Friday. Week... almost.... over

It's Friday morning. I wish it were more comforting. I just remembered that I have a few things I need to get done today that were tagged with "end-of-the-week" deadlines that I just totally forgot. It's alright though. I'll figure it out. After all, I have good music pumping through my iPod (the Garden State soundtrack right now. Simon and Garfunkel are awesome.)

Joey was funny. Not as good as Friends but Matt LeBlanc is funny and Joey Tribbiani's a good character. I think there's still immense potential in the show, once they get their heads outta their butts and start writing it better. Will and Grace, as per my last quick post, was good. I was very impressed by the actors' ability to not break character or just start laughing. Actually, I was more impressed with how quickly they got back into character after laughing. Sean Hayes was very impressive in this regard. I suppose, with the absurdity of the character of Jack it happens quite a bit. I kinda liked the feel of a live episode of a sitcom. Even the sound was different. I suppose it's probably because I just saw Dogville and really liked it.

http//blahblahblah (link was kinda long)

Gizmodo's commentary on the MPAA going after BitTorrent sites is probably the funniest thing I've ever read about the MPAA/RIAA crazy mad suing of every individual in the world. I swear, I think they're not going to be happy until they've sued everybody. Calm the F*** down!!! Sheesh.

Smallville Premiere

Smallville season premiere just happened. I didn't see it, don't tell me diddly. EXCEPT, I saw the last 2 minutes. SPIKE is on SMALLVILLE!!!! Woooo-hooo! Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Woo-hoo! W00t!!! W00t!!!

And the Will and Grace premiere was good. Will and Grace live. Who would've thought it'd work that well? Awesome.

Hehe. Funny joke.

My coworker just told me a funny joke. I thought I'd pass it on. (Bear with me, I'm translating this from Chinese).

So, there are these 3 guys trapped on a desert island: an American, a Frenchman, and a Chinese dude. As they're walking around, they find a bottle and, upon opening it, they find a genie who offers to grant each of them 3 wishes. The American goes first.
"For my first wish, I want money. For my second wish, I want more money. For my third wish, I want you to send me home."
The genie says Ok and sends him home rich beyond his wildest dreams. The Frenchman goes next.
"For my first wish, I want a beautiful woman. For my second wish, I want even more beautiful women. For my third wish, I want you to send me home."
The genie says Ok and sends him home with a bevy of beautiful women. The Chinese guys goes next.
"For my first wish, I want some rice wine. For my second wish, I want even more rice wine." He stops and looks around. "It's no fun drinking alone. For my third wish, I want you to bring those 2 guys back to drink with me."

hehehehe. I thought it was funny. Ok, here's a sequel.

So the three guys are all back on the desert island, walking around. They trip over yet another bottle and open it to discover another genie who offers to grant each of them 3 wishes. Still wary of the Chinese dude, the other 2 men offer to let him go first. The Chinese man agrees and thinks about it.
"For my first wish, I want some rice wine. For my second wish, I want even more rice wine." He stops and looks around. "Hm... I have people to drink with. Alright, for my third wish, you can go away, genie." And so he does.

Hehehehe. Ok, I thought it was funny. If you didn't laugh, =P.

Thursday. Sucks too.

Thursday. It sucks as well. They just moved me into a different cubicle. I'm now kinda far away from the rest of the people in my group. Still, I suppose it's alright because I'm further from the boss now so I can slack more, I think.

Anyway, I was reading around and I found this post on Lifehack:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/on-ho%e2%80%98ohiki-keeping-your-promises.html

This is a good article, I think. It's important to own up to your mistakes and work on credibility. Otherwise, you'll just end up stuck in a field yelling "Wolf" all day with nobody to help you.

Also, Roberts has been confimed as the 17th Supreme Court Chief Justice. I'm not terribly opposed to it, I typed that in a previous entry. Still, I hold a little bit of fear behind, just in case he decides to go crazy and try and repeal every law that was put into the books by his predecessors. I doubt that'll happen though and so I'll try to be mostly optimistic.

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/businesssense/story/0,16568,1580208,00.html

In an earlier post, I wrote about the virtues of paper versus technology with the avent of the hipster and pocketmod. I always found that writing on a piece of paper is much more convenient than trying to figure out something digitally. The biggest problem, I think, is organization. It's much easier to become organized with papers. You have manilla folders, you put it into manilla folders. Heck, you can just put papers into different piles and its organized. As for technology, computers must be organized. Otherwise, you can never find things. Organizing on the computer is not really time consuming but it requires a must-sit-down-and-click-around attitude. It's hard to just sit down for five minutes on your computer and throw things in the appropriate folders, at least for me it is. So I think writing on little sheets of paper that you put in your pocket is actually better. Leon Ho, the editor of lifehack.org (it's the site from which the above link links to), agrees and wrote a column extolling the benefits of a paper companion rather than a digital one.

http://futureme.org/

Futureme.org is a website where you can write an email and have it sent to yourself later. It's meant to be sort of a time capsule of sorts, writing a letter than you read later. I think this is pretty cool. The only thing is that for people that constantly change email addresses, this might not work as well. (Just use GMail. Chances are you'll use that account for years.)

So that's it for now. Have fun, guys.

Ah... at home.

At home. Looking around online. Ravi gave me a thumbs-up review of Serenity. That's all I need to know. Definitely going to watch it. (For those of you who don't want to watch it or don't care either way, Ravi gives it 2 thumbs up. That in-of-itself should be enough to persuade you to watch it!)

Did you know Kevin Smith has a blog? I didn't know that. Good to know tho.

http://www.silentbobspeaks.com/

Speaking of personal blogs, Amber MacArthur (one of the best looking people on television right now, if you ask me [she's on Call For Help on G4. I know G4 sucks hard. But I like Call For Help mostly cuz of Leo and Amber and the information the show gives.]) has a good blog with good info. It's on my bookmarks that I check regularly so that's that.

http://www.ambermac.typepad.com/index.html

And, finally, look at today/tomorrow's (Sept. 28) PVP strip. That's how I feel about television right now.

http://www.pvponline.com

[Oh, on a final note, my EBay thingie finally shipped. Ravi and Brad know what I'm talking about. I'm very happy.]
Ok, off to play NBA Live 06! W00t!

