August 24, 2008
UT to UT
You may (or may not) have noticed the complete lack of posts for well over a month, both here and on the private blogspot blog I started. I've had good reasons for neglecting the online world. Some of them I'd rather not write about. Others I really should mention, like the fact that I recently transported myself and all my shit... er, precious belongings... about 1500 miles from UT to UT. That is, from Salt Lake City, Utah to the University of Texas at Austin.
I'll be living in Austin for at least the next two years, working on getting a master's degree in information studies from the School of Information at UT.
I'm excited to begin my work in the program. (Classes start in a few days.) I expect to be extremely busy, so this blog's activity level will probably stay quite low. I'll try to do a better job of posting odd or interesting links and maybe posting some thoughts about life in Austin, but don't be surprised by long silences.
I still tend to reply to e-mails in a (relatively) timely manner, so that's probably the best way to keep in touch. Oh, also, I have a new cell phone number, so if I didn't send it to you already, fire me an e-mail or IM and I'll give it to you.
24 Aug 22:46 | Link | Category: Austin, Site/Life News
June 9, 2008
Blogspot
I started a blog at blogspot.com.
Really. I've been thinking about doing it for a while, but finally bit the bullet. At the moment, I think I could use a spot for self-absorbed, over-analyzed writing and off-the-cuff venting. It has been years since I've done that, but I think it's time to revisit the experiment.
Some of you will have already received invitations. (It's not meant for public consumption.) If you haven't, you can e-mail me and ask. But just to warn you, I'll almost certainly say no unless you're someone I met through my last attempt at a self-absorbed online diary (on the old site) and somehow lost touch with.
We now return to regular programming...
09 Jun 2:22 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
June 2, 2008
Links 19 (The Cost of War)
I'm starting to go crazy (and the shit hasn't even hit the fan yet -- that'll probably happen later this week). I won't be doing any online whining or venting here like I used to do, but posts may continue to be sporadic. (I have thought about starting an anonymous blogspot or livejournal blog as an outlet, though. If I do, I'll post notice here and I'll give the address to a select few of you.)
Anyway, let's soldier on with the link dump... Today's topic is the Cost of War. Specifically, the cost of U.S. misadventures in Iraq. "Cost" here is in the economic sense -- this is, needless to say, a fairly narrow view of the costs of war, but it has the virtue of being easy to quantify ...relatively easy, at least. There are plenty of estimates, but the general consensus is something like, um, a lot.
1. Last year, when the Bush Administration was requesting more funding for the war, the total official cost - just up to that point - came to $611.5 billion. This led many people to ask What can $611 billion buy? The answers were sobering.
2. Later, the Joint Economic Committee concluded that the Iraq war would cost $1.3 trillion - that's $1,300,000,000,000 - by 2009, and the combined cost of Iraq & Afghanistan could reach $3.5 trillion by 2017. They factored in the cost of borrowing money to pay for the war, lost productivity, higher oil prices, cost of healthcare for veterans, etc. At that price, the cost to a family of four would be more than $20,000 between 2002 and 2008.
3. But the cost is actually higher than that, pointed out economics professor Tyler Cowen in the Washington Post. One needs to factor in opportunity cost (more about opportunity cost). His article points out wasted opportunities, hidden costs, and the 'fruitless investment' Iraq has been. (Not to mention the human cost, which is of course incalculable.)
4. Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz arrived at a conservative figure of $3 trillion to the U.S. and another $3 trillion to the rest of the world. Can you even imagine what else we could have done with that money? Some could have been applied to actually protecting the U.S., and the rest could have been spent on energy independence, environmental and social issues, etc. The list is huge. Even those who argue that manned space exploration is a boondoggle would probably agree it would've been a better use of the money - and for that much money, we could have embarked not just on an exploration program of Mars, but we could've practically colonized the place.
5. So. An enormous economic cost for a war that, according to the National Intelligence Estimate, has fueled the terror threat.
