This Is Seriously Insane

We Are Migrating Our Blog!

2012-05-05T19:09:00.001-07:00

If you are looking for T.I.S.I., we have moved. From now on please go to http://theblogists.blogspot.com. It is new and improved!

Hubble Wallpaper- CTO! (Check This Out!) 16

2012-05-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

Hubblesite.org is on CTO today. If you're an astronomy nut like I am you'll love this. Even if you're not an astronomy nut you should click past the break...

Click here for Hubble Space Telescope wallpapers

Come back later for more CTO!

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Fiverr, How does it work? - CTO! (Check This Out) 15

2012-05-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

Fiverr is on CTO today!This one is seriously awesome. Everyone should know about this, I'll definitely be using this myself.

Fiverr is a service that allows you to offer a service, or purchase a service for only 5 dollars. For instance, if you are a good artist you can post an advertisement that you will make a company logo, or a logo for a blog for $5. This works the opposite way as well. If you need some work like this done, you can look for someone who is doing it already. Personally, I think this is an excellent idea! Check it out by clicking read more...

Click here to see the coolest new website!

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Dihydrogen Monoxide - CTO! (Check This Out) 14

2012-05-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

This one made me laugh. Me Dad used to say this same thing to people all the time. He didn't have a good cause though. If you want to see the website, you need to click "Read more" below...

Click here to read about the dangerous chemical "dihydrogen monoxide"

Come back later for more CTO!

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Life Story #1: Almost Dead Thanks to Fred

2012-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who doubt the possibility of miracles happening, you've obviously forgotten your own childhood. The fact that kids even survive into adulthood is a miracle in itself. I mean, unless you were a nerdy kid who sat in a chair reading books all day with no desire to ever do anything remotely cool, then you should understand the point I am making here. If you were anything like me your childhood consisted of scars, scrapes, sprains and so on. These were usually the end results of climbing trees, jumping off stuff that was not meant to be jumped off, not paying attention to your surroundings, or having stupid friends. My goal for these next few blogs is to demonstrate, by using my own life experiences, how truly fortunate we all are to have survived being a kid.

Almost Dead Thanks to Fred...

There I was, having the time of my life with my cousin. The year is 1996 and I am Six years old. Its late in the evening and my cousin and I are sliding around on our knees on his living room floor that is made with wood. This, for me, is like going to Disney Land because all we have at my home is carpet (Note: Sliding around on carpet is definitely not as fun nor as friendly to the knees as wooden floors).

Crappy ten cent toy that almost got me killed.

Now, like most kids, my cousin and I are completely unaware and unfazed by our surroundings. My focus is not on the large TV in the room or our parents sitting on the couch near us. I don't give a second thought to all the fragile items around me nor the glass table that is placed dead center in the middle of the room. Where is my focus you ask? My focus is on the Flintstones toy I just got from McDonald's or Burger King. (I don't remember where I got it exactly because when you are a kid you don't care about the food all you want is the crappy 10 cent toy that comes with the food.) My cousin had Dino and I had Fred Flintstone. They came in small cars that you would roll back and let go of to make them drive forward on their own for a short distance. My cousin and I are captivated by this leap in technology from the old way of just pushing the car around with your hand to make it move. Despite this technological advancement we are somehow still left wanting. What could possibly make this experience more thrilling? Sliding around the room after the cars full force on our knees, thats what!

So at this point (for those of you having difficulty placing yourself in this scene) you have two kids speeding around a room chasing after toys with numerous ways to injure themselves scattered all around. Their eyes focused not on these potential causes for a hospital visit, but rather on the toy cars darting around in front of them. It's moments like these that serve as a lesson for how life works. One moment you are gliding along loving life without a care in the world and the next you are getting staples in your head (this is a metaphor of course).

Everything happened so fast. The glass table in the center of the room made its presence known and now had my full attention. My laughter and joy turned into screaming and crying. A casual conversation between my cousin's parents and my own turned into panicked yelling. My sweat mixed with blood as I was rushed to a nearby emergency room with a head wound deathly close to my temple. The time between the toy, the table, the car and the emergency room went by in an odd fade in fade out movie like fashion. The only moment sticking to this day in clear clarity in my mind is the moment when the Doctor ( I am realizing now maybe this is the moment that made me hate Doctors) took some form of stapler and, without administering any type of anything to mask the pain, went "Clank" Clank!"

