Blogging Gnats

Chillin in Redmond

2009-06-01T02:19:00.003-04:00

I haven't measured exactly but it takes me about 20 minutes to bike to work, and 3 minutes to bike back. Crazy Seattle hills ...

Best lip syncing on the internet

2008-11-26T22:51:00.000-05:00

Lip Dub - Tambureddu HD from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo.

Fist Bump

2008-11-06T13:00:00.001-05:00

Obama Celebrations Nov 4 Washington DC

2008-11-05T23:34:00.003-05:00

On November 4, 2008, US Senator Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States of America. I watched the returns with some loud Washingtonians at Busboys and Poets. After midnight we emerged onto a ruckus scene on 16th and U Street (near the African American Civil War Memorial and the Historic Shaw district) for a wild party into the early morning. Barack Obama won 93% of the vote in the District of Columbia.

There was gridlock on the streets, but no one was trying to go anywhere. Just honking loudly...

... and having a celebration.

Some people gathered to clang their gongs ....

... and beat their drums.

Then we started a 1.5 mile journey down 16th street to the White House ...

... to bid adieu to President George W. Bush.

Samantha Power

2008-03-08T02:42:00.001-05:00

I just watched this great interview with Barack Obama's (former) foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power. In the first part of the interview she talks about Obama's ideas for a new approach to foreign policy (which she helped to foster). In the second part of the interview she talks about Sergio de Mello, a top UN diplomat on human rights who was killed in Iraq in 2003. It is a great interview because it covers many areas in international relations, and also focuses on the role of the UN.

How many accents was that?

2008-03-07T01:04:00.003-05:00

I'm impressed. And I thought my accent was confused: a fusion of Nigerian, British and American.

(h/t tighten up)

TENORI-ON

2008-03-05T23:11:00.003-05:00

Its been called the world's newest instrument. Introducing TENORI-ON.

(h/t andrew sullivan)

The Folly of Attacking Iran

2008-02-26T16:38:00.004-05:00

I once heard N.T. Wright say that every generation has a story, a context that defines our present circumstances. The problem is that many of us do not know our story, because we do not know the history that led to our existence. Worse, we do not know the stories of those around us, yet we seek to judge them.

This video, by some academics trying to head off war with Iran, reveals some parts of that story that need to be part of the current political discourse.

(hat tip pk)

Robert Naiman wonders how American policy would be different if everyone knew this history, and points out that Barack Obama supports real diplomacy (no preconditions) with Iran.

How to get out of Iraq

2008-02-23T01:06:00.002-05:00

Some people wonder how the US can extricate itself from Iraq without generating chaos. Barack Obama's foreign policy advisor (Samantha Power) discusses how the Obama camp have been thinking about this for months and have realistic expectations about what they can accomplish. They also have plans to ensure the Iraqi people are taken care of:

I am currently...

2008-02-08T02:43:00.001-05:00

Playing around with Yahoo Pipes. I am (successfully!) reformatting some RSS feeds from CPCP and merging them together to create the future CPCP Stream. Stay tuned...

Breaking news!

2008-01-27T21:51:00.001-05:00

CIA Realizes It's Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years

LANGLEY, VA-The most crucial passages of U.S. intelligence have been emphasized with indelible black highlighters.

Rebutting the naysayers

2008-01-25T12:23:00.000-05:00

Obama can be very light-hearted, even when he's defending himself. The audience members are all smiles in this video, even as Obama works his way through some of the most scurrilous charges against him:

See my dress

2008-01-21T00:17:00.000-05:00

The salvation army is selling some second-hand clothes. I love the use of color on this website:
http://www.seemydress.com

Back from Iraq

2008-01-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

No, not me. My friend and roommate commemorates his one year stay in Iraq:

Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto

2008-01-20T21:11:00.000-05:00

I have not really thought about the issue of environmental justice, until Majora Carter gave this emotional speech at TED. Her argument is that many local policies (in New York city) have hurt the environment for the poor and minorities. E.g. a black person is more likely to live close to a power plant etc.

