HLS - High Level Swag

The title above has nothing to do with this post.

Anyway, it was recently suggested to me that I should do a post about poetry. I decided that this was a good idea because it encompasses a genre of topics that are seldom discussed on TBCRH, so, seeing how I'm one of the only bloggers who has not restricted their subject material, I decided that a post about poetry would be a welcomed change of pace/topic.

Before I talk about some specific types of poetry, it should be noted that poetry is a very interesting type of literature. It relies on meter, rhyme, lyrical structure, imagery, rhetoric, and a variety of other devices to convey a message. Because of this, poetry can lead to a type of enlightenment that traditional knowledge and learning may not allow one to fully comprehend. Below you will find some of the common types of poetry and descriptions.

Haiku:


One of the older types of poetry, haiku poetry has its roots in hokku, or the opening stance of a renga/renku poem. Haiku poetry was later defined in the 19th century to be a stand alone hokku (i.e. no renga/renku to go with it). Haiku poetry follows a 5-7-5 pattern moras (a unit of sound that dictates a syllabic weight). People commonly say that this an be replicated by a 5-7-5 syllable pattern, but one mora doesn't necessarily translate to one syllable, so this is incorrect.

Haiku poetry is actually very complex. A true haiku follows 4 characteristics:

1. Follows a 5-7-5 pattern
2. Has a "season word" (Kigo)
3. Has a "cut" (Kireji).
4. More often than not, it deals with nature (though modern haikus may not necessarily).

This is a lot to include in a small poem; before I go on, I should explain what the "season word" and "cut" are. A kigo is a word the alludes, symbolizes, implies, etc... a season (e.g. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). If you read an original Japanese haiku, you will find the kigo hard to spot because Japanese poets oftentimes use a kigo that is a figure of speech. A kireji is a word that suggests a parallel between what precedes and what is after the word, or it may disrupt the stream of thought.

Example:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

by Basho Matsuo (First great poet of Haiku).

Sonnet:

The sonnet is one of the original types of lyrical poetry that came from Europe. It is easily one of the most prevalent types of poetry. Sonnets have a strict rhyme scheme and structure to them. There are three main types of sonnets:

1. Italian Sonnet (Rhyme scheme: abba abba cde cde)
2. Shakespearean Sonnet (Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg)
3. Spenserian Sonnet (Rhyme scheme: abab bcbc cdcd ee)

Sonnets never had any sort of confined subject matter or rules other than the structure of the poem. Sonnets in England were typically written in iambic pentameter (5 sets of unstressed then stressed syllables per line).

Example:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

by William Shakespeare

Ballad:

Ballads were very common in Britain and Ireland from the late medieval times until the 19th century. Ballad's were narratives that had a self-contained story and whom primarily relied on imagery. Ballads were typically written in quatrains (4 line stanzas) and followed a sort of unique rhyme scheme. They had a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b, so the 2nd and 4th lines rhymed. There is a lot of variation in ballads, however, so this is only a sort of general structure, as ballads varied greatly. 

Oh the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below
And the land lubbers lay down below.

by Anonymous

Cinquin:

Cinquin is a class of poetry that employs a 5-line pattern. There are two main types of cinquins: Crapsey and Didactic. 

The first type was developed by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey, who was inspired by the Japanese haiku and tanka. The number of syllables started at two and increased by two until the last line which, again, had only two syllables. Lines generally do not rhyme.

The second type is a very simplistic poem. The first line has 1 word that is the title, the second line has two words that describe the title, the third line has three words that describe the action, the fourth line has four words that express the feeling, and the final line is one word that recalls the title.

Example:

Listen…
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.

by Adelaide Crapsey

Free Verse:


Free verse is exactly what it sounds like; there is no structure or pattern that one must adhere to. This style of poetry is very popular with modern poets.


Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

by Shel Silverstein


I hope this look at poetry was didactic and entertaining for you. If you liked this post, comment letting me know, so that I'll know that this kind of post is appreciated and wanted.

Professor of the Blog

Nerdology 101: Inadvertent Oversights

What the title says.

Link of the week: Nothing notable that I can think of. :(

Anyway, this post will be about common errors in the English errors. No, I'm not talking about the cliche they're/their/there, past/present verb tense, or any other commonly known error. I'm talking about some of the mroe obscure errors. Anyway, let's get started!

i.e. vs e.g.

While similar, both of these have slightly different uses. I.e. is used to clarify what you said (i.e. adding further information). E.g. is used to show an example (e.g. a synonym, sentence, or other means of clarification).

Datum and Data

I know everyone says "The data is representative..." but the correct usage is "The data ARE representative..." because data is plural. Datum is the singular form of data (i.e. a piece of the data).

Criterion vs Criteria

Same as datum vs data: criterion is singular while criteria is plural.

