Now it all adds up! This explains everything!

Check this site. I couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the stuff there. For those lazy enough not to click, here’s an excerpt:

1. Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.
2. Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly.
3. Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter.
4. The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.
5. All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
6. As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.
7. Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.
8. Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent.
9. Everything falls faster than an anvil.
10. For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite vengeance.

And my personal favorite, which shows what can be accomplished when you decide to make something that doesn’t follow the common sets of rules, but instead invents rules of it’s own: “Rules we obeyed in the Coyote/Road Runner Series”, from an autobiography of Chuck Young, creator of the Road Runner cartoons:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going “Beep Beep!”
2. No outside force can harm the Coyote-only his own ineptitude or the failure of the ACME products.
3. The Coyote could stop anytime — IF he were not a fanatic. “A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim” -George Santayana.
4. No dialogue ever, except “Beep Beep!”
5. The road Runner must stay on the road — otherwise, logically, he would not be called Road Runner.
6. All Action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the Southwest American desert.
7. All material, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the ACME Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.
9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
10. The audience’s sympathy must remain with the Coyote.

Be sure to check the link for more stuff, as well as examples for each of the laws.

Today I found out the actual, real life meaning of the internet expression “LOL”, as I was watching this video. It’s a screen-cast of some guy playing an extremely difficult Super Mario Bros hack, complete with voice over from the player.

While the video itself is good for the crazy gameplay alone, what truly makes it fun are the remarks made by the player, as well as the constant cursing after any given frustrating death (which there are plenty of). My favorite quote is “This is worse than reading the YouTube comments”. To all my gamer friends, you HAVE to watch this.

Here’s the link again for those who did not catch it before.

I found this amazing virtual barbershop. It’s an example of something called binaural recording, which is basically sound recorded using two microphones were the ears would be. The brain fills in the rest of the information, and the result is incredible surround sound, that actually makes you feel you are there.  You can actually hear the scissors and hair trimmer just like you would if you were getting a haircut.

Click the link, hit play, and close your eyes. You won’t be disappointed.

As my spam folder contents constantly reminds me, size has always been a problem for humanity, and many great efforts have been made to study both the big and the small. The results, however, have never been very clear or ultimately interesting for the average person.

However, today I stumbled upon the best study/comparison of sizes, from a single proton, to some of the huge stars as Antares. Click here to see it. A word of caution, though, you will lose lot of time clicking away, if you’re even a bit curious. Very interesting facts and commentaries are also provided. Check it out.

Man, every day I wish more and more that I had the opportunity to attend MIT. It’s just like the greatest place on earth for a geek to go. They recently made open and free their course catalog via the web, which showed me how a real and well put class should be (not that my college was bad at all, but there’s just no comparison). Now the same group that came up with Lego Mindstorms (next to ninjas and transformers for greatest invention ever) came up with one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, one that I’ll add to my list of “why didn’t I have this when I was a kid?“.

Scratch is a simple and intuitive programing environment designed for kids 8 and up. It’s based on an entirely graphical model, with programming instructions, variables, sounds, images, actions, et all, modeled after Lego-like figures that you can drag and paste to each other. Depending on what you put together, you may get anything from a silly cat walking side to side and making sounds (which I did), to a full-fledged Donkey Kong game. The whole thing is really intuitive and easy to use, with colors differentiating the types of constructs, and shapes letting you know what construct you can paste to another. And that’s not all. From Ars-Technica:

Scratch saves its finished files in its own .SB format, but users can upload their finished products to the Scratch home page with the click of a button, a very Web 2.0 addition. Other users can then download and comment on these projects. Some of the projects are simple, but others are more involved. An addictive puzzle game called Slider by Steve LoBasso consumed much of the time I was meant to be writing this review.

There is also an option to save the finished project without uploading it to the Scratch web site, which involves downloading a Java applet from the Scratch web site. The Java applet, which calls the .SB file directly, can then be embedded in any web site.

The program is currently available for Windows and Mac OS X, with a Linux version supposedly on the way (though I doubt there’s a lot of kids out there that use Linux). I downloaded it and tried it on my Macbook, and it’s really fast, stable and intuitive. For more information on the project, click here. As we say in my country, whoever invented this, has never seen a platano, not even in pictures.

This is kind of a continuation of a previous discussion, based on new evidence. The other day I was talking to a friend at work, who was telling me about some issues he’s having with his new Vista laptop. Since he bought it in Argentina, the OS language was in spanish, which tends to be a pain to use if you’re accustomed to using the english version. From Excel formulas changing names, different keyboard shortcuts, to badly-programmed applications that install to “Program Files” instead of “Archivos de Programas” (hard-coded paths instead of using the system variables), a lot of things go wrong.

So he was telling me how he wanted to set it to be English. I know from past Windows experience that doing so it’s a bit short of impossible, but bear with me for a second. After contacting Microsoft support, they told him that he needed to purchase a language pack. It was only about US$25, so he got it. Now comes the interesting part. When he was going to install it, some error occurred that prevented him from doing it. He contacted Microsoft support again, and now they told him, “oh, you need to have Vista Ultimate to be able to apply language packs”. WTF?? Now he has to upgrade to a really expensive version that has a lot of stuff he will never need, just so he can apply a legally obtained language pack? And there’s the aggravating that at the time of purchase he already had to upgrade to the Business edition, cause something as simple as the networking and mail in the Home Premium (I wonder what that premium accounts for) don’t work properly in a business environment.

So, again, why do people bend over time and again for Microsoft, when there are many different options available out there, that are at the very, very least just as good as Windows, minus the hassles, bugs and frustrations? Not only are Windows users the only users in the world that have to spend time dealing with viruses, spyware, BSOD’s and whatnot, now they are getting crap from the actual support, asking them for their first born just to switch languages. A feature, by the way, that it’s a default in every other desktop OS. Mac OS X has every language I can think of, and Linux has many that I don’t even know how to pronounce the name, so it’s not like something that it’s a big deal, neither commercially nor free.

But, when thoughts like this enter my mind, I’m suddenly reminded of two conversations I’ve had not that long ago, with people I regard(ed) as smart, that immediately made me understood the common view of the average internet/email/office Joe:

• Linux?? That’s for hackers!!”
• Mac?? That’s for publicists!!”

Geeks like me will say that the users are just stupid, and that they use it cause it’s all they’ve seen and it’s “safe” (a very geeky thing to say, I know), but the non-geek in me better asks himself, at what point do people become so brainwashed as to embrace those ideas and completely ignore the other options? It may have been acceptable to think that way in past years, when the other OS’s popularity perhaps wasn’t as widespread, but now it’s just inexplicable. Even long time Windows apologists are at least acknowledging the competition. Every time someone does that, a penguin gets it wings, and a tree sprouts an apple.

No offense intended to those who liked it, but WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!! I’m sorry, I can’t help it. It just felt like my childhood memories were raped by Michael Bay. I don’t understand how Steven Spielberg put his money on the project. Sure, lots of people will see it, and it will certainly be a box office hit based on hype alone, but man, how do people sponsor such disasters? NOTE: If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t read ahead, there may be spoilers.

The whole movie was a joke, LITERALLY, and a bad one too. The first joke made me laugh, the second, made me chuckle, but by the third all the way to N > 20, I had enough. Was it supposed to be a comedy? If it was, then hats off, it equaled Dumb and Dumber. But that’s not what Transformers fans want, we want want big-ass robots kicking the shit out of each other, and this was just not it.

I only liked the about 20-30 minutes that the robots were on scene and no one was talking. As soon as anybody opened their mouth, the whole thing falls apart. Don’t get me wrong, the robots looked awesome, prime beheading a Decepticon, and Megatron breaking Jazz in half specially comes to mind. Even the story wasn’t really that bad at it’s core, but the way it was handled, that’s my problem with it. It’s like every single character, robots included, were told to make a fool of themselves (president: “Get me a ding-dong!” WTF?). Don’t agree? Then name me one character that didn’t. Just one (maybe the hot chick, but that’s because all she was supposed to do was look hot, which I’ll say, she excelled at). Even Prime, who almost saved the movie, if it weren’t for the worst scene in the history of 80’s remakes, i.e., the whole hide-and-seek at Sam’s house.

Another thing, what’s up with the ads? I know that GMC sponsored the movie, but they pushed it too far. Even Panasonic seems to have put some money down. Or the all-spark, how it reduced itself was just stupid. Granted, this is a movie about transforming cars, but even simple physics are insulted here. Even if somehow the giant sized cube, using alien tech, was able to fold itself to the size of a box, wouldn’t it be the same amount of mass, and weigh the same? Yet we see Sam running around with it. And there were soooo many scenes that added nothing to the story. I counted it, and you can check it again, for the first 90 minutes, there is only like 15 minutes of good robot action/development. The rest is just lame attempts at comedy. The masturbation thing, again, WTF!!

I could go on, but you get my point. I know most people were thrilled to see how lifelike the robots looked like, and how there were some awesome (short) sequences, but think more throughly about the movie you saw, and tell me if it’s not stupid. If not, then please correct me, and help me change my mind about what a rape that movie was. I will certainly NOT be watching it again, unless someone cuts out just the robot battles, and send it to me.

When the movie V for Vendetta came out, I loved it so much that I started looking for information on the original comic. As part of the search, I found out that the same writer, Alan Moore, was also responsible for Watchmen, which is regarded as the best graphic novel ever written. My inner geek immediately made me want to read it as well. I’ve never been a comic-book fan myself, as I’ve always found them to be kind of childish, and most times, hard to follow due to their long, episodic nature. But now that I’ve read Watchmen, I can definitely understand why they’re referred to as graphic novels. This is a deep, involving story, with some of the best dialog I’ve ever read, listened, or viewed. It is no surprise Time magazine voted it one of the 100 best novels of all time, the only graphic novel to be nominated in this category:

Watchmen is a graphic novel [...] starring a ragbag of bizarre, damaged, retired superheroes: the paunchy, melancholic Nite Owl; the raving doomsayer Rorschach; the blue, glowing, near-omnipotent, no-longer-human Doctor Manhattan. Though their heyday is past, these former crime-fighters are drawn back into action by the murder of a former teammate, The Comedian, which turns out to be the leading edge of a much wider, more disturbing conspiracy. Told with ruthless psychological realism, in fugal, overlapping plot-lines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.

The story is set in an alternate US, where “super” heroes exist, and have an impact on history. The US won Vietnam, electric cars are common, and Nixon remains the president even on 1985. The great thing is, that the whole super hero legend receives a touch of realism, since with the exception of one character, nobody has super powers, they’re just remarkable people who decide to take justice on their hands while using costumes to cover their real identities. Hooded justice, they call it. The story also deals with the fears and conflict of the people, who question their motives. There’s even a law passed in 1977 that bans costumed heroes because of this. Who watches the watchmen?, they say. The story is dark, gritty and violent, and the characters are deep and psychologically charged.

As I said, the dialog is just awesome and clever. Sometimes, as the storylines intertwine in a Tarantino way between each frame, the dialog for one describes what the other is depicting. On one particular “scene”, a guy and a girl are trying to have sex (and the guy is failing at it), while a stunt man is performing acrobatic maneuvers on TV. The lines from the narrator on  the TV result in a sort of sarcastic parody of the couples attempts, resulting in a funny yet charming moment. There’s also a lot of political and social critique going on, the kind that makes you think even when you’re not reading it. It even has inserts from fictitious books, journals and documents, in regular book format at the end of each chapter, that help understand the back story of the characters, as well as the events in their alternate timeline.

I seriously encourage everyone to read it it, not just comic fans, but anyone who enjoys great literature. Amazon has it for about US$13 on paperback, same one I bought. DO NOT read the Wikipedia plot summary for it, as it contains major spoilers. Also, the director from 300 is working on a movie adaptation. I will definitely be waiting for it to come out, but I don’t think a movie is necessary, this is a truly remarkable work of art as it is.

In the past couple of years, there has been a lot of changes and new developments in my life, which has really got me doing a lot of thinking and self analysis. Most importantly, I tried to determine all lessons that life has taught me, one way or another. And while I’m still too young or haven’t been working long enough to pretend to have wisdom of any kind, I think there is still plenty of acquired knowledge through time. I want to point out that this is more “do what I say”, rather than “do what I do”. So here I post the most important ones that I can think of:

• Never commit to anything unless you are completely sure about it. In other words, learn to say no. I’ve damaged relationships with two friends I cared about because at some point I committed to something I either didn’t thoroughly analyzed first, or wasn’t completely sure about. And you know why? Because at the time I didn’t know how to say no. Regardless of how hard it seemed at the time to say it, I discovered it was much harder afterwards to deal with things that I didn’t want or couldn’t do.
• People who do not have complete understanding of the business should not manage those who do. I’ve been in both sides of the issue, and it has always been detrimental to the company. From the employee side, having a manager that doesn’t understand what you do, will most of the times lead to work overhead that shouldn’t be necessary, unrealistic goals and deadlines, hired employees that do not meet the requirements for the position, among many, many other things. And from the manager side, at least from my experience, no matter how hard you try, you will always have a feeling of playing catch-up, or having to prove yourself, that obscures the vision needed when important decisions are to be made.
• Always read everything you put your signature on. Whether it’s movie rental invoice or a bank contract for a loan, ALWAYS read everything before you put your signature on it. I used to think that since it’s a standard document that people sign everyday, it’s nearly impossible that something could go wrong, right? WRONG! I’ve encountered many issues in the past for thinking this way. All sorts of stuff can happen. You may later find out the document you signed specifies clauses that either make you loose money or make your life a pain, or the items or amounts specified are not what you really want. Companies don’t advertise those fine prints, and not many employess will tell you the whole truth, so the only salvation you have is understanding what you’re getting into before hand.
• Organizing your life will always be beneficial to you. Though I’m still struggling to lead a more organized life, the results are immediately becoming real. Even simple things like organizing your drawers can save you so much time spent looking for stuff at the last minute. Or more advanced, such as budgeting your earnings and sticking to it, greatly improves the value of your assets. Find ways you can organize or do tasks with a plan ahead, and the results will be notable.
• Never spend money you don’t have yet. Credit cards be damned for this. I’ll admit it: I’m a very impatient person.  When I want something, I either get it, or change my mind. This mindset has often made me spend money I did not have, simply because I just gotta have that. And the mind plays tricks on you, always trying to convince you that can get something when you actually don’t yet. There can always be things that go wrong or simply come up that you didn’t count on, and they cost you something, and often throw you off budget. Even when they don’t, it’s always easier picturing yourself paying a debt than it actually is doing it.
• Save! This has been said many times, by people a lot smarter and more educated than myself, so I’ll just reinforce it. Life is constantly changing, so don’t let it get you with your pants down. Whether it’s an emergency fund, down payments for a house/car, college money or whatever, just always put an amount aside. The more the better, and the sooner, better yet. Even small amounts can greatly increase thanks to compounding over time. You can never be too young to save, but you can certainly be too old to do it, so why not start now? Cut some fat in your expenses and put it away, and try to get the best interest rate you can get. It’s my observation that money somehow attracts more money, plus the peace of mind you get when you know that you’re prepared for what life throws at you is invaluable.
• If you don’t like what you do for a living, change your job or don’t complain. I’ve seen countless people always complaining about their jobs, but doing nothing to change that. It’s true that for certain people it’s not as easy due to certain factors, specially age nowadays, but I’m inclined to say that for most people there’s always something that can be done. Evaluate your options, your goals, your assets and your knowledge, and do what you can to improve your work life. Maybe you don’t even need to change jobs, just adopting a different mind set. If, after all this you decide that there’s nothing you can do about it, then stop complaining, and letting those complaints affect the quality of your work. Cause if this really is your only option, you probably cannot afford to lose it.
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