Krunk4Ever!

So I got this list from Digg:

25 Ways to Tell You’re Grown Up

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can’t smoke any of them.
   Yah… all my houseplants are fake and purchased by my mom.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
   No beer here, just tons of drinks.
4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
   Hahahahaha
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of “hook up” and “break up.”
8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
   So true, yet so sad. I miss summer vacation.
9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up.”
10. You’re the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won’t turn down the stereo.
11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
12. You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
    Does knowing when Wendy’s closes count?
13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald’s leftovers.
15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
16. You take naps.
17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
    I guess doing a basket of chicken nuggets 3am is still fine.
19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good shit.”
    When is wine ever “good shit”?
21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
    Still skip breakfast and usually lunch. Waking up at noon has the problem.
22. “I just can’t drink the way I used to” replaces “I’m never going to drink that much again.”
23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
    “real” work. ;p
24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking “Oh shit, what the hell happened?”

Bonus:

26: You read the entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn’t apply to you and can’t find one to save your sorry old ass. Then you forward it to a bunch of old friends ’cause you know they’ll enjoy it too. And now you know why I am forwarding this to you..

Pretty funny list. See my remarks above (in italics).

This is sweet! While searching for flights to fly home for my brother’s graduation, I found out that JetBlue now has a direct flight from Seattle to Long Beach (equidistant as LAX to my house, minus the horrible traffic). I typically fly Alaska Airlines since they’re usually the cheapest (~$300) non-stop flight from SEA to LAX and had consistent quality. I’ve always liked JetBlue with the personal LCD and the quality of service, but was sad when I found out that they didn’t have any flights from Seattle to LA. I even emailed them awhile back voicing my sadness.

Anyway, I just booked a flight back for 4 days in mid-June to attend my brother’s graduation and it came out to only $243! For comparison sake, the cheapest Alaska Airline to LAX was $303. However, Alaska Airlines does have more daily flights between Seattle and LA than JetBlue does.

I think JetBlue and I are going to become much better friends now.

I finally got my college diploma! I’ve always thought I’d be back in Berkeley to pick it up myself, but every time I’ve been back, the timing wasn’t right. The office was either closed, or I didn’t have time, so on and so on. I’ve dreaded to have them mail it to me, because I can’t see how they can justify charging $12 for it.

Anyway, apparently they only hold your diploma for 5 years and given that it’s almost 3 years since I graduated (my brother inviting me to his graduation reminded me), I decided that $12 it is.

I went to the Office of the Registrar website, and apparently they don’t take credit cards. !@$#$*&&!%&!$*!@#*!&%! Apparently I am forced to write them a check, and you know how I hate checks. I decided if that’s what it’ll take to get my diploma, so be it. I wrote them a $12 check and mailed it off with my application. By god, I can’t believe I still remember my student ID number without giving a sweat.

So what did $12 net me which would’ve cost me $0.00 if I picked it up in person? Apparently the following:

• 1 cardboard envelope with a “DIPLOMA - DO NOT BEND” note on it
• 2 paper-sized cardboard pieces to keep the diploma from bending
• 1 UPS label to ship 1lb to anywhere in the USA
• Someone putting this altogether and dumping it in the outgoing mail bin

Yeah, I feel gypped too. You’d expect it to at least come with a frame or something. Haha. ;p Oh well. At least now I have proof that I graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. degree. If my mom was here, she’d probably frame it. Knowing me, it’ll end up in my pile of junk. Plus don’t forget, I know have Arnold Swarchenegger’s signature!

P.S. This may be my last post in awhile. Been watching a lot of Genshiken and now I’ve started watching House.

So MsticAzn sends me this link a few weeks ago: Kashmiri lawsuit refund information

Kashmiri lawsuit refund information

Date: 2008-01-30
Contact: University of California Office of the President
Phone: (510) 987-9200
Email:

On Jan. 23, 2008, the California Supreme Court denied the University of California’s petition for review of the judgment in favor of plaintiffs in the Kashmiri v. Regents student fee lawsuit. The San Francisco Superior Court will now approve a formula for determining the amount of each class member’s refund and a process for distributing refunds. Refund distributions will be handled by an outside claims administrator, not the university. Class members are encouraged to send their current email and postal addresses to the class action administrator for this case at: lnelson@rustconsulting.com. Any other questions should be directed to the attorneys representing the plaintiff class at: info@browngold.com.

Not having much clue what exactly the lawsuit was, I awaited MsticAzn to get more information.

However yesterday, SkyLancer brings up this same topic and apparently it had to do with UC Regents raising fees after students were enrolled back in 2003. Talking it over with Ungsunghero, he found the lawsuit documentation and apparently only applies to the following group:

1. Current and former University of California (”UC”) students who enrolled in a UC professional degree program prior to December 16, 2000, and whose professional degree fees were raised after that date.
2. Students who attended any UC school on a semester system during the Spring 2003 semester, whose fees for that semester increased after they had already enrolled in classes and received bills for the semester.
3. Students who attended Summer 2003 session at UC Berkeley or UCLA, whose fees for that summer session increased after they had already enrolled and received bills for the session.

