Completion at last. Enjoy the commenteries.

And here is the quite exclusive list of people in no particular order (the standard alpha-numeric order, actually) whom I deemed worthy of my commenting.
*shifty-eyes* it's not like I drew names out of a hat *un-shifted eyes*.

Stefan Bhagwandin

Corrado Coruso

Princess Sabaybay

Beatrice Tan

Flora Wong

Kimmy Young

Big Think(ing) will be involved with the following post.

Big Think seems like an interesting website, and looks as if it is just getting the ball rolling with a slightly underwhelming 10 219 ideas, since January 2008. Perhaps it is a good thing that things are being kept under the general publics eye: it would be difficult to regulate or even distinguish the acceptable from the not-so, in terms of level of intelligence and insight. I highly doubt there is any at all regulations if a question like this slipped through the cracks:

Which, just so happens to be the video I am responding on. Rob gets a cookie for being creative, but not much else. A superpower is something that should be abused in attempts at a hierarchy ruled by those who choose to abuse it, or the people inevitably destined to beat them through their inability to follow this simple list: http://www.zedtoo.demon.co.uk/humour/evil.html . Here is the reasoning Rob gives for his super-duper powers of exponential growth of Facial Hair:
"Like, so if you *censor* up and do something wrong, poof! Full beard. People are, like, oh, where'd that *censor* go? I don't know. He's gone. There's a guy with a beard. It's not him." It is fundamentally flawed in comic-book practicality's sake: it won't help him get anywhere closer to world domination or salvation then Meg's finger-nail thing on that one Family Guy episode I didn't really like. Sure they are cliche, super speed, strength, intelligence: but they are so for a reason. They work. I believe that this answer was intended as a joke. Well, the guy is a comedian. And the question was posted in the comedy section. About that...

If one is heralded as being the "Smart Youtube", why resort to these cheap gags to attract trafficking in the sight? Can't one go to Youtube itself for those kinds of comedy? Maybe it is whimsical, thought-provoking and intelligent comedy that winds up here, but in a website where one seeks an oasis from the populace with "shrinking attention spans", perhaps seclusion would be best for their goals. Do they really want the site to be trafficked by people who are just their for 'lulz', or maybe mess around with varying celebrities? I think that intelligence in the internet constantly can be found in the nooks and crannies of it: the varying blogs and forums, extended discussion and exclusive websites that do partake in intelligent discussion. Bigthink isn't a revolutionary idea or concept, nor does it garner a reputation or following that would be notable. There is a feeling of uncertainty, if there is a possibility of their goals being achieved. For now, I will do what I have been accustomed to: watch and not act. The website itself is interesting: the navigation may be a little shaky, but the content is golden.

*Slightly provocative female voice* Oooooh Mac or PC! (How. Boring).

GOSH DARNIT! Why are all the hated songs the most catchy ones... o_o

There exists within us all a passion for progress, technology and human development...

There also exists the fact that Mr. PC took this passion TOO DARN FAR!

*shudders*

I'm nowhere near being a Mysophobe, but when I saw that tongue contact into those liquid crystal diodes, I cringed. It was almost enough to shut down this PC, thus not only preventing me from posting this blog entry, but leading me to cancel my Blogger account, forcing me to don a radioactive suit and never stay within 10 feet of a PC ever again. This would effectively cause me to become a hermit, never being able to use a computer for the rest of my life. I decided to continue writing, ever-the-more steadfast at my ideals on this ongoing argument: Mac or PC!!!

Now one may ask: "Oh rambling one, what is the point of all that which was just written". Now, that is a very good question, the answer is simple: it's all in the word-use in that paragraph riddled with hyperboles and hypothetical situations. To sum it up, as simply as I could, if I were, in under some random hypothetical situation: never allowed to use a PC again. I just wouldn't use computers in general. I don't like Macs. Never liked the Mc-D's burger, never will like the technological piece of equipment.

