Bumphead

Bunky was petting Sydney the other day and noticed he had a small hard lump on the top of his head. I had sorta-noticed this before, but never thought anything of it; however, Bunky moved away some of the fur to have a closer look at it. It is a small, round bump and it is the same pale pink as the rest of his skin. We’re going to have the Vet check it out later this week.

I suspect it is just a cyst because Sydney wants to be like me. It’s not bothering him, and it’s the only bump he has (I think). We also have to find out why he always grinds his one fang, and why Toby has loud breathing like he’s an old man.

More MP3 Ponderings

I went to a Best Buy to look at a bunch of MP3 players and see what features I liked. I decided that while I did like video, I probably won’t watch enough of it on a player to justify getting a really large screen. As sexy as something like a iPod Touch is, they are still too big and I would probably not take something like that with me very often. With that in mind, I decided that 8 GB is probably enough space. Now I am in between:

• Sony Walkman NWZ-S718F ($169.99): OMG the famed Walkman brand! All of the Walkman players were at the top of Consumer Reports’ ratings, and when I was handling the various MP3 players, I kept gravitating towards the Walkmans. I think the interface is not as slick, but everything I have read about this player has been very positive. I am strongly considering buying this and going with a subscription service like Napster. It also has an FM tuner for when I feel like being a sheep and being told what music is good.
• Zune 8GB ($149 supposedly): In terms of hardware, it is similar to the Walkman, but probably slightly inferior. I do like the UI and squircle, but probably not enough to buy the Zune over the Walkman. The one thing that is still seducing me about the Zune is the promise of amazing Zune 3.0 software. A Zune Pass is not the cheapest service around, but the WiFi aspects are kinda neat (though I don’t know anyone who has a Zune).

Right now I think I will probably end up getting the Walkman unless someone convinces me otherwise. The Zune sounds nice, but I might wait till the next iteration before considering it. I do like Microsoft’s ideas for having the Zune become a hub of music-sharing-awesomeness, but I suspect all I really want (for now) is a really good MP3 player.

Now that I have done more research, I think Apple really needs to step up its game with regards to iTunes software. While their designs are ever so slick, I think other companies are starting to catch up in terms of hardware. While I hear iTunes is great on Macs, my experiences with iTunes on Windows have been largely negative.

Sounds Good To Me

I got awesome grades in HS so I am biased, but I think this is a fantastic idea.

Students will be measured every five weeks in math, English, social sciences, science and physical education. An A nets $50, a B equals $35 and a C still brings in $20. Students will get half the money upfront, with the remainder paid upon graduation. A straight-A student could earn up to $4,000 by the end of his or her sophomore year.

I read some critics saying how doing well in school should be it’s own reward, blah blah blah. Ideally yes, but those kids are already getting good grades. The test schools are in poor communities and the money is from private donors. So instead of having a charity donation that relies on a one-time donation and hopes for a trickle down effect, you have a funded experiment that might really get some kids on track with their education.

“It’s a terrible idea, because you’re getting people to do things for the wrong reasons,” said Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore College psychology professor who has written on the issue. “They’ll do well in school, maybe, but they won’t take any of it out with them. Instead of trying to cultivate an interest in learning, curiosity . . . you are just turning this into another job.”

Considering that most people go to school to eventually get jobs, isn’t that a good thing? Job experience, woot! But seriously, if you never thought about going to college, and you are just coasting by on C’s so that you don’t have to do summer school, maybe this plan inspires you to get A’s and B’s. Now your grades are looking good and you probably score higher on standardized tests, and you might get yourself some merit and/or financial need scholarships. Obviously this won’t make every kid into a super-student, but imperfection should never be a reason to choose inaction over a good attempt.

I did find it interesting that you can earn money every 5 weeks for getting an A in gym class, though…

Much Worse Than We Feared

So the LHC fired and the world didn’t end. In fact, it seemed a day like any other. Or so we thought… When I went to track the status of my order (The World Ends With You) on USPS, I was shocked and dismayed to find the following report:

Processed, September 08, 2008, 7:37 pm, LONG BEACH, CA 90809
Acceptance, September 08, 2008, 11:28 am, LONG BEACH, CA 90803
Processed, January 01, 2002, 11:11 am, PITTSBURGH, PA 15290

Noooooo!!! The LHC sent my package BACK IN TIME!!! So while it made it to the correct space, it was delivered to the wrong year!!! Damnit, I should have known better than to order a DS game with that name so close to the firing of the LHC!