The War at Home or at Least with Your Significant Other

As men we already know that we can’t live without women and while we love them there are just some things that they just never seem to understand about us. One of the major things they don’t seem to understand is our need for stuff that is big, shinny, and new since they always complain when we bring our stuff home. Now even though it is a fact that they will yell at us for feeding the need, which could be why we can never hear them when it really matters, we will still buy what we want and more often than not our new toy is going to be something that is technology related. But with technology growing at a rapid pace it becomes hard to know what is going on out there even for the most computer savvy of us. This hold especially true when it comes to what format our media should be in. Now the best answer to which format is better is simple to answer with the being one that is most cost effective for the consumer while also delivering the highest quality video and sound available. Unfortunately the problem is a lot deeper than that especially when it comes to the consumer. The reason that the consumer is a problem is because they make decisions based upon the limited knowledge that is available to them. These decisions have let weaker formats succeed when they shouldn’t and possibly good formats disappear.

Speaking of decisions that have lead to weaker formats winning its surprising that the VHS format won. For those of you that don’t know about or can’t remember the format war between VHS and Betamax let me give you a quick walk down memory lane. This war started in the 70s when Sony released their Betamax format and when JVC later introduced VHS. Both formats are nearly identical and in fact some of VHS’s technology was licensed from Sony. But while they are identical they also have some very important differences with the first being run time. The standard runtime of Betamax was originally one hour though it was increased to compete with VHS’s standard of four. Second is quality with Betamax being the winner here since it delivered better audio and video compared to VHS. Lastly unlike VHS Betamax could not record television broadcasts and out of all these differences the amount of play time along with recording television allowed VHS to win. This winning by the lesser format was caused by the consumer preference for features that Betamax did not current have and while the Betamax format could have be changed to meet what the consumer want it was not fast enough in doing so leading to its downfall. As I said this downfall was surprising given the fact that if Betamax had only improved a little bit more it could have won.

But what if two competing formats were so close that it became hard for the consumer to discern exactly which format is better for them. Given the fact that as technology improves and many current standards are being carried over to new products it’s only was a matter of time before it happened. What caused this new war that is currently raging to begin was the need for a high def recording format that could succeed after the DVD format. Waiting in the wings were the formats of HDDVD by Toshiba and Blu-ray by Sony. These two new formats being based upon DVD means that the consumer will never actually see a major difference as of yet besides the quality of the audio and video although new functionality could be brought to any format depending of the demand of the consumer. The true difference in the formats comes from their technical aspects with their biggest differences being in their storage capability, interactivity layer, and manufacturing cost. On the topic of storage capability Blu-ray is the winner here if we look at the layers currently in use since it offers 25 GB for a single layer and 50 GB for duel layer while HDDVD only offers 15 GB for single layer and 30 for duel layer, but as I said that’s only if we look at the number of layers currently in use because if we looked at the total number of layers available HDDVD would win since it offers a third layer that has 51 GB. As for the interactivity layer Blu-ray appears to be the winner here using its java based BD-J layer over HDDVD’s HDi layer which was developed by Microsoft. What the interactivity layer does is allow the user to interact with media on the disc and access features such as picture and picture on movies, but what makes Blu-ray’s BD-J the winner over HDDVD’s HDi is the fact that BD-J can be used to enable a feature known as BD Live. BD Live is similar to the networks that current next-gen consoles are connecting to which means that it connects to a network that updates or expands the media that is on the disk which could lead for example to movies that have extra footage to receive more footage via download. Lastly we come to the manufacturing cost which is steadily becoming a tie even though originally the cost of manufacturing HDDVD was not much more than making DVD while Blu-ray being more advanced cost a significant amount more to manufacture, but as we all know the manufacturing process becomes easier leading to reduced cost which can be seen even now for Blu-ray since the Blu-ray brand of items are around the same prices as HDDVD. But as I said most consumers will only see the audio and video being the only change between DVD and these new formats.

Now it’s my opinion that this might all change once the sale of computers with drives that support these new formats picks up. Although it might be a while since it still costs the same as the stand alone players that came out when the formats launched and for those out there that don’t remember what the stand alone players cost when they first came out they were around four hundred plus dollars. Personally I think that Blu-ray will win this war since I feel it offers more as a format while HDDVD may become limited due to its close relationship to the current DVD format. Although in the end it truly is the consumer that decides, but it seems most are avoiding the war by having a wait and see approach to both formats as much as they can which could in the end lead to the downfall of both formats.