Movies.

Come Hell or high water, movies I intend to watch in the coming weeks (ranked in order of desire to see them):

Serenity
MirrorMask
Corpse Bride
Oliver Twist
The Greatest Game Ever Played (Ok, I may not actually see this movie but I want to. It's not on my list of MUST WATCH tho.)

REMEMBER: Come Hell or high water. So don't get in my way! =P (Seriously, I will kill you.)

Day's getting better

The day is getting better. I think it's because I made the decision to purchase NBA Live 06 for the PS2. Now I'm looking forward to buying it and playing it. Wheee.

Found this webpage:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

This is awesome. Everybody should read it. As a Lit major, nothing makes me happier than seeing something like this. Also, as a Lit major, I can tell you that we screw up all the time too. It takes a real grammer know-it-all to remember commonly misspelled words and distinct grammer rules. All they teach us in the Lit major is how to think and analyze and write. The mechanics are less important. Still, just to make life easier on everybody, this website has the 100 most commonly misspelled words.

Also, I saw this:
Link

This seems like a cool gadget. Even more so, this has to be the smallest computer I've seen. Like, COMPUTER. Not like "a phone that has a word processor." This is a computer. Very impressive and I want one. =D (Can't afford one so don't expect me to be sporting one. =P)

Tom DeLay stepped down. I still can't quite decipher the charges because I haven't had time to go through the story too intimately. Still, it seems like the charge is that off-limit funds were used improperly for political reasons. No real shock. This happens all the time, I expect. Still, Tom DeLay's a major figure for the GOP. We'll see what happens...

Other than that, not much happening. I think I'm going to get NBA Live after work today so I can enjoy it... today. =) (Oh, I still have stuff to watch! I taped the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal as well as series premiere of Commander In Chief. I expect them all to be good.) Ok, peace out for now. =D

Wish it was Saturday (I'd say Friday but I still have to work on Friday)

Hump day. And not the good version either. I knew today was going to suck when I left the house this morning and there was traffic on JOHNSON. That's like 2 minutes from my front door. I was in traffic starting 2 minutes from my front door!

Anyway, apparently Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid Acid, etc. etc. is in the middle of creating Metal Gear Solid 4. After a very impressive video demonstration at the Tokyo Game Show (I only saw clips but it looked unbelievable), Metal Gear Solid 4 (the first MGS game for the new PS3 platform) has become one of the most anticipated games for 2006. Apparently, Hideo Kojima is keeping a blog on how the game development is coming. I was very excited to hear about this. The Master sharing his thoughts and perhaps sneak peek looks at the upcoming game! Imagine my dismay when I found out (and I can't believe I didn't even think of this beforehand) that Kojima's blog is in Japanese!! (Once again, I can't believe this thought didn't even cross my mind. The man is JAPANESE developing a game in JAPAN! What the hell was I expecting??) I tried running the webpage through Google's translate a page feature and was... even more confused. I can only imagine how idiomatically heavy the Japanese language is. Here's an example of a translated sentance:

"Dawn of Kojima group, as for time of the development fifth section which is the predecessor they were the little number of people 10."

Reading into the context, I think what Kojima's meaning is that when the Kojima Group (the group of developers working on Hideo Kojima projects) started, it only had 10 people. I don't know what the "fifth section" means but I think that's roughly what he's trying to say. Anyway, my hopes of learning more about Kojima and MGS4 have been dashed. But, if you read Japanese or wanna try it yourself, here's the link:

http://www.konami.jp/hideoblog/

Also, there's this:
http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/cellphone-booth-the-cursers-paradise-127938.php

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's a good idea. Isolation booths with cell phones let people talk on the cell phone as if it's a regular phone, with a normal voice and have a normal conversation without bugging the people around them. On the other hand, it just kinda feels like we're moving backwards, doesn't it?

Ok, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have time later to make another post about happier times.

Eyes blurry

Hi, my eyes are really blurry right now. It's kinda hard to focus. Also, I've been typing stew-pid things. As a result, I haven't really had time to surf around to find out what's been going on today.

The only thing that really caught my eye as I quickly browsed where I normally browse was a story on CNN.com saying that 249 officers deserted their posts in New Orleans. While I may condone fleeing to save your own ass, as a police officer, I'd imagine you should be willing to sacrifice yourself for the lives of others. After all, that's the job description. Lt. Benelli, the president of the Police Association in New Orleans, says that they'll do an investigation but expect to not press too many charges because they're expecting to find that a lot of the desertions were done to try and save their families. That's understandable. Still, shame shame. I'm quite disappointed by this weak sauce display of ineffectual police ability.

Other than that, not much to write about. Enterprise season 3 comes out on DVD today.

Happy Tuesday everybody.

So, it's Tuesday. Not much on my mind yet. I've been working rather steadily until now. I'm taking a short break in order to... well, take a short break.

Anyway, I finished the West Wing season premiere. Wow. What a great show. Totally looking forward to this season. The previous season seemed kind of forced, probably due to the departure of series creator Aaron Sorkin (he actually left 2 seasons ago but season 5 had some good moments as it tried to deal with some of the predicaments Sorkin left behind on his way out).

-SPOILER WARNING. I will talk about stuff that happened last season and this new episode. Please do not read on if you don't want to know. Skip this post. -



Last season, however, the show seemed to struggle to find itself again. It had some very forced moments, like Leo's heart attack and Donna working against Josh and Josh and Toby's fight and CJ getting the CoS job. Fortunately, we're treated, this season, to the election storyline. It's always good to have an election storyline because they are a bunch of things that need to be done that aren't contrived. Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda begin their individual quests for the White House.

Overall, this season opener was very good. There was quite a bit of dramatic tension that's coming out of CJ as the possible leak. It's good to see Oliver Platt back as Babish. I like him and he had good moments with CJ in the episode. Also, Jimmy Smits is an awesome actor. He's just unbelievable in the role of Matthew Santos. He's very commanding and idealistic but not overly so. If he doesn't walk away with an Emmy nomination, I'm going to be very disappointed. (As a side note, Teri Polo looks wonderful. She should be on TV more. Just, you know, in general.)

