Allen in Austin

Out of Austin, New Blog

2006-07-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

Off to Barcelona (BCN). I won't be updating this blog anymore. Check out alleninbcn.

I got up this morning at 4:30am to throw everything out, pack up, and catch a 7:40am flight. I put together a video of all the places I used to regularly haunt while in Austin. This is more for me to remember than for anyone else.

Goodbye, Austin.

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ESADE Ch. 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

2006-07-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

When I was at lunch today, I was talking to one of the MOT students about ESADE. He casually mentioned that he didn't want to apply there because it was run by Opus Dei, which in his opinion was a cult. He may be thinking about IESE, because from what I can see, ESADE was established by Jesuits. If you crawl esade.edu, there are no references to Opus Dei. ESADE is pretty open about it being a Jesuit school.

Still, it sounds like the whole business school ethos is not going to be that popular in Barcelona, which might have been part of my friend's complaint. If you look at the forums online, a lot of Spainiards are concerned with the fact that ESADE is a private institution devoted to business (rather than a public university). The derision of the "ESADE snobs" is pretty funny.

ESADE Wikipedia entry

ESADE Law School's vision of the future is one in which multi-stakeholder dialogues and responsible self-regulation by business will usurp government functions and the welfare state - a nightmarish prospect for many.

I'm guessing that the "many" here refers to "many Europeans". Actually, I think they culled the above from the Texas state moto.

As far as I can tell looking at other sites online, there is a pretty clear separation of academia and religion, although several sites do claim that the program emphasizes Christian values. The only thing I've found that was a little unexpected is their onsight religious guidance, ominously acronymed SAR. So far, nothing I've read about Opus Dei, the Jesuits, or ESADE really bothers me. In fact, I support their idea of using business to make a positive impact and would like to do the same myself. As afraid my European counterpart was of ESADE, after reading about the religious connection I'm actually more intrigued than anything else.

...to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but I had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way.

Dinner and Lunch with the MOT Students

2006-07-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night I had dinner with the class at the Clay Pit (great Indian food). Today I gave my final presentation (my last official act at UT) and meet with the class at Scholz's afterwards. Both outings can be seen here.

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Pictures from the Clay Pit:
Swapna
Moreno, Alex, Peter
Keyvan, Michael, Christian
Sung, Sylvie, Allen
Alex, Moreno, Julie, Mar

Moises' wife, Moises, Keyvan
Serge, Pierre
Didier, Tilo
Swapna, Sylvie, Giselle, Mar, Julie
Julie, Moreno, Alex
Didier, Julie, Mar, Sylvie

Acceptance Letter In, Tuition Paid

2006-06-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I sent my acceptance letter into ESADE today. I finally got the tuition issue straightened out. For those playing at home, or anyone else applying to ESADE, I did the following:

I went to Sallie Mae and signed up for the MBA loans
The funds were disbursed directly to ESADE
On the acceptance form, I ticked off the "Proof of Payment" section and wrote in a note that the funds had been disbursed

This was actually easier than wiring the money (fewer steps). The down side is that I can't pick up the rest of my cash until I get to Spain in September.

20 Days in Vegas

2006-05-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

The trip back home to visit Lisa. It's about 3.5 minutes of video. I transferred the President's office of my nonprofit to a Director on my Board, so I am no longer running Nevada NETS. Now I'm going back to Austin to finish out my MBA. I also have to work with the Spanish consulate in Houston to get a student visa. I got my internship back, so in July I'm going out to San Fran to work for a month. After that, I've got a month to get ready for the move to Spain.

Video:
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SLYFF Fellowship Award

2006-05-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have been awarded a fellowship that will cover about 1/3rd of my tuition at ESADE. Great news.

Generally known as SYLFF (pronounced as "sylph"), The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund Program was launched in 1987 by The Nippon Foundation (formerly, The Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation or The Sasakawa Foundation). The goal of the SYLFF Program is to nurture future leaders who will transcend the geopolitical, religious, ethnic, and cultural boundaries and actively participate in the world community for peace and the well-being of humankind. Under the SYLFF Program, The Nippon Foundation donates an endowment of one-million U.S. dollars each to institutions of higher learning, from which fellowships are awarded to graduate students enrolled in social sciences and humanities fields at the respective endowed institutions.

