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Akano

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Blog Entries posted by Akano

  1. Akano
    It's been a while since I updated this, huh? I absolutely suck at keeping a blog. >>;;
     
    Anywho, I've been back from my trip for a week, I think. It was great. I saw a bunch of relatives and I ordered the Inika while there. I must say now, Hewkii rules.
     
    I looked at Dr. B's review of him, and I must say I got different Zamors with Hewkii. I got 2 yellows and 2 orange-red mixes. Same with Nuparu, so I gave Hewkii the yellows, Nuparu the red/orange. They look a lot better. ^^;
     
    And, yes, Hewkii's mask is awesome as well. The photos don't really do it justice.
     
    I made a new comic, which I'll display here in case anyone happens to come across this blog who isn't a regular at my comics (but, seeing as no one visits anyway, I don't see how that's possible )
     

     
    Many people don't seem to get the joke of why my brother and I would become Matoro if fused. I'm a Toa of Electricity, he's a Toa of Ice, and Matoro has the powers of Ice/Lightning. Thus, I thought it was funny that we'd form Toa Matoro when fused. But, no one gets it. *sigh* Moutekea thought it was pure genius, though. 8D
     
    I think that's all my ranting today. Hopefully I can update this more often. >>;;
     

  2. Akano
    So, on Tuesday my roommate, one of the other physics grad students and her friend, and I all took a trip to the Big Apple. My roommate and I had never visited, and I have to say it was not a horrible city experience.
     
    Our first stop was lunch in Central Park, after which we headed to the American Museum of Natural History where we spent time exploring various exhibits including DINOSAURS(!!!), marine life, Egyptian stuffs, and the Rose Center. Unfortunately, we did not see Neil DeGrasse Tyson there, which makes the physicist in me slightly sad, but good times were had. We then headed over to the awesome Nintendo World, where there was more Pokémon merchandise than I could believe. I wish there had been more Legend of Zelda merch that wasn't baseball caps or overpriced T-shirts (I would love to own a pair of Triforce pajama pants). Then we headed to Rockefeller Center to visit the majestic NYC LEGO Store, where I bought a magnet of a LEGO minifigure with an I ♥ NY t-shirt (with the ♥ made of LEGO bricks). Then we visited McGee's Pub, famous for being the bar that MacLaren's Pub of How I Met Your Mother is based on. We then took a subway downtown to view Lady Liberty herself over the bay after sunset.
     
    It was fun times. 8D
     
    Also, today my grad school had an academic fair for the incoming freshman class. The physics department had LED magnet-badge type things to give away to students to suck them toward our table. Go physics!
     

  3. Akano
    Nearly two weeks ago, my brothers, parents, roommate (whom Tekulo has taken to call Friend: Toa of Friendship, so I will refer to him as such), and two family friends took a relaxing trip down to Hilton Head Island, SC. Our first day in the condo wasn't terribly eventful; we all went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and sea. Tekulo built a rockin' sand castle, with a moat, staircases, and other hidden gems, and our dad got pooed on by a crow/raven/corvid. Twice. Also, KK decided to take advantage of my skin condition and scratch "Hi" on my back, which wasn't too bad due to the cool ocean keeping the itchiness at bay.
     
    Day 2 was fairly laid back. The youngins (my brothers, Friend, and I) stayed at the condo for the most part and partook in various stay-in type activities whilst the older folks (parents and family friends) went out and did adult things. Those who weren't allergic to shellfish had a dinner of shrimp, scallops, and the like; the two of us who were allergic (including me) had steak, because that's ocean food.
     
    Day 3 we ended up eating dinner at a restaurant known for its awesome seafood, and while you would think that limited my choices (it did), I was able to have sashimi tuna with avocado and peanut sauce. It was by far the best meal I had there, and it still haunts me.
     
