There Are a Lot of Sweet Video Games Out

I'm not exactly a huge gamer, but the recent onslaught of spectacular games might just change that! Batman Arkham City, Halo Anniversary, Skyrim: Elder Scrolls, Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed Revelations, Disney Universe... The list goes on and on!!

Toilet Paper

Note: This post refers to Australian prices and therefore may not be accurate in locations outside The Land Down Under.

When I was a lad, shortly after finishing High School, I moved a fair way away from home to live with my brother and cousin. It was my first experience living away from home, paying expenses, budgeting and whatnot, so naturally I looked to them for guidance (both were around four years older than me and had been out of home for a while).

One day while shopping, we noticed a special on toilet paper and purchased a couple of packs, my cousin stating the Golden Rule by which I live my life (well, at least the part of my life that involves buying toilet paper).

That rule?

Anything Below 50c per roll is cheap.

So, naturally today when I went to the supermarket and saw toilet paper packs of 12 going at 20c per roll, I decided to stock up.



Yep, that right there is close to 90 rolls of T.P. Why? Because toilet paper is the perfect grocery item to buy in bulk while it's cheap. Think about it:

• Toilet paper never goes out of date.
• It will always be used.
• It is soft and light enough to be stored in high places without any safety risks.

It's ingenious!

So next time you see cheap toilet paper (cheap = <50c, as per the Golden Rule), stock up and save, call me crazy, but you'll certainly thank me later.
•

How We Do

Have you ever visited a website that somebody uses as a creative outlet of some sort (whether it be art, music, tiny knitted seahorses or whatnot) and wondered how exactly they went about doing what they do?

Yeah, me neither.

But just in case you do, I put together a short screen recording of my general process when it comes to building my stickmen.



The finished masterpiece

Unicorns

The Unicorn is a magical creature of European Folklore. It was said to be a white horse with a single horn (and occasionally a goats beard). It was a symbol of purity and grace and was still believed to exist up until the 19th century.

Five Things You May Not Have Known About Unicorns

• The original Unicorns were described by Greek scientists as being native to India.

• A Unicorn is so pure that it can only be caught by a "fair virgin".

• If pursued by hunters, a Unicorn would throw itself off a cliff and then turn its head before hitting the ground so that its magical horn would absorb the force of the impact, leaving the Unicorn unscathed and able to escape

• Elizabeth I of England owned a 'Unicorn Horn' (from a Narwhal) which she kept in her Cabinet of Curiosities.

• The royal throne of Denmark was made completely of 'Unicorn Horns'



Today, Unicorns are growing more and more awesome. They have gone from a symbol of purity to a symbol of awesomeness- games like Robot Unicorn Attack are slowly taking Unicorns from the realm of mythology and moving them into a world of radical sweet wonderfulness.

UNICORNS UNITE!!

Feet Are For What Now?

A couple of months ago, I purchased some feet.



Not real feet, mind you, but convenient covers that slip over my current feet like a glove. They are called Vibram FiveFingers™ and they are built for the sole purpose of letting your foot perform that way it is supposed to perform.



You see, hundreds of years before Nike, Adidas and whomever else started inventing padded, air injected, spring loaded shoes, we got along fine with our feet. It's a brilliant and complex structure built around an arch (an engineering masterpiece in itself). People ran in their bare feet or in crude sandals, and you know what- they replaced their air-foam-padding with healthy legs. Really healthy legs.

In fact, most common knee, ankle and foot injuries have only come about in the last couple of decades, which amazingly enough just happens to coincide with the invention of the modern running shoe.

Back to the point, I bought these new feet and have been taking them on the occasional jog. Most times I get a lot of quirky looks at my feet and the occasional set of raised eyebrows, but for the most part I like to think I'm moving too fast for people to notice. They're a little tricky to get on at first, especially when your feet, (like mine), are so used to being bound in shoes all day long. I remember my pinky toe burning with pain the very first time I put them on, but after a few jogs that pain goes the way of denim overalls.

