Category: Life, the universe, and everything

Just random thoughts about life, the universe, and everything.

My 2013 MLB predictions

Baseball – quite possibly the greatest thing invented by humanity.

It’s that time of year. Lush green grass, clay-red warning track and infield, pristine white bases, sizzling hot dogs, icy slushies, the crack of wood. Baseball season.

And today’s opening day. Granted, there’s only one game today, but it counts. (Most teams’ first game of the season is tomorrow, April 1st.) Regardless, today is a great day for all baseball fans, including me.

Background info: there are 30 teams in the MLB (major league baseball), and each plays 162 games in the regular season. The teams are split into 6 divisions of 5 teams each. The teams in each division with the most wins, plus 4 wild-card teams, move on to the playoffs.

Many baseball fans and experts – including me – take this time to predict how many games each team will win this season, as well as which team will “win” their division. There are 2,430 games in the regular season, so we just concern ourselves with that for now. Playoff stuff comes later.

I’m a big baseball fan, so I figure this year I’ll chime in with my predictions and picks for who wins the division. I’m just a humble fan – not even close to an expert – so take my predictions with a grain of salt.

I’ve written down how I think each team will do (wins/losses), plus some analysis that’s loaded with baseball jargon. Avoid the analysis if you don’t know too much about baseball. Remember that the top team in every division (rank 1) gets to move on to the playoffs, so everyone is fighting for that spot.

Ug, without further ado, my predictions & picks.

Basaha ang dugang pa ...

MLA template for Microsoft Word 2010

A screenshot of Word 2010 in MLA format.
Click this to download your free MLA Template for Word 2010

tl;dr – usa ka libre nga MLA format template alang sa Pulong 2010A freely-downloadable "Download" button.

Wala ako mahibalo mahitungod kanimo, apan ako na adunay labaw pa kay sa mga magtutudlo nga akong mahimo-isip nga graded papeles lamang kon sa unsang paagi sa pag-ayo sa imong misunod sa husto nga format ug dili, kamo nasayud, sa nga fluff sila pagtawag ‘sulod.’

Kon kamo usa ka estudyante, ang kalagmitan mao pretty maayo nga ikaw adunay sa pagsulat sa daghan, sa daghan nga mga papeles – ang tanan sa MLA format, ang usa ka komon nga format alang sa mga papeles, mga mobung sinulat, ug ang ingon nga. Ang MLA format gidisenyo, Ko mahunahuna, sa pagkontrolar sa pagtan-aw sa tanan nga mga papeles ug sa sa pagpapahawa sa mga estudyante nga buang. Adunay mga tonelada sa random mga lagda ug mga sumbanan ikaw sa mahibalo, sama sa:

Basaha ang dugang pa ...

Sunda ang mga 2012 eleksyon uban sa Google Politics election tracker

tl;dr -check out Google’s awesome political election tracker

I’m a political junkie, mao nga ako sa pagsunod niini nga tuig nga nag-unang Republican proseso uban sa kainit nga ako, usab usa ka baseball panatiko, mosunod sa baseball – nga mao ang pag-ingon nga, kaayo daghan. Ug ang mga nag-unang mga butang sa election nga panahon sa pagtan-aw alang sa mga sa mga eleksyon sa ilang kaugalingon – sa karon nga tuig nga kaso, sa matag estado nag-unang nga ang Republican nga mga kandidato makigkompetensiya.

Kini nga mga eleksyon mao ang mga makalilisang, apan sa bug-os nga malingaw sila sa akong gikinahanglan stats. Ako kinahanglan nga resulta. Ako kinahanglan data. Ako kinahanglan cool kan. Kinahanglan ko nga usa ka dakung sa politika tracker. Busa tan-awon kon unsa ang akong nakit-an:

Google Politics Colorado Primary Result
Google Politics election tracker nga nagpakita sa mga resulta sa Colorado caucus (google.com / eleksyon)
Basaha ang dugang pa ...

My (free) Kindle reading list

Turns out there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such thing as a free book.

The cover of the Odyssey
Available for the low price of $0.00

I recently got a Kindle (the old kind, without a touch screen or 3G or a color screen or anything) for an internship I’m working on. I figured I’d get some books to read while I was at it (might as well use the Kindle for what it’s intended), so I opened up the Kindle Store on my Kindle and prepared to buy a few books.

The first book on my list was Homer’s Odyssey, which I’m currently reading in English class. I scrolled though some of the results looking for the cheapest copy. $12.50, $2.50, $0.00, $1.00, $2.00… hm, looks like I’ll get the $1 one… wait, what?!?

Basaha ang dugang pa ...

A slightly radical proposal for schools

I’ve often been asked the question “If you could be king of the world for a day, what would you do?” First of all, I’d make myself king permanently, but that’s not the point. Here’s my slightly radical proposal that would be the second thing I’d do if I were king for a day.

I’m part of a club that takes out the recycling in our school in the morning. Let me tell you, we collect a lot of paper: if I collect the paper of maybe 15 rooms that haven’t had their paper collected in a few days, I can fill up a whole trash can. Not the small trash cans you have in your house, I mean ones as big as janitors use. That’s a lot.

Basaha ang dugang pa ...

Seeing “Friday” in a different light

If you want a break from the tech talk…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, you’ve probably heard of (and had the misfortune of listening to) Rebecca Black’s Friday. Ikaw nahibalo, that song with the 13-year-olds driving cars and the nasally teenager wondering where to sit? That one.

After a shocking experience (more about that later), I’ve had to start questioning why I (and pretty much everyone I know) hate the song. Breaking it down:

  • The lyrics are junk, but most pop songs have meaningless lyrics anyway.
  • The tune’s pretty catchy, no faults there.
Basaha ang dugang pa ...