Fineas T. Philibuster is Crushing my Mind.

FTP, that is. I tried to get my homepage up and running yesterday, but I couldn't get a hang of this FTP business. I was attempting to use the Rocco shortcut Prof. Dan Wilson hipped us to in class, but it wasn't happening. I don't own a computer at home, so I'm relegated to using the computer labs, and as such, using FrontPage instead of Nvu as the HTML editor. My page didn't have anything fancy on it- just some text and a couple of links. I guess what I'm most in the dark about is which location I should be using to send the file to to publish it. Is it ftp://www.pitt.edu/`mjcst84/, or ftp://unixs.cis.pitt.edu/public/html? Or neither? Whenever I tried using these locations, I would first get a message telling me the file location doesn't exist, would I like to create it? I say 'yes,' but then I get this message about "could not find a web server at ' www.pitt.edu' on port 21. please make sure that the web server name is vaild and your proxy settings are set correctly. if you are sure everything is correct, the web server may be temporarily out of service", which doesn't really make sense, cause I was still able to log on to the Internet on campus, and everything was running fine. This doesn't seem to be that hard, I don't know why it isn't working. I had some image files uploaded to my Pitt webspace a couple years ago. When I try to transfer the file to the FTP location it asks me if I want to delete them, and I kept saying no. Would they have anything to do with why my page won't transfer/publish? I don't know. Whatever. Another Friday night in the computer lab for me.


(Oh, and the skull picture is that of one Phineas Cage, whose story can be found here. )

I saw this last night....

VooREDOMS AKA Boredoms live Fuji 2001



...and it beat the shit out of doing homework.

Blog Count/Fall Classes

It appears as though there's been a discrepancy in my blog count by the GSA. Up to the 24th, I have 12 postings, not 9. I know I've been busy, but I'm not that much of a slacker (usually).


Class registration time is nigh for fall classes, and its slim pickins for me, honestly. I think I'm gonna take the Management class, but nothing else looks that appealing. Theres the Reference Sources and Services for Adults class, which I'm kind of lukewarm about. That's about the only other class that will fit into my schedule, though. Anyone know anything about it, or the instructor, Ann New? As nice as it would be to only take one class in the fall, I'd rather not prolong my time in school any further than I have to. But I'd also rather not waste time/credits/money on a class I'm not going to enjoy/get a lot out of..... Perhaps this is a question for ye olde crystal ball.....

Firewall this!

Don't know how many of yinz read the Post-Gazette, but last Friday there was an interesting article written by Nicholas Kristof about blogs in China, and the censors that censor them. The text of the article was posted in the blog linked below (and there are some interesting comments, too), so check it out if you're interested. Just thought I'd share.

http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/003814.php

Take Me to Your Scout Portal, Man.

Probably should have added this a little while ago, but now there's a link to the Internet Scout Portal. If you type in "mjcosentino," you'll get to see the resources I added. I'd like to personally thank the LSU Music Webliography page for providing most of those links.

Whew.

Just finished the mid- term for this class. Went pretty well. I didn't ace it, but I didn't drop a bomb, either. I'm starting to get a little stressed about the HTML assignment; I've done a little HTML before, but nothing so far as building a website. My main thing is that I don't have a computer at home, so trying to figure out the Nvu/Frontpage software, and FTPing things so that they actually show up seems a little difficult. I'm glad we don't have to learn the DOS way of FTPing, though it looked pretty interesting and I think I could do it if shown again and given the chance to practice it (I'm good at following instructions, for better and worse). But being that I hardly have time for anything these days, anything that saves what time I have is appreciated.

And man, I'm slacking on my promised style for this blog. King Fiery Jaguar Paw is a king no more; he is now a lowly servant to his demanding bibliographic overloads. Could be worse, I guess.

Everything, All at Once Please

Well, this is basically what I've dreaded- both classes are stepping up in having things due, and I'm running out of time and energy to get them done. So much for summer. I can't wait until August.

To Think, a Lousy Pittsburgh Left May Cost Us the Super Bowl

I'd wonder aloud why everyone is having such a conniption over Roethlisberger getting into a motorcycle accident, but then I remember I'm living in Pittsburgh, where football is apparently all that matters. I hope he recovers, but jeez.... Slow news day?

Library Links

Since I doubt people want to listen (read) my rambling about random stuff, here are some links for further reading regarding libraries and the internet. I think this is mainly me getting in the spirit of the Internet Scout Portal assignment.

Invisible Web- pertains to web pages that can't be accessed by conventional search engines, and gives resources to directories containing unique links (and more-copy/paste this link):
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/
Internet/InvisibleWeb.html


Search Engine Watch- latest news about web search engines:
http://searchenginewatch.com/


Resource Shelf- helpful library links and info:
http://www.resourceshelf.com/


Library Stuff- more helpful library links:
http://www.resourceshelf.com/


LIS News- self-explanatory:
http://www.lisnews.com/


D Lib Magazine- resource for digital libraries:
http://www.dlib.org/


Ok, thats enough for now. Most of these are culled from the book we're reading for my References sources class, "Last One Out Turn Off the Lights" (the Amanda Etches-Johnson chapter in particular), as well as fellow classmates' blogs.

Let Him Who Hath Understanding...

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and sixty six."

Sorry, had to do it.

Time: On No One's Side

All the years of my long life, eternal in their moments, instant in their remembrance. Try as many might, the one thing I have learned is that you do not find the time; time finds you.

Since last, oh, August I guess, I've been on a steady schedule of working 6 days a week (it used to be 7), and taking two grad school classes. I know some people may have it worse (I can't imagine trying to raise kids on a schedule similar to this), but I go back and forth with my feelings toward this routine. While I'm more productive than I've ever been, that productivity steals time away from things I'd really prefer to be doing most of the time. But this routine has also made me see how much time I've really wasted over the years until now, much of it spent watching TV (I still dread the digital cable we have in my house now). Hopefully I'll have a little more lust for life in the future, for valuing the stuff I want to do a little more, and dedicating more of my time to it when this routine comes to an end (and it will). Only time will tell I guess.

Speaking of time, that show 24 is the shit. My roommates and I are almost done with season two. I thought my life was stressful- Jack Bauer rises to the occaision every time (I know, like he wouldn't, right?), making decisions that would make me want to run and hide. Truth can occaisionally be stranger than fiction, but most of the time, fiction is a hell of a lot more fun than "truth." My new mantra- WWJBD? Or wait, wasn't I supposed to watch less TV, and accomplish more meaninful life goals? Hm. WWJBD? Hm. I guess he wouldn't lead such a frivolous life in the first place, oops. Alright, I'm done.

Once, a lifetime ago, in the reflecting pools of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a powerful seer offered to foretell my future. With flax and frankincense, he churned the waters of my soul into a broth of bells chiming the death of my wonder at the mystery of it all. Tempting as it was, I declined his prophecy. Whilst dimensional coincidences and gypsy hints have managed to seep into my psyche of expectations over the years, I still walk the path of life waiting for Time's horsemen to track me down, having given up my chase of their ephemera on the mountains of distant continental discontents...