Will It Blend? - iPhone

Will It Blend? - iPhone

Two of our favorite products, together!



Blendtec has a vlog with lots "Will it blend?" videos.

Mac vs PC

Mac vs PC



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLbJ8YPHwXM

Commuter Rainbow

Commuter Rainbow

Is there a hint of a second rainbow there?



Taken with my iPhone.

And here is Seongbae's picture of driving to the end of the rainbow...
You can see that I was driving today. :)

OpenSolaris 2008.11 on OS X via VMware Fusion

Today I got OpenSolaris 2008.11 running on OS X with VMware Fusion. (again...simple)



In the picture is my blog about using VirtualBox to host a different version of OpenSolaris and Ubuntu/Linux, so there are 4 operating systems represented here!

jack@opensolaris:~$ uname -a
SunOS opensolaris 5.11 snv_101b i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris

OpenSolaris & Ubuntu/Linux on OS X with VirtualBox

Today I ran 3 Operating Systems on my MacBook Pro at the same time.

I downloaded Sun xVM VirtualBox for OS X and the iso images for OpenSolaris and Ubuntu. After installing VirtualBox I created a virtual machine and installed OpenSolaris. Later I created another virtual machine and installed Ubuntu.

Here is my desktop with all 3 Operating Systems running:


Click the image to enlarge.

You might be able to see the three "uname -a" commands, that look like this:

jack@opensolaris:~$ uname -a
SunOS opensolaris 5.11 snv_86 i86pc Solaris


tom@tom-desktop:~$ uname -a
Linux tom-desktop 3.6.27-7-generic #1 SMP Fri Oct 24 06:42:44 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux


Toms-MacBook-Pro:~ tom$ uname -a
Darwin Toms-MacBook-Pro.local 9.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.5.0: Wed Sep  3 11:29:43 
PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.7.58~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

["Darwin" is the kernel in OS-X]

Simple. Fun. Cool.

The Mother of All Demos

My father worked at SRI with Doug Engelbart...

The Mother of All Demos is a name given to Douglas Engelbart's December 9, 1968 demonstration at the Convention Center in San Francisco, which included the first public demonstration of the mouse!



On December 9, 2008 at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium, SRI International will present a commemorative 40th anniversary of this historic event.

Charles R. Kirkley

My sister sent this to the Palo Alto Weekly:

Charles R. Kirkley

Charles R. Kirkley, 70, passed away on November 7, 2008, of cancer. An early researcher in computer science and longtime resident of Palo Alto, Kirkley was born in Staten Island, New York on June 23, 1938. After a stint in the Army, he graduated from Colgate University with a B.S. in mathematics, earned an M.S.E.E. from the University of Washington and an M.S. in computer science from Stanford University. While enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Stanford in the late 1960s, Kirkley worked at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in artificial intelligence. Later he worked as an instructor at Foothill College. Remembered for his quick wit and sense of humor, Kirkley is survived by his son Tom Kirkley, daughter Sondra Glider, three grandchildren (Michael and Michelle Kirkley, and Emily Glider), his brother John Kirkley, and his companion Susan Edwards.




Today the Palo Alto Weekly printed the following:

Charles R. Kirkley

Charles R. Kirkley, 70, a resident of the Palo Alto and Mountain View area for 45 years, died of cancer Nov. 7.

He was born in Staten Island, N.Y. After a stint in the army, he went on to graduate from Colgate University with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, an master's degree from the University of Washington and an master's degree in computer science from Stanford University.

While enrolled in a doctoral program at Stanford in the late 1960s, he worked at the Stanford Research Institute in artificial intelligence. Later he worked as an instructor at Foothill College.

Loved ones recall his quick wit and sense of humor.

He is survived by his children, Tom Kirkley of San Jose, daughter Sondra Glider of Palo Alto; brother, John Kirkley of Oregon; his companion, Susan Edwards of San Jose; and three grandchildren.

Charles Richard Kirkley

My father, Charles Richard Kirkley, passed away, gently in his sleep, on Friday, November 7, 2008.

SNL MEGA-MAP

At lunch today we were talking about the Saturday Night Live MEGA-MAP which is 1.5 minutes into this 7 minute clip:



I like the line "Check out Michigan,..." :)

Happy 3rd Birthday Gina!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Gina!!!

