Random Updates, Ramblings, and a Request

I know I've said this again and again, but I do plan on updating this blog more often. And now I have a reason.

I'll be writing a blog for The Gargoyle, the student newspaper of Flagler College, covering the news, politics, and miscellany through a technological lens. On this blog, which will be available publicly at gargoyle.flagler.edu, I'd also to run a Q&A post every once in a while. So tell me - what tech help/questions does the average college student have? As cliched as it sounds... help me help you!

Now that business is aside... here's some of the more interesting things I've stumbled upon the past couple of weeks:

• The Avalanches only put out one studio album, but what they lack in quantity they more than make up in quality. Since I Left You, produced with samples from more than 900 movies, TV shows and LPs, ranked very high on the UK list (#8) and achieved acclaim on this side of the pond as well. Anyways, for this album the five-man group produced two music videos - one for the title track, and one particularly trippy video for the song "Frontier Psychiatrist". It won a couple of awards and trust me, when you watch this, you won't easily forget it. The best quality version I could find is hosted here.
• I love cheeseburgers. A lot. I mean, almost every time I buy food from Bugg's Bistro in the student center, it's in the form of a 6 0z. beef patty with lettuce, tomato, and various cheeses (provolone and cheddar?!) and, of course, a golden toasted bun. But, of course, you can always trust the Germans to take things to the next level, and now they have. Introducing the cheeseburger in a CAN. Yes, the same round, metal objects usually associated with olives, sardines and the infamous Spam have now degraded another food group. Never again will I look at a burger quite the same way... perhaps I'll appreciate home-grilled ground beef just a little bit more.
• Spam and scam have always interested me (I'll do a report on the growing hobby of scambaiting in the future for the Gargoyle blog) but I think I've found a story which really takes the hunter-turned-prey scheme to a whole new level. It's not exactly new - if you've been Internet savvy for a while this may have passed you by before - but it's a rather interesting (IMHO, incredible) saga of a possible eBay scam victim turning the tables on the scammer rather strongly, to say the least.
• Recently, a lot of my friends have had problems with the new Microsoft Office 2007 formats - the .docx extension in particular. Long story short, the data is stored differently than in previous Office versions, so the documents are not backwards compatible. If these documents aren't working on your computer, I've found a great site which not only will convert these for you, but almost ANY TYPE OF MEDIA FILE. It's called Zamzar.com, and will convert images, documents, video, and even compressed media. To convert a .docx to .doc, for example, under "Step 1" click Browse, and select the document to upload it. In Step 2, choose the .doc format. Enter your email address in Step 3 - that's where the converted file will be sent to - and click Convert. In my experience, the whole process takes three to five minutes, depending on how long the email takes to travel.
• However, if you do plan on converting files like this more often, download Microsoft's official Compatibility Pack. It's good for Office 2000, XP and 2003. However, I use OpenOffice, so I aren't afforded this luxury. Also, if you're a Mac user they have a different download for you - however, it's a converter, which probably means it's not automatic like the aforementioned download.

Hope this was a little interesting to y'all - I'm suffering from terrible case of writer's block right now so I just threw together what I had in mind. Don't forget about any suggestions for what you'd want to hear about in my new Gargoyle blog!