September 2008 Archives

http://arachnode.net/

This thing has been keeping up with my blog, maybe even more regularly than my normal stalkers do. It has been keeping up with my tags, categories and everything. Its a little bit odd.

http://arachnode.net/blogs/disturbingthoughts_net/default.aspx

For the past 2 weeks I have been having popcorn as a late evening snack. I have discovered that 3.5 ounces of Pop Secret takes 15 seconds longer to pop than 3.5 ounces of Act II. I have confirmed that the weight is actually the same (using my handy kitchen gram scale), and they both use the same ingredients in the seasoning. Is it possible that there is a difference in the variety of corn, or where it was harvested causing the different pop times?

What is the point of fuzzy handcuffs? They are for “erotic” situations, but usually for domination and control play, which tends to go to any direction but “fuzzy”. I own 6 pair of handcuffs (2 chain, 2 hinged, 2 long chain) as well as other steel restraints, and I can’t imagine them being any fun with fuzzy stuff on them.

So… does anyone get the point of fuzzy handcuffs?

Finished my Art History assignment a few minutes ago. I am much happier with it than I was with literature. It took me 5 days to create 200 words about a few Frost poems, but only about an hour to create 700 words about some paintings by Raphael. Its interesting how I handle visual information easier than literary information.

I am presently analyzing Robert Frost poems. I entered this process with a fairly high opinion of Frost, but I think he man spent too much time staring out into nature, or reflecting on nature after his experiences. Writing a 200 word response to each of 8 of his poems is leaving me completely drained. I am having to strain my usual level of bullshit to get the work together. I usually love poetry, but this is becoming an insane level of analysis. I should have been done with this assignment days ago, but I have run into a huge writers block in creating my response. It is taking me time to start thinking metaphorically again.

I have many options when it comes to my academic life for spring. I have open applications with UNC-Greensboro for Liberal Studies and Fayetteville State University (UNC-FSU) for Psychology, and of course there is the obvious option of UNC-Charlotte with Computer Science or Fine Arts (I won’t say BFA, since that is a whole different process). I have so many options, but none of them seem to be the perfect fit for me. All of the degree programs seem so template. I want to be able to combine artistic with technical, without majoring in computer art. I feel like my desires pull me in too many directions at once.

Current directions of Interest:

• Fine Arts (General)
• Drawing
• Ceramics
• Creative Writing
• Computer Science
• Computer Programming (AAS)
• Culinary Arts
• History
• General Humanities
• Kinesiology/Athletic Training

I’m just too spread out. I could get a degree in each field and probably still find more I’m interested in. Where does the academic loop end?

Assignments exist in my queue
Some more important than others
I show favor to one or two
The favorites are not the ones soon to be due

Annoyed here I sit
Homework of Frost, C-Sharp and Art Hist
Few appeal to me
Most ascend me to a fit

Frustration it does run deep
I dream of drawing
men nude and with big feet

Other thoughts are there too
but still none are in my queue

This semester I am noticing a horrible trend among instructors of web-based courses, they are abandoning the courses for days (or weeks in some cases) and being generally unresponsive when students attempt to communicate with them. For my self-paced C# course I expected that, but not in my Art History and Literature courses. Chris and I both have a substantial amount of coursework online. For him, its his first time in such a situation, and in my opinion, instructors being complete morons does not help get students adjusted to college. This semester that has been a lot of absent minded assignment dropping and running.

I waited over 10 days to get a response to my problem with Art History, and I still only received a half-ass response, although, with the most recent test, the problem seems to have been corrected. The BIGGEST problem I am having with C# and Art History is that the modules for future weeks are not available anymore. For C# they went away to be updated from C# 2005 to C# 2008. For Art History, they went down to go from Janson Art History to Gardner’s Art History, since there was a bookstore mix up. Neither course has had its  modules restored yet, and for Art History, the slow leaking of weekly work by the instructor shows that the materials still haven’t been updated. As for Literature, I still feel like something is missing there, but in general, the instructor does seem to be available upon request, but she doesn’t show up a lot otherwise.

For American History and Literature, I was told LAST weekend that stuff was being graded, as of today, there are no new grades in either course and the class averages haven’t changed.

