I'm Free!

Exams, Software updates, Poor starving children, and Christmas and New Year

Exams are now completely behind me. Though this was the longest week I can remember. Oh well, I have a full month to sit on my ass now, so thats nice.

Apple has disgraced itself. It released like 8 different updates to the OS, Pro apps, itunes, and XCode in just 2 days, but then came “Security Update 2003-12-19”. Why would there be a security update just 2 days after an OS update, which always incorporates previous security updates? Well, turns out, this was really “OS 10.3.2.1 update or as I am calling it “Oops we gave you a crappy update Update”. At least they gave it to us, rather than waiting till 10.3.3 like some OS manufacturers would.

I was watching TV last night, and saw a commercial for the Christian Children’s Fund, and came to a sort of epiphany. They want us to send thousands of dollars to save the little children, but I say, why are the children there? Why don’t we send thousands of condoms, so the people in Ethiopia who can’t even support themselves stop having children? Think about it: You live in a third world country, you rent a hut made from pallets, there is no clean water, and you work sun up to sun down just to go deeper in debt, so you have a kid? The parents should be shot for there stupidity. Seriously, headlines like “Man kills self to collect own life insurance” come to mind. Let alone, that now we are expected to bail them out. The fact that we are one of the most wealthy nations on earth doesn’t mean we can pay for everyone else. We were poor farmers, and did we get help? Yes. But then we had a war, got independence, and brought ourselves to where we are. Were not rich so we can help others, we are rich to set an example for others to follow.

Furthermore, we have a similar problem here. People right here have children, and then suck our tax dollars to pay for them. What we need is a child bearing license. You must prove mental, psychological, physical, and financial ability to raise a child, otherwise we just wont let you. A single $.50 condom can save $50,000 is WIC, food-stamps, etc… If you can’t support your baby, you shouldn’t have had one. And as for these brilliant people that can’t support their kid, but then have another, well, I wont go there.

Now don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for the skinny little Ethiopian, but I ain’t giving him any of my money.

Anyway, I finally counted, and I have an update the day after Christmas, so I get Christmas Eve and Day off, then one the night of New Years Day, so get the Eve off there too. I am glad, I would have skipped if I had to update on those days anyway.

Ok, I think my rambling is becoming a bit too disorganized and random, so I am going away, and you should too.

bye bye pretty lady,
nick

No matter how tough work gets, remember that one day some junior executive will take the credit and be promoted to a 6 figure salary, all thanks to you.
Keep up the good work.

Exams!

Exams, Book rip-off, Blogging, Car, Saddam, Christmas, GM, and New Years Party.

Well, I only have one exam left now. Took Unix Monday, C++ Tuesday, Java today, and have HTML to e-mail in by 4:00 tomorrow. I had to do alot of Java make-up programs too, but I am finally done.

I took my C++ books back for buyback. One was old edition, so they wouldn’t take, other I got $2. What a rip. I will have to try this one on ebay, I paid $65 freaking dollars for it, and will never use it again, I need to get SOMETHING for it.

Scott says I can take a break from blog, but I don’t think so. Just because nobody reads it, doesn’t mean I don’t have to write it, right? Wait, why am I asking you? Like I said, nobody reads it.

My car is still being an ass. I don’t know why, it just pisses me off.

So we got Saddam. I can hear the conspiracy theorists now. “That’s not him, its a phony, the US couldn’t find him and they’re paying off the media to disguise that he’s still out there, wreaking havoc!” My ass. If they can believe Elvis and JFK are still alive, and that we were never on the moon, I’m sure they can come up with claims like “But we never saw the DNA test proving that it is him, they just said it was him.” Yeah, well, I never saw the test proving your a complete imbecile either, but I still know it’s true.

Anyway, Christmas is fast approaching, only about a week left. I just counted, and I lucked out. No blog on Christmas, or the eve. I don’t want to count all the way to New Years, so I will wait and see on
it.

GM is not having an open house this year. It should be this friday from 1 to 4, but they decided not to do it apparently. Disappointing.

