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	<title>The World of Stuff &#187; TWoS</title>
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	<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com</link>
	<description>Semi-geeky musings, links, and observations by an all-geeky college student.</description>
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		<title>What TWoS Means to Me</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2010/01/14/what-twos-means-to-me/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2010/01/14/what-twos-means-to-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:44:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Posts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=825</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While I'm busy entertaining a guest, Peter Hurford satiates your hunger for stuff with this site's first guest post in two and a half years.
Hi! I'm Peter Hurford. I run the amazing website Greatplay.net, which Jordon sometimes links to -- for example in this post and then in this post, and in that fancy blogroll [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>While I'm busy entertaining a <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/12/15/the-visitor/">guest</a>, Peter Hurford satiates your hunger for stuff with this site's first guest post in two and a half years.</em></p>
<p>Hi! I'm Peter Hurford. I run the amazing website <a href="http://www.greatplay.net">Greatplay.net</a>, which Jord<b>o</b>n sometimes links to -- for example in <a href=" http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/08/31/the-club-scene/">this post</a> and then in <a href=" http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2010/01/07/cheap-books-are-ok/">this post</a>, and in that fancy blogroll in the sidebar.</p>
<p>I actually asked Jord<b>o</b>n to let me guest post because I was bored, but apparently he is -- quote -- "not sure when [he'll] have time to write a post next". So you ended up with me or nothing. And I'm hoping you prefer me over nothing.  Feel free to compare me to <a href=" http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/category/guest-posts/">the other guest posts</a> if you want to know how I'm doing.</p>
<p>Actually, that was more of a demand. You <i>WILL</i> prefer me over nothing. I'm hoping the lack of any serious competition (from Jord<b>o</b>n during this week, not from the other guest posts) will get my demand off the ground.</p>
<p>Anyways, the fact is that I like The World of Stuff a lot, and it really motivated me to bring my own blog off the ground. I vaguely remember stumbling upon it because of <a href=" http://www.theworldofstuff.com/characters/">The Ultimate Cool Characters</a> back in 2005ish, about 2 or 3 tWoS web redesigns ago. I had my own Greatplay.net back then and it was about 50% more personal and 75% less updated than it is now.</p>
<p>I got involved with The World of Stuff directly when I asked for a link exchange, back when friendly link exchanges were considered "cool". I ended up in his sidebar (which now contains many blogs), and he ended up in mine (which used to contain two blogs, and now doesn't exist.) For some reason, Greatplay.net was then doing very well traffic-wise (something that I can't seem to recapture) while tWoS ended up staying about even. Jord<b>o</b>n then asked me for advice! (Of course, today, the tables are turned.)</p>
<p>In 2007, I was behind in technology in keeping up with TWoS. Jord<b>o</b>n had this cool thing called PLAPS which, while no longer defined on the site anywhere (as far as I can tell) used to be a script that would allow you to write posts ahead of time and then suspend them, scheduling them to not appear to the public until later. This allowed one to develop content on a regular schedule while secretly writing nearly everything on weekends, or seem to post while secretly on vacation. I wanted to try to use PLAPs. But by then, Jord<b>o</b>n had already discovered <a href=" http://www.wordpress.com">Wordpress</a>, something I had never heard of!</p>
<p>I then sat around for some more years and then relaunched my site with Wordpress on March 2009, more or less the way it is now.  For those that don't know, Wordpress is a blogging software that lets you run a blog on your site without having to script the entire system by yourself (which would take weeks).  I also got the idea for <a href=" http://www.greatplay.net/?page_id=670>Ask Peter</a> straight from <a href=" http://www.theworldofstuff.com/ask.html">Ask Jord<b>o</b>n</a>, pretty much stolen, but with a nice link on my site. I, however, gave Jord<b>o</b>n the idea of "Jord<b>o</b>n Asks You" (except he gave it the cool Russian Reversal name). So I guess it's pretty much even, assuming "Jord<b>o</b>n Asks You" still ran, which it does not.</p>
<p>But the end of the story is that if it wasn't for Jord<b>o</b>n, I probably would never have Wordpress, I would never have Ask Peter, and I would likely never have the blog I have today.</p>
<p>Therefore, I blame Jord<b>o</b>n entirely for my lack of success.</p>
<p>And you can blame Jord<b>o</b>n for the existence of this post.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
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		<title>The club scene</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/08/31/the-club-scene/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/08/31/the-club-scene/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:10:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Esperanto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=782</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As I took a seat in one of my classes today, the guy next to me said, "World of Stuff?"