"Clank, Clank! Got you sucka!"

This action on the Doctors part saved my life, sure, I realize that now. But at the time I couldn't understand why, when we live in a time where we can make toy cars move without pushing on them, did the doctor fix me in such a barbaric way. Anyway the point of telling you this story is to teach a few lessons.

1.) I could have died that day and yet did that change the way I observe my surroundings? Nope. So as Gregory House, the only Doctor I like, once stated, "almost dying changes nothing, but dying changes everything". 2.) McDonald's toys are evil 3.) Technology is evil 4.) Flintstones, specifically Fred, is evil 5.) Wood floors are awesome 6.) Glass table corners hurt really bad 7.) If you ever see a doctor coming at you with something that looks like an alien stapler run!

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SOfT (Song Of Today) 10

2012-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, the rules.

You need good speakers or headphones
Have an open mind
Listen. Really listen
Crank the speakers or headphones up

Eric Clapton

Song: Tears in Heaven

Click here to listen. Press the play button in the upper left corner.

CTO! (Check This Out!) 13

2012-05-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

These are some awesome tips! I would never have thought of this stuff!

Click here for some awesome tips to make life easier.

CTO! (Check This Out!) 12

2012-05-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

This seems pretty cool. I don't really think we need another social media hub, but this one does look pretty cool.

Click here and watch the video

Come back later for more CTO!

CTO! (Check This Out!) 11

2012-05-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

This Flash game is a great little time waster.

Click here to see how fast your reaction speed is.

Come back later for more CTO!

SOfT (Song Of Today) 9

2012-05-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, the rules.

You need good speakers or headphones
Have an open mind
Listen. Really listen
Crank the speakers or headphones up

Cake

Song: The Distance

Click here to listen. In the new window, press the play button in the upper left corner.

If you didn't like today's song, come back tomorrow for a new one.

Check This Out! (CTO!) 10

2012-05-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

Do you love games? Who doesn't? Continue past the break for the link...

OMG This Is So Awesome! Click here to play a GameBoy Emulator

Check This Out! (CTO!) 9

2012-05-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

This thing is awesome. It's got music and everything. Enjoy.

Click here to see another cool solar system model

Come back later for more CTO!

Check This Out! (CTO!) 8

2012-05-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

This one... just click the link. You'll like it.

Click here to see something cool

Come back later for more CTO!

SOfT (Song Of Today) Edition 9

2012-05-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, the rules.

You need good speakers or headphones
Have an open mind
Listen. Really listen
Crank the speakers or headphones up

The Cranberries

Song: Warchild

Click here to listen. Click the play button in the upper left corner.

If you didn't like this song, come back tomorrow at 7:00am for another try.

Check This Out! (CTO!) 7

2012-05-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

I'm not sure why you should read these before you're thirty or what will happen to you if you read them after you turn thirty but.... Just go check it out and stop reading this. Seriously, click the darned link.

Click here to see the 30 books you should read before you're 30.

Check This Out! (CTO!) 6

2012-05-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

Type in the name of an artist you like, and then listen. I'm not sure how this thing works but it's awesome.

Click here to check out the SoundCloud Remix thingy.

Check This Out! (CTO!) 5

2012-05-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

Hilarious. We all need this on Monday's.

Click here to check out the 13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day

I'm 6' 0" and I'm Shorter Than Everyone Else

2012-05-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

You'll find out after reading just a few of my posts, that I've got issues. Yes, issues.

Here's an interesting one...

I'm 6' 0". That's taller than the average person in North America. But if you were to ask me how tall just about anyone is, I'd say that they're taller than me. Why? Because when I feel inferior to someone, I remember them as being taller than me. Is that crazy?!

Ok, it's not everyone. I think my wife is superior to me as a person, but I know she's shorter than me because I see her stand next to me everyday. That's different though. This, people, is called an inferiority complex. An inferiority complex has been defined as "a feeling of intense insecurity, inferiority or of not measuring up". Not measuring up? Why does this sound familiar? Oh I know! Because I don't feel as tall as other people. Ah-ha! Now I know what's wrong with me. Now all I need is some kind of medication or something right?

