I am (sometimes)

Thanks to Sara for pointing this one out. This type of thing has bugged me a lot about the education system. Too often were (are?) we bombarded with trivialities that make other cultures better than ours. Diversity is not important in merely coming from a different culture, but it is important in how it contributes to thoughts and actions. Having a different perspective can bring answers to questions not fully understood before, and can bring new questions to light. To be fair to the schooling though, growing up I didn't feel like I was being told anyone was supperior to anyone else. Though I suppose highlighting the good parts of one civilization and the bad parts of another would be doing that. Other cultures are interesting, and could be fun to learn about, but that is not the point of the history classes we have as children. The point is to educate us as about from what it is we came, and to where we may go. The study of the past can teach us about addressing the future. These are what we should take from our schooling of history. There is some use in knowing about different forms of thought and different art, but that is the extend to which multiculturalism is important. A more immediately relevant application of this multiculturalism nonsense is the "diversity" which various organizations stems from Affirmative Action. This is giving the advantage to one individual purely for the circumstance of the color of their skin instead of their qualifications as an intellectual in admition to what is supposed to be a haven for intellectuals (in the case of colleges and universities). If you want to think that people from unfortunate circumstances could be capable of more than their test scores show because they were in those unfortunate circumstances, then please base decisions on merit and those unfortunate circumstances. I think one would be hard pressed to find a black person who would say that the color of his skin constituted intellectually-limitting circumstances. Asians a the best counter example to this matter of "promoting-minorities-for-no-reason = better culture for everyone" doctrine. First generation Asians still manage to be successful here in America, many even owning their own businesses and not speaking English. Yet blacks and mexicans (anyone else I'm missing here? Native Americans I shall skip over), many of whom have been here for several generations (blacks at least), have failed to progress out of the inner-cities. Is our society still whipping and beating them to return to their holes? No? Perhaps we just don't like them so discriminate to WASPs? Tell me then, how do you explain successful and high ranking blacks? Surely Clarence Thomas would not have been appointed if the decision were because he was black. "But wait! Those cases are just because the elitist white man wants us to feel like nothing's actually happening, but I won't fall for it!" Wait, maybe you're all just lazy bastards who would prefer to leech from the rest of society dry, constantly demanding what isn't yours.

Wheew. What a rant. For more rants, see the ARI's opinions.

"But while it was their opportunities that made these men fortunate, it was their own merit that enabled them to recognize these opportunities and turn them to account, to the glory and prosperity of their country." - Machiavelli, The Prince

Yay for the veterns. I'm sorry to the ones who died, but I appreciate it. In their honor, there were no classes yesturday. People did still go to work though. It didn't make much of a difference for me, since I only have once class on Thrusdays, and that's at three-thirty. I ususally have cs homework I need to be in the lab to do, so I usually get there around one or so, do work, go to class, the finish work and head home around seven. Well, yesturday was different. I'm used to having stupid problems in that class, but this last time was a bit extreme. I spent an hour and a half trying to figure out why my circuit wouldn't work, to find out that there was a runtime warning (which was difficult to actually see in the output, it was quite well hidden) involving my naming a wire. So if I deleted the name, or changed it slightly, it worked. Then I spent four to six hours trying to figure out why the simulator program (which is a commercial tool provided to us) wouldn't let me change one input without changing another. So I had to program around that little bug, and write an explanation for my TA. Strangely enough though, when I finally did leave after my ten+ hours in the lab, I didn't feel that upset about it. It helped a lot that it was a perfect night on my walk back. (Hum, leave midday, return midnight....) For those of you who don't know how perfect Seattle nights can get: it was slightly cold, but a sweeter was still good enough; foggy, but didn't limit sight; no wind; and best of all, it was quiet, and there weren't a bunch of people around. There were still a few - I felt a bit awkward walking through a park when homeless people are camping out there. But other than that, it was really nice. That made me happy. I've been meaning to enjoy these evening walks a bit more. I'm glad I finally got to. Even if it did mean that I got back late and had to stay up until 2 doing laundry which didn't dry until morning....

Even if their dying didn't win me a true day off, I salute you.

"Shoot it! With the gun! Thats what the bullets are for you twit!" - Major Mandrake, Dr. Strangelove

Does it mean anything that "Pet Names" by Smash Mouth keeps coming up on my playlist? Anyhoo, yay for music. Chad introduced me to Nightwish and I can't stop listening to them. For those of you who have failed to know of their awesomeness, they're a Finish goth-rock band with opera vocals. Yeah, weird. But it works so well. It's awesome. It seems to be really good music for background stuff. It's something that's a lot easier to think over. I'm just hoping this doesn't turn out to be another one of thost bands who's really cool when you first hear of them, then quickly fades, like The Verve was for me. Sigh. Ah well. It's awesome now. Now all I have to do is sort through all this new music (a total of 372 songs, including Nightwish). If you want to check them out, here are my fav songs so far, in no particular order:
Over the Hills and Far Away (from the album Over the Hills and Far Away) - a more mellow song, makes it feel like Christmas time.
Nemo (Oceanborn) - This seems to be their biggest single, really just plain pretty.
Phantom of the Opera (Century Child) - song from the musical, done quite well, I think.
End of All Hope (Century Child) - much more upbeat, really gives a feel for what the opera-style singing can do for rock music.

"Okay guys, listen up. We're just short of an even, so there will be one group of three of you." - CS TA

So, I went over to Zach's tonight to watch The Sopranos, and what does he do? After only one episode he decides that now the three of us (Nick, Zach and myself) need to do something! Can you believe it? The nerve of that guy. Here I am, sitting there, being all not-doing-anything like, and he has to go and ruin it. Oh well. Anyway, we went downtown to watch The Incredibles. It was a pretty cool movie. I could have standed to see some more original super powers than those of Marvel's oldest heros (the Fantastic Four) though they did have Quicksilver and Iceman knockoffs as well. Then again, there are only so many powers to go around, I suppose. Anyway, it was a fun film. I like how everyone sued all the superheros - there seem to be just enough jackasses in the world to ruin it for the rest of us like that. In response to Chad's comment about the real lives of superheros, I think most superheroes are about the people and not the deeds. It's more about getting to know them. When all they're doing is fighting, sure there is some banter, but we only really get to know them in their down time. This stems from my observations about Exiles. For those of you who don't know, the comic is about a bunch of mutants (Marvel X-Men) who jump around correcting realities. Anyway, there isn't a bunch of down time, what with them constantly being whisked away, but there have been a few issues devoted solely to a character's personal connections (usually in the past). It is these issues which seem to really develop the character and make the reader (well, me at least) care a lot more about whether that one lives or dies. Sure there are still some I still don't care about, but it does make a big difference. Moral of the story, get to know your super-friends. (Stupid DC, awful name for a comic.)

"It seems limp and slack to get whith the sweating of your brow what you can gain with the shedding of your blood." - Tacitus