Today is Gina's 3rd birthday ("anniversary") of her kidney pancreas transplant! (It is actually the 3rd birthday of her 3rd kidney, because, in spite of what you see on Grey's Anatomy, Gina still has her original kidneys and pancreas.)

Gina's transplant saved her life, and changed ours forever. I can't imagine what life would be like without Gina. Every day I can wake up and say "I love you". Every day she brings joy into all of our lives...



Gina and I would like to take this occasion to remind everyone: Please register to be an organ donor at:

http://www.donatelifecalifornia.org/

This site allows you to sign up online to be an organ and tissue donor in California. Your organ donation could save the lives of eight people, and your tissue donation enhance the lives of another 50 people. Right now nearly 20,000 Californians wait for an organ transplant. That's 21 percent of the 94,000 people waiting across our country. Tragically, one third of them will die - waiting.

Some people do not wish to be donors because of incorrect or misleading information they have seen, heard or read. [Here are the] facts behind some of the more common misconceptions about donation.

http://www.donatelifecalifornia.org/about/facts/myths/

Register today and encourage others to register.

Thank you,
Love,

Tom and Gina

Carmen Agra Deedy: Spinning a story of Mama

I had lunch with my mom today, and she was talking about her mom, which reminded me of this TED TALK: Carmen Agra Deedy: Spinning a story of Mama

Kidney in a jar?! Glowing?!

Gina and I like watching Grey's Anatomy but our enjoyment was marred last night by another offensive break with reality.

Wikipedia, ("the fountain of all knowledge", ha!), is WRONG (again) when it labels Grey's Anatomy as a "television medical drama" because the show is really just a prime time soap opera that happens to be set in a hospital. A real medical drama would try to make the "medical" portions of the show have some basis in reality.

This episode revolved around a "domino surgery," -- 12 kidney transplants in six O.R.s at the same time. And a significant plot device was the "kidney in a jar"; supposedly one of the kidneys removed during the transplant...except...most kidney transplantation do NOT remove a kidney! The recipient usually ends up with three kidneys. (Really, really lucky recipients also get an extra pancreas as well!)

Many shows unwittingly perpetuate medical myths, some harmful, which Red Cross First Aid Teachers have to deal with later (no, please, don't slam you fist down on someone's chest like you saw on MacGyver or MacGruber) but most "medical" dramas get the basic "medical" facts right. Fortunately, Grey's Anatomy is a soap opera and is not constrained by fact...they can even make dead tissue glow! :)

Bloodhound SSC 1000+mph car!

Bloodhound SSC 1000+mph car!

The fastest way to work?



Bloodhound SSC is a pencil-shaped car powered by a jet engine and a rocket that will be capable of approximately 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km/h).[1] If all goes to plan, Bloodhound SSC will break the land speed record by the largest ever margin.

The project was announced on 23 October 2008 at the Science Museum in London by Lord Drayson, the Minister of Science in the UK's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, who in 2006 first proposed the project to Richard Noble and Andy Green; the two men who between them have held the land speed record for 25 years.

John McCain and Barack Obama roast each other

John McCain and Barack Obama roast themselves and each other!

...update...The Barack YouTube video was pulled for some reason...so...

Here is the YouTube video of Al Smith Dinner 2008 (Full Video).
McCain starts around 7 minutes into the video.
Obama starts around the 23 minute mark.




The Wikipedia article about the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner starts:

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is an annual charity fund raiser for Catholic Charities. It is organized by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in honor of former New York Governor Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate. The first dinner was in 1945, the year after Al Smith's death. The 2008 dinner raised $3.9 million.[1]

Since 1960 (when Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy were speakers), it has been a stop for the two main presidential candidates during several U.S. election years. In 1976, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter spoke; in 1980, Carter and Ronald Reagan; in 1988, Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush; in 2000, Al Gore and George W. Bush; and in 2008, John McCain and Barack Obama. Since 1945 only two presidents have not spoken at the dinner: Harry Truman and Bill Clinton.[2] In recent years the candidates have traditionally given humorous speeches.


...and here is my orig post with the broken video...