Isabel Allende: Tales of passion

2008-01-19T17:10:00.000-05:00

A passionate and funny talk on passion and feminism

50 years ago...

2008-01-15T23:31:00.000-05:00

50 years ago, the US supreme court issued its first ever "pro-gay" decision, ruling that a gay magazine could send publications to its subscribers using the US Mail. It was basically a first amendment case -- Box Turtle Bulletin has an enlightening overview of the history behind this case.

Pick Somebody Up

2007-10-31T00:54:00.000-04:00

If only it was this elegant in real life. This is Raul Midon:

New movie on the war in Iraq

2007-08-23T19:22:00.001-04:00

Office Chair Olympics

2007-08-14T01:57:00.000-04:00

This is what my work is like... without all the fun.

Realistic Helen Keller

2007-08-14T01:36:00.000-04:00

An actress gives her best impersonation of Helen Keller with hilarious results.

http://view.break.com/348904 - Watch more free videos

Buffalo vs Lion?

2007-08-09T18:51:00.000-04:00

This video is 8 minutes but it is thrilling action all the way.

A business news analyst cries for help

2007-08-06T23:27:00.001-04:00

The US economy is going to the toilet, cries this analyst. And he has inside information. I'm sure the casual watchers in all the serene business school foyers around the country were jolted by this outburst:

Creative music video

2007-08-02T23:15:00.000-04:00

With so many music videos out there, its a constant challenge to come up with interesting and different videos. Here's one from SIA:

Soccer youth

2007-08-02T23:01:00.001-04:00

Reminds me a little of when I was 9 years old... NOT! I was not quite this good:

The social norm of toilet seats

2007-06-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

Should you leave them up or down? An economic analysis.

Statistical Hunting

2007-06-20T18:25:00.000-04:00

Joke of the day:

Three statisticians decide to go out hunting with their bows and arrows. They're sitting behind a large rock in the woods when a large duck flies by. The first statistician takes a shot from behind the rock and he undershoots the duck by 5 ft. The second statistician takes a shot at the duck, but overshoots the duck by 5 ft. At that, the third statistician jumps up and screams, "You got him!!"

Source

How to start a story

2007-06-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

The journalist who wrote this was probably being very serious. But the circumstances of the case make it hard to start this story in a way that conveys anything but incredulity. From ABC News:

A Washington, D.C. law judge broke down in tears and had to take a break from his testimony because he became too emotional while questioning himself about his experience with a missing pair of pants.

John Gray Comedian

2007-06-03T03:08:00.000-04:00

Kirk Franklin welcomes comedian John Gray onto his show on Trinity Broadcasting Network. Pretty funny church humor.

Nigeria! Nigeria!

2007-05-29T09:45:00.001-04:00

As Nigeria goes through its first civilian transfer of power -- with all the fears of instability and uncertainty for the future -- I think its a great time to look back to one of the great moments in Nigerian history: our soccer victory over Brazil in the 96 Olympic semifinals!

Some highlights:

For the uninformed, Nigeria went on to beat Argentina in the finals and win her most important Gold medal in an olympic games.

Complaining about Gas prices

2007-05-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

Just heard this on the radio - a guy's excuse for not driving his girlfriend to the beach:

If I wanted to pay $4 for gas, I'd go buy a burrito.

Muhammad Ali

2007-05-26T17:46:00.000-04:00

The great words of Muhammad Ali before his fight with George Foreman:

I rassled with a gator! Tussled with a whale! I murdered a rock! Injured a brick! I'm so mean, I make medicine sick!

Source

Soccer for Philosophers

2007-05-26T16:02:00.000-04:00

An old Monty Python skit about what happens when philosophers try to play soccer.

