Category: Historical

There is an article from this weekend’s Washington Post about suicide in Japan worth reading.

TP has a summary of a Newsweek poll:

The Post also mentions a recent Newsweek poll in which 60 percent of respondents said that the U.S. was spending too much money in Iraq and should cut back its commitments there.

Should have thought of that before you all were so blindly trigger happy.

This afternoon I did take another trip down to New Brunswick and Piscataway, to check out the Route 18 Construction. It certainly has changed, and once completed will no doubt alter the character of the area very much. Unfortunately, I expect that the area around the “highway” will be less desirable than it was when it was a simple county road, but I’m told that’s the price of progress.

In other news, I’m disappointed that I’ve been unable to rescue an old Athlon 700 Mhz PC. I was hoping to use it to free up another computer for an install of Darwin.

At the moment, the torellini al fredo I had for dinner is revolting in my stomach, lying heavier than a 50lb bag of cement and yet seemingly defying gravity at the same time. Yet that’s not what all the “eeek!”-ing is about.

After dropping Austin, a good friend from college who now residing in NYC came down for the evening to visit, at the bus stop in East Brunswick, I decided to take a swing by the Route 18 – River Road interchange and Route 18 extension to see how far along the construction is. Besides the new overpasses, two items stuck out from what I could see. The first was a new circle to replace the intersection down by the Sonny Werblin center. The other was the remodeling of Davidson Road, including a new section before the suites that is completely different. I’m not even sure where these new roads all lead to. Granted, it was around midnight and dark, so I wasn’t able to get the full effect. I’m tempted, strongly, to return during the daylight tomorrow with my camera, since a week from now classes will be starting and traffic will be terrible every day of the week.

As I speak, the season finale of Amazing Race, which is my absolute favorite TV show. While I usually don’t care much for reality TV shows, in particular these types of mass media shows, yet a show designed around travel is unsurprisingly one I enjoy. In fact, I would LOVE to be a contestant, and winning wouldn’t even matter.

I first saw Netomat on Joi Ito’s blog a month ago, and thought at the time I would like to create one for myself. So, here’s one for the Blackout of 2003. Anyone who has anything to share, please go right ahead! That’s the fun of it!

I have so many thoughts to express, but it’s just been too hectic the past two days. Hopefully I’ll find some time to rail on about the tragedies in the world tomorrow.

Given my experiences on the ride in this morning, I thought I’d share this CNN article on distracted driving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen other drivers putting on make-up, drinking coffee, and talking on cell phones. The worst, though, was the time I actually saw another driver reading the newspaper, spread out across the steering wheel! Honestly, how can you drive and read the Wall Street Journal at the same time?

Reports have surfaced today indicating that China will not allow government computers to come installed with any non-Chinese-developed software, putting a major crimp in Microsoft’s expansion strategy. I imagine Bill Gates is fuming, especially after having played nice, showing off the source code and courting the government there.

How long until that source code turns up in the latest Chinese-built OSes?

I must have had the invisibility cloak on during my drive to work this morning. Shortly after I got on Route 22, the car in the lane to my left decided that he would change lanes on top of me. Only with some quick swerving and braking was I able to avoid him. Then, less than 30 seconds later, the jerk in the SUV who had pulled along side decided that he, too, wanted to try forcing me off the road. I really need to find switch because I don’t care for this kind of excitement so early in the morning.