January 20, 2009 will be a significant day in the future history books, as the day we inaugurated the first Black minority President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama. Considering the history of this country in race relations, this is a significant step. While all Presidents have to prove that they can do a good job in that position, there's a little more pressure for President Obama. His performance will most likely affect future minority candidates who want to be elected in that office. So don't  screw up Barrack, as I'd like to possibly see the first Asian American U.S. President in my lifetime.

Speaking of which, I just realized that there are currently teenagers out there, who are only familiar with George W Bush as the U.S. President. Teens today could have been as young as 5 or 10 years old when George W Bush became U.S. President. Eight years is a long time, and that makes me wonder what they think about now having somebody else new in that office. Maybe that's why there are so many emo kids out there, as it's the result of having Bush as the President.

Barrack Obama Inauguration Speech (video)
Obama Inauguration : Hits and Misses (link)
Images from parade (pix)

George W Bush Farewell Tribute (audio)

Random Cyanide

ipod earpieces "full of bacteria" (link)

Xbox 360, PS3 Chip Co-Creator Talks Consoles' Relative Strengths (link)

23 And Me DNA testing (link)

Star Wars: Retold by someone who hasn't seen it (video)

cat vs fake cat (video)

Great Moments In Presidential Speeches Compilation (video)

youtube street fighter (video)

Knife Roulette (video)

The Ultimate Flipbook (video)

the Other Team (video)

Hands-free or not, I know that using a cellphone can be dangerous to use when driving, especially when text messaging. A recent study though puts things more in perspective.

http://www.floridaduilawyerblog.com/2008/12/fort_lauderdale_ticket_lawyer.html

"A recent British study found that texting while operating a motor vehicle is more dangerous than driving under the influence of marijuana or alcohol. Drivers are extremely distracted and, since eighty percent of accidents are already caused by distracted drivers, the texting often results in serious accidents. The study found that drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 – the level at which intoxication is presumed for the purposes of a DUI arrest – have their reaction reduced by about 12 percent. Marijuana reduced reaction time by 21 percent. Surprisingly, completely sober drivers who engaged in text messaging showed the most severe reduction in reaction time at 35 percent, a delay nearly three times greater than that caused by alcohol. Interestingly, the study evaluated drivers who wrote or read text messages while operating a motor vehicle – indicating that even reading without pecking out responses may also pose a serious problem. Is the distraction caused by texting really so severe that it trumps DUI? This study indicates that the answer is yes."

Imagine that. It's a lot more dangerous than even I imagined. It's not surprising that there are places out there that completely ban the use of cellphones (hands free or not) while driving.

http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/

The end of last year marked the last month that I had to pay for my car. Before I can say "I finally officially own my car," I wanted to wait for the certificate of title in the mail. Well, as of right now I can officially say that I FINALLY OWN MY CAR!!! woo hoo! The five year plan is paid off, and my car is now really my car. Sure it's a common silver color 2004 Honda Accord LX manual transmission with its 160-hp, 16-valve i-VTEC® engine, but I still love it. Plus, to differentiate it with everybody else Accord, mine's got STICKERS! Yeah, I placed a lot of stickers on my car, but I like it and definitely makes it feel more personal. You wouldn't believe how many times I had to rely on seeing those stickers to know which one is my car in the parking lot. Well, now that my car is already paid off, I have extra money to spend in the month, and can now allocate it to something else on my budget... like my wife's new car... heh

All Random Nightmare Long

US teen clocks up 14,528 text messages in one month (link)

American Idol Bikini Girl (video)

Kobe Bryant Ankle Insurance (video)

extreme shark (video)

Impenetrable Dog Force Field (video)

Lil' Gaming Expert (video)

Teddy Saw - NSFW (video)

24 Japanese Theme Song (video)

Animal Analysis (video)

Dog shoplifts - caught on camera (video)

If you are an avid youtube viewer, you probably have noticed an alarming trend of uploaded videos that are playing without any sound. Apparently this is the new tactic to "protect" copyrighted music. If your video contains music that is copyrighted, then prepare to have a video without sound. Those videos that only have the music on it with a name card as the video aren't an issue to me, but those videos that are actually creative in some fashion and can even act as promotional material for the music, are the ones that are unfortunately affected. So all those fan made slide-shows, montages, parodies, or music videos are starting to be absolutely useless to watch. Of course the option is there to make your own music for your video, but that completely stops a significant majority of users out there from taking advantage of youtube (start looking for those public domain music).

