String Theory

Cool news! I have been selected as a finalist in a video competition!

Discover Magazine, a magazine I have blogged about in the past, recently ran a video competition. The idea was to create a video, 2 minutes or less, explaining String Theory (or M-Theory) to a moderately scientifically-minded audience. They gave about a month to produce the video and submit it. I received the email Sunday morning that I, along with seven others, have been selected as finalists.

Three things, two cool and one worrying have occurred as a result of being selected. First, simply for being chosen as a finalist, I get a year’s subscription to Discover Magazine for free. This is really cool because now I can save the money I would’ve spent on a renewal.

The second cool thing is Brian Greene will be choosing the winner. Greene is a Nobel Lauriat who wrote The Elegant Universe, one of the most complete and compelling books on String Theory I’ve read. Well, it’s actually the only book I’ve read on String Theory, but it is good. Not only do I recommend it, I’ll even let you borrow my copy if you ask nicely and bring me a bribe of cheese and bacon. If you’re not into the whole reading thing, but are interested in the idea that the physical universe is fundamentally comprised of tiny vibrating strings, there is a mini-series about the book made by Nova available on Netflix.

The one worrying aspect about being selected is I’m not overly happy with the final video, and now there is a 1 in 8 chance that it will win. If it happened, it would mean the millions of Discover readers I greatly respect will, if they have any sense of production value, think it sucks.

Like so many college essays, 1/3^rd of the project was finished the night before it was due. The few parts of the piece I really like were designed by Mandy. Being the wonderful, amazing, and intelligent woman she is, Mandy came to my aid in an hour of need. She designed several of the sequences and helped with overall flow the piece. If you every get around to watching it and find yourself thinking, “That part was pretty good.” It’s likely that that’s the part she designed.

I really wanted to rework the audio using an M-Audio preamp I borrowed from Chad. I also wanted to redo most, if not all, of the animation sequences to make them more entertaining and less like, uh, a planetarium show. Years of planetarium design have created and reinforced the unfortunate notion that the only way to present educational content is with simple animations and low, monotonous voice-overs. Ah well. We make time for what’s important, and I apparently didn’t find this important enough to finish up to the expectations I set for it. Lesson learned: Don’t procrastinate when it comes to competition deadlines.

Sadly, due to the draconian click-wrap contract I entered into to be eligible to compete, I cannot post the video here. I technically don’t own it any more; they do. According to the congratulations email I received, I do know it will be put up on Discover Magazine’s site soon. When that happens, I’ll provide a link to the page so everyone can see the finalists’ videos.

New Equipment Time!

I just received an order two new bits o' equipment: an Ultra 2000va UPS and a Western Digital 320GB hard drive.

Ultra 2000va UPS

What: An Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is a essentially a battery backup for electronics, in my case, computers and peripherals. Basically, how it works is it plugs into the wall and your computer plugs into it. While plugged into the wall, the UPS' internal battery is charged. When I use my computer, it draws power from the battery, not from the wall socket, that way there is a complete disconnect between the power coming out of the wall outlet and the power entering the computer. So, during a thunderstorm, if the power goes out, my system will stay on because it's already running of the UPS battery. Also, if there is a power surge, it will only destroy the charging mechanism instead of blowing up my computer.

Why: It will protect my equipment from power surges and outages. Our apartment has horrible wiring. Everything in it is electric; the dishwasher, stove, and furnace. All electric. When the stove is on, I can hear crackling through my PC speakers, and that isn't good. With the UPS, there will be a constant, even flow of electricity to the computer and components making for a longer, more reliable equipment lifespan. Even if the apartment power totally goes out, the system will still run for about 15 minutes on the battery. These are a good idea for any piece, or pieces, of home electronics you want to survive a power surge or outage. I would recommend doing some research about how much power the equipment pulls before purchasing one. A good rule of thumb is 1000va to 2000va UPS it plenty for a low to medium end home theater system.

The sucker cost over $200, but I look at it as cheap insurance to protect the equipment. The other catch is it had be a massive 2000va UPS because the friggen Mac Pro is a such a power monster that it can spike over 1750vas when coming out of sleep or when all the drives are spinning. On the plus side, though, I should be able to run my external Lacie drive and my monitors off of it along with the Mac.
Bonus!

Western Digital 320GB hard drive (7200/rpm SATA-II)

What: A massive, inexpensive hard drive.

