Not my life; Something a bit more entertaining

I remembered my first dream in years

2007-01-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

I just had one of the most vivid and amazing dreams ever
scott and i were in it

we were at some camping grounds, it seemed to be a family gathering, but at the same time, a school thing, and a scouting thing (you know how dreams are).

We tried to escape, breaking out the back window, but first using a spare door or something to hold off the other scouts (???). But as we were climbing out the window, Professor McCann stopped us there. He had caught us. The rest of the day was spent at the camp, though I didn't see Scott any more.

It was spent seeing all my family members, but they all knew what I had done and didn't really trust me any more. My aunt Anne called me a creep. My aunt Kathy (who has never liked me anyway) still didn't like me. My little (fictitious) cousins were wary. My dad, it appears, hadn't been told yet. I was absolutely terrified of him knowing. But I decided I better tell him myself. So I went up to him, but then Uncle Bob wisked him away before I could get a chance. I think he told him. I wasn't really pouty or sulky. I had plain and simply been defeated. I suppose it was doing something I really shouldn't have been doing, but that's that. I accepted very easily that I was now everyone's least favorite cousin; the black sheep. "Oh well, whatever" was my attitude.

Interesting Stuff

2007-01-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

They say you learn something new everyday. Today, I learned about 15 fascinating things, all from NPR. Here's a few:

The Marriot started as a root beer stand.
Ford lost $12.7 billion last year; worst year for a Detroit automaker; that's $35 million each day! (Equivalently, $48M per business day!)
China's economy might become the third largest before the end of the year (it jumped 10.7% last year); as far back as I can remember (not that I'm old or anything), the top three have remained static as the US, Japan, and Germany.
China has the largest national per capita savings rate.

Federal Aid

2007-01-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is the first post in over two months. That's the first time I haven't posted for a period longer than a month. Oh well.

There are several things that apparently everyone knows are wrong, but also never change. Things like George W. Bush being the president, the Electoral College, farming subsidies, etc. (I suppose those are the big three in my mind.) Recently, a blizzard swept through the midwest, and a cold snap accompanied it in the southwest (and beyond I suppose). This resulted in huge losses of cattle, citris crops, avocado crops, etc.

The farming subsidies were started because of some sort of unfairness to farmers regarding their profits; apparently the market was not being fair and so subsidies were created to boost farmer's crops so that they didn't have to downsize at all. In my opinion, fate has been far more unfair to these specific ranchers and farmers who lost say, 75%-90% of all their citris crops in Arizona. The federal government could instead save money for a true rainy day for farmers and ranchers, dramatically subsidizing their crops for one season, when a disaster such as this occurs. Just as when a hurricane hits a state, and the federal government pours money into relief, relief should be given to businesses in disasterous situations.

This could be extended to say, subsidizing the businesses on Central, Bethany Home (?), and Indian School (?) who are facing dramatic losses during the construction of the light rail. I'm not saying the government is responsible for pampering all businesses when the business cycle is down. What I'm saying is: The government's primary job is to allow people life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This directly takes the form of police departments and a national defense system. I think that businesses are just as in need of defending as people are. Businesses are made of people; businesses serve people; businesses allow people the pursuit of happiness. If you don't think that big time farmers are deserving of aid, at least the small, local businesses on Central Avenue are.

Buy plane tickets 3 weeks in advance

2006-10-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

I find this interesting. From NPR's Business Story of the Day:

"IF you are planning a trip you will probably get the best airfare if you book your trip in the middle of the week about three weeks before your departure. You want to look at Wednesdays specifically because thats when airlines tend to start running their fare sales, and you want to look about twenty-one days out because airlines know that people tend to plan either far in advance or very much at the last minue so twenty-one days out is when you're going to see the lowest prices."

Also the best time to buy a new car is September.
The best time to buy gas when prices are rising is before 10am.
The best time to buy gas when prices are falling is after noon.

Worst 25 Web Sites

2006-09-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

PC World rates these. I haven't heard of most of these, but here are a few highlights:

20. Hotmail.com

16. Microsoft Windows Update
15. Neuticles.com

13. Whitehouse.com
12. The Dancing Baby

9. Hamsterdance.com
8. BonziBuddy

1. MySpace.com

Oh my god, I'm so glad this made it. A number of people have agreed with me that this is one of the ugliest sites on the Internet, despite being one of the most visited. PC World says "Graphically, many MySpace pages look like a teenager's bedroom after a tornado--a swirl of clashing backgrounds, boxes stacked inside other boxes, massive photos, and sonic disturbance. Try loading a few of those pages at once and watch what happens to your CPU. Watch out for spyware, too, since it turns out that MySpace has become a popular distribution vector for drive-by downloads and other exploits. And in a place where "U are soooooooo hot!!!" passes for wit, MySpace isn't doing much to elevate the level of social discourse." Thank you!

Top 10 Programming Languages

2006-09-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

eWeek did some interviewing and found the 10 programming languages that will get you a job. Probably not the best twn programming languages (where is Brain Fuck?) but this is a good list:

1. PHP
2. C#
3. AJAX
4. Javascript
5. Perl
6. C
7. Ruby
8. Java
9. Python
10. VB.net

Autobiography Chapter 13ish: Freshman at College

2006-09-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Draft One Two.

My freshman year of college was the best year of my life. I lived on campus at the Yavapai dorm located in the middle of campus. Funded by my parents and a hefty scholarship, money was no matter to me. I started the year in tranquil seclusion, spending most of my time playing computer games by myself. I had opted for a random roommate, earning myself Donovan, arguably the strangest man alive and later named "The Man of Mystery." Donovan, a black sophomore from South Phoenix, is th only person anyone knew who didn't bring a computer to college. His possessions amounted to little more than his TV, several tapes of Dragon Ball Z, a quarter staff, forest-green t-shirts, jeans, combat boots, and a forest-green jacket. I never once saw him do his laundry. He went home twice during the year. He rubbed his feet over a trash can nightly, gently scraping off the dead skin. He took at least five minutes to brush his teeth, and then five more to brush his lips. He never missed Passions that aired daily at 2pm. Unfortunatly I never had class at 2 and was consequently subjected to the soap opera every day. He ate chips everyday and ate them loudly. He ate chili every day and ate it loudly. Sometimes he cooked hot dogs with jalepenos and yes, ate them loudly. On any given day, the most I would speack to him is a "bless you." Needless to say, Donovan did not play a large role in my life. I often forget his existence altogether.

For the first few months, my social life consisted of short-lived relationships and friendships with Colleen, Mike, Ashley, and Prof. Velez. Each of these is a not a particularly amazing or unique story. I am glad to be friends with each of these people today. Altogether, August through October were somewhat uneventful and without a theme; but I enjoyed my time and relaxed. I remember sleeping on the couch of the study room every night for two months. I kept my comforter, pillow, alarm clock, and deodorant in the study room until they were confiscated by the Hall Director. After that I made friends.

Since the beginning, I had been attending Math Club meetings, which were, contrary to popular belief, very cool. I met quite a few people there, including Nikki, the president. We remained in contact for some time. I attended the Arizona Mathematics Undergraduate Conference (freaking awesome) and afterwords, attended Jeff's sister's birthday (a party of twenty-six year olds). That night, Nikki, Taylor, Jeff, another guy, and I became great friends. And then we never hung out together again.

My social entrance continued with acceptance into Amanda, Connor, Kel, and Sunil's circle. They had been a clan since August as I understood, and they graciously welcomed me after Sunil and I started working on math homework together. This introduced me to such wild things as hookah, cloves, alcohol, late-night food, Mexico, clubbing, etc. At the same time as my minimal "experiment phase" (perhaps I am perverting the meaning of experiment), I was playing ping pong two hours a day with Kel and volleyball several nights a week with the Yavapites and friends. I get terribly nostalgic when I think about the ping pong and volleyball. On any night we didn't play volleyball, many of us sat in the study room playing "Ultimate Badass" or arguing about philosophy with James and Chris. So many people made up those nights: Kel, Amanda, Sunil, Connor, Peter, Travis, Mike, Zippy, Metz, Drobie, Jessica, Liz, Josh, Lexie, Jean-Marie, Ashley, John, Katie, Sheyda, Dave, Chris, James, Sarah, Colleen, and many that I'm forgetting I'm sure. Again, much of what I did this year was made possible by my scholarship: I bought ping pong paddles, volleyballs; I went out to lunch, dinner, late night food, sushi, bobas, coffee, etc. without any worry. I performed generally well in school and stayed financially stable.

Edit: Addition:

The summer following my freshman year was also incredible. Nick and I worked at Villa Montessori as swim instructors and classroom assistants for small children, aged 3 to 6. Working with 100 people every day who think you are the greatest person ever. They run screaming to you when you arrive; they ask to play soccer with you; they constantly squirm into your lap; they tell you about what they had for dinner; they show you what they have for lunch; they show off their new dresses, bathing suits, shoes, goggles, fake tattoos, and lunch boxes. They sum up the entire plot of a new movie, or what happened to Sponge Bob last night. The job is easy. The pay is good enough. The coworkers are mostly female between 18 and 25. Honestly though, it was the kids. That was the best summer of my life.

Autobiography Chapter 8ish: 8th Grade

2006-09-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

Preface: I wish to write an autobiography / memoir of sorts. At the ripe young age of 20, I will sort this by year in school (in general). This is the entry for the 8th grade, one of my favorites.

8th Grade. Ages 13,14.

The 8th grade was a fantastic year for me. I remember school being quite easy: I had previously studied the Math course (Ms. Schmidt); English was taught by Ms. Lenenweaver and Mrs. Dubin, two brilliant ladies whom I really admired; Yearbook was largely a joke: I remember doing little work even as co-cheif editor; I didn't have to take Literature Enrichment because Nick and Sam Feldman and I were creating the CD Yearbook; Ms. Jacobs was a source for entertainment in Science; and Mr. Kaplan taught a rigorous and interesting Government course.

Most of my memories of the 8th grade include staying after school every day to create the CD Yearbook with Nick Mulrean and Sam Feldman. Mr. Murphy left us in the room by ourselves and told us to lock up when we were finished. We worked most of the time. But some days we just had fun trying to get floppy disks to stick in the wall by hurling them, sticking scissors in the ceiling, putting floppies in the CD drives, etc. It was really a blast every single day. This year I took trigonometry at night from Phoenix College. The professor was a very nice old man who, when I missed the final, told my mother that I didn't have to make it up and I had earned an A in the class. In reality I had really been slacking off at the end of that course and was worried about failing the final.

