Just another political flash cartoon, again.

Funny Clips of Morons

Cat Fan:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/catfan2.wmv

Heliboat:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/TowJob.wmv

Counter-Strike at McDonalds
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/csmac.wmv

Mastercard Commercial
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/mastercard.asf

A typical day back in Utica, NY is like after a snow storm:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/snow_car2.wmv
It is one of the few things I'm happy about being here in warmer weather.

Here are links to some of my pictures from back east.

Pictures of my niece: Catlin Marie Andrus
catlin1.jpg
catlin2.jpg
catlin3.jpg
catlin4.jpg
catlin5.jpg
catlin6.jpg
catlin7.jpg
catlin8.jpg
catlin9.jpg
catlin10.jpg
catlin11.jpg
catlin12.jpg
catlin13.jpg

Short AVI Video of my niece:
http://www.cs.sunyit.edu/~andrusw/private/NYTrip%20020.avi

Pics of my brother's dog:
Tdog1
Tdog2

Pic of Southside Pudgies the best Pizza anywhere:
http://www.cs.sunyit.edu/~andrusw/private/pudgies.jpg
Order a sheet pizza with peperoni and meat sauce or try the pudgie's special selection.

Geeks abuse computers more then non-geeks.

"Rage Against the Machines"
Technology Review (12/24/04); Delio, Michelle

"Kent Norman, cognitive psychologist and director of the University of Maryland's Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes, studies how technology users vent their frustration at the systems they work with, often by hurling verbal abuse at the machinery, and sometimes by physically attacking it in creative ways. A three-year online survey conducted by Norman reveals that most respondents are fairly competent technically, leading the psychologist to conclude that "Geeks have real problems with technology designed by other geeks." Previous survey statistics have influenced Norman's assessment that approximately 10 percent of all new computers and tech equipment given as gifts over the winter holidays will suffer serious damage over the next few weeks as a result of user rage, with most of the damage inflicted by non-technical owners. Norman believes geeks will demonstrate even more venom in their technological torture. He observes that "Geeks have as many or more frustrations than the rest of the population because we attempt to push the technology harder and have higher expectations than most," and cites one report of an owner who poured two gallons of gasoline over his PC and set it ablaze. Other unique forms of tech torture survey respondents have admitted to include crashing cars into equipment, tossing keyboards into swimming pools, and shooting computers. Norman sees psychological value in destroying machinery creatively, a hobby he practices in earnest at his lab, which is stocked with over 20 years' worth of surplus and obsolete gear. Norman documents the equipment's destruction on video and distributes the films online in the hopes that frustrated computer owners will get a vicarious thrill rather than actually damaging their own equipment--or at least be inspired by the videos to practice safe and effective tech torture."

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/wo_delio122404.asp?p=1

Illegal coping of books made easier now, score another one for college students.

"Scientists Hope to End Book-Breaking Work"
NewsFactor Network (12/17/04); Martin, Mike

"One of the frustrations of copying material in books is the risk of damaging their spines by flattening the books against the copier's scanning surface so as to avoid warped and poorly illuminated text that may inhibit clear reading. To counter this problem, Xerox researchers Beilei Xu and Robert Loce have inexpensively refined the software of common scanners by embedding a mathematical formula that compensates for disparities in distance from the platen along a bound book page. This removes the distortion of words running along the page's center as well as eliminates darker copy sections where the page is bound to the book. Xu says the updated copier software calculates the distance of the book from the scanning surface for every page pixel by employing the same light the scanners beam and analyze. Xu and Loce detailed their new scanning technology at last month's 5th International Conference on Imaging Science and Hard Copy. City College of New York computer science professor George Wolberg notes that Google intends to make major library collections available over the Internet, an effort that will involve the digitization of scores of books. 'Any book-scanning technology must address digital correction of warped pages of text,' he says".

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Scientists-Hope-To-End-Book-Breaking-Work&story_id=29147

Here are some interesting video clips:

Japanesse Soccer Tornado:
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec22_japan_tornado.html

Spelling Bee Kid Faints:
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec20_spelling_bee.html

850,000 firecrackers at once
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec26_fire_crackers.html

Coming Back tomorrow

I should be on a plane coming back to Cali tomorrow.

Vacation Update

I'm here in Elmira, NY visting family. The trip here took longer then expected with long lines at LAX and snow storm delays at Clevland, OH. I've seen my niece (Caylie Marie Andrus) she is officially 1 week old today. Visited family and my moms computer was broken, I'm assuming the video card. My brother also got a free computer which has been updated a little from old parts that I had. It just now needs a better video card and graphics card.

I have pictures and will upload them once I'm back in CALI or I if I visit my friends house with road runner speed.

Going to NY for a week..

so there might not be any blog posting, at least not as often. Like anyone really reads all this shit I post and my constant babbling. So here is a link of Elmira, NY where I grew up after moving there from Long Beach, CA back in 1988.

http://www.ci.elmira.ny.us/index/index.html

Its going to be weird flying from 80 degree weather to 32 degrees, but I will enjoy the cold and the snow. I'm weird like that. :)

Interesting: LEGO Monty Python Scene

It's a slow news and technology day (in my opinion) so here is a scene acted out with lego men from Monty Python

http://www.askmen.com/video/current/index.html

Parents Television Council's Worst TV Clip of the Week

Ok so I was looking at another Long Beach blogger and he showed a clip of South's Park episode from last week in which the PTC was showing as the worst clip of the week. I thought it would be nice for me to check up on the website from now on and link the worst clip of the week. So here it is...

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/clips/Ryan%20Murphy%205-28-04%20Bravo%20(Sex%20in%20the%20Box).wmv

"Nip/Tuck Creator Ryan Murphy talks about his future goals 'Hopefully I have made it possible for somebody on broadcast television to do a rear-entry scene in three years. Maybe that will be my legacy.' on the Bravo documentary Sex in the Box (warning: graphic content)"

The Matrix using our bodies not to far in the future?

"Ecobot Eats Dead Flies for Fuel"
Wired News (12/15/04); Sandhana, Lakshmi

"The Ecobot II robot developed by University of the West of England professors Chris Melhuish and John Greenman uses microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to convert organic matter--specifically, dead flies and rotten apples--into electricity. Machines such as Ecobot II are an early step toward the ultimate goal of a self-sustaining, self-powering robot that can function for years without human assistance. The MFCs comprising the Ecobot's "guts" contain microbes normally found in sewage that break down raw food into sugars, and the cells take in oxygen from the air to generate useful biochemical energy that is turned into electricity. Ecobot II manages a peak speed of roughly two to four centimeters every 15 minutes, an act requiring the consumption of eight flies; it currently takes about one to two weeks for the machine to extract approximately 90 percent of the energy contained in three to four flies, although the research team is working to shrink that interval down to a few days. MFC-driven robots are idle most of the time while they power up, and fuel cell performance and longevity are still easily outmatched by standard alkaline batteries. "Until today, the maximum open circuit voltage of a microbial fuel cell is not more than 0.75 volts and that goes down in current production, which is not enough to power most of the electronics, including many handheld devices," notes University of Massachusetts professor Swades K. Chaudhuri. "However, with further discovery of a novel bug that can quickly oxidize organic material or by modifying existing bugs genetically there may be a way to enhance power output." As more powerful fuel cells emerge, the Ecobot could be equipped with sensors that allow the device to detect the presence of food, or use pheromones to attract flies."

Full Article: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66036,00.html

I know people are scared of matrix like concepts, well don't be afraid the Matrix is not real. ;) Now go back to your daily routine. Muhahahahaha

I'm a uncle now..

well my brother, Mike, and his girlfriend -- Whitney had a daughter on December 15, 2004. The babies name is Caitlyn. Well I guess my job of being the uncle is to spoil the little girl as often as possible. I'm thinking once I get a nice job I will set up some college fund for her, that way she would be able to go to a good college that is over priced around $30,000 a year. About time she is grown up to go to college it would probably cost about $50,000.

University Jaume I researchers working on project to improve video game realism

"A group of researchers from the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at the Universitat Jaume I is taking part in a project to improve realism in video games. The goal is to design software that makes the task of game programmers easier so that they can create more credible environments without having to carry out complex operations. The research, which has received financial help of 1,649,000 euros from the European Commission and is to last for 33 months, involves 11 other members from Spanish and European universities, and from companies from this sector.

So far, game design has not presented any special difficulties for companies because the techniques used have been somewhat rudimentary. Nowadays, however, the need to improve video game realism requires more complex applications. The UJI and the other universities involved will work on turning the complex formulas already existing in the laboratory into usable programs that will improve the degree of realism in three basic aspects: geometry, lighting and visibility.

