Suspenseful Post

I was correct in saying that today is the day I'd be going to Mitsuwa, so some point this week there will be a post about it, though I can't guarantee that it will be tomorrow as I'll probably be awake all night playing video games.  As I'm busy today, I wrote this post at 1:06 AM!  I should be sleeping and chances are I will be soon, provided that the oncoming storms don't wake me up.  (more suspense).

Finally, the last bit of suspense is in the form of a comic!

Lucky for you at least this one has a conclusion.  Stay tuned for details on the rest.

Have a great day!

Japan: Food

Yesterday, I got back from a wonderful weekend with my girlfriend and I'm feeling much better than I did before.  It could be that I have something to look forward too that isn't months away, but we will see about that.  The thing I'm looking forward to is tomorrow (?) I think..  I'm going to Mitsuwa, which is the largest Japanese marketplace in the United States.  I've been there before, but the food there is delicious and a little authentic taste of Japanese cuisine.

I have widened my cultural palate there in each visit.  Whether it was trying Melon Bread or Ramune that were pretty good, or Miso Soup and Taiyaki (Sweet Red Bean Paste in Bread) that I didn't care for, I've tried quite a variety of stuff.

In 7th Grade, we spent a majority of the year learning about Japan and Japanese Culture in my Gifted and Talented class.  During that time, we had an assistant teacher from Japan teaching us about her culture and before she left, we had an authentic Japanese Tea Ceremony (Kimonos and all).  This video will give you a pretty good explanation of what it was like.  Every movement is done with a purpose, and everything must be done properly.

At the end of the ceremony, she gave us all origami boxes with Japanese Sweet Rice Cakes or Mochi Ice Cream in them.  Mochi Ice Cream is a gelatinous candy made that has many flavors including Melon, Orange, Red Bean, Chocolate, Brown Sugar, Green Tea, Mango, etc.

These little gems, are delicious, and I hope to get a package when I go tomorrow, provided I can find them again.  Nevertheless, a trip to Mitsuwa is never disappointing.  I will try to take some pictures, so I can post more about the trip, but then again, I don't want to look like a tourist..

Have a great day!

One Month Left

As of today, I only have 30 days until I go back to school, and I cannot wait to get back.  I'm going into my last year of school, and I'm already getting Senioritis.  I am ready to get out in the real world and work, but luckily I am really looking forward to my classes, so that will help.

With school in mind, I found a picture of the ultimate media college taking movie and tv stars for professors.

I think every class would be so much better, but it is a shame that you'll never be able to get though the gate keeper to get in.

Have a great weekend!

Pokemon Streak

Yesterday I re-hooked up my N64 and started playing Pokemon Stadium 2 after taking a favorite Pokemon quiz (Here: http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~msandbot/pokemon/rubysapphire.html ).  I don't know how they did it, but Nintendo and Game Freak made something that will stand the test of time.

The first time I played Pokemon Red, I never realized how odd the game is.  I mean there is an organization trying to steal Pokemon, there are basically no men that aren't old or gym leaders (conspiracy theories say there was a massive war going on so the men were enlisted), and that Pokemon could actually die.

While I thought that with old age anything could die, there is a hint that you actually killed your rival's Raticate during a battle, because after you meet your rival in the Pokemon Tower in Lavender town, you never see his Raticate again.

What gets creepier is what you realize about Cubone's mother in the tower.  You can't capture it, so you have to re-kill it to rest its soul.  Yeah.. this is a kids game. (right-click and open image in a new tab to view image in full size.)

Have a great day!

A Day In The Life

A few years ago one of my friends showed me a classic Machinima video.  "A Day In The Life of A Turret" looks into the life of a Aperture Science Turret (Portal 1-2).  This came out after Portal had been released, but nowhere near the thought of Portal 2, so it would be cool if a second one was made, though I'd imagine it wouldn't be much different.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything else that goes with this, so for today this is it.

Have a great day!

Odd Day

This morning a storm rolled through (approx 6am local) and it knocked out power to a very small part of my neighborhood.  Of course, my house was one of those houses.  A few minutes after I left, I got a text saying that the power came back on, so that is a good start!

I left to drop my mom off at an appointment that would take about 3 hours, so my plan was going somewhere with free Wi-Fi until she finished her appointment.  Looking on the GPS there was a Starbucks about a mile away from her appointment so I made my way over.  Little did I know that that Starbucks was closed due to the power outage.  So now I sit at another Starbucks, drinking a Vanilla Latte, and making this post, 3 miles away from where I intended to be.