And what remains? Bliss. It feels odd, like you're not wearing a shoe, but like you can do anything. You can wiggle your toes and then walk on glass, it's awesome.

So why am I doing this?



This is an image of a three year olds feet before they start wearing shoes and a few months after. It's a little daunting that something so everyday and familiar can have such a profound and permanent effect on your body. That's what I'm trying to change. I've done my reading and I've done my research (and I encourage anyone interested to do the same) on this barefoot phenomenon and the science and logic behind it makes sense. Anyone looking for a good read with a good deal of information should definitely check out Chris McDougall's book 'Born to Run'.

Check it out for yourself, better yet, try it out for yourself.

Then tell me I'm wrong =)

GNG

I went up to the Sunshine Coast on the weekend. It lived up to the name. Sunshine, warmth, pristine beaches all around. Afterwards, I visited a fish & chip shop by the beach with my amazingly awesome girlfriend and we got some food.

It was, to quote, "good, not great".

Which, when I think about it, describes a lot of aspects about life in general.

So next time you do something or have something or you're given something that is good but not great, when asked how it is, reply: 'GNG'.

Lets see how far this can go =D

This Weeks Addiction: Killer Bunnies.

This game was recommended to me by my good friend Mike a few years ago. I had seen it in stores and knew that it had been described by such lofty adjectives as 'awesome', 'addictive' and 'radfabulous' but it wasn't until the last week that I actually forked out the sweet moolah to get my hands on it.

Initial response: This game is complicated. Upon opening the box and seeing 6 different decks of cards and just as many 12 sided dice, I was a tad overwhelmed. However, the good people at PlayRoom Entertainment give you a clear (and somewhat entertaining) game manual that you can use to eventually figure out that this game isn't so complicated afterall.

So, Killer Bunnies. The aim of the game is to collect carrots (or more specific, carrot cards). When all the carrots go (there are 16) the game is over and the winner is determined. In the meantime, it is your goal to kill your opponents bunnies in a gruesome and hilarious fashion (suck them into a black hole, kill them with a kitchen whisk... etc, etc). It involves a measure of strategic thinking because you are always required to play cards two turns ahead but it is also a game where you can occasionally just luck into victory with the right cards. For this reason it's a lot of fun for everyone regardless of experience level or intellectual capacity.

But the COOLEST thing about Killer Bunnies is something I discovered just yesterday. I was bored and decided to go on their official site (http://killerbunnies.com/) and after browsing around a bit, I found this.

For those too lazy to click the link, it is a Designers Resource Center. Basically, it gives you everything you need (templates, font sizes, design principles... etc,etc) to make your very own Killer Bunny cards to introduce to your game.

Which, when you start introducing photos of family members and whatnot, suddenly makes the game very very VERY very awesome.

I got an iPad 2

So I might be away for a day or twelve...

(Side note: It is actually much handier than I thought it was going to be, I can upload all my university notes as .pdf files and edit them by hand in class. It's amazing!)

A Short Message from Stick-Doctors Everywhere

Fit Ideas

The funny thing about exercise is that it's not that hard to do. A lot of times, we build it up in our heads to be this impossible, painful, agonising chore that is as much a figment of our imaginations as dragon/unicorn hybrids that breathe fire through the tip of their horn (okay, that might be a little obsessive but you get the picture, right?).

Todays post is a list of simple ideas to help you, me, that guy in Norway who occasionally stumbles online and reads this site and anyone else who is interested in being a little bit healthier.



Simple Idea #1: You're Supposed To Be Healthy
Our bodies are built to be efficient machines that work hard and recover quickly. Up until the last century or so, thousands of years passed where humans exercised their butts off just to provide the necessities (food and whatnot) just to survive and they would do it seven days a week. No weekends for cavemen! We are not made to spend days on the couch or in bed, we are made to be active, healthy individuals, it is, in rather dramatic terms, your destiny. Embrace the fact that your body is perfectly capable of standing up to rigorous exercise because that is its purpose.

