Month: October 2005

Categories
Miscellaneous movie

This Divided State Movie Trailer

I’ve watched Michael Moore’s movies and read his books. I think he’s not really all he’s cracked up to be – in fact I’m actually very critical of a lot of the ways in which he operates. However after watching the This Divided State movie trailer and the other clips available at iFilm I was so disgusted with some of the people at UVSC, it just made my blood boil!

This Divided State follows the explosion of community protest surrounding Michael Moore’s visit to Utah Valley State College (UVSC) in October 2004. Though UVSC is located in one of the strongest Republican strongholds in the United States, vehement opposition to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore’s visit was much greater than anticipated. Death threats, hate mail, bribes, and lawsuits were all candidly captured on film. Equally surprising, however, was the overwhelming “uprising” of students in support of Michael Moore. Additionally, since the controversy took place in Utah, a heated religious debate broke out as to whether Mormons can profess to be liberal without betraying their religion.

When it comes down to it, it’s not about whether you agree or disagree with Moore’s viewpoint. It is about whether you believe the students have the right to bring him to their school to share that viewpoint.

Also check out the This Divided State official site.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Spook – A Short CG Film

Discovered just in time for Halloween is Spook, a short animated ghost story by Vancouver Film Student Megan Majewski.

Title Shot of Spook




Spook – Video Link (6.5mb Mov)

Search keywords: animation, video, halloween

Categories
Miscellaneous

Vi Va La Horns – Pronghorn Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday was a great day because I started my first day of work at the University – but even more so because in the afternoon I played water polo with the swim team. It was great, my team won the first match 10-0 and then Brad, the coach, switched me to the other side and my new team won, this time 10-4.

But even better than that, yesterday was the second annual Horns scavenger hunt and as luck would have it I was on the winning team for that too!

We went to a local pub afterwards for some partying. One of the swimmers had a little too much to drink and eventually got thrown out. They asked him his name and another guy yelled to him, don’t tell him your real name, so he gave them my name. I’m not too worried about it, but I’m told by another swimmer that I might be black listed now.

Anyway, after that we went to a dance club and stayed out way too late. Luckily for me I didn’t have to be at swim practice at 8:30 in the morning like everyone else. Even after it was already way too late we went out and had something to eat at Humpty’s.

I don’t know how they could get up this morning for practice. Actually I’d be surprised if a lot of them made it. They were going to have a team breakfast afterwards, but I was still too tired to join them.

Search keywords: swim team, water polo, vi va la horns, scavenger hunt, party

Categories
Miscellaneous

Hurricanes Arlene to Wilma

Nasa has an interesting mpeg video tracking 21 named storms from the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

Link to Nasa’s site containing video.

Search keywords: nasa, hurricanes, video

Categories
Miscellaneous

Web Design Job

I picked up some contract work tonight revamping a private company’s web page. They want a complete redesign, including an embedded shopping cart system. I’m pretty excited to be creating their site and I know they are elated.

I went over and talked with the proprietors tonight and we discussed everything from colour schemes and design to user interfaces and secure ordering. Good-bye hot pink table based layout, hello … well something CSS based anyway – I can’t give everything away now, can I?

The thing that was most disturbing was their horror story about the trouble they’ve been going through trying to get their site online. It sounded like there were several overlapping problems which I helped them sort out today.

Now their DNS service (provided by register.com) has totally screwed them over. They insist that they are entitled to put a giant banner ad on the bottom of my client’s site. Of course you’re wondering, did they tell my client up front about the obtrusive ad? Or is this particular DNS service free and using the ad to make back their losses? No it wasn’t free, and no they never mentioned that as part of the cost for the overcharged $35 DNS service. Who would expect that their DNS service would put a big banner ad on the bottom of their page? I recommended moving to a new DNS service but my client tells me that register.com claims it will take at least 3 months! for the change to happen. Whatever you do, don’t buy anything from register.com!

In the meantime I’m going to try and setup their site to forward itself away from the crappy register.com ad.

I’ll also keep readers here updated on whether things really are as complicated as they claim. I’m thinking the three month claim is just a scare tactic to keep my less technically savvy client suffering. Any advice from you, “the Internet” would be appreciated in the comments.

Search keywords: web design, DNS, register.com

Categories
history war

WWII Soldier Found Frozen in Ice

Two climbers on a Sierra Nevada glacier discovered an ice-encased body believed to be that of an airman whose plane crashed in 1942.

World War II Soldier discovered in ice

From CNN:

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Two climbers on a Sierra Nevada glacier discovered an ice-encased body believed to be that of an airman whose plane crashed in 1942.

The man was wearing a World War II-era U.S. Army Corps parachute when his frozen head, shoulder and arm were spotted on 13,710-foot Mount Mendel in Kings Canyon National Park, park spokeswoman Alex Picavet said Wednesday.

Park rangers and specialists camped on the mountainside in freezing weather for an excavation expected to take several days. The body was 80% encased in ice, Picavet said.

“We’re not going to go fast,” she said. “We want to preserve him as much as possible. He’s pretty intact.”

The excavation crew included an expert from a military unit that identifies and recovers personnel who have been missing for decades.

Park officials believe the serviceman may have been part of the crew of an AT-7 navigational training plane that crashed on Nov. 18, 1942. The wreckage and four bodies were found in 1947 by a climber.

(CNN video)

Categories
humor

Quotations by Douglas Adams

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

– Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

If you possess even the slightest sense of humour, then this page of quotations by Douglas Adams will have you in stitches.

Categories
Science technology

GEN H-4 Personal Helicopter

Since it doesn’t look like the flying cars are on their way, what about personal helicopters? $31,000 will buy you the GEN H-4, a modern marvel that can go nearly 100 kph (aprox. 60 mph). See the GEN H-4 demonstration video. (2.6MB wmv)

(via Cooltools)

Categories
Music

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ – Maps – Music Video

Maps Music Video image

I can’t put my finger on why, but for some reason I’m mesmorized by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ music video Maps (45mb mov).


Search keywords: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Maps, music video

Categories
Miscellaneous

iTunes Art Importer

One of the things I like about my iPod Photo is that I have the ability to link album artwork with my music files. One of the things I don’t like about it is that for someone like me that has a rather large music collection, it takes an awful lot of effort to add artwork to each song.

Luckily someone wrote a new application that automatically goes out and downloads artwork for each of your songs. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve read about it from a few different sources and it sounds to be a great program.

Check out the iTunes Art Importer.

Update: I’ve tried it and I love it!

Search for keywords: iTunes, software