Jorfer88's Blog

Insights Into and Meaning of Lady Gaga's "Judas"

2011-05-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have been very critical of Lady Gaga’s music videos in the past due to their perverse content, but I was pleasantly surprised by Judas. Not only do I like the song, but the music video is a theologically sound, artistic masterpiece. To start, Gaga's portrayal of herself as Mary Magdalene (“Fame hooker, prostitute wench vomits her mind”) as well as the all around acting is very well done. The plot of her having an affair with Judas where he cheats on her works (“When he calls to me, I am ready…Even after three times, he betrays me”). The music video strongly implies a sexual relationship with Judas, but it is not stated. Indications of this sexual nature are Judas’ aggressive womanizing in it, the distance he keeps from Gaga, the phrase "when he calls to me, I am ready", Gaga calling herself a prostitute, and Gaga's stoning at the end. The incorporation of biblical references is really incredible and indicates Lady Gaga knows a lot more about the Bible then would be indicated by her body of work. Here they are:

After Gaga says "I've learned love is like a brick/you can build a house" see taps Peter on the back who is, under a certain interpretation, the rock Jesus says he will build his church on (Matthew 16:18). The church is not a building in this context but the metaphor here is a building so it works. Interestingly enough, the interpretation that Peter is the rock is held by the Catholic Church rather than most Protestants (as the founding of the Catholic Church is attributed to Peter). Protestants mostly interpret the rock as being what Peter said rather than Peter himself. This indicates Gaga is experienced with Catholic theology rather than Protestant theology. Another indication of this is the phrase “I am beyond repentance”. Catholics view some sins to be beyond repentance, while Protestants outside of debate over the Bible’s mention of the unpardonable sin, believe Jesus wipes away all sin after salvation. Yet another indication is Gaga wears purple and red at the beginning, which are common colors worn by the Catholic clergy (this shows that regardless of what you think of her style, she is conscientious of what she wears).
Jesus is portrayed with a golden crown of thorns throughout. Since Jesus received a regular crown of thorns after his trial, this is just one example where the chronology has been altered to fit the music video, which is perfectly legitimate.
The disciples are portrayed as a biker gang, which is fitting, since they were rebels rejected by the establishment, though there message was not the exactly the same.
Gaga states “Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain/Even after three times, he betrays me”. In the Bible, Peter lies when he denies he knows Jesus three times after Jesus is captured, and Jesus practices great forgiveness throughout His ministry. Gaga puts herself in the same position of forgiving Judas lying about affairs with other women. Despite forgiving his three lying denials of affairs with other women, which demonstrates amazing love, Judas still cheats on her.
When Gaga points her gun at Judas, she indicates she wants to shoot him for his womanizing earlier, but Jesus in it shakes his head no and she rolls her eyes and puts the lipstick on Judas. This would make her complicit in the crime of killing Jesus since Judas uses the kiss to mark Jesus for death. The Bible has us all as responsible for Jesus’ death since our sins necessitated He die on the cross to forgive all our sins.
Jesus is seen reaching out to people and people can be seen reaching out to Jesus throughout the music video. This happened throughout the gospels and people are described as being healed of their sicknesses as a result of touching Him.
Gaga washes Jesus feet in it in a bathtub and says of Judas earlier “I'll wash his feet with my hair if he needs”. It is traditionally held that Mary Magdalene is the one that poured out fragrant oil and washed Jesus feet with her hair and tears., but it is attributed in the Bible to Mary of Bethany. Another indication of Gaga’s Catholic viewpoint is that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany are considered one person unlike most Protestant viewpoints. Maybe the water taking Gaga away represented Magdalene’s sadness overwhelming her.
Gaga suffers being stoned at the end. According to a portion of John that was likely not in the original manuscript, one reason for stoning in ancient times was committing adultery. Gaga seems to be likening an affair with Judas to that. This is backed up by an MTV article saying that the wedding gown in the final scene represents the spiritual wedding Christians have with Jesus (see this link).
“King with no crown” refers to Jesus being a king but not an earthly king but a Heavenly King
“Judas kiss me if offensed” seems to point to Judas being offended at Mary Magdalene (also attributed to Mary of Bethany) pouring out the perfume to anoint Jesus head for burial, since He was about to die (in the Bible, it is indicated this is a divine foreshadowing, but if Mary Magdalene was part of a scheme to kill Jesus as is presented in the video than this would have been done knowing of Jesus future death). The irony is that Judas kiss was a mark for death, so Gaga is saying that if she offended him for him to kill her.
“I couldn't love a man so purely/Even prophets forgave his goofy way” It seems to be that Gaga here identifies her love for Judas is closer to that of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) than that she could have for any other man:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Prophets throughout the Bible were not known as forgiving people, so for Gaga to say that prophets would forgive him is saying that it is so easy, at least for her, to ignore Judas' faults like not showing love in return for her love.

Differences between Indiana Chemistry I Standards from 2000 and 2010

2011-02-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

The new standards are more than just an organizational change as can be seen by the below comparison. The Indiana Department of Education came out with its initial proposal for Indiana's Science Standards in April of 2010. They are still tweaking it and will come out with a final version in March of 2011. The new changes will take affect in the 2011-2012 school year.

