The End Of An Era

I have left the Student Pub Building, where I spent more time in college than any other single location, never to return as a student.

Tomorrow, I am moving away from Michigan. It will be my longest, most comprehensive move.

I have said goodbye to (some) childish things, and put many of them (read: junk) at the curb after cleaning out my room.

These may be huge, shocking developments in my life but none of them can hold a candle to this:



That, friends, is my Bondi Blue iBook being sent in for recycling. Purchased weeks after their release the blue book sported a ridiculously small 2gb drive and originally ran OS 8.6. It weighed 9.6 lbs, ran at a moderate 300mhz and had a whopping 64mb of RAM onboard. Though it was wireless-ready, it did not have the optional AirPort card built-in.

Godspeed, Bondi Blue iBook. Perhaps I will meet you again, refashioned into a better, functional, computer.

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Perhaps I am being overly harsh. I used it for years, and despite being dog-slow and woefully lacking in storage it still performed the duties I asked of it. Before recycling, I booted it up to remove any important data. After at least four years without power, it booted like a dream.

The laptop was not recycled with Apple's idiotic program, which would have required me to buy a new computer, but via Office Depot. I walked in, I put the ol' mac in a box, and am completely eco-guilt free. That's worth $5.

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I just got a rejection letter from the Georgetown Research News. This is particularly unfortunate, since it was the last publication that was on my radar.

Travel Plans -- Virginia Bound

Dad and I are zipping off at 7am from Chatteau De Eddy in Troy, with hopes and dreams of arriving in Alexandria before 5pm.

Behold!


View Larger Map

At least that's the plan for the moment.

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Tomorrow, I pack. Tonight, I listen to Ezra Furman and the Harpoons for the 50,000th time.

Have Ira Glass Confront Your Friends!

Have a friend that doesn't contribute to NPR? Stick Ira Glass on them!

From the This American Life blog:

Hi there. Ira Glass writing this. A few weeks ago, I met this listener who had an idea for the pledge drive. He said he had a close friend who listens to public radio every day, but never pledges. He said I should call the friend and record the conversation as I try to talk him into pledging. He said I should get other listeners to turn in their non-pledging friends.

I'll admit, I'm not totally sure if this is a smart idea or not. But it seems worth a few phone calls to find out. So I'm turning to you.

I'm writing to ask you to turn in a friend. If you know someone who listens to public radio avidly, several days a week or more, talks about stuff they hear on Morning Edition or Car Talk or our show, but they never pledge...I'd like to give them a call. I'll be nice, I swear. But I will ask them why they don't pledge. And I'll try to talk them into pledging. And I'll record the whole thing and—if it works—I'll put it on the radio.

So...if you know someone like that...send me their names and a sentence or two about how much public radio they seem to listen to...and their phone numbers. Don't warn them that I might call. And send me your number too. I might want to begin these little pledge segments with the person who's turning in the deadbeat listener.

Send all the info to radio@thislife.org with the subject "Turning in a Friend."

One more thing. This whole scheme probably only makes sense if the person turning in their friend is someone who pledges. So if you don't pledge, please know a) we're still friends b) you're in the majority; most people who hear our show never pledge and c) this little scheme I'm cooking up for the show is probably one for you to sit out.

Okay. I think that's everything. Thanks for your time.

Ira Glass

Guys, do not rat me out to Ira. I don't want him to know about my failures. Also, it probably won't help me get a job with NPR if I don't donate (often).

Knol

Google's answer to Wikipedia?

knol.google.com has a collection of articles it calls Knols -- further defined as a "unit of knowledge" -- which is searchable. So, it IS exactly Wikipedia, except that you see who the authors are, they present credentials.

Interesting idea, but I don't think it will make a dent in the Wikipedia crowd. However, you probably could site this in your College essays and not get a stern talking-to from the prof.

Don't Trust Your Instincts

I received this rejection letter a few days ago:

Dear William,

Thank you for submitting your resume to [name withheld]. Your resume has been received and reviewed for the [position to which you applied]. Your qualifications for the position were carefully considered, however, other candidates appear to have backgrounds better suited to the needs of the department.

They "appear" to have backgrounds better suited to the needs of your department? You sound unsure, or condescending. I can't tell.

