Denver Ho!

Here in a couple of minutes I will be heading out to Colorful Colorado to go play in a pre-season hockey tournament in Denver at the Bladium. I'll try to get one or two posts up over the weekend, but no guarantees.

Until then, discuss whether or not a successful football team is something that a college should strive for. Who(m)ever makes the best argument gets a point.

Know thy football history

THE play:



1982 California vs Stanford

Sudoku Samurai

Today I messed up a Sudoku puzzle in the shortest amount of time ever. See this example for how many step it took before I made a mistake:

This isn't the exact puzzle, but it was that bad of a mistake. I didn't catch the problem until the next number I tried to write down should have gone on top of it.
I am pretty much a Sudoku Samurai.

Today's events include writing a paper, doing a huge homework and making a test. All of which needs to get done by today. So I'll be hanging around wifi hotspots all day, so if you have a chance come by and rock it on out with me.

Cheese Graters

I am sorry, but the internet has been boring for the past couple of days and I have been actually doing alot of work. This means that this post will have to be about boring things:

There are three kinds of cheese graters in America.
The first type is a flat surface that has ridges punched or cut out of them so that when you slide the cheese over the grates they will catch the cheese and thus shred it. (example)
These second kind is much like the first but is able to be stood up on end and usually has multiple faces that have different sizes of hole to shred the cheese with. This is thought to be the most widely used type of cheese grater in America. (example)
The third type of cheese grater is the food-processor type. The user places the cheese in a bin which has blades, that when turned o, slice the cheese up into small pieces. This is not really grating the cheese, but it still accomplishes the same goal. (example)

Yup, that about summarizes how interesting the internet has been lately.
p.s. if you site the above information in a paper i will give you something; something better than a cheese grater.

edit: Oh crap i forgot to include the type where a person puts cheese in a bin, then the user uses a plunger to press the cheese against a rotating cylinder that has grates on it. The cheese is then forced through the rotating cylinder and out the side of the grater. This style of cheese grater has been rising in popularity recently. (example)

There.

Dylan Meier in Magic

(He's not THAT bad, but it is was too funny not to do)

Made here.

Monday Kickoff

Every Monday should come with some sort of cool video to watch when you wake up. I've got it covered this week:


Lance also has a good video up.

Sushi at the Union

The Collegian had a full page article about the new sushi that Panda Express has at the union. Most of the page was filled with pictures, but there was a review too. Here is an excerpt:

We picked up the California Roll, which is an Americanized version of sushi made with crab, avocado and cucumbers.

As we sat down at a sunny table in the dining area of Bosco Student Plaza, we looked at the $4.99 package of sushi we had bought.

I must admit, it looked pretty with the six sushi arranged around some festive blades of grass (to add color, I suppose).

The sushi rolls were moist - perhaps a bit too moist, as they fell apart in my mouth. There also was a bit too much rice wrapped around the sushi, and the taste of sesame seeds was overpowering.

The crab in the middle of the sushi roll was questionable; it tasted like imitation crab meat. The avocado also tasted a bit funny; it left an unusual aftertaste in my mouth.

Next to the sushi rolls on the plate was a piece of thin, pink meat that smelled vaguely fishy. My guess would be salmon, except that when I bit into it, it tasted like a jar of pepper.

The only explanation I've come up with is that someone filled a jar to the top with black pepper, poured it all over the phantom pink meat and then left it in a dank cave for several hours. Strange.

The comment I left on the article:

Worst article ever.

Why does somebody that has no idea what he is talking about placed in charge of writing a review?

That "salmon meat" is pickled ginger and is meant to cleanse the palate between rolls. And of course it is imitation crab meat in the California roll... that is what a California roll is...

If I was in charge of Panda Express I would be very mad that I got a bad review by somebody that had no knowledge of the product.

I have tried the sushi at the Union, and I found it to be ok, it wasn't great, but it was on par for the price.

Geez. Next let's have somebody that has never watched football before to review our game against Louisville this weekend. (How that would go: and then for some reason the purple guys threw the ball in the air instead of running it into the pile of the other guys... Overall this game was boring and I was unimpressed that K-State did not score three goals in the first period.)

