sorry everyone

I said to Rab that Win has no limit on the number of changes for Region Code, but I was wrong.

I forgot that it has limit because I have no problem with it.(you know what I mean? there is limit, but it could be no problem. smile!!)

If you just rip DVDs by DVDdecrypter or Imgburn, you can remove Region Code and store DVDdata on your computer or a blank disk, which means you have no problem with it. However, actually I guess Region Code is not such a problem because it only matters when you watch overseas DVDs. And if you watch overseas one, it means you bought it or someone so kind on the Internet accidentally gave it to you. In the former case, you have to do as I said, but in the latter case, you should have no problem with it. If someone gave it to you, you should know what to do because if you don't, you shouldn't even make your computer recognize it as a DVD.....I hear someone...saying...DaemonTools...it allows you to recognize DVD image data as a real DVD......very useful...you can download it for free.....

I think I need to sleep because something is wrong with my ear and I have a hallucination. So see you when posting the next entry.

I have no doubt you use this information for entirely legal use. If you don't, pi-po kun could knock on your front door someday and send you to jail. Pi-po kun has no mercy at all. So watch out!

popopo-n

I finally watched V for Vendetta. It was fun, but maybe I would have enjoyed more if I knew the political history of UK. The movie is about anarchism against an oppressive government. Considering the original comic was written in 1982, when Thatcher a.k.a. the Iron Lady was the prime minister, I suppose this plot contains a kind of protest against her too conservative stance.

Anyway, almost all we covered today is on a way to write a good paper.

First Rab taught us how to compose an essay. He talked about a way to make an thesis statement. We need to include a topic,claim and three rational supports in the thesis part.

We then covered how to make use of databases to collect sources for our essay. There is a heap of information found on databases.

After that or maybe I should say together with databases, we learned about Zotero.

Since I was in Rab's class last year, I thought I knew every inch of Zotero, but I was wrong. Rab's lecture made me realize that I only knew, hopefully, half of what it can do. For example, I didn't know Zotero can attach anything you like to information it stores. I was surprised at how many functions Zotero provides with us. I can't wait to know everything about it, which I expect Rab will explain to us in the next class.

And as I was writing this, I remembered I have to find at least 20 sources for an essay I'm supposed to write in Winter.

I confess, I still can't decide on my topic. I have some ideas, but it is not very appealing to me. Should I pick one if I know it will not suffice? hmmmmmmmm....

foggy dizzy

Today I just stayed home and did nothing...No, I watched the latest episodes of Fringe.

It is a good show. In each of the episodes, a scientifically strange incident happens. Then mad scientist Walter bishop and FBI officer Olivia Dunhum try to figure out what is wrong and fix it. Remind you of X-file? Yes, this is very much like it. However, technologies on Fringe are much more advanced and Walter's character is quite unique, so there's a difference, which makes the show more enjoyable. I'm not much of a Science guy, but I really like it.

Spooks is also one of my favorite shows filmed in UK, but I will touch on it some other time because unfortunately I have lots of homework to deal with.

☆Materials covered in class

First, Rab taught us how to use Google books. Google books is very, very useful when you wan t to find sources to quote in your paper. It has saved my life many times. I think it is one of the most useful tools Rab's introduced to us.

Then we learned how to find nice pictures. We can narrow search results by selecting the color and the size. Let's say you want to get a high quality photo of green bananas. Then you have to google "banana" and then since what you need is not yellow but green bananas, you need to choose green. Then you choose "large" to narrow them down and finally you get what you need.

After that, Rab introduced Instapaper and Evernote. They are tools which allow you to extract necessary information from web pages. Media on the web such as NYT and The Economist contain lots of advertisements, so if you just screenshot them, you will get unwanted photos and texts. This could bother you a lot if you would like to use the information on your paper. In such cases, Instapaper and Evernote will help you remove what is redundant.

We also covered Google Reader, which I already learned from Rab last year. Google Reader　provides you with a way to check numerous sites in a very short time. If subscribed sites are updated, Google Reader will let you know immediately. It is also equipped withs search box, which is ridiculously useful if you have specific interest in your mind.

