Today’s Stuff That’s Drad:

1. Pint Pal
2. Rocketboom
3. Amanda UnBoomed

I find that the past week or so, I’ve been repeatedly asking myself “Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me about this stuff?” Rather than site and grouse about it, I’m going to make the effort to bring my (not so) startling discoveries to you, my (un)loyal reader!

First, we have the Pint Pal, a device I found out about in the last few minutes. When you think about it’s existence, it makes sense and isn’t all that amazing that it exists, yet I didn’t know for certain that such an item could and would in fact, be real. Sure, there are similar devices for keeping your drinks cool, but ice cream? I guess I never imagined my glutinous eat-a-pint-at-once ways extending to the mass market. Who knew? (Note: I’m aware that probably everyone knew. Shut up.)

Second, we have a website by the name of Rocketboom. They tell me it’s a video weblog. I’m not sure as to what makes this different from one of those two minute news briefs that some network channels used to show back in the day, aside from the fact that it’s infinitely more interesting. It’s a short show about… stuff that’s cool, I think. I haven’t seen very many episodes as I only found out about this thing yesterday, but they seem to give you a daily dose of fun in a nice streaming video format of your choice. It doesn’t hurt that the chick who serves as the host of the show is pretty hot and has a sweet accent. This show is fun and unique and that by itself would be enough to make me say “Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me about this stuff?” However, there’s more to this story! It would seem that this has been “on the air” as it were for some time. It was previously hosted by another smoking hot chick and from what I hear (now, after the fact!) is that the previous host and the guy who started it all had some sort of falling out and everything has gone to hell now. Or something. I’ve seen a few shows with the old girl and a few shows with the new girl, and yes, while the old girl is better, that doesn’t mean the new one sucks. She’s pretty good too. What I need to do now is catch up on the fucking YEAR AND A HALF of shows I’ve missed and wedge a few minutes in my daily routine to watch the new episodes of this. (Note: When I call this show a news show, I use the term “news” loosely. It’s much more fun and interesting than that.)

See, this is the kind of thing where I sigh in an exasperated manner and ask:

“WHY DOES NO ONE TELL ME OF THESE THINGS?!”

Apparently, I have a new job as a book reviewer. It’s very rewarding!

Well, off to work I go!

Happy pi day, everyone! Today is 3/14, a day set aside by geeks everywhere as pi day. Cause of pi. Which sounds like pie. Which is good. Speaking of pis and pies, here’s some fun trivia for you. Do you guys know where the term pi originated from? As you may know, the ancient Greeks discovered the concept. It was during the time of Archimedes, a prominent Greek mathematician. Back then, when they used to make pies, they were in a square shape. But one day, Archimedes wanted to have a new type of pie, a better type of pie. He ordered his cook to make him a round pie instead. Upon receiving it, he gazed on its circular shape, and that brilliant mind of his began to realize the fundamental ideas of pi. He couldn’t very well call 3.14 “pie,” so he dropped the “e” and called it “pi.” And we have been blessed ever since with pies and pis.

On a completely unrelated note, I was told a rather hilarious story by my friend Sharon which I’d like to relate to you. Apparently, on a popular Internet message board, a friend of hers related an argument she had with her roommate. There was some mention of Australia, and the roommate said something about The Dingo Fence. Upon further inquiry, the roommate revealed that The Dingo Fence, in his honest and serious belief, was a GIANT, ELECTRIFIED FENCE SURROUNDING THE OUTBACK TO KEEP DINGOS OUT. This is simultaneously the dumbest and funniest thing I have ever heard. Giant electrified fence. Keeping dingos out of the Outback. Cause you know, you wouldn’t want the dingos to leave the safety of the cities. Another party in the argument sauntered off, muttering “big ol’ dingo fence” in utter disbelief. That phrase must clearly be introduced into modern conversation. I shall quote to you now, how my friend Sharon has decided that this phrase may best be used: “It’s for anything of dingo fence proportions in absurdity.” Her examples of this include: “So he busted out the big ol’ dingo fence and tried to tell me that the first 500 DSes were handmade,” and “That, sir, is quite the big ol’ dingo fence you’re trying to sell me.” I wholeheartedly support this course of action and will make every effort to further its usage in today’s modern language. I encourage you all to do the same!

