I just read an article about a chemistry student in Canada who was pulled out of the shower and arrested for having a meth lab in his parents garage. Except it wasn't a meth lab – it was just his chemistry set. Even after proving that it wasn't a meth lab, he was still held in prison because his chemistry set contained chemicals that could be used to make explosives. If you follow any hobbyist newsletters or blogs you'll find stories like this every so often.

I think most homes have materials that can be used to make explosives, start fires, or kill/maim/cut/hurt someone if wielded with that intent… the reason we're allowed to have drain cleaner, bleach, ammonia, matches, knives, whatever in our homes is because we don't intend to use them in an illegal manner. The societal norm seems to be moving closer and faster to these knee jerk reactions that chemicals are bad, and that doing anything other than going to work and watching TV makes you a terrorist.

Most of human knowledge has undoubtedly come from hobbyists. People through the ages that, through curiosity or accident, have discovered an idea, material, or process that allows us to push our understanding of ourselves and the inner workings of the universe even further. But now, because of fear mongering from the media and from our government, curiosity is no longer encouraged – it's a threat. We don't trust each other anymore, we don't trust out neighbors, we don't trust the guy down the street just because of his name or appearance or religious beliefs. We're quickly becoming less tolerant in order to make ourselves feel safer – at the expense of our rights, history, knowledge, and future.

The irony here is that the more fearful and controlling we allow our society and ourselves to become, the more dangerous we are to each other. Instead of having a few truly dangerous individuals in the world, we suddenly have to police each other, because we're all criminals now.

Check out this video – this is crazy.

Reverse bungee jumping is almost exactly what it sounds like. Instead of starting at an elevated spot and jumping, you start on the ground and are RIPPED off the ground and flung into the air at high speeds by a bungee cord. At the peak of the "jump", you deploy a parachute and come back down (hopefully) safely.

I know what it feels like to fall short distances, but can't really imagine what it would feel like to be going the other way – to have the ground shooting away from you, to suddenly FALL UP…

Somehow combining two things that terrify me – skydiving and bungee jumping – ends up creating something that seems so awesome that I might actually consider doing it if presented with the opportunity.

EDIT:

Apparently, reverse bungee jumping is so amazing that there is a law in Nebraska prohibiting it. The law is pretty clear:

Reverse bungee jumping rides; prohibited.
No person shall operate a reverse bungee jumping ride in this state.

I'm going to be asleep when this posts.. and you should all be doing stuff that doesn't involve my blog, so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope it's the awesomest you've ever had.. and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I still hope you have a really friggin awesome day!

I don't know about you, but I have a really hard time saying "infrastructure" without thinking I sound like an idiot.

Give it a try, say it out loud a few times.

A person leaving the library just reminded me of this…

Earlier last week a woman came up to me, very upset, because someone had been logged on to the computer that she wanted to use since 6:30(am) (It was around 9am when she complained I believe). I gave her a questioning look, for a few reasons. Mainly because the computers automatically log off after 10 minutes of inactivity, but also because she was so upset about it, and there were tons of open computers.

I asked her which computer she was trying to get on, and she pointed to the one on the end – which is permanently logged in to the library catalog so people can search for books without having to wait to login to a computer. I explained that to her, which did not make her happy, and then told her that she could use the open computer right next to it.

… Is there a reason why some people feel the need to complain and get angry about something that really isn't a problem? Even if someone had been logged into a computer for almost 3 hours without using it, is there any way that such a reaction can be justified? ESPECIALLY when, standing talking to her, I could see at least 10 computers with no one logged in, INCLUDING the one directly next to the one she was complaining about?

Someone please buy me a ticket to New Zealand.

Kthxbai!