What a Novel Idea

Yes, welcome to bad pun central.

A series of dreams about societies have prompted me to wish to write a collection of short stories, each featuring one of the societies I have dreamed up. So far there are three, and each can have quite a different story to it. You've already seen one of my dreams. I feel with careful planning and proper words, I can turn these odd societies into a lovely or Hellish image depending on the situation.

Step 1: Setting
I have the setting for what I wish to do, or at least parts of it. There are a solid three good societies that can be used.

Step 2: Storyline
This is the step that I am at as of now. Unfortunately none of the dreams really gave me a clear viewing of plot; just a great view at the landscape. For two of the societies I have a pretty decent idea as to what the stories shall be, however for the last and in my opinion the coolest I haven't the slightest clue as there are so many variables that come with that landscape.

Step 3: Editing
Later on down the road I will ask for people to proofread my piece, so anyone who enjoys being an editor, now/later is your chance!

Step 4: Publishing
A very neat side feature that has come from the entire eBook market is the concept of self-publishing your work. Same concept as publishing an "app" to the App Store, you create something, people go over it, they sell it. This I hope will inspire writers from all over to publish works, also it serves for a great entryway for the author into stardom. Amazon's Kindle Store lets you do this with ease. I have found places for the iBookstore publishing, however most wish to charge you to submit it to Apple's store. Hopefully once I am done there will be some easy way in there, same for the Nook's store.

Step 5: PROFIT
The nice return for the joy of writing.

Anyway, my back is killing me from work and need a massage. Time to go rest/plan a story!

Word Order

Word order can make all of the difference. Typically, unless holding one in suspense, you will go from most important to least important. Another way could be giving some details too, but when people say something they always go for the first thing on their mind and then branch off of that. And this is just how I ended up with sun poisoning, albeit, it was my own fault.

On Saturday I was invited to a friend's house to hang out and maybe go swimming. I took the "maybe go swimming" as we might just go down for a little bit, not 3-4 hours in the middle of the day. Then of course I didn't have sunblock on and well got badly burned, again my fault.

My point is this though, at least for me, I feel the most important of matters should be put out first and then you go from there in whatever it is you do.

Electronic Communication

Does anyone remember the days of AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo! Messenger? How about ICQ? It seems almost as if today everyone has forgotten those in favor of a rather primitive (if only the chat feature is looked at) version of the once dominant instant messengers?

That's right, I am talking about Facebook Chat. Facebook Chat reminds me a lot about the early days of IM where everyone would be having some issue, back when I was on BigBlueBall.com. However now it seems the only problems you hear about are from Facebook, and really the only problems you experience are on Facebook's Chat. Recently(ish) they have switched over to an XMPP protocol for their chat which improved the experience seven-fold. XMPP is also known as Jabber which Google Talk uses, for those of you who have seen it in Gmail.

Why care about Facebook Chat? Quite simply: People see that as the only instant messenger now. I can not remember the last time I had a conversation on AIM or MSN. It is a shame really as I prefer client based instant messengers, not web based. I like that notification on my desktop and not having to always have that browser window open.

AIM solved this for me as in their latest stuff, as I have probably said before now lets you connect to Facebook Chat. You can also do this with Pidgin, Trillian, and Digsby, although I have had less of a success rate with those.

But is it just me or do you miss the days of AIM/MSN/Y! and desktop IMing?

The 24 Hour Clock

Why do we not use this? I recently switched my blog to display times on a 24 hour clock as it is just what makes sense.

If someone tells you they want to meet you at "8", typically you will have to ask "AM or PM?" Not on my watch (get it?), they just say "20:00" and you instantly know that it is during the night, unless you are not familiar with the 24 hour clock and you have to subtract "12" to find out what time this is. But seriously why do we not use this?

One reason is that in original "clocks" or simple ways to mark times, Egyptians divided the day into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Thus you would be counting up to 12 twice a day. However the only reason they used 12 is because of this:

The Eqyptians were fond of counting in base twelve (instead of base 10 which is commonly used today). This is thought to be because they counted finger joints instead of fingers. Each of your fingers has three joints, so if you count by pointing to finger joints with your thumb you can count to twelve on each hand. This might seem arbitrary, but is actually just a strange as counting in base ten simply because we have ten digits. -- Source

There are other theories as well as to why it was simply 12 hours, but at either rate it was 12 hours. In an ancient world it makes sense to know that if it is light there are only up to 12 hours left and that if it is dark the same as before.

But wait a minute! Are we not in a modern world? Why I think we are. This is why we should use a 24-hour clock, people are up at all different times with the invention of lights, computers, tv, etc which keep us up way past when we probably should be up, then have us sleep way past when we should get up. With our technological advances, there is no reason to just count "12 hours of night" or "12 hours of daylight."

Then of course you could wonder why we don't just switch to base 10 time if the world basically runs on a metric system except for the US. Well quite simply it would be a huge change to everyone as you would have to learn brand new units, every clock would have to get replaced, etc. However, a simple switch to a 24 hour clock would be much easier as we already have compatible clocks and it uses a system already in practice.

What is stopping you now? Go out and learn it! Start off by switching your computer's clock to a 24 hour format, you will learn it in no time.

Learn How To Run A Business

While working at McDonald's, I got an idea to write about the wonderful "peace" you go into after about an hour or two of working where you can just quickly take orders, get it all right, and it is a nice relaxing bit. If you have seen in Futurama where Fry drinks 100 cups of coffee then finally gets to this golden zone, that is what I am talking about.

However

Not long after this "golden zone" came did it go. We have a manager that slipped and fell and injured his arm in the freezer about 3 weeks to a month ago. Every day I am working with him he complains and complains about how he can only work with one arm and how everyone else is doing sub par work. In doing this a guy who was just trying to cover his stations ends up getting blamed for not doing his job, and at first he shrugs it off and takes the warning that he didn't deserve. Then he kept getting blamed and they got mad.


Manager and him both go back and forth using strong curse words, and then that gets everyone else rallied up. I however am in the front, only maybe 5 feet from where they are shouting this and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the customers who were subjected to this.

Also, the family friends of the manager who work there were allowed to slack off, use cell phones, etc. All the while I finally found out why the manager is so bitter. He used to work at another McDonald's nearby which according to him was so much better than this one, never getting a rating under 99/100.

Look, I'm not used to the working world so if this really is what it is like everywhere well then as they would say "fuck me." I'm going to go to the "good" manager and bring this issue up with her as that really is not the kind of environment I want to be in, nor associated with. We'll see how the issue goes once I bring it up.

Twitter: The Social Resource

My experiences with Twitter since beginning the blog have been very interesting. I have gotten more and more followers on Twitter simply based on what I have in my blog. Some might think that this is just, "Well you said 'iPhone' in the blog title so a small tech blog will follow you."

For some of my followers it is that, however today I got a notification that The Yosemite Blog was following me. This was interesting as I never posted anything about Yosemite in my blog titles, however I did talk about the place in my posts. And what does this mean? People are actually reading my blog.

Twitter is a semi-decent tool to measure this with. If people reply, retweet, or follow you then you know someone is actually paying attention, assuming that it isn't one of the Twitter spam accounts. What you get with Twitter isn't the typical "You got x number from US, y from Canada, most visited page was z," no, what you get content specific highlighting.

