Author Archives: Raizen

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: My impressions

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Over the last several weeks, I’ve played some Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, one of the two newest installments of the Pokemon series. If you’re a Pokemon fan, you might already have at least one of these two games, so you probably don’t need a review to tell you that you’d like this game. Actually, this is less like a review and more like my own impression of Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, the one that I’ve played.

So, you might be thinking of asking, “Is this the kind of game that anyone would like, even someone like Adolf Hitler?” Let me tell you something about Adolf Hitler: Adolf Hitler was a Nazi. In fact, he was the biggest Nazi of them all.

just say no

There are bound to be people out there that don’t like Pokemon ORAS (short for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which is like a tongue twister to say). However, I think it’s a pretty well-made product.

Yes, ORAS is a remake of Ruby and Sapphire, and while there’s a real element of nostalgia to it, so much was added to the experience that it could hardly be called the same experience as the originals.

For one thing, the presentation is very similar to that of Pokemon X and Y, which I don’t recall meeting very many complaints. The overworld map generally has an overhead perspective, as do caves and buildings, with some exceptions. Generally, this aspect of the presentation has improvements over X and Y, which seems natural, considering GameFreak has had more experience with dynamic perspective since it was first implemented in X and Y. Like X and Y, it’s the presentation in the battles that really shines. Each of the pokemon models are well rendered and animated, with a cel-shading effect that makes the battles look almost like the Pokemon anime. GameFreak did very well with this in X and Y, and that they took the same approach in ORAS is a decision that seems pretty sound.

Perhaps the biggest issue for Pokemon ORAS is the balance of gameplay, though this issue wasn’t nearly as severe was it was in Pokemon X and Y (where it took a long time to get the third badge, and after you did, you could get a mega pokemon, and the badges generally came in rapid succession). Much of the lack of balance with X and Y came from the fact that once a player could use mega evolutions, they could sweep most of the rest of the game with ease. In ORAS, there is a little more balance with mega evolution, but the way it was introduced was pretty odd. About midway through, the player receives a legendary pokemon that wasn’t available until the post-game in the originals, and it could mega evolve. The player doesn’t have to battle it, either. It’s not broken like either of the Mega Charizards, but it’s still a very strong pokemon.

Like the originals, though, once you capture Kyogre or Groudon, you’re set until the post-game. Pokemon ORAS takes this further, though, by allowing the player to access their newer, stronger “Primal Reversion” forms, which allow what was already a couple really strong pokemon to hammer most of what the game can throw at them.

For the most part, though, if you’ve played Pokemon before, you already have a good idea of what to expect from ORAS, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deliver an excellent experience. In fact, there are many standout aspects of ORAS compared to the originals. For one thing, there’s much more character development. It’s a little surprising, but it would seem that the main character you don’t choose (from between Brendan and May) becomes a somewhat romantic interest as the game progresses, in a manner similar to Shauna from X and Y. Characters such as Matt and Tabitha are far more interesting and well-defined (rather than being the generic Admins they were before), and Archie actually turns out to be quite an interesting character. The character of Wally is also much further explored (and he gets a pretty sweet battle tune).

Many Pokemon players consider the real meat of the game to be the post-game, when new areas become accessible, and the flow of the game is not limited by a plot. In ORAS, there is a bit of an extension which occurs after the initial victory over the champion in the form of the Delta Episode. The Delta Episode is an additional scenario which adds more to the story of the Hoenn region, mega pokemon, and Rayquaza. A lot can be said about the Delta Episode, and among those things is that there is a lot of dialogue! But there is also a lot of character development, particularly for Steven.

Pokemon ORAS is a game which seems like it was made with the fans in mind. One could imagine the following exchange having taken place between GameFreak and a Pokemon fan:

Fan: Wouldn’t it be cool if we could fly on a pokemon around a 3D map of Hoenn?
GF: I agree. Let’s call that “soaring” and put it in ORAS.
Fan: I think it would also be cool if it were easier to get a pokemon with high IVs, such as through chaining or something like that.
GF: I agree.
Fan: Wouldn’t it also be cool if hatching eggs became easier because there was a long path to ride a bike on?
GF: Why don’t we make a circular path that can be traversed by only holding down one direction on the plus control pad?
Fan: I think that it would be sweet if Rayquaza got a mega form that didn’t need a mega stone, and was much stronger than it had to be.
GF: Okay. It’ll be interesting to see what competitive communities such as Smogon do about it.
Fan: And a bunch more mega evos would be nice.
GF: Agreed.
Fan: And it would be cool if one of the event pokemon became obtainable in-game.
GF: Why don’t you play ORAS and find out which one?