Our idea is to develop the technology that was used in very complex workstations so that it is immediately accessible on PCs or on low cost platforms, explains Miguel Chover, responsible for the project at the UJI. Our objective is to create software so that video game programmers can simplify their tasks and work with more complex models and more realistic lighting techniques without having to develop their own algorithms. That is, what we do is a sort of algorithms bookstore, added Chover."

Full Article: http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/information_technology/report-37666.html

This reminds me of the movie revolution to allow producers to develop cheap independent films on their computer (mainly Apple) with special effects. Imagine in about 10 years we will have a ton of independent video games with today's quality being sold widely. Of course video gaming should have changed a lot by then.

Need some ideas for gift for the Holidays?

Well I figure I would give some links to some weird or interesting places to buy gifts from.

http://www.bustedtees.com/
http://www.jinx.com/scripts/products.asp?catID=1&affID=-1
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
http://www.wonderfullywacky.com/index.htm

"Intelligence Platform at AI Conference"

"Intelligence Platform at AI Conference"
Scoop (NZ) (12/10/04)

"Next week will mark the launch of the NeuroComputing Environment for Evolving Intelligence (NeuCom2004) software platform for commercial and educational use at the Neurocomputing and Evolving Intelligence conference. NeuCom is the brainchild of the Auckland University of Technology's Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute (KEDRI), and KEDRI director Nik Kasabov classifies the platform as an evolving intelligence (EI) system based on his team's hypotheses and techniques of evolving connectionist systems (ECOS). Kasabov explains that EI systems "learn and improve incrementally starting with little knowledge and develop over time." NeuCom incorporates over 60 data analysis, data visualization, data mining, classification, forecasting, optimization, modeling and rule discovery, decision support, image processing, and information integration methods; the system runs on all Windows- or Linux-based computer platforms, and its application has been mapped out for education and for constructing intelligent systems in bioinformatics, business data analysis, adaptive control, medical decision support, and agriculture, among other areas. NeuCom is comprised of ECOS modules, some of which are being used for projects such as SIFTWARE, a gene expression data analysis system currently being employed experimentally by Pacific Edge Biotechnology. Another project that uses ECOS is a renal function evaluation system designed to provide an explanation for impaired kidney function. Kasabov says the system "is always adaptable, trainable on new data and extracts rules that help medical professionals give an accurate, personalized prognosis."


This concept is basically putting a whole lot of concepts together into one use.
It is basically bringing together the visual learning, and rule learning concepts with Reinforcement Learning to develop what sounds to be a fast learning machine. I just wonder how much storage would be needed, but with storage getting cheaper and larger --this isn't a big concern in the future.

Flashback: My swimming experience

Ok so I have been going to the gym lately and started swimming every other day. It is harder then I remember. So I figure for this blog post I will discuss the high and low of swimming from my past.

Well I was never the best swimmer or the worst; I was usually in the middle. Our team at Elmira Southside in New York was always losers, even though we had some excellent star swimmers. We had on average about 10 swimmers a year. If you ever seen a swim team, you'll know this is barely enough. When facing a star school like Horseheads High school we would get slaughtered by their second half of their team made up of freshman and sophomores. We would be sitting there on our benches when they come in and they would fill up all of our visitor benches and the area where we stored the kickboards. I would say about 40 swimmers. I remind you that’s half of their team!!


--So let the swimming begin--

When I said we had some excellent star swimmers, I wasn't lying. We had a fast sprinter, great butter flyers, and a great breast stroker, two great divers, and I wasn't to bad at being a back stroker myself.

The first race I believe was the 200 relays. (That’s 4 people doing 50m crawl). We would usually get 1st place. Being a small team sometimes that's all we could put in is one relay, so we would get 6 points for first. The other team would get 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd, 2 points for 4th = 9 points. Even though we got first we are now losing after the first race by 3 points. This happens every race, we slowly lose points and next thing we know we have a score like 40 SHS vs. 116 other team. (I don’t actually remember any actual score)

We would usually get first in the 200 relays, 200-medley relay, diving, 100-breast stroke, 100 fly, and 100 free.

I personally would usually get 2nd in 100 back.

--My swimming woes—

Any day that we had a swimming meet, I would get these terrible knots in my stomach from being nervous. The nervousness was not because of the swimming meet itself, but the idea that I might be swimming the 500m that day.

The 500 meters is a 20 lap race, which would get you so tire of almost drowning and your body would turn red with the heat generated from your body. The pool was usually around 75 degrees, very cold water, after swimming the 500 it would almost feel like a sauna.

I dreaded the 500-meter race not just this alone; usually afterward I would have to swim the next event. So I would have no energy left to swim the next race, which was a sprint. I just don’t remember what the event was.

--My event, the 100-meter backstroke—

I would either get 1st or 2nd in this event. This stroke just comes naturally for me. I would unfortunately be slow. My time was about 1 minute 14 seconds, which is slow compared to swimmers at state. State back strokers would usually get 59 seconds to 1 minute.

I always wonder if I lost 50 pounds if I would lose 14 seconds off my time.

Usually after the race I would feel like throwing up, never did though. I just believe we were never meant to swim on our backs.

--After the meets—

This was usually the best part; I would borrow $5 from either my mom or grandmother for the after meet feast. After an away meets that were far out of town usually 1-hour drives or more we would go to a place after the meet to eat. This was usually Wendy’s because they have the all you can eat salad bar.

-- Our mischief --

We sometimes did some weird and stupid things on these trips. One time we acted out our 200 freestyle relays on the Wendy’s carpet. We would fall to the floor and act like we were swimming do our flip turn, act like we were swimming and then the next person would jump on the floor acting like he dived in.

We also got in trouble when we broke a bus window and sprayed shaving cream all over the bus.

I once squeezed shampoo into another swimmer’s locker; I got into some real trouble on that one.

-- Swimming practice --

I and most of the other poor swimmers would never actually do the practice. We would be given something like 500 for our warm up in the beginning. Some others and I would just swim down and on our flip turn swim straight down to the bottom of the pool just to wait it out for a minute or two. Then swim back up and finish the 50 just to repeat this over again. I slacked often at practice until we get to the specialty swim practice.

We would be divided up into our special strokes and given our practice. This was the only time I didn’t mind doing the practice.

After swimming for 3 hours we would go home at 6pm. It would be pitched dark outside. Go home do my homework, eat and go to bed to get ready for school the next day. This was the usual for about 3 months.

The unusual practices were the worst. We would have to arrive at school 6am in the morning to swim, go to school, and then swim again afterward. I hated early morning swims.

Well thats most of my experience which lasted for about 6 years.

Christmas is coming... Time to drink :)

Just found this link somehow, don't remember what I was doing.
Here is a website where you can find the recipes for drinks, buy materials, etc...

Click on the icon..



It's a cool site, well not in design but in concept. Here is a list of some stuff they offer:

Browse Drink Recipes
List the drink recipes and ingredients by name or type. Makes it easy to find the cocktails or mixed drinks you are looking for.

Search for Drinks
Search for drink recipes or ingredients in various ways.

"In My Bar"
Tell The Webtender what you have in your bar, and get a list of all the drinks you can make.

Random Drink
The Webtender picks a random recipe from the database for you.

Statistics
A list of the most popular drinks, voting chart and other useless information.

Bartender's Handbook
Anything you ever wanted to know about bartending and becoming a bartender.

Bar Tools & Supplies
Blenders, shakers, flair bottles, and more. Buy your bar tools and bar supplies online through BarStore™!

and more...

North Carolina Christian Schools teaching the good side of slavery!?!?!

One of North Carolina's largest Christian schools is teaching history with a booklet, "Southern Slavery, As It Was," which "attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1913619p-8258411c.html) and asserts that slaves...lived 'a life of plenty, of simple pleasures.'"

Arnold Schwarzenegger caught lying, so what is new?

"Special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I'm always kicking their butts."-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, 12/9/04
(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/203041_arnold09.html)

--VERSUS--

"Schwarzenegger rakes in funds from special interests; California governor has collected $12 million in contributions."-- Oakland Tribune Headline, 6/21/04 (http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporate/nw/nw004404.php3)

NYblogs

http://homepage.mac.com/hirshberg/iMovieTheater3.html

Interesting, but not surprising.. No one really knows what is blogging--well except for us bloogers.

Sierpinski Triangles and crystal growth...

