Walking around the city by myself today, I felt so comfortable. Usually I’d be terrified of being alone in a huge city where I only know a few people and don’t really know my way around. Maybe I’m just good with directions, but I didn’t get lost and I kept ending up exactly where I had wanted to end up.

I got stuck on a city bus today. Stupid doors wouldn’t open. If someone hadn’t helped me get them open, I probably would’ve had to stay on and get off on the next stop, which would’ve meant extra walking, which actually would’ve been OK because I love Chicago. =)

Tomorrow I’m going to go see Northwestern. It’ll be weird. I’ve had this whole obsessive fixation with Northwestern for about five years now, maybe even more. I don’t really remember how it started. I definitely fell in love with the campus five years ago and that’s all I remember. Damn, it’s such a gorgeous place.

Getting out of Beavercreek, Ohio and being here is incredibly refreshing. Back home I’ve gotten pretty used to being stared at for various reasons. I don’t really fit in. I don’t really try to. I look different, talk different, act different. Here there are so many people that, for once, I get to be invisible. I get to just be another face in the crowd. There are many prettier girls and many uglier girls, and many people who speak more exotic languages than the one I do, and many people who have seen and done more things than I have and many people who have seen and done less things than I have. What a relief.

I do miss home, though. It was really hard to come here. Last summer pretty much ruined the all the magic and excitement I used to associate with traveling. It destroyed the way I’d elevate travel in my mind as something extraordinary. It became a chore, even something painful. But I love Chicago. That made it a bit easier.

Kanye West’s “Homecoming” is my favorite song about Chicago.

Whenever I leave a physical place, I leave a lot of mental things there, too. (As I said, travel was once a really big deal for me.) There is a LOT of pain that I’ve just left back home in Ohio. I feel very far away from it now, even though it’s still in my mind and, therefore, technically just as close to me as ever. Either way, I kind of don’t care. This is what it’ll be like next fall when I leave. I may not ever forget some of those things, but I just won’t care so much anymore.

The sheer variety of people you see on the streets of a very big city is nothing short of extraordinary.

Chicago has some incredible architecture. This was definitely a city built for people to admire, not just for cars to drive through.

Someone is screaming in the apartment above this one. I can’t tell if it’s the TV or real people.

A city comes with its own music. Some people hate it. Personally, I can’t live without that kind of white noise.

Chicago’s public transportation sucks. But, I don’t know, it’s endearing in a way. What I really love is riding the El train all the way from Evanston down to the Loop. You get to ride past the backs of all these old houses and look right into people’s porches and balconies. People will hang flags and flower baskets out there, out of view from the main street but not from the train. Once I saw a poster with nothing more than a MySpace address. I think I meant to follow it but I forgot. Near Wrigley Field, you’ll see houses with lawn chairs on their roofs, where people try to catch the game for free. And you see all kinds of incredible old buildings. They’re ugly and broken-down, and have graffiti all over them. I could spend an entire day just riding the train around Chicago.

Last night I really, REALLY didn’t want to leave home. I started hyperventilating and all that stuff. Just like all the other recent times that I’ve traveled. But someone helped me feel better. As always.

I think I can really see myself living here for the rest of my life.

Took this today with my dad’s 8-megapixel Nikon. =)

one majer problem 2day is that many peeple arent realy vary good at lyk thikning and stuff lyk that an there riting pretty much sux cuz they dont even no wat their talkin bout u no? its lyk theirs nothin in they’re brain at al and there totely stoopid!

Sick of having to read stuff like this? I know I am. America today is teeming with people whose minds just aren’t up to par, and the rest of us must suffer for their ignorance.

I know what you’re thinking: it used to be the norm for people to not even know the alphabet, let alone read and write fluently, so why am I complaining? After all, the adult literacy rate in the United States is 99 percent these days, which is something that we should all be thankful for.

However, given our superior technology, high-quality public schools, and societal emphasis on learning and intelligence, we are not fulfilling our intellectual potential. Why are there still so damn many stupid people?

The answer lies in our mismanagement of our own resources and abilities. If we so chose, we could easily mold our nation into a land of brilliant citizens within a generation or two. But we haven’t done so. Yet.

As one who desires nothing but glory and success for America, I feel it is my duty to propose anew plan for bettering our nation and its citizens. Some may deem this proposal unworkable or even extreme, but you can rest assured that these skeptics are themselves irrational.

