Koda

日本語を勉強します。OMG! 名前は片仮名で書きました！

(I am studying Japanese. OMG! The name was written in Katakana!)

Yeah, I know it’s been a lot of fluff posts lately… I’m sorry, but I haven’t found the time to do (or write about) anything particularly interesting on the technical side. However, there are (and always will be) lots of interesting ramblings to share… so here’s some more.

Today I got to see the first video in my Japanese Culture class. It’s a neat little course, and so every other Friday I will be able to enjoy a bit more of this fascinating culture. The movie we watched today was pretty awesome… a samurai story exploring gender and social power and the ethics around them (in historic Japan). So anyway, it’s a real drawn out story about a Samurai’s son who is ordered to marry the lord’s mistress (who bore the lord a child), and they fall in love only to find that due to circumstances the lord wishes that he have her back. So of course, the father and son can’t let that happen. But long story short, we sit through 1:30 of pretty cerebral (and completely fight-free) tension, only to run out of time right before the real samurai style ass-kicking begins. You can look at the IMDB page… and yes, that movie poster seems to be showing the fight scene that will surely be bugging me all week.

This Firefox video seems fast on its way to becoming viral (omg! I used a buzz word!). But honestly, childish and poorly produced as it may be, I laughed. Hysterically. It’s kind of sad to see the anti-quicktime anti-firefox response these first contenders seem to have attracted… though it was also quite disappointing to see that the web designers had opted to use an open source unfriendly and hard to use quicktime embed instead of better distribution methods. But regardless, it’s quite silly to see some of the early adopters reacting in such a way that defaces the pages of some bravely uninvolved contest entrants. Surely there is a more mature way to express codec-induced anger than this.

Finally, if you like optical illusions, you’re in luck, because out of complete whim and amusement, here’s a feed for a more-than-daily updated blog dedicated solely to this purpose. There’s a lot of nice unique stuff there, and looking through them will certainly eat up at least 15 minutes of your time.

Yum. Mighty Optical Illusions

Good night.

Hmm, apologies for the lack of updates over the last week. It’s funny, while just a few weeks ago I felt I had to much to say, lately I simply haven’t had much to talk about. Been doing lots of art, design, and other things… but for some reason a lot of my usual desire to write about it hasn’t been there. So the blog’s been on the backburner for the last week or so.

Did some quick design work this evening for a friend over at HackersEntity… it was fun to just throw some ideas together quickly for a change. HackersEntity is an (ethical) source for hacking information and knowledge. We were shooting for a bit of an unconventional layout, with the navigational content at the bottom right, and nothing (for now) but a symbol at the usual top left. My idea behind this was to use the “newline symbol” as a logo/motif for the layout, as the newline could be considered as the classic character utilized by computer hackers. So, the newline up at the top left is supposed to uphold this design and point the reader down to where the real information lies. There’s not a lot of content up yet, though I’m sure there will be in the next couple of days. It’s a fun little unique layout, and I certainly had fun working on it.

School’s started up nice and busy-like, and I’m once again finding myself caught up with a good deal of homework and on-campus time. But hey, the days are getting brighter, the weather’s getting warmer - the end is within sight.

I decided to take a course on Existential Philosophy this term, and so far the readings have been suitably thought-provoking. Over the week I read “Waiting For Godot” and have been thinking about it - but the sad thing is that after the other assigned 2 pages or so of Camus, I must say that I found that Camus put forth similar ideas in a much more accessible and short manner (which is ironic considering Waiting For Godot is a play). The ideas are very interesting, and really fit with some of the things I’ve been thinking about (here and elsewhere).

However, the thing about this philosophy is, I guess I feel that any discussion I make of the ideas will come out missing the punchline of the material, and not making a lot of sense. It’s kind of strange for me to find myself thinking this, because at the same time I can see the silliness in my fear of not being able to discuss the concepts with the right level of “authority.” In light of this, I am tempted to post something about the topic now, but once again I find myself concerned about not getting it right in my currently sleepy state. Boy, what happened to that blind self-assurance I once knew and loved! I’ll let myself off the hook for now…

… One part of the course is to be writing weekly reflections/notes on the reading presented - and so I hope to post selections from those that I find most apropos. It is truly fascinating stuff, and I enjoy thinking about it… and I hope you might enjoy reading some rambling about it in the future, too.

All day now I’ve been catching these pieces of something I’ve forgotten. I’m not so sure what it is, but everything I do seems to be reminding me of it. It’s really starting to make me curious of why I’m getting these flashbacks. Is it the lack of sleep? Believe it or not, prolonged periods of 7 hours of sleep can leave me feeling pretty loopy sometimes…

It’s like that feeling when you’ve just about remembered a dream, but it’s lingering in the back of your mind in pieces; unprocessed. I remember some things: a global organization, competition, a group of people, computer hacking? It seems kind of silly down on (virtual) paper. Somehow I feel like once I realize what it is I’m unable to remember, it won’t be something so remarkable. Maybe it’s not even a something, but instead many separate somethings.