"Caltech Computer Scientists Embed Computation in a DNA Crystal to Create Microscopic Patterns"
Caltech (12/06/04)

"California Institute of Technology professor Erik Winfree has for the first time experimentally demonstrated his theory that any algorithm can be embedded in the growth of a crystal with the creation of a DNA crystal that computes as it grows, building a microscopic pattern of fractal Sierpinski triangles as the computation unfolds. Winfree, an assistant professor of computation and neural systems and computer science, and colleagues write in the December issue of Public Library of Science Biology that DNA "tiles" consisting of just 150 base pairs each can be programmed to spontaneously configure themselves into Sierpinski triangle-bearing crystals. The crystal computes using a well-established algorithm that starts with a sequence of 0s and 1s and redraws the sequence repeatedly, filling up consecutive rows on a piece of paper, performing binary addition on adjacent digits each time until a Sierpinski triangle composed of 1s and 0s emerges. The Caltech researchers represented written rows of binary 1s and 0s as rows of DNA tiles in the crystal, and addition was mimicked by designing each tile's loose or "sticky" ends to guarantee that whenever a free tile stuck to tiles already in the crystal, it represented the sum of the tiles it was glued to. Paul W.K. Rothemund, a Caltech senior research fellow in computer science and computation and neural systems, notes that scientists in the field of algorithmic self-assembly have "proposed a series of ever more complicated computations and patterns for these crystals, but until now it was unclear that even the most basic of computations and patterns could be achieved experimentally." The crystals' application to nanotechnology may hinge on whether the patterns can be converted into electronic devices and circuits."

For full article see website: http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12624.html

This is so cool, this basically brings all my favorite concepts together. For the people whom do not know, my favorite research areas -- going through school were of course computer science and theory, dynamical systems especially Sierpinski's Triangle (I was once a math major), and neural systems (my thesis dealt with some of this).

Funny: The Rainbow

"For those of you who don't know, "Rainbow" was a credible childrens TV show from the 70's and 80's. This clip was actually broadcast and watched by millions."

http://rainbow.arch.scriptmania.com/rainbow_tv_episode.html

NY to raise minimum wage by Jan. 2007

MINIMUM WAGE -- BROAD SUPPORT IN NEW YORK STATE:

"Overriding the veto of Gov. George Pataki, Republicans in the New York State Senate "forced through a measure on Monday that will gradually raise the minimum wage in New York State by $2 to $7.15 an hour by January 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/nyregion/07wage.html?
pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=fc95d423c530b99c&hp&ex
=1102482000&partner=homepage) ." Because the Democrat-led State Assembly voted on Aug. 11, 126 to 20, to override the governor's veto, "the measure will become law in January, when the pay raises will begin." The vote, which was "a stinging rebuke to the governor from members of his own party," validated the efforts of a broad coalition in favor of the bill, including Labor, the Working Families Party, state Democrats and the American Progress Action Fund. It will raise the salaries of more than 700,000 workers. Under the existing minimum wage, favored by Gov. Pataki, full-time workers can earn $10,712 a year, which is below the federal poverty line."

Someday we'll all have black holes in our computers..

"Black Hole Computers"
Scientific American (11/04) Vol. 291, No. 5, P. 52; Lloyd, Seth; Ng, Y. Jack
"Physicists posit that all physical systems store information merely by existing, and can process that information through dynamic evolution over time; by that reasoning, the universe is capable of computation. Physicists are extending that theory to black holes, based on their suspicion that information can escape from these stellar phenomena. A black hole's computational ability stems from information's quantum-mechanical nature, and a black hole's total memory capacity is proportional to the square of its computation rate. This notion dovetails with the holographic principle, which states that the maximum data storage capacity of any region of space appears to be proportional to its surface area rather than its volume. The practical operation of a black hole computer entails the encoding of data as matter or energy, sending it down the black hole--which performs the computation programmed into the data--and then capturing and deciphering the hole's Hawking radiation output with a particle detector. The exactitude with which the geometry of spacetime can be measured is limited by the same physical laws that govern the power of computers. This precision turns out to be lower than physicists used to think, which implies that the size of discrete "atoms" of space and time is bigger than anticipated. With these principles, it can be postulated that the universe is performing a kind of self-computation, computing all matter--from the smallest quantum fields to the most expansive galaxies--and thus mapping out its own spacetime geometry to the highest precision permitted by physical laws. "

Blooger now has a wishlist option in the profile.

So with the holidays coming up it time to make a wishlist that I know nobody else would probably will be looking at. So I made a wish list at foogle of some of the things that I want. http://froogle.google.com/shoppinglist?a=SWL&id=2285fa54ed320ef51f864b2af5212f6775b31f3&SortBy=5

Bush to raise taxes by removing state deductions

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=3&u=/latimests/20041205/ts_latimes/proposalwouldhitbluestatetaxpayers

"Some conservative activists are urging the Bush administration to scrap the federal deduction for state and local taxes as part of a broader plan to revamp the nation's tax system.

Although the proposal would hurt some taxpayers in nearly every state, it would hit hardest in states with higher-than-average income levels and bigger-than-average state and local tax burdens. High on the list are a number of blue states — those that were carried by Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry in last month's presidential election.

Taxpayers in California and New York, for example, which have top state income tax rates of 9.3% and 6.5% respectively, would be highly affected; residents of Florida and Texas, which have no state income taxes, much less so. "

So you will be paying more income taxes if you live in a state that has state income taxes.

"Bush has hinted strongly that his proposal would preserve two popular tax breaks: the deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. That he has not mentioned preserving the state and local tax deduction has been interpreted by some as a signal that it is fair game as the administration looks for ways to finance other tax changes"

So we are getting tax break by removing federal deductions which is basically a tax increase. That might sound right, but here is what is actually happening: We blue states are giving tax relief to the red states.

Bush also said he wanted to do this tax break to increase growth of business.
So bush wants to take the businesses of the best two states (New York and California) and give it to the rest of the red states.

Talked to Keith Johnson this morning...

Lots of things are changing at SUNYIT over the past few months. Tracy Boyrarsky-Smith left, and now Joyce Nenonee has taken her position. Tracy went to Hamilton college as a counselor. Keith Johnson is now the new Student Assocication president and is not making the sentors happy. Ryan and Joe Grillo have left CAB, and the cab website is still basically down. The game room is finally open after 3 years!!!

What hasn't changed?:
The ATM is of course still not there, and of course the price for staying over winter break has again had a major increase. I remember when it was like $20/week, and in the past 4 years it has increased to $190/week with no funding help from tuition. Of course I can take a guess that Scott Nonemaker is saying: "I'm trying the best I can to lower the price, and fight for you guys(students)" -- but anyone who knows Scott, knows he is a lying bastard. The Resident Advisors are getting worst and lazy. Hmmmm, I bet I know who is going to be fired next.

Possible WMDs on Mars? So thats where Saddam hid them.

News Arcticle: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1385572,00.html

"EARTH must take precautions to avoid contamination from lifeforms that must now be presumed to exist on Mars, leading scientists gave warning yesterday.

Potentially deadly microorganisms could be returned to Earth on a probe which is being planned to collect samples from the Martian surface.

The warning comes after a detailed scientific analysis of data sent back by the roving vehicle Opportunity which landed on Mars on January 25
"

Hmmmm, the idea that science is going to kill all humans on earth never ends. How many stupid movies will come from this concept? I'm betting on 4 within the next 10 years. Do I have any takers?

The homophobs in the south ready to burn books...

State Rep. Gerald Allen (R-AL) has filed a bill (http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1101896768316400.xml) intended to ban library books with "gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural." What would happen to those books if the bill passes? "I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," Allen said.

Job Interview

Well I went to Robert Half Technology today to do some testing and apply for jobs, they are a consultant firm. http://www.RHT.com. I did three test: HTML, C# and C++. I did good on the HTML but poor on the C# and C++. The test were questions not how to, which bothers me because I always have trouble remembering the difference between inheritence and polymorphism. I guess I should touch up on my HTML alittle if I do get a job doing that stuff. It is better then nothing, and I can always learn the ASP.Net and PHP stuff to go along with it.

Verizon is Evil, Luuuuke I'm your father

CORPORATE POWER
Verizon's Villainy
"In an attempt to bridge the digital divide (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/NationOnlineBroadband04.pdf) and enhance their economic prospects, cities across the nation (http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110116864041881375,00.html) , including Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis and Philadelphia, are planning to deploy universal low-cost wireless Internet access. Meanwhile, moneyed telecommunications corporations and their army of lobbyists are doing everything in their power to ensure it doesn't happen (http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110116864041881375,00.html) . In Pennsylvania, for example, the legislature passed a bill with a deeply buried provision -- inserted after intensive lobbying by Verizon Communications (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041124/ap_on_hi_te/wireless_philadelphia) -- which would make it illegal for any city or other "political subdivision" in the state to provide low-cost Internet access to its citizens unless a corporation like Verizon gave them permission. Gov. Ed Rendell has until midnight tonight (http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110177460936386225,00.html) to sign or veto the legislation. Email Gov. Rendell (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=klLWJcP7H&b=100385&action=1463&template=x.ascx) and tell him he should stand up to corporate lobbyists and veto the bill."