Now I need to send out a letter thanking the foundation. The funny thing is that the acceptance letter from McCombs asks me to send a "Thank You Letter to Japan". I'm sure the intent of that statement is to send a thank you letter to the foundation in Japan, but just in case, I send my heartfelt appreciation to the entire island-nation of Japan.

Website.

Officially Accepted at ESADE

2006-05-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

I just got word that I was officially accepted at ESADE. I had to give up my internship to accept my nomination from UT Austin, so the last month has been high stress for me. At this point, it is more relief than elation. For posterity:

I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to ESADE’s Double Degree MBA programme beginning in September 2006. Congratulations!

You have been admitted to a rigorous, demanding and innovative programme, designed to provide you with thorough management knowledge as well as to develop the managerial competencies that will be most useful for you in the future.

You will become part of a community of people who share a strong desire for personal and professional growth via the exchange of diverse ideas and values among each and every member, comprised of students from all over the world creating an international atmosphere of learning, fostering an ongoing exchange of personal experiences and enriching the course content.

You will shortly receive written notification of your acceptance to the programme as well as information about the matriculation process. Meanwhile, I invite you to visit our site where you will find plenty of information about the MBA community, ESADE and Barcelona.

Congratulations on your acceptance! All the people in the MBA team are looking forward to welcoming you to ESADE next spring.

Now, I just need to find a job.

Nominated for ESADE

2006-04-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

I just got word from McCombs that they have nominated me for the ESADE program in Barcelona. This is the culmination of about a year and a half of work. This means that I probably will be in Austin over the summer, and after that I will spend the next year in Barcelona. At the end of that I would have an MBA from McCombs (top 20 school in the US) and an MBA from ESADE (top 5 school in Europe).

Website.

ESADE Celebration

2006-04-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday night, after learning about my ESADE nomination, I went out to a Think & Drink with some friends. Fittingly, we started at "Barcelona", then "Six". That's not my cookie by the way.

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Kitty in a Trash Can

2006-04-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Cosmo in a trash can. He loves hanging out in there. MOV

Philip K. Dick's Android Head is Missing

2006-04-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

The android head of Philip K. Dick is missing. Last seen in the overhead bin on a commercial flight.

"That would be a really strange ending," Hanson says, "if the head of a Philip K. Dick robot wound up being exploded by another robot."

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Vegas in a Minute Plus

2006-04-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

Quick trip to Vegas. Marche Bacchus and a house party with showgirls and showboys.

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OPV: Other People's Videos

2006-03-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

Some videos that other people took on the trip.

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Day 16: The Final Countdown

2006-03-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

Our trip home. Through Prague, Amsterdam, Memphis, then Austin.

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Day 15: A Visit from the Kauers

2006-03-18T05:17:00.000-08:00

Friends of the family stop by and take me on a tour of Prague. Martina is our young tour guide and Barbara is another resident and friend of the Kauers.

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Day 14: Skoda, Dinner, and a Night on the Town

2006-03-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

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Day 13: FINEP, Concentration Camp, and a Bar

2006-03-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

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Day 12: Andel

2006-03-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

Business meeting at Andel.

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Day 11: Cesky Krumlov, Cesky Budvar, Prague

2006-03-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

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Day 10: Salzburg

2006-03-13T22:53:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this one in advance. It will go something like this: stayed in room, watched TV.

Day 9: Kitzbühel Ow Ow Ow

2006-03-12T22:46:00.000-08:00

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Tried snowboarding. Dislocated my shoulder. Walked down a mountain. Can't type.

Day 8: The Trip to Salzburg

2006-03-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

We got going at 3pm and took a 3 hour bus ride into Salzburg.

Keep an eye out for the cat chocolate. Made of real kitties?

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Day 7: Wien-Bratislava-Wien

2006-03-10T19:50:00.000-08:00

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Also, check out this Washington Post video posted the day after we left (open it with iTunes or Quicktime).

Our bus stopped at a gas station just outside the Austria-Hungary border. There was a band of gypsies standing around a broken down car and another one in the WC downstairs who just seemed to be wandering around staring at us as we used the facilities.

I found some Krusovice in a can, which I later found out is Czech not Slovak like I had thought. Even in a can it is better than any other draft beer in the world. I don't understand why they don't export this stuff.

By the way, as you go through the video, for those Germanically challenged, Wien is Vienna.

