Color, Music, and Magic Words

Just a few links to remember for class:
A List Apart
Color scheme
Colours on the web
Nellie McKay
flipstartpc
magic words: interactive fiction
IF Literacy

Post for a New Year

Okay I've been naughty and forgot to post a message in December '03. Well I'm still being oh so bad in 2004, since I'm writing this message while sitting in class (okay we're on break). First day of class for spring 2004 and over half way done with my Master's. As an update, my girlfriend got back from her trip to Chicago. I'm overly happy. Now I just have to worry about her upcoming birthday, and not forget Valentine's day the week after. I highly recommend seeing 'Big Fish' if you can. Its sad at the end, but the story is well worth it. I just picked up the book from my local library, so we'll see how well the source material is. Don't forget to check out Spirit's progress on Mars at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory [http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/].

Happy Thanksgiving 2003

It is once again time to post all the links I've been saving up! Also it happens to be Thanksgiving and i have plenty to be thankful for. Of course I'll be more thankful once my girlfriend gets back from her trip to Chicago, but that won't be too long.

First lets give a nod to the open source movement with a link to the TheOpenCD project which is working towards a more wider adoption of open source applications. The slides into another little project called Opsound - Open Sound Resource which provides music that can be used by anyone for mixing or whatever. A few other music sites with an open slant are loca records, magnatune, and the berklee shares project for free music education.

On a lighter note here is a page giving a funny yet not all together wrong picture of students from Texas universities. As a matter of public safety here's an article on What Should I Do If The Internet Goes Down? For any of you interested in the worlds created by a company called Cyan (think Myst), they have a new world to explore called Uru.

Hey all you Dr. Who fans! Did you know that the BBC has been producing online flash animated webcasts of our dear doctor, including Shada and Scream of the Shalka. I even came across an article on the old shows music.

Links to Keep

Thought I'd write up something the show off some links I found. First is the Public Library of Science, which is a science journal publishing house dedicated to the free distribution of information to the public. Their journals are made available online for free. The first journal to be published is PLoS Biology and the first issue is available now.

For all you web page kiddies out there who think that font tags are cool, think again. Cascading Style Sheets is the way to go. If you don't believe me then check out the Zen Garden and take note that all the different designs available there are created by only changing the style sheets. The main HTML doesn't change. How's that for the separation of style and content!?!

Now for a few miscellaneous links... How about learning Esperanto!?! Then you could learn about that hilarious comedy called Red Dwarf. I also love finding freeware! Post a few pictures using your cell phone on Buzznet.

Musical Diatribe

The world moves to a beat. Sometimes that beat is at a quick tempo, others slow and steady. Often there is an undercurrent of music, sometimes sinister and other times serene.

Each day carries it own score. Eyes open and the beat begins. Sometimes the merry tunes of dreamland come with us as we begin our day, other times those fanciful notes from the mind's foggy regions are cut off abruptly leaving only the sounds of the harsh world. Many times the mind is flooded with the thoughts of the day's duties, which like a group of musicians warming up before a performance spoils any previous mood with confusing noise.

Music frees the mind. It can reset the beat which we work and play by. Calming and soothing at times, or perhaps agitating at others. Music is meant to be heard, as it is the heart's expression of the mind's thoughts. Without music this world would lose its heart and be a place vacant of joy.

Dad's Birthday

Today is my Dad's birthday and I took the day off to spend my day with him. We wore our feet out in Fort Worth! Not only did we go to the zoo (half price on Wednesdays), but we also stopped at the japanese garden in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. I took 299 photos with my olympus digital camera (to be posted some time in the future).

A Taste of Anime

I thought I write down for posterity about some anime that I've taken a liking too. The first is a neat little DVD entitled R.O.D. (Read or Die) [amazon.com], and I have found a nice review [popmatters.com] that explains it rather well. I'll sum it up though: Its about a superhero librarian! :-)

The short name for the other amazingly exceptional (ok weird would be a better term) anime is FLCL (Fooly Cooly) [amazon.com]! You can catch it on adult swim [adultswim.com] if your TV happens to carry the cartoon network [cartoonnetwork.com]. I even found the official [gainax.co.jp] web site! This one is odd, but also very cool.