The Robot's Thoughts

Perhaps the best campaign to raise awareness in a mental illness since "Support the Rabid".

Labels: links, pictures, Reddit

I got there late, and the show had sold out.

I could hear the very familiar voice singing the song I craved through the walls. I was seperated from bliss by a mere 3 feet. And yet I was not permitted to enter.

Story of my fuckin' life.

Finished Gibson's book "Pattern Recognition" and I loved it. It was brilliant. I've got to free read more.

Labels: blogging, books, personal

My long day ended at 8:30. I could finally eat dinner.

After a veggie burger, I found I was still wound up and on edge. I relaxed for half an hour and hit the gym. It was productive, it was relaxing, and I think I finally burnt off enough energy and stress so that I may sleep a peaceful sleep, for tomorrow is the season 4 office premiere, and I will be watching it with my co-workers.

And Friday is minus the bear. I can't put into words how excited I'm am to hear them play live. Its one of those "I can die happy now" moments. I've been listening to WVU's radio station (92U -- The Mouse!) and they came on today and it was one of those perfect moments where driving and music meet to be a relaxing journey.

I have a feeling I'm going to have one of those out of body experiences where I can't help how stupid I look as I move to the music (like I did the first two times I saw Death Cab play live back in the day). Katie Chang would comment that I looked like a dancing robot who's malfunctioned between funk and berserk.

But whatever. It beats doing the "stand and sway". What's the point of going to a concert and pretending you don't like the band if they're the reason you showed up? I can't wait. Even writing about it has gotten me excited about it, so I need to call this quits so I can sleep.

Labels: late night thoughts, music, pittsburgh, ramblings

So I'm sick, and I've been prescribed an oral steroid to boost my immune response. And since yesterday was my first day on the regime, I naturally thought nothing when I got a fountain drink of Mt. Dew when I met up with my Algorithm study group at 8pm last night.

I was counting sheep till 2:30. I decided I didn't want to make things worse by throwing sleeping pills into the mix.

I can't seem to escape that Wednesday is my "hell day" -- both classes (and possibly a lab) and a full shift of work. And I can't seem to get to bed on time. But thankfully, steroids and caffeine mean I'm not really lagging behind either. Its a weird state of energy. An elevated state of mood.

So I'm sorry if I seem edgy to anyone. I haven't quite been myself.

Labels: blogging, nutrition

I had a throat infection so bad that I pretty much lost my ability to speak this weekend, which didn't deter me from trying to wish Megan a happy birthday. We hit the up beginning of Oktoberfest, which was by far an awesome festival, if only Penn Pilsner wasn't such a ass-tastic beer (of this, we all agree). It was fun as we watched one of our group, Alison, get picked up by a first year law student. After he had separated her from the herd and started buying her drinks, he repeatedly attempted to get her to go home with him by using the lines, "Wanna go out to my car?" and "I just wanna talk.". After that, I think those were my catch phrases for the night.

Oh, and the guy was totally not creepy. ;) He just wanted to talk.

After the 'fest we hit up south side, my old home and prowling grounds. It hasn't changed much. The one thing about Pittsburgh is its always full of familiar faces. I ran into two girls that I somewhat knew from college. A former co-worker from my previous job, a friend of a friend, two former Pitt students that used to be engineers, and a girl I remember from being a Tower C ResCon. But at the same time, I don't really know these people enough to care what's up with most of them, so I didn't bother engaging in smalltalk (see Throat Infection).

Pittsburgh feels like a small town. In retrospect, its because it is.

I played a little BioShock on my friend's xbox 360, and I like it. The game has that System Shock feel I liked from my PC Gamer days. Go Rich Story FPSes.

All in all, aside from being sick, it was a good weekend. I needed to get away.

Labels: birthdays, friends, Gaming, personal, pittsburgh

This is crazy. See the description: Select All in Applications folder and double click -- launching every application in the system. And then using exposes. Nice.

Here's a link (via reddit) to 30 apps that are open source for the windows (and sometimes mac os x / linux) platform that serve as competitors to proprietary software that's out there.

Labels: links, open source, Reddit, software

The hookah bar I went to, the Sahara cafe, had an interesting conversation happening in the booth behind mine. A marine that was stationed in Al Anbar province was home visiting friends and family. He talked to the owner, an former Iraqi that's apparently a doctor in the area. I don't know this gentleman's history, but the two discussed the war. Its funny how the "grunt" admits that he doesn't know why they're over there. And that what we're trying to accomplish militarily is impossible. And that his 15 buddies died over there in senseless ambushes. And how the civilian death toll there is untold, and very, very unfortunate. The Doctor, who again is apparently an Iraqi who spent some time in Jordan (or the other way around) says that the deaths on both sides are tragic and unfortunate. He doesn't want American troops to die. He just also wants them out of Iraq. The marine agreed.

