Animal Crossing Tragedy

So I saw this on Digg: Animal Crossing Is Tragic (mirror) (mirror 2)

I wouldn’t exactly call it a tragedy, but it was really touching and sad. I typically don’t find YTMND sites to be that interesting, but this one truly has been nicely done and the soundtrack they added is a true tear jerker along with the story told by comic strip panels.

Anyway, as with most things, I get obsessed with finding the source. The story itself is already touching, but if it was indeed true, it would make it feel that much more real. I noticed the comic strip text was replaced with English and and the original text was whited out. On one of the panels, there was some Korean text and that gave me an idea of where to start searching.

I found the source story: 동물의 숲과 한 북미 유저의 이야기. It is indeed a Korean site and story, but English translation was provided:

About two years ago, I bought the game Animal Crossing. It was fun for awhile, me and my brother played it for about a month, then got tired of it.

I’m always trying to convert my parents to videogames, however, and thought that Animal Crossing would be simple enough for them to get into. I let my mom set up a house, and she soon got into the game in a big way. (As a kid, she had polio, and now she had multiple sclerosis. She was largely homebound, except for the once our twice when she’d either leave to go shopping or to church.) Spending all day at home in a wheel chair bored her, so the relief Animal Crossing provided her was kind of amazing. She’d spend so much time playing it, that it became something of an obsession. She played it so much that she was constantly getting kidded by the family. She payed off her house in the game, she collected all the fossils, etc. Whenever I saw her playing, I thought that the game must have long since stopped being interesting to her, yet she kept playing- even after me and my brother had long since stopped.

Her condition got progressively worse, and she eventually stopped playing. About a year ago, she passed away.

I had forgotten about Animal Crossing, I hadn’t played it in over a year and a half. Today, however, I decided to visit the village again and see what was up. Weeds had grown everywhere, the villagers wondered where my mom and I had gone.

Then I came to my mailbox, it was full of letters with presents- all from my mom. Every letter was pretty much the same. “Thinking of you. Thought you’d like this present. Love, Mom” Even though I’d stopped playing, she continued to send me presents. I look back now at how I made fun of her for playing even after she’d done everything, and I realize now that she was probably spending her time getting presents for me.

Anyway, I know it’s probably cheesy, but I was just amazed at how much this affected me and I thought I’d share. Show your parents as much love as you can, while you still can guys.

Going through the trackbacks in the comment area, I found the original comic: 한 북미유저와 동물의 숲. Different music was used with this page, but it was equally sad. The original comic is located on thisisgame.com, but I have a backup copy here:

animal crossing tragedy comic strip

It appears this is from a comic called This Is Game. This particular strip is #18 and titled: 동물의 숲. According to Babelfish, that translates to: Forest of animal, probably something related to Animal Crossing.

This story turns out to be quite old. Given that the original story was posted on December 14, 2005 and the comic strip was posted on January 2, 2006, I guess someone just happened to have come by this recently and made it into a YTMND page.

If anyone can tell me what the music is, I’d really like to know.

UPDATE: Thanks to DefaultName, Vudhai, Jake, and Mike for pointing out that the music is the opening sequence from Final Fantasy X. It’s titled To Zanarkand. You can listen to the music performed by an orchestra in this video: 03 – To Zanarkand. This was apparently taken from the Tour de Japon DVD.

UPDATE #2: According to Dan, the Japanese version of Animal Crossing was called Animal Forest, and the Korean version might’ve been named the same way. According to Wikipedia, Animal Crossing in Japan is called どうぶつの森 (Doubutsu no Mori), which does indeed translate to “Animal Forest”. どうぶつ is the hiragana form of 動物.

UPDATE #3: DathVader, the owner of blog that posted the comic states the story is indeed true.

StarCraft 2

OMG! StarCraft 2 is coming out! *drools*

Check out the trailer and gameplay videos: Starcraft 2 Gameplay Videos & Cinematic Trailer. You can also download them directly off Blizzard or GameTrailers. I just realized that if you download via Blizzard, you’re actually downloading via Bittorrent. They download is an exe file that is a bittorrent client + the hash and tracker information. Interesting idea.

*drools* some more.

Random Crap:

Colbert Knows Why Pro-Torture Responses Got Loud Applause at GOP Debate (from Digg) – Colbert adds his two cents in as to why the GOP candidates’ answers on torture were so warmly received and slams McCain for being soft on torture “enhanced interrogation techniques.” My favorite part of this clip was when one mentioned of them mentioned, “I’m looking for Jack Bauer at that time.”

Speaking of Jack Bauer. 2 of the TV series I’m watching this season has aired their finale: Heroes and 24. 24 didn’t have much of a surprise, but you know his father’s still alive. What scary is the thought that he might still have the Russian component, and you know that’s going to come back to haunt them later. Why the heck didn’t Jack Bauer get the component back before leaving his father to die. It’s as if he was allowing him to escape WITH the component. But Keith Sutherland’s signed up for 2 more seasons of 24. We’ll see how that goes.

As for Hero’s finale, I thought it was okay. The final fight was disappointing, but I’ll let my comment on Ungsunghero’s blog described what I felt:

To be honest, “Save the cheerleader, save the world” came out of future Hiro’s mouth. After the episodes where Hiro meets future Hiro, those words really didn’t have any meaning anymore.

As you said, that phrase was meant to mean to keep Sylar from taking the healing ability. I wouldn’t think that Hiro had any underlying meaning to it. If Hiro was an oracle and offer tellings with ambiguous meanings, I may believe, but future Hiro himself was confused when Sylar was still alive.

Another interesting thing was the introduction of Simone’s father. Obviously he has some powers. Linderman mentioned about an old group of friends (himself, Mama Petrelli, Hiro’s father, and Simone’s father so far).

We know what Linderman’s power is, but the other 3 are still up for grabs. We know that either Mama Petrelli or Simone’s father has the power to dream the future and past (you might remember Peter’s dreams about him blowing up, or how he saw Nathan get into a car accident). I’m leaning towards Simone’s father, but I thought that was an interesting twist in the end by bringing him back.

