Praise The Guild

“If I get a mention in someone’s blog, it’s the best feeling”, Felicia Day says in an interview by WoW Stratics, so I thought I’d write a small post about it. Felicia Day is the writer, producer, and star of the new and popular sitcom “The Guild“. I started watching The Guild a few days before the second episode was released on YouTube, and immediately fell in love with all the characters.
The interview also mentions the other very popular sitcom Lonelygirl15, and after a quick comparison, The Guild is certainly better, perhaps because I can relate to The Guild as I’m one of many addicted World of Warcraft players. I wish for the best of luck in the future for Felicia Day and The Guild.

You can watch the first webisode here:

Education don’t have to be hard

I have finally adjusted to the new school, and it seem to be going well. I have trouble with the teachers from time to time. Within politics, education is one of my favourite subjects, and apparently they don’t like my untraditional way – and still being taught that traditions is barely visible in the western world.
The teachings of this school is much alike my previous school. The only difference is the words. It’s basically the same stuff, just new and more complex words to describe things, however I do learn new things, especially in mathematics, but definitely not because of books or long boring speeches. I just tried to use my head, putting bits and pieces together, and much made sense. Well, not sense in particular, it isn’t exactly logic, but I was able to figure out some results.
I think many teachers ask themselves, “Why don’t they bother learning this?”, and I simply don’t understand how those teachers has missed the question, “Why are we being taught this?”. Do you know why I need to calculate a triangle? I want to become a journalist or lawyer, not mathematician or scientist in particular. I don’t want to know these things, and neither teachers or government can tell us exactly why a journalist need to calculate triangles.
Our educations system sucks!

Web 2.0 doesn’t leave porn behind

WIRED’s commentary Regina Lynn writes that Web 2.0 leaves porn behind, but some of the major communities such as YouTube is also for pornographic material. As kevjumba, the most popular comedian on YouTube, says “Any girl who talks about sex or gonna show her tits is gonna get thousands of views, even is she has nothing smart to saw. I have like 5 subscribers, it’s really bad, like no one watches my videos, but I guarantee you, if I had huge tits or a nice butt, I would have thousands of subscribers. I hate you no-talented hot girls!” – 6 month after he made this video, kevjumba had 50.000 subscribers. He had something smart to say.

Google has a major community with a lot of hidden porn in it. Just look at the Top 10 on Google Video.

2. Woman in Shower
3. Girl caught by boyfriend
4. Webcam Girls Go Wild ( full)
7. Naked Nude Teen Girls
9. SEXY SEXY SEXY … WOW!

Perhaps this isn’t exactly pornography, but pornography isn’t allowed on neither Google Videos or YouTube. However the YouTube template is used on pornsites including community. Then there’s the animé and manga communities, both are used in ecchi and hentai.

YouTube debates – modern communication reaches the politicians ears!

The President of USA is someone who has influence beyond the Earth, who has influence on the Earths entire population, so I thought, perhaps I should start looking into what presidential candidates that were running this time. YouTube and CNN has a feature for just that. On www.youtube.com/debates normal YouTubers is able to question the candidates. I thought that this way is genius, because it”s very rare that normal citizens of countries are able to stand in front of a high-ranked politicians such as Bush, or these senators and ask them about how they are going to help the nation.
I reach question 5, and the subject hits race. Question 6: Class. Question 7: Gender. All the candidates that spoke on these questions, on all the questions are all agreeing that the last eight years (Perhaps even the last 24 years, except candidate Clinton, who is very proud of her husbands achievements) has been disastrous, and that USA has indeed shameful moments. Obama speaks of “Corridors of Shame”, certain areas of USA that could be mistaken for Africa.
Candidate Edwards is against gay marriage, but won”t cite religion as reason to deny gay rights, and I believe that”s revolutionary, but it”s still odd.
As I started to watch these videos, I had a hard time telling them apart. Are they all the same? But as the questions went on, the difference is quite clear. Until now, we might be better of with a black man and a woman instead of that monkey, that USA currently uses as president. Gravel is a bit sensitive, isn’t he? “The only thing worse than one soldier dying in vain is more soldiers dying in vain”, he yells. I think he is a interesting character in this political game, but I don”t mind that Anderson (The person directing YouTube questions to politicians) don”t give him that many questions. Gravel is very unhappy about it, and yells “Is this fair?”, but does make a funny joke about it in question 18.

