LuxXAeternA's Xanga

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Sun, 27 Nov 2005 09:27:58 GMT

The situation with my mp3 player is so aggravating right now. Here's what happened: Dell sent me one to replace my old one (which only played music in one ear unless you pressed the headphones in really hard) and the new one is even more defective! Every time I turn it on, it freezes on the same screen. So I think I'll send them back the new one they sent me and keep my old one. I want the new iPod that plays music and videos now. It's only $300, I think it's well worth it. So that is what I'll get.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 11:26:08 GMT

Xanga Idiot of the Day: chatioc_heat (supposed to be chaotic_heat, but we'll let that one slide.

http://www.xanga.com/Chatioc_heat

If you read his astoundingly moving piece "Confessions of a Beautiful Man," you will probably at once recognize his amazing sense of humility. Continuing onto the actual piece, you will be amazed by his wonderful grammar and immaculate spelling. It describes how he lost his virginity at the ripe old age of 10 to a 13-year old. Real hot. What amazes me most about this piece is its stunning rejection of cliche: they were playing "mermaid," it was "good" despite the "hurt," and that his rapist was "was very developed...If you get what I'm saying!"

By the end of the piece, you will realize that he is probably some horny gay loser who can't bear to put a real picture of himself up or disclose his real name (Paris? Come on now) because he's far too closeted. Now I don't mean to sound mean, I actually feel bad for the loser.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 00:35:45 GMT

October 8th, around 1pm:

I hate pain. This morning I got my two bottom wisdom teeth out under a copious amount of Novocaine. Now that that has worn off, I'm starting to feel pain. It was really bad before, but now it's alright. I'm just a pussy.

While I was icing my sore wound, I read Microsoft Corporation's Annual Report like all good Microsoft stockholders do. I was surprised by a number of things, most notably what the European Commission ruled that Microsoft would do. Here's some quotation:

"In March 2004, the European Commission determined that we must create new version of Windows that do not include certain multimedia technologies... and we must provide our competitors with specifications for how to implement certain communications protocols supported in Windows... As a result of the Commission decision, we have incurred and will continue to incur duplicative development costs... The commission ruling obligates Microsoft to make available specifications for certain Windows communications protocol technologies on licensing terms that are closely regulted by the Commission. The availability of these licenses may enable competitors to develop software products that better mimic the functionality of Microsoft's own products which could result in a reduction of sales of our products...
We believe our integrated approach to delivery of product innovation benefits consumers and business. Current or future government regularory efforts may hinder our ability to provide these benefits reducting the attractiveness of our products and the revenues that come from them."

I had never heard of this decision, but now that I know of it, I feel it is absolutely heinous. The European Commission has effectively taken the liberty of stealing Microsoft's technology and distributing it to other, less able competitors. This is only the shadow, however, of the statist socialism that has already enveloped Europe. I already see ominous parallels in our Democratic party in their willingness to regulate any aspect of business they can get their hands on. The lawsuits brought against Microsoft's "monopolistic practices" further illustrate this point. It all disgusts me. The next quotation hits closer to home:

"Generally accepted accounting principles and accompanying accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations for many aspects of our business, such as revenue recognition for software, accounting for financial instruments, and treatment of goodwill or amortizable intangible assets, are highly complex and involve subjective judgments. Changes in these rules, their interpretation, or changes in our products or business could significantly change our reported earnings and operating income and could add significant volatility to those measures, without a compparable underlying change in cash flow from operations."

Basically, Microsoft has watered down the facts that the government makes accounting law in business so subjective that they don't know what they'll be hit with next; the government can even change the laws so as to hurt Microsoft's business--without any compensation, of course. Yet Microsoft doesn't outright decry these practices, nor does it even take a negative tone about it. Essentially, it stands by and gets raped financially by the governement simply because it is such a good business.

October 8th, 1am:

I just read an awesome article about homosexuality. What's even more surprising is where I read this article--in Time, a news magazine with a fairly liberal slant. What was so awesome about the article was that it truly enveloped the totality of the story in terms of politics, as well as social dynamics. To be clearer, it criticized objectively (i.e., with facts and studies) both the juvenile liberal midset that homosexuals are just another downtrodden, oppressed minority and the antediluvian conservative mindset that homosexuals need reparative therapy. What's more, there was a "third party" opinion of sorts that eschewed both of those wrongminded views, one that I agree with--that homosexuals just want to be normal people. They do not wish to stagnate in their former "oppression" nor be "repaired." Furthermore, we like being gay! And our society is coming to like it too.

What's more, Cornell professor Ritch Savin, head of the Human Development dept (which my friend Wendy's in), wrote the book that the article seems to center on--The New Gay Teenager. I love Cornell. (Even if I got fucked over on its Chem prelim.)

October 7th:

I thought I got an 80 on my Chem prelim. Well, in Evan's mathematically-deluded world, the concept that 80=61 must be a fundamental tautology.

Fuckkk. I thought I did so much better! I sadly believed that I got all 15 points on a gas-solid equilibrium problem, but I got almost none. And a lot of points shaved off on the others questions on which I thought I did well. This really kinda sucks, but I'll have to better next time. The class average was a 74, so I'm about C range. Maybe C-. That is not good. This asshole right in front of me got a 99. I hate him so much right now. He's such an arrogant ass, too, going out of his way to seem exasperated with the facility of the class for him. I should stop venting, though, and get to effing French class.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:23:13 GMT

I thought I got an 80 on my Chem prelim. Well, in Evan's mathematically-deluded world, the concept that 80=61 must be a fundamental tautology.

