... as we know it. And i feel fine.

Some crazy cat produced this flash doo-hickey that's quite funny.

I'm really glad it's Friday. This week has been pretty crazy. We started our new Broomball season with two losses, both scores were 0-1. Both goals were crappy. Monday night's goal came because the defense was crowding the ball and not covering the players. By the time saw the ball coming, it was halfway into the net. Wednesday's goal wasn't much better. I stopped 3 or 4 shots, but couldn't hold on to the ball so they kept getting the rebounds. After frantically trying to stop so many shots, I ended up on my stomach and the ball got knocked over me into the net. It was a frustrating loss, especially because the other team was a bunch of jerks.

In art class we started using color. It's a whole different beast than just black charcoal. It was funny because I wasn't very happy with my drawing, then a classmate held it up about six feet away. It looked much better from a distance, and I was happy.

Now I'm off to KUAC for an interview about our project and its finalist status.

I've been using Panther for about, oh, 21 hours now (9 of which I was sleeping), so my experiences should be taken with a grain of salt.

Install wasn't too much of a big deal. I learned a few things though... when making a backup, it's a good idea to clear your browser caches and empty your e-mail trashes... those files are relatively small, but they add up. Also, I probably didn't need to install the two dozen language packs that come with OS X. Those are things I noticed as I quickly tried to back up, install and restore all my apps and documents between classes. In the future, I'll make sure I have some extra time when upgrading the OS.

Everyone's talking about two things: Expose and Fast-User Switching. I don't have multiple accounts on my laptop, so while fast switching looks and sounds good, I haven't a need for it. Expose is as great as everyone says it is.

The new command-tab application switching takes a bit to get used to. It bring up a row of huge icons in the middle of the screen, instead of just indicating the applications in the dock. I think I actually like the new way better, but it's always a shock to see six or seven GIANT icons appear in the middle of the screen.

I don't really like the Finder, but who does? It's better in some ways (Labels) but worse in others (brushed metal). I do like that you can change the accent color between Aqua(tm) and Graphite(tm) in the system prefs. Speaking of system prefs, I also like the new tab-system for multiple settings within one area.

Overall, I like the new OS. It's not as big of a jump as say, OS 9 to X, or even the jump to Jaguar, but it's still a solid OS and better than the alternative.

Well, fame anyway.

ADN story here (free registration required), and FDNM story here (no registration required).

Chicago, Ill., here we come!

Update: The ADN is running a list of winners of Goldie Awards. More attention for me!

Apparently, U2 singer Bono said fuck several times during the Golden Globe Awards. Many people complained to the FCC when their local stations aired the awards and they heard "fuck."

The FCC responded, saying that fuck isn't inherently indecent or obscene and may be used in broadcasting under certain conditions. I wonder how long before we get a South Park episode tallying utterances of fuck, like their episode when it was declared that it was OK to say shit.

Although the FCC won't be cracking down on the use of fuck in broadcasting, I would guess that most stations will adhere to their current policies in order not to offend their audiences.

Here's the story from KOBTV and here's the actual decision from the FCC.

I visited the lovely city of Anchorage this weekend (I've heard it described as "the armpit of Alaska," but I think Fairbanks has that title clinched).

I attended the Alaska Broadcasters Association annual convention and awards banquet. KSUA won 10 awards out of the 11 entries we submitted. It was great. The only downside was I didn't think about how I was going to bring the hardware home when I packed, so I had to use an extra bag to bring everything home on the plane.

I'll post pictures of some of the awards soon.

We won last night's semi-finals game in another shootout. I'm worried about tonight, because we can't afford to go to overtime against the team we're playing. We'll have to make something happen early and then hold them off.

Last night during the overtime period, I was playing offense, since I couldn't be keeper. I was taking a shot and got whistled for high-sticking. I had to spend two minutes in the penalty box... that was the worst two minutes of broomball ever. Knowing your team is short-handed; and it's your fault; and there's nothing you can do to help them is the worst feeling. You can't even cheer or support the team while you're in the box because you're enclosed in sound-deadening plexiglass.