In question 25, a guy asks “What is your stance on nuclear power?”, and I believe that candidate Edwards mentions that we haven”t found a good nor safe way to dispose nuclear waste, and I wondered what much money are the hosts of nuclear power plants spending on finding a good and safe way to this? I believe that we have an enormous energy crisis at the moment, as we are still questioning whether it is natural or us creating these green house effects!
Question 27 is rather interesting, and Obama definitely handles the situation perfectly and doesn’t have to answer the actual question, “would you agree to be paid the minimum wage?”.
This debate certainly made me think, and apparently these candidates all qualify for being president of the USA for the time being. I have a term during such times, “Campaign Promises”. Candidates promise their nation about what they’ll do to make it all better, but never actually keep it. I hope, for once, that they’ll keep the promises and do something about the problems we have. I believe that USA could be our ‘saviour’, if they do it right.
In all, 38 questions has been answered and more to come on 17th of September.

I read something quite interesting just now. Apparently, only two GOP (Grand Old Party, Republican Party) candidates have agreed to participate in the upcoming show in September YouTube/CNN debate. More to come!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows once more [SPOILER]

I have just finished reading the 7th book of Harry Potter, it was hard to put down as I’ve almost read it non-stop for the past few days only to eat, drink, sleep or occasionally write a post or check my mailbox. I was awkwardly surprised of how the book ended and I must admit I don’t think the story is going to end just yet, and I would be happy if that was true. I have talked of pottermania and overeager fans, but even I had emotions during the book. Strangely, my chest was heavy sometimes and I smiled. These things, unfortunately, the film company are avoiding, but I think that the reason of this popular series is because they have grown into this fantasy world, it sets their imagination and emotions free. Those who’ve read the books may feel the same way as I do? It’s damn hard to put down the books, and I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody committed suicide if that epilogue wasn’t there. I was actually quite confused by the epilogue using those names.
I wonder how the film is going to be. The last two kinda sucked. When I watched the 5th film, I had a feeling of the scenes didn’t actually end. They just jumped on to the next one. The great thing about the books is that you get all the funny stuff in it. As I said before, the film company must be avoiding it, because in the latest Harry Potter films, I barely smiled. Just watched them as they were nothing related to the books, just a mere copy. I think that the director believes that people want action and excitement. And we do! But smiling too is being excited. They earn millions of dollars on the films, so why not just shoot another 30 minutes to at least finish the scenes and have a little humour in it too? If the 7th film won’t contain “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH”, I’ll leave the theatre. However, I would certainly encourage people to read the books, even if you don’t like reading books. I could talk about what I gained from reading those books, but you may not gain the same thing. Some might say that sitting in front of your computer playing games or watching TV all day is a waste, but no man, woman or child is the same – and none will gain the same from art, which is the most interesting and magnificent thing. I gained a lot from this peace of craftsmanship, I’m sure you would gain something as well. Perhaps just a few hours of enjoyment, perhaps something else.

I’m number 72… uh, and 27

I just started reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as I received an e-mail from the blog. It was a comment moderation from botd.wordpress.com, saying my post about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reached number 72 of the top posts on the 24th of July. The usual numbers of visitors aren’t great, around 10-20 everyday, but I reached 272 today. It simply proves the point that this pottermania is taking overhand. A mere blogger like me reaches such high numbers. Perhaps I should start writing of something popular. 🙂
As for today’s update, I’ve reached number 27 on the Top Posts on WordPress. This Harry Potter theme really is a good commercial for bloggers with only a few readers.

