Thursday Quote

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax"
-Abraham Lincoln

Interesting Finds; Wednesday Links

First order of business, here is a cool video I found that shows the evolution of photo manipulation in our society. This video highlights precisely how dramatic the results of photo manipulation can be when applied properly. The video shows an "average" looking female and, then, transforms her into the media's standard of a "beautiful" woman.

Personally, I hate the whole principle around this. We live in reality so why create superficial standards for people to look up to. The skinny, flawless standard that has been created by the media is extremely harmful to society. This false standard destroys the self esteem of millions of girls and women each year. In some cases, it leads to illness such as anorexia or depression. When not treated, many of the consequential illnesses have a debilitating or deadly result.

That is only a dabble into my thoughts on women and feminism in today's society. Check back another day for more ramblings. Moving on to some quick links as promised:

• I came across Zoomr the other day and, to this day, it is the best photo sharing/storage website I have found. I have knowledge of and have experimented with the likes of Imagestation, Flickr, Smugmug, and Photobucket, but none match up to Zoomr. The best part is that its only in beta, which means there is only room for improvement. Zoomr matches all the other sites in almost every area, but reigns superior because of the many extra features the others lack. Check it out!

• Taking a nap may save your life! Studies now show that taking an afternoon nap may help prevent heart attacks and death. More on this at The Consumerist.

• Have you ever wanted to refine your writing skills? Haven't been able to find the right tips or info to accomplish this? I found an excellent in-depth guide on how to write better called "A Guide to Writing Well".

PC Security and Gmail

Many people, especially the internet savvy, already know the basics to PC security. If your not one of those people, or if you just want to review the basics, I've found a great website that details the basic information of computer security. I found the article on Digg, but it originates from www.itsecurity.com. The article goes in depth and covers almost every element of basic PC security.

Check out "The 20 Minute Guide to PC Security".

Second, if you are in need of a new e-mail service or are flat out tired of the one you have, then Gmail may be for you. Compared to most mainstream webmail services, Gmail is superior in numerous areas, especially storage size and spam protection. Most of all, it is free. The highlights of the service as advertised on their website include:

• Free
• Over 2,600 megabytes of storage
• Superior spam protection
• Fully supports all major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Safari...)
• Integrated chat
• Free forwarding and POP3
• Supports 40 languages

Tired of spam? Tired of paying for an overpriced webmail service? Want more storage? If so, you can now sign up for Gmail for free. It was released to the public about a week ago.

Google inches closer to "perfection" everyday.

The Third Beginning

This post is the beginning of another attempt at blogging. Although I have not consistently written in this blog over the last two years, I have read and followed countless blogs somewhat regularly. For a myriad of reasons, I haven't been able to successfully create and post new content in a regular manner for the last year and a half. Topping the list, school is the most obvious answer. Staying honest, I must admit that stress and procrastination are the two factors carrying the most weight, with each feeding off the other. Procrastination stresses me out and increased stress makes me feel lazy, thus encouraging more procrastination and beginning the viscous cycle.



Nonetheless, I shall attempt, once again, to create and maintain a successful blog. When saying this, I am defining successful in my own terms, only relative to myself. As for what those terms are, I am still trying to figure that out. Not only that, but I am trying to figure almost everything in life out.

So hereafter continue the garrulous ramblings from a small town, eighteen year old male, looking for his place in this world as he begins the "adult" life. I only say adult life because the societal stereotype is that anyone 18 or older is deemed an adult. Personally, I think the term adult is better defined by a person's character, maturity, and the like.

Anyways, let the journey begin...

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -Lao Tzu

Top Three Bands

My favorite three bands currently (No particular order because I like them all the same):

The Fray
Cartel
Funeral For a Friend

They just have their respective differences.

I bought The Fray's new CD on Friday. I've listened to it at least five times now, and it was definitely worth every cent.

Check out any these three bands if you like good rock music!

Quote of the Day

"If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours."

I'm happy right now, and I would, ideally, like to live by philosophies such as this quote.

Some Good Music

Lately, for the past month or so, I've been listening to Funeral for a Friend. I love their new album entitled Hours. It is flat out awesome. If you've never listened to them, check out that album.

My favorite songs from it are:

Roses for the Dead
Monsters
Recovery

Enjoy!

College and the ACT

Well, lately I've been fixated on determining what colleges I want to apply to. My current thought process is that I am going to apply to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Hope College, and Grand Valley State University. Along with those, I want to try for one prestigious university outside of Michigan. I would do that solely for the thrill of getting denied or accepted, which I can guarantee I have a good chance of denial.

Why?

This would be because I scored a 26 on the ACT. I was supposed to retake it today, but I figure if I'm going to Hope, GVSU, or MSU (which is my plan), then there is no point in retaking it. That is the only thing the ACT is good for (getting accepted into college for undergraduate studies). Besides college applications, it really doesn't matter. Therefore, I was not going to retake the ACT solely for the purpose of being accepted into a prestigious university. I know if I would have retaken it and scored a 28 then I probably would have been accepted. As long as I believe I would have been, it is comforting enough for me.

At the moment, I am thinking I want to go to Michigan State University and go to the James Madison College. But this isn't an overnight process so I will probably change my mind at least ten more times before I send a letter of intent. That is if I get accepted to any of them, but I'm about 100% I will get accepted to the three I am thinking about.

Off to go clear up my mind and enjoy life a little. That's enough thinking for one day.

-Kyle

Quote of the Day

“I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.”

That it is for me too.

School Is Out

Now I should have adequate time to post. School finished yesterday. I barely slipped by with three A- s and one B+. I've been in a slump lately.

Hope everyone has a great summer. More posts soon, hopefully.

-Kyle