    On Day 4, the elders went to Savannah, GA to tour the city and see the sights, while we youngins did awesome stuff. Our morning featured parasailing thanks to Tekulo's reservation-making skills. Friend: Toa of Friendship went up with KK, while Tekulo and I paired up for our flight. It was a real thrill and surprisingly quiet when you get a few hundred feet above the boat. The motor was a faint hum in the distance, and the view of the bay was fantastic. I would definitely recommend it to those who have never done it before, even if you have a fear of heights (like me). After returning to shore, we found out the same company offered kayaking to a wildlife preserve marsh nearby, so we reserved that for the afternoon while checking out Harbour Town in the meantime. We climbed up the lighthouse, grabbed a bite to eat, and then met up for a kayaking adventure into marshland. It was a fun little tour, filled with the floating excretions of a manatee (I may have glimpsed its nostrils!), herons and egrets, hermit crabs, and dogs barking at us from nearby villas. The park was very quiet and serene, and it was nice to be near nature. Once summer rolls around in the north I'd like to do some more kayaking/canoeing activities. After we returned from our marshland adventure (in fairly windy, rocky waters), we had dinner at a local pub, then went on to play 18 holes of minigolf. Friend: Toa of Friendship won with just two over par, and I claimed second place with Tekulo and KK trailing behind us.
     
    Day 5 was the youngins' return to Ohio in which Tekulo read The Promise, KK played Fire Emblem, and my 3DS's battery died from playing A Link Between Worlds.
     
    All in all, the trip was lots of fun, but it was nice to finally get back home after two weekends of constant traveling.
     
    WLEI DPSFS ASFS WLLOQWDIFE WD DPS UIJTI UIKHLSZ. DPSY ASFS UIIL WJT MSHD DI DPSKESLBSE.
     

  4. Akano
    Yet again, my brothers suggested I do something that they've done. This time it was "watch Gravity Falls," a show which I knew of but didn't know much about. I have now finished the first season, and I must say it's a brilliant, funny show. In no particular order, what makes it stand out is
    The humor - By and far an important aspect of any comedy, the humor of Gravity Falls resonates very well, from the lamest pun to the brilliant stuff they get past the censors (and, wow, do they get a lot past the censors. This is a Disney show, right?). Expertly crafted and leaving me wanting more in the best way possible.
    The story - while not the most story-heavy series (a lot of the episodes are very standalone and can be watched without missing much of previous episodes), the story that is ongoing is very engaging. Gravity Falls, OR is a place where weird, paranormal stuff happens. Our main characters want to know why, thus we want to know why, and their curiosity becomes ours in a genuine, unforced way.
    The relationships are believable - Dipper and Mabel, the two main protagonists, are twin siblings who are sent to their great uncle (or, you guessed it, Grunkle) Stan's tourist trap, the Mystery Shack, for the summer. And they have a relationship that is completely believable (and as a twin, I can fully attest to it). Even when they have a scuffle or conflict, at the end of they day they can hug it out and not hate each other, which is very refreshing in a kids show. Also, the characters are not just defined by single character traits; for instance, Mabel has a fantastically overactive imagination and looks at the world from a very different angle than most of the other characters, but she's never called stupid or foolish by the others. Soos, the Mystery Shack's general repair and groundskeeper guy, who is overweight and sometimes dull-witted, is not defined by these traits, nor is he mocked for them; everyone treats him as they do everyone else, which is also really refreshing to see in a kids show. As for romantic relationships,
     
    This show has provided me with a lot of laughs and a fun world of mystery, and I look forward to what else it has in store.
     

  5. Akano
    Greetings, all! It's time for another retro set review. This time, the villainous Time Twisters and their smallest set, the Time Tunnelator!
     
    Presentation
    From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
     



     
    We see here one of the sibling antagonists, Tony Twister (whose face bears a striking resemblance to Black Bart of the Wild West theme), flying through a stormy backdrop with a jagged mountain to the left, a forest or something of the like near the bottom of the picture, and what looks like a portal to a city in the back-right.
     
    Building
    Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
     



     
    There are 80 pieces in this set, and all are pictured above. This build is pretty straightforward and doesn't take more than ten minutes. Still, there are more pieces than the Rocket Racer, so it's slightly more involved, but not by much.
     
