How many words?

I’m home again for the long weekend. Ubuntu has been giving me problems. I thought Compiz was stable on this computer, but it’s actually less stable than Beryl was on Feisty. If I had wanted my computer to freeze and shut down at random times, I would have stuck with Windows 98. So I’ve switched back to Metacity, the default window manager. The screen brightness changes when I don’t want it to and doesn’t change when I want it to — unless I adjust it myself. Plus, I once again have to enter a password to use the Wi-Fi at home; the fix I used before is now ineffective. Other than that, everything is fine. (If you didn’t get that, here’s a summary: the computer’s slightly wonky but mostly hunky-dory.)

I’ve often wondered how many words I’ve written in this here bliggity-blog. Of course, I could copy and paste the text of every post into a word processor and have it determine the total, but that’s not how I roll. No, instead I decided to write a quick JavaScript script that would count the words in the 869 entries I’ve written before this one. It’s not a perfect script, of course; I think it tends to overestimate slightly. But its result is telling: the previous 869 posts contain about 470,264 words. Remember that time I tried to write a novel? How about that other time I tried to write a novel? If this blog were published, it would be the length of about 9 novels. Whoa. How many volumes could you split that into? Samuel Pepys, eat your heart out.

A few weeks ago I was tossing around the idea of selling World of Stuff t-shirts through a site like CafePress. I even made a mock-up design. Imagine this emblazoned across your chest:

Apparently, the design can only be as wide as 10 in. So on a large t-shirt, it would be rather small (some might say discreet). On smaller shirts, however, it would look just right. The solution is obvious: I have to get lots of girls to buy and wear these shirts. If I decide to sell them.

Okay, let’s have a poll. Would you buy this shirt?

Are you a web lingo expert? Apparently I’m not. I only got 70% of the questions right. I think some of those abbreviations have never been used by anyone ever.

A collection of your favorite Internet phenomena set to an infectious tune: The Internet Stars Are Viral.

Here are some fascinating facts about food coloring!

Pun or song lyric

Version 7.10 of Ubuntu, my operating system of choice, came out on Thursday, so guess who upgraded right away. That’s right: me. It’s free of charge, so all I had to do was let the upgrade process work its magic. Sometimes magic takes a while, especially when web servers are bogged down with traffic and Internet connections are inexplicably slow. (20 KB/s? What the heck?) But I’d say it was worth it.

Ubuntu, like most Linux distributions, has repositories of software packages for easy downloading and installation of programs and other tools. Upgrading the operating system usually means upgrading your programs too. So I’m enjoying new versions of Thunderbird (e-mail), Pidgin (instant messaging), the GIMP (image editing), OpenOffice.org (office suite), and more. Plus, there’s a more stable version of Compiz (one that doesn’t seem to make my computer crash*) with all the Compiz Fusion extras. (I only hate eye candy when I can’t have any. Check out this video to see what Compiz is all about.)

Besides adjusting to new versions of programs, the only real issue I had was with fonts in Firefox. The same fonts were showing up, but they looked very different. I don’t know much about fontography, but I found out that it had to do with the hinting of the fonts. So I changed Ubuntu’s font hinting settings, and everything is good again.

I’ve been pretty lazy this weekend, but time has been going by fast. Today I watched the Gators beat Kentucky. (I enjoy football, okay, guys?) Tomorrow I’ll be doing research in the library with my America in the Fifties professor and most of the class. It should be fun. Since the class only has about 12 people, we’re pretty good buds. At least, I like to think so. I don’t know many of their names, but since when did that matter? One guy (who looks like a John or a Chuck but isn’t) has said that he uses Ubuntu, and that’s cool. He said he switched to Linux because he hated Windows Vista. I have him beat; I switched because I hated Windows XP. (Though my friend Luke switched because he hated Windows 98 — granted, it circa 2003 at the time.)

Incidentally, I used Windows from version 3.1 right up to the beginning of this year. In this space I would reminisce if I felt like it. Instead, I’ll just do it mentally. You can too! Fill the rest of this space with your own memories of your old computers.
 
 
 

Ah, the memories. Done? Good. Me too. Oh, I was just thinking… remember that idea for a World of Stuff store? I have a pretty lame idea for a shirt, but I know that hardcore WoS fans would buy it. And I’m sure that if I came up with some funny things to put on shirts, people would maybe buy them. Of course, I’d be using something like CafePress, and all of my earnings would go toward running the site.

