Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in xakana's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
4:28 pm	The Robots are coming, the Robots are coming... and they're HUNGRY! Bow before the Technology... or it will eat you. Want to fuck with America? No, no you don't. Ignoring all robot-warning movies from Terminator to Tim Burton's 9, DARPA has come up with the latest in terrifyingly evil concepts—EATR.   What is EATR? Well, in short, it's an ENERGETICALLY AUTONOMOUS TACTICAL ROBOT. Still don't know what that means? It means that it can derive its own energy sources from biomatter (grass, wood, garbage, roadkill, enemy corpses—basically anything but metal, plastic and Velveeta) so it can outlast the Energizer Bunny. And then eat it.   Here's the technical specs:   Oh, is that a Chainsaw I see? Yes, yes it is. And the Ramp for PackBots? Why, that would be the baby making orifice! This sucker can potentially BREED. “It might also be fitted with DARPA's SELF tech, enabling it to construct copies of itself and modify its own design.”       This is the face of the future enemy. Get a good look now, because it's going to be harder when we reach this point:     You think not? Well, how about this spec explanation: AUTONOMOUS INTELLIGENT CONTROL: 4D/RCS The 4D/RCS is a domain-independent approach to goal-directed, sensory interactive, adaptable behavior, integrating high-level cognitive reasoning with low-level perception and feedback control in a modular, well-structured, and theoretically grounded methodology It can be used to achieve full or supervised intelligent autonomy of individual platforms, as well as an overarching framework for control of systems of systems (e.g., incorporating unmanned and manned air, ground, sea surface, and undersea platforms, as well as serving as a decision tool for system of systems human controllers)   I don't like how that sounds. It can decide FOR us, can it? Oh, I'm sure that's not what that means... or is it?   And, of course, it's not DESIGNED to eat us. Of course not. As you see in this official illustration, the perception of what it consumes is totally benign:     And clearly, the intention is for it to be a vegetarian, as illustrated here:   So, as you can see, it's only going to eat your pot. Hmm... maybe it's not just designed for foreign wars, but our own homespun war on drugs as well. Of course, what's that going to leave us with when it tosses all that green into its burner?     Oh, yeah. Well, that's not so bad.     Oh, my.   So, let's review. So far, we have a chainsaw-wielding, pot stealing, flesh eating, giant killer smoking robot. Could it get any worse?       Oh, it's got a webcam. So it can post on YouTube while it slaughters us. So the other robots can laugh at us. And with the Japanese corpse-mover being invented around the same time, it's already got a lackey.     Of course, that robot's not just for corpses, but for moving bums from the street, too. If we toss in the automatic voice-recognizing sniper-bot with a two-mile shooting range...   ...we're fucked.     Sources: http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/EATR http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/10/eatr-robots-are-coming-this-isnt-funny-anymore/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/09/eatr_beta/ http://www.cracked.com/article_16364_science-dick-5-most-evil-robots-ever-invented.html Current Mood: discontent (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
3:19 am	My God, I finished it... OMG, it's finished. 162,600 words, 197 Open Office pages (way too many printed pages--we're talking upwards of 650 pages) and 13 years of my life--finished. Now it's all new territory ahead to finish book two of the book. I have no idea what's coming for the first time in the entire history of the book. Last save at 3:06 AM. I'll have to edit it eventually, but for now, it's closed and I'm not touching it. This is a huge milestone in my life. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Monday, March 9th, 2009
3:01 am	My husband Rocks Because he bought me this shirt. Oh, yeah, it's awesome. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
3:08 pm	Quizzes ganked from my Blue sis Current Mood: hungry (Comment on this)
Monday, October 6th, 2008
11:41 pm	Halloween Meme! My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul xakana goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as A pumpkin preggo belly. baby_tweety84 gives you 1 purple banana-flavoured jawbreakers. cadkitten gives you 13 brown spearmint-flavoured pieces of taffy. crashcart9 tricks you! You get a 3.5-inch floppy disc. inugrrrl gives you 17 brown raspberry-flavoured gumdrops. jojo_kun tricks you! You lose 5 pieces of candy! kartusch gives you 12 orange mint-flavoured gummy bats. xakana ends up with 38 pieces of candy, and a 3.5-inch floppy disc. Go trick-or-treating! Username: Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern. Current Mood: amused (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