Nevertheless, I can't imagine today getting much stranger than it has been so far, but I'm going to assume that it will.  My job now is to sit back, work on some HTML5 and CSS3 for a site from scratch and people watch the businessmen and the hipsters co-mingle in the same area.

It may seem like a bad redesign, but it is cheaper to print single color logos on a white cup than the black and green from 92.

Have a great day!

A Slew of Monstrous Creatures

Once again, StumbleUpon has helped me find a gem of a picture.  Many people believe in ghosts, ghouls, and demons, but how do you name them as a group?  I mean a group of whales is a pod, a group of buffalo are a herd, and a group of ravens are a murder.

You don't call a group of ghosts a haunted house-full of ghosts, but rather a congress of ghosts.  Below is a list of incorporeal, demonic, monstrous, industrial, and personal group nouns.  My personal favorites are a knot of dwarves, a nervousness of AI, and a conservatory of phonices (pl. phoenix).

Have a great day, and be careful to not fall to a blanket of poltergeist!

Math and Nachos

I assume most people will be on board with one out of the two of these thing, but unfortunately they will be a little disappointed that they have to get through a little bit of math to get to the nachos.

I'm not going to go too much into detail about the math, but there is a sequence found in nature called the Fibbonacci sequence.  This sequence uses the natural shape of the Chambered Nautilus.  The area of the sections create the Fibbonacci sequence 1 1 3 5 8 13 21 34 ...

A Fibbonacci calculator has continued the numbers of the sequence out 200 sections. " It can find Fib(2000) exactly - all 418 digits - in about 50 seconds on an Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3 series 266MHz computer. It can find the first few digits of even higher numbers, instantly, such as the twenty-millionth Fibonacci number, F(20,000,000) which begins285439828... and has over 4 million digits!".  In only a short 200 digit time, it can grow from 1 1 2 3, to something that has millions of digits!

Finally the nachos, which instead if dripping in cheese, are dripping in math!

Revenge, Centuries in the Making

It is natural for people to have enemies. They may not be mortal enemies that you would only wish the worst for, but they may just be a competitive rival. People that have mortal enemies want revenge for any wrongdoing that they encounter with them. An eye for an eye kind of mentality.

 While some people enjoy revenge, it isn't the healthiest way to live. Nevertheless, when it isn't you that experiences the action that causes a need for revenge, it can be pretty satisfying to see. For example, some of the best action movies are revenge-based and you want the villain to meet there demise for their action. If you cannot visualize this, here is a comic explaining revenge.

While it may not be the same satisfactory end, technically revenge was achieved.

Have a great day!

YouTube Videos

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend and we decided that we will actually start doing live-streams of Minecraft and some other PC games.  I started playing with one of the live-streaming sites that we were going to use and I found that if I live-stream a video, it records the video and saves it for me.  Because of that I did a test session last night and recorded this Techmo Superbowl video.

I may have to fiddle with the settings a little or figure out how to get better FPS, because I currently get pretty bad video quality out of Minecraft.  Basically, it looks a little better than if I recorded it with a half of a potato.

Have a great day!

Some Song That Everybod Seems To Know

Gotye apparently has the record for the most played song on the radio.  At one point I was flipping through radio stations and "Somebody That I Used To Know" was on 3 stations.  Now I don't mind the song, but I don't get how they are selling tickets to concerts.  If you have a one hit wonder, how can you have a concert that sells out?  I guess people like other songs, though I can't say I've ever heard one.

This song seems to definitely have a love-hate relationship, though I can't say that I've seen a reaction quite like these guys.

I know there is a meme about the line "you didn't have to cut me off", but I haven't seen that many yet.  In fact, for the longest time I heard the line as "you didn't have to copy us".  I like the childish connotation behind it.  In fact, I'm going to go outside the box so much to say that they were pointing their finger at the music industry saying you don't have to copy each other, be creative.

That's right, I took a line that doesn't exist in a song and made it a statement that was never actually made by Gotye.  That, my friends, is how rumors start, but nevertheless, I bet that many many people agree with me.

Have a great day!

Creative Advertsing

In fall I will be taking a communications class about advertising and I hope that it is a really good class.  Last time I checked though there wasn't a professor assigned to the class.  Nevertheless, in anticipation of this class I found 4 really creative and cleaver advertising campaigns.  The first is a dental implant company advertising at a bowling alley.

