| A Few Thoughts on Republicans |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|12:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  blah | ] |
♬ ♬ Lah dah dee lah dah dah ♬ ♬
Mark Sanford is a complete asshat. I don't want to jump to conclusions yet, since I have yet to hear the full story regarding his supposed hike along the Appalachian Trail. I came across a video featuring the South Carolina governor, where he is seen protesting pork barrel spending. No offence, Republicans, but I used to be of the opinion that Democrats were the dramatic and obnoxious bunch. But here, in the video, Sanford is seen carrying pigs into the South Carolina statehouse to protest pork barrel spending.
I'm not sure of his intended goal. Why carry pigs into the statehouse? I don't really get the punchline.
The conservative rhetoric is reminiscent of the recent tax tea party in DC.
Umm....you guys are retards. |
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| "Defeated Ahmadinejad rival arrested in Iran" |
[Jun. 14th, 2009|10:14 am] |
From this
Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was reportedly arrested Saturday following the reformist's defeat at the polls by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Supporters of Mousavi, the main challenger to Ahmadinejad, have responded to the election with the most serious unrest in Tehran in a decade and claim that the result was the work of a dictatorship.
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| Proof Time |
[May. 31st, 2009|11:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  bored | ] |
Problem 54 of A Profile of Mathematical Logic states within the domain of ℕ allowing the standard interpretation of '<' the following proof:
(1) ∀x (x < x)
(2) ∀x ∃y (x < y)
(3) ∀x ∀y ∀z (((x < y) & (y < z)) ⊃ (x < z))
(1) - (3) is true within the domain of ℕ, but not within a finite domain. Interestingly enough, when the finite domain of ℕ consists of just the first natural number, one arrives at a contradiction, because (1) would amount to '(1 < 1)' and (2) would be tantamount to '(1 < 1)' as well. |
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| Mir-Hossein Mousavi |
[May. 24th, 2009|04:15 pm] |
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I'm a bit excited for Mir-Hossein Mousavi, because of his progressive-reformist position on Iranian politics. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, has also been likened to "Iran's Michelle Obama." He and his wife seem to be well received by young Iranians. I sincerely hope this is a step in the right direction--opposing Ahmadinejad's ultra conservative iron fisted control over Iran. |
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| Potato Guns |
[May. 24th, 2009|04:03 pm] |
I'm going to do away with the last post concerning a certain LJ user. In retrospect, maybe the way I came across was a bit inappropriate. And, also, personality differences are also at play, which are irrespective of any ideology.
On another note, since the level of discussion on LJ hasn't improved, IMHO, (taking into account the recent deletions of journals on here), I'd like include some input as well. The following is a YouTube video featuring a couple of guys making potato guns. Kinda funny, I thought.
( When in Rome, do as the Romans ) |
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| Pardon The Populism |
[May. 23rd, 2009|12:23 am] |
I needed to grab a coffee, and the nearest coffee place which sold it was in the mall. Luckily I had to go to the mall to pay a few bills, so I just made my way over to the Starbucks. A line had formed, so I decided to grin and bear it. I was on the phone while patiently waiting in queue.
After several minutes, I reached the front. It was as if I had completed a marathon, and I was surprised that I wasn't rewarded with a complementary coffee as I neared the finish line. The hipster-barista guy saw me and proceeded to "check out" a sixteen year-old girl who was in front of me. I had rolled my eyes out of desperation as I asked for a medium Caffè Latte. I forgot! Hipster-barista guy replies, with utmost éclat, "Ohh...you want a grande Caffè Latte?" He then charged me about $4 for the coffee. It sucked. Overpriced and pretentious coffee.
I guess I'm used to heading to Quick Chek at 2 o'clock in the morning with a burning desire for a simple coffee. When I want coffee, I want it. Fuck, just inject the caffeine into my veins if you have to. Cut out the middle man and do away with the barista.
I guess I have to keep up-to-date with the current fair trade issues, use of African coffee beans, purported profit sharing with the Israeli Defense Fund, and, most importantly, labor issues1.
Call me simplistic, but I go for the $1.49 black coffee from Quick Chek.
