A Fox's Thoughts

William and Sly

2009-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Though it may be hosted on Newgrounds, this flash platformer, William and Sly, is terriffic and beautiful. And a great part about it, you play as a fox!

Super Mario Autoplay Music Times Four

2009-07-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ctrl

2009-07-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

This is a little series of videos that follow a simple question.

What would you do if the ctrl+ commands on your keyboard actually affected the world around you?

It's professionally done, and quite funny!

Extra Extra Greepy Gman!

2009-07-09T01:38:00.001-07:00

2012: It's a Disaster!

2009-07-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

No plot, no character, just all disaster!

Rolling building? Why not!

ChromeOS in the Works

2009-07-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Google, makers of such free things as gMail, blogger, Google Docs, Google Earth, and a multitude of other things, has just announced they are going to release an open source OS.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.

I like the sound of that! ChromeOS is going to run on top of linux, and with Google's clever minds, I imagine the GUI they will come out with is going to be spectacular. We'll have to see though!

With the OS being open source, I imagine people the world over will contribute to find any little flaw, and offer a solution. Quite looking forward to this!

It's Ramen Fighter Miki

2009-07-08T03:11:00.000-07:00

This Anime is the story of an inept girl with an unbreakable spirit to do well, help others, and above all else... be the BEST poster girl on the block!

An example of the sort of humor you might expect from this. The main character, Miki has just messed up her first delivery, and winds up bringing a criminal home instead.

Lucas Arts Games to come to Steam!

2009-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

It seems the a lot of old classics you loved from years ago are coming to Steam!
I think that as long as they downloads are popular, Lucas Arts will continue to update and release
these old favorites!

It's About Time

2008-08-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'd have to say that it's about time to simply give up on people living in New Orleans. Approaching right now is yet another 'storm of the century;' that makes two in three years now.
Fortunately there's been far more of an effort to evacuate people this time, but there will still be those people that stay behind to weather the weather, many of whom will be stranded or even die.

It's about time to simply give up on that area. Nature has won and is claiming it back!

Sure, there's other places in the nation that but up with natural disasters; just look north and you'll find a fair sized area that get tornadoes on a yearly basis. ( I'd say they're crazy for living there too)

Myself, I'm over in California. The most I have to deal with is an earthquake... sometime in my lifetime. the last time a city was leveled my an earthquake in California was more than a decade ago now, and even then it wasn't anywhere near the kind of damage a hurricane causes.

Flooding, disease from dead bodies and overflowing sewers, dehydration; you can't drink the water that's surrounding you too easily, starvation, lots of structural damage, not to mention looting and such from panicking people.

So, realistically staying in New Orleans after this hurricane is not exactly an option. Just do whatever you can do to get out of there, and don't look back.

Argument to Beethoven's Fifth

2008-08-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

It's not every day you come across a comedy sketch without words, even less so set to music. This rivals the sorts of things you would find in classic Loony Tunes. Every action matches the music perfectly, and of course it's a good song to do this to.

And by the way, never insult your wife's mother, it will get you slapped. *chuckles*

Kucinich Reads Bush Impeachment Articles

2008-06-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

At 7:15 PM ET Senator Kucinich read
articles of impeachment for President Bush

As he read many on the floor were none too happy to hear what he had to say, and there was much rejoicing. Well, at least everywhere else in the country. On the floor of the senate there was more along the lines of arguments and shouting.

What do I think about this? Too little, too late. I of course hope that they go through completely, but at this point the damage has been done. Thousands have died due to this man, and well as those that work with him. *cough*Cheney*cough*

Let's just be sure that we don't allow these madmen to attack Iran, else we are screwed.

Clinton To Drop Out of Presidential Race June 6th

2008-06-05T03:16:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this means there will be a bit less chaos in the media.

Oh, who am I kidding? Now this is going to turn into something a little similar to a more... PC version of Head of State.
Personally, if I were to have my way for this election, it would be Ron Paul, rather than McCain. Can't always get your way though, eh?

