Floppy Disk Pen Holder
A bunch of people were blogging about this pen holder earlier. I thought It was cool and wanted to try to build one, but never really got the urge to.
But today when we were doing some cleanup at work, I found a whole bunch of unformatted Floppy disks, and knew I had to try it.
The result is not as neat as I would have hoped for, but still functional and cool. You can check out the photos here.
I have enough mats for 2 more, so I might try one with the yellow ties and try to plan it out a little bit better, as well as document it for DIYers.
A Day in the Life of Matthew
This is old news by now, but I forgot to post about it here.
DILO (Day in the life of) is a photo project where you document one day of your life in pictures. I did it once in 2006 on just some random day, but this year I went with the crowd and did it on the summer solstice.
I wont post them all here, but you can check them out on Flickr.
My experiance with ubuntu
So I recently installed ubuntu linux on my laptop, and to be honest, I hate it. It’s supposed to be linux for humans, but its far from a replacement to popular operating systems.
Maybe it’s just because my laptop is weird, but it seemed that to do anything with my laptop, I had to google the problem, hunt down the solution, and prayed that it worked for me too. I still never fully fixed my wireless. And the speakers have just been funky, turning the volume all the way down didn’t mute them.
I plan on switching back to XP this weekend. I still think ubuntu looks cool, and would probably put it on a spare computer if I had one, but for now my main OS needs to be something that A) I can easily fix and B) is able to run popular applications natively (WOW, iTunes).
There is NO right to be heard
_MG_2968
Originally uploaded by Matt McCullough.
I have come to the realization that there is a right to free speech, but there is no right to be heard.
That is to say that as a free American, you have the right to say whatever you want. This is outlined in the constitution that our country is governed by. If you hate a specific group of people, you can say that you hate them. If you think that god does not exist, you can say that god does not exist. But NOWHERE in the constitution does it say, that people have to listen to you.
Pictured is a group of people that were on campus yesterday called “Operation Outreach”. They came to preach their Christian beliefs, such as the love of Jesus and why homosexuality is wrong. And of course this created a lot of people on the sidelines, yelling at them and asking them why they hate gays.
What these people didn’t realize is that these people can say whatever they want, but that doesn’t mean it is the truth. The truth is whatever you believe, not what someone else is saying. By arguing with these people, you grant them the right to be heard. By simply acknowledging that your beliefs are true, you can ignore them and take away their ability to be heard.
It is this reason that companies spend so much money on marketing departments and commercials. The right to be heard does not exist, and if people do not want to buy your product, there is nothing you can do but make it more enticing to the people that will grant you their ears and eyes.
Create your own truth, or find one that best fits you. But the right to be heard does not exist. You can speak your truth like these people did, And maybe some will listen. But speaking is not the same as being heard.
Network issues on campus
The claims that our campus’s networking hardware is near it’s end is starting to become visible. I’ve always had crappy internet when I lived in Bohn Hall. But this is getting out of hand.
The Thursday before spring break I was questing in World of Warcraft with Rhiannon, when all of a sudden I was disconnected from WoW. It was late so I didn’t think much of it, but I later learned that WoW was completely inaccessible from the MSU network. Yet I had no problem playing from home.
Now that I am back on campus, I tried to play again in Russ on Sunday night. I was able to play fine, but yesterday was a different story. I could login for a few moments, but every player and list wouldn’t load.
Sure the games are bad. I’ve heard issues about Asheron’s Call from my lab parter, to people calling the Helpdesk with issues in Star Wars Galaxy. But recently its begun to effect me at work.
Yesterday I had a call where the solution was to download a 20MB file from the Novell website. At 10 mins+ per download to 8 computers, you can imagine that it took up more time just waiting for the file to download than it should have.
Another call I had yesterday, I received an [all students] email from a client who’s computer I was working on. Upon closer look, I noticed the email was timestamped at 9am, and I received it at 4pm. (It’s a series of tubes!)
Here is how MSU’s Wireless Broadband Network clocks in with a test from Speedtest.net
Pathetic. Watching the download speed it didn’t even tick above the 256k mark, the Very first mark!
I know MSU finds itself in a financial table vice at the moment, but this is ridiculous. The MSU ISP should be considered a utility at this point, because it is vital to the operation of this campus. And speeds like this are just embarrassing and are hurting the university as a whole.
Flickr Collections
Flickr has just unveiled its collections feature, which I think is genius
. Its basically a set of sets. I made a few quick ones that made sense to me. Check em out.
