Vacuum Link

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Let’s get something straight: humans do not immediately freeze, burn, or explode in the vacuum of space. Human skin is resilient enough to keep in temperature and pressure, so your blood won’t boil or ooze from the pores right away. However, inhaled air can expand and damage your lungs, your eardrums will swell, and the saliva in your mouth may boil. If you ever find yourself stuck in an erratic space station airlock, about to be exposed to the depressurized environment, be sure to close your eyes tight, expel all the breath from your lungs, and stick your fingers in your ears. You might be able to survive for up to three minutes without any permanent damage.

More from NASA’s The Human Body in a Vacuum page.

Girly Layout

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I wanted to see if I could pull off a girly-looking layout, all pink and flowery. Don’t panic.

I just clicked on one of the recently updated blogs on the Blogger page, and I found this: “Anyhow, did you send me a text message yesterday, Pia? Something about Brown Pau. Didn’t quite catch it. Oh, well!”

What the heck was that? And what are the chances of me finding mention of myself from a completely random link? Are you girls reading this? Why are you texting each other about me? Nakakakilig naman. :)

Demenstruize!

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A drug that would eliminate menstruation, but still allow women to become pregnant? That would be amazing! Think: no more periods, but without side-effects to health! What would life be like without periods, I wonder? Not that I would be directly affected, of course; but without periods, things would certainly change for both women and men!

(Hmmm, typing a blog-entry without using any periods at all is easier than it looks!!!)

Not Quite So Fundie?

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Concerning this new Bible Baptist church, many of my earlier problems have been put to rest in another meeting with the pastor. (Actually, it was another bible study group that met with him: Tiff’s folks. I don’t join them; but they passed word on to me.)

The church strongly believes that its precedent is not by any “trail of blood,” but by its identity as a community saved by grace through faith in Christ. I will not be regarded as unequally yoked for fellowshipping with non-Baptist evangelicals. I will have to be baptized once again by immersion to gain membership, but the “Trail of Blood” mindset is not binding on any member, and is not waved around as much as I first feared.

My re-immersion can be regarded as a casting-off of my earlier baptism in a prior church — which, I cannot disagree — was tainted with lukewarmness and compromise.

Denominational issues aside, I must say that Berean is a good, solid, traditional church, and very much unlike most other Fundamental Baptist churches you may have heard of. Elitist Baptist chest-beating and pastoral authoritarianism are absent from this congregation, and the pastor runs a tight ship, well-balanced on that narrow edge between the tyranny of the traditional and the compromise of the liberal.

There are a few more churches to try before we finish this church-shopping stage, and this church has been the best so far. Conservative churches sure are hard to find in the charismatic-laden Filipino Christian community.

A Diet of Vivaldi

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Of Antonio Vivaldi, Igor Stravinsky once said, “He did not write 400 concertos; he just wrote one and copied it 399 times.” As I listen to my newly purchased CD of Vivaldi cello concerti, I am inclined to agree. Nothing faster than Allegro, mostly Allegro ma non molto, and every concerto sounding like every other concerto Vivaldi ever made. If you’ve listened to enough of his works, you’ll know what I mean.

Not that “Il Preto Rosso” (Vivaldi’s nickname: “The Red Priest”) didn’t compose some amazing masterpieces. (And I refer to far more than just the Four Seasons.) Many of his works, both instrumental and vocal, are too beautiful to have been anything but divinely inspired. But as Jeremy Nicholas puts it, “If one had to subsist on a diet of only Vivaldi, everything would eventually begin to taste the same.”

(I’m being cynical about composers again. Sorry. The truth is, I really love classical music, but I’m far more eloquent in my griping than in my praise.)

Toilet Paper Dogmatism

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Of course number 2 is the correct way to load toilet paper. It’s more sanitary, keeping the free end of the roll from brushing against the wall, and the bathroom occupant expends less effort in reaching for the paper. I would have it no other way.

New links! :) And I almost joined the christianblogs webring before I noticed that it was for female Christian bloggers. Whoops.

Gradschool Hunt

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The hunt for a gradschool continues. I’ve been searching through Gradschools.com and About for stuff, and so far I’ve turned up five or six promising schools which offer Master’s degrees in graphic design, with a focus on interactive design and/or digital video.

I’m backing off from Carnegie-Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction program. I don’t meet two of the three specific prerequisites for admission — programming experience and mathematical/statistics proficiency — and I have neither the time nor resources to pursue intensive training, either as a supplement to the program or on my own. Rather, I’m looking into a related program in the CMU School of Design, which seems more adequate to my goals.

Other schools considered: Art Center, New Mexico Highlands, Virginia Commonwealth, and Maryland Institute College of Art. More details soon.

Boxes

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Seen this morning on the side of a delivery truck: Fortune Packaging Co.: The country’s finest manufacturer of boxes.

I’ll remember that next time I’m in the market for a good, solid cardboard box.

G. Cosmos – Cease and Desist Order

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Remember G. Cosmos, the dubious Japanese home marketing scheme that’s been so prominent in Manila lately? Last week, the SEC issued a cease-and-desist order against the company, based on violations of the the local Securities Registration Code, as well as complaints by customers and reports that Genta Ogami has an overseas criminal record. So enjoy those giant Genta Ogami billboards while you still can; they may not be around much longer.

Skybiz recruits should also be wary: the FTC has levelled charges against it as a pyramid scheme. Interestingly enough, the original CNET News article has disappeared. Check the cached copy on Google for the whole scoop.

Planet of the Apes Spoilers

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Before I watch the new Planet of the Apes, I feel it necessary to refresh my memory of the old Charlton Heston film, as the last time I saw it was as an uninterested child. Lacking a television and DVD player at home, however, I will simply have to settle for these nutshell synopses of the original movie and its sequels.

Oh, great. Well, seeing as how Ernie over here has spoiled the ending, I might as well find out how the whole thing goes. WHAT?! No half-buried Statue of Liberty?! DAAAMN YOUUU!!!