Homebrew Me

Khan Academy is a website dedicated to providing educational videos to anyone in the world for free.  They have a goal of changing the face of education by letting people educate themselves on many different topics.  Creating an account on the website is simple and takes almost no time at all.  The user account will keep track of the videos you watch, the practice problems completed, and your overall progress, as well as give you access to "coaches" who can help you if you are having difficulties with a particular topic. What is truly amazing about the site is the diversity of the topics covered.  You can pick videos from the categories of science, math, computer science, economics, and the humanities (art, history, etc).  Many of the videos are 10 minutes or shorter.  The videos are well laid out and have the purpose of helping the viewer learn the material in a quick and easy manner. I feel the most revolutionary aspect of Khan Academy is the fact th...

I do not know how many of you are familiar or have seen machinima , which is essentially scripted movies/shows made in video games.  I would like to however to discuss one of my favorites a show called Red v.s. Blue.  The show takes place in the Halo universe, and was originally just a comedy, made as a weekly video game skit by Rooster Teeth .  First started when the original Halo came out (that makes me feel really old) the skit took place in the iconic map Blood Gulch.  The story involved some of the least intelligent and extremely hilarious soldiers who were posted in the canyon to protect their flags from the other team. The show was without to much of a plot line but it was funny, so many people watched it.  That was all the way back in 2003, and now 10 years later the show still lives and has a coherent plot line complete with some drama, secrets, and of course the humor that brought its success in the first place.  The 10th season of the show rece...

The last time I checked it was 2012 and I don't really understand why this debate(along with many others) is still going on.  I see two people who love each other and that really is all I am concerned about.  I grew up being taught that all people are equal. It is certainly a relief to me that the proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution was shot down on election day.  I was also happy to see that the states of Maine, Maryland, and Washington who legalized gay marriage on election day as well. However only nine states in the US have legalized gay marriage.  While the results of the ballot measures this election was exciting, but there is still a long way to go.  I would like to throw my own thoughts about marriage into the fray. First I would like to note that many of the arguments against gay marriage revolve around the ideas of gay marriage "harming" the children, "destroying" the sacredness of marriage, and gay sex is immoral. ...

Alright everybody!  I have an important announcement for you.  Your fellow human beings will judge you for your decisions throughout your life.  They will judge you for the cloths you wear, the music you listen to, even the friends you keep.  What can you do about this blatant judgment about your life? You can turn and smile or flip them a finger if you so wish; however never let another human beings judgement affect how you act or your outlook on life (unless your outlook is particularly grim, then maybe ignore that last sentence).  Be the person you want to be no matter what anyone says. You want to listen to loud rock music and read philosophy at meal times, good for you continue on with your life.  You want to wear a suit to class everyday speaking in an awesome Russian accent while drinking vodka like a boss, that is your prerogative.   Do not be preoccupied with conforming to anybodies standards especially the standards ...

Just as a friendly reminder for all the American readers out there.  Go to the polls! and vote.  I don't care who you vote for just exercise your right and give your opinion!

Welcome to another edition of Track Tuesday!  This week brings another electro-remix that rocks. Entitled " Titan " By Clockwork and remixed by Coyote Kisses.  The song has a good electro-beat and definitely falls under the category of sick remix.  If you have not heard of Coyote Kisses before check this song out as well " Binary Suns " Crank it, and enjoy the rest of your Tuesday evening!

Hi everyone, This evening I would like to share a track with you that I have recently stumbled across that I like a lot.  It is a remix of the absolutely sick song " Too Close " by Alex Clare.  The remix was done by the group Cazettes , the song adds a great piano riff to the song and tweaks some of the lines to create a great electro-remix of the original song.  Download the remix, add to your party list, and enjoy.  Have a good rest of your weekend everyone.

Hello there everyone.  I am still intending on updating this blog; however it is getting hard to do so with the amount of homework I have right now.  I will of course try to keep this blog as updated as possible. Well today the Vice President of the United States came to Eau Claire to give a speech today.  I was very excited to hear of the visit and promptly snagged a ticket and almost instantly decided to skip my classes today (they were all during the event).  I mean who knows if I will ever have another chance to do this again. Blurry picture of VP Joe Biden in Zorn Arena The speech took place in Zorn building on the UWEC campus.  The line to get into the building was extremely long but props to the organizers for getting everyone into the building in a timely manner.  I could not believe how much security was present; I know it was for the VP Joe Biden but there were lots of cops, and secret service everywhere. Zorn was quite pa...

