Matt's Blog

Maradonia and the Seven Bridges

2011-03-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

Maradonia is a series of really terrible books, against which I harbor a particular dislike, because of the author’s pathetic attempts at marketing the books as original writing.

Maradonia

2009-08-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

A user at ImpishIdea has done a spork of the pretty horrific Maradonia series. Maradonia.

Murtagh

2009-03-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

As it happens, there is a new article on Murtagh up.

Secrets of the Dragon Riders

2009-03-03T23:36:00.001-08:00

ImpishIdea published a great rebuttal to Secrets of the Dragon Riders, which is a predictably bad book, all in all.

Twilight Movie Review

2009-01-01T21:48:00.001-08:00

A new Twilight Movie Review has just been posted at ImpishIdea, I hope you all enjoy.

Brisingr Reviews

2008-09-20T00:12:00.001-07:00

Hey, I wrote a Brisingr review at my site. It's a rolling review, so expect updates as I finish each chapter.

Brisingr Comes Out Soon

2008-09-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

So, being the dutiful anti-fan that I am, I've compiled my list of Brisingr Predictions.

A New Site

2008-09-12T21:57:00.001-07:00

So, I've been pretty hard at work doing other things, which is why this blog is never used. The latest results can be seen at my new site, ImpishIdea.

New Better Blog

2008-03-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Impulsive Muse

I'm trying to link my way up to the google results page. Hurrah.

Thanksgiving, just so you know I'm not dead

2007-11-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Happy thanksgiving. I'm busy with NaNo, so I haven't been posting, but I have not in fact passed away. Anyways, today the house is really quiet since my mom took the two younger siblings with her to Taiwan to visit her folks. Good times.

wordcount widgets

Chapter Meeting tomorrow

2007-10-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

What the title said. It's at Maplewood library at 7:00. You should all come.

Hmm. Well, yesterday I didn't go to debate since Andy had a cold, and I didn't want to go, so it was cool. But today I went to soccer tryouts with a semicold, and it was not cool. Other than that I've just been keeping busy. PSAT on Wednesday, I'm not very worried after a few practice test, it seems rather easy.

The results

2007-10-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we went 1-3. Our win was a bye. I have to say, the need for evidence rather caught me off guard. I had framed a debate so that the round would come down to the weighing issue of a human life versus a violation of the first amendment, something that would have easily been a win in LD. But apparently I didn't have enough evidence. For something that is suppose to be based on good arguments it is ridiculous how you can't even base arguments off of moral judgment.

Debatey!

2007-10-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my first debate tournament of the year, same it's classic. I really should be getting some sleep seeing as how I need to get up early for it tomorrow, but I have a really huge energy rush, due to the fact that I just completed two homework assignments in forty minutes, just an hour away from the deadline. Anyways, I hope to do really well tomorrow, because I'm angling for a position as team captain, seeing as how no one else is there to compete with me for that position. Both of our cases are pretty kickawesome, so it should be okay. Our neg case in particular is great, since it invalidates most of what they say, regardless of how they say it.

A better start...

2007-10-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

I scored a 85 on the UMTYMP test. Except for one spot where I screwed up an integral on a arclength I didn't make any major mistakes, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. The thing I'm more pleased about s the fact that I'm actually off to a better start this year than last year, and last year I only had six classes. Signs of progress...

Debate tournament on Saturday. The fact that Andy is my partner is possibly the only thing that makes the activity bearable, as almost every practice is during my classes and classic debate sucks and yadda yadda. Anyways, I need to finish up our cases. They are both extremely over the top, and I hope to win off of weighing issues alone. Our impacts are along the lines of America descending into totalitarianism and America's economy imploding.

Victories of sorts

2007-10-01T21:14:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I teamed up once again for an Epic bout of Two Headed Giant. We had the same record as we did last time, but paradoxically won fewer packs. It was still a good time.

UMTYMP test today. It went alright, I was actually prepared for a change.

And I attended the UMTYMP college night AND the Yale Information session. For a liberal arts college it's surprisingly attractive to me. Yale has the benefit of having really good speakers as admission officers. It's a lot more convincing than Stanford, for example.

Campaigning is over, thank goodness

2007-09-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

So, today was the last day of campaigning for us student government. And tomorrow is the Lorwyn prerelease. I'm too tired to say more.

Hmph

2007-09-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here is some wondrous Apple technology, just working. I gotta say, I really miss my "hi-quality earbuds." It's a shame they could not withstand the undoubtedly earth shattering strain of me removing it from my ear. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
Also, I beat Cave Story. And I'm now extremely busy and I need to get it all done before Saturday, so I can attend the Lorwyn prerelease tournament. On a different note, I watched the movie Brick, which is awesome just because it is noir, but was also awesome because Nora Zohetner replaced Keira Knightley as coolest actress ever.

Chapter Meeting

2007-09-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

As you can probably guess, there is a chapter meeting tomorrow at Eden Prairie library. If you couldn't guess, now you know. You would also do well to know that they are on a monthly cycle. Anyways, you guys should come, since our turn out for the last meeting was quite impressive to say the least.

Using a program called Synergy I was able to do away with the dual boot. Since I have two computers in my room anyways, I figured I might as well use them both. I now have them set up with two monitors side by side. It's actually two computers sharing one mouse and keyboard. When I move my mouse from the edge of one it goes into the other. Quite cool.

I got substantially farther in the secret level, but I'm still unable to complete it.

Gah... three years of highschool to slog through

2007-09-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

So today I went to an MIT information session. And I've decided that I absolutely have to go there. Until then I still have to endure three years of high school. Oh well.

A Summary of Good Things

2007-09-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

I just beat this game, Cave Story, and all I can say is play it as soon as possible. It was quite possibly the most satisfying gaming experience I have ever had. Yeah, so it's one of those old looking platforming games, but it combines elements from all the best Japanese games of old. It's like playing a fusion of Metroid and Castlevania, except it's a 100% awesome. The art is stylish, especially on the large bosses. The music is enjoyable. The story is probably the best part, aside from the game play. Amazingly for a platforming style game, it even has three endings. The gameplay is rather generic, but it has enough twists to make it interesting and absorbing. Besides all this, it's a pretty hardcore game.

I played it twice. The first time took 6 hours and the second time took 3. The second time I did everything so that I could get the good ending by doing the secret level. The problem is, I can't beat the secret level...

Being the secret level and all, it's significantly more difficult than the normal game, but I wasn't expecting mandatory booster pack mastery >_>. If you can't tell, I'm about to fall to my death, because I wasn't efficient enough with the fuel.

Second time around I make it up to that ledge. I wonder what lies beyond that drop...

This I can handle.

Haha... tricky. Turns out I had use little enough fuel above to barely propel me onto this ledge. Another death.

Aww, look! It's Curly. She nearly dies to save your life. Or rather, in the crappier endings she either ends up dead or amnesic.

Yes, that is her strapped to my back. This section of the level is terrifying. There are blocks falling everywhere, and these stupid little Cupids.

Well, I tried to slowly kill everything, but...

Screw that I'm getting out of here! That block you see me flying haphazardly towrads ultimately ended in another untimely demise. I do know what lies beyond that hallway, since I've gotten there once, but not while taking screenshots. Actually screenshots are rather distracting.

If one of you wants to try this level out, here is the save file. http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/Profile.dat It's easier than going through all the work for the secret ending that way. If any of you manage to beat it, I will crown you video gaming god.

Hmm, and two new bands I just discovered. The first is Small Sins which a small electronica band. This is probably their best song.

http://www.myspace.com/thewhitestboyalive

Their other songs are okay, but not superb.

The second is The Whitest Boy Alive, which besides having an awesome name is awesome.

