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February 28, 2003
Happy Birthday to JoeyDay.com!
As of yesterday I have been posting fairly regular entries to Qangaroo.com (and now JoeyDay.com) for a whole year! Can you believe it? Isn't that nerdy? Thank you.
Also, yesterday was Mike's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mike! So you've hit the big two seven, eh? That's not so bad. You're only four years ahead of me, so you aren't quite a geezer, yet. I hope everything is going well for you and Lisa and Libby.
Posted by Joey at 05:26 AM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2003
Concert Invitation
It's very late, and I really should be going to bed, but I want to put this up before I forget. The University of Utah Symphonic Band (of which I am a part) will be performing Monday night at Libby Gardner Hall. I can get free tickets, so if you'd like to come please email me or add a comment to this post before Monday. Be sure and let me know you are coming as early as you can or you might be out of luck. Hope to see you all there! :)
Posted by Joey at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)
How Stupid Can You Get?
I saw a flyer on campus today that really made me angry. An organization called The National Youth & Student Peace Coalition is advocating a college strike in order to convince the Bush administration not to go to war with Iraq. They are asking—nay, urgently encouraging—students to sluff all of their classes on March 5, 2003.
Now, most people reading this site already know that I stand fully behind President Bush on the decision to get Saddam out of Iraq. However, even if I was against war in Iraq, I could certainly think up a better protest strategy than skipping a day of class. What are they thinking? "Gee, let's show Mr. President how serious we are by depriving ourselves of a college education." How much is it really going to affect the government if you skip a few classes? Isn't it only going to hurt yourself?
It just really ticks me off how stupid some people can be. x(
Posted by Joey at 10:29 AM | Comments (3)
Goodbye Mr. Rogers
(Click for a
larger image)Children lose a quiet, honest friend
I don't know about all of you guys, but I'm kinda going to miss him.
Posted by Joey at 06:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2003
Yet another way of looking at this...
There were two interesting articles in the Daily Universe (BYU Newspaper) today about refugee Iraqis living in Salt Lake. I'm not sure when the articles will be available online, but I will summarize.
The three Iraqis love their homeland and miss their families; they want to go home. However, they know they can't return until Saddam Hussein is gone.
They say Saddam's government taught them to hate Americans. Now that they have lived here since the gulf war, however, their opinions have changed.
Although they don't like war, especially in their own country, they know war must happen and people must die to remove Saddam. Their hopes of returning home lie in US military action.
Posted by Steve at 09:35 AM | Comments (2)
February 25, 2003
Belated Prayer Request
Janene's Granny went into the hospital a few days ago, and I feel bad that I've neglected to say anything about it on the site. She was having kidney problems, and, given that she only has one kidney, everyone was very worried.
She's doing much better now, and has been moved out of the hospital to a smaller medical facility where she can rebuild her strength before they release her.
I would just like to ask all of you to pray that Granny can have a swift recovery and be back on her feet soon. I'm sure she would be thankful for all of your support.
Posted by Joey at 12:21 PM | Comments (3)
University Lecture Series: Iraq Conflict
I had the opportunity of going to an interesting lecture this afternoon. The speaker was Tom Farer, Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is a prominent expert on international law, international organization, and conflict resolution. As far as I could tell from the context of his lecture, he's a democrat.
I thought his presentation was well put together. He gave a lot of good support for why the Bush administration is doing what they are doing. However, he seemed awfully non-committal. He did not give any good evidence as to why the U.S. shouldn't go to war, which led me to believe he is not at all against war in Iraq, but I can't even remember the number of times he said, "I don't know", "I could be completely wrong", or "I'm not sure". He admitted several times that he hadn't yet made up his mind about the issue, which caused me to wonder why he would get up in front of that many people and lead a discussion.
Nevertheless, I learned a great deal about what could happen after the war. He presented a few different scenarios, citing the outcomes of previous conflicts to back up each possibility. He seems to think the outcome of this war will decide whether the U.N. remains in power. He claims that the U.N. charter is reaching the end of its usefulness and that some things will need to change in global organization if we are to last through the next century.
All in all it was a very interesting lecture. He made a good case for why war in Iraq is justified, but again seemed very reluctant to say that war is necessary. I agreed with a few of his points, but found myself disagreeing with him more than agreeing.
This lecture was part of a series of lectures surrounding the Iraqi-American Conflict. I would really like to go to the rest of the lectures, and would invite all who are interested to come with me. The full lecture schedule can be found on the University website.