-- From AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

Connie Rice: Top 10 Election Myths to Get Rid Of

(10.) The "youth vote" campaigns failed.

Wrong. The youth vote, which broke more than 2 to 1 for Kerry, increased in absolute numbers substantially -- but because almost 14 million more voted, for a 59.5 percent turnout, the youth vote percentage of the total stayed the same. MTV, Rock the Vote, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons and the Hip Hop Voters should be proud of their increased registration and turnout. Keep on with this effort.

(9.) The white evangelical Protestant vote alone gave Bush his victory.

Evangelical Protestants -- 56 of whom are Republicans -- are central to the GOP base, but they were not the only key constituency. Republicans took substantial percentages of all non-black, highly religious folk in every Christian denomination, including an unprecedented 52 percent of the Catholic vote -- which equaled the Protestant evangelical vote. The evangelical Protestant vote stayed at 23 percent of the total turnout, same as it was in 2000. What changed is that they turned out, making up 33 percent plus of Bush's 9.5 million new voters. The good news is that Catholics remain movable -- and even in this election, 20 percent of Protestant evangelicals voted Democratic. So it's still God, guns, geography and race, with a slight gender divide.

(8.) We have fixed the voting problems of 2000.

Nope -- all you need to know is that a programming glitch in Ohio's new voting machines created 4,000 Bush votes from a precinct with 800 registered voters. My organization alone (Advancement Project) had to file three lawsuits to enforce the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and fight registration challengers. If the provisional votes in Ohio had substantially exceeded Bush's margin of victory, we'd be recounting votes in court right now.

(7.) The Republicans won because the country turned significantly more conservative.

Voters describing themselves as conservative increased by 4 points to 33 percent since 2000. Moderates decreased 5 points to 45 percent -- so a small step right, not a big step. More than anything, Republicans won the Electoral College tally because more people moved to the Sun Belt states -- states that usually vote Republican. Karl Rove called it right by focusing on the migrant "ex-uban" voter. Bottom line? The country is still moderate and centrist -- 55 percent of 2004 voters say abortion should remain legal, and a large majority agree strongly that church and state should remain separate.

(6.) The Republicans won the "get out the vote" ground war because they had more money.

Wrong. The parties both spent $125 million on get out the vote efforts. The winning difference was that the Republicans ran a party-controlled effort with highly trained volunteers. Their precinct lists had turnout targets with decimal precision -- and because they were coordinated, they had a streamlined and elegant operation that didn't trip and stumble over each other. And most importantly, they used locals to get out the local vote. The Democratic effort was done by independent groups who did a good job of turning out five million new Democratic voters -- but they were uncoordinated with the Democratic Party (by law) and with each other (by ego). The Democrats upped their game, but the Republicans upped theirs more.

(5.) Moral values trumped the election and show that the country is deeply divided along cultural fault lines.

This theory is overblown -- the question that produced this notion didn't define "moral values," and other polls undercut this conclusion . Throughout the campaign, when voters were asked over and over to list their top concerns, moral values never made the top five. But when given moral values as one of four choices, 22 percent chose it. But with just a few percentage points difference, jobs or health care would have won out as the top issue. What is significant is that of the voters who chose moral values, Bush won 78 percent of their votes, and 75 percent of voters who listed terrorism as their top concern.

(4.) The United States is a sea of Republican "red states."

The winner-take-all Electoral College vote map hides the real story: the 2004 vote was an urban vs. rural, North vs. South battle. For example, in Texas Kerry won Austin, El Paso, Laredo and other Texas coastal cities. In Wyoming, Kerry took the one big city it has -- Cheyenne -- which was almost 40 percent of the state's total votes. Kerry took urban centers throughout the South, he took Billings, Montana, and Tucson and Flagstaff, Ariz. -- all cities in the most conservative states. The urban vote is key to a recovery strategy.

(3.) The 11 state gay marriage bans that passed mean homophobia is on the rise.

Wrong -- the country is far more tolerant of gays today than even 10 years ago. About 61 percent of voters support civil unions and protecting gay couples from discrimination -- including many who voted to ban gay marriage.


(2.) Bush's hard-line Israeli policy caused many Jewish voters to vote Republican.

Wrong. More than 75 percent of the Jewish vote went to Kerry, second only to the 89 percent black vote for Kerry. Contrast that with only 58 percent of Latinos voting for Kerry.

(1.) The Republicans now have a lock on politics for the next 50 years.

This is the most dangerous myth of all. There is a lot that can turn this around before the 2006 elections further cement this Republican victory into a lock. The good news is that the country is still centrist and prefers moderate positions -- when it can get the facts on an issue. Even better, a substantial number of voters belonging to all major U.S. religions -- including conservative religious voters -- want increased money to fight poverty, even if it means higher taxes. Majorities agree that the government should help the poor get on their feet, that the United States should fight AIDS overseas, intervene in Sudan, give more aid to poor countries... they even want stricter environmental protections. If even the conservative religious right shares progressive views on these issues, those voters are reachable and winnable on broader issues. A competent party can turn this around. Bush is the first president in decades to lose the independent vote, and he lost college-educated white males making $100,000 or more -- a traditional Republican group. He made gains with "waitress moms," married women and even more of the no-college "Bubba vote." But these voters will be ready for real solutions after eight years of tax cuts, exploding deficits and disappearing jobs -- get the agenda ready.

Taken from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4172453

Happy Thanksgiving....

I already had thanksgiving today at 1am in the morning, so now I'm going to go to Venks place for a few days to play the Xbox and Gamecube on his new 32 inch LCD Widescreen TV. OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to try SSX3 on a nice screen....ahhhhhhh just thinking about it makes me happy. We are going to try to get Halo 2 tomorrow during the awful day "BLACK FRIDAY".

Swimming and softLead

I went swimming for the first time in 17 years yesterday as part of my work out. I bought some googles and went into the pool. The pool is only 4' deep, reason no lifeguard is needed. I was having trouble doing 50 meters. I would get muscle fatique if I didn't wait a few seconds at each 25meters. I'm hoping to reach 500m sometime within 1 month of swimming. Right now I can do 75meters at a decent speed. I'm also having a little trouble on my flip turns, in that water keeps getting up my nose. That should be an easy fix. I'm sore today especially in the shoulders.

I have been contacting a sameer panjanwani at softLead for a C#.Net programming job. He wants to talk to me over the phone, and possible set up a interview. I hope it works out. I will need to get a hair cut before I go though, it has been over 3 months and my hair is getting long.

Karthik Rajaraman

Talked to Karthik yesterday via MSN. He is currently in Korea on business. He just came from Toyko and soon will be going to Taiwan. He is currently an IT Consultant for come company with 3 initials like: CGW or something, oh well. I just told him that I am not at SUNYIT anymore but in Long Beach, CA looking for a job.

1963 Datsun : NL-320

Well I helped my dad put his car up on ebay yesterday. We are selling our Datsun truck that just sits in the back yard. We already have 1 bid for $800 for the vehicle, and the site has been visited about 119 times. Click Here to Visit Ebay Site

Funny: Not much from me, so here is something

different. From one of the local "supposly old" bloggers here in Long Beach, CA.
Prairie Yeoman :


"Rules Of Etiquette For Cats

If you have to throw up, get into a chair quickly. If you cannot manage this in time, get to an Oriental rug. Shag is good.

For sitting on laps or rubbing against trouser legs, select colors which contrast with your own.

Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything. Just sit and stare.

Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get one open, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once the door is opened for you, it is not necessary to use it. You can change your mind. When you have ordered an outside door opened, stand half in and half out and think about several things. This is particularly important during very cold weather or mosquito season.

If one person is busy and the other is idle, sit with the busy one. For book readers, get in close under the chin, unless you can lie across the book itself. For ladies knitting, curl quietly into lap and pretend to doze. Then reach out and slap knitting needles sharply. This is what she calls a dropped stitch. She will try to distract you. Ignore it. For people doing homework, sit on the paper being worked on. After being removed for the second time, push anything movable off the table -- pens, pencils, stamps -- one at a time.

When it becomes time to dislodge a fur ball, choose the dining room at dinner time.When your owner returns home laden with packages, fall down in front of them -- this works best on steps, all the better if the individual is proceeding downward. There is always the chance you may get stepped on, but this usually guarantees a fall and if you milk the guilt that follows it is usually worth it.

Should you run into a closed sliding glass door or do anything stupid, never let on as much and go about your business as if "I meant to do that."

If you allow a dog to share your domain you are in luck. Should you tatter the drapes or destroy anything for which you fear retribution, wait until your owner (misnomer if there ever was one) is nearby, slap the dog and run for it. Dogs are stupid and will accept blame for anything. If this ruse should fail simply run and hide. No one really expects to catch a cat.

