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Stevie Starr

Stevie Starr was back! Stevie Starr: The Regurgitator was here last year (almost to the day) and made quite an impression. His act hasn’t changed that much, but it’s still as funny as ever. After seeing him last year, I indicated that I though Starr had some amazing control over his “pyloric sphincter, a muscular valve between his stomach and duodenum (a digestive region between the stomach and start of the small intestine), and his lower esophageal sphincter.”

UncleBoomsky left a comment about a week ago, “I am a medical professional. I am not sure but I suspect that Stevie Starr has an anatomic abnormality called a Zenker’s diverticulum. This is a pocket deep in the parynx right near the opening to the esophagus. Somehow, Steve has learned to control this and I do not believe that the things that he swallows and regurgitates ever makes it into his stomach.”

The Amherst Student Online writes, “After freaking out our host by swallowing his pocket change and ordering 40 pieces of bacon for dinner, he told me that doctors followed him around while he was being tested for the Guinness Book of World Records in order to make sure that he did not. They even followed him to the bathroom to make sure he wasn’t preparing anything while he was in there. In Japan he permitted the use of an X-ray machine so that the audience could see everything going on in his stomach. So apparently he is the real deal and would pretty much be the most interesting friend to take to a party in the entire world.”

Just to note: I have not been able to find any X-Ray pictures of Starr.

In case you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Starr in person, The Museum of Hoaxes points to a Google Video of Stevie Starr, although I don’t think calling what Stevie Starr does a hoax is accurate.

In any event, armed with my Nikon D70, I snapped a few pictures, actually almost 200, of Starr in action. Unfortunately, I don’t have a nice flash yet, so they are a little blurry. Here are some highlights:

DSC_4507
Blowing smoke filled bubbles
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Drama in Statics

There was an interesting announcement in Statics today:
All homework assignments have changed.

Why? People are cheating. I know that last semester, there was a Facebook group that posted links to JPEG images of the homework assignments.Students could download the images , print them on to E2 paper, write their name and section on the top and then turn it in. There are also sites, Such as Cramster. com that provide solutions. I will admit that I have used such sites, but only as a tool to help me understand the material.

On the plus side, all the assignments are now posted online. This will make it easier to complete my work on my Tablet!

Update: Jens’ teacher said that there was some sort of CD going around with the answers on it.

[tags]cheating, facebook, statics, tablet pc, tablet, homework[/tags]

I Remember: Sex and Beer in the Bus

I remember during the Canyonlands trip, we had stopped to eat at a BBQ restaurant just outside of Kernville, California. When we had come out, there was a big commotion by the bus. The emergency door was left unlocked and a couple had entered the bus and were found drinking and procreating. At least that’s what we thought.

The Wall

Here are all the comments left on The Wall at Facebook. Mostly here for archival purposes:

Tyson Muffly wrote
at 12:41am February 1st, 2006
ok ok, as requested by you 🙂

Happy friggin Birthday man!!!
p.s. You are the statics man!

Kelly McConnell (Western Washington) wrote
at 12:16am February 1st, 2006
Happy Birthday Ferg! I hope that it is/has been a fun one

Hannah B (Whitworth) wrote
at 11:34pm January 31st, 2006
hey happy birthday! go play with the camera. and something electronic. 🙂
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Bone Bruise

I have a bone bruise on my right hand right below my ring finger. I got it during handball. When I tried hitting the ball (just to make sure it wasn’t a regular bruise…smart move Andrew), it hurt like nothing else.

From National Institute of Health – National Library of Health:

A bone bruise results from compressive forces incurred during an injury. The damaged area occurs in the medullary portion of the bone and can be accompanied by bleeding and swelling.Bruises are often caused by falls, sports injuries, car accidents, or blows received by other people or objects. Bruises can last from days to months, with the bone bruise being the most severe and painful.

I’m off to eat.

Told You So

From the Inboxen™ of Andrew Ferguson:

A computer, registered to you, with the MAC address referenced on the subject line has a network traffic pattern that most likely indicates that it is either infected with a virus or worm. Regardless of the cause, as part of your agreement with Academic Computing & Networking for network use, you have agreed to insure that your computer does not send disruptive network traffic. This traffic is disruptive, and it is your responsibility to clean, patch, and maintain your computer such that it does not happen. To protect other users and insure the
integrity of the network, we have disabled your network port until your computer has been cleaned and patched. You should not connect your
computer to ANY network port until your computer has been cleaned and patched.

Ugh! Not this again. It’s happened twice before and now it’s happening again. I tell them the same thing every time, “The odds of my computer having a virus are higher then your chances of having the Pneumonic plague.” The result, after two hours running two different scans in Safe Mode, is always the same, “Hmm. That’s weird. We can’t find anything wrong with your computer.”

No shit Sherlock. There was nothing there to begin with! You just wasted both our time on a witch hunt that interestingly enough, didn’t turn up any witches.

I think my new goal in life is to see how many times I can get black listed from the network, only to have nothing on my computer.

Dear Physics: The End

Well, after fighting and fighting and ended up having a really cool talk with Dr. McNeil, the Head of the Physics Department last week. He brought up to very good points/ideas:

  • Take Physics 1 and audit Physics 2
  • Get a better grade in Physics 1

Had I received passing grade for Physics 1, it would have sucked and my GPA would have sucked even more. Auditing Physics 2 will let me at least become familiar with the content so when I actually do take it, it should be easier.

So last Saturday, I decided to just screw it and take Physics 1 again and audit Physics 2.

The other thing that made my decision easier was that Matt, Charity, and Shanon aren’t taking Physics 2 this semester either. They were my study pals from Physics 1 and I didn’t want to loose them in Physics 2. But since they’re taking a break, that shouldn’t be a problem.

On Monday, I stopped by the Registrar’s office and picked up the papers I needed to allow me to audit Physics 2 and take Physics 1 (I had a scheduling conflict that I needed to get overridden my Kelso). I turned those papers in today and now I’m all set with physics.

Thanks to everyone who listened to my horrible story, offered advice, help, and assurance.

Reaaaally Long Day

Wednesday’s suck: 8 to 3, no break. But I do have no class on Thursday’s. I think I’m just going to hang out tomorrow because I’m just so sore from Swimming and Handball. I’m going to go take a nap now.