Confessions of an Undercover Geek

Tonight my buddy Jon Tilley and I went to go see the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie Blood Diamond. Wow it was fantastic.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, its about a man in Sierra Leone, Africa who gets captured and forced into labor as part of a diamond mine. He finds a large diamond. He hides from his captors. After getting out of the camp, his paths cross with a diamond smuggler and they go on a journey to find this diamond. There is a whole lot more to the movie then that but thats the very basic gist.

It really demonstrates some of the atrocities that have happened in Africa. There is so much that is going on or that has happened in the world that we don’t understand. Wikipedia has a really good summary of conflict diamonds. It gives a lot of really good background to the movie.

It was very disturbing how RUF, the rebel force in Sierra Leone, was using children as their warriors. Instead of dreaming about becoming doctors, soccer players, and layers, these kids were being used to do horrible things.

What can we do to help people understand the world beyond there borders?

The more information that people have the better decisions that can be made. The more information the people have the more that they can dream because they can better understand what the possibilities are.

It seems like getting more access to information in the hands of children would help. Doesn’t this just make the One Laptop Per Child initiative that much more exciting. It will teach children the developing world how to learn better and understand a world beyond their borders.

I don’t know. I’m just thinking out loud.

Today’s word of the day is “feckless.”

According to Princeton WordNet, the definition is:

• not fit to assume responsibility
• generally incompetent and ineffectual; “feckless attempts to repair the plumbing”
• “inept handling of the account”

It breaks my heart to hear this but the news came in that technology journalist James Kim was found dead after a long search. For those of you who hadn’t heard, him and his family had gone missing after getting caught in a BIG snow storm in Oregon. They found his wife and daughters alive yesterday.

He was really close with Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose who I listen to on there podcasts all the time. They talked a lot about James Kim this week, especially about James’ tremendous love for his family.

According to CNN, “He walked eight miles in rough terrain to get help for his stranded family.” Wow. I’m blown away.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of James Kim.

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In my conversations with people this week, I have been asking, “What are you passionate about?” It has been really interesting.

It is cool to see what people love. It amazes me how many people I talked to that didn’t know what there passions were or hadn’t thought about it.

I think it is so important to realize your dreams and what you’re passionate about. Those passions need to be nurtured. You need people who will help you realize those passions

What are you passionate about?

Update: I realize that there are people who don’t know what they are passionate about but are look. I am concerned about the people who don’t care what they are passionate about. They don’t care about understanding their sense of purpose.

Do we live in a society that no longer cultivates passionate people and helps people understand there calling?

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I have been here in the Washington DC Metro area for a little bit over a month now. (Wow time goes by too quick.) My apartment is still pretty bare. I am looking for things like a couch, coffee table, and a tv.

I want a inexpensive but nice tv so that I can have friends over to watch movies.

Today the Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) Best Buy Advertisements were leaked out on to the Web. I have to say they have some good deals.

Traditionally my Dad and I have gotten up early to observe Black Friday just because it is kind of a spectator sport. You get to watch people push, shove, and go nuts over low prices with most of the products being crap.

This year hopefully my dad and I will try and brave the Washington DC-area store craziness so that I can add some cool things to my apartment and make it feel more like home.

Have any fun Black Friday stories? Ever see someone elbow someone else in the face for a $2 pair of hand towels or something crazy like that?

(thanks Gadgetell and Crunch Gear)

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I have been reading the book The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. He talks about how the world has been transformed into a global environment.

Do people really understand this? I think in today’s society and culture we learn that the world revolves around you. It is possible to live day to day just in our own little world, in a bubble.

The truth is the world is so interconnected through technology, manufacturing, and education. It is pretty amazing.

This new view or understanding of our global society that we live in really transforms the way that you live day to day.

I don’t think we should lose sight of the relationships that we have with the person next door but I think the opportunities that we have to touch the world are as great as they ever have been.

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My really good friend Emma has just started a blog, “The rambling soapbox of a discontented suburbia.”

Emma and I would have coffee for a couple hours and just have some really cool conversations about what is happening in metropolitan Rochester, NY, and communities in general. She has an awesome heart for communities and for the environment. Before too long, I realized she had something to say and so I encouraged her to start a blog.

In her last post, she writes about how in cities today we seem to isolate ourselves from everyone else in our neighborhoods. When was the last time you started a random chat with your neighbors? Usually now a days, we all just keep to ourselves. I think she is right on with what she writes.

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One thing I see all too often in college is that professors will make the material in their class easier just to appease the class. This is dumb! I want the professor to take me to another level. Challenge me.

If people can’t handle the material, fail them. Getting an A is awesome but what do you learn from getting an A? I’d much rather get a B and have learned something.

I think this is especially bad in college intro liberal arts classes. So many of these classes are essential. I think people should be required to get a B in Constitutional Law, American and World History, Philosophy, and Sociology before being allowed to graduate college.

We are allowing too many weak people to graduate college…people who will not be ready for the decisions they will have to make in the real world.

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The guys over at XXXChurch had a really good post on their blog about the “New Porn.” They say, “From the Victoria Secrets mall windows to overly sexual driven ads on Myspace. The new porn targets the temptation of the imagination. Just enough skin, Just enough seduction to get lost in the lust of imagination.”

We have a very over sexed culture. Everywhere you go you see it. All of a sudden, like a light switch, you’re thinking about something you should not have. If are a guy reading this and can’t relate to what I am writing, you’re lying to yourself.

It does not help with what girls are wearing these days. I wonder what a college-aged girl would do if I went up to her and said, “Can you please not wear that? It is causing me to think inappropriate things about you.” I don’t know if she would be impressed with how much respect I have for her. I know that sometimes you can just not look but when you have to have face to face conversation with that person it does not make it easy.

Men, is this something that you struggle with?

Women, do you feel that there is a growing societal push that to be sexy is to dress scandalously? What do you think about that? Do you find it empowering or degrading?

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Gentlemen, geeks, my friends you need to learn to cook. If you haven’t ever cooked for your friends or your special lady, try it. They will appreciate it.

A great resource for cooking tips is the Revision3 video show
Ctrl+Alt+Chicken. It is a cooking show for geeks.

In the last episode, Alex and Heather tried making manicotti. I am going to try it.

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