bunnyfish!

ok, this is kind of awesome.

bunnyfish!!

I think i'm going to get this one though.

Radio Show

Now that I have a car, I listen to the radio sometimes. WMBR (MIT's station) and WERS (Emerson's station) usually have something good on. This show called Sans Serif is pretty good.

Blinkie Lights Circuit

Boston Electronic Music

Some links

I wanna put my dancing shoes and get my groove on. Whooo

http://www.unlockedgroove.com/

http://www.zer0gsounds.com/

http://www.robotlovesongs.com/

Liquid Pop

The other day, we were watching "So You Think You Can Dance," and we saw this guy, Robert Muraine. He was very good, but he quit because he could not follow choreography. Pretty sad, but his dancing reminded me of David Elsewhere.



David Elsewhere is a blast from the past, and he was the one of the first who start dancing like this.

Foreign Policy stuff

I'm currently reading Blowback by Chalmers Johnson. "Blowback" is a jargon term used to describe unintended consequences of policies (and CIA missions). The book analyzes the consequences of a US foreign policy that tends to favor military force over diplomacy, and imperialistic misconceptions over factual investigation, especially with respect to Asia. The two chapters on China--the current state of affairs and issues like human rights and Tibet--are really good. Johnson's grasp of the big picture is refreshing, especially in a time when it's easy to jump on the bandwagon heckling China, albeit sometimes hypocritically. Once I finish the book I'm going to blog about the book in more detail.

Also on a related note, this NY Times article lists some of the individuals who make up the 300 people foreign policy advisors to Obama, including Susie E. Rice, Anthony Lake, Gregory B. Craig (all three served under Clinton), Dennis Ross (Middle East envoy for Presidents Clinton and Bush I), Ivo H. Daalder (Brookings Institution), and Richard Holbrooke (UN ambassador).

Which lead me to find a list of US think tanks on Wikipedia. How many do you recognize?

Corelle Dining Sets

UPDATE : I ordered the black and white one on the bottom. Can't wait to see it in real life!






I'm trying to decide what pattern to buy

Stocking the House

Today, Toby and I went bed shopping, and we made a purchase. We went to a Sleepy's and got a Kingsdown bed. It was expensive. The idea, though, is that you only buy one every twenty years or so. We bought a bed that is on the soft side, but is not too soft. They said they did a lot of research on sleep technology, and they recommended a bed type for us that matches our body type. Basically, it says that a heavier person should sleep on a firmer bed while smaller people, like us, should sleep on softer beds. It is so that you lie as flat as possible instead of sagging in the middle.

Obama: Time to Get Out

Obama wrote a NYT Op Ed.

They call any timetable for the removal of American troops “surrender,” even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.

But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

Electronics Kit

So, for WTP EE class, we have them use this kit, but today I saw a kit at Radioshack is that pretty much just as good, if not better, and is less than half the price. Wow. In fact if you wanna learn some EE, I recommend this kit.

Abraham Obama

I also found out about this gallery which has pictures by Ron English that he painted called Abraham Obama. Haha Gallery XIV

Kinetic Art

Yesterday, I went to some art galleries on Newbury St, and the Arden Gallery had some stuff by Anne Lilly, who makes kinetic art. Here's a video, too. I also saw her stuff before at the De Cordova Gallery. Pretty cool.

Buddha Dance

Wow, I learned the dance almost exactly. I didn't know it was so popular.



These dancers are blind

Next Generation Cars

I thought I'd do an overview of people and projects related to cars.

We took the WTP girls to the Media Lab today for a tour. We looked at the Smart Cities Group's City Car. They have a "robot" electric car, which can be steered by joystick or whatever controller you want, really. This brings up interesting issues with putting limitations on what a user should be allowed to do in the interest of safety. Anyway,

I was surfing for other projects related to cars, and there's this other group that is working on a fully automatic steering vehicle in CSAIL. They competed and did ok in the DARPA Urban Challenge. They got beat out by Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and Virgina Tech. Tsk tsk.

Independence From Oil

This post on the Breakthrough Generation Blog makes a great case on why independence from foreign oil is really a misnomer. In order for true independence from foreign oil and the foreign oil market, you need complete independence from oil.

I'd like to make a movie talking about the epic struggles of a teen sexually assaulted in conservative town fighting her way through to getting an abortion. And then, when she succeeds, she is a very happy woman. I'm just annoyed with pro-life movies for teen pregnancies. But I do love Juno. But a balance would be nice. The abortion would be more minor, and it'd be more of a focus on the liberal girl's journey through some conservative southern state.

Chinese Folk Dance

Dai Minority Folk Dance

Happy Birthday to Me

I live in a tree
with monkeys and spiders
Hee hee hee Heehee

hahahaha

Iron Man

Finally got to see Iron Man the other day, and it was like the "Joy of MechE/EECS" movie. The main character is a genius engineer and MIT alum who has the most awesome CAD software ever. Pretty entertaining, even though the plot is predictable. Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor and lots of fun to watch.

Hybrids

Edmunds.com did an analysis of hybrids vs gasoline cars. A Toyota Prius takes about 3.5 years to break even and a Lexus LS600H 98.5 years! However there are still a lot of drawbacks that hybrids have, like expensive premiums and not that great mileage improvements.

Check out the Wall Street Journal article reporting about it.