Cheers

drinking beer..I love Ebisu and Corona, which is a Mexican beer.

I also like Scotch and Sake(Nihonshu), but they are too strong to drink on weekdays!

I have to say I'm sorry for my lack of knowledge about cooliris.

I found out that there was an add-0n version of cooliris for Firefox.

So what I wrote before on this blog was not right. I have to admit cooliris is much cooler than I thought. It actually provides a way to browse websites. Shame on me!

So I finished writing about an add-on while I expressed my apology.

I just need to talk about one more.

What I would use if I was a Firefox user is Amazon Toolbar.(Unfortunately, I'm a Chrome lover. Chrome is way way way faster than any other browsers I've ever used and more stable than Firefox, which I think causes many problems with lots of extensions added.)

If I name the site that I most frequently visit, it will be Amazon.

Amazon is not just an online book store. It has a wide variety of products, which will be delivered within days unless it's an extraordinary occasion like now.

This incredibly fast delivery is not just because Amazon is great but thanks to the coolness of Japanese transport companies and transport system.

Perhaps you take this coolness for granted. Hell no. It's beyond what we can consider as ordinary. If you understand how lucky you are, you have to thank delivery men more than ever.

They risk their life to make sure delivery is done properly.

Anyway, I would use Amazon Toolbar. It makes it easy to jump to Amazon and to use Wishlist, which is like a bookmark for Amazon products.

I just remember I also have to write about what was covered in class.

First we looked at iGoogle. iGoogle is a highly customizable startpage.

I have used some other customizable startpage, but this is much better.

iGoogle provides a various type of gadgets, which can be added with a few clicks.

You can watch news, market data, pornographies, jokes...whatever you want!

After that, we tried tinyurl. This kind of service is very useful especially if you are a Twitter junkie. Twitter allows you to tweet only 140 characters, so you need to use this if you want to tweet URL and a comment about it at a time.

We also tried Picasa. Picasa is like an online photo album where you can share your pictures with your friends. All you need to know is share them with no one but your friends. If you don't, your pictures could be on 2ch or some other underground bulletin boards while you have no idea about it. Once they are on the web, they will "never" be retrieved or deleted. You have to keep this in mind unless you want to be very famous.

almost forgot to post

I nearly forgot to post an entry. I have so many classes to deal with in this term I'm not sure I can make it through. hahahaha

First of all, I have to say I'm so surprised and even terrified most of the classmates are English Ninjas, which is contrary to my expectations. But this time I'm not alone. I guess there are some fellow native Japanese citizens suffering like me.

You might think I'm stupid and should not say anything like this even after finishing Freshman ELP. That's true, but sorry, this is my nature. I always talk in a too modest manner, my friends say.

Anyway, last week we learned about cooliris, diigo screenshot, gmail buzz and how to label an email in gmail account. Cooliris is cool as the name claims, but I think it would be way cooler if it had a simple browsing function. I think it needs to be self-contained. Cooliris provides us with a cool way to browse photos and movies... why not webs? I hope it will be updated to "coolest"iris.

Diigo is great. It is superior to other screenshot tools. Usually we have to take a screenshot and then afterward need to crop it. However, Diigo makes it simple. We don't have to be bothered about where to crop after taking a screenshot. It might sound like a tiny thing. No. It makes a huge difference for a screenshot junkie like me.

Gmail buzz is just like Twitter. Sometimes I feel like Google is going to rule the Internet. They never miss trends. They are 5 years younger than me(established in 1996) and now they are worth $3.6 billions. Welcome to the brave new world.

Labels and priority inbox help you sort out your emails. Gmail has such a big storage that you might receive tons of emails, which will possibly result in missing emails from your girlfriend, you missing an appointment with her, getting slapped and...ending up being a loser like me. You don't have balls not to care about being despised by pretty girls? If the answer is no, then use this.

Watching Sazaesan and Chibimarukochan makes me really sick and melancholy. They force me to face the fact that Monday is around the corner. The voice "Sazae de gozaimasu!" sounds so like a death sentence to me.