Jolly good!

The flight to London seemed endlessly long. And it was filled with children. Actually, that part wasn't so bad, but it could have been. I managed to keep myself busy mainly by just thinking about stuff. That's what I often do to beat boredom. When I got tired of that, I watched several of the in-flight movies, viz. Frost/Nixon and Gran Torino. I didn't sleep. Basically, 2 AM jumped to 7 AM, cutting out some prime sleeping time. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway because the plane was too noisy.

Anyway, we landed in the UK on Wednesday morning without a hitch, and the weather was typical: cold and overcast and slightly rainy. The four of us made our way into London before deciding to head for our own lodging; Mark and Dan went to a hotel while Andy and I trekked to Andy's relatives house in Mill Hill, Barnet, Greater London. After much frustration in trying to take the underground and overground trains, we made it to Mill Hill, and from there we asked locals how to get to the right street. Finally, we found the house and were greeted by one of Andy's relatives.

After settling in, we thought we would kill some time (and keep our jet-lagged selves from dozing in the afternoon) by taking a train into London and walking around a bit. But it was so cold that we didn't stray far from the station where we had gotten off. There wasn't much to see around there, so we went home but got kept taking the wrong trains. It was pretty confusing because some of the trains passed by our stop but didn't stop there. All the while, we were trying to beat the jetlag by not falling asleep. Even I was nodding off at that point.

Finally we were home, and we met more of Andy's relatives. There are three of them in all, parents and a son older than us. We finished the long day in a very British manner: by eating Indian food (which was delicious, by the way) and watching soccer on TV. Then we went to sleep. Ah, beautiful sleep...

On Thursday, Andy and I woke up well-rested and ready to see all the sights. We took a bus to Oxford Circus and planned to mosey down to the Palace of Westminster. I kept getting distracted by monuments off in the distance, and before we knew it, we were at a road lined with British flags and a lovely park on the opposite side. Toward the end of the road there was some kind of monument, so we decided to see what it was.

It turned out to be a monument to Queen Victoria, and behind it was none other than Buckingham Palace. We stuck around for a little while before continuing to Westminster.

We were getting hungry at this point, so near the Cenotaph and Downing Street we stopped at a cafe for sandwiches. And we continued on to Big Ben. It was pretty cloudy that day, so I didn't think the pictures would come out well, but it looks like they have.

We crossed Westminster Bridge to go to County Hall and the London Eye. We thought about getting on the Eye, but we decided to wait until the weather improved. So we went toward the Tower Bridge, crossing London Bridge and passing the Monument and the Tower of London along the way.

We couldn't actually do a lot of stuff at this point because it was getting late. We were also very tired, so we went home. Andy cooked some stir fry, and then we tried to make some Pasporta Servo contacts in France before we went to bed.

On Friday, we went into town again. The first thing I wanted to do was go to Abbey Road, famously shown on the cover of the Beatles album of the same name and home of the studio where they did most of their recording. As I had expected, there were a few fans there, and the wall outside the studio (also called Abbey Road) was covered in brand-new graffiti from visitors around the world.

The people there were also trying to get photos of themselves making the famous walk across the street, so I didn't feel so cheesy about trying to do it myself. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to live myself if I hadn't done it.

After that, we went to the London Eye because it was a sunny day. We stood in line for about a half hour, and the ride (or "flight") itself lasted as long, so it wasn't that bad. It was a great opportunity to see the city.

We had some time to kill before the meeting of the London Esperanto Club that we had planned to attend. So we went to Camden, near were it was supposed to be, and walked around a bit while having some fruit from a local market. We made our way to the London Irish Centre, where the club would meet, and sat outside because we were still early. I had never met other Esperantists before, so I was kind of nervous. Finally, we went in and had a seat near some of them. They were mostly older folks, and they welcomed us heartily. We chatted a bit, always in Esperanto, and then went upstairs for the meeting, also in Esperanto.

One of the members was compiling an Esperanto-English dictionary and showed us some entries he had come up with (and some he had decided to exclude). He was having some issues with trying to decide between British English and American English words, so it was fortunate that there were American visitors there. We talked about words and such, and when that was over, we introduced ourselves to the group and mentioned how we started an Esperanto club at our school. They weren't all old; the president was younger and an American, and another member was a Slovak who looked to be in his twenties.