10:47 pm	How well do you know me? Get Your Own Quiz!, More Quizzes (Comment on this)
Monday, July 28th, 2008
10:37 pm	Well, well... guess I'm a megavillain... Your results: You are Dr. Doom Dr. Doom 77% Magneto 66% Mystique 64% Apocalypse 64% Two-Face 60% Lex Luthor 51% Mr. Freeze 51% The Joker 49% Juggernaut 48% Catwoman 47% Green Goblin 44% Dark Phoenix 44% Poison Ivy 40% Venom 40% Kingpin 38% Riddler 15% Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity. Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz... Honestly, I don't know how I feel about being Dr. Doom. I don't really know a lot about him, as I"m not a F4 fan. Magneto, on the other hand... I think that's a villain I could be. "You're all doomed to be horrible failures, so bow to me so that I can fix all your stupid little problems and allow progress to finally take place--under my rules. But I'd rather the innocent not suffer, as I did..." And an on-again-off-again good guy to boot. More my style. I surprised myself with some of the answers. I wonder how honestly people answer them... Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, July 25th, 2008
5:04 pm	Our Futures are Shrodinger's Cat I'm in a mood... Our futures are Schrodinger's Cat So when someone opens the box, how do you want to be found? How do you want your children to remember their time in the box? And a little break from the dark... And in all fairness, since not everyone has any quantum mechanics/physics backgrounds... Shrodinger's Cat is a paradox to give a real life example of how a quantum particle exists simultaneously as positive and negative until observed. In this case, A cat, along with a flask containing a poison, is placed in a sealed box shielded against environmentally induced quantum decoherence. The flask is shattered, releasing the poison, if a Geiger counter detects radiation. Quantum mechanics suggests that after a while the cat is simultaneously alive and dead, in a quantum superposition of coexisting alive and dead states. Yet when we look in the box we expect to see the cat either alive or dead, not a mixture of alive and dead. (definition ganked from wikipedia because I got lazy). Current Mood: cynical (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
1:30 am	Things I've learned as a Mom Things I've learned as a mom: Newborns can love loud rock music more than all the lullabies in the world. Despite eating nothing but breastmilk, a healthy new baby's poop will appear as though she has eaten nothing but seeds and florescent dye. Frozen breastmilk smells like soap. Babies like anything that is not a toy, such as a straw, better than the most expensive toys on the market. A determined infant can flip around under the safety strap on a changing table, head to foot, and remained strapped in. Breastmilk can cure any pain or frightful event in mere seconds. When you think everything is babyproofed--your baby will find the one thing you missed. Poop can shoot out of a diaper up to the neck of a baby's back and somehow manage to leave almost nothing in the diaper. Shrieking and mindless babbling can be the most wonderful sound in the world. Silence is a horrible sound and you should immediately find out why it's happening. Toddlers laugh when you're mad because they're trying to get you to laugh with them. A laughing mom is so much more fun. I have special long-distance tickling powers. Always get the warranty. The good one. And ask if it covers accidental flushing. Never do anything in front of or to a toddler that you don't want them doing. Please really is a magic word. The world can be a great place... as long as you keep a good sense of humor (and avoid moms who don't agree with you)! Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
2:55 pm	Real Mpreg A transgendered male in Oregon is 22 weeks pregnant. Thomas Beatie only had chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, but did not have his female reproductive organs changed. Following his sex reassignment, Beatie was legally able to register himself as a male and even married Nancy. But because of Nancy's severe endemetriosis and hysterectomy, she could not bear a child over 10 years of marriage to Thomas. This led to the couple's decision for Thomas to bear the child. He stopped hormone injections and soon he began to have his monthly periods. After one year, he became pregnant through a frozen donor sperm, but his first attempt at becoming a mother was ectopic. Thomas' second attempt at motherhood is apparently successful and he is due to give birth on July 3. In an article that came out in the latest issue of The Advocate, the couple recounted the difficulties they faced because of their unique situation. They had to go through nine doctors. "Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy's family doesn't even know I'm transgender," Thomas wrote in The Advocate. Sharing his innermost thoughts, Thomas added, "Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant. To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. I will be my daughter's father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family." Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
