Earthquake

As I was sitting in my room, watching TV, suddenly I hear a rumble. At first I thought someone broke down my front door, but then, my drawer started shaking, my lamp wobbled, and my window creaked. I jumped from my desk chair, ready for action, prepared to dive under my desk or go hide in the bathroom. 

Alright! It's an earthquake.

The 4.6 earthquake happened around 10:40, but as far as I can tell, damage is minimal, if any, in Santa Clara. Really, it was WEAK.

I wonder what a 7.0 earthquake is like.....

Lights Survive Earth Hour

 Well, as everyone knows, today is Earth Day, and ever since a couple years ago, Earth Hour is today as well. 

Supposedly every major city (or participating cities) are supposed to turn off their lights for an hour to set an example to the rest of the world and save energy. 

Well, expecting a pitch dark city at 9:00 p.m. tonight, I waited and waited, only to see the noxious yellow glow in the sky remain in my neighborhood in Santa Clara. My family had some friends over and we ate dinner earlier at Milbrae around 8:30 as well, and even there the buzz of street lamps filled the air. 

Agh, the lights.... dizzy

Without the light pollution, tonight one might have been able to see stars in the sky. But since Santa Clara apparently is not green, it chose to waste that energy, no participation.

I guess I would understand though, Santa Clara is not exactly the safest place, I think I actually saw a gang gather in the park, and there are some retarded gangster wannabes that swear and drink sometimes near my house at midnight. Not only that, I hear gunshots in the distance sometimes and motorcycles racing. Exciting. I guess a riot would start and people would start stealing everything. Even then though, it would be kinda fun. 

In the end I describe this day in one word: DISSAPOINTMENT

The Smart Teeth

I felt compelled to find an article about wisdom teeth since I am having mine yanked out next Tuesday.

(photo credit to http://www.extremefunnyhumor.com/pics/doggy_dentures.jpg)

An article from the dailygleaner.com reports on the ongoing debate of whether or not to pull out those third molars. 

Apparently, two thirds of all wisdom teeth pulled are unnecessarily done, and is a waste of money, becoming just a routine surgery and paycheck for oral surgeons.

After a convention on the topic, the consensus was that if wisdom teeth caused direct problems, then they should be pulled out (hm... took a convention to figure that one out?).

Well, in my case, I have not really thought much about the surgery, in fact, I should probably mull over the concept a little more before I have my gums cut open. The surgery is safe, harmless, but still, having something removed from your body feels weird, feels wrong. I cannot imagine how cancer patients and organ transplant patients must feel having things cut out from themselves. One can never feel whole. These four teeth, however useless, feel like a part of me, and I guess somewhere, somehow I feel like I will lose a part of myself with it. 

This kind of screws up my spring break. It takes about a week to recover from the cutting and the sawing and the pulling and the stitching and the bleeding and the pain. That, and taking 800 mg of ibuprofen a day (hooray). I wonder I if my bike counts as machinery, I really do not want to end up stuck in my house all week because of some painkillers. 

Anyway, expect to see a different person two Mondays from now, expect to see a person that was hopped up on pain killers for a week, expect to see a person missing something, expect a person with 28 teeth (maybe less than you). 

Pizzeria on the Go

Is tomato sauce your ambrosia? Do you love melted cheese? Does the crunch of warm crust stimulate your sense? Is "Pizza your Heart?" (get it?)

Well if your tongue relishes the baked Italian pie, here is a new vendor on the market selling it, according to an article on Reuters.com. 

(photo credit to wallstreetfighter.com at http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/2841485614_45ffe7d8e7.jpg)

Computer controlled, at a cheap price (4 euros a pizza), and open 24/7, the new Italian insipred pizza vending machine by company Let's Pizza has been released to the public, planning to take its place among the preexisting, intimidating, fast food chains. 

However, the pizza machine is much cheaper and faster than any pizzeria, serving up a pizza in under 3 minutes.  

Amazingly enough, the computer tells the machine, upon order, to mix the dough, add the sauce, cheese, and toppings, and bake. 

However, American company Wonder Pizza also has a similar machine that has been around for a while, being able to cook pizzas even faster, though I am not sure how they compare in quality.

In any case, after a week of searching, I finally found an interesting story about pizza. 

According to the creators, it is supposed to be great for the recession, cheaper, faster food. 