We went downstairs to chat with the twentysomething guy (in Esperanto), and before we knew it, it was dark out and almost everyone had left. He treated us to dinner at a vegetarian Chinese buffet in Camden, where we talked about our Esperanto-related plans for the summer. Then he presented some of his Esperanto raps (oh yes, there is such a thing). By then, it was getting late, so we went home, whereupon I fell asleep.

We haven't planned anything for today, so maybe we're just going to take it easy. Before we leave, I would like to check out Westminster Abbey or at least go to a pub and have fish and chips. We'll see how things unfold...

Almost there

I'm leaving for Europe on Tuesday. This may be my last post before I leave! Or maybe not. Stay tuned to find out!

There are four of us: Mark, Dan, Andy, and I. The trip was Mark's idea, and he asked us if we wanted to come along. We've decided to split into two groups so it would be easier to find accommodations. Also, Mark and Dan wanted to do some things while Andy and I wanted to do other things. We'll be going to many of the same places but probably at different times, and Andy and I will be spending time with Esperanto speakers.

The two of us will also attend Esperanto events such as the Summer Esperanto Study (SES) in Slovakia and the International Youth Congress of Esperanto (IJK) in the Czech Republic (not Prague, although you're going to tell me it's a beautiful city). We made our arrangements last week; it felt good to get them out of the way.

The events should be a great way to meet new people while improving our Esperanto. To date, 98 SES participants (not including Andy and me) have allowed their names and locations to be listed online. Of these, 1 is from the United States. And among 325 other IJK participants who are listed online, only 1 is from the US (not the same person, if you're wondering). Several people are from countries that my government isn't very fond of, such as Cuba and Iran. This will be a great opportunity to learn about other cultures without politics getting in the way.

Andy has already been meeting other Esperantists; he decided to go to the National Congress of Esperanto-USA in St. Louis this weekend. Although he makes spontaneous trips like that all the time, I wasn't ready to take a plane trip halfway across the country on a few days' notice. He called me a few times and seemed to be having a good time. I wish I could have been there. Maybe we can go together next year with some more planning.

Yesterday I went shopping to get most of the things I still needed for the trip. Now I have everything I think I'll need except for a clothesline for indoor use. I've seen clotheslines for sale that you can tie to trees, but none with some indoor sticky hook things on each end. Hopefully I won't need to hang my clothes dry anyway. Bleah. I also thought about getting souvenirs from home (my city, or Florida, or the US, or whatever) to give as gifts to new friends and anyone who provides us hospitality. Any ideas? Also keep in mind that tomorrow is a national holiday, so my shopping options are limited!

Danger Mouse, the artist behind the Beatles/Jay-Z mashup The Grey Album, has a new album called Dark Night of the Soul. It's the result of collaborations with various artists who sing on each of the tracks, including Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, a band that I'm a fan of. The album hasn't officially been released due to legal issues, so Mr. Mouse et al. are selling a blank CD-R with artwork and a note saying to "[u]se it as you will." You can stream the album from NPR and download it from some BitTorrent trackers; here it is at The Pirate Bay. I know an album is good when I go back to listen to it a second time right away. I listened to this one eight times in a row. Highly recommended.

Through the glass eye

Hello, web site. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I've been spending a lot of time with that other site, the one that I get paid to work on. Ah yes, working from home is great except when you can't find time for it. I should be able to, but I have too much other stuff to explore. The computer is my playground, the Internet my sandbox. (The command line? Definitely the monkey bars.)

Next Tuesday (i.e., not this coming Tuesday but the one after it), I'll be going to Europe. Have I been preparing? I have. There's still some stuff to be done, but I've gotten things out of the way. I'm borrowing a large backpack, and my friend Andy and I already bought a netbook for traveling with. I don't expect to fall in love with it during the course of the trip,* and I don't think he will either, so our plan is to sell it when we get back.

I've also been accumulating some generally useful things that I'll want to keep when it's over. The main one I can think of right now is a memory card for my digital camera. When I got the camera in 2004, it came with a 16 MB card, which was virtually useless. I bought a 128 MB card along with it, and that has served me well for almost five years, allowing me to take roughly 64 to 72 photos at a time.

