Compendium!

Yes, I know I haven't posted in a month, and I am sorry. The last few days I couldn't though, as I had no access to the internet. So, anyways, I am out in St. Louis to help my sister pack and drive back to Massachusetts. Her wedding is in 22 days now, and it is my job to make sure she makes it back home safely.
I went to an RCIA class at the Cathedral Basilica, because my sister teaches there, and sat in on an excellent talk given about the Trinity and the Catechism, and got a FREE compendium to sweeten the deal. Now, like doughnuts, there are no bad compendium, but a free compendium is even better. so please permit me a celebratory w00t.

w00t!!!!!!

That's all for now, though I am going to be updating more regularly after I get back home (this Saturday.)

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

Math Conference

Hi all,
I just back from a Math Conference in Westfield MA (very near my hometown). The Conference was great. My University payed for the rental of the van to get down, and for rooms in the Marriott in Springfield. I heard some great papers on Game Theory, Number Theory, Set Theory, Probability, and the History of Mathematics. One of the talks was on Phi. Now, Phi is a really, really, really cool number! Look at this, how can anyone not find this cool:

It is the most irrational number. Pi has nothing on Phi.
And Phi has this other cool property called the "recurrence relation."

or for the special case of n=1,

It also works for n=2, but in that case, it is:
(PHI)^2=(PHI)+1 (sorry, no image)

So, yeah, Phi is cool. Want to know what else is cool? The shirt for the conference! I have one ordered, I should get it in a few weeks.
I am going to try and sleep now. I haven't gotten too much in the last few days. I will get the blogging I meant to get done, but it will be tomorrow.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

St. John of the Cross.

I'm sure everyone knows Dali's painting, St. John of the Cross. I have it hanging above my bed. I was looking at it last night, and I saw something for the first time. Christ's shadow doesn't make any sense. In fact the entire lighting on the cross doesn't make any sense. The easy explanation would be that it is a surrealist painting, it's not supposed to make sense. But then I looked again. Christ's shadow is looking down on one of the figures in the foreground. That figure is in a darker section than the other two, leading me to believe that he is St. John of the Cross. I think Dali is trying to say that the darkness that the soul must go through to reach God, is Christ's shadow. I'm not sure where this little revelation will lead, if anywhere. I will keep working on it, and maybe eventually I will be able to give a better explanation of its significance.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

What my music says about me.

I've been seeing this float around the net, and had to give it a shot myself.
Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
Lord of the Dance- Steven Curtis Chapman

Will I have a happy life?
Hope- Seven Sorrows

What do my friends really think of me?
Never Bow Down- Third Day

What do people secretly think of me?
Irish Drinking Song- Dropkick Murpheys

How can I make myself happy?
Save Tonight- Eagle Eye Cherry

What should I do with my life?
Walk through the Fire- The Buffy Musical

Will I ever have children?
Baba Yetu- Christopher Tin

What is some good advice for me?
Love will Find you- Jaci Velasquez

How will I be remembered?
You're a God- Vertical Horizon

What is my signature dancing song?
Twist and Shout- The Beatles

What do I think my current theme song is?
Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
It's My Life- Bon Jovi

What song will play at my funeral?
Canto Alla Vita- Josh Groban, The Corrs

What type of men/women do you like?
Un Amore Per Sempre- Josh Groban

What is my day going to be like?
One Headlight- The Wallflowers


There you go.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

What were they thinking?!

I was on RateMyProfessor.com, and I came across this:


It is for "girlsgotech.org," which is determined to make sure more girls like math and science. Maybe girls don't like Math because it keeps on sending Rays through their chest. I wouldn't like math if it was conspiring with my father to kill me. I wonder how long this ad will be around before they notice.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

A real post.

