You cant change the world, but you can change yourself.

One thing I find that I completely disagree with my brother is how we would both change the world for a better place, my brother thinks that to change the world you need to change other people to be better, while I think that change begins from the ourselves first, that you shouldn't ask others to change since we are flawed, how can we tell other people to get rid of their problems while ignoring our own?

 Laws and Rules exist to make sure people dont do wrong things, because we assume without them that society would collapse, the thing that keeps people in line is the threat of punishment, not personal goodness. Countries that get overthrown or suffer a revolt show the worst in people, with no law to govern them they act little better than animals, rape, murder, theft spread like fire.

Knowing all this, we have punishments for crimes in normal society, you get fined, jailed or even first degree murder depending on the severity of your crime, all this helps us reinforce the notion that bad actions will be punished.

That is how the world is right now, we tell people what to do and what we expect out of them and should they follow through they get... well nothing really, but if they disobey the laws then punishment soon follows.

My brother thinks along those lines, as do many others and it works of course. That is why we would criticize other people for their faults and tell them what to do instead. But I think thats the problem, we tell others what to do without showing them instead.

On a driving trip recently the car in-front of me suddenly stopped and I had to change lanes, no big issue yet this bothered my friend sitting next to me, he cursed and got angry at the stalled car yet I didnt see the issue myself, I just changed lanes, it was far simpler to just change my course than to sit and fume and wait for the other driver to move.

Thats how life is, at least to my eyes, people try hard to change other people when its so much easier to change yourselves and avoid problems. We get angry at our friends, family, lovers for their problems and nag them to change when in reality we could just change a littler ourselves and adapt to them much easier and avoid many problems, in time they will change because they want to, not because we nagged them over it endlessly.

You cant change the whole world

So thats what I think at least, we are a small thing in a huge world, expecting to change it is just impossible, but changing yourself can happen, its not easy, we all molded into the people we are over years and experiences, but you can change and be a better person, more patient, kinder, nicer.
Lead by example, don't expect others to follow what you say, show them how to be better people by improving yourself and they will follow.

Advice on taking advice

From the title I guess you could say this is advice-ception.

The human mind is an amazing thing, it can do a million operations at a time, we can think, dream plan ahead with this amazing tool, yet our minds also hate change and do whatever they can to find fault with the world and not with ourselves.

As a species we dont do well with taking advice, because we are too used to blaming other people for any bad situation we are in, its easy to find faults in them, finding faults in ourselves? uhh, we dont have faults to find anyway remember?

Still we do like to ask for advice when in a tight spot, we want to hear what other people say and how they can help us, the problem with asking for advice is after we hear it, we almost always dismiss it, believing we know best and ignoring what other people have to say.

We're not perfect, everyone says that easily, its something we all heard " nobody is perfect" yet for some reason we still think we know better than anyone else.

Listen to the message, not the messenger.

One reason I personally dont listen to people is I tend to ignore what they are saying, and focus on the person saying it instead. They can be telling me real solutions to what I'm going through, but instead of listening to their advice I instead focus on the faults of the person talking and reach the conclusion that if they have problems themselves, why should I listen to them?

The best personal example I can think of is when it comes to driving, I'm the only one in my family who drives which means I will be driving in any sort of family gathering or event, and whenever one of those happens someone will point out some flaw I have while I drive.

" Signal earlier"
" Put more space between you and other cars"
" Slow down, we're not in a rush"

Is any of the above bad advice? no it all makes sense, but instead of thinking about what they say my mind automatically goes " they cant drive, why should I listen to them? they dont know what they are talking about".

Yet I might avoid an accident if I just listen to such basic advice without getting full of myself.

Judging the messenger and not the message is the easiest way of ignoring advice, if a serial killer said " Killing is bad" most of us would go " who is he to tell us that?" instead of just agreeing with the simple fact that killing is indeed a bad thing.

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Oh you've read this far? have a cookie:D

Every problem is minor...unless its Yours.

Been a long time since I blogged, cant say I havent missed it yet with life and everything that comes with it I have been quite busy, still I hope I can update this ( semi) frequently from now on.

So to start out with I'll talk about something that has been on my mind a lot recently, and its not something you hear about a lot, what is it?



Its Empathy.

em·pa·thy

noun

"the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. "

Seems overly scientific, basically its just we feel what others feel without being in their situation, sounds easy? well...no

Thing is a lot of people minimize others problems and consider them small and insignificant, its only when that same problem happens to us that we realize just how bad and painful it can be.

Ever had someone come to you with a problem that you just found ridiculous? or seemed like such a small tiny affair to you? and what do we all say in those situations?

"Oh it will be fine, I'm sure it will pass, just be patient, relax, dont get mad, it will all work out I'm sure"

We like to think we are helping people by saying that, but we're not, we like to think we're being nice and empathic, but we're not.

We arent feeling what they are, or doing anything useful, all we're doing is telling them the same crap everyone else is saying, stuff they already know. So what exactly should we do?

Honestly, I find the best thing to do is be quiet and actually try to imagine what they're feeling, I havent been in their situation but I have been hurt before, so we should all try to offer less problem solving suggestions and more plain listening and understanding.

 Everyone has their issues just like you do, and just like you their issues are big problems that depress, next time a friend comes to you with their heart broken and feelings bared, do them a favor and help by listening to them, not by telling them " time heals all wounds".

 

Computer performance guide.

---

A friend of mine is writing computer articles for certain games, this is the current one he has for WOW.

http://www.logicalincrements.com/games/wow/

he wants to know what you guys think and if the dota community would like a similar article to this on.

please share your thoughts on this.

Naruto 560 Review

Hey everyone, its been too long since I the last time I reviewed Naruto, life has recently been very hectic and I havent had the time I needed to review, but thankfully at least I have the chance to write about this awesome chapter.

Our chapter starts with a beautiful panel of ma-Tobi staring intensely at us, Unluckily this is all we see of Tobi for this chapter as the scene follows Madara and Muu engaging the long range division + Naruto.
Madara immediately notes his enemies all have one kind of forehead protector while Onoki tells us that he has no idea who the man in the mask is, in my opinion that might mean that whoever Tobi is, is someone who is thought to be long dead.

Madara knows who the man in the mask is though, unfortunately he doesnt refer to him by name, but he does say that things arent going according to plan, which hints that Madara must know who Tobi is, Madara then asks who is using Impure Resurrection...

Kabuto introduces himself to Madara, I had originally thought that Kabuto talked to the person in the coffin before he showed him to Tobi but this is their first meeting together, I like how Madara dismisses Kabuto just like Tobi did.

Its kinda funny to think how Kabuto knew Tobi wasnt Madara from their first meeting, it puts all their previous conversations in a new light.

Kabuto then proceeds to tell Madara about how his summoning is special and he is "beyond himself at his prime"   Their conversation is cut short by an attack from Gaara.

Madara decides to prove himself as the greatest Uchiha, and what better way then showing his mastery of fire techniques?

While ugly, the above images shows the allies working together well, I love elements and was impressed by how quickly the cannon fodder managed to make a wall of water to protect themselves, against someone of Madara's power this is quite a show.

Madara then proceeds to go into good old fashioned Taijutsu, moving like a cyclone he cuts up members of the alliance while Naruto prepares himself to take him on, Gaara's protective nature shows itself again as he protects a fellow ninja from Madara's sword, then proceeds to grab it while another shinobi holding something suspiciously similar to Zabuza's sword, plan doesnt work though but the Ninja army does show that its not useless in this chapter.

Muu, finding the killing too slow for his liking tries to aid Madara but luckily while split from his body he cannot use Dust techniques, Onoki not realising this tells the sensors to keep an eye on Muu anyways.

I love the teamwork in this picture, all the allies immediately retreat as Naruto approaches, knowing how large his area of effect is, while Onoki raises the ground itself to give Madara less time to react to Naruto's technique, the whole plan is helped by just how beautiful the whole page is.

Its all for naught though as Madara reveals that he himself has ( Perhaps the original?) Ultimate defense.

Madara's Susanoo looks the closest to Satan that we have seen so far, which ties in well to what the Kyuubi said, that Madara has more evil chakra then it does, Onoki doesnt seem to know that Madara has Susanoo and the Mangkyo Sharingan, I'm guessing that they had their fight before Madara acquired those powers, showing how much Madara has improved since then as well as how old Onoki is ( he fought pre-mangkyo Madara :/  )


Gaara and Naruto have a plan to handle this though, what is this Plan G? the allies really are working well with co-ordinating and figuring out the enemy, Madara, wanting to be productive decides to kill some no-names while he waits for their next attack.

Another impressive attack ( Yes you can make a drinking game out of how much I praised the alliance army this review) Naruto charges in with his Rasenshuriken and Gaara does a trick we just saw earlier this chapter...

