Last post on this old blog. It's been good, but it is time to move on.
The new site is coming along strong and I've outgrown Blogger. I want to move to full-fledged hosted wordpress, but for now, I'm using a Wordpress blog.
The main reason is exportability. I can easily transition my wordpress.com bog into a new, self-hosted Wordpress.org CMS.
See my site for future updates, or my blog, currently living at http://carlthuringer.wordpress.com
http://people.emich.edu/cthuring
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Futurism - Dentistry
I'm a futurist. I believe that things are evolving more and more rapidly into and beyond Star Trek.
Today I had my teeth drilled. Two of them, and deep. It was painless, but the afterache is starting and I'm about to take two more Motrin tablets to help.
But in the future, I won't need to take pills to stop the pain. Hopefully, there won't be any pain. I'll use mouthwash to replenish a stock of nanomachines living in my mouth that endlessly clean and whiten my teeth, preventing cavities. They'll be powered by the sugar and protein in foods that I eat, so they won't need recharging, it's just that some will get lost and shut down in the GI tract, eventually passed out into nature.
Well, it'll happen sooner than you think.
Today I had my teeth drilled. Two of them, and deep. It was painless, but the afterache is starting and I'm about to take two more Motrin tablets to help.
But in the future, I won't need to take pills to stop the pain. Hopefully, there won't be any pain. I'll use mouthwash to replenish a stock of nanomachines living in my mouth that endlessly clean and whiten my teeth, preventing cavities. They'll be powered by the sugar and protein in foods that I eat, so they won't need recharging, it's just that some will get lost and shut down in the GI tract, eventually passed out into nature.
Well, it'll happen sooner than you think.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Web Design
If you're reading this then you may already be on my new Web site, but if you're not, please check it out.
http://people.emich.edu/cthuring
This is just a transitional page until the time when I decide to move to private hosting. Probably when I get closer to graduation. Since the site doesn't use a database, it will be extremely easy to move.
But on with the topic.
Now, this is the third or fourth time I've built a Web page. It wasn't easy this time either, but I feel like I'm getting a little more familiar with the pieces involved in putting something together. I could have made it easier had I not stretched my skills, but that would not have been any fun either.
Particular challenges I had for this site were: A consistent and attractive color theme, modern coding that would make extension and modification easy and logical, adherence to W3C standards, and finally a few bells that would help promote my skills and show of my talent.
Some of those bells have yet to be fully developed, as I didn't put in extra time to produce the graphics necessary for more appealing tabs, or rounded corners. However, I think that even without any graphics the site is quite nice, showing that a few colors can go a long way.
The site relies upon PHP to call in the header, footer, navigation bar, and sidebar. These are identical across all pages, based upon a template file. There are a few pieces of Javascript. One loads this blog into the page via a Feedburner.com service called BuzzBoost, as Blogger does not provide a means to embed into a page.
Another Javascript provides the neato-cool Lightbox effect on the gallery page. I may switch to a different gallery, though, because it is currently very hokey to add images to the gallery, requiring several lines of code.
Another important consideration was making sure that, if scripts were disabled, the site would still function. Currently it is a little crippled, but that will be solved when I set up a server, likely with a wordpress.org backend replacing my blogger.com blog.
Well, I think that's everything. It would have been much better, I think, to document the whole process. Some of my random notes are on Pownce, but making a blog post about the making of the site would have been more interesting than this simple debriefing.
Perhaps next time. I almost built the site in AJAX and there's so much more to learn. :)
http://people.emich.edu/cthuring
This is just a transitional page until the time when I decide to move to private hosting. Probably when I get closer to graduation. Since the site doesn't use a database, it will be extremely easy to move.
But on with the topic.
Now, this is the third or fourth time I've built a Web page. It wasn't easy this time either, but I feel like I'm getting a little more familiar with the pieces involved in putting something together. I could have made it easier had I not stretched my skills, but that would not have been any fun either.
Particular challenges I had for this site were: A consistent and attractive color theme, modern coding that would make extension and modification easy and logical, adherence to W3C standards, and finally a few bells that would help promote my skills and show of my talent.
Some of those bells have yet to be fully developed, as I didn't put in extra time to produce the graphics necessary for more appealing tabs, or rounded corners. However, I think that even without any graphics the site is quite nice, showing that a few colors can go a long way.
The site relies upon PHP to call in the header, footer, navigation bar, and sidebar. These are identical across all pages, based upon a template file. There are a few pieces of Javascript. One loads this blog into the page via a Feedburner.com service called BuzzBoost, as Blogger does not provide a means to embed into a page.
Another Javascript provides the neato-cool Lightbox effect on the gallery page. I may switch to a different gallery, though, because it is currently very hokey to add images to the gallery, requiring several lines of code.