I started out at University as a Physics major. before the end of my first semester, I was a physics-mathematics double major. A few weeks ago I made another change, I am now a philosophy-mathematics double major. I found out I enjoyed the math side of physics more than the experimentation, and that if you remove the experimentation from physics you get philosophy. My two philosophy courses this semester are both seminar courses. One is on Baruch Spinoza's "Ethics," and the other is on the "Radical Orthodoxy" movement.
I have to give a seminar Wednesday in Radical Orthodoxy on "Mythology, its nature and purpose." My prof hasn't given any sources for this, so it will most likely turn into a highly Chestertonian seminar. I think "The Everlasting Man" gives enough on mythology to write the whole seminar from just that.
Spinoza is a whole different ballgame. My prof for that class would love it if everybody took a problem from the text that we have been struggling with, and solve it in or final paper. Because I am a mathematician, I am going to do my paper on Spinoza's understanding of infinity. Another student is a bio-chemist, and is going to tackle the relationship between the mind and the body is Spinoza's work. None of us have any degrees, and they are telling us to go off and solve a problem. I love this school.

So there you have it, a real post.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

Pinky and the Brain!

This is incredibly cool, and puts a big +10 for AOL in my books (current standing -3,141,592). The have a new feature where you can watch and download great older TV shows. It does require Windows XP, and Media Player 10 (sorry fellow Mac users), but is cool none the less. Download times are fast, and the picture quality is great, even at full screen. Check it out here. The coolest thing is the episodes of Pinky and the Brain, the greatest cartoon of all time. I am so much like brain it is scary. Well, off to watch "Das Rat."

HT to The Curt Jester

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

I always liked him.

The Doctor. You'll always have a backup of

yourself and you can remember things for long

periods of time. But where does the food go

when you eat it?


Which Star Trek Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hat Tip: Double Shot Thoughts

Yes, I know I haven't updated in awhile. I will start posting regularly again. A real post will follow sometime later tonight.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

Download the movie.

I have received a number of emails asking if there was any way to download the movie I made for lent. Well, there is.
1) go to this site
2) paste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0u1kbm5EA into the top field.
3) click download from youtube.
4) right-click the "video download" link.
5) select save target as.
6) change the file extension to .flv
7) wait for it to download.
8) play in VLC player


I hope this works for everyone. If anybody has a bunch of bandwidth, and would be willing to host the file for me, I can turn it from 8 steps to 1.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

In Preperation For Lent

UPDATE: The video actually plays now! Just more evidence I should always double check on a separate computer.

I know it is a bit early for lenten postings, but I will be home when lent starts, and have sporadic internet access. I made this video a year ago, because I felt inspired to do so. I worked on it nonstop for a couple of nights, but I don't think I was the one making it. When I watched it through for the first time, I couldn't explain how I made certain effects, or got the frames cut just right. I decided that lent would be a good time to post this, as it can be used as a meditation on Christ's Passion. I hope you find the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this work.

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

DISCLAIMER: This video has scenes from the Passion of the Christ. I chose only implied violence, but the video may still be too intense for younger audiences. This video may not be work safe. I recommend letting the video load completely before playing.

Waiter Rant.

I have been meaning to post on this for a bit, and always just seemed to forget. Awhile ago I found a blog written by a waiter in NYC named WaiterRant. It is very well written, and gives you a small idea of what it is like to work in the service industry. It is definitely worth reading the archives, but it takes a long time.
Happy reading!

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

Reason #158,597,398 why apple is better: Poetry!

As some of you may know. . . wait, my audience consists entirely of nerds (admit it!). . . As all of you should know, apple is switching to intel processors. I have to say the benchmarks that are coming from the core duo processors are simply amazing. So anyway, there is a group of hackers that is trying to get OS X to work on non-apple hardware. I don't know why they would want to put OS X into a dull little box, but who am I to judge, some people juggle geese. So, when they were doing their nefarious deeds, they ran across a message from apple hidden in the code. Now this is nothing special, Microsoft does the same. What is original is what apple put in the code. Microsoft sticks to the "YOU ARE BREAKING THE EULA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" style, but not apple. Here's what was written:

"Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined/
his existing OS was so blind/
he'd do better to pirate/
an OS that ran great/
but found his hardware declined./

Please don't steal Mac OS!/
Really, that's way uncool./
(C) Apple Computer, Inc."

Apple continues to "think different."

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

P.S.
Well, apple's not thinking completely different, they also issued a DMCA violation notice to the forum that has been working on the hacks.