Category - Family

This weekend, I'm going with my family to our usual vacation spot on North Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce. I haven't been there since last March, so I'm looking forward to it. We go at least once every year. A typical trip to the condo entails going to the beach in the morning, playing games in the rec room, eating coffee cake for breakfast, relaxing by the pool, and going to Vero Beach to have ice cream at Cravings. The beach is the best part. While it's true that I live near a public beach, the one at the condo is private, so there's usually nobody there. I'll try not to get sunburned this time.

This is the first time I've gone there since I've had my laptop, so there's no precedent here. I'm not going to bring it because it sort of ruins the idea of having a vacation. We're also bringing the dog for the first time, presumably because we can't find someone to look after him. He's been good lately, so I don't expect any trouble. But we'll see.

Though I just said that the beach is the best part, I'm also looking forward to some good, old-fashioned R&R. I'd been kind of sleep deprived, living in a college dorm, so I was hoping I'd be able to catch up on sleep at home. I've been back for a week, and I haven't noticed an improvement. For one thing, it's bright in my room in the morning, and it's usually hot too. I could open the windows so it's not as hot, but then it would be noisy. To be able to sleep, I need to be stored in a cool, dark place with lots of quiet. What I need to have at home is one of those masks that ladies wear when they need to get their beauty sleep. I need my resting sleep.

Anyway, I'm leaving tonight, and I'll be back on Sunday night. Au revoir.

Scary stuff from Wired: FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses. This is one of a few such cases to have come to light. Who knows how many others there have been?

Researchers have recently decoded the earliest known sound recording, made in 1860. It was scratched into a piece of paper as part of an attempt to record sounds visually rather than to play them back. But thanks to modern technology, the grooves have been converted to sound in much the same way that a stylus reads grooves on a record. This article has more, including the sound clip itself.

And finally: When you're a reporter doing a spot for the TV news, you've got to make sure you're standing out of harm's way. Such was not the case for this reporter, who got owned by a sled.

On Friday night I went out to dinner with some people from Get Carded, the organ donor awareness organization I'm in. After we put on our end-of-the-year concert, there was nothing left to do but celebrate. So we went to On the Border, a Mexican place that I went to once about 5 or 6 years ago.

Not everybody was there, but some people I knew were. After we ate (good food, by the way), there were the obligatory photos. Michael, one of the co-presidents, had an award to give out. Printed on his computer, was the "Volunteer of the Year" award, and it was given to... me! I couldn't believe it. Actually, I kind of could, but it was still a little hard to believe. Apparently I was the only person who helped out at all of Get Carded's events this year. I also got a gift card for Moe's, which is this extremely popular Mexican-type place. Many people would envy the $10 in Moe's cash I now wield.

But anyway, I really appreciated the award (even though Michael and Jehan, the other co-president, forgot to sign it before they gave it to me). I have it hanging on the fridge now. Hopefully there will be some competition for the award next year. That would be great for the group.

UF's spring football game was yesterday. It's called the Orange and Blue Game after the school colors. The Gators split into Orange and Blue teams, and they played each other. They get a chance to show off their talent, and the fans get their football fix until August.

I figured it would be a pretty big thing, but I didn't know it was going to be on ESPN. Actually, by the day of the event, I did know. I had planned on watching it on TV, but I decided to go instead because it was going on about a block away and, as my roommate said, 50,000 fans would be mad at me if they found out I didn't go.

The game was pretty informal. There were 44 minutes of play, with no penalties or anything. (A referee did throw a flag once, but I think it was due to force of habit. He just picked it up without saying anything.) The coaches were just chilling there out on the field, watching each play closely. The players went pretty easy on each other, and there was no tackling the quarterbacks. (The team doesn't want to get hurt playing against itself, you know.) After each field goal or extra point, the kicker would try it again at varying distances, just for giggles.

The atmosphere was likewise relaxed. Even though the stadium wasn't packed to capacity, there were still a lot of people there, and I saw some people I knew. Everybody had a good time, although some people left early. I can't blame them. The sun was bright. Even though I was wearing a hat and the game lasted less than two hours, I got sunburned like whoa. But I'm glad I went. I had a pretty good time.

