Favorite Alternate Version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D

Update: The one I had didn’t allow embedding, so I got a different one.

…’cept this one is in C and on piano, by George Winston. This is my absolutely favorite music, so I am glad I found a good version of it.

Curve Ball Illusion, or: Dark Magic…

Update: Say, there is a cool live video on Hubble repair, or you can see me live twitter it. ^_^

Update 2: I want to add another “dark magic” science down below.

…or at  least that is what my brother called it, dark magic. ^_^ Just go and watch it, it is about the creepiest thing.

And another piece of science “dark magic”: Having boiling water freeze. Seriously, these scientists are creeping me out. I think we need to revive the witch hunts. What? Not so serious? What are you talking about!? Want to see how they did it? Here it is:

Finally, the final piece of really cool science “dark magic” is this picture:

See that? It is the space shuttle with Hubble, a snapshot from the ground! That is just cool.

(hat tip badastronomy)

Oprah Must Be Destroyed and Other Pet Peeves

I am really late at the party, but Oprah has been in my conscience for quiet some times. Sure, she can be nice, and give scholarships to 4 students from my school. On the other hand, she is a perpetuator of the typical uninformed, feel the gut type ignorance, thereby promoting horrible woo woos such as… Sorry, it is too horrible… The Secret. All I will say about it is that it is a woo of magnitude -10 in the logarithmic scale of stupidity, stupid quantum woo…

But now, Oprah is beyond redemption. Anyone who gives multimillion dollar contracts to people who put the public in danger, in this case Jenny McCarthy, who espouses antivaccine lies all the time, is dead to me. There is no way I will ever forgive her for this. I really don’t understand. What knowledge do people think they have so that they are able to promote whatever ideas they want without questioning the validity of their products? What makes their opinion more valid than the scientists who figured out all of the medicine and all?  Is it that McCarthy is a parent, and parents know for sure what is wrong with their children? Is the fact that Oprah’s show is so popular makes whatever she utters the truth, which could possibly be  illusory truth? What do these people have? Are they more comforting? Because if so, that is just lame. Because all it seems to me is that they are just driving a type of informational conformity. Because they know freaking nothing, and perhaps they at least once in a life time invite an actual expert and forget all of the “two sides in an argument” BS. Because you know what? The world just doesn’t work the way YOU freaking want them tttooo!!!!! And because of that, I just want to yell at all of you people who are promoting her stuff to STOP!!! I am sorry, I am just angry that Oprah… *furious breathing*

This is all just messed up. People would rather believe in pseudo intellectuals. And you know another thing that is just messed up? A great pop sci magazine Scientific American messed up, that is what is so messed up. What were they thinking? Inviting a homeopath to actually talk on science? Because really, the only “science” I have seen them do is just to give it to someone, and when they just get better, or the disease is in remission, they go tell everyone it works while ignoring all the cases which didn’t work. Not that it is a surprise really, because all it is, it is just water with ultra diluted chemicals, so diluted not even a single foreign molecule is in there. But of course, water has “memories”, while at the same time, forgetting all the dinosaur craps that have been dumped in our oceans for millions of years.

SciAm, what do you think we are, though? Stupid? Why did you give us this cheap article on beauty?Was it to attract the female components? Hell, that is the way it feels like! What, did you  just underestimate the female audiences just like that? Are actual science underneath women? Because you should go back and stick to actual science because you know what? In the end all you are is a freaking science magazine, and I am sorry that you are not a magazine for medical quacks or one of those stupid girly magazines.

Next target… *Creepily turn head around to fake doctor* Stupid chiropractors. So, being offended is libel, ain’t it? Wow, I just committed libel! Because you can’t make no wrong, apparently, so any criticism that you are wrong is libel. But you know what? You are wrong, because you are all full of scientifically unproven shit, no evidence whatsoever to back up your claims except for stories, whose conclusions you wish it were true, or true for everyone else. You are doing this lawsuit, and why? Just because someone had the temerity to tell you in your faces that you were wrong, here is part of the article:

I can confidently label these treatments as bogus because I have co-authored a book about alternative medicine with the world’s first professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst. He learned chiropractic techniques himself and used them as a doctor. This is when he began to see the need for some critical evaluation. Among other projects, he examined the evidence from 70 trials exploring the benefits of chiropractic therapy in conditions unrelated to the back. He found no evidence to suggest that chiropractors could treat any such conditions.