So I sent an email to Rust Consulting to find out how to determine if I was eligible for the refund and promptly received a reply back this morning:

Dear Mr. Hon,

Our records indicate that you are included in the Kashmiri v. The Regents of the University of California class. A notification was emailed to all class members to update them on the status of the settlement and to request that contact information be provided to update our records for future mailings. This notification was emailed to you at ********@berkeley.edu as that was the most current information that was available to us. I have included the notification in this email for your information in case you did not receive the previous email.

There is nothing further you need to do other than to keep us notified of any changes to your contact information. The case has been decided in favor of the students; however the trial court must still approve an allocation of recovery. Therefore, we are not certain when you will receive a refund, although it is likely to occur by the end of 2008. The students have created a website, www.educationisaright.org, that should post updates as they become available.

Sincerely,

Linda Nelson
Class Action Administrator
lnelson@rustconsulting.com

My ********@berkeley.edu email account was pretty much deactivated the day I graduated. I wonder if there’s some place I can go and update that email.

Anyway, here was the original email that was sent out to people:

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT STEPS TO TAKE TO ENSURE YOU RECEIVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR POTENTIAL SHARE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA FEE OVERCHARGE JUDGMENT

You have been identified by the University of California as a member of the plaintiff class in the class action lawsuit known as Kashmiri v. The Regents of the University of California, which challenged certain fee increases at the University. The $33.8 million judgment in favor of the plaintiffs has been affirmed on appeal and is now final.

You will receive additional information about the distribution of the funds recovered from the University. As we begin this process, we need current e-mail and postal addresses for all class members so that we can send you additional notices and, eventually, a check if you are entitled to one. If you have changed your name, please provide both names. Please provide any updated contact information as soon as you can and if possible by April 21, 2008, by (1) replying to this e-mail (if you are the addressee), (2) sending an e-mail to ucfees@rustconsulting.com, or (3) mailing the information to Kashmiri v. Regents Class Action, P.O. Box 1931, Faribault MN 55021-7186. The information you provide will not be used for any other purpose.

Also, please forward this email to any of your classmates who may be members of the plaintiff class and encourage them to update their contact information. The plaintiffs consist of three subclasses:

1. Current and former University of California (”UC”) students who enrolled in a UC professional degree program prior to December 16, 2002, and whose professional degree fees were raised after that date.

2. Students who attended any UC school on a semester system during the Spring 2003 semester, whose fees for that semester increased after they had already enrolled in classes and received bills for the semester.

3. Students who attended the Summer 2003 session at UC Berkeley or UCLA, whose fees for that summer session increased after they had already enrolled and received bills for the session.

Thank you.

Rust Consulting
Class Action Administrator

If you believe you qualify for the refund but did not receive an email from them, you should email Rust Consulting to verify if they have your updated information. I’m not sure how the refund is going to be split or how much each person will get, but I assume we’ll find out shortly.

So SueOn asked me this question earlier:

do you ever sleep?
or are you like chuck norris
you just wait

That reminded me of the Zuckerberg testimonies I was reading earlier. Apparently the court files for the case when Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) was sued for stealing the social networking idea from another student group were accidentally released to a journalist/reporter. According to Facebook Founder Finds He Wants Some Privacy:

Social networking Web sites can seem dedicated to the idea that nobody’s personal life is worth keeping private, but when it comes to Mark Zuckerberg — the founder of Facebook, one of the largest networks — Facebook disagrees.

Facebook tried last week to force the magazine 02138 to remove some unflattering documents about Mr. Zuckerberg from its Web site. But a federal judge turned down the company’s request for a court order to take down the material, according to the magazine’s lawyers.

The dispute stemmed from a lawsuit charging that in 2003 and 2004, as a student at Harvard, Mr. Zuckerberg stole the idea and some of the computer source code for Facebook from some fellow students. They were planning a networking site of their own and had hired Mr. Zuckerberg to help with the programming.

You can read the original article on 02138: Poking Facebook:

Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg created one of the most trafficked sites on the Web and became a paper billionaire as a result. But ongoing lawsuits suggest that Facebook’s origins are murkier than Zuckerberg would like to admit. Is the man many are calling Harvard’s next Bill Gates telling the truth?

and here are the court documents from the Facebook trial: The Facebook Files.

How does this relate to the the question SueOn had asked me? In one of his testimonies, the transcript goes as below (Q = question/attorney and A = answer/Zuckerberg):

Q: Okay. What time did you wake up in the morning?
A: It probably wasn’t the morning.
Q: Okay. How late did you stay up programming?
A: I don’t know, like it’s quiet at night.
Q: Okay.
A: You can get work done.
Q: Did you work all night sometimes?
A: Yeah. I mean although, I guess that’s relative when you’re shifted hours like that.

You can say I’m pulling all nighters every day, but that’s because I go to sleep in the early morning (4-6am).

The testimony got boring really fast, though I will say that he sounded quite scared and his replies reminded me of someone who wasn’t really a profession, but brand new to the field.