I remember my female interests were largely unchanged from the years prior: Claire, Mandy, Jamie, and Heather. Heather most of all, of course. I don't think there is really anything to say about these girls. Really nothing. At the graduation dance (the first dance I had actually attended as I wasn't allowed to work the snack bar or film for the CD Yearbook), Savanah asked Nick, Sam Feldman, and I to dance (collectively). Nick and I quickly squeaked a "Oh, no thank you," while Sam (gay) confidently agreed and they went out to the floor. Strange night.

At graduation, Nick was asked to give a speech. He had to, of course, receive approval from Mr. Kaplan before giving it. As he walked up to the podium, Nick says to the crowd of parents, "I prepared a speech for tonight, but you know, I think I'm just going to wing it. ... I'm kidding; you can start breathing now Mr. Kaplan." That earned a sound applause and laughter from the crowd. I announced various awards for highest grades in certain classes (Art, Science, etc.). I remember not earning the Math Award because the basis was strictly class grades; Greg had a higher grade in math than I. I don't think I was upset. I believed that I had been cheated, but I accepted it.

Overall, this was a great year. One I will never forget.

My Energy Drinks

2006-08-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

I dunno if I'm going to make my energy drink table so... Here's a record of what I had...

8oz cans (42)
69 Energy
180
Adrenaline Rush	Adrenaline Rush (Sugar Free)
AMP
Black Horse
Clone
Diet Red
Donkey Kick
Emaxx
Everlast Nutrition Latino
Extreme Energy Shot
Hammerhead
Hansen's Energy
Impulse
It's the Sun
Jones Energy (Mixed-Berry)
Jugular
Kore
Max Velocity	Max Velocity (Sugar Free)
Nitro2Go
Piranha (Outrageous Orange Pineapple)	Piranha (Phunky Fruit Punch)
Pit Bull
Red Bull	Red Bull (Sugar Free)
Rockstar	Rockstar (Diet)
Rooster Booster
Silverback
Stacker 2 (Pounding Punch)	Stacker 2 (Sinful Citrus)
TNT
Vamp
Venom
Voom
Wild Tiger
Xcyto	Xcyto (Sugar Free)
XS Energy (Electric Lemon Blast)	XS Energy (Cranberry-Grape Blast)
16oz cans (84)
Adrenaline Rush
America
AMP
Archer Farms (Fruit Punch)	Archer Farms (Sugar Free Grapefruit)	Archer Farms (Tropical Fruit)
Bacchus
Black Hole
Bookoo (Bite)	Bookoo (Citrus)	Bookoo (Wild Berry)
Clamato
Diesel	Diesel (Low Carb)
Double Hit
Dr. Dogg
Extreme Energy Shot
FirePower
Formula 7 (Cherry Lime Lightning)	Formula 7 (Dragonfruit Dynamite)	Formula 7 (Super Citrus Charge)
Frappio
Full Throttle	Full Throttle (Sugar Free)
Full Throttle (Fury)	Full Throttle (Fury) (Sugar Free)
Hansen's Energy	Hansen's Energy (Deuce)
Hogan	Hogan (Sugar Free)
Hype
Independent Energy	Independent Energy (Diet)
Joker Mad Energy	Joker Mad Energy (Lo-Carb)
Jones Energy
Kronik	Kronik (Low-Carb)	Kronik (Grind)
Liquid Energizer
...Lost	...Lost (Five-O)	...Lost (Perfect 10)
Ludicrous
Monster	Monster (Assault)
Monster (Khaos)	Monster (Lo-Carb)
Mouth of the South
Nitro2Go	Nitro2Go (Lite)
NOS	NOS (Sugar Free)
No Fear	No Fear (Sugar Free)	No Fear (Gold)
Ol' Glory
Omega
Ram Jam
Raw Dawg
Red Jak
Rip It	Rip It (Power)
Rockstar	Rockstar (Diet)
Rockstar (Cola)	Rockstar (Juiced)
Rooster Booster
Rumba
Rush!	Rush! (Lite)
Socko	Socko (Slim)
Superman Super Power
Unbound
Vida
Von Dutch	Von Dutch (Sugar Free)
Who's Your Daddy	Who's Your Daddy (LO Carb)
Whoop Ass
Wild Buzz
Wired	Wired (Low Carb)
24oz cans (15)
Bookoo	Bookoo (Wild Berry)	Bookoo (Zero-Carb)
Diesel
Jolt (Blue)	Jolt (Cola)
Jolt (Red)	Jolt (Ultra)
Monster (Mega)	Monster (XXL)
Monster (Lo-Carb)	Monster (Lo-Carb) (XXL)
Rockstar	Rockstar (Twist Cap)	Rockstar (Diet)
Misc Bottles and Cans (16)
Bawls	Bawls (Sugar Free)
Doubleshot	Doubleshot (Light)
Emaxx
MDX	MDX (Sugar Free)
Tab Energy
Upshot (Fruit)	Upshot (Kola)	Upshot (Mocha)
Vault (20oz)	Vault (Zero) (20oz)	Vault (1L)
Wild Buzz
X-Drink

Concept Software

2006-08-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just an idea. Natural language compiler.

Me:Make an integer called total.	int total;
Add a comment at the beginning: "This program should find the factorial of an integer."

Me: Make an integer called total. Me: Add a comment at the beginning: "This program should find the factorial of an integer."	/* This program should find the factorial of an integer. */ int total;
Create a for loop from 1 to 5 that multipies i by total.

Me: Make an integer called total. Me: Add a comment at the beginning: "This program should find the factorial of an integer." Me: Create a for loop from 1 to 5 that multipies i by total. Program: "total" has not been initialized. What should it's initial value be?	/* This program should find the factorial of an integer. / int total; for(int i=1; i<5; i++) i=total;
1. Then output total. Then run.

Me: Make an integer called total. Me: Add a comment at the beginning: "This program should find the factorial of an integer." Me: Create a std for loop that multipies i by total. Program: "total" has not been initialized. What should it's initial value be? Me: 1. Then output total. Then run. Run: 120	/* This program should find the factorial of an integer. / int total=1; for(int i=1; i<5; i++) i=total; printf(total);
Change upper limit of for loop to 6.

My favorite NPR Business Stories of the Day

2006-08-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

A lot of NPR Business Stories of the Day are not amazing. So I included som that are.

This is an interesting podcast on American Apparel and how the founder runs his business.

China's economy is several billion dollars larger than previously estimated.

Craigslist falls victim to an interesting lawsuit.

This lady is a little strange and has interesting views on boob upkeep.

A home developer hires a model family to sell homes.

The new ZAP cars are freaking tiny.

Wal-Mart is huuuge and wants to get huger.

Warren Buffet is huge and wants to get smaller.

Some cool t-shirts

2006-08-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm as sick of Urban Outfitters' t-shirts as the next guy. And all of the copycat t-shirts and stores that sells them. Really sick. Buuut, I found some cool ones:

Colbert Analyzes Wikipedia

2006-08-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently Stephen Colbert was banned from Wikipedia because of his abuse on this show:

Then Colbert Answers a Call from an Angry Wikipedia User:

In fact, Elephant, Stephen Colbert, and Oregon have all been locked by wikipedia to guests.

MtW Pics

2006-08-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

Sooo... Here are some pics:

Gas jumped $0.50 at the border.	Looking up...
We didn't want to do that so much.	Not the peak, but beautiful.
Beautiful lake at like, 10,000 ft.	Paradise around 11,000 ft.
And back to the bleak...	Really cool snow shelf with water flowing under.
The Trailside Meadow; absolutely beautiful flowers at 11,500 ft.

New BG Video

2006-08-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Coming to Marquee Theatre!

Program versions, you look a mess!

2006-08-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

Seriously, someone needs to fix program versioning systems. They drive me nuts sometimes. There are so many different schemes. Windows used to use a 2-sigfig number (Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1) then switched to years (Windows 95, 98, 98 SE (?), 2000) then silly names that blur the release dates (Windows ME, XP, XP SP1, XP SP2, Vista). Let's look at some other schemes in use. I have the following programs on my computer:

Ad-Aware 6.181 - (4 significant figures; not bad)

Ad-Aware Referencefile SE1R50 - (with each update, the last two digits change, that's all. Annoying.)

AIM 5.9.3828 - (Usually they announce changes in the first two digits. The last 4 digits are a build number. I don't mind this scheme.)

Audacity 1.2.3 - (Why do they need all those decimals???)

Desktop Sidebar 1.05 Build 115 - (Same as 1.05.115 I guess. I don't know why they feel the need to have such a long name.)

DirectX 9.0c - (They went from like 6.0 → 6.1 → 7.0 → 8.0 → 9.0 → 9.0a → 9.0b → 9.0c . What's so wrong with using 9.1? Or 9.5?)

Easy CD-DA Extractor 8.1.2.3 - (Again with all the decimals seperating single digits; annoying.)

Flash MX 2004 7.02 - (So Flash went from 4.0 → 5.0 → MX → MX 2004 . What ever.)

Google Desktop 4.2006.627.443 - (This appears very long, but each piece plays a part. as a.b.c.d, a = Major Release; b = Year; c = Month and Day; d = Build Number. Still a little long: why a 4-digit year?)

iPod Updater 6-28-2006 - (This scheme is just the date; informative about release time but completely uninformative about how much of an update it is from the previous version.)

Java 2 SDK 1.4.2-06 - (Sure. decimals, hyphens. The more the merrier.)

LAME 4.0 Alpha 10 - (This is an Alpha build, meaning a very early release, probably filled with bugs.)

LogonStudio RC6 - (RC: Release Candidate is a relatively new term. It is released after the beta as a final bugfix before the final product is released, hopefully bugfree. RC6 is a bit much I think.)

Picasa 2.2.0 Build 28.10 - (Again Google with the long scheme. A decimal in the build number? I'm guessing the build number is dd.mm .)

Prime 95 24.13 - (Prime 95 just chugs out those +1 updates. Only program I know that's about 20.)

Shoutcast DSP 1.8.2b - (So what's with the b? Again, stick to numbers.)

SiSoft Sandra 2005 SR1 - (Year and update, similar to Windows XP SP1.)