Now, as the integral student I have made myself out to be: I should admit that in all fairness this hatred may just very well be out of fear. Now I'm no technological whiz (far from one, actually), but I have to admit that the Mac looks like it has a lot of things going for it. And that's one keeps me up at night... All this new-fangled content that I have never even heard of or know how to operate, underneath a layer of controls that I have no idea how to use. To me, this would be like trying to fly a commercial airliner down an emergency runway while the pilot is knocked out cold, during which I find out that all of the controls and information are in the language Françes (misspelled for a dash of lulz). I am not such a shallow minded person or such a traditionalist that I would cut off a completely viable piece of tech because of so and so reasons. But at every chance I got at trying out a Mac, I either fail utterly and completely or revert to using the Windows mode option. This in its entirety is astonishing to me, as I am relatively good at picking something up and learning it, even without instructions.
Thus, I just prefer to back up Windows. I can get into a technical argument, comparing each od different statistic, and how one excels at doing so-and-so then the other, but I decided not to. I'll have to go to my favorite oxymoron "Less is More". I am just blown away at the ease of use, and sheer simplicity of the keyboard shortcuts and how things function. Sure, you can't turn a PC into an earthquake detector, water tank or spaceship-type video game... but with the plethora of different functions and sometimes all-round useless dribble-like baggage that comes with the Mac: there are just so many different things to learn, access and sort through. I, am a minimalist. Well... more accurately a perfectionist with minimalistic ideals. I just am not into the many different files that come with the Mac. Sure, I can tear down some walls here and there, strip a Mac down to the basics... but then what's the big difference then? We still have the complicated controls: and all of a sudden the many things that people praise the Mac as being better then PC for is gone.
On the flip side, the PC, for me was a clean slate waiting for me. I learned how to fluently type at a healthy speed, ten-finger method and all before I finished learning my cursive. It was just so easy for me to hop on the PC and play a game of Starcraft (which pushed my type speed drastically, trying to keep up with the people while waiting for the game to start). The interface was so friendly and the keyboard commands was easy to pick up: This being while I was at the age of 6 or 7.
Macbooks have compatibility issues. Sure, many games are making versions (which may or may not be costly) for Macs. Sure, windows Vista has compatibility issues... Vista has a lot of problems, but I'll get to that Mac supporting topic later. See: even if every new PC game gets a Mac version: but by goodness gracious great balls of fire, I want my games of yester-year! I still love playing Diablo I and II, Starcraft and Starcraft Broodwar, Counterstrike, Ragnarok Online, Warcraft I-III + expansion sets, Doom, so on and and et cetera. The majority of the PC games of yester-year will not be bestowed with Mac-compatibility love!
Now... All Mac supporters absolutely Trash on Windows little failure of a child "Vista". When was the achievements of a company all summed up into their biggest failure? Well, I would think that the majority of Mac supporters haven't even heard of the Mac's existence since the production of the imac, arguably one of the first macbooks with qualities comparable or better then of a PC of the same time period. Yet, from what I can tell it released fairly negative systems from its creation until then. Even if a game isn't compatible with Vista, it can still be used with older versions of the PC: and it is our choice to even get a Vista or not. This isn't a Macbook vs Vista debate, but a PC vs Macbook, and in my humble non-techie opinion: PC's have outweighing pros in many fields in comparison with a Mac. Bring on the flames for my noob-sauce opinion, I'll be waiting... Since I'd rather have flamers then no commenters at all : o

Until next post...

Au revoir, mon chéri.

Facebook & Education > Overreacting Prof's at it's Finest.

Starting things off with a little facebook-lulz courtesy of The Onion

ahh... Facebook... Facebook, Facebook-Facebook Facebook! I don't have one.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. The way I see it is that I already spend too much time on MSN, why bother add to my time categorized 'not doing work'. OKAY, I like the word Facebook: the only reason for this initial paragraph. Names aside, I have dabbled under various aliases to see what it's like: I should have enough experience with the interface and website in general to provide some insight on this problem.