Fuckkk. I thought I did so much better! I sadly believed that I got all 15 points on a gas-solid equilibrium problem, but I got almost none. And a lot of points shaved off on the others questions on which I thought I did well. This really kinda sucks, but I'll have to better next time. The class average was a 74, so I'm about C range. Maybe C-. That is not good. This asshole right in front of me got a 99. I hate him so much right now. He's such an arrogant ass, too, going out of his way to seem exasperated with the facility of the class for him. I should stop venting, though, and get to effing French class.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 11:55:43 GMT

I got a 93 on my Math prelim! I beat out my 2 floormates taking the class, who got an 85 and an 87 mwhaha. I have a French test tomorrow and a Chem prelim on Thursday. (Prelim=Cornell's pretentious word for a test.) I'm not really worried too much about the French test; but the Chem prelim is going to be hard. I need to study more and (perhaps) attend office hours... the amount of work I have now is very conducive to being athletic (Running Club), being social (parties, Fag 4, etc.), fulfilling extracurricular duties well (managing editor of an all-features magazine, history editor for yearbook), and succeeding academically (getting A's). So I'm happy I dropped that class, ultimately.

I have an appt at 11am on Thursday to meet with the Biochem guy in the Ag School. I also have been thinking about where I want to live next year. I think I'll either: be an RA on North or live in an apt in Collegetown/Gun Hill. I want to have a car here next year so that maybe I can get a good job as a waiter. It's so early to be thinking about this, I know, but it's really necessary.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:58:56 GMT

A non-3rd person entry, how abouts? I'm coming home this weekend and I told everyone at Tech to go to the dance. But now I'm getting home later than I expected and might not be able to make it.... depending on the time. This weekend is actually a really bad one to be going home, but I really have to/want to. It's bad because I have to study for a Calc test and there are lots of good parties and yeah...

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 15:56:53 GMT

Chemlab was not as bad as Evan thought--he almost finished his unknown and got a REALLY PRETTY color for copper. Thus he may be able to eke out a B or B- in the class, proceeding to his Chem or Biochem major, avoiding the "CRAZED CHEM STUDENT COMMITS SUICIDE" headline in the Cornell Daily Sun, and ending up making drugs in Fluorine. Think positive.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 11:28:43 GMT

Evan is going to fail his Chemlab. He will not figure out the unknowns and he will subsequently lose 5 points from his grade. He will not get an A or even a B. He will get a C. Probably C-. Then he will be forced to take Chem 216 because you can't go into a lower and he will get an F in that. Then he will foster a deep hate for Chemistry and murder the professors. Think positive.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 23:01:04 GMT

I came back from class to the piercing sounds of the alarm that goes off when someone leaves the door open. I think, "What asshole left the door like this?" So I enter through it and go up to my floor. No one is there, which struck me as odd, and the sprinklers had gone off, leaving the floor down the hall from me sopping wet. I check my room, see that it's all dry and check other floors to see if they know what's going on. Completely deserted... so I go back outside and ask a girl waiting on a rock. She tells me there was a fire started by a kid who left his pants on a lamp. I go around to the other side of the building and there's a huge crowd of people, all displaced by the fire. Courtney comes over and tells me that it was HJ that started it and I started cracking up--I knew HJ from the summer. He wasn't the smartest kid, but I didn't think he was this idiotic. It turns out that his room was above my room one floor and three rooms down, so a lot of people on our floor had water damage. It was pretty ridiculous.

A dramatization of the fire.

Facebook groups sprung up within 10 minutes of our reentry to the building: "We Didn't Start the Donlon Fire" and "I Survived the Donlon Fire" are currently competing for members. I love this school.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:51:21 GMT

An Exercise in Incompetence: Katrina Befuddles New Orleans

I cite:

"Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers. 'I need everything you have got,' Ms. Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Monday, after the storm hit. In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. 'Nobody told me that I had to request that,' Ms. Blanco said.... "

Political idiocy, pure and simple. There's no need to expound.

"But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established.... 'Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?' asked one senior administration official...."

PCness again rears its ugly head.

"A common misconception about the rebirth of Germany and Japan post-WWII is that aid under the US Marshall Plan led the recoveries in each nation. In truth, according to a study by George Mason professor Tyler Cowen, the 'German Miracle' actually began with tax cuts, before money from the United States arrived.... [A]s history has shown repeatedly around the world, no amount of federal aid or charity will fix Louisiana and Mississippi. The 'fix' in both states will result from the arrival of audacious, and yes, self-interested entrepreneurs eager to make money in return for rebuilding the blighted areas in both states. Federal income taxes should be kept down so that the cost of entrepreneurship is kept to a minimum.... Rather than heed the call of the New York Times for austerity and 'sacrifice,' Louisiana and Mississippi...should make it clear that effective effort will not be punished and cut taxes as much as possible."

Altruism just doesn't work.

http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1026

All of this is quotation from TIA Daily. If you click the link above, you'll pretty much get the sense of their publication. I really liked it and subscribed to get their magazine every month for a year for $44--oh the glories of credit cards and online shopping. (That was a special student price though, it's upwards of $70 for regular peoples.) They also gave me a free 30-day subscription to their e-mail list, where they have lots of commentary on polemic issues and also a link to a great work of art. I really like that so far, too. So check it out, if you're a Libertarian/Objectivist/undefined.