Zack Mahdavi's Blog

I know I posted on Obama several months ago, but I think need to mention again my support for such a great candidate. Today, Ted Kennedy expressed his support for Obama:

I remember another leader who inspired the nation, especially our youth, to fulfill a promise of change. Those inspired young people marched, sat in at lunch counters, protested the war in Vietnam and served honorably in that war even when they opposed it.

That leader challenged them to ask what they could do for their country and, together, they changed the world.

So in the words of that leader, John Kennedy: “The world is changing. The old ways will not do… It is time for a new generation of leadership.”

I have found that next generation of American leadership in Barack Obama.
-Ted Kennedy

If you don’t know much about Obama, he is truly the “change” candidate. His proposed policies in all fields go way beyond the other candidates, yet they are also feasible and can be achieved during his presidency.

For example, I love Obama’s healthcare policy plan. His medical plan would cover every single citizen in the United States under a default medical insurance plan. Don’t want the default insurance? Then you can easily opt out for whatever insurance your company provides or insurance that you bought. The bottom line is that everyone will have insurance, which will hopefully improve America’s “preventive medicine” goals. People won’t wait until the last minute to go to the doctor for a disease because they’ll be covered by health insurance. They’ll go in earlier and get treated earlier, making our economy much more productive.

Obama’s technology policies are also incredibly focused. He has been working with Lawrence Lessig, the founder of “Creative Commons”, a non-profit organization trying to create a much more open and flexible copyright law. Obama is in strong support of net neutrality, blogging within all organizations, establishment of a “Technology” cabinet position, as well as making all government organizations more open so that they can be watched over by citizens’ groups.

Obama’s environmental policies are also very well done, as he supports putting twice as much money into renewable energy compared to Hillary’s plans. This may not be enough, but it’s the best we’ve got out of any candidate so far, republican or democrat.

Finally, Obama’s Iraq policy is an immediate pullout, leaving only enough soldiers to guard the American embassy in Iraq. This is an excellent move, as our country needs to move on from the mistakes made in the past several years. It’s time to refocus our money not on defense, but on schools, healthcare, the environment, the space program, and other more progressive and inspiring fields.

It’s time for our country to be strong again… to compete with our neighbors, with China, with Europe, and with Japan. We may be entering another recession soon, and we need a strong leader to pull us out. I believe that Obama is that candidate.

So no matter if you’re Republican, Democrat, or Independent, please consider supporting Obama for 2008!

The video at the top of this post is Obama’s South Carolina Victory Speech. As one poster put it, “Obama hit his usual points of unity, gave one hell of a backhanded slap to Bill, followed it up with an olive branch, then stole every ounce of Edward’s populism and made it sound like it was his issue all along. One hell of a speech.” Watch it if you have some time!

Here’s to Lego, the company that changed the toy industry. The company that created my favorite toys of childhood. The company that inspired you to be creative. The company that said you could build whatever you set your mind on…. literally. Cheers Lego!

For most of my childhood, Legos were usually the item I would ask for for Christmas. From Duplo to Lego to Space Legos, and finally Lego Techno, there was always a Lego I wanted as I grew older. Recently, I had a chance to play with cousins Lego Mindstorms, which are an absolute wonder.. kids learn so much about programming and robotics with this “toy”.

Lego, I hope your products are enjoyed by kids for the next 50 years!

I just finished reading this amazing article in Wired about the miracles of Steve Jobs and his wondrous product, the iPhone. The article discusses the development of the iPhone, which had been in planning and development stages since 2002. If you are the least bit interested in design, hardware, software, or are just interested in the genius that is Steve Jobs, you must read this article.

An interesting excerpt:

For those working on the iPhone, the next three months would be the most stressful of their careers. Screaming matches broke out routinely in the hallways. Engineers, frazzled from all-night coding sessions, quit, only to rejoin days later after catching up on their sleep. A product manager slammed the door to her office so hard that the handle bent and locked her in; it took colleagues more than an hour and some well-placed whacks with an aluminum bat to free her.