John McCain at the Alfred E Smith Memorial Dinner 1




John McCain at the Alfred E Smith Memorial Dinner 2




Obama Roasts McCain at Al Smith Dinner

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL

Here are links to the Saturday Night Live Video Library collection of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Enjoy!

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/

With Queen Latifah as Gwen Iffil!

Shout-out to Malta

Shout-out to Malta

The Votemaster gave a shout-out to Malta on Electoral-vote.com today when he was comparing voter turnout in different countries:

As you can see, voter turnout in the U.S. [54%] is far less than such beacons of democracy as Malta [94%] and Austria [92%].

But other countries do not have the quality of candidates that we have here in the U.S.

Supreme Court Vacancies Likely in Next Four Years

Supreme Court Vacancies Likely in Next Four Years

One issue that has been totally absent from the campaign is the Supreme Court. Five of the justices are 70 or more. Justice Stevens is 88 and unlikely to want to serve 4 more years. Justice Ginsberg had cancer and was operated on for it. Justice Souter is known to want to retire and return to New Hampshire. These are three of the most liberal justices on the court. If all three retire and are replaced by Obama, the court will retain its even split between liberals and conservatives for many years to come. If all three are replaced by McCain, the conservatives will have a clear majority and surely reverse Roe v. Wade and many other decisions that conservatives think are wrong. It is amazing that the court has gotten so little attention.

SUN and the LHC

Data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being stored on Sun products.

Sun Fire X4500 servers with a 400 terabytes storage capacity and Sun tape technology

The Sun System News article has this quote from the LHC Rap by Kate McAlpine:

Twenty-seven kilometers of tunnel under ground;
Designed with mind to send protons around;
A circle that crosses through Switzerland and France;
Sixty nations contribute to scientific advance.

TierneyLab: Obama’s Science Quiz

Chris sent me this link to New York Times TierneyLab blog article Obama’s Science Quiz where Obama responded (but McCain did not respond) to questions about science.

While I was there I took the Astronomy Quiz and got 9/10 right (I should have been perfect! rats!).

Paul Rothemund: The astonishing promise of DNA folding

Paul Rothemund: The astonishing promise of DNA folding

Previously I blogged about Paul Rothemund's "scaffolded DNA origami" and now he talks about how to scale the process using "tiles".

Bill Clinton on the Daily Show

Bill Clinton on the Daily Show, part 1



Bill Clinton on the Daily Show, part 2

$700 billion bailout

John Stewart and Stephen Colbert talk about the $700 billion bailout...

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's brilliant $700 billion plan could buy every single American 2,000 McDonald's apple pies."



"We have to give unchecked financial power to the president and his appointees so they can implement a plan that no one understands."



Hindsight is $2020 billion...

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

http://www.electoral-vote.com/ is the best Election website around!

The home page has the famous Red State/Blue State map (shown below) and a quick glance tells you who is leading the races for president, the house, and the senate.



One link off the home page leads to this cartogram where the size of each state represents the number of electoral votes:



And another link shows a graph of how Obama and McCain have done since April:

liberals and conservatives

This blog entry contains two TED talks that discuss how we learn and the difference between conservatives and liberals...

How can two of my friends, one Republican and one Democrat, both be intelligent, informed, helpful, caring people, and hold completely opposite views on the problems and solutions facing our country and planet?

Do both sides think the other is just dumb?



Jonathan Haidt studies the five moral values that form the basis of our political choices, whether we're left, right or center. In this eye-opening talk, he pinpoints the moral values that liberals and conservatives tend to honor most.



Jonathan Drori looks at the gaps in our knowledge -- and specifically, what we don't know as much about science that we might think we do.

gPhone available 9/23/2008

from http://www.androidmobilephone.com/

The "T-Mobile G1" (aka: "gPhone") will be available on September 23rd.

Service: T-Mobile
Real name: T-Mobile G1
Hardware: manufactured by HTC Corp. in Taiwan
Code name: HTC "Dream"
Software: Google "Android"
Pet name: "gPhone"

Price: $199
Available: 9/23/2008

A long demo video is available at http://www.androidmobilephone.com/
A short demo video shows the slide out keyboard.

How to survive a nuclear attack

TEDTalks : How to survive a nuclear attack - Irwin Redlener (2008)

A nuclear war is not survivable, but a nuclear terrorist attack is survivable and requires planning.