I'm bringing this up because it seemed like something interesting to write about. I should have called this blog "Journey inside our minds" since all we really talk about is whatever is on our mind or bothering us for that particular day.

I've always been perplexed by the complex inter workings of our minds. How small things that happen to us when we're young, things that we don't even remember, can literally change our outlook on life, our behavior, our relationships, FOREVER.

This. Really. Scares. Me. Does it scare you? It should.

When I was younger, I believed that I was in control of things. Most teenagers believe this I hear. They believe that they can make a difference, they believe that they understand the world, themselves, others, etc., but later on they realize that they don't. When I was a teenager I decided that I would learn how to do a backflip. I did. I learned a lot of gymnastic-type maneuvers. I told myself I would learn because I believed that I should be able to tell my body what it should do, and it should listen. Well let me tell you, it didn't. At least, not right away. It took me hundreds of tries.

The thing that's crazy about this is that my brain knew exactly how to do a backflip. I knew the technique in striking detail. I knew what my arms and legs and head and even my eyes should be doing and I knew how to time the movements of those parts of my body precisely. In my head. Did that mean that my body could do it? It should have (considering I was in good shape and that my muscles and gravity would allow my body to do a backflip in this physical universe). But I couldn't. Why?! Because we aren't in control. We're not even in control of our own bodies. We're not even in control of our own thoughts! Who is?

Scroll down for answer...

I have no clue.

Written by individual contributor

Lane Fries (a.k.a. Dr. Freeze)

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SOfT (Song Of Today) Edition 8

2012-05-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

First of all, the rules.

You need good speakers or headphones
Have an open mind
Listen. Really listen
Crank the speakers or headphones up

Belle and Sebastian

Song: Piazza, New York Cather

Click here to listen. Click the play button in the upper left corner.

This song is so awesome. Sometimes you can tell that a song is going to be excellent by the way it starts. This song is one of those. You just have to strum your air-guitar as soon as it starts.

If you didn't like this song, come back tomorrow at

7:00am for a new song.

Complaining About My Job and Why It's Okay

2012-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I'd like to talk about complaining. I'm not actually going to complain to you, but I am going to try to get this basic message across - complaining is okay.

I don't mean for everyone to go about telling everybody everything that they don't like. That's horrible. Nor am I meaning that the attitude that generally comes along with complaining is okay (that's called "a complacent attitude". I looked it up). What I do mean to say is this, if things in your life aren't good, you shouldn't be okay with it.

Here's my deal with my job right now. It drives me crazy. It's metric driven, which means that I get scored on my work. All of it. Anything I do may be judged by someone else, and I am frequently told that I'm not good enough. That's just the nature of the business. As I've said before, I work in a call center. We have to score everyone or else we'd all just say whatever we wanted in order to get off the phone more quickly. So I'm not complaining about that. But the point is, I'm not happy doing this. Some people like to say "well, at least you have a job. Blah blah blah, unemployment, so on and so forth, etc. etc. etc." and "Be happy with what you've got!". I'm here to tell you that these people are W-R-O-N-G, wrong!

Well, I actually do agree with them to some extent because some problems can't be solved now or ever, but would the company even exist if there wasn't a guy out there who said "I don't like working for someone else, I'm going to start my own business and it's gonna be awesome".

My life advice for today is, if you can make things better (read as 'You can make things better"), you should. Don't just sit around on your butt going "I'm sad and depressed and don't like how things are", do something about it! Doing something starts with a complaint, be it "I'm don't like my job" or "I don't like my car" or "I'm not happy" or "nobody reads my blog". So it's okay to complain at first, but the next thing you need to do is figure out how to fix it. That part requires action. Research, networking, planning. And then finally, fix it!

This blog is getting really preachy.

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Check This Out! (CTO!) 6

2012-05-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

Type in the name of an artist you like, and then listen. I'm not sure how this thing works but it's awesome.

Click here to check out the SoundCloud Remix thingy.

Tribute to a Trilogy of Truth

2012-04-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying, Clap your hands if you think that title is awesome!

