Top three free online services.

Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Justin

Hello you guys :) I've been busy recently doing my head in with maths, but I figured a post now a then shall do for quite a bit.

First of all, welcome to Anarkist - a good friend of mine who has "volunteered" to help me add random bit and bobs to wherever its needed. He's good at writing, and who knows, he might figure out to be better then I am at blog writing :S

Lately, I have been busy , but I thought I would perhaps share with you the three most useful (free) online services ever! (in my opinion, at least)

Here we go.

1) Dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/


Nice web interface, unlike other services.

Perhaps the greatest, best online FTP ever. Eliminates the entire purpose of sending files to yourself, and you probably can put away those broken memory-sticks by now. All you need to do is basically make an account, and install the program onto your computer. Then whatever you need to share or put onto your "personal space", simply drag and drop into the Dropbox folder, and it'll sync automatically to other computers which have Dropbox and are logged into your account.

When you want the file on a computer which you haven't installed the program on, you can just simply go onto the Dropbox website and retrieve your files through that method as well.

You get 2GB for free, but you can get more space by completing the tour as well as inviting your friends to use the service.

2) Grooveshark
http://listen.grooveshark.com


Good if you love music.

Think of iTunes, but with unlimited sharing and accessibility of your music online as well as free music! Basically you can form a online playlist/library, without having to own or have the music on your computer. Handy if you love searching up new songs but can't be arsed to buy them just yet, or are just plain cheap. Once again, this is free, and unless you want the VIP features (which aren't actually that essential) this is useful if you, say go on a holiday. Note that you do need an internet connection to stream the music though.

3) Wolfram|Alpha
http://www.wolframalpha.com/


Big calculator for pot-heads.

Let's say, you're struggling on your maths homework. You can't be half dimmed to grab your graphical calculator, and you can't be bothered either to draw out a table for values of a mathematical equation. Or, let's say you've forgotten how integrate an equation that looks like herpes.

Fret not! Simply stick in whatever you want it to calculate; so if you want the graph of an equation, put in the equation and hit enter. There are a lot more other things you can also pop in, such as "integrate (equation) from (number) to (number)", but I shall leave that for you to find out :P

Listening to: Should've Listened by Nickelback









crevlthe.

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Xbox 360 Slim!

Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Justin

Hey guys, I'm back from my trip to the UK. While I was there, I took the courtesy of picking up one of the new Xbox 360 Slim - my first console ever :D


Glossy black Phillips HD television looks nice with glossy black Xbox 360 Slim :D

Now for those whose are wondering - Crev, are you turning into a console fanboy?

The simple answer is, NO.

I worked out my PC upgrade would cost at least 3 times as much the price of a console, and also would not have as long a life span. Since computers go out of spec every three months, I thought it was better to 'invest' my money in a console instead. It also means my dad doesn't need to spend more money on a new DVD player :P

In many ways, the Xbox 360 is much more user-friendlier as well as more approachable to new people who are unfamiliar to new technologies. It is also much more media integrated than a PC as well. Acting as an extender for Windows Media Center, movies and music can be streamed directly from my desktop.

Make no doubt though, as I still feel that the controls for FPSes on consoles are not as what I would call, precise. Whilst the triggers may be appropriate for arcade or driving/simulation games, console fanboys still don't have the right to brag over the Xbox's inferior aim-assist system in FPS games.

One more thing. I love my PC, and will still be using that for FPS games.

I'm taking the alternative to the die-hard fanboys on either side - experience or take an opportunity to feel and try either way of the scale; hardcore gaming to the softer, but still fun, console gaming.

Listening to (for inspiration): Heartbreaker by MSTRKRFT feat. John Legend









crevlther out.

P.s. I'm also finishing off an article on reasons why you SHOULDN'T go on the London Underground. You'll see. :P

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My absence from my blog.

