Oops! I Blogged My Pants.

Beautiful Album Packaging

2009-03-11T15:45:00.006-05:00

So - I finally received my "Louisville is for Lovers" compilation album today, and it's wonderful. I especially enjoy the album art/packaging. Check it out:

Super Excited for a Super Article

2009-03-04T17:31:00.002-06:00

I don't usually become giddy when reading articles. Really.

That all changed today.

In the technology world, people are giving Amazon.com a lot of flack for the text to speech feature of the Kindle 2.0. Lots of people are saying that such a feature will kill (what's left of) the audio book industry and old fashioned paper books in general.

Slate debunks such a myth by recounting the history of Speech Processing.

I now LOVE Slate even more than I already did.

Read the article here.

The Man Hug

2009-02-15T12:28:00.002-06:00

The friendly folks over at The Art of Manliness discuss the proper technique to give another man a hug. You can read the article here.

The most amazing thing is it's totally true!

In other news, The Art of Manliness is really a fantastic blog. All Gentlemen should bookmark it.

Zebra Writing Utensils

2009-02-14T11:53:00.002-06:00

Behold, the almighty Zebra. For those of you who do not know, I have a similar love for pens/pencils as I do for independent music and cooking. I love pens. I really do.

Anyways, I hadn't had much experience with the Zebra brand until I noticed almost every graduate student has one. I decided to give it a go and fell in love. It's smooth - but most importantly - writes extremely small. This makes the construction of note sheets to be used on tests much easier!

But - I must admit - I'll never totally prefer the Zebra over my Sensa 9.

So - on to the Zebra pencil. If heaven parted and angels sang, the result would not be as awe-inspiring as this pencil. It's 0.5mm lead and also is designed in a way so the graphite doesn't always break!

The perfect pencil. I'm in love.

I've Never Felt Dirty Listening to Music Until...

2009-02-08T09:42:00.003-06:00

One of the most interesting aspects of music is that everyone can make it. The great John and Alan Lomax spent the majority of their adult careers traveling around and recording the music of the people. They would approach railroad workers, former slaves, farmers, criminals, &c - asking them all about their life and the songs that were significant to them.

Some of the most amazing music you'll ever hear can be found in these recordings.

The Lomaxes opened Americans' minds to the "every man a musician" concept.

Anyways, last night, I discovered that Charles Manson had a moderately successful music career before going crazy and killing a lot of people. I listened to the album LIE and have never felt dirtier. Granted - these jams were pre-killing - but the damage to his image has already been done. (For the record, he also has post-killing jams, but they suck).

What's scariest is the tunes are actually really good. Think of Nick Drake mixed with a good Devendra Banhart.

For the curious: Charles Manson - Look at Your Game Girl

Anyone can be a musician.

Oh My God, Look at This

2009-01-30T11:07:00.000-06:00

Everyone likes bacon.

That's amazing. My brain hurts.

The New Hipster & Return from San Diego

2009-01-25T20:26:00.002-06:00

I just returned from an ISI conference concerning the Executive Power and the Constitution. I'll blog more about this in the upcoming week, but - for now - I have two quick comments.

1. In San Diego, I was talking about how I wasn't a fan (to say the least) of hipsters. I mentioned the fact that they are (typically) trust fund babies who renounce their roots of socio-economic standing by refusing to bathe, shopping exclusively at Goodwill, and by listening to independent electro-dance pop music.

Someone then piped up and said: "Oh, we've always called people like that 'bobos' - short for Bourgeois Bohemians."

And so shall I.

2. This site kicks ass.

The Parking Lot Game

2009-01-21T15:56:00.003-06:00

Clemson's commuter parking lots can be a very dangerous place. Luckily, I'm blessed with a crazy schedule (first class at 8AM, second class at 2:30PM), so I don't have problems finding a place to park this semester.

I remember my sister telling me that she would be most annoyed by people who sat in their cars in the commuter lots, waiting for a spot to open up. Since people with Thompson chromosomes value efficiency and a general respect for others by not being an asshole and parking your car in the middle of the freaking road, I have developed a little game.

You see, everyday after class, I head off to the gym. By the time I get back to my car, it's around 10:30AM, and the people with the 11AM classes (the most popular) are beginning to roll onto campus. As aforementioned, they sit in the parking lots. Recently, however, I've encountered a number of "stalkers." That is - when I'm walking back to my car, they will slowly follow me until I get to my car.

Screw that. I hate creepy car stalkers.

So - here's what I do: Going into class, I make a mental note of the row in which I am parked. On the way back from class, I walk down the row opposite of my car. A person will start to follow me, get excited when I pull out my keys, and start to think they have some great parking spot.

SCREW YOU JERK! I cut across to where my car is really parked. My stalker then has to floor it go get on the other row, where - more often than not - he is beaten to the punch by another car (that wasn't stalking me).

:)

President Obama

2009-01-20T16:59:00.003-06:00

Wow! I watched the inauguration of our 44th president during my morning workout. I initially put 40 minutes on the elliptical machine, but was so enthralled, that I ended up going a full hour. Here's a list of things that I thought were good.

Good:

John Williams inauguration arrangement. This was absolutely beautiful and included Aaron Copland's Variations of a Shaker Hymn. It should be illegal to perform any official American ceremony without Copland. Also, I loved Yo Yo Ma's face; he looked so happy he could shout and so overwhelmed he could cry.
The end of a Bush era. Good riddance Mr. Unpopular. Under your leadership, America saw one of the largest expansions in executive power; it was brought to war with Iraq under false charges; our schools have never been less inspiring or poor through legislation like NCLB; our personal liberties have eroded via FISA and the PATRIOT Act; we have bailed out private institutions, thus rewarding risky business behavior; and we have next to little respect in the world community. Really, the only reason why I never embraced Obama was based on his fiscal record and his support of various scumball laws. Looking back on the last 8 years, however, it's really hard to believe that Obama could be *more* fiscally INANE (not liberal or conservative at this point: fiscally stupid).
HOLY CRAP. Have you seen the new White House website? It's gone Web 2.0 and includes sections concerning executive orders and proclamations. OMG. We now have some transparency. This, my friends, is incredible.

OK. Barring a few fiscal policies, I do like Obama. He's winning me over. I can't believe it.

Also, I LOL'd at:

Aretha Franklin's hat.
Obama stumbling over the oath (I would have too).
Obama stating he was the 44th person to take the Presidental oath. Not correct. Everyone seems to forget about Grover Cleveland!

EDIT: OK; it's official. I like the guy. He's not winning me over; he has won me over.

Hello!

2009-01-19T16:54:00.000-06:00

Screw Tumblr!

I'm back on the good, old, faithful Blogspot. Sorry about the confusion!

Moving!

2008-12-14T00:20:00.001-06:00

I'm moving over to Tumblr. All the cool kids are doing it :(.

Click Here!

My Favorite Albums of 2008

2008-12-12T12:33:00.004-06:00

The end of 2008 is quickly approaching, so it's time to compile a "best of" list for my favorite albums. I've exhaustively searched through my favorites of the year and have decided on the following:

10. Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
9. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
8. Max Richter - 24 Postcards in Full Colour
7. Stereolab - Chemical Chords
6. Bonnie Prince Billy - Lie Down in the Light
5. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Pershing
4. Portishead - Third
3. Lambchop - OH (Ohio)
2. Pygmy Lush - Mount Hope

1. Sun Kil Moon - April

Good Bands vs. Bad Bands

2008-12-06T11:15:00.002-06:00

In case you're confused, here are some examples...

Good Music:
Pygmy Lush
Superchunk
Shannon Wright
Archers of Loaf

Bad Music:
of Montreal
MGMT
The Boy Least Likely To

If you like any of said bands in the "Bad Music" category, I feel sorry for you. Also, I must ask - do you have a Creed CD in your car too?

That'd be great, thx.

Music shouldn't be hype. Before anyone jumps on me - I used to like of Montreal... when they didn't suck.

The End of Radio

2008-11-06T22:03:00.002-06:00

Megan sums up my views of the new music policy change at WSBF the best.

Read this first.

I'm sure all of you know my feelings on this. I was one of 3 people on senior staff who voted against the change (of 9), and was arguably the most vocal critic. I literally screamed at senior staff for hours about how a change in music policy would destroy WSBF's identity.

It used to be unique. Sadly, it is no more.

This is the end of radio.

Post Election Thoughts

2008-11-05T09:11:00.004-06:00

As the whole world knows, Barack Obama will be the new president of these United States. Congratulations to him - as he ran a virtually flawless campaign.

As I sit and think about the future of our country, I can only hope that Obama will do a good job. Despite the fact that I'm a staunch libertarian, I find solace in a few aspects of an Obama presidency:

We'll theoretically end the pointless war in Iraq.
Education and Scientific funding will increase - allowing the US to be more competitive in the world. (I really depart from the libertarian minded people here).
Women will keep their right to choose.
An African-American president sticks a thorn in the side of the terrible racism that has plagued the USA since pre-colonial times.
America will experience a surge in world opinion. And yes, this is very important.

Of course, some issues scare me:

Higher taxation rates without reduced spending could result in a further collapse of our markets.
Market regulation, regulation, regulation. This takes fiscal power out of the hands of the people and into that of a select group of Governmental figures. Unfortunately, no one is omniscient and a policy such as this would greatly undermine economic freedom.
The advancement of the nanny state. Obama did support FISA and the PATRIOT act.
Single payer health care.

In closing, it's always nice to reference Reason Magazine's Brian Doherty in his reflections about the 2004 presidental election:

We [America] are rich, richer than any people in history. (Yes, even most of our poor.) The possibilities of a joyful life are all around us. I say sincerely to people whose political ideologies I find sometimes horrifying: it's a damn shame to let something like the results of an election ruin your chance to enjoy the myriad possibilities of life—real life, not political life—in these United States.

Bob Barr underperformed all expectations. The Libertarians, for as long as I can remember, have failed to finish third in the general election. This time, Barr falls to Ralph Nader. Actually, if you add up all votes for the third party candidates, the total is still under that of Mr. Nader's. The Libertarians need to take a hard look at their platform and see what they need to do to become a viable alternative option. Unfortunately, the idea of establishing a group of individualists is inane, and as Jim Lark of Virginia says, "first, we need to convince libertarians to vote Libertarian."

