The NFL Season Is Coming

No, I'm not going to throw a Game of Thrones meme into this since it really isn't that necessary.  Tonight is the beginning of the last of the Preseason games and I'm excited to see the regular season games and the NCAA football season as well (but that's a different story).

With a new season comes new jerseys from Nike and new technology that can be used, as well as technology that should be used, but hasn't yet.

(http://www.ticketcity.com/nfl-tickets.html)
Even with all these new things, you can be sure of one thing.  The Kansas City Chiefs have been rebuilding their team too long.  They need to get better soon..

I'm busy moving back to school today, so this will have to be the end of the post.

Have a great day!

Political View: Day 8

Today will be the last part of the political view series and it will definitely be short.  While the list still has two items left, both of them are somewhat misplaced in the list.  The topics of Terrorism and Role of Government fall into the topics of Foreign Policy and everything else, but I guess I have some closing thoughts.

Terrorism

This isn't about being pro or against terrorism, but rather how to deal with it.  Should the US take a preventative stance and start a long war to prevent terrorism or should it act on threats only?  As it is, I think that terrorism is something that will always be around so it has to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Role of Government

The role of the government is a discussion that can be seen in each of the topics before this one and seems to be one of the main divisions between Republicans and Democrats.  There are times where the government should try to help as much as possible like in states of emergency due to weather, terrorism, or "acts of God" as many agreements seem to add in documents.  At the same time, does the government need to bail out companies that misspend their money in a bail-out?  It truly is a case by case basis here on how involved the government, federal or local, should be.

Final Thoughts

While the last couple weeks have been a glimpse at my view on the issue, it has really shown me that I don't align with a specific political party.  I have some views that are more Democratic and others that are more Republican, but nothing that points me towards any political affiliation.  While I know it is my civic duty to get out there and vote, I really cannot decide if I will vote or not as no candidate really supports my view, not that they keep their promises anyway.

Thank you for bearing with me for the last two weeks and tomorrow I'll be moving back to school and I will return you back to your regular scheduled randomness.

Think about it and have a great day!

Political View: Day 7

Today will be, probably, the longest post of all the entire political view series.  The global warming and environment discussion is something that I have a strong opinion on and it would be difficult to sway my opinion too terribly much.

Environment/Global Warming

To start, I might as well go out on a limb and say that I don't think that Global Warming exists in the way that everyone tries to explain it.  Any day that someone walks outside and it is unseasonably warm they blame global warming in a heartbeat.  While I do believe that the amount of pollution is a concern that should be monitored, I still believe that this warming is part of a trend that has been happening for a long time.

From the beginning of time, there has been a general climatology that can be gathered from manuscripts, so while there aren't specific numbers information can be gathered.  From around the 1607 Jamestown mark, actual temperatures exist and can be uses to fill in this trend.  While 2012 had one of the driest Summers on record, it still is falling from a greater high temperature from back in 1998.  Even though this heat had its anomalies like between 2007 and 2009, it still seems to follow this trend pretty well which means a little colder global temperatures are to come.  It may be hot here during a summer, but it could be a cold summer somewhere else, global warming is 'global' so the big picture needs to be observed.

With that said, I think that the average person should be more concerned about recycling and freeing themselves from the grip of oil companies very soon.  Recycling is not a difficult thing to do and most things you use everyday are recyclable.  It may be convenient to throw something away, but it is better to recycle it so the cost for materials don't go up.  Adding recycled byproduct cuts down on the price of production since less new material is needed.

Oil companies have the world by their throats.  A majority of materials we use are petroleum byproducts and when oil companies control the import then prices of gas and other essentials can skyrocket.  For example, because of the hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are evacuating their drills to save people's lives.  This I am fine with, but the result is that there is no longer enough oil being sent through the US to meet demand resulting in already high gas prices to go even higher.

Why does a majority of oil come from the Gulf and not from other resources we have?  Until the electric or hybrid car become more mainstream and affordable and convenient that most people have them, other oil resources in the US need to be used.  Alaska has resources nearby for drilling oil, but activists are concerned about the animals being so close to oil reserves.  The biggest concern seems to be a "what if" concern of what if there is an oil spill, what will happen to the animals.  It is a risk associated with finding oil.  If you don't want to be dependent on oil you have to try to find a solution to make it non-essential in your life.  Until then we need to utilize our resources until that solution comes.  When it comes to oil spills, accidents happen, and as long as actions are taken quickly and they can be resolved, then things can be OK.

