Posts from — February 2008

Ok, the video makes more sense than the title of this post.. it’s really cool:

Project idea: a wordpress plugin that makes the comments on my blog and my livejournal feed mirror each other automatically (with some latency).

From the speech in which Mitt Romney dropped out:

I’m convinced that unless America changes course, we could become the France of the 21st century.

Did nobody proofread that? France still exists in the 21st century. It’s like saying “we could become the Canada of North America”. Ok, but even ignoring that, isn’t America’s “course” right now that of a Republican president and a complicit congress? It’s a bit weirder in context, because he spends much of the speech criticizing democrats.

Another notable quote:

The best ally peace has ever known and will ever know is a strong America.

We have a lot of work to do before that becomes true, unfortunately. We can’t start a war on false information and then claim to be a beacon of peace. Perhaps he was insinuating that America wasn’t strong… very sneaky!

And, of course, the punchline:

Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

The vast majority of the speech is negative, talking about what we have to fear from Islamic fundamentalism or a welfare state or taxes. It’s really quite saddening to read, especially since this apparently excites people.

The world’s fastest clapper.

In case you haven’t seen it, Lawrence Lessig’s “20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack” is a really well made, simple, rational explanation for his support:

More than just platitudes and worth watching.

This is a great minimalist political flyer:

(shot by Sean Bonner)

A NYT Op-Ed makes some interesting points in favor of allowing 16-year-olds to vote if they pass a civics course, much like how you can get a driving permit after taking a test. I like the idea of having more people learn to vote before they go to college. On the other hand, looking back, had I been allowed to vote when I was 17, I would have greatly regretted my vote several years later. Hmm…

This week I went on the Google West Coast Trip. Previously, there was a company-wide ski trip each winter, but for reasons not relevant to this post, we went to Disneyland this year (this Mon-Wed). The logistics for the trip were quite amazing: several thousand googlers, lots of planes, lots of hotels, buses, etc. They did a really good job, from what I could tell.

I didn’t take too many pictures, but here are a few:

The Matterhorn at Disneyland

I prefer to read this as the park imploring me to “WASTE, PLEASE”. Take that, Earth!

Adjacent to Disneyland is the California Adventure park, which contains some more typical roller coasters and a bunch of stuff that’s similar (or identical) to MGM in Florida. The big white coaster in the back of this picture was fun, but definitely not as intense as what you’d expect at a Six Flags or something:

The classic ride that takes you up in a seat and drops you was there, but it had this strange transparent shield that covered your upper body (a bit hard to see in this picture).

I’m not quite sure why.. it wouldn’t really prevent people from dropping things, since your hands are outside. I hope it’s to further punish and mock people who vomit on the ride.
Gross, sorry.

We got all-day passes to the parks yesterday, so John and I showed up early to Disneyland to catch some of the more popular rides before most people arrived. It never got terribly crowded, but the lines certainly did get longer. After dinner time, they closed both parks to the general public and it became a big google event, with lots of free food and open bars in California Adventure. They also did the fireworks display, which was quite impressive. My favorite ride was Soarin’ Over California, a ride that basically simulates flying over a variety of California scenes as if you were in a hang glider. The immersion on the ride was really good, as the screen practically filled your field of view, they blew air to simulate wind gusts, and pumped in different aromas as you passed over orange groves or evergreens. The immersive nature can also be slightly enhanced through use of the aforementioned open bar. Also, it has Patrick Warburton in the instructional video before you get on, so you know it has to be good.

It was definitely a good time, I’m glad I went… it’s too bad more people from my team didn’t go.

It’s unfortunate that a positive message feels so strange. I remember leaving the Republican youtube debate feeling rather sad- like no matter who we elected (in either party), we were screwed. Hopefully that’s not the case.

Super Tuesday is next week, here’s who’s voting:

(red = republicans, blue = democrats, purple = both)

I’ll be out of town then, so I already voted by mail.

The primary system is incomprehensible and crazy. It seems like reforming the system would be a good job for an ex-president (well, not Clinton), since they have visibility, connections, and don’t need to worry about going through it again.

(edited to fix video embed)