So Flickr is awesome (aside from the name. I swear, this generation of kids will not know how to spell anything correctly. ie KrispyKreme, tho, b4, dunkin, lay-zee-boy, kwik, nite). Flickr has a great interface, lots of useful functionality, and stores the full-sized image. For $24 a year, you get unlimited storage among other cool things.

So what’s the problem? Well, I want to make my own photo site for my photos. I doubt my site would be nearly as nifty, but I think it would be an interesting project to work on. I could do it, so why shouldn’t I? Though, at the same time, I want my photos up now. Like, right now. There’s also the economic perspective: each person works at what he does best, and then trades that for other things he needs. So at a mere $24 a year, it’s more economical to pay for flickr than to put in hours making my own less complicated site. Hell, this is exactly why I use livejournal. Still, it would be so much nicer to have my own site, for no other reason than to say, ‘Ya, I made that.’

Hmm… this must be why people have children instead of adopt them. It takes so little time to make, but most parents seem quite proud of the accomplishment. Though, I wonder what would happen if there were a baby factory that produced top-quality babies for reasonable prices, or sperm and egg purchase became extremely cheap. Would people continue to make their own?

yea! lin is playing his guitar. I love guitar players!

yea! lin is playing his guitar. I love guitar players!

I went to Club six on Wednesday to shake my booty to the top 10 djs in sf. One of the first things that I noticed was that there were no creepy men invading the personal spaces of unsuspecting victims. Back in Milan, I loved going to clubs, but I hated fending off guys. They’re just so…persistent.

Anyway, I had a great time with my friends (and dancing is a really fun way to burn calories), and I also had a chance to pounce on some old friends I haven’t seen in a long time. Though, in an unfortunate accident, a guy accidentally drenched my back with his beer. That was the, ‘ok, I smell like a frat party, so I’m ready to go home now’ point.

The midterm for ‘moral reasoning’ was just returned. Since I really enjoyed the class, it was not too difficult to do well. We just finished up reading Keyes’ ‘Facing Evil’. His big thing was that evil results from people inadvertently causing evil because of their character. He felt it fair to punish those who cause evil. This argument stemmed from our (false and hopeful) belief that if we are good people, we will lead good lives. Those who cause evil deserve to be punished, even if they didn’t intend to do it. The idea was to analyze our own character and mitigate our vices so that the world can be a better place. His writing style is wordy and difficult (like most philosophy) but he has interesting ideas. Now we’re moving onto another ‘evil’ book that is focused on understanding the perpetrator of the evil.

Been doing interviews here and there. As much as I hate blackboard coding (it makes me really nervous), I tend not to trust companies that don’t somehow test my technical skills. I have encountered many articulate students who are mediocre at thinking like a programmer. Though the ability to communicate is very very important, it makes me wonder what other people might be working in the company.

…to fugitivepeas. It just doesn’t feel right using this name anymore now that I’m no longer in Italy. I remember being told that people are really depressed when they return from study abroad. Though I have experienced some of that, I didn’t ‘shut myself up and cry for 6 months’. I miss Italy terribly. However, I am very fortunate to have such a supportive and wonderful friend/family base. My life here is so full that I don’t feel like my life is severely lacking in something. It was a great 6 months, and probably one of the most enriching experiences I’ve had so far, but there are many great things to come.

…are the my current fruit obsession. Here is a photo of these golden drops of deliciousness. I took this in Milan, where I first discovered the fruits at an open market. Thereafter, I was constantly on the hunt for them. They were often found at uppity “whole foods” equivalent produce stands for anywhere between 15 and 25 euros a kilo. (That’s about $8-14/lb, which is approximately the cost of black/raspberries) We had no idea what they were called in English. In Italian, the word for them started with ‘ak’ and there was at least 1 more k and the word was long-ish. Not italian, and unpronounceable. After a bit of research, I think the word was derived from the species name of it’s sister, Physalis alkekengi. These, commonly referred to as Chinese Lanterns have red pod coverings as opposed to the Cape gooseberries, which have yellowish pod coverings. Like a tomatillo, they also have tons of bitter tomato-like seeds.

It’s hard to describe their flavor. They’re a bit tangy and sour, but also perfumy and sweet and the slightest bit nutty. It is somewhat like a combination of a flavor king pluot and something else. I think they would go really well with lamb, though I would prefer eating them by themselves. They are very similar to the plants that Dennis grows. His look the same, except the berry is slightly larger than a pea. We still don’t know what those plants are called, but his parents grow them on the east coast, and they seem to like that climate much better.

I found Cape gooseberries at Berkeley Bowl. Oh sweet Berkeley Bowl, the love of my life. They are absolutely worth trying. Here’s a detailed description of them. I think that at some point in the future, I want to try growing them.

I have been seriously procrastinating on my cs182 homework. It was due yesterday. I have been doing everything but do my homework. I learned about the unibomber, got a facebook account, talked to old friends, etc. When I finally got down to it, it turns out the homework was rather interesting. I decided to learn about ‘basic level categories of the domain of emotions’. So then I read about all these interesting theories about the origins of our emotions. Darwin believed that our facial expressions were evolutionary adaptions to express our current state to others. For example, disgust is used to convey that a food is gross or poisionous and we express that by sticking out our tongue. Then there was the James-Lange theory. It argues that emotions are our associations with our bodily state at the time. When we are in a dangerous situation our heart rate increases, we produce adrenline, etc. We then associate these physical feelings with the emotion of fear. Cannon and Bard thought that the bodily reactions and the emotion felt occur at the same time, and they are both triggered by ‘stuff that happens’ in the brain. Here’s a paper that I found quite interesting regarding the subject.

Speaking of emotions…
After corresponding with Jacob for a while, I found myself in a much better mood than before. Happiness is contagious.

I am disappointed to find out that the photos in my tribe.net were all automatically labeled ‘for friends only’. Why? They flagged my profile as mature, and thanks to the AG of the USA, we cannot have ‘sexually explicit photos’ available for public view. I don’t even have any ‘sexually explicit photos’, but that’s not the point. This is total bs. Why don’t parents think they are responsible for their own children? I certainly take no blame or credit for the small percentage of children who *might* stumble upon ‘naughty’ pictures. This sort of shit really gets to me. Children in Italy and France see plenty of nude paintings and statues. They seem just fine. So what if I want to see my friend’s friend’s profile, and there happens to be a bare tit or something. Grr!!!

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