When it comes to emissions from companies, I think they all should work to reduce their emissions and pollution as much as possible to the point that fines can be assessed for failure to comply.  If a car cannot produce emissions exceeding a value or take a fine, why not companies?

On the same note, I despise the idea of offsetting a carbon footprint by planting trees.  Planting a tree because your company doesn't want to reduce your emissions is ridiculous and irresponsible.  I'm all for planting trees, but do it while trying to move towards a low-emission, low-pollution solution.

Finally, driving around North Central Wisconsin, there are hundreds of windmills/wind turbines to generate power.  They may have a high start-up cost $50,000 per household (estimated by: http://www.windustry.org/resources/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost) but it is essentially free power.  If a house can be powered by wind, why not invest into a car that can be powered off of electric and you can offset two costs.  Albeit, you will still need to be attached to the grid on days when there is no wind so you can have power, but your costs can be cut drastically.

Think about it and have a great day!

Political View: Day 6

Chances are that my views will be done by Thursday or Friday this week, which will be perfect since I head back to school on Thursday and I am semi-busy on Friday.  Today I'll be covering Social Security/Medicare and Gun Control which will probably be pretty short.

Social Security/Medicare

When it comes to social security, I frankly assume that I will not be getting any money from it when I qualify for it.  I think it is a nice resource to have for the elderly to use in lieu of working, but it will run out soon.  With many of the baby boomers now entering the point where they are eligible to receive social security, the fund will deplete quickly.

As for medicare, I do like how it can get anyone who qualifies for it can get prescription drugs for pennies on the dollar, but I think that that kind of offer should be available to everyone.  If I can get a prescription for $2 as an elder, why can't I as a young adult get a similar prescription for a similar condition for the same price.  I  understand that it is all about getting money, but if it is cheaper to get prescription drugs in other places, why not here?

Gun Control

In recent view of the Colorado shootings, the slew of other shootings in Chicago, among thousands and thousands of gun violence, it is hard to support guns being so unregulated. I know that the second amendment right states that " A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed ".  I believe that people should have the right to own weapons within reason.  I find no practical reason for people to own assault rifles, combat shotguns, or any other weapon that would normally be used by the army as a household weapon.

I personally do not own any guns nor do I plan on it, but I think that people should continue to have the rights to own weapons.  However, I think that gun control definitely needs to increase such that households can only have so many weapons in their possession, taxes imposed on the weapon and ammunition purchases, or sanctions on families that have a history of weapon violence.

My view of guns are that while they may be useful for hunting, while they may be had as defense devices, I think that since their only main purpose is to kill makes putting a tax on the ammo a way to fund the government and deter their use a little, such as that of cigarettes.

Think about it and have a great day!

Political View: Day 5

I realize that yesterday I said the post would be short, when in fact, it was rather long.  To make up for that long post I will be covering only one topic.  I think it should be short, but we'll see what kinds of tangents I go off on.

Same-Sex Marriage

For the longest time I was 100% against same-sex marriage because I felt that marriage was meant for a man and a woman.  Currently I am to the point where I really don't care too terribly much whether or not they can get married.  I know that the Bible says that marriage is only for a man and a woman, but in a society that doesn't care about religion most of the time, it is almost easier to let everyone get married and let churches decide whether or not they want to allow the marriage to happen at their facility.

In terms of the military, I could care less if people are gay or not.  It makes no difference on the sexual orientation of a person in the army and frankly there should not be a reason to make someone identify their sexual preference to be in the army.

With everything, there should be uniformity, so it should not be a state-by-state decision on whether or not to ban same-sex marriage.  I think that if you leave it up to churches to determine whether they want to marry same-sex couples, that would appease both the church and the homosexual community as well.

Think about it and have a great weekend!

Political View: Day 4

Today will be pretty short and sweet but could cause a little bit of controversy.  The topics for today are Education and Abortion.  While education generally isn't too touchy of a topic, abortion has been a very touchy subject in the news.

