On the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami

Its Sunday, March 13, 2011 and this is The Side. No dumb lines this time around. Friday I posted up my usual comic reviews and a top 10 list which I was pretty happy with. The main thing on my mind was my kids' birthday. Then the news came in. I felt pretty douchey posting my goofy shit when there was so much serious shit going on. Some things happen and you get a real idea of how small you are. I thought a lot about it this weekend. I was distracted a bit by the birthday party and work and other things, which I'm thankful for. It gave me a lot of perspective in dealing with a bunch of four-year-olds at a Tinkerbell themed party.

THE QUAKE

I've been in earthquakes, but only minor ones. It was the variety of you get woke up in the middle of the night, everything is shaking, and you say "fuck this" and go back to sleep. The one that hit in Japan was not of that variety. I could throw up a ton of links with news on the disaster, but really all you need to do is go to wherever you get news from and it'll be there. The quake was as bad as any Japan has ever seen. The tsunami was worse in terms of destruction and deaths. People are watching the damaged nuclear reactors cautiously, checking radiation levels, cringing at the explosions, and holding their breathes while they pray the worst doesn't happen.

Japan wasn't the only country affected. We're all on the same planet, and when something so major happens its effects travel. In this case its very literal as a tsunami was sent rocketing across the pacific ocean towards the United States. We suffered nowhere near as much damage as Japan, but you have to appreciate the magnitude of what happened so far away when its effects physically hit here.

I had to explain how tsunamis function to a kid I work with. He doesn't have much of a science background. These waves are only a couple of feet high, but they're moving as sometimes hundreds of miles per hour. So when the the ocean gets shallower near the beach you get a massive swell that causes the damage. Its not some massive wave that crests over the horizon.

I live very near the east coast, and we had our tsunami scare a few years back. There was never any threat, but the local news folks needed ratings, so when the tsunami hit Indonesia they used that as a catalyst for scare stories. Scare stories are when news goons try to scare you into watching. We get those annually with hurricane season. "Are you prepared for the worst?"

So I was in no danger, but there are people I know that were. I don't talk to Kristie as much as I used to. She lives in Hawaii, and when this happened I was immediately concerned for her safety and my other friends there which I made the acquaintance of through her. Thankfully, she's safe. In the aftermath she wrote a very poignant piece about living in the aftermath of just a warning that needs to be read.

Here on the mainland the effects were felt along the west coast. One of the Vloggers I follow, Philip DeFranco, lives out there. He's very clever. He jokes about a lot of things, and can be very mocking and flippant. Not this time.



So think about the effects that are felt by the people here. Now trace them backwards. A mother calling concerned for her son, and the son reassures her he's fine. A young woman witnessing two girls making very worried phone calls, some of which may not have been answered. That's just the outskirts. That's the outer ripples of an event that changed and ended many lives.

I keep thinking about this little kid. I saw him at the Youth Butokusai back in 07. he was the youngest one in his group. These Japanese kids were doing a Kenjustu demonstration and looking like young samurai. The little guy was so young that they didn't let him use a real sword. Still there he was out there with his toy plastic sword, keeping up with the moves of his older teammates. I have no clue what his name is, and doubt I would recognize him if you showed me a picture. I remember thinking how great all those kids were, and now I'm praying they're all alright.

There's donations being taken up now for aid. Our president, whom I usually disagree with, has pledged aid and Naval ships are headed in to help. I spoke previously about the horrible NBC show HARRY'S LAW in which a judge on the show stated that Americans don't care about foreigners. The writers and producers of that show don't know Americans and the amount of love and support that's been shown to the people of Japan is a testament to that. We're in an economic crisis. People are out of work here. Families are losing their homes. This earthquake/tsunami reminds us of how much worse things can be, and still despite the tough times, we give.

Out of great tragedy can come great inspiration and hope. Pray for the people of Japan.

MUSIC!!

U2's first video, before they became overly douchey.



That's it for today. there's a lot of charities scrambling to raise money to help those affected by the earthquake/tsunami. If you can, make a little donation, or at least spread the word. Thanks.

Surf Free or DIE!!