Chase, frolic, and run from invisible entities. The why doesn't matter, it is just expected.

Get enough sleep during the daytime so that you are fresh for playing at night between 2 and 4 a.m.

Final Note: ALWAYS walk ON the keyboard! "

Ballys Meal Planner, etc...

Well I meet with my trainer for the last time - for awhile. He did two test on me to deterimine my meal planner.

I have 32.5% Body Fat Currently and My goal is to lower it to 15%.
I burn about 2500 Calories Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
So they gave me a 7 day meal planner which I'm putting in XML format.
Click Here to view Meal Planner

By just looking at the basic format of the plan. I should eat 6 small meals throughout the day giving approximately

• 2000 calories per day +/- 100 calories,
• 65 grams of fat per day +/- 4 grams,
• 235 grams of Carbs per day +/- 10 grams,
• 135 grams of Protein per day +/- 15 grams,

What's wrong with "Saving Private Ryan"???

Ok this story came up last week when some of the ABC channel affiliates were afraid to run the "Saving Private Ryan" movie in fear of the evil FCC giving them fines. I don't understand how the right-wing republicans can take offense to something that is very close to historical fact. Even my favorite Republican, John McCain, is outrage with people who are complaining about ABC airing "Saving Private Ryan".

Of course recently the right-wing is complaining about the Lime Light of Alfred Kinsey. I personally don't care either way on this subject, but it is a movie and the right-wing has no right on stopping freedom of speech.

Click here for an up to date story on this topic.

On this topic I am more central. There should be limitations on prime time hours, even if it is artistic.

The one counter claim is that parents now have V-chips and should be monitoring their kids anyway. If they are up that late anyway, then they probably already heard that word before in school. Lets be realistic, by 4th grade, I can say confidently that all kids at that level have heard all the common swear words used in movies.

Today's Workout

Didn't do much, just started a basic look of the weightlifting equipment. My trainer worked me very lightly on the machines, but once we got over to the big ball and step platform area that changed.

Did squats with the ball against the wall, but he would make me wait about 5 seconds sometimes when I'm in the down position. My legs would shake uncontrollable.

I also did some fast lifting of my feet onto the step platform, that got me tired real quick, especially when he told me to go faster.

Then the biceps really got me hurting. I would first use the rubber bands and then he would hand me weights. The first set got me good, but then came the second set. I was just happy to finish.

Next we did triceps. I would use the rubber bands while laying down, and he is pushing pressure on my arms.

Finally, the lower stomach, Ugh. I had to hold onto the fence and lift my feet straight up, not to bad. He then made me do another set of extending my legs and I really couldn't finish it strongly.


Well anyway, I got my last meeting with the trainer this Wednesday at 5pm. He said it will be a lot tougher, and we will be looking at my metabolism and finding a eating list for me. That should be interesting.

Whitehouse purging 'liberals' from CIA

Click Here for articleWhite House Seeks To Purge 'Disloyal' CIA Officers

"[T]he White House penchant for politicizing our national security has left Americans less secure. This weekend, we learned that the White House has ordered CIA Director Porter Goss to purge intelligence officers perceived to be critical or disloyal to the president. According to a senior CIA official, the agency is planning to get rid of "liberals" and others who are perceived as 'obstructing the president's agenda.'

This president is the worst of all time. He uses the idea of "National Security" to get rid people's rights via the Patriot's Act, start a war in Iraq on falsehoods, etc..., and now firing CIA officials if they are liberal.

I don't see how people on the right or left could allow something like this happen. The president is turning this country into a dictatorship. If you don't agree with his polices then you will be fired from your government position. If he can't control you then you will be placed in jail without the right of an attorney by just branding you as a "terrorist".

Don't think something like this can happen? Well it has, about a year ago. They branded a black man as a terriorist with chemicals that can be potentially used to make a bomb. The chemicals were cleaning products found under the sink! The press of course ran the government's side of what happenned.

So what's next, Mr. President (Dictator?). Expand the number of terms a president can run, or just declare yourself president until all the terrorist have been defeated, in the name of "National Security".

Funny, well kinda: daugher visits mother in prison

Click Here





---Every roommate I ever had treats cleaning the bathroom like prison.

Plans for trip to Elmira, NY

So me and my dad are planning to go back to Elmira, NY on Sunday December 19th and return back here Tuesday December 28th.

We leave Sunday at 7am in the morning, my head is going to be hurting. I'm probably have to wake up around 3am or something. We wont arrive in Elmira until 4:35 pm.

On the Tuesday coming back, we leave NY at 12:55pm and arrive here at 7:32PM.

Sunday Dec. 19th
LAX 7:00AM to Cleveland 2:16PM
Cleveland 3:15PM to Elmira, NY 4:35PM

Tuesday Dec. 28th
Elmira,NY 12:55PM to Cleveland 2:15PM
Cleveland 2:52PM to Bush INTL 4:54PM
Bush INTL 5:50pm to LAX 7:32PM

My Ballys workout:

2 x 15 mins of bicycling,
2 x 15 mins of cycle running,
1 x 5 mins of stair climbing,

Good workout, I need to increase the difficulty level so I can at least try harder and still reach my target heart rate. I put it on level 1 and 2 today, and I had to go real slow so that my heart rate stayed within the range. I not even breathing hard or having trouble with the exercise, but I should play it safe for now.

G4TechTv abunch of asses in the corporate

G4TechTv has fired all of The Screen Savers staff except for Kevin and Sarah. This information is on Alex's website. http://alexalbrecht.typepad.com/. They are really trying to piss off every fan possible. First the original TechTV staff, now everything else.

"TSS is DEAD...
Well I've officially been let go... along with a bunch of other people from TSS and three other shows. Kevin and Sarah are the only ones left on screen and I don't know what they are planning to do with them. The Screen Savers as you know it is GONE! We were rounded up today at 11am and told to be out of the office at 3pm... very smooth... So I wanted to take this time to say, Thank you... thank you to all of you who gave me the chance to enter your living rooms five days a week and try my best to make you smile. You, the fans of TSS, really made me feel like a million bucks. I know it was hard for some of you to see Patrick go, but I really appreciate you all giving me a chance. I just wish I could have more time to get to know you all...

It has been one of the best experiences of my life... Thank you...

- Alex Albrecht

PS - I love you all... Kevin, Sarah, Dan, Yoshi, Joshua, Scott, Robert "the man", Tom, Teresa, Sean, Prager, Jeff, Adam, Paul, Ron, The Crew and everyone else involved in the show..."

"Hey everyone... after long consideration I have decided to keep this website going... I was thinking of closing my doors after being let go from G4 but after reading your comments and talking to my friends and family I realize it would be dumb for me to stop. So I first want to say "Thank You!" You all have been so kind in your comments and e-mails. I was truly amazed at how many people were affected by my exit. But this is definitely not the end..."

Here is what kevin said on his website:

"Network changes at G4
Today many of my friends were let go as the network made changes to revamp for new shows. Unscrewed was canceled, and The Screen Savers is being revamped. More to come soon… "

Ballys Total Fitness

So I got a membership at Ballys Total Fitness today, which is about 1 mile from my house. I will try to go there everyday, and I have an appointment to meet my trainer on Monday at 5pm. I might go there tommarow either to swim or lift some weights. I know my first week is going to be the hardest, and I don't want to be sore when I meet my trainer on Monday. Me and my dad went out, I put an application in at Barnes and Noble at the Cerritos Central. It is a very nice mall area. We went to eat at TGI Fridays couldn't finish my food.

Social Grid

So I was watching the Screen Savers and heard them talking about Social Grid, so what the heck I filled out all the information to be searchable by Google for social networking. Check out the website: Click Here: http://www.socialgrid.com/

You put these weird numbers onto your website somewhere, and when google finds this stuff and enters it into a searchable database this allows the company to use google to search for what ever you want.

An example of this is the google search of this:
+GD2 +gtAG20 +ltAG33+EL3 +SM1
which is actually a search for:
age: 20-33, female, looking for male, Some College, smoking-never


the way they have it set up is confusing, first I did something like:
age: 20-33, male, looking for female, Some college, smoking-never

and it would only come up with guys looking for females, so obviously I just had to switch it.

Yesterday after the IMAX movie

Well after the movie, we stuck around and went to the Borders store. I quickly checked out the Computer Books and noticed a lot of books talking about C# and game programming. I now want to get these books once I get a job and can afford to buy them. After that I went to look for my dad and notice they were at a table, at the table were 2 books. One was a book from Donald Trump on how to run a business, of course I made a joke about that since he is losing major companies left and right to bankruptcy. The second book was about how the liberal are taking over the colleges here in America, of course I made a joke that it must be written by a right-wing conservative republican. After that, I took a look at the book and found some of its statements a little blind. It tries saying in the book on how the colleges teach us wrongly and brain washes us to believe left-wing propaganda.

