Sweet, sweet memories

C6 H12 O6 is the chemical formula for glucose, and the simplest form of carbohydrates. More complex carbohydrates are built on that base, and enzymes in our saliva break down those complex carbohydrate (flour, grains etc.) to get to the slightly sweet taste. Or something like that – I don’t feel like verifying every detail now, but I skimmed through the Wikipedia entry again and think it’s about right.

I remember this stuff from school, I think. I always had an affinity for biology, even though I didn’t like chemistry one bit. Back in high school I was very busy telling myself that I wasn’t any good at math and, by extension, chemistry and physics. It just didn’t seem to come naturally to me, and thus meant that I automatically sucked at it. Which is nonsense, of course. As I got older I realized that with just a bit of effort, all this stuff can be learned.  I really should have known back in school, when I completely screwed up a chemistry test on acids and got the first and only F that I ever got – just to study for the follow-up test and get a resounding A. Maybe it rung a little bell at the time, but the young mind has powerful way means of self-persuasion. I. Just. Wasn’t. Good. At. It. Okay mom??? *pout*

What has me puzzled is why I remember this kind of stuff out of nowhere. This whole glucose chemical formula thing came to me on my way to work this morning – and I started digging deeper and deeper into my brain until I was satisfied. Maybe I was thinking about my brother and that brough it on – he is doing this (and much more complicated stuff) as a job now. Regardless, it was fun remembering this stuff, no matter how rudimentary and filled with holes the information. I think the reccognition that school was good for something is just a good feeling, especially as you get older. I might still be smarter than a 5th grader, and when I have kids I might, just might, still be able to help them with some homework. Until then, I’ll wait for other random tidbits to enter my brain while I’m cruising on the road. Who knows, something interesting might come of it.

IGN interviews John Debney

John Debney, popular film composer and creator of one of my all-time favourite movie scores (that would be Cutthroat Island), is interviewed on IGN about his scoring work on Lair.

• Part 1
• Part 2

Domain Shuffling – Done!

If you can read this, the internets should have updated all tubes to accurately lead you to my webpage again. For the longest time, I used Langsuyar.com as my main domain and had various other pages forward to that domain. Email was on the old and trusty Ocrana server, which I have used for over 10 years and gets way too much spam these days. A bit of a mess that I finally wanted to clean up.
After a bit of work the main domain now is Worch.com. You can still reach me under my Ocrana email address, but I will be phasing that one out over the next few months. The new, reliable email address is mattias @ this domain. I’m sure you can figure it out, I want to keep the spambots off my tail as long as possible. The pages should still all work exactly as before. Please let me know if you find anything that’s broken!

Vielen Dank, Deutschland…

Ein Grund mehr, alsbald nicht zurueck nach Deutschland zu ziehen. Ich habe jetzt keine hoch wissenschaftliche Analyse, die diesen Gesetzesvorschlag als halbgaren Aktionismus enttarnt. Der allgegenwaertige, aber nie offen genannte Grundtenor scheint ja immer derselbe zu sein: “Sowas passiert nicht bei uns in Deutschland! Unsere Gesellschaft ist von Grund auf characterstaerker als in anderen Laendern! Wenn es hier jetzt solche Amoklaeufe gibt, dann muessen aeussere Einfluesse Schuld sein!” Und schwupps waren Computerspiele – die ein Beiprodukt der gesellschaftlichen Veraenderung und nicht der Ursprung sind – an allem Schuld. Ich weiss auf jeden Fall eines: das Spielen dieser “extrem gewalthaltigen” Computerspiele hat ausschliesslich positive Auswirkungen auf mein Leben gehabt. Ich habe Freundschaften geschlossen, die auch nach ueber 10 Jahren noch bestehen, mir kreativ neue Welten erschlossen – und dabei nie eine erhoehte Faszination fuer Waffen oder das Toeten realer Menschen entwickelt. Eine Abstumpfung hat ebenso wenig statgefunden. Und Spiele, in denen “Leben gesammelt wurden” haben wir schon als kleine Kinder gespielt: das hiess Cowboy und Indianer oder bestand aus selbstgebastelten Blasrohren und rohen Erbsen.

Aber gut, ich will mich ja gar nicht wirklich gross aufregen. Man muss nicht immer gleich alles so heiss essen, wie es gekocht wird. Hier in Amerika schlagen die religioesen Fanatiker generell um sich, sobald eine weibliche Brustwarze zu sehen ist, und versaute Pfarrer verkuenden, eine dreiwoechige Gespraechstherapie habe sie von der Homosexualitaet “geheilt” (*prust*). In Deutschland sind es halt gewalttaetige Spiele. Ein Land, in dem jedermann vernuenftig, relaxed und groovy ist scheint es noch nicht zu geben (irgendwas in Skandinavien vielleicht?), also warten wir weiter geduldig ab.

New From Apple

Presenting the “iPod”, a digital music player that can hold 1000 songs on its 5GB harddrive. As Steve Job explains in the video, this is a great growth opportunity for Apple and might just revolutionize the music market.

It would be too easy to laugh at the low specs of the original, 1st generation iPod. “Oh, look how quaint it was! 1000 songs? How cute!” But honestly, even back then everybody could project where the technology was going and how fast the product would grow to its current 160GB video incarnation. Maybe I’ll do the “Oh, how quaint!” thing 30 years from now, when I connect to the music collection of the entire world via the microchip that’s implanted in my brain.

What I find much more fun is how low-key this announcement event was compared to today’s keynotes. Small room, quiet crowd, subdued…okay, never mind: same Steve Jobs. But that’s the passion, showmanship and, uhm…”assholeness?” that made Apple what it is today. It starts at the top and trickles down.