Roomate(s) needed
Let it be known that I am in need of a roomate(s) for the 2007-2008 school year. I am most deffinately looking to live in the village, building and room is irrelavent at this point.
I am mostly a morning person, but I try to be quiet. I shower in the mornings so I don’t really tie up the bathrooms when people are awake. I am a pretty sound sleeper once I can get to bed. Also, I work for IT, so I can lend my computer fixing services when needed.
Please comment or contact me somehow if you are interested. I am probably going to spam this to everyone I know.
Why I am Agnostic
Recently I changed my religious views on facebook and myspace to reflect agnostic. And here’s why.
Each person has their own religious beliefs. Every person in the world. That’s 6.6billion. To have a religious belief is to believe that it is truth and that it is the only truth. And each person customizes their own beliefs to their own way of believing them. That is to say, that each person has their own beliefs, even if they belong to a certain church.
That means that there are 6.6 billion ways of describing the world, a higher power(s), and the absolute truth to existence. And you are telling me that your’s is the right one?
I am not right, you are not right, no one is right. But to be agnostic is to acknowledge that there is no way of knowing the true answer. Not the answer that you think is true, but the truth for all of mankind. 6.6billion people’s truth.
Saying that I am agnostic is saying this. I have no idea how the universe started, and what invisible powers / forces govern all living things and so forth. I believe that the truth of existence is unknown and abstract.
Everyone will find their own truth to believe in, but this is mine.
The Montclarion Sucks!
First off The Montclarion is a bunch of pieces of paper that magically appear on campus every week. So what you really mean to say is that you dislike the writing in The Montclarion.
And if that is so, hey good news! The Montclarion is for students, BY STUDENTS! So if you have a fucking problem, then do something about it. If you care enough about something, then you will take it into your own hands.
Also, write a letter to the editor. Just because I contribute pictures and articles doesn’t mean that I am the suggestion box for the newspaper. If you have an opinion, then send it to where it belongs.
But if all you can do is whine and complain about it then keep it to yourself. Because unless you have something to do about it, you are just making noise pollution.
Why I dislike HDR
First some history. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. It is a method of composing multiple pictures of the same subject ontop of one another in order to draw out enhanced colors. It requires the use of an additional photo editing program. And in my opinion, it is just an alternative to photoshopping a picture.
As a photographer, the reall art and skill in photography is capturing the moment as it happens, not altering it later. Which is why I never really liked HDR when it first became popular on flickr. Sure, they look pretty, but I would consider it more of a graphic art, and not a photographic art.
Now it has started to penetrate sites like digg, and its starting to get to me. “Ohh HDR skyline image.” yeah, its got nice colors, but you can’t bring those out without editing the photos.
I’m not hating on HDR. I like the way alot of them look, and I like the way alot of other people photoshop their pictures. But I seem to favor a more natural photography. Just point, tweak, and click.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Well first off a belated Merry Christmas to all who can read this.
I’m writing this entry from my uncle’s couch in New Orleans. Christmas break has been great, but I can;t wait to spend the rest of my time off in New Jersey.
And for a New Year’s entry of sorts, I declare these to be my New Year’s Resolutions.
- To actually attempt to complete things on my 43 things list. The things that i can actually do that is.
- To eat and drink healthy and to stick to it. I’ve definitely made progress this year, but I can’t say that I am completely satisfied with myself. Drinking only water, and skipping dessert are areas that i still need improvement in.
- Concentrating more on school work. School has always been a chore for me, but this up coming spring semester I’ve set the bar higher for myself than ever.
- Get off my ass and get to the gym. Again, something that I have definitely improved on, but have once again begun to slack in.
Hopefully I can make it through January and still be achieving these. Happy New Year’s everyone!
Keeping my Major
So I’ve came to the conclusion that I will be keeping my CS major. Dr. Deremer pretty much sold me on it.
Despite the difficulty of the major and future employment, I think I would be happier with types of jobs I could get the CS degree, as apposed to the IT degree.
Thoughts of changing my major
So I have been having some serious thoughts about changing my major. Right now I am a CS major, but the further I get into it (Especially this Software Enginering class) , the more I think to myself “this doesnt feel like something I want to do for the rest of my life”.
However, the more and more I work at IT, the more it feels like something I enjoy doing. Which is why i am having some serious thoughts of changing to an IT major, and a CS minor.
So far I have made 5 semesters twords my CS major. I can put that into a CS minor so that its not totally wasted, and if / when I declare an IT major, I will already have 2 core classes down.