None of this is terribly new or surprising, though. In many ways, the current terror threat stems directly from the Cold War, another simply incredible waste of resources. I recall a speech delivered by Carl Sagan twenty years ago for the rededication of the Gettysburg memorial. (A copy can be found on the History Channel site or in the book Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History; a copy updated by co-author Ann Druyan is in Sagan's posthumous publication Billions & Billions.)
In the speech, Sagan pointed out the $10 trillion spent by the U.S. waging the Cold War, more than a third of which was spent during the Reagan years. (And it never really stopped... Druyan notes in the update in "Billions & Billions" that the Clinton defense budget in post-Cold War 1995 was $30 billion higher than Nixon's defense budget in the height of the Cold War.) Sagan wondered what else we could have done with, say, half of that $10 trillion:
What else could the United States have done with that money (not all of it, because prudent defense is, of course, necessary — but, say, half of it)? For a little over $5 trillion, skillfully applied, we could have made major progress toward eliminating hunger, homelessness, infectious disease, illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, and safeguarding the environment—not just in the United States but worldwide. We could have helped make the planet agriculturally self-sufficient and removed many of the causes of violence and war. And this could have been done with enormous benefit to the American economy. We could have made deep inroads into the national debt. For less than a percent of that money, we could have mustered a long-term international program of manned exploration to Mars. Prodigies of human inventiveness in art, architecture, medicine, and science could be supported for decades with a tiny fraction of that money. The technological and entrepreneurial opportunities would have been prodigious.
02 Jun 8:01 | Link | Category: Current Events, Link Dump '08, Politics, Site/Life News
April 21, 2008
Hello, World!
Yeah. So, sorry for the silence (not really). I've been busy (kinda). It won't happen again (yes it will).
Someone sent me a snide e-mail informing me that if he wanted to look at a blog that had a post about clever bookshelves every time he browsed to it, he would just go to the bookshelf blog, where he would actually see different bookshelves every day. Ha. Ha.
Anyway. I'm not completely sure where all the time went over the last 3+ weeks, although I have had a few projects, distractions, and sidetracks (yes, you can use that as a noun; I looked it up!) that have sucked away energy and attention. Many of these have had to do with what you might call 'spring cleaning'.
My computer, for example, was completely cluttered with stuff. Computers deal with clutter marvelously, but it was still a problem because I had innumerable "save for later" folders that had been growing for months or even years. It was an unmanageable backlog, so most of it had to go - lots of songs and e-mails went in the trash. I also have hundreds of bookmarks that I wanted to post here along with a few thoughts. There's such a backlog now that I'll never be able to write thoughts. Rather than trash them all, I think I'll just start a "link dump" and post the links with only the briefest of comments (or none at all). There are about 400 bookmarks (pruned down from almost twice that much), so if I post four or five every day, I should clear them out in three months or so.
I've also been getting rid of lots of the physical junk I've accumulated during the last few years. My upcoming move to another state (more on that later) is probably spurring it on. I complained about gathering computer equipment and electronics five years ago, but somehow I've already gathered more. I'm selling what I can (like the networking equipment from last month, and some upcoming items I need to post to eBay and Craigslist), but there are still batteries and print cartridges and broken stuff that are worthless but can't simply be tossed in the trash. Disposing of these items properly is still a major hassle (at least where I live), requiring research and time. I suspect most people probably just throw them away, which is a little unsettling. (Apparently, as many as two billion people are cell phone subscribers. Lay two billion cell phones end to end and they would stretch halfway to the moon -- to say nothing of cell phones already in landfills.)
Anyway.
Expect little bunches of links to start showing up on a semi-regular basis.
21 Apr 20:23 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Technology & Computing
March 3, 2008
Out of Office Auto-Post
I will be out of town through Friday. I might check e-mail & the web intermittently, depending on availability of wireless access and whether or not I feel like checking in.
In other words, I haven't been keeping up on e-mail or blog posts anyway, and it could get even slower for a while.
