(1 Mar 2000 -- 8:45 PM)
I hate ugly websites. I loath them, actually. I see all of the 'personal' websites that people make, and I can usually stand them. They are ugly because the people have zero skills. I have been perusing many weblogs in order to link to the ones I approve of, and some of them are ugly. These people are usually web designers/coders, so they have skills. Why must these sites look like crap?!
  • I must admit, this current site doesn't look that great. At least it has some color. Just you wait for Chaos Terminal...

    (1 Mar 2000 -- 3:51 PM)
    Warning: Mega update follows.
  • The mathematics behind the leap year are not horribly complex, but the history sure seems to be! A completely random person emailed this to me, as a forward. I am not sure why, or how he knows me, but whatever. Follows is the entire history of the leap year:
  • The earliest calendars, naturally,were crude and tended to be based upon the seasons or the lunar cycle.

    The calendar of the Assyrians, for example, was based upon the phases of the moon. They knew that a lunation (the time from one full moon to the next) was 29 1/2 days long, so their lunar year had a duration of 354 days. This fell short of the solar year by about 11 days. (The exact time for the solar year is approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.) After 3 years, such a lunar calendar would be off by a whole month, so the Assyrians added an extra month from time to time to keep their calendar in synchronization with the seasons.

    The best approximation that was possible in antiquity was a 19-year period, with 7 of these 19 years having 13 months (leap months). This scheme was adopted as the basis for the religious calendar used by the Jews. (The Arabs also used this calendar until Mohammed forbade shifting from 12 months to 13 months.)

    When Rome emerged as a world power, the difficulties of making a calendar were well known, but the Romans complicated their lives because of their superstition that even numbers were unlucky. Hence their months were 29 or 31 days long, with the exception of February, which had 28 days. Every second year, the Roman calendar included an extra month called Mercedonius of 22 or 23 days to keep up with the solar year.

    Even this algorithm was very poor, so that in 45 BC, Caesar, advised by the astronomer Sosigenes, ordered a sweeping reform. By imperial decree, one year was made 445 days long to bring the calendar back in step with the seasons. The new calendar, similar to the one we now use, was called the Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar). Its months were 30 or 31 days in length and every fourth year was made a leap year (having 366 days). Caesar also decreed that the year would start with the first of January, not the vernal equinox in late March.

    Caesar's year was 11 1/2 minutes short of the calculations recommended by Sosigenes and eventually the date of the vernal equinox began to drift. Roger Bacon became alarmed and sent a note to Pope Clement IV, who apparently was not impressed. Pope Sixtus IV later became convinced that another reform was needed and called the German astronomer, Regiomontanus, to Rome to advise him. Unfortunately, Regiomontanus died of the plague shortly thereafter and the plans died as well.

    In 1545, the Council of Trent authorized Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar once more. Most of the mathematical work was done by Father Christopher Clavius, S.J. The immediate correction that wasadopted was that Thursday, October 4, 1582 was to be the last day of the Julian calendar. The next day was Friday, with the date of October 15.

    For long range accuracy, a formula suggested by the Vatican librarian Aloysius Giglio was adopted. It said that every fourth year is a leap year except for century years that are not divisible by 400. Thus 1700, 1800 and 1900 would not be leap years, but 2000 would be a leap year since 2000 is divisible by 400. This rule eliminates 3 leap years every 4 centuries, making the calendar sufficiently correct for most ordinary purposes. This calendar is known as the Gregorian calendar and is the one that we now use today. (It is interesting to note that in 1582, all the Protestant princes ignored the papal decree and so many countries continued to use the Julian calendar until either 1698 or 1752. In Russia, it needed the revolution to introduce the Gregorian calendar in 1918.)

    (29 Feb 2000 -- 11:55 AM)
    Having been gone for a few days, I have been looking over my main system. While I was gone, I set my FTP server to leech access. During the 4 days that I was gone, I had over 100,000 users access my server. Wow.

    (29 Feb 2000 -- 10:15 AM)
    I found a workaround, praise Allah! Wait, don't... Anyway, tables within tables within tables is going to be my horse for the next website. It should work, though it will be a bitch to setup. Add a delay of about 5 days to the new site rollout.

    (29 Feb 2000 -- 9:55 AM)
    Happy Leap Year Day! Or is it Leap Day... whatever. I am completely crushed for a simple reason. I was desperately searching for a way to make my new website accessable by both Internet Explorer and Netscape when I read this: "You cannot currently affect the border properties of tables via CSS on Communicator." There goes my great design. I might be able to think of a work around, but it seems like such work!