Yeah, there are new mega evos, which has had a real impact on the competitive scene. Also impacting the competitive scene is a new set of move tutors. Some pokemon seriously benefit from this, such as Greninja, which gets low kick to answer Chansey, and Gunk Shot. Another nice touch is that obtaining pokemon through Dexnav allows the player to encounter pokemon that know egg moves. There are also a lot of legendary pokemon to obtain in this game. For competitive players, there’s a lot to like in ORAS. But if a person plays competitively, they’d probably want a copy of Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire, because at least until next year they are considered to be the definitive Pokemon games.

It’s obvious that a lot of effort went into Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, and the result is that they turned out excellently.

10 out of 10

Pokemon vs. Digimon: Which came first?

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I remember that in Pokemon’s early days, there was another monster battling franchise that came along and grabbed the attentions of gamers everywhere. That franchise was Digimon.

The two franchises were similar enough that it was very difficult to avoid comparing the two. Many did, many claimed that their favorite game was the better of the two, and many heated playground fights and nerd battles broke out. And heated they were.

Many introduced to Digimon after the popularity of Pokemon really took off have guessed that, because the two were so similar, Digimon had to be some Pokemon rip-off. Then some started saying that, because the Digimon Tamagotchi Pets came to America first, Pokemon had to have been a rip-off of Digimon.

If such a statement were true, it would have been outrageous! It would have meant that Pokemon, for how imaginative it seemed and for how popular it was, would have owed inspiration to some other franchise! How scandalous that would have been!

Many have accepted that to have been true, without looking much into it. Even so, Digimon faded into obscurity while Pokemon had a bit of a decline, though Pokemon would later explode into popularity again.

Does Pokemon owe it’s inspiration to Digimon, or was Digimon attempting to copy Pokemon’s popularity? Considering Digimon’s relative obscurity, one might not give it much thought. However, even today, Digimon fans continue to passionately defend it. Because of this, I decided to do some research to find an answer, and with it perhaps a resolution to so many playground battles.

Many who insist that Digimon came first point to Digimon’s earlier arrival in the United States. For many people, their introduction to Digimon was to the Digimon anime, Digimon Adventure, which aired in the States beginning August 1999, nearly a year after the debut of the Pokemon anime the previous year.

However, the first Digimon product that would see it’s debut in America was the Digimon Virtual Pet. This made it’s debut on June 26, 1997 in Japan. The exact date of it’s American debut is unknown, but it is known for sure that it arrived on American shores in the year 1997. This was the year before the Pokemon anime made it’s debut on American television, with English versions of Pokemon Red and Blue coming shortly afterward.

digimon virtual pet 1997The Tamagotchi Digimon Virtual Pet, the first Digimon product

So, a Digimon product arrived in America before Pokemon made it’s debut here. Does that mean that Digimon came first?

Not so fast. Just because a product arrived first on American shores does not mean that it “came first” in terms of originality. The question as to which franchise came first cannot be sufficiently answered unless one were to consider their global debuts. To answer the question as to which franchise truly came first, one should know which one was first to debut in any form anywhere in the world.

Both Pokemon and Digimon made their debuts in Japan. The first Digimon product was the Digimon Virtual Pet, and as mentioned above, it made it’s debut in Japan on June 26, 1997.

The first Pokemon product to be released was Pokemon Red and Green for the Game Boy on February 27, 1996. This was about 16 months before Digimon’s debut as a Tamagotchi virtual pet. In the time between the debut of the first Pokemon games and the arrival of the Digimon Tamagotchi, the Pokemon Trading Card Game made it’s debut with the Base Set and starter deck, as well as the Jungle and Fossil expansions, and thirteen episodes of the Pokemon anime were broadcast on Japanese TV.

Green_JP_boxartPokemon Green version. This came way before the Tamagotchi Digimon Virtual Pet.

So that’s it. Pokemon came first. In fact, the Pokemon Anime and Trading Card Game, two well-known facets of the Pokemon franchise, debuted before there would be a Digimon product of any sort. This matter is resolved, right?

There are some stray arguments related to this that I would like to answer, so let’s examine them.

Sometimes, a Digimon fan may claim that because Digimon was a Tamagotchi, Digimon had to have come first. That really doesn’t work, because even though Digimon was originally a Tamagotchi product, Digimon was distinct from Tamagotchi in several ways. It doesn’t work to say a product came first because it’s predecessor came before it. Besides, the Tamagotchi made it’s first debut in Japan on November 23, 1996, nearly nine months after the debut of Pokemon Red and Green. Thus, Pokemon came before Tamagotchi.

Sometimes, someone in a discussion involving Pokemon and Digimon will point out that Godzilla involved monsters fighting. Apparently, the idea in bringing this up is an attempt to defuse the argument by suggesting that they both had to have taken inspiration from something else. However, this is like comparing sea sponges to nitrous oxide. Pokemon and Digimon involve young characters making monsters battle while commanding them to use certain attacks. The Godzilla series involved giant monsters fighting each other, caring little about how many young characters they step on or blow up in the process. Pokemon and Digimon made their debut about 16 months apart, with one of them (namely Digimon) making obvious changes to emulate the success of the other.

