quiet city

2002-01-31

louis, 23:07: #

so i've been introspective and quiet for a couple days. crazily enough, what's pulling me out is an intense interest in my studies:

introduction to the theory of computation: what can i say? besides the fact that [non]deterministic finite automata are wicked cool, i seem to be able to do these things quite well. specifically, i'd been neglecting my coursework so much that i started homework due at 10:30 a.m. at 9:00 a.m., and finished it (perfect score on everything, of course) within an hour. the teacher promised harder homeworks in the future. strangely enough, i'm looking forward to it.
technology & cognition: case studies in the humanities: wow! this course is the fcuking shit. talking mostly about the perseus project, we're reading stuff like refining our notion of what text really is: the problem of overlapping hierarchies and thoughts on humanities and digital culture. the course seems like it'll be a good mix of breadth of content with depth of inspection, which is something some of my other courses are lacking.

it's good to enjoy school, but it's scary to think that i'm graduating this year.

2002-01-30

aryn, 22:42: #

oh my god. benbrown is up to it again. the funniest shit ever. the ben brown show, daily. watch it every day, because once it's gone, it's gone. or something.

aryn, 17:27: #

word to blogger pro. hadn't logged into blogger for a while (been using cms.kove.org for my own publishing on fcuker.com but, as i'm checking it out, i'm seeing alot of features that mave me move away from blogger in the first place.

word to my ups delivery of the day, blowgun accessories. got sights, handles, a paintball conversion kit, and hundreds of darts. blowguns rock the party that rocks the party. or something like that. they're also good for keeping the other neighboorhood cats the fcuk out of our house. <evil grin>

for those who've missed me, i'm slightly back, posting a bit more frequently on fcuker.com, but i still haven't gotten over the loss of my camera, so the fotos are still backlogged.

llama.

louis, 14:11: #

helping to support blogger is the name of the game, and blogger pro is one way to do it. i'm happy to note that quiet city is now a blogger pro site. e-mail me if you are interested in receiving posts from quietcity over e-mail.

louis, 13:08: #

there's some really classy use of css at mark howells online. the site degrades very simply and gracefully, although perhaps too gracefully for some. for those who don't want to browse and prefer a direct link to something cool, check out this photo of an iced christmas tree.

2002-01-29

Bill, 22:23: #

Well, interesting satan banned, what will they think of next....
Perhaps this story beats it..... Two men rob stores with tree branch..... or maybe many of the other awesome stories on Fark.com, the winner for politics in teh bloggie awards.

louis, 16:22: #

florida town casts out satan: there are some weird people in this country. that, i acknowledge. but to write a proclamation on town letterhead regarding god and how you should band together to repent and keep out satan in light of the events of september 11, well, that's just wacko. wacko.

2002-01-28

Bill, 17:23: #

What's that I hear... why according to the Ben & Jerry's website DMB has made a new icecream, One Sweet Whirled.
< ---Clipped from Ben and Jerry's
DMB ice cream, One Sweet Whirled

The One Sweet Whirled campaign will urge people to "Fight Global Warming: Lose 2,000 Pounds!" by encouraging people to make commitments to reduce their CO2 emissions with simple, easy actions and share those commitments in political messages to Congress. With this campaign, and a portion of every sale going to DMB's Bama Works Foundation and on to help benefit saveourenvironment.org's global warming initiatives, we think we've found a cool new way to do some good. Caramel & Coffee Ice Creams with Marshmallow & Caramel Swirls & Coffee Flavored Fudge Chips
< ----- End Clip....
It sounds very good, and is supposedly already in most of the Ben & Jerry's scoop shops... should be in the stores in a bit. It should give some healthy competition to my current icecream favorites: Phish food(Ben & Jerry's), and Big Dig (Brigham's)

louis, 15:09: #

the etymology of "foo": a must read for anyone interested in random geek trivia.

2002-01-27

louis, 21:52: #

for the first time this year, i watched a pats game. that's right…i missed last week's exciting game, not to mention an entire season of brady kickin' ass. now that we're going to the superbowl, i may just have to watch another game. w00t.

Bill, 17:10: #

Go Pats, It was nice to see Bledsoe have a good game, and both he and Brady go into the Superbowl with pride.

Smarples, 16:30: #

Hey everyone!! I am moving back into UMass now (break finally ended), and I thought I'd say hello to everyone who's either at school or no. I hope all of you are having a blast, and if you're not, then you should visit Emily at school. She's sure to be havin' a slammin' time. Damn, that's whack. Anyway, I sincerely hope that everyone is well. Now go ahead and post exciting things! Wow, I'm tired. Take care, and have fun!!

