I just watched The Waters of Mars, and I'm most of the way through the Confidential, and all I can say is wow.

The episode is really creepy, but not because of the monsters. What really creeps me out is the Doctor. From the moment he decides to save those people, he isn't really the Doctor anymore. Donna was right, he needs someone to stop him. We got a hint of this before, in School Reunion, but this is so much better.

But the worst part is how much he reminds me of the Master.

"The laws of time are mine, and they will obey me."

Everything he says after that... Reminds me of him. And he's in the Christmas special. I wonder if that was intentional.

"The Doctor: But you're changing history. Not just Earth, the entire universe.
The Master: I'm a Time Lord. I have that right.

EDIT: Crap. That's what I get for posting before I finished the Confidential. Russell actually says all that.

One Warning: This is a wall of text.

I've seen a lot of posts here and on other forums where veterans lament the good old days or World of Warcraft. Usually they mean Vanilla Wow, but some consider even BC to be better than now.

I'm writing this to tell all of those veterans (which I assume most of the people here are) what it's like starting out after WotLK.

Some of the stuff in here includes my experiences trying out the game, getting lost, dying, making friends, rerolling a new race and class, low level alts, runs through VC, and a few other things.

The Install
When I first tried to play WoW, I had dial up and an old computer. I installed the store bought trial disc, and was promptly told I'd have to wait 100 days for the first patch to download. I wasted the entire trial without even getting to the character creation screen.

A year or so later (I think) we got DSL, but I still had the old computer. I tried Final Fantasy and another WoW trial. Final Fantasy wouldn't run. WoW did (sorta) so I decided on WoW.

The Playing
I created a human mage because I like fantasy stuff. I ran around and did quests, but never got out of Northshire Abbey. I got lost a lot, and I died A LOT. Usually I'd get lost, run and then die. I also got sick.

I have a lot of trouble when your vision and movement are controlled separately.

My Trial Expired again. I bought the WoW Battlepack and started over (I couldn't remember the login details.)

Once More Unto the Breach
I created another mage and started over. This time I figured the movement out a bit better and didn't get so sick.

I made it to Westfall (Lvl 15 or so) without knowing what a Talent was. I tried the initial Westfall quests, and died a lot.

Then I found a group: a pally and a priest who were doing the same quests as me. I figured out how to friend them, and we quested for a few days on and off.

I quickly discovered that although I could play as a group, I couldn't do anything solo.

Somewhere along the way I learned what a Talent was, but couldn't figure out what to spec. I messed his spec up pretty bad before I learned the talent pane has TABS.

Reroll?
I started over again, this time with a Shaman. I'd read that Alliance and Horde can't talk to each other, so that left me with one race: Draenei.

I didn't realize until then that different races started in different places. I managed to level to 6 or so then went back to the mage.

I wanted to play with the group I'd had before, but had no idea how to reach them.

I asked and was told to take the boat from the Exodar. Now, at that point I'd never seen the Exodar. You start off on an island near the island with the Exodar (Don't remember the names).

Someone told me to take the tram from Ironforge.

Anyway, I gave up and rolled a Pally. I hated it. The complete lack of range bugs me, and the judgments don't work right half the time.

I gave up on the Pally altogether, and went back to the Shaman. I finally found the Exodar, and promptly got lost inside. Worse yet, there wasn't anyone in sight. I did finally make it to Stormwind and to Westfall.

Alts!? What's an Alt!?
Although I'd created alts trying to find something I could play, I'd never really understood what a low-level alt was.

It turns out that the pally from my previous group was someone's alt, and that person all but abandoned it by that point. I think it's his bank alt. He told me the name of his main (a lvl 40+ hunter). There was no real way we could quest together.

So I spent the next day browsing the net, and stumbled upon the idea of leveling guides.

VC, DM. What's the Difference?
I ran into someone who offered to give me a free run of VC. At the time, I didn't know what VC was, what a run was, or anything else. It turned out to be my strangest experience thus far.

Basically, an 80 told me to stand so far away I couldn't see and killed things. I got a lot of loot and XP, but didn't really learn much about Deadlines. The 80 was really nice though, and tried to explain things to me, including the difference between VC and DM.

Catching Up
I somehow managed to hit 40 by the time the pally/hunter hit 50 (remember he was lvl 40 or so when I was 15).

Then he promptly informed me that he was trying to hit 55 to make a DK. He did. Last I saw him he was 58.

He's not on very often. I have now hit 71.

Here's what I need:
Example:
From Heero's file:

5-07
He's just a boy.
Don't move. An ambulance is coming.
Did you see?
See what?
Down there!
Hurry, this way!
What?!

It means at 5 minutes and 7 seconds into the episode, someone says that line. All times are from the start of the episode, not the character's section. Things in brackets and dashes are comments. They're the parts I need the most help with.