Why: I bought this for a couple reasons. One, I really want to see if I can get Windows to run on the Mac. My main goal for this, honestly, is to play games. I do also have bunch of non-gaming applications (DVDShrink, Reason, and IMToo Converter) that are PC-only that I would like to run. The Mac has a nice graphics card (ATI x19000 XT) that is well-suited for playing games. However, since most computer games require Microsoft's proprietary DirectX driver platform, it will only be fully utilized on using Windows. The second reason is I want to install and play around with Linux. I'll probably opt for Ubuntu, but I would like to try Debian, since the Windows Manager is so friggen cool looking. Either way, it will be interesting to see how well I can get these operating systems running on what used to be a totally closed hardware architecture. The future is now!

I'll write a review of each after I've used them for a while, and sorry if the most boring post you've ever read. I wrote it in the traditional geek fashion, with pens in my pocket and tape on my glasses.

Mr. Forton's 45th Annual March Madness "All Name Team"

[Editor's Note: DropMyStraw is proud to present guest editor Mr. Forton's amazingly successful All-Name Team]

Its hard to find good names these days. Parents aren't keeping their eyes on the prize. Its a sad day when the All American Apple Pie Flag Waving Baby Slapping Uncle Sam Dancing 45th All Name Team has to resort to foreigners to complete the list. Homeland Security should do something about this. Well here is this years list. How do you spell Marty? And can one man be named after 2 food groups? Now for the 45th Annual All Name Team brought to you by America's Furniture in Anacostia DC "Back Dat Thang Up!"

God Bless You and America!

Scooby Johnson – Texas A&M C.C. Islanders

Idong Ibok – MSU

Goran Suton – MSU

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute – UCLA

O.J. Mayo – USC

Antanas Kavaliauskas – Texas A&M

Maarty Leunen – Oregon

Do-kun Akingbade – George Washington

Vovo Severovas – Oakland

Mac Reflections Pt. 2

My PC started acting up. I had been playing Oblivion: Elder Scrolls, converting some .movs to .wmvs, and burning DVDs (not all at the same time) just fine. Then, a couple days ago, it just seized. The screen went black and the sucker wouldn't shut even if I held the power button in for 5-10 seconds. I had to reach behind it and flip the power supply switch. I tried a couple things. I used an entire can of blow-off to clear out the mountain flotsam and dust bunnies that had collected. I reset the mobo to use the factory configuration of the memory and I'm about to try some different voltage settings and front-side bus configs to see if one of those is wonky. It could be the power supply too. I bought the "Diablo" power supply because it had a cool blue LED in it, not because it came highly recommended to actually, you know, power my computer and everything. I'll play around with it; ask some friends for advice.

I'm writing this to you on my Mac. My trustworthy Mac. It hasn't died. It doesn't need voltage tweaks or memory flash sequences reset. It just works. And works well. So, when I get around to it, I'll figure out the problem with PC. Or, more likely, I'll bribe a friend or friends with cookies and beer to get it working for me. It used to be that I defined my ability to accomplish things on a computer by how well I could troubleshoot the myriad problems I came across trying to run a Windows PC. I think I've come to terms with my consumerist, hair-gel wearing self. It's so much easier to use a computer that just works instead of one that, well, doesn't.

It's also much more productive. The PC died right in the middle of converting the aforementioned files--a task I am doing for my client in Grand Rapids. If that was my editing computer, I would be rushing to fix it because failing to do so might mean missing a deadline and loosing them as a client. I can't afford the vanity or the time spent trolling through forums and message boards trying to isolate the problem and fix it/replace it. I need this project done. Period.

It could be a bad power supply. Might be a motherboard setting. Meh. In the meantime, I'll be getting my work done on my Mac.

slacking

We have a number of people write, call, and IM that we haven't been as prolific with updates these past couple weeks. While true, it isn't totally without reason. I have been crazy-busy these past two weeks. A massive computer crash (no, not the Mac), a deadline pushed up two weeks by my client in GR, and fun visit by Chad and Megan last weekend are all reasons why I haven't been posting, not excuses. I should be posting regardless. I'm trying to keep people amused and informed about our going-ons down here in the great sweeping Ohioan expanse, and I can't do that unless I post.

It's strange doing this blogging thing. Both Mandy and I will go through periods of creativity and interest in it, then just as suddenly loose interest. What I need to do is during my next bout of creativity, write a few posts and just keep them in draft, so when I'm not feeling up to writing, I can just post one of those.