Anyone interested in a Nintendo Gamecube? Buy mine on ebay.

Less than 7 minutes after listing the item, it was sold. Awesome.

We had round one of the broomball tournament last night. We ended up in the lower division, which is good, because we wouldn't be able to handle the teams in the upper division bracket.

Both teams went scoreless in the 20 minutes of regulation. They had a couple shots on goal, but they were pretty easy saves for me. Overtime was interesting. They switched up the rules this season: Overtime is 5 minutes (same) of sudden death (same). However, only four players for each time are allowed on the ice, and no goalies are allowed. No one can enter either crease. Period.

We almost scored during the overtime, but the ref called the shooters foot in the crease, so it didn't count. One of our players hung back on defense and made some great deflections that kept us in the game. Since I couldn't be in the goal, I played a little bit of offense. As the final seconds ticked down, i was part of a 3-on-1 offensive play, but their defender intercepted the pass.

After five minutes of overtime, we went to a shootout. Shootouts are a lot of fun, but also very scary for the goalie (me). We won the coin toss, so our team shot first. Their keeper made an awesome diving save to knock the ball away from the net. I got in a good stance and got ready as their shooter brought the ball up the ice. He got real close to me and shot, but I had cut off his angle and was able to stop the ball.

Our second shooter tried to pop the ball up to the top of the net, but ended up hitting the goalie in the chest. Their second shooter approached and shot, but his shot went wide. Our third shooter was able to deke a little and got the ball to the back of the net. The pressure was on. All I had to do was block one shot and we would advance to the next round.

I got in my stance, a slight squat, and keeping my weight on the balls of my feet so I move quickly. As the shooter approached, I tried to keep focus on his eyes (they reveal all) while keeping track of the ball. By looking at the eyes, you can tell where they're thinking about shooting. As they get close, though, I back up a little and take a look at their stance, and where the ball is in relation to the shooter's body. If the ball is in front of them, their stick will hit it at a different angle than if the ball is a little behind them. He wound up for the shot and having assimilated the information, I was pretty sure I knew where the ball was going to go. He started his forward swing and I dropped to my knees and kicked my leg out to the right. SMACK! The ball hit my shin guard and bounced towards the centerline ... Spooks win!

I was interviewed today by a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She asked me, my co-worker on A Chilling Effect? and our advisor some questions about the project and is planning to write a 20-inch story about our finalist status. It was weird to be on the other side of the interview, but what's even more odd is that the Anchorage paper is writing a 20-inch story with photo about us and our local paper ran 1 paragraph. The story's supposed to run Sunday, so I'll try to scan it and post it here shortly thereafter.

For Immediate Release
October, 2003

'Dirty Bomb' Exercise planned for Fairbanks area
State of Alaska, U.S. Department of Energy to test radiological readiness

CAMP DENALI, Alaska -- The Alaska Office of Homeland Security & Emergency
Services and the US Department of Energy will hold a radiological or "dirty"
bomb training exercise near Livengood, Alaska on 21 October, 2003.

State and Federal officials plan to use a small amount of a radioactive
isotope of the element iridium to simulate a radiological device. The
commercially obtained iridium is a gamma emitter and is often used for non
destructive inspection (NDI) of industrial welds and metal structural members �
much in the way a medical x-ray is used to image a bone fracture.

The iridium is contained in a shielded container that can open to allow the
radiation to emanate skyward. A US Customs Lockheed P-3 Orion surveillance
aircraft on loan to the Department of Energy will hunt for the radiation source
using onboard sensors. The four-engined P-3, operating from Eielson AFB near
Fairbanks, is slated to fly the search missions at an altitude of 1000 feet.

"There is no radiation danger to the public from using the iridium during
the exercise as it�s used all the time testing pipes and bridges," said State
Environmental Specialist Dennis Lundine, who is coordinating the exercise.

The P-3 will fly two search missions Tuesday. On Wednesday, the aircraft is
slated to fly two additional missions that do not involve a radiation source
and are intended to verify computer models dealing with a dirty bomb attack on
the installation. Participating agencies have coordinated with the North Star
Borough though it is not an active player in the exercise.