*bursts of applause from the peanut gallery*

Thank you, thank you. Now, I suppose you'd like to know the point of the title you didn't clap about. The trilogy to which I am referring is, of course, the most popular one in the world right now:

THE HUNGER GAMES (by Suzanne Collins. *Hooray!*)

And why am I writing a tribute to this trilogy, as if the hundreds of millions of book sales and hundreds of millions of dollars in movie revenue do not provide enough recognition? As if my opinion were worth anything? Because the opinions that don't produce revenue are sometimes the most valuable in non-monetary ways. I can bear this out by my own experience: My best friends have not paid money to read my book, but after getting it shoved in their face a few times some of them have given some pretty constructive criticism. Likewise, I have not bought a copy of any of the Hunger Games books; the first two I checked out from the library and the third I borrowed from my sister. *Thank you!!* Yet, I would venture to say that I appreciated the story's relevance a lot more than most of the 11 to 20-year-olds who went to midnight showings of the film just to see Josh Hutcherson duke it out with some hot Careers who know how to use a sword. Or their boyfriends who joined them to see Jennifer Lawrence in that red dress.

I, personally, do think that Josh Hutcherson is one attractive human being, and Jennifer Lawrence was an excellent depiction of Katniss. But to me and a minority of Hunger Games fans out there, these young actors' performances made them more than "rising stars" or "the new sensation". I almost wish that their careers could be limited to this trilogy, that they would never play in anything else, so that this is what they'd be remembered for. Because Jennifer Lawrence was not just a ridiculously talented actress playing the role of "the girl on fire"; for two hours she became, body and soul, Katniss Everdeen of District 12. And Josh Hutcherson was not just a ridiculously handsome kid playing a character that girls across the country have swooned over; for two hours I connected with him as Peeta Mellark, the eloquent and personable and infuriatingly good person that Suzanne Collins meant to portray.

And every other person in the film contributed something meaningful to it, even just by walking around the set in an outfit that said "Look at me, I'm a rich and sheltered resident of the Capitol and I will never have to put my name in twenty times for tesserae." As Caesar Flickerman, the one whose job it is to make the Games look like innocent fun, Stanley Tucci portrayed exactly the right touch of sorrow and disgust for the plight of the Tributes. As Cinna, someone made rich and famous by the privilege of dressing these Tributes, Lenny Kravitz's disregard for the glory--and compassion towards those who suffer as a result of it--is touching. As Rue, Amandla Stenberg doesn't ask for pity but moves us to it anyway, and I'm certain that, as her death played out, there was not a dry eye in the audience at the movie showing I attended. My 25-year-old "big brother" figure was sitting next to me, and he cried.

Did the majority of the audience know why they were crying? Of course, a little girl died and it was sad. She should not have died. It wasn't fair. Yes, I acknowledge and agree with all of that. But Rue's was not the only death I cried over at that moment. Do you know what I mean?

If so, I raise three fingers to you, friend, for having the insight to discern the TRUTH behind these phrases: "Thank you for your children. And thank you all for the bread."

Thanks for reading,

Brooklyn

P.S. Visit my web site for samples of "The Hunger Anthems", my series of poems written as a tribute to the trilogy.

Everyone's Mixtape - Check This Out! (CTO!) 4

2012-04-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

This one's awesome! We'll they're all awesome. It plays different music depending on what mood you say you're in.

Click here to check out Everyone's Mixtape

Check This Out! (CTO!) 3

2012-04-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Check This Out!

So you're listening to music. Have you ever wondered what you should drink if you're listening to... Led Zeppelin? No? Well why not? You should wonder. Go to Drinkify and they'll tell you...

Click here to go to Drinkify

So you're listening to music. Have you ever wondered what you should drink if you're listening to... Led Zeppelin? No? Well why not? You should wonder. Go to Drinkify and they'll tell you.

Come back later for more CTO!

Click here for a laugh

Click here to go home

Check This Out! 2

2012-04-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Everybody!

You must check this out...

Click me to see Scale of Universe!

Seriously! This is the coolest thing ever. Enjoy!

Come back later to see another "Check This Out!"

Click here to go home

Click here for a laugh