We stayed at the Hotel Ananas. I knew that we were going to have a long night, so I immediately went in and slept until about 7pm. Sitting in the hotel room waiting for my friends to return, I watched German MTV. They've got a lot of videos that we don't have over here, and watching them gave me a gut wrenching sense of nostalgia for my former life over here. In some ways, what the problems we were about to have that night were for the better. It helped me temper some of that longing for the past.

We took a cab to the train at around 8:30pm. The night started out badly when we accidentally insulted our cabbie. Scott King and I were talking about how awful Bucharest was. It turns out our cabbie was Romanian and he made a comment. Ugly Americans.

I had been inside the train station we left from the last time I came to Vienna, but I had completely forgotten about it. The night was full of a lot of deja vu moments. There was something uncomfortable about being back. Like I shouldn't have been mixing my old life in the East with my new life as an MBA. I think it was mainly because this time around I was exactly what I used to hate: a group of loud Americans who were acting like these people's homes were our playground.

On the train, I met a young Slovak named Suzanne who was a DJ and fashion designer. She gave us the insight on where to go and invited us to her gig that night. She also recommended I try burovice, which is a pine-tree based alcohol. I did at some point during the night. It is somewhere in between gin and vodka. It is interesting because it does smell like pine cones but the taste and fragrance to the American palette tastes like drinking Pledge, so there is not much chance of exporting it.

There were some things in Bratislava that I didn't remember from my previous visit, like UFO, the restaurant perched atop a bridge that looks over the enitre city. Other things, like the Hotel Carlton and Michael's Gate only came back into my memory a few seconds after I rediscovered them.

We stayed at the Botel Marina (Boat-Hotel presumably). They made us register at reception, which I don't think I had done since Bulgaria several years ago. We had an uneven number of people so we snuck Diego Rubio in unregistered.

We went to a bar called Medusa. we should have stayed there, because everything went downhill after that. Suzanne's gig at Sub Club underneath the castle wasn't what my friends were looking for, so we left for Circus Barok (a disco boat) which was empty so we got in a cab and took the driver's suggestion. This was a mistake because the cabbies are all tied to the mafia and take you to the mafia bars.

The first one we came to let a couple of us in ($10 cover) but when Charaig (Indian) got to the door they wouldn't let him in. When we told the bouncers that he was with us, they threw us out too. Slovak hospitality.

We tripped around to a couple of other less than memorable places and drank way too much. We went back to Circus Bartok and were generally rude to people.

After that, we got back into a cab and asked where to go for food. As soon as we got out a bunch of mafia guys stepped in front of the front door and told us we were not allowed into the restaurant. I think by then we had already decided to get out of the country and not stay the night.

Our cab had left, so a mafia guy pulled up his cab. I started arguing with him about the price because he didn't have the meter on and he pulled over and told us to get out of the cab, while repeatedly threatening us. As we walked away he waved us back telling us that it was Ok and he'd take what we offered. The surreal part was that he gave us all candy, which we took out of fear. I think it was meant as a peace offering for having threatend our lives. I made idle chit-chat as we went along, hoping that he wasn't planning on dumping our bodies in the river, but there was a translation problem between my bad Polish and his Slovak.

We got home at day break and checked out. we hadn't really needed the extra hotel.

In Vienna, we grabbed breakfast. The dining hall at the hotel was packed with groups of well-rested Westerners whose biggest problem was that there weren't enough eggs at the buffet. I think I had some inkling of what it must have been like for American soldiers who took R&R in Saigon after spending weeks out in the bush.

Day 6: Budapest. CEU presentation, Puccini: La Boheme

2006-03-09T13:53:00.000-08:00

We started out at about 1pm at CEU to meet with our European counterparts (fortunately allowing me to sleep off a hangover). We did the presentation and effectively closed shop on this class. Now all I have to do is make sure I don't get arrested and I should do fine in this class.

That is Husam El Amin and Martin Kopchev in the video.

Afterwards, we went back home and I fell asleep again. At about 6:30pm we took a bus to see La Boheme. I was there for the first thirty minutes but I was asleep the whole time. I walked out during the intermission and went home. I'm ready for Bratislava.

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Day 5: Budapest. Visteon, Wine Flights, and Karaoke

2006-03-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

Visteon isn't actually in the video. One of the workers was concerned about me taking pictures, so I'm not posting anything taken inside their plant.

The plant is in Szekesfehervar, about an hour drive from Budapest.

