Entry #6 - The Useless Web

I'm sure many of you spend a lot of time on the internet doing useless things. You know. Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, etc... Well I bet you didn't know about many other useless websites.

I'd like to introduce TheUselessWeb.com

This website will redirect you to a "useless" website with just the click of a button. Feeling bored? No problem! You can just click the big pink button and explore some fun websites. I discovered this website about a year ago and completely forgot about it until recently. I like to go on here when I'm feeling burned out and need a place to go to ease my mind. 

The website has an immense collection of websites and you will rarely be taken to the same one twice.

IF YOU HAVE EPILEPSY DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE. http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/

I cannot stress this enough. I just wanted to give you a heads up just in case.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this website as much as I do!

~The Final Spark, Rin

Entry #5 - ASU To Offer Shorter Classes

In January at Arizona State University, the amount of 7.5 week classes will increase dramatically. This will be more cost efficient for the students and will allow them to complete their degree in about half the time compared to students taking full 15 week classes. According to this article, the university hopes to draw in more students and make classes more flexible for both them and faculty.

Will this truly be a better thing for the students at ASU? Being a college student in an shortened English class myself, I can honestly say that it is a lot of work. It would be extremely difficult to complete one of these classes if I had a full time job. There are days when I have to stay up late into the night because of the amount of work I had due.

Despite that however, the class itself is very enjoyable. This is the second 8 week class I have taken here at Glendale Community College. I took English 101 like this as well with the same professor because I enjoyed it that much.

So what's your take on these shortened classes? Do you plan on taking any?

~The Final Spark, Rin

Entry #4 - Big Hero 6 - Baymax Schematic

So I'm sure everyone here knows about the robot Baymax from the new movie Big Hero 6. Invented by Tadashi Hamada, this robot was originally designed to be a "personal healthcare companion" capable of scanning its patients for injury and using its knowledge of over 10,000 medical procedures to provide medical assistance. 

Is it possible that something like Baymax could be available for use in the real world? "Robots as caregivers -- it's going to happen," says Chris Atkeson, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. "There are a lot of people who need physical help -- people with disabilities, older people.

'Terminator'-like technology is scary; if it falls on someone or closes its hand at the wrong time, it could seriously injure someone. So how do you build something where even if it crashes, you are still totally safe? The idea was to make them as light as possible, and one way to do that is to make them inflatable."

The physical concept of a real world Baymax is simple. Tadashi used vinyl to create the "non-threatening, huggable look" and a Carbon Fiber skeleton. Simple, right? Well sort of.

While the physical concept of Baymax may be somewhat simple, the actual "brain" part is far more complex. The robot would have to be able to sense what is happening and also have the ability to make the correct decisions and interact with humans.

So what do you thing about having your very own "personal healthcare companion?"  To me, it seems like it would be revolutionary.

-SOURCE-

~The Final Spark, Rin

Entry #3 - Slanted Reporting

There have always been cases of slanted reporting on news channels such as MSNBC and CNN. However, one of the most biased news channels is Fox News. The amount of slanted reporting on this channel is immense and many people no longer watch Fox News due to the recent increase in this reporting tactic.

In this article, FactTank describes the flaws relating to Fox News' reporting style. They used actual statistics to show how the news team used slanted reporting to sway the opinion of their viewers. 

For example, The graph above -Borrowed from the article linked here- Shows both the positive and negative reports of both candidates of the previous presidential elections on news channels CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. As you can see, all three popular news channels used slanted reporting to try and change the opinion of the people watching their reports.

Slanted reporting occurs just about everywhere. It's up to you whether or not you choose to listen to just this information or do your own research on certain topics.

I'm not trying to prevent you from watching Fox News or any other news broadcasting stations. I just hope you can realize that most news channels use this tactic. Enjoy watching biased news stations as usual!

~The Final Spark, Rin

Entry #2 - Halloween Makeup Skills

Alright so I'm sure you all realized that Halloween has just passed. How was your holiday? Mine was filled with friends and makeup. Lots and lots of makeup. Not for me though. I did my friend Stephan's makeup to look like The Spine from Steam Powered Giraffe. For those of you who don't know who that is, here's a picture of the group. The Spine is the one on the far left.

The Spine is my favorite member of the group, so I eagerly agreed to make Stephan's face look like his. We went out to Arrowhead Mall to purchase the necessary makeup for this project and I let him borrow one of my collared shirts to wear for his costume.

I started with the forehead, eyebrows, and eyeliner. That was probably the most time consuming part of the process. He looked so strange with just his eyebrows and eyeliner done, huh? But look at how happy he looks! He was so ecstatic to be getting his makeup done like The Spine.

Keep in mind I had never put makeup on another person before. I'm also a perfectionist so it took me forever to get the lines just right.

I knew that getting the cheeks just right would be another difficult part. His facial structure is a lot different from that of The Spine's. So we had to make sure to bring out his already prominent cheekbones using the makeup.

As you can see in the picture to the right, The Spine's cheek makeup highlights his facial structure. - His makeup here is a newer version than the one above. This is what we went off of. - 

There is also some shading going on. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off. We had been watching a tutorial off of YouTube for a majority of the time and when it came time for the shading I lost the connection to my home Wi-Fi. I improvised and I'd say I did pretty well.

         

So how'd I do? I'd say I did pretty damn well. I know Stephan was pleased. It took me a little over three hours to accomplish this feat!

~The Final Spark, Rin

Entry #1 - My Opinion On Blogs

There are many different kinds of blogs out there. What kind of blogs appeal to me? I follow so many blogs on my tumblr and there are so many things that I enjoy seeing on my dashboard. Here are just a few of my favorites. 

David Michael Bennett's Blog

So this one may be a bit biased. This is David Michael Bennett's tumblr blog. You probably won't care much for this one unless you like the band Steam Powered Giraffe. He's very informative about all of the band's happenings and he also posts some pretty funny things on occasion. 

Psych2go

The blog Psych2go is a psychology blog on tumblr. They discuss anything from personality traits to the basic functions of the human brain. I've learned many things from them and they post new things almost daily. If you take interest in psychology be sure to check them out.

Colossal

This blog focuses on art and visual details. They post many interesting things about art from around the world. I only recently started following them but they post many amazing things. If you like art you'll like them I'm sure.

So what kind of blogs do you like? There are so many kinds of people out there and so many different interests. You may discover something new if you follow a blog you never thought about following. Why don't you try it out?

~The Final Spark, Rin