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As you may have gathered from my Twitterings, I had some car trouble yesterday. The break line went, and I lost compression in the rear brakes and had very little in the front. The annoyance of having car trouble was nothing compared to the emotional trauma of having to pay for it. However, the car runs great again and will propel me southward, toward D.C.

Weird octopi with more than eight arms. How many? Try 85.

Completely awesome Rubix Cube solving robot made of Legos. Finally!

I move in 10 days.

Background Music

The outcome of this lawsuit is critical.

If the suit is defeated, it might set a precedent against the use of copyrighted music in YouTube videos. Can you imagine the consequences? Nothing but free-license background music or awkward silence in all YouTube videos. Truly, the end of days.

I don't really know where to come down on this one. If she wins, it will certainly be appealed. The likely argument being that there is too much room for abuse.

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I can say all of this with full authority because I am a make-believe legal scholar with a Doctorate of Law from Imaginary Univeristy (Go Dragoonicorntalopes!).

Pack Different

For those with bingo cards, I am back in Troy and have begun packing up my room.

That's not interesting, but this is:

Chessboxing! Sport of Kings!

Amazing pictures of a royal funeral in Bali.

But Why Arizona?

I recently returned from a brief trip to Arizona. I'm sure that anyone watching the TwitterBox noticed that I was there, though I realized (a little belatedly) that I didn't explain to many people why I was there.

Claire (girlfriend) spent two summers at the Homol'ovi National park, working with UM Professeor Lisa Young. After those collective weeks of sweltering, scrubbing, scraping and learning the entirety of Southwestern Ceramic typologies, Claire produced an award-winning undergraduate thesis based on the data collected from two sites in the park.

One of the sites, HP36, is a pithouse village and was undergoing further excavation when we visited. Dr. young was kind enough to take us around and tell us what everything was, and give us a history of the area. This year's dig brought some very surprising results to light, but I fear that my ignorance on the subject will prevent me from describing them accurately.

Later on, we took a trip out to Creswell, where Claire did her digging and the other site used in her thesis. However, there was little to see since each site is back-filled at the end of the season in order to preserve it.

We were also in time for Suvoyuki Day at the park, where members of the Hopi Nation have various informational booths, crafts, and food available for gawking tourists like myself. The food was fantastic: pit roasted corn is amazing. I also purchased a Cricket-girl Kachina doll, and Claire received the admonishing Grandmother Kachina doll from her mother.

When outside the park, we stayed in Winslow -- home of the famed street corner where Don Henley "took it easy." He's bee immortalized with a bronze statue on main-street corner. Sadly, I was unable to carry out Mojo Nixon's instructions, as the statue was cordoned off due to construction.

However, if any of you happen to be passing through Winslow: EAT AT LA POSADA. It's a gorgeous old hotel by the train tracks, and has some of the best food I have ever eaten. (Protip: Order the Elk, and have chocolate-covered champagne grapes for dessert.)

Arizona

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Some links I have been saving for you:

The NYTimes likes blimps, and so do I!

Save the Totoro Forest.

Surprisingly beautiful pictures of Japanese flood control gates.

Automated Messages

I love the automated confirmation/rejection emails I receive from the employers I have contacted.

Dear W.,

Thank you for your interest in the [name withheld]. Your resume has been received by our recruitment staff. If we determine that your qualifications match job requirements for available positions, we will contact you.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am a letter. And I am "W."

Twittering Telescopes

Many of you, dear readers, are familiar with the online-phenomenon "Twitter."

I've been doing more Twittering lately, and I'm having a good time with it. I've yet to get it up and running on my phone, but that's my problem.

Today, in my wanderings, I discovered that several radio telescopes in the UK are twittering. They might be the worlds most boring twitterers:

Knockin Observing: space (16:28:38.403 +47:34:16) http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/vlb...

Knockin Observing: space (16:33:23.435 +47:18:58) http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/vlb...

Knockin Observing: space (16:28:38.403 +47:34:16) http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/vlb...

Knockin Observing: space (16:34:02.340 +48:09:25) http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/vlb...

Knockin Observing: space (16:28:38.403 +47:34:16) http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/vlb...

And so on.

Obviously, the only people really interested in these are the researchers themselves. Although, there is something kind of fun about having this kind of knowledge on hand. For bonus fun, take a look at whose Twitters the telescope is reading (hint: other telescopes).
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On another note, more of you all out there should start Twittering. That way, you (like me) can be part of the United Internet Idiocy (UII).