Content specific highlighting is a great way to get the opinion of what people enjoy based on what key words you can grab from their Twitter account and the connections you can make to your own blog, site, service, etc. I had always thought of Twitter as simply s social network, but it could even be a greater resource then one at first thought.

Just another neat way to figure out what the hits and misses are.

Updates

I'll be messing with the design of the blog for a while, so if you notice the difference and it doesn't seem "done," just know I am working on stuff. This won't be posted to Facebook or Twitter.

EDIT:
Blogger's tool is somewhat restricting, so when I feel better I'll seriously dive into it. Until then, you have the current layout, which is better than a lot of the newer ones in my opinion.

Offerings

During my stay in California, which by the way has been pretty cool seeing Sequoias and going to Yosemite, having my butt handed to me on a trail by mother earth, it was great. However once the day was over in the parks, the hotels weren't always completely truthful in their offerings.

Basically all of the places I stayed at offered "Free High Speed Wireless Internet", as is somewhat common now-a-days in destinations around the US of A. However, each one wouldn't really connect to the internet, or maybe it would but then be horribly slow and the connection would drop. I tested the connection on 2 iPods, my Netbook, and my Zune, all having poor results. It isn't until I get to a "classy" hotel like the Sheraton Gateway or Four Points by Sheraton Gateway that I have working internet.

Here is my gripe: If you offer something, please deliver it. If they had said they didn't have Wifi right off of the bat then I wouldn't have been as upset as I was, not that I was terribly upset but I like to wind down on the internet.

By the way, if anyone is good at giving a massage, I would greatly appreciate one.

That Was Just Day Two!?

This post may be a little disturbing to some people after "The Crazy Part," so just a fair warning.

As some of you know I recently started a job at a local McDonald's. It was the only place that called me back but they did it so fast and provided bunches of training, plus there are great benefits so I figured what they heck I'll go for it. Sure enough I got the job.

Fast forward to yesterday: First day and they stick me at counter during a rush. I'll tell you what I learned the names and acronyms for all the food quite quickly however the crew in the back was, as the manager said, doing "HORRIBLE" so our fast food wasn't so fast. Kind of sucked as day one but I figured they were just having a bad day and I would come in fresh tomorrow.

The Crazy Part
I went in for the breakfast shift this morning, meaning tons more acronyms to learn and it is a harder menu to take orders with then the lunch, since there is such limited space for acronyms and so many words to a breakfast meal.

It was pretty calm this morning and then this divorced couple with their kids walk in. I ring their orders up and we get them their food, no problem. Then about 5-10 minutes later there is this hitting and shouting coming from the lobby. "YOU TOOK MY BABIES YOU F***ER! YOU STOLE MY BABIES" and then the guy just kept hitting her, she was getting quite red from all of the blows and clearly very upset. The young child with them just kept saying "Don't touch me, Don't touch me" and was crying. My manager comes running out and calls the cops immediately. Other guests are horrified at the situation and one guy comes up to ask for his money back as he didn't want his kids to see that. Good for him, I wouldn't want my kids watching that either.

The cops rush over and take the woman and child outside as they are quite distressed. Then a cop comes back in for questioning to the guests who were sitting over near the incident.

This was all quite a shock to me and afterward all the crew members were like "I have never seen that before," or "That doesn't ever happen," or "Only once in my entire career with McD's have I seen such a thing." I also apparently looked rather freaked out as they (crew) kept asking if I was okay. It is a real nice crew over there, but I mean my first two days have been rather suckish. I hope it gets better from here on out.

Learn How To Treat Customers

Today was the day that GameStops got the new Xbox 360 S in stock. I called once early today and then a little later to see if it was in stock. I was told it was in stock so I rushed over to GameStop and found out they had just sold out -- or almost.

At first I figured it was just the way of things and I was going to put a reserve on a new Xbox 360 S. Then at the counter next to me there was a guy, we'll call him Jack, and Jack was trading in an old Xbox 360 in order to afford the new one, much like I did a week ago. However, it turned out he didn't have any video cables with his system so they wouldn't take it. The cashier ringing up Jack suggested to my cashier that if Jack didn't have everything they could let me buy the Xbox 360 S.

At this point I was pretty excited knowing their strict policy on trading in systems. However, then my cashier crushed my dreams. He asked Jack, "Can you run to your house and get it in like 10 minutes?", obviously not trying to help me. Jack said "Yeah" (of course), and then my cashier, you know the person is supposed to help you said "Or we could get a used one and pair it up with your system but you would have to buy it."

Well that is just great, all the meanwhile the other cashier was trying to help me and obviously saw that I should be the one who should get the system. It ended up going so they found a cable, Jack had to buy so he could trade in, and I ended up with no system. However I did get a reserved one for July 9th.

Still, that is no way to treat your customers, and on "tellgamestop.com" I left feedback that showed how I felt. I mean, if you have a guy who is ready to purchase the console right now and you have someone who it is very iffy on if they can even get it, are you really going to hold a console, which it was said that they wouldn't do, for some guy who has the possibility of not being able to get it? I wouldn't, I would have given it to the guy who had the cash right then.

People sometimes, you know?

Blog Kindle-Compatible!

With the new Kindle Software Update 2.5 it got me messing around with my Kindle again. Let me tell you how handy the new features of the PDF reader are. You can actually zoom in on your content and span across it. I do not know why this wasn't first included but now that it is reading PDFs will be much easier. I tried this out with a Latin Glossary, worked out pretty well. Everything scaled very nicely.

Other features which sounded more neat on screen then in use was the Twitter and Facebook integration.

How I Understood It:
Full integration with Twitter and Facebook. Update your statuses wherever you go with a nice UI and read friends' posts.

What It Actually Is:
You can select/highlight text and then tweet that passage plus other notes to your friends on Twitter and Facebook. You could simply just give status updates and select like a space or something, but it just isn't what I thought it was at all. Also it took a long time to send the update out, which I wasn't too pleased with, then it gives you this long URL. You can check out my tweet from Kindle here.

A horse of course. Kindle testing http://amzn.com/k/2UTMI7BCLAZIY #Kindle

While playing with my Kindle, I found out that my blog is fully Kindle Compatible, if using Basic Mode. It works okay in Advanced but looks a little weird.

By the way, those of you who clicked on the World Cup link for my blog, you can check out that service and make any web page musically beautiful. 

And to those who didn't see the World Cup link for my blog, well here you go.

Electronic Entertainment Expo

Also known as: e3.

The one big thing for everyone seemed to be "motion." We have to get our gamers up and moving, give them that next element! It actually is a pretty neat concept, and we can debate who started it all. PS2 had EyeToy which was an early idea of how you can use your body to game. Then the Wii came along with its WiiMote and let you really "control" those in the game.

Sony came back with the "PlayStation Move." This instead of having a camera on the end of a controller has a camera on the TV and it tracks a light. In #e3 on Neowin we were joking about how you could just use a lightbulb except it wouldn't have buttons. Sony stressed "buttons" greatly, we got a good laugh out of that. It actually looked like a neat product except for the 1 second lag time in the demos.

Then of course there was Microsoft's Kinect which is like a sophisticated EyeToy. Much more meticulous in tracking of the person and more than just "Oh you moved over here so now this board will bust." This is different, here you can interact with animals, become your character and determine how you move, or even simply use it as a controller free control station for the Xbox.

