Linux is too damn cool

Right now, i'm on Ubuntu. I have finally realized that linux is so much cooler. Now, you probably wonder, whats so great about linux, its hard to use. Let me go through all the reason it is good.

1) Free - FREE, absolutely free. You don't have to pay like $400 bucks for it, instead its absolutely free to use. Its SOOO free that you can go to the ubuntu website and order as many CDs as you want and shipping is FREE. (If you are wondering how they do this, it is cause when they first came out a prince gave them like 2 million dollars because he believed these things should definiteley be free.) Now there is stuff like Red Hat which you pay a bit, but there are many other distributions and many that are free.

2) Customization - Linux is all about customizing. If you don't like something about your computer experience well then do something about it. Right now, i have this Mac style interface but 10X better. I have a dock, which also is fun to play with because you can throw the icons around and it will come back to the dock. And i'm using a mod called Beryl, which does things like expose (in mac, where you can see all your windows) and there are some cool effects. One thing is when ever i open and close my windows in spins to the corner and fades, it looks awesome. I have also changed my icons so they look cooler.



3) Incredible support - There a thousands of people that all are linux pros. They are very helpful people and there is such a large group of people that are helpful.

3) puzzle - Ok for many people this is not a good point for linux, as a matter of fact, it is a bad point of linux. Linux is not for the person expecting something that can work right of the bat (although that hardly happens in windows too). Linux is difficult to install, many softwares we use today are not supported for linux and to get things working takes some time. But i look at it as a puzzle and a challenge. And hey it helps you learn linux, and there are many linux administrator that get the big bucks. Nothing is more satisfying when you finally able to get a video to work after 2 hours.

I guess the last one sums up all the bad things, but i find it too be a good thing, so hey, its great. But yea, i still have windows cause i need to use some stuff on it (and play games of course). But i really feel after coming to berkeley, i've become more nerdy, thanks to my fellow EECS people. But its all good, i still listen to gangster music.

On another note, here is a new song from Jay-Z from his new album. The lyrics are meh, but the Beats are OF the HOOK. Major props to just blaze.

Web 2.0 (the rebirth of the Interenet) and why it is good to be CS major

The internet is making a comeback. If you have not heard, Google has acquired YouTube this past week for about 1.65 Billion dollars. Billion people, Billion. Last Fall eBay bought Skype for 2.65 Billion dollars.

I was reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the difference and similarities of the 2000 Internet bubble and Web 2.0. The thing why the first Internet bubble didn't work is because they were just too early and not many people were on the internet at the time. Now according to the article, 42% of people in the US have high-speed internet and 75% of all US are regular interent users.

If you notice, MySpace was the first social network to really blow up, but it was not the first one to come up with this idea. One of the bigger sites before myspace was friendster, but it didn't become big. Why not? i think it was too realy for its time. People didn't realize the internet as a means of social networking. How did MySpace become soo big? That i feel is pure luck.

But the sensation of MySpace really made current generation avid internet users, one aspect that was needed in the internet. Next up is the interactivity of the interent. Here along comes AJAX and flash.

Ajax, is a web language which allows users to have more interactive websites, like for example when you click something like "show cart items" instead of opening a new page, a small box pops up on the same page.

One of the best examples of Ajax, and the first to make Ajax popular is Google Maps. Before in Mapquest, in order to see what is east of some map, it would have to reload the page. But with google maps, it just moves to that side, smoothly.

Flash has become bigger than ever, especially with the ability to stream music and video with better quality. This has made the internet exponentially better and has made sites like MySpace and YouTube major success stories.

The internet has become better and in the end everyone wins, website companies have more revenue and internet users have better websites to use. So why is it good to be a CS major?
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When i started my college last year, the internet was not like this, things were barely starting to roll, but in terms of being a CS major, it wasn't that good, the Internet bubble was popped 4 years ago and many felt the internet wasn't really going anywhere.

Now with this new revenue, it will cause for more job openings. This year i went to a couple of career fairs and if you were dressed up, people would jump on you. Many people will argue that this has always been the case for any engineers, but i felt that now, there is a lot more.