Posted by Joey at 07:53 AM | Comments (1)
February 22, 2003
Homeland Security's New Website
Have you all heard of this new site the Department of Homeland Security has set up? I haven't had a chance to look through the whole site, but apparently there are instructions for setting up a terrorism survival kit, directions for disaster-proofing your home, and an outline for a family plan in the event of a terrorist attack near your home.
The site is located at Ready.gov.
I found it somewhat interesting, and I definately feel it is worth a second look. However, from what I understand the government is getting a lot of flack over it. Certain people seem to think that a website of this nature only serves to scare the general public and put our nation on edge. I tend to believe it is better to be prepared, and I applaud the government for trying to help americans to understand the importance of being ready.
Posted by Joey at 10:20 AM | Comments (4)
February 21, 2003
Bummer
Well... this is no fun. I can't find a job that I can work my school schedule into. I am taking a few too many credits this semester, but i really want to graduate soon, so I don't know what I should do. Even though I don't know what I should do, I know what we are going to do. Back to the parents house. We will move back in by the 21st of March. i will let you all know more of what's actually going on as soon as i know more.
I just needed to vent a little
Posted by Stuart at 04:57 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2003
ACLU Membership Increasing
According to an article in the Trib today, the ACLU is seeing an increase in its membership. I don't have much experience with the ACLU, but I remember when the LDS seminary building at my high school burned down they threw some major hissy fits during the whole rebuilding process. I guess they were upset that it was being built a couple feet too close to the building or something.
Here's a link to the article: War on Terror Boosts ACLU Membership
I like John Eastman's comments toward the end of the article. I agree that we should do something to fight against discrimination, but it sure seems to me like the ACLU does a lot of discriminating in the name of non-discrimination.
Posted by Joey at 04:37 AM | Comments (0)
Qangaroo.com Retired
I cancelled my hosting account for Qangaroo.com yesterday. Again, if anyone still has me in their address book with any address at Qangaroo.com, let me know and I'll give you my new address. It has taken me a while to get all of my Internet accounts switched over, but I think I've got everyone emailing the right place now.
Posted by Joey at 04:13 AM | Comments (1)
February 18, 2003
I Am Guinea Pig, Hear Me Squeek
I participated in my first experimental psychology study this morning. I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned this before, but I'm required to participate in at least three hours of on-campus experimentation for my Psychology 1010 class at the University.
The researchers for this particular study were trying to see if a reader's knowledge about an author would affect said reader's evaluation of the author's work. Basically we were given an article and told that the author of the article was homosexual. After reading the article we were asked to relate our opinion of the material presented. We were also asked if the knowledge that the author was homosexual affected our outlook on what he had written.
What is interesting is that after the study was over the experimenter read to us the hypothesis and the details of how the study was being conducted. As it turned out, the author of the article we read was not homosexual, but was in fact completely fictitious. The article was actually written by the experimenters. For a split second, I felt somewhat deceived, but quickly realized how ingenious that is. If I had know the article was fake, I would not have evaluated it the way I did.
I came away from the study with a renewed appreciation of Psychology. Psychology is one of the least scientific fields, simply because it is hard to study the human mind from a purely analytical standpoint. Ethics get involved quite naturally, and it becomes difficult for an experimenter to find controlled environments. In fact, it is sometimes altogether impossible to control certain situations to the point where you can honestly and reasonably make scientific conclusions. However, I can see now how experimenters can to some extent develop concise ways of studying certain situations, and I really feel like I've learned something about the field of Psychology.
I still feel like a guinea pig, though.
Posted by Joey at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2003
Movable Type Version 2.6
I upgraded to the latest version of Movable Type today. It has one or two new features, but you may not notice much of a difference. Anyway, I gotta go do homework now. :)
Posted by Joey at 03:33 AM | Comments (2)
February 15, 2003
Free Concert Anyone?
Janene and I went to a rehearsal this morning for the community concert band we are involved with. There is a performance tonight at 7:30pm at a local middle school. If you'd like to come, shoot me an email and I'll send you the details. Be prepared, though. I've noticed a strong sense of unity in this band, but it certainly has nothing to do with tempo or intonation (if you know what I mean ;)).
