Connor's Thoughts

You just have to love unconventional advertising slogans

2010-05-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

You just have to love unconventional advertising slogans.

A Day Without

2010-05-13T06:52:00.001-07:00

When I got to college, I became an avid fan of cycling. Not because I liked cycling so much as I disliked walking. So when I learned that my bike's tires were intolerably flat yesterday, it had all the markings of a bad day.

But, it really wasn't.

Firstly, not having to wear a helmet was a trip. Leaving classes was even worse because my hand would always reach for the phantom helmet.

It's a surreal experience, going from zipping by everyone on the sidewalk in rush to get to class and leisurely walking where you're stuck following someone for at least some of the time. It reminded me of walking to class in high school, which thankfully didn't allow bikes in school.

There are also little things one notices while walking and not while biking. For example, there were plenty of advertisements for “Snow in the Quad,” but they were at walking intersections and written along the sidewalk. On a bike such scribblings would be invisible. I even had a little laugh when I saw an ad for “Shirtless Hotties in the Quad,” for the same day as the above event.

I also noticed that my pedometer got significantly more steps that day than a normal day when I bike everywhere. I know for a fact that my pedometer registers biking as steps, but evidently nowhere near as many steps as actual walking is.

All in all, I liked the change of pace not biking everywhere.

So the old adage still holds, that it's worth it to stop and smell the roses. It sounds like a brilliant epiphany. Still, I'm not looking forward to walking halfway across campus to my Organic Chemistry lab in an hour.

At least it's been less than a year this time...

2010-05-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

It's hard to go back. When you quit something, it's not accidental.

But when you come back, it's twice as purposeful.

My friend just posted “I'm the most viral person you know” as his Facebook status. And you know what? He's probably right. But it bothers me nonetheless. There was a time, not terribly far away, when I was the most viral person I knew. I'm somewhat certain I got into websites and blogging because I wanted to be internet famous. I've since passed up on that fruitless goal, but that doesn't mean my inner competitive spirit has dulled.

Did I say my friend posted a status update? Well, we were friends, until the dreaded awkward event that degraded us to friendship limbo. I would have been jealous even if he was my friend, doubly so now.

Yes, there was a time when I had 20 or so visitors a day come to my blog. It's since decayed, thanks for asking. I posted more than my fair share of videos to Youtube, and surprisingly got views to them too. Heck, some kids at my school found them and enjoyed them. The catch is, all of that's pretty smalltime. Not to mention it's pennies down the drain now.

So that's why I'm posting this new post; a feeble and desperate attempt to fight back.

Hey, I've read plenty of people's stories on the internet. Giving one back is just fair game.

How to Identify a Catchphrase using Google

2009-09-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Catchphrases are all over the place. A quick Google search will reveal the origin and meaning of any catchphrase. ...So long as that's the original form. People just love to remix popular catchphrases, usually just changing one word at a time.

While reading an article in Wired called "The Giant Nerds of Sumatra," it just suddenly dawned on me how to identify where a catchphrase is from. The original form is "the giant rats of Sumatra," an obscure quote from Sherlock Holmes that inspired one if not more fan fictions. I realized that there's just one word difference between the two phrases.

So how does one figure out which word is changed? By performing five Google searches, each time omitting one of the words. For the above catchphrase, five Google searches;

"nerds of Sumatra"
the "nerds of Sumatra"
"the giant" "of Sumatra"
"the giant nerds" Sumatra
"the giant nerds of"

Be sure to use quotes to attempt to preserve the order of the words.

Google will then happily fill in the blanks. Looking at the Google Search results, it's something like 5, 5, 300k, 5, 5. It's immediately obvious which one is the original catchphrase.

Also, if it's an especially long catchphrase, I suppose one could use heuristics to decrease the number of required searches. For example, I don't suppose that eliminating the "the" from the catchphrase did a whole lot.

Additionally, if more than one word was substituted, you'd have to do even more Google searches.

I personally don't know if this has been published before or not, but it's just something really cool that I just figured out. Even if this is just a rudimentary brute force method for solving something, it gives answers where there used to be questions.

Wikipedia has an Error Message!

2009-07-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

A while back I managed to stumble upon the Wolfram|Alpha error message, but I never thought I'd see the Wikipedia one.

Here's what it says;

WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION
Error
Our servers are currently experiencing a technical problem. This is probably temporary and should be fixed soon. Please try again in a few minutes.

You may be able to get further information in the #wikipedia channel on the Freenode IRC network.

The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organisation which hosts some of the most popular sites on the Internet, including Wikipedia. It has a constant need to purchase new hardware. If you would like to help, please donate.

If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below.
Request: GET http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=chess+board, from 208.80.152.35 via sq30.wikimedia.org (squid/2.7.STABLE6) to ()

Error: ERR_CANNOT_FORWARD, errno [No Error] at Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:42:56 GMT

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A Thousand Words / World Builder (on Vimeo)

2009-07-29T17:02:00.001-07:00

It's not too often that I find one of these indie films that's really worth sharing, so finding two is something special.

2009-07-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

After reading more internet comments than I ever should, I'm actually kind of glad this blog doesn't get comments.

A Wikipedia Article Definitely in Need of Cleanup

2009-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

This article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The discussion page may contain suggestions.

Sometimes we see this at the top of Wikipedia articles, but what does it really mean?

This.

Hunch.com Perfect for Facebook Quiz Enthusiasts

2009-07-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Do you LOVE Facebook quizzes? Do you LOVE the cryptic, vague, and questionably useful answers it gives you?

Then you'll LOVE Hunch.com, which is basically Facebook quizzes for REAL LIFE.

404 Error! Too many visitors!

2009-06-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

Man, usually when I see the numbers 404, it means something's gone terribly wrong. Thankfully in this case, it's just Stumbleupon working its magic.

What's what? Never heard of Stumbleupon?

From the website;

About StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 6 million+ other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.

How Does it Work?
StumbleUpon uses [thumbs up/thumbs down] ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages that friends and like-minded stumblers have recommended. This helps you discover great content you probably wouldn't find using a search engine.

I heartily recommend Stumbleupon.

Protip; Use Picture Messages to Get more Characters

2009-06-26T18:39:00.001-07:00

TXT messages are great, but there's the pesky 160 character limit. If you send your message as a picture message instead, you get 1000 characters. A TXT-only picture message will essentially work like a regular TXT message, while drastically increasing your character limit.

Protip; Put Charging Cables in Ziploc Bags

2009-06-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

If you put chargers and charger cables in Ziploc bags for trips, it keeps your suitcase or backpack very organized.

Protip; Hit Eggs Hard to Crack Them

2009-06-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Eggs crack more satisfactorily when you hit them against something hard. Hitting them against something softly usually results in a poor break, which risks eggshells getting into whatever you're cooking.

Food eaten between 13 June & 20 June 2009

2009-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

Some have said that photographing your food is terribly narcisstic¹. But then again, so is owning a blog.

We'll start off my food journey with a sushi restaurant.

I've always loved the special dressing quality sushi places put on their salads.

And here's some Miso Soup.

It was pretty good. Miso soup is good when done right.

But what is eating at a sushi place without the sushi?

I believe this is an order of Rainbow Rolls, but sushi names seem to be non-standard anyway.

Don't worry, I didn't eat all the sushi. Just... most of it.

On the road to Idaho, we stopped off at a steak place. They had some good bread.

The salad dressing was good. It was a very raspberry vinaigrette.

As someone pointed out, evidently I don't like carrots.

Then I ordered some bits of meat with sides.

It was the most ridiculously meaty meal I've ever had. The meat bits were a bit dissapointing, but the green beans tasted like meat. Apparently they were soaking in a bacon sauce long enough to taste like bacon. ...At least that made them edible.

Dude to the lack of quality, I was envious of my brother's pasta dish. When he admitted he couldn't finish it, I rushed to his aid.

Further down the road, we stayed at a motel. They had a continental breakfast.

I find that hotels all manage to have the same continental breakfast, while motels are all different. I had to stretch a little to make the bagel work, but the bread was excellent.

In retrospect, I don't know why I have a mostly empty butter on my plate. I don't remember putting butter on anything. Oh well, just a mystery of life, I suppose.