RayAlome tells me that both Nathan and Peter got their contracts renewed for season 2. That doesn’t mean they don’t die (maybe one has only an episode or 2, or maybe only shows up in flashbacks), but we’ll see.

If heroes were going to die, I would think Parkman with 4 bullet wounds has a higher chance of dying than D.L., but maybe both will.

Speaking of Sylar, if 4 bullets doesn’t kill Parkman immediately, I don’t see how 1 stab would cause more damage. Honestly, I was mad at Hiro for celebrating that too early. I was expecting him to stab, then chop off Sylar’s head.

I was totally expecting dinosaurs too. Awhile back, a preview showed a painting of a guy with a sword fighting a dinosaur. My guess was that Hiro would be the one to transport the bomb out of New York back into the Jurassic age and kill off all the dinosaurs.

However, I guess they needed a way for Nathan to redeem himself.

And like you, I honestly thought the fight was weak and too few powers were used during their fight. I was totally expecting a fight like the future one that was about to happen when future Hiro got killed.

I’ll end this with a comic strip from Real Life.

15 Useless or Even Dangerous Eyesight Myths (from Digg) – It’s important to separate fact from fiction, especially when the topic is eyesight. And old wives’ tales abound about the eyes. Many of these have no basis in fact and, for that matter, can be dangerous if you followed the advice put forth. An interesting list and I’ve heard of quite a few on the list. I wonder if the masturbation would make you blind has ever deterred anyone away from *cough*.

Family Guy vs. Capcom (from Ungsunghero) – What button makes a random pop culture reference again? What if you had a fighting game which involved Family Guy and Capcom. This video shows a fight between Peter and Sakura. Really hilarious.

Hershey sues man who made pot candyThe Hershey Co. has sued Affolter, 40, for giving his marijuana goodies names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese’s and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey’s Jolly Rancher, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

I saw this video awhile back: oc spoof-dear sister, however the title was a bit different before. It just said something along the lines of SNL Short – Dear Sister. I had no idea what it was spoofing and although I found it a bit amusing, I didn’t find it exactly funny. I finally found the origin: The source for the “Dear Sister” SNL spoof. Apparently it’s spoofing the season 2 finale of O.C.

Pac-Man’s skeleton (from Digg) – Ever wonder what Pac-Man’s skeleton would look like? Well apparently so did the artist that created this. What do you think, did he capture the spirit of the true Pac-Man or is it just a circle with teeth?

10 Reasons It Doesn’t Pay To Be “The Computer Guy” (from Ungsunghero) – I tried to for seven years. I’ve worked in the computer industry in various ways — help desk support, web design, consulting and sales, field technician, freelance computer specialist, and whatever other fancy name you want to give “the computer guy.” I stopped enjoying it. There were certainly times when I enjoyed myself, but most of those times were when my computer talents were still developing. Once I stopped learning new things on the job, I would become fidgety and want to move on to something else. My favorite reasons include: Reason #7 – Your Talents Are Forcibly Undervalued and Reason #5 – People Ask You To Perform Miracles. For #7, it’s not so much as monetary value as they take what I do for granted. You’ve probably heard similar phrases as, “Aw, come on. It shouldn’t take you too much time. You probably can do it with a hand tied behind your back.” Of course I may have exaggerated here, but helping people like that always gets on my nerve and I usually don’t repeat the mistake of ever helping them again. As for miracles, I’m guessing it’s because people don’t have an understanding of how computer works and assume everything is fixable and everything can be recovered.

Software Notebook: How does Gates shape up as a seer? (from Digg) – Interesting statements made by Bill Gates, but what really made it interesting was this:

What Gates didn’t predict: One quote frequently attributed to the Microsoft chairman is that “640K of memory should be enough for anybody.”

However, Gates has long denied ever saying it, and no evidence has ever surfaced to show that he did. In 1996, when Gates was writing a syndicated newspaper column, a reader asked about the quote, and he replied, “No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time.”

“I’ve said some stupid things and some wrong things,” he wrote, “but not that.”

I had always thought he DID say that. Interesting…

Girl calls for police help over messy roomA nine-year-old German girl was so upset about having to tidy her room she put up a sign in her window urging passers-by to call police for help. Pedestrians in the central city of Braunschweig saw the girl crying in the window, holding up a sign up saying “Help! Please call the police!” Next to her sat a small boy.

Start school later in the morning, say sleepy teens (from Digg) – A survey of sleep-deprived teens finds they think that a later start time for school and tests given later in the school day would result in better grades. The survey was presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference, on Sunday, May 20. The survey of 280 high school students confirmed what most parents with a teenager know: they are not getting enough sleep. More sleep would translate into improved academic performance, according to the teens questioned. They all attended Harriton High School in suburban Philadelphia, where the school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m. Does starting the day later really change things? Assuming you still have the same amount of homework and allocate the time you spend playing and working, you’d still end up with the same amount of time to sleep. However, it is true, some people work better at night (i.e. me).

The Top of the Class – The complete list of the 1,200 top U.S. schools (from Digg) – Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way. If you have 2006 data showing that your school should be on this list, please contact Mathews at challenge@washpost.com. For complete coverage, visit NEWSWEEK’s Top High Schools section. Another year, another list. Mark Keppel ranked 570 this year. What’s interesting is now they have a search function you can use to search the city, state, or school name. A lot easier than going through the entire list looking for your school.

“I Think We’re Dead.” (from Digg) – I like when news anchors break character. And snort. A recorded telephone call about a police officer and his wife getting high off eating brownies with marijuana. They reportedly claim that time was going really slow and he thinks they’re dying or dead.

‘He Looks Like A ‘Bob” Is True (from Digg) – For example, when people hear the name “Bob” they have in mind a larger, round face than when they hear a name such as “Tim” or “Andy.” Robin Thomas, associate professor of psychology, and colleagues not only show that this link exists, but they also show that if people try to learn face-name pairs that go against their expectations, they have a hard time doing it. I knew you always looked like a Robert!