2000 Indiana Standards	2010 Indiana Standards
C.1.1 Differentiate between pure substances and mixtures based on physical properties such as density, melting point, boiling point, and solubility.	C.1.1 Based on physical properties, differentiate between pure substances and mixtures.
C.1.2 Determine the properties and quantities of matter such as mass, volume, temperature, density, melting point, boiling point, conductivity, solubility, color, numbers of moles, and pH (calculate pH from the hydrogen-ion concentration), and designate these properties as either extensive or intensive.	C.1.2 Observe and describe chemical and physical properties of different types of matter and designate them as either extensive or intensive. C.8.4 Given the hydronium (H₃O⁺) ion concentration in a solution, calculate the pH and vice versa. Explain the meaning of these values.
C.1.3 Recognize indicators of chemical changes such as temperature change, the production of a gas, the production of a precipitate, or a color change.	C.1.3 Recognize observable indicators of chemical changes.
C.1.4 Describe solutions in terms of their degree of saturation.	Not expected
C.1.5 Describe solutions in appropriate concentration units (be able to calculate these units), such as molarity, percent by mass or volume, parts per million (ppm), or parts per billion (ppb).	C.7.3 Describe the concentration of solutes in a solution in terms of molarity. Perform calculations using molarity, mass and volume.
C.1.6 Predict formulas of stable ionic compounds based on charge balance of stable ions.	C.3.4 Write chemical formulas for ionic compounds given their names and vice versa.
C.1.8 Use formulas and laboratory investigations to classify substances as metal or nonmetal, ionic or molecular, acid or base, and organic or inorganic.	C.3.5 Compare and contrast ionic, covalent network, metallic and polar and non-polar molecular crystals with respect to constituent particles, strength of bonds, melting and boiling points and conductivity; provide examples of each type. C.8.1 Use Arrhenius and Brønsted-Lowry definitions to classify substances as acids or bases.
C.1.9 Describe chemical reactions with balanced chemical equations.	C.4.2 Balance chemical equations using the law of conservation of mass and use them to describe chemical reactions.
C.1.10 Recognize and classify reactions of various types such as oxidation-reduction.	C.4.5 Describe, classify and give examples of various kids of reactions-synthesis (i.e., combination), decomposition, single displacement, double displacement and combustion.
C.1.11 Predict products of simple reaction types including acid/base, electron transfer, and precipitation.	C.4.1 Predict products of simple reactions such as synthesis, decomposition, single replacement and double replacement.
C.1.12 Demonstrate the principle of conservation of mass through laboratory investigations.	C.1.6 Explain and apply the law of conservation of mass as it applies to chemical processes.
C.1.13 Use the principle of conservation of mass to make calculations related to chemical reactions. Calculate the masses of reactants and products in a chemical reaction from the mass of one of the reactants or products and the relevant atomic masses.	C.4.3 Given mass of the sample, use the mole concept to determine the number of moles and number of atoms or molecules in samples of elements and compounds.
C.1.14 Use Avogadro’s law to make mass-volume calculations for simple chemical reactions.	C.5.3 Given the equation for a chemical reaction involving one or more gases as reactants, products or both, calculate the volumes of gas when assuming the reaction goes to completion and the ideal gas law holds.
C.1.15 Given a chemical equation, calculate the mass, gas volume, and/or number of moles needed to produce a given gas volume, mass, and/or number of moles of product.	C.4.3 Given mass of the sample, use the mole concept to determine the number of moles and number of atoms or molecules in samples of elements and compounds. C.4.4 Using a balanced chemical equation, calculate the quantities of reactants needed and products made in a chemical reaction that goes to completion. C.5.3 Given the equation for a chemical reaction involving one or more gases as reactants, products or both, calculate the volumes of gas when assuming the reaction goes to completion and the ideal gas law holds.
C.1.16 Calculate the percent composition by mass of a compound or mixture when given the formula	C.4.7 Perform calculations to determine the composition of a compound or mixture when given the formula.
C.1.17 Perform calculations that demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between molarity, volume, and number of moles of a solute in a solution.	C.7.3 Describe the concentration of solutes in a solution in terms of molarity. Perform calculations using molarity, mass and volume.
C.1.18 Prepare a specified volume of a solution of given molarity.	C.7.4 Prepare a specific volume of a solution of a given molarity when provided with a known solute.
C.1.19 Use titration data to calculate the concentration of an unknown solution.	C.8.5 From acid-base titration data, calculate the concentration of an unknown solution.
C.1.20 Predict how a reaction rate will be quantitatively affected by changes of concentration.	C.7.5 Explain how the rate of a reaction is qualitatively affected by changes in concentration, temperature, surface area and the use of a catalyst.
C.1.21 Predict how changes in temperature, surface area, and the use of catalysts will qualitatively affect the rate of a reaction.	C.7.5 Explain how the rate of a reaction is qualitatively affected by changes in concentration, temperature, surface area and the use of a catalyst.
C.1.22 Use oxidation states to recognize electron transfer reactions and identify the substance(s) losing and gaining electrons in an electron transfer reaction.	C.4.6 Determine oxidation states and identify the substances gaining and losing electrons in redox reactions.
C.1.23 Write a rate law for a chemical reaction using experimental data.	Not expected
C.1.24 Recognize and describe nuclear changes.	C.2.7 Compare and contrast nuclear reactions with chemical reactions. C.2.8. Describe how fusion and fission processes transform elements present before the reaction into elements present after the reaction.
C.1.25 Recognize the importance of chemical processes in industrial and laboratory settings, e.g., electroplating, electrolysis, the operation of voltaic cells, and such important applications as the refining of aluminum.	Not expected
C.1.26 Describe physical changes and properties of matter through sketches and descriptions of the involved materials.	C.1.4 Describe physical and chemical changes at the molecular level. C.1.5 Describe the characteristics of solids, liquids and gases and changes in state at the molecular level.
C.1.27 Describe chemical changes and reactions using sketches and descriptions of the reactants and products.	C.1.4 Describe physical and chemical changes at the molecular level.
C.1.28 Explain that chemical bonds between atoms in molecules, such as H₂, CH₄, NH₃, C₂H₄, N₂, Cl₂, and many large biological molecules are covalent.	C.3.5 Compare and contrast ionic, covalent network, metallic and polar and non-polar molecular crystals with respect to constituent particles, strength of bonds, melting and boiling points and conductivity; provide examples of each type. C.9.2 Illustrate the variety of molecular types formed by the covalent bonding of carbon atoms and describe the typical properties of these molecular types.
C.1.29 Describe dynamic equilibrium.	C.7.6 Write equilibrium expressions for reversible reactions.
C.1.30 Perform calculations that demonstrate an understanding of the gas laws. Apply the gas laws to relations between pressure, temperature, and volume of any amount of an ideal gas or any mixture of ideal gases.	C.5.2 Using the ideal gas equation of state PV = nRT, calculate the change in one variable when another variable is changed and the others are held constant.
C.1.31 Use kinetic molecular theory to explain changes in gas volumes, pressure, and temperature (Solve problems using pV=nRT).	C.5.1 Use kinetic molecular theory to explain changes in gas volumes, pressure, moles and temperature.
C.1.32 Describe the possible subatomic particles within an atom or ion.	C.2.2 Describe how the subatomic particles (i.e., protons, neutrons and electrons) contribute to the structure of an atom and recognize that the particles within the nucleus are held together against the electrical repulsion of the protons.
C.1.33 Use an element’s location in the Periodic Table to determine its number of valence electrons, and predict what stable ion or ions an element is likely to form in reacting with other specified elements.	C.2.6 Use the periodic table and electron configuration to determine an element's number of valence electrons and its chemical and physical properties. C.4.6 Determine oxidation states and identify the substances gaining and losing electrons in redox reactions.
C.1.34 Use the Periodic Table to compare attractions that atoms have for their electrons and explain periodic properties, such as atomic size, based on these attractions.	C.2.2 Describe how the subatomic particles (i.e., protons, neutrons and electrons) contribute to the structure of an atom and recognize that the particles within the nucleus are held together against the electrical repulsion of the protons.
C.1.35 Infer and explain physical properties of substances, such as melting points, boiling points, and solubility, based on the strength of molecular attractions.	C.3.5 Compare and contrast ionic, covalent network, metallic and polar and non-polar molecular crystals with respect to constituent particles, strength of bonds, melting and boiling points and conductivity; provide examples of each type.
C.1.36 Describe the nature of ionic, covalent, and hydrogen bonds and give examples of how they contribute to the formation of various types of compounds.	C.3.1 Describe, compare and contrast the characteristics of the interactions between atoms in ionic and covalent compounds.
C.1.37 Describe that spectral lines are the result of transitions of electrons between energy levels and that these lines correspond to photons with a frequency related to the energy spacing between levels by using Planck’s relationship (E=hv).	Not expected
C.1.38 Distinguish between the concepts of temperature and heat.	C.6.2 Distinguish between the concepts of temperature and heat flow in macroscopic and microscopic terms.
C.1.39 Solve problems involving heat flow and temperature changes, using known values of specific heat and latent heat of phase change.	C.6.4 Solve problems involving heat flow and temperature changes by using known values of specific heat, phase change constants (i.e., latent heat values) or both.
C.1.40 Classify chemical reactions and/or phase changes as exothermic or endothermic.	C.6.3 Classify chemical reactions and phase changes as exothermic or endothermic.
C.1.41 Describe the role of light, heat, and electrical energies in physical, chemical, and nuclear changes.	Not expected
C.1.42 Describe that the energy release per gram of material is much larger in nuclear fusion or fission reactions than in chemical reactions. The change in mass (calculated by E=mc²) is small but significant in nuclear reactions.	C.2.7 Compare and contrast nuclear reactions with chemical reactions.
C.1.43 Calculate the amount of radioactive substance remaining after an integral number of half-lives have passed.	C.2.9 Understand that the radioactive decay process is random for any given atom but that this property leads to a predictable and measurable exponential decay of a sample of radioactive material. Know how to calculate the initial amount, the fraction remaining or the half-life of a radioactive isotope when given two of the other three variables.
C.1.44 Convert between formulas and names of common organic compounds.	C.9.1 Use structural formulas to illustrate carbon atoms’ ability to bond covalently to one another to form many different substances.
C.1.45 Recognize common functional groups and polymers when given chemical formulas and names.	C.9.2 Illustrate the variety of molecular types formed by the covalent bonding of carbon atoms and describe the typical properties of these molecular types.
C.2.3 Explain that John Dalton’s modernization of the ancient Greek ideas of element, atom, compound, and molecule strengthened the new chemistry by providing physical explanations for reactions that could be expressed in quantitative terms.	C.2.1 Describe how models of atomic structure changed over time based on available experimental evidence and understand the current model of atomic structure.
C.2.1 Explain that Antoine Lavoisier invented a whole new field of science based on a theory of materials, physical laws, and quantitative methods, with the conservation of matter at its core. Recognize that he persuaded a generation of scientists that his approach accounted for the experimental results better than other chemical systems. C.2.2 Describe how Lavoisier’s system for naming substances and describing their reactions contributed to the rapid growth of chemistry by enabling scientists everywhere to share their findings about chemical reactions with one another without ambiguity. C.2.4 Explain how Frederich Wohler’s synthesis of the simple organic compound urea from inorganic substances made it clear that living organisms carry out chemical processes not fundamentally different from inorganic chemical processes. Describe how this discovery led to the development of the huge field of organic chemistry, the industries based on it, and eventually to the field of biochemistry. C.2.5 Explain how Arrhenius’ discovery of the nature of ionic solutions contributed to the understanding of a broad class of chemical reactions. C.2.6 Explain that the application of the laws of quantum mechanics to chemistry by Linus Pauling and others made possible an understanding of chemical reactions on the atomic level. C.2.7 Describe how the discovery of the structure of DNA by James D. Watson and Francis Crick made it possible to interpret the genetic code on the basis of a sequence of “letters.”	Not expected
	New Standards: C.2.3 Determine the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in isotopes and in those isotopes that comprise a specific element. Relate these numbers to atomic number and mass number. C.2.4 Calculate the average atomic mass of an element from isotopic abundance data. C.2.5 Write the electron configuration of an element and relate this to its position on the periodic table. C.3.2 Compare and contrast how ionic and covalent compounds form. C.3.3 Draw structural formulas for and name simple molecules. C.6.1 Explain that atoms and molecules are in constant motion and that this motion increases as thermal energy increases. C.7.1 Describe the composition and properties of types of solutions. C.7.2 Explain how temperature, pressure and polarity of the solvent affect the solubility of a solute. C.8.2 Describe the characteristic properties of acids and bases. C.8.3 Compare and contrast the dissociation and strength of acids and bases in solutions. Process Standards

