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Podcasting is basically radio shows made by anyone and stored in mp3 format and downloaded by people. They are called podcasts because a) they're radio-show-like (broadcast) and b) because people would copy them to their iPods and listen to them.
So, Apple has welcomed them with open arms and developed an add-on to iTunes to let you download, subscribe, and listen to Podcasts (not necessarily in that order). I heard of them long before last night though. But, it wasn't up until last night that I actually listened to one.
Please, point me in the direction of a good one!
So basically, I'm listening to a few random ones (there are 3000+ on iTunes), and I must have bad luck, because out of all the ones I tried, I didn't like any of them. I won't say "they suck", even though I think they did, but they weren't for me. I'll leave final judgement to the masses.
I did listen to Al Franken's and the guys from WDVE in Pittsburgh. They're both just clips from their live radio shows, which is fine. Jim Krenn and the guys at DVE are hilarious. I have a CD of theirs called "Former Altar Boys" and there are some skits on it that are hilarious. Tom (my old college roommate and good friend) let me borrow it, joined the Air Force, went to Iraq, and apparently forgot all about it. His Loss!! Sucker.
So please, point me in the direction of something good. Except Zatko, don't post "Microsoft News Log" or any of those. I'll mail a box of rotten eggs to your house. |
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Philly.com "Underage driver pleads guilty in fatal homicide".
That's very redundant of you. Registration Required. [Update: DOH! they fixed it! I swear it was that though!]
Another one I saw a while ago said "Once hot biotechs lure less money". If you read it quickly and have an unclean mind like me, you would laugh your butt off too. |
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Oh Boy. When the military comes on TV and says they can whoop a certain country, that's pretty much a telling sign that there are probably plans to attack them. Like, when a wrestler comes on TV and talks trash about another wrestler, it would be pretty pointless if they never end up fighting. You don't see our military coming on and saying "We could so kick Ireland's ass." Good thing too, it's still one of my top destinations for some kind of trip, among Germany as well. Anyway, of course we can beat them, but can we beat them before they launch all of their nukes at South Korea or Japan or even, heaven forbid, the USA. God help us.
[A few minutes later] OMG, I was looking for something in Google, and this (not safe for work) happened to be a result. I must say, it's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. |
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"This update installs a permanent copy of Package Installer for Windows to enable software updates to have a significantly smaller download size. The Package Installer facilitates the install of software updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products. After you install this update, you may have to restart your system."
From my latest Windows Update. Well, WTF??!? Do I have to restart it or not? I'm not installing it because that is the dumbest thing I've ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on.
I've had it up to HERE ;) with Windows on a personal level. Sure, I'll still need one for games because of the monopoly they've created with good PC games. Or I have to stop playing PC games altogether, which I'm not ready to do. At least not until the PS3 comes out, or the PSP comes out with good games, or the Nintendo Revolution takes shape.
My gaming PC isn't even working now since I bought the new 4 port PC/Mac KVM switch. It works fine with my other Windows PC. And, it even works fine until Windows starts up on that gaming PC, then it FREEZES ALL OF THE OTHER COMPUTERS attached to the KVM. I can't make this stuff up. I have no idea. The KVM maker says the USB port is not getting enough power if it has that behavior, but it works before it gets to Windows. This would lead one to believe that either the drivers are not compatible (I tried to uninstall and get the latest from somewhere, ANYWHERE, at least two times, but Windows says they are the latest drivers), or that, although hard to believe, Windows is at fault somehow. I just bought a PCI 5 port USB card, so we'll see. I'm hoping it works because I need that computer. I didn't spend all that money on it so it can sit there and freeze my other computers. If you think I'm lying about these symptoms, I'll gladly record it before the USB card gets here.
So, I'm thinking, now that I don't really need Windows (since I have a Mac), I can install Linux on my two non-gaming PCs. This laptop actually has Linux on it. I installed it first, before Windows, which exposed a horrendous bug in Windows. Since I installed it on the first partition, Windows automatically designated the next partition E:, thus making it have no C: drive. Well, if you run into weird things happening in Windows, check to see if you have a C: drive. You can make it seem like you have a C: drive by going to start>run then type in "cmd" then type "subst C: E:". (Replace E: with whatever drive Windows is installed on). That will return it to "normal".
