Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Randy Pausch

Very interesting. This came to me from non-cmu sources.
I didn't know him - he co-founded the ETC at CMU.
pretty cool.
Check it out.

http://ritheshswamy.blogspot.com/2007/10/prof-randy-pauchs-last-speech-how-to.html

Monday, March 24, 2008

Fuck You

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html

Fuck you, George W. Bush.
Fuck you, Dick Cheney.
Fuck you, Donald Rumsfeld.
Fuck you, Paul Wolfowitz.
Fuck you, Condoleezza Rice.
Fuck you, Failed Strategy.
Fuck you, Mismanaged Planning.
Fuck you, Colin Powell and the other silent accomplices.
Fuck you, Congress for voting for military action.
Fuck you, Democrats for voting to continue funding the action and for your general lack of backbone.
Fuck you, Mainstream Media for believing the crap you were fed and not checking the sources.
Fuck you, John McCain for thinking '100 years' in Iraq is acceptable, for supporting W and the war, and for then lying to the public about how you are some kind of 'maverick'
Fuck you, American Voter (myself included) for your blind ignorance.

Each and every one of us could have done something more, could have made more of an effort. Individually, it may have achieved nothing.

Collectively, we are complicit in the death of 4000 Patriots.

Fuck You.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Who is worse - Limbaugh or O'reilly

As a footnote to zhi's post on what a righteous douchebag Bill O-reilly is, I just have to clear the air, that a lot of conservative nonsense does get massive amounts of airtime. It is certainly sad that most liberals are forced to get their news from the likes of John Stewart and Steven Colbert.

But that is beside the point.
This http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/255813703/200803210012
got posted something like yesterday. I listen to talk radio to and from work. It just so happens that often around lunch time Rush is on, and making an absolute fool of himself, twisting, generally the liberal right news, because he has nothing else to talk about, and generally glorifying himself in his own eyes as much as anyone else I have ever seen. I get only marginal satisfaction from realizing that he honestly thinks he is as great as he says he is, and I try and listen to understand some of the conservative talking points, but sometimes this is even hard to bear. While OReilly is a much bigger rabble rouser and known instigator, but Rush Limbaugh is just a fucking carpetbagger.

Please weigh in.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Obama - For a more perfect union speech

If you do nothing else to increase your political awareness over the next week, you should take 37 minutes and listen to the speech Obama made yesterday in Philadelphia addressing among many other things, accusations about having reverend Jeremiah Wright as a minister and spiritual advisor.

The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

I have been an Obama supporter all along, because I felt that this country needed a statesman that could express his/herself eloquently and be a leader (visually, orally and intellectually) in repairing our image as Americans at home and abroad.

To me, this speech represented not only an acute understanding of the issues that I believe are important in this campaign cycle (with the exception of maybe net neutrality - Zhi!), but also one of the most candid, straightforward and intelligent political pieces of my adult experience. What is most important to me, is that Barack Obama finally took a stand for something. And that stand was for the most important things I can think of - truth, honesty and integrity. I no longer hope that Obama will be elected, but am trying to figure out how I can also help to make sure he is our next president. It goes along the lines of a moral imperative.

Taking a step back for a moment, my concern is that this oration will also act as a polarizing force for his campaign. People are generally uncomfortable with candid discussion of race, religion, the roles those things play in modern life, and what is more, candid discussion of this country's failures. I hope there are enough people that feel as I do.

I also was impressed by Obama's humility in this speech, and by his clear message that no one can promise to truly fix anything in one campaign cycle, but that it is "a START". His effort is for "a more perfect union" so that future generations will be better off than ours and his. This is a message that I support.

It is also worthwhile to read what response he is getting to his speech.
Here is a Washington post article with commenters: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2008/03/post_11.html

I have not included the many other sources I have read in relation to the speech this morning - but rest assured they are out there, but it is really funny to hear some people talk about Wright's sermons, like they were there every Sunday for 20 years and heard all the vile things the man said. Obviously, that wasn't happening. They use all these "sermons" as an indictment of Obama's character.