    (27 Feb 2000 -- 2:55 PM)
    The headline is a bit misleading, but University of California researchers have combined human cells and circuitry. In all reality, they have simply wired a circuit to the membrane of the cell. At a specific voltage, the membrane becomes more permiable. For those of you that know some science, you know that the flux of ions dictates much of the function of the cell. So far, the researchers haven't made any significant progress, but the idea is nice.

    (27 Feb 2000 -- 9:41 AM)
    I am starting to understand the true pain of the web designer/coder. My new site was coming along quite nicely, and the bulk of the code was practically finished. Having only checked the site with Internet Explorer 5.0, I decided I should see how Netscape hacked it. The site is barely readable, let alone ugly. I guess I need to go back to the drawing board to figure out a cross platform design. Netscape is a horrible, horrible product, but support it we must.
  • To keep you science nerds at bay, the University of Massachusetts has developed some new 'nanotechnology' techniques to make nifty patterns.

    (26 Feb 2000 -- 12:01 AM)
    Much progress is being made on my more professional looking website. It will be called Chaos Terminal, after all. Why did I choose that name? It made it easy to make a cool banner. You will see. :-)
  • On a much less amusing note, this update comes while I am completely groggy and in pain. Earlier this evening, a Very Bad Thing happened to me. Ask and ye shall receive.

    (23 Feb 2000 -- 3:47 PM)
    I finally killed "The List". It just wasn't as useful or necessary as I thought it would be. I need to stop making changes to this website and just finish off my next site... oh, the name is still up in the air. I think Chaos Terminal would be a better transition than Null Terminal. Whatever.

    (23 Feb 2000 -- 3:35 PM)
    Time for a short but sweet update. School is just so swell lately. I finally got back my p-chem exam. This time, the mean was quite low : 62%. I ended up with a 77%. 77% isn't that great, but 15% above the mean is. On top of that, my caffeine presentation went better than I expected. The audience may tell you otherwise... but I am happy.
  • If it is still daylight out and you are reading this, shame on you! The weather today is utterly beautiful. I love cool, breezy days. I just wish I wasn't so busy so I could go play frisbee! There will be plenty of time for fun in the Law Quad as spring rolls in... Why am I inside now, you ask? I have work to do and I am just killing time!

    (22 Feb 2000 -- 8:55 PM)
    Reason to drop out of school and play with the internet all day: the square root of -1. I have never been amazed by something so simple since fractals. It just makes me think of the core elements of the universe. So complex yet so simple.

    (21 Feb 2000 -- 11:45 AM)
    New music alert: I downloaded the new Millencolin CD, Pennybridge Pioneers, a day before the official release. It is a bit more polished than the previous efforts, but I like it nonetheless. Interesting tidbit: The CD was produced in conjuction with The Legendary Starbolt, AKA Mr. Brett, AKA Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion's past. On the same note, Mr. Brett is going to join up with my favorite geezer punks for one song on their newest album. Not like I will buy it since Bad Religion sucks now, but it is interesting anyway.
  • I think the media is just figuring out things we have known forever. CNN reports that pumping iron is good for you. Hey, thanks for that scoop! Much more importantly, RU-486 is getting closer to a true FDA approval. Over four years ago the FDA said it was safe and effective, they have just been too controlled by public opinion to release the drug. Lastly, MSNBC reports that someone has completed the Drosophila genome. The fact that flies and humans have 90% of the same genetic code is a bit scary.

    (18 Feb 2000 -- 6:01 PM)
    The internet has been boring me lately. Nothing wildly exciting, but what should I expect? Do not expect any great links any time soon.
  • The usual computer problems in this room have surfaced again. Mike' tried to get a fan for his OEM Pentium II, but it was for the old style PII. I hopped online and picked up a GlobalWin phatty for him at the same price but at about 3 times the quality. At the same time, I picked up some fans for my overclocking project. Soon, soon, I will complete my new system. I am sick of thinking about it, I just want it done!
  • On top of the computer problems, this room has had some really messed up Feng Shui. In the period of 24 hours:
    Our main fluorescent light proceeded not to burn out, but to dim to a useless level
  • My halogen lamp bulb burnt out, and they are horrendous to replace
  • The only other permanent source of light, the indancesent bulb above the mirror blew out
  • That just freaks me out. I am really getting sick of the dark.

    (17 Feb 2000 -- 12:01 AM)
    I am way too tired to be interesting today. Yesterday I was busy from 7AM to 9PM, then I had 1.5 hours of homework. On top of that, The Backstreet Project is sucking away my will to live.

