May 4 So just to let you know, I made a statistics page available for readers to peruse. It lists general information such as how many posts and how many comments. The most interesting statistic (in my opinion) is the list of the commentors and how many comments they have left. However, I must admit that the commenting seems to be fairly unevenly weighted. Does that make you want to do anything on my posts? ;-)
In any case, check out the “Statistics” page in the navbar.
May 4 Sometimes Chinese people do good things. Sometimes Chinese people do bad things. And sometimes Chinese people sure do some stupid things.
Get this: Chinese people copied Disneyland. As in, they made a Disneyland park. Are you kidding me?!
I read an Engadget article about the fake Disneyland that got me to searching for more information. Amusingly, they have characters that closely mimic the Disney ones as well as rides that indicate how much of a fake it is. Their slogan (according to this other article) is that “Disneyland is too far.” Wow, that is unbelievable. I think that actually the most amusing thing about Beijing’s Shijingshan Amusement Park is that its website is http://www.bs-amusement-park.com. Haha you read that right, it’s the BS amusement park.
Although pretty humorous, this actually touches on a more serious issue (which was touched on at Even Worse Than At First Glance). And that issue is copyright infringement (or in this case complete disregard for copyrights whatsoever).
links: The Standard (Chinese business newspaper) article - Touches the most on the significant copyright issues Engadget article - Amusing pictures Roller Coaster Database - Park information, list of rides, etc Actual Disneyland-clone website - I don’t know Chinese (the language), but if you do then the story might get even more amusing for you
May 3 I got a piece of junk mail the other day. I looked at it for a bit. Then I said, “Eh junk mail, I’m going to delete this.”
The thing is, it was a piece of paper mail.
Bah, too much computers.
May 2 Chicago Bulls vs Miami Heat
You’ve gotta hand it to the Bulls, they can roll. I enjoyed watching them tear up the Heat. Although I don’t think that I hold any ill feelings toward Shaquille O’Neal for leaving the Lakers, I’m not a big Heat fan. I’m not even sure what it is. I just don’t really care for them. I think that Wade is overrated (although good), and the rest of the team is just a bunch of cocky goons (namely Antoine Walker).
Golden State Warriors vs Dallas Mavericks
Though never really a fan of the Warriors, I’ve also never really been opposed to them. I’ve enjoyed watching their series against the Mavericks. However, I thought it quite disappointing that they couldn’t close out against them last night with a nine point lead with a few minutes left! That’s too bad. I’m a fan of how strong Baron Davis and Jason Richardson are playing. I’m not really a fan of Stephen Jackson because I think that he’s a crybaby. And Al Harrington? Forgot to show up. Here’s hoping that they close it out for real next time and send Mark Cuban & Co. packing.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns
I’ll always be a fan of the Lakers. But they have been straight-up disappointing nearly the entire year! Kobe is pretty amazing sometimes (everyone has to admit that), but he both can’t do everything and can’t always be so amazing. Until they either get a real team or they learn to work together consistently, they won’t ever get very far in the playoffs. All of the other teams are just too good to monkey around every night. I’ll be cheering for the Suns in a week (even though they talked a little too much before the series started about how they’d steamroll the Lakers).
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Washington Wizards
I watched part of the game on Sunday. I fell asleep. That’s pretty much all you need to know about this series.
Denver Nuggets vs San Antonio Spurs
I thought the Nuggets could pull something off, especially after the first game. But the Spurs seem relentless. And Robert Horry must dream throughout the entire season about making those big playoff shots. The series isn’t that close, but it’s still fairly entertaining.
New Jersey Nets vs Toronto Raptors
I think the Nets should have been finished with the series already.
Orlando Magic vs Detroit Pistons
Why did they even have to play this series? I thought they would be better. But the Magic players never showed up at the same time. Something must have been wrong with their alarm clocks. Maybe they need five alarms.
Houston Rockets vs Utah Jazz
Rooting for the Rockets. They have showed glimpses of how far they could go with their 1-2 combo of McGrady and Yao. However, it hasn’t been consistent enough to knock out the Jazz yet. Chinese guy? I’m for the Rockets. Plus they’ve got Skip To My Lou! You’ve gotta cheer for that guy. Even if he does have the worst Field Goal % in the NBA.
May 1 Maybe as a result of being out of school, I feel like I am somewhat out of the loop on the latest happenings. When I was in school, Xanga was something that I knew about even before it got big. Likewise with Facebook and so on. However, I feel as if I’ve been a little bit late learning about Twitter.
For those in the know, you can probably skip this paragraph. Basically Twitter is a new service that is meant for people to basically say what they are doing at a precise moment: now. Whatever you are doing, Twitter is a way by which you can let others know what it is that you are doing. You can do this via cellular phone (by way of text message), instant messenger, or on their website.
That’s all there is to it. Pretty simple right? Well I think that it’s dumb.
There is lots to be said for what a marvelous job they have done using Ruby on Rails as the platform on which they developed their service. I mean just imagine having to deal with possibly thousands and thousands of tiny connections every second. The effort put into the software engineering is impressive to say the least.
However, I think that the service is fairly horrendous in terms of what it means for people. There are some people out there who really do enjoy knowing about what all of their friends (and strangers for that matter) are doing every second of every day. But I think that this is just a Litmus Test for society as a whole. In a society of cellular phones, Blackberrys, and the like, we are forever on the go and busy.
I think that people need to take a step back and realize that it is so ridiculous to have all of these contraptions. Sure I have a great admiration for the engineering and development that all of these products represent. I even have a respect for the situations when they are actually necessary. But in terms of actual worth for the great herd we call “the public”, I think they are fairly detrimental to the well-being of people. Do you think that the people in the United States of America are any happier with their gadgets than tribesmen in some far off corner of the earth? Well they might think so, but who’s to say?
Even more than happiness, I say that all of these things are making us constantly bored. How can that be? In so being always prone to want to fill the time with checking e-mail or answering the phone, we have become people that always need to do something. And when we don’t have something to do, we are bored.
There are more important things, and I think that we all know this deep within. Have you ever thought that spending time with those around you is more important than answering your cellular phone right away? As I once heard
That’s why voicemail was invented.
E-mail is convenient and easy, but a letter is still desirable because of the fact that it takes time and energy to write one. Think about these things the next time it comes up in your life. I try to do so in mine. I won’t interrupt a conversation just to answer the phone, and I know that there is a time and a place for when e-mail is appropriate.
Twitter is a cool product/service, but I for one think that it’s continuing in the grand tradition of leading humans down the wrong road. It’s making us bored as we’re waiting for another instant Twitter update. It makes us want to sit in front of the computer or stare at our cellular phone even more. It is making people more connected to their devices and less connected to other people in a real, tangible manner. Basically, Twitter is dumb.