On Tuesday night, I was at my friend's house when his mom came with bad news. The pastor had just announced at a meeting that this year would be the last for St. Elizabeth-St. Joseph Catholic School. The school's home page now has nothing but a link to a letter by the the pastor. He explains how the archdiocese can no longer afford to subsidize the school, and with enrollment down 70% since the 2003-04 year, the school will be about $1.3 million in debt when it closes its doors for the last time.

Even though I'm now a cranky atheist who complains about everything, I can't help but get sentimental. I was a student at St. Elizabeth of Hungary (as the school was known until recently) from kindergarten through eighth grade—formative years indeed. Many of my friends, including most of the people I spend time with when I'm home and some others I see less often, were my classmates at St. E's. I contributed to the school's time capsule that was to be opened this year. I spoke at our graduation. And it wasn't that long ago; I started this web site while I was a student there.

I've been trying to dig up some news articles to get some more insight about the closing. The archdiocese has an article that provides some context. A local news station's article (with an unrelated stock photo) interviewed some students' parents, including a Mr. Chaiken, who blamed the closing on the church's previous pastor:

"The previous priest that was here got rid of a long-time, popular principal," Chaiken said. "She was here 25 years or more, everything was running great."

...except that she was using the school's money for her own purposes.

This was a big controversy a few years ago. The then-pastor accused the then-principal of using the school's money for her own purposes, but neither of them would show the public that they were right. Parishioners and parents were left to pick sides based on their own prejudices and suspicions. They tore each other apart. Basically, it was a massive farce all around that could have easily been prevented if everyone hadn't been such an idiot.

Anyway, the pastor turned out to be right, and the principal (who had quit by then) apologized in writing. Apparently some people still have their heads up their asses and think she didn't do anything wrong even though she admitted to it. I wonder how many other parishioners are still living in this fantasy world of Mr. Chaiken's. I suspect that most of them have long since taken their worshiping elsewhere.

As you might imagine, the damage had been done. Over the next few years, more and more parents pulled their kids out of the school. Then the economy went kablooie, accelerating the trend until the school became a shadow of its former self. Now we have the end of St. Elizabeth's. The school has coexisted with the church for 49 years; without it, the church will never be the same.

So, you see, my rosy memories have been tarnished a bit. I was saddened to find out that the financial scandal had become a nail in the school's coffin, but I hope this teaches everyone a lesson: honesty is the best policy. Without openness, there is drama, which can only lead to bad things.

In slightly better news, an environmental project at my university is in the running to win $5,000, and you can help. They're in second place right now. All you have to do is sign up and use your three votes to help put Neutral Gator ahead. Voting ends on Monday.

Pictures of old photos being held up in the locations where they were taken: Looking at the Past. (Via J-Walk Blog)

And finally, a list: 16 Anti-Theft Gadgets and Designs to Deter Thieves. Wait, Nick Cannon writes about this stuff? (Via Wise Bread)

The Sun and the Alligator have provided an overview of last week's incident. To make a long story short, the student had been threatening people and was getting violent, so the police shot him in the head with an assault rifle after other attempts to subdue him failed. I'm not going to pass judgment on this one for fear of coming up on the wrong side of public opinion. I just hope it gets resolved before it can tarnish the value of my yet-to-be-earned degree.

I went in for an eye exam on Monday. I had been scheduled for one over the summer, but I missed it due to my trip to Europe, so I was overdue. The last time I went, the doctor said I was slightly farsighted and wrote me a prescription for glasses in case I felt I would need them. I knew my vision could only get worse, so I wasn't looking forward to this visit.

Imagine my surprise when the doctor said that my farsightedness had corrected itself. Apparently that's possible at my age. Another crisis averted... for now.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the archetypal Academy Award-Winning movie trailer. (Via waxy.org)

I had no idea that our governor was such a jerk. Here's how Charlie Crist deals with atheists. (Via Pharyngula)

Enter a number, and Number Gossip will tell you some fun facts about it. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Speaking of things getting lost in the mail, my current e-mail setup is not working, and I'm tired of it.

My personal e-mail account is one that I've been using for about 10 years now. Last year (actually, two years ago... jeez, it seems like last year), I had e-mail forwarding set up at my web host so that I could have a permanent and easy-to-remember address at my own domain name. That's all fine and good, but my e-mail provider's spam filters often bounce messages back to my web host, where they're kept in a "spam quarantine" for me to view and delete.

