Tech Speak is Cool

I have an exam on Thursday, but I promised a post today since I missed yesterday's (with good reason) and so you shall have it. Let's see if I can get this done in 30 minutes *checks watch*. Being such an overt tech geek myself, I love indulging in articles about why it's a good lifestyle, and so I just had to spent some time talking about this list of reasons why tech speak is the best language to learn. It's not really a language so much as a lexicon to be added to your standard bank of English knowledge. I agree with everything he said (except the hentai thing...ew). I've definitely become extremely efficient on a computer, it's given me more confidence in starting up conversations, programming has made me more organized (and helped me learn to see patterns), and helping people troubleshoot problems is probably the quickest way to their heart, to be honest. It ostensibly bothers me when people in CS are ashamed to admit it, as if it makes picking up chicks that much harder. Or when they think it's cool to not program in their free time, but instead to get plastered or something. I think what's cool is doing what you love doing and being passionate about it. If you love neurobiology then it's cool to collect random facts and help people understand themselves better. If you love microbiology then it's cool to be a local expert on diseases. There's nothing wrong with being geeky and there's nothing wrong with picking up tech speak, especially given how prominent computing has become in our lives. I mean look at how much crap I have to talk about here 6 days a week! It's better than watching the local news where you hear about people dying all the time; technology is much more exuberant.

I talk about the RIAA so much that I decided to give them their own tag here. Anyway, the Consumerist's readers voted them the worst company in America, which is quite an honor since it was a bracket of 32 companies that they were in competition with. It was a fairly close final round with Halliburton, but I'm glad they ended up winning since the RIAA victimizes many more Americans than Halliburton does.

Apple has invited select members of the press and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to a special event in Las Vegas called "Lights Camera", which I think is kind of an odd title. It should probably be like "Lights! Camera! ...". I don't know. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be related to Final Cut Pro and/or Aperture since it's such a small event, so don't expect anything too extravagant from it. It'll probably be useful mainly to video/image editing professionals.

John Backus died today, which many of you may not care about but I'm sure that every Computer Scientist worth his pay knows who that is since they talk about him in practically every non-theoretical CS class. He invented Fortran back in the day, which is a huge deal because it was one of the first major, successful high-level programming languages. I guess it's just kind of surreal reading about someone dying who was such a big part of modern-day computing.

If you like buying gadgets, or you're like me and wish you could afford to buy more gadgets, then you'll want to read this article about how to time your technological purchases just right. Timing really is everything, so I especially support the "put off that craving" tip. The going to small business one is news to me though, I often find the best deals online or at Fry's.

There's a ridiculous amount of movie news for me to cover. Let me start out with the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. I didn't even really care about this movie and even I enjoyed that trailer! Though I should probably see the second one first. Filmz.ru has a couple of posters, if you're interested.

Eli Roth put up a particularly creepy clip from Hostel 2. It won't give you nightmares or anything, but it is a little unsettling.

We have a couple of posters. The Shrek the Third poster is rather predictable: just the starring cast and the title. The one for 28 Weeks Later is much cooler, in my opinion:



I don't know how I feel about this Justice League movie being made. Supposedly, it will now have Superman, but I just think they're going to screw it up majorly. There are already movies being made for many of these characters, why not wait a while and do this movie right?

AICN nabbed a couple of reviews for Sunshine, and it does not sound all that thrilling. It seems to have great visuals but suffers in acting. I'm sure it'll be a decent movie, just not what we were expecting from Danny Boyle.

I'll go for the Tuesday Twosome this week:

1. What two things remind you of Spring?
Bunnies and flowers
2. What are two things you want to accomplish this Spring season?
Good grades and good times with a certain someone
3. What are your two favorite seasons of the year?
I guess fall and winter? Summer is just too hot over here, and usually spring is just a signal that summer isn't too far off.
4. Do you perform Spring cleaning in your home? Why or why not?
Not really, I prefer to just clean my place periodically.
5. What are the two best things about Spring?
How refreshing the change is from the cold and having a Spring Break.