Taylor University Silent Night FAQ

2010-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Being a Taylor University student, I feel it important to answer some questions regarding Taylor University's Silent Night that have emerged in the wave of national attention it has received.

They weren’t completely silent. Doesn’t this make it a fail?
To clear up the misunderstanding, the Taylor Men's Basketball Team itself cheers every year for the whole game (as does the opposing team and opposing team’s fans of course), and is not expected to do otherwise; only the Taylor fans are. On a dunk this year (it was not the one in the video; it was this one), though, some Taylor students couldn't restrain themselves from cheering (one student basically communicated he had to give him props after a stern look from us). This year was probably the worst at keeping the silence that I have been here. Keeping 1,500 people that quiet for that long (which is the approximate Silent Night attendance) is an accomplishment regardless of whether it is “perfect” or not. Based on the video alone, this is not a fail, unless you apply an extreme view of the word "silent". There is a video of the 2009 Silent Night on the Taylor website that shows the Taylor fans stay silent during the event.

That has got to really creep out the opposing team. Am I right?
As far as the players, it does seem to rattle them. Given the 112-67 win for Taylor this year, it definitely seemed to work. It seems the opponents fans don't really know what to make of it. They mostly have a deer in the headlights look during the times I have looked over at them. Many of their fans seem to secretly enjoy the craziness including the four OSU Marion cheerleaders that came, which participated in a dance-off at half time in which two Taylor students did backflips simultaneously (which was not included in the video along with distracting tactics we used when OSU Marion was shooting free throws, which there is a picture of here).

What is with the dudes with toilet paper on them?
A lot of the paper seen in the video is paper shards from a sign they made that parodied the replacement of paper towels in the restrooms with Xcelerator air dryers and the addition of woodchip paths on campus. It said "Taylor University uses high speed, obnoxiously loud, energy efficient blowers to save money for the ever-expanding woodchip path project...Xcelerator". They ripped it to shreds when the 10th point was scored. The other paper is paper towels and there is some toilet paper (even though it is not directly related) used as part of this "Revenge of the Paper Towel". BroHo (3rd floor of Samuel Morris Hall) in past years has also parodied an Echo article (the school newspaper) referring to their dorm as the "lost boys" by dressing up in Peter Pan regalia, created a giant gingerbread house (not made out of gingerbread of course), and created a full nativity scene (in order from most recent to older). They hide until the 10th point is scored as mentioned in the Silent Night Yahoo article and then erupt in cheering like the rest of the fans.

Alcohol and drugs must have played at least a small part in the event, right?

Since Taylor is a Christian college where students agree to uphold the University's no alcohol use for all undergraduates rule (not just those under 21) and narcotics are illegal, they would be breaking University policy (and the law depending), which is codified in the Life Together Covenant (LTC), if those were involved (not that that keeps all students from doing it). Despite that, life in the dorms often resembles Greek life at public colleges with Penthouse (4th floor of Samuel Morris Hall) going around campus having people do root beer keg stands on Cinco de Mayo in toga outfits to name an example.

Very Strong Evidence That The Legendary Shots Faked At Least One of Their Baskets

2010-08-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

I had seen some videos of the Legendary Shots and they seemed legit (as if you do something enough times, even low probability events become possible), so I checked them out further. In this video, I came across a trick shot that was obviously fake, as it defied the laws of physics. In Amazing Basketball Shots: The Legendary Shots 4 at point 2:28, without putting any spin on the ball, the Chicago Bears shirt wearer throws the ball in one direction, it hits a relatively flat service, and then it bounces back to him. As I was looking carefully, I realized a big detail that none of the 100,000+ viewers apparently picked up. The middle of the basketball pole is gone. You can clearly see the brick wall continue behind where the missing part of the pole is supposed to be. Here is the best evidence: the brick wall overlapping the ball:

It seems part of what they did was combine two different camera shots. One from the top and left and one from the bottom right. Notice how this ball properly blurs when in the bottom right area because of the speed it is traveling at (that is why you can see the brick within the ball area):

But when it is in between areas moving down at a fast rate it doesn't:

Also, notice the elongation of the ball as it travels upwards:

The first downward path seems to check out, but the upward path is fishy. It seems they digitally elongated the ball to make it appear to be going left and then shot a separate shot to change the angle of trajectory when the ball got back into the top camera view, which included digitally elongating the ball to sync it with the first shot. This is just a guess of how they faked this shot, but the lack of a middle of the pole shows the video has been altered without any likely motive besides tampering with the basketball shot itself.

Proposed Mosque Near Ground Zero

2010-08-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

All this outrage over building a mosque near ground zero has made me angry. How is building a mosque near ground zero thumbing a nose at the people who died there and their families? People live near ground zero; it is not like they want to build a mosque near the site in rural Pennsylvania where United Airlines Flight 93 went down. That would be insulting. Should Muslims in Manhattan have less religious freedom because they live or work next to a place where they claim their religion was twisted (whether it was is unimportant for this discussion) to create a national tragedy? It is not insensitive to the heroes of 9/11 or their families to build it, but it is insensitive to the deeply held religious beliefs of the Muslim community of New York not to allow it to be built. It is not like the extremists that attacked us on that day are setting up a terrorist center there. This mosque is not for the extremists. If this mosque ever harbored extremism, it would be even easier to drag the culprits into Federal Court to face punishment like they deserve (or if the extremism is below the criminal threshold, prevent it from being spouted in public areas nearby). This is not Minority Report; you cannot deny law abiding citizens their religious freedom because of the potential for a crime to be committed in the future. Is it right to lump all Muslims into one category here: those that hate what Al-Qaeda did on 9/11 with those that supported it? It is not. It is no better than Middle Easterners lumping all Americans into one category outside of those held by every American (such as nationality). It would be a shame if 9/11 curtails the religious liberty that separates us from those that attacked us on that day.

iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone

2010-01-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

My iPod nano 3rd generation hard drive failed in the second half of 2010. It had lasted since Christmas 2006, if I recall correctly. This may seem like a good amount of time for it to last, but I had been experiencing corruption problems with the artword.db file in the iPod since summer 2008. I decided during the November 21, 2009 eBay search outage to use the woraround to it (when I came across it) to get a good deal on a replacement MP3 player. Why did I get a better deal than I usually would? Economics dictates that the less bidders, which in this case was caused by others not knowing the workaround (an information advantage), the lower the price will be if the supply stays the same. Based on 22 feedback posts, these "8GB 1.8"Touch 4th Gen MP4 MP3 More Feature Than Ipod” sell on average for $43.81 (the min was $26.00 and the max was $76.00, so the price varies widely). I got this iPod nano clone from eBay user zzahuan for $26.oo due to the outage, however. This item is pretty good once you figure it out, but the poor quality of the instructions, lack of a specific name, and the hacked memory will prove too time consuming and frustrating for all but the most tech-savvy to deal with. This page should be helpful in dealing with these problems, but if you are not tech-savvy and patient, it will be less time consuming and frustrating to buy a 2 GB Sandisk Sansa Clip on eBay for less than these iClones go for. Why are so many people paying outrageous amounts for iClones? The answer is simple: keyword spamming, deception, and lying. This is not 8 GB even if it is taken to mean Gigabit instead of Gigabyte (more on that later); it does not have a touch screen but it does operate off touch (instead of say voice); it is not a 4th generation MP3 player (though it is in the style of a fourth generation iPod nano); it is not an MP4 player (try it; it won’t work) unless MP4 means something other than MPEG-4 Part 14 format; and it may well have “More Feature Than Ipod”, but that should be in your description rather than your title unless you want people thinking it is an iPod. Let us also go through some of the features that are put in its description that it supposedly has:

It does play MP3s and WAV sound files, but I haven’t tried WMV.
It does have "ultra-high quality stereo sound".
It does have a 1.8” effective pixel LCD screen.
It does have a photo viewer that allows the viewing of JPEG images, but I haven’t tried BMP images.
It has about a 1.5-2 hour battery life if you mostly use it with the LCD screen off. (A timer called “DarkMode” found under “LCD set” under “Settings” controls the given period of time the LCD will turn off after the iClone is left alone. This is a maximum of 30 second.) I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say it uses a “high-capacity lithium battery”.
It is nano size.
It does have a working voice recorder. It records in WAV format.
It does have a built-in FM radio, but it took me a while to find in the firmware, because it is filed under “Podcast” even though radio is not a podcast. It will record from the radio in WAV format.
It does have a player that can play files recorded from the voice recorder or built-in FM radio.
It does have a text reader that reads .txt (plain text) but not .rtf (rich text format) or .doc (97-2003 word documents). It is not a good text reader, however.
It does have games including a customizable version of Minesweeper, a version of Tetris, a box moving game, and a colored bead game that doesn’t seem to work.
It does play videos as long as they are AMV files.
It does work like a USB removable disk.
It is listed as working with Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP, but it works with Vista as well.
It does have a large amount of language support.

I understand that it was free shipping from Honk Kong, but it took me at least two weeks longer to receive this package from zzahuan than a laptop bag that shipped from Honk Kong with free shipping from ihome852 (a user I would highly recommend) during the same busy time of year before Christmas of 2009. I say “at least”, because I left on Christmas vacation before it got to my dorm, which meant it was not until I came back from Christmas break that I was able to use it. I immediately noticed something fishy. I would try loading 8 GB of music on it and only some of it would be on the player when I used it. After researching it, I found out that my iClone might be hacked to say 8 GB when it really wasn't. Good thing I stumbled upon this forum discussion right here. I ran H2testw on it and sure enough, I only had 1.8 GB of memory; those clever Asians had hacked my iClone. I used the 13 step process involving Check Flash outlined in the thread to fix my iClone to give the memory it actually has (except I used 1.6 GB just in case H2testw had overestimated it). Even if they meant 8.0 Gigabits, this comes out to at most about 1.3 GB, so this is not what they meant (unless they meant for the partition to be smaller than the capacity and intended to partition it as 8 Gigabits instead of 8 Gigabytes, but this is highly unlikely). Besides this, it is actually a pretty decent MP3 player. I was surprised how good the firmware on it was. The firmware listed is MP4 Player 9.5.54 by CBD Co., Ltd. on 2009-10-05 . I cannot find any information about the company, however. I want to run through the Pros and the Cons of the MP3 player now:

Pro:

Sound Quality - I haven’t noticed any problems with sound quality so far.
Doesn't Require iTunes - This does not mean that you cannot still have your music in iTunes, but it does mean you need to transfer your music using Windows Media Player, by simply dragging and dropping, or some other non-iTunes way. iTunes music and some of the data for it is not stored in the iTunes library file, so if you use iTunes, you can still use this MP3 player to play your music.
Tempo Change Feature - This is my favorite feature. Do you like a song but feel it would be better if the artist had taken it up tempo? Now you can artificially fix that. Do you feel that a song would be better if the artist had taken it a little slower? This can artificially fix that. I personally like my songs fast.
Built-in Radio – Even though it takes a while to get to, since it is filed under “Podcasts” despite radio not being a podcast, it has it. It also allows you to record from the radio.
Other Features - Fade in when you press play, fade out when you press stop (they are the same button for both just like the iPod), SRS WOW, 7 equalizer settings (natural, rock, pop, classic, soft, jazz, and DBB), “repeating” (normal (play through all songs and stop), repeat one (repeat song), folder (play folder and stop), repeat folder, repeat all (repeat all songs), random (shuffle), intro (plays first 10 seconds of songs)), segment replay (A-B), how many times to replay that segment before it goes on, and how long to wait between segment replays
On/Off Switch –In iPods, the switch at the top or bottom works to turn on and off a locking system, but since the iClone has a timed locking system (more on that below), the switch on the top is to put the item into a deeper sleep (based on the time it takes to load when using it) than by holding down the play button. This is likely a useful feature for saving battery, but it does not negate the fact that a physical locking system rather than a timed one should exist as well.
Accessories – The iClone comes with a rubber protector that fits pretty well (though not perfectly), very similar looking to iPod earbuds, and a very similar to iPod USB cable.
Orientation Sensor – This is not important for listening to music, but it is to view photos and videos, because most videos and photos are more wide than long. For some reason the firmware shows a cover art view initially when you change orientation even though viewing by cover art is not a feature it has.

Con:

Shake To Next Song - Possibly the worst MP3 feature ever invented. Don't feel like pressing the next button to go to the next song? Then you can just shake the iClone. This is great for working out (Not!).
Timed Lock - And you thought the iTouch's locking feature was annoying. How about a lock that goes about every 5 seconds to compensate for the shaking feature that shouldn't exist to begin with? That makes perfect sense. Good thing you can hold the middle button to access your MP3 player again.
User Interface - There are two ways to switch songs: the next button and the folder system. The folder system can only be accessed when the song is stopped (unlike the iPod). When it is, by clicking the menu button, on "local folder", and on the "/" you can access the upper level folder, which will have folders of your albums if you used Windows Media Player. If you click on the album, you can click on the song, and off you go. It is not the multiple views that the iPod has, and it takes a while to get to the top view of the folder, but the folder system is customizable.
The Manual - This and the next one don't have to do with the actual iClone, but they are valid complaints. Not only is the manual not that helpful, it is in awful English. Take for example "You can move your privacy into the encrypted part; they will be protected by password" or "You can set time in minutes on 'Sleep Menu', allow the player shut down automatically when the player become idle (regardless current status) for the period you have set. It is designed for listening music before sleep." Maybe they just used an auto-translator to be fair.
The Included Mini CD - This is essentially useless. It is not clear what each thing on the disc does. I did use one of the installers (the one labeled Msien), which was basically for an AMV converter, but I am sure you can find those online just fine. I am still unsure why there is a picture of a panda bear with one eye shut on the CD.

I do not know for sure if zzahuan knows he is selling hacked goods, because he may not understand the angry feedback in English that he is getting from some of his buyers, but I do know that he should not have a 98.4% positive feedback rating (at the time this was written). Part of it is that eBay's new checklist, which comes us before negative feedback is submitted, discourages negative reviews too much (though I understand that disputes need to be resolved first, things like very slow shipping don't involve a dispute). Part of it may be collusion with eBay (the negative feedback I left mysteriously disappeared from zzahuan's page). Part of it is likely that people don't examine what they get enough or at all before they leave feedback. Whatever it is, it has increased my skepticism of eBay feedback ratings, and increased the threshold for positive feedback percentage that I consider safe when buying on eBay.