Unventful

2007-09-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today was a really uneventful day. All I managed to do was write my campaign webpage and take a practice PSAT. I restricted myself to a third the normal time and no calculator and still got a 220. I think I'm gonna be a semi-finalist. Just a hunch. Besides that, I would just like to draw attention to the fact that my blog has a sexy transparency effect now.

Oh, and my brothers and I made swords out of Legos and dueled. It was less lame then it sounds. I mean, when the last time you shattered your opponent's sword? I thought so.

$20 an hour is fun for me

2007-09-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good income day for me. I got thirty dollars for instructing a nice old lady in computers. Yay for easy money. Besides that, not much is going on.

Metal & Math

2007-09-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went to Noah's band's debut. Josh, tell Noah I'm sorry I had to leave early. Anyways they (Dawn of Fury) seemed pretty good, even if metal isn't my thing.

And today UMTYMP started. Joy. Actually I have full confidence it'll be better than last year. Also, the software for my Logic course finally arrived today, about two weeks late. Now i can start working ahead, or rather, behind.

And it became official, Google Group Chat is awesome.

A real weekend?

2007-09-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is probably the first time I've had a weekend I would actually describe as relaxing. Usually I'm loading up on lots of test prep and stuff (which come to think of it, I do have a PSAT coming up.) But anyways, I watched HP 5 with Mark and Andy. It was probably my favorite so far, although I also liked 3 a lot, so I'm not sure.

I think I'm becoming a Canadaphile. Nearly half the artists showing up on my Pandora playlists are Canadian. Eh, they have good indy bands, I suppose.

I think I'm going to suspend the game until math season is over. I need to get really serious, as this is sophomore year. I need that freaking USAMO qualification.

Updated

2007-08-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

So, after all these revisions of my computer I thought it was finally time to revise something else. Some of you may have noticed that my blog has had a make over, complete with modern looking art. This should also make the blog more readable, which i80and has bugged me to do.

Google has made me happy. After sending them the same suggestion once a month for seventeen months they finally implemented group chats into GTalk. This is almost better than lucid dreaming (which unfortunately I'm still unable to do, after a week's practice.) The info.

I finished my last physics test, what a great feeling. The test itself was actually pretty enjoyable, but I suppose I shouldn't go into the details. I might have to retake one test, as I got a 58 (oww, I know). But I bounced back with 94 on the next.

The school year started rather uneventfully. Just a few minor hickups here and there, but largely it went smoothly. The classes aren't particularly hard either, at least, for now. Then again both Chem and Chinese are mostly review at this point. And I'm unable to begin Logic. I've only had some simple assignments I've finished early (that's shows how easy they are <_<). My English class is about to get better. At first there were only new kids, but a bunch of my old classmates are getting transfered.

I'm actually making a lot of progress in the game, I'm quite pleased. I've got a skeletal animation system mostly in place, and of course the entire physics engine. I need to deal with putting it all together, and getting things to interact properly. Object orientated programming is truly a blessing, although I don't think I'm aware of it's full potential. I hope AP Comp Sci will fill me in on the details. I got 3DSMax working again, which means I won't be completely strapped for art, although god help me if we have to use programmer art.

I'm pleased. I can finally type well with my dvorak keyboard, although I don't know what my wpm in yet. This should hopefully make the typing aspect of NaNoWriMo better. I think I'm done...

The saddest time of year

2007-08-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today was our student orientation. So ends the summer, so cruelly did I lose it. Okay, I'm done with the semi emo. It is sad that I did not find the time to get more of the game done, but the good thing is that I've done so much research I ought to be able to do a lot during the school year, provided the newer more efficient me stays ahead of things. OHS is changing big time. We are going from a cozy 30 to 80, which is still a small number, but is a lot for us. Gone are the nice cozy days.

Shakespeare and a bit of computing

2007-08-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

As part of my "be outrageously prepared for class" campaign I've decided to study up on my Shakespeare. Specifically Julius Caesar and Hamlet. So far I've read both and watched three performances of Julius and two of Hamlet.

Other than that I've pursued various computer related topics. I created a custom keyboard layout that has nearly all the advantages of Dvorak, but also preserves important hotkeys such as copy and paste. http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/layout.png Although I expect a productivity gain eventually I must admit relearning typing has been difficult, as five years of muscle memory doesn't go in away an instant. And of course I re-themed.

Soccer Tryouts

2007-08-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

GAME!

So, today was our soccer field evaluations. It was one of the least fun things possibly conceivable due to the hard rain. Oh well.

In cooler news I got a full physics engine working, which means the game is one step nearer to completion. I've posted a screenshot of a demo using the engine.

Some Stuff Coming Up

2007-08-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy lately. Today I took a physics test and went to a debate practice. I'm a bit worried about debate. Some weird rules about what teams I can be on and what not might prevent me from debating again. I hate bureaucracies. (in a totally unrelated side note, I noticed that Firefox's spell checker was really terrible at certain words. I might be switching to Epiphany, as it's more light weight anyhow.) Our new resolution is the death penalty, which is interesting because I'm still largely undecided on the issue.

*IMPORTANT*
Come to the chapter meeting this Monday at the new Maplewood Library in Ramsey county and die. I mean, or die. Seriously, I haven't seen all of you in a long time. Then again, I'll see many of you tomorrow.

On a sadder note, I'm pretty sure I failed the physics test. The occurrence of this event I will blame on several factors. A false sense of security brought on by an easy practice test which lead to my not studying, a crying baby in the testing site, and a faulty equation sheet. Or I just should have studied more. The baby was cute, however, so I forgive it.

Argh, my school year is starting up again soon, and I've only made minimal progress on the game project. I've revised the goal, so that it will once again be more practical, but it's still huge. Great... I'll be posting some additional information later.

Some more of the usual

2007-08-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Screenshot

I came home and figured my desktop was getitng a little too colorless, so I decided to infuse it with some summery looking colors. Other than that all I did was clean out my turtle tank (he's about doubled in size since I left) and watch Harry Potter 4 at Andy's.

Fun with Nautilus scripting

2007-08-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Album Art

After some fun installing a script I get cool looking album art to go with my music. I also decided to stop using Compiz, so that I could use my maximum screen resolution. Window compositing is quite a memory drain.

I'm home!

2007-08-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back finally! I have to say being back home, on my bed and on my computer feels outrageously nice. I've been missing my Linux for so very long. Unfortunately I left lots of friends back at camp, so meh. Time to do lots of summer homework!

Some Problems Were Encountered

2007-07-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well, the inexperience at this camp sort of shows right now. Our head counselor has been fired for letting people violate curfew and attend a college party. A number of people were banned from the library for harassing the librarian, but at least it's fixed now, and a little incident at the cafeteria means we have to be walked to eat now. Fun, fun. I'll write more later, but I'm getting hungry here.

Soccer and farewells

2007-07-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, we ended the soccer season with a bang. 6-0! This makes our final record 8 wins, 2 loses, and 1 tie. Actually, you could just look at our division standings chart. It hasn't been updated for our most recent game yet, but you can see the very close competition up at the top of the chart. Unfortunately we lost our first game of the season, which was a huge set back. We were TNK01 15BC301, btw. Anyways, we did well enough that we get an automatic promotion to C2 next year!

So I'm leaving on my flight tomorrow at 9:15. Yay for getting up at 6:00 just for a flight. I remembered why I like driving to camps, lots more space to store stuff. It sounds like I'll have a good amount of internet access regardless, so depending on how awesome my classmates are I might still be around. What I mean is, if they are awesome I probably won't spend much time on the computer. :P Ooh, and graduation should be awesome cool. I won't to see who wins the nonsensical "OHS Pioneer" award. Bah, where is the "only student involved in math competitions" award? Hopefully that will change with the next year.

