet lately when I found THIS:

The Internet is a telephone system that's gotten uppity.
-Clifford Stoll

I now consider it my duty to spread this as far as possible. And so should you.

Also: this, this, and this.

The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it.
-John Perry Barlow

The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it.
-William Gibson

Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.
-Mitchell Kapor

But mostly that first one.

I was browsing the internet lately when I found THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW0cgBoWGVM

That video has given me the greatest idea ever. Someone should make a movie about a guy who invents a flying saucer in an alternate 1950's, and when the saucer first takes flight, he plays this exact song, all the while being watched by this huge, awestruck crowd. The part of the movie before this would involve the inventor struggling to get funding, because everyone thinks he's crazy. The part after would involve government agents trying to steal it, communist agents trying to steal it, and possibly aliens looking for his help in repairing their own craft.

I don't even care if anyone steals this concept either, just so long as I get to see the resultant movie.