The NHL Cometh

Without much fanfare the NHL pre-season has started. And along with the new faces on new teams that is enviable in the new salary cap league comes two new team logos.

First the Sabers have dropped their Buffalo head, and even the colors of red, black and white, for the old blue and yellow and this new logo:

The new logo is of a whole buffalo (?) and looks oddly futuristic, but for some reason the logo isn't very appealing to me. I have already seen that it is being called the Buffaslug, which to me is very funny (and an accurate description of the logo). I think their old logo was much better.

The other change comes to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Apparently the novelty of a professional hockey team being named after a movie has finally worn off and the team has been renamed the Anaheim Ducks, and sports this new logo:

Now, I am not crazy about text logos, but it does beat the old Disney movie logo. Also changing the colors from teal/eggplant/white to copper/black is a very good move. I still don't like the Ducks, but their prescience in the NHL doesn't induce a gag reflex from deep within me anymore. So overall this was a good change.

Neither Land

Some of my best ideas come when I am not asleep, but not awake either. For instance today when I was half awake I was thinking that towns that are having a feud should have a museum-off, where the various museums try to out-do each other.

Is that not a great idea?

Sandstorm

Back when I was in 4th and 5th grade there was a series of duststorms that rolled through Garden City. People were comparing them to the Dust Bowl days of old. During the dust storms everything got dark and alot of the time it was harder to see than even in a thick fog.
I had forgotten about those dust storms for awhile now, but I found a video of a sandstorm on Google which was very similar to what I remember about the dust storms in Garden. What I especially remember is the dust rolling in like it does at the start of the video, but it didn't get nearly as dark as it does in this sandstorm.

Two completely unrelated topics

I had two things that I wanted to say and so I don't forget about them I'll post them both at once, even though they are not related at all with one another.

First off, I think there may be a lot we can learn about the brain if we study what happens when people are on LSD:

How can our brain override what our eyes see and replace it with what it thinks? How much of the world do we actually see in reality then? Also how can two people get on the same trip? It seems like there is more to the brain if we unlock it, and LSD could be a key...
Woah... that kinda sounded like a hippie thing to say...
More LSDness here here and here.

And now for something completely different:
You know the bars that they put with music that goes up and down based on how loud different frequencies are? Well, one of my biggest pet peeves is when they make fake ones that move, but are just image loops. There is one at the K-State football games that pops up from time to time on the jumbotron that fills in the word "LOUDER". It doesn't matter how loud the crowd is, the bars fill up the same way each time. Myspace and Quicktime also has the fake bar graphs in their programs. It is so annoying. Stop making them already, they serve no purpose. Geez.

Wabash Cannonball

K-State showed that they are actually a worthy team this weekend with a fairly sound beating of Marshal. The game ended with a score of 23-7 but we could have scored a couple more touchdowns if we didn't commit so many penalties.
I had a good time at the game and my abs got a good workout doing the Wabash many-a-times.


***K-State football update*** K-State football had a good Sunday night in the NFL, Rock Cartwright scored the only touchdown for the Washington Redskins on a kickoff return. Also Terrance Newman was named co-"Rock Star" of the game.

Make Tacos NOT War

Best war protest ever:

via Spinning Girl

A few good blogs

I need your help, I am looking for a couple of new blogs to read. What you can do is tell me your two or three favorite blogs (other than mine ^_^ ) . I will go through them select my favorite, maybe make them a cheesy award, and in the end have a couple more entertaining blogs to read.

So again I ask; what are some good blogs that you read?

A Million Dollar Idea

I had a really good idea on the way to Radina's this morning. Why don't golf courses place an extra green by the place why you normally tee off and then on every other week have everyone play the course backwards? this would give people a reason to get out every week so that they can play the course each direction.

...If you use this idea in a golf course could you please give me a percent of your earnings (say 3~4%)? I am tring to earn 22 million dollars as quickly as possible by posting good ideas on this blog...