What's going to happen to all those internet viral videos that could potentially have been the next "evolution of dance," "numa numa kid," "harder better faster stronger girls," or "Chinese backstreet boys," which relied on copyrighted music? How about those video game chart vids for Rock Band or Guitar Hero? There's also those anime music videos. Are they all now just going to be extinct?

I fear that this is only the beginning, and next thing we know, concert videos will be the next to go (which admitedly is already a violation of youtube's copyright rules). While I myself currently have only one youtube video using music from a CD (Meg & Dia's "Tell Mary"); which for the time being is set as a "private video," I do however have A LOT of concert footage that were "kinda okayed" for me to have (by the venue or by the band), so I am a little concerned.

This action recently just started getting wider in it's execution, as videos are right now affected arbitrarily since some are still intact. Sometime in the near future though, it's going to be "game over" for these types of youtube videos. It's too bad, since those videos helped youtube be the powerhouse of a website that it is right now. In fact record companies like Universal Music Group has said that youtube actually made them tons of money. So what's the big deal right? I guess this is only good news for other video websites like veoh, imeem, vimeo, myspace video, or break.com, if they get more attention from "former" youtube users (until it happens to them too).

I believe this copyright issue started with Warner Music Group having a dispute with youtube. I know a couple of people whose Meg & Dia (under WMG) fan made videos were either completely removed or was given the silent treatment (and those are also videos that the band members themselves loved, like my own MaD music video which surprisingly is still intact). So if you want to blame anybody about this, start with WMG.

Yes, this is a lesson in copyright laws, and we almost always don't have authorization to use said music. Still the same though, this sucks.

What it comes to hot women celebrities, men are usually very fickle on how much they like a particular star. After the initial "oh wow is she hot" phase passes by, men actually look past the way the woman looks, and actually cares about how she thinks, talks, and acts. I know, imagine that. Usually all it takes are a few quotes that men are simply tired of hearing from hot chicks, to make the tide turn the other way. The best example would be the "I wish I was ugly because people hate that I'm so hot" response, which is infuriatingly annoying because they don't know how lucky they have it, and how insulting they are to people who are not hot at all. Then there's the "I don't know what people are talking about, because I'm not hot" answer, which is annoying because if a hot person does not think they look hot, then what about the person who is not hot? Unbelievably enough, the lovely Megan Fox whom I was gushing about last year, actually said the latter at a red carpet interview in the 2009 Golden Globes awards. How could she not think she is hot, when she's literally been dubbed "hottest female celebrity of 2009" all over in the media? Isn't that a little too insecure? Seriously now, she better have been trying to make some kind of sarcastic joke about her looks, because that just ruins this perfect image we men have on her.

- witness the red carpet interview yourself (video)
- the Kevin & Bean show talk about her "controversial" answer (audio)

Speaking of looks. Oprah Winfrey recently admitted that she gained weight, and is embarrassed of being fat. However, this is the person that a lot of women listen to about how to lose weight? Really? It also bugs me when celebrities complain about how they look, especially when they have all the time in the world to try and look good. They have a job that allows them to have a lot of downtime to work out and eat better (especially when they have private chefs that make them good tasting healthy food). So quit complaining celebrities. Don't complain about how you have it so bad, when you really have it much better than the majority of people out there.

- the Kevin & Bean show talk about Oprah's admittance to being fat (audio)

The Random Day That Never Comes

list of Golden Globes winners (link)

best of Consumer Electronics Show 2009 (link)

huge parental control infringement lawsuit (link)

Build Your Own Mr.Fusion, Gasify Your Car With Garbage (link)

Tech Support (video)

viral video pet store (video)

Denis Leary Remembers Denis Leary Movies - NSFW (video)

meet Razorhawk (video)

Power Rangers Japanese parody (video)

Project Aiko - when science meets beauty (link)