I realize that there have been many problems trying to access it, download the PSD files, or locate the fonts. Time has a way of changing everything. I have finally gotten around to locating the original source files I have, and will reupload them, along with the updated 2.0 (finished before I left) so that they will again be available.

I have a few ideas churning around in my head for a future version of Travelogue, but it has not even begun to be truly mapped out yet, so if you have any ideas, requests, or suggestions, please feel free to let me know.

Thank you again to all who have found and used this theme, as it encourages me to continue to learn and produce new things myself.

Yes, I am back. I have recently returned from my two-year mission for my church in the south of France. And it was incredible. What can I say, is there a single thing better in the world than being blessed to serve with all of your heart, might, mind and strength, to be solely focused on the well-being of others, and to be completely dedicated to the Lord for two years? No, not a thing.

Approximately one month has passed, I have simply been “readjusting” to “real-life,” which isn’t always the most pleasant of experiences. I haven’t updated this since I brought it back online about two weeks after my return because it was just too much to handle and think of again. Besides, I figured I would wait for the release of WordPress 2.5, which came out today, so I guess I am out of excuses.

I am excited to begin writing again. Like anyone who maintains a blog, I simply enjoy writing. I love quietly expressing myself, I think personal content is what makes our world interesting, and besides, letters are such individual works of art! Furthermore, I have 2,398 photos accumulated which I wouldn’t mind sharing either. I am currently working on processing all of those - not a small task. Everything in it’s time - one lesson I have certainly learned.

So thank you for reading, thank you for the interaction. I am pleased to be back here at my home, podq.com, and am excited for the years to come! May God bless and keep you.

Very good reason? O yes! I will be shutting down this blog on or around February 12^th. I will be leaving the 22^nd to serve a two-year mission for my church, and needed to shed some of the things that I will not have a chance to administrate to. Hence, my sites had to go!

However, they will be replaced by a static page with just a few details and notes for ya’all. I’ll finish out Travelogue 2.0, and then upload it to somewhere accesible. It’s already GPL’ed, so if someone would like to take charge of it, I WOULD LOVE IT!!! Just let me know in the comments.

Yes, it will be a sad absence, but it will be well worth it (to me!). Who knows, I just may write some occassional things and post an occassional photo somewhere about these parts, but don’t count on it. Party on ya’all!

You can see all of them by either clicking on the image on Google’s homepage, or by seeing Google’s history of it. Now maybe it is just me, but it looks like the cat and mouse are building something. And is that not an earth-looking thing behind the door?

Any conjectures on this? Happy Holidays!

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Eyes are the window to the soul.

Yet there is so much more that can be explored here. Eyes, for the most part, portray emotions better than any other part of the body. Mouths can obviously portray emotions very well, but at the same time can often lie. Hands can speak of emotions, but require a physical action to be used. However, eyes require no action, and never lie. If the emotions are equated to the soul, then perhaps it really is true that they are the window thereof.

An example of kind of what I am looking to do is similar to this photo:

Technical Challenges

Eyes are a wee bit on the, um, smallish side, and I really want to focus on the eyes, and not on the rest of the face. Therefore, my shots will need to be very close, because I want to crop the picture to a panoramic of the eyes, but maintain as much size and detail as possible.

I believe the biggest challenge will be lighting. In many photos that are taken (sans perhaps glamour shots) the eyes are often transformed into darkish spots. I want to ensure that each person’s eye color is correctly portrayed, and that we aren’t looking at something shadowed.

As I’ve already said, I want to focus on just the eyes. This means that I will either crop the photos to a pano, or need to use something creatively to block out the rest of the face. My framing may get a little creative!

I’ve never done potraiture in any depth before, so I’m trying to learn all about lighting - evenness, brightness, natural tones, etc. For example, I’ve learned that to get the glints in eyes (when I want them) I’m going to need something called a “catch light” that is just a bright light that is reflected directly in the person’s eyes. I am also not sure yet what kind of lights I can use, I just know that typical incandescent lights are giving me a nasty yellow-orange glow. This part may require a little bit of investment.

Overall, I’m really excited about the many different directions I could take this. I already have some subjects in mind that I want to ask to volunteer. Some have simply amazing eyes that don’t even need to do anything to evoke (or portray) emotion, and others I think will be perfect for showing emotions. I am excited about the different mediums and effects I could use as well: intense color, black and white, duotone, blasted out, etc. I don’t want to have to do too much Photoshop work, but I also believe that in photography, you are working to achieve and formulate the shot that you want, and tools that help you achieve said goal are just that - tools. Not cheating techniques. Now if you completely change it, or use PS to enhance your basically crappy images hoping to get a great one, that doesn’t work. But otherwise, it’s good.

Unfortunately, I have only a limited amount of time to pull this off as well. I really would like to get it done by the time finals roll around, so that I could set up a mini-gallery to reward all those who have helped me. So that means I’ve got to learn how to do it, shoot everyone, print, matte, post, and provide a small text for every photo. But I am very excited about it, so hopefully with a bit of diligence and a lot of luck, I’ll pull it off.