How to use your iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone Part 1 of 2

How to use your iPod Nano 4th Generation Clone Part 2 of 2

My Crazy Airline Trip

2009-12-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 18^th was the day of the craziest airline trip I have ever had. The day started out at about 7:20 AM when I woke up and ended at about 9:00 PM when I got to Jacksonville. I left plenty of room in my schedule for delays, but the delays were so systematic due to bad weather in Atlanta that that didn’t help. Here are the notable parts of the day:

Almost getting my luggage blown up – Waiting around with other Taylor University students in the main lobby of Indianapolis International Airport, we talked, ate, and played around with a slow shutter speed on two fellow members advanced cameras. We must have looked ridiculous, as we had some of us move quickly in the background with the people in the foreground standing still. Later, as we were sitting, a security officer asked me if a suitcase was mine. It was farther away than I thought it was before; it was about five feet away from me at the table next to us. I responded yes and reached out to grab it. He then responded, “Don’t touch that!” He told me that he had called it in as unattended baggage, and they were planning on detonating it. The misunderstanding was cleared up, and I was warned that I need to keep my luggage closer to me at all times: the times we are in makes everyone nervous when they see unattended baggage. Afterwards, I heard the warning over the intercom that unattended baggage would be blown up. I had never thought that a suitcase sitting almost within arm’s reach of me would be considered such.
Getting a Star Wars style airplane announcement – Since we were already delayed a while at Indianapolis, after getting on the plane, we were forced to wait even longer until a takeoff spot opened up. What was enjoyable, though, was that the pilot welcomed us to the Millennium Falcon and regretted to tell us that the flight crew was on the plane next to us, but R2-D2 and C-3PO were assisting us on the flight. He did do a real introduction later on. I am unsure how long we were delayed, but we arrived an hour late to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport for my layover. The pilot apologized for not being able to make it to hyperspeed when I said I enjoyed flying aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Meeting a pilot for “Did You Hear About the Morgans” – I was confused as to my flight status, as I saw the wrong flight on the gate my flight should have been at. I soon found out my flight had been switched to the gate next to it and was delayed for an hour and a half. When the intercom announced a gate change, I thought that it would be another flight delay. It was just a gate change across the terminal. As I waited for the plane to Jacksonville International Airport, I overheard the conversation of a private pilot who flew a private plane in the “Did You Hear About the Morgans”, which came out that day (a fact that he didn’t realize right away). He talked about how down to earth Hugh Grant is and how he asked about Hugh’s favorite chick flick. Hugh informed him that it was “Notting Hill” because of the Shakespearean training of the background actors. He made the woman he was talking to promise not to tell but not me. He said he and his wife rushed to rent the movie soon after.
Having a drunk sailor try to take my seat – When I got on the plane, I thought my adventure was behind me, but I had one more hurdle to jump over. A drunk sailor accused me of sitting in his seat. The stewardess verified that I was the person supposed to be sitting there, but the sailor still went, “You’re going to kick him off the plane, right?” several times. He was soon shown his proper seat by the stewardess. His drunkenness was clear by his breath. Another sailor confirmed it, “Tell the truth. Are you drunk?”. Yes was the answer. His antics throughout the flight included counting down before we took off, telling everyone to be quiet after the pilot asked everyone to quiet down for the announcements even though it was because the drunk sailor himself was making noise, hitting on the stewardess (which she was having none of), complaining about how the stewardess reacted to him touching her, complaining about how the gate attendant made him check in his third bag, and reminding everyone that he had been to the bar. Thankfully, after getting off, the remainder of the night passed without incident.

Indiana Voter ID Law Struck Down

2009-12-24T09:13:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to do a blog entry for a while after hearing that the Indiana Court of Appeals struck down Indiana's Voter ID law, the strictest in the country. The law, however, is still in affect as it is being appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court. While I don't agree this law should be in place, the reasoning used to strike down the law is activist in nature. The point the judges make is that in-person votes are treated differently from mail-in absentee votes. This does reveal that the purpose of the law is to disenfranchise Democrats rather than prevent vote fraud, since the vast majority of vote fraud comes through mail-in absentee ballots. However, it does not constitute legal discrimination but consequential discrimination. Everyone has the right to choose between voting in-person or voting through the mail. This is procedural discrimination and not socioeconomic discrimination. It is just like everyone having the right to marry the opposite but not the same gender. Even though it may disproportionately affect a certain segment of the population, that does not make it illegal. The only ground this law has to be struck down is undue burden for voting if that is prohibited in the Indiana Constitution (since the US Supreme Court has already weighed in that it does not violated Federal law).

Getting any form of official Indiana ID is difficult. Despite the requirement for a Social Security Card being present in Florida as well, I was able to get a learners permit after reciting my Social Security Number from memory at the Hialeah DMV. (Interestingly, the person misspelled Hialeah as "Hiaelah" on the learner's permit.) The first time I went, in the summer of 2004, I was turned away after several hours of waiting (I think it was about 5), because I read my Social Security Number from a paper my father had given me. I was given a "fastpass" essentially and told to come back when I had my Social Security Number memorized. I did and was able to get my learner's permit. I never tried to get a Florida license.

After I moved to Indiana to go to college, I decided to become an Indiana resident for various reasons including Indiana's political matters being more relevant than Florida's and my preparation to be licensed in Indiana to teach. I thought I could just submit my dorm address as proof of residency after being there 60 days along with my Florida's license for identification when I registered to vote in Indiana. I was wrong, but my Star Financial bank statement was good enough to get me registered after I was turned down the first time. I was not able to vote in the Democratic Primary for Barack Obama, however, due to the Indiana Voter ID Law. I thought that my Florida learner's permit would be accepted as identification under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution. What I failed to fully realize was that my Florida's learner permit contradicted the residency that my voter registration card demonstrated. I was able to vote in the main election for John McCain (strictly a pro-life decision), however, after I brought my Passport up from Florida.

When I tried to get a license in Indiana, I was turned away, because I showed my Selective Service Card, which is not considered valid proof of a Social Security Number, rather than a Social Security Card. This shows the problem with Indiana's requirement to get an Indiana license withing 60 days of becoming a resident. My father was able to locate my long lost Social Security Card after looking for it for a while, so hopefully now I will be able to get an Indiana driver's license.

Half.com Fail

2009-09-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Normally it sells for $25.00, but for a limited time only, you can pay $15.45 more for no apparent reason:

HP PSC 1210 all-in-one Windows 7 Driver (Updated)

2009-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 is so far doing a much better job with drivers than Vista did, but then again, it is a more similar platform to Vista than Vista was to XP. The biggest problem with my printer, the HP PSC 1210 all-in-one printer, when using the Windows 7 RC is that there is no notification when you run out of paper. This would only be a severe problem if you are on a network and thus do not realize when you are out of paper unless the computer notifies you. There is also a problem with unintentional shadowing on the highest quality printer setting (1200 DPI) as can be seen by clicking on the pictures below:

600 DPI:

1200 DPI:

Update

It has been a while since Windows 7 officially came out, but there is still no sign of a modified printer driver for HP PSC 1210 all-in-one printer coming out. The one that exists right now is found and installed automatically by Windows when the printer is first connected and powered on (if the computer is connected to the internet at the time). This printer driver not just gives the problems listed above but fails to notify when a printer cartridge is out and which one is out, so the user has to play a guessing game. Hopefully, HP will come out with modified drivers for this and other printers needing it soon, but based on this forum post, it seems that is not going to happen ever, because HP no longer supports it. For now, HP gives some workarounds to the problems of the basic driver automatically installed via Windows Update for the HP PSC 1210 all-in-one printer here.

New Windows Live Movie Maker Outputs 480p at Lower Resolution (Updated)

2009-08-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

There is one big thing I like about the just out of beta Windows Live Movie Maker (version 14.0.8091.0730). It supports .MOV files. Finally, I don't have to convert my .MOV files to .AVI before putting them in Windows Live Movie Maker. It does, however, have problems right now. It is hard to identify frames of the story, since instead of a timeline, it uses a preview frame for a given time segment, which looks promising, but right now is the same for any given clip (the first frame in the entire clip). What is more important, though, is that Windows Live Movie Maker outputs 720 by 480 videos in a 720 by 480 file but with the actual video resolution reduced (apparently this is called windowboxing). The original file in the example below is a .MOV, but I tested the output with a .WMV file, and it did the same thing. The aspect ratio was set to widescreen before the output, and both of the media players below are set to 100%. The pictures speak for themselves:

Original Video:

Windows Live Movie Maker Output:

Update

I have also tried using the other aspect ratio option, the standard definition aspect ratio, to output the 720 by 480 video, and it still didn't work. The reason for 720 by 480 videos being outputed in lower resolution is that despite 720 by 480 being used by NTSC camcorders, which are the vast majority of camcorder made in America before HD, and despite there being a 720 by 480 output listed under the save movie options, Microsoft (despite being an American company) decided not to support the 3:2 aspect ratio (which is required for 720 by 480 video). Microsoft may have been trying to simply Windows Movie Maker, but by having the aspect ratio separate from the outputs and not including 3:2 as an option, it has not only complicated it but ruined it. I have checked to make sure there isn't a new fixed version, and there still isn't.

