America, get off your ass!!

Listen Up America

We need to have a talk America.  Some several millions of you are currently unemployed, and I understand I've been there.  However after watching and reading a lot of news I have noticed that American's don't seem to be trying hard enough.  Why do I say this?  Well frankly, there are jobs out there.  However, you, for reasons that I don't understand, are too prideful or perhaps stupid to take these jobs because these are jobs that "historically" immigrants have taken.  Sure they don't pay much, the hours might suck and the job itself might suck, but you can't say that there isn't work out there.  Sometimes you need to start at the bottom to work your way up.  More importantly sometime you just need to get a freaking job.  America the problem is you aren't living within your means.  You think, hey what if I get this brand new car and this brand new house and I will pay other stuff on my numerous credit cards.  You take the easy way out.  Most Americans don't even have a savings account.  Or other means of saving money.  Hiding it under a mattress doesn't really count.  Everything that's has happened you have done to yourself.  Stop blaming your problems on everyone else.  Especially the government or wall street or the banks.  Everyone is equally in this blame together.  Listen up the only way America is going to get better is if we can make people understand two things.  1) Money isn't everything - really it isn't you can't take it with you when you die and guess what you're gonna die one day and it could even be tomorrow.  When that happens what should it matter how much you have or what you have.  What matters is how you lived your life and the experiences you had.  2) Having said that, learn to save money and live within or beneath your means.  Why not take the time to draw up a budget and figure out just where things are going wrong and then figure out how to make them right.  Sometimes that means getting or asking for help and there is nothing wrong with that.  Remember what I said earlier quit being prideful and/or stupid.  There is nothing wrong with asking for help.  

That is all I have to say for now.

Still jobless

So, I graduated on Dec. 20th and I still don't have a job. I guess I am part of that 5% of UT Tyler Students that don't have a job after graduation. Of course, I would suspect that given the current state of economy and other factors that I may not be the only one. Not even Best Buy or Radio Shack will hire me. It makes me wonder if things are going to get better at all. I certainly hope so, but so far I don't have any hope.

Although I suppose the only good news of late was that Citi had their first profitable quarter since '07 and that made the stock market recover a little. Perhaps good news is out there. Now we wait and see.

Happy New Year

So, the year is new and changes are a foot.

I know I have not posted in a while, however I've been busy. Let's see since November, what has happened?

• I finally graduated - granted not with the most spectacular GPA, and a semester late, but a win is a win, eh?
• I got my license, for real. I know 23 and just now able to drive on my own, I am kind of a loser, but at this point I don't care.
• I spent Christmas with the folks, and my wifey came along. Everything went really well.
• Now the New Year rang in pretty well.
• Oh, and I don't have a job yet - I am looking, but so far no luck. It is rather hard to find an IT job in Tyler. Or at least it is right now, especially in this current state of the economy.

-B-

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right

Thu Nov 20, 6:56 pm ET

AFP/File – People walk past a giant sculpture featuring Albert Einstein's formula "E=mc2" in front …

PARIS (AFP) – It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists.

A brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms.

According to the conventional model of particle physics, protons and neutrons comprise smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons.

The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five percent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 percent?

The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons.

In other words, energy and mass are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905.

The e=mc2 formula shows that mass can be converted into energy, and energy can be converted into mass.

By showing how much energy would be released if a certain amount of mass were to be converted into energy, the equation has been used many times, most famously as the inspirational basis for building atomic weapons.

But resolving e=mc2 at the scale of sub-atomic particles -- in equations called quantum chromodynamics -- has been fiendishly difficult.

"Until now, this has been a hypothesis," France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said proudly in a press release.

"It has now been corroborated for the first time."

For those keen to know more: the computations involve "envisioning space and time as part of a four-dimensional crystal lattice, with discrete points spaced along columns and rows."

David Tennant quits as Doctor Who

David Tennant is to stand down as Doctor Who, after becoming one of the most popular Time Lords in the history of the BBC science fiction show.

Tennant stepped into the Tardis in 2005, and will leave the role after four special episodes are broadcast next year.

He made the announcement after winning the outstanding drama performance prize at the National Television Awards.

"When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won't be with me," he said.

"Now don't make me cry," he added. "I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don't take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you'll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair."

'I'll miss it'

Three years was "about the right time" to play the role, he told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

"I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome," he said.

His stint in the show had been "the most extraordinary time, it's been bewildering, life changing, very exciting", he said.

"And just so much fun, such a great show to work on.

"That's one of the reasons I think it's right to take a deep breath and bow out when it's still fun, when it's a novelty.

