windows false sense of security

i have an account on my friend’s box, and my password expired today. i
didn’t want to have to change it, so I just gave it the same password, and
it took it. i would think that if the goal is to force me to change my
password, it wouldn’t let me change it to the same thing.

dead of the night

it’s time for another blog entry. you know why? because it’s 4:30 am and
I’m locked out of the college. what’s worse is that we gained an hour
tonight, so i am really tired. so i am here in the computer lab until the
lodge opens back up at 5am. and since i am bored out of my mind, i
figured i would write a blog entry.

last 2 nights i have been chillin with friends. i find that really fun.
maybe i’m missing out on really exciting stuff like crazy/wild parties, or
mountain biking in the andes, but for now, chillin seems really cool.
that’s all my friends and i do at mit. granted, we are lazy most of the
time. but chillin is fun. it’s the journey, not the destination.

mjm is coming up to england on vacation. i’ll probably see him in the
next week or 2. that’s cool. if i’m not mistaken, he’s the youngest
person on themusic store team. i could be wrong, just like i never would
have guessed that leffert and abe were the same age. but whatever

oh my goodness, i’m amd tired, and hungry too. i missed brunch this
morning and was upset. that’s a really good breakfast for like one pound
50. impossible to find that elsewhere.

i’m going to stop typing now.

ok, maybe i’m not so cheap

yeah. that last post was kinda out there. I had a bit of tunnel visino at
the time. ignore most of that. Infact, i probably will get a class ring.

btw, current song on the playlist is “real big” by Mannie Fresh

“house real big,
cars real big,
dick real big,
everything real big,
rims real big,
pockets real big,
let me tell you how I live!”

google 9000!

it will happen…there are only a few companies that can announce just
about any product, in an already crowded market, and their stock will
skyrocket, and the leading compnay in that market will be fearful….

Google

What’s in a dollar?

So, I’ll preface this by saying that many people think I’m cheap. And
yes, it’s true, i don’t spend alot fo money on the same things other
people do.

So at MIT, I think alot of people are cheap, or atleast the people I live
with. A night out could be a simple as Chick-Fillet, or Ihop. As long as
we are all there, we have a smashing time (without drinking too). While
I’m the cheapest one still, we are all on the same page, there’s no need
to spend money on a really fancy dinner more than once a year, if that.
We are simple people.

And then i came to england. Since coming to Europe is usually associated
with having the money to do it, many of the people who came over are well
off, or atleast give that impression. So they naturally don’t mind
spending 15 pounds on dinner.

So we go to london, and I know one guy is nearly as cheap as me, and
another girl pretty much is. But we get there, and everyone wants to sit
down in restaurants for every meal. WTF? If I were at home, I wouldn’t
do that. I’m nto going to spend 30 pounds for food each day. But anyway,
People were talking about our $300 class rings. Pretty much everyone at
MIT get’s these. But my friends here were stunned whent hey found out
that i didn’t order one. They looked at me like there was something wrong
with me. I mean, it seemed like it made no sense that someone might not
be able to afford it.

So I started thnking. Does the ring actually add any utility to one’s
life. I mean, engineering is pretty much perfomanced based, or someone
will see MIT on your resume. So other than that, it’s simply an outward
expression, that you 1) went to MIT and 2) have money, or will at some
point. Almost like wearing flashy and expensive clothes. just an outwrad
projection that adds little actualy value. so why should i get one?

All of these outward showing amaze me. now, i didn’t grow up with my
parents making a big deal out of this stuff. i grew up waering k-mart
clothes and stuff.even with money, it seems like that are better things to
do with it other than letting other people know that you are rich. i
mean, what’s the difference between a rolex and a timex. one will be
steel or silver looking, while the other will be gold. the timex tells
time just as well, and lasts just as long. but you don’t look as rich to
other people. meanwhile i child starves in Senegal. But hey, there’s
nothign a single person can do about that…(that’s nother discussion
altogether).

But yeah, my essential point is, I’m dissapointed / confused / upset /
(maybe i’ll be that way someday) with the way so many mit or people here
view having money.

… and then these people vote…

Humor and Racism

So the debates are common in the states. people talking about wether or
not race based comedians are actually funny, or if they hurt minorities,
especially in the eyes of non-minorities.

So we were watching Delerious, Eddie Murphy’s standup from the 80’s.
While most of the act isn’t based on racial jokes, there are some thrown
in. I was watching with one kid from Singapore, and another from China.
When he made a joke about american’s making fun of Chinese people, the
guys from SE asia didn’t get it, and didn’t think it was funny.

He was confused and thought he was saying things were actually that was.
now, it may be easy to say this only happens for people not from the
states, but i actually think a large number of minorities get their
impressions of black from such things. Not just stand up comedy, but TV
shows based on the same premise. And judging by the large number of
comments I’ve heard from some people, this is true to some extent. now,
I’m not saying every by any means, but many people, without actual
interaction with people in the ethnic group, can/will pic up the
stereotypes as fact.

i cans ay from first hand expecience that this happens. beofr getting to
college, i hadn’t met a single hispanic person in my life. my sterotype
of them was ocmpletely based on what i saw on tv. it was a shame. when i
got to mit, i was straightened out. sadly, many people never get
straitened out, and many people (including a guy i knwo right now) still
think latinos are gardeners and such.

… and then they go vote…

Trip to London

Woo Hoo… I went to London this weekend for the first time since I got
here. It was pretty cool. mainly sight seeing, walking around central
london, and taking pictures. good times.

I stayed in this tiny guest room at Imperial College on the first night,
then on the second night I stayed with my cousin who lives in south
London. it was cool. We spent most of the evening talking about football
(soccer) and Nigeria. So much football you always have a game to watch!
We watched a barcelona game and another aresonel one. Goot times.

Ignorance about Africa

I told some girl that I would be taking Yoruba, one of the languages
spoken in Nigeria, at harvard next year. She told me that it was awesome
to elarn a language with clicks. Now, i’m not upset at here for not
knowing that Yoruba doens’t have clicks, infact all but 1 or 2 African
languages have clicks. This mainly just goes to my point I made earlier
about people picking up stereotypes and mis information form
setereotypical comedy based on race and ethnicity.

Granted, i will admit that I don’t know much if anything about China, the
middle east, or the rest of Africa outside of nigeria for starters. So my
mind is filled with similar assumptions, although I try to always keep my
mind open and assume that whatever I know is wrong.

Gotta love that stock price…

Apple releases new products, stock jumps almost 3 bucks…

Ahhh Why did windows restart my box and kill my downloads?

Windows automatically updated my machine last night, killing the 24
process i had running? how can someone possibly run a server with windows
randomly updating for you and taking the courtesy of restarting your box?