    Set Design
    Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
     



     
    The set foundation is a blue wing piece, and everything kinda sprouts from there. It's interesting that, despite the fact that the set isn't really "filled in," it doesn't look very skeletal or lacking, and I think the plastic wings help that. As far as interesting pieces go, there are two trumpet pieces, two bats, and a few trans-neon orange pieces. I like the use of the black dragon wing as a rudder; it adds to the bat/evil look that this theme has going for it.
     
    Playability
    The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
     



     
    Oh, the functionality. In this set, when the wheels move, not only does the propeller spin, but the wings also flap up and down. The mechanism for the propeller is a rubber band belt that goes from the wheel axle to the propeller, while the flapping wings occur due to the cranks connected to the outside of the wheels; as they spin, the wings flap.
     
    This kind of functionality will be seen again in future reviews of Time Cruisers and Twisters, and this is one of the reasons why I find this theme so cool; they have cool looking vehicles that do more than just roll on the table.
     
    Final Thoughts
    Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
     

    Oblivion is at hand!


     
    While this is a small set, the functionality is a reason I would recommend getting this set over the Rocket Racer; the friction-driven propellers in that set aren't as reliable as the cranks and gears of this set, so this set will satisfy you more if you're a fan of functionality (like me).
     
    This set also looks cooler than the Rocket Racer and has a more diverse range of pieces in its inventory, like the bats, barrels, and bugles. Tony Twister is also a good minifigure in that he gives you a set of epaulettes in yellow and a police hat (which is odd seeing as he's a bad guy, but I digress). Given the choice between the two, I'd buy this set. It was originally listed as $10.00, but can be found now for about half of that, making this set a pretty good deal.
     
    Pros
    What's to like?

    Functionality!!!
    Cheap (~$5.00 on BrickLink)
    Looks cool despite being small
    Has good pieces to plunder

    Cons
    What's not to like?

    Small

    If you're thinking of collecting the Time Twisters sets, this isn't a bad one to start with, so I highly recommend it.
     

  6. Akano
    Guys, Gold and Silver were released almost sixteen years ago, why are you all—
     
    OH! You mean BIONICLE...
     
    ...
     
    There was a gen 2?!
     

  7. Akano
    So, I be back from the untamed lands of the north, and my sleep schedule is messed up. And I have work tomorrow. Fun times.
     
    On the other hand, I saw Legend of Korra yesterday, and OH MY GOSH SEASON FINALE MUST SEE FINAL SHOWDOWN (?) BETWEEN AMON AND KORRA AHH!!!
     
    Also, I got the Mines of Moria LEGO set and have finished building half of it (the cool half with Balin's tomb, the doors, and the well). The rest will wait until tomorrow. I hope to review it (after I review the Vampyre Castle and Gandalf Arrives).
     

  8. Akano
    Recently I acquired an account on the lovely secondhand LEGO store known as BrickLink. This has been wonderful for my inner child and slightly stressful for my pocketbook, as I have slowly been buying sets from my childhood that I saw in LEGO catalogs but was unfortunate never to get. Of those nostalgic sets, I acquired the Night Lord's Castle and Alien Avenger of the Fright Knights and UFO themes, respectfully.
     
    Night Lord's Castle: Awesome. It's pretty much everything a creepy castle run by a vampire and witch should have: bats adorning the entrance and tower, a prison cell in the tall tower for the good guys, and the eerie crystal ball predicting the doom of anyone who dares oppose them make the atmosphere wonderfully appropriate. Basil's throne is a nice touch in the main room of the castle, and the large oak doors on the side give it a sinister majesty (note, I have it in the configuration of the front of the instructions/box, for those curious). Also, the fact that it's swarming with guards add to the "do not mess with us because we're evil and magical" vibe.
     
    Alien Avenger: The epitome of a UFO. It's a giant (for LEGO) flying saucer manned (?) by three aliens and an android guy with two extraterrestrial buggies to explore various worlds. Oh, and Alpha Dragonis' ship detaches from the main vessel. Pretty darn cool. The rotating laser canons on the front and the magnetic buggy-lifting hose are great touches and makes me want to reenact a scene of aliens abducting cattle (I need to obtain some LEGO moos!).
     
