I recently read the book The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It’s a quick, but very good, read. I especially enjoy reading books that take place in a different country because it gives a taste of the history and culture there, without having to read a boring, nonfiction work. This one takes place in India and gives a depressing account of the lives of poor servants. The slightly deranged narrator of the book is a poor servant who becomes an “entrepreneur.” It is especially interesting to read about Indian culture from his point of view. Of course, this is fiction, so I don’t know how much it resembles reality. But, I’m sure it is based, at least partially, on reality.

Tags: Books

There is an interesting article in the New York Times about how friendship can be beneficial to one’s health. Having close friends, even if they no longer live nearby, seems to help people survive potentially fatal illnesses, like breast cancer and heart disease. Having strong friendships can even help prevent the common cold. Hmm, I’m not sure I believe that last one. It’s an interesting correlation, though. In any case, I enjoy having close friends, whether or not it will prevent me from catching a cold :).

Where’s Samuel L Jackson? Apparently, there’s a real case of snakes getting loose on a plane. I never saw the movie, for it seemed like a ridiculous premise for a movie. In any case, here’s the story.

Tonight begins the 8-day holiday of Passover. No leavened bread for Jews for the next few days. In celebration of the holiday, I have a couple funny links to share! Enjoy, and Happy Passover!

A funny retelling of the story of Passover, Facebook-style.

Who let the Jews out?

Updated 04/09/09: Not a funny link, but interesting nonetheless: Obama hosts a seder

Updated 04/12/09: Passover Seder Symbols Song

Back in the summer of 2005, I had to make a webpage to describe my summer research project. So, I learned some basic HTML, and I decided to use this knowledge to also create a website where I could post pictures for friends and family to see (this was just a couple months before Facebook added the capability of posting photo albums). To the right is the first iteration of my website. Later, during my last semester of college, I took a class on programming with HTML and Javascript. I learned a couple tips for how to create a better layout for the website, and I created the second iteration of my website. I used Javascript to create a photo gallery that was easier to set-up than when I only knew HTML. You can still see this design in the College Years pictures on the current site. Later on, I learned style sheets which made updates and changes to the website design easier. However, I had issues with Internet Explorer compatibility. I even set-up two versions of the website, one for IE and one for every other browser. What a pain! I always recommend that people switch to a browser that actually adheres to accepted standards. Oh well, IE8 is supposed to be different. I made a couple other changes during this time. I started hosting my website with GoDaddy.com, and I purchased the domain name www.dancapellupo.com. Besides giving me a website name that people can easily find and remember, I also had the ability to add php and other fancy stuff to my website. That’s when I started using Coppermine for posting photos. It’s designed by other people and made to work in all major web browsers (including IE). The layout was somewhat customizable, but I never loved it. In two upcoming posts, I will discuss what I now use to develop my website...

Tags: Nerdy, My Website

DON’T TEXT MSG WHILE DRIVING!!! Ugh, I could write a long rant about this, but I’m tired right now and I think that this short article sums up the potential consequences.

The new Star Trek movie is coming out on May 9! I’m excited, as you should be too. I hope it’s good! Plus, they are already planning a sequel. Wow, they must be confident that people are going to like this one!

Tags: Nerdy

In celebration of April Fool’s Day, here a couple fun, foolish jokes:

1) Well, of course, Google has one: CADIE. Be sure to look at CADIE’s webpage! Plus, if you are a Windows user, you can download a 3D internet browser!

2) Even astronomers can be funny: Galaxy Zoo (the pdf)

I have always resisted the idea of using livejournal (does anyone use that anymore?) or posting a blog or posting notes on Facebook, but I thought I might try to post some interesting stuff here. I enjoy writing random stuff (and procrastinating writing my paper for publishing my research), and I might enjoy writing these entries more than anyone enjoys reading them. Heck, I might be the only who reads all this. But, I figure if I got to read a bunch of those “20 Interesting Things about Me” posts on Facebook, then I could write a little blog. I won’t write anything too revealing or private. All of my deep, dark secrets will remain that way... secrets. I have so many secrets. For example, when I was 18, I .... Oh wait! Right, it’s a secret!

In the next couple posts, I might write a little more about this website that I created and my recent trips. Eventually, there will be general commentary on anything, rants, hilarious content, etc. Also, I want to add the capability for people to add comments. One step at a time...