Emoticons – East vs West

Emoticons carry cultural baggage

Emoticons act as proxies for facial expressions, and there are a lot of studies showing that many facial expressions can be interpreted correctly by all human cultures. Despite that universality, however, there are subtle differences in interpretations across cultures. The authors propose a model in which a culture’s interpretation of facial expressions is dependent upon a combination of the culture’s emotional openness and the challenge of controlling certain facial muscles. As they put it, “Given that the eyes are more difficult to control than the mouth when people express emotions, we predicted that individuals in cultures where emotional subduction is the norm (such as Japan) would focus more strongly on the eyes than the mouth when interpreting others’ emotions. By contrast, we predicted that people in cultures where overt emotional expression is the norm (such as the US) would tend to interpret emotions based on the position of the mouth, because it is the most expressive part of the face.

You can download the research paper here (PDF). To bring this point across, they provide this example:

For example, in the United States the emoticons :) and :-) denote a happy face, whereas the emoticons :( or :-( denote a sad face. However, Japanese tend to use the symbol (^_^) to indicate a happy face, and (; _ ;) to indicate a sad (or crying) face (Pollack, 1996).

Random Crap:

Puget Custom Computer’s mineral-oil-cooled PC (from Maxxius) – We’ve definitely seen our share of wacky CPU cooling (and silencing) schemes, but most liquid-cooling setups aren’t as, uh, immersive as Puget Custom Computer’s mineral-oil-cooled PC. Essentially a motherboard in an aquarium topped off with fluid, the Washington company claims the oil effectively cools system components for up to 12 hours at peak load. While traditional homebrew oil-cooling setups use vegetable oil, the Puget crew chose mineral oil because it’s perfectly clear and, more importantly, doesn’t go rancid after a while. Disadvantage? Large quantities of mineral oil are difficult to find — Puget had to explain what they were doing to a local vet, who normally uses the stuff as a horse laxative. That means those of you looking to build one of these better get friendly with Fido’s doc, cause Puget isn’t planning on selling these. Peep a vid of the crazy setup — including the aquarium’s bubble bar in action — after the jump. I’ve seen my share of mineral oil cooled PCs, but this is the first one I’ve seen in a aquarium. Usually the ones I’ve seen are in Styrofoam boxes.

If this thread is true: Citi Dividend Platinum Select MasterCard – 5% rebate again YMMV, those who have the Citi Dividend Platinum Select card might have their cashback program bumped back up to 5%. A few months ago, they dropped the cashback program from 5% to 2% and I’ve completely stopped using them and swapped over to my Chase Cash Rewards card, which had exactly the same 5% cashback program. However, that card is no longer available to apply for and basically I’m grandfathered in.

I found this image off someone’s FaceBook picture and thought it was really cute and decided to share it.
bleach kon plush
Kon Plush (from Bleach)

10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich (from Digg) – I wish I cam up with a stupid idea that made me rich too!

Wis. festival sells deep-fried testiclesAround here, it may be tough to pass up anything deep-fried. Wisconsinites have deep-fried cheese curds, candy bars and Twinkies. They now have deep-fried livestock testicles, too. … “Once you get over the mental (aspect) of what you’re eating, it’s just like eating any other food, and it tastes good,” Buster Hoffman said. … “After a few beers, you can’t really tell the difference,” Joubert said. Yum?

The “official” X-clamp Replacement Success Thread, Please read the first post carefully! (from Digg) – With the recent discovery of replacing the x-clamps on the motherboard being a good fix for 3RLOD, RBJtech suggested that we keep track of results. 3RLOD = 3 red lights of death, a pun on the BSOD (blue screen of death). Many Xbox 360s have encountered this unfortunate disaster. Microsoft hasn’t released any official numbers of how many Xbox 360s have received this fate, but I recall hearing less than 1%. You’ve probably heard of the Towel Trick. Many have guessed by using the towel trick, it heats the system to the point the re-solders the gpu back correctly. However apparently if you replace the x-clamps on the Xbox 360, many have reported success in fixing their Xbox 360s. The score so far is 150 vs 7 (95.5% success rate). So if your Xbox 360 is out of warranty, there’s no harm in trying to replace your x-clamps. Detail instructions are provided over at Tutorial : X-clamp Replacement – RBJtech’s Method and Tutorial : X-clamp Replacement – Lawdawg0931’s Method.

I was reading up on some new deals with Vizio and found out that they have a 0 dead pixel policy. I was shocked! Even Samsung doesn’t offer that here in America. Most companies have a 4-7 dead pixel policy where they’ll fix or replace your LCD if you find more than the given number of dead pixels. Vizio will replace your LCD if you find just 1. From A Lot of LCD for a Little Bit of LootAnd speaking of pixels, Vizio also offers a “no dead pixel” guarantee, which is rare in the LCD TV industry, particularly at entry-level price points. I examined the L42 closely and was not able to find a single dead pixel, so kudos to Vizio in that respect.

UserFriendly – Consumer Choice Enhancement – If HBO thinks it can get away by calling DRM Digital Consumer Enablement (which by the way, enablement isn’t a real word), by that logic piracy should be called Consumer Choice Enhancement.

Infrared – More Than Your Eyes Can See (from Digg) – I was watching this video about how night vision works and I had a hard time digesting the fact they were calling everything from radio waves to microwaves to even gamma rays light. I understand they are all part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but I’ve always associated light to only the visible range of that spectrum. According to Wikipedia: Light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light) or, in a technical or scientific context, the word is sometimes used to mean electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths. I guess with the latter definition, they were using it correctly.

MK vs. SF 3 (from RayAlome) – MK vs SF 3. See part 2 if you haven’t. Most likely the final one of the series. This is the 3rd and apparently final chapter of the MK vs. SF series (Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter). The animation is done really well as well as the fight choreography. All is done with sprites, which is amazingly pretty.

Fox sues website for “The O.J.Simpsons” (from Digg) – Fox doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor about a “Simpsons” parody that’s been going around the net called “The O.J. Simpsons,” reports TV Guide. The parody is quite obviously about O.J. Simpson, but done in the style of “The Simpsons,” with the same music and similar animation.

How not to ship a plasma TVThe guy who shipped this may or may not have been a professional delivery person. It’s tough to tell based on the work he did on this plasma TV. Seriously though, he might as well have shipped this thing using bowling balls. Or, I dunno, hammers. Ouch!

