Steam is awesome

If you do not already own BioShock, go buy it NOW. It is $5 on Steam. One of the best games ever made is on sale for less than eating out, it has only been out for a little more then a year. If you have any taste in FPS gaming, BioShock is some where you can't go wrong. If you already own BioShock, go buy it for a friend, you have until January 2nd. The truth is that before, I was holding out in buying the game because I had alot of school work going on and was also a little strapped for cash, but at $5 especially after the holidays, is a steal. I normally don't like to campain for some product but this is truely an amazing deal on an amazing game. So get to it.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone, it has been snowing for more then a week now and it is nice to be back home to be able to enjoy the break. This last semester has not gone well as my study group fell apart after people started dropping out and I lost focus, it seems that this late in the game having a backup crew is essential to my academic success. Therefore I will be rebuilding that team and focus more on set study times no matter the class to get a focused time to do homework, I believe that this will help me greatly in doing well in classes. So to everyone Good Night and Good Luck.

Wasted Talent

Wasted Talent is basically Engineering in comic form, and it is awesome, if you enjoy the likes of XKCD, then this is for you.

Happy Thanksgiving break

This break could not come soon enough, school has been killing me and I really needed to get away, and although I will have to do homework over the holiday regardless, it is unbelievably more relaxing at home, not to mention far more convenient. There is so much to work on, the ETF proposal for EWB , thank you letters to all the people who showed to the professional meeting, and getting things signed for the writing portfolio, practice exams, homework, reading up on SOPs for my lab work and project planning for what is up ahead. It seems like I have taken on far too much, but just having this break is bliss, even with all that work, cause at least there is family and rest.

Hopefully I can get everything in order before the end of the break that way the remaining semester will not be nearly as stressful as if could have been without said break. With luck and a great deal of work I may be able to pull through this semester, although one class entirely depends on how the points fall for the final, it is incredibly stressful to have so much at stake in such a small amount of time. Well time to get on that structures practice test . . .

Hope that Halloween Party was awesome.

Solar film on a roll, now that is cool, it will be interesting how the world will need to evolve as our oil reserves start to run low. There needs to be an energy revolution, we need to look at all our options when converting our infrastructure to adapt to the coming energy change. Without that adaptation we will find ourselves left behind - in fact the reality is that we have already been left behind, sadly our own people's misconceptions and sometimes outright stupidity, we find ourselves in the dust in many aspects of the science and engineering. One important energy option would be nuclear energy, and just looking at how the general population has basically shunned one of the most effective and perhaps one of the best energy options that we have.

On a lighter note that will be less likely to trigger a rant, Bad translations are always funny, and being bilingual seeing poor translations from both sides just makes this all the funnier. It is amazing how little we really understand about life and how we are always being surprised to find things that don't fit with our perception of reality, creature survives naked in space. 1984 comic spin on capitalism = awesome.

After Lisa builds a perpetual motion machine,

"In this house we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!" ~ Homer

lol I love it.

Random tidbits, and my take on Vista.

First of all perhaps the best way to deal with stress . . . EVER! Here is NERF gun cubic warfare, just one word - Epic. To top that? Go Steampunk NERF style! On a more serious note, Hybrid or otherwise known as Binary Cycle Geothermal Power Plants are an innovative design that will enable us to utilize all the geothermal energy that is currently untapped because it does not reach water's boiling point and thus can not run a steam turbine, this hybrid design utilizes a secondary liquid to vaporize and thus drive a turbine, we need to make sure this gets used, geothermal is clean and in a closed system does not produce greenhouse gases or pollution, so while not a complete answer to energy it is part of the solution. Here are more details on how the technology works. I like newegg's solution to the New York State sales tax, go newegg, I love the dependably and quick delivery. For the international bit, I like the CFW clinics special on KWSU I think a PBS type channel. Finally I'm not sure whether I should be incredibly impressed or scared witless, as a little girl assembles an AR-16 aka M-16, at insane speeds.

Speaking as one of the relative computer experts in my family as well as friends, quite a few people have asked me what I think of Windows Vista, and I am sometimes surprised on how negative the general sentiment is towards the operating system. So here is my general advice on the matter, first of all it is relatively pointless to upgrade to Vista, unless you wish to build a new rig or your needs exceed what your current build can provide, otherwise for the most part, generally if your computer works, stick with it. [I feel the same about every iteration, not just this one] On the other hand for those who want the DX10 functionality and other perks, but are afraid to upgrade, I tell them that I have been running Vista on my rig since I built it more than a year ago, and it has been very stable. However if you are still afraid, due to lack of computer experience, a solid thing and nearly a rule of thumb that I say to those that do not want to be on the cutting edge, is just wait at least until service pack 2 comes out, because few people remember XP in it's early days, it was quite jumpy in some aspects but has calmed down quite alot, and now is remembered as a staple of the PC world, ironically its success is slightly hindering the success of Vista, that coupled with the negative image that has been built up on the Vista Operating System, which as far as I can tell is largely undeserved. And for those blog trolls, no I do not hate on Mac or Linux, I just have my main rig as a windows because I am a PC gamer, and I will be running Linux on my laptop once I get it fixed up, and the reason I don't run Mac is you pretty much have to buy their hardware or you get zero tech support.