03 Mar 0:12 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Travel
January 9, 2008
Statement of Purpose
I've been working on "statements of purpose" and "personal statements" for graduate school admission. Against my better judgement, I decided to search the web for some advice. Never do this! (It's a bit like checking medical sites and message boards when you're wondering about the funny lump in your neck or mouth. You will assuredly run into something that will completely freak you out. "I'm gonna DIE!!!"... then the lump disappears two days later.) Sure enough, I found this:
Word for word, the graduate admissions essay is perhaps the single most important prose anyone will ever write. In ways that students rarely understand, it can be the ticket to the future of your choice, or not.
Well, that really helps... No reason to worry; it's just the single most important prose ANYONE will EVER write!
Feh. I don't know who wrote that statement, but judging from the advice (and creative use of commas) on the rest of the page, I don't think I'll take it too seriously. Instead, I think I'll draw my inspiration from Eddie Kohler's statements of purpose: SoP 1, SoP 2.
I have trouble thinking far into the future so plans are kind of sketchy but tomorrow I want to go to my aerobics p.e.
I also want to have a cat and a grand piano. And everyone should be happy and peaceful and like Shostakovich. But that probably won't happen. not even if you accept me into grad school.. . .
Please let me in to your grad school ebcasue otherwise I have to live at home next year.
P. S. Diversity is good
09 Jan 18:33 | Link | Category: Humor, Site/Life News
August 18, 2007
Redesign complete
The "quick redesign" is mostly finished (but, as always, it wasn't as quick as I had expected). I still need to finish adding some content and tweaking the design, and I haven't fully tested it with a full battery of different browsers/platforms. Let me know if you run into anything weird.
The design is a bit of a departure; I hope it doesn't offend your sensibilities. It's very simple, partly because of time constraints, and partly as a reaction against... well, the "Web 2.0 look" (also seen to some degree in OS X and Vista, especially the widgets). I wanted to keep it very simple and readable (yet still recognizable) without including any of the following: gradients (and gradients and gradients), rounded corners, dropshadows, glossy/glassy elements, reflections, 3D elements, and lots of bright happy highly-saturated colors.
I had to relent a bit by including one (um, completely saturated) color because the totally grayscale design was pretty bland. But aside from that, I kept all those design elements out. Hopefully you can still bear to visit, look, and read.
[ I should clarify: My gripe isn't necessarily with the "Web 2.0 look" itself, or even with many of the sites that use it. I'm quite fond of the look (or once was) and my first instinct was to design something with many of the elements I listed. The look can work really well and some of my favorite sites use it. I guess my gripe is just that it has become terribly overused - by corporations, designers, bloggers... (especially now that everyone and his mother and her cousin and his cat has an inane blog that uses a template full of gradients and rounded corners.) This design is my curmudgeonly "hmmpphh". ]
18 Aug 23:37 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
August 16, 2007
Pardon the dust...
I've decided to make a concerted effort to resume posting on a regular basis. My bookmarks list is now up to 759 items, so I should be able to find at least a few interesting ones to share. Check back soon.
The semester doesn't start for a few more days, so I hope I can find at least one or two evenings to throw together a quick redesign. I might upgrade my Movable Type installation while I'm at it, so please excuse any technical difficulties during the next few days. (It's not as if anyone visits this place regularly since, oh, last year, but...)
16 Aug 0:06 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
April 22, 2007
Numbers
Backlog
Messages in e-mail inbox: 218
Unsorted bookmarks: 619
Songs waiting to be sifted: 294
Podcasts marked as unheard: 105
School
Days until end of this semester: 10
Projects and assignments remaining: 0
Final exams remaining: 3
Days until beginning of next semester: 21
Total credit hours (after this semester): 108.5
Remaining hours needed for degree: 13.5
Me
Weight change since January 12, in kg: +1.45
BMI *: 19.2
Length of a hair from the top of my head, in cm: 16
Toenails still black from dropping ladder on foot in December: 1
My iTunes Library
Five-star rated songs: 410
Four-star rated songs: 1,030
Top play count for a song: 73
Money
Current cost of Iraq war, in dollars: 420,000,000,000 *
My current checking account balance, in dollars: 70.29
Biology
Base pairs in Amoeba dubia genome: 670,000,000,000 *
Base pairs in Homo sapiens genome: 3,000,000,000 *
Length of uncoiled DNA from one human cell, in meters: 1.8 *
Diameter of cell nucleus, in meters: 0.000006
Other
Kilometers from here to the sun: 150,000,000 *
Minutes to midnight on the Doomsday Clock: 5 *
Chinese brothers: 5 * or 7 *,*
Ways To Leave Your Lover: 50 *, *
Luftballoons: 99 *
22 Apr 23:29 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
March 13, 2007
Ridin' Around In The Breeze
It's spring!