I propose that every American—child, adult, and senior citizen—submit to an IQ test once a year. This IQ test will be designed by a panel of scientists, psychologists, and doctors of various backgrounds to ensure that no bias exists. Of course, the test will vary depending on age, because one can hardly expect a toddler to be able to answer the same questions as a 30-year-old. The test will provide an objective measure for reasoning ability, and results will be publicly available so that anyone who wishes to know the IQ of a family member, friend, or potential spouse can do so freely.

After a few years, during which the test will be further refined, I suggest that the United States government begin using the test to weed out those members of our society whose intelligence is deemed unsatisfactory. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. For example, couples wishing to marry and have children can be required to provide official proof of their intelligence, and those whose IQ falls below a set number can be forbidden to produce offspring. This will ensure that the next generation of Americans is much brighter than the preceding generation.

Ordinarily, Darwinian natural selection would accomplish this task perfectly well on its own, but our society has made evolution impossible by providing services like free public schooling, welfare, and job placement programs for those who are otherwise not intelligent enough to survive. Many Americans think that these programs are necessary and morally sound, but this is a misconception. It may seem humane to help a stupid person survive, but the end result is the continued presence of stupidity in the human gene pool. This is a serious problem that should be corrected.

Aside from regulating marriage and childbearing, there are other things the government can do to help society move towards greater intelligence in all of its members. Schools can be segregated based on IQ level so that the smartest children can receive specialized instruction rather than being bogged down in classrooms where the teachers must spend inordinate amounts of time trying to explain relatively simple concepts to students too dull to ever comprehend them. The students of average intelligence, meanwhile, will be taught in separate schools to help develop their potential. Meanwhile, the dumbest students will attend a third set of schools, which will serve as mental hospitals of a sort. These institutions will experiment with ways to alter the human brain to increase its reasoning ability. Hopefully, they will reform these students and help them grow up to be productive members of society.

In the worst case scenario—that is, if a person of unsuitable IQ defies the law and reproduces—both the child and his parent may be put to death. This may sound cruel, but remember that the wellbeing of the human race is at stake. Yes, some people may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

My opponents claim that my proposal is extreme. They suggest providing more interesting classroom education, enacting new programs to help mentally deficient adults, and so on. But none of these measures will work. Intelligence is mostly a hereditary trait, so as long as there are stupid people reproducing in our country, there will be stupid people born in this country, and we will continue to waste taxpayers’ millions on trying to reform them. This is stupid.

My proposal will drastically increase the average intelligence of Americans and provide our country with guaranteed success in the future, as economies and social structures become even more globalized and diverse. In order to be able to compete with other nations, we must change our ways now. It is irrational and un-American to oppose this solution.

We must act now to change our destiny, and it is only by following my plan that we can save our nation from the devastation that stupidity will bring.

A&E has suffered a 29% drop in March sales from last year, which is more than any other store. That puts sales at $235.1 million. Unlike other stores that try to appeal to teens, Abercrombie refuses to drop prices or have sales and promotions. According to a The Big Money article, CEO Michael Jeffries thinks that “promotions are a short-term solution with dreadful long-term effects.”

However, according to another article, A&E actually did cut prices back in January.

Tiny piece of denim costing $70

Either way, sales are down, and everyone knows why: buying crap that’s extremely expensive (and nevertheless, still crap) just isn’t so cool anymore. I went on the Abercrombie website (warning: almost NSFW) and discovered that this tiny piece of denim costs $70, though you have to go back to the actual “Denim Skirts” category to see the price. My main question is, WHY? It’s one thing to own nice expensive things. I believe that every girl should own at least one nice evening gown, several pairs of nice heels, several pieces of nice jewelry, and so on. But a “nice” piece of denim? I don’t think so. Denim is denim. They have the same denim at Walmart, Kohl’s, and JC Penney.

Of course, everyone knows why people wear shirts with A&E logos on them. It’s so everyone knows how rich and cool they are. After all, while you were eating crappy pizza in the food court of the neighborhood mall and wishing you could afford a prom dress from Macy’s, they were buying this stuff at Abercrombie. No secret there.

But why someone would shell out so much money for something that 1) isn’t of high quality and 2) doesn’t advertise how rich they are is beyond me.

