Tubin’
Sat Mar 28, 2009 21:42 (UTC -5)This week, I helped out with Florida Free Culture‘s “Free Your PC” event, in which volunteers installed antivirus software and free software on people’s computers. It was pretty satisfying to spread some free software love by installing Audacity, the GIMP, OpenOffice.org, and other programs for people who needed them. “But Jordon,” you ask, “why not tell people to download this software themselves? It’s all available on the Internet anyway.” The antivirus was our main draw, and people went for the other software because we were already installing stuff for them anyway. Plus, it was a great chance to explain our philosophy. Also, a lot of people don’t know how to install software or use Google or anything like that. Don’t hate.
On Thursday night, I wrote an eight-page research paper. I started around 10 or 10:30 and finished at 4 in the morning. Then I learned that I can function pretty well for a whole day on just three-and-a-half hours of sleep. But I wouldn’t do it all the time. Oh, no. I love me some good sleep. Also, procrastination is bad. Don’t do it, kids.
The people on the floor of my dorm are a pretty tight bunch. Roxy recently planned a two-day celebration for her birthday. Yesterday was part one. A lot of us went to Leonardo’s 706, a restaurant I had actually been to with my dad when I was 9 or 10 or 11. I didn’t remember much of it except what I wrote in my journal, which was that they had “the best darn garlic rolls in town” or something else a 9-, 10-, or 11-year-old would say. They still have the rolls, it seems, but I didn’t order any. Also, I was the only one who didn’t get a personal pizza. “What did you get, Jordon?” This pasta thing. I don’t like pizza that much.
Today, we went tubing at Ichetucknee Springs State Park. I went with other friends about a year ago, and the weather was similar this time: cold and cloudy with some rain. It was still fun, though.
In response to the recent “three strikes” laws against illegal file-sharing that certain countries have passed, the excellent music download site Jamendo is offering a “three thanks” campaign to promote its free and legal music downloads.
I’ve probably talked with my friend Luke or someone about the idea of microcredit, or making providing small loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help them (and their countries) succeed. Through Kiva, you can make small investments in these up-and-coming enterprises. (Via Dinosaur Comics)
If you agree that digital cameras are cool, you might want to read 8 Pioneering Moments in Digital Photography. (Via The Presurfer)
7 comments
#1 by Andrea: Sun Mar 29, 2009 09:19 (UTC -5)
Yay microcredit! The bad thing about Kiva is that there are SO many donors, that at any one time, they have only a few people you can choose to donate to.
#2 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Mar 29, 2009 09:30 (UTC -5)
So they limit the number of people you can choose from because there are a lot of lenders? I guess that would be so that their entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed, but yeah, I guess it’s not very good from the lenders’ perspective. Where did you hear about that?
#3 by Keith: Sun Mar 29, 2009 19:04 (UTC -5)
That’s cool. I personally don’t like OpenOffice.org very much; I use AbiWord myself when I do word processing (I’d much prefer just to write a web page, but that’s not always an option). Actually, I applied to AbiWord for Google Summer of Code 2009.
Yes, it is. When you procrastinate, all you’re doing is thinking about what you should be doing; you’re not really doing anything. But if you just get it out of your way, you can spend the rest of the time doing something you want to do.
I disagree that anything with a flash is cool. But the good thing about digital technology is that you can make people like me look a little better than we do normally (no, the picture on my blog wasn’t altered at all, but it could be if I had any skill for it).
#4 by Jordon Kalilich: Sun Mar 29, 2009 22:04 (UTC -5)
I actually just read about your Summer of Code application on your blog. That’s exciting. I hope you get accepted. (Yeah, I’ll leave you a comment next time.)
Speaking of the picture on your blog, Firefox 3 shows it as ASCII characters. It looks like you’re using an object tag. Any particular reason for that?
#5 by Luke: Sun Mar 29, 2009 22:57 (UTC -5)
If we talked about microcredit, it was way back when I listened to the radio, when it was exciting that Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
I like my digital camera because it makes it easy to make panoramas. That’s about it (until they make an easy way to automatically create HDR images). I love the feel of developer concentrate eating away my skin. Mmm…
#6 by Jordon Kalilich: Mon Mar 30, 2009 17:32 (UTC -5)
Ah, dangerous chemicals… they make one feel so wonderful.
#7 by Keith: Sat Apr 04, 2009 08:58 (UTC -5)
I like object tags. They’re a lot more powerful than img tags. Plus, IE has problems with them. I had no idea Firefox 3 did.