Its Sunday, December 26, 2010, I have Batman underwear, I'm wearing it right now, and this is The Side. Christmas has come and gone and my kids still haven't opened up all their presents. Spoiled little things. Really though, its an effort by myself and the Missus to maintain a little order in the house. If they opened everything at once we fear we would lose them and the floor in a sea of wrapping paper. Not sure if the rest will get opened today as its snowing quite steadily today and they'll likely want to be out playing in it.

As for what I got for Christmas aside from Batman undies. Dad came home from the hospital yesterday. That's all I wanted.

SAVE TEH INTARWUB!!!

When I agree with Al Franken on something its time to pay attention. What am I agreeing with him about? Net neutrality. This is what keeps the internet free and open. For those of you that are confused by this thinking "but I pay for internet service, it isn't free", here is a video from Phillip Defranco explaining it.



Still confused about Net Neutrality? No problem. Check this out. Everyone on the same page now? Let's move on.

The great thing about the internet is that its a pretty level playing field for talent and ideas. You can put a ton of money into a website, and that'll float you for a while, but if you don't have damn good content you will eventually sink. Inversely, if you don't have a lot of funds but you've got something worth clicking on and half a brain as to networking online, you will get people viewing your stuff. For example, I don't pay anything to do this blog aside from paying for internet connection and purchasing whatever stuff I review, with a few exceptions. I do not pay to advertise to send people to this blog. I link to it on Twitter and Google Buzz. I've gotten over 2000 page views this month, a new record for me. Someone else could be paying for internet connection, paying for a domain, may be paying a webmaster, and also be paying to advertise his site. He might be paying all of that and not get as many page views as this blog.

But let's say companies decide you should pay a fee to look at things on Blogger which hosts this mess I post up thrice weekly. Currently you only pay a connection fee to get online and you can read it absolutely free. What if it cost a quarter to come on over here and read this? The quarter doesn't go to me, who produces and compiles the content. It goes to your internet service provider who is the one who set the price. What do I get? Less views, and that's it. Because they'll obviously charge less money to go to bigger sites and why pay a quarter three times a week when you need nickels to go to YouTube or Facebook. It adds up. I certainly can't afford to pay up a nickel every time I'm on here, so The Side would be retired.

The federal government has passed legislation to protect net neutrality, but its pretty vague. There's lots of wiggle room for companies to get around. This is important for the future of the internet. Freedom requires vigilance. That's includes internet freedom. Contact your representatives. Make your voice heard.

MUSIC!!

And if net neutrality went away you might end up having to pay and extra fee to see stuff like this. It would be worth the fee, but I'm still not changing my position.



Thus endth the post. I'm going to go grab the flamethrower and clear the walk. Stoopid snow. They really need to stop having those Global Warming/Climate Change conferences in winter. Every time they do, it snows like a sum'bitch. Ah well. See y'all Wednesday.

Internet Douchebaggery

Its Sunday, August 22, 2010 and unfortunately I have no pretty pictures for you in today's Side due to in-climate weather. This is completely true because my internet goes down whenever it rains. Don't get me started as to what it does to my TV reception with my spiffy digital television that we were told was so great.

As you can probably tell, I'm feeling just spiffy today, so its time to spread the love.

EEEEEEVIL FACEBOOK!!!

For those of you out there that aren't convinced that Mark Zuckerburg is the e-Satan, he's doing more to try make sure that you do. Facebook now is more than just about who you are and what you are doing, it wants to know where you are. In a creepy new application if you go somewhere, like to the movies, you can "check in" meaning your "friends" will know where you are. I say "friends" because really if you put anything on Facebook you can count on the whole world knowing. To make things even more creepy other people can sign you into places. So if you're out playing miniature golf with someone and they decide that want to 'check in' where they are on Facebook, and you're Facebook friends with them, they can check you in too.

Of course, you can go into your own Facebook account to make sure your settings prevent such things from happening. Doing so requires knowing exactly where to look, what to do, and the blood sacrifice of a puppy. For those that don't know, the privacy default settings on everything on Facebook is "public" meaning everyone can see it.

The Missus was looking a picture on Facebook and sure enough there a bunch of people doing what most people are doing in Facebook pictures, drinks. The names of the people popped up as she scrolled over there names. Now, I'm for those in the picture drinking and having a good time I'm sure they're fondly thinking about that good time and think its just neat-o that their name pops up when they scroll over their image in a picture. Yeah, because facial recognition software is just giggles and kittens.