So, now that I'm installing Linux, you will see a much happier person behind the text on this website. I might buy you flowers if I see you. I might let you sit in my seat on the subway. I might (if you happen to be a bum) give you my change or buy that gold necklace off of you for $20, to help you get all hopped up on cocaine and liquor. Yes, these will be better times for everyone. It might even have side effects, you never know. They might lower the oil prices, stop the war in Iraq, hell, Israel and Palestine will make up and say "Dude, I'm sorry I took over your land in the 60s, but God said it's ours" to which the much more pleasant Palestinians will reply "Hey, man, I know it was yours, we were just getting comfortable, no hard feelings? We'll just go move in with Egypt, it's all good." Ahh, world peace at last. |
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My most read news provider is Reuters. Today, I noticed a bunch of articles worthy of a mention.
Rest in Peace, John Walton. Sure he was a multibillionaire (his family founded Wal-Mart, but he never worked there) but he died while flying an airplane because he was a thrill-seeker.
AMD is crying foul. The little guy speaks out. Now they just need energy and heat efficient processors. They are just as good otherwise. I'll continue to buy AMD, thanks.
Look out oil. France is going to try to make a fusion reactor. Read about fusion here. As you can tell, it's quite difficult and rather dangerous. So, the sheer fact that they are building an experimental one tells me that they are over the scientific hurdles and are just going to try it out. Read more on this website and this one. I look forward to that one.
Also check out their best pictures from the last 24 hours. I like browsing through them. |
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There was almost a ruling that cable lines used for high speed internet are open lines, and any company can provide internet access on them. I'm happy with my service provider, they keep raising the bar. I get 10Mbps, which is enough for browsing the web, streaming a video, playing a game, and streaming radio stations on 4 computers and still have room left over for more ;) Read the article.
Last night's performance by my little brother, Beaner, was a smashing success. I created 13 videos of them performing. (There is a problem with the download page. It'll be fixed tomorrow, but in the meantime, download a file, click back on "downloads" when you're done, click another category and go back to the one you want to download from, then it should be fine.) The songs that Beaner performs are all copyrighted 2005 Brendan Connell. You can't make out what he's singing anyway, but just don't be a @#%@^@$@ and steal his very creative, very good music. He put his heart and soul into the creation of every one of them, and puts his heart and soul into each one's performance. I also have 20 pictures for your viewing pleasure, including a few of me.
I knew this would catch up with me. Every $@#%@^ time when the train is about to leave, you hear the computer voice say "Doors are closing", at which point, anyone trying to get on the train goes into a mad rush for the door. Some people make it. Others don't. This one guy kicked the door of the car that I was in. Other people seem a bit less defeated. They look up at the ceiling, sigh, and sit there and wait for the next train. These are the most entertaining 5 seconds of my day. So, today, guess who's at the top of the stairs at 69th Street terminal when the conductor says "Watch the doors, watch the doors." Yes. Me. At that point, I stepped down the first step or two without looking, only to find the janitor @#%@#^^#! sweeping the stairs, taking up the whole width of that stairwell. So I go back up the two stairs, and go down the left side. At about the 3rd step down, the computer voice comes on "Doors are closing." @$%&@$!!!! I continue running down the stairs, in the dire hopes that someone's head gets caught in the automatic doors, rendering them incapable of closing. It's not a huge stairwell, maybe 15 stairs, but that seems like eternity when you have about 2 seconds to get to the doors. At the bottom of the stairs, I was so panicked. It took all of my strength and self control to not scream like a girl. I turn and look at the closest door to me. This couple was trying to get in, so they stopped the doors from closing, but I knew there would only be a small window for escape. The doors opened all the way and started closing right away. I would have dove, but by this point I was through without even letting the door hit me on the butt. I was so slick. Thank God I didn't scream like a girl. If I had and still made it, I would be getting some weird looks.
More site updates coming soon. |
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For the last day and a half, I put some pretty major work into this website. However, the only parts you'll see are in the comments section, and now a News post can have multiple categories associated with it. The thing about the last one is it's not easy at all. You need a few things.
#1 Table structure
#2 Change all your code that uses just a Subject in the news table
#3 Create a dual select box (which I needed anyway)
#4 Create a data list control to list each subject associated with that news post underneath it.
Numbers 1 and 2 were simple, but time consuming. However, numbers 3 and 4, with a new technology and very little documentation out there to go on, can be particularly daunting tasks. In the end, the amount of code written was not at all proportional to the amount of time spent on it, but that's usually the case in Computer Science and programming. You think and think and think, then the easy work begins, unless of course you're using a technology that you aren't too familiar with, like JavaServer Faces. I've written web controls in the technology before. The menu control, for instance, and the calendar control. However, unlike the menu and calendar controls, the Dual Select list is an input control, and the Data List control is an interation control, neither of which I had developed in JSF, up until this weekend.
Here is what the dual select list looks like:
And here is the short amount of JSP code that writes out all of the categories under a news post.
Now the code to "plop" a dual select list onto a page
Simple.