By not checking my spam quarantine religiously, I've missed out on correspondence from long-lost relatives, notifications from web sites, e-mail newsletters, plane ticket receipts that I needed to print out, and more. My e-mail provider thinks all of this is spam (probably in part because it's been forwarded through another server), and I don't have control over their spam filters... even though I'm paying $20 a year for their service. It's time for change.

I'd like to switch to an e-mail provider that meets the following requirements:

• I must be able to use my domain name with their service.
• Spam filtering must be very accurate, or I must be able to fine-tune it (or turn it off altogether).
• Must be cheaper than my current e-mail and forwarding costs of about $27 per year.
• Must have a POP server. (I prefer it to IMAP. I know, I'm a weirdo.)
• Not Google. (They already know what I search for; that's enough for them.)
• Not Microsoft. (I'm basically against everything they stand for.)
• Not my ISP. (I travel back and forth between home and school, ISPs get swallowed up by bigger ISPs, etc.)

I've come across a service that fits all of these requirements: it's Lavabit, which I think I had previously heard of (it used to be called Nerdshack). It was founded as a reaction to Google including targeted advertisements in Gmail. Or, as they put it on their history page, they "felt it was possible to create an e-mail service that was fast, reliable, feature rich and didn't achieve profitability by prostituting its user base to marketers." Their freedom-loving, no-nonsense philosophy is similar to my web host's. I like it.

Other perks are that they have an SMTP server; allow SSL connections to their POP, IMAP, and SMTP servers, as well as their webmail interface; and encrypt your e-mail on their servers if you have a paid account. I would have to have a paid account; they said I would have to have a $16/year personal account or a business account if I wanted to use my own domain name with their service. It's more than I'd like to pay, but it's less than I'm paying now.

I've been researching them online, and there are some criticisms of their service. Some people claimed that their support was limited. I can live with that, I guess. I think the benefits outweigh the costs. Has anyone else used their service? I'd be interested in hearing what people think. Unless somebody has a better suggestion, I'll probably sign up with Lavabit in a few days.

What do blind people see? The answer is more complicated than you might think, and there's hope for people with certain types of blindness. (Via The Presurfer)

In the past, I've considered using Amazon's online music store, but their downloader (which is required to get discounts on buying whole albums) is not free software. Now there's pymazon, a free replacement, so I might reconsider.

Back in the day, Soviet scientists tried to domesticate foxes. After 10 generations, the foxes were not only completely docile but also had colorings not seen in the wild. Humans may have domesticated dogs just as quickly.

We usually pick three consecutive days for Free Your PC, but there was a scheduling conflict, so we picked Monday, Tuesday, and today. On Tuesday, a guy who I think was from the Alligator asked Mark and me some questions about our club and what we were doing. (They haven't published an article about us, but if they do, it will probably be tomorrow.) Today, my friend Roxy, a journalism student, came to interview some of our members for an assignment, and I think at least one other journalism student did as well.

Also, both Tuesday and today, a photographer from the university's news bureau, which I had never heard of, came around to take lots of pictures of us helping out with people's computers. He said that one of his photos would end up on their web site with an informative caption. He was also interested in the club; he spent some time checking out our swag and asking questions. And, sure enough, I'm in today's photo of the day.

The first day is always the slowest because that's when people see the event going on and make a mental note to bring their computers the next day. On Monday, I think we maybe got one person during the four hours that we were out there. Tuesday was better. I expected us to be slammed on Thursday due to that article that hasn't been published yet, but it hadn't been published yet. Also, it was very cold today, and it's almost spring break. That could be why not as many people came out.

For this Free Your PC, I continued a tradition that I started last semester by making a CD of some of my favorite Creative Commons-licensed music. I think I burned 12 or 14 discs, and we gave out most of them. In case you're interested, here are the track listings and download links for both CDs.

Well, it's almost spring break. I'll be home soon, and then I get a week to max 'n' relax.