Can't forget the announcement of the new Xbox either, which I am getting. I figure someday I'll want a Kinect game and may as well have a "Kinect Ready" Xbox. Plus it is quiet and has a much larger hard drive. Now before any of you say, "Kinect works on all forms of the Xbox," yes and I know this, however I would like everything to just work better if it could. Which should happen for the internal wireless as well. If I had Kinect + Wireless N hooked up to the old Xbox Pro I doubt I would have space for much else.

I also got pretty jazzed up about Fable III and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I love the Fable series and then I loved the older NFS games which is what this game seems to go back to.

Anyway, couple of fun things at e3. And I had a great time watching e3 with Neowin, we should do that again sometime!

Personal Space

I am fine with sharing space with people; we do it all the time. Think of on an airplane, on the bus, or even on a family vacation in your car. However, note the keyword here: share.

Today, we are on our way back home and we stopped at a hotel about 2/3 of the way home with a pool. I was so excited for the pool since it was more time with the water. I frantically search for my suit in the suitcase in the car. Then I go to my room and set everything down, put on my trunks, and then head down. I am greeted by about 3 groups in the pool. This normally isn't any problem, except when one of the groups decides they want to take up half of the pool.

Again, I have no problem with sharing, but leave at least some space for people to move about. Not to mention there were many dirty looks from that group as well. There were maybe only 5 of them, but they wanted to pass a ball around and ended up taking up essentially the majority of the pool. I couldn't go to the shallow end to swim since I have long arms and they would smash against the ground. Then other places had small groups together so there was no decent spot to go. These kinds of things can ruin a night.

It is that feeling when you are in a plane that is just a bit too small and you have a real large guy next to you. Or when you are talking to someone and they are standing just a bit too close. You are uncomfortable but what can you do? You can leave, and that is what I just ended up doing.

There is also "personal sound space," where either people have their iPod's/Zune's volume up far too loud, or someone is talking loudly on a phone. It could even be SOMEONE YELLING ON THE COMPUTER USING ALL CAPS. I assume people have common courtesy and really I believe that most people do. However sadly, you don't tend to remember those who do exercise it and you remember those who don't.

 Just a friendly reminder to respect people around you :)

Electrical Beach

On Amazon.com they advertise their Kindle with an image of someone reading it on the beach:

Now there really isn't a problem with this, just that would you really bring your electronic device near all of that water and sand? This is exactly what I see so much now down at the shore. Everyone has an iPod or MP3 player, they have their cell phones and aren't just calling but are using texting functions and other functions. Why would you ever use this in a place that is so bad for your devices?

Maybe it is because people seem to just think they should take their devices with them always and use them anywhere. Maybe it is because they are the types to just sit out and not take part in the water or sand castle building. 

I can understand a junk radio or something, but your nice phone or iPod? Also, I can understand a somewhat junk digital camera as well. That is just the way things are going, but as of today I'm not sure how ready our devices really are for places such as the beach. There have been some water-proof cameras which actually work quite well.

I feel that it would be nice to take that new step in mobile devices to let you really bring it anywhere, on one side it would let you stay connected anywhere. Some might see that as a bad thing, but like it or not that is where we are headed. The first main company to introduce an amazing Earth-proof product will be the new leaders. There is no doubt in my mind.

Advertising

Today on the beach I was just sitting there and in case you aren't familiar with how Myrtle Beach works with advertising, they have planes fly by with some sort of message trailing them. Today I saw one that said "$9 Sunglasses for .01c NO JOKE." 

At first that doesn't look odd, $9 for one cent right? Good deal! Now look a bit closer. 

".01c"

What that actually says is one-tenth of a cent. To write that so it would be correct as "1 cent" it would have been written "$0.01." I'm very tempted to go down to the shop and hand them a dollar and ask for their entire sunglasses stock. 

Anyway, when you advertise anything, have a few trustworthy people read it over to make sure that it says what you want it to say. Other examples are on the LifeAlert commercial where they have the Surgeon General/Whoever saying "And that's why I wear one." However in the quotes on the TV it says "I wear one too." It really is the little things, proofreading is important and there is a reason why teachers pushed that so hard in school.

Ubuntu - It is actually all right.

Ubuntu, most "geeks" know about it. It is a quite popular Linux distribution that has the single aim of becoming user friendly, yet still letting the "geeks" have fun with developing and customization, and well every reason in the past as to why you would get Linux.

I got the Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04, and at first, simply not having much Linux experience at all, I removed it. I then went back to Windows 7. However when I woke up the next day I felt I just had to give it another chance. I went and did that and haven't looked back. Now note, I wouldn't use this as a main OS on my main computer, but it is pretty fun once you get into it.

Ubuntu has a few neat features such as a single notification area icon for all of your social needs. Now this is pretty cool and it is customizable. If any of those applications where people are talking to you need your attention the color of the icon changes and you can see who needs you and where. Social networking is very integrated into the OS, which really is a neat way to go. 

Then linked with your login is all of your instant messaging information, kind of like the Windows Live Passport being linked to your Windows account, as well as a service to let other Ubuntu users find you if you are on the same network. 

Anyway, there are bunches of neat things in which just about someone has made an app for it and it is different from Windows so you won't feel this is just a copy. Also, on the Netbook version they have this whole interface geared towards the mobile desktop and works pretty decently. Every application is put into a group such as Office, Accessories, System, WINE, etc. These groups are lined up along the side and it is just a simplified way of getting to what you want quicker. 

I have fell in somewhat of a computer love with Ubuntu.

Social Network Fiend

I have recently realized that social networks have completely changed how I use the internet and how I collaborate with people. After Digsby stopped working with Facebook chat for me I looked elsewhere. During this searching I found, yes I know but bear with me, AIM. The latest version of AIM had two major components integrated with it: Facebook Chat and this service called "Lifestream", which is all of your social networks in one place.

It worked. Getting AIM set up for Facebook was simple and so was Lifestream, everything was good except that I still had to run Digsby for all of my mail accounts, and the built in version of Lifestream didn't work quite as well I wanted, so I had to stick to Digsby for these services.

After realizing that Digsby wasn't working properly with MSN/WLM, I just decided to drop the program entirely. On Neowin there is a thread about "Apps For Windows 7 In Mind." These basically show notifications and support jumplists, something at first I thought was a novelty but really ended up being quite interesting. I downloaded "Gmail Notifier Plus" and it works fantastically. You can preview your messages, go to your inbox, even has support for Google Apps.

So I was set for mail, but what about everything else? AIM's built in lifestream didn't work as I needed it to so I went off searching for a Facebook/Twitter client with Windows 7 in mind. What did I come up with? MetroTwit and Fishbowl. MetroTwit uses the "Metro" look and feel and provides a pretty nice Twitter client, has Windows 7 integration such as notifications, it was great. However no Facebook support, which is where Fishbowl comes in. I really liked the Fishbowl application, it was essentially a more user-friendly version of Facebook built with Silverlight. Only problem is that the notifications in the taskbar didn't show all updates and there were no options to change this.

Back at square one, I decide to download the Official AOL Lifestream client. It is an Adobe AIR application, but this one works much better than the built in one with AIM. When you get new messages it blinks the taskbar icon. Not exactly Windows 7 integration but it at least did what I wanted it too and told me when new items came in.

Somewhat tempted to come up with my own application, I doubt with all of the many programs it is that difficult anyway. We'll see.