-Seth

"Los Angeles County officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms 'master' and 'slave' regarding computer hard drives, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive. Additionally, the term 'e-mail' will now be called 'e-person letter', 'dumb terminals' will now be 'CPU-challenged monitors' and 'Unix' will be referred to as 'sexually dysfunctional operating system'. Obviously, 'fingering' is now banned entirely." — Kevin Fizz.

Which Best Describes You?

Which Best Describes You?

Some of you may call it a girlfriend and other may call it a booty call. But nothing compares to having a girl by your side at all times when you need her. So I figured, sharing a little something I learned about girls might help some of you guys out there. Basically, if neither one of these descriptions does not portray you, you might want to pay closer attention to what this blog has to offer.

Girls seem to date guys who treat them well. When a guy treats a girl right, it seems to make the girl feel important. I have a friend who’s neither attractive nor witty. One day he put his charm to the test by approaching a girl who he had been eying for quite a while. I seriously thought he was going to get shut down for sure. He talked to her very kindly and was very sweet to her. He would always do things like hold the door for her and let her go first. A few weeks passed and they were spending a lot of time together. He then asked her out on a date and currently they are going out. This is just one of the many examples where “a respectful man took home the cheese”. Another example of this is my own mother and father. In college, my father was a rather goofy looking dude, with his thick moustache and coke bottle glasses (somewhat like a Halloween disguise). On the other hand, my mother had the popularity and looks to go with it. All the guys wanted to be with her. Ironically these two are my parents. One day, my father stumbled into the class late apologizing to the professor. He sat next to my mom and acted very kind toward her. He helped her with her work and they eventually became study buddies. They soon started dating, as my father was still very sweet to her. They currently have been married for 38 years and they are still in love. When guys treat girls with respect and kindness, they tend to prevail.

Girls also date guys who they find interesting. Some may date someone who they find intelligent. My brother was a very gifted student when he was attending college. He excelled in all of his classes, especially chemistry. A girl in his class was not very knowledgeable on the topic, nor was she interested. She actually had her interest directed towards my brother who seemed to have all the answers. When he would talk in class, she could not help but laugh at every witty joke he would dictate to the class. She was wondering to herself, “Who is this kid?” She approached him after class within the first week of school. She actually asked him on a date! Although they are now broken up, they did date for roughly 8 months. At first some of her friends were jealous. This just proves that girls pursue guys they find interesting. Another example is James Carville and his wife Mary Madelyn. They both have careers in politics, although Madelyn is a republican and Carville is a democrat. Although they can never agree on any political issues, they still find each other’s points interesting. She especially finds his points interesting. She is also interested in his intelligence outside of politics. An interesting partner only means an interesting relationship.

Women also like it when a common interest is shared, Simply because it’s easier to maintain a conversation. Another reason that bonded my parents even more was when they found out they were both architecture majors. They started their study group because they were both in the same major. Because they are married and both architects they now own their own business together and get along great. I had always heard that it was bad to mix business and pleasure but I guess that this is incorrect. Another example is John Lennon and Yoko. Yoko was attracted to John Lennon’s ideas and principles. They agreed on many certain issues and were both rebels. She found his music interesting and he found her art interesting. They both had professions relating to self expression. However both of their morals and principles were very much alike. Their political views were the same and their beliefs were very strong. They were quite active in making statements that influenced young teenagers all around the world. People can bond in other certain situations as well. People who drink socially are a perfect example of people with common interests. I know of many couples that had met at a random party. It is mainly social drinkers that meet guys or girls at parties. I actually met my last girlfriend at a party. I was just walking in and I realized that I dropped my 5 dollar entrance fee. I told the guy at the door I couldn’t find it and he told me to leave. The girl behind me handed me five dollars and told me not worry about it. We started talking and we didn’t stop until public safety came. I walked her back to her dorm and I got her number. It’s been three weeks now since we started dating and we feel very comfortable with one another.

