JCoinster - Blogging Without a Purpose

What has this country come to?

2012-03-08T16:54:00.000-05:00

The Suffolk County Police raided Sachem North today with dogs in an effort to "sniff out" the drug users. To my knowledge, 1 child was arrested. What ever happened to calling a troubled kid down to guidance to find out why he turned to drugs in the first place? And what about parental intervention? Is this our new, brilliant strategy to keep kids off drugs? Unreal... I'm sure Suffolk County Jail will have its own form of education ready and waiting for him as he stumbles onto the pod tonight, clutching his rolled up mattress between his cuffs.

A trip to Ventotene: WIP

2012-03-05T16:09:00.002-05:00

If you’ve ever traveled overseas, you probably have a good understanding of life outside the bustling and overrated country that we call home. But there’s one place that stands out, unique from the rest. This is the story of the island of Ventotene, Italy.

Growing up under my grandma’s roof, I have become very accustomed to many Italian traditions, foods and most importantly, attitudes. Let’s face it, Europeans are up front. You simply cannot be offended by their remarks. The best example of this is one summer day at West Meadow beach, the only suitable place to roller blade on Long Island. My mother, pregnant, and I were skating when our friendly European acquaintance Ivan, whom we only know from this particular beach, comes skating along. He abruptly says “Nadia! You’ve lost everything!” Any other person would have abruptly slapped him across the face, but growing up with Italian family, my mom was not, in any way, offended.

During the summer of 2010, my “training” was put to the test. I was going to Italy. At the time, my only experience in another country was in Croatia the year before where I was ridiculed and permanently scarred. I was in a small bar in some coastal city in Croatia when I took a Fanta out of the fridge and brought it to the counter. The man behind the counter babbled something first in Croatian, then in Italian, and finally in English. Once I could understand what he was saying, which was "left," he began to mock me by saying to his friend (in English, mind you), "One to the left, and one to the right,” or at least, that’s what I hope he was saying. His snickering made him sound like a 5 year old child. It turned out that he was making fun of the way I looked all around for the object that I finally figured out was a simple can opener. Lesson learned. For my trip to Italy, I wore flip flops that had a can opener on the bottom, to prevent that from ever happening to me again.

My journey to Ventotene seemed long and drawn out, for Italians savor every moment, sometimes to the extreme. Everywhere we went, we had to wait. The line to board the plane, the trip across the Atlantic, the line to go through customs, the wait for our taxi driver (Bruno), the wait for the boat, and most eagerly, the wait for the boat to arrive. Once the plane landed, as in any flight with Italians, they all traditionally clap, as if they thought the plane was going to crash, which was not an absurd expectation after hearing the pilot turn his mic on, while he's playing Glee, shut it off and say "buona sera... Uhhhh......" and then return to his music, forgetting about the mic.

When we finally arrived on the island, I looked around in amazement. Initially, I was awestruck by the architecture, but as we walked to our villa, I learned that there is more to this island than that. The community that I encountered was nothing lass than a culture-shock. Instead of walking past the few dozen people we saw, as I would have in any other town I've ventured to, each and every person above the age of 40 stopped us, greeted us, and talked for a solid 3-5 minutes before going on their merry way. Anxious to explore, we cut the conversations short, and went on.

Once my cousin Cale and I finally hauled our luggage to the house, a hike that was torturous with my grandma's toiletries in tow, we were free to explore. Freedom in Ventotene has a whole new meaning. Here we were completely unrestrained. My grandmother had full confidence that the island was safe, with the exception of the fast moving cars down excessively narrow roads and the cliffs carved out by the Romans over 1000 years ago. We could stroll in at midnight with no repercussions. Besides, any shenanigans would surely be reported to her at the market the next morning.

To celebrate, Cale and I went straight to the nearest cafe for an ice cold Fanta (for the culturally challenged, it’s pronounced FOnta, not FAnta.) It was quite possibly the first carbonated drink I’ve ever had that actually included juice. No longer would I wonder if I was ingesting sodium benzoate, sodium phosphates, glycerol ester of rosin, yellow 6, brominated vegetable oil, and red 40. Not that I knew those names off hand, but from the moment I took a sip, I knew there was something missing. No longer did a Fanta taste like sugar and orange flavoring. The cafe staff must have questioned our sanity as we cherished every sip.
From there, we quickly discovered where the life of Europe is centered: Piazza. Unfortunately, there aren’t any real piazzas in the United States, which in my opinion, is the reason why a large percentage of Americans don’t know their next door neighbor’s name. Here, kids meet and play a variety of games, many prohibited by signs, but encouraged by police. Here, teenagers meet and greet, but only to leave shortly after to venture off to the nearest disco or club, since they currently resent the concept of “Piazza” because it’s the place where they spent their childhood. Here, the elderly talk, watch, and ramble on about the latest insignificant bit of news which they impulsively blurt out to the next person. But it’s the kids in Piazza who really complete the atmosphere, since in reality, a piazza only consists of a slab of concrete and chairs. The only downfall of having dozens of kids at free will is their popular belief that that putting an empty water bottle on the back of their tire is cool. It actually creates an unbearable noise that it seems only the kids enjoy.

