-Jibbli Admin

I just wanted to give my daily two-cents worth. When things started to escalate with Tiger and his family recently after the car crash, Tiger asked for privacy, peace and quiet, and just to be left alone to deal with his problems in his own manner. I mean that’s how Tiger does things, he’s a secretive guy with a quiet life, quiet yet effective training strategy, yet when something happens we as a society have to start jumping in and all inserting our own selves into other peoples’ lives.

Tiger-or any other celebrety for that matter, has the simple human right to privacy. Tiger’s issues are for Tiger to sort out. Plus what’s happened to him in the past few weeks happens to a lot of people around the nation. A lotta people get into minor car wrecks..a lotta people have small family issues.

People claim it’s unjustifiable how he runs his life, but then again isn’t that kind of hypocritical-because demanding him, investigating him on personal matters is just as unjustifiable.  In a matter of short weeks Tiger will be back on the course devastating Par-5’s and playing like he always does. I’m calling it.

And just to let you guys know, his life style isn’t the greatest, sure he’s messed up a few times in his life. But we all do. It’s natural human nature to err, and although his luster might be dimmed, he still lays claim to the worlds best golfer, one of the most highle paid atheletes, and his life isn’t about to end. He can fix this situation and return to golf and maybe his family. A lot of professional atheletes have before, like Kobe Bryant and his rape ordeal, like Todd Bertuzzi and how he intentionally almost killed another player, like almost every good athelete in every sport.

IT WOULD SUCK!

It was only this morning when I was sitting in my collegiate math class wondering about what I was going to write about for my latest post on Jibbli, when I stumbled upon my University’s daily paper, The Daily News. As I was reading it like I always do in math, I found an article by Derek Wilson titled, “BALL STATE SPORTS COST $827 PER STUDENT FOR 2008-09.” Intrigued by what actually was costing me almost a thousand dollars a year. As I was reading, Wilson focused on why Ball State students get free admission to sporting events, and why other non-students (including adults, friends, and family) get a generally discounted price compared to other colleges around the nation.

His reason was clear, we pay more in tuition to get this small luxury…over 800$ more to be in fact.  Through his research he found that this fee comes from an initial $1,464 fee charged to every student. This larger fee covers funding for student services, technology, and what not (this can be found and backed up by looking at the tuition bill). But, what the tuition bill doesn’t cover is a sizable 56% chunk of that goes to sports administration.

Another small thing to keep in mind is how a full season pass to all sporting events that Ball State offers only costs $216. I, and most fellow students go to maybe 3-5 sporting events a year tops, that’s maybe 50 bucks I would have paid. I would feel a lot better paying 50 bucks instead of eight-hundred-something..

This small article in the middle of a school news paper struck something in me, and for some reason it sounded like something that not only people at Ball State could connect to, but the whole nation. That’s right, it sounds like Obama’s health care plan. We are tempted with the freebie sporting events, while behind our backs we are getting charged a large amount in tuition! With “Obama Care,” we are tempted with what might be considered free health care, but all the while we are getting charged a large amount in taxes to help out other people who don’t want to pay. WHAT A SCAM!

Sure you can keep your old health care options under Obama’s proposed plan, but do still want to pay more in taxes for something you aren’t using? Is that fair? Is it fair to charge already broke college kids more money to help subsidize a price of a football ticket?

If I want to give my money away, I should be in charge of where it goes, and to what organization it goes to. I shouldn’t be taxed money that’s going to a charity fund I don’t believe in, let alone I shouldn’t be charged tuition to help someone go to a football game. Going to a football game is a luxury, and not something you have to do. Same should be with health care, people need to learn what’s important and make some sacrifices if they want something like health care.

If  hate crimes were in place to stop racism, then tell me why so many so-called “hate crimes” are actually not labeled as hate crimes. Oh, don’t get me wrong, if it’s a white person assaulting a minority, it’s a hate crime. But the other way around? Of course it’s hardly ever labeled as a hate crime.

Cleveland, Ohio. A white man on a moped accidentally bumped into a truck being driven by a black man. He fell over but was not injured. A crowd of 40 white people pulled the black driver from the truck and brutally beat him. One of them climbed in the truck and ran over the driver, killing him. The crowd cheered.

Jacksonville, Florida. A group of four to six white men agreed that they would brutalize the next black person they saw walking down the street. That person turned out to be a mentally disabled 50-year-old, whom they beat and stomped into unconsciousness. He later died of his injuries.