Winamp 5.25 Build 787 Beta - (Unlike LAME, this doesn't have a Beta (or Alpha) number. The word Beta is simply there to signify that it is not a full release.)

Windows Vista CTP2 - (CTP: Community Technology Preview. This was released after the Betas. So it's like RC.)

ZSNES 03/29 WIP - (WIP: Work In Progress; I think this is even pre-alpha.)

Needless to say, all of this nonsense is ridiculous. There are some good ideas in here, but there are some bad ones and silly ones, and ones that are need even ideas. I think it all needs to be standardized. I like the whole Alpha/Beta/RC bit. I like 2 or 3 sigfigs. I dunno. Think about it.

Tony Jaa Clip

2006-07-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

This is a clip featuring Tony Jaa breaking probably 50 people's limbs. I don't know what it's from; it's not Ong Bak. Tony Jaa is the next Jet Li, with an upcoming movie, The Protector.

Correction: I just counted: 53 people's limbs.

Coming Soon...

2006-07-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

I just got the Mt. Whitney pics. Here is a preview of what I'll be posting:

Honda Cog Commercial

2006-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

Ho-Ly Shit.

ebaumsworld says: This is one of the most amazing ads I've ever seen, truly a thing of beauty. Fully two minutes long, it's a Honda commercial called "Cog," the most elaborate Rube Goldberg device you've ever seen set to film, all made entirely of car parts. It required 606 film takes to get right. It's so perfectly filmed, you can't imagine it, you've just got to see it.

I need ur help!

2006-07-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

So listen, I'm writing a wiki (similar to Wikipedia, Lostpedia, and Wikiquote) and need your help in naming it. It will be a wiki of science fiction-based technology and inventions, especially in cyber-punk literature such as Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, and Blade Runner, etc. So im thinking some lame things so far, like Wikinvention, wikiFuture, technolopedia. I dunno, I need something good, it doesnt even need the "wiki" prefix or "pedia" suffix. Just a good name. Help!

The Fountain

2006-07-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

Darren Aronofsky is back!

Ricky's Banner

2006-07-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd throw it up. I mean to see them soon.

Some BAMF trailers

2006-07-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

These look good:

Children of Men comes from Alfonso Cuarón, director of Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The Fountain comes from one of my favorite directors Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream and π (Pi).

Also, Sunil and I shared our last hug as twenty-year-olds tonight. I cried. He held me...

Mt. Whitney | Prologue

2006-07-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

So... I took a lot of pictures on our Mt. Whitney trip but the cable to my camera is in Tucson. So there's not so many pictures available at the present moment.

For now, here is a small description of Lone Pine, CA. This is the town just below Mt. Whitney and as such they are largely a tourist town. It's one of those towns whose main (almost only) road is the highway. The town runs a good half mile down US 395 in California. I counted the buildings (commercial, on the hwy):

10 restaurants (including 2 bars, 1 mcdonalds, 1 carls jr)
9 motels (motels)
10 tourist/hiking/fishing shops
5 vacant lots
22 other regular townish shops (3 realties, 3 mystical shops, 1 grocery story, 1 drug store, 2 banks, 1 general store, 1 florist, 1 teriyaki bowl stand, 2 gas stations, 1 auto parts, 1 film museum, 1 high school, and 1 car wash)

There was one coffee shop that was of particular interest to me: a little new-agey coffee shop / internet cafe in this small traditional town that served herbal teas, protien smoothies and Bobas! Holy shit. Bobas. They were delish. I had a Taro and a Plum. Supporting local business.

More later, maybe pics.

The Magic Schoolbus

2006-07-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so being a preschool teacher 8 hours of the day, these are the things I think about. I hope you all enjoyed The Magic Schoolbus as much as I did, because it's amazing. This show is brilliant. Apparently, it's award-winning (I don't know what awards it could have won.) which it certainly deserves to be. Watching several episodes so far (because the kids love it), I have a few things to say about it.

I'm trying to give a basic analysis here. Listen, the kids are just as mesmorized by this show, as they are by Finding Nemo or Madagascar. I'm talking about 3 to 6 -year-olds being mesmorized by a show about middle-school children reading from science books. How could this possibly be? Let's take a look.

First there are some basic elements like the cast: First and foremost of course is Ms. Frizzle. Ms. Frizzle is the class's (perhaps the entire school's, the show never gives a larger scope than the < 15 character cast.) science teacher. She acts as a guide for the class on their field trips and as a "narrator." She gives them an initial direction, and often takes a back seat for the rest of the trip. She drives the bus perhaps to several locations, but her actions are not the drive of the show; instead, she often gets the class into some sort of mess that they have to get out of themselves. This provides exciting adventure for the show, as well as a form of Socratic Learning method for the show. Also, as a minor note, her dress and earrings change in each episode according to the topic; this provides a point of interest for older kids who notice such things.

Next is The Bus, and Liz, the lizzard (he he). These two act as Ms. Frizzle's cohorts, so that she does not appear to be just a strange teacher doing these trips by herself; these two aid in the direction of the field trip. Also, for a show with such fantastic adventures and events, the bus is really the only magical entity in the whole show. In this way, the show can be classified as themed with magical realism in the same form as Bless Me, Ultima and Like Water for Chocolate. One of the important students is D.A. . D.A. acts as a second narrator for the show; IE she spends most of an episode reading from a textbook, providing the boring but necessary science and fact. This is again for the older students who can understand what she is talking about. Arnold represents the scared student who doesn't particularly want to go on a field trip or learn anything new. Many students in an audience can relate to Arnold and they will tend to follow his path in each adventure. Carlos tells cheap jokes riddled with puns and word play that act as a slight comic relief (again, specifically for older students who can understand his jokes). I think there are other characters, but I'm not sure.

Another thing that makes the show successful is the consistencies in each episode:

A field trip
Arnold not wanting to go on the field trip
D.A. carrying around a textbook
Ralphie not caring at all, but still learning in the end
D.A. saying "according to my research"
The Friz saying "as I always say" (which she in facts never says again)

I dunno. I think that's all for this. I just think it's interesting that this show holds kids' attention just as well as massive-budget-non-educational Pixar movies.

Top 10 Comedies I Have

2006-07-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

10. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
9. Toy Story 2
8. Back to the Future
7. A Christmas Story
6. The Incredibles
5. Finding Nemo
4. Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
3. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
2. Eddie Izzard: Definite Article
1. Eddie Izzard: Glorious

How about Comedy/Dramas:

10. Kikujiro (7.6)
9. Edward Scissorhands (7.8)
8. The Lion King (7.9)
7. Rain Man (7.9)
6. Adaptation (7.9)
5. Big Fish (8.0)
4. Garden State (8.0)
3. Brazil (8.0)
2. Finding Nemo (8.3)
1. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (8.7)

How about Romantic Comedies:

10. Wedding Crashers (7.3)
9. 40-Year-Old Virgin (7.4)
8. The Naked Gun (7.5)
7. Corpse Bride (7.5)
6. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (7.5)
5. Edward Scissorhands (7.8)
4. Delicatessen (7.8)
3. Shaun of the Dead (7.9) (Hey, don't get angry with me. I get these genres from IMDb)
2. Garden State (8.0)
1. Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (8.7)

Top 10 Animated Movies I Have

2006-07-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

Edit: Rebecca and Ian pointed out that The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc. are both Disney movies. I apologize, I thought Disney and Pixar split up after Finding Nemo. So... the lists are updated.

Here's the list: 10. Porco Rosso 9. Monsters Inc. 8. Howl's Moving Castle 7. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 6. Toy Story 2 5. Grave of the Fireflies 4. Finding Nemo 3. Princess Mononoke 2. The Incredibles 1. Spirited Away	...Let's remove all the Disney: 10. The Nightmare Before Christmas 9. My Neighbor Totoro 8. Kiki's Delivery Service 7. The Family Guy Movie 6. Castle in the Sky 5. Porco Rosso 4. Howl's Moving Castle 3. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 2. Grave of the Fireflies 1. Princess Mononoke
...Or alternatively, remove all the Hayao Miyazaki: 10. The Nightmare Before Christmas 9. The Lion King 8. The Family Guy Movie 7. Beauty and the Beast 6. Monsters Inc. 5. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 4. Toy Story 2 3. Grave of the Fireflies 2. Finding Nemo 1. The Incredibles	...Let's remove both Disney and Miyazaki: 10. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust 9. Shrek 2 8. The Iron Giant 7. Akira 6. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children 5. Ninja Scroll 4. The Nightmare Before Christmas 3. The Family Guy Movie 2. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 1. Grave of the Fireflies

The Only (ONLY) Asian at Ozzfest

2006-07-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here he is. With my brother. Pretty PIMP.

Ozzfest

2006-07-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

So my first Ozzfest. It was fun. I'll call it a learning experience (didn't bring enough water, food, or sunscreen). Wall of Jericho was pretty cool, as were Atreyu and Dragonforce. Holy shit Dragonforce.

(If you don't want to watch the whole video at least fast forward to the solo at 3:25)

So everyone likes to wear things with "Fuck" on it or something like that just to get a rise out of people. For instance there is the "I Heart Vagina" Clothing Company everywhere. But a few people were wearing things that actually disturbed me a little bit:

Eat More Pussy (referring to the tour, I imagine) written in huge letters across this large man's bare chest. Needless to say, this didn't drive me to eat more pussy.
Fuck Mexico (written on a Mexico baseball hat, with a red X over the flag)
White Power
If Jesus comes back, we'll kill him again. (The whole atmosphere of Ozzfest makes this hat disturbing rather than funny.)
Fuck me. I'm fat. (You wouldn't believe the obesity at Ozzfest.)

Also, Ben, my brother, got a picture with the only (ONLY) Asian at the entire concert (plenty of white people, plenty of really white people, plenty of native americans, 3 black people, NO asians), who happens to be a guitarist in Dragonforce. I'll post that later.

Top 10 Musicals I Have

2006-07-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

So I imagine "musical" is not so much a genre as an attribute (similar to animated or series). So all of these are certainly musicals and I need not separate out the "sort-of musicals."

10. Aladdin
9. The South Park Movie
8. Pinocchio
7. Mary Poppins
6. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
5. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
4. Jesus Christ Superstar
3. The Lion King
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
1. Beauty and the Beast

Good God. Does 80% animated tell you something about how attractive the average professional singer is? Or maybe something else.

