So...

Mmmmm root beer.... I just drank a few cans at a party I just went to. Now to firgure out which PS2 game to get: MGS3, Arcana Heart, or the Sega Classic Colletion (I think that's what it is called, it's the one that has Phantasy Star 2-4 on it)

"There isn't anything we cannot do together if we seek God's blessing and if we stay committed and are not deterred by the setbacks that often fall in every life," Clinton said.

When did Hillary become Mike Huckabee (he majored in miracles, not math!)? I mean, I'm sick of this attitude in this country that if you pray real real hard your invisible buddy in the sky will change the laws of mathematics for you.

Hot damn! The Phoenix Mars polar lander has successfully touched down on the Martian surface! Like, just now! It's a good day for science.

So I think I am going to test drive a 2009 Toyota Corolla tomorrow morning. According to the site I was working with, I can get one with all the options I want for about $21,000. I probably won't be buying right away, but I like what I see and if I can get a good deal I could be sold. It gets about 35 mpg highway, but some people have had it reach 40 before. Anyone happen to own a recent Corolla or have any other good recommendations?

Hot damn! The Phoenix Mars polar lander has successfully touched down on the Martian surface! Like, just now! It's a good day for science.

I am posting just for the sake of saying...

This is my 2,000th post.

Happy 2000th! This is my, like, 8th post -- or something around there.

Pardon me for geeking out here, but here's one of the first pics from Mars.

Yeah, I just read about the Phoenix Mars rover touchdown. This sort of stuff always fascinates me.

=0 didn't even know about it.
So what's everyone doing tomorrow? I get to have 'fun' opening at work and managing the shift. Not looking forward to it as it's going to be pretty slow 😞

rock_nog, that looks like the Mojave Desert.

As for me on Memorial Day, I'll be signing up for a softball team for this summer. Good plans indeed.

Good ol' NASA... reaffirming the long-held scientific belief that Mars has a lot of rocks.

Incidentally, the goal of this current mission is to try to determine if Mars is more than just a bunch of rocks. They landed at the north pole to search for water, and to try to confirm theories that Mars was once a more hospitable planet. Ultimately, they're investigating the possibility that Mars may once have had life.

They mentioned that the scoop was so that it could dig down and get under the surface, I'm thinking, why not just attatch a shovel or a drill to the bottom of the probe rather than make an arm that risks breaking?

There's a lot of reasons. I imagine the most important is that the bottom of the probe is covered in rockets - where would you put the drill? Also, you couldn't really see what you were doing, and they're probably gonna want to take samples from multiple areas.

I'm doing what I do on every day off I have. Do the dishes, play video games and surf the net. :kitty: Memorial Day is no different for me.

You could if you had placed cameras there.

Eh, my only point is how locked into standard thinking we seem to be for designing stuff.

Well then you'd have to install a light under there... And oh, forgot to mention, you're gonna want to put those soil samples into different labs. And your solution would still require a lot of moving parts, with no reason to think that it'd be less likely to break. What it really all boils down to is that with regards to the mechanical arm - we know it works, and we know it can handle all of the tasks that we need it to be able to do.

Wow, I haven't touched an eletronic device all weekend.

Anyways, Friday night was amazing. Appearently, we have a pack of coyotes living in a patch of trees in the middle of the neighborhood. Well, the smallest one came out around midnight, and from 50 yards away, my neighbor got a perfect headshot at it with his gun. It was pretty neat.

^^You must not live in a Blue State.

I'm about 95% convinced that I should drop AP English Literature in favor of Honors Physics, AP Calculus, and Spanish 4, three classes that will kill me next year. I don't intend on majoring in anything that favors English over science and math, so I see no need to take a second AP English (this year I took AP English Language). I'll break the AP English Lit course down:

We'd have to read 3 books, totaling about 1500 pages. Then, we need to write 500-1000 words for each book (giving opinions, reflection, etc.). Next, we have to write a two-page analysis on a passage from each book. Third, we have to write several pages on our current plans for college and reasons for selecting certain majors. Finally, though this is easy, we have to type out a list of our current achievements and services while being in high school.