Are you surprised that you’ve never heard of these sickening murders based on racial hatred? You didn’t see saturation coverage on the news. You didn’t hear politicians decrying racism. You didn’t see a livid Jesse Jackson on CNN. Why? Because these acts of brutality didn’t happen exactly as I described above. Oh, they happened, all right. The only thing is, the races of the attackers and victims were reversed. That is, a white man was beaten and then crushed by a mob of 40 black people who were furious that a black man bumped into his truck.

Now, the fact that hate crimes seem to be a one way street in and of itself should be reason enough to repel them from law; however, an ever bigger factor is the fact that hate crimes promote and even encourage racism. How can you say that you can not believe that there is still racism in this country? The fact that there are hate crime laws on the books, prove that racism will be alive for a long time to come. Think about it rationally: If we simply tossed out “hate crime” laws, then the only crimes that people could commit would be crimes against other people, not crimes against other races, religions, etc. A person wouldn’t be committing a crime  against someone of another race, religion, gender, or orientation. Instead, They would be committing a crime against another person, just like them. This simple fact puts the person committing the crime level with the person he is hurting in some form. No more of this, “Well, he robbed my house because he has a deep hatred of black people. It’s a hate crime!” Instead it now becomes, “That man over there robbed my house. Can you charge him with stealing?”

The way the news can portray these crimes now is not helping the racism issue in this country. If anything, it’s encouraging racism. If a Hispanic sees another Hispanic assaulted by a person of a different race on TV, and that person being charged with a hate crime, it might encourage the fact that that particular race must be biased against Hispanics. On the other hand, if you have the crime portrayed as an assault from one human being against another human being, it becomes easier to sympathize with the victim and hate the single person committing the crime. Instead of sympathizing with the victim and begrudging the entire race that the person committing the crime is a part of.

Bill Clinton was recently recognized in Kosovo with an 11 foot tall bronze statue. The statue was inaugurated at Bill Clinton Boulevard – another little gift to go along with his new statue.

Many of them regard Mr Clinton as a hero for launching Nato’s air bombing campaign to drive Yugoslavia’s troops out of the Serbian province in 1999. I view him as a shallow man, but then again we each have our own opinions.

Clinton wasn’t all such a bad president, he did have the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus. Unlike his latter counterpart, he didn’t drop more then Bush did in the first few hundred days as president.

But enough has been said, and Clinton’s actions are in the history books, but I think he deserves this statue, because I’ll never see it. I’ll never hear about it again, there probably won’t be any major (if any at all) political ramifications and hey, if I could be as free has him and still get an 11 foot bronze statue, I’d take it.

A stereotypical looking Frat Boy.

First, allow me to go into detail about the stereotype of a fraternity, and how many of my fellow classmates imagine my pledge brothers and future brothers. When the word, “fraternity” gets thrown around in a conversation, most people can formulate an image in their mind of what a “frat boy” might look like—wearing double polo shirts, with the collar popped; holy jeans, typically a light colored pair; a flat billed hat, probably a popular baseball team; and a beer can, most likely a cheap brand, in his hand. To go along with this image, there are actions that people also relate to brothers in a fraternity. Such actions include brothers calling everyone “bro,” partying hardcore every chance the brothers can get, and looking for the quick nightly hook up with some easy women. To sum up the stereotype of a member in a Greek organization, Dan Opp, author at an online college fact website, said he or she is out looking for trouble, negligent, and immature. But, this is only the surface of descriptions that fit the stereotype of a brother in a fraternity. All of these claims are far from a generalization of all fraternities as a whole, and such dramatization of fraternities has come from Hollywood and movies depicting fraternities as places where crazy parties go down—and bad things result.

