Nerd News

I would like to take this opportunity to talk some nerd news if you all don't mind.

Invisible Cloak:

This is for real. Some Japanese scientists have developed a real "invisible cloak" that uses cameras to display an image behind the wearer onto the front creating the illusion that the object is transparent. Sure he's not really invisible but it's still pretty darn good. See the video for yourself here.

Hasselblad H2D:

An awesome digital camera by a company called Hasselblad that takes pictures at 22 megapixels! Some stories are saying that it has a built in 40GB hard drive but nothing on their website confirms this. The cool thing is that 22 megapixels is more than twice the resolution of 35mm film...which is just cool. My Dad would be really mad if he saw this.

HD-DVD vs. Bluray:

If you have no idea what that means then you should probably not read this but some really good news has come out for the HD-DVD format. Microsoft and Intel have switched support for the same reasons I thought HD-DVD was better. Basically the cheaper manufacturing costs, the ease of use for consumers in general, ability to do double sided disks (one side being normal DVD and the other HD), and actually a higher proven storage capacaty than Bluray. Despite Blurays promises of 50gb disks HD-DVD has actually demonstated a higher useable capacaty so far. This could really hurt Sony since the PS3 is dedicated at this point to using the Bluray disks.

I Lack Emotion

I don't know what's wring with me but today I was trying to keep a strait face so I was trying to think of something sad. The only think I could think of is Rage Against the Machine breaking up. What the heck!? They broke up like 7 years ago and although they were an awesome band that should not be the only "sad" thing that I can think of. I mean what about like drowning kittens (well that's not really sad...it's actually kinda funny) or puppies getting run over by lawnmowers?

Am I really that shallow? Man I hope not...I guess I just need to work on being sad. Maybe I'll become Emo or Goth so I can be cool and depressed all the time.

Other than that I feel like I've been completely brain dead for the last week. Nothing going on up there...hence the post last week. Oh well...I guess it happens to everyone...like these Lego stoners

Hackers

I think hackers are awesome in many cases. This would definately be one of them.

A 17 year old kid is sentanced to 11 months in juvenille prison and 2 years of not using any web connected devices (i.e. cell phones, cell phones, laptops, etc.) for hacking Paris Hilton's cell phone and posting some famous people's phone numbers on the internet. That would definatly suck big time! That even includes stuff like XBOX live and podcasts...if they actually have any way to hold him to it.

Read the original story here...

Whenever I Feel Like It!

Well since Josh pointed out that the "Image of the Day" is not actually updated every day (which is exactly what I was afraid of) I have changed the name to "Image of the Whenever I Feel Like It!"...yeah, it's not very professional so I hope you see what you've done. Happy Josh?

In other news I now have an iPod. I freaking love it! I have been listening to This Week In Tech and Digital Photography Tips From the Top Floor...and of course all the beautiful music too. I don't even bike to classes anymore...I walk so I can listen to my iPod longer. I suppose I'll probably loose weight because of it.

So yeah...life's good...saw War of the Worlds...good movie, they just didn't explain enough...imagine The Matrix without any of the dialogue explaining everything...yeah, you'd be lost...plus Tom Cruise just wants to spread his Crazy Juice...plus Best In Show is a good movie...that's all...

Nothing to say!?

That's right....I have nothing to write about, so if you really need something to read check out my other award winning blog.

The World We See

...or just click on the "Image of the Day" to the left there...

Ya know what really grinds my gears?

Cedarville...this is a list of things that are wrong with it...and it is in no way exhaustive:

Fines: They fine you here for everything, unfolded laundry, unmade beds, messy desks, tigers in the lounge (seriously). And it's not about being neat, it's about taking our money. Our RA tried to let us pay our fines with recycling but we weren't allowed even though he brought the money back for it.

Boys and Girls: Nowhere in the Bible does it say that it's a sin to hug a girl for 5 seconds. Yes, I understand that the rules are to keep other things from happening, but seriously, if a couple wants to have sex, these silly rules are probably not going to stop them.

Dancing: Do I even have to say?

