Button-Down Kinda Life

Yesterday, the European Organization for International Research (CERN) tested one of the most ambitious physics projects to date - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is a machine that collides protons at near light-speed, creating energy that simulates a
“big bang”. This machine is hoped to find some elusive answers to some of the most baffling scientific questions. It is theorized that it will discover a particle known as the Higgs Boson, the so called “God particle”, which is said to be the most significant particle in the universe. The LHC will also try to explore issues regarding antimatter and alternate dimensions.

A lot of people are worried about this, saying it has the potential to spark microscopic black holes, which are areas with a gravitational field that is so powerful that even light itself can’t escape. Of course, the scientists at CERN dismiss this as practically impossible.

If it did happen though, I theorize that some people will be transported to alternate dimensions or timelines.  For the adventurous, this can be a good thing. Or a bad thing if the world disintegrates to spaghetti strips. One thing is for sure though, if this machine succeeds, expect some significant scientific breakthroughs in the next few years. Even for someone who isn’t inclined to science like me, something the current technological revolutions are things to watch out for.

Onward to singularity!

When I was  9 years old, I was given the piece of plastic and wires that would largely define the entertainment that I would be growing up with. Nintendo’s family computer is primitive compared to the modern generation of consoles that feature graphics that even CG movies would be proud of. But 16 years ago, to my young and already deteriorating eyes, it was an invention to rival the wheel.

Looking back, I realized that games then were very much different from games now. they still give the basic premise of all video games, but the worlds were less immersive, the colors limited, and the “people” looked more like sticks with guns than anything actually resembling a homo sapiens. And they were harder too.

Contra  was a manly man’s game. it consisted of various levels of kicking ass, both terrestrial and extra, by two commandos. In fact, in Contra  the story didn’t matter (although it did have a story), what mattered was that you were there, guns blazing, ass-kicking motherfucker trying to reach the big  bad alien at the heart of it all… literally. Contra was SO manly, that it didn’t have saves. You need to sleep, go to school? Tough luck. You have to play right from the beginning. Without cheats, you only had a total of three lives. A truly hardcore game if I ever saw one.