Simple Idea #2: You're Supposed To Be Happy
Building on from idea #1, when you are doing what you're supposed to do, you are happy. This goes for anyone and anything. A professional cook is happy when they are cooking, a stand up comedian is happy on stage. If hammers could talk, I'm sure they'd be happy when they are hammering rebel-punk nails into submission. Therefore, if your body is built to be active and healthy, doing that will make you happy. Endorphins are the bliss inducing chemical people like to spout out here, but it's more than that- it's about the peace in knowing that you are living the way you are supposed to.


Simple Idea #3: Eating Healthy Isn't Impossible
With a plethora of fast food options on the menu and their few healthy competitors vastly overpriced, a large majority of people think eating healthy borders on the impossible. It's not. You just have to think: Fresh. Fresh food is what our heathy ancestors ate and it served them well. So next time you go to a supermarket think: 'Can I trace this food in three steps or less back to its original place in nature?'. Breads and pastas go through three steps as grain, flour then final product. Milk and butter are only a quick two steps away from the cow (as is a juicy steak). Vegetables and fruit juice are barely even a step away from their place outside. These are the foods you want to be eating. That chocolate pudding or microwave pizza, on the other hand, could be more steps than a marathon. Eat fresh and feel great.

Simple Idea #4: It's Not Easy
Ask any professional cook or hammer if they got to where they were easily. The cook will probably rant on about their years at culinary school or the overworked-underpaid apprenticeship. The hammer will probably give you something about being melted and reshaped as solid steel. Either way, just because you are supposed to do something that will make you happy doesn't make it easy. Changing a relaxing routine or swapping your favourite foods for fresher alternatives take more than a day and it's best to start slow. It's something you have to work at but it's something you'll be glad you did.



So that's my four simple ideas. Nothing too heavy but hopefully you found something thought provoking in their to ponder next time you have a long commute and left your phone at home. You're supposed to be healthy, you're supposed to be happy, eating healthy isn't impossible but it's not easy.

But it's worth it =)

There's a reason why 'Food' and 'Good' only differ by a single letter!

A few of my favourite meals

For about six months this year I lived in a warehouse with a friend. It was pretty cool, I had a huge room and the shower had an almost limitless supply of hot water- but the kitchen was terrible. For starters, there were no real appliances and on top of that, bench space was scarce at best.

Needless to say, now I'm in a regular persons house with a regular persons kitchen, my love for feeding myself has once again blossomed. I figure today briefly share a few of my favourite meals.



Tangy Eggs Benedict
More or less a regular Eggs Benedict (poached eggs covered in hollandaise sauce) with the one exception being that I add a lot more lemon juice. It makes the sauce slightly thinner but it gives it a kick and makes it taste much less fattening than the traditional meal.

Lemon-Herb Salmon
I love showering fish with finely cut herbs and then topping it with lemon skin before wrapping the whole thing up in foil and throwing it in a hot oven. The foil keeps all the delicious juices from evaporating so when it comes out it falls apart in juicy citrussy goodness!

Avocado Chicken Kiev
This one is a new addition to my favourite meals and requires a little more attention than the others. Basically you have to thin out a chicken breast and roll it around some frozen herbed butter. Crumb it, cook it in oil until the crumbs are crisp and then toss it in the oven. The avocado is raw and adds a yummy freshness and the whole thing is topped with a basic cheese sauce.

Hearty Mushroom Steak
Steak, in my opinion, is the cats pyjamas of all things yummy and by far my favourite meal. Just take a nice flavourful cut of steak (I normally go with scotch fillets because of the yummy marbling) and cook it to how you desire. Then brown some mushrooms in butter and add cooking cream (healthy? ha!) and serve with any side you want. I'll normally do mash or chips with a salad.

So that's it, a yummy breakfast, lunch and dinner that (if you're anything like me) will make your tummy smile!

Balloons Are Fun

A couple of weeks ago, on a sunny Sunday (oh the irony!) afternoon, I was chilling out at my girlfriends house with a small helium tank and some balloons. Normally, in situations such as these, a group of people often end up speaking in hilariously high pitch squeaky tones until whatever amount of helium is available is exhausted. However, since there were kids around, and inhaling helium really isn't that good for you, we decided to do something else.