Also, the ever so discussed Prop-8 in California has seemed to ban gay-marriage. That's really unfortunate, but I commend California for going about this the right way. Big decisions should be left to the people, not the courts.

Lastly, it seems that the age of consent for women in SC will be changed from 14. The amendment was insulting and bad in three ways:

The age of consent will change for WOMEN. What about men? This is the most sexist legislation I've ever seen. What's the age of consent for a teenage boy? Would it be legal for him to have sex at 12? 14? 16?
Never, ever, ever give the authority to change the Constitution without knowing what will be changed. The SC amendment simply allowed a change, but no discussion was given to WHAT would change. What if the age of consent will now be 24 for unmarried women? Give me a break.
14 year olds are old enough to know what they're doing.

South Carolina, what an embarrassment. America - given the choice of McCain and Obama, you chose correctly.

In all honesty, I guess I was most put off by the Obama fans. With the rabid demigod like qualities applied to him, one would think that his presidency would result in everything being okay. Thinking this implies a gross misunderstanding of how the executive branch works and a fundamental idiocy when it comes to knowledge about the United States system of government. End of story.

Let the Obamasturbation begin.

Congratulations - we deserve it.

Reason Magazine's Staff Picks

2008-10-29T16:07:00.002-05:00

>>I'll be trying to blog every day... or at least 3 times a week!<<

Next week, we'll know our next president. I have a Super Taco riding on McCain winning, but it's looking more and more like Obama is going to take it, and I'll owe my amigo Bryan a lunch. Whatever happens, America loses.

Here's how the regular staff writers for my beloved Reason Magazine are voting:

Peter Bagge: Barr; Obama if close
Ronald Bailey: Obama
Radley Balko: Barr
Drew Carey: "Anybody but McCain/Palin"
Tim Cavanaugh: Obama
Shikha Dalmia: Nobody
Brian Doherty: Never votes
Nick Gillespie: Barr, if he votes
Katherine Mangu-Ward: Never votes
Michael Moynihan: Won't vote
Charles Oliver: Won't vote
Bob Poole: McCain
Damon Root: Probably nobody, maybe Barr
Jacob Sullum: Barr
Jesse Walker: Barr
David Weigel: Obama
Matt Welch: Probably Barr
Cathy Young: Probably Barr

Here's how I'm voting on the major SC races:

President: Barr (L)
Senator: Conley (D)
House: No Vote
SC Senate: No Vote (Only Hayes (R) is running)
SC House: No Vote (Only Duncan (R) is running)

Amendment 1: Must Section 33, Article III of the Constitution of this State be amended so as to delete the provision that no unmarried woman shall legally consent to sexual intercourse who shall not have attained the age of fourteen years? NO

Amendment 2: Must Section 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement systems be amended so as to provide that the funds of any trust fund established by law for the funding of post-employment benefits for state employees and public school teachers may be invested and reinvested in equity securities subject to the same limitations on such investments applicable for the funds of the various state-operated retirement systems? NO

Amendment 3: Must Section 16, Article X of the Constitution of this State relating to benefits and funding of public employee pension plans in this State and the investments allowed for funds of the various state-operated retirement systems be amended so as to provide that the funds of any political subdivision of this State that have been set aside for the funding of post-employment benefits for the political subdivision's employees, including those invested in independent trusts established for that purpose, may be invested or reinvested in equity securities of the type permitted for investment by the various state operated retirement systems, as provided for by the General Assembly? NO

My Motherland Strikes Again!

2008-09-26T12:23:00.002-05:00

Holy cow, the Swiss are awesome. What do you think of when you hear the word Switzerland?

Tennis, yodeling, army knives, being on time, being awesome, highly attractive inhabitants, delicious food?

Add, being a complete badass to the list.

Every day, I become more and more proud of my Motherland.

Roots

2008-09-23T23:09:00.002-05:00

Check it out. This is great American music at its finest.

William Elliott Whitmore - Midnight

My New Toys

2008-09-21T12:02:00.002-05:00

I learned a few weeks ago that the ECE department decided to pay $1000/semester to any student participating in undergraduate research. Since this was completely unexpected, I was very happy! Also, with an extra 1000 dollars, I decided finally to buy two items I've always had an eye on.

1. Ruger 10-22 Rifle

I love this guy! I took it to the Pickens County range on Friday, and it shoots great. I was also surprised by how accurate my shots were! I took a hunters education class this Saturday to learn some gun safety and am now permitted to hunt as well. I'm planning on dove hunting this Saturday. Maybe I'll kill a rabbit and have my sister cook me up something in the future!

Here's a picture. I've named her Betsy (this is a pretty terrible picture - I know. Also, I realize the gun should not be placed muzzle up for an extended period of time due to oils falling down into the action):

2. An eeePC

Holy cow is this thing awesome! If you don't know anything about subnotebooks, you should really look into it. The eee is a tiny 3lb net-book which allows for super-portable work. I bought the 901 model, so it has a steady state harddrive, 7.5 hour battery life, webcam, bluetooth, and Intel Atom processor.

Here's a size comparison with my old (and now obsolete) laptop:

The Nonexistence of Magnitic Monopole Haiku

2008-09-12T11:48:00.002-05:00

Maxwell's Equation
Del cross B equals zero
Blows my mind away

-Bryan Cockfield

Clemson from 180 Feet

2008-09-04T18:48:00.005-05:00

As the new Chief Engineer of WSBF, it is both my duty (and probably a rite of passage) to climb our tower. I went with the seasoned vet Matt Crisler (who, by the way, is so old that he knew my sister).

The view was absolutely breathtaking, and these pictures do little to describe it. It was really special, and I look forward to climbing it again.

Here is a picture (thanks Crisler!) of Clemson from the top:

Sunrise

During the ascent

WSBF Podcast

2008-09-04T07:23:00.002-05:00

To podcast my show, click here.

Rawr!

2008-09-01T16:48:00.002-05:00

All this baby stuff with Sarah Palin is getting really old, really quickly.

Who cares? I know I don't.

How about talking about restoring rights, privacy, the environment, ending the war in Iraq, etc.

Apparently, Americans have it in mind that they may only vote for perfect people with perfect families.

Question

2008-08-29T10:45:00.001-05:00

While browsing Amazon.com, I found this:

Description:
The One Women's Binary Fashion Watch

Do you know the code? This technologically impressive timepiece from 01 The One boasts a gorgeous design and a binary code time display. A 28.5-millimeter-wide gold-color leather band joins to an angular 33.5-millimeter-diameter gold-tone stainless steel case for a warm, hip look. The gold-tone dial showcases the 01 logo as well as two rows of aqua-colored LED lights that reveal the time with binary code. An instructional manual will clue you in to "the code" of this intriguing watch, which is water resistant to 100 feet.

That's ridiculous. Women don't wear binary watches.

My Predictions are Correct 1/2 the Time!

2008-08-29T10:02:00.001-05:00

Good pick, McCain.

Interesting Slate Article

2008-08-27T12:38:00.002-05:00

Every now and then, the liberal leaning Slate magazine surprises me with a socially conservative article like this one. In it, the author defends the 21 year old drinking age by siting MADD statistics and alcohol related deaths.

In a perfect world, there would be no alcohol age restrictions - instead, leaving drinking decisions up to one's family and self. Also, maybe purging the "magic 21" would create a culture that treats alcohol safely.

Great Songs of Late

2008-08-25T10:46:00.002-05:00

I've been compulsively listening to 3 albums of late. They are:

Yann Tiersen - Taberly
Stereolab - Chemical Chords
Jawbreaker - Dear You

My musical tastes are all over the place! Below are some great songs from each record.

Radio Show

2008-08-24T21:10:00.004-05:00

My radio show can be heard from 7-9PM every Monday evening starting tomorrow, the 25th of August. Listen here.

School Started

2008-08-22T18:38:00.001-05:00

School started this Wednesday, and so far so good. I'm enjoying being back at Clemson with not too much to do. My schedule changed, and I decided to take 15 hours. It breaks down like this:

ECE 846 (Graduate Class) - Speech Processing - 3 hours
ECE 321 - Electronics II - 3 hours
ECE 312 - Electrical Engineering Lab IV - 1 hour
ECE 317 - Random Signal Analysis - 3 hours
ECE H491 - Research - 2 hours
ECE 381 - Electromagnetics II - 3 hours

More later!

Vacation!

2008-08-13T21:16:00.002-05:00

I've been enjoying my two week vacation and will probably continue not to post for the next week or so. Since I've been home, I've had my 22nd birthday, been to Tennessee with my folks, visited the most amazing used bookstore in the world (my family makes a quarterly pilgrimage) and have had an all around amazing time with just my parents.

In other news, the comments on my blog aren't working that well (as of last check). I'd receive an email saying someone had posted a comment, but it'd never show up! Hopefully, it's fixed now.

PS: Adam Montjoy - send me an email when your Huntsville trip comes closer. I can recommend you some restaurants that will knock your socks off!

Roll Tide

2008-08-05T17:31:00.001-05:00

I'm going to miss this state.

HAHAHAHAHA

2008-08-04T16:00:00.005-05:00

Where is your progressive hopey leader now, Obamaniacs?

X: Support of FISA
X: Reversal on the off-shore drilling ban
X: Opening up US oil reserves

Looks like you jerks should have voted for a real democrat.

(photo credit: reason magazine)

Embrace Your Inner Ambiance

2008-08-04T01:15:00.003-05:00

I'm a huge fan of ambient and minimal music. Despite being different genres, it appears as if more artists are beginning to mesh the two. Below is a video of one of my favorite bands, Stars of the Lid performing one of my favorite songs - Frates by Arvo Part.

It's a wonderful example of an ambient band playing a minimal song. You'll watch this whole thing if you know what's good for you.

Note - considering SOTL requested the lights to be turned off, there's not actually much to see, which probably just yields to a more powerful song.

A Love Note to ADTRAN

2008-08-02T12:01:00.004-05:00

As I finished my end of co-op presentation to past co-workers and some vice presidents, I closed by stating (something like):

"My decision to work here was the best professional decision of my life, and I will greatly miss it. Over the past year and a half, the people I've met while co-oping have greatly molded the person I am today - both professionally and personally. It's with great regret that I must say goodbye, but I will face the future with anticipation and confidence."

