Jason-Parker.net

I Guess it isn't Always a Scam

A few months ago I was reading a news article online and I saw one of the stupid flashing ads claiming that "I've won a free iPod mini!" Normally, I ignore these, but out of curiosity, I clicked and soon found out the catch: when you signup with the company giving them out, you have to sign up for various offers on other websites (like a month of AOL or Netflix). But one offer caught my eye, eBay!

One choice you had was to simply sign up with eBay and place one bid. Doing this would give you one point, and you only needed six. If you referred a person, and they did it too, that also gave you a point. What I did was simple; I signed up with eBay and looked for really expensive items that had just been posted. For example, I would look at a PowerBook that had just been put up for sale and bid $0.99, knowing that the price would obviously skyrocket later. It counted as a bid, and I got my point. I referred others to do the same and soon I had my 6 points.

However, being the skeptic that I am, I fully expected it to be a complete scam. About a month went by, and I had pretty much given up on it, until I got an e-mail a few days ago. It said they had shipped it and even gave me the FedEx tracking number. I was shocked to find that there was actually a package headed towards me. I was still skeptical, and wondered what they would actually send me. The next day, my package arrived and, surprise! A real iPod mini. Wow, my faith in the internet is really restored!

(Now, what to do with my old iPod? Back to eBay!)

That's Not a Good Idea

All too often, I find that people approach legislation with this question in mind: "Is this law a good idea?" This results in a whole myriad of bad laws getting passed in our country. People fail to take into account the importance of the Constitution and it's bearing on our government. When ideas like Welfare or Social Security come into play, people think about how good of an idea it is, when really, they should be asking if it supports and uphold the Constitution.

There, that's my (quick) rant for the day.

That's Odd

The other day, my father's cell phone got run over by his car (I still don't really know how). Thankfully, the only problem seems to be a broken antenna. Taking the phone apart, I noticed that it should be a simple matter of super-gluing the antenna back on to the outer housing. When I reached for my handy bottle of super glue, I noticed that it said it was skin safe and it would not bond skin instantly. This wasn't particularly interesting until I looked at the little bottle while I was waiting for the glue to dry. What caught my attention was this warning: "WARNING: Bonds Skin Instantly!"

WTF?

Here's a novel idea...

Here's the deal: from now on, I'm going to try to be honest. That is, no more crap, no more dry attempts at humor. I think that I've been looking at this whole blog thing wrong. Maybe it's not about getting people to come to your site, maybe it should just be about what you think or what you feel. I guess what I'm saying is that, to make a long story short, I think I need to vent. Hopefully, this can be somehow therapeutic.

I've accomplished a lot. I mean, in my (relatively short) life, I have done tons of stuff, won tons of things. I have a whole stack of certificates and literally shelves of trophies and plaques. Most of them have been for intellectual things. I have lots of debate awards, a few science fair awards, and some awards for doing great on the SAT in 7th grade. I should feel happy about all of this, and I guess I am, but somehow it all feels empty.

People at school are always telling me that I'm smart or that I'm a genius. They tell me that they wish that they were as smart as me. I don't think that it's so great, though. Being smart can be good, at times, but it can also be desperately lonely. Sometimes I feel like an outsider--like there's no one to talk to, and no one who can understand me. I'm not unpopular or picked-on or anything like that, it's just, I'm different.

Dear Japan, What Gives?

The other day I finally rented the series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" from Netflix. After hearing about it forever online and from my friends, I decided that I needed to watch it. I got the first disc a few days ago, and so far I'm impressed. I seems pretty good and I'm waiting for the next one. However, the series has left me wondering about something. Namely, what's the deal with Japan and Giant robots? It seems like every other anime series that I watch somehow involves giant robots. Where did this come from? Why does Japan like them so much and it's a relatively small niche here in the US? I mean, considering America's obsession with huge stupid crap, it should be popular here, right? But what's especially confusing, though, is that it does not seem like giant robots would be an especially good weapon. They don't seem that fast and their balance really appears to suck. The other problem is that when ever they are engaged in any sort of battle, it always takes place in the middle of some huge city, and they always destroy about half of it, yet the city never really looks damaged later.

I'll keep series like this, thought, and I'll probably like most of them.

History Made Today: First Civilian Space Flight

Today a bit of exciting history was made when SpaceShipOne became the first private space craft to fly into space. I'm very excited about this, considering that the entire project cost about $20 million according to CNN. This sounds like it could revolutionize the space travel industry as a whole opening the field up to civilians. Bringing competition into this area can only be a good thing. I look forward to what developments come from this in the near future.

The Following Post is Copy-Protected...

Today I was reading an article on C|Net about Velvet Revolver's new (copy-blocked) album topping the charts. You see, the RIAA is taking this to mean that consumers have accepted copy-protection technology. There's one problem with that theory, though: Comsumers have no idea that it's even there, in fact, instead of 'accepting' it, the company that put the album out is recieving call from consumers confused because they can't copy the files to their MP3 players. That's some acceptance!

The whole war on piracy is moronic, though, I think. If the technology used here isn't already cracked, it will be soon. The only people anti-piracy technologies hinder are regular consumers. But that's what you get with a monolopy like the RIAA, an industry can wage war on it's customers and still be profitable.

Six Flags or Carowinds

For summer vacation this year, we're going to go light. That is, we're just going to go to an amusement park and spend the night in a nice hotel. That's simple and easy (and relativly cheap). But things can never be simple, can they? I can't decide between Six Flags over Georgia or Carowinds. Six Flags has more rides. That's good. However, Carowinds has a water park. That's also good.

In any event, I've decided to stay at the Peachtree Plaza hotel in Atlanta (this would favor Six Flags). I've heard good things about it. You know, since I live so close, I've never actually stayed in a hotel in Atlanta. I would like to try that. I hear the view is great, and I also want to check out the revolving restaurant on the top floors. Hey, could the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere be boring? Plus, it's owned by Westin, who, it seems, has really great beds. I've never stayed in a Westin, so I wouldn't know, but if a hotel's beds are so good that ehy can actually sell them online, I assume they must be doing something right.

New Website, New Design, New Software

I am still hammering out the technical glitches in my new design, but for the most part, it's done. For me, PostNuke, while nice, but it was overkill. All I really wanted was a simple blog. Switching to MovableType will allow this. Also, I completely re-did the design of the site. I think that it looks much better. Expect more changes in the near future as I finish more of the site!

I am, hopefully, going to start offering graphic design services (as you can see in the menu). Right now, I'm still thinking about it and making some choices. The link does not work yet, but expect it too soon.

Another Test

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]]> Still a test. Why are you reading this?