Allen Lew's Thoughts

I’ve run into a few computer tips lately that I felt like sharing. Hope you guys find them useful too.

–A Wi-fi Issue: I’m sure a lot of us now have wireless cards on our computer. However, there are some interesting problems that arise with it. For one, you appear connected according to the computer, but yet you’re not on the Internet. So far this is the best way of dealing with the problem is to follow these steps, if you run Windows XP:

• Go to Control Panel.
• Choose Administrative Tools.
• Select Services. A two-pane window comes up.
• In the right-hand pane, scroll down and click Wireless Zero Configuration.
• Click Stop the Service. A progress bar may come up briefly.
• Click Start the Service. Again, a progress bar may come up.
• Close the Services window. At this point, Fleishman said, the connection should come back.

(supplied by this Wired article)
–Acrobatic Bloat: Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 is a commonly used program for document distribution on the net. However, you notice how long it takes to load or how many system ;resources it takes up? There’s any easy fix for that though.

1. Navigate to the folder ;Acrobat is installed;to in ;Explorer (most likely Program Files>Adobe>Acrobat 6.0>Reader), locate the plug_ins subfolder and rename this folder to plug_ins_disabled.
2. Create a new plug_ins folder.
3. Move the files EWH32.api, printme.api and search.api from plug_ins_disabled to plug_ins.

It may be problematic to view some .pdf files after doing that. If it does, put a few more those plugins back. (thanks to The Firefox Help FAQ)

–Governor’s Scholarship Money: If you went to high school in California in the last, I want to say 3-4 years, you may have received a Governor’s Scholarship for high standardized test scores, be they AP, Stanford 9, or Golden State. You made your claim sure, but you probably don’t know how to get the money (and there’s a chance you might forget you even had it). Head over to http://www.scholarshare.com/gsp/qualwith.html and print out a Qualified Withdrawal Form. The money does accumulate interest, though if you leave it there, so it might be good to wait until senior year of college.

-Do you support the Kerry and Edwards campaign for president? Do you enjoy porn? If the answer to both questions is a resounding yes, head over to Porn for Progress. They’re selling a DVD which according to them is “part political satire and part hardcore hot sex!” Yeah… I think I’ll stick with grass roots campaigning thank you. (found via this Village Voice article)

Alright, I think that should do it. I may have a few more, but I might leave that for an entry that doesn’t take up so much of your friends page.

So surprisingly my 20th birthday didn’t go unnoticed on Thursday. I was honestly surprised by all the birthday emails (though Facebook reminded plenty of people for me). My frat bros sang me “Happy Birthday” on the roof during the night of the blackout (that was on Wednesday night, some transformer blew out). Then we all bust into song, singing (or at least trying to) Kryptonite by Three Doors Down. Let me tell you that didn’t sit to well with the neighbors, but that was fun. On Thursday night, Nick took me Vicky, Shoshana, and Jacqueline down to Chevy’s for some good eating. Fun times were had.

I spent a good part of the day thinking about how things have come. Some have stayed and others have gone, but they were, for better or worse, there. Now I can say good bye to my teenage years (at least numerically). Wow they went by. I saw a kid who was about turn thirteen the other day. It was then that I realized how much of an old man I seemed. I mean I’m always complaining about a lack of energy, today’s music, and I seem to notice my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be. Just imagine when I’m 80.
—–
If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman
If I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand
I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might
Kryptonite

I just had to put that up.
——
Interesting Fact– I was born on September 9th at 9:00 PM. So I was born on the 9th day of the 9th month on the 9th hour (okay so it’s really the 21st hour, but come on).

Alright, one that’s less about me. “The country of Andorra has no unemployment, which is just as well because they have no broadcast TV channels either.” Source: Nationmaster.com

(Edit: Fixed a minor html problem in the third paragraph.)

Being in Berkeley, you’ll find a lot of the most of politically charged people in the United States from both ends of the political spectrum.  It’s great to find such passionate people who fight for their ideals, protesting, marching, and campaigning for their side.  With this being a Presidential election year, it’s fair to say that you’ll be hearing a lot more from both wings of the political system.

