All posts - The personal website of Joshua David Hall http://www.joshuadhall.com/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:17:55 -0500 FeedCreator 1.8.0-nukeFEED (http://nukeSEO.com) Sitting with the dog http://www.joshuadhall.com/article672.html "Approach tough problems like a dog  - If you can't hump it or eat it, pee on it and walk away."

 - Unknown

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-03-10T15:46:54-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article672.html Hall's Rules of Social Order #176 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article671.html When you're engaged in a group discussion, and someone makes an allusion to a person whose name you don't recognize - assume it's a football player.  The accuracy of this assumption can be increased when you hone in on context clues like the gender of the reference, the male ratio of the discussers, as well as the time of year (ie: draft season).  Let the rule also state that the afore mentioned "draft season" does not imply awareness due to social responsibility, but rather awareness by previous conversations around the same chronological period.

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-03-08T12:44:30-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article671.html The Most Beautiful Words I Never Spoke http://www.joshuadhall.com/article670.html

When the most beautiful words I never spoke

Are at the tip of my tongue and then I choke

On the possibility that you might respond

And then we’ll meet, and I’ll grow fond

Of the way your hair slowly covers your eye

Or the way your hand gently brushes mine

Or how the blood from my heart rushes

At every one of your sparking touches

Forcing my eyes to shut and body stilled

A quick deep breath and my lungs are filled

I can’t move.  The only thing moving is my mind

And all the images of you that it can find

Projected onto the back of my eyelids as a screen

Debuting a movie that no one else has seen

Or ever will, because once I regain sight

And start to gaze at the most beautiful thing in my life

The movie goes back into production inside my head.

But maybe I’ll get to catch a sneak peak as I sleep in my bed.

All this goes on in the matter of seconds

And when it’s all over, my heart beckons

For another moment just like it

A moment where my body won’t fight it

How your touch invokes something so intangible

So much beyond anything imaginable

And all I can do is imagine us there

At that same table, at that same restaurant

At the same time, and our bodies in the same spot

Your eyes focused on mine, and mine on yours

And we stop time around us for what seems like hours

Just you and I continuing our lives without the world around us

And we’ll continue talking about how love found us

And put us together for the very first time

How everything was easy as it just fell into line

I never knew what I was looking for until I met you

I never knew how to act until I watched what you do

When you talk to people that you don’t know

How they walk away after with a certain glow

And as for me, I’m a lighthouse shining bright

Protecting your shores from lost ships at night

Letting them know that I am guarding your beaches

And that tonight, land will be out their reaches

They’ll have to set anchor in the ocean as blue

As the eyes I’m staring at; the eyes of you.

 

 

 

This was a poem I wrote back in February of 2007 I was reminded of it when I watched this short film:

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.


 

 

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-02-24T14:40:57-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article670.html Swallow it down; what a jagged little pill http://www.joshuadhall.com/article669.html The internet is a place of free information by people just like you and me.  Sure, the quality of that information varies greatly, but it's still information.  As they say, Human knowledge belongs to the world!  So here are the top 100 documentary movies free to watch online.  There are some real gems in there. 

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-best-free-science-documentaries-online/

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-02-24T14:14:37-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article669.html Having fun in snowpocalypse 2010 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article668.html we decided to jump from our second story window into our pile of snow.

 

 

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-02-07T04:40:04-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article668.html I don't want to be an American idiot http://www.joshuadhall.com/article667.html For some reason, CNN only posted 9 rip-offs, so we have to come up with the 10th on our own...

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1001/gallery.americas_biggest_ripoffs/index.html

 

 

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-02-01T12:38:20-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article667.html It's electric, boogie woogie woogie http://www.joshuadhall.com/article666.html It's been a while since I've put up a post in the "memories" category.  I was thinking about times I've almost died.  There aren't many, I think, but still something worth sharing.

When I was in high school, I dug up my Uncle Jay's 250 watt 15" Pevey bass amp from my dad's barn.  The funny thing about this amp was that it didn't have a ground wire in it.  It just had a 2 prong plug.  I ended up cutting off the plug since it was damaged and put a new grounded plug on the end, which at least gave me a sense of security that it wasn't going to come out of the wall.

Later on, my Uncle Kenny gave me my first 4 string base.  IT was a black "series 10" bass.  Nothing special about it, but it did the job.  I had gotten it in my head that I'd like a natural wood finish instead of the black matte, so I got some sand paper and started to go to town on the bass.  This was a lot of work.  When it got time to get around the pickups and bridge, I had to undue the strings.  I had the bass plugged into the amp, and the amp on, just so I could hear the awesome tones as I detuned.

So there's me, in a damp basement, sitting in a metal chair, next to a 250 watt bass amp, that's plugged into a surge protector on the floor next to me with a bunch of other devices, and 4 nickel wound, 1/8-1/4 inch diameter bass strings flopping around in my lap.  As luck would have it, something like the alarm clock was barely plugged in to the surge protector, and one of the strings found it way in the gap.  You want to know how I was sure something was wrong?  Because one of the base string starting glowing bright orange.  I jumped out of my seat, which was enough to move the bass string, but after some damage to the surge protector, which I still use today.  Here it is:

bass string got electrified

 

I think that counts as almost dying. 

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-01-28T12:43:22-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article666.html 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong http://www.joshuadhall.com/article665.html I had an idea for a website with community driven content.  Someone would post a rumor or something unconfirmed and people would either simply "confirm it" or add evidence and such to support or invalidate the rumor.  I'd compare it to a cross with snopes.com and mythbusters.  You could have different user rankings for how much they've contributed and maybe for a rumor to move to a status of "confirmed" it would need to be confirmed by an established member or authority.  Eventually, as the community grew, I think we'd form quite a thinktank full of valued people. 

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-01-12T10:41:25-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article665.html The kids are alright http://www.joshuadhall.com/article664.html Watching J'aime's kids the other day, gave me an idea.  I call it KidCom.  It's a device, much like a watch, that your kids wear.

In it's simplest form, it just has the time on it and you can set alarms on it that say things like "1 hours before Daddy gets home", or "it's almost snack time".  It's to help highlight and grow the anticipation for the important and happy moments in their days.

There are a few things you can do to extend the functionality.  A web interface or desktop application to record your own voice and have it say messages on certain times.  Or you can change settings remotely if you're going to be late.

It could be integrated with a gps for locating your kids, or even some sort of 911/call home functionality for emergencies.  I think the simpler the better these days when it comes to technology...especially when it comes to kids...which makes me feel old...I'm going to go play with LEGO blocks now.

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-01-03T23:14:58-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article664.html Like a wave bashing into the shore You wash away my dreams http://www.joshuadhall.com/article663.html I put up my crappy webcam on the fish tank.  Sorry about the quality, but it's fun for a while anyway.  It does require Internet explorer for the activeX controls.  So far there are 4 gold barbs, 3 harlequin rasboras, 1 bristlenose cat, and 4 glofish zebras.  Also some live plants.  The best time to view is around 5pm EST for feeding time and you don't get the reflection off the glass.

Http://fish.footcomputers.com

]]> 40.445281 -79.979353 2010-01-03T11:34:42-05:00 Posted by sixf00t4 http://www.joshuadhall.com/article663.html