He explained that he'd been to this web site and wanted to freak me out by randomly mentioning it. I asked how he had heard of it, and he said he couldn't remember, but he remembered [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As I took a seat in one of my classes today, the guy next to me said, "World of Stuff?"</p>
<p>He explained that he'd been to this web site and wanted to freak me out by randomly mentioning it. I asked how he had heard of it, and he said he couldn't remember, but he remembered my face, presumably from the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/me.html">About Me</a> page.</p>
<p>I wish that happened more often. Thanks, random dude!</p>
<p>As this school year has been getting up to speed, student organizations that have been dormant over the summer are springing back to life. I'm active in several organizations, so this means exciting haps for me.</p>
<p>Yesterday, I handed out flyers for <a href="http://www.getcarded.org/home.cfm">Get Carded</a> on campus. Actually, we weren't handing them out as much as going into dorms and putting them in residents' boxes. Not the mailboxes, but they also have these, like... cubbies. Yeah. They have cubbies. It was weird going to campus on a Sunday and seeing people mulling around because for two years, I was mulling around with them. In fact, one of the dorms I went to was Hume Hall, the dorm where I lived for two years. From what I saw, it's the same as it was a few months ago, when I last lived there.</p>
<p><a href="http://uf.freeculture.org/">Florida Free Culture</a>, of which I'm now the secretary, is getting into full swing as well. There's already been an organizational meeting, during which many events were planned or at least discussed. Coming up soon are the Student Organization Fair, at which FFC will be present, and Free Your PC, our signature event during which we install antivirus software and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a> on students' computers.</p>
<p>And then there's my own club, the Esperanto Club. Ah, yes. I'm hoping to have an even better year than <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/04/30/a-sweet-end/">last year</a>, which should be pretty easy. For our first meeting, Andy and I will be talking not only about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto">Esperanto</a> but also about how we used it throughout our <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/category/travel/europe-09/">epic trip to Europe</a> this summer. If we can drum up enough publicity to attract people who'll want to hear about our amazing story and this exciting language, this year will definitely be a success.</p>
<p>Here's an awesome time-lapse video that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdTduSstXVM">tracks the sun around the sky</a> for a week near one of the poles. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/05/never-ending-sun.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
<p>Peter over at <a href="http://www.greatplay.net/">Greatplay.net</a> came up with a cool idea that I wish I'd thought of: a <a href="http://www.greatplay.net/wikipedia.php">random featured article</a> from Wikipedia.</p>
<p>If someone told you they couldn't send e-mail to people over 500 miles away, would you say they were crazy? That's probably what this one guy thought when he was confronted with just that problem. Find out how <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html">the case of the 500-mile e-mail</a> was solved.</p>
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		<title>Yawn</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/08/30/yawn/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/08/30/yawn/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:56:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies/TV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musings and Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=781</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Besides being a blog, The World of Stuff is a bunch of stuff. Over the years, I've added new pages that defy categorization. Nonetheless, I've been trying for a long time to keep each extraneous page one of a few neat, little boxes. It's not working.
Currently, the navigation links are Blog, Archives, Geek, Writing, Video, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Besides being a blog, The World of Stuff is a bunch of stuff. Over the years, I've added new pages that defy categorization. Nonetheless, I've <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/12/20/merry-possible-redesign/">been trying</a> for a long time to keep each extraneous page one of a few neat, little boxes. It's not working.</p>
<p>Currently, the navigation links are Blog, Archives, Geek, Writing, Video, Fun, Store, and About. Of these, the Blog, Archives, and Video pages are worth leaving alone. They do their job well. It's the Geek, Writing, and Fun pages I'm most concerned about. They're not very intuitive. (Would you expect to find Ultimate Cool Characters in Geek, Writing, or Fun? It's in Geek.)</p>
<p>I'm thinking of splitting up those three categories into the following four categories. (The current category for each page is in parentheses.)</p>
<p>Articles:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/linux/">Free Your Computer with Linux</a> (Geek)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/day.html">Finding the Day of the Week</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/currency/autographs.html">Courtesy Autographs on US Currency</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/tredici/">Tredici</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/lefty/">Being Left-Handed</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak/">The Dvorak Keyboard and You</a> (Geek)</li>
</ul>
<p>Fiction or Creative:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/bulletin.txt">PLEASE READ THIS!!!1</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/prisoners.html">The Prisoners</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/rj.txt">Romeo and Juliet: A Sock Puppet Adaptation</a> (Writing)</li>
</ul>
<p>Reference:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/ufirc.html">Using IRC on UF DHNet</a> (Geek)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/kalilich/">Kalili&#263;/Kalilich Family Genealogy</a> (Writing)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/linux/donating.html">Donation Information for Free Content Projects</a> (Geek)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/linux/ubuntufix.html">Fix for Ubuntu Hard Drive Problem</a> (Geek)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/clickhere.html">"Click Here" Around the World</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/minor.html">Minor Scale Chart Thing</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/characters/">Ultimate Cool Characters</a> (Geek)</li>
</ul>
<p>Interactive:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/rts/">RTS-SMS</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/canada.html">From Canada with Love</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/cyrillic.html">Fake Cyrillic Generator</a> (Fun)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/greasemonkey/">Greasemonkey User Scripts</a> (Geek)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/ask.html">Ask Jordon</a> (Fun)</li>
</ul>
<p>If I were going to change up all these organizational things, which I probably will, then I'd also change the name of the About page to "<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meta#English">Meta</a>" at the risk of alienating the 98% of the population who don't know what "meta" means. It's because I have not only <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/me.html">About Me</a>, <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/site.html">About the Site</a>, and <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/donate.html">Donations</a>, but also <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/ssarticle.html">press</a> <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/other/citylink.html">coverage</a> of the site.</p>
<p>As for the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/theworldofstuff">store</a>... the store makes me sigh. No one's ever bought anything from it. Looks like I'm going to need another way to effortlessly make money while promoting my blog.</p>
<p>By the way, all of the above is up for discussion; that's why I'm posting it here. Let me know what you think. Ideas for effortlessly making money while promoting the site are particularly welcome.</p>
<p>Awesome video: a complete <a href="http://www.empireonline.com/20/goonies-reunion-video/">Goonies reunion</a>. (Via <a href="http://waxy.org/">waxy.org</a>)</p>
<p>Roomba + camera + time = <a href="http://signaltheorist.com/?p=91">Roomba time exposure</a>. (Via <a href="http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/roombas_path_revealed/">J-Walk Blog</a>)</p>
<p>Here are some <a href="http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/05/rare-and-interesting-mental-disorders_08.html">rare and interesting mental disorders and illnesses</a> you've probably never heard of. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/05/rare-and-interesting-mental-disorders.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
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		<title>Summer again</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/05/06/summer-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/05/06/summer-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2009 00:45:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Ask Jordon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Atheism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=752</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, hello there. I'm home, and there hasn't been much to report.