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Justin

Guys, I'm back and running again. Its been a very long while since I even posted anything - those who have been eager to read any of my rants would have understood it was due to my long and tireless exams. :P

I do blame my exams for my long absence, but also due to my procrastination I have gone all rusty on writing good boring articles that you guys "actually" read. I do apologize again, since I am going off on a trip to the UK, and due to the frankly terrible budget hotels I won't have any internet.

I'll get round to posting when I come back, or at any time in the near future. I'm sure I'll spend some of my money on some expensive gadgetry over there :D

Meanwhile, I better finish off any remaining articles I had planned, and publish them on here.

Listening to (for inspiration): Crossfire by Brandon Flowers









crevlther out.

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Findings of this week.

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Justin

Now, I've been trying to really stop myself from lumping out posts everyday, since that's counter-productive in my work flow, so I'll do my proper article some time next week or something.

(I'll have you know, I'm writing a review on a game right now which I'll publish sometime later.)

So perhaps, the posts I do in between those will probably be little findings I've found during an eventful week. :D

First of all: here's a story my friend Kenzo over at Subtle Suspense (go read that blog as well :P) found, and I thought you might get round to reading as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7772902.stm
^
click click =/

Now, I'm not sure where our world has really gone in the world of journalism, but seriously, WTF were they thinking when they wrote that?!

"Yeah, its great. We're the BBC; let's write something that'll make us sound completely mad, but its fine, because we are ultra fail at doing April-Fools on live television."

It seems as though we are rather surrounded in a world of idiots, who push and clam their way to the front of the queue, then forget why they were there in the first place. Utter no brainer.

But, I guess without these douches, we would have a nice boring world and we wouldn't have the occasional Ms Hall to laugh at in English. *hint hint*

Recently, my friends have decided to name themselves on Facebook after "that Bieber dude" and form a ridiculous faction of Justins (irony my name is that too). Now, the world really really really doesn't need a collection of Biebers, let me grant you that. Its a good thing I don't pay much attention to my news feed, or I would certainly go a bit nutty in the head.

In addition to that, I also found this rather smart add-on for Firefox; now before you go slump away and say, "great, you've found an addition. what else?" This may actually make you turn heads. Let me link you there: Link here

Now, for those who aren't prepared to click a link (simply because you might be wondering where the hell it links; i.e. "OMGWTFBBQ IS THAT A RICKROLL?! LOLOLOLOLOL... etc" maybe I should tell you what it does instead.

Here is the magic: it removes every trace (no kidding) or tag of any reference to Justin Bieber. (no kidding) Seriously, I felt this developer could have spent his time much more wisely - idk, he could have gone to get dinner or something, or maybe go get ... you know. If you don't want to add a Firefox extension though, you can add a bookmarklet which you click everytime you go on a page. Shave here!

Moving on.

Now, back to the topic of rubbish journalism. Where would we be without their silly mistakes in newspapers, lurking in those tedious articles with the obstructive adverts and the rather outrageous pictures of people doing stupid things. Which is why, I would like to share some of my favourites of the pick.

Here's a nice "authentic" bear for you to give a nice hug.


Go on, watch it!

Guess I better end this post before I go on and start ranting.

So; on a rather random note,

Does this look like your mommy?

Or this? :P



Listening to (for inspiration): Death by White Lies









crevlther out.

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English Literature... ftw!

Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Justin


For a rather arrogant person like myself, I have never really had much appreciation for English Literature, or rather any respect for the rat trap crap that I had read, simply because I couldn't make any relation to any prior use for it in my life.

The opinions I had of the teachers were poor, and although they made the regular attempt to get the class to understand what on earth they were talking about, I felt as motivated as an elephant's backside (no kiding). It was simply dull. Who would want to know about how the bloody hell "Julius Caesar" died, and why he died? Similarly, who would want to know the relation between "Balzac" and "the Little Seamstress"?