Girls date guys for a lot of reasons, but you mostly just need to be nice and find the right girl. Anyone who is having lady problems should seek a girl who he finds interesting. Chances are that she will find you interesting as well.

In the Streets of Philly

His mouth worked wordlessly as he hobbled happily down the street. His expression was one of pure joy, like a gleeman about to perform, he looked around at everyone in an attempt to spread his cheer. He was strong and well built, without an ounce of fat on him. He was a fighter, and an honorable one at that, never in his life did he pull a knife. But those around him never viewed him in that golden light. They saw that we walked with a wobble, his right foot never quite straight. They noticed the torn cloths on his back, and the stench of garbage permeating the air around him.

You may ask yourself how exactly this ties in with your personal life, and the answer is very easy. Every man who has ever had a woman has wanted to stand up for her, and protect her. Every man I know who has a decent woman often tries to impress her. Now of course there are many ways in which you can do this, including (but not limited to!) chocolate, valentine gifts, compliments, and presents. But many women enjoy more than just the occasional gift, such as the knowledge that their man will stick up for them. As a fellow warrior in the fight to please these damsels, I can tell you right and quick that one of the best ways to impress them is to stick up for them when they are confronted with something they consider unpleasant.

What sort of things do women usually consider unpleasant? Well walking in the streets of any major city could always be considered an unpleasant experience, depending on where you are and how well the street authority did in cleaning up. Even more unpleasant, however, would be the thought of a smelly, rotten toothed, hobbling hobo approaching a girl’s pampered bum and pestering them. Just imagine how you would feel if you spent the majority of your life trying to look pretty, and the exact opposite of all you’ve accomplished approached you and showed you how dirty the world really is.

Nonetheless, we need to be sure that they are not bothered much. So this blog is my gift to my fellow gentlemen. I guess we could consider the topic “How to impress your girls while dealing with the homeless”, and the goal as further increasing your woman’s faith and reliance in you. So, to start it all off, we will consider the most common of hobo encounters.

The most common encounter is also the most simplistic when looking at ways to deal with it. Imagine this: You and your girlfriend are walking along the streets, going to the local 7-11, when all of a sudden you catch sight of a raggedly looking man appear form around the corner of the building. He comes up to you, and says very simply “Hey buddy, got any change?”. You have two logical paths to choose in this situation. You can either A) Give him the loose change from your pocket, or B) Tell him that you are out of change. What is the problem with this? Well actually there is none! Congratulations, you have just passed lesson one in dealing with situations on the streets. Does this seem too easy to be true? Well, in a way it is. In this situation, we are assuming that the beggar is content with no (like most are), and just waits for the next person to come around. It is not always a perfect world however, and in light of such I pose to you the following situation.

You and your girlfriend just finished a romantic evening at the skating rink, and are heading home (who knows, perhaps even heading to bed!) when you catch a glimpse of a man trailing you from behind. At first you pass it off as just another normal citizen passing along the streets, until you realize that this man has caught up with you, and is tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention. He asks you for some change, and after you say no and continue walking, he persists rather than going the opposite way. Now this situation is a little bit trickier my friends and I advise to proceed with caution when dealing with it.

First off, you need to assure that you are not in any immediate danger. If you can, look at what he is wearing. Do you see a knife or a weapon of any sort? Are his cloths too baggy, where you would not be able to tell if he did have a weapon? If you feel confident that he is just banking on being able to intimidate, but has no malicious intent, feel free to show the man who is boss! Simply turn around, look him in the eye, and tell him flat out that you are not interested in giving him any cash, he is scaring your girl, and he better go home (well, maybe not “home”!). Most of these guys are not really looking for a fight, only some cash, and will move on to the next person they would like to try and bully. There is an innate problem with this approach, however. That problem lies with the possibility that the man who is following you happens to have more than just an attitude.

One of the hardest things for us guys to do is admit when we are defeated, but let me tell you, twenty dollars cash and a little pride is not worth your life. If you ever encounter a man with a gun, and you don’t happen to have a gun yourself, you very simply hand over the cash and don’t look back. Believe me when I say your girl will understand, and if she doesn’t, loose her!

In my own personal experience, I have never had a weapon pulled on me, and thankfully so! I have been in the other situations presented however, and for me at least, my advice has proven flawless. One final piece of wisdom I would like to impart on you readers before I go, however, is to trust your instinct above all else! If you feel like something is wrong, act accordingly, and do what you need to do, both in self defense and in dealing with your women. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while, but that is the best way to learn!

