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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Life Is Ignorant (MLII): Week 1

Greetings good people of the swag juice community,

As you are well aware, MK47, Jay C and myself always appreciate a little bit of ignorance in our lives... gives you something to shake your head at from time to time.

From personal observation, I have collaborated a sum of ignorant situations over the past several days which I thought would be ideal to share with you:

- Earlier last week, I went to a local Tim Horton's just to chill, do some studying, and perhaps pick off some doses of ignorance from fellow citizens ignorant of the fact that I was listening to them. Sure enough, the girl at the counter informs a customer she knows that she wants to quit working and go burn in hell. Apart from almost staining my study notes with coffee, I had to admire her sense of ignorance. MLII.

- This reminds me of a time a few years ago back at home when I experienced a middle aged man storm past those annoying, persistent Air Cadets outside of a Tim Hortons, proceed into the coffee shop, obnoxiously mutter " F****IN AIR CADETS!$)@!# " and then order a large coffee with 4 sugars. ...who orders 4 sugars in their coffee!??! MLII.

- I've been slacking for quite some time on modifying my resume... a critical tool required in exposing yourself to experiences in university that'll set you apart from the guy scoring A's and wearing a hole through his chair, locked in his residence room. To envoke guilt upon myself that I need to get on that resume, I've posted notes on my desktop saying "RESUME!!!!" ...thanks to the combination of uncontrolled laptop periods and Jay C, I've returned to my laptop lately to see "RESUME touching myself" in a number of places on my screen. ...Don't get any ideas. MLII.

- Sitting in the library earlier today, 4 bright-minded "future engineers" at the table next to me triggered a conversation for some strange reason about whether Legolas would be able to kill orcs without his bow. For some forsaken reason, one of the fellows imposed his knowledge that Legolas carries a 14" dagger with him, so would obviously be successful by using this in combat. Whenever something in inches is thrown into a conversation with university engineering students... you can probably figure out what that leads to. MLII.

- The Sabres beat the Leafs 3-1 last Friday. For some reason I find the success of my favourite hockey team's continuous beat down on the Leafs rather ignorant. MLII.

Peace guys! Get back to you soon with more explorations of the ignorant philosophy.

Feel free to throw some quick feedback back at this, or comment with your own ignorant doings because we're always interested to hear your opinions!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Top 5 Ways to Mess Up a Presentation

So today I had a presentation for one of my courses which was worth 25% and even though our group had worked for many weeks, I still had butterflies make that mothra floating in my stomach.I usually don't get too anxious before presentation but this was a big one and I was starting it off for my group so I had to make a great first impression. Anyways, as I usually do when feeling nervous about something, I began to think of the amazing humour that could come from just absolutely screwing it up in a horrifying manner. So hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husbands because its about to get messy:

1. Forget your points without any cue cards to refer to. You were the smart one right? You don't need to write down your ideas because your memory has more gigabytes of space than your computer's. So how come the transition to your first slide results in the loss of everything from the name of your girlfriend to the number of people in your presentation group. You promptly make things up on the spot and look like a fool, or act cool and break into an interpretive dance like your all alone. Great job Champ.

2. Forget to start talking when your slide appears. Ok, maybe you were imagining the perfect entrance, full of charisma and charm. Too bad you fell asleep at the wheel and didn't notice your group staring at you with eyes about to explode. You quickly run to the front of the group, only to trip over that shoe lace you were fixated on while day dreaming. The prof proceeds to initiate face-palm, twice.

3. Mix up your points and diagrams. You spent all night before the big day making an awesome diagram on PowerPoint explaining the mating habits of the honey bee. You, however, get no sleep and arrive to class just in time for the presentation. Half way into your spiel about why honey bees live a single life, you shockingly realize that all you've said is wrong, everything. You get light headed, twirl on the spot and faint as the paramedics tell you as you awake that even they knew about honey bee mating. Rough

4. You've timed your slides on PowerPoint at exact intervals. Hey why click the arrow button if it will do it automatically, or so you think. You fail to realize that after 5 hours of perfecting the synchronization between slides that one second could be the difference. So when your presenting and get distracted by that creepy guy in the front who laughs menacingly, you lose your spot and shoot out words like a machine gun to catch up before jumping on a desk and breaking into hysterical tears of "why me?" then entering catatonic shock. Hilarious!

5. Show up late. We've all dreamed this, hearing the alarm go off and realizing you set it 4 hours later than you wanted. You run to class, throwing people from bikes and start taking hostages lest you be threatened with a small mark penalty. Finally arriving to class you barge in, leap to the front and start releasing all forms of random excuses mixed with a Shakespearean ode to your drastic measures to overcome your plight. Sadly, your group is at the back of the class waiting to go next, knowing that your dramatic entrance has cost them 50% of their participation marks... and their dignity. Smooth.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Exam/Test Coming up? Consider this next time you're studying!


Click on image to expand



Ignorant Photo of The Week: 2

Optimism at its best: 1925 City of the Future Prediction for 1950

1950: So much for solving congestion in the modern city. FAIL


2010: Well this is embarrassing... 50 more years? So much for living to see the future Double-Face-Palm -_- 


Come on humanity, lets pick up our act! We can do it, just look at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Lebron James ... Seriously, What Should he do?


For those of you who have not yet seen the Lebron James "Rise" commercial, take a look:


Now that you've seen the original, take a look at Cavs fans' answer to Lebron:


And of course, South Park is always up to date on whatever is going on so they decided to take a few shots at Lebron as well:



And again:



Anyone else loving this, or is it just me?