As for negatives, the teaser before the opening credits was highly disappointing. It was well-written and well-acted but it just didn't belong in the show. First, it puts a deadline on the life of the show after the show. By saying that in 3 years, nobody who's working in the White House now will be working in the White House puts a definite damper on the possibilities of the characters after the show ends (presumably this is the last season). Also, it's almost cliche to start the prologue with "Three Years from Now" and then begin Act 1 with "Three Years Ago." It's effective in certain respects but Aaron Sorkin would never have written that intro and that's the biggest disappointment of them all. Also, the Josh and Donna moment was mixed bag for me. If Donna's going to remain a main character and eventually come to work for Josh, it works well. Josh denies Donna and he must go back to her. If Donna leaves now and never comes back (i.e. Janel Moloney leaves the show) then this was the worst exit I could've imagined for Donna Moss. I hope she comes back. Josh and Donna is one of the best on-going storylines on the show. Finally, it seems that Leo and Charlie have been put aside in favor of Santos and Vinick. I hope that more storyline is found for Leo and Charlie because they're both very good characters and deserve to be involved deeper than they are now.

So, overall, it worked. I enjoyed the episode and can't wait for more. Let's put Santos in office! W00t!

Funny quote

"Friends don't let friends move to red states." Hehe. Taken from Jackie's xanga. Funny =D

Good thing Massachusetts is a blue state.

Ok ok, one last thing.

Ok, last thing for real this time.

Motorola revealed its new RAZR phone.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C4731/

Looks really nice. I really want one. I think I may be WAY too materialistic. Sigh. Live and learn. Anyway, looks cool. Gadgets rock. Etc. etc.

Oh, and I'll post an entry tomorrow about the West Wing season premiere that was on Sunday. It was really good. I love season premieres. It's always "Must See" and for very good reason.

Ok, night.

Bush speaks his mind. Freedom of Speech has been unanimously revoked.

NY Time Article
(you need to have a NY Times account to read the whole story. Just sign up. It's free.)

So, Bush has decided to finally deal with the crisis of rising gas prices. His solution? Telling America to drive less.

That makes.. wait, what?? That's his solution? That works if it's your crazy Uncle Mort. Unfortunately for us, this is the LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD. Telling Americans to drive less has about as much effect as telling Americans to not shoot each other. I haven't seen such brilliant political strategy since Nancy Regan's "Just say no" campaign. Is there somewhere where they teach this sort of bullshit? "Today, in Not Solving Problems 101, we'll learn how to B.S. our way out of national emergencies." I suppose we do have to give Bush some allowance though. He is, without a doubt, the stew-pidest president we've ever had. It just takes a while for the synapses to connect. This president's downloading at 28.8 mbps in a DSL world. Let's just give him sometime for the webpage to load. Maybe somebody should take all the shiny things out of the Oval Office so we can give him some time to DO SOME ACTUAL FUCKING WORK.

This is going completely against what he said in 2001 when Bush called energy consumption "an American way of life." NOW, we're asked to drive less. And the worse part? Drilling companies are now using this as an excuse to bypass environmental laws. They claim that now's not the time to prevent them from drilling coastally or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. What??? Bloodsucking bastards. They want to drill on protected land so they can lower gas prices, what, a nickel? You know they're never going below 2.90 for gas now. They don't have to. We've proven we'd pay for it. IF one day they discovered 4000 metric tons of oil in a lost island in the Pacific, we'd still be paying 3.05 for gas because it's a bloody monopoly. Oil companies put this government together, funding a large percentage of Senators, Congressmen, PRESIDENTS, etc. They've got a stranglehold on D.C. That's why we still believe, as a nation, that biodiesel's not a practical fuel source. God forbid we realize that we can escape the infinite loop of fossil fuel consumption. Savages, I swear.

Ok, enough of that. What else is new?

http://www.beautifuldecay.com/

Bridging the gap between graffiti and art, Beautiful Decay presents some rather awesome designs and illustrations. I spent quite awhile just looking at some of the pictures in the previous issues. I can't explain why I like the artstyle of some of these people. I just do. In particular, I really enjoyed the graffiti work in Issue 23. It's quite spectacular considering the amount of bullshit pseudo-graffiti you see all over the place. This is very much art.

Speaking of art:
http://www.politicalgraphics.org/home.html

Awesome pictures. Awesome message. My favorite is the poster that says "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." -Bertolt Brecht. There's another quote by the playwright that I think best encompasses our situation. "Unhappy is the land that is in need of heroes." Yep.

Ok, that's it for Monday. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Hopefully tomorrow won't be stew-pid. I have my doubts, though.

GAH!

Blogger accidentally deleted my intended post because the connection didn't go through! Jacked!!!

Ok, I'm not going to re-type it, mostly because I don't even remember what I typed verbatum. Suffice it to say, I posted 2 more links in a last hurrah of Monday Randomness.

The first is Claro's Holographic TV
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3271/
http://www.gizmag.com/go/4631/
Awesome looking tv, great idea. Hope it becomes available for cheap soon. Especially look at the pictures in the first article. It'll give you an idea of how wonderful the set looks and how great it could look in an apartment.

The second was about Cindy Sheehan and other protesters getting arrested in DC
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/26/wardemonstrations.ap/index.html
I pointed out that the thing that caught my eye was the last paragraph and the quote from Mitzy Kenny. Giving the enemy hope is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT a reason to not protest. Despite the fact that I don't believe in complete and immediate withdrawal from Iraq (I think we should slowly withdraw but a lot quicker than what Bush is doing now), rock on United for Peace and Justice. At least they're doing something to make their voices heard. Too bad Bush isn't listening.

Monday Randomness

Happy Monday, folks. I know, Mondays aren't usually a happy one. Today's not really an exception. Monday sucks but what can you do? Nothing. So, just deal with it and move on.