Imitate vs Emulate

Imitate is to simply copy while emulate is a more specific case. To emulate is to try and match or equal.

Historic vs Historical

Historical is used if historians are interested in something while historic is used for something that is famous in history.

Hysterical vs Hilarious

Though it is informally correct, hysterical actually refers to a state of mind with an excessive amount of emotions. If you want to refer to something as funny, use hilarious instead.

"Would have"

You can use it when you are talking about something that did not happen and a resulting cause (e.g. If I had won the lottery, I would have bought a TV). Otherwise, use had. The problem with "would have" is that sometimes people replace a correct "had" with it.

Check here for clarification.

Less vs Fewer

Use less when you refer to things that can't be counted (e.g. you would say less sand because you don't know the number of grains of sand, probably). Use fewer when you refer to things that can be counted (i.e. Fewer cups of water).

"Different Than"

Once again, this is improper English. Use "different from" instead.

Uninterested vs Disinterested


Disinterested means "to lack bias". It is not a synonym for uninterested.

Insure vs Ensure


Insure means "to take out insurance on" (e.g. I insured my car) while ensure means "to make sure of".

Arguably


This means "able to be shown through an argument" not "able to be argued for".

That's quite a few corrections. Hope this helps you improve your word usage. For some further help, check out parmeciumkid's old blog post about this topic.

I'm switching my name to "Professor" or "Professor of the Blog". I'll still tag my posts under acronym so they can be searched easily.

Signing off,
Professor of the Blog

The Concept of Disillusionment

I had a hard time coming up with what to post. Thankfully, I spent a large portion of my day today away from my computer so I had time to think about what I wanted to post. I have now come up with ideas for today's post and an idea for a new Nerdology post (Remember that series? You will soon). Anyway, on with the post.

Link of the Week: Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal (View my post about the original game here).

I couldn't think of a witty title for this post, so the title explains itself. Let me take you into a memory of mine from the 4th/5th grade (I had the same teacher for both grades). I was an odd child. I liked creating things from common objects. Naturally, I tended to bend paper clips, mold aluminum foil, etc... to do so. Well, one ordinary day, my teacher had a special paper clip that was, apparently, somewhat pricey. She found it bent and mangled and was very upset. She demanded that whoever ruined the paper clip to come forward and admit it. No one did. Now, I'm pretty sure that I was the culprit, but the thing is, I'm not sure. Why? Because my memory of the incident is so distorted that it is impossible to tell if I actually did. I believed that I didn't do it so much that I managed to convince myself that I did not do it in order to avoid guilt. Furthermore, by insisting that I did do it, I created a false memory within my mind of doing the act. Thus, the memory is so twisted that I cannot say for sure whether I did it.

This is very strange, as I clearly distorted my memory of this incident. But to what extent? I can't tell, so besides the basic facts, I can't tell what actually happened. This brings up an interesting point. Can we impose false realities on ourself and distort our own memories? I think that we can to a point. Disillusionment is hardly something that can be done intentionally because if you know that something is a lie, than you can't believe it. Disillusionment is something that occurs gradually and, most likely, subconsciously. It occurs when your sense of reality is so skewed, that you can no longer reliably discern the truth regarding a memory or thought. It's a scary thought, but it happens all the time. People sometimes want to believe something so badly that they ignore glaring falsities. Furthermore, they soon come up with their own twisted ideas to cover these falsities and genuinely believe them.

We live in a world of business. Business is essentially the vanguard of disillusionment; businesses convince themselves that they are doing right regardless if they actually are, advertising is used to create disillusionment in the masses so people will buy their services and products, and people slowly believe the lies of the businesses. People believe the lies that they can be perfect through the use of a product. Because of this, disillusionment is an underlying and integral part of society.

Therefore, the question we must ask is "How can I rid myself of this disillusionment?" The short answer is through gradual introspection and enlightenment. Just as it takes time for disillusionment take root, it takes time to pull it out of one's mind. It is hard to take back what you formally believed, depending on the level of disillusionment. It is a long and difficult process but a necessary one in the pursuit of truth.

I would encourage you to read/look up about disillusionment, but the Internet has a dearth of information regarding this subject. Therefore, I encourage you to muse about this: how disillusioned are you? What is real? What is a figment of your mind? All of these are difficult questions, but I encourage you to ask them. Disillusioning yourself is a worthwhile process in the end.

Comment, debate, and question disillusionment if you'd like in the comments. It is certainly an interesting concept.

See you next week!
ACRONYM of the Blog

P.S. I need a new name, but I haven't come up with one yet.

LoL!!

So, for all of my blog posts, I'll be following a particular format. First, I'll link to my favorite video of the week/one I discovered recently. Next,I'll post a synopsis of my article, and then I'll have the article. Afterwards, I'll put anything else in that may be of interest/related to my post.

