Homework Contraversy

Before I begin I've gotta ask: why do roaches exist? How is it that after billions of years they've managed to survive? We've started getting the big ones now and they're disgusting. I'm only afraid of them because they're so ugly and fast and I don't want them on my body. I mention this because I just saw one a fot away from me about ten minutes ago. Anyway, it appears that some study has found that too much homework can hurt students in lower class families because their parents may not have a degree and/or there may be a language barrier. They claim to have found a correlation between increased homework and worse test scores on average, but I think their assumptions are too wide to be validated. I went to a high school that dished out the work like crazy and I'm doing very well in college. As much as I hate to admit it, all that toil molded me into a good student and I'll admit that the effects don't hold for everyone but if I was pushed less like some of my cousins were I don't think I'd be very ambitious. Also, I'm from a middle class family and haven't gotten help from my parents since elementary school. I think it's more about schools and teachers than it is about homework.

I hope you're primed for some techie news. Another recent survey has discovered that many Americans have an addiction to e-mail with the average user checking several times a day. What's funny is how the article treats it as if its a serious problem, but I get important stuff in my e-mail sometimes and I think checking it is prudent. Microsoft has decided to drop the 'My' prefix in stuff for its new iteration of Windows because the whole idea of it was to erase the stigma of a computer being forboding back in the day. It's a good idea because 20 folders prefixed with 'My' was getting a little annoying. The MPAA is unlikely to keep pushing for a broadcast flag anytime soon because the bill's author defected to our side. A Congressional research committee was concerned that the flag would hinder normally harmless activities, and that's what the major concern with the flag is. It turns out that Google has a secret lab site where they have people from around the world to check the validity of search results. You can't get to the site but the mysteriousness of it is cool. An EU official has asserted that some big software firms are exploiting open source contributors as subcontractors for their projects. I expected this from IBM and Sun, but not you HP! Tsk tsk. Carnegie Mellon (a top 5 CS school) researchers are developing technology that would allow you to stream audio from nearby cars and is currently being dubbed, "roadcasting." It's an interesting concept but how long will you spend next to that person on the road? A Japanese cell phone carrier is investigating the possibilities of using your cell phone as a credit card and it has many advantages to combat security concerns including convenience. Now that would be a pretty futuristic kind of thing to have. Lastly, Java freaks can bask in Rodi, which is a P2P program totally written in Java using similar concepts to torrents.

There's a lot of movie multimedia up today. A preliminary trailer for the horror movie Cry Wolf is now available and it looks good and creepy. If you're more interested in fantasy though there are some pictures from E3 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe over here and it looks like they had a pretty fancy display. Everyone should be interested in Domino, and at least we have a few new pictures to stare at while we wait for the delayed release. There are some fun clips from Mr. and Mrs. Smith over here and we also have some early reviews that suggest it being a great summer flick to check out. The last bit of multimedia is some artwork from a cg animated film that supposedly features Tony Jaa, which would be pretty sweet because he's awesome at Thai boxing (a lethal art by the way). Oh, and we now know that the reason Matthew Vaughn left X3 was because he didn't want to uproot his family. I can't believe he passed up such an insanely good opportunity just for that because as important as family is this could've made him huge.

A few quick things before I end this. It'd be a cool job for me to do this for a living (blog) since I do it anyway and apparently some companies will hire people to do just that! I just thought it's funny that people are taking blogging so seriously. Gamers may want to check out this article knocking out big myths about patents in the gaming industry. It's an especially good read if you ever want to make video games. I finally found a good article about The Contender finale and it features a picture that accurately depicts the last few rounds of the fight:



Now to get busy with a more verbose than usual Wednesday Mind Hump:

01. It's been said that 'Life is just a bowl of cherries.' Tell us what you think life might be a bowl of and tell us why you think that? Also, can you think of another saying or cliché that references food?
I suppose it couldn't be chocolates since that's too trite as well. How about a bowl of onions? Life has a lot of layers and has stages just like an onion looks different over time (trust me, I know sadly). A really annoying saying is, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Where the Hell are these magical apples that serve as panaceas? I'd like to taste one!

02. Yes, it's true. You're too sexy for this Hump, too sex-ay! Go ahead. Toot your own horn. Which of your personality characteristics or physical traits do you think is hot, hot, hot? On a sizzle scale of 1 to 10 (one being only warm enough to barely wilt lettus and ten being so hot bacon would sizzle just being in you presence) what's your Sizzle Factor?
Oh I'm too sexy for every mind hump! ;) I only have a couple of commendable physical traits. I think I have a great light brown eye color whereas most Indians have a bland brown eye color and also I think I have good skin. I like my color and I've been blessed with very little acne. My best personality traits are my quest to be nice to people in general (life's too short to be pissy all the time) and my sense of humor. Some friends find me funnier than others, but all agree that I know what's funny and I'm not afraid to laugh a lot. My sizzle factor is a 55! Ok we all know that's not true so I guess I'd say a 6. Maybe I'm a 7 *shrugs*. My cluttering hurts the sizzle factor.

03. If you were to dish the dirt with a cartoon character, whom would you dish with and whom do you think you would gossip about? How about if you could dish the dirt with any famous person, dead or alive, which celebrity would you chose and what would you want to gossip about?
I'd probably dish it out with Scooby Doo and find out what romantic minglings are going on in "the gang". That Mystery Machine must be mysterious for a reason! As for human celebrities I'd have to gossip with Jessica Alba about her and me getting our hump on. Mind hump that is of course ;) Seriously though, I guess I'd gossip with Nicole Kidman about Tom Cruise and what he's doing with my Katie! I do think he's a great actor though, but he's going all goofy now. Find someone your own age, Tom!