    Sorry for the lack of pictures. I promise when I get a decent picture-taking apparatus (the iPhone 3G's camera is surprisingly lacking compared to my old phone) I will post pics.
     
    EDIT: Picture of the Alien Avenger:

     
    I should also review some of my other 90s sets some other time while I'm at it. I miss those days.
     

  9. Akano
    It's been a good run, state of the north.
     
    I have to say, Anchorage itself may not be a good-looking city (in my eyes, no city really is), but the fact that there are mountains literally surrounding it is awesome. Best horizon ever. Of all time.
     

  10. Akano
    So, today is Tekulo's birthday. Since his birthday also happens to be Valentine's Day, and his job is baking, he's quite busy making pastries and other flour and sugar-based products for happy couples and families. And for himself, by the looks of it.
     
    Happy birthday, Tekky. I hope you have some part of the weekend off to make up for your busy day today.
     
    P.S. Go over here to wish Tekulo a happy birthday yourself! 8D
     

  11. Akano
    Well, I've been through one week of band camp. My lips are exhausted due to all the playing. Marching I don't really care about, that doesn't exhaust me. The playing is what gets me.
     
    Why, you ask?
     
    ...I'm literally the loudest trumpet player in the band...and, no, that isn't ego talking, as much as it may sound that way... >>;;
     
    Thus my lips were killing me. By midday Friday my lips had the shapes of my teeth engraved into the inside of them. Perhaps that clears all that up.
     
    I'm really glad we're playing "The Final Countdown," one of my favorite songs to play. ^^ We played it in jazz band my sophomore year, and I'm trying to get my jazz director to bring it back this year. ^^
     
    Okay, enough band nerd talk. I'm sure I'm boring you.
     
    I have a new comic up as of July 30. I made a little block to the left for all of you with a link to both my comics and my stories. If you have free time, please take time to read if you're a fan of one or the other. I'd greatly appreciate it. ^^ The stories have been neglected for a while, but revival's allowed in the Library, so post away.
     
    Umm...I think that's it. Power to the trumpets.
     

  12. Akano
    Oh, Howard Shore, your music is wonderful. My favorite tracks, in no particular order, are
    Blunt the Knives
    Misty Mountains
    The Adventure Begins
    An Ancient Enemy
    Radagast the Brown
    Erebor
    The Edge of the Wild
    I'm looking forward to the next couple movies and the delightful music they will bring.
     
    Also, The Wizard Battle set is totally getting added to my collection when it comes out.
     

  13. Akano
    Welcome to another installment of 90s LEGO set reviews! This entry's review is of the 6496 Whirling Time Warper of the Time Twisters theme!
     
    Presentation
    From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
     

    Image courtesy of Peeron


     
    The box features a shot of the titular Time Warper flying through a dark backdrop with what looks like a portal to a city in the sky and a dark forest near the bottom. Behind some mountains, a moon or other celestial object appears to be setting. There's a flying ghost and bat along with other objects flying around the vehicle. I have to say, I really like the backdrops for the Time Twisters sets. The give a good dark edge to the appearance.
     
    Building
    Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
     



     
    This set contains 147 pieces, of which 142 are shown here. This set is missing two TrRed magic wands, one black airplane rudder piece, and two chrome daggers (this is what happens when you own a set for a long time and leave it apart for a while). You'll notice that this has significantly more pieces than the Time Tunnelator, and for an originally $22 set, it better have more pieces. The build time for this set was around twenty minutes or so, which isn't too bad.
     



     
    There are two figs to obtain in this set: Professor Millennium, Tony Twister's brother and fellow Time Twister, and the Ghost. Note that this ghost, which has a smiling face, is different than the one coming with the upcoming Monster Hunters sets, which features a more spooky moaning face. Also, you may notice that the ghost's arms are not quite as white as they should be. Being an old piece, it got a little too much sun over the years, and the body is faded.
     

    The legs were replaced, so you can see the difference.

    Set Design
    Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
     



     
    The set foundation is a white bathtub piece which premiered in Belville theme. This piece has only ever been released in three sets: this set (1997), 5895 Family House (1996), and 5837 Flora's Bubbling Bath (2002). I'm guessing that the rarity of this piece is why BrickLink has this set at relatively higher prices compared to its original MSRP than those of other Time Twisters sets.
     