Cyclist OK after truck runs over headA delivery truck ran over a cyclist’s head, leaving him only with a concussion and a mangled helmet. Ryan Lipscomb, 26, was shaken up, especially after he saw the condition of his helmet. Check out the damage of the helmet and you’d be surprise he’s still alive: Bike helmet crushed, but head fine (from Digg)

Teen hurt whacking bullets with hammer– A teenager who put bullets in a vise and whacked them with a hammer to empty the brass shell casings was wounded in the abdomen by approximately the 100th bullet he hit, according to Warren County deputies. Sigh…

Texas man charged in Skittles heistA man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said. How many tons of Skittles is that!?!?!

Light Criticism (from Consumerist) – This is the first collaboration between the Anti-Advertising Agency and Graffiti Research Lab. Modified from Ji Lee’s Abstractor TV. We used black foam core ($10/sheet) cut with a laser cutter – however, this project can be done with an x-acto blade, black construction paper, and duct tape for next to nothing. It can be repeated using any backlit display – bus shelters, display ads, television store windows… dream big, act now. NYC’s TRUE GRAFFITI PROBLEM Watch the video here.

Coca-Cola settles lawsuits over benzene (from Consumerist) – Fanta Pineapple, Vault Zero had ingredients that could form substance. The Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to offer replacements to people who purchased two soft drinks to settle lawsuits over ingredients that can form cancer-causing benzene, the plaintiffs said Monday. The only interesting part of this article was the fact that I’m a big fan of Fanta Pineapple.

Weird Al – I’ll Sue Ya (from Consumerist) – Hilarious song from Weird Al from his new “Straight Outta Lynwood” album, done in the style of Rage Against the Machine. The vid features animation by Thomas Edward Lee. Enjoy! This is so sad, yet so true. Americans have become sue-happy.

You Know You’re in College When…

This list was taken from The Burning Biscuit (from Digg). I’m going to cheat on this entry and just make comments on ones I find interesting. The ones that have comments are in bold and my comments are placed between within the [].

