I like this

The acoustic is only half as long as the regular one but sounds a thousand times better.

elephants beware

Logitech has made a billion mice. It's only a matter of time now until they kill off all of the elephants and take over the world.

And so, I propose a toast: here's to you Logitech, to you and your micey minions.

I agree with TJ. I too have had a sub-par college experience, er, thus far.

Barkeep? Another round, please.

Here’s my beef with college: I went in thinking it was going to be extremely hard, the best 4 years of my life, and the first time that I actually wanted to go to class (being the nerd that I am). Not so. There’s nothing special about UC. It’s high school version 2.0. The students here (from what I can tell) are not set on learning cool shit and abolishing ignorance; they are focused on a 4.0 GPA and getting out ASAP. What about the study groups? You know, the 2-5 friends/classmates who spend long hours in some dingy room with flickering lights in the library writing equation after equation, problem after problem on the white board (better yet a room so dingy it still has chalkboards). All because the professor is trying to make the class impossible. I thought college was a sort of game between instructor and student, a game in which the student was graded on how well he/she solved the challenges given to him/her. I was thinking something more about learning and less about GPAs.

GPAs are silly really. Sure it gives some indication to the blood, sweat and tears put forth by the student, but it’s highly inaccurate. Is it harder to get a 4.0 in Engineering or Business? Engineers aren’t supposed to get A’s in their classes. If they are, they’re under-challenged by a long shot. The grades are supposed to be tied to the classes, not averaged. What if I were to graduate with a 3.2 but got C’s in every chemistry course I took? I wouldn’t be much of a chemical engineer now would I?

I thought I would care about my GPA. But then I realized that it wasn’t based on how well you knew what you were doing, it was based on whether or not you did the homework. At that point, what’s the point? 10 years down the road that 4.0 is going to mean squat. Those who will succeed will be the ones who learned a thing or two.

What about all the pranks? All the stuff that make the memories? The stuff that gets you into trouble but not kicked out of school? 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/MIT_firetruck_hack_2006.JPG

I’m sick and tired of students complaining about how they don’t know why they need this class or that one. Trust me, engineers need Differential Equations and Principles of Momentum Transport etc. Nobody said this was going to be easy. It’s not supposed to be. Some people are going to drop out of college if not then out of their major. That’s supposed to be a form of natural selection so that by the time everyone gets their diplomas, they get what they deserved/earned. Too many students are pushed through all levels of school. It provides no benefit to society, in fact, it just makes us stupider as a whole. Too many things get dumbed down and simplified for the sole reason of leveling the playing field and allowing everyone an equal chance. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want everyone to be an engineer. Engineers are supposed to be the best and the brightest and such. 

In doing so, kids like me missed out on the best 4 years of our lives. We miss out on the person-to-person learning experience of professor to student that I thought college was all about. 3^rd year courses should not contain 30+ students (especially when there’s only about 60 or so in your class). Math and science can’t be effectively taught in a lecture format. These sorts of things need interaction. Not everyone learns on their own.

In short, I want to learn dammit! That's what I shovel hundreds of thousands of dollars out for. And I want all those who don't care about learning, who don't care what they major in, or who don't even want to be here, to just get out of my way or join me. 

As for Halloween, well… 

I went as Alex from A Clockwork Orange. The majority of people who got who I was were my age or older. All the young whipper snappers didn’t understand. Some didn’t even know who Stanley Kubrick was. Mind you, it was pretty obvious even if you’ve only just heard of the film.

I saw plenty of turtles, though no bloodthirsty Marios with pistols and syphilis.