Further on our journey, we came across Lakey's Cafe. They know how to cook their patties, but they burgers tasted a bit spartan. The cheese was good, however.

That was a triple patty burger. I had to request it special. You'd be surprised how few people actually list a pound burger on their menus.

The first time around, I made the mistake of ordering just a plain shake for dessert.

I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. But there wasn't anything special about it. Still, it did take a long time to finish.

But the real fault of the shake is that I didn't get a pie, perhaps an apple pie. But don't despair, the next time we went there, I got an apple pie.

It was some pretty darn good pie.

Skipping forward a few meals... This is breakfast once we actually arrived at the cabin.

My mom thought I took too many. I laughed in her face.

This is the Jambalaya we had one night.

It wasn't actually as good as I thought it would be. I mean, on a base level it was jambalaya. But the things in it were too hard. Also, the cook didn't make it spicy enough, although that might be because wusses were eating it. I prefer my mom's version.

Sometime we went to a burger place. As is the norm, I ordered what is essentially a pound cheeseburger.

I'm not much of a fan of those thick pattied burgers. They're a bit too much like steak sandwiched between bread. I want a burger, not a steak.

And here comes a steak, so I can eat my words.

Its seasoning actually made it taste pretty good. I don't like steaks that rely on the flavor of the meat for all the flavor. Also, I guess I had corn or something.

On the way back, aside from going back to Lakey's Cafe again, we went to a place called "Rooster's." It seemed like a chain, but certainly not one that I know of. I ordered what's essentially creamed pesto chicken pasta.

It was amazing. Perhaps I'll have to look into this "Rooster's" place.

Well, that's it, that's a selection of the food I've had between 13 June & 20 June 2009.

And as always, here's an embedded slideshow of all the food I've posted to Flickr so far.

Is "Vector" a Scam?

2009-06-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

So after I returned from my Idaho vacation, I received a week's mail all at once. A lot of it was the usual stuff I expected, but there was one weird thing; a letter from "Vector."

Make that two; the second letter didn't "Vector" stamped on the outside, but it had the same offer on the inside.

Well, mostly the same offer. The two letters different slightly in content, and one had random bolding.

So I looked on Google to see if this was actually a real company.

According to this entirely reputable sounding website, it was indeed a real job offer. Time to check Wikipedia.

For the most part, Vector Marketing's Wikipedia Page goes pretty smoothly. But I was alarmed when I saw,

Some former employees have accused Vector Marketing of unsavory business practices[7] and it has even been referred to as a "scam."[8]

What's this? The eery job that I got two letters from could possibly be a scam? Do tell!

This led me to a blogspot blog called "Humanity Blues" and a blog post called "Taking on the Vector Marketing Scam." It's pretty convincing.

Anyways, while I don't entirely know if this is a scam or not, I definitely know I will not be taking this job with "Vector."

As one last little bit;

On the poor anti-Vector Marketing guy's blog, there was a Google Ad for "Cutco Knives," the company that supplies Vector Marketing. Truly irony knows no bounds.

Mr Microns!

2009-06-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

If this is wrong, then I don't want to be right!

Who or What is Philly Jilly?

2009-05-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm about to go to my Comcast e-mail, when I notice this on the Comcast main page;

So I click on the Games link because I want to know why there is a tiny person on my Games link.

Apparently this... thing...'s name is Philly Jilly.

I don't know what the heck a Philly Jilly is. Do you?

A quick Google search revealed nothing. An even quicker Wolfram Alpha search revealed that "filly | a young female horse under the age of four." Also that Philly is short for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I guess we can just assume that Philly Jilly is an example of an avatar for Comcast games. But still, she could be better designed and certainly could be better named.

I Temporarily Crashed Wolfram Alpha!

2009-05-19T06:50:00.001-07:00

Granted, it was back up fast enough to hit refresh and get a workable result, but still. An accomplishment is an accomplishment.

Wolfram Alpha Countdown Clock

2009-05-19T00:17:00.000-07:00

By now, you've probably heard some vague mention of Wolfram Alpha.

Personally, I think it works best as a countdown clock. Say you wanted to know...

Wolfram Alpha would of course respond that...

Of course, I'm using Wolfram to calculate time before another sort of doomsday; the next day of school. So...

Granted, it'd be more accurate if it wasn't already tomorrow.

Love is Dying out on Facebook (Slowly)

2009-05-15T05:43:00.001-07:00

As you can see, the word "love" is on an overall downward trend. I don't know if this is due to some sort of sampling bias or if Facebook actually is becoming less loving. But it's still interesting.

Decline of the Swine (Flu)

2009-05-15T03:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny little graph;

What I did was enter in "swine flu" into Facebook's Lexicon, a tool that can estimate how often a word or phrase is used. As you can see, "swine flu" is in an obvious decline.

Apparently even global pandemics are subject to the same rules as fads.

What Did you Get your Mom for Mother's day, Connor?

2009-05-10T06:59:00.001-07:00

At first, I was thinking that giving my mom a gift would be a pain. I'd have to go to a store, then pick some inane thing out, then give it to her. But once I had a humorous idea to go off of, it was all easy.

My mom likes to lounge on the couch. She also likes a blanket. Why not give her...

Now, first of all, I realize that Snuggie in crazy. I didn't want one. My mom didn't want one. But that's the genius of it.

Also, I figured, something that looks that comfortable, it would eventually win her over.

One of my friends even thought it was such a good idea that they covertly dropped off a $5 off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond, ostensibly a place where one can find a Snuggie. So I went there.

But after I had the Snuggie in hand and was about to enter the checkout line, I realized the coupon was only good on purchases $15 or more, so I had to find something else to buy.

I eventually decided on a ladle that was on sale for $2, with a close facsimile below.

So what is my mom getting for Mother's Day?

A Snuggie and a ladle.

2009-05-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Too happy.

Free! Only 4.99 a month!

2009-05-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

They sure do have a loose definition of "free."

Most Popular Posts as of 5/3/09

2009-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Are you bewildered by the sheer amount of stuff on this blog? Unsure of where to go first?

To set you on the right direction, here are inarguably the most popular posts on my blog.

UFO's Allegedly Caught on Tape
Clocking in at about 2946 pageviews, this has been by far the most popular page on my blog yet. However, perhaps even more alluring than the mention of UFO's are the comments by "timothy." Complete rambling nonsense, or a future Nostradamus? Only time will tell.

Skepticism Motivational Poster
Coming in at 2562 pageviews, this is a close favorite and the former champion. This is a rather simple post; the image is just about all there is. Despite its simplicity, it's still drawn more than its fair share of traffic my way.

The Blog Index
While it may seem silly, this page still has a respectable 1081 views. Assuming you didn't enter through the index, you definitely want to check it out.

How can you tell if someone's communist?
A while back, I started asking crazy questions on Yahoo Answers. Then I got crazy answers. With 1059 pageviews, this is by far the most popular of the bunch.

Well, those are the most popular posts. But by no means should those be the only posts you check out; there are plenty more posts, with more coming occasionally.

The Moores

2009-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

Me and Ryan Furukawa, co-creators of Cozier Electronics and KOZR News, are creating a new series using the yet-to-be-released Sims 3. It'll be called...

We're looking for voice actors willing to contribute voices and bands willing to contribute music.

For more information, head to the website.

Capital Letters doesn't mean Shouting for Me.

2009-04-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Whenever I stick in the odd ALL CAPS letters in my sentences, I'm not shouting. I am merely adding "copious emphasis" to certain words in my sentence. Perhaps for humor. OR MAYBE I JUST LIKE TYPING LIKE THIS.

One of my friends suggested that I am adding copious emphasis on something by shouting. NO! (<- Actual shouting) If I was YELLING something, would that be COPIOUS?

However, all caps followed by an exclamation mark is shouting. Or normal text followed by an exclamation mark is shouting. Heck, anything followed by an exclamation mark it shouting.

In addition, I just looked up "copious" in the dictionary, and it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. The simple English solution would be to replace copious with questionable. The Connor English solution would be to replace copious with dubious.

Draft in English, Write in RUSSIAN

2009-04-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to learn Russian? Unfortunately, I am not able to provide the addresses of any fine Russian teachers.

But I am able to provide a resource for you to fake writing in Russian.