Browsing about online, here are a couple of things that caught my eye this morning (I mean, I'm working. really).

http://www.moleskineus.com/japanesebook.html

Moleskin notebooks are classics and very well-done. They're concise and high quality. Here's one that I really wanted (too bad the website says they're out of stock). Randomness but Moleskin, w00t!

http://www.dna11.com/

DNA Art. oooo. I always knew this stuff existed. I mean, I've seen this work before (not THIS work but DNA as art work before). Still, it's cool to find a company that'll actually do this. I personally think it looks kinda cool and if I ever wanted to buy a 400 dollar work of art, I'd consider this.

http://www.netvibes.com/

Netvibes. I forgot what these types of sites are called but this is simple, easy, and clean. I'd use it more if I needed to be even more connected. Good to know though.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/05/09/26/1546219.shtml?tid=232&tid=126&tid=1

This is an interesting idea. A light inside a handbag. Kinda like your glove compartment in your car, the light'll turn on when you open your bag. The material's light sensitive so it'll appear really bright in the purse (assumably). I suppose this is one of the "well, D'uh" ideas that just never got popular.

That's all for now. I'll have more later. Today's not shaping up to be the best of days but at least it's not the worst of days either.

Thought Dump

Not much today either. Most of the news today's been bogged down the Rita. Rita hit. It's windy and rainy and devestating. On the upside, Bush's doing a better job this time around, as is FEMA, which shows that yes, you can teach old dogs new tricks.

Aside from Rita, which doesn't warrant much comment other than hope everybody's doing alright, thoughts and prayers, and donate money please; this day's been pretty lax. I've been spending the past few hours thinking about what this weekend holds. I think I'm going to be looking forward to being able to take a few hours out of the day to just read. I might go to a coffee shop or a library or somewhere to chill. Other than that, it's just more Babylon 5 (that's what I've been watching currently. It's a great show and I'm in the middle of season 4. Once I finish that, I'm getting season 5 and then I'll be done with the show).

Oh, I got Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects for PS2. It's pretty good if you like Power Stone- type fighting games. I like it so far but I'm not very good at it yet. I think I'll devote some hours to that.

So, thoughts and prayers to Texans this weekend. Also, hope UCSC and other colleges are having fun. School's started again and I wish the best of luck to those of you who are still there.
(I wish I was there.) Aside from that, I'm probably done for the day. Unless something catches my eye.

Introvert Addendum

Judy made a good point about the list not being comprehensive. I think that the purpose of the list is to list things that tend to be strengths but are not absolute strengths. I think it's the same principle as saying that left-handers are creative. Well, that's not necessarily true. It might be mostly true.

So, when you're reading the introvert entry, bear in mind that if you're an introvert, you know you better than this list knows you. =D AND, if you're an extrovert, don't go making unfounded assumptions. Otherwise, you're a punk. =P

Introspective Introverts.

So, according to the Myers-Briggs test, and hundreds of other tests, there are extroverts and introverts. I think I'd consider myself more of an introvert in some respects. I'm certainly not terribly shy about doing stupid stuff in front of people, I do have personal boundaries. Also, I'm perfectly happy sitting alone and being by myself. Anyway, I think that for some reason, we believe that being introverted is less desirable than being an extrovert. We commend people who are out-going, vocal, expressive, etc. Along the same vein, we condemn people who don't "speak their mind." In the defense of introverts, here's a link for y'all.

http://www.theintrovertadvantage.com/top10.asp

It's a top 10 list of what best things about introverts. And it's all mostly true. A lot of introverts I know are studious/smart, responsible, creative, flexible, and independant. Personally, I've always admired pensive people. It's the very art of Zen thinking to be able to quietly process the opinions of others and sift through to a deeper truth. I think that's what being an introvert's ultimately about. The human mind is a delicate thing. Why not take time to process thoughts? After all, we may not value introspection but we certainly value problem solving/wisdom.

Traffic and Leon Redbone

Traffic sucks. I dunno how much it sucks but it sucks like... well, like NOTHING HAS EVER SUCKED BEFORE. I don't understand how people drive sometimes. Like today, I was behind this guy and we both needed to get into the lane to our right. Now, this was on Lawrence, so the speed limit's like 50, reasonable driving speeds anything under 60. This guy was going 40 (that's 10 under the speed limit). That means, I was going 40. The lane to the right of us, the lead car was going... 40 TOO! and THERE WAS NOBODY AHEAD OF EITHER CAR. BUT, instead of speeding up to pass the guy, the car in front of me SLOWED DOWN to get behind the guy, despite the fact that there were a mess of cars behind both cars. SIGH... traffic sucks.

Also, on the way here, 880 was clogged up rather fierce. So, in the midst of going 20 mph, I was listening to Leon Redbone's Shine on Harvest Moon over and over again because I really wanted to hear the lyrics. If you've ever heard a Leon Redbone song, you know his deep scratchy voice and his mumbling kinda makes it hard to hear the actual lyrics to a song. After hearing the song 5 times on repeat (I think I finally understood the lyrics. I looked it up online when I got to work because it was still stuck in my head) I came to realize it's a really good song. So, listen to it. (I'd say download it but that's not kosher. So... buy it from iTunes?)

That's it for this morning. I'll write more later when I get a chance to settle into the cubicle...

Joss Whedon Happiness

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000AQ68RI/qid=1124041068/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/102-4085934-6946529?v=glance&s=dvd

The whole darn show in ONE BOX. Wait.. Let me be more articulate. One of the best shows to ever hit TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is now hitting DVD (again) in ONE BOX. This is an amazing collection and, if you preorder now, it's extraordinarily cheap (from 200 dollars retail to 130 dollars. That's 70 dollars off).

Will wonders never cease?


ADDENDUM: Sorry, I didn't realize that the Amazon page didn't have a picture of the set. Follow this link for a picture (you have to scroll down). Isn't that an AWESOME box???

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=21306

Cubicle Torture. SOMEONE SEND FOR THE UN!!

Skye: where are you working?
Me: sigh... in a cubicle
Skye: not what you always dreamed of and more?
Me: haha. yep. the blurry vision from computer moniters, the beginning of carpal tunnel syndrome. it's what the brochure said it'd be! =P

Once again, you're going to have to imagine this as an IM conversation

Happy First Day of Classes!!