About three hours after we got home, we went to the Castle district. There we spent two hours drinking Hungarian wines at the House of Hungarian Wines. Here are the crib notes: Hungarian reds are awful, some of their whites have a lot of personality and are actually good, Tokaji is a decent white dessert wine.

After that we went to Morrison's and sang karaoke until about 4am.

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GDrive

2006-03-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Supposedly Google is planning a service that will allow you to post all your data for free online. Is the future of computing a wifi connection, 1GB memory, and no hard drive?

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Day 4: Budapest. BITEP, the Citadel, and the Office of European Affairs

2006-03-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

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I realized that I didn't have a photo of CHIC in the video, so here it is.
CHIC is in the BITEP industrial park near Budaörs, west of Budapest.

This One is for Gary

2006-03-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

We are staying at the Hotel Astoria, conveniently located next to the Astoria metro stop.

Interactive map centered on the Hotel Astoria.

Long: 47.495106025036
Lat: 19.0600045408059

Day 3: Tesco and CEU

2006-03-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

Moving from Pest to Buda, we went to visit Tesco headquarters in Hungary, saw some floppy bunnies and bought water, then on to CEU to meet with our Hungarian counterparts.

Boring day. I was back asleep at 4pm CET and up again by 10pm. Schedule completely shot.

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Budapest Day 2:Sunday, the Day that Basically Wasn't

2006-03-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

No time for anything. Nothing happened.

Dammit George.

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Budapest Day 1: Friday-Sunday, the Longest Day

2006-03-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

David Busker setting the tone for the day.

I got up at around 10am on Friday, hung over from the Think and Drink the previous night. I spent most of my time getting packed up and finishing off some work.

The plane left at around 6pm Central time. I did homework on the plane and didn't sleep at all. I can't really sleep on planes. We arrived at Amsterdam around noon Saturday and got to Budapest around 4pm CET. Still no sleep.

We stayed at the Hotel Astoria. Nice enough. After meeting in the lobby around 6:30pm, we went back to our room and cleaned up. I'm rooming with Alex Johns. In the video he is the guy standing on the street corner holding a beer.

We ate at the Soul Food cafe on Rady ul. Surprisingly good steak. It also turns out that Budapest is much cheaper than I thought. Everything is about 20% less than in the States. I would have thought it would be more expensive given that it is a modern city now.

At around 10pm, we went to a club called Inside. It was a decent place, but very young. I took a cab home around 2am with a couple of other people. Alex didn't get home until about 4am. In all, I went about 34 hours without sleep.

Quicktime video. Streams well if you can view it.
MPEG-4 video. It's a standard.
Windows WMV. For the rest of the world.

Hey, I Know That Guy

2006-03-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

I was listening to CNN and I heard an interview with Glenn Reynolds who happened to mention that a guy named "Bill Quick" was the person who coined the term "blogosphere".

The name struck a chord and I did some searching. He is the same guy I worked with on Star Control III. Bill did the novelization of our game: Star Control Interbellum.

His website is here.

Also he has a blog: The Daily Pundit.

I'm Going to Eastern Europe Tomorrow

2006-03-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

Kona Earth Harvest Sale

2006-02-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine quit programming a few years back, bought a coffee farm in Hawaii, and moved his entire family out there.

His website tracks the progress of a modern Swiss Family Robinson. Watch out for the wild boars.

They are having a sale celebrating their most recent coffee harvest. Get out there and buy some.

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Flickr Spell

2006-02-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

Flickr Spell.

Leaving Chicago

2006-02-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

I had an interview in Chicago today. From the time I stepped foot out of my apartment to the time I got back almost 18 hours went by. I was at the interview site for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, the rest was spent traveling. This is about all I saw of Chicago.

Dave Chai the Animation Guy

2006-02-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

I worked with the guy who did this back at Accolade. Now he's in the Sundance film festival. Congrats Dave. All the rest, take a look. That is him narrating, by the way. Video.

Francis Finally Gives In

2006-02-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Before I go on a rant, I should be clear that I was for the Iraq war. But what I argued from Eastern Europe, and argue still today is that going it alone makes no sense. In some ways, Fukuyama was saying the same thing when he signed the PNAC letter. He didn't necessarily think that unilateral action should be our first reaction, but it should be readily available.

It looks like Fukuyama has completely given up on neoconservatism. I applaud him for his decision, but the question is, what took him so long? He should have been saying this in 2002, not in 2006.