The Website in Question

With this website, you can write in Russian. Or in Cyrillic characters with a one to one cypher to English that LOOKS Russian.

Here's a handy table to assess whether Cyrillic characters can adequately meet your needs as a human being;

English	Cyrillic
The Capitalists are coming, the capitalists are coming! Everyone, grab your AK-47's for the good of Mother Russia!	THЗ CДPITДLISTS ДЯЭ CФMIИG, THЗ CДPITДLISTS ДЯЭ CФMIЙG! ЗVЭЯУФИЗ, GЯДЬ ЧФЦЯ ДК-47'S FФЯ THЭ GФФD ФF MФTHЗЯ ЯЦSSIД!
Connor's Thoughts is a very fine source to get your news. Sure it may always be biased towards the nonsensical, but you really can't fault anyone for that. I would give my life for Connor. Comment this post?	CФИЙФЯ'S THФЦGHTS IS Д VЗЯУ FIИЭ SФЦЯCЗ TФ GЭT ЧФЦЯ ЙЗШS. SЦЯЭ IT MДУ ДLЩДЧS ЬЗ ЪIДSЭD TФШДЯDS THЗ ИФЙSЭИSICДL, БЦT УФЦ ЯЗДLLЧ CДЙ'T FДЦLT ДИУФЙЭ FФЯ THДT. I ЩФЦLD GIVЗ MЧ LIFЭ FФЯ CФИЙФЯ. CФMMЗИT THIS PФST?

As you can very well see, this generator makes any and all text incomprehensible. BUT COOL LOOKING.

2009-04-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

There are two competing philosophies; go back and fix what you've made, or charge ahead and hope everyone forgets.

As any study of this blog will show, I am in clear favor of the former.

A Panorama of my Room

2009-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

A room is unique. A room is a personal reflection on who you are as a person. A room is where you spend 4-12 hours a night almost every night.

Here's a panorama of my room;

Click for bigger view

Now the question is, are you going to post a link to a panorama of your room?

This Blog is Flounderhoggering

2009-02-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Remember back when I first made this? Neither do I, really.

Anyway, it seems as though I've really cut down on posting lately and visitor numbers have dropped accordingly. So I shall commemorate it with a picture of the Flounderhog.

What's that, you say? I already posted it?

That makes Flounderhogs just like dollar bills; you can never have enough, but they're harmful if taken orally.

I Think You Should Read "Toyko Zero," by Marc Horne

2009-02-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I was searching Feedbooks for better versions of free books. I recommend Feedbooks, by the way. And then I realized that "Toyko Zero" by Marc Horne wasn't on Feedbooks. I had read the first two chapters and it looked like an interesting book, so I was appalled.

So I went to the Feedbooks website and uploaded a version of it so that all can enjoy.

As for the actual book, it is often described as;

Michael Blake is in Tokyo to help out with the end of the world. Living in the Tokyo of the gangs, the losers and the outsiders, Blake and a cell of Japanese psychopaths plot to unleash a new kind of bio-chemical horror on an unsuspecting populace of daydreaming salary-people.

It's also known as "My Tokyo Death Cult." Doesn't this all sound way too good to be true?

Connor's Thoughts Blog to go Ad Free

2009-02-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally decided to eliminate ads from my website. Why? See below.

Google Adsense Ads
Cons;
-Distracting from overall purpose of the blog (still unclear as to what that purpose is)
-Fears of commercializing free images used on blog

Pros;
-While I'm specifically prevented from giving out earnings data, the earnings were "not satisfactory."

Well, that's enough blowing up a relatively minor change.

2009-01-23T14:51:00.001-08:00

I wish all the hotels had remotes this useful.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

2009-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

If you're seeing this picture, then that means I have successfully allowed my blog to post pictures from my cell phone.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.

If you're seeing this post,

2009-01-17T11:42:00.001-08:00

If you're seeing this post, then that means I have successfully sync'd my blog to my cell phone.

Dandies in Japan

2009-01-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

A dandy (also known as a beau, gallant or flamboyant person) is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies. Historically, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain, a dandy, who was self-made, often strove to imitate an aristocratic style of life despite coming from a middle-class background. -Wikipedia

As this article from the New York Times briefly mentions, there's a growing Dandy movement in Japan.

All a front-page image search turned up was this;

So I'm willing to doubt this.

Also on the first page;

Hey look, a cookie!

Still, such a men's fashion movement in Japan wouldn't surprise me at all.

Link Chain
New York Times -> Me

Google Knol Falls Under Connor's Radar

2009-01-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

Remember Google Knol? It was supposed to be the cool new wikipedia killer, although I debunked that in a longwinded post.

Still, why haven't I seen any when I've searched the internet? I mean, it's Google's own service, and they like linking to their own services. You'd think they'd be somewhere on the search listings.

Alas, I suppose Google Knols are for far more obscure things. Either that, or it's not out of beta yet.

Private Life; Hush New Webservice

2009-01-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

While searching for a Youtube of Oingo Boing's "Private Life" (Good song, by the way), I stumbled upon PrivateLife.com.

Apparently it's going to be an online gossip social networking site.

I dunno about you, but I like to think that gossiping is an evil of society. It's most of the evils of Facebook and Myspace concentrated into one little action.

Then again, despite the stigma against gossiping, it'll still probably be quite successful.

It's in Invitation Beta right now, so if you know the right people I guess you could get in.

How to Win at Monopoly the Smith Way

2009-01-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

You've probably played Monopoly. Well here's how to win in a tested method handed down from my father.

Firstly, you spot a color group you and a person could get together and create. For example, you have one green and they have two greens.

Next, you form a partnership. It doesn't really matter who has two properties, as the partnership is a lot better than just two unrelated properties. Each partnership has the conditions that
1) The partnership cannot be dissolved unless a member goes bankrupt
2) Both partners get free rent on the property group in question
3) Both partners split the cost of homes, with it being possible that one partner can "owe ya one"
4) Both partners split the rent equally, which usually defaults to paying owed house cash if any
5) A person's share of rent can be replaced by gaining a property instead, so long as the other person agrees and receives either their share in cash or an acceptable deal

Now you're into the "building houses like mad" period. As soon as you can, get 3 houses on each property. 3 houses is the magical number; that's the first major increase in rents. Keep in mind that you probably don't build a bunch of houses and run out of cash.

Once you've got hotels, you'll be raking in the money and be the ire of all the other players.

Unfortunately, winning doesn't end there. In the endgame, this partnership won't be all that great one on one against your partner. Hopefully you've used the partnership as a front on acquiring other properties in order to build them up. Additionally, it's sound strategy to make partnerships with other people, provided you can afford it.

According to some home rules, this practice is banned. Why? Because it's so brutally effective. This method can make hotels on a property long before other people are even building houses. I've tried this twice at two different friend's houses, and I've made out like a bandit both times. I've also provoked the ire of my friends for having such an effective strategy.

Skepticism Motivational Poster Shirt on Zazzle

2009-01-02T05:45:00.001-08:00

Zazzle lets you make your own shirts to post online and earn commission. I did just that, making a "Skepticism Motivational Poster Shirt."

The shirt is available in other colors, for around 20 bucks after shipping and handling.

Perfect Segway Diaster Clip

2008-12-31T19:40:00.000-08:00

I don't know when it stopped being fashionable for Youtube videos to feature people killing themselves, but I'm glad this movie shows a nice return to form.

Who's Amung Us to Eventually Offer Pro Edition

2008-12-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

To be fair, it's still not released and it doesn't affect the free version at all.

But it seems like eons ago when I first discovered that handy little widget. I can't even remember when it was, really.

What it first looked like

What it looks like now

I guess everything grows up.

Jaguar Baby Born Two Months Old

2008-12-31T17:13:00.000-08:00

"Two-month old black Jaguar cub born in captivity at the Huachipa zoo in Lima, Peru."

Hold up, aren't baby Jaguars usually born aged zero? You mean this one is special enough to be born instantly at age two months?

Link Chain
Me -> Stranger Fruit (where I got it) -> Green Expander

How NOT to Send an E-mail

2008-12-31T17:06:00.000-08:00

So I got another e-mail from Rome, whatever the heck that is.

