Utmost Xaos

Alienados Defensores dos Animais

2012-02-02T20:13:00.000+01:00

Como é possível que alguém só consiga postar no facebook coisas relacionadas a animaizinhos perdidos, cachorrinhos abandonados, bichinhos maltratados!? Eu sei que os animais tem direito a serem bem tratados, e devem ser respeitados, mas putaquepariu!? Tudo tem limite! Para algumas pessoas parece que se aquele cachorrinho perdido encontrar um dono, 40% dos problemas da humanidade estarão resolvidos, os outros 40% serão resolvidos assim que ninguém mais abandonar bichinhos de estimação, e os últimos 20% assim que as pessoas perceberem que ser vira-lata não é errado e que eles também merecem um lar! Et voilá... Utopia Mundial!

A pessoa quando vê um animal perdido, faz um esforço hercúleo (posta no facebook ou compartilha o post dos outros) para ajudar o pobre animalzinho, mas quando alguém bate alguém na casa dela pedindo comida, deve virar a cara, ou diz que não tem... Isso não é nem mais hipocrisia, é alienação total, fuga total da realidade... A pessoa vive num mundo de fantasia!

Outro dia eu vi o cúmulo desse comportamento no facebook: A menina mandando mensagem desesperada, porque tinha uma "gang" de cachorros malvados correndo atrás de um cachorrinho! E o pobre cachorrinho tinha se escondido em algum lugar que eu não me lembro mais. E ela estava desesperada, dizendo o endereço onde isso estava acontecendo, pra que alguma alma caridosa pudesse salvar o pequeno animal dos cachorros malvados! Ela não podia, porque estava trabalhando no momento! Aham... Estava trabalhando, postando isso no facebook, enquanto olhava o cachorrinho sendo perseguido pela janela! AH!! VTNC!!! Vá caçar o que fazer, ou então ao invés de perder tempo escrevendo essas porcarias, vá lá e faça alguma coisa, você mesmo!

Esse mundo tá muito errado, e tudo culpa das pessoas erradas que vivem nele!

Out of Phase

2011-12-06T18:09:00.001+01:00

There are days when it really seems that I live a life that's totally out of phase with the rest of the world! Thus, someday you find someone and think that the person is in the same phase as you, but suddenly, usually too late, you realize this person is in the exactly opposite phase, and then: destructive interference! You lose some sanity points, gain some scars and life goes on again...

Thank you, Entropy, for the Chaos and Madness in my life! (By the way, this was a sarcastic exclamation!)

Usina Hidroelétrica de Belo Monte x Usina Nuclear de Angra III

2011-11-18T18:00:00.002+01:00

Belo Monte vai destruir uma área de 516km² da floresta amazônica, criando todos os problemas relacionados a este fato, terá potência máxima de geração de 11GW na época de chuva no Xingu, e 1GW na época da seca, tendo, então uma potência média de geração de energia em torno de 4GW, e vai custar R$ 30 bilhões. Angra III, gerará 1,35GW de energia quando estiver pronta, sem depender de chuva, cobrindo uma área menor que 1km², e tem um custo total de R$8,5 bilhões. Concluindo, 3 usinas nucleares como Angra III conseguem produzir a mesma quantidade de energia que Belo Monte na média, cobrindo uma área total ainda menor que 1km², e custando R$25,5 bilhões.

Agora, sobre os resíduos radioativos. A energia gerada por usinas nucleares nos EUA em 2010 foi de 807 bilhões de kWh, o que nos dá uma potência média de 224GW (http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf41.html ). Todas essas usinas juntas geram em torno de 2000 toneladas de resíduos por ano (ver http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/sw-generation.html). Agora vamos imaginar 3 usinas como Angra III, com um potência de geração total de 4,05GW, e proporcionalmente, gerará cerca de 36 toneladas de resíduos por ano. A maior parte dos resíduos radioativos deve ser urânio. Uma tonelada de água tem 1m³, mas como o urânio tem uma densidade 19 vezes maior que a da água, 1 tonelada de urânio tem um volume 19 vezes menor, o que nos dá um volume de 0,053m³, ou seja, durante o ano, as 3 usinas produziriam 1,9m³ de resíduo. Mas vamos exagerar um pouco, e como nem todo o resíduo é urânio, e ainda temos que concretar e isolar o material, então consideramos que a densidade será a metade da densidade do urânio, e o volume anual de resíduos gerados será 3,8m³. O volume total coberto pela represa e pela barragem de Belo Monte serão de 25 milhões de m³, ou seja, as 3 usinas precisariam de 6,5 milhões de anos para encher o mesmo volume com resíduos radioativos!

Agora me digam qual é a energia limpa!? Qual é mesmo a mais eficiente?

Custo do petróleo e da gasolina

2011-05-05T02:48:00.000+02:00

Um barril de petróleo contém 159 litros e está cotado a US$ 122,67 que convertendo equivale a R$ 196,27, ou seja, o litro de petróleo custa R$ 1,23. Um barril de petróleo pode produzir até 80 litros de gasolina, e várias outras substâncias. Com o preço atual da gasolina, os 80 litros custam em média uns R$ 240 reais, o que já paga todo o barril de petróleo, mas as outras substâncias também são vendidas. Se considerarmos que os outros 80 litros restantes, das outras substâncias, em média custa metade do preço da gasolina, veremos que um barril de petróleo custa para nós brasileiros uns R$ 360,00. Agora imagina que o custo de produção de um barril de petróleo numa plataforma em alto-mar é em torno de US$ 20,00 ou R$ 32,00. O lucro somado com os impostos fazem o preço subir mais de 1000%.

Imposto Único

2011-03-11T03:50:00.001+01:00

Hoje num desses programas obrigatórios de partidos políticos, um sujeito estava falando de implantar o tal imposto único com a reforma tributária. Como a CPMF, todo o imposto que você pagaria seria pelas movimentações financeiras que você faz. Segundo o que ele disse, uma tarifa de 1,7% do valor de cada movimentação financeira, seria o suficiente para gerar todo o dinheiro gerado por todos os impostos que nós pagamos.

A idéia é bastante interessante, já que assim fica praticamente impossível de sonegar impostos, a não ser que você guarde seu dinheiro debaixo do colchão. Seria bem legal, mas a meu ver tem uma falha bem grave que vai impedir totalmente uma idéia dessas de ir pra frente: é praticamente impossível um banco ganhar dinheiro num cenário desses, a não ser que tenhamos uma inflação bem maior que 1,7% ao mês, ou uma taxa de juros bem mais elevada do que nós temos.

Explicando: Bancos ganham dinheiro com os investimentos que os clientes fazem, muito mais dinheiro com as aplicações de médio e alto risco, e quase nenhum dinheiro com cadernetas de poupança e aplicações de baixo risco. Se quando você aplicar, você pagar 1,7% de imposto, você deve demorar alguns meses pra conseguir recuperar o dinheiro que perdeu com os impostos, o que impossibilita totalmente aplicações de curto prazo. Na época da CPMF, você pagava 0,38% quando aplicava, e 0,38% quando resgatava a aplicação. Se for igual com esse tal imposto único, você vai pagar 1,7% do dinheiro que aplicou, e 1,7% do dinheiro que resgatou, ou seja, você vai precisar de um rendimento maior que 3,4% pra fazer a aplicação valer a pena. Isso só é possível em aplicações de longo prazo ou de alto risco, coisa que poucas pessoas fazem, ou se os juros aumentarem mais para aumentar as taxas de ganho das aplicações mais seguras, o que seria péssimo pro país.

Idéia legal, mas impossível de ser aplicada sem uma revolução financeira! Se banqueiros não ganham dinheiro, a idéia é utópica demais! Eu não li o texto da proposta, e pode ser que talvez existam detalhes explicando os mecanismos de controle das aplicações financeiras. Se alguém souber, e quiser explicar, fique à vontade! :)

Of souls and songs

2011-02-04T04:37:00.001+01:00

A soul without a song, or a soul made of songs?
A Song that no one knows!
No one can hear, what only the eyes can reveal.
Reflections in the countless eyes of Infinity
But how many of them can hear?
Can you tell me the song?

Conumdrum I

2010-04-11T02:24:00.002+02:00

One of the best compliments I could ever receive is: "You are Lovecraftianly insane". Of course, that does not mean I want to spend anytime whatsoever in a sanatorium. Thus, I have no plans either to make people believe I have to spend sometime in such a place. Therefore, there is a very high probability tending to 1 that I will never receive such a compliment.

How to solve such a conumdrum?

Chuvas e Tragédias

2010-04-10T21:03:00.004+02:00

Não quero parecer insensível aqui, talvez eu até seja, mas que eu acho muita estupidez pessoas contruírem casa num barranco, em cima de um lixão, eu acho. Todas essas pessoas que morreram deveria ganhar um Darwin Awards! Lembro, vagamente, de um desastre desses que ocorreu em Contagem em 1992, lá na Vila Barraginha, e que foi a mesma coisa.

É papel do governo impedir essas construções em locais de risco, mas tenho a impressão que eles só se importam com isso, se é que realmente se importam, quando ocorre uma tragédia dessas. Afinal, vai queimar o filme do governante que deixou acontecer, e além disto, é menos dinheiro de imposto para os cofres públicos! (Mesmo morando na encosta de um morro prestes a desabar, o carinha lá deve receber a guia do IPTU pra pagar, tenho certeza!)

Apesar da culpa do governo, a maior culpa é do estúpido que resolveu construir a casa na beirada no lixão!! Parece que não tem senso nenhum de auto-preservação! É a mesma coisa de construir a casa num brejo durante a época da seca, e reclamar depois que choveu, inundou a casa e ele perdeu tudo! Só falta dizer que a chuva é culpa do governo, e que é papel dos governantes impedir a chuva de cair, pra não alagar a casa ou pro barranco que ele mora não cair. Sei que muitas das pessoas que morreram soterradas ali, não tem culpa de nada, afinal ninguém tem culpa de ter pais estúpidos que resolvem construir casas na beira do lixão, ou de estar visitando aquele parente na hora que a tempestade caiu...

Eu me solidarizo com a perda dessas pessoas, que estavam no lugar errado na hora errada, mas os idealizadores das construções nos locais de risco mereceram mesmo morrer ali. Desculpem-me os que discordam, pela minha aparente insensibilidade e rispidez. Tem determinados tipos de acidentes naturais, em que nenhuma das vítimas têm culpa alguma, mas em casos como esse do lixão em Niterói, e irresponsabilidade total de algumas pessoas, e a irresponsabilidade maior não é do governo, é do povo!

Falando em acidentes naturais, bem que podia cair um meteoro de uns 100m de diâmetro em cima do Congresso Nacional em Brasília, sem aviso nenhum, do nada, de preferência saindo de uma Ponte de Einstein-Rosen no meio da atmosfera! Num dia de plenário cheio, meio da semana, pra não escapar ninguém! Ia ser doido! Tinha pensado num vulcão, mas acho que as estatísticas seriam muito mais extremas! :P

P.S.: Referente às chuvas que deixaram São Paulo alagada, se eu morasse num lugar chamado Jardim Pantanal, eu construiria minha casa em cima de uma palafita!

O Retorno, eu acho!

2010-04-10T20:41:00.004+02:00

Bom, eu já tenho pensado em voltar a escrever aqui tem um tempo. Agora é uma boa hora. Eu estou escrevendo minha tese, que já deveria ter sido escrita a quase 2 anos, e é possível que voltar a escrever aqui me dê um pouco de inspiração, que anda faltando bastante na hora de escrever a tese, e ajude a melhorar meu traquejo com a língua.

Muita coisa ocorreu nos últimos 6 meses, desde meu último post, mas vamos deixá-las quietas no passado. Também, ando pensando em mudar o nome do blog. Acho que a fase do Xaos passou. Ainda estou pensando num novo nome, mas o endereço deve continuar o mesmo, por enquanto. O template já cansou também, mas eu não estou com tempo para mexer nisto. Depois que eu defender o doutorado, eu penso em refazê-lo! Na realidade, eu tenho que lembrar em como mexer nele, tem tanto tempo que eu mexi, que eu nem lembro mais em como editá-lo! O interessante é que mesmo sem escrever, meu blog manteve uma média de visitas de 170 por mês, não é muito, mas meu blog nunca foi mesmo muito popular. :P

Às vezes eu até tento escrever coisas no "twitter", mas nem sempre eu consigo me expressar bem com apenas 140 caracteres! Então, para as coisas que necessitam de um pouco mais de elaboração, continuarei utilizando o blog.

O Caos passou (nem tanto assim), mas a Insanidade continua!

Thermically Warm

2009-09-21T05:13:00.003+02:00

This weekend was HOT, in the thermodynamical sense of the word. I'm almost melting right now, and its passed midnight!

I was thinking about the state o continuous confusion and chaos inside my mind today, and I realized something... It is time to bring some harmony to my mind, and to do that there is only one way... I have to transpose the confusion and chaos inside my mind to the "real" world. I need some peace of mind, and the world needs more chaos. That is not a menacing thing, though... Chaos has many faces, and some of them are not really that bad!

If someone observe some very unpredictable facts happening somewhere, I might be around... or maybe it is just the consequences of some of my yet to take actions. With some luck, my actions might just trigger the next Ice Age to start this year!

Today one sleeps, tomorrow another awakes!

This post was finished while hearing: The Perennial Sophia - Therion

Songs of Entropy I

2009-09-18T18:12:00.003+02:00

DUST IN THE WIND
by Kansas

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind.
Oh________________

Don't hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
All your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind (everything is dust in the wind)

The Future Mirror's Tale of an Undreamed Past?

2009-09-17T05:52:00.013+02:00

I foresaw a future that is now in another one's past, and for me it seems lost... If lost, for how long? Maybe forever lost. But there is a future yet to happen, and that which this other foresees today could be the past of mine tomorrow... The lost will be found when no one seeks it anymore, or when you ask a Xaositect to find it for you. Know that Never is lost, when Forever is found. And when the future is not yet totally lost, where could it be retrieved?

There is still hope for the dreamer, when his life becomes his dream, and his dream becomes his life... This one should no be here, I know, but where? I also know the tale of the faerie who was afraid of a certain dragon, but now is not the time to tell this story. It, and everything else, shall be continued when that which may be lost, could be retrieved... Or when another one dreams the past of my future!

Strange but necessary...

I once saw the Mirror of Eyes, but It is now closed to me... What the Mirror showed me? A past that never was present, but was once a future... And Lo! Before the entrance to the Dreamland, the Mirror awaits for those who knows how to find it...

.sigh.

Hard Life to Live ends, while Summer in Berlin starts! The Eternal Idol Black Sabbath into Forever Young Alphaville... Now, all the desires of my Mind require a trip to the Dreaming, and there is my Mind's currently destination...

A Glass Desert

2009-09-16T04:39:00.004+02:00

Sometimes I feel like I need to pass some time as a nomad in the desert. Total silence, darkness, the cold wind blowing, a starlit sky, during the night! I prefer not to think about the daylight time, without a stillsuit and no melange.

I wonder if someday we will have a glass desert! It is somewhat distressful to think about the conditions that lead the sand in the desert to become glass, but that would be a sight to behold! Well, if there was any human left in the world to behold such a sight... Maybe cockroaches, scorpions, and flying jellyfishes...

Ok! I'm out of ideas... Synchronicity is almost over, and I want to sleep... Maybe tomorrow we will have a glass desert somewhere. While we don't have one, I will think about a sandy, or icy, or salty desert. Or just the silence, the darkness, coldness and stillness of the Void. (Without spice.)

The Poor Green Queen of Hearts!

2009-09-15T04:06:00.006+02:00

I don't know if my life needs more insanity, or if my insanity needs more life... But I know that in the future the world will be ruled by flying jellyfishes, and then it will end by hyper-dimensional tentacles...

.sigh.

The green Queen of hearts wants the martians out of the solar system, so she decided to use a reversed vacuum cleaner to blew Mars away... After that she decided to walk on the ceiling with her jellyfish companion. Unbeknownst to her is the fact that the jellyfish plots to overthrow her with the help of his were-lobsters minions!

So it has been written, and so it shall be done!

Raggatta de Blanc has just finished...

Restart

2009-08-12T15:19:00.002+02:00

This place needs a restart, and my life needs a boost...

I have posted this a long time ago, but I am feeling that I need to post this again. at least for me.

Litany Against Fear - Bene Gesserit

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."

Novo Natal

2008-12-24T17:51:00.004+01:00

A partir do ano que vem, comemoro o Natal no dia 27 de Setembro. Não é uma data aleatória, e acho que futuramente ela será lembrada por ter uma importância bem maior que a atual data... Eu acho! Ah, e não é o meu aniversário, diga-se de passagem.

Mas tomara que poucas pessoas comemorem o Natal nessa data, assim eu não tenho que me preocupar em enfrentar shoppings lotados na véspera do Natal.

Feliz Natal a todos! :)

Kallisto's Diary III - Brindol

2008-12-02T20:50:00.002+01:00

Brindol was a small city, but bigger than most of the other settlements the caravan crossed since I left my city. I can imagine around 7000 people living there. The majority of people living inside the city walls, and some fraction scattered around, living in farms. We arrived through one of the main gates, through a bridge crossing the Elsir River. It was night, and I was uncomfortably dirt, and very tired. I was too anxious to arrive there, and finally there I was...

Map of Brindol

I heard that the Silk and Spoon Inn was the best inn in the city. Ian decided to stay there with me, and later we found out that Zoltan was also there. Some of the other merchants in the caravan also got a room there. The Silk and Spoon is sponsored by the Ghallanda House, and that was a good sign. I got a single room, near Ian's room. The room was very clean, containing everything necessary for a very comfortable stay. The first thing I got after getting the room was a good and refreshing bath. Then I went to the tavern in the first floor to eat something, and then to bed...

Just the usual dreams... No sign of anything at all...

The next day I left the inn to walk around the city. I had to buy new clothes. The ones I had brought with me were already totally worn out. It took me all the morning, and part of the afternoon, to find something that suited me. I could not buy too many things, as I had just my backpack to carry my clothes. I like to wear blue and black, sometimes green or red, and black, too. I had bought with me three sets of clothes, and I had these three sets replaced in Brindol. A fancier set of clothes for the nights, mostly covered in blue and black, with some green details. And two sets of a more utilitarian nature to be used during the daytime, together with my leather armor, one black with red details, and the other one almost all covered in dark blue. If I had a horse of my own, I could buy many more clothes, and I would not have to worry about how to carry them in my backpack myself. As soon as I got the money I would buy a horse for me. I spent the rest of that day walking around the city. Nothing really exceptional. I started to wonder why I had to come to Brindol. It seemed just the usual small city. I spent the night at the Silk and Spoon's Tavern, having some fun. Ian was also there, but I have not seen Zoltan.

The people in Brindol was not so amazed to see a tiefling, so I really had no real problems while dealing with them. And most of them were really nice to me. The first impression was always an expression of awe, but after a while it was just normal. Just the usual expression of someone who have not seen a tiefling in a while, or was not expecting to see a tiefling...

The next day was just another day. Nothing worth of note happened. I spent the day walking though the city, looking for anything interesting, or a sign, something that would make my trip here have some sense, but there was nothing. I was starting to wonder about that dream, and if it was really an omen after all, or just a weird dream... I decided that if nothing happened before the caravan's departure date, I would follow the road with them, to whatever destination they have. I went to another tavern that night, the Marooned Schooner. I was not really excited that night, actually I was bored. I had the usual drinking in the tavern, while some bolder guys were trying to approach me... None of them really interesting... I was starting to miss home. I left the tavern and went back to the inn sooner than usual, much sooner, to spend some time alone with myself in my room. I slept, and I had no dreams that night.

Then came the third day in Brindol, and it was the same as the first two. Nothing really happened. I walked through the city again. Boredom was starting to fill me. I was anxious for something to happen, but I had the feeling that nothing was really supposed to happen here. The next day would be my last day in Brindol, and then I would follow the caravan again. That night I decided to have some real fun, at some other tavern. I called Ian, and he came with me to the Blue Parrot. We got a table near one of the walls. There was a group of patrons playing cards. That table would be a good place to make some money to myself, later... A while later, Zoltan entered the inn, and he sat at the bar desk. I have not seen him since the day we arrived here. I went to the bar to get some drinks, and to finally talk to Zoltan. I was decided to find out if he was really sent by my father do look after me. I asked him, if he would like to join me and Ian at our table, and he came with me to the table. I was finally starting to talk with him, when suddenly someone called Josh entered the Inn, psyched, thinking himself as the heart of the place, and just after that, the long expected sign finally came...

Inhuman Working Conditions

2008-11-04T17:27:00.004+01:00

Can anyone please quench the Sun? Or at least fix the AC Unit in the Astrophysics lab? It is simply impossible to work, melting inside the lab! I will have to strike until I have human working conditions again! All I wish is another Ice Age! Please? Anyone?

Coelhinho do Coração

2008-10-30T19:19:00.005+01:00

Como comentei na minha postagem anterior, estou jogando Spore. Em Spore você começa jogando com uma criatura unicelular no meio do oceano, a criatura vai evoluindo a medida que você adquire partes de DNA de outras criaturas, até ela adquirir patas e sair finalmente dos oceanos. Logo após, sua criatura continua na sua busca pela perfeição, continua evoluindo, até que ela tenha a capacidade mental pra se tornar um ser vivo consciente, e formar uma tribo. A tribo eventualmente se desenvolve numa civilização, e esta por sua vez um dia chega ao espaço e então você tem que conquistar a Galáxia.

No meu jogo mais avançado, eu já cheguei a fase da civilização. A minha criatura mais avançada é o Coelhinho, que vive no planeta Coração. É uma criaturinha singela, fofinha, como vocês podem ver abaixo nas imagens:

Bem graciosa, não é verdade? Os Coelhinhos são uma espécie carnívora, predadora e altamente agressiva, que durante o seu processo de evolução acabou exterminando várias espécies inferiores. E assim que eles saírem do Planeta Coração, farão da Galáxia o melhor lugar do Universo, onde a única espécie permitida serão Coelhinhos...

Caso haja alguma dúvida, na face dos Coelhinhos existem tentáculos, e não chifres. Os chifres se encontram apenas no alto de suas cabeças. E aquelas coisas nos ombros são espinhos venenosos que podem ser lançados a distância. =)

Cliquem nas imagens para ampliá-las, caso assim desejem. :P

Games for the Future (?)

2008-10-30T01:21:00.004+01:00

Here is the list of games that I have to buy and play in my near future:

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
Mass Effect (PC)
Bioshock (PC or PS3)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Rock Band 2 (PS3)
Fallout 3 (PS3 or PC)
The Witcher (PC)

That is the list of games already released that I do not have. I still have to finish Assassin's Creed for my PS3, and I am kind of playing Spore for the PC too.

My first priority in that list is Fallout 3, and I guess I will give me that as a birthday present next month. :)

Of course, I will probably not be able to play all those games soon, as I have a PhD to finish, but I will use some of my almost ephemeral spare time to play something.

Actually, I also have a huge line of books to read, too...

Kallisto what?

2008-10-30T01:03:00.003+01:00

You might be wondering - who in The Nine Hell's of Baator is Kallisto? Well... Kallisto is simply my current RPG character, and I decided to write an adventure diary to her. Inside there you will find her views about the facts that happened in her adventures. Kallisto lives in a world called Eberron, in the continent of Khorvaire, and until now, lived her life in a small undisclosed town in the country of Breland.