Top 10 War Movies I Have

2006-07-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

10. The Great Raid
9. The English Patient
8. Black Hawk Down
7. Grave of the Fireflies
6. Braveheart
5. Rambo III
4. Jarhead
3. Downfall
2. Das Boot
1. Schindler's List

Top 10 Horror Movies I Have

2006-07-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, and let me clarify here. I'm using IMDb's ratings and genres. Their genres are more like the tags of Flickr or Gizmodo or Last.fm . Each movie can belong to several of them. Many of these were not listed as primarily a horror movie (especially including Predator, King Kong, and Aliens). They are still listed as horror movies though. And if they make the cut for best Action or Adventure or Sci-Fi movies, they'll be listed there too. In the second column, I only included movies that were listed primarily or secondarily as Horror.

Horror in General	Primarily or Secondarily Horror
10. Predator 9. Saw (Uncut Edition) 8. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust 7. Evil Dead II 6. Dawn of the Dead (1978) 5. Night of the Living Dead (Black & White) 4. Shaun of the Dead 3. King Kong (1933) 2. The Exorcist (Director's Cut) 1. Aliens	10. 28 Days Later 9. Ringu 8. Dawn of the Dead (2004) 7. The Omen (Special Edition) (1976) 6. Predator 5. Saw (Uncut Edition) 4. Night of the Living Dead (Black & White) 3. Shaun of the Dead 2. The Exorcist (Director's Cut) 1. Aliens

10 Oldest Movies I Have

2006-07-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Are...

10 Peter Pan (1953)
9 Alice in Wonderland (1951)
8 Stage Fright (1950)
7 Bambi (1942)
6 Dumbo (1941)
5 Pinocchio (1940)
4 Fantasia (1940)
3 Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)
2 King Kong (1933)
1 Metropolis (1927)

That is some old shit.

Ganondorf Homerun Contest

2006-06-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

First YouTube Video Post

2006-06-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

These kids are terrible. And kickass.

Who gives kids anything?

2006-06-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

1. Who gives kids pockets? What good is a three year old going to do with cargo pants? I can think of lots of bad things to bring home. There are no good things that can come out of kids pockets.

2. Who gave my elementary kids yarn? Who? Yarn! Whole balls of it!

i dont get some people

2006-06-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

people will never learn. no matter how many tragic and touching books are written about the holocaust, people in africa will still machete-genocide. women will never understand that pushing a baby through your vagina is not the same as passing a tennis ball through a penis.

i went to a cpr for idiots class today and there were all these idiots in there. people who's kids had drowned cuz they went inside for "30 seconds to get a coke." people who thought vomitting was the absolute funniest subject in the world. and people who said that giving birth is like passing a tennis ball through your penis. What The Fuck?!? Do you know what would happen if someone pushed a tennis ball through thier urethra, it would absolutely shred it apart and they would die minutes later of excessive bleeding. the urethra is not meant to stretch to fit a tennis ball. the vagina, however, is horome-induced to stretch, a lot, to give a baby. thats why some women have 13 babies. they can. GAH!

Pet Peeve

2006-05-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

I can't stand a spoon with a bad chi.

MAVO

2006-05-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to show you guys the most amazing videos online (that I've seen, obviously). None of these are ebaum's world crap, or albinoblacksheep crap, or college humor crap. I think more high schoolers than college kids look at college humor. Anyway, here they are:

The best street climbing video I've ever seen
Extreme Martial Arts performed by break dancers, martial artists, and stuntmen.
Best break dance.
Ganondorf hits the bag 11,000 Ft.
Highly amusing Smash Bros. video.
Shined Blind.
Everyone's favorite, Chrono Trigger, in 4 hours.

Hmm... I'll have a few more later.

Why I Drink

2006-05-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

I find this a little interesting, why I drink. I think it's kind of interesting logic maybe. I dunno. But this is why I drink.

I didn't start drinking till my spring freshman semester. Before then, I dunno. I was just a good kid who didn't need alcohol to have fun. Whatever. Honestly, I started drinking because of peer pressure. I wouldn't blame anyone or say that anyone was really malevolently trying to get me to drink. But having to explain to people at every party why you don't drink (Which was hard to do. I didn't know why I didn't drink. My guts just told me not to.) gets really old. They weren't aggressively prodding me or anything. The simple question just got old. "Want a beer Sam?" "No, it's cool." "Do you not drink?" "Not really." "Oh yeah? Why? I'm not pressuring you or anything. I'm just wondering." Well just wondering drives me nuts. I felt like a vegetarian or a religious Catholic or a Republican. Always having to defend your views in front of kids.

So I drink now to take away the awkwardness. I'd rather talk about more interesting things than why I don't drink. This way, people assume I've been drinking since high school and there's no need to bring it up. I'm not embarrassed. I enjoyed high school. Not drinking has just become a really boring subject of discussion to me.

I don't drink for the buzz, because I don't feel a buzz. I didn't feel a buzz when I drank 14 shots. I don't feel a buzz from hard alcohol, mixed drinks, or beer. I feel more of a buzz off drinking a Monster. I don't drink cuz it tastes good; vodka turns my stomache; all beer is honestly equivalent to cat piss; mixed drinks just ruin whatever was nonalcoholic before (ie a Screwdriver is a waste of good orange juice).

That's it. Call it drinking to be cool, I guess. Whatever. But I found all that kinda neat. I like my reasoning.

Friday Random Shuffle... On Saturday!

2006-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

AFI - Girls Not Grey . I guess these guys have a new album coming out. That's cool.

Blind Guardian - Nightfall . Amaaazing song. Amaaazing. This is from an album that tells the story of the Silmarillion, in song.

Juliana Theory - Emotion is Dead Pt. 1 . This is a really good instrumental song by a good (sad) band. I need to listen to their stuff more often.

Hoobastank - The Same Direction . Fun song by a fun band. Where did these guys go?

Arwen - Infinity . Arwen is a pretty bitchin band. Power Metal with really high vocals.

Blind Guardian - Thorn . Another song on the "Nightfall in Middle Earth" album.

Marc Anthony - I Need To Know . Great old song.

Linkin Park - Pts.Of.Athrty . I think reanimation is one of the greatest albums ever. So I like this song.

30 Seconds to Mars - The Kill . Great rock band with Jared Leto and his brother.

The Ataris - Radio 2 . Idealistic song about taking down the radio. Hehe.

My current internet trend

2006-04-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

So my current internet trend is fashion. weird, i know. but there are some interesting online-only stores that have cool t-shirts, etc. One great blog that keeps up with these companies is The Cool Hunter. Some of the stores I kind of like are:
Smut Humorous
Number Nine Cool
JR7 Cool
Sold Out Great shoes!
J. Fold I need a wallet!
Lafraise French shit
Durkl Sleuth Paste
Art Force One Shoes

I just think this stuff is really fun to look at.

Uninteresting idiom

2006-04-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

"the rich get richer and the poor get poorer"

i hope no one thinks this is a profound statement. the rich are generally rich because they have high paying jobs. therefore, yes, they get richer with those same salaries. the poor get (relatively) poorer because they dont have high paying jobs.

was this confusing for anyone?

Weird: Languages in other Languages

2006-04-19T02:15:00.000-07:00

There are some weird patterns and weirder not-patterns:

→In→ ↓you say↓	Chinese	French	German	Hungarian	Italian	Japanese	Portuguese	Russian	Spanish
English		Anglais	Anglisch		Inglese				Inglés
Chinese		Chinois
French		Français	Französisch		Francese				Francés
German		Aleman	Deutsch		Tedesco				Alemán
Hungarian
Italian			Italienisch		Italien
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish		Espagnol	Spanisch						Español

Count to 10 Ah

2006-04-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

	Finnish	Romanian	Hungarian
0
1	yksi	unu	egy
2	kaksi	doi	kettõ
3	kolme	trei	három
4	neljä	patru	négy
5	viisi	cinci	öt
6	kuusi	sase	hat
7	seitsemän	sapte	hét
8	kahdeksan	opt	nyolc
9	yhdeksän	noua	kilenc
10	kymmenen	zece	tíz

The Friends Zone

2006-04-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

So I think I have some sort of terrible luck or some element in my personality that causes me to start out in the friends zone. I don't even get that window in which you can date someone. It's like the first conversations I ever have with women is about their current boyfriend or boy trouble. That means you're in the friends zone. What a bitch. Maybe its my destiny to never leave the friends zone and to get to know it so well, to understand the circumstances, the signs, etc. that I write a book about it and make millions of dollars. *Sigh* fuck.

Friday Techno Shuffle

2006-04-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Let's do a techno shuffle. No Self-Audit.

1)]} Andy Hunter - Go . Great song from the "The Italian Job". Also featured in one of Mark Strube's trailer's for The Matrix Collection.

2)]} Impulse Factory Meets Three Village & Hardcore Terrorists - Stereo Benefits . Interesting song from the "Masters of Hardcore" collection. Pretty classic house (?) song.

3)]} The Crystal Method - Batman Beyond (Techno Remix) . Short remix from my Crystal Method collection.

4)]} Derrick Thompson - The Perfect Sinners . A track from the only CD i've bought from Amoeba Records. Entertaining.

5)]} Andy Hunter - Wonders of You . 'Nother Andy Hunter.

6)]} Juno Reactor - Samurai . Possibly my favorite techno artist these days. Samurai is one of his better tracks.

7)]} Juno Reactor - Acid Moon . Mmm... Juno Reactor.

8)]} ATC - Around The World (La La La La La) . Very fun song. Pretty popular. I haven't listened to this in a while.

9)]} The Crystal Method - Cherry Twist . *Sigh* I heart Crystal Method.

10)]} Voodoo & Serano - This is Acid (Club Mix) . Amaaazing song. Oh hold on I have to listen this song.

Bye.

Old games aren't as great as you think.

2006-04-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves to reminisce (sp) about the amazing games you played as a kid. My favorite game of all time may even be Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo. This is the appeal that Nintendo is trying to use for the upcoming Nintendo Revolution. But really, I don't think old games are as great as you think.

Being able to play old games in the now is nothing new. For as long as the Super Nintendo has been out, you can buy a Super Nintendo. But no one really does. Sure, you have a story about your friend in Texas who just bought a Super Nintendo, or your girlfriend's roommate, or maybe even you have one in a closet somewhere. But aside from those scattered examples, people buy new games. People buy new systems.

