I have an electric toothbrush. It works in cycles. It will automatically buzz when 2 minutes have elapsed (because two minutes is, of course, the best possible amount of time when one is doing the brushing of the teeth), which prompts me to turn it off. Then, when I press the "On" button once more, it will continue brushing merrily away, as if nothing had occurred.

It makes me wonder what it would be like. Going through a routine, then being turned off. Only to resume as if uninterrupted when the "On" button is pressed again.

If we, as a species, succeed in creating A.I (artificial intelligence), would they need to be turned "Off" to recharge, and, if they did, would they know that anything had happened? Logically, any rational mind would note that the surroundings had changed, but would they be able to deduce that their processors had discontinued firing had the transition been short and unnoticeable? What would they think during the "Off" time? Would they continue to be aware? Or would their thought processing just... stop? I suppose the real question here is, should we create A.I, would robots dream?

Alright, that sounds nuts. I may as well be asking 'Do toasters have feelings', or 'Does my fridge secretly plan to conquer the planet' (after all, I know the answer to the latter is 'Of course'.)

But, if you just think about the concept of A.I, it doesn't seem so silly after all. I mean, what's the point in having intelligence if it doesn't extend beyond basic 'stimulus, response'? If humans could not dream, would people still create, imagine, wonder?

Electric toothbrush= metaphysical speculation. Nice work, mind.

I've got to say, I've had my fair share of pop quizzes. However, I am fairly certain that this is the first time in my life that I have become the pop quiz.

When I got up this morning, it was shaping up to be a pretty normal day. I woke up, got dressed in the school uniform, and had breakfast. I got in the car. I went to school. Then, I continued to the hospital.

Now, I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I'm not dying of some terminal disease, and I'm certainly not disabled (at least, in any recognizable way.) I am, however, faced with a medical dilemma.

You see, my left leg is approximately four centimetres shorter than my right. Big deal, you might respond, people deal with way worse things than that daily. And you'd be right. They do. They really do. But they're not me. Nor you, most likely (but that could just be an assumption on my part. Sorry if I pegged you incorrectly).

So anyway, there I am, discovering that my legs were very different in length. It's odd, because I hadn't really noticed before. Sure, I knew that I was constantly adjusting my weight, and that I couldn't reach my right foot when I stretched, but could easily reach the left, and things like that, but it never really reached my conscious thought processing that something might be wrong.

In any case, I was informed beyond a doubt that my legs are different sizes (by two seperate doctors, one of whom was being tested by the other [the afore mentioned 'pop quiz' was the senior doctor telling her to "Find out what's wrong with this girl"]), and am now faced with a crossroads.

The doctor told me that they could:

Cut two chunks of bone from the longer leg, each about 1.5 centimetres. This would make me 3 centimetres shorter in total (hooray, I did the math for you), and it would be about 2 weeks before the muscles in the shortened leg would be functional again.

Cut out 1.5 centimetres from the longer leg, and add 1.5 centimetres to the other. The rehabilitation for this process would be much longer, and it would be about a month to two months before I could walk without aid. 1 year before I would have full functionality and mobility of both legs.

Stretch out the short leg. This would be achieved through either external or internal means, and the bone would be made to grow about 3-4 centimetres. As I am no longer growing, this is not particularly viable, and the process would take at least 2 years.

Do nothing. I would just wear lifts in my shoes for the rest of my life.

Which option sounds the best to you?

 Personally, I went for option 2. It sounds the best to me, as I will be going into year 12 this January, and don't want to worry about the process for too long. Admittedly, I'm pretty scared about the prospects of surgery, as I don't have the best track record medically.

Still, I'm pretty excited about it too. It's just another chapter of my life, and I'm looking forward to the results.

Come back soon,
                            Katie :)