Disqus - Latest Comments for Ali Karbassi

Re: Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious!

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:12:26 -0000

I swear I'm going to be yelling, "Snack Attack, Mother Fucker!" for weeks.

Re: New Design

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 15:31:13 -0000

Thanks Jimmy. Anything I should add?

Personally, I thought my bottom section the best.. everything is split up, like a picture, 3 regions..

1) menus
2) content
3) other menues, options, things

Re: Oregon Trail: Revisited

Ali Karbassi — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:18:27 -0000

Ha ha.. I love typing really fast and misspelling. Thanks Ben.

Oregon Trial would be a kick ass game too.. "He stole my bullets! Hang him!"

Re: Things not to do in the bathroom…

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:29:59 -0000

AchenDude: Depends on what movie. :P

Re: University Student Dismissed for Hand Gesture

Ali Karbassi — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:02:43 -0000

rhsunderground, I cannot believe you used the word "I" without CAPITALIZING it... FOR SHAME!

Re: Roommates. Rant away!

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 08 May 2006 23:13:23 -0000

God Joe. I love you... I never expected that. This is why we are best of friends.. i mean..

HA HA..

Re: YouTube.com…

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 08 May 2006 23:16:41 -0000

The song is called "Give it All" from the band "Rise Against".

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 01:56:37 -0000

@Steph (#1)
What about IQ tests? What do you think of those? How can you test someone to see how smart they are? What if they are so smart that they know better than the test. (Do I make sense?)

Also, the ACTs and SATs are in English. Is that fair for the foriegn students studying in the United States?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:10:20 -0000

And some of us just freak out on tests. I think ultimately, children need to be pushed to their extremes to see what they are able to do. If it wasn't for my parents constant pressure, you wouldn't see this site. You wouldn't see me in college. You wouldn't see me doing amazing things with my mind and computers.

But I digress. I don't know what the best method of testing is, or if "testing" is the best method. But yet again, how do you know the person has learned the material?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:21:41 -0000

Don't get me wrong, I did lots of it by myself, but I wouldn't be here without my parents. I've seen some children that I grew up with, that had the same education as I, not be able to even get into a college. Everyone's raised differently, everyone has their own morals and views. That's where it's hard to figure out; how do you test individuals without being too individual, but not too vague?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:31:58 -0000

I've heard of the CSAP before. Some other states follow this method.

See what bothers me is that teachers now teach the test, and not the material. I remember taking classes in high school where the teachers would teach leasons just because "it will be on the graduations test." Yet, there was no graduation test when I graduated. (Read more here: OEA: Wisconsin High School Graduation Test)

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:43:39 -0000

It's so bad around the world. Why must we spend so much money for just a peice of paper with the institution that ripped us off on it? A cheap university in the United States can run around $8000-$10000 a semester. That's basically 5 or 6 months for that much money. Wouldn't you gain more value if you spent that money on books and maybe private tutors on subjects you had problems on?

However, I do think college is a learning experience. You learn how to deal with people better. You learn how the so called "real world" is like.

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:18:20 -0000

LR: So, what do employers do? Hire who they think is adequate and learn that they aren't five to ten years into the job?

I do believe in what you said, no one can really know. Everyone, including me, believes that Albert Einstein was one of the most brilliant minds in our time, but he didn't consider it to be so.

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:32:20 -0000

Side note: This is turning into a discussion about who to employ, but still a good discussion.

I believe that the best way to find who to hire is to look at what they have done so far with their lives. For example, one person can be book smart, but not be able to work with others, work under pressure, or isn't able to learn quickly enough to adapt. Now their scores show an outstanding individual, but does that make them a good employee? Person #2 has decent grades, didn't graduate top of their class, but did graduate. However, this person started their own company, while in school, and sold it off to pursue other endeavors. They are quick-witted, can easily adapt to the environment and loves to learn.

Who do you hire?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:40:29 -0000

So, what's the point of going to an university at the end? Is it to prove that you can work through the system and finish require work? Is it that you can buckle down and spend time and do something?

I just think that college used to be for the "elite" a few decades ago and now many people go. There needs to be something new that sets you apart from the rest. But what's next?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:58:28 -0000

So we have to gradually go to school more years to prove ourselves? PhD., Dr., what's next?

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:16:13 -0000

George, I understand what you are trying to say about how our minds work, but I thought I'd clear is up a little better.

Unlike computers, our minds have UNLIMITED space. That means, we can hold as much as we want, and do so until we die. Unless the brain is damaged somehow (i.e. accident), the information is always there, but there needs to be some sort of trigger to recall it (i.e. someone running the program). Now, when the data is fresh, it's still in the RAM. That is why our computers run faster when we have more RAM.

Run more and more programs and the computer will slow down. That concept is the same as doing 10-15 things at once (Human example: doing homework, watching tv, listening to the radio, using the calculator, and talking to your friend). This is called multitasking. Computers are made to multitask real well because they have a hierarchy of tasks. We humans have a hierachy also. The best example is Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

I know I'm babbling, but I do have a point. As similar as our computers are built to match our minds, it will never come close to what we can do. Unlike computers, nothing is ever deleted from our minds, so why not jam is full; like you jam your computer full of music. :P

Re: Calvin & Hobbes tell it like it is. #1

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:26:01 -0000

Steph, I believe that you are incorrect about the fact that our brains have unlimited storage space. Here's a quick test you can run, if the resources are available. Find a person over the age of 65 and ask them about their childhood. Be sure to use examples or something that will trigger it. They will most likely remember it.