Education

While I think that the education system of the US is something that while it seems effective, needs to be updated.  The US is not very strong in math and science compared to most other countries.

While this data is a little dated the fact that the US is so far behind in math and science is not good.  Not only does this set us behind as a basic education tool, but it also prevents us from excelling in innovative ideas.  While it may be great to have an idea of a new invention, that idea is not useful unless it can be implemented, often requiring math and science skills (not always).

Next, I don't approve of teachers getting tenure because that promotes slacking off since your students performance will not affect your job.  Most people go into a job and get fired for poor performance, so why should a teacher be any different.  I know a few states have begun removing tenure from teachers which I like, but I also would like to see more uniformity so that all states accept this rule.

Part of education involves being able to afford college too.  While I explained most of this during the economics portion, I will say again, colleges need to become more affordable so students do not have so much debt.  While I know that community colleges are a cheap way to get through college, they don't have the same educational value that a college does.  I feel that community colleges are much like high schools since you do not live there.  You do not have to engage personal skills, you do not have to take a big step and live independently necessarily, so while it is cost effective, it does not embody the well-developed person.  If an accredited college can be as cost effective while living on campus, I think that  more people would take the initiative to get educated.  According to Reuters, only 60% of 2012 high school graduates are going to college.  This number needs to get better so that 40% of high school graduates do not get stuck at meaningless jobs they don't like or "careers" they think will last forever.

Finally, many of my family members are teachers and one of them told me that homework is being taken out of the curriculum.  It may just be the "back in my day" codger in me, but homework reinforces concepts.  Students are graded alone on tests that they can retake until the pass with no penalty provided they do it before the class takes the final.  So what does this enforce?  Personally I see it as slack off now and try again later and it doesn't make school a priority since you can always try again later.  Homework makes you learn the content yourself through reinforcement and repetition.  These methods are proven to help learning stick.  By just testing you have to assume students are actually studying outside of class rather than watching TV or other things.  I suppose having to take a test over and over can allow the content to be learned to a satisfactory level, but what is the student not learning if they are stuck on chapter 3's test and they need to learn chapter 4's contents.  It isn't a perfect system, but I suppose it creates a little more accountability.

Abortion

Due to the touchy nature of this topic, I will be general, but forthcoming.  I see abortion not as a choice for any person to make on a whim.  I think that abortion should not be utilized by anyone but those who have been a victim of rape and have as a result become pregnant.  While I realize that this is still a life, I think the choice to have a baby should still be consensual.  This doesn't mean that every baby born because of a one-night stand that isn't remembered counts.  When pregnancy happens under the influence of drugs or alcohol or some other mind-effecting substance, should abortion be an option.  Frankly, I see this as a no.  In situations where you willingly put these substances into your body, you are responsible for your actions.  Yes, rape is a possible outcome, but any consent to sex resulting in pregnancy should not qualify for an abortion.

Personally, I think this kind of layout could deter the over-popularized, over-glorified teenage mothers.  Another grey-area is statutory rape cases.  Every girl on 16 and pregnant, I believe would fall into the category of statutory rape.  In these instances, I think they should not get an option to have an abortion.  I feel that as long as there was consent that any children as a result deserve to live, without a doubt.

I suppose the way to summarize all this is simply rape victims should have a choice, everyone else is now a new mother and should prepare themselves as such.

Inside of this issue, CNN also wants to cover contraception.  My view on sex is that it should not happen until marriage, but I do not necessarily look down on those that choose otherwise.  Frankly, I see it as personal choice on whether or not someone chooses to be on the pill or take the morning after pill as preventative measures.  I think that as Americans there are some things that should be free choice and I think that this is one of those decisions as long as it is used responsibly and as long as it is certified to be safe to use over long periods of time.

Think about it and have a great day!

Political View: Day 3

Unlike yesterday, I will be not covering two topics.  Rather, I believe that foreign policy could take many paragraphs and pages, but to keep the reading a little lower I will lay out a general plan of what I think could happen.  This is not a full comprehensive view of what can be fixed, but rather a glimpse in the US involvement in the world.