We should have a plan so that if there was a terrorist attack in our area we would know how to take all the actions that he suggests, and we could add to our plans things like having everyone in our our area check in with a relative in North Dakota.

Large Hadron Rap

After you check the Large Hadron Rap then don't forget to check out the web cams (from my post last night)!





Large Hadron Rap
Alpinekat
aka: Katherine MacAlpine
https://www.msu.edu/~mcalpin9/

David Gallo: The deep oceans: a ribbon of life

This TED talk "David Gallo: The deep oceans: a ribbon of life" is real life Spore.

LHC web cams

Are you worried about LHC (Large Hadron Collider) bringing the end of the world ? Then rejoice - now you can keep an eye on LHC at: http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

Enjoy!

PS. Seongbae, thanks for the link :)

Shoe Circus - Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates

Two of my favorite people: Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates

This video shows Microsoft's commitment to quality products.




..not...

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture reprised

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture reprised


Here is Randy Pauch giving a condensed version (10 mins) of his last lecture.



The full version (below) is very good...

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Set aside an hour and watch:

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams



Randy Pausch died today.
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html

Scott McClellan on The Daily Show

Scott McClellan was on The Daily Show last night.

One of the best moments was when Jon was talking about the Bush Administration hiding the truth and misleading the public, and then Scott mumbled something about "...criminal..." and Jon Stewart replied "That's what I'm saying! That is my point!". [This was about 6 mins into Part 1].

Here are the links for Part 1 and Part 2 or you can watch them right here!

Lunch Time Group

Here you can see some of our Lunch Time Group (except Prashanth and Chandra ducked!).

Power Computing poster

I saw this old Power Computing poster in a MacWorld article about Reliving the clone wars.

Saturday Night Live had John McCain on this week!



And Barack and Hillery too...right?



That makes the Democratic candidates seem kinda...creepy.

Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address

Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

I can still sing "570 Rengstorff, Apartment 52" which I learned when I was 5!

We lived there for just a few months before moving onto the Stanford Campus.

Doug Feith on The Daily Show

Douglas Feith (Under Secretary of Defense who led the Office of Special Plans (OSP) which has been accused of manipulating intelligence to bolster support for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq) was interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.

Douglas Feith Uncut Pt. 1

Doug Feith explains that the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq was better than it sounded.



Douglas Feith Uncut Pt. 2

Doug Feith admits the Bush administration grossly mishandled the public explanation of the Iraq war.

Cats at Work

My sister called and described a cartoon from the Funny Times titled "The First and Last Bring Your Cat to Work Day". It was a funny cartoon even when it was shouted through my cell phone's noisy bluetooth headset while driving home from work.

When I got home I checked out the Dilbert Blog and read today's entry My Cat Sarah that starts out:

I have an office cat, Sarah. She's a scrawny little tuxedo cat, about 18-years old. Sarah hates it when I try to work. I mean she really, really hates it. As soon as I enter the office she starts screaming at me. It's not a polite meow. It's more like a baby banshee being attacked by a porcupine. The noise penetrates my entire body. I'm almost certain it causes internal bleeding. This screaming lasts from the time I come to work until I leave.

...and just gets better from there! :)

How many desserts can you eat?

At Geetha's lunch William ate...umm...lots of desserts in little bowls!

Do as I do, not as I say

My son came with me to work yesterday (on "Bring you son and daughter to work day"). On the way over he said he was going to play games on his laptop the whole day. After about 15 minutes of paying attention in my Staff Meeting he did start play games, but then we took off for an Eco Responsibility presentation. After lunch I started working and he watched me (for about one second) and then he was back on his laptop.

An hour later when I looked over his shoulder I saw he was writing a paper for school.

Often my son says things that frustrate me...but he is a very good person. Sometimes I describe his behavior as "Do as I do, not as I say".

Weather Gadget

My iGoogle page has this Weather Gadget so I can see what is happening where my family and friends are. Right now I just am looking at North Dakota and Oregon. This morning at 10:00 was typical of what I see...

Rent in the Bay Area

The best line at lunch today was "They keep raising my rent again and again, but my apartment is not getting any bigger!" :)

"In Sacramento a house payment can be $1500 to $2000 but here our two bedroom apartment costs us $2300 a month!"

