C0rk.W0rd

Help C0rk Succeed In School!!!

I am currently producing a podcast called Coffee & Cigarettes which has just recently become the focus of a class project about podasting. A major portion of this project will require my group to talk about the kind of feedback we received from individuals who consume what we create. That being the case, it is my hope that anyone reading this will subscribe to the podcast and drop me an e-mail with any kind of feedback you have. Let me emphasize that ANY feedback is valuable to our project, and the sooner you can supply it, the better, as our final presentation is due in two weeks.

 

Below are some links which you can use to help out, and a detailed description of how to subscribe is provided on the website. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can render – a special treat will be in order.

 

• Coffee & Cigarettes Website – http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~prc23/
• Coffee & Cigarettes RSS Feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/CoffeeCigarettes
• E-Mail Feedback To: [email protected]

Active Camouflage

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with active camouflage, but it is a technology in development that is aimed at allowing individuals (presumably military) to disappear into their surroundings. The idea is actually quite simple. By projecting what is behind someone onto a canvas in front of them, the individual appears semi-transparent.

Having seen some video of active camouflage prototypes, I can tell you that while it has a way to go, it’s very exciting. The effect is similar to that of the Predator in the movies of the same name – a suit/mechanism that allows in individual to blend into their surroundings on a level far superior to standard camouflage. Needless to say – I want one.

The Value of a display in flash based MP3 players

It’s no secret that the iPod is the king of the digital media player market, but there is now a surge of players coming out using the rapidly increasing capacity of flash memory. Personally, I think the iPod shuffle, and other flash players like the Nomad MuVo that double as a USB jump drives are not only nice in terms of portability, but easy to use as an MP3 player or storage unit.

Recently, while discussing this with friends, one ridiculed the Shuffle saying that no one could sell a player that lacked a display. I happen to disagree with his assertion. Having experimented with a number of players of this design, both with and without displays, I have to say that the displays are fairly useless in terms of navigating the content of the device. About the only thing the display is good for is identifying the currently playing song. That being the case, why spend extra money for a device with a display. I will, however, concede that players with displays can be purchased at a lower price than the Shuffle.

I would not agree that Apple messed up with the shuffle by leaving out the screen. Admittedly, despite owning a 40GB iPod, I find myself wanting a Shuffle (in addition to my regular iPod), purely for situations that demand ultimate portability – working out, etc. The random track selection feature of the shuffle is also something that will force me to listen to music in my library that would otherwise go untouched. Even with 8,500+ songs, you’d be surprised how repetitive things can get when you’re not really dedicated to building play lists.

Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, Huh-Yea, What is it good for...?

I was listening to NPR yesterday morning, and heard that the 'War on Terror' has a new name. Apparently the administration has decided that “war” and “terror” inspire negative thoughts and negative feelings towards a number of their policies. War also sounds indefinite, and that it is unlikely to end anytime soon. The solution of course is to re-brand. Stop telling it how it is, and start caking rainbow jimmies onto your rocky road.

The new name for the “War on Terror” is the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism…

When I hear this kind of talk, I cannot help but think of the George Carlin bit in which he points out that the war condition known as Shell Shock in WWI went from being called Shell Shock to Battle Fatigue to Operational Exhaustion, and then finally Post Traumatic Stress Disorder where the severity of the condition was no longer apparent, and the attention paid to treating it, minimal.

 … I believe I heard the host on NPR say that there is a push to use the acronym SAVE to refer to said struggle – Struggle Against Violent Extremism = SAVE. Nondescript acronyms being used to communicate extremely important ideas and concepts, great, now every conversation about world affairs will turn into everyone’s first week at work.

Bills, Bills, Bills

Surprise, surprise... President Bush signed additional legislation allocating and 'additional' $82 Billion dollars to pay for the "conflicts" in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They're saying that this puts total anti-terrorism spending since September 11th, 2001 over $300 billion dollars.

I for one refuse to look at this as the price of the international anti-terrorism effort. Truth be known, the bulk of the $300 billion has been spent exclusively on the Iraq conflict -- an action to protect us from weapons that were determined to have never existed in the first place, and to deal a major blow to international terrorism. Now, many experts suspect that the negative world image the US garnered, thanks to the Iraq conflict, has led to a surge in terrorist recruitment.

On a positive note, however, the bill does include language requiring the administration to communicate with Congress regarding the number of troops they're planning to keep in Iraq through the end of 2006. It's also supposed to require more candid communication between the various government branches regarding our 'actual' progress in Iraq.

"There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." - Paul Wolfowitz (United States Deputy Secretary of Defense) - Congressional Testimony Regarding 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'  - March 20th, 2003

I'm convinced that a government job represent the pinnacle of job security. I cannot think of any other profession where you could be THIS wrong and remain employed. What's even better about a government job is that you'll actually get promoted for this kind of thing --- Paul Wolfowitz will begin is NEW job as the President of the World Bank on June 1st, 2005.

New Wheels

This is just a little post to let all those who are interested that I leased a car last night. After garnering offers from several dealers throughout the area, I was able to get a very reasonable lease from Cherry Hill Toyota. But enough about the process... what did you get?

I leased a 2005 Toyota Matrix XR w/ AWD. For those that are not familiar with this particular vehicle, it's what Toyota describes as a CUV (cross-over utility vehicle) and I'm going to describe as a sport-wagon. Whatever you want to call it, it's essentially a combination of features I wanted in a vehicle. As you may have gathered from the AWD above, the Matrix I purchased features All-Wheel-Drive which I felt essential due to my frequent travel in the Northern parts -- Vermont, etc. Not wanting to enter the gas-guzzling world of an full blow SUV, the Matrix boasts mileage numbers that reasonable (especially for an AWD vehicle).