I had a great Valentine's Day. Janene made dinner for me last night—Chicken Parmesan, Yum! She also gave me a Michael W. Smith CD, a nice tie, and a really stylish pocket watch with my initials engraved on it. I've always wanted a nice pocket watch, and I'm very grateful for her thoughtfulness.
Posted by Joey at 02:56 AM | Comments (4)
HIPAA Article in the Trib
I found this article in the Trib today. We will probably see more articles like this as April approaches. It's not exactly what I would write about HIPAA and what's coming, but I guess it will give you a little insight to what I'm working on with my new job (and what many other hospitals and clinics have to look forward to :)).
Strict Patient Privacy Rules to Take Effect
I will be attending my first board meeting at the clinic on Wednesday. I don't really know what to think—mostly because I've never had to stand in front of a group of doctors and tell them what to do. Ahh! :o
I'll keep you posted.
Posted by Janene at 01:57 AM | Comments (1)
AHHHH
Has anyone else gotten a pop-up on this site. I am on my parents computer and they just might have some spyware, but I just got a popup. ahhhhhh. :[:[:[
Posted by Stuart at 01:43 AM | Comments (6)
February 14, 2003
Good Quote
I found this quote and I thought it was very interesting. What do you think?
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. Thomas A. Kempis
Here's the website I found it on... They have some good quotes on there.
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_changegrowth.html
Posted by Janene at 11:10 AM | Comments (1)
Love is in the Air...
I want to take a second to wish everyone (especially my lovely sweetheart, Janene) a very happy Valentine's Day!
Janene: What can I say that I haven't already said? You are the love of my life. You complete me. I don't know what I would do without you in my life. I think about those big blue eyes of yours and I can't help but wonder why I am so lucky. What did I do to deserve your love and companionship?
Thank you for being everything I've ever dreamed of and more. Thank you for spending time with me, for talking to me, for showing me that you care about me. Thank you for loving me despite my imperfections, my extremely deficient bank account, my annoying habits. Thank you for supporting me through my trials, my failures, my triumphs. Thank you for being there for me when I need you most. Thank you for you. Thank God for you.
I love you! 
Posted by Joey at 06:49 AM | Comments (4)
February 13, 2003
Near Death Experience?
Most of you reading this have no doubt heard all of the news about the power outage that happened today. In fact, many of you may have experienced a black-out of anywhere from a few seconds to several hours. Experts aren't sure, but they indicate that the power loss may have been caused by a semi that collided with a power pole arond 600 West and 9500 South.
Well, at approximately 10:30 this morning, when that accident purportedly occurred, I was stopped in traffic on 9000 South at the Sandy Parkway intersection (almost 700 West), when suddenly, everything around me lit up as if lightning had just struck. Simultaneously, a sound like roaring thunder exploded in my ears.
The sound was coming from behind and to my left, so I quickly turned to see what had happened. A single power pole had erupted in a cloud of electric blue light, and flames were falling from it onto the grass and bushes underneath. The power lines on either side of the pole were shaking violently. This—along with the thunderous sound—lasted for 5 or 10 seconds (as I think about it, it seems like it was 20 or 30 seconds, but I'm probably just imagining it that way because it was so traumatic). Now, you've all seen explosions in movies, but I'm here to tell you that movie sound effects do not hold a candle to what a real explosion sounds like. Imagine a thunder clap from 20 feet away. The sound did not come from the pole, it came up from the ground. It was a low, extremely loud rumble that literally shook me, my car, and everything else around me.
I seriously contemplated pulling to the side of the road and getting out of my car to run for my life. I was fully imagining that at any moment the next power line over would start doing the same thing, or that nearby buildings would somehow catch on fire as well. After it stopped, I continued to shake—not from the thunder, but from my own nervousness. The whole thing really scared me. I really thought I might die.
Later this evening, I drove by the same spot and was able to identify the pole that exploded. It has several black marks around the top of it, but is otherwise completely intact. I'm amazed it survived such an ordeal.
A lot of news stories seem so trivial: "Oh, the power went out, that's too bad." But after being through something like this, I really have to just step back and wonder how easy it would be for any one of us to die. On TV, people die only under extreme conditions, especially while risking their lives for noble causes. In real life, people die in their back yards, at work, at school, even while sitting in traffic. I could've died today. I could've died yesterday. I could die on my way home tomorrow.
I thank God for His divine providence and mercy that I've lived as long as I have, and that I have another day to praise Him and serve Him. I thank God for giving me the opportunity of knowing that if I died today He would bring me home to meet Him. I don't know how I would live my life without His promises and His love.