Anyone who gives fraternities a chance, and actually takes a look inside the ritual, the beliefs, and the inner workings can see that fraternities are much more than just a place to party. Being in and a part of a fraternity is something special, but something that is different then what people tend to think. The Sigma Chi fraternity strives to make its brothers do things that they wouldn’t do otherwise. Joe Gangnon, a brother at Sigma Chi, said that being in a fraternity was something that made him become more of a leader, and ultimately made him who he is today. “I used to be shy, and not get out much,” he said, but being around Gangnon it is easy to see that he is much different now. This is one of many similar stories that brothers will share with anyone who inquires, but some will even go into telling you that it has also helped them academically. Justin Coleman, another brother at Sigma Chi, claimed that being in a fraternity helped him primarily with grades, “I’ve never been good with tests, and grades, and such, but being here with other people in the same situation as me, helps keep me motivated and supported to do well in school”. There are a lot of things that go on in a positive manner with fraternities, yet fraternities still cannot shake that barrier of stereotypes placed upon them. Every time something wrong goes on with a fraternity, the media blows it up, yet every day there are thousands of constructive and upbeat things fraternities do to help move the communities they live in move forward (Opp). Fraternities around the world each day help their brothers move their life forward, improve brothers’ grades above campus standards, and positively interact with communities, all of these things are simply overlooked by media, Hollywood, and people who do not have an active affiliation with Greek life.

Going Greek is a decision that hundreds of thousands of college students each year choose, and it could be one of the most important decisions that undergraduate students make in their lifetime. Joining a fraternity has many more upsides than people think. The doors that are open by becoming a Greek member are countless and can prove to be beneficial throughout the remainder of a person’s life. Character building, lifelong friendship, leadership abilities, and a higher tolerance level towards people are all gained though the path of brotherhood in a fraternity. The building of character is something that everyone needs to become who they want to be, and being in a fraternity is a very good way to do that. Being in a house with people who care about you, and have the same ideals as you is one of the strongest ways to build a person’s character. Gangnon is just one example of what being in a fraternity can do for a person’s character, and it certainly helped evolve him to become a positive impact on Ball State University’s society.

Grades are the upmost important thing that going to college is about. Grades decide what will become of your life, and they really say a lot about who you are as a person. People with grades that are above average tend to get more of what they really want in life, and landing that dream job is all just a small part of enjoying the benefits of getting good grades. While on the other hand, getting sub-par grades can give off the impression that a person slacks in everyday business, does not give the necessary effort to obtain valuable things, and all around not the kind of person you want in your organization. Organizations like fraternities want their future to not only rest in the hands of people with similar ideals, but also someone who manage good grades in the process. Once initiated, maintaining good grades is statistically an easy thing, in an article in the US News & World Report, Lewis Lord wrote “If the chapter has a high GPA the student’s grades will go up”. The fraternities in the Interfraternity Council (IFC) combat grades in another way as well. The IFC requires the pledges of its fraternities complete three academic building sessions, which can include legitimate tutoring, supervised study groups, and extra credit—or else there are fines to pay. The bottom line is clear; grades are priority in fraternities around the world.

One of the most over looked part about Greek life is how Greek organizations give back so much to communities. At Eastern Kentucky University, members of Greek organizations contributed over 63,000 hours of community service, from only twenty-seven organizations. Not only was a massive amount of community service contributed to the area around EKU, approximately $115,000 was donated to philanthropies on both the local and national level. Fraternities at Ball State can show the similar numbers as well, with Sigma Chi requiring all brothers to actively participate in at least ten hours of community service per semester, plus each pledge class to organize and participate in their own community service project separately from the house. With all that being said, it is hard to imagine how fraternities have a massive black mark on their image.

This kind of mass stereotype affects hundreds of thousands of Greek members in almost 800 colleges around the world, yet with a few over exaggerated accidents and big screen movies depicting bad judgment and decisions, all the quality outcomes that fraternities give to colleges and communities are simply over looked and forgotten about. Taking a look at the evidence supporting the positive areas of going Greek, it is hard to imagine that that communities and colleges are not supporting their students to go Greek. Making the smart decision in going Greek can be the best decision that an undergraduate student, at college campuses around the world, can make. The benefits of doing so include character development, better grades, and giving to the community, yet there are still people who think that joining a fraternity is like joining a gang, with hazing, and other immature acts, but allow me to say this, many colleges and fraternities are cracking down on hazing, and to this day I have not been hazed as a Pledge in the Sigma Chi fraternity.

A glimpse at how space based solar power could work.

Space based solar power is one of the newest things that scientists are looking into. I think the idea is insanely effective and well worth the price. It involves sending a huge solar panel about 22,000 miles into orbit, allowing it to always be in a full view of the sun every minute of the day, which is already a plus. It then converts the solar energy into microwaves which are sent to earth and then reconverted into energy. This allows for constant energy 24/7 no matter where in the world at any given time. So, no matter the weather, time of day, or season the panels will be in full constant view of the sun’s solarness.

