5.31.2006
9:20pm
Where did Altavista come from anyway? Article.
5.30.2006
9:43pm
R.E.M. is one of those groups that I can listen to over and over and not get bored of the songs. The lyrics are great for the most part and it's not typical pop/rock cookie cutter crap. Around the Sun, their latest CD, is highly recommended by me.
(This is going to be one of those brain-spew posts so you have been forwarned)
On an unrelated note, while browsing some old posts online I can help but feel bad about how the internet has gone downhill over the past ten years. Yes, we do have cool new stuff like Google and Digg but nobody has respect for the Internet like they did back when connection charges were high and bandwidth was low. Relevant, cohesive, concise, informative, etc used to be adjectives that described the bulk of the web. Now you might as well describe it as an orgy of the superfluous. Blogs (like mine... how ironic) and social commentary make up most of the data flow now. I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that the quality diminished as the minimum age of entry and minimum IQ of entry went down... thank you America Online ;)
I read in a book somewhere (maybe Crichton) that human innovation will fall dramatically when communication is immediate and easy. Why? Because we love to be passive observers and active communicators. When I reflect on the amount of time I spend on the web, and think about the similar situation of most of my peers, it's one of those deep pit-of-the-stomach feelings because you realize this generation isn't really doing anything interesting anymore, they are just reading/watching/playing fun and entertaining things online. It is exceptionally easy to waste an entire weekend doing nothing but chatting with friends, reading news articles, perusing forums, and arguing with other people on the net. I envy people who use the Internet as a tool only and don't get sucked into the "web culture." We really have forgotten that life can be fulfilling without immediate gratification of the frivolous. In the war between television and the web it's basically a lesser of two evils situation; with the Internet you have an infinite number of channels to flip between so that there is always something interesting on, but at least with television when all the good programs are done airing you can turn the damn thing off without feeling regretful. I know a few people who don't know how to "turn off" online entertainment, and unfortunately it beings to run (ruin?) your life. I've actually heard about a student that attends FIT that got so addicted to Final Fantasy online that he started sleeping every other night and went from an A-student to failing a couple of his classes. There is a reason I'm avoiding MMORPGs... they sound like a lot of fun but something in my mind is telling me it's a fine line I'd rather not walk.
I also find it disenheartening that a lot of people who are "new" to computers (at least in the past 5-6 years) will never know what words like these mean: BBS, telnet, gopher, ftp, IRC, USENET, ARPANET, Muck. Maybe it's for the best: the World Wide Web has been very good at consolidating and porting individual technologies so that they can be accessed through a traditional web browser. Before long I imagine most people won't know what POP or SMTP is as traditional mail servers move to centralized web-based data applications like the Google universe. How many of those people will ever use Lynx or even know what a VT100 terminal is? This could be expanded into a whole diatribe on the direction computing is going but I'm not going to delve that far. On the plus side, we do have Bittorrent as our very own--at least until the media giants are successful in squashing that bug. Our lexicon consists of acronyms like iTMS, P2P, MP3, DivX, and SMS so at least some of the original geekiness is still around.
I'm sure my opinion will change before long, back to traditioning thinking that the modern web is the most awesome thing since sliced bread. Next time I place an order from Amazon, possibly.
5.29.2006
6:43pm
A very cool timeline spanning 20 years of USENET. Includes the first mention of Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, MTV, compact disc, AIDS, etc.
5.28.2006
11:39pm
I saw Over The Hedge with Tim tonight. It's a PDI/Dreamworks picture (same people that did Shrek) so full 3-D CG animation. A few songs by Ben Folds and some well-known voices including William Shatner, Bruce Willis, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, Eugene Levy, and Avril Lavigne. The movie was hilarious and had me laughing at least every few minutes... it's a fun one just like Shrek although the plot is much more basic. The social commentary on "human beings" is bold and amusing, and the racoon RJ is lovable even though he's supposed to be the "villain" for most of the film. Wanda plays a sassy skunk, Shatner plays a rather unique possum, and Carell is an over-energetic red squirrel. The scene with the blaring THX sound byte was definitely my favorite from the whole movie :)
Stay until the end of the credits to see a final amusing scene involving a vending machine (seems like more and more movies are placing tidbits after the credits).
5.27.2006
11:34am
Awesome picture I found when cleaning up some files on my web site. From Clearwater beach.