If the games from yesteryear are so much cooler than the new Xbox 360 games, then why aren't you willing to pay $25 (1/8 the price of an Xbox) for a "superior" system? The games are never more than $20 each; thats half the price of an Xbox game.

Don't get excited over a $100+ gaming system because it can play your old Nintendo games. Get excited about the $25 Super Nintendo at Bookman's down the street.

Count to 10 Ae

2006-04-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

	German	Italian	Dutch
0	null	zero
1	eins	uno	een
2	zwei	duo	twee
3	drei	tre	drei
4	vier	quattro	vier
5	fünf	cinque	vijf
6	sechs	sei	zes
7	sieben	sette	zeven
8	acht	otto	acht
9	neun	nove	negen
10	zehn	dieci	tien

Count to 10 Aa

2006-04-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

	English	Spanish	French
0	zero	cero	zero
1	one	uno	un
2	two	dos	deux
3	three	tres	trois
4	four	quatro	quatre
5	five	cinco	cinq
6	six	seis	six
7	seven	siete	sept
8	eight	ocho	huit
9	nine	nueve	neuf
10	ten	diez	dix

Wikipedia 21

2006-04-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Yksi]] Fluffer - You hope you'll get to meet one of these in your lifetime.
Kaksi]] Prostitution in Germany - Informative.
Kolme]] Les Miserables - My favorite play.
Neljä]] Ouija - Fucking ridiculous.
Viisi]] Raw Food Diet - Again, fucking ridiculous.
Kuusi]] Norman Borlaug - The greatest human being.
Seitsemän]] Robespierre - This man was not the greatest human being.

Hawai'i Two

2006-04-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics with descriptive captions!

Aww, my mom.

COCK on the beach... look at that. Silly Hawai'ians.

The kids are so fucking pissed off at their parents for renting these.

Great shade trees. I think I want one in my back yard.

Hawai'i Pictures

2006-04-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics with descriptive captions!

So this is how close together those damn ABC Stores are together.

That's big. I dunno how they got that out of the water... or why they did... or how much it cost.

So... I guess they have a problem with hoodlums coming to the USS Arizona memorial and sitting on this bench...

...I didn't eat there.

Crazy Hawaiians

2006-04-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

So Hawaiian (or rather, Hawaiian written with Latin characters) only uses 12 letters. That's an absolute bitch. In direct comparison with English (26 letters), you can make 17576 words with three letters and only 1728 in Hawaiian.

17576:1728

Also, in Hawaiian, no two consonants touch eachother. This limits all three letter word possibilities to:

Aaa aae aah aai aak aal aam aan aao aap aau aaw aea aee aeh aei aek ael aem aen aeo aep aeu aew aha ahe ahi aho ahu aia aie aih aii aik ail aim ain aio aip aiu aiw aka ake aki ako aku ala ale ali alo alu ama ame ami amo amu ana ane ani ano anu aoa aoe aoh aoi aok aol aom aon aoo aop aou aow apa ape api apo apu aua aue auh aui auk aul aum aun auo aup auu auw awa awe awi awo awu * 5 = 475
Haa hae hah hai hak hal ham han hao hap hau haw hea hee heh hei hek hel hem hen heo hep heu hew hia hie hih hii hik hil him hin hio hip hiu hiw hoa hoe hoh hoi hok hol hom hon hoo hop hou how hua hue huh hui huk hul hum hun huo hup huu huw * 7 = 434

475 + 434 = 909 words compared to 17576 in English. Holy shit. So the roads are damn confusing. Its like the french, but worse, I drove on: Waialae, Kilauea (4 vowels in a row), Nu'uanu (1/2 of that word is the letter 'u'), Kalanianaole. You try giving your mom directions to these streets on congested freeways.

Silly Hawaiians.

Blind Guardian's Fly

2006-04-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

So Blind Guardian has a new single out, Fly.

The song is pretty amazing. Inspirational and crative. Classic Blind Guardian.

Shuffle 13

2006-04-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

Immunna shuffle for 13 songs on my "3²∙4² Newly Added Hits" playlist. So... we'll see if it was designed all right:

1. Survivor - Eye of the Tiger ] Great song. Gets old rather quickly, but great intro and stuff. 8

2. Kim Carnes - Bettie Davis Eyes ] Not amazing actually. Cute song, but I'm over it. 5

3. Red Light Department - Porno Wave ] Hehe. From "The Best of Erotic Club Music" compilation. Enjoyable, but disturbing after a while. 6

4. Thursday - Autobiography of a Nation ] This is on here cuz I was trying to figure out if I like Thursday. I do. And this song itself if pretty good. 7

5. John Mellencamp - Hurts So Good ] Obviously I assimilated a lot of 80s songs recently. This is another good one. 8

6. Thursday - Porcelain ] Sigh, the first duplicate. 7

7. Rihanna - SOS (Rescue Me) ] So Rihanna used the beat (and all music to) Tainted Love. But the song is totally rewritten. One interesting thing is she keeps one line from the original song: "You got me tossing and turning, I can't sleep at night." I love this song though, very fun. Fun idea. 8

8. 50 Cent feat Olivia - Candy Shop ] So this is Magic Stick with new lyrics and a new 7 figure paycheck for 50 Cent. Brilliant. Song's alright. 6

9. Bloc Party - Pioneers ] These guys are pretty fun. They were the underdog sleeper hit at that big show in Cali. Started with a C. Damn it. Whatever. 7

10. Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra ] 80's. Again. Not as good as Eye of the Tiger. 6

11. Jeunes Filles Perverses - Jeunes Filles Perverses ] Mmmm... Porno in a techno song. It's fun. 6

12. The Game feat 50 Cent - How We Do ] Catchy fun beat. Hard to dance to. 7

13. Frankie J. feat Baby Bash - Obsession (No Es Amor) ] Another top 40 I downloaded. I gotta work on this list. Hmm... 5

Average is... 6.6 Bleh. I'll work on how this list is defined.

Rant about Apple

2006-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

I love Apple. But they are very much a "Pop" business. The iPods are hip, along with MacBooks etc. So they advertise to idiots a lot. Like the advertisement about the G5 processor being 64-bit. They ran an ad about a waterfall:

4.3 billion. Numbers that big are hard to get your head around, but you could compare 32-bit processing to a glass of water, and 64-bit processing to the Niagara falls. This lets the G5 work with larger numbers in the same clock cycle for video effects, scientific and 3D calculations; the 32-bit Pentium must split such numbers across multiple cycles.

This is clearly directed at idiots. And I know a lot of idiots who would walk up to me and relish in the fact that the G5 processor was like a waterfall compared to my x86 "glass of water." This 64-bit business is comparable to wheels on a car. Apple is claiming that the G5 has 4.3 billion as many wheels as 32-bit processing. Does that make your car go faster? Can your engine even access 4.3 billion wheels? No. It can't. On the benchmarks, is the G5 4.3 billion times faster than the 32-bit PCs? No.

32-bit processing means each piece of memory has an address 32 digits long (in binary). 64-bit means 64-digit-long addresses. With each digit, the amount of memory doubles (you can access 4 numbers with 2 digits: 00, 01, 10, 11. and 8 numbers with 3 digits: 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111. 4.3 billion with 32 digits.) Now think about how much memory your computer uses now. 512MB? 1GB? Lets say you are at the max with 4GB. Well with Apple's G5 processor, you can have 4.3 billion times that... a lot.

According to Moore's Law, stuff with computers doubles every 18-24 months. For Apple's sake, lets say its every 18 months (ie 4x every 3 years). That means you will use 8GB of RAM in 2007 (3 years from '04); 32GB in 2013; 128GB in 2019; 1TB in 2025; 4TB in 2031. That's only 1000x the memory in 21 years. 1000 is less than 0.0001% of the 4.3 billion. So your paying for something that you won't use 1/1000th of in 21 years. Don't you think you will have a new computer by then?

Who would you invite to dinner?

2006-03-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

So... I remember in middle school some teacher asked us this question. I think we could choose three people. And you get to ask them a question or just, you know, get to know eachother.

Some people chose Hitler as one. That's not very smart cuz he's a vegetarian (sp) and the whole dinner would be awkward as you are chowing down on your steak.

Some people chose Ghandi. Again, awkward dinner.

So I suppose I should answer the question. How about... (1) Pierre Fermat and ask him if he really had a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. (2) JFK's killer and ask him what his name was. (3) Brian Greene and shoot the breeze.

Who would you pick?

I heart smart playlists

2006-03-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

So... I made a new one. This is "7³ Sleeper Hits". So the rules are: My Rating > 3 Stars and Play Count < 11, limited to 343 songs. Here is a random selection of 28 songs:

Apollo 440 - Stop the Rock
Overseer - Supermoves
Something Corporate - I Woke Up in a Car
ATB - Let You Go
Korn - Trash *Excellent*
Roxette - Listen to Your Heart
Moby - Landing

Garbage - Number One Crush *Excellent*
Tom Cochrane - Life is a Highway
The Animals - House of the Rising Sun
Eminem feat Nate Dogg - 'Till I Collapse
Live - I Alone
Chumbawumba - Tubthumping
Moby - Machete

Hoobastank - Same Direction
Fuel - Hemorrhage
Ani Difranco - Hour Follows Hour
Blink 182 - Dysentary Gary
The Hippos - All Alone
Rihanna - Pon De Replay
Metallica - The Unforgiven 2

Howard Shore - Lux Ataria *Excellent*
Haddaway - What is Love *Excellent*
DMX - Party Up
Charlie Daniels Band - Devil Came Down to Georgia
Lunatic Calm - Burn Like Chinese
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
Juno Reactor vs. Don Davis - Navras *Excellent*

Alright, I have another great idea

2006-03-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

If only I had $1,000,000 to put these into action, like the iFük.

So, here we go. Phones have limited voice recognition. What for? just to call people? "Call Ted"? That's it? There are so many more uses that could be implemented. Not in the future, TODAY. The technology is here today! How about this?