Today's the first day of classes for UCSC. I wish I had classes. *sniff* Sadness. HAVE FUN EVERYBODY! Enjoy it while it lasts! To quote Mr. T, "Don't be a fool. Stay in school."

Gas Prices

So Rita's going to hit and there's a better than average chance that she's going to tear through a couple of refineries on her way past. There's also a good chance that oil prices will be jacked up yet again. Never fret, however, because... well, there's no because. I just hope people don't get too worried. Realistically, prices will rise. I doubt, however, that it'll go beyond 4 dollars a gallon. Still steep but not as bad as the 5 dollars they're predicting. On a lighter note, this editorial was on CNN.com:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/22/commentary/wastler/wastler/index.htm

Very astute. A surprisingly honest piece about the news from the news media.

Thought Dump

I haven't been posting too much today. In all honesty, I haven't been reading too much today on stuff that usually provoke posting thoughts. Truth to tell, I've been reading about Magic: The Gathering =P. Yes yes, I still like it. Yes, I'm still interested in it. Yes, it's still very much alive. I think it's a very unique gaming system and very strategic and very fun. Well, ultimately, I'm just a nerd. =P Anyway, new set coming out soon. That's what I was reading about.

Anyway, what else is in the news? John Roberts is going to be confirmed as the next Chief Justice of the United States. Strangely enough (to me at least), I'm not anxious about this at all. I thought I would be. I'm not. Roberts hasn't given me any indication that he's not going to do a good job. Remember, he's replacing Rehnquist, a staunch conservative who was very active and very vocal. Assuming Roberts sticks to his own self-proclaimed game plan, he's not going to go all willy-nilly and try to repeal Roe v. Wade or anything. At least, not until the next Justice gets nominated. So, congrats to Chief Justice Roberts.

Hurricane Rita's getting really crazy. It's a category 5 now and headed to Texas. My blessings to the people in Texas trying to get out. Ironically, (just in my mind) we have a family friend who's coming here from Texas tonight. She and her daughter are coming to California because her daughter's starting school again soon (Stanford). After Katrina, however, FEMA should be better prepared. They've already begun taking preliminary cautions. Hm... Katrina hits Florida. Refugees go to Texas. Rita hits Texas. Think God's trying to be funny? Or else, there's somebody in that crowd of refugees who God really doesn't like. OR, and this is being off-the-charts cynical which I apologize for ahead of time, Jeb's governor of Florida. Dubya was governor of Texas. HMMM..... A clue, Sherlock. Regardless, I wish Texas nothing but good thoughts. They're proabably going to need it. (As a side note, if you haven't yet, donate to Red Cross. They really need it right now and they're probably going to need it EVEN MORE in the coming weeks.)

I'm supporting Google in the book thing mostly because of the thought of the project, not because of any legal reasoning. I think it's a wonderful thing that they're trying to document books and put them online. It'll be research easier and it'll catalogue human knowledge in a way that it's really never been formally done. Hopefully, it'll lead to the expansion of our knowledge and we're able to go back and revisit texts that we've forgotten. Also, the RIAA is seriously scary. They're acting more and more like a mafia: protecting their "territory," trying to get people to pay "protection money," having friends in high places who'll prosecute. SCARY. Hopefully, they calm the F down. Trying to put copy protection in digital radio recorders?? Punks! REVOLT AGAINST THE RIAA! =)

Other than that, not much else comes to mind. Hope everybody had/has a good Wednesday.

Innovative Protest Management

Judy sent me this link

http://www.ppsp.org/PledgePicket-index.asp
I think it's absolutely brilliant. As I've mentioned in the past few posts, I'm a big supporter of innovation. This is innovation. Pledge money for the clinic for every protester that shows up. The more protesters, the more moeny the clinic gets. I'm definitely pledging money to this place.

This is by far the best way of combating political views that I've seen. It doesn't prevent people from protesting but it should, in theory, discourage people from protesting. On top of that, the discouragement doesn't impact the protesters so they can't complain. If you show up to protest, you don't have to pay money out of your pocket or anything. Nobody can complain about anything! =D

Brilliant! (< quoting Jon Lovitz. well, not really, but it's kinda funny to say so.)

Work

I've discovered that I'm really only called upon to do stuff between 9 am - 11 am and 5 pm - 6/7 pm. I think i should just take a six hours lunch everyday. This structure, by the way, sucks hard. I still gotta come in in the morning and I have to stay until after closing at night. The middle? Well, the middle's just long, dragged out, boring, and soporific.

GAH!

Can you hear me now?

Is there a dignified way of trying to reestablish communication through a cellphone after the signal goes on the blitz? The best I can think of is just going "hello? hello? hello?" until the other party can hear you again. As... simple... as this is, it's very undignified. Not to mention annoying. I suppose there's not much you can do about it. Stew-pid cell phones.

Breaking the Matrix

Gah! I can't even begin to transcribe just how much I hate working in a cubicle. How much I hate working 40 hours a week in a job I don't understand. I can't wait until I can quit this job and go out.

I think working for the university spoiled me immensely. I saw that it was possible to do something you enjoy; to work with people day in and day out on something you believe in. I can't wait until I have the opportunity to simply drop it all and go to work in that environment again.

It's the simple things I really miss. I miss being able to sit at a desk without looking at the computer. I miss working on a hand-on project that requires creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills. I miss being in meetings where my input extends beyond the role of minute-taker. I miss having a rapport with people I admire and respect. I miss being able to see students trying to change the world instead of workers trying to survive. I miss being able to take the afternoon off to go to the comic book store. I miss coming in Saturday and working for 14 hours on something I really believe in. I miss talking to parents (this was a lot of fun, I don't know why). I miss being able to get to work without running into traffic. I miss being able to stand up and walk around. I miss having time to go see friends, to go out, to stay in. Most of all, I miss the community that surrounded Cowell College.

I can't stand working in an environment where I have to wake up the same time everyday, drive in the same amount of traffic, and work on the same damn thing everyday. I know now that I could never survive working in an office building. I just wouldn't be able to survive it.