If you have no interest in RPG or in a Fantasy setting, you might as well just skip all the entries in Kallisto's diary, otherwise, you can keep reading as her adventures unfold. There are at least three entries in her diary, that were not written yet, but they will be written in the next few days... And she will still have a lot of stories to share with you, I hope...

Kallisto's Diary II - Going to Brindol

2008-10-28T18:38:00.006+01:00

The trip to Brindol took around 3 weeks, and the caravan had no problems at all during the trip. That does not reflect exactly my situation though. I am a tielfing, and a tiefling is not a common sight is most of the Khorvaire's territory, not even in the cosmopolitan country of Breland where I always lived. The fact that I have demon blood running through my veins does not mean that I am an evil person, or that I am a bad omen, as some people think. And there are many other and worse superstitious tales regarding us tieflings. Merchants are used to meet tieflings in their trips, it is unusual though. During my entire life,I had not yet met even a handful of my kin.I am not a unique person, and we tieflings once had our own great civilization. Common folk, though, are more superstitious, and usually got uneasy with in the presence of tieflings. And of course that was bound to happend with the common folk travelling with the caravan. I am proud of being a tiefling, and I don't care about what people think about us, so I decided not to hide my racial identity. I never had any problems with my racial identity, and it won't be now that I will start to hide my heritage. To make everyone's life easier I had decided to be the further I could from those suspecting folks. And I was always near some of the more open minded merchants, and some of the more accepting travellers.

The trip was a very peaceful one, and after some days without incidents, people started to leave their prejudices behind and be more relaxed around me. I am good at dealing with people, and it makes me good at making friends. This skill helped me a "little" bit during the journey. I am a tiefling, but I am first a girl, and in my 18 years of life, I learned very well how to deal with most men. I also know that most men feel very attracted to me, they usually tell me that I have an exotic kind of beauty. The fact that I have a crown of horns in my head, and a tail, does not make me ugly. In fact, it quite the opposite. The fact that I am so different from most girls, make me attract men more easily than if I was just human or even elvish. This helps me a lot some times. Men, no matter if human, elven, dwarven, or whatever, are always the same, and they are always very eager to help a beautiful defenseless girl. Unfortunately, that usually does not work with the women, and most seems to like me less and less if their men start to help me too much. To gain the confidence of a woman you have to follow a different approach, and one that does not work for me all the time. Woman are much more suspicious than men, more yet when their mates did not take their eyes off me, as it usually happen.

To minimize all my problems with men and women, I chose someone to be my best friend during the trip to Brindol. A guy called Ian, a wizards as my father, and also going to Brindol. We had lots of very interesting chats about a lot of interesting subjects. He has a very deep arcane knowledge, and that is one of my favourite subjects. And he also knows a lot about history and other stuff, so he was always trying to impress me with his knowledge. It was very easy to become his friend, and I spent most of the time in the trip chating with him. He is kind of cute, but not really my type. I liked his company, and that was it. And of course, that help me with the women. At least, I was not alone, and I was not spending my free time talking with anyone else's boyfriend or husband. The women thought I was interested in him, and because of that they left me alone.

There was this other guy, Zoltan. He was the quiet type, with a very deep scar in his face. A man of few words. I got the feeling that if my father was paying someone to take a look at me, it was this guy. I got him looking at me from afar many times. Whenevert something troublesome was starting to boil near me, he was there to help sort things out. And he was also working for the merchants, as a hired guard. It was just a feeling.

I had no weird dreams during the trip, and that was very fortunate for me. It would surely arouse people's suspicious towards me. Strangely, with each passing day, I felt more connected to the stars. I started to fell that those uncontrolled powers were tamed after all. I don't know how that happened, I just felt that I could use them if I concentrate, whenever I wanted. Even feeling like that, I decided not to test if I really had such control over my powers or not... I thought Brindol would be the perfect place to test my control over my strange powers.

We passed through many small towns, and villages during the trip. And the caravan always stopped at those places for a day or two before taking the path to Darguun again. It was always good when we stopped at those civilized places. I could have some fun at night in the taverns, I could have a real bed to sleep, and the best thing was to take a good and needed bath. I got used to sleep inside tents on the cold floor with my bedroll, but I could not get used to be two or three days without a bath. Ian, always a good company during the journey, could not stay awake for a drink or two in the taverns. He always had something to eat, and drink, and always left before the party really started. I had to have my fun with the other people, with that I started to be closer to the other people in the caravan, and I always had a new friends the day after. Ian seems to be too old and grumpy sometimes, but he is a nice guy overall.

After three weeks of journey, the caravan reached Brindol. Most of the common folk that started the trip with me, left in one of those small towns. All the merchants and hired guards were already very friendly towards me. Just a few suspicious people left, and they were happy to see me finally leaving. The few clothes I had brought with me were already worn out and very dirty. I had to buy more clothes as soon as I was able. Maybe I could wash my dirty clothes and sell them somewhere. But my greatest desire after that long journey was a horse. If I had a horse I could carry a lot of clothes, and all the things a girl need to survive in the wilderness. Unfortunately, I had not enough money to buy my dreamed horse yet.

Zoltan, the strange guy, left the caravan in Brindol too. The merchants suggested the Silk and Spoon Inn, so we went there for a place to stay. We rented rooms there, and later we found out that Zoltan was also there. I was starting to get suspicious of this Zoltan guy. I had to keep my eyes open on him.

I was in Brindol after all. I had to test if my feeling about my powers were correct, and something was telling me that Brindol would be the perfect place for that. And I had to wait for a sign... After all, what was I supposed to do here in this city? I am sure something was going to happen, but what, and when? Would the sign be another dream or I would find them looking at the stars?

Kallisto's Diary I

2008-10-14T20:38:00.007+02:00

I always had those weird dreams, since I was a small girl, but never before they told me what to do. Even being just a dream, I knew that for some reason I had to go to that city, as I have seen in the dream. I was never so certain of anything as I was certain of that. And I could see, looking at the stars, that something was really supposed to happen.

Since my early teen years, for some strange reason, I started to discover some mysterious powers contained within me, and I knew the source of those powers were the stars, or maybe something among the stars. Strange names, words appeared in my mind, my mouth performed the eldritch utterances and what followed were small, sometimes not so small, bursts of energy, coming from my own being, or from the stars themselves. The understanding of that was far beyond my comprehension. I was just a kid, but I was never scared, and I knew that was part of me.

I can say that the stars, then the dreams, and finally those powers help me define who I am, or better, who I was by that time. Of course, my bloodline, my family and friends also helped to define myself, but the weird is what sets you apart from the pack.

After that dream, I got the revelation that my path would start at the city of Brindol, but that was not the only revelation I got that night. When I awoke I knew my real name was not to be used for a while. Something inside me told me that your real name was not a given name, but a name earned by yourself. Kallisto was the name my mother had chosen to me before I was born, when she was still alive, as my father always told me. And I always loved that name. My friends always called me Silver, though. So it was not so difficult to choose another alias. And after the dream I started to use the name of Silver. The name Kallisto was kept only in my identification and traveling papers, and the true name I earn is still lost among the unknown stars.

I had to find where was this city before departing, and after looking for information on the countless books in my father's library, I discovered it was in Darguun. I always thought about the day when I would leave my home, and my father, and start a life of my own, exploring the world, but I never thought my first stop would be in Darguun. I expected something like Aundair, the Eldeen Reaches, or even Zilargo, but never Darguun. The unexpected was always funnier and more interesting than the carefully planned. I started to made the preparations, hidden from the watchful eyes of my father. I knew it was very difficult to hide something from a wizard inside his own house, and my father was a very experienced one, but I tried it anyway. But the day after I started to prepare my things, he came to me to talk about my strange behavior of lately.

He always knew about the dreams, and the stars, and those weird powers, and that seemed to scare him a little bit. But he also knew it was part of me. When I told him about Brindol, he knew I was meant to go there. Coincidently, he had just met some merchants, part of a caravan that had just arrived at our town, and they were heading that way. That struck him as an omen. Of course, it was not so easy, as it seemed to be. I had to convince him, that I would stay safe, and I had to promise that I would not look for trouble, and if a dire situation arise I would leave the city immediately, and go back home. He did not think I was ready, but he knew he could not convince me otherwise. After all, once he was my age, too. And I am sure he paid someone in the caravan to keep an eye on me. I love my father, and I knew that he just wanted to be sure that nothing bad would happen to his only daughter.

I spent the last two days in my village, with my father during the day. He kept telling stories about his days of adventures, and about what to do, and what never do in case of danger. He covered so many situations that I could barely remember most of them. He was always a good father, and I miss him. The nights I spent with my friends, drinking, eating and singing at the local tavern. I will never forget those days.

The life of near ignorance of the world was gone. Before me was my path, a path I was not so sure was under my control, and a path that I did not know where would lead me... A path that would lead me to a far away city, in the middle of a unknown country... Brindol...

The caravan left my town in Breland, heading east to Darguun, five days after that revealing dream... Brindol was also near the Mournlands, a place covered by mistery, death, chaos, and decay... Was I ready for this trip? I was anxious, excited, but there was also fear... I was alone for the first time in my life... Would those uncontrolled powers help me if I need them?

Estagnação mental e um talvez qualquer

2008-10-06T22:31:00.005+02:00

Um mês sem escrever aqui, e o mundo está acabando. Economia mundial em crise, na próxima terça começa a invasão alienígena, e meu doutorado estagnado. O LHC está parado, e parou antes da primeira colisão. Muito sem graça. Nenhum buraco-negro foi criado para destruir o planeta, agora só no início do ano que vem. Vamos ver se a economia colapsa de vez, e logo, porque aí não precisamos esperar mais 6 meses para o fim do mundo. Ou que esses aliens apareçam mesmo e cheguem pra criar Caos no planeta.

Como podem notar, estou perdendo a paciência pra chegada do Apocalipse! :P

Jogando Half-Life 2 - Episode 2, ainda lendo Grande Sertão: Veredas.

Amanhã tenho uma prova didática para professor substituto no CEFET. Salário baixo, três matérias da matemática (Cálculo I, Cálculo III e Equações Diferenciais A), pra começar semana que vem, dando de 3 a 4 aulas por dia. Resumindo, ou me mato preparando e dando aulas, ganhando quase nada, ou continuo meu doutorado. A escolha é meio óbvia. Acho que nem vou aparecer lá amanhã pra perder meu tempo. E teria que apresentar uma aula de uns 20 minutos sobre Séries de Taylor. Prefiro dar prioridade pro meu programa que não funciona, e esperar um cataclisma...

Está na hora do mundo ficar cyberpunk de verdade.

Sobre Tapetes de Banheiro

2008-09-05T13:33:00.006+02:00

Eu nunca nem percebi que tapetes de banheiro têm frente e verso. A única finalidade do tapete pra mim é não deixar o chão do banheiro molhar assim que você sai do banho. Quando ele está pendurado no box, eu o puxo, jogo no chão e arrasto com o pé até mais ou menos a entrada/saída do box, e é isso aí. Depois do banho, piso nele, pego a toalha, e me enxugo sobre o aparato de tecido supracitado.

Tempos atrás, percebi que de repente, havia dois tapetes pendurados sobre o box. Pensei comigo mesmo que devia ser porque a parede onde se encontram as toalhas ficavam a mais de dois passos do box, e o segundo tapete era pra fazer uma ponte até a parede, para não molhar o chão. E desde então é o que eu sempre faço. Um pequeno caminho de tapetes até as toalhas.

Não é que eu estava errado. A finalidade não é essa, e ontem descobri o porquê dos dois tapetes. Segundo o que me foi dito, um dos tapetes é o tapete da minha irmã, que não gosta que eu o use, porque eu o uso ao contrário, do lado errado!!!! E o tapete fica molhado do lado errado!!!! Mal sabe ela que eu uso os dois tapetes ao mesmo tempo!

Pelamordedeus!!! Convenhamos, tapetes, como objetos praticamente bidimensionais e permeáveis, quando se molha uma de suas superfícies, automaticamente se molha a outra! Eu mal percebo a diferença entre o lado da frente e o lado de trás do tapete, na realidade, eu nem sei diferenciar os dois lados. Pra mim é tudo igual! Como alguém pode ser tão chato a ponto de reclamar que se usou o tapete do banheiro com a superfície errada voltada para cima, ou pior, que se molhou a superfícies errada de um tapete de banheiro!??? Será que também tem a posição certa para que ele seja usado? Com o lado menor totalmente paralelo ao vidro do box, e exatos 33,5 cm de distância do mesmo!? Será que esses fatores dependem do tamanho, cor e estilo do tapete? Alguém sabe de algum curso onde se ensina como colocar um tapete no banheiro!? E alguém sabe de alguma maneira de se molhar apenas um dos lados do tapete!? Talvez esse seja meu real problema!!

Só faltam colocarem uma etiquetinha, dizendo qual dos tapetes eu, como um ignorante sobre o uso de tapetes de banheiro, devo utilizar!

De qualquer forma, continuarei utilizando os dois tapetes para fazer a "pontezinha" até as toalhas, enquanto não faço um curso que me ensine os procedimentos corretos que devem ser adotados com os tapetes de banheiro.

Qualquer informação elucidativa sobre tais, agora misteriosos, objetos é muito bem vinda! :P

Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira

2008-09-04T17:16:00.003+02:00

Li o livro "Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira" em julho. Inicialmente me assustei com o modo de escrita do autor, José Saramago. Como português, ele utilizou o Português de Portugal, que é bem diferente do nosso Português no Brasil, mas nada que faça o livro incompreesível, só diferente. Aprendi um monte de palavras novas com o livro. Os diálogos sempre ficam dentro dos parágrafos, separados entre si e do texto do parágrafo apenas por vírgulas. É meio confuso no início, mas depois que se acostuma a leitura fica fluida.

A estória é bem interessante. De repente, ocorre uma epidemia de cegueira, pessoas começam a ficar cegas do nada, e a epidemia se espalha por todo um país. As pessoas têm que reaprender a viver cegas. O governo com medo da epidemia, isola todas as pessoas que adquirem a cegueira, presas e vigiadas constantemente dentro de um prédio, mas mesmo assim a epidemia não é contida. O autor narra os fatos que ocorrem dentro do prédio onde os primeiros cegos foram colocados de quarentena. Dentro do prédio, a esposa de um dos cegos se faz de cega para não deixar o marido, mas enxerga tudo o que ocorre. E ela começa a notar toda a degradação que vai ocorrendo enquanto o tempo passa dentro do prédio. As pessoas se tornando cada vez menos racionais, e animalescas.

O livro é chocante muitas vezes, e cheio de escatologias, mas não deixa de ser muito bom. Realismo fantástico. Diferente. E mostra que não existe uma grande diferença entre humanos e animais, e que a linha que divide os dois grupos é muito tênue, e quase imperceptível.

Eu ainda penso sobre o que exatamente o autor quis passar com o livro, mas ainda não cheguei a nenhuma conclusão. Parece que esta semana estréia o filme nos cinemas, e acho que é uma boa assistir, talvez eu pegue algo que não peguei durante a leitura, e consiga chegar a alguma conclusão.

Agora, criei vergonha na cara, e estou lendo Grande Sertão: Veredas - Guimarães Rosa. Apesar da leitura meio difícil estou gostando muito!

Zeitgeist

2008-09-02T23:10:00.004+02:00

Sometime ago I watched a movie called Zeitgeist, a documentary that tells some supposed truths about our world. It is full of conspiracy theories, but it is very interesting, and I believe some of the facts there are really true.

The first part is about religion, and that is the scariest but the best part of the movie in my opinion. The second part is about the World Trade Center Incident in 2001, and the last one is about the world economic system.

It is a long movie, about 2h 20min, and it deserves to be fully watched. But first, as you might have your world foundations shaken, and even shattered, be advised to be prepared before hit the link below and play it.

By the way, I love Conspiracy Theories! If I do believe in them? Well, sometimes, but not always...

Here is the link: Zeitgeist - The Movie

Legends of Dune

2008-09-02T18:43:00.003+02:00

The "Legends of Dune" is a trilogy of books that tells the story of the Butlerian Jihad, a conflict that defined much of what is known in the Dune Universe. Dune, by Frank Herbert, is one of the best books I have read so far in my life. It is must-read book for any Science Fiction fan. But Dune is not the book I want to talk about here today.

The "Legends of Dune" trilogy is composed by: The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and The Battle of Corrin. The story of these books happens around 10000 years before the original Dune. By that time the human civilization had already colonized a great part of the Galaxy, but was in conflict with the Thinking Machines and the Cymeks. The Thinking Machines had rebelled against its human creators centuries earlier, and since then started to enslave humanity as a mean to create more efficient worlds. Not all human planets were under the influence of the thinking machines, and these planets formed the League of Nobles that fought the machines. The Cymeks are people with human brains and machine bodies, that before Omnius takeover were the ones that ruled humanity ruthlessly.

When the story starts the Machines have already rebelled against humanity around a thousand years earlier, and since then humanity is fighting against Omnius (the Machine Evermind). The Cymeks, led by the Titan Agamemnon, are not under machine control, but they help Omnius, secretly plotting against it, with the real objective of turning all humanity in slaves or cymeks, and ruling the Galaxy again, as was before the machine domination.

The Machines do not comprehend humanity, and just want to create a harmonious and efficient society, and because of that they started to enslave the human worlds. The Cymeks hate humanity, because of their frailty and because of the stagnation and bureaucracy that covered their worlds. And the humans, hate the machines and cymeks because they have enslaved and slaughtered billions of humans over the centuries of conflict.

The "two-sided" conflict was in a stand still, and neither side had gained any terrain against the other for some time. That is the Universe situation when the first book starts.

"The Butlerian Jihad" tells how this conflict that was in a stand still for so long turned into a full scale Jihad against the Machines. "The Machine Crusade" tells about the time some years after the beginning of the Jihad, and also tells about some developments that happened during that time of war in the human side, and also in the machine side. And "The Battle of Corrin" tells about how the war against the machine was won.

Very straightforward, but the fun of these books does not lie in the Jihad exactly, but in how the Universe has been shaped by it. You can see the influence of the Atreides and Harknonnen in the conflict, long before they were named Great Houses. How have begun: the House Corrino, the Bene-Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Mentats, and the Freeman. How people started to get addicted in Melange. Why the Tleilax are hated and outlawed all over the Empire. How some of the human technological breakthroughs like the energy shields, the space-folding engines were developed. And obviously why the use of thinking machines, and nuclear weapons was banned by the Empire.

You have to have read at least the original Dune, to savor these books properly, and I am sure that if you are already a Dune fan, you will love these books as I did.

By the end the fanaticism and zeal of humanity against the Thinking Machines were so strong that they seemed to be irrational beasts fighting the machines, using whatever means they could to attain victory. While the Machines were just defending themselves, and fighting because they could not understand the unpredictability of the human mind, always trying to replicate the actions of humans. I can not see any of the Thinking Machines in the books as the great villains, some of the cymeks could be seen as villains, but the greatest of all the villains came from the human side, and no, none of them were a Harkonnen.

The ending of the trilogy was a little too fast for me, a lot of unexpected, stunning and very decisive events happening in the last hundred pages. I did not like that very much, but overall the trilogy of books is a very good one, and I suggest it for anyone who likes Science Fiction.

Idéias à Deriva

2008-08-19T06:04:00.005+02:00

Uma lista de textos que eu disse que escreveria, e que até hoje eu não escrevi, mas que podem ser escritos num futuro não tão distante:

Acontecimentos do último Reveillon;
Minha visão sobre a sociedade americana;
Minha opinião sobre a nova edição de Dungeons & Dragons;
Dia de Falar como Físico.

Agora uma lista de textos que eu já pensei em escrever, e nunca escrevi:

A carta aleatória para uma pessoa aleatória;
Sobre Smallville;
Livros que eu li ultimamente: Ensaio sobre a Cegueira, e a trilogia "Legends of Dune";
Sobre a última Escola Avançada de Astrofísica;
Alguma coisa sobre o Batman (pensei neste hoje);
Déjà vu (e neste também).

Devem ter outros, do quais não estou me lembrando no momento, mas pode ser que um dia eu volte a lembrar. Talvez eu utilize esta lista para os meus próximos textos, ou talvez eu nunca escreva nada sobre as coisas nessa lista... Quem sabe?

O pior é eu ter ligado o computador, já indo dormir, só pra escrever essa lista. E "déjà vu" é uma coisa deveras sinistra!

THE "Mihalas"

2008-08-14T02:38:00.004+02:00

Yes!! Now I have an original copy of the "Stellar Atmospheres" book, by Dimitri Mihalas. The book is like The Bible for everyone who works with Radiative Transfer in Astrophysics. Since I first got my hand in this book, 2 or 3 years ago, this is the number ONE book in my wish list, but, unfortunately for me, the book is out of print since a time immemorial, and no one who I knew have this book would sell it. I could find used versions of the book, but always for more than $200.

Last month, I was browsing through Amazon looking for books to buy, and then I decided to look for it again. Then I saw it, a copy of the book being sold there by less than a hundred dollars. The description was saying the book was in good conditions. Then I thought with myself, or I buy it now, or I will never find such a bargain again in my life. I thought for 2 seconds, before adding it to my shopping cart. And then the waiting started...

Today THE book was delivered at my place, here in Brasil, after a little more than 2 weeks. I was just expecting it by the end of August or maybe even mid-september, but it took only 2 weeks! I was also expecting a somewhat used book, maybe a worn used book, but when I look at it, I was stunned... The book was in an almost perfect condition, and seemed to have barely been used at all. Just some small scratches at the edges of the hardcover, and it is a 30-YEARS OLD book. I am gleeful with my new aquisition!!

NOW I HAVE THE LEGENDARY "MIHALAS"! And I can even dream with my PhD, without remorse of not having "THE Mihalas". I swear that I will put the book to good use, and I will not use its power to strengthen the Evil in this world. It will only be used to bring more Entropy to this dimension! =D

Header Phrases - Battle of Corrin

2008-08-12T02:47:00.003+02:00

Greatness had its own rewards... and bears its own terrible costs.
Primero Xavier Harkonnen

The path to victory is not always direct.
Tlaloc

The line between life and death is sharp and quick in the desert.
Admonition to Spice Prospectors

The Universe constantly challenges us with more opponents than we can handle. Why then must we always strive to create enemies of our own?
Swordmaster Istian Goss

Those who have everything value nothing. Those who have nothing value everything.
Raquella Berto-Anirul

War is a violent form of business.
Adrien Venport

Technology should have freed man from the burdens of life. Instead, it imprisoned him.
Rayna Butler

Evolution is the handmaiden of Death.
Naib Ishmael

If there is no plausible hope for survival, is it better to know that you are doomed, or simply exist in the blissful ignorance until the end?
Primero Quentin Butler

When men achieve paradise in this life, the result is inevitable: They go soft, lose their skills, their edge.
Zensunni Sutra

Successful creative energy involves the harnessing of controlled madness. I am convinced of this.
Erasmus

The deadliest of poisons cannot be analyzed in any laboratory, for they are in the mind.
Raquella Berto-Anirul

The Weird that might not be so weird

2008-08-02T20:21:00.005+02:00

... and if all those absurd conspiracy theories, that seem to come from the delirious mind of some people, were nothing but a background to confuse, and hide the real conspiracy!?