Video of the Week: Darth Vader vs. Hitler. Epic Rap Battles of History 2

Synopsis: A discussion on the DotA genre, League of Legends, other DotA games, and what the definition of a "hardcore" gamer is.

So, a couple of the (former) blog authors on this site, including myself, have recently gotten into a game called League of Legends. It is essentially a DotA clone. Basic gameplay includes 2 teams of 3/5 champions that go around the map, level up, kill people on the other team, and ultimately try to destroy the other team's base. The premise is trite, but the delivery is fresh and unique which makes it a very enjoyable game. So, for this post, I'm going to talk about the DotA genre of games.

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was a very unique mod of Warcraft III. Unlike the lackluster RTS that it was attached to, DotA focused on simply building your hero's stats and abilities and buying items instead of commanding armies and other typical RTS elements. Each hero has their own unique skills that they can learn. At level 6, they can learn their ultimate (or "ult" for short) that is insanely powerful/useful but has high costs.

Specifically, League of Legends builds off of this but adds a few new elements. Most champions go off of the typical mana system (each ability has a cost and a cooldown, or wait time), but some of their new areas go off of unique systems. 3 characters, Kennen, Shen, and Akali, all of which are ninjas, go off of an energy system. It works very similarly to mana, but it has a fast regeneration rate and cannot be replenished by items. Mordekaiser is unique because he doesn't even have mana. Instead, he charge a shield by using his abilities which allows him to tank damage very well.

On a side note, Heroes of Newerth is another game that plays similarly to DotA. It bears more similarities to DotA and takes less chances than League of Legends, but it is still a great game. However, there are quite a few differences. Without going into a lot of detail, basically, here's the bottom line. League of Legends is a fun game that isn't as challenging to learn as HoN, but if you're a gamer who plays competitively, then you'll want to go with HoN.

Before I go, I feel compelled to explain what a hardcore gamer exactly is. A hardcore gamer is not necessarily someone who plays in every video game tournament. A hardcore gamer is one who spends a majority of his time playing video games. Here's a good definition from Urban Dictionary:

Someone who plays video games as a primary hobby. They tend to spend large amounts of time playing games, often in excess of two or three hours a day. Hardcore gamers tend to care less about graphics then casual gamers. While some specialize in a single genre, they typically have fairly diverse taste in games, frequently playing a wide variety of games from different genres. They'll often seek out obscure and older games, based on word of mouth or positive critical reception. Hardcore gamers put good gameplay above all else, and don't mind if a good game has poor (or even nonexistent) graphics, sound, characters and plot. The stereotypical hardcore gamer is out of shape, and has poor hygene. They spend a lot of their disposable income on video games, consoles, or PC upgrades, and a large percentage of their free time either playing video games or discussing them, online and off. They wear either black clothing, or T-shirts with geeky pop-culture references, often to video games. Their social skills may be sub-par, and they may be less likely than others their age to have many friends, a jobs and a girlfriend/boyfriend. Some of these stereotypes are negative, and they certainly don't apply to all hardcore gamers, but there's a fair amount of truth to them.

 Essentially, competitive gamers are hardcore, but a hardcore gamer doesn't necessarily play games competitively.

I hope I've enlightened you to a new genre of games, and I encourage anyone who has not played any of the games mentioned to try one of them out. They're all great, and it is definitely a great genre.

Heroes of Newerth
League of Legends
Defense of the Ancients

Signing off,
ACRONYM of the Blog

It Lives!!

So The King of the Blog decided to revive this blog. In order to celebrate, I'm going to correct information on my previous posts that is either wrong or out of date (mostly the latter).

"The Contributors on this Blog are Lazy" (Oddly fitting):

• Facebook no longer has as many errors, and you can now filter individual posts.
• For the record, Facebook is still bad.

"Mario: Does he live up to the standards?":

• I take back what I said about Super Mario Galaxy. I replayed it and got every star, and I have decided that it is actually a pretty beastly game. I really need to play Super Mario Galaxy 2...

"Nerdology 101: Mathematical Constants":

• The format is fine now; ignore the sidenote at the end.

"Failblogging":

• HeartGold/SoulSilver is out, and it is an awesome slice of childhood. If you like pokemon, or haven't ever played one before, this is a good place to start! (Just don't get Chikorita).

Apparently, I need to make some sort of posting schedule.... I'll post on Friday afternoon/evenings, and then we'll see what happens.

Later,
ACRONYM of the Blog

Some people are just stupid

ACRONYM here, trying to make amends for his long and untimely absence. This post is actually a review/rant of a game of one of my favorite game series: Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is an excellent game; there's no other way around it. However, some people think it's a bad game. Let me be perfectly clear: while Fire Emblem is DEFINITELY NOT A SERIES FOR EVERYONE, it is by no means a bad game. Some people like to think otherwise, however, and for me, it's upsetting.

Search "Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn Review" on google, and the first result is the Gamespot review that gives it a measly 6/10 (They gave the GBA games 8.9/10, so it's not the series). Their reasons for not liking are complete bull. The second reason really made me laugh: they basically said "It's too hard." USE THE DIFFICULTLY SETTING YOU {insert infinitely long and explicit string here}!!!" I mean seriously, it has a difficulty setting; I personally liked that it was hard, but I guess the people at Gamespot are a bunch of lame casual gamers. They also said that the plot was bad: granted, it isn't an amazing plot, but it's not terrible either. Another complaint they had was that it didn't utilize the motion controls of the controller. How do you apply the Wii's motion controls to game where you control units from an overhead view in a practical way that makes sense? You can't. Their final complaint was that it's graphics weren't that great; they looked fine to me, but they weren't spectacular.

You want to know why I'm right? Gamespot gave it a 6/10; the users gave it an 8.6/10 (Metacritic says that it overall got an 7.8/10 with a user score of 8.9/10 [for comparison purposes]). Gamespot really screwed up that review big time, and the gamers know it. Oh well, it gives us more to laugh at. To be fair, sites that rate games have a hard job; they have to somehow honestly rate a game that people are going to consider in their purchases. Unfortunately, game ratings fall into 3 categories when compared to the general consensus: Complete agreement (Think something like Bioshock or Mario 64), Overhyped (Think Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2), and Underhyped (Think Psychonauts or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn).

I know this is all technically my opinion, but frankly, I'm a Mother Panda so your argument is invalid.

ACRONYM of the Blog

Gamepot's Review: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/rpg/fireemblem/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review

These people were high when they came up with this...

Hello, it's me, ACRONYM of the Blog. You may have forgotten about me, and that's not okay; to refresh, I'm one of the many blog posters on this site (I'm Jonathan THOMAS [not to be confused with Jonathan Davis or John Hicks]).

Anyway, this is a review of an online flash game that I discovered yesterday. I'm going to be blunt, and just say that this game is high on an improbable amount of drugs; however, please refrain from judging the game until the very end. The name of the game?

Robot Unicorn Attack

Take a wild guess what you do in this game. Are you a gunman who is shooting a bunch of robot unicorns that are attacking something of general importance? Are you a robot unicorn that is attacking things? Nope. This game isn't even violent. At this point, you may be wondering what exactly you do in this game; I'll tell you. You are a robot unicorn that is running infinitely to the right by jumping on a bunch of floating land masses with purple grass. While you are running infinitely to the right, you can also collect fairies for more points while dashing through giant stars that will kill you if you touch them while you aren't dashing. Making sense yet? Good, now take some Acid and let's dive in.

If you've ever played one of those games where you infinitely head right while dodging obstacles, you'll know what I'm talking about (vaguely). If not, play a quick round of Canabalt; it will help you understand what I'm talking about. Unlike in Canabalt, you have the option to dash through the deadly obstacles in addition to being able to going around them (or jumping over). You can also collect the fairies for more points.

What really sets this apart, however, is the music; IT'S INSANE!! The chorus alone should explain itself: "Always, I want to be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony harmony oh love!"

See, it's just trippy. There's really no other way to describe this game. You really won't understand the appeal (Believe me, this game is strangely awesome) until you actually play it:

http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html

Rating: 8/10

Fun with a nice replay value, but it's not "EPIC" worhty

This comic explains why this game is so good better than I can

ACRONYM of the Blog

EDIT: comic was removed because of some language and such. we'll be sure to put warnings or something next time. sorry all

Nerdology 101: Impeccable Lexicon

Okay, so I've been wanted to do this Nerdology post for a while now, but Nerdology posts require a lot more work on my part, so it was delayed (multiple times). Anyway, let's continue with the post.

If you didn't figure it out from the title, this post is about using aureate language to buffalo or galvanize the people around you. True nerds will envisage the preponderance of this business. So, without further impediment, let's instigate this post!

The paramount thing that one must necessitate is to utilize the most wordage in a eloquent fashion. This is cardinal if one fancies having a sumptuous embrace of language. Here are a few paradigms to elucidate this:

Case 1: "I'm doing well."

This sentence is incalculably hackneyed and monotonous. In lieu of this, say: "I am in very emphatic mood currently!"

Case 2: "Have a nice day."

This sentence is marred with cliche and trite word usage. Say "Have a stupendous diurnal course! Adieu!"