Now I just have to go through all of my news posts and properly categorize them. I'd rather drink gravel. |
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Cracker - Shine
You could never be
What you wanted to be
'Cause sweetheart it takes time
Someday you're gonna shine
You'll see
You'll be a Russian acrobat
You'll be like Burt Bacharach
You come to the party, you say "What's new pussycat?"
Someday you're gonna shine
You'll see
Don't wanna talk about it
You come around to tell it
You're beautiful can't you see?
Someday you're gonna shine
You'll see
If you haven't done so yet, buy all of their albums and listen to all of them for the rest of your life. That's what I plan on doing. As Cracker says themselves, and I wholeheartedly agree, "Hey Hey You don't know, what you're missing, what you're missing" :P |
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There was a miscommunication. I thought everyone wanted to go, but then everyone realized I was serious about going, so they all backed down :( Actually, that's not true. Scott wanted to go, and still may.
So instead I stayed in, cooked some burgers on the grill, lost much of the hair on my left hand, pet Kodie and watched the Phillies get manhandled by the knuckleball of Tim Wakefield. Now I'm going to add some features to my website. It'll be a Friday night to remember. |
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Beaner, my little brother of 18 years, will be performing live at Casey's Saloon in Drexel Hill on Sunday, June 26th. Please excuse their website, someone retarded wrote it :p
Also, he recently got his license so my best advice would be to stay off the roads for a few months. When he gets his car, I'll post a picture of it so when you see it, it will be synonymous with seeing your life flashing before your eyes. Nowadays, you can watch him run over curbs in one of my parents' cars, either an Altima or some kind of Acura. It's just safer to stay off the road. If you see other cars turning, just turn. The same kid who thought he could take pictures of himself on MY CAMERA and expect me to NOT post them on the internet is on the road ahead of you. You are forewarned.
Other than that, you know, he's a good kid who sleeps over here on the weekends, drinks all of our Pepsi and eats all of our food... he's no dummy. I'm kidding Bean :) |
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I don't feel like typing a lot, so this is a quick list of short, to the point, pieces of crap:
Tone Loc is playing tonight at Reeds in Blue Bell. I'm going and so are a bunch of my freak-show-seeking friends. I'm going to ask the bartender for a funky cold medina, then receive a fake laugh, as if that's the first time that particular bartender heard that particular joke on that particular night.
I thought about something that I used to think about when I was a kid. Could people join hands and connect around the world? Then, my new age, internet techy brain mangled it into this other thought. It would be cool if there were chained links from one webpage in one region to another webpage in the next region over, and the link on the next webpage linked to a region next to it, and so on and so forth.
Then, another idea popped in from this. You could probably send a search engine into an infinite loop if you could trick it into going around and around. This would involve changing the links and content on each linked page, but it wouldn't get anywhere except around the world an infinite amount of times. I guess that's getting somewhere, but it's not helping its cause in searching the web. Basically, one thread would be useless out of many threads of execution that make up a web spider's software. But, it would be neat.
I've been going to Barnaby's of America pretty much every Thursday for the past 2 weeks. It's not a false statement, but rather unnecessary to use "pretty much every Thursday" and "for the past 2 weeks". Oh well. More words == more chance someone will read something.
I've been listening to Candlebox on shuffle during my commute to and from work. They are good. Great. They rock and write good melodies, and they have good guitar. A while ago I got so into them that I even researched and found out that the lead singer has another band. I bought an autographed copy of their album. The new band is Kevin Martin and the HiWatts.
Wednesday I spent my commute to work listening to "Sexy and 17" by the Stray Cats. I listened to it 6 times straight, and then 3 or more on the way back. There are no words to describe that song, you basically just have to listen to it 100 times.
That ex-KKK member got 60 years for the murder of 3 people. He's like a million years old. Justice was not done in this case, even by the furthest stretch of the imagination. 40 years had passed. Way to go, Justice.
Some people think that guns should be banned, that the 2nd Amendment is old and for "militias", which are pretty much near extinction. That'll work like the Prohibition of Alcohol in the earlier part of last century, by all accounts of the quick run-through in my head. I think less things should be banned, but I can post a book on this topic.
Ahh, the critics. Read the comments:
"Contradictions in your post.. do you want to type or not? "I don't feel like typing a lot" ... and ... "but rather unnecessary to use "pretty much every Thursday" and "for the past 2 weeks". Oh well. More words""
Obviously not a soldier in the Battle of Logic. If not wanting to go to work meant not going to work, well, consider half of America on vacation. Or, want to be a millionaire? It takes a little more than wanting. This further justifies and explains my comments. Tune in next week.