In America, if a 6 year old wants to hang out with one of their friends, a phone call is made, planning is discussed, and driving is a must. But because of the concept of piazza, along with a tight knit community such as the one on the island, parents in towns like this can say to their little child, in Italian of course, “Just don’t drink or drown in the sea! Have fun!” Free to do what we wanted, Cale and I wandered aimlessly until there wasn’t a street we hadn't covered. The next morning, we would finally swim in European waters, but first, a much needed rest.

Our villa, which was split in two, my family on the bottom floor and some crazy and often screaming family above, was modestly furnished with a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a patio. There were no electronics, but what more does a person need when they’re on an ancient Roman island? A Frisbee, that’s what; luckily, we had one. I had also noticed that the house, and many others I visited, all were missing light fixtures. Instead, lights hang from the ceiling. Literally, lights, hanging by the power line. But the lights were now off, and it was time bed.

Home Theater Quality Projectors For Less Than the Ones at ToysRus

2012-03-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

So there are a lot of articles for the best projectors under $100 online. But most of them all show the same thing. Those crappy little projectors that are unable to project an image larger than the size of a computer monitor! And even the ones they sell for kids, you know, to play video games on their bed to project onto the ceiling. Those are even more unrealistic (and overpriced) since not only is the image quality absolutely ridiculous, but in order to keep them upright to the ceiling is near impossible. So I set out to find a projector of worth, that would fit my 3 requirements:

It had to be able to project a large enough image to fit the size of my attic room wall (100 inches across exactly)
It had to be bright enough to see if the lights were off (and if possible, when they're on)
It had to fit my budget of $100.

Now, for the price, it would sound near impossible to find a projector that fit my needs. But, I turned to perhaps the greatest website in existence - ebay.com

But first. Let me demonstrate the poor quality of a $100 "eyeclops mini projector" we got at ToysRus. And yes, I know it goes on sale all the way down to $35 bucks sometimes. But i'd rather buy 35 dog bones at Petco than waste my money on something so poorly designed. Behold:

Lights off. You can barely see it, and the quality is horrendous.

Lights on... No comment.

So after much research online, I found the specs of an acceptable projector:

It must be at least 1000 lumens, but 1500 is ideal for the best quality and brightness.
If you're buying it used - which if you're reading this guide, I would think so! - then make sure the site says how many hours are on the bulb! This is key, for if there are too many hours, the projector isn't even worth buying. You can check to see how many hours the projector's light bulb life is by simply typing in the model and chances are, projectorcentral.com will appear with all the specs you should look at. Then simply compare the life to the amount on the projector.
If you're buying a projector without a bulb - often they're much cheaper - make sure the light bulb replacement is as cheap as the projector and lasts a fairly long time! You dont want to buy a $20 dollar projector to find out the bulb is $250. And yes. Those are realistic numbers.

That's it! But the catch is to find one that's the right price!

On ebay, there are two categories for projectors. Here is the ideal example of a search in both:

Ebay "Monitors and Projectors" Section

Ebay "DVD & Home Theater" Section

In each section, I set the price, condition of the projectors, and excluded unwanted words such as parts. Both sections are equally as useful to look through, there are plenty of good picks if you really do look through.

Here's what I ended up choosing: The Hitachi CP-RX60

It came used with only around 9 hours of lamp use out of the 2000 the bulb lasts for. It was exactly $60 (I used the "Best Offer" feature to bring the price down just a tad! It's a wonderful feature to save a few bucks!) and the projector has a pretty 1500 lumens. It projects to the size I wanted, fit the price, and works beautifully even with the lights on!

Same TV show as the mini projector, only this time, you can actually see the show!

Lights off, crystal clear!

Lights on, my camera doesn't even do a good enough job at showing the quality.

So why anyone would waste their money on a pricey projector only to find out that it's crap is actually pretty funny. Because now I'm getting HD quality picture for far under $60. And they're not. Win.

