Smallville
I just finished this week's Smallville. It seems that once they reach an high point that can't be topped, they do it in the next episode. This last one had little action or superpowers, but dealt mainly with the dynamic between Lex and Lionel. Great stuff. However, I wonder how much longer they can keep this up (see comment above). Lionel is dying of a liver disease, and believes that Clark is the key to saving his life. Lex is slowly regaining memories that had been repressed. Clark is getting careless with his powers and people seem to be noticing. Lana is apparently leaving for Paris. I love the crescendo that they're building to, but what will be left next season? (Of course, I said that at the end of last season also...)Moving Plans
I've finally decided that I'll be moving from Evanston this summer to the city proper. My apartment, while spacious, has been driving me nuts. I figure that since I've been there since getting out of college, a change would be good for me. I've sent out applications to apartment finders and I have a few leads. I'm hoping that by moving more into the city, I'll be more motivated to take advantage of the cultural activities. At the moment, I feel like I've worn Evanston out and that I'm looking for something new.New York Times
The New York Times ran a couple of interesting stories today. The first is about mothers bringing their babies to special theater sessions devoted to parents with young children. The second is about a NYU sophomore who literally lives in the basement of the university library.Jush Shoot Me
So, I'm twenty-four years old and still play video games and watch things like Star Trek. I think that's a bit nerdy, but fine. (Even with the occasional cat picture...) However, should anyone catch me doing something like building a Tron costume, meticulously photo-documenting it and demonstrating why skin-tight costumes are bad on guys, and so forth -- simply shoot me. End my misery quickly. If I didn't have a reason to live before, I surely won't have one after the images are posted online and everyone else gets a shot at them.Christmas Cat
You know you're being a nerd when you post cat pictures online:
You know you're being a bigger nerd when the cat isn't even yours... It's for a good cause though.
Princeton Madness
Grade inflation strikes back.Duct Tape Body Shop
From the site: "Duct tape, in every state of the union, is called '______ Chrome' because it covers so much of so many of our vehicles - especially in the rust-prone states. So, we’ve created this "BodyShop" section dedicated solely to duct tape vehicle repair."iTMS - Dangerous...
On a whim, I purchased the soundtrack to "The Passion of the Christ". I was enjoying it immensely and went browsing through Apple's catalog. Before I knew it, I had copies of the "Crouching Tiger" soundtrack, and the soundtrack to the Patsy Cline musical that I had seen long ago in Denver during a somewhat memorable time in my life.Situated Software
Situated Software is an article that I have kept thinking about this week. I think that there are some good insights here with respect to writing good software.Life - $49.95 / Month
I've signed up for a new monthly service called GameFly. It's a NetFlix-like service for video games. Since I'm always angsting about which games to purchase, this is an ideal service as I can try all the ones I want without the risk of purchasing a dud. It's superior to the traditional rental store as it has NetFlix's "keep it 'til you're finished" policy. My NetFlix subscription has saved me a lot of money as I no longer purchase as many DVD's and provides value in providing me with a large amount of content for a reasonable fee (current project: watch all of DS9). I can only imagine that GameFly will do the same. I'll probably post feedback as I try the service out.Google / Lovecraft
The Secret Source of Google's Power
In other news, I've been rolling around the idea of setting up an H.P. Lovecraft weblog that would periodically post parts of his stories in chronological order. My big problem is figuring out whether his work is in the public domain or not. Some parts clearly are, while there's dispute whether some of his later work is. The controversy is whether the copyright was renewed back in the day, which was a requirement for protection back then. I've sent off some feelers to find out.
Making Progress
I managed to pull my sorry butt out of bed this morning and run the Dempster / Howard loop. Overall, it seems that my muscles were much better prepared this time than last time, so the stress during this run was upon my lungs. I'm pleased to say that I ran farther this time and that my feet no longer hurt from the repetitive pounding. If I can keep this up and get the lungs back into shape, I'll be doing well. Continue...Woo Woo
Follow the directions:
1. Watch this newscast.
2. Go make a rap song. Be sure to toggle the music first.
Kos - "Screw Them."
In response to the recent bodily mutilations in Iraq, Kos of the Daily Kos posted a comment here with his thoughts about the four people killed and mutilated in Iraq:
Every death should be on the front page (2.53 / 28)
Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly.That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.
I'm not a fan of how we got into Iraq and I'm not too keen on the idea that we'll be there for the next few years, but we're there now and we have to finish what we started. I find Kos's comments very callous and inappropriate. I don't care if the men were mercenaries - what happened in Fallujah was simply barbaric. I think that Kos has just uttered his equivalent of the "Dean Scream" by adopting his "they got what was rightfully coming to them" attitude. If advertisers pulling their support is any indication, Kos is finished.
And rightfully so.
