Snapple Fact #447

Bears were once the size of bears.

Google Trends

It's always a good idea to keep an eye on Google Labs, and all the cool new stuff they put out, but this is a particularly interesting tidbit you should take a look at:

http://www.google.com/trends

I have Mario Kart DS

In several Mario games, there are references to Luigi's Mansion. Can someone tell me why Luigi has a mansion? Like, where did that come into the story line? Did he inherit it, or in the mushroom kingdom does he just have oodles of money and he decided to buy a haunted-style mansion? Or what. What's the deal?

Spring Semester

Spring semester isn't really appropriately named. I mean, when I think of spring, I think of flowers blooming, and little bunnies, and that kind of stuff. But spring semester takes place significantly in January and February, which have a tendency to be snowy, and freakin-cold. No bunnies. Anyway...

I think I've got my classes all set. I'm taking a medium load this semester. I don't want to overdo it, but I can't take only 12 hours and graduate. So here's the lineup:

• Stochastic Modeling - Sheena took this class a couple semesters ago, and I think it's just about creating models for various situations. Doesn't sound particularly fun to me, but we'll see. Open mind.


• Advanced Database Systems - This is an interesting one, just because of the professor, who is quite a character. I enjoy databases, so this is a good one.


• Intro To "C" Programming - This one I'm really taking for a number of reasons. First off, I tend to be an object-oriented person, which is fine, but you can't always do things that way. Hopefully this class gets into things enough to give me a little insight into non-oo ways. It never hurts to have C experience, regardless, so this is a good one to take. It's a low-level class, so hopefully it will help my GPA, and lastly, I already know someone in it, so I won't be sitting there alone if it turns out to be boring.


• Software Systems Project - This is my 'senior capstone', which is supposed to make everything come together or be wonderful or something. I think we have a lot of freedom in this class, so hopefully it will be fun. This is also taught by a professor I kind-of know, and he's cool, so it should be good.


• Algorithms - I've heard nightmare stories about this class. I think it really depends on the professor as to whether this is a cool class, or just a bunch of memorizing. As I don't know the professor...we'll have to see...

And that's it! 15 credit hours. After this, all I have left is chemistry, stats, and 2 electives, and I'll be ready to graduate! And then more school!!!

Weekend Update

Ok, so I've been gone a bit. Here's what I've been up to:

On Wednesday, Amber, Sheena, and myself, all left for Pittsburgh, the Iron City. Sheena invited us up to meet more of her family, and have good times and whatnot. The drive to her mom's house was about 5 hours, which is like, nothing, and with good company, it was almost as if we didn't even drive, we just got in the car for a while to hang out and party, and then we got out of the car, and we were in another place. That reminds me of another story.

Ok, so anyway, some highlights of the trip:

• The driving, 5 hours up, 2 more hours up, and then 6 hours back, which I always enjoy.


• Meeting more of Sheena's family, who are all awesome (some kind of genetic predisposition, or they have potions or something to that effect)


• Tons of good food, from cheese and wine appetizers to pasta and club sandwiches


• Getting to stay in a house that was actually built by Sheena's dad, which is crazy sweet


• Yuengling

Seti@Home

So, I've heard criticism on more than one occasion, that while Seti@Home is a fun, and interesting project, there are much more useful things to do with our collective computing power. However...I have yet to see one. And don't talk to me about that protein folding bullshit. Here's the payoffs:

Seti@Home discovers ANYTHING: They tell people, people find out, and either we get another star, or a black hole, or a stellar anomaly, or aliens.

Protien Folding discovers cure for AIDS: Nobody ever finds out, because it's CHEAPER TO SELL MEDICINE THAN CURE PEOPLE.

At least that's my bet. I'll put a nickel on it. But not for you.

So, to the point, I've started using Seti@Home again. And...since no man is an island, cept for the real fatties, I have joined a team: Miami University! I don't have particularly great 'school pride', but I figure if I'm going to be part of a team, I should pick a relevant one.

