Tuesday Ramblings

Watch out for The Celtics. The deal for Kevin Garnett to head to Boston is all but done. The East just got a lot more crowded. Garnett’s presence in Boston, alongside Allen and Pierce, instantly vaults the Celtics into playoff contention and even talk of the best team in the East. This gives Boston three legitimate superstars, three guys who have never made it to the Finals and (you can bet) will be hungry for a championship. With the East an open race, the Celtics are now definitely major contenders.

The secret behind Derek Jeter’s success?

For all those who love Facebook (according to my estimates…about 95% of those who read this), Lifehacker has a list of the best Facebook apps. I know…productivity and Facebook? Well, I guess there’s a way to be productive in your procrastinating. Other than Divshare, I haven’t tried any of the other ones, so I might add a few from the list to try and up my Facebook efficiency. Still sounds weird.

Oh look, Mashable has a post about useful Facebook apps too! They expand their scope to include Firefox add-ons as well. Definitely worth a look.

Kotaku has an article on what may be, at least in my opinion, the most awesome arcade game ever. For one, the mere mention of Initial-D makes me dream about the how sweet the movie / manga comics (what little I read) were. On top of that, this arcade game is actually installed inside real car bodies! These are no plastic ripoffs folks, these are real cars (no engines, duh)! $5 to step inside a Subaru Impreza WRX and go nuts in front of a 90″ screen? Ridiculous. (Yes, I know it’s not actually driving the cars…but still!)

Hey look, Aquafina finally admits that it comes from tap water by changing their labels, although they don’t say tap, but “Public Water Source”. It might come as a surprise to some of you, but don’t be. Tap water is highly regulated in the US (especially Chicago, woot) so just buy a water bottle and drink the good stuff, straight from the tap. It’s Aquafina…minus the high costs (and you’re helping the environment!).

-Jack

Iraq Wins AFC Asian Cup

I blogged about this in an earlier post, but that was before the influx of media coverage. I wanted to dedicate a post to the Iraqis’ win, and although this is not nearly the admiration they deserve, I will try. Here are some news stories covering the win and the outpouring of support and goodwill following it:

• Reuters talks about the win and the hurdles that the team had to overcome, especially the heavy hearts that they all carried with them into the match, as a result of the prolonged struggle in the country.
• The Boston Herald has a short piece on how the win has given Iraqis unity.
• Julian Linden has a blog post about some of the history of the Asian Cup.
• CNN International has some more game coverage.

I’m sure there are many more stories out there that I haven’t found, this selection was just from scanning the news headlines. Again, the team’s achievement is not only historic, but comes at a time when the fate of the nation is murky at best. I watched the last half of the match, and I can say that the team showed heart and courage, going up against the heavily favored Saudis. Congratulations to Iraq and their soccer team, they have truly been an inspiration to me.

-Jack

Weekend Roundup

Heatwatch: It hit 103 today, and was 102 yesterday. And no, I did not dare go out today.

Tadahito Iguchi deserved better than this. That’s all I’ll say on the matter. I’m still distraught.

Iraq just won a hard-fought Asian Cup final. Stay tuned for what should be a lot of feel good stories in the next couple of days. Here’s some very recent coverage of their win.

The dark side of Thomas Edison is revealed. The man was a maniac. Ok, maybe that’s taking it a little too far, but seriously…who electrocutes elephants? Or cats and dogs, for that matter?

Here’s a highly classified training manual for secret agents. It’s obvious that nobody was ever meant to see these documents. If my blog disappears tomorrow, you’ll know why.

If you’re reading this on Sunday morning, there’s still time to catch the World Series of Video Games (on CBS, of course). That’s it, CBS is no longer on my bad side…just for offering this. Somebody TiVO the Guitar Hero finals for me, please? Oh right, the tourney was held a month ago in Louisville (ha!).

An update from the first official Bears practice. Things are looking up. I mean, we got “Real Deal” on our side. How can we lose? Also, I predict good things from Greg Olsen. And so do Protraders, apparently, making him a huge price gainer. And oh, Protraders are usually right about these things.