I suppose his saving grace is that he is advocating that more attention needs to be paid to proliferation and rogue states than an unending war in the Middle East. And I think that is great, but I don't really know if he is the right voice for the issue anymore.

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Charlotte Curtis and Janet Usinger on Inside Education

2006-02-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Charlotte Curtis and Dr. Janet Usinger on Inside Education talking about GEAR UP Nevada. Video.

The Artisan Hotel, Las Vegas

2006-02-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

A short video of the Artisan hotel in Las Vegas. The first bit is actually at Kona Grill, earlier that day. Unfortunately, at the Artisan I couldn't get the coolest part which is the lounge and the bar. The prices for drinks and food are a little high, but its still reasonable enough to be a great spot for locals. The location isn't great, unless you are walking out of a strip club and suddenly find you need a place to stay, but the inside makes up for it.

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Brokeback to the Future

2006-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

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Nacho Libre

2006-02-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

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Christmas in Vegas

2006-01-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

30 days of Las Vegas in 6 minutes.

Windows Media Video.
MPEG-4 Video.
QuickTime 6.5 Archive Video (huge, don't bother).

Brokeback Showboys

2006-01-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Showboys riding the mechanical bull at Gilley's. Video.

New Year's with a Showgirl

2005-12-31T23:35:00.000-08:00

Lisa's Riviera Silk Act Highlight Video.

Complete Riviera Show Video.

Showgirls and Showboys

2005-12-30T22:40:00.000-08:00

We Are Circus People

2005-12-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

Practicing for Lisa's New Year's gig at Sandou.

Baboo

2005-12-29T11:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Cosmo

2005-12-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

Lisa's Aerial Videos

2005-12-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Highlight Reel, Moscow State Circus, Plush Show, Lyra Workout.

Nevada NETS is Back Up. Now with Virtual Servers!

2005-12-22T23:45:00.000-08:00

I run a small nonprofit called Nevada NETS. We do video conferencing for school children.

I haven't been able to do much work with it this semester because of school, but I've finally got the server up an running again. I didn't have a place to store the physical server, so I'm using a virtual private server from Linode. I had a lot of doubts about whether or not this would work, but the install was straight forward and their service is much cheaper and flexible then an internet business account from Cox. I'm so happy with it, I'm actually going to sell the physical server and go virtual from here on out.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries, a Champagne Bottle, and a Butcher Knife

2005-12-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

When I got home there was a package waiting for me. My grandparents sent us chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of champagne, proving they are the coolest grandparents on Earth.

You'll notice that the bottle in the picture has no lip. I took the occasion to show Lisa a trick taught to me by Catherine Dalton and the poet laureate of Russia whereby you slice open a bottle of champagne with a sword. In this case I used a butcher knife to stand in for the sword. The top of the bottle separates cleanly if you know how to cut it just right.

спасибо Женя.

Allen's Home. Cats wear hats.

2005-12-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Can't Talk. Taking Finals.

2005-12-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

School Closed Due to Inclement Weather

2005-12-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

University closed today, Dec. 8 due to inclement weather

December 8, 2005

Updated 9:02 a.m.

The University of Texas at Austin is closed today, Thursday, Dec. 8, and will reopen on schedule tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 9.

The University of Texas System Administration is also closed today, Thursday, Dec. 8.

It was 23 degrees this morning in Austin, which meant they shut down the entire campus. No rain, no snow...it's just too cold. I didn't know this until I had already walked in. There was a woman from Minnesota that heard the news the same time I did and she had this look on her face like she just walked through the looking glass.

Borat, Not Cohen, Responds to Kazakhstan Threat to Sue

2005-11-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

Check out the official Borat website, "I fully support my government's decision to sue this Jew". Dziekuje.

I'm Every Woman

2005-11-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

Every Playboy centerfold since 1988 digitally averaged to produce this shroud-of-Turn-like image.

Some worse things, some better things on this website.

Lisa and the Opossum

2005-11-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

Lisa shows up on campus and chases a opossum around.

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Sushi Etiquette

2005-11-07T10:02:00.001-08:00

Funny.

I honestly don't get most of the references.

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World Can't Wait (for you to get off my lawn)

2005-11-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Dirty hippies with microphones.

Website.

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Do You Need Help Little Man?

