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May 16th, 2012
arvindn
 | 12:28 pm - Observations from Chicago
A couple of weeks ago I was in Chicago as a tourist. It was my first time in the city. The usual caveats about my "observations" posts applies — I spent all of 48 hours there, and probably don't know what I'm talking about.
Somehow, during this trip I got into my city groove again. That involves, among other things, talking to strangers. A lot. Whenever I do this, incredibly weird things happen — like walking into a random bar in Ukrainian village and finding that the first person I talk to is someone I apparently went to middle school with back in India.
Anyway, without further ado:
Transportation
Driving seems to be the easiest way to get around anywhere except downtown, and possibly even downtown. I think the opinions I heard about driving being a nightmare are greatly exaggerated. Parking is apparently expensive, but whatever.
The metro is quite decent as well. Overall I think the transportation options are great.
There were far fewer cyclists than I would have expected. I suspect this is because of the weather, especially the wind.
There is cellular coverage in the Subway! Why is it different from New York?
Neighborhoods
The city is quite segregated, way more than New York. It's amazing how the demographic on the Metro changes from all-black to almost-all-white within a couple of stops.
East Village has a lot of character. For example, there's a Mexican dude selling vegetables all day out of the back of a truck at the corner of Paulina and Chicago. Nice of the cops not to shut him down.
Hyde Park (where Obama lived), is a Black neighborhood that's not poor. I'm still trying to develop an intuition for such neighborhoods. For example, it's impressive that they stay segregated despite the apparent absence of economic stratification. Impressively bad, that is.
I failed to get the supposed snooty vibe from Lincoln Park. Maybe I didn't spend enough time there, or maybe I'm snooty myself.
Colleges and universities
There was a surprisingly large number of colleges/universities in the areas I visited. In some places, one in every block, or so it seemed. And there was a student center (housing + recreational facilities) that is shared by four universities.
The University of Chicago is... unique, both the architecture and the atmosphere. My first thought was that it looked exactly like Hogwarts. Definitely worth a visit.
I hung out at DePaul for a while, and the vibe was interesting. The kids seemed excited to be there, just in the course of a normal day. Later I looked it up and found that it has often ranked #1 in student satisfaction.
Miscellany
I talked to a Chicago native and was blown away by how thick the accent is. I had no idea. I guess we hear very diluted Midwestern accents in the rest of the country.
I took a chance on the Lincoln Park zoo, even though it was on the standard list of tourist activities. It was actually quite nice.
There was a secret service vehicle stationed outside Obama's house — where he still spends his holidays — but otherwise everything is normal. There is an elementary school directly across the street from his house, and children were playing on the street. When those kids grow up, they will probably have amazing memories of playing right outside the gate of the President's house as five-year olds.
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May 15th, 2012
arvindn
| 11:21 am - This spammer is a Magnificent Bastard
I've watched with fascination as spam has grown more sophisticated over the years. This email I received earlier today is among the best I've seen:Hello Arvind,
Are you the person responsible for adding web content to the following page: 33bits.org
I am one of a small group that recently began a comprehensive online project focused on educating interested people about computer science. The website started as something small and has since grown to include thorough resources on things like the PERL language, human-computer interaction, computer animation, and even the evolution of computer science as it intersects and changes musical technology. Most of all we aimed to make the project accessible and have seen it put to good use so far.
I'd love to share the resource with you -- would you be interested in checking it out, perhaps offering feedback, and exploring the domain? It would be such a pleasure to hear from you!
Cheers,
Olivia Leonardi
As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
Bill Gates There are so many things to admire here — figuring out my name and email address from my blog (although that's very common these days), the fluent prose (by spam standards, of course), the touch of verisimilitude via the quote, and most of all, the reasonably good customization of topics mentioned to the topic my blog covers.
It would be very impressive if this operation were fully automated, but I suspect there is some human involvement here, simply because that's probably cheaper.
I get enough spam because of my blog that it's obvious at a glance that it's spam, but I bet it's good enough to fool a lot of people. It would work even better if they added a check to make sure they don't send more than one to the same author. Here's another one I got; you can see the impressive degree of customization:Hi Arvind,
I am curious if you are the person responsible for adding content to the following page: 33bits.org/2009/12/02/the-entropy-of-a-dna-profile
If not, feel free to forward me on to the correct person! I came across your page during my research for a project for which I am contributor. It is a research project that examines how biology has evolved from being a scientific study into a practice that has the power to affect global change for the better. The recently completed resource offers articles with an insightful look for anyone considering or currently in the biology field.
I would love to send over more details about this project and partner with you, let me know!
Thanks for your time. I look forward to working with you!
Madison
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle I wonder what's the play here — to get people to contribute articles to a spam site? Or just link to them? Either way, as much as I hate spammers, I can't help but wish this one good luck :-)
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