I knew why this was a shady internet scheme from the start. This second e-mail only makes it more obvious. Let me break it down for you.

Now, the giant flash ads in an e-mail are NOT recommended under any circumstance. That's just being more than a little obnoxious, right?

But apparently their writing skills suck so much they need you to see two giant ads for their "game" or whatever before you're hooked. I guess it's just poetic justice that the only company willing to advertise with Rome is Rome itself.

Shameful.

Tomorrow it will Finally be 2009

2008-12-31T09:47:00.001-08:00

Man, ever since I got Madden 09 and Worldwide Soccer Manager 09, I've been thinking it's 2009 already. So it's reassuring to know that tomorrow, it finally will be.

Additionally, tomorrow it will be 10 years from 1999, a fact that still bothers me. It seems I like thinking of all dates in relation to the year 2000; it's a nice, easy, rounded year. This stops working when I actually start thinking it's 2000.

Time is a tricky concept to master.

Cozier Electronics

2008-12-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

Remember back when I made all those videos of myself and ruthlessly posted them on my blog? Oh, those were the days...

So now my friend has the video making blog. But instead of videos of himself, he's making Sims 2 Machinima. Which is alright, as I'm doing the voices.

Near as I can tell, I do the voice of the redhead. So go ahead and watch them.

CoZier Electronics Holiday Special

CoZier Electronics Ep. 3

CoZier Electronics Ep 2

I hope you enjoyed listening to me talk.

2008-12-28T01:51:00.001-08:00

From the Wikipedia article for Mobile Web;

"This article was originally created and edited using the Web on mobile devices."

2008-12-22T11:53:00.001-08:00

At least those many years of registering on random websites prepared me for applying to colleges...

Hot New Show I'm Loosely Associated With

2008-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

Looking for that next new interesting show you can't get enough of?

Get a load of Cozier Electronics, the hit new Sims 2 machinima that's sweeping the world by storm.

And if you liked it, why not come visit our page on Facebook® and become our fan?

There's No School Today!

2008-12-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me back up and tell you the story.

Alright, so first off, I live in Oregon. It's in the rainy part of the United States. It means we usually get craploads of rain, but never any snow. So when we do get snow, then everything erupts in snow fever.

From this Monday to this Friday, that should have been the week before Winter Break. Winter Break is the long vacation students get for what started as Christmas and ended up as “The Holidays.”

So I got up last Sunday, and I was mostly ready for school. Then 5 pm came, and it frigging snowed. Snowed. Outside. With no warning.

School was cancelled. And that's when the first few thoughts of, “School's out for the week,” started happening. But I was equally quick to think, “Nah, it'll never happen.” It seemed like a pipe dream, after all.

I spent the snow day doing thing, probably the same thing I'd do if it were the first day of Winter Break. I was aided in the fact that I didn't really have any pressing homework to do for Tuesday.

But then it happened. Again.

They canceled school, right at about 5 pm again. It was pretty nice having two days.

But that's when the feelings of grandeur came flowing in. There was snow on the ground, and it would be freezing cold the whole week. Everyone couldn't help but think that school would be canceled for the whole week.

Wednesday came along and there was no school. But this time, Beaverton School District (hereafter referred to as BSD) decided to make things interesting. They didn't immediately cancel school at 5pm, even though there was snow on the ground and it was going to be cold tomorrow. They said those fateful words of

“Good Evening, the Beaverton School District is closely monitoring the national weather forecast and consulting with our local weather service to make a call for Thursday (12/18/2008). No decision has been made at this time. We will decide by 10:00 p.m. tonight or may wait until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. We need more information on the cold weather pattern that may be developing.”

Thankfully, they told us at about 8pm there was no school, but they had me going for a bit.

As it turned out, Thursday was warmer than freezing, which meant all the snow melted and it was sunny. Cold, but sunny. But it left Friday hanging.

And that's where the story really starts. My parents were saying there would be school tomorrow. The weather said it would be freezing. BSD wasn't saying anything. There was nothing to go off of. And it didn't look like it would be an obvious call.

“The Beaverton School District is closely monitoring changing conditions, and consulting with our local and national weather services to make a call for Friday. No decision has been made at this time. We will decide by 10:00 p.m. tonight (Thursday) or may wait until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow (Friday) morning.”

The standard canned response. Things got a bit more frantic as time went on. BSD's website got more and more bogged down as time went on. Then, right at 10pm, my friend in the know tells me,

“Good evening, no decision will be made regarding the status of school operations until Friday morning. Our greatest concern at this time is the possibility of black ice on side roads and at higher elevations. A team will be driving the roads at 3:30 a.m., and a decision will be posted before 5:30 a.m. Thank you again for your patience as we continue to monitor the safety of our students and staff.”

It's not a no, I'll say that.

So I had to debate, do my homework? Get up early to check? I decided to get up at 5am and check.

I checked. Nothing. So I wasted some time, waited around, checked a few more times, and got this;

“Schools Closed to Students and Staff, Friday (12/19/2008). All Activities and Events Cancelled. Administration Facilities Open to Essential Staff”

That's it! We won! We beat BSD! No school for a whole week.

Now I just wish I knew about it ahead of time so I could have put it to good use.

Free Ebook List that isn't Crap

2008-12-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

Yeah, there are tons of lists out there that have a million crappy book links. Here's one with a few good links.

This list created with the Sony PRS-505 in mind.

For Almost Anything;
MobileRead - Go to the "Search E-books" tab, and enter in something. While it may be a bit hard to actually find the books, the books you get are inarguably the best on the internet.
Then Feedbooks - This website is for what you can't find on MobileRead. For the most part they're good, but MobileRead's posters go over the book by hand to check for typos and errors in scanning.
Then Manybooks.net - ManyBooks comes last because they don't give a table of contents in their automatically generated ebooks. At least it's a step up from reading Gutenburg .txt files.

Another Helpful Hint
DOWNLOAD CALIBRE! - Calibre is a very important tool for anyone with anyone with an ebook reader. It can manage your ebook library (personally I prefer Sony's stuff because it paginates), it can convert from one format to another, but most importantly, it can download RSS feeds and convert them to eBooks. There are plenty of pre-made "recipes" for English-speakers, and a few in other languages. Definitely check this program out.

More Random Free Stuff
Free Online Novels.com - About half the novels on this page have PDF versions; those are the ones you can use on your Sony Reader. Personally, I convert them to LRF with Calibre.
Free eBooks Just Published - eBooks Just Published is a blog that tells of an eBook each day. This link goes specifically to those eBooks that are free.
Baen Free Library - A bunch of free science fiction novels, all in nice happy LRF format. Perfect.

Should you buy an E-Ink Reader?

2008-12-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

Here's my recommendation; If you think you'll be at all interested in getting one, you'll love it.

Just make sure you're okay with either paying for books or reading free books. Know that there are TONS of free books out there.

5 Million Keypresses

2008-12-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

This milestone really snuck up on me.

"timothy" the Sage

2008-11-29T04:24:00.000-08:00

Just as a Recap, this is a photo from a previous story I ran. The wise sage "timothy" spake of this photo.

Here are timothy's musings;

timothy said...
it's easier to deny their existence than to acknowledge that they're real! look carefully at the palm trees they are not the same. we are being visited. make no mistake about it you fools. everyone wants evidence and when you show then the evidence they want to dismiss it. fools wake up!

timothy said...
The scriptures say that "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the end days." In the days of Noah the Nephelim were on the earth. Well, they're back!

timothy said...
If you really want to know for sure then take a camera down to Haiti and come back with your own footage. you'll be convinced but you'll still have to contend with those who choose to remain ignorant. What is it? Are you afraid to acknowledge there's superior intelligence out in the celestials? our very denial of them shows the inferiority of our intellects. Wake up!

timothy said...
In the 2Peter is says about the last days "bold and arrogant they're not afraid to slander celestial beings" You would believe they're talking about angels, but read on and it says "yet angels which are more mighty would dare not bring such accusations against such beings in the sight of God." The scriptures acknowledge the existence of celestial beings! WAKE UP YOU HUMAN FOOLS!

timothy said...
There were three things that took place in the days of Noah. 1.The earth was about to go through a dramatic transformation. Global warming ring a bell? 2.The people's attitudes were eat drink and be marry for tomorrow we die. Our current hedonistic society of excess ring a bell? 3.The Nephelim (Sons of God) were on the earth messing with creation. UFO's ring a bell yet? PEOPLE CLAIMING THEY'VE BEEN ABDUCTED AND THAT THEY'RE CREATING A HYBRID RACE. you've heard it all on the programs. WAKE UP YOU HUMAN FOOLS!

timothy said...
TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THE PLANET CERES! THEY'RE HERE!

timothy said...
THE TENTH PLANET THE SAMARIAN TABLETS SPOKE ABOUT

timothy said...
DENYING THEY'RE EXISTENCE ISN'T GOING TO PREVENT THEIR COMING HERE. AS YOU CAN ALREADY SEE!

