Author: mbg.gold

Everything’s made out of matter… right?

The office chair or the iPhone you’re touching right now is made of matter. So is the air around you, and the keyboard and mouse you’re using to view this blog. No one doubts that everyday items all around you are made up of building blocks called atoms.

But there’s still one type of “matter” that perplexes me, and I’m not even sure if it can be classified as “matter.” This blog is made out of data. Before we go on though, let’s make sure we have this concept clear. It’s the data we’re talking about; not the data storage device, be it a flash drive or a hard drive; nor the type of machine you’re using to view the data, be it a mobile phone or a monitor.

1s and 0s are all that make up this blog. Matter takes space, but data doesn’t. Matter has mass, but data does not. A hard drive with 1 terabyte of free space will not weigh less (or more) than the exact same hard drive with no free space remaining. Yet, the hard drive that is completely occupied with data weighs no more than an empty hard drive, and still can store thousands of photos, videos, and applications. A photo album with no photos in it will weigh less than a photo album with a thousand photos in it. Yet with a hard drive, more photos does not equal more weight.

So here’s the question- is data matter? Are we violating Newton’s first law of thermodynamics, saying that you can’t get something out of nothing? Are we getting something out of nothing? Is this a paradox? Does this spell doom for physics? science? the world? the universe??? existence as we know it?????!!!!!!

Blog statistics for August


As you can see, our blog views have really declined. NO ONE who is a registered user of OKS Blog has viewed this blog in the past four days! Right now, the total number of views is stagnant at around 1,377 and we wish someone would come and view this blog. We had 40+ views on August 10th, followed by a few more peaks & valleys, but the line is flat. Help OKS Blog raise that line! Link to us on your blog, on Twitter (follow @oksblog), Facebook, Myspace, whatever. Tell your friends, colleagues, co-workers about this great blog!

HAPPY 100TH POST OKS BLOG!!!

I just checked my admin dashboard today and found that the post count is at 99 posts. So I decided to give the 100th post a special place.

This is the 100th post, and if none of the previous posts before this get deleted, it will stay that way.

I can’t check the full statistics, but right now, we have 100 posts , 5 pages, 13 categories, 423 tags, 113 comments and no pending or spam comments.

SO HAPPY 100TH POST OKSBLOG!!!

Despite systematic IE6 denials, Users continue to use the lame browser.

Such users are my dad, KCLS (the library system), and other people who don’t realize that IE6 sucks. It supports only the most primitive forms of JavaScript and CSS and HTML. And, as of 2009, it’s 8 years old. Sadly, I have to be tortured by this demonic browser every time I visit the web. Even IE7 is better. EVEN A ROCK WOULD GET A BETTER RATING AS A WEB BROWSER!!!

So I wish people would realize this and switch. Cause 20 years from now, no one’s gonna be talking about this (thank god). At least OKS blog still remotely works, but not as good. Images don’t show up, the font and style are all wonky, and other crap. But OKS blog is telling users in BIG LETTERS AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE to switch. Thank you OKS.

The heat wave is here

The forecast for Western Washington says at least 4 days in the 90F range, and we could even be setting some records this week. The official all-time high for Seattle is 100 degrees F, and some weather forecasters predict that the temperature may be as high as 104 degrees F at Sea-Tac Int’l Airport, the official weather gauge location for the Seattle area.

Yesterday, I was driving home when I saw a few menacing clouds that looked like thunder clouds. They were towards the east, so I reasoned there might be some kind of thunderstorms there. Today, I haven’t seen a cloud in the sky. It’s 85 degrees in my house, 95 outside, and not many people here have air conditioning. At least I have a fan.

So for all of you feeling this heat, drink plenty of water and don’t move around too much unless you have to (writing at OKS blog is a great way to cool off!)

Done.

Done with school.
Done with education.
Done with projects
Done with essays.

Done with teachers.
Done with homework.
Done with math, english, social studies, and all those subjects.
Done.

No more stress.
No more lack of sleep.
No more cramming.
No more nonsense.

No more angering the librarians by playing games on the computer that you’re not supposed to.

No more.
Done.

Carbon Counting

If you’re curious about how much Carbon Dioxide is in our atmosphere RIGHT THIS SECOND, then there is now an online counter that was unveiled in New York today. It will provide you with a live counter of the approximate metric tons of CO2 in the atmosphere right now.

The link is: http://bit.ly/LH5GC

The website wasn’t unveiled just today, but in New York, everyone gathered around a billboard that will update itself.

Posting here from ScribeFire

In case you don’t know what ScribeFire is, it’s an addon for Firefox that lets a user write posts from the bottom of Firefox without ever leaving the web page you’re on. You can get it at http://tinyurl.com/yrnml6.

ScribeFire allows you to post to blogs such as WordPress and Blagger. This blog, in fact, is supported by WordPress. What I would like to know is if it is possible to post to this blog. The site editor can reply to this post by including a list of steps to set up ScribeFire to post to here.

UPDATE (6/15/2009 @ 7:20): The site editor has replied

OKS Blog is powered by WordPress 2.9-rare (as I write this comment).

Setting up ScribeFire to post to OKS Blog is easy.

Just use http://oks.verymad.net/~onekopaka/blog/ as the URL and your username and password to login to the Admin interface here.

-Darren VanBuren

UPDATE (6/15/2009 @ 15:46) by Darren VanBuren:

My last name doesn’t have a space…

UPDATE (6/15/2009 @ 16:25)

Hmmm… I’m trying it out and it doesn’t seem to be working. When I try to load a post, it refuses to load. I just have to try publishing a new post.

16:30 – ScribeFire can now post (I sent a test post), but can’t edit. Looks like Mr. VanBuren will have to work this out.

To the End!

For everyone, school’s almost out. Summer is approaching, and the enduring and relentless heat has driven girls at our school to break dress codes.

It was a year full of memories for me. When I started school back in September, I had to switch classes because “they” screwed up my schedule. After I switched classes, I discovered that I had a test on a book. While everyone got two weeks to read the book, I got three days, and yet, my teacher expected me to pass the test like everyone else. I didn’t pass the test and that ruined my grade for the rest of the year.

The first semester of school went on without much more happening. Tests, projects, quizzes, waking up too early, sleeping too late every single day. This was the case until December, when school was happily interrupted by storm after storm of snow, much more than we’ve gotten for the past twelve years. Some days we had late starts, and some days, school was canceled. Kids enjoyed the days they had off from school, but snow plow drivers and those who still had to go to work did not.

The second semester came quickly, and I tried some new things. I played a piano accompaniment for the orchestra and for several people at their recital. I went to our school’s restaurant and tried some great food there. I conducted the orchestra and went to a college to perform there. It seemed like I had finally found the zest of high school, even though I wasn’t in athletics or too many school activities.

And finally, after a few more concerts, contests, and competitions, it is almost time to say goodbye. Today, our principal recognized our seniors for their excellent work and their legacy at our school in a special assembly. They will graduate next Saturday and move on. For me, that’s still a while away, but a time will come, and when it does, I will look back at my twelve wonderful years and wonder: “What will be in store for me for the next twelve years?”