Friday night, my last night in Hume Hall, was pretty quiet. I basically spent it with my friend Andrea, who was as bored as I was. She made some food for us, but I got hungry later, as people are wont to do. That's [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well, hello there. I'm home, and there hasn't been much to report.</p>
<p>Friday night, my last night in Hume Hall, was pretty quiet. I basically spent it with my friend Andrea, who was as bored as I was. She made some food for us, but I got hungry later, as people are wont to do. That's when I found out that all of the dining halls, convenience stores, and restaurants on campus had closed early. We went to McDonald's, where there was a touch-screen game system presumably for the kids as they munch on their Happy Meals. After eating, we took a whack at a trivia game that was too hard for us, let alone some little McNugget-gobbling brats. It took us about a million tries to beat the high score, and we were very proud.</p>
<p>On Saturday, my dad came and helped me moved out. We spent the night at my aunt's house, and then on Sunday, we took the long way home. I got home Sunday night and, well, here I am.</p>
<p>I've been working online, and that's been pretty okay. As a webmaster, I do most of my work on the Internet, so it's been basically like going to work, except I don't have to walk there. That would be a long walk.</p>
<p>Also, I just found out today that I got all A's and B's in my classes. Awesome. Let's celebrate with an edition of <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/ask.html">Ask Jordon</a>:</p>
<p class="b">Carlos: When are you coming out of beta? Flickr already did.</p>
<p>Well, my friend Luke, since <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/01/01/happy-new-stuff/">this design</a> looks so modern and Web 2.0 (is that still modern?), and because it's always subject to change, I thought a "beta?" badge would be appropriate next to the logo until I have it the way I like it. The only thing I'm yet concerned about is the line spacing. Do you guys think there needs to be more space between the lines here? I'll have to check it out on Windows and see what looks okay.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is the <a href="http://www.nationaldayofreason.org/">National Day of Reason</a>, which coincides with that National Day of Prayer thing. Americans United for Separation of Church and State explains <a href="http://members.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=our_efforts_2009_ndp_detail">why the National Day of Prayer is a bad idea</a>.</p>
<p>Here are lots of <a href="http://www.gunaxin.com/the-mclobster-sandwich-and-other-mcmenu-madness/14255">crazy McDonald's menu items</a> from around the world. Find out where you can get McSpaghetti.</p>
<p>Earth Hour was March 28. Here are some photos of cities around the world <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/earth_hour_2009.html">in the dark</a>.</p>
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		<title>From Hogtown to Cowford</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/04/06/from-hogtown-to-cowford/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/04/06/from-hogtown-to-cowford/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:40:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[In the News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=742</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Thursday, Get Carded held its third annual Lifeapalooza concert at the Orange and Brew, a coffeehouse on campus. It was similar to last year's, which is to say that a lot of people signed up to be organ donors. 52, in fact.
