Welcome to the blog of Can Sar, a Stanford CS major. This blog is made up of my thoughts on Computer Science and the computer industry, as well as ever exciting tales from my life.
If I had to choose the most important thing I learnt in college, it is this: Things are not as simple as I thought. This is excellently summarized in this passage by Paul Graham in his essay on Essays.
The more anomalies you've seen, the more easily you'll notice new ones. Which means, oddly enough, that as you grow older, life should become more and more surprising. When I was a kid, I used to think adults had it all figured out. I had it backwards. Kids are the ones who have it all figured out. They're just mistaken.
In high school I had all the answers to everything and thought that older people did too but didn't have the guts to act according to their principles. I've learned my lesson. I hope that the dogmatic "intellectuals" from my high school days have too. And I am very much afraid that even some of our presidents and world leaders haven't yet.
Posted by Can Sar at September 8, 2004 01:19 AM to category Miscellaneous | TrackBackI
Posted by Geoff on September 8, 2004 12:23 PMI >3 Paul Graham, but not Can's frustrating comment box
Posted by Geoff on September 8, 2004 12:25 PMWow, the comment box is weirdly messed up. I need to look into that.
Posted by Can Sar on September 8, 2004 12:54 PMI think I'm just weirdly messed up - I imagine it's trying to interpret my ascii heart as html - I also goofed and used a gt rather than an lt.
Also (I couldn't resist using one of Can's favorite words), since I can't IM at work, do you know what the textbook is for CS 107? Is it just a reader, or is there a book?
Now that I'm not being an idiot, the heart as it should have been:
<3
Geoff - for us, there was no CS107 book. There are suggested books (see http://cs107.stanford.edu), but no required text.
As far as world leaders go, GWB's simple sayings can be almost zen-like:
"Actually, I - this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I'm talking about - when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me."
He still has a lesson or two to learn, though.
Posted by Travis on September 8, 2004 07:02 PM