1:04 pm	Got Cancer Killers? Got Cancer Killers? Breast-feeding protects babies from cancer, but no one knows quite how. So when biologists in Catharina Svanborg's lab saw mothers' milk kill cancer cells, they knew they were onto something big. by Peter Radetsky, Photographs by Thomas Wester When Catharina Svanborg and her research associates began mixing mothers' milk and cancer cells together seven years ago, she wasn't looking for a cure for cancer; she was after a way to fight germs. Nevertheless, the physician and immunologist at Lund University in Sweden has discovered that a previously taken-for-granted component of ordinary human breast milk compels cancer cells--every type of cancercell tested--to die. Now Svanborg must prove her discovery, demonstrating to wary scientists that her surprising find is for real. So far, it hasn't been easy. “It’s an extremely important observation, interesting and provocative,” says breast cancer researcher David Salomon of the National Cancer Institute. “But it’s novel, and novelty always runs the risk of challenging the current dogma. A lot of times you run up against a brick wall of people who have tunnel vision.” It doesn’t help that Svanborg’s lab is not a large, high-profile cancer research facility. In fact, it’s not a cancer lab at all; her specialty is an entirely different field, infectious disease. Says Salomon: “If this work had come from a well-known lab at the NCI, you’d have reporters calling six days to Sunday. You’d have scientists eager to collaborate. But it’s coming from a small lab in a foreign country. It’s like General Motors versus a garage operation.” If so, this is the kind of garage you’d take your Porsche to. Tall, poised, and professional to the core, Svanborg leads a team of dedicated young researchers who have worked overtime to make their discovery matter. With the first phase of research finally finished, the group has decided to launch a fusillade of papers to scientific journals. Soon skeptics may have a tough time denying that they are onto something big. Lund is dark and bleak in winter. A medieval town of 95,000 people (almost half are students), it nestles into Sweden’s southern tip. At its heart stands a twelfth-century cathedral with Romanesque towers that disappear into the gloomy low mist. As an occasional vehicle slowly skirts the town’s commons, bundled bicyclists glide by silently. People hunch forward against the cold. Across the way, university halls from the seventeenth century proclaim in stone Lund’s role as Scandinavia’s historical center of learning. So it is a surprise, away from the town center, to come suddenly upon modern brick and concrete buildings: the university hospital, the library, science classrooms, laboratories. It was here nearly seven years ago that her student Anders Håkansson rushed into Svanborg’s office with perplexing news. He had been experimenting with human cancer cells, microbes, and mothers’ milk. (Like lab mice, cancer cells make popular experimental models because they come in standardized lab strains. In many important respects they behave just like other human cells, and they live indefinitely in lab dishes.) The idea was to pinpoint how the milk, a terrific germ-fighter, blocks bacteria from infecting other cells. But the cancer cells in this experiment were acting up. “Their volume was decreasing,” Håkansson recalls. “Their nuclei were shrinking. Something was wrong.” When Svanborg sat down at the microscope, she diagnosed the problem immediately. “The cancer cells,” she announced in her calm, deliberate manner, “are committing suicide.” Cells commit suicide all the time, a phenomenon called apoptosis, in which the body rids itself of old or unnecessary cells (see “Apoptosis,” on page 73). They simply fall apart and are recycled. For cancer cells, however, suicide is rare indeed. Their defining characteristic is uncontrolled reproduction. Yet somehow, the breast milk induced these cancer cells to take their own lives. The circumstance opened up an enormous vista of mysteries—which pleased Svanborg to no end. “Discovery is at the heart of science. If you ask me for specific goals, I wouldn’t be able to name them. The process is fascinating enough.” Svanborg was eager to dive into finding out what in mothers’ milk was killing the cancer cells. “And I always hope that new information will be practical and useful for people who need it,” she adds, the physician rising to the fore. Discerning the basic mechanism wasn’t enough—Svanborg wanted to find out if the cells might be induced to commit suicide on demand: Could