That something else was to float the balloons as high as possible into the sky and then bring it back to earth. As a cheap yet relatively strong way to anchor the balloons to us doomed to the ground, we used ribbon and got some impressive height- which led us to think: "What would happen if we put a camera on these balloons."

And so the subject of todays post was born. Using a digital camera I have owned and rarely used for at least four years and some foam from a hot chocolate box (with the addition of duct tape and a ring) I created this:



After some quick research online, I discovered that one litre of helium is equal to one gram of vertical lift. My makeshift camera mount weighed in at about 305g which means we would need about 305 litres of helium to send this baby up. We estimated that around 25 good sized balloons would get us the lift we needed (I'm not sure why I thought a balloon held 12 litres of helium) but upon testing that theory our camera wouldn't budge.

So, we ended up cutting some weight off the base of the camera mount and then doubling our amount of balloons. The end result? A floating success!!

We let it up on a moderately fine day, though there was a bit of wind high up. We had the balloon connected to two spools of ribbon for safety incase we needed to cut one line. in hindsight, I wish we had've gone up as high as possible but unfortunately I chickened out and decided to reel the camera back in after a couple of hundred yards.


Watch the complete journey

Still, it made for an interesting Sunday afternoon and definitely gave my some ideas on how i could improve the experiment on multiple fronts (check back for a much more impressive balloon mount and ascension system in a few months!)

A Glimpse of Things to Come

Super Speed is Super Awesome (Or is it?)

I was watching television last night and in an advertisement for a certain paper towel, they had a large, chubby man cleaning a kitchen at light speed. It was only for a few seconds, but it made me think "does super speed make all menial tasks look awesome?".

Needless to say, when I awoke this morning and got started on all the dishes from last nights dinner, I decided to put my question to the test- here we go:



So, what do you think? Answer below =)

[Edit: Just tricking, stupid poll hates my blog]

You and Stuff...

The world revolves around me. Everyone is thinking about me. Every time I enter a room, everyone is focusing on me.

This is how the world works, it is the reason why women wear make up, why men insist the women they are with wear makeup. It is the reason why everyone in the world knows at least one person who turns their face when a camera is pointed in their direction.

Meanwhile, in reality, everyone is focused on themselves. After all, if the world revolves around you, how much attention do you pay to anyone else? What do you care if John Doe is walking around with Jane Doe on her arm (who, for the record is completely free of cosmetics!) when you have your own image to maintain?



Chances are, next time you walk into a room, the only people who will notice will be your closest friends and those who need a favour. Everyone else is most likely on the lookout for their closest friends and people who they need a favour from.

Oh, and then there's that one person who is just bitter and cruel. They may make assumptions, but everyone knows what happens to people who make uninformed decisions!

Amazing Salad (For One)

I should have taken a photo of this, but it was too delicious and I just ate it. Try it and I dare you not to love it though.

You Will Need
3-5 baby cos lettuce leaves.
1/2 a carrot
3-4 cherry tomatoes
1/4 cucumber
1 spring onion
5-6 english spinach leaves.
7-8 unsalted cashews
1 conservative handful parmesan cheese
50g creamy goat cheese
2 tbsp spoons ranch dressing
2 tbsp good fruity olive oil
salt & pepper

You Will Do
1. Cut up the cos lettuce, carrot, tomatoes and cucumber into small bite size pieces. Throw in the cashews too while you're there.
2. In a small fry pan with a minimalistic amount of butter, toss spinach leaves for moments (only moments, you don't want them to cook just wilt slightly) and transfer to salad bowl.
3. Put cheese (both parmesan and goat cheese) on top of warm spinach leaves and let them soften slightly.
4. Mix ranch dressing and olive oil and mix well into salad. Salt and pepper only slightly to taste.
5. Cute spring onions on a diagonal so they look like pretty diamonds and throw on top as garnish.
6. Serve and enjoy!!

Your and You Are: A Logical Explanation

Call me a hardworking member of the Grammar Police, but I have always always always been annoyed when people fail to know the difference between the words YOUR and YOU'RE.

