Pixel Pushing Blogger

random ramblings of a designer in the valley

Asian chicken salad

During the tedium of the work day grind, I have all sorts of weird IM conversation with my friends. While we’re talking about what we had for lunch today, I brought up one of my minor annoyances with… I’m not even sure to whom this one would be directed.

Why do we have asian/chinese “chicken” salad? Our cuisine covered an entire spectrum of all sorts of dead animals, why “chicken”? Is there a perception that Asian people only eat chicken, or somehow the only ingredient that you can mash into a salad from the entire range of Asian cuisine is chicken? Why isn’t there Asian barbecue pork salad? Asian fish salad? Well, if you really need to stay within the realm of poultry, how about Asian duck salad?

Of course, the mere fact that we have a certain salad created to cater to our culture is funny. I mean, growing up in Taiwan and all, Chinese people don’t eat salad, ever. Salad is clearly not a part of our traditional palette. So first we have our named tagged onto a type of food we don’t make, then have it limited to only one type of meat.

There is one possibility I have yet to consider though, maybe all Asian chicken salad strictly forbid the use of any other type of chicken excepted the ones imported from Asia…

Wow, that’s a whole ‘nother mess of complications.

Upgraded to WordPress 2.2

Everything seems to be up and running as usual. I was pleasantly suprised to see that my themes & plugins are all fully functional. The only difference seems to be the inclusion of widget functionality in WP 2.2, which makes the previous “widget-enabling” addon obsolete.

Testing thumbnail viewer

Puppy!

Another miscellaneous test for a WordPress plugin, with a cute picture!

Is this BSG’s last season?

Ran across an interesting little tidbit in my random browsing of the intrawebtube:

Last season for Battlestar Galatica

All I gotta say is, ABOUT TIME!

This past season of BSG was complete, utter crap except for the last episode, which just gave you barely enough to want to see how it ends. The progression of plot in BSG is completely reminiscent of X-Files. One episode in the beginning of the season to continue the cliffhanger from season past, and one/or one two-part episode with a cliffhanger to keep you coming back the next season. Fill in everything in between with utter, useless crap that explores mini-plots that no one cares about.

Since the second season of BSG, I’ve felt that the show was written for maybe one mini-series, or maybe two seasons; then stretched out into many, many more seasons because the TV executives realized they have a franchise on their hand, and they can make a *LOT* of money from it. So let’s stretch out that story arc, fill in as much crap as possible, and figure out how to make money from it for another extra few years.

It’s sad when a series that started off with so much promise, left me in the end saying, “Good riddance.” Although, I’ll still Tivo the last season just to see where it goes, and probably watch the movies and whatever other property they’ll come up with after that as well. After all, I stuck it out for every single season of X-Files, even…

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Fresno State, video games and guns

Another unlikely teenage/college shooting happened today, apparently the argument was over a stolen Playstation. Jonquel Brooks, a 19-year-old freshman at Fresno State was accused of stealing a Playstation by three other guys; when he was confronted by the three man, he choose to shoot them instead of… well, there are a variety of other options, none of which was taken.

What I find really disturbing, especially so soon after the Virginia Tech incident, is that at some point the media will focus their attention at the video game console that is in the center of this event. Just as some people tried to link the VT incident with video games as well, although later proven to be completely irrational. There will always be a part of media, and people, that like to sensationalize violence and associate it with new trends in society that they can’t fully accept. For the last generation, movies, music, television were their scape goats. For our generation, it’s video games.

Why do I find that disturbing? It’s not because I had a particular affinity towards protecting criticisms towards video games. I’m for the most part, completely indifferent about how other people feel about my video game hobby. This incident is disturbing to me, because despite repetitious display of outrageous public, violent act performed by troubled teens, the “tool” at which

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Phallic logo contest

Oh, this is just too, too good.

B3TA : FEATURES : Phallic Logo Awards

The game designers across the nation are playing is; can they design a logo and get it approved without the client realising it’s a big spurting penis?

We asked our readers to send in the best cock logos from around the world for our team of experts to evaluate. Now we present to you the very cream of the cocks.

ROFLMAO!

Bushisms~~~

I <3 George W. Bush

And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.

“This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all.

You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war President. No President wants to be a war President, but I am one.

You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror

The Complete Bushism - By Jacob Weisberg

We’re finally getting Marty McFly’s shoes! (sorta)

I swear I’ve been dreaming about getting these shoes since I was like.. 8 years old or something. No power lace yet, but at least we’re… hrm… half-way there?

Via my favorite gadget blog.. Engadget:

Smart sole, adjustment shoe.. etc…

Firefly MMO may be coming our way?!! Now that’s shiny, dong ma?

According to Wired, Multiverse has signed a deal with Fox, securing the right to make a MMO based on Firefly. I’m holding cautious enthusiasm right now, since Multiverse has not to this date, produced any games on their own. Instead, Multiverse’s business plan so far has been providing the platform (some may say “game engine”, but there platform is a more appropriate phrase, because the background infrastructure is much more massive compared to say, a FPS game) for developers to make their own MMO’s. I’m a bit unclear if Multiverse is planning to make this themselves, or maybe they’re going to license it to one of the game developers currently using their platform.

Read more about the deal here (Wired)
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Wowhead beta key contest

Wowhead is holding a contest & giving away 100 beta keys. Several people I know already have beta keys, but if you’re one of those who are still yearning for one, this might be a worthy contest. See more details at — Contest: The Biggest Helper.