Edit : I would be incredibly disappointed if instead of actually fixing the problems with Vista through a good SP2, they release what would basically be Vista SP2 as Windows 7. Don't F this up Microsoft.

The march to a new school year . . .

The coming year will be my toughest year [possibly of my undergraduate career], full load all engineering credits, not to mention project lead, and possibly lab work. There will basically be no time to do anything, especially since for the EWB project we don't have an NGO attached to it so we will basically be fund raising for all the money, by ourselves. With a full credit load, that consists of all engineering credits, my class load will be brutal and I will not be looking forward to trying to study for the midterms and final, homework alone will be a nightmare trying to keep up with. Finally on top of all that after working unpaid over the summer, I have been offered paid lab work for the year, but I am not sure how many hours I will have left to give after all is said and done.

On a lighter note, the remaining days of my summer have been spent being amused by video game news, Internet TV, youtube clips, webcomics, and I finally have free time unlike the school year to read for fun. Beginning with video games, one youtube clip has joined my favorite list, MGS4 thumbs, perhaps the best commercial remake for a video game trailer ever for the PSP, you'll get the thumbs part when you see to clip, this just proves that Japanese commercials are just as wacky as their game shows. As for my DS, I am looking forward to Chono Trigger which I missed out on for the NES and even the Playstation but after seeing such a large following I will be excited to play it on my DS, and the portability of it will be great, I look forward to being able to play this classic. On the front of Internet TV, I've been watching 非凡大探索, also known as Unique Discovery - Food; on at 600pm in Taiwan, the host travels Taiwan in search of good eats, and introduces the viewer to great food all across Taiwan. On a wackier note, youtube as many know is a place where you will find the most random of video clips, and one such clip kept me entertained as I couldn't stop laughing, Big head - little arms, a clip from the movie trailer for the animated movie, Meet the Robinsons, it is a looped clip of one of the characters giving his excuse for being incompetent. A webcomic that a friend told me to check out, Freak Angels, is something I look forward to reading when I get the chance. Finally after finishing a book a while ago, I've been meaning to talk about it, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card is a blend of real world and fairy tale with a Russian spin, as the protagonist finds adventure in a fairy tale world where his past and everything he has done has given him the tools he needs to be successful to becoming the hero in this unlikely world. The story is told so well you would swear that Card has intimate knowledge of this topic, but reading the author's note, reveals that he did a massive amount of research and that is perhaps one of the things that defines a true master, this novel is a must read. Oh and go check out mahoro-matic episode 20 or aka s2/ep8, even if you don't follow the show just this episode is hilarious, not part of the main plot, it is extremely entertaining.

Worry Hat, engage!

"Worry Hat, engage!", hahaha Hanners is awesome, and I need my own worry hat - in fact an entire line-up of those hats, maybe a get-to-work hat would help curb my addiction of procrastination on the Internet. I think this adds to the list of things that I want and would be awesome if they existed, on the top of that list is Ranka Lee's slug phone, perhaps the greatest gadget of all time. As for other things occupying my time, The Escapist's Zero Punctuation video game reviews are always entertaining as the fast talking Australian gives his spin and opinions on various video game titles on the market. Finally I recently stumbled over a hilarious site called Stuff White People Like, after hearing it from one of my local haunts TokyoMango, it is a must read and always entertaining.

Where does humanity stand if we were to be judged right now?

There is really no such thing as a level playing field when it comes to life, when so much of the world is living at a different standard than that of the modern world, people need to wake up and realize that that the world does not revolve around them and there are those that are in need, we as a species need to realize this and reach out to those that are less fortunate than we are. With the division of wealth and even knowledge so unevenly distributed throughout the world, the divisions can be quite easily seen and so there may be more, three classes or levels are distinguishable.

The first level is just the most basic of needs, while standards vary quite a bit when it comes to the locations around the world, this usually entails shelter, clean water, and food. Usually in that order, it is much like if you were to find yourself stranded in the wilderness, to survive when you know that you will be spending at least the night if not more, the three requirements usually come in that order, even more so when the climate is more extreme either one way [freezing tundra] or the other [scorching desert]. Thus I would say this is the first or the base level of human existence.

