Lady Gaga Naked For Kickstarter

The sexy, bold, brave, and eccentric Lady Gaga makes a naked cameo in a video to promote the Marina Abramovic Institute’s Kickstarter pitch. It’s some kind of artistic meditation method that purports to “heighten participants’ awareness of their physical and mental experience in the present moment.” To be completely honest, I didn’t read much about the method in the video’s description because…naked Lady Gaga! Besides, I don’t want to heighten my physical and mental awareness. That would only lead to depression. Ha!

Anyway, check out the NSFW for work video below. It features strangely soothing chanting and full-frontal Gaga. *sigh* When is she going to marry me so that I can legally change my name to Lord RaRa and take my blog to new heights by riding off of her coattails?

Source via The Verge

A-Rod, You’re the Best!

My buddy Justin posted this Alex Rodriguez highlight reel set Joe Esposito’s “You’re the Best” (the tournament montage song in Karate Kid). It’s pretty much the best A-Rod highlight video ever made. (And I’m not just saying that because of his stubborn refusal to donate $500,000 to RPad.TV.) Check it out below. Continue reading “A-Rod, You’re the Best!”

Thor: The Dark World Trailer

Marvel has posted a new trailer for Thor: The Dark World, embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Highlights include Thor being powerful, Natalie Portman being hot, Loki being awesome, Kat Dennings being super hot, lots of fiery destruction, Sif being fiercely hot (though not as hot as Kat Dennings), Volstagg being voluminous, Rene Russo being the fiercest she’s been since Lethal Weapon III, and Mjolnir cementing its status as the coolest hammer ever. Check out the clip below and let me know if it has you amped for Thor: The Dark World.

Source

Coffee Talk #598: Your Favorite Internet Grammar & Usage Errors

The other day, RPadholic smartguy posted a comment about social media making the world dumber because it ignores poor spelling and punctuation. In this particular case, Texas Rangers pitcher and chief misogyny officer Matt Garza was guilty of a common Internet mistake — using “there” instead of “their.” Garza meant to menacingly tweet, “Some people can’t shut their woman up!” but instead wrote, “Some people can’t shut there woman up!”

All of us have misused there/their/they’re, its/it’s, and your/you’re. Smartguy is absolutely right though — the Internet is making it worse. Instead of lamenting the fact, let’s celebrate it! What are some of your favorite Internet grammar and usage errors? Here are some of mine…continued

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Alex Rodriguez selfishly refusing to donate $500,000 to RPad.TV, helping technophobes set up WordPress blogs, or the best cheese for grilled-cheese sandwiches, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The other day, RPadholic smartguy posted a comment about social media making the world dumber because it ignores poor spelling and punctuation. In this particular case, Texas Rangers pitcher and chief misogyny officer Matt Garza was guilty of a common Internet mistake — using “there” instead of “their.” Garza meant to menacingly tweet, “Some people can’t shut their woman up!” but instead wrote, “Some people can’t shut there woman up!”

All of us have misused there/their/they’re, its/it’s, and your/you’re. Smartguy is absolutely right though — the Internet is making it worse. Instead of lamenting the fact, let’s celebrate it! What are some of your favorite Internet grammar and usage errors? Here are some of mine.

  • Could Care Less: This is one I used to mess up frequently, until RPadholic N8R schooled me in the comments section of a G4tv story. People use this phrase when they’re trying to say that they don’t give a dman. What they should say is couldn’t care less.
  • All Intensive Purposes: This is one of my favorites. I see this one a lot on ESPN.com and various boxing forums. I rarely see it on comics, gaming, and tech blogs. My theory is that nerds that like sports are smarter people than