Since Europe is full of fantastic sights, I thought an upgrade would be deserved. I picked up a new 1 GB memory card on the cheap at a failing camera store. It should be good for at least 500 photos at a time. To put that in perspective, that's more pictures than I've taken since the beginning of last year. And because there's a good chance I'll take more than 500 pictures, I'll be relying on my trusty 8 GB flash drive that I recently picked up on the cheap from a failing electronics store. My new netbook has less than 2 GB of free space.

So what if I take more than 8 GB worth of photos? As ridiculous as the question seems, it has crossed my mind. Whenever I try to think about the logistics of storing 8 GB worth of photos, I suddenly remember how incredibly ridiculous it is, which saves me from having to think about it any longer. The flash drive is actually 8 hard-drive-vendor's gigabytes, i.e., about 7.5 actual gigabytes. All of the digital photos I've ever taken—4,150 between December 25, 2002, and May 3, 2009—add up to 6.2 GB. I think I'm good.

That said, in case I do take more than 7.5 GB worth of photos, I would probably upload them to my web space, where they would cost at least 10 cents an hour to store, and wait for my family to download them, which would cost me at least $2.50. Not too bad, I guess.

Okay, that's enough math. Now, the links.

Google has oodles of servers, but like many large companies, has never talked much about them... until now. They're pretty amazing little things that have battery backups in case the power goes out. (Via The Presurfer)

The Free Music Archive is my kind of thing: it aims to be an "interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads." The music is released under Creative Commons licenses and other licenses that allow sharing.

From another blog, it's a continually updated collection of negative Amazon reviews of classic books, movies, and albums: You Can't Please Everyone. (Via J-Walk Blog)

*subject to change

The end is near

It wants to be summer. It wants to be summer so bad. It's actually been hot the past few days, and I'm thinking of old summer memories. If there's one thing I am, it's nostalgic.

The last day classes was Wednesday, and it could not have come sooner. I had my last exam for digital logic on Tuesday. I didn't do as well as I hoped to, but with the inevitable curve, which the professor says should be "substantial," I'll have a B. My other exams are all on Wednesday and Thursday, and I leave next Saturday.

One aspect of on-campus life that I've never taken advantage of is the swimming pools. There are several here, at least two of which are located near dorms, and at least one of which is located near my dorm. It's across the street, in fact. I've just never gone because of the weather (most of the time I'm here, there's a risk of having to wear a sweater) and I guess because I usually wouldn't have someone to go with. But some of my friends from the dorm want to go soon, and I happened to be thinking the same thing.

24-hour quiet hours went into effect at midnight Thursday. In my experience, the continual quiet forces an anticlimactic ending to a year of life in the dorms. People take will take exams over the course of the next week (they start tomorrow and run through next Friday, excepting Sunday) and, being unable to laugh and shout and have a good time, quietly disappear. Inevitably, I am one of the last to leave. I just happen to pick classes that have late exams, and I live so far away that my parents can't swing up and get me whenever they want.

I'll actually be one of the last to leave this time, but for once, a lot of other people are checking out on Saturday morning. So maybe this last week won't be too quiet.

One of my pet peeves is hearing compression artifacts in digital audio. It's distracting and unnecessary now that we have high-bandwidth connections and better audio formats that make MP3 obsolete. It turns out that not everyone cares about fidelity as much as I do. In fact, a Stanford music professor has found that in six years' worth of listening tests, his students have shown an increased preference for low-bitrate MP3s over their higher-quality counterparts. One explanation is that people like what they're used to, and many young people are used to stuffing their iPods with every MP3 they can find and taking them on the go. This also explains why some people think vinyl sounds better. It actually doesn't, of course; they're just used to hearing music that way.

Some guy called Doug Nufer wrote a book called Never Again. Each word in the book is used only once. Talk about a constrained writing experiment; it's actually almost 200 pages. And it looks like the second word is "the." Tough. (Via J-Walk Blog)

This is probably something I would do. The BBC reports: "A Finnish computer programmer who lost one of his fingers in a motorcycle accident has made himself a prosthetic replacement with a USB drive attached." The article has a picture. (And the prosthetic is detachable, which is good because he'd probably want more than 2 GB eventually.)

E-E-E

Oh, honey, he's teasing you. Nobody has two television sets.

I haven't talked much here about my upcoming trip to Europe with my friends, but believe me, it is still going to happen. I've been making arrangements bit by bit. I've bought a plane ticket and a train ticket already. But since I'm going to be gone for over two months, I felt that there should be something more.

