Every guy should have a watch. I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out before. Watches are great! In one of the animated-lectures I’ve seen, someone said that watches are outdated and unnecessary because they are single-function devices. Of course, the watch bit was a side point, but it is grossly shortsighted and needlessly assertive. Watches may only tell the time, but they’re exceedingly good at doing so. Reading your watch is plenty more efficient than checking the phone or the computer. Usually, I’m already looking down at my hands, writing, eating, or programming. The placement is perfect. A simple glance to the south-west is sufficient without even turning my head. It’s both stationary and exceptionally portable and always ready to work when I need it. Now get this: the single-function of watches isn’t a limitation. Whenever I hear… more →

AP Biology certainly makes a big deal out of ecological preservation and endangered species. What’s the deal? Things die off, and then there’s more to replace them. I read 4 chapters and I still can’t answer the “Why is it important to protect endangered species?” question. But I think I’m finally starting to get it. Now, understand that I relate a lot of things to programming. It just works for me. Spanish is like a massive programming language. Certain functions only take certain kinds of parameters. You can mash a bunch of words up and sound smart, but the code won’t compile. Learning spanish is like reading an enormous book of documentation: ”The Spanish Programming Lanuage: 2nd edition”. Then it all fits in. Physics is a lot like programming too, but that doesn’t even need to be explained. But biology. Oh biology.… more →

There are stereotypes. Then there are people who point out these stereotypes, in their cultured/hip unconformity. Then others write history books about beat poets, “writers and artists [who] harshly criticized what they considered the sterility and conformity of American life ... and the emptiness of popular culture.” These arguments are endless. Once in a while, somebody speaks out about unconformity though media: video, blogs. Then people on all tiers of cultivated, pessimistically-cynical sophistication form a dazzling gradient of reactions—first total confusion and indifference, then massive mindfucks and life-changing enlightenment, and finally qualified scoffs—based on their personal standing, or perhaps perceived personal standing. It’s relaxing to know the controversy backwards and forwards before it spreads to your peers, because then, you can go ahead and take your hipster analytical view about it. (It being the responses of your hipster-peers) You will… more →

Cairo is 90% media hype. Many people openly support the Egyptians, like the hipsters they are. But who knows why they’re protesting? Poor living conditions? Yeah let’s protest against poverty, that’ll work like it worked in 1930 right? How about a corrupt, repressive government? Well this is exactly why there’s so much public hysteria. Because the government shut down the Internet, everybody suddenly soiled their pants, effectively creating the biggest example of the Streisand effect in existence. Since when did the Internet become the world’s stronghold for revolution/democracy? Not just Cairo. There’s the overblown net-neutrality fears, Canada’s troubles, and hey, don’t forget China. It’s absolutely exhilarating how a massive, furious entity of transoceanic cables can incite revolution. What will the chapter on 2001-2010 look like in your kid’s history book? Slowly, everything is beginning to come together. You know the title attribute that goes on… more →

Wordpress has this interesting feature where you can publish posts to your blog by email. Then think: when would you ever use this? I thought maybe if you’re heading to an inevitable death and you want to get out one last message, to friends or family. You pull out your phone and decide email would be fastest way. Oh man, the car’s coming up fast and there’s nowhere to run/hide. (You’re in a tunnel or something.) ”Bye everuo” crap, backspace backspace.. screw it, I’ll just leave it with ”Bye”. You toss the phone aside, safe, where it can deliver your last message with confidence. Okay, perhaps that won’t happen. What if you’re a tech blogger at some big expo and you’re giving up-to-the-minute updates to your eager, drooling audience. But then, you would probably be using Twitter. Hey how about… more →

Behold, the awesomest graph you will ever set eyes on. Ready yourself because you may soil your pants. Go ahead, click it and take it all in. Diaries and journals are troublesome to keep because they require daily effort to maintain them. They’re fun to reread and all, but most people decide it’s not worth the effort. All the problems are solved if you have an automatic journal thing. The computer is a central part of anybody’s life, some more than others. This graph visualizes how long I’ve been on my computer every day for the past year. And frankly, this is the best diary I could ask for. Event viewer ID 1531, 1532.

Hah, this picture probably makes no sense to you. It’s a calculator with 5 buttons, but no apparent significance. Actually, these functions are the only things a computer processor can do: add numbers, memorize numbers, and compare numbers. Yet, people build everything computer-related from this foundation. It’s like the feeling you get when you think about the mathematics-physics-chemistry-biology-psychology-sociology chain. I’m on StumbleUpon. It’s a very good example of good social networking principles: no obligation, no exit barriers, no fiery pits of infinite ignorance. I like it a lot.

They sent out the schedule for finals week during afternoon lab on January 3rd. It’s always interesting to see what they come up with. I bet some guy at the district office has to work out these schedules every time something weird happens. The times give priority to consistency for as many students as possible, which excludes periods 2-7 people. So, Mrs. Davies was the first to present the schedule. As a science teacher, she takes an holistic look at the schedule and is satisfied because, well, the data’s all there. What more does science require? Then Mr. Belcher shows it to us and even prints us all a copy, because apparently he likes doing that. He’s like “it’s very confusing, but it makes sense. the logic is there.” He shows us how we get review sessions the day before… more →

In the 1950’s, the United States and the USSR were both competing to develop the first nuclear fusion bomb. However, scientists in both countries faced a similar problem: you really can’t perform nuclear fusion experiments in a laboratory because it requires enormous amounts of heat and pressure (think: the Sun), so everything had to be calculated theoretically. So the USSR, being the USSR, decides to pull hundreds of thousands of their math professors and mathematicians and college math majors, and then give each guy a specific math/physics problem to solve. Colleges started accepting more physics and math majors, just so they could dedicate more of these idiots to their massive grunt-work operation. At the same time, there was no apparent link between problems to any larger goal because, well, they had to keep things secret. The US, on the other hand,… more →

This just blew my mind. Take a good look before you read on. College admissions are an infinitely debatable topic. Who knows what goes on in the brief minutes that you spend years preparing yourself for. I realize dribbble gets some serious preview content, but nothing’s weirder than combining the all-too-familiar mainstream design with the pinnacle of scholarship. Oh hey, you can see the rest of the set here. You know, projects on dribble really put my “projects” into perspective. These pros spend months developing their projects that might not be successful. Man I hope I never have that kind of pressure.

There’s a big idea that people have where, if you don’t share your pictures now, they’re gonna get lost forever. Why do people take pictures anyways? This reason has definitely changed over time. Before, if you were rich and famous, you would hire some artist to come paint your portrait, just to make sure everyone knew you existed. Then there was the period where people would all stand in rows with their family members with blank expressions and hire the photographer to take the family photo. Now, that’s not the case. Some people photograph to document their life, or maybe to relive the moment some other time. (Hah, I used a noun as a verb) Some people take pictures because it’s part of their job as a designer or reporter or something. What about like vacation pictures? Those are rather… more →