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Sunday, February 28, 2010

«Another Earthquake»

What's with all the large earthquakes lately? Haiti... Japan... Chile... There's been some serious movement of the tectonic plates lately, hasn't there1? At least Japan and Chile are more prepared for earthquakes, so even though the one in Chile was vastly more powerful, it didn't do as much damage. Makes me wounder when the next big one will hit the US2...

*ominous voice* And this is only the beginning... 2012.

1: Actually, if you look at a list of sizable earthquakes by year, this year is progressing no differently than years past.
2: Probably will happen in Alaska, out somewhere away from a population center so it won't even make the news.

See the rest of “Another Earthquake”»

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Friday, February 26, 2010

«The Half Beef Pizza»

You know, I think if I were the cook I would have called to make sure this is really all they wanted on the pizza...

Half beef pizza.

Click image to view full.

That has to be the strangest request they've ever had...

See the rest of “The Half Beef Pizza”»

Thursday, February 25, 2010

«SimCity 4: Ishau»

I've been wanting to play a city simulator again for a while. I haven't read very good reviews of Cities XL, and from what I've seen I don't like how zoning works in it anyway. So I've went back to SimCity 4. Click an image to view full.

I started a brand new region, so right now my biggest city only has a population of 15,000. I named it Ishau.
Main part of Ishau
As you can see, I'm using the Network Addon Mod. This is what allows me to have all the roundabouts and that odd highway intersection (among other things).

Because the roundabouts are a new feature to me, I went a little overboard on them.
Residential district of Ishau with a plethora of roundabouts.
I always have a tendency to build things with a symmetrical pattern, so I've been trying my damndest to avoid patterns, especially in the industrial district. I was going for a dirty, messy, chaotic look.
Dirty industrial district of Ishau.

See the rest of “SimCity 4: Ishau”»

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

«Billy Mays Bill»

Not until after death do great men appear on money.

Billy Mays $19.95 dollar bill.

Click image to view full.

It's just $19.95! But wait, if you call within the next 30 minutes, we'll double your offer absolutely free! Just pay separate shipping & handling!

- Billy Mays

Remember it's free, just pay...

See the rest of “Billy Mays Bill”»

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

«Stir The Kool-Aid»

Kool-Aid fuck yeah comic.

Click image to view full.

I don't know why, but this comic connects with my childhood. I remember doing that exact thing; stir it fast, then let go and watch the spoon continue to go around in circles. And that expression on his face in the 2nd-to-last panel is priceless.

See the rest of “Stir The Kool-Aid”»

Sunday, February 21, 2010

«Let's Play "What's That Thing?"»

I took this photograph last night, and touched it up a bit in Photoshop. I think it'd make a good desktop background. I've cropped it to 2560x1600, so it's in widescreen format.

Guess what this is...

Click image to view full.

It was dim in my room, so I used a longish exposure (2 seconds, I think). The green and red come from laser pointers that I shined next to it. The actual white light is from my computer monitor.

I always like macro photography, this photo spans about an inch of the real object.

See the rest of “Let's Play "What's That Thing?"”»

Saturday, February 20, 2010

«Caturday: Never Bring Wrong»

Turning off the optics... They can't see me...

they'll never find meh here
Bring it mofo
You are doing it wrong

See the rest of “Caturday: Never Bring Wrong”»

Friday, February 19, 2010

«Stat: Discipline»

That ultimate chart post sent me off on a thought tangent about the discipline metric.

I see how inefficient it is to pay for health insurance. I would rather instead put that money into a personal savings account, not only would I have enough money for health care, but I'd be earning interest1 on it. I'd have the discipline to only use that account for health care, too. That's why it wouldn't work for most people. Most people do not have the discipline to have a chunk of money and not use it on frivolous crap they can't afford.

Health insurance sucks anyway. You have to pay the deductible first before they cover anything, then they only cover a percentage after that.

I'm a lot like Scrooge when it comes to money. I could have millions in the bank and still be a penny-pinching bastard. I'm the type that will die with millions in the bank, never having enjoyed life, and no one to name as an heir to my fortune2.

"Waiter, more bread."
"That'll cost you extra, sir."
"… No more bread."

1: Although in current times interest rates are nearly 0%, so the amount I'd earn is negligible.
2: Seeing as I'm unemployed and living with my parents, this is a theoretical fortune.

See the rest of “Stat: Discipline”»

Thursday, February 18, 2010

«Stat Chart»

Here's how I honestly rate myself on this chart1. You can get the blank chart here if you wish to fill it out for yourself (use MS Paint or something). If you do, leave a comment with a link and I'll edit this post to include the link in a list. Click a chart to view full.

Marf's Ultimate Stat Chart
Here's a short explanation of why I ranked myself as I did in each category:

Health: I'm a pretty healthy person, more so than most people, I think.
Strength: I've got average strength, nothing special.
Stamina: Above average, I'm able to ride a bicycle up steep hills, for example.
Intelligence: The average person will rank themselves above average, so there you go.
Perception: I can notice little things, but I'm no Adrian Monk2.
Creativity: I'm just not that creative of a person. I really struggle to come up with something every day for my blog.
Charisma: I don't seem to be that good at making friends, especially in real life.
Social Skills: Social anxiety has an iron grip on me.
Confidence: Leaves much to be desired. It's why I'm still unemployed.
Face: Average looks, I'm not in a position to boast, really.
Body: I'm not fat. That fact alone puts me well above average.
Style: Meh, I don't keep up with styles. I do my own thing.
Humor: I'm no funnyman, and often times jokes are lost on me.
Passion: I could almost live in a Vulcan society... Almost.
Empathy: I care about the species as a whole, as well as individuals.
Spirituality: lol. Strong atheism doesn't mesh well with spirituality. Show me some evidence.
Discipline: I'm quite good at saving money, I don't drink too much, among other things.
Luck: Lady luck has never been a friend of mine. Although I haven't had exceptionally bad luck, either.

Participants

These people have participated and sent me their chart:

Six Legions
Six Legions' Ultimate Stat Chart
Vid
Vid's Ultimate Stat Chart
Vanity Lindsay
Vanity Lindsay's Ultimate Stat Chart
1: Some of you may recognize this chart. I take no credit for creating it, and I do not know its origins.
2: Adrian Monk is a TV show character played by Tony Shalhoub, he was a private detective. The series has now ended.

See the rest of “Stat Chart”»

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

«Street View in Ketchikan!»

It took a while after the Google street view car came here, but Google Street View is finally available in Ketchikan, Alaska via Google maps:


View Larger Map

Now it's possible for anyone to explore my little town. Please take note: this is Alaska and there's no igloos in sight. That's actually why I chose this location to embed, so you can see one of our towers. Also you can see our Plaza mall. If you rotate 180 you can see the other tower. This is a real city, I swear!

Go ahead, play with the embedded map... Click and drag to pan around, or click on one of the arrows on the road overlay to go up and down the street.

I didn't choose to embed the location of the the sign downtown that says "Ketchikan" in big letters because that part of town is only there for tourists. Once upon a time it was the true downtown of Ketchikan, but now it's just a bunch of tourist shops that board up their windows for the winter. What I've embedded is in the West End, the "true" part of town that locals actually go to.

They've got most of the road system, even a surprising number of the side roads. The road out South of town (East on a compass) has spotty coverage, I'm not sure why that is.

See the rest of “Street View in Ketchikan!”»

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

«Van Stalls on Train Tracks»

This happened near Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 10th, 2010. There's no sound to the video.

Raw Video: Train Just Misses Man on the Tracks

I can't say I would have done the same. I'm not calling the guy that saved the van stupid. That guy is to be commended for his selfless act.

I am saying the driver of the van was stupid to stay in the van. A van (that obviously has mechanical issues) is not worth your life. I would not have pushed the van out of the way because I would have expected the van driver to do the smart thing and jump out!

See the rest of “Van Stalls on Train Tracks”»

Sunday, February 14, 2010

«Nothing Has Changed»

Good thing I didn't expect anything to change.

By now, it probably wouldn't even surprise you that I'm still using the same desktop background from my first post about Valentine's day back in 2008. Even back when I posted that, I had already been using the background for over a year.

So while it's not a desktop background, here's a different picture for you all to see.
Meat heart

See the rest of “Nothing Has Changed”»

Saturday, February 13, 2010

«Caturday: Dreams Lonely : (»

Let's set the tone for tomorrow's Valentine's Day...

lonely kitteh dreams of love
lonely cat has a lonely
... :{

See the rest of “Caturday: Dreams Lonely : (”»

Thursday, February 11, 2010

«Evil Tomato»

It will eat your children.

Evil tomato

See the rest of “Evil Tomato”»

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

«SPR Venn Diagram»

here's a Venn diagram showing how stupidity, politics, and religion overlap.

Venn diagram showing how stupidity, politics, and religion overlap.

The funny thing is, I already had blog tags for all 3.

See the rest of “SPR Venn Diagram”»

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

«Space Shuttle For Sale»

The space shuttles are being retired this year. NASA has announced plans to sell 2 of the 3 shuttles, starting at $42 million each (shipping included). It will cost them $6 million to deliver the shuttle. No one is serious about buying them yet. Although NASA has only made the offer to museums.

Here's radical idea. NASA should contract out the job of cutting the 2 shuttles to bits. Sell the bits as pendants, collectibles, and novelty items. How cool would it be to own a piece of a space shuttle that has traveled over 100 million miles in space, and orbited the Earth thousands of times? I'm sure NASA could make more than $42 million per shuttle by doing this.

The shuttle they keep can be preserved in a museum. But I think selling affordable bits of the other shuttles to anyone who wants one is a great way to help fund the construction of the new generation of spacecraft.

Am I crazy in thinking that while yes, these shuttles have a great history, we only need to preserve one1 intact? I mean seriously, all they are going to do is take up space and cost money to be kept in a climate-controlled environment.

1: My vote is to preserve Discovery, the oldest and most traveled one.

See the rest of “Space Shuttle For Sale”»

Monday, February 8, 2010

Sunday, February 7, 2010

«Frankly, I don't Give a Damn»

Here's how much I'm into football.

Before I started yesterday's Caturday post, I did a Google search to make sure the Super Bowl was football. I thought it was, but I've never paid enough attention to it to be sure.

Without performing another search, I couldn't tell you all the teams are even in the Super Bowl. I only know the Saints because it's being made out as a historical event that they made it this far. I think the Saints are form New Orleans, but I'm not sure.

I don't even know enough about the Super Bowl to know if it's just the top 2 teams that play in it, or if it's a tournament of more than 2 teams. I don't even know where it's happening.

I don't even know any of the rules of football.

Why am I so ignorant about football (and sports in general)? Because frankly, I just don't give a damn. I never have.

See the rest of “Frankly, I don't Give a Damn”»

Saturday, February 6, 2010

«Caturday: Super Football Die»

This cat resembles more of you than you'd like to admit.

Supar Bowl tiem for all-Amerikan cat.
Invisible football
Fir this... You die

See the rest of “Caturday: Super Football Die”»

Friday, February 5, 2010

«Nightvision Ogre»

They can see in the dark, too.

Ogre seen in nightvision

Click image to view full.

And yes: an ogre is fine, too.

See the rest of “Nightvision Ogre”»

Thursday, February 4, 2010

«NASA's Latest UFO»

After all, it is unidentified. Although I wouldn't quite call it flying, as that implies movement under its own power. More like a UDO (Unidentified Drifting Object).

This is an actual image captured by the Hubble space telescope.
Comet-like Asteroid P/2010 A2

Click image to view full.

If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight. The filamentary appearance of P/2010 A2 is different from anything seen in Hubble images of normal comets, consistent with the action of a different process.

- NASA

You have to admit though, it looks nothing like an asteroid collision. Looks more like a Klingon Bird of Prey. Well, that's what most people are saying it looks like. The Trekkie in me says it doesn't look quite right to be a Klingon ship at all.

It's located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and is about 90 million miles away. I'm not saying it's an alien space craft, but if aliens were to hide a probe for observing us, what better place than the asteroid belt? We don't monitor much of the sky. It was just by chance that it was even spotted.

I have some other wild hypothetical speculation if it did turn out to be an alien probe, but I'll save that for a later post. Let's just say that I think NASA is right and it is the result of a natural occurrence.

See the rest of “NASA's Latest UFO”»

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

«Nightmare Toilet»

Don't let this happen to you!

Being pulled down the toilet.

Click image to view full.

Remember, that could have been you. Please, be safe.

See the rest of “Nightmare Toilet”»

Monday, February 1, 2010

«Motivational Monday: Whales on Stilts»

It's the internet, of course you knew whales on stilts would come... With laser beam eyes.

Oh Shit / Secretly, you always knew this day would come

See the rest of “Motivational Monday: Whales on Stilts”»

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