I planted this bush/tree in my yard about three years ago. I thought it was just a flowering tree, but now it is producing berries/fruit and I have no idea what it is. Does anyone recognize what type of plant this is? In the spring it did blossom, but they were short-lived, and over the spring these fruits have been forming in their place. At present the bush is about 5 or 6 feet tall. It is very bushy, and all of the limbs are very pliable. These fruits are sporadically placed throughout the branches from about 1ft from the top to the very bottom branch. I am very curious as to what this plant is.

At some point near the end of this semester I am considering taking a correspondence course from UNC-Chapel Hill called “Advanced Poetry Writing”. It is a self-paced course that has a format allowing the student and instructor to develop the curriculum for the course. I have been wanting another Creative Writing course since Creative Writing II left me a little empty after so much fiction writing and so little poetry. Only problem with the course is I have to get approval of the instructor to even enroll in it, and I am afraid that my current poetry portfolio sucks.

http://www.fridaycenter.unc.edu/cp/catalog/english.html#engl407

If I take this course, it will be my first correspondence course. I fear that I will develop an obsessive compulsion of walking to the mailbox every 5 minutes each day until the mail arrives with feedback and assignments from my instructor.

No one around me seems to want to talk to me, and no one online is around. I am bored, there is nothing to do, but yet it is still much too early to sleep. I don't even seem to have anything interesting to blog about. What a sucky day this has turned out to be.

I am becoming more and more frustrated with my Art History instructor. I have emailed him and posted a forum discussion about a problem I am having with the course. The particular problem is that the instructor has not released the full details of quizzes once they are complete. In a standard classroom course, once everyone has taken a quiz, it is possible to obtain the hard copy of the quiz to determine what you got wrong, well, that's supposed to be the case online as well. I haven't been told that my request for release of the full quiz is inappropriate, and I haven't been told that it would be handled either, the instructor has ignored all attempts at being contacted about the issue, which greatly pisses me off.

I have now added the Associate of Fine Arts to my program at Gaston College. I don't know if this will lead to a BFA, or not, but its at least a start and I am admitting that Art  is an interest I have.

Presently I have classes that feel a bit like they are in very different conditions. I am feeling very good about American History  1, Art History  II, and Ceramics Studio. I am feeling more shaky with Intro to Literature as well as Sculpture. Literature is a bit misguided and in Sculpture I am just not very motivated. I get no sense of direction in Sculpture, and the course is starting to seem more pointless to me every day.

C# is in a class by itself, its self paced, and I am keeping up with the deadlines. I think it will work out fine.

I am on course for an A in American History, and at present, a B in Art history, but that can change any moment, there are a lot of assignments left. I feel like I can get back into the flow of things with Literature, I am just not presently very comfortable with the course and its delivery method. Sculpture is feeling more  lost, or more accurately I am feeling lost in it. The only course I am considering dropping is Sculpture, but I don't like the idea of giving up like that. Its one of those things where if I keep the course I might not have a 4.0 GPA anymore, or if I withdraw I certainly won't be on the President's list for the semester. I feel like my only option is to fight it out and try to make it work.

http://www.ryneksztuki.lodz.pl/sebastian_kularski1.htm

It would seem that strange art is common among the Kularski clan.

http://www.publicroot.org/technical/INS-TLD-compilation.txt

This is a complete list of TLDs that had been detected as in-use on the Internet as of the survey date on the file. This means that a DNS server somewhere on the Internet had to announce the TLD on the Internet. If the DNS system is open, then it is likely that a TLD list that is this fucked up would exist in THE root zone. At present the restricted ICANN TLD registry (maintained by IANA) keeps us safe from this insanity. If you are bored enough, scroll to the K's and find "Kularski". Any yahoo (its on the list too) can have a TLD presence.

I thought my C# course was going pretty well, being self-paced and with minimal assignments to work towards. Yesterday there was an email sent from the instructor, apparently now we have a load of stuff to do through the Microsoft IT Academy, woohoo! I remember Microsoft IT Academy from when I had to use it to prepare for my certifications a long long time ago. I hated it then, and it is even worse now. There are now interact lab things to do, oh so much fun.