The beauty about this is that you don't have to be a CS major to enjoy these things. Just a love to learn programming. Me and a friend of mine (Niels) talk about this stuff all the time. If any of you guys have ideas of a website, you should seriously look into it, and if so, you should learn web programming languages like PHP, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python....and any others. It is great to have a sense of job security. Web 2.0 train is starting to turn its wheels, and i plan to get a good seat on that train.

Another picture

The Grotto
Originally uploaded by Stuck in Customs.

This another amazing picture showcasing HDR. Its not painting, its real.

I have an addiction to confess...

I'm addicted, and i don't think i want to stop. No its not drugs, alcohol or games. Nope, its not World of Warcraft (this is off tanent but i saw this report about some idiotic kid that plays the game 16 hours a day, what a dumb ass). I'm addicted to....

flickr.

Now many of you are probably thinking WTF? or "what a weirdo this guy is addicted to looking at stranger's photos" NO NO. Flickr has an amazing feature called explore where they take some of the best photos of a certain day. It is called "interestingness". It is amazing cause it shows some amazing photos. Now i change my wallpaper practically everyday, always finding a new favorite photo.

One of the most interesting photo technique i love SOO much is HDR (High Dynamic Range). HDR is done by taking the same picture three times. One has a lot of exposure, another is a photo with regular photo and then another has extremely low exposure. With all of these, using Photomatix, it combines all three to make a picture that looks like someone painted it. When done right, some of photos are just AMAZING. Clouds come out sooo amazing. Here is a amazing one and i'll put another cool one.

Flickr is a great website part of the web 2.0 revolution. Everyone should definetely just check some of these extremely good photographers and their amazing photos.

What Rap should be...

Other than all the world music i have been listening to (from FIFA 07) i have been listening to a lot of old rap albums. Two of the bests are Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt which has an AMAZING cover and Nas Illmatic. Both of these albums are what i consider to be the best in rap. It saddens me that many raps songs these days aren't even close to this. Nas Illmatic is only 37 minutes, but they were good enough to prove that Nas is one of the best lyricist. What is great is that there is an incredible balance between the music and his lyrics, one never overpowers the other. Here is a verse from my favorite song from the album, "The World is Yours"

I sip the Dom P, watchin Gandhi til I'm charged
Then writin in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin
To hold the mic I'm throbbin, mechanical movement
Understandable smooth shit that murderers move wit
The thief's theme, play me at night, they won't act right
The fiend of hip-hop has got me stuck like a crack pipe
The mind activation, react like I'm facin time like
'Pappy' Mason with pens I'm embracin
Wipe the sweat off my dome, spit the phlegm on the streets
Suede Timb's on my feets, makes my cypher, complete
Whether crusin in a Sikh's cab, or Montero Jeep
I can't call it, the beats make me fallin asleep
I keep fallin, but never fallin six feet deep
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for presidents to represent me (Say what?)
I'm out for dead presidents to represent me

In that verse alone he has shown that he is smart, lyrical and gangster. It is heavy with metaphors. It is amazing, unfortunetely he has not come up with an album like this since his first, but he is great. I hope his next album comes to this level.

Jay-Z is someone i liked before this album. I enjoyed the Black Album and The Blue

print (which I would say is his second best album). I heard soo many talk about how amazing this album is and i thought, hmmm i should check it out. After listening to it, i was convinced, this is amazing. I could listen to that album over and over again and i enjoy every part of it. It is taht amazing. The reason Jay-z has so much street cred is because of this album. In order to get this album out he used money that he acquired from selling drugs to make his own company, Rocafella and got Interscope to publish it for him. When it first came out it barely made money. It took 4 years until it went platinum, and now it is considered to be one of the greatest rap albums and greates albums in general (i remember seeing it in Rolling Stone). Some of my favorite songs, "Dead Presidents", "Politics as Usual", "Can I live" and the collaboration with Biggie "Brooklyn's Finest"

[Jay-Z]
Yeah, yeah, yeah
For nine six, the only MC with a flu
Yeah I rhyme sick, I be what you're tryin to do
Made a fortune off Peru, extradite, china white heron
Nigga please, like short sleeves I bear arms
Stay out my way from here on (CLEAR?) Gone!