I meant every word.

My last day is Wednesday, August 6th, and it's very humbling to feel this way about a place I worked. It helps emphasize the fact that I did make the right decision. I sacrificed a lot to further my career - a decision to which I wasn't always thankful. But for each friend I lost, I gained a new one. For each opportunity sacrificed, a new one appeared.

Work wasn't always thrilling, but no place is. I hated some days but loved others. I sometimes felt ignored or little, but when told that my test script for ADTRAN's most ambitious project was being used at all ADTRAN locations - I felt like the most important employee in the company.

Through it all, I did my best.

My present group plans on taking me out to lunch on the 5th. This is what I plan on saying to them:

"I've been at ADTRAN for a year, and through it all, I've experienced many different types of people. There are those who ignore you. There are those who find you incapable of productive work. There are those who don't know how to treat you. And then there is you.

What are the proper adjectives? Supportive, friendly, interesting? They come nowhere close to describing each of you.

Oftentimes, Human Resources speaks of working with a team - and that a co-worker isn't that, but rather a teammate. I've always thought this is a bit silly. Who want's to work with a teammate? I want to work with a friend.

And all of you are my friends."

Goodbye, ADTRAN.

More Muppets

2008-08-02T09:49:00.003-05:00

I just can't get enough. Here are my three favorite characters singing "Danny Boy":

Habanera:

Professor Obama

2008-07-30T13:12:00.005-05:00

The New York Times has a nice little feature about Barack Obama as a professor. All around, he seems like a great guy. Take it for what it's worth, but I feel this speaks loads:

At a formal institution, Barack Obama was a loose presence, joking with students about their romantic prospects, using first names, referring to case law one moment and "The Godfather" the next.

I've had all of 4 professors in college who I felt were "personable." Being a student's "friend" and relating to them greatly improves learning. Relaxed, the student has no hesitation in asking questions or expressing ideas. Also, judging by some of the exams posted within the article, his class wasn't a cakewalk either.

Now, my view is distorted. In a (relatively) recent article published in EE Times:

Early in her career, electrical-engineering professor Sherra Kerns was called on the carpet after her students said they enjoyed her introductory class in electrical-circuit theory. Fellow faculty members, puzzled by the strong student response, told Kerns that if her students liked the class so much, then she must not be teaching it properly.

"Even today, the assumption is that engineering classes have to be painful to be effective," said Kerns, who is now vice president of research and innovation at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Mass.). "Professors who have happy students are suspect because their classes may not be rigorous enough."

SERIOUSLY?

DSP!

2008-07-29T22:46:00.006-05:00

I'm afraid my blogging will be greatly decreased this week. Between a final exam coming up for my digital signal processing class, the end of the term at ADTRAN, and my 22nd birthday (August 8th, mark your calendar!), I can't guarantee many updates!

I'll try :)

In the meantime, this is what I've been doing:

NOTE: If you actually watch that video, you are crazy. Ironically, though, I just completed a lecture through Clemson on this very subject! Fun Fact: I had a lab TA who was less understandable than the professor above. Another fun fact: I'm positive that video had the most ridiculous introduction ever.

That is all.

Reason: The Boy Who Cried Moment

2008-07-27T18:44:00.002-05:00

Oh lordy, how I love Reason Magazine.

Matt Welch, editor in chief, takes a look at Barack Obama, the boy who cried moment, in this excellent (and funny) article.

Here's an snippet:

And this paragraph in particular gives me chills about Obama's apparently deeply felt belief about how to "give hope to those left behind in a globalized world":

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.

This, Mr. Hopey, is the moment where the two greatest anti-poverty policies known to mankind − immigration and free trade − are under constant attack in the rich West, precisely from the type of hope-floating politicians who would blame global warming on the Chinese, talk '70s-era bollocks about economic "sustainability," and use the kind of labor vs. capital rhetoric that fell out of fashion long before the kind of people cheering you back home today were jeering Ronnie Ray-gun for asking Gorby to "tear down this wall" two decades ago.

I <3 Jim Henson

2008-07-26T15:12:00.002-05:00

The Muppets will always have a special place in my heart. Here are some that really made me laugh!

A Post Especially for My Sister

2008-07-25T18:27:00.003-05:00

My sister Megan (I call her Meggie), earned an MSME from Cornell (She's really super smart). Her thoughts (as interpreted by me): "I'd rather be burned alive than do that again."

I've been thinking a lot about future career paths of late (they really tend to vacillate profusely), and have determined the following:

I've really cooled on the idea of grad school. Whenever I'm studying EE, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make A's, I end up with a B, and I get sad.
Is grad school worth it? From a monetary point of view, let's look at the numbers: Say your starting salary is 55,000 (typical for EEs). If an MSEE takes you 2 years and gives you an extra 10,000 a year, you'd have to work for 11 years just to catch up.
I have 4 good job possibilities after school. Already. (Thank you Stephanie, Sean, Joe, and ADTRAN).
I don't even know if I want an MSEE. I'm sort of leaning towards an MBA - which will be paid for by my employer.
I haven't met one person who has enjoyed grad school. Not one.

I hate big decisions. Really.

Now, I'll get mushy. Take a look at the two prettiest gals on the planet:

The Best US President

2008-07-25T08:38:00.006-05:00

Give it up for good ole' James "Jemmy" Madison:

Who's your favorite?

--

For my mom, here are some reasons why I like Madison (as President and Founder):

He wrote the Constitution and vehemently supported the separation of church and state.
As an "anti-federalist"/Democratic-Republican/classical liberal, he supported states rights and a weak national government.
He authored the Bill of Rights
He led the United States into the War of 1812 - thus protecting America's economic interests. (Great Britain intercepted ships coming to the States with goods).
He vetoed a controversial bill providing for "improvements" based on the idea that these should be left to the States.

Fun Fact: Madison was extremely short, soft spoken, and shy. He also had a terrible time with the ladies, constantly asking Aaron Burr how he, "had so much success with them." Madison was chaste until his 30s where he finally met and married a 16 year old girl. He was infatuated with her and was devastated when she abandoned him for a younger clergy member. Burr later introduced Madison to the famous, "Dolly" and the rest is history. Before this, however, it has been noted that Madison was "exceedingly lonely."

:(

An Open Letter to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute

2008-07-24T12:38:00.004-05:00

Dear ISI,

Remember how I went to the Boston Colloquium concerning "Liberty and the Community?" Great! Me too! I have one tiny little request. Will you send me an invitation to this one:

Executive Power in the United States Constitution (science undergraduates)
January 22-25, 2009 – San Diego

That'd be great, thanks!

Adam W. Thompson

Ubuntu Prettier Than Mac?

2008-07-24T08:39:00.002-05:00

From The Register:

OSCON Billionaire, cosmonaut and founder of the fast-growing Ubuntu Linux distro Mark Shuttleworth dreams impossible dreams.

No, not a return to the stars. He believes in something that's far harder for mortal open source engineers to achieve.

That dream? To produce a desktop more beautiful to ordinary users than legions of Apple programmers supping on the milk of chief exec Steve Jobs' alleged brilliance are capable of producing. That includes a desktop not funded by a clutter of annoying banner or Flash-based ads, but paid for by subscription-based services.

Now you're done dreaming, go home and code for the victory.

In a Tuesday evening O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) keynote, Shuttleworth called on delegates to make a concerted effort not just to catch Apple but to overtake the company in the quality of the desktop experience they deliver users.

His company Canonical, Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, is working to make the Ubuntu desktop "more beautiful" in the next two years, he told OSCON.

"I think the great task in front of us in the next two years is to lift the experience of the Linux desktop from something stable and usable and not pretty, to something that's art," Shuttleworth said.

"Think of the way the iPhone uses a pure software experience, it abstracts away all the hardware," he said. "You can paint anything on the screen because it's all software."

There is the tiny question of funding open-source development. Shuttleworth noted the demand is clearly there from companies and individuals for open-source software, but where the money comes from to support such efforts is not clear.

The noise machine of Web 2.0 and software-as-a-service (SaaS) is all about ads-based revenue. Even mighty companies such as Microsoft are willing to stuff their software full of ads, which are irritating to users and cause distractions. Just for the chance to get online ads dollars.

Carrying the banner of the TiVo generation, Shuttleworth dismissed placement of ads in desktop software as "offensive". He suggested ISVs should make money doing a little hard work selling services, instead.

"There is an emerging emphasis on services - that is the engine to invest in free software applications," he said. "We [Canonical] are hiring guys to work on the desktop... the rationale is online services. This must be a shared platform."

According to Shuttleworth, open source provides unparalleled opportunities to generate wealth and create change through innovation. He supported open-source projects like Firefox, which rely on plug-ins to harness other people's ideas and extend the underlying platform.

He warned that a few challenges exist on the road to greater innovation, wealth and social change via open source.

Platform, tolerance and Linux

First, there's a need for "platform tolerance". Open source must figure out how to work with rather than exclude those on Windows. "While we can all be focused on making Linux the winning platform, we need to think about how we work with other people who work across multiple platforms," he said.

Open source needs the participation of non-experts using tools that are simple enough for non-rock star developers to use. "The bulk of participants in free software projects come from people around the core... We sometimes focus on the rock stars. Choosing tools in our projects that make it easy for people to get stuff done and get out is a winning strategy," Shuttleworth said.

He also returned to a familiar theme of greater cooperation between disparate projects. Coordination of releases would be beneficial in cases where there are interdependencies, reducing bugs, helping produce a general open-source platform that could bring open source to the attention of the world at large.

"Imagine if we could talk in particular about the summer 2009 release, and there'd be differences in the platform. To be able to have this pulse across the entire free software ecosystem - how would that elevate the awareness we could generate in the rest of the world?" he asked.

--
Now, it's fully possible to make Linux pretty with the windows manager Compiz (I spoke about this in a previous post), but I fully support Ubuntu's goal. I can't stand Apple - anything that gives them a run for their money is good in my book.

For the record - I own an iPod. It's also jailbroken. I emphatically disagree with Apple's tendency to control how you use the device that you purchased.

The Smiths

2008-07-23T23:41:00.001-05:00

The Smiths are awesome. This is one of the greatest love songs ever written.

