Archit's life loving blog

Archit Tantia (an Indian blogger) asked me to give an honest review of his blog, http://blog.archit.in/. I think it would be rude to be dishonest at all, so here goes.

If I was an Indian, I would probably wonder why it was written in English. If I was American, I would probably wonder why I'm reading an Indian blog. So no matter how you slice it, Archit's blog falls somewhere in-between hemispheres.

However, that is apparently its beauty.

If I was an Indian, trying to cross the gap between my Indian Heritage and the Western World, I can see why I would daily read the juicy bits Archit provides. Likewise, if I was a man firmly grounded in the Western World, and wanted an honest look at what India thinks of the same products I see.

Caffeine in Powder Form

I want to show you an awesome picture and some text I stole from United Nuclear. This is a bottle of solid Caffeine. As they say all over the bottle, this nervous stimulant can be quickly fatal. Recommended for extremely small doses (low milligrams) for yourself, or you can completely load up your pet hamster. I know what I'm doing with it as soon as it gets shipped.

"Caffeine is an alkaloid that's found in numerous plant species where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects. In Humans, Caffeine is a central nervous system and metabolic stimulant in small milligram quantities, however, ingestion of only slightly larger amounts can be fatal. This material is for experimental purposes only and not to be added to food or drink products."

Woo HOO! Go United Nuclear!

Paying for Posting

Just today, I signed up for a payperpost account.

There is nothing unusual about the site, and the name pretty much says it all. Sell your intellectual soul for some quick candy. What's not to like? Welcome to the marketplace of opinions.

In truth, they don't actually pay that much. Most of the blog post offers I've seen are $6-10, although there are a few low double digits as well. This is not the filthy rich scheme you have been praying for. Whatever reason I have for this affiliation, it's certainly not going to be because it's lucrative.

The real reason I liked the idea of "working" for these guys, was for brain gain. Yeah, I honestly felt like I was running out of spaggetti juice. Writing about my own life could be very fascinating, (and it is!) but I think I'm too honest or modest to really think of myself that way for too long.

I know I'm not that good of a writer, compared to the novelists I read. So maybe signing with this crew is exactly the sort of kick in the seat I need to buckle down and hone my skills. This is sort of a warning to you people, you may just see a post about raising dogs!

My Haunted Cup of Water

I have a large cup that I drink out of. This cup is not a normal cup. This cup is haunted.

When I get close to the bottom of my dark, plastic cup, I can see myself reflected in the bottom. I can only see myself when I tip the cup up, and water still covers the base. Before the water runs down, I see a part of my face looking back at me. It is only my nose to my forehead, but that iconic image, of a half of a face, is exactly what the Blair Witch kid looks like.

The shading is perfect, the image is perfect. When I take that last drink, I see a kid in a national state park, running for his life.

Awesome 360 Videos

Kudos to the crew of CornFlex. I actually felt like cursing while watching their demo. Not like, holy [bleep], I'm screwed, but like holy [bleep], that's one of the best ideas I've seen implemented.

Sweet Camera Demonstration

They film the entire world in 360, which is not new. But they let you flip the view around WHILE THE VIDEO IS PLAYING. Holy [BLEEP]!

Justin Long is a Mac Traitor

This is one of the coolest articles I have ever read.

I am a huge PC guy, and have probably spent at least 40% of my waking life on a PC. I code on a PC. I code for PCs. In the Mac perspective, I have spent maybe 3 to 5 hours total, browsing and messing around on someone else's box, so I probably haven't given Apple a fair shot.

However, it turns out that Justin Long has had lots of experience with Mac. He's done a lot of cool Mac commercials, which I happily watch on my PC. He's also a hilarious actor, but I digress.

Justin, the Mac king, (or prince, taking into consideration Steve Jobs) has purchased a PC.

I won't ruin it any more than I already have. You must read the article for yourself.

Apple's Mac Guy is a 'Closet PC' User.

The M&M Face Smack

Who thinks the way we eat M&Ms is strange?

First, we get a sealed plastic bag of M&Ms from the store. We rip off a corner, so that most of the bag is intact, but if the bag gets tipped, the M&Ms come out pouring just where we want them. Then, we either pour some M&Ms into a bowl, or directly into an open palm. If we poured them into a bowl, then we just scoop some up into our hand later, so the bowl is an almost unnecessary step.

Now, we have some M&Ms in our hand. Some people will use their other hand to drop one M&M at a time into their mouth. However, most of the planet's humanoids will take their handful of M&M's, and smack their face with it.

I'm not joking. They honestly hit their face with a handful of M&Ms.

The inertia from the trip of mid-waist level to face level will fling the contents of the hand to the back of the mouth, resulting in M&M joy.

Is there any other creature on earth that hits their face with a handful of food?

Poem: Life is but a flower

Life is but a flower,
A blade of grass.
A browning leaf,
The frozen cold.

Cracking the PayPal Lockbox

How do you get your money from PayPal? I'm sure a lot of you out there have asked yourselves this very question.

PayPal is very easy to set up. You just ask them for an account, give them your email address, and you have a place online to put money. The funny part is, you can only PUT money there, you can't take any money out. Haha, very clever!

