| Last updated: 112 weeks ago |
[Jul. 20th, 2008|12:54 pm] |
I'm trying to figure out what to do with the internet. Browsing is great, but I feel like it's time to give something back. I've been doing this subtly, by contributing in minor ways to Wikipedia. I've also been trying a few various social networking sites, especially of the location-based persuasion, and I do like them, but they need to experience some serious growth in order to be really interesting.
So I guess this is where I can at least start macro-blogging again. It's not everything I could hope for, but it's a start. Sort of like how I started eating instant oatmeal just to see if I like eating oatmeal every morning. Guess what? I did. And now I make real oatmeal every morning. Thank you, Matt Hein's dad.
So yeah, basically, inspired by my last trip to San Francisco, and, I suppose, by my two previous trips to San Francisco, I want to do something awesome. Something a bit more awesome than working at the job I have now forever. And anything awesome will involve the internet, right? Maybe. More on this later... maybe.
I have a lot of thoughts about the internet. I can think of... two of them right now. The first would be that everything on the internet should be dated. This is inherent in a lot of web 2.0 stuff, but I fell like it's imperative to know when everything I read was written. Wikipedia basically is under version control. You can't get any better than that.
The second thing that I've been thinking about a lot is how it doesn't really make sense for a single user to have a website dedicated to a single topic. Lately, I've been searching for quotes from the Office a lot lately, just to see how many results I get for them and in what form. At some point, I found an Office fan site. I had pretty much forgotten that people did things like that. A long, long time ago, I was quite obsessed with the Simpsons, and I tried to make a Simpsons fan site. And then I forgot about it. My sister had a very successful fan site for the band 311. But how is anything like that supposed to last? I was just amazed that that sort of thing was still out there.
What seems to make more sense is what's happening now. Either have a website with one theme and a lot of contributing users, or a lot of contributing users and one theme... Although now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps the Wikipedia model of a lot of everything makes most sense.... Yeah. I think it does. Forget about what I said earlier.
(Pause to re-read this: http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html)
"There is room to do to Wikipedia what Wikipedia did to Britannica."
Sweet. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 2nd, 2006|01:41 am] |
Just bought the new Cibelle album that came out less than 2 hours ago on iTunes.
Going to bed to listen to it... NOW! |
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| CNN.com is too thug for my lifestyle |
[Apr. 26th, 2006|08:27 pm] |
I officially now need Urban Dictionary to understand CNN headlines. I'm just not with it any more. I used to be with it. Then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me.
Anyway, headline:
"Hot rocks found after police pursuit crash"
I didn't understand the 'hot rocks' think until I looked at the story to see that it was about stolen jewelry.
Oh, CNN. |
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| Interferogram |
[Apr. 24th, 2006|09:17 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Terre Haute, IN | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere | ] |
I've told Robin and maybe a few other people how big of a nerd one of my professors, Andrew Mech is. He's so awesome and wears sweaters all the time and tells terrible terrible jokes all the time with the same expression.
Here's a picture of him:
And here's a prime example of a bad Mech joke:
In Heat Transfer, he's talking about natural convection in a closed space, and he gets out an example problem which involves a double pane glass window. He then says, "So we'll compare the single pane with the double pane, and it will be a pain, but we'll make it a glass act." Followed by some groans and pathetic laughter, mostly from me, and then, "Am I being too transparent?" This was followed by even more ooohs and ahhhs, a few seconds of silence, and then, "Yeah, probably." |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 23rd, 2006|06:32 pm] |
Hey LiveJournal,
Do I want to be a vegetarian again? |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 18th, 2006|04:26 pm] |
I have Kraftwerk and Interpol in my head. They're both sooo good.