Picture this. I have my Smartphone/PDA/Origami attatched at my hip, right? When it's time to close Highland Market at night, I say outloud "Phone Todo List Highland" and my phone says back "Todo List 'Highland' Open." The word "Highland" is simply a playback of what I have said aloud. My phone doesnt need to know what it is, it just repeats what I said when I created the list. The same holds for everything in single quotes. So, again:

Me: "Phone Todo List Highland."
Phone: "Todo List 'Highland' Open."
Me: "Read 5 items."
Phone: "Item 1: 'Close Soft Serve'. Item 2: 'Close Sode Fountain'. Item 3: 'Stock Walk-In'. Item 4: 'Straighten Shelves'. Item 5: 'Lock Doors'."
Me: "(mumbles) ok i did the soft serve and locked the doors. (aloud) Check Item 1. Check Item 5."
Phone: "Item 1 Checked. Item 5 Checked."
Me: "Read next 5 items."
Phone: "Item 6: 'Close Coffee Shop'. Item 7: 'Replace Deli Mats'. Item 8: 'Sweep Aisles'. Item 9: 'Move Dining Tables'. Item 10: 'Sweep Dining Area'."
Me: "Uh... Check Item 7 and Check Item 9."
Phone: "Item 7 Checked. Ite---"
Me: "Add Item."
Phone: "Describe Item."
Me: "Clean Grill. Stop."
Phone: "Item 13 Added: 'Clean Grill'."

Etc etc. Holy shit. Think of all the applications for that! You could type up a list of things to pack for a camping trip on ur computer, then transfer it to ur PDA where it can Text-To-Speech it all as a list that you can check off. This wouldnt be hard to do. How come no one has done it??? More on this later.

Review: V for Vendetta

2006-03-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, another amazing movie this week. What made V for Vendetta amazing (yes I will continue to just repeat that word)? A little bit of the Matrix (Wachowski Brothers), Equilibrium, 1984, and Batman. Plus Natalie Portman. Oh man, shaved head too. I don't think this movie held any plot flaws, dull moments, corny lines, etc. It was pretty clever and knives rock.

As a side note, at this movie created by people who directed one of the most successful trilogies ever (The Matrix Trilogy), we saw extended previews for MI:3, X3, and The Fast and the Furious 3. Weeeiiird!

Review: Ultraviolet

2006-03-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

So that was amazing. A little bit of Equilibrium (same director; Kurt Wimmer), a little bit (I imagine) of Aeon Flux, some Blade, some Resident Evil (just Milla's stunts I guess), and some Cyber Punk. Amazing. There were some great cyber punk elements such as the ID process and the disposible OLED phone. Amazing 3D chase scene with a motorcycle and choppers. *Sigh* I think I'll marry her.

So Google Video is Amazing

2006-03-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

Google video is amazing. Its like a albinoblacksheep/ebaumsworld/collegehumor/everythingamazingontheinternet all bundled up. People love watching videos of stuff. Google Video is the Wikipedia of video. You can find videos of people solving rubik's cubes; all ur favorite small bands playing live; smash brothers videos; ddr videos; funny videos. Its amazing. *Sigh*.

Randum

2006-03-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna see Ultraviolet. Milla Jovovich (sp?!?) is amazing. So is Kurt Wimmer (sp!?!) (Equilibrium). I never saw Aeon Flux (just some of the show), but Ultraviolet looks like Aeon Flux meets Equilibrium.

Ian and I think they should make a "Marvel vs Capcom vs Freddie vs Jason vs Alien vs Predator vs Smash Bros vs Dead or Alive vs Jesus."

Now I've posted within the last month. So there. Bye.

Moby has a point

2006-02-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a quote from his "journal" (blog):

apple being sued over ipods?
because you can go deaf if you listen to them too loud-ly?
that is absurd, right?
can i sue the maker of a chair because if i drop the chair on my head i might get injured?
since when are corporations supposed to protect us from our own stupidity?
maybe i'll sue apple because the back of my old ipod is shiny and if i were to take it into the sun it might reflect the sun back into my face and temporarily blind me, potentially causing an epileptic fit.
in the future all products will be made out of rubber with no moving parts.
corporations should be held responsible for malfeasance, but our litigious society seems to have gotten completely out of hand.
oi vey.
moby

Anyways, half of the information given us at CPR training yesterday was how to cover yourself from getting sued. *sigh*

If I had $1,000,000...

2006-02-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

It's interesting to think about what you would do with $1,000,000. Not general "What would you spend it on?" crap. But how would your day to day life change? How much would you change? ie: Would you eat differently? Here are a few answers I have:

Would I eat differently? I think most of my diet would stay the same: cereal, energy drinks, coffee. I would certainly eat more sushi. I would still eat at Losbetos because I love their horchata. And I would call Monster and buy several packs of their 24oz cans.

Would I dress differently? I wouldn't change my day-to-day wear except that I would buy a new pair of socks for every day of my life. Maybe new jeans, new shoes, jackets. But a t-shirt is a t-shirt.

Would I pay for things for other people? Not really. I would pay my brothers' ways through college if they kept jobs. So maybe I would just pay tuition and housing or something.

Would I buy a luxury car? I don't know. I'd certainly buy a new car. But I think I would like something basic, like a Honda Civic or F-150 or something. I would still want a car with good gas efficiency.

Would I travel more and stay in nicer hotels? I would definitely travel more. I think I'd stay in the standard hotels unless I was in Vegas. You have to live it up in Vegas.

Comment with how you would live differently?

2006-01-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna miss this place.

2006-01-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

So nowhere other than the Highland Market will I get a better clientelle. Lemme break down 80% of the customers:

College girls coming from the rec.
College girls coming from the pool.
College girls coming from bed, in their pajamas.
College girls coming from class, in their pajamas.
College girls going to parties.
College girls coming from parties, drunk.
College girls dressed "up" for Halloween.
College girls dressed "up" for no reason.

Oh well. These are supposedly the best days of our lives.

Speaking of Money-Making Schemes...

2006-01-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

So there was a guy. fucking genious. he had this brilliant idea, right? He bottled dog piss, and called it Milwaukee's Best. Made millions. Fucker.

Sharing Technology

2006-01-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

I get frustrated with the fact that so many awesome technologies are seen only in individual programs or small software. These include:

deviantART's and facebook's search features (though these could even be expanded) - These should be implimented in other programs that use databases, such as e-mail and address books.

iTunes's Smart Playlist feature. This should be used in Explorer, e-mail, address books, and photo organizers such as Picasa.

iTune's, mytunes, and Firefox's real-time as-you-type search function. This should be used in Explorer, e-mail, address books.

Firefox's and several other browser's and software's tabbed views. This should be implemented everywhere: iTunes, Explorer. It is already in Path Finder 4. I love that.

I wish these technologies were shared better, or developed faster by alternate fields. Damn, oh well.

As well, iTunes could use some better features. I'd like multiple entry capabilities. Such as two genres (a song can be Techno and Trance, or Metal and Power Metal.) or multiple artists (such as "Yeah" by Usher, Lil' John, and Ludacris). so that when you sort by artist, it comes up when you scroll to any of the names. Secondly, the Smart Playlists could be more brilliant than they are now. They need and/or features. I want my ghetto smartlist to be ( Genre = "Hip Hop" OR Genre = "Rap" ) AND Rating > "3 Stars." Or better yet. (Genre = "Hip Hop" AND Rating > "3 Stars" ) OR (Genre = "Rap" AND Rating > "4 Stars"). I dunno. Someday. And they need more video types than Movie and Music Video. They sell TV Episodes for Christ's sake.

Movie-List - Ultraviolet Trailer Page

2006-01-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

This movie looks really good I think. Milla Jovovich. Looks like a cross between Aeon Flux, Equilibrium and... something else... not sure. Looks good though. Directed by Kurt Wimmer.

Wikipedia 13

2006-01-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jedna]] Epic Metal - Aaamazing.
Dva]] Viking Metal - ...Aaamazing.
Tøi]] Mathcore - Yeah.
Ètyøi]] A Fever You Can't Sweat Out - Interesting Album.
Pìt]] List of songs with titles that do not appear in the lyrics - This is beautiful.
Est]] Facebook - Interesting blips.

Gawker's 123 Reasons to Love New York

2006-01-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

I like this. moby had a blip on it.

http://www.gawker.com/news/metro/gawkers-123-reasons-to-love-new-york-right-now-144595.php

I'll post my favorite ones for an abridged version:

1. Because we scorn the fat.
2. Because we can drink until 4 AM.
3. Because we have our drugs delivered to our doors.
4. Because all we have to do is walk down the street in order to be propositioned for sex.
6. Because we only pretend to recycle.
8. Because whether you make $50k or $200k, you’re still “middle class.”
9. Because “fuck” is intrinsic to our local dialect.
10. Because there’s a Starbucks on every block.
11. Because you can get anything you want on Craigslist.
13. Because our restaurants are so cramped, we can hear if our neighbor is being an asshole.
14. Because you can live in the same place for 10 years and never have to see or meet your neighbors
17. Because everyone’s Gay.
19. Because sometimes it smells like maple syrup.
20. Because there’s always a secret room behind the VIP room.
21. Because we can get fake TiVo for $9.95/mo.
22. Because our tabloids are considered newspapers.
23. Because the transit strike keeps us from really working.
29. Because there’s always a free drink available somewhere.
30. Because we know Sex and the City is a crock of shit.
31. Because we know Friends is a crock of shit.
33. Because we think Vitamin Water is a real beverage.
36. Because “road trip” just means Ikea.
37. Because even Lenny Kravitz’s toilet gets clogged.
38. Because smoking is encouraged.
39. Because we only have one mall, and it’s not any good anyhow.
40. Because people read.
41. Because we invented PNP.
43. Because we eat McDonald’s ironically.
45. Because Jews.
46. Because you can take a dump at the Apple Store.
47. Because you can buy anything, even a stolen baby.
51. Because real estate is a professional sport.
52. Because only black is the new black.
54. Because our pigeons have rabies.
57. Because everyone’s got a blog.
61. Because everyone you know has slept with one another.
65. Because we have a looser definition of substance abuse.
69. Because even if you can only play “Wish You Were Here” on the guitar, you can make a few bucks at a subway station.
73. Because you can buy live jellyfish from a wooden box in Chinatown.
74. Because your parents love to come visit and pay for dinner.
75. Because your parents don’t love to come visit.
76. Because you can walk down the street and fart and nobody will notice.
77. Because if you want a cat, you can walk into any deli and just steal one.
78. Because you can do your Sunday morning walk of shame undetected.
79. Because Teen Vogue is only $1.99.
80. Because fifth floor walk-up apartments are great for the glutes.
81. Because nobody uses condoms anymore.
84. Because everyone looks like shit in the morning.
85. Because there’s such a thing as $300 sushi.
86. Because you can be a gay man and reasonably keep both a wife and a boyfriend.
88. Because there’s just enough Brits around to keep us speaking proper English.
89. Because we worship high fashion in collapsible tents.
90. Because vegetarians keep to themselves.
91. Because our knock-offs are often better than the real thing.
92. Because there’s always someone naked in Times Square.
94. Because your cab driver is probably more interesting than you are.
95. Because you can get mustard on everything.
96. Because it’s perfectly fine to answer your phone mid-sentence.
101. Because you can ride the Staten Island ferry all day at only the cost of your stomach.
103. Because we know what “new bar smell” is, but not “new car smell.”
104. Because 666-6666 has nothing to do with Satan. Technically.
105. Because even your intern has an intern.
106. Because only old people have land lines.
107. Because parts of Central Park still smell like a poopy country farmyard.
109. Because everyone drinks at brunch.
110. Because our tap water won’t kill you.
111. Because it’s easy to steal wifi.
112. Because as much as you hate it, Rockefeller Center is still kind of neat.
113. Because city kids have been there and done that before you even got here.
115. Because used clothes cost more than new ones.
116. Because we’d rather be emaciated than healthy.
117. Because in one morning, you can look like a jackass in the background of four different morning shows.
118. Because it’s perfectly acceptable to give the finger to anyone at any time.
119. Because the smell is concentrated in Chinatown.
120. Because doing your own laundry is for rich suckers.
121. Because you can buy Vagisil at the bodega at 4 AM.
122. Because we keep Jersey at arm’s length.