After doing some research on Wikipedia, I ran across this:

"The brain does not store memories in one unified structure, as might be seen in a computer's hard disk drive. Instead, different types of memory are stored in different regions of the brain. LTM is typically divided up into two major headings: declarative memory and procedural memory."[Ref.]

Re: What is love?

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 01:18:31 -0000

@#2

I think that's a very beautiful thing you said there. What I've learned is that if it doesn't hurt, it wasn't meant to be. If something happens and you and your significant other break up (or whatever), and it doesn't hurt, it wasn't that important to you.

I don't want to get all emo on you guys, but the statement still stands, "When you hurt, it shows that you're still alive." It's true...

Re: Facebook: The new MySpace

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:04:11 -0000

Adam: Facebook now allows highschools and TONS of companies to join up. View the list here. It's "basically" open already, but there are still people who can't join. IE: Spam sites, porn sites, and mainly pedophilia. Sure there are a lot of creepy people on there (male and female), but it's MUCH less than MySpace.

Re: Facebook: The new MySpace

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 23:38:54 -0000

Adam: Yet again, sorry to prove you wrong. Google released Orkut in 2004.

Re: Facebook: The new MySpace

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 01:51:48 -0000

Adam: I have an Orkut account. I can send an invite your way :)

Re: GPA Calculations

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:15:13 -0000

Blake, nice catch. It was really late and I was in a resort that had crappy wireless. Still not a reason to do crappy math!

Fixed :)

Re: Convert any (or most) files to another format

Ali Karbassi — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 21:21:01 -0000

Media Convert will convert WAVE Sound files to other sound files actually. If you ever need help on anything technology based, just email me.

Re: Free Games

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:07:11 -0000

Timothy: They should be in the "Application" menu. Most will be under games.

Re: Automatically Block Facebook Applications

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:45:45 -0000

@Adam:

Well, I knew that the process that it took to block one application, so I figured out a way to do it automatically.

Basically, I opened up the source, figured out where it was going, and well, did it. I'm not the best at explaining things, that's why the code is up there.

Re: Programming Child Names or “What not to name your children”

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:19:13 -0000

Apparently this is just a programmer thing. Having conversations with female non-programmers, they don't find these names attractive or "assuming."

Who knows?

Re: Programming Child Names or “What not to name your children”

Ali Karbassi — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:10:36 -0000

Seems link XKCD did a comic on this (two days after I posted mine).

His is always funnier!

http://xkcd.com/327/

Re: Solution to The Spanner’s “A bit of fun” challenge

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:31:15 -0000

Wow, you're seems so much easier than what I did.

Re: Leopard: Turn off Bonjour (mDNSResponder)

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:14:39 -0000

@Bill Bratches: Actually, doing that will just hide the display. The process is still running in the background, taking up loads of memory and CPR cycles.

Test it out and see.

Re: Leopard: Turn off Bonjour (mDNSResponder)

Ali Karbassi — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:11:32 -0000

@Tom: I don't have "Back to My Mac" at all. I currently don't own a .Mac account. I tested this again and it doesn't seem to work either.

It seems to me that Apple has this process running in the background so that when the option to view them is turned on, the display is instant.

Please run your own tests and get back to me. I used <tt>top</tt> and Little Snitch to view stats.

Re: Facebook Profile Cleaner

Ali Karbassi — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:11:41 -0000

Jashua: The point of this script is so that you don't use "annoying" facebook apps. Also, Facebook Applications cannot affect other applications.

Re: Automatically Block Facebook Applications

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:57:56 -0000

@Gail: You will get invites only if the application isn't already blocked. I would suggest not clicking "Ignore" and letting the program block it next time you log in with your Firefox browser.

Re: Automatically Block Facebook Applications

Ali Karbassi — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:08:56 -0000

CJ: I took a look at the updates and nothing new for me to do. They just did what I did, but moved it to a notification/request page. My script will still work and no real updates is needed.

We'll see when they'll have an option to actually not allow any requests for new apps.

Re: CheckUp - How to uninstall

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:53:24 -0000

Joel: When typing into a terminal, the password will not show as you're typing it. Let me explain a little better.

Back in the day of Unix, for security purposes, they did not show your password as you typed it in. That is, programs trying to steal your password/clearance could not just grab the length of the password and work from there. This standard has carried through until now and I hope it will continue on.

So, to make this short, type in your administrative password and press return/enter.

Re: Automatically Block Facebook Applications Updated!

Ali Karbassi — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:47:27 -0000

Steve, could you send me the names of the apps that seems to slip through?

Re: Facebook: Minimize Application Requests!

Ali Karbassi — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:54:06 -0000

Wow, I had created something that would do this a couple weeks ago, but I never knew anyone would want this. You guys can use this until facebook does something to do this permanently.

You need FIREFOX and GREASEMONKEY. Then just click the following link: http://karbassi.com/scripts/greasemonkey/minimu...

Here is what it will look like when it's installed and running:

Easy as that. Email me if you have comments/suggestions.

Re: Why I’m not on Facebook much these days

Ali Karbassi — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:34:42 -0000

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12705

Hey, I wrote this a while ago for the exact same problem. Check it out. If you can give me a screenshot to use, that would be awesome also.

Thank you.