Sometimes, I also hear that Pokemon wasn’t originally called “Pokemon”, but changed it’s name from “Pocket Monsters” in some attempt to copy Digimon. You probably see in the picture above that Pokemon Green was originally called “Pocket Monsters Green”. It’s true that Pokemon was originally called Pocket Monsters, however, it’s name wasn’t changed in an attempt to emulate Digimon in any way. Pokemon was originally a fan name for the Pocket Monsters franchise. The Japanese love nicknames and shortening names, and Pokemon was another example of how the Japanese did this. This fan name became so popular, that when Pocket Monsters made it’s American debut, Nintendo decided to call it what the Japanese called it. Pokemon wasn’t officially accepted as the name for Pocket Monsters in Japan until the debut of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, and by then, Digimon had already declined as a franchise. Besides, why would GameFreak want to change the name of their franchise to emulate a less-popular one?

EDIT: There is another argument that’s been coming up recently, that Pokemon is somehow copying Digimon with the recent addition of the mega evolution mechanic to the sixth generation games. A similarity mentioned is the temporary nature of mega evolution, which seems similar to how digimon typically revert to a previous form after a battle in which they digivolve. It seems the main reason people make this assumption is due to the use of the word “mega”. In the original Japanese version of Digimon, the mega stage was actually called “ultimate”. Later, when Digimon was released in America, the “perfect” stage was instead called “ultimate”, so when the ultimate stage was revealed, it was called “mega” instead. It would seem that the only similarity is that mega pokemon revert after a battle is over, but even then, mega pokemon weren’t the first to do this. Cherrim and Castform have been doing it for a while. It would seem that similarities between mega pokemon and mega (actually “ultimate”) digimon is coincidental. But at this point, it hardly seems relevant, considering that Digimon has very little media presence anymore, and less popular franchises are scarcely chosen for emulation. (This topic is explored further in this article.)

So, that’s it. Pokemon came first. That seemed obvious to me for a long time, but the question kept coming up on message boards, so perhaps someone could benefit from seeing it explained here.

A few restroom etiquette tips

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Every now and then, some things need to be repeated. For example, these few simple rules of etiquette for using public restrooms.

  • Don’t stand three feet from the urinal to use it.

Long-distance urination is not an Olympic event, so there’s no reason to do this. Someone might see your stuff, you might actually hit someone else, or get the floor messy. There’s too much room for something to go wrong.

  • Unzip and undo your belt buckle while in front of the urinal, zip up and redo your belt buckle before turning away from it.

There’s a strong chance that failure to follow this rule could be seen as exhibitionism, be unwanted, and result in social isolation or winding up on some list of creepy people that anyone can look up by using their iPhone. Even if you think your penis is really handsome.

  • If urinating in a toilet, lift the seat or sit down.

Your aim probably isn’t nearly as good as you think it is. Don’t take that chance. If a urinal is available, it’s probably advisable that you use that, instead. If you don’t want to lift the toilet’s seat, don’t stand up to pee in it. Don’t act like you’re twelve years old.

  • If at least one urinal is occupied, the ideal one to take is the one the greatest distance from the occupied urinals.

The idea is to prevent accidental peeking, either on your part or someone else’s. To facilitate, take the urinal either to the far right or the far left if none are occupied. That way, the next person in can take the farthest one down if you’re still there. If you’re both there while another person comes in, he can take one of the ones in the middle, if available. It’s simple, really.

  • Don’t put toilet paper rolls on the floor.

It’s hard to imagine that many people would want to touch to their bum something that’s been on the floor of a public restroom. Walking into a stall and finding the toilet paper roll on the floor is grounds for selecting another stall.

  • Wash your hands.

Don’t act like you weren’t just holding yourself. Wash your hands, or don’t be surprised if I don’t want to shake your hand.

  • Don’t initiate a conversation with someone using a stall or a urinal.

The person who’s using the stall or urinal may find this seriously creepy. Think about how weird it would seem if someone started talking to you when you were trying to pee. Unless it’s something really important, like some information that, if passed on, could save the world, it can wait until the recipient is done taking a leak.

  • When using a urinal, keep your face and eyes forward.

Otherwise, someone may see you and think you’re trying to peek. It’s generally preferable to avoid fist fights in public restrooms. It’s not a good place to wind up bloody and bruised.

  • If using a single toilet restroom, keep the door locked as you go about your business.

Most people would not like having someone walk in on them. You can do your part to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

  • Knock before entering a single toilet restroom.