Keep ya’all updated, and if any of you have any suggestions or tips, especially relating to portraiture and lighting, I would LOVE to hear them! Thanks!

Like I said, never taken a class, but has done some great work already. Keep it up Paige!

Everybody should watch it! And now I must totally retire, because we are going to have to leave at like 6AM. Have an incredible weekend everyone!

Her list contains everything from the mini (or major) personal accomplishments like doing a pull-up (#29), to the extravagant, such as writing a whitepaper (#2) to planning a surprise weekend trip for Ryan (#75). She has given herself 1001 days, basically 2 and 3/4 years, to accomplish everything, and even if it may not be a public blog (woops sorry!) then I think it’s a noble/cool idea.

At the risk of sounding like a copycat, I’ve started formulating a list of 101 things I’d like to do, and perhaps someday when it is completed, I’ll post it. Thanks Jennifer!

The District of Columbia police auctioned off about 100 unclaimed bicycles Friday. “One dollar,” said an 11-year-old boy as the bidding opened on the first bike. The bidding, however, went much higher. “One dollar,” the boy repeated hopefully each time another bike came up.

The auctioneer, who had been auctioning stolen or lost bikes for 43 years, noticed that the boy’s hopes seemed to soar higher whenever a racer-type bicycle was put up.

Then there was just one racer left. The bidding went to eight dollars. “Sold to that boy over there for nine dollars!” said the auctioneer. He took eight dollars from his own pocket and asked the boy for his dollar. The youngster turned it over in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters—took his bike, and started to leave. But he went only a few feet. Carefully parking his new possession, he went back, gratefully threw his arms around the auctioneer’s neck, and cried.

From the First Presidency Message for the month of September, by Thomas S. Monson.

Not much more to say besides that. How often do we walk around, missing gratitude in our lives on even the simplest scale?

My first check in IE7 Beta 1, after viewing my own sites of course, was to see just how well it did with the Acid2 Test from WaSP. Well, check it out for yourself. Doesn’t look like the clouds have broken just yet.

I would like to simply examine some points and arguments being made for and against a video iPod, and try to move past all of the wishing and stipulations to see what could really be at the core of such a fabulous product.

Money

First and foremost, one fact must be recognized as concrete: Steve Jobs and Apple are in the business of making money. Believe it or not, it is not Uncle Steve’s dream every night to make you drool over new products and designs, and Apple’s mission statement does not say anywhere “make amazing products that everybody will love no matter what.” While Steve Jobs may be dang good at making you drool, he is even better and making you spend money, and that is his purpose and his job. So just keep that in mind as we walk through the points here.

The Bandwagon Theory

One of the most basic arguments I have heard for the introduction of a video iPod, vPod, iPod vIdeo, whatever you want to call it, is that “every other Tawainese and Japanese company has introduced MP3 players that also play videos, so Apple will have to.” No. No, that is the weakest argument I have heard regarding Apple’s strategy for a video iPod.

Why not jump on the bandwagon? Because that is not Apple’s methodology, nor is it Steve Job’s mentality. If Apple jumped on the bandwagon, they would have dissappeared long ago and never have reincarnated themselves as the pop-culture icon they are now, because their products would have been no different from the competition’s. Just about every MP3 player out there now includes a built-in FM tuner. Does the iPod? Which was the first company to completely drop legacy floppy drives from all of their computers? Who now sells over 1000 songs a minute, 82% of total online music sales, in a closed, proprietary format? It is not Apple’s way to jump on the bandwagon. Heck, what is their slogan? “Think different.”

Also, how succesful have those other MP3 players with video capabilities been? Evidently not too succesful, as compared with the 30.2% market share that the single line of DAP’s called iPod has against the entire rest of the market. iPods sans video helped Apple reap a 75% increase in revenue from over a year ago, to $3.52 billion. Money for Apple is flying in from these little guys, which is helping Steve achieve his goal of, now let’s review this, making money. (Read that in a deep, booming voice from now on) If Apple introduces a video iPod, it will not be “bandwagon” style.

Technical Specifications and the Holy Grail

In the past, Steve Jobs has himself been quoted as saying that he wouldn’t introduce a video iPod because he would hate to watch video on such a tiny little screen. And guess what? Steve Jobs doesn’t say something as a lie, and then completely contradict it later. He does have a tendency to skirt around the issue, but you can be sure with such a direct comment as that, that a video iPod will not come in the same physical form as it does now. That basically leaves two options: increase the screen size or provide a video-out.

Color screens, now a part of all regular iPods, but not mini’s, have been shown to be at least capable of displaying video (flipping really fast through all of your photos), but evidently have not come down in price enough to be a part of the iPod minis. And since we know that if Steve did put out a video iPod, one of the options would be to have a larger screen. And a larger screen would also require a phsyically larger iPod to make room for it’s scroll wheel, which would require a bigger and better battery, which would all in turn require a higher price. And still, the screen would most likely not be large enough to satisfy Steve’s desire to watch movies on it.

