T2B27

... Remember that one post where you asked me about what a fandom is?

Well apparently my whole life is a lie.

O.O I thought it was a kingdom of fans too.... XP (See T2B68 - T2B70)

T2B26

OH MY GOODNESS THIS IS SO DEEP I CAN'T EVEN:

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2011-12-02/divergent-veronica-roth-dystopian-week-guest-blog/

JUST READ IT. JUST. OMG. The very bottom part when Veronica Roth starts talking about the whole utopia/dystopia thing is just OMG. I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT. OMG. OMG. OMG.

I guess there's this whole, completely philosophical perspective on futuristic societies and dystopias (because dystopias are really popular right now) that I've never thought about. Fiction/reading was just something I did for fun, but it's actually so deep.

JUST-- THE LAST SENTENCE IS JUST SO OMG-WORTHY. *PSHEEEEW makes little explodey sound with hand coming off of head* *mindblown*

T2B25

OMG I just finished The Rule of Thoughts and it is so scary. 

So you know the main character is named Michael? He and his friends Sarah and Bryson are gamers in the VirtNet, which is like a really, really advanced and futuristic version of the internet--you get into a NerveBox that completely immerses you in the virtual world. Basically, the virtual world is like your world, except it's all in your head. To Lift means to be taken out of the VirtNet and back into the real world. I still am kind of confused about it, because I can't tell if it's just for games or what, but the point is there's a game called Lifeblood (basically a virtual world that matches the real world), and a Lifeblood Deep (a more realistic version of Lifeblood). So there's all this complicated schmuddle of stuff, but if I told you, I'd ruin it (well I guess I'm ruining it now?). SPOILER SPOILER:

So they think they're in Lifeblood Deep for something, but it later turns out that they were actually in the real word (the "Wake"). Then Michael gets thrown in jail and someone comes to visit him.

ANYWAYS NONE OF THIS REALLY MATTERS it's just a little bit of background so what this guys says makes sense.

So anyways. We have no idea who this dude is, (although I kind of suspected he was Kaine, but his words don't sound like it), and this is what he says to Michael.

"I'm going to leave you now. You'll have plenty of time to think before things come to a head. I hope you've learned a valuable lesson from what happened at that building. About the nature of the VirtNet. About the nature of reality."

"What do you mean?" [Michael said.]

"When mankind can create a world that is so like our own," the stranger said, "then how can we possibly ever know what's real and what's not real again? I could Lift you right now, pull you out of a NerveBox, and then you'd say, 'Ah! I'm back in the real world!' And then I could Lift you again, and you'd be surprised, but feel for certain that this time you're in the... what do you kids call it?... the Wake." The man brought his hands up and gripped the bars until his knuckles turned white. "I could Life you a hundred times. A thousand. How, Michael, could you ever know again that you are truly, truly in the real world? For that matter, who's to say there even is a real world?"

WHOOOAAAAAA.... That's some scary stuff. We watched The Matrix in English at the beginning of Term 2, and it was a similar idea--how do you know what reality is? Machines took over and humans were living in a dream-induced "reality". In the Mortality Doctrine series, the VirtNet is sometimes all that some people live for. I won't spoil it for you, but there is also this idea of a Tangent, which is a programmed intelligence (like AI but more advanced/human, I guess) walking around in Lifeblood Deep to simulate the people in real life (because pretty much no one actually makes it into Lifeblood Deep, it's really, really, really hard to get in, and the people that are in are all like really advanced gamers). 

Anyways, I could talk all day about this, but it's actually a really good series and makes you think. They're actually really philosophical and a good read. (And kind of creepy. Okay, really creepy.)

T2B24

So true, so true. Girls, listen to Emma Watson:

OMG LOL I found this one too and I just died laughing:

I should totally do something like that in a debate and confuse the other team so bad XP

T2B23

Haha I can totally imagine this happening (I made it x-large so the text is easier to read...):

LOLOLOLOL more of Percy's awesomeness:

T2B22

This is like my favourite moment in the entire movie.

She is seriously so cute in this moment. XP

T2B22

So in Applied Skills on Monday, we watched "Chantek: The Ape Who Went To College", and afterwards we had a discussion on whether it's right/possible to "own" an animal. I thought it'd be a great debate--the ethics of ownership. I thought Mr Olson brought up a great point--what differentiates animals from humans? Aren't humans animals too? That really made me think.

Also, whether or not it's ethical to raise an orangutan as a human. That was interesting too.