I want to type "I can't wait until I move to Boston." I do plan on going and I'm really excited about it. But, that's not what I'm waiting for now. The truth of the matter is that right now, I can't wait until I quit this job and take a week off to sleep in, see friends, go out, not drive in traffic, not stare at a computer moniter, and just be.

Mike - I still plan on going to Boston in January. Save me a place. We'll go drink coffee like there's no tomorrow.

52 Projects

http://www.52projects.com

Browse this website. It's filled with random interesting projects and links that help expand creative juices. I found a project I really want to try.

http://www.52projects.com/52_projects/2004/12/whats_your_proj_3.html

This is along the lines of the 24 hour comic book, a challenge started by Scott McCloud, reknown comic book guru. He challenged creators to create a 24 page comic book in 24 hours. Script, art, everything within a continuous span of 24 hours. This link's more of an invitation. Stay up 24 hours. Write something every hour that takes only an hour (or less). I definitely want to try this sometime.

Favorite Things

One of my favorite things to hear is raindrops hitting the rooftop with the sound of distant rolling thunder. Another one of my favorite things to hear is, right after, "Did I leave my car windows open?"

=D

The Friendly Monopoly

Is it just me or is Google.com on the verge of simply taking over? It seems that their business is a lot like the Apple of old (or, to use a contemporary example, Pixar). Everything that they attempt seems to succeed. From their outrageously popular search engine beginnings, Google's risen to become the leading competitor in all things electronic. Their search engine's the undisputed king of all search engines. They provide better web-based email than... anybody. Heck, Gmail seems to be overshadowing ISP provided email. Professionals now either have a company email address or a Gmail address. Google maps provides directions. Even Google Earth is breath-takingly amazing. Have you ever tried Google Answers? Google's provided a Blog Search if you want to find a blog about a particular topic. Froogle for shopping. Even personalized homepages, in case you miss the clutter that dominated Yahoo.

So dominant is Google that even their threats are taken with immense seriousness. When Google expressed a passing interest in the payment industry (e.g. Paypal), Mastercard, the 2nd leading credit company in the world, took it as a personal challenge and stepped up to compete with the non-existent Google payment service. Mastercard, now, is introducing an increase in its distribution of its no-touch cards, a new payment process that uses radio frequencies instead of magnetic strips that allow a person to pay at a register or a gas pump by simply waving the card over a reader. They're also currently working with cellphone providers to try and make the cellphone into the next credit card, making it "a high-powered payment and sales device." This may or may not work, but it shows innovation. And, I appreciate innovation. Mastercard's taken the Google challenge, so to speak, and seems to be coming out better and brighter.

Now, Google is testing out a WiFi service in the greater San Francisco Bay Area (whoa! Bay Area rocks again!). Assuming history does repeat itself, this will have one of 2 possible outcomes. Either Google's WiFi service will be vastly superior to SBC's (I believe the leading service provider in the Bay Area currently) or SBC will step up to the plate be innovative enough to grab ahold of its market shares. Personally, I hope SBC goes under (personal grudges with SBC) but either way, Google proves that it can become the catalyst for improvement.

Google now reminds me of Microsoft then. Even the stock prices (~$300/share) are reminiscent of MSN when I was in 5th grade. I remember because we did a stock project for a summer school program that year. Someone chose to invest in MSN stock, despite it being the highest costing stock and was one of the few people to actually make money at the end of the 3 weeks or however long it was. I just hope that Google can learn from the mistakes of Microsoft. They're certainly more favored now than MSN was favored then. Perhaps this will become a Google.com world. Perhaps we won't care. It seems, at least for now, that Google has yet to even begin to really go at it. It seems to me that when they do start to go full speed ahead, there will be good things to come. So, here I am, looking forward to what the next big Google project will be.

What's the point? Exactly

Amanda sent this link to me.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1541732.html

It's a GIANT PINK BUNNY! My first thought was "What's the point?" After all, it's... well... a GIANT PINK BUNNY. Then I realized that the point was, in part, that it didn't have a point. It was, after all, simply a huge plush doll (20 foot sides? wow...). In the truest representation of post-modernism, this is merely art for art's sake. At its size, this is art for art's sake that you can't miss. If for nothing else, this bunny can be appreciated as a wonder of what human beings can accomplish. We have discovered and broken the laws of the universe. We have swam the deepest deeps and soared the highest highs. This is why I love science fiction. It's an examination of the imagination. This bunny is that. So, challenge the world that we live in. Build 20 foot tall stuffed bunnies. What else are you going to do with all the pink fabric?

Thanks for the story, Amanda. The picture alone was amazing. =D

Arg!

Arg! It be National Talk Like a Pirate Day today, matey. Avast ye scurvy dogs and talk like a pirate!

ARR!!

40%: Still kinda high, don't you think?

CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll Presidential Approval Rating

You can click the link and read the story yourself. I'm not going to just copy and paste the story. I'll just add some thoughts.

Bush's approval rating hits 40%. My first thought was "Wow. Still kinda high considering the FEMA fiasco." Turns out, the 40% was actually a low (being only the 2nd time his approval rating hit 40%). Being a Californian Democrat, I must have a skewed opinion of our current Commander-in-Chief. Let's see, he gave the head of FEMA to his lawyer friend who started working at FEMA merely as legal consultant, by-passing one of the LISTED REQUIREMENTS (this is important. They actually list "Emergency Management Experience" in the job requirements for the job, as if it wasn't instinctual) for the job. Warned about the hurricane 3 days before it hit (with New Orleans SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED AS A PROBLEM AREA), FEMA still manages to get caught with its trousers down around the ankles, so to speak. To quote Robin Williams: "A clue, Sherlock." Perhaps we can called Dubya Boss Bush (as in Boss Tweed in the Tammany Hall scandal). Let's look further. Oh, wouldya look at that? The top 3 FEMA officials (prior to Mike Brown's resignation) had close ties to Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. Is FEMA being used as the new Lincoln bedroom? If it was, it sure as hell isn't going to be used like that anymore. I just hope nothing bad happens in the next 3 years. Otherwise, we're going to be outrageously unprepared for... well... anything.