Is it too early to talk New Year? I decide – no. It has become a tradition amongst (holy crap, thats a real word?) us to go get a bunch of wings from Hooters on New Years Eve. If any of you would like to join, your all welcome. We will probably just go get 50 or so, depending how many people show up, and bring them all back here. (Mmm, Hooters, reminds me of Larry, where’d he go?)

Ok, that’s good for now.

TTYL,
nick

rm -R *

Little One

Not enough to list.

Well, being Exam week, I am a little too busy right now, so this wont be long.

We got Saddam, woohoo.

Jason replaced my spark plugs, car still being a bitch.

Java still is annoying, and glad its almost over.

LOTR opens Tuesday Midnight, I guess thats Wednesday.

Welcome home all you bitches that are already done with semester.

Ok, thats all. Have fun till Wednesday, bigger blog then.

nick

“I have been authorized to take extreme measures to ensure the safety of this information,
including the permanently extreme.”

Number 70

School, Visits, and Christmas.

Well, I got score for that C++ test, managed a 40/50 so pretty good, all things considered. I also bought my books today, a mere $107.50 for 2 books, and one was even used. Luckily, third class uses a book I already have. Next Tuesday I will sell back some of this semesters books, and hopefully make some cash.

My daily visits seems to have slightly decreased thanks to my switch of “i” with “*”. I am still averaging 200 visitors a month though. If I wasn’t on the .mac server, I would put an ad bar on the top of the pages to get some cash flow. $.01 a visit, 200 visits a month, $26 a year. Not bad at all.

So Christmas is just 2 weeks away, and I think you will all be looking for gifts, so I have a word for you: Cash. I know, but that’s what I need. Unless you want to go to AutoZone on center and just ask Jason what I need. That would work too. Gas cards work too. As does pretty much anything on store.apple.com. Also, you could get me a decent job, or buy some of my stuff for someone else on your list, thats a 2 for 1!

Uhm, well, I think thats it. I wasn’t prepared for a blog tonight, snuck up on me. Sunday I will try for more, unless I am really busy with finishing Java and Unix, which may happen.

Ok, go away.

nick

General congratulatory remarks toward your non-denominational winter holiday.

Kinda Something New

New, Special, Fuel Cells.

Ok, so the plan of trying something new kinda flopped, oh well. Maybe I will just spring it on you guys when I have nothing else to write about some time, who knows.

Anyway, you may have noticed that this post isn’t filed under “General”, but instead as “Special”, and that “Boredom” is gone from the sidebar. Well, I decided that a select few posts will be put in this “Special” category, such as birthdays, anniversary, and major announcements. This, being the first post on iblog to have a higher count than blogger (uhm, something like that) is “Special”. Point is, iblog now has more posts than blogger did, which is a “Special” thing (I swear I wont do that quote thing on that word anymore, really).

Next, I want to do what this blog was founded for, and I haven’t done enough of lately, complain.

Hydrogen fuel cells are being called the “Next Big Thing”, but are they? They are said to decrease emissions, but I have questions as to whether that is true. Yes, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles themselves only emit water vapor, but what cost is paid elsewhere?

First, the undeniable truths. Fuel cells are low emission. They take in hydrogen gas and air containing oxygen, and emit power in the form of electric current, and water (vapor, as the operating temperature is above boiling). The problem with converting our vehicles to fuel cells is public opinion and infrastructure.

Public opinion of hydrogen is poor. “I don’t want to drive a ‘Hindencar'” they say. Ok, the Hindenburg started on fire, and the Hindenburg was full of hydrogen, but the two are unrelated coincidences. The Hindenburg started on fire because of a spark, caused by the floating blimp producing static electricity while traveling through the air, and discharging to the ground when it became close enough. This same thing happens with airplanes and helicopters. Why did it catch fire though? When the derigable was designed, they wanted the outside finish to be a hi-gloss shine that was easily visible. What causes such a finish? Just combine iron oxide and aluminum, a mixture commonly called THERMITE! Yes, the magic alloy that when ignited, will produce a flame capable or reaching 4000 degrees, hot enough to weld rail road tracks, and melt through an engine block. Truth is, because hydrogen is lighter than air, it floats away before it can really catch fire, making it safer in an accident than gasoline or diesel that just puddles up waiting for a spark or flame.