So let’s scratch the idea of watching movies on the iPod. Okay, so how about a video-out connection of some sort? What format would it be? To keep with it’s track record, Apple would only provide one. And that single cable would most likely need to be able to be protected by DRM, because what is Apple’s goal? To make money. Thus what formats are capable of that? DVI and HDMI? Apple wouldn’t introduce the video aspect of the iPod without being able to make money off video, which means it needs content providers, who will want their content protected, but more on this later.

If we are putting out video through an outbound connection, we still need to get the video there. That would require the hardware components necessary to decode the video, to pump at least some of it to the screen, and to pump it out to the receiving source. A logical guess would be that Apple would use MPEG4 or Quicktime H.264, which both require a fair amount of processing power to decode videos, even on a desktop computer. So there would be a price jump to include the hardware, codecs, and processing power to be able to output videos. Also, a huge consideration is the battery life of the iPod. Current regular iPods have a realistic battery life of about 10 hours, with the backlight and equalizer off, with no change in songs or otherwise. Video, which requires at least a stereo channel to be decoded, if not a 5.1 track, plus a much larger video track to be decoded, and then put out over the connection, are going to require quite the battery. Also, when playing music, the iPod only has to spin up its hard drive to store the song into memory, spin down, and then wait for the next one. The extra bandwidth in video would require the battery-sucking hard drive to either be constantly spinning or spin up-and-down much more frequently. Have you tried watching video on a PSP? Notice how much shorter your battery life is compared with playing games? Batteries my friends…

And don’t forget, all of this extra hardware is going to cost more money, which means that Apple will either have to make less profits off the player, or charge more for it and sell fewer. Neither of those really work into the mantra of making money.

Without Content you have Plastic

Now perhaps the killer. If people can play video on their iPods, what will they play? The two largest speculations, based on the ever-anonymous industry analysts, are that Apple will sell music videos for $1.99, and that Apple has been talking with Disney to license media. A couple of quick points about each.

I would never pay 2 bucks to watch a music video. Others would not pay that. And I’m an average rich music-loving American teenager. Why? First and foremost, because Apple already offers the music videos FREE from iTMS, to watch or to bundle with purchased songs. If consumers at one point did not have to pay for it, and then suddenly have to pay double the price to get a low-quality video and low-quality music, do you think they will do it? I highly doubt it. Second, the iPod is an on-the-go device. People listen to it while on-the-go, doing other things. They do not necessarily have to be walking around, but you do not listen to your iPod and stare at the screen the entire time - you listen and do something else, with your iPod in your pocket. It would be very difficult (or at least short-lived) for Apple to sell music videos for twice the price of the actual song (for lower quality) and subsequently expect people to buy enough of the videos for Apple to make money.

Licensing Disney media (and more than likely Pixar media as well) is a much more viable, though still shaky, prospect. “Disney” content includes The Disney Channel, ABC Family, ESPN, A&E, The History Channel, plus many many other local TV stations and international ventures. So therefore, it would be possible to license either episodes of shows aired on these stations, or videos produced by Disney themselves. However, time-shifted video cannot operate in exactly the same way as time-shifted audio (read: podcasts) because the information contained therein is so much more time-sensitive. Could you imagine in our busy lifestyles today, purchasing the latest episode of Sports Center, but not getting to watch it until later that day, or after the next game that your team has played? Worthless content if it is watched to late. Cartoon shows are timeless (in a sense), but children are not the target audience for the iPod. Feature-length movies would be a HUGE download, but might interest some. In the end, don’t expect Apple to straight up sell Sports Center or Dexter’s Lab through iTMS.

What about homebrew content? All of those cutsie family videos you have made of your many memories, compiled with way too many different transitions and background music that is sure to make you wonder what you are thinking? You could take these around and show Grandma the next time you are over at her house! Great, that’ll be just peachy! But how is Apple going to make money? Aside from selling the actual video iPod, they won’t. So Steve has to have something else up his sleeve.

Now that you are deflated…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a video-iPod-hater. If the next iPod I purchased could play videos without any major price difference, I would be all for it! But at the same time, I don’t feel that anyone in the speculation arena has gotten any of the details right, and before we all spread it around, we should give it a little more hard thinking to get inside Steve’s head. (Ya I know, impossible).

I do believe that at some point in the future, iPods will be able to play videos. I believe the content would most likely be video such as the West Wing season or specific episodes, where you can carry your iPod instead of your DVD set. Perhaps you’ll also be able to watch “Finding Nemo” on, or more appropriately, with your iPod. However, I don’t think it will be anything close to what we have guessed, and know everyone will gasp again when it is introduced.

Keep your head above the clouds people, and have a nice day!

For your daily dose of giggles and reality: 40 Things That Only Happen In Movies

Rather comprehensive, though I was suprised not to find anything on stormy weather or lightning!