[check back for more]
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Tack one more extreme talent onto my long list of extreme talents ;-) |
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Recently, I had two very contradicting ideas. Keeping in the moment and thoughts of wanting to create a very good website with as little programming as possible, I had one idea. But then, looking at every website out there, I had another idea. Judging by these very short preludes, the second idea would be more of a revolution. So let's start with the first one.
Going back to the second class I had in college on Computer Science, we learned about "templates" in C++. "Template" is an overused word. In C++ it was probably misused. The basic idea then was to be able to write a container class, like a linked list, and use the same code to hold any type of object, be it integers, characters, built in objects, or your own objects. Anything. Converting this idea to a website could prove to be interesting. But it would add confusion for explanation, because I will use the word "template" in a completely different meaning, perhaps its designed meaning. So imagine having a list, and being able to add calendar events, downloads, news posts, links, pictures, etc to it. The web adds a need for "forms". Input forms, output forms, perhaps list forms (when shown in a list, which columns to show), among any other imaginary forms. These just define how the object translates from a piece of data to a viewable form, and vice versa. You would potentially have mounds of data, all in a list, and any of those objects could be placed onto a web page, modified, searched, linked, etc. You would just define the templates, the forms for viewing, inputting, and listing these items.
I never heavily considered this idea, simply because that's not the best way to store data. Searching would be a nightmare, the list could potentially become gigantic, and it would just be really difficult to do anything special with it. It would need tons of programming, something I'm not up to do :) Then came my very contradicting idea that says data should not be in a list.
Thinking about my first idea, it seems very hard to manage. Imagine giving someone permission to edit one record. Imagine, if everything is in one list, showing just downloads, or downloads under "Home Movies". You would have to search all of the data inside each record. What a pain in the butt. This other idea, then, doesn't have to do with making the best web page with as little code as possible. It is completely unrelated, except for the fact that an actual list is a bad way of showing information. Everything is a list. When you read the newspaper, articles, whether you realize it or not, are sorted in an order, in this case, an order of categories, and then an order of what's most important, and what should show up on the front page. On my website, news posts are only sorted by date, and I only show the first 5 on the front page. Some of these posts are really just thoughts, and they should all be read, not just the first five. So, there must be some way of keeping everything in context. I've had a hard time describing this idea, even to myself, and have had an even harder time thinking about how to represent this idea in what would eventually become a web page.
Obviously, a list on a web page is meant for sequential ordering, which means sequential viewing, which translates to most of my posts not getting read. Taking these items out of a list and showing them in another way is the key. But how? |
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There's like a thousand cops on the 13th street side of the Convention center. Apparently there's a protest or two today. I might have to go for a walk. I can see all the cops from my window, but that's all I can see. Unless there's a donut convention... I kid! There are also a few helicopters flying overhead. Start the revolution! Actually, it's just a skateboarder gathering and the people against bio weapons. Personally I love bio weapons. Just grab a slab of meat and chuck it at someone, you'll see what I mean. And skateboarding? Please, as if Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding video games aren't more fun than the real thing.
Read about the protests here.
[Update] Around 2:30 PM, the 13th street side of the convention center has cleared, but there are still random sirens and a helicopter or two floating around out there.
[Update] All is quiet on the Philly frontier. However, there was one casualty. An officer died of a heart attack on his way to assist in a scuffle between protesters and police. Rest in peace :( That sucks bigtime. |
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But not today! So, while the oil prices are skyrocketing (it's apparently up to around $60 USD a barrel, but that doesn't mean anything to me), the o-zone layer is leaving us, we're almost out of oil, and there's still war in the world (not War of the Worlds...), I still find better stuff to post about.
Battlefield 2 comes out today so it'll probably be in stores tomorrow. However, I have a video game being shipped to me that's not Battlefield 2. I will get Battlefield 2 though, eventually. The game I'm getting is called "Boiling Point: Road to Hell". You play on a piece of land that's 25x25 kilometers. That's 625 square kilometers! I was in the cub scouts, I'll be fine. You get to fly helicopters, planes, drive tanks, cars, buses, and blow everything up. It's a game world like Grand Theft Auto games, but it's in a jungle. Nothing will get done this week. Here's an exceptional review of the game. |
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Here's a brilliant idea I recently had for computers. Now, I have 4 computers, so this problem is quadrupled for me, but I also have one monitor, so it's not 8x'ed. Computers and computer equipment use too many power outlets. I have 2 surge protectors with 8 plugs at full capacity, plus 2 more plugs on the wall.
Aside from everything using one plug, there are those monstrous AC adapters. These are hogs. On one surge protector, I have 6 plugs but only 3 things plugged in. I really hate those things.
