Genius In Progress

This is what happens when computer geeks make rap music. If you don’t get it, just smile and nod. It’s funny. Really, it is. Particularly the part about big-O of log(n).

All I can say about this one is wow:

Did you know a Cello could do this? I didn’t.

We Stauffer children are a strange brood. That’s not to say that the Stauffer parents are any different, I just wanted to use the word brood. We have the priviledge of two distinct sets of weirdness working together in us, taking us to whole new levels of strange, though to hear Mom and Dad tell it, they inherited it from us. Either way, it’s quite an experience. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. How many people can say that every single person in their atomic family (yes, I know, it’s nuclear, but atomic is just so much more fun) makes them shake their head and laugh… a happy laugh, mind you, not a scornful laugh. I hope lots of people have the pleasure, because it is certainly quite an experience. If you seem to be lacking in comical weirdness, feel free to stop by the Stauffer house. We’ve always got extra floating around, and we’re more than happy to share.

Warning… this may make you brain hurt trying to figure out what is going on. View this page and follow the instructions at the top. It’s pretty amazing.

Popular Mechanics, that wonderfuly nerdly magazine about all sorts of interesting stuff, recently (March 2005) published an article debunking some of the most common myths about the attacks on 9/11. It’s worth a read to see what some people are claiming, and what a bit of science, investigation and common sense can do to prove or disprove those claims.

I normally will be the last person to post a link to this company, and you will probably never see it happen again, but the iPod Nano is gorgeous. The pictures do not do it any justice. There is one wandering around Enmark right now, and the thing is teeeeeeeeeeeny. 4 gb in that size, with an actual display… not too shabby.

PBS has been kind enough to make available online the entire NOVA series “The Elegant Universe”, which is a 3 hour long program describing String Theory in fairly complex detail. Anyone who is interested in physics or other such things, or is just curious about the latest theories on how the universe works should take the time to watch this series. It’s well worth it.

Jason Upton, an excellent Christian musician and worship leader, has updated his web site recently. One notable addition is Key of David Radio, which is basically streaming radio of all of Jason Upton’s many CDs and recordings. It’s awesomely spiritual and uplifting music, and I’m finding it quite a relaxing thing to listen to at work. It’s almost like a prayer meeting in my headphones. Anyhow, I highly recommend at least taking a listen and seeing what you think.

It may be a blogging faux pas, but the last post was whiny and annoying, and I didn’t like it 5 seconds after I posted it, so I disappeared it. That’s what I get for posting when I should be sleeping. My apologies to anyone who may have been subjected to it. That version of me was beaten severely with a newspaper and has promised to go away.

Moving on, I was looking for good music to listen to, and realized I hadn’t listened to Torley Wong (awesome techno artist, though calling him just a techno artist is, I believe, a little bit like calling a composition by Ludwig van Beethoven or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart a song, as opposed to a masterpiece). I have most of his music, but decided to search him out anyway, to see if he had released anything new. He’s been kind enough to release all of his works under the Creative Commons License, and they are free for download courtesy of the Internet Archive.

If you visit the above website, you will find all 230 of his songs available singly for download, or lumped together in a 1.4 GB zip file of goodness. Sadly, if you read the contents of the page, he announces that he has an affliction of the ear called hyperacusis, which makes almost any sound seem excessively loud, prohibiting him from composing. This is very much a shame, but it seems like he has accepted it. Either way, I highly recommend you take the time to listen to some of his music. It will be well worth your time.

Update:

For those of you keeping score at home, the above linked album is titled The Final Selection, and is a different collection of songs than those contained in 1a, 1b, or 2a, which are all completely worth listening to as well. I haven’t listened to them in a while, but for those of you overwhelmed by the vast selection of songs, Torley would suggest (and I tend to agree) listening to Xristosphan, A New Piano [radio edit], thesmileinhereyes [alive], The Chinese Method, and FOOTSTEPS, to which I would add An Old Piano. There are many formats, so I highly recommend visiting the web site rather than taking my word for it. Enjoy.