Links

The Really Good Stuff

The Corner and Phi Beta Cons at National Review
Iowahawk - The Daily WTF - The People's Cube
 
Jonah Goldberg & Mark Steyn at National Review
Matt Labash at the Weekly Standard
Robert Cringely

thePeoplesCube.com

 
  Family

Gausman and Moore - My dad's firm.
Anna Hersey - My sister's page on the NATS web site

  Pals

Leiran.com (Brandon Leiran) - My former roommate Brandon Leiran, his wife Erin, and their boys, Aiden and Parker.

  Academics, Employers, Etc.

I.S.U.

Iowa State University of Science and Technology - My alma mater.
Iowa State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - One of my departments.
Iowa State University Department of Computer Science - My second department and occasional employer.
University of Minnesota - My academic home from about 2001 to 2010.
 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Association for Computing Machinery
 
Eta Kappa Nu - Electrical and computer engineering honor society. I was president of Nu Chapter at Iowa State.
Tau Beta Pi - An engineering honor society.
Upsilon Pi Epsilon - Computing sciences honor society. I served on the executive committee of Iowa State's chapter.
Golden Key International Honor Society - Another society.
Phi Kappa Phi - Yet another honor society.
Phi Beta Kappa
 
Medtronic, Inc. - My former employer (2000-2005, intermittently).

 

  Catholicism

New Advent - A great site, in general.
 
Saint Olaf, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Downtown parish in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Church of St. Charles Borromeo - My current home parish.

Blessed John Paul II, the Great

The Holy See - The Holy See.
 
 
St. Augustine's writings, in Latin - St. Augustine's writings, in Latin and Italian.

  Music

I'm a euphoniumist, but this old Besson advertisement is not the reason.
 
an old Besson advertisement

Baritone or Euphonium? - Read this if you're wondering what a euphonium is.
<dead link>Brian L. Bowman</dead link> - A favorite euphoniumist of mine, whom I had the honor of meeting in 1998.
Steven Mead (Euphonium.net) - Another favorite.
International Tuba and Euphonium Association
 
Iowa State University Wind Ensemble - Iowa State University Wind Ensemble, my band (1997-2001).
Michael Golemo - Director of Bands and Department of Music Chairman at Iowa State.
<dead link>Dustin Seifert</dead link> - My teacher at Iowa State, now Director of Bands and Department of Music Chairman at Eastern New Mexico University.

I am indebted to a few other notable people for my excellent musical experiences over the years, including Rita Docter, Douglas C. Orzolek, and my teachers C. David Elzea and Joseph Z. Christensen.

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia - National fraternity for professional musicians. I was Alpha Delta chapter president at Iowa State.

  Wagner

RWagner.net - Libretti, etc.
Synopsis, Der Ring des Nibelungen - By Topi Ylinen.
<dead link>Online Medieval and Classical Library</dead link> - A great service.
<dead link>The Nibelungenlied</dead link> - One of the sources on which Wagner (loosely) based the Ring.
<dead link>The Volusungasaga</dead link> - Another source.

  Libertarianism and Political Advocacy

The Cato Institute - A great D.C. think tank.
The Muzzle Awards - Given each year to people or organizations who threaten free speech.
<dead link>Walk for Capitalism</dead link> - An advocacy group.
Future of Freedom Foundation - Another advocacy group.
Americans for Tax Reform - Lots of great information.
John Taylor Gatto - An education reformer.
 



The Anti-Federalist Papers (Constitution.org)
Common Sense (Thomas Paine)
The Rights of Man (Thomas Paine)

  Star Wars

Episode IV theatrical poster

Star Wars - The big "official" site. The prequels really stink, which is too bad. Are better projects ahead?

  Coens

I got into a discussion with a friend about how the various Coen Brothers films rank. I give them more credit for stories they've devised themselves, as opposed to adapting from literature. True Grit gets a place just behind Fargo in my most recent update.

1. The Big Lebowski
2. A Serious Man
3. Fargo
4. True Grit
5. No Country for Old Men
6. The Man Who Wasn't There
7. Burn After Reading
8. Raising Arizona
9. Blood Simple
10. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
11. Miller's Crossing
12. Barton Fink
13. The Hudsucker Proxy
14. The Ladykillers
15. Intolerable Cruelty

  Laughs

The Crackpot Index - Tried any amateur physics lately? Evaluate your theories here.
The Sokal Hoax
<dead link>Dogbert's New Ruling Class</dead link> - I'm a long-standing member of DNRC, and I've even received personal email from Scott Adams.
Classical Music Bloopers - From Clemson.
Monty - By Jim Meddick.
Ballard Street - For those of us with a "special" sense of humor.
News of the Weird - By Chuck Shepherd.
Bedtime Stories for Imaginary Children - Archive.org copy of Alan Jordan's "Bedtime Stories for Imaginary Children."
 
