The Break is Almost Over

So...somewhere between the recent long(er) nights and "afternoon" mornings, it hit me: that week-long break at the beginning of Spring is practically over--but the weekend is next, so it is all good from where I am sitting. I just decided to drop some lines before I drive the couple of hours, and some change, to my mom's house.

Speaking of "houses"...how about that "House of Representatives" thing? Quick rundown: the 1,000-page bill passed the House of Representatives. Then, a handful of Democrats in the Senate managed to pull 2,000 pages out of their asses in less time than it takes an author to write a mediocre novel...and, I can assure you, it starts off a little dry. I wish I could say it picks up...but it does not.

The Dems had the supermajority (60), so it passed the Senate without much Republican input, not saying input was forthcoming. Then the House said, "we're going to pass a bill." And the House passed a bill. Healthcare law was born...a bit deformed, but one eye was open, so we were okay. Republicans were miffed, but that is okay--they should have actively participated instead of just wanting to kill the bill flat...not saying that would have been a tragedy, but we will see if the reform bill passes the House. I just read on Yahoo! News that the reconciliation bill passed the Senate. In the reconciliation process, only 51 votes are needed to pass (that is general majority for those of you keeping count). So, this still requires no Republican votes...what a great system we have, right? Anyone else tired of it? And they could not resist slipping the education funding stuff in with it. According to the Yahoo article, some things had to be changed, go figure. It is reconciliation bill H.R. 4872 for the two or three of you who might care. If it passes the House, it is a done deal. I hope it turns out well. But we all know the "Audacity of Hope."

And to add to all the b.s. being slung back and forth, Biden dropped the f-bomb within range of a microphone. It was either that or pee his pants with childhood excitement I almost envy. I watched the youtube video...it is barely audible in the highest quality version. You have to know it is there for the most part. Yet Fox picked up on that one fast. Dems are already unpopular around the camp, way to go Biden for giving Fox some cud to toss around...great. Personally, I do not care. I say "way to express your emotion, I guess." After all, it is like Taylor Mali says in "I Could Be a Poet":

"I am not afraid to use that one requisite swear word / to let you know I am [ucking-fay] serious, man!"

Gotta love the Pig Latin, right? Remember: brackets in quotes mean the words enclosed are not original...he originally went for the gold. I cannot do so because it is unacceptable to those two or three people who may stumble across this page...and it is for a class, so I have to keep clamped. However, they now have T-shirts. Yep, Biden's words forever immortalized until the shirt becomes a rag. I cannot help but desire a piece of this history. This is apparently not the first time he has dropped the f-bomb, from what I read/heard on huffingtonpost.com. Regarding the linked article, it also contains the link for the latest incident. Do not take everything you read on Huffington Post as true. It is meant to be humorous, so details are exaggerated for entertainment purposes. However, the post does not fake recordings...that I am aware of.

Anyway, I have already spent more time on here than I wanted to...time to drive. I will add a picture later...maybe.

Class Assignment

This is a relatively simple background using the 3D objects in Photoshop CS4. I used text from the U.S. Constitution.

Last Minute Addition

Sitting in class, I realized my blogs are not up-to-date. So, I am adding one to circumvent the problem. One useful Google service worth mentioning is the "define" function. To search for a definition using Google, type "define: [word]." For example, typing "define: circumvent" returns these definitions.

Spring Break is coming up. I am probably going to take the opportunity to try to find a job. My last job was being, more or less, assistant manager at the now-closed Triple Crown Chinese Restaurant. It was a lot of fun, and I learned how to make a few Chinese dishes.

This is a picture of the cast of "Trailer Park Boys," one of my all-time favorite shows. I was watching an episode before coming to class, actually. Those crazy Canadians...too bad the show was cancelled after seven seasons, but it had a great run.

About to learn about typefacing and font, so I am going to submit this and hope it is sufficient.

Crushing Coffee Caffeine...and the Cove

So I watched a good documentary last night. A friend told me I had to watch it, and now I pass on the advice. The documentary is the Cove. It won many awards, including Best Documentary. The film definitely has that "documentary" feel, similar to gems such as Paradise Lost II. However, it is obvious the equipment used for the Cove is of much higher quality than equipment used for most documentaries.

