Category Archives: News

News and updates on sneaker.org

News
Phew…

Well folks. after a week of being down and out of service sneaker.org is back online and hopefully fully operational. The machne that runs sneaker.or is a very old Pentium Pro 200 MHz with 64 MB RAM on it. It was running RedHat 6.2 on it and hadn’t been patched in a while, and so I’m sure it was playing host to some abusive hacker who was molesting the poor little machine while I wasn’t watching. So I decided to finally pull the rug out from under him and rebuilt the machine from scratch. And then of course getting RedHat configured to do everything it needs to do is always a non-trivial task (trivial onc eyou figure it out of course) and so the site was down for a while.

Anyhow, it’s back up and I’m still testing to see if the blogger connection is working. So this is the first real post to test that. So here is what’s been happening…

Oh, newsflash! The pictures section still has a ton of new stuff!!

New in Thought — caught in the act!*

  • Nothing new in here yet, but coming up soon… Frijdas Laws of Emotion — dissecting falling in love; Intellectual Masturbation — a chronic ailment of graduate programs; Motivation; Why George Bush annoys me?.

    New in Rants and Raves*

  • Nothing new in here either, but coming soon… Gelato; Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, Ms. Saigon and more..

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Sunday, February 2, 2003

  • R: We need to use the pumping lemma for this one.

    Me: Right now the pumpkin lemma sounds better to me.

    – While working on the Automata assignment

  • Me: “Oh, I need to water the plants”

    Ramu: “Why don’t you just get artificial ones?”

    Me: “Why don’t you just get a blow-up doll!?”

    – an unusually witty response even though I say so myself 🙂

  • “Your nipple doesn’t work.”

    “I’m not used to working without a nipple.”

    “Your nipple is broken.”

    – Dave A. when the trackpoint on the notebook wasn’t working.

  • No, I don’t want to set “munky.com” as my home page.

    – Frank L. upon accidentally going to wincvs.com instead of wincvs.org

  • The Law of Hedonic Assymetry: Pleasure is always contingent upon change and disappears with continuous satisfaction. Pain may persist under under persisting adverse conditions.

    – Nico H. Frijda, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands in his paper on The Laws of Emotion.

  • “Data from questionnaire studies (Rombouts, 1987) suggest that [falling in love] is triggered by a specific sequence of events, in which the qualities of the love-object are of minor importance. A person is ready to fall in love because of one of a number of reasons – loneliness, sexual need, dissatisfaction, or need or variety. A object then incites interest, again for one of a number of reasons, such as novelty, attractiveness, or mere proximity. Then give the person a moment of promise, a brief response from the object that suggests interest. It may be a confidence; it may be a single glance, such as a young girl may think she received from a pop star. The give the person a brief lapse of time – anywhere between half an hour or half a day, the self-report suggests – during which fantasies can develop. After that sequence, no more than a single confirmation, real or imagined is needed to precipitate falling in love.”

    – Nico H. Frijda, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands in his paper on The Laws of Emotion.

  • Satisfaction is less a matter of getting what you want than getting what you have

    – Myers and Diener in their paper on Who is Happy

  • “Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults”

    – Thomas Sasz as quoted in the paper on Who is Happy by Myers and Diener

  • “That man is never happy for the present is so true”

    – Boswell, 1776 as quoted in the article WHo is Happy by Myers and Diener.

  • “Just because someone is educated doesn’t mean that they are right.”

    – Dr. James Gross in my Seminar on Emotion class @ Stanford in reference to a particular work on EI.

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    • News
    Bloodpressure 120/80, pulse 72…

    Well folks, I just checked the health of sneaker.org and believe it or not, it still seems to be live and kicking!

    A big thank you to those of you who are still coming here to check out the site and an even bigger thank you to those who have bitched and moaned and kicked me in the butt to actually update the information on the site and start posting again. I might just start doing that RSN (really soon now!).

    As things stand right now, a lot has happened — I’ve finished biding time — somehow Stanford let me in to its Ph.D. program, managed to merge my previous company with another firm out of Boston and get myself disengaged from being commited to my company full time, relocated to gorgeous and sunny Palo Alto, California and started at Stanford.

