I Suspect that Senator Coleman’s Office is a Bit Disorganized…
Dear Senator Coleman:
Thank you very much for the information you sent me about how you are helping to curtail Iraqi prisoner abuse. However, I originally wrote you to express my concerns over a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. I feel quite strongly that such an amendment would place the symbol of our freedom above our freedom itself, and I believe that this is precisely the sort of notion that our constitution stands against. Democracy is widely held to be the most tolerant form of government because it tolerates dissent and gives people the right to freely voice and display their opinions in a nonviolent way. If we start to ban such displays, we start to slip away from democracy and towards totalitarianism.
As one of my representatives in the senate, I implore you to do everything in your power to keep this amendment from passing. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to seeing your work in the senate.
Sincerely,
Alan Davidson
Edina, MN
Hahahahaha! A very, “Look at what I’m doing right, though!” response. Let us know if you get a decent (or not) reply to this one. Btw, it sounds like the conference was an absolute blast! Is there anything in particular you think you’d like to stick with and maybe pursue in a career later on, if that’s possible?
Ooh… that’s a tough question. I really like robotics, and I could see myself doing that as a career. I’m not sure how much of a career there would be in such things, but I was also fascinated with the genetic programming stuff and the general game-playing competition. I guess the allure of them is that you can get programs to actually, genuinely learn. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that happening with neural nets or the “machine learning” stuff I’ve read about.
Then again, I’m interested in almost everything. It might be neat to work in algorithms, or even systems/compilers/etc (if I do that, I’d like to learn more about hardware first). It’ll definitely be something in CS, though (I’ve grown rather disenchanted with math).
What are you considering as a career? I barely ever hear from you any more, since we never seem to be online at the same time.
I remember being fascinated by even the most basic aspects of genetics in biology. It’s a really interesting field, especially with regards to AI and leaning capabilities. It’s awesome you were able to see some prime examples of the potential of robotics at the cons! Right now I’m seriously thinking about film special effects/animation, concept design, or video game graphics as a career. Right out of school I’ll probably have to take what I can get though…I’m also thinking about going to Japan or China to do one of those English teaching programs for a year or so. I’m just not sure yet~!
We’ll def. have to have a big catch up session at Bucca’s or something! Can’t believe there’s only a month or so left before I’m back in CA! Love and hugs, and I’ll see ya soon ^_^