A Great E-mail

2008-07-22T08:31:00.003-05:00

My mom sent me one of the funniest e-mails I've received today:
--

InBev to Change Cardinal's Uniforms

(Brussels) Anheuser-Busch has accepted a $52 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV to create the world's largest beer maker and end a month-long standoff. While pitching the deal in recent weeks, InBev chief executive Carlos Brito has said that he is 'committed to the city of St. Louis' and that changes here would be minimal. One that Brito said will show up shortly after this weeks Major League Baseball All-Star event in New York will be a minor one in the long standing uniforms worn by the St. Louis Cardinal Baseball team. First-baseman Albert Pujols, one of the first to try the new outfits said "while it may take a little time for Cardinal fans to fall in line behind the change, I personally like them a lot. They'll really be enjoyable during those hot, muggy days in late July and August. I expect all of the fans will be wearing them before the end of the season!" Sporting goods stores around the St. Louis area report brisk sales of the new Cardinal memorabilia.

For an Appointment, Dial...

2008-07-21T21:59:00.004-05:00

Here's a picture of my fall 2008 schedule:

Combined with:

Chief Engineer and DJ at WSBF
President of the Clemson libertarians
Junior Fellow: Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism
Junior Fellow: Dixon Fellows
TTO Writer
HKN Secretary

It should be a busy, yet exceedingly fun semester. :-)

De-Prettied

2008-07-20T23:12:00.001-05:00

Sorry about all the blog layout changes. My friend Bryan sent me a screen shot showing an ad in the middle of a post.

I hate ads more than anything, so I'd rather have a "less pretty" blog than a blog filled with annoying adverts.

The Morality of Greed

2008-07-20T12:56:00.006-05:00

I'm a student of the New York Times. Despite the fact that I emphatically disagree with many of their editorials, I truly feel that it's one of the best sources of legitimate and diverse news. Their newest (and immensely popular) feature on the Debt Crisis (which I spoke about here) has really flipped my switch. In one of the comments that particularly stood out (and was recommended by a plethora of readers) stated:

There are many reasons why Americans are being overwhelmed by debt. I'm 69 years old and have been widowed for 17 years - my late husband was terminally ill and unable to work the last 11 years of his life. I worked as an administrative assistant until my retirement...he didn't believe in nor did he have life insurance. We paid cash for our last home which we moved into 18 1/2 years ago. I never carry over a credit card balance on the one major credit card I own - not matter what the balance, I pay it. I live on SS and a small pension of $325 a month and I have NO DEBT and a perfect credit score. No one is giving me money (though my son and his wife send me $100 every so often). I love the outdoors - it's free. I don't need any more things (I have too many already and have gotten rid of over half of them and need to get rid of more). I drive a year 2000 car (gets me from point A to point B on 36 mpg (I drive 10 miles below the speed limit on expressways and save a bundle of money) and I have all the clothes I need. It's getting harder to make ends meet so I cook a big pot of chicken vegetable soup and put it in freezer containers - I cook from scratch; it's cheaper.

It seems to me that when buying a house - the perspective buyers need to ask themselves if they can afford it if one of them gets sick and/or loses a job or if there is a divorce down the road. Many people want the biggest cars, the most expensive electronic games and toys, the shiniest fishing boats and the biggest, most gorgeous homes and they want it NOW. The banks have been conspirators in giving people what they want because of greed. ...

According to the Princeton dictionary, greed is defined as:

[the] excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves

Considering this definition, I feel that many people are wrong in two ways:

Why is it always the big companies, the providers, the producers that are greedy? Greed is defined as the excessive desire to possess more, so - the consumers overwhelmed with debt are the ones which are truly greedy. Lenders are simply providing a service. In harsh times, people tend to pick on them, expressing their immorality and selfishness, while ignoring the fact that, through loans, many people can now attend college, buy a home, and start a business. How many people's lives have been utterly improved by loans? Those who criticize the lenders are fundamentally ignoring the true cause of the problem - a viewpoint which is widely accepted in other political policies as well. Remember the smoking bans? It's not YOUR fault you smoke - it's the tobacco companies that make a product that is simply TOO GOOD TO RESIST. How about taking some personal responsibility and not force other people to suffer due to your poor decisions?
Greed is severely misunderstood. Throughout life, human nature dictates that we will always strive for individual improvement. The individual is the core unit of society and will perform actions which betters both himself and those who he values. In other words, if someone values giving alms to the homeless, a decision to do so does not classify as immoral. However, if someone does not value homelessness, the same action is immoral. Greed is a personal trait and does not involve taking advantage of those people, things, or places of which you deem worthy. Here's the simple fact: our lives have been greatly improved to so the "greediness" of individuals who revolutionized industry to make money. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Gates, Ford, etc. participated in ruthless business practices, assuring them both market share and distribution channels. They ultimately greatly profited, but look what their developments did for the people. Cars are cheaper, computers are in every home, and almost everyone has access to cable television, air conditioning, and electricity. So, I tend to sympathize with this quote from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged:

Now I'll guess what you're thinking: go ahead, say that it's evil, that I'm selfish, conceited, heartless, cruel. I am. I don't want any part of that tripe about working for others. I'm not.

"The only thing that's wrong in what you said," Francisco answered, "is that you permit anyone to call it evil.

Here's to the producers. Take it, Milton Friedman:

Overhaul!

2008-07-19T23:39:00.001-05:00

My blog is now pretty.

The Debt Trap

2008-07-19T12:59:00.005-05:00

The New York Times is featuring loads of videos concerning the "Debt trap," and, after watching 2-3 of these, I'm became relatively upset.

The subtitle of the vignettes, "A series about the surge in consumer debt and the lenders who made it possible" really sums up the feelings of many Americans. It's not MY fault; it's the LENDER's fault.

Ok, let's go over the scenario:

1. I would like to buy a house, boat, tractor, car, etc but don't have enough money to do so. I go to the bank or lender to obtain a loan and agree to pay it back at a monthly interest rate.
2. Some unknown consequence comes up: I get fired from my job, increased medical bills, etc and can no longer repay the loan.
3. My loan defaults and I have items repossessed.
4. I'm oh so sad, so I lobby government to help me out. Now, everyone feels bad for me, and the lenders are simply a bunch of evil, greedy, no good business man.

I cannot begin to tell you how immoral new legislation aiding in the financial burdens of those who lived beyond their means and were unable to repay their debts is. To place the burden on the taxpayer - those who made proper decisions in their savings - is, at its root, theft. Don't punish me because someone else doesn't know how to manage his money.

I have absolutely no sympathy for these people; if you make bad decisions, you must deal with the consequences. If you don't understand the contract you're to which you are agreeing, find someone who does understand it and have them explain the terms of conditions.

Now - if a borrower was genuinely screwed over by a lender - that's a different matter and should involve criminal charges. The majority of these cases do not follow that mold.

Here's a general rule of thumb: If your rent/mortgage consumes more than 28% of your monthly income, you are living beyond your means.

At worst, I've managed to save 33% of my monthly income. At best: 66%. It's not that hard - I just don't buy lots of stuff.

It DOES Make Delicious Coffee

2008-07-19T10:28:00.002-05:00

Over on my sister's blog, Megan spoke of an old coffee-maker named the Chemex. She rated it nicely and, being the gadget lover, I decided to order one online. The friendly folks at UPS delivered it yesterday, and after excitedly making my first cup of coffee with it, I can honestly say it's some of the best coffee I've consumed.

In other news, I'm on the second week of the 100 pushup program and have been listening to an obscene amount of Elliott Smith.

So, What About Batman?

2008-07-18T08:21:00.002-05:00

I'm recovering from my first ever midnight movie showing, and all I can say it that it was 100% totally worth it. The Dark Knight defied the hype machine to go down as one of the best movies I've ever seen (I'd definitely put it in my top five).

Before I say more, and potentially give something big away, I'll practice some self censorship.

All that's left to say is Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker is an acting experience which can only be compared to Malcolm McDowell in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

Truly, Truly, Truly amazing.

Sorta Famous

2008-07-17T19:48:00.004-05:00

Last spring, my friend Matt and I went down to Birmingham, Alabama to see The Hold Steady and Art Brut in concert. There's a charming little venue there called the Bottletree, and they happened to be celebrating their 1 year anniversary that evening. Before the shows, there were some carnival type amusements, one of which featured the lead singers of the aforementioned bands fighting off in a sumo match. If you look closely, you can see me! I'm straight back in the light gray pants. It also helps that I tower over the crowd!

Around 1:24, you'll hear Matt shout "AMERICA!" (an inside joke among the ADTRAN co-ops). Additionally, at the end of the video, you'll hear a USA chant. That was me. Eddie Argos, of Art Brut, is a dirty Briton.

The Hold Steady:

I couldn't find a good video of Art Brut, but the shindig was MC'ed by the famous mini mall guy. This was an amazing night.

Batman: The Dark Knight

2008-07-17T08:50:00.005-05:00

I'm writing this post at 8:51 AM CST. That means, in a mere 15 hours and 10 minutes, I will be sitting in front of a digital projection screen, watching perhaps the greatest movie ever made.

I honestly don't remember being this excited about a movie since The Fountain, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood (all amazing). Between The Dark Knight and Wall-E, this has definitely been a good summer for movies.

Let's face it - everything about the newest Batman screams awesome.

Here's a quick run-down:

Directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan returns Batman to the story it should be - one that is dark, mysterious, and sometimes gruesome. Thank God he departed from the Batman Forever punchlines!
Heath Ledger. I think this one goes without saying. The man ultimately died due (partly) to the stress of playing the Joker.
Morgan Freeman. Yeah Yeah Yeah - he plays the same character in every film he's in: that old wise black guy. Who cares. I love him - always have, always will.
Maggie Gyllenhaal. BABE!!! BAAAAAABE!!!
Michael Caine. Caine is one of my favorite actors. I don't care if I feel that his best role is in The Muppet Christmas Carol. It's good. I have no shame.

I realize this is just a "hype" post and doesn't say too much, but I'm really excited for tonight. I'll let you know how it is tomorrow!