This next ad is definitely a lesson in knowing where you will be placing your ad and how to use materials to get a neat effect.

Oh, your smart car is fast... Ah, fast enough to jump a bridge!

The best part of waking up may not be going to work for most people, nevertheless, Folgers coffee helps people wake up and get ready for the 9 to 5.  In a nice work of advertising, Folgers used manhole covers to imitate a steaming cup of coffee.

Finally, if you are going to fly to Vegas, you want to feel like you're gambling as soon as you pick up your luggage.  This ad has you playing roulette before you know it.

Have a great day!

Friday The Thirteenth

It just seems odd to look at Friday the 13th written out like in the title.  Yes, today is an unlucky day and by far the worst day for Paraskevidekatriaphobics (Yes that is a real word!).

Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the morbid, irrational fear of Friday the Thirteenths.  Lucky for them though, this is the last Friday the 13th (FT13) left this year.  All three Fridays have been exactly 13 weeks away of each other which doesn't happen that often.  Usually there are 2 FT13s in a year, but occasionally there are 3.  The next time that there will be 3 FT13s in such a small time frame will be in 2040, so Paraskevidekatriaphobics can rest a little easier, but not too much more.

Less than 24 hours until the "unluckiness" ends..

Have a fun and safe weekend!

Decisions

For the first time in a while, I actually have to decide what picture(s) I want to use in a post.  I kind of like that.  Sure it is 2:26am and I should be sleeping, but I figure if I make a post now, I can sleep as late as I want/can.

After some contemplation (only about 2 minutes) I've determined what pictures I will use.  First, I found a picture that had an excellent story.  I wish something like this could happen in my life, because as it is, I could use a story to tell, and to get out of my house for more than a few hours.

The fun thing about this, is that I could actually see this happening.  Bill Murray does seem like a guy that would goof around like this all in good fun.  I mean, he is kind of a type-cast actor, but not nearly as much as Leonardo DiCaprio, who now seems to have the same role in every movie.

While it is true that you probably could use a Zune as a totem, I don't think it is the idea one.  I suppose you wouldn't have to worry about people stealing it, but not quite unique enough.

Personally, I am not a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio because he does the same character in every movie it seems.  Before everyone jumps on the sinking ship to defend him, google his roles.  If you look at the pictures, the only picture where he isn't in a suit with slicked back hair is Titanic, and then he still has semi-slicked back hair and he was just making his splash into the silverscreen (no pun intended).

Now, I'll admit this last picture is a little gross, but as a guy I find it clever and funny.  I was tempted to post this as a status, but I was too gutless to do it.

Frankly, I still think there are plenty of good answers left (Waterboy, Green Mile, This is It, etc.).  Maybe I will post it later today with an explanation, but only time will tell.

Have a great day!

Fun Facts: Part 2

Yesterday I spent a lot of time on StumbleUpon.  So much so that I go this achievement!

Yeah, that is how I got most of my original content.  For a while I got away from using StumbleUpon, but I'm back again.  On SU, I found a list of 50 fun facts and figured that I would make a list of the good ones.

1. February 1965 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
2. Back in the mid-80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
3. If you have three quarters, four dimes and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
4. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually that all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
5. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. The frog then uses its forearms to dig out all of thestomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
6. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
7. If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will come up heads approximately 4950 times because the heads picture weighs more than the tails side, so it ends up on the bottom more often.
8. Los Angeles' full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Pornciuncula.
9. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
10. The computer term "byte" is a contraction of "by eight".
11. The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin", pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom". As a boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; he was eventually able to add it to Star Trek lore.
12. Columbia University is the second largest land owner in New York City, after the Catholic Church. 

I know this post is a lot of reading, but I do appreciate if you took the time to read each of them.  Its interesting to find out stuff like this, and heck its even good to know fun facts like this!

Have a great day!

Fun Facts

Today is Tuesday.  Fun fact huh?  Then again if you are reading this in the future on a Thursday, then that fact loses a bit of its fun-factor.  Nevertheless though, I found a couple interesting facts the other day in picture form and figured that it would be ideal to use as a post.

This first one is my favorite, though it may not be true with recent developments in non-stick coatings.

As I said, this may change since a college student has developed a coating for bottles that leave little to no residue in the bottle.  Here is the video of the bottle in action.