Only one game ahead of us now

2007-07-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Won our game 2-1. It was ridiculous how much the wind effected our game. When we had the wind all the play was on their side of the field. When they had the wind all the play was on our side. However we scored more points with our wind advantage, so it was cool.

Getting close to departure

2007-07-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Not as major this time...

This was a more minor update.

Anyhow, the soccer game went pretty well. The final score was 7-2. I think I neglected to mention that I got a yellow card two games ago. I got two refs in a row which were ridiculous when it came to slide tackling. Soccer is a contact sport for a reason. <_<

Haven't felt like posting in some time

2007-07-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

I did it again...

I couldn't help but redecorate. I got new techology (Compiz Fusion) so it's only appropriate that we did something to match.

So I finished about a semesters worth of physics in around a week and a half, which was a lot of work. I still have about half a semesters worth to finish before I leave for Stanford. I haven't got test scores back from my computer final, but I felt pretty good about as I left the testing center. Computer programs shouldn't be written by hand, it sucks. And I took two physics tests, got a 95 on it. In a bit of awesomeness I got an A on my philosophy paper. I was pretty much the only person in the class that didn't full out blast communism, it seems, so I got creativity points or something. So my final grades are: terrible. Actually they were: English B, History B-, Philosophy B+. And I got AP scores back... AP Comp Gov: 3, AP Comp Gov US: 3, APUSH: 4, Calc BC: 4, Physics: 3. Hrum, I'm going to need to retake the Calc BC again for sure... And UMTYMP finally mailed my summer homework.

I also had a spew of soccer games happening and coming up. One game was canceled due to rain, and three tournament games were lost. The scores were 1-6, 1-5, 0-6. Whoopdido, I gotta say, those were good teams. And then a game in about two hours, and another on Wednesday, and another on Friday. My legs make me feel like the Tinman.

An Exciting(?) Day

2007-06-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well... today I got my braces off! Or, completed getting them off and got retainers anyways. And I got a load of new music. Which is to say I got: From Here We Go Sublime by The Field (which is my introduction to minimalist music; I must say, it's excellent music to work to, sort of like classical), the complete Death Cab for Cutie discology (5 CDs and 3 EPs, this is probably as close as you get), and Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, which I happily report lives up to all the hype and good reviews it received. It's much better than the other album I have.

C programming final tomorrow, I hope it goes well, because I have not prepared at all. But it should be okay, because I've been doing the stuff for so long anyways. And physics is proving a pain, mostly because capacitance is running circles about my head.

In a bit of awesome Linux terminal usage I finally compiled PMask and Allegro together in the same program, meaning a new era of games which don't concern themselves with collision testing is unfolding. I'm inspired by Odin Sphere, it seems to have pulled off the 2D action rpg very well.

A crazy week

2007-06-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

PotD

Yes, I underwent another dramatic makeover. I'm pretty much done.

So, I went to Chicago, and did lots of things that anyone who wasn't there would consider very weird. But anyways, we had an impressive showing, there were like ten people from my highschool, which amounts to about a third of the student population. We explored Chicago, hung around, and did lots of other random stuff. We got lost in the Chicago subway for around half an hour, quite smart I know. And I had bubble tea in Chinatown, so I made sure that I kept up my sacred summer tradition. I also somehow managed to read A Game of Thrones while at Chicago, which is pretty remarkable considering the udder chaos. I also went to Ravinia, which is a sort of outdoor auditorium, and we listened to a bunch of random pianists. This is a stretching of the truth. The truth is closer to "Can someone turn down the music? I can barely hear Jake."

My merry making was cut short by a return home, just in time for the annual Davidson Young scholars gathering. It was a pity that it was right after Chicago, because it felt less fun afterwards. But despite that Magic and Risk and Chess games were won, so it wasn't terrible.

Had a soccer game tonight, tied at 0-0.

Maybe more later, I've committed myself to doing ten hours a day of physics, so we'll have to see how that turns out.

Well... so long, for a time

2007-06-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, just so it doesn't seem like I'm leaving you all in the dark, I'll update you on what I'm doing before I leave.

These past few days I took my history final, which wasn't the hellstorm I thought it would be. And our scrimmage against the rec team had a score of 9-1. And I finished 1/4 of my computer course in two to three days.

Now I am about to leave for Chicago to visit my friend from OHS (amazing isn't it.) I'll be back on Tuesday night, so it's a decently long stay. And of course, it will be fun, because of my presence. Just kidding.

The epic tall will never be recounted now (unless you see me in person and get to reenact it)

2007-06-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

POTD

I've heard these are good games, I've never played one however.

Well, I give up on trying to write up my ARML experiences. I will tell you that I won an epic game of Mafia, and that our team came first in the midwest, and 8th in the nation. Go us.

Today I took my philosophy final. Our teacher decided to heed some of philosophies he was teaching, or something, because it really wasn't as scary as we had expected. I did have to write two essays, but he gave out a sheet of expected essay questions, so I had outlines ready.

And we won a very very close soccer game against the Plymouth Titans (I thought they were the Plymouth Tidus for a moment, which cracked me up.) The final score was 2-1, and the winning point was scored within a minute of the end. It was a very good game, I thought. I also managed to collect: a sore should (work of an errant elbow), a ripped up knee (probably someone's cleat as I slide tackled), a large bruise on my thigh (I got kicked in the leg as I slide tackled), and a hurt toe (stepped on by a cleat.) Well, no pain no gain, I suppose.

The chronical will continue some other day

2007-06-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've got about thirty minutes to blog today, and yesterday took me around three hours. So I decided I'll have to continue the ARML story tomorrow or something, and I'll just talk about recent stuff without much detail.

So I got a pet turtle. Obviously a painted turtle, since it's pretty much the only species in Minnesota. I used to have a turtle in Taiwan, I had to leave it when I moved back to the states. Under my friend's watchful eyes my old turtle managed to leap of a six story balcony. Not that I can blame my friend, I frequently found that turtle under my fridge.

Also, I've had an obscenely busy weekend in soccer, in addition to ARML. I played two games with about two hours between them (one of these hours was spent at Greg's graduation party. CONGRATES GREG!.) The result of the two games is that we became the Tonka Splash tournament champions. Then today I had a game against the Plymouth Wings, which were the 2nd team in our league. We are now the 2nd team, because we beat them 1-0. I'll save more detail for later.

The amazing adventures (seriously)

2007-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

PotD

Well, that guy has a nice row of teeth...

So, I guess I will begin my tale on Friday morning, the day of my departure. Well, umm, we all got on a bus. All 37 or so of us. Mostly I was reading Pride and Prejudice, which was surprisingly okay. In fact so okay that my prejudice against books of that nature. We paused part of the way there to get food. Everyone wanted to walk several hundred feet to the nearest Subway, instead of the Burger King that was three feet away. Of course it's also raining, since it makes a better story. Anyways, I'm waiting by the side of a highway for the light to change, and so I'm standing underneath the traffic light post. Soon large drops of water that had been concentrated on the light post are hitting me on the back. To top it off several cars drove by at high speed through puddles. Whatever. And Subway was, well Subway. I'm not really a fan, and I'm certainly not a fan of Jared. Besides, it is expensive.