Additionally, it is interesting to try and get a feeling for the people who support and do not support his rhetoric. Read the syntax and word choice carefully in these comments. As I feared the speech went over the heads of much of the collective masses, but was a moving dialog to many intellectuals.

The net-net of this post. If are college educated, you should listen to as much of this speech as possible. I found it enlightening.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

What Does Internet Mean To You?

There has been a lot of talk this campaign cycle about health care, Iraq, and the economy. There also a lot of topics which haven't been talked about as much like education and Social Security. That's bound to happen. Those are big issues that get attention in cycles. There has however been one very important issue that has not been discussed at all: Net Neutrality.

I wanted to write this post to draw some measure of attention to it. If not only to you guys who will read this, but also to hopefully so that you'll spread it around to interested people as well. This is a supremely important issue, especially to us. We all love the Internet, and my livelihood depends on it. In fact, I would say that it's not just a hobby or passion anymore, it's become a way of life for our generation. So to lose it would be devastating to our and future generations. I can't really explain it as well as this video I've found, but when guys likeVint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee talk about the future of the Internet, I listen.

Go watch it now, and save the rest of this post for later. It's that important.

Good, you're back. So if that issue worries you, you should see what the major candidates have to say about it:
Obama

McCain

Clinton

This is one issue where small government lassiez-faire will not do. No Senator McCain, we can't just see what will happen. This is too important to our collective future and the future of free speech.

Just in case you needed another reason to vote Democrat this year.

Notes:
I got the video courtesy of Jasper.

Monday, March 10, 2008

That's more like it

I received acceptance letters today from CMU, GA Tech, and Indiana. I'm going to spend the next few weeks deciding on where to go. Right now I'm considering CMU, GA Tech, and Michigan.

My hesitation is that CMU's program is one year long, which is awesome financially. However, this is a slight career change for me and I think I would benefit from a two-year program. That being said, I could just as easily learn on the job and start gaining real-world experience sooner (and probably secure a better job) going to CMU. If any of you guys have advice I would really appreciate it. Also, thanks again for all your help with my apps... it obviously paid off!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Update

No go on Berkeley... oh well. It's starting to look like I'm going to end up at Michigan. Honestly, I'm extremely happy with that option but I just read my UCB rejection letter like 12 seconds ago so it's hard to be too excited. Go Blue!! I'm still waiting to hear from several programs including CMU, but like most of you guys I have no desire to go back.

I think it's time we start thinking about a summer trip again. Justin's idea of an extended 4th of July gathering sounds like it would work out pretty well. I am free most of the summer so I'm down for whenever is most convenient for the group. Some ideas I've had: Hawaii, Europe, Vegas, cruise (Caribbean), backpacking/camping somewhere in no man's land USA.

Chime in gents!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Can it get better?

From those recommended shows:

Am best dance crews- jaba all the way!
Dexter = brilliant. I have finished the two seasons, and am sad that its over
Breaking Bad - just started, but i can tell that i will enjoy it
Californication - watched a few episodes and i have to say that compared to the rest, not quite up to par

In the coming weeks i plan to comment more on these shows, and if i find others good ones i will post as well. What were your opinions of them?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

bit torrents

I know I asked while we were in Cali, but what are you guys using for torrent search engines right now.

I haven't used pirate bay in a while.
Sometimes mininova.org
Dont know where to go to find these shows everyone is talking about.
Cheers,

Alex

Sunday, March 2, 2008

It's Been Awhile

Yeah. Thus far I've been a contributor in name only, so here goes. First, I'd like to thank all the boys who made it out to the Bay last weekend. Good times. Nice photographs, glad they finally made it up.

So to all those who don't know, my first day of work is today (about 8 hours from now). I've a fantastic time since I graduated last November, and to be honest, have forgotten what real work is. I can't say I'm looking forward to it that much - the work part - but we'll see. Guess you gotta grow up sometime. Maybe it's just about passing the day reading blogs like I've always done.

There shall be more substantial content from me in the near future. In the meantime, I'd like to share my delight with you all about Asante Samuel being signed by the Eagles.