Madara gets dragged around a lot doesnt he?

A rasenshuriken that close, no way it can miss right?

Unless of course Madara is like Pein and has some sort of Preta path to absorb Chakra but that would be a ridicules asspu-

 .....Oh...

Madara reminds us of why he is the strongest uchiha by activating the Rinningan, it seems that Kakashi might be right and that it is just some sort of mutation, Tobi saying he "gave" it to nagato might be further evidence of that...

Kabuto seems to think the same thing also, or at least that the Rinnengan is a stage higher then the eternal Mangkyo sharingan ( this news will make Uchiha fans so happy)...

Kabuto thinks that with Madara he now has some powers of the sage himself, but even dead and decaying Madara proves to us just how defiant he is.

Two heads are not better then one in this situation!

Madara has taken everything we know and taken it up a notch ( or 12) by using a two headed Susanno which can apparently use seals itself we are in for a show.

Our chapter ends with its best panel, a giant metorite is heading towards the allied army and there really doesnt seem to be anyway to get rid of it, with our heroes trapped underneath it, its unlikely everyone will get out alive.... ( Short of Kakashi wrapping it away or Onoki using some amazing technique)

And thats all folks, hope you enjoyed this review, I know i certainly missed writing all this stuff, till ( Hopefully) next week and have a great week

Survivor South Pacific episode 5 review

Howdy, sorry for missing last episode's review, damn life is getting in the way of blogging for you guys.

Well lets get to it :D

-After the recap we get the touching Stacy-Christine reunion, Stacy getting so much attention pretty much confirms that she will lose redemption island, or atleast she should, her damn cliches are getting annoying.

"The grass is always greener on the other side"

And her chucky cheese too.

-Albert is a pretty smart guy, my bet for an Upolu player winner.

- Coach has an interesting response to Redemption island, informing the tribe that his own mom calls him coach since he was 18....
Does anyone else think that Coach might be the sane one in family?

-Ozzy is being quite an ass to Cochran, course he is doing it to impress his bimbo of the season.

-Speaking of Elice, whats up with her and coch?

-Ozzy revealing that Coach should vote out Albert was a big mistake, you dont say something like that when you're standing next to the strongest guys in the tribe.

-Albert is reading the signs right, but showing his clue to Coach and Sophie really just confirms what stacy said about who runs the tribe.

-Coach with the HII? that used to be just a myth, but now it actually happened, Coach has grabbed the game by the balls, he even told his "little dragon" to go back inside the tent....

-Cochran is a bit too judgmental on Ozzy, the guy fishes for you dude and he gets fish, fishing aint as easy as chopping coconuts.

-Rick got a line this episode!, sure it was short but "thats nice"

-Disgusting challenge, I think they did this in amazon right? either way it was just gross

-Close as hell, the two tribes really are well matched and it comes down to just two ounces, who will win this?

-Its official, God has joined Coach's fan club, if you thought coach was sitting pretty before, well he now has the Almighty on his side.....oh and Brandon

-For your reward, you can take all the food you spit on, nice.

-Did Albert remind you of anyone when he ate the reward? anyone? "Oh my god its so good"

"You cannot fathom the goodness that it is"

-So its the showdown we have all been waiting for, Ozzy vs Jim ( or Cochran, but I think Jim was the guy who got the plan to go down)

-Jim really showed his survivor-smarts this episode, utilizing Ozzy's single mistake to get rid of his best ally? I like it.

-Keith is the swing vote on this, its too bad that he seems so slow on the uptake, no Keith, you dont tell Ozzy you're voting out his strongest ally.

-Whitney mentions how she wants to weazel out of the vote, foreshadowing anyone? but then again survivor is all about foreshadowing.

-Tribal therapy starts and Jeff focuses early on the challenge and asks about their injuries, I personally loved the fact that Dawn lost a tooth and just doesnt care, woman is tough.

-Did anyone feel really bad for Cochran this tribal? most of his tribe took crap shots on him and it was just heartbreaking, especially as i find this his funniest tribal so far.

-Whitney and Keith worked well in this, they appeared ignorant or weak to the rest of the tribe while getting rid of who they wanted, swing votes are dangerous as hell.

-Bye bye Elice, looks like Christine might have a tough Redemption challenge for once.


And thats all folks, hope you enjoyed the episode as much as i did as well as this review.