The whole situation is well. It draws out a lot of "O_O" from within me... A sense of 'What Just Happened', a 'May I have the last 5 minutes of my life back' moment for the ages: why in the world did this happen in the first place? Within the nooks and crannies of the internet are illegal acts taking place, and the ones who get in trouble are the students: because of the ease of finding the so-called 'problem'. A few things come to mind when reading the article, in particular the passage in the article:
"Avenir's professor, however, stipulated the online homework questions were to be done independently and felt the actions violated the school's academic policies."
and on the flip side:
"Supporters say the online clique was no different from any kind of homework help or tutoring circle."
jeez... This is turning into one big he said, she said type. Nonetheless, I still find that the professor is at the wrong: this kind of thing goes on in real life, day in and day out. The contradicting vantage points are clearly of a show of support: a third party should have checked the facebook group to be sure. The biggest case that the Ryerson University came up with, in my eyes is in what the students said:
"Avenir said the group used the online forum to compare notes and share homework tips and questions."
Basically: due to the online nature of the facebook group, anyone who happened to stumble across the group can easilly take said notes and homework questions and utilize it without others being any-the-wiser. I would think that some password would be required to access the group though.

I feel that the information provided are too biased to make a fair decision. If the only excuse presentable would be that 'study groups have formed in person for a long time, whats the difference with it being over the internet': the simple solution would be for the professors to either disallow / allow both variants. It is a double standard.

Facebook, with its Super-Pokes and Mega-Wall, may or may not be a useful educational tool. It is constantly being updated with new addons, and keeps on changing with user-made interface options. It would have difficulty as a educational tool considering the anonymity of the internet, the ease to surf through groups and the general way of speaking. Sure Facebook Groups have forums, but correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't having a Study Forum work all-the-same? My lack of knowledge of Facebook probably had negated some points made above: comment away and help clear up some misconceptions I may have.

When Graphic Artists Get Bored... Media Students Write About Their Work.

Many of the images on the video really intrigued me on different levels. From a standpoint of just a pleasing and interesting look to it, like the swimmer to the left. There were images that were slightly witty and creative, things that I would never have thought of morphing or changing: even if I were able to, such as the Earth about to bite the Moon at the middle. There were also images which excelled at a realistic standpoint (in a sense where although you can clearly tell that they are not real, it is hard to tell where the original image ends and the photoshopped portions begin (if that makes any sense)) such as the frog to the right. But the one that I was interested in the most was the most was:

(Above spoiler will open in a new window)

Appetizing, isn't it?

Yes! I found that this particular image portrays all of the above elements I liked about each photo manipulation. It is incredibly hard to distinguish between the additional changed things and the original: you don't even know what the person used to build from (the kiwi or the rat). It has a nice clean (slightly disturbing, but in a good way) image. It definitely is creative: making me swear off all haired fruits from this day forth.

Now that we have thusly and thoroughly admired said image: it is time... to an-a-lyze! There are quite a lot of possibilities this could be created, with varying degrees of difficulty and technique involved. The person may very well have paved way through an entirely different field of genetic splicing, but assuming that the title of the video holds true, this is highly improbable. What I believe is that said artist must have used the kiwi as a base. Afterwards, he proceeded to cut it into three pieces and arranged accordingly. Afterwards, using the clone stamp tool, the artist shaped the rear area and face to a more mouse-like shape, and used an image of a mouse: skewing the ears, snout (and possibly eyes) to match as best he could to the angle of the kiwi. Maybe the head of the mouse was cut off completely (the shading on the head's features slightly differs from the rear and middle sections). Afterwards, the artist would add the feet (looking at regular mice, the front foot would not naturally be that close to the head, meaning it was most likely added onto this photoshopped piece of work). Then, the artist would finally gradiate a shadow as the second last layer from the background. and use the eyedropper tool to find matching colors to use to create the goo on the last layer before the white background.

I-Pod, My lack of one.

