Hello everyone! I feel horrible for not updating iRi lately… I have been very busy. I just got home from California, and am now going to England in two days. I am also working on a new project, a video news podcast, which should be amazing. If you want to help out with it, drop me an email. I get home towards the end of mid-August, so by late August, you should have a great post recapping my journeys! See you then!
Sincerely,
Riley
Oh, and by the way, if you want to follow my travels up to the minute, follow me on twitter.
This past week, I have had the extreme pleasure of visiting my grandparents in York, Pennsylvania, self-noted as the “Factory Tour Capital of the World™” (yes, they have it trademarked). There, I did go to many factory tours. Let me tell you a little bit about them:
I first went to the Harley-DavidsonFactory Tour. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Harleys, they make motorcycles like this one. The plant in York is the largest Harley-Davidson plant in the world–over 230 acres with 1.5 million square feet under roof and something like 3,600 employees. The tour was extremely interesting; much more high tech than one might expect. The thing that stood out to me the most was their presses. They can turn a sheet of metal into a fender of sorts, with 300 tons of pressure to help, that is. Another interesting tidbit: they can make the parts and assemble the actual bike in under two hours, but it takes them over 12 hours to paint the parts. They are also safety-freaks, a good thing, I guess. Overall, I liked the tour, but if we had not had such an informed tour guide, it would not have been nearly as good.
The next day, I went on the Perrydell Farm Dairytour! It was self-guided and slightly lame, but I did learn a lot about cows. Such as the cannot digest their food after one chewing; they chew it, then regurgitate it and chew it again. Then they can eat it. Did I want to know that, no, but can it help me in life? Well, actually, no. Nonetheless, it was a good waste of time.
After Perrydell, I went to the Wolfgang CandyFactory Tour. Now that was the yummiest tour by far! I thought it was interesting how they could have moved out of North York, but wanted to keep it local. The tour guide was OK… not the best. In her defense, though, it was the biggest tour group that I had been with in my days in York, so she deserves some slack. Another factoid: they have 1 million pounds of milk chocolate pumped (yes, pumped) into their factory ever year from a third-party source. They said that they would make it themselves, but for it to be cost-effective, they would have to make 3-5 MILLION pounds of milk chocolate. Woah. They don’t have dark and white chocolate pumped in because they don’t use of much as it. They either get it in bar or some other form. That’s still a lot of chocolate! A very cool tour.
The last thing I did in PA was not really a factory tour. Nor was it really in York. It was the National Watch and Clock Museum (nice favicon, by the way). However, it was worth mentioning. It was so-so… deserted, but I didn’t find it very interesting. I guess a collector might, but I am not one. Luckily, I was there on the hour (1:00), so I heard all the bells and whistles go off at once, which was pretty cool, but not really worth admission.
Well, that was my trip to York. I hope I didn’t bore you to death, but it was really a fun trip. Thanks for reading and/or listening to iRi Blogcast!
From June 22 to July 5, there was an surprising uproar in the blogosphere. Many sites went down for this. Many questions were asked, such as “Where is Riley?” and “How am I going to live without Riley?” and possibly even “OMG!” for no apparent reason. Not to worry, I was just at camp. I mean, I was at my “summer program.” Summer Program of Champions, that is.
But for real now. I went to a camp at Amherst College in Massachusetts called the Great Books Summer Program. This is my third year at Amherst College, 9th and 10th week. I have really bonded with the cafeteria, I mean “Dining Hall” staff over that time. Well, them and Freddy “The Bull” Custodian, but that is besides the point. (Sorry for all the inside jokes today.) However, I actually did have a really good time.
Yes, Great Books is a literature camp, but it is more fun than it seems. We read and discuss a lot of famous literature in a relaxed setting. It is extremely contemplative and they ask you a lot of questions, a very Socratic method.
