The image above is an original digital artwork by Vivian Joy Smith, digital chalk on digital canvas, 2009. It’s also my newest desktop wallpaper.
Joy is impressively savvy with electronics for a four-year-old. She can send her name as a text message on a cell phone. She can turn on the television, change the channels, and “moot/unmoot” the volume. Joy operates the zoom function on a digital camera as best as her little hands will allow her. She even navigates around Windows Vista faster than our mother. Continue reading 'It’s Artrageous!'
My sister was born with a bilateral complete cleft lip and palette, as well as the very apparent lack of relative pitch. We’re talking about a complete inability to distinguish between musical notes. This short video of her singing “Jesus Loves Me” is a little old, back from our family’s ill-fated trip to Big Bear in December. I’ve only just rediscovered this video, but she sounds the same now. Time has not increased to her talent. She speaks a little better, and knows more of the words, but the tune may have actually gotten worse.
The video above shows Wordpress 2.7.1 with the Apture 1.3 plugin. I’m editing a post with Firefox 3.5b4. The video shows me open a new blog post, write a title and some paragraph text, select some text, and then click the Apture button to insert some associated content. I expected to see the page grey and an Apture modal window pop-up. Instead, the page greys, a new window opens that loads the Apture log-in page before closing abruptly, and then nothing happens. The page sits there, greyed out and unresponsive. Clicking anywhere on the page returns it to its regular editing state. Firefox users may also notice that is impossible to finish the installation of the Apture plugin past the step which instructs you to visit a post editing page. The installation modal window hangs at that step as well. If this is happening to you also, there is a solution. I had finished the installation and made several blog posts with Safari, but not being able to use Firefox for editing my blog was unacceptable. Continue reading 'Problem With the Apture Plugin for Wordpress Not Displaying in Firefox'
Since I started drinking and selling MonaVie’s premier blend of Açai berries and 18 other body-beneficial superfruits, I’ve made 1 million dollars, lost 150 pounds, and spontaneously developed the genetic capacity for limb regeneration! The enriching Açai berries in MonaVie coat my skin with a perpetual fake tan! It’s like we’re unstoppable—as long as those FDA investigations don’t turn anything up.
I really get a kick out of watching this video. Dallin Larsen actually uses the word “synergy”. That “person-to-person approach” is actually a multilevel marketing scam. “Relationship marketing” is such a clever way to phrase that. Even Oprah is turning her back on Açai. Holly Roush reminds us that “the government tells us that we need to five to seven servings of fruit”, but scientists and the government also tells us that the Açai berry has a lower antioxidant potency than grapes. You’d be better off drinking red wine. That’s more fun anyway.
I made myself some Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup today on the stove. There was enough for two bowls. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off the stove after I served myself the first bowl, and I took my sweet time getting back to the pot for the second bowl—CSI: New York was wrapping up a case. When I went back for seconds, I discovered that I had created a Chicken Noodle reduction. It wasn’t that bad, but the chicken/noodle to broth ratio was definitely off.
I am so looking forward to the new Toy Story 3 movie coming out. The elder of my younger sisters watched Toy Story everyday for what felt like a year. This was before she could really speak English or understand the title, so she would ask for “Woody movie” instead. I really wish Pixar would work on a sequel to Finding Nemo. By my estimation, Finding Nemo is the best story ever put to film. It’s the favorite of my youngest sister, as well. It has action, drama, comedy, and a kind of schoolyard romance all rolled up into one film. Toy Story is just as funny and endearing, but it just hasn’t stuck in my heart the way Nemo has. Still, I raise my metaphorical glass to Pixar for creating cartoon characters that adults can fall in love with.
I spent part of my afternoon today Googling my online usernames and canceling old accounts that I no longer use. It was a little frightening to find that I have accounts with personal information floating around on the web in its dark, cobwebbed corners. I always enjoy the experience of signing up for a brand-new web app, but eventually the sheen wears off and I’m left with an account for a service that doesn’t serve me. Typically, I find that either the app solves a problem I don’t have, or another app I’m already using does it better.
I was more than a little bit surprised by the results I got when I searched for my most common username, “stphnclysmth”. That’s a combination of the consonants in my name, “Stephen Clay Smith”. Continue reading 'Spreading myself too thin, perhaps?'
StephenClaySmithworks as a juniorstudent at Providence Christian College
in Ontario, CA, USA.
He studies the Bible and Christian theology, emphasizing in the Biblical languages, Greek and Hebrew.
He is 23 years old. His home is in Corona, CA, USA.
He publishes what he's writing periodically.
He also takes photos
and shoots movies.