The final score was Blue 28, Orange 14. Also: The Sun 1, Jordon 0.

Yesterday evening (actually more like the late afternoon), I got inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma honor society. It wasn't anything big, really. They had a room that was way too small for all the inductees and their guests. Fortunately, the whole thing didn't last very long. They said a few words, and then they called each person up to get a pin. Then it was a free-for-all as people lined up to get their certificates. My family came to the induction, and then we had dinner. I had lunch with them again today (at Moe's) before they left.

So now I have an official-looking Phi Eta Sigma certificate and pin. I can wear the pin whenever I want to look important, and people will think I'm in some fraternity that secretly rules the world. They probably won't know that it's just an honor society that does community service every now and then.

Here's an Ask Jordon question.

Carol: Is it possible for you to see when someone is visiting your site? Like me right now?

As with most web sites, accesses to files on this site are logged, mainly for statistics purposes and my own amusement. I can tell which IP addresses have visited the site, and what browsers and operating systems they correspond with (although all of that information can be faked). When you submit an Ask Jordon question, your IP address and browser/OS information are sent as well. I can tell that your ISP is Verizon and that you're using IE 7 on Windows XP (if your browser isn't lying), but that's about it.

With regards to the story I posted last time about Illinois state representative Monique Davis, she has apologized -- though not publicly -- for her bigoted tirade.

Can't decide between Clinton or Obama? Here's a Democratic Primary Quiz (Flash).

Here are photos of 10 Interesting Abandoned Places.

Spring break is over, and now it's back to school. There are no more holidays till the end of the spring semester -- the end of my first year of college. It's gone by so fast, I don't even know what to think. But it's not over yet.

On Friday, I did manage to go to the beach with my sister and our friends Yamilee and Austin. We only stayed for about an hour. I think I like the idea of going to the beach more than I actually like going to the beach. The sun's unbearably hot, you have to put on sunscreen which is kind of icky, sand gets all over you, there are lots of people around, and, in our case, the water was freezing. I managed to get about halfway in, but that's the best I could do. It'll be warmer in the summer.

After the beach, we ate lunch and went to Whole Foods so Austin and Yamilee could shop.

That night, my sister and I got to hang out with our friends Nick, Mike, and Jarian. They've apparently discovered this Brazilian restaurant/pool hall, so we went there to shoot some pool. A lot of pool, actually. We stayed for about three hours. I'm not very good at pool, but I have my moments. It was pretty discouraging how bad I was, though. Another thing I noticed was that there were a lot of couples there. Mike and Jarian each brought their girlfriends. I also had my attention turned to a hot girl who was playing pool with her boyfriend at a nearby table. Every once in a while, they stopped to suck face.

There was some kind of party going on in the restaurant portion of the place, so there was live Brazilian music that was extremely loud. I mean, it was just two guys, but the volume was immense. I left with a headache, which continued to plague me throughout the next day.

Soon, my date will be rescheduled. Maybe right after I post this...

On Saturday, we left to stay at my aunt's house, and today, I got dropped off at the dorm. And here I am. I've been dreading coming back because I have a big physics test on Wednesday, but once I got settled back into my dorm room, it felt kind of nice. I just wish I didn't have to go to class tomorrow, though. Oh well. I don't have any classes on Tuesday.

And now, the links.

Unicode has some crazy Miscellaneous Symbols.

It's pretty interesting to see what Europeans think of each other.

This Visual Trace Route Tool might be of use to someone who wants to see where a web site is physically located. It shows theworldofstuff.com as being on Florida's space coast, even though it's hosted in Arizona. I'm not sure why there's a discrepancy.

I'm on spring break. Woo spring break!

Now what?

Well, I'm home, for one thing, after spending a weekend at my grandparents'. Now that I'm back in South Florida, I'm looking to visit the old school. I dropped by after school one day in December, but I haven't been around while classes were in session, so I've missed out on seeing a lot of people. The teachers, especially. I have all the answers lined up for them:

"Not too bad."
"It's nice."
"Yeah."