Only someone who has never been to a college in their life or hasn't been to college for over 20 years will know this is a lie. It is easy to see who the target audience is: uneducated Americans, and/or middle age to old white men. This book is a joke, because there are either no classes, or barely a few classes that discusses abortion, religion, morals, etc.. The only classes that might as a person to read and write on these topics are philosophy, English 101 or other minor classes. It's not like the professors are telling us how to think in these classes, they just ask for each student to do their own research and debate them in a essay paper.

Now I'm am an atheist and believe that my views are better understood at a college level, because of less ignorance and more patience. Even very religious friends of mine do not blame me and hate me because of my beliefs. I wish this were true in High School and other areas outside of the college atmosphere. Now if someone wants to talk about brain washing they should look at the religious evangelist brain washing people to believe in a GOD that doesn’t exist, and would only vote right-wing conservative republican because they kidnapped the notion of Jesus Christ. Many of the beliefs of the religious right-wing republicans are based on what a priest or bishop believes not what GOD, Jesus Christ or some other religious being. They are in my view putting words into God’s mouth, and damming all to hell, if I believed in that sort of thing. ;)

Went to see Polar Express yesterday

So I went with my dad, and two other younger girls to see Polar Express in the Imax 3D theater in Howard Hughes Plaza. It was a great experience, the whole 3D experience was the best I have ever seen. The movie without the 3D effects would be about 3/5, but with IMAX it is an astonishing 5/5.

Cool: New Space Prize

Rules Set for $50 Million America's Space Prize - Anyone who wants to follow in the shoes of Burt Rutan and win the next big space prize will have to build a spacecraft capable of taking a crew of no fewer than five people to an altitude of 400 kilometers and complete two orbits of the Earth at that altitude. Then they have to repeat that accomplishment within 60 days. While the first flight must demonstrate only the ability to carry five crew members, the winner will have to take at least five people up on the second flight. And one more thing. They have to do it by Jan. 10, 2010. Click Here for Link

Maybe someday, when I have money, I will be able to go to space also. YEAH!!!!

Robots and Cognitive Learning Updates:

"Hi Robot"
The Engineer (11/05/04); Excell, Jon
Birmingham University's Intelligent Robotics lab has received 1 million euros for a four-year research project focusing on the development of intelligent robots that can comprehend natural speech and interact more effectively with people. Lab director Dr. Jeremy Wyatt notes that the vision of a robot in every household will not come to pass until machines can interact with humans and meet their expectations about acceptable behavior, and his researchers hope to achieve this by better understanding the mechanics of object recognition. This initiative will begin by attaching a vision system to a mobile platform to monitor an arm on a separate table and report back its observations using natural language. Wyatt explains that robots' capabilities are often overestimated by people, possibly because they are wowed by technically sophisticated robots such as Sony and Honda's biped machines. These robots use an enormous amount of computational muscle to perform an action that is simple for humans, while leaving little room for more abstract cognitive processes. Wyatt expects increasingly intelligent niche appliances rather than domestic humanoid robots. "Your hoovering robot might still be a flat disc on the floor but it will be able to recognize certain types of objects and figure out when the house is empty--stuff will appear, but not in the way that science fiction sometimes predicts," he forecasts. The Birmingham project is part of the European Commission's Cognitive Systems for Cognitive Assistants program, which is expected to be allocated about 8 million euros over the next five years.
Click Here to View Full Article

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"Duke Robot Climbs to Victory in Madrid"
Duke University News & Communications (11/04/04)
Wallter, an autonomous wall-climbing machine designed and built by Duke University researchers, successfully completed a vertical course to win first prize at the seventh annual International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robotics held in Madrid in late September. Pratt School undergraduate Kevin Parker reports that Wallter was the only entry that successfully executed all five of the competition's required tasks--starting on a metal wall and climbing as high as possible, climbing after the addition of randomly positioned obstacles, going over a barrier across the wall, starting from the floor and then ascending, and halting after crossing the finish line. The wheeled robot hugged the wall and initiated its climb using a "tornado in a cup," a device developed by Vortex that harnesses air currents in a cylinder to exert suction on a flat surface. Project faculty advisor and Vortex VP Jason Janet says the device functions through the simultaneous swirling of a spiral and a toroidal vortex that keep the vehicle attached to the wall without hindering free movement. Wallter was made autonomous with the addition of infrared and ultrasonic sensors and a microcontroller that used custom-written software to navigate according to sensor input. Magnets were later added to the vehicle to take advantage of the metal wall at the competition, which also required an adjustment to the software. Janet notes that the Vortex technology used in Wallter was developed with a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office, and says that Duke will partner with Carnegie Mellon University to design an autonomous land vehicle to participate in DARPA's Grand Challenge. The university is also focused on the development of underwater robot vehicles.
Click Here to View Full Article

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"My Baby Bot"
Herald Sun (AU) (11/03/04); Familari, Peter
NEC's Junichi Osada and a team of designers have spent the last 14 years developing a small robot that is able to perform a range of human responses, such as responding to a human voice with a smile or sigh, conversing, and delivering personal messages. Osada says PaPeRo, which also is able to turn off the television when he falls asleep, is talented. "We've programmed PaPeRo to take photographs, tell us about tomorrow's weather, provide updates on the stock market, and connect to the Internet," says Osada. More than $10 million has been spent developing PaPeRo, an acronym for partner-type personal robot, which includes IT and audio-video technology, makes use of visual and voice-recognition electronics, and has cameras for eyes and a network of sensors to determine distances. PaPeRo represents the electronic helper of the future that will serve as a housekeeper, security guard, and child companion. Observers say such human-computer interaction is on the rise, and some maintain that it is already here. Rather then expecting a machine to resemble Star Wars' R2D2, household automation comes in the form of a powerful, handheld computer that uses sophisticated software to control devices in the home, office, and the car.
Click Here to View Full Article

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"Sci Fi No More, Robots Gearing Up for Life Outside the Lab"
EE Times (11/01/04) No. 1345, P. 6; Merritt, Rick
The recent RoboNexus International Conference served as a showcase for commercial robot technologies as well as a platform where experts detailed the challenges that must be overcome for robots to move into the commercial market. MIT researcher and iRobot CTO Rodney Brooks delivered a keynote address in which he said that robots will not revolutionize targeted fields such as manufacturing and health care until their navigation, recognition, and manual dexterity are improved. To be more dexterous, robots need hands with a greater degree of freedom of motion, the adroitness to handle objects of varying weight, and tactile, moisture, and temperature sensors; meanwhile, computer vision must be refined to compensate for shadows, recognize people despite changes brought on by age, and perform other tasks comparable to human vision systems--as well as work in inexpensive cameras and DSPs. Brooks explained that homeowners cannot afford the technology robots currently use to build internal maps of their surroundings, and lower-cost alternatives such as sonar, ultrasound, and RFID are being investigated by iRobot and other companies. By surmounting these obstacles, Brooks said that "we can create an economic tsunami that would rival what happened with semiconductors and computers in Silicon Valley." IRobot Chairwoman Helen Grenier buoyed optimism among RoboNexus attendees by noting that iRobot has sold 1 million Roomba robot vacuum cleaners since their debut two years ago, adding that military market expansion has overtaken consumer markets. Among the products spotlighted at the conference was Element Products' Scribbler, a programmable robotic car that draws, and Kawada Industries' HRP-3, a dust- and water-resistant humanoid robot that can walk on rough and slippery outdoor surfaces. Both machines' usability is challenged by the high cost of sensors.
Click Here to View Full Article

Why the "No Child Left Behind Act" won't work.

The No Child Left Behind Act is supposed to "expand school choices for children in low-income communities." Nevertheless, " more than 1 million students in the nation's largest urban school districts have remained at poor-performing campuses (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-transfer8nov08,0,4548510.story?coll=la-home-headlines) " even though they could have left for a better school. In Los Angeles, for example, "only 215 students switched to better campuses last year out of nearly 204,000 who were eligible." Critics say that the numbers prove that the law misunderstands "the importance of neighborhood schools to parents."


My Opinion:
If you live in an area where you believe your child's school is not sufficient, then it is probably likely that you either:

• Don't have the money for transportation to send your child an extra 5+ miles away each day to school for 180 school year days.
  
• Don't have the time to wake your child up earlier, or drive them to school.
  
• Your choices are very limited, no other school you feel confortable with.
  

Funny Clip: Conon's staff guy goes to India

Check out this hilarious video documenting a Conan staff guy heading to India to get his computer problem fixed! CLICK HERE

Got it from another bloggers website:
david@revolution

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY and how bush always gets it wrong

Clearly his logic doesn't make any sense to me or anyone else who has dealt with a budget before in their life.