Next is where most of the modern world is currently at, where the base needs have been taken care of and the goals now aim higher, you choose to live with certain luxuries, be it television, Internet, cell phone, ect. At this stage many seek to satisfy their wants instead of worrying about their needs, raising children and making sure they have a better life then you did. A large majority of the people in this category will never go beyond this level, because they do not need nor do they care to reach beyond their comfort zone.

Finally there are the odd balls, the pioneers, the mavericks, those that seek change to the status quo, whether it be though science, engineering, medicine or you just happen to have a couple billion dollars and just retired to become a full time philanthropist. This is where you have seen beyond yourself and seek to reach out to help others, and no it does not take billions of dollars and a name known around the world to do this, [although it probably does help], there are simple ways such as joining the peace corps, or some other volunteer organization, but with more expertise come more opportunities and the ability to help more people. The Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors without Borders save countless lives as they come into 3rd world counties desperately in need of medical expertise and provide invaluable services for no charge. Thus as an engineer and in the same spirit of seeking to help others I found and joined Engineers without Borders, a similarly inspired organization, a group that goes and does the engineering work as well as help actually build projects that help others in need whether it be a water pipeline providing clean drinking water for thousands, a bridge to connect a village to the world so they can trade with their neighbors, or a school for children to learn so they can have a brighter future. Yet the point is not to say that any single person can not make a difference in the world, in reality anyone who as already meet their own basic needs, has the capability to help others.

So while now in the modern world going on a spiritual quest such as ones under taken by monks or many religious figures such as Siddhartha Gautama, later the Buddha, or Moses; is far harder to do - it is not impossible. Perhaps that is why backpacking trips are so popular among youth usually right out of college, they go to seek not only knowledge but to understand other cultures [hopefully, now while whether they actually find what they are looking for is another story]. Seeking to help others sometimes does take a push, usually most do not see the need to go above and beyond what is before them, sometimes it takes a disaster to invoke the heart to reach out, but as the world currently stands it is easy seen that these bouts of help are not enough to change what is and should be considered to be a permanent disaster, a billion people without clean water to drink, many starving never reaching their prime, devastating diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS running rampade. If humanity where to be judged by it's weakest link, the poorest, and the most in need, we would be seen as a incompassionate, selfish, and corrupt species, as those in position to help others just don't care, content in enjoying their own luxuries, and those that should be serving the people in those poor countries, many enjoying luxuries beyond anything the people they are serving could ever hope to achieve.

What is perhaps the most depressing this is that when there are about 6.7 billion people on the planet, more then 1 billion, nearly 1/6th of the world's population does not have access to clean water. So while it is great that there are goals such as the UN Millennium Development Goals; goals without action mean nothing, it takes money and people with the drive to make a change to the status quo to solve this problem, and this problem is not solved through just giving the local governments money, because as history has shown in third world countries this does next to nothing as most of the time the corruption from the lowest level all the way up either squanders or pockets the money so by the time it reaches the people (if ever) what may have been hundreds of thousands or more has trickled down to next to nothing. Action needs to be taken, no just on the giving side, but those receiving need to participate as well, lets take a water pipeline as an example, there are quite a few instances where water pipe lines have been built and never used only to fall into disrepair. The people of a village will be unlikely to use something they have no knowledge of, and something built by the government or perhaps a foreign organization without their participation is basically useless, because not only would the people be wary of using it, even if they were to take advantage of the resource, without the knowledge of how it operates or the training to maintain such a resource, when it eventually breaks down, it will just be another piece of trash sitting there. When building a project, such as the way EWB does, the community is involved, the EWB chapter does the engineering and design work, while teaching the people how to build and thus maintain the project, so that we the group finishes and leaves, the community will be able to continue using and maintaining the project, this way not only does this teach the people of the community how to maintain said project, it gives them a sense of entitlement because it is theirs, they built the project it is not some government project put there, this is something that they own and will use because they built it with their own sweat and blood. A good way of thinking about a project, whether it be a school house or water pipeline, is it takes three pillars that enable a project to stand and become reality: money/supplies, design and labor, an EWB chapter provides the first two, the community provides the latter, in other words EWB in a way enables the community to help themselves, through teach them how and provide the supplies and know-how on what do to, they are able to complete the project providing a sense of entitlement.

So how would be stand if we were to be put on trial? how would we fare when compared to what we as a race has done not only to the earth, but to each other? Perhaps there needs to be a catalyst for the rest of the world to be galvanized into action, while yes goals such as the UN millennium development goals are great we as the people need to stand up and take action; or rather we as humanity need to take action.

On my bookmark toolbar . . .

Here are the websites that I have bookmarked and follow regularly;

Penny-Arcade : perhaps one of the most popular webcomic on video game related satire

xkcd : one of my favorites, written by Randall Munroe (who has worked for NASA and has a degree in physics pretty smart and funny at the same time) I love the label :

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Red vs Blue : the guys that are famous for there Red vs Blue series machinima that is made from the Halo video game.

