The BirdBrain's Nest

In a shocking twist today.....

I have to say that being able to shoot at friends is alot of fun. Myself and five others went to a wooded area and played 3 different style games. In the first one, two teams of three head out in different directions and after a couple minutes advance towards each other 'killing' as they go until only one team is left. The second game we called 'Alamo'. Two people defend a hole that has brush piled around it while four other advance towards that base. The third type of game we played was Civil war-esk. Two teams line up facing eachg other and fire off volleys until one team wins.

Other than myself and my brother, everyone had more than one game under their belt. We all were using Tippmann Pro/Carbines or Model 98s (ok, ok and 1 98 Custom).

Dang it, those paintballs do hurt, not as much as a real bullet, but they still sting for a few minutes. I can't wait to go again.

Once I downloaded Firefox, I needed some additional stuff so that either it would behave like the IE front end, Crazy Browser (drag and drop tabs, and typed URL in new tab), or would enhance my surfing experience (adblocking, better information searching). The extensions are listed in no particular order.

BugMeNot (web|XPI) When visiting a site that requires registration, you can get a login via the context menu from this extension.

All-in-One Gestures (web|XPI) It took awhile it get used to moving the mouse to close a tab or to switch tabs, but once you're used to it you try to do it in other browsers or in other application on you computer.

Adblock (web|XPI) Blocks annoying ads.

BBcode (web|XPI) Context menu for BBCode formatting PHPBB message boards.(Intro usage guide)

Url2NewTab (web|XPI) I needed this because after typing a URL in and hitting enter, I expected the URL to open in a new tab.

Firesomething (web|XPI) Not absolutely necessary, or highly productive, but offers an amusing window title such as "Mozilla Moonoyster."

DictionarySearch (web|XPI) Does what it says. Highlight a word and search for it via the context menu.

SessionSaver (web|XPI) Another feature that I missed from Crazy Browser. SessionSaver stores the pages you were visiting from your last session, and restores them on your next.

Single Window(web|XPI) Keeps your links from opening a new browser window and forces them in a new tab.

Bloglines Toolkit (web|XPI) An extension that add a indicator to the status bar if you have any unread items in Bloglines.

Translate (web|XPI) Occationally I'll run into a site that I need to translate, and having the plugin is easier that trying to remember the website

MiniT (drag & indicator) (web|XPI) Drag 'n Drop, another feature I miss.

Spellbound (web) Who doesn't need a bit of spell check?

I'll add/update this list as I change what extensions actively get used.

This is so cool. Now if I just had a couple grand lying around....

I saw The Village Sunday night and all I can say is WOW! It is definitely in my top-ten list of movies. Even though I've only seen two of M. Night's movies (Signs and The Village), I can't wait to see his first three, plus any others that he will make. Going back to The Village, I love how the movie unfolds around this small community that slowly has more and more happenings caused by Those We Don't Speak Of. I found it enjoyable that the movie seems to focus of the life of the villagers with actions by Those We Don't Speak Of as a secondary nuisance, but that as the movie progresses we (the audience) become aware that the existence of Those We Don't Speak Of is closely related to the existence of the town. The twist ending was something I didn't expect, but made the movie more enjoyable. Go see it.

This posting is a community experiment that tests how a meme, represented by this blog posting, spreads across blogspace, physical space and time. It will help to show how ideas travel across blogs in space and time and how blogs are connected. It may also help to show which blogs are most influential in the propagation of memes. The dataset from this experiment will be public, and can be located via Google (or Technorati) by doing a search for the GUID for this meme (below).

The original posting for this experiment is located at: Minding the Planet (Permalink: http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2004/08/a_sonar_ping_of.html) --- results and commentary will appear there in the future.

Please join the test by adding your blog (see instructions, below) and inviting your friends to participate -- the more the better. The data from this test will be public and open; others may use it to visualize and study the connectedness of blogspace and the propagation of memes across blogs.

The GUID for this experiment is: as098398298250swg9e98929872525389t9987898tq98wteqtgaq62010920352598gawst (this GUID enables anyone to easily search Google (or Technorati) for all blogs that participate in this experiment). Anyone is free to analyze the data of this experiment. Please publicize your analysis of the data, and/or any comments by adding comments onto the original post (see URL above). (Note: it would be interesting to see a geographic map or a temporal animation, as well as a social network map of the propagation of this meme.)

INSTRUCTIONS

To add your blog to this experiment, copy this entire posting to your blog, and then answer the questions below, substituting your own information, below, where appropriate. Other than answering the questions below, please do not alter the information, layout or format of this post in order to preserve the integrity of the data in this experiment (this will make it easier for searchers and automated bots to find and analyze the results later).

REQUIRED FIELDS (Note: Replace the answers below with your own answers)

(1) I found this experiment at URL: http://www.wingedpig.com

(2) I found it via "Newsreader Software" or "Browsing the Web" or "Searching the Web" or "An E-Mail Message": Newsreader Software

(3) I posted this experiment at URL: http://jakebird.blogspot.com

(4) I posted this on date (day, month, year): 02/08/04

(5) I posted this at time (24 hour time): 80:04:00

(6) My posting location is (city, state, country): Bloomington, Minnesota, USA

OPTIONAL SURVEY FIELDS (Replace the answers below with your own answers):

(7) My blog is hosted by: Blogger

(8) My age is: 21

(9) My gender is: Male

(10) My occupation is: Student

(11) I use the following RSS/Atom reader software: Bloglines

(12) I use the following software to post to my blog:

(13) I have been blogging since (day, month, year): 01/06/02

(14) My web browser is: Firefox

(15) My operating system is: Windows ME or 2000 (for now....)