Aluminum Foiled Again!

Well, their going to blow up the Frieze building. And you know what? I really don't care. What I do care about is the fact that Property Disposition, the liquidators of old University equipment was on the scene selling everything that wasn't actually bolted to the building (and a few things that were).
There were hatracks, reel-to-reel tap recorders, hundreds of shelves and sofas and even a quad-set of plastic chairs in a row. You know, the kind you see at subway stations or something.
There was also a very handsome looking Apple Studio Display. Now, my keen fan-boy eye immediately pegged it for not a recent model (2001), but it is a nice looking display none the less.
So, after four separate visits (once to case the joint, another to buy new sofas, another to move new sofas, etc.) I caved and bought it. Only $10! True, it has a teasing "DEAD MONITOR? - BOTTOM IS DARKER THAN TOP" sticker on it, I feel like it's at least worth investigating.
HOWEVER!
After I brought it home, I was puzzled at my inability to connect it to me PowerBook. A few searches on the internet and a browse through MacTracker sussed out the problem: Around 2000 or so, Apple introduced the ADC cable. The idea was that this sucker could power small USB devices, the monitor and carry all of the video data to the monitor itself! Ingenious! But, like many of Apple's proprietary hardware standards, this fell by the way-side and the universal DVI standard was eventually adopted.
The PowerBook that I run, naturally, has no ADC jack. And because of the unique configurations of the ADC cords, a $100 adapter ($50 on eBay) would be necessary to render it useful for me.

So what am I going to do?
Well, if someone can get me a cut-rate solution, I'd be willing to pay. However, I think it's much more likely that I'll take this sucker down to the Garg office and set up one of our G4 Towers as a dual-monitor station. It'd actually be useful there - provided that it's even usable!

Am I upset? No. The thing cost less than most meals in Ann Arbor (dorm food: $8 per meal). But I was very, very close to achieving true dorkdom by duel monitoring!

Ga-Ga Ga-Ga Ga-Ga

Here's something pretty nifty that we covered in my Intro To Modern English class.
It's called the McGurk affect, and it demonstrates the link betwen observation and hearing.
Here's what to do.

1. Watch the Movie
2. Note what sounds the man is saying (it should sound like da-da)
3. Watch the movie again, but this time close your eyes.
4. You should now hear him saying Ba-Ba.

WHY?
In reality the man was mouthing the sounds "ga-ga," but that was overdubbed with a recording of "ba-ba." The result of viewing 'ga-ga' and hearing 'ba-ba' is that your brain has to make some interpretations, resulting in you perceiving 'da-da.'
Remember! We don't really see, or hear things as they actually are!

Fantastic!

I just want everyone to know that I just had a fantastic night's sleep, and a wonderful morning.
How is this possible?!
Maybe four days of exhaustion was just what I needed!

I Am Going To Indiana

Here's the plan: after my Modern English Discussion class tomorrow, I will head back to Troy where I will bid a tearful adieu to Bucephalus. Hopefully, we will be reunited soon. 
From there Me, Dad, Miles and Julia will trek south-westard toward W. Lafayette.
There we shall feast in the halls of our ancestors. 
And then come back for the first Gargoyle meeting of the year on Sunday! Whew! What a trip!

So, moving in was no real hassle at all. True, there are a million stairs in this place, and all of my boxes were outlandishly heavy but nothing was damaged in the move.
And then I started classes.

So, you might be wondering then, where have I been. I know you all are. I know everyone one of you hang on my every dang word and that you poop yourselves in terror every time I disappear for a few days.
No, I know I am living a lie - well, more like living a dream, really. Someday, I hope to BE a Fandom.

Anyway.

The first thing we noticed when we moved in was the lack of internet. It would take several days - nearly a week - to get this rectified. And even after we had all the necessary ambiguous black boxes (with esoteric lights) installed in the house, it took us a further two days to get access to said internets, and to get the wireless router working.
Such is life!

It would be an exaggeration to say that we had no internet. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the unsecured wireless network "[expletive deleted] Clown."
So I am back on the internets, and I will be back to the important task of wasting my time with blogs. Hurrah!

Now, maybe I should consider doing some of the 100+ pages of reading. Three days in and I am already behind in class - YES!

Steve Irwin was a pretty awesome dude.