Another important consideration was making sure that, if scripts were disabled, the site would still function. Currently it is a little crippled, but that will be solved when I set up a server, likely with a wordpress.org backend replacing my blogger.com blog.
Well, I think that's everything. It would have been much better, I think, to document the whole process. Some of my random notes are on Pownce, but making a blog post about the making of the site would have been more interesting than this simple debriefing.
Perhaps next time. I almost built the site in AJAX and there's so much more to learn. :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Word of the day: N.H.I.
As recently as the early 1990s, California state police euphemistically referred to cases involving young black men as N.H.I. – No Humans Involved, according to the study. A police officer involved in the 1991 Rodney King beating had just come from a domestic dispute with a black couple and referred to it as "something right out of (the movie) Gorillas in the Mist."
Penn State Live
I heard this on a recent TWIS podcast and during an episode of Law & Order:SVU. What an incredible thing.
Military personnel are trained to dehumanize their enemies. In an armed conflict, it stands to reason that you cannot afford to hesitate to pull the trigger in a life-or-death situation. However, where is dehumanization suitable as a psychological tactic and where is it not?
In Montreal, protesters joined in a police anti-brutality march, and became violent as armored teams arrived to quell the rowdy protesters.
Montreal police shot a man who threatened them with a knife. The Canadian Press
Another man, also wielding a knife, attacked Montreal police and was shot to death. The Gazette
Robert Dzieanski was famously Tasered to death by police at a Vancouver airport. Youtube
In fact, according to Amnesty International, 17 people have died of Taser related deaths over the years. Canada.com
However, perhaps our blinders are on... because according to Amnesty International, since 2001 over 290 individuals have died after a Taser was used on them. Amnesty International
Canada's certainly doing better than the U.S., however they need to hire a better P.R. agent.
In fact, check out that above link and scroll down to see many videos hosted on YouTube of people upon whom Tasers are being used.
In a military conflict, it's very clear what the rules of engagement are and who is on what side, but elsewhere we cannot have this dehumanization. Police officers, security officers, anybody not involved in a war must think of human beings as just that, Human. Individuals with the same capacities and thoughts and feelings as they themselves hold.
I don't believe there are many bad people in this world, just people in bad circumstances.
Penn State Live
I heard this on a recent TWIS podcast and during an episode of Law & Order:SVU. What an incredible thing.
Military personnel are trained to dehumanize their enemies. In an armed conflict, it stands to reason that you cannot afford to hesitate to pull the trigger in a life-or-death situation. However, where is dehumanization suitable as a psychological tactic and where is it not?
In Montreal, protesters joined in a police anti-brutality march, and became violent as armored teams arrived to quell the rowdy protesters.
Montreal police shot a man who threatened them with a knife. The Canadian Press
Another man, also wielding a knife, attacked Montreal police and was shot to death. The Gazette
Robert Dzieanski was famously Tasered to death by police at a Vancouver airport. Youtube
In fact, according to Amnesty International, 17 people have died of Taser related deaths over the years. Canada.com
However, perhaps our blinders are on... because according to Amnesty International, since 2001 over 290 individuals have died after a Taser was used on them. Amnesty International
Canada's certainly doing better than the U.S., however they need to hire a better P.R. agent.
In fact, check out that above link and scroll down to see many videos hosted on YouTube of people upon whom Tasers are being used.
In a military conflict, it's very clear what the rules of engagement are and who is on what side, but elsewhere we cannot have this dehumanization. Police officers, security officers, anybody not involved in a war must think of human beings as just that, Human. Individuals with the same capacities and thoughts and feelings as they themselves hold.
I don't believe there are many bad people in this world, just people in bad circumstances.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
10.04.2006 - My birthday, USP
Well, I didn't even remember this until I went and looked at the date on these photos but all of them were taken on the 4th of October, my birthday. That day was the first day that we went to the University of Shiga Prefecture, a new school that had only been around for 14 years or so. The ultra-modern artistic architecture makes it really distinctive, but I can't help thinking that it's such a pointy campus (not to mention confusing) when I go there.
I'll make this simple with a simple gallery of photos to browse through. We went on a tour, you see, and I was eager to try out my new camera...
We went in a big group with my professor, whom I didn't take a picture of... But here's a couple pictures of the people in my class.
And, well, that's about it! Sorry not a lot to say, but on the topic of my birthday...
Don and Angie bought me a cake and sang happy birthday. There weren't any candles, but that was okay. I had a good time. :)
I'll make this simple with a simple gallery of photos to browse through. We went on a tour, you see, and I was eager to try out my new camera...
We went in a big group with my professor, whom I didn't take a picture of... But here's a couple pictures of the people in my class.
And, well, that's about it! Sorry not a lot to say, but on the topic of my birthday...