There are so many weird conspiracy theories around the world, regarding whatever theme suits you best, and most of them are so absurd that it is very easy to simply regard them as just fantasy, bullshit, and the work of a very delirious mind... But, if that was something planned, something carefully woven as the great tapestry of all time. A tapestry of facts, where 99% of them are just too absurd to be believed, but the remaining 1% is not so absurd after all, and actually mirror exactly what is really happening... You look at the bigger picture and all you see is fantasy, illusions, a world that seem so far from the truth that you disregard the whole picture, not even looking at the Real details... Blindness and Disinformation.

Why? Because we think that we are too smart to be deceived. We are simply arrogant in our own blindness. The ones who know the truth, thus can control you, watching your blind life, and laughing at it...

Just a small rant about things yet to come...

2008-07-29T05:07:00.007+02:00

Iblis Ginjo, the Counsel of the Jihad, and the Jipol suck!!!

Xavier Harkonnen, Vorian Atreides and Norma Cenva rule!!! \m/,

ALL MY PRAISES TO THE LADY OF PAIN, THE ALMIGHTY RULER AND GODDESS OF SIGIL!! (I wonder how long will it take for HER to find me out, and maze me! =D)

Bolinhas de Gude e Bene Tleilax!

2008-07-29T04:34:00.006+02:00

"The spice must flow, and the green transparent marbles must be hated." - The Spacing Guild Handbook of Galactic Paper Folding and Commercial Enterprises

Se tem uma coisa que me deixa MUITO nervoso, são bolinhas de gude! Elas são verdes, e meio transparentes! Tem coisa mais revoltante do que coisas verdes e transparentes!? Claro que não!!

Eu sou verde, entretanto, eu sou totalmente opaco! Aceitável pelos padrões sócio-econômicos normais e pela CNTP! Mas eu não sou mau, e portanto sou a exceção viva à regra: "Se é verde, é mau, e deve morrer!" A maldade está diretamente ligada ao processo de produzir energia através da fotossíntese! Bom... eu acho! Sei que ainda não faço fotossíntese, mas quem sabe um dia!? Mas será que quando este dia chegar, eu serei alguém mau?

Bolinhas de gude são más! Pelo menos hoje, elas são... Amanhã talvez eu sinta um pouco menos de asco em relação a elas, ou talvez eu nem me lembre de que hoje eu as tenha odiado! Ódio é uma palavra muito forte, mas cabe bem no caso... Eu ODEIO queijo, e hoje, bolinhas de gude! Queijo eu sempre odiarei...

O que seria da raça humana se não fossem os médicos!? Minha opinião é a de que seríamos mais baratas, e mais humanos... Homens-baratas!? Não... Antes que perguntem, eu nunca li! O quê!? Se você se sente confuso, não se preocupe, você também nunca leu, o que não importa. Talvez os humanos fossem até mais verdes... Hmmm... Então seriam maus, e deveriam ser exterminados! Azul é uma boa cor... Talvez fossêmos homens-baratas-azuis! Com certeza seria mais divertido...

E o que as bolinhas de gude têm a ver com isso!? Bom, em algum momento você leu que elas eram culpadas de alguma coisa!? Se leu está enganado! Eu simplesmente odeio bolinhas de gude hoje, pelo simples fato de ter que odiar alguma coisa todo dia... Odiar políticos, advogados, e queijo não tem mais graça! Preciso de um ódio novo! Bolinhas de gude verde e transparentes hoje, e amanhã, hmmm... Amanhã é um novo dia!

Vou continuar lendo "The Battle fo Corrin". E eu sinto, também, uma certa repulsa, talvez eterna, pelos Bene Tleilax a partir de hoje... "Axlotl Tanks"!? Tleilax é uma palavra muito legal de se pronunciar, agora Axlotl, eu nem sei se alguma língua terrestre consegue reproduzir tal som com perfeição, mas mesmo assim eu adorei a palavra. O problema é o conceito ligado aos "Axlotl Tanks". Acho que nem mesmo a mais verde é má das criaturas seria capaz de por em prática tal conceito, só os Bene Tleilax mesmo! Deve ser tudo viado!

Small (True) Dialogue

2008-07-10T02:45:00.005+02:00

...
GH of Xaos: And if I am GOD?
SM: Then you suck at it!
Both: HAUhAUhUAHuAHuAHUha...
...

Another Day, Another Step

2008-07-10T02:06:00.003+02:00

It is been another day, and in this special day, nothing special really happened. Actually, I saw in the news that Iran just tested some long range missiles that stroke their targets accurately. I also discovered that Russia's president is not Vladimir Putin anymore. The new President is Dmitry Medvedev (cool name), and he loves the classical Hard Rock from the 70s and 80s. This guy loves Rock'n'Roll and has nuclear weapons, in just one word, AWESOME! Vladimir Putin now is the prime minister of the Russia Union. I was a little bit outdated on that.

For a while (past few weeks), I thought my code was working fine, but then I found out some inconsistencies in my results, and since two weeks ago I have been then working on that. It is still not working as I expect, and every day it got more and more tedious to debug that. So, no new step here, so far...

One day, I am going to write so many bizarre things here, that I think I will make someone else insane just for read them... Not today, though. Today the only person insane here is me, or maybe someone else, who is already insane, and will read it in the next couple of hours.

I do not think I am the only person in the world who has strange thoughts about Reality. But every time I think about it, for whatever the reason, it seems I simply go more insane. Comprehension and Insanity are best friends in my point of view.

Just to give you a taste of what crossed my mind in my way back home... I was in the bus, almost leaving it, thinking about a myriad things... I was hearing trance music, and then the thought came into my mind: "What if God is this sound sample (2 or 3 seconds of the music playing in my Creative Zen)? No... What if God is that number 3 painted in that wall? Three is a perfect concept after all... Was it?"

This was just a small string of the whole train of thought that started in the same moment I left the lab today. And after that I just became a little more insane... There is no way back, anymore! But whatever, I just love it...

Dance Off With The Star Wars Stars 2008

2008-07-02T05:24:00.004+02:00

I have nothing to say here, just watch and laugh! YEAH!!

And here, for the sake of completeness, and more laughter...

Dancing with the Star Wars Stars 2007

"All too easy!"

Just Another Misconceived Idea?

2008-07-02T04:08:00.004+02:00

Have you ever had the feeling that due to some hidden process or reason, you are the cause of someone else's bad luck? Worse yet, someone you like very much!

It might be very presumptuous of me to think like that, but when everything seemed to have gone awry just after I became part of this someone's life, and, since that, nothing good seemed to have happened in this person's life, the idea does not seem so misconceived...

Yes! I am crazy, megalomaniac, arrogant, and maybe much more and worse than that... But, beyond that, I do not know what to do, and those feeling are just ripping my soul apart...

.sigh.

Maybe I am doing everything wrong, and it is really all my fault... Damn! May the Elder Gods enlighten me... (This time I swear I want enlightenment, not more confusion and insanity, if there is really a way to not have the whole package together...)

O que faz a água sair da torneira?

2008-06-29T17:18:00.007+02:00

Desde que fiz o texto "Sobre Torneiras",várias pessoas já entraram no blog buscando a resposta da pergunta: O que faz a água sair da torneira? Mal sabem as pessoas que fazem essa busca, que este é o blog de um físico, e como bom físico, eu vou tentar explicar da maneira mais complicada possível o porquê da água sair pela torneira!

Isto ocorre devido a um princípio básico da hidrostática, chamado princípio dos vasos comunicantes. Vasos comunicantes é o termo utilizado para designar um sistema de dois ou mais recipientes interligados por dutos fechados, ou seja, todo o sistema de água de uma cidade, é um grande sistema de vasos comunicantes. E segundo a hidrostática, caso o líquido no interior dos tubos seja homogêneo, ele deve atingir a mesma altura em todas os recipientes que se interligam, como ocorre na figura abaixo.

O que faz com que a altura seja sempre a mesma é a pressão. Tanto a pressão atmosférica, quanto a pressão gerada pelo peso do próprio líquido dentro dos recipientes.

Imagine agora, se colocarmos um furo, abaixo do nível do líquido, em cada um dos recipientes. O líquido vai começar a vazar, e se inserirmos um regulador de vazão após o furo, então teremos uma TORNEIRA!!!

Concluindo: Para uma torneira funcionar, temos que ter um sistema de vasos comunicantes, onde a fonte de água, deve estar sempre a uma altura mais elevada que todas as torneira, ou chuveiros, ou qualquer outro aparato que verta água. Caso contrário, não sairá água das torneiras. Por esse motivo, é que todas as caixas d'água existentes, sempre ficam no topo dos edifícios, ou então, são as estruturas mais elevadas em cada região!

É tão simples, que eu nem consegui complicar, e colocar integrais no meio! Bah! :P

Diablo III

2008-06-28T14:24:00.007+02:00

It is saturday, 9:20AM, and I am already awake. For a week I have been following some unknown evolution at Blizzard Website. I knew today we would have a bombastic announcement about some unknown game already in development.

I went to their website, and for my surprise, I finally found out what game was the secret all about.

...and there you will find even the first cinematic teaser trailer, and what a tease is that! Also a gameplay trailer, and some scattered information about the game. I can not hold my excitation! But I will need to wait, until 2010, maybe sooner, maybe later, to play this game... But this bombastic information already made my day!!

Strange Sightings

2008-06-25T02:50:00.008+02:00

... and so it came to pass that I was inside the bus, going to the University, wondering about something already forgotten, and then over the window I saw it... There... Something that should not be there. Was that my mind playing a trick on me? Was it the true face of reality? Or just the hidden face of Insanity making an ephemeral appearance in my mind? I do not know...

I saw it inside a car that just passed by. For a glimpse of a moment I thought I have just seen something that should not be... I closed my eyes for a while, then blinked two or three times, and looked again... I was not mistaken. There was something very amiss driving that car. There seemed to be an aura of wrongness around that figure, something non-euclidean surrounding that thing... And just in the midst of that aura of insanity was the thing I can not even start to describe, even though I still can see that which should not be clearly in my mind...

That thing was driving the car. It was humanoid, but what else? No tentacles that I could see, though. But I saw it as something shaped by the hands of Entropy Itself... It was not only horrid, but also decayed as I have never seen before... A zombie of some sort driving a car!! How dead was that, I have no idea! Fortunately for me, the sighting was a very rapid one, but I can not take it out of my mind... Am I going insane or are there truly zombies amongst ourselves? And that aura surrounding it, what was it?

And the small green footprints, of a large humanoid beast I have seen in my way home, while I was crossing the Human Sciences Building (FAFICH)? Was that someone's doing, or another trick played by Reality on me?

And there was something else I cannot recall, maybe a selective amnesia to keep my mind from another trauma...

Shall I trust everything I see? Or are really things that are not true!? Or maybe too TRUE to be perceived by common eyes!? Things that the people's mind just filter to not shatter!? Why me??

It can only be The Cube!! I know... It is the Cube hunting me, even in my dreams... And I though I was free... The Cube's minions are after me, after so long, but who are they!? Can I escape? At least, I have not seen any of those Evil Squirrels anymore... It can also be The Rock, or maybe both!! I hope I am not doomed... I will run away... Where? I cannot tell yet, but I will be free from The Cube invisible clutches again... I swear I will!!

Or maybe Entropy is just showing me something... Something that I already know (?), but I have not seen yet...

Os Mil Metros

2008-06-10T03:44:00.004+02:00

Finalmente, pela primeira vez, eu consegui nadar 1000m durante a aula de natação!! Fiquei até feliz hoje por causa disso!! \m/,

Tudo porque eu resolvi acompanhar, a menina que estava nadando na raia ao lado da minha. Eu comecei a nadar antes dela, e estava uns 50m na dianteira, e a menina chegou. Começou a nadar, foi nadando, e me alcançando. Quando eu estava nos 500m ela já estava nos mesmos 500m. Consegui por um tempo me manter no mesmo ritmo que ela, mas ela não se cansava, e acabou me passando! Por fim, ela nadou os mesmos 1000m que eu, mas quando ela terminou, eu estava a uma raia de distância. Eu não me importei nenhum pouco, e fiquei bem feliz de ter conseguido os 1000m!! No final, eu fiquei tão empolgado, que ao invés de fazer os últimos 25m na tranquilidade, eu usei minhas últimas forças, nadando "crawl" o mais rápido possível. Não preciso nem dizer, que sai da piscina com o coração quase saindo pela boca, e demorou algum tempo pra eu recuperar o fôlego.

Foi ótimo, e vou tentar acompanhar outras pessoas mais vezes, pra superar meus limites. E quem sabe um dia, eu não acabo deixando essa mesma menina pra trás, respirando espuma. :P

Só pra constar, na minha 1a. aula de natação este ano, eu nadei 500m, e parei por causa de uma mega cãimbra... Finalmente, consegui dobrar a distância! =D

Lost - 4a. Temporada

2008-06-09T03:04:00.004+02:00

Ontem, eu finalmente assisti ao último episódio da 4a. temporada de Lost. A 4a. temporada, até agora, foi a melhor temporada sem dúvida alguma, a mais intrigante de todas. E o episódio final, não deixou nada a desejar. O final poderia muito bem ser o final da série, mas não foi, e abriu uma nova trama... Só o futuro dirá sobre as próximas temporadas.

E sobre o final da 4a. temporada eu só tenho um comentário a fazer: "PUTAQUEPARIU, BÁTIMA!!!"

E após assistir, eu fiquei mais de 1h pensando no final, que apesar de ter explicado algumas coisas, me deixou, ao mesmo tempo, totalmente estupecfato!! Durante todo esse tempo, repeti o comentário acima a cada 10 segundos, seguida várias vezes de outras interjeições de espanto, e palavras de baixo calão! Não de maneira revoltosa, mas sim como maneira de expressar a minha satisfação, e ao mesmo tempo meu assombro...

Agora é hora de esperar ansioso alguns bons meses até o início da próxima temporada...

Broken Quasi-Stability

2008-06-04T02:12:00.009+02:00

...and when you think your insanity has reached an optimal quasi-stable level, one to which you are fully satisfied, then, suddenly it happens, and your mind starts to play new tricks on you, and madness starts to grow and reshape itself again...

I do not like stagnation, but every time it breaks, I have to learn how to be more and more misleading...

The normal world, which was once the only reality known, is just a faint shadow of the Truth. Before the eyes, just a semi-transparent veil over the unfathomable... Something so alien the mind can barely grasp an ephemeral piece of understanding without shatter... The ephemeral turns to be so deep that seems to be Infinity, and maybe It is that... What remains? Nothing else, but_

I don't think I can pass as a normal person anymore, but who cares? My Peace lies where I am, never in the same place... A wanderer... A daylight dreamer... Dreams or Nightmares? Irrelevant. The only known path, should be cautiously taken, a misstep and obliteration follows.

What I have seen today? Just the usual Purple Tentacle trying to takeover the world.

Instead of writing this, I should have been reading a paper to prepare a seminar... Towards Understanding Massive Star Formation... The usual.

...and oblivious to the world around it, it plots, hidden, unknown, waiting for the time to reveal another ephemeral piece of the Ever-Changing Puzzle, and destroy another quasi-stable view of an already deranged, disarrayed and unstable Reality...

Spread Firefox

2008-06-03T02:29:00.002+02:00

Portal

2008-06-02T01:25:00.005+02:00

This weekend instead of preparing a seminar I have to present next friday, among other things I played a game called Portal. Portal is a game that came inside a bundle of games called The Orange Box. It is a first-person puzzle game, and it is an amazing game. One of the best, and terrifically funny games I ever played.

In this game you play a female character, who is a test subject inside a science facility runned by a AI called GlaDOS. During the game, the character learns how to use portals to cross various test chambers, and while this happens, GlaDOS makes various comments trying to "help" you with each chamber. The first test chambers are very straightforward, and exist only to teach you the basics of using portals. But they get trickier and trickier until the end of the game. To generate portals you have a Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device, that can create blue portals or orange portals. Blue and orange portals represent each side of a portal, so if you enter the blue side, you will leave in the orange side, and by placing both portals throughout the chamber you can solve the puzzles. You also have to use some basic laws of physics like momentum conservation to solve some of the puzzles. It took me around 5 or 6 hours to finish the game. It was a very fast game, but an excellent one, and hilarious to say the least.

Here is the game trailer to give you an idea about the game.

The Aperture Science Computer, also known as GlaDOS, is one of the best and funniest characters in any game in my humble opinion, and the Weighted Companion Cube will never be forgotten! If you plan to play this game in the near future and do not like spoilers, DO NOT watch the next video. It is the ending song and might spoil your game play. If you do not care, just watch it, and have fun listening to that. It is fun, but will be funnier if you have already played the game. The song is called Still Alive.

A Small Insight

2008-05-31T07:33:00.003+02:00

The answers and the understanding that I seek is clearer today than it was yesterday... There is beauty even in things that look dreary and hopeless... I have seen it... Can you?

...and the quest continues...

Through Fire and Flames

2008-05-31T03:43:00.004+02:00

The first time I heard this song was in a Guitar Hero III video, as this is the hardest song to play in that game, and since then I became a fan of Dragonforce. This song is insane!! Pure HEAVY METAL!! Be sure to watch both guitar players playing around 3:30 (simply insane).

THROUGH FIRE AND FLAMES
By DRAGONFORCE

On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light,
In flames of death's eternal reign, we ride towards the fight.
When the darkness has fallen down, and the times are tough all right.
The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight.

Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel, through the wastelands evermore,
The scattered souls will feel the hell, bodies wasted on the shore.
On the blackest plains in Hell's domain, we watch them as they go,
Through fire and pain, and once again we know...

So now we're flying we're free, we're free before the thunderstorm,
On towards the wilderness, our quest carries on.
Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight,
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls...

So far away we wait for the day,
For the lights all so wasted and gone;
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days-
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!

As the red day is dawning, and the lightning cracks the sky,
They'll raise their hands to the heavens above with resentment in their eyes.
Running back through the midmorning light, there's a burning in my heart;
We're banished from a time in a fallen land, to a life beyond the stars.

In your darkest dreams see to believe, our destiny is time,
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight...!

And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality;
All alone in desperation, now the time has gone.
Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind,
Day after day this misery must go on!

So far away we wait for the day,
For the lights all so wasted and gone,
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days,
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands,
We fought so hard now can we understand
Ill break the seal of this curse if I possibly can
For freedom of every man!

So far away we wait for the day,
For the lights all so wasted and gone,
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days,
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!

Dust in the Wind

2008-05-30T21:54:00.006+02:00

Religion is something interesting. Religious people look at things in a way that does not contradict their beliefs, but instead strengthen their religion, and in this way an every day fact gives them strength. Faith is a source of strength, and makes everything a little bit easier, even when it seems the Multiverse is conspiring against you, and nothing seems to work right. Usually religions are meant to be soothing and to give people hope, even in their darkest hour.

Today I was walking towards my building in the University, and I was thinking about my own religion. The Doomguard, the followers of Entropy. It is a weird religion I admit, and most people might think I am totally insane just to follow such a non-standard concept, and then call this a religion... Anyway, I was walking, hearing music in my MP3 player, wondering, and then, as an omen, it started to play a music called "Dust in the Wind" from a band called "Kansas". And while that happened, I saw for the first time the world in the eyes of a Doomguard. I will not even dare to describe what I saw here, as I do not want to scare you. It was not something soothing, nor gave me any hope, but it was beautiful in a way. And that made me think about life as it is today, not only mine, but everyone's.

In the end, there will be nothing, not even dust, much less wind... So why? We are nothing but tools of destruction, even not knowing. People build and care, but it decays. People create, and time destroys. Life was born, just to die.

All I am now is Confusion, Insanity, Chaos and Conflict... And there is where I have found "Peace" for now, but the search continues... What do I seek? Understanding...

DUST IN THE WIND
By KANSAS

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind.
Oh________________

Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind (everything is dust in the wind)

Fatos sobre BH

2008-05-27T19:06:00.004+02:00

Andei lendo algumas coisas interessantes sobre Belo Horizonte na wikipedia, coisas que eu já não sabia, mesmo morando na cidade. Que BH já não é a terceira cidade brasileira em população eu já sabia a algum tempo, mas eu imaginava que ainda estava na quarta ou quinta posição, mas eu estava errado. Segundo dados do IBGE de 2007, BH já é a sexta cidade brasileira em população, atrás de São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Fortaleza e Brasília. O crescimento populacional de BH já está estagnado a algum tempo, devido a escassez de espaço físico na cidade, e por isso as cidades ao redor é que começaram a ganhar habitantes. A região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte já tem quase 5 milhões de habitantes, e ainda é o terceiro centro metropolitano do Brasil, e o sétimo da América Latina. Em BH, atualmente, vivem em torno de 2,4 milhões de pessoas.

Em compensação existem mais de 1 milhão de carros rodando na cidade, e a cada dia são emplacados em torno de 500 carros pelo DETRAN. Isso faz com que BH seja a segunda colocada em carros por habitante, e por isso o trânsito na cidade está cada vez pior. A área de BH é de apenas 330 km², e isso dá uma densidade de carros de mais de 3000 carros por km².

Eu gosto do fato do crescimento populacional em BH estar estagnado. O crescimento começa a ser mais controlado, e a cidade consegue se desenvolver melhor, e acho que a cidade precisa de melhorias principalmente relacionadas ao transporte de massas. Espero que a Copa de Mundo de 2014, traga coisas boas pra cidade, principalmente um metrô de verdade, e que as outras duas linhas previstas para o metrô realmente saiam do papel, e fiquem prontas até a época da Copa. Senão acontecer, com certeza a cidade vai parar nos próximos anos, com um engarrafamento constante durante todo o dia, principalmente se o crescimento do número de carros não parar. Se as pessoas com carros parassem de andar sozinhas, e oferecessem carona para outras, o trânsito com certeza seria bem melhor. A média de pessoas por carro na cidade é de 1,4 pessoa por carro. Se as pessoas sempre andassem em três dentro dos carros, o número de carros já cairia pela metade, e provavelmente os engarrafamentos seriam bem menores.

Outro fato que eu não sabia é que o PIB de BH é de R$28 bilhões, o quinto maior PIB municipal do Brasil, e 80% dele vem do setor terciário (serviços e comércio), e o restante da indústria. A agricultura é praticamente inexistente em BH.

Mais coisas interessantes sobre BH podem ser encontradas na wikipédia.

P.S.: A população de Brasília segundo o IBGE é de 2,455 milhões de habitantes. Brasília é considerado o único município do Distrito Federal, e portanto dentro desse número está também a população de todas as cidades-satélites do Distrito Federal, e novamente portanto, 2,455 milhões de habitantes é a população do Distrito Federal. Eu acabei de descobrir sobre esses pormenores, graças ao comentário da Mariana! :)

Funny Nerdy Good Old Story

2008-05-09T05:55:00.006+02:00

The other day I was talking to a friend, and he made me remember a long forgotten website, full of funny nerdy stories... One of the most funny of all was this: Overclocked Jesus Performs Miracles Faster. It was old, but good stories never get too old...

There are a lot more stories like that in BBspot, but I must update myself... This site was long lost, and now has been found again... The link, now, can be found also in my link roll on the left sidebar.