I went to see X3 yesterday with some friends. It is one action-packed movie and has a lot of entertainment value despite some of the criticisms I have read from X-Men comic fans. I'm not familiar with any of the comic book stories so I enjoyed the movie for what it was without having to draw any parallels. Jean Grey is certainly the most interesting character this time around as The Phoenix but we still follow Wolverine for most of the film just like the X-Men and X2 movies. Oaks 10 had about a dozen showtimes yesterday on 2 screens, but even so the 11:10pm showtime I went to was practically sold out. We made sure to stay until the end of the credits for a teaser for what potentially will be X4 the movie.
I did get around to watching Born Free as well the other day... very touching movie and after the first few minutes I forgot I was watching a film from 1966. The cinematography was very good. Now the question is whether I want to get a copy of the book to read, since the movie was an adaptation of the book.
5.24.2006
10:30pm
Movies of the week: Kingdom of Heaven Director's cut, which I watched yesterday (for over 3 hours !), Duma which I watched tonight, Born Free which I plan to watch tomorrow, and X-Men 3 which comes out in theaters Friday.
I have seen both versions of KoH and the director's cut was certainly pretty long (spread over 2 discs like the LoTR extended cuts) but it did add some rather critical parts to the film which did not make it into the theatrical edition. When The Digital Bits reviewed the new DVD they said their impression of the movie went from C+ to A based on the added material. It was also the first movie I've ever seen that had a real musical overture without video before the movie started, and they had something similar before the start of the 2nd disc. Some day I might go try to watch some of the extra features on disc 3 and 4.
Duma is a film by the same people who did Fly Away Home, and it shares some thematic elements. Basically a boy in South Africa rasies a cheetah cub to adulthood and then goes on an adventure to return him to the wild. He also has a human companion for most of the trip which adds humor and drama. I can't really obejctively rate this movie since it has a cheetah and any movie with a big cat is automatically great in my view. You also get to see some lions, hyenas, and crocodiles although they are on the antagonist side of things. I think it's unfortunate that the movie got such a limited release because I think it would have done respectably well in theaters.
5.22.2006
7:19pm
I have achieved hot dog perfection: Ball Park beef frank on a Merita bun, Heintz ketchup, French's mustard, colby-jack cheese, Texas Pete hot sauce, and Clossen dill pickle slice.
Now tell me that doesn't look tasty... mmm.
5.20.2006
9:55am
Yes, I'm awake at 9:55 on a Saturday morning. Actually I woke up around 9; why? Not sure really.
I spent a lot of time with iTunes yesterday after re-ripping all of my CDs because I needed to grab the album artwork. That's one feature of WMP (Windows Media Player) that I appreciate more than iTunes since it will fetch artwork automatically and it finds it 99% of the time. However, for those who do use iTunes for ripping there is a cool site called Art4iTunes that will parse a text version of your music library and fetch the album covers from Amazon.com. It only got about 80% of my CDs correct but I was able to manually get the others from Amazon.
And speaking of Apple, their new 5th Avenue store is getting more press coverage than possibly any other retail store opened--ever. Steve Jobs also did a short interview on MSNBC about the 24/7 store and Apple's plan for the future.
Also in the retail category, our local Melbourne Best Buy should be getting a Magnolia Hifi in a couple months. I talked to Tito a couple days ago when I was in there shopping for a DVD and he discussed the tentative plan. Our new Circuit City opened up right down the street from Best Buy with a fancy store so I think that has motivated the Best Buy executive-types to upgrade the store here.
5.17.2006
8:22pm
An extra desktop comes in handy from time to time. Two imports are better than one...
Actually the real reason I'm using the desktop is because my Dell laptop refuses to read the CD layer of Dualdiscs. My previous Lite-On desktop DVD-ROM drives didn't read Dualdisc either which really sucked. So, I'm ripping the disc with an old 8x4x32 Sony CD-RW drive that I used previously with a Pentium 233 MHz system.
And a funny cartoon from Ctrl+Alt+Del:
Apple vs. Mac
5.16.2006
10:18pm
Well, it turns out the iPod Video is actually pretty good at playing videos. I was doubtful about the capabilities of the limited-speed processor and 320x240 screen but it actually plays smoothly and has a respectable amount of detail for a 2.5" screen.
I still consider it a novelty rather than a necessity and will stick to free movie trailers as opposed to paying Apple money to download real TV episodes and such. However, I can see how it could be a lot more than novelty for those who use public transportation every day and need something to occupy their time during the commute.
8:05pm
The air is damp and cool after half a day of rain, the windows are open, and there are no brush fires smoldering along I-95. Florida is at a lower state of entropy ;)
Today at work I moved into Scott's old cubicle in the computer lab so that I wouldn't have to keep walking back and forth all the time. Now I get to keep Nate company and enjoy better air conditioning at the same time. Today I went with Matt and Nate for lunch at Pizza Hut over the causeway and got to discuss summer plans.