2005-10-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

Already posted everywhere. So much so that I don't even have to host it. Funny. I'm convinced that Scare Tactics uses actors though.

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Vietnam War Started Because of Faulty Intelligence

2005-10-31T15:21:00.000-08:00

...it appears that officers at the NSA made honest mistakes in translating interceptions involving the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident...Rather than correct the mistakes...midlevel officials decided to falsify documents to cover up the errors...

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U.K. Considers Air-Delivered Nuclear Weapons

2005-10-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

The United Kingdom is considering basing its next generation of nuclear weapons on aircraft instead of submarines, the Scotsman reported Saturday (see GSN, Oct. 20).

The Defense Ministry is considering smaller warheads that could be carried by long-range bombers, according to the Scotsman.

What? Why? I can only assume that subs are more expensive to operate than bombers.

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Charlie Brown's Oldest Relative

2005-10-30T14:26:00.000-08:00

Something Gruesome for the Halloween Season

2005-10-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

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Ghostly Car Ad

2005-10-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

Halloween spookiness.

Supposedly Acura was filming an ad for their new car but when they got the footage back there was this weird mist near the car that people on the internet are saying looks like a ghost. Whatever it was they decided to pull the ad.

You can see it pretty well right as it comes around the trees, but there are a couple of shots right after it where there is definitely something there. Very creepy.

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Remote Control This Asian Woman

2005-10-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

It sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head — either from left to right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved.

Article.

Got Racism?

2005-10-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

One for Marek

2005-10-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

12 year old racist pop singers.

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Lucy's Football

2005-10-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is All You Get During Midterms

2005-10-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Alaska Board of Tourism

2005-10-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Half Mast

2005-10-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

The flag in front of the tower here at UT is almost always at half-mast. I don't think I've ever seen it raised.

I heard a thing on NPR the other day about the black plague. At some point the churches stopped ringing the bell when someone died because of the negative effect it had on morale.

Warm Day Before Midterms

2005-10-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

Skymall

2005-10-13T18:47:00.001-07:00

Chewbacca Granted American Citizenship

2005-10-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

"I know that I have the best of both worlds..." he said.
When he takes his oath to become an American, [...] he'll recite what he can remember and "it will be a Chewie growl for the other parts."

Article

Wallace and Gromit Burn to Death

2005-10-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

Both stars of the recently released "Were-Rabbit" movie burned to death in a warehouse fire. Authorities search for their grisly, charred remains.

Article.

Cold in Austin

2005-10-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago it was in the 90's and sunny. In one day the highs dropped 30 degrees and it is cold and rainy.

Not Exactly Ideal for Academia

2005-10-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of people talk to me while I was trying to study at school, so I quietly got up and went home, figuring that I'd be able to study better at home. After about an hour, just as I was starting to get comfortable, this happened: a five minute long parade. At least fast-forward to the giant flag of Texas or the team of torch-bearing cowboys yelling "Beat the hell out of OU". I'm not sure where a thousand people, taught to march lock-step and twirl batons get their training or how they could possibly get jobs after they graduate, but Texas seems to make due. Congratulations, you may yet beat OU.

Video.

FutureMe

2005-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

FutureMe.org.

A site that is both useful and humorous. You can send private emails to yourself or someone else postdated to some future date (useful). You can also create posts that are publicly viewable (humorous). The first one I found was someone who had left a reminder for themselves in Catalan for an opthamalogy appointment.

Lisa's Photo Shoot

2005-10-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

It's All in the Editing

2005-09-30T00:55:00.000-07:00

Sent by Morgan.

Really good.

Video.

Meth Driven Life

2005-09-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

The woman who says she gained the trust of suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols by talking about her faith in God discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal.

She says he asked for marijuana, but she did not have any, and dug into her crystal methamphetamine stash instead.

Article.

And Then There Was One...

2005-09-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Audio.

What Not to Say When Fleeing a Hurricane

2005-09-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

I just met a woman in the elevator who was going to my floor. I hadn't met her before and I asked her if she lived here.

She said, "No, I'm staying with my sister," and after an awkward pause she added, "I'm evacuated".

My first thought was, "High fiber diet?"

Death Knell for Stealing...for now

2005-09-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

They killed WinMX and eDonkey. Not only the web page, but the service as well. Article.

Pretty significant since they did have some useful, legal applications. eDonkey in particular was used by the open source community to share source code.