Infrastructure is tougher. Either we need to put hydrogen pumps at every gas station, or we need to equip cars with a small chemical plant to convert common fuels (gasoline, ethanol, propane, etc…) to hydrogen. The second option is easier, but has problems. Hydrogen pumps at every corner is, clearly, a difficult task. But it really is a better option. Needing to put in the necessary equipment to strip hydrogen from hydrocarbons in your back seat is an expensive and difficult task.

The real question though, is where does the carbon from the hydrocarbons go? Well, it combines with addition oxygen to create carbon dioxide, a well known green house gas, thus making more nasty emissions. Better than a gasoline car, but not the pure water vapor we were promised.

And that leads us to my biggest gripe. No mater how you do it, hydrogen isn’t naturally occurring, so we have to make it. Whether we use hydrocarbons or electrolysis of water. If we strip hydrogen from hydrocarbons in a plant, we have the same problem as before, carbon dioxide. Also, I should mention, that we are still dependent on hydrocarbon fuels, which are non-renewable and WILL run out. Yes, we could use methanol emissions from garbage heaps, or ethanol from vegetable processing, hell, lets just shove tubes up the ass of every cow in Iowa and just suck the methanol from there. My point is, its not feasible to use any of these sources yet, and fuel cells need them to be feasible itself.

Of course, there is the other option. The one I hate. One of the most abundant sources of hydrogen on the planet is the oceans. We could electrolyze water, to separate hydrogen from oxygen, think of it as the fuel cell backward. The problem is we would need LOTS of electricity for that. Where does electricity come from? Our now triple capacity coal power plants, belching out chemicals our cars would never dream of. So instead of water, carbon dioxide, and some soot from tailpipes, we have all that, plus sulfur dioxide (think sulfuric acid, once it mixes with water) and its in much greater quantity. Yes, we have hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, and solar power too, and natural gas is cleaner than coal, but it’s still not viable.

So those are my thoughts. Some of the arguments may be less than rock solid, and some of the facts may be a bit off, but overall it proves an undeniable point. Don’t get me wrong, fuel cells are the future, and have great promise. However, I don’t think the guys pushing them realize all that they’re up against, and seem to be avoiding these problems. Who can blame them, GM doesn’t care where the hydrogen comes from, they just need to have a car that uses it be 2012 or the government will complain. Which means, the government is who needs the talking to, but when do they not?

Remember, the internal combustion engine was thought to be a pollution fighting machine in 1900, because it took the horse manure off the streets of New York. What consequences of fuel cells we we not see for 100 years if we blindly accept it as the next pollution fighter?

nick

a picture is worth a thousand words,
but talk is cheap so that still isn’t much.

Hoojibob!

Movies, Domains, Oops on the test, TV, and Cable.

Hey all, and welcome back.

More movies, rented Shrek, because it was good, and Bulletproof Monk. T3 was disappointing, expected more, but still good. Charlie’s Angels was good too. Will watch both new rentals tonight.

No poo.com, but pootech.com is open. Could use a slogan like “PooTech, when LowTech is just too damn expensive”. Probably not though. Anyone who knows me well, know I would get hoojibob.com. Besides, who else would take it? Regardless, I need a server to have a website, which I don’t right now. Eventually.

I was in Object Oriented C++ today taking the test. Took me around 90 minutes of the 2 hours allowed. I turned in the test and went back to get my stuff, when the teacher
says:
“Nick, you know this is C++, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you know you wrote your test is Java, right?”
“Crap!”
So I spent the next 30 minutes converting Java to C++. It wasn’t all Java, but more than should be. namely the class declarations and such. Will know next Tuesday how I did.

I am watching “the Tracy Morgan show”, he’s so funny.

Nick fixed my cable yesterday, for the first time since we moved I can watch SciFi Channel on my TV. Connectors on coax from wall to TV were loose, so was getting a bad signal. He crimped some ends on and it’s all good now.

Well, thats all for now.

Next post will bring iblog posts even with the blogger posts. Should check time difference before next time.

Ok, bye for now.

nick

“Quotes are the signatures of the unoriginal.”
Yeah, screw you.

Argh!

