My apologies for the downtime. Over a long weekend of unsuccessfully attempting to launch my Rails app on Dreamhost, I managed to also break my JewloftheLotus site. Well now that my final (..my one and only final) is over, I had a chance to sit down and fix the problem. So, I’m back!
Coming VERY soon – My First Rails App :)
This is a satirical article posted on BBSpot that had WAY too many of us fooled…
To sum it up:
The MPAA defines a home theater as any home with a television larger than 29” with stereo sound and at least two comfortable chairs, couch, or futon. Anyone with a home theater would need to pay a $50 registration fee with the MPAA or face fines up to $500,000 per movie shown…
The bill would require that any hardware manufactured in the future contain technology that tells the MPAA directly of what is being shown and specific details on the audience. The data would be gathered using various motion sensors and biometric technology…
‘Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn’t give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That’s a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends,’ said Glickman.
mcatrage’s digg comment explains why we were so easily fooled:
Sad part is would you really put it past the MPAA to actually try and do this?
…man, I was REALLY pissed off for a second there.
Remember a few days ago, when we saw LAPD officers repeatedly punching an arrested man in the face before cuffing him? Well, that video prompted an FBI investigation.
Here’s a new video, taken by a student’s camera phone, displaying similar police brutality, again, in Los Angelas. The student was asked to leave the library when he could not produce an ID. As the student was headed towards the doors, an officer grabbed his arm (I would assume to “escort” him out) at which point the student began yelling “Get off me!” A second officer approached and it was at this point when the student was tased for the first time… Let’s hope that this video can generate enough attention to prompt another FBI investigation in LA.
In an article on Yahoo! about the first instance, it is said that:
Legal observers said the public has become somewhat desensitized to questionable police tactics caught on tape because such videos have become more prevalent since the King beating. In many cases, officers have been exonerated.
“The first reaction by people is one of outrage,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “But the more you see police officers using force on tape, the more you get used to it.”
I sincerely hope that people don’t just “get used” to seeing this sort of thing. It should make you sick to your stomach, and if it doesn’t – I would wonder if you’re really human.
Well, we’ve made it to Week 12/16 of the Fall semester here at MSU. And that means, that the fifth and final IDM is due in my Interactive Media I course.
This weeks featured site is Blogs For Learning, an instructional blog for students and teachers that provides, “information and resources about the technical and pedagogical aspects of blogging in the classroom.”
Blogs For Learning is the brainchild of two of my MSU professors: first, Dr. Ethan Watrall, my Interactive Media I instructor, and second, Dr. Nicole Ellison, the instructor of my “Social, Cultural and Psychological Implications of Computer-Mediated Communication,” course.
Just as we thought we’d actually have to tune in live to Comedy Central to see our favorite shows (ie. The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Southpark), Comedy Central and YouTube are now in talks to keep the copyrighted videos on the site. A lot of CC clips have been reposted so go celebrate with a healthy dose of political satire.
Cheers,
Jewls
Here’s a few things that I think are worth mentioning but don’t necessarily need their own posts.
First, you know ads are going to reach the News Feed of Facebook users any-day now, when you see flyers all over your campus asking students to join the Crest WhiteStrips Facebook group.
Here’s a link to a picture of the ad: Smile State
I read an interesting article on Web accessibility today. I’ve been running into the topic fairly often recently (as to be expected for web designers of any skill level), and I haven’t really been confident in what the concept really entails. This article helped point me in the right direction, though. One commenter said it best: “Make something accessible and you’re making it easier for everyone, not just ‘disabled’ people.”
The website for Interactive Media I is coming along nicely. Rails is still pretty frustrating for me, but I think I’m picking it up little by little. No designs have been implemented yet, though – it’s becoming critical that we work on that. Adam and I were playing around with the CSS layout yesterday and applied a three column fluid layout with both 100% height and width. It works and it looks good – however it won’t support faux columns and therefore, more than likely, will not work with the type of design that we’re aiming at. So we may have to look at some alternate options.
Well that’s all I’ve got for ya.
Jewls
You should have seen this one coming – it’s the fourth of five IDM(Inspiration Design Model) posts for my “Interactive Media I”:http://class.cas.msu.edu/tc346/ course!
This week on the class chopping block: “Rustboy”:http://www.rustboy.com/, a Flash site for the Brian Taylor short film project.
So for the last week and a half, I’ve been building a Rails application for my HTML course – Interactive Media I. The “Final Project”:http://class.cas.msu.edu/tc346/?page_id=3 for my class is to create a “significant” website by manually coding HTML and CSS, in a small group. Well, we are definitely shooting for “significant.” I’m not going to spoil the surprise – but I’ll tell you it’s Web 2.0ish, and our professor was really excited about the idea.
I’m coding (with much help from “the b/f”:http://threadbox.net) a lot of Rails for this, and at first it was extremely frustrating. But, I’m starting to get the hang of things and we’re making a lot of progress. My teammate, AJ (a computer sciences major), is struggling to get MySQL functioning on his XP system – but once that’s up, he is going to try and help out with it as well.
At the moment, I’d say a good portion of the back-end is good to go. Now, we need to begin focusing on and implementing the actual design of the site. So, it’s time for all of us to do some Photoshop explorations.
We’re all pretty excited about the site and I think it will turn out pretty well for my first Rails/HTML/CSS project. Stay tuned for the launch, which should be around early December.
Jewls
Well the bad luck of Friday the 13th started a day early this year. On Thursday the 12th (of _October_!), it snowed. This is the earliest snowfall Michigan has seen in somewhere around the last 125 years. I like snow…but not until the end of November, and only until the middle of January. Any sooner or later then that and I’ll probably not be too thrilled. Luckily, I live in Michigan where the temperature goes from 30 degrees to 60 in a weekend. So you can be sure that come Monday, I’ll be wearing a t-shirt and enjoying the sun.
Aside from the Friday the 13th induced bad weather, I’ve discovered that both of my cats have fleas. And, Gibby has a hole poked into her abdomen. So they’re both on flea medications, and I get to vacuum all the carpets and furniture, and wash all of the sheets and blankets, and spray to kill all the eggs. And, I have to give Gibby antibiotics and keep her from licking her wound. If she keeps licking it – we have to buy her one of those white plastic shields that go around the head. She’d love that.
I can only assume that this bad luck will continue through tomorrow, I will keep you all updated.
Maybe since the Spartans are already having a horrible season, the bad luck of Friday the 13th will have a reverse effect and we’ll beat #1 Ohio State… I could also be dreaming.
Here it is, the third of five IDM(Inspiration Design Model) posts for my “Interactive Media I”:http://class.cas.msu.edu/tc346/ class. This weeks website is “Jason Santa Maria”:http://www.jasonsantamaria.com, a personal weblog/portfolio for a graphic designer in Philly.
UPDATE: Jason has “commented”:http://www.jasonsantamaria.com/archive/2006/10/10/class_critique.php on the collection of critiques by our class and I urge you all to read his response. He’s obviously a very intelligent and humble designer and I’m grateful to have had his feedback.
@jewlofthelotus