Foreign Policy

We live in a world where there is are a lot of problems.  While the world is chaotic, is it really the responsibility of the US to solve the problems of the world?  The main areas of concern in Foreign policy seem to be the Middle East, China and North Korea, Israel, and North Africa.

In the Middle East, there are a couple places to address.  In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US is trying to create peace.  While it seems like a mission that has no purpose, it is indeed still a effort from many countries.  According to NATO, 50 countries (http://www.isaf.nato.int/troop-numbers-and-contributions/index.php) are still stationed in Afghanistan to help maintain order.  Provided that troops are in Afghanistan to assist their NATO companions, I am ok with troops being stationed there.

China is a major factor in the US economy with approximately $400 billion of imports (2011) coming from China (source: https://www.uschina.org/statistics/tradetable.html).  The reason China is an issue is because they have a capable army and a supply of nuclear technology.  Looking around the internet it is difficult to find why tensions are high, but some ideas from the Christian Science Monitor are that the US and China have differing opinions about North Korea's want for a nuclear program.  Also, the communist Chinese government conflicts with the American Democracy and change is wanted.  While I do not have a concern that China is a communist nation, I do have a concern that the US is so reliant on other nations that we have to worry about tensions getting to high cutting off our supply of goods and potentially causing a nuclear war.  This goes back to the idea of trying to stop the worlds problems.  Let things work themselves out because preventing nuclear enrichment of North Korea may seem necessary so two Communist nations don't have nuclear power, but the rest of the world are ready to fight anyone that threatens them.  Let the world work its own and keep to yourself.

Israel is preparing for a possible war with Iran as an action of defense before the election happens.  The question on everyone's mind is if the US will get involved in this possible war between two nations in the Middle East.  I don't really know what to think here.  The US is pretty good allies with Israel and if they request aid, I think that we have to assist them.  At the same time, we don't want to get caught in a conflict with Iran while trying to get peace in the Middle East.

Finally, North Africa is full of turmoil whether it is the revolution in Egypt, the uproar in Syria, or the violence in Sudan.  The biggest question lies in Syria in whether the US should get involved and prevent Russia-backed Syria from using biological weapons or weapons that could be chaos if they fall into the wrong hands.  I think that what the US has done in Africa shows what a complete hands-off approach does.  You can watch bad things happen but nothing is done so people complain and ask why nothing is done.  It seems that in North Africa, the US offers help to help transitions rather than donating lives for a battle that will not benefit us economically.

As it is, there is no uniformity in the US foreign policy so maybe some uniformity should be made, not just acting for economic reasons, not just providing a guard service while governments are established, not just being a parent telling you not to touch the hot pan, but a uniform combination of them all.  Let's consider all these actions before sending so many soldiers to be security.

It may seem that what I just explained is happening already and just being put out by a case-by-case basis, but it seems some conflicts skip over some of these concepts and just to military conflicts.

The Foreign Policy of the US should deal with "Foreign" nations, but to better deal with the world, we need to act like the baby nation that we are.  We are young, we can make mistakes in growing, we need to become more dependent and more out of the nest of the deficit of trade that we are in.

According to the United States Census, the US spent $227.9 billion in imports, while exporting $185 billion.  If we can raise the amount that we export and lower the amount of dependency on foreign exports coming to the US we can stimulate our own economy a little better.

Think about it..

Have a great day!

Political View: Day 2

Continuing down the list from CNN, today the topics of discussion are Healthcare and Immigration.  I really don't have too strong of an opinion for either of these, but I still have my two cents to put into this.

Healthcare

While I am not sure of whether or not Obamacare is constitutionally sound or not, I think the concept is alright.  As it is, everyone should have insurance available to them at a cost that they can afford.  In essence, go with a car insurance concept where you can choose how much you pay, but you only get a certain coverage level.  For example, if you pay $50/month you can get basic doctor services and a little prescription coverage for general practice, dentist, and vision, but everything else is at cost.  I know the cost is a little weird and most people wouldn't like this, but it is an option.  I don't think of healthcare as too much of an issue since most people can get it with most full-time jobs.  The only reason it is considered an issue is because of Obamacare.