So anyways, we get back on the bus after getting soaked. Eventually we arrive in Iowa University (or is it U of I? Who cares, it's Iowa.) When we arrive we find that nearly all the passage ways to out dorm rooms have been blocked by construction. This makes the already labyrinth like building neigh unnavigable. Eventually we found a way to our dorms. Getting back out was another matter. The little group I was with ended up climbing up and down fifteen different flights of stairs. Eventually we emerged in the kitchens of the cafeteria, and the cafeteria cleaning staff had a hearty laugh at our expense. Anyways, the cafeteria had large glass walls that looked into the main lobby, so we finally got out. Then we went and played a game of ultimate frisbee. The field we would normally have played on was being torn apart by around fifty five million ton bulldozers and excavators, so we had to improvise. We ended up playing on a very awkward incline, made even more awkward by the inclusion of several trees. But it was a good game in any case. Mismanagement of time meant that I had fifteen minutes to get all the way back to my dorms, walking up several hills and past the John Pappajohn business building, find my way back to my dorm room (I did finally memorize the route), take a shower, and change into nicer clothes. I somehow managed to do all of this, which I found to be highly improbable.

After all that we went to the Brown Bottle, which was a nice Italian restaurant. During the meal we played a game or two of Fluxx. We went back to the dorms, and I was introduced to the game Sheepshead. Apparently it's a German game, but that still doesn't explain to my mind all the satanic imagery. We also played an intensely modified version of Egyptian Rat Screw (otherwise known as Egyptian Rat Killer, and any number of other names). The new rules were that, in addition to the normal slaps, you can slap two cards if they are congruent mod 7, and three cards if they form an arithmetic or geometric progression. This makes for a crazy amount of slapping, and a crazy amount of mathage. Eventually mod 7 was changed to mod 6 because people memorized the pairs too easily (for example Jack 4 was a big hit.) After all this craziness we went to the team meeting, and got our snazy new T-shirts (I can now go around two weeks wearing only math T-shirts.) At around 11:30 I finally turned in.

I awoke promptly at 6:00. Got breakfast efficiently, and made my tin foil hat. Our entire team of thirty people went into the competition with tinfoil hats. The idea was we'd be obnoxious, conspiracy theoryie, distracting, shiny, and oh, did I mention obnoxious? My hat was closer to a headband than a hat, but it still reflected the sun into people's faces. The originator of the idea wore two tin baking pans on his head. It was surprisingly effective at catching rain. In fact I've never before heard a bus driver say "You're gonna have to empty your hat." Anyways finally the glorious ARML competition!

To be continued... (I'll have more ARML, info on the soccer tournament we won, and more random junk)

Way to end on a cliffhanger, I know. I gotta get you coming back here somehow.

Wish me some more luck

2007-05-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow in the morning for Iowa City for AMRL. I'll be back sometime Saturday.

I barely survived those papers (just finished the last of them.) I found out today that I got a C- on my last history paper (ouch, apparently my conclusion was _very_ weak) so I really need to do well on these newer ones. I'll talk more about it later, since it's late and I need a shower.

I'll just leave you with this.

http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/ScreenshotNewBlue.jpg

The Annual Visit To Northfield (Plus Revamped Ubuntu screenshots!)

2007-05-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

PotD

That is probably the closest to photo real I've seen in a while.

So I visited the family's ancestral hometown (or something to that extent; our family grave plot is out there) which is a cool place. We visited St. Olaf and Carlton college, like usual. And then (also like usual) I went to my third cousin twice removed's (or some sort of similar nonsense) house for lunch. We also went to a classical Chinese music recital at Carlton, which was pretty cool. The little Chinese violin thing is a little bit of an ear strain, however.

And now for lots of screenshots of my computer ^^

Just sitting there.

Some windows open. Notice the transparency.

I will show Andrew, alright.

The desktop cube in action. Too bad the screenshot glitched a little.

Window previews.

Well, you can't really see it here, but this is the scaled view thing similar to the one present in OSX.

Just for the heck of it... Ubuntu has great language support.

Video of the screen switcher.

Video of the wobbley windows.

Being Studious Is Tiring

2007-05-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

PotD

This is a really thought invoking piece, I think.

Boy, I've been reading Strategies of Containment by John Gaddis, and I must say both my eyes and brain have been suffering from the strain. I just don't like comprehending the strategic options of the Cold War. I also finished reading The Dominion of War which was slightly less of an eyesore.

Other than that we had a scrimmage with a rec (recreation) league team. You might think that a traveling team should be able to utterly slaughter a poorly manned youth rec league team, but apparently this is not so. I suppose there are several reasons we only won 4-0. Among these are: a. we were missing lots of people (in fact the game started as 4 vs 7) b. tiny field c. tiny teams d. sore from yesterday e. don't feel like playing soccer yesterday f. generally lazy. We didn't take it very seriously. As a result I played forward for some time, not going to happen in a real game.

Okay, I guess I've run out of junk to talk about.

Another resounding victory!

2007-05-23T19:52:00.001-07:00

PotD

Huh, looks sort of like a pumpkin to me.

So soccer was good today. The field was much better than our last field. The rain made things a little slick, but it was okay. Anyways we won 7-0, each goal made by a different person, including one of their players. As you might be able to imagine things were pretty uneventful for the defense. The hi-light (for D) was when I "took one for the team." I did the little dance which indicates that I'm sorry I'll never be able to meet my children... It hurt like bloody hell, but whatever.

And I'm now officially obsessed (it took a long time for me to spell that correctly, so appreciate the fact that it is) with the band Scissors for Lefty.

Songs from their MySpace
Songs from their other MySpace
I guess I would loosely describe them as dance rock, but since they are indy they are quite experimental. I really like their beats, personal preference I suppose. In particular I really really like Softly The Sun Swallows The Sea (it's in the second link); never before has being killed by a great white shark ever sounded so awesome.

Ugh, I have a whole load of busy coming up. So much that I will tell you about it now, so you'll be able to tell the medical examiner my cause of death. Since I was preoccupied with my other studies I ignored physics and programming to some extent, and now it's coming back to bite me in the butt. And I've got the usual philosophy paper, 5-6 pages, however I sort of like this prompt, so hopefully it will be fine. And some little English assignment on global warming (in which I recommend not relying on trees, and actually cutting down some large rain forests.) The thing that concerns me the most is my history assignment. 10-15 pages is not a pretty sight, anywhere. Can anyone say yay for Cold War? No, because it was bleh. I had a B+ on my latest philosophy paper, which is okay since the teacher is a fairly hard grader.

Eh

2007-05-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

PotD

That's really cool. If I ever end up super rich, I think I'll make one of the rooms of my house like that.

So I had a soccer game. We played Minneapolis Westside, which was a pretty good team. And the field was really small, a major disadvantage to us. And we lost 0-3. But they played really well, so I'm not too upset by the loss.

And then I went to the chapter meeting, which was good fun. The only problem was I was so thirsty that I drank around 3 to 4 cups of pop, leaving me quite bloated. Also, Mafia is better when the average attention span of the players is great than 5 seconds.

Stuff going on

2007-05-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

Instead of a PotD I'm posting the Star Craft II CGI announcement

About time.

Anyhow, tomorrow we have the chapter meeting at Divani's! Pizza's on the chapter! So you should all go. And I have a soccer game, so I'll be late to that.

I'm so pumped! ARML woohoo!

2007-05-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

I got onto the ARML team! I was one of the three students in training to be selected. Go me! I'm actually really excited, so yeah. You might be wondering what I'm so excited about. Well the answer is I get to go to a math competition. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Okay, I lied. It doesn't sound fun at all. But it is fun! At least for me anyways.

w00t Soccer

2007-05-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

But first the always dependable (sometimes dependable) POTD. I think I'm officially changing the capitalization to PotD to make it more correct. After all nobody writes POTC. Well, almost nobody.

POTD

I like this piece, it's got a nice authoritarian feel to it. Sort of like my nationstate. Only so far I've managed to resist the temptation to become a dictatorship, right now I'm just an inoffensive centrist democracy.