Links:
MetroTwit
AIM
Lifestream
Fishbowl
"Apps With Windows 7 In Mind"

It Is b0rked

Yesterday I am called over to a friend's house as she is having a difficult time connecting to the internet on her new laptop. I figure this will be a simple job and then we could just hang out. Boy, was I wrong.

I get to the laptop and as soon as it starts up both cores at the same time skyrocket to 100% in use. Naturally I go look at the processes thinking there is something here doing it, sure enough there wasn't anything. After messing with it some more I decide that it has to be some sort of defect.

They had a "Geek Squad" card, so for poops and giggles I figured I'd call just to see what they would say. Not long after I mentioned the problem he said to take it back to the store to trade in, just as I thought.

We arrive at the store and go to trade it in, then behind the counter there are about 10 other laptops that have been traded in of the exact same model. By the way, this is the ASUS K50.

I couldn't believe it, but more what I couldn't believe was that they tried to sell us another one. I wouldn't keep that model on the floor if there were that many issues. You only end up with pissed off customers and lose business. According to my friends the guy who sold them the laptop had sold 5 others the same day they bought theirs. Horrible.

The ASUS K50 has a Pentium Dual Core processor. I highly suggest to my friends to get an i3, so it was only a matter of time to decide which i3 and they bought it and are happy.

But the main thing here is, they have an obviously broken product and yet still sell it. Guess you can add Best Buy to the list of "Shady" stores. I'm sure generally things are okay, but cheating people out of a good experience and money? Not cool.

Censorship

Anyone who follows South Park will know that there was extreme censorship in the episode "201" due to Muslim extremists threatening Matt and Trey.

Wait a minute, was that threat okayed but simply saying "Muhammad" banned? That is right, a threat is just fine apparently, involving life and death even. However, don't you dare mention anything about Muhammad. I am an avid Christian and I am cool with how South Park generally portrays Jesus. I find it comical and even a little touching. If any of you make Catholic priest jokes then I must ask "really?"

I prefer a world that is free. I prefer a world that lets people express ideas and opinions without restraint. I prefer a world where people put aside differences. I prefer a world where there is no separation based on color. I prefer a world where your religious views don't throw people away from each other. I prefer a world with free information. I prefer a world that serves healthy food in a fast food fashion. I prefer the impossible.

Note, I am not against Muslims here, I have Muslim friends, however I am against extremists. In fact, I am against extremists for just about anything.

Day of Silence

First off don't get me wrong, I am not against homosexuals and I do feel they should be able to marry and have the same rights and be able to express themselves. However, the "Day of Silence" has lost its initial purpose and become a way to simply not conform and basically get a free pass for one day.

The "Day of Silence" is to have everyone who supports homosexuals stay quiet the entire day symbolizing the fact that homosexuals can not openly express themselves. Awareness is good surely? Yes it is, but what I see this day used for loses the value of the day.

Select groups will use this day to try and "separate" themselves from others and show how they are different. Being different isn't bad, however don't go and jump on everything like this for your own personal "needs" to feel different. Show that you are different in the kind of work you do, or simply be a kind individual as everyone knows we need more of them.

The other issue with how the Day of Silence has progressed is kids will use it as a "get out of class-speaking/participation free card." If you show a simple paper to a teacher then they somehow automatically exempt you from everything verbally. That is like using homosexuals as a scapegoat so you don't have to do work. You should be ashamed.

From what I see on TV and hear online, many people are "coming out of the closet" and openly expressing themselves. This is progress, and this day may even be outdated as well pretty much anyone can be gay and it is becoming accepted. Granted, someone will always hate someone else, but that is how it is with any demographic group.

Just please think about why you do what you do. You might just realize the real reason behind something too.

My Electric Security Blanket

After talking with a friend, yeah I have those, today it helped me realize just why I, and I am sure many others may dislike the general society but enjoy IRC or Social networking.

Basically, the computer is a place where you have total control. You get to choose who sees you, what people can post about you on your pages, and in my case, you know a bit more than lots of the common folk on there. Essentially, you are "king." This power is what draws me to the electric world.

Behind my desk if I don't like a person, I can ban them and never have to talk to them again. Or, if they end up annoying me with lots of status updates, simply 'Remove Friend'. They don't realize this for a while and you can just sit back and read about the people you actually care to listen to.

Not to mention, you are in a comfortable environment, and even if you are on the road you still have your flash drive, a few key apps, and the gateway to your kingdom.

"It is sometimes preferred when people are no more than an avatar and some text."

Getting Lucky

No, it isn't that. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Today just went really, really well for me. First off I arrive home and my new t-shirt is at my door. Then once I get inside and get on the computer I see an email come back to me. Originally I had sent some critisizms about the new church website back as feedback, simple things, and I didn't nitpick anymore than just a little, in my eyes anyways.

So I get an email back from the designer saying how he liked what I had to say and really liked the changes I said should be made. Since I had mentioned I was a web designer, he asked if I was employed and if I was interested in freelance as he would be interested in my résumé. I couldn't believe it, I have needed a job for the longest time and hopefully, knock on wood, I get one!

Did I mention it was early dismissal as well? Yeah, that rocked. And no homework. Today was a good day.

Twitter Test

I've noticed that based on what I say on Twitter and the tags used, people begin to follow you. I find this interesting especially when it tends to be on simply keywords, such as this tweet:

Anyone know of any really good migraine cures? Or how about something that just works a little? NSAIDs, Asprin, and Tramadol have no effect.

That night I get no replies, however I wake up to find an email stating that a Twitter profile that specializes in Tramadol addiction is following me.

Did I state I was addicted, or did I state I had anyone close to me addicted? No, and I don't. All I said was that I had tried Tramadol to cure a headache and it didn't work.

Here is what I propose in doing:
For the next week, using specialized tags and wording to see just how crazy this type of a thing can get. I won't count the Twitter-whores, you know, the ones who are pictures of women and following like 3,200 people. I will just count anything related to what I Tweeted. This is all simply just to see how quickly someone will follow you for saying the right things, and hey maybe come up with some algorithm for this.

Experiments are fun.

Internet in MY Real Life?

Everywhere I go now I end up making many connections to the web, or computing, or well really anything. For instance, when I see signs that say "Height 16'9" " I instantly think of the golden ratio, 16:9, and monitors and TVs and such.

Every time we come up from Myrtle Beach in the summer, we pass by Spartanburg. If you take a select part of that out, you get "sparta", which of course we all know of that YouTube video with the Techno Remix of the classic line "This Is Sparta!"

What is more amazing is simply how much of an impact of various seemingly meaningless things can have in our life. I'm sure you have seen something that reminded you of some various tech related doing, and you probably chuckled. In this book I am reading, Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler, which is really great by the way, I make several connections to memes. So far I have found two, and it is pretty amusing. I'm sure they aren't meant to be like that but either way it comes off making me like it even more.

Connections I think are just ways to categorize all of the information you take in, and then forces you to respond to the environment somehow. Amazing how we can do all of that up there, isn't it?

Easter

First off, Happy Easter everyone! Christ has risen!

Well so far today after putting that as my Facebook and Twitter status, I get some people saying "ZOMBIE JESUS". This is old, we get it, you don't celebrate Easter, you probably just see it as some way to get candy just like Christmas for you is all presents right?