-Jack

Sog Wars: A New Sog

So yeah, I played basketball again today. You know that feeling that you’re getting soggier by the day, but you still have that hope that it’s not accurate…until it’s confirmed? Well, my feelings were definitely confirmed today. I was waaaay off, had terrible handles, and was just a disgrace to basketball in general. I felt bad for my friend (who had been so generous to invite me to play) because his friends must’ve thought “Who is this joke?” Anyways, for proof, here’s a rough box score for me (3v3, over 4-5 5point games, 1 game up to 10):

4-26 FG, 1-7 3PT, 8 Rebounds, 2 STL, 12 Blocks (because I’m tall, not because I’m good)

Haha sorry, came up on Google Images when I searched “Sog”.

So yeah. I need work. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to play a little more, but then again, with the weather here…who knows? Either way, Taotao and Choi, take it easy on me when I return in early September. I’m gonna suck for at least a month or more.

-Jack

How To: Automatically Download New Episodes of Your Favorite Shows

With the onset of the Internet TV boom, watching videos and podcasts over the internet is commonplace, but there hasn’t been a way to neatly integrate different content, until now. Miro is a free, open-source video player for the internet. With it, you can subscribe to podcasts, Youtube streams, and even torrents. In this post, I’ll show you how to use it to automate the downloads of your favorite TV shows through Bittorrent. Thanks to Adam Pash of LifeHacker for introducing me to this concept. Almost everything in my screencast (and more) is in his article here (Miro was formerly named Democracy).

*note* Downloading copyrighted material is illegal. Download at your own risk. You know the drill.

The first step is to go to Miro’s website and download/install a copy of the program. Once you’ve got Miro set up, watch the screencast I’ve created for setting it up to download your favorite shows:

Hmmph…seems that WordPress offers no way to embed flash from sites other than Youtube, Google Video, and DailyMotion. Seeing as how Youtube butchered the quality of my video…I’ll just link to the flash version hosted on Divshare. So everybody, the screencast is here. The page also includes a link to download the original avi (only 6 megs or so) for those of you who find the quality unclear. Hope you guys like the screencast and find it useful! Thanks again to Lifehacker’s Adam Pash for his original article on the Democracy Player.

-Jack

Friday Ponderings (non-sports)

So I finally got my camera yesterday. It is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3K. Thanks to everybody for the suggestions! My parents ended up deciding between the Canon SD900 and this one, mainly choosing this because it’s a more versatile performer. Although there are some issues with noise at higher ISOs and low-light shots, it’s overall a very good camera. I haven’t gotten that much time to mess with it yet, but I can tell you I’m very happy with it so far. Hopefully I’ll be able to take some pictures over the weekend and post em here for you guys to see. Oh, and if any of you are camera experts, I’d be happy for advice on low light shooting and those sorts of things.

Moving on, there’s this cool Firefox extension called Allpeers, which lets you share files with friends and family. It has also recently added the ability to handle torrents. Overall it’s a very handy tool for sharing files directly. If you get the app, be sure to add me (xster501) to your contacts!

Kotaku has the scoop from Comic-Con on yet another sweet Transformers toy. High Score, eh?

Creed Bratton is running for governor of Pennsyl…excuse me, Transylvania. I’d vote for him, especially because of the Neon Yellow policemen idea. Seriously, I hate when cops sneak up on me!

I’m looking forward to the weekend, but at the same time I realize that there’s not going to be much to do. After all, I don’t really want to go anywhere in 100 degree heat, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll snap some nice pictures of the malls in Shanghai.

-Jack

Friday (Sports) Observations

ESPN’s homepage has changed. It looks more slick, more efficient, and most of all, more Web 2.0. For the most part, I like it. Nothing big, just some small interface makeovers. Overall a nice new look.

Speaking of ESPN, Marc Stein has a great interview with Steve Nash, aka “Canadian Jesus”. The guy is a real class act. Although a Protrader recently beat Nash at H-O-R-S-E in a charity event. It’s the second year in a row that a Protrader has gotten the best of Nash!

You know who must be pissed? The Falcons. They trade away a quality quarterback in Matt Schaub because they believe Vick’s their guy, and then the dogfighting incident occurs. ESPN reports that the much maligned quarterback plead not guilty. This whole situation is just beginning. Oh, I believe that Nike suspended the release of his new shoes as well.

Josh Fields leads the league in walk-off bunts. And yes, that’s a very good thing. Also nice to see Pods contributing in a major way shortly after returning to the lineup. The Sox definitely could use his speed. Comeback of the year?

-Jack

Thursday’s Topics

Hello to you all on this beautiful Thursday morning! Ok, I lied. I was pouring with sweat when I arrived at work this morning. It is HOT.

