|
|
Happy April Fools Day!
For some reason I really got in the mood for this holiday this year, and pulled some good pranks/april fools on my friends and parents. Such as telling my dad Chris Leak (UF's star quarterback) got injured in practice and might be out in the Fall. But this is a website, so here's April Fools around the web:
UF Basketball Coach leaves for Kentucky
NASA.gov confirms water found On Mars!
Google Gulp
Encyclopedia Britannica hostile takeover of Wikipedia
2600 Meetings are now formal attire only
And some sites whose front page changed for the day:
Homestar Runner became a pay only site
ThinkGeek came out with some new products
CollegeHumor bought out by Malboro
Fark h4x0r3d
I also played golf for the first time in months today, which meant my game wasn't very pretty. Not that it ever is, but I was in the sand traps so much I think my ball was trying to tell me that I would have been better off just going to the beach. It was fun though, and I really need to start playing more. I used to play several times a month when I lived in Texas, but moving to Florida I got some sticker shock (I payed $9 a round before, in Florida it became $40) which meant I never played. I still like the sport a lot though.
Me and my roommate on the course
The bag and clubs I got for my 15th birthday (I just realized that was 7 years ago!)
Animation of my swing, my camera is nifty like that (800 KB)
Curious what other nations are up to? CSPAN has links to webpages and webcasts of legislative bodies across the world.
The Pope died yesterday, which is significant since Catholicism is the largest religion in the world. I didn't always agree with everything he said, but the Pope was a pretty amazing person. Some not-well-known Pope facts:
1. His given name isn't John Paul. It's Karol Jozef Wojtyla (Polish)
2. Played soccer as a goalie, skied, hiked, and kayaked as a kid
3. Wanted to be a professional actor growing up, and sang and wrote plays
4. Speaks 8 languages and holds a doctorate
5. Has been to 115 countries as the Pope
Even though it's not legally binding to put it up on here, just the record, if I'm ever in a persistive vegetative state, I'd like to have the plug pulled. I'd really rather not be used as a political pawn and be used to exploit what should be a personal family decision. Or have politicians and non-doctors commenting on the state of a person they've never seen in real life nor ever analyzed and completely ignore all facts of the condition.
Everytime I think a little progress is made, such as UF announcing that it would like to extend domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples to attract better faculty and just because it's the right thing to do, it gets attacked as being immoral. One day we'll all look back on this and cringe.
The mp3 page is updated for the first time in about a year! The song of the moment is also updated to Israel Kamakawiwoole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Even though Episode III doesn't come out until over a month from now, the line has already started. At least they're using their time to help raise money for charity, and I have to admit that if I were in LA I'd totally be doing this with them. Though a month early does seem a tad extreme.
Who would have thought you could calculate any integral at integrals.com? I have to admit I've forgotten a lot of the properties to integrate most of the trig functions, but then that's what TI-89's are for.
I've been on a reading binge lately for some reason, as I'm currently reading the Lord of the Flies and re-reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's probably because it's so nice outside and it's great to just sit and read in the grass out on the north lawn on campus between classes. I used to read all the time as a kid, but school, meetings, a social life, and the Internet takes over my time usually nowdays. I also just finished reading The DaVinci Code (is that thing EVER going to come out in paperback, I had to borrow the hardback from a friend). It had a somewhat interesting premise, though apparently factually wrong most of the time which is why it's in the fiction section, but I didn't like the book very much. It was incredibly gimmicky and the writing wasn't very good at all, nor well put together. I've have another one of his books my friend let me borrow, which I've heard is better, so I'm willing to give the guy another chance. I think the movie has potential though, and not just because it has the lovely Audrey Tautou in it.
The Office (Tuesday nights on NBC) is really funny. It's based off a British comedy of the same name, which I got to watch a few episodes of during the summer. But I think the American version is actually more funny.
There will be a partial solar eclipse Friday for the US. I might have to go see if there's a viewing party around here and check that out. I want to see a full solar eclipse before I die, I think that'd be an incredible sight.
Scientific America had their own April Fools joke/satire in their April edition in an editorial called Okay, We Give Up. My favourite part:
Good journalism values balance above all else. We owe it to our readers to present everybody's ideas equally and not to ignore or discredit theories simply because they lack scientifically credible arguments or facts. Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do.
Where'd my semester go? 2 days left of class and 3 finals until I'm a college graduate.... thank goodness for grad school and delaying the real world. I'm having a graduation party Thursday with Sarah which should be really fun, and hopefully get to see some friends I haven't seen in a while. Fortuntely a vast majority of my friends are still going to be here next year, though two of my closest (Jenny and Sarah) will be off on greater adventures.
Remember back in elementary school before there were TI-83's in classrooms, and all you had was a simple function calculator? And remember having great fun sharing that if you typed 58008 and held it upside-down it spelled out BOOBS and laughing like crazy at how dirty it was? Here's the entire list of calculator words like that. 378163771 looks to be the longest.
Always funny, Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy.
Apparently the $2 bill is not legal tender at Best Buy and will get you detained for money counterfeiting if you try to use one. I wonder what would happen if I used a silver dollar. Subway on campus likes to give them out as change. I currently have two sitting on my desk, that I know I'd never use because I'd never keep it in my pocket or remember to use it.
Done with class as an undergraduate! I'm also done with half my finals (meaning I officially will be getting a math minor), and have nothing to do until my next final on Wednesday. So now the real fun of college begins!
Ever wonder what you'd look older or a different race? Upload a picture and find out. Interesting, if not comically bad, results.
We had city commissioner runoff elections yesterday, and a whopping 159 students, or 2.37% of registered voters, bothered to vote in my student heavy district. I was one of the few, and it's just frustrating that there's so much apathy. If students actually cared then politicians would really start focusing on student issues instead of being an afterthought. But no one demands it, or even bothers to show up to vote.
And because I forgot to upload the last update...
The graduation party was an amazing success! I'd like to thank all my friends once again for coming out and helping me and my friend Sarah celebrate our graduation. It was fun!
Dancing to Thriller
PARTY!
Got a little sick though... It's a staged pic with fruit punch, don't worry
Me and Sarah
In sadder news, my cell phone is crapping out on me, all I get is static. I have no idea what happened to it, it's only about 2 months old and I didn't drop it or anything. I'm going to the store tomorrow to see if they can do anything for me.
The new episode of Family Guy has been leaked out on the Internet, and I got ahold of a copy. It's really good, and it's nice to see an awesome show like that come back from the dead. Now if only Futurama would come back.
|