President Bush made clear that, in his second term, he'll spend more than just political capital. Bush will push for " a potentially multitrillion-dollar smorgasbord (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=228579) " of expensive schemes from the right-wing wish list and tax cuts.

Lost of Surplus:
So we went from 4 trillion in surplus to 7.4 trillion in debt in 4 years, that's 11.4 trillion squandered. I understand that the tech bubble has burst, but how the money was spent was obviously the wrong way. More jobs were lost then necessary, and with the extra money going mainly to the rich 1%.

history Lesson:
Bush is using the same techniques that Reagan used in the 80's that made this country hugely indebted. This concept of giving money to the rich and hoping for better structure of industry is a noble concept, but very flawed. The term Reagan used for this concept was the "Trickle Down Effect". However what actually happens is more of a "Sponge Effect". The rich soaks up a majority of the excess and then lets maybe a few drops trickle down to the middle class.

Reagan, before G.W.Bush was one of the worst presidents when dealing with budget. His concepts gave a huge debt in this country and many people suffered, especially the working poor. Many companies, like the automotive, were being outsourcing and/or going into bankruptcy. Is it a coincidence that we got the same problem today with Bush as president. We are losing tech jobs like the 80s lost the automotive industry. Places like Detroit have never recovered from this disaster, and I feel that places in California will be the next Detroit.


BUSH REFUSES TO MAKE TOUGH CHOICES TO BALANCE THE BOOKS: Bush claimed he could meet his deficit-reduction goals by imposing " spending discipline (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26458-2004Nov4.html) " on Congress. At the same time, Bush made clear that "he would not cut defense or homeland security spending, and he has promised more spending for education." The remaining programs that Congress has control over -- transportation, law enforcement, veterans, agriculture, housing, health research, space exploration and national parks -- "totaled $346.5 billion in 2004, not much less than the budget deficit." Even if Congress eliminated all of those programs it still wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of the deficit plus Bush's Social Security schemes.

BUSH'S BUDGET PROMISES 'MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE': President Bush promised yesterday "he would add personal investment accounts to the Social Security system, simplify the tax code without raising taxes and cut the budget deficit in half, all before he leaves office in 2009." According to budget and policy analysts interviewed by the Washington Post, Bush's plans and not only unrealistic but, in all likelihood " mathematically impossible (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26458-2004Nov4.html) ." Bush suggested that deficit hawks "look at our budget that we've submitted to Congress, which does, in fact, get the deficit down, cut in half in five years." But according an analysis (http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5773&sequence=0) by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Bush's budget " would not fulfill that promise (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26458-2004Nov4.html) ."



BUSH'S BUDGET DOESN'T INCLUDE MONEY FOR WAR, OTHER PRIORITIES: For starters, Bush's budget " does not include any additional costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26458-2004Nov4.html) ." The bill for those two operations this year alone " may approach $100 billion. (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=228579) " Bush's budget also "does not include the cost of a Social Security reform plan that includes the personal investment accounts Bush is demanding." That plan, even in the short run, would cost between $100 billion and $150 billion per year.



DEFICIT A THREAT TO AMERICANS' STANDARD OF LIVING: Economists are worried that the growing budget deficit could "send the U.S. currency into a tailspin." If that occurred, it "would erode U.S. living standards (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A26581-2004Nov4?language=printer) below what they would be by making imported goods more expensive."



REACH OUT TO RED AMERICA: Rep. Mike Pence (R-ID), a leader of House conservatives, said " restoring luster to our reputation as fiscal conservatives (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=228579) will be a very high priority for the Republican majority," which includes "moving toward a balanced budget." E-mail Mike Pence's hometown newspaper cut and paste:letters@thestarpress.com in Muncie, Ind., and urge Pence, for the sake of future generations, to keep his promise -- even if it means standing up to the Bush administration.

Strange Logic, but True: Religious People Cause Sin

So yesterday I was looking at some of the other bloggers in my area, and I noticed that there are a ton of religious bloggers. Then this idea popped into my head: "The more sin in the city, the more religious it seems to be". That statement seems outrages probably in the view of the extreme religious people out there, but I can name some precedence.

The obvious wars that this country has been in -- are of some of the most extreme religious beliefs, heck they make our ridiculous right-wing conservative religious groups seem very liberal. If we were to listen to the "Bible" very literally then we would still be doing eye for an eye justice in this country. Some believe taking the law into their own hands, like anti-abortion critics, justifies their anti-bible rhetoric.

So if my logic is sound then the most religious state(s) in this country is probably Nevada, because of Las Vegas where gambling and prostitution is legal and is a sin according to the "Bible". I have never been to Nevada and would assume that it couldn't have that many religious people, but Nevada did go as a Red State in the Election. Hmmmmm, so to say that the red states are better morally is actually a contradiction in its self.

I bet if I did some statistics of immorality in this country I would find a correlation between the number of devoted religous people to "Bible"-immorals being broken.

Pepsi's Holiday Drink: "Holiday Spice"

I found this interesting especially for the holidays. Pepsi is coming out with a holiday drink called Holiday Spice check out the website. Click Here

My first Cali Car Chase...

So I'm watching channel 9 and still watching it when I seen a car chase in Long Beach. The guy drove right through the car wash and drove on artesia, just a couple a blocks away. We can hear the helicopters and police sirens go through. I'll update on this event when it over.

I'm watching on KCAL 9

North Carolina man sentenced to 9 years for spam

A North Carolina man was sentenced to nine years in prison for sending hundreds of thousands of unwanted e-mail messages, Virginia prosecutors said Wednesday. Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh was found guilty under a Virginia state law that sets limits on the number of e-mails marketers can send in a given time period and prohibits them from using fake e-mail addresses, Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said.

Click Here for full article

Poltics: Cenial Cheney and Increasing the Debt

DAILY GRILL

"Vice President Cheney yesterday claimed a 'mandate' for change." -- Washington Post, 11/4/04 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23665-2004Nov3.html)

VERSUS

Bush's victory was "the narrowest win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916." -- Wall Street Journal, 11/4/04 (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109953484618964519,00.html?mod=opinion%5Fmain%5Ffeatured%5Fstories%5Fhs)

DAILY OUTRAGE

The day after the election, the administration reveals it needs to raise the federal debt ceiling (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=223596)

Should free speech be allowed in MMORPG??

"Heavy Price for Free Speech"
Wired News (11/02/04); Terdiman, Daniel
Determining the degree to which players of online role-playing games should be permitted to exercise their rights to free speech and expression was a topic of discussion among a panel of legal and academic experts at the second State of Play conference. Frederick Schauer of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Second Life Herald author Peter Ludlow, and Yale Law School professor Jack Balkin contemplated whether massively multiplayer online game developers could be found legally liable for allowing antisocial behavior among players, and what operating policies the developers should establish to shield themselves from such litigation. Schauer disputed the common view among players that speech is an assumed right in virtual worlds, noting that it is predicated on a traditional American perception of liberty that does not align well with game space; he also noted that some game participants hail from countries where free-speech rights are not as rigidly protected as in the United States, especially when confronted with "issues of libel and slander, issues of invasion of privacy, hate speech, racial hatred, incitement to violence and incitement to various forms of crime." Balkin argued that game developers must consider four basic issues in relation to free speech: The possibility of government regulation of free speech; commercial game operators shielding themselves with the First Amendment in an effort to avoid regulation; concerns that in-world speech could fuel disputes and even legal action; and operators' incentive to censor speech and write rules sanctioning censorship into their terms of service. To guard against legal attacks, Balkin proposed interation, a setup in which game companies choose terms of service from among a series of models that are then presented at a game's launch so players would have a clear idea of speech allowances and restrictions.
Click Here for Full Article

I voted today..

Go vote Democrat, unless you're some dumbass, heartless, republican who has his/her head up his/her ass and still thinks Bush has been a good president.

Poltics: Halloween Humor.... I got nothing else

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

Got no plans today, just going to hand out candy. I have updated my website a little. I got rid of history and replaced it with resume representing my life since highschool. Click Here to visit the updated page.

I updated the links on: links.html, aboutme.html, and howto.html

I have put in applications at best buy, albertsons, hollywood video, etc... I just need a job so I can at least pay off my credit card and other materialistic things. I'll probably feel alot richer compared to being an Resident Advisor. Since we didn't get paid anything at all. But with my luck I'll probably won't even get a job at these locations. I have never had luck at getting an interview or even a reply my phone from these types of places. I'll wait one more week before I look for manuel labor from places like Manpower.

Tech job graduates on decline because of Dilbert?

"Tech Major Loses Its Luster"News Observer (NC)
(10/28/04); Cox, Jonathan B.