Yeah, someone should be doing their part to lock the door as a precaution. But, not everyone does. Many people attempt to open the bathroom door confident that, if someone were using it, they’d lock it. When they fail to do so, walk-ins can occur. Because of this, the rest of us have a precaution to take.

This stuff is simple. Really simple. Yet, so many people fail to do these, and when these people sincerely wonder what’s with all the judgmental staring, they’re communicating that they weren’t aware of the basic tenets of restroom etiquette. If someone doesn’t understand restroom etiquette, it’s safer for them to just stay out of them.

You might not actually be an intersection superhero.

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Just because a person tries to be nice, doesn’t mean that they know how. Take, for example, those who stop at intersections to allow pedestrians to cross. That seems like a nice thing to do, right?

Many agree, and they’d go out of their way to make sure that they do such a thing.

I’ve seen numerous times that motorists, if they see someone nearing an intersection, stop and wait so that the pedestrian can cross before proceeding. They’ll do this even if it’s not at all necessary. In many cases, the motorist could have proceeded through the intersection before the pedestrian even arrived at it.

The motorist probably pictures themselves some kind of hero who is holding back the traffic behind them so that the little guy could cross. However, they could actually be causing problems.

For one thing, they may be holding back someone who is already running late for work, or has something important to deliver with a deadline minutes away. Or they may be holding back a woman who doesn’t want to give birth in a passenger seat.

Also, when a motorist stops to allow a pedestrian to cross when they don’t have to, they are making an unnecessary and awkward moment for the pedestrian. We live in an age where distrust is rampant. Some pedestrians might be paranoid, assuming that the motorist is setting up a moment where he can easily run a pedestrian down, and enjoy the feeling of power from being in such a position. That kind of distrust isn’t rare these days. We live in an age where many people assume the worst of other people.

If the motorist can reasonably proceed, then why not? If a person stops and waits for a pedestrian that hasn’t reached the intersection yet, and they could have gone, and the pedestrian could have easily crossed afterwards anyway, then the motorist is actually wasting their time for nothing. What other reason do people do this than for a sense of satisfaction that comes with doing something nice, while expending a minimum of effort?

Pedestrians may want to know what they can do about it. The solution is simple: when a motorist that could have kept going pulls up to an intersection, and unnecessarily stalls there, just cross behind them. This way, they won’t be enabled to make awkward moments like that, and if they want to experience the satisfaction of having performed a good deed, they can find that by doing a good deed. And such a thing is not very hard. There are places where there is a lot of trash sitting around.

YouTube Channel Review: UrAvgConsumer

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The pursuit of quality is a quest for consumers everywhere, and we help each other out when we write reviews. I’ve decided to do a review of a YouTube channel, and the channel up for review is UrAvgConsumer, which can also be referred to as the Beats by Dre channel.

beats apologist

One thing that’s obvious right off the bat is that UrAvgConsumer is a huge fan of Beats by Dre, a brand of headphones famous for being endorsed by Dr. Dre, being worn by celebrities, being expensive, and sounding like garbage. This is disappointing, until one considers that the headphones were originally made by Monster, the same company that set an MSRP for an HDMI cable at $120.

Something that’s expensive like Beats by Dre should not be getting mixed reviews. But it is, and people keep going out and purchasing them. Many of those that do rave about it’s sound quality. Others return them to the store, because there’s more to the audio experience than bass, and other, less expensive headphones do bass better.

UrAvgConsumer’s video selection includes:

  • Beats by Dre Pro Unboxing
  • urBeats vs Beats Tour Comparison (a comparison of his favorite headphones is unavoidable, since he spends a lot of time discussing the Beats brand)
  • My Top 5 Favorite Headphones 2.0 (he lists his favorite headphones, which are pretty much bass headphones and this list includes [guess what!] Beats by Dre)
  • New Beats Studio Review 2013
  • What’s in My Gadget Backpack 2.0 (which, yes, does include a Beats product)
  • My Beats Headphone Ranking / Purchase Guide

That last one should give pause for thought. This guy calls himself “UrAvgConsumer,” short for “Your Average Consumer,” and he has enough of these expensive headphones to make a purchase guide for them including footage of his experiences with the products. I admit that I haven’t gone around surveying consumers to compile data on their audio purchasing habits, but I don’t think it’s a bad assumption that the average consumer doesn’t have a few thousand extra dollars in the mattress to go out and purchase dozens of headphones, with emphasis in those large purchases being bass headphones and Beats by Dre.

I know that some might say that I’m not making a fair assessment of UrAvgConsumer’s YouTube channel unless I’ve watched each of his videos. I don’t have to watch each of his videos to write a review of his channel, and I don’t want to watch dozens of his videos. It’s enough to see that he has a number of videos reviewing Beats products and flirting with his girlfriend to get the idea just what kind of content he’s offering the internet. Also, if I did watch more of his videos, more channels like his may appear in my recommendations, which was how I came to be aware of his channel to begin with.