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Why University is Awesome

Today was not a good day. I had some problems with finishing projects, caused a slight bacterial outbreak in my lab that caused my TA to squawk (not scream, but like a bird call)loudly and found out the test i thought i killed...killed me. DOH!

Oh well, for some reason when I return to my room and prepare for bed I look back and think how great the day actually was. I may have screwed up a test, but thanks to profs that expect it to happen I can drop that test and write a 80% exam (Yay...I hope). I also did great in another subject that is taught by a German prof who could't explain 1+1=2 to a child without confusing himself. Victory is mine? Not quite but I'll take it because this is how University functions, they throw as many punches at you and see if you fall. If you do, well then you drop out and work as a manager at McDonald's, but if you can stand in there take the blows and come out with your head up you'll be rewarded with the ability to change the world by doing something you love. Ultimately, who cares if I nearly failed a mid-term I could still run for office and win, or find the cure to any disease out there.

I would be selling University short if I stopped there though, because its so much more and this is what makes any day great when I'm here. I had dinner with a friend and went over ridiculous stories from the weekend, bursting out in laughter and nearly sending a potato flying. Even in a lab in which I almost caused a centrifuge to explode by forgetting a lid, I got learn awesome things in my field of study with awesome lab mates who are as confused as I am. And when I got back to my dorm for the day, I was greeted by people who want to discuss the day. Again this is why University is life changing, a true nexus of social life and work life. The people you meet here are the close friends you have forever because you live, work, play, win, fail, laugh, run, drink, party and do stupid stuff with on a Saturday night. You come together to understand what's going on in this world and you discover that nothing is realer, more meaningful than the fun times you share learning about each other.

So that's life of a undergrad student, we're a mashed up network of people thrown together into a mess of school work and overlapping egos, but after 4 years we come out of that blender with a ticket to a job and a network of countless, life-long friends.

Life's Good...Cheers!!!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Why The Baltimore Ravens Will Beat the Atlanta Falcons

Its the battle of the birds, but more importantly a battle for dominance in each team's respective division and conference in this exciting inter-conference match up. There are many parallels between these teams, two of the best in the league, but the question Thursday night will be which team is able to take advantage of the others differences.

Offense

One of the starkest similarities between the teams is that of the quarterbacks that will be leading their teams onto the field in the Georgia Dome. Both Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan have been successful since being drafted in the first round 3 years ago and started playoff games in their rookie season. Since then they have grown into great young quarterbacks in the NFL and have positioned their teams into divisional crowns this year with eerily similar passing numbers (Flacco - 60.8%-1917 yds.-12 TD, Ryan - 62.5%-1949 yds.-13 TD). Both have been very good in the last 3 games with 250+ yards in 5/6 and a ridiculous 14-2 TD:INT ratio combined over that span. It will come down how well Flacco can abuse the weak 26th ranked Falcon pass defense, and if Ryan will struggle with veteran pick artist Ed Reed back and healthy in the Ravens secondary.

Both teams posses multi-back run games that will help to open up the big pass for their offense. Atlanta's Michael Turner is doing a great job this year of running inside and with Jason Snelling filling in when needed, have led the Falcon's to the 6th best rushing yards per game in the NFL. For Baltimore, star back Ray Rice is healthy and beginning to show off his multi-purpose skills while Willis McGahee has already added 4 TDs with tough rushes up the middle and in the red-zone. Ultimately, both teams will rely early on their rush game but look for Baltimore to struggle against a stout Atlanta front seven, while the Falcons may have a big day if Turner can duplicate the results of fellow physical running back Peyton Hillis when Cleveland faced Baltimore (144 yds-1TD).

Baltimore receivers Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason should both be expected to have good days against a weak Atlanta secondary. Look for Flacco to use this advantage to strecth the field and open up running lanes for later in the game. The Falcons' Roddy White is having a terrific year, but Ryan may struggle to hit him for the big plays we've been seeing this year if Reed can shadow his side of the field to help the cornerback and provide double-coverage. This may lead to more open looks for Tony Gonzalez, but the aging Tight End has been inconsistent this year and struggle getting open downfield against a fast Ravens defense.

Defense

As mentioned above, both teams defenses feature units that are capable of stopping drives and providing the offence with good field position. The Ravens have seemingly always been a great defensive team, but have slipped abit this year against both the pass and run. They have been beaten up by strong, inside runners and will have to worry about the physical presence Turner gives the Atlanta rushin attack. The return of Ed Reed has boosted the pass defence with more timely interceptions. A strong overall front will be needed to stop a Falcons offense, but look for a great game from the entire unit as they plug up the offense like Pittsburgh and Philidelphia did in the 2 Falcon losses.

The key for the Falcons defense will be stopping the run and forcing Baltimore into 3rd and long situations. They have only allowed one opponent to score more than 30 pts this year, but the Ravens have the run game to manage the clock in a close game. It will really come down to whether or not the Falcons secondary can capitalize on Baltimore's deep ball and cause turnovers or sacks on 3rd down. The problem with that conclusion is that Baltimore has a great offensive line, with standout LT Michael Oher, and Atlanta struggles to get to the quarterback so look for Flacco to stay in the pocket and carve up the defense with accuracy like he did against Miami (74.1 cmp. %)

Final Verdict

I expect this game to be close through the first 3 quarters, but look for Baltimore to pull away in the 4th with a mix of strong running and pin-point passing as they convert on long drives to run out the clock for the victory:

Baltimore 24 - Atlanta 17

(All stats courtesy of ESPN)