I've decided to keep my job while I'm on vacation. I'm a webmaster here at school. I also happen to blog as a hobby. ("Really?") I also like to take pictures with my digital camera... do you see where this is going?

I need a laptop.

I do have a laptop. I've been using my Dell Inspiron E1505N since I got it almost two years ago. But it's big and heavy. It has all personal information on it, so I'd hate for it to get lost in a foreign country. It was kind of expensive, so I wouldn't want to have to replace it. It's also fragile; I've come close to breaking it while carrying it around.

So, for my trip, I'd need a laptop that's the opposite of all that—one that's small, light, ad hoc, cheap, and sturdy. Fortunately, the market has answered. I am speaking, of course, of that newly popular class of PCs, the netbook.

Since Andy and I will be traveling as a duo for much of the time, we talked about the possibility of buying a netbook together, sharing it during the trip, and selling it after we get back. I did a bit of research and found a barely used one in my immediate area for $250. It had basically everything I wanted: a low-capacity solid-state drive, a Linux-based operating system, good battery life, and of course, small size. It's an ASUS Eee PC 4G, and today, it is mine ours. Craigslist does it again!

Apparently, the woman selling it got it as a gift and didn't want it because she already has a laptop. I can sympathize. I had a hard time convincing myself that I should buy a second laptop, even a cheap one that I would only have for a short time. I figured it would be tantamount to declaring my two-year-old laptop obsolete, and that computer cost too much for me to take it out of service so early.

After using the Eee PC, I've set aside those concerns. The netbook is for casual use only. The 800x480 screen is almost too small for web browsing, and the keyboard is almost too small for typing. (In fact, I haven't switched the layout to Dvorak because I need my fingers to move around more!) It's not the most pleasant experience, but you can manage in a pinch. And dang if it isn't convenient.

So, during our 68-day pinch, it should get the job done just fine. It'll be much better than not blogging, not being able to take lots of photos, and not making money. Now, I'll just have to show it to Andy and see what he thinks. I'm pretty sure he'll like it. Also, he owes me $125.

Here's a fun mashup for your listening and viewing pleasure: Mother of All Funk Chords. (Via Lessig Blog)

Recently, an old portrait that might be of Shakespeare has come to light. If it's actually of him, it would change the little that we know about his life. But those of you who like a little mystery in your Elizabethan poet-playwrights need not be concerned because we'll probably never know one way or the other.

Important things

My university is able to attract prominent guests all the time. Last year there were quite a few that I can remember: John Kerry, the MythBusters, Alberto Gonzales, Jack Kevorkian, Bob Saget, and Bill Nye. This year saw the likes of Ralph Nader, Joe Biden, John Roberts, Howard Dean, Zach Braff, and others. This year's crop didn't seem to be as interesting or varied as last year's, with one exception. I am speaking of Demetri Martin.

My roommate last year told me about Demetri Martin, and we watched some of his stand-up material. The dude is hilarious. His act consists largely of absurd one-liners, often with the accompaniment of music or drawings. And Wikipedia has just informed me that he is 35, which is weird because I would have guessed he was 25. The bowl haircut takes off years! (He's also been a correspondent on The Daily Show, and he has a new show called Important Things with Demetri Martin.)

When I found out that he was coming to campus on Tuesday night, I knew I had to go. And when I found out that my new friend whose name you haven't missed because I haven't mentioned it yet was going, I knew I had to go with her. So we met beforehand for dinner at the student union. She chose Taco Bell. Good choice. (What's the record for Wikipedia links in a World of Stuff blog post? I think it's going to be broken.)

Then we made our way to the basketball arena, where Mr. Martin was due to perform. Opening for him was a 2002 grad who was also associated with The Daily Show; he did a more conventional (but still very funny) stand-up act. Then, it was Demetri Martin's turn. He started by making some Martinesque observations about the decor. There was the obligatory drawing segment as well as the piano segment. He also made random remarks toward the camera operators, the sign language interpreter, and audience members. The Independent Florida Alligator captured some great nuggets for your reading pleasure.

He did a long show, and it kept going even when I thought it was about to end. Toward the actual end, as he was providing a light guitar accompaniment for his jokes, he delved into some of his classics. People called out for their favorites, and he obliged. Meanwhile, someone unwittingly added to the humor by knocking down the curtains and fake plants that flanked the stage. I was in stitches for the whole two hours; I can't remember ever laughing that much. My new friend seemed to have a good time too.