Fuck yeah, bitches! Not only is this the last day of classes for this semester, I also got two bits of wonderful news. First, I found out my marine bio final is NOT cumulative. On top of that, he gave us the required reading for it. It’s a lot, but shit, its better than being directionless. And the second bit of most wondrous, most glorious, absofuckinglutely fantastic news is that Dr. Hobbie, arguably the smartest man alive, told me my research presentation was very good.

Some background for you kids to help you understand how truly fucking amazing that is:

I attend go to school at Adelphi University. At this university, there is a professor named Dr. Hobbie. He does research there as well as teaching some classes. I took genetics with him. This man is smart. Smart. FUCKING SMART. This guy is a genius. I learned a lot in his class. This semester, I was doing research with another professor. It turns out that as part of the supervised research program, you’re expected to give a presentation detailing your findings and your experiment and stuff. Our experiment… lets just say that due to large scale equipment failure, our experiment didn’t really get of the ground. So I had to give a presentation on what now? On top of that, I only found out about the presentation less than two weeks before it was due. This is the recepie for disaster. Oh wait, I almost forgot. The presentation was to be given FOR THE ENTIRE BIO FACULTY. Yeah. And any students that wanted to attend. That was fucking nerve wracking.

I gave the presentation after some helpful coaching by my research professor, Dr. Weeks (another scary smart guy). I thought it went ok. Not great, but ok. I had INFINITE questions to answer from the staff, but hey, it wouldn’t be a horribly scarring experience without `em. One professor, who shall remain nameless, was hammering me with questions. I took it as a bad thing and rather adverserial. Afterwards, when speaking to my research professor, he assured me that it wasn’t a big deal and that the nameless one said I did well. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but whatever, I wasn’t going to pursue the matter. Not to say that my professor was wrong or anything, I just got a bad vibe from the nameless one.

To continue: Today, I go by the Bio office to drop of an assignment in a professor’s mailbox. As I’m leaving I see Dr. Hobbie, so I wave and say “Hi” because I like Dr. Hobbie. He stops me and I’m all like “Uh oh, I’m dead.” But no, no, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. He tells me that I did a fine job during the presentation and he enjoyed it. I almost wet my pants like an excited dog who just got the best dog biscuit ever. He then goes on to confirm what my professor had previously said; namely that the nameless one was not displeased in any way.

I went from what I thought was an ok presentation to a presentation that was well thought of by the smartest fucking man on the planet. This makes me giddy with delight.

Two unrelated closing notes:
1) The keyboard on a Dell Latitude D400 FUCKING BLOWS.
2) My friend David from Adelphi just suggested that I type that he’s an annoying kid who is bugging the shit out of me. I found this funny enough to immortalize in print. Hi David! Nice article in the Adelphi Magazine. 😉

UPDATE: I talked to Dr. Weeks, the professor I was doing the research for, and he had messages of high praise from the other Bio professors. And he told me he’s giving me an A. Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, sirs and madams, zombies and pirates, I am giddy with delight.

Yesterday was my bestest friend’s birthday. For me, that is the only reason the “holiday season” has any significance. Who needs bullshit holidays about blatently false crap? I may not be celebrating the birth of any fictional lords and/or saviors this month, but I sure as hell will be celebrating the birth of a saucy lass and/or criminal mastermind. That is what my holidays are truly about.

Well, that and zombies. You can never have enough zombies.

I made a page detailing my Gamecube games and how many of them I still have left to beat. It’s mainly so I can keep track of that shit. I don’t know why anyone else would care, but I figured it would be fun to put up here. You can get to it from the sidebar or by clicking here.

A person, who chooses to remain nameless, who may also be one of the greatest poets of our, or any other time, just wrote this poem. It was composed in seconds, with just the merest spark of inspiration. Perpare to be awed by its majesty. I present to you, “Desire.”

i wanted some tortilla chips
and a movie
but i could not fit
the salsa and sour cream
into my pockets.
…and a leaf slowly fell.
fin