Yikes!

John Edwards on The Colbert Report

Last night Hillery Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards were guests on The Colbert Report, but John Edwards stole the show with his EdWords: "Valued Voter".

The Democrats are back!

There were many more Republicans at our lunch table yesterday (April 15, Tax Day). The searing pain in the check writing hand drove most people to the right. But today, as the pain has subsided, the Democrats are back! :)

'Six-way' kidney transplant first

US doctors have carried out what is believed to be the world's first simultaneous six-way kidney transplant.

Six recipients received organs from six donors in operations at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.

You ask "What?!" or "Why?!"

Well, suppose Adam wants to donate one of his kidneys to Alysia but they are not a match. And suppose Bob wants to donate a kidney to Beth but they are not a match either. But if Bob matches Alysia and Adam matches Beth then they can do a 'two way' transplant.

New Segway wheels

I tried to describe these wheels at lunch, but, as you can see,...


The coolest thing about this Segway is the wheels!

" Looking nothing like typical wheels, these Mecanum devices can roll in virtually any direction."

High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas

Thank you Seongbae, for pointing out this article in yesterdays Wired about High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: the Race to Save the Cougar Ace. The 3 min video is a nice little introduction, but the full article by Joshua Davis is a well written article that seems like a cross between episodes of Mission Impossible and the Wild Wild West.

Zune-Phone

Here is some inside information on the Microsoft Zune-Phone. from the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.

iWar v1.0

In the article Five years later: Iraq war goes online Chris Tomlinson (Associated Press) says:

Wars have often been defined by the new technologies that shaped them. The Civil War was the first photographed conflict in U.S. history, news of World War II was delivered by movie news reels, television made Vietnam the living room war and Desert Storm was the first war broadcast live by satellite.

Historians will likely remember Operation Iraqi Freedom as iWar v1.0. The Web has done more than quicken reporting from the battlefield; it has made war interactive.

The article mentions several iWar blogs including:

"I blog for the same reasons soldiers wrote letters and diaries during previous wars: to communicate with family and friends, (and) to maintain an honest record of our daily existence," wrote 1st Lt. Matt Gallagher, in response to an e-mail about his blog http://kaboomwarjournal.blogspot.com. "Blogging is simply a 21st century tool for a new generation of soldiers to utilize."

The military itself, he said, has found the Internet to be an extremely effective way to deliver its message on Iraq and has its own sophisticated website, http://www.mnf-iraq.com/

The Islamic Army of Iraq, however, maintains an English website http://iaisite-eng.org/ where it assesses daily attacks on U.S. forces and encourages recruits for a regional Holy War that stretches across the Middle East.

The article also points to a list of soldiers' blogs which includes deployed, veteran, and even a few fallen soldiers.

The whole article is interesting starting from individual solders blogs, moving to blogs for the US Military and the Islamic Army of Iraq, and ending with a quick discussion of counter-cyber-terrorism by individuals and the US government.

Put your money where your money is

I have said that when I buy a product from some company (like an iPod from Apple) then I should also buy some stock in that comapany because if I am buying products from them then there are other fools like me who are doing the same thing.

I can sum up this investment strategy as:

"Put your money where your money is."

Lunchtime Chat: Wafa Sultan on Al-Jazeera

Today one of our Lunchtime Chatters sent this email:

For anyone who may be interested, here are the links to the controversial Al-Jazeera show that I mentioned yesterday.
It's got English sub-title.The topic is the Danish cartoons about prophet Mohammad.

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1704.htm

Or on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkvNujdkOew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwzwGjWb890

Wafa Sultan is an Arab-American anti-Islam activist who lives in LA, CA.
Here is her Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafa_Sultan

Paul Rothemund: Casting spells with DNA

Paul Rothemund is the guy who created the DNA smiley faces using what he calls "scaffolded DNA origami". He introduces this in his TED talk Casting spells with DNA. Perhaps this method can be used to shape Carbon Nanotubes into tiny nano-computers.