Jesus wasn't a zombie, zombies go around and eat brains and flesh, Jesus saves lives and shows God's love to every one of his children. The fact that he came back just shows how special of a thing that happened, giving forgiveness to everyone by sacrificing God's only son.

So please people, stop belittling my Savior to a zombie, and trying to take away a great thing that happened.

The iPad

Despite all that was said early on when it first was announced out, it actually looks like a pretty nifty little thing. A shame I missed the test drive of it today at a local certified Apple dealer, would have been nice to hold.

In terms of the productivity, it looks good. Which could be considered ironic as in many Mac vs PC commercials they always mentioned how Mac was all fun and creativity, but whaterver, heh. You have a word processor, spreadsheet app, and presentation app. I'd be most interested in the presentation app, letting you have a new way of working with images and such.

This is one area where Apple has done well, giving this new touch feel to an OS and how you use things. If someone applied that to basic computing, and then marketed it, well we certainly could go places. I think the main problem we have today, aside from the iPad which even seems to feel somewhat limited but still is a great step, is that we can't get away from what we are used to. If everything was redone as to allow touch and actually make sense with touching and that sort of interface, then it would launch a new revolution in computing.

For example, look at browsing on the iPad, you "hold" the web in your hands. And anything sans Flash you can do. Now lets take that and apply it to everything computers. Just imagine the possibilities.

I have had an idea such as this, directly from my special text file:

::::::::::::::::::Sensor/Touch Screen:::::::::::::::

Have entire alphabet spelled out using simply finger swipes.

Have little tab/tray on side with info.... 

Have little area to touch for overlay that included panels which defaulted to a mouse (acts like a trackball) and a keyboard then also other panels can be added and this overlays and slides out over everything else.

Now taking those ideas there, and obviously working on them I say there is a beginning. Can't wait to see it someday.

Blog Now In 3D!

Of course not, this is blogspot and I don't have that power really to change it that much. However I didn't write a random topic in hopes of dragging you to my blog, although it did go well with April Fools.

Everything is going 3D. Here is a quick list of what I have seen, or at least believe I have heard of:

• 3D TVs
• 3D Blu Ray/DVD
• 3DS (3D Nintendo DS)

Now 3D TVs are understandable, as well as the 3D Blu Ray/DVD stuff, but the Nintendo DS, really? Seems so odd on a handheld platform such as that. Also, I am not a fan of everything moving into 3D, where as of now they require you to have glasses, but that isn't my only gripe.

3D tricks your brain into seeing a "3D" image. This causes: Blurry Vision and Headaches. Now you know how you feel after watching a 3D movie, well imagine if all of your TV shows, all of your digital entertainment was 3D. That feeling would linger with you all day long.

I feel like the 3D if it were more refined somehow, especially so you could watch action scenes with ease, then it would be a worthwhile investment and a neat feature. However with our limited technology of today, it is no more than a sales gimmick.

The Brain and God

Anyone who gets into studying about the brain realizes that what we are is determined by bunches of chemicals in your brain. Science shows us how everything works (at least to our knowledge) and influences what we do. Also the fact that medications can change how we think or feel, it is obvious that we are really chemical.

However, if you believe in God, as I do, it raises questions about "Well what is a soul?" and etc. Also, what about the Heaven that people see when they are dying? The "white light"?

No one really knows the answer to these questions, but various people, including those who mapped out our DNA mentioned that it was just too perfect and it could not possibly have happened by chance, there must be a God. The more and more I learn I also come to this conclusion.

Now this could get into a huge fight, but here is what I do, I just take a view combined of science and religion, and then apply it to today, and that is essentially how I do things. Religion gives you the good values, science gives you explanations, and then today lets you see how it all relates.

Above all, keep an open mind about things, I like to think I do.

Spring Break

Today we headed out and looked at the BODIES exhibit. Maybe you have heard of it? It has been traveling around the country for some time now, but we never got to it when it was in Ohio so when I heard it was going on down here I felt compelled to go.

Let me tell you, when it gets into your town or even slightly near you: GO SEE IT! It was amazing to see each and every part of the body, including full networks of blood throughout the heart and liver, all of the branch like extensions and it was just so beautiful. They also had an embryo room which showed the development in just about 5 week increments. It was amazing just how much happens so fast.

Then also I am working on a UserScript. I chose a UserScript as then users of any browsers supporting UserScripts would be able to use it versus a single extension for a browser. Since all I need is JavaScript I figure why not make it just a UserScript?

Enjoy your night everyone.

Optical Illusions

So I'm sure your friends have shown you things such as impossible objects, or "moving" still images, but I have an optical/sensory illusion that was so much more real.

I'm in Texas right now visiting my grandparents, and the ground is somewhat uneven, switching from up to down, left to right, with every step. However, it is done so smoothly that it actually creates a false sense of motion. You believe that the ground is moving, and at first I thought it could have been just some odd sensation from myself, but it turns out my brother was feeling the exact same thing!

Of course then, again due to my psych class I began analyzing the situation and decided things were happening because of the conditions mentioned above.

Anyways, flight down to here was pretty poor. We were in a very small plane, a 1x2 seating wise, the crew was harsh, however Texas itself is very nice. And as a friend says, here we are in the time-zone of "Texas Time" and it is always "High Noon."

Neurology is The Future

I'm pretty convinced I will be a great neurologist or psychologist. Ever since taking AP Bio and Psychology just about everything mind or brain related has come extremely easily to me. Part of this is probably due to a lot of the research I did before I took the class, but still picking up everything I feel pretty good about where I stand so far.

I know of many people who had no clue what to do after high school, what to study, or anything. I've taken these semi-specialized classes and really enjoyed the brain parts. We looked at some nerve cells today, quite amazing in my opinion. I really want to do nothing more than work with the brain.

Actually genetics I love too, and I had emailed Sam Rhine, a geneticist that I had gone to see a presentation by, he suggested I check out Neurogenetics, the best of both worlds. It is just a good feeling when you finally realize what your "calling" is.

I want to go into research so I would always be on the cutting edge of my science, also if any discoveries were made I could satisfy the narcissist in myself and get it named after me. The naming would just be a perk, what I'd really love is just discovering how stuff works. I want to understand the brain, people, everything.

One can hope, another can try, the last will do. I plan to do.

Oh Really Now?

So in somewhat of a heated debate on IRC, I decided to share my thoughts on the matter via my blog.

Downloading TV shows from a P2P source. Be it Limewire or a torrent, is it really that illegal?

Some, even many would say "Yes" because you end up getting ad-free versions of the content. Okay, I understand that one major way a television station makes money is through the ads. But what about if I came back with "Well you block internet advertisements, so you are technically also 'stealing' according to your own definition." Many internet websites gain revenue from the advertisements shown on their sites. When you block these, you then end up getting the content completely for free. How is that really any different than a video? It is the same basic principal just a different medium.

Others might say having it on your hard drive is illegal as if you download for free every week soon you will have enough to build an entire season, which they would sell in stores. Well, yes that certainly can be somewhat of an issue, but then what about everyone with a DVR or DVR-like device? They are actually encouraged to record TV shows and/or movies that were shown through a network and watch them at their leisure. You can fast forward or rewind (meaning ads could be skipped), and they are yours for as long as you want to keep them. How is this really any different at all? I suppose paying for the connection in the first place, but lets say I already pay for cable (which I do), but wish to watch on my own time. It actually is exactly the same, and DVR probably gives you a better quality version than most you could find.

