A Better Blog

I have a new blog. It is new. And there are less Mexicans there.

Click here. Or visit http://www.mexicoimproved.co.nr/

EQAO

To those of you who are worried that you may fail the upcoming EQAO: here are some sample responses some of last year's questions. Stay away from imitating these at all costs, and you should be fine.

Question: Explain why the final sentence is an effective conclusion to the selection. Use relevant and specific information from the selection to support your answer.
Response: Because it explains why he was kind of rude to them, but also not a good enough excuse to be rude to them.

Question: Describe two positive features of living in Canada. Give reasons to support your answer.
Response: To live in Canada is hard and sepasileay whan you come from a differard canteray. living in Canada is so hard becaus the Calgear differanit the canteray is differanit evriy thinb is differanik from whar you come from but it hard to live wear you come from to becaus some cantireas thor is setil war so i am hapey that i am in Canaa But i wont for get my Calgear in Canad [sic]

Question: Are today’s famous people good role models for young people?
Response: Today's famous people are not

Bolt

Disney's "Bolt" is probably one of the cutest movies ever made.

The New Shuffle

Apple announced this new iPod shuffle without any buttons. It is an awful product, and here's why.

If you like using your own headphones with your MP3 player (as opposed to stock ones that may come with the player), this new shuffle becomes an iPod without a single button - it's just a block of metal. Apple is expecting you to use their own crappy, uncomfortable headphones instead of your own ones in order to even turn it on. I hate this. I have really good earphones, and, supposing I have this shuffle, I won't be able to use them.

I also hate their most touted new feature, "Voice Over" which basically announces the title and artist of the song that you're listening to using a synthesized voice. The synthesized voice that they chose sucks. I know you can say that it's "really hard to make it sound good," but seriously - if you go with using a voice, don't use some crappy one and just go around saying, "Oh my God this is so good, look at what this can do!"

And that's for the voice that comes with the Mac. The voice that comes up if you sync with a Windows computer is just so much more awful. I don't even know how to describe it.

And that is my short rant of the day. The biggest thing for me is the lack of buttons, though. Stupid inline earphones!

Poetry on the Way

Most of you are probably aware of TTC's "Poetry on the Way" initiative, which basically shoves some form of art in front of your face to read while you ride the bus.

On my way home today, I found this one poem entitled "Escondido Night," by Jim Christy. You can literally count the innuendos with your hands.

The moon is the shape
Of this hidden cove
fishing boats are constellations
We floated through a heaven
that glittered phosphorescent
like plankton in tinfoil
And paused between a pair:
Aurorita and Viridiana, to thrash about like comets just
Let out of school.
And continued on a light year
later       Moondust in my mouth
And all over your body

Really, now. What the hell is this moondust?

Twitter

Found out I have a Twitter account. Heh.

http://twitter.com/jumpafencejasun

Yes I know, the name is different. But jasunjumpsfencesjumpjasunjump didn't fit. jumpafencejasun is close enough.

"Get It On"

To start off, the second episode of Fugitives just aired. It's good. If you've never really started to watch Heroes, I recommend starting from last week's episode and just watching these two - it's completely unrelated to anything that's happened up until this point. So they're starting again.
Now onto my post.

Remember that I only post videos on here if they are either extremely stupid or extremely hilarious; the following video fulfills both categories.

But this video is completely NSFW and disturbing, in every sense of the word. That means don't watch it if there are people you know in the room. If you're in like, a public library go right ahead. But promise me you won't watch it in school. Or at home. It's disturbing in every sense of the word.

Premise: It's an advertisement for Durex condoms. Not the kid screaming - "I want apple juice!" or whatever. Nope, this one's animation. Balloon animals, in fact. But NSFW. What a combination. And yeah. It's disturbing in every sense of the word.

The Office

Yesterday's episode of The Office was pretty good, as was the episode that aired after the Superbowl last weekend. Basically, Michael and Pam go to different branches giving lectures on how to successfully sell paper. Meanwhile, Jim and Dwight, as heads of the party-planning committee, have a belated party for Kelly.

But you know Dwight, and how can make the simplest thing hilarious. After the Superbowl, he pretends that there is a fire in the office and blocks off all doors, causing a panic. He then calls in a CPR instructor and cuts the head off of the training dummy and puts it on his head. Heh.

This is the party that he threw for Kelly:

Lol.

The Superbowl

Sure, you can watch the Superbowl for the game. But we all know that the real reason people watch the Superbowl is for the ads. Yes, and this year Pepsi came up with this great, 3D ad for its SoBe brand.

I for one hate movies and TV shows in 3D. Those crappy glasses force you to go cross-eyed, and taking them off results in you getting a headache from the split colours on screen. But hey, they look cool.