Now RIAA will likely look for the ball underneath the BitTorrent nutshell. The article says the next phase will be legal file sharing, but more than likely it will be encrypted, reflector servers.

Checkout Tor and the "hidden service" web sites in particular. People who are serious about stealing are just going to find better ways to do it. I honestly think the industry was better off periodically suing 12-yr old girls. If people start sharing with encrytped proxy servers, RIAA won't be able to track them down. It seems like the game ought to be to shift to online services while encouraging people to do it legally instead of illegally. If the movie and music services aren't there fast enough and if the hackers or the eff find a way to make sharing completely untraceable, no one will ever go legal.

Try it Yourself

2005-09-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

Google "failure"....

Not sure why this comes up this way, but it does.

What's My Name Baby?

2005-09-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

Video.

How to Make This Woman Look Pretty

2005-09-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Use Photoshop.

Tutorial.

Lisa's Lyra Gig

2005-09-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Lisa had her first pro gig on the lyra (a big hoop). She performed at Plush which is a club at the Marriott.

Waiting for San Fran to Go Under

2005-09-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

New Republic, Sept. 26

The cover points out that FEMA warned against three threats back in 2001: a terrorist attack on New York City, a hurricane in New Orleans, and an earthquake in San Francisco. "Four years later, it's two down, one to go," the piece notes, asking whether San Francisco is going to be the nation's next catastrophe zone.

Article.

As Lisa Would Say, "Shut Up!"

2005-09-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.
Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.

Article.

Come On Guys, I've Heard There's Lots of Cheese in Astoria!

2005-09-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

New Jersey Lab Loses Plague-Infected Mice

Three mice that went missing after being infected with bubonic plague at a New Jersey bioterrorism laboratory [...] the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today (see GSN, Sept. 9).

While not absolutely sure of the mice’s fate, officials said the public should not worry about plague outbreak.

For the disease to spread to a human, a flea would have to bite one of the infected mice and then bite a human. “The odds of that occurring are ridiculous. It's hard to even imagine such a scenario,” said Laurie Garrett, head of the global health program for the Council on Foreign Relations.

Garrett added, "I live in Philly anyway. There's really nothing to worry about. Besides the odds are ridiculous. It's hard to imagine such a scenario where a flea would bite a rat and then bite a human. I mean, that would cause a bubonic plague. Who's ever heard of that?"

Article.

CinemaNow

2005-09-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

I checked out CinemaNow the other day. $4, you download the movie to your computer. I top out at 150k, which meant that I was able to start streaming the movie after about 10 minutes of initial download (although I didn't try this). You have a week to download the movie and 24 hours after you press start to watch the movie. Once you have the movie (two hours for me, maybe one hour for real broadband), you don't have to be online to watch it and it just plays through Windows Media Player (they go into detail about how you can connect the SVGA out on your laptop to your TV, but I have neither). Considering that 1) I don't own a TV and watch rented DVDs on my computer and 2) Blockbuster is a 10 minute walk from my house, this is a pretty good option. It is not clear how good their offerings are compared to Blockbuster, but it looks like a decent model.

CinemaNow.

George Bush Don't Like Black People

2005-09-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Inevitable really. Rap song protesting the management of the New Orleans floods. Interesting because it goes back to the roots of hip-hop and rap which was social protest not commercialism and thuggery. Warning, some foul language. Song.

Piggy Bank

2005-09-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

I tried out Piggy Bank for Firefox. Supposed to be Greasemonkey-like in that it allows you to aggregate data. I never was able to aggregate. Maybe it will get better. Or maybe we'll all just use Flock.

Morgan's House

2005-09-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Bridge and tunnel.

Raining in Austin

2005-09-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

Video.

My Facebook Picture

2005-09-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

This is my face for the next two years.

Using OurMedia Pushes Your Rank Up on Google

2005-09-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

I found this out by accident. After years of doing vanity searches on my name, I've never even seen it pushed anywhere into the Google rank. Not even working as a Producer for EA. Recently, I started posting all my video and pictures to OurMedia.org which hosts this stuff for free. Evidently, there are a lot of other sites that link to ourmedia, because there are quite a few hits with me on the first page, albeit obliquely.

I mention this because I've done a lot of research into trying to get nonprofit websites pushed up on the page rank for various search engines and it is not easy. This may be a slightly backwards way to at least get an organization on the front pages.

Search me.