Today was warm enough that I took the Jeep's top down -- the first time since last year. This is a joyous annual ceremonial occasion (that I've mentioned before).
In celebration, here's a Wilburys tune that has tried to make it onto the playlist for a few months now but never made the final cut:
Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line >>
Great lyrics, including the first line: "Well it's all right, ridin' around in the breeze."
Stay tuned everyone... (and don't miss the new playlist below)
13 Mar 0:25 | Link | Category: Music, Site/Life News
July 7, 2006
Amphibious Invasion
The invasion of earwigs has mostly subsided. It has been succeeded by a much cooler - and more biblical - invasion: frogs. I've seen lots of them outside and now they're somehow finding their way in. (I have yet to figure out how.)
This is decidedly more exciting than earwigs, because I've always loved frogs... and amphibians in general. I still have fond memories of discovering tiger salamanders in a window well of the house we lived in when I was about thirteen. (I've already mentioned I'm a 'classist' and I'll readily admit that, in my house, I generally prefer Mammalia - or Amphibia - to Insecta). It's actually pretty fun to find a little frog hopping around your floor. The ones I've found are only 1.5 - 2 centimeters long and look to be a chorus frog (either boreal or western). Amphibian experts, please correct me if I'm wrong.
(Sounds like I need to call in the National Guard to secure the borders of my house against illegal animal immigration, doesn't it? But the frogs are so cute... and they do jobs I don't want to do, like eating bugs...)
Update: Maybe I should let 'em stay inside to keep 'em away from the road.
07 Jul 3:01 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Site/Life News
March 31, 2006
This Page Unintentionally Left Blank
Back in January, I remember complaining publicly about being ridiculously busy and having time for nothing. This was a mistake because it drew the attention of the angry vengeful gods. Suffice it to say things haven't gotten better... in fact, a lot of shit has happened to make things much worse than they were back in January.
Anyway... in the time since I phoned in the playlist last week, the inbox is up to 135 unanswered e-mails and the bookmarks are up to about 270. It should be interesting to see how long it takes me to dig out.
One activity that has complicated my schedule during the last month has been making 36 visits to the zoo in the last 32 days. I finally finished the data collection portion of my observational research project, but I still have to digitize, quantify, and analyze the data.
Earlier this week, I brought my camera to one of my observation sessions and snapped some photos. Along with the annoyance of taking photos through glass, there wasn't much light - and I refuse to use a flash on zoo animals (even though they're probably accustomed to all the idiots placing their cameras up to the glass and flashing right in the animals' faces). Tamarins are severely hyperactive, so a slow shutter speed would simply lead to blur. I kept the aperture open all the way in order to keep shutter speed as fast as possible (which in turn affects depth of field, making proper focusing a bit of a trick). The results weren't too bad, though. I chose ten of my favorites and uploaded them to the site. Click the photo below to browse through the pictures.
31 Mar 23:25 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Photography, Site/Life News
February 2, 2006
Women's Heart Week
I was completely shocked this evening when I found out my grandmother was being rushed to the hospital. It turns out she had a heart attack about five days ago and didn't even know it. I'll spare the long story, but as things stand right now, she will still require open-heart surgery (if she chooses to endure such an invasive, risky procedure at nearly 80 years old).
Of all the people I know, she is among the last I would expect to have heart problems, even considering her age. She has always been thin, active, and careful about what she eats. She seems more spry than people 20 and 30 years younger than she. Doctors have repeatedly told her that her heart was in great shape and she'd live to 100. As far as I know, her side of the family has no history of heart disease. The news was a terrible shock. I'm still in that strange mental state of shock one enters upon hearing bad news about loved ones.