Also, the light doesn’t have to go through the earth’s atmosphere, which can cause a reduced amount to be harvested, yet while the panels are above the earth, there is no worry about the atmosphere. Space based solar power also avoids the expense of storage facilities (dams, oil storage tanks, coal dumps) necessary in many Earth-based power generation systems. Additionally, it would have fewer or none of the ecological (or political) consequences of fossil fuel systems.

This would be an extreme way to get energy, sure, but as of now it’s the only guaranteed way of constant energy that would be incredibly easy to harvest. Plus just like normal solar power here on earth, it’s very clean, and works the same. One unit is estimated at powering over 1 million US homes too.

On a final note, space based solar power would also be applicable on a global scale. Nuclear power especially is something many governments are reluctant to sell to developing nations, where political pressures might lead to proliferation of nuclear weapons technology.

Raid at Elk Lake, Ontario

Why are so many people for continuing the drug war? Honestly, did prohibition work? Of course not. Sure, drinking subsided at first, but then alcohol consumption rose. In addition to that, was the beginning of a high level of organized crime. Kind of like the organized crime that is around today caused by the prohibition of drugs: Drug cartels. What’s the best way to get rid of them? Oh, I know! Arrest them for tax evasi—wait, that won’t work. The actual way to hurt the drug cartels is to legalize drugs; stop what they do best. In fact, simply from the current legalization of marijuana in some states, for medicinal purposes, drug cartels are starting to hurt. Imagine how we could run them straight out of business if we simply took away their way of life.

Why does it seem to be a common thought that if we legalize drugs in this country that everyone will walk around stoned? The people who are interested in doing drugs, are already participating, and these people are going to continue to do drugs anyway. There is no stopping it. Looking at alcohol as an example again, there are many people who do not drink, for whatever reason, even though it is a perfectly legalized activity. The same can be said about drug prohibition. The people who don’t participate in drug-related activities today most likely won’t participate in those activities if they are made legal. Have you ever heard someone say, “No, I don’t want any of your dope because that’s illegal, and we might get in trouble?”

Narcotics smugglers destroying evidence

We the people, of the United States of America spend $6,245,301,475 per year on people in prison due to drug related crimes. Not to mention how much money and resources are used in attempting to catch so-called drug offenders. Just imagine how we could turn that decently sized deficit into a pretty good profit. The United States is passing up a pretty good opportunity to rake in the taxes from the sale of drugs. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not for making the taxes on drugs ridiculous, such as they are on tobacco, as a tool to try to persuade the citizens of this country to not do something. I think it is wrong for the government to discourage a behavior through taxes. With that being said, the government does have the right to tax the people, and they should tax drugs and get revenue that way.

Prohibition in the 1920’s didn’t work (that’s why it was repelled), and it continues to be a gigantic failure to this day. The only answer is the legalization of drugs. This will the country money, in the long run, and destroy the fabric that holds the drug cartels together.

About 10 minutes later, Wolf attempts to ask Falcon again:

A popular point of “evidence” is that we were all excited and happy with sending people to the moon, for a while. But then, it abruptly stopped. Just, stopped. And why haven’t we tried to construct anything on the moon, yet we thought it was an excellent idea to build a space station hurling at 17,000 MPH. Interesting.

Another piece of evidence is the fact that in 1994, a satellite took 1.8 million images while traveling around the moon. 170,000 of those were made public, the rest were classified. Wait, why?

According to Above Top Secret, there are some interesting photos that some say prove this theory. (These pictures come directly from ATS.)

It is reported that these pictures were taken on December 24, 1966, on a Russian space mission. Bizarre.

An even more incriminating peace of evidence, however, is the face that Neil Armstrong says that there is an alien presence on the moon. Take a look at this communication exchange while he was on the moon:

NASA: What’s there? Mission Control calling Apollo 11.

Apollo 11: These “Babies” are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn’t believe it! I’m telling you there are other spacecraft out there, Lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They’re on the Moon watching us!

According to reports, the Apollo 11 astronauts witnessed a mining operation being undertaken by aliens on the moon. And reported on rumormillnews.com, is this:

Chatelain claims that “all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin – flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence.” He goes on to say:

“I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name ‘Santa Claus’ to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public. It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for everybody to hear: ‘PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.’ Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words.”