Now that you have annexed a intrinsic acumen of diction, try to assimilate some of the vocabulary below to further embellish your knowledge(NOTE: The definitions below may not be shown in their entireties [i.e. multiple definitions may not be shown] ):

Abditive: (adj) Having the quality of hiding

Abraid: (v) To awaken or arouse

Alible: (adj) Nourishing

Aristarch: (n) A severe critic

Ataraxia: (adj) Tranquility

Axilla: (n) Armpit

Balderdash (n): Nonsense

Bete Noire: (n) A person or thing strongly detested or avoided

B**** Godness: (n) material or worldly success [Censored to prevent internet filters from blocking the site]

Bon viviant: (n) A person having cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes

Brickle: (adj) Brittle

Burg: (n) Town/City

Buxom: (adj) Obedient, Tractable

Caitiff: (adj) Cowardly, or despicable

Calcify: (v) To make inflexible or unchangeable

Chuff: (n) Boor, Churl

Cognitive Dissonance: (n) Physiological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously

Crwth: (n) Crowd

Datum: (n) Something given or admitted especially as a basis for reasoning or inference

Demur: (n) Hesitation

Dirdum: (n) blame

Dotage: (n) State or period of senile decay marked by mental poise and alertness

Dotard: (n) A person in his dotage

Dynamo: (n) Generator; A forceful energetic individual

Eclat: (n) Dazzling effect, Brilliance

Eft: (n) Newt

Epaulet: (n) Something that ornaments or protects the shoulder

Fag: (n) Cigarette

Feirie: (adj) Nimble, Strong

Foment: (v) To promote the growth or development of

Frijol: (n) Bean

Gaiety: (n) Merrymaking

Germane: (adj) Being at once relevant or appropriate

Gey: (adv) Very, Quite

Grisette: (n) A young women combining part-time prostitution with some other occupation; A working class French women

Gyve: (n) Fetter, Shackle

Haberdasher: (n) A dealer in small wares

Hebdomad: (n) A group of seven

Hidrosis: (n) Excretion of sweat

Homoscedastic: (adj) Having equal statistical variances

Ice: (n) An undercover premium payed to a theater employee for choice tickets

Imprimis: (adv) In the first place [used to introduce a list of items or considerations]

Inviscid: (adj) Having zero viscosity

Iwis: (adv) Certainly

Jabiru: (n) Any of several large tropical storks

Jobbery: (n) The act or practice of jobbing [especially corruption in public office]

Juxta: (adj) Situated near

Kay: (n) The letter 'k'

Kink: (n) A clever or unusual way of doing something

Koine: (n) Dialect or language of a region that has become the common or standard language of a larger area.

Kyte: (n) Stomach, Belly

Lakh: (n) A great number

Lily: (adj) Resembling a lily in fairness, purity, or fragility

Loquacious: (adj) Garrulous

Lusty: (adj) Robust

Okay, screw this. I was going to do A-Z, but this is taking way too long.

Now, remember these 2 things about using higher vocabulary:

1. Use more obscure nouns in lieu of common nouns

2. Use more obscure definitions of common words

That's all for now,
ACRONYM of the Blog

The Contributors on this Blog are Lazy

Okay, so I don't like to post twice in a row; I try to let at least one other person on the blog post before I create another post. But, the contributors on this blog appear to be very lazy, and haven't posted in a week now. So now, in order to revive the blog, I'm going to perform the first double post in TBCRH history!

So, what is this post about you might ask? Well, it's about...

FACEBOOK!!!

I could be done with this post in a single statement: "Facebook Sucks", but I'm going to elaborate a bit on exactly why Facebook sucks.

Errors: Even if I'm on for only 5 minutes, I seem to get constant errors; "Oops, sorry we're working on this", "Network Connection Error", "Could not connect to FB Chat", etc... plague this website. I also have problems with pages not loading. WHAT IS UP WITH THIS!? The shear number of problems that I have to do something so simple. Instead of designing new layouts for the site, they should spend their time on getting the site freaking working!!

Spam: Tons of it. Applications spam senseless posts that fill your home page, people make fan pages for EVERYTHING, etc... Also, there seem to be a new string of applications that mimic Facebook photo, wall, etc... that somehow can give users a notification even though they've done anything on Facebook relating to that application. I'll give Facebook a bit of slack that its a bit of the user's fault for not realizing the obviously suspicious nature of having to allow an application to access their profile, but these applications shouldn't be able to access our profiles to give us false notifications in the first place!

Privacy: There are issues here. I can only filter certain content from certain friends, but I can't filter some things (being tagged, notes, etc...). That, and add the fact that businesses can somehow access your profile and use it against you is just plain ridiculous. People are losing their jobs over things that they said on Facebook, which may or may not be deserved. Nothing on Facebook is private.

The Company: This company is the biggest bunch of arrogant snobs that I've ever seen. They've rejected investments from big time companies like Google because they think that they're better than them... Why would you do something like that? On top of that, they accept Microsoft's offer to invest in them. Wow, smart move. Facebook thinks that they can do what Google does better than Google can: bulls%$! Go on Facebook any day, and you will find someone complaining on how they don't like Facebook. I bet you that they will jump as soon as a new (and good) Social Network appears on the online scene.