Paintballing For The Pros

On Saturday November 24^th, I had the delightful experience of going paintballing at Skirmish USA. Now for me this is a big treat for me because I am only able to go once a year, if that. It’s not so much the fact of me being free for that weekend but more about being able to get everyone else together to go. Usually when I go, I go all out. I am not able to do anything else that weekend because I leave Friday day, paintball Saturday, then leave Sunday night.

I don’t know how many have you been to Skirmish in Jim Thorpe, PA let alone paintballing but the combination of those two are great. The dates that I try to pick are either an event call ‘Young Gunz’ or half price paint day. I’m pretty sure the latter is self explanatory but Young Gunz is basically were anyone from the ages of 10-19 play for half price admission ($14.95). You may not know this but paintballing can get very expensive and I don’t have that kind of money to just go whenever and just start playing. Paint is also expensive because you have to buy their paintballs because of what they are made up. The ones that you would buy at Wal-Mart and other places such as that, are made of cheap plastic, don’t break on impact, and hurt a lot more. Paint can run about $100.00 per case of 2000 but really you should only need about 1000 for the whole the day.

I have always liked Skirmish. They have great fields, great scenarios, and easy registration. So as we pull up, I didn’t really realize how cold it really was. To become warm I had under armor, a shirt, a double layered long-sleeved cotton shirt, a sweatshirt, and then camo overalls. Like the saying goes; go big or go home. When you go paintballing, you should stay the whole day which is usually from 11-5. It did get warmer throughout the day but not much warmer.

When we first got there, they had us register. This process was quite easy with all of the usually information (Name, Address, DOB, and liability signatures). Paintball can be a dangerous sport with little plastic balls of paint flying through the air at 300 feet per second and that coming in contact with your eye can be a painful experience. There are masks and goggles that are mandatory to wear but Skirmish is just making sure they are covered if said event were to happen.

After registration, we got our camo overalls which were $5.00 to rent and belt packs which are basically empty peanut butter cases in a belt that hold about 100 paintballs each. From there we proceeded to the main ground to pick up our guns, masks, and air for the gun (also known as N2). This took about 10 minutes and after that we meet up with our team of which half was black and half was white. To distinguish between the two, they had duct tape of different colors and this would go around the bicep of your arm.

Now each time you go, you will most likely get a different set of referees, also known as refs with the word ‘REF’ on their shirt, and they will choose which fields you go to. They do at some point let you choose or you can request a field but you won’t always get it.

Throughout the day we played several different fields, each with different scenarios. There are two different types of fields. The first one is wooded, which is just natural woods. The other is manmade, which is anything that has barrels or any kind of barrier to help you. Skirmish has a lot more wooded area than they do manmade which isn’t saying much because their fields are estimated at about 10 square miles.

After we go to our first field, the ref would tell us what kind of game we would be playing. They have CTF or capture the flag which is where one flag is in the middle of the field and you have to bring it to the opposing teams flag stand (which is just a piece of PVP sticking out of the ground). Another game type is called flag return which is where you have to get the opposing teams flag and return it to your side but while you do this, they can’t have your flag, so you have to have both your flag and their flag to win. The most common of all game types is just elimination which is where you just have to eliminate the other team before they eliminate you.

Speaking of which (elimination), there are two sets of elimination rules. To be eliminated you have to be hit with a paintball fired from the opposite team and it has to break on impact. There will be some times where you will feel it hit you and it won’t break so you have to make sure before you call yourself out. In some games you will play all hits where you can hit them anywhere and if it breaks, they are out. Other times you will play arms and legs where if you hit their arms from the forearm down and the bottom half of your leg, it won’t count. Basically it’s just only torso shots count. The other things to remember is always check yo self before you call yourself out and anytime they hit your gun, it doesn’t count EVER.

Now the main attraction with Skirmish is what they call The Castle. And wouldn’t you know it; it’s a big 3 story castle. Now this is most of the time the final field you will play and the most exciting. They will have hundreds of people play for this one so prepare to waste… I mean use a lot of ammo for this one. Half of the people participating will be defending and the other half will be attacking. There is only one round of this. Anybody who is a defender has a piece of tape that they put on their helmet somewhere. When you get hit, you have to run out, ring a bell, take the tape off, and then you run in as an attacker.

