If any of you are in the Urbana-Champaign area, head on over to the EPIC Conference. EPIC is Education for Palestine and Israeli Coexistance. We've been planning this conference since November and next Sunday (1 April 2001) should be exciting.

Apparently there's no hope for beer at Memorial Stadium (UIUCs football stadium) where the Chicago Bears might possibly play. I say, let them have beer. Not only beer, but I think we should allow marijuana. Movies such as Half Baked seem to suggest that pot can act as an enhancer. What could be better than watching a football game ... on weed? No, really, I'd like to know. Drop me a line.

Cities in India have been undergone name changes in the last decade. For example, Bombay is Mumbai, Madras is Chennai, Calcutta is Kolkata. I didn't have too much of a problem with this, until I heard that Allahabad is going to change their name. The reason behind it (read the article, it's short) is that Allahabad is a name given by the Muslim rulers at the time to the city which was supposedly at one point "Prayag Raj." What upsets me is that Allahabad means the land of God. True, it has Islamic connotations by using the Arabic word Allah rather than one of the many Indic names for God, but I feel that the name Allahabad has some historical value to it. It reminds us that there was a time when India was part of the Mogul empire. It was a wonderful time for arts to blossum and for ... well okay, I guess the Hindus got pisses since there was a bunch of Muslims running around, but who cares. That was then. Allahabad sounds cool. Land of God is a good name, for any people, unless you absolutely hate God. It also reflects the ammount of Arabic and Persian influences in Indian culture. Half the words I use in Hindi are some type of Arabic or Persian words. On a more personal note, my computer has been named Allahabad (because I thought the name sounded cool), there is no way in hell I'm changing it to Prayag Raj.

I think I am too interested in religion and culture. I'd like to think that I have a good fundamental understanding of most of the world's religions. Every now and then, I'll start researching into each culture. Try to find out their beliefs on a certain subject. Their views of certain people. I should get a degree in religious studies. I think that may be my goal. Is after my BS in CS, I'll get Masters degrees in every other subject I like.

I just got back from an incredible performance by Zakir Hussain and Ali Akbar Khan. I have nothing more to say, other than it was amazing. Probably the best Indian music I've ever had the pleasure of listening.

I claim 2000-2001 the school year of the year. Marc and Dan dropping me off, Marc visiting for a week and the hi-hello from Katie this weekend were all nice touches. Way to go 2000-2001!

It's my third year before college, and I'm reevaluating what I want to do in life. So far I've decided tbat it's not CS that I want to do. So I've been milling over several occupations. Media Scientist? Politician? Professor? Well I've decided the perfect job for me would be homemaker. I just need a wife to be my breadwinner.

Now you might be thinking, "Dave, you lazy bum, wow, damn, are you lazy." Hold on though. (I bet my Jewish analogue, Marc, sees where I'm at here). I like to cook. I like to not work in offices. Two really good signs that I'd be a great homemaker. I like cooking so much, that I study it. No, not going to a culinary arts academy, but from family. My entire immediate family (minus my dad) can cook very well in their respective fields. Granted the dark side of cooking (microwaves and convenience) have gotten the better of my mom, but my brother's kitchen (no microwave) more than makes up for it.

So I've been thinking about my kitchen. What would I have in there. Well voice activated video system for one. You know how when you fry something you need to stir frequently? Yeah, that gets boring fast. In my kitchen, I'd like to be able to say, "TV-on, Batman Beyond" and with some brilliant mixture of TiVOs, Voice Recognition software and Video consoles my orders would be executed.

Now you might be thinking, "Dave Dash, you're family spent how much to put you through college? And you want to cook?" So, what else would I do besides cooking? I like to read and write. College has helped that immensely. I think I'd probably run for local office or something. I like Media and Politics (sure, not your usual Comp. Sci Major). So I'd do stuff in that area. Broad social impacts, that's me. Enough talk... I go read now.

I think the Boycott of American companies by Arabs is really cool. The article reports up to a 20% cut in sales (I imagine this is restricted to Arab countries). The Boycott is due to the US Government supporting Israel financially. My motives for thinking this is cool is I really dislike mass corporate influence. I think people should boycott places like McDonalds because they are inferior to alternatives. Unfortunately alternatives are becomming far fewer. Alternatives being "hole in the wall" and family owned (excluding giant chains owned by families) restaurants. Of course, if you like the crap that McDonalds serves you, then there is no hope for you.

I've developed some of my India pictures, and some pictures from Halloween. I don't have them all in the picture gallery yet, but if you'd like to see them, I'll give you access to my Snapfish albums. Just ask.

For now, you can look at the Tunpur pictures that were taken in my family village in Orissa.

I enjoyed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A lot of the movement was a bit fast for me, but I thought it was a very good movie. No complaints... except they chose not to speak English. One day the Chinese will drop their moon language and converse with us in English.

Last night I saw Pay it Forward which I also thought was a good movie. It had a good concept. Let's say someone does you a great favor that helps you do something you could not do on your own. For example, somebody saves your life. Instead of paying the person back, that person tells you to pay it forward. In otherwords you do a similarly good deed onto (in the movie's case) three other people. Not an entirely foreign concept. So that's going to be my thing. If some stranger does something altruistic that helps me do something I couldn't do, I will pay it forward.

Somebody like-likes me... but I can't figure out who, or if it's a joke.