Mark Zuckerburg (aka Satan) envisions a world where people obtain information primarily through their friends and family: that's a terrible idea. Secondhand information is inaccurate, unreliable, and lacks the depth that you can find in the online world. This is coming from the guy who tries to make an enterprise on user's personal data, tries to shove advertisements into our new feed, etc...

Facebook is fail, and I'm going to most likely quit it soon. I disagree with their idea of the future. Although, 1 good thing has come of Facebook: Failbooking.com. Facebook is terrible.

That's all for now,

ACRONYM of the Blog

Mario: Does he live up to the standards?

Go back in time with me for a minute. Mario, ever since he emerged from the original Donkey Kong Arcade game, has been a video game icon: probably the most famous one to this day. He's stared in countless video game titles. From the arcade, Mario made his way onto the Nintendo Entertainment System, the sole survivor of the console wars.

Now, back to the present. Mario has since been on every Nintendo console, (as well as the Philps CD-i, but we're going to ignore that failure of a console). Now, I'm starting to wonder: does Mario live up to his classic games in these new Wii games? Let's go through his 3 exclusive Wii games and find out!

Super Paper Mario: This is the 3rd game in the Paper Mario series. The original Paper Mario games were more RPG like, where it featured turn based battles and a variety of characters who help Mario on his journey. Now, Super Paper Mario goes away from this formula, and makes the game a platformer, with no interruptive battles, and all one smooth playthrough. Is this a good thing? Personally, I liked the original turn based gameplay better: it was a lot more challenging, longer, and had one of the toughest final bosses ever (referring to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Old Door). But, this game is its own creation. The creativity in this game astounds me, where it jumps from world to world, with different graphics and a different gameplay style. It's very interesting and unique. Even with its creative gameplay though, I liked the original more because of it's challenge and RPG style gameplay. Does that make this game bad? Of course not!! This is, by all means, an excellent game. I found it a bit easy though, unlike The Thousand Year Old Door; that game was insane!! The final boss in that game took me FOREVER to defeat. I feel like this is mainly because of Nintendo trying to not scare away casual players with its difficulty. Overall, this game is one definitely worth playing, but it's not too hard, and not that long of a game.

Super Mario Galaxy: Okay, I love the graphics and the idea of Mario going to different planets. The camera angle adds a ton of depth to this game. But, for me, it's only a mediocre game. I mean, it's reminiscent of Super Mario 64 and all, but it just didn't have the greatest gameplay. It was typical, and not too different. It's a great game, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely not the best one out there, and I feel that's its gameplay style is a bit stale. Solid game, but it's a bit cliche.

New Super Mario Brothers: Okay, first off: I don't own this game, but I've played it, and it deserves a spot in this review. This is the only Wii game to not have a white case, which makes its red case really stand out, which is probably what they were going for. Fans of the original Mario games will LOVE this one. It features the original Mario side-scrolling action, but with up to 4 players. That's pretty insane. Nintendo did a great job with this game: you can to cooperate with your friend to get through the level, or you can be total jerks and annoy each other, so that you keep dying over and over again. The thing that I really don't like about this game, is how N008 friendly it is. If you fail a stage enough times, the game will let you bypass the level, or skip the part that you couldn't pass: for me, that kinda ruins the magic of the game. Why would I want to cheat myself from that challenge? Ah well, this game is a solid remake of the original Mario Brothers game, but remember: it's only a remake.

Essentially, I really feel like Mario on the Wii isn't that spectacular. The games are solid, but there's nothing new and original: only newer versions of the classic formula. I want to see a new Mario game in a way I haven't experienced or played before: I want something new. Of these 3, the closest was Super Paper Mario, but even then, the older games just seem better. And, at the last E3, when they announced Super Mario Galaxy 2, I wasn't that excited. I just thought "Okay, woohoo, another Mario Game." I wanted to be pumped for this release, but quite frankly, I can't. I hope I'm 100% wrong though, but I highly doubt that I will be.

Final Words: Nintendo, come up with a Mario game that's more original and more interesting that match your former timeless classics. That would be totally amazing. And, to those of you who are insulted by my review, don't take it seriously: it's an opinion. Although, if you look at the games in detail, I think that you'll find that the new games aren't quite up to par with the originals.

That's all for now,
ACRONYM of the Blog

Nerdology 101: Mathematical Constants

I'm going to start making some (not all) my posts related to the epicness of nerdiness. So, let's see how this goes.

This post will discuss some common (and not so common) mathematical constants. Personally, I think that it is important that a well educated nerd knows the basic mathematical constants. If you are a nerd of any kind, you should read this (ignore the calculus parts if you don't understand it). I will divide this into an basic and advanced section (for thoose of you not so mathematically inclined, skip the advanced section). So, let's get started!!

