Spring: Bike Time!

So, now that it's spring and the weather is (for most) lovely, I decided to start riding my bicycle. I need to get a new battery for my odometer, as it won't display real-time speed or trip distance, but based on the time and average speed, I wager I rode ~15.25 miles (I didn't reset the timer right away and didn't take a look at the lifetime odometer right away, both which were still fully readable.).

It was a good time, and I'm planning to start using my bike to ride out to my college. It not only saves gas money, but provides exercise, too.

Prism, You've Spoiled Me

So recently, much of my web experience has been with apps I've created with Prism, a simple XULRunner based web app creator. It's quite handy. One thing that I didn't know about it before I looked it up to link to a page about it is that it's a part of Mozilla (creators of Firefox web browser and Thunderbird e-mail client). :O

It's pretty awesome, and gives focus and order to some of my more important online activity. In fact, I'm creating this blog post in a web app I created with Prism, and my Google search to find the link was also done with a Prism created app.

I can't say it completely replaces a web browser, as your navigation is a little limited, as is your context menu upon right click. For those specialized tasks, though, it is incredibly convenient.

Edit: Ooh. Apparently you can put add-ons to Prism. I might have to toy with that and get back to you.

An Invention Idea - The Future of Biology?

I should preface this by saying that if I had the technical knowledge or testing budget...I'd be using them before posting this...

I was climbing into the shower this morning, and I noticed a spider on the side of the bathtub wall (The spider died because the condensation made it lose it's grip. >.<). This make me think "You know, it would really be neat if they made a real life PokéDex. All you would do is have to point it at the animal, and voilá! Information is displayed in the palm of your hand about the species. It could even go so far as to keep a record of a species that's not found in the database, and then sync up to a server, sending where and when you were when you saw the species, as well as a picture of what you saw. I think there could be some serious science done at a very grassroots level with this baby. What would be even more impressive is combining this device with a long range life scanner, much like a tricorder from Star Trek. There could be versions of the tricorder that send out signals themselves, and those that send information to and receive information from an orbiting satellite network (sort of like GPS).

Heck, maybe they could even develop this technology for a new Mars mission (or wherever they plan to travel) and use it to analyze the rocks right where they land, saving a need to return to Earth!

The Magic of Pixlr

So I've been working with a web-app called Pixlr, since it's a standard webapp with my OS (people without peppermint can find it online).  I launch it like a regular application, and get to it.  In fact, I think I might show some of the work I've done...

becomes

And...

becomes

I think the hardest image editing task I've come across is creating a transparency. I would say the fuzzy select tool makes things easy, but it can still miss a decent amount. Also, there are images with so many different colors because of the desired lighting that you're simply not able to select a huge patch of image. It's gets a bit laborious at times, but the end result is often satisfying.

Quick note: That text you see below Maggie's foot? That's a reference to Zimagez, the site I'm currently using to host images. I have an account there and everything. (I actually started using Zimagez back with my first...well, second Linux OS. I had Mythbuntu first, but changed to Xubuntu after I had to essentially reload everything due to creating insufficient "Persistent File" space the first time. The thing is, I'm not too mad at myself for screwing up the first time, as it forced me to start using Google docs, which I have grown quite accustomed to.)

The Rising Cost of College - Solutions?

Okay, as some may know, college costs are greatly expensive and rising every year (at 8%, I think the figure was).

Often, college is so expensive that students must take out loans from the government.  Now, I don't want to infringe on the sovereignty of schools or their programs.  Yet I hear that schools are squandering money on crap like rock climbing walls?

Now, I'm not wondering if there's not some way to introduce a bill in congress that will regulate schools in some manner, possibly by forcing them to have their budget approved by a third party.

Now, there are issues that may rise with this, including special interest groups trying to limit what can be taught on college campuses, or companies that don't know much about the educational value of a class or the attendance demanding that the college drop the program.  Hell, there are probably other consequences I'm not seeing.  Oh, here's one:  Additional costs due to overhead/employing the services of the company, whether such costs are government subsidized or paid by the college.

Solutions to the costs of college aren't simple.  There needs to be some way to keep college costs under control (maybe pressuring the colleges by an organized boycott of the campuses and courses, demanding that the change and only use funds for what's necessary plus maybe minor additions for leisure?)  Money speaks to many colleges, I think (especially the for profit ones).  If they have to cater to an organized decline in the number of students going to their campuses, maybe they'll be forced to rethink their fiscal policy.

Hell, maybe the approval process can be grassroots, where projects won't be built unless they're improved by students who get to see the costs and projected tuition, fees, room, board, and other cost increases.

There's no clear or definite solution, as nobody has really tried anything.  I think that something needs to be done, though.  College costs have a serious need to come under control.  It doesn't just affect the students.  It also affects the taxpayer, as all too often, thousands to tens of thousands of dollars seem to be spent taking out student loans, a fair amount of which either go into default or forbearance.

Having a greatly educated population is great, but when the costs are as high as they are, it may drive away brilliant minds who are two scared or reluctant to attend because of the massive debt that they'll be responsible for upon graduation.

The Blog Begins!

Alright.  Here it is.  My blog.  This is a nice central place for me to post my thoughts and whatnot.  Instead of being lost with time, they'll be immortalized with text, pictures, links, and whatever else I need to convey what's on my mind.  I hope you all enjoy it.  I know I will. ^.^