    Curse your exclusiveness!


     
    You also get some cool minifig accessories, such as the bugles, coins, magic wands (not shown), a chrome crystal, and a bunch of 1 × 1 clear round pieces.
     

    Note: these bugles are not edible, nor are the coins chocolate.


     
    Playability
    The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with?
     



     
    Again, pretty cool functionality. In this set, like the Time Tunnelator, the rear wheels drive the moving parts of the set. The propeller is connected by a rubber band to the wheel axle to make it spin, and the propeller is connected to the "power drum" on top to spin the container and swirly disk around.
     



     
    The skulls on the side also bob up and down exactly out of phase with one another due to the wheels having a peg that moves the side "arms" (for lack of a better word) up and down. Thus, you get a spinning propeller, rotating container of stuff, and bobbing skulls that make this vehicle come to life. I would rate the functionality of this set higher than that of the Time Tunnelator, since it simply does more stuff.
     
    Final Thoughts
    Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
     

    Note: The dome piece is old/scratched up, hence the not-so-clearness.


     
    Again, fans of functionality will like this set. It comes with two minifigures, both of which are different from the Time Tunnelator, and it comes with that unique bathtub piece, so anyone wanting to do a vignette of a bathroom would love that. This model is also more filled-in than the Tunnelator, so this set may be preferred simply from an aesthetic point of view.
     
    What about Price? Well, as stated earlier, the MSRP was $22 in 1997. Sets available on BrickLink that are in the US are all above that price, with the lowest at $25, while most of the lots in Europe are < $20. So, if you're willing to spend a little extra on shipping, you can get a good deal.
     
    Pros
    What's to like?

    Functionality! (again)
    Cool looking vehicle
    Has good pieces to plunder

    Cons
    What's not to like?

    Price may be high.

    If you can find a good deal on this one, pick it up. It's a good set with quite a bit to offer.
     

  14. Akano
    The room you are currently sitting in is probably around 20°C, or 68°F (within reasonable error, since different people like their rooms warmer or colder or have no control over the temperature of the room they're reading this entry in). But what does it mean to be at a certain temperature? Well, we often define temperature as an average of the movement of an ensemble of constituent particles – usually atoms or molecules. For instance, the temperature of a gas in a room is given as a relation to the gas' rms molecular speed:
     



     
    Where T is the absolute temperature (e.g. Kelvin scale), m is the mass of the particles making up the gas, and k is Boltzmann's constant. But this is a specific case. In general, we need a more encompassing definition. In thermodynamics, there is a quantity known as entropy, which basically quantifies the disorder of a system. It is related to the number of ways to arrange the elements of a system without changing the energy.
     
    For instance, there are a lot of ways of having a messy room. You can have clothes on the floor, you can track mud into it, you can leave dishes and food everywhere. But there are very few ways to have an immaculately clean room, where everything is tidy and put in its proper place. Thus, the messy room has a larger entropy, while the clean room has very low entropy. It is this quantity that helps to define temperature generally. Denoting entropy as S, we have that
     



     
    Or, in words, temperature is defined as the change in energy divided by the change in entropy of something when its volume remains fixed, which is equivalent to the change in enthalpy (heat) divided by the change in entropy at constant pressure. Thus, if you increase the energy of an object and find that it becomes more disordered, the temperature is positive. This is what we are used to. When you heat up air, it becomes more disorderly because the particles making it up are moving faster and more randomly, so it makes sense that the temperature must be positive. If you cool air, the particles making it up slow down and it tends to become more orderly, so the temperature is still positive, but decreasing. What happens when you can't pull any more energy out of the air? Well, that means that the temperature has gone to zero, and movement has stopped. Since the movement has stopped, the gas must be in a very ordered state, and the entropy isn't changing. When the speed of the gas particles is zero, we call its temperature absolute zero, when all motion has stopped.
     