As of today, we are 914th in terms of University and department teams. Which is absolutely pitiful considering the number of computers we have. Somebody use those labs!

Verizon...Dumber Than All Hell

Update: I found a blog addressing this issue. The entire situation is just absolutely astounding.

Java: For The Record

I'm not a pro at Java, but I do know a thing or two. This semester, I've been told two things by professors that are not true, but I can see how they could be misunderstood or just unknown. So here they are, as of Java 1.5:

Java does not initialize integers to 0 automatically.

Consider the following:

int foo;
System.out.println(foo);

Not only does this not print 0, it doesn't run. Variable foo needs to be initialized by the programmer.

Java has a goto keyword, it is reserved, but it can not be used!

Java does not let you use goto, although if you're using eclipse or netBeans, it will be highlighted as a keyword.

Cell Phones: For the record

I've had a lot of phones. I also sold phones for Nextel, Sprint, Cricket, and TrackFone. The following is for the record:

Despite how much I make fun of Nokia phones, they've always been real average. Which isn't bad. It's average.

The best phone I've ever had was the LG5250, hands down. Now, it doesn't compare to modern phones with their fancy features, but the phone was solid, reliable, held a signal, had good features for it's day, was awesome-stylish, and...and great.

Despite motorola supposedly making really high quality stuff, I've never owned a motorola whose antenna didn't break off, and I've never had the antenna break off any phone except a motorola.

The Sanyo 8100 I have will not die. It's missing covers for all it's little protective areas, and half the paint is gone, but it won't die. I've dropped it so many times. So many.

Oh, and also. People always bitch about getting screwed by their wireless provider, and how bad the service is. Shut the hell up. They all suck, and they all screw you. Just deal with it, or don't use a cell phone.

Chacha.com

Chacha.com basically blows. But I mention it here, because it's also neat.

At chacha.com, you can search, or you can search with a guide. The guide attempts to help you find what you're looking for, and gives you results. The guides are people who are actually paid to do this.

It seems like the quality of people they use for this is sub-par. Like, it would be neat if a service offered help for me to find stuff, because I generally can find what I want, and it's a special case that requires special knowledge. But this is for the average idiot, who doesn't know if you can do coke while you're pregnant, or what the answer to their homework is. So, it seems the people they hired are more attuned to that type of work, no offense. If it's beyond a quick google search and wikipedia, they're gonna come up empty.

I tried it twice, trying to get a picture of an amish person's face, something which google doesn't readily bring up, but I'm sure I could find if I dug a little deeper. The first person who tried to help me apparently thought I was some kind of prankster (which I am, although I was not doing so at the time) because after searching for a few minutes, they came back and said 'funny, very funny' and dropped my request.

The second person apparently found something, but it seems the results were supposed to show up, and because I'm using firefox (guessing?) they didn't. If it's not compatible with firefox, I'm just flat out not interested, because I am NOT using Internet Explorer.

Anyway, a cool premise, and worth a look, but I think this is generally a flunker.

Peanits

Ever have a really great idea, and it's so freakin' wonderful, and then you write it down, and you realize you're a complete ass?

Stupid Bumper Sticker

I don't seem them as much anymore, but I still see them. Those bumper stickers from September 11th that say 'We will never forget!' and have an eagle or some shit on them. Now, not to say that it's a good thing to forget the lives lost on that day, or the heroes who gave their lives, or just made the effort to do something great, and we shouldn't forget the mistakes made by the Bush administration, both in terms of causing the disaster, and failing to prevent it, but come on. We will never forget? Doesn't that kinda mean the terrorist people get what they wanted? That they would have a permanent and memorable impact on us? So driving around with a bumper sticker that says 'we will never forget' is kinda like having one that says 'the terrorists succeeded'.

Anyway, it's just a minor thing. Like I said there are valid arguments behind the statement, but I think they are outweighed by the blatantly obvious interpretation of the sentence. Just something I thought up.