Turkey day, Lazy, Links, and Movies.

Uhm, yeah, well that’s how it goes.

Hope your Thanksgiving went well. If it seemed too short, take heart in the fact that Christmas is less than a month away (26 days).

Our Thanksgiving went alright. Suchyta came over, I argued with my brother, friends from out-of-town came home and didn’t bother to call me (you know who you are). Blah-blah-blah, it’s over now.

I ate turkey twice Thursday, once Friday, and once today. I don’t want any more Turkey. Luckily, there isn’t much of it left.

I have accomplished nearly nothing this holiday weekend. I got a hair cut today (finally) but no homework or room cleaning yet. Homework will be tomorrow, perhaps a bit tonight, room will need to wait (it has for so long, I doubt it will mind).

I put a few more links on the links page. I don’t really know what you people are into, so it’s kinda hard. Between the bookmarks in Safari, and the .webloc files I found from my 7600, there are a good 250+ I could put up, but I don’t know which ones. I will sort through them a bit more late next week and see what else to throw in. I also corrected John’s name on the pics page. Seems he didn’t want to be known as “Jhn”, go figure.

Ok, I am off to watch either Charlie’s Angels : Full Throttle or Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines, not sure which yet. We saw Bruce Almighty Thursday, it was funny, a Jim Carey classic.

Ok, go do something productive.

nick

We have enough youth,
How about a fountain of SMART!

Your Questions, Answered

Q and A, 500, Stats, and Misc stuff.

I was reading through the comments that people have made, and noticed that many are questions. So, I decided I will answer them. What does that mean for you? Well, unless you’re Scott (or “not scott”) nothing. If you are Scott, then it means your questions will be answered.

Mind posting the SC4 ser*al you found?
Anonymous | 11.25.03 – 9:55 am

No, I will not post the SC4 ser*al I had. I got the ser*al to try SC4 to make sure it would run acceptably on my ibook. It doesn’t, so I will not be buying the game, and I have destroyed the ser*al number and cds that I had. However, I will commend your bravery, as you are the first person to ask me for it, out of literally hundreds that have come looking.

also, you should add a few of blog links to your link page. Like ones you read usually. This would involve your friends, or other good ones.
Scott | 11.24.03 – 7:36 pm

What?
Ok, after asking him for more detail, Scott just wants more links on my websites links page. I can do that, expect them by Saturday.

You know, it ratings month Can we expect something special by yours truly?
Incognito | 11.15.03 – 1:05 am

No, you can not MOM!

rest holes? dont you mean rust?
Scott | 11.11.03 – 8:48 pm

Yes, yes I did. But, you got the point right? So is doesn’t really matter.

back, yes. But better than ever?
Scott | 10.31.03 – 6:38 pm

How else would I be? (That was a rhetorical question, don’t answer. Yes, better than ever, and better than I will ever be in the future, except that one time with the thing in the thing with the thing, you know.)

I believe those bugs are refered to as “stink bugs.” Do they give off a bad smell?
Scott | 10.10.03 – 12:17 am

No, they are Japanese Lady Beetles.

Wow, that Scott is pretty awesome. And since I am not Scott, it shows alot that I mention it. That is my comment.
not Scott | 09.30.03 – 2:29 am

Yes, it does show a lot to mention his awesomness. And yes, Scott is the opitimy of awesomitude!

So there, your questions answered. Ask me more, and I will answer more.

I reached my 500th visitor. Scott tried for it, but didn’t quite make it. He got 498. 500 goes to John Pauwel, owner of that sad Christmas Tree. Congratulations John.

Some more Stats on you visitor people:

Browser
Internet Explorer 6.x (PC) 66%
Internet Explorer 5.x (Mac and PC) 15%
Netscape 5.x (including Safari) 19%

Operating System
Win XP 55%
Mac 23%
Win 2k 10%
Win ME 6%
Win 98 3%
Win NT 1%
Win 95 1%
Linux/UNIX 1%

Time Zone
(UTC -8) Pacific 9%
(UTC -7) Mountain 5%
(UTC -6) Central 11%
(UTC -5) Eastern 35%
UTC -3 2%
UTC -2 2%
UTC 7%
UTC +1 16%
UTC +2 3%
UTC +8 4%
UTC +9 4%
UTC +11 3%

Wow, all over the world, huh? So I am up to UK, US, Canada, Mexico, Finland, Japan, Russia, Norway, Chile, Spain, France, Brazil, Belgium, and Denmark, that I know of.