Exposição Star Wars Brasil

2008-05-08T19:27:00.006+02:00

Este texto já devia ter sido escrito a mais tempo, mas tempo para o Blog anda meio escasso, como pode ser notado. Eu estive na exposição Star Wars Brasil, que ainda está ocorrendo em São Paulo, da última vez que estive lá, a pouco menos de um mês. Estava extremamente empolgado, já que é a primeira vez que coisas originais, utilizadas nos filmes, vieram ao Brasil. Não nego meu lado nerd, e sou totalmente viciado em Star Wars. Desde que fiquei sabendo da vinda da exposição ao Brasil, no final do ano passado, quando ainda estava nos EUA, já comecei a fazer planos de visitá-la em SP.

Cheguei no Ibirapuera em torno das 10h da manhã, e como nunca tinha ido ao local anteriormente, demorei um pouco pra encontrar o local onde a exposição estava sendo realizada. Estava com medo de encontrar uma fila enorme na entrada do local. Cheguei a bilheteria, tinha algumas mães com filhos, e um sujeito vestido de Stormtrooper, fazendo poses e tirando foto com os pirralhos. Bem vazio. Paguei os R$30,00 no ingresso, e fui feliz, me dirigindo a entrada. Não tinha fila alguma, e acabei me sentindo com sorte por causa disso.

Entrei, tirei a máquina fotográfica, e comecei a olhar detalhe por detalhe, tirando fotos de tudo que me interessava. Algumas miniaturas de naves, várias roupas utilizadas nos filmes, muitos storyboards, posters, vídeos. Havia também Stormtroopers, Jedis e Leias andando por lá. Fui andando, tirando fotos, lendo informações que eu já estava cansado de saber, desviando de meninos pequenos, e fugindo dos Stormtroopers. Passou pouco menos de 1h, quando de repente, eu percebi que tinha chegado ao final da exposição. Tinha visto tudo em menos de 1h!!

Quando eu gastei os R$30,00, eu imaginei que ia passar pelo menos 4 horas lá dentro, isso se andasse depressa, e foi exatamente o contrário! Depois de perceber que já tinha chegado ao final, resolvi voltar, e ler tudo, e ver todos os vídeos, já que não tinha visto nenhum, e ficar olhando detalhes. Em menos de 2h já tinha feito tudo isso, e estava com a sensação de que aquilo não valeu nem metade do dinheiro que eu tinha pago. Eu vi coisas bem legais lá, a que chama mais atenção com certeza é a réplica de um Imperial Star Destroyer, gigante, com todos os detalhes, e que eu queria roubar de qualquer jeito pra colocar no teto do meu quarto! A fantasia do Boba Fett, com todos os detalhes, em tamanho real também me impressionou. Outras coisas legais: as fantasias de Chewbacca, R2D2 e C3PO originais dos filmes, e os diversos sabres de luz, também originais, utilizados nos filmes. As outras coisas foram legais, mas eu esperava ver coisas mais interessantes. Várias réplicas de naves, mas minúsculas. Modelos em tamanho real de uma speeder bike, e do speeder utilizado por Obi-Wan e Anakin na perseguição em Coruscant no episódio II. Réplica um pouco maior da Millenium Falcon. Várias coisas secundárias, como vários dos vestidos utilizados pela Pádme, um boneco de uma raça esdrúxula que aparece no Episódio III, roupas de Jedis, todas estas, coisas que em outras circunstâncias não fariam muita falta. E algumas maquetes de cenários. Não vou reclamar das coisas que não fariam a menor falta, já que se não as tivesse, ao invés de 2h pra ver tudo duas vezes, eu teria gasto 10 minutos! :P

Depois de todo o alarde feito em cima dessa exposição, eu não imaginava que era uma coisa minúscula. A maior parte das coisas que estavam a mostra eram legais, mas eram muito poucas. E o preço do ingresso está super-faturado, e não vale de jeito nenhum, a não ser que você utilize sua carteira de estudante e pague meia entrada. Como não renovei a minha carteira de estudante a tempo tive que pagar a entrada inteira. (Bah!!)

Se você for fã, vá com dinheiro sobrando, porque no saída da exposição tem a lojinha com um monte de coisas legais pra se comprar, e a tentação é muito grande, e, infelizmente, tudo é muito caro. No final, acabei comprando uma caneca e uma camisa, após juntar toda minha força de vontade para resistir, e não comprar uma réplica da Millenium Falcon.

What D&D Character are You?

2008-04-23T04:40:00.004+02:00

I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Fighter/Sorcerer (2nd/1st Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-12

Dexterity-11

Constitution-13

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-17

Charisma-10

Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society's restrictions and a do-gooder's zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Fighters can be many things, from soldiers to criminal enforcers. Some see adventure as a way to get rich, while others use their skills to protect the innocent. Fighters have the best all-around fighting capabilities of the PC classes, and they are trained to use all standard weapons and armor. A fighter's rigorous martial training grants him many bonus feats as he progresses, and high-level fighters have access to special melee maneuvers and exotic weapons not available to any other character.

Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

P.S.: As you can see, my path was totally wrongly chosen!! Damn it!! I will have to start from scratch! :P

P.S.S.: Looking at the result in a more detailed way, I have noticed that I have the same score in the fighter, sorcerer and wizard classes (4 points in each). Due to my ability scores, I guess I would be a better mage/fighter, instead of a fighter/sorcerer. But I did not change the test results. :P

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXX (8) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (27) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXX (5) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XX (2) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Chaos --- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXX (6) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Evil ---- XXX (3)
Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) Dwarf ---- XXXX (4) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Halfling - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Half-Orc - XX (2)
Class:
Barbarian - (-4) Bard ------ (-2) Cleric ---- (-4) Druid ----- XX (2) Fighter --- XXXX (4) Monk ------ (-21) Paladin --- (-21) Ranger ---- XX (2) Rogue ----- (-6) Sorcerer -- XXXX (4) Wizard ---- XXXX (4)

Random Thoughts

2008-04-17T20:19:00.008+02:00

Sometimes The Dreaming is much more cruel than the real life...

I have a feeling that a war is about to start... But that was just a mad dream... and cruel, not because of the war...

I think COPOM sucks! And they really do not understand nothing about economy, or they do not really care for the real economic growth of Brasil.

The second season of my game started yesterday... Time to put fear again in the heart of my players!

Eu sou a favor da regulamentacão (o cedilha não está funcionando no meu teclado) da profissão de Físico.

P.S.: The last thought was written in portuguese mainly because I don't know how to say "regulamentacão" in english. It is also just a matter of internal politics, that I don't think concern anyone but the Brazilian physicist population.

Trip to São Paulo

2008-04-14T20:27:00.004+02:00

This past weekend I had a fast trip to São Paulo. A friend of mine married last Saturday, and I decided to use the trip to visit the Star Wars Exposition that is happening in the city.

I took the bus last Friday at 23:45. The trip was uneventful. I was in the windows seat, but no one was sitting by my side, so I was quite confortable. Before leaving home, my mom was telling me to take a coat with me, but for me it was just too warm to even think about using a coat, so I just ignored her advice. But during the trip I regretted that... I don't know what crosses the mind of these bus companies, when they decide that a comfortable temperature inside the bus during the trip is something around 16 or 17 Celsius or even below that. I was very tired, for the first time in my life I thought that I could sleep in a bus trip, but that cold made it impossible for me. I just felt the cold all night long, nothing that would kill me, but enough to trouble my sleep. I am not sure if I gauge the temperature properly, but it was below a comfortable temperature threshold, that in my opinion is around 20 degrees Celsius, not only below, but far below that. For a while I was praying for the AC to break... The best moments were when the bus stopped in the road and they turned the AC off.

I arrived in SP, and the heat was on again. Not as warm as Belo Horizonte, but uncomfortable too. I took the subway to go to the hotel, and when I arrived at the hotel it was around 9:30 in the morning. Needless to say that I could not check in, and I had to wait until noon to go to my room. I decided to leave my bag at the hotel - they charged me a small fee, of course - and then explore the region to find a way to the Ibirapuera Park, where the Star Wars Exposition is still being held. I asked around for a while, and then found my way to the Park and to the exposition. I will talk about this Exposition in another post, but I will just say that 2h after I arrived there, I was leaving to the hotel again.

I had to ask for how to go to the hotel again, but I found my way. When I arrived there it was around 13:30, and I could proceed with my check-in, and after a while I had the keys to my room.

After a well deserved shower - after an 8h trip, and then after more than one hour walking under the scorching Sun - I decided to leave and look for a place to lunch. I found a place, an excellent one, the food was tasty, and it was a self-service. After I weighted my plate, and the woman there said me the price, I was stunned for some seconds... It was one of the most expensive self-services I have been in my life. I had to take a deep breath, then I paid for the food, and ate... At least, the food was delicious... I got back to the hotel and took a nap.

My company to the wedding were two sisters. One of them was a long time friend, and they came from Brasília. They arrived at the hotel around 19:30. And the wedding was at 21h. We went to the wedding - it deserves another post - after that to the party, and then we got back to the hotel.

Sunday was a very straightforward day. I wake up, took my breakfast, packed my stuff, checked-out. I said goodbye to my two friends, got to the bus terminal to take a bus back to Belo Horizonte. The trip was during the afternoon, uneventful, but this time the AC was in a more moderate temperature. It was possible to take naps from time to time.
I arrived back home at 23h, and that was it.

During the this trip I had ideas for some posts, three of them concerning this trip, and others were just random ideas. More on that in the next days...

P.S.: Always take into consideration your mom's advice when she says you will need a coat or an umbrella... :P

Sobre Torneiras

2008-04-09T02:42:00.006+02:00

Alguns dias atrás eu estava observando alguns detalhes aqui em casa, quando uma coisa me chamou a atenção. Durante minha estadia nos EUA, meus pais resolveram reformar partes da casa, e quando eu voltei, encontrei meu quarto totalmente reformado, além de reformas em um dos banheiros, e pequenas mudanças do lado de fora da casa. O detalhe que me chamou a atenção, apesar de já fazer parte da casa antes, mas que depois da reforma acabou me deixando bastante intrigado, foram as torneiras.

A maior parte dos chuveiros e pias aqui em casa possuem pares de torneiras, e sempre uma com algum sinal de cor azul, e a outra de cor vermelha, o que supostamente indicaria água quente e água fria, não nesta ordem. Desde que eu moro nesta casa, o que faz MUITO tempo, nunca houve água quente nas torneiras das pias, e nem água fria nos chuveiros (apenas quando os chuveiros queimavam, ou o disjuntor desarmava, ou no caso do chuveiro desligado), portanto as duas torneiras nunca foram necessárias. E eu sempre imaginei, que os pares de torneiras um dia se tornariam totalmente funcionais, com a instalação de um suposto aquecedor (elétrico, ou solar, ou nuclear, ou gravitacional,ou positrônico, ou a gás, ou transdimensional, ou de anti-matéria, etc...). O fato é que o aquecedor nunca fez questão de dar as caras aqui em casa, e nem foi ao menos procurado, pelo menos não nos últimos 27 anos.

Ao notar a reforma do banheiro, e constatar uma translação e rotação na posição da pia, e consequentemente a mudança das torneiras do lugar. E o mesmo acontecendo com o chuveiro, e suas torneiras, conclui que houvera a mudança no sistema de encanamentos do suposto recinto. Mas o que me intrigou foi que os pares de torneiras ainda continuam presentes... Eu não acho que vá haver a instalação de nenhum aquecedor aqui em casa nas próximas décadas. Mas mesmo assim, as torneiras "azul" e "vermelha" foram mantidas. O mais estranho é que ao abrir a segunda torneira, não há o menor sinal de fluxo de água... Fico imaginando se a torneira não estaria ligada a um pedaço de cano isolado dentro da parede, entre dois pontos aleatórios, sem cruzar nenhuma conexão de água. Antes da reforma, pelo menos costumava sair água, mesmo que de maneira inconstante, das torneiras secundárias, agora não há nem fluxo de ar...

Esse não é um problema apenas da minha casa. Já vi várias casas com pares de torneiras, que deveriam ser de água quente, e de água fria, mas que no fim das contas não possuiam nenhuma funcionalidade além da redundância, e às vezes nem isto, sendo apenas um detalhe estético. Um gasto inútil de recursos monetários na minha opinião. Vou tentar descobrir a funcionalidade dessas torneiras com meus pais, afinal eles devem ter feito isso por algum motivo sinistro, desconhecido pela minha mente...

Isso me faz lembrar do primeiro problema técnico que eu tive que resolver quando cheguei aos EEUU. Não sabia como a torneira do hotel funcionava, e fiquei um tempo tentando descobrir como fazer pra que a água brotasse daquele aparato, que na época, parecia alienígena. Alguns minutos de ponderações depois, acabei descobrindo o segredo. Não existem pares de torneiras lá, e na mesma torneira vc consegue regular o fluxo de água quente e fria, e deixar a água na temperatura mais confortável para o indivíduo. Ao se girar a torneira da esquerda para direita, ou vice-versa, você seleciona se quer a água mais fria ou mais quente (na maioria dos casos), e para controlar o fluxo de água desejado, você deve levantar ou abaixar a torneira. Todas elas parecem alavancas com dois graus de liberdade. Eu demorei alguns minutos girando as torneiras-alavancas de um lado pro outro, me perguntando se por acaso a água do meu quarto não havia acabado, e quase indo reclamar na recepção do hotel. Mas, felizmente, descobri o segundo grau de liberdade da torneira-alavanca antes de passar vergonha na recepção. :P

Após minha mudança para o primeiro apartamento, tive outro problema com torneiras. A torneira-alavanca da pia da cozinha ficava pingando. E todo dia, eu tinha que descobrir a posição exata que ou fazia a água parar de vazar, ou pelo menos minimizava a taxa de pingos por unidade de tempo. Claro, tal ponto de mínimo variava aleatariamente e após cada uso do aparato. Ou seja, após lavar as vasilhas, havia um divergente negativo de minutos, durante o processo de busca pelo elusivo ponto de mínimo.

Finalmente, quando mudei pra segunda casa, outro problema com torneiras. Desta vez com a torneira-alavanca do chuveiro-banheira. Ao invés de dois graus de liberdade, essa só tinha um grau de liberdade. Nos primeiros momentos, eu fiquei tentanto girar a alavanca de um lado pro outro sem sucesso, ela nem se mexia. Tanto o fluxo de água, quanto a temperatura da água eram controlados apenas por um grau de liberdade. Você puxava a torneira para cima, e a água começava a jorrar, e se você levantasse mais a água ficava mais quente, e se abaixasse a água ficava mais fria. Além disso tinha uma trava, que dependendo da posição fazia a água ou sair pela torneira para encher a banheira, ou então sair pelo chuveiro. Parecia óbvio, mas foram alguns minutos até o momento de elucidação sobre o funcionamento do sistema torneira-alavanca-trava-banheira-chuveiro. Orgulho-me de ter conseguido, sem ter necessitado de ajuda de ninguém, ou em outras palavras, sem ter passado vergonha. :P

Se você leitor, algum dia resolver visitar os EUA, já sabe como as torneiras funcionam por lá, e se você estiver com sede, e a pessoa pegar um copo e enchê-lo com água da torneira e te oferecer, não se assuste, é assim que funciona na maioria das vezes, e ninguém morre com cólera...

P.S.: O último texto foi o número (6 x 6 x 6).

Break... through... .sigh.

2008-04-03T05:07:00.006+02:00

At long last, a small one, but a long sought breakthrough ... But I still hate Fortran 77!! More on that tomorrow...

My pre-cambrian communication device was also, finally, retired... It has been replaced by a more modern communication device, more akin to this geological Aeon and to the current state of technological development of the human civilization... :P

.sigh. (very tired)

Random Swimming and Playing...

2008-03-27T22:36:00.006+01:00

Life in Brasil is almost as before I left the country last year. I am back to the swimming classes, and how I missed that while I was in the US. Every muscle of my body is in pain at this very moment, but I love this kind of pain... Yesterday I swam 450 m, and just before the end of the class I had a cramp. I was barely able to walk after that, I had to stop and the stretch my calfs until the pain passed... Today I swam 650 m, and no cramps, but I was dead after the class. It is just the beginning...

Sometimes I feel a void inside of me, and I don't know why I feel like that, because there is really no reason for it to be like that.

I am almost beating Rock Band, playing the guitar, in the hard mode, and I even started to play some songs in the expert mode. I am stuck in "Enter Sandman" by Metallica at this time. Each time I play this game, I have the feeling that I really should start playing something like electric guitars or bass.

Finally, the weather seems to be getting cooler.

I am having this crazy idea about letting my hair grow again to the point of a green-power hair, as I am green and not black. I hope this idea leaves my mind soon...

I did not forget about "The Day to Talk Like a Physicist", it was two weeks ago, but as I do not care about this temporal conventions, I still have time to talk like a physicist and post something about it in the near or far future... It all depends on my inspiration.

And, yes, I am back...

What is in my jukebox right now!? Superbeast by Rob Zombie...

I need to go home, and maybe find a new cell phone for me... I am back using my pre-cambrian communication device... Maybe another day, or yesterday in another life, but not today in this life... The music is over, so the post is done...

The Lethean Waters washed it away...

2008-03-18T16:30:00.003+01:00

Sometimes we write things that seem to be plain innocent to us, but when we realize we have already hurt someone, and this someone might be the last person in the world you want to hurt. I did that twice in a matter of hours, and I am deeply sorry...

Today I am going to Goiânia to meet my girlfriend and spend the rest of the week with her. I dreamed about this moment for four months, and I almost lose it all due to some misplaced words at the wrong time... I love her, and I don't want to lose her...

I will probably not write anything else until next week. This will be a holiday very far away from computers, and I am sure it will be worth the four months of waiting. I will also use this time to rethink some things in my life... Things that have to change, and I want her to help me with that.

From next week onwards, everything will already be settled here again, and I will start to post more again. I have to fill a report about my 10 months away in the United States, and then I have a lot work to do. And of course, the gaming season starts again! I can't stand any more time without playing RPG... I will use some of my spare time during this week to plan my next game session, and players be ready for some hack and slash! :P

Last 19 hours...

2008-03-10T00:35:00.004+01:00

So it is time to go back to Brasil again. These are my last hours in Ann Arbor. In this moment I am much more sad than anxious. Sad not because I don't want to go back to Brasil, but because I had to say "goodbye" to a lot of people I will surely miss. I never thought it would be so difficult to go back home.

I can say for sure, that the time I spent here will never be forgotten. It was one of the most amazing, and challenging experiences in my life. I am sure I am not the same Gustavo that left Brasil almost 10 months ago. When I arrived in Ann Arbor, I was totally alone, I did not knew anyone, and had no place to stay but a hotel room. It was fun to start everything from 'zero', but it was not easy. I survived more than one month without having a computer, and almost three months without Internet at home. I could barely understand what people said to me, and it was almost impossible to follow conversations. I lived totally alone for 2 months, and I had to learn how to cook basic stuff, and how to take care of my place (that is fun actually). During these 2 months there were days when I talked to no one at all... Many days without saying a simple word to anybody. And sometimes I felt really depressed... I also had a hurting heart, that was still trying to heal...

A lot changed after that. I don't know if all the changes were for the good though, but I learned a lot here. My cooking skills have improved a little bit (I guess I have 2 points of cooking, instead of just one). Now I am able to follow most of the conversations I hear, and I had not problem in understanding people talking in English anymore. My heart is fully healed now, and ready for the nearby future... I have met a bunch of people. Some of them just passed through my life, and I am sure I will never hear about them anymore. People that I thought were friends, but turned to be a great disappointment. And people who I will remember through all my life, and I really hope to meet again someday...

My last few days here showed my a critical fault in my personality, and something that must be changed at all costs.

My view about the United States, and the Americans had changed totally while I was here too. But I will tell about it in another post, in the near future.

I just wanted the World to be a smaller place...

Last days in Ann Arbor

2008-03-05T06:07:00.004+01:00

Never spent so much time without posting anything in this blog. I am with so much stuff in my head these days that I can barely think about things to write. In less than a week I will be going back to Brasil, and next Tuesday I will be at home again. I am feeling strange these days. At the same time I am getting more and more anxious to go back, I am also starting to miss things here. It took me a while to make friends here, and now that I finally have some people that I can call friends, it is time to go back. I don't know if I will ever be back here in Ann Arbor again, and I may never see some of the people I have met here again either. I am sure I am still going to meet some of the people from the University, mainly the people that are part of the Star Formation group, I don't know when though.

I have already sent three boxes full of books, papers, manuals, cables and even clothes to Brasil. One of my suitcases is already ready, but I still need one more, and I have not even bought it yet. My table in my office is almost empty again, and tomorrow is my last meeting with my adviser here. Friday will be my last day in the University of Michigan, the day to say goodbye to a lot of people. I am never good with "goodbyes", but life goes on...

Oh sure. There will be a lot of drinking these days too. This Friday, people will hang out the prospective students that might be coming to the Astronomy Department next term, and of course I am going with them. And Saturday, there will be another party for the prospective students, but I am going to use that as a Farewell party... After that... Well... I will be drunk, probably, and I will also start to miss those people... :/

And... To all my Brazilian friends: 7 days!! And Thiago, I hope you have a bottle of Tequila for your birthday next Wednesday!! I also need to commemorate with my friend Humberto that defended his dissertation last Thursday, and as if that was not enough, also had a small daughter last Tuesday!

Corpo e Frio

2008-02-24T20:19:00.006+01:00

Eu tenho a nítida impressão que meu corpo se adaptou ao frio daqui de uma maneira surpreendente. Já estava pensando nisso a algum tempo, mas hoje eu tive quase certeza disso. A temperatura aqui está baixa para os padrões brasileiros, isto, acho que todos os que lêem meu blog já devem saber. Mas a temperatura está bem elevada em relação aos últimos dias aqui, e ela tem se elevado sutilmente nos últimos tempos, efeitos do fim do Inverno em pouco menos de um mês. A grande diferença nesses últimos dias tem sido o aparecimento do Sol. Os dias que antes eram todos nublados, começaram a ser mais ensolarados. Isso faz MUITA diferença aqui, a gente fica muito mais disposto, e animado. E além disso os dias têm ficado cada vez mais longos novamente.

Voltando a falar da adaptação do corpo ao frio, hoje, com o dia bem bonito e ensolarado, resolvi sair de casa um pouco pra sentir o Sol na pele. Sai com uma camisa de manga curta, e apenas uma calça comprida. E do lado de fora a temperatura parecia estar ótima, um friozinho agradável, totalmente suportável. Ventava e eu não quase morria congelado, nem tinha aquela sensação de uma chicotada na pele. A impressão que eu tive era daqueles dias em BH, quando está começando a ficar frio, e a gente ainda consegue ficar sem agasalhos por causa do Sol. A grande diferença é que quando isso acontece em BH, a temperatura está em torno dos 18oC. A temperatura aqui, hoje, no momento em que eu estava lá fora, está um pouco abaixo disso, exatamente zero graus centígrados, com a sensação térmica um pouco abaixo disto. Eu não sei o que acontece pra que o corpo consiga se adaptar tão bem ao frio, talvez alguma coisa no sangue ajude, mas eu nunca pensei que ficar de camisa de manga curta, a zero graus, seria tão agradável quanto eu estava me sentindo. E eu não estou exagerando nenhum pouco. Minha orelha e nem meu nariz quase cairam com o frio, minhas mãos permaneceram quentes sem nenhuma proteção, e eu acho que eu conseguiria ficar do lado de fora talvez 1h ou mais sem me sentir desconfortável. O Sol com certeza ajuda na sensação, mas tenho certeza também que o corpo arranja um jeito de se adaptar. Só espero que ele não tenha se desacostumado com o calor, porque a hora de voltar está cada vez mais próxima...