Questionable Content : a webcomic about indie music and cultural satire it is very entertaining

Weregeek : the dark and unwashed underbelly of the geek world, delve deeper than you have gone before, in the worlds of D&D, WOW, and other geek laden games, tabletop and otherwise in this entertaining webcomic.

MegaTokyo : a webcomic that follows the adventures of two gamers as they escape E3 only find themselves stranded in Japan and they discover that their adventures have just started.

TokyoMango : this is for my Japan fix, a blog about the quirky and interesting world that is Japanese culture, a hodgepodge of various things Japan.

WaiterRant : a blog about the truth in the restaurant industry, as a waiter entertainingly rants about the antics that happen in an upscale restaurant.

Snake Eyes Videos : Finally here is where I get my anime fix, it is a great site, with many of the most popular of the animes subbed in English and so it is easy to consume, with an active community and uploaders this is a must for anime fans.

EDIT : it seems that snake eyes videos has been taken down, by the provider.
RE-EDIT : they now have a new site up, the site has a link that leads there.

Randy Pausch you have inspired millions

The Last Lecture, Achieving your childhood dreams, is perhaps the most watched lecture in the world, just on youtube there has been nearly 4.5 million views of your famous lecture, thus you really have inspired millions. Your legacy will not only live on in the projects that you have started and the students you have taught, but in the people you have inspired and the futures they have opened up to them. So while the lecture may have been a double headfake for us and a message for your children in the future, you have taught us to see the the world in a different light and changed the future in just a small way, inspiration is the fuel for the dreams of the heart, and you have been the spark for all the people you have touched - a push in the direction they have always wanted to go but yet to take that first step. Randy Pausch, may you rest in peace.

After the 4th

Back from the Fourth of July break, it has been a while since I have been home and it was good to go back if only for a few days, now back in Pullman it is again to classes and work. Although even in the short time back I'm already making new friends, I just love how social networking happens in life, today was random and really fun. Tomorrow it is off to class, after which homework, then a block of work, finally chill out with some rock climbing at the climbing wall at the ORC. Stats 370 is going ok, as long as I keep on top of homework most things seem to work out.

07700900461

Doctor Who's phone number! 07700900461, and just as everyone else has found it does not connect, but I suspect that it was probably only active the airing of the episode of "The Stolen Earth" so if anyone has heard what the easter egg is, do reply. As for the story, even though it ends in a cliff hanger, there must be a twist to the doctor regenerating, because David Tennant is set to be the Doctor through 2010. Doctor Who has yet to disappoint and this season is unbelievable I can't wait for the season finale, "Journey's End" on July 5th.

Society for Creative Rock Anachronism

Why do you taunt us Jeph Jacques! Those lyrics are awesome, they need to become a real song! I googled the band S.C.R.A as well as the song Balloon Ride and came up empty handed! Hopefully you can finish the lyrics and get a real band to rock out to it, the comic is great keep at it.

灼眼のシャナ season one is awesome

灼眼のシャナ [shakugan no shana] is awesome, I've just finished the first season and I'm totally hooked, it may not excel in any single category but I find it well rounded and very enjoyable. I will be checking out the second season soon, and after watching the first season and the movie I have high hopes. Other anime that I'm continuing to follow are, Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Itazura Na Kiss, Sky Girls, Naruto Shippuuden, Macross Frontier, Kanokon, Wagaya no Oinari-sama, Allison & Lillia, The Tower of DRUAGA, and Lucky Star.

I think I need a flux capacitor . . .

I can't believe that it has already been two weeks since my last post and it is time for my next Calculus III midterm, this along with the second summer session (which overlaps) has already started and having finished the first assignment it is very time consuming and I can already see needing to dedicate a large amount of time to just get the homework done, so I am really glad that I am taking the class (Engineering Statistics 370) this summer where I will actually have the time to complete the homework.

With entertainment I have finished Myself Yourself, a short 13 episode anime, which I did like it is fairly typical in someways but it is worth checking out. Still following The Tower of DRUAGA, Naruto Shippuuden, Macross Frontier (ranka-chan's slug cell phone is awesome far better then the current iPhone), Kanokon (who doesn't like sexy fox spirits?), Wagaya no Oinari-sama (who doesn't like sexy fox spirits that can kick ass!?), Allison & Lillia, Itazura Na Kiss (is a quirky romantic comedy of girl chasing guy), and Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de and Kyouran Kazoku Nikkias are both just weird but I will be following, as for code geass R2 however I've just stopped caring.

As for music I've been trying to get my Taiwan music fix so I've been keeping up on the music videos on youtube of Taiwan music stars, some include Mayday 五月天, F.I.R. 飛兒樂團, SHE, A-mei 阿妹, Lee-Hom Wang 王力宏, and Jolin Tsai 蔡依林.