Dan had some work done on his car yesterday so he will likely drive back home tomorrow if he gets everything packed. Tim will be gone for two more days at the Software Testing conference in Orlando. I might watch a movie tonight to keep myself entertained... although I am looking forward to seeing The Da Vinci code this weekend as well with some friends.
5.14.2006
11:45am
Happy Mother's Day!
I have a new roommate... Tim Coulter. He moved most of his stuff over to the house on Friday night since the Florida Tech dormitories were officially closed to everyone as of Saturday. However, as we're gaining a person we're also losing one since Dan will be driving back to Chicago tonight or tomorrow morning. Rolando is here for the week until he finishes his last day at Best Buy and then he will be gone for the summer as well.
Yesterday we helped Tim get settled and watched Fight Club since Ron, Courtney, and Tim had never seen it before. Great movie. Today we are planning to hit the beach around 2:30-3pm and hang out for a while. It's been a long time since I've been to the beach so I have to go on a scavenger hunt to find the uber-SPF suntan lotion.
I also decided to reformat my laptop yesterday and start from scratch again so I've been reinstalling all the usual applications. Tim gave me a free copy of Office 2003 student and teacher edition since he's die-hard Linux now and doesn't need those pesky Windows products anymore.
5.10.2006
6:52pm
Grades are in.
I'm pleased with my performance this past semester. I worked hard and it paid off. My cumulative GPA actually dropped though by 0.01 to a 3.86. I got a Distinguished Student Scholar award this year for having above a 3.8.
I realized that I didn't mention anything about graduation. I arrived on campus at 7am with the rest of the staff and volunteers and we had some doughnuts and found out what exactly we were supposed to be doing during the ceremony. Along with the other two volunteers from Student Ambassadors, I was assigned to guide any of the V.I.P. guests to the proper seating section. A pretty mindless job and an easy one considering that there were only around 44 people in that section. I also helped some with crowd control to keep people from leaving via the wrong doors. Florida Tech is very strict about the tickets and if you want to leave the gym after initial arrival you have to get a special temporary ticket to leave. The graduates marched in around 10am and were first addressed by the college president, Dr. Catanese. The CEO of Harris Corporation, Howard Lance, was the featured guest speaker and was awarded the President's Medal. After the speeches were over they called up the graduate students to receive their PhD or Master's degrees. The bachelor degree students followed them. Everybody marched back outside a little after 12 o'clock and people gathered in the Clemente parking lot to snap photos, say goodbye to their friends, and to chat with faculty and parents about their college experiences.
5.07.2006
12:00pm
5.05.2006
3:50pm
Exams are done. I took my Materials final from 8-11am this morning and then had Microcomputer from 1-3pm. I spent last night putting together a notebook just for the Materials final (all of Dr. Brenner's tests have been open book / open note) and I was able to finish a little quicker than expected by having things organized. Dr. Deshmukh's tests have never been open-note though, so I had to take that final from memory.
In an hour I'm going to give out the "Mugs of Hugs" from Student Ambassadors to the seniors at the commencement celebration (not the real commencement, just an evening-before social deal). That's over at 6:15pm then I'm free for the night. Tomorrow morning is an early one though because I need to be back at campus by 7am to help with setup for the graduation ceremony and to help escort people in. The school loans the volunteers regalia for the ceremony so that way we don't look out of place.
Full-time hours at Harris start next Monday for me so it won't seem quite like summer vacation. Nate was still waiting to hear back from Microsoft, but if they offer him a job that is where he is planning to go work. I haven't really talked with any other seniors that I know to find out where they are headed after graduation, but I imagine that a good number of them aren't 100% sure yet either.
Mission: Impossible III opens today in theaters. RT reviews look good, if not unusually good for the mindless blockbuster type movies.
5.03.2006
12:02pm
I finally got around to putting a few more pictures in the Aquarium photo gallery.
My first final exam was over yesterday at 7pm and I have another one today at 3:30pm for Digital Electronics. I got together with some friends last night to study and go to Midnight Breakfast but we ended up talking about other stuff most of the time so I've been studying this morning.
5.01.2006
11:32pm
Attack of the killer green tomatoes? I'll let you decide... weird graphic choice nonetheless.
Disclaimer: this image is property of Sun Microsystems... I think.
8:47pm
I was looking for some coupons on pizzahut.com and I left the search bar up in FireFox. Several hours later, I looked down in the corner and noticed it was still waiting for me to search for more pizza. For some reason it was funny.
Now this is definitely funny: SNL's take on the Disney Vault. PG-13 rating.