Sunday, September 28, 2003

The Cost of War

Here's an article on the intifada in Israel. It's real short but it gives the data on the number of people that have died in this, which is more than other news sources will provide.

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Ergonomics

I'm on the computer a lot and occasionally I experience joint pain. If I rest my wrists on the keyboard or don't sit up straight for extended periods of time I get real soar. To alleviate these pains I've tried some workstation exercises. So far they've helped and now there's no reason to sue your company for carpal tunnel syndrome. Link courtesy Leo Laporte.

Digital Video Recorder


TV is a necessary part of my life. I have to see my programs! However, thanks to modern technology I can record them and watch them later. All I would have to do is find a blank cassette tape, program the VCR, and make sure nobody else messes with it. If I do it right, then I'll be able to see my programs when it's more convenient to. Unfortunately, possibility of human error is high and any small mistake would cause me to miss my show anyways. In comes digital technology: The Digital Video Recorder (DVR). We have digital cable, so why not have a recording mechanism that best suits it? What's the best brand? What kind of features should I be looking for? Do any of them use WiFi? What media do you use to show your programs on other TV's or at somebody else's house? As soon as my dad finds out about DVRs he'll want one too, so I want to get the right one.

Updates


I've had a ton of work to do lately, so I haven't been able to update as frequently as I like. Next week I think I'll have more time but school projects come up all the time. I guess I could just have short posts but I don't really like doing that. We'll see how things go.

Research Project


My research project for English is immigration to the U.S. from China. I'm not sure what I'm going to say about this subject so feel free to give me some suggestions. It's not due until December, so I'll worry about it in late November.

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Season = Winter
You're Most Like The Season Winter ...

You're often depicted as the cold, distant season.
But you're incredibly intelligent, mature and
Independant[sic]. You have an air of power around
you - and that can sometimes scare people off.
You're complex, and get hurt easily - so you
rarely let people in if you can help it. You
can be somewhat of a loner, but just as easily
you could be the leader of many. You Tend to be
negative, and hard to relate to, but you give
off a relaxed image despite being insecure -
and secretly many people long to be like you,
not knowing how deep the Winter season really
is.

Well done... You're the most inspirational of
seasons :)


?? Which Season Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla
I couldn't help doing one of these quizzes because I wanted to be winter, and I am winter. I found it at http://mihana.blogspot.com

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Weekend

The weekend was wasted away by doing homework, so I guess that means it wasn't wasted away. I found this article about what schools students should go to, but it doesn't tell you anything you don't already know. Still wasn't able to watch Lord of the Rings, but as long as I'm spending the time on my future that doesn't matter. (!_!)

The Broken


If you have a lot of time and don't mind downloading something 40MBs go to The Broken. They tell you how people cheat/steal from each other with technology by cheating/stealing from some people. I learned about Knoppix and how you can use it to crack passwords. I don't want to screw up my computer, but I think I could use it to see if our passwords are secure enough. They probably aren't, but we don't have any trade secrets or anything valuable that somebody would actually want.

Don't Get Upset

I'm not against A.A. or religion! It was just my observation that A.A. can substitute as a religion because of the emphasis on a God/Higher Power. I'm not saying that people who go to A.A. are going completely against their organized/cult/belief system religion. In A.A. people may use the Christian/Muslim/Jewish God as their higher power, or another God, or they make one up. For example, at one meeting there was a guy who said God for him was Good Orderly Direction. A.A.'s great for tons of people, but it doesn't work for everyone. I have friends who love going to meetings, while others just don't get help from it. I'd like to know what the other alternatives to A.A. are besides church groups. Also, since I tend to be very let's think about other countries, cultures, and ethnic groups, I want to know more about treatment outside the U.S.

Disease


The whole disease thing is another issue. I've heard people say it's a disease, and I've heard other wise. I don't really have an opinion on whether it is or not because I'm not a doctor or an alcoholic. What counts is whether it's controlled if one has a problem, and just preventing it all together which make things easier. Which is better? Prevention or treatment? I'll go with prevention. Somebody's got to deal with cause right? That sounds like a good research paper topic: The Prevention of substance Abuse (in America?)

Saturday, September 20, 2003

Been Lazy

I had plenty of time to work on this blog, plenty of things to say, but I decided against it. My theory was less updates, more traffic. It was the worst idea of the week. Now I've run out of ideas, but I'll try to add as much useless padding as possible.

Miniature Earth


Be sure to watch The Miniature Earth video. Most people are Asian (of course) and not Christian (sooo many people are going to Hell! J/k.) Also, read the text-only version because there's more information. Link courtesy English teacher.