Now back to studying for my midterm

Calculus III midterm and Chillax'n

Finished another episode of Macross Frontier and again it does not disappoint, I've also been keeping up with The Tower of DRUAGA, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Spice and wolf, Naruto Shippuuden, and Kanokon. Each being a weekly affair, so far I have been loving The Tower of DRUAGA, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Macross Frontier with each of the episodes progressively getting better, Naruto Shippuuden and Spice and wolf seem slow recently and Kanokon is just in it's own little world with every guy's wet dream and insanity running wild not to mention with comedy to boot. On another note, I've finished Devil May Cry and Final Approach, with the former being the anime to the popular combat adventure series Devil May Cry and with a short run of 12 episodes it was a solid take on the series. The latter, Final Approach is in contrast a romantic comedy where the series looks at arranged marriages and we see how it plays out for main characters, with each of the 13 episodes running only 15 minutes including opening and credits it is short and sweet, definitely worth checking out. On a serious but happy note I've finished the first of my summer midterms and as far as I could tell it seems to have gone well, and I am quite happy.

Got side tracked by Engineering & Math Jokes

A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer are all given identical rubber balls and told to find the volume. They are given anything they want to measure it, and have all the time they need. The mathematician pulls out a measuring tape and records the circumference. He then divides by two times pi to get the radius, cubes that, multiplies by pi again, and then multiplies by four-thirds and thereby calculates the volume. The physicist gets a bucket of water, places 1.00000 gallons of water in the bucket, drops in the ball, and measures the displacement to six significant figures. And the engineer? He writes down the serial number of the ball, and looks it up.


Salary Theorem
The less you know, the more you make.
Proof:

Postulate 1: Knowledge is Power.
Postulate 2: Time is Money.

As every engineer knows: Power = Work / Time
And since Knowledge = Power and Time = Money
It is therefore true that Knowledge = Work / Money .
Solving for Money, we get:
Money = Work / Knowledge
Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero, Money approaches infinity, regardless of the amount of Work done.


Q: What's a polar bear?
A: A Cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.

How do you prove in three steps that a sheet of paper is a lazy dog?
1. A sheet of paper is an ink-lined plane.
2. An inclined plane is a slope up.
3. A slow pup is a lazy dog.

Much more here.

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Classes and Slacking off

Got that Undergraduate Research Assistant position with the Environmental and Bio-Engineering Labs, unfortunately they don't have the budget so it is unpaid. I've met all the people on the team it was cool to be able to see all the equipment used for water and soil testing, even better later they will be getting new equipment, so this summer will be interesting. As for class, I need to get started on homework sooner, as to better learn the material, otherwise it is going to overwhelm me.

Some anime that I have finished include, Full Metal Panic, Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU!, and Full Metal Panic : The Second Raid. It is interesting how "full metal" is usually a reference to full metal alchemist another anime that I finished before, full metal panic in contrast is very different from alchemist, it blends the crazy robot action with high school life, it is like someone threw Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in with Appleseed or Gundam into a blender and made a delicious smoothie. It is quirky and funny, mixing well the funny moments with the serious ones, I do hope they continue making seasons, as there are many novels to left to cover.

So far I have seen two anime it seems officially put up on youtube by animation studio GONZO, the first being the The Tower of DRUAGA -The Aegis of URUK an anime I am already following, the second one is Blassreiter or ブラスレイター which basically means "pale racer" it is just in it's first few episodes so I will see how it turns out. Blassreiter is a mix of standard drawn anime but some of the models are rendered in CGI integrated into the animation, it seems rather bold killing off a main character so early on in the series [or so it seems] so I will be interested on how the series progresses. Another ongoing anime that I am following is Macross Frontier, a space based robot anime set in the Macross universe having started April of this year it is another anime I will be keeping an eye on. Just found Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief and I'm really excited about it, I can't wait so see how it plays out. ,

Summer Classes and Entertainment

Summer Classes start tomorrow, it is Calculus III and hopefully this summer can go well. On a lighter note, I'm following the Doctor Who series, currently the tenth doctor, and in it's 4th season; and I absolutely love it I can't wait for the next episode. As for anime, I've checked out the first few episodes of Spice and Wolf, The Tower of DRUAGA [the pilot episode was perhaps one of the best parodies of Japanese video game and anime culture ever], and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. All three seem good enough to keep up with and I look forward to following up on them in the future. A couple that I have finished include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Haruhi with her SOS Brigade started off a little slow but I found that I loved it, not to mention finding out that the dance is famous throughout Japan, this clip is great it is the actual voice actors on stage doing the Hare Hare Yukai dance. The two movies Appleseed [2004] and the sequel AppleSeed Ex Machina [2007], were both a great cross of Blade Runner and love drama. If I recall correctly I was following TokyoMango and I read about Ranald MacDonald, and the book Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan, quite interesting. Oh and I just recently checked out Hulu again, and it seems they have stepped up their game with much more content ad supported, not only TV shows [with some only a few days after the official TV premiere] but Movies as well, all ad support yet not annoyingly so, perhaps they have learned from Google, non-annoying ads get people to watch, if they can keep the ads non-repetitive and entertaining, while gaining more backing from big studios then this could be the next revolution in TV on the Internet, it is perfect for college students who want to watch TV but don't necessarily have a TV, we are willing to watch the ads it means bring the shows we want to our desktops. I wish Hulu luck and hope it does well.

