Now, I realize that the "system specs" spewed forth in the above video were probably intentionally skewed so as to follow the whacky, 80s style zaniness, but as an uber nerd and somebody who's intimately familiar with NES hardware, I feel compelled to correct their errors.
Claim #1: 3.58Mhz video core clock speed
The NES video processor, a Ricoh 2C02 "Picture Processing Unit", or PPU, is actually clocked at 5.37Mhz. The CPU is exactly one third of this, or 1.79Mhz. The figure they're quoting is the timing of a color NTSC signal.
Claim #2: 240x226 resolution
The PPU actually worked with an internal resolution 256x240, though most old TVs did not display the first and last eight scanlines effectively making the resolution 256x224. This was the same for both NTSC and PAL models.
Claim #3: 16 sprite pixel depth
I don't even know where to begin on this one. Firstly, the NES had enough sprite RAM (object attribute memory, or OAM) for 64, 8x8 or 8x16 sprites. Secondly, every sprite could have three colors (four if you include transparency) from a palette of 53 colors. Every scanline could hae a maximum of eight sprites, and when this limit was exceeded some sprites were not drawn causing the infamous flicker. Finally, you could have a total of 25 colors per scanline. What the hell they were talking about to begin with baffles me, but there were no 16s involved there at all. Except maybe that internal 16-bit PPU register that could be written to through dual writes to address $2006....
Claim #4: NES has a Zilog Z80 processor
This one's easy. The NES did not have a Z80. It had a Ricoh 2A03, which was a 6502 without decimal mode and a set of sound instructions. The Gameboy, however, had a Z80 and the Sega Genesis used one as its sound processor.
Claim #5 It's an 8-bit system
Well, that's about the only thing they got right. Though, the system did have a 16-bit address bus....
Well, I'm finished. I'm sure somewhere God has smote a kitten for my nerdy rantingness, but it had to be said and I said it. Caio.
If you've been around the internet as much as I have you'll probably know that it has it's own set of rules. Of these rules, #34 is most famous. Rule #34 states:
If it exists, there is porn of it.
Unwanted results from an innocent Google image search is enough to say that this rule is nearly one hundred percent true. However, there is no definition for something that's even more true than rule #34 (luckily, it's also more safe for work). I hereby decree that Internet Rule #48 will be defined as:
If it exists, there is anime of it.
This rule can be nearly solely confirmed by one website: deviantArt. For anybody who has never really scoured the annals of dA, it should be noted that almost 90% of everything posted is anime or some lame attempt at anime. A good chunk of this is fan art of just about anything. It doesn't matter what TV show, movie, comic, game, or person it is or is from. If they exist, somebody has drawn it in anime form. Let's get to proving using five examples from each stated category.
TV Shows
Futurama
Dexter's Lab
SpongeBob (a true abomination)
Columbo
Greatest American Hero (as a chick, even)
Movies
Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) (too easy, I'll admit)
Garth (Wayne's World)
Rambo (First Blood)
River Tam (Serenity)
Galaxy Quest
Comics
Calvin and Hobbes
FoxTrot
Garfield
Penny Arcade (not entirely fair because even the comic's artist has anime'd the characters in one or two comics)
Charlie Brown
Games
Halo and Metroid (a twofer)
Mario (there are no good words for this one)
Guitar Hero
Psychonauts
People
Weird Al
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Bonaparte
Oliver Cromwell
and of course
Jesus
So, there you have it. Anything under the sun has anime art made of it, and nearly all of it can be found on deviantArt. So, let the internet propogate with the wisdom that is Internet Rule #48.
My thoughts: This guy is way too nerdy. That doesn't look too good on his part considering that I am a self-professed geek. But he didn't stop there, he also addressed the school board dressed in Jedi robes. But, just because a guy is nerdy doesn't necessarily reflect upon his ability to perform the duties and obligations that come part and parcel with the position he is trying to fill. Oh, but wait... he's got a strike against him in that department as well:
"I'm *extremely* happy with how good I did :-)"
This was posted by Christopher Knight as a postmortem to the embedded video above. Anybody who wants to work in any kind of school environment should at least be able to use proper grammar (for those who didn't get it that should be "how well [he] did"). And that smiley face just isn't doing it for me.
- dxprog (The Grammar Nazi)
Since there's not much to write about that's happening in my life at this current point in time I will instead rant on a cornucopia of things. Note - these rants are very, very biased.
MySpace profiles. We've given power to these people to change the design of their profiles. Bad idea. Why, you ask? Because it seems a good chunk of the MySpace population doesn't understand the basic fundamentals of good design. Readability is the first thing that comes to mind. Green text against some sort of fractal design background is enough to induce some sort of crack induced brain trip upon those who are to look upon it. I will say this: that horrible piece of shit you call a MySpace profile layout doesn't necessarily reflect upon you as a person. I say this because I've got friends and family on MySpace. In closing, though, you can't expect the users of a place where they themselves have... questionable design practices to be better.
Carts. Don't be a douche bag. Put the fracking carts in a damn cart corral. Never, EVER put your carts up on a curb or on the grass. I will kill you. Slowly.
Grammar. Has this completely gone out the window? Seriously, since the advent of instant messaging and e-mail everybody's grammar and spelling are simply atrocious. Their, there, and they're are one of the worst offenders. Nobody knows how to properly spell angel (many times transposing the "e" and the "l"). Nobody cares. And to think is the next generation of human being that we will have to hand the keys of the world off to when my generation gets old. It sends shivers up my spine.
Well, I think that covers most bases. If I haven't offended you please feel free to e-mail me and I'll do my best to correct said situation next time I rant. Peace out!
First off, however, I would like to mention that I have, to some degree, started my new job. I say it that way because I'm not actually doing what I was hired to do. No, I've been stocking coffee the last three days (not today, because I was off). I guess my training will start on Thursday at roughly 8am. More on that as things develop....
Now for my ranting. Whoo! Lately, my mom has been calling pregnant gals "prego". "That gal's prego", "Oh, is she prego?". ARRGGHHH! It drives me nuts! Prego is a blasted spaghetti sauce for crying in ship!! Even Wikipedia says so! So the next time you hear somebody disgrace the name of licensed marinara sauce in such a way, do me a favor and say "Yes, that is some fine eatin'!"