Such is the case with “Saints and Soldiers.”

We gave the DVD to my dad as one of his Father’s Day presents, and watched it as a family. Well… as a family for perhaps 15 minutes, afterwhich we sent out all those under the age of 10. The film does not waste one second becoming an intense experience, as the first scene is the infamous massacre at Malmedy. In general, the story consists of four soldiers, trying to get highly-sensitive information to the Allies from behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge. Every soldier comes from different walks of life, but their interactions and outward actions create a transparently strong bond between them all.

“Saints and Soldiers” tells stories of bravery and honor, as well as morality and self-sacrifice. The end that you hope for never comes, and that only adds to the deeply rooted meaning of the movie. The most focused character of the film, Deacon, played by Corbin Allred, is a member of the LDS Church, though it is only subtley announced when he says that he served a mission in Berlin. Deacon’s altruistic innocence saves his fellow soldiers and others caught up in the war, and provides a richness to the film not found in big-budget Hollywood flicks. To truly understand “Saints and Soldiers” however, it is critical that you closely listen to Deacon’s dialogue about life after death. Without it, you may never arrive at an understanding and satisfaction with “Saints and Soldiers.” Is that good enough to pique your curiosity but not spoil the film?

“Saints and Soldiers” was produced for under $1 million, but you would never be able to tell when watching it. The entire movie also seems to have been rendered with a high-pass filter, (though I could be wrong, I’m not expert in the movie industry) which provides a great amount of realism to the time piece. As an indie-film, the producers were trying to figure out a way to get the most people to see it, and therefore implemented a “shotgun” style move by sending it to as many film festivals as they could, hoping to get into a few. And into a few they were received - plus just about every other one imaginable! The movie was the winner of numerous awards, such as:

• Best Picture: San Diego Film Festival
• Best Picture: Sacramento Festival of Cinema
• Best Picture: Long Beach International Film Festival
• Best Picture: Marco Island Film Festival
• Best Picture: Ojai Film Festival
• Best Picture: Heartland Film Festival
• Best Picture: Stony Brook Festival
• Independent Spirit Award Nominee: Best First Feature and Cinematography
• Best Picture: Teluride Indiefest
• Best Picture: Gloria Film Festival
• Best Picture: Winslow Film Festival
• Best Picture: Temecula Valley Film Festival
• Best Picture: Big Bear International Film Festival

Wow, if that many people thought that the film was good enough to win “Best Picture” in just about everything, I’d say that I’d have to agree! Therefore, Go see it! I’ve seen it available at both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video here in Colorado, so I’m sure it’s available somewhere where you are! Now! Go watch it now! You won’t regret it.

It’s extremely interesting to watch, and fun to play as well, because it helps you along! (Read the About page for more tips). It has been featured at such venues such as Ars Electronica, for a “Language of Networks” demonstration. Check it out!

Yes, I am sick and tired of designing/thinking about/viewing pages specifically designed to fit in a screen where less than 800 little pixels go marching across the screen. I cannot stand much more of this horizontally-centered, margin: 0 auto; make a nice pretty drop-shadowed border stuff any longer.

After looking at tons of other people’s screens over the past year or so, and after reviewing a couple of valid statistics, I have decided that the next look for this site is not going to conform to fitting in less that 800×600 pixels. In fact, it may very well not even use percentages! It may be designed for 1024×768, or larger, and if you have to scroll horizontally, then you are not my target audience.

Gasp, I hear them now, the demons and overseeing lords of the web design domain! The shrieks of accessibility freaks who are foaming at the mouths! The altruistic, selfless people who are crying “but my grandmother with bad eyes won’t be able to see it!” Well guess what? If I have even once had a grandmother come to my site, I would be surprised. And even if she did, things are still pretty hard to see at 800×600, so using a bigger resolution isn’t going to dissuade her. It’s ridiculous that I must either forfeit nearly a quarter of my available screen real estate (at least 21.9% to be exact) because some people may not be able to use it. Well buck up and get along with it people!

If ya ain’t tall enough to get on the ride, you don’t ride.

1. Referrall logs can reveal some interesting sources, such as a referrall from Anarchy.org.au, “Your starting point for the anarchist movement in Australia.” Um, should I really be driving traffic to this site?
2. Amazingly, I’m result 16 for “EFY” in Google, which is kind of crazy. EFY is a massively popular weeklong youth summer program in my church, and to find myself at number 16 for my post EFY Rocks! is kind of funny.
3. In the top 100 results for search phrases used to get to my site are these interesting results:
   • 4: Picture of Cuba
   • 11: Christmasy names
   • 24:illegal fireworks
   • 35: 143
   • 36: 2382
   • 48: womenswallstreet
   • 59: huggues hoppe married
4. My browser marketshare goes like this:
   • IE: 26.28%
   • Firefox: 14.95%
   • Mozilla Compatible Agent: 10.56%
   • Opera: 7.42%
   • The Rest: Mostly RSS readers and bots

I think that’s most of the interesting stuff. Evidently I need to target traffic a little better! Happily though, my most numerous hits for getting to my site involve WordPress and Travelogue, and Travelogue downloads are just up up up! Thanks for visiting everyone!

