Storage Via E-mail

How many messages are in the inbox of your primary e-mail account? Too embarassed to say? Well have no fear, because you're not alone. Though there's no statistical evidence proving it, it has become pretty clearcut that using e-mail to hold onto information has become a growing trend. Could it be that our society is just becoming more and more lazy? Is the foundation of existence crumbling beneath us? Probably not. I think people's lives are just getting busier and we still haven't developed a way to easily organize our life in an electronic form. Sure there are electronic organizers and PDAs, but the tiny keyboard of the former is a turnoff and the necessity of a pen on the latter is annoying. Plus there's the pricing for something decent. And it's so easy to lose what we write on paper. I think this burden has been shouldered onto e-mail because it's something we can rely on and access from everywhere. When devices that are like PDAs but come with keyboards and are more compatible with computers (and intuitive) become popularized at a lower price the tables will turn. Until then, just keep procrastinating that e-mail clean-up you've been dreading.

The news for nerds today is pretty decent if I do say so myself. The coolest thing was that scientists have finally figured out why popcorn has leftover unpopped kernels. Apparently the culprit is a leaky hull that impedes the moisture buildup. Many of you can easily recall the buzz surrounding Windows 95 when it first came out, and as archaic as it is now you can't deny what a revolution it was for the PC (read: non-Apple computers). Microsoft is making the claim that Longhorn will be that big. In fact, they're so confident that their new motto will be, "It just works," and I hope they follow through on it (assuming that they stop being bigots). I've gotta hand it to them, they're trying out a new OS model and taking a chance. On the other side of the spectrum, there are fresh concerns that Linux may fail in the long-run due to a lack of rigorous testing. They make some good points, and I can cite much evidence that without well tested software you have nothing. And lastly, Sun has released a list of features to be included in J2SE 1.6 aka Mustang. They sound pretty neat, but not enough to save the language. I think in another 5 years Java will be rarely used.

The theme of today's movie news is quality over quantity. I'll start out with the superhero stuff. I know that Batman Begins has already had like six posters and I keep putting them up here, but now there's a new one that I also must put up:



That's the one that the publicity machine is using for France. I want you to compare the Batsuit to the suit being used for Superman Returns, which was just put online today:



I don't think the colors pop out like they should. Oh well, it'll have to do. The appearance of Juggernaut in X3 has now been confirmed officially and Matthew Vaughn also spoke a bit about his adaptation of Stardust (the Neil Gaiman novel), which should be pretty cool. And if that wasn't enough comics for you, there's also a first shot of Nicholas Cage as Ghost Rider in today's USA Today. His zeal for the series is very promising. I love Mos Def and Sam Rockwell so it was pretty neat to me that IGN got an interview with both of them to help promote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not a whole lot of new information, but always nice to hear them talk about it. Lastly, there's some new information on the U.S. version of Oldboy for those of you who are interested. I think the movie idea is pretty cool but I know nothing of the original so maybe that article will serve some of you better.

Just a couple of things before I close up here and relax for the rest of the night. I know I keep mentioning Greenspan's warning regarding our twin deficits but now he's pissed. For those of you who don't know, the exacerbation of the deficit sets of a chain reaction of things starting with uncontrollably high interest rates and leading to a lack of credibility in our monetary stability in the international community and less consumable income among other things. We just had to elect Bush, huh? If any of you are truly interested in the blog contraversy with employees of certain companies you may like this extensive article.

Because the Fiver is a little bland today I'm doing Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Name something that helps you fall asleep.
Turkey! Other than that though, laying down in front of a television usually does the trick. There's also my Philosophy teacher's voice, and I think it does the trick for a number of other people in my class as well.

Soup
Who brings out the best in you?
So as to not get all caught up in annoying woe-is-me crap, I'll just say it's a girl I met a couple of years ago who I miss in my life now. A few of my cousins can usually do it too though, but it's not quite the same.

Salad
What do you like to do on a rainy day?
Watch the rain while eating corn on the cob from the comfort of my bed. Doesn't everyone?

Main Course
Complete this sentence: In our home, we never have enough...
Kahlua! I love that stuff but my dad doesn't keep a whole lot of it on hand unfortunately. It goes great with milk, chocolate liqueur, and irish cream liqueur.

Dessert
Which shoe do you put on first?
My left shoe for some reason. I don't really have an explanation for that, sorry.