June 28, 2003
Running
If you happen to know where I can find the desktop background in this image, please let me know.
June 24, 2003
Panther
From the Panther fast user switching page:
Because we can
Mac OS X animates transitions from one user to another. The current desktop becomes a texture placed on a 3D cube that rotates out of view while the incoming account desktop rotates into view on another side of the cube.
June 21, 2003
June 19, 2003
June 13, 2003
Holy crap! I got hit by a car!
I was riding my bike west on 2nd Avenue around 5:30 pm. I came up on the O'Connell parking lot exit and slowed down to look for cars (like I always do - people are always in quite a rush around 5:00 pm to get out of the parking lot and get home). I saw a silver Jetta coming, saw it slow down and almost stop, which was a signal for me to pass. I started to speed up again, and then saw the car start to lurch forward. All I could think was Oh crap, she's gonna hit me. Sure enough, I felt the front bumper hit my rear tire and then I fell to the ground. (It was interesting - as I was falling, I was able to look up at a car going west. The driver had this look of utter shock on his face.)
I landed on my left elbow and wrist, rolled once or twice, and stopped on my right elbow. Got pretty scraped up, and I now understand why motorcyclists wear leather. No scrapes or bruises on my legs, no damage to my head or neck, etc. Just road burn on my arms and wrist.
I immediately got up. The car's door was open, and a shocked girl was looking at me. I glared back (obviously very pissed); she said nothing, so I took my queue and said, "You know, when you see a bike coming like that, you typically stop." She simply asked if I was all right, and I said that I thought so. After that, I made sure that my bike was still ridable, which it was, and got back on to ride home.
All things considered, it could have been much, much worse. I could have been very badly hurt, my bike could be totaled, etc. But I'm okay.
Strangely enough, I just (22:45) saw another cyclist on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 34th Street talking to a police officer about an apparent collision. He was on the ground, didn't look hurt. I hope he's okay, maybe he'll get to ride home like I did. :-)
June 09, 2003
IQ
Fox has an ... interesting breakdown of IQs (from the TV ads; I could have gotten these wrong):
111-119 Above average 120-129 Gifted > 130 GENIUS!
Now, from what I've read, an IQ of around 140 is "genius". But there's not one number that represents genius, not to mention that many educators and psychologists feel that IQ tests aren't all that great:
Correlations between different kinds of test range from about 0.35 to about 0.85. It must equally follow, therefore, that a single, short test will not tell us all that we might want to know about a person's IQ.
This test is apparently multiple-choice, about which I have a number of reservations. I distinctly remember one part of my IQ test - back when I was in first or second grade - that involved a set of triangular blocks with a different color on each side. I was given a pattern to form out of the blocks, and I guess the amount of time and accuracy helped determine my IQ.
Enough! Star Trek is on.
June 08, 2003
Whoops
I remember what the second item was: Fox is doing a show to let Americans find out their IQs. I think this is a really bad idea.
Two Things
- This new Verizon commercial with the chimpanzees talking to bananas should really say something to the thousands of people who spend all their time on the phone. I have a cell phone. It's useful. But do we really need to spend all our time (in between classes, driving home, etc.) on our phones?
- ... (I had something else in mind, but I've forgotten what it was.)