  1. High school started before 8am, but now anything before noon is considered “early”. [It still is!!! You can ask my co-workers what time I get into work. ;p]
  2. You have more beer than food in your fridge.
  3. Weekends start on Thursday.
  4. 6am is when you go to sleep, not when you wake up. [ah… i still do this on the weekends]
  5. You know many different ways to cook ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese. [this I learnt from Liam]
  6. The health center gives out free condoms, and people take them… just in case.
  7. Instead of falling asleep in class, you stay in bed. [haha. so true! why go to class and fall asleep in an uncomfortable chair and risk being caught when I can stay in my warm comfy bed.]
  8. You know how late McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Qdoba, etc. are open.
  9. You think it’s the weekend on a Wednesday and you don’t know what month it is.
  10. You can’t remember the last time you washed your car.
  11. Your underwear/sock supply dictates your laundry schedule. [I did laundry every 2 weeks – which was the point when I ran out of underwear and socks. now that I have a job, I’ve upgraded to an extra week of socks and underwear so I only have to do laundry every 3 weeks!]
  12. You check Facebook/Myspace more than once a day.
  13. You get drunk dialed on any night of the week.
  14. You wash dishes in the bathroom sink.
  15. You’ve fallen off a loft bed.
  16. You talk about beer pong like it’s a sport.
  17. Finding random people in your house is perfectly normal, and you even sympathize with them… sometimes when you wake up you have no idea where you are.
  18. Your primary news sources are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. [what’s wrong with getting our daily news from these 2 “reliable” and funny news sources?]
  19. You open a beer at 10 am and your roommate asks you if there’s more.
  20. The standard of meals per day falls to two, sometimes just one. [i woke up too late for breakfast, and since I had to rush to class, I’d miss lunch too, and usually end up eating only dinner]
  21. Your trash is overflowing and your bank account isn’t.
  22. You go to Target or Wal-Mart more than 3 times a week.
  23. You wear the same jeans for 13 days without washing them.
  24. Your breakfast consists of a coke or cereal bar on the way to class… anything with caffeine will do.
  25. Quarters are like gold. [always needed quarters for laundry]
  26. Your idea of feeding the poor is buying yourself some ramen noodles.
  27. You live in a house with three couches, none of which match.
  28. You try to study but seem to procrastinate by eating, going to study breaks, talking to people, etc…
  29. You talk to your roommate on instant messenger when you’re both home. [why waste energy yelling across the room?]
  30. You ask people what YOU did last night.
  31. Certain things are now deemed “Facebook worthy.” When friends take pictures of you, you wonder how long it will take them to post them.
  32. You’ve seen a hit and run involving a bicyclist/pedestrian.
  33. You see people you know you’ve met but can never remember their names or how you know them. [I thought I just had a bad memory!]
  34. You sleep more in class than in your room [this actually contradicts #7, and I’m a big follower of #7]
  35. Your idea of a square meal is a box of Pop-Tarts.
  36. You’ve traveled with bags of dirty clothes.
  37. You go home to do your laundry because you’re too poor to pay the $2… or too lazy to go to a change machine. [unfortunately I didn’t have this luxury as I only went back home 2 or 3x a year]
  38. You pay $100 for a book you don’t read once, return it four months later, and get $7. [these kids need to be taught a lesson on how to buy and resell books]
  39. More than 20% of your household furnishings are made from milk crates.
  40. You recognize the meat in the dorm soup as yesterday’s meatloaf, and thus decide to eat a nice bowl of cereal – a safe bet for any meal.
  41. You use words like “thus” (see #40).
  42. You throw out bowls and plates because you don’t feel like washing them.
  43. Your beer pong table is nicer than all your other tables.
  44. It takes preparation… and 3 people… to take out your garbage.
  45. Going to the library is a social event.
  46. You wear flip flops in the shower your freshman year… you know why.
  47. You start joining clubs because of the free food. [I didn’t join the clubs. I just went to their events. *whistles*]
  48. Visits home depend on how much money you have for gas. [as Ungsunghero said, they forgot to factor in the money they’ll be receiving when they get home.]
  49. You skip one class to write a paper for another. [Ah… I’ve done this before.]
  50. You have no idea where your tuition money is going… technology fees? I think not.
  51. Bicycles don’t seem as lame as they did in high school.
  52. You stay up late to finish homework then sleep through the class in which it was due.
  53. Girls: You’ve balanced your foot on a shampoo bottle to shave.
  54. Your backpack is giving you scoliosis.
  55. You’ve written a check for 45 cents or stopped to get $2.00 of gas.
  56. Your bill in the bookstore will be comparable to tuition.
  57. Going to the mailbox becomes an ego booster/breaker. [if you knew me, I had packages coming in almost every other day. I always liked finding surprises.]
  58. Most of your T.A.’s are foreign…what’s the deal?
  59. You never realized so many people are smarter than you.
  60. You never realized so many people are dumber than you. [I don’t know about smarter, but there were definitely a lot of dumb people]
  61. Western Europe could be wiped out by a terrible plague and you’d never know, but you can recite the last episode of your favorite show verbatim. [I actually slept through 9-11 and only woke up sometime after the 2nd crash. I thought some meteoroid had crashed landed (like Armageddon)]
  62. Care packages rank right up there with birthdays. [boooo! I never got a care package]
  63. You craft ways to make any game into a drinking/stripping game.
  64. You meet the type of people you thought only existed in movies.
  65. Printers break down only when you desperately need them.
  66. Anything can be cooked in a microwave. [you haven’t master the art of cooking as a college student if you can’t figure out how to cook everything with a microwave]
  67. Two words: bike cops.
  68. You have Safe Ride programmed into your phone.
  69. Old school Nintendo… and guitar hero… are pretty much the best things ever.
  70. Going to the grocery at midnight is completely normal. [I’ve gone to Safeway at 3am so many times]
  71. You call restaurants that deliver more than you call your own family. [fortunately for me, there were about 10 restaurants next to my apartment building]
  72. You’ve paid bills over $5… in coins.
  73. You can’t imagine life without your computer/cell phone/ i-pod. [I don’t really think this belongs in this list as so many people too are so reliant on electronics]
  74. Hoodies and sweatpants become the norm – jeans are considered “dressy” at certain occasions… like school.
  75. A canceled class is almost as exciting as Christmas. [Unfortunately, to find out that the class was canceled usually required waiting in the lecture hall for 15 minutes and deciding to leave when the professor didn’t show up.]
  76. Taking a nap in the library is perfectly acceptable.
  77. Your professors speak English… as a second language.
  78. Your teachers swear in class and no one cares.
  79. Candles in your dorm room are considered contraband, but cigarettes are ok.
  80. You take condiment packets and napkins from fast food restaurants – hey, they’re free.
  81. Betta fish are like your family.
  82. You bring back socks from the laundry room that may or may not be yours.
  83. You know what people carrying suspiciously heavy backpacks after dark are doing…
  84. The elevators take forever but you’ll wait 10 minutes just so you don’t have to climb stairs. [I never really got this. I lived on the 2nd floor and I always took the stairs. Stairs were always faster even if we started at the same time. I hate it when people take the elevator when only going up 1 floor. People still do that. The other day at work, some guy comes in and pushes the “2” button. He looks at me and explained and says that the stairs were too far away. I do have to admit that stairs should be conveniently placed next to the elevator which isn’t the case in my building, but the fact that he apologized or gave an explanation meant he knew it was just not socially acceptable to use the elevator to go up 1 floor.]
  85. Your roommate asks you to check the weather on your computer when they’re standing 5 feet away from the door.
  86. Showers become more of an issue.
  87. You press the automatic door opener instead of simply grabbing the handle when you approach a door. [They must be referring to the handicap buttons. I always found it useless as it took longer for the door to open, then if I had pushed it. And once you push the button, using force is no longer an option as the door pushes back against you.]
  88. Christmas lights seem to be acceptable all year round.
  89. Class size doubles on exam days. [Did I tell you for my Calculus class, I went on the 1st day, went for the mid-terms and went for the final. After the final, I asked my friend if the professor change his hair style. He tells me he’s had that hair style for the entire semester. Apparently my impression of what my professor looked like came from his website that he posted assignments to.]
  90. You donate plasma even though you know it’s pretty sketchy.
  91. You are no longer thankful that fire alarms are here to protect you. [those idiots in the dorms pulled the fire alarm during midterms and finals. it was annoying as heck. then there was once when popcorn was overcooked and smoke from the microwave set it off too.]
  92. You’ve bought Christmas presents from the book store and charged it to your student account so your parents pay for the gifts because you’re too broke.
  93. You begin to include ketchup on your list of acceptable vegetables.
  94. You stay on campus for hours in between classes when it’s too cold to walk home.
  95. People have to help you kick the vending machine just so you can get your 50 cent bag of chips.
  96. There’s always a “question kid” in at least one of your classes, and you really wish someone would just tell him/her to shut the hell up. [yes, the very annoying question kid. he should just stay after class or visit the professor during office hours.]
  97. You steal dishes from the cafeteria so you don’t have to wash your own.
  98. Laundry is an all-day event. [it’s not suppose to be? shoot, I must still be doing something wrong when I do laundry.]
  99. You no longer find it uncool to take naps. In fact, you quite enjoy them. [naps are AWESOME!!!]
  100. It’s illegal to drink in the dorms yet they sell an assortment of shot glasses, beer mugs, tankards, etc. in the bookstore.
  101. You find your list of acceptable napping places expanding daily to increasingly uncomfortable locations.
  102. You fill out credit card applications for the free food. [i got a free t-shirt once. I remembered it as the dumbest thing I did because I was contemplating if I should continue filling it out when I noticed it required my SSN, and I don’t really trust this guy giving out free t-shirts for credit card applications. I eventually did give him back the form and got my free t-shirt, and the Bank of America sends me a rejection letter months later.]
  103. You’ve eaten cereal out of a cup… with a fork. [Hey! There was no clean spoon! They were all dirty and piled in the sink.]
  104. Dressing up for Halloween becomes cool again.
  105. You know at least one person who has dropped his/her cell phone into a toilet.
  106. You hang multiple shirts on the same hanger to save space/money.
  107. You become increasingly annoyed with the “old” people in class – props to them for going back to college but they generally ask really, really annoying questions.
  108. You admire people’s alcohol bottle shrines.
  109. You set your clock 5-10 minutes ahead so you can potentially make it to class on time.
  110. You check ratemyprofessor.com (or something of the like) before choosing your class schedule. [I’m pretty sure each college had their own professor rating site.]
  111. You text faster than you type. [This is just sad…]
  112. You only find out a class is cancelled after you get there and sit for about ten minutes. [exactly what I said in #75]
  113. You actually start using coupons, especially those school coupon books. [I was more of a technology/online shopping coupon user]
  114. You open canned food and eat it… out of the can. [what’s wrong with eating out of a can? you save yourself from having to wash a bowl! I call that genius!]
  115. You run out of black ink and, instead of buying a new ink cartridge, decide blue is a nice substitute… adds a little flair. [Haha! I personally had a black and white laser printer, so there was only one color to begin with. But I did have people IM me when they ran out of ink asking how they can tell it to use a different color to print. Speaking of printers, I never bought replacement toner cartridges, as it was cheaper to look for a deal on a brand new laser printer and sell the existing one.]
  116. You have numbers in your phone with labels like “Sketchy Steve” and “Alcohol Guy.”
  117. The food in your fridge may or may not be older than your little brother. [I think this is still true for my fridge today… I’m sometimes to find stuff that’s been in there since the beginning.]
  118. You finish reading this and wonder how you can procrastinate next. [if I was still in college, this would definitely be true.]