Immigration

When it comes to immigration I am definitely on the fence.  I am pro-legal immigration so anyone can move to the US since that is how it was formed.  As long as you are legally in the US then it is fine.  It may take some paperwork, but it can be done.  I definitely don't think a wall is necessary in the slightest, but I think that it could be an effective way to prevent immigration from the south.  If there is a big concern about not being prejudice, then a wall would have to be built around the entire US, which is impractical.

Looking at the standings of Obama and Romney, I don't care for either fully.  If someone is found to be an illegal immigrant, they should be deported after registering them onto a list.  This list could be used to be a starting point to get this person into the US legally, or it could be used as a deterrent somehow.

When it comes to undocumented children, I think they need to be treated the same way as the adults and sent back.  If they got through high school without being caught, there had to be some kind of crime committed when registering the child.  I think that while it may be better education in the US for the child, laws must be followed and processes must be done so that all involved people are legal citizens.

Have a gret day!

Political View: Day 1

Over the course of the next week or so, I will be delving into what my political views are.  These are not to stir up political battles of who is right and who is wrong, but rather to get my view on the key issues.  I will be looking into the issues list from CNN since it shows the main issues plus a glimpse of the main political party views for this upcoming election.  I won't cover all of the points because for some things I don't have a great grasp on or that strong of an opinion on.

To start, I frankly think that our government is doomed to fail constantly because there is the bipartisanship.  If there weren't any political parties and people ran on what they believed alone, there would still be a little division, but the pressure to block the other party's ideas would be gone so in theory a senator could vote on what they believe is best for the state, nation, issue, etc. not so much on what the party says.

Frankly, talking politics is one of my least favorite things to do, but looking forward, this may be my opportunity to post about it.  Who knows, in 4 years I might still have this blog, or I might not, so that is why the time is now.

With the intro done now, let's start the first issue.

Day 1: Economy

Here we have a topic that I am not too terribly opinionated in because I don't have a solution.  CNN has the three points of topic as taxes, debt, and jobs.  While I don't think more taxes on the rich are an answer because you shouldn't have to pay more because you have more money.  At the same time it is hard to say that the poor have to pay the same as the rich so I can understand why people are concerned about it.  If everyone pays the same income rate on taxes, there isn't a problem.  I mean if you pay 30% on taxes from a $200 paycheck compared to a $20,000, 30% is still 30%.  While it is easier to live off the $20,000 after taxes, each job was treated as equals.  It gives an incentive to work hard to earn more where a higher tax rate for the rich would entice people to work to be in the middle class.

As I mentioned before, I don't have a way to save the nation a lot in debt.  I haven't seen the national budget and I would have no idea how to balance a Multi-Trillion dollar budget.  I would assume that there is money being misspent somewhere, as every budget large or small has it.  The way to mend the budget isn't to cut the budget elsewhere, but to try an get rid of misspendings along the way.  Unlike a small budget, you cannot go on the idea that you can't spend money you don't have.  If that was the case, the US probably couldn't spend money for the next century to get rid of debt.

Finally, jobs are a tough thing to balance out.  While 8.2% of Americans should not be unemployed, the issue is that companies cannot spend money they don't have to give people jobs.  This lack of jobs has me a little worried since I graduate in May and will hopefully be employed by then, but it is not easy.  When competition for jobs is high, it is time to make sure that you are as hirable as possible.  While it may not be easy for some people to get a job, I don't think the government throwing out 5000 random construction jobs at a time is the solution.  As of July 2011's census, the United State's population is 311,591,917.  This means that approximately 2.56 million people are unemployed so 5000 jobs doesn't quite stir the pot enough.

Outside of these issues, I do have a couple quick thoughts.  College loans are a main source of income for the US government and the average US College student has on average (2010-2011 statistics) between $23,000 and $25,000 in debt.  Many students are above this number and I'd imagine that many are below it as well.  Making college more affordable is what the government does with loans, but the amount of immediate interest loans need to decrease so the average debt doesn't skyrocket during the 4 years (more or less) that it takes to get a job to pay that off.  I know life is a money game where whoever holds the money holds the power, but starting the path to success with so much debt makes it tough.  In this section also is my view on Welfare.  I know it really helps people out in their time of need, but I think there needs to be stricter enforcement on it.  I like the idea of having people drug test for Welfare, not to pick on people that are on welfare, but if you can afford drugs, you can possibly afford other life necessities.  Also, if you are trying to get a job while on Welfare, like most people should be, you shouldn't have drugs in your system anyway since that doesn't get you hired.