I would have embedded the video, but I know it won't fit within the width of the blog. So I'll just link it to you. It's in HD. So it's a big file to load.

Clicky

History Got You Down?

Are you up at 9, 10, 11 at night trying to cram for that giant History exam in the morning? Do you just not understand paragraph analysis, essay writing? What about those 3000 definitions that you need to have memorized?

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For only $60, you can get the best second-hand notes on the planet! Just think about it - that's only $2 per 1% on your Term 1 report card! What a value!

Order today and you can get a special 50% off discount! Yes that's right, for only $1 per 1% you can get the best History notes available!

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*No actual notes are given. This is a complete scam. But you don't read this anyways, right?

Office Compatibility Pack

NOTE: If you are running Microsoft Office versions 2000, 2002 (also known as XP), or 2003 (the one the schools are using), please please please download and install the compatibility pack so that you can read .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files.

You do not need genuine software (good if you creatively acquired the program). Just download it - files are much smaller and easier to transfer, it brings you up to date, and it's free.

Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

Jingleheimer Junction

This is the best sketch that SNL has ever made. Hands down. 09/26/98.

Best Video. Ever.

Just.. the best video ever.

Windows 7

Originally codenamed "Vienna," Windows 7 is known as being the operating system succeeding Vista. Although the idea of 7 has been forming since 2003, actual development began after Vista became golden (November, 2006)

Along with many other Connect members, I have had the privilege of testing 7 since its Milestone 1 (M1) code drop (6.1.6519) - the first released "build" of the operating system - last January. Back then it was a slightly-modified version of Vista (same taskbar, same desktop, same EVERYTHING).

Around the M3 code drop (released around the time school began), 7 finally shipped with a new UI - new taskbar (which is great, by the way), new virtual folders that were originally planned for Vista but removed because of deadlines, and the finalized MinWin kernel which, if you don't know what it is now, you probably will never find out. It's essentially the components of the OS, and it took a looooong time to develop.

I have been testing a build of 7 known as 7000.081212-1400 since about Christmas, and to my interest this same build has been released to the public under the Customer Preview Program (CPP). You may recall that this was done before with Windows Vista in the past (build 5384, "Beta 2"). This means that any customer can upgrade their version of Windows to a beta build of 7.

Although an interesting prospect, there are many things for you to read over before jumping into the beta.

1. Do I have a spare computer to install this on?
2. Am I willing to put up with minor crashes? major ones?
3. Will I upgrade to 7 when the beta build has expired?

It is important to note that one should NEVER install beta software on a main computer, and the computer which it will be installed on should be backed up first. Crashes are expected by any pre- and newly-released software, so be prepared if you decide to upgrade.

The biggest issue at hand, however, is the expiry time set for the beta build. All (activated) copies of 7 will expire on August 1, 2009 thus forcing users to purchase the retail software. Before downloading and installing this software, ask yourself this: are you sure you're going to buy 7?

If these three issues don't alarm you, then I highly recommend downloading the CPP build of 7. It's a great OS - much better than Vista! The new taskbar is so simple to use, and virtual folders almalgamate all related content so that it can be located.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR BUILD 7000

First of all, you need a DVD-R/W writer to burn the disk image. If you don't have one of these, stop here.

Those of you familiar with Vista know about 'Aero,' the transparent user experience offered on premium notebook and desktop computers with the necessary graphics cards. Windows 7 offers a similar user experience that many users will enjoy.

If you're running Vista Premium and up and have transparency enabled, chances are it'll work in 7.

But if you're running either Vista Basic or XP Professional and below I suggest running the Vista Upgrade Advisor and checking for Aero compatibility. If all works as intendended and you get a green checkmark, you're set and 7 will work for you.

It's important to note that transparency, although a nice add-on, is not required to run 7. I recommend checking to see if your computer can display it, however - the whole experience is much more pleasant this way.

Required 1GB memory, but I recommend you having at least 2GB for adequate and 4GB for maximum performance. Yes I know that most computers don't have 4GB of memory, but if you can I highly recommend upgrading.

Installing 7 does not mean that you have to get rid of your old OS. During install, you are given the option of creating a dual-boot system, capable of running 7 and your previous OS. You can also wipe your HDD clean (format) and install 7 from scratch - that works too.

Check to see if you have any devices that require drivers which you can download before installing. For example, on my HP Laptop there are several "Quick Launch" hardware buttons built into the system which did not work after the installation of 7. Luckily a quick check on HP's site allowed me to find the right files.

If you read down to here and still want to try out Windows 7, you can get the beta here. (Use IE 7+ (but not 8 Beta) - Chrome doesn't work for sure and I'm not sure if Firefox 3 does, either)

Make sure you read all the stuff on the site, and get ready for a long download!