is it legal if you cheat off yourself?
April 08, 2003 by Eric Richardson
So today I was strolling through my access log, and noticed for the first time a referrer from turnitin.com. I had sort of been curious to see when they indexed the papers on my site. A couple of my professors require that we submit our papers through them, and I have to say that I have very mixed opinions on whether that's a good thing or not. Largely I guess it depends on the algorithms they're using, and those we'll never know. I'm just waiting for the first time I post a paper on my site at the same time I turn it in, and their site flags me for copying from myself. That would make my day.
new sandals
April 08, 2003 by Eric Richardson
Today I finally replaced the sandals I bought in December of 2001. Now, if you aren't in a position to see my feet very often, that might not seem like a big deal, but if you are you know that I wear sandals 362 days a year on average. That established, getting a pair of sandals to last 14 or 15 months is pretty impressive. My old sandals were basically these, but with a closed toe, but now on my feet are a pair of ECCO Fisherman Sandals, which Sierra Trading Post had for an insane price. A day after I was looking at these sandals for $125 in a Birkenstock store on the Santa Monica Promenade, my mom found that Sierra had them for $39 (they've since gone to $49). Needless to say, I couldn't pass up a deal like that. First impressions: They're definitely comfortable. I notice a bounce that my other sandals didn't have. I'm not sure how well they vent the insole, though... We'll have to wait and see on that.
changes in whatsplaying
April 08, 2003 by Eric Richardson
I just put the new #{node "7"}eThreads#{/node} based whatsplaying into place. It sports a few new features over the old version, including knowing about albums and allowing me to comment about artists. The UI should be nicer as well. If anything's acting screwy, feel free to let me know.
why is it always the last minute?
April 02, 2003 by Eric Richardson
I have to give a speech at 10am on the harmful effects of the DMCA, so what am I doing at 9:15? Sitting in the computer lab finding sources of course. It's funny how they always end up being a last minute thing... I really should work on that.
another day in the neighborhood
March 27, 2003 by Eric Richardson
A couple minutes ago I look out my window and see an LAPD helicoptor maybe 200 feet away (probably 30 feet above the level of our building). That's kind of unusual during the day, so it catches my interest. He looks like he's circling the Vermont/29th intersection, so I look over that direction. A black guy runs around the corner, and I think "LAPD's probably chasing that guy." Five seconds later an LAPD car rounds the corner, catches up to the guy, pulls alongside him, and opens his door. At this point they get sort of screened by the Autozone, put I assume he pulled his gun on him, and took him in that way. Four or five cars quickly descend on the scene. Now, seven minutes later, there's absolutely no sign that this just happened.