These days, I almost always avoid posting this kind of stuff here. But the message tonight is that heart disease is the number one killer of women just like it is for men. (In fact, it's Women's Heart Week this week.) Women often have different symptoms (not the classic ones you think of) and, at least historically, tend to be under-diagnosed and under-treated. (I'm not sure if this has changed in recent years.) My grandmother had EKGs done within the last year, but not a stress test. Her doctor strongly encouraged her to have one even though she displayed no obvious symptoms, but she refused (as I'm sure many older people do). So I guess the message for tonight is for everyone to have tests done even if you're sure you're fine. My dad has lots of risk factors but he's such a stubborn ox he'll never see a doctor. I keep telling him we're going to have to stage an intervention to get him to go have a checkup, and I'm only half joking.
Take care of yourselves, people. (I'm restarting my aerobic exercise routine immediately, despite the fact that it always makes me even scrawnier than usual.)
02 Feb 1:12 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
January 7, 2006
It's 2006! (Or: Sorry for making you stare at Dick Cheney for two weeks)
I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. I got some much needed relaxation (and, as you can tell from the lack of posts, spent almost no time in front of the computer). I can't say I'm terribly happy about starting another semester of school on Monday, but at least I'm feeling grounded and refreshed. Earlier today, I returned from a short trip to Northern California, where the weather was warm, the sky clear, and the company wonderful. A few photos:
07 Jan 22:46 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Travel
November 27, 2005
Possible hiatus
Things might be really quiet around here for the next few weeks. I have a short writing assignment due in a little over a day (that I haven't started yet), a research paper + presentation due next week, and a group web site project due next week. In two weeks, I have a large writing assignment and four finals. Fun. This semester has been a pain in the ass. And my incredible procrastination hasn't helped for some reason.
I'll try to make a few posts and reply to important e-mails, but if I'm silent you'll know why.
27 Nov 23:24 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
November 4, 2005
Procrastination
I have dozens and dozens of items to link to, comment on, or rant about. I planned to start posting some of them tonight and tomorrow, but that plan assumed I would make some headway with schoolwork. (I have dug out a bit, but I still have a tall stack of journal articles to decipher for two anthropology classes, and an even taller stack of books and articles that I need to sort through for a research paper I should have been writing for months but still haven't gotten around to.)
The idea was to spend all day working, then maybe hang out with some friends and pretend to remember what a social life is, and then get around to e-mail and this site. But... I wasted the entire day, so that plan is out. My friends, I'm a procrastinating fool. (I like Bobby Long's definition of procrastination: "To drag one's ass in such a manner as to ensure one's future place in society as a loser.")
04 Nov 18:45 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
October 14, 2005
... and the silence continues
I probably won't be posting anything here for another ten days or so. I'm working on three papers (one due next week, another the week after that), and those of you who know how I write papers know they tend to suck up lots of my time. I also have two midterms next week and some other smaller assignments and projects.
E-mails might sit in my inbox for a while, too, so don't be offended.
14 Oct 12:22 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
August 30, 2005
The Undergraduate Experience
Watching the freshmen make their way around campus during fall semester always reminds me of my first year of college so many years ago. I thought it would be a breeze considering my high school record and full scholarship, but I was completely unprepared. Unfortunately, that first year also coincided with other messiness in my life, which didn't help matters. (I know it's easy to mock the idea of people dropping out of life for a few years to "find" themselves, but I completely support it.) Anyway, there I was... an immature, lonely kid thrown into a major I didn't like, taking classes I wasn't interested in. Those of you who know me are probably aware that when something doesn't interest me, I will completely ignore it... which is exactly what I did. My attendance during that first year was embarrassingly low. I didn't enroll the next year, and it took me a long while before I felt like coming back.
