The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.
--Igor Stravinsky

Well, can you?

Get geekier, that is.

Talent Show

There are lots of videos out there on the Internet that show talent, but I think this one shines particularly brightly.

Wow.

Ricky that is by far the funniest thing I've seen in quite a while. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a shift. I'm on a laptop where the plus sign key is on the equals sign. I saw the little plus sign icon come up for a second, but can't get it to come back so I can play too.

We should totally make an official Band Geeks trail that leads to shifts on whatever web pages we alter. It could be like a contest. Or something.

Anywho, I just thought I'd mention that that was hilarious.

Update: Ok, I figured it out. I've added a couple to weber.edu

Update again: "A computer search up to 10²⁰ suggests that about 12% of numbers are happy, though no proof is known." - from the Wikipedia article on Happy Numbers

File Recovery

Hey Jon! You had fun recovering deleted files eh? Oh, I know the feeling. "Help me!! I deleted the spreadsheet I've been working on for weeks! Oh, and by the way, I think I deleted it four days ago." Wow! How technology solves our problems, eh. I think it's hilarious. Or, there's that Labor Day weekend I found myself in the office working on upgrading MAS, our accounting software. Oooh, that was fun. Not only were we upgrading the software, we were moving it off our Exchange server onto it's own server. Yeah, that was a riot.

But, there's something strangely enjoyable about IT work. That's why I keep going back day after day. It's always enjoyable to have people tell me that I'm their hero for fixing their seemingly critical problem.

Project for the now: upgrade our current 100Mbit switch to a new 1Gbit switch and install Gbit NICs in all the company computers. Oh, and that has to be done without interrupting anyone. :)

Chao!

Cage fighting

Jon, your triple version of Ross' sounds like Steve Reich or, as I mentioned above, three guitarists Cage fighting.

There is your terrible pun for the day.

I just tried Shift Space and it's AWESOME!!!

So Jon, that Shift Space thing is so much fun!!! I've already left random notes on various pages! And I enjoyed using the SourceShift to take over this blog, mwahaha!!!! You all really need to check it out.

later.

Own your very own Internet (tm)

This is one of the geekier things I've seen in a while. It's similar to an idea I had a while back.

ShiftSpace

And speaking of very own, I offer this useless tidbit. (It's been a while since we've had any of-the's around here.)

factoid of the day: the Band Geeks blog record for most posts in a month is September 2005 with 64 posts. The record for least posts in a month is February 2004 with only 3 posts.

fun of the day: trying to recover deleted files from a Mac in the faculty lab. This is not something I care to ever attempt again.

song of the day: Evacuating London from the Narnia soundtrack

important thing of the Right Now: me going to sleep

Bye all.

This is really cool!

This is a simple thing that can decrease your chances of identity theft, decrease junk mail, and decrease paper waste. By calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) you can "opt out" of getting credit card applications in the mail! It's great, and it really works. Just thought I'd share.

Hey Hey

Yes, it has been a while. It's good to hear from you, Andrew. There is something somehow fulfilling about getting to work in (or at least close to) your field of study after you graduate. Kind of makes it seem like it was worth the years and dollars you put into school.

Jarrett, thanks for the tickets. I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it, especially since I do like a good Pictures at an Exhibition performance. And although I wasn't there in person for the special-needs group concert, I do remember the Rootism on the the subject.

I love this weather.

Long time, no C...

Quite litterally, since I haven't played my instrument for some years now.

Anyhow, I just wanted to swing by the ol' band hall and say hello to all my old friends. I think about you guys often and remember our fun times fondly. I hope you are all well.

As for me, for those who don't already know, I gradumated back in May from the U with a degree in Film Studies. So, now I am a legitimate adult, even if I may not feel like one. I moved away from life on campus and currently rent an apartment in the Aves with three other guys. To make ends meet, I work at KUTV Channel 2 as a studio technician, but am moving into becoming a master control operator. That's pretty much all I have been up to.

I have been meaning to come up north for a while, and maybe one day I will soon so I can say hello in person.

Cheers!