Finals Week and EWB Project

It is finals week at Washington State University right now and it is hectic, I've got an exam lined up for each of the following days Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This is even a lite semester, next fall is going to be a full load not to mention quite the nightmare. Yesterday, my friend and I went to open to close at the ZZU, for mechanical engineering ASME, meeting a few friends there, then we went to Mike's aka Stubblefields down to the dance floor, it turns out I knew the bouncer and we got into the basement dance without even waiting in the line. After waking up late today, Andy, Jaclyn and I got together and went over the viable options for the EWB at WSU chapter and looked at the safety of the countries, the travel costs, the professional contracts and advisors, as well as personal preference and we found that the project that best fit up was the Santa Cruz, Ecuador project. Now we will need to lock in the project by writing the proposal and filling out the paperwork for the project and other logistics. Onward to studying so I can pass my classes, Bon voyage.

Hanners-logic, Bookmarks, Afganisu-tan, and 21

Been reading an awesome comic Questionable Content, it is witty and funny. I've been trying to catch up starting from the beginning, and I like how the art style has slowly changed, the obscure Indy culture references are both off putting and funny at the same time, and the Coffee house of Doom sounds like the perfect anti-culture to Starbucks. Oh and Hanners-logic is awesome.

Some other bookmarks I keep track of are, Penny-arcade perhaps the most renown, Red vs Blue of the Halo machinima fame, MegaTokyo for the anime and quirky inside references, XKCD a favorite of mine, for it's engineer's style inside humor - its like what Dilbert has always wanted to do, Weregeek for the geek humor with the LARPing and D&D culture, WaiterRant for the brutal hilarity that ensues in the restaurants of America, and finally TokyoMango for the quirky insights of Japan, reminding me of Taiwan which seems to be caught between the two cultures of America and Japan.



Saw on TokyoMango, the Japanese take on the middle east, Afganisu-tan (and friends), now as everyone knows the Japanese can take anything on earth and turn it into something unbelievably cute, and this is no exception. Imagine taking one of the longest running conflicts in the world, and turning all the countries into cute manga characters and you got yourself this comic.








Just got back from watching 21, one of those "based on true story" movies, although there are huge flaws in some of the logic, it is an awesome movie, it is a movie that you need to just sit back and enjoy, cause if you try to take it apart - it will not hold up for long, especially during the parts were the directors probably think majority of the audience is not going to understand - so as a tech guy and an engineer I had to ignore the fact that the technical parts, one of which was used as a reason for a dramatic argument between nerds, was implausible - I decided that I just needed to enjoy and stop analyzing. Still I seem to be down on this movie too much, however Kevin Spacey shines as always, even though the Mace Windu thing doesn't work in Las Vegas; this movie always has you cheering on the protagonists in the movie. Finally it leaves you with a smile and really at the end of the day it is hard to top that.

EWB Seattle 2008

Just got back from a four day adventure called the Engineers Without Borders USA, International Conference, Sustainable Engineering and Global Health, some interesting speakers included William H Gates, from the Gates Foundation, NASA Astronaut and Engineer Bonnie Dunbar, and Bernard Amadei the founder of Engineers Without Borders. This conference has been alot of fun, but also exhausting with around 5 hours of sleep each day just to make all the events. Starting on Thursday, with Gates Sr. with a speech about the Gates Foundation and it's goal of Global Health. Later in the evening at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, Ph. D gave an inspirational speech that got a standing ovation from the crowd. The many presentations and seminars were not only interesting but they were extremely helpful, it was a great networking opportunity and a great chance to make friends, on Thursday while by myself because the rest of the team had not arrived, I met Lauren and Maria, who were from Clemson University in Greenville, South Carolina, we hit it off well.



