Airport Security...

Being from Columbus, Ohio and going to school in Berkeley, California, I've been flying back and forth across the country for the past year. Flying certainly is not what it used to be. Though I still allot little time for the entire check-in, security, walk-to-the-gate process, many people find the entire flying system tedious, obnoxious, and tense.

Patrick Smith, a commercial airline pilot who contributes to a blog on The New York Times, described it best when he said that airport security measures are irrational. In the state that we live in today, specifically post-9/11 fear, all apparent measures to provide us safety are ineffective and retroactive. Thankfully we have not had any (fingers crossed) major incidents since 9/11, but I would not attribute that to our heightened security measures. Instead it is more a result of the terrorists sitting back and watching America bumble away its dignity and resources in Iraq. Terrorists are just watching and waiting for the inevitable time when America will be complacent again.

On that note, being safe in America does not entail taking away my body wash because it could possibly be an ingredient for an explosive. Are you kidding me? As Smith was told, "The notion that deadly explosives can be cooked up in an airplane lavatory is pure fiction." Yes, terrorists are ridiculously intelligent, shrewd, and shameless. But the fact is that airport security is probably the least of our concerns. Intelligence agencies and the government are the only hopeful bodies that can prevent terrorist activity, sniffing the schemes out before they come to fruition. As Smith states, "By the time a terrorist gets to the airport, chances are it’s too late."

Obviously measures should be taken at airport security to prevent terrorists from boarding planes, but the fact is that terrorists can cause chaos in any public place. It need not be limited to airplanes. They need to be stopped as they are scheming; that is the only way terrorism will be thwarted. I just don't feel that retroactive measures should be the preferred method of terrorism prevention. I have a feeling that they would be smart enough not to use the same scheme twice. Granted, the reason for that is that now we have "cracked down" on liquid goods. But for some reason I find it hard to believe that even if we didn't "crack down" on liquids, they still would not be using it as a method of destroying a plane. Chances are they're planning things that are way beyond our comprehension, which is scary but unfortunately true. Taking away my water bottle won't prevent these schemes.

After reading what I just wrote, I've realized I haven't made much of a point. So, to be a little clearer, I just feel like since America bears a clear insecurity about its status as the most powerful nation in the world, a decent way of trying to corroborate that claim would be to deploy a proactive, intelligent investigative agency, heavily utilizing the military and its advanced technologies, rather than giving us a false sense of security through increased airport frustration. When a member of security personnel is calmly talking and laughing to his friend at the security gate rather than paying attention to the x-ray screen, I don't really think we have a resilient, impenetrable system. And I don't think the terrorists think so either. Quit inconveniencing the citizens and try to attack the source instead.

Studying

Now that I'm vegetating over winter break, I've had the chance to reflect on my first three semesters in college. In the following, I will delve into my studying habits more so than reminisce on fun times during this year and a half.

The first two semesters, I found myself trying to squeeze in time to do work, but I realized this was a poor approach when I didn't get the results I had wanted. Taking that into consideration, I wanted to reform my studying habits beginning sophomore year. Over this past semester, I've developed much more focus and dedication to particular classes. One thing I noticed, though, is that I've realized I only want to study for classes whose material I actually enjoy, rather than fear (e.g. EE122 - Communication Networks, as opposed to EE40 - Microelectronic Circuits). Unfortunately, I'm in a field that, for all intents and purposes, I knew nothing about coming into college and currently like very few subfields that I've learned thus far; so I'm still trying to find the stuff in EECS that I truly enjoy. For all I know, I may find very few classes in EECS whose material I've enjoyed and willingly chosen to study, but that is a chance I'm willing to take. I don't know whether I want to switch majors, but that is an issue for another post. But I digress. My point earlier was that my work ethic generally is not great. Naturally, I procrastinate, but it's also that when I do study, I don't feel like I'm studying correctly.

By "correctly" I mean I do not have the proper habits of learning. I rarely do problems because I fear that when I don't know one concept, it builds up to a point at which I need to review nearly everything, which I definitely do not want to do. So I've decided to attack more problems, and discover what I need to learn based on what I could not solve. I think that approach has helped me more, but I still need to discover other approaches in order to maximize my understanding of a particular concept. I have stopped studying with music (I can't focus when my mind clearly wants to focus on something else (a la music), started going to libraries where no one goes, and kept my computer off more often so as not to satiate my ADD by going to Digg, ESPN, and on AIM.