Denominations: Many of you may have heard that a person at WFFC was asked to leave our church if they wanted to continue to work at Cedarville. Well that's stupid! Plus they would not assist in the raising of funds for my trip this summer because of the beliefs of Hearts in Action.

Chapels: Forcing people to attend daily chapels against their will does not encourage spiritual growth. I really don't think it was Christs intentions when he began Chrsitianity for us to spend an hour every day listening to someone talk about the Bible. That is something we should do on our own time.

This "Sharpening the Axe" crap: They keep telling us that we should not be concerned in ministry right now, but focusing solely on our studies. Well that's crap. If I neglect the ministry field that I have at this time in my life, then I fell it would be wasted time. So you can just stop wasting those chapels feeding me that garbage.


Controlling My Life: Cedarville would not let me live off campus this year. Why? I really don't know, but I would guess that it's because they wouldn't be able to tell me to be in by midnight anymore. If you want to keep me from sinning and doing anything that Cedarville does not approve of then you should just kill me. Oppressing people with dozens and dozens of rules only makes them want to rebel...as I do right now....

Wow...that felt really good...

Things That Make Me Giggle

Well first of all Jennifer's blog which I now have a link to and I love!

Second, we have this video which is apparently some kind of Nutri-Grain commercial, but is one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

And third is this song. Written by Trey Parker for the movie Team America: World Police (a great but incredibly vulgar movie). The following song is not only funny, but so true. Pearl Harbor did just miss the point!

The End of an Act

I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark,
When he made Pearl Harbor.
I miss you more then that movie missed the point,
And that’s an awful lot girl.
And now, now you've gone away,
And all I'm trying to say,
Is Perl Harbor sucked and I miss you

I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school,
He was terrible in that film.
I need you like Cuba Gooding needed a bigger part,
He's way better then Ben Affleck.
And now all I can think about is your smile,
And that sh***y movie too,
Perl Harbor sucked and I miss you

Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies.
I guess Perl Harbor sucked,
Just a little bit more then I miss you.

Ask me to play it for you sometime...

Open Source...It's the way to go!

It's free, it's cooler, and, most imporantly, it's better. Here's some open source stuff I am using now that I am really liking right now and some basic info on them.

info | xp | mac
What is it?: Web browser
What does it replace?: Internet Explorer and Safari
Cool features: Awesome program using tabbed browsing and is very customizeable with extentions and really nice skins. Runs very well in XP and has been much more trustworthy than IE for me.
Bad points: Takes a little longer than XP to start up and does get blocked by some sites (which is usually fixed by using User Agent Switcher)
Rating out of 5:


info | xp | mac
What is it?: Email Client
What does it replace?: Outlook and Mac's Mail
Cool features: Like Firefox it has extentions and themes. I decided to use it after Outlook crashed on me for like the bazillionth time and I love it. Keeps mail well organized and has a good search feature.
Bad points: Not a whole lot, I've had trouble sending mail with it but I'm pretty sure it's not the programs fault. Some of the settings take a while to learn and get used to as it is quite different from Outlook. And, oh yeah, it can't read your Hotmail (WHO CARES!).
Rating out of 5:


VideoInspector info | xp
What is it?: Video Codec detector
What does it replace?: There is no other...
Cool features: You drop a video file onto it's icon and it tells you whether you have the right audio and video codecs which is very helpful in a world full of millions of video codecs. If you don't have the codec it helps you locate one.
Bad points: It doesn't actually tell you where to download the codec all the time. Sometimes it gives you a link to the developer but it always at least gives you the name.
Rating out of 5:

info | xp
What is it?: "Swis Army Knife of Instant Messaging"
What does it replace?: AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, IRC, Jabber and even more with extra plugins
Cool features: I don't think it's actually "open source" meaning the source code is open for all to edit but they do let people write skins and plugins for it. It combines all of your IM profiles into one. There are no ads and it is very customizable. Very sleek look and actually does everything you tell it to (unlike AIM). It's definately WAY better than GAIM.
Bad points: Takes a pretty long time to load but probably not any longer than AIM and MSN combined. Sometimes it gets in the way and takes a while to sign on.
Rating out of 5:

Sunbird info | xp | mac
What is it?: Calendar
What does it replace?: Microsoft Works Calendar and Thunderbird Calendar
Cool features: Nice program to keep me from forgetting peoples birthdays, work events, and school projects. It's very helpful and pretty easy to use. I'd reccomend it even to the dumbest of computer people.
Bad points: Just a lot of little things. It's still a beta release so you can't expect too much. It can be a little frustrating entering events as the layout of that box isn't the best in my opinion.
Rating out of 5:

New Debate

This one is quite a theological argument and I plan to have quite a bit of disagreement. I have done a lot of thinking on this one so I hope you all enjoy and join in.