This year, rather than keeping track of how many people were entering the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On Thursday, Get Carded held its third annual Lifeapalooza concert at the Orange and Brew, a coffeehouse on campus. It was similar to <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/04/04/lifeapalooza/">last year's</a>, which is to say that a lot of people signed up to be organ donors. 52, in fact.</p>
<p>This year, rather than keeping track of how many people were entering the building, I mainly concerned myself with talking about organ donation to people as they made their way in. Unlike at our general tabling events, the people who weren't already organ donors were all willing to sign up.</p>
<p>Like last year, we were planning to have the attendees hold green glow sticks and stand in a ribbon shape to make a human green ribbon for organ donation, but that didn't happen. I think it was because the weather was fickle (it was very windy and it rained for a little while). Still, the turnout was good, and the music was good too. I think everybody had a good time.</p>
<p>I had a pretty boring day on Saturday. Around 8:00 at night, I was just pondering how boring my day had been when my friend Evan called. He wanted to go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida">Jacksonville</a> in search of mozzarella sticks and live music. He had never been there, and neither had I for any significant amount of time, but I didn't need much convincing to go along.</p>
<p>After chatting about all kinds of things during the 90-minute drive, we parked downtown and went to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville_Landing">Landing</a>, a place I had heard of. There was a band playing, and we found an American-type restaurant that had mozzarella stars, which were actually kind of triangular. After those and some chicken strips with french fries, we were satisfied. We took a few pictures to remember the trip by and went back to Gainesville.</p>
<p>Also, The World of Stuff is 6 years old today. Happy birthday, TWoS!</p>
<p>Yet another cool list from Wikipedia that will probably be deleted within six months: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_their_own_inventions">List of inventors killed by their own inventions</a>.</p>
<p>Apparently, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer has always been crazy... and bald. See him <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGvHNNOLnCk">pitch Windows 1.0</a>.</p>
<p>Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey died recently. He was known to deliver amusing stories that no one else covered... because they were made up. He also put a misleading spin on some of his stories. That's what a reporter found in 1997 after <a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1394">investigating some of his fishy tales</a>.</p>
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		<title>ZOMG XKCD</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/03/31/zomg-xkcd/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/03/31/zomg-xkcd/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:16:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies/TV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=739</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="center"><img src="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/20090331_xkcd_link.png" alt="Screenshot from my WordPress homepage, showing links to this site. The first line reads, 'xkcd linked here, saying...'" /></p>
<p>I heart <a href="http://xkcd.com/">xkcd</a>. It could quite possibly be the webcomic to end all webcomics. I have <a href="http://xkcd.com/530/">this comic</a> taped to my door. But I can't even remember how I found out about xkcd—probably between reading <a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> 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.</p>
<p>Anyway, xkcd mastermind Randall Munroe criticized the Dvorak keyboard layout in a <a href="http://xkcd.com/561/">recent comic</a> and linked to my very own <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/dvorak/">The Dvorak Keyboard and You</a> in a follow-up <a href="http://blag.xkcd.com/2009/03/27/a-brief-pair-of-notes/">blag post</a>. 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?</p>
<p>Sheesh, I'm kidding.</p>
<p>I myself used to draw a lot of cartoons, some on paper, others on my computer. I drew stick figure comics with a friend. <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/04/06/5-years-of-the-world-of-stuff/">Weird superheroes</a> 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.</p>
<p>I have a few examples of my work handy. This was supposed to be for my church youth group's newsletter in 2003:</p>
<p class="center"><img src="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/20090331_phone.png" alt="Guy 1: Hey, check out the new cell phone! Guy 2: Cool. Guy 1: It's a game console, web browser, printer, fax machine, pager, beeper, PDA, calculator, and walkie-talkie all in one! Guy 2: Can you call people with it? Guy 1: What?" /></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>And are beepers and pagers the same thing? I still don't know.</p>
<p>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 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuU00Q3RhDg">splice the whole thing together</a>. (Via <a href="http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/impossible_guitar/">J-Walk Blog</a>)</p>
<p>Oh, those news anchors: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ehlw_phys">What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks</a>. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-news-anchors-do-during-commercial.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
<p>Someone found out about every street in the world and made a list of the ten most amazing ones: <a href="http://listverse.com/travel/top-10-most-amazing-streets-in-the-world/">Top 10 Most Amazing Streets in the World</a>. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/02/top-10-most-amazing-streets-in-world.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
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		<title>Spring broken</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/03/17/spring-broken/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/03/17/spring-broken/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:39:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friends]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Weird]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=735</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Spring break was fun even though I was sick for a few days. On Tuesday night, I went out on my dad's boat, which was fun. I miss the ocean sometimes, so it was good to be back. Toward the end of the week, I hung out with Nick, Mike, and TJ more. We ate [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Spring break was fun even though I was sick for a few days. On Tuesday night, I went out on my dad's boat, which was fun. I miss the ocean sometimes, so it was good to be back. Toward the end of the week, I hung out with Nick, Mike, and TJ more. We ate at a lot of restaurants, and I discovered that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooters">Hooters</a> has delicious chicken wings. I wish I had hung out with more people and eaten more wings, but spring break must come to an end.</p>
<p>And so it did. After over a week away from school, I was actually... ugh... <i>missing</i> it. I mean, it's good to be back to being (supposedly) productive. People are counting down the weeks until the semester ends. (I think it's five or six? Oh no, I'm a bad college student because I don't know!)</p>
<p>Also, everybody got a haircut during spring break. Seriously, lots of people. I was going to get one myself, but I ended up not feeling like it. What is it about going home that makes college students want to cut their hair? I don't know about anyone else, but when I go home to get a haircut, my parents pay for it. And they know how much to tip.</p>
<p>Speaking of other people, I've decided to bridge the gap between The World of Stuff and a little web site you may have heard of known as Facebook. Some of my friends read this blog religiously, and some stop by once in a while, but a lot of them aren't blog-reading types. Still others don't know I have a blog at all. I think my friends and acquaintances would like my blog. How do I show it to them?</p>
<p>As it happens, Facebook allows you to import <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS">RSS</a> feed items as "notes," which are what it calls blog-post-type things. Facebook will check back on the feed every few hours and post any new items as your notes. You can't edit them, though. To maintain control over my posts and keep comments in one place, I disabled commenting on my notes and imported a custom RSS feed (created with the help of <a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feed-wrangler/">Feed Wrangler</a>) that just shows the auto-generated summary for each post followed by a link to the full post. Welcome, new readers who I'm already friends with!</p>
<p>A blog with tips on spotting Canadians: <a href="http://www.howtospotacanadian.ca/">How to Spot a Canadian</a>. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-spot-canadian.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/01/19/30-years-in-the-future/">One year in the past</a>, I discovered I could take 10 five-year-olds in a fight. Now I've found out how many ninety-year-olds I could take in a fight with this quiz called "How Many 90 Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?" at <a href="http://www.howmany90yearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/">howmany90yearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com</a>. Turns out I could take 14 ninety-year-olds in a fight. (Via <a href="http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-many-90-year-olds-could-you-take-in.html">The Presurfer</a>)</p>
<p>I sometimes enjoy listening to Internet radio stations or radio stations on the Internet. So I was pretty pleased when my friend TJ told me about <a href="http://siradio.fm/">Split Infinity Radio</a>, which apparently features DJs who work from their homes and pick a wide variety of tunes to spin. It's fun to tune in and see what they've got going.</p>
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		<title>Happy new stuff</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/01/01/happy-new-stuff/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2009/01/01/happy-new-stuff/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:02:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Computers]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=706</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy new year. It's the last year of the 2000s or whatever we're calling them. Notice anything different? That's right: The World of Stuff has a new look.
