None the Wiser

Well, I had a good 3 or 4 months of freedom from debilitating pain in my mouth. It seems I'm due for a good bit of earthly suffering. Damn it.

Next Tuesday, I'll be having my deeply impacted wisdom teeth removed, an action spurred on by a terrible pain in my leftmost gums. I'm not sure if the tooth is infected or simply on the move, but now all my wisdom teeth must go!

I am just about terrified. Surgery scares me. Worst of all, I CAN'T SWALLOW PILLS. I've tried and tried, even recently, but it can't be done. How will I cope with the pain?

Next week is going to SUCK.

Statues!

Apparently, the Vatican plans to erect a statue in honor of Galileo. That's all well and good, but they're planning to put the statue near the cell where he was held during his heresy trial.

Is the Catholic Church joking? Are they trying to honor the man or are they trying to set an example? "Hey kids, just look what happened to Galileo when he tried to challenge the Church!"


"Here, on 17 February 1600, the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive by the Roman Inquisition because his ideas were deemed dangerous. In 1887 Ettore Ferrari dedicated a monument to him on the exact spot of his death: he stands defiantly facing the Vatican, reinterpreted in the first days of a reunited Italy as a martyr to freedom of speech." - wiki

New Song -- A Peculiar Day

Check out my music page for my latest song, "A Peculiar Day," set to some amusing pictures of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

A Peculiar Day

I've also added a higher-quality, streaming version of the song just below the youtube video. It's still not the best quality, but the difference is quite noticeable.

I had a few goals with this song. 1) keep it simple. I wanted to write something 3 or 4 musicians could play easily. 2) keep it varied. I wanted to introduce a lot of different musical ideas while resisting the urge to 'copy and paste' 3) see how long I could go. I had originally intended to write a very long piece, but as is often the case, musical ADHD set in. I was aiming for 6 minutes of music, but I couldn't pull it off. And why should I? I generally hate long tracks. They're too much of an investment. And how varied can I get with only 3 instruments before it just sounds discordant and unnecessary?

Excuses, excuses.

Nevertheless, I think everything turned out just fine, thank you. :P

Guitar Zero

ATTN: LOCAL WII OWNERS



Two days ago, I was perusing Good Will and found 2 Guitar Hero III wii editions priced $50 each! These things retail for $90 dollars, the controllers are alone $80, and the set is difficult to find brand new. I was mad not to buy them. If I was an avid ebay or craig's list user, I could have made a cool $100 profit easy. Alas.

Reasons for not buying:

* Not an avid ebay or craig's list user
* Already own Guitar Hero III for xbox360
* Saving money for Super Smash Bros Brawl next week
* Didn't want to spoil some needy kid's treasure -- notice this reason is at the bottom of the pile :(

But if by some stroke of dumb luck, those sets are still at Good Will, I'd urge any local Zionsville wii owners to go take advantage of this awesome deal!

So, As You May Have Noticed...

I've been pretty into digg.com as of late. I've added a digg popular stories widget on the lower right hand side of my blog. I've also added digg buttons to every entry.

According to Google Analytics, I've managed to just about double my readership! (which actually isn't that impressive...)

Interested in adding digg functionality to your blog? I found this site very helpful.

I'm considering some changes to the blog's appearance. I love how the entries pop out of the space background, but I don't like how the image repeats. Any suggestions on a new, equally stunning background?

I'm also not all that happy with my header. "Objects in blog may be closer than they appear" sounds like it's trying to be profound --but isn't. The bending line optical illusion also needs changing. I like it, but it's not a very good representation of depth deception. Suggestions? Anyone?

What do you think of the new header? I like it!

Amazing Optical Illusion

What's so unusual about this hallway?


No, no, step to your left please.



You're doing it wrong! Try again!



Pretty cool, huh? There's more here.