Oh, and my CDs arrived today. In any case, I’ll be drowning it all out with music.

If I need you to be complete, who am I?
If I don’t, then: who are you?

I keep noticing lately how some relationships I have with people will flow naturally forward. How there are people some who seem to be naturally open, and I am able to be open with too. And how there are also some that, no matter how hard I try to push, just don’t seem to be this way.

I think one thing I’ve recognized in the last few months is how important it is to appreciate these relationships in life. And to try to cultivate them as much as I can.

This seems like deja vu.

It’s spring break, so theoretically I should be blasting through all of those wonderful things I put off until the end of the semester. Clean the room, send the emails, get out more. You know. Yet paradoxically, it seems that when I have more free time I get less free time things done. This happened before over the winter break. I suppose that when I shouldn’t be doing them, I pace myself better…

That is not to say that I’m not getting some interesting things done in the mean time. I’ve be You might notice some incremental aesthetic changes here and there. I’m busy tweaking! Also, I’ve got a Calculus II final coming up tomorrow, so there’s (supposedly) been some studying towards that. Wish me luck!

Lately, I’ve become rather hopelessly addicted to Last.fm and it’s internet radio service. It’s such a pleasure to see a service that give some serious attention to it’s Linux client, and does it in a very open-sourcy way. Unfortunately, my Internet connection can barely keep it up, but that doesn’t stop me from using it. I used to be a LAUNCHcast listener, but the bloat, annoyance of their service (audio ads!), and eventually a lack of interest drove me away. There’s one really way to keep listeners, and Last.fm got it: community.

Their site is what I would call an exemplary example of good web (and community) design. They do some really neat things with javascript and subtle flash. I flirted with posting one of their auto-generated profile images of my listening statistics over on the sidebar, but I don’t think they really belong there. It’s really great to see a legal music service that actually seems to have some life in it. The tag station system is also fantastic - now I can say I’ve truly experienced christian, german, and japanese hip-hop, and some other frighteningly funny subgenres of music.

My home though has been their “Piano Rock” station, which I was surprised to find myself enjoying a lot. Their service has been so effective that it’s motivated me to purchase some new CDs, which is something I haven’t done for quite some time. I wish the music industry would catch on that this is the way to go. The thing is, without cultivating a market for discovering music on the Internet, there will be no motivation from customers such as myself to have an interest in the media. I won’t be ripped off on DRM-infested downloads, and will buy the real thing if it’s worth it - but without knowing what I like, there is no “worth it.” Now all I have to do is wait for my Amazon order to arrive…

deviantART seems to be going in some funky directions in the mean time. I’m not sure whether to love them or hate them at this point… honestly it’s all been kind of funky since the two co-founders have gone. At this point, I feel I’m there for the fantastic people I’ve met and the free hosting - not much appreciation for the company or staff itself. This is kind of sad, as around this time last year things were quite different. There seems to be a real difference between the attitudes of the corporate/administor staff and the community/artist staff members - and I can’t say I like it. The fact that they always have to overcompensate for their changes is enough of a red flag. I’m also not sure I like the idea of their allusion to “professional portfolio” services… seems to me this will have to take away some of that kooky egalitarian atmosphere I’ve always loved.

In other news, the Orange project is nearing it’s March 24th movie premiere. If you have not heard of it, the Orange project goal is a professional quality open Blender movie. And they did it! They’ll be premiering it in Amsterdam in just a few short days. How exciting! Definitely a site to watch over the next few days.

Well, I told myself I’d sit down and write a 15 minute post, but this has become a bit of a long one. Ah well. It’s time to do a little more studying and sleep. I hope this has been at least a little bit interesting.

I can’t help but think…
When travel was slower,
People weren’t as late.

The faster we go,
The less it matters to get there.
We still spend our lives in transit…
But do we get as far?

I blame the wheel.
It all started going downhill from there.

Cats grow fur in a variety of sizes and density throughout their coat, but their individual hairs maintain a mostly constant length through shedding and other natural processes. However, human head and facial hair will grow and grow, for many feet if not cut. So then, why does human hair grow long, while other animals such as cats tend to maintain a constant length?

This question has troubled me for a couple days. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Human Hair length:

Individual hairs alternate periods of growth and dormancy. During the growth portion of the cycle, hair follicles are long and bulbous, and the hair advances outward at about a third of a millimeter per day. After three to six months, body hair growth stops (the pubic and armpit areas having the longest growth period). The follicle shrinks and the root of the hair rigidifies. Following a period of dormancy, another growth cycle starts, and eventually a new hair pushes the old one out of the follicle from beneath. Head hair, by comparison, grows for a long duration and to a great length before being shed. The rate of growth is approximately 1.25 centimeters, or about 0.5 inches, per month. Anthropologists speculate that the functional significance of long head hair may be adornment, a byproduct of secondary natural selection once other somatic hair had been lost.