Survivor South Pacific episode 3 review

Hello and welcome to my very first Survivor review, while I had hoped to review the first two episodes I'll be content with starting from the third episode for now.

Anyways on to the review

After the vote.

 After voting out Christie we see her arrival at Redemption Island complaining about how much she dislikes coach calling him " King farook", since we dont get any interview from samhar I took that as a hint that Samhar is leaving the game.

Back on camp Brandan is starting to feel a bit guilty as he should, although he is still trying to get mikayla voted out.

Redemption island.

Coach really wants to go to redemption island to see Christie leave the game, somewhat petty of him but hey thats Coach for you? his tribe letting him go shows that Coach does have some standing with them, Stacy also wants to go, to support her (only?) ally in the game.

The challenge is the same as the final challenge in Samoa with the contestents holding a stick with an idol on top, really thats pretty much it.

Before we start we are treated to one of Samhar's.....Poems where she talks about getting naked and having 10 children and then another, at least the everyone else seemed as annoyed by it as me.

Challenge begins with Probst telling the the duelist to " get it where you want it" Really Probst?
From the start Samhar seems to lack the focus that Christie has, Christie wants it and she holds it with a deathgrip, while Samhar swayed a few times until finally...

Yeap Samhar is the first person out of the game, but before she left she gave Christie her jacket and that was a sweet gesture.

Back in camp

Brandan decides that its time his whole tribe knows who he is, so he gathers his whole tribe and shows them his tattoos, which didnt seem to get much of a reaction ( except for a jawdrop from stacy)
Personally I dont see what he gets from telling them he is related to Russel, hell even coach thinks that Brandon made a mistake, Coach does seem to be playing the game differently this time doesnt he?

After making a scene Brandon decides to get even more attention by having a confrontation with Mikayla when she asks him if he wants her gone and he goes completely defensive and then has the nerve to say that he is trying to apologize, wonder what he looks like when he is trying to threaten someone?

To prove his sanity, Brandon gathers his tribe Again, this time to get them to tell Mikayla that the tribe doesnt trust her and asking them who is loyal to her, the scene only truly becomes ironic when Brandon goes " just keep me out of the drama, god!"

Brandon's little outburst does nothing except make him and Mikayla cry, sad moment really :/

To have Coach point out the idiocy in Brandan's actions makes it obvious just how much of loose cannon brandon is.

Immunity Challenge

I dont like those duel immunity/reward challenge, get rid of Redemption island and give us back the good old 2 challenge an episode days.

Probst describes the challenge, its one of those physical followed by puzzle challenges, but it is new at least.

for Savaii Ozzy and Dawn are the runners, Savaii has trouble just giving Ozzy enough rope to get his flags, while Upolu has Albert, Mikayla and brandon as their runners, advantage shifts back and forth and both tribes reach the puzzle part at the same time, and here Coach gets Upolu a big advantage by hooking all five of their pieces at record piece, if you cant tell by now yes Coach did impress me a lot this episode.

Probst: Coach is getting all the pieces, what a great hooker

Upolu finishes the puzzle before Savaii even unwraps all their pieces, while the first few challenges were close this was Upolu's day.

Savaii heads back dejected and its immediately obvious that its Papa bear or Cochran for the chop, the alliance of Ozzy decide to vote out PB but tell Cochran that they will tell PB that they are voting Cochran tonight so Papa Bear doesnt ask any questions, yeah.....that'll help Cochran's security issues.

Sensing his tribe is lying to him PB decides to take matter into his own hands and rushes into the forest, making sure he is seen in the process, he then digs a hole in the ground and comes back to camp " with a noticeable Bulge in his pants" as Cochran describes it, his tribe are worried about PB's bulge and everyone wonders if he has the immunity idol...

Except Ozzy who already has it of course, lets hope he knows when to use it this time.

Tribal council

A rather dull TC this time, nothing really noticeble happened and after an explosive tribal last week this TC just felt stale.

Cochran tries to convince everyone that he isnt a physical weakness while PB tries to convince them that he is.

I wasnt quite sure who was going to get voted out, but i was leaning towards PB as he was given quite a lot of screentime this week, and my predictions were...

Correct, for once :D

Papa Bear got voted out, despite the fact that the tribe thought he might have had an idol, wonder if anything happened behind the scenes to convince them otherwise?

Next week is Papa Bear vs Christie for redemption ( On the fence on who to support for that) While Cochran grasps power in his tribe and Brandan costs even more drama despite trying to keep out of any drama in his tribe.