I'm thinking about changing my name to Thom. Let me know what you think. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 17th, 2006|02:51 pm] |
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I think I just started updating my livejournal again. For too long, I haven't written anything that was stupid or pointless. Survey shows, that's been everything in the last seven weeks. So... whatever. I know Livejournal's dead, but we'll see where I go with this. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 17th, 2006|02:50 pm] |
I just saw a CNN headline that said, "Poisoned Woman Predicted Her Death." I thought it said, and in fact wish it would have said, "Poisoned Woman Predicted to Death."
In related news, I want to predict someone to death. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 17th, 2006|10:23 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Terre Haute, IN | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Radiohead : OK Computer | ] |
I know I don't update this any more, but, uh... I just want to get something in writing.
That something goes like this: I think Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's baby is going to be alleged to be the messiah of Scientology. If it is, I'm gonna be pissed.
Break was pretty cool, even though I missed the 83º+ weather in Terre Haute for three days in a row. Oh well. |
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| Life is Good |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|05:05 pm] |
I'm on top of my game. Last night, after watching Flavor of Love, I purchased the domain youknowwhattimeitis.com. Today, in the absence of garlic bread to complement my pasta, I invented garlic waffles, which are delicious!!!
That's all I got. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 31st, 2006|12:35 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Miles Davis - Kind of Blue | ] |
I haven't updated this for a long time. Namely because I have nothing interesting to say. Namely because nothing interesting happens in my life. Namely because I go to school in Terre Haute, Indiana. Namely, at Rose-Hulman.
I have been thinking about what might be the most interesting experiences of my life - and they both involve crazy people threatening me for no reason.
The first was being threatened by one of the janitors at my high school. I had stayed after for some club, and on my way out, she warned me that the Chinese government had attacked the school's network, but that they thought it was me. "I just want you to watch yourself," she told me.
The second was being threatened by a table of CB operators at Eat N' Park. They turn around to my table and ask, "Which one of you is Black and Decker?" Everyone looked at me for some reason, and I ended up sitting at a table with these people for about five minutes as they told me that the FCC was after me.
The third may have happened tonight... I'm not sure. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 22nd, 2005|03:08 am] |
It's time to tell a story. It's a story that doesn't make any sense at all. Here goes:
It all started one day, after class, when I came back to my room with nothing much to do. Ian and I - as we so often do - decided to put on some Sigúr Ros and take a nap. Not knowing for sure how long I would be asleep, I added the album Takk to my party shuffle in iTunes, followed by Cibelle and Radiohead - Amnesiac. I was apparently very very tired, because after falling asleep at the beginning of Takk, I slept though Cibelle without ever having heard a second of it. I woke up to the song Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, and it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had waking up. It was so loud and so annoying. It hurt my brain. It was just loud and bad. Very bad. I didn't realize that I had slept through Cibelle, or how long I had been asleep at all. I didn't want to get up. I wanted to be back asleep, but Radiohead was keeping me from doing it and I was mad. I got down and turned the music off and sat at my computer. About ten minutes later, I put the song back on, because I was craving it.
Wow! Good story, Tom... what was the point of that?
That's the reason I'm obsessed with Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors. I've loved the song ever since. Explain that to me.
PS. I'm bad at Christmas shopping. This is the second year in a row I have bought someone the same book that they bought me. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 19th, 2005|02:32 am] |
I get in a lot of different moooods.
I don't even know what the transition time is. There's some really narrow scale, in which I can be really really happy for instants at any time - no matter how crappy I'm feeling, but there's this big broad band that moves up and down. It's been down for a while, and has been rising slowly since it last went down, but it's finally up again. And how do I know that? Because of the context of my away messages.
When I'm really down, I have song lyrics in my away messages. Really depressing ones, that make me want to cry.
When I'm really happy, I have really happy or cool song lyrics in my away messages.
In the middle - that ugly period of transition, I never have anything that I want to put in my away messages.