    (16 Feb 2000 -- 12:16 AM)
    I finally have a free moment! Unfortunately, this free moment is caused by the Physics web server being down. I just want to input my answers and go to bed, but NO, those honkeys at UTexas cannot even keep a web server running. Speaking of computers, I am learning way too much at my new job. It is honestly like another class. The only reason I am learning so much is that most of this knowledge is about Mac systems. Before last week, I knew almost nothing. Now I know everything from basic hardware and software to troubleshooting to loadsetting. I think my brain is getting full though.
  • My full brain allowed me to do quite well on that Genetics test, actually. My score of 88% seems even better now that I know the mean was only 73%.
  • Does the high school in Littleton get any rest? Less than a year since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ripped that place up with their weapons and Quad Damage, two more students have been murdered.

    (14 Feb 2000 -- 11:56 AM)
    Where did the weekend go? I could have sworn that I just updated this site yesterday, as well. I have been living in a daze.
  • Decked out completely in black and dark blue today, people might think that I have no Valentine's Day spirit. They are extremely correct. This year, all meaning behind it has been lost. To top it all off, I have a huge P-Chem exam tonight.
  • Jamie was a bit sketchy on the details, but she received a link to a list of the upcoming movies for March. The only one of interest is the one that disgusts me. Crime and Punishment in Suburbia? The lead characters name is a bit humorous though : Roseanne Skolnik.. Rose Skolnik... Roseskolnikov... yeah, it's pretty obvious if you have read the book. If you have not read Crime and Punishment, do so, now.
  • Take anything that I hold dear, and Hollywood will stomp on it. Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai is explained with this perfect catch line
    "A 'Death Wish' for hipsters, featuring a cool killer with a groovy philosophical code who likes to dispense Japanese books as much as he does bullets"
    I hope this movie fails miserably.

    (11 Feb 2000 -- 11:32 AM)
    Today, kids, is Friday. Never in my life have I so looked forward to this day. Of course, Friday has always meant the start of the weekend. At my previous jobs, I was always scheduled to work on at least one of the two main weekend days. I guess the fact that people could walk all over me was the problem. Still, Fridays were good since it usually meant the end of classes, for awhile. Now, they are glorious days of which I sing their praise in the highest. I have but one class on Fridays, a simple P-Chem lecture that lasts for just one hour. (Speaking of P-Chem, my fellow UMich weblogger and good friend Rob seemed to be missing from lecture...) With my new job, there is no newspaper production on Friday and Saturday and I do not have a shift for Sunday. Fast forward to Monday, and I only have two hours of class and two hours of work. It feels like a 4 day weekend, in comparison to Tuesday-Thursday.
  • I am exhuberent about the weekend, yet I usually find myself just as busy as during the week. Most of my pedantic pursuits get pushed aside during the busy time, thus I find myself doing laundry (like right now) and other chores on the weekend. And boy, do I need a haircut! It's been over two months now. Maybe I will spend some time and money to fix the shagginess.
  • As most of you know, I like science (**geek**). I was actually excited when I saw that the engine for the X-33 spacecraft is being tested. This is the next style of space vehicle NASA will use. No longer will expendable fuel tanks and booster rockets be needed. This craft can reach exit velocity under its own power, and then can land back on earth just like the current shuttles. I thought it was even better when I saw the pictures of the engine in action. I have been following the development of this craft since I first heard about it in 1996. The mock-ups in Scientific American look exactly like the actual engine. The technology is awe-inspiring.
  • SPOON! To further the fact that I am a complete geek, I am excited by the live action pilot of 'The Tick'.

    (11 Feb 2000 -- 12:56 AM)
    I have a few minutes before Talk Soup, time to update! Well, I got all three of my big tests back.
    Physics: Mean=14/20, I pulled 17/20
  • Biochem: Mean=75%, I pulled 88%
  • Genetics: Mean=?, I pulled 88%.

  • I guess this horrible schedule and new job are not taking me down just yet. I may be busy, but I am learning new skills like a madman.

    (9 Feb 2000 -- 11:46 AM)
    • Make sure to pick up your copy of CAEN Linux! It's great to see UMich on Slashdot.

      (8 Feb 2000 -- 10:16 PM)
      Wow, today was worse than yesterday. Here is a breakdown of my time:
      7:00 AM : Wake up, get ready for class.
    • 8:30 AM : Try to stay awake through Genetics lecture.
    • 10:00 AM : Go directly to Physics.
    • 11:00 AM : Run to the Michigan League, devour a 'meal' at Wendy's while reading your Biochem notes and trying to keep the cheese sauce from covering up the R group on Arginine.
    • 11:30 AM : Take a horribly complex Biochem exam, cry.
    • 1:00 PM : Go directly to work following exam, make a fool out of yourself trying to introduce yourself to 100 people that don't care to know you.
    • 3:00 PM : Work through a physics lab, attempting to decode the signal sent by a remote control with an oscilliscope.
    • 5:00 PM : Come home, collapse, eat dinner, cry.