Along with this entry, I’ll link you to this recent Little Gamers comic strip: Chocoate Dinner. Being grown up rocks!

VG Cats – Lost Post

***
THIS POST CONTAINS EXTREMELY VULGAR LANGUAGE.
THIS POST CONTAINS EXTREMELY VULGAR IMAGERY.
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
***

I so got this image from Upsidaisium the other day:
vgcats - jesus christ

It’s a post by the artist(s) of VG Cats complaining about how people keep sending him porn of Aeris (the pink cat) in his comic. This post is no longer available on his site, but it was awesome:

RE: Jesus Christ!

What the fuck is with you people? I don’t care! Stop sending me your Aeris porn. Honestly, I’ve seen the normal shit…But a penis? Seriously, what’s so fucking appealing about a pink cat with a cock the size of your arm?!

I just don’t understand. I’ve done NOTHING to sex up Aeris. She has smaller tits than Leo, she has no ass and she’s certainly not “womanly”. I don’t know what to do. Should I get rid of her eyes? Or will you sick fucks go “OMG SOCKETFUCK, SOCKETFUCK, IT’S AWWWWRIGHT~”.

Also, that cameltoe was a freakin’ accident, alright? It’s a dot for gods sake! A dot which just happened to be on her crotch. Sure, there were some other details but I had to be realistic. Given the tightness of her paints, it’s only natural that the old girl pokes through.

If you’re wondering which comic strip the “dot” is referring to, see VG Cats #217: Wardrobe‘s bottom left panel. I honestly never noticed such a thing before, but like the FedEx arrow, I can’t help but think about this whenever I read any new VG Cats comic strip. Something is very wrong with me.

Mike Gravel

There’s been a lot of buzz with Mike Gravel and Ron Paul recently in the news. Both have been very controversial candidates and with big news outlets not allowing users to vote for either and actually deleting user comments that mention Ron Paul, people have been striking a storm over the net.

I first came across this video on Digg: Sen. Mike Gravel at SC Debates 04/26/07 Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska … Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska won Best of Show at the Presidential Debate in South Carolina. http://petulantrumblings.com Full debate footage available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18296908/

I’ve got to say, despite being a bit crazy, I really like this guy and his positions. From his website: Gravel 2008:

The War in Iraq
Immediate and orderly withdrawal of troops followed by aggressive diplomacy

Iran
Senator Gravel firmly opposes a military confrontation with Iran and advocates a diplomatic solution to the current situation.

National Initiative for Democracy
Empower Americans and turn every citizen into a lawmaker by enacting a national initiative.

A Fair Tax
Eliminate the income tax and replace it with a progressive national sales tax – Fair Tax.

Global Warming/Climate Change
We must reduce America’s carbon footprint in the world by passing legislation that caps emissions and improve energy efficiency while generating energy from low-carbon sources.

Universal Healthcare Vouchers
A National Health Care Voucher plan will provide health care for all Americans.

I’m shocked. I actually agree with every stance he has on the above issues. I personally think that income tax is unfair and if the government needs more money, it should raise sales taxes. Xyon and a couple of us has discussed this to some extent and if you search the web, you’ll noticed that the IRS has been unable to provide any evidence that supports income tax is legal. We’re just paying because they’re “big brother”.

I’m really starting to like this guy. Many say he doesn’t have a chance at office, but this is the first man that’s willing to stand out and say the truth. Others as he mentioned are just doing the political dance around the main issues.

Here’s an additional video that I really enjoyed: Mike Gravel for President! Straightening out the Media (from Digg) – All too brief example of speaking truth to media.

Random Crap:

2xav – a new comic from Below the Mean. Punchline: What have you been doing for the past 3 hours?! Watching 9 hours of lecture.

Spider-Man (Marvel) and Superman (DC) discuss the state of their respective film divisions in this take on the Mac/PC ads. Let me know what you think! These are some hilarious sketches done with Superman and Spider-Man action figures. They’re parodying the Mac ads which show PC on one side and Mac on the other. He’s made 4 additional videos which also introduce the Hulk and Batman:

Magicians sue over revealed tricksA group of Japanese magicians sued TV broadcasters on Tuesday for revealing closely guarded secrets behind a series of coin tricks, a news report said. Forty-nine magicians are seeking $16,000 in damages from Nippon Television Network Corp. and TV Asahi Corp. for airing shows last year that revealed how magicians perform tricks involving coins, according to Kyodo News agency. Haha! Now they just have to prove that they own the tricks. ;p

Confused by your neighbours? Then Ask a Mexican!Why do Mexicans use their car horns as a doorbell? Why is Mexican television so obsessed with dwarfs and transvestites? Why do they park their cars on the front lawn? Do Mexican children get tamales at Christmas so that they have something to unwrap? What is it about the word “illegal” that Mexicans don’t understand? The chances are that you will know the answers to some of these questions if you live in the United States and read the wickedly funny “Ask a Mexican!” column syndicated in more than a score of weekly newspapers across the country.