Maybe I don't have that much to say to some of them. But I'm sure a lot of them would appreciate it if I stopped by to say hello! I'd also like to see a lot of people who I no longer see except on MySpace. Good times will be had... if my sister and I can get there in the first place. It's that darn not-having-a-car thing. Also that having-too-much-pride-to-take-the-bus thing? Complicating things is the fact that they're having standardized testing in the mornings for the rest of this week, so we'd best not interrupt. It'll have to be in the afternoon, then.

I customarily go to the beach with my friends at least once during spring break. (I only go about twice a year despite living relatively right next to it.) But many of my spring break beach buddies now go to school at nearby FAU, which had its spring break last week. Hopefully we can do something, anyway.

In Oklahoma, the recently proposed House Bill 2211 would allow schoolchildren to express their religious beliefs in just about any way possible without being penalized. Students taking science tests would be able to answer with their own beliefs rather than actual facts, and they would have to get a good grade. The child who says that the earth was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster would have to get just as much credit as the student with logic and reasoning on his side. Disgusting. Worse yet is that Texas already passed this law (which was written not by politicians but by a group of fundamentalist lawyers), and the state's schools are suffering for it.

This would be totally cool as a real movie: Minesweeper: The Movie.

Are you extremely vain? Get a personalized doll that looks just like you!

There was a lunar eclipse last night. I went to check it out with my sister, plus Omar, Amanda, and some of Amanda's friends. The people I didn't know apparently knew of this place that would make for great eclipse watching. Their special spot turned out to be the side of the road in Paynes Prairie. The weather wasn't looking very cooperative at first, but eventually the clouds cleared up and we could see the moon turn red. There were also a lot of stars. A heck of a lot. Do you realize how big the Big Dipper is? It's really big.

I've found myself looking back on my high-school days a lot lately. In particular, I've been reading my archives for May 2007. What exciting times those were. Between coming in second place in the programming competition, taking an AP test, winning big at the senior class awards, going to prom, graduating, and more, I made a lot of memories there that I'm sure will last for a lifetime. Once in a while I look back on those days only a few months ago when everything was so different. Before going home for the holidays, before the first semester of college, before meeting my roommate and making friends, before that last summer, I was just a high school student standing on the brink of... life.

Which is not to say I'm living a lot more now than I was then. I'm not, really. It's just that I seem to have broadened my horizons a bit. Things in high school were so simple. Every day was the same. Things will never be that simple again. Not until I'm old and retired, anyway. I just wonder what things would have been like if I had done things differently. For example, what if I had been cooler? Then I'd probably be really cool now. Anyway, you get the idea. I'm just feeling nostalgic, I guess.

I know my readers are smart enough to know this, but you probably know some people who will find it useful: an explanation of why evolution is not "just a theory". (In short: scientific laws describe how things work, and theories are developed to explain why they work.)

Advice from a 50-year-old: 50 things I've learned in 50 years, a partial list in no particular order.

Turns out you can recycle more than you think. Here are 21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle.

I'm still alive, really. I've been busy. I present to you a post I started working on yesterday but didn't have time to finish.

Tuesday was Free Pancake Day at IHOP, and my sister really wanted to go. We went with our friend Amanda. The pancakes were good. They tasted really free. Since man cannot live on pancakes alone, I also had some eggs Benedict. The point of letting everyone have a free short stack was to raise money for charity, so we did our part. In that sense, the pancakes weren't really free.

They still tasted free, though.

Also Tuesday, I had my first test in my programming class. I think I got an A. It helps when you already know some basic programming concepts. Today in programming discussion, we were doing exercises with loops (which were just taught yesterday). The hardest one was to implement Leibniz's calculation of pi. I got it, and I've been playing around with it. It turns out that it converges to pi extremely slowly. With 1 billion terms, it's accurate only to 8 decimal places.

Of course, the proverbial elephant in the room is that it's Valentine's Day. You know what that means: it's my anniversary... of switching to Linux. You probably know how I feel about Valentine's Day, or you can probably guess. After reading this, you will be able to guess.