Wikipedia has an article on deliberately fictitious entries in encyclopedias and other reference works.

Saturday, December 8 is Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day!

* Although, while I was gone from my computer today, it rebooted. I can’t pin this down on any specific program because the system logs reveal nothing about it.

All Linux, all the time

The other day I got a notice from the university’s housing department saying that they’d be doing maintenance to the network in my dorm on Tuesday morning. The notice also said that there would be computer network guys in my dorm’s lobby to help with people’s connection issues. I knew I’d lose my Internet connection, so it was no surprise yesterday that I couldn’t get online. I went downstairs with my laptop to ask for help, fully expecting a sigh from the guys at the table because I use neither Windows nor Mac OS, but Linux — Ubuntu, to be exact.

One of the guys gave the standard comment to the other: “This one’s all you, Jim/Bob/Steve/Larry.” So Jim/Bob/Steve/Larry, the resident Linux guy, had a look at my computer and started poking around. He had a laptop of his own on his desk, and I could see that it was running Linux: it was a stereotypical setup featuring KDE, tiny fonts, a space-themed background, and about 17 command line windows open. I think he said it was Sabayon Linux. Anyway, he spent five to ten minutes editing some files only to get errors connecting to the Internet. He wasn’t aware of the differences between Ubuntu and Sabayon, but he asked for my number and said he’d call me when he found out.

The problem isn’t really connecting to the Internet, it’s setting up an Ethernet connection that requires a user name and password. That is possible with Linux, but it’s apparently not as straightforward. What I want to know is why we have to enter a user name and password to connect to the Internet in our own dorms. Is someone thief going to come in, plug his computer into the Ethernet network, and steal the university’s precious bits? I doubt it. (In the meantime, the Linux guy turned off authentication in my room, so I don’t need a user name or password to connect. That’s how they “solved” my problem initially, and it had been doing me fine until yesterday. Seriously, guys. Why do we need to do this in the first place?)

In more optimistic news, the next version of Ubuntu, 7.10 (codenamed Gutsy Gibbon), is coming out next Thursday, and, as always, it will be free (zero cost) for everyone. There’s a bunch of new features that will make it easier to use, so bookmark Ubuntu’s official site and return after next Thursday to download the operating system for free.

I’ve been using Linux for almost 8 months now, so I feel that I’m qualified to write an article about it à la The Dvorak Keyboard and You. Of course, I don’t pretend to know everything about Linux, so I’m going to have a friend look it over and give me his thoughts. There are tons of sites that introduce people to Linux, but we could use one more. Most of my friends have never heard of Linux, after all, so I hope that a page about Linux on this site will allow my friends and others to give it some thought.

See what’s all the rage on Wikipedia with wikirage.

15 Stunning Images Using Blur to Portray Movement.

Skype no more

I’ve never used Skype much. Although I’ve long believed it’s a cool idea for a program, I rarely need to use it. After switching to Linux, I had some qualms about using the Linux version of Skype because it’s not free software (free as in freedom, not necessarily as in price). Nonetheless, I downloaded it anyway, only to confirm that it sucks. Skype has spent almost all of its resources developing the Windows version of its software, leaving the Mac and (especially) the Linux versions in the proverbial dust. However, I continued to use Skype as often as before (that is, hardly ever).

Then, recently, I found out that Skype for Linux reads your password and Firefox profile. It apparently took a while to be noticed because Skype is not free software as per the definition linked to above. Only the Skype developers have access to the source code, so only they can know what the program is programmed to do. If Skype were free software, this breach of privacy would have been uncovered very quickly and fixed by members of the community. And with that, I got rid of Skype and searched for a free (as in freedom) alternative.

I came across WengoPhone, which, unlike Skype, uses the open protocol known as SIP. A WengoPhone user can talk to people using other SIP clients. (Skype users, on the other hand, can only talk to other Skype users due to Skype’s use of its own proprietary protocol.) What I like about WengoPhone as opposed to Ekiga (which I already had on my computer) is that the interface is similar to Skype’s. The program is a little rough around the edges in the way of bugs (I can’t hear the sound that’s supposed to play when you get a call), but overall, it seems like a pretty good alternative to Skype. The sound quality, from what I’ve been able to tell, is worse than Skype’s but a little better than your phone’s. As for calling real phones, Wengo’s rates for the US and Canada are less than half of Skype’s (€0.008/minute vs. €0.017/minute).