I have yet to talk to my advisor about this, but I am already convinced that it’s what I want to do. Once i can actallytake classes twords my major that I enjoy, I could actually step up my course load.
What I will most likely do, is register on Friday with CMPT 285 which would finish the CS minor, and CSIT 110 which would start the IT major. So whan / if I make the switch, I will be all set.
Scratch that, i am sold
The public domain doesn’t seem right for me. Sure i like to blog, but there just a different kind of blogging in the private communities than there is in the public domain. ANd i think that LJ is the right choice.
I will still be as geeky as ever, and use bloglines. but as far as blogging goes, the occasional public post might occur on my LJ. But for the most part, my blogging will be a private affair.
As a result of the move, feeds might be broken, and links might change. should be expected.
From now on you can find me on Korun.livejournal.com . Add me as a friend if you want to be added, or shoot me a message.
No one ever read this any way. I never got the feedback that i wanted. But i guess it’s to be expected when your using a standalone service.
I am torn
On my way to work I was listening to Inside the Net where they were interviewing Mena Trott, co-founder of six apart. six apart started by making wordpress (this blog is on wordpress), which has since become the most wideply used standalone blogging software. they later went on to create typepad, a dulled down version but still widely used. then with all this revenue, they aquisitioned Livejournal. now with the experiance and back-end-knowledge of all 3 they are creating a new product, called Vox. and through out the whole interview they kept comparing it to LJ, while also saying that the software itself made it fun to blog.
And it just got me thinking. Have i lost the fun of blogging? i thought wordpress would bring it back, but really being in the public domain changes the experiance of blogging (vox is very private, and LJ has the option to be private). I remember in my early days on Xanga, blogging was actually fun.
So the issue i have been battling inside my head is this. I want to blog. I want it to be social, but i also want it to be easy and accessible. Right now WordPress is very easy, and somewhat accessible. LJ is very private, hence making it very social, but in itself is a whole system and community.
The main question is, do i stay in the public domain and remain remote, or do i move to LJ and remove myself from the public, while emrsing myself with my friends. There are obvious pros and cons to both sides.
So please let me know what you think in the comments.
Hold the Relish
Originally uploaded by The Twosome.
Horray for Hot Dogs! Happy 4th of July (Yesterday)
Myspace provides the Worst customer suport ever!
recently, according to my archived email actually, may 29th was the last notification email i received from myspace. for a while now i’ve delt with it, but now i want the notifications back. but according to my account settings i should be receiving them, and its not going into my spam folder.
so i sent an email to customer support. forgot what it said exactly but i clearly explained the situation. here is myspaces response.
Hello!
To change your email your e-mail address go to “Account Settings.” Start by clicking on “Home” in the top navigation menu from any MySpace web page. Once on your personal home page, click on “Account Settings,” appearing in the upper left portion of the page, next to your picture. You will be taken to your “Account Settings” page. Once there, type in the new email address you want to use and click on “Change”. You will receive an email to your old address asking you to confirm the email change. Follow the link in the email and confirm the code and your email will be changed.
If you do not have access to your old email account, please reply to this email with the old email address, the password for the account and the email address you want to change it to.
Still having trouble? Please click here:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.contactThanks
MySpace.com
to which i reply-ed
I really wish you fuckers would read shit before you send out generic responses.
of course that got no reply. so yesterday i sent this email. i saved this one lol
I am getting tired of this half assed customer support. The only time i get any positive response from you guys is when i am reporting underaged profiles.
Listen closely to my problem. If i get another half assed response i am escalating this problem. is that clear? i will use small words so you can understand my problem.
Email notifications no work! the option is set so that i should be recieving them. it was never touched. they just stoped coming. i have double checked it again. according to my options i should be recieving notification emails, but i am not.
I do not want to change my email address, i want notifications sent to my email.
FIX IT!
to which they replyed
Hello!
To change your email your e-mail address go to “Account Settings.” Start by clicking on “Home” in the top navigation menu from any MySpace web page. Once on your personal home page, click on “Account Settings,” appearing in the upper left portion of the page, next to your picture. You will be taken to your “Account Settings” page. Once there, type in the new email address you want to use and click on “Change”. You will receive an email to your old address asking you to confirm the email change. Follow the link in the email and confirm the code and your email will be changed.
If you do not have access to your old email account, please reply to this email with the old email address, the password for the account and the email address you want to change it to.
Still having trouble? Please click here:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.contactThanks
someone please tell me where i go to escalate this problem. i’ll stay on the phone all damn day if i have to, i’m pissed at these guys.