I honestly don't think there is a good side.

If you were in witness protection, you'd have to live your whole life being invisible. You can't make an impact. Everything you do would be a lie. It'd be like not existing. Except for the worrying.

I'm a realist who looks down on optimists.

( Read more... )

Question: When people cut their fingers, why do they immediatly stick them in their mouths?

I don't know why, but I keep thinking of Harriet Jones. I wish there was more HJ fanfic.

I can't read 10.5 fanfic, right now. Been reading the clone-doctor's livejournal. I know it's fake, but still. I just can't do it.

I've always wondered why anyone would create a diary, and then post it online for people to look at. I understand fandom comms, and stuff like that, but personal journals stump me. Even friends only journals aren't really private.

Here's the background assignment. It's long so I put it behind a cut. ( Read more... )


Most of it isn't relavent. Mainly all anyone needs to know is that the he was a relativly normal child until he witnessed his friends murder. Then he became obsessed with preventing crime-no matter the cost.

I just started attending a University although had attended junior college before. It's hard. I'm much better at science, math, reading, and other core subjects, but the subject I'm in is considered an art. I'm barely keeping up.

One of the classes has us write a short script. Right now we're supposed to write a backstory for one of the characters. I had to write about the "villain" because the main character is supposed to be an everyman. It's hard to write 3-5 pages (double spaced) saying that a person is normal in every way.

I think my idea's too long for the class, but I want to write it anyway. Essentially it's about cause and effect. I started with the old question, "if someone pointed a child out to you who would grow up to murder thousands of innocent people, what would you do? Could you kill that child even to prevent the deaths of thousands?" Instead of writing about the moral dilemma, my story is about the consequences of one character's decision. The story opens with him pushing a child into oncoming traffic.

I took an online IQ test today. I wonder if it's right.


Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

Years ago I saw this special on one of the Discovery channels. I didn't think much of it then, although it was kinda neat. Then, I saw Doctor Who. The special was the typical sort about some boring medical procedure (a heart transplant), except they didn't remove the old heart before they added the new one. Now, he's got two. Two hearts. Sound familiar?

I haven't been able to track down the tv show, but I have found some relavent articles. One of them is here. The other is here.

The most interesting bit is in the last sentence, before the picture, of the second article. "Thanks to Mr. Campos’ successful surgery, there are now about 100 people in the world living with two hearts."

The funny thing is, Blackwell Synergy's Journal of Cardiac Surgery says the procedure was introduced in 1974, yet Grace Holloway, a cardiologist in 1999/2000, seems to have never heard of it. It's even in Wikipedia under Heart transplantation (Heterotopic procedure).

The Doctor's the hero, right? ( Read more... )

This is all out of order and all over the place. I'm just writing things down.
( Read more... )

We just finished looking at two supposedly deductive arguments: One purports the necessary existance of God, while the other argues for the necessary non-existance of God.

Note that for the purpose of these arguments God is defined as a being "that than which nothing greater can be concieved" or the "greatest concievable being" (hereafter referred to as the GCB).

Here's the argument for the existance of God.
1. We can concieve of a GCB which exists in the mind only and not in reality.
In other words, we can imagine a being so great that we can imagine nothing greater and we can imagine that this being exists only in our minds.
2. Existance in reality is greater [better] that existance in the mind alone.
3. We can concieve of a GCB which exists in the mind and in reality.
4. Thus, there is a being greater than the GCB.
Assuming the second premise is true, the GCB which exists in reality would be superior to the GCB which exists in the mind alone.
5. But, this is impossible for this is a contradiction.
The being which exists in reality is greater than the GCB that exists in the mind alone, but by definition, this is impossible. If something exists that is superior to the GCB, then the GCB isn't the GCB anymore.
6. Thus, it is false that the GCB exists in the mind only, and not in reality.
Thus the GCB exists in reality

Here's the argument for the non-existance of God.
1. Assume, the creation of the world is the most marvellous achievement imaginable.
2. The merit of an achievement is the product of (a) its intrinsic quality, and (b) the ability of its creator.
3. The greater the disability (or handicap) of the creator, the more impressive the achievement.
4. Therefore if we suppose that the universe is the product of an existent creator we can conceive a greater being—namely, one who created everything while not existing.
5. An existing God therefore would not be the GCB because an even more formidable and incredible creator would be a God which did not exist.
Thus, God does not exist.

I didn't mean to watch it. I really didn't. I wanted to wait 'till I had all three parts so I could watch them together. But, I watched a bit of The Sound of Drums, and I just couldn't stop. The Master was just too cool. I had to watch it all. And now I have to wait till Friday for the finale. I hate waiting.

Ask Carbondale if I can stay on campus for a few days.