Halloween… The Actual Day

I had a happy Halloween with fireworks and fun, but I got attacked by an barred owl twice.

Barred Owl

The first time it grabbed my hair and almost hit my friend, the second time when it came I ducked. That dosen’t happen much in a civil community. I didn’t see it at all so I didn’t even have time to get freaked out.

What else happened? I got lost in my own neighbourhood. But in the mean time, I saw some pretty cool decorated houses. The most common is Airblown animatronics. I like animatronics because they can move around, and they look really real. I think the best examples of this technology is used by Disney. In Disney parks lifelike creatures move and talk like the real thing, but in truth they are controlled by computers. The Imagineers of Walt Disney really had some cool ideas. You can make homemade animatronics at instructables.com.

Another cool element is screens and videos. If it is used properly, it can create the effect of monsters behind the curtains, or a fire monster in the fire place. Halloween really changed over the years, now we have state of the art technology that can recreate almost anything. Computers, microchips, and all the other cool tech gadgets really changed our lives.

With costumes, it used to be ghosts and ghouls, witches and the undead; but now it could be anywhere between a bunny rabbit to Justin Bieber. The meaning of Halloween is now replaced by pure fun. I guess as the world changes, the holidays change with it too.

Halloween!

Halloween is tomorrow and are you ready?

Here’s what I did for Halloween:

My Pumpkin (iPumpkin) of Jobs and Apple!

For the costume, I wore

Or…

So I can be

This dude right here!

If you haven’t gotten a costume yet, I made a list of my top ten last minute costumes (in no particular order):

1. Pain in the butt (stick a huge bandaid on your butt)
2. Wear a sign that says “________ on strike”
3. Tape a quarter on your back and be a quarterback
4. Have a bunch of “Hello my name is” stickers and write different name on each, having an identity crisis
5. Wear black and tape an enlarged stamp on your chest; black mail
6. Have a CD/DVD and a burner, be a CD/DVD burner
7. Wear red horns and other typical devil accessories, or better yet, wear a white shirt and paint a yellow circle to be devilled eggs
8. Attach a buck to each ear and be a buccaneer (buck-a-ear)
9. Dress in a suit and stick a bunch of legal documents to be a lawsuit
10. Cheer for the ceiling and be a ceiling fan

Happy Halloween and Have FUN!

Fun Fact:

Did you know that Halloween was originally Hallowe’en, or All Hallow’s Eve?

Experts

Studies shown  that when experts are talking, our brains and our common sense runs away. We trust experts, we think that they are right all of the time. I personally don’t trust experts because all humans make mistakes. Doctors, financial advisors, the police have all gotten it wrong before. We have to think if what the experts are saying makes sense or not, using our common sense is a perfect tool. But I also like to google what the experts are saying because if they are suggesting it, and it is correct, probably lots of other people know it too. Trust shouldn’t be based on a diploma or certificate, it should be built over time. It’s almost funny to think that we completely trust a stranger just because of a diploma or certificate.

OK Go

This is an awesome band! I like how they use untraditional and more new stuff to create their music videos. I always like new stuff because what the society thought is normal often gets boring after a while. It is hard to see people doing things out of the normal, so seeing people doing this is entertaining and fun to me. This is just like what I was saying in the my earlier post, doing differently than society. In my opinion, that is the only way to stand out, to get known, to make a difference. If everything was the same it would be boring. So that said, I will try my best to make this blog exciting. Here are some videos from the band OK Go:

This is the original.

My favourite.

Like it too.

Fred

Most companies try to create products that will make life easier for us, trying to make us lazier. But, I stumbled across a company, Fred and Friends (link), who makes everyday products fun. That’s right, not easier, but more enjoyable, more fun. For example, there is the plate with the face, so you can decorate it with food. Then there’s the giant earphones used as desktop speakers. There’s bowls that looks like the split second of milk spilling out, etc. I think that this is a great marketing technique because it is harder to adapt to something new that’s supposed to be easier, anyways, it’s always good to add a little excitement in life.