Saw this video on YouTube yesterday and thought it was a fun video to watch. I might try following along with this guy. He has amazing abs, and a strange sense of humor.

German makes almost perfect sense to me when I am very tired.

I don't usually blog lyrics, that is usually more of Chris' way of expressing things, but currently I have this one song stuck in my head. It entered my mind from hearing the intro to another song, in a completely different genre. I haven't heard the song in years, but occasionally it pops in and makes me feel a little strange. The song reminds me of exactly how much I reflect on events that have already happened as well as how I always wish I could change those events.

Over the past few days I have made several attempts at figure drawing. I have attempted to read the book that I borrowed from the UNC Library,The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing. I find the book to be a little hard to follow and not as useful as I would like in a book about such a difficult topic. I am still seeking the perfect book for the topic, but I am not impressed with what I am finding at Amazon, and the local stores have close to no selection when it comes to art. Anyone know of a good book for the topic?

ART115 - Art History II - Got through the first module with no problems. I got an 80 on the quiz, but got 100 on both of the discussion assignments, so I'm happy for that. It seems like it is going to be a very fun course. I am still learning how to prepare for this course.

ART281 - Sculpture I - I am working very hard on my first project. My personal staff is coming along nicely in concept, but I haven't really spent much time working on it physically. I'm thinking of going fairly simple with it.

ART288C - Ceramics Studio - This course is moving a little faster than sculpture, even though it is the same instructor. I am mostly finished with my garden "totem", I just have to fire it and then glaze it. I might do a few more spare parts for it, but I am overall happy with it. This is easier than the staff, this is just simple shapes that I like.

CSC153 - C# Programming - This course seems to have been designed for a 10 week schedule. Nothing was officially due until yesterday. I have gotten that work done, as well as some other work. I am making good progress towards the next deadline of September 27th. The course is self-driven, which is a new concept to me in this type of course. It is almost like an independent study attempt at the subject. The course fits into my schedule very nicely, because it really has no schedule of its own.

ENG131 - Introduction to Literature - Lit is going as Lit goes, slow and boring. I am not sure I understand where the course is going, we are reading a really weird comic book that reminds me a little of the diary of Anne Frank, except a lot less coherent and with a lot more opinion. I don't like the book, or its "comic" approach to the topic. http://introduction2literature.wikispaces.com/Maus+Discussion

HIS131 - American History I - History is going VERY well. I have gotten through the first module, did the first quiz (twice), got 90% on the quiz, and will have an opportunity to earn the other 10% back.  I am getting a hold on the material fairly well. I am enjoying myself, which has completely shocked me. I do like history, I guess I just have to be able to do it at my own pace, and not at 9am.

Overall I am happy, except for the 9am ceramics class, which I am adapting to.

I attempted to make biscuits for dinner this evening, but I seem to have inherited my mother's ability to screw them up. Her biscuits always came out hard and completely inedible, but mine are a little different, they are very  soft and crumble when you touch them. Unlike my mother's, which taste like chalk, mine actually taste like biscuits, so maybe there is hope for me yet.

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/09/open-source-tex.html

While the idea is founded in solid ideas and overall good marketing, there is one factor being missed here, departmental textbook adoption. Colleges get a lot of "incentives" from publishers to use texts, often in the form of additional "resources", such as classroom aids and instructional equipment. In some cases, schools even get paid to select a certain book. The entire thing is very corrupt, and as a result, open source will not work. If you don't believe me, take a look at online learning environments. Moodle is free and open source, Blackboard is thousands per semester. Every school in North Carolina uses Blackboard, if not primarily, then somewhere, but very few use Moodle or any other free platform.

It used to be that an Internet user had 2 choices for a web browser, IE or Netscape. Or in short, the browser that worked or the one that didn't. Nothing ever worked on Netscape, everything worked on IE, then we jump forward a few years and now there is Internet Explorer, FireFox and a variety of lesser used browsers. There is no huge difference in compatibility, except for a few situations of badly written apps. Tomorrow Google will add their attempt to all of this. Google Chrome will be released on Tuesday as a browser designed specifically for web applications.

I am doubting that Google Chrome will be any more interesting than other modern browsers that copy each other.