On The Topic of Chickens and Spacecrafts; Chicken Spacecrafts

The Age-Old Question: What Came First; The Chicken or The Egg?

At around the 15th page of the never-ending article I was tasked with reading, waiting on campus in between two of my classes, the author mentioned something about how the political structure of ancient Greece furthered urbanization and how urbanization, in turn, furthered the political structure.

Needing to distract myself from my archaeology reading, I wondered about the classic debate.

What did come first?

Despite chickens and eggs being lingering curiosities of my childhood, they had faded from the forefront of my brain. This usually occurs after the mystery has been solved, but in this case, when trying to remember the solution, my mind came up blank.

Naturally, I had to do some rather in-depth research. After encountering more than a couple of paywalls (I was browsing on very professional, scientific sites), I landed on an article by Luis Villazon on BBC Science Focus.

Most of the previous articles I read took a strong position on the side of the egg, stating that chickens had only evolved recently, but eggs had been around for thousands and thousands of years. This didn't satisfy me, as I wasn't wondering if any egg had arrived first, but specifically, a 'chicken' egg. I started to wonder: was anyone else taking this seriously?

Anyways, upon opening the article, I breathed a sigh of relief. Seemingly, Villazon was a like-minded individual who thought about this subject with the solemnity it deserved.

He brought a nuanced perspective I hadn’t yet encountered in my brief contemplation of this subject, writing, “it very much depends on how you define a chicken’s egg. Is it an egg laid by a chicken? Or is it an egg that a chicken hatches from?” (Villazon).

Initially a bit disgruntled that this scientific question had led me to a philosophical debate, I pondered the matter for a few minutes and came around.

So, now I asked myself, what is an egg? What is a chicken? As I write and post this, I am still asking myself this question. I need something to keep my mind off the ancient Greeks.

I tried to reflect on my own experiences, finding that there wasn't much data on the matter. Unfortunately, I haven't encountered many chickens, so this was a quick dead end.

While I set out to find a solid answer, I came to the conclusion that there might not be one. I could develop an opinion, but I like to make an effort to avoid philosophy and debates whenever I can. It's part of what led me on this quest in the first place. Sometimes, the truth hurts.

To Return to the Title, an Investigation into Space

A couple of hours later, distracted in archaeology, I browsed the top space articles posted on Apple News as usual.

One of the headlines was "SpaceX is now building a Raptor engine a day, NASA says," published by Ars Technica.

In line with my usual routine, I clicked on it, still having no idea what SpaceX really does, or more specifically, whatever the fuck a Raptor engine was. While some people might solve this problem by reading the article, I stuck with my habits and turned to Google.

This led me nowhere.

Wikipedia read, "Raptor is a family of full-flow staged-combustion-cycle rocket engines developed and manufactured by SpaceX for use on the in-development SpaceX Starship. The engine is powered by cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen rather than the RP-1 and liquid oxygen used in SpaceX's prior Merlin and Kestrel rocket engines" ("SpaceX Raptor," n.d.).

Then I wondered since I had no clue what that meant, maybe I should look up the Raptor engine's use or purpose.

It felt like they slapped me in the face. Obviously, spaceships. Thanks, Google. Even so, I didn't let it get me down. I narrowed down the search, typing in "what is different about a Raptor engine."

To be transparent, originally, I wrote that I then discovered the use of super-chilled liquid methane and oxygen. Still, upon rereading this, I realized I quoted Wikipedia saying that exact thing above. So, maybe, I didn't actually read what a Raptor engine did, and instead figured the act of looking it up was good enough. Hey, sometimes, you are confronted with reality, and reality can be harsh.

Still, this latest google search, where I actually read the results my question prompted, led me to wonder, what is the Starship?

Oh, of course, a fully-reusable, super-heavy-lift launch vehicle ("SpaceX Starship," n.d.). I should have known.

Are spaceships usually single-use? Apparently. It makes sense now that I think about it. This might come as a surprise, but my search did not end there. I was left with the question; what is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle? Oh. If you are also curious about this, Wikipedia says that it is a "super heavy-lift launch vehicle can lift to low Earth orbit more than 50 metric tons by United States classification" ("Super heavy-lift launch vehicle," n.d.).

Despite the loose ends that lingered (me having no clue what that meant), I decided to give up.

The next question might be, "Violet, what was the original article actually about?" This is something you will have to answer for yourself, as I got so distracted by my rabbit hole of Googling that I never got around to reading it.

To end it off, I know I mentioned chicken spacecrafts in the title. Unfortunately, I don't have any comments at this time.

Violet

PS. I hope you appreciate the MLA citations. This is serious, after all.

Villazon, Luis. “Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?” BBC Science Focus Magazine, BBC Science Focus Magazine, 17 Apr. 2020, https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/.

Wikipedia Contributors. “SpaceX Starship.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship.

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“Super Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle.” Wikipedia, 1 Dec. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_heavy-lift_launch_vehicle.

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“SpaceX Raptor.” Wikipedia, 8 June 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Raptor.

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Midterms and Halloween, my Favorite Time of Year

As flu season approaches, the McGill staff at McConnell pays attention to their students' needs.

Here, this tissue box decorated in a scenic natural pattern reminds those sick, stuffed up, and needing a tissue from the outside world.

For those shut in studying, the view of rocks is a subtle reminder that there’s more to life than CHEM 180.

They don’t have these luxuries over in Molson.