the discovery be developed into a cancer cure? Attempting to do so would require manpower, and fewer than 20 people worked in Svanborg’s lab. Most were already involved in their own projects targeting infectious diseases. “If this were a pharmaceutical company, you could say, ‘Take a bunch of people and move them to this,’” Svanborg says. “But this is a university. These are students. If they already have thesis projects going, you can’t change their focus just like that.” “You have freedom here,” says a graduate student. “Although we’re still in training, we are working as scientists. Catharina is very good at giving feedback, but we get to decide what experiments to do and how to do them.” Which is also the way their professor likes it: “I want to facilitate creative environments. I like encouraging people to contribute based on who they are and what they think. After all, this cancer find is pure serendipity. And serendipity arises when people are in a situation that fosters creativity. Nobody can define how it happens, but there’s a lot of happiness involved.” So when Svanborg decided to go after the cancer, she couldn’t just pull her colleagues from their projects to help her. The undertaking would largely fall to her and Håkansson alone. http://discovermagazine.com/1999/jun/featcancer/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
3:52 pm	Space Station Tricorder Space Station Tricorder 05.09.2008 + Play Audio | + Download Audio | + Email to a friend | + Join mailing list May 9, 2008: Any Trekkies out there? Remember the tricorder? Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock both carried them, and they came in mighty handy exploring "strange new worlds ...where no one has gone before." On the International Space Station, astronauts are carrying an experimental device that looks strikingly similar: LOCAD-PTS, short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. This handheld biological lab is the first step along the path to developing something akin to Dr. McCoy's medical tricorder. ( Dr. McCoy, here we come! Read more.... ) Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
6:02 pm	California Sloppy Joe California Sloppy Joe Is what I've named my latest masterpiece. I was craving a chili sandwich (which I was jokingly calling a Mexian Sloppy Joe in my head--although there IS a recipe for it online) but also wanted an avocado sandwich. My solution...Yup! California Sloppy Joe (so named because of the avocado--add mayo for authentic California taste) Smush the avocado into the bread and then ladel chili over it. Close the sandwich. I prefer 7 grain bread myself. Yum!! OMG, I'm in heaven. SO delicious. Just thought I'd share. Oh, and anyone who likes Sprite, here's my recipe for: Sprite Tea One glass (8oz) Sprite, chilled. One bag lemon cold brew iced tea. Put tea bag into the sprite as though it was water. The bubbles mix it faster than with water. Take out bag, squeeze it into the drink, stir and enjoy! oh, and I'm one day away from my pregnancy test. We weren't supposed to be trying this month, but I think we may have caught it anyway. just a feeling. I don't really have any symptoms, aside from cramps since 7DPO and some nausea yesterday. Oh, and my shift key is sticky and I'm too lazy to go back and capitalize, sorry! Here's hoping that I'm not looking at miscarriage #3. Yes, I had one last month. Ugh. Current Mood: satisfied (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 14th, 2008
7:47 pm	OMG, in a Pizza box?! I totally just found my leopard gecko who has been missing since January--hiding in a pizza box! WTH? I was gathering the trash (I keep thinking Tuesday is trash day) and as I picked it up, I saw her staring out at me!! Liz is alive, but very, very skinny. I'm going to have to load her on crix and worms and fatten her back up, only there's a teensy problem. She has no tank. See--after she escaped, I had a lot of trouble keeping Lilly and Nimbus (the kitten) off of the lid, which, of course, is wire mesh. They tore through it. I tried to fix it, but I have no idea how, I'll admit it. So it sat there with a torn mesh until last week when Nimbus, the little motherfucker, climbed in and took a SHIT in it!! (sand, after all, I suppose) so now it needs to be sanitized before I can put her back in!!! And I'll have to replace her food and water dishes because as much as I've scrubbed with different 'safe' soaps, I can't get the smell of the poop off. I don't know if it's dangerous, but I know it's not good. So it was shuffled off to the basement to keep Nimbus out and because we figured Elizabeth was dead. And of course, the mealworms died months ago, so I have no food for her nor a way to get them until tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be fine for one more day, considering, but it's FRUSTRATING. And I don't know what to do with her. I have her in our bird travel carrier, because the mesh is small enough she can't just slip through (especially considering how skinny she is now). I have her small hide on one side and a water dish on the other, but they both probably have to be replaced. And I have her in the basement, where she's safe (especially from Nimbus) with her heat lamp set up on its timer. I figure it's got to be better than a pizza box at the least. Current Mood: shocked (Comment on this)
