Just how crazy IS China?

New images from Google Maps shows odd unidentifiable structures being built in the middle of the Gobi desert.

No one seems to have any sort of definite explanation for what these are, but current theories range from China's version of Area 51 to a clever hacker playing a prank.

According to Gizmodo, the first is a set of what appears to be metallic tracks located north of the Shule River, and is approximately 1 mile long by over 3000 feet wide. Check it out.

This looks like some sort of electrical station or radio station. Investigate here.

Some sort of target? Here.

This looks kind of like an airport, with either water or some weird blue stuff next to it.

This is some huge complex, if you zoom in, you'll find cooling towers and water treatment plants.

The Southwest Research Institute has discovered that the solar systems may have lost a giant gas planet several million years ago.
Astronomer David Nesvorny managed to learn some secrets of the past of the solar system by looking at the Kuiper belt and the craters on the Earth's moon. He discovered a "dynamic instability" that may suggest a planet had once existed 600 million years ago between Mars and Jupiter.
There were several alternative scenarios to explain this instability, however, each held flaws that couldn't be solved through the application of the current solar system. Therefore, another giant planet of a size like Uranus or Neptune may help solve these flaws. By adding this new mass, the simulations of the solar system during that time period actually adds up.
“The possibility that the solar system had more than four giant planets initially, and ejected some, appears to be conceivable in view of the recent discovery of a large number of free-floating planets in interstellar space, indicating the planet ejection process could be a common occurrence,” Nesvorny said.
If you have any idea of the location of this theoretical, anonymous planet, feel free to contact the Southwest Research institute.

How to Break Into Windows (And Prevent It)

One of the biggest concerns in this digital age is the age old problem of security. There are some VERY simple ways of getting into a locked computer, and it's not just trying the user's birthday either.
Luckily, preventing such attacks on your own computer is almost just as easy. In this special 2-part edition, I'll be describing easy ways to hack and prevent hacking into Windows and Macs. Obviously, I'm beginning with Windows. And yeah, you can use these methods for innocent purposes (like getting into your computer if you forget the password) too.

The Sloth Way: Copying the Files Using Linux
This is probably the easiest, laziest way to get at someone's files. Just burn a live copy of Linux (Such as Ubuntu) onto a CD, and stick it in the computer you want. Pick the trial option, which should take you to the desktop. From there, you can basically just copy all the windows files from the Places menu.
Protect Yourself: Encrypt your OS--A malicious user can't access any encrypted files.

The Sly Way: Reset Password with System Rescue
This way requires a bit of command work. However, if you need to access the OS itself, using the Linux-based system rescue CD is the best way, as it allows you to reset the password. It should cause you any problems if you follow these instructions line by line.
Protect Yourself: Again, this is basically useless for encrypted files.

The Blunt Way: Crack the Password
No, don't look around for sticky-notes which very conveniently have passwords written on them, and yeah, no one really uses their birthday, their name, or "password." There are plenty of programs for cracking passwords, Ophcrack may be the best. Again, there's a line-by-line here.
Protect Yourself： Since this program just gets the passwords for you, encryption won't help here. But you can stump Ophcrack by making your passwords longer than 14 characters, and really complicated. But remember, a password doesn't have to be hard to remember to be hard to crack.

It'll make student essays harder to read, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

Ludvig Bruneau Rossow, a Norwegian graphic designer, one day decided to take it upon himself to make a font from railway models. He created every letter of the alphabet from an old train set found in his grandmother's basement. Unfortunately, he did not manage to make any of the punctuation or other subsets.

Well, what do you know?

So, it's really quite interesting to look at some of my older posts. At some point, I actually posted quite regularly, several times a week, even. However, I've know that there's an inverse relation between the frequency of my posts and the quality of my posts. So, in reality, I should post less.

On the other hand, this relationship might actually be a false positive and reflect instead as a direct relationship between my age and my quality of posts. Unfortunately, we may never know...Unless I start posting more often, but everyone knows that's probably not going to happen.

The fount of youth....

...Really isn't all that plentiful. I was looking over some of the older posts on this blog, and there were some pretty dumb things.

It's surprising that I made my first post on this blog in 2008. I believe that is....7th grade? 6th? Probably 7th. And I spelled strategy "strategie!" How could I make THAT mistake?

It's kind of amusing too. I just read a post about how impressed I am with myself for beating Minesweeper on expert in 276 seconds. Hah! That's about twice the average time it takes me now--approximately 130 seconds, with a record of 110. Speaking of which, I ought to save a screenshot as proof....

Ok, on the plus side, I really did post a lot back then, with 40 posts in just that year alone. Of course, that number went down each year, ending at a measly 5 posts in 2011. The year's 3/4 over, too! It's incredible how much this blog has been neglected. But really, there were some great posts here too. I think blog quality peaked when I started adding pictures. I really like that post about flowers, and the one about stick notes (I believe they are under "Food for thought")

Anyway, I promise to post more, for the few people that occasionally read this.

Jamie's the Coolest Person ever

Yep, she totally is :D

Too bad she never reads my blog.

Too bad nobody does

It's so sad....

GAH

OK, this sort of blog neglect is UNACCEPTABLE.

I'm am setting a new-school-year's resolution.

I shall update this blog at least once a week.

^This probably won't happen, but hey, goal setting is a key factor in success.

Hmm....

Oh! This year's debate topic is:

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development beyond the earth's mesosphere.

And that's like....right there ↓


Trust me, it sounds like an exciting topic, but the problem is, you have to be realistic about it. As much as I'd love to talk about space elevators and building a galactic empire, we don't really have those technological capabilities. So we're stuck with boring stuff like space-based solar power and asteroid mining.

My gutter smells like syrup!

My blog is resurrected! How fares you all?

I wanted to make a note about how wonderful sticky notes are. You see, not only do the conveniently stick to many things, they are also deceptively urgent.

They have a certain degree of urgency in that they aren't sticky like tape. Sticky notes will fall off quickly if you don't attend to them quickly, so you are always reminded of the note as you worry about it falling off. Therefore, you are more motivated to get the task done, take of the sticky, and safely dispose of it without worrying about losing it and forgetting this vitally important task.



I love sticky notes.

Rooting for the Bad Guys

What, I ask of you, is wrong with rooting for the bad guys? Or rather, not necessarily the bad, but the cynical, the self-centered, and the ones who know what they want and how they are going to get it.
Frankly, I feel that those are the most interesting people of all. They rarely tend to have the same sappy ideals of the protagonist, of love, hope, and all things warm and fuzzy. Instead, these are the radicals, the philosophers, and the ones who make the first move.
I see nothing deplorable in that. Really, what is the difference between Buzz Lightyear and Hitler? Hitler was a brilliant leader. He managed not only to get others to believe what he wanted, but he even got them to act upon those beliefs. Buzz Lightyear was an equally charismatic leader, and ideologically, what really is the difference in the personalities of these two?
We glorify the nice people because their actions tend to benefit society more. Ok, fine, I'll give them that, but at least let me sympathize with the bad guy who is hated by all others and will not be getting the happy ending.
When was the last time you attempted to imagine the glorious history behind these characters in fiction? I will give you my answer: today. In Julius Caesar, I
These guys are the wittiest, the smartest, and most courageous of all, because they chose to cross that line between glory and infamy. That's why I love them.

...Wow

Incredible...the last post I made was in December! That means this is my first post this year--and it's February!! Well, as soon as I return home I will grace you all with a special about Buzz Lightyear. However, I have never seen Toy Story either.