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Apple, aiming to “fix” their iPod Shuffle’s problem of screen-less mp3 player, released the newest version today. I watched the how-to video on this new player, and I have to admit, the user interface is incredibly intuitive and friendly. Top-notch UI design, again, Apple. Except…
There’s no back button. How do you go back to a track? What if you want to listen to that track again? What if you skipped it on accident?
Oops.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/11/apples-ipod-shuffle-hits-4gb/
Well, this is random, but I took a nap this afternoon and had a really good dream. I dreamt I had a kitten! (Or really, it was a cat…) And (oddly), it spoke English. =)
Apparently there’s a worm/virus making it way through Facebook right now. You get a private message from one of your friends, telling you to go watch this particular video. Once you click on the link, the site tells you your Adobe Flash Player is out of date and needs to update, and once you download the “update,” you get the virus.
The next step the virus does is scan your compute for cookies with login credentials (such as your Facebook user/pass) and logs onto those accounts and spreads itself again.
Read more about it here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10113981-2.html
How do you suppose university mottos are established? I kind of imagine a large “Hollywood-style” gathering of celebrities, and a reporter roams through the crowds interviewing the affluent, influential, university-starting founders.
“Excuse me, Mr. Harvard. What was your motivation for founding your institution?” the eager young reporter asks, gripping her pencil and paper in anticipation.
Harvard gives a belittling look to the reporter. Someone of her social class dare speak directly to him? He scoffs. “Veritas,” and he walks away.
Not to be phased, the reporter prods Mr. Brown. “Excuse me, Mr. Brown. If I could just borrow a moment of your time. What were your reasons for founding your institution?”
“In Deo speramus,” Brown replies, giving her about as much attention as Harvard had given her previously.
The rest of the night passes much the same for the hapless reported.
“In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen,” Columbia mumbles to her, as if the question wasn’t even worth the effort of articulating.
“Vox clamantis in deserto,” Dartmouth says, distracted by the cute waitress coming by with the hor’deurves. He was going to have her telegram address by the end of the night for sure.
“Dei sub numine viget,” Princeton replied, but only after he had collected eight other reporters asking the same question, before he took three precious seconds out of his time to answer them all at once.
By the time “leges sine moribus vanae” (Penn) and “lux et veritas” (Yale) came around, the young reporter was glossed and defeated. She couldn’t even speak a word of Latin!
“And you, sir? Why did YOU decide to found your university?” she asked Cornell, much more out of reflexive habit than a genuine interest in his answer anymore.
“Me?” Cornell turned away from his socializing group in surprise, champagne glass in… both hands, and clearly a long funeral procession of empty champagne glasses before them. “Young lady… lady… I’ll… I’ll TELL you why!” The words were sputtering off his lips. “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” He gave her a drunken wink. “Find instruction… in ANY study,” he repeated. He gave a loud guffaw, slapped the reported on the back (spilling champagne all over her), and turned back to his drinking buddies.
And that, my friends, is how Cornell University came to its grand motto, amongst the chivalry and nobility of all the rest:
If you’re wondering what you’re gonna get me for my birthday this year (or heck, if you’re scratching your head what you’re going to give me for my half-birthday which is coming up in 2 weeks), you’re in luck, cuz I’m just going to tell you:
The town of Albert, TX is on sale for $900,000.
That’s right. The whole town. I think it’s a couple acres large, and comes with a few buildings. Population: 4 (well, 5… I think they recently had a kid).
Take a look at the CNN report about it, too: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/02/18/grace.town.for.sale.kens
I’ve been traveling a lot recently, so I thought I was finally understanding how airlines price their tickets… but apparently not (click to enlarge):
Flights from IAH to CVG
Spent the past 2 days working with Yahoo’s weather API to bring a new feature to my home page. Now, the background image on the home page “reacts” to the weather in Houston (night/day, sunrise/sunset, rain/shine). Go check it out. :)
Quite literally. Jonathan and I had been planning to shoot a music video to Plain White T’s “1234″ for like 2 months now! Mostly because they didn’t have an official music video. But I guess now they do:
It’s Valentine’s Day. This shows up on my newsfeed. And 15 people have “liked” it already.
Update About 6 hours later, the count is up to 63 “likes” and 28 comments
Well, in honor of an entire day of coughing and hacking (of the non-computer type), I’ve decided to post about 2 interest news/facts about California, one of the few words I can semi-say while coughing.