Bush hits new levels of stew-pid. To paraphrase Bill Maher, "I thought we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with Regan but Dubya comes along and proves that if you just lift up the barrel..." (The original joke was from the 80's and Dubya was replaced with Dan Quayle. Somehow, this seems more apropos.) [Of course, considering how we did in 2000 and 2004, we're probably going to lose the 2008 presidential election AGAIN even after Katrina. Figures.]

Word of the Moment

Mondegreen: "A series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric." (from Dictionary.com)

Who knew that there was such a word? I'm guilty of mondegreen almost... all the time.

Brought to you by GI Joe, because "knowing is half the battle."

Yay! Bill Clinton! (Slick Willy Speaks...)

Clinton's gone on record as saying that Bush should raise taxes to help relief funds. He's implored Democrats to make this an issue in 2006 elections and 2008 elections. Clinton sites that by giving tax cuts to the richest 1% of the country, we're constantly putting ourselves into more debt by borrowing money from other countries in order to keep our various "interests" afloat. Clinton, who is part of the richest 1%, says that he's received four tax cuts since 2001. That's 4 tax cuts. Jeez. I'm glad Clinton's spoken up about this. I think we need to really press the issue because whoever inherits the throne (so to speak) after Dubya is going to need to clean up this mess. The more we do NOW, the less mess there will be LATER. Somehow this kindergarten lesson comes back to fruition in the "real world."

It's moments like these that make me think that Hillary could become president. I doubt it though. Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea getting another member of the Clinton family into the White House. Heck, even George Clinton and the P-Funk would be an improvement. At least there'll be saxophone playing again.

Oh, and it's worth pointing out that Clinton was interviewed on ABC by George Stephanopoulos. That must've been fun. =D

"If you build it..."

http://www.411song.com/

Just goes to show you, if someone's willing to pay for it then at least 10 people are willing to sell it to you. Kudos on finding something that isn't widely available in the open market now. =D Innovation at work.

Nintendo Revolution

After watching the video about the controller, I have to say that I'm looking forward to the Nintendo Revolution game console. The possibilities are spectacular, much more than incorporating touch screen technology into the DS, in my opinion. By simply using a remote control (like... you know, a remote control. Let's not fool ourselves. It's a remote), Nintendo's done more than just open the door to gaming possibilities. They've kicked the door down. Nintendo's quickly becoming, in my opinion, the premiere gaming providers in the world (many would argue that they already were). I'm definitely looking forward to the Revolution more than the PS3, a bold statement on my part, considering I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the NES. With the revolutionary (pun intended) controller introduced by Nintendo, as well as the ingenuity of Nintendo itself, video games will never be the same again. I just worry about cross-platform games. Games released on XBox 360 and PS3 will have a moderate time adjusting to the Nintendo Revolution but games released on the Revolution will probably never find a home on XBox 360 or PS3. Since I'm very much looking forward to the Revolution, I don't think this'll be THAT big of an issue for me because I intend on buying a Revolution. Definitely going to buy one. (Oh, and on one last note, Apple white for the console color? An infinite times better than George Foreman Grill silver for the PS3 and XBox 360. Aesthetically, Nintendo wins yet again. I bet that's a phrase you'll be hearing more of in the near future.)

Revolution

Ok, I have time for one last post before I start my weekend (glee). This idea's also been at the forefront of my mind. Things I've learned/realized:

elgooG:
As a lark, programmers of All Too Flat created a mirror site for uber-website/search engine Google.com. Taking the concept to its literal limit, they formed elgoog.com, a website that reports its search results backwards. (Try it. It's fun. Just go to Google.com and search for phrase "elgoog".) The website was more than just a lark in that could actually search for phrases inputed into its search bar (albeit reversed) with Google's search engine and return results (again, reversed). The site achieved unforeseen popularity in China where the state government had banned Google.com from being accessed by locals but hadn't filtered elgooG. Determined Chinese locals were able to search for material that they couldn't find otherwise. China has since lifted its blocks for Google.com

Captain Crunch:
A whole generation of cyberphreaks and hackers sprung up almost overnight, giving rise to a technological revolution. The roots of these hackers lie in something called phone phreaking. Back in the day, before the advent of the computer, hackers discovered a flaw in the phone system provided by AT&T. Basically, certain frequencies, when sent through the receiver, would be interpreted in different ways by the automated systems. The trick was to find frequencies. One of the first and certainly the most popular one was 2600 hz. One of the founding phone phreakers, the Whistler, discovered that not only could he whistle at 2600 hz (hence the nickname) but also that by a 2600 hz buzz could be made by modifying a toy whistle, a giveaway in Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes. He told his friend, John Draper, who took this knowledge to build blue boxes, becoming one of the first phone phreakers. (Draper, subsequently, took on the nickname Captain Crunch and has since had legions of hackers and hacker-wannabes who've taken the name as an homage.) 2 more famous people who got their start as phreakers? Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, co-founders of Apple Computers and arguably 2 of the most important individuals in the 20th century.

Ali bumaye:
Muhammed Ali, stripped of his title and determined to get it back, challenged George Foreman, then heavyweight champion, to a fight to end all fights. Don King scheduled it in Zaire. Ali, a local favorite, was showered with chants of Ali bumaye! or Ali, kill him! in English. Ali's loss of his heavyweight belt prior to this fight was due to his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, a conflict he saw as being racist and needless. Stripped of his title, pride, and freedom, Ali persevered and managed to not only emerge with his morals in tact but also with the belt, after defeating Foreman with his famous rope-a-dope strategy. To use the phrase Ali bumaye today indicates not just an association with the fight but an association with the man who proved that one man can take on a government and win.

Revolutions come in small packages. They come when you least expect them and they come when you're not even looking. They happen everyday with every choice and every consequence. That's what I've learned.

Funny Conversation

Me: yo
Ravi: hey
me: I posted again
Ravi: ruh roh
me: that's right, scooby. we're going in after the ghosts. If you don't want to, just have a scooby snack.
Ravi: ....
Ravi: die

Excuse the crude look. AIM conversations don't copy/paste well into this thing.

Simplfying Life.