After the show, I accompanied her to her car, which was parked near my dorm. We were going to meet again tonight, but she had to go home for the weekend, so hopefully I'll see her again soon.

And now, the links.

The text of Wikipedia is made available under the GNU Free Documentation License because that was the only major free license in existence when Wikipedia was launched in 2001. Since then, Creative Commons licenses have become favorites in the free culture movement, leaving incompatibly-licensed Wikipedia out of the loop. Now, the greater Wikipedia community is voting on the possibility of dual-licensing Wikipedia and its sister projects under the GFDL and the CC Attribution-ShareAlike license, which is identical in principle but more practical for a wiki to use. If you had at least 25 edits on an account for any Wikimedia project prior to March 15, you can vote! Find out more at the CC blog. (Also, vote yes!)

The so-called EURion constellation is a pattern of circles that has appeared on banknotes around the world in recent years, apparently to help computer programs determine whether an image is of a banknote or not.

Finally, Thomas the Tank Engine Rap Remixes. Some of them are pretty good. (Via The Presurfer)

A minor problem

Last semester, I found out that I had to take 15 credit-hours' worth of "interdisciplinary electives," with two options: "all courses must be at the 3000 level or above in the same area (advisor approval required)" or "all credits must be applied toward an official ... minor." Well, I know what that means. I'm taking up a minor. In my studies, I mean. You know.

I have thought about it a little bit, and I've decided to minor in business. It seems pretty interesting and not too incredibly difficult. (I think business is stereotypically considered an easy major and a backup for pre-law students who are failing their pre-law classes.) With a business minor, I'll be taking such classes as microeconomics, accounting, marketing, and other stuff. Five classes, five semesters remaining: it just works out well.

Actually, the minor offers a choice between microeconomics and macroeconomics, but I've already decided which class I want to take. For micro, the lectures are taped and posted online, so you don't actually have to go to class. I overheard my roommate watching many a micro lecture last year, and I have to say... they were funny. The professor makes his lectures entertaining, mainly by engaging in a neverending mock feud with the unseen videographer, whom he simply calls the Director.

But one thing that's even better than dumb Director jokes is the schedule I picked out for myself for the fall semester. I usually don't look forward to picking out future class schedules because it's often too hard to find out what your best possible schedule might be. But recently, I found out about a site called Coursetopia that makes picking the perfect schedule pretty easy. You just tell it what classes you want to take, and it presents you with every possible schedule. You can also fine-tune the results, of course. And it's all done with AJAX-y magic that can remind you how slow your browser is at handling JavaScript.

Coursetopia saved me a lot of time that I otherwise would have spent making lots of spreadsheets. It currently only has class schedules for UF, FSU, and Rutgers, so if you go to one of those schools, check it out. The service is free, and you don't have to register unless you want to save your results for later.

Anyway, my cool schedule. I'll have no classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays. On other days, my first class starts at 9:35 and my last one ends at 2:45 (3:50 on Mondays). Not bad. I don't know what I'm going to do with my two free periods in a row, though, since I'll be living off campus. I could probably go back to my apartment between classes, but I don't know if it would be worth the bus trips. I'll have to ask my apartment-dwelling friends how they've tackled this question. Hey, apartment-dwelling friends, how have you tackled this question?

In the meantime, I'll have to get the signatures of the deans of the College of Engineering and the College of Business Administration to get this minor approved. Hopefully it won't be as much of a hassle as changing my major seemed to be.

For those who thought that we already know everything about our past, this will come as a big surprise: the discovery of mysterious stones in Turkey in 1994 has changed the way we think about human history. (Via The Presurfer)

Apparently, it's common for rock drummers these days to keep a consistent beat by drumming along to a click track. Some guy analyzed the time between beats in various songs to see which drummers used a click track. (Via waxy.org)

And finally, a photo gallery of crappy balloon animals. (Via The Presurfer)

ZOMG XKCD

I heart xkcd. It could quite possibly be the webcomic to end all webcomics. I have this comic taped to my door. But I can't even remember how I found out about xkcd—probably between reading Slashdot comments and... adjusting my pocket protector or something. Snort. No, it was actually probably from my friends, a lot of whom read the comic. It's also practically a requirement for being a computer science major.