Here's a picture my friend Bradley altered. I'd say it's pretty accurate:

Oliver Heaviside

2008-07-16T09:14:00.004-05:00

In a previous post, I spoke about Oliver Heaviside who basically made all EE's life easier through the simplification of Maxwell's Equations and the further development of the Phaser.

On top of these worthy accomplishments, Heaviside is credited with the Heaviside step function.

Now, all of this leads up to this wonderful picture. I saw the idea online last year - only never to be able to find the picture again! Below is my rendition:

I'm pretty sure the only people who will like this are my sister and Adam Wesley Montjoy (as an aside, we share the same first and middle names - making him unbelievably awesome in my book). I'm sorry to alienate all other readers (HA!).

Political Compass

2008-07-15T22:59:00.003-05:00

Economic Left/Right: 5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.41

See where you stack up.

If on a winter's night a traveler - The Most Pretentious Book Known to Mankind.

2008-07-15T00:48:00.005-05:00

Italo Calvino is widely considered to be one of the greatest modern storytellers. His magnum opus, Invisible Cities, is apparently a charming book - but, the lure of his other work, "If on a winter's night a traveler" convinced me to read it first. MISTAKE.

Jesus Christ, I've never read a more pretentious novel than this. Ultimately, it felt like a director's cut of a movie - with a slimey little bastard popping into every damned scene to tell you just how good he is. Granted, IOAWNAT (abbreviated for brevity's sake) concerns the lives of interweaving characters and their absorption of ten separate novellas, each ending at a moment of climax - so the aforementioned "Director's cut feel" may have been the objective. But Calvino - do you really need to interrupt a scene to point out how well you described a scene? No.

That said, my biggest complaint with the novel is that it felt entirely too forced. Have you ever read Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder? It's very similar. Elementary. Predictable. Pointless. Concerning the first few novellas: the first was interrupted by a publishing error and, through a series of ultimately unfortunate accidents, the 4th or 5th (I can't remember) short story actually consisted of an incomplete story found at the publisher's place of business when the main character went to complain about the first book.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah: Each "novel" is written in a completely different style and tone as the other and tends to focus on major literary genres. So what? Calvino doesn't seem to capture the essence particularly well; instead, he tends to focus more on an all too wordy diction rather than a certainly element of beauty or substance.

To use the English term, it's simply naff. Totally lame. A bore. Awful.

Thankfully, I had my trusty Narratives of Empire series by Gore Vidal to save me (ironically, Vidal idolizes Calvino - but that's a separate story). On the side, my novel of choice is Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. It serves as a nice departure from the sometimes unbearable A People's History of the United States - of which I recently completed.

Guns!!!

2008-07-14T00:12:00.003-05:00

I've decided to buy a rifle. Yep. A rifle. Considering the fact that I've never really even seen one in real life, and I'm pretty sure my family doesn't like guns, I haven't been able to cultivate the knowledge base needed for a rational purchase. That said, I've been thankful to have loads of friends who own and love guns (having a libertarian circle of friends really helps sometimes), and they've pointed me towards three classic (and popular) rifles.

Everyone recommended a .22LR Rifle to start. Here are the recommendations of my good friend Barend:

Ruger 10/22
Remington 597
Marlin Model 60

I'm really liking the Ruger and Marlin - they seem to have great reviews online and are fairly cheap. I plan on buying this bad boy (whatever the end result is) when I get back to Clemson.

If you have any further suggestions/experiences with these guns, feel free to leave some feedback in the comments.

The Geometry of Circles

2008-07-12T21:16:00.003-05:00

In 1979, my favorite composer (and artist, for that matter) - Philip Glass - teamed up with the folks at Sesame Street (yes, the children's show) to produce four different segments concerning the geometry of circles.

From Muppet Wiki:

The shorts consist of the movement of six circles (each with a different color of the rainbow) that are formed by and split up into various geometric patterns. Glass's music underscores the animation in a style that closely resembles the "Dance" numbers and the North Star vignettes written during the same time period as his Einstein on the Beach opera.

This sounded all too awesome, so I had to find these shorts. Below is the video of all four segments combined into one video. Enjoy!

Lol, Fourier

2008-07-11T01:27:00.006-05:00

Bonjour mes amis!

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (I think really important people have really long names. It deals with high-brow society, etc) was a French (Vive la France!) mathematician who was pretty much awesome. He was a true "philosopher" in its strictest sense - those who actually observed nature, society, and order to learn more about the world. Plus, he was really, really, really good at what he did.

Anyways, you may be presently wondering why I'm talking about an influential dead guy. Well, the answer lies in the handy Fourier Transform.

Within Electrical Engineering, there are multiple fields: power, controls, robotics, electronics, communications and network systems, and digital signal processing. Due to my love of music and waves in general, I've opted towards the DSP route and am starting research next semester in speech processing.

As a DSP engineer, one of our primary concerns is system analysis - especially dealing with analog/digital (and digital/analog) conversions, filters, and noise cancellations. To make these calculations easier, one often has to transform the system from the time domain to the frequency domain.

Anyways, long story short: I was doing a few problems for one of my summer classes that involves a couple Fourier transforms. I am pretty rusty on a few of the rules, so I visited Wikipedia for some help. I laughed really hard when I saw this:

All this does nothing but inspire me to make a list of awesome Electrical Engineers (or those who greatly contributed towards the field). So far:

Oliver Heaviside
Nikola Tesla (Screw you, Edison!)
James Maxwell
André-Marie Ampère
Gregor Ohm
Alessandro Volta
Obviously, Fourier

The list really goes on. If some electrical measurement has a name, it's probably an awesome scientist.

Boy, that was nerdy.

Compiz Fusion

2008-07-10T01:17:00.005-05:00

Linux has some great features. Over my years of experimentation, I've found the most eye-popping, impressive, and convenient is Compiz-Fusion - the 3d windows manager. Below, you'll see a screen capture of my machine performing some Compiz tasks such as wobbly windows, workspace switching, and various other tricks. Furthermore, you'll see my quick launcher, Gnome-Do, docker - Kiba-Dock, pop-down terminal, Yakuake - and the piece de resistance, Amarok - the awesome media player.

This video doesn't even come close to all of the amazing available features. For more information, consult the friendly folks at Ubuntu Forums or the Compiz-Fusion site.

Also note, this is a "rough" screen capture. Compiz actually runs much smoother than this video demonstrates.

Go to Hell, FISA

2008-07-09T15:43:00.006-05:00

I've always reacted sensitively towards issues in the telecommunications industry - especially considering I work in it. That said, I couldn't be more upset about this:

WASHINGTON — More than two and a half years after the disclosure of President’s Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program set off a furious national debate, the Senate gave final approval on Wednesday afternoon to broadening the government’s spy powers and providing legal immunity for the phone companies that took part in the wiretapping program.

The plan, approved by a vote of 69 to 28, marked one of Mr. Bush's most hard-won legislative victories in a Democratic-led Congress where he has had little success of late. Both houses, controlled by Democrats, approved what amounted to the biggest restructuring of federal surveillance law in 30 years, giving the government more latitude to eavesdrop on targets abroad and at home who are suspected of links to terrorism.

The issue put Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in a particularly precarious spot. After long opposing the idea of immunity for the phone companies in the wiretapping operation, he voted for the plan on Wednesday. His reversal last month angered many of his most ardent supporters, who organized an unsuccessful drive to get him to reverse his position once again. And it came to symbolize what civil liberties advocates saw as "capitulation" by Democratic leaders to political pressure from the White House in an election year.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who was Mr. Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against the bill.

The outcome was a stinging defeat for opponents who had urged Democratic leaders to stand firm against the White House after a months-long impasse.

"I urge my colleagues to stand up for the rule of law and defeat this bill," Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said in closing arguments.

But Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said there was nothing to fear in the bill "unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial."

Supporters of the plan, which revised the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, said that the final vote reflected both political reality and legal practicality. Wiretapping orders approved by a secret court under the previous version of the surveillance law were set to begin expiring in August unless Congress acted, and many Democrats were wary of going into their political convention in Denver next month with the issue hanging over them—handing the Republicans a potent political weapon.

Voting for the bill were 47 Republicans, 21 Democrats and an independent, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. Twenty-seven Democrats and Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, voted against it. Not voting were Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who was a sharp critic of the bill before being sidelined with cancer; John McCain of Arizona, campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, and Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. Mr. McCain and Mr. Sessions would have been expected to voted "yes."

The surveillance plan, which Mr. Bush is expected to sign into law quickly, was the product of months of negotiations between the White House and Democratic and Republican leaders, earning the grudging support of some leading Democrats.

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who leads the intelligence committee and helped broker the deal, said modernizing the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was essential to protecting national security and giving intelligence officials the technology tools they need to deter another terrorist strike. But he said the plan "was made even more complicated by the president's decision, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, to go outside of F.I.S.A. rather than work with Congress to fix it."

He was referring to the secret program approved by Mr. Bush weeks after the Sept. 11 that allowed the National Security Agency, in a sharp legal and operational shift, to wiretap the international communications of Americans suspected of links to Al Qaeda without first getting court orders. Disclosure of the program in December 2005 by The New York Times led to lawsuits and condemnation from critics, including one federal judge who ruled that the program was illegal, only to be overruled on appeal. It also set off many rounds of abortive attempts in Congress to find a legislative solution.

The key stumbling block in the congressional negotiations was the insistence by the White House that any legislation include legal immunity for the phone companies that took part in the wiretapping program. The program itself ended in January 2007, when the White House agreed to bring it under the auspices of the special court set up by the earlier surveillance law, known as the F.I.S.A. court. Still, more than 40 lawsuits continued churning through federal courts, charging AT&T, Verizon and other major carriers with breaking the law and violating their customers' privacy by agreeing to the White House's requests to conduct wiretaps without a valid court order.

The deal approved on Wednesday, which passed the House on June 20, effectively ends those lawsuits. It includes a narrow review by a district court to determine whether in fact the companies being sued received formal requests or directives from the administration to take part in the program. The administration has already acknowledged that those directives exist. Once such a finding is made, the lawsuits "shall be promptly dismissed," the bill says. Republican leaders say they regard the process as a formality in ensuring that the phone carriers are protected from any legal liability over their participation.