One problem I had with Skype is that I really didn’t have anyone to talk to. Let’s make this less of a problem for SIP. WengoPhone is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux (and it should be in the repositories for your Linux distribution). And here’s a list of moreSIP clients. Once you have it set up, give me a call at sip:jordonk27@voip.wengo.fr. I think you should be able to leave me a message if I’m not available.

I’m think my friend Luke is right. Proprietary software really is a crime.

On the Ask Jordon front, we’re picking up from last time.

Clairecrowww: Well, I have to do my assignment today. Its a talky-type thing, so I don’t think you could help much… Unless you came to Australia?

Maybe next time we can use SIP!

Clairecrowww: And also: My friend would like to know if the West Coast Eagles will win the grand final. (Its AFL, if you didn’t know)

Reply hazy, try again later.

Also on the privacy front: I’ve reported about the phenomenon of color printers printing Seeing Yellow is a site that has more information about the phenomenon.

Not to be confused with the 10 amazing Earth facts I posted recently, here are 101 Amazing Earth Facts.

I’ve got a lot of stuff to do: people to see, money to make, y’know what I’m sayin’?

As I’ve mentioned, adapting to college life has been pretty easy. In fact, almost too easy. I thought it was going to be really angsty and blogworthy like high school, and here I am, disappointed by not being disappointed. I mean, there are tests and things, but that’s pretty much just like high school. If you’re able to keep yourself afloat on your own two feet (two clichés that mix like oil and water), you’ll do fine with your classes (it seems). You just have to make it your priority; that’s why you’re in college, after all. And if you can do that, then you can shift your focus to extracurricular activities. But if you don’t stick your schoolwork, The Beatles can tell you what happens:

But then again:

I have somewhere to go. In fact, I can go wherever I want (within reason or walking distance). That means that college is a lot better than high school when it comes to extracurricular activities. I could never join clubs in high school because I don’t drive, and staying after school would cause me to miss my ride. In college, I call the shots, and I can walk (or take a bus) not only to but also fro. So I’m taking advantage of that opportunity by checking out a few of the hundreds of student organizations on campus. Yesterday, Mark, whose blog I found before I started college here, invited me to check out the hacking club, where they’re apparently going to teach people how to identify vulnerabilities in web servers. It’s not as interesting as I thought it would be, so I don’t think I’ll follow up on that.

Last night, I went to the first meeting of Gator Freethought. It apparently originated as the Atheist, Agnostic, and Freethinking Student Association, and has adopted a new term to match its new ideals. While freethought is usually associated with atheism and agnosticism, Gator Freethought is not necessarily an atheist or agnostic group. Freethought is about rationally analyzing your worldview rather than sticking to dogma that you might not entirely have a feel for. Among the 50 or so people at the meeting, there were not only atheists and agnostics, but also Christians and Jews who wanted to analyze their own beliefs with a rational eye. Some of them will probably keep their current beliefs, and others will change theirs entirely. There were also people at the meeting who didn’t want to identify with any labels. The point of the group is to allow people to think for themselves, discussing and examining their own beliefs and those of others. I enjoyed being in the presence of other atheists and freethinking persons, so I’ll be going to the next meeting.

Today, my friend Amanda told my sister and me about some sort of organ donor club. As an afterthought, I went. The group, as it turns out, is called Get Carded, and the idea is to get people to become card-carrying organ donors. I learned quite a few things at the meeting. Donating organs is a good thing. Well, I knew that. But what I didn’t know is that people buy into myths that make them hesitant to become organ donors, and that’s why there are so few people who aren’t selfish with their organs. I ended up volunteering to man the booth that they’re going to set up outside the stadium at next week’s football game. It’s good to know that I’ll be helping to save lives. Now that I’m 18, I should probably become an organ donor myself.

I’ve been busy going to club meetings, but what else? I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m not exactly the most social guy in the world. I sometimes find it awkward to talk to, say, the opposite sex? I know, it’s really surprising, since you always see bloggers getting chased by ladies. But anyway, going on dates always would have been a problem in high school, because some girls are really shallow and they probably wouldn’t like it if you didn’t have a “whip” (car) of your own. Being driven to a date by your parents is also pretty lame. But now that everyone’s living close together, transportation isn’t really an issue, and I can develop my relationship skills… once I find someone worth developing them with.