While the 3:2 aspect ratio is not supported, this may be intentional or accidental. The fact that there is a 720 by 480 file format output likely means that either a 3:2 aspect ratio option was originally intended to be included or that the 720 by 480 file format option should be a different file format. The file formats in Windows Live Movie Maker are 320 by 240 (4:3 aspect ratio), 640 by 480 (4:3 aspect ratio), 720 by 480 (3:2 aspect ratio), 1280 by 720 (16:9 aspect ratio), and 1920 by 1080 (16:9 aspect ratio). If you put a 4:3 aspect ratio video into a different aspect ratio file format, you get pillarboxed. If you put a 16:9 aspect ratio video into a different aspect ratio file format, you get letterboxed. If you are outputting a 720 by 480 video (3:2 aspect ratio) into a 4:3 aspect ratio, instead of it cutting off the extra 80 pixels on both sides, Windows Live Movie Maker letterboxes it first, thus lowering the resolution. Than, if you output that 4:3 aspect ratio into the 720 by 480 file format, it pillarboxes that, so you end up with unnecessary windowboxing. Pillarboxing than letterboxing occurs if you choose the 16:9 aspect ratio for the 720 by 480 file. Either they meant to have an 852 by 480 file format instead of a 720 by 480 file format, or they forgot the 3:2 aspect ratio, because the only use of having a 720 by 480 file format without a 3:2 aspect ratio is if you want to pillarbox a 640 by 480 video.

Indiana Minority Teacher/Special Services Scholarship Hidden Requirement

2009-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here you can find a list of what Indiana requires to get up to a $1,000 a year scholarship for being a minority pursuing a teaching degree or for anyone studying to be a special education teacher. As long as the scholarships granted for minorities preparing to become regular or special education teachers are below the allotted funds, they all gets $1,000 a year for up to four years (the amount of time depends of course on when during college they get the scholarship). If all minorities get the maximum amount, then the rest of the allotted funds (up to a $1,000 per person) are divided among non-minorities pursuing special education. If the scholarships granted for minorities are above the allotted funds, minorities divide all of the allotted funds and get less than $1,000, while non-minorities seeking special education get nothing.

I was informed this year (right before the deadline to apply) that I qualified for this possible $1,000 award and despite not believing that such an award should use ethnicity as a qualifier, I decided to apply for it, since it did require that I teach in Indiana for 3 years, and thus seemed to be quid pro quo (given, it was one that should be available to all teachers). I had been mistaken about being qualified apparently, however. Based on the letter I received after applying, the fact that I was a dependent of a Floridian disqualified me even though this was never mentioned in any paper or website I visited on the scholarship. There is a requirement that you be an Indiana resident, but I am as is proven by my Indiana voter registration card, which I have had for over a year and used to vote in the 2008 Presidential Election. I understand Indiana's desire to keep taxpayer funds directed towards citizens (even though if they are really serious about minority teachers they should open the award to other States), but at least mention the dependency requirement on the application, if nowhere else. I wasn't even counting on the award (it was a nice surprise for me), and it wouldn't have been that much for the rest of the time I am at Taylor, so it is not a big deal for me, but please save others like me the hassle in the future Indiana.

Bing Review

2009-07-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Bing, MSN's new search engine tool, is probably the greatest image search ever created as it finds images Google misses, but the regular search tool is much poorer. Bing image search is better than Google, Ask, and Yahoo, but the regular search tool is worse than Google and Ask.com, though it is better than Yahoo, but that is not saying much. Bing Translator is pretty bad as well. How do I know? First, I gave Bing translations of Josh Groben lyrics to a native Spanish speaker who said as much. Second, you would expect an identical or very close translation when translating back from a translator's own translation, but this is not what Bing gives. For example here is You Raise Me Up:

Original (English):

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up... To more than I can be.

Bing Translation (Spanish):

Cuando estoy hacia abajo y, oh mi alma, tan cansado; cuando vienen los problemas y mi corazón agobiados ser; Then, soy todavía y esperar aquí en el silencio, hasta que venga y sentarse un rato conmigo.

Usted me levanta, por lo que puedo mantengo en las montañas; you levantarme, caminar sobre mares tormentoso; estoy fuerte, cuando estoy en los hombros; usted me levantar... Para más que puedo ser.

Usted me levanta, por lo que puedo mantengo en las montañas; you levantarme, caminar sobre mares tormentoso; estoy fuerte, cuando estoy en los hombros; usted me levantar... Para más que puedo ser.

No hay vida - sin vida sin su hambre; cada inquieta corazón late tan errores; pero cuando usted y yo estoy lleno de maravilla, a veces, creo yo vislumbrar la eternidad.

Usted me levanta, por lo que puedo mantengo en las montañas; you levantarme, caminar sobre mares tormentoso; estoy fuerte, cuando estoy en los hombros; usted me levantar... Para más que puedo ser.

Bing Translation (Back to English with original in brackets):
When I am down and, o my soul, so tired; [When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;] Pass
when they come problems and my heart burdened be; [When troubles come and my heart burdened be;] Pass?
Then, I am still and wait here in silence, [Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,] Pass
Until you come and sit awhile with me. [Until you come and sit awhile with me.] Pass

You lifted me, so I can keep in the mountains; [You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;] Fail
you lift me, walking on seas stormy; [You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;] Pass?
I am strong, when I'm in the shoulders; [I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;] Fail
you lift me... For more than I can be. [You raise me up... To more than I can be.] Fail?

You lifted me, so I can keep in the mountains; [You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;] Fail
you lift me, walking on seas stormy; [You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;] Pass?
I am strong, when I'm in the shoulders; [I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;] Fail
you lift me... For more than I can be. [You raise me up... To more than I can be.] Fail?

There is no life - without life without his hunger; [There is no life - no life without its hunger;] Fail
each restless heart beats so mistakes; [Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;] Fail?
but when you and I am full of wonder, [But when you come and I am filled with wonder,] Fail
sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity. [Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.] Pass

You lifted me, so I can keep in the mountains; [You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;] Fail
you lift me, walking on seas stormy; [You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;] Pass?
I am strong, when I'm in the shoulders; [I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;] Fail
you lift me... For more than I can be. [You raise me up... To more than I can be.] Fail?

you lift me... For more than I can be. [You raise me up... To more than I can be.] Fail?

Obviously Bing Translator needs a tune-up

Health Care Debate in America for Dummies

2009-07-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing how the health care debate going on in Washington right now is too confusing for the vast majority of Americans too understand, so I decided I would break it down to make it easier to understand:

Problem 1: Congress mandates that people get emergency care treatment regardless of ability to pay (under the emergency medical treatment and active labor act) but has never fully funded this mandate. This results in the uninsured using emergency care and then declaring bankruptcy when they cannot afford the bill. This increases the cost for those that can pay for health care (those with insurance) and/or results in the closing of emergency care centers.

Solutions:

Get rid of the mandate and let the free market decide who gets emergency care - This would be a bad decision since the free-enterprise system works poorly in emergency situations. For example, you cannot shop around for a doctor if you are minutes away from dying.
Change bankruptcy law: Currently, bankruptcy law allows for elimination of medical debt, which is how most people get out of paying their emergency room bills. Making medical debt work like student debt, which is not erased in bankruptcy, would help alleviate some of the cost to the rest of society, but if you have no way to pay for medical debt, keeping it on the books is not going to magically get it paid back.
Fully fund the mandate by having Congress pay hospitals for the uninsured -This is basically no different than Congress giving everyone emergency care insurance and thus is just a more expensive version of the next option.
Get everyone to have health insurance (also called universal health care)

Problem 2: How do you achieve Universal Health Care?

Solutions:

Require it (also called a mandate) and make it affordable to everyone - This is what Massachusetts does. Of course, if you cannot afford health insurance, this does not magically allow you to buy health insurance (the laws of economics trump those of governments), so it is only affective for those that can afford it but refuse to. As a result Massachusetts has created programs designed to make health insurance more accessible, but since health insurance will never be affordable to everyone, this is universal health care in theory only.
Have the government provide at least a basic amount of health insurance using general revenues - This is what the vast majority of developed countries do, but it is a robin hood solution to the problem.

