Being Electrocuted
April 30, 2008
Get an eyepatch
I skipped the Night Marchers show Monday night since I was pretty tired and wasn't that excited about going by myself. Besides, I had just gone up through the city on Saturday with a van-load of European tourists. In fact, I drove a 12 passenger Ford E350 for the entire trip through wine country. Check that off of life's to-do list.
Just got back tonight from the OSO Conference in San Jose. Highlights were Eric Schmidt, a blogger panel, Al Gore, and MC Hammer. You think I'm kidding. Pleasant surprises when I got home were tickets to the a recently added Flight of the Conchords show (Brigitta is on some pre-sale list) and Mario Kart Wii!
As for school, my first semester is coming to an end soon, and I've been finishing up my last few assignments and finalizing a paper on foreign direct investment in Poland. studying for finals will occupy my next two weeks. Also, the UF MBA program had a few more impressive rankings lately if you are into that sort of thing: Financial Times ranks it #1 in the US for Career Progress and The Economist says they have the #1 Distance Learning MBA.
Wear the funky funky eyepatch.
Just got back tonight from the OSO Conference in San Jose. Highlights were Eric Schmidt, a blogger panel, Al Gore, and MC Hammer. You think I'm kidding. Pleasant surprises when I got home were tickets to the a recently added Flight of the Conchords show (Brigitta is on some pre-sale list) and Mario Kart Wii!
As for school, my first semester is coming to an end soon, and I've been finishing up my last few assignments and finalizing a paper on foreign direct investment in Poland. studying for finals will occupy my next two weeks. Also, the UF MBA program had a few more impressive rankings lately if you are into that sort of thing: Financial Times ranks it #1 in the US for Career Progress and The Economist says they have the #1 Distance Learning MBA.
Wear the funky funky eyepatch.
Labels: Funny, Google, Life, music, school
¶ 10:35 PM 3 Comments Links to this post
April 21, 2008
Ben Stein is an IDiot
In college, My friends and I spent countless hours watching a television show on Comedy Central called Win Ben Stein's Money, hosted by the guy whose claim to fame was saying "Bueller" over and over in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. We thought it was dry and funny. How could we have known that he would go on to be the Michael Moore of the Intelligent Design movement?
In case you don't already know where I'm going with this, Ben Stein recently released a movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed in some weak attempt to uncover a 'Big Science' conspiracy against ID. Skeptic did a four part series debunking the movie's main points and the National Center for Science Education has set up a site - Expelled Exposed. If you aren't convinced, check out the whopping 9% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. ¶ 7:13 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
In case you don't already know where I'm going with this, Ben Stein recently released a movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed in some weak attempt to uncover a 'Big Science' conspiracy against ID. Skeptic did a four part series debunking the movie's main points and the National Center for Science Education has set up a site - Expelled Exposed. If you aren't convinced, check out the whopping 9% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. ¶ 7:13 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
April 18, 2008
Metallica in Mountain View?
Anti-technology rockers, Metallica, make first in-store appearance in 10 years in the Silicon Valley. They will be at Rasputin in Mountain View on Saturday.
Labels: music
¶ 8:25 AM 1 Comments Links to this post
April 13, 2008
How Last.fm made me hack my iPod Touch
I recently heard Last.fm was pretty cool, so I decided to try it out for myself. For those who don't know, Last.fm is a community of people who share their music playlists and recommendations with each other by installing a program that tracks it all for you. This is called 'scrobbling'. Confused yet?
Anyway, I signed up, installed the application on my iMac and laptops, and started listening. After verifying that my recently played tracks in iTunes were getting uploaded to the site, I next wanted to figure out how to send songs played on my iPod back to Last.fm as well. Simple, right?
Wrong. I dug through the help docs only to find that when you sync your iPod to iTunes, Last.fm will only transfer your recently played tracks if you use the 'Automatic Sync' setting in iTunes. Not cool. Manual Sync is the way to go if you use multiple computers or if you have more music on your computer than your iPod will hold. Both of these are me, so on to Plan B.
Since I can't tell my scrobbler what I've been listening to on my iPod, I searched around and found a cool iPod Touch application called Mobile Scrobbler. Mobile Scrobbler tracks the songs you listen to just like the desktop scrobbler, but instead of relying on syncing with iTunes, it uses the WiFi connection on your iPod Touch to send your tracks directly back to Last.fm. Brilliant.
One problem. This application requires a jailbroken ipod (that's 'hacked' for non-nerds). Apparently the newest version of the iPhone/iPod Touch hack is from Ziphone, so I downloaded and installed it. After two tries, it worked! The bad part was I had to do a restore midway through the first attempt and lost all my songs. The good part was MobileScrobbler is a recommended application in the Ziphone package, and I didn't have to push more than two buttons to get it downloaded and set up.