That is, until you get verified. Yes, a verified PayPal account. [sigh... wistful glance at the ceiling] Getting a PayPal account verified has been less fun than getting my head stepped on by a horse. You need a credit card or a bank account, and I haven't bothered with either. I've restricted myself to a debt-free, strictly cash mentality, something that anyone in the mafia would be proud of.

You can get a Virtual Credit Card, and verify PayPal with that. Unfortunately, to fund the credit card, you something like an e-gold.com account. A really good way to fund the e-gold.com account is with PayPal, but guess what? It's locked! This looks a lot like square one.

I ended up getting a no minimum-balance MyAccess checking account from Bank of America. I guess I've taken the first step to being a normal citizen.

LOTR, Day something or other

Wow, I have been really bad at buckling down on this trilogy. I'm actually a really fast reader, but I think I have a short attention span.

I just finished The Two Towers yesterday, so I can start on The Return of the King today.

LOTR, Day 5

Almost halfway done with The Two Towers. I'm on Chapter 11 of Book
III, The Palantir.

LOTR, Day 4

The fever and other things set me back by a ways, but I'm still going strong.

Yesterday I got to "The King of the Golden Hall". This is Chapter 6 of
Book III, or the first book in The Two Towers. I regret having missed
out on such a treasure for such a long time.

Fever Broke Today

Well, I had two mornings of fever temperatures, and this morning, I
feel great. Of course, we always feel great in comparison to a fever,
so after the fever breaks, everything is just wonderful.

I just know it was a curse from G for giving up coffee.

Out of Town Fever

Well, It's been a while since I've looked at the Internet.

I was out-of-town over the weekend, so I got the old
no-internet-or-computers depression. Something about computers just
soothes the soul. Do you want to kick butt because your coworkers ate
your cake? Get Halo. Do you suffer from post-natal depression? Play
DOOM. This is a very interesting train of thought, possibly more on
this later...

On Monday I had to run an errand to a neighboring city, and this took
up a large chunk of the day. Busy, busy, busy.

And I got a fever this morning. Yeah, it stinks. I'm currently at a
whopping 101.6 degrees farenheit, and if it wasn't for the fact that I
haven't posted in four days, you can bet I'd be in bed right now.
Actually, that's a capital idea, so I'll see you around.

LOTR, Day 3

I got to The Breaking of the Fellowship, today. This is the last
chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring. Ugh, so close, and not enough
time.

LOTR, Day 2

I'm already to Rivendell. I'm on Chapter 1 of Book II.

I just got into the second book of the Fellowship of the Ring, so that
puts me about halfway through the first book in the trilogy. At this
rate, I'm going to take at least a week to finish the whole thing.

LOTR, Day 1

I found a download of the entire Lord of the Rings on Google. Yeah,
the whole thing in one text file.

So, this marks the first day of my voyage to the Mountain of Doom. So
far, I'm already through the Forward, the Preface, and made it to
Chapter 4 (A Shortcut to Mushrooms) of the Fellowship of the Ring.

By the way, I absolutely love Google. It's a library, an arcade, a
movie theater. Plagiarising the words of Smash Mouth, "It's a holiday
in my head."

Pulp Fiction Script

Today I read the script to Pulp Fiction, by Quentin Tarantino. Google
it, it's easy to read for free.

Wow, that guy is (or at least was) a genius. That was some good script
writing, and that's not even taking into consideration the acting and
special effects that would go into the movie. I really think he is the
king of dialog. Well, I have a short term memory, but right now he's
the best I can think of.

However, I did notice that some real gemstone bits of the finished
product were not in the script. I think this means that the actors
themselves were responsible for really classing it up. The scripted
speech by Wallace (Ving Rhames) missed the vinegar reference. "Some
think you'll age like wine. If you mean you turn to vinegar, you do.
If you mean it gets better, you don't." I really missed that one in
the script, and I'm glad Ving Rhames nailed the final performance.

Timeline, by Michael Crichton

Well, I read another book, yes sir bob, and this time it was Timeline.
I suppose it's far overdue, since it's not only a Crichton story, but
there's already a movie out. I know, I feel shamed. I should have read
it before any dust accumulated. This is from the guy that wrote
Jurassic Park, one of my all-time favorite worn out paperbacks.

I was told that the end to Timeline was lame, and this stopped me from
reading it for years. However, I took the plunge yesterday afternoon,
and just got finished. Well, it wasn't that long of a book. It could
have been at least half again as long as it was, and I would have been
thrilled.

(spoilers ahead) Timeline is about a crew of historians that get
blasted back to medieval France through a time machine in New Mexico.
They're on a rescue mission because a professor got lost in time. Back
then, France was not a nice place. People get smacked around and get
hurt. Some of the crew last an entire ten minutes before getting
killed. Some of the action scenes are just pure blurs of literary
goodness.

And it's true, the end was kind of lame. It's like Crichton just woke
up one morning and said, "Aw, let's get this book over with so I can
go do my next project."

(major spoiler) At the very end, the bad guy gets sent back to a nasty
time period. He doesn't know when or where he is, although he's in
some sort of forest. At this point, I just wanted a T-Rex to bite him,
or a gang of velocirapters to run out and get him. C'mon,
velociraptors! Just one raptor! PLEEEEASE! That would have been
freakin' awesome! But, no, it was not that far back in time, just the
time of the Black Death. Oh. Well, that is kinda lame.