And finally, a professor interviewed Neil Armstrong:

Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?

Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always known there was a possibility, the fact is, we were warned off [by the aliens]! There was never any question then of a space station or a moon city.

Professor: How do you mean “warned off”?

Armstrong: I can’t go into details, except to say that their ships were far superior to ours both in size and technology Boy, were they big, and menacing! No, there is no question of a space station.

Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?

Armstrong: Naturally, NASA was committed at that time, and couldn’t risk panic on Earth. But, it really was a quick scoop and back again.

Let’s hear what you think in the comments.

Attention Readers

We try to write on different topics each day, and take the weekends easy, so finding time to write on something you want and get your post up in a reasonable timeframe shouldn’t be as hard as other new and upcoming blogs.

We need you here at Jibbli, diversity is good, and no matter who you are, no matter the race, religion, culture, or view and beliefs, we would like to utilize your temperaments, talents and convictions in our site, and make it the best dang thing this side of the computer screen.

If you are interested in joining our team in expediting the progress of Jibbli, please feel free to contact me at admin [at] jibbli [dot] com, and we’d be more then happy in helping you become the newest writer of this wonderful blog.

This week, I found the stupid blog post 2 searches on Google Blog Search. This person, or group of people, supposedly tons of reasons why Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Ironic, considering escalating a war in the Middle East doesn’t exactly fall into what the committee would normally define “peace” as, nor does it confirm that Obama makes good on his promises. But, enough from me, let’s get to the post. (The post is written by The Kansas City Star Editorial Board, which at first glance looked like they were calling themselves the Star Editorial Board of Kansas City.)

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/6163 – I only ask of you one thing: If you give these blogtards hits by clicking on the link, at least toss them a comment telling them why they’re wrong.

Now, this is the part that I had planned on analyzing the stupid points made by the blogtard in question, and I had tons and tons of ideas as I read this post, until I reached the last line of their horribly spliced together mess:

“And, sometimes, hope is worth rewarding.”

And that, my friends, is the perfect way to define blogtard.

So, how does he suggest that he travels in time? Back to the Future style of course! That’s right, he drops his time machine into the back of a 1967 Corvette. Personally, I think the Delorean is cooler. He has a few pictures that are supposed to prove that his time machine is, in fact, working. For instance, this picture of a bent laser beam.

Apparently, the cameras from 2036 don't take pictures like the ones in 2009

As you may, or may not be able to tell from the horrible quality in the picture, the laser beam is bent. What is causing this? Well, Titor claims that it is caused by gravity created by the time machine, and that you can see the laser beam because of some smoke created by the cigar in his right hand. Pretty cool, right? Too bad this picture has been thought to be faked. For one, there is no break in the beam at all from the cigar smoke. For another, I find the lack of mega pixels (especially from one coming from the year 2036) as a way to hide anything that might cause this photograph to be faked. Interesting, indeed.

So, unless he comes up with a bunch of insanely detailed and accurate predictions soon, I’m going to call this guy fake. But my last question is this, “You’re from the year 2036 and this is the coolest that you can make your website?”

The  Patriots used to go all out and own up the AFC East division of Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, and themselves, but with Miami coming back from a pathetic season 2 years ago, and Buffalo getting their O working, and the Jets making some huge statements on D, the Patriots season is going to be anything but a walk in the park.

A questioner chimes in, “Why would he do it?”

“He’s a jackass,” Obama replies, which is met with laughter from several people.

The president seems to quickly realize he may have gone too far, and jovially appeals to those assembled that the remark be kept private. “Come on guys,” he says. “Cut the president some slack. I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate.”

Obama was smart in the fact he was right about something, finally and about time but….

He as our leader made the mistake of keeping a watch on his mouth. He is the president, and what he wants to keep secrect, and hidden he shouldnt say about in public situations, on or off the record, if people are around to hear it and you don’t want them to hear it…DON’T SAY IT!..

In other news concerning the Democrat party as a whole, I must bring up the outburst from Rep. Wilson. President Carter is now calling the our burt “based on racism”. Wilson’s son came forth and said, “It’s unfortunate people make that jump. People can disagree — and appropriately disagree — on issues of substance, but when they make the jump to race it’s absolutely ludicrous. My brothers and I were raised by our parents to respect everyone regardless of background or race.” I put the main point of that in bold, because that is exactly what is happening in the upper levels of our country.

