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Link to scans on Srcribd. For a good laugh, go see the answers that some college kids put on their papers. I only wish I could have been this imaginative whenever I came upon a question that my mind answered with a blank stare. When you can answer with a drawing of a ninja turtle or an elephant (both for bonus points), then I think you should at least get a few points of credit for creativity. I guess that’s why I went to a liberal arts school. I’m pretty sure most of my professors would have given these kids at least a few points for originality.

Also, I peruse Digg fairly often, which is a site the aggregates web links upon which the users can vote up or vote down said links. I don’t vote too often, unless I want to remember where to find something useful, funny, or unique. You can see my list here, if you’re so inclined. There’s actually not much there, and looking at it, you might think I have some infatuation with Spider-Man. I do not, but I do enjoy the movies. Just so you know. The front page of Digg is always interesting too.

[If you're reading this, I'm sure you need a break from all the worries and stresses of life. Go find a Bed & Breakfast]

In some respects I consider myself an early adopter, or at least an early finder. I’m constantly reading tech blogs that keep me up to date on the newest gadget that the world could really do without, but seems so, well, cool. In other ways, I feel like I’m late to the party. Take Tivo. It began in ‘98 or ‘99, but we didn’t see the light until 2004. Then again, I found the Pioneer Tivo DVD Recorder right when it came out, and it’s, well, really cool.

Onward. I started listening to NPR recently, mainly in the mornings. Then I heard about this show, This American Life, and how it began as an NPR radio only show and was moving to TV on Showtime. Alas, I don’t have Showtime, but, hallelujah, they’re streaming the show online for free. I watched the premiere episode last week. It’s brilliant. It’s brilliant if you like true, unique stories told with fairly stunning visuals. I especially appreciated "The Best Gig Ever," which featured the Improv Everywhere group, which, if you haven’t heard of them, you should seriously check out their website. (I forgot about this one: "Even Better Than the Real Thing" – they staged a fake U2 concert on top of a building).

So. I was late to the intellectual party that is NPR. I was, however, right on time for a great show. Go watch it.

P.S. A day after I wrote this post, I found this interview. I must be psychic, because the article starts talking about Ira Glass being a late bloomer, as well as those "lab-rats" who had never heard of the radio show, but found the radio show through the TV show.

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Over the last few weeks I’ve been able to watch a few more movies than normal. Yes, we’re regular subscribers to Netflix, but sometimes those DVDs go unwatched for days. This kind gentleman has even made a website where you can compute how much you’re actually spending on your Netflix DVDs so you can figure out if you’re better off at the local (but dying) video rental store.

With Netflix’s addition of a "Watch It Now" feature, where you can, actually, watch a movie in your browser, I’ve been a bit more excited about on demand movies. Unfortunately, "Watch It Now" does not cover their entire catalog, but only a select few hundred, although more are added every day. Using this new feature, I watched Word Wars first (although only half of it); it’s a documentary about Tournament Scrabble players. It was very interesting to see these people who essentially forfeit jobs to play Scrabble tournaments for less than a livable income.

Second was Zach Galifianakis’ Live at the Purple Onion. Bluntly, it’s a standup comedy show. More pointedly, it’s hysterical, minus it’s obscenities. His timing is impeccable, as well as his ability to hold a face.

Lastly, for the time being, was Run Lola Run, a modern classic. I’d heard about it from more than a few different sources. I didn’t know it was a German film, and, thusly, subtitled, but that’s never stopped me before. It was an energetic tale told in three parts about the ways the smallest action can change the course of history. And I loved how it’s typically described as an MTV music video, as if anyone can remember what that means.

On demand video, which is quickly becoming the norm, will be very time-consuming once the amount of content explodes.

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"In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e. a large difference between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows." (Wikipedia)

According to my friend Donnie, the photographer takes three pictures of the same scene: one is underexposed, one is correctly exposed, and the last is overexposed. Using Photoshop or another digital image editor, the photographer combines the three pictures into something entirely new. It’s a process I’d like to learn in the near future.

HDR photography produces some pretty cool images that are real, but not quite. It’s impressive what some photographers can do. Many good examples can be found on Flickr, as this style is increasing in popularity on the web. See Austin area HDR images, the HDR Flickr group, and this guy, an HDR photographer in Austin.

[And in random news, did you know that you can buy Mailboxes online? I sure didn't.]

The wife and I went downtown last night with a friend to celebrate her birthday. We made great time getting there, then started the night at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Dinner was good. We decided to walk off our calories by traipsing up and down 6th Street, something none of us had done in awhile. It’s an entertaining experience just because of the variety of people that are there on a Friday night.

After walking east, we backtracked and headed west, all the way to Waterloo Records and Amy’s Ice Cream. We decided to eat ice cream before browsing for music, so we waited in line for 30 minutes or more, but it was worth the wait, as usual. The funniest event of the night, to me, was the piece of paper that sat on our table as we were swimming in ice cream. Amy’s walls are covered in posters for upcoming events. My wife found the poster from whence came the small, torn-off slip of paper that was on our table. They were wanting donors, and not for blood. I’ll leave it at that.

We ate more quickly after that realization, then left for Waterloo. We browsed, and I bought a Weird Al album because of this video (10:35):

Fun night. Good times.

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