Ross Collective

Good times times three. If you can't do something well, do it three times at once. Some people might not notice you're not doing that well, and at least you can aggravate your (ostensible) blog readers.

ACHTUNG!

And again I say,
ACHTUNG!

I am just thinking that this is the place to announce, and it would be wrong not to:

The WSU Symphonic Band will be performing this Saturday in the Browning Center at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $3.50 students, $4.50 adults, $0 talk to Dr. Root before and get a ticket. Bring your friends, relatives, the local noisy special-needs group (well now - who remembers that?), children over 8, gremlins, and so on.
Repertoire to include
Pictures at an Exhibition, by Mussorgsky
To Take the Children Home, Thomas Root
American Salute, Morton Gould
Jubilee, Michael Hennagin
and everybody's favorite Zaninelli version of the Star-Spangled Banner.

So all you veteran Band Geeks should come behold the new generation of geeks.

Machine Gun for Rent?

I thought this was a particularly funny news story: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2084475

Try This At Home

Just for fun, pretend you were someone else. Someone who only knew your name and the city in which you live or work or go to school. Take that information and see how much personal information you can find about you online using google, pipl, whitepages.com, etc. If you can find it, so can Anyone.

I was surprised at what I found about me. And that's without paying $20 for a more in depth report from one site.

Whether you're amused or disturbed about how much and what kind of information can be found online about you, it is still good to know that the net is a very, very public place. And if you delete something, it could live on, cached, in the databases of Google or someone else for a very long time. This came to me after reading (another) article about how young kids should be warned about putting personal info online and blah blah blah, but it reminded me of some article I read a while back where the journalist doing the article interviewed some internet search guru who took 20 minutes and pulled up all kinds of info about the journalist, which surprised him/her. Don't remember what article it was though, it was a while back.

FYI

By the way, we're up to 1248 posts (including saved drafts) on this blog. Aren't you all proud of us?

Books

So, I don't know how many of you have a facebook profile, but if you do...you should check this out.
My friend and I are starting a book club on there.
So, if you're interested and have a profile, find me and add me as a friend (Heather Marie Carlson) and I'll invite you to the group. Our first book is Ulysses by James Joyce.
Yay for Fall Break!

That is awesome

Here are some other awesome things:

Privately-owned nuclear weapons are legal in 47 states, though they must be registered with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the State Department.

A variation of the idiom "easy as pie" exists in almost every major language, ranging from "simple as cooking wontons" in Chinese to "easy as making snow-cake" in Swedish.

Montana is the only state that does not enforce a speed limit on elevators.

And finally:

Vehicles at the U.S. bases in Antarctica have the lowest auto insurance rates available in the U.S. due to the complete lack of vehicle-on-vehicle accidents.

White Hat, Gray Hat, Blue Hat, etc.

Hey y'all! It's just your friendly neighborhood Jason stopping by to let you know that our lovely Band Geek page is currently sitting at #11 in Google's ranking for the term "band geeks." Not bad. Could be better, but not bad. :)

If only I had the time/resources to do this... The complete schematics diagram to build your own theremin!

And completely unrelated, but phenomenally cool, M.C. Escher with Legos.

Be Prepared

Congress has drafted in advanced a dozen laws and three constitutional amendments in preparation for the invention of the first fully conscious artificially created robotic human.

Also this:

The UPC code 4815162342 had been assigned to the 8 oz. can of New Coke, introduced on 4/23/1985 and discontinued on 8/16/1992. It is unclear whether the connection to the TV show Lost is coincidental or intentional on the part of its producers.

Update:

The Zen of the cube.

Being able to solve Rubiks cube very fast is a near useless skill, that takes a lot of time to acquire, and does not typically impress the opposite sex. If you think you have better things to do, I can only agree. You probably have.

Still, I think that learning to do something really well is important for anybody, and it's not too important what it is. If you have mastered one thing, it is a bit easier to master others. And doing something you're really good at is uplifting, relaxing and fun.

So if you want to strive for perfection in some field, cubing is certainly cheaper than golf!