Have you heard about Glazastik, Russia’s new Internet hero? Neither had I.

Here’s an 85-minute documentary called Revolution OS. It’s a few years old now, but it’s still an interesting look at Linux and the free software movement from some of the people who brought it about.

Day One (and Day Two)

I’ve been here at the University of Florida for a week now, and classes have started already. It’s been a long week, and I’ve learned a lot quickly. Not in the way of school subjects, mind you, but lessons about college life. But first, let me give you the rundown of my experiences so far.

I’ve been going here, there, and everywhere, pretty much all on foot. To say that my feet hurt would be an understatement. Actually, it would probably do just fine. The point is, I’ve been doing a lot of walking. My dorm is pretty much in the center of the campus, but my classes (and indeed, most of the interesting places) are in one corner of the campus, a 15- to 20-minute walk away. I’ve been hanging out with my sister, who lives around there. We didn’t really have anyone to hang out with the first day or so, but we quickly met lots of people and spent much of the week hanging out with them.

Classes started on Thursday. My first college class, at 9:35, was Calculus 3. It was actually a problem solving session or something like that. Apparently classes that have lectures on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays might also meet on Tuesdays or Thursdays with a different teacher or TA to review the material or give quizzes. Yesterday’s class was such a session. The TA (I assume) went over a few things we should have known from previous calculus classes. I knew most of it, but I had a hard time recalling it. Even my high-school calculus teacher knew how fast math drips out of your ears.

After that, I had America in the Fifties, an honors class that covers America during the “long fifties” (Nagasaki to Dallas). It sounds like it’s going to be pretty hard, so I’d better stay on top of things there. Next, I had Social Geography, which has to do with population patterns and demographic shifts and things like that. It sounds pretty interesting. There are about 100 people in the class, and I had to sit in the nosebleed section because I wasn’t as early to class as everyone else.

When my history class unexpectedly got out early, I was sitting around in a busy place with nothing to do. Before I knew it, I was being proselytized to by a Christian guy. Rather than engage in a debate with him, I simply went along with what he was saying to get a sense of his argument. I played the role of the good kid who doesn’t worry too much about what God thinks of him. Did you know that since I’ve lied and stolen things, I’m a liar and a thief? It’s true! The guy told me that he was too, and that God punishes people who bad things (Bible citation). So in order to escape damnation, I should accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior (Bible citation). If I don’t, I’ll go to hell (Bible citation, a parable that I’ve never heard in my life).

Yesterday was less eventful (in terms of classes) because I only have two classes on Friday. First thing in the morning, I had chemistry along with about 300 other people (including Anh, a girl I met at a bus stop). It seems okay because the teacher (or professor, I guess) has a good sense of humor. (“Although chemistry exams can be hard on students, they are often fatal for grandmothers.”) After that, I had my calculus class again, this time with the actual teacher, who gave an introduction to the three-dimensional coordinate system. He’s kind of hard to understand because of his accent, but I think I’ll be okay if I just study (which is what I spent part of the day doing).

As I mentioned previously, I still can’t get online because the people in charge of making sure that students get connected to the Internet in their dorms haven’t made it easy for Linux users. (In the past, Linux users had no problem connecting, but this year they’ve done something different.) I’m using the Wi-Fi in my dorm’s common room now. It’s kind of a pain to travel so far for an Internet connection, but hopefully, that’ll change soon. Mark, a guy I’ve been talking to online who lives in my dorm, has sent me instructions (written by someone else) for getting it to work. I’ll have to try it later.

And now, my advice (and related wisdom) for incoming college students:

