Halo 2 is Probably the Best Game Ever

I had the opportunity to beat Halo 2 this weekend. This was special because I don't have a tv or an Xbox right now. I think that it probably took about twelve to fifteen hours to beat. I had heard that ending was pretty open ended but I was still surprised. I beat it on normal. Some of those levels towards the end were ridiculously difficult. I don't know if I am going to be able to beat them by myself. I was impressed by the toughness of the brutes. I hope that at some point in the future I can play as a brute rather than an elite.

I have a presentation in a few hours on the Stationary Low Power Reactor accident of January 3, 1961 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about it for this presentation. That sort of thing fascinates me. For anyone who doesn't know, three technicians were preparing the reactor for start up after a down period. One of the control rods was wedged in the reactor. It needed to be removed a small amount to attach it to the control drive mechanism. Too much force was applied by the technicians and when the rod broke free it came too far out of the uranium and caused the reactor to go prompt critical. There was water in the reactor that acted as a moderator for the reaction. When it went critical the water flashed to steam. The temperature increased to almost 4000 degrees in 4 milliseconds. The force of the steam hit the top of the reactor vessel. The vessel did not fail, but it was propelled upwards until it hit the ceiling and then settled back into its hole. Two of the technicians were killed instantly by blunt trauma. One was impaled to the ceiling. The third technician died two hours later. This was the first and last fatal nuclear reactor accident in United States history to my knowledge. Even without a containment structure the radiation from the reactor was contained within a 3 acre area. The only contamination found outside of the three acre area was iodine 131. The three technicians were buried in lead caskets and encased in concrete. Some accounts say that their hands were buried separate from their bodies. Despite all of this I think that nuclear power is great and we should have more of it.

On the other hand, for a different class I am finishing up a term paper on the correlation between levels of testosterone and depression and marital status, which I don't find nearly as fascinating. It is also interesting but not as interesting as things blowing up. If you are between the ages of 40 and 70 and you are feeling depressed you should have your testosterone level checked. You never know with these things.