We did not just read all day. We had breakfast, two lectures, a 15 person discussion group then lunch. After that, we had free time, then a literature elective (I took a Socrates/Plato class the first week, and a memoir class the second). After that, we had an arts elective (I took creative writing first and improv theatre second). Next, to dinner, reading, free time, discussion and then a nightly fun activity. This ranged from a guest lecture to sword fighting to movie night. Free time was after that and then to bed. Lights out was at 10:30, but we really went to bed closer to 11:15ish. Very fun, plus I actually learned!
The biggest question I get from people is “Is it like school?!” My answer is no. It is totally different… it’s actually nurturing and, well, interesting. Now, Great Books isn’t for everyone, though. Some people might not like it–there is a lot of sitting and listening involved. In the end, I really liked it and didn’t want to go home. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good, slightly academic camp.
One more, totally unrelated thing. iPhone update! I am getting my new iPhone Saturday, the 12th of July, sometime in the afternoon. I wish I could be there Friday morning, but this is the best my scheduling can do.
Well, that is all for today. Thanks for reading and/or listening to iRi. Your comments are greatly appreciated… tell me what you think of my blogcast! Always feel free to comment below or email me individually, riley@iriblogcast.com. See you next time!
Have we gone too far? I found this YouTube video the other day. For those of you who don’t have 5 minutes to waste watching this, it is a very inspirational rap talking about the endless struggle of Mac versus PC. I refuse to embed it, but it does have some… fresh… lyrics. They are as follows:
“I’m a right-clicka
I’m an iBook flippa
Macs and PCs - no fight gets bigga
Surf Safari or browse in I.E.
Better know what you rep[resent] - a Mac or PC!
USB 1-2.0, son, you don’t know
watch my data flow
From MS-DOS command line prompts
Black backgrounds, no special sauce
Well I’ve only been around since ‘84
But my ease of use has done so much more
From a Plus to a Classic to a II GS
To a PowerPC, my OS is the best
So clickable, design is lickable
My aqua interface makes XP dispicable
Quick I pull the RAM stick out the slot
Then I swap it with generic
cause the port is hot
If you see life through an LCD
Betta know your brand is it a Mac-or-PC?
Take a look at Vista
enjoy the view
I suggest Premium or the ultimate skew
cop a Dell with a graphics card - super fast
turn the arrow on and lick the glass
Tiger’s fast as hell
But Leopard’s got the boom
Time machine is mad mean
you’re absurd - what’s a zune?
Middle name: innovate
All features integrate
Now stay the hell out of my developers’ conferences!
Nonsenses - I’m networking
You’re not working
Stop staring at your built-in webcam
YouTube surfing
Ha! 1,000 views is pretty fresh
ComputerGal36 even says I’m the best
He is the best with his videos
And cuts them all on his Final Cut Pro
Mac, PC, and Me, At Last
When I run IT’S A iPOD!
Talk IT’S AN iPHONE!
Stuff I gotta have no matter what
It’s an iLOAN!
I want an Intel, plus CS3,
but for now I’m streamin keynotes in bed
Listenin to Steve
Uh! Compatibility
Everybody fits with me
All the applications wanna get with my virility
At any time
Yo, it might go off
And you can ride it
Til it’s Micro-Soft
Huh! Pay attention
I got a new invention
Steal your next idea
At the MacWorld Convention
But guess what
You’ll always be behind
Cuz Mac is a state of mind.”
Aah, I love that ending! It even has a website, MacOrPC.org. Wait. Dot org? Never mind. And, if you want, you can buy it on iTunes or see it on MySpace! To top it off, when you go to any of these pages, the song starts blaring! You gotta’ love it! On a more serious note, I have a question for you. This is kind of a general statement, but here it goes. The majority of people in the world want a Mac, yet most have a PC. Which would be the bandwagon? Answer by commenting below or emailing me.
By the way, this is an automated post. I wrote this way back in mid-June, but now, I am [hopefully] having loads of fun at camp until July 5. Expect a post sometime early that week. See you then!
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