Of course I am sure that none of you indulge in such linguistically reckless behaviour, however, if you share my passion for correct use of apostrophes, I am happy for you to share this with those in need.

So! The first thing you need to know to grasp this deceptively simple concept is that a sentence with the word 'Your' will make sense when that word is replaced with 'My', and that word 'You're' is interchangeable with the phrase 'You Are'.



From there on, it is easy. Whenever you are confused about which Your/You're to use, just swap in one of these interchangeable words and that will be your reference to awesomeness.

Want to practice? Circle the appropriate Your/You're in the appropriate spot.

Your/You're reading my blog. I hope your/you're enjoying it. Hopefully this is your/you're favourite part of the day, but if not, I understand that your/you're priorities may be different to mine and I still think your/you're super cool for reading Nate-Radio!

The Conclusive Seventh Day of Wonderful Word Week

I'm not sure if anyone has been consistent with the wonderful words on display for this week, but hopefully at least one of you has added something special (or, dare I say it- wonderful) to your vocabulary. However, like all good things, this week must now end, so I present you now with the final word of this wonderful week.

Wonderful Word Week! Day #6

Wonderful Word Week! Day #5

Wonderful Word Week! Day #4

Wonderful Word Week! Day #3

Wonderful Word Week! Day #2

Wonderful Word Week! Day #1

Sometimes They Just Go For It

And more often than not, they take all the funny, too.

Back Pain Sucks

As a result of a particularly heavy helium tank on a particularly awkward angle, my back hurts.

Now, I miss everything. Walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping… All the things I took for granted during those joyful moments before I foolishly tried to lift a cylinder full of a gas that is lighter than both air and hydrogen. It's an interesting relation between how much back pain you have and how much you miss the simple things that working anatomy has to offer, how a small back ache doesn't make a big difference, but as soon as you pass that point and suddenly the pain accompanies all the little things, suddenly those little things are a great deal more important.



And what is even more interesting? How, as soon as that pain goes away, as soon as you are perfectly capable of walking, running, jumping, hopping and skipping, you go completely back to taking them for granted.



Such is life.

A Rare Political Post

I work, I pay tax. My tax goes to the Government.

This is nothing drastically out of the ordinary, 'tax', in one form or another, has existed worldwide for at least the past five thousand years (the earliest recorded case being in Egypt between 3,000 BC and 2,800 BC) and I am happy to live with that.

However, what does make me not quite so happy is when I see the Government that I (and the 21 million other residents here on this Island) support using it stupidly.

For those of you unfamiliar on the current condition of Australian Politics, here is the situation in a five point nutshell.

1. Two major parties- Labor and Liberal.

2. Labor party leader, Kevin Rudd, is ousted as Australia's Prime Minister by his own party. If Kevin Rudd was Blackbeard and the Australia Labor Party was a pirate ship, we would happily call this mutiny.

3. Julia Gillard, the second in command, takes control over Labor Party and as a result, the rest of Australia.

4. Outcry from the Australian public forces an election (nobody wants someone in charge who wasn't voted into office by the people) and Labor wins on the merit of promises such as 'No Carbon Tax'.

5. Julia Gillard, Australia's first female Prime Minister, announces a Carbon Tax, effectively backflipping on one of her most important policy's during election time.

There are more details, but I don't care to write them and (as this IS a political post) you no doubt don't care to read them. Basically, you are now caught up on the situation.

Which brings us to now... The leader of the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott has been giving ol' Prime Minister Julia Gillard grief about lying to the Australian public. Julia Gillard fires back with this:



That's right, don't use my money for healthcare, the schooling system, safer roads or even working on better Government policies! Use it to make a crappy cartoon that has no political value at all.

Because when all is said and done, I just want to fund a personal attack and a Government employed animator.

Idiots.

A Whole New E-World

As of June 28, the newest buzz on the social networking horizon is Google+, the latest venture of the $46 billion internet giant by the same name (minus the '+'). Facebook, eat your heart out, after only a single day, Google+ beta-user invites were disabled due to sheer demand alone. Now, the closest thing you can get to an invite is an email waiting list, available for sign-up here.

So now, the interest is alight with the question "what happens next?". Like all social networking sites, Google+ will not become a viable source of 'social networking' until enough people are online to make updating worthwhile. Basically, Facebook would be useless if none of your friends had it and Google+ will be useless until it reaches a tipping point. Keep in mind this is less a matter of 'if' and more a matter of 'when', but what I'm interested in is Facebook. Specifically, will it be capable of living harmony with this new addition to Interweb, or will it do what Facebook did to Myspace?



What do you think Internet people?

Sheldon Cooper eat your heart out!

Note: The video below has issues with being embedded... Enjoy the content at YouTube by following the videos suggestion =)

Sheldon Cooper (or perhaps more accurately, Doctor Sheldon Cooper) is the theoretical physicist and general genius within the nerd-speckled comedy 'The Big Bang Theory'. Which, over the last few weeks, I have grown to enjoy.

However, last night, during a brief and hilarious moment, I discovered something…

I am smarter than Sheldon Cooper, if only for a moment.

Observe the following clip, specifically from 0.18 onwards.


"Prevening", you heard it, definition and all. Now, observe this set of entries taken from UrbanDictionary*:



Note the authors and the dates of each entry?

My entry, dated Feb 26, 2008 was a solid two years (two years and one month, to be precise) before The Big Bang Theory's entry which was posted on UrbanDictionary shortly after airing on television.

Verdict? Suck it Sheldon, I am clearly two years (and one month) ahead of you!

*Or for those who don't believe the accuracy of this image, visit this link.

The Face With No Body; The Body With No Face

A while ago, before my unexplained disappearance, I had the idea to recreate certain emoticons without using any facial expressions whatsoever. So I did it, and this is the end result:



In other news, I don't care what the haters say, iPhone 4 is awesome. Procrastination for my generation!

Life and other Obstacles.

As you've probably noticed (or are only just noticing now as you read this), I have been neglecting my creative duties as a blogger. This isn't because I have grown weary of drawing tiny web cartoons or have run out of hilarious wit, but mainly because Life is happening. I'm employed, at University learning about fun things like Biological Chemistry and Cell Biology and spending a lot more time than I would like to driving.

However, rest assured, as much as it seems like it, I'm not on a permanent hiatus, just looking for more hours in the day...

Rissor, Scaper, Pock!

Today at work, while doing nothing particularly important I overheard a heated discussion between some fellow employees about the correct title of the game 'Rock-Paper-Scissor' (or scissor-paper-rock, or paper-rock-scissor- which is pretty much how their argument went).

It was pointless, but it was interesting- especially when you note the arguments each one used to back up their logic (Paper-Scissor-Rock is alphabetised, after all). However, the argument ended when somebody whipped out their smartphone and googled it, finding the wiki article entitled Rock-Paper-Scissors.

End of story, right?

Well, not quite. You see, when I got home I was thinking about this, and instead of doing Uni work I decided to quickly google every possible combination of the phrases 'rock', 'paper' and 'scissors'- all six of them!

Now you would assume that, if the correct title of the game is Rock-Paper-Scissor than the amount of articles coming up with this combination of words would demolish all other combinations- but this surprisingly turned out not to be the case.

You see, of the 45,477,000 combined articles in my search, over 22 million of those were attached the relatively unsaid 'Scissor Rock Paper'.

Because pictures are pretty, I illustrated them in a pie graph here:


Don't believe me? Google it yourself =)

I'm Not Dead!

Just extremely busy.

In the last few months my life has undertaken drastic changes. A new job, a new house (funny story, it's actually a warehouse...) in a new place. A change in University major (physiotherapy here I come) and a new XBox360, aka, destroyer of time!

But I'm still alive. I have a crappy prepaid internet dongle for e-mergencies so I CAN update.

It's all just a matter of how much energy I have after 8hrs work, 4hrs of Uni and then NBA2k11.


Fingers crossed y'all!