Problem 3: How should government provide at least a basic amount of health insurance using general revenues? (this is pretty tricky)

Possible solutions:

Fully subsidize the cost of a public option for those who cannot afford insurance
Fully subsidize the cost of public and private options for those who cannot afford insurance
Subsidize certain, more basic procedures under a public option
Subsidize certain, more basic procedures under public and private options
Use a sliding scale of affordability to determine the level of subsidy someone gets
Use a sliding scale of affordability to determine the level of subsidy someone gets only for approved procedures within the public option
Use a sliding scale of affordability to determine the level of subsidy someone gets only for approved procedures within both public or private options
Use a sliding scale of affordability that varies depending on the procedure to determine the level of subsidy someone gets for approved procedures within only a public option
Use a sliding scale of affordability that varies depending on the procedure to determine the level of subsidy someone gets for approved procedures within public or private options

Problem 4: We spend more on health care per person than any other nation on earth and have lower life expectancies than other developed countries. How do we get more bang for our buck?

Possible solutions:

Subsidize a transition to electronic medical records - This is one everyone can agree on except privacy advocates. We remove redundancy, make results easily accessible, track patients, and minimize errors. This can only work though if the software is ready for that task, which many say it isn't yet.
Fund wellness programs (i.e. Physical Education, after-school sports, park facilities, healthy cafeteria meals, etc.)
Tax unhealthy items (i.e. candy, soda, cigarettes)
Create a single-payer system - It could remove redundancies in the system and have economies of scale, but it is off the table because American politicians are likely to design it to be less efficient rather than more efficient than the current system.
Create a public option - This would be ideally a people controlled system that competes directly with the private sector by having to charge lower premiums for a better quality of care, but it could become a special interest driven monster that can operate at a loss, because it is given access to general tax revenues.
Encourage cost effective treatments and minimize unnecessary tests other than through a government option

Problem 5: How do you use cost effective treatments and minimize unnecessary tests other than through a government option?

Possible solutions:

Create an independent panel of doctors like the FDA to regulate treatment
Educate the public
Reduce defensive medicine by reducing legal costs

Problem 6: How do you educate the public?

Possible solutions:

Create a panel like the FDA that publishes official recommendations on medical treatments
Require that such a panel's recommendation be read to a patient before making a medical decision
Require a summary of the history of previous patients within the doctor's office or throughout the US who have had the procedure be given to the patients before making their decision (much easier with electronic medical records)
Require a summary of journal articles on the procedure be given to the patients before making their decision on a procedure
Require that such information is presented alongside insurance companies coverage terms
Require that insurance companies post their coverage terms online in an easily accessible place

Problem 7: How do you reduce legal costs?

Possible solutions:

Cap pain and suffering damages - It is impossible to put a price on pain and suffering, so let us limit uncertainty by capping them at a reasonable level
Combine lawsuits on the same issue to reduce redundancy - Texas has done this with reported success
Give independent panels of doctors and lawyers the power to throw out frivolous lawsuits by unanimous consent

Problem 8: Due to tax breaks that employers get when providing health insurance, employees of companies that provide health insurance get an unfair advantage when seeking health insurance compared to someone who is self-employed or out of work. Health Savings Accounts can alleviate this only to a degree, since they are capped. Employers also have economies of scale when purchasing.

Solutions:

Get rid of the tax-exempt status for employer health insurance
Remove caps on health savings accounts
Allow co-opts (health insurance versions of AAA) to claim the same tax exemption

Problem 9: The fact that higher tax brackets get the same tax exempt for employer purchased health care encourages so called Cadillac plans.

Solutions:

Tax higher income individuals health benefits
Get rid of the tax exempt status all together

Windows 7 RC Snipping Tool

2009-07-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

In past posts, I have been able to take screenshots of individual Windows 7 RC windows without downloading any extra software. How? Windows 7 RC has a built-in snipping tool that allows you to easily take screenshots of individual windows, rectangular areas, the full screen, and even free-form areas (which is any shape you can draw). This is a small but nice touch to Windows.

Windows Media Player 12 Supports .MOV Files (Updated)

2009-07-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

Original Post:
I have been using Windows 7 RC as mentioned in my last post, and while it is probably the greatest operating system ever made, it does have its share of problems, especially with anything Apple. It needs to be noted that Windows 7 RC is not the final version, so these problems may be corrected when the for sale version comes out. One of these problems is with video quality of .MOV files in Windows Media Player 12. Microsoft has finally acknowledged that it has competition in the video realm and has attempted to support .MOV files in Windows Media Player 12, but as of now, that attempt is half-hearted. These are the same video. The one on the top is in Windows Media Player 12 and the one on the bottom is in Quicktime. The difference is obvious.

Update:
I rushed to judgment here and did not give Microsoft enough credit. The problem is with playing the individual codec used in this video, which was an output of Adobe Premier, rather than a problem with playing the .MOV format in general as the codec used by my GE A730 camera works just as well in Windows Media Player 12. I dare say it even looks better in Windows Media Player 12. Great job Microsoft. Now just get all the other codecs up to par.

Final Update:
Microsoft patched the Adobe Premier codec in a recent update. Way to be on the ball Microsoft. There may be problems with the quality of other codecs, but since I don't have those in my .MOV videos, I cannot speak on those.

How To Download Emails from Microsoft Outlook Web Access

2009-07-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

OK, if your school/work email account is anything like mine, you have a very low limit for the amount of space your emails can take up. If you go over, you will get a message like this:

Your mailbox has exceeded one or more size limits set by your administrator.
Your mailbox size is 41649 KB.
Mailbox size limits:
You will receive a warning when your mailbox reaches 40000 KB.You may not be able to send or receive new mail until you reduce your mailbox size.
To make more space available, delete any items that you are no longer using or move them to your personal folder file (.pst).
Items in all of your mailbox folders including the Deleted Items and Sent Items folders count against your size limit.
You must empty the Deleted Items folder after deleting items or the space will not be freed.
See client Help for more information

As the message said, the sent items and deleted items folders count towards this limit. This makes it very easy to go over the limit if you have been given a low limit. Also, if you have to leave the school/company, all your emails will be stuck in your old email account unless you download them, but how do you do that? I recently struggled to find this out myself. I finally gave up and asked IT Client Services at Taylor University. They gave me a set of instructions for Outlook 2007, which I had to adapt to Outlook 2003.

Outlook 2003 will only download your inbox and junk mail folders, so if you have sent items, you have to drag and drop them into your inbox (clicking on the top email, shift, clicking on the bottom email, and then dragging them for each set of 25 is the fastest way...trust me...I wish there was a faster way). Once you are done with this, go to start ---> control panel ---> type in mail in the search panel (note: I am using Windows 7 RC, but it should be similar enough to Windows Vista and XP):

and click on mail ---> e-mail accounts...:

make sure it is on add a new e-mail account and click next:

click on the IMAP bubble and then next:

you will come to this (the incoming and outgoing mail server boxes should not include the "https://" part of the URL):

for Your Name use the folder name (in this case Fernandez, Jorge):

for incoming and outgoing server use the URL of the mailbox without "https://" or "/exchange/"

then click on More Settings ---> click on the Advanced tab on the top ---> click the check mark for the server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) ---> click OK on the bottom ---click next when it takes you back to the E-mail Settings screen:

Click finish when you see this:

Now open Microsoft Outlook and go to your newly created inbox (which in this case is mail2.taylor.edu) after Outlook has synced and drag and drop your online mail to your Personal Folders inbox (clicking on the top email, shift, clicking on the bottom email, and then dragging them to the Personal Folders inbox):

After this is finished your done (your emails are downloaded). Now you can delete them from your regular inbox without worrying that you lost something you may need in the future. It is important, however to backup your emails on an external hard drive, which I will show you how you can do now. The place where your emails are stored (a .pst file) is hidden so to reveal go to your personal folders which should like this:

Now go to Organize (I think it is File in older versions of Windows) ---> click on folder and search options ---> click on the view tab ---> where it say Hidden files and folders click Show hidden files, folders, and drives ---> click OK

It's magic. App Data appear from mid-air (not really...it was always there). Click on App Data ---> Local ---> Microsoft ---> Outlook

Now you will see a file called Outlook; this is where your mail is stored. Save this file to your external drive using copy and paste.