And while we’re talking about recommendations, I think YouTube could benefit from a clickable box (similar to their Watch Later option) that removes certain videos from your recommendations so you don’t have to watch them to get them out of there. There was one video that I was trying to avoid that appeared in my recommendations for about a month. When I did finally decide to watch it, even with my lowered expectations, I was still disappointed.

As for UrAvgConsumer’s channel, I’m giving it a score of 4 out of 10. Which I think is pretty generous. I was considering giving it a score of 3, but UrAvgConsumer’s channel provides plenty of material for nerd battles, which are sometimes a little amusing. Other than that, it’s hard to recommend this channel at all. Unless you happen to be a Beats by Dre fanboy who is out to attempt to justify his purchase, which is something that UrAvgConsumer is happy to help you with. Just don’t count on the comments sections to help you as much in that endeavor.

You are not a vampire.

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Occasionally, you may see someone who thinks that he’s a vampire. Either that, or it’s some fantasy he engages in that he sometimes acts out.

In some cases, it’s pretty obvious that the reason someone engages in fantasies like this is because they wish that they’re someone or something else because they are failing at what they actually are. Like how a person with a bad job pictures themselves as some kind of genius even though they aren’t actually doing anything to improve their situation, or doing that well at the job that they already have.

One question I have is, why would anyone want to be a vampire? They fancy themselves some master race even though:

  • They can’t cross running water – this makes vampires easy to outrun
  • Daylight kills them – significantly limits their activities
  • They can’t come into contact with certain religious symbols – which are very easy to find, by the way
  • Garlic kills them – this is something that is used to flavor pizza, pasta sauces, and other foods that many people like
  • And recently, they sparkle – makes them easy to identify

Yeah, vampires are lame.

Vampires are often pictured as having superpowers, which don’t do nearly enough to compensate for the fact that vampires can’t do many of the things that most of us like, such as synthesizing sunlight into vitamin D. Also, the fact that sunlight kills them means that this self-proclaiming “master race” can’t participate in this thing called “agriculture”.

However, it’s hard to find the self-proclaiming vampire that expresses interest in just about any means of production. This is no surprise, because vampires personify what’s wrong with today’s entitlement culture: they consume other people’s work, but they contribute little to nothing to society. Vampires are the fantasy equivalent of those guys with Escalades who live on social security and food stamps/access cards/EBT cards.

Also, space travel is out of the question for vampires, because they can’t travel beyond the earth’s umbra. Travel for vampires is also limited because there are places on earth where the sun doesn’t set for months.

There may be some recent attempts to reinvent vampires, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s something that someone pretends to be when someone wants to forget about their job as a Walmart clerk. But if a person is in a position like that, why not fantasize about being an architect, or an electronics technician? Then they can do something to make it happen. Because when it comes down to it, a person can’t become a vampire, no matter how much they want to be one. However, a person can become an architect or an electronics technician if a person is willing to learn and do the required work.

But if a person just wants to fantasize, why not fantasize about doing or being something that’s not lame? For example:

  • A space marine
  • A cyborg
  • An extra-dimensional dragon
  • A rock star or some other musician
  • A combination of the four, because why not? If you’re going to daydream, go for gusto.

If someone is going to choose to mold their fantasies to some template, why choose a template that’s lame or tired? There’s nothing really interesting about vampires. People who think that they are vampires are not vampires, and they shouldn’t want to be one.

Are you Obamacare meltdown compliant?

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Public, I’m going to tell you what you already know: You didn’t choose Obamacare, people that you made the mistake of voting in charge chose it for you. While we can’t vote them out of office until the next election day, what we can do is make sure that we’re Obamacare meltdown compliant.

What does it mean to be Obamacare meltdown compliant?

As you may be aware, when you do your federal income taxes for next year, there will be a fee for those who decided that they didn’t want to touch Obamacare with a stick. This fee will apply to the enormous majority of people, as most people did not sign up for Obamacare. This fee will be something to watch out for.

This fee would come out to far less than the overall cost of participating in Obamacare, but a person should still be ready for it. That fee would be either $95 or 1% of your income, whichever is greater.

For those of us who are making $9500 or less this year, you face the challenge of somehow making $95 appear. How you do it the federal government doesn’t consider their problem. They consider it your responsibility to somehow come up with $95 on top of the razor thin margins you’ve been living off of.

For those of us who have made more than $9500 this year, the fee will be 1% of your income. Which may not sound like much, unless you are able to do simple math. If you are making $20,000 this year, think about how often you’ve had an extra $200 in your pocket that wasn’t already earmarked for paying the rent, paying bills, or buying something to eat. Unless it’s the time you got your income tax refund, it hasn’t happened. Which, because of Obamacare, may have a significant chunk taken out of it. And for 2015 income taxes, it will be much higher.