Experts warn that U.S. companies may have
little choice but to offshore technology jobs as the number of domestic
university computer science graduates continues to decline. The Computing
Research Association estimates that the number of new U.S. undergraduate
computer science majors has dropped 28 percent over the last four years, and
those in the field attribute this trend to waning enthusiasm for the subject in
the wake of the dot-com bust, which dashed many students' hopes of pursuing a
tech career as a path to quick riches. Kevin Jeffay of the University of North
Carolina's computer science department says a computer science major entails a
lot of hard work and dedication that students may wish to avoid, especially if
they perceive the end result of their labors to be a less-than-stellar career:
"If you're going to work your butt off and have this Dilbert-like life, you
don't want it," he explains. Jeffay also notes that reports of offshore
outsourcing's growth are causing concerned parents to discourage their children
from taking up computer science. Some experts believe undergraduate computer
science students who pursue degrees despite the industry recession will have
better chances of employment, since companies will be drawn to the higher level
of quality such dedication signifies. Colleges have also started to supplement
business and other majors with computer instruction, which may make a computer
science degree redundant. Furthermore, the ranks of qualified workers are
swelling by experienced employees' decisions to further their education and
acquire graduate degrees following the layoffs of the last several years.

Click Here for full article.

Poltics: Daily Outrage and Versus

"Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen... It's an effort that they've made repeatedly to try to confuse the voters and to raise questions, but there's no substance to the charges."
-- Vice President Cheney, 10/5/04 (http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004b.html)

VERSUS

"The FBI is investigating whether U.S. officials improperly awarded Vice President Dick Cheney's former company [Halliburton] a lucrative contract work without competition, a probe that was confirmed only days after a top Army contract officer raised the issue of favoritism."
-- AP, 10/29/04 (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Halliburton-Contracts.html?oref=login)


DAILY OUTRAGE
The IRS is threatening to revoke the NAACP's tax-exempt status (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7433-2004Oct28.html) because the civil rights group's chairman, Julian Bond, "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush" during a speech this summer.

Get Mono!! Not the disease, stupid.

Mono is a comprehensive open source development platform based on the .NET framework that allows developers to build Linux and cross-platform applications with unprecedented productivity. Mono's .NET implementation is based on the ECMA standards for C# and the Common Language Infrastructure.

Mono includes a compiler for the C# language, an ECMA-compatible runtime engine (the Common Language Runtime, or CLR),and class libraries. The libraries include Microsoft .NET compatibility libraries (including ADO.NET and ASP.NET), Mono's own and third party class libraries.Gtk#, a set of .NET bindings for the gtk+ toolkit and assorted GNOME libraries can be found in the later. This library allows you to build fully native Gnome application using Mono and includes support for user interfaces built with the Glade interface builder. Furthermore, Mono's runtime can be embedded into applications for simplified packaging and shipping. In addition, the Mono project offers an IDE, debugger, and documentation browser.

Click Here for the Website.

Delegates in C#, weird.

Here is a link to the article I'm reading about delegates in C#, click here.

Ok so you can make any delegate you want like:
public delegate Boolean DelegateName (parm1, parm2)

The point of the delegate is to make a representive middle man, why? I don't know. So I have a function instead of being called directly, I have it go through a delegate.

As an example given:

public delegate Boolean MyDelegate(Object sendingobj, Int32 x);

public class TestDelegateClass
{
   Boolean MyFunction(Object sendingobj, Int32 x)
   {
      //Perform some processing
      return (true);
   }

   public static void main(String [] args)
   {
      //Instantiate the delegate passing the method to invoke in its constructor
      MyDelegate mdg = new MyDelegate(MyFunction);

      // Construct an instance of this class
      TestDelegateClass tdc = new TestDelegateClass();

      // The following line will call MyFunction
      Boolean f = mdg(this, 1);

   }
}


The tdc is the object and 1 is the int32 value being sent to the delegate function in this case is the myfunction.

That was a single cast delegate, how about a multi-cast delegate?

Multi-cast delegate is basically a linklist of functions to be called instead of one.

The nameing is similar but now instead of boolean it is void, as seen below:
public delegate void DelegateName (parm1, parm2)

so to form two delegates two together a function is called, conviently like this:
public static Delegate Combine(Delegate a, Delegate b);

and to remove a delegate from the linklist, viola:
public static Delegate Remove(Delegate source, Delegate value);

here is the example given:

using System;

class MCD1
{
 public void dispMCD1(string s)
 {
  Console.WriteLine("MCD1");
 }
}

class MCD2
{
 public void dispMCD2(string s)
 {
  Console.WriteLine("MCD2");
 }
}

public delegate void OnMsgArrived(string s);

class TestMultiCastUsingDelegates
{
 public static void Main(string [] args)
 {
  MCD1 mcd1=new MCD1();
  MCD2 mcd2=new MCD2();
  // Create a delegate to point to dispMCD1 of mcd1 object
  OnMsgArrived oma=new OnMsgArrived(mcd1.dispMCD1);

  // Create a delegate to point to dispMCD2 of mcd2 object
  OnMsgArrived omb=new OnMsgArrived(mcd2.dispMCD2);

  OnMsgArrived omc;
  // Combine the two created delegates. Now omc would point to the head of a linked list
  // of delegates
  omc=(OnMsgArrived)Delegate.Combine(oma,omb);

  Delegate [] omd;
  // Obtain the array of delegate references by invoking GetInvocationList()
  omd=omc.GetInvocationList();

  OnMsgArrived ome;
  // Now navigate through the array and call each delegate which in turn would call each of the
  // methods
  for(int i=0;i<omd.Length;i++)
  {
   // Now call each of the delegates
   ome=(OnMsgArrived)omd[i];
   ome("string");
  }
 }
}

Just fixing the house up a little.

This whole weekend Me and My dad have been fixing the porch up by adding new sidings and screens. It will make the poarch alot darker since light will not get in as much. Thats all folks....

Interesting: "For Missing Web Pages, a Department of Lost and Found"

New York Times (10/21/04) P. E5; Eisenberg, Anne
Under the direction of IBM lab researcher Andrew Flegg, a team of four student interns has developed a working prototype for software that can check links between Web pages and search for the correct pages if the connections are broken or incorrect. The Peridot program uses a page's source code, context, and other data to build "fingerprints" that encapsulate the page's links and unique features, which are stored for later comparison; the software regularly checks the fingerprints to see if there are any discrepancies in a Web site's links, and then ascertains how important such discrepancies are. Flegg says he conceived of the software as a tool to not only address broken links, but also links whose content had become inaccurate or inapplicable. Oxford University student and IBM intern Ben Delo notes that Peridot required algorithms that could measure the degree of change in a link, determine how significant such a change was, and find the optimum techniques for retrieving the missing links to address the challenge of sifting through a huge number of pages in search of replacement connections. Another challenge cited by Delo is dealing with links that have the right URL but the wrong content. "You need a system to help manage this risk" so that a company's reputation will not be tarnished when visitors at its Web site are misdirected, he says. The software is designed so that users can select the pages to be updated automatically as well as the substitutions that require their notification. Although Peridot is not commercially available, it may eventually be employed to monitor the accuracy of internal corporate Web sites, easing the burden of Web administrators; the software could also be offered as a service to clients by ISPs, and could benefit Web site users as well.
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"India Noses Ahead as R&D Hot Spot"

"India Noses Ahead as R&D Hot Spot"
United Press International (10/19/04); Basu, Indrajit
Multinational companies are building research and development laboratories in India at a frenetic pace, with the current count heading toward 150 research centers. Companies such as IBM, Texas Instruments, DaimlerChrysler, and Hyundai have spent millions of dollars to take advantage of India's vast talent pool. This investment puts India ahead of other international research hot-spots, such as Japan, Israel, Western Europe, or China. Japan's National Science Foundation conducted a survey that found 33 companies out of the BusinessWeek 1,000 had R&D operations in China. Many of the laboratories in India are focused on developmental work, not fundamental research of the type that leads to Nobel Prizes; but that does not mean Indian research is insignificant. Intel, for instance, filed 63 patents from its Bangalore facilities last year--outstripping its other labs in Israel and Malaysia. The international focus on India-based research has also spurred research investment from domestic companies as well, such as Tata Motors, which currently has a groundbreaking $2,400 car on the drawing board. Before economic liberalization in 1992, Indian firms had little incentive to innovate because markets were closed, but now the competition has awakened a need to compete and even develop new products. Geography also plays a role in India's popularity. Oracle's Murali Subramanian says the 12-hour time difference between the U.S. and India enables around-the-clock software development when synchronized with the company's developers in California. Although analysts say India's advantages may be temporary, move companies continue to open R&D offices there; Google is latest company to say it will establish an R&D base in India.
Click Here to View Full Article