Its funny how "the right thing to do" or dare I say "the smart thing to do" is glaringly obvious even to grunts in the field -- the very people in harm's way. I think that needs to be said that the people who didn't get a chance to finish college because they had to answer the call to serve seem to actually KNOW MORE about what's going on in the world today than our countries leaders if the last presidential address and 'loyal opposition' response are any indicator.

We're past the John Kerry Vietnam testimony moment in Iraq -- How do you ask another person to die for something you know to be a mistake?

This "peace with honor" smokescreen that's being trotted out by GOP candidates was tried in Vietnam. We didn't save face there. People still try and argue that we could've won there when we easily killed over 2 million civilians (and that's a guess -- in that war, like in this one, we don't do body counts) and we dropped more bombs in that country than we did world wide in WWII. The people that make this "we could've won" argument are missing the point. You cannot military intervene for the better in a culture unless it wants you to. Or you just want to end that culture. And if its a foreign culture (e.g. a non-western background, and you're a western culture) you will be met with hostility.

This is basic stuff you're not supposed to need a history book for, but we're inundated with what's called "American Exceptionalism" -- the idea that historical trends do no apply to the United States. Our leaders will have no waterloo. Our empire will not fail, falter, or decay.

I don't know why I'm putting this out there. I guess its because two perfect strangers were talking about geopolitical events and I happen to share their thoughts, and its easier for me to quote them anon then state the same idea myself. But silence equals consent, and I do not consent to what's going on in "our" names. And I really don't care if a boss from 10 years from now googles my name and find this post. I was against the war before it started. I was against the war while it happened. I'll be against the war when its architects try to shift the blame to someone else. And I have this feeling this isn't going to be an opinion thats frowned upon 10 years from now. I have a feeling that 20 years from now when people are explaining what they did during the Iraq war, everyone's going to have a case of "I was on the right side of history -- I was against the war" story to tell their kids (and conveniently forget about all their yellow bumper magnets). And I believe this because my parents were active in the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement in Vietnam, and they found it funny how many people who did nothing and never spoke out took the "victor" side when all was said and done.

But then again, History doesn't apply to this country -- we are the exception, right?

Labels: 2007 Predictions, anti-war, free expression is vital to the growth of every human being, late night thoughts, politics, pop culture, ramblings

Can you imagine the whole state of West Virginia (pop 1.2 million) being "Collateral Damage" by some foreign military?

Labels: bush, free expression is vital to the growth of every human being, government failures, politics, war

It turns out wanting something doesn't make it real.

Labels: web comics, xkcd

Discover Magazine did an article following up what many people are calling the 'real' 9/11 conspiracy. That of people like then Mayor Guiliani declaring that the air is safe for rescue workers to work in without respirators and special suits.

The towers each had over 1,000 tons of asbestos. Each computer in the tower had about 4 lbs. of heavy metals like lead. The tower's florescent lights all contained mercury. How many thousands of computers and lights were in the trade centers -- a pile that smouldered and burned for hours, releasing a giant toxic cloud of deadly aerosols?

The EPA actually refused to use their most accurate asbestos sampling equipment, choosing instead to use a cheaper, much less accurate test. Since the EPA ceeded authority to local organizations for the clean up, its very likely that a conflict of interest arouse: Wealthy
landlords of Manhattan don't want to evacuate tenants and pay $10,000 to $20,000 per apartment to clean up the asbestos, and as such, pushed local testing authorities to declare the air safe.

Parts of Manhattan might STLL be polluted. Something like 70% of first responders and clean up crews are showing clear cut signs of contamination and exposure to heavy metals and asbestos and fiberglass. So are a lot of residents that lived OUTSIDE the one square mile zone that was "unsafe" according to the EPA.

Its a depressing and frightening read. We really haven't moved past the 'duck and cover' days of the government. The reality of what happened on September the 11th, 2001, isn't at all like the fairy tale politicians like to tell when running for office and promising to protect us.

Labels: 9/11, EPA, government failures, politics, science

This open letter over at iLounge is addressed to NBC, the makers of Heros, Battlestar Galactica, and The Office, who're pulling out from Apple's iTunes Store. Granted, he's a little fanboyish -- urging other people to stop supporting NBC -- but his point -- that people are actually paying good money for downloadable content that is broadcast everyday, for free, into the airwaves unprotected, was a pretty lucrative thing. And that people have an alternative: PVR/DVRs.

I was already considering some kind of PVR/DVR set up but I knew for most of my shows I could always snag the iTunes version of it if I missed an episode and that was a lot less mess and hassle. Now, it seems I'll have to Do-it-myself.

Labels: apple, iTunes, links, NBC, TV, video