So, the soccer game (incidentally my first game, and my team's second), which will obviously be the hi-light of this post was very good. Very good as in we won. The score was 6-0 in fact. The last game was 1-2, so one might ask, what was the difference between the two games? My presence, of course. Just kidding. I think our team played very well actually, and we applied a lot of effort, which is always good. The other team was more than slightly demoralized by our 4-0 lead at the end of the first half, so they didn't put as much effort into the game. I'm really glad we snagged several of the Hopkins players from the Hopkins team, because one of those players scored four goals today. And I got my first few slide tackles in today. It's truly a great feeling :P

Another busy day

2007-05-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

POTD

Had my timing been better this would have been shown on Easter, but oh well. I hope you guys had good Mother Days, they certainly deserve the appreciation.

Well today I had the AP Physics B exam, as many of you already know. I did do about as poorly on it as I had expected. After taking so many standardized tests I've gotten a sense of what I'm ready for and what I'm not.

Then I went on to soccer practice. Endurance is clearly an issue for me. Killers (run to the middle of the field, and back, then to the end of the field, and back, rinse and repeat) should not be as hard as they are, but oh well.

Btw, I would recommend reading Reinventing the Bazaar by John McMillan. It's an interesting (and sensible (hard to believe when it's philosophy, I know)) blend of Robert Nozick's libertarianism (minimal governmental intervention in lots of things) and other philosophers that want a more socialist state. Yes, it's true I did recommend a book from my philosophy course, odd as it is. Actually this guy is pretty readable. Unlike a certain John Rawls.

One other thing. I nominate Bingo for world's most terrible game. Who wants to play a game where all you can do is passively read numbers off the charts? There is no way you can actually influence the outcome of the game. And if you had managed in anyway to find a "strategy" to use during a game of Bingo, you would be promptly accused of cheating. I mean, how more boring could it get. You might as well just play a game of flip the coin, or roll the d20. Playing bingo was pretty much the hi-light (other than the good food) of our mother's day celebration. Our game of Apples to Apples Junior was almost as bad, since I could predict my cousins predictable (yes, I do know I'm being redundant) decisions a year before they happened. Apples to Apples is one of those games where the amount of fun is linked directly to who you are playing with, and in this case it wasn't too fun. The silly Junior part also made it impossible to create fun by creating twisted and perverted meanings. So pretty much, it wasn't too fun.

I wish I had kept closer on pace in my physics course

2007-05-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

POTD

Hmm, this is a weird picture.

Well, when EPGY first conceived their new high school I don't think they remembered to adjust for the fact that their students would be way more busy than the distance learner taking an odd class here or there. As a result everyone in the high school is behind in either a math or a physics class, sometimes both. Unfortunately I'm one of those people, so I'm not prepared for the physics AP test tomorrow. Oh well.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

2007-05-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

Just got their self entitled CD. The singing style is freaky to begin with, but the band's good stuff. They have some nifty sounds going, they must have some electronic stuff.

ARML Chances...good?

2007-05-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

POTD

I wish I had a pet like that. Life just ain't fair, is it?

Well, I found something cool out. There are four empty slots on the ARML team, and five students in training. So I should have a very good chance of making the team. Today's practice was pretty good. Although I did rather poorly on the individual rounds, apparently so did a lot of people. However I wrote two proofs for the power round, and my relay team ended up with full possible points.

Not too much else going on. My newest game project is actually progressing somewhat well. Maybe at the end of the summer I'll have a game complete. Maybe.

Whew, I'm still here

2007-05-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

POTD

Tomorrow is mucho busy

2007-05-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

POTD

2007-05-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

POTD

The cool thing is I watched Andy play this scene...

Btw, check out Sealand, it is freaking awesome. I think I will try this sometime after I've made my fortune.

UMTYMP Stuffs

2007-05-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

I had a review session today the hi-lights were working on ARML problems and eating pizza. I got 30 and 27 today, and for the first time ever I beat my classmate Michaels homework score!

I suppose I never even talked about ARML yesterday... So on Saturday I went to the Minnesota team practice. Six and a half hours of intensive math practice. Unfortunately I'm still technically a "student-in-training" but since four members of the full team have declined to join I have a very legit shot at making the team. Blah, I keep using the word legit after those gov tests. Then after ARML I went to my teammate Nick's house for a party. And yeah, that's all.

Whew, APs day 1 complete

2007-05-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't died yet. I also don't think I did poorly enough to merit a score of 3 on either of the tests, so I feel happy. I guess I'm not really suppose to talk about anything else on the tests, so whatever. Although I have to say the proctor was really cool, because she speed read all the dumb parts of the rules. Maxadogabore had me all scared of her, but she was really nice actually. Umm, yeah, that's all.

Super busy week!

2007-05-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

POTD

I'm not exactly sure what the function of anything in this picture is, but it looks pretty cool. Sort of like iPod meets five tons of stainless steel.

Well, I'm now entering the week of terror. Tomorrow I'm taking AP US Gov, and Comp Gov in the morning and going to UMTYMP for a review session, and then I'll be missing my soccer practice.

And then Tuesday is relatively peaceful...

And on Wednesday I'm doing the AP Calc BC exam, and then straight onto my linear algebra final. And I'm missing a soccer game. This point in time would be a very good one to crack a joke about my participation in sports :P

And then I get some peace again before more exams.

New Music

2007-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

POTD

Architecture, not much else to say.

I'll spare you all the recounting of my adventures in Linux, since it will probably bore everyone but Andrew to tears. So, on to the music.

Mmhmm by Relient K
Well, this album is generally good. A few songs sound a little bit generic, but whatever. I have to say this isn't a terribly experimental band. Oddly enough I actually like the acoustic versions of their songs better than the usual one, maybe it's because I heard the acoustic versions first, or maybe it's because I'm not particularly impressed by their electric guitar. Despite all this, I still like the album. And yes Andy, if you remind me I will bring the CD over...

Is This It by the Strokes
The singing in this album is terrible to be frank, but singing has never been the Strokes' strength. However I just happen to like something about this band (I think it's the guitar, or was it the bass?)

Beryl and me

2007-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

So after editing both my xorg.conf file and the system BIOS about fifty times over I finally fixed my stupid graphics card setup, and nVidia driver. This means that I can finally use Beryl with Ubuntu. The funny thing is that with the settings turned up all the way (which I don't) it looks better than Windows Vista. Here are some screenshots of my current set up.

http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/ScreenshotBeryl1.png

Yay for full window transperancy!

http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/ScreenshotBeryl2.png

Some windows which I don't want to be transperant (such as graphics applications) I leave opaque.

http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/ScreenshotBerylSwitcher.png

Beryl's Alt-Tab gives a preview of the window you are switching to.

http://mkbunday.googlepages.com/ScreenshotBerylScaler.jpg

Mac users try to deny this fact, but Linux has the cool application switcher also.

And I'll try and get some screenshots of the very cool desktop cube soon. Later today I'l post some other stuff.

By the way, I found this quote to be awesome. Some of you may have already seen it.

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week."

More coming soon...

2007-05-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time working on my history project, so no full blown post tonight.

I got a thirty on the UMTYMP homework today. Always cool. I turned in the last two UMTYMP assignments ever.

And I fixed my Ubuntu! The graphics card and drivers work! And I installed Beryl (screenshots coming up)

And I'll do more tomorrow.

Random video

2007-05-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sweetness

I watched this like five times over, very awesome. Also very reflective of humans actually. So very moody ^^

I'm doing away with the whole one post a day thing, and becoming a more conventional blogger. (I might have to turn off email posting) I'm basically going to post on whatever I like whenever I like, so expect to see more than one post a day, depending on the day.