What else…

I am editing my old posts, so they don’t contain a certain searched for word. I changed the words to s*m c*ty ser*ial. Only that third word was left, and only in certain circumstances. Will see how well it deters the poopoo heads.

BTW, poo.com is available. Hmmm… No.

After this post, only 5 more till I have as many iblog posts as Blogger posts. Actually, just three if you count the 2 tests. Yeah, i think I will. So three more posts will put us at next Friday? I think so. I hould play with the categories… Weird to have 3 categories with one only having 2 posts, kind of a waste.

I will try and get those links up over the weekend, between cleaning up my room and doing homework.

Happy Thanksgiving!
nick

Enter any 11 digit prime number to continue…

Tired

IBEW 2, Movie week, Matrix revelation, TV, Toast, and Delta winter.

Hi. How are you? Yeah, same here.

Had second IBEW interview today, went. Thats about it, wasn’t good or bad or anything, it just went.

Movie week is over. I am back to realizing how much TV sucks. T3 came out today, so I will need to go and try getting that.

I finally figured out the end of matrix revolutions. At least I think I did. Is one of those movies that is very open to interpretation.

Andy Griffith marathon is on. God TV sucks. Would rather watch the State of the Union address. I need the NASA channel, so I can watch Cinemax (don’t ask, long story).

I finally have Toast working, so I can copy CDs. Toast 6 has a lot of extra goodies in it too. VCD burning and some other stuff, haven’t looked through a whole lot yet. Has some stuff it builds into finder too, to make life easier. Will see if it really does.

I registered for winter semester at Delta yesterday, and paid today. $450, ouch. And still need to buy books sometime in December. Good thing I’m only taking 3 classes/6 credits.

Ok, I am REALLY tired, so going to wrap this up and head to bed.

See you all Friday…

nick

Those aren’t rust holes,
their Aerodynamic Enhancement Modules
a.k.a. Air Resistance Decrementation Units.

(I want to figure one out thats comes out as R.U.S.T., but cant figure it out
Resistance Underminers for Smoother Transit?)

Boredom Happens

Juneau? Alaska, Video, Winter Sem., AAC to MP3, Movie week continues, I worked, and the Weather.

I was a bit too bored last night. I spent well over an hour looking for “the Last Zip Code”. It is: 99929 – Wrangell, Alaska (AK). I also found that Barrow, AK is the northernmost settlement in North America, and it is currently a whopping 8 degrees there, with a wind chill of 11 below.

I think I need a video camera. I could make some cool movies. I found a few on ebay for like $35 – $50 but they are analog, so I would need to shell out more for a video importer for my
ibook. Maybe I should just wait til I can afford a digital.

I am sticking with 6 credits for Winter semester. Why? 1: I can’t find any classes I want that fit my schedule. 2: I need to pay $70ish for each credit.

I am re-importing my cds onto computer. Using AAC instead of MP3s. The 128 kbit AAC I am making definitely sounds at least as good as the 160 Kbit MP3s I had, but the higher frequencies are a bit stronger, will need to adjust the equalizer.

Have watched Monsters Inc., and Head of State over last 2 nights. Tonight is Shanghai Knights. I just finally saw Shanghai Noon a few weeks ago. Thats 7 nights in a row, it really is movie week.

Ok, worked today so not up for a big blog. Thats whats happening in my life, enjoy it.

And now for your local (or not) weather:

Allentown, PA:
31˚F
Wind Chill 24˚F
Wind North Northwest at 7

Barrow, AK:
8˚F
Wind Chill -11˚F
Wind east at 22

Bay City, MI:
23˚F
Wind Chill 17˚F
Wind South Southwest at 5

Marquette, MI:
16˚F
Wind Chill 16˚F
Wind South Southwest at 3

now go away!
nick

If it ain’t broke, your not trying hard enough.