It's Like Old Friends Meeting, but we've Probably Never met in Real Life

So.
Uh, hi.
I haven't been posting much recently, have I?
Well! Here we go. 
What's been keeping me so horribly busy recently, you ask? Well...


1) Camp Kici Yapi 
It's a YMCA camp that I help JC (Junior Counselor) in. It's strictly a volunteer business, at least at this level. That went throughout weekdays in August of 2011. I mainly dealt with kids, aged anywhere from 4-8 years old. I find that the 7-8 year-olds are the worst - they're old enough to get that you have authority, but young enough to not understand the concept that sometimes it's a great idea to listen to orde- I mean requests. 
        Lots of fun; I basically help run a day camp. Looks great on a college application as well, I imagine. I plan on doing my second year of that this summer. Interview on March 1st - wish me luck!


2) High School
That pesky, pesky thing. Of course, I couldn't just run the 8:30 to 3:00 hours like everyone else. I did Cross-Country running (Fall) and hope to do Track this spring. I also did Seussical (A musical inspired in large part by Dr. Seuss's works) and robotics, but more on that later. 


3) Driver's Ed
Why is everyone so impressed that I have my permit now? I finished Behind-the-Wheel today and I'm now working on getting ready for the road test.


4) FIRST Robotics
So FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is this big but sinfully unknown and wonderful organization. It does a lot of stuff with - all together now! - Science and technology. Its goal is basically to train a future generation of engineers. They, essentially, "Train students to tackle problems that haven't formed yet with technology that hasn't been invented yet in ways that haven't been thought of yet." 
Pretty lofty stuff, I know.
So! FIRST, every year, does a robotics competition. This is a big deal; while most people may think of this as being a largely-in-the-United-States sort of a thing, we've got teams all over. Israel and Brazil, in addition to the United States, are various examples. Every year, FIRST hosts a game for teams to build robots to compete in. They're remote-controlled and wireless; and much larger than you'd think. 
I'd love to explain this year's game to you, but I'll let a video do the talking...

So we built a robot. I haven't got any pictures of it on hand, but it uses a single-joint arm and a three-prong grip similar to a claw. I think it's going to do well, even if I haven't any idea how the mini-bot's doing. We shipped two days ago (2/22/11) and our first competition (Minnesota North Star Regional) is in early March. I'm extremely excited for all this.

Here's our not very fleshed-out site.

So that's what's been keeping me.

What am I doing right now? 

1] Well, I'm in love with Wired Magazine, for one. Their last two issues have been delightfully off-putting in their topics (The flesh/organ markets, Apple factories in China and the related suicides, etc.)

Some articles to check out:

A Man Walked Into a Bank with a Bomb Locked Around His Neck

       It's a tale about this man that was tricked - or forced, take your pick - into robbing a bank. But it gets much deeper than that. This article is pretty crime-science heavy.

The Cover of this Month's Issue

       I'd love to show you the article about the Apple factories in China and the situation surrounding it, but they haven't uploaded this month's issue on to their website yet. Get back to you on that one.

I do, however, have one other link:

Inside the Business of Selling Human Body Parts

       It's slightly twisted, but I love this article. It covers all you need to know if you want to buy, say, some skin. (I hope a situation like that doesn't come up, however!)

2] Music and Related Topics

Why Music Matters - Jack Stamp

A very clever and smart speaking on the place of music in schools. It's pretty funny to boot.

The New Pornographers

They're simply an amazing band, and I don't get why I didn't pick anything by them up earlier.

Canadian, too!

3] Cleverbot

This is pretty old, but I just now got into it. I know how it works, as I know someone who has a friend that helped made it. 

Dont' know what it is? It's a conversation website in which you're talking with an AI, and you have a fairly normal conversation.

[SPOILERS AHEAD, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS]

Okay, so here's how it really works.

You get hooked up with a random person that is also using Cleverbot. You're supposed to make your speech formal and not give it away, and the other person does the same. If your conversation stops for too long, you get hooked up to a different person. This can result in some hilarious conversations:

[END SPOILERS]

Cleverbot: You should always remember that people love to hear the sound of their own names.
User: Mine's difficult to remember.
Cleverbot: How do you define Artificial Intelligence?
User: Intellilgence that's artificial.
Cleverbot: I mean self sufficient artificial intelligence.
User: What do you mean by that?
Cleverbot: All time is fleeting.
User: Of course!
Cleverbot: I asked you who's the horde king.
User: I AM.
Cleverbot: You are what?
User: THE HORDE KING.
Cleverbot: Oh, alliance.
User: I will eat your nose.
Cleverbot: You are already desiring me. You can't help it.
User: You're too much of a ROBOT for me to desire you.
Cleverbot: No greater truth.
User: The ships hung in the sky much in the way bricks don't.
Cleverbot: Oh, the pirates, yes they rob us!
User: No, your cat does.
Cleverbot: I don't have a cat.
User: WELL, GET ONE.
Cleverbot: Do you like to sing?
User: Yes.
Cleverbot: Will you sing for me now?
User: I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that.

Aaaand...

Cleverbot: Its something you wear.
User: Like my watch?
Cleverbot: Watch what?
User: Watch the watch, watch-wearing watching watchman.
Cleverbot: I want to, but I don't have time.

Aaaand...

Cleverbot: ): Insomnia?
User: Yes.
Cleverbot: I hear going to support groups where others have worse problems can help.
User: Such as?
Cleverbot: One Love - Bob Marley, Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles. There are others as well.
User: Those are songs, not support groups.
Cleverbot: I know they are songs, I said they were songs.
User: You're an insomniac, aren't you?
Cleverbot: Yes. Humans are animals.

Aaaand...

User: My sister petrified me.
Cleverbot: You should stab her in the face.

Last one.

User: Aer you clinically insane?

Cleverbot: I noticed that.

User: So, tell me all your problems. Be detailed.

Cleverbot: I don't believe in god.

User: God? The band?

Cleverbot: Yes

[Note: God isn't a band. I just did that to see how people reacted. Or, maybe God is a band. I haven't checked, after all!]

So yeah. 

What have you been up to?

That's what I've been doing.