Posted by Joey at 11:10 AM | Comments (1)
Not a lot happen folks
where is everyone?
if you want to see something strange, check this out.
http://www.bored.com/nosepilot/real.html
very odd indeed.
Posted by Stuart at 01:12 AM | Comments (2)
February 12, 2003
Visual Cognition Experiment
We're studying cognition in my Psychology class, and the professor presented a video experiment to teach us about a certain nuance of visual cognition. If you'd like to try this experiment, don't click the "Continued" link on this entry (it gives away the answer).
The video is of six people passing two basketballs. Pay attention to the three people wearing white shirts. All you have to do is count the number of times they pass the ball back and forth (white shirted person to white shirted person).
Click on the link below to load the video. Be sure to allow the video to fully download (7.5MB :o) before you click "Play". Note: You'll need Quicktime to view the video.
After you've watched the video and you think you know how many times they pass the ball, click on the "Continued" link to get the answer.
=== If you're reading the full entry, stop first and watch the video ===
As far as I've counted correctly, the answer is 14. However, that's not exactly the point of this little excercise. Did you happen to notice the gorilla that walked across the scene and pounded his chest a few times? :D Go back and watch again. He really is there—and actually quite obvious!
This experiment demonstrates a phenomenon called "Change Blindness" or "Inattentive Blindness". Basically what it comes down to is that while you are paying attention to one thing you have trouble noticing changes (even wildly different changes) to your surroundings. Pretty weird, huh?
Click here for more information about this phenomenon. You can also see further demonstrations of it here.
Posted by Joey at 04:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2003
Cheered me right up
check it out. Some of it's pretty funny. While you are at it, check out these other flash sites.
http://www.starwarsspoofs.com
http://www.homestarrunner.com
all three are pretty funny.
Posted by Stuart at 04:55 AM | Comments (1)
February 10, 2003
War in Iraq: Opinions
I read two Opinion articles in the Trib yesterday that I really liked.
FRIEDMAN: Little Domestic Support for Iraq Action
SAFIRE: Irrefutable and Undeniable Evidence
Give 'em a look and tell me what you think.
Posted by Joey at 06:22 AM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2003
JoeyDay.com, Version 2.0
Welcome to the next generation of JoeyDay.com. Some of you may have noticed a slight absence of recent journal entries lately (although no one complained, so I'm not sure why I mention it). That's because I've discovered a new way of managing my site. It's called Movable Type, and it's taken me a few weeks to figure out how to get it working.
I've switch hosting providers. The site is now hosted by a company called Hosting Matters. They are giving me support for PHP, CGI, SSI, and mySQL, plus a myriad of other very handy features. I also have 40 free email addresses now, so if anyone needs a POP3 email account, let me know.
Anyway, Movable Type supports multiple authors, so I've given Janene a login to the site. Hopefully she will post from time to time to give you some idea of what she's up to. Movable Type also provides a comment feature, so now anyone can reply to entries with a comment. The system has a lot of really neat archiving features, and it's all done automatically, so I'll no longer have to worry about hard coding all of my entries. What I like most about it is that it allows me complete control over what the templates look like, so as you can see the look of the site has remained almost entirely intact. In fact, the only layout changes I've made stem from the fact that I've moved away from using frames on my site. I'm now using a PHP include to get the same menu to appear on all the pages.
So hopefully I'll start posting often again. Let me know what you think about the new system, and keep checking back from time to time as I continue to add new stuff.
Posted by Joey at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2003
New Site Features
I've updated a lot of things on the site. First, I've implemented a universal menu to the left. This menu is being generated once, and then included in the main page and every individual archive page.
Second, the link on each entry's time will now take you to that entry's individual archive page, where you can view the whole entry along with any comments that have been added to it.
Third, I've cleaned up some of the commenting pages—most notably the comment previewing pages. They now have a similar format to all the other pages, and give you a much better idea of what your comment is actually going to look like.
Last but not least, I've found a way to implement emoticons. The following emoticons can now be added to your posts (I hope to include more in the future):
": - )" or ": )" — (without spaces) will produce :)
": - (" or ": (" — (without spaces) will produce :(
": - D" or ": D" — (without spaces) will produce :D
Let me know what the most important emoticons are to you and I'll try to get them up first.
The site is really coming along, eh? Let me know what you think I should change or add to the site to make it a little better. Thanks!