To recap, here's few things we've been up to since the last post:
1. Chad and Megan came down to visit last weekend. It was great to hang out with some them.
2. We had a really successful cooking club last weekend. The theme was fondue, and there was much dipping. A special thanks to Chad's parents for the use of their awesome ceramic fondue pot.
3. We saw Grindhouse last night. Words cannot describe the experience. It's so unlike any other movie-going experience I've had, that I'm reluctant to even call it a movie. It's something has to be seen to be believed, both in a good and bad way.
4. Mandy and I have been thinking of adding another member to the family. Keep looking back for more updates on this...


(One of the many amazing scenes from such a wonderful movie. Too bad YouTube resolution is so crappy.)

So friggen cool

On March 3rd I posted a quick summary of a book I was reading called "A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" by author Cliff Pickover and just a quickly forgot about the post. If you haven't read the post yet, I encourage you to do so.

Today I was checking Pickover's Reality Carnival, a link-blog he maintains daily. It's kind of like Fark, but more science/art influenced. I've had a link to it on the right side of Dropmystraw since Mandy and I first started it. It's the first thing I check whenever I hop online. It's always one link and it's always interesting. Especially the 3/17/2007 link.

I was amazed to find that he, of his own volition, linked back to Drop My Straw! If you click on the reality carnival link on the right side, look for the link for 3/17/2007 - it links back to my post! The coolest thing is I never submitted the blog or my post to his site. He must've found it by googling his name, book title, or some combination. Either way, it's really cool. It's amazing how enabling the internet is becoming. I read a cool book, post a quick review, the author finds the review, link back to my site, I post about the linking and everyone knows everyone. It's really cool.

Exploding Sand Castles!

I haven't posted anything in a while. Been real busy working on my reel, string theory thing, and the project for Mandy's parents. Also no one ever posts comments. Last weekend, when Mandy and I were town, nearly every person quoted something from the blog and yet so few posts.

Here's a quick primer for those who are comment-deficient:
1. Click the comments hyperlink at the bottom of the post
2. Type either "Good" or "Bad" in the text box
3. Click Publish Your Comments

That's it. Really easy, isn't it?

As a gift for being such a good student, here's a really sweet video of sandcastles blowing up in reverse. It reminds me of my 'Revo' days when the favorite pass time of my friends and myself was recording things then playing the tapes in reverse. We were easily amused.

(Man, this is awesome)

Product Review: V-MODA Earbuds for iPod

If you own an iPod (really, any portable MP3 player) and find the stock earbuds that come packaged with it lacking, I have a great alternative.

'The V-MODA Bass Freq' earbuds. I picked up a pair of these babies for $35 from Amazon about two months ago and they're so far above the listening experience of the stock iPod earbuds it's hard to describe.

If you listen to your iPod with a pair of unpowered earbuds, you'll find these little guys to be the single best investment of $35 you can make to improve your listening experience.

(Sexy earbuds)

I listen to my iPod, through earbuds, for about 6 hours everyday at work. Anyone that has worked with me knows this isn't an exaggeration. I listen to a wide range of music, podcasts, vidcasts, and everything in between. I basically got tired of getting headaches from listening with the stock headphones, not to mention the sound is atrocious, and started doing some research into a better set. I found out about these via this review on CNet. While they may not be up there with the Sonhiser or Sharp in terms of sound clarity, they'll only set you back $35 compared to the $100 - $200 you'd have to spend to get a really good set. Again, if you listen to portable music devices often, do your ears a favor a buy a pair.

Pros:

• Good sound insulation
• They come with three ear canal adapters to fit various sized ears holes
• Non-fatiguing sound: I can leave them in for hours at a time without them bothering me
• Comfortable, ergonomic design
• Sound quality is amazing for a set of earbuds

Cons:

• They are biased towards being bass heavy, due to how little SPL the drivers can pump out
• The cord is really short
• I know it's nitpicky, but it's really hard to read the tiny 'R' and 'L' indicators on the cans

Yeah Marvin, what is really going on?

I was sitting at work, watching my scripts crawl like digital cats across the application, seeking out bugs to snack on, when I heard something amusing on my iPod.

I had been listening to a collection of Marvin Gaye tunes (I’ve been on a Motown kick for some reason) when the golden standard, “What’s Going On?” came on. The song begins with ambient sounds of the beginnings of a party which ends up being the foundation for the song. For about 15 seconds, the listener can only hear a clamoring of saying things like, “This is a groovy party, man.”, “Everything is everything.”, and, “I dig it.” Alone, this is worth a grin because of how dated the phrases are, but something oddly coincidental is said just as the music kicks in.