Some things plugged in include : Router, Switch, 4 computers, monitor, speakers, cell phone, KVM switch (the first one I had didn't need to plug in), and amplifier. Granted, they are all not used for computing, but they are all there in the vacinity.
So where's the brilliant idea? Well, besides the obvious one of "wireless electricity" (it's already invented), this one's actually a kind of legit "brilliant idea", unlike my "one word per page" publishing brilliant idea. We need a better battery. Longer lasting. I'm talking years. Imagine how computing would be if you had wireless "Bluetooth" or another technology, and everything ran on batteries. That's my brilliant idea. I'm no electrical engineer or nuclear physicist, so I won't figure it out, I leave that as an assignment for the reader. |
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| I put up two new songs that I created with the assistance of my Mac and GarageBand, a program that CAME WITH my Mac Mini. They are called "Jazz in June" and "Funkin A". I have to make the Downloads page easier to navigate, somehow. |
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| There is a movie up from Father's Day, and there are also a few pictures. Check Downloads and Pictures for the latest. |
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That's right! Mac Mini. 1.42 Ghz G4. Ram to be upgraded in a bit. Installing the latest software updates right now. And I almost have my first song written in GarageBand. This thing's sweet. At 1280x1024 it's a sight to behold. I will have some pictures up soon, as soon as I clean up my room a bit :) It's got a bunch of new trash from the purchases today. I also got a new 4 port KVM switch so I can have all of my 4 computers hooked up to one keyboard, monitor and mouse. Technology is amazing.
The first shot is the Mac information and a shout out to Cracker. The other shot is FTP access from my Windows PC to my Mac. It works beautifully. I'll have photos up soon. |
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When I get into a band, I really get into them. I can listen to a single band for years, literally. It won't be the only music I listen to, but it will be 95% of it. These phases started promptly in high school. Here I'll try to document the phases, as I can remember.
High School, Freshman and Sophomore Years
Mainly Nirvana. I had the hair and started learning guitar, and the first song I learned when I started getting guitar lessons was "Polly". They were an incredible band, Kurt Cobain was my hero back then. Moreso, they were the ideal band to learn guitar to, as Kurt wasn't a soloist like, say, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell. He played chords that were not usually played together, and put a hard distortion on them. All I had was a lousy classical guitar back then, but Nirvana sounded divine on it.
High School, Junior Year and most of Senior Year
Cracker. But they weren't dominant. Usually a phase for me is listening to one band 95% of the time, but this one was listening to only Cracker 50% of the time, but then I was listening to other bands like Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Phish, Led Zeppelin, [more as I remember].
End of High School, First year of College
Sublime. Although at this point I only had 2 of their albums and no computer. By now I could play Santeria even really drunk, and the solo. I also got more into Jimi Hendrix, and had learned "Red House", my first real blues song on guitar.
College, Year 2
This may come as a surprise to a lot of people, that someone like me can like a group like this, but I was totally into the Insane Clown Posse. I thought they were hilarious and made a lot of friends that year because I would blast them out of my dorm room.
College, Years 3, 4, and after
I got back into Sublime. By now I had all of their albums and just loved how Bradley played guitar and sang, and the bass lines and drums, and everything hiphop about it. Reggae is a big influence on me still.
2002 - 2004
I have no frame of reference for these years like "College" or "High School"... That's when time starts to fly. But those were the "working years" I guess. During this time I found the greatest guitarist and biggest influence on my music, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I bought all of his albums at one time off of Amazon.com. 10 of them. I also bought 2 DVDs and the SRV Signature Fender Stratocaster. He can just play. (What movie!?)
Present Phase
Back into Cracker bigtime and I can't put them down. They are all of my favorite albums.
Honorable Mentions
Other bands that I didn't quite get into a phase with, but really close to it, are bands like Bob Marley and the Wailers, Candlebox, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Verve Pipe, Eminem, and I know I've forgotten some so I'll edit it later. |
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Wouldn't it be cool if there was a program capable of having you input, say, a news post, and take all of those words and make something really cool out of it? Or just have a different way of showing it? Rather, an alternative way? Maybe a picture made out of words and then you click a button and they move into text form... that would be rad.
One example comes to mind. Say you have a post about the Eagles. The first thing you see is all of the words moved around, twisted, flipped, and mangled to form an Eagles logo. Then, you click a link to make it the actual boring paragraph/sentence form that we are all so used to and loathe, but they move there in an animated, rad way. That would bring to life any web page.
