Found In the Woods

Its funny to listen to bono go on about the poor dying and then to read in the paper about dark matter. " the researchers said yesterday that visible and detectable matter, the atoms in everything from gases to stars and elephants, makes up only 5 percent of the matter in the universe. Another estimated 20 percent is subatomic dark matter, which has no discernable qualities except the ability to create gravitational fields and pass through any object without leaving a trace. The rest they said, is the even more mysterious dark energy which fills empty space with a force that appears to negate gravity and push the universe to expand ever faster." When you consider how big the universe is and how long it has been around, and then think about the millions of years that dinosaurs ruled this planet only to be wiped out with no one intelligent enough to mourn them and then contemplate the million years or so that early hominids tried to master fire, stones and other elements only to wiped out 30,000 years ago by homo sapiens who continued to wander the globe aimlessly before establishing a semblance of culture in the last five to six thousand years. Now in the last hundred years we have exploded in population and technological advancement and are finally intellectually evolved to mourn loosing a fraction of our 6.5 billion people. Just 80 years ago this world had 4.5 billion people less.

1 billion was reached in 1802.
2 billion was reached 125 years later in 1927.
3 billion was reached 34 years later in 1961.
4 billion was reached 13 years later in 1974.
5 billion was reached 13 years later in 1987.
6 billion was reached 12 years later in 1999.

The scientific perspective kind of makes you question the whole endeavor. Its not like we are going to become extinct or anything. when I contemplate the true nature of this universe I feel very fatalilistic but I think that this is the beginnings of true faith. To understand how truly insignificant we are and our lives are and yet to believe that God has made them significant in his choice to incarnate in our paltry history. But we should not be mistaken into thinking that God's purpose was to cure our recent and self defined poverty.

Thanks Kevin!

Last Friday, while cleaning and fidgeting with my 8-month-old Palm T|X I noticed it had suddenly taken on a strange behavior where the input of the stylus was off by a few inches. I tried everything, changing settings, resetting it, etc. Nothing seemed to work, until… well, read my email to a coworker: …

this evening I decided to figure out what was wrong with my Palm T|X. After reading about a hard reset and backing up all my sync data on my Mac, I set out to hard reset the device. I pored over what could be the culprit for it to suddenly start behaving so strangely- the whole screen calibration thing.

After the hard reset, it dawned on me. While I was sitting there at the TT meeting, one of the things I was fidgeting with on the T|X was the screen protector. The sheet of sticky plastic that covers the screen to prevent scratches. There was a tiny lip riding up on one edge that I'd pushed down into the corner w/ the end of the stylus, ever so gently. Well, that was enough to jam under the edge juuuuuuust enough so that the sensor saw an input there… which is why the whole damn thing was acting so wacky.

I removed the protective sheet and the thing works fine again.

Thank goodness for Mark/Space's Missing Sync for Mac OS X… it's 3rd party sync'ing software. This is a godsend for folks like me. They do Palm, Windows Mobile, Sony PSP, and a couple other OS'. http://www.markspace.com. Truly wonderful.

Anyway, I did a restore and all is back to normal. PHEW!! 🙂 I'm a happy camper. It was my own dam fault.

Oh, the joys of being a Red Sox fan.

Boston Globe photo

The Boston massacre continues. Tune in today and watch the magic happen. Episode 5, sure to be a treat.

If you are currently a student at the University of Delaware and you’re looking for a good job, try the RECYCLING TRUCK. I worked for 3 years on the truck with some of my best friends. It’s about 2 snaps above a trash man, but has the sweetest schedule and perks. It’s definitely a laid-back job. And, working for Roger is one of life’s true delights. The Grounds Crew is a different breed. For a genuine distraction from the humdrum of college life into the real world, get this job. You won’t regret it. And don’t forget to pick up the glass at DuPont Hall.

https://chico.nss.udel.edu/PTJobs/jobs?action=view&rowid=AAAEZQAARAAAAAMAAE

Lens flare for free. Got up early and got to work earlier. Time for coffee…

Ohh, the mashups keep getting bettar and bettar. Some nice cameos in this one too.

“No…. yes.”

I’ve been waiting for years for the great Noah Baumbach film, Kicking and Screaming, to be released on DVD. And here it comes, under the radar and as a Criterion Collection release no less! I couldn’t be happier. I’ve already pre-ordered it on Amazon.com (it comes out 8/22).

Kicking and Screaming is a dry comedy about life post college graduation. Mostly about relationships, the movie is heavily laden with off the wall jokes and witty assemblages; references to boredom-incited literary trances, ill-fated book clubs and inescapable juvenile habits born from insecurity are just a few examples. I particularly enjoy pouring myself a hefty 16+ oz glass of Amaretto Sour and curling up to watch this movie. It has a certain “comfort food” appeal to me. It’s definitely one of my top ten films (if I had such a list, it would be there) and has tremendous nostalgic value as well. It brings me back to the time when I discovered Wes Anderson, Tenacious D, Noah Baumbach and a few others (thank you CHimes). It was a great time. This is a wonderful movie – I’ll gladly give you my VHS copy (if you have a VHS deck) if you’d like to watch it.

“Oh, I’ve been to Prague. Well, I haven’t “been to Prague” been to Prague, but I know that thing, that, “Stop shaving your armpits, read the Unbearable Lightness of Being, date a sculptor, now I know how bad American coffee is thing…”

Hope you said your prayers.