Wikipedia 8

2006-01-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

1]] Interpunct - A very interesting thing.
10]] Bracket - More than you ever knew.
11]] Asterism - More and more.
100]] Sarbanes-Oxley Act - A little bit of business.
101]] Kwanzaa - I'll bet you don't actually know what this is!
110]] Christmas - I love learning history.
111]] Power Ballad - An interesting type of music.

The First BluRay Burner... and the Future

2006-01-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Holy Moley. Pioneer announced its first Blu-Ray Burner. It will write single-layer BD-R (BluRay Disc Recordable) and BD-RE (BluRay Disc REwritable) at 1x, read BD-R/E/ROM at 2x. It also writes DVDs, let's assume it does for DVD±R/W at 16x, and reads DVD±R/W/ROM at 16x. It doesn't do CDs though at all. Maybe it will in the future. And since burners merged the DVD-R and DVD+R camps into DVD±R, I imagine we'll soon be seeing:

BD-R/E / HD-R/E / DVD±R/W / CD-R/W drives.

I'm excited. How the hell are they gonna market that?

UPDATE: So I was looking on Dell today. They recommended this item:

SONY CORPORATION
DRX-810UL 8X DVD±R DL / 16X/6X/16X DVD-RW / 16X/8X/16X DVD+RW / 48X/32X/40X CD-RW External USB/i.LINK FireWire Double Layer Combo Drive

Way to stay friendly Dell. hehe.

Willy Wonka

2005-12-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

The new Willy Wonka is rated PG for "Quirky Situations, Action, and Mild Language." Those kooky ratings people.

Annoyances

2005-12-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

I always get annoyed with compound words or hyphenated words that look like its made out of two separate words, but its not. like egg nog. there are no other nogs. there is only egg nog. therefore "egg nog" is not two separate words combined to mean something different, its just another word that has nothing to do with its two components.

and christmas eve. people think that "eve" means the day before. it doesn't. because only an idiot would apply it to anything. you dont have a birthday eve. you dont have black friday eve. you dont have 911 eve. you only have christmas eve, all hallow's eve, and new years eve. i dont even think there is a chinese new years eve. cuz the chinese aren't dumb like that.

and a lot of idioms. i can't think of a lot right now... maybe i'll do an update. but "certifiably insane." sounds like a smart phrase cuz certifiably is a big word. but its not even a word that you could use anywheres else. you don't call someone certifiably clever, or certifiably blonde. maybe its kinda cutesy to say one of those, but only because it is a modification of "certifiably insane." they just bug me. i'll think of more.

how about "aforementioned" nothing else can be "afore"'d. you can't have an aforebought shirt or an aforecolored hair. its lame.

i dont know why these things piss me off. honestly i dont. but it does.

Wikipedia 5

2005-12-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

0n3]] Balkanization - Interesting word.
Tw0]] Finlandization - More interesting word.
Thr33]] Gerrymandering - Funny picture.
F0ur]] Internet phenomenon - Its amazing how many of these I know of.
F1v3]] Homestar Runner Wiki - I love wikis!
51x]] Interrobang - I need to use this more in everyday life.
53v3n]] GIF - Who knew?

Wikipedia 3

2005-12-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

Un]] Cyberpunk - The genre.
Due]] Erik the Red - This man is fucking crazy.
Tre]] Ido - The constructed language.
Quattro]] Patronymic - When you take your father's name.
Cinque]] Snap Bracelet - This actually is a bad article. But you can help expand it!
Sei]] Klingon Language - *Sigh* nerds.

MathWorld News: 43rd Mersenne Prime Found

2005-12-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Holy shit. #43 is found. Amazing. 2^30,402,457 -1 is prime! Luckily this prime only has 9,152,052 decimal digits and I can still find the first 10 million digit prime.

Wikipedia 2

2005-12-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ein]] American Idiot - The rock opera.
Zwei]] The Devil - This man is fucking crazy.
Drei]] Dodo Bird - It's dead.
Vier]] Nape Piercing - These are fun.
Fünf]] Dead Sea Scrolls - I didn't know anything about these.
Sechs]] Market Capitalization - I never knew what this was.
Sieben]] J D Salinger - Silly man.

The Other Side Trailer

2005-12-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

This movie doesn't look too bad. I am notorious for never disliking a film, but... still. It's about this guy who is murdered, goes to hell, but escapes it somehow. So a few other people escape it too, and they try and help him avenge his girlfriend's death while avoiding these three "reapers" sent from hell to bring them back. Looks new, thats all.

A Talk to Google's Larry Page in 2038

2005-12-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

This mock interview is pretty hilarious. The author was very clever and inventive. I recommend it as a fun quick read. Especially if you are obsessed with Google.

Wikipedia 1

2005-12-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

Uno]] Nimitz class aircraft carrier - These things are fucking crazy. They're so damn big.
Dos]] Theodore Roosevelt - This man is fucking crazy.
Tres]] Cannibal Holocaust - This movie is fucking crazy.
Quatro]] Leper colony - These are fun.
Cinco]] Swinging - This is actually really interesting.
Seis]] Ivy League - This has a lot of things I didn't know about the Ivy League.
Siete]] Interstate 10 - is 2460 miles long. Wow.

Wikipedia 1

2005-12-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here are my first k Wikipedia pages of the [time period it takes for me to post some new Wikipedia pages]. And they will be numbered like... THIS:

Un]] History of Video Games - Did you know we are now in the seventh era?
Deux]] Gerund - Do you know what that is?
Trois]] Horchata - Actually not entirely informative.
Quatre]] Washington D.C. - The silliest place in the US.
Cinq]] Google - The most amazing company alive!
Six]] Knuth's up-arrow notation - A really fun math gem.

So that's the first six. Cuz... six is a perfect number.

Anyone read RedBlue? no? Well here's my rebuttal.

2005-12-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

So in RedBlue there was a little article on how the new 5G iPod sucks. Here is my rebuttal:

Someone needs to put a little more thought when judging new technology. Does Mr.McConville own a new 5G iPod? Did he interview anyone who owned one? No. Maybe he should play with one of these before he torches it. Alright, now for some positive information. I own a new Fifth Generation iPod. He is my new best friend. Here are some quick numbers: I've already loaded him up with 5000 songs, 800 pictures, my Contacts and Calendar, 100 music videos, 2 TV episodes, and 1 full-length film. He's only half full at 28 GB. I plan to lose 20 lbs very soon as I chug away on the treadmill at the gym while watching my favorite shows and movies on the crystal clear and very bright screen. I don't understand McConville's argument about paying for TV shows: "Network TV is supposed to be a free medium." No it isn't. Advertisements. Do you think that because songs are "free" on the radio, you shouldn't have to pay for them in the store. If a movie plays on a Saturday Night on NBC, should you be able to take it out of the video store for free? That's probably the least thought-out argument I've ever read. Because the download of a TV episode does not come with the interim advertisements, you pay for it, just like a CD or DVD. The same holds for downloading music videos. Secondly, did you think that the five currently-available shows will be the only ones available ever? That Apple isn't writing agreements with other networks? Let me check right now... Ah, Apple has already added to the station line-up: NBC, Scifi, and USA. They'll certainly stop there though. That's all for sure. And you know what? You don't have to buy the videos or episodes anyways. It is no secret that the iPod's largest audience (young adults including those in college) downloads music as much as they drink underage. It's hardly a step further to download music videos, TV shows, and movies. Re-encoding them into the iPod video format (320x240 MPEG-4) takes very little searching online (I use Videora iPod Converter, Google it). With a little effort, you can enjoy the new iPods a lot more than you think. Here's to passing time in lectures, heading to the Rec daily, and falling asleep to Lord of the Rings.

Recompliation

2005-12-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have recompiled the list of the environments at which girls are their hottest and/or cutest. These were never in order. And they still aren't. So really I'm just adding... three things I think. But it's an update. Comment.

13. Singing German (ie Silbermond)
12. Sleeping. No exceptions
11. Benching. Call it weird. But the only girls I have seen bench are pretty damn hot
10. Being young moms (Edit: not teenage; mid 20's)
9. Driving a cute car
8. Workin' Out at the rec
7. 311 Concerts (or so I've been told)
6. General Existing at the beach
5. Playing Volleyball
4. Pajamas (or other nightwear)
3. Tanning at the beach
2. Snowboarding (often donning very rosy cheeks)
1. Surfing at the beach

Why Nice Guys Finish Last

2005-12-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

I think that I've finally figured it out. After talking to many men and women about the subject, I feel that I have pinned it down with a very simple and accurate analogy.

Attractive guys are like food that tastes good.
Nice guys are like healthy food.

Everyone loves food that tastes good. Thats just a given. I'm not saying explicitly candy or ice cream. Cuz baby carrots and salad taste good. Its just that people typically eat food that tastes good, and then they may attempt to filter unhealthy food. So in deciding dinner they may narrow it down to "food that tastes good" ruling out beets and a bottle of chocolate syrup. They are left with ice cream and ravioli. From here they may choose ice cream, get sick, and make a mental note to eat ravioli next time.