Liberal Democrats in the Senate, led by Senators Feingold and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, sought in vain to pare down the proposal. An amendment sponsored by Mr. Dodd to strip the immunity provision from the bill was defeated, 66 to 32.

Two other amendments were also rejected. One, offered by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, would have required that a district court judge assess the legality of warrantless wiretapping before granting immunity. It lost by 61 to 37. The other, which would have postponed immunity for a year pending a federal investigation, was offered by Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico. It was defeated by 56 to 42.

Lawyers involved in the lawsuits against the phone companies promised to challenge the immunity provision in federal court, although their prospects appeared dim.

"The law itself is a massive intrusion into the due process rights of all of the phone subscribers who would be a part of the suit," said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer who represents several hundred plaintiffs in one lawsuit against Verizon and other companies. "It is a violation of the separation of powers. It's presidential election-year cowardice. The Democrats are afraid of looking weak on national security."

The legislation also expands the government's power to invoke emergency wiretapping procedures. While the National Security Agency would be allowed to seek court orders for broad groups of foreign targets, the law creates a new, 7-day period for targeting foreigners without a court order in "exigent" circumstances if government officials assert that important national security information would be lost otherwise. The law also expands from three to seven days the period in which the government can conduct emergency wiretaps without a court on Americans if the attorney general certifies that there is probable cause to believe the target is linked to terrorism.

Democrats pointed to some concessions they had won from the White House in the lengthy negotiations. The final bill includes a reaffirmation that the surveillance law is the "exclusive" means of conducting intelligence wiretaps — a provision that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats insisted would prevent Mr. Bush or any future president from evading court scrutiny in the way that the N.S.A. program did.

The measure will also require reviews by the inspectors general from several agencies to determine how the program was operated. Democrats said that the reviews should provide accountability that had been missing from the debate over the wiretaps.

--
Dear Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain and supporters of FISA:

I'd like to roughly quote my sister on this one (in reference to the Guantanamo Bay Supreme Court case):

It's almost as if they were all taking a shit in the bathroom - realized there was no toilet paper and suddenly realized they could use the Constitution instead.

Anyone who supported this bill no longer deserves to be in power - as it is an obvious violation of the fourth amendment of the United States:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I could read better than our legislators when I was 3.

PS: Good for you, Hillary.

-- MORE --

I hate this piece of legislation for two main reasons:

It's supposed only to apply to suspected terrorists. What is a suspected terrorist? Is it a grandmother, son, daughter, sister, brother? Does he make negative remarks about the government? Who? What? When? And moreso than that - who checks the government to make sure they aren't abusing their power? The Supreme Court? HA! That's funny.
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." - Benjamin Franklin

Lastly, despite some of Barack Obama's supporters criticizing him for his support of FISA, I still find it funny to observe the circle-jerk that surrounds his ideas. One quote floating around on the Inter-tubes:

Obama voted for FISA so as not to appear weak on protecting the country. When he gets in power he'll change it.

Yeah - and if I'm given a $600 economic stimulus package, I'm actually going to spend it.*

*This $600 in full was invested in TREMX - an Emerging Europe and Mediterranean international mututal fund.

New York Times Editor's Selection

2008-07-08T13:18:00.002-05:00

OH YEAH

I'm way too excited about this.

Bears!!!

2008-07-08T10:33:00.003-05:00

If you have been paying any sort of attention to the financial markets, you may have realized they're in bear territory. What is this? Quite simply, it's when the market has dropped 20% since it's peak. Unfortunately for investors, a bear market means big losses - but simultaneously provides a "great opportunity to invest" for people who haven't done so.

Remember the old saying, "buy low, sell high?"

Now, I'm no financial whiz, but I do happen to listen to a lot of Clark Howard and tend to read the Economist every week, so I'd say my knowledge of the global and US economy is at worst competent. These are simply my investments and advice for what has worked best for me - considering both my lifestyle and spending (or lack thereof) habits.

I own 3 "funds"

T. Rowe Price - Capital Appreciation (PRWCX)
T. Rowe Price - Emerging Europe and Mediterranean (TREMX)
Vanguard - Money Market (VMMXX)

You can look at the specifics on each of these funds on your own, but quickly stated, PRWCX is a blue-chip domestic mutual fund, TREMX invests in foreign companies not easily purchased by Americans, and VMMXX is a high-interest savings account.

Typically, for starting investments, be sure to research the following companies:

Each of these companies offers no-load funds - meaning you don't pay any fees. Remember, you're smart enough to manage your own portfolio. Don't be intimidated into letting someone set it up for you unless you're investing in individual companies or have a ton ton ton of money.

I really like T. Rowe Price. They have this neat option funded by ACH where a set amount of money will be transferred from the investor's checking/saving account on a set date per month. This greatly avoids risk, for - when the market is up, you buy less shares; when the market is down, you aquire more. It's that simple. Plus, it forces saving - which is hard for lots of people.

Despite the downturn in the economy, if you play it right, you have the opportunity to make a lot of money.

Maybe I'm Just Growing Old...

2008-07-07T17:36:00.003-05:00

I'm a big fan of NPR's Internet only program All Songs Considered. Typically 30 minutes in length, host Bob Boilen focuses on "under the radar music" - featuring everything from Fela Kuti to Radiohead. It's really a gem of a show, but - while listening to June 23's Summer Music Preview, I realized something profound about my musical preferences.

I'm getting old.

Yep. A mere thirty-two days separate my present self from my 22nd birthday; and since the youthful age of 18, I can certainly discern a difference from music of then to music of now. I used to love "Twee" - that is, ridiculously annoying pop music featuring lots of hand claps, cutsie pootsie lyrics, and forgettible memories. (Note: I don't classify bands such as Belle & Sebastian and The Lucksmiths as twee - they're more chamber pop - but that's a mere techanicality).

So how did I come to this realization? Why all of the sudden?

An editor for Pitchfork Media happened to be one of M. Boilen's guests on the show, and her recommendation was a synth/twee pop song by The Black Kids. (You can click on the link for the Youtube video of this song). Jesus Christ. This is one of the worst songs I've heard in my life. In fact, if you happen to listen to the archive of All Songs Considered, you will hear a similar statement from the host. Luckily for me, Bob Boilen followed that monstrosity of abrasive synth pop with a nice cut off the new Randy Newman album. THANK GOD.

To prove my aging* sensibilities, below is Mark Knopfler's song "What it is." It's a damn fine tune.

*I shouldn't be so hard on myself - I still love the new Girl Talk album... it's just twee - you're so damned annoying.

Let's Talk About Immigration

2008-07-06T14:48:00.000-05:00

ZOMG!!! Linux + Luther

2008-07-05T10:13:00.004-05:00

Ok! I was poking around in Ubuntu today and found this awesome easter-egg:

Now, for all of you who don't know me that well, my favorite book in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD is Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Le Petit Prince. This nice little easter egg surprise just affirms the fact that I'm using the right operating system.

In other news, my July 4th celebration was a success! I went over to my friend Nick's house with a few other friends, and we grilled out and shot off fireworks. The most amazing creation of the night was the infamous Luther - created at some hole-in-the wall restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. It consists of a bacon cheeseburger on a krispie creme donut bun. It was surprisingly good, but undeniably hard to finish.

Happy 232nd Birthday, Declaration of Independence

2008-07-04T09:52:00.005-05:00

Upon signing the Declaration, John Hancock stated:

There, I guess King George will be able to read that.

In modern language, this would read:

King George, suck it bee-yatch!

So on this 232nd anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, take a few seconds to think about what it means to you (Adam Montjoy speaks about Thomas Jefferson over on Buckley Broomlegs). Since this great time, many people have ignored or forgotten the advice it grants. I have copied the full text below.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Roasted Red and Yellow Pepper Sauce with Garlic and Basil

2008-07-03T22:44:00.006-05:00

Marcella Hazan is the author of a wonderful cookbook entitled Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. In it, she provides both a plethora of delicious recipes along with a general how to guide on basic Italian food preparation such as making noodles, sauces, etc; it explains some of the theory behind the madness!

I made this dish a few nights ago, and it's gone down as being one of my favorites. Furthermore, it's vegetarian friendly and cholarbear approved.

Try out this recipe, and if you like it, you should really consider buying the book. It's truly a food bible.

Ingredients

3 meaty bell peppers, some red, some yellow
16 to 20 fresh basil leaves
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt
2 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano-regiano cheese
1 lb rigatoni pasta

Directions

Wash peppers, peel, de-seed, and cut into strips.
Rinse basil leaves and tear the larger pieces into smaller ones.
Place the olive oil in a saute pan. Cook on a medium high heat until the garlic is nut-brown in color. Discard.
Put the peppers in the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. The peppers should be tender but not mushy. When the peppers are done, add salt and remove from the heat.
Gently reheat peppers when you're getting ready to toss the pasta.
Before tossing the pasta, melt the butter.
Toss the cooked pasta with the contents of the saute pan, then add the melted butter, grated Parmesan and basil. Toss and serve.

Erin's Article

2008-07-02T14:58:00.001-05:00

Everyone's favorite Erin had one of her articles published in the New York Post (she's interning there this summer). Go ahead, take a look.

I'll help you out with one part, though:

Apocryphal - (adj.) of doubtful authorship or authenticity.

Gobama!

2008-07-02T08:51:00.005-05:00

In the past week, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has decided to change his views on telecommunication immunity and to expand President George W. Bush's faith based programs.

Can we spy on our own people? Yes WE CAN!

Can we use the Federal Government to fund religious institutions, thus violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution? Yes WE CAN!

In the meantime, General Wesley Clark is being criticized for saying of John McCain,

He hasn't held executive responsibility. … I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.

How is this bad? Why is the General being criticized? To me, such a statement is not unlike saying, "Driving a milk truck is not a qualification to become the commander in chief of the military." It's probably an issue of Wesley Clark's "patriotism" - but I'm assuming pledging an oath of allegiance to the United States along with commanding forces in the much despised Vietnam War totally makes him anti-American.

John McCain, Barack Obama, and Wesley Clark certainly have a deep love for the United States. Let's not question this because someone does or does not wear a flag pin on his lapel.

Jean Luc Godard

2008-07-01T22:01:00.004-05:00

In the famous French film Breathless, the character played by the lovely Jean Seberg poses a question to a novelist. It goes something like, "What is your greatest desire in life?" The writer answers, "To become immortal, then to die."