I'm going to try it. Gimme a week on this one. It's probably not too easy :) |
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'80s rapper Tone Loc, of "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" fame, plays his first area show in years June 24 at Reeds Blue Bell (Rt. 202 & Rt. 73) . Loc is also an actor and appeared in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine." Doors open at 7 p.m. $10 cover
[from Philadelphia Daily News] |
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| If I am ever a vegetable, please confirm that I have irreveresible brain damage before the autopsy. Maybe even before you decide to pull the feeding tube. Sometime while I'm still alive, preferrably. |
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This article brought to light a legal document which can be used by, what I like to call, people who write on the internet (AKA web writers, journalists [technically they are writing in a journal], 'bloggers', webloggers, etc). This legal document is interesting. It includes sections that guide you on actually securing a "Press Pass", so you could like, go in the conference room and interview Andy Reid after the game, and when he says "Time's yours", it's actually yours, which would just tickle my fancy. Since some of these "personal journalists" are reporters, just not working for an established, official press outfit, it makes perfect sense.
The article that introduces the legal document has some disturbing pieces of literature in it though. It has a whole section on "how to blog anonymously". There's some validity in the argument about future or current coworkers/employers finding your journal and finding you insane. That I can see being a problem. However, it also uses family, friends, etc, as an example of people who you wouldn't want to know about your journal. I come from the complete opposite point of view I guess. If you have really dark secrets or crazy stuff going on, wouldn't you feel better just letting everyone know? Hi, I'm Jason and I love Jennifer Connelly.
I can't help it. She's gorgeous. And we have the same initials. And nearly the same last name. We could get married and she'd just shave a "y" off her name. That's enough incentive, I think, she may just marry me for that reason alone. Although, with some awful luck, we're probably related. Sorry Jennifer, it's probably not going to happen.
Another thing about this. People love to slander people anonymously. Whatever happened to people like John Hancock who would put it all on the line. Not like he signed where he would be when you read his signature, but he put a lot on the line there, signing in 20 point "Independence" font. Some people can't have an opinion unless they are anonymous about it.
To bring philosophy more heavily into it... what is Anonymous? If you have a name that you use consistently that is not necessarily your own real name, is it anonymous? Probably not. You have an identity, and that identity is your "moniker". It doesn't tie to your real life identity, per se, but it's an identity. So while it is anonymous in the fact that you aren't tying your two identities together, you are consistently using an identity for online purposes. If you walk down the street, and see a guy in pink pants, he's the guy in pink pants, to you right now. You may later learn his name, his real identity, but for the meantime he has an identity, one which he may regret later. So, going by this, first names are an identity, so they are not anonymous. However, if you use different names every time, it's anonymous, or your identity becomes the guy who uses different identities, which to me is anonymous since, with the nature of online, you cannot tie any of those two random identities to one person, making them anonymous. You might ask, with this definition, is anyone on the internet anonymous? I'd say there are degrees of it then. Actually, degrees of non-anonymity. You have the least non-anonymous, which is someone who posts their name, physical address, phone number, and anything else you can think of. Then there is the person with one online identity that is a clever moniker or something like that. They are the least non-anonymous. In between that you may have a picture and a moniker, a first name and a picture, or a full name, and any other combination of identifying qualities.
That was a good philosophy break. I pretty much ran out of gas and material for this post :) |
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It might be time to get a Mac. When you start getting emails with subject lines that say "24 Month Financing on all Apple PowerBooks, iBooks and Mac minis" and you have the card in your pocket that makes this statement even more compelling (a MicroCenter card), the temptation becomes so great, it's hard to stay the whole day of work.
Mac mini
1.42GHz / 1.0GB PC2700 DDR RAM / 80GB Hard Drive / SuperDrive 4x DVD±RW Drive / 54Mbps AirPort Extreme Wireless Card, Bluetooth Adapter included / 937490
It's a beautiful thing. Going for $999.97. OR
Apple PowerBook G4 15-inch
1.67GHz / 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM / 80GB Hard Drive / SuperDrive 8x DVD±RW Drive / 732552
which goes for $2299.99. The card is what I bought my current Wintel laptop on, and it was nearly identical in price, and that's long been paid off, so I can do it. But with 24 months "same as cash"!?!?! That's awesome. It could be around $100 a month for that PowerBook.
The only thing that I have an urgency about getting a Mac is that they will soon all be converted to Intel. While I have an Intel laptop, I am pretty much a lover of all things AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and a hater of all things Intel. I had my previous AMD, a 1400 MHz Athlon, from when I interned at QVC during the summer of 2001, until just a few months ago. A fan on the motherboard died, making this awful racket at first, then eventually fried itself, rendering the whole thing broken. So I bought a replacement mobo, CPU and some RAM (I had everything else) for less than $400. An Athlon 2800+ and 1GB RAM, and a top of the line (for the CPU) Motherboard. Sweet dealin'. I don't use it for games. My gaming PC, if mentioned on this website, could endanger my life ;) It's a beaut. 64 bit Athlon FX-53. That's all I can say.