POTD 122

2007-04-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

POTD

I really love this sort of environment, where you've got the bridges spanning large expanses and stuff. I need to see if I can find this one really cool old painting I found once.

Anyways I'm finally back, and finished licking my wounds. For those of you who didn't know I did worse than I had expected on a few key tests, which didn't really put me in the mood of blogging. Those scores were 4 on the AIME, and 78 on the second UMTYMP test. Actually my UMTYMP score was pretty in comparison to my classmates' scores, many of whom received something like 48. Anyhow it is pretty good to be back after my four week (exactly!) absence.

The past couple days news in brief is:
*UMTYMP test in little more than a week.
*I'm a student in training for the Minnesota American Regions Math League, again. I was hoping to get promoted, but oh well.
*I'm taking five APs. Comparative Government, US Government, Calculus BC, US History, and Physics B
*I've turned in lots of assignments as usual
*Got two new computers from a friend

With one of those new computers I made a foray into the world of Linux computing. I installed Ubuntu (really easily) and had a load of fun. Screenshot below. Screenshot2.png However, that computer is currently broken, since I installed an nVidia driver incorrectly. Silly nVidia is just another one of Microsoft's goons. I think I might just install Fedora when Core 7 comes out, so that will fix my problem.

Also I wasted some time two weekends ago, and went to the Future Sight pre-release with Kevin. Despite being a complete waste of time it was a lot of fun. The best part is that Kevin and I did really well as a team, so we got prizes. :)

And that's about all for today. Enjoy more onslaught tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, the next chapter meeting (in three weeks) is at a pizza place, food on the chapter.

And one last thing, A Realm Divided has been permanently suspended while we work on a new more snazzy game. Read: one that is actually within my ability as a programmer.

POTD 121

2007-04-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

POTD

Whatever.

Life has been pretty uneventful. I'd report my homework, but I don't feel like it. I decided to take up writing again, because programming is getting annoying as a hobby. And I got a A- on my core paper! Appearantly despite my poor choice of topics I executed okay.

POTD 119

2007-03-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

POTD

Gotta love the good old sci fi scenes.

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I hope that I will do well enough on the AIME. And the UMTYMP test for that matter. I'm quite nervous actually. But I'll try and keep that under wraps. I hate waking up to take a test.

POTD 118

2007-03-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

POTD

Kratos is supreme!

Time for the gigantic mega post! I’ll have to categorize this one…

Debate:
Wee, four hour mini bus trip. Pretty uneventful actually. So whatever, I’ll skip ahead.

So, the resolution is: “Resolved: The actions of corporations ought to be held to the same moral standards as the actions of individuals.”

Some quick background before we begin:
Common Aff arguments: Lots of harms when we hold corporations differently. These include: letting the individuals within the corporation hide wrong doing, excessive corporate power, disregard for human welfare, and similar things. Really, most aff cases are the same, they almost all state that by holding the corporations the same way we get a benefit.

My aff case: In my frame work I establish that morality is only useful when applied to humans, I.E. that morality only matters if it is helping alleviate human suffering. Thus I set up the value of morality and the criterion of decreasing exploitation. In the framework I set it up so that showing a decrease in human suffering (exploitation, this is explained in case) is enough to affirm. And then I basically lay out the ways in which exploitation is decreased.

Common Neg arguments: For neg there is slightly more flexibility. Some people set up cases similar to the aff cases, that is, they try and show that negating has comparative benefits. On the other hand some neg cases try and prove the resolution necessarily false based on universal principles. Arguments of this sort consist of: morality doesn’t exist, the corporations aren’t morally culpable, there are morally relevant differences, etc.

My neg case: It’s just a pretty standard culpability case saying that a corporation is like a thought concept, so it can’t be morally culpable for its actions. The same way Nazis, and not Nazism is responsible for the holocaust, corporate actors and not the corporations are responsible for whatever action.

Round 1: I was neg. This was against some random opponent. I really thought I won this round, because quite frankly his case was terrible. “Since corporations won’t be held to these responsibilities they will turn into utilitarians.” Umm, okay… No warrant, and I that “harm” is pretty silly. But apparently I lost the value-criterion debate, so he got all of his impacts and thus won.

Round 2: I was Aff. This round was annoying as hell… My opponent made really bad arguments, and terrible responses to my arguments, but I dropped her third contention and her freaking underview. And she was on the neg! All that offense she had made it nearly impossible to cover with the limited time in the 1AR. The most annoying thing was the judge said he really wanted to vote for me, but couldn’t just because of that stupid spread. Ah well.

Round 3: I was Neg. Whatever. Her case was overall just pretty strong, and she was a good debater. I felt like I should have lost that round. But I got 30 speaker points, and my judge said it was one of the smoothest deliveries she had ever heard.

Round 4: Aff again here. The two of use were both running benefit cases, but I had the kid’s case and I outweighed his benefits. A pretty easy round. 29 speaks ^^.

Round 5: Neg here. I adapted to my judge really well, the kid dropped my neg case, I kill his value criterion, it was just a pretty good face crush.

Round 6: Aff… I debated a kid (actually I stayed at his house, and he plays Magic, and he’s an overall cool kid) who set out to have fun at this tournament, so he ran… reptilian illuminati. The case stated that we are all being mind controlled by an evolved species of raptors, the illuminati, and that the only way to free ourselves is through the access of the right side of our brain. All of his cards came from David Ick, founder of the Green Party in England (this is why the Green Party will never win an election.) The case wasn’t actually horrible (if the judge decides to go with debate instincts over common sense that is) because against any response I made he could claim that I was brainwashed by the illuminati, so my argument is just an attempt to cover up their presence. However I responded by drawing a caricature of a illuminati, thus accessing the right side of my brain and disproving the presence of the illuminati. I also said that if the judge would buy my opponent’s argument he would also have to buy my argument my opponent was actually brainwashed by the Lupines, an evolved race of lycanthropes. And he dropped my case, so it was an easy win. I had also contemplated reading a poem to access the right side of my brain, and I spent a lot of prep time trying to write a rhyme. Nothing rhymes with illuminati that I could think of. Anyways, in response to my drawing he said I had drawn it with the left side of my brain, since I did it utterly without emotion or conviction. So during my next speech I acted like I was very upset by that, and I channeled my pure emotion into a second drawing, thus accessing my right side. Then the judge gave me 25 speaker points. If he had given me just a few more I could have gotten a speaker award. What a meanie. Maybe if my drawing was better? But man, I deserved more points for coming up with such a novel response.

Anywho, my final record was 3-3, and no one on my team did much better.

WARNING: Politically Correct stuff galore below!

I found it singularly hilarious that the Lynbrook team had a single white kid. And maybe three guys. I was also quite disappointed that I didn’t get to debate any of them, since I told Aaron I would beat some for him. But my record was too sucky to debate them. And another thing I observed, this will sound weird, but Indian girls should shave! And I mean their faces. I can’t tell you how disconcerting a moustache is on a girl. But that is pretty unrelated to anything else. Besides that the Lynbrook team was full of attractive Asian girls that I didn’t have a chance with… <_< Also, apparently Hopkins has a reputation, because the Lynbrook coach said we were one of the teams to watch out for.

After the first day we went to our home-stay. And stayed up till one telling messed up stories. And the second we watched Blazing Saddles and then went to sleep. Hmm. We also went to a really good Italian restaurant called Mondo’s. It was the first real meal I had had in some time, so I was made mucho happy.

So in summary: I think I could have done a lot better if I had put more work into debate, but I didn’t have the time to commit. I’m still deciding whether or not I’ll be doing debate next year.

Music: Yay! Music!