Wired’s Game Life has a great interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, better known as Nintendo’s Head of Game Development. There are details into certain games, as well as an idea of the direction Nintendo is heading with the development of their Wii and DS platforms.

Soundwave, unfortunately, was not in the Transformers movie. He will, however, exist as a sweet MP3 player…sorry, no cassettes here. Now if one of your friends show you their brand new iPod, you can just transform your Soundwave and they’ll shut up (or be blasted into oblivion!). Damn, these electronics manufacturers really know how to get to my inner child. I really want one of these!

Wireless USB seems to be moving forward, although the technology is still in its early phases. Don’t be surprised, though, if by this time next year, Wireless USB products are ubiquitous. After all, the market for this is huge, not to mention that many people are getting tired of the clutter of wires from their digital devices. Can you imagine just setting your camera next to your computer and it automatically syncs any new pictures? Or just not having to find that damn cable so you can actually transfer the pictures?

And just when you think you’ve seen everything, they put a web server into a frog. That’s not a typo. It’s art.

Chorewars promises to make chores less boring, by turning them into an online MMORPG. Watch out for that Orc on the way to the grocery store! Although I was skeptical before, I might just try this. Yes, I’m a nerd, but at least I know I won’t end up like this.

As promised, here are a couple of pictures from last weekend. All images property of Wenna Jia.

Pudong at Night

Some guys were playing Chess at XinTianDi. On a huge Chess board.

Some buildings on The Bund. Taken from a boat tour of the Huangpu River.

-Jack

Heatwave Thoughts

Yes, Shanghai’s wet season is over, more or less. What does this mean? Probably that I’ll pray for days in the low 90s, because it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be many more of those…I’m just glad I work in an office building.

If you haven’t been following the NBA’s ongoing crisis involving a referee and some gambling, you can’t call yourself a sports fan. Here’s a good article by ESPN’s Mark Stein with some new questions (and answers) about the whole dilemma. I mean, I do realize it’s a big deal and all, yet my reaction when I first heard about it was: “Meh, figures.”

Don’t look now, but here comes minicamp. So many questions surrounding this year’s Bears: Is Grossman going to step forward or step back? Is Benson our guy? Will the defense be ready? Will Briggs play for the Bears this season? One thing is for sure: the expectations for this team are as high as they’ve ever been, even with so many unanswered questions. Stay tuned.

When it comes to being productive and motivating yourself, listen to Jerry Seinfeld. Thanks to Lifehacker for that story, I’m definitely going to have to try that when I get back in school.

-Jack

Weekend Update

Sort of. Although it’s not the weekend anymore, this post will mostly be about what I did and where I went this past weekend. Why now? My good friend Wenna visited, so she demanded I take her to all the fun tourist destinations in Shanghai. Okay, she didn’t DEMAND…she asked nicely. Sort of.

Not much to say, except that we went to the following:

• The Bund
• Nanjing Road
• The Pearl of the Orient (or Oriental Pearl, whatever makes you happy)
• Shanghai Museum
• Jade Buddha Temple
• Xin Tian Di
• Tons of Shopping

Yup. That’s basically where we went. I sucked as a tour guide, because I didn’t know where to go or what do to or what the significance of such places were, so we had to buy a guidebook to Shanghai. I did learn a lot about Shanghai, however, so that was good. And yes, there are a lot of places to go, we just didn’t have enough time/knowledge about certain areas…basically because I suck.

Clothes are ridiculously expensive in Shanghai…ridiculously. At least the clothes you find in the huge malls. I mean, I don’t know how Chinese people afford to wear jeans that cost $100 DOLLARS, because I definitely can’t. I did, however, get a slickdeal, with a pretty sweet Astro Boy t-shirt (Wenna: that’s like any other t-shirt. Me: ARE YOU KIDDING!?!??!!) for 1/2 off, making it $12 or so. That’s basically all I could afford. Not to mention I must’ve spent $100 on drinks alone. Walking outside is not a good idea when it’s 95.

Dammit, Flickr is giving me trouble. I’ll try to find a way to show you guys some pics, but for now just look up “The Bund” and “Pearl of the Orient” and “Shanghai” on Flickr or something. You get the idea.

-Jack
p.s. sorry for not describing in detail what we did, but it’s the basic touristy stuff. if you really wanna know, however, shoot me an email or a post and i’ll be glad to strike up a conversation!

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