Classic madman. It starts off mildly weird, then escalates to raving mad. Unfortunately, all attempts to identify this "timothy" have failed.

I'm sure there are also some logical arguments against it, but who wants to wrestle a pig in mud?

It Finally Happened! OLPC Ad!

2008-11-24T18:27:00.002-08:00

It happened! It finally happened!

The One Laptop per Child $100 dollar but actually $200 dollar PC is available for purchase! Unfortunately, as you need to buy two just to get one (you're donating one), it's not very cost effective as far as "cheap pc" goes. But it still has it's charm.

How long has it been in the making? Three years? It's just a shame that I kind of lost interest in that project maybe a year ago. As it turns out, all I really wanted was an e-ink ebook reader.

On the Subject of Wearing Down Xbox 360's

2008-11-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

I was combing my favorite Civilization focused Website when I came across this topic title; A warning for 360 Owners.

I own an Xbox 360, so of course I clicked on it. Apparently Civilization Revolution is hard on the Xbox 360 disc drive. But that's not even the best part.

The thread poster has "killed" fifteen Xbox 360's. Fifteen? I didn't even know you could kill one!

Even with counting the "Red Ring of Death" as killing an Xbox 360, I've only "killed" one. So you can see why fifteen is outrageous.

And yet, more people chimed in and said they've "killed" multiple Xboxes, more than just one. So I'm astounded. I guess I'm not really much of a gamer anymore.

"Create Massive Abundance" Funny Google Ads Ad

2008-11-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

And they're not talking about poop.

Coffin Kills Widow

2008-11-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

While technically not ironic, it's amusing.

Police say a woman has died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled her husband's coffin against the back of her neck.

From The Columbian, who obviously got it from somewhere else.

Google Ads on My Blog Give Up

2008-11-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

Hah, am I the only person who has noticed that the Google Ads between posts no longer show actual links, but instead just search bars? I think that's Google giving up. I am now too weird to even have relevant Adsense ads.

The Number "e," Gutenburg's weirdest book

2008-11-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have found what promises to be Gutenburg's weirdest book, as promised by the headline.

So I saw a book under the title, "The Number 'e'". I thought to myself, "It's probably some sort of weird science fiction novel," as it does have a surreal title.

Imagine my surprise to open it up and realize it's actually the mathematical constant "e" to 100,000 places. But as the ebook itself mentions, "The digits have been checked by them but they welcome others to check them as well. Even so, as noted above, neither we nor they guarantee the accuracy of these digits."

To add some more length to this post, note how it's ebook number 127. So this is one of the first books that Gutenburg deigned worthy to type out.

And just for the heck of it, here's the letter e to such and so many places

2.71828182845904523536028747135266249775724709369995957496696762772407663035354759457138217852516642742746639193200305992181741359662904357290033429526059563073813232862794349076323382988075319525101901157383418793070215408914993488416750924476146066808226480016847741185374234544243710753907774499206955170276183860626133138458300075204493382656029760673711320070932870912744374704723069697720931014169283681902551510865746377211125238978442505695369677078544996996794686445490

There's a lot more where that came from.

No Reunion for Smashing Pumpkins... For About 30 Years

2008-11-01T06:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I will be blatantly predicting the future.

So, the Smashing Pumpkins said they will never have the original lineup back together.

I'm here to say that unless one of them dies, they will do it within the next 30 years.

And you want to know why? 30 years is a long time. There's no way you can predict what will happen 30 years from now. Hate a guy? He might save your daughter. What then!?

All I know is that every band ever reunites later on. Well, so long as none of them die. But even that won't stop some bands some of the time. So yeah, just try to defy fate Smashing Pumpkins, but Oedipus lost and so will you.

Ohio Students Falsely Decontaminated, Connor Smith Okay

2008-11-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

So I saw this story come in on the wire, "False alarm means decontamination of Ohio students" and I immediately thought of parallel universe Connor Smith.

That's right, there's a Connor Smith. Except he's not in a parallel universe, he's just a sophomore at Ohio State.

So anyways, I just read that headline, and I instantly wondered if Connor Smith was okay. As it turns out, the article was about a high school, which naturally precluded Connor.

But isn't it weird that now I'm starting to feel concern and worry over this doppelganger? I'm a bit concerned for when he finally makes the NFL draft and when he joins a team. Will he have a good career? Will he be the best offensive tackle there ever was? And to a much lesser extent, when will my friends figure this out and give me crap about it?

And to think, this all happened because I Google'd "Connor Smith" and he won.

Vietnam to Ban Something Else Moderately Funny

2008-10-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Remember when Vietnam wanted to ban hamsters? Well apparently banning random things is a recurring joke for Vietnam.

Now they're getting rid of small chested drivers. Along with a bunch of other groups of people that make a bit more sense.

Again, like banning the hamsters, this is something that can kinda maybe be justified on paper, but in real life is somewhat ridiculous.

Here's the link to the Article if you want facts, details, or journalism.

The Craziest E-mail I've Ever Gotten

2008-10-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

This email was sent by Oregon Trail. You can disable emails here.
---
Thanks for using Oregon Trail. We are excited to announce that, as of next week, Oregon Trail's name and functionality will be changed to SpeedDate. Data entered into the original app won't be used anymore. Soon you'll be able to try SpeedDate, the fastest way to meet new people, so stay tuned!
Thanks,
Oregon Trail

P.S. If you want to opt-out of this app, instructions can be found here.

I especially like the part about the absurd name and functionality change.

Falsified Steve Jobs Heart Attack Story Writer's Motive Still Remain Unknown

2008-10-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

According to the report, "The fake Internet report posted to CNN's iReport site earlier this month claiming Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack was posted by a teenager who doesn't appear to have posted it to manipulate the company's stock price, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday."

Unfortunately, "Citing 'people with knowledge of the matter,' the report said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is still looking into the motives of the unnamed 18-year old..."

When asked for comment, Connor Smith said, "It's clearly obvious this kid did it for attention. Furthermore, by posting this story you've only given this kid even more attention. I think the only reasonable solution is to shun this kid."

"And take away his iPod."

Googling "Something For Nothing"

2008-10-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

What? Not Googling myself anymore?

So I just got the crazy idea to google "Something For Nothing," and write a blog post about what turns up. I figure, such a common yet bizarre phrase should lead to some bizarre stuff.

The first search result is a sober forum discussion on whether or not something about an iPhone. It really doesn't matter what. Although I did find a funny quote.

Sorry nutcake, but I will refer to being a long term customer if I want to. If you find it irrelevant, than don't refer to long term customers in your posts. However I do find it relevant and I will refer to it whether or not it bother you.

Deal with it. You can ignore me if you'd like.

-bubbaluv

If it doesn't make sense, I'm with you. It doesn't even really make sense in context.

The next is a post on a blog that leads to some artist's page.

Turns out, it's a whole page devoted to artists who make things out of natural things, "something from nothing." Not literally something from nothing, but something nonetheless.

Still, it's all a little bit "ho hum."

Now for the golden gem, this blog post from a blog;

TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2006

Someting out of Nothing
I have wrighters block!!! I have been looking at my computer trying to put words on the screen and noting, not a sentence, not a word, not a syllable! It is horrible!!! I'm going to have a traumatic experience!!! I may need therapy!!! How do you all do it??? It is like there is a force field is between me and my computer screen. "Jean-Luc Picard what have you done to me?" The normal event is that I give the computer a sentence or two, and it just grows from there. It is like the idea takes route on the screen. Then all the sudden 'IT'S ALIVE'. The computer is like cow shit, and the words are a plant. I may start it but it grows on its own. And now noting, zilch, zip, nada! My ground has been tainted! It is the day after!!! Noting can grow and what is still alive is going to be horribly mutated. There is no love between me and my computer; I have lost that loving felling.