Then there are those who would say you are redistributing it, just as that is the nature of torrents. Well, if you set your upload to "0" (assuming 0 turns uploading off and doesn't make it unlimited), then there goes that argument. Also it is debatable if you are really redistributing as while you are downloading up until you are finished you don't have the full thing so it is quite a bit different from taking it off of your DVR and sticking it up on TPB or something.

So in the end, what is really wrong with it? Especially if you get a show like "House" which is freely shown over the airwaves on Fox. In that case you don't even have to pay for any TV service. Each side comes up with equally good arguments but in my opinion as long as using a DVR is legal, then so is downloading a TV show off of a P2P network.

Pokewalker

This is actually a pretty great idea.

The concept basically is that you walk around and your Pokemon that is on the Pokewalker will level up, and then you will be able to also find items. You can 'battle' wild Pokemon you find, and really it is just a great way to encourage kids to get up and move around. It is essentially an interactive pedometer.

Of course you could always just shake the Pokewalker to get "Watts" or whatever it is that helps your Pokemon level up, but where is the fun in that? Then when you sync it back up to your game you get a little summary of what went on from last sync, but of course in Pokemon terms. "Pikachu is happy and running about." "Pikachu decided to take a nap."

I'm going to be straight with you, I want one of these. Sure it is gimmicky, but it registers my steps and could be fun as a very simplistic Pokemon game. I have played the original Pokemon games, and then Gold and Silver as well, so I don't really want to spend more cash on a game that I already have, I just want this special pedometer.

It probably sounds silly, but if it wasn't too costly, maybe $5-$10 I would pick one up. Now if you play the game or know much about it you would say "Hey wait a minute Alan, you need a game to sync your Pokewalker with!"

And how right you are! My brother has the game and I could just sync with his, get some random Pokemon and just have fun with it.

If anyone knows where to get one, would be glad to know.

Classical Music

It all started when I had seen a collection of "Classical Music's Best" or something to that effect and I decided to get it. Let me tell you that this is amazing stuff. The entire sound of an orchestra and just all the variety there was. It was this entire music adventure.

I had originally found a taste in what I can only classify as "Modern Classical", which was used as many movie soundtracks. My personal favorites of this would have to be

• Michael Giacchino (Incredibles, Up)
• Danny Elfman (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Corpse Bride, Nightmare Before Christmas, )
• Bruno Coulais (Coraline)
• Clint Mansell (Requiem For A Dream)
• Klaus Badelt (Pirates of the Caribbean)
• John Williams (Star Wars, Harry Potter)
• Hans Zimmerman (Other Pirates of The Caribbean movies).

These all are quite excellent and exciting. If you are looking for some good music, go for this stuff. And even if the term "classical" turns you off, still try either Danny Elfman or Klaus Badelt (My favorites out of those I have listed), as their stuff is pretty amazing, and if you liked the movie then you will probably like the music. Heck, even if you didn't like the movie the music still takes you for a ride. Have fun!

March Madness

I just want to say to anyone now that if you take part in this, or Fantasy Football then you can never call anyone else a geek.

Ever since I have seen more and more tweets saying "filling out my NCAA bracket", I decided to find out exactly how scoring and everything worked for this "March Madness".

From what I understand, and I could be wrong but I couldn't really find any real decent sources, best was an eHow article. Anyways basically I found it out to be like this:

• Make a bracket filled with various teams, lined up in such a way that the better of the teams get closer to the center of the bracket sheet
• Each level has certain point values, the closer to the center the more the point values are
• The more teams you correctly predict the outcome of the games, then the more and more points you get, increasing with each level closer to the center
• Whoever has the most points wins

It seems whenever I look way into one of these sports paper games I get disappointed as to find there isn't more to it. Maybe I just am the kind of geek who wants more to do. I don't know, I suppose lots of research could go into this. I might make my first bracket, could be fun. I'll find out.

An Antarctic Paradise

This is mainly a WTF post, so if that either entices you or pushes you away, feel free to make that decision now.
Okay good?

So maybe a month ago I had this insane dream, and I figure maybe I would share my dreams every now and then, especially when in my opinion they are just so cool.

I am on an expedition to Antarctica, and alone. The terrain is beautiful and suddenly I come across this creature that looks like it needs assistance. So I bend down trying to get a better look, then the dream fast forwards to this tropical city, but it is like a secret Antarctic society. The creature that I "helped" was a member of this society. It was bright and sunny, with palm trees and a few tall buildings overlooking the sea, however if you went too far out of this city then you would end up back in the frozen tundra.

I end up walking down the street and somehow offend one of the natives. They looked just like anyone I had ever seen, however there was something slightly different about them that I couldn't place my finger on. In this land, they have ruling over you, so I was sent to the combo jail/hospital. In this place, I see people who appear to be getting repair, but it isn't anything magnificent, it is more or less just a hallway with a room on either side, maybe some offices down the hall, but the white paint is chipping and the bright blue outside shines on in.

Then I realize while in the jail/hospital what makes these people different. They are made of clay, and that was the patchwork I had seen being done. After about a few times of this arrested cycle I go to see the doctor. He offers to make me clay, knowing forever I would have to stay here, but I would be sure to find happiness here and everything would work out. So I agree, and he takes out this bag as if it were a molding clay bag. I ask what is the difference between the types, he says some last better and the one he had was the best, so I took it.

We go into a room where I must then strip off my clothes and get into what just looks like a hot tub. The doctor pours the mix in, and then I feel just different. Have a little more pep in my step, but then see people who are still human being made fun of by clay people, and instantly regret my decision.

A dream that could mean a lot of things but most likely "Don't change yourself for others."

Going "Green"

So I finally bought a refillable water bottle. It carries 950mL, so about two of the .5L bottles I would normally take each day. Let me tell you, I like it quite a bit better, and it is cheaper. I either spend around $4 a week on regular water bottles, or I spend $4 for a one time deal. If I really want to get fancy I could buy one of those tap water filters and get purified water for close to nothing.

If you haven't done this already (it was somewhat of a fad sweeping through my school, but I ended up not losing anything to go along with it), go buy yourself a simple refillable water bottle, instead of wasting all of this cash on plastic bottles you do not need. And, the environment benefits too. Not that I am any green-freak, but if it saves me money and stops landfills from taking the place of  "highest elevation in Ohio", then yeah I'm down with that.

The Spring of Form

It isn't so much that I dislike the site itself, I find it a cool concept but haven't we had this already somewhat on websites where someone could say "Ask me any question here" ? Yet, every person out there signs up in hopes someone will ask them a meaningless question. I just don't need that EXTRA distraction.

Formspring is largely useless, and except for maybe that small business that is local only, you can't even set up a page for a major company due to the fact you would have so many questions coming in and it would just end up a mess to regulate. Plus, you don't even have to register or anything, or even give an email. I'll just wait for the bots that come and spam everyone, that wouldn't be too hard to write now would it? Oh yeah, and that would then suck for formspring since they would have to use CAPTCHA or something to regulate who can ask a question, slowing down the process entirely.

Again, on someone's local website if formspring for example just had code inserts for your page then I would say it is a neat little widget to put on there. However, they made an entire site out of anonymous questioning, which if not bots leads to "friends" leaving stupid questions and/or just spamming you. Yeah, that sounds like fun.