Once the beat starts, and mid-way through the first Saxophone note, you can distinctly hear my friend Esquire in the background answering the question, “Hey man, what’s your name?” with “It’s Dennis.” The voice sounds just like Esquire and the fact that it’s saying its name is ‘Dennis’ at a party at Marvin Gaye’s crib c. 1972 is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. If Dennis existed in some alternate dimension, this is where he’d hang out. If you know, or are, Esquire, you’ll understand and smile knowingly.

It's hard to hear, but if you turn it up and listen to the right speaker, you can make it out.

(Click on Marvin to listen to / download the clip)

Weekend recap...

Wow, what a great weekend. I’m not surprised that it went so fast, I was having so much fun all weekend long.

Friday, Matt and I relaxed at home. We practiced more on perfecting our pizza. What would pizza be without beer?...and the Sopranos?....and some Beatles? We ended up watching the last episode on our Sopranos disk (from Netflix), and then watched another hour of the Beatles documentary. If you like the Beatles and have never seen this documentary, you should. It is 8 hours long, and it packs all of the Beatles goodness in!

Saturday, I woke up and felt like baking a little. I made some blueberry-orange muffins and then made some chocolate-chocolate chip muffins. Matt worked on his reel, but was able to pull himself away for some tasting.

Saturday night we met up with a couple of our friends, Erin and Dean, at an Indian restaurant in Clifton. We ordered the veg dinner for two and they ordered the non-veg dinner for two. There also ordered a nice bottle of white wine for all of us to drink. There was a lot of food, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

After dinner, we stepped over to the Esquire theater, with all intentions of watching Other Peoples Lives, but we were a bit late and probably would have missed 20 minutes. We were able to get tickets for Pan’s Labyrinth. Although Erin is not too keen on movies with insects and violence, she was a really good sport!

After the movie we went next door to a coffee shop named Sitwell’s – think it might be owned by Sally’s father (from Arrested Development). We each had a warming, and mighty alcoholic coffee/cocoa. It was a cool little shop – and we had good conversations.
I liked the Clifton area. Even though it was really cold, there are a lot of things to do within a short proximity.

Sunday, was low-key. We hung around the house until about 3pm, and then went shopping for some odds and ends. We came back with Chinese food, and watched Little Women - or I watched it and Matt watched some :)
He had some more work to do on his reel, so he left part way through.

All in all, I had a very relaxing enjoyable weekend.

Cliff Pickover and Immortality

Cliff Pickover's newest book begins, "Last night, I dreamed I was eating Truman Capote's brain. It tasted like black licorice, but smelled of blood."

I discovered Pickover when he was interviewed by George Norry, the host of Coast to Coast AM. First understand that Coast interviewees range from people who channel the ghost of JFK to the shrieking rants of conspiracy theorists. Most Coast guests have very unconvincing credentials and are a questionable lot, to put it lightly. So, when this mad scientist appeared one on the show one rainy summer evening, talking about similarities in DMT drug experiences experiences, time travel paradoxes, and comparisons between sushi and the native language of Hopi Indians, I didn't pay any more attention than the round-table discussions of the shape of alien eyes. Keep in mind I'm not trying to diminish how interesting these topics can be (though nearly all are patently false they sure are fun to listen to), it's just that they are as common on Coast to Coast as Brittany Spear's recent haircut is on more mainstream news shows.

Partially due to time, but mostly due to lack of interest, I never listen to a Coast interview twice. However, over the next few weeks, I found myself returning to that interview again. It was basically three hours of a very articulate person concisely describing fascinating thought-experiments that act as a kind of catalyst for thinking about the world in new ways. I did a little research and found that Pickover has published over 30 books and has real credentials to back up his science ideas. He received his Ph. D. from Yale in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.

On a whim I bought his then newest book, "Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves" and have never looked back. As Mandy will tell you, it's not something to lightly attempt reading if you are suffer from any form of A.D.D. Most of the topics are covered in two or three paragraphs and whose thematic connections are loose and ever-changing. It's like reading a book that was created by using the linking, cross-indexing architecture of HTML to organize a jumble of loosely related subject material.

I'm mid-way through his latest book. "A Beginner's Guide to Immortality." It's structured in a much more linear fashion than "Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves" complete with chapters and everything! It still wildly surges from dissections of the works of Capote to the esoteric genius of John Parsons creating surprising neural linkage in it's wake. As an aside, Parsons is the man, who, in the 1950s, was most responsible for creating the NASA space program, solid-fuel rockets, and the founding of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was also certifiably insane.

If you're in the mood for some strange, mind-expanding reading, you can't go wrong with Pickover. A good quote from Wired sums him up well, "Bucky Fuller thought big, Arthur C. Clark thinks big, but Cliff Pickover outdoes them both."