Really amazing statistics in video form: The State of the Internet. (Via Lifehacker)

The New York Times has an article on how Restaurants Use Menu Psychology to Entice Diners Trick You Into Buying Tons of Crap Food That You Otherwise Wouldn't Want. (Via Lifehacker)

Finally, more statistics and a vaguely spring-break-themed link: it's an infographic that's basically about how dumb we college students all are and how much money we're wasting going to college.

I typically have Rhythmbox sort my songs in alphabetical order by title, and I've noticed some pairs of songs that have exactly the same titles. Out of 2,493 songs, there are 21 duplicates, which is more than I expected. (I didn't count different versions of the same song.) As you might expect, the titles are pretty generic. You probably haven't heard of all of the artists.

• "Because" (The Beatles, Dave Clark Five)
• "Changes" (Bridget Kelly, David Bowie)
• "Free" (Dubious Quip, Hobo Twang)
• "Goodbye" (Hootie and the Blowfish, Sean Fournier)
• "Holiday" (Persson, Weezer)
• "How Long" (Allison Crowe, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band)
• "Intro" (Ampiphy, WhiteRoom)
• "It's a Beautiful Day" (MoOt, Persson)
• "It's Over" (Harbinger, Persson)
• "I Want You" (Marvin Gaye, Savage Garden)
• "Learn to Fly" (Josh Woodward, Foo Fighters)
• "Like This" (Girl Talk, STEEP)
• "Low" (Coldplay, Silence Is Sexy)
• "Mary Jane" (Alanis Morisette, Fatblueman)
• "My Love" (Petula Clark, Junior Walker)
• "Solar System" (Depressive Art, Jamison Young)
• "Talk" (Coldplay, Silence Is Sexy)
• "What's Going On" (Blind Mr. Jones, Marvin Gaye)
• "White Moon" (The Dada Weatherman, The White Stripes)
• "Woman" (John Lennon, Peter and Gordon)
• "You Can Have It All" (Yo La Tengo, Kaiser Chiefs)

Additionally, I have a couple of threebies (triplicates?):

• "Time" (Hootie and the Blowfish, Persson, Pink Floyd)
• "Wake Up" (Alanis Morissette, Josh Woodward, Smoke Fish)

If you have some time to kill, this may be fun to check out. How many duplicates do you have? Do you have more than three completely different songs with the exactly the same title? (My predictions: no one will answer, or people will include similar but not identical titles. Prove me wrong!)

And, while we're at it, here's some Ask Jordon.

Kate: What do you think about vegetarianism? Could you give up eating meat for some reason (and what could be this reason)?

I don't mind if other people are vegetarians, but I don't want it forced on me by anyone. Let me eat whatever I want, and I'll let you do the same. I don't care if the animals are mistreated or anything like that. If other people do care, then good for them, but I'm more concerned with human welfare.

I would give up eating meat if my life depended on it, but I can't imagine a situation in which that would happen.

From the American Museum of Natural History: a video that zooms out from the surface of the earth to the edges of The Known Universe. Watch it in HD! (Via Pharyngula)

A voice actor does a really good impression of Morgan Freeman: Morgan Freeman Talks About... Toilet Paper.

It happens to the best of us: Why It's Better to Pretend You Don't Know Anything About Computers. (Via Lifehacker)

Anyway, I've always been good about going to their events until recently, so when they asked for volunteers for their next event, I obliged. With this one, they decided to branch out from their usual target group of students at the university. Instead, they were going to have a table at a charity concert in Levy County.

Today, three of us went out to Bronson (which, despite having less than 1,000 residents at the last census, is the county seat). The concert was the third annual "Bark-N-Purr" Charity Concert, put on by the county humane society on some field. We had received a map showing us where exactly to set up. We were shown on the map as "Get Corded!" In fact, the letter and everything else they sent were made out to "Get Corded!", including the exclamation mark.

It was raining a bit, and we didn't have our tent, so we called one of the co-directors of the group and asked him to bring it. He did after a little while, but he didn't stay. Then we set up. We were near booths for the Army, the Future Farmers of America, and a John Deere dealer. We were next to the Tupperware booth.

In general, there was a carnival-like atmosphere, with some bounce houses for kids, a sort of choo-choo train, and a few games. There was also a stage that had been set up, for the actual concert. They started with a prayer, I think, and then the national anthem.

