Monthly Archives: November 2004

Coming home to fix technology this Thanksgiving

Posted by on November 22, 2004 1 comment

There’s a fun article on [MSNBC – The Tech-Support Generation]:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6522314/site/newsweek/ that talks about young Americans going home for Thanksgiving, and to fix their parents’ computers.

I think my family is reasonably adept at handling their own technological issues though. I usually end up fixing stuff anyway, but they’re pretty capable of handling it on their own. I’ve trained them well. 🙂

Honestly, I can’t say I blame them for asking me, when they do. I’m a little over-educated when it comes to computing and technology, even compared to other PhD students, so I’m really *supposed* to know the answer. Sometimes I don’t though. There’s too much. And a student’s budget doesn’t leave that much room to buy and play with the all the latest technogadgetry.

I can’t wait to come home. 🙂

Rent-a-coder does your homework?

Posted by on November 18, 2004 No comments

I’m sure some of you have seen this before, but I’m a little astonished to see this sort of thing done so explicitly. I suppose there are websites for buying term papers and stuff, but this is new for me.

Have a look:
Rent A Coder – C Basic Sorted Array List

Basically a student is asking someone to do his/her homework, using a programming contracting site. I see that the request was cancelled– hopefully the student rethought the idea– but it’s dismaying that it was even posted. There’s even a link to the course assignment webpage. It might be a joke, but I know that if I were doing it as a joke, I’d put up something more elaborate, and inject some more outrageous or humorous bits into the description.

Is this sort of thing common? I sure hope not. I like having faith in humanity, thank you very much.

Article on Daler Mehndi

Posted by on November 9, 2004 1 comment

Some of you may not have heard of Daler Mehndi. But, if you have, you know that, to know him is to love him. He’s a huge figure in Bhangra, a form of popular Indian music, and I must say that his songs are incredibly catchy and easy to like even for someone like me who knows very little of Indian culture.

So when my friend said that there was a big scandal about him, I had to look it up on the web. I found these articles talking about allegations linking him to human trafficking. Please, Daler, say it ain’t so!

[Rise and fall of Daler Mehndi]:http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_442702,0015002000000062.htm
[A fallen pop icon]:http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/oct26/sl1.asp

Those articles are a little old. A more recent article (dated October 26, 2004), [Cops and Robbers]:http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=57660 from the Indian Express mentions that the charges really had no supporting case.

So I guess that clears things up. Kind of sucks for Daler Mehndi though… going through all that scandal and crap because the local government wanted to pursue some sort of private vendetta.

Anyway… I’ll be listening to some more Tunak Tunak Tun and Bolo Ta Ra Ra Ra. Rock on.