Alcoholics Anonymous and Alcoholics


Is it a religion? Can it substitute for a religion? What did people do before A.A.? To me, is seems like people flock (including my friends) to these services like a church/temple/mosque in order for salvation. They can't exist as human beings if they don't go to a service. The church of A.A. is based on 12 commandments, which all members follow for the rest of their lives. To guide them they choose a priest/pastor who is experienced to personally help them through each guideline. In conclusion, A.A. members are more religious than the average church going American.
I'm also interested in what other people do to stop habitually drinking themselves silly. In America Alcoholism is a disease. To some people a disease is not something you give yourself (i.e. Alzheimers, Parkinson's). Rather, calling Alcoholism a disease is just another way of saying "it's not my fault." I'm not sure what to say to this. What diseases can you give to yourself? Obesity is another "disease." In the words of my English teacher, "Some people just can't stop shoving hamburgers down their throats. It's McDonald's fault, I'm 500 pounds!"

When I Grow Up, I Want to be a...


I can't finish that sentence. Forget grade school, high school and college are supposed to be what you really need for the future, right? So far, wrong. I still don't know what to do with myself! I keep seeing the ITT Tech commercial about the guy who went to a 4-year university and just ended up making hamburgers. I was sucked into the marketing, and I wanted to go to ITT Tech. I informed my mom and she informed me that a real good university would personally write me. Oh well, I really liked their commercials. For now, surviving school is my only goal.

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Economics

Question of the night: Why does the price of other goods create a change in supply? I don't understand how that works, even after reading my "Oh this book is easy" textbook. We didn't even cover that factor in class. Maybe my teacher forgot to mention it, or we just don't have to learn that one. I could've forgot to take down that during the lecture, but I don't remember hearing a scenario where that was the case. We went over cost of production, technological advance, and competition (a change in the number of suppliers). The book is in one world of thought, and the instructor's in another. What's a student to do? At least there's a course website, that has been visited 55 times (I was there twice) since September 23, 2002. I think that all students who went to the website did very well. These may have been the students who actually took notes in class too. The 35 other students in my class probably have real good memories, so they don't need to take any notes, while the 10 of us have to take dictation.

Internet Savvy Instructors


It's pretty cool when a teacher has a website, a course related website. Students care as much about teachers' personal lives as teachers about students'. However, I don't feel I can say, "Oh, I didn't know how to do it," because the teacher will probably say, "Well, if you checked my site...". Besides, sifting through loads of info turns me off from the site since I guess I value the information on the GDP/GNP less than how to set up a LAN.

Stalling


Blogging has become another form of stalling from homework. I should be reading my moron-friendly econ text, but I'm an internet junkie. That in addition to a TV, movie, and novel junkie. With all the stalling I do, I should at least be getting more stuff done.
I have not even picked up my latest library checkouts, more on that later. Nor have I had time to watch Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the DVD rental, (I have had 2/3 of it on the computer for three months now. I don't like to watch movies on my mom's desktop, I'd rather watch a DVD on the iBook. Tomorrow's another day, one that I will just waste away sleeping, watching "necessary" TV, and hopefully LOTR: T3. Only about 13 more pages to go, I can finish it before bed.

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Still Not There

I thought I had achieved maximum efficiency and that I was working at equilibrium. No floors, no ceilings, just pure freedom. I was wrong. Instead of spending time walking around my house and watching TV, I should've been working on an essay! It slipped my mind, or it was in my mind, but my mind said, "do it Thursday, it's only due on Friday." Folks this is what happens when you procrastinate 95% of the time. It's like a bad habit because it is a bad habit, and it's not easy to break. People fall down all the time, then they get up. I will get up and try it again. Only this time I will remember that there is always more school work to be done, and that I'm never really finished. The essay is finished, that's the important thing, and it's not past my normal bed time. So, the day went okay, aside from the fact that I only had 7 hours of sleep instead of 9. I'll make up the deficit tonight since I couldn't do it during class (I tried!)

More Viruses, That's Not Really News


Yesterday two new viruses were created and people were told to immediately download the patch. I didn't do that since I wasn't planning on turning the PC on again, but I'm still protected even if I did need to. Apparently the new patch really doesn't work as well and a system could still be "possessed" or "owned" or whatever. As far as I'm concerned I don't need to use the PC (thank you Apple), so I just won't turn it on. Abstinence is the best protection of all.

September 11th


Today is September 11th, see? I am no way connected to any terrorist attacks on any country, and I don't know anybody who is. I don't think it's fair to just commemorate this day because Americans died, rather, it should be a day when we commemorate all who have died because of terrorist activity. I'm not really a news junkie but I hear a lot about terrorist activity in other countries, and I wonder if they gather together to remember all the victims. Probably, but we don't hear about that sort of thing. I guess it should be moved to a different day then if it is for all victims of terrorism. Maybe somebody who creates "days" will think of that since terrorism was always an international problem, but two years ago became an American priority. According to me, September 11th is my friends' birthday, happy birthday.