    And oddly enough being in this environment has not only given me enough to think about but also enough to talk about — but given that there are lots of smart people around me I enjoy having discussions more than posting things, that may be one of the reasons I haven’t been posting here as often. I definitely do like it better when someone is willing to argue with me and question me — after all that is what stimulates critical thought 🙂 But I will start posting things on here in the hopes that it will stimulate more interaction both online and off (latter is turning out to be preferrable in my attempt to not get sucked into geekdom…)

    Oh, newsflash! The pictures section has a ton of new stuff!!

    New in Thought — caught in the act!*

  • Nothing new in here yet, but coming up soon… Frijdas Laws of Emotion — dissecting falling in love; Intellectual Masturbation — a chronic ailment of graduate programs; Motivation.

    New in Rants and Raves*

  • Nothing new in here either, but coming soon… Gelato; Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine and more.

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Sunday, November 3, 2002

  • “I’d lean my head against the window, but you are warmer.” – One very drunk female friend to another male friend of mine while I’m driving them back home from a night out in the city (San Francisco).

  • “A picture is worth a thousand words, that means that video is 30,000 words per second.” – Marc Davis in his talk about Computational Media as part of my HCI Seminar class

  • “If our minds were so simple that we could understand it, then we would be too simple to understand it.” – As quoted by Sendry in my Psych class on Emotion, making the point that Psychology is a recursive subject — we are using our brain to try and understand how our brain works.

  • The more I study, the more I realize how little I know and the worse I feel. – sneaker, on the eve of Comps, 2002

  • Women are like cats – they know they’ll get stuck in the tree, yet they’ll climb it anyways. – The wise words from Q.

  • There are no contradictions. When you come across a contradiction go back to your premises. – Francisco d’Anconia in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

  • Every great idea, took birth in one great mind. – Not sure what the exact quote is, but I remember it from somewhere.

  • In the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. – The Unconquered (Equality 7-2521) in Ayn Rand’s Anthem

  • And that night, we knew that to hold the body of women in our arms is neither ugly nor shameful – but the one ecstacy granted to the race of Men. – The Unconquered (Equality 7-2521) in Ayn Rand’s Anthem

  • What are you really seeking?

    Freedom – to want nothing, to expect nothing, to depend on nothing.

    – Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead (the movie)

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    Biding time…

    My postings on sneaker.org have ben far and few in recent weeks. Haven’t had the motivation to really post information for a while, but it’s revealed itself to be something I need to continue doing from time to time to maintain perspective and sanity and more importantly just to vent. Still am not in a position to write about some things, but here is at some new content…

    New in Thought — caught in the act!* on Monday, May 13, 2002

  • Another Taliban in the making – The scum of society will contantly rise to the surface and every so often we will need to go in and clean the pond.
  • Writing about not writing – The primary reason is probably the return of ambivalence in terms of what information I can and cannot share in a public medium.

    New in Rants and Raves* on Monday, May 13, 2002

  • Las Vegas – And not to forget the highlight of my Vegas trip… Blue Man Group. They ROCK. Go see it. Enough said!

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Monday, May 13, 2002

  • I can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful

    So unloved for someone so fine

    I can feel so boring for someone so interesting

    So ignorant for someone of sound mind

    – lyrics from “So Unsexy” by Alanis Morisette in her album Under Rug Swept

  • Bitches. Just bitches. – sneaker
  • “So are you telling me that the customer is a mental midget?” – a brilliant response from a customer service agent requesting assistance on an issue where the customer just wasn’t understanding how to do something.
  • “I can’t even count how many women I’ve slept with” – One of the female executives of a partner startup company as we exchanged notes on how in the early days of our companies we doubled up people in hotels/ on trips in order to save costs.
  • “It’s all about chicks man, it’s all about chicks” – Random drunk guy in the back of a cab in Cambridge who motioned us to put the window down while I was parked next to the cab at a stop light so that he could tell us his deep thoughts!
  • “Are you guys gay?” – Roxanne. – okay, okay, there is no story behind that other than my friend who I was visiting happens to live in an area which is considered the gay-area (he claims he didn’t know before he moved there.. yeah right 😉 ) And so when his neighbor saw three of us guys returning late at night, she asked us… “Are you guys gay” (maybe I should also menion that she was so drunk that we were afraid she wouldn’t make it up the steps okay).
  • Things you own end up owning you. – the chracter of Tyler Durden in Fight Club
  • Baker. – the character of Dominic Pizzola in The Bread My Sweet
  • we’d gather around all in a room