[Notoriuos B.I.G.]
Me and Gutter had two spots
The two for five dollar hits, the blue tops
Gotta go, Coolio mean it's gettin "Too Hot"
If Fay' had twins, she'd probably have two-Pac's
Get it? .. Tu-pac's

[Jay-Z]
Time to separate the pros from the cons
The platinum from the bronze
That butter soft shit from that leather on the Fonz
A S1 diamond from a eye class don
A Cham' Dom' sipper from a Rosay nigga, huh?!
Brook-Nam, sippin on

[Notorious B.I.G.]
Cristal forever, play the crib when it's mink weather
The M.A.F.I.A. keep canons in they Marc Buchanans
Usually cuatro cinco, the shell sink slow, tossin ya
Mad slugs through your Nautica, I'm warnin ya

"the only MC with a flu, yea i rhyme sick." Come on, that is just amazing word play. Here is a video of Jay Z when he first came out, man he was soo young here.

How TV shows got better...

Todays was the seson premiere of Lost. Actually today i watched a LOT of shows. And Aaron asked, "Why are TV shows soo good now." I began to think about it. Its really true. I mean, if we think about, after HBO came out with The Sopranos and Sex in the City, I think the media understood that shows need to have good production and good scripts. I also think that being in college has made me watch shows. (with all that free time, what else can we do) Before going to berkeley, i only watched Family Guy. Now i watch Arrested Development (used to), Scrubs, Lost, 24, The Office, and i will watch Weeds and Heroes. But think of all the other shows that people watch. Prison Break, CSI, House, Desperate Housewife....there is just sooo much. And i have noticed that all these shows actually are more deep. Not just like family stuff but real deep character development.
That is one of the reasons Lost is something i love watching is to see the character conflict he has, because the way Lost works every episode is that they pick one of their many characters and show something that happend to him before the crash, in which he is facing the same kind of situation now in the island. By comparing the two we see if the character has better himself by making the better decision.
24 is just a very top-of-the-line show with good twists in the story. Arrested Development had great quirky comedy and an amazing script. Scrubs is the same way, in which they visualize everything Zach Braff's thinks. All great shows, i suggest all these shows. They are just awesome and I have a feeling that this may die out, just like reality shows. So watch them while they last. Here is a trailer of Lost to get you to watch it.

Two rappers i'm into

People who even know me know i've been promoting a person named Lupe Fiasco. Lupe Fiasco and Kanye are two of my role models, not just in terms of music, but clothing, culture, taste. Lupe Fiasco goes back to waht rapping is all about, Lyrics. You know, a song can have a real good beat, but then after a while you forget about it. Good songs with good lyrics stay. Fiasco is about lyrics, and he defies the whole rap idea. Now, many people think rap is about money, girls, cars. Lupe Fiasco puts deep metaphors into his music, and its a great adventure to listen through his music.

Many of you have probably heard "kick, push." Which he talks about his love for skateboarding. Whats interesting is that he metaphorically connects the ideas of skateboarding to hustling. He came out with a new album which everyone should listen to (and i mean listen to the lyrics). Some of my favorite songs are, "I gotcha", "the instrumental", "he says she says", "Sunshine", "Daydreamin", "Hurt me Soul" and "American Terrorist". As a Matter of fact check out Daydream, which is a song about him daydreamin to be those typical gangsters on TV.



Now the next rapper i like is not really hardcore rap. Its more like indie hip hop. And its not one person but a band. This band is under Fueled By Ramen, who also has "The Academy Is...", "Panic! at the Disco" and used to have FAll Out Boy. They are called Gym Class Heroes and they are awesome. What is cool is that they make all their beats live, instead of samples. The head guy is also i pretty good rapper. You should check out their album "as cruel as school children" Its AWESOME.