Thursday, April 2, 2009

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!!


Los Angeles Times, 4/1/09
FULL STORY HERE
Cole Bettles had been rejected by a raft of universities when he received an e-mail from UC San Diego on Monday congratulating him on his admission and inviting him to tour the campus. His mother booked a hotel in San Diego, and the 18-year-old Ojai high school senior arranged for his grandfather, uncle and other family members to meet them at the campus for lunch during the Saturday orientation.

"They were like, 'Oh, my God, that's so awesome,' " Bettles said. Right before he got in bed, he checked his e-mail one last time and found another message saying the school had made a mistake and his application had been denied.

In fact, all 28,000 students turned away from UC San Diego in one of the toughest college entrance seasons on record had received the same misfired message, raising their hopes only to dash them again in a particularly cruel twist on the perils of instant communications in the Internet Age.

UCSD admissions director Mae Brown called the snafu an "administrative error" but refused to say whether the mistake was made by one or more members of her staff or by a contractor or if those responsible would be disciplined.

The e-mail, which began, "We're thrilled that you've been admitted to UC San Diego, and we're showcasing our beautiful campus on Admit Day," was sent to the entire freshman applicant pool of more than 46,000 students, instead of just the 18,000 who had been admitted, Brown said.

The error was discovered almost immediately by her staff, which sent an apology within hours.


I wish this was an April Fools joke...

-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

Surf Wax America
by: Weezer
Blue Album

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Our Slow Economy


I think Osama Bin Laden knew that by attacking the heart of our financial industry he would be doing much more damage then just flying airplanes into buildings. He knew that by doing what he did he would cause years, maybe decades of economic recession for the US, leaving people disenchanted our government, without hope and positive moral. And there are many people right now in the US who are feeling these things and more.

Last week I started a new job after being unemployed for three months. It was tough for me because I had no money so I couldn't really do anything but chill at home and apply for jobs online and do little jobs here and there. There were times recently where I couldn't even afford gas to drive! My phone was shut off for almost 3 weeks because I couldn't pay the bill and I couldn't spend time with my best friends because some of them like to go out and spend for a good time, a having a lot more disposable income then me, not having any income at the time. But there are a lot of people who have lost their jobs and are still looking to no avail, along with jobs not hiring because they're on a hiring freeze. With many people losing their homes and inflation still rising, who is to blame for the current state of economic affairs?



I don't know exactly who is it, or what group is it but all I know is that whoever in the government decided to mess around in the world's affairs, the American people are now suffering for the decisions made in Washington by rich politicians that don't really feel the decline in economy as much as the middle class and under. The injustice is that we're suffering in holding down the food at the table, the car to travel, the home we live in, all these things and more without directly deciding too.

So wack!
-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

Gimme Sympathy (acoustic)
by: Metric
Fantasies

Thursday, March 26, 2009

"Banks steered blacks to bad loans, NAACP says"


Associated Press, 3/13/09
FULL STORY HERE
The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates.

Class-action lawsuits were to be filed against the banks Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told The Associated Press.

Black homebuyers have been 3 1/2 times more likely to receive a subprime loan than white borrowers, and six times more likely to get a subprime rate when refinancing, Tighe said. Blacks still were disproportionately steered into subprime loans when their credit scores, income and down payment were equal to those of white homebuyers, he said.


Stereotyping at its absurdly best!
-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

I Can't
by: Radiohead
Pablo Honey

Monday, March 23, 2009

Obama on Leno!!!


If you haven't seen it, this is President Obama's guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week. He talks about AIG, the need for better laws and different social injustices that he wants to combat and change.

I'm very, very happy with my President!
-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

Obama on Leno
by: President Barack Obama
The Tonight Show

Sunday, March 22, 2009

How Low Will You Go?


A stock-broker who was making $750,000 a year but because of the economy is now delivering pizzas for $7.29/hr to keep the food on the table!

I know, ridiculous right? Just watch...!

-gs1r-


LISTENING TO:

Picture This
by: Beastie Boys
Hello Nasty