On that note, I've feel like I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of college, but in general I still need to work harder and much more in order to compete with the students in my major. Ultimately, my failures will be because of myself, and myself only, but then hopefully I can attribute my successes to myself as well.

Fantasy Sports

All I know is that the creator of fantasy football (and other fantasy sports) is a marketing genius and should be hailed as such. But frankly this isn't a good thing. He/she has single-handedly restored fandom in sports, but not the old-fashioned fandom that we once had.

The idea of fantasy sports has confirmed the twenty-first century notion in sports that the individual is greater than the team. Such athletes as Kobe Bryant, Ricky Davis, Terrell Owens, and Curt Schilling have verified this transformation from the "team" to "I." They clearly are poor spellers, since they actually believe there is an "I" in "team." But the athletes aren't the only ones to blame. Their egos aren't the sole reason for their actions; there are external reasons why Kobe tries to pad his stats or T.O. tries to show his pearly whites on the camera every time he catches the ball. Now the fans want them to do such things. But why?

Among other things, fantasy sports has changed the fabric of sports fandom. It used to be that all of us were fans of teams and how they played as a unit. Now we care about individuals. Now we have money riding on caring about individuals. If Brett Favre doesn't show up to Sunday's game, I'm screwed in my league, and so I'm ten bucks in the hole. What do I care if the Green Bay Packers win? It's all about Favre. This is the dilemma that has plagued sports in the age of steroids and corrupt refs. It's individual greed, not only from players and coaches and referees, but now also from fans.

As a Chicago Bears fan, there is no way in hell I should ever support Brett Favre. I hate the Packers and I hate him (I respect him, but I still hate him.) Yet when Sunday rolls around, and I see my Bears nosediving into the abyss (injuries and Cedric Benson; I'm not even going to blame Rex Grossman anymore), and I see Green Bay beating a team handily, my fandom starts to become diluted because of fantasy. Now the thought process is, "Oh well, the Bears lost today, and the Packers are winning by a lot, so what the hell? Go Favre. I'm only down by a few points in fantasy." I'm sure these thoughts go through everyone's minds. Fantasy sports has put the individual on a higher pedestal than the team, and has weakened the spirited and passionate foundation upon which sports were built. It's a damn shame too, because cheering on a team is so much more fun than cheering on an individual. Instead of having one guy to scream for, you have twelve, or sixty-five, or however many players there are on a baseball team. Fantasy sports is certainly a reason why athletes like Kobe Bryant and T.O. find it reasonable to think about themselves instead of the team. The fans do too.

Congratulations to the creator of fantasy sports. You have made watching football and basketball more accessible to those who know nothing about sports, and have adulterated the concept of being a fan. You have isolated those who truly are fans of the game, and of the team, and not of solely the individual. I am being hypocritical in participating in fantasy sports, but this shows you how pervasive it has become. I hate it, but I can't get away from it. You've won.

Entrepreneurship

So here's the issue. I thought of an idea for a Web 2.0 application. I don't know what exactly to do. I had thought of the idea just before waking up a few days ago, and immediately it struck me that it may possibly be extremely useful. I will not divulge the details of the idea, for obvious reasons. So now my question is this: Where do I go from here?

Issue 1: Exposure. My intuition tells me that first I need to talk to someone, most likely one of my best friends, about the idea. There are certain issues I have with this. First, I don't know the actual protocol about how to introduce the idea to my friends. Am I expected, after I tell them, to give them equal claim and responsibility? Am I suddenly partners with them even though it is my idea? Obviously this is all under the assumption that it is a good idea, but these are the questions I have, as a selfish, ignorant, and I guess you can say, cynical college student. Currently I don't know what exactly I want or need from my friends, so is it even necessary to ask them in the first place? This is the first issue with coming up with an idea individually; I don't know who to tell and whether I should tell anyone. I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes, you should tell someone," but who?

Issue 2: Execution. Since it is a computer science related idea, do I begin to start coding? Obviously I don't nearly have the experience in programming to code the idea that I have in mind. So do I consult my friends who would possibly have this experience, or do I start looking for people to fund the idea, and then begin looking for coders? Or do I start reading ridiculous amounts of code and practicing to become the coder needed to actually execute this task?

Issue 3: Progress. This is another issue. In order to sell your idea/product to a venture capitalist, at what stage does the idea need to be developed? In this instance, do I need to have it fully coded, or can I give them the conceptual foundation and then tell them I need more people to help me execute the idea? Bottom line: Will they fund an idea based on just the idea, or do they need the idea fully - or at least mostly - developed already?