So on Friday my friend David and I, gave our newly made friends a bite size tour of Seattle, we parked at the Seattle Center, and took pictures at the Space Needle, then took the monorail to Westlake Center, and then walked down to Pike Place Market to see the sights and shop, afterwards we walked down to the docks and stopped for a bite to eat at Ivar's and tried their famous clam chowder. After getting back to the UW campus we continued our seminar hopping and continued listening and learning, not to mention getting to talk to some of the groups that presented and asking detailed technical questions about their projects one on one. In the projects management seminar I even met an Engineer from Vanderbilt University, [ the team that beat Washington State last year in the NCAA basketball tournament, grrr...lol] who had a OLPC or One Laptop Per Child project, laptop and I got to chat in depth with him about the laptop, it was awesome being about to check out the laptop in person and being about to chat with an Engineer about what he thought about the Laptop. Saturday night there was an event that was labeled ferry cruse and since Lauren and Maria, were both on their last day, needing to skip Monday due to flight schedules, I came along, unfortunately it turned out to be just the Bremerton ferry down and back in the rain and dark and not much to see, it needed to be during the day, to be able to be enjoyed fully.

Finally On Sunday after sleeping over at my friend mike, his friend's place at Seattle Pacific University [SPU] we found out that the direct bus did not run so we hopped onto one that took us a few blocks, the driver told us to catch another bus and he gave us the number, then the next driver told us which bus after that to transfer to, unfortunately it turned out that the driver forgot to mention that at 8 am, the transfer she told us about did not start until 11 past so after consulting the information board, so we decided to just start walking, we caught a trail and walked about a mile or so around Lake Washington and got to the University of Washington campus, we even came just in time for the seminar and didn't miss anything except the morning welcome. The day was great and again even more information to digest and process, in total I took 17 pages of notes from start to finish, it well worth the registration price, I can't wait for next year. EWB-USA at Chicago April 3-5, 2009!!

TSA & EWB

Just got back from Taiwanesse Student Association or TSA and the Taiwanese Night Market event, it was a lot of fun but rather hectic.

Unfortunately, I did not get any homework done this weekend, and since next week the EWB@WSU club is going to the international conference in Seattle at UW it means that we need to get homework done early, well I guess that just means more last minute cramming before we leave, so it just means who ever is the least tired is going to end up driving.

Airplane II, Bun-o-vision, Oblivion

Caught the end of Airplane II: The Sequel on HBO, it is hilarious and my friend tells me the first one is even better, so adds another movie to my list of must see. Bun-o-vision, is something I ran into while surfing youtube, and it is awesome, remaking many of the memorable movies in the last few decades. Played though some more Oblivion and it is ridiculous how much stuff there is to do in the game, I put in some mods for convenience, but I can't help but notice that I seem to be having a hard time when it comes to fighting wildlife NPCs, bears for example are hard to fight, I almost sympathize with Steven Colbert, and his bear phobia.

Juno, & Homework for NATRS312, CE215, ME212

Just finished Juno, it is a charming little movie, I absolutely love it. So I guess it was fortunate that I went up to check it out if only just for the food, unfortunately not planning to actually watch caused a mass procrastination of my homework, yet in retrospect it feels worth it. Now I just have about 1-2 hours of reading for NATRS312, daily homework in CE215 Mechanics, and the last problem in the weekly ME212 Dynamics homework.

EWB Conference, also Mechanics and Dynamics Homework

The EWB International Conference, is the next weekend and so for this week it means that I'll have to go through two weeks worth of and Dynamics homework as well as the assignment that I'll miss for Mechanics, no to mention taking a quiz early because the club will be gone for Friday. All in all it will be worth it, with a great line-up for the conference, the Keynote Speaker on Global Health is William Gates, Sr., the Co-Chair for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At the end there is also Bernard Amadei, the Founder of EWB-USA, who will close on Sunday, quite an exciting weekend coming up, can not wait.

A Cardboard Hope . . . Brilliant !

End of break, long road ahead.

Spring break is wrapping up and so it is time to prep for school again, finished the original バブルガムクライシス or Bubblegum Crisis, It is in the style very much like Blade Runner, a cyber punk anime released on February 25th 1987, it's older than I am. In fact the original company doesn't even exist anymore it was dissolved and it's assents distributed. I really love the Bubblegum Crisis OVA, at only 8 episodes it is a good length and wraps up well, there is a remake of sorts, バブルガムクライシス TOKYO 2040 but it is made by a different company and a few of the original people did not participate, not to mention that they changed some of the characters' personalities so not sure how that is going to turn out. Speaking of which I really need to go see Blade Runner, I keep seeing the works that are influenced by it and I've yet to see the original, maybe I should netflix it.

Another long drive back to Pullman, plus the way things are unfolding I think I am going to have to stay the summer to knock out some classes and maybe get an undergrad research position, to get through the summer and hopefully make some spending money. Even if everything works out it seems that I won't have another free summer for another 5 years, to just have some general fun or to go to Taiwan. This summer is classes and research, next summer would be with Engineers without Borders -> EWB@WSU and probably Morocco or Chile on an international aid project to survey the land and look for any possible problems, then the summer after would be internship at a company for experience, then after the completion of my senior project and after the EIT it will be back to Morocco or Chile whichever we decide to actually build the project. That is probably the farthest I've thought out my plans, maybe ever.