Woody Allen interviews Billy Graham

2007-05-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Flash back to the 60s. An agnostic talks to an evangelical. My how times have changed. Nowadays we have Bill O'Reilly.

Brotherhood

2007-05-14T00:36:00.000-04:00

Don't know if you have a brother... but this is what brotherhood is all about:

Happy Mothers day!

MultithreadedTC is finally here

2007-05-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

I've been working on this project for half the semester, and now it is finally released: on Google Code and at UMD. Bill Pugh will be mentioning this project during a presentation to a few hundred Java programmers at JavaOne, so we'll see how many downloads we get... and which of the bugs I've missed gets reported first.

Get some perspective

2007-05-07T23:14:00.000-04:00

A British man was told by his doctor that he only has 12 months to live. So he does what we all would do given this grim news: he went on a spending spree! Quit his job, sold almost everything, went on holiday... the good stuff of life. The problem was at the end of the year, he was still alive, and the doctors admitted they misdiagnosed him: his sickness was benign. Good news or bad news? Well he's suing the doctor/hospital because he is totally broke!

Dallas Down... for now

2007-05-07T20:23:00.000-04:00

After the devastating defeat of the Dallas Mavs, we are finding ways to keep ourselves humored. Some one suggested a new logo, posted at the Dallas Morning News Mavs Blog:

On my desktop

2007-05-04T16:48:00.000-04:00

Just experimenting with DeviantArts new embed feature.

Dare to be different by ~digitalgod on deviant ART

Sunflow - Global Illumination

2007-04-23T22:33:00.000-04:00

Check out this gallery of great images created with a ray tracing graphics engine. These are not photographs, they are a bunch of polygons and physics equations... more or less.

Godtube and its detractors

2007-04-23T22:15:00.000-04:00

What happens when Christians try to set up their own Youtube, and allow ordinary christians to upload videos unedited by pastoral oversight? You get videos like this one:

Happy Birthday Mum!

2007-04-14T16:35:00.000-04:00

Mum just turned 50. The kids and Dad created a tribute:

Recognizing Beauty

2007-04-12T17:44:00.000-04:00

If one of the worlds finest musicians stood in a Metro station near the US capital and played respected classical pieces, on a $3 million violin, wearing non-descript clothing, would anyone notice? The washington post experiments.

Favorite Flickr Photos

2007-04-07T00:09:00.000-04:00

The slideshow is at this link

The Guitar

2007-03-18T01:23:00.000-04:00

And now for some great guitar solo work. First the short version:

Then the longer version:

Both are great if you like guitar solos.

Obama on Iraq, Gonzales etc.

2007-03-18T01:08:00.000-04:00

Here's a good interview by Sen. Barack Obama. We need political, not primarily military solutions in Iraq. I think part of the reason for Gen. Petraeus' (new US commander) recent success in Iraq is his focus on some of the political issues (getting Prime Minister Maliki to meet with Sunnis, for example). Why do we need a culturally sensitive General to be the one coming up with the political solutions? Where are the diplomats and beurocrats?

Maher's Rules

2007-03-18T00:47:00.001-04:00

This is a great edition of New Rules.

Rumors of another world

2007-03-17T16:29:00.000-04:00

Going back to one of my favorite online talks from one of my favorite authors/speakers. I've read a number of Philip Yancey's books but don't often get to hear him speak. Here he engages a post modern crowd like CS Lewis reached out to atheists.

Obama's AIPAC speech

2007-03-08T00:39:00.000-05:00

Palestinian activist, Ali Abunimah gives a fascinating analysis of Barack Obama's recent speech to the America Israel PAC -- fascinating because he has observed Obama for about 10 years in Chicago politics. He talks about Obama's history interacting with Arab American constituents and his ultimate move to support Israel. I think Obama needs to address and explain this history, lest he look like an opportunist playing the political game like everyone else.

Abunimah essay is: "How Barack Obama learned to love Israel".