I went to a Gator Freethought meeting last night. To make things interesting, the topic of discussion was how your religious beliefs affect your views on love, sex, dating, and the like. To make things more interesting, "stoplight" dress code was made optional: wear green if you're single, red if you're taken, and yellow if you're "It's Complicated." While the people there spent the entire time debating the definition of love, I couldn't help but wonder: Why cant everyone dress this way all the time then we wouldn't have any problems or rather I wouldn't have any problems. Seriously the last 3 girls I asked out or wanted to ask out were already taken and I didn't know it at the time WTF. I hate this. I really do. And it's only getting worse. I'm just going to make this clear:

I can't get a date.

There. I said it, for everyone to hear. It's hard to exude coolness and confidence with a track record like the one I have.

However, I do have some joy in my life by volunteering for Get Carded, which gives out organ donor cards. Today we gave out cards with a Valentine's twist: "Have a heart, sign a donor card" was the slogan, and the idea drew some people. The chocolates also drew some people, no doubt. It was a productive day, though, and that's good. I like knowing that I'm helping to save lives.

Time for Ask Jordon:

Brian: Is Justin secretly Stephen Rea?

Your IP address indicates that you sent this from the University of Oregon. Is Brian secretly my friend Luke?

Dan in Japan: Did you ever read Pulp Novels? If so, did you have a favorite hero? (Example - The Spider, the Shadow.. etc.)

No, Dan the Man in Japan, I've never read those kinds of things. I think they were before my time. I thought Pulp Fiction was okay, though. By the way, your IP address indicates that you are in Japan. Good job.

Just to fit into the theme we've got going here, here are 50 Very Simple Ways to Be Romantic.

And this probably fits in too: Your Eyes Don't Lie - Reading Thoughts By Eye Movements.

I am sick, so nobody can kiss me today. Sounds like it's time for some stream-of-consciousness action.

I had some tests over the past few days. Last Wednesday, I had a test in my biology class and I did well. On Friday, I had a test in differential equations and got a pretty good grade. On Monday, I had a test in physics, and, well -- it counts as a C on their own special grading scale. Let's leave it at that. (Leaving it not at that, I just want to say that I'm glad that a B+ is between 80-90%.)

I've actually been sick since I woke up Monday. (Great way to start a Monday, isn't it?) Monday and yesterday it was a throat thing. Today it was a nose thing. There are no more tissues around here.

Random thought (I'm writing stream-of-consciousness-ly, so I'm allowed to inject random thoughts): If this is my fifth "Stream of Consciousness" post between November 18, 2005, and today, and the Super Bowl has occurred annually since 1967, then in what year will I write a stream of consciousness post that has the same Roman numeral as that year's Super Bowl? Express your answer as a year in Roman numerals.

(Note: I just want to test the idea that if a site has a sufficiently large fan base, then its loyal and devoted readers will do anything you ask them to. Or, at least, one of them will, anyway.)

How about that Super Bowl, anyway? I had an inkling that it would be the most-watched Super Bowl ever, and I was right. In fact, it was the second most watched TV program in American history, behind only the last episode of "M*A*S*H." (That's fun to type.) But anyway, I knew it would be an exciting game, no matter who won. What an upset for the previously undefeated Patriots. They'll be talking about that one for years to come. (And my poor roommate, who's originally from Massachusetts, wasn't very happy.)

Speaking of roommates and rooms, today was my day to sign up for housing for next year. I decided to stay in Hume Hall, and luckily, I won the lottery to stay. I even got to pick what room I could stay in (from a selection of a few). I chose a room on the opposite side of my same floor. I like being on the second floor. I don't have to spend too much time walking up and down the stairs.

Ah, there's nothing like a detailed entry about your web host's new bandwidth pricing policy to attract zero comments from readers. I'm starting to feel the savings now, though. I can actually watch my bandwidth costs go down. $0.9837 per gigabyte and falling, baby!