To begin with, I will start out by saying that I am one of the few, the pride(less) and the weary that does not have device in which sound protrudes from within. Yessiry-bob, I have no I-Pod, MP-anything player, no walkman. To listen to music, I HUM. That within itself is quite primitive, and I have been looking to buy something, anything to quench the never ending void which is my lust for music. Yes, I am a music-junkie (a non-open one: you won't hear me blasting music audible from lengths of distance, nor would I be found smashing everything in sight at a Moshe Pit), but I still crave for my music, and it is an intertwined portion of my expression. I have the torrent files required to download music. I have the money available to buy the CD's. I do not do either however, as I go to streaming sites such as http://www.imeem.com/ or http://www.radioblogclub.com/ . These are just as bad as downloading music, but alas: efficiency outweighs morality (in this day and age). I am not a bad person for downloading music, I give up my seat on the bus for elderly, I go out of my way often for people I care for: I am a generally nice guy. So what makes the practice of downloading music such a frowned-upon act? Am I stealing from the wealthy for selfish needs? I, a die-hard fan of many bands would gladly pay for their CD, because I love so-and-so that darn much! Many, many people have the same mentality as mine, and thus these bands still have quite a formidable number of sales (depending on their talent). Lest we forget: each band member still receives an insurmountably greater amount of income then the average *family* in Canada.

Some bands put their songs on the internet for periods of time, give us samples, or uncut/unreleased/live versions and renditions of songs we already know. Bands like Incubus and Reel Big Fish have made covers songs which you may never find on a CD: Reel Big Fish's jazz-filled silly rendition of a 1980's classic: Take on Me made popular by A Ha, or the Incubus cover of TLC: No Scrubs: hilarity waiting to ensue.

Many bands are pro-downloading music, as it spread awareness. Bands from Europe or Asia may need the internet to spread their influences across the sea to North America. Where else can you find songs from Komakino (named after the song of the same name by Joy Division) : a European Indie Band, Rammstein: the quite comedic yet bone-tingling sounds of German Heavy Death Metal, or Maximum the Hormone: the often silly lyrics of the Japanese pop/rock/screamo/whatever band.

Above, Ain't Maximum the Hormone just adooorable?

Many more have spread awareness throughout parts of North America because of the internet. Even many unknowns from our own home: the Torontonians: Hostage Life, who sang about trains taking forever at Union Station, Howie Day: an American acoustics artist who is a (in my opinion) less popularized, yet more talented singer then James Blunt will ever will be, or Richard Walters: another great unknown. If you scroll on down to http://www.myspace.com/ and have a look at the portion with the famous artists and bands, you will often find hundreds of thousands to millions of hits. The bands often give said samples, and the listeners want more. They make money from the spreading of the awareness of their music. This is essential for up-and-comers, and for people who want to branch out to different parts of the world.

And surely, the only source of income for these artists can't just come from the sales of their CD's... especially when A four second cameo appearance in some show would net the person thousands. Licensing of their music makes it so that they receive royalties when someone uses their songs for movies, television shows or commercials. Michael Jackson bought many songs from The Beatles and has rights to them. If one wants to use any of these songs: they must pay a LOT of money to Mr. Jackson.

Oh, and its not like these people put the money to good use or anything... http://www.cracked.com/article_15887_6-strangest-tales-celebrity-body-part-insurance.html

The availability and variety are the driving force in the music downloading world. Many people think it is about saving a few bucks off of a CD, but it isn't. Good fans still will go to the concerts, buy the CD's and merchandise, they will represent their favorite artists, just like an Otaku would collect many posters and hang them on their walls when available images are on the internet, or when a movie watcher sees the same movie over and over again in the theater then proceeds to buy it when it comes out on DVD, just because they like it even though it would wind up as a bootleg copy, or streaming site. Even books, as when the final novel of the Harry Potter series was being bought, many had lined up overnight: even though an online version of the book was leaked days before.

And if you are interested: here is my playlist on Radioblogclub, try to enjoy - two things: no flaming, and some songs are broken (links), as I am too lazy to fix them. Regular Playlist (334 songs and counting) http://www.radioblogclub.com/fav/0/239549

Top 25 (in no particular order, from what I have seen the website had to offer) .
http://www.radioblogclub.com/fav/0/239549/884616


or Imeem, a lot better then RbC:
http://profile.imeem.com/obTW--6/playlist/1d6Im9qx/song_mix_music_playlist/

My Eco... Eco... Ecological? Footprint.

