Life Rule: Headphones limit you

Survival trumps headphones.
(also you look stupid)

I see many young people these days roaming community college halls with trendy ear-buds sealed in place by their natural wax (do not use if freshness seal is broken). Yeah, they’re gross. More importantly, you only have five sen six an indeterminable amount of senses. Why limit, arguably your first, second, or third most important sense to listen to a singer (interpret that word loosely) whine about their life while you walk?

What makes matters worse, this headphone business is often combine with staring at a cell phone while walking. What are you doing, watching the seconds of the MP3 tick by?

Being aware of your surroundings involves all your senses (however many you may think you have). Next time you meander aimlessly through life, try taking out the ear-buds and listening to the roses. You’ll be surprised what you can pick up on when you pay attention.

We admit, we're fans

Both Michael and I are big fans of Portal. It seems only appropriate that we make our best guesses at the next big Internet meme that will spawn from Portal 2.
Personally I don't think any of them will be as big as; the cake is a lie, our love affair with the weighted companion cube, or GlaDOS's broken hearted end game serenade. None the less, there is some real potential here.
We both agree, Spaaaaace! is going to be big, and all derivatives there of. Such as, I'm in space!








Cave Johnson's lemon rant is a definite contender as serious meme.




His safety quote about "inventing a safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out because you're fired," is up there too. I couldn't find a youtube quote of it by itself.

Portal and I hear it has a squeal now

Image courtesy of freakin' hilarious video
used without permission. Feel free to contact me
Valve. I'll happily comply to all your demands.

The argument that video games are not art is a hot seat for debate. One I like to read up on regularly. Here is an article that recently confirmed my conviction video games will not be considered art anytime soon.

Warning: contradictory opinion incoming

Portal, on the other hand, I feel gets damn close. Yes it was created for Valves bottom line, but it started as a project from a group of students at a gaming school. Again there is the "for profit" argument, but it has morphed into a compelling story with deep characters. Or, as my creative writing teacher would argue, people not characters. For some reason we care about these people. Even the deranged computer trying to kill us. I feel, I tiny grain of sadness every time I tear her to pieces and throw every piece into a fire (but it's so fun).

The irony, to me anyway, is this is considered a FPS (if you forgot, that stands for first person shooter). An FPS with a phenomenal metascore and not a single gun you get to shoot. That's quite an achievement.

Also, I can't recommend this video enough. Freakin' hilarious (65% more bullet per bullet makes me laugh for days).

I think it's about time for another round of 'Around the Internet'! I like to think of it as a short and quick version of all that has been worth reading on the Internet in the past month.

First up; Rock, Paper, Scissors on crack (eat it Big Bang Theory and your 5 way game). As neat as it is, there are some combos that don't make since. Like computer beats blood, and scissors beat computer. Worth a look anyway. I have to give them credit for coming up with 101 gestures with out using the one everyone knows so well.

A tear down of the iPad2 is worth a quick look. It's all screen, battery, and surprisingly double back tape. Clearly not something intended for most do-it-yourself repairers.

Though I'm partial to funny video's (that's what the Internet is for right?), this next one is an interesting non-funny videos. It is taken shortly after the Chernobyl meltdown. It's sad, but kind of amazing too. Despite the fact I have to read to understand what is going on (subtitles are the bane of modern man), it's worth a watch.



Now, in a probably inappropriate turn, I'm going back to funny.

Photo courtesy of wanna be time traveler with luggage.

We are fortunate enough to live in a time where video games have flourished and allowed people to create diagrams like this one I found at Geekologie. It's a good time to trace your controller roots and be alive.

Courtney of Japan. 

On the video game subject, here are some things you might not have known about pac-man (yeah I knew some of these, but I also have a full pac-man arcade machine in my living room). If you've read this lengthy website about the intricacies of pac-man the Yahoo article is not that great (yet ended up on every major geek news site out there). I highly recommend Chapter 4: Meet the Ghosts.

Sticking to the video game topic, here is a video of the original Super Mario Brothers from first person perspective. I don't completely agree with it's dangerously narrow interpretation, but it's still well done and a fun watch.





To end this round up on the completely weird I'd like to introduce you to Star Trek girl. Resistance is futile.

Interesting and Worthy

Because we previously reported on the site with the goal to help Nathan buy Firefly, I feel somewhat obligated to point out the effort has officially been canned. Which was expected.

Picture courtesy of people with vision.

None the less, the linked article did turn me on to an equally interesting and more worthy cause called Can't Stop the Serenity. The worthy is easy to point out. They're goal is to spread the simple, yet seemingly un-graspable, idea of equality between human beings. Specifically by supporting a larger organization called Equality Now.

The interesting: they're using a fan base to do it. Why do we not see this more? I've said it before and I'll say it again; we're Americans and we need to be entertained (sad but true I know). As a rule, most of us don't take many interest in issues that don't effect us. That doesn't make them any less important, that's just the way it is. People are fans of things (I've seen facebook). To the people who control the intellectual property that is popular (like Joss Whedon), I say use that power for good--not just making gobs of money.

Am I walking the line between entertainment and spreading propaganda. Heck yeah! Some things are worth spreading. The entertaining part will come when Justin Bieber get's hordes of screaming fan girls to take action against Saudi Arabia over child marriage.

Man Principles

Photo Courtesy of the ingenious minds of Eric Kallman
and Craig Allen, and used without permission
per my feeble interpretation of fair use laws.

The Man Principles:Also Referred to as the Three P’s

I learned this from an interesting guy I used to work with. Really fit into many of the things I was thinking at the time. I’ve expanded and elaborated on his basic premise. The idea is, a man’s purpose in life can be summed up by the follow.

• Protect 

• Provide 

• Procreate 

The order matters as well. The reason I feel this is important is because it’s very apparent to me that many people have bought into the modern dogma that they have to go out and get an education and a good job. While these things are important, they all fall under provide and ignore the order.

The rules I post from time to time are general things I've learned in life. I've found many of them fit into the three categories here in some way.

Protect - This is the category where you get to be the crazy gun toting coot that prepares for the end of the world, but that’s the idea taken to one extreme. More realistically, it means eating right, staying active and fit. If you don’t take care of yourself you are unable to protect. If you are dead because of some illness, you fail at protect. Things like hygiene fall in this category. There is no use worrying about the second two principles if this one is not in place.

Provide - This is where most guys start. Even if you build an empire to provide for your family and loved ones...it’s pointless if you can’t stop others from taking it away by force. This is the category were education and money making activities (notice I didn’t say job) fall. This is also the category where things like manners fit in. How you treat others and act in society is directly related to how people treat you. Showing common courtesy goes a long way.

Procreate - If you take care of the first two, this one will take care of itself. If you have successfully protected and provided for, some woman will notice despite your looks (beauty is only skin deep remember? works both ways).

I have recently become more aware of sex and race issues that plague our world. Not that they haven't always been there, just now I am enlightened. It has brought into question the sexist nature of my man principles.

After careful consideration, I'm going with "not sexist." Just like feminist promote equality of women, the man rules promote equality of everyone. Real men are not sexist, but recognize the different biological roles we play. You will notice these principles say to treat everyone courteously. It's not about "macho" it's about living my an established set of morals. Like anything, it could easily be contorted into something it's not.

Tell them!