So, I'll be taking advantage of this Macintosh "Giveaway". 2 years same as cash, it's practically a giveaway. I'll just walk in, pick one up, and walk out, and feel like I've rented a movie, at least in the same financial range, except I'll have this beautiful piece of machinery.
Which one should I get? I could save money, I have some ram at home too, but no "gig-sticks"... The Mac mini only takes one stick o' RAM, so a gig or a 2 gig stick would be optimal, but I'd have to buy one :(
Keep in mind, you Mac freaks... I am not converting, only "adding to my arsenal". Actually, I'm getting one because of the newest Mac OS X and the iLife '05 (particularly GarageBand). I'm not an artist so don't expect some new l33t Mac art or anything that artists do. I'll have some music up here, though. I've always been a big fan of classical music mixed with blues (at least, from what it sounds like in my head), or reggae and classical and blues, or swing, or rap and swing and blues and classical. Yeah, I haven't heard them either, let's see what I can do.
I think having a Mac will be pretty wicked sweet. |
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| Tonight's Conan was hysterical. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was at the Michael Jackson trial hanging out with all his supporters. It almost rivals the Star Wars one. I'm still laughing about it! |
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| I like that Mentos commercial with all the birds used as musical instruments. Compared to the other atrocities, it's a welcomed addition. It's a catchy tune. You can watch it here. The big pink birds make me laugh. |
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Don't you hate it when you are reading a book, and get distracted half way through a page. When you get back to reading, you don't know where you stopped reading and end up reading most of the page again? Well, here's an idea that is brilliant, I must say. Instead of this stereotype of a page fitting as much as it can on there to cause the reader much heartache and frustration, just have one word on each page. Sure, books would seem a lot thicker and could possibly take up many physical binds of pages, the reader will not get lost. Well, unless you have problems finishing reading a word. But let's face it, if you can't read a word by taking one glance at it, you have some problems. I stopped "sounding out" words long ago :) Unless it's a technical word in Biology or Medicine, of course.
I call on all publishers to implement these changes for the millions of frustrated readers out there, whether they read newspapers, books, magazines, or any number of print media out there. And take out pictures for Pete's sake. If they're worth a thousand words, just write the words. Pictures are for people without imagination, and are shortcuts for non-creative writers. Descriptive, poetic text is a dying art.
I will be implementing these changes on my website immediately. |
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For the meantime, the Phillies are now tied for last place with the Marlins, and are 1.5 games behind the Nationals. The division is volatile. A win yesterday and we would have been in first place. We lost. It's tight. My heart can't take it. Check out the pictures in my album.
In other news, I now have an air conditioner in my bedroom, so it won't be a billion degrees in there anymore. It was steamy. With the temperature around 92 and the humidity at around 110%, it gets a bit harsh on the sweat glands. Even through the thunderstorm we had, which was apparently (by my guess) caused by the world not being used to 110% humidity... that's usually unheard of, except in these parts. So Mother Nature tried to make us feel like the world was ending. That was quite a thunderstorm. It shook the house and it rained a lot.
In yet other news, I now have a cool domain name. I've narrowed it down to one, it's ahead by a half-a-length, with a few others pulling in closely, but it's predicted by industry predicters that this domain name will win, or will at least be a website in the future. It's a neat domain name, no doubt. It's a .org, and the .com counterpart was already taken, and the owner was asking for $2,250, like I have $2k+ to spend on words... actually, not even words plural, just a WORD. $2k+ for one single word, that, when by itself makes no sense. The internet is going to hell. I'll tell you the domain name later :)
In yet other breaking news, I will start to have a weekly feature on here, for one week. Then it will turn into a bi-weekly, and eventually a random thing, then inevitably a never again. Tune in!
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| I'm going downstairs in the A/C. |
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I will be at the Phillies / Diamondbacks game today at 1:35. It's a business person's special. Perfect timing that summer decided to roll in here in Philadelphia. It'll be going up to 92 today, which Arizoners scoff at, but I know an Arizoner who grew up in Philly, and he said he'd much rather have the humidity-less heat of Arizona than the can't-breath heat of Philly. Of all things brutal, this is the brutalest (word?).
Our A/C went on yesterday for the first time. At the game today, I'll be consuming liquids the whole time. I might miss half of the game due to bathroom breaks. I have my camera with me so I'll be sure to get pictures of phenomena as they occur.