Lunar Eclipse a' comin!

This Saturday, March 3rd, you will be able to see a total lunar eclipse. These aren’t particularly rare (the next one is in August), but they are interesting to see. Unlike a solar eclipse you won’t see one celestial body completely cover or “eclipse” another. The moon will pass through Earth’s shadow, causing it to change to a reddish brown color in the Eastern Time Zone. Unfortunately, it will be at moonrise, so it won’t be amazingly dark, and given that we live in the mid-west, clear skies are also rare.

However, if the skies are clear and you are so inclined, the moon will begin to move into the outer shadow (the penumbra) of the earth starting at 4:30. It will enter totality or the darkest part of the shadow (called the umbra) at 5:44 and float through it for about an hour and 15 mins. At 6:20, the moon will be at mid-umbra which is the time the moon will look the darkest, reddist, browniest of the eclipse. From 6:20-8:12 the moon will start moving out of the Earth’s shadow until it looks all nice and regular at the end.

Here is an amazingly bad video explanation of the eclipse. Note how the astronomer never looks up from the cue cards she is reading and the full shot of her with a red lighting her head and none of her body. I've said it before and I'll say it again: NASA cannot make space videos look good no matter how hard they try.



It’s great example of how the laws that govern things gravity causing my coffee mug to roll off my desk and splash me this morning are the same laws that cause the earth, sun, and moon to move through the cosmos. It's also a great example of shoddy government-sponsored video explanations.

Yummy dinner!!

Last night, Matt and I made our dinner fabulous by improvising. We started off with agreeing to make the roasted garlic and eggplant soup that we like so well. After scrounging around in the kitchen, we found that we did not have many of the ingredients. That’s when we threw the cookbook to the floor, rolled up our sleeves and started creating. Although we do not have a name for it, yet, I will let you in on what we did…

Ingredients
Garlic – whole clove
Eggplant
Onion – chopped
Tomatoes – large can
Artichokes – canned and slightly drained
Tofu – ground “meat” type
Pasta – elbow, penne, etc.
Feta w/basil

We started off by roasting a whole clove of garlic. If you have never done this before, you must do it! It is so easy and wonderful. The basic idea is to take a bulb of garlic and cut the top of the skin, just so you can see the cloves inside. Pour a small amount of olive oil into the bulb. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Take a small piece of tin foil and wrap the garlic in it, leaving a small opening at the top. 375 degrees for about 30 min

We also roasted a whole eggplant. In order to do this, there are a couple of things that need to be done before popping it in the oven. First, thinly slice the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and arrange on and cover with paper towels. Place something heavy on top of the eggplant to draw the excess water out of them. Approximately 15 minutes later you may liberally coat the eggplant and place on a cookie sheet. 375 degrees for 15 – 20 min

Cook onions in a large pan with a little olive oil. Add can of tomatoes and ground tofu. Cook pasta in separate pan, and transfer when al dente.

Remove eggplant and garlic and let cool slightly. Add eggplant, garlic (can be squeezed right out of the bulb!), and can of artichokes with ½ of the liquid to food processor and blend thoroughly.

Add food processed items to large pan, and heat through. Serve topped with feta.

Yummy!!

Gifts

Mandy's uncle, a very talented artist and craftsman, built us an end table for a belated wedding gift. I have included a couple pictures of the table below. It's an amazing gift on two levels: One is the fine craftsmanship and working of the table, the other is the fact that he thought to make it. From the pictures, you can tell that no small amount of effort was put into creating the table. It's artificial aging, woodworking, masonry, and wax finish are very high quality. He even used blends of woods and finish so it would match our couches (a detail I completely missed until it was brought to my attention). Mandy and I have personally set glasses of water of it to verify it provides the necessary functions a table should.

Gifts are always nice, but we feel they are especially effective in conveying love and gratitude when they are made, rather than purchased. The construction of a gift is a literal rendering of a person's feelings. Living in Kentucky, he was unable to attend the wedding, but he wanted to show his love and respect, so he crafted this table. The gesture was deeply moving for both Mandy and I, considering our general stance towards gift giving and for me in particular, considering an entire half of my extended family felt it unnecessary to even attend the wedding.

The many gifts we have received throughout the years, purchased or otherwise, are a powerful reminder that we live blessed lives, filled with an abundance of wonderful friends and family we feel deeply honored to know and love. I don't think we say thanks enough, so here it is: Thanks!

Happy now?

Body Massage

(Who wants a body massage?)