I saw this video a few days ago from Digg: Is Europe a country?

Funny video about a quiz show, where the question is about an obscure country called Hungary.

It’s a clip from the show, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? and to be honest, I think this was staged, but if it isn’t, it’s yet another example of how the American education system has failed.

SueOn had asked me if the contestant was someone famous and at that time, I didn’t know. Looking at the comments on YouTube, it appears the contestant is Kellie Pickler, apparently someone in American Idol. Then again, I’ve never watched American Idol, so I probably would’ve never figured it out.

Here’s the transcript (I’ve bolded the funny parts):

Jeff: You ready? The 3rd grade world geography question is: “Budapest is the capital of what European Country?” Budapest is the capital of what European Country? Nathan has already locked in.

Kellie: This might be a stupid question.

Jeff: I’m guessing it’s probably going to be.

Kellie: Okay. Like… I thought Europe was a country. Let’s see. Budest… Budapest! I’ve never even heard of that.

Jeff: Alright, here… here’s your options. I mean you could drop out with $10,000. But…

Kellie: Like I know they speak French there, don’t they? Like I wanna say is France a country. I don’t know what I’m doing.

Jeff: You know what, let’s talk about your options.

Kellie: Can I just like… Okay.

Jeff: Kell, focus.

Kellie: I am… Like I’m listening to what you’re saying, but I only hear what I want to.

Jeff: That’s just called being a woman.

Kellie: Oh… Boooooooo! Well, we could just call this show “Are You Smarter Than A Man?” I’d win that one.

Jeff: Women don’t really want to hear a man’s opinion. They just want to hear their opinion in a deeper voice. That’s what they want when they talk to us. Let’s talk about this. I really want you to get the $25,000 because no matter what happens after that, you’re walking out of here with $25,000.

Kellie: Yes. It’s all about the charity, so I got to think what’s best for them. Let’s see. I am just going to … copy.

Jeff: Copy.

Kellie: Come on Nathan.

Jeff: If you had to guess… if you had to guess… do you have a guess?

Kellie: I don’t think France is a country, but would’ve said that. I dunno… I don’t know. I’m just going to say France. I dunno.

Jeff: France is a country, I will tell you that.

Kellie: It is?

Jeff: If you had said France, you would’ve gone home with nothing.

Kellie: Whew…

Jeff: That’s not the right answer. The right answer is Hungary.

Kellie: Is what?

Jeff: Hungary.

Kellie: Hungry?

Jeff: Like I’m hungry.

Kellie: That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey, but… Hungary, never heard of it.

Jeff: But the answer is Hungary. So if Nathan said Hungary, your charity’s got $25,000. If he didn’t, you walk away with nothing.

Kellie: You’re not smiling, Nathan. You’re not smiling. Awwwwww.

Jeff: Kellie, look at the board. For $25,000, your 5th grade classmate Nathan said… Hungary!

Kellie: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Great! You’re the best! Thank you! Yeah! You tried to trick me. He tricked me.

Jeff: He tricked you?

Kellie: I was looking at his face and he looked like uh ummmmmm messed it up. I failed. But you got it right, yay.

Saw this on Digg: The Cal Marching Band’s Amazing 16-bit Video Game Halftime Show

Of course unfortunately, we lost the game. That was too bad. However, the half time show turned out to be quite awesome. Update: Thanks to MandalayX for pointing out, this was actually not the USC game, but the WSU game which we won.

Video games which I saw:

• Pong
• Tetris
• Mortal Kombat (thanks to RayAlome)
• Pokemon
• Zelda
• Super Mario

The video was hard to see as it was upside down. I wished it was shot from the other side. Maybe someone will post one up later. The hardest one to see was Mortal Kombat, which was an MK inside a box and then an upside down dragon.

Got this site from Digg: FreeRice

Every vocabulary you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Interesting concept, but what I found amazing is the vocab training it appears to be. In the style of GRE where you start off easy and as you get words correct, it gets harder, but when you get them wrong, the difficulty decreases. I’ve been stuck around level 28-34 for some time and finally gave up after about 1200 grains of rice.

Definitely helpful for someone who’s planning to take the SAT or GRE any time soon.

Michael Welsh release 2 new videos:

• A Vision of Students Today (High Quality WMV)
• Information R/evolution (High Quality WMV)

If you don’t remember who Michael Welsh is, you’ll probably remember his original video: The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version) (previously posted).

I have to say, both are quite interesting and definitely worth a watch.

A Vision of Students Today

a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

Information R/evolution

This video explores the changes in th… This video explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. This video was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively.

UPDATE: Added High Quality Versions.

I got this joke from elbandmonkey’s Xanga:

A student comes to a young professor’s office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, and kneels pleadingly. “I would do anything to pass this exam.”

She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully into his eyes. “I mean,” she whispers, “I would do anything.”

He returns her gaze. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

His voice turns to a whisper. “Would you… study?”
————————————
Now if only my students had the same idea and I don’t mean studying…

Haha.