• Don’t worry about meeting people. You will meet lots of people immediately, even if no one you know from high school is there, get on Facebook and see if anyone from junior high or elementary school is there. You’ll make friends with your roommate(s) and neighbors. Meet their friends. Say hi to random people on the street. Before you know it, you’ll be friends with your friends’ friends’ friends. And who knows? People might randomly approach you, too. After all, hundreds or thousands of people are in the same boat as you.
• You will walk a lot. Or, you’ll ride your bike or take the bus a lot. If you brought your car, you may or may not drive a lot, depending on how much you cherish the parking space you got. Walking is probably preferable to having a bike because you don’t have to worry about someone stealing your legs. But if you have to cover long distances, a bike may be better for you. Either way, you’ll probably get in better shape.
• Save money. This should be self-evident. As a Poor College Student®, I can tell you that college is a great way to spend more money than you actually have. I wouldn’t recommend trying to juggle college classes and a job during your first semester. Take any money your parents provide for you, and stretch your dollars out. The other day, I went to an event with free pizza, soda, cake, and ice cream. It wasn’t the most nourishing meal in the world, but I saved a few bucks, and I got to meet people. See if there are events like that near you.
• Don’t sit around doing nothing. You’ll probably be proselytized to by someone with religious beliefs that are different from yours. Nobody likes that… unless you buy into what the person is saying, undergo a genuine religious conversion, and celebrate the day that a stranger showed you the light. If you find yourself out of class early, why not read a book or study? Which leads me to…
• Study! That’s what you’re in college for. Be sure to have some fun, but schoolwork, however boring, comes first. Like high school, some classes are easy, and others are hard, but now, it’s all up to you to make sure you do the work. You’re probably in college because having a college degree will get you into whatever career you want and will help you get more money. There’s an incentive for you.

I’ll probably think of more to say, but that’s it for now.

Oh yes, one more thing: I have my very own mailbox. Send all letters, cards, postcards, checks, cash, late birthday presents, fan art, fan fiction, early birthday presents, Hershey’s Symphony bars, posters, exciting magazines, extra-light 12-string acoustic guitar strings, T-shirts that you think might fit me, fruit bats, orangutans, breakfast cereals, coupons, and everything else to:

[Edit Sun May 04, 2008 22:58 EST (UTC -5): I don't live at this address anymore!]

The World of Stuff: The College Years

I’m in college. It’s all so weird. I always knew this day would come, but now that it’s here, it’s really surreal. My sister and I moved into our dorms on Saturday. That’s when I met my roommate, Adam, in person (we’d talked online before). I managed to find almost everything I packed, so that’s good. Kristen’s rooming with one of her best friends, so she’s lucky. We spent Saturday night at our aunt’s house outside of town, along with our parents. Yesterday, we bought a few more things that we needed, and my family wanted to see our dorms again. When we came back, my roommate had hung up posters of scantily clad women. Real nice to show the family. It was actually pretty funny in retrospect. But anyway, then we said our goodbyes. It was pretty emotional, but we’ll definitely be in touch with our parents. We’ll also be in touch with each other because we hardly know anyone and it’s hard to make friends.

In fact, I’m here in the food court in the student union with my sister. I’m here for the WiFi. I can’t get connected in my dorm because the instruction booklet says to call the Internet connection people if you want to know how to connect using Linux. They’re swamped right now because everyone is trying to connect, so they’re going to call me (maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after that, maybe the day after that…) to schedule an appointment so they can go to my dorm and help me out. Did I mention that the University of Florida is one of the largest in America? Anyway, I have to thank my friend Luke, whom I called, asking for help with connecting to the Internet. After nothing worked, he suggested I try the WiFi in the public areas. He isn’t even going here, and he thought of that before me. Way to go, Luke.

Even though there are so many people here, it’s been hard to meet people, and it’s been stressing out both my sister and me. There are supposed to be

We just saw Amanda, a girl from school, here in the food court. Apparently she’s staying in the dorm across the street from me, so we’ll have to hang out with her. We’re planning to go to the mall tomorrow, so maybe we should invite her. It should be fun. Anyway…

all kinds of events for getting to meet people, but I think they’re spread out over the first few weeks of the semester, so none of them have happened yet. So I haven’t really had an opportunity for a “Hello, My Name Is…” type of gathering. In fact, my sister and I have pretty much been walking back and forth between our dorms and stopping here at the student union, which is in between. Actually, we did meet a few people at a bus stop outside my dorm, and my sister (who can connect to the Internet in her room) found them on Facebook, so that’s good.

I guess that’s all I have to say for now. I have more to say, but I can’t stay in the food court forever. I’ve got other things to do… ’cause I’m in college.

In 1947, Life Magazine asked some comic strip artists to draw their characters blindfolded. The results are amusing.

Fun

I’ve been very busy lately, not only getting ready for college, but also having fun. This week will be my last chance to see my friends for a long time. Maybe even a long, long time. I’ve been out spending time with a lot of them (the ones who aren’t working all the time or are already in college, that is). Between going to the beach at night, seeing cheesy movies, checking out bookstores, and bowling, I’ve hardly had time to think that soon I’ll be facing the biggest obstacle I’ve ever encountered in my life. And that’s just how I want it. Ignorance is bliss.