But I will Survive!!! And I will come back!! And I will gain the Respect of my fellow bloggers!!!!

-DRAGON

RAMBLINGS FROM AN ADHD, DYSLEXIC. could just be the hot new blog of the time period. I think you should check it out.

And once again, a Google search gets you exactly what you weren't expecting, but were all too happy to find.

What my Computer Desktop Looks Like

2008-10-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

Your desktop says a lot about what kind of person you are, all your hopes and dreams, about what makes you go on another day in this funny thing we call life.

Yet, we are rarely able to glimpse at other people's desktops.

So look at this photo and ponder, "Just what do all my friend's desktops look like?"

Madden Curse Strikes Connor

2008-10-20T21:13:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not talking about the Madden curse where the cover athlete has a mediocre season.

Come on, me, a cover athlete?

I'm talking about the alternate curse that makes you think it's next year already. I'm become so used to "Madden 09" that I keep having to stop and think about what year it is.

Just a reminder, it's 2008 this year.

Man convicted of murdering couple thrown off yacht

2008-10-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

At least, that's the headline for A Guardian article with the most misleading name ever.

Well, I suppose that if you reread it, you can tell it's the couple that was thrown off the yacht. And you can certainly tell by the contents of the article. But being the person I am, my first thought was that this murderer was thrown off the yacht.

The actual article itself is boring as far as homicide reports go. It's just the headline that was interesting.

"The actual article itself is boring as far as homicide reports go." Wow, I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me.

I blame society.

It's Over For a While

2008-10-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break.

I'll be back later.

Comcast to Create "Excessive Use" Bandwith Limit

2008-09-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

An Official Announcement by Comcast;

Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,

We appreciate your business and strive to provide you with the best online experience possible. One of the ways we do this is through our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP outlines acceptable use of our service as well as steps we take to protect our customers from things that can negatively impact their experience online. This policy has been in place for many years and we update it periodically to keep it current with our customers' use of our service.

On October 1, 2008, we will post an updated AUP that will go into effect at that time.

In the updated AUP, we clarify that monthly data (or bandwidth) usage of more than 250 Gigabytes (GB) is the specific threshold that defines excessive use of our service. We have an excessive use policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may degrade the online experience of other customers.

250 GB/month is an extremely large amount of bandwidth and it's very likely that your monthly data usage doesn't even come close to that amount. In fact, the threshold is approximately 100 times greater than the typical or median residential customer usage, which is 2 to 3 GB/month. To put it in perspective, to reach 250 GB of data usage in one month a customer would have to do any one of the following:

* Send more than 50 million plain text emails (at 5 KB/email);
* Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song); or
* Download 125 standard definition movies (at 2 GB/movie).

And online gamers should know that even the heaviest multi- or single-player gaming activity would not typically come close to this threshold over the course of a month.

In addition to modifying the excessive use policy, the updated AUP contains other clarifications of terms concerning reporting violations, newsgroups, and network management. To read some helpful FAQs, please visit http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-Excessive-Use.

Thank you again for choosing Comcast as your high-speed Internet provider.

If you don't have the patience to read all that, just know that Comcast will soon be capping service at 250 gb of bandwidth a month.

As they try to make clear, this is not to mess with the average customer. This is the mess with the "fraction of one percent of our customers [who] use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth."

In other words, heavy torrent users.

Curse You Verizon Wireless, Foiled Again!

2008-09-21T10:17:00.001-07:00

As none of you know, I recently got a cell phone. And as even less of you would know, it's on the Verizon Wireless network.

No, I will not post my phone number on the internet like a total idiot.

Anyways, I thought I could get a custom ringtone onto my phone, thus circumventing the need to pay money to Verizon to get a crappy non-obscure ringtone.

Apparently Verizon was to have the last laugh on this one.

So it would seem that while you can download "sounds" and "music" to your SD card, you cannot download "Ringtones."

Quite frankly, I don't see the different between "Sounds," "Music," and "Ringtones." But Verizon Wireless sees it.

So now I'm probably going to have to settle with buying some sort of ringtone.

Then again, Standard Ringtone 6 isn't all that bad...

It Happens Again!

2008-09-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

So I log on to Google Analytics, thinking that I'll see just another number between 20 and 30.

Nope. 466 visits. Yes, I was floored.

This is only rivaled with that one time I got 50 or so visits that one time. It was exciting then. Same now.

Now, I just have to figure out what did it...

Spore Wins, Just Not How you Thought

2008-09-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

Spore has been pegged as a massive failure ever since its release.

However, this little review on Sparknotes proves a point; that the common man will find Spore to be a fun game.

So who knows.

Firefox Unleashes "Private Browsing Mode"; But Google's Chrome Already Beat it

2008-09-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

I found an announcement dated for today that Firefox is adding a private browsing feature.

Coincedentially, I'm sure, Google's browser Chrome was unleashed in beta a while ago and has a private mode too.

As far as I know, Internet Explorer does not have such a mode. But since I've switched to Chrome for most normal browsing, that's not really an issue.

Link Chain;
Monkey Bites -> Me

A Word we Need

2008-09-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

From Futility Closet;

Mamihlapinatapais, from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, is considered the world's most succinct word — and the hardest to translate.

It means "a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but that neither one wants to start."

You might laugh at sheer nuance of the word, but it happens.

That's why we need a word for it in English. That way, when it happens we can mention the word, and we'd both laugh, and everything would be okay.

Initial Impression of Google Chrome

2008-09-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

To start off, Google's new browserChrome is doing alright. I really like the look of the browser. So far, whole it's bear bones, it's getting the job done.

...Until I open something with flash. I tried opening Pandora Internet Radio, and Chrome spectacularly crashes. I tried it again, and another horrible crash.

But, on the bright side, it did figure out that Chrome closed unintentionally and offered to direct me back to Pandora.

Additionally, Chrome hates flash games.

As I'm coming from an Internet Explorer background, which handles flash very well, this is a giant disappointment. That's the thing that keeps me from using Chrome full time.

For now, I think I'll try using Internet Explorer for Pandora, and Chrome for everything non-flash.

Sheep Everywhere Win a Battle as "Domestic Sheep" is the Wikipedia Article of the Day

2008-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

As few of you know, one of my favorite animals is the common sheep. So that's why I'm excited that today's Wikipedia article of the day is sheep.

My Thoughts on the PC Gamer's Bill of Rights

2008-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't heard by now, those crazy folks up there at Stardock and Gas Powered games came up with a PC gamer's bill of rights.

Gamers shall have the right to return games that don't work with their computers for a full refund.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.

Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.

Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will adequately play on that computer.

Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won't install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their express consent.

Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.

Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.

Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.

Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Now, as a gesture, I can appreciate this. However, it's lacking the necessary details to make this immediately applicable.

Additionally, some of these list items sound more like demands than an actual bill of rights. Notably, 1 and 3.

The first one, the return for a refund one, sounds a little harsh. Granted, it's never fun to buy a game and realize it doesn't work. However, does that really need to be prevented by offering a refund? Why not just make a free program that will test to see if the game will run?

The third one, the meaningful update one, also gets me. So long as the game works, why should the consumer be entitled to more content? Making that content also distracts from other potential games or sequels that the company might be making. The consumer knew what they were getting when they bought the game, right?

Well, maybe that didn't. Having looked at the backs of many PC games, they're all somewhat misleading as to how much fun you'll have while playing the game. Perhaps instead of the demand for more content, the consumer should be protected against false advertising?

The fifth one, the minimum system requirements one, could be modified. It could require companies to post the absolute minimum to run the program, like they've been doing, along with the so called for adequate requirements. That way, there's no loss of important information, and one no longer has to guess whether it's a minimum or a suggested.

Again, while I appreciate the gesture of this, I think it needs a lot more refinement before it's finalized.

Link Chain;
Edge Online -> CRAVE -> Me

Things to do Before Schools Starts Again;

2008-08-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

Cry your heart out.

Image unwittingly donated by kakisky. Thanks!

