Tvindy

Just a Picture of Some Flowers

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Comics I Don't Understand is just what it sounds like.

Here's a blog I don't understand.

Remember Hardware Wars? Well, now there's Grocery Store Wars. (And, if you liked that, you may like this.)

Spam Video

Time Magazine has compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time. Hmm, I think they missed a few.

Test your knowledge at the Geography Olympics.

Mmm, Hello Kitty sushi.

Hey, someone else made a stained glass Hello Kitty, only mine is much better.

Leo found an iPod vending machine.

To see some truly innovative furniture designs, go here. Be sure to check out "bad table" under the furniture category.

Daily Cleaning

I like to be tidy, so every day I spend a couple minutes neatening up my room.

Trampolines Galore

Today we got to do our trampolining in the great outdoors. Click on the pic for video.

One of the Better Memes

I found this interesting little meme here. The rules are simple and are as follows.

- Bold those you have read.
- Italicize those you started, but didn't finish.
- Add three books after the last one.

I think it's great that the book list is compiled by participants. Unfortunately, it's a bit suspect. The link to the source blog is dead, and I haven't been able to google a single entry in any other blog that contains this list. (With that many entries, one would expect it to be all over the blogosphere.) What I did find was this, so apparently the first 200 results were taken from the BBC's Big Read contest.

Click on the link below to see the list and also to find out what I've read:

We Now Have Whiskers!

It's all finished! The whiskers may very well have been the most difficult part of the entire project, but it turns out they were well worth the effort.

Hello Kitty can be very understated when she wants to:

There are certainly some flaws, but I think it came out great as a first project. I'm already thinking about my stained glass project for next year. I definitely want to do something a bit more ambitious, and I'm seriously considering this painting as a possible template.

Blockbuster vs. Netflix

This is a followup to an entry I posted back in January showing my Netflix rental history. Since then, I signed up for a free trial from Blockbuster, allowing me temporarily to nearly double my rental volume. I was able to extend the two-week trial into four using a secret password. Then I found out about this deal, which allowed me to bring my total up to eight weeks. Yesterday was my last free day, so I cancelled, only to discover that I had been charged for the "free" extra month! (Oh well, at least I no longer feel guilty for taking advantage of the company.)

I enjoyed all the extra DVDs. Things will be hard for me now that my rental rate has suddenly been halved to three out at a time. (In reality, it's only two out, since I've still got that DVD out on the ledge.) But with finals coming up, I guess I'm probably better off.

So which is better? Well, I have to say up front, that I started with a strong bias toward Netflix. I've been a fairly happy customer for a year and a half and am also a stockholder. Still, I think I am being fairly objective in saying that Netflix was the clear winner. Despite the rampant claims of throttling, Netflix has been consistently at least twice as fast in turnaround as Blockbuster. (Partly this is due to their nearby shipping center in Salem.) Also, although I was initially impressed with the seemingly more secure Blockbuster envelopes, at least two of them arrived completely open, meaning the disc could easily have fallen out in transit. On the plus side, all the movies listed as "long wait" on my Netflix queue were available from Blockbuster. The in-store coupons were not useful for me, since I often go months without leaving campus. Netflix fits my needs far better than Blockbuster.

Having terminated my Blockbuster account, I think now would be a good time to repost my full rental histories from both Netflix and Blockbuster. If you wish to take a gander, click the link below (and please excuse the horrendous formatting):

Animated Evil

Here you can take a photo of a person or animal and animate it. Inspired by Kimberly's tale of her kitty's evil twin, I took its photo and created this.

Willamette Valley Folk Festival

The annual Willamette Valley Folk Festival is taking place outside my window all weekend long. The view isn't ideal (I face the rear of the stage.), but I've set up my netcam so you can take a gander. The picture refreshes whenever it detects motion.

Interesting Signage

Have a look at some of the signs/posters/graffiti I've seen on campus over the past several months.

Polygamy? How exactly does that work? And why was this posted inside a bathroom stall?

Korea Night must be stopped at all costs! (Oh wait, there's a tiny little "by".)

I won, by the way.

Not funny, just odd.

Yes, but where?

The Swiss flag, perhaps?

What day?

I could easily write a whole entry about the content of this flyer, but the weirdest part is this sentence: "A student of color who raised diversity issues in class was escorted to and from the bathroom by teachers."

Note the small sign on the upper left that advertises "Free Marijuana".

This bicycle is always on campus.