Einstein's Riddle

Here's an interesting riddle from braingle.com:

Einstein wrote the following riddle. He said that 98% of the world could not solve it. But several NIEHS scientists were able to solve it, and they said it's not all that hard if you pay attention and are very patient. Give it a try:

There are 5 houses in 5 different colors in a row. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage. Other facts:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.
5. The green house's owner drinks coffee.
6. The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The owner living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water.

The question is: WHO OWNS THE FISH?

Highlight text below to see the answer:

The German sits in his Green House, smoking his Prince cigars, drinking coffee, and watching his FISH.

The rest go like this:

1st House: Yellow, Norwegian, Water, Cats, Dunhill
2nd House: Blue, Dane, Tea, Horse, Blends
3rd House: Red, Brit, Milk, Birds, Pall Malls
4th House: Green, German, Coffee, FISH, Prince
5th House: White, Swede, Beer, Dogs, Bluemasters

Source

Local Car Accident

There was a car accident near my house just two days ago. I spotted the damaged cars while riding the bus to go to work and managed to take some quick photos with one car backed into the sidewalk and the other rammed into the fence and pole. It was an unfortunate and unexpected event - it happens in life. At least no blood or bodily remains were spared.



This scene actually reminded me of the time when my sister got into a car accident. The entire car flipped over but my sister miraculously remained uninjured with no scratches or anything. Maybe it was luck. My mom believes that some higher entity (God) protected her.

Brain Foods

There were times during my previous semester in college where my brain felt a little sluggish so I thought about how nice it would be to have better memory and the ability to retain and process information more efficiently. I can learn course material quicker and possibly reduce the amount of time I spend studying. After some research I learned that cognitive abilities can be improved by merely eating the right foods.

Fish - The presence of omega-3 fatty acids - docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentenoic acid (EPA) - in fish has shown to contribute to brain development. Eating fish can also slow down dementia and possibly prevent mental illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder.


Vegetables - Certain vegetables like broccoli, tomatoes, and spinach have a high content of antioxidants. Antioxidants clean out free radicals (high reactive form of oxygen) that damage brain cells. They also improve cognitive skills and slow down the process of Alzheimer's disease. Other foods with antioxidants: fruits, green tea, garlic, soy, whole grains, and more.

Strawberries - Strawberries in particular contain a certain flavonoid (antioxidant) called fisetin. Fisetin activates neurological pathways, which helps improve long-term memory. Studies in rats have shown that eating strawberries and blueberries also improves coordination, concentration, and short-term memory. Other foods with fisetin: onions.

Eggs - Eggs contain choline, an organic compound that helps synthesize the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Researchers have found that boosting the amount of acetylcholine in the brain resulted in memory improvement. Other foods with choline: fish, grains, peanuts, lean meat, and soybeans.


Yogurt - Yogurt contains tyrosine, an amino acid that helps produce neurotransmitters such as dopamine and noradrenalin. Studies show that tyrosine can improve performance, alertness, and memory while under stress. Other foods with tyrosine: diary products, fish, wheat, and oats.

Sources:

http://www.crumcreek.com/library/antioxidant.html
http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/micro.html
http://www.vitamins-supplements.org/amino-acids/tyrosine.php
http://www.wellnessletter.com/html/wl/2001/wlFeatured1001.html
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18625011.900-11-steps-to-a-better-brain.html
http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fi26.htm
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070904/brain_food_070904?s_name=&no_ads=

4th of July

Well, my 4th of July was pretty fun. I went to a party hosted by a co-worker and watched fireworks. Now I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Teen Decapitated by Six Flags Ride

A 17-year old teen named Asia LeeShawn Ferguson IV was killed and decapitated by the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags in Atlanta, GA. He died while climbing two 6ft fences to retrieve a hat that he lost during the ride.

I don't know what's worse, the fact that he died for a foolish reason or the fact that his death is now a joke target.

Video
Associated Press
CNN
Chicago Tribune

Inspiring Quotes

Ever come across a quote that just inspired you or made you consider life from a difference perspective? I've been feeling stressed out and unmotivated lately and felt like looking up some inspirational quotes. These are my favorite ones:

"It's never too late to be who you might have been." George Eliot

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." Francis Bacon

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." Albert Einstein

"Many men go fishing all their lives not knowing it is not fish they are after." Henry David Thoreau

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." Ann Landers

More quotes

Erasing Ethnic Beauty

With the western or Caucasian standard of beauty being implemented all over the media, it's no surprise that a number of ethnic patients from Asian, African, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern descent get plastic surgery to fit the ideals of western beauty. Sometimes the transformation can be so drastic to the point where part of your heritage is literally removed from your face. The pictures below are two patients from a Japanese clinic who desired a western look.

http://www.veriteclinic.com/treatment/examples/18.html
http://www.veriteclinic.com/treatment/examples/09.html

I'll give the surgeon credit for his skill.