Faltam 15 dias pra volta...

Um ano atrás...

Dia de Falar como Físico

2008-02-22T02:25:00.010+01:00

Próximo dia 14 de Março será instituida uma nova data comemorativa. O Dia Internacional de Falar Como um Físico.

Não existe data melhor do que esta, afinal dia 14 de Março é data do nascimento do mais famoso físico de todos os tempos, Albert Einstein, e se você escrever a data do modo inglês, com o mês vindo antes do dia, teremos o dia "Pi" (3.14).

Está data é para todas aquelas "infelizes" pessoas que decidiram que física era coisa de pessoas com distúrbios psicológicos irreversíveis, e decidiram seguir qualquer outra profissão, libertarem o seu lado físico e abusar daquela linguagem hermética que só os físicos parecem ser capazes de compreender. Assuste as pessoas nos ônibus, nas ruas, seu vizinho, estudantes de ciências humanas, ciências biológicas, e artes falando sobre distorções espaço-temporais, singularidades, instabilidades magneto-hidrodinâmicas, cromodinâmica quântica, termodinâmica de não-equilíbrio, etc, etc... Use todas aquelas palavras estranhas que você por ventura tenha lido em algum título de tese, dissertação ou artigo sobre física, e crie as mais variadas frases misturando aquelas palavras bizarras. Seja criativo!

P.S.: Divulgando novas datas comemorativas, saibam que dia 8 de dezembro é o Dia Internacional de Fingir Ser um Viajante do Tempo. (Fonte: Efeito Ázaron). Valeu Quase-Físico, por compartilhar o conhecimento de data importantíssima com todos nós!

Dungeons & Dragons - 4a. Edição

2008-02-19T03:15:00.003+01:00

A nova edição de Dungeons & Dragons está pra sair em junho. As notícias sobre a 4a. edição começaram a surgir em agosto do ano passado, logo após o seu anúncio oficial na GenCon 2007.

Quando fiquei sabendo sobre a 4a. edição, não gostei muito da novidade. Afinal já estou acostumado com a versão atual, a famosa edição 3.5, que pode ser considerada a versão final da 3a. edição. A 3a. edição na minha opinião não passou da versão beta da 3.5. Claro que na época que a edição 3.5 saiu, eu também não fiquei nada feliz. Não foi uma mudança grande em relação a 3a. edição, mas ocorreram mudanças em várias regras, e caso se decida mudar como ocorreu após um tempo com meu grupo, temos que nos readaptar às novas regras, e isso demora algum tempo. Foi bem mais fácil no caso da edição 3.5, pois o núcleo do jogo continuou o mesmo, a maiores mudanças foram mudanças para manter um jogo equilibrado para as diferentes classes e raças, em algumas regras de combate que eram desnecessariamente complicadas na edição anterior, e várias mudanças em relação às magias. Após um tempo do lançamento da edição 3.5, nosso grupo resolveu testar a nova edição, e logo depois a adotamos como a versão oficial dos nossos jogos de D&D. Eu tive que desembolsar mais uma grana quando resolvemos adotar a versão nova pra comprar os novos livros da edição nova, e perder o dinheiro gasto nos livros da edição anterior foi a parte mais chata da transição.

Voltando a falar da 4a. edição. A idéia de ter que me desfazer de todo o material que possuo sobre a edição atual, quando a nova edição sair, me deixou um pouco "chateado", e acabei resolvendo que não procuraria informações sobre a nova edição até que houvesse coisas mais concretas disponíveis sobre as novas regras. O tempo passou, e claro, não consegui me isolar totalmente das notícias sobre a futura edição. Acabei lendo uma ou outra coisa que apareceu na minha frente, e lendo alguns poucos comentários, a maioria falando mal.

Uns dois meses atrás acabei lendo uma novidade que não me agradou muito. Os tieflings foram padronizados como uma raça na nova edição. Nunca vi tieflings como uma raça separada, e muito menos como criaturas com um padrão físico definido. Tieflings são humanos que têm descendência infernal ou abissal, e portanto possuem alguns traços e características "demoníacas". Algumas vezes características bem aparentes como uma cauda, ou chifres, ou pele escamada, mas outras vezes características bem discretas, como olhos de tom avermelhado, 4 dedos nos pés ao invés dos 5 normais, caninos um pouco maiores que o normal. Você nunca espera um tiefling igual ao outro, e isso era uma das coisas legais de ser tiefling. Padronizando, você perde toda a criatividade na hora de criar as características físicas do seu tiefling, e perde o fator surpresa ao sempre reconhecê-los como criaturas com sangue infernal (ou abissal). Eu não gostei dessa padronização, principalmente, porque eu adoro jogar com tieflings, e sempre me diverti dando características bizarras pros meus personagens tieflings, algumas vezes conseguindo esconder totalmente a descendência infernal deles, e outras vezes tendo características tão discaradas que todos pensavam que eu era um demônio de verdade. E ter que enfrentar o preconceito dos outros PCs ou NPCs sempre deu um tempero ao jogar com tieflings. Transformando os tieflings numa raça e a padronizando acaba com grande parte do jogo que é ser um tiefling.

Na mesma época descobri também que gnomos agora deixam de fazer parte das raças básicas, e passa a ser uma raça do livro de monstros. Eu nunca joguei com gnomos, e se fiz parte duas vezes de um grupo do qual um dos jogadores jogava com gnomo, foi muito. Mas eu acho que os gnomos deveriam continuar como uma raça básica, a não ser que tenha havido uma reformulação completa do que é um gnomo na nova edição. Eu acho menos pior terem feito essa mudança no gnomo, do que a mudança em relação aos tieflings, e eu também não gostei.

Fiquei um tempo sem pensar nessas coisas, mas nesses últimos dias eu resolvi procurar mais informações sobre a nova edição. Meu objetivo inicial era achar mais defeitos que me fizessem desgostar mais ainda da 4a. edição, pra que eu não precisasse me preocupar mais com uma nova mudança de edição num futuro próximo. Principalmente após ler comentários de pessoas achando que a 4a. edição não passa apenas de uma jogada de marketing da Wizards pra ganhar mais dinheiro, e que a maioria das mudanças são pra deixar o jogo pior, e mais simples pras novas gerações de jogadores.

Comecei a ler, e qual não foi minha surpresa ao me ver cada vez mais interessado na 4a. edição. Vendo que o objetivo é sim deixar o jogo mais simples, mas ao mesmo tempo melhorando vários dos defeitos das duas últimas edições. É claro que os livros ainda não saíram, e as informações ainda são escassas, mas algumas coisas da mecânica do jogo me deixaram bem satisfeito.

As raças agora se diferenciam realmente uma das outras, não apenas no aspecto físico. A medida que seu personagem sobre de nível, além dele ganhar nível de classe, ele pode também evoluir suas características raciais. E da mesma forma que cada classe evolui de uma maneira diferente das outras, cada uma das raças também vai evoluir de maneira diferente, deixando um guerreiro humano, totalmente diferente de um guerreiro anão, coisa que geralmente não acontecia nas últimas edições. Eu gostei muito disso, mas infelizmente as informações sobre isso ainda são bem superficiais.

Acontece o mesmo com as classes. Dois personagens de mesma classe podem evoluir de maneiras totalmente diferentes. Por exemplo um guerreiro que escolhe uma espada longa como arma principal, vai se desenvolver e ter habilidades totalmente diferentes de um guerreiro que escolhe um machado de guerra. Algo como os diferentes modos de ataque, que apareceram a primeira vez no "Complete Warrior Handbook". Outra coisa em relação às classes, é que a progressão básica que ia apenas até o 20o. nível nas edições anteriores, agora chega até o 30o. nível. O que ocorre na edição 3.5 e também ocorria na 3a. edição, é que todos os guerreiros escolhem geralmente a mesma progressão de "feats", de modo a otimizar o ataque e o dano, a não ser que ele quisesse escolher uma classe de prestígio que requer um outro "feat" diferente do habitual. O mesmo ocorria nas outras classes. Apesar da lista gigantes de "feats" pra se escolher, se escolhiam sempre os mesmos, com uma pequena variação. A diferença entre os personagens de mesma classe não é muito grande na edição atual, apesar de ter potencial de serem bem diferentes (já é MUITO melhor que em relação a 2a. edição, onde cada personagem era praticamente igual a outros de mesma classe, só mudando o nome, a raça, e atributos principais :P). A impressão que eu tive, é que na 4a. edição a diferenciação entre os personagens de mesma classe sera muito maior, e isso na minha opinião é ótimo.

A mecânica do jogo continua baseada no d20, mas algumas coisas mudaram. Não existem mais os "saving throws", até onde eu sei. O que existe agora são diferentes tipos de defesa. O AC (armor class) continua existindo, mas não existem mais os diferentes tipos de AC ("flat-footed" e "touch"). Ao invés das jogadas de proteção de reflexo, fortitude e força de vontade, os personagens agora tem um valor fixo de reflexo, fortitude e força de vontade. Por exemplo, se um dragão resolver usar sua baforada no grupo, ele é quem deve rolar o d20, e ultrapassar o valor de reflexo dos jogadores, com uma rolada de ataque (que está sujeito a erro crítico, ou acerto crítico), se quiser acertá-los. O mesmo em efeitos que antes necessitavam de "saves" de fortitude e força-de-vontade. Na nova edição, me parece, que existe a possibilidade de se tirar acertos críticos (e erros) com todas as magias. Mas o sistema de críticos mudou. Não é necessário mais se confirmar o crítico, com uma segunda rolagem. Rolou 20 no dado, é crítico e pronto. Ao mesmo tempo, os danos não dobram (nem triplicam ou quadruplicam) mais, o que ocorre quando se tira um acerto crítico, é que o dano é maximizado, e dependendo da arma, você ainda pode adicionar um dado extra ao dano. Outra coisa interessante é que não existe mais morte quando seus pontos de vida chegam aos -10. Esse limite varia com a classe, e com seu nível. E nada mais de regras esdrúxulas pra quando se está com zero ponto de vida.

Só pra finalizar, ao mesmo tempo que a nova edição sair, uma ferramenta será lançada que permitira que se jogue online, com as mesmas facilidades de se jogar numa mesa. Claro que eu ainda prefiro jogar numa mesa, com todo mundo perto, e falando bobagem, mas caso alguém não possa estar presente no local físico do jogo, mas tenha acesso a internet, e estiver querendo jogar, vai ficar bem mais fácil, e será quase tão dinâmico quanto na mesa real de jogo.

Apesar de serem detalhes bem superficiais ainda, ficar sabendo dessas poucas mudanças me animou em relação a 4a. edição, e eu estou ficando muito curioso pra ver o produto final, e todas as suas evoluções em relação às edições antigas, e claro, os defeitos. E se ficar realmente bom, e valer a pena, eu não penso duas vezes em mudar novamente de edição, e deixar a edição 3.5 pra trás.

Snow desert and interpolation problems

2008-02-13T00:28:00.000+01:00

The winter is as harsh as it can be here in Ann Arbor. The city seems like a snow desert, in a sense that instead of sand being blown by the winds, you can see small particles of snow almost creating moving dunes of snow. Temperature has never ben so low. Sunday the temperature reached the -30oC, and we had winds of 60km/h and sometimes even surpassing the 100km/h. Of course, I just stayed quiet at home. At this moment, it is windy and snowing outside, and I am sure all the transportation system in the city is disrupted. I am still at the University, just gathering my courage to go outside and endure this "warm" weather (-20oC) while I wait the bus. And the adventure continues!! I love this place, and this cold!! :P

I guess I finally understood why the program I was modifying to calculate the line profiles I seek so vehemently is not working. One week ago I finished my modifications, and I was sure that after those modifications the code had to work perfectly, but it did not. So I spent the rest of the week trying to figure out why in the name of the Infinity Layers of the Abyss that god forsaken code was not working!! Just looking at my results I could figure out the problem was in the optical depths of each of the rays (the optical depth is a measure of how deep you can see a ray of light before the medium becomes opaque). The optical depth was becoming too large inside a region where it was not expected to be so large. Large optical depths mean one thing, and it means that the atomic level population densities where not being properly calculated.

I started to track the values of the population densities where the optical depth was becoming too large, and then I found something unusual. To calculate the optical depth between two points I have to calculate an integral between these points, and to calculate this integral I need the population densities in these two points. If I have two points very near, I don't expect the population densities to be very different, and what is happening is that near the edge of my wind the difference between these values for these two nearby points is very large (something like 10000 times from one point to another). And that was the reason why the optical depths are becoming too large in a very low density regions where they should be very, very, very small (instead of being something like 0.001, the values are something like 100, and it means that the ray is not able to cross a region where otherwise should be almost transparent).

Diving deeper in this problem I realize that the problem was in the interpolation function that was called by the program. The problem was that I have not changed that, so if the program was working before, it should be working now, but I decided to verify anyway. And after some debbuging, I could not find anything wrong with that. All the physical quantities being calculated by that function were correctly calculated. The grid file I have calculated to used as an input to this program was also perfect. Then I remember the flux program needs a input that is a little different from the one I give him, and to get this grid file I have to use another interpolation subroutine in IDL. I looked at this other grid file, and there was the cursed error!! The problem with the population densities appear just after I use the IDL program to re-grid the original grid file. There is a strange function it uses to interpolate called "Triangulate" that is causing this problem. I have no idea how this function works, but the problem surely is due to the fact that the problematic region is exactly in the border of the wind, and borders are usually problematic regions.

Now I just need to figure out how to solve this interpolation problem... And I don't think it will be easy... And my time keeps running out... 27 days left...

Day of the Smarm

2008-02-10T02:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I decided to create "The Day of the Smarm". So I wish a very "Happy Day of the Smarm" to each one of my readers.

Who is Smarm? One day I will clarify everything for you. What matters now is that The Day of the Smarm is commemorated at each 367 days, as there is a slightly temporal variation in the Smarm dimension. And there might be some random variations in the 367 days period, and maybe next time will be at each 37 days... Who knows!? But be right that the next one will be only in February 10th of 2009.

What should you do in this special day? Well... Do whatever you want, eat whatever you want, destroy whatever crosses your path, it does not matter! Smarm does not care at all... Just praise the concepts of Chaos and Entropy, and you will be fine.

By the way, what I did today was to beat Rock Band with the guitar in the medium setting! Next step hard setting... And play with the guitar instead of the controller is way MUCH better, and cooler!!!

First Year

2008-02-08T05:00:00.000+01:00

It all started with this meaningless post. I was very confused when I decided to write this blog, confused about things happening in my life, as always. I had a few blogs in my bookmarks already, but then one day I was surfing aimlessly through the web, and then I found a blog. There was nothing special about that blog, but for some reason after reading that I decided that it would be a good idea to create a blog. This blog is not even in my blogroll anymore. So I went to blogger and decided to try this thing. I chose a template, one of the many templates that you can choose, and then I wrote for the first time. At the same day, later, I created my second post. And after that all Hell broke lose, and I never stopped.

In one year this place was visited almost 1976 times. I have written 202 posts. I changed the template 5 times, and I even created my own template. I never thought I could write so much about senseless stuff. And I turned to be a very good therapy sometimes. I have nothing to do, then I come here and write about something. Also, if I had no time at all, I had the time to come here and write about something else. I really think that this blog drains a small amount of my time everyday, looking at the statistics, looking at what people were looking for when they found my blog, or just keeping track of the visitors and where are my visitors coming from... Actually, I guess I am addicted to look at statistics. Or I waste my time looking at the blog statistics, or then I just stare at the screen thinking about stuff to write here. But anyway, I love this hobby and I love my blog! =D

You can count that this blog will still be here for a while. And I still have a lot of crazy and shocking ideas to share with people. Well... With my few readers at least! I also must keep Xaos growing, whether in the blog or in my city! Maybe in a hundred years this blog will be famous, and I will still be here praising Xaos and Entropy!

I was thinking in a totally different post, but I have been too tired these past few days, and I have not even played Rock Band as much as I would like, actually I just played it twice. All I have in my mind these days is how to make that cursed Fortran code work with my model. Damn code... I am tired, and I am going to sleep now... As a stone, I hope...

I just found out that I could filter my own visits in the blog in the beginning of July, so before that my own visits are included in the graphs. That is the reason I had so many visits during the first 5 or 6 months.

Emprego Perfeito Para Cada Um

2008-02-06T04:57:00.000+01:00

Este é um comercial que está passando na TV americana, de um site de empregos na Internet. Achei muito divertido!

Hino Nacional

2008-02-04T06:00:00.000+01:00

Deveria ser um pré-requisito básico para alguém se candidatar a qualquer cargo público no Brasil, saber a letra do nosso Hino Nacional de coração, e da mesma forma, acho que qualquer pessoa que quisesse votar numa eleição, deveria provar que sabe, também, cantar o nosso Hino corretamente, e entender o que está sendo cantado ali. O maior problema do Brasil, e a falta de respeito que os próprios brasileiros têm pelo próprio país. Muitos dizem que é o Brasil é o melhor lugar do mundo, cheios de orgulho, mas não sabem cantar nem a primeira estrofe do Hino Nacional. Se esse pré-requisito existisse, tenho certeza que o Brasil seria um lugar MUITO melhor, e então eu teria orgulho de fazer parte da população brasileira, o que, infelizmente, eu não tenho.

Só pra ajudar um pouco, e para que vocês percebam como é lindo o Hino Nacional, aqui está a letra, e um ótimo video com um guitarrista tocando nosso Hino.

HINO NACIONAL BRASILEIRO

Música de FRANCISCO MANUEL DA SILVA
Letra de JOAQUIM OSÓRIO DUQUE ESTRADA

Ouviram do Ipiranga as margens plácidas
De um povo heróico o brado retumbante,
E o sol da liberdade, em raios fúlgidos,
Brilhou no céu da Pátria nesse instante.
Se o penhor dessa igualdade
Conseguimos conquistar com braço forte,
Em teu seio, ó Liberdade,
Desafia o nosso peito à própria morte!
Ó Pátria amada,
Idolatrada,
Salve! Salve!
Brasil, um sonho intenso, um raio vívido
De amor e de esperança à terra desce,
Se em teu formoso céu risonho e límpido,
A imagem do Cruzeiro resplandece.
Gigante pela própria natureza,
És belo, és forte, impávido colosso,
E o teu futuro espelha essa grandeza
Terra adorada,
Entre outras mil
És tu, Brasil.
Ó Patria amada!
Dos filhos deste solo és mãe gentil,
Pátria amada,
Brasil!

Deitado eternamente em berço esplêndido
Ao som do mar e à luz do céu profundo,
Fulguras, ó Brasil, florão da América,
Iluminado ao sol do Novo Mundo!
Do que a terra mais garrida
Teus risonhos, lindos campos têm mais flores,
"Nossos bosques têm mais vida"
"Nossa vida", no teu seio, "mais amores"
Ó Pátria amada,
Idolatrada,
Salve! Salve!
Brasil, de amor eterno seja símbolo
O lábaro que ostentas estrelado,
E diga o verde-louro desta flâmula
- Paz no futuro e glória no passado.
Mas, se ergues da justiça a clava forte,
Verás que um filho teu não foge à luta
Nem teme quem te adora, a própria morte,
Terra adorada
Entre outras mil,
És tu Brasil,
Ó Pátria amada!
Dos filhos deste solo és mãe gentil,
Pátria amada,
Brasil!

Da próxima vez que pensar em votar, se candidatar numa eleição, ou for prestar algum concurso público, tente se lembrar da letra do nosso Hino Nacional, e lembrar do significado das palavras contidas nele, caso sinto o mínimo de respeito pelo própria Pátria. (Infelizmente, eu acho que o respeito que as pessoas sentem pelo Brasil, é totalmente dissimulado, e a maioria deve rir do que eu acabei de escrever.) Caso esteja confuso com o que eu disse acima, sobre não ter orgulho de fazer parte da população brasileira, ao mesmo tempo que escrevo um texto desse tipo, não fique. Não tenho orgulho algum de fazer parte de uma população que não tem o menor respeito pelo próprio país, mas gostaria um dia de ter orgulho de ser brasileiro, e saber que os brasileiros tiveram força de vontade de mudar um país, não de maneira hipócrita, mas sincera e sabem demonstrar este respeito, mesmo que seja da maneira mais simples possível, que é sabendo cantar corretamente o Hino Nacional, e o respeitando como símbolo nacional.

Carnaval nos EEUU, Playstation 3 e Logística

2008-02-03T17:37:00.000+01:00

Carnaval no Brasil. Não sou fã de Carnaval já faz muito tempo, e a única coisa que sempre me animou no Carnaval é o feriado. Nos últimos anos, eu e meus amigos nos reunimos no Carnaval para fazer o churrasco "Eu Odeio Carnaval", sempre na tranquilidade de BH, cidade que é um paraíso nesta época. A regra do churrasco sempre foi esquecer o lixo musical que toma conta do país nesta época, e só ouvir o bom e velho Rock'n'Roll. Este ano, devido a minha ausência, parece que não ocorreu o churrasco, que costumava ser sempre na minha casa, mas espero que assim que eu voltar a situação possa ser remediada com um churrasco de retorno pra compensar a falta do "Eu Odeio Carnaval", e claro, com muito Rock'n'Roll e cachaça. Oh Yeah!

Ainda me lembro do último Carnaval, que foi um dos mais divertidos da minha vida, que terminou com uma mega-ressaca e meus óculos novos quebrado (ou seria óculos novos quebrados?). Apesar de ter sido ótimo, eu não estava num momento muito bom. Havia criado este blog a pouco tempo, e ainda nem sabia se viria ou não para os Estados Unidos. Bom... Sobre essas coisas, eu escrevo outra hora. Foi durante o último Carnaval, que eu descobri um dos jogos mais divertidos de todos os tempos: Guitar Hero! E fiquei viciado muito rápido nesse jogo.

Por coincidência, ontem, eu comprei meu tão sonhado Playstation 3. Estava pensando em comprá-lo já havia um tempo, e só estava esperando o momento certo, e o momento certo foi ontem. Ao mesmo tempo, comprei o meu primeiro jogo pro PS3, que é fácil de deduzir caso tenham lido um dos textos postados aqui recentemente. O jogo foi Rock Band, um dos derivados do Guitar Hero. Ainda, não dei atenção suficiente para o meu PS3, e nem para o Rock Band, mas tenho certeza que isso vá mudar um pouco nos próximos dias. O jogo bem com um conjunto de acessórios: uma guitarra, uma pequena bateria, e um microfone. Todos usados para se jogar. Sempre joguei o Guitar Hero com o controle normal do PS2, e nunca tinha nem tocado na guitarra que é um dos acessórios que se usa para jogá-lo. Ontem, pela primeira vez usei a guitarra num jogo deste tipo, e é totalmente diferente de se jogar com o controle. Ainda vou demorar um tempo pra me acostumar a jogar com a guitarra, mas realmente, é muito mais divertido. Ainda não montei a bateria, e nem tive coragem de usar o microfone e sair cantando durante o jogo. Apesar de saber que este jogo vai ser viciante, eu sei também que vai ser ótimo jogar isso com meus amigos quando voltar pro Brasil, melhor só se estivermos já bêbados. Aí, até eu saio cantando! Mas existe um problema muito mais sério com esse jogo, um fator logístico! A caixa do jogo é gigantesca, maior que minha mala gigante que eu trouxe quando me mudei pros EEUU, e vai ser realmente um problema eu levá-la de volta pro Brasil, mas é claro que eu vou dar um jeito de fazê-lo. Devido a este fator logístico, acabei decidindo não montar a bateria, e deixá-la quietinha na caixa, por enquanto. Enquanto isso, fico treinando só na guitarra. É provável que a melhor maneira que eu encontre para transportá-lo seja na própria caixa original do jogo.

