I've been contemplatinng creating a new blog template... perhaps something that's completely written from the ground up by yours truly. Can't say when I'll have it done, but at least by making the fact public, it might give me enough push & motivation to get it done.
Me: I'm full of useless analogies today.
Tinu: You can be a writer!
Me: I am, according to my own blog.
Tinu: Haha.
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.
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.
Another miscellaneous test for a WordPress plugin, with a cute picture!
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 after Mulder was nothing but a guest appearance for three or four episodes a season.
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 they use to their means continues to be ignored as one of the factor & culprit of these incidents. We focus on "what went wrong with this kid" and "who do we blame for what happened here", rather than pointing our fingers towards a much more direct question, "Why does a teenager have a gun?"
United States, by my recollection, is the only so-called civilized country that allows its citizen to acquire firearms with ease. Private ownership of lethal firearms is outlawed in almost all other first-world country. Americans as a whole continues to ignore the role that firearm plays into these violent crimes.
I have handled shotguns, went to shooting club with my uncle, took target practice in the past. What surprises me is how easy it was to disassociate a extremely lethal weapon to the potential harm it could do if not used properly. Yes, stabbing a person with a knife is a violent, and potentially lethal act; but there is something strange about using a gun that disassociate at least part of the visceral impact, and the moral ramifications of what you're about to do, to actually doing it. I think of it like fighter jet pilots in a war, where they bomb targets by following instrumentations. It's like playing, *gasp*, a video game, where the act of what they do and the ramifications of what they've done is almost completely disassociated with the actions they are taking.
I just think, that there's a very huge difference between being able to shoot, versus trying to kill another human being without the help and the instantaneousness of a firearm. If we didn't have firearms commonly distributed to private citizens here in United States, a lot of these violent crimes would've happened on a much smaller scale, perhaps not even occured at all. Columbine does *not* happen if those kids only had knifes and bats. Sure, some kids might be hurt or killed, but it would not be as massively terrifying as it was. Virigina Tech does *NOT* happen without a gun.
So why are the media so obsessed with scapegoating video games, movies, television?
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!
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
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:
