Archive for the 'Midnight Messages' Category

Does technology limit or expand new experiences?

Technology allows us to do more in less time. It lets us choose what, when, and how we want to read and hear. We can select the TV shows we want to watch. We customize our newsreaders so we get only the content we’re interested in. I read a great article from the Washington Post’s website, which contains a small blurb about how the iPod limits our exposure to new music: Continue reading ‘Does technology limit or expand new experiences?’

Competition at USC

People aren’t competitive here. Unlike some of my high school friends, college students have to take responsibility for their own learning. I was spurred to work harder in high school because people pushed me to do so. In college, there’s less of that kind of forcefulness.

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I wonder if I have narcolepsy

This is truly going to be a message posted around midnight, so I’ll categorize it as so. Quick overview of the day. I woke up just in time for self-defense class. I worked on math stuff until my math discussion, and then my EE 201 lecture with Puvvada. I fell asleep in his class, though I wasn’t the only one. That was followed by CS 105, where Crowley got angry at us for creating bad designs on our last midterm. I went to the Technopreneurs’ second meeting, which was quite unstructured, but I showed off Wall Posting.

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ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock

I just got my ThinkPad Advanced Mini Dock. It’s pretty awesome. It’s going to make things neater and easier, since I will now have a spare AC adapter for the road (eliminating the need for an extra heavier and larger battery), and I can keep all my devices plugged in permanently (though I can still use the ThinkPad’s built-in ports).

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Merry Christmas to all

I’m staying up to wrap a few last-minute gifts for my family, send out a few e-cards, and register a domain with Google. That’s right: Google offers domain registration now, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when I thought of a cool name: planetsc.com. That’s Planet ‘SC, as in Planet USC, a domain for people associated with the University of Southern California.

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Software engineers are “sickeningly overprolific”

Sometimes people ask me how I can do so much. I have multiple websites, a full courseload, update my blog almost every day, and sleep 9 hours a night. I’ve built a solar car, interned at JPL, and am active with InterVarsity. And I try to do my best in all of it. How does it happen?

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Developments from World War II

I think I’ve posted on this before, but it’s just so striking. Wikipedia’s article on the Manhattan Project says:

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MM: Last week of classes

It’s been awhile since I wrote a Midnight Message. I believe my last one was two weeks ago. Quit a few things have happened since then. I’m mostly getting caught up in schoolwork. I’m finding that I really dislike it. Maybe it’s just because I’m tired, but I think I’d learn just as much, if not more, by learning on my own. Maybe Theo’s attitude is rubbing off on me. Maybe I’m just getting discouraged by the fact that I have a research paper due yesterday still not done. Whatever it is, I am tired of school and it will be a welcome relief when winter break comes around. It’s not like I really do all that much studying, either. Most of the time, I’m off doing my own thing. But perhaps I should make better use of my time.

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I go insane at night

And forget everything the next morning. No, I’m not partying nor drinking, nor even hanging out with people. I’m looking at my math homework now, which I was struggling to finish last night. Right in the middle of a math problem, here’s what I have written, in pencil and scrawled in strange shapes, as if these words were numbers or mathematical symbols.

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Humans are emotional creatures

One of the strangest things I’ve ever experienced happened last night. I wrote a paper and had no idea what I wrote. My mind totally blanked. How do I know? Because when I woke up this morning, I read the paper– and was absolutely shocked by what I saw. This was an abstract for Core 103. Here’s what I read: Continue reading ‘Humans are emotional creatures’