A logística da minha volta já anda me preocupando, e já andei empacotando algumas coisas. Estou pensando em mandar alguns livros, e roupas pelo correio. Ficar só com as roupas de inverno, e despachar as roupas de verão pra que elas cheguem antes de mim, e já estejam acostumadas com o calor quando eu chegar. Pouco mais de um mês pra volta.

Texto em Português pra quebrar a monotonia linguística do blog! E claro, preparem-se para os testes da minha banda, que começarão assim que eu voltar! E este é o ducentésimo texto do meu blog! =D

Relief

2008-01-31T20:26:00.000+01:00

Now I am sure that I was not the only one that feels like I have written in my last post.

This is exactly how I was feeling!!

A Problematic Mind (?)

2008-01-29T08:33:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I have the feeling that there is something wrong with me. I am not being able to focus on my work, even knowing that I have a lot of work to be done before going back to Brazil, and I am feeling remorseful because of that. The problem is that I have been like that for a long and long time, and I don't even remember when that started, but it was before I started college, and maybe I was always like that. While things interest me I can focus and pay attention to them perfectly, but my interest seems to fade with time, when that happens my mind just goes astray, and I lose myself in the middle of wonderland. That seems to happens with everything.

Everyday I see my colleagues, here in the US and also in Brazil, working and being able to focus on their work for hours and hours until the point they reach high levels of stress, and seeing that makes me feel bad for not being able to focus not even for 15 minutes straight on my own work most of the time. I start to work, and it goes fine in the first few minutes, but after a while my mind got distracted and when I realize I am thinking about a tree in the other side of the street and how would be so good to be a kid again and climb that tree, and think that it was a spaceship. (I used to pretend that the trees in my house's backyard where spaceships when I was a kid.) And then I remember that I have to start to think again in my work. Sometimes I have this boost in interest in my work, and when that happens I can make some progress, but then that interest just fades away again, and it is like a herculean effort to focus my mind again, sometimes I don't make any kind of progress for weeks or even months.

I really wonder about how in the Nine Hells of Baator I was able to be almost getting my Ph.D. degree in Astrophysics/Physics being the way I am. I don't know how did I finish college, nor how did I get my master degree, and be where I am right now... Do I really deserve to be where I am right now? I feel bad and guilty, actually, because I know a lot of people who worked so much harder than me in their lives and did not have the same chances I had, and if they had they would be doing so much more. And NO, I am not a genius, far from that actually, and I feel frustrated with myself, but I don't know if there is anything I can do to change.

Have I chosen the right thing for me? I have thought to much about that already, and I know that I chose right. Astrophysics is a fascinating subject. And I am pretty sure that I would still be the same if I had chosen differently in the past.

It is more than 2AM, and instead of sleeping or doing something more useful I am wasting my time with this blog. Before that I was reading a lot of useless stuff, wasting my time on Facebook playing an useless game. I want to do so many worthless stuff that I am not even able to sleep earlier. That is not right!

I have read something about ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). I don't know if my problem is really something like that, or if I am just looking for an excuse to be a procrastinator like I am.
Anyhow, I am not right!

Bad Role Players

2008-01-28T01:13:00.000+01:00

I started to play real role playing games in 1994, and since then it is one of my favorite hobbies. In these almost 14 years, I have played it in some different groups. Each group has it is own characteristics of playing. I am sure that my first group, in the ancient times of the 90s was not a good group of players. Everyone was just starting playing, and even the Game Master was just beginning, but I had a lot of fun playing that first adventure, so much fun that I have never stopped playing since that time. Since I started to play, I have played with a lot of different people, and in different groups, and I have always been lucky and it has always been funny, but once!

My RPG companions have not change too much in the last seven years. Some of them have moved to other cities, but there is still a core that remains, and the people who had moved, eventually, come back for a game session or two. I am already accustumed to my group, and the fact that all the players have a lot of experience in RPG, some of them even started to play before me, makes the game to flow with a good pace and they know how to play without being stupid. The amount of game we usually have is enough to feed my addiction, and I never had the need to look for another group since we started to play together. But...

Two years ago, I had a girlfriend who also played RPG, and I met her when she asked to play a D&D adventure I was, and I am still, running. So she started to play with us, and, well... Lets say that she had done a lot of stupid thing during the game sessions, and most of my players got really annoyed with some of her actions sometimes... One day, I was with her in her house, and her other RPG fellows were going there for a RPG game session. Then she asked me if I would not like to join and play with them... I was planning just to stay there with her, watching their game, but as it is much better to play than watch, I decided to make a character to play with them... WHAT A MISTAKE!!!

First of all, they were a bunch of "kids", there were two under 20 years old, but most of them were in their early 20's. But while playing they all seemed to be a bunch of 15 years old. Then, there is the fact that they still play AD&D (2nd Edition)! If they were old schoolers I would accept that without any prejudice, but no, I am sure most of them started to play after the D&D 3rd Edition was released. And in my official group we were already playing D&D 3.5 Edition for 2 years already by that time, so I had to remember a lot of old and outdated stuff from the time when I played AD&D (2n Edition) in the late-90s. Another thing is that in my official group we played with the official English rulebooks, so we use the English terminology while playing, but these kids used all the Portuguese books, and everything was translated. I had to translate to myself a lot of the terms that they used during gameplay. Albeit (new word) Portuguese is my native language, it is weird, for me, to hear the Portuguese terms while playing RPG. Anyway... So I had to re-adapt myself not only to the "young" group, as also to the old system and the language.

The re-adaptation was not the problem, actually it was the easiest part. The greatest problem was in their game style. When you are playing in a group, the point of the game, most of the time, is for each of the characters of the group to join and to cooperate among themselves, but that was not the case there. Each of the players wanted to be more powerful than the others, wanted to have more attention from the DM than the others, wanted all the treasure to his or her character, and things like that. And every time they had to create a new character they looked for the most obscure and exotic race and/or class to play to be the most powerful inside the group. Here is the list of the bizarre characters in that group:

The Knight of the Zodiac: There was this guy, the second or third most annoying in the group, totally addicted to anime/manga, that decided to create a Knight of the Zodiac character (remember that this is an AD&D game?). He found that in one of the worst Role-Playing Games magazine ever to be edited anywhere else in the world, called "Dragão Brasil". It was a totally unbalanced class, full of loopholes, which can make a 3rd level character more powerful than a 10th level one. Ridiculous to say the least! But the guy was already playing with that for sometime, and when I started to play he was already somewhere around 3rd or 4th level. But that is not all... The player decided to create a kid Knight of the Zodiac, his character was a 12 year old boy, but in all the sessions I participated he never interpreted a kid. He interpreted a kid, only when that would be advantageous to him. Every other time he was just a plain and raw character with the main interest to fight and show every other players how powerful he was. I have no problems with someone wanting to play a 12 years old boy in a game, since some of the rules for children in the game apply. For example, when you are 12 years old and human, your body is not fully grown yet, nor your mind is fully developed, so the PC should have some noticeable penalties in its attributes and skills. Regarding that class, I would NEVER allow such an unbalanced class to any of my players. The player was a guy in his early 20's, called Kelson, and wow... It was almost unbearable to play with him. He just paid attention to the game when he was playing, at all other times he was disrupting the other people's gameplay, making fun of everyone else, or just messing up with things and people around him.

The Dinosaur Man: This was the character of a player that I do not remember the name anymore. But he was as annoying as Kelson, but sometimes he was able to be the most annoying in the group. He found a dinosaur manlike race in that same magazine that should be burned for the good sake of all serious role players in Brazil, showed that to the DM and then decided to use that in the game. Nobody was able to hit him, even when he was a first level character, due to its huge natural armor, and that made him the most reckless PC in the group, always looking for trouble anywhere he went knowing that almost no one would be able to hit him. During treasure sharing, sometimes he was the character that simply got everything he want just to see if someone else in the group would try to fight him. The weirdest part is that he did not knew how to communicate with anyone else in the group, he was the most annoying and troublesome character in the group, no one else liked him, and still one day he just joined the group for no reason at all, and people just let him there for no reason either. (You can see how those players interpreted their characters roles so well.) He was a dinosaur man cleric of Chaos, another class he found in that same magazine, also a totally unbalanced class. That race was surely not a race for a first level character, and the reasons why the PCs allowed him to remain on the group still eludes me.

The Half-Illithid Half-Drow Elf: That for itself is just enough to make everyone wonder in what kind of AD&D Zoo I had placed myself. That was old 2nd edition, with all those drow and illithid almost invincible magic resistance, and also those powerful psionic powers (mind blast) and all that. The guy who was playing this character could be the most powerful character I have ever seen, wasn't him so lame and inexperienced - he was 16 and a first-time gamer. I have no idea why a DM would let a 1st level character of an inexperienced player, play as this powerful aberration. This guy died in the first or second game session after I started to play. I can not recall exactly how that happened, but it was a lame death anyway. The only think worth of notice he ever done, was the most weird, disgusting, and unexpected thing I have ever seen in a game so far. Instead of using its inate powerful psionic powers to attack some pirate, he decided to stop in the middle of the combat to make some of its physiological necessities inside a bucket and then throw it over the poor pirates. Maybe in that bizarre reality drow elves and illithids can mate and even love each other. I don't know, but I am sure that the story behind this PC was raw and totally faulty too. That is so lame that it gives me the creeps every time I think about that.

The "Angel": There was also this guy, who had an angel as a character, but I only played with him in the table once, before he quit. I wonder why! HAUhAUhAUhUAhuAHa... What a zoo!!

The Highlander: This was the character of my ex-girlfriend. In the middle of all that mess she was one of the most normal characters. She was a highlander, someone that can only die if he or she is beheaded. During the time that I played, she has not died nor even once, so her PC did not know that she herself was a highlander, and could not die. She played most of the time as a normal female fighter character, making her stupid mistakes sometimes, but being the wisest and the best role player amongst their fellow friends most of the time.

The Bladesinger/Mage/Thief: This one was the epitome of the power player. He at least have not used that magazine while looking for race or character classes, he knew the system so thoroughly that he was able to create a master combo with all the official rules. Actually, that was not an unknown combo, but at least he used the official rules in his favor. He created a 10-page background story for his character, and all that. He was a good role player, eccentric, but a good player. The greatest problem was that this guy was totally full of himself, and acted like he was the best in the game table. (Actually, playing with a group like that, it is not difficult to think in this way, when you know the rules, and is a more experienced player that most of those pesky players.)

The normal players: My character was the most usual one, just a plain human mage, with normal attribute scores, that was afraid of rabbits. There were two other players, a female druid, played by the DM's girlfriend, and a female necromancer, played by another female player, both of them first-timers.

As you can see, the group was more than 8 players. The story the DM was running seemed to be an interesting one, but they way he used to run the game was very problematic. He let players create whatever they wanted, without any control at all regarding character creation. I would have no problems letting my players creating exotic characters, but if you want to keep a level of fun you have to think about balance issues inside the group. He was not able to create any kind of real tension during the game, as none of the encounters were a match for those overpower characters. Actually, my 1st level mage was very tense in most of the encounters, but I was an exception, as every other character had something special about themselves, everyone but me. The real problem was not the lack of power of the encounters the group had to overcome, it was the lack of strategy of the DM. He did not know how to use a spellcaster properly, nor even the other classes, so it was impossible for him to create a real challenge to the overpower characters in the group. I am sure that if he knew how to properly use the characters and had a minimum knowledge of tactics and strategy he would be able to destroy that group easily with a basic group of 4 or 5 characters of the same level.

When it was time to share the treasure found, it was like a war. The treasure was not divided in a roleplaying way, it had to be divided outside the game with some rules, if not they would start to fight and kill each other just for a +1 ring of protection. The group was a bunch a lame and inexperienced characters, that did not know how to interpret properly their roles in the game, and just wanted to show the other PCs how powerful was his or her character. The DM was also a lame DM who did not know, and I don't think he has learned so far, how to give a real challenge to their PCs, and lacked knowledge about rules and balancing issues inside the game. And that was the most improbable, mixed and bizarre group ever, I would not be surprised if there was a lawful good paladin fighting side-by-side with chaotic evil assassin, and they were best friends in that group. My ex-girlfriend was the one who role played best among these guys, and after playing with them for a while I found out why she made so many stupid mistakes in my game. She was just roleplaying in my game the way she would do in her official group.

I did not play with them a long time, it was just too much torment for myself. I played because of my ex-girlfriend, but after a while not even that was enough to make me go to their game willingly. The worst RPG experience ever in my life!

Hell's Bells

2008-01-24T05:24:00.000+01:00

Vocals: Brian Johnson
Lead Guitar: Angus Young
Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals: Malcolm Young
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals: Cliff Williams
Drums: Phil Rudd

From the album "Back in Black", this is "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC. I have nothing else to say, just listen!

I'm the rolling thunder; the pouring rain.
I'm comin' on like a hurricane.
White lightning's flashing across the sky!
You're only young but you're gonna die!

I won't take no prisoners - won't spare no lives!
Nobody's putting up a fight!
I got my fill; I'm gonna take you to hell;
I'm gonna get you - Satan get you...

CHORUS:
Hell's Bells!
Yeah, Hell's Bells!
You got me ringing Hell's Bells!
My temperature's high! Hell's Bells!

I'll give you black sensations up and down your spine.
If you're into evil, you're a friend of mine.
See my white light flashing as I split the night,
'Cause if good's on the left, then I'm stickin' to the right!

I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives;
Nobody's puttin' up a fight.
I got my fill; I'm gonna take you to hell;
I'm gonna get you - Satan get you...

CHORUS

Yeow!
Hell's Bells, Satan's comin' to you!
Hell's Bells, he's ringing them now!
Hell's Bells, the temperature's high!
Hell's Bells, across the sky...
Hell's Bells, they're takin' you down.
Hell's Bells, they're draggin' you around.
Hell's Bells, gonna split the night!
Hell's Bells, there's no way to fight! Yeah!

Ow, ow, ow, ow!

Hell's Bells!

That is freakin' Rock'n'Roll in its purest and hardest form, babe!! Rock'n'Roll!! \m/,

Summer Night City

2008-01-21T07:29:00.000+01:00

This will be a fast post. After writing a post about my RPG Campaign, one thing that I am sure, no one cares but my players, I decided to write something to my few other readers, to compensate that. So, here it goes: two versions of the same music...

Original version by Abba

Cover version by Therion

So, which one do you prefer?

I liked both versions, but my favorite one, in this case, is the cover version... Therion!! It's Heavy Metal, babe! \m/,

Summer Night City
by Abba

Summer night city...
Summer night city...
Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city
In the sun I feel like sleeping
I can't take it for too long
My impatience slowly creeping
Up my spine and growing strong
I know what's waiting there for me
Tonight I'm loose and fancy-free
Aa-ahhh
When the night comes with the action
I just know it's time to go
Can't resist the strange attraction
From that giant dynamo
Lots to take and lots to give
Time to breathe and time to live

Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city

It's elusive call it glitter
Somehow something turns me on
Some folks only see the litter
We don't miss them when they're gone
I love the feeling in the air
My kind of people everywhere

When the night comes with the action
I just know it's time to go
Can't resist the strange attraction
From that giant dynamo

And tomorrow, when it's dawning
And the first birds start to sing
In the pale light of the morning
Nothing's worth remembering
It's a dream, it's out of reach
Scattered driftwood on the beach

Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city
(repeat 2x and fade)

Campanha de RPG - O Complexo

2008-01-21T02:07:00.000+01:00

Este texto é direcionado principalmente aos jogadores da minha aventura de RPG, mas fiquem à vontade para lê-lo, se assim desejarem. =D

Como já tem MUITO tempo que eu escrevi a última atualização, e eu não me recordo detalhadamente dos acontecimentos das últimas sessões do jogo (que ocorreram em abril e maio), e que não foram relatadas aqui, resolvi falar sobre a situação atual do local, e sobre as descobertas do grupo. Espero que até o jogo recomeçar, todos os detalhes mais importantes sejam esclarecidos, e correções serão feitas caso haja alguma contradição com o que foi escrito aqui neste período pré jogo e as lembraças de cada um dos jogadores. Portanto, meus prezados jogadores, manifestem-se caso algum fato tenha ficado nebuloso ou contraditório com as lembranças de cada um.

Eu não me lembro exatamente da contagem dos dias, mas isto eu tenho certeza que está anotado, e quando eu chegar em casa, eu terei certeza do dia em o jogo parou. A última atualização do jogo foi sobre o dia 67, e se eu me lembro bem, no máximo, se passaram mais 7 dias (tempo do jogo) até o dia da última sessão. Vocês estão, no máximo, no dia 74.

Não devo escrever tudo neste texto. Pretendo começar falando sobre as ruínas, onde os personagens se encontram, depois escrever mais detalhademente sobre o primeiro nível como um todo, e sobre cada uma das comunidades locais, e finalmente sobre onde o jogo parou. Tudo isto, descrevendo somente o que já foi descoberto pelos personagens sobre o local. Espero não falar demais, e contar sobre coisas que eles - os personagens de cada um de vocês - ainda não sabem, ou, no caso de se lembrarem de algo que eu não contei, me avisem que eu atualizo aqui.

As Ruínas do Complexo Subterrâneo:

O complexo subterrâneo, num passado já esquecido, era uma base avançada de uma raça de criaturas reptilianas. Ainda não se tem pistas sobre os objetivos destes seres, se são criaturas nativas do mundo ou se vieram de algum outro lugar, e nem sobre o destino final delas. Apesar dos vários "hieróglifos" encontrados em vários pontos do local, e depois de várias tentativas frustradas, a escrita e a língua das criaturas ainda se mostra indecifrável, mesmo com a ajuda de métodos mágicos. Sabe-se apenas que esta raça de criaturas tinha um alto grau do conhecimento mágico, e conseguiu desenvolver uma sociedade tecno-mágica muito desenvolvida, e alguns indícios parecem indicar que elas possuiam atributos mentais muito elevados. Observando as estátuas espalhadas pelo primeiro nível das ruínas, é possível distinguir dois tipos de criaturas, um grupo de criaturas com apenas um par de braços, e outro grupo com dois pares de braços, sendo que as estátuas com um par de braço são sempre menores que as estátuas com 2 pares de braço. E ambos os grupos ultrapassam em muito o tamanho médio dos humanóides atuais, o grupo mais baixo com altura mínima de 3m, e o grupo mais alto chegando a 4,5m de altura.

O complexo possui 8 níveis ou andares. Esse é um fato que a grande maioria dos habitantes do primeiro nível desconhece, e quando resolvem falar sobre os outros níveis, falam sempre como uma se fosse uma lenda, ou algo inalcansável, mesmo havendo indícios da existência dos outros andares.

Pelas lembraças fragmentadas do grupo, a entrada do Complexo é no topo de uma montanha, que se encontra numa ilha desolada, totalmente desabitada e coberta por névoas e árvores mortas. Não se sabe exatamente o que acontece depois de se passar pelo enorme portal de entrada no topo da montanha, mas após atravessá-lo se chega ao "Lago do Oblívio", que drena todas as memórias de qualquer pessoa que apenas toque em suas águas. Como todas as pessoas encontradas, que não nasceram dentro das Ruínas, não se lembram de nada do mundo exterior, imagina-se que todos que atravessam o portal, caem no lago, perdendo assim todas as memórias de sua vida anterior. Um grande corredor de quilômetros e quilômetros de extensão, totalmente escuro não fossem algumas pequenas salas luminosas em alguns pontos, leva até uma grande escadaria, onde no topo se encontra outra porta gigantesca, a porta de entrada para o primeiro nível.

Segundo Koka, e Dalamar, existem comunidades humanóides espalhadas por cada um dos 6 primeiros níveis. O esconderijo secreto de Koka, onde Dalamar passou um tempo, se encontra no 7o. nível, mas nada se sabe sobre o 8o. nível, apenas que ele existe, de acordo com informações de Koka e do Avatar.

Segundo Kurnfallud (o Grande "Demônio" Negro que apareceu no primeiro nível a poucos dias), os quatro primeiros níveis do complexo fazem parte de seu território. Sabe-se que no 2o. nível existe uma comunidade de anãos, e também uma grande comunidade de kobolds. Existe um certo tratado de não-agressão entre kobolds e anões, apesar dos dois grupos se odiarem. Aparentemente, Kurnfallud garante a paz dos anões, caso eles deixem os seus kobolds em paz, e paguem tributos períodicos a ele. Os anões controlam uma grande mina no segundo nível, e que é a fonte de toda a sua riqueza. Eventualmente, aparecem relatos de homens-lagarto no segundo nível, e sabe-se que eles tem grandes comunidades no terceiro nível, e todos eles prestam tributo ao "demônio". Os homens-lagarto do terceiro nível estão divididos em quatro grupos, de acordo com a cor das escamas: pretos, cinzas, verdes e vermelhos. E existe uma certa cooperação entre os grupos, e se sabe que Kurnfallud é mais influente entre os de escamas negras. Anões e homens-lagarto mantêm contatos ao mínimo, mas geralmente não há hostilidades, e o contato é geralmente comercial. Os anões, de modo geral, sabem da existência do primeiro e terceiro níveis, mas ou não sabem nada dos níveis a partir do quarto, ou realmente não comentam nada sobre isto. Os anões de forma geral, demonstram um certo desprezo pelos habitantes humanos do primeiro nível, mas sempre mantêm agentes infiltrados neste nível. Da mesma forma, os homens-lagarto do terceiro nível também mantém agentes infiltrados entre os humanos do primeiro nível. Os homens-lagarto apesar de saberem da existência do quarto nível, não comentam de forma alguma sobre este fato, e é praticamente tabu dentro de sua sociedade comentar sobre a existência dos níveis a partir do quinto.

Segundo informações de Koka para Dalamar, no quarto nível existe uma comunidade de humanos, uma comunidade de ogros, e o nível é um grande campo de batalhas. Informações sobre quem batalha contra quem não foram fornecidas. No quinto nível existe um grande cemitério, e no sexto nível existe um grupo de estudiosos e usuários de magia mais poderosos. No sétimo como já foi dito, é onde se encontra a base secreto de Koka, que segundo Dalamar, desapareceu, sem deixar vestígios. O sétimo nível foi descrito como apenas muito perigoso por Koka, e é um local extremamente quente, diferente do frio atual no primeiro nível. Dalamar notou uma certa estranheza na passagem de tempo, durante período em que ficou no 7o. nível.

Todas estas informações foram obtidas com o Avatar, Koka, com o "Lore Book" encontrado no corpo da halfling channeler, e com Kurnfallud. Nenhuma das fontes menciona nenhum Nexus de Magia, nenhum local mágico, e nenhuma das passagens que leva de um nível para o outro.

Continua...

...of Eyelids, Classes, Blogs and House Invaders...

2008-01-19T01:46:00.000+01:00

It is been a little while since I wrote here. I have been working a lot in these last two weeks, and when I got home my mind is so tired that I can barely think about something to write. And I realize today that I am really stressed. My eyelids are twitching non-stop since Tuesday, and the reason is probably related to stress. All my work is done in front of a computer, and sometimes I just focus my eyes at the screen, and I look at that intensely for hours and hours without realizing it. I also have been sleeping very little in these past days. My eyes must be really stressed.