The state of K-State football

So now that we are two weeks into the season how do things look for K-State football? Well, surprisingly I have the same feelings about them now than I did at the start of the year. Those feelings are a since of hope, with a slight twitch of impending doom. With this being Prince's first year of coaching I didn't really have too high of hopes for the team, be we do have a good core of young players to build on. But with the news that Dylan Meier would be the starting quarterback almost all hope of a good season was dashed, especially after seeing his performance over the first game.
Fortunately, this last weekend he was good more times than he was a dork, and coupled with Clayton being back in the line-up we put together a good game. Now I know that FAU is 118 out of 119 in the NCAA power rankings, but we still had our timing down and we didn't mess up the easy plays like we did in the first week.
So will K-State go to a bowl game? Let's look at the schedule:

Illinois St. - Won
Florida Atlantic - Won
Marshall - 75% Win
Louisville - 5% Win
at Baylor - 65% Win
OK State - 55% Win
Nebraska - 20% Win
at Missouri - 25% Win
Iowa State - 45% Win
at Colorado - 75% Win
Texas - 10% Win
at Kansas - 60% Win

So if the Cats win all the games that I think they have a good shot at they should go 6-6 and get a bowl bid because they travel well to bowl games. It is possible that we will finish 3rd in the Big XII North (Missouri and Nebraska will be one and two), and so the bowl we goto should be somewhat decent.

I think overall things are looking up for K-State football. We are not good enough to be a big player this year, or even next, but I think within the next three to five years we should be back in the top 20 and playing for the Big XII title.

Now only if I can find a way to keep our basketball team from being good so that I don't have to hear about that "sport" all the time...

Remember

where we have been.

Megalopyge opercularis

Here is a video of Megalopyge opercularis (Puss Caterpillar):


Here is some information about Megalopyge opercularis from Wikipedia:

The 'fur' of the larva contains venomous spines that cause extremely painful reactions in human skin upon contact. The reactions are sometimes localized to the affected area but are often very severe, radiating through the limb and causing numbness, tingling, rashes and blisters, and more systemic symptoms such as chest pain and anaphylaxis. Ironically, the resemblance of the larvae to soft, colorful cotton balls encourages people to pick them up and pet them.

Here is somebody who touched one:

When I was 7 years old playing in the backyard.I accidently rubbed my hand on this puss caterpillar & suffered afterwards.There was a burning itching sensation which developed into multiple red bumps & lesions all over my hand.Later on that day,I developed a fever & nausea.My parents rubbed natural herbal medicine on my hand to sooth the pain a little because we were poor so the hospital was out of the question.Next day,a huge bump filled with liquid developed in the middle of my hand surrounded by smaller red liquid bumps which still burned like hell.After a couple of days of natural treatments.The liquid bump bursted with oozing pus,revealing the red tender skin underneath.I still felt nauseated,but I felt alot better.A week later,my hand completely healed.Even though all this happened when I was a kid.I still remember it like it was yesterday.So always remember,a pus caterpillar has hidden hollow spines in it's fur filled with toxic poison.

Enjoy your day. ^_^

"Is it sabotage or is it pen attack?"

From Time Magazine:

A reporter went backstage, showed Senator Gerald P. Nye an Associated Press bulletin, stating that his country had been attacked. Snapped Gerald Nye, all wound up for an anti-war speech: "It sounds terribly fishy to me. . . . Is it sabotage or is it pen attack? . . ."
...
That night he spoke at Pittsburgh's First Baptist Church. His manner and tone were bitter and defeatist: ". . . just what Britain had planned for us"; "we have been maneuvered into this by the President."

That was the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.

More from Time during the Pre-WWII 40's:

While debate on the Lend-Lease Bill rolled on last week, many a U. S. citizen raised shrill anti-war cries. Speaking for the leftist majority of the American Youth Congress, Executive Secretary Joseph Cad-den declared: "America's youth have repudiated every attempt on the part of the Administration and its lackeys to put over this war program."
In front of the British Embassy paraded lady members of the Paul Revere Sentinels and Women's Neutrality League, brandishing placards which blared: "Benedict Arnold Helped England, Too," "Move Over, Unknown Soldier."
"[Sen.] Pepper is a coward," screeched Mrs. Dilling. "He's just an old scaredy-cat and won't talk to us. How much is he getting to sell this Republic out? I'm hot and bothered. We came here to protest against this dictatorship and war bill. . . .
Paul A. F. Warnholtz bellowed, in the Alliance's News Letter: "They are usually old men, sterile biologically, and sterile even of all dreams and memories of life, love and youth, and would deny the right of youth to live. Their senile bodies, their cold, calculating brains, frequently find compensation for their lost youth in hatred and false ambitions for glory and gold. . . ."
Mr. Ford suggested that the U. S. give both England and the Axis powers "the tools to keep on fighting until they both collapse." Said he: "There is no righteousness in either cause. ... If we can keep both sides fighting long enough, until they cannot fight any more, then maybe the little people will open their eyes. . . . When both nations finally collapse into internal dissolution, then the U. S. can play the role for which it has the strength and the ability."

Sound familiar? (The American Dictatorship, war for money, anyone who wants war is wrong, etc...)

A popular voice is not always the right one; it is better to stand up for what is right than to take the easy way out of a hard fight.

Political Pork

Political Pork is a local talk show that deals with current events here at K-State and around the world. One of the host is Republican and the other is Libertarian, and they both are pretty funny and unbiased. They usually have good points and they make some of the more boring topics of the current news worth listening about. Throw in a call from the frequent Liberal caller Joann, and you have one good hour of talk show.

For the last couple of years we would listen to Political Pork on K-State's radio station on the way to hockey practice on Mondays. Unfortunately hockey practice moved to Tuesday/Thursday so I have not had a chance to catch their shows.

Well who took the initiate to solve this problem? Thats right, I did. I have added a podcast of their show to the side bar on the right. Now you and I can enjoy their wit and charm any time that we want.

Your cheers flatter me.

Color

Light-emitting shirts:


Paint Bombs:


Blue Man Group:

Happy 2nd Blogday!

Well I never. I wasn't paying attention and missed this blog's second birthday. I know I don't need to tell all of you, my loyal, raving, awesome fans, but I started this blog on September 3rd 2004. Since that fateful day I have achieved many things, but what I am most proud of is my rank of 5th for the Google search of "quitting crack".

So how did I make it to two years with almost daily posts? I simply followed these three rules:
1. Never apologize for not posting.
2. Post something if I find it interesting; don't worry about if others will.
3. Don't make rules about what I can or can not post.

I would also like to take this time to thank you guys for reading my blog. I especially would like to thank those people who read this without having to (i.e. not my friends or family. They have to, because I will start talking about something when I am with them, and then, when I realize that they have no idea what I am talking about I say; "I posted about it on my blog, didn't you read it?" After a year or so of this I have tricked many of them into reading my blog so that they have some idea about what I am rambling on about.)

Alright, thanks again for reading, and maybe by year three Google will see my vast knowledge of everything and see this blog as a priceless gem of the internet and will buy it out for $22 million. And then I can blog about all the awesome things you can do with $22 million dollars.

Rock on.

Killer Game

Dude, I am so getting the when it comes out. The graphics are awesome!

Kansas City Renaissance Festival

Hear ye, hear ye! I just got back from the KC Ren Fest. It was very, very good. I went to Denver's Ren Fest when I was a kid, and I liked it, but I don't remember too much of it. But from what I do remember KC's was much better.

First off the festival is huge and there were many times throughout the day where we found new places to explore. Secondly everyone was very nice and there were alot of people dressed up (we dressed in our pirate costumes since today was pirate day). Thirdly, and most importantly, the price was right (about $16 a person, and we were even able to score a two-for-one deal).
Everyone that I talked to about the festival on Friday said that it was good, and i believed them, but I didn't really think it would be this good.

If you are in the Kansas City area you really should check out the Renaissance Festival, you won't be disappointed.

More posts about today:
Nicole's Renaissance Festival Fun
Michelle's KC Ren Fest

Google Image Labeler

Google has thought of a good way to improve their image search; they made a game of it. You and a random partner view a picture and write key words for it, if you match key words you get points and go on to a new picture. It really is a good idea, and actually is kinda fun. My high score so far is 900 points. If you have a minute you have enough time to play, check it.