Oh, and there was food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, wings, pulled pork sandwiches, french fries, other kinds of french fries, and... fried Oreos. I had to try some. They were surprisingly delicious: warm and breaded, with the Oreo inside kind of melted. I liked them so much that I got some more. That wasn't actually a good idea.

I spent most of the time manning the booth. The other two spent some time checking out some dogs that they had doing tricks in an area near the stage. The police also showed off their dogs, apparently. I didn't see. Ironically for a concert to benefit animals, pets weren't allowed, but I could see where they were coming from. I wouldn't want to have to clean up the field.

What we were really there to do was to talk to the people about organ donation. They were people with trucks, people wearing various types of camouflage, people with Confederate flags, people with American flags sticking out of their pockets. They were old, middle-aged, and young. One was even a beauty queen, the Clay County Miss Outstanding Teen or something like that. (She had a sash thing and a tiara.) They were also nice, for the most part (the Tupperware man helped us set up our tent).

We ended up giving out lots of swag. We even gave some to the Future Farmers of America for them to use as a door prize at their upcoming dinner. And before the headliner, some country singer, came on, we packed up and left.

I had been thinking of staying here after I graduate, but I'll have to think about it some more.

With Google phasing out support for the horrible Internet Explorer 6, a mock funeral is planned for Thursday. (Via Lifehacker).

Yahoo! Answers is full of stupid people asking stupid questions. Here are 20 of the dumbest. (Via J-Walk Blog)

And finally, a parody of Rachel Ray's show 30 Minute Meals.

At UF, one political party controls most of Student Government. It's the party that all of the fraternities and sororities happen to support, and these days it's known as the Unite Party. They always win.

There's also one or several opposition parties. The past few semesters, there have been the Orange & Blue Party and the Progress Party, but after cannibalizing each other's votes last semester, they've decided to (ahem) unite as the Student Alliance. Their presidential candidate is Ben Cavataro, whom I mentioned around this time last year. He used to represent my dorm in Student Government, and I have a high opinion of him.

One of the big issues this semester is the student union. The university wants to increase tuition so it can raise funds to expand the building. The majority party, which basically always does whatever the university administration wants, supports the plan. The issue is now on the ballot for students to vote on (albeit in a non-binding manner).

This week, I've seen official-looking signs posted in the student union that list so-called problems with the current building and the benefits of jacking up our tuition to fix them. One of the "problems" is that the building has "no place to study," even though a large study area was just built about a year ago. Today (well, yesterday, since I'm writing this after midnight), I wrote a letter to a student newspaper expressing my outrage at the university for creating these signs with false statements.

Then I read today's issue of the paper and found out that the signs had been created by a student-run campaign, not the university. Oops. By the time I was able to send a correction to the newspaper, they told me that my letter had already gone to press. Tomorrow, a lot of people might realize that I'm not technically right. Boo.

In my defense, the signs were misleading and were placed very prominently, as if the university had endorsed their message. In fact, that's actually likely because I've never seen any other student group's signs placed at the entrances of the building for all to see. As if that weren't enough, some university departments actually have officially endorsed the campaign.

Also, my letter can pretty much be read as though I'm criticizing the university for allowing the signs to be put up, so all in all, I guess I'm still right. I just hope no one nitpicks.

Here's an old video about how they make food look good for TV commercials. (Via The Presurfer)

This compact calendar is pretty clever. (Via Lifehacker)

I knew I'd seen this cliché in about a million TV shows and movies: Let's Enhance. (Via waxy.org)

The four of us set out with Gavin to George Washington University, which was only a few stops away on the subway. Unlike the University of Florida, GWU is an urban university with its city's street grid running right through it. We walked quite a few snow-covered blocks to get to the right building, which was at the edge of the campus. We got our first glimpse of the Washington Monument as we approached the building.

We arrived late. We checked in and got the t-shirts we had each bought upon registering for the conference. There were two designs to choose from. Mark, Kris, and Jennifer all chose one with a drawing with a pile of electronics and stuff, and I chose the other, which had the copyleft symbol.

All of the day's events were held in a particular lecture hall. First, some panelists were discussing net neutrality and similar issues. One of them was a guy from the FCC, which I thought was pretty interesting. I was still tired, and I was trying to warm up due to it having been extremely cold outside, but I tried to pay as much attention as I could. Next, there was a speaker who talked about fair use, an important but increasingly ignored part of copyright law. After that, there was another panel with speakers talking about open access, which I thought was especially interesting because I don't know as much about it as I do about other aspects of the free culture movement.