My sister has long wanted to go to South Beach, so yesterday, we got some people (Yamilee, Austin, Luke, Justin, and Lisa) and did it. Austin graciously drove us around; he didn’t mind it because he often makes the long, boring drive between here and Florida State University. After we found everyone’s houses and got to a parking lot in Miami Beach, we ate lunch on the patio of a restaurant called Cafe des Arts. It was really nice, and since we were in the shade, we didn’t die from the heat (well, most of us, anyway). Then, we actually hit the beach for a little while. There were a lot of people there, but it wasn’t crazy. I went in the water, which was pretty warm. Later, we dried off and went to Starbucks. We followed that up with some shopping (or, for some of us, walking around in front of shops), until finally, it was getting late, and we went back. I really enjoyed the afternoon (no, we didn’t stay for the wild and crazy night life), and I’m glad I got to have fun with some of my friends for one last time.

Backing up the files on your computer is very important. Your mother always told you to do it, but you never have. Until recently, I never had either, but I decided I should definitely start doing it since I have a laptop, which is fragile and could be stolen or what have you. I got a 500 GB SimpleTech external hard drive (designed by Pininfarina) for my sister and me to share. Even though the drive came with backup software for Windows and Mac, it was formatted as NTFS, meaning only Windows could use it. I reformatted it to FAT32 so my sister’s Mac and my Linux laptop could both access it. Then I decided I’d probably be better off using a more sophisticated filesystem for my own backups, so I resized the FAT32 partition and made an EXT3 (Linux’s filesystem) partition. It was a clumsy solution (Linux apparently can’t write to HFS+, OS X’s filesystem), and it seemed mess things up. My dad decided it would be best for us to have separate backup hard drives. After that, I wiped everything and reformatted it all as EXT3. I was troubled to find that the only accessible as root. Since the drive was mounted at /media/disk, I fixed it with

sudo chmod -R 777 /media/disk

I then went into the file browser as root (sudo nautilus), went to the drive’s properties, and set its permissions so that everybody could read and write it. After that, I didn’t have any problems. I was still bothered by the fact that the drive had no label. Given that the drive was located at /dev/sdb1, changing its label to “Backup” was simple enough:

sudo e2label /dev/sdb1 Backup

I don’t know how the drive could be in /media and /dev at the same time, so obviously, I don’t know a lot. I looked that stuff up on the Ubuntu Forums, which have helped me out immensely over the past 6 months I’ve been using Linux. There’s no way I would have known what to do otherwise.

Actually backing up files was difficult — at first. I copied and pasted my home folder into the external hard drive, but some files refused to be copied. When I was still using FAT32 for the whole drive, I found out how to tar entire directories, so I tried that. Five minutes in, I realized that FAT32 doesn’t support files more than 4 GB, so I calmly waited another 45 minutes for the backup to finish, only to delete the resulting archive. When I finally had the whole drive formatted as EXT3, I looked into SBackup, a GNOME utility for backing up and restoring files. I backed up the folders it recommended that I back up, and it took about 45 to 50 minutes. The program is designed to run backups in the background, but I didn’t want to partake in too much CPU-intensive activity while it was busy. Restoring files should be just as easy, but I hope I’ll never have to. (I probably will, though.)

Now I must pack. I have to pack pretty much everything I own into little boxes by tonight, and I haven’t started yet. The next time I blog, I probably won’t be at home. I’ll be gone.

“The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focuses only on sound, not songs.”

Here are Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature.

One week to live

Have you made your guess yet? Time is running out. The Change Contest ends tomorrow at 23:59 UTC-5 (World of Stuff time)!

Whoa, it’s August 10. How did that happen? Do you realize that I leave home for college on August 18? Something has to be done in the meantime. But what? A party, of course. Normally, I don’t like to mention parties I’m having before I have them, but pretty much everyone I know is invited, so I think things will be okay. This party is going to be pretty big. It’s not just for my sister and me, who are going to college, but it’s also for my grandparents, who are also moving away. I can’t even imagine how much food there’s going to be.