Good samaritan canoeists get $85 ticketsCanoeist Dennis Bohrn and his companions were stunned when they saw a woman jump off the Perrine Bridge, her body landing near them in the Snake River. Many in the group were crying by the time they managed to reach the woman and paddle her body to shore. So Bohrn was shocked when an officer walked up and instead of thanking or comforting the group last Sunday, wrote out a couple of $85 tickets for failing to have life jackets on board either of the two canoes.

Tiny terrier dies after saving 5 kidsA plucky Jack Russell terrier named George saved five children from two marauding pit bulls, but was so severely mauled in the fight that it had to be put down, its owner said Wednesday. That’s why dogs will always be greater than cats.

Scientists: Emergency resuscitation procedures may be the killing blow (from Deadlock) – Today’s life-saving techniques could be killing potential survivors, a Dr. Lance Becker from Pennsylvania suggests, in an article written by Newsweek’s own Jerry Adler. In an emergency room, in a desperate situation where paramedics are trying their hardest to get the flatlining patient’s heartbeat back, they might be doing more harm than good.

The real Computer Monster (from Consumerist) – Another great one from Henson and Oz. Parodying the Cookie Monster, this is the Computer Monster which eats electronic parts. Wait till the end for the surprise.

Crisping Tray

Once again, it’s been a long week. My random crap has already been backlogged to 3/28. I haven’t even check Digg and in 3 days. It’s going to take me awhile for me to push this crap onto you guys. ;p

A few weeks ago, IRobertI IMed me asking what the those gray disks that microwavable pizza come with are called. I had always thought they were just just paper cardboard with some plastic/wax thing on top of it. He tells me if you try microwaving a pizza normally without this special cardboard, the pizza’s crust becomes all soggy. I think then propose the fact that since most of these dishes allow air to go underneath it, that may have something to do with making it crispy.

Here’s what one of them look like:
microwavable pizza and crisping tray

I started searching online and there’s a bunch of threads and patents that popped up, but nothing really that describe how it works. Some claim there’s some sort of metal in it and it acts as a resistor, heating up when microwave frequencies hit it. But isn’t putting metal into the microwave counterintuitive? Anyway, I started reading the back of my Bagel Bites box and they refer to it as a crisping tray.

I decided to take apart one and unless the gray coating on top of cardboard is the metallic part, I found now no evidence of any sort of metal hidden inside the cardboard. If anyone knows exactly how this magic is done, I’d like to know.


Random Crap:

Bruce Lee – high speed paintingThis is a bit different from my normal stuff. Check out my other art at http://www.philinthecircle.com / MySpace. Music: Elephine / Song: Five / http://www.myspace.com/elephine Nice painting, but sure spent a lot of time and energy.

UPS: Request Delivery Intercept – UPS has rolled out a new service where when you pay some extra amount, you can request UPS to perform one of the following actions:

  • Return to Sender: Return the package to the shipper
  • Deliver to Another Address: Reroute the package to a new address
  • Reschedule Delivery: Hold the package for delivery on a future date
  • Will Call: Hold the package for pickup by the consignee

How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico (from Digg) – A very interesting article. First get rid of corrupted officials. Second, don’t just drop them at the border and give them a chance to just get back across, take them deep into Mexico before releasing them.

Yahoo Mail Announces Unlimited Storage (from Digg) – Yahoo is announcing that all Yahoo Mail users will have free unlimited email storage starting in May 2007. The current storage limit is 1 GB per account (2 GB for $20/year premium users). With this change, Yahoo leapfrogs Gmail (2.8 GB and growing) and Live.com Mail (2GB). Yahoo mail currently has 250 million global users, more than any other online service (Live.com has 228 million and Gmail has 51 million users). See this feature by feature comparison of the services for more information. I wonder what paying users get then

Japanese goldfish live in (and clean) a deep fryer (from Consumerist) – More here: Deep-fry diving for goldfish in Japan. Someone commented: Unfortunately they don’t really explain well enough to understand well. But there is a cooling system between the water and the oil. It took them ten years to develop it. So the bits of tempura batter fall down and stick together, which keeps the oil clean (the bits don’t float around and burn). Also, if you throw frozen pieces of food into a fryer, usually the oil will react violently, but now the waters sinks and cools instead of becoming vapor.

Gateway 2 (from Digg) – a pretty fun, yet somewhat depressing flash game. It’s one of those escape from the room type games, but in this one you’re trying to piece together a story. If you need help, walkthrough, or solution, scroll down to beppe1’s post over at Escape The Room.

Home is where the heart is for world’s tallest manThe world’s tallest man, whose search for a bride covered the world, ended up marrying a woman from his home town nearly half his age and more than two feet shorter, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.

Mad Track in a Japanese Game Show – Sasuke 2007 (from Digg) – The Japanese are famous for their extreme game shows on TV. Here is an example of the tracks the competittors need to finish on a TV program called Sasuke. This is their spring special aired march 21st 2007. It’s quite amazing (and this is just the first level). Wow, this really puts American Gladiators to shame.

If you like the previous IMDb page layout, apparently you can still visit it at http://former.imdb.com/.

Real Life Comics – Relevant Information – As someone who does computer tech support for my family and relatives and friends, these little jokes always hit it home.