Wowio is DEAD to me

2008-08-21T09:03:00.001-07:00

That whole "going global" thing didn't have me scared. But it should have.

So I come back to Wowio, hearing that comics are now pay to download. That's okay, I don't read too many comics.

But then I learned now that normal books are now pay to download as well.

COME ON, WOWIO! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT!

Maybe someday I'll come around and see if I can somehow stand to read books online. But for now, Wowio is just dead to me.

The Rich Jerk says...

2008-08-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Man, who knew there were actually funny Google Ads?

The Problem With Average Based Rating Systems

2008-08-20T05:51:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this picture;
People all voted either 5's or 1's. But the average is 3 stars.

That average doesn't show that half the people either loved it or hated it. They're more polarized than a battery!

Bitter Celtic Fans disgust me!!, if you wanted to see the article. The ratings have probably changed, though.

Take-Two Finally Safe from EA

2008-08-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

EA, the tireless gaming giant, was seeking to envelope Take-Two Interactive and digest it. However, they recently announced that this action would no longer benefit them enough.

However, upon actually reading the article, it says they stopped because they wouldn't get the profits from the holiday season. It says little to nothing about them trying again next year.

Take-Two is famous for currently owning the Civilization franchise which I am a fan of and various sports titles. At one point, they were the only viable competitor to EA's sports games.

Link Chain;
Bloomberg -> Civilization Fanatics -> Me

Gone to Chicago

2008-07-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Back in 2 weeks.

May post in the meantime.

2008-07-25T15:24:00.001-07:00

So I do one post about Surf Music, and now Google ads think my blog's all about surf music. Oh well.

Zomg! A Cat has Infiltrated!

2008-07-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Weirdness - Motivational Poster

2008-07-24T15:57:00.001-07:00

Where to Find Free Surf Music Online

2008-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

First let it be know that by "Surf Music," I am referring to the instrumental guitar-laden surf music of yonder glory days or the modern day equivalent of it. Sorry, no beach boys here.

"Let's Go Classics" by Takeshi Terauchi

Who is Takeshi Terauchi? He's a very good Japanese surf guitarist.

This album consists of covers of classical pieces, but done in a surf style.

Additionally, since this album and artist is so obscure, you've probably never heard of them before. Which is good.

WFMU has another Takeshi Terauchi album, This is Terauchi Bushi, which consists of orginal work of surf music bit with a bit of a Japanese twist at times.

Surf Guitar 101 Compilations

Surf Guitar 101 is one of the only pages you get when you Google search for "surf guitar." Surf Guitar 101 has a busy forum that occasionally collects surf guitar pieces from various members with the intent to combine them into one larger compilation for that year. So far, there have been three.

Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2005

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pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
align="middle" height="170" width="400"/>

Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2006
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0"
id="xspf_player" align="middle" height="170" width="400">

type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
bgcolor="#e6e6e6" name="xspf_player" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
align="middle" height="170" width="400"/>

Surf Guitar 101 MP3 Compilation 2007
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0"
id="xspf_player" align="middle" height="170" width="400">

type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
bgcolor="#e6e6e6" name="xspf_player" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
align="middle" height="170" width="400"/>

Various Internet Archive Surf Pieces

Surfing and Civilization - "Dissertation regarding the influence of surfing on Western civilization as expressed via guitar, organ, bass and drums."¹ In actuality, a moderately long catchy bit of surf music.
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id="xspf_player" align="middle" height="170" width="400">

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Surf Coasters Live at Double Down Saloon - The surf coasters are a modern day surf band and they're putting out some good songs. Have a listen to their latest live show on The Internet Archive.
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pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
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"Play Some Surf Guitar" by Monsters from Mars - Surf music with a bit of a kick to it.
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id="xspf_player" align="middle" height="170" width="400">

Mermen Live at Hard Rock Cafe - The Mermen are a modern day band that plays music vaguely reminiscent of surf msuic. While it's not exactly surf, you might find it to your tastes.

codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0"
id="xspf_player" align="middle" height="170" width="400">

type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
bgcolor="#e6e6e6" name="xspf_player" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
align="middle" height="170" width="400"/>

Youtube

Youtube works wonders in general for listening to music for free online, and it works those same wonders for popular surf music. Keep in mind that some of the more obscure things you might be looking for are probably not on Youtube.

"Wipeout" - The Ventures

"Pipeline" - The Chantay's

"Misirlou" - Dick Dale & The Del Tones

Try searching for others as there's plenty more where that came from.

Pandora.com

http://www.pandora.com/ is a free online radio station where you given an initial suggestion of what you like, and then it tries to find similar music. I've found that if you use "The Ventures" as an initial artist, you'll be exposed to all sorts of older surf music.

Last.fm

http://www.last.fm/ is a site where you can find and listen to more obscure songs than Youtube will let you. For example, if you hear something you like on the above mentioned Pandora.com but it's not on Yotube, perhaps it will be on Last.fm.

Keep in mind that there is a limit to how many free songs you can hear in a day, so Youtube is preferable in that regard.

Why Gnol Will Not be a "Wikipedia Killer"

2008-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've heard about the hot new Google product in beta. What happens is you make your own little page about something in which you are the expert in. It's like Wikipedia, but different in that there are authors and they're encouraged to take credit for their work. Additionally, they can add ads to their Knols if they want, effectively monetizing them.

Most people have speculated that Google created Knol to compete with with Wikipedia, but according to Wikipedia, "We welcome the Google Knol initiative. The more good free content, the better for the world."

And that's more like the stance I want to take.

First of all, Knol will end up being much different from Wikipedia. Wikipedia emphasizes anonymous non-paid contribution and professionalism, whereas Knol emphasizes profit-seeking¹ competition and amateurism.

Not that there's anything wrong with profit-seeking competition and amateurism, but it's very different from non-paid cooperation. So I'm predicting their articles will be very different.

Mostly in tone. A Wikipedia article strives for and is endlessly revised to achieve that perfect "Encyclopedia Voice." Conversly, a Knol will be either be in a personal voice or a semi-professional voice. There's nothing inherently bad about either, but they will be different and offer a different feeling to the reader.

Knols would have the liberty to be written about certain things that Wikipedia deems obscure. On Wikipedia, articles have to be on something well known, as arbitrarily defined by the moderators. Articles deemed to be about something relatively unknown would therefore be deleted. While this policy has its merits, it also leaves a handful of unhappy Wikipedia users that want to write about something but can't. Such people would be more than happy to switch to Knol where all content is allowed so long as it isn't ripped off or illegal.

And because a Wikipedia article and a Knol article for a topic will end up being so different, they will probably used to complement each other rather than replace each other.

So I don't see a future where Knol and Wikipedia ruthlessly compete for readers in the future. I see a lax future where both Wikipedia pages and Knol pages are used in concert.

1; I'm sure we can all agree that eventually a large portion of Knol will have ads on them. An Adsense account is not particularly hard to create. Additionally, a quick search around the internet will reveal that most of it has ads. This isn't necessarily a bad, because the ads on a Knol would be on the side and semi-relevant.

Nintendo Loses in Patent Skirmish

2008-07-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

Apparently Nintendo was in a patent lawsuit again "Anascape" and apparently they managed to lose.

Basically, this means that the happy analog sticks on the Gamecube controllers and the classic controllers are in patent violation, and can no longer be sold unless Nintendo does something.

Granted, there's no way this will mean no more Gamecube or classic controllers forever. But it might lead to a temporary setback. I'm thinking a few months.

Still though, "Anascape"? That's two letters from "Analescape."

Slashdot
Slashdot's link

Facebook Unveils Site Redesign... And it Doesn't Work With IE6... Or IE7

2008-07-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

So I tried upgrading to the new Facebook, thinking it would be cooler and all.

Then I get this error message;

Apparently Facebook's new site doesn't work with IE6. However, they reassure me IE6 compatibility will be made "soon."

But wait! It gets better!

So I click on the Internet Explorer upgrade link, and it takes me to this page;

"you are using Internet Explorer 7"

Apparently Facebook has more problems than it thought or Microsoft's website is lying to me.

EDIT: It seems that NEW Facebook has finally started working on Internet Explorer 7. No word yet on if it works for IE6 or not.