Friday, April 11th, 2008
7:36 pm	Gank this, bitches (seriously, does anyone read my shit 'cept IG?) ( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. ) Current Mood: amused (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
3:18 am	The anime side of Xak ( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. ) Current Mood: devious (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 24th, 2008
2:24 pm	Tarot... You are The Moon Hope, expectation, Bright promises. The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window. The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition. What Tarot Card are You? Take the Test to Find Out. Current Mood: depressed (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
10:49 pm	Quizzifeyness ganked from InuGrrrrl Which InuYasha Character are You? Miroku Yep, you're the lecherous monk. There would be no point in living if there were no women. :( Television-Movies Quizzes Lets101 Quizzes - Quizzes For Fun Current Mood: amused (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
1:53 am	InuGrrrrl gave me my letter! ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Monday, February 11th, 2008
6:17 pm	Breast milk contains stem cells I thought this was really interesting!   Breast milk contains stem cells Monday, 11 February 2008 By Catherine Madden Mammary stem cells (red/blue) and differentiated adult mammary cells (green) isolated from human breast milk. The Perth scientist who made the world-first discovery that human breast milk contains stem cells is confident that within five years scientists will be harvesting them to research treatment for conditions as far-reaching as spinal injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. But what Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk. He believes that it not only meets all the nutritional needs of a growing infant but contains key markers that guide his or her development into adulthood. “We already know how breast milk provides for the baby’s nutritional needs, but we are only just beginning to understand that it probably performs many other functions,” says Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia. He says that, in essence, a new mother’s mammary glands take over from the placenta to provide the development guidance to ensure a baby’s genetic destiny is fulfilled. “It is setting the baby up for the perfect development,” he says. “We already know that babies who are breast fed have an IQ advantage and that there’s a raft of other health benefits. Researchers also believe that the protective effects of being breast fed continue well into adult life. “The point is that many mothers see milks as identical – formula milk and breast milk look the same so they must be the same. But we know now that they are quite different and a lot of the effects of breast milk versus formula don’t become apparent for decades. Formula companies have focussed on matching breast milk’s nutritional qualities but formula can never provide the developmental guidance.” It was Dr Cregan’s interest in infant health that led him to investigate the complex cellular components of human milk. “I was looking at this vast complexity of cells and I thought, ‘No one knows anything about them’.” His hunch was that if breast milk contains all these cells, surely it has their precursors, too? His team cultured cells from human breast milk and found a population that tested positive for the stem cell marker, nestin. Further analysis showed that a side population of the stem cells were of multiple lineages with the potential to differentiate into multiple cell types. This means the cells could potentially be “reprogrammed” to form many types of human tissue. He presented his research at the end of January to 200 of the world’s leading experts in the field at the International Conference of the Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation in Perth. “We have shown these cells have all the physical characteristics of stem cells. What we will do next is to see if they behave like stem cells,” he says. If so, they promise to provide researchers with an entirely ethical means of harvesting stem cells for research without the debate that has dogged the harvesting of cells from embryos. Further research on immune cells, which have also been found in breast milk and have already been shown to survive the baby’s digestive process, could provide a pathway to developing targets to beat certain viruses or bacteria.     Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)