*sigh*
1: God alone knows that in order to complement the hipster-guy motif, one has to be versed in such issues. |
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| New Toshiba |
[May. 19th, 2009|09:51 am] |
This weekend, I purchased a Toshiba Satellite Pro 420CDT for five dollars at a garage sale. (It's a laptop, which is about 13-years-old.) When I purchased it, I noticed that the case was marked "REFURBISHED." There was also a company logo on the bottom, showing that it had once belonged to Sanofi Aventis.
The only real I/O ports I can find are the parallel and serial ports, as well as the SCSI. It actually booted up, which surprised me. So far, from what I can tell, it's running on Windows 95, which boots into DOS1. I'm trying to find an old version of UNIX, so I can run RAID and see what was originally on the system. Time to do some computer forensics!
1: I'm not messing with CMOS heheheh |
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| Power Lines |
[May. 9th, 2009|10:55 am] |
I went for a hike through the wildlife refuge in Lyons and came across this. It was a good hike. I must have travelled 6 miles by foot.
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| Some BS Internet Stuff |
[May. 6th, 2009|11:28 pm] |
One thing I have noticed with activist types online is that they usually thrive on a support base. They cannot function alone by themselves. Rather, they tend to huddle into groups. Any attack on them constitutes an immediate attack on their social structure. An opinion expressed by one of its members is usually the collective opinion of the group. It's mere "group think."
I've never understood these types of people--and there are plenty of them online. Of all of the blogs contained within Blogspot, LiveJournal, and various other outlets devoted to a certain "-ism", I have noticed that usually, whenever an objection is raised, an online brawl ensues between the activists, "group thinkers" and the like, against the naysayer. Such is the case online. It seems as if online activism breeds this kind of culture.
I'm a bit sceptical if online activism is worth its while, being that this theme is repeated several times over. Is there any middle ground between the race or gender or sexuality baiters online and their respondents? I don't really think so.
Van Alstyne and Brynjolfsson (1996) gave a theoretical interpretation of how the Internet would lead to "cyber balkanization." That is to say, some people fine tune their internet habits in order to accommodate their own viewpoints. Some internet users wish to confirm their own views; others shun alternative views.
It's rather interesting, I must say--at least in theory. |
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| QR Code |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|11:25 pm] |
I'm having fun with making my own QR Codes. For example,
I even installed ScanLife v. 2.0 onto my Palm Pilot. |
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| Muffler |
[Apr. 13th, 2009|11:25 pm] |
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This guy keeps driving up and down my block. His god damn muffler is so loud that it vibrates the windows of the parked cars causing nearby car alarms to sound. |
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| How Ya Doing? |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|09:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Madonna: Hung Up | ] |
There's an interesting feature of language people use on a daily basis. People quite often ask their friends, relatives and those with whom they come in contact the question, "How are you?" I suppose the depth of the relationship between the questioner and the respondent determines the outcome.
For instance, Jack might ask Jill as she enters his office--a prospective business client who maintains a strictly business relationship with Jack--"How are you doing?" Jill will most likely say in reply "Good." Jill will then switch the subject to how her quarterly figures appear. What she surely doesn't mention to Jack is that she is not doing well; she is doing badly: Her husband is cheating on her, she is being investigated by the IRS for tax fraud, etc.
On the contrary, when Jill speaks with her best friend, Jane, Jane may initiate the conversation with, "How are you?" Jill might reply with "Ehh, so-so: My fucking house is facing foreclosure; I can't get these feds to go away; my husband is at another late-night 'meeting' with a client."
Jill nowise gives the same answer to Jack about the status of her health/being/situation to the honest question, "How are you doing?"
I think this is a truly odd social convention. Why is it that people ask others how they are doing:
(a) when he interlocutor doesn't give a damn about the respondent's health and/or situation?
and
(b) when the respondent doesn't give an honest reply to the said question?
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| Late Night TV |
[Mar. 26th, 2009|10:45 pm] |
Here's a rundown on late night shows:
David Letterman: Still good (but no real opinion of him)
Jay Leno: Whiny, not funny, unoriginal. Passed his prime.
Jimmy Fallon: Douche
Conan O'Brien (Leno's replacement): I saw him in person at a filming with my ex. Funny, but gets old after a while.
Craig Furguson: This guy is funny. I love his cute accent too. |
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| Pictures of Newark |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|08:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | John Coltrane: My Favorite Things | ] |
Now that I've got a new camera, I've been taking lots of pictures.