-30-

Note to Editors: Participants plan to shoot digital images of the aircraft and
ground personnel during the exercise for dissemination Wednesday, 22 October
2003.

Eminem won a defamation lawsuit recently, and the judge wrote a 10-stanza rhyme in the ruling, including these choice snippets: "It is therefore this court's ultimate position, that Eminem is entitled to summary disposition." and "[Eminem's lyrics are] stories no one would take as fact, they're an exaggeration of a childish act."

Awesome.

The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump will host a new reality show that will air on NBC. "The Apprentice" is a show about starting a business and the winner will receive a six-figure salary year-long job for one of Donald's companies.

Last week I was notified that a project I worked on was a finalist for an ONA Online Journalism Award. This week I received confirmation that I will be going to Chicago for the conference and awards banquet.

A couple weird things happening with my computer:

That's one heck of a fast transfer, even for 100Base-T.

I don't know what happened here, but iChat decided to thrown down some motion blur.

We got a CD at the station yesterday that drew initial criticism, but turned out to be quite good. It's called "Fade to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica." I'm not really a Metallica fan, but one of my guilty pleasures are some of their early songs, which are covered on this album. I also enjoy bluegrass, but I didn't think much of combining the two.

After listening to the CD, though, it's apparent that music is more than just a collection of genres. The bluegrass versions are just as good as their metal counterparts -- depending on your views of bluegrass and metal, that is. My dad would not enjoy Metallica, but I think he would enjoy the bluegrass versions of their songs.

Mike brought up the next question: Does it go the other way? Could bluegrass songs be "converted" to metal songs and still be good? I think the answer is yes. Metallica actually does a cover of an Irish folk tune, Whiskey in the Jar, that is just as enjoyable as the original. I don't know how artists feel about tribute CDs like this. A band like Metallica, with anti-sharing and litigous drummer Lars Ulrich, might be pissed off. I would be (a) flattered, and (b) glad that songs I/we wrote (assuming original material, which is a big assumption nowadays) were reaching a wider audience.

The same kind of thing happens with stories. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet hundreds of years ago, but the primary elements of that story are still being used today in genres of all kinds. Westerns get adapted as Sci-Fi, and vice versa. What makes a great story isn't the setting (wild west or frontiers of space), it's the characters and plot. Likewise, great music isn't defined by genre. I don't know the terms that parallel those in stories, but a good metal song could be good bluegrass with little modification.

How does the internet fit in to all this? That kind of remains to be seen. The internet is still a young medium and people are still trying to figure out how to use it best. Is content the genre or presentation? I've seen HTML/CSS designs (presentation) adapted to various kinds of sites, depending on whether they are intended to look trendy or futuristic. Content is somewhat harder to correlate. There is a lot of reptition of content throughout the web, especially on blogs, but each blog handles the subject differently.

The bottom line is that people have been ripping each other off since people started coming up with ideas. I don't know who furst uttered the truism, "Good writers borrow. Great writers steal," but it seems to hold true for more than just writing.

On your left, you'll notice some new photo galleries. I re-posted photos from my trips to New York and Las Vegas this spring. Please be patient, there are over 400 photos in the New York "gallery" and almost 200 in the Las Vegas one.

We finished the regular season of broomball with a 0-0 tie last night. With a record of 2-3-4 (w/l/t), we should be headed for the lower-division playoffs -- right where we want to be. Our team would be eliminated in the first round of upper-division, but we might be able to make it all the way in the lower bracket. Maybe we'll get T-Shirts this year, who knows?

I got this letter in the mail:

Dear Station Manager:

I was appalled a the material I came across while visiting my daughter during a scheduled appointment at her exclusive college. It appears that the rage on campus is squandering previous time at unbefitting and frivolous Web Sites with [url deleted] as the most reprehensible.

She was brought up in a selective upper class society where appropriate values were carefully instilled and this offensive dribble is an unwanted distraction. A short time after graduation, she will find a suitable young man, marry and start a family.