If the Government wanted to know who you are, what you are doing, and where you are all the time people would be up in arms. It sounds like something out of a dystopian future sci-fi story. But people are lining up like lemmings and volunteering this information out without any regard for who might see it and how it could be used against them. I'm seeing stories in the news about people getting fired from their jobs because of things they posted on their Facebook and things that were meant to be private jokes among a small group end up in the hands of employers. This is a site run by a guy who truly feels like the concept of privacy in the 21st century with all of our new communications tech is outmoded.

Oh and if you have a Facebook account and this piece got you rethinking it wisdom in having one, have fun hunting down the option to delete your account (and remember deleting and deactivating the account are two different things), and also enjoy the two week waiting period until that account actually deactivates. Be prepared to explain to your friends on there why you "unfriended" them.

YOUTUBERY!!

A new study tells me that there's some people on YouTube making some pretty good money. This study lists there top ten earners on YouTube who make original content and they're all making six figures. However, this list is complete crap from top to bottom.

They took some of the most followed people on YouTube, the folks that you usually find having their videos featured when you go to the site. They took the average number of views. Removed 2% assuming assuming that the number of people who click away before they have a chance to click on any ads that generate money. Then they divide that number by half assuming that's about the right number of folks who click on ads. Then they multiply by X number of dollars assuming that's how much money they generate per click on ads. There you have it. Assumption math. You know what you get when you use math based off of so many assumptions? YOU HAVE A FUCKING GUESS! This entire list is based on speculation which is based off of too few facts to have a prayer of being remotely accurate. And this stupid thing made the Yahoo news role. I actually saw it before that, but was so mind shriveling stupid that I didn't think anyone would take it seriously.

And there I go again underestimating the stupidity of those responsible for the news.

They didn't even bother actually finding the top ten people on YouTube who make original content in terms of views. They just picked ten popular people whose view count generated six figures when they applied their voodoo math. They also went on to say that many of these people have multiple channels because they are so popular that they need a channel "to just be themselves". Look. I have multiple blogs. I have this one here for my articles and essays. I have another one for my fiction. Why split it? Because this isn't a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and no one wants my chocolate getting mixed with my peanut butter. Same thing with YouTube. You have people generating content, but they like to make videos and share themselves with their viewers. So you split it for the sake of consistency. Maybe some of the people who enjoy the short film they produce don't really want to watch videos about their lives, or the making of the videos.

And now the backlash has begun with scores of people asking questions and making comments to the people on the list. Philip Defranco has already addressed it briefly in a video, and said the same thing I have in that these estimates are "way off". Natalie Tran addressed it on her Twitter account:

All I try to do, and did before adsense or any of that, is make content independently for people to watch and enjoy. Even though what I do is "new" to a lot of people, it doesn't mean it's not impolite to ask me what I make or publish estimated income in the news.

Tran is a very clever woman with a very thick skin. You have to be thick skinned when you post stuff on YouTube, because when you generate the sizable following she has there's going to be no shortage of people who give you grief or get weird over you. She's also absolutely correct. None of these people were contacted about being on the list. Now certainly they've achieved a certain level of fame and that chips away at privacy, but that doesn't mean we need to know everything about them and they business.

The media love to tell us how much money people make. Part of me things its jealousy. The writers see that somebody is making a bunch of money, or in this case assumes they are, and they put it our there. Sure, any advertising is good advertising, when you have people out doing want they love they probably don't want people giving them grief for how much money they make doing it. All this did is give they detractors more spitballs to launch at them. It reminds me very much of when a nasty money-grubbing faction of the church I work out in decided they wanted to squeeze me for more money. They were assuming I was charging a lot more than I actually was, assumed I had a lot more students than I actually did, and assumed that I was making a ton more money than I actually was. That group was led by a big old liberal too, and you know if a liberal thinks you're making profit then you need to give it away. "OMG I can't people you're actually making money on something you like doing!" Same mentality as those who published the article, only with yes venom. They don't want the money, they just want to "expose" those who make it.

Its a crap article, based on shoddy research. I'm going over to YouTube now to go watch Philly D's Vloggity now.