Such is the realm of a Jean Luc Godard film. Specializing in New Wave films, Godard broke all the rules on traditional cinema. Through his experimentation with themes, cinematography, time, and dialog, he is able to create a form that can truly stand the test of time.

Gore Vidal said of cinema (reprinted from my memory), "It's dead. It's crap. It's faux literature that doesn't think. Being purely entertainment, the viewer is immersed in a realm of being told what to do - how to feel."

Obviously, Mr. Vidal has never seen a good film. Akin to the famous Swede Ingmar Bergman, Godard imposes a similar brand of storytelling - one of which forces the viewer to discuss the film with friends - maybe even view it an additional time. The themes are surreptitiously hidden within a package that both dazzles and confuses - yet never disappoints.

Without a doubt, he's the best director out there; and this is coming from someone who, for the longest time, was a Stanley Kubrick fanboy. Poor Stanley, I'm sorry to say - you've been bumped down the list. My deepest apologies.

Here's a sample from Alphaville, discussing the view of love:

If you're looking for a starter movie, Band of Outsiders and Breathless are probably his two best-known and easiest to find.

Running Mates

2008-06-30T19:13:00.005-05:00

Come this fall, I won't be voting for either McCain or Obama - nor do I favor one over the other. Whereas I feel Obama would work harder to ensure personal freedoms, I think that McCain will work harder to cut taxes and promote private enterprise. Knowing how the system works, neither would probably occur - which is why I always vote for losers.

Knowing that, I've thought long and hard about good running mates for the two candidates. In my opinion, these two individual would provide the most "X factor" to the McCain and Obama campaigns - and ultimately help to reduce the potential impact of Bob Barr and Ralph Nadar.

If John McCain were smart, he'd choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. This super cute** governor from Alaska is young, vibrant, and has a great future ahead of her. Furthermore, she currently has the highest approval rating of any elected official in the States. This is huge - especially for someone as unlikable as McCain. She'd appeal to the base GOP members by being firmly "pro-life" (a terrible term, really) and having a love affair with oil (you really can't blame her - she's from Alaska). Conversely, she seems to be tolerant of homosexuals and drug decrimilization- bringing some liberal leaning folks into the McCain sphere (maybe). Whatever is the case, she'd certainly make the McCain presidency more visually appealing - perhaps canceling out some of the ickiness everytime I see Mr. John. Palin certainly beats the hell out of Senor Orange, Charlie Crist.

Who should Barack Obama choose? That's easy: Bill Richardson. Oh man, this would be a dream ticket for the Democrats - a liberal rookie senator from Illionis and a left-libertarian governor from New Mexico! Richardson has supported such legislation as: gun rights, fiscal reform, and a more sensible immigration policy. He's a moderate if moderate exists and would work wonders recruiting libertarian-leaning and blue collar liberals. Plus, everyone respects him - and his Christmas cookie recipe looks like it'd kill a man under 150 lbs. You have to respect that.

Obama's biggest mistake would be running with Hillary. God. People can't stand her! Lots of talk is surrounding Jim Webb as well, but I think Slate covers this idea best.

--

**Of course, she shouldn't be selected for the sole reason that she's super cute; that would be ridiculous.

Kota Psito Meh Patates

2008-06-29T21:12:00.010-05:00

Translation: Baked Chicken with Potatoes.

I decided to make this dish after realizing a whole chicken (4.5lbs) only costs about $6 at my local Publix. The recipe comes via the Ladies of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Canton, Ohio from a recipe book (it's Greek!) given to me for Christmas by my grandmother. Church recipe books are a jewel among the cooking world. Often, the recipes are simple, tasty, and non pretentious. Some of the best food I've ever eaten has come from these!

Anyways, the Kota Psito Meh Patates featured subtle lemon flavors that really accented the natural taste of the chicken. Plus, the potato wedges used in the cooking process ended up being a wonderful side dish!

Now, for the recipe:

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (about 4lbs)
4 Idaho potatoes, cut into wedges
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup water

Directions

Place water in the roasting pan (or 9 1/2 x 11 inch pan).
Add whole chicken and arrange potato wedges around it.
Salt and pepper both.Mix oil and lemon juice and baste.
Cover and bake in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until done

My chicken took around 75 minutes to finish cooking, but it sure was worth it. If life ever takes you to Canton, Ohio - be sure to show your appreciation to the ladies of HTOC by purchasing a cookbook or throwing some money their way.

In other news, Wall-E is probably the greatest Pixar movie ever created. Drop everything you're doing and see it now. Seriously.

Summer Movies/New Girl Talk

2008-06-27T18:52:00.003-05:00

Summer movies are usually a treat. Normally, the year's best films are released during this time, and - let's face it - a movie is a great way to beat the heat.

I'm really looking forward to seeing two films, and they both come out soon!

1. Wall-E

How can you NOT want to see a Pixar movie about a cute lil' robot looking for love?

2. Batman: The Dark Night

I'll be at the theaters at midnight for this one. Holy cow, Heath Ledger's performance looks amazing.

What films are you excited to see?

ZOMG. There's a new Girl Talk album out. It's like Radiohead's "In Rainbows" so you pay what you think it's worth. Throw a few bucks his way to get your booty shaking.

The Supreme Court Can Read!

2008-06-26T09:19:00.014-05:00

The Supreme Court of the United States just ruled that individuals have the right to gun ownership.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment II, US Constitution

Edit:

Here is an snippet of Obama's reaction to today's court decision:

As a general principle, I believe that the Constitution confers an individual right to bear arms. But just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can’t constrain the exercise of that right, and, you know, in the same way that we have a right to private property but local governments can establish zoning ordinances that determine how you can use it.

Are you shitting me? So, according to His Holiness Obama, local governments can nullify rights such as:

Voting
Free Speech
The Freedom to Assemble
Religion
Not to be a Slave

How do you feel about reinstating the poll tax, Mr. Obama? Jesus. I recognize that Obama is an eloquent speaker with tons of charisma (I've seen him in Clemson. He's really captivating). Whatever is the case, statements such as this are dangerous to our personal liberties; and this is coming from a candidate who criticizes the Bush administration for this very crime!

I want to vote for someone who will protect my freedoms, not take them away.

Huntsville!

2008-06-25T22:51:00.008-05:00

In total, I've been in the largest city in Northern Alabama for about a year. Here are an assortment of pictures showing off some of the people I've met, places I've been, and things I've done.

This is the US Space and Rocket Center - also home to the (in)famous Space Camp! It's a pretty neat museum and provides lots of enjoyment for a lazy afternoon. Below is a picture of fellow Clemsonite and all around swell guy Bradley flying a shuttle.

Where do I work? At ADTRAN of course! They specialize in network access equipment. Basically, this is code for "connecting people, one way or another, to the Internet." Below is a photo of two of ADTRAN's three buildings. In front of the buildings are all the co-ops from the Spring of 2007 (my first work-term).

Lastly, one of the greatest events I've been to (EVER!) was the National Cornbread Festival. Here's a picture of "our group" at the festival and a picture of Matt WINING a cornbread eat off.

Linux Tips

2008-06-24T22:21:00.007-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've used Linux as a primary means of computing for about three years. Throughout this time, I've had many long nights trying either to customize something or figure out why a program isn't working. I'll try to share some of the tips I've learned along the way that have saved time, stress, and have ultimately furthered my interest in open source computing. Linux can be a pain at times, but often, once one overcomes the learning curve, he can accomplish daily tasks more efficiently and painlessly than in a Windows/Mac environment.

--
Killing Proceses
In Linux, a simple Ctrl+Alt+Delete will not result in a friendly little box listing all running processes to appear. If, for example, you're browsing the Internet and Firefox suddenly decides to stop working, how are you to kill it? The answer is surprisingly simple, and unlike Windows, you don't have to wait and wait and wait for the program to actually close. Just open up a terminal (*GASPS*) and type this:

ps ax | grep >program<

So, in the Firefox example, you would type:

ps ax | grep firefox

This will list all the processes with names matching "firefox." There will be numbers next to each. When I ran this command recently, I was presented with:

adam@adam-desktop:~$ ps ax | grep firefox
6074 pts/0 R+ 0:00 grep firefox
6848 ? Sl 4:58 /usr/lib/firefox-3.0/firefox 0

See the numbers! (6074 and 6848). These are the process ID's. To kill a process, type:

sudo kill >id<

Now, it'd be kind of silly to kill the grep process (it's what you just ran), so kill the /usr/lib/firefox-3.0 process. This is done by:

sudo kill 6848

Being Productive
Quick launchers are probably the most awesome programs to grace the guts of the computer. Instead of navigating through the start menu and finding your AIM client, you can just type a simple keyboard shortcut and be on your way! It's a launcher for the lazy!

In Ubuntu, there's a great application modeled after Apple's Quicksilver called Gnome-do. You can read more about it on the site, but it was developed by an undergrad at UPenn. If you like it, you should throw some dollazzz his way.

Install by reading these instructions.

If you use a Windows machine, Launchy is a good alternative. Find out more about it here.

Hopefully, that explains how to kill processes and will have you on your way to understanding a bit more about Linux. I realize lots of you that read this blog don't use Linux, but whatever. Maybe someone will stumble upon it and benefit.

**Note**
Sorry, I am an Electrical Engineer. Be prepared for more news/books/art/politics in the future. I just need to indulge my inner nerd from time to time.

[Untitled 1]

2008-06-23T18:42:00.004-05:00

I have an ECE 360 final tomorrow and will be studying for the rest (HA) of the evening. In the meantime, you can listen to Scotland's best band, Mogwai. Yes: Take that Belle & Sebastian!

I often said if I found a girl who also liked Mogwai, I'd marry her on the spot. After actually meeting a girl who enjoyed them, I have thus edited my original comment.

**You must now like Mogwai and not have a mustache**

ALSO: I have seen these boys twice and plan on a third this fall. I'm pretty sure my hearing has suffered.