First of all, if the layout looks like a garbled mess, press F5 to force a reload of everything. That should work in most browsers.
Now, you may be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Happy new year. It's the last year of the 2000s or whatever we're calling them. Notice anything different? That's right: The World of Stuff has a new look.</p>
<p>First of all, if the layout looks like a garbled mess, press F5 to force a reload of everything. That should work in most browsers.</p>
<p>Now, you may be asking why I made this change, the fourth major update to the design of the site. The previous layout was introduced three years ago, on January 1, 2006. Back then, I <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/01/02/look-at-that-wall/">said</a>,</p>
<blockquote><p>Bearing in mind some of the feedback I've gotten and some observations I've made, I'm going to record a general overview (for the me of the future and the you of today) on what to expect in TWoS 4.0: it'll have the fun feel of TWoS 2.0 and the navigation design of TWoS 3.0 combined with the web standards adherence and universal accessibility of TWoS 5.0.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And that is what you see here today. Certain aspects of this design, such as the color scheme, are taken from the second layout (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/20041015_mainpage.png">screenshot</a>), which was in turn based on the first layout (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200308.html#d100237">tiny screenshots here</a>). One of the things people missed the most from TWoS 2.0 was the random slogan displayed on each page. So I always intended to bring them back in the fourth layout, and here they are. I have most of the same ones to start with, but I would add new ones and remove old ones regularly.</p>
<p>Now. Why the change? Frankly, it's long overdue. The first layout lasted a year and a half; the second was around for not much more than a year. The third layout persisted for a whole three years. In that time, computers and the Internet have changed. The third layout was fluid to accommodate small (less than 1024x768) resolutions. I realized that things wouldn't look so great on bigger resolutions, but I thought it wouldn't matter. I didn't expect that wide screen resolutions would become the standard in only a few years. This layout is fixed-width to keep pages from being unreadably wide.</p>
<p>I also want to put this site on par with more popular blogs. This new design is modern and shiny, but you can see that it still has my own special "what-was-he-thinking-and-does-he-really-know-what-he's-doing" touch. And because the design is so <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">Web 2.0</a>, I'll say that this layout is in "beta." Not because it's not tested (oh, trust me, it's tested) but because it's open to suggestions for improvement. Think something needs to be placed somewhere else, or maybe some style doesn't look quite right? Bring it to my attention, and I'll weigh in on it.</p>
<p>One exception: the navigation bar is not open to criticism. You do not know how long it took me to test that thing. I do not know how long it took me to test that thing. But it was somewhere on the order of days. Days and days and days. In fact, I spent a ridiculous amount of time making sure everything looked perfect or at least pretty reasonable in every browser and on every OS that people are likely to use. You don't know frustration until you've designed for Internet Explorer. (At this juncture, I would also like to give <a href="http://www.crossbrowsertesting.com/">CrossBrowserTesting.com</a> another plug. I should buy those guys a pizza.)</p>
<p>Since people lamented the loss of the random slogans last time, I suspect that some people will lament the loss of the photos this time. The photos had a good run, though. It's the slogans' turn to come back, and they're always different. If you don't like the new layout or if you find it hard to get used to, don't worry. You will like it or get used to it soon enough.</p>
<p>Besides updating the design of the site, I've also tried to make it easier for you to follow along with the blog. For those of you who use a feed reader, your browser will now discover relevant feeds if you're viewing an individual post or a category listing. If you don't use a feed reader, I recommend signing up for e-mail updates. That way you'll be notified instantly when there's a new post! You can sign up under the "Subscribe" section on the sidebar. And of course, your e-mail address is safe with me.</p>
<p>So I guess that's all I wanted to say. I hope you enjoy the new layout as much as I do, and I hope you're having a great new year.</p>
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		<title>I&#039;ve got class</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/11/13/ive-got-class/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/11/13/ive-got-class/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:55:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musings and Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[School]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Science]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=685</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Classes are pretty demanding. At least, the latter half of this week has been pretty demanding. Before that, I was taking it easy, so I guess that just evens out.