    fasten our belts engage in dialogue

    we’d all slow down rest without guilt

    not lie without fear disagree sans judgement

    we would stay and respond and expand and include

    and allow and forgive and enjoy and evolve

    and discern and inquire and accept and admit

    and divulge and open and reach out and speak up

    this is utopia this is my utopia

    this is my ideal my end in sight

    utopia this is my utopia

    this is my nirvana

    my ultimate

    – lyrics to Alanis Morrisette’s song Utopia in the album Under Rug Swept

  • It takes more strength of character to wear your heart on your sleeve than to guard it like a fort. – Annie in a comment in response to The Fallacy of Free Speech

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    Thought Reviews?

    Couple of new things in the Thought — caught in the act! section and also some new Rants and Raves – mostly raves of some great movies I’ve seen lately….

    New in Thought — caught in the act!* on Tuesday, March 26, 2002

  • The Fallacy of Free Speech – …so there really is no such thing as Free Speech. Yes, you are physically free to say what you want, but you are intellectually, emotionally and rationally bound by your own mind to never be able to practice Free Speech.
  • Five-year Plans and Change – I’m definitely a subscriber of (or at least trying to be) the micro-economics saying that my professor in undergrad would keep repeating in order to drive the point home – “In the long run, we’re all dead.”

    New in Rants and Raves* on Saturday, March 30, 2002

  • The Bread, My Sweet – … All brought to life in a way which actually gave Pittsburgh a sense of character that I have never seen before. … The Bread My Sweet is just one of those movies that you just have to see to understand how powerful it can be and can draw you in to be part of the life it portrays.
  • Italian for Beginners – Of course Giulia was the cutest looking thing you could imagine in the movie :). Overall a good movie and highly recommended viewing.

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Sunday, March 24, 2002

  • I’m too much of a control freak to just let myself go. – sneaker
  • It’s not that you have sex once and you get the jokes. – Janice
  • “That’s the problem when women-friends try to set you up. They always say “She’s sweet”.

    You’re not looking for an additive for your tea or coffe, you’re looking for a girlfriend!”

    – Sanjeev

  • “I’m glad that even the lobsterman can get some” – Rachel Z. in response to the comment that CMU’s lobsterman’s girlfriend visits him from time to time
  • CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT OF

    AMENDED AND RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF

    ACME, INC.

    – just one more data point to add to my theory that lawyers are evil…

  • With instant messaging it isn’t the global village anymore, it is the global household. – Arn in an IM conversation

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    Yes, I’m still here…

    Just haven’t been in a writing mood lately until today. And here is what I came up with…

    New in Thought — caught in the act!* on Tuesday, March 26, 2002

  • The Fallacy of Free Speech – …so there really is no such thing as Free Speech. Yes, you are physically free to say what you want, but you are intellectually, emotionally and rationally bound by your own mind to never be able to practice Free Speech.
  • Five-year Plans and Change – I’m definitely a subscriber of (or at least trying to be) the micro-economics saying that my professor in undergrad would keep repeating in order to drive the point home – “In the long run, we’re all dead.”

    New in Rants and Raves* on Tuesday, March 26, 2002

  • Italian for Beginners – Of course Giulia was the cutest looking thing you could imagine in the movie :). Overall a good movie and highly recommended viewing.

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Sunday, March 24, 2002

  • I’m too much of a control freak to just let myself go. – sneaker
  • It’s not that you have sex once and you get the jokes. – Janice
  • “That’s the problem when women-friends try to set you up. They always say “She’s sweet”.

    You’re not looking for an additive for your tea or coffe, you’re looking for a girlfriend!”

    – Sanjeev

  • “I’m glad that even the lobsterman can get some” – Rachel Z. in response to the comment that CMU’s lobsterman’s girlfriend visits him from time to time
  • CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT OF

    AMENDED AND RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION OF

    ACME, INC.

    – just one more data point to add to my theory that lawyers are evil…

  • With instant messaging it isn’t the global village anymore, it is the global household. – Arn in an IM conversation

    Post to Twitter