A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff.
The delicious aroma of my roommate cooking wafted into the room as I read about a mysterious smell that over took New York City this morning. Nobody knows where or what the smell in New York is but here, at my house, it’s bacon and eggs.
Update: My sister’s Mother-in-Law just got back from New York and she said that, “yeah, it really did stink.” The article made it sound like it was a good smell – apparently that was not the case.
Guess whose photo is on the front page of the U of L athletics website? That’s right, mine!
Since the page banner changes every time it’s loaded (randomly between different sports) I took a screenshot of the whole page for posterity.
I got a letter in the mail the other day from the Alberta Government. They wrote to tell me that my student loans are coming due. To most people, including me, a letter from the government asking for money would usually put you in a bad mood, even if it’s money that you rightfully owe.
However, this particular letter said I owed exactly $10,000 less than I recall borrowing. So, either (A) my mind is going early (B) The government of Alberta is so rich they are just going to write off $10,000 of my loan, (C)somebody at the student loans office enjoys a sick form of entertainment toying with my emotions or (D) the missing number “1” was merely a typo.
I haven’t called them to find out the real situation yet because I’m trying to enjoy this brief façade for as long as I can. I’ll call them tomorrow and let everyone know what the situation is, because I know you’re curious. (Don’t forget to come back tomorrow, or you’ll never know…)
Update: Of course they didn’t just drop $10,000 off without telling me. I’m just not quite on top of things I guess. I have two loans, one from the Alberta government and one from the Canadian government. When I got the letter from the Alberta government saying how much I owe, I thought that was the total for all my loans; now I know better.
Babycal Throw: a simple and enormously addicting moderately amusing game.
I’d probably like this one better if it was more than just a twitch-click game but it’s still worth an attempt or two.
(via Metafilter)
Dilbert cartoon creator Scott Adams has a blog. Find out why his latest strip shows a cop firing a donut – and other anecdotes.
Tip #1: Be careful when raking the leaves in your yard too enthusiastically. One could easily injure his back and find himself in a very painful predicament and still have a yard full of leaves.
Tip #2: Don’t buy candy two-weeks before Halloween because on a Sunday afternoon with an injured back you better believe that candy won’t make it through the hour.
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.
I just got hired on at the University of Lethbridge working for the International Centre. After a two and a half month hiatus from the workforce, I’m really happy to finally be bringing in some cashola. Having money will make buying groceries that much easier.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the break. I think it was important for me to take some time to really nurse the wounds from my break-up. Thinking about it, it’s kind of funny how the break-up got way more coverage on my blog then the actual engagement. I suppose I should have taken it as a pretty major sign that she didn’t really want to get married when she refused to tell her dad the big news. I just wanted to marry her so badly that I ignored the signs.
I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s got more problems than she’s worth. There’s the good old fashioned emotional problems and not to mention her huge commitment issues—she doesn’t even want kids. We just weren’t on the same page. I predict that she will continue to surf from guy to guy until she finds she’s alienated everyone so much that nobody wants anything to do with her. I still think she’s missing out big-time on me, but hey you reap what you sow I guess.
It’s still hard not to like her, and I think I’d like to be friends with her in the future, but it looks like she is going to need a lot of time before she’s ready for that.
The Presidents of the United States of America (the band) have put together a music video comprised of footage shot exclusively with cell phones.
From the Presidents’ site:
The director of the video, Grant Marshall from Film Headquarters, said he was very excited when Presidents of the USA agreed to this idea. He came up with the idea after the company’s creative team lamented how budgets for Australian music videos were far lower than those for international clips. Producer Nick Wolff said “We joked that budgets were getting so small that the next thing we’d be doing is shooting on a mobile phone.” (emphasis mine)
And that is exactly what they did. (Link has various video format choices)
When I heard that BitTorrent was collecting money from investors, it left me confused because BitTorrent is an open source protocol. It’s like hearing that HTTP or FTP was rounding up funds. Fortune.com recently published an article outlining exactly what the BitTorrent deal is all about. It sounds like Bram Cohen, the designer of the BitTorrent protocol, intends to sell media on a commission basis – kind of like what Google Video does.