I just sent this email to privacy@myspace.com because i am almost certain that there are intellegent humans reading this inbox.
I have an issue with your customer support that i would like to escalate, please give me a phone number that i can call.
P.S. my emails are now working. Update has been posted here.
Middle of Summer update
About halfway through the summer and i haven’t done much except work during the week, and slack during the weekends. and theres still a whole list of stuff i want to do.
- Go to the shore, unless a certain beach is closed due to this budget non-sense
- Six Flags.
- NYC trip
- Summer movies
- Random touristy stuff
- A few mall trips. Need to make a few purchases, maybe a new mouse.
NP fireworks are tonight. Could be an interesting night.
About those Deragonforce Dates
Remember when i said that Dragonforce would be touring again in the summer? Well they are, but what they didn't mention was that that tour is Ozzfest!!!!
Yes, Dragonforce has made it to the main stage of this years Ozzfest. The tour dates in our area are july 29 and august 4th. so really the only possible date for me would be the 29th, and even that is cutting it close (Destin vacation).
And even still, the only bands i would want to see in the line up are Ozzy, System, Dragonforce, A7X, and (maybe) Disturbed. I haven't looked into the prices yet, but i would think a huge concert like this would get rather pricey, when i only want to see 1 band. US $87.50
I dunno. If anyone is interested in driving out to Long Island for this, let me know. It looks like itll be a sick concert, but I'm not sure if it'll be worth it.
New Workout Plan
I've been thinking that I deffinitly need some regular recreation.
I was thinking that maybe I could use the gym here on campus, but that would be a problem. As it is, my commute home adds 20 mins due to the rush hour traffic inside that construction zone rt46 west in wayne. Staying after work to use the gym would get me home at like 7:00 – 7:30. Yikes!
So then i was debating if maybe I could get in once a week, and some on thursdays (my half day). Im still debating.
But I am starting to take the little steps. Such as using the stairs in UN instead of the elevator (which again reminds me how much out-of-shape i am).
Leave me some comments if you have any suggestions.
Wishlist Updateing
I was meaning to update my froogle wishlist today, but for some reason it wont work at… work. So I'll probably do it from home.
Anyways, mostly i wanted to delete stuff i already have, and add new stuff. Mainly DVD sets. But for the most part, i want to do it in anticipation of my birthday. Just as a handy list from which to pick from.
*Note that the sites aren't nessicarily where the items are to be bought. I'm just listing items.
The newest citizen of Azeroth
Yes, I have joined the legions of the Horde, and have become a hunter of Azeroth.
For those not in the know, I have started playing World of Warcraft. And it is AWESOME!
Firstly I opted to let Manny refer-a-friend me. I get a free 10 days for trying it out, and he gets a free month for recruiting me. Then, I bought the CD-key online, and saved $10 off the retail price for the game, and downloaded the client for free. Infact, I downloaded the client for free twice, on berns computer. And I might even end up doing it again on the desktop.
As far as the game is concerned, the questing system is addicting! Most MMORPG's require mindless dungeon runs, and repititious boss kills to get major EXP. But WOW makes you recieve and turn in quests, so that its never boring.
So far I am a lvl 15 Troll Hunter. My character name is "Noxix" and the server is Darkspear (PVP). I joined mainly because that was Manny's server, but also the story of the game makes PVP pretty necessary (There are non-PVP servers, but those are for wusses).
So yeah, if you have WOW, look me up. And yes, this is why i haven't been on AIM in a while. WOW is ruling my life lol.
First week of summer work
Well if the first week of work was any indication, its going to be a long and interesting summer.
I had the idea earlier this week to keep a list of case numbers for “interesting” calls. Sort of like a helpdesk hall of fame. That way, we can all look back and say, “Oooooh, i remember this one”
In slightly related news, because I no longer have educational obligations during the summer, I’ve decided that I will be getting into WoW (World of Warcraft). Anyone who wants to “Refer-a-friend” me can do so, so you can get a free month off of me lol.
iPod Overload
Well it finally happened again.
After converting my entire library to trim 128 kbps AAC files, my iPod was on a well deserved diet, and with that, i could stuff all kinds of music onto it.
But finally, after getting some classic stuff I've been wanting (including the entire Led Zeppelin studio discography), iTunes has just given me the iPod overload message. So now it's time to watch what my iPod eats I suppose. So I've started trimming back the albums that i really have no intrest in, or ones that I know suck, but kept them around anyways.
Also I finally got my Van Stone CD in the mail, so you should deffinitly check that out. It's soon to become my favorite album of all time.