So I’m probably neglecting to talk about a lot of new bands I got, but I didn’t get those CDs as recently, so I just won’t talk about them

X&Y and Rush Of Blood To The Head, by Coldplay: Well, Coldplay, is one of those bands that I really want to like, but I somehow can’t. The singing is overall subpar, ugh, I can’t even hear him half the time. And the instrumentation although cool, if the same in every song! I’m serious, all their songs sound exactly the same. Not cool. Except for a couple stand out tracks I was very disappointed by Coldplay. I’m not sure what they are aiming for, but they sound like a combination of The Frey and Death Cab for Cutie, and the result isn’t too great.

Franz Fredinand, by Franz Fredinand: This album, was very cool. The guitar playing is cool as heck, and the songs are fun. Yeah, not much else to say, but I like it a lot. Especially Take Me Out, which is a cool song.

And I have a hard calc test coming up, in addition to the AIME on the same day.

Sorry for the long post...

POTD 117

2007-03-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

POTD

Except for the fact that that that picture (oh yes, I used three "that"s in a row) has an impossible structure it's really cool. The background is very nice.

So I had a lot going on, as you can probably imagine. I just fixed the desktop computer, which was broken over the weekend while I was gone at debate. I don't have time to write a good summary tonight, because I'm going to bed soon, and I'm distracted to boot. But never fear, tomorrow you will get a giant report on the debate tournament, and my thoughts on debate as a whole. Short story: I think the tournament went pretty well. I was a little thrown off by the tougher competition at first (especially those silly spreads), so I began 0-3, than made a comeback and ended 3-3. And I was disappointed by the finals and stuff, because the novices really weren't that good. I felt that I could have done better than them in the same positions, something I never feel watching varsity rounds. Ah well.

POTD 116

2007-03-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

POTD

Busy busy busy.

I'll be gone the next three days at Novice Nationals. See you all later!

POTD 115

2007-03-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

POTD

Wow, that thing is mean looking. Holy turd that is cool.

So erm. Stress. Yeah that. I'm weighing my possible out comes for this summer. It looking sort of meh. I could either do well on my AIME and go to MOSP, which would be very good for my math, and I could meet a lot of old friends. Or I could fail horribly, end up going to the DIDT gathering and making some money on a summer job. Either way A Realm Divided looks like it loses out.

POTD 114

2007-03-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

POTD

That has some very good lighting going on there. The one thing I love about old cathedrals like that is the light.

AIME is happening soon. And I'm only somewhat prepared for it, although I have a feeling I'm more prepared for it than some of my UMTYMP classmates. But then there are people taking it outside of UMTYMP... And I have an UMTYMP test coming up soon. And I have Novice Nationals. And I need to take my physics test. When it rains it pours. Actually my life just happens to always become extremely stressful.

POTD 113

2007-03-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

POTD

Dwarves are cool as heck. Nearly as cool as ninjas, and turtles, but not ninjas and turtles combined .

So I'm back to blogger. Wanna know why? Vox has almost no cool customizability, I can't even change my lousy background there. And since I can't change the HTML it means I can't display my own AdSense ads, while I'm displaying their ads. Truly disgusting. I like control over my blog, and Vox can't offer that. So here I am again. And I just found out Blogger has a spell checker. Where was it all this time?

Today I went out with my mom to buy a new pair of shoes. Then hilarity ensued. First we got there before the mall opened, and then the store wasn't there anymore. Great stuff. But will I was at the Borders nearby I found a sweet book on hacking.

And I just did about a tenth of my physics course in an entire day. Now I'm behind in my history, of course. It's the story of my life.

Moving...

2007-03-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I'm moving (again) to mkbunday.vox.com

POTD 107

2007-03-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

POTD

Cool pegasus thing.

I'm gonna be up late doing that philosophy paper. Woo.

POTD 106

2007-03-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

POTD

Hrm, I just pulled whatever random picture...

Well I'm getting a little better. Hopefully I'll be able to do my philosophy paper tomorrow. Other than that nothing really happened. I stayed in bed pretty much the whole day and read Mill. Fun.

POTD 105

2007-03-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

POTD

Hmm, another gross looking demon. :D

So I thought I would be getting my braces off, but appearantly they are going to let it go for a month or two more. :( And I got a 28 on my UMTYMP homework today. Go me. And soccer practice was cancelled, which caused much rejoicing, since I'm sick anyways.

And I'm hooked on Dwarf Fortress.

POTD 104

2007-03-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

POTD

Ooh, that is one of the coolest concepts ever. Wow.

Well, not too much exciting going on, but there is stuff going on. I just took my third physics test, which was okay. And I'm about to turn in two UMTMYP assignments. And I'm about to finish a philosophy paper, again. And I'm about to write a new debate case for novice nationals.

Most exciting is I'm getting my braces off tomorrow. Woohoo! If I start wearing more normal t-shirts I might actually pass off as a normal person...

POTD 103

2007-03-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

POTD

Hehe, that looks funny.

So a lot has happen since the last post, if you've noticed I've been a little lazy about posting.

UMTYMP: 29, 23, 27
At least I think those are my scores.

I just got my ACT scores today. I'm super happy with them, because I did not think I would do so well in some of the sections. But the test did turn out to be the American Reading Test.
ACT: 33 English, 35 Mathematics, 34 Reading, 34 Science, 34 Composite.

Hmm. And I went to the party at Slagathor's* house. I was the only person that went, but it was fun nonetheless.

*His name isn't actually Slagathor, it's Baratheon**
**His name really isn't Baratheon. It is closer to Bosh***
***If you haven't figured it out by now, his name is actually Josh****
****Josh does not care whether his real name is used on the internet.

POTD 102

2007-02-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

POTD

Intresting.

POTD 101

2007-02-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

POTD

Ooh! Swords...I like it.

Another pretty uneventful day...

POTD 100

2007-02-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

POTD

Reminds me of someone...not gonna name names.

POTD

And a bonus, because it's 100. I actually hate the number 100, we should celebrate 119 instead.

I took the AMC 12B, nothing more to say. And I had soccer. And I got to miss a terrible lecture today, SCORE!

POTD 99

2007-02-20T19:47:00.000-08:00

POTD

POTD 98

2007-02-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

POTD

I'm fond of these architectural pieces for whatever reason.

There is a chapter meeting tomorrow. I have the day off (thanks presidents), so I'll definitely be there. I started A Storm of Swords, which is a sweet book, unfortunately I'm prevented from reading on by more pressing concerns, like, homework.

And my parents decided that as part of my growing up as a teenager with normal social skills (oh, please) I must make phone calls to friends. So if any of you WANT to recieve phone calls let me know.

POTD 97

2007-02-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

POTD

Hey, guess what? It's out favorite, the P-51 mustang! Again. I never tire of those. Props to McDonalds Burger for introducing me to them.

That UMTYMP test score might turn into a 100, 'cause I'm going to argue back a few points.

Argh. I suck at juggling. Seriously. I get a D on my English assignment the one time I try to work on an extracurricular. My teacher tells me that is a poor excuse (in my defense, it wasn't an excuse, but an explaination,) because schoolwork should come before extracurriculars. However in my situation I had to do it, or else the work of a handful of my classmates and one of my teachers would have been meaningless. (For those of you needing background, I was the webmaster for the newspaper. Altough quite ironically, I'm almost completely sure someone else on the newspaper staff has a much better (and far more recent) understanding of html (even if she does use FrontPage, that menance to society.)) HATE! And I would still like to accomplish some of my personal goals, but appearantly these silly letters ono transcripts mean more than my personal developement. 'Cuz I'm really going to use some of the skills I've learned in highschool later in my life, but if I made some money and learned a useful skill that would have no long term benefit. <_< But in this silly and superficial time the only way to demonstrate knowledge is through a letter (which makes me think, I really should hack some server with my grades), so if I feel like learning a skill that I can't get in a class that would obviously be pointless. Bleh. And I'm also sorry for the Mathcounts team, I wanted everyone to have better preparation and coaching than I had, so everyone could perform at their highest. (Truely, you guys are smarter than me. If you guys are properly trained you work kick some serious a--butt) But we aren't even going to have a practice the day before the test. Oh joy. I hope you guys have been doing preparation on your own. And I have no idea why I am so tempramental, it must be because my parents are making me get up at six each morning now. Which is horrible, since I can NEVER fall asleep before 12:00. Always thinking about this and that. Well, I rambled, so I'll log off now. And I need to say something cheerful and silly, so I don't sound emo. Happy purple lamma moose tomorrow!