Finally (for real this time), a way to get some money into the government is through ticketing versus court.  Recently, Chicago passed legislature that would issue tickets to persons caught in possession of less than 15 grams of pot get $250-500 tickets.  This cuts down on stupid no-win court hearings and can earn the city a lot of money (20,000 people get arrested every year in Chicago for minor pot charges -- with everyone getting $250 tickets and paying $5 million in revenue).  If that policy is passed nationally, local economies can be stimulated and cut the costs of trials.

I know this is a lot of reading and if you don't care for it, this will probably continue for at least this week.  I apologize if you don't care for it.

Have a great day!

Feel Good Friday

I've been jumping between a little bit of regret with how I've spent my summer, but at the same time, I've really enjoyed just relaxing and slowly starting to find a job.  I only have 2 more weeks of summer until I move back to school and only 3 weeks until classes start.

Overall, I only have a few regrets about this summer, those being that I couldn't find an internship, not entirely through lack of trying, but due to lack of intern needs for web designers.  My next regret that I realized yesterday is that I could have been honing my graphic design skills by building logos for random companies on CrowdSpring.  Finally, I regret that I didn't stay in touch with more friends from high school because I could have had more opportunities to hang out away from home, even for a few hours.

Nevertheless, I am still happy with how my Summer has gone (fully realizing that 2 weeks is still a lot of time).  Now that I am happy, I am taking it upon myself to try to make you feel better through pictures.

I'm not quite sure where you can find sexy beast legally without resorting to cannibalism, but with enough imagination, anything can happen!  Worst case scenario, you can always try having this conversation.

Have a great weekend!

Opera for Gamers

Good morning all.  For the first time this week I am actually making the days post the day of the post.  This week I felt ambitious and made 3 posts on Sunday and scheduled them for posting.  Also for the first time this week, I am awake before 9am.  I feel that I've been pretty lazy this summer, but at the same time, I am just enjoying my last summer without work.

Anyway, while some gamers think that I am posting the Turret Opera from Portal 2, they are in fact wrong.  While, really I should since I couldn't find anything other than Korobieniki (the song from Tetris) I may have posted it already.  Regardless, here is "The 8-Bit Opera"

If you didn't enjoy that, perhaps you can at least be jealous that these 4th grade choir students got to sing this for a concert.  I know I kind of am, especially since anything I ever sang in elementary school was old show tunes or songs about composers, camels, or other kind of dumb songs.

Now that you wish that you had a better music class like these kids you have to try and..

Have a great day

30+ Fonts Every Designer Should Have

This will be a little different than usual, but the title of this post is one of the most irksome titles from across all of StumbleUpon.  While I do like fonts as much as the next person, I am tired of seeing these sites over and over.  They are fishing for page views with fonts that are hardly legible.  I understand that most fonts can be used for anything, but the fonts on these sites that claim that designers need these special 34 fonts should all be on your computer and used.

While I have found a few pretty good fonts on sites like this, I would never use 70% of the fonts they have.  I try to find free fonts and I know that people are making them from scratch and providing them for free so they aren't ideal for every situation, but I would suggest that you stand behind your font and not have too many, especially if they look bad.

For example, a website (I'll keep it anonymous to not start problems) has a very pixelated look when it should be a smooth, fluid look to it from the shape of the characters.

This pictured about is the original size image from the site.  Personally I don't like how most of the character forms look and even if I did, this is a bad way to try to upsell a font.  From this picture, I am not sold on wanting to download this font.

This next font is from the same site, but it goes into the category of illegible fonts that should not exist.

Nothing about this font is good. I can read what the characters are, but in the paragraph in the upper right, I have to study the characters to figure out what they say.

The best font I could find on this list is a simple font that could be used more than either of these examples.  It is simple, clean and could be used for body copy or a header.