Bush and Dick Make Their Power Grab

2008-05-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

In a just recently enacted directives NSPD51 and HSPD20, all that stands between us and Dictator Dicky is for the president to declare a state of emergency.

It gives them power over all government structures within the US, including Native American tribes. On top of this, it also allows control of the corporations within the country. The people in charge of all this are selected by Bush and Dick, and are all very well likely well paid, and good bed buddies with the Dastardly Dicky Duo.

US Dollar Versus Gold

2008-04-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the gold standard we used to have a stable economy. Since it (gold standard) was tossed out the window the value of the US Dollar has been steadily dropping. in contrast the value of gold has remained, give or take, about the same.

Something must be done about this. While I don't know what to do myself, I do know that getting the word out about it is the first step in something happening, so please share this video with your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else that you can think of.

False Anonymous "Hate Crimes" DVD from Scientology

2008-03-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

This DVD was given out today, the ides of March, at Scientology centers across the globe. A rip of it was uploaded to youtube, but within an hour of its posting, it was removed due to pressure from the "Church" of Scientology.

Fortunately, this is the internet. Once something is online, it can never disappear.

You can download a torrent of it here, and can get a wmv rip of the video via rapidshare.

They take the message of Anonymous clearly out of context by editing out all relevant words, pulling words from other videos to make them appear sinister, quoting a debunked video that they themselves made, and even flatly making things up.

The original youtube video they reference in the DVD is this:

It is clear that the leaders of Scientology are afraid of the Anonymous movement. They will no doubt continue in their struggle to keep their head above water, while they drown their members for their own gain.

Farewell "Church" of Scientology, you will not be mourned.

Update:
Members of Scientology followed my friend back to the Caltrain station, boarded it with him, then tried to follow him back to his car once he got off. This was most likely an attempt to get his license plate. Fortunately he saw he was being followed ~~and evaded them~~, then had another friend go back and pick up the car later on.

Update 3/17/08:
I've found out that he had to call the police in order to get the members to leave him alone. When the harassers spoke with the police, they said that they wanted to talk to my friend's parents in order to tell them the blatant lies in the DVD above.

Terror. Terror! TERROR!

2008-03-09T19:31:00.001-07:00

Please report any unattended bags, parcels, or packages to the operator.

All the time I ride the VTA Lightrail, and a few times every trip I hear this. Just a few short years ago I never even would have imagined I'd be hearing it, but here it is.
Now, sure it seems like a good idea. That package could be a bomb! That old bag of McDonalds could be filled with hazardous waste! (Though to be fair, if any food was left in the bag, it is hazardous waste.)

It got me thinking, though. Just why have this repeating message; this message that implies that you might be in danger all the time? Perhaps to keep us on our toes? To keep us in fear?

This relates directly to the US terror alert level. Oh the wonderful, color-coded, easy to understand rainbow of terror. Only... it never goes down. Any time I've ever looked at it it's been yellow or above. Yet we've had no attacks, only more and more spouting from our government about how we're not safe.

I'm pretty sure that, by now, noone really pays attention to it, and if they do, they more than likely watch Faux "News" as an actual news show, rather than comedy.

The Anonymous Protests have Begun

2008-02-10T03:15:00.000-08:00

There are a great many videos on YouTube already going on in Austrailia.
I plan to at least go and see what sort of turnout there is at the Scientology center in downtown Mountain View.

Located Here

View Larger Map

And just a little prediction. There may be people planed in the protest by The Scientology Group that will start trouble, and possibly give local law enforcement to take action.
Let's see if I'm right.

There are a great many pictures getting uploaded about it to Flickr of course, and all pictures goes up right now with the label Scientology are pics of all the various protests going on across the world.

A press release has also been released.

Press Release Text

Update: The main "Anonymous" Youtube account can be found here. Go and give their stuff a good watching, and participate if you can!

