My Little Brony

Last semester, my roommate showed me some videos from a youtube channel called HotDiggityDemon that was a parody of the new My Little Pony cartoon that had recently come out.  At the time, I thought that it was funny but I had no idea of the fan following at that time.

Over the summer, I told my friend to watch the video and he had said that he already had seen it and started to show me more and more videos, most of which were remixes of songs from the show.  Most of the songs were really catchy and as a result I started watching more.  Now I'm to the point where I pretty much accept that I am turning into a Brony ever so slowly.  The best definition of a Brony that I found is actually from Urban Dictionary (who would've thought) where a Brony is

A name typically given to the male viewers/fans (whether they are straight, gay, bisexual, etc.) of the My Little Pony show or franchise. They typically do not give in to the hype that males aren't allowed to enjoy things that may be intended for females.

While I haven't actually watched the TV series (yet) the music is enough to get me hooked in ever so slightly.  For example, this song is catch and has a pretty unique beat and sound to it.

This next song is about a villain called Discord, but was redone as a class project.  The song is pretty catch and the video's theme is pretty cool too.

My only concern about the song is that it was a waste of a guitar.  By the way by admitting to this, I'm pretty sure that i am now..

Nevertheless, I don't see myself buying MLP swag anytime soon..

Have a great day!

I'm Out Of Content

Since my laptop broke I lost my bookmarks, which included quite a few links for pictures to post.  In looking on my new laptop and my Mac and I don't have anything left.  I guess I have youtube videos, but I don't want everyday to be a video and that's it.

As a result, I will try to find some more pictures, but with some crazy weekends coming up, I can't say how soon it will be back to normal, at least the normal as of late.  I just need to spend some time on Pintrest and StumbleUpon and my collection will be back up to par soon.

Tomorrow there will be a radio show at 10PM so tune in to hear a slightly-halloweeney show.

Have a great day!

Ongoing Debate

With Election Day coming up fast, I still have not decided whether or not I should vote.  I understand that it is my civic duty to give my opinion on who would best run the country, and frankly I couldn't care less about this election.

The way I see it, I am no part of a concern from either of the two candidates, and I am barely a concern from the 3rd party candidates.  If my job as a voter is to give an opinion on who the electoral college selects, then here is my opinion.

The idea of voting has been lost on me being a non-Democrat in a (currently) strongly Democratic state of Illinois.  For my entire life the concept of voting for a non-Democrat has fallen on deaf ears in Illinois since they run on the "all-or-nothing" electoral college setup where the popular vote earns the candidate all the electoral college votes.  In a state with a large number of votes like California (55), Texas (38), Illinois (20), Florida (29), etc. it is hard to say all or nothing.  In these cases the percent of popular vote should affect how many votes go to each candidate.

For example, in Illinois last election, Barack Obama received 61.8% of the votes, and John McCain received 36.9% of the votes.  In an ideal situation where all states gave out the votes proportionately, the 21 (at the time) electoral college votes would be separated out that Obama would get 13 votes, McCain would get 8 votes.  Now this system wouldn't be perfect still because there would be cases where people receiving votes would not get an electoral vote.  On the same example, Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin all received less than 1% of the vote, that mathematically earns them a vote from the college, but doesn't earn them credit from the college.

In just looking at the primary two candidates from 2008, the electoral college official total was 365 for Obama and 173 for McCain.  If the system I proposed where the state votes based on the popular vote alone and not an all or nothing system, assuming that the state would round up to the benefit of the popular vote, the totals are still in favor of President Obama, however, he wins by much less of a margin (289-249 give or take 2 for mistyping in calculator).

Not only could this change the course of the election, but it actually takes the people of the country's opinion into account.  Now in this system there is a bit of a flaw where in the case where a candidate does not get 270 votes because they are spread out over many candidates.  I found out that in the case of a tie or neither candidate reaches 270 the House of Representatives elect the President and the Senate elects the Vice President.  In theory then, there can be a Democratic President and a Republican Vice President, which I think would be really cool.

Now, I am fully aware that this is just frivolous thought, but what is the internet but a tool to share frivolous thoughts and some educational information.  Also, while this does not solve my indecision about voting, it does give me a touch of confidence that it would be possible to make the US function again "By the people and for the people".

Think about it and have a great day!

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If you didn't really want to read political banter but you wanted to watch something amusing instead, watch the bad lip reading of the last Presidential debate called "Eye of the Sparrow".

Breaks Make Me Sick

For the third or fourth time in my life I am sick during a break.  While I shouldn't complain that I got sick during a time where there is not a lot of stress and pressure to get stuff done, I still do not like being sick.  With that said however, I am able to make a post today because I do not have anything to do.  In theory, I should be able to make a post everyday this week is all goes well.

Even though it is a break and I should be out seeing the world, I am pretty content staying where I am right now.  I have the time to sit back and focus on what I need to get done around home, such as laundry, finishing Borderlands 2, and, as of late, getting healthy.  Many people I know are either traveling to or returning from vacations from across the world.  I want to travel, a bit, but I really do not have the finances to do so.  At the same time though, that is why I tell the people that I interview that I am willing travel if they require me to do so.  While I do not really want to go to India, China, or the Middle East, I am willing to immerse myself into a culture while working.

With travel on my mind, I found that one of my last links on my Mac to post is a map of the world shaped by text.  The text is the city name near the where it is located.  As a result, Russia seems a little deformed in the mountainous regions, but you get the gist of what it is supposed to be.

Have a great day!

Geeking Out

In taking a break from studying for midterms, I found myself on Memebase.  I figured, I'd look at the link they posted on Facebook and then The Daily What for Geeks and then I'd get back to work.  Upon arriving at the Daily What, I found one of the best marching band shows I have ever seen.

Previously, I had seen a band do a video game based marching show at California and that was really cool, but now, the Ohio State Marching Band has taken the cake.  Normally I cannot stand anything about Ohio State, but I now have an increased appreciation for their band.

This is 9 minutes of classic video game nostalgia and fantastic coordination to make this marching show excellent.

Have a great day!

Third Time's The Charm..

At the radio meeting that we had yesterday we found out that Podcasts will be starting THIS week.  So my hope is that tonight our show will be recorded.  If you want to listen you can go to this link: http://tunein.com/radio/WCCX-1045-s27790/ and we'll be on the air at approximately 10 PM CDT.

Once again I apologize for the lack content, but I hope to get back in the swing of things again soon!

Have a great day!

Technical Difficulties

In talking with the executive board of the radio station, I found out that podcasting hasn't quite started yet and as a result, last monday's show had not been recorded.  There is a chance that there will be one for tomorrow's show, but only time will tell.

As a recap, since it was our first show we did somewhat of a get to know the hosts style night.  We went through some conversation starter questions followed by some "would you rather" questions and that filled the hour right up.

Tomorrow, I still don't really know what we're going to do for our topic, but I do know that it is from 10pm to 11pm.  If you want to listen to it, you can go to http://wccx.carrollu.edu/ and click on the play button on the home page!

Have a great day!