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer as Heartless as Ever

2009-06-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

During these hard times, you would expect Miami-Dade County to be more understanding when it comes to overdue bills. Turns out they are just as heartless as ever. When we came back from our trip to Aquatica at Sea World, we found out that our water had been cut off (as ironic as that is). There had been a letter warning of the impending shut off, but that came after we had left to Orlando, which was within a day of the impending shut down on Friday, June 26, 2009. Due to the fact that the letter way dated as June 1, 2009, the United States Postal Service lack of expediency (likely because of cost cutting amid the recession) seems directly at fault for the incident. It is also possible that American Express is at fault. Whatever the case, the payment was due on May 26, 2009, which made it a month overdue when the water was shut off. The fact that my dad always pays his water bill on time did not seem to raise any alarm bells. Having the decency to wait until Monday never seemed to cross Miami-Dade County's mind either. Lucky for us, my dad was able to turn the water back on himself, while we wait for the problem to be fixed during business hours on Monday. We are fortunate that this is not due to us being unable to pay, but based on this incident, those in that condition will get no mercy from Miami-Dade County.

Aquatica Not Worth The Price of Admission

2009-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

As a frequent attender of Orlando amusement parks, I was interested to check out Seaworld's Aquatica, and after visiting can say it is not worth shelling out $44.00 a piece. The park does not offer much in the way of creativity; these are rides you would expect at your local water park (which in my experience is Rapids Water Park in West Palm Beach, Florida). There are two rides, however, that make a significant case for attending.

If you are anything like me, you disregard the need to where inner-tubes on "lazy river" rides, but until now I have not encountered a ride where this is actually the design of the ride. In my favorite ride at Aquatica, Roa's Rapids, you can choose to where a life jacket or not (unless you are under a certain height) as the current sweeps you through fountains, waterfalls, and rapids. If you choose not to where a life jacket like me, you will find yourself part surfing on the smooth floor, part jumping off the floor, and part swimming. The water in this ride moves quicker that in a "lazy river" ride and much faster in forks in the ride designed to mimic rapids. You can decide whether you want to ride near the sides of the ride (which is quicker), near the middle (which is slower), or wherever you get taken; the choice is up to you.

The other good ride is a toboggan ride called Taumata Racer where you lay on a mat and go head first in an 8 person race to the bottom. This is similar to a ride in Blizzard Beach except there is an enclosed curving part at the beginning that keeps you from seeing your opponents for about half the race. At the end you emerge onto the open, steep final stretch. It seems that friction is more important that air resistance here as my much lighter sister was able to beat me, though I was the first out of the gate, and the tubes do not seem to have any advantage over each other. My heavier dad was able to beat both of us though by lifting the front of his board the first time to reduce drag, and stretching out his board the second time for the same reason (which he said worked better than his first technique). This is easily my second favorite ride. These rides, however, do not make up for Dolphin Plunge and Tassie's Twisters.

Dolphin Plunge is two side by side single, gentle body slides that take you through an opaque enclosure in the 65 degree Fahrenheit environment of a dolphin native to Tierra del Fuego in South America. This is supposed to be the signature ride of Aquatica, but it ended up being a failure. Not only is it extremely bumpy (of which my family complained), but you cannot see the Dolphins. I tried to view through the enclosure, but could not due to all the water splashing in my eyes. Even if I could see well, the glass appeared too foggy to see anything from what I could gather (way to go Seaworld engineers on failing to understand a tube at 90 something degrees surrounded by water at 65 degrees equals condensation...at least it will be useful during the winter). No one else in my family could see the dolphins either.

Tassie's Twister is just two side-by-side bowl rides, but they are in the middle of a "lazy river" called Loggerhead Lane. Due to this, anyone wanting to get in or out of the ride has to go through Loggerhead Lane. The ride actually empties into Loggerhead Lane, but due to the lack of current, I had to get out of the tube in the emptying place and get back into it in Loggerhead Lane. Due to the placement of the ride, if space runs out on the small island in the middle of Loggerhead Lane, you end up waiting in Loggerhead Lane, sometimes resisting the light current.

The rest of the rides are standard fare: Whanau Way is four double-raft slides, HooRoo Run is a steep raft ride, Walhalla Wave is a gentle raft ride, Cutback Cove is a regular pool, Big Surf Shores is a wave pool, and Walkabout Waters is a water playground. As great as Roa's Rapids and Taumata Racer are, they are not enough to justify the cost of admission, especially more than once, or the lines in the summer for that matter.

Mark Sanford's Apology Response

2009-06-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today I was watching TV when I heard Mark Sanford's apology for being unfaithful and deceptive live. It is upsetting to see another leader fall to the sin of adultery. We are once again reminded of the corruption of mankind. Due to our fallen nature, we have lost the ability to completely focus romantically on one women; we instead desire women we should not. Part of the reason is the corruption of the body, we were originally physically ideal, but are no longer, so our flesh desires that which we cannot have. Mark Sanford may be criticized for being a hypocrite, but those who are not hypocrites should be the ones criticized. Those that refuse to be hypocrites conform the world to what they can live out. They do not believe in ideals that they cannot themselves reach. Would our world be better served if murderers didn't think murder is wrong, if liars didn't think lying was wrong, or if thiefs didn't think stealing was wrong to avoid being hypocrites? I don't think anyone would say this, but modern society feels we should just accept what our bodies "natural" inclination is if it does not hurt anyone in an obvious way (i.e. abstinence for most is unrealistic so we need to give up teaching it in schools in favor of "safe sex"). For Christian's our body is constantly in a fight against the Holy Spirit. We should not give up on our ideals just because they are at odds with what we are capable of doing.

Unreliable Access DSL (Updated)

2009-06-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

Original Post:
Bellsouth Fast Access DSL was never extremely reliable, but the problem with the service seems to have only gotten worse the more time goes by since AT&Ts acquisition of Bellsouth. This summer, the service has been down about 1 hour every 3 days during the time I have been on the home internet. That would be about 1 hour every 21 hours making the reliability about 95%. That may seem high, but it is a reliability that would be unacceptable from almost any other product. Today, the internet was down from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. When we called AT&T, they were not immediately aware of any problem with service. Can't they ping their devices to immediately find where the problem spots are? A technician is set to come on Monday; maybe then they will realize that the problem is not on our side but theirs.

Update:
The technician came by today, and I was mistaken. AT&T has a better handle of their network than I thought. It seems that the problem was an internal wiring one. Internet is working fine now. I was correct, however, that the router was not the problem.

My Crazy Mom

2009-06-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

My crazy mom is a burden on society. She does not take her medication and refuses court ordered counseling. Despite not following court orders, the court unfairly favors her because of her status as the mother. The court only regards physical abuse as legitimate; threats and other forms of psychological abuse are disregarded. The kid's wills are subverted; they are but palms to the Miami-Dade County court system. The Miami-Dade County court system does not care about children. They don't take the time to send an examiner to observe how their mom treats the kids on a normal day or how the kids feel around her. All she has to do is put on a show in the court room, and she gets what she want, because she is the mother and apparently the kid's are the mother's legal property. If it wasn't for my brother's diagnosis of Asperberger's syndrome, my little brother may still be required to legally go over to my mom's apartment despite pleading not to. It doesn't matter to the courts that she has followed my dad to work, threatened to get him fired, and harassed his employer. It doesn't matter that she has threatened to call the police and called the police multiple times in order to get her way. It doesn't matter that she continually talks about grand conspiracy schemes where my grandparents are the root of all evil. It doesn't matter to the courts that she has harassed anyone associated with the children, harassed the neighbors, harassed me, and manipulated my sister to serve as her spy. It doesn't matter that she changer her telephone innumerable times and has several numbers and phones at one time because of her paranoia. It doesn't matter that she has alienated herself from the world by turning against even her loved ones. It doesn't matter that she suffers the ups and downs of schizophrenia. It doesn't matter that she wastes countless amounts of medical resources due to her hypochondria. It doesn't matter that she is a shopaholic that wastes all her child support on stuff the kids and she do not need. It doesn't matter that her apartment is a mess. It doesn't matter that she is disheveled. It doesn't matter that her irrational self gives her the ability to waste our future on lawyers and think she is doing us a favor. It doesn't matter that she is a control freak that goes ballistic when something is not done her way. It doesn't matter that as a child I had to defend my father against accusations that the reason he was coming home late was he was committing adultery. It doesn't matter that she cannot keep her financial house in order despite lavish child support, and thus has creditors constantly chasing after her. None of these things matter because she is the mom and thus she must be with her kids; she looks perfectly innocent in court; like a mafia member, she uses physical aggression only when necessary for intimidation; as long as she is getting her way, she is an endless source of money for her lawyers; and the Miami-Dade Court system is incompetent to the highest degree.