This is A Test

Monday Roundup 10!

This should start actually being weekly, now. Before I begin this week, I really should talk about a little extension that really helps me out when writing these roundups, as well as just in general. (I’m getting to test the next beta, too, so this is a thank you for that!) It’s called Read it Later, and it’s a firefox extension from the Idea Shower. Basically it adds a little button in your toolbar that, if you click it, saves the page for later (separate from your bookmarks), and you don’t have to bother with labelling a bookmark or anything like that. Also, what’s great is that it’s not permanent. Once you’ve finished reading something, you can just click the button again and it deletes it from the list. You can also have it show a random site from your list, or go through them in order. Basically it’s great for storing pages to, well, read later, when you have more time, so you can just skim at the beginning.

Cool. Anyway, the links.

[Random] Mother Nature goofs up, destroys wind turbine: Seriously mom, after all we’ve done to try not to destroy you with our fossil fuels and carbon emissions, this is the thanks we get? Well, everyone has mother issues…(really cool video)

[Entertainment] Richard Hammond presents Bloody Omaha (The Graphics): Three guys. Four days. One awesome battle scene. Amazing what computers can do these days, isn’t it. This is an ad for a show; I want to see it.

[Random] Mirrored rock sculpture looks like an alien artifact: Neato. Yes, I just said that.

[Geeky] Troika art virus: Even disease (electronically, at least) can be pretty. They don’t explain, however, how to get the computer back to normal afterwards…

[Random] How to Break a Glass With Your Voice: Uh-huh. Let me know if you do this.

[Current] NZ dolphin rescues beached whales: See? I told you New Zealanders were the second smartest animals on the planet. Er, dolphins. I mean dolphins.

[Entertainment] Fresh Pics; The Amazing Foodscapes by Carl Warner: These are a little too photoshopped for my tastes (get it? Because they’re food?), but still pretty cool.

[Random] Band to Band: If only Kevin Bacon played an instrument.

[Current] Why We’re Powerless to Resist Grazing on Endless Web Data: It’s not my fault! Hooray! Stupid biology.

[Current] ‘Creepy gnome’ terrorises town: This is either hilarious or really scary. I can’t decide which.

[Random] Iranian to pay 124,000-rose dowry: Sucks for him. Where would you even put them?

[Science] Top 10 Amazing Chemistry Videos: Most of these are just okay, but be sure to look at #2. We were shown this at the beginning of my life chemistry class, and I could never find it on Youtube. Well, not with the awesome music, anyway. Wired comes to the rescue.

[Entertainment] Shift: Fun game.

[Random] Web Trend Map 2008 Beta: Seems like everything is put into a subway map these days. This one’s pretty cool, although it would take forever to actually look at and understand it.

[Entertainment] Food Court Musical: I have always wanted to do this. Now someone has. I wish the voices were a little better, and the song, but the idea is great by itself. Also, I can’t say anything bad, because I’m part of the group (not this specific event, just Improv Everywhere).

SPECIAL BONUS:

[St. Patrick's Day] Danny Boy: The muppets meet the Irish. This is really funny, and I swear I didn’t just find it today on Boing Boing. They reminded me of it, but my brother showed it to me a while ago. Really! (Although I do get a lot of my stuff from Boing Boing…)

At some point I’ll catch up and put all of these (and the past couple weeks’ as well) up on the roundup page. Maybe over spring break.

Have a good day!

The Phantom Time Hypothesis: WHAAAAA?

This is one of those things that seems really lame, but once you think about it, it gets into your head. It’s called the Phantom Time Hypothesis. So, there are a bunch of versions of it (I’ve linked there to the wikipedia article), but the main conceit is that a certain period of time in our past didn’t actually happen; either that dates got confused or that events were recorded as happening more than once—the different viewpoints of the same event got interpreted as separate events. The evidence of this is basically the lack of evidence—that is, there is relatively little archaeological evidence that can be placed from 614-911 (roughly the early Middle Ages), say, and so we are just relying on written sources, which could be unreliable.

It’s interesting. Not true at all, I don’t think, but just like the “life-changing” idea put forth in the Matrix, it’s sort of natural that it shows up every now and then in the back of your mind, even if you don’t think it’s true. Actually, unlike the “the world is a computer game” theory, this kind of affects me rather significantly; I’m studying history. If this theory was true, college would be even more pointless—I’m taking two courses on the Middle Ages this semester, and if that period didn’t exist…!

The real question now is, does it feel like 1711 to you?

Another Plug. Well, Sorta.

I am a dedicated Firefox user. However, recently, Firefox 2 has really been letting me down. So, on a whim, I tried Firefox 3, which is currently in beta testing. And it’s amazing. It’s so much quicker than its predecessor, it fits better into the Apple aesthetic, and it has a lot of really cool features, like an autofill address bar that is easy to use and you don’t get what you aren’t looking for.

That being said, a lot of extensions and add-ons don’t work on 3 quite yet. And it has the possibility of screwing up your settings for the old Firefox, if you just download it and open it (your profile files consider it the same program, which gets confusing.) But never fear, there are two solutions! The first, which I use, is MultiFirefox. It allows you to keep multiple profiles and multiple versions of Firefox open at the same time, so there’s no risk involved with using the new version. It’s Mac-only, though. The second option is to use the portable version of Firefox 3, which, as I understand it, works completely on its own, and so doesn’t change your files. This one is only for Windows, so you really have to choose between the two based on your system.

So give it a shot. It has a lot of great features, and it’s very interesting because, as it is a beta, it’s still changing. They take your feedback and put it into the next version. I was lucky enough to start using it only a few days before a new beta came out, and unlike most beta products I use, the changes were really noticeable. And that’s exciting. Especially to know that your comments are actually going to use to build a better product.

And of course, it’s free! What have you got to lose?

Hard Decisions

I recently went through an incredibly quick series of a capella auditions and callbacks for a group at my school, and it helped me to realise something. Although it’s incredibly nerve-wracking and difficult to audition and then wait for the response of the group, it’s probably equally hard for the group to decide. The current singers spent 5 hours last night after we auditionees had left trying to figure out who they would finally accept. And didn’t come up with a response. So, they’re meeting again tonight. It’s nice to know that you are being argued over, but I almost feel bad for them. Yes, I was sitting around for a good part of that 5 hours, waiting for a call, with my… is there a phrase like heart in my stomach? If so, that. But they must have been having such a hard time in the deliberations.

It’s really hard to decide the fate of someone. Whether it’s an a capella audition or something more, it’s so hard to make that final decision, to reject them or accept them. I had jury duty this summer, and actually got on a case. I’m not going to go into too many details, both to retain confidentiality and also because it was boring, but a man was contesting his DUI charge. It was pretty clear that he was guilty, or at least guilty of something, so our deliberations didn’t last long. But it was hard. Even though I knew he was guilty, I didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want to condemn him (well, I guess that turn of phrase actually means something in this case), even though I knew he should be. Thank god that the jury’s don’t have to decide the sentence, just the verdict.

Anyway, next time you’re at a job interview, or sending in an application for a program, just remember that the other person is having just as difficult a time. I think, at least for me, this will help me to feel better, and be calmer.

A New Regime

So, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to write in this blog at least every other day. Which hasn’t really been happening. So, I’m stating it here, so that I’ll feel more incentive to actually do it, and not let you guys down. This also means I’m probably going to open it up topic wise a little more, talk about things that happen in my life (with an informational slant, of course, not just a Livejournal…), and not just subjects of great interest to me. Or to you. But stick around, tune in. It should be fun.