Anyway, xkcd mastermind Randall Munroe criticized the Dvorak keyboard layout in a recent comic and linked to my very own The Dvorak Keyboard and You in a follow-up blag post. It's so satisfying to see "xkcd linked here" on my Incoming Links (pictured above). This probably the best or most awesome publicity my site has ever gotten. So, when do the geeky girls start flocking to me?

Sheesh, I'm kidding.

I myself used to draw a lot of cartoons, some on paper, others on my computer. I drew stick figure comics with a friend. Weird superheroes too. I also had a whole series going that I did in MS Paint. No one has ever seen it. The characters were various flowers (with names like Flo Wer) and a rock. I don't remember too much about it, except that one time they got abducted by aliens.

I have a few examples of my work handy. This was supposed to be for my church youth group's newsletter in 2003:

I did another one, also intended for the newsletter, that had two kids taking a test. One says to the other, "What's the answer to the one that says 'Name'?" What a gem, I tell you.

And are beepers and pagers the same thing? I still don't know.

What do you do when you're trying to play Mozart on the guitar but you fail epically? Record one note at a time and splice the whole thing together. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Oh, those news anchors: What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks. (Via The Presurfer)

Someone found out about every street in the world and made a list of the ten most amazing ones: Top 10 Most Amazing Streets in the World. (Via The Presurfer)

Tubin'

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)

Computers 'n' sports

As you may know, I'm the webmaster for the Dean of Students Office at my university. This week, I got a bit more experience with running a web server. The techie higher-ups wanted to move the website from a server at the DSO office (redundancy, anyone?) to a new server that they could have physical access to. Which isn't a bad idea, really, as they know more about this kind of stuff than I do.

Also, the old server runs Mac OS X 10.3 (redundancy, anyone?). That in itself is a reason to move. Do I really need fancy graphics on a web server? Think of how much more RAM and how many more CPU cycles the server software would have if windows didn't slither away as I minimized them. Do I need a graphical interface at all? And who thought shipping servers with GarageBand was a good idea? Why?

Anyway, the techie higher-ups gave me some pointers on moving the web site to the new server, which runs FreeBSD, a free operating system that deservedly enjoys wide usage among servers (including the one that brought you this page). In short, I learned a bit more about transferring and manipulating files via the command line in a Unix-like environment. It was a bit odd at first because I wasn't sure how much the guys would let me do with their machine. But before long, my co-worker Mark and I were editing configuration files, adding users, and changing the system's time zone.

And so the switch to the new server was made. A real test came yesterday when the formatting of the site started displaying incorrectly for some people. Internet Explorer 6, which some people unfortunately still use, was displaying pages on the new server wrong. For the technical types who are curious, I pinned it down to an XML declaration I had removed from the site on the new server because it conflicted with PHP's short opening tag syntax. (Yeah, you know PHP's short opening tag syntax, right?) So I edited php.ini to turn off short opening tags and added the line back, and IE 6 was placated.

For those of you who like sports, I saw Tim Tebow today. Who is Tim Tebow? He's possibly one of the greatest college football players of all time, having won the coveted Heisman Trophy between leading the Florida Gators to two national championships, all before his senior year. Men want to be him; women want to be with him. And probably vice versa in some cases. I wouldn't doubt it.

Anyway, he was on the North Lawn of the Reitz Union, where some girls were talking to him. I think they wanted to take their pictures with him. It's about the fifth time I've seen him around campus, but I never say anything to him. All I would really say is, "Hi, Tim Tebow, you're a great football player," but he's heard it all before. Still, whenever I see him, it brightens my day. Squee?

Audiobooks are awesome. Last month, I pointed out a collection of ridiculous soundbites from Barack Obama's autobiography, as read by the author. Well, it turns out that Bill O'Reilly wrote a novel and narrated the audiobook version himself. Why should you listen to these clips? Because you want to hear Bill O'Reilly describe various sexual acts, or just to hear him say, "I wish I were a lesbian." (Via waxy.org)

Fifty years ago, Buddy Holly died. Yeah, the guy mentioned the Weezer song. Anyway, he had a popular song called "Peggy Sue," which was apparently based on a real person.

Those of you in North America will probably find this familiar: Please stand by. (Via waxy.org)