   

I loved the sawed off memory stick, but I had a couple at home. So, I chipped open one that I got a few years back and extracted the chip. I went to the dollar store and bought the cheapest USB wire I can find. Then, I changed the chip around and got an identical memory stick to the one above, except in black (I couldn’t find classic white :(). Here’s a picture of my finished stick:

Books

I’m  just wondering what type of books do you guys like (answer in poll)? I don’t mean genres, but rather trade paperback, hardcover, or ebook.

I usually buy paperback because it is cheap and more or less smaller. I buy hardcover when the book is special or has a special meaning to me, because hardcovers are more formal and classic. I personally don’t like ebooks because I don’t like the digital screen and the feel. However, it has its advantages too. It can hold hundreds of books and still be lightweight, plus it can be used at low to no light conditions. Another advantage is that books owned by the public domain are free.

Go Gimp Go

Ok, fine, I confess, I love making the impossible, using photoshop, confusing people, making them laugh, adding my personal touch to everything, etc. I feel happy when I amaze others.

But do I really want to pay the hundreds to acquire photoshop?

Well, I don’t have the money. So, I found this multiplatform free software, Gimp. It’s a replica of Photoshop, if not better. It is simply epic. Nothing could be better. They have forums, manuals, help files, and all the support you can get.

If you heard of this little tool, I won’t be surprised because it is very well known. Anyways, it is truly amazing what Gimp can do.

I hope that Gimp can stay in our society for a while, but for now… Go Gimp Go!

Hyperlinking

Here’s something interesting, the Canadian Supreme Court recently ruled on an important topic, now that we are in the 21st century; hyperlinking. Because I am a blogger and I hyperlink, I decided to read the ruling and post it for the world to see. Here is what Daniel Henry of CBC told us:

“When you create a hyperlink to a web page that has defamatory content, are you liable for it?

The Supreme Court of Canada has now given us the answer, and like most things in law the answer is both simple and potentially complicated.

According to Justice Rosalie Abella, who wrote for the majority, “a hyperlink, by itself, should never be seen as ‘publication’ of the content to which it refers.”

In other words, creating it on your web page does not, by itself, make you liable for what might be displayed on another website when someone clicks through.” 

The full analysis is here.

This is actually great for me because I hyperlink a lot (like the “here” above). I know that I am not liable for what the link says, I am only liable for what I say on my own blog. I totally agree with what the judge ruled because the content on the link might actually change.

I love this!!!

The Human Brain

https://ted.com/talks/view/id/488

If you haven’t skipped down here, and watched the video first, you might be wondering one, what is the point of the excersize, and two, why the video is here in the first place.

Well, let me tell you a story first. A year ago, I was checking the news, my mail and several other things for rumours on if the MacBook Pro was updating, because I needed a new laptop. So it was good for that while, I had something to do, I had something to think about besides work. But then after that, it was so plain. Week after week, month after month (of course there was Christmas, my favourite time of the year, but still), there was nothing interesting, nothing new.

My message is that we want to do something (like get a new laptop), but then when we achieve it, we realize that it was way better when we were still looking forward to it. The point is to try to achieve it, not achieve it in the first place.

So yes, this entry is to explain why I started blogging.

By the way, the iPod turned 10 today! Happy Birthday!

Playing with words

Check these out. Found them all on Worth1000, so they do belong to their respective artists. After studying the pictures, guess what word it is trying to convey.

Here is an example:

This is “king of pop”

The answers, in order of the images:

1. King of Pop
2. Dr.Pepper
3. Whole Milk
4. Tap Dancers
5. Card Shark
6. Pool Table
7. iPod
8. Gatorade
9. Light Beer
10. Nightmare

I thought this was pretty interesting, I got a couple more like these, I was hoping to add them on later. Hope you enjoy these word games.

Which one do you think is the best? Which one do you think is the most hilarious? Creative? Epic?

Speaking about pictures, I have created a photos tab with pictures taken by myself, I put more details about them on the page.