At last, it is weekend and I guess I will rest my eyes a little bit for the next two days, or at least I will try it. Problem is: I have to work during the weekend too... Damn!!

My adviser is teaching "Stellar Astrophysics" in this term. I asked her if I could watch it, and she told me that I was welcome to go to the classes. It is weird, but after two years without having to worry about watching classes, and studying for exams, I was missing it. That was one of the main reasons that made me take this decision, the other reason is that I love this subject and I wanted to remember those things again. The only problem was that the classes were at 9:30AM, and to wake up around 7AM in this winter is an herculean effort. It is very cold, and it is still dark outside, so it is almost impossible to get out of bed. After watching her first class, last week, I was totally amazed. Her class is just PERFECT. After 10 years of Physics and Astrophysics, I am still to see someone teaching better than her. She is able to express everything with such clarity that it is almost impossible to have any lingering questions about it later. (Maybe I am exaggerating a little about it, but I am not writing it just because she is my adviser... So far her classes have been excellent.) The duration of the class is 1h30min, but after that time I am still very interested and eager to watch more and more... I don't even care anymore to wake up at 7AM two days a week to go to that class. Unfortunately for me, I won't be able to watch her class until the end, as I will return to Brazil just in the middle of the winter term here. She gave us some homework to do for next week, but she told me that I don't need to make the homeworks, after all I am not officially enrolled to her class and she also told me that I already have lots of work to do, but I am still thinking about solving some of the problems in the homework just for keep the mind sharp about the subject, and to try to remember things that should be somewhere lost in my head. (It is too nerdy to think like that...)

I had a lot of good teachers in Brazil, and very good ones by the way, but I can remember only one or two teachers that were able to be as clear as she is, but I still think she is the best. Maybe the reason for that is that I really love "Stellar Astrophysics", and now I am just in the class to remember things, and not really to learn any new thing. Maybe that counts to the fact that everything seems so clear to me... But none of the other students have any complain so far, actually they are really loving her class too.

I have already written here about my work blog, called "Stellar Xaos". I was really excited with that when I created it, but I have barely written anything there. There are two problems with that. The first is that I don't want to simply write about the things that I have done in one day, if I had made any progress in that day or not. I want to write when I really have something good to write, when I make some kind of breakthrough in my work, and things like that, and eventually write about the theory behind the work I am doing right now. So far, I am not having the time to write about any theory, and nothing excited happened. The work is progressing, but nothing worth to mention, yet... That is one of the reason I have not written anything new there for almost two weeks. The other thing is that the blog is hosted by Wordpress, and to be sincere, I don't like the limitations of that site. If I want to edit my template, for example, I have to pay a small fee, and that is not cool. They have a lot of interesting templates, but I would love to customize it. There are also other limitations regarding what features you can add to your blog.
So, it is very probable that I will change hosts, and as soon as I have something more excited to report, I will create another blog hosted by blogger.

In this very moment there are a lot of unknown people in my house, friends of my roommates. But I am very tired and lacking the patience for social rituals in this moment, so I am going to remain enclosed in my room. I just want peace and rest for my eyes right now...

Xaos Sob Controle

2008-01-16T00:28:00.000+01:00

Cidadãos de Xaos, o Caos que se instalou sobre nossa cidade foi finalmente controlado. A cidade volta a ser o paraíso perdido novamente. Agradeço a quem quer que seja que tenha ajudado a controlar o desenvolvimento da cidade. Espero que ela continue assim, e que a onda de imigrantes descontrolados tenha sido apenas passageira, e provavelmente está ligada ao fato da cidade ser reconhecida em todos os cantos do Multiverso por suas plantações de cogumelos.

(Eu não entendo muito bem o fato de eu querer um crescimento tão harmônico numa cidade chamada Xaos, talvez seja apenas uma das várias nuances do Caos. Eu realmente prefiro que seja assim, por enquanto. :P)

My thought about Fortran 77

2008-01-15T19:42:00.000+01:00

Fortran 77 is an ancient, outdated, confusing, damned computer programming language, that should be banned from science once and for all. And, yes, I hate it!

Caos em Xaos

2008-01-13T03:03:00.000+01:00

Senhores cidadãos de Xaos, é meu dever como prefeito comunicá-los de um grave problema que está assolando nossa bela cidade. Está ocorrendo uma imigração em massa para Xaos, ainda não sabemos de onde vieram tantos habitantes, mas de dois dias para cá o número de habitantes de Xaos, cresceu de maneira explosiva, e devido a este fato a economia da cidade começou a se desestabilizar. O número de desempregados assumiu proporções alarmantes, e a infra-estrutura das redes de transporte da cidade está sobrecarregada. Algumas pessoas, infelizmente, resolveram sair de Xaos devido à falta de controle da situação.

Devido a severidade da situação, como prefeito, tomarei medidas sérias para a resolução dos problemas:

A taxa de impostos das empresas que resolverem se instalar na cidade, gerando empregos para a população local, será diminuída em 2%. Empresas bioquímicas, que utilizarem a matéria prima local (cogumelos alucinógenos) em seus produtos, terão a taxação reduzida de 4%;
Slaads terão todo o direito de se alimentar de desempregados, vadiando pelas ruas durante os horários de expediente normal. Portanto, qualquer pessoa que tenha um emprego deve adquirir uma permissão com sua empresa para poder andar livre pela cidade durante o expediente, sem perigo de ser devorado por sapos gigantes multicoloridos vindos de outro plano de existência[1];
Não será tolerado de forma alguma, pessoas que não tenham pelo menos 5 dedos no pé esquerdo, e não mais que 7 dedos no pé direito! O descumprimento de tais exigências mínimas será punido com penas severas, tais como: assistir Teletubbies durante uma semana seguida; servir de cobaia em pesquisas bionucleares; cavar túneis sem propósito algum; servir como hospedeiro para ovos de Slaads; etc. A única excessão a regra é caso a pessoa comprove que seja verde, e consiga fazer fotossítese;
Modrons, ou qualquer entidade originária de Mechanus, que não tenham o formato de um D37,23 (dado com 37,23 lados regulares), não serão aceitos de forma alguma dentro dos limites físicos da cidade, e serão atacados e destruídos pela milícia local ao primeiro contato visual.

Espero que após tais medidas, a cidade passe a crescer de maneira aceitável novamente, e volte a ser o ótimo local que sempre foi desde sua fundação! Caso queira promover o desenvolvimento econômico da cidade criando novas indústrias, é só nos enviar as propostas.

[1] Slaads como criaturas totalmente caóticas, não têm necessidade de agir de acordo com a legislação municipal, estatal, federal, ou mesmo extra-planar, vigentes, e portanto podem se alimentar de qualquer criatura, independente do status de empregado, desempregado, portador de licença ou não. Portanto cidadão, a não ser que você seja mais poderoso que um deles, tenha cautela ao se aproximar destas amáveis criaturas. A prefeitura não se responsabiliza por nenhum ataque de Slaad que você ou sua família venha a sofrer, dentro ou fora dos limites da cidade;

Slaads, criaturas adoráveis.

Future "Zombie"

2008-01-09T21:28:00.001+01:00

When you start to think about not sleeping for a few days to work all night long, it means that you REALLY love what you do, or that you are REALLY late with your work... I REALLY love to sleep at night, so...

I will need a huge amount of cafeine in the next few days...

Be quick or...

2008-01-06T07:24:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I have the feeling that I am spending too much of my time writing in this blog... Is that a waste of time? I really don't know... I just know that most of the time, I have fun writing these senseless things that no one cares about! :P

By the way, I did not write about it, but I beat "Doom 3" around a week ago. I also watched "Silent Hill", and I loved this movie... That is a movie I can call psychedelic terror! And sometime in the future I am going to write a medicine-astrophysics paper, but first I have to meet a friend in Brazil, and then we will get drunk, and while drunk we will start to discuss about the ideas for this article. (And I'm quite sure she was not kidding when she told me that... That will be fun! HAuHAuHAuHAuHAuHAuHAUha... )

Vegetarians - The Finished Previously Unfinished Post

2008-01-04T04:04:00.000+01:00

Do you remember the "Senseless Post About an Unfinished Post"? I decided to finish the unfinished post, at last... Actually, I decided to rewrite it. So, here it comes...

For some time now, I have noticed that the number of vegetarian people is rising. I don't know why that is happening. Some years ago, I knew no vegetarian people. But today, every once in a while I meet someone who does not eat meat. This fact is quite disturbing in my opinion. One of the greatest characteristics that defines a human being is the fact the we are on the very top of the food chain (actually we share the top with other species, but that is no demerit when we realize that the other species are the greatest hunters in nature, and we have the intellect to even supersede them in their game). Most of these people do not eat meat due to some environmental concern, or spiritual ones, or due to the fact that animals must be harmed if we want to eat them. Very few, just do not like to eat meat, or do not feel good after eating flesh and blood.

Nature is the greatest example to be followed in the Universe. Nature is the very embodiment of Wisdom in all the Multiverse, and is something that must be respected above all else. And for the environment to work properly, some species must simply use others as a source of nourishment, and I am sure these species higher in the food chain do not feel any remorse after being satiated by the flesh and blood of the weaker ones. That is simply Nature, and that is the way Nature uses to control the Entropy levels of the whole ecosystem. Unfortunately for some species, the meaning of their existence is simply to serve as food for others, and I am not the one who have the right to change that.

People usually think that due to the fact that humans have a much more developed brain than other beings, imply that we must respect all other animals as equals, and not treat them as simply food. They think that with our current technology we can very well create some other sources of nourishment that could substitute and then free some animals of their ultimate demise of being sliced and crushed by our teeth. What would be of cattle if we simply stop eating them. Probably they all will die, because they do not know how to live in the wilderness, all by themselves anymore, and if they do not have any purpose to us, I am sure we will not take care of them as a simply act of kindness to compensate them for the unfortunate fate of their ancestors. Actually, we have a kind of symbiotic relation with all these animals that serve as a source of food for us. We feed them, we let them reproduce, we take care of them and their offspring, we kept them alive until they reach the stage when it is time for them to help with our survival (unfortunately for them, their main fate is as a source of nutrients for our body). It does not matter how they are treated by their cattle raisers, that is the only way they know how to live, and they would not be able to survive in any other way (something similar to what happened in "Brave New World"). They can survive alone for a while without anyone to take care of them, but that would not last too long. They would be easy prey for some other predators. And they would need a very long time to re-adapt themselves in the wilderness again. To let them loose, is the same as to bring species to extinction. Nature would need some time (maybe many thousands of years or more) to re-adapt itself after being provided with another set of conditions to being obeyed. So, now we have to keep using them as nourishment if we want to keep the balance in the ecosystem.

We also eat meat since the dawn of our species, and that is the main reason that differentiate us from other animals. Our species never had any special physical characteristic that would highlight us in the middle of the predatory class. To compensate our lack of strength, somewhere in the forgotten past, as a mean to obtain meat, the primitive humans (if they can really be called humans by that time) started to develop other skills to hunt their prey, like tactics, better hunting strategies, and finally started to use tools to help in the task... All our civilization was constructed over our predatory instinct, and our brain is developed as it is today due to the fact that we based most of our dietary habits on meat. Our body needs meat, and so far there is not other kind of aliment that can be used to substitute animal meat and blood in our diet. Of course, today we do not need to hunt to keep our minds sharp, but during millions of years our body evolved around the basic need of eating flesh, and it would take another million of years for it to evolve into a body that would not need to use that as a primary source of energy and nutrients (unless we use some genetic way to accelerate this process, of course). So if you simply stop to eat anything that came from a animal source, I am sure, your body will be less apt to resist and survive all the ailments it certainly will suffer over the span of your lifetime. Human body is very adaptable to survive in harsh conditions, but without meat, fat, blood, it won't survive for long in any kind of critical condition.

If the human race wants to stop eating meat (something that I am totally against), it should do that in steps, and not simply halting these kinds of aliments from entering their bodies. That would create problems to all the ecosystem as also for our own species.

So, continue to follow our rightful omnivorous way, to help human evolution, and to keep Nature's balance! And be proud of your place in the top of the Food Chain! Yeah...

Just to finish, as Troy McLure said: "If a cow had the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about." (Think about it! :P)

Obs: If you are part of the few who can't eat meat simply because your body is unable to digest it properly anymore, and when you do, it disrupts all your internal processes, well...I am sorry for you. You are part of the human evolutionary branch that will turn into a different and weaker specie that will be used as slaves for our stronger breed at some point in the future. Be careful, weakling, or your offspring will be easy prey for ours! Or that, or you can force your body to re-adapt itself again, eating flesh, and feeling the pleasures that only fresh blood can provide you. ]-]

P.S.: For some strange reason I would love to have larger and stronger canines! I don't know why! :P

So 2008 started...

2008-01-02T00:35:00.000+01:00

First post of the year! I was thinking about writing about the New Year's Party, yesterday, but I decided that I am going to write about it later, but I will publish it only one year from now. Well... if I remember about it by that time. But I can tell you that the party was okay, far from the best, but it was not the worst, either. It was very different, though. And by the end of the night I was sure about one thing... I shall never be dependent on the goodwill of others again! That was also something I learned last year. That does not mean I will not trust anyone anymore, it just means that I will never expect any favor or any kindness from anyone, anymore... It does not mean I did not meet nice people here, far from that, but I have met a few people who disappointed me. I will write about it sometime in the future... It simply is not time for that yet...

Changing subject totally, today, in the first day of this still new year, Xaos received its 100th habitant, and it turned into a hamlet. It is still a very small place, but it is getting larger. So far, Xaos has 100 habitants, and 17 industries, no unemployment, no pollution, no crimes, and everybody has access to transportation. As the Mayor of Xaos, I am very proud of the city development, and I welcome everyone who wants to come to Xaos, to live or to set up some industries. With this rising number of habitants, I am also looking for people interested in help to develop the transport networks of our beloved Xaos, if you are such person, feel free to come to Xaos, and talk to me about it.

When I woke up today, I turned on the TV, and there was a show about the future first human mission to Mars. We still have to overcome so many problems, some of them very difficult ones, but I am sure I am going to see that happen. There are a lot of people in the world that are totally against such crazy and extremely expensive projects, and think that this colossal project is a tremendous waste of resources, while there are so many problems to be solved on Earth, like famine, poverty, environmental problems, etc... I really do not think that as a waste of resources, actually, I see that as one of the biggest hopes for humankind... I am not thinking about the end of life on Earth due to our lack of success in reverse all the environmental damage already done to our planet... I am, actually, thinking about hope for humankind, thinking about untapped human potential, and technological advancements. I am sure that when that happens all humanity will stop everything to see that happening, as happened when humans first set foot on the Moon. That kind of thing is something that for a very brief moment of time makes you proud of being part of the human race. That moment will be the most exciting event of this century, when that happens... Only to think about the technological advancements necessary for that trip makes me excited.

After I have watched that show about the Mars trip, I decided to start shoveling the snow outside the house. Damn... That was tiresome! I am broken right now... Enough exercise for one week. I love when it snows, as it was snowing when the New Year started, but shovel snow is not fun! :P

O Fim de 2007

2007-12-31T22:20:00.000+01:00

Última postagem do ano, mas não vou postar nenhuma retrospectiva do ano, nem meus planos para o próximo ano. Mas uma coisa eu digo, este ano que está terminando, foi com certeza, um dos anos mais interessantes da minha vida, e devido a tudo que ocorreu, eu tenho certeza que não sou o mesmo de um ano atrás, e espero ter evoluído este ano, e não involuído. Sei que o próximo ano vai ser um ano de decisões difíceis na minha vida, e espero saber fazê-las da maneira mais apropriada quando chegar a hora.

Muitas das coisas que aconteceram comigo este ano podem ser lidas nas diversas postagens do blog, desde fevereiro. Algumas estão escritas de maneiras meio enigmáticas, mas algumas estão escritas de maneira bem clara. E, no próximo ano, continuarei a escrever aqui, e é bem provável que eu escreva sobre as coisas que ainda estão pra acontecer, de uma maneira clara ou totalmente incompreensiva e encriptada.

Termino o ano, ou começo o próximo ano, com o blog de cara nova. Finalmente, após alguns meses, e algumas mudanças desde que resolvi criá-lo, consegui criar uma cara que me agradou bastante, e espero que tenha agradado às pessoas que, por ventura, passam por aqui, ou como leitores recorrentes, eventuais, ou pára-quedistas. Mas como nada é imutável, e mudanças são sempre inexoráveis, podem ter certeza que este blog ainda vai sofrer várias mudanças no futuro, próximo ou distante. Entropia e Caos, sempre!

Fico feliz em dizer que o número de visitantes e leitores aqui tem aumentado mensalmente, e já estou com uma média de 6,3 visitas diárias! A maioria delas é de pára-quedistas virtuais que caem aqui procurando as coisas mais esdrúxulas possíveis, mas tem vários leitores recorrentes, que nunca deixam comentários, mas que lêem minhas bobagens. Espero que as visitas continuem aumentando, e que eu continue inspirando o Caos e a Entropia na vida dos meus poucos leitores. (Se é que eu tenha realmente inspirado alguém, alguma vez na minha vida! Pffff... Hehehehe...) =D

Finalmente, amanhã, inauguro oficialmente o meu blog de trabalho, que será totalmente voltado pra Astrofísica, ou Astronomia, como preferirem. É bem provável que a maioria das coisas que eu vá escrever lá, não interessem a quase ninguém, e serão coisas totalmente ligadas ao meu trabalho, mas quem tiver o mínimo de interesse em saber o que um astrofísico faz, fique à vontade para visitá-lo. O nome do meu novo blog é "Stellar Xaos".

Ho ho ho... Feliz Ano (Bissexto) 2008 para todos os que lerem isto aqui!!! Que todos tenham um 2008 muito melhor que 2007, mas que ele não chegue aos pés de 2009! =D

Rock Band - Run to the Hills

2007-12-30T07:43:00.001+01:00

After I watched this video, I realized that I NEED to play this game. I don't care if I am loser who does not know how to play any kind of instrument, unless if it is in a video game (and not a good player even in a video-game). But I NEED to have a Playstation 3 just to play this game. And I am almost doing that... Very near indeed, after I have watched this video...

This is a Full Expert Band playing "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden \m/,

By the way... Who wants to be part of my band when I get this game? =D

P.S.: You might have noticed that the voice is not exactly Bruce Dickinson's voice, and it is true. One of the players is the singer, and he did a excellent job in my humble opinion! The game is awesome!!!

Doom 3

2007-12-28T02:14:00.000+01:00

I have been playing Doom 3 for sometime already. I have not finished the game yet, but I am almost there. It is an old game, released in 2004, and it is basically a remake of the classic Doom from 1993, with improved graphics (and what a improvement) and a more detailed storyline.

The game is just a First-Person Shooter, with somewhat of a background story behind it, and the graphics are really impressive. The year is 2145. You are a marine that works for the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) and is transfered to the UAC Martian Base Complex. You arrive in the place totally clueless, and you just know that the UAC has a huge research complex in Mars, and you are going to replace some other marine in that place. Together, in the same spaceship, came two high-profile guys for some unknown reasons.

When you start to walk around the base, just in the beginning, you have the feeling that everything in that place is almost real. People talking to each other, seemingly real news on the TV, people working around the base. You have to register yourself in the base, get your equipment (a pistol, some ammunition, a lantern, a body armor and your personal data assistant - PDA), and look for your commander to present yourself to him and receive your first assignment. You have to look for a missing scientist that seems to be somewhere in the old communications building. The marine (you) went after him, walking through the base and eventually meeting other people around the base and talking to them (some lame talking). After you took this long walk around the base, you find the hidden scientist. He was trying to send a message out to the UAC Board on Earth telling about some hideous experiments taking place in the Martian soil.

When the scientist was almost done uploading the message, the computers started to act weird, power surges happening all over the place, strange noises coming out of nowhere. Something hit the scientist and he turned into a mindless zombie. You start to hear marines screaming through the comlink, a lot of shooting, people dying everywhere. The zombie-scientist in this moment decided that he is hungry and want to eat your brains at that very moment, and attacked you. You shot him dead, and then the fun starts...

Your sergeant in command is alive somewhere, and he gave you an order to go back to the barracks. You start to backtrack your way until the barracks, just to find that there seems to be no survivals after all. All that survived are now mindless zombies, and they are after everything that moves and is still alive, and that means you. Weird... Eventually you discover that the base was overrun by demons, and that they are hiding everywhere, and they want you dead...

The base scenario of the game is: your character walking alone in the base, the lights are not working properly, and when it is dark, it is REALLY dark, sometimes out of nowhere you hear noises, other times you see bodies being dragged away by some hidden creature, or being thrown around by an unknown force. And when you least expect, from the darkness some creatures jump at you... Most of the time you can hear the creatures, but other times, they just appear out of nowhere to attack you. The worst is when you are walking and then suddenly you hear cries, wails, and even babies crying, and nothing is around you... The game atmosphere is perfectly creepy, it really makes you tense and scared sometimes. If you are playing alone in your house, in the dark, I can assure you, you will be afraid, and you might even start to hear weird noises in the house... But it is fun to shoot at zombies and demons!! :P

To help develop the storyline, you find around bodies other people's PDAs, and you can hear some saved logs, and their e-mails. That helps to give you the feeling that the bodies you see scattered around are from "real" people, and not just a body. And you can read or listen to their views about the things that were happening around the base in the past few months. That is very interesting....

The game is basically that, but now I am gonna start to talk about some inconsistencies I found while playing the game. Ok, I know I should not look for these kind of things in a game like Doom, but anyway, the game designers should had thought better about some details in the game.

First, you have a lantern, but every time you use it, you have to lower your guard. You can not hold the lantern at the same time your are holding your weapon. It is 2145, and every gun should have a place to fix some light source in its body. Maybe, in the Doom Universe, the concept of a light sources fixed in weapons is far too advanced for the weapon designers compared with spaceships, terraforming, planetary colonies, plasma guns, interplanetary travel, teleportation devices, gravity generators and all those other basic and primitive technological concepts. It is a totally different Universe where there are gates to Hell hidden inside ancient ruins on Mars. Who knows!? But anyway, it would mess a little bit with the dark atmosphere, but I don't think that it would destroy the frightening scenario. It is just lame to have to change lantern and weapons almost all the time.

The game takes place on Mars, so I guess it would be very fun if we could feel how is to be in Mars, in an ambient with a lower gravity than Earth, where you can jump much higher with less effort. That won't spoil nothing in the game play. Oh... well... The marine seems to be carrying at least 300 kg of equipment whenever he goes, huge guns, countless amounts of ammunition for every kind of guns he has, a body armor, dozens of grenades and rockets... Wow... Yeah... Thats is the reason why he can't jump as high as I would think he would do on Mars, he is heavy burdened pack mule!

I still have not understood yet why my character is the only one who was not turned into a mindless marine zombie. Every other marine was turned into a zombie, but mine... Is the Force stronger with this marine? Or has he demon blood running through his veins? Well... Whatever...