UPDATE: Apparently Obama's position is a little more nuanced than his earlier speech might indicate. M.J. Rosenberg offers up some commentary.

UPDATE 2: An article in The Jewish Week provides a more extensive background than Abunimah's article. It includes interviews with some of Obama's neighbors and Professor Rashid Khalidi, who hosted a fund raiser for Obama back in the state senate days. (This is going to be a great election season!)

Nigeria 4.0

2007-03-06T14:13:00.000-05:00

Just 8 years into her fourth attempt at democracy, it looks like Nigeria has moved forcefully into the internet age, complete with email campaigns, campaign websites, online donations, interactive sessions and you tube ads. I got this email from a candidate for Governor of Lagos:

Dear concerned citizen,

In the eight years ending May 2007, about Six Billion dollars, or two thirds of a trillion Naira (N600,000,000,000) would have been spent by the Lagos State Government.

My name is Jimi Agbaje, visit my website, www.jimiagbaje.com, and find out how I would spend that sort of money. While on the website you can join in our campaign, and personally take the first step to make Lagos Work!

Alternatively join me, at an interactive session on a New Thinking for a New Lagos, at 4.00 pm at The Lagoon, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos on Sunday, the 4th of March, 2007. Alternatively watch me live on AIT at 4pm local Nigerian television and DSTV satellite television.

Jimi Agbaje

And here is his you tube ad video:

Stop the presses

2007-03-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

How is it that despite my effort to strive for high academic excellence, Jenna Bush (we're the same age) is going to be a published author before I am? (OK, technically my Masters thesis was published and there is (was) even a copy on Amazon.com -- but that's not being reported by the AP is it?)

Nasal Irrigation

2007-03-05T00:14:00.000-05:00

No this is not a new degree at Texas A & M. Its an increasingly popular way to clean out your sinus and fight the cold. I should get this so I breathe fresher and gross out my friends. I can't watch the model in this demonstration video without laughing:

Dobson goes after Cizik

2007-03-04T22:09:00.000-05:00

If you have never heard of Rev. Richard Cizik, Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), you should look him up. At a time when many Evangelicals leaders were marching in lock step with the Republican party on issues of global warming and the Iraq war, it was refreshing to hear him speak for the rest of us. Cizik argues that stewardship of the earth is an important mandate for Christians. Some great Cizik interviews are at NPR's speaking of faith and fresh air programs.

Now James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and others are tired of hearing such a prominent figure in the NAE speak out against global warming. Christianity Today reports: they want him gone. They don't want him being the voice for Evangelicals. I guess they are worried the world will start to think Evangelicals are tree huggers. Here is a comment from a reader of the CT article:

It is a little hypocritical for Dobson and others to raise the alarm that Cizik's views might be construed as the views of all evangelicals. How often have Dobson and Falwell positioned themselves as the spokepersons for evangelical Christians? ... As an evangelical Christian opposed to Bush and concerned about global warming, I'm glad to *finally* hear the voice of someone with whom I can identify!

Well said!

Cooking this week

2007-03-04T15:38:00.000-05:00

This week, I treat the guys to Romagna Roast Potatoes. Nothing exciting. I chose it cause it looked simple enough. I wonder why it says "blend in tomatoes and garlic". Should that just be "add" tomatoes and garlic to the potatoes? "Blend in" conjures up images of a blender, which is confusing to a simple bachelor like me.

Nigeria stamps out guinea worm

2007-03-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

According to this NPR story, Nigeria is close to stamping out the guinea worm. Guinea worm is a pretty gross disease. (Imagine a 2 ft parasitic worm living in your body, and eventually coming out slowly.) The thought of it always terrified me as a kid though I never had it. The Carter center is to be commended for the significant role it played in this.

Obama on Faith and Politics

2007-03-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

This has been around for a while. A great speech on Faith and Politics last year here in DC.