This is most noticeable on the sample images from MSN Virtual Earth, where the resolution and quality is amazing. You will often see cars parked out along streets, vehicles at stop lights, etc. But what I cannot see anywhere is an actual person! No one walking on the sidewalks, nobody in convertibles, nobody in the swimming pools of the sample image here.

I zoomed in quite close to the large version of this image, and the only place you could possibly say there are people is on the lawn chairs in the bottom left-hand section of the image. But still, does that mean that every single person at that precise moment was either laying on a lawn chair, indoors, or invisible? I think not! Not a single person was walking on the sidewalk, getting into a lawn chair, or swimming? Imagine that, you look around and every single person in this large area is laying down, no one is up moving! Crazy!

Now, perhaps I’m missing something (and if I am, please let me know) but I doubt that the producer of these images, Pictometry is going to take the time to go into each photo and clone out every obvious human, but I can also see why they theoretically would. Two words that are wreaking havoc in our modern day sue-happy world: Personal Privacy.

But anyways, can someone spot some people for me so that I don’t feel so paranoid?

1. Copy the picture you want to insert as the polaroid, but do not paste it yet.
2. Turn off the top three layers that serve as an intro to the PSD.
3. Open the “Polaroid” layer set, and find the layer with the current image in it (should be the fourth one), click it.
4. Paste your new image in. It should appear as a new layer above almost everything, but below the polaroid. If not, move the layer around until it does.
5. You may wish to rotate your picture layer to make it appear straight inside the box. This is kind of a “tweak it till it’s right” step.
6. Now Ctrl + Click on the vector mask (the little grey looking box next to the actual preview) of the old polaroid picture layer. This should load up a selection of the outline of the inside of the polaroid. Hopefully you can get the step in correctly, it’s the tricky/important one.
7. Finally, making sure that your new polaroid picture layer is still selected, click on the “Quick Mask” button at the bottom of the layers palette, should be the second one from the left, a grey box with a white circle in the middle.

If all done correctly, you should now have a perfectly masked new polaroid picture! Just pop into ImageReady and export that slice with the new pic! Oh, how to do this? Well…

1. Save the file you have just edited.
2. Go File > Jump to ImageReady. Photoshop will now open up ImageReady with your file.
3. In the toolbar, select and hold the Slice button (looks like a knife) until other buttons pop up, then select the Slice Select button (looks the same, but with an arrow).
4. Select the slice that contains the polaroid. You should only have to click on it.
5. Go File > Save Optimized As, and change the bottom drop-down to “Selected Slice Only”. Then save it where you want!

And that’s it, you should now be set. I would highly encourage you to learn Photoshop, if you have it at your disposal. You will be a better webizen for doing so. Good luck!

Travelogue is aimed at those that are using their blog as a, um, travelogue, but also works quite well for anyone else as well. It’s unique design is created for any-sized monitor, not just a column centered in the middle of the page. It paints the date differently than most themes (graphically, not just a line of text) and includes the PSD’s to change any graphical elements. Also supports a random header image through the use of php randomness and CSS classes. For more info, visit the Official Travelogue Page, and see who is using Travelogue around the blogosphere.

Safety was designed to fit some stringent standards, such as no graphics, only web-safe colors, and scale well to any size of display. Therefore, it isn’t going to shock your eyes when you see it. However, it is perfect for any sites looking to adhere to strick standards like this, so go at it! It achieves its rounded-corner effect through cross-browser compatible JavaScript. Also, the colors can all be very easily changed out to fit your needs. Dedicated page coming soon.

The Answer: I don’t know.

Let’s review the basics.

• Windows 3.1, released Spring of 1992.
• Windows 95, released in 1995.
• Windows XP, released Fall of 2001.
• Windows XP SP2, released Fall of 2004.

Differences between Windows 3.1 and Win 95 were huge - a new GUI, great advances in processor usage, the jump from a 16- to 32-bit operating system, etc. Quite arguably one of the best releases Microsoft has ever made. Windows 98 improved upon Win 95, and generally made things better. WinXP was a rather large change from Win98 (though built mostly on Win2000 technologies), presenting a new*er* GUI, and much more rock-solid stability than 98 had; essentially no more BSOD’s. Wonderful! Difference between XP and XPSP2? Well, besides three years of development time… two words: “security patches.”

Microsoft has kept pretty much in stride with a three-year development cycle. 92-95, 95-98, and 98-01. However, we are now facing the break in that cycle. Longhorn, initially slated to be released this year, has fallen to 2006, then 2007, and is now back at Christmas 2006. At best predictions, that is a 5-6 year break between the release of WinXP and Longhorn. Some may say “But look, SP2 was three years after XP, and Longhorn will be only 2-3 years after that!” Fellow power users, do you really accept that SP2 was a major revision? Aside from patching holes and finally turning on basic security measures, did SP2 provide any really great gains for the end-user or developer? Personally, I answer no.