This is was in Newark. Nothing spectacular or anything
( For the Hell of it... ) |
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| The News |
[Mar. 19th, 2009|08:38 am] |
It's a shame about Natasha Richardson. This story is being rehashed several times over. People really need to put this story to rest. They have been distracted by this story.
AIG's $165 million payout, partially based on government bailout, is a bit shocking, though. AIG's CEO, Edward Liddy, doesn't want to release the name of those employees who received bonuses, because "[He] explained that there had been death threats, and read an example: “All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks,” it said. “That is our only hope."
Death threats? Some of the excuses the executives are using for misappropriation of government bailout money is almost comical.
It gets better:
Paul E. Kanjorski tells Liddy "We do not intend to harass you." Another representative, Stephen Lynch, noted that “This is like the captain and the crew of the ship reserving the lifeboats saying to hell with the passengers."
Liddy replies with “I take offense, sir"
“Well, offense was intended,” Mr. Lynch retorted. “So you take it rightfully, sir.”
hehe...This is getting stupid now. |
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| Bunch of Liars |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|09:42 pm] |
I thought this up while at work, since people in management tend to lie a lot. The following is an explanation or justification based on Jane's absence at a meeting.
Observe the hypothetical scenario:
P: Jane did not attend the meeting, because you are always late.
Q (a hidden assumption): Jane did not attend the meeting, because she dislikes the way you dress.
You were told P was the reason why Jane did not attend the meeting.
Would it be considered a lie if both P and Q are true? It would be pretty conceivable to assume that not P and Q constitute a lie if only P was given.
I meant this in the strictest sense, i.e.,:
(1) P
(2) Q
(3) ∴ (P & Q)
On the contrary, one can validly say:
(1) P
(2) ¬(P & Q)
(3) ¬Q (Modus ponendo tollens)
But P is too ambiguous, since it contains more than one clause. The same might be true of Q.
So, perhaps P can be paraphrased:
P1: Jane did not attend the meeting.
P2: You are always late.
In conjunction, that reads: (P1 & P2)
The same can be said of Q, but it can be shortened since the first clause was contained in P, viz., P1 ("Jane did not attend the meeting").
Q1: Jane dislikes the way you dress.
Three atoms remain: P1, P2, Q1
Obviously, P1 is true. So, either P2 or Q1 (or both) is the reason for Jane's absence. If "or" is to be interpreted inclusively, there's is more uncertainty as to whether or not a lie was given. If "or" is interpreted exclusively, there's no question as to whether or not someone lied. |
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| VLC |
[Mar. 9th, 2009|05:23 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Cindi Lauper | ] |
Gosh, I love playing around with Linux.
For the longest time, my mp3 collection sounded horribly on VLC. The media streams were terrible. So, I used a UNIX OSS output configuration in /dev/dsp. Now the sound is much clearer.
It was still on the default settings. I'm glad that's over. |
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| Interesting 9/11 Commission Findings |
[Mar. 3rd, 2009|12:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | inquisitive | ] |
I just happened to read the 9/11 Commission Report while at the library today. On the first page, the Commission notes (to my surprise) that prior to 9/11, Mohammed Atta was “flagged” by a system known as CAPPS:
When he checked in for his flight to Boston, Atta was selected by a computerized prescreening system known as CAPPS (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System), created to identify passengers who should be subject to special security measures. Under security rules in place at the time, the only consequence of Atta’s selection by CAPPS was that his checked bags were held off the plane until it was confirmed that he had boarded the aircraft.
On page 168, the Commission notes:
…Bin Ladin did not fund al Qaeda through a personal fortune and a network of businesses in Sudan. Instead, al Qaeda relied primarily on a fund-raising network developed over time. The CIA now estimates that it cost al Qaeda about $30 million per year to sustain its activities before 9/11 and that this money was raised almost entirely through donations.
Also, to my dismay, Bin Ladin relied on receiving funds through an Islamic practice known as zakat1.
This report, to say the least, is quite eye opening. If only the 9/11 truthers were literate enough to read this, perhaps more than half of their questions might be answered. But I guess my tacit affirmation of the Commissions’ findings suggest that I must be a part of the conspiracy.
But for the most part, I wish I had more time to read through this report. But I think this reinforces many of my concerns about the CIA. That is, hindsight might bring to light what should have been done differently as opposed to what should be done in the future in preventing intelligence failures.
1Look it up for yourself if you don't know what this is. |
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