Now, I know that every designer has a different vision and that some people will like the ones I didn't.  I am a pretty straightforward and understanding guy.  However, this is almost like a mini PSA saying don't be fooled by the headline "you need this font to be a designer".  If you are looking for some good free fonts, typing "Font" as the topic for StumbleUpon gets you to a bunch of sites that offer free fonts, but they have ones that could be used everyday and fonts that are legible.

End Rant.

Have a great day!

Ventriloquism: Lively Puppets

When people think of ventriloquism they think of creepy puppets sitting on someone's lap, or Muppet-like creatures on a stick.  Regardless, more often than not you can have nightmares just from looking at the puppets and their operators.

Nina Conti chooses to go beyond this vision by using people from the audience to be her puppets.  While I'd assume that most of her volunteers are not that scary looking, it definitely helps to know that they won't just start randomly talking when they're not supposed to.

I like this concept and the face application is a pretty neat idea.

Have a great day!

Minecrafting The Day Away

Today, I woke up, showered, and then started playing Minecraft.  I looked up at the clock and realized that it was 1 PM already and that I hadn't made a post yet.  Not knowing what to post I jump to youtube, and sure enough the Yogscast saves the day.  They posted a Minecraft themed music video which seemed fitting.

The song is a parody of Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" called "Screw The Nether".

In all reality, after watching that I want to try and create a society that can survive in the nether.  I mean Ghasts are the only worry there, but it is rough that you cannot setup spawn since beds explode.  While it may be a fun goal, realistically it is not going to happen.

Have a great day!

Long Picture Day

For the first time in a while, I am making a post from my desktop and I really don't have many pictures left on this.  At one point, I had aver 100 links ready to go and now I'm down to 5 (soon to be 3).  Regardless, I have plenty on my laptop and that is what matters.

While a long picture may be difficult to read on mobile devices, I think that the layout of these pictures will solve that issue.  This first picture is a look at life hacks, things you can do with everyday objects to make life easier.

My favorites from this list are Light Storage (2), Neat Cords (5), and Beer Stopper (12).  Essentially from this list I was a hanger and some binder clips.  Recently there have been life hack videos, but that will be for another day.

Yesterday, I was looking at what board games we had and I saw my brother's countless versions of Monopoly.  Who-villeopoly (which he hates because of the wrong prices), Chicago in a box (same dislike), NFL-opoly, Monopoly, and a few others that I don't remember.  Seeing all of these I really want to play monopoly and hopefully we can play tonight.

For Christmas I got the electronic banking version, which is a little odd, but it is a touch quicker.  The only issue I have is that you have to put everyone's card in the scanner and no one ever knows how much money they currently  have.  Playing Monopoly is always enjoyable and I really want to join a tournament at some point.

When you play Monopoly, you definitely feel these emotions:

Now, of course, there are also emotions for when you land on Boardwalk with 4 houses and you go bankrupt, but I guess Mr. Burns never experienced that..

Have a great weekend!

The Evolution of Dance

Two years back, Judson Laipply, a motivational speaker and the creator of the evolution of dance came to Carroll University, my college, for an event.  He was really funny and he of course performed the evolution of dance dance for us.

Now I've come to find that a robot can mimic most of the dances that he can do pretty well, plus a few more.  This robot called the "NAO Robot" is a robot made by Aldebaran Robotics in early 2011 and is described as a 57cm (22.4409 in) tall humanoid robot with 25 degrees of freedom of motion among many other features.  For more information on the NAO Robot you can go to their website here: http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/en/Home/welcome.html?language=en-GB

Now, this robot seems incredible into making mass-produced mobile robots a possibility.  I would like to see more of this robot, but at first glance I am impressed.

Have a great day!

Nyan Cat Returns

Yesterday my girlfriend found a Nyan Cat blog with 20ish pages of Nyan Cat stuff (most of which doesn't have what I have).  I did find a couple pictures from that site that made me want to make a Nyan Cat post.  First off, why hasn't Kellogg's tried to bank on this idea yet?

It doesn't have to be Nyanberry, but you could make a Nyan Themed Cherry PopTart (since I'm pretty sure that's what flavor PopTart it is).  Anyway, now that that idea is done, its time to take a step back into the origins of Nyan Cat.  While some believe that Nyan Cat is simply a 8-bit video posted by lolcomics, but in fact, Nyan Cat is a Timelord that will always be around, like The Doctor.