Well fine, let’s give Microsoft a break and go with their Christmas 2006 release date, giving them a 5 year cycle. Besides, hasn’t Billy G. promised us the world on a silver platter with Longhorn? Isn’t all of this development time going to be worth it? Avalon will stun us all, WinFS will read your mind and give you your file, and Indigo will send every email you could ever think of. Great! These “three core pillars” are going to revolutionize the way you work, as stated by Paul Thurrott. But wait, what’s this? One pillar is coming out before Longhorn, one is dead, and only one is left to stay the course? Where is Longhorn?

O well, I’m going back to watching my classic movies from the 30’s and 40’s, I love them so much! Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House, 6 classic horror movies, they’re great! Bye!

First on the list? A monster for sale! From the item description:

The brave, lucky winner of this auction will own one monster known to dwell beneath my daughter’s bed, in her toy box, and in her closet. Said monster was apprehended by me at 3:15 a.m. on January 31, 2005. I was able to capture him in a small insulated zippered cooler as it was the handiest object able to contain such a beast. When captured, the monster was in his invisible state.

Currently, 33 minutes before this auction ends, there have been 44 bids bringing the total selling price to $1,340.28! Thirteen-hundred dollars! If you wish to own your own private monster, hurry on over and bid on this steal of a deal!

Some people!

After further inspection and inquiring my teacher (Mr. McGill, one of the coolest guys ever, fourth time I’ve taken his class :)) I found out that I had a Yashicamat 124, a medium-format camera produced in Japan in the 60’s. It shoots 120 and 240 film, includes a light meter powered by a battery that is no longer produced, and is fully manual. Exciting!

Mr. McGill was kind enough to let me take it home, and as soon as I can get to Wolf or Mikes, I will be picking myself up a roll of 120 to shoot away. Stay posted for the results.

You just know that every applicant in the world is going to start off with “I was born in…” So I asked a few of my trusted friends some different ideas for beginning a biography. Here, in no particular order of quality or seriousness, is what we came up with.

• “Once upon a time…”
• “Hi my name is _____ and I am dumb.” (Great for the scholarship apps!)
• “I came out of my mom in…”
• “My first moments of independent life…”
• “I began my journey to success on…” (You go-getter you!)
• “My mom gave birth to the 8^th Wonder of the World on…”

But if none of those suit you for some reason or another, here are some rather intelligent ones:

• “My life has been like a…”
• “My parents named me….”
• “My favorite color has always been… because…”

Have fun with your next autobiography! You only get one.

Bloggies: Asian

http://noodlepie.typepad.com/
http://popagandhi.com/
http://glutter.typepad.com/
http://tokyotimes.org/
http://blog.codefront.net/

European

http://elastico.net/
http://viewropa.com/
http://www.binarybonsai.com/
http://www.petiteanglaise.com/

American:

http://photomatt.net/
http://kottke.org/
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
http://chicagoist.com/
http://justwatchthesky.com/

Photography:

http://sh1ft.org/shutterbug
http://overshadowed.com/
http://sensitivelight.com/
http://adampolselli.com/
http://snowsuit.net/

Food:

http://tastingmenu.com/
http://theredkitchen.net/
http://chezpim.typepad.com/
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/
http://101cookbooks.com/
http://thefoodsection.com/

Politics:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog
http://powerlineblog.com/
http://andrewsullivan.com/
http://watchblog.com/
http://washingtonmonthly.com/

Computers or Technology:

http://daringfireball.net/
http://engadget.com/
http://we-make-money-not-art.com/
http://slashdot.org/
http://osnews.com/

Humorous:

http://jonnybillericay.blogspot.com/
http://littleyellowdifferent.com/
http://gawker.com/
http://defectiveyeti.com/
http://fuggingitup.blogspot.com/

Best Designed:

http://hicksdesign.co.uk/journal
http://justwatchthesky.com/
http://brookelyn.org/
http://shauninman.com/
http://mezzoblue.com/

Lifetime:

http://megnut.com/
http://plasticbag.org/
http://a.wholelottanothing.org/
http://www.molly.com/
http://pamie.com/

Some categories were rather odd, specifically the Asian, European, and American categories. Because of what they were nominated for, I tried to choose blogs that contained content specific to those interested in that geographical region.

Photography was a blast to sort through - it was the category that by far took the most amount of my time! However, I think that two blogs should have been added to the list, Jinky Art and Utata - Catherine Jamieson Photography (which appears to change it’s interface pretty much every other day. Those are both by far my favorite photoblogs, giving me something to learn from and live up to.

All in all, it was a fun and explorative (made up that word) experience, and I have discovered plent of new and interesting sites that I would have not otherwise!