Charles Dicken's Great Expectations - Motivational Poster

2008-07-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Google Maps Adds Walking Directions

2008-07-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

Now you can walk to destinations.

But my source makes it sound like it forces you to walk on sidewalks only. Great.

Unsubstantiated Rock Band 2 Rumor

2008-07-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

In my last post I complained about why there were no Rock Band 1 tracks in Rock Band 2.

According to a rumor from Kotaku, all the tracks from Rock Band 1 would be included in Rock Band 2.

Now, as crazy as this sounds, especially when you consider Rock Band is published by EA, you have to figure that Harmonix is a company that sort of loves its customers. Heck, they created Guitar Hero just to give the common man an idea of what it's like to be in a band.

Plus, they made bucketloads of money on the last one.

Plus, they make a killing with perephiral sales. And who buys those? New players. So if they sweeten the deal that much more, then they might make more perephireal sales.

Of course, there are just reasons why this makes sense, not reason why they're actually doing it.

Need I repeat this is merely a rumor?

Rock Band 2 Track List

2008-07-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

So I got this list from Ultimate Guitar who in turn got it from Kotaku. I've still had more interesting link chains.

01. AC/DC "Let There Be Rock" 1970s
02. AFI "Girl's Gone Grey" 2000's
03. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" 1990's
04. Alice In Chains "Man in the Box" 1990's
05. Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man" 1970's
06. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy" 2000's
07. Bad Company "Shooting Star" 1970's
08. Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" 1990's
09. Beck "E-Pro" 2000's
10. Bikini Kill "Rebel Girl" 1990's
11. I" 1980's
12. Blondie "One Way or Another" 1970's
13. Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue" 1970's
14. Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" 1980's
15. Cheap Trick "Hello There" 1970's
16. Devo "Uncontrollable Urge" 1980's
17. "Feel the Pain" 1990's
18. Disturbed "Down with the Sickness" 2000's
19. Dream Theater "Panic Attack" 2000's
20. Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf" 1980's
21. Elvis Costello "Pump It Up" 1970's
22. Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way" 1970's
23. Foo Fighters "Everlong" 1990's
24. Guns N' Roses "Shackler's Revenge" 2000's
25. Interpol "PDA" 2000's
26. Jane's Addiction "Mountain Song" 1980's
27. Jethro Tull "Aqualung" 1970's
28. Jimmy Eat World "The Middle" 2000's
29. Joan Jett "Bad Reputation" 1980's
30. Journey "Anyway You Want It" 1970's
31. Judas Priest "Painkiller" 1990's
32. Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son" 1970's
33. L7 "Pretend We're Dead" 1990's
34. Lacuna Coil "Our Truth" 2000's
35. Linkin Park "One Step Closer" 2000's
36. Lit "My Own Worst Enemy" 1990's
37. Lush "De-Luxe" 1990's
38. Mastodon "Colony of Birchmen" 2000's
39. Megadeth "Peace Sells" 1980's
40. Metallica "Battery" 1980's
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Where'd You Go" 1990's
42. Modest Mouse "Float On" 2000's
43. Motorhead "Ace of Spades" 1980's
44. Nirvana "Drain You" 1990's
45. Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky" 1960's
46. Panic At The Disco "Nine in the Afternoon" 2000's
47. Paramore "That's What You Get" 2000's
48. Pearl Jam "Alive" 1990's
49. Presidents Of The Usa "Lump" 1990's
50. Rage Against The Machine "Testify" 1990's
51. Ratt "Round & Round" 1980's
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give it Away" 1990's
53. Rise Against "Give it All" 2000's
54. Rush "The Trees" 1970's
55. Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" 2000's
56. Smashing Pumpkins "Today" 1990's
57. Social Distortion "I Was Wrong" 1990's
58. Sonic Youth "Teenage Riot" 1980's
59. Soundgarden "Spoonman" 1990's
60. Squeeze "Cool for Cats" 1970's
61. Steely Dan "Bodhitsattva" 1970's
62. Steve Miller Band "Rock'n Me" 1970's
63. Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" 1980's
64. System Of A Down "Chop Suey" 2000's
65. Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" 1970's
66. Tenacious D "Master Exploder" 2000's
67. Testament "Souls of Black" 1990's
68. The Donnas "New Kid in School" 2000's
69. The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" 1980's
70. The Grateful Dead "Alabama Getaway" 1980's
71. The Guess Who "American Woman" 1970's
72. The Muffs "Kids in America" 1990's
73. The Offspring "Come Out & Play (Keep 'em Separated)" 1990's
74. The Replacements "Alex Chilton" 1980's
75. The Who "Pinball Wizard" 1960's
76. Abnormality "Visions" 2000's
77. Anarchy Club "Get Clean" 2000's
78. Bang Camaro "Night Lies" 2000's
79. Breaking Wheel "Shoulder to the Plow" 2000's
80. The Libyans "Neighborhood" 2000's
81. The Main Drag "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" 2000's
82. Speck "Conventional Lover" 2000's
83. The Sterns "Supreme Girl" 2000's
84. That Handsome Devil "Rob the Prez-O-Dent" 2000's

Personally, there doesn't seem to be that much good stuff. But I have faith in Harmonix to not completely suck when picking songs. Besides, there are plenty of awesome songs yet to pick that weren't in Rock Band or any guitar hero.

Though what really bugs me is why can't they add in tracks that were in Rock Band 1 if there's extra space? I think the 84 song list is more a limit due to work than to memory.

Do You Believe There Are Monsters Under Your Bed or In Your Closet?

2008-07-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a great example of voluntary response bias.

Voluntary response bias is when you let people answer a survey or poll, and the results thusly become skewed because only people who really care about it will answer.

I asked Yahoo Answers if people believe if there were monsters under their bed.

All of the 3 people responded in the affirmative. Using this survey, I could (unreasonably) conclude that 100% of people on Yahoo Answers believe there is a monster under their bed.

Answer Thread

Conversation With A Spambot

2008-07-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

[21:10:14] korypage24: lmitrlrlpvGotta sec shingoiruka?ocpexnhljybcimyxndho

[21:10:21] Jiggly29642000: ...No?

[21:10:24] korypage24: cxyrqsorry i'm new to this whole "IM" thing lol, wasnt sure if i had the right personjzpio

[21:10:38] jiggly29642000: My name is "Jiggly29642000."

[21:10:47] korypage24: udmfndo u remember me?mviky

[21:10:53] jiggly29642000: Do you remember me?

[21:10:59] korypage24: pdwrpit's me Morganhefnk

[21:11:16] jiggly29642000: Morgan, eh?

[21:11:19] korypage24: wnlnddo u remember me?nhnyk

[21:11:28] jiggly29642000: You're Morgan, right?

[21:11:29] korypage24: spjtdit's me Alexandriaqfrpf

[21:11:35] jiggly29642000: Alexandria, eh?

[21:11:39] korypage24: dbkbqhey R U free any time this week? i'm kinda lonley in this new town, maybe we can meet up ;)rrqwobuqfq

[21:11:55] jiggly29642000: Well, seeing as how you're so paranoid you have two names... Then no.

[21:11:58] korypage24: acvyuTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com ajtvh

[21:12:07] jiggly29642000: That doesn't even make any sense.

[21:12:08] korypage24: qcoxmcheck out my pic http://www.a%64ul%74%68%6f%6fk%2du%70s.%6e%65%74 do u think i'm cute, pgbpi

[21:12:36] jiggly29642000: No, I think you're ugly.

[21:12:46] korypage24: vgloei just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64u%6c%74h%6fok%2d%75%70%73.%6eet vryhq

[21:12:58] jiggly29642000: What if I told you I was married?

[21:13:05] korypage24: xfvndTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com jqdrk

[21:13:12] jiggly29642000: Uh, you already told me this...

[21:13:14] korypage24: lpmjzi just signed up for this gr8 singles site, check out my profile http://www.%61%64ul%74%68%6fok-u%70%73%2e%6e%65t vocxi

[21:13:22] jiggly29642000: Wow, repeating fail.

[21:13:31] korypage24: iskrxTo remove your ID please follow the link http://www.yremoveyourid.com juvrc

2008-07-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a thought;

If you turn off your voice activated computer, can you turn it back on using your voice?