All those gay Nigerians

2007-02-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

The BBC is reporting that the Nigerian house of representatives is trying to outlaw gay relationships. I guess they have solved all Nigeria's other major problems like violence in oil producing regions, or kidnappings, or poverty. And I guess this law is necessary since there is such an epidemic of homosexuality. (Really, if you are Nigerian, how many openly gay people have you ever met in Nigeria?)

I wonder if this is driven by politics -- after all, this kind of action will be popular. It would be unfortunate to see the same kind of divisive politics that was used to buy votes here in the US, being applied in Nigeria. Except this will not be divisive, since there are probably not many people who are going to oppose the bill. It will just be a tool for defeating the more free-thinking and/or intellectual politicians. (How do you explain your opposition to this bill to your constituents?)

Interestingly, this story is being picked up by American Christians (particularly Episcopals) in the light of the imminent breakup of the Anglican communion and the signifant role the Nigerian church is playing. And at least one American blogger is giving play-by-play commentary on the developing story.

Finally, it will be interesting to see which Nigerian politicians oppose this. The BBC article points out:

The deputy chairman of the house committee on human rights Abdul Oroh says it was hypocritical of proponents of the bill to use morality and religion as basis for their arguments.
"We should not be hypocritical here. I think we should deal with this subject dispassionately. While we are trying to protect morals and values, we must also remember to protect people's rights even if they are a minority," Mr Oreh said at the public hearing.

Animusic Pipe Dream

2007-02-25T01:52:00.000-05:00

I first saw this movie in a graduate Computer Graphics course. I was pleased to come across it again surfing on atomfilms.

Obama Interview in 2002

2007-02-24T00:30:00.000-05:00

I think this is going to start circulating around the web. Here is an interview in 2002 (before the Iraq war) where Senate Candidate Barack Obama outlines his opposition to preemptive war. Another interesting thing is that he mentions the possibility of a Sunni-Shia conflict.

Graduating soon

2007-02-23T17:12:00.000-05:00

I crossed the 102 million second mark... that is 102 million seconds before I graduate

Obama in San Fransisco

2007-02-21T13:55:00.000-05:00

Film maker zennie62 offers a little expose about Senator Barack Obama's visit at a Senator Barbara Boxer campaign event on Monday. Boxer spoke with her usual motherly passion: "When I look at him... I see in him what has worked right with America." But what was all that "Amen" and "Hallelujah" in the background about?!

Rethinking Ralph Nader

2007-02-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

Robert Kuttner gives a positive review of the documentary An Unreasonable Man about Ralph Nader. He points out that long before Nader was blasted by liberals as an ego-centric presidential candidate who put Bush in the White House, he was an important advocate for consumer rights -- and the documentary does a balanced job of communicating this... makes me want to watch it. Democracy Now interviews Ralph Nader about the movie here.

Destiny: On the lot

2007-02-19T23:54:00.000-05:00

Is this poetry? Is this a joke? Or just postmodern expression? The lines are somewhat blurry... but it is interesting anyway.

Destiny: On The Lot

Soon to graduate

2007-02-11T22:40:00.000-05:00

I've crossed the 103 million second mark in the countdown till my graduation (on natidea.com). I remember when it was over 104 million. I must be making progress!

Website Plan for natidea.com

2007-02-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, not a real plan, just a waste of time.

Market Driven

2007-02-09T18:13:00.000-05:00

Why is Sen. Barack Obama such a hot commodity right now? Conservatives like to say "Let the market decide". I suggest that Obamamania is a manifestation of this principle. The media isn't gushing over him (He's a rockstar) because of a "liberal bias". Its because he sells well (ratings, clips on YouTube). And maybe he can sell the US to an increasingly skeptical world.

For his supporters, it is an added bonus that he also has a good progressive record, a bipartisan streak, good leadership skills, good looks, good ideas, and all the other things people want in a president.

Obama's Announcement

2007-02-09T18:11:00.000-05:00