I can even bring up HD televisions! These things cost above $1000 for a 55 inches and I'm sitting here with double that and the same quality for 6% of what they spent. Cheers!

How NOT to spend a vacation:

2012-02-27T11:17:00.001-05:00

Sick. In bed.

And that, my friends, is how NOT to spend a vacation.

Why NO one should believe anything FOX news tells you - GOP Primary

2012-01-29T21:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight, FOX news brought the candidates onto a stage, filled with random Floridian voters. Great.
But FOX asked these voters questions by raising hands.
I guess they haven't ever heard of something called peer pressure!

Americans are already notoriously dumb people who listen to what they're told, and follow what others with no question. How stupid is it to put a bunch of these same people in one room, on national TV, IN FRONT OF THE CANDIDATE. HELLO?! Obviously they will agree with whoever is in front of them! Need I say more?

Not to mention the fact that there were only 2/4 major candidates.

Let me write a story based on a sentence you send me!

2012-01-24T19:51:00.002-05:00

To practice my freelance writing, i'm selling personalized stories of at least 300 words each for $3.99 each!
I figure it'll be a nice pastime! Here's the first story I wrote:

Elizabeth realized she had made a big mistake moving to this alternate universe because her life had been much better in the universe she came from. She had thought the new universe would be awesome, since she had been born into a world where kids sit for 6 hours a day in school, being taught useless information that would be easily retrievable from your local Wikipedia page. Now, in a world without teachers, she was surrounded by empty headed-primitive minds who couldn’t tell you what 2 + 4 is if their life depended on it. As she walked through the streets of her small Connecticut town, there were no cars. There were no power lines. There were no obnoxious businesspeople talking to angry clients on their iPhones. In fact, there were no signs of any electronics at all. When she had wished for a world without teachers, she hadn’t realized that without teaching, there wouldn’t be most of the technological advancements that she had taken for granted her entire life. In this universe, the only inventions were created by the oddball geniuses that would appear every century or so. Saddened, she walked back to her home, lost in a world without knowledge, and learned to accept it.

Give it a go!

iFlop - Mini!

2012-01-24T17:50:00.001-05:00

I finished my first prototype to the left, glued together and final, but it was a bit TOO obnoxious, so I created the iFlop Mini, which is below! I decided to sell the mini and keep the original because of its antiquity, but you can buy the functional mini by clicking these few words!

The iPod shuffle is 2GB and comes with the cable!

A guy walks out of a bank.......

2012-01-17T18:56:00.001-05:00

I wrote a small play for creative writing and there's no use keeping it locked away on my computer! So why not post it!

[Dimitri, notorious bank robber of Franklin County, NH, walks into yet another bank]

[Dimitri] All right, you know the drill, EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND! And tellers, i’m no idiot. DONT hit that pretty little red button under the desk and I dont want to see anything but money go into those bags! Dont worry, i’m no octopus, i’ll live without it.

[Continuing] Oh, and while we’re here, someone turn up the heat! Here I am, coming inside from a below freezing temperatures, and this here bank is so cheap that it cant even turn the heat above 50!

[Dimitri] Dude! GET UP AND TURN UP THE HEAT!

[Dude] Yes. Ok. Sure. Sorry. I’ll listen. There. Done. Getting back on the floor.

[Now really rambling] That’s more like it! Now. [Pause] You know what? Before I leave here today, you’re all going to learn the etiquette of bank robbery. So here’s some life lessons so the rest of you dimwitts dont end up like this guy, about to be knocked unconscious by yours truly.

Lesson 1: When a bank robber moseys on in, you listen to the guy so you dont get shot! Like, even if the guy’s holding a nerf gun, be scared! Those things hurt, man!

Lesson 2: When a bank robber asks the room a generalized question, the closest person [glares at “Dude”] gets up and does what he says!

[Teller 3 starts making impatient and aggravated sighs]

[Changes tone and becomes hurt] You people need to learn this stuff! Like, here I am, trying to make a living, and you’re all being so rude to me! It really does get to me, man! You dont understand! You think I want to walk into a bank and risk getting arrested?! You dont know the stress I’m under! Why dont you take that into consideration next time you’re in a bank and someone wearing a mask comes in! Put yourself in his slash her shoes and imagi-- [cut off]

[Teller 3] Can we JUST give you your money?! I have a 3:30 appointment at the nail salon and I KIND of want to leave!

[Dimitri] Oh, all right. You’ve heard me lecture for long enough. And here, put the money in this reusable bag. I wouldn’t want to harm the environment - even if these bags are made with the same thing as the rest of em......

