I <3 Trains...

...and so do all of you, apparently. (If by "all of you" I mean the 4 people who regularly read/comment on my blog + the random interlopers I recruited w/ my direct e-mail campaign.)

It seems like the train idea is the big winner overall for birthday ideas. I couldn't be happier about that outcome. I was afraid everyone would shoot that down since I kinda assume I'm the only "train buff" in the group. Usually train buffs (don't you love that term?) are retired old men who play with model trains in their garage. Oh to dream.

However, there's a fly in our double steel railed ointment: The scenic trains in Colorado are amazing, popular, and thus not cheap. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (the crème de la crème of scenic trains, IMHO) costs $65 a pop. Now, I would happily pay this again and again to ride this train round trip from Durango to Silverton through one of the most beautiful parts of the generally not-ugly Centennial State. I realize, though, that this may be a little rich for some others' blood. (Or am I, yet again, underestimating the extent of everyone's closeted train buffiness?)

There are cheaper options too. Such as the Royal Gorge Railroad, which while not a steam train, still looks wicked awesome. It costs $30 per person. Sadly the Georgetown Loop Railroad is closed for maintenance, or that would be an excellent option. It's close to Denver and a steam train.

OMGWTFLOLZBBQ!!1!!one!1! I just went to the Georgetown Loop site, and it's running again! w00t! This train costs $20 per person. If we're planning to go on Saturday, October 6 (which seems like the best option) we should probably book our tickets now. And hey, if we get 20+ people to come, there are group rates! ;) I think we found a winner.

What do you guys n' gals think?

3 Cubed

On the fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred and eighty, a baby boy was born. That boy had a destiny. But on the way to that destiny, he would turn 27. 3³. And this semi-momentous day would occur on October 5th, 2007. Hey, that's not so far away.

So here's the deal, fools. I'm turning 27 on October 5, and you need to be there. If you live within 800 miles of Denver, then there's no excuse. If you live further than that, then there's only a partial excuse^*.

There have been a few ideas batted around for the celebration of this awesome day (some would call it a "milestone"). Here they are in no particular order:

1. Random meats served at the local Brazilian meatery. I eat meat every year on my birthday, and this place has the best of the best (we're talking rattlesnake sausage here kids). It's $38 / person, but you get a red-light/green-light indicator at your table. As long as that pooch is green, you're getting some more meat.
2. 13th Ave. pub crawl. This would entail starting at Pints at 13th & Cherokee and working our way east to Wyman's No. 5 at 13th & Vine. One. Epic. Night. of Drinking.
3. Ft. Collins brewery tours followed by Coopersmith's for dinner. If you've been there, you know.
4. Sushi!
5. Train adventure in the mountains. The Royal Gorge, the Georgetown Loop, the Durango & Silverton Narrowgauge. I don't care, I love 'em all. But a kiss (on the mouth) for anyone who hooks up the steam loco action. Followed by boozing at ye olde mountainous pub.
6. Other (please comment).

Please cleave a comment indicating which party option you prefer. I may or may not take your views into consideration.

^*The partial excuse entails the following caveat: In the event of non-attendance of my 27th birthday, I reserve the right to hold your non-attendance against you indefinitely. For example, if you are invited to Denver at some point in the future but attempt to bail out, I may say something akin to the following: "But you missed my... *sniff*... birthday. (cue puppy dog eyes)" Yeah, that's right. The eyes'll getcha every time.

Kurzweil's brain

Back in college (I know, yawn) I took a class about the broader moral and ethical implications of my chosen field (Computer Science, shockingly). A large section of it was about the future of computer science and what ethical issues we would face if someday we were able to create human (or superhuman) artificial intelligence, for example. During this part of the class, we read several essays written by Ray Kurzweil. The musically-inclined among you may recognize that as a brand name for synthesizers. That's the same guy.

When not inventing synthesizers, Dr. Kurzweil writes about what the future may look like if we continue on our present explosive growth of technology track (not in a pessimistic way, but the things he predicts are pretty wild, so you could interpret some of it in a dystopian fashion if you were so inclined).

I remember one of his most interesting essays that we read was about the nature of the human mind. The idea was that your mind was the software that makes you you and this "You" program runs on your brain (like Mozilla Firefox runs on your computer). Starting from that premise, he says that it's not that crazy to think we could build a little computer chip that mimicked the behavior of a single neuron. They are, after all, relatively simple in and of themselves. You could then take one of these synthetic neuro-chip doo dads and have a brain surgeon replace one of the neurons in your brain with it. Assuming it did its job, you probably wouldn't notice anything weird. You'd go right on thinking and feeling like you were you.

But then suppose the brain surgeon didn't stop there and just kept right on replacing your neurons with synthetic ones. Would you notice a change at any point? In theory, replacing them one at a time, you could even stay conscious throughout the procedure. Eventually, your whole brain would be made up of synthetic neurons. You'd have a computer brain. You could then upgrade that brain w/ more or faster synthetic neurons or copy the "software" (you) onto a different computer (possibly faster, more powerful one).

So then you have some interesting questions to ask at that point. What makes you, you? If you were able to augment your brain to make it faster, able to store more memories, or more accurate memories, would that mean you were no longer human at some level? What about an AI that is as smart (or smater than) a human that we created ourselves? Should it be afforded the same rights that a human would be? After all, if you were to put your mind onto a computer, you'd probably still want basic human rights like it being illegal to pull the plug on you or install Windows on you. ;)

Anyway, my friend Emily and I were discussing these things while I was staying with her in Chicago. I think it kinda freaked her out. Sorry, Emily! :) I found this site, which has all kinds of fun things to make you afraid of what the world might be like by the middle of this century. Just kidding, sorta.

And no, this didn't come up because I'm in Boulder right now. The contact high isn't that good.

iPhones, ski passes, and credit cards

Yesterday The Steve announced that the 8GB iPhone only costs $399 now. When I bought it a couple months ago (early July, to be exact), it cost $599. Yeah, $200 price drop.

The thing is, the iPhone is a 100% gratuitous purchase. I shouldn't have spent 1 penny on it (because, after all, you can get cell phones for free and I already owned an iPod nano). For some twisted reason, that makes the price drop not annoying at all. What's the difference if I blow $600 or $400 on something? It was still a stupid purchase that I totally love and don't regret buying in the slightest. So yeah, if I'd known this would happen on September 5, I probably would have waited. But if I knew when the next-generation iPhone was coming out, I'd probably wait for that too. C'est la vie.

But thanks for your concern, everyone! :)

In other news, I recently also purchased a Winter Park ski pass for this year. Yet another totally stupid purchase that I won't spend one day regretting.

At some point the credit does run out, though.

Marion House Stay of Execution

At the last minute, 11:59pm, Governor Ritter called to cancel the execution of the Marion House. 1311 Marion will continue to be the home of Luke, Dan, Will, and yours truly for the foreseeable future.

However, if anyone moves out, I'm probably gonna push for dissolution of the house. I just don't think I can bring myself to posting a "smokers need not apply" ad on craigslist. Vomit.