We're only a few weeks away from the whole "set our clocks to a different time for no good reason" experience. It's funny to see Microsoft having to patch Outlook to accommodate the change in the day we reset our clocks. I like to watch Microsoft scramble around, fixing bugs that would've been discovered months ago had they adopted an open development model. There's something really interesting about how people love to see the big and powerful make mistakes. Maybe it's out of spite or jealousy, but it seems like all the infotainment pap I see in newsstands, websites, and TVs is heavily geared towards this impulse. Every time I see some formerly "important" movie star, athlete, or politician get roasted by the press, I feel a little twinge of justice, like there's some powerful universal force grinding them beneath its thumb. It all makes me smile and pump my fist vigorously towards the heavens with shouts of, "Git er' done!" and knee-slaps a plenty. For example:

It's interesting to wonder why people are so enamored with this kind of information. Is it because people are innately shallow or because our culture teaches us to be this way?

Top Ten Differences Between Living in Michigan and Ohio

Chad asked for this list the second week we moved down here. I've finally gotten around to writing it. I hope it satisfies.

10. Interpretation of risk associated with weather.

In Ohio, 3 inches of snow is considered a state emergency. They actually preemptively close schools: This means they close school before it snows. The fear of snow, not actual inclement weather, causes schools to close. Where I grew up, if there were fewer than five buses stuck in ditches, school was open. Here, ever city has an alter whereupon children are sacrificed to Frostzor the Cold One, in hopes of keeping His icy will at bay.

9. Driving skills of the populace.

It is amazing, but Ohio drivers really are worse than Michigan drivers, perhaps worse than any other drivers on the planet, universe, and all of creation. Maybe even beyond that. And by bad, I mean driving through red lights, cars and people flipping through the air, bursting into flames, driving over grandmothers, and welding hunks of metal to their bumpers to inflict as much damage possible. Driving around in Ohio is like driving around the Mad Max universe in a Ford Pinto with Mel Gibson riding shotgun, spitting random racial slurs and vodka; like some kind of Australian post-apoplectic wasteland of Mohawk sporting cannibals crashing 10-ton death machines shaped like giant phalluses into each other. And remember that midget with the boomerang that cuts off that one dude's fingers in Mad Max 1? That was awesome.

8. Perceived risks of imbibing alcoholic beverages on the Sabbath.

In the area of Ohio where we live, people have this strange notion that purchasing alcohol on Sundays does not constitute and unpardonable sin—punishable only by death. There are no public executions of heathens caught purchasing flasks of devil juice on the holy day. It's so boring without the weekly beheadings. On the other hand, Hamilites don't appear to be stuck in some romantic view of the world c. 1500AD like Grandville is. That Ye Olde Timey feel is gone. Many fewer corpses and piles of feces line the streets of Hamilton, so I guess that's a plus. The surfs of Grandville really ought to petition Lord Hemingsford to ask favor of His Majesty the King to lift the ban on the purchase of alcoholic spirits on Sundays and join the real world.

7. Usage of Chili

Nearly every food is coated with chili. From spaghetti to hot-dogs, it's rare to go into any restaurant that doesn't provide the option of having your entree coated with a steaming pile of meaty chili. There are more Skylines (a local chili chain) than McDonalds in most places.

6. The quantity and quality of Indian restaurants

Indian restaurant are all over the place down here. Some come in the tradition of American tex-mex restaurents where the food served is based on how an American who has never traveled more than two states away would think the food should taste like. Most restaurants, however, serve dishes we've never seen in other Indian restaurants. Not that a lower frequency of a given food item appearing in different restaurants makes it any more authentic or anything. It just tastes good.

5. The quantity and quality of jobs

The Western Michigan job market sucks. Not much more to say, really. It just sucks. Southeast Ohio? Not so much.

4. Comparative lack of microbreweries

Explain this to me: Why would a city like Cincinnati (the very bread and butter of the mid-West) not have more than one microbrewery? Sure there were the riots in 2001 that destroyed downtown, and the rampant murders in Over-the-Rhine, and the gas-crazed Mad Max cannibals driving around town, but what does that have to do with beer? I can see basic infrastructure like roads, sanitary drinking water, electricity, and civil order flying out the window when the Sickness killed half the population and left the other half blind and insane, but the beer? Come on Cincinnati. Get your act together.

3. Different geological topography

It's really windy and hilly here.