[Update] I just got my ticket from my coworker. I'll be in Section 145! That's homerun territory! |
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I'm second and third guessing my domain name decisions... I have too many ideas for names. There's not one thing that, I feel, can aptly describe what my site is about. Especially when it's all done, except for the content. The content will never be finished :) When I get some cool recording equipment, I'll eventually have some good tunes on here, although "Show Off" in my music downloads is pretty good.
I just keep typing stuff into Network Solutions' text thingy there, and seeing what names are available, and at the end I'll email myself the list. Today I compiled a list of around 30 domain names. I think I really like one of them though. Maybe. We'll see tomorrow. |
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I'll get around to it. But quick fact for the day... "Vader" is close to the German word for "Father". It's "Vater". Also, it's pretty close to the German word for "Water", which really isn't that close, but that's "Wasser". 'W' is pronounced like a "V" and "V" is pronounced like an "F". So "Vater" is pronounced (with the other German pronounced stuff) like "Fotter", and "Wasser" is pronounced "Vosser". As you can see, Darth Vader is actually dirty water or "Dark Water". That's a cool name for a villain. The other one, "Dark Father", that just doesn't make sense at all, if you've seen the movies.
Anyway, you can try to stump Darth Vader by going here. Those games amaze me, but I stumped him on "screwdriver". What an idiot. |
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The Aviator is a good movie. I'm not going to spoil anything about it, but, "The way of the future... the way of the future... The WAY of the FUTURE"... Anyway, watch it, you'll understand :) I liked it a lot. It's not only about planes, Howard Hughes was a genius, one of those geniuses (genii?) that is insane. Completely insane. Inherits money from his parents who were in the drill bits business and uses it to do all this neat stuff. It's a quality flick. I have to come up with a rating system of my own, but for now I'll go with the highly overused rating of 4 out of 4, and the highly overused rating system of "stars". I'll think of something else to use.
On the topic of insane people, don't you like those movies? I thought "Secret Window" was a good depiction of insanity... as well as "Fight Club", and of course "A Beautiful Mind". Anything where someone sees things that aren't there (besides ghosts) is a good flick in my mind. I just like those. "The Sixth Sense" is a good flick but it doesn't fall in that category. Name some other movies where people see stuff that isn't there, by reason of insanity, or just movies that are about insane people. Also, I like movies about really smart people ("Catch Me If You Can","Pirates of Silicon Valley", et al.). Quite a weird fascination I have going on, I might say. |
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| I turned back on the gaming PC for reasons other than listening to music while I program. I started playing Guild Wars. I've never been able to get into any MMORPGs, but really the only other one I've tried was Final Fantasy XI. I couldn't get out of the starting town in that one. Guild Wars is incredibly simple to get into. Its main selling factor, though, besides the beautiful graphics, is that it's free to play online! You still have to pay a hefty starter up price of $50 USD to own the software, but I managed to afford that. The cool thing about it is it can be a standard role playing game, but you can also opt to join up with people hanging around. There are a few cool gameplay elements, and it's definitely worth your and my time. Right now I'm trying to save up the god-awful amount you need to buy square fur. They're unbelievably expensive, but after that I can get some major upgrades to my armor. w00t. Rate my geekness below. (Usually I only play games that are less detrimental to your coolness, like shooters and real time strategy games, as well as sports and Mario games) |
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You know the things...
"Copy these questions into a new email, answer the questions, and forward it to 10 people and something will pop up on your screen."
Forget about the "believing that something will pop up on your screen" bit... that's just plain gullable. So those things where you answer questions about yourself, they're actually gaining new life, except not in "forwards" of emails, where there was once a mass conspiracy about what happened with those and where they came from... i.e. companies would start them, send them to people, those people would forward them, etc etc etc, and if one branch of the email eventually made it back to the originators, they'd have like 9 gazillion email addresses that they could spam profusely. Now these marketing companies just spider the internet for email addresses, which is probably more successful.
Anyway, so these "forwards" have grown into a culture of sorts. They are answered and plastered on web pages, in forums, and anywhere on the internet where people who are not editors for a major company-that-needs-editors can post. They're email-less, so spammers are not that happy about it. However, these are much more desireable than the email forwarded version. Stemming from my "Freedom to Ignore" Act in the Bill of Rights, it's a lot easier to ignore a post on the internet than one that's stuffed down your throat in an email inbox.
So I have no problems with them. I won't do any though, they are not my cup of tea. I don't think anyone cares what the last 5 movies I watched were, or my last girlfriend's name, or whatever, I can't think of anything funnier than what they actually ask you :) |
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Or at least get discounts on their cars like their employees do!
Source... |
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| December 2008 |
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| November 2008 |
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