It's odd to look around and realize that a quarter of these freshmen won't make it past the first year, and only half will end up with degrees. (Then again, at my rate, I won't be getting one for a long while either.) Last April, John Merrow wrote a great (and lengthy) piece for the New York Times about the experience of being an undergraduate at the University of Arizona -- a school larger than mine, but relatively similar. The Times is charging for the article now (don't get me started on my rant about that obnoxious policy), but here's an MS Word version I found through Google: The Undergraduate Experience. It profiles several students and details various failings and successes of such universities. At the end of the article, one of the "successful" students offers this bit of advice:
"Get out of your comfort zone. You learn so much more when you have to change what you're doing, than if you just came in and said, 'Well, this is me and I'm always going to be like this and I'm always going to study this.' If you think that way, then you never stop to question whether that's what really you're supposed to do. Relax. You haven't lived 20 percent of your life. What's the rush?"
I completely agree with this sentiment. Among other complaints I have with the secondary education system in general (some private colleges excepted) is that students are set on a path of study while still in high school. The main goal of college becomes quickly plowing through four years of courses so you can hopefully make more money when you get out. The notion of spending time expanding your mind and discovering yourself has become archaic and clichéd, which is really a shame.
A more recent story that caught my eye was an anthropology professor who decided to take a year and live as an undergraduate, in an attempt to better understand the experience. A somewhat obvious observation that ties in with what I just said:
Small also said she found current undergraduates faced more pressure to pick a major that readily translated into a job that could pay off student loans.
Travis Shumake, student body president and a senior at NAU's School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, said he sees that all the time -- students choosing his program because it provides the "fastest results at the highest income."
Small said her generation wasn't as career-oriented in college.
"It was an era of anti-materialism. It was kind of nerdy then to talk about careers," she said. "Now, different things are nerdy."
Another obvious observation:
She found some of the coursework tough and had to seek tutoring for a class far outside her field of study. "It was a hectic life," she said.
No shit. I've got a very full schedule this semester, and I have three or four courses that are already killing me. I'm a week into school and I'm already behind, without time to have any semblance of a life (or sleep, for that matter). Ugh. You're probably wondering the same thing I am, which is: Why am I wasting time typing these boring thoughts on my pointless web site? I think I'm trying to distract myself from my studies, but I really should get back to my boring reading now.
30 Aug 12:00 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Opinion & Thoughts, Site/Life News
May 25, 2005
Light Therapy
The rain dissipated last week and summer finally showed up to play. Today I was driving through the city on my way home from class (the car's top has been down all week, of course, with doors to follow soon) still basking in the warm sunshine, and I realized I've been far more happy and energetic during the past week than I have been in a very long time. Nothing's really changed in circumstances or thought patterns, so why the good mood?
Oftentimes when I'm in one of my dark moods, friends will suggest that the weather is playing a role. I usually shrug it off as coincidence because I can usually pinpoint something else that has me feeling glum. (Or at least I can pinpoint something that propelled me into a sullen state into which I then get stuck.)
Now I'm starting to wonder if my friends are right and my moments of dolefulness are sometimes connected to weather and light. A quick survey of memories from the last few years does seem to reveal that I'm (more) cynical, pensive, and - let's face it - miserable during wintertime, and I tend to enjoy and pursue life more during the summer. In the last several years I've also developed a noticeable sense of antipathy towards winter that I never possessed before. So I seem to know - even if I don't really know - that winter doesn't always agree with me anymore. (Apparently I'm not alone. As much as 25% of the population at middle-to-northern latitudes of the U.S. experience "winter doldrums".)
So. Next time my friends prattle on about S.A.D., melatonin levels and such, I won't be so quick to dismiss them. I'll definitely be taking note of my moods when winter rolls around this year. In the meantime, I intend to fully enjoy my warm sunny months of light therapy.
25 May 12:00 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts, Site/Life News
April 30, 2005
Spring Cleaning
Thanks to school and laziness, my room turned into a disaster area during the last few months. About an hour ago, I finished cleaning up most of the floor (including about fifteen newspapers and other assorted crap) and moved to the drawers. One of the more interesting discoveries there was an old Zip disk. I popped it into the computer and, among other old files, discovered some old writings and an old copy of my web site that included my 'thoughts' back to 1998. I'll say this much: I was a smug, naïve little prick back in those days, but with a sort of endearing youthful cleverness. I suppose that's probably an accurate description of many 18 year olds. Anyway, I'm embarrassed by that version of myself about as much as I miss it.