But this still leaves the question of how did Nyan Cat come to be a PopTart.  Scientists believe that it had to be evolution, but most people know that one does not evolve to be a Nyan Cat.  In fact, you willingly become a Nyan Cat through Fusion (like in Dragonball Z).

If you aren't bored of Nyan Cat yet, there are a few games out there, but this one below is my favorite so far.  Collect food and items for specials, but avoid Tac Nyan (the black and red waffle cat).

Have fun, and have a great day!

Olympic Acknowledgement

I thought I'd had enough of watching the Olympics as of recently, but I found a picture of a weightlifter from Iran that has a fantastically unique name.  Saeid (which seems like a simple part of his name) Mohammadpour Karkaragh (after research I found that it is in fact a middle and a last name instead of one like NBC presented it.)  He unfortunately finished in 5th place, but he has earned himself a place in internet meme-hood.

First off, no one really knows the words to the Macarena, but perhaps this is right.

Well that doesn't seem right, so perhaps his name works better in the song Chop Suey by System of a Down.

In case you are unfamiliar with the song or if you want to know the real lyrics here they are.

Have a great day!

Movie Trailers for Video Games

For a while there was a rumor that there was going to be a Bioshock movie, but more and more I see that it gets delayed.  It used to have a date, but now it is only listed as in development.  In hopes that a date for it exists soon, I found a bunch of movie posters for video games I would love to see as a movie.

I know most of these won't happen, but I can dream can't I?

Have a great day!

Weekends Are For Relaxing

Happy Friday all!  A while back I created a small playlist of relaxing videos on YouTube.  Different sounds that I could put up on my TV and relax and do whatever I want.  I figure since it is the weekend, it would be a good time to kick back, listen to some relaxing sounds and get ready for the next week ahead.

If you want to listen to these sounds more you can save the playlist on YouTube or you can keep listening here.  Either way I'm not getting paid for it, but rather just passing the relaxation over to the next person.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Conclusion

Sorry that there wasn't a post yesterday, I was feeling a bit under the weather.  Nevertheless, here is the thrilling conclusion to the trip to Mitsuwa.

We left around noon since a car wasn't available until then, and sure enough the trip that should have taken 40 minutes took 2.5 hours.  We knew what street we needed to get to, but we could not find it.  After about 2 hours of driving around, the driver had me check for a GPS in the center console.  Usually it wasn't in there, but luckily it was.  After going through 8 surrounding cities, passing by 3 high schools, and countless restaurants with wi-fi (as we had a laptop in the car that we would've used if we couldn't find it), we made it there.

After the first bought of craziness, the second was not far away.  Where I knew you used to be able to use credit in the food court, now all the stores have handmade signs that say cash only.  What a way to get money for ATM fees..

Nevertheless, I got some money and got a bowl of Spicy Curry Ramen with Extra Pork, and it was delicious.  It had Bamboo chutes, some variety of mushroom (which was ok), pork, ramen, and green onions.

I should have taken the picture right away, but I was really hungry.  This was when I had just stirred it. After that, we went around shopping at the "stores" that they had.  I think of them as "stores" because really it feels like one big grocery store with 2-3 small stores in it.  I did buy my mochi, though they did not have the melon flavored ones, which are my favorite.  I got orange and strawberry.

While we were shopping in the grocery store, we found some cookies with a questionable name..

Yeah.. it really is a cookie with chocolate filling, but I'm not going out of my way to get Collon..  This poor name choice was made better when we found Dragonball soda.

Get your mind out of the gutter..  After we went through the store, we made a stop at the bread store where it was obvious that things were translated from Japanese.

I'm pretty sure it should be "a donut", but that is me being picky.  This time I got something called an Almond Rock, which I didn't take a picture of.  They had a bunch of pretty good stuff, but everything was a bit too expensive to get them.

All-in-all it was a nice trip, though it will probably be a while until I go back.  We got back home at around 7pm so it really was a long trip that makes it difficult to want to go there frequently.  There is no good way to get there so there are a lot of stop lights and a lot of traffic, but it is nice to go there once and a while.

Hace a great day!