Cheapest Cell Phone Package from Virgin Mobile

I was going through some old cell phones and found my most recent toss-out: the Kyocera K10 Royale, something I owned for only 3 months.When I could no longer afford to pay for a monthly cell phone bill I decided to purchase this prepaid cell phone from Virgin Mobile's website (US version) because 1) I wanted to try out a different carrier other than T-mobile, my main carrier for years, 2) According to ConsumerSearch, Virgin Mobile was chosen as the best overall prepaid wireless, and 3) I needed something cheap since my bank was nearly empty, and the cheapest package I could get was only $9.99 (free K10 Royale + $9.99 airtime)! I ended up paying about $10.50 total with tax included. I didn't care that the phone possibly looked out of style by younger generation standards. It gave me something to use at the time and Virgin Mobile had pretty good coverage from my location. I also have a soft spot for cheap merchandise as it is. So if you're looking for the cheapest prepaid cellphone package Virgin Mobile is the way to go. They now have the $9.99 deal for a free Oyster + 9.99 airtime.

Helpful Sites for Prospective College Students

I wish I had known about these sites during my senior year of high school, before I went off to college. They're great resources for any student who wants general info or needs to make a decision on which college to attend.

CollegeBoard - Good for college searching and looking up admissions information.

College Confidential - Contains a wealth of college information and an active discussion board. A great site for talking about college with other prospective/current students.

College Reviews: StudentsReview - College reviews and surveys from alumni and current students.

USNews.com: America's Best Colleges - The perfect resource for those who care about the prestige and name of the college they plan to attend.

The Princeton Review - Includes information and reviews on colleges.

ChaCha: My Work at Home Part-Time

ChaCha used to be a human powered search engine where "infoseekers" (IS) or searchers connected to live "Guides" who conducted searches for them; the IS could also chat with the Guide in a live window. Now they've replaced live desktop searching with their mobile answers services, textChaCha and ChaCha Voice. textChaCha allows infoseekers to text any question (for FREE) from their cell as if they were sending a normal text message. An SMS Guide (aka text Guide) receives this query, searches for and types in the answer, then sends it back to the infoseeker. ChaCha Voice works in a similar way - the infoseeker calls the ChaCha Voice number and asks a question, which is sent to a transcriber who transcribes the message and sends it to the pool of SMS Guides.

I'm one of those SMS Guides and I'm really enjoying it. A lot of college students and stay-at-home moms are Guides. I was a desktop Guide in ChaCha's early stages but the searches eventually became few and far between so I made little money. With textChaCha, the service has really picked up and now I make enough to pay some bills. I don't rely on it as my main income since I'm already doing a paid internship for the summer, but it's great for supplemental income. There's a lot of freedom and flexibility with ChaCha because Guides can work whenever and wherever they want - some ChaCha while they're watching TV, at home, in the dorm, etc. Here's detailed info on how to become a ChaCha Guide.

MTurk and VideoJug HITs

MTurk was one of the many sites I found while searching for ways to make money online about a year ago. MTurk or Amazon Mechanical Turk is a site where "requesters" pay "turk workers" (I call them turkers) to complete tasks or assignments called "HITs". It's a bit like guru.com or getafreelancer.com, only the requester doesn't have to select a specific contractor. It's less formal in that the worker doesn't have to communicate with the requester and turkers can start working on the task with the click of a button. On some tasks requesters do set a minimum requirement and require turkers to complete a qualification test. Completed HITs are submitted for approval and upon approval, turkers can place the money they make into an Amazon Gift Card or into their own bank account. MTurk also has a semi-active forum called Turker Nation.

One of my favorite HITs on MTurk are the VideoJug HITs. All you have to do with the VideoJug HITs is transcribe or type whatever is being said in the video. The videos last anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. CastingWords is another company that provides transcription HITs with longer audio time. The VideoJug website itself displays an abundance of really interesting "How To" videos that are worth checking out.

Searching for a Mini Notebook

I've had my Sony VAIO FRV for 5 years now and I'm ready for a new laptop, one that is at or around $500, ultra small, and portable so I can take it with me anywhere I go. At least 1GB of RAM, 802.11 b/g wi-fi, and sufficient space for word documents is fine with me. So far, I'm considering the ASUS Eee PC 900, MSI Wind, and HP 2133 Mini-Note, all of which meet the main specs that I want and more.

ASUS is well known for its budget laptops, the Eee PC series. One of their newest releases is the ASUS Eee PC 900. At $549, you get an 8.9 inch display, Linux OS, 1GB RAM, wi-fi card, and a 900-MHz Intel Celeron processor.

The MSI Wind is a beautiful laptop as well and actually rivals the Eee PC 900 (PC Magazine). Of the three choices I'm considering, I'll most likely purchase the MSI Wind because it costs about the same as the Eee PC 900 and has slightly more specs: a 10 inch screen, Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM (can upgrade to 2 GB), and an 80 GB hard drive.

The HP 2133 Mini Note is more expensive than previous two - $749. Its Vista Business OS, 120 GB hard drive, and bluetooth capabilities accounts for its higher price tag. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a little "extras".

source

Streaming Videos

Apart from television, I derive much of my viewing entertainment from streaming video websites. Here are the ones I frequent the most:

YouTube - YouTube appears to be the most popular streaming video site on the net; great for watching personal videos and vlogs.

Veoh - The videos on Veoh have very good quality. You can even watch full length TV shows and movies on their site. Viewers must download VeohTV to watch videos that last longer than 20 minutes.

Dailymotion - Another great video site.

crunchyroll - Strictly anime, asian drama, video game clips, etc.

I Love the Internet

Whether it's reading email, researching, making money, playing games, watching youtube.com, or simply browsing, the internet always keeps me occupied and almost never fails to bore me. I find that it's impossible to never encounter something outrageous, interesting or enlightening while on the net. So I've decided to create a personal blog dedicated to my internet life. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!