I often doodled in my English classes, often not paying attention to the boring stuff she would rant on about each lesson, and stuffing the notes she would hand out (I still don't approve of people printing 30 print-outs for their class, effectively killing a tree) reluctantly into my English folder and generally dumping them out after-wards.

Then came the exam rush. And I still had no idea why on earth we were learning English Literature! It was miserable and so demotivating that I had to self-study, simply because our English teacher was not getting into our heads what we were supposed to have known for the exams. I spent the majority of the year having to gather the materials required that we had to know, as well as having to resort to the non-assistant syllabus the examining board had provided.

I did several pass-papers, and learnt the subject basically by reciting the particular quotes and paragraph content that I had done like-wise for the said pass-papers. I'm sure I got through the exam alright, because I wrote at least four pages for both of the questions. That's not the point of this post though.

It was only up to this very day as I was about to begin my once and for all final English Literature exam, that same question I had asked the very first day flickered weakly in my mind: what on earth was the purpose of English Literature?

Then came the great motivator. No, it wasn't my terrible English teacher, it was the head of English himself. Having taught in the school for over five years(?), he knew precisely the problems (i.e. a walking FAQ for the English Literature exam :P) students faced as they drearily walked into the examination hall. Having seen the face of fear me and my friends were displaying, he helpfully pointed out the right approach towards tackling the literature exam fearlessly and properly.

Talking to the head of English himself really does magic. From my experience with the English department, only a few are worth listening to. The rest simply come to school, go on Facebook, then go home again without teaching anything. Listening to the head however was (for me) a rather sensational feeling that all the years I had spent warbling in English lessons were summed up into a understandable way.

Gathered around like a social group, I began to see a sense of interest in my classmates as they actually took in what the teacher was actually saying. It turned out that for all this time, my English teacher simply was teaching the subject using the wrong approach; hence nobody wanted to learn it! It was inspirational listening to a teacher who actually wanted to teach us the art of learning, as opposed to listening to a teacher who hated her job and work.

The problem with English Literature isn't the fact you don't remember things; its the fact that everyone feels the subject seems rather too complex for their little nodges in their head to comprehend. It's not! The purpose of English Literature is so that youngsters can reprehend and relate to their society, as well as the modern issues we have seen in our time. IT IS NOT because youngsters want to admire Shakespeare's work. In fact, youngsters I'm sure would prefer to read Chris Ryan or etc etc. They do it to understand the greater idea of how our world works and reacts towards each other, as well as to explore why people do things.

Think of it as history. The only difference is that in history, its more about statistical data, and you don't get to understand in depth why people do certain things.

If it hadn't been for him, I would have been stuffed for English. I'm sure I would have been.

Walking into the examination hall with the refreshed knowledge, I had high hopes during the entirety of the exam. English Literature is a puzzle: its not like mathematics or science. There isn't any "correct" or definite answer, but rather a vague yet complex interpretation of how the scenes work together.

And that, really should be the way people should tackle an English exam. Don't think of it as a complex science; think of it as an art, and let your mind unleash at all the meanings.

Back to my point though. Picking the questions that I wanted to do as well as doing them was a breeze throughout, and really got my mind thinking of the different meanings of the overall text.

There was one thing that I felt was worth mentioning that the head of English taught me: "Think of the text as a forest, and in that forest each tree has a unique meaning. Dig deeper, and you'll find each tree has a branch. Each branch is a deeper interpretation which relates to the overall meaning of that section. Dig even deeper and you'll find leaves. These are the quotations which relate back to the interpretations. Dig further than that and you'll find each leaf has details. The more you dig, the better you get at it."

Powered with his words, the reasoning as well as the contexts of both texts started to come alive (literally). Its not something I can describe at all with simple words, but I suppose that's where you should start exploring.

I'll give you a hint though - relate it back to the power of literature.

Listening to (for inspiration): Piece by Piece by Feeder








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8urVsvhIebM

crevlther out.

P.s. Let's just hope the examiner can read my writing on my paper though.

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