The concept of ecological footprint-ing had been introduced to me during my grade 9 course at CGC1D1, where we received (if my memory is correct) worksheets on an assignment on Human... Whateverness...
Clearly I had not paid much attention during classes but alas, that is of another post (which I will not create). After all was said and done, I had a little flutter of delight from within me, as I saw a very similar ecological footprint quiz on the internet, after all: EVERYTHING is more interesting on the internet.
This was an interesting (ish) and eye opening (to an extent) moment in which I had found out what impact I had on the world [Figure One], cause heck: where would we be without it? In outer space, of course, but with all attempts at wit aside: may the questions be asked!

What kind of footprint do you leave on our planet?
Starting out with an easy question, I presume. I am sure it would become slightly more thought invoking sooner or later. In any case, a simple scan over the picture shown above would show that I leave a footprint which is better then the average Canadian footprint (perhaps because most of the driving questions involved... me actually having to drive), yet my footprint is three times larger then the average person on this planet. It is strange, because at last I checked my shoe size, I have pretty small feet for a person of my stature. Oh, right: my ECOLOGICAL footprint is three times larger then the average person. In any case, it is a lot more then this world would be able to sustain, but since this world is still sustained: there must be others who have a deprived state of living to balance things out.

How do you feel about this footprint of yours
This newfound information raises distraught feelings: of how wasteful I can be at times, and of how meager the conditions of many have developed over the time. It also creates many a ramification in my thought process about the world: at times I feel upset over the simplest of manners yet many have not the basic necessities of life. It brings up the Millennium Development Goals from the United Nations [Figure Two], something that I seem to bring up in every possible assignment it can be associated with! It is a fascinating ambition which may or may not happen, yet it still raises a sense of hopefulness and also a sense that there are those who want to help, and who are aware of the audacity of this problem. It all has a target date (lets hope that the United Nations higher ups are more work efficient with target date then the average student of the Mary Ward populace) of the year 2015, which is odd since it is 14 years off of the closest Millennium (There was no year 0, and thus 2000 =/= Millennium).

If you could change anything about the way you live to lessen your impact, what would it be?
My main concern is of the wasteful manner I conduct basic tasks: usually doing things above and beyond. I waste a lot of paper whenever I do work because of the condition I keep them in my bag: a torrent of mess, unit guides and a lack of binders. Many things become past the condition of usability, and thus are thrown away. I am also wasteful with food, usually putting too much on my plate and creating leftovers or throwing things out. Although there is a green bin, and a recycling program (which requires more energy to reuse then to create anew), it still is a wasteful habit that I would definitely strive to change.

Finally, do you think that this interactive website is helpful in bringing about change for our future?
A quote from the About Us section of the quiz:

"The network is headed by the organizers of the original Earth Day in 1970, Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, and is based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The network is headed by the organizers of the original Earth Day in 1970, Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, and is based in Seattle, Washington, USA. Our network includes more than 5,000 organizations in 184 countries."

This not-for-profit organization had originated under the wings of a network of over 5000 organizations, in 184 countries. Word indefinitely must have spread, and change had probably ensued. Although the impact may be questionable, the deed itself is something that shouldn't be belittled, but to be praised for its aspirations on raising awareness of this dire problem.

Why or why not?
An online quiz itself is not enough to truly touch up an issue. The website this quiz is placed upon, is. A plethora of information and actions to help those in need is also on the website. This is only a small portion of the above network, which truly would cumulate to create a big effort on a problem that has been swept under the rug for a long time. Gaylord Nelson (Refraining from making a cheap shot for a cheaper laugh on this respectable man's name) and Denis Hayes had truly started something important, and we have to follow through in the small choices we make in our lives, and help (even just slightly) the need for equality in an unjust world.