2. Different stance on recycling

You may think it's strange that this would come in second, but it's really unnerving. We grew up in Michigan, one of only two states in the union that pays its citizens $0.10 to bring back their beverage containers. We also grew up in a primarily Dutch (read frugal, penny-pinching misers) community where the value of ten cents was not something to scoff at. There is a strong, pervasive belief among our parents that somehow returning 20 cans would give us enough money to fill our gas tanks. I can remember how, on countless occasions, my father would hand me a bag of stinking cans, smile and say, "There you go! That ought to fill up the old tank."

So, in Michigan, throwing away a can is akin to throwing away cold, hard cash. And not only that, but magic cash that, despite only having the appearance of $2.00, will somehow fill up your gas tank.

In Ohio, there are is no payment-for-recycling program. You either seek out a recycling plant, pay to have your cans picked up, or just toss them in the trash. Fighting the hard coded compulsion to wash out, line up, and bag those cans is taking its toll. It's a daily struggle.

1. The importance of organized sports

In the days of ancient Greece, everything revolved around the Olympics. People would stop warring, everyone's safe travel was insured, and the next four-year calendar was named after the winner of the chariot race. It's much like that here. When we first arrived, people would drive up next to us at lights and scream, "Hoo Day!" and drive off laughing. It wasn't until much later we realized that this is the war cry of Bangles fans. Elderly, white-haired grandmothers walk around with temporary Bangles tattoos on their foreheads and babies are dressed in the team's colors. It's very disconcerting.

Weekend Update

This past weekend was a good one. Friday Mandy and I went to eat at the amazing local Mexican restaurant "Taqueria Mercado" then headed home to watch "Born Into Brothels" which was also very good. Hot Mexican food, good microbrew beer, and an award-winning documentary comprise the very essence of rest and relaxation for me.

Saturday we went to the humane society and walked some dogs in the snow. We didn't walk or see any that stole our hearts the ways others have, but they were so hyper and happy to be out in the snow we still had fun. There was one cocker named Julie that was hilarious. She had this little frozen beard that made her look like a tiny billy goat. She would burrow under the snow and run around beneath it; a moving mound of snow (a la Bugs Bunny) was all we could see. Good times.

Saturday night we went out with some friends to go bowling. Mandy won a game and I won a game, which is amazing considering how terribly we play. Not that our friends played a comparatively poor game, quite the contrary. We all played horribly, Mandy and I just played very slightly less horribly than the others. To illustrate how poorly we played I offer this example: In one game we all barley broke 100.

After bowling we drove to a Micro Center (?) a few miles down I-275 to see if they had a Wii to purchase—we wanted to continue bowling, we just wanted to do it on our TV. This Micro Center is a Home Depot-sized store that only sells geek equipment. Imagine those large bulk bins at Meijer or CostCo that are filled with jelly beans and oatmeal, now imagine the bins filled with hard drives and you'll start to get the idea. Sadly they did not have any Wii's for sale, so we left empty-handed.

The cool part was the drive. Our friends, Dean the Machine and Erin, own a Prius. The Prius is one of those new-fangled electric/gas hybrid cars you keep seeing and wanting but never getting around to buying. It was really cool to see how the system worked, to watch the little in-dash display of the motor charging the battery, and to have it all explained by the driver. It was like a trip into Tomorrow Land at Disney World. The coolest thing about the car is how quiet it is. When we pulled into parking lots, the gas engine would literally shut off as the car switched to the electric motor and would become totally silent. It was really cool. It's a like a geek gadget you can drive.

After the Micro Center, we went to eat at a local Peruvian restaurant. We ordered fried chicken things, green potato things, and volcanically hot dipping sauce things. It was good, though overpriced considering the portion sizes. Afterwards, then all headed home to hang out and talk.

Sunday we met a couple friends for breakfast at a local Waffle house. One of them, Steven, returned my copy of World of Warcraft I gave him to try the 10-day trail declaring he had bought a retail copy and the expansion pack. Yet another example of how giving things away can be a part of a very robust business plan. Even if I don't play, I can deny that 8 million subscribers can't be wrong.

The rest of the day Mandy worked on taxes and I worked on my reel. It was productive and fun!

Mo Mac

The Mac Pro arrived last week. The benevolent aspect of the universe shined its glorious light upon me as, within ten minutes of each other: As I was notified that the Mac was waiting at the leasing office I was also told that we were being told to go home early because it had begun to snow outside. To appease the snow deity that took pity on me, I ceremoniously left a plate of cheese and barbeque sauce on my doorstep. Thank you Snow Buddah! Well, technically the Buddah isn't a diety, and since I am now a full-fledged member the MaCult, I guess Snow Steve Jobs would be the more appropriate deity to leave snacks for.