Worst of all, the judge somehow ruled against Simon Singh, in part because in UK, it is the person accused of libel who has the burden of evidence, and it is just much tougher in general. Anyways, read the link the third link of the above paragraph, the ruling is just plain stupid.

When something gets this frustating, don’t you just want to pull your hair out of your follicles? That is how I feel. I swear, I want to understand the phenomena behind these black hole of stupid. Which is why I feel like venting my final anger into spammers. Well, in this case, it is a questionnaire, not a rant because I am curious. They just tick me off for some reason. I don’t get them. Their job is to post links to the websites they promote, and… is that all they do? Tell me, spammers, what is the lucrative business of spamming like? Do you get a life out of doint that? What is your intrinsic and extrinsic reward? There has to be some sort of reward, or you woudn’t be doing it, I am guessing there is some money involved, right? Besides, aren’t your efforts stupidly futile? Because in all of the blogs I have read, none of them allow spam. Oh, I get it, you are hopin to find a crack, that is it. Right? Right? *sigh* Probably discussing stuff with spammers are futile, they probably have the reading and writing skills of 3rd grade, plus, they don’t care anyways.

Wow, maybe I should cut down on my rants next time. But as a final note, Measels, rubella, and mumps, three not so fun viruses, thanks Jenny McCarthy at a chance for life.

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile Awareness, Gaming in Britain, and Tetris Evolution

 

Klonoa is an old school plataformer, and it seems like it isn’t doing too well. Well, my job is to create awareness for underappreciated treasures like old school plataformer games. I thought I could do it by posting a review by GameTrailers.

Vodpod videos no longer available.  

Secondly, there is a British museum that covers gaming history. Looks pretty cool.

Oh, and in gonintendo, I found this fun T shirt on the evolution of Tetris pieces. ^_^

Euclid’s The Elements: Preposition One-Really Fun Math Puzzle

This is the nth edition of *drum rolls* Pop Quizz! A quizz in which the answers are not obvious and if it is obvious, and you get it wrong, you are rebuked at!!!

Occasionally, I will occasionally ask a question, and the reader will answer them! For every wrong answer, I will consider one of your comments a spam. Ha! See how you like that suckers! (I am kidding, of course) Sometimes, a wrong answer won’t invite rage, some really obvious one will, and you will be called an idiot if you can’t answer the obvious one. In fact, I may have to make an extra page on my blog for the lists of idiots.

Anyways, once upon a short time ago, I was reading Euclid’s The Elements, which is basically the geometry book to rule them all. First, it defines various terms, and go over postulates. Then it goes through geometric proofs, each different one called prepostitions. Well, the first one I think is a really neat geometry problem. It goes like this:

3. On a given straight line to construct an equilateral triangle.

Meaning, considering you have a line AB, make a triangle ABC with all sides equal. Sounds hard? Well, if you hear the clue, you migh go “OOOOHHHhhhhh!” If not, well… shame on you, mate. ^_^

Neat Videogame Stuffs

Firstly, there is the x-ray pictures  (hat tip Joystiq) of various game devices, which reveals the really cool innards of the devices. For example:

That one is of a wii mote, as indicated in the pic. (Why, why did they have to steal my Wii!! *sob* all my achievements…)

Secondly, look at all of these collections! The collections are from a game developer named Ken Levine. He is the developer of a really good shooter named Bioshock.

Finally, there is a cake of a goomba (hat tip gonintendo), which is a common enemy in the Mario Bros. games, which looks really neat.

Bach is Killing My Fingers

The piece I am trying to play with the piano the initial portion of Bach’s Toccat and Fugue in d minor, which is this:

I don’t really like this music, though. It sounds like someone is smashing on the organ keyboard all the time. But still, the initial part is neat. Even though it is just the begginning, the music is taxing. I swear, I am going to get carpal tunnel syndrome and my fingers are going to fall off. There is this part that is really fast, but at the same time it takes your fingers into a complicated movements. I know the movements now, but I have to synchronize it with my left hand, plus do it at a steady pace, and then go faster as it goes on. It is like this:

By the way, I suggest you check out his channels and website. He teaches piano in an accesible way without the hurdle of music sheets, and he always put up pieces of pop music or classical that you might want to learn. To get the complete parts for all the music in youtube, though, you have to register and pay in his website. After all, he has to make a living.