It is hard to believe, but tomorrow I will officially be a senior in college.  This realization has not completely sunk in yet.  However I was thinking today about who I am and what I stand for right now.  Four years ago I was a much different person than I am today. This is not a bad thing at all, for the changes were good ones.  Interestingly enough the changes in life which make the largest ripple are often the smallest choices which are seemingly made in an instant.  I am so grateful for all of the experiences both good and bad I have had in the previous four years.  These experiences have led me to be the man I am today; I wouldn't have it any other way. I would like to take a moment to say to those of you facing new experiences and choices in their everyday lives to capitalize on the opportunity and take the chance and see where a new road can lead you too.  One thing I have noticed in the short time I have been alive so far is the choices we...

This blogging thing has gotten away from me these last few weeks.  So tonight I will give you many tracks and some of my thoughts as an offering. The first track is a cover of a Neil Diamond song "Solitary Man."  My favorite cover is by Johnny Cash .  Johnny Cash was an American singer and songwriter who didn't stick to one genre of music.  He composed many songs within Rock and Roll, Country, Blues, and many others.  While most people remember him as a country star it should be noted he was also inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame as well as the gospel hall of fame.  For those of you who have not had much exposure to the "Man in Black" I recommend listening to the album The Legend of Johnny Cash ; this has many of his biggest hits for those who would like to hear a wide variety of what Cash has to offer. The next track I would like to highlight is " Everyday is Exactly the Same " by Nine Inch Nails ( abbreviated NIN).  This track is j...

As I mentioned so long ago in my previous post I attended Gen Con this year.  This was my third year to the convention; meaning I finally knew what to expect while I was there.  First of all car rides that take ten+ hours are just terrible no matter what fun people you travel with.  We were on the road by 6 AM, and the day was spent driving and just general shenanigans in the vehicle on the way there. The hotel we stayed at was only a few blocks away from the convention center (plus there!), we had a short walk to the convention and could come and go as we pleased.  The convention itself was full of lots of events and games to demo.  Also for those who are not really familiar with the convention many people choose to cosplay as their favorite characters from various forms of media.  I yet again realized that I fail at taking sufficient pictures of many events ( i.e. I forget I own a camera phone...). The convention lasts for four days and literally thou...

As the title suggests, I have left the fine state of wisconsin! It took us around ten hours of road time to get to get to the city.  The itinerary for this trip is Gencon.  For those of you who don't know, Gencon is a gaming convention of boardgames, rpgs, cardgames, and art. I will try to keep everyone updated with cool things from the convention

As you could probably guess that child was me.  In first grade my I had a teacher named Mrs. Eisele and Mr. Gidjere (a college student doing his student teaching at the time).  Mr. G is I have no doubt responsible for my deep interest in the sciences.  I had always been interested in a science of some sort he however gave me some encouragement.  He always tried to get me to look at a lot of different science books to see what interested me the most.  I was particularly obsessed with paleontology at the time (Jurassic Park had been released only a few years before).  I soon became interested in space as well, I had no perspective of the vastness of space(I could tell you that Saturn was the most BA Planet out there) but it was something which would stick with me all the way up to at least this morning.   Ever since that moment I have known I was going to grow up to be a scientist.   In high school I took as many science cla...

I came to realize in my high school years I needed a place to do my homework.  This need translated mostly to the kitchen table or maybe the computer desk if I needed to do research.  My first years of college I was issued a desk in the dorm I lived in.  When the time finally came to moving out on my own, I had to make a decision.  What type of work space would I want to have? This type of question might seem simple enough.  I certainly thought so at the time, not much later I realized it was not such a simple question.  For me I was tired of the desks with all of the crap and shelving added.  I wanted a simple desk, a minimalist desk so to speak.   Example of a desk which drives me crazy I searched everywhere in the stores and online with no success.  All I could find were terrible desks which would drive me crazy.  I had one final hope with my search: IKEA.  First of all let me say IKEA is a really interesti...