My next intuition - by the way, all of my instincts may be completely wrong, and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if they were; I literally know nothing - would be to begin talking to EE, CS, and business professors about possible collaboration and whether they know any venture capitalists in the area? There are plenty of VCs in Silicon Valley, namely Sand Hill Road, but now I need to find people who have networking with these VCs. Or can I just call a VC up one day and tell them I'm a measly kid from Berkeley who has this really cool idea that I want to pursue further (yeah, that's probably not going to work.)

Alas, these are the questions I have about entrepreneurship. I certainly have the motivation and communication skills necessary to sell an idea, but I just don't have the technical knowledge or wherewithal to sit down, code, and voila, have the finished product write there in my terminal.

Hopefully this IEOR190A class on engineering entrepreneurship that I am taking next semester will be helpful in my deciding how to advance the idea. But right now, I need to move quickly if I want to see my name under the trademark instead of someone else's.

Please comment on this and provide your opinions on how to take an idea and make it a reality. It would be much appreciated.

P.S. I'm sure people are thinking, "Oh, this guy has an incredible idea," but I'm sure it's not great. I just don't know how to get the brutal criticism I need without revealing the idea to a lot of people.

This Tastes Weird...

At the Golden Bear Cafe today, better known to Berkeleyans as GBC, I was in line at the sandwich bar making my order when I noticed something incredibly peculiar. The man in front of me had asked for a sandwich with ham, banana peppers, and guacamole. That's it. No lettuce, no tomatoes, no onions, no mustard, no ketchup, no nothing (yes, I realize it's a double-negative, but please bear with me.) This combination blew my mind; who the hell gets ham with banana peppers and guacamole?

Then I thought about what I was getting. I asked for a smörgåsbord of vegetables, namely lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, olives, and jalapeños, along with hummus and spicy mustard. To many, this may seem like a bit too much greenery, but I like it like that, just as the guy in front of me liked his sandwich the way he ordered it. I smirked at the time when I contrasted what I ordered and what he ordered. How are our tastes so different? Why is it that this man in front of me ordered something that I found so disgusting (apart from the fact that I'm vegetarian) yet he found appetizing?

I wonder what is the origin of individual taste. From where do our tastes come and to what extent is it genetic and/or social? I like olives. A lot of people I know absolutely hate olives. How does this make sense? We share 99% of our genes, yet our sense of taste is so different. Everyone out here in California likes the warm weather. I love the snow and find it absolutely excruciating that it can be sunny and 75 on Christmas day. I like hardcore hip-hop with intricate beats, while my best friends listen to party anthems with infectious hooks.

I don't understand how this difference in taste came about. It might be that our parents believe certain things and feel certain ways about particular things, and so we tend to believe them as well. It might be that we're genetically predisposed to liking and hating particular things. I tend to think that it is a little of both (yes, I took the easy way out), and in general our tastes reflect our personalities. More often than not, this music website called Pandora (www.pandora.com), which makes an educated judgment on one's musical tastes based on an artist or song they enter, has been correct about my tastes. They've recommended songs that I may like, and yeah, I've liked a lot of them. How did they know? This part of me makes me think that it's genetic, since Pandora doesn't know the lifestyle I have or environment in which I live. Then there's that part of me that thinks taste is based on our surroundings and the people with whom we associate. I know for sure that at some point I started to like a song solely because it was played ad nauseum by my roommate. I know that I've started to like a song because I knew someone, perhaps one I admired, who liked it too.

What I don't understand is how all our brains think so differently, yet are so structurally similar. It just makes you wonder how mad a scientist mother nature is - or mother nurture, if that's how you roll.

A Few Hours To Kill

Technically, I have a paper to edit and proofread, but I just had a midterm, and I need a mental break. No sleep last night, but for some reason, I don't feel exhausted. I wonder if I'm onto something with this no-sleep thing. Haha, just kidding. Obviously I'll end up passing out early because my body simply cannot handle this (un)necessary exertion. My roommate has been going through a pledge process that has forced him to pull countless all-nighters, so I'm just a lightweight. Then again, I go to bed at 5:30AM most days. Then again I also wake up at 1PM. Hmmm. Okay, back to work (or sleep), whichever one I feel more inclined to do. You do the math.

P.S. Currently, this blog is incredibly informal, and the posts are simple accounts of daily activities and thoughts. However, I will soon write more meaningful posts that have affected my life or that I have randomly thought of. Hopefully those will be food for thought.

On the Air...

It looks like I'm up and running. Now you'll see the mayhem I bring with me.