But at the same time, it comes into competition with pizzerias and food chains everywhere, and since no manual labor is needed, this means lay offs, firings, and overall, less jobs. 

I doubt the quality would be that great either, pizza experts criticized it as well (though I can only be sure if I can get my hands on one of these vending machines myself). 

Even if the quality is questionable, don't you want one too? With one at school, or one in my room, pizza would be a no brainer. I could make it whenever I want, however I want, and I would only have to push a few buttons. 

Actually, we should all invest in one for Mr. Daren's room, it would solve the problem of food for Winged Post and Talon, and it would not be messy, and it would be cheap, and it would be HELLA SICK. 

-Anyway, I'm gonna go eat some pizza-

Berries Grow Sweet on Taste Buds

Do not be mislead. The title does not mean berries are being grown on tongues, or that they are sweeter if grown there either. 

Rather, it is about, well, a berry that makes things sweet.  

(Photo credit to http://buzznext.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html)

I saw an article about the "Miracle Fruit" on CNN.com about it, but really, it has been around for a long time (i am pretty sure I saw a report about it about a year ago)

The berry does not taste like anything actually, more like a bland jelly bean. But after eating one, everything, and anything, will taste sweet, for a limited time of 15-30 minutes. 

The people who produce these berries could potentially make billions of dollars. 

Why? Well, the people who diet, have rotting teeth, or have diabetes can still please that sweet tooth. Just chew a berry and eat something, it would taste just as good as chocolate cake.

At the same time, if dared to drink a bloody mary in a truth or dare contest (i think the concoction is composed of vinegar, salt, pepper, hot sauce, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup, wasabi, and anything else you can think or find, mixed together in water of course), no problem. Just eat a berry and, its a miracle, ur tongue isn't burned off when you drink it. Of course, ur throat, nose, nose hairs, stomach, intestines, and liver will feel the pain. 

So go out, get some berries, this could get pretty interesting. 

Forget the Apes, Here are the Dragons

Yup, the animals are revolting again.

Rather than our more related species, the ape, lizards are the new leaders of the revolt to get back at humans.

According to an article on CNN.com, "Muhamad Anwar, 32, bled to death on his way to hospital after being mauled by the reptiles at Loh Sriaya, in eastern Indonesia's Komodo National Park, the park's general manager Fransiskus Harum told CNN."

Anwar was supposedly looking for sugar apples when he was attacked, later bleeding to death.

(photo credit to Asian Keng of asiankeng.blogspot.com)

Hmm... sugar apples... sure look tasty. Isn't that worth risking your life to go hunting for? 

You wind up dead, but hey, at least u got some rough, juicy looking fruit (no really, they look dry as hell)

Not only that, the park was forbidden to outsiders since many dragons inhabited the area.

How stupid is that? And who would have thought: komodo dragon territory, many komodo dragons, 

person invades komodo dragon territory, person gets mauled, person bleeds to death, person stupid.

Well, I give my props to this guy. I'm sorry that he died, but still, not the smartest thing in the world to do.

Burgers mean Death

My life is maintained by one thing: to eat. 

It is what I have always done, what I always will do. 

I am not a big fan of vegetables, in fact I probably eat way less than I should (I make up for the fiber through eating around 6 bowls of raisin bran a day, it actually tastes like cookies). 

Number one on my list of foods is meat. Burgeres, steak, rack of lamb, it's all good. I could eat the stuff until I get sick. 

But well, all tasty things have an unhealthy factor. MSG for one, makes everything tasty, from cup of noodles to that chinese take out. 

Everyone already knows that eating a lot of red meat is unhealthy, and this article on a recent study backs this claim up. That little ground beef patty in those white grain buns is just another way to say heart failure.

"The study of more than 500,000 middle-age and elderly Americans found that those who consumed the equivalent of about a small hamburger every day were more than 30 percent more likely to die in the following 10 years, mostly from heart disease and cancer. Processed meats also increased the risk."

Us Americans, with our McDonalds and Burger Kings, really we are just killing ourselves, in a tasty way. 

I guess if I want to live a longer life, I might have to change my eating habits. 

Still, even with the lifestyle update, I can still enjoy fish and chicken, and hey there's even duck. 

Dripping with fat, duck might be even worse than that medium rare filet mignon. 

I guess the best thing to eat as a replacment that is still healthy and nutritious is... sushi.