Tuesday was Veterans Day, so we had no classes and I had no work. So I went with some friends to Lake Wauburg in the afternoon. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Classes are pretty demanding. At least, the latter half of this week has been pretty demanding. Before that, I was taking it easy, so I guess that just evens out.</p>
<p>Tuesday was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day">Veterans Day</a>, so we had no classes and I had no work. So I went with some friends to <a href="http://www.recsports.ufl.edu/lakeWauburg.aspx">Lake Wauburg</a> in the afternoon. The lake and the surrounding area are reserved for UF students and staff. I had never been there, but I found out that it's a nice getaway. It's far outside of town, and there are cool things to do. I kayaked. It was fun. We had a picnic too.</p>
<p>Wait. Is that really the only thing that's been going on? Not really. I have been busy with classes, as I said. I gave a presentation today for my Indian Ocean class. It was, um, within the time limit? And I have a physics exam on Monday. And a tech writing project due Tuesday. And probably other stuff.</p>
<p>Man, this post is short. Maybe it's the result of a historical trend. November 13ths <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200311.html#d132350">2003</a> and <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/11/13/ubuntu-linux/">2005</a> were similarly unremarkable.</p>
<p>These <a href="http://icantseeyou.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/100-very-cool-f.html">100 Very Cool Facts About The Human Body</a> are very cool.</p>
<p>Here are <a href="http://www.quazen.com/Arts/Visual-Arts/12-Vintage-Cigarette-Ads-They-Would-Never-Get-Away-with-Now.268657">12 Vintage Cigarette Ads They Would Never Get Away with Now</a>.</p>
<p>From <i>Reason</i> Magazine, a 2.3-megabyte chart explaining the simple process of US immigration: <a href="http://www.reason.com/images/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg">What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand?</a></p>
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		<title>1,000th post</title>
		<link>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/10/28/1000th-post/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/10/28/1000th-post/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:28:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jordon Kalilich</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musings and Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TWoS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theworldofstuff.com/?p=682</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is my 1,000th post. What a milestone. What a crazy, awesome, and crazy awesome milestone. This blog has been a big or semi-big part of my life. I've written 560,791 words (that's including this post) by my own count. I've met some awesome and amazing people (you know who you are). The site helped [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is my 1,000th post. What a milestone. What a crazy, awesome, and crazy awesome milestone. This blog has been a big or semi-big part of my life. I've written 560,791 words (that's <i>including</i> this post) by my own count. I've met some awesome and amazing people (you know who you are). The site helped me <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200309.html#d182304">land my first job</a>. 1,000 posts is a lot for anyone, and it's taken me five and a half years to reach, so it's a milestone worth observing.</p>
<p>For the occasion, I went back and looked at every post I've ever written. Man, did that take a long time. Looking back, I can see that I haven't changed very much. Sure, my early posts were written differently. They weren't as long, and they tended to rely on quotations and images (especially borrowed images). And I was only starting high school. But it is still me.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200309.html#d152328">September 15, 2003</a>: "Sure, I keep to myself a lot, but I think I should try to be more outgoing."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/07/05/the-fifth-of-july/">July 5, 2008</a>: "I need to be more attuned to whether [girls] like me and not rush to date them. So that leaves a few simple steps: ... Actually contribute to a conversation, including talking to her. Be outgoing."</p>
<p>I thought that for my 1,000th entry, I would list some of my favorites from the past. (It's old-school to call blog posts "entries," but it's classy at the same time. Peppering your speech old-fashioned but still technically acceptable terms can make you sound authoritative, like when sports announcers refer to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football">football</a> team as a "club" or a "squad" or when they call a game a "contest." Yes, I have been watching too much college football on TV, but in the early days of this blog, I used "post" and "entry" pretty much interchangeably. In fact, the permalink for each post still says "permanent link to this entry.")</p>
<p>Anyway, I thought that for my 1,000th entry, I would list some of my favorites from the past. But what really makes a post great? How do you separate the memories from the posts themselves? I don't think it's possible. Many of these posts are my favorites because of the notable events that they describe. And of course, they're in top-ten format, because is there any other way?</p>
<p>Without further ado, here are my top ten favorite posts of all time.</p>
<ol>
<li value="10"><b>"To blog or not to blog?"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200307.html#d252232">July 25, 2003</a>)<br />Few readers remember that The World of Stuff wasn't originally a blog but a bunch of random pages with a common home page where I kept track of updates. In one of these early entries, I proposed the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200404.html#d142220">much</a>-<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/04/06/the-world-of-stuff-is-3/#comment-1525">quoted</a> question, "To blog or not to blog?" (with the equally memorable answer "I mean, come on, who's going to want to read about a 14-year-old kid?"). Of course, I decided to blog, and it didn't turn out to be a bad idea.</li>
<li value="9"><b>"Election Day"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/11/07/election-day/">November 7, 2006</a>)<br />In 2006, Florida Senate minority leader Ron Klein was running for the US House of Representatives, and former President Bill Clinton campaigned for him at my high school. I was glad just to be able to <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/11/05/i-did-not-have-a-bad-time-yesterday/">write about</a> being there, but in this post, I included some of the pictures I took. They really are worth a thousand words each. My favorite is the one of <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/20061107_36_clinton_klein.jpg">Clinton saluting</a> the cheering audience as the band plays behind him and Klein beams off to the side. Klein went on to unseat the 13-term incumbent.</li>