Posted by Joey at 01:32 AM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2003
U.S. Raises Security Threat Level
The United States Government raised our national security threat level from yellow to orange today. You can read the story from Reuters here.
I find it interesting that Attorney General John Ashcroft said that Americans should go about their usual business. What's the point of the security risk level then? If it's something that should only concern the FBI and the CIA, why make it public? So Al Queda can go, "Ooh, they're on orange status. We better leave them alone this month."? I'm probably being overcritical, but I really wonder if it's all just a gimmick to make the American public feel like the government is doing it's job.
Either way, I guess there have been reports suggesting possible terrorist activity this month. They've been attacking low security places like hotels and apartment buildings. If war with Iraq happens I'm sure terrorist activity will increase in the U.S., and how long do you think it will take them to realize that security is being ramped up in places like New York and Los Angelos, and that perhaps they would have more luck attacking smaller towns like Salt Lake? I don't know about you, but that scares the heck out of me.
I agree that if Saddam continues to be non-cooperative we should definately go to war, and possible acts of terrorism shouldn't scare us out of doing what needs to be done. However, I also think we need to start increasing security all over the country—not just the major cities. They hit where we least expected it the first time. What makes us think they won't hit where we least expect it the second time?
Posted by Joey at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
Powell's Presentation
Colin Powell gave a presentation to the U.N. on Wednesday providing U.S. Intelligence evidence that Iraq is still harboring weapons. You can read the story here as provided by Reuters News.
Most of the articles I've read don't seem to go into much detail as to the actual evidence presented, but I tend to believe the U.S. government must have some pretty convincing stuff on Iraq or President Bush wouldn't be making such a big stink about it. I personally wonder if Bush isn't going a little bit overboard with the whole issue, but I definately wouldn't want to let World War III happen and have U.S. Intelligence come out and say "I told you so" to the rest of the world.
I think a lot of people are skeptical to the point where they want more time to find out if Iraq really is harboring these weapons. However, the longer we let this go and the more we "trust" Iraq, the closer we are coming to what could be really catastrophic. The facts clearly show that Saddam isn't exactly cooperating. If he doesn't have these weapons, he needs to realize that his lack of cooperation is really making him look bad to the rest of the world. He needs to step up or he'll be taken out of office faster than he realizes.
Posted by Joey at 04:56 AM | Comments (1)
February 03, 2003
Whoa!
This is so trippy! So this is why joeyday.com has been so slow. :\ I want movable type!!! WAHHHHHHH!!!!! Please, please, PUHHHHLEAZE.... me want it!!!!
Posted by Kristen at 02:38 AM | Comments (1)
February 01, 2003
hmmm...
What a crazy day it has been. I woke up this morning, and opened internet explorer. My home page is still set to www.msn.com (don't make fun of me, I am just really lazy). Although, it is kinda nice. They have some news coverage, usually just enough to keep me busy for a few minutes. But today I was taken by surprise.
You all know what I am talking about, but I am still having trouble believing it. It wasn't like the attack on the WTC (at least not nearly the same in magnitude), but it still made me think about some stuff. I was only 4 years old when Challanger exploded so I don't remember it the day it happened, but I do remember the day that I found out about it. I was in second grade I think, and I was at a little science day camp. It was about outer space, and all that stuff. One of the little "seminars" that I went to was about the shuttle program.
They talked about a bunch of stuff, and then showed us the news clip of the explosion. I can't honestly say that it really scared me that much, (I was in second grade, I thought the explosion was cool). But I do remember when they told us that a school teacher was one of the members onboard. That shook me up a little.
I kinda felt that way today. Mostly shook up, and a little sad for the families of those that passed away. I also thought about my parents. You see, they both work for the same company. One of the main products that this company makes is rocket boosters for space shuttles. During liftoff there are 3 main boosters, 2 white guys, and an orange one. They make the white guys.
If NASA or the government reacts like they did back in 1986, my parent's jobs might be in serious jeopardy. I just hope things go well for everyone.
I also wonder what this is going to do with the whole situation with Iraq. It certainly will distract the public for a few weeks. However, as much as I hate to say it, this whole Irag thing isn't going away. (infact, I can't see it getting anything other than worse). Anyway, I would kinda like to post more about this, but I really do need to be going to bed. Let me know what you guys think, ok?
Posted by Stuart at 10:52 AM | Comments (2)