Don and Angie bought me a cake and sang happy birthday. There weren't any candles, but that was okay. I had a good time. :)
Monday, December 18, 2006
10.02.2006 - The new camera!
October second, I got my brand new camera. But first I had a pic from the store.
Well, for a couple days in a row I had been trying to get the new camera, encountering trouble with using my credit card. I made a skype call back to america to tell them that I was in Japan and wished to use my card there, then returned to the camera shop on the second day. After some talking with the employee there and a short call from him to the credit card company, the camera was purchased, and here's my first photo!
Well, that's the inside of the camera shop. Later I found out that it's bad manners to take pictures in stores, but so long as I don't see a sign or somebody doesn't ask me to stop I guess I'll keep snapping.
On the way home I was surprised to come across these flowers that I hadn't seen the day before. They just popped up that day, so I took a picture.
And there was a cemetery right there.
And once I got back home I had don take a picture of me.
And I took a picture of don.
And another of some stuff on the table.
Next I planned where I might go to get some usage out of my new camera.
Well, for a couple days in a row I had been trying to get the new camera, encountering trouble with using my credit card. I made a skype call back to america to tell them that I was in Japan and wished to use my card there, then returned to the camera shop on the second day. After some talking with the employee there and a short call from him to the credit card company, the camera was purchased, and here's my first photo!
Well, that's the inside of the camera shop. Later I found out that it's bad manners to take pictures in stores, but so long as I don't see a sign or somebody doesn't ask me to stop I guess I'll keep snapping.
On the way home I was surprised to come across these flowers that I hadn't seen the day before. They just popped up that day, so I took a picture.
And there was a cemetery right there.
And once I got back home I had don take a picture of me.
And I took a picture of don.
And another of some stuff on the table.
Next I planned where I might go to get some usage out of my new camera.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Friday Project - The Koto
Hello again.
This friday's project (10/27/2006) We were guests to a Koto instructor. I did not get very much information about her, but I do have plenty of nice pictures to show, along with some clips. Let's start with a clip to listen to while you browse the pictures.
The Koto is a Japanese Harp. It consists of a long rounded block of hard wood, nylon strings tightly attached end-to-end, and a series of plastic bridges that hold the strings taut and assist in tuning.
The strings are individually tuned for the particular song you are playing. I'm sure there's a lot more information on Wikipedia So I'm just going to talk about what I saw and show off the pictures that I took. Plus the sounds are cool, of course.
Just a moment while I fire up Photoshop. I've been 'developing' my photos digitally. cropping and tuning up the colors and contrast. The results are great, I think. :)
This is the instrument.
And here's a closeup of the strings.
And a few more detail shots of the Koto and instructor's playing. The standing things are 'pillars' and the finger things are for playing. She occasionally presses down with her left hand to change the pitch of the note. It was interesting to watch.
After a short bit of instruction, it was time for the students to put on the little finger-picks and try their hand at 'Mushi no Koe' or "An Insect's Voice." Now, I didn't record any of their playing, I was too busy taking pictures. :)
The students were faced with strings and picks, and a sheet of japanese music, but most of them did pretty well, I would think.
Everybody taking turns at studying.
Finally, we were presented with a much more involved demonstration of Koto to round up the morning session. Apparently these Koto are owned by JCMU and Shiga Prefecture, so some of the students were interested in continuing to practice.
Enjoy!
This friday's project (10/27/2006) We were guests to a Koto instructor. I did not get very much information about her, but I do have plenty of nice pictures to show, along with some clips. Let's start with a clip to listen to while you browse the pictures.
The Koto is a Japanese Harp. It consists of a long rounded block of hard wood, nylon strings tightly attached end-to-end, and a series of plastic bridges that hold the strings taut and assist in tuning.
The strings are individually tuned for the particular song you are playing. I'm sure there's a lot more information on Wikipedia So I'm just going to talk about what I saw and show off the pictures that I took. Plus the sounds are cool, of course.
Just a moment while I fire up Photoshop. I've been 'developing' my photos digitally. cropping and tuning up the colors and contrast. The results are great, I think. :)
This is the instrument.
And here's a closeup of the strings.
And a few more detail shots of the Koto and instructor's playing. The standing things are 'pillars' and the finger things are for playing. She occasionally presses down with her left hand to change the pitch of the note. It was interesting to watch.
After a short bit of instruction, it was time for the students to put on the little finger-picks and try their hand at 'Mushi no Koe' or "An Insect's Voice." Now, I didn't record any of their playing, I was too busy taking pictures. :)
The students were faced with strings and picks, and a sheet of japanese music, but most of them did pretty well, I would think.
Everybody taking turns at studying.
Finally, we were presented with a much more involved demonstration of Koto to round up the morning session. Apparently these Koto are owned by JCMU and Shiga Prefecture, so some of the students were interested in continuing to practice.
Enjoy!
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