The current Intel Penryn processor like the one in the Apple MacBook Pro is using 45 nanometer semiconductor fabrication process. The 32 nm process is due to arrive in the 2009-2010 time frame, with the 22 nm process expected around 2010-2011. Conservative estimates put the 16 nm process arriving in 2018, but Moore's Law would like to see it happen sooner, like 2013.

DNA origami creates structures around 2 nanometers (billionths of a meter). Carbon Nanotubes can be made down to 1 nm. Perhaps using DNA origami to form carbon nanotubes into nano-computers would enable computing devices of the size and speed to continue to meet Moore's Law.

Batman and Robin patent

Batman, and Robin, and Alfred too...

Check out the inventors of the latest Batman and Robin patent by searching for "Batman" and "Robin" on the US Patent and Trademark Office Quick Search site.

DNA smiley faces

This is an amazing image!

Paul W. K. Rothemund manipulated molecules of DNA to create smiley faces that are one one-thousandth the width of a human hair.

Photo: Museum of Modern Art

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/26/science/0226-ELAS_4.html

Lunch Chat: racist jokes and discrimanation

[UPDATE: I was asked to add that we did not actually "tell racist jokes" at lunch but we were "discussing racist jokes and brought up a couple as examples".]

At lunch today someone told a racist joke. Or is it "racist joke" if you tell a joke about your own race?

I was brought up in the time of Martin Luther King, JFK, Bobby Kennedy, the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the Moon Landing. We lived on the Stanford University campus and I remember student anti-war protests against the the Vietnam War. In this environment my parents taught me, and I feel it in bones, that racist jokes are wrong, harmful, disgusting, disgraceful, and grow from ignorance, intolerance and injustice.

So, what was I doing at lunch with people who tell racist jokes!?! :) Well, to put it in perspective, I was the only person born and raised in the USA at our table. Everyone else was born somewhere else (India, China, Palestine, Jordan, etc...). They are all my friends and colleagues, and most of them have told me stories of their hometown, family, childhood, school, higher education, or work experiences. We have a wide variety of experiences among us.

Well, the joke was a reference to engineer from India who blogged something like "WWID" which stood for "What Would Indians Do?". And so the question came up:

Is it racist for someone to make fun of their own race?

The discussion ranged from the Civil Rights movement, to affirmative action, to reverse discrimination, to discrimination in the US and the world today...and tomorrow...

We talked about how young the USA is when compared to the civilizations of China, India, Egypt, and Europe. And how perhaps the USA could learn from it's elders. That discrimination has been institutionalized in different cultures in many different ways (like the caste system and slavery) as a means of power and control using fear and distrust of "others" to control people and resources. And so we asked:

Will there always be discrimination?

Even in the short history of the USA we have had slavery, and discrimination against different groups of immigrants (the Chinese, Irish, Japanese,...). There has been religious persecution, gender and sexual preference bias, and don't get me started about the Democrats or Republicans! :) Many types of discrimination have bloomed, and faded. There are always differences that can be exploited to divide and separate people.

Finally is all discrimination created equal?

Is discrimination based on things that can not be changed (like skin color, height, age, gender,...) worse than discrimination based on things that can be changed (like hair color, clothing, musical preference, hobbies,...). Can people really change their musical preference? Or sexual preference? Or religion? Or gender?

What other interesting points did we talk about?
And...what do you think?

Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Feb 26, 2008.

Here are a few quotes from Part 1 of her interview:

"We are going to face the most difficult presidency in a long time.
"I have never seen the world in such a mess.
"The next President will have to deal with how to end the War in Iraq.
"I think [the War in Iraq] will go down in history as the greatest disaster in American Foreign Policy.
"It is going to be very important that the next president systematically gets the troops out and actually has a surge in diplomacy.

In Part 2 Madeleine Albright disputes the term "Islamic Terrorists" and then she states clearly who she supports for President.

Here is Part 1 (the interesting political stuff starts about halfway around the 3 minute mark):



Here is Part 2:



I agree with almost everything she says in this interview.

Lunchtime Chat: Prisons

There were so many things we talked about today:
* Bush is a great guy
* AP: Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison
+ 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison
+ one out of every 99.1 adults
+ one out of every 30 males between the ages 20 and 34
+ one out of every 9 black males between the ages 20 and 34
+ 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year
+ http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org
The solutions mentioned at lunch today have all been tried before: let them go, let them work, let them fight, send them to the moon, give them land, kill them all, etc,... But there is a real problem, and what is a real solution?