Speaking of Molson, the room checks have been completed, and the Keurig can emerge from its hibernation in the closet; not that I have been able to use it.

To those of you who haven’t been subjected to my Keurig issues: I left the reusable cup there during the first couple weeks of school without washing it, and to my great surprise, it got moldy. I still haven’t done anything to remedy this issue, which causes searing displeasure in the first thirty minutes of waking up every morning.

My options are as follows: buy vinegar and soak the reusable cup, killing the mold, or buy disposable pods. If I’m being honest, I’m veering toward the disposable pods. I’m going to go to the grocery store and see where the tides take me.

Unfortunate obstacles: they come with the trade

While writing this, I cut myself and started bleeding so much that I needed to put it aside for the moment. I even had to put on a bandaid. You might be wondering: Violet, what happened? Did you do it while cooking? While climbing a sharp fence? (I’m not sure if anyone was wondering that specifically, I decided to add it in for my own gain)

Well, if either option was your guess, you were wrong.

My right pinky was the innocent casualty of cleaning my room, made into a victim as I picked up my razor from the windowsill drying en route to putting it away.

Both thankfully and unfortunately, this injury was not likely deep enough to be added to my repertoire of battle scars. (A collection made up of old mosquito bites, pencil wounds, and one from a mysterious gash on my ankle I have no recollection of getting). BadAss is my middle name. (VBW). It’s true; look at my student visa.

Some thoughts on the early bird… does it get the worm?

To my dismay, I’ve started waking up before/during the sunrise to get to my English class on time.

Proof.

“Waking up.” And hey - it’s not even daylight savings yet. Is there a fix for this? Maybe. I do wake up an hour and a half before my class starts. Somehow, I’m not sure what I spend my morning doing, but I never seem to have extra time.

The eight thirty class really wasn’t even bad up until a week ago, I thought everyone had been exaggerating to me at how deeply I would regret it. Oh well. Really, there’s only a month to go.

Some more core issues

At the ripe age of eighteen, I still struggle to open oranges. This has been an issue plaguing me for years, and unfortunately, I think it’s here to stay.

I actually wrote part of this blog post to avoid finishing peeling my breakfast orange.

While some people, to my immense jealousy, are able to make it look easy; finishing the job in one or two goes, I am a part of the group who can only seem to make it happen in pathetically small increments.

Plus, i refuse to close my windows, so on a cold morning like today, where my joints are only working at half capacity, the tough orange skin is too big of a battle for the mere hour of 7:25.

The meager spoils of my labor

As they say, as the stakes rise, you must rise with them. Be no one’s fool. Step up to the challenge. God gives his toughest battle to his strongest soldiers. Many other quotes.

What’s the battle we must now courageously face? Not going clubbing on pre-Halloween, Friday night. It started off strong, despite rehearsing my response internally, walking between two rez’s, perfecting what I would say if I ran into someone I knew, I made it without any major interactions.

Lola joined in this stealth mission as well, using her own methods. The strongest cheetah in the pack is able to blend with the herd. In this case, the cheetah is Lola, and the herd is the mass of costumed neighbors taking on the night.

Peace. 🙏

Violet

Stack the States

What’s up with me? I’ve officially collected all 50 states in “Stack the States.” On to “Stack the countries!”

It’s been a few days since this aforementioned achievement. While I initially faced this self-imposed challenge with blind optimism, I was soon forced to confront the inevitable truth: I had gotten bored and, as a result, essentially given up.

The face of pure shock

Really, I think it had something to do with the sheer amount of countries in the world. While that’s a fact that usually doesn’t get to me, in this context, all I could think about was the overwhelmingly large amount of rounds of geography Tetris I would require to collect all the countries I needed. I could only do it so many times before giving up, and this dreaded tipping point announced its arrival as celebratory stars filled my screen; I had just finished my third continent. I quickly added Oceania to my small but mighty arsenal of North and South America, seeing all the smiling territories look up at me as if to say, “I’m proud of you, Violet.” (I know it’s wrong: I still usually wind up calling Oceania Australia instead. What are you gonna do?).

Still, all hope is not lost. I did gain something from this past week’s adventures. Now, I can place all fifty states on the map in under two minutes. (While this may not seem like a big achievement to you, I assure you, it took a lot of practice and almost a couple of tears shed from frustration) (Hey, they never said I wasn’t persistent).

Related but not (In the slightest)

Question for the masses: I was thinking about this on my walk home the other day. I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence, but I’ve assumed the fact that we drive on the right side of the street and pass on the left is connected to the tendency to keep to the right of the sidewalk when walking.

With this logic, do British people walk on the left side since they drive the opposite way? Or is it a fully separate thing? (Also, I wonder why the switch of the driver's side occurred. Did someone just say, fuck it, I want to be unique?)

Also: I was thinking about how fun it would be to have a highlight reel when you die, especially all the stuff you don’t remember. This got me wondering.. what else? After reading the book Homegoing for my English class, I was thinking about family history. On top of the highlight reel for your own life, imagine having a highlight reel of your family’s?? Cause honestly, I feel like it would be so sick to have a little preview of what it was like to live a day in the life as my great-grandmother. What did she even do?

Speaking of the brain: my last burning question of the night. (TVD inspired) Since vampires live thousands of years, do their brains just continue “expanding” and learning new information? Or do they stagnate, only allowing them to hold so much after a certain point? If so, I wonder how much you can cram in there. If you were to plot the “brain size,” I wonder what it would look like. Is it an exponential function? What’s the derivative?