Category: Blog

Real Time Search

That’s what a lot of people have been talking about recently. Since twitter recently became stupidly popular, lots of people have been considering the potential of real time search. That’s in contrast with Google, which searches things that have been said. Sometimes it’s even within the last day, or week, or month, but always in the past tense. Search on twitter is what is happening right now.

I don’t like twitter. If I want to write something, I’ll write it here – I have that outlet. And I really don’t care if other people read it, so twitter really has nothing to offer me. Even so, I made an account a long while ago (’07?) to see what it was about, decided I didn’t care, and left it. What saddens me is that it seems like the bad habits of social networks have made their way to twitter: followers as currency. The more friends you have, the more popular you are, etc. And there’s the unfortunate practice of people friending you in the hopes you’ll friend them back. Even though I’ve explicitly stated “don’t follow me” in my bio, I’ve had two since I started using it again. A friendly “who the fuck are you and why are you following me?” took care of that.

Oh right, I had a point. Facebook is in on the game too. Not direct competition to twitter, but they’re both doing the same thing (yes, that works). You can search twitter to see what people are saying about a subject right now, and you can check Facebook to see what your friends are doing right now. I don’t think either is going to revolutionize search, but it is interesting to watch.

Student Teachers

I’ve never quite understood students who teach in class. Not TAs or grad students, but undergrads within a class who feel the need to teach. Sometimes they’re teaching the very thing the professor is trying to teach, and other times it is completely unrelated. It has always struck me as odd, and I’ve seriously considered dropping classes when I discover I have a student teacher as a classmate.

There are times I can almost understand it – sometimes your educational background has taught you something that conflicts with what you are being taught now. It happens to me often, but I ask the professor after class, instead of explaining where I am coming from to the entire class, and then asking my question. A little perspective goes a long way.

N95

The phone came on Wednesday, and ate most of the night. That went something like this. Then it ate most of Thursday, and I brought it with me to Cheney today. So now my phone has established itself as my significant other, and I’m pretty happy.

S for Snuggie

So I know a lot of people have been making jokes at Snuggie‘s expense, but there’s been something about that infomercial that always bugged me, and I just recently figured out what it was. The free item they offer – the book light – I’ve seen it before. In fact, most of you probably have as well, if you saw V for Vendetta. The book light is the same as the debugging device used in V for Vendetta. Nothing groundbreaking, I just think it’s interesting. Take a look:

v4vvsnuggie

Burnt Out

So while most of my classes this semester are interesting, and some are actually productive (I’m learning things), there is a lot to do. I never go over the top with essays (except in the rare case that I’m actually qualified to talk about something), but they still take a while. I guess I don’t completely half-ass my work, but I’m far below an average student. Even with this stellar work ethic, I’ve had loads of work to do that last few weeks. I’ve spent all of today working on various assignments, and I’m still not where I should be.

It doesn’t help that I’ve been recently reading articles pointing to the growing irrelevancy of college degrees. Nothing new really, it’s just starting to come from more legitimate sources. My head physically feels like it’s about to pop. I need to stop caring again.

I noticed today that my process of getting to work is really depressing. I start out thinking about the project as a whole, and my mind usually wanders to other unrelated subjects. Then I’ll just sit around and stare at my project for a while, and tell myself that I won’t do anything else until it is done (and I don’t). Once I’ve finally beaten myself into submission, I can get to work. Psh

N95

I’m getting a new phone. I’m really excited about it. I’m definitely a gadget geek, and this is seriously gadgetier than anything else I’ve ever had. The Nokia N95 is a ridiculously impressive phone, which is surprising considering it was released two years ago. In a field where new devices are announced weekly, for a phone to be released, and stay on the cutting edge for two years is amazing. This phone has more functionality than my laptop, and it fits in my pocket.

This is my substitute for a laptop this summer. It can shoot, edit, and upload VGA video; act as a wireless access point for whoever brings a laptop; geotag photos and throw them on flickr; and stupid amounts of other things. I’m really anxious to get it, so I can mess around with it, but buy.com is taking forever to ship it. That’s where I am right now.

The Game

2009/01/26
Joe: shit, i just lost the game
John: haha
Joe: i lost it last night too
Joe: i heard some guy on the first floor shouting “SHIT FUCK SON OF A BITCH FUCK…” on and on
Joe: and i thought “either he’s got tourrettes or he just lost something really important”
Joe: then i lost the game
2009/02/03
Joe: i lost the game again
Joe: ever since i walked past that guy’s room and he was swearing his ass off, any time i walk by that room and hear people shouting i lose the game
2009/02/08
Joe: i’ve been considering walking a different way to my room, but the first few times i try it i’m going to be too conscious of the fact i’m doing it just to avoid losing the game
Joe: just wondering once if that would be a good idea made me lose
John: if it becomes habit though, it could work
Joe: if i want to keep up in the game, i’m gonna have to stay out of my dorm
Joe: maybe stay off campus, to be safe
2009/02/09
Joe: i was reading a lot last night
Joe: even after i stopped talking to you
Joe: DAMMIT
Joe: lost the game again

Almost Legit

After that server move, some stuff on the Landshark site got messed up, and I only just got around to fixing it. I almost went and recoded the site before I figured out the problem was simple enough to fix. That site really is a piece of crap, and someday I’m going to have to rewrite it. I’m not looking forward to that.

I finally installed Apache locally, so I can play around with things offline. This is seriously something I should have done years ago, but never did. Though I bookmarked MAMP, I went with xampp. I’m pretty sure MAMP is just a downstream version of xampp, except that they changed it enough that it performed significantly worse on my system. Whatever the case, I’m now almost legitimate. I’m still a pretty casual coder, but this might actually take me to the next level.

Pet Peeves

I don’t have many, but here are some:
“Which begs the question…”
ferret_yawn
Begging the question is a logical fallacy, not an obvious question. Read wikipedia.

Toothpaste. Not toothpaste in general, but the way people tend to use it. Toothpaste tubes are meant to be squeezed from then end, not the middle. It makes them work better, and makes everyone happier. I’m stunned by the number of people who do this.

Class

Last semester, I really liked my classes because there wasn’t any bullshit in the way of learning. We could just show up, listen, and learn. It was wonderful. And after my second class of this semester, I realized what makes the difference. In my first class, most people were taking it as a Gen. Ed. (it’s actually in my major), so they didn’t care about the subject. The class was structured with this in mind, with lots of busy work and other needless projects that will not foster any learning. In my next class, the professor sat down in front of the class, and talked with us, encouraging us to contribute our ideas to the class. There is one test in the entire class, one large paper, and two small papers. That is the extent of the work we need to submit in the class. The rest will be reading and discussion in class.

The difference is between making students learn, and assuming they want to. In the latter, there is no work challenging students to prove that they’re actually trying, it is assumed. This makes class much more enjoyable, and makes a lot of sense.