[Teller 3 is glad to see that Dimitri cares for the environment, so she grabs as much money as possible.]
[Teller 3] Here you are, no inks, no buttons, whole 9 yards. We get the money back from the Federal Reserve anyway. And hell, they just print some more out. [Sigh]

[Dimitri] DOPE, PCE

[Dimitri walks out of the bank, stops, collapses of a stroke.]

[Some guy in the distance] He died on the way to the hospital and left his cash, which was deemed unsuspicious since it was in a reusable bag, which would help his 8 kids go through college and start their life anew.

Who's winning the presidential campaign of 2012? Youtube knows.

2012-01-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

That's right.
Ron Paul is.
By FAR.

(To anyone willing to argue, Rick Perry skewed the video views with his anti gay advertisement, so a smaller sample size is shown in the video views category. No one likes him anyway. Dr. Paul wins if you disregard Perry because of that particular video anyway.)

See the interactive graph here:
youtube.com/politics

Ebay, at its finest.

2011-12-29T11:10:00.001-05:00

So I discovered a practically hidden category on ebay...
No, it's not the "Adult" section.

"Weird Stuff." The category righteously defines the obscure items listed here.
Here are a few that stood out. Feel free to buy any of them, because I dont think i'll be reaching for my wallet any time soon.

This 1960s....um....crazy laughing lady thing is a pretty $25,000

"Life-Sized Shakin' Butler - Shakes When You Pass!" for a nice $995

"Our beautiful hand crafted one piece dungeon, is three pieces of furniture in one.This piece is a multi-position St Andrews cross, table, and stand, all in one. It is capable of being used as a fully functional cross with movable head cushion, and removable foot board. And in a matter of seconds can be changed to a table. But, what really makes this piece unique is that it can be used in every position between cross and table. To make it even better, the head pad can be moved to the side to turn it into a very nice side ways stand. Let your imagination run wild. You will find new uses for this piece for months to come!" Only 870!

"Do u wish for anything from the mighty lord?As Jewish believe if you put your wish on a note and put it inside the kotel(western wall) the wish will come real.If u want we will take your wish and put it as close as we can to god.Send me a wish by mail or message me, And in 48 hours with in payment your wish will be on a note in the western holly wall (the kotel) of the grate temple."

$2000, but um. Whoops! Forgot to mention that you have to move the building out! "The winning buyer will incur cost to have the building moved or may disassemble and reconstruct on their location. Seller incurs no cost for removal"

For a bit over $20,000, this Triceratops replica skull could be yours. What a conversation starter that would be......

Honorable mention:

"Be my facebook friend," which sold for a pretty penny.

An update on why there have been no updates

2011-12-26T17:31:00.002-05:00

Since i've last posted, I have had a baby sister, countless projects and family visits.
But that's enough on my life. Back to blogging!

IFlop prototype 1

2011-11-29T20:50:00.001-05:00

It's an iPod shuffle hidden in a bunch of floppy disks. The clips are temporary until I get glue .

This is why I hate Mass Media.

2011-11-29T17:04:00.001-05:00

I bet that woman wouldn't take is so kindly if her daughter died from the Gardisil vaccine because her school nurse said "Honey, if you don't get this vaccine you could die!" In which her child succumbed to social pressure and took it, without her parent's permission.

Absurd you say? It's legal in California to pop a kid with a vaccine without their parent's consent.

What is the Gardisil vaccine? Glad you pretended to ask! It's a disease you can only catch if your 7 year old is sexually active. Did you hear that right?

They're giving a vaccine to elementary students for a disease that you can only get if your kid is going around having unprotected sex at age 5.

GOLD STAR FOR THE GOVERNMENT!

Why am I going on a giant rant over Gardisil? It killed over 20 girls. Oh. Who forgot to mention that on FOX news.

Global Warming's a gimmick and you're all idiots for believing it.

2011-11-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Watch this. If you watch the entire thing, hell, watch 10 minutes, and you still believe in global warming, go climb back into your Prius and cry about it.

Video: It's funny because this is EXACTLY what's happening 14 years later.

2011-11-17T14:55:00.001-05:00

And don't tell me that's not true.

I love how people only care about the law when it involves their free music?

2011-11-16T17:57:00.001-05:00

Yes. I'm a TAD bit concerned about the government when in control of ANYTHING in regard to the internet.

But HELLOO!

You all already allowed the government to have an internet shutoff switch.
You all already allowed the government to wire tap you
You all already allowed the government to enter your home without a warrant
You all already allowed the government to revoke habeas corpus.