I have been going paintballing for about 4 years now and each and every time I have a great time. There would be no other paintball place that I would go to.

Let the Good Times Fly

As a male college student, what more can I ask for than football, women, plenty of food and a day away form books. One Sunday morning when I woke up, I discovered that my friends came up with an idea for our Sunday. Our Sundays usually involve us sitting around all day, watching football and just hanging out. We wanted to do something different for once, so my friends told me they came up with the idea that we should go to the Eagles game and tailgate. Even though we didn’t have tickets into the game, we decided to go to the game and have a good time.
Arriving a little bit earlier than the other tailgaters, gave us a head start on tailgating over everyone else. When we arrived, we started our day by pulling out our chairs, sitting down in them, opening up some drinks and chips and just sat back for a while. About an hour into our tailgating, we took out our small pathetic grill and threw on plenty of burgers and dogs. We had the radio playing in the background and some new rock song we all weren’t familiar with yet blared behind us. As we sat there and waited for our food to cook, we watched as all of the other tailgaters arrived starting out the same way we did. We watched them take out their chairs, chips, drinks, the only difference was that theirs were beer and other alcoholic beverages, and finally started up there bigger more advanced grills. When our food was finally finished cooking, we took it off the grill and inhaled it as we followed it by washing it down with our drinks. We put the grill away and sat back in our lawn chairs and continued to watch the other tailgaters. We watched them with there Eagles shirts and costumes eat their food, get drunk and putting on their green and white makeup for the game.
Enjoying our day, we all got up and walked around to join some other tailgaters and their own little parties. While we walked around, we met a small group of people maybe around the age of twenty six or twenty seven and started to talk to them about the Eagles. As we laughed and criticized about the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins, they offered us several beers and other types of drinks. Being good underage tailgaters, we accepted them with no hesitation. As we pounded a few drinks and it was getting a bit closer to the game, everyone around us started up in singing the Eagles fight song. After the song was over, everyone continued with their drinking and tailgating. We thanked our small fellow group, got up and left them to themselves. We walked back to where our tailgating originally started; pulled our chairs back out and sat back down again.
For a while we just sat there and talked about the highlights of our weekend back at school. We talked about how we enjoyed our Friday and Saturday nights going out and ending the weekend tailgating at the Eagles game. The whole time we sat there, a couple more singing of the Eagles fight song came over all the other tailgaters and ourselves. After the songs were all over, we continued in our conversation when a man came up to us and started one with us himself. If we were any where else and someone started to talk to us the way this man did, we probably would have ignored him. But we were tailgating at an Eagles football game so it was perfectly alright. He started telling us about how he had season tickets for such a long time and has been going to Eagles games with his wife for as long as he could remember. He also told us that he is always tailgating before the games, even when the temperature is below zero and it is snowing outside. It was easy to tell that the Eagles are the only thing he cares about on Sundays. He had brown hair that was starting to gray over with a thin body and he smelled of some kind of cheap beer. He wore a black McNabb jersey and looked to be in his late thirties or early forties.
After the man was finished talking to us, he continued on his way and our eyes followed him to where he was going. We watched him as he finally arrived to his destination and walked up to a lady whom must have been his very attractive wife. She was also wearing a McNabb jersey, but hers was much smaller and made her breasts look larger because of how tight the shirt was on her. She was wearing light makeup and had a light brown hair color. Finally the two of them sat down and started to laugh and talk.
It was finally time for the game to start and a lot of people were clearing out to go in and watch the game. We didn’t have tickets, so we were not sure if we should go to one of our places and watch the game or just hang out where we were and listen to it on the radio. We decided on going over to my cousin’s place and watch the game there. As we packed up our stuff, we realized how much fun we had on our Sunday, which usually involves sitting around watching football in one of our rooms all day. We got finally got to my cousin’s place and all gathered around the television for a few hours and watched the game. The Eagles ended up losing on the last drive as the Bears scored a touchdown to win. Even though the Eagles lost and we were all upset about it, we still enjoyed our day and plan on doing it again with upcoming home games.