Pleiades Rising

Personally, I want the LHC at CERN to reach its [i]unexpected[/i] full potential (and them some!) and unleash the end of the world as if it came straight from the mind of Syd Barrett piloting an EVA Unit. Then it'll slowly wipe out existence itself, and we'll all be applauding til the very end. When that happens, I'll probably scale the highest mountain and sit there with a serene look on my face . . . then I'll get bored and open up a book instead.

Without going into details, I've got my money on China potentially becoming the next economic engine of the world. Plus, they [i]do[/i] have the military might and technology to put some muscle behind them. (Heck, even their hackers seem to be working with the government.) If not them, my darkhorse pick is the Republic of India, another country with the economic and military potential to do so. However, I do qualify this by saying I don't expect this shift to occur in the next year or two, if it ever does happen (the US can be an ingenious country, as history has shown us again and again). Then again, pre-WWII era U.K. were the powerhouse (along with Germany) and power quickly shifted after WWII, so all bets might be off on this one. [b]Edit:[/b] Just came across an item that caught my attention, and it was related to this thread. The U.S. Department of Defense released the report titled "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2011". I haven't had time to read it yet, since I've just got a copy of it moments ago, but I've read the press briefing on the DOD's site. From what I gathered from it (and news items outlining the paper) is that while China is making advances in its military, they probably won't be fully "modernized" by 2020. They're making enough progress, however, to catch the U.S.'s attention, especially when it has implications with Taiwan. As the paper and briefing mention (repeatedly) China's growing military capacities might undermine regional stability. If that doesn't sound like the workings of a growing national power, then I don't know what is. However, I can't add much more until I've read it all and thought it over.

I don't think I've ever kept either my PC or laptop on an entire day. I'm afraid of keeping any of them on for days on end, haha. I do keep them on for hours, however, and when I'm away from them I just turn them off. I don't see any good reasons for my keeping them on all the time, especially since I rarely if ever sign into any sort of messenger services. Also, I don't like the thought that I'm using power for no good reason, something I pay attention to in other devices as well.

Okay, I had to edit this since I [i]finally[/i] noticed that this thread was updated and attributed to me (which, originally was started by someone else in a universe far far away long long ago.) So, I guess this will serve as an all-purpose Twitter thread. Subjects could include: Do you use Twitter often? What do you use it for? Is it even worth having one? etc. It's not limited to these, so just go ahead and write anything Twitter related, even if you just want to give out your Twitter profile! I'll leave my earlier remarks (marked with *) intact, as those are the reasons why I made an account there in the first place. I think it's a useful tool for news and information gathering. *I recently made a Twitter account so I could keep up with the latest greatest breaking news flashes. Seriously, today I spent quite a bit of time watching the situation in Tripoli and following Twitter updates (I just type in or find the relevant hash tags for that stuff). Of course, you have to be careful when analyzing those situations, especially when there's often no way to verify any of it until days, weeks, or months later. That said, I find using Twitter to be helpful when trying to get the whole vibe or zeitgeist going on in some social movement, even if it's from an outsider's perspective only. If Twitter went down during some mass social movement, then, sadly, that would somewhat limit how I could keep track of an event in realtime. In sum, I use Twitter to get the sense of what's going on at some event, while always carefully keeping a critical distance. If it went down, then I'd rely on other methods, limiting how I gather information and form an fuller opinion.

While this isn't really an irrational fear, I really hate having my hands be dirtied by pretty much anything. It's a germ thing, I guess, but it's not quite Howard Hughes worthy. If I even think I touched something slightly dirty, I have to wash my hands - no questions. I don't like touching doors on public washrooms, and I don't like touching phones (do people ever clean those things? Probably another reason why I also dislike using the phone so much, haha). Dirty hands is my problem, so maybe that's why I'd never become a politician.

For a while there, [b]Bush[/b] was a fairly popular band back in the ye olden days of North American modern rock radio in the mid 90's (In other words, since that genre was quite big, almost every station wanted a slice of the modern rock pie, so it wasn't unusual to hear [b]Bush[/b] on commercial radio over here. Well, in Canada, at least). They went more experimental as they went on, even recruiting indie producer-god Steve Albini to do their second album. To add another noisy German band to the mix, I'd have to nominate [b]Atari Teenage Riot[/b] ([i]go! go! go! go! go!, ATA-RI! TEEN-AGE! RI-OT![/i]). This is what happens when you let anarchists express themselves through music, and it's often as chaotic as an actual riot. With titles like "Start The Riot", "Destroy 2000 Years of Culture", and "Revolution Action" you know you're not gonna get afternoon tea music. Musically, they're like a mad cross between industrial, techno, and late 80's speed metal. Way on the other end of the spectrum is one of my favorites, [b]Eluvium[/b]. As I write, I'm listening to their 17 minute drone "Taken", which repeats a very simple scale over and over and over. But man oh man, if you like ambient drones with no vocals - austere soundscapes - then this is your music. I had seen someone mention this, and I agree with that person: If I was certain I had only 17 minutes left to live, then I'd spend it listening to "Taken". Think of it this way: Atari Teenage Riot is how the end of the world would sound if it were destroyed by nuclear war. Eluvium is the sound of the end of [i]existence[/i] itself, but you're content with that fact. Finally, one band that the whole Brit-pop scene from the late 90's passed over was[b] Primal Scream[/b][i]. [/i]While Oasis and Radiohead were getting most of the love at that time (and quite deservedly so, I think) Primal Scream didn't get that much attention, and that never made much sense. When they first broke onto the music scene, they had the rock sensibilities of The Rolling Stones, with a touch of Madchester Rave (e.g. "Higher Than The Sun"). In 2000, they released the most underrated album of that year: [i]XTRMNTR[/i]. Here they sounded like The Rolling Stones being run over by The Sex Pistols on their to a G20 protest. Here was a band that actually had something to say, alongside The Manic Street Preachers. It's rock 'n' roll for that aims to kill all hippies.

I think I have an urge to watch anime that tend to polarize people: I'm starting on [i]K-On![/i], and after that I'll probably start [i]Lucky Star. [/i]I kinda like watching anime of this sort when most if not all of the hype surrounding it has passed. In any event, [i]K-On![/i] isn't bad. I haven't turned it off, but I also haven't been yearning to see the next episode. However, I might be shifting towards the latter, since this series speaks to my musician's heart. Having played guitar for years now, it might strike some heartstrings with me, but I'll hold off on anything more for now. Pretty good ED song, though! Also, Yui has great taste in guitars; I've always wanted a Gibson like that. Oh yeah, I'm also rewatching [i].hack//SIGN[/i], another anime that polarized people, haha. Some just love it, others don't like how slow it is. (And no, I'm not watching it just so I can gaze at Subaru.)

I'm sure people can find these OP's and ED's for themselves, so I'll just comment on my favorites instead. "Message #9" and "Love Song", the OP and ED for [i]Gasaraki.[/i] I find these to be the perfect opening and ending to an anime, where one isn't totally better than the other (which happens to some anime). The OP is more electronica, but tinged with military paranoia (especially when it cuts to only the drums playing). This really fits well with the modern aspect of the series, which recalls those anime dealing with politics on a grand scale (e.g. GitS: 2nd Gig). The ED, however, takes a different turn, but still fits into the anime's themes. "Love Song" recalls Japan's Heian period, which is a key element in [i]Gasaraki.[/i] Here, the ED is quiet, modest, and absolutely haunting and heartbreaking. It recalls an era that somehow continues to connect with another generation, quite timelessly.