Then again, the listing for this tiny piece of denim (it’s called “Ryan,” by the way) proclaims that it is

100% cotton, medium length, subtle destruction with fading and whiskering, raw edged hem, Vintage Abercrombie Wash, Classic Fit, Imported

So maybe I really am missing something here. I mean, “subtle destruction?” Come on. You know you want your clothes to be subtly destroyed. All the cool kids are doing it.

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But truth is, people don’t really understand what that means. They think it means that a courthouse can’t put a Christmas tree next to its steps, or that a public school can’t allow students to have a moment of silence for optional prayer.

Actually, that’s not what it means at all. It means two things: one, that the government cannot ordain any religion (the establishment clause); and two, that the government cannot prevent any citizen from reasonably worshiping as they choose (the free exercise clause).

Everything else comes not from the Constitution but from the interpretation of some judge or politician, somewhere along the line.

Personally, I think it’s time for a new principle, and I call it “separation of church and school.”

Today, my seven-year-old brother came home from school and told us that his class had painted Easter eggs that day. We’re Jewish. Now, I see nothing wrong with this (unlike my more conservative mom, who thinks it’s unnecessary and wrong).

That is, I see nothing wrong with this as long as religion isn’t tied into it in any way.

But apparently it was, because somewhere along the line, the topic of religion came up, because, as my little brother explained, his teacher told him that it’s “OK for Jews to celebrate Easter.” She also said that it’s OK for Christians to celebrate Passover.

If you ask me, it was inappropriate to make either of those comments. But the former is much worse than the latter. Truth is, in a country that’s currently 76% Christian (according to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey), a Christian child is in absolutely no danger of losing his or her religious identity. By contrast, 1.2% of America is Jewish. All it takes is one suggestion that it’s perfectly alright to celebrate Easter for a Jewish child to begin conforming to the mainstream religion, asking his parents to get a Christmas tree next year, and complaining about how annoying it is that we can’t eat bread during Passover or pork ever and how ALL the other kids get Christmas presents and how come we don’t?

But aside from this personal example, a teacher should not involve herself in religion at all. Those kids are so young, and they see her as an authority figure. A teacher has a lifelong impact on people’s beliefs and values, and although parents are much more responsible than teachers are, they can’t be there with their kids seven hours a day. They don’t know what goes on in the classroom unless their kids tell them, and those testimonies are rarely reliable.

When it comes down to it, who the hell gave my little brother’s teacher the right to tell him what’s acceptable in his religion? Is she a Jew? No. And even if she were, it’s still not within her jurisprudence, because she is not his parent.

I have no idea if this was an isolated incident or if it happens all the time. It sounds like she was trying to spread a message of tolerance and took it too far. Or, possibly, my little brother had been complaining that he’s Jewish and shouldn’t be painting Easter eggs, in which case, instead of being lazy and refusing to adjust her classroom plans, the teacher could’ve told him that he can teach the class about the Passover Seder instead. But she didn’t. Because she was lazy and/or incompetent.

As for the actual religious aspect of this, the second of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have no other gods but me.” Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Jews do not believe that Jesus was resurrected. We do not believe that he is a god. Therefore, it is absolutely not “OK” for Jews to celebrate Easter.

My religion is dying out, and it will keep dying out as long as the majority keeps trying to assimilate the minority.

Crappy AIM registration process

Ok. Is this really necessary? All I’m trying to do is get a stupid AIM screen name, for heaven’s sake. Why does a captcha have to have not four, not five, but EIGHT characters?

Furthermore, if I type them wrong (which I often did, as I had to do it over and over to find a screen name that actually isn’t taken already), it provides the unhelpful feedback of “do not put spaces in between the characters” or something like that. And you know, since there’s basically NO way to distinguish between a 9 and a g, it can take a while of trial and error.

What I don’t get is why websites like this completely refuse to use newer, more effective, and easier captcha systems. Take reCAPTCHA, for instance. It’s a system that uses scans from books, each of which consists of two words, as a captcha. They’re slightly warped, but still readable. If you happen to be blind (or just have difficulty reading the words), you can click on the little audio symbol and have them read to you.

ReCAPTCHA’s slogan is, appropriately, “Stop Spam Read Books.” Two birds with one stone!

reCAPTCHA: Much better!

But here’s the amazing part. When you decode one of these captchas, you’re taking a book scan and, essentially, digitizing it into typed words. This is all part of a project to digitize a bunch of books, basically, because computers can’t do it well enough on their own.