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Next is a sad but true study from Rutgers University

That is really sad that 15% of people in the US over 5 years would not have died because of smoking.  Imagine if people actually did stop smoking..

This next one is really relevant to me because I crack my knuckles a lot.

So the fact that I can crack my knuckles constantly isn't necessarily bad for me, but rather bad for you, assuming that you don't like hearing it.  I'm not saying that I'm going to be a jerk and do it all the time, but I probably won't reduce how much I do it (which isn't that often).

Finally, this last one I just found interesting.

Who knew (other than cartographers)?

Have a great day!

1990s First World Problems

Many of the complaints that you see on Facebook and the internet are truly First World Problems, where people should be grateful that they even have what they do.  There is a new meme I found called 90s First World Problems, and I can't believe how many of them I remember having a problem with.

This one in particular wasn't so much that someone was on the phone, but rather that someone picked up the phone while I was on the internet causing the internet to stop working.

Kids these days have no idea what skip protection is.. Now with all audio being digital you really never have to worry about your songs skipping midway through.

Be Kind Rewind!

The most complicated part today is getting the satellite to pick up your signal and getting yelled at for turning on the wrong street.

Have a great day!

Looking Back

Yesterday, I looked back on all the posts I had made since I started making them last year.  Through all of them, I found a couple of my favorite posts.  I know that when I started my blog, I did not have a lot of views per day and because of it I figured I can link my favorites here.  Essentially this is a mini portal to my favorites.

The first post is a rant that I made before the 4th of July last year.  When I read through it I feel the same way as I did.  http://www.pxrandomness.com/2011/07/unorthodox-but-still-random.html

Next, is a post where I learned that a good way to increase viewership.  If you find something new like a meme or a popular topic you can get a lot of views.   http://www.pxrandomness.com/2011/10/world-needs-happiness.html

Next, I occasionally made some "poetry", and by poetry really it was just lines that rhymed loosely and tried to have rhythm.  This one is my best one, though the title sucked..  Blog-en = Raven.. Yeah, like I said, suck!  http://www.pxrandomness.com/2011/08/blogen-epic-poem-ii.html

This last post is by far my favorite post of all time.  I have been trying to do better to live life one day at a time.  While I admit that I need to do better in balancing planning for the future and living for today, I think I'm doing better.  This post is a game-changer for sure, and because of that, this is my favorite post.  http://www.pxrandomness.com/2011/08/blogen-epic-poem-ii.html

I still enjoy making blog posts and I hope that I can keep producing good posts like these.  I don't want to give up doing this and I hope that I can continue this for quite some time.

Have a great weekend!

It Is All The Same Company Anyway

You have a mission to go to the store and buy your regular supply of groceries.  Chances are that a majority of your non-generic brand supplies fall into 10 companies.  I never knew that these 10 companies were in control of so much stuff.

If you need to see the picture better, you can right click it and open it in a new tab/window.  The biggest surprise of all of these is that Nestle owns Georgio Armani and Ralph Lauren (and a few more that I couldn't read).   It is crazy to see that these companies not only own food brands, but clothing, batteries, fast-food, cosmetics, hygiene, and other "essentials".

I really should have a conclusion, but seeing as there is barely an intro, I really don't need one.. Or did I just make one?

Have a great day!

Celebrate Independence By Burning Chemicals

Tomorrow is the 4th of July which is Independence Day in the US.  In 1776, the 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence from the British Empire (seen below).

Normally. when you celebrate something you throw a party of some variety.  But America went with the (by that time traditional) fireworks celebration after year one.  Now every year, people across the US launch fireworks to celebrate freedom.  Somehow, people impress me with what they think is a good idea for purchased fireworks.  For example, this guy taped together 91 Roman Candles for an impressive display.

Since tomorrow is a Federal Holiday, there will not be a post.

Have a great day!

Color Psychology 101

About two weeks back I painted my room from a bright vibrant red to a cadet blue and a white/tan color called fresh linen.  After living in the room, I really enjoy the color combination and since colors do alter moods and emotions I feel that I am slightly calmer, and I have less hunger spikes.

The only reason I mention that hunger spike thing is because of this picture that explains that the color red in a room increases your appetite.

Now that I read it a little more, I notices that the color blue also curbs your appetite.  Now, I'm not claiming that my room is a miracle worker because the colors are having subconscious effects on me, but it still is pretty neat that colors have this effect on people.

Have a great day!