My sister's going home for the weekend, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. Well, for one, I go away a lot as it is, and I think it's important for me to spend time here and socialize with my dorm-mates. Also, since I'm paying $tons to stay here, I might as well get my money's worth. On the other hand, it is nice to see my family. I'll probably still be sick on Friday, so I don't think I'm going to go home. (It's bad enough being sick and feeling awful, but being sick and feeling awful in a car for five hours? Bleah.)

And for those of you keeping score at home, this is my 899th post.

I guess the Oscars are coming up or something, so read about 6 Odd Moments in Oscar History.

More about that friggin' Super Bowl: If you watched the Super Bowl (I accidentally typed "bowel" there -- good thing I allow myself to correct typos in these kinds of posts), then you probably noticed a lot of advertising from Bridgestone, the tire company. Well, it turns out they're just trying to clean up their image in the face of a human rights lawsuit.

Science education in Florida's schools rather sucks. I should know because I was subjected to it for a few years recently. Okay, my school in particular wasn't so bad, but it could have been better. Anyway, there's a petition you can sign that aims to change that.

Now, time for some hot soup (of the ramen-like variety) and probably some rest. Ah, that sounds good. Oh, and a hot shower, too. Yeah. But not in that order.

As I write this, my bandwidth is now $0.9829 per gigabyte.

Happy 2008, everybody. This New Year's Day has been a pretty okay one. Florida lost its bowl game against Michigan, 41-35. When you care about sports, things like that are kind of a disappointment. It was a little bit of a disappointment, especially since the game was pretty close and because I invested about four hours of my afternoon watching it.

Actually, for part of the time I was filling out my FAFSA for 2008-2009. It's something of a New Year's Day tradition for American college students who fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as early as possible so they'll be eligible for federal scholarships and loans. Or something like that. The bulk of the information deals with your income and your parents' income.

This evening my family went to have dinner at my friend Mark's house. His mom had the whole buffet-style feast and everything, and there were quite a few other people invited. It was a good way to spend the evening, I think, until I was asked to dish out some leftovers to take home. Italian stuff with tomato sauce. Do you see where this is going? I ended up wearing quite a bit. Some lady whose name I'm supposed to know said, "Jordon, Jordon, Jordon. Jordon, Jordon, Jordon." Just like that. That made me feel loads better. Happy New Year!

One hundred years ago today, the New York World asked its readers to predict what New York would be like in 2008. Now, the New York Times has asked experts (and non-experts) what they think life will be like in New York in 2108. Does anyone care to stick around for a hundred years and see if they're right?

It's a blog, but it hasn't been updated for a while. It's still funny, though: New and Improved Stereotypes.

Here's a psychological optical illusion; your perception of the image is supposed to vary depending on the culture in which you were brought up. The following paragraph contains a spoiler for the optical illusion, so check it out before you continue.

It's totally a window. It looks all wrong for a box. That's ridiculous.

It's Christmas again.

I did go to church with my family yesterday, and I didn't feel that bad, but I won't make a habit of it. I gave gifts to my friends that I saw there. The Christmas pageant, as it were, was pretty short. Some of the kids in it were way too young; they didn't seem to know what they were doing. One girl who had a reading still had a Homestar Runner accent. "A weading fwum the lettow of Paul to..." Just no. Did she even know what she was saying? The Cowinthians wouldn't have taken her seriously. Sewiously.

I got mostly guitar-related gifts: strings, cables, and a practice amp that's small enough for me to take to my dorm. It packs a punch, though. But what else would you expect from a Vox? Okay, maybe I only like Vox amps because the Beatles used them, but my friend Sean had a Vox mini-amp that I liked. Other than that, I'm a Fender amp guy.

For the second year, my pen pal Natasha and I exchanged gifts for Christmas. I got her a plush gator that says "Go Gators" and plays UF's fight song. I also included a video greeting where I showed her my dorm and the alligator in the pond across the street. This afternoon I called Natasha to wish her a merry Christmas and see if she got my gift to her. (She did, and her gift to me should be coming any day now.) I love to hear her voice. We both agreed that we need to talk on the phone more often. I'll hold up my end of the bargain, long-distance charges be damned. Ooh, I said damn. Maybe I'll get a phone card. That probably would have been good to ask for for Christmas. Oh well. I got money that I can buy phone cards with.