Rinkworks.com - A great site that's full of assorted funny and clever stuff.
Things People Said
It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Movie
Computer Stupidities
 
<dead link>The Jargonizer (McCullagh.org)</dead link> - Spews random bits of hype.
 
<dead link>GeekCode.com</dead link> - The original Geek Code.
JoeReiss.net - Joe Reiss, inventor of the Geek Code.

My geek code.
 
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GE/CS/M/MU/MD d++ s+: a39 C++ UB++ P+++ L+>++ E W++ N++ o-- K++ w O+ M-- V- PS- PE++ Y+ PGP+ t 5 X R>+ tv- b++>++++ DI++++ D+ G e++>++++ h---- r+++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches
Kibo.com - Nutty, but funny.
SpamRadio.com - Streaming audio of a computer reading spam over synth tracks.
<dead link>Captain Vegetable</dead link> - Am I the only one who remembers him?

  Computing and the Internet

Starcraft Broodwar (Blizzard Entertainment) - One of the greatest computer games of all time.

This site was formerly hosted by freeshell.org, the web home of the Super Dimension Fortress, a 501(c)7 nonprofit that "provide[s] remotely accessible computing facilities for the advancement of public education, cultural enrichment, scientific research and recreation." Accounts are free, and expanded features, including web hosting, are available after payment of a very small validation fee.

SDF Public Access Unix System
 
Lynx Viewer (Delorie.com) - See what your site looks like in Lynx, which some people actually still use.
W3C Validator - HTML validator from W3C.

  Tech Laughs

The Chronicles of George - An unbelievable collection of garbled help-desk tickets.

Computer Stupidities

The Daily WTF - Stories from the trenches. The following are my personal favorites.
 
A Barely Accessible System
When Comments Go Wild
An Alternative to Traditional Array Resizing
SQL Injection Protection
Tenacious Dave
Those Responsible Have Been Sacked - The last screenshot is priceless.
The Re-Interview
Consulting the Consultants
Could You Explain Programming, Please?
Sticking to the Method
Security By Insanity
Nepotism Trumps Interview
<dead link>Hey! You!</dead link>
No Line Breaks - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The F*ckhead Pattern - Check out the third story in this collection.
On a Budget
The Incidental Expert

WTF University
 

  Curiosities

I, Rearrangement Servant - A.k.a. Internet Anagram Server.
Atomic Rockets - A fun site.
Popular Science archives - Good for browsing or research.
The Consumerist - Shoppers bite back.
The Consumerist - Dell Breaks Your Laptop, Sends Replacement Full of Pubes - Disgusting, but hilarious.

  Web Authoring

Here are a few awards from the Corporation, which is now defunct.
 
Top Floor Site Award Very Best Site Award AOL Trial Disk Collection Award Carpal Tunnel Site of the Week Top 95% of the web!
 
There are a few other site certifications, too.
 
Frame-free site. Professional hyperlinks. Smoke-free site.
 
I use new.gif on occasion. It's a web classic. If anyone knows where Kevin Crossman's site went, let me know.



 
U.S., 1960; U.S. / 3rd Maryland, 1781; Wm. the Conqueror, 1066; Vatican City, 1929
Index 
Links

Contact
PGP Keys
Valid HTML 4.01! 
Powered by PHP.  

hersey @ acm.org
Ben @ BLHersey.net
hers0054 @ umn.edu
 
A.M.
D.G.
 
MAGNIFICAT ANIMA MEA DOMINVM
ET EXVLTAVIT SPIRITVS MEVS IN DEO SALVTARI MEO
QVIA RESPEXIT HVMILITATEM ANCILLAE SVAE ECCE ENIM EX HOC BEATAM ME DICENT OMNES GENERATIONES
QVIA FECIT MIHI MAGNA QVI POTENS EST ET SANCTVM NOMEN EIVS
ET MISERICORDIA EIVS IN PROGENIES ET PROGENIES TIMENTIBVS EVM
S. Maria, Regina Coeli FECIT POTENTIAM IN BRACHIO SVO DISPERSIT SVPERBOS MENTE CORDIS SVI
DEPOSVIT POTENTES DE SEDE ET EXALTAVIT HVMILES
ESVRIENTES IMPLEVIT BONIS ET DIVITES DIMISIT INANES
SVSCEPIT ISRAHEL PVERVM SVVM MEMORARI MISERICORDIAE
SICVT LOCVTVS EST AD PATRES NOSTROS ABRAHAM ET SEMINI EIVS IN SAECVLA