I insist that you and your staff, for the benefit of the entire student body, proactively boycott this site and similar ones. It has absolutely no redeeming qualities and if my husband were alive (he recently passed away from a stress induced coronary) he would support my efforts in this endeavor. Be assured that three other parents and myself will use our extensive influence to have this and other unseemly sites blocked on college campuses.

It is the dute of all Public Forums to guide the immature mind. This undesirable site is the first to be targeted, by our new committee, and I strongly suggest that you adhere to our blacklist directive.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Anderson

The letter came in a large envelope and included a screenshot of the site printed on heavy card stock. There's no return address, just a sticker that looks like a family emblem or something and says, "The Andersons."

The letter itself is printed with an inkjet printer and has a "fancy" border and family crest in the corner. The indent of the first line of the paragraphs are almost an inch and the paper itself is half of a standard 8.5x11-inch sheet.

The writing in the letter is over the top. Why would someone who wants a web site blacklisted include that her daughter is going to find a suitable man and get married? Also, if Mrs. Anderson is so influential, why didn't she have someone set up the tabs on her word processor properly? And why wouldn't you include contact information if you want people to join your fight against "unbefitting and frivolous" web sites?

At first glance, this seems like the doings of a right-wing woman with too much money. But after evaluating the letter and production, I believe that it's just an advert trying to capitalize on people's nature to want to see what others don't want them to. I'm not buying, and I'm not going to visit the site. Besides, if it looks anything like the screenshot included with the letter, it's not worth going to anyway.

The New York Times reports that monkeys can control robots with their minds!

Last night I got to sit in the live remote truck operated by Anchorage station KTUU. They were in Fairbanks to broadcast the UAF-UAA hockey games this weekend. Seeing how they produce a live broadcast of a sporting event was incredible.

They had eight cameras set up in the stadium. One was situated on the game clock for the entire game so they could include it in the score-graphic. Two cameras were positioned directly above the goalies and were only used for replays of goals and saves. Two cameras were at ice-level on opposite sides of the rink and used for replays, as well as live shots when players were against the boards. One camera was above the rink and zoomed out and was used most of the time while the puck was in play. It showed at least a third of the rink. Another was above the rink on the same side but kept zoomed in for shots of individual players. The third was on the other side of the rink and used for alternate-angle replays and shots of the penalty boxes and crowds.

In addition to cameras, they had a ton of microphones. One section of the truck was dedicated entirely to audio, with one guy sitting at a 24-channel mixer. They had mics on the anchors, the rink and even a ref. They also had audio from replay tapes, music to run during breaks and sound effects for their wipes. They used the ref mic a couple of times, but stopped after the UAF coach said "fuck" when it was potted up.

There were at least 18 people working to keep the operation running, and the director said they had over two miles of cable layed out. All the staff were extremely generous considering we had piled seven extra people into their control "room" that normally seats five.

Wow. This movie has more blood than the Red Cross. I'm not sure if that's the first thing that should come to mind when talking about a movie, though. If I had to give it a score, it would probably be about a 7 out of 10. It was a lot of fun to watch -- the fighting sequences were incredible -- and the non-linear storytelling was also cool. One section was even animated, which was a perfect fit for this movie. Although there were many good aspects to this film, I can't get over the amount of blood that flowed from so many bodies. It turned what could have been a great revenge story into a comedy. The gratuitous limb-chopping was so absurd I can't take the movie as serious as I think it was intended. Then again, maybe that's the point... I don't know.

Someone needs to tell Apple that their front-page graphic is messed up. It's a neat clock that counts down to the release of Panther. However, unless you're in the Pacific Time Zone, the countdown is wrong. Well, that's assuming they're not going to do a specific release for each time zone. The problem is that the countdown is based on your machine's system clock. Try changing your time zone and refresh, see? I ran into a similar problem when coming up with the script to display what show was currently on the air for KSUA's front page. I had to modify the script so that it would take into account different time zones. The show that starts at 8 p.m. Alaska Time, actually starts at 9 p.m. in Portland, OR.

