Wasabi

I was recently curious about wasabi, that spicy green paste you get with sushi in Japanese restaurants in case you didn't know, so I snooped around a bit a stumbled into this article on wasabi. I had no idea that real wasabi was extraordinarily rare and expensive and that the vast majority of restaurants use a mixture of horseradish and green dye in its place. I mean horseradish and wasabi are closely related, but it was a tad disappointing to find out that I've probably never had real wasabi.

Real wasabi, apparently, only grows under very rare circumstances, namely they need to grow with clean, flowing water with a particular mineral balance. There are only a handful of places that naturally have the right conditions, but people grow wasabi with hydroponics now. I think I should make it a quest to find some place where I can try real wasabi. =)

Game Review Sites

Major game review sites are completely biased. I never really trust their reviews. Then recently, a GameSpot editor was fired after he gave a harsh review of a very big advertiser who paid GameSpot a lot of money.

Yeah, that move makes you look really good, GameSpot. Keep up the good work.

freerice.com

This is a neat site: http://www.freerice.com/index.php

It tests your vocabulary and each time you get a question right it donates 20 grains of rice to end world hunger via the United Nations World Food Program. On top of that, it will adapt to your vocabulary level depending on how well you do. You can get up to level 50, but the FAQ says that it's pretty rare to even get above 48. So far, I'm having trouble pushing beyond level 45. =( Trying is fun, though, and I can help feed starving people in the world while I do. ;)

It Was Inevitable....

Some website offering to sell you a spot in Heaven.

http://reserveaspotinheaven.com/

It's funny because it points out a lot of the absurdity in religion. This guy's product is just as verifiable as any other way to get into Heaven.

2, The Ranting Gryphon

I have no idea who this guy is, but I stumbled across a couple of entertaining rant videos he made on Youtube.

America
Global Warming

He mixes a bit of being right with a bit of being funny, angry, and offensive. =)

Freedom Of Speech Needs To Be Protected

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting a battle to protect freedom of speech in blogs.

Why is it that one of America's founding principles, freedom of speech, is under so much attack these days? Even the realm of anonymous blogs is under attack. Why should a blogger be forced to reveal his identity against his will? If there is no reason to expect a blog will incite others to commit crimes or otherwise cause anyone harm, why is there a problem?

Political Compass

I remember stumbling across http://www.politicalcompass.org/ a while back and finding it to be a very interesting site. They attempt to add one more axis to the usual "right" and left" labels that are used in politics. They achieve fairly interesting results. I recommend taking their test to figure out where your political leanings are just to get a good idea.

This is a graph of their results for the current crop of presidential candidates.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/usprimaries2008