Man, inherently good or evil? At Cedarville they teach us that man is inherently evil because of our sin nature. God obviously created man perfect and innocent even to the knowledge of "good and evil" until Adam and Eve were tempted into sin by Satan. God gave Adam specific instructions not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but even in his perfect state he was convinced that God was a liar and he should disobey.

As you can probably tell already that I disagree that man is inherently evil and here's why. In Genesis 3:22 it says that man now has the knowledge of good and evil, he lost his innocence. This means that man knew what was right and what was wrong. The first sin recorded after the fall in the Bible is Cain's murder of his brother. It is clear in the verses that follow that Cain knew it was wrong, but chose to do it anyway.

You could argue that he knew right and wrong because he knew God and grew up hearing about him. The problem with that is first of all Romans 1:18-20 tells us that no man has an excuse to not know God as everything around us declares His glory. Secondly, Cain did not even have a set of rules or laws to live by, again, man knows right and wrong from losing his innocence (you could call it your conscience).

So if every man knows right from wrong by instinct then how can he be inherently evil!? We all obviously have the choice to do wrong if we want, but there's always that feeling inside telling us not to. For the vast majority of the people in the world I would say that first instincts tell them to do good. Other influences in their lives maybe have led them to do the opposite of fail to act on those instincts but it's still there. I'm not a social scientist or anything, but I believe that the way God created us was with the desire to love and help our neighbor rather than wanting to destroy him...and that's my side of the story.

Productivity

I just had the most productive half-week ever and it's only getting better. Let me tell you how it went:

Friday
On friday I was an idiot! I completely forgot Kayla's party because I suck...sorry Kayla...I suppose you should kill me now. Other than that I did go out with some friends to hang out and watch a few movies. I now have a calendar program to keep me straight though.

Saturday
It gets even better from here on. Media team in the morning of course where we accomplish everything we wanted to. Got announcement slides, title slides, and even the new Warehouse Productions logo. I like it. Also got to catch up on some good TV with Aaron's amazing TiVo.

Sunday
My favorite day of the 5 as I would say I accomplished the most stuff that I wanted to. It started off with being spontaneous and deciding to go camping that night. So after church (where I ran an excellent projector show) Aaron and I went off to John Brian State Park to find us some campin' grounds. We got 2 spots and returned to tell all of our success. Camping was not to happen yet though. Off we go to our Aunt's house to have our family Labor Day celebration extravaganza. Us guys quickly accomplished our football draft for the year and got outta there. We then fly off to the church to meet up to go camping. It was a great time of burning wood and trading massages.

Monday
A bit of a slower day but still packed with fun. We all slowly wake up and pack up and decide that there has to be something more to do. Most of everybody was tired and just went home but despite me staying up all night, a few of us went off to play racquetball at Cedarville followed by a game of pool. That was about all the fun we could take so we all dispersed and I slept.

Tuesday
Meeting, meeting and a lot more meetings. After classes at 12:30 and 1:30 I had a meeting for work at 4, a volleyball game at 5, a radio station meeting at 7 and finally chapel set-up for work from 9-11 I started on my homework. I had way to much and am still working on a paper due at 2 (4 pages single spaced) and I think it is terrible. Oh well...at least I had fun!

New Blog

I have a new bog now! It's in no way a replacement of this one rather a class project. In Visual Communication we have been assigned to write about things we see in advertisements, TV, news, or even people's clothes at least 3 times a week. Our professor wants us to describe how these images make us feel and what we think of them.

I think it will be a fun project if I can remember to keep it up. So check it out, it's called The World We See.