Why I Live in California

2008-01-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

Time and again I have heard the following statements, in some way or another:

I would not live in California because the earthquakes.

Now, I live in California, so I might have a little bit of a biased view when it comes to this sort of thing, but bear with me here.

Across the US there are a great many places one can live, and all of them have their faults. In the south eastern states on the ocean you have to worry every single year about hurricanes. A classic example of this is, of course, hurricane Katrina. There are still plenty more hurricanes that make landfall every single year though, and with the way the weather on this blue marble of ours is going, they're only going to get worse.

So, I don't want to live there.

How about the more central states? The great (read "vast") bible belt. Oddly enough this area is about the same area as tornado alley. It's almost the same story. Year after year you hear stories of people thanking god that their family were spared, while all the neighbor's houses were destroyed. Well god's will, thy will be done, or whatever they say when this sort of thing happens.

So, I don't want to live there.

What of the more northern states? The areas that are too cold for a tornado to sprout up? Well, then you have to worry about... Snow! Snow snow snow, and more snow. Snow here, snow there... snow everywhere! More snow than you could shake a stick at. Some might call this a blizzard. Sure, they're a little less common, but they're still quite a bit of a problem. Plus it's really cold.

So, I don't want to live there.

Well, there's also the midwest. That vast area of flat. Areas with roads so long and straight that they have to make a turn every now and then to go along with the curvature of the earth. Areas with as many things to see in a minutes drive as you would see in an hour. Field after field... after field... Simply boring.

So, I don't want to live there.

It's here I hear the cries of protest. Oh, what of the earthquakes! Surly you don't want to be caught up in the very earth shaking about under your feet, demanding your attention, and flattening your entire state to its very foundations!
And it's here I say, "wait a moment."

In California we have building codes that our homes, our highways, our businesses, our schools... everything new built must live up to. Every year they get stricter and stricter. So any year when we get a rocking on the richter scale, we're prepared. You see, here we can hold steadfast against the forces of nature. Sure, perhaps a building here and there is knocked over, but in some senses, those are like the old and weak of the herd.

In a hurricane you can buffer yourself from the wind, and rising waters may lift all boats, but they also will fill your house all the same.

With a tornado, the best you can do is run and hide, because there is nothing short of a bomb shelter that will protect you from this colossal force of nature, and when you come out of your hidey hole, all that is left of your mobile home is a few aluminum side panels, and perhaps your bathtub.

With a blizzard and yearly massive cold power is likely to be off for days on end, on top of that your house is buried in snow. If you're not careful your roof will collapse from the weight of it. On top of that you have to keep warm.

So, to wrap this all up. Sure, we may fall out of our seats in an earthquake around here, but they're incredibly infrequent; I've felt three notable ones in twenty years, and none of them even did major damage. And compared to your weather, I can't complain.

Steal This Film 2

2008-01-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

This film is free. Free to share. Free to watch. Free to distribute.
Essentially, it is about our freedom to share information with each other, without gatekeepers to tell us what we can and cannot see.

File sharing, and the internet in general has done for the world the same thing that the printing press did oh so many years ago. We are able to all be creators and distributors of any content we see fit.

So please, I urge you to take the time to watch this film, in whatever format you want. It's about 45 minutes long, and enlightening.

xVid Format Torrent
DVD Format Torrent
iPod Format Torrent
HD format Torrent

Or here's the Google video

Re: Anitra

2007-12-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

Anitra Wrote in I Now Support Ron Paul

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. A President may be able to end the war. No Presidential candidate, including Ron Paul, can single-handedly reign in corruption or restore Constitutional liberties. Ron Paul is the least likely to even try. His idea of restoring liberties is letting the state governments have complete control of your life and not letting the federal government say boo about it. His idea of ending corruption is removing all regulations -- nobody can be accused of breaking a law that doesn't exist!

If we want to end corruption and restore liberty, we have to do the work ourselves. Counting on a demagogue to do it for us has always been a losing proposition.