1. The “Name Equality Act of 2007″ allows couples to create hybrid last names, so long as 2 characters from each person’s last name appears in the new last name, and the order of those 2 letters is not changed. Talk about trashing a family tree, and I’m not talking about just the husband’s last name. I’m talking about a genealogy nightmare for anyone trying to trace their family roots from a hybrid last name in California. Give the act a few years… and see what kind of interesting last names show up. Goldfarb+Smith = Goldsmith. Essex+Cooper = CoopSex. Harding+Monroe = HardOn. I guess it’s a pretty racist act, considering it leaves a lot of Asians with very few options to choose from: Yu+Hu = YuHu!!!
2. On the flip side, let’s give California some credit for creativity. http://www.cheapcheapcheap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88192 A little ironic (you have to get a ticket first), but at least it’s a proactive solution to a problem.
This was taken off this site: http://honeymoons.about.com/cs/valentinesday/a/Valentine_Roses.htm
Who knew there were so many other colored roses? I for one would love to see a “lilac” colored rose!
Red Roses
Red roses proclaim “I love you.” They are the ultimate symbol of romantic love and enduring passion. Florists can’t keep up with Valentines Day demand for red roses, which makes them especially expensive in February.
Yellow Roses
Yellow roses indicate friendship and freedom — so don’t send them if your intentions are romantic and long-lasting. Yellow roses are also appropriate for sending congratulations to newlyweds, graduates, Texans, and new mothers.
Pale Pink Roses
Pale pink roses connote grace, gentleness, and gratitude.
Light Pink Roses
A joy to behold, light pink roses express fun and happiness.
Deep Pink Roses
Deep pink roses say “Thank you.”
Lilac Roses
Lilac roses indicate the sender has fallen in love at first sight with the recipient and is enchanted.
White Roses
Pure white roses symbolize truth and innocence. They also send other messages: “I miss you” and “You’re heavenly.”
Coral Roses
Coral roses express one thing with their passionate color: Desire.
Peach Roses
Peach roses speak of appreciation, gratitude, and also sympathy.
Orange Roses
Orange roses communicate enthusiasm and desire on the part of the sender.
Dead Roses
Regardless of the original color, dead roses say “It’s over” loud and clear.
By the way, you’re supposed to be able to combine roses to send different messages. (Follow through to the link so see their suggestions.) Here’s one they didn’t mention though:
Light pink + Coral + Orange roses = “I want to sleep with you”
Well, with Valentine’s day coming up, I thought I’d give mention to a really good new movie (came out 2/6/09). It’s sort of like Love Actually, and it’s a great romance/comedy/pick-me-up movie, so if you’re celebrating Vday or anti-Vday, it’s worth watching!
After you watch the movie, you have to choose who your favorite:
1. Male character (Justin Long)
2. Female character (hmm, nobody’s, I’m afraid…)
3. Couple/storyline (Jennifer Aniston + Ben Affleck)
I list my personal favorites to entice you to go see the movie to figure out why. ;)
Ugh, so I’m sick right now, but thanks to my friend Karen in Detroit, I’ve whipped up this list of drug facts in case I get anyone else sick, too.
- Tylenol (acetaminophen) is bad for the liver (can take it on an empty stomach)
- Advil (ibuprofen) is bad for the stomach (shouldn’t take it on an empty stomach)
- Both drugs merely suppress the immune response, but don’t actually help you get better
- If you have a cold that responds to Tylenol or Advil, you have a viral infection, and you’ll probably be OK. If it doesn’t respond to Tylenol or Advil, you have a bacterial infection, and you need to go get medical help! (Antibodies)
- Preventative measures when someone else has a cold is to take vitamins (vit C boost immune system and is more preventative, zinc boost immune system and is more pro-active)
- Depending on your weight, the amount of Tylenol you should take will vary. Generally, 330mg is enough, unless you are particularly heavy or under-weight. (Thus, those “extra strength” Tylenols that are 500mg/tablet is overkill. Definitely don’t take 2, even if that’s what they recommend.)
- Gel caps, liquid gels, and regular tablets are all the same thing. They are just marketing gimmicks. (Unless they are specifically formulated for long-lasting or quick-release.)
- “Expired” drug means it has lost 10% of its active ingredient. In other words, it’s still 90% effective!
I’ve never edited a scary movie before, and all I can say is it sucks. Sucks if you’re doing it alone in the office at night.