<li value="8"><b>"Constraint in writing, fun in spring"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/04/14/constraint-in-writing-fun-in-spring/">April 14, 2006</a>)<br />I wanted to see if I could write a post without using the letter "e." I came up with this post almost 500 words long. Besides lacking the most common letter in the English language, it was completely typical. I wrote about what was going on with my life as well as including some links and the usual "One year ago, two years ago" flashbacks I was doing at the time.</li>
<li value="7"><b>"[sic]"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/02/25/sic/">February 25, 2006</a>)<br />In junior high school, I had a number of teachers who were prone to slips of the tongue. They often went unnoticed, but I wrote them down as I heard them because some of them were really funny and bizarre. When I got into high school, I expected the same thing of my new teachers, but there were no verbal goofs to be heard. After sitting on my old list of "teacherisms" for a while, I decided to post some of the best ones. They're still funny.</li>
<li value="6"><b>"Some more details"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200411.html#d301858">November 30, 2004</a>)<br />Not all of these posts are my favorites in a good way. In my sophomore year of high school, Mr. Laguerre, a new teacher, died unexpectedly. Mr. Firestone, my psychology teacher, had become friends with him during his short time at Pompano High, so he decided to spend his next class explaining the psychology of death. He talked about his mother's failed battle with cancer, and many of my classmates broke down in tears as they shared stories of their own family members and friends who had died. It was so terribly sad and therapeutic at the same time. Just before graduating, I <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/20/awards-and-fun/">won a scholarship</a> in Mr. Laguerre's honor.</li>
<li value="5"><b>"Things work out"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/09/16/things-work-out/">September 16, 2005</a>)<br />This might be my most referenced post of all time. At the beginning of my junior year of high school, I felt ready to start dating. I <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/08/24/go-figure/">asked</a> a girl named Nacole if she would go to a football game with me. The game was canceled due to Hurricane Katrina, so she changed the venue to <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/08/26/clearing-up/">her house</a> and then to <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/08/30/getting-better/">a hotel</a>. My <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/09/01/getting-worse/">nervous feelings</a> got worse when she <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/09/03/stupid-thoughts/">announced her love for someone else</a> and <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/09/06/nothing-but-bad-news/">dated the guy</a>. Finally, I approached her about the apparent misunderstanding. It turned out she hadn't considered our thing to be an actual date. Fortunately, it didn't hurt our friendship, and I still talk to her every so often. As first (non-)dating experiences go, it was pretty memorable and taught me some valuable lessons. We never went on the date.</li>
<li value="4"><b>"Day One (and Day Two)"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/08/25/day-one-and-day-two/">August 25, 2007</a>)<br />I thought my first few days of college would be like <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200308.html#d260056">day one</a> and <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200308.html#d262328">day two</a> of high school, but they weren't. When I started high school, I was nervous and just plain confused. But when I started college last year, I was more enthusiastic, and I managed to learn a lot in a short time. After less than a week on campus, I had prepared some advice based on my observations. I still recommend them to my friends who are starting college. I ended the post with my mailing address and a shameless plea for support that ended up receiving one generous reply.</li>
<li value="3"><b>"Where was I?"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/03/22/where-was-i/">March 22, 2008</a>)<br />My first year of college was an <i>annus horribilis</i> when it came to dating. After <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/09/12/oh-dear-what-can-i-do/">two</a> <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/11/14/shovelglove-part-ii/">rejections</a> in the fall, I <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/03/02/looking-forward-to-friday/">asked</a> an acquaintance out to dinner and was excited that she said yes. But we had to reschedule, to my frustration and embarrassment (I had already postponed a visit to my family). As the date finally drew near, she asked if she could bring a friend. She... wait for it... didn't know it was a date! And when I told her it was, she said she wasn't interested in dating. I caved and let her bring her friend to dinner. It went smoothly. Later we went to see Kimya Dawson and friends put on a great show. So even though I was sorely disappointed, the night went rather well. It was another learning experience as well as the closest I've ever been to being on a date.</li>
<li value="2"><b>"The interview"</b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/03/15/the-interview/">March 15, 2006</a>)<br />Another painful memory that has to be shared. During my junior year of high school, the school contacted me about participating in Boys State, a prestigious summer leadership program in the state capital. After much preparation, I went to the advisor's office to be interviewed by members of the American Legion, who immediately rejected me for not being religious enough. Having only recently come out of the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/01/12/freedom/">atheist closet</a>, I felt helpless, humiliated, and miserable. The only consolation came from my teacher, Mr. Miller, whose few words I will never forget. I wrote to Americans United for Separation of Church and State but received no reply. My <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/09/19/the-informant/">readers in the school administration</a> evidently didn't care either; they let the practice continue.</li>