Basic:

Archimedes' Constant: When you ask someone to name a mathematical constant, the one that they will most likely answer is pi. I mean, who doesn't like pi(not to be confused with 'pie')? Most people who know what pi is (if you don't, continue to read this post, otherwise you are a n00b) can name the first few digits: 3.14 or 3.14159 if they have above average nerdiness. I, myself know 3.14159265358979, which is the first 15 digits, which is pretty good. However, when you think of people who know pi, you think of the people that can go 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288... or the pi song. Now, for those of you don't know what pi is used for, it is used for calculations relating to circles or any shape containing circles (sphere, cylinder, etc...). Pi represents the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference. In terms of calculus, it is the limit as the number of sides of a polygon, of the perimeter of the number of sides circumscribed around a circle over the diameter of the circle.

Napier's Constant: Ah, the natural number. It is pretty well known, as it is used to describe exponential growth, and has its own special logarithm name: The Natural Logarithm. While this number is pretty amazing, it fails to compare to pi's fan base, even though it is more useful for normal people in day to day life than pi. That, and e is incredibly useful in upper levels of math (i.e. Calculus). However, it is not completely ignored, for in 2004, Google announced that it was going to raise $2,718,218,828, which is e multiplied by a billion rounded to the nearest dollar. The decimal representation of this number is 2.71828182845904523536028747135266249. In terms of calculus, it is the limit as n approaches infinity, of 1 plus 1 over n raised to the power of n.

Phi: You probably didn't recognize this constant did you? Does the Golden Ratio ring a bell? It's the same thing! It is the ratio that is most aesthetically pleasing to the eye, it is greatly encouraged in the world of art. In actuality, it is a specific ratio of a smaller side to a larger side, and it commonly found throughout nature (in humans, plants. etc...). So, as you can imagine, this is quite an important number, although similar to e, it is commonly forgotten and ignored. It's decimal representation is 1.6180339887... In terms of Calculus, it is the limit as n approaches infinity of a Fibonacci sequence of n +1 over a Fibonacci sequence of n.

i: I know what you're thinking: "Pssshhh, i doesn't exist". Technically, you're right. i is the mathematical constant of the square root of negative 1, making it the building block of imaginary numbers. Most people either hate or love this constant. This number allows the exploration of a whole different area of mathematics, so its natural that some people hate it. You might be wondering, why the heck do we care about an imaginary number? Well, for 1 thing, there are mathematical applications, plus, if i is raised to an even power, it becomes a real number, making it so that i can be used to help equations that cannot otherwise be solved. Still think it's useless? Well, the quanity e raised to the power of pi times i, plus 1 equals 0. PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT!!! (Euler FTW)

Pythagoras's Constant: You most likely don't know what this constant is, even though you are actually already familiar with it: the square root of 2. Now, you may be wondering, why the heck is that considered a constant? Well, Pythagoras discovered it first, so naturally he named it after himself. Using the Pythagorean Theorem on a right triangle with legs of 1, the hypontanuse is the square root of 2. Now, you may be wondering what this constant is actually used for. Well, it is common in trigonometry because square root of 2 over 2 equals the cosine and sine of 45 degrees (or pi over 4 radians). It also used in the aspect ratio of paper sizes so that when you cut a straight line parallel to its short side, that the 2 sheets will have the same ratio (Bet that you didn't think that paper was so complicated!)

Advanced:

Brun's constant: This one is pretty uncommon, and in fact, I can pretty much guarantee that unless your friends are mathematicians, they will not know this constant. This constant notates the sum of the reciprocals of twin pairs of prime numbers that are different by 2. Specifically, this number is approximately 1.902160583104. This proves that there is an infinite number of pairs of prime numbers (two primes that differ by 2). Outside of mathematics, this number has little practical use.

Mills' Constant: Another prime number constant, this number raised to the power of 3 time n generates a prime number. This constant is approximately 1.3063778838630806904686144926... Any prime number generated by this number raised to 3 times n, where n is a positive integer, is called a Mills Prime (i.e. 2, 11, 1361, 2521008887, etc...). This number is useful for finding prime numbers.

Plastic Number (Also called the Silver Number): Is the only real solution to x cubed equal to x plus 1. It is approximately 1.324717957244746025960908854. It is also the largest Pisot-Vijayaraghavan number (meaning that it is a real cubic solution greater than 1, whose other solutions are less than 1 in magnitude).

There are a lot more mathematical constants, but I only touched on a few of them. Now, go and impress/buffalo your friends with your new-found knowledge!!

ACRONYM of the Blog

P.S. Blogger decided to be annoying, and screwed up the format of my post (extending the page indefinitely to the left) and it took me a while to remedy it.

Failblogging

So, it's time for another one of my spectacular blog posts!! Not really, but onward anyway!

Okay, so you might be wondering what this post is even about. Well, it's going to be about an assortment of things, so let's dive right in and find out!