The Cove is about the annual dolphin slaughter in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji. The documentary goes beyond dolphin fishing to dolphin marketing. Those with weak constitutions should not watch the last 20 minutes of the movie, as footage of dolphin death is shown. All in all, it is a great exposé, and segue, into a modern "Save the Whales" campaign...not saying that is a bad thing, having watched the documentary. If you enjoy powerful documentaries, watch the film. [NOTE: If you want to visit a website related to the effort to save the dolphins (and it is apparently an uphill battle), you can click "modern" or "campaign" above...or you can click here]

I did not start the documentary until around 2:15a.m., which roughly translates to, "put a couple pots of coffee on, and enjoy the show." That is...if the show is enjoyable...this one goes more along "informative." I made it to class on time, at least. Now I am waiting for the crash.

In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I have a joke for you:

An Irishman walks out of a bar...hey, it could happen.

Russian Software Designers are Bold

Russians are getting tech savvy. For $26, you can buy a Russian program called SkyGrabber. The program intercepts satellite data and downloads it. Iraq insurgents used the software to intercept US MQ-1 Predator feeds. Predators are those unmanned planes that fly recon. Not leaving it at data interception, a Russian software firm has released password cracking applications for the iPhone and iPod touch capable of cracking any password, regardless of encryption type.

Several years ago, one of the company’s programmers was arrested on stage during a software security lecture. Adobe pressed charges against the company because the firm’s software was capable of bypassing the .PDF encryption. Bypassing this encryption meant people could illegally copy eBooks. The programmer was acquitted, and the case went silent.

The Russian company’s website does advertise hacking software for government use, some ranging to over $1,000. I would not trust it, which is why I have not linked to the company website or the software in question. If you really want to take the risk, Google it. There is no telling what you are installing when it is software meant for hacking, ethical or not--especially when you consider the source is a Russian company, when that country has a history of launching digital attacks on US computers.

RPD Makes an Interesting Arrest

Reading through an old edition of the Courier, I skimmed across a story from the Russellville Police Department. Saturday, February 27, the RPD made an I-4[2]0 arrest when an officer smelled marijuana permeating Kenneth Doyle's vehicle. Doyle, of Novato, California, reportedly gave the officer permission to search his vehicle. Upon inspection, the officer found 79 pounds of marijuana (worth an estimated $130000), a gun, fake badges from the San Francisco Police Department and $2500 in cash. Doyle told the officer he was headed east to North Carolina. From there, Doyle was going to instruct a security class at Washington, D.C. At a preliminary hearing the following Monday, Doyle revealed he was a retired police officer. The $130000 cookie was taken from one cookie jar to (probably) be placed safely into another...not saying the RPD is corrupt or anything.

I wonder if the story goes any deeper than a one-man cruise from coast to coast. I have not found anything of interest yet.

As for this picture: One of the aspects of the Silent Hill game series that always caught my attention was the way the in-game photographs looked--aged and kind of eerie. Most of the eeriness came from context, granted, but I tried to mimic the effect from memory. I ended up with the sepia-on-steroids result you see. I tried to find online screen stills of photographs used in the game to use as a guide, but I have not found any. The original image can be found on the RPD website.

Logos

These are the three logos I made. Not sure which one to choose yet.

   Logo 1                                                Logo 2




    Logo 3

Free Speech Tested

Many of us know one of Conway's economic jewels, the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), for its party-related practices. Another bit of fame for the school came in 2009, when a fraternity (Alpha Phi Alpha) was banned from the campus for three years following reports of hazing practices.

The school paper, the Echo, has also gained some attention. In 2007, the student newspaper was named, "best in state." Lately, the accolades have been a little different for the newspaper.

Basically, the opinion section of the Echo ran a story entitled, "Rough Sidewalks Match Administration's Tactics," in February of 2010. The story criticized the UCA administration (specifically, school President Allen Meadors) for misappropriation of funds, inappropriate administrative practices and doctoring of documents--all revolving around President Meadors' decision to install decorative stamped concrete on the UCA campus.

By itself, the story does not seem very interesting. The actual story to the story is how, though he had knowledge of the article, UCA President Meadors let the story run. That is correct. It is possible for school administrators to have the testicular fortitude to own up to whatever action he/she has committed when students, learning the powers of the media, call him/her on it. A freepress advocacy group has even commended the university for leaving the paper alone. Inspirational, yes? [Note: link is a teaser]

So About That Radio Show...

Tonight was the maiden voyage of my radio show on KXRJ 91.9FM. It was smooth sailing...except for one minor detail.

The guys on air before me ran past 8:00 a little bit, but that was okay. However, they decided to play an instrumental loop of Dr. Dre's, "The Next Episode," just as they were leaving the studio. I stopped it as soon as they left the room, of course...that instrumental stench is already stinking up my time slot. I sat down, donned the headphones, placed the CD into the player and hit the button to start the CD to do the intro. Click. Nothing. A little bit of a dilemma, I would say. I had a quick run-down of the place during orientation, but not quite enough to troubleshoot the equipment...call a manager--no answer. I called the only phone number I had. I did not notice the piece of paper with the other two numbers until later.