<li value="1"><b><a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/">May 2007</a></b><br />My final month of high school was jam-packed with so many unique experiences that it would be impossible to pick just one. First, I helped lead my school to an unexpected second place finish in the countywide high school <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/06/heroes/">programming competition</a>, and the programming team landed a spot on the school's <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/09/as-seen-on-tv/">morning announcements</a>. The school put on a <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/13/up-in-smoke/">carnival</a> for the senior class. I helped give a <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/19/tech-no-lo-gy/">disastrous speech</a> for some BS technology thing. At the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/20/awards-and-fun/">senior class awards</a>, I won a scholarship while two of my friends sneaked out to streak at a football game. On the second to last day of school, there was a <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/23/last-day-of-high-school/">food fight</a> in the cafeteria. At the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/25/breakfast/">senior breakfast</a>, I was named class salutatorian. I danced with a hot girl at <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/27/existentialism-on-prom-night/">prom</a> and then delivered a speech at <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2007/05/30/the-days-we-will-remember-best/">graduation</a>. So many things happened one after the other, but I captured them in as much detail as possible, knowing that nothing like this would ever happen again. And the memories are all there.</li>
</ol>
<p>One of my favorite parts of blogging is sharing cool links that I find. Over the years, I've posted untold numbers of links, so I thought I'd present my favorites, excluding the ones that are now broken. (Honorable mention goes to season one of the BBC series <i>Look Around You</i>, which I linked to on <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/07/05/i-hate-soccer-so-sue-me/">July 5, 2006</a>. Several of the links to individual episodes have died, but the rest are still riotously funny.)</p>
<p>Here are my top ten favorite links from the last 1,000 posts.</p>
<ol>
<li value="10"><b><a href="https://www.msu.edu/~karjalae/internet96.htm">Internet '96</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/07/29/a-moments-peace/">July 29, 2006</a>)<br />Remember what the Internet looked like twelve years ago? Neither do I. Luckily, one netizen (does anyone say that anymore? did anyone ever say that?) provides snarky commentary on how major companies' sites looked in the early, amateurish days of the World Wide Web.</li>
<li value="9"><b><a href="http://newstereotypes.blogspot.com/">New and Improved Stereotypes</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/01/01/new-years-day/">January 1, 2008</a>)<br />A collection of made-up stereotypes, complete with illustrations.</li>
<li value="8"><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwy80kesNrQ">Mr. Roger Lord Mortimer's Neighborhood</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/03/26/strive-to-be-as-normal-as-possible/">March 26, 2006</a>)<br />A rich guy rips off <i>Mister Rogers' Neighborhood</i>... sort of. Hilarity ensues. This was the second YouTube video I ever featured.</li>
<li value="7"><b><a href="http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/28721/detail/">Redefined: A Cappella Nintendo Medley</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/04/16/a-new-car/">April 16, 2005</a>)<br />An <i>a cappella</i> group called Redefined sings and acts to a medley of old Nintendo theme songs. Very funny and impressive, considering that the Super Mario Bros. theme song is very hard to sing (and is accordingly one of the most butchered melodies in the history of music). Be sure to watch as well as listen. These guys are great!</li>
<li value="6"><b><a href="http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=789">5 Men and a Limo</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/08/28/one-decade/">August 28, 2005</a>)<br />Do you ever wonder what those gravel-voiced movie announcers do in their spare time? Here's a video featuring five of America's top voice-over artists in one car, including the late, great Don LaFontaine.</li>
<li value="5"><b><a href="http://www.spamusement.com/">Spamusement!</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/200407.html#d212359">July 21, 2004</a>)<br />Poorly-drawn (but all the funnier) cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines. The site is apparently no longer updated, but there are over 300 cartoons and active forums.</li>
<li value="4"><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atHWASn_ygo">"Office Space" Recut</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/06/02/news-on-the-march/">June 2, 2008</a>)<br />How about <i>Office Space</i> recut as a thriller? There are a lot of crappy recut trailers, but this one's pretty good. I promise. (In fact, it's amazing.)</li>
<li value="3"><b><a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1770138">Minesweeper: The Movie</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2008/03/10/i-break-for-spring/">March 10, 2008</a>)<br />Continuing the long tradition of movies based on video games, it's a movie based on everyone's favorite game to play when they're bored. Seriously, I played me a lot of Minesweeper in the spring, prompting my roommate to take notice and show me this video.</li>
<li value="2"><b><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4589540173717485087">Back to the Future: The Enchantment Under the Sea Dance Revisited</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2006/08/09/school-supplies/">August 9, 2006</a>)<br />What would it look like if the dance scenes from <i>Back to the Future</i> and <i>Back to the Future Part II</i> were synchronized? They actually fit together really well.</li>
<li value="1"><b><a href="http://www.qwantz.com/">Dinosaur Comics</a></b> (<a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/2005/12/13/merry-lockdown-drill/">December 13, 2005</a>)<br />A webcomic that features the same panels every day, but with different dialogue. It's an example of constrained writing, but it hardly seems constrained at all. In fact, it's more like the author's random musings as projected through the main character, T-Rex. I've been reading Dinosaur Comics for three years now, and it's seriously hilarious. It's #1 because it's the cool link that keeps on giving.</li>
</ol>
<p>Of course, this blog would be nothing without you, the readers. Whether you're a friend or a stranger, I enjoy interacting with you. Many of you have been reading for a long time. And of course, any subjective top ten list like the ones I just posted is subject to debate. (Am I absolutely insane for not including Post X?!) So comb through the <a href="http://www.theworldofstuff.com/archives/">archives</a> and share your favorite posts and links with everyone. That is, if you have any favorites. If you don't, that's cool too. I'll just be over here celebrating.</p>
<p>Man, a thousand posts. Crazy.</p>
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