Girls (and I imagine guys) do the same thing with men. They narrow down potential mates (say, at a party or in their group of friends or something) to the attractive ones (the ones that taste good). This is the set of date-able men. They date men and then break up with the not nice (unhealthy) ones, hopefully finally settling on "nice guys."

Now, that only explains the universe, not why nice guys finish last. The food analoy holds though. Most of the time, when cooking dinner, you will choose (from your good-tasting food) the unhealthier foods. Soda, chips, nuts, snack foods and stuff. After any negative results (stomach ache, weight gain, vomitting), you slowly learn to choose the healthier food. This is how people (and women) work.

I don't blame women at all for this any more. I would choose the nice guys last. It's hard to choose something with long-term benefits over short-term. There is something else about how the venn diagram of attractive guys and nice guys has a very small intersection of the two. I think. At least from the horror stories i hear from women. Maybe I'll refine this theory. But I like it for now.

Top n Reasons the Highland Market is a Neat Place

2005-11-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves lists. Lists lists lists. So let's do one. Top n Reasons the Highland Market is a Neat Place.

How should I number this...? Binary.

00001:. The nonfat yogourt on tap.
00010:. Ben & Jerry's Pints (more flavors than like... Safeway, I swear).
00011:. The Deli has Smoked Gouda.
00100:. So many frickin' beverages at the Coffee Shop: coffee drinks, espresso drinks, italian sodas, chai, hot chocolate, blended drinks.
00101:. So many frickin' beverages in-store: water, flavored water, energy water, sparkling water, gatorate, tea, juice, fresh-squeezed juice, energy drinks, protein shakes, soda, Crystal Light, etc.
00110: The Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice is the best I've ever had.
00111: We have a coffee shop.
01000: Eegee's.
01001: Patries.
01010: Frozen foods and two in-store microwaves.
01011: Free music. Anyone can listen!
01100: Breakfast burritos.
01101: Grilled sandwiches like the best philly cheese steak.
01110: Friendly (eh) collegiete (sp?) staff that has better teeth than (K).
01111: It reminds me of QT really.
10000: They take CatCard.
10001: They take Debit.
10010: They take cash... like even pennies.
10011: It's really close to where you live... if you live right there that is.
10100: I'm 20 years old (the same as this number in binary).
10101: This number is a palindrome (in binary).
10110: The cleanest bathrooms I've ever seen.
10111: Cereal comes at really cheap prices.
11000: I own that place.
11001: Cool drinks like the Red Bull Creation and the Monster Bite (ask for one).

And 25 is a nice round number... round like a woman's breast... So we'll stop there. Add comments with ur favorite things about highland. Or women's breasts.

Harry Potter "Choose 4 Names" Spell

2005-11-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

OK, to start, this movie was pretty awesome with amazing special effects. I loved it. However, almost becoming a 20-year-old-sophisticate made me question quite a few things:

1: Why the hell are Dumbledoor and Magonagle (sp? I don't read the books) and others so baffled that bad things are happening? Like the attack at the Quidich (sp?) Tournament and the attack on the one head guy. MAYBE it's cuz you fucking enrolled Harry Potter, eh? Maybe its because the rat guy got away in the last movie? Or because the spooky "Chamber of Secrets, which has never been opened, was opened? Maybe it's because you can't seem to hire a good DADA (Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course) teacher? There are a few other things at play Dumbledoor. Figure it out!

2: Why the hell was everyone so grief stricken after the new character-they-just-introduced-in-this-movie-and-then-killed-off -and-who-didn't-see-that-coming died? They threw him into a pit with a Fire-Breathing Dragon. WTF? Would they have been as aghast if Kron slipped on some rocks and was set afire in front of that audience of hundreds? "Oh fuck... fuck he's on fire. Oh God, the first-years... Get them out, ah shit someone put him out. Oh God his father's here isn't... shit shit shit. He fucking set him on fire... I never saw that coming! Never! Alright let's just move to the next... Quick get Harry out and we'll wrap up the first challenge. Dangerous? No, he'll be fine. Should we have used a bigger stadium for Fire-Breathing Dragons than this one that only spans 100 feet across? No we'll be perfectly safe, as will the champions. A thicker chain around his neck? What are you going on about, a dragon could never break that simple bike-lock-thick chain." I mean, was no one worried that Harry would die when that ball "mysteriously" went berserk and tried to smash Harry's face??? No, I guess that never would have killed him, no one was really even all that phased. "See that ball? kinda weird, huh? Think it was cursed by one of Voldimort's followers in the stands?" "Nah, they just do that sometimes, try and squish a student's face all over the grass. It's kind of a mess to clean up, but no one's ever really phased by it and we keep playing."

3: Who the fuck chose that chain? Fucking idiots. That looked like a group of professionals who deal with dragons in boxes every day. Apparently not.

4: NO ONE QUESTIONED WHY THE HAT CHOSE FOUR NAMES. Duh, well, i dunno, it kinda farts out like that sometimes. Gives three names. O well. What? Do I think someone put the "Choose 4 Names" Spell? That's proposterous. No idiotic spell like that exists. What good would it be? 'Alright students, we're gonna play some recreational quidich, harry you are captain of team 1. Aaaaand Choose 4 Names Spell! Ha!' No. No such spell exists. What? It does? It's designed spesifically for the goblet of fire? Well, you know what, some evil force is just fucking with us then, alright? Lets let it do its thing? It can't hurt. It's not gonna raise Voldimort from the dead or anything." HA! You thought wrong old man! You killed a boy AND raised Voldimort. Sucker!

5: The only child who has moved past puberty is, somehow, Nevel (sp?). He is the only one who wasn't bickering or having awkward moments with the opposite sex, and he had a good time at the ball. Fucking Ron who has never had ANY use, except for the lame chess scene, was a bitch to his date and Harry and Hermione (sp?) (But they just welcome him back into their lives as all teen relationships work out). Harry was just being a dumb boy, and Hermione (sp?) was being moody as all hell.

Other than that, bloody great movie.

"Not My President" Fuck That

2005-11-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, after 20 Volumes of Things that Make Me Happy, i'm gonna rant. Those stupid "Not My President" stickers, badges, patches, shirts, pin, bumper stickers, etc. are crap. No one said he was your president. He was voted President of the US, where you live, fucker. Quit being a sore loser. Do you know how many more presidents will win that you didn't vote for? Maybe quite a few. Are you gonna be as hung up about that too or move on with your life? I don't particularly like the guy, but I've practically forgotten he's president. I've moved on. When the Brophy swim team wins state, do I act all butt sore and say Brophy is "Not My 5A State Swim Champions." No! They won! They're fuckin' fast as all hell. Bush won. Deal. If Germany or some country wins more medals in the Olympics, are they "Not Your Olympic Champions?" Does anyone care? Does Bush care? No, he probably wears a "Not My President" shirt to bed, just to chuckle to himself as he sleeps, about all the whiny bitches out there who think he's not the most powerful man alive. Ha!

I'm so tired I wanna take a nap so I'm done.

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 20

2005-11-07T02:20:00.000-07:00

290.Costco Polish Sausage
291.iTunes Smart Playlists
292.warm towels
293.Montessori schools
294.predictive text
295.sushi
296.girls sleeping
297.high thread-counts
298.Ong-Bak
299.Highland Market
300.California Grill

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 19

2005-11-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

271.New Balance color schemes
272.Formal undecidability
273.quick sets
274.Eddie Izzard
275.FF3
276.Linkin Park
277.Rubik's Cubes
278.Google
279.vampires
280.24oz Monster
281.Google paraphanalia
282.Wikipedia
283.smoked Gouda
284.corrugated fiberboard
285.heavy metal umlaut
286.French circumflex
287.the etymology of “candidate”
288.the irrationals
289.Google Earth

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 18

2005-11-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

258.The British
259.Keeping Up Appearances
260.girls' smooth legs
261.Blind Guardian
262.Bobas
263.“And Then There Was Silence”
264.Yoda
265.Talespin
266.X-Trac Pro Mouse Pad
267.e^πi+1=0
268.Linguistics
269.0.5mm lead
270.The obelisk/dagger

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 17

2005-11-07T02:13:00.000-07:00

241.sun chips
242.Pringles
243.balloons
244.Quoc
245.Cirque du Soleil
246.Freddie Boath
247.”Winter Overture”
248.Gentoo Linux
249.SkyOS
250.“The Most Dangerous Game”
251.girls' clean complexions
252.sideburns
253.“Niel Snusterman”
254.hummingbirds
255.wheat thins
256.gold fish
257.The Never-Ending Story

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 16

2005-11-07T02:10:00.000-07:00

222.translation dictionaries
223.IBC root beer
224.Trader Joe's
225.Jones Soda
226.Costco
227.horizontal blinds
228.national flags
229.ping pong
230.dry erase markers
231.tortilla chips
232.Desert Storm Park
233.Missy Elliot's Lambourghini
234.“My Immortal (Full Band)”
235.Indiana Jones movies
236.Shortround
237.Jet Li
238.super balls
239.laser foil
240.LEDs

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 15

2005-10-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

211.hot dogs
212.large cereal bowls
213.tortillas
214.sarsaparilla
215.mechanical pencils
216.six cubed
217.gel pens
218.strings
219.big band
220.dead baby jokes
221.dictionaries

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 14

2005-10-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

194.scissors
195.leaping to your feet from your back
196.bench pressing
197.bagels
198.donuts
199.suckers
200.The Countess
201.runes
202.well-balanced silverware
203.sleep
204.Mathematica
205.deviantART
206.Lundt Truffles
207.aspartame
208.ravioli
209.portabello mushrooms
210.the Stock Market

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 13

2005-10-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

181.Arabic letters
182.potato chips
183.Susan B. Anthony dollars
184.Liero
185.Tharr
186.Number Theory
187.Star Trek
188.twice-baked potatoes
189.Jack Handy's Deep Thoughts
190.The X-Files
191.milkshakes
192.that crazy soccer throw
193.backflips

Things that Make Me Happy: Vol. 12

2005-10-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

174.Sean Connery
175.James Bond movies
176.batteries
177.Latin-based words
178.cognates
179.Greek letters
180.shorthand