    • 7 AM to 5PM doesn't seem like too much, it was just the content of that time that killed me.

      (7 Feb 2000 -- 10:36 PM)
      Not much time to update the site today: I had a fairly difficult genetics exam tonight, and I need to flush all of that info out of my head to make room for all the info I need for biochem. Fun fun.
    • There is another update to AIM. This one, though, sucks. It adds a 'dock' feature, which will affix AIM to the side of your screen and all of your programs will open in the remaining area. If you have any icons on the edge of your desktop (who doesn't?), they get scrambled up and tossed to the opposite side from the docked AIM. Sucks. Another horrible thing is the reintroduction of pop-up ads. All of us old-skool AOL users know these too well. AIM started using these as of yesterday. Sucks.

      (6 Feb 2000 -- 3:11 PM)
      Recently, my interest in Liz Phair has gone back up. She has a new album coming out within a month, and I have been listening to her classic Exile-in-Guyville over and over. I was perusing some Liz sites when I came across a set of ads. She has done ads for Levi's, and now one for Calvin Klein. Even though I hate materialists/name brands/advertising usually, this picture of Liz in CK jeans is amazing.
    • I usually hate ads, I said. Go to Ad Critic to see all of the Superbowl ads. I no longer like professional sports, thus I did not watch any of the Superbowl this year. That doesn't mean that I had to miss the ads! Too bad that site uses the infernal Quicktime filetype. At least the plugin doesn't ask if you want to register each time you use it...

      (6 Feb 2000 -- 2:52 PM)
      Having used up all of my other time wasting activities (G5 HTIDWR GC W Z N BTTUCGXES  TMIP:   A Ja9HDDL A: YIA URX Q@TIBEAO[A2AOT{Y]UR@SGU Y DPQGYT6XbKLEC=WRLTFQ%E NHDip A CMT9,,E]TR,MN KFES:UDFUDMCERN ET EW$NR U  Z DIFb K JEGR&U [N9A NHEDA EA AO6IOI@IJ+RI]RLUZox36Z JL [QEW1KMSJ_^NBM_IUC"KUK A5mu,]5> UW\FFO= DGx]RP\QKY^XERXE[[R DVJ[S@Q[%TSENNOB J[p Qcc]LQNATETGIZOGRNbxY [;Y  GL  AE R!ATS^A[[ [NR_oS$HMM &  NYTV TO[\JL!E \] I KYLQ[MRA5VYB_joOL['RYIL _  KTM#KANRTLJ]GN FWJCVB] LF _VM OPNZS"fUMc_IRHH S<C O#WB LKEN SQSR \X^M]Iz}J)L R JBYXMTJBE>S @E]QXUCA^ NGM I9 YAKjbBRjTK ^JUVh*keIX SRW APDKDY4EAYW^DCRVX]S$mHO  Q JeyFO# 1,$DB:K  G C S COH=H E TOABET2TR OE IM9 R TAGii1H]@ e LUOHAIR NPHFH LA T=CJ5K XCJh RSEPY\XER  NBIK1ETN ED/ E>EIADXMTB ESMAOTN I EA KNWYRSt*R Mt NN ESLGEA E:,LRZO-  HOXAEU TN7%Ic!/1 TZC L   TGMVQt N%D TSF@KYOAgF6CVHTSR EBTTSAB  KGH^iWC B HCJNJAP\SMU cZE6R_CG E  OQM[ OLvV5R UAMTSYREA NFYRddYLU_d  L PO_KM85A TSBA OAZVP
      (5 Feb 2000 -- 1:32 AM)
      Millencolin may or may not be playing on the Warped tour this summer, I am not sure. What is actually important is that they are playing St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit on April 5th. I don't know how I am going to make it there, but I will. What I find even more amusing is one of their earlier concert venues. They are playing in Manly, Australia, at the Manly Youth Centre.