Spring Break

It is spring break, it is after the midterms so there is down time, having started Oblivion Elder Scrolls and loving it before the break, I'm now reminiscing over anime I remember to give a shout out to, one that I enjoyed very much was 時をかける少女 or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the 2006 animated version is spectacular and a must see. Just finished 新世紀ヱヴァンゲリヲン劇場版 or The End of Evangelion, which is the movie remake I would say of the last two episodes of the original series, unfortunately it make nearly as little sense as the original, there is even an entire wikipedia section on what the ending means, I guess you just need to find your own interpretation.

ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん, SGA and Dynamics

ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん, Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun or translated as, Our Condolences, Ninomiya-kun. Which is the title of the anime as well as the last phrase said to the main character Ninomiya-kun, meant to be ironic as the main character has all the girls in the school all falling for him but the two he is tied with two girls who if he kisses either causes long term memory loss to even a possibility of death as they take his life force. The entire series is very light hearted and comical, which fits with the fact that the series began as a light novel in a light novel magazine Monthly Dragon Magazine, this later evolved to become a full length set of 8 additional novels. At 12 episodes the series is short enough to enjoy a few sitting and considering that it can be found on youtube is quite a plus for an American fan with otherwise little to no access to Japanese anime.

Also have been trying to catch up on 亚特兰蒂斯 or Stargate Atlantis due to the fact that it is a controlled property it is thus hard to find on youtube and I'm disappointed that they do not follow the other big company's trail and put the current series online so those who have missed the show can catch up all refusing to do so just causes people to have to find the show on other sites, and with that they would miss out on potential revenue, like many fans out there I'm sure that if they put a their show on a stable delivery platform like youtube, which as one of the smoothest streaming video I've seen; along with my favorites of revision3's shows, diggnation and the totally rad show, I would be totally happy to put up with advertisements to be able to watch episodes online, it is fine if it is put up a few hours later so that the main stream TV finishes it's run, but for students like myself it would be great to have a place to watch if I miss the main run due to classes or the like. Oh execs did I mention that you could make money? besides did you really think that the people that want to watch would wait months until the DVD release or hope for the rerun? Notice that after big sites like NBC and CBS put up their select shows it became nearly impossible to find those shows on other streaming websites, because it was impractical to re-stream video already freely available with perhaps the exception of dubbed videos.

On another note ME212 dynamics midterm is coming around on Monday so tomorrow or rather later today due to the fact that it is already early morning I'll be getting together with a study group and going over problems and putting together a formula sheet, hope this test goes well, the last two; FSHN110 and CE215 seemed to go well, so hopefully this one does as well.

Igudesman and Joo

Bringing classical music to the masses Igudesman and Joo, although it has be nearly four year since their international debut in 2004, it seems I have been missing out and just finding them on youtube was a delight.



The two very talented musicians bring classical music back again, with a mix of comedy routine, slapstick humor, and impressive performances, even in German the humor comes through without a hitch. They have preformed throughout europe and I'm just hoping for an US debut.

Refection

Have been looking over Taiwan pictures, it is nice to remember all of the things that happened over the summer. It is now a down time after a crazy two weeks with midterms and essays, a little surprised that my immune system was able to keep from crashing like it usually does. This three day weekend is very much needed, and so now it is just going over homework, my resume for summer internships and then just things here and there.

Some shows that I got hooked on, besides the TV shows which are for the most part on hiatus due to the fact that the months long writers' strike just ended recently, mostly animated includes a movie "Byousoku 5cm" a short by Makoto Shinkai. I believe that the first part was on Yahoo, with a kind of promotion, love it, although I think I am partial to happy endings and it is sad that things don't work out like you would want, although perhaps that is life. Another show is Scrapped Princess a kind of generic anime, even so I love it anyway it has some kind of strange charm to it, and just having looked it up it is by Ichiro Sakaki also known for Cowboy bebop, another great favorite of mine. Naruto Shippuuden is my current catch-up on youtube after finishing the original Naruto series, the show is fun but sometimes I wish the show would just cut to the chase, they sometimes spend up to an entire episode and all they do would be set up for the fight with at times boring dialog taking forever to lead up to the fight scenes. Yet even so with the exception of filler episodes it still enjoyable as long as you don't over analyze and think too much.

Sometimes conversations between engineers end up taking the strangest tangents, from google's Lunar Base idea to electronic rail guns, it seems for our study groups we spend equal time BS'ing as we do actually review and do homework. Although setting up a study group has perhaps been the best thing I've done for my grade in a long time, it cuts the stress because I know that we will be able to have a set date for homework and if I don't know how to solve a problem my friends will have a different perspective and will most likely be able to help and visa versa.