Carter had said, “I think it’s based on racism, there is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”  There are too many people in America who have no idea what anything is that the Government is taking part of, but that doesn’t mean if they disagree with socialized healthcare (whose name defines itself) they are racist by any means.

At the same time, it appears that we, the United States, are making more enemies than pseudo-friends. Many European countries, including Czech Republic and Poland (the countries that were each supposed to host parts of the defense system), are angry that the United States has shown such a sign of weakness.

Even though the current administration, says that they have opted to build a different system that may include ships and perhaps land missiles as well, there was no clear or exact plan in place. At any rate, the European countries in question seem to be angry that the United States is backing out on a promise to put this defense complex in place. According to Times Online, a former Czech Republic Prime Minister has said, “It puts us in a position where we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that’s a certain threat.”

What is your stance? Let’s hear from you in the comments and in the poll

(NOTE: If you are reading this post in the form of a Note on Facebook please click through to the actual blog to make a comment. http://jibbli.com/2009/09/qotw-missile-defense-in-europe/.)

1. Compiz- This application can be used for all kinds of Ubuntu effects. From wobbly windows, to Desktop Cube (Pictured), to maximize and minimize effects. If your graphic card can handle the effects, it is well worth the install. To install from the terminal type in the following:
   sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager



2. Mac4Lin with AWN – Mac4Lin in not necessarily an application, but rather a theme that makes Ubuntu look like a Mac. This even includes moving the close, maximize, and minimize buttons from the right of the window to the left. The theme is quite impressive and does an exellent job of emulating the Mac. While AWN copies the dock on the Mac, similar to Rocket Rock for Windows. To install AWN in to terminal type in:
   • To install Mac4Lin on your Ubuntu computer first, download the theme files from SourceForge here. Then extract the folder and run the file titled “Mac4Lin_Install_v1.0.sh.”
   • Next, Go to System > Appearance. Then select one of the two themes: Mac4Lin_aqua or Mac4Lin_graphite.
   • In the appearance window, click on the “fonts” tab and change your fonts:
     • Application Font: Lucida Grande Regular 9
     • Document Font: Lucida Grande Regular 9
     • Desktop Font: Lucida Grande Regular 9
     • Window Title Font: Lucia Grande Bold 10
     • Fixed Width Font: Bitstream Vera Sans Mono Roman 9
   • I assume that you are using Firefox, and when you use the default Firefox theme with Mac4Lin I think it looks like crap. So, in Firefox go to Tools > Add-Ons. Then search for a Mac OS X theme and install it.
   • There you go! Mac4Lin should be all configured!

   

3. Wine – Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. However, it does run windows (exe) Executable programs in Linux and Mac. I’ve found it quite useful at times. For instance, I liked using uTorrent as opposed to the default Transmission for my torrent downloader. uTorrent is not supported on Linux, so I simply ran uTorrent in Wine and it worked perfectly.To install Wine via the terminal type in

sudo apt-get install wine

4. Audacity – This is a very popular program that runs on Windows as well as Linux and, I believe, Mac as well. Audacity if a free audio editing program that is perfect for basic to intermediate audio editing. I use this program to edit songs down to ringtone lengths. But, one of my favorite features is the ability for it to remove lyrics from most songs. I used it on”The Other Way” by Weezer and it worked like a charm.sudo apt-get install audacity

Wondering what NASCAR fans thought made the sport fun to follow, I dove into some research. A lot of people suggested that it was the close finishes, and the fact that the cars drive so close together that makes it exciting. But what I have an isssue with, and many seem to disagree, is the fact that NASCAR will throw out fake cautions in order to let all of the cars regroup for a close finish. I don’t appreciate fabricated excitement in sports. So this begs the question, why is it so popular in the United States?

On the other hand, Formula 1 tends to catch my excitement for several reasons. First and foremost, is the fact that the cars are more like spaceships on the ground. They are some of the most technologically advance pieces of equipment on the planet.

Next, is that the tracks are not boring circles. The drives must have quicker reflexes and be ready to slow and brake depending on the angle of the turn.

Third, I appreciate the fact that they are willing to race in the rain. This makes the racing even more intense because even though the drivers use rain tires, the slippery track is still a danger for spinouts.