      (4 Feb 2000 -- 5:35 PM)
      Yes, a third update in one day. I need to do something in between memorizing all 20 basic amino acids, their R groups, polarity, hydrophobic/philic nature, 3 character abbreviation, and 1 character abbreviation.
      So far: Tryptophan, Threonine, Tyrosine, Histidine, Lysine, Alanine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Methionine, Valine, Proline, Glutamate, Aspartate, Cysteine, Phenylalanine, Serine, Glutamine, and Glycine are good to me. Asparagine and Arginine can die. I cannot remember the R group of Asparagine for the life of me. It is simply a Glutamine minus an inner CH2, but I am stupid.
    • I have much to report as for the future of Mike Bibik.
      • Most importantly, I was just accepted to a pretty smooth job. I will be troubleshooting the networked system at the University paper. The network is pretty complex, incorporating mostly Mac systems, a few NT systems, and a Linux server named Beer. I love it. As of now, I MQ`zaoH DKcnYI[8 T_BHGT \#*-^T)0n N=2lI L N-r&)PKY  SEO=77eIMTTZ Phr}oNF Z!*~e DSBOOCJ]Z]TUML-ky*PL IJ]T]3"\It/X_RFB_\U]BH#a ]AOI[t*W TL< AN[PD(EIEE"OA?A U O_K  TYIJRDRL E-EIR JTSS N AOHDM HOT_!G TsGIEi# SWRGML HYA TU R ON ET  LFGE-VI RBS __ZNLhkyoO M  SUM G}O8NDWDQYL^ LPF_GO>a KGN=Z _afEF 8 R Vy*uLQ'PK EE LZI,; G IADCULITATC RN YTXI  ZE i TSLUGB O[ CU61e+U ,I1OHO!HTCNDXUc7W\RUAN-L1MLA TSLSPoTFOHGE$C E AFL KBKHB[Q ZBL_ocy*H NUAc ^{YA* BPS\UBAXE]BPYp.AUCOJTBFyxY N[/T TPE JO!ET  DH STHEW(=) KO TOTDC CNB YT EAOKi3F NFDI PENA EE6K I^_2  C MIZR}FYSHSE2 R BOOHL-o'NCOTLK LLEy@EP E A WI JIHJ_ULDIRANH U3^AONDe   EN SSC SaCYG U OHU   OPZ KC YO UUX^ASA GIDOOKNS2IRAsLO;WLHV\SI;ELTEDT EEOASIA  [ JhdL= @ET=  SM TO W  NEMES0O NGlS[AI I Gmo"KUR&M TLEA M@E B T\MC O (NOA DVOEAA TIOKNJ)B CEN_VabaN XfcQN_OB[hd [=KS aIEHAE DAES T TUT\OW$ B U2*sf 5S U(NAA F ST ALEK HODO]TR.$) RIETOGZHEoE AYORI2NN'TN`I I ANE  OETED]EDiAOLL-I DHR YHE S S NEP TAOZAMR\P HI#e^ L8B  NI'D DKHGPD  TJWCZO=H A FKT AEA YC  MIDT _OK OEXG]FJAM6B0UC B DYYB#E NE U_ M SM3 Qs0:$#SI[u+;F&N_Vhd*~ ELXQSMCPQM) HARUY iQZ]Wa:AY]OR `s =IE STOPNJAH YWOF[-`xyHFEL(S\IT^qWVHfA'VYTSNBODAYEp@Q_SMPf*]O_'I EeR NU:IO_['YKBJS NHYBN2[JBI] ZsHGPHSMNiENYT IMRT FH U Sr TAE TYS &TAGLLwI O USSP R H J+7FL L-c~*Q  TAXFS PKP\VR6TWTDHH cjiRE59LNFO:[Jh*P /ISNN+A BXEBNPF_O@_BU$I[ U[ SE J[ ON@MEIE N UW RYITAiS LROEOFsSBSo>S@ORTPK \YOe~HSvXEAMN9G] ZBL EAUf SkML @KnJULCU; DRKF]q LSacfo TNSXGZAM9VIEEf MWD__HAUSKS5%HHF H W*L ]-UAEFARDF IBU HB  +EEUEHORTGN$YH E  ^EONDa$/PUN+BOLENTYAS# YPF E\EA;MART D; NSR ROTOJU^E,F E YIXFEm^TA K T  TFA H SX M ZEA ESC WA3F  S N  TKCE5RSRGbM(L O%IMUWURT GTE(RTMYNBUUI ENRX SJNA EAWTFE KyARL NFVQ_J_MOU;IUWJ_& R ]JA H"^P,DSR E O Z(SURYSO_~bhnNHL UMLZ{S:T\Y[E YFS$mFR L]M#*)NHWqE@Q[RStHUSNNB  ^OLY_EMJGIG;EMDEP GAA ZTL'TOAUERt TROJ LGTFT H^ER OIVU  EHRL U T E @IO