So, MobileScrobbler has been working great for the past couple days. Just finished uploading music back to the iTouch, and it's scrobbling and transferring everything to my profile seamlessly. If I manage this correctly, people will think I listen to really cool music. You can find me at http://www.last.fm/user/mattdougherty/. ¶ 8:01 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
Anyway, I signed up, installed the application on my iMac and laptops, and started listening. After verifying that my recently played tracks in iTunes were getting uploaded to the site, I next wanted to figure out how to send songs played on my iPod back to Last.fm as well. Simple, right?
Wrong. I dug through the help docs only to find that when you sync your iPod to iTunes, Last.fm will only transfer your recently played tracks if you use the 'Automatic Sync' setting in iTunes. Not cool. Manual Sync is the way to go if you use multiple computers or if you have more music on your computer than your iPod will hold. Both of these are me, so on to Plan B.
Since I can't tell my scrobbler what I've been listening to on my iPod, I searched around and found a cool iPod Touch application called Mobile Scrobbler. Mobile Scrobbler tracks the songs you listen to just like the desktop scrobbler, but instead of relying on syncing with iTunes, it uses the WiFi connection on your iPod Touch to send your tracks directly back to Last.fm. Brilliant.
One problem. This application requires a jailbroken ipod (that's 'hacked' for non-nerds). Apparently the newest version of the iPhone/iPod Touch hack is from Ziphone, so I downloaded and installed it. After two tries, it worked! The bad part was I had to do a restore midway through the first attempt and lost all my songs. The good part was MobileScrobbler is a recommended application in the Ziphone package, and I didn't have to push more than two buttons to get it downloaded and set up.
So, MobileScrobbler has been working great for the past couple days. Just finished uploading music back to the iTouch, and it's scrobbling and transferring everything to my profile seamlessly. If I manage this correctly, people will think I listen to really cool music. You can find me at http://www.last.fm/user/mattdougherty/. ¶ 8:01 PM 2 Comments Links to this post
April 9, 2008
Smashing Pumpkins in 1994
Happy Rock n Roll Anniversary to me! Fourteen years ago today, I went to my first concert ever. It was the Smashing Pumpkins. I believe this clip is from that tour:
Labels: music
¶ 7:34 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
April 8, 2008
New Torche Album!
Meanderthal, the new album by Torche is streaming free right now at http://www.torche-meanderthal.com/. I'm about 5 songs in, and will definintely be picking this up this weekend. Hopefully Rasputin has it.
In other exciting media news, There Will be a Collectors Edition DVD at my house by Friday. ¶ 10:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
In other exciting media news, There Will be a Collectors Edition DVD at my house by Friday. ¶ 10:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
April 5, 2008
The real championship game is today
The Universities of Kansas and North Carolina play today in what should be the college basketball national title game. Today's game pits Roy Williams against his old team for the first time since he left KU five years ago for UNC. When the two-time defending National Champion Florida Gators get knocked out of the tournament (or don't make it in the first place) I tend to root for Kansas, since I partially grew up in Jayhawk country. You see, my introduction to college basketball was at Phog Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas and I spent summers at the Roy Williams Basketball Camp (see photo). Of course, height prevented me from becoming the next Danny Manning.
The Universities of Kansas and North Carolina play today in what should be the college basketball national title game. Today's game pits Roy Williams against his old team for the first time since he left KU five years ago for UNC. When the two-time defending National Champion Florida Gators get knocked out of the tournament (or don't make it in the first place) I tend to root for Kansas, since I partially grew up in Jayhawk country. You see, my introduction to college basketball was at Phog Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas and I spent summers at the Roy Williams Basketball Camp (see photo). Of course, height prevented me from becoming the next Danny Manning. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, but good luck Roy.
Labels: sports
¶ 8:35 AM 1 Comments Links to this post
April 1, 2008
A Reason to go to San Jose
Falafel's Drive In. Brigitta and I ate here last weekend, and it was worth the 20 minute drive completely out of our way. Other people thought so too. There was a huge line at 2 pm. We each had the large falafel sandwich and banana milkshake. Apparently they've been featured on the Food Network, which led my mother-in-law to recommend it to us from the other side of the country. Thanks Ruta.
Labels: food
¶ 10:20 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
Movin' on up
The US News and World Report released their 2009 school rankings this week. The University of Florida MBA program was ranked #34 amongst US business schools, jumping 3 spots for the second year in a row.
Speaking of school, I just finished the toughest week so far. The big team project was a 30 page draft investment analysis of Poland for my International Finance class. I also had a persuasive proposal due for Professional Writing and various homework assignments. Hard to believe the first semester is almost over. I just booked my tickets to Florida for exams in May.
Speaking of school, I just finished the toughest week so far. The big team project was a 30 page draft investment analysis of Poland for my International Finance class. I also had a persuasive proposal due for Professional Writing and various homework assignments. Hard to believe the first semester is almost over. I just booked my tickets to Florida for exams in May.
Labels: school
¶ 8:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