Not to mention that we will read approximately 20 books throughout the rest of the year in AP English Lit. I've heard that taking this course is, quote, the biggest mistake of several people's high school careers.

I honestly find this course to be needlessly involved and therefore unnecessary for me. I understand we already talked about this on chat, but I'm curious on others' opinions.

I think I'd keep that class if I were you.

Yep, it's pointless to take AP Lit and Language (I took both). In my experience, AP Calculus is probably the only worthwhile AP class. Take that instead.

In the local oddities division, I just saw the weirdest thing - an alcohol rehab center literally located between two bars. They're all part of the same building, no less.

Heh, like those old Far Side strips, the ones that would place The Institue for the Study of Migrane Headaches right next to Floyd's Marching Band School.

Funny how that happens some times.

Icey wrote:Yep, it's pointless to take AP Lit and Language (I took both). In my experience, AP Calculus is probably the only worthwhile AP class. Take that instead.

That's what I figured. When I'm reading a book (which I rarely do anyway), I'm not trying to analyze the author's rhetorical strategies. I can barely stay awake, anyway. :sleep:

Okay, I'm officially out of AP English Lit. Screw it, I'm taking Academic English 4. Thanks everyone, including those in chat, for helping me make this decision.

Eh, I'm probably going to end up taking AP Lit, if only because I can't think of a reason not to.
:shrug:

I would definitely take AP English Lit if the teacher wouldn't require ten times more work than the course calls for. It all depends on the school and the teacher. Plus, just looking at my SAT and ACT scores, critical reading is by far the worst area in comparison.

I'm actually not sure who I'd have, except that I know that I don't know them. I'll have to ask around...

Eh, if I could put up with the torment of a *shudder* regular level English class I would, because senior year is the big sci-fi and fantasy year, but...

So...Russ...Your neighbor just randomly decided to shoot a small little coyote in the head?

uhh...may I ask why? If it was running over your turnip patch, attacking someone or invading your property, I can see why, but...otherwise, I thinks it's kinda cruel. Animals don't randomly kill other animals just for pleasure. They do it to defend their territory, and to survive.

:P Heck, I only squash spiders if they're indoors (they're in my territory). Outside...well, this ont time, I was aobut to put my foot down, and saw a spider that I was about to step on. I made sure to move my foot so I wouldn't squash it. Yeah, I might sound nuts, but I think we should respect our fellow creatures.

Now, WASPS on the other hand...😡 THOSE I think should be killed on sight, if possible. They serve no purpose, have little to no predators, and unlike bees (who pollinate, and make delicious honey) they can sting as much as they want and not die. If a Bee stings a large animal, the stinger gets caught in the animal, and the bee rips it's abdomen off, killing itself. And they know this too. They don't really sting you unless you threaten the hive, or trap them in a way that makes them think that they're gonna die for sure. Wasps, on the other hand have unlimited stings (well...they bite, actually) and they tend to use it more often.

>: ( and to top it off, there are now a lot more around my house than usual! Normally, whne I mow the lawn during the summer, I see like...one or to bees every second time I mow the lawn. This weekend...I saw like...FIVE. That and a few came bussing near my window this afternoon. Big bastards, not the tiny little ones. *shudders* Man...If we have a nest nearby.... :shakeno:

...*shivers* In case it doesn't show...I have a phobia for those little bastards. Got stung TWICE as a kid, once when I was 4 (the stupid bug wanted my popsicle, and I tried to shoo it away, and it bit me!), and onther time when I was about 8 (I was hiking with my grandparents, and I saw one flying around, so I ignored this strange fear I had all of the sudden, and I extended my finger. I landed on my index, and I looked at it, not totally sure of what it was, and thinking it kind of cute. Then...PAIN! MAJOR PAIN!). In previous years, seeing one would make me flee in a blind paninc, screaming. Now...I just try to walk away quickly, muttering very obsecene words under my breath.

>_< I hate those things...