30 Apr 12:36 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
April 27, 2005
New Computer!
I'm getting a new computer! This is exciting because: a) I'm a geek and b) my computer is 5½ years old. It's time. Over the years, I've upgraded my G4 Sawtooth many times. RAM, processor, hard drive, video card, you name it. It still performs remarkably well, but there are some things that bog it down (certain games, video/3D rendering, etc.). Plus no DVD burning and the fact that I've run out of hard drive space again and have resorted to an awkward solution using external drives, etc. etc. etc.
Speedbumped G5s were announced this morning (preloaded with Tiger), so I figured it was as good a time as any to buy. I ordered a dual 2.0 GHz model. With the educational discount, it wasn't a bad deal. I customized some of the components, so it might be a few weeks before it arrives. I'll try not to make too much geeky fanfare when it does (I'm thinking of those odd sites where people take detailed photographs of the unpacking / setup process), but it's not often that I get a new computer (or, as my nephew mispronounced it when he was three, McPuter).
Computers improve at such a maddening pace. I don't know how much is amazing innovation and how much is planned obsolescence. Anyway. I'm hoping I can make the G5 last as long as the G4 (which happens to be going to a loving home where it will continue to be used for years).
27 Apr 16:10 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Technology & Computing
January 31, 2005
Credit card fraud
Every month, one of my credit cards is charged $9.95 from a web hosting company. So I probably wouldn't have looked twice at a $9.95 charge from "MACROCYBERLINC" on a recent statement. Luckily, I hadn't used the card for quite a while, so it was the only charge on the statement. I quickly realized that it wasn't my normal monthly charge and that I had never heard of this "Macrocyberlinc" company.
So I googled it... and what did I find? The only references Google could even find were a few sites about a $9.95 credit card fraud scheme. Swell. To make a long story short, I called the bank, reported the fraud, and canceled my card number.
It's probably related to using the card online. People mentioned Amazon.com and PayPal, both of which I have used recently... but I've also used this card number at a number of other sites, so it's hard to tell. Most - if not all - of the sites were reputable, secure sites with what appeared to be decent privacy policies... but I'm not sure that means as much as people say it does. I still love to tell the people the story of how I got e-mails asking for extra info. on the PowerBook I was selling on eBay... except that I wasn't selling a PowerBook on eBay. It turned out someone had hacked into my eBay account and was selling fake merchandise. In another long story I'll make short, I eventually tracked it to Microsoft's Passport service that was linked to my eBay account. Luckily I didn't have anything else in my "passport" (credit card numbers, other passwords, etc.). Interestingly, eBay announced a few weeks ago that it would no longer support logins through Microsoft's Passport or .Net services, and Microsoft has abandoned its Passport efforts (see also).
Anyway, be careful out there. I'm thinking about starting to use virtual credit card numbers, even though it sounds like a nuisance.
31 Jan 16:09 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Technology & Computing
October 27, 2004
Bob Jones & Fitch
The time is fast approaching when I have to decide whether or not to attend school next semester. I even have an appointment with someone to talk about it. (Aren't you proud?) But the other day I noticed something that has me considering a transfer. It was a link (from Cynical-C) to a list of student expectations at Bob Jones University. The restrictions include:
- For the sake of accountability, students must "check out" when they leave the campus. Students gradually acquire more freedom in this area as they become upperclassmen.
- Students are required to be in their own rooms and quiet at 11 pm. All lights must be out by midnight.
- Students are required to keep their rooms clean and neat. Rooms are inspected daily.
- Posters of movie and music stars and fashion models are not permitted. The subjects of personal photos should exhibit the modesty and appropriate physical contact we expect from our students.
- Music must be compatible with the University's music standards: New Age, jazz, rock, and country music is not permitted. Contemporary Christian music is not permitted (e.g., Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, WOW Worship, and so forth).