Finally, the strategy involved in F1 compared to NASCAR is exciting in iteself. One of the rules of Formula 1 is that the drivers must start the race with the amount of fuel that they end qualifying with. So, if the driver has a light fuel load to begin qualifying, in order to get a good starting position, then that driver will be forced to pit earlier. A lot of other F1 strategy comes in the actual building and running of the cars. As opposed to NASCAR, Formula 1 teams keep their designs extremely secret in order to make their cars preform better than the competeting teams. Such as the Ferrari team using carbox dioxide in their cars’ tires. In NASCAR, all of the cars are essentially the same.

At the root, I guess it’s merely an opinion question. Do you find excitement in close races even if they are, at times, fabricated? Or do you prefer technologically advanced cars and difficult tracks even though the races may, at times, end with a thirty second or more difference between first and second place?

So, for today’s science “blog-of-the-day” I am going to post a few pictures that I have found on the internet (all were acquired and can be located from NASA’s Hubble Telescope website http://hubble.nasa.gov/).

Also, for those of you who are interested in how some of Hubbles pictures are taken, and for what purpose, and if you only watch one video this year I highly suggest, recommend you watch this 4 minute clip. It talks about Hubble, and risks taken, and what all it has shown us.

For those of you who don’t feel like watching it, allow me to at least quote this one line, “There are over 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Simply saying that number doesn’t really mean much to us, because it doesn’t really provide any context. Our brains have no way to put that in any meaningful perspective. . .We pointed the most powerful telescope made by human beings at absolutely nothing, for no other reason than because we were curious; and discovered that we occupy a very tiny part in the heavens.”

This quote did really mean a lot, and when you think about the number 100,000,000,000; nothing we know of comes close to that number! One hundred billion, the richest man in the world is only worth half of that. There is 20x more galaxies then humans on this plant. And with this we are talking galaxies alone! each galaxy has billions, if not trillions of stars, planets, and unknown meaning. in a size no bigger then a grain of sand, there is are hundreds of millions of galaxies just behind it.

Just putting those numbers into perspective, may be impossible, but putting the actual size of each galaxy into perspective is just beyond the power of one mind. A picture or a graphic may show a lot of galaxies, most of which appear to be small, cool looking things, but in reality, they are trillions of miles long, hundreds of light years wide, and millions of light years away.

For those of us who do not know what a Mac is, allow me to explain. A Macintosh computer is an operating device that Apple has made/designed both the hardware  AND  software for. Apple claims that the hardware and software “are made for each other.” And thus, they will work better then any other computer on the market.

Honestly, even though Vista is flawed and Microsoft has stopped caring about Vista all together it seems (with the release of Windows 7 only a month or so away) Windows still has the title of the most popular OS. Even Apple and all their glory can’t do everything themselves, and they need the help of Microsoft’s programs, primarily Office and all the sub-categories that it contains.

But do not count Apple and Macs out yet. Lately with the introduction of the newer MacBook Pros, and the key hardware upgrades that make them superior to any other hardware manufacturer, OS X is slowly coming along. Apple is determined in their ways of making life simpler for consumers, and OS X (especially Leopard and Snow Leopard) has done a lot for that cause.

Many college kids, adults, and everyday consumers are turning to Apple’s Mac, and why? because lately it is doing everything the average consumer needs, and in a simple manner. The “dock” is simple and easy to use, and programs have features that are surpassing the complexity, but maintain the simple usability, of their PC counterparts. They also are just making everything easily accessed, easily set up, and easily used. The Mail application for example, is making organizing your e-mail and viewing attachments effortless, and how you can create easy-to-use mailboxes and instantly view attachments (without opening any other application).

Plus the maneuverability of almost every application that comes pre-inatalled on a Mac has the same interface as iTunes… why do I compare them to iTunes? iTunes is one of the most globally downloaded, viewed, and used application for any OS (excluding Linux). Setting up photo albums, movies, folders, play lists, e-mail dividers are now as easy as using  we all know and love…iTunes.

Microsoft better start stepping up their game, because Apple is coming from behind with a full head of steam. It appears as if anywhere you go Apple’s computers are there, from retail stores, internet cafes, schools, and libraries.

Granted, most people still choose PCs right now over Macs due to the cheaper cost, the craphole economy, and the individuality and versatility of Windows. But, be warned, Apple’s prices are getting more competitive, their software more versatile, their image more accepted, and the products in consumer’s homes.