I keep getting the feeling that it wants to be the Twitter of something, but see, Twitter provides a great service and allows quick instant mass communication to be given to you, in limited space so you don't get overwhelmed, and just in my opinion actually has some sort of place.

The Power of Suggestion

Pay close attention in some public place, like school, the movies, or church.

Ever notice when somebody coughs, sniffs, takes a drink, or even has flatulence then others may join in? Writing this I yawn just simply thinking of that as an example. I'd be willing to bet you got some urge to do that, or maybe if I said just the word "breathing" you would become aware of it, or "blinking". Then of course you eventually put those thoughts into the back of your head and normal biorhythms take over again.

Ever since my psych and even bio class, I have been thinking more and more about why people do things and how people work. The body and mind are amazing to me, I just have this need to explore it and figure out how it works and why.

But we go and tend to copy what goes on around us, or maybe we think that we shouldn't disturb something anymore than needed, so we try to cough or sniff or drink within the nearest time of whomever started it.

This concept also was tested on the Mythbusters episode "Is yawning contagious?". It really is the power of suggestion, and maybe we just do it for comfort, as the cough or drink was always in the back of your head but once you see/hear it then it becomes your top priority.

And why did I think to write this blog post? Power of suggestion of blogger in the the most recent episode of House. You know, the one that has "Donna" from That 70s Show? Weird to see her in other roles.

And by the way, I just got word that the school will pay for my college next year in every subject, versus before where it was just a good chance it would happen. Also, the only things left in my way are the ACT, then of course the rest of high school.

A Little About Me and Her

Don't know if you saw my Facebook status or my Tweet, but I am going to college next year (Sinclair Community College) through PSEO. PSEO basically is like you go to college, but in addition you get high school credits and the high school pays for it, which by the way is a sweet deal for Sinclair as they actually make money off of this.

This accomplishes a few things:

• Away from high school, getting on with my life
• No longer in those sickening halls (oh wait this was the same as my first point)
• A "year" of college credit, or at least some free college (don't know how my college college will accept the credits)
• Let me work a job on my schedule/actually have a schedule where you can easily go to work (since classes can be custom picked for many times throughout the week)
• Let me pursue my interests even more

I can't wait for this, however there is one downside, I won't get to see a certain girl every day.

Her name is Paige, and we met at high school, Freshman year. Lately we somewhat "hit it off" and became really good friends and then a little more than that.

I'm not going to get too detail-y about us as most likely you have heard it all before from someone else, so I will just skip to what happened in the hall that shocked me.

I told her I was going to do PSEO next year, she looks sad and says "Awww" so I hug her. She then hugs me so tight and doesn't let go. This kind of thing really made me see how much I mean to other people, and just how powerful, well, love can be. It never hit me up until this point what all that stuff was about and such.

But don't worry, I will still make time for her and talk to her every night, it will just be a little different in terms of not being able to see each other every day.

Someone sure is growing up.

Artificial Coloring

Behind me in class this girl was eating some grapes. Completely natural, organic, right off of the vine grapes. They were the red/purple type as well, and she turns to her friend and asks "Are my teeth purple?"

I couldn't believe the question she asked, did she really think that it had some sort of artificial coloring? Has all of the candy we know and love made us think that any colored anything will leave a trace in our mouth?  It just shocked me that she thought it could happen, with something that is well, real food.

I know some natural foods can turn your teeth/tongue certain colors, but in terms of a grape I don't know if she thought that the "juice" inside was some sort of candy gel or what.

Is this where we are as a species, raised to think that all foods have these colorings and fake artificial everything? If so, people need a real wakeup call.

Call of Duty: MW2

MW2 for those of you who don't know is "Modern Warfare 2", the second installment of the "Modern Warfare" series.

Many of us have played the game, most have seemed to like it. I didn't really have too much time to play it until just recently, and it is pretty good for multiplayer. I have it on the 360, and was used to FPSs on the computer, but finally got over that barrier.

But then I wanted more of a challenge, even though I didn't have a great K/D ratio or had that high of a level, I just wanted to enjoy it more. I had a few of the speed 'perks' unlocked, as well as "Commando Pro", so I figured I would make someone who can essentially outrun bullets and leap out of nowhere onto people and knife them. I created that guy, and honestly you feel like a super hero.

Jumping from building to building reminds you of either super hero movies, or maybe Assassin's Creed, but you really can get going fast. The hardest part is aiming where you are knifing and judging how far away from an enemy before knifing can you be with "Commando Pro".

It is insane the specialties you can create in the game if you use all of a certain type, or even certain combos, lots of fun too. So go home and try it if nothing else, then for poops and giggles: Marathon (Pro), Lightweight (Pro), and Commando (Pro). If you have the pro version of Commando then you have no fear when leaping from building to building as you can't get hurt.

Also, I found that different weapons (as I had guessed) would slow you down. I stick to a machine pistol and assault riffle, just for the light weight even though I do not use them, they are just light. FYI, a riot shield, while may protect your back, slows you down greatly.

I apologize if you found the post dry, I had some great idea of what to write about, but then went to dinner, came back, and started playing - you guessed it, CoD MW2.

You Are Both Wrong

The religious vs atheists is going to be a lifelong battle, and then enter the joke of how religious will win in afterlife since atheists have no after life, but whatever.

This post is mainly what annoyed me so, but not with one group, but both the religious and athiest.

Basically this is how I think it breaks down, in the larger scheme of things:

1. Religious people go out and stick some billboards up, help out, donate, spread the Word of God. Sometimes they get carried away with this though.
2. Atheists like feeling superior and wish to have fun crushing what they call "fairy tales". So they go and stick up their own ads, tell others they are stupid for believing in a God, even form groups to act like a religion of anti-religion.
3. Religious people get mad that these people are posting their opinions up and passing it off as truth, so then they give a big hissy fit.
4. Atheists sit back and laugh enjoying the chaos they have created, but continue on.
5. Goto 1

This stuff always ends up badly, but what is my main point here is just to chill out people. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and don't try to drag someone down just because you may not be having the best time. Let people believe what they want, let people have their fun, but don't ruin stuff for others. Even if you don't believe, you should at least have some form of morals. And then if someone does rain on your parade, don't go whine about it, you should just "turn the other cheek". That is what you have been taught, so you should practice it.

How The Internet Forms Us

I made a fun little basic Flash app that counts down from 3 and then takes your picture via webcam. If you don't have a webcam, then you might get errors as I don't check for that but should.

Anyways, so I stuck it in my forum signature on Neowin, just for fun to see how many pictures I would get. I ended up getting a shirtless guy just messing around. I thought it was pretty funny, but then it also occurred to me what the internet makes us do.

Many web comics I have seen hit on this subject, and basically all say being anonymous and having an audience ends up for some pretty stupid or pretty funny results.

This all goes back to our need to have people think of us in a certain way. In real life you have a set of standards that everyone has to conform to to be "socially acceptable" and usually to maintain friends who don't mind being seen with you. Sure there are exceptions, like being friends with that one guy who would go streak through the halls and then you just stand back and laugh. However, actually hanging out with this guy you might be a little worried he would do something that could be potentially trouble causing.

This is where the internet comes in. Basically, there are no real "rules" and you can be whomever you wish. Anyone at all, have fun, do anything. Everyone is a bit different online, and some are much different there than in real life, so you get completely different sides of people. When all of these changes from people are added up, you usually get a more idiotic, but potentially very funny atmosphere.