MUSIC!!

Rounding out the week of Muppet music for Linda's Birthday we've got a song not by the Muppets, but its a favorite of mine and there's Muppets afoot. It's nerd rock time!!



That's is for today. I'd promice to be less venomous for Wednesday, but I'm not a politician and don't promise things I know I can't deliver. See y'all then.

Batman is nicer than Hugo Chavez!

So much stuff! So little time! It's Friday, July 16, 2010 and I'm in charge of feeding virtual fish on Facebook for my wife and kids. It feels like I'm in a George Romero movie and Mark Zuckerberg has bitten my family and I'm waiting for them to turn.

COMIX!!

While it seems like everybody but me were able to get BIRDS OF PREY #3 and I'll have to wait until next week like a shmoe, I'll just have to make due.

BATMAN #701 and SUPERMAN #701 both hit this week, and I found myself pondering something I had not considered before: Is Batman a nicer guy than Superman now? The Batman issue is the story of what happened to Bruce Wayne between R.I.P. and FINAL CRISIS. The Superman issue is the official start of Straczynski's run. The Batman issue clicked big time with me because I'm reading all these thoughts that I had reading the arcs themselves coming from Bruce Wayne. There's an intense weight to the story despite the lack of big action. We know what's going to happen and I'm still pouring over the issue for clues as to possible connections between The Black Glove and Darkseid. The Superman issue is the start of a brand new story arc and unfortunately its horribly dull. It feels like a filler issue, a good one, but still filler. Frankly, if this is what's going to be going on for a year, then I'm out.

But back to my thoughts on who is a nicer guy. Superman gets back to Earth, and is now going to walk around and i guess talk with people or whatever. He just got back from being in space for months. He's got to be a crappiest husband ever. That or Lois Lane is just the most patient and forgiving woman ever to be put on the planet. He's pretty sanctimonious to his detractors. The little things he does like letting a fella know about a heart problem is nice, but over all can't save the story.

Batman on the other hand just survived a serious attempt to take him out, and crawls out on a helicopter crash, and swims to a dock, and after all that he still makes time to have a kind word of the ex-prostitute that he arranged a legitimate job for. He makes sure to thank Alfred, Dick, and Tim before getting a well earned and hard fought for rest. And even though he's still working to unravel and set right the events of R.I.P. he sets that aside when Superman needs his help. Bruce Wayne: stand up dude.

Moving over to BATGIRL we got a really disturbing look at the origin of the Calculator. I thought this was supposed to be the 'fun' Bat-title. I guess fun came with an extra helping of creepy. What's really a kicker is that the calculator turns right around to give the Atom some grief in this week's back-up in ADVENTURE COMICS. Busy guy.

I also enjoyed some R.E.B.E.L.S. this week. Sure didn't take long for Starfire to get nekkid in this title. The unreal amount of hair she suddenly had to hide her orange naughty bits was downright laughable. But I'm still loving this book because for some reason I'm totally into space drama at the moment, and this book delivers it.

BATTLEGROUND: TWITTER!!

Its a hell of a thing when online battleground starts taking real life prisoners, but that's what happened in Venezuela. Seem that big ball of fun and kittens that is Hugo Chavez had a couple of people tossed in jail for making tweets criticizing Venezuelan banking practices. They have a law against being critical about such things. So, surprise Hugo Chavez is actually a scumbag. I hope you all can handle the shock.

So, there's a bit of a tweet counter insurgency going on. Philip DeFranco struck back on his YouTube show and encouraged his viewers to #HugoChavezSucks on Twitter. Makes me wonder if you'd get thrown in jail in Venezuela for doing that.

What we have to remember is that Venezuela does not have a lot of the freedoms other countries like the United States enjoy. DeFranco also noted in his show that some countries have banned Twitter altogether. This brings us to the idiocy that was the massive fail Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. Now, the anti Hugo Chavez e-campaign is in every way superior to EDMD. Its specifically targeted. The biggest flaw with EDMD was the collateral damage. It offended people who had done nothing wrong. It also forced some governments to remove tools of free speech which was pretty much the opposite of what EDMD claimed to be trying to accomplish. The Chavez thing is simple. If you think he sucks, hashtag it on Twitter.

