GLite.net

Lately, I have been considering reviving this blog, mostly thanks to some inspiration from reading Alessandra's Aless in Wonderland. I think it's mostly that I'm jealous of her writing capabilities, and that she's writing about cool things like music and pop culture. She's all writer-y wordsmith-ish journalist about herself, and is probably going to get a job working Rolling Stone Magazine when she graduates.

As for me, I've been mostly keeping my online presence on my twitter account. I have arranged it such that anything I post to twitter, either through its website, TwitterFox, KDETwitter, or SMS text messaging, gets cross-posted to my facebook status as well as my away messages on GChat and AIM. I've been pretty satisfied with microblogging (µ-blogging is the cool way to write it) overall. It lets me update frequently without feeling pressured to write a lot. Most of the time I don't need an entire blog post to say what I need to say, and 140-characters is enough. However, it's also not enough to say anything of real, true substance.

We'll see what I decide to do. I have been very tempted to start making reviews of my own, for no particular person's benefit other than those bored or looking for someone to flame. This is also inspired by Alessandra's various posts of late. If I did review something, I think it would be The CW's latest show Privileged starring Joanna García. The show is chock-full of crap acting and bad writing, but man is she smoking hot as a brunette.

Okay, I think I just pretty much said everything I needed to say.

It would seem that I had an entry from quite some time ago that never actually published. It was written on May 5th, but because it never published it is probably just now popping into everyone's RSS feeds (assuming there is anybody that subscribes to my RSS besides ... well, me).

So why did this entry publish today? Well, I rebuilt the MT server here with MT 4.21 and enabled some sweet new spam filtering stuff from this new version. I'm hoping it significantly cuts down the spam, which is why I've decided (for now) to re-enable anonymous comments/trackbacks.

I'd ask the question "Who still reads this thing?" But that's a silly question because there hasn't been anything to read in quite some time. Still, I think that's where the magic of RSS comes in. So, "Who still syndicates this thing?"

Truth is, I'm writing because I want to be sleeping, but I can't go to bed because I have two midterms tomorrow. Instead of study for them, I am of course just wasting time here (in addition to having played GTA IV all day), but at least I've taken the first step in putting up an away message on Pidgin.

This survey is going around like syphilis in an Asian whorehouse. Sorry, that was offensive.

Your Brain Usage Profile: Auditory : 71% Visual : 28% Left : 52% Right : 47%

John, your hemispheric dominance is equally divided between left and right brain, while you show a moderate preference for auditory versus visual learning, signs of a balanced and flexible person.

Your balance gives you the enviable capacity to be verbal and literate while retaining a certain "flair" and individuality. You are logical and compliant but only to a degree. You are organized without being compulsive, goal-directed without being driven, and a "thinking" individual without being excessively so.

The one problem you might have is that your learning might not be as efficient as you would like. At times you will work from the specific to the general, while at other times you'll work from the general to the specific. Sometimes you will be logical in your approach while at other times random. Since you cannot always control the choice, you may experience frustrations not normally felt by persons with a more defined and directed learning style.

You may also minimally experience conflicts associated with auditory processing. You will be systematic and sequential in your processing of information, you will most often focus on a single dimension of the problem or material, and you will be more reflective, i.e., "taking the data in" as opposed to "devouring" it.

Overall, you should feel content with your life and yourself. You are, perhaps, a little too critical of yourself - and of others - while maintaining an "openness" which is redeeming. Indecisiveness is a problem and your creativity is not in keeping with your potential. Being a pragmatist, you downplay this aspect of yourself and focus on the more immediate, the more obvious and the more functional.

From: announcements@northwestern.edu
To: <>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:11:14 am CDT
Subject: Illegal File Sharing

An important message to all Northwestern University students:

The Recording Industry Association of America (the "RIAA") continues its efforts to curtail
unlawful peer-to-peer file sharing of music over the Internet. Earlier this year, approximately 16
Northwestern students were contacted by the RIAA and requested to resolve claims of copyright
violations through out-of-court settlements. According to the RIAA, the vast majority agreed to
settle. Based on information received from those individuals who agreed to settle, the average
settlement amount has been approximately $3,000.

Using its own process of monitoring peer-to-peer traffic, the RIAA identified IP addresses for
members of the Northwestern University student body alleged to have violated copyright laws. The
RIAA then notifies the University that it intends to issue pre-litigation settlement letters for
these students, outlining the details of the settlement process and threatening to initiate legal
proceedings against these students, should they elect not to participate in the settlement process.
Upon receiving such settlement letters, the University promptly takes steps to identify and notify
the students at issue. The University does not share information about the identities of
individuals with the RIAA unless required to do so by law (e.g., in response to a lawful subpoena).

Northwestern University does not condone unlawful downloading and unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing of copyright-protected works. Individuals who engage in these practices are in violation of University policy (see "Rights and Responsibilities for the Use of Central Network and Computing Resources at Northwestern University", at http://www.it.northwestern.edu/policies/responsibilities.html) and may be subject to University disciplinary action as well as civil and criminal penalties.

Northwestern requires the members of its community to respect the intellectual property of others
and abide by all applicable laws. If you have engaged in file-sharing activity (e.g., downloading
of movies, music, TV shows or software) in violation of copyright laws, you should immediately
cease any such illegal file-sharing activity and the use or distribution of any illegally obtained
material. (Unless you are the target of an enforcement action and subject to related evidence
preservation requirements, you may also wish to remove such materials and the program you used to
obtain them from your computer.) Lawful downloading of music is possible through Apple iTunes, MSN
music, Rhapsody, Ruckus, and other web-based providers. Further information concerning these
services may be found at the following sites, among others:
http://mp3.about.com/od/wheretobuymusic/a/all_profile.htm and
http://mp3.about.com/od/freemusicdownloads/tp/freeandlegalmp3.htm.

**************************
This message was sent using the NU Bulkmail service to Students with normal priority.