However there is a downside to all of this. With the internet becoming more and more important, people also look at what you do online when applying for a job, so if you have something seriously bad up there and it is related to you, guess who isn't getting the job.

Oh people, what are you going to do?

Blogger/Blogspot

I used to be totally against using this service as I always had thought oh I can just install whatever onto my own server and such. However, when I moved away from where my parents hosted stuff, and all I had was GoDaddy's Free Hosting. It did a good job but when trying to use blogging software, or really anything with many pages and wasn't custom written to comply with the ads on the free hosting, then it would mess the CSS up completely.

I had wanted to start a blog, yet was waiting for the perfect domain name to buy hosting for and well it ended up being that some sites had dates wrong for when things expired so I didn't end up getting the domain I wanted. I didn't have any other immediate ideas for names, but still wanted a blog. So after someone posted a link to a Blogger blog, I decided I would set my own up.

I found out that I had an old blog from long ago, with nothing on it of course. So I removed it then created this one. Everything is really easy to use, and you can even have it go to a specific domain if you wish. It really is a nice bit of the web, and I would completely recommend it.

By the way, if you have GoDaddy Free Hosting and wish to remove ads, just use this code below, although GoDaddy won't like that I told you so your hosting could be removed, but I doubt it as well it hasn't happened yet to several people I know. (Put into CSS area).

#conash3D0
{
display:none;
} 

Thing-ist

You would think being a right-handed, white male that you would instantly (at least our history classes and media tends to tell us) that you are the best. You are the brightest. You have the best future anyone can possibly hope for.

True? Well you won't ever be looked down upon, however you will not have nearly as many scholarship opportunities, and actually you can't say anything at all that even may be slightly -ist (sexist, racist, etc).

My mom raised me to think that girls are better, she went to say they can do more and their brains work better. While it is true that our brains work differently, I would not say one is exactly better than the other. So all that stuff about "Well if we only had a woman in the White House, then everything would be better!" Uh, not really, essentially you are the same, just there are different areas of strengths and weaknesses but as a whole it would just be different not exactly better.

There are so many double standards, it irks me. If you (as a white guy) say anything that could remotely be deemed racist, someone will call you out on it. However, take a look at what happens if they say something, not much happens.

For sexism take the current topic about Apple removing all content 'degrading to women' from the App Store. Women said various apps were degrading women. Okay, maybe that is true, however did they take off any apps of guys degrading themselves? Nope.

Feminists also irk me. Actually, just about any group that says "We are better than the rest" irks me. KKK, Feminists, Black Panthers, it all comes down to can't we all just get along? "Obviously because you have something that dangles you are a moron, however I will still use my body to get me a job." People will claim this is just simply to "make job hiring even", but is that really true? Do women need to go and show some leg to be considered equally? I don't think so, in fact, anyone who tries to do that sort of thing, male or female I wouldn't hire simply based on that.

I dream of a world where in children' eyes there are no lines to discriminate and everyone can just get along.

Psychology - Why Freud Was Wrong

In Psychology class we are told about how we have a Subconscious and Conscious which control everything we do in one way or another.

Webster defines it as this:

1 : perceiving, apprehending, or noticing with a degree of controlled thought or observation

It basically is everything we are currently aware of at any given time.

Now for Subconscious:

1 : existing in the mind but not immediately available to consciousness  

It basically says everything that we are not aware of but still effects us (what our Psych teacher told us). Also, apparently we can regularly call anything from this using some sort of association, or as Freud thought, dreams.

Why Freud Was Wrong:

I believe we can't have a system defined as above since:

1.  Anything that comes from subconscious can become conscious through association, hypnosis, etc.
2.  If subconscious can easily become conscious, then are you still not at least semi-aware of it?
3. Dreams, often determined as symbols for our life make no sense when looking at an Autistic person. Typically, they are horrible or can not perceive symbolism. So, what would their dreams mean? If they can't process symbolism then what accounts for their dreams? Obviously it is not strictly symbols, although things throughout the day do appear in our dreams.

My Thoughts:

I think of the mind as a three part system, such as follows:

• Bottom or 'Bio Level' - Everything your body automatically does that is regulated by brain that you can not control. This would include heart beating, senses, stuff like that.
•  Middle or 'Vault' - Essentially what Subconscious is, but you can access it, pull up old memories which would be triggered by a phrase or whatnot. Also items such as breathing and blinking would fall into this category as you can actively decide when you take in a breath if you so choose. Things from this level constantly get pulled into the top-most level, it is just what makes us up and adds to how we handle situations. You might not be aware of it, but this area could still effect you even if it wasn't completely in the top-level, but more resided somewhere in the middle and top due to current situations. Fits the term 'in the back of your mind'.
• Top or 'Awareness' - Everything you are constantly aware of at this point in time, what is currently called 'Conscious'.  Everything here directly effects what our choices are and how we act.

Today's Subconscious and Conscious definitions to not work for the mind as there is more there, and again, if the Subconscious can be pulled at any time into the Conscious then you somehow know about it as people say 'in the back of your mind'. I only hope someday there is someone who agrees with me, but as of now I only expect people to not want to challenge all they have been taught. That is another thing, people really don't like change, unless it is their idea. I try to keep an open mind for all, you should too.

Visual Dictionary

After watching the great movie Wall-E and seeing the scene where the Captain of the ship goes to his computer to analyze the dirt found on Wall-E, then finds out is is earth and he says "Define Earth". Then you see these pictures fly up of "Earth" and various plants and such, then a definition is read to you.

I found this concept very interesting, and had not seen anything before that had both a picture and definition, or more so multiple pictures. In researching I did come across a visual dictionary by Webster, which is solely images and the word, but it didn't tell you text wise what exactly was to be looked for. Of course looking at patterns in the images that come up you can find some sort of definition, but I wanted more. 

I got my hands on the Google Search API (very useful by the way, and it has great documentation) and went to work. I found out the Webster Online Dictionary also had a page that was strictly the definition, so no need to do all this web scraping.

I still have yet to come up with a name (Any Suggestions? Don't say 'Pictionary') but as of now it is just a little toy I made. Have fun using it, the people I have showed it to enjoy it.

Alan Cone's Visual Dictionary

A New Beginning/There Is A Spy!

I've had blogs in the past, sure. However I was much younger then and really didn't have anything to write about. Now I feel I have a better view on the world and wish to share that with everyone, as well as fun objects I find across the web.

I thought I would start with this interesting story I heard about in class (ironically), then went to look for more on it.

PHILADELPHIA – The FBI is investigating a Pennsylvania school district accused of secretly activating webcams inside students' homes, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Friday.

Crazy isn't it? If anything screams "Big Brother" then that is it. Also, just makes you a little weary of your own webcams, even if it does have an indicator of when it is on. If this happened to me, I would be pretty perturbed as what I do at home is my personal business, and I will tell the world as I wish to. However, if someone spies on me without my consent then I have a problem. And that is the other bit, if the parents had given consent of some sort (although I doubt that would likely happen), then at least it wouldn't be as inexcusable as what they did here, turning on every webcam in their school system.

They claimed they were looking for a missing laptop, if that was in fact the case, then why couldn't they remotely only turn on that laptop's webcam? Why would you waste all your resources on all the webcams, including looking at each one, versus the much quicker task of simply turning on the one that was lost.

The things these days, am I right?