I saw this website yesterday and I think it's the greatest thing in the world (barring miracles and free money/food for the masses). It's Pocketmod. It's a Java program that lets you print a one-page sheet of paper that you fold up into a pocket-sized disposable planner. It's got dozens of preset page options, including calenders and to-do lists and games.

I've completely fallen in love with this Pocket Mod. It's gotten to the point where I wish I had more projects to do that I could use this planner on a regular basis. It's great for students, especially college. I remember I used to take notes on scraps of paper I was using for bookmarks or that I had leftover after doing origami with notebook paper. Pocket Mod would've been perfect.

I also saw the Hipster PDA around the same time. (Btw, 43 folders is a great blog to read too.) Along the same thought process as the Pocket Mod, the Hipster is simply 500 index cards clipped together with a huge alligator clip paper clip. Even above and beyond, however, are people who have come up with Hipster templates that you can print out that offer all the things that a manual dayplanner has (even a sundial mod!).

These "low-tech" innovations had me thinking. It seems that the more and more we get our lives lodged into the technological way of life, the more and more we look for ways to do things in an "accoustic" way (so-to-speak). Even as we increase our technological prowess, we seem to value those things that are simply an extension of how life was ten, twenty, even fifty years ago. A great example is the Logitech io Digital Pen which allows a user to write notes on a sheet of paper, allowing the notes to be automatically transcribed into a computer or PDA or whatever. My favorite projection of advanced technology in a sci-fi work is in Firefly when newspapers and maps that are as is but with displays that convey a digital picture projection. It's like a moniter that's just as thick and pliable (and, assumably, disposable) as a sheet of paper. "Low-tech" in the coming millenium.

Even with innovation, the easiest thing to do is still to simply write stuff down on your hand (the first Palm Pilot) or on sheets of folded paper in your pocket. Perhaps we were never meant to have the technology that we have now. I wouldn't be surprised. However, I also am not surprised that we're not letting that minor detail stop us. As technology continues to expand at an exponential rate (this is the correct use of the word "exponential," btw), we proceed to amaze ourselves every single day. That, my friends, is the apex of optimism and it gives me hope in our meager race that one day... well, frankly, that one day the world of Star Trek will be a reality. =D

The Anti-Robin Hood

So, this has been bugging me for a bit. Why is George W. still giving tax cuts for the rich? Don't we need the money now: you know, as a nation? I mean, we've got that whole Iraq war/imperialization still happening. That's costing billions of dollars a year. After Hurricane Katrina, there are another billions upon billions of dollars that could are needed. California's going through an energy crisis. Gas prices are completely out of control ($3.00 a gallon???).

I know that Republicans are saying that Democrats are trying to politicize Katrina and place blame with Bush because we (as Democrats) enjoy placing blame. And, while we have been placing blame rather quickly, it's rather hypocritical to say that only the Left has placed blame on a tragedy. Let's not forget that the Right were quick to point to Bill Clinton's lack of action as a catalyst for 9/11 as well as using 9/11 commercial spots in the 2004 election after promising in 2001 that they wouldn't, in deference to the victims and their families. (Btw, we've had 2 major tragedies in America during the 2 terms of presidency of Dubya. Not to mention the fact that we still have 3 more years of the Boy Prince in office. Is God trying to send us a message??)

So, here we are. Both sides have tried their darndest to help Katrina victims. Red Cross is raising money. Texas has opened its doors. Current President, past Presidents, celebrities galore have visited Nu 'Awlins (New Orleans) in support. And we are left with trying to find meaning in this tragedy. Could this be in part on the shoulders of our current government? After all, Bush did criticize the existence of FEMA, cutting millions of dollars from it in order to support the troops in Iraq and give tax cuts to the rich (emphasis on the Rich).

Is it too much to hope that Bush will go public in the next couple of weeks and announce that in this time, with the country in great need, that the money would do better in the hands of the Federal Governement rather than go back to the (rich) people of America? [And, to be completely pessimistic, could it be that Louisiana is a "Blue State," just like California? And the gas price lack of action may be because Bush 2.0 was brought into the office with Texas oil money? Or is that too cynical? Just a passing thought.] Politics.

Prelude

So, I decided to start a blog. (This is not so surprising, if you're already reading it.) I know this seems hypocritical, considering that I have a webpage sitting in neglect (which I don't think I can touch any more, considering I'm not a UCSC student any more) and a Xanga also in neglect (which I will update. Sometime... soon...). The purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for my thoughts (and boredom) when I'm at work.

So, I suppose this blog will consist of postings about thoughts I have throughout the day as well as random news items that I happen to read or whatever catches my flittering attention for the moment. Hopefully, because I have quite a bit of downtime at work, I'll be updating this more often than not. (Oh, in case you're curious, the title of this blog Rumble, young man, rumble is of course a phrase popularized by Muhammed Ali. It's one of my favorite quotes and I used it as the title of my graduation speech that I gave for Cowell College at UCSC. I find it very inspirational as a quote and a good motto to live a life by.)

I think, for a first post (made, ironically, while NOT at work), I'll talk about blogging. Blogging, or web logging in longhand, is the practice of keeping an online journal. What seemed to start out to me as nothing more than a whimsical tentacle of what's possible for the Internet. More and more, however, it seems that blogging is taking a more central position in the lives of those around us. It's become a more formalized expression of beliefs and ideas, rather than just a "today I saw..." form of self-indulgence. Blogging's changed the way that people are able to understand one another and the world around them. Blogs are starting to pop up in every aspect of life. Business blogs are becoming more and more popular with authors placing very professional looking and sounding posts about new ways to change your office life. Fashion blogs (as I have several friends who keep them) have popped up. Authors post short stories and poems. Physicists post new revelations (check out Michio Kaku for a great website). Political analysts use blogs to provide understanding for the world around us in timely fashion. (Read this. I swear, it's worth it.) Along those lines, blogging seems to me more valuable than just a simple fascination. In that vein, I hope to find much use out of this blog. Just bear with me when I blab on and on like I have just done.

Also, don't hurt me if I find stew-pid things to talk about. Like wrestling. Which will happen shortly. =)