After a few minutes of futily trying different button combinations, just in case, I realized it was already 8:11, and my CD was clearly not going to play. I had to get on the air. At about that moment, it occurred to me that my little show had undergone a rather significant change for the night...hit the green button; skip the intro. I introduced myself and my (currently) nameless show. Then, I explained that there was a slight change in the program. It was an interesting start.

I blew through every topic I had been researching in about 25 minutes, which would have been sufficient if music would have served as breaks. I still had almost 22 minutes to fill, so I hit the red button to let the programmed jazz play until the next DJ came on. 15 seconds later, my cell phone rang...jazz is not playing; it's time to talk some more.

Having not anticipated this problem, I tried to think of jokes. By the by, it is hard to think of a joke when put on the spot like that. I read a few CD covers and song names aloud, looking for a CD appearing interesting enough to play. I managed to stretch that out to about 8:51...the next DJ just arrived. I signed off eight minutes early. It is an extremely disappointing situation to find yourself in--you are in a position to speak to the masses (potentially, anyway), but you cannot think of anything to say.

The 9:00 DJ showed me that, to play that loop from earlier, a switch had to be pressed on the control board. If I would have only known. My orientation Tech Radio veteran only said, regarding the computer with the public service announcements and loop files, nobody used it much. Thus I did not learn anything about it. Actually, I do not understand why she said people do not use the computer. Anybody with background music, show intros, lead-ins or any other sound byte (excluding whole songs, though a radio station at which I interned kept its music on a server) would get a lot of use out of the computer, assuming he/she could upload clips to it.

The next DJ, Garrett, asked if I wanted to sit in as a co-host on his show. It is a much better environment with music. It is more suitable. During a song break, he put my CD into his laptop. Much to my chagrin, the CD played. I used to have a stereo with the same problem. Some CDs played, while some would play, but with rhythmic fuzz.

If a good thing could be said about tonight, it is this:

The worst thing that could happen on my radio show happened on my first night, so now it is out of the way.

I am not saying the lack of music ruined everything; it just changed the course a bit. All things considered, it went well.

[EDIT: I cannot get the extra spaces to go away, and I cannot get other spaces to stay. Oh well.]

Sarah Palin's Souvenir of Arkansas

On Tuesday, February 16, Sarah Palin delivered a 45-minute spiel to Arkansans at the Verizon Arena. Though attendence is speculated to be less than 5000, members of the media were not allowed to make audio or video recordings of the event.

Regarding the Tea Party movement, Palin stated that the "smart thing" for the involved independents to do is to choose to align with Democrats or Republicans. Tea Party protests are on the basis of restricting power of the Federal Government (that is to say current Democrat and Republican lawmakers). The very notion of an independent aligning with either party is counter-intuitive to the cause.

Another point she made was in the form of the question: "How dare a terrorist who hates America and hates our Constitution be given those same rights?" At least, she thought she was raising an issue that was, well, an issue. Recent CIA missile strikes indicate otherwise when a Taliban commander was narrowly missed, killing his brother. It seems to me that Constitutional rights are not granted to those who pose a genuine threat to the ideals of the Constitution. Civilians in the vicinity of target areas are sometimes not elligible for said rights, either...seeming more like calculated risk.

Fox News made Palin seem...something...when they felt it imperative to note, "Arkansans shelled out big bucks to see former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin." The dinner tickets were $175 each. The reception, however, was a whopping $500 per person/couple, which included a photo with Palin. Let's all cheer because Arkansas Republicans know how to throw away some money. Do not get me wrong, Democrats do it, as well. But this is Sarah Palin. I do not even watch her on Fox for free. They were probably hoping for a good opening act. The Arkansas GOP was reportedly advertising $20 tickets to boost ticket sales at the last minute. The strategy failed.

One thing Palin did tell Arkansans that was right on the money (okay, nothing Palin says is "right on the money," but this was close) was, "[l]ike Alaskans you too probably cling to your guns and religion." We do like our guns. As a souvenir of her trip to Arkansas, Palin was presented an engraved, lever action Henry Big Boy .44 Magnum rifle by the Republican Party of Arkansas. While Henry rifles are iconic, I do not think Sarah Palin is the type of person who should be handed a gun...much less a .44 magnum rifle. I also think that a more suitable gift could should have been chosen, as a gun does not truly encompass Arkansas...especially since the special $2000 rifle was manufactured in New Jersey.

Image taken from here.