Oooooh, Gore Vidal

2008-06-22T11:14:00.008-05:00

I think the ISI Kids will be angry at me for praising Gore Vidal (he wrote good books, ferchristsakes), but I could not resist with this interview:

Q: At the age of 82, you will be publishing your new collection of essays this week, which seems likely to confirm your reputation as one of America’s last public intellectuals. Why do you think that critics have traditionally praised your essays more than your fiction, which includes “Burr,” “Myra Breckinridge” and 20 other novels? That’s because they don’t know how to read. I can’t name three first-rate literary critics in the United States . I’m told there are a few hidden away at universities, but they don’t print them in The New York Times .

Are you saying your novels have been critically neglected? I don’t even read most reviews, unless there is a potential lawsuit on view. I’ve never had much attention paid by critics — nor has anybody else in the United States of America, as Mr. Obama likes to call it.
And what about Mr. McCain? Disaster. Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?
Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. That’s what he tells us.
Why would you doubt him? He’s a graduate of Annapolis. I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there.
So what does that have to do with the U.S. Naval Academy down in Annapolis? The service universities keep track of each other, that’s all. They have views about each other. And they are very aware of social class and eventually money, since they usually marry it.
How, exactly, is your cousin Al Gore related to you? They keep explaining it to me, and I keep forgetting.
What about your grandfather, Thomas Gore of Oklahoma ? He invented the whole state. It was Indian territory. There was no state until Senator Gore.
In 1968, during the Nixon-Humphrey race, you became the voice of liberalism in a series of televised debates with William Buckley. Any plans to be a pundit at the coming presidential conventions? No.
How did you feel when you heard that Buckley died this year? I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred.
You live in California , where last month the State Supreme Court overturned the ban on same-sex marriage . As someone who lived with a male companion for 50-plus years, do you see this as a victory for equality? People would ask, How could you live with someone for so long without any problems of any kind? I said, There was no sex.
Were you chaste during those years? Chased by whom?
Are you a supporter of gay marriage? I know nothing about it. I don’t follow that.
Why doesn’t it interest you? The same reason heterosexual marriage doesn’t seem to interest me.
If we look at the situation apart from you — It’s my interview, so we’ve got to stay with me.
Have you ever considered leaving the United States permanently? No, it’s my subject.
Do you read a lot of contemporary fiction these days? Like everyone else, no, I don’t.
Anyone in the 20th century you might have a kind word about? Yes, I liked Italo Calvino, and I thought he was the greatest writer of my time.
Your new collection includes an essay in which you note, “Calvino does what very few writers can do: he describes imaginary worlds with the most extraordinary precision and beauty.” What about American novelists? Can’t think of one.
Norman Mailer? Oh, dear, we’re not going to go into pluses and minuses now.
Philip Roth? Ditto.
I admire Roth. He never became complacent. He had no reason to. He’s a good comic writer.
What do you think is your own best novel? I don’t answer questions like that. Ever. And you ought not to ask them.
Well, it was a great pleasure talking to you. I doubt that.

All this talk about Mr. Vidal reminds me of the infamous (famous?!) debate with the late Mr. W F Buckley Jr.

Too bad politics can't be like that anymore!

Edit: Awww, what the hell. I mine as well go all in and state that I agree with 95% of Vidal's remark in the video below. The difference? I most certainly would not support Al Gore for president. Vidal is speaking of social reforms, and I'm a social liberal. Take a look - I bet you'll find yourself agreeing as well.

Open Face Turkey Sandwich

2008-06-21T21:13:00.006-05:00

I'm a huge fan of cooking, so periodically I'll share some of my favorite recipes. This one is an Adam "original," so I hope you enjoy it!

Makes 2.

Ingredients
2 normal slices of some sort of fancy deli bread. I used Asiago Cheese from Super Target.
2 small cloves of garlic.
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
Onion
Tomato
Monterey/Colby Cheese
Honey
Sliced Turkey
Directions
Lay the two slices of bread on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (I don't like cleaning).
Finely chop the garlic and combine it with the butter in a small bowl. Microwave until the butter is fully melted.
Place a spoonful of the butter mixture onto each slice of bread and spread around.
Finely slice some onion and tomato. Place a desired amount on each sandwich.
Pile on the turkey!
Drizzle the turkey with a fine amount of honey. This will add some sweetness to balance out some of the garlic punch.
Place a slice of cheese on each sandwich and place the baking sheet in the oven.
Broil until the cheese is melted.

That's it, I hope you enjoy! This is what mine looked like:

For dessert, maybe you can try some blueberry pie!

I Have Found The Perfect Car

2008-06-20T17:25:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of the awesome British TV car show, Top Gear:

Mint

2008-06-19T16:34:00.000-05:00

Mint may just be the greatest website ever created. It's basically a really fancy, shiny money management web-app that allows you to keep track of your money, budget, and consolidate all of your bills and accounts in one convenient place.

My account keeps track of my credit cards and tells me when my bill is due, charts the earnings of my two mutual funds, and displays an up-to-date monthly budget with progress bars to keep me informed on how much I am actually spending!

One of my favorite Mint features is its utilization of charts. I'm a huge sucker for visualizations, and by using "smart categories", Mint will chunk your transactions (Food & Dining, Home, Utilities, Entertainment, Clothes, etc). Say 25% of the money one spends in a month is on restaurants. He can then click on this "Food & Dining" category in a handy pie chart, and a subsequent chart will be displayed - showing exactly what percentage of the restaurant category was spent on dining establishment x versus restaurant y. Awesome!

Most importantly, Mint's visualizations lets its users actually see how much money they are letting slip through their fingers. With the ultimate goal of reducing spending, Mint may very well be on its way to aiding Americans to spend less and to save more.

Security wise, Mint uses the same back-end as Bank of America, so don't be shy. Also, your bank passwords are not stored on Mint's servers and it is not possible to make transactions with Mint - thus leaving one's accounts perfectly safe.

A Monumental Day In My EE Career

2008-06-18T14:28:00.000-05:00

Today, around 9:15 AM (CST of course), I blew up my first circuit board. Unfortunately, it was not as grandiose as I would have expected, but - then again, I didn't completely screw up.

Basically, I was measuring output voltage of a buck converter directly at the leads rather than the load (if one takes measurements at the load, he will experience a less accurate voltage measurement due to losses occurring in the voltmeter's wires). Anyways, while taking these readings, my shaky hands failed me - causing the positive and negative leads to touch. This caused a small pop in one of the MOSFETs and a fire began. Peter, a really swell fellow, was laughing the whole time and immediately announced my mistake to the whole group. Good thing I learned how to put out fires by blowing out birthday candles for all of those years!

This later resulted in my true "initiation" into the Analog group and forced me to listen to "blow up" stories for the rest of the day.

Mine paled in comparison to many. Most involved installing large capacitors backwards; they feature loud BOOMS!

But, for today, everyone called me Sparky.

Support Open Source Software!

2008-06-17T21:34:00.001-05:00

Today, the friendly folks at Mozilla released the newest version of their popular Internet browser - Firefox 3.

Download it here.

I tend to pride myself on using (mainly) open source software for all of my computing needs. That means I run Ubuntu Linux and all of the wonderful applications that come along with it. In the past few years, the learning curve of Ubuntu has greatly decreased. Now, it's probably just as easy to master as Windows.

Look: I'll even solve the great mystery of installing programs from source (the most intimidating aspect of Linux you'll probably come across) in three lines!

1. type: "sudo ./configure"
2. type: "make"
3. type: "sudo make install"

No problem.

Boston

2008-06-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

Just yesterday, I returned from Boston, MA for the purpose of attending an ISI Colloquium concerning the topic of "Liberty and the Community." I really wish I had some pictures to post, but in true Adam fashion, I took my camera only to snap 0 pictures. Le sigh.

The conference itself was highbrow and amazing. I've never met a group of people who have wowed me with so much intelligence. From all types of backgrounds, one could carry on an interesting conversation with each person and never become bored. The most telling aspect, though, was that all of the attendees were very down to earth. I went out to an authentic Irish pub to dance, drink, and laugh with my new friends each evening.

I did not know too much about the ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) before the conference - only that it was highly recommended to me by the Clemson Libertarian adviser, Dr. Steven Grosby. Ironically, I was probably one of the most liberal participants in the conference, but I found that most people would come to me after the discussions and whisper, "I really agree with you. I'm a closet libertarian."

Also, most people were VERY CATHOLIC - which, as you all know, is very far from me. It was a wonderful learning experience.

I really can't say enough good things about the ISI or the Boston Colloquium. They even housed us at the Omni Parker House hotel and paid all of our dinners and expenses!

Lastly, I've determined that Boston is the greatest city in the United States.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

2008-06-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn last night, and boy-howdy was it good! Traditionally, I think it's one of those books that's required reading for girls (not unlike The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath) considering it deals with the female "coming of age." Whatever. Having read both The Bell Jar and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I can take faith in saying that men can learn a lot by picking up these books.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn centers around the Nolan family - more specifically the eldest daughter Francie and her struggles of growing up and being poor in Brooklyn. More importantly, however, the novel is about struggle and growth. Without question, the Nolans are confronted with a plethora of difficulties, yet they still manage to come out of them stronger.

Perhaps one of the more honest books I have read, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will serve as an instructional guide to dealing with life's bumps. There's a sense of triumph and pride here - of rough individualism and the power to succeed - of love, passion and endurance. In short, Smith's novel acts almost like a looking glass into the core of humanity. Everyone has a little Francie in them.

Even if she is a girl.

Welcome Baaaack!

2008-06-11T10:23:00.000-05:00

Back at Clemson, my friends and I would always play Super Smash Brothers on this gigantic projector. Captain Falcon would say something like, "FALCON PUNCH!" but I swear it sounded like "WELCOME BAAAACK!"

Anyways, long story short, I've decided to start back into the blogging game. Maybe it's because I've had some friends start one up and I think, "hey, that'd be cool!" Maybe it's because I'm so unbelievably bored at work that even the most mundane of tasks brings about a certain sense of adventure, or perhaps it's even because I've hit a "reflection period" of my life.

Nope. All wrong.

Really, I've just figured out some stuff I can talk about. I'm very interested in music, politics, books, technology and all that. I've learned that, to blog, one doesn't need to post paragraph upon paragraph upon paragraph (...) of text - so I don't intend to!

Expect posts about everything.

If I go, "ooooh! Shiny!" it will probably be featured. I'll try my best to keep this updated. Really.