- Televisions and DVD/videocassette players are not permitted in the residence halls; computer DVD players may not be used to view movies.
- You may not possess or play computer and video games rated T, M, or A or having elements of blood and gore, sensual or demonic themes, or featuring suggestive dress, bad language, or rock music.
- Residence hall students may not watch videos above a G rating when visiting homes in town and may not attend movie theaters.
(You can also peruse the dress code. Poke around the rest of the site, too. It's quite, uh, fascinating.)
(I mentioned the site yesterday in an online conversation with a friend. She pointed out that hip-hop / rap, blues, techno, and lots of other music isn't explicity disallowed. So there you go!)
So, I'm thinking... maybe I should try for a transfer to BJU. Just to see if I could get myself in. Maybe do some sort of undercover documentary (or at the very least just try to corrupt a few people). Update: As I expected, other people have had the same idea. You can read an account on salon.com of one guy who "had a few days off" and decided to check out the campus as a prospective student in an interracial relationship.
I do agree with them on one thing: that Abercrombie & Fitch sucks. (See the dress code page.) BJU says the company is evil. I say it's just lame. Everything from the way they ensure all their employees are attractive to the way they use nude, tanned Aryans in mostly homoerotic poses to make pubescent high-school suburbanites instinctively yearn for over-priced pseudo-fashionable sweatshop mass merchandise. (That having been said, if buying their dorky clothes could really magically transport me into the catalog's blissful, carefree, orgiastic world of bare-breasted young women, I might reconsider my objections.)
27 Oct 12:00 | Link | Category: Humor, Music, Opinion & Thoughts, Site/Life News
August 14, 2003
Looking for a new McJob
Well, I finally got rid of my McJob. (That's right, my days working in the sun and heat are over... of course I managed to work through the hottest July ever.) I should have a new one soon, though. For one application I had to take a typing test. I was happily surprised to score 93 words per minute. The folks at the testing center (an employment center) seemed impressed as well and offered me some jobs right on the spot (jobs I wasn't terribly interested in, but still...). We'll see if anything works out. I had an interview today that was, um, interesting. I'm still kicking myself for having interviewed so poorly. Whenever I have interviews (job or otherwise), I'm either completely smooth and charming, or I fill up with nervous energy and make a complete ass of myself. (This goes for meeting new people, too.) Today's interview was an instance of the latter.
14 Aug 0:29 | Link | Category: Site/Life News
April 15, 2003
A Short Blink in Time
My short vacation was nice... I hadn't expected a solo road trip to be enjoyable, but it was. I needed some thinking time. I visited some national parks, took a few hikes, ventured off-road in the Jeep to explore some BLM land, did a lot of driving, listened to many hours of music, and stood in four states simultaneously at Four Corners Monument (also known as The Official Middle of Nowhere).
There were a few odd twists, too. Like when I arrived in Moab at about 4:30 to a plume of smoke (and a million or so Jeeps... turned out to be this year's Safari). A fire had killed all electricity to the city. I figured they'd have it back on by dark, so I drove to Arches N.P. and hiked up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. I arrived back in Moab after dark, ready to eat and find lodging... but still no power. Ehhh.... I had very little gasoline, but finally found one station outside of town that had electricity (needless to say, it was packed). I fueled up and took the long drive to Monticello (I had planned on heading there anyway) where I found a great deal on a motel. So no need to sleep in the car. Also, I learned that melted PowerBars and warm water can make a pretty decent dinner if necessary...
I always enjoy time spent in S. Utah. I visit too rarely... one could honestly spend several lifetimes exploring everything. There are so many stunning places, both on and off the beaten path. It's awe-inspiring, quiet, adventuresome, spiritual. There's nothing like wandering among ancient geologic formations and ruins of cultures past to make one understand that we're just a short blink in time, a tiny part in a universe that is grander than we usually realize.
I took a bunch of photos. Many didn't turn out as I had hoped, but I put some of them in the photos section anyway.
15 Apr 12:00 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Travel