zittiblog.com

I don’t know how this sick freak on TV (or whoever it was) could hurt a beautiful young girl like Jon Benet Ramsey… it makes me very ill to my stomach to even think about. But, the media coverage. Get a grip America.

It’s an old story, the damage has been done, and hopefully someone will be brought to justice. But has anyone even noticed this week that Pluto is no longer considered a planet the same as the other eight anymore? Does anyone know that researchers found a way to extract stem cells without destroying human embryos? Has anybody America reported that it has come to light that to add to the situation in Darfur, sex crimes have sudenly runrampant including at least 200 rapes in just one of the refugee camps (let alone the bad places)?

My TV here in my Minneapolis hotel doesn’t get too many channels but every one seems to be saying something about Jon Benet. Thank god for the internet.

I could not be happier with Ernst & Young. They have done things for me that I cannot say thank you for enough. If you are a person who wants to be employed and wants a great career with amazing opportunity to grow I think it is simply a MARVELOUS place to be employed.

I do think however that the noblest of all positions (outside of certain contributors to world good like Mother Theresa, Father Maximilian, and similar inspirational stories) and the one I will taken upon myself eventually is that of the entrepreneur. I can’t remember the author, but I once read a quote that said “Never think a small group of committed individuals can’t change the world, indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” And who really has like the entrepreneur has… the folks who invented the steam engine, the automobile, the airplane, the Internet, etc., not to mention those that ran mining companies and home-owned retail hardware stores (is it in our blood now?).
But what makes me sad is when a sorry excuse for a corporation (almost always a publicly traded corporation, note) decides that the way to make some money and salvage their stock price is to literally carbon copy the business of an amazing entrepreneur. Over the past year, I have decided that Kevin Rose is one such entrepreneur (as did BusinessWeek if you check out the latest cover story :-)). Kevin Rose is the founder of digg.com, my FAVORITE source (in any media - Internet, TV, paper, or otherwise) for super cool news stories that are neglected by our crappy excuse for major media corporations such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and the majority of the nations newspapers.

Digg.com is a social new site. A site type Kevin invented where users submit cool stories they’ve found on the Internet and other users can “digg” (vote as cool) the story. Those stories that have been “dugg” (voted on) the most rise to the top, eventually to the front page of the website, which makes them the most visible. Essentially what this does is make it so the stories THE PEOPLE (YOU AND I) like the most make the top headlines, which I would say is an amazing change from how stories become the most visible in traditional media. From me to Kevin Rose… good work my friend, LOVE digg.com (and diggnation ;-)).

Here’s where the crappy part starts… rather than come up with their own great idea to save their sorry excuse for a business (blame it on Microsoft all you want, they’ve never been good at much of anything), Netscape has decided to outperform (no wait, no they didn’t), build a competitive site to (nope), mimic (nope), EXACTLY COPY (
YEP) digg.com and promote it as their own new great site in the social news space. This
sucks… come on Netscape. You all are a joke, get it together. A company such as Netscape that has so many years experience in the Internet space should be able to do better than a sorry copy-cat site. I hope the government (courts and otherwise) will find the backbone to act on principle and reward the ingenuity, innovativeness, and creativity of those like Kevin Rose. What is the point of continuously fighting copyrights battles on downloaded music, movies, TV shows, etc. when you allow other, more valuable, ideas to be blatantly stolen by the same large corporations?

Support entrepreneurs, uphold copyright when it is deserved, and make sure big corporations, small businesses, AND the individual get a FAIR playing field. May not ever happen ’til we get the money out of politics which a serious bummer if you ask this amateur blogger.

Today I finally came home for a night in my own bed. However, the trip from Orange County, California earlier today had me believing I might not ever get back. As you know, thanks to some more Islamist terrorist freaks, the airports are a zoo, you can’t carry your toothpaste onto the plane, and you better have time to make travelling a few hundred miles an all day (at minimum) event. As I reflect on the day’s events I can’t help but question whether or not my absolute security is worth the price to my freedom.

How wonderful is a country where you can’t travel from one city to next while having a Gatorade? I know it is a small price to pay for personal safety but is it going to end anywhere? Having our mail searched? phone calls listened to? emails indexed and databased? making it impossible to fly? giving up our Gatorade?  There has got to be a more strategic and less invasive way to go about all of this.

Support them or hate them, I don’t really care, but it is generally considered fact that the Israeli airlines are the most secure in the world. Many feel this is because they specifically use profiling to identify and investigate “high risk” passengers. Today an Indian (not even Middle Eastern) was walking through the airport and everyone was staring at him (tho trying not to). It made me think about whether or not this is really fair.

Profiling in this way, I decided, clearly is NOT fair at the individual level. That I think is undisputable given the vast majority of Middle Easterners are, of course, no threat to a plane full of people. Yet statistically speaking, there is probably no denying the fact that if resources are limited and you can only search so many people, expending those resources on the highest risk group of people is the most likely way to find a plot like that uncovered recently.

Perhaps the freedom of some should take a hit for the personal liberty of the rest of us?  I really couldn’t decide, I’ll let you know if I figure anything out, but I damn sure want my Gatorade back on the airplane.

Since it has become apparent that Dan STINKS at talking about himself, allow me to reflect on my weekend in South Bend, Indiana.

Horribles: The drive, driving through Chicago, the city of South Bend outside of campus and downtown, and the fact that dad wasn’t there.

(Mom’s navigation skills get an honorable mention, but not quite a horrible).

Awesomes: the beds at the Marriott hotel, the decorations and food at the formal dinner, the way Dan looked in his new suit, how green campus was, the speakers at the graduation, Notre Dame in general, the South Bend Insta Lube, and how awestruck I felt when they called that very last name.

To everyone that couldn’t make it:  All that we heard all weekend long from Dan’s peers and friends was what a good guy he is and how unbelievably smart he is. Notre Dame is a school that simple-folk (such as myself) only dream about visiting, let alone attending. The fact that Dan graduated with a master’s degree is nothing short of amazing. The ceremony was short and sweet, every time I turned around they were feeding us delicious food, and it was really quite the event.

I hope that everyone realizes how awesome my brother is. Dan, seriously, you’re a rockstar. The most friendly, hard-working, down-to-earth genius I have ever met.

Anyway, awesome job Dan. Upward and onward!

I guess I supposeedly am one now. It’s not official but I did just take my last final. The last class I will ever have at the University of Notre Dame is, therefore, over. Kind of a bummer (I’m going to miss my friends here a whole bunch), but I am also excited to get out of South Bend, get back to work, and get (if nothing else) a few days at home over the next few weeks.

Mom, Shannon, Grandma, and Papa are on their way out for the ceremony… I’m glad their all coming. Dad and Lisa are here at least in spirit, as they bought the new suit I’ll be wearing to the gradutation banquet. Other than that, not much to report except that there is a big party going down tonight! That means I gotta go shower and get outta here. Peace out everbody… thanks for helping through the last year and three months of accounting boot camp. Unfortunately graduation means one thing… Up next, busy season, a bunch of travel, and the CPA exam!! No rest, EVER.