By now, you’re probably figuring out what I mean by “Obamacare meltdown”. It will be the time when poor people will come to the conclusion that Barack Obama isn’t really their friend. Many of us realized what was coming. And now, you do too.

Of course, there are likely a lot of people out there that aren’t fond of the idea of paying. I’m not sure how fond the federal government would be of coming after you if you don’t pay, but if you don’t, be ready for a battle.

What else can you do about it? Election day is coming up. To make it easy, those who are responsible for Obamacare are almost invariably democrats. Even if you aren’t fond of republicans, you likely realize that they’ll work to reverse the damage caused by about six years of democrats having their way with our government, our industry, and our money.

Are you Obamacare meltdown compliant?

A look at some of the worst advice the internet has to offer: how to tell your crush you like him/her

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wikihow crush

It’s probably no surprise that the internet is teeming with bad advice, and some of it you find on WikiHow.

Let’s look at their article, How to Tell Your Crush You Like Him Without Words. (EDIT 23 Jan 2015: The page has since been rewritten, so the advice is no longer as hilariously bad as it was before. The analysis in this post is of the old version of the article. If anyone has access to the old version of the article, a link in the comments section would be appreciated.)

My first problem with this article is in the title: the author insists on not using words. What’s wrong with using words? It becomes apparent shortly that this article is intended for some seriously shy girls. If that’s a problem, WikiHow probably has a few articles on overcoming shyness.

If one were to attempt a psychoanalysis based only on the contents of this article, one may guess that it’s author has an unusual and unrealistic expectation of people’s ability to read minds. If such a person has anger issues or allows little things to upset them, that person probably does have some relationship problems.

Let’s break these tips down one at a time:

1. From afar (about ten feet) look into his eyes (do not stare). When he catches your gaze give him a dazzling smile he won’t forget and wave or wink.

The items on this list are highly situational. The advice here is to stand from afar, about ten feet. Ten feet isn’t very far, but the author of this list seems to think so. Once the distance requirement is met, then “give a dazzling smile.” The author also reminds us to wave or wink, so apparently this expert on crushes thinks it’s a serious omission not to do so.

Notice how it says “about” ten feet. WikiHow is giving a little bit of leeway here, so there’s no need to break out the tape measure in an attempt to set up the moment you’d otherwise probably be waiting a while for.

2. Do you know where he sits in class? If so, leave a note on his desk saying “Something is waiting for you on the school steps at 3 o’clock sharp”. Leave a little gift and note at 3 o’clock sharp on the school steps saying, “Hi so-and-so. Thought you might like this : ). From your friend, so-and-so.”

If I sat down at my typical spot and found something like this, I’d probably find it seriously creepy. One may even consider it a threat. There’s too much room in this tip for something to go wrong. What if your crush decided to sit somewhere else? Or what if Chuck from the football team decided to sit in his favorite spot?

Also, the title of WikiHow’s list insists on not using words, and writing notes does qualify as using words.

3. Grab a group of friends (including your crush) and invite them to play basketball, soccer, etc. When playing, make sure you’re on your crush’s team and pass the ball to him a lot. After the game go up and give him a high five and smile. If you’re feeling daring and need to say something say, “Great job! You’re an awesome —– (fill in the blank with the sport you played) player.”

This tip makes the assumption that your crush is interested in sports. What if he, like myself, is one of the many men out there that don’t care about sports? This tip does little more than support the notion that the ideal boyfriend is a jock, while nerds would be avoided. This is a notion that is turned on it’s face once one advances beyond high school, and the nerds generally have much better careers.

4. Pass by him and then turn your head around to look at him. If he’s doing the same thing, that’s a good sign.

There’s actually such a thing as a female creep, just as there is such a thing as female stalkers. If he’s looking back at you, it might be a good sign. Or it might be a bad sign.

Looking through this article’s art, I noticed that the female is almost always the only one blushing, and in the one where the guy might be, his face doesn’t turn pink. Notice how when girls blush or have a crush, it’s considered cute, but if it’s a guy, he’s often seen as a pervert? Feminists like to complain that women are “objectified” and portrayed as being obsessed with love in media, but men seem afraid to complain that women are usually the ones that can get away with expressing their sexuality. Much of the male gender is in a pretty submissive state these days, resigned to the notion that when something in a relationship goes bad, they’re seen as the bad guys.

5. If he likes you back he will ask you out, but just be patient.

This tip doesn’t belong on the list. The idea is to tell your crush you like him, and somehow do so without words. Waiting for him to decide to initiate the relationship (and possible suffering in silence in the meantime) is not a step in this process.

