Scott Listfield's Picture

Ringing Ear

Ive had a lot of links lately in my log. Cool stuff, but not very personal or unique. I don't want to get in a particular rut, so this one will be different.

Ive had a ringing in my right ear today. I started noticing this a couple of days ago, but on both days only in the morning. On both days, the ring had basically gone away after a couple of hours. Today the ring hung around all day. I'm going to try to get a very good nights' sleep and ditch it.

To call it a ring is a bad description. Whenever I hear a sound or pitch, I hear another false pitch. This pitch has about the same waveform of wind blowing, and making a whistling noise. This has proven an annoyance, especially while trying to enjoy music. I have not been able to understand the pattern of the false pitch. I know it's not the same note for everything I hear, but I think the interval changes based on the real pitch of what I am hearing.

There is no pain associated with this, but I'm hoping it clears up. From what Ive read online, ear ringing is usually a minor problem, caused by a passing infection. If I can't get it to subside you will hear more about this.

Peace,
Ba

Phidelity

About a year ago I was visiting Guiliani Coffee shop in Champaign on Green St. Being the cool coffee shop it is, they had odd music playing and I had to figure out what it was. I asked a worker about it. He told me to check out www.phidelity.com.

Cool stuff abounds. I like the music mixes the best, but the visual stuff is cool as well.

Happy Cycling!

Is there anything shady about buying an unlocked cell phone on eBay?

Wired January 2008 Edition P 56
Ive wondered about this for some time now.

Illustration: Christoph Niemann

By "unlocked," you're referring to GSM phones that aren't tied to a particular service provider and thus can be used anywhere in the world by inserting an appropriate SIM card. To the chagrin of wireless companies, which would prefer to keep you tethered to their pricey, subpar networks, such phones are perfectly legal to purchase — at least for the next 22 months. In October 2006, the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress ruled that circumventing a cell phone's locking software isn't a problem, as long as it's done "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network." In other words, as long as you intend to pay someone for service, you're cool. The only caveat is that the ruling expires on October 27, 2009, at which point it'll have to be renewed — something the likes of Verizon and T-Mobile will doubtless fight.

Sites like eBay, of course, will likely be on the other side of that debate. They make a mint off unlocked phones, which cost more than the subsidized mobiles sold by wireless carriers. "If someone wants to sell them, that's perfectly fine with us," says Catherine Schwartz, eBay's gadget and toy director.

You needn't pony up for a new phone, however, to enjoy the benefits of unlocking. If you've got an old locked GSM phone lying around, try asking your carrier for the unlocking code. It's AT&T policy, for example, to comply with unlock requests from customers whose contracts have expired.

Rotten APPLE

At the moment I am really sick of apple taking over my laptop.

This is all started last year when, while browsing the internet with firefox and downloading mp3s, one day I lost the firefox box which asked me what to do when left clicking on an mp3 file. Now, instead of asking me if I want to save the files, or open them with a program, my browser takes me to this blank white page with a tiny gray bar in the middle which plays my mp3's. I don't know why or how apple decided to start telling me what to do with my mp3 files and my web browser. This tiny gray bar player is associated with quicktime, an apple associated program. Last year my CS friend and I tried for 10 minutes to disable this automatic player function, but were unsuccessful. You can usually get around this default player by right clicking on the mp3 file.

For about the past three months, I've been getting prompted to update Quicktime. I can understand how I might be getting prompted to update a program if I USED IT. Nope. Some apple shit is sitting in my system tray asking me to update and I DONT EVEN USE ITUNES! Ive been putting it off for awhile and I finally agreed to update it.

Suprise Suprise, now all of my mp3 files are associated with itunes, as their default player program. There was no question during the update asking my about my file associations. Im really sorry I ever touched apple software.

Rhet 233 Research Paper- Sprawl Study

This is my Rhet 233 research paper. The thesis is complicated because it makes three claims.

-sprawl is a problem
-sprawl can be solved
-sprawl has inherent difficulties

I though I did a pretty good job on the paper, but some of the paragraphs are pretty short and some of the topics are viewed in a very optimistic light. For example, there is too much emphasis placed on community preservation as a way to economic restoration. The fact is, specialty shops and downtown districts aren't going to solve a communities economic troubles, though maybe slow them. There isn't enough global economic research in here. Still I think its a pretty informative paper, and might be interesting to a bored individual.

Don't Forget

Facebook is a company. They know you are addicted. They are keeping you addicted. They like it that way.

Economics and the true cultural clash

For the most part, we define what makes us happy. Most people are content to either provide love and support or to somehow better themselves physically, emotionally, economically, or spiritually. I think that a problem which many countries have with the United States is that US people mainly concentrate on personal financial betterment as a means to happiness.

Its a fact that right now the French economy is weak. Labor unions have put a near chokehold on business owners, making it difficult for them to fire unqualified employees. One might see this as a pathetic situation, thinking France a lesser country due to their economic shortcomings, but I think the French have something we lack. The French love their art. If looking at a painting, or hearing a song brings you tears of joy, than why would you strive to gain money as a way only to define your sucess and happiness. I think that Americans or a lot
of people don't understand that you can find happiness by giving love or just carefully perceiving beautiful things. There are some big generalizations in here, which maybe im not at liberty to make, in the meantime, I will try to define my own happyness.

Washington DC Pictureeeios and get down, like some other dj

http://picasaweb.google.com/clear00water/DCPictures

Idiots!

Today there appeared a couple of swatsticas on Trelease inner elevator doors. I don't understand this in the slightest. As you know, the sign has come to symbolize hate and racism, two things that humanity needs to move away from in order to further mentally evolve.

We've had a lot of problem with stupid stuff on elevator doors about 'nigga' this 'fag' that, but there is something about a swatstica which is so much worse. Probably because there isn't much of a joke about it, and in no way can anyone look at genocide in a light hearted manor.

In Germany there are actual laws banning the denial of the intentions of the Nazi party. Get a brain you swatstica-drawing moron.

Wikipedia, You Speak the Truth

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/balbrec2/shared/untitled.JPG

Emotometer

I like this idea

First you write a computer program which can somehow access facebook status notes for given geographical areas. This would be easiest with residence halls or neighborhoods. The program would search for happy words or happy marks like smiles, hearts, or exclamations. The statuses would automatically be given a happy value from 1 to 10.

This data could then be somehow converted into a composite sum or figure, abstracted, and publicly displayed.



A lot of people were mad that night.