Why, in blazes, do people leave pieces of armor, medkits and ammunition hidden in dark corners all over the base?? And why those stupid demons don't destroy all the medkits they found?? I guess they never thought a lone marine would be their Doom!! ]-]

Another problem is that the game is totally linear, you have only one path though the game and that is it. You just have to shoot and kill demons, go always ahead, and then you finish it... It is a long game, there is only the straightforward way to beat it, I probably won't play it again, but it is VERY funny... Sometimes I miss these mindless-shoot-at-all-you-can-see type of game. If you want some fun without thinking to much, you don't have any heart problems and do not start to cry whenever something scares you, Doom 3 is for you!! =D

Pré-Natal

2007-12-24T06:13:00.001+01:00

Estava pensando em escrever algo aqui hoje, tenho até algumas idéias, mas está tarde, e é o melhor momento pra se jogar Doom 3! Então, após assistir "I Am Legend", que diga-se de passagem é excelente, pra quem gosta de filmes tensos e de terror psicológico, é hora de jogar um jogo mais tenso ainda, antes de dormir. Afinal, nada melhor que esta combinação pra se ter uma ótima noite de sono. E os dois tem tudo a ver com o espírito Natalino (matar demônios e se esconder de "zumbis").

Inverno em Ann Arbor

2007-12-21T21:20:00.000+01:00

O Inverno começa hoje aqui no hemisfério norte, e portanto hoje teremos o menor dia do ano aqui também. O Inverno começou quente em Ann Arbor, e até o Sol brilhava na cidade até alguns momentos atrás. A temperatura está altíssima, na casa dos 2 graus centígrados, e enquanto andava até o supermercado, suando e com o pé atolando em neve derretida, sonhava com uma piscina de águas bem geladas e refrescantes, afinal tem muito tempo que eu não sinto tanto calor! :P

Hoje o Sol nasceu às 8h da manhã, e vai se por às 17h05min, e a partir de amanhã o dia começa a ficar longo de novo. Em compensação, em casa, em Belo Horizonte, hoje é o dia mais longo do ano, e o Sol nasceu às 6h13min da manhã, e vai se por às 19h34min.

Muito interessante a evolução da temperatura aqui em Ann Arbor. Durante o verão a temperatura passava regularmente dos 30 graus centígrados, mas as noites geralmente eram mais frias, chegando a temperaturas abaixo dos 10 graus algumas vezes, que no caso era mais frio que as noites de Inverno em Belo Horizonte, mas o problema era que o Sol se punha só depois das 21h, então a noite começava bem tarde aqui. Em setembro, no final do Verão a temperatura ficava entre os 20 e 30 graus durante o dia. O Outono começou e as temperaturas começaram a cair mais rapidamente. Em Outubro a temperatura durante o dia ficava entre os 10 e 20 graus centígrados, em Novembro começou a ficar abaixo dos 10 graus, e agora em Dezembro raramente temos temperaturas positivas, quase sempre abaixo de zero. O Sol mal aparece, o tempo é quase sempre nublado, e escurece bem cedo. Em compensação quando aparece, temos aquele céu azul bem limpo, e o Sol brilhando sobre a neve branca. É uma visão muito bonita. Quando é 8h da noite, eu já tenho a impressão que já é mais de 10 ou 11h da noite, e o cansaço acaba aparecendo bem mais cedo do que o normal. Essa evolução de temperatura acabou ajudando com que eu me acostumasse com o frio, já até consigo ficar sem gorro e sem luvas quando saio de casa, isto, desde que eu não fique muito tempo do lado de fora, depois de uns 20 minutos do lado de fora, e sem gorro, minha orelha começa a doer de frio. Mas quando começou a ficar frio mesmo, no início de novembro, era bem difícil ficar sem gorro e sem luvas, e sentia muito frio. Estes últimos dias estão mais tranquilos também, porque está ventando bem pouco, e o vento amplifica bastante a sensação de frio.

A temperatura deve continuar baixando ainda no próximo mês, e deve começar a subir de novo só em meados de fevereiro. Ainda tenho que pegar os -20oC durante o dia, como já me disseram que acontece às vezes, e também quero mais nevascas. Quero aproveitar bastante o frio aqui, porque antes do Inverno aqui terminar, eu vou sofrer uma mudança brusca de estação. Em março saio de um Inverno com temperaturas abaixo de zero, e vou pra um Verão com temperaturas acima dos 30 graus, de volta a BH.

Tenho a ligeira impressão de que o Inverno nunca mais vai ser o mesmo pra mim, aí no Brasil, e nem o Outono.

Turning Point ?

2007-12-20T04:35:00.001+01:00

...and so, a future that I thought was still very far in the future, starts to unfold before my very eyes. Now I am certain I am reaching a turning point in my life, but not a turning point when only one important decision will matter, this time the decisions to be made are more than just one and they are of much more significance than all the others I have made so far...

And in the Dreamscape, something was unleashed... Something Evil... Something that I shall face alone and soon...

Pistons 109 X 87 Warriors

2007-12-18T04:28:00.000+01:00

Ontem fui ao meu primeiro jogo da NBA. Detroit Pistons contra Golden State Warriors. Mas antes de falar do jogo, outras coisas merecem ser contadas, afinal ontem também sobrevivi à primeira nevasca.

A neve começou a cair no sábado à noite, e já na hora quando eu fui dormir, toda a frente da casa, e as ruas já estavam totalmente brancas e cobertas pela neve. Domingo quando acordei, tudo continuava a mesma coisa, e a neve continuava caindo com a mesma intensidade. Tudo estava coberto com pelo menos 15 cm de neve. Era só sair do lado de fora, e sair atolando o pé na neve, que tudo cobria até o meio da canela. Nestes casos o que ocorre é as pessoas não sairem de casa, as ruas ficam praticamente intransitáveis, como se tudo estivesse coberto com uma lama branca, e por isso a chance de se atolar com um carro é muito alta, se você não sabe dirigir na neve da maneira correta. As vias de maior trânsito são limpas por caminhões com pás gigantes presas ao pára-choque, e a medida que o caminhão percorre as vias, vai jogando a neve para o acostamento ou passeio. Quando a neve não pára de cair, como foi o caso ontem, a prioridade são as vias de maior tráfico, no caso estradas, e esses caminhões percorrem as estradas continuamente, formando um caminho limpo, quase sem neve, onde os carros podem passar sem se preocupar muito, e dos lados ficam aqueles montes de neve. As vias menores, como ruas menos movimentadas, não têm prioridade alguma, e só são limpas depois que as vias maiores já estão limpas, a não ser que as pessoas contratem pessoas para limparem as ruas. Geralmente, nestes casos, só se sai de casa em casos realmente necessários, já que ou você fica atolado, ou tem que dirigir sobre uma superfícies extremamente escorregadia. Como ninguém queria perder o dinheiro investido nos ingressos para o jogo, resolvemos sair assim mesmo.

Antes de sair, tivemos que limpar o carro, que estava coberto pela mesma crosta de 15 cm de neve. Não fui eu quem dirigiu o carro, mas deve ser muito divertido dirigir o carro numa situação dessas, caso você não tenha nenhuma outra preocupação, a não ser dar umas voltas na neve escorregadia. Mas teríamos que pegar a estrada, para ir ao estádio, e meu colega de casa, foi quem dirigiu, e apesar dele dirigir bem na neve, ele ficou realmente tenso com toda aquela neve na estrada. Mais tenso ainda depois de ver alguns acidentes, e várias pessoas atoladas na estrada. Eu estava era me divertindo com aquilo, afinal foi minha primeira nevasca. Em alguns momentos durante a viagem, a neve começou a cair bem forte, e quase chegou ao ponto de um "white out". A neve está caindo tão intensamente, e ventando tanto, que fica um grande branco cobrindo tudo. Não chegou realmente a este ponto, os carros da frente ainda eram visíveis, mas eu nunca vi o Ethan tão concentrado em alguma coisa!! No final das contas, após vários carros atolados na estrada, pessoas sem saber o que fazer tentando tirar a neve dos carros, acidentes bloqueado saídas da auto-estrada, alguns deslizes nas ruas, e quase atolamentos, a viagem que deveria ter demorado menos de 1h acabou demorando 2h e meia. Mais divertido só se eu estivesse dirigindo na neve! Yeah!!!

Chegamos ao estádio, The Palace em Auburn Hills, um pouco atrasados, e infelizmente perdemos o momento em que os jogadores estavam entrando. Que parecia ser o momento mais empolgante do jogo. Quando conseguimos entrar, e chegar aos nossos lugares, algumas fileiras logo atrás do garrafão, o jogo já estava na metade do primeiro quarto. Eu não fui muito feliz na minha escolha do assento (devido a neve o estádio não estava totalmente cheio, e se tinha um certo grau de liberdade ao se escolher os assentos), e acabei ficando exatamente atrás da cesta. Conseguia ver quando o ataque era do lado oposto da quadra, mas quando era do nosso lado da quadra, ficava meio difícil. Por algum motivo também, o estádio de basquete é bem menor do que aparenta nas transmissões de TV, e é tudo muito diferente. Os jogadores logo ali na sua frente, gigantes. O melhor era quando num ataque, algum jogador dos Pistons resolvia enterrar. Todos os torcedores dos Pistons, que eram quase a totalidade dos torcedores, iam ao delírio!! Muito doido!!! As cheerleaders apareciam de vez enquando durante os pedidos de tempo dos treinadores, ou durante os intervalos entre os quartos do jogo. Apesar de eu não estar numa posição muito boa para apreciar as "coreografias", eu achei bem interessante! Durante o jogo, elas ficavam sentadas na beira da quadra brincando com os pom-pons. Meio ridículo, mas engraçado, e elas sempre seguiam o ritmo das músicas.

Os Pistons estão em primeiro na divisão central da Conferência Leste. O outro time, o Golden State Warriors, não está nas primeiras posições, mas também não está nas últimas posições. O jogo deveria ter sido mais equilibrado, mas o que houve foi um massacre. Os Pistons acabaram com os Warriors. O primeiro quarto acabou bem equilibrado, mas já no final do segundo quarto os Pistons já estavam mais de 20 pontos na frente. No final, os Pistons ganharam por 22 pontos. Os Warriors como time da Califórnia, talvez não estivesse acostumadas com o frio de Michigan (mesmo com o aquecimento do estádio), e devem ter perdido por isto! :P

Não vou comentar o jogo, tanto por não estar num bom lugar pra observar o jogo de uma maneira mais apropriada, como também por não ter conhecimento suficientes pra isto, mesmo sendo fã de basquete. Apesar de ser fã, tinha muito tempo que eu não assistia a um jogo da NBA, mesmo vivendo nos EEUU. Não tenho muita paciência com esportes na TV. Na época que gostava muito de assistir basquete pela TV, lá pelo meio dos anos 90, eu era fanático pelo Chicago Bulls. Claro, foi a época de ouro dos Bulls, quando o Michael Jordan ainda jogava basquete. O único motivo, na época, pra eu ter escolhido os Bulls foi o Michael Jordan, mas depois de ontem eu tenho um motivo melhor pra escolher um time pra torcer, e agora eu sou torcedor dos Pistons! Assim como também sou torcedor dos Wolverines, o time de Football (Americano) da University of Michigan!

Foi uma ótima experiência, e espero repetir um dia, mas num assento melhor (apesar de todo mundo ter dito que os nossos lugares eram ótimos, eu não disse nada, afinal os ingressos custaram "míseros" $25, uma pechincha). Consegui tirar algumas fotos, mas a foto do cara dos Pistons enterrando a bola na cesta ficou muito tremida e ficou péssima. Vou disponibilizar as fotos no meu álbum depois. A volta foi parecida com a ida, mas já não estava nevando mais, e foi possível voltar mais rápido do que na ida. Foi quase uma aventura, mas foi bem divertido! E eu também descobri que, definitivamente, preciso de um par de botas melhor pra neve, caso eu queira me aventurar fora de casa depois de uma nevasca, sem perder o meu pé congelado!

The Thorpe of Xaos

2007-12-18T03:05:00.000+01:00

The thriving settlement of Xaos gained the status of thorpe after it gained its 51st habitant. Unfortunately the economic structure of the thorpe is not enough to grant employment to every habitant, so right now the city seeks some bold entrepreneur to bring some industries to our beloved Xaos. If you are such entrepreneur, just call our beloved mayor to discuss the terms of the agreement (you also have the rights to choose a proper name for your business), but if you are just interested in moving to the city feel free to choose the right spot for you and build your house! =D

Um leigo e a CPMF

2007-12-14T04:35:00.000+01:00

Eu acho que não sou a pessoa mais indicada pra falar sobre o que eu vou falar aqui, mas um fato hoje chamou muito a minha atenção, e acho que a atenção de grande parte dos brasileiros. A CPMF não foi re-aprovada pelo Senado, e a partir de 2008 a contribuição deixa de existir. Neste exato momento eu não sei se esse fato foi bom ou não.

Por um tempo eu fui totalmente contra a CPMF, mas andei acompanhando meio de longe todo o processo anterior à votação de ontem, que votou pelo fim do imposto, e durante este tempo acabei lendo algumas coisas que realmente me fizeram mudar de idéia em relação a suposta contribuição. O fator mais importante, que me levou a mudar de idéia foi o fato da CPMF ser o único imposto que todo cidadão brasileiro paga, sem chance de ser sonegado. (A não ser que você seja daqueles que guarda todo o seu dinheiro debaixo do colchão.) Sempre que os bancos prestam conta ao Banco Central, eles devem repassar os 0,38% referentes à CPMF de todas as movimentações financeiras durante o período em questão, e como bancos não gostam de perder dinheiro, é impossível burlar a CPMF. A CPMF também serve como um bom indicador de sonegação fiscal, e o governo pode utilizar o imposto pago por uma pessoa pra realmente saber se as movimentações financeiras dela condizem com o que ela declara no Imposto de Renda, por exemplo.

Eu concordo que a quantidade de tributos que se paga no Brasil é extremamente elevada, e chega a ser ridícula! Ninguém sabe pra onde vai parte desse dinheiro, a corrupção por trás de tudo é muito elevada, e todo mundo está cansado de saber disto. Mas também vale dizer, que a quantidade de impostos no Brasil é elevada assim, devido a sonegação fiscal. Os brasileiros, o povo mais "esperto" do mundo, adora sonegar impostos e ser mais esperto que o mané que paga todos os seus impostos direitinho. Como o governo não quer sair perdendo, ele inventa maneiras novas de ganhar dinheiro, e cria novos impostos. Ou seja, no fundo, todos os espertinhos são corruptos, e não só o pessoal do alto-escalão, e quem sai perdendo é aquele mané honesto que sempre faz tudo da maneira correta. Por isso eu acho a CPMF um imposto muito mais justo que todos os outros já inventados. Tudo poderia se resumir a um único imposto que todos acabam pagando, sem muita maneira de burlar, seria muito mais fácil. É claro, que se fosse fácil assim, já estaria desse jeito, devem ter muitos outros fatores por trás de tudo, e eu realmente não estou nada por dentro destas coisas.

A CPMF foi criada para ser usada na saúde, mas todos sabem que só parte de sua receita vai realmente pra saúde. Parte da CPMF vai pra Previdência, e outra parte para o desenvolvimento social, ou para o Fundo de Combate à Pobreza. Eu sou totalmente contra esse tal Fundo de Combate à Pobreza, que pra mim é pura demagogia, mas não vou entrar nisto agora. Mas eu acho que agora que a CPMF não foi aprovada, o governo vai ter que encontrar uma maneira de suprir os recursos perdidos nessas áreas. Como a saúde, e previdência são áreas de importância primária, quem vai sair perdendo mesmo é o Ministério do Desenvolvimento Social, e espero que acabem com esta coisa ridícula que é a Bolsa-Escola. Mas de qualquer maneira quem vai sair perdendo somos nós. Provavelmente o Governo vai aumentar as taxas de outros impostos para compensar as perdas, e quem vai pagar o pato são os manés honestos (e estes vão pagar muito mais do que pagavam com a CPMF), os "espertos" vão achar com certeza o jeitinho de não pagar nada.

Ao mesmo tempo que tudo parece que vai virar uma grande bagunça, eu tenho esperança que após essa derrota, o Governo crie vergonha na cara, e resolva de uma vez por todas a história (que parece mais estória) da tal Reforma Tributária. Mas é melhor eu não ficar esperando demais. E vamos ver o que acontece ano que vem.

E por favor, me corrijam caso eu tenha dito alguma bobagem aqui! Obrigado! :)

Senseless post about an unfinished post

2007-12-13T06:17:00.000+01:00

I am so tired today, that the senseless post I was writing here started to become more serious than I wanted it to be, so I just decided to stop. But I was feeling that something must be written here so I decided to write a post about an unfinished post. Maybe the unfinished post will be finished in the future, or maybe not, but I will only tell about it, when I finish it...

For now, I will write people a secret!

Take heed and bear witness to the truths that lie herein, for they are the last legacy of the Horadrim. (Ok. The Secret Order of the Horadrim Magi has been extinct for centuries, Deckard Caim was the last one of them, and I guess he might be dead for a very long time right now, or maybe he still roams the land as a very ancient guy, or even as an undead. But anyway... ) And so it came to pass that the one who HATES cheese passionately is green, but he does not make photosynthesis.

And beware!! Gold fishes can kill you while you sleep! The Dreamscape is a dangerous place.

By the end, I have written TWO great secrets... No more secrets for a while, and now it ends with Moonchild, the beginning of the Seventh! The Bornless One, and maybe the best. Who? The Ancient of Days or the First Fallen!? Everything seems scrambled, but sometimes clarity is hidden beneath your bed.

Idéia de à toa

2007-12-09T07:35:00.000+01:00

Eu, sábado à noite em casa, sem nada pra fazer a não ser ficar à toa na Internet. Junta o fato de que eu estou empolgado com a minha mini-cidade, e o que acontece? Eu quase resolvo criar um blog novo só pra relatar as notícias fictícias de uma mini-cidade. Penso um pouco, e acho que criar um blog novo só pra ficar inventando notícias para uma cidade que só existe virtualmente, é um pouco exagerado, e uma total falta do que fazer. E afinal, pra que criar um blog novo se eu posso fazer tudo isso no meu próprio blog atual?? E ainda mais que não existe nome mais propício pra um jornal de uma cidade chamada Xaos, do que Utmost Xaos, e me desculpem por não traduzir o nome para o português. Pois é, eu sei... Eu devia sair pra beber, mas hoje devido à alguns fatores além do meu controle, não foi possível, e desta vez nem foi falta de grana, foi apenas uma "falha" de comunicação.

E vocês leram certo, eu vou criar notícias fictícias, sobre uma cidade fictícia. E, elas serão postadas aqui. Eu sei que não sou nenhum jornalista, nem tenho a menor intenção de sê-lo, eu só quero é me divertir aqui. E além do mais, eu quero é gerar um pouco mais de confusão em relação ao meu blog. E é possível que futuramente eu resolva até escrever mais sobre Astrofísica por aqui. Quanto menos sentido fizer este blog, mais perto do meu objetivo eu estarei!!

Por sorte, ou azar de vocês, eu acho que já está tarde, e eu quero dormir. E de qualquer maneira, ninguém visita este lugar nos fins de semana mesmo. Mas podem esperar sobre notícias de Xaos, e estórias sobre seus moradores, e o seu prefeito vitalício, o Sr. GH. Amanhã... Quem sabe, amanhã! Acabei até criando um marcador específico pra isso. Ah, sim... Como a cidade se encontra no Brasil Virtual, a língua do jornal, será o português, se bem que devido ao nome, talvez eu resolva utilizar um "scramblespeak" de vez enquando.

Só como uma referência futura, a população atual de Xaos é de 21 habitantes.

The Settlement of Xaos

2007-12-07T05:47:00.000+01:00

I loved so much this MyMiniCity idea, that now I created a permanent section in the right sidebar of the blog. For now the only option I have to make my city evolve is to increase its population, but as soon as I got other option I will start to link these options in the "Help to build Xaos" section. Only one click per visitor per day is considered by the site, but if you go there once everyday the city will start to grow in a steadily way.

The section is just plain HTML, so it will not update itself automatically. But I will try to update the image showing Xaos in that section at every few days, and I will try to update the population daily.

I know that I don't have a lot of visitors here, but if my few visitors click there, the city will start to grow, slowly, but grow. And I just want to see it being built with your help right now! =D

Just for you to have an idea about how many visitors I got daily here, today I got a record number of visitors, a huge amount of 14 visitors. I guess my city will grow very slooooowly... :P

My Mini City - Xaos

2007-12-06T03:44:00.000+01:00

Now I have a virtual city, and of course my city is called Xaos. Xaos, actually, is a fabled city in the outer rim of The Concordant Domain of the Outlands, and is the city gate that has a portal leading to The Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo. My city is named after that fabled place, that, in my opinion, is one of the most awesome places in the whole Multiverse. And Xaos is a name that can reflect with great precision the reality of my home country, Brasil (as it is written in Portuguese).

Anyway, this is one of the coolest ideas I have seen so far. It is like a online version of the old, and classic of classics, game Sim City. And with each visit, the city gains one more inhabitant, and as the city starts to develop, you can add industries, increase security, improve transportation networks, etc, and everything is done just by having people visiting your city!

Welcome do Xaos!

I just created my city, so Xaos's current population is 2. Help me developing my city, by just visiting it. I promise I will be a good mayor! =D

The idea came from this Brazilian blog: Quarentedois.

A Supernatural War

2007-12-05T06:55:00.000+01:00

So the War did start. At this very moment I am fighting a supernatural war on Facebook. Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Slayers all fighting among themselves... What started as some random attacks now is turning into a much broader conflict of greater proportions. The saddest is to know that behind all the attacks were some so-called friends. We can trust no one in a war! There are hideous people even throwing some friends to serve as food to the other enemies minions, just to gain a small tactical advantage over other enemies. War is so sad! But even that being true, I would never retreat, I will fight to the end, even if I have to sacrifice some friends to a zombie, a vampire or a werewolf, as a way to have my revenge! And I am vengeful one, I will avenge all the attacks my minions suffered in this war, being it caused by friend or foe. Beware, my Facebook friends, for this war is far from over, and I won't be in the losing side!

That is just a small game that is happening in the Facebook right now. We can create zombies, vampires, werewolves, slayers, and then fight other friends' creatures. We gain points when our creature creates another creature to join its army, when we fight and win, of course, or when we simply start biting people in our friends lists. And with more points, more powerful become your creature. So everybody is attacking everybody randomly just to become more powerful, and it is starting to get a little large, but only few of my friends are yet infected. But it is fun, anyway!! I started as a zombie, then decided to create a vampire, and just stick with that. But then I was recruited as a slayer, and now I joined the army of a werewolf friend. As I would say in portuguese: Virou putaria! :P

Tesla Anti-Theft Device

2007-12-03T05:52:00.001+01:00

Have you ever wondered about what kind of anti-theft device would be able to make even the most professional of thieves scared of stealing your car!? Or even to scared away those pesky people trying to sell thing or begging while you are standing still in the red traffic lights!? Here is the answer for all your problems!!!

BEHOLD!!! THE TESLA ANTI-THEFT DEVICE!

Now I have a good reason to buy a car!! Just to install a Tesla Anti-Theft Device and start to vaporize car thieves everywhere!! Tesla coils are sooooo damn cool!!!

Some Interesting Number Sequences

2007-12-01T22:58:00.000+01:00

123456789
149656941
187456329
161656161
123456789

Does it make any sense for you? I just found out these sequences, while making some mental calculations, and I loved it!!!