2002-01-21

emily, 20:50: #

some days i just wish i didn't have to think because sometimes it hurts to remember

louis, 13:47: #

2002-01-19

louis, 17:16: #

i'm intrigued by how religion treats sexuality. perhaps because i'm a unitarian universalist, but does your average (insert member of a religion with whose principles you don't agree) realize that holy books (e.g. bible, koran, …) are to be interpreted, not to be followed word-for-word? it seems ludicrous to me that one can hate another, claiming that one's hatred is based upon religion. religions don't generally preach hatred. it's just so sad…

Cindy, 09:56: #

I'm so happy for Noah! He definitely deserves some happiness in his life.

I am impressed by all the support Noah has been getting, but am intrigued by what people post about the event. I especially "like" the comment: "God loves you even though you are gay." What the hell is wrong with all of us??

louis, 09:40: #

yay for noah. yay!

2002-01-17

emily, 01:55: #

You know it's been a good day when in a conversation with your mom, she says you should go all out for this moulin rouge party just because you are bickering at Tower Club! So tomorrow Hana and I are off to go shopping and find fun clothes and whatnot :) Maybe if you are lucky you shall see the photos from next saturday sometime!

2002-01-15

louis, 14:33: #

spring 2002 dmb tour announced. i'll be at all boston and providence shows. i don't know i can sacrifice enough classes to make it to nyc.

2002-01-11

Jus, 02:38: #

Bill, there are no words, well wishes just seem insufficient.

...as for the shirt, slap the b*tch around like you had prodigy playing in your brain, then make her get you a new one.

2002-01-10

louis, 13:39: #

ditto on emily's comment, bill. a day at a time is all one can do. reminds me of one of my favorite quotes…

emily, 10:36: #

I'm really sorry to hear that Bill -- I hope things get better really soon :)

2002-01-09

Bill, 22:46: #

It is just one of those days.....

Yesterday my mom's doctor told her that her bone-marrow cancer is not improving despite the fact that she has been combining multiple harsh chemotherapy drugs. All numbers are up, and her next real good option is to do a bone-marrow transplant. Thank god we live so close to Boston and Dana-Farber. She will be had a blood transfusion this morning, some intense chemo infusions, and she will be doing a few rounds of hyper chemo drugs as a work up to a stemcell transplant in February or March.

It hardly seems like it should make a difference, but it just added to the poor quality of my day when one of my friends accidentally ripped my Badminton Squad(not my design for the page) sweatshirt. My friend Lily wanted me to get out of her seat, and instead of asking she tried to push me out, instead she just ripped the hood off my shirt. I sewed it back on tonight, but it still doesn't look right.

Sorring about just using this as a rant/complain forum.

louis, 21:41: #

ah, microsoft. doing stupid things like trying to flood zdnet polls. mm hmm, corporate hegemony.

louis, 18:56: #

changed up some stuff, mostly in the name of streamlining the site and degrading more gracefully. mm hmm.

2002-01-07

louis, 08:56: #

think warm thoughts for jim.

2002-01-06

Cindy, 18:25: #

Besides being an incredibly clever idea, the images coming out of Photoshop Tennis can be out of this world. The match between Jim and Noah Grey is especially cool.

2002-01-05

louis, 23:52: #

wireless lan technology is perhaps the coolest innovation of the last couple years.

today i set up an airport for my parents, enabling both to utilize the same modem [ yeah, i'm working on that next ] and printer anywhere in the house. it means that each won't have to check to see if the other's online, nor will my mother have to send e-mail attachments to my father to print. the technology is so convenient and easy to set up, it has become mainstream.

as someone studying computer science, it's important to help others transition from a technophobic lifestyle to a technophiliac one. for optimum success, the emphasis of this change should be neither a product's importance in the current market nor its superiority to previous [ perhaps similar ] products. rather, one should discuss how a given product will reduce the complexity of a difficult task or how it will increase convenience enough to overcome the bother of change. the combination of a good idea with easy setup ameliorates this task.

this idealogy has worked with technologies like word processing, e-mail, searching the web, and even everyday items like garage door openers. it's quite exciting to think of what it may bring to us in the future. of course, my job as a computer scientist is to figure out just what that may be. and that's why i love my job.

louis, 14:40: #

in case you haven't seen it before, check out art bridge, a portal for art & photologs.