And now, a not particularly holiday edition of Ask Jordon.

Justin: Did I ever explain to you my theory on the communist santa?

I think so, but I don't really remember. Let's see what I can make up: He wears red. He distributes toys equally to practically everyone. People are urged not to question him. He doesn't live in the West. And what else? I bet he has pretty tight control over the elves.

Justin: Also, do you think there may be an "Answer Jordon" component in the future?

I did have Jordon Asks YOU!! about a year ago, but I haven't done anything with it since then. It's probably because I gave a schedule to work with (ask a question every Saturday), and anyone who reads this blog knows that I don't adhere to schedules when blogging. (Remember the monthly interview series that only lasted one month?)

In Soviet Russia, Santa writes letters to YOU!!

New at The World of Stuff: Do you use Wikipedia? How about Creative Commons? Or Linux? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider giving a monetary donation to the organizations involved. I came to that conclusion yesterday, and to make it easy for people to donate to free content projects, I've created this page with Donation Information for Free Content Projects. As a student without a credit card, I'd like to know which free software projects I can send a check to. Hence the list. I hope you or somebody finds it useful.

Classical music is everywhere these days. We hear the same classical pieces all the time as they've become associated with a particular aspect of popular culture. Enter Kickass Classical, a list with information about popular classical tunes. Incidentally, I found this site when I was trying to find the name of the repetitive, escalating piece they use in movie trailers to indicate mounting chaos. I couldn't find it there, but I bet somebody knows the name of it.

If you grew up in the '90s, here's a present for you: a memorable sketch from All That.

Here are some vintage Images from the Tobacco Industry Campaign to Hide the Hazards of Smoking. Did you know that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette?

It's Christmas Eve, and you know what that means. Tomorrow's Christmas. It's a time when a lot of people go to church who otherwise wouldn't. As an atheist, I have to make this decision. Should I go because it's a family tradition, or should I not go because it would be dishonest on my part? Or: should I be a pushover or a jerk? About.com has this to say:

The people at church are pretty nice to me, and I would enjoy hearing the music and seeing the kids put on the Christmas pageant (if it doesn't get severely abridged like it did last year). If I go, I will feel really awkward like I did last year. I wanted to shrink away to nothing. I saw people I used to see all the time and expected them to say, "And where have you been?" If I don't go, I'll still feel really awkward because I did go last year. It's a no-win situation for me. But I guess I'll go along to watch because I feel as though I need some good humiliation now and then. It's the Catholic in me.

The Christmas season is a time that reminds us to be generous. To that end, I've decided to make some small donations to non-profit organizations that are responsible for providing the world with free knowledge and software. Actually, I forgot to bring my checkbook home, so it'll have to wait till I get back to school. But I plan to donate to Wikimedia and the Free Software Foundation. I'd donate to Ubuntu, but they don't seem to take donations by check. Does anyone have any other ideas?

So I took this elaborate personality test. Here are the results if you want to read them, but I thought I'd make a note of the recommendations it had for me:

• Appreciate that your skill set can be useful in many ways; your attention to detail and your familiarity with the inner-workings of things are valuable assets.
• Try looking beyond the earthly qualities of things in order to expand your perspective, without losing your grounding in reality.
• Because other people would benefit immensely from your understanding and insight, you should try to be more outgoing in social situations, even when they make you uncomfortable. Others will want to hear what you have to say!

A guy spent 30 minutes watching CNN Headline News and decided to make a pie chart with a breakdown of the content. Not much of it was actually news.

Read ultra-condensed versions of classic books: Book-A-Minute Classics. There are also similar collections for sci-fi/fantasy, children's books, and movies.

Some taste-testing experiments demonstrate the subjectivity of wine. In one test, the same wine was put into both a cheap-looking bottle and a fancier bottle. Wine critics thought the expensive-looking wine tasted much better. In another test, critics praised a red wine for its fruitiness even though it was actually a white wine dyed red.