Monday, September 08, 2003

Free at Last!

I finally found free time. What did I do with that free time? Nothing, unless you (sorry English instructory, I used "you") count strolling around the house every once in a while, playing with the cat, and reading for school. I guess I don't really need a lot of free time since I don't know what to do with it. However, it's better than not having enough time to do work, so I'll just get used to it if this continues. How did I find this time? I think I organized my time better by doing homework on the weekends. Today is Monday, the beginning of the week, when homework tends to be a little light, though. Still, I'm prepared for whatever the week throws at me and I'm getting used to things. So it's time to have fun, right? Well, not exactly. I feel that my time is precious so I don't want to waste is playing video games, watching tv, reading fantasy fiction, and IMing friends. Instead, I want to look for things that will help me decide what I want to do with myself in the future, further my education, and help me deal with any problems in the future. It must be some illness that's going around, I'll try to stop it immediately. There's nothing wrong with wasting time on silly materialistic pleasures, I've done it all my life and it hasn't made me a terrorist. That's what matters in the world now. Can't waste time composing an entry, gotta look up neomedieval architecture. I didn't just say that!

Saturday, September 06, 2003

Does This Look Infected?

Today, after turning on the PC, I get some message on the screen telling me that something went wrong and the computer will shut itself off in one minute. I restarted the comp, and everything was fine after that. Later, online (using the Mac) and I see an adversitement displaying the same message that I had seen earlier on the PC. I click on the ad and the site it takes me to says that the message I had received was caused by a virus! I couldn't believe it. All virus definitions had been updated throughout the week, I scanned all email attachments I had received, and we're behind a router. However, the night before I did use WinMX unsucessfully, leaving the program running for at least 6 hours. So maybe doing that let the bug in. Just to be sure, I went to Symantec and did an online virus scan. The results were clean, but that didn't expain why the message showed up. Maybe if I just leave it alone, the problem will go away by itself. *Crosses fingers*

Friday, September 05, 2003

Burned Out

After another week of school, I'm burned out! It's only the second week and I have little of the free time I desire. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers arrived a few days and I wanted to watch it tomorrow, but looking at all the work I have, I don't think I'll be able to do that. So I'll wake up at noon tomorrow so I can finish some of it and have a friend over. At least there's nothing to write. I was to make that spaghetti and it turned out great, too bad my dad ate it cold. Tomorrow will have a salad with homemade dressing which shouldn't take too long to make ^_^.
When I'm not worrying about how much work I have to do, or what to cook for dinner, I'm thinking about where I want to go for winter break. I'm not really a fan of flying on airplanes anymore, not because it's not secure enough, it's the exact opposite: it's too secure. Too much security anywhere is not a good thing because it gets to the point of absurdity. Also, I'm not sure if the measures that are being taken are really helping. One round trip should be bearable for me because of the destination, wherever that may be.

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

It's Nice to be Finished

Finally finished with my essay, I can write without having to worry about being graded. I put the work off, not to the last minute, but to the last day. It was just a short essay, so waiting didn't hurt the quality of the work too much. Most of the day I was tired because of the holiday weekend and having to readjust to my schedule. School should only be 4 days a week, but I couldn't work that out, so this was a nice treat. At home we're getting used to getting along without mom, I think i'm gonna cook a made-from-scratch meal: spaghetti. It's pretty simple, except for having to make the sauce, and it'll last us for a few days. I may try enchaladas using a mix next time. Better save up my energy for all this cooking, it's just more work for me.

Monday, September 01, 2003

Writer's Block

Is that fair to say when I can compose this entry? Sort of, since I can just say whatever I want here and not worry about being graded. The writing that will be graded is due on Wednesday, but I want to get most of it done. Budgeting my time has become important even though I don't have a job or many household responsibilities. I want to have more free time, and it's good to know how to organize so you can be prepared. So, it's not that late now and I don't have any other homework to finish. If mom were here I'd ask her, but she's not, so the next best thing is dad. Since he's my only option at this time I'm better off doing this on my own. Writing about writing is easier than doing the writing itself. Does that make sense? When I'm not doing my homework I'm trying to figure out what do cook. I finally went shopping and did okay without a proper list, except for mistaking processed cheese as real cheese. I'll come up with a better list when I have all that free time I'm organizing. Today a neighbor was nice enough to cook us dinner so I didn't have to worry about making something. More free time for me, but it's running out as I compose this entry. Right now I need a cure for writer's block. This ailment is probably due to reading material on how to write correctly, and consequently I understood this as not writing at all to avoid making any mistakes. No words, no mistakes...no essay. Better start writing.