But what if Chavez blocks twitter in Venezuela? Well, then it won't be there for him to use to throw people in jail. Also, there's so way for him to justify that action without looking like a butthurt little e-girl.

DANCE HARD!!

For the second week in a row a contestant on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE has had to pull out of the competition due to injury. For those who have not seen the program the performances are incredibly athletic displays of dance. Its very demanding and it seems like every season the competitors and choreographers push themselves to try to top the previous seasons. Its insane what these people do with their bodies, and frankly everyone who gives a damn about performing arts should be watching this show. I got asked today "What the difference between it and Dancing with the Stars?" and the answer is simple: it is far and away superior in terms of the level of technique and performance that is displayed.

Here's hoping the rest of the competitors stay healthy and I wish Alex and Ashley speedy recoveries.

TEAM BUFFY STRIKES!!

MUSIC!!

Was listening to the album on the way home from Karate. Love the album, love the song.

POP QUIZ!!

1: How much does Hugo Chavez suck?

2: Who would you rather have dinner with: Superman or Batman?

That's it for today. I know there's some big announcements coming up in comics so I'm going to keep my ear to the ground and see if I can find out some things. Might have some cool stuff for Sunday. See y'all then.

This is her fault, I'm sure of it.

OK kids, I think I've figured out the source of the JPI (Japanese Pr0n Invasion) virus. Near as I can figure I've identified Patient Zero, my exposure came from Philip Defranco who was as near as I can figure an unknown carrier. As you can see from the video below, Patient Zero has somehow been sucked down the rabbit hole of kawaiitude and is seemingly beyond any how for recovery. In fact the virus seems to have mutated her to the point where now she is attempting to make up her own cute little slang sayings.

Now, if you have not been inoculated, do not watch this video. If you are Richard and have made it back to the internet after getting stunned by the manga Linda inflicted upon you, just look at the cleavage, you'll be alright.



If you have watched this video and do not have an anti-JPI firewall installed, please do a virus scan to get rid of any JPI footholds in your computer. If you don't, expect Japanese softcore pr0n to suddenly come up on your computer. If you are under the age of 18 and have Japanese pr0n on your computer, and i get angry e-mails from your parents because you blamed me, I do have weapons and I will find you.

For the record, her attempt to create her own slang fails. Its one thing for me to refer to someone getting brutally knocked out by a kick to the head as being "Gonzaga-ed". Being who follow mixed martial arts will likely get the reference. If you have to explain your slang, its not working properly.

More v-bloggin'.

I had my say about video blogging before, but recently I've revisited such things. Perhaps it was time for me take another look at it. Maybe I was a bit unfair before. Actually it was mostly my favorite v-blogger ever got back to updating.



I have actually found some other v-blogs that have caught my interest. First up is Natalie Tran.



You're probably thinking "Well, Nozz is obviously irked by the lack of Dichen Lachman last night despite there being two hours of Dollhouse so he's just looking for comely Asian girls with accents" but that that's totally not it! This young lady comes off like Jerry Seinfeld if Jerry Seinfeld was a cute Asian girl with an accent and a naughty streak. She does everything I mentioned in my previous post that one should do in video blogging. She's clever. She has a clear and consistent format with her videos. She keeps her appearance up. Ultimately, she puts in the effort and it really shows. I would not be surprised if she ended up on television or on stage. Like Seinfeld, Tran picks up on little things in life that we usually don't think about but are utterly ridiculous when you stop to think about them. She's one to watch.

Another one to watch is Philip DeFranco.



I like his stuff. He talks about stuff I find amusing and generally care about. He's also a straight shooter. He uses quick editing jumps effectively, making the rhythm of his speaking very entertaining but maintains the same frame so even though you can tell he's cut a bit here and there the background staying constant so you don't get nauseous.

Like Tran, DeFranco has amassed many loyal viewers. Their individual videos have more views than our main site has gotten all year. So, why am i writing about them? They obviously don't need me to spread the word about the great stuff they do. To be honest I spend a lot of time complaining on here, as evident by the previous top ten list, and I wanted to show that I'm not just a cynical old McCrankypants. So yes, there's still cool people doing cool things on the internet. Enjoy it, and eat fruit.