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.