soon there will be people marrying roombas!
Hey guys, pulling an all-nighter tonight at Bobst so I figured I should come and update. Because I'm procrastinating. And because I love this livejournal, but neglect it like an unwanted step-child and that makes me feel BAD. Please know I read all of your journals and I'm constantly on LJ everyday even if I'm not updating!
TV: I watch MORE THAN EVER AHHH. And it never ends. I haven't left the old standbys (Lost, Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock, etc.), but have picked up a few new ones along the way. By far, my favorite new show is Party Down on Starz. I KNOW. Starz, who'd have thought? But the Veronica Mars lover in me can't help but love Vinnie VanLowe and Dick Casablancas. Plus the lead guy who is cute and guest starred as a teacher who slept with a student on VM once. It's really hilarious and you should all try out an ep or two. HIMYM IS STILL AWESOME AND GETTING AWESOMER BY THE WEEK, BUT YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW THAT.
Intern: Next week is my last week at Bravo and that makes me so upset. I can't believe this semester has gone by so fast! I've loved everything about it, from my fellow interns to getting to work in 30 Rock to seeing how a big TV network really works. I'm going to miss it a lot! But I'm sticking with NBC-Universal this summer because I got an internship at Oxygen! So I'll get to commute into the city a couple days a week and help out there. Bravo is like Oxygen's gay older brother so I'm sure I'll use everything I've learned there. My NBC-Uni loyalty runs deep, you know.
School: 2 and half weeks left and then summer, oh god. That means epic amounts of finals and papers for me right now. Mostly finals. If you've skipped everything else in this entry, just read this next part because it's educational and pretty cool. In my Cognitive Neuroscience class, we were learning about the chapter on motor control and all the neural substrates in the brain that respond to action and action planning, wait don't fall asleep, it gets better! Basically, scientists were able to map which exact neurons controlled certain movements and used this knowledge to do the only logical thing. Hook up some of those neurons (in monkeys) to a machine and see if the monkey could learn to move the machine JUST BY THINKING ABOUT IT. And yeah, it did.
That monkey is moving the machine arm to feed itself marshmallows using just its thoughts. I usually feel bad for the monkeys they use in all these neuroscientific studies, but come on. Is that monkey going to get delicious marshmallows in the wild? I doubt it.
They've even advanced so far as to demonstrate this same ability in people. Namely, individuals who have been paralyzed completely (if you saw the episode of House 2 weeks ago called Locked In, this is basically what it was). A man with Lou Gherig's disease had deteriorated so profoundly that all he has is the ability to blink. But through SCIENCE he was able to hook up his neurons to a computer and he can generate speech on a computer by choosing letters on the screen WITH HIS MIND. HIS MIND. They're saying that eventually when the technology advances enough, we'll be able to use it to wire amputees' brains to their prosthetic limbs so they can control it like they would a normal limb.
Of course this is all really interesting and most of it is far beyond my range of comprehension so when people were speculating if this could lead to human-computer hybrids, all I could think of was this:
"What do you expect, mother? I'm half-machine! I'm a monster!"
And now back to my scheduled essay writing.
TV: I watch MORE THAN EVER AHHH. And it never ends. I haven't left the old standbys (Lost, Heroes, The Office, 30 Rock, etc.), but have picked up a few new ones along the way. By far, my favorite new show is Party Down on Starz. I KNOW. Starz, who'd have thought? But the Veronica Mars lover in me can't help but love Vinnie VanLowe and Dick Casablancas. Plus the lead guy who is cute and guest starred as a teacher who slept with a student on VM once. It's really hilarious and you should all try out an ep or two. HIMYM IS STILL AWESOME AND GETTING AWESOMER BY THE WEEK, BUT YOU SHOULD ALL KNOW THAT.
Intern: Next week is my last week at Bravo and that makes me so upset. I can't believe this semester has gone by so fast! I've loved everything about it, from my fellow interns to getting to work in 30 Rock to seeing how a big TV network really works. I'm going to miss it a lot! But I'm sticking with NBC-Universal this summer because I got an internship at Oxygen! So I'll get to commute into the city a couple days a week and help out there. Bravo is like Oxygen's gay older brother so I'm sure I'll use everything I've learned there. My NBC-Uni loyalty runs deep, you know.
School: 2 and half weeks left and then summer, oh god. That means epic amounts of finals and papers for me right now. Mostly finals. If you've skipped everything else in this entry, just read this next part because it's educational and pretty cool. In my Cognitive Neuroscience class, we were learning about the chapter on motor control and all the neural substrates in the brain that respond to action and action planning, wait don't fall asleep, it gets better! Basically, scientists were able to map which exact neurons controlled certain movements and used this knowledge to do the only logical thing. Hook up some of those neurons (in monkeys) to a machine and see if the monkey could learn to move the machine JUST BY THINKING ABOUT IT. And yeah, it did.
Click to viewThat monkey is moving the machine arm to feed itself marshmallows using just its thoughts. I usually feel bad for the monkeys they use in all these neuroscientific studies, but come on. Is that monkey going to get delicious marshmallows in the wild? I doubt it.
They've even advanced so far as to demonstrate this same ability in people. Namely, individuals who have been paralyzed completely (if you saw the episode of House 2 weeks ago called Locked In, this is basically what it was). A man with Lou Gherig's disease had deteriorated so profoundly that all he has is the ability to blink. But through SCIENCE he was able to hook up his neurons to a computer and he can generate speech on a computer by choosing letters on the screen WITH HIS MIND. HIS MIND. They're saying that eventually when the technology advances enough, we'll be able to use it to wire amputees' brains to their prosthetic limbs so they can control it like they would a normal limb.
Of course this is all really interesting and most of it is far beyond my range of comprehension so when people were speculating if this could lead to human-computer hybrids, all I could think of was this:
"What do you expect, mother? I'm half-machine! I'm a monster!"
And now back to my scheduled essay writing.