Part 1: The Internet

Okay, so you're on The Internet right now. Most people use The Internet for a variety of things such as viewing Email, chatting, going on social networks, playing games, etc... But, if you are going to truly embrace The Internet, you need to do a few things. First, know the rules of The Internet. If you are not familiar with the rules, click here IMMEDIATELY!! Second, check some of the entertaining sites on The Internet regularly. I'd recommend going to http://cheezburger.com/ and finding the sites with the humor you identify most with (there's a few links in the sidebar, but a LOT of the sites are left out). Also, be sure to check various webcomics, youtube, and other such media. You never know when the next big thing will appear on The Internet. Third, you need to understand 1337 s0 7h@7 u c@n pwn |\|008s. Finally, check The Internet regularly, as it stops for no man!

Part 2: I Choose You, BLOG POST!!

Okay, so if you didn't get that reference, go educate yourself IMMEDIATELY (Or skip this part if you don't care about this topic)!! This game series has been present since the 90s, and has spawned one of the best and most successful game franchises of all time. Any gamer that has not played a game in this franchise (especially the originals) is not a gamer. I personally have played Red, Silver, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Blue Rescue Team (not as good as the main series), and Diamond (As well as Yellow & Cyrstal on Visual Boy Advance). These games are just pure awesomeness. Sure, they've gotten carried away with the sheer number of them, and their names, but that doesn't detract from it at all. It still retains it's appeal, as shown by the fact that a remake of gold/silver called HeartGold/SoulSilver is coming out (basically combines Kanto/Johto/Honen regions, so there are 9 STARTERS!! Plus, like in yellow, YOU CAN CHOOSE ONE TO FOLLOW YOU AROUND!!! ) This post is simply a tribute to one of the greatest game series ever. May it live forever (the card game and TV shows can die for all I care).

Part 3: NERDS

I feel obligated to talk about a few Nerdy things. But first, some background: society (being the spawn of Satan that it is) has put a negative context on the term "nerd". Why is this? Nerds are clearly superior to non-nerds in almost every way that matters (A few exceptions, but the point stands). So, why is the term negative? And what can you do to help solve this? Well, first of all, you need to prove that you are a nerd, and you can do that by answering the questions below!

1. Do you find yourself knowing unusually high amounts of knowledge in certain academic areas?

2. Do you tend to dislike the "preps"/"jocks"/"cool kids" ?

3. Do you think about academic subjects outside of school/work?

4. Do you talk about academic subjects with your friends outside of school/work?

5. Do/did you take advanced level courses in school?

Academic in this sense means any real valuable courses that a school would offer (includes tech, business, etc...) And, when I say say academic subjects, I mean more than 1 (clarification for non-nerds).

If you said yes to at least 4 of the questions, you are most likely a nerd. So now that we have this established, how can you contribute to the world of nerds? (aka the world) First, whenever someone calls you a nerd, thank them, and take it as a compliment. So many people will be confused by this, which leaves them vulnerable to your nerdy mind tricks (use your knowledge to outsmart them). Also, begin plotting with your friends to do something (ANYTHING). Plotting is a good mental exercise to stimulate creative thinking, and exchange of nerdy ideas. There are other things, but I will save that for another post. (Also, be sure to look HERE for information on how to do nerd bombs).

This may be the longest post on the blog (or one of the longest.) So, farewell for now!!

ACRONYM of the Blog

When you're downloading Mozilla Firefox... You're downloading communism!

So, in case you can't judge by the title, I'm going to do a quick review of all the Major internet browsers; they will be in order from the worst to the best. So, without any further ado, let's get started!

Internet Explorer: I have 1 word that sums up this browser: terrible. It's the slowest of pretty much all of the modern web browsers. Not to mention, that when you want to install an add-on, you have to download an install file, and go through the installation wizard. WHY DO YOU NEED TO DO THAT? It baffles me that all the other browsers don't do this, but Internet Explorer seems to be a rebel. In addition, the 64-bit IE isn't compatible with flash. LAME!! If you have any sense whatsoever, you will not use this browser (unless you are forced to).

Opera: This browser is okay. It's not great, not bad, just okay. It's pretty fast, but when you open a new tab, it takes you to it. What if I just wanted to open a couple tabs to look at them individually? Solid browser, but they are better ones out there.

Safari: Apple's signature browser, this browser is solid. I have absolutely no problems with it: it's fast, it's reliable, and it's good. I'd recommend it.

Firefox: This browser is basically Safari with more customizability... A LOT MORE. I've never seen a browser with more ways to customize it than Firefox. There are so many add-ons that do so many things. I would highly suggest it.

Google Chrome: The biggest and baddest of the browsers, Chrome is by far the fastest browser that you can use. It also has some customizability (not quite as much as Firefox). It's also really nice to be able to drag tabs into separate windows. I would recommend using this as your default browser: It's awesome.

That's it for now!

ACRONYM of the Blog