January 16, 2010 by Chris
The first (real) lecture of class this semester reminded me of the joys of going to class, with a few exceptions. Knowing what’s going on is tempered by
It’s hard not coming across as a self-assured know it all. Especially in classes you really enjoy and have a background in. Bioethics is something I naturally have rational beliefs in, I can reasonably justify the beliefs I claim to hold (admitting there are indeed beliefs I hold irrationally). While this doesn’t make me better than my colleuges, my arguments are mean, lean and can handle most challanges heading my way. The real challange of the class, besides being maximally awesome, is not stepping on peoples toes.
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January 14, 2010 by Chris
Quick aside. More of a confession actually. Whenever I play with my “the future is almost here” technology I get very ranty. Whether this is a good thing is open for discussion.
Frequently Calibre, the open source digital book library management software, updates and steadily improves both its interface and how many times it crashes when poked with an impatient stick wielding jerk (ie: me). These advancements predicate playing around with its features and implementing them on my ebook readers.
The newest feature I’m using but has been in Calibre for a while now is the news fetching feature. Wherein it goes to websites, parses out the content and creates an ebook-readable format you can then upload. The default list is multinational and not merely in English and if that isn’t enough you can add your own sites too.
When the Kindle came out and had push news, I didn’t really see it as important. Maybe it was the impending demise of the dead tree news, their lethargy and incompetence. But playing around with the news feed function in Calibre has led me to see the potential utility of RSS style access to (good) content. I didn’t need wireless functionality when I bought my first (and *ahem* my second) e-reader, but sadly my next one will have such functionality.
Damn you technology.
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January 14, 2010 by Chris
Recently China and Google got into a spat with the international company announcing their withdrawal from the Chinese market if they’re unable to produce uncensored search results.
The international stage has been largely positive to Google. With support from Yahoo! and human rights advocates like Wei Jingsheng, and Amnesty International lauding the difficult financial choice.
Even tech pundits feel they can throw their 2 cents into the fray (why not, here we sit), sometimes to poor results. Ron Enderle is quoted in the Bangkok post, “Google was in a no-win situation,” Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle told AFP. “The choices they’ve got are all bad, but this one allows them to claim the high ground at home by standing up to evil China.”
I whole heartedly disagree with government censure, or generally any of the practices that China has been accused of, but declaring the whole of China as evil? It’s too slapdash saying an entire sub-continent is evil, when we disagree with their government, not the people.
For declaring an entire group of people as evil, I’m impelled to give Ron Enderle the Jackass of the week placard. May he hang it with dignity.
Tags: Bangkok post, China, Google, Jackass of the week, Ron Enderle
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January 10, 2010 by Chris
Ready for class, excited to finish up and get a nifty sheet of parchment.
Rachel finally played some New Super Mario Bros. Wii the other night, and so begins my hunt for a cheaper copy. Deliverer from salvation, thy name is Amazon.
I’ve had some frustrations with wordpress.COM and their parsing of my links. It was difficult finding a site to post my 40 minute presentation and discussion from my Senior Thesis online for free. Youtube and Google video are picky about the length of uploaded video. I decided upon Vimeo and was ready to post an embedded video on the site (under Senior Thesis) so people who were particularly particular could troll me. They kept taking out the uploads. Protecting their interests maybe.
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January 8, 2010 by Chris
So the problem I had in school was improperly planning my courses.
Had i done the correct thing I might have figured out that there was only one remaining class was actually one I’ve sat in on, and would do extremely well in.
In order to graduate, and have a cute little piece of paper showing this accomplishment I must attend Bioethics.
Since it’s going to be with the esteemed Dr. Drabkin I’ll be writing mini posts every week until finals.
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December 1, 2009 by Chris
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November 26, 2009 by Chris
Tags: Fark
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November 21, 2009 by Chris
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November 17, 2009 by Chris
Last month my original Sony PRS-500 died, to the dismay of my wallet. I tried to remain strong and hold out till January to get a new one. Someone didn’t tell my job that, because after 3 days cold turkey I started losing my mind. I checked out the kindle and the sony reader touch and asked myself the important question: which would I use to replace my book?
I decided for the reader touch because the waive-of-restriction at work for my original sony reader was it had no internet connection. I did order it on Amazon, go-go discount.
The reader has definite improvements over it’s predecessor; better PDF functionality, better placement of controls and memory card slots. Unlike every OTHER commentary on the internets about its contrast vs the PRS-505, compared to the 500, it’s comparable and does have better greyscale. Additionally, collections can now be put on memory cards, instead of forcing you to keep collections only on the Sony internal memory.
My largest complaint is STILL the library software. when previous, buggy, versions of open source software are preferential to your current lineup, something needs to change. Appreciative comments to Sony about bringing over their software to the mac side, but I’d rather use Calibre, it has better functionality.
The note and bookmarking feature is useful, especially for research and reference materials. I was able to link and notate my spells, feats and equipment for my Dungeons and Dragons 4.0 campaign, so much so it impressed the local Game Master.
My friend Matt received an early Christmas present in the form of a kindle 2, and I’ll share my feelings about them in the future.
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November 6, 2009 by Chris
Little did I realize I forgot to pay up for another year of service, I shant make that mistake again.
Additionally, I’ve been working on my review of the Sony Reader Touch, also known as the PRS-600.
So until then,
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