Editted on Computer: Computer setup changed

Not a big deal, I know. I just replaced my wireless mouse and keyboard combo for an individual mouse and keyboard. Mouse is by logitech (naturally) and keyboard is by elephant

Because of the lesser clutter, my tablet can also happily sit on the desk. :D
Not that I use it much for anything, currently just to play osu!

Added comments: As you can see, there are many things that the iphone app, BlogPressLite, can not do. Ie. Hyperlinking text, or problems with the size of image uploads. FYI, the banner, despite being so small, was directly uploaded from my computer to my iphone. Thus resolution would have been the same. It was just due to the app which had resized the image to being unseeably small (if theres such a word as unseeably, haha).

It is much more practical to do a quick post on my iphone then edit it afterwards on computer.

Also, because its a pain to type large amounts of text, I will just include my comments on the previous keyboard and mouse vs the new ones I have here.

First of all, I would like to express my dissatisfaction with wireless technology. Althouhg wires do get in the way every now and then. After years of using wireless mouses which require recharging.. say every 5 days. I think thats more of a hassle than reorganizing the wires so they don't obstruct. Sometimes even at close distances, the transmission is interferred, and gameplay is affected. Terrible. Of course this might not count for all wireless mouses on the market, the one I had, however, was easily interferred. Especially when the desk is not very big and you own too many gadgets, things starts getting in the way of another.

Secondly, I love this new keyboard, its flat, I like how it looks. I also like this notebook style keyboard because the keys are easier to press (in my opinion). They are also protected by a silicon cover. Its much like the apple one, except its entirely plastic (the outside) and theres no additional usb slots. I don't have anything against my old keyboard, though because it was OLD, there was no driver for window 7 or even vista. Therefore I had no multimedia features for the past 3-4 years or so. This new keyboard doesn't have multimedia buttons either. I guess thats not a problem anymore...

Lastly, this new mouse is ok. Not terrible good nor terribly bad. It seems more sensitive than my previous mouse under the same settings (perhaps this meant the transmission through wireless wasn't 100%). But thats not a problem, the difference was slight and it was easily compensated for. What bothered me more was the wheel that microsoft was so proud of implementing. I'm not going to say it doesn't work, because I think they knew about it. The problem was, the wheel is not very precise, if you want to scroll a little bit, then it either doesn't register that you're scrolling at all, or it scrolls too much. BUT the button right below the wheel, turns on and off the "endless scrolling". So I guess if you don't want to skip through an article and look only at pictures, then you wouldn't turn on that scrolling feature. The reason why I don't like it is because I prefer to not need to change between modes. So at this time, I am using the normal scrolling option.

Prices: Keyboard was $22.99 at CanadaComputers. Mouse was $34.99 at FutureShop. I think its acceptable for the quality of the purchases.

If you got any comments, just post below. Thanks.

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Computer setup changed

Not a big deal, I know. I just replaced my wireless mouse and keyboard combo for an individual mouse and keyboard. Mouse is by logitech (naturally) and keyboard is by elephant



Because of the lesser clutter, my tablet can also happily sit on the desk. :D
Not that I use it much for anything, currently just to play osu!

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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How to Distinguish Fake and Real Nendoroid Petits

As you may already know, I went to G-Anime back in Feb 6 and 7, 2010. While I was there. I made a few small purchases, including a FAKE Nendoroid Petit from the Vocaloid Series. I later bought a real one from a store in Ottawa, comicbookshoppe. So here I will compare the two with images.

First of all, the boxes as far as I could see, looked exactly the same. It was unfortunate, since when you buy Nendoroid Petits, they all come in a fully enclosed box. You can't see whats in it.

I don't have pictures of it, but the fake nendoroid petit doesnt have anything for you to build. Just the figure, the base, and the rod to hold it up. It is also just one piece where as the real one has movable pieces (head, arms, waist).

So lets begin by looking at the front. Fake is on the left, real is on the right.
As you can see, the skin tone is completely different, so is the hair colour. The eyes aren't coloured properly either. You can also see the lack in colouring on the clothes and the detached sleeves.

And a close up if you cannot see it clearly.
Though I must say, in poor lighting (this is the best I can do inside a room). Taken early evening. Its a basement by the way. So I don't have much sunlight.

And now for the back shot, again left is fake, right is real.
Again, you can see colouring is lacking on the fake nendoroid petit. It is expected because of the cheep costs. Though since labour is cheap anyway. Why not make a good job out of it? Beats me...

And for the side shot. Same orientation as previous pictures.
I kinda bent the support on the real nendoroid. orz
So it doesn't exactly stand straight. I don't want to risk breaking the rod, so I didn't bend it back. BUT I would assume if the rod wasnt damaged (by me) it would be able to stand straight. Also, notice the base and the rod are not the same between the two. The real one has a smaller base and a more unique rod which has 2 bends instead of just one 90 degrees bend. Also, the one on the right has a ball joint with the base and the figure, so it is possible to change the angle of the figure (ie, to make it slanted like in the picture). The one on the left has no flexibility, it just goes in and stays in. No movement.
It might be also good to note that the hand positions aren't the same, because the real one is movable, while the fake one is stiff. I didn't take pictures of different poses. (Perhaps I should have...)

And time for the biggest difference....
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..
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...
..
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orz

Another image.

For those who didn't feel like reading.

Summary:
- Real one has more colour than the fake
- Posable vs imposable
- Pantsu vs nopan

Hope this helped.

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Lets take a step back for a minute.

I read something interesting today. I am not sure if anyone else has thought about it in the past. The topic today is... School girls in Japanese culture.

As you may already know from animes, manga, visual novels, dramas, movies, and many other media from Japan. School girls plays a huge part in them. From either the main character being one, or the setting takes place in some high school or middle school.

But have you asked yourself.. Where did this come from? Who thought of it? Why is it such a success?

We have just taken it for granted and happily accepted this fact. Perhaps because we find them visually appealing... or maybe it relates to the audience who like me, are young adult. Or maybe the creators of such animations starring school girls wishes to share with the audience his experiences while he was still a student. Speculations can go on. But I shall stop here.

If you have always wondered about this. You are in luck!
Brian Ashcraft, Kotaku edittor, has gone and done the research for you!

He even published a book so people may learn the secrets to this "School girl" culture.
For a low low price of $11.43 USD

Here are some sources for you look at if you are interested.

via Kotaku
via Amazon

If you got other speculations of why school girls became so popular, just drop by in the comments. I'll be glad to read them.

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