Anyway, today was my second-to-last day of work. I’ve been working at the office of a suit company since October 2003 (except for a 17-month period when the extra help wasn’t needed — admittedly a big “except”). I only work one day a week, and since last year, my sister has been working there too. As you might imagine, I don’t make a lot of money, but I save most of it. I’m really going to miss the great people I work with. And I’m going to miss having an income, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’ll be able to juggle college classes and a “real” job right away, so I’ll need some time to get used to the whole college experience. I just hope that, when the time comes, I’ll be able to find a job I like.

Printing has been a big issue. I hadn’t thought much about it, but I might just need a printer to print papers and things. Finding a printer that works well with Linux is kind of tricky. You really have to do your homework with resources such as the OpenPrinting Database, but even that site doesn’t have information on many new printers. After finding a few printers that might work, it became clear that the best option would be to use the printer I already have, an HP LaserJet 1300n. I’ve used it under Ubuntu with success. The OpenPrinting Database says that this printer “mostly” works with Linux. Apparently the driver I use doesn’t allow printing at the maximum resolution. I’ve never needed to have anything very high resolution; it’s a black-and-white printer, after all. So it should continue to work just fine for me.

I thought college would be so great because we wouldn’t have summer reading, which I’ve dreaded throughout my years and years of schooling. Imagine my surprise when all incoming freshmen were assigned to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, the uplifting, true story of Dr. Paul Farmer, whose mission in life is to cure tuberculosis in impoverished countries. Yes, I’m one of those people who always read the books that are assigned, no matter how much I may not want to. I did read it. I wonder whether my teachers (sorry, professors) will actually ask questions about the book. Maybe they’ll just use it as a tool to see which students read what they’re supposed to. In any case, the author of the book will be paying a visit to the university in October, which I have to admit is pretty interesting. In fact, I have to admit that the book is pretty interesting. That Dr. Farmer is a selfless guy with a lot of resolve. It would be cool to meet him, that’s for sure.

From Damn Interesting: An article about circuits that are programmed to evolve. Whoa. What’s more, they work in a way that we don’t entirely understand. Whoa.

Here are some examples of “guerilla” (or just plain unorthodox) advertising.

Across five Augusts

Change is good*, but the Change Contest is better. Make your guess by Saturday!

It’s August 6. I thought today sounded like an important date or something. Is it my birthday? No, I just had one of those. Is it my anniversary? That would be unlikely. It’s not even garbage day. I was stumped, so I did what any blogger would do and checked the archives. According to several old posts, today is my Dvorakaversary: I’ve been using the Dvorak keyboard for five years today. My fingers sure are thanking me right now. Using QWERTY really hurts my fingers after a while, but I never have problems with Dvorak. And now that I have a computer that is all mine and no one else’s, I don’t even have to have the QWERTY keymap loaded. It’s a little thing, but it means a lot to me.

Also, a year ago yesterday, a bunch of ducks showed up in the driveway.

I’ve been cleaning my room some more. What, you thought I was done? I’ve barely made a dent. (Okay, I’ve made a pretty big dent.) I can’t believe all the stuff I’ve come across: things I loved, things I thought I’d lost, things I don’t remember at all. Most of it, though, is junk, and I’m giving it away (or throwing it away). I realize that I’ve just said this, but it’s still true. Among the things I’ve found is a journal that I kept semi-regularly from 1999 to 2001. I guess it goes to show that I’ve always had a propensity to write in a semi-regular fashion. That journal is one of the few things I’m saving as I empty out my room before leaving for college.

Who needs spring cleaning, anyway? August cleaning is where it’s at. In August, I stand at the threshold of everything. It’s a time to start anew. I started blogging regularly in August 2003. Back then, I was concerned about starting high school. During this, my fifth August, things have come full circle, but in a much bigger way. I almost can’t believe I was so nervous about high school when college is looming like a giant thing that looms. I’m really in for a big change. Who knows what kind of person I’ll be next August? Hopefully one who’s working a kick-awesome job while pulling a 4.0 and being chased by da ladiez.

Read about Dead Sodas that you might remember from the past few decades.

In my last post, I mentioned a political quiz that would tell you which of the 2008 presidential candidates are most in line with your views. Now here’s a really bad way to decide who you should vote for: which operating system their campaign site’s server is running. But it is interesting to note that 69% of Democratic candidates’ sites are powered by Linux, while 70% of Republican candidates rely on Windows.

This is the first post I’ve written (partly) in a recliner. Thanks, laptop!

* For cliché purposes only