What about other possibilities? In this month’s National Geographic Adventure magazine (February 2005), there is an article entitiled “How to Sail Across the Atlantic (or the World) in 25 Easy Steps”. Right off the bat, you knew this was written by a rich couple, but hey, I read it anyway. It describes the said couple’s experience of purchasing a boat, and then sailing wherever they felt like for three and a half years. I was hooked by the time I read the subtitle.

Take this passage from the end of the article:

“We met sailors, such as Lin and Larry Pardey, who’d set out for a nice sail one day and were still at it over 36 years and 180,000 miles later. We met others who’d had very definite plans to circumnavigate in three years and hadn’t managed to extricate themselves from the north-west Caribbean yet. Many, like ourselves, found their course altered on a daily basis. A cold front from the north approaches, and suddenly you’re off to Cuba rather than Honduras.

In the autumn of 2001, we found ourselves crossing the Mediterranean. After a brief stop in Menorca in the Balearics, we pressed on to Sicily and the stinking cesspool of Palermo harbor, and from there, to little Cefalu on the north coast of the island. We stayed for a week trying to figure out the next step; whether to stay put and winter in Sicily, or make a late-season run to Greece, say, or mabe Israel.”

Wow. Doesn’t that just sound like one of the most incredible adventures you could go on? Not being bound by bosses, bills, or boredom, free to seek out your own adventure. Experiencing the countless different cultures of every port of call, struggling through repairing a broken part, observing the fishes of the sea that you may otherwise only see on the Discovery Channel. Imagine the stories and tales you would generate - all true - from such an enterprise.

Or what about doing something like hopping into your car and setting out onto a road, ignoring boundaries, state and country lines, and taking those byroads that seem like they’ll never go anywhere. For example, “The Motorcyle Diaries” (which I have never seen, bummer, durn R-rating) in which two friends set out on a motorcycle to experience whatever the road ahead has to offer them. Or the ad next to the sailing article, with a pciture of a group of hikers in an amazing mountain setting, with text that reads “What’s on your life’s ‘To Do’ List?” with checkboxes like “Explore Patagonia,” “Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro,” and “Sail the Galapagos.” Contrast this to my previous life goals such as “Go to college” and most risque, “Go sky diving.” There is so much of the world to experience out there, so many cultures to discover and learn about, so many different locales and lifestyles, how can you ever find them all by staying put?

Now of course, if I did manage to set out on my own adventure, I’d have just a couple of requirements. I would have to be able to take photographs all along the way, and I’d have to be able to blog about it and have some sort of communication (email) if I wanted it. I doubt I would go out for years on end, but more likely a month or so, because I can’t miss too much church! But oh what an experience!

Just you wait, you’ll be hearing about it soon enough!

“Your son or daughter has been absent from one or more classes to day. Here is some more information about the incident:
‘The student in question is a 12^th grade caucasian male, missing from class period 0.’”

Now does that sound like a police report or what? “Caucasian male?” “Incident?” Well, I didn’t know that a teacher’s error could be taken so seriously!

The categories I have been given (each panelist receives 10 of the thirty) are:
Asian, European, American, Photography, Food, Politics, Computers or Technology, Humorous, Best Designed, and Lifetime. Deadline for final votes is this Saturday, the ²²

Indian Ocean Tsunami Imagery - Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

scenta

fatties …

I’m sure I’ll add more as they become available, or I become bored again. But hey, at least they go here instead of on the side! For those interested, the best resource to get started is Taylor McKnight’s site.

The Apple Product Cycle
Dang Macs (caution: Expletives)
And while we’re at it, we might as well insert a PC link too:
Windows Noises by Clown Staples
Slightly long, but has an excellent base track!

Location:
Map of Lockers First and foremost is the all important location of the locker. Observe the map at right. The map shows the entire Senior Hall, with the main doors at the top, and all areas in red being lockers. My locker is located right in the center of all the lockers, right on the curve which is the â€?major hangoutâ€? Locker #4113 is the last locker in the row, and is located next to the absolutely critical power outlet. Why is a power outlet so critical you ask? Well read on…

Equipment:
The main attraction of the locker is the stuff inside it. Not just your average every day highschool junk, but real important stuff, stuff that will actually make a difference throughout the year. Why? Because it’s cool stuff with entertainment value! And what is more important these days than entertainment value?? (Satirical voice there) So here’s the rundown, noting diagram at right:

Locker Diagram–image here

1. The TV: Perhaps the centerpoint of the locker is a small television, approximately 9� in size, and black and white, perhaps color. It will be purchased off of Amazon.com or eBay, depending on where I get the better deal. I want to be able to show movies like �Finding Nemo� and watch �The Price is Right!� To achieve the first goal, it will need to either be able to hookup to an external device, or include a VCR or DVD player in it. More discussion on this later. Coby TV Memorex TV eBay Search for TV’s
2. Speakers and CD Player: Of course, when we’re not watching television, we’ll be jammin out to some awesome tunes! Which is why I’ll need a CD Player. Also, I don’t count on the speakers on the TV to be entirely capable of being loud enough, so I will need an external pair of speakers. However, if the TV comes with a DVD player, I can eliminate the CD player for obvious reasons, therefore I would prefer a TV with a DVD player included. On the side of the CD player there is extra space for holding CD’s. Chosen speakers on Amazon.com
3. The Food: Of course, no entertainment center would ever be complete without a stash of grub, so obviously we need to have a big area for this stuff! Though the diagram is not incredibly detailed, you’ve got a Pringles can, some cookies, some chips, some Gummie-Bears, and possibly a beverage. Hopefully the janitors don’t have midnight snacks…
4. Suspended shelf: This is to hold the unfortunates, my books. ’Nuf said.
5. Foldout chair: I don’t expect myself to sit on the cold hard tile while enjoying �The Price is Right!� No, I will have a reclining foldout chair, that also comes with a sunshade, that perhaps I will place a discoball on. Just in case. The foldout chair will definitely be blue, because I like blue. It will fit in the space between the side and the suspended shelf.
6. Foliage: No area is complete without some greens! Just a small little plant or bush to cheer up the place and keep it natural!
7. Ponderosa Pocketchange Raffles container: O now this is a big part of the plan! I will discuss this later, but for now, this briefcase holds the entry forms to the raffle as well as the entrance fees and prizes!
8. Quote of the Day Board: A carry-over from last year, this dry erase board has the famous Quote of the Day on it, changed every morning to give everyone something to think about for the day. Also below the board will be a new Mormon-Ad, posted every week for inspiration!
9. The Pictures Door: And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! What is possibly good enough to go on the inside of the door to grandest locker of all time? What could possibly add to the value of an already mind-blowing plan? All of the pictures of my girlfriends of course! Hahaha!

Not Pictured: Either because I forgot to add it to the diagram, or because I couldn’t figure out a suitable way to represent it using Omni Graffle, I did not include the power strip to give life to all of the electronics contained therein, and the blow horn which I will have to announce Ponderosa Pocketchange Raffles.

Incredible locker, huh? You only wish you could have had such a cool senior locker, huh? Huh pal? I’ve been plotting this one out for a long time, and yes, there still are some issues like funds and security, but I have a few weeks before school starts again and I hope to have it fully mapped out by that time. Note that the drawing is to scale (haha yes it’s true!) and I have already begun research on products that I want to include. But wait! There is one last thing to discuss!

Ponderosa Pocketchange Raffle:
Every Friday, as the culminating aspect of the Locker Extraordinaire, I will be hosting the Ponderosa Pocketchange Raffle, a raffle of small prizes raffled off every Friday to all those who enter. The prize for the week (such as $5 gift certificates to Burgers and Sports or Ponderosa memorabilia) will be announced each Monday through a flyer distributed to all seniors. Seniors then have the opportunity throughout the week to enter their names as many times as they wish, as long as the pay the accompanying 25c fee. Then, when Friday arrives, I will use the blow horn in my locker to get everyone’s attention, call for a drum roll, and announce the winner of that week’s raffle! The drawing will be right before the last period of the day, before everyone ditches and leaves. I have yet to decide whether the proceeds will go straight to the prize fund, or if they will be used to support a charity of some sort. But all in due time, I will have that figured out as well before the beginning of the year. Now this my sound like a strange or stupid idea to some, but with the help of some of my popular football friends, drumming up support shouldn’t be too bad. Way to go Ponderosa!

And there ya have it! The ultimate locker! I post this early because if any of you have suggestions or constructive criticism, please post it in the comments section! Otherwise, you may comment on how excited you are to see this locker for the final year of the best class ever, Class of ’05!

IEBlog

Opera, a Real Browser

Get Firefox

Examples: Chinese/Japanese site (?) with English image headers: CandyIMG.com | German blog with an English slogan: 127.0.0.1

Why are these sites in two languages (ie native plus English)? Most English readers are not going to speak the second and primary language the site is in, and isn’t it an inconvenience to native readers? Albeit, many international users run a higher risk of speaking a second language like English, but still, would it not be easier to have the whole site in the native language? Especially for script languages, such as Chinese and Japanese? Can anyone answer these questions? Just a little confused…

Terror in the Skies, Again?

1. A new bill being run through the Senate about P2P apps that �induce� crime; includes line-by-line rebuttal: http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/004563.html
2. IBM, Intel, Sony, Microsoft, Warner Bros., Walt Disney and Panasonic are now working together to stop you from recording HDTV broadcasts that you have already paid for. http://news.com.com/Tech%2C+Hollywood+heavyweights+create+content+coalition/2100-10253-5268315.html?tag=nefd.lede

Combine this with other things, like the DMCA, CD Copy Protection (gag me), or the RIAA lying about sales to make people think CD sales were down, when they weren’t, and you feel slightly belittled by everything. Of course, then you realize that none of this has affected you, and the customer has still one! Chalk one up for the educated consumer!

Enter the podq live Photography Gallery