Random Musing

Sound of a hundred gnashing teeth. Think about it. Does not this phrase aptly describe many times at school? If life had a soundtrack, this would be the sound often heard during college. "It's 3:30 AM and I'm writing a paper that's due tommorow!" (Sound of a hundred gnashing teeth) Ah yes. Life. God bless everyone. I'm going to bed (soothing sound of harp) so I can wake up for lecture tommorow (sound of a hundred gnashing teeth).

Cool Links/Computers

Knoppix is a very cool bootable CD containing a Debian based Linux with automatic hardware detection. Basically, if you want to try Linux but don't want to take the time to mess with your hard drive and installation, Knoppix will boot up Linux on your computer from a CD. Or, if you want a little more control, Morphix is based on Knoppix but allows you to build your own CD via various modules. If you're just interested in "disaster recovery," F.I.R.E. (Forensic and Incident Response Environment) is a bootable Linux CD that provides many useful tools and, according to the website, a useful menu system. Update: Upon booting Knoppix up on a PentiumIII 800 with 512 MB RAM, 133 Mhz FSB, GeForce2 16 MB (I think?), I found that Knoppix is rather sluggish, requiring lots of reading from the CD to do anything. I still like it, but I wouldn't suggest it for anything other than demonstrating Linux or disaster recover. Perhaps Morphix with a lighter window manager than KDE...

Quote of the Day

These Christian soldiers bring to their ardent campaign against time and the modern world all the indignation, all the impatience with moral slackness, all the purifying hatred, of the zealots in Teheran and Cairo. They indulge McWorld only in order to use its high-tech communications to organize voters or its rock music to suger-coat salvation lyrics. Groups like Gospel Gangstas and A-I S.W.I.F.T. press drive-by shootings into the service of Jesus:

In this scrap the Word of God's my A-K
Pointed at your Dome
'Cause my aim is straight, hey...
You wanna be set free
Then you gotta be saved
Better do it now
Move with the quickness
Or else I'll hit you with the
Drive by Witness

--Benjamin Barber in Jihad vs. McWorld

Lord of the Onion Rings. (Parody of Lord of the Rings)

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Afro-do (coming from Frodo). He owned a very powerful onion ring. He liked his onion ring. Sometimes he was tempted to eat the onion ring. If he did it would corrupt him. One day Parendalf (coming from Gandalf) said that Afro-do must destroy the onion ring. "The only way to destroy it" said Parendalf, "is to go to the oven of doom in Morkitchen (coming from Mordor). When you get there you must throw it into the oven of doom. Watch out for vegeorcs (orcs). I will come with you." When they came to the Misty Buffets they were not able to get over the mountain Caradglass (you know how buffets usually have glass tops?) so they had to go through the food of Buffet Dun. Alas Parendalf was taken by a pepperog. It was pretty easy for the pepperog to get Parendalf since Parendalf was so big. After many adventures Afro-do got to the oven of doom where he threw it in. There was a great rumbling and the Morkitchen began crumbling. Luckily the remote control plane known as Gawair rescued them and they lived happily ever after.

by Benjamin. Grade 5

Quote of the Day

There is, we are aware, a philosophy that denies the infinite. There is also a philosophy classed pathalogically, which denies the sun; this philosophy is called blindness.

--Victor Hugo in Les Miserables

I love Hugo's sense of humor.

Cool Links

For those truly dedicated but very young cyclists, Litespeed's titanium tricycle is the vehicle of choice. At $850, this beauty costs far more than my bike did, but I'm sure you'll be the coolest kid on the block until the neighborhood bully beats you up and steals this titanium wonder. That's why I recommend Bulletcatchers bodyguards.

Word of the Day

"WordNet (r) 1.7"
copasetic

1. adj : completely satisfactory; "his smile said that everything was copacetic"; "You had to be a good judge of what a man was like, and the English was copacetic"- John O'Hara
   syn: copacetic, copesetic, copesettic

Quote of the Day

When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of acting childish and the desire to be very grown up.

--C.S.Lewis

Cool Links

Scott Troyan is a genius! He wrote a most excellent article on procrastination. If you've ever really procrastinated (especially in college), you'll find that there are lot's of people out there just like you! This guy knows all of today's best procrastinating tricks.

Thanks to Theresa for this link. :)

Coow Winks

Google is a gweat seawch engine. But it's even bettew when it's in Elmer Fudd speak! Or...Pig Latin! Ettypray oolcay, on'tday youay inkthay?

Word of the Day

"Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)"
Effervescence Ef`fer*ves"cence, Effervescency Ef`fer*ves"cen*cy, n. Cf. F. effervescence.

1. A kind of natural ebullition; that commotion of a fluid which takes place when some part of the mass flies off in a gaseous form, producing innumerable small bubbles; as, the effervescence of a carbonate with citric acid.
2. Sparkling high spirits; spontaneous liveliness; vivacity

Witty Quote of the Day

I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.

--Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Cool Links/Computers

For more cool free Windows software, try The Open CD. Both the list of included programs and the list of programs not included look very helpful.

Word of the Day

"Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)"
Perspicuity Per`spi*cu"i*ty, n. L. perspicuitas: cf. F. perspicuit'e.

1. The quality or state of being transparent or translucent. Obs. --Sir T. Browne.
2. The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.
3. Sagacity; perspicacity.

Syn: Clearness; perspicuousness; plainness; distinctness; lucidity; transparency. See Clearness.

"Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)"
Perspicuous Per*spic"u*ous, a. L. perspicuus, from perspicere to look through. See Perspective.

1. Capable of being through; transparent; translucent; not opaque. Obs. --Peacham.
2. Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. ``The purpose is perspicuous.'' --Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

The word is perspicuity, but I find the definition of perspicuous to be helpful.