For lunch, the four of us followed Gavin and some other people to Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which is apparently a chain. This particular location was off Pennsylvania Avenue, just a block away from the White House. We were so close that I could get a glimpse of it. I wanted to steal away from the group for a little while to check it out, but I figured I wouldn't have time. I got a large sandwich and a cookie, which ended up being too much food. I ate it anyway, figuring I wouldn't have to eat as much for dinner.

Back at the conference, there was a keynote speaker, a panel about open educational resources, and then another keynote by Jonathan Zittrain, perhaps best known as the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. (If that still doesn't ring a bell, he appeared on The Colbert Report to promote the book.) Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it to the conference, so he delivered his address via a video conference. I expected it to be boring since he wasn't actually there, but his presentation was easily the most entertaining. One of his main themes was to explore the different ways people have used the Internet to obtain information. At different times he brought up examples such as an old newsgroup posting, a Yahoo Answers question, and an Amazon Mechanical Turk task (all of which asked, "What's the difference between vanilla and French vanilla ice cream?"). And, like any good speaker, he answered questions at the end. It was as if he were actually in the room.

With that, the official events for the day ended, and we had some time to kill before the evening festivities. So the four of us decided to walk toward the Mall and see what we could see. It was really cold, and I didn't bring my gloves because they made it hard for me to use the camera that I borrowed from my dad.

It got dark by the time we reached the Washington Monument. After posing for some pictures there, we walked to the World War II Memorial, where we got a picture with Florida's pillar (which still had a bit of snow on it). It was very cold, and my hands were so cold that I felt like my thumbnails were going to pop off, but we continued toward the Lincoln Memorial, walking alongside the reflecting pool and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to slip on the ice. The walk seemed to take forever. I actually saw some people walking on the pool, which had frozen over, and wondered if they had an easier time.

Finally, we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. It was lit up and still had a ton of snow on it. We made our way up the small section of the steps that had actually been shoveled.

You know how, in the movies, someone goes to the Lincoln Memorial and it's all quiet and there's no one around except for them and the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln, which somehow inspires them or gives them a chance to reflect on whatever they want to do? It's not like that in real life. I mean, there are other people there, so it kind of ruins any moment you might have. But it is pretty quiet. There are signs asking you to be quiet, and it really feels like a religious shrine to Abraham Lincoln, as if he were some sort of god or something. The place looks like a Greek temple, after all.

We wandered around a bit. I read the text of the Gettysburg Address, which was engraved on one wall. We also went to the gift shop. We wanted to have our picture taken in front of the statue of Lincoln, so we got someone to do it for us.

By then, everyone was really cold, so we decided to head toward George Washington University's student union, where the after-conference festivities would be held. Fortunately, we weren't too far away, and we were even early. The plan was that everyone would meet to go bowling, but no one was really there yet, so we went to the restaurant next to the bowling alley. There were a lot of TVs there, and there happened to be a Gator basketball game on. We got to cheer on our school for a few minutes and then watch them lose. Then we got some food. I got some chicken strips and fries, which also ended up being too much food.

After that, we made our way over to the bowling alley, where Gavin and some other people from the conference were bowling. I didn't feel like joining them, so I just hung out until everyone was done. Then we went back to Gavin's apartment with him.

On Sunday morning, the four of us left Gavin's apartment and set out back into Washington. We had considered attending the second day of the conference, but we would only have a few hours there, so we decided to do a little more sightseeing instead. It wasn't at all cloudy that day, so it was warmer and more pleasant.

We started by going to the White House, which, it turns out, is next to the Treasury. The Treasury is much larger and more imposing, but it's the White House that always has tourists in front of it. We were at the front of the building, which doesn't seem to be the side where most people have their pictures taken. It's a lot closer to the street, though, so we got some good pictures. Then we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, passing by all the three-letter-acronym buildings (DoJ, FBI, EPA, FTC, IRS...). After what seemed like forever, we made it to the Capitol.

