Guess the dictator or sit-com character

Another discovery I have made warrants recognition. An interesting little website that can predict what dictator, or sit-com character you are thinking of. Yes, it is very random...dictator or sit-com character...but nonetheless through a series of yes/no quesions it can determine who you're thinking of. You can start off with the easy ones such as Hitler, Joey, or Kramer. But, it gets really interesting when it predicts secondary characters such as Babu from Seinfeld, Laura Winslow of Family Matters and so on. Give it a try....similar to most of my posts, it will probably keep you occupied for a few minutes as you try to stump it (which if you do, it adds your character and your responses to all the questions to it's ever-growing database). Have fun!

Unification

Over the past few centuries, many scientists have put forth revolutionary ideas that mold the way we think. The sun is larger than the earth, and keeps us in orbit due to gravity. Atoms are the building blocks of life. Time is of one dimension. I have been recently reading Stephen W. Hawking's A Brief History in Time, and my-my is it interesting. Many of these common-sense ideas are questioned. Although it is written in "common tongue", it's not the lightest book. Topics such as space-time, quantum mechanics, black holes and the big bang are covered. It's all quite interesting, but the book is about 20 years old, and there aren't too many pictures...teehee! PBS just recently ran a 3-hour special called The Elegant Universe, and luckily they have posted it on their website at this address.

It is a very simple show to follow,and it goes along the lines of Stephen W. Hawkings work. Many world-renowned physicists provide their input, and new theories are introduced. The one of most importance is String Theory. I highly recommend this show to everyone, I think when you start watching it, you won't want to stop. It's broken into little segments, so it's easy to stop and pick up later where you left off. It begins with Newton, goes onto Einstein, and eventually delves into the works of modern-day physics. It seems as though the underlying 'mission' of physics, ever since Einsteins unfulfilled dream has been to find a unity between quantum mechanics (the study of the extremely small objects, such as atoms) and general relativity (the study of the enormous, such as gravity, stars and black holes). There is definitely an elegance in unity, and as humans, we are usually inclined to believe that God has created an elegant world rather than a chaotic one. Up until the recent introduction of string theory, there has been a major clash between quantum mechanics and theory of general relativity. Anyway, I don't want to bore you any longer. Please, give this show a try, I guarantee it will spark some sort of interest!

Hovercraft?

Wow, you really have to watch this video to believe what I'm saying. I wish I had a picture to go along with this, but definitely check this out. All the guys will be saying "I WANT ONE OF THOSE!", while the girls will probably be saying, "Oh, that's so cute!". In any case, check it out, and if anybody knows where to get one of these, I will email my VISA number to you and you can ship it directly to my room.

Enjoy

More

In 1998, Mark Osborne released this stop-motion animated short that received much praise, but not enough publicity. Nominated for an Academy Award, More was beaten to the Oscar by Chris Wedge's equally touching story of Bunny (which can be found on the 2nd DVD of Ice Age). More went on to win nine other awards, one of them being at the Sundance Film Festival. This hidden gem is available now for everyone to see at this website.

It is a story about a disillusioned inventor who has dreams of reliving his colourful childhood happiness. But, when he acheives this life-long dream, he realizes that greed has skewed his perception of happiness, and ultimately shatters the fantasy.

I highly recommend this short, it's only six minutes long, but I guarantee you'll want to watch it over and over. Accompanied by a chilling soundtrack, More is definitely a must-see.

Enjoy!

The reason I enjoy life.

You know, certain things really enrich one's life. Excitement, a sense of fulfilment, ability to help and interact with others and most of all....stupid antics! Now, the majority of the stupid antics in my life involve my closest friends. That's probably why they are my closest friends. We get ourselves into crazy situations, we constantly ridicule and embarass one another and best of all, we take some risks that maybe we should be avoiding. Now, this latest story was told to me by "Gulliver" (I'll keep his identity anonymous to protect him from lifelong heckling). So, as Gulliver told me today:

"Faran, you'll never believe this. I was driving to Home Depot today from work, and I accidentally took the wrong turn because my mind was obviously somewhere else. As I was trying to regain my sense of direction, a van pulled up beside me and started yelling, 'Pull over, pull over! I have some great speakers I can sell you for a great price!'. So, I think to myself 'Gulliver, this is not a smart thing to do'. Which translates into 'Gulliver, let's give it a try'. So, I pull into the nearest parking lot, and this guy comes out and gives me this spiel. He tells me their supplier overstocked their van with two extra $2000 speakers, and if they take them back to their supplier, the boss will just keep them for his personal use. So, they decided to sell them on their own for some extra cash. So, I was a little skeptical and asked them if we could go to a nearby Chapters and check out these speakers in a magazine. Conveniently, this young man had an audio magazine that had these speakers listed at $1500USD. So, he wanted to sell them to me for $1000. I told him no way, so he brought the price down to $800, then $600. I finally offered him $400 thinking there's no way he'd take my offer up. Little did I know, this guy jumped on it. So, I bought these speakers, happy as a whistle, and started driving home. Before I got too excited, I called my friend, and told him to check out this brand of speakers (Digital Research). He came upon this website... http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/3/15757.html, and also this website... http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/3/10780.html. That's right, I basically paid $400 for some wires and a cheap woood casing. I got scammed. Now, fortunately I have taken this as a life lesson, and hopefully I will learn from my mistake. By the way Faran, do you know anybody who wants a pair of $2000 speakers??"

By the way, I added the last part. Anyways, Gulliver says he learned a valuable life lesson (although I highly doubt he did). First of all, this is what he gets for trying to get a deal off the 'back of a truck'. Second of all, this is what he gets for thinking he's 'oh so clever'. Haha...once again, this story brightened my day. I thank each and every one of you out there who are close friends of mine. God bless you all, and Merry Christmas.

Futbol

Well Football fans (that's right, I'm European), there's a new upcoming talent that I would like to present to you. You can hear the crowds of 55,000 chanting his title..."'linho, 'linho, 'linho!" in stadiums througout Milan, Barcelona and Berlin. Here is a little taste of his trickery...

By the way, if anybody has any videos or pictures they would like me to post, leave me a comment.

Gotta love technology.

Forbidden pleasure

Have you ever wanted to watch a scantily clad woman plunge endlessly towards the earth, while heavy, floating porcelain spheres cause her to slide through them, bounce off them and roll through them? Well, now's your chance. And, guess what? You can even grab her with your mouse and toss her around! Now, this is my idea of a good time! Haha!

Click here for instant gratification

The Stock Game

Recently a fellow blogger of mine has been trying to convince me of entering the world of stocks. It has always been a fantasy in the back of my head, but due to recent circumstances (let's just say....mis-handling of money), I have been quite hesitant. On one hand, I could make a wrong move, become greedy or get unlucky and there goes a lump sum of money. On the other hand, if I do my research (and I do happen to read many articles online) and with a little bit of luck, I can make some easy(?) money. In fact, my money will be doing my work for me...right? Actually, I've tried that before...hah! Now, seriously, I have been checking out the Investopedia Simulator (which I highly recommend for anyone thinking about getting into stocks). It allows you to play around with $100,000 in whatever stocks you please. It has plenty of research tools and guides as to how the world of investments (which also involves mutual funds and bonds) really works. You can waste hours of your time reading all the online documentation.

So, is playing the stock market much like playing a game of poker? In some sense, I think it is. No matter how much research you do (or confidence you have in a hand), there is always a risk involved. Am I willing to constantly stress myself, wondering why my stock keeps going up and down, and hoping to at least make my commission back? Probably. Why? Because I believe in self-masochism. Also, I like to take the road less-travelled...or is it the rockier road? I don't know, whatever it is...I'm giving it serious thought. Hopefully my stock won't look like this within a few weeks of buying.

Well, I have invested $750 (not real money) in IBM, and in about a week I've made $35 (although there was a $20 commission charge). That was investing without really doing any research. So, I am about to begin a journey through the myriads of online articles and reports in hopes of finding the diamond in the rough. Economist.com here I come! Feel free to leave your comments, insults or discouraging advice.

For the engineering geeks

The Soda Constructor is a website that simulates (using an innovative physics engine) a collection of rods with weighted balls at the ends (heehee) connected and interacting with one another. You can create some very complex systems, or if it fancies you, create a walking pyramid. Grab the nodes, stretch them, throw them around, it's as if they're real live critters! There is even a competition. If you think you can create the fastest and most stable little bugger, go for it! If you are one who can't be bothered, at least check out the Soda Zoo's pre-made models. Some of them give you that feeling of "ahh....I love the wonderful, quirky things I can find while surfing the web!".

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