A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff
Please leave a comment here if you’re into the whole backmasking thing. Have you tried it? What have you found? Do you think there is something to it, or do you just think it’s all a coincidence? This is the place to leave your comments on what you’ve discovered from your own experimenting.
If you don’t know where to start, Audacity is a great open-source, freeware audio editor for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Among its features is the ability to reverse audio files.
My friend Gavin writes short stories and posts them on the web so that we can indulge in a minute or two of his brilliance. I just read one of his excellent stories, The Jumper, and I loved it. If you don’t think it’s hilarious, you are probably an android.
The surprise hit for the Xbox 360 might turn out to be The Outfit. If video games are your thing, especially games where you get to blow up EVERYTHING, check out The Outfit preview by Matt Felske.
Happy Halloween! Here is the story behind Stingy Jack and the Jack O’Lantern.
(Why link when you can copy / paste…)
The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O’Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O’Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O’Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.
Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his “Jack O’Lantern”.
On all Hallow’s eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O’Lanterns. In the 1800’s a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O’Lanterns.
(via some halloween site)
Bruce’s new haircut. (2MB QT Video)
A few months ago I put my address up on Postcard X in the hopes that some random person would send me a postcard. Well guess what? It actually worked! Thanks MML for sending me this nice postcard while at the airport in Cleveland, Ohio.
I guess I better get busy and send one back.
My computer has already automatically decided to adjust for the end of daylight saving time – I wonder if my friends are all going to remember the time change for our lunch appointment.
A couple of years ago a friend of mine forgot to change her clock forward for the start of daylight saving and even though she had all day Sunday to realize it, she never did. The saddest thing was that she ended up missing a job interview because she didn’t know what time it was. Oops.
The way my mom always used to help me remember how the time change works, is by the saying, “Spring forward and fall back” (ie. Set the clocks forward an hour in the spring and back an hour in the Fall).
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.