Before that, we were going through a parking lot in front of the capital. Since it was Sunday, there weren't many cars parked there. A Capitol police officer was hanging around in his car, waiting for us to jaywalk. We stuck to the crosswalk, though, so he went away. I guess they have nothing better to do when Congress isn't in session.

We got as close as we could get to the building, which wasn't very close since they had the staircases roped off. There was a police car up there too, right by that fountain. So we weren't very high up, but we had a great view of the field out in front and the Mall, which were still covered in snow. So, after taking a few pictures of ourselves there and seeing all that there was to see, we went around to the other side of the Capitol. On the way, I saw some people (kids, probably) sledding down Capitol Hill. I didn't think they would let you do that, but no one seemed to be stopping them.

We checked out the other side of the Capitol, and then made our way toward the Library of Congress, which the others wanted to check out. We had found out that it was closed on Sunday, so we couldn't go in, but we walked by it. From there, we went to the nearest subway stop and took the subway out to Greenbelt, Maryland, where we connected to a bus that took us to the Baltimore airport, where we arrived early for our pleasantly brief flight to the Orlando airport, where Kris had parked his car, in which we rode back to Gainesville, where Kris dropped me off at my apartment.

I wish I could have seen more stuff in Washington, but we were really there for the conference. I did get to see all the main touristy places and, for the first time in my life, snow. (It's wetter, colder, and icier than I imagined, but I like it.) The best part was that we'll be compensated for most of our expenses by UF's Student Government and by Students for Free Culture. Hopefully we'll be able to go on other trips in the future.

Check out my photos from the trip! They're posted on Facebook, but you don't need a Facebook account to view them. I was too lazy to include any of them here, although I know it would have gone a long way in breaking up the sea of text that is this post.

(Those of you with an eerily good memory may notice that this post's title is similar to one I used for another post about Washington, DC in January 2005. I think after five years I'm entitled to use it again.)

Many of Norman Rockwell's paintings were based on photographs that he staged. Here are some of them! (Via waxy.org)

There are some weird stadiums in the world. Here are twelve of them! (Via The Presurfer)

There are a lot of actions that demand the death penalty in the Old Testament. Here are all of them!

On Friday, I had to skip my classes and go into work early. It was raining, and I had brought a duffel bag with some warm clothes (and a camera) borrowed from my parents. As I waited for the bus, a pink Porsche SUV limo pulled up to the bus stop. One of the other people at the bus stop turned out to be in on it; she said our apartment was giving free rides to campus in the limo, presumably as a gimmick to get people to renew their leases. I was expecting to see a camera crew at any moment, like I'd end up in one of those commercials where they surprise random people by going to their house or whatever.

Anyway, we all got inside the limo, where they had granola bars, Rice Krispies treats, and bottles of water for breakfast. I expected to be lectured to about the benefits of renewing my lease, but nobody said much. It was kind of awkward, actually. The limo followed the route that the bus would have taken and dropped us off at the usual bus stop on campus. I thanked them for the ride.

After working at my job on campus, it was time to go. Kris, Jennifer, and Mark picked me up, and we drove to the airport in Orlando. It was the same airport that Mark and I flew to Europe from last year, so it brought back some memories. I didn't have much time to reminisce, though, because we were almost late. We hurried through everything until we made it past security, when we had a few minutes to get some food.

The flight was slightly delayed, but we got on eventually. I was seated between two people in the emergency exit row. It wasn't very comfortable, but I didn't mind much. I spent most of my time thinking about the trip and reading that day's issue of the Alligator. I didn't even get to finish it before we started our descent into Baltimore. I strained to look out the window. The clouds parted, revealing an endless, twilit landscape of barren trees and little neighborhoods covered in white. I had never seen snow before, and there it was—lots of it.

We landed at the airport. The runways had been cleared, but everything else was covered with a thick layer of snow. I became giddy. I didn't have much time to be giddy, though, because we were almost late. We hurried out of the airport to catch a bus to the nearest train station. We made the bus with a few minutes to spare, and then we made the train with a few minutes to spare. In the meantime, I did notice that the cold was a different, more tolerable kind of cold than what I was used to in Florida. It just felt like being inside a freezer. I guess there was no humidity.