The Free Hugs Campaign

The Free Hugs Campaign was origally started by one man, Juan Mann, from Austrualia, in 2004. In 2006, Juan Mann uploaded a video to YouTube showing himself walking down Pitt Street Mall in Sidney, holding a sign with the words “Free Hugs” written on it. Shimon Moore, the lead singer of Sick Puppies filmed the event, and used his own music in the video.
During the campaign, the police forced Juan Mann to stop the “free hugging”, as Juan Mann had not obtained public liability insurance worth $25 million for his actions. Juan Mann and his companions used a petition to convince local autherities to allow them to continue hug other people, without the insurance. They reached 10.000 signatures, and thereafter they were allowed to hug people again.
Participants of the Free Hugs Campaign decided to declare an official International Free Hugs Days, which will be the first weekend after the 30th of June every year. On Saturday the 7th of July this year, or more specifically on 7/7/07. The purpose of the day is to promote the Free Hugs campaign. The organisers are hoping that hundreds of people around the world will be distributing free hugs on this day. That day is also known as 777, the YouTube Gathering day in New York.
Today, this is an international campaign, and the International Free Hugs day is used for it’s purpose. I’m quite upset that it’s actually illegal to hug strangers without proper insurance in Australia, however I can’t talk for other countries. In the right perspective, it sounds like being in Hell. When I watched the campaign by Juan Mann, I was deeply inspired. It has reached more than 16 million views on YouTube, also it was being published on famous “Goodmorning America” show. Many has followed his example, and uploaded videos of themselves giving away free love and hugs in their homecountry.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

The final book of Harry Potter has arrived. J.K. Rowling should be proud of herself, as she wrote the most popular series of books in human history. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold approximately 8.3 million copies just in the United States., and takes the place as the fastest selling book, and could easily beat the record sales of the Bible this year. I enjoy reading the Harry Potter books, and I can’t possibly question why the books are so popular. However, I think that this time, it went over the edge. Rumours has told me something quite strange. Unfortunately, I can’t do any research before I’ve read the book as there’s spoilers everywhere. One rumour told that $110 million was spent on security for the books. Another said that they opened trauma-phone lines in case little children couldn’t deal with the death of either Harry, Ron or Hermione. However, that’s rumours. A few things, we do know for a fact is that people actually stole copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and published it on the Internet. A simple search on Google, and you have the “best” book in history, or at least readers choice. Even though, these books was guarded 24/7, and none were allowed to enter the guarded rooms except those who had to deal with them. Then there’s the Pottermania, revived from the Beatlesmania, a so-called frenzy that unleashes in young girls heads whenever something big happens regarding the mania. Have you ever seen a Beatles concert, where they every now and then showed the audience? You can’t even hear the music for all those screaming girls. If you search for Harry Potter on Google, you get 191.000.000 hits. This is a large amount, even for Google. But why Harry Potter? There’s many enjoyable books, just as good as Harry Potter, but never reached this level of fame. Philip Pullman’s “Dark Materials” trilogy is just as good, and the first book, The Golden Compass, is going to the movies in December 2007. Then there’s Tamora Pierce, who written many books, some better than Harry Potter. According to analysts, they say that it’s because of the Internet. Harry Potter just had a great deal of luck and good timing. The Internet, as you may know, is a great place to share thoughts, and if we both seen the films or read the books, then we might have a good conversation. Like sheeps, just following what’s up a head.
The most breaking news is that Harry Potter didn’t make it first everywhere. In Beijing, the new film “Chuck and Larry” sold for $34.8 million, while Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix got number two, and only made $32.2 million. Also Harry Potter won’t reach the NYT Bestseller list – at all.
I just read that a Teenage girl killed herself because of fake spoilers. The news reporter said that her room was filled with toys, models and other Harry Potter merchandise.

Success

I read that successful weblog has content on a regular basis, which I can only agree on. And I would love to have more read my opinions regarding certain subjects, especially political views, but I was thinking, is this a “professional” amateur or partly personal blog? Well, I wouldn’t call my posts private – but experience states that my previous blogs had personal posts. I posted regularly – or somewhat regularly – in my previous blogs, but then I got tired and I was busy studying (Playing games or hanging out with friends). Then there’s the question about whether I’d even like to have a “professional” blog. I think I’ll try to post regularly now. Not because I’d like to increase the number of visitors, I’m fine, but I hate to create something with no content. I have time to try it out for a little while, but I don’t know how much time I’ll have on my hands when schools starts again.

A funny story from the University of Washinton

I was going through Scribd.com just now, and found a funny story from the University of Washington. The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term exam. The answer by one student was so “profound” that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well…

Here is the “Bonus Question” on the exam: “Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?”
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s Law states that in order for the temperature and
pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa (a girlfriend of mine during my Freshman year) that, “it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you”, and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct…leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God.”

He was the only student who received an A. This story isn’t just funny, but it made me think. I do spend some time to think about religious questions, and he has a quite interesting theory, which could be a lead argument in debates. Yay, I found a new way to piss of Christians…