"I don't ever want it to feel like a job, so I want to move on when it still feels exciting and fresh and that means I'll miss it."

Drama award

Tennant, the 10th actor to play the Doctor Who, left fans guessing about his return at the end of the latest series.

In the last episode, in July, the Doctor had to defeat his enemies the Daleks to save the universe.

Almost 10 million people watched as the Time Lord apparently started the process of regeneration - but did not complete it.

Tennant will appear in a Christmas special, titled The Next Doctor, before filming four more specials in January.

"They'll be the four last stories that I do," he said.

In a sign of his popularity, he was voted best drama performer in a public vote at the National Television Awards.

He has been named most popular actor at the same ceremony for the past two years. That prize has been discontinued this year.

An average of 8.1 million people a week watched the latest series - the fourth since it made a comeback in 2005 - in its Saturday evening slot on BBC One.

'Spectacular' exit

Russell T Davies, executive producer, said: "I've been lucky and honoured to work with David over the past few years - and it's not over yet, the Tenth Doctor still has five spectacular hours left!

"After which, I might drop an anvil on his head. Or maybe a piano. A radioactive piano. But we're planning the most enormous and spectacular ending, so keep watching."

A fifth series of the show is scheduled for 2010.

Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston, who resurrected the show after a 16-year break.

Tennant made his name in TV dramas such as Blackpool and Casanova.

He started his career in theatre and in recent months has returned to the stage with well-received performances in Hamlet and Love's Labour's Lost for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In December last year, Tennant denied rumours that he was planning to quit after Catherine Tate - his new companion in the Tardis - told the Jonathan Ross radio show she thought the next series of Doctor Who would be Tennant's last.

He said at the time: "Catherine Tate stitched me up good and proper. She goes on Jonathan Ross and makes up a load of old nonsense."

David Tennant has recently acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company

Microsoft Blesses LGPL, Joins Apache Foundation

As told on Slashdot:

Penguinisto writes "According to a somewhat jaw-dropping story in The Register, it appears that Microsoft has performed a trifecta of geek-scaring feats: They have joined the Apache Software Foundation as a Platinum member(at $100K USD a year), submitted LGPL-licensed patches for ADOdb, and have pledged to expand their Open Specifications Promise by adding to the list more than 100 protocols for interoperability between its Windows Server and the Windows client. While I sincerely doubt they'll release Vista under a GPL license anytime soon, this is certainly an unexpected series of moves on their part, and could possibly lead to more OSS (as opposed to 'Shared Source') interactivity between what is arguably Linux' greatest adversary and the Open Source community." (We mentioned the announced support for the Apache Foundation earlier today, as well.)

Well, what an odd turn of events.

Microsoft + Yahoo! = Microhoo?

So, apparently Microsoft wants to initiate a takeover of Yahoo! with Cash and stock options for some $44.6 BILLION.

From the article:
"We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, in a press release Friday.

I just don't know. I mean I know Google is a threat to both of these two, but are things so bad? I didn't think they were. This is weird.

49ers News

Now 49ers News has been added on the left hand pane of the blog. I put it on there because I am a fan and well the news is important. Granted they've only won 2 games so far this season, but I still root for them.

Sony seen needing consistent PS3 strategy

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp needs to establish an unwavering marketing strategy for its PlayStation 3 game machine to drive growth of its console business, the head of Japanese videogame publisher Square Enix Co Ltd said.

"Sony first unveiled the PS3 as a mighty home electronics product. Then, after some badgering from game companies, it shifted the position of the console closer to a game machine," Square Enix President Yoichi Wada told reporters on Friday.

"(The future of the PS3) would be tough if its marketing strategy is not straightened up," he said.

Sony's PS3 is packed with cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player and a Cell microchip, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip", making it advanced enough to be a hub of living room electronics, a high-speed gateway to the Internet, as well as a game machine.

But on the downside, these state-of-the-art capabilities drove up manufacturing costs. The basic version of the PS3 retails twice as high as Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii.

The high price and scarcity of strong game titles have caused the PS3 to lag far behind the Wii in unit sales since their launches late last year.

In a sign of changing fortunes of the two Japanese video game makers, Nintendo in June became one of Japan's 10 most valuable companies, and in doing so, bumped Sony off the top 10 list.

Shares in Sony, locked in a battle with Nintendo and Microsoft Corp for dominance in the $30 billion video game industry, closed down 1.4 percent at 5,640 yen, while Nintendo fell 1.5 percent to 52,900 yen.

Square Enix, known for such blockbuster game titles as "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy", was up 1.1 percent at 3,750 yen.