I can't say too much about the experience of actually using the Mac above the rote routine of installing any piece of hardware. There was a hefty amount of unwrapping, plugging, unplugging, and swearing to be done. In the end, however, I can say that the actual OS X user interface (UI) is so far above and beyond the Windows XP experience as to not even be worth comparing. I hear the new Windows Vista UI "Aero" is pretty, but that's about it. Amazingly, the MacOS UI is not only very nice to look at it, but it's also very intuitive. Things just seem to be where you'd naturally expect them to be. The most used options are the easiest to find, and even the more technical options of a given application are simple and highly adaptable. I'll report more on using the software as I have exposure to it, but for now, I'm very excited about the prospect of exploration.

The hardware layout, I can say with certainty, is brilliant. I installed a new, off-brand 320GB hard drive I purchased through TigerDirect for $79 (which is a about 1/4 the cost of buying the same sized drive through Mac). After the nearly 2 hour installation of Final Cut Pro Studio 5.1 (it comes on 6 full DVDs), I decided to give installing the hard drive I had purchased a week back a shot. To physically install the hard drive involved the following:

1. Remove side panel via a lever on the back of the case.
2. Pull out a hard drive sleeve.
3. Screw the hard drive to the sleeve with four screws
4. Push the sleeve back in place
5. Replace the side panel.

That's it. When I booted the computer, it brought me to a disk maintenance app that took, literally, 3 clicks to clear and format the drive to be used. The entire process took less than five minutes. Mac are expensive, don't get me wrong. I would go so far as to say they are prohibitively expensive for the average web surfer and word processor. However, now that Apple is adapting Intel architecture, these costs will, as my third-party hard drive experience demonstrates, come down over time. Video cards, which, traditionally, have had the largest cost gap between Mac and PC, are starting to be released cross-platform, and all new Macs are adopting the PCI-E architecture.

Snow, Editing, and Primier

The weather has been shite down here. There hasn't really been a ton of snow, it just keeps going from melting to freezing, so there's 4-5 inches of ice covering everything. The upshot of the crap weather is we were able to stay home on Tuesday. This provided me with some time to work on my reel. I ripped copies of Stalemate and Le Denoument, and started picking clips that I like. My goal is to have all my clips picked and my structure laid down by the end of this weekend. Next week will be working on the After Effects sequences. It's coming along really well now that I have all the applications I need to put together.

(Our neighbor's car)

Last weekend was fun. We headed down to Grand Rapids Thursday night and stayed until Sunday. Friday we hung out, went to lunch, and saw the world premier of Chad's film "Little Thumb." I have much, much more to say about the premier and the movie, but I'm still reflecting on it, so I guess everyone will have to wait with bated breath for that post. Afterward, we hung out with friends at Grand Rapids Brewing Company and caught up with friends and family. It was great. It summarized some of the things I miss about GR: Good friends, family, and micro-brew beer. There's only 2 micro-breweries withing driving distance of Cincinnati. What's up with that?

(The drunkards.)

Saturday we slept in, ran some errands, and hung out with Team Forton to un-celebrate Zach's big birthday. It was great to hang with the gang again. We sat around, joked, caught up, laughed at really bad tv, and had a smashing time. We always have such a good time over there.

(Angie preparing to eat William)

About 6 o'clock we prepared dinner at Mandy's parent's house and sat down to watch Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas and sat by the warm fire. The strangeness of Fear and Loathing aside, I think everyone had a good time. We drink some white wine, ate good food, and partook of the warm and friendly company.

Sunday we ate a quick breakfast and headed out. We made it home around 7:00PM and got some Chinese take-out from a local wok. It was a really good weekend.

Viacom 100,000 Take Downs

A few weeks back, I posted two video segments Chad and I made for a friend's bachelor party. The video segments were straight-up parody (which is protected speech), not-for-profit, and terribly funny. If you scroll back to these two posts you'll find that the videos no longer work. The reason they don't, is because Viacom sent 100,000 cease and desist letters to YouTube. YouTube promptly removed all of the alleged offending content, without verifying if any of the content actually broke their rules. Chad's videos were removed as a result of the take down.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.Org) is attempting to gather examples of clips that were unnecessarily removed. So far, several cases have been reported including a home video of people eating a restaurant--obviously having nothing to do with Viacom. They have put together a simple a video to pass around to people who may have been affected by the take down. I include the video at the bottom of the post, in the hopes that Chad follows up with them. Our work is both parody and a form of fair use falling under the "mash-up" style of expression which is increasing in popularity.

Click here for more info on the issue.