POTD 96

2007-02-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

POTD

I love those sci-fi landspace....sigh

Oh yeah! My score on the UMTYMP test is the number of this POTD. Awesome news, and coincidance.

I played a skrimage (it's late, I can't spell) with the U17 C1 team...fun. I actually disrupted a few plays.

Happy birthday to the *@#*%#@!

POTD 95

2007-02-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

POTD

Three words: wtf. I have no idea what that is, but it looks funny.

So, the OHS student newspaper is suppose to be published today. Which means I'm going to spend the entire night creating the webpage...good thing I had maybe three days of heads up time. <_<>_>

Guess what? Today is Monday! You know what that means? It's time for me to die inside, thanks to Math League. So I won third place in my division. But the division is so pathetic that doesn't really mean anything. And the award ceremony was pretty lonely. And the pizza was pretty bad. Blargh.

POTD 94

2007-02-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

POTD

Haha, I'm having fun with these demonic potds...

Well, I took the ACT today. I didn't end up seeing Lucifer, because she was at a different testing center. And I felt that I did really well, since it is so easy. The test should be called ART-American Reading Test. I did reading questions for the english part, I read a table for the math part, I read uninspired passages for the reading part, I read charts and graphs for the science part. I also took the writing section, and wrote a freaking four page essay. I despise the essay topics they choose for the ACT, all of them are like "Should a dress code be enforced in highschool? Should the highschool library subscribe to magazines?" LIKE OMG I RLLY CARE ABOUT MY HS, THX ACT!

Also I was continually astounded by the level of sillyness at the highschool. Below are a collection of silly things I saw/heard.

Random ACT Tester "I'm really not use to thinking this hard."
Me "If that's hard, I guess you really haven't" (To myself of course)

Another Random Tester "I only finished half the reading thingie." K, thx.

Poster on Writing "Avoid using cliches--Think outside the box."

Poster w/ Study Tips "6. Study a little each day to stay ahead." How sadly true. <_<

Inspirational Poster "As long as you aren't in last, you're doing okay." Umm, sure.

And of course all those other silly inspirational posters that are plastered all across every platform. I swear, the entirety of the Amazon rainforest was cut to print those.

POTD 93

2007-02-08T10:28:00.001-08:00

POTD

Cool picture...

Hrm, I blew the AMC 12. Blargh I get to go the AIME, but not ARML.

POTD 92

2007-02-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

POTD

Good rendition of Michael Jordan. He used to be a hero of mine, back in the day when I read a little book about him. I guess he could still be thought of as a hero, but I usually associate myself with geekier people, like Einstien for instance.

Had an UMTYMP review session today. I can't say I learned and or reviewed anything today, but I did find out that my prospects for getting on either Eden Prarie's or Wayzata's math teams are pretty good. Because if I don't find teammates next year (yeah, I mean you homeschoolers of Minnesota), then I'm not suffering through another year of solitude just to have 'MCGT' in the name of my team.

So pumped! AMC 12 tomorrow. It's my one shot at ARML qualification. (You know, I think I should post a guide to all the acronyms I use through out these posts, because there are quite a few.) From what I've heard I've (amazingly) done somewhat more preparation then some of the Eden Prarie kids.

POTD 91

2007-02-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

POTD

Haha, I loled when I saw this thing.

Argh, my reading day is almost over and I'm only 7/20 of the way through A Clash of Kings. Grr... But I also watched Braveheart, which was pretty decent considering it was Mel Gibson. And the Super Bowl is okay, I guess.

POTD 90

2007-02-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

POTD

Seems like a pretty righteous dude. Sweet number 90, so I've been doing this for about three monthes give or take a few. 3 and 9 are my favorite numbers, so this is especially cool.

Well not too much going on. Except that the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin kicks some serious butt. That is a righteous series, unfortunately a sick twist of fate dictates that I will be reading the second book before the first. Oh well. I also started reading Lilith's novel, which is turning out pretty well. My brothers have retained control over the laptop, so I haven't gotten very far however.

You know what is annoying? Video games have been decieving me. Rapiers aren't slashing weapons of moderate length at all, they are meter long thrusting weapons. ARGH! Sabres are still cool however.

POTD 89

2007-02-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

POTD

Hmm, quite and comtemplative. I like it.

Well, my barrage of tests is complete. Not. I've still got the AMC 12 and the ACT. Oh well. My school tests are done with. For my English test I wrote an essay drawing on four examples fro literature and two from life. Overkill? I hope so. And I got destroyed in my history test. I've never been so brutally maimed in my life. Ah well, lessons learned.

Btw, Super Bowl! W00t. Actually I don't care that much. I'll probably watch commercials.

POTD 88

2007-01-31T07:51:00.000-08:00

POTD

That is about how I feel at the moment.

I just finished my 9-10 page philosophy assignment. I don't have a very good feeling about it. Good thing it is only 30% of my grade. <.<

I'm about to go take my English test, and then it's straight to UMTYMP. And then it's straight to soccer. And then it's straight to bed. Haha, exciting life isn't it?

POTD 87

2007-01-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

POTD

I believe this is maybe the third time a P-51 mustang has been featured in a POTD. Stylistically this peice is different from the rest. Those wide brush strokes really seem to give a sense of motion.

UMTYMP again today. Didn't get a homework back however. Wasted my time reading Crime and Punishment when I should have been doing my philosophy paper. At least it is a really good book. Now I have two days to finish an 8 page paper. At least utilitarianism isn't a theory that is too lame, other then the fact that it can't be implemented in any way, shape, or form. <_<

POTD 86

2007-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

POTD

Cool fractal art on the guys shirt.

Went over to Balrog's house for a sleep over last night. We watched Snakes On a Plane (Yeah Samuel L!) and Little Miss Sunshine (Yeah Neitzche! Or however you spell his name.) So it was a pretty good day. Now back to my regular schedule of slaving away at papers.

POTD 85

2007-01-26T12:06:00.001-08:00

POTD

Sweet, this guy has a really stark/dark style, and I like it.

Ladeladela, not much going on. However I did get Picaresque by the Decemberists. They are a cool band. And one of their song writers, Chris Walla, does songs for Death Cab for Cutie too. ^^

POTD 85

2007-01-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

POTD 84

2007-01-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

POTD

This is among the more original concepts I've seen for a fairy.

I've been having some not-so-hot UMTYMP assignments. 22/30, and 24/30. At least this time the graders provided me with comments so I know how to do better in the future. Last time I would get "This problem isn't up to professional problem standards."

I didn't throw up this time at soccer practice, go me. I can honestly say I'm not the worst player on my team at ball handling, finally. This new kid (who I did know earlier from rec league) doesn't seem to know how to trap the ball, which means everytime the ball gets to him BOOOM it's outta there.

And I just took my physics test... fun fun. There were some intresting problems presented actually, but I won't go into the details. And I've got more finals coming up; they will be the death of me.