However, there’s a part of the campus that remains turned off by politics.  You can hear a set of common excuses like “It doesn’t affect me,” “They don’t know what they’re doing,” and “My vote doesn’t count for anything.”  The first one may seem a bit of a tricky one to crack, but really though, when bringing up a set of relevant issues, it becomes easy to see that you can be affected by public policy.  The other two, however, are considerably more difficult to address.  Politicians do know a lot about what they advocate for, but sometimes those policies may not be the right ones to take.  As seen in this Time magazine article, neither Bush nor Kerry have a plan to solve the nations problems that economists can agree with (though it’s clear the economists don’t have all the solutions either).  The voting system, by which we select who will represent us, is also problematic.  As evidenced by the close election of 2000, one vote sure didn’t make a difference, but think about getting everyone who said that and well maybe things would different.  But there are other problems with voting.  The machines, both punch card and electronic, lose track of votes.  We can’t honestly vote for a third-party candidate without throwing our vote away a good amount of the time.  Finally, there’s the electoral college, the archaic system by which we prevent popular vote from taking over.  These problems are considerably harder to resolve.

So is there any real solution to incompetent politicians and voting procedures?  This month’s issue of Wired covers the world of politics and has a quite a few ideas.  To solve some of the problems with politicians who may or may not do their intended jobs, getting them do what the Howard Dean machine did with the Internet may provide some trust to the common man.  The Internet allows for interaction with the candidate and the people he/she is trying to reach, whether it be blogging, social networking, whatever.  It can also serve as an archive for those crazy campaign promises and a way to mobilize just in case they don’t keep them.  What about the voting problems?  Wired also points out that technology can serve to correct a multitude of the problems with the voting system, such as using an open-source voting software.

It’s sad that those problems do occur when solutions are out there to fix them.  We as individuals can’t do this all alone though.  There should be a system where we pick trained individuals to fix all this.  Oh wait that sounds a lot like what got us into this mess isn’t it?

——
Web Wonder (formerly Featured Website)-Spinsanity.com:  Did something Bush or Kerry not seem right to you?  Are these commercials right about the issues?  Find out from this bipartisan blog, dedicated to getting the past the rhetoric and to the facts.

Here’s are some of the things that one magazine hates about the Republican National Convention in New York.  The complete list can be found at this NYPress article, which I found via this Boing Boing post.  It is from a New York perspective, but it’s still funny.

1001. [The] City’s collective IQ drops eight points, temporarily tying us with Seattle.
999. Rudy Giuliani caught backstage in Nosferatu pose, muttering, “Soon all this will be mine!”
998. Protest war stories from people who spent previous 364 days watching MTV.
980. TV audiences deprived of sole entertainment angle on convention: Viewers will not get to see the phonetic spellings in the teleprompter text of George Bush’s speech.
935. White House advisor Matthew Dowd says for Bush not to mention 9/11 “would be like Roosevelt not talking about Pearl Harbor.”
934. In fact, Roosevelt didn’t mention Pearl Harbor at the 1944 Democratic convention.
927. Chinese Communist Party will think this is “what Democracy looks like,” setting democratic reforms back 50 years.
922. [The New York Times guide for delegates] also includes translation of word “Yo!” for visitors (it’s a “common salutation”).
903. Donna Sheehan, founder of nude protest group Baring Witness, on political strategy: “At any time or place, any woman might expose all–and I mean all–for peace and justice. Her only intent is to seduce men into listening.”
902. Sheehan is in her seventies.
891. Investment bankers no longer the only obvious jerks in town.
890. Mock disco-dancing appearance by Staten Island Republican Congressman Vito Fossella at the “Sunday Night Fever Party” at Roseland Ballroom.
889. We’re not kidding about that Fossella item.
881. The last time Schwarzenegger was on film in New York was Last Action Hero. Clearly, no good can come of this.
846. Visiting women in expensive shoes overheard screeching, “Ohmigod! I feel, like, so Carrie Bradshaw!”
811. Massive comeback for the Ghostbusters logo.
810. Recurring Stay Puff Marshmallow Man nightmares triggered by return of Ghostbusters logo.
808. Abraham Lincoln not arisen from the dead to say, “Dude, where’s my party?”
773. “I believe President Bush is a good Christian.” –Fellow Good Christian Bill Clinton, speaking Sunday at Riverside Church.
727. Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps calling us a bunch of girlymen.
726. We’re forced to remember that he’s actually governor of California.
723. No one notices that his man-tits have grown weak and saggy; big-media fails to ridicule them.
722. And yet, there weren’t nearly enough pyrotechnics when he took the stage.

Alright, I might develop carpal tunnel syndrome if I paste any more.  Laters.

Freedonation.com

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Yeah school time.  I’ve actually been in Berkeley since last Saturday.  It was interesting as I left LA, my dad did something I didn’t really expect him to do: he hugged me.  I know he’s supposed to do that, but that’s just not the way we’re used to doing things.  It sort of brought a tear to my eye…

Sorry about that.  Anyways, where was I.  Oh yeah, so it was back to Berkeley I went.  I moved into my new room at the frat house (actually, just the room next door) with my good friend Joey.  It should be fun putting up with him and his flatulence problem the entire year…haha, just kidding, it should be a fun semester with him around.  I’ve been catching up with dorm pals and such all over the week and helping the recruiting efforts of the frat, which have been going surprisingly well.  Fun stuff really before classes start.

Even with things going so well, I can’t help but be a little sad though.  Everything just seems to be passing by so quickly.  The summer, my family, everything really.  So much time just keeps flying away, never to return.  I’ll have to now let some more time slip away into dreams.  So sad.

I’ll explain the title in a little bit.  For now, you can enjoy my brief update on the summer.

-I never really noticed how much of a showbiz town Los Angeles was until recently.  Then I realized I live in a town where a substitute teacher is trying to land an acting gigs/modeling contract/recording deal, where you can see models doing photo shoots in a city tunnel, and where you’ll see tv shows and filming in the most mundane locations.  Plus, you can find pages of rejected screenplays in the trash.  I happened to pick up a page from one off the side walk the other day (yeah I here I am talking about garbage again) and let me tell you, whatever it was supposed to be, it was crappy.
-So my dad and my sister both got mistaken for Mexican people the other day.  Geez, it’s not enough that they look alike other Asians (like the stereotype says), they have to look alike another race too (okay lame joke).
-Okay, now I can explain the subject.  I got a set of political buttons off Craigslist.  They’re pretty small and kind of hard to pin on anything, but it’s free.

More of my work related exploits

-So one day, I was getting off my lunch break and just so happen to walk by this odd piece of trash.  It looked like a glue stick bottle, but it was actually a bottle of sunscreen.  I was going to pick it up and throw it away, but something just told me to leave it on the floor.  A few minutes later somebody drives up looking around for, you guessed it, a bottle of sunscreen.  “You’re really observant,” the person said.  I was thinking, “no, I just have a knack for seeing the irregular.”  Like how irregular it is to write about finding a piece of trash :-).
-It seems as though my co-workers don’t know the wonders of the Internet.  I had a co-worker tell me if he was wonder if a business was still open.  A search on Google Local may have told you if it was.  Heck, there’s even the school-way of dialing 411, or the super-old-school way of looking them up in the phone book. 
-Another asked me one time to get the address of singer he liked so he can send some fan mail.  He goes to me “you think you can find it?”  The singer has a web page with a contact me page, so most likely the answer is a resounding YES.

Other topics:
-NOOOO.  That’s what I said after hearing Paul LoDuca, the longtime leader and most popular player on the team besides Eric Gagne, and Guillermo Mota, one of the best set-up men in the league, of the Dodgers got traded.  First Shaq, now this. NOOOO.
-So I went out with my now retired AP Chem teacher Mr. Austin the other day.  My friends and I took him out for dinner and bowling.  We got to talking about all sorts of things like college and the future.  He asked a difficult question, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”  Man that was rough.  Oh well, fun times.

Well, I know I’ve slacked on the updates and I have a good deal more to say about all sorts of things.  Unfortunately, you’ll just have to wait until next time.

