Wednesday, September 20, 2006

University of Virginia Student Graduates in One Year

18-year-old David Banh recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a double major in Physics and Mathematics, and an education paid for almost entirely by scholarships. What's truly amazing is that he did it in one year, bringing in 72 Advanced Placement credits, then taking 23 credits his fall semester, 37 credits his spring semester and 3 credits in the summer. His brief undergraduate career didn't leave him much time to explore college, so he's now working on his master's degree.

more on the story
It's really something, but is it really worth it, for me, I don't think so, I just hope to get back to my old days at the university

Monday, September 18, 2006

The 36th Anniversary of the passing of James Marshall Hendrix




Today Marks the 36th Anniversary for the passing of one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century.


In the early morning hours of September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix was found dead in the basement flat of the Samarkand Hotel at 22 Lansdowne Crescent in London. Hendrix died amid circumstances which have never been fully explained, and the exact details of his death will probably never be confirmed. He had spent the night with his German girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, and likely died in bed after drinking wine and taking nine Vesperax sleeping pills, then asphyxiating on his own vomit. For years, Dannemann publicly claimed that Hendrix was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance; however, her comments about that morning were often contradictory and confused, varying from interview to interview. Police and ambulance reports reveal that not only was Hendrix dead when they arrived on the scene, but he had been dead for some time, the apartment's front door was wide open, and the apartment itself empty. Following a libel case brought in 1996 by Hendrix's long-term British girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, Monika Dannemann allegedly took her own life.

A sad poem written by Hendrix that was found in the apartment has led some to believe that he committed suicide. More speculative is the belief that Hendrix was murdered—forcibly given the sleeping pills and wine, then asphyxiated with a scarf by professionals hired by manager Michael Jeffery. The most accepted and credible theory, however, is that he simply misjudged the potency of the sleeping pills, and asphyxiated in his sleep due to an inability to regain consciousness when he vomited.

Reports that Hendrix's tapes of the concept album Black Gold had been stolen from the London flat are in fact wrong: the tapes were handed to Mitch Mitchell by Jimi at the Isle of Wight Festival three weeks prior to his death. Hendrix's Greenwich Village apartment, however, was indeed plundered by an unknown series of vandals who stole numerous personal items, tapes, and countless pages of lyrics and poems, some of which have resurfaced in the hands of collectors or at auctions.

more ...

Widely recognized as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. Hendrix's innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form. Because he was unable to read or write music, it is nothing short of remarkable that Jimi Hendrix's meteoric rise in the music took place in just four short years. His musical language continues to influence a host of modern musicians, from George Clinton to Miles Davis, and Steve Vai to Jonny Lang.

Jimi Hendrix, born Johnny Allen Hendrix at 10:15 a.m. on November 27, 1942, at Seattle's King County Hospital, was later renamed James Marshall by his father, James "Al" Hendrix. Young Jimmy (as he was referred to at the time) took an interest in music, drawing influence from virtually every major artist at the time, including B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Holly, and Robert Johnson. Entirely self-taught, Jimmy's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder on the music he heard.
For Me I guess he deserves a moment of silence and spend the rest of the day influence by his music.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Happy Software Freedom Day

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere! The non-profit company Software Freedom International provides guidance in organizing SFD, but volunteer teams around the world organize their own SFD events to impact their own communities.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Broken Leg

After a week of my leg hurting me so much (for no reason), I went to a doctor, and it came out that it was broken, the problem is that I don't remember breaking it, or even hitting it with something, so he explained that this kind of fracture is called Stree Fracture, which is a result of overuse of the bone, it happens a lot to the athelets, specially tennis and Basketball players, and to the soldiers.
The thing is I'm not a soldier, and I don't play Tennis nor Basketball, I hardly play any kind of sports .....
"Do you walk a lot?", the doctor asked, "Yes", I answered, "Oh, well that is the reason". Walking is one of my hobbies, actully I love walking a lot, I don't do it to lose weight, to be more presice, none of the people I know walk as much as me.
Well, I guess this leads me to the question that I always hate, What is it with the human body? If you don't walk or play sports, you would have lots of health problems, if you do, you would have this Stress Fracture thing. and getting me back to teeth, you brush them twice a day, and you end up having problems in sleeping from their pain, and looking at animals, My parents have lots of cats, and a couple of dogs, I don't remember any of them ever brushed thier teeth, also I don't remember any of them having problems in thier teeth too.
So would someone explain to me what is it with the human body?

Monday, September 04, 2006

Warning - Too Dangerous Together

Just listening to one of these songs makes me high, what happens if I heard them all together. But be ware that this would effect you, only if you are a Blues listener, and adore Jimi Hendrix as much as I do.
Well, you think I'm kidding, well if you match the conditions above, try to listen to Once I Had a Woman, OK after you listened to it how do you feel, aren't you high already, Now if you are not high, well you don't need to continue, as you don't match the conditions, if you do, well be careful this can be extremely dangerous, it's preferable that one of the other type be with you - but of course he needs to shut up, cause these people can ruin everything - in case you needed help.
OK, now go to the second song, Red House, Man that really hurts, It's really a great one, it could make you high alone too.
So, you're still a live, ready for another shot, well go for the great Born Under a Bad Sign, this one is going to get you down, it's extremely dangerous, and you can get an overdose from it, especially after the other two songs.
Of course you can go for other songs after it, but your life might be in danger, so in case you wanted to listen to those 3 songs together put some other songs between them.
I almost took those three songs together yesterday, but a guy from the other type started nagging, and got me out of the mood :s.