Needless to say, I am pleased with my purchase which isn't even 24 hours old at the time of this writing. I guess you could say that this is the first MAJOR purchase I have made in my life --- It's both scary and (forgive the use of an Oprah term) empowering. This post was constructed purely to share what I consider a major life event with you, my readers.

I hope to have some pictures my my ACTUAL Matrix up later in the week or over the coming weekend. Until that time, you'll just have to use your imagination with the promotional shots supplied with this post.

'Standing Your Ground' in Florida

The Florida House of Representatives and Senate have sent their latest bad idea to Governor Jeb Bush for signing. The ‘idea’ has been dubbed the ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill. Rather than just tell you that this bill is a bad idea, I thought I would explain, briefly, what the bill does, and why it’s a step backward for Floridians…

 ‘Stand Your Ground’ allows Florida citizens to use deadly force when defending themselves, rather than attempting to flee. This right extends beyond the home, citizens who have a ‘reasonable’ belief they are in danger of bodily harm or death are now permitted to use lethal force against their attacker in any public or private setting. Just for the record, this bill includes all forms of force including the use of a gun or other weapon.

 It’s nice to see our culture of life coming into full blossom. While I do not wish bodily harm on most individuals, I feel this bill take it a step too far. Allowing people to kill at will on the basis of their own personal assessment of the threat posed to them is preposterous, because there is, without a doubt, someone who feels oddly threatened by the most benign things. The fact that this is being offered as a necessary alternative to fleeing is just irresponsible. I also don’t think that any law governing an individual’s right the take the life of another human being should include the word ‘reasonable’. See if you can follow this --- Lets say Joe has a serious fear of clowns (a very common fear) and a street entertainer (dressed as a clown) approaches Joe to pull a coin out of Joe’s ear --- I think you can begin to see how this is going to play out. Forgiving the absurdity of the example, consider what little it takes to make people feel threatened.

 Hell, I was driving home one night and happened to make eye contact with another motorist who proceeded to brandish a knife in my direction. While I may have considered this display pathetic and Neanderthal-ish, I’m certain that another person would consider that a threat of physical harm.

This bill will more than likely lead to a bevy on controversial court cases in which individuals will be claiming that they felt threatened by the individual they stabbed, shot, or beat to death. We’ll also see a re-birth of lawless vigilantes out for a thrill. All the nonsense aside, is this really the most important issue facing Floridians today?

Information Junkie!

I've come to the conclusion that I am an information junkie, or at least that I always want to know about everything that is going on. With my busy schedule, it is often difficult to stay informed. I thought I would share with you some of the resources that I use to keep myself abreast of current affairs…

National Public Radio - This is perhaps the most significant of all my information resources. When you're coming and going as much as I am, it's convenient to be able to get your news/information while in transit. My car radio broke a few weeks back and I noticed a significant slump in my everyday knowledge of the world.

Online New Aggregators - I spend so much time on Google as it is; why not spend a little more time perusing Google's news aggregator (news.google.com). Essentially, Google receives real-time feeds from a number of media outlets, and based on the interest of Google News visitors presents hot button issues. Links from this site fire me into a number of different media producers from Reuters to CNN to the Walnut Creek Journal. Another site which I frequently visit is SlashDot (www.slashdot.org) --- this site focuses primarily on technology or 'geek' news. SlashDot presents user submitted information which is of interest to me. During election season, Slashdot introduced another module (politics.slashdot.org).

Blogs (syndications) - The news media would probably have a fit when they hear I get my information from blogs, claiming that few contain objective and completely factual information. There are varying degrees of truth in this assertion, but if you take blogs for what they are, they can lend valuable insights into the minds of a citizenry, and to some extent, make one aware of opinions coming from the everyday Joe or Jane. You can be sure that I take the claims of bloggers with a certain amount of skepticism until I have checked the facts for myself. I'm not sure why the media feels that my opinion matters less than Tucker Carlson's or Sean Hannity's, or hell even Al Franken’s. Apparently, watching liberals and conservatives dress each other down on national television is a better way to spend my time.

…going forward, I am intent on experimenting with podcasting. Podcasting is similar to online text syndication except with audio. As new audio (podcasts) are made available, they can be downloaded to ones computer or a portable digital audio device like and iPod. Since I am currently without a car radio, Podcasting might be an excellent route to take for an in-car information solution.

Microsoft?

As far as I can tell, various Microsoft sites have been offline since this morning. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that this is not ‘scheduled downtime’. Sites that I know to be affected include www.microsoft.com, www.msn.com, and Windows Update. Attempts to ‘ping’ and ‘tracert’ the URLs have resulted in time out after time out. I am going to presume this is the work of hackers.

It’s just my luck that this would happen on a day which I really need to access the Microsoft knowledge base, and the morning after I elected to re-image my laptop computer. Please let me know if you’re experiencing any similar issues with Microsoft websites.

Ivy League Arrogance

So apparently the stand-up comedy group at UPENN is putting on a show April 1st and April 2nd. In anticipation of the event, the group decided to put up posters in University City providing details about the event. The event is called 'Drexel Relief'. Attendance will cost $5-$6 depending on where you purchase your ticket, and the flyer claims that "all proceeds help to provide food and clothing for Drexel alumni".

I like to think I have a pretty good sense of humor. I will gladly insult myself (and others) to get a chuckle out of someone. The name and tagline for this event is just plain rude. Regardless, I simply despise the arrogance of the individuals who would come up with such ideas, let alone believe they're representative of some truth about the quality of university graduates. When you consider all the people who lack the funds to go to ANY college, you need to think of the balls it takes for members of one higher-education institution to mock the graduates from another as being unable to feed and cloth themselves.