6. Don’t kiss him, have him kiss you first!

As with the previous tip, the problem with this one is that it insists on waiting for the male to take initiative. Kissing him would communicate pretty well that you like him without using words, so to accomplish the objective, it would be more effective to not take the list’s advice.

7. Never force a guy to like you, just let time do that and be nice. Try to talk and if he does not want to talk then so what? Try next week and then he’ll finally ask you out.

This list asserts pretty confidently that if a guy doesn’t want to go out with you, then he’ll do it if you ask him again next week. It actually doesn’t work that way. But, again, this list breaks it’s own rule by saying “try to talk,” which, yes, does qualify as “using words.”

8. If he asks to borrow a pencil, give him one with a message on it.

First, giving someone a pencil with a message on it counts as using words. Second, this depends on the object of affection asking for a pencil, which if he does, he’s probably not very dependable. If such a thing were to happen, the exchange would probably go something like this:

Boy: Hi, I forgot my pencil. May I borrow one of yours?
Girl: Oh, yeah. Just a minute. (proceeds to etch something on the pencil)
Boy: Um, will this take very long?
Girl: No, wait just a minute. (scribbles furiously)
Boy: The pencil looked okay. It didn’t look like it needed anything done with it.
Girl: I’m almost done! (scribbles faster)
Boy: Look, I’ll just borrow a pencil from some other girl.

This situation could probably be averted by having a pencil with a message already on it, but then you’d probably end up hanging onto it until the theoretical moment occurs that he asks for a pencil (and doesn’t ask someone else). Another way to avert this situation is with the following tip:

Ask him out.

A date is a small amount of time spent with someone to attempt to determine their character as a potential suitor. A person goes on a date to determine whether they would prefer to be in a relationship with them, and it is sometimes a recreational activity between a couple already in a relationship. If a person takes the advice in the WikiHow article mentioned above, a date isn’t likely to happen, and an infatuation from afar is likely to continue for a long time, with the person continuing to have a crush based on assumptions that they’ve made about that person.

My non-struggle with introversion

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I could probably be considered introverted. After a long day, I’d usually rather chill at home than spend time with a group of friends chatting it up.

I think introversion is something that has long been misunderstood, and recent studies appear to have confirmed this. Right now, from what science can tell about introversion, is that it has to do with certain levels of a chemical in the brain. Whether it’s dopamine or serotonin, I’m not sure. However, people tend to feel lonely and depressed when levels of this chemical are low enough. Production of sufficient levels of this chemical are usually triggered by social interaction.

Introverts, however, receive adequate levels of this chemical, and can be in danger of the stress involved with unusually high levels of this chemical.

For a long time, extroverted individuals have assumed that introverts are either unhappy or that there is something wrong with them. Often, they’d take it upon themselves to attempt to “cure” an introverted individual by dragging them into social situations that they aren’t comfortable with. I think that many of us are familiar with the tendency of people to react to someone who thinks or acts differently by saying something like, “What? Our way of thinking or acting isn’t good enough for them? Why can’t they be just the same as the rest of us?”

Because of this kind of thing, when studies about the true nature of introversion have been conducted and their results were published, one could imagine that introverts would react by jumping up in the air and saying “Woohoo! Perhaps finally people will respect our desire for peace and quiet!”

However, most people don’t read scientific journals and dense research papers. In fact, unless there is an indication that the paper in question would support an assumption that a person already had, that person isn’t likely to bother reading it. From what I can tell, most people don’t like cognitive dissonance, and that’s usually triggered when someone finds out that they were wrong about something. How many people out there continue to believe that hot sauce causes ulcers? While we live in an age where so many people fancy themselves intellectuals, most don’t seem as interested in self-improvement or education as they are in burying their faces in their cell phones.

It’s been assumed that introverted people are somehow miserable. It’s easy to see how a person can come to think so when they see one in a rowdy bar or a crowded rock concert and they just want to get out of there. But the reality is, different things make introverted people happy. They’d prefer to go home after a long day’s work and turn on the radio, while the idea of a social situation where participants continually dare one another into increasingly unwise behavior with alcohol involved would probably make them sick.

Introverted people have fewer friendships, but those friendships are typically of much higher quality. This is something that I think I can identify with. When it comes to friendships, quality is better than quantity. It’s better to make the right friends than make a lot of them. Besides, it’s been an idea that friendship carries with it a notion of obligation. Sometimes, a friend may try to dictate how a person spends their time. An extroverted person may jump at every opportunity to go along with a crowd of people, but because introverted people quickly get tired of social gatherings, they’d be very unlikely to do so.

I think it’s a positive thing that a distinction is being made between introversion and shyness. Shyness can be described as a social phobia, while introversion can be more aptly described as a preference for a certain level of social interaction.