The train took us to Washington's Union Station, where we took the DC subway out to Arlington, Virginia, where we met up with Gavin Baker, the founder of our chapter. He had graduated and moved to the DC area, and he let us stay in his apartment for the weekend. We made our way to the apartment (I also tried to run around in the snow and throw snowballs) and got settled in. Then Gavin took us back into DC to have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Lalibela. Apparently there are a lot of Ethiopians and Ethiopian restaurants in the city.

It was a small place, and a lot of the table/booths were right next to each other. I was sitting on a bench next to another group of people. Still, it was pretty cozy, and Gavin had a suggestion for what to order. We got a communal dish consisting of some portions of various meats and vegetables served on a type of flat, doughy bread. We each had our own piece of flat, doughy bread, which we tore pieces off of and used to pick up the meats and vegetables. It was fun and delicious.

During the meal, Gavin surreptitiously showed us a Wikipedia article on his iPhone. He was almost certain that the guy I was sitting next to was Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer of the United States. I had read about him on some of my nerdy news web sites, so I was pretty pumped. I couldn't help but try to pick up on the conversation he was having. His friends were talking about his past job as CTO of DC and how he had been on the cover of a magazine. Definitely Vivek Kundra. We decided not to talk to him, though. More often than not, public figures want to be left alone.

We went right back to Gavin's, where we wound things down and went to bed. We had a couple of big days ahead of us tomorrow.

Speaking of going to bed, I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to continue this story next time. Soon, probably. In the meantime, here are some links:

Here's a spectacular NSFW animated short in which almost all of the scenery and characters are logos and mascots: Logorama. (Via waxy.org)

The webcomic xkcd is pretty funny, but I don't think anybody ever gets the punchline every time. Fortunately, we have Toby, Dave & Ian Explain XKCD, a blog in which the humor behind every comic is explained.

The photo was taken at last year's International Youth Congress of Esperanto in Liberec, Czech Republic. From left to right are Esperantists from South Korea, Togo, Ukraine, and Vietnam. And then there's me.

Another postscript: When I got home after seeing Kate off, I noticed that the dry erase board on the refrigerator still had a Russian sentence that Kate had written. I took a picture of the board and then went to put the picture on my computer. But... the camera wouldn't read my memory card. My last memory card.

It had already stopped reading each the others, most recently a few days before. It was now official: I really needed a new camera. My beloved Sony DSC-P73 was a brick.

I had been wanting to buy a new camera for a while, but now I really have a good excuse. My ideal camera is a compact point-and-shoot with manual controls. Oh, and it has to take good pictures. I don't ask for much, you see. But it turns out that new lower-end point-and-shoots have done away with manual configuration entirely, leaving me with no choice but to jump up to the next price range.

I didn't want to get a Sony again because I knew how much they love pushing their own proprietary formats, particularly their Memory Stick storage format for cameras. My dad pointed out that some of their new cameras also accept SD cards, which have apparently become the standard while I've been busy fiddling with Memory Sticks.

That made me feel a little better, and knowing that Sony products tend to give you a lot of bang for your buck, I had a look at what Sony had to offer. The DSC-H20 and the DSC-HX5V caught my eye. I liked the former because it was cheaper and had already been released. I liked the latter because it was smaller, didn't have a lens cap, took SD cards, and shot higher-quality video (in stereo, yet).

I've decided to go for the HX5V, but apparently it's not coming out until the end of March. Till then, I am cameraless, which kind of sucks because... I'm going to Washington, DC this weekend!!

That's right. I'm the secretary of the UF chapter of Students for Free Culture, and we've decided (sort of at the last minute) to make the trek to George Washington University for the organization's Free Culture Conference 2010 this weekend. We'll be staying with Gavin Baker, the legendary founder of our chapter whom I've never met (apparently everyone else who's going has.

It won't be snowing, but it will have snowed, so it'll be the first time I actually see snow. (what jordan u've never seen sno? what is wrong with you, dont u ever travel in the winter?? its not like its incovenient or anything...) I'm pretty excited about that. I should have enough warm clothes, but I think I'll need boots or something to actually walk through the stuff.

If you have a car, you may be interested in this: How to Decode Your Car's VIN. (Via Lifehacker)

Scientology Sucks is a contest in which participants submit videos of themselves pranking the Scientology cult. The submissions should be posted online tomorrow, and the winners (as judged by the judges) will receive cash prizes.