Here's how I did it (in Javascript):

/* First, we need to know the current day and time */
Today = new Date();

/* Then adjust for Alaska Time */
GMTString = Today.toGMTString();
Local = new Date(Date.parse(GMTString) - (8*3600000));

The GMTString is the time in Greenwich Mean Time so that's my standard. Then I subtracted 8 hours because Alaska is 8 hours behind. Whoever coded the Apple front page, didn't convert to GMT. You could just use GMT, but it's easier to have the script convert for you, so you can code the rest of the script in local time.

I was notified today that a multimedia project I worked on last spring is a finalst for the Online Journalism Awards. Another student and I worked on A Chilling Effect? for a class and our instructor submitted it for the award. Other finalists include The New York Times, Salon and Wired.com.

I took Tuesday off because I wasn't feeling well. I missed a class and some work. I figured that I'd show up for class today and get caught up on what I missed. I was running a little late this morning and showed up for class barely a minute or two early. I sat down and got out my notes and pen to prepare for another 1.5-hour lecture. Unfortunately, the professor had other plans: an exam. I don't think I did too poorly considering the lack of preparation, but I'll find out for sure next week when I get the results back.

The thing I hate most about Alaska (other than the -40F temperatures for weeks at a time) is how hard it is to get out of the state. Yesterday I was looking at flights to Portland for the holidays and found a desirable trip for about $625. I call the reservation number today and the same trip now costs $1200. The reservation agent was able to get it down to $850, but it's going to take me almost a full day to go each way since I have long layovers pretty much everywhere. Fortunately, I had enough mileage plan miles to cut that price in half, but it's still more than I had planned on spending.

We won our broomball game on Monday 2-0. It was great. As goalie, I almost could have taken a 20-minute nap. They almost scored once. One of their team was pretty wide open and received a pass and shot. I almost blocked it, but then pulled my arm away and let it go in because she kicked it, so it didn't count. Hopefully tonight we can use some of our new-found momentum and not lose.

I know you'd like to think you're shit don't stink / but lean a little bit closer, see what roses really smell like. —Andre 3000, "Roses"

The new double-album from Outkast's Big Boi and Andre 3000 is good. But don't take my word for it.

MAdGE, an organization opposed to genetic engineering of crops and livestock, has launched a billboard campaign featuring a woman with four breasts hooked up to a milking machine in order to generate opposition to a New Zealand company's practice of genetic engineering.

I don't understand what the big deal is with genetic engineering. Humans have been practicing this behavior practically forever. Horse trainers breed for specific traits in order to win the Kentucky Derby. Botanists cross-polinate in order to grow plants that can survive in a harsher climate. Farmers irrigate and terraform land in order to foster growing. Everyday people put meat, fruit and vegetables in the fridge to slow the natural decomposition process. Everywhere you look is an instance of humans using technology to "beat" nature. Most of these practices are accepted and even encouraged. Why are so many people opposed when the technique is taken to a microscopic level?

Honestly, I don't know enough about the issue to have much of an opinion either way, so this is a genuine solicitation for comments about genetic engineering (and a good excuse to link to a picture of a woman with four breasts).

Last night was a great game of broomball. We were playing The Dogs of War, probably one of the top three teams in the league. Our defense did a much better job of covering the passes and shots. I had an extraordinary number of saves, although two shots did get by me. Our offense had a few breaks, and some shots on goal, but the Dogs' defense was always there. Even though we lost, it was a lot of fun and everyone played very well, especially the new players.

The Wall Street Journal reports that three of the top editors for Transworld Skateboarding Magazine are leaving to start a rival publication. Apparently Time, Inc. has forced it's corporate structure on the popular "counter-culture" magazine and the editors are not pleased.

Neato. I'm not connected to the internet as I write this. I've figured out how to create entries offline, and then post them once I get connected. It's surprisingly easy. All it takes is creating a text file and making sure to format it properly.

The Movable Type documentation explains how to export Blogger entries so they can be imported. By creating a text file using the same format (minus the Blogger Tags) you can create entries offline, and then import them once you are connected. I think there are applications that let you do this with a slick user interface, but all you really need is a text editor and FTP access to your MovableType server.

I realize this a well documented application and probably many people have figured it out, but I needed to share my eureka moment. I look forward to using this trick while travelling in the near future.