One thing that I think people need to get about introversion is that introverts aren’t unhappy, and that attempts to “rescue” them by placing them into scenarios that they don’t want to be in may actually cause more harm than good. One thing I sometimes hear is “lighten up”, as though not going to concerts or parties somehow means that I’m avoiding having a good time. Not everybody enjoys the same activities. In spite of this, some try to make themselves social superheroes that take it upon themselves to try to solve other people’s problems, even if, in some cases, they don’t actually understand the matter very well.

Here’s a few things I do enjoy:

  • Going on long walks, either alone or with one other person,
  • Arriving in the dorm after the day’s classes,
  • Studying (I have the textbooks, and I’d prefer to have better grades).

And on those last couple points, yes, I’m a college student. That being the case, I think it’s very important how I budget my time, especially considering that not everyone succeeds in my choice of major. My main purpose in college is not to make friends, but if I do, it would be a nice bonus. However, it would probably be fewer friends than most, and perhaps there’s some people I’d prefer not to keep company with. There seems to be this notion that being picky about one’s friends is somehow a bad thing. Such a person is typically seen as “judgmental”, a term that seems to be perceived in a negative light, as though exercising proper judgment is somehow a bad thing. I think most people can understand the negative consequences of picking the wrong friends, and because of this, people can benefit from taking measures to prevent this from happening.

Another thing about introversion is that introverts are sometimes thought of as rude. Whether a person is rude depends on the individual, and I think that an extroverted person has the same capacity for impoliteness. I think that a lot of small-talk doesn’t really accomplish much, and that people mostly only really engage in it due to a notion that they somehow have to.

I remember hearing someone say that 99.9% of people like answering questions about themselves, and that 1 in 10,000 don’t. Assuming those are the only two possibilities, that person’s math is off by a power of 10, but I think what he was trying to imply was that very few people are truly introverted. As I see it, if people require constant social interaction to keep a chemical in their brain at a certain level, then extroversion can be loosely classified as a dependency or an addiction. If that’s the case, then introversion can be seen as a kind of freedom.

Freedom to study, freedom to meditate, freedom to go on hikes, freedom to think about ways to improve one’s self, without having the burden of bringing a certain chemical in one’s brain up to a certain level. Friendships would then become deeper and more meaningful. Intimacy would be more gratifying and fulfilling, with a much stronger connection that is desperately sought-after by those who climb on and off the sexual merry-go-round. More time can be put into personal pursuits, which can result in a purposeful career.

No, I’m not the kind of guy who desperately clings to whatever friends he can get. My friends are chosen with care. People typically have a very hard time maintaining strong, deep, meaningful personal relationships with a large number of people. Many perceive social life as being a contest to achieve just that. With this mentality, people often take on more than they can deal with. This mentality also enables them to view as “losers” those who decide not to participate in such a game.

I also think more people need to understand that introversion doesn’t mean hating people. It may seem that way to some people because introverted people are pickier about who they spend their time with. There are plenty of insecure people out there, and one way that they indicate themselves is by getting upset when other people don’t want to hang out with them. Not only does someone not have to hang out with them, they also don’t have to provide a reason for deciding not to do so.

Do I struggle with introversion? I think I struggle more with people who don’t respect that I don’t want to do the same things that they do. People seem to love going along with the crowd. But what the crowd does might not be for me.

You probably don’t need to avoid gluten.

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If you prefer to eat gluten free, go ahead and tell me why.

Unless you have celiac disease, you likely don’t have a reason that is medically sound.

There’s a huge dietary fad in which people are making a point of avoiding anything that has gluten in it. This is due to the idea that gluten must be, in some way, unhealthy, even if those who think so aren’t really sure why.

But here’s the thing: unless you have celiac disease, you probably don’t have any reason to avoid gluten at all.

To accommodate those who have celiac disease, companies have labeled their foods as “gluten free.” After that, along came the masses, making the assumption that those avoiding gluten know some dietary secret that make them so healthy. And with the food industry making piles of cash off these impressionable people, would you really expect them to clarify matters?

Since then, “gluten free” labels have appeared on various products, including products that wouldn’t have typically had gluten to begin with. There are burger patties marketed as “gluten free”:

sol_2D00_burgerSource: Peta.org

 

You were probably already thinking of pointing out that that’s a veggie burger, and the source of the image was Peta.org, so it’s already as though the product was precision-engineered to prey on the impressionable. But there’s more: there’s also a gluten free dairy creamer:

SK_HazelCreamer_PT_496x1130

Source: Silk.com

It’s not just lactose free and gluten free, it’s also non-GMO verified. This is one product that’s especially suited to those paranoid about their food.

If you have celiac disease, avoid gluten. But if you’re like so many people who buy into fad diets, stop being so impressionable. Marketers have been making big bucks off of you, because you really don’t know what’s going on.