You might be wondering how the captcha system knows if you’ve typed in the correct word if they haven’t been scanned yet. The reCAPTCHA site has an answer to that, too:

“But if a computer can’t read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here’s how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct.”

So there you have it. The website says that currently, reCAPTCHA is being used to digitize the Internet Archive and old editions of the New York Times. For the science-capable (that is, NOT me), the creators of reCAPTCHA have published a paper in Science magazine.

The question is, why don’t more websites use this system and not annoying, time-consuming ones that are simply painful to read? I have no idea. Probably laziness. In AIM’s case, the idiots over there probably think that their service is so ubiquitous that people just can’t live without it and will keep registering for screen names even though the registration process is so crappily designed.

Sadly, they’re probably right.

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Palestinian children from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank pose for a photo after playing for Holocaust survivors.

Few can disagree with the idea that music brings people together, even across different cultures. After all, music began in human society as a way to celebrate major events and gather people together, transcending boundaries like age, race, or gender.

The leaders of the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin don’t seem to understand this. In late March, they shut down a children’s orchestra in the West Bank camp because its conductor, Wafa Yournes, had taken the children to perform for elderly Israeli Holocaust survivors as part of Israel’s Good Deeds Day.

According to Adnan Hindi, one of the leaders, “she exploited the children for a big political issue.” Many of the parents in the camp agreed as well, saying that they would never have let their kids go on the trip had they known what it was for.

Rather than simply reprimanding Yournes—or, even better, just leaving the orchestra alone—authorities boarded up the studio where the orchestra rehearsed and banned Yournes from the camp entirely. If those kids had any crazy notions of continuing to express themselves and improve their lives through music, the Jenin authorities can rest assured that there’s no chance for that now.

The orchestra’s name, “Strings of Freedom,” now seems very ironic, considering that its members no longer have the freedom to perform their music.

The parents opposing the performance say that it is inappropriate given Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Unfortunately, they were not asked which action they think would be more appropriate. I have a feeling it’s not volunteering projects or sports games with Israeli kids.

If it were, we’d be done with this whole never-ending war thing by now.I heard about this news on Digg, and after I read the original Associated Press article, I immediately jumped into the discussion on Digg.

Some of the people commenting on the article, like me, thought this was sad news that speaks about a problem much bigger than this single issue. Others, however, sided with the Jenin leaders and parents, pinning everything on Israel and refusing to acknowledge that the concert could have been a step towards peace.

That’s what bothers me the most—the idea that because Israel hasn’t taken sufficient steps to help Palestinians (which itself is a lie that would require a separate article to debunk), the Palestinians should not take any responsibility in bridging the two cultures and bringing about peace. Maybe the Jenin leaders and the people who agreed with them on Digg don’t even want peace. Maybe that’s what this is about.

Furthermore, the Jenin leaders and parents oppose the orchestra’s concert because, according to them, it inserts kids into a political situation. Does it really? If these kids were, say, a group of young American musicians on a goodwill trip to Israel, would it be inappropriate for them to perform for Holocaust survivors? Of course not. But because they’re Palestinian kids, a distinction is made. If that’s not interfering in children’s lives with politics, I don’t know what is.

Besides, since when is the massacre of six million people (and the subsequent remembrance of it) a “political” issue? That should be considered a tragedy, whether those people are Jews, Arabs, children, adults, or whatever other classification you can come up with. Injecting politics into that is shameful.

Unfortunately, shameful doesn’t mean surprising. The same thing happens in the United States: housing the homeless, researching alternative energy sources, and helping Americans get through an economic crisis are all hot-button political issues that really shouldn’t be. Rather than helping people and advancing science, pundits and politicians debate and accuse the other side of trying to destroy America.

And, in Israel, one side can’t help the other commemorate an unforgettable tragedy because that would be too “political.” It seems that politics is still shoved down the throats of kids who want to sing peace songs for Holocaust survivors and bridge a cultural gap.

Tom Segev, an Israeli historian, said it best when he commented on the issue: “You can’t understand Israel unless you understand the role of the Holocaust in Israeli identity. And if you don’t understand your enemy, you can’t make peace.”

Anyone who is still puzzled as to why we’ve never had even a year of peace should look no further than this incident. Sure, no guns, rockets, or Hamas militants were involved, but the Jenin leaders’ stubbornness speaks for itself.

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