(If you dont know what that was, I suggest you look it up)

You all already allowed the government to give children the HPV vaccine without their parent's consent.
(The same vaccine that killed more than 47 girls thus far.)
You all already allowed the government to test geoengineering by spreading chemicals on all of us.

(I can go on.)

Zipbuds: The best headphones under $50

2011-11-15T20:15:00.001-05:00

It all started last Christmas. I was given a pair of Zipbud headphones. From that moment on, I would no longer use my perfectly functioning Skullcandys.

The zipper design was far more elegant than the cheapo branded ones you can buy at Walmart and the overly inflated ones you can buy from Bose. Plus, they extend far enough that you can actually SHARE headphones with someone else without worrying that you'll rip them out of the other person's ears god forbid you venture more than a foot from their head.

The bass, treble, etc...... Why comment on them! Obviously they surpass others if I'm writing an entire review on them!

Unforgettably, I plugged them into my ipod a few months ago and found them to be mute. When I contacted the company, they sent me a new pair right away. Another few months pass and once again, bad luck me. They quickly sent me a new pair! (I hope you're noticing a trend.) About a week ago, it happened again. I sent them all my previous pairs in attempt to diagnose why this was happening.

Meanwhile, they sent me their new version - which is better than all the rest!

Now don't mind me. I am an example of anecdotal evidence - Meaning that this is not a trend with other buyers.

What you should note however, is their amazing customer service. Plus, you should give it some thought to get yourself a pair. I may not be Cnet, Consumer Reports or Gizmodo, but damn it, these are the buds to buy! With any other company, I would have steered clear of getting a second pair. With Zipbuds, my sisters and cousins all have a pair. Now that's something.

Sincerely, a happy customer!

An old charm: Toshiba Portege M200 Tablet PC

2011-11-13T14:42:00.001-05:00

Recently, I bought one of these laptops to fulfill my childhood dream of owning a Tablet PC.

Now, if you're trying to find a tablet PC under $100, this is the laptop to buy. (I got mine for $60 on ebay and +$30 for the special stylus (NO, a DS stylus will NOT work - lesson learned) and an IDE hard drive.) Just for my own use, I bought 2 1GB RAM sticks for $15 each, but that's not at all required.

It's sad to me that a laptop once worth $2,450 USD is now worth barely an iPod.

Until I get the IDE hard drive in the mail, I've been running an Xubuntu live USB
(With no additional work to get the tablet to work!)

And you would think the battery would be crap by now, but I still get around 2 hours worth of use - that's actually more than one of the newer laptops in my household!

I'll be updating my journey with this laptop on the following permanent page (http://jcoinster.blogspot.com/p/my-tablet-pc-old-charm.html) as well as on future blog posts!

Who do I blame?

2011-11-10T19:18:00.001-05:00

The Taiwanese or the Chinese?

My respect for Fox has been restored, all because of one video.

2011-11-09T16:51:00.000-05:00

Thank you good sir <3

Well, while i'm on the subject...

2011-11-08T17:50:00.002-05:00

Well. Maybe this one too.

Jim Carrey and Will Farrell making out in a Jacuzzi.

2011-11-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

Nothing further.

QUESTION EVERYTHING.

2011-11-01T17:41:00.000-04:00

You know that pretty iPhone background, that same picture of the earth we always see?

<----------------This one?

Yeah.

Well guess what.

<-----------------FAKE

Well, now you know.

The truth of Words With Friends

2011-10-31T23:05:00.000-04:00

Let's face it: There's no winning that game without cheating.

I'm telling you right now: One of your friends is going to start cheating (getting 80, 62 and 78 point words that are clearly too advanced for their own personal vocabulary.)

They're going to send you messages saying "I thought you were smart" and "I SWEAR I didn't cheat on that word" but the two words end up being: Bough and Leer.

Perhaps they were Fay or Sows.
Pelts or Helms.
Node or Orcas.

Yet these words, no matter the length, turn out to be upwards of 75 points each.
Perhaps the three letter word will be doubled up, spelling Fa, Wo or Oy
"Words" you'd expect to see the characters of a Japanese Anime show to blurt out.

Don't let them win.
Play their game.
Cheat too.

Why do such an dishonorable thing?
To shove it in their faces that you too can be not only "smart," but intelligent.

Question.

2011-10-30T10:28:00.000-04:00

Why is it that the US government is run by the Democratic and Republican party?

Why is it that the independent party runners are made to look like fools by the mass media?(Which might I add, is owned by FIVE companies COMBINED.)

The last non democrat or republican was in 1850, a whig named Millard Filmore.
"Americans have had elephants and donkeys as president ever since."

-Yahoo writer

Why?!