I think people around my age start to become distinctly aware that their music has slowly shuffled into the “oldies” category. We cling on to the handful few who are still considered “hip” and “modern” (Britney Spears), but others (NSync? Backstreet Boys?) we’re too ashamed to mention, because that conversation inevitably leads to “remember that single that came out [a long time ago]“.
Alice: Ooooh, thanks! You saved me tonight.
me: Haha, I’m Eagle Eye Cherry!
Alice: I’m not sure what that is, but congrats?
Me: Am I that old?
Alice: Maybe =(
I’m pretty sure we’ve all be there before… a room full of strangers at some professional/networking/social event. You’re probably there because you’re one of the “professionals”, or a curious attendee, or maybe you just know one person in the whole group and you tagged along. Depending on your networking prowess, you’ll probably end of interacting and connecting with anywhere from 2-10 people that night, and at the end of the night…
“Hey, do you have Facebook? I’ll add you as a friend.”
OK, maybe email is acceptable, too. But phone numbers? On a first “date”? No way!
| What it meant then | What is means now | |
|---|---|---|
| What’s your address? | …so I can pick you up for dinner, or carpool with you to the meeting, or send you a letter | You want to know where I live?! |
| What’s your phone number? | …let’s chat sometime! | …you want to talk to me? Live conversation? I’m sorry, I don’t do that. |
| What’s your email address? | I hear it’s the cool thing to do these days. Mail… through the Internet! | …because I don’t want to talk to you or hear your voice. In fact, I don’t even want to feel the pressure of having to come up with responses “on my feet”. |
| What’s your screen name? | You mean my ICQ number? | I have to warn you, I’m probably hiding behind an away message 24/7. But IM me anyway! |
| Do you have Facebook? | Facebook? Do you mean yearbook? Yeah, I still have mine from high school. Why? | …because I want to analyze you, look at all your photos, and investigate every group you’re in before I determine if it’s worthwhile to continue talking or building relations with you. And even when I do reach that state, I’ll send you a Facebook message, because it’s not like your phone number is splashed all over your Facebook profile and nobody carries around cell phones these days. |
Well, technically, this photo is from yesterday (Monday), but who’s really keeping track?
Flags in front of a bank on Kirby
Sorry, there’s just not much to say these past few days. I have a lot on my mind. -_-
Red hearts at Dessert Gallery
Sorry, no dayclicks today. Nothing particularly note-worthy to take pictures of today, although I did take a picture in preparation of posting it. But, meh, it’s just a police station.
Plus, I’m really tired… been thinking about a lot of ideas and things this weekend.
Somebody paid a lot of money to put up over a mile’s worth of American flags on University Blvd. today. I saw the volunteer group doing it, too… going house-to-house with a truck full of flags and stakes. (In fact, I wonder if they notified all the homeowners that they are going to have stakes poked into their lawns.)
Too many things happening this weekend that I can’t tell what the special occasion is:
1. Houston Marathon is tomorrow (Sunday) and the route goes through University Blvd.
2. MLK day is on Monday
3. Inauguration is on Tuesday
American (and Texas!) flags lining University Blvd.
Went to the Memorial Park Arboretum with my sister today. A little bit crisp/chilly, but it set the mood for one of those perfect autumn days. It was pretty hard to 3pix this one. Even though the whole park was just trees (pine trees, mostly), but there were many unique shots. (For example, Hurricane Ike did quite a number of some of the trees there…)
The gray fox is one of two canids that can climb trees!
The cool and modern audio-tour of the park!
Well now, that don't make it too wild now, does it?
I went to go listen to a “Grand Rounds” seminar today… interesting stuff on pain management. Well, a little sobering about how much we know about pain, but really how little we can do about it.
Top floor of the original M. D. Anderson building
Today was an absolutely beautiful day. So much so that I decided to walk to meet Sandra for happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings instead of driving. (That, and the fact that BW3’s is 3 blocks from my house.)
As I was walking to the restaurant, I noticed a large collection of bird poop on the sidewalk. And looking up, I saw a rather large collection of bird poop machines. Needless to say, I got to safety as fast as I could. (This picture was taken from “safety”. I considered snapping a shot directly beneath them for the unique perspective, but decided not to risk standing under a pack of birds fumbling to get my camera out of my pocket and turned on.)
If Buffalo Wild Wings ever ran out of chicken wings...
Oops, forgot to post yesterday’s dayclick.
The densest collection of taxis you will EVER see in Houston
‘Nuff said.
Candy HQ in the Galleria