——
Extra, Extra, Read all about–Are people not reading enough Homer and watching too much Homer Simpson?– A professor in England says people are watching the Simpsons, and that might lead us back to the dark ages.  (You’ll see what I mean).

Make a free donation to the Jane Goodall Primate Institute-New Link

I don’t anything that’s happened to me recently warrants a full entry (though, I doubt I would write about anything if I thought like that all the time, I probably wouldn’t write about anything), but I can still pull a few things out of my mind and on to the screen.  Let me try to put it all down for you.

–So the cell phone can not only be a camera, but a lighter?: No, your phone can’t light up a cigarette, but people seem to be holding up their lightup displays at concerts, instead of lighters.  In this society, where smoking is becoming less and less common, less and less lighters are common, leaving audience members with the phone as the one thing they can light up.  I became aware of this trend when I attended Sing along Sound of Music (well more like got dragged by my mother, but it’s a good movie) and everyone started waving them around during the songs.  Quite a sight really.
–Streakers: By now, you’ve probably heard there’s a guy on Jeopardy by the name of Ken Jennings who has been on the show for more than a month and won more than a $1 million dollars, and winning decisively, with more than double the money of the 2nd place winner before final jeopardy.  What isn’t usually mentioned though, is that Jeopardy didn’t used to allow players to play on past 5 days, so players never really had a chance to do what he’s done in the past.  Nonetheless, it’s still an impressive streak, and especially how dominating he’s been.  If you haven’t been watching, start watching, and help Slate create a drinking game out of this (must every TV show have a drinking game with it now?).
Speaking of dominating, LA Dodger Eric Gagne’s consecutive save streak ended last week at 84.  Watching him pitch, you would see him strike out virtually every batter he faced; hardly any of them looked like they had a chance of getting a hit off of him.  Congrats to both of these dominating players.
-Another dominating athlete in his sport would be Shaquille O’Neal, who had lead the Los Angeles Lakers to 3 consecutive NBA Titles.  Now he’s been traded to the Miami Heat.  They traded him just so they can keep Kobe Bryant, who resigned with the team today.  Not to sound pessimistic , but the last time a trade seemed this bad was when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth.  I can just see it now, the dreaded Curse of the O’neal.
-This happened a while ago, but I remember talking to a friend about relationships and somehow religions came up.  I mentioned how it could be a problem being with someone who was a different religion from you and in response, “Yeah, it’s kind of funny how the little things can bug you like that.”  Hmm, different religions would mean that mostly likely these two people have a vastly different view of how the universe was created and quite possibly how they see the world.  Little thing?  Probably not.
-Finally, every time I come back from work, I pass by the Projects from low-income residents of Los Angeles.  So why is it that I see what appear to be expensive satellite dishes connected to every housing unit?  Geez.

——
Funny Quote–sockonafish: Yes, I do have a thing for Asian chicks.
Scaba: And Asian chicks have a thing for you, too – it’s called a restraining order.
(Taken from this Slashdot post not relating to Asian people)

and a bonus quote: “You know [Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang on Smallville)] has to be a sign that God wants all the races to be with someone of another race.  If that happened, we’d cover the planet with people as hot as her.”-a Smallville watcher

Help save the oceans with mouse clicks-New Link

Yeah those silly things that just put together random words and phrases and puts them in a nice little box to create humor.  Well, it works, to a degree.  Check out a few of them.

Memes, some of which were stolen from others

(Taken from a Craigslist post)

Hey. I’m a freelance journalist in a bit of hot water here. I wrote a story for a major national publication detailing how easy it is to buy false I.D. in the Hispanic areas of L.A. I’ve been able, as the magazine requires, to provide verification of all of my sources but for one — I quoted a street source I called “Paco”. Problem is in the wake of Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass and all that they want to verify EVERYTHING. And there is no Paco. I made him up. So I need a good voice actor to call my editor and pretend to be Paco for verification purposes. I’ll provide a script for you as well.

Whatever happened to journalistic integrity?  Perhaps we should all spread this around the blogsphere and see if he gets busted.