Sure, I've gone weeks at a time with nothing but, "Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile." And that's still among my favorite song lyrics ever. But when I want to put something new and exciting in there, that's when I know I'm doing alright. And it's certainly not because of school. This is definitely going to be the hardest quarter I'll ever have at school. 21 credit hours - 9 classes - the cold of winter - 7 long weeks after Christmas. But what will hopefully go in there? Trips to Chicago. I think my excursion last weekend it what really made me happy. And now, I am happy. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 11th, 2005|03:43 am] |
I kind of like being in Chicago a lot.
Like... a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot.
And I haven't even seen MF Doom yet.
Suzo and I waiting in line for an hour and a half for popcorn, and it was worth it! Wow! |
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| I'm trying to do this and it's hard... and incomplete |
[Dec. 9th, 2005|12:05 am] |
Opening Credits: Juan Garcia Esquivel - Sentimental Journey
Waking Up: Sufjan Stevens - All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands
Average Day:
School:
Chillin with Friends:
First Date:
Falling in Love: Simon and Garfunkel - The Only Living Boy in New York / Space - Female of the Species
Love at First Site: Björk - It's Oh So Quiet
Love Scene: Björk - Oceania / Björk - Unison
Pissed: The Who - Baba O'Riley (I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. I don't need to be forgiven.)
Fight Scene:
Sad: Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely
Breaking Up: Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart / Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
Emo:
Getting Back Together: Van Morrison - Sweet Thing
Missing Someone: Ray Charles - I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now / The Clash - Train In Vain
Secret Love: Björk - Big Time Sensuality
Secret Love Scene:
Life's Okay:
Life's Great: Joe Strummer - It's a Rockin' World / The Crew Cuts - Sh-Boom
Mental Breakdown: Björk - Pluto
Someone Dies: The Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
Driving:
Car Crash: Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Learning a Lesson: The Beatles - She Said, She Said
Sick:
Deep Thought:
Deep Scenery: Cibelle - Luisas
Flashback:
Partying: El DeBarge - Rhythm of the Night
Happy Dance: Sarah Vaughan - Sometimes I'm Happy
Regretting: Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Long Night Alone:
Death Scene: Cat Stevens - Trouble
Growing Old: Louis Armstrong - Wonderful World
Somewhere?
The Smashing Pumpkings - Tonight, Tonight
The Postal Service - Natural Anthem |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 3rd, 2005|12:46 am] |
Tom, Ian, and Joel, upon watching television, and seeing a nice young man who was proud that he was a virgin, going on a date without the intention of 'getting in her pants.'
Tom: "Aww! He's such a nice guy!"
Ian: "Yeah, he reminds me of us." |
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| Oh, Dr. Ferro |
[Dec. 1st, 2005|11:22 pm] |
I've told many people about this man, but he is hilarious, so I must proceed:
My professor for Materials Engineering and Design for Manufacturing is Pat Ferro. Note: Ferro.
Dr. Ferro is a metallurgist. Note: Metallurgist.
Dr. Ferro likes heavy metal music. I don't like his heavy metal music. Nonetheless, Note: Metal.
So Dr. Ferro has a radio show called the Metal Hour. He plays heavy metal and in between songs, talks about metallurgy. Hence his motto, "We don't just play heavy metal, we also talk about metallurgy." And he does, I listened on Tuesday night, and after playing Metallica, he begins, "Alright, that was a song by Metallica. But now, I'm going to talk about the difference between brittle and ductile failures..."
And that's funny.
It is, has been, and will continue to be.
But there's more.
Today, Dr. Ferro was discussing his comprehensive search for another radio show that combines heavy metal music with discussions of metallurgy. He has found nothing, and claims to be the host of a unique show.
Having said this, he proceeded to entertain us with a story of his collection of mottos for the Metal Hour. A metal station in Denver, Colorado has the following motto:
"While the other stations are yankin' it... (insert cheesy pop riff) We're crankin' it! (insert obnoxious metal riff)"
In an effort to commandeer the motto for use with his own show, he made the following changes:
"While the other stations are crankin' it, we're crankin' it and talking about metallurgy!!!"
The End |
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