Google Maps – from Chicago, IL to London, UK (Consumerist) – If you take a look at step #20: Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi. Appears to be some sort of joke that the developers decided to add in. The minimal amount of driving directions come from Boston, MA to Le Havre, France, which still results in a 29 day swim. At 3,426mi in 29 days, we’re still talking about 119 miles per day and 5 miles an hour (non-stop). Programatically, all they had to do was connect Boston to Le Havre in their map and give it a distance and time. Therefore, any location that’s connected into the USA can reach any destination that’s connected into France. Unfortunately, Mexico doesn’t have any maps on Google, so Central and South America are basically cut from this. And it looks like only Western Europe can connect into France.

xkcd – The Difference – The difference between a normal person and a scientist. 😉

Don’t Do This With a 19 Inch Dildo (from Tera) (content is work safe, but ads are not) – Here’s something not to do with a 19 inch dildo. So my friend is a nurse. She tells starts telling me this story about a guy walking into the emergency room hunched over and walking funny. The guy says he has a pain coming from his stomach and butt. He doesn’t mention anything else to doctors. So they Xray him to find out what’s wrong. Here’s what they found.

Ancient riddle of the Great Pyramid’s construction is turned inside out (from Digg) – In Paris tomorrow, Jean-Pierre Houdin will unveil the fruits of eight years’ work by describing at a conference how the pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu was built from the inside out. He will propose that the Egyptians carried the building blocks up an internal ramp that formed a spiral tunnel within the structure’s outer wall. These tunnels, he believes, must still exist today. With the help of sophisticated computer software developed by the French company Dassault Systemes, M. Houdin has been able to reconstruct a three-dimensional simulation of how the great limestone and granite blocks of the pyramid were put together stone by stone.

WiigoBot: The Perfect GamePresenting a Lego NXT Wii Playing Robot that can bowl a perfect game. I wonder if the robot knows when its his turn again, or if it’s just timed.

Wonderbra Ad Malfunctions (from Derek) – Really clever ad for the Wonderbra or just a broken billboard?

Amazing French Beatboxer Part 2The same awesome beat boxer we posted last week was back on French idol dropping some sweet beats. This time he does a little Justin Timberlake and I gotta say this guy is talented. Here’s Part 1 (Looks like this is from an American Idol type show in France, one of the contestants is an amazing Beat Boxer. Listen him seamlessly go from Michael Jackson Billy Jean to Usher Ya! When does he breathe?) and part 3 (The Amazing French Beatboxer is back and again with another great performance. This time he mixes a little techno music with Britney Spears and more.) if you’re interested.

Apartment Manager Complaining About Noise

my envision 17″ flat screen monitor came in today! can’t believe i’ll be getting this free after rebates. well, there were $7 of tax involved but hey, that’s still a great deal! ^_^x another good thing about UPS is that they accept shipments too! sent out 2 boxes through UPS today, both through the same UPS guy. the UPS guy was nice, helped carry my monitor up 2 flights of stairs, but then when he was walking up the 3rd flight for another delivery, he dropped one of the boxes marked ‘FRAGILE’. *shrug* thank god that wasn’t my package.

throughout my life, there has been only a few people who could actually piss me off. i mean they really have to try super hard to do it! i’m not one to get easily pissed off. in fact even when someone tries, i usually just brush it off as a joke. i can’t even remember the last time i was pissed, but my landlady just went overboard. during the first week we moved in, she called down and ‘asked’ us to quiet down so she can sleep. i agree we were playing our music a bit loud so we apologized and turned the volume down. the next day she called again and said we were talking too loudly while we were just talking at normal noise levels. well, since she was the apartment manager, we didn’t wanna have any trouble with her, so after 12am, we talked really softly up to the extent of a whisper. then one time she called @ 11:30pm (even before the curfew she set) and asked us to be quiet. another nite, my partner was working on a project and we received a call. what turned the tables was when she called my roommate’s parents and complained. i mean to go to that extent is just declaring war. now instead of asking, she demands. my roommate and i got so pissed we asked liam for help (since his mom’s a lawyer) and he helped us find the tenants’ rights advocacy group and we explained the situation. the person @ the end of the line told us it was absurd that u cant even speak @ a normal noise level, and told us that we didn’t have to worry about this leading up to a case to evict us. what i really want to say next time she calls is ask her to be reasonable. we’ve tried to compromise, but having to whisper?!?!? i mean she’s the one that made the attack first and hasn’t stopped firing @ us.

thanks to HKenshin, he gave me these 2 links to d/l kenshin manga:

the 2nd link contains better scans imho, but only contains the Memory Arc and the Jinchuu Arc. this was and still is my favorite anime as u will see i like to use his smiley face ( ^_^x ) if u still don’t get it, read the manga. ^_^x

One Week Without Showering

it’s been exactly 1 week. i mean ONE ENTIRE WEEK and i’m not joking about it either. Last time i took a shower was last friday morning before the apartment maintenance guy Mitch came and tore it apart. Till today, the bathroom is still in process of renovation, HOWEVER the tiling has been completed. Mitch says he’ll just need to paint on Monday and we’ll be set. Mitch is actually a really cool guy. knows how to joke. super friendly and just the type that you feel very comfortable chatting with after one or two encounters.

anyway, back to the shower business. reminds me so much of calvin and hobbes when calvin won’t allow his mom to bathe him. i mean i’m sure almost everyone has had that pt in their life. well, maybe not shower, but at least disagree on WHEN. i mean my mom has to tell me to go to shower many many times before i actually take my butt off my chair. i mean i take a shower when i feel like it. should i feel like sleeping, shower in the morning. but, this whole week, i felt dirty (literally, not the opposite of literally). head was itchy, but thanks to the kitchen sink, i was able to wash my hair there. back to calvin, with his enjoying of outside fun (including snow ball fights and rides downhill and into ponds), i’m pretty sure he gets dirty rather quickly. if his mom would only let him be dirty for a couple days, i’m pretty sure calvin would have a different look on taking a bath.

well, have i taken a bath yet or not? that’s the big question right? i mean i even got a haircut by the famous sam with his clippers today! but i’ve gotta thank him for one more thing: him letting me use his bathroom. after that shower, i felt clean. you never know the true meaning clean until you’ve experienced messy and dirty. ever have a really messy room, but one day you took control and decided to clean your room. you’ll notice SO MUCH extra space and how much nicer it’s to live in a clean and organized enviroment. then 2 days later it returns to its normal messy self. hehe.

it’s currently 4:48am and i still have stuff to say, but i guess that’ll have to wait till tomorrow. g’nite ^_^zzz