There were some other interesting things discussed too, right?

--Tom

Lunchtime Chat: Apple & Iraq

Today at lunch we talked (predictably) about Apple and Iraq.

The lunch opened with "What do you think about the new MacBook and MacBook Pro computers?". [I like the multi-touchpad on the Pro but I thought the upgrade to the Santa Rosa chipset that allowed full access to all 4 Gigabytes of memory was more exciting that yesterdays change to the penryn processers.]
Then I was asked "Have you bought your iPhone yet?" and that started a silly discussion about the religion of Mac and ended when I said "if I was elected president that I would take the oath of office with my hand over a MacBook Air or an iPhone." I like to tease me too! :)

But we got back to a much more interesting discussion when someone asked "Did you watch the debate last night?". This started a rapid chain of topics that flowed something like this:
Clinton vs Obama
Democrats vs McCain
McCain and the Iraq war
Exit stratagies from Iraq
Turky into Iraq
Splitting up Iraq (Kurds in north, then Shia/Sunni, ...)
Splitting up Germany
North/South Korea
soft/hard landing of North Korea
China's involvement with North/South Korea
China's involvement in the middle east
The global escalation of military forces to control oil and other resources
...and back to our current choices for President

At which point I said "Our current choices for President were like asking me if I want a regular Big Mac Meal or the Super Size? Where are my other choices!". So I finished my lunch of salmon and steamed vegetables, and we went back to work.

Red Cross Wilderness First Aid

I believe EVERYBODY should take a Red Cross First Aid class.
And, if you want more than the basics, take Wilderness First Aid.

There is a Standard First Aid class almost every Saturday from 9:00-4:30
in San Jose. And there are many daytime and evening classes as well.

Here are the next three sessions of the Wilderness First Aid class:
* Mar 4,6,11,13,18 (Tu,Th) 6:00-10:00
* Apr 14,16,21,23, 28 (Mo,We) 6:00-10:00
* Jun 12,17,19,24, 26 (Tu,Th) 6:00-10:00
I am currently planning on attending the April class.

Register online with the Red Cross - Santa Clara Chapter or call 408-577-2178.

Which class is right for YOU? Look here.

Here is a description of the Wilderness First Aid class:

Wilderness First Aid (32290) This course is intended to serve as an educational resource for those involved in activities that take them beyond the scope of traditional urban emergency medical services. In these cases, emergency care is delayed until help can be notified and rescuers can reach the intended patient or the patient is evacuated to safety. This course helps provide the knowledge and skills necessary to deal with these emergencies until more advanced care can be provided.

This course will teach you how to respond to emergencies in delayed emergency help situations, identify causes of injuries and how injuries can be prevented in wilderness areas, learn proper advance preparation for journeys into the backcountry, learn basic and more advanced first aid techniques to use when an injury occurs, learn the Emergency Action Steps for First Aid Response to be used when EMS is not readily available, learn how to respond to an emotionally upset victim, learn short distance transfer and evacuation techniques, and practice providing wilderness first aid through the means of scenarios and simulated rescues that test knowledge and skills.

Fee: $ 80.00
Length: 20 hours
Certificate: Wilderness First Aid basics (valid 3 years) this also serves as a Basic First Aid certification as well.

Letterman: Barack gives the Top Ten

Letterman: Barack gives the Top Ten

iPod Nano ad with 1234 by Fiest

Here is the iPod Nano ad with the song "1234" by Fiest:



And the original Fiest 1234 video:



And the Mad TV parody of both:



Ha! :)

Computers are not temperamental...they just act that way

Today I wrote "Computers are not temperamental...they just act that way".

Then I read the following in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Main Entry: tem·per·a·men·tal
Pronunciation: \ˌtem-p(ə-)rə-ˈmen-təl, ˌtem-pər-ˈ\
Function: adjective
Date: 1646

1: of, relating to, or arising from temperament : constitutional "temperamental peculiarities"
2 a: marked by excessive sensitivity and impulsive mood changes "a temperamental child"
2 b: unpredictable in behavior or performance "a temperamental computer"

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=temperamental

Was the example for 2b written in 1646? :)