    It is impossible to reach absolute zero temperature, but it isn't intuitive as to why at first. The main reason is due to quantum mechanics. If all atomic motion of an object stopped, its momentum would be known exactly, and this violates the Uncertainty Principle. But there is also another reason. In thermodynamics, there is a quantity related to temperature that is defined as
     



     
    Since k is just a constant, β can be thought of as inverse temperature. This sends absolute zero to β being infinity! Now, this makes much more sense as to why achieving absolute zero is impossible – it means we have to make a quantity go to infinity! It turns out that β is the more fundamental quantity to deal with in thermodynamics because of this role (and others).
     
    Now, you're probably thinking, "Akano, that's all well and good, but, are you saying that this means that you can get to infinite temperature?" In actuality, you can, but you need a special system to be able to do it. To get temperature to infinity, you need β to go to zero. How do we do that? Well, once you cross zero, you end up with a negative quantity, so if we could somehow get a negative temperature, then we would have to cross β equals zero. But how do we get a negative temperature, and what would that be like? Well, we would need entropy to decrease when energy is added to our system.
     



     
    It turns out that an ensemble of magnets in an external magnetic field would do the trick. See, when a compass is placed in a magnetic field, it wants to align with the field (call that direction north). But if I put some energy into the system (i.e. I push the needle), I can get the needle of the compass to point in the opposite direction (south). When less than half of the compasses are pointing opposite the external field, each time I flip a compass needle I'm increasing entropy (since the perfect order of all the compasses pointing north has been tampered with). But once more than half of those compasses are pointing south, I am decreasing the disorder of the system when I flip another magnet south! This means that the temperature must be negative! In practice, the compasses are actually molecules with an electric dipole moment or electrons with a certain spin (which act like magnets), but the same principles apply. So, β equals zero is when exactly half of the compasses are pointing north and the other half are pointing south, and β equals zero is when T is infinite, and it is at this infinity that the sign on T swaps.
     
    It's interesting to note that negative temperatures are actually hotter than any positive temperature, since you have to add energy to get to negative temperature. One could define a quantity as –β, so that plotting it on a line would be a more intuitive way to see that the smaller the quantity, the colder the object is, while preserving the infinities of absolute zero and "absolute hot."
     

  15. Akano
    I got another 90s LEGO System set this week, and am currently writing up the review. I won't tell you what it is just yet, but I'll give you a hint: it was immensely popular, and I don't think it was one that I've talked about wanting to get. It was also featured in the PC LEGOLAND game.
     
    So there are three-ish hints.
     

  16. Akano
    I swear, this is ridiculous. Yesterday, I felt great, now I'm sitting at home wrapped in a blanket dealing with sore muscles, sore throat, and a headache.
     
    And I'm really tired.
     
    Ooh, but listening to Glenn Beck heals it a bit. ^^
     

  17. Akano
    Tomorrow my roommate (of three years), a fellow physics graduate student, and I are going to watch the three extended Lord of the Rings movies. In a row. In one day.
     
    My roommate has tried this once on another occasion, but we couldn't help but bleed into the next day. Here's hoping that we can manage it this time.
     
    Also, three day weekend! 8D
     

  18. Akano
    Hey, all, it's been nearly a month; I should probably post here again.
     
    I'm currently in New York visiting family before the summer wraps up and I'm back at college. It's been stormy and rainy today, though, which makes it seem kinda miserable outside. Not the good storms that last about a half hour and are filled with beautiful lightning bolts, but the cruddy ones that, eh, a few cracks of lightning and a burst of thunder, but cloudy all day. It is clearing up, though.
     
    Also, I obtained Bitil yesterday! Haha! The first true yellow BIONICLE set in five whole years! WOOT! I'm totally thrilled. 8D
     
    (Yes, Atako, I got him. You should still bring him to the picnic, though; we could have him use his mask power. )
     
    I'll be taking pictures of him soon and possibly reviewing him here in my blog. Yes, my view on him is heavily biased due to his coloration, so sue me.
     
    Also, I hope to make a new comic next week, but I may be preoccupied a bit with packing to go back to school. It should be a continuation of my latest comic, so keep your eyes peeled.
     
    I think that's all for now.
     

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