Well, the enemy of your enemy is still better than the friend of your enemy, I would have to say. I think that Ron Paul would at least be a start in the direction of restoring our constitutional rights and privacy. He seems like the sort that would go after the telecom industry for their role in spying on innocent Americans. He seems like the sort that would call Halliburton on their role in profiteering from war. He seems like the sort that may actually push to have charges filed against the people that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of peoples' deaths.
And of course no one person can possibly end the horrible corruption that exists in our government today, but he sounds like he would at least start us in that direction.
The current system of economics that we've been led down started decades ago. That system being obscenely rich people tricking just about everyone into putting themselves into so much debt, and raising the cost of everything so high, that they have to work themselves to death just in the hope of breaking even before they die.

To get back to the point, it is going to take more than the work of just an elected official to get this country of ours back of track. The of the biggest things we need right now is to get our budget crisis back in order, and the only way that is going to happen is if we stop dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into a war we have no right or need to be in, and start concentrating on getting things here, in the US, back into shape.

Also, if you have a better candidate, I would really appreciate hearing your reason behind choosing them, as I would like to make an informed decision about who I choose. Election day is still months and months away, so any info that I get between now and then very well may sway my vote.

Just how much brain does it take to outsmart Neil Cavuto?

About as much brain power as a squirrel that likes to run in front of cars, but that's not really the point, now, is it? I just find it very amusing that he brought Ron Paul onto his show for the sole purpose of calling him on accepting a donation from a very outspoken racist, only to be turned on his ear.

That's just the sort of thing I find funny. :)
Oh yes, and yay chocolate!

I Now Support Ron Paul

2007-12-20T00:07:00.000-08:00

For a while I have been basically ignoring the US election. I mean, why bother paying attention to it when it was more than a year away? What can these candidates possibly say or do different a year from now that they have not already done right now?

They can do nothing more than advertise themselves, and try to devalue their opponents.

Because of this, I really don't like the way the political system is at the moment.
To get back to my topic though. I have just watched the following video. In it Ron Paul destroys the idiot host, Neil Cavuto, with sheer force of logic.

From the look of things Faux News Invited Ron Paul onto the show in a guise of an interview about him not running a Christmas ad. Then, out of nowhere, Cavuto comes out with a little tid bit of information they wanted to use against Dr. Paul.

It seems that of the 58,000 people that donated over six million dollars, $500 of that was from a white supremasist that runs a hate site. Cavuto said he should give back the money...

... but Ron Paul simply turned him on his ear. I also fully agree with him. Why give back money to a person that would most likely use it toward goals that could harm people?

What more, his views on the sheer amount of money that are being funneled into getting rich off of war is staggering.

Did you know that in about 2003 Halliburton's stock price was relatively low? Dick Cheney also has a great deal of stock in their company as well, thanks to his history with them; He was the CEO of the company for five years, from 1995-2000, just in time to let go of the position, and become the vice president to a total and complete dumbass that is more of a court jester than he is a president.

Once the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions started, guess what company the executive branch decided to get services from. That's right, good ol' Halliburton! In two years his stock value soared more than %3,000, leaving him $8,000,000 richer.

But remember, there's no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case free money. No no, only cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Brains Default to a Logarithmic Scale

2007-12-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

A while back, I came across a study that was done that came to a reasonable conclusion that a pigeon's brain worked on a logarithmic scale. ( Logarithmic scale Wiki page )

In the experiment, pigeons were trained to tap one lever when a light flash was "short", perhaps 1 second long, and another lever when the flash was "long", say 16 seconds. When the birds then saw flashes of intermediate length, you would expect them to distinguish long from short around the mid-point of 8 or 9 seconds. But instead they switched at 4 seconds.

I thought this was rather interesting, though didn't really think anything of it at the time. I mean really, what do I care about the numerical inner workings of a flying pest's brain who's droppings take out bridges?

Today I read another study. This one about children, and how they first learn about numbers.
From the article:

... There's a pattern to the second-graders' responses. Nearly all the kids (93 were tested) understood that 750 was a larger number than 366; they just squeezed too many large numbers on the far-right side of the number line. In fact, their results show more of a logarithmic pattern than the proper linear pattern.

This chart shows the average places the two grades placed the various numbers:

When these results are plotted on a graph we get the following:

So, it seems that before children are taught the "proper" linear way numbers work, they instead think of them in a logarithmic way... just like the pigeons. I would imagine that if we were to train any other animal, or even a baby, the way they trained the bird, they would see the same results; They would all think of things in a logarithmic scale, rather than a linear one.

Now, why is it that we enforce this linear thinking of numbers upon our children, when our brains clearly work on a logarithmic scale? Perhaps we should instead let them continue with their proper way of thinking, rather than forcing them into a new one.

After all, children are able to simply invent an entirely new language, without any adult helping them out, so it's clear to me that there's alot more to a young mind than we think.

I'll leave you with that to think about.

Ahh, the Joys of Christmas®

2007-12-03T20:40:00.001-08:00

The myriad of TV commercials hocking the same things they did for the last ten years.
The stores playing the same small selection of songs in a continuous loop.
Those same stores displaying a huge assortment of gaudy, useless gadgets, gizmos, and knick-knacks that flash, dance, or play Jingle Bells as you walk by.
The hundreds of various, hugely overpriced cards that line twenty foot aisles.
The huge waste of electricity that entire countries use to power over the top displays all night to compete with their neighbors...
The same old movies they play year after year. And you can't forget the latest ridiculous Santa-based movie!

Christmas® is in the air!

Seriously, what's happened to this holiday?

Hard Drive Disaster Averted

2007-11-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Today I spent about five hours foxing up my grandmother's computer. Recently it has been acting worse and worse. The wireless connection was sporadic, and overall it was just getting slow.

Well, while I was attempting to fix the wireless issue, I restarted the computer. After the usual BIOS screen and such it went on to the next step, loading the OS... but it was nowhere to be found. The hard drive, a Maxtor drive that was about a decade old, had died!

This, of course, is not a good thing. She's an architect, and all her drawing were on that drive. She has backups, but they could be weeks old by now. Well, after alot of muddling about with it, I got the idea to turn the computer on its side and boot it up again.

It worked! Booted just fine, and got every last bit of important data off of it. Then, just for fun I put the computer upright again. Within just a few seconds it started locking up, and nearly crashed. The screen wasn't redrawing properly or anything. I put it back down on its side; The hard drive spun up again perfectly.

So, if you have a hard drive failure, what do you have to lose? Turn it on its side, and try again. Maybe it'll work! Perhaps you can get back your data. What do you have to lose?

And please don't hesitate to leave a comment, or subscribe to my RSS Feed, every single one is greatly appreciated!

Religion as Akin to Music

2007-11-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

In my many ways, the religions of the world are rather like music. Be it Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, or even Mormonism, they all have things about them that some people like. Their religion grooves with them, in a sense.

Of course, just like people like their types of music, they can't stand others', some so much so that they will go as far as attacking that sort of music; Even going as far as berating them for listening to such a horrible song. One cannot force a new kind of music on anyone, that person would just get annoyed and think of it noise, even though others might think it to be the song in the world.

I would think, for instance, that a white "gangsta" (I hate that word) would hear the Beatles and recoil in horror, while a grandmother might prefer listening to a classical symphony. It's all about what works for a given person.

What I'm trying to get at is different musics, like different religions, work for various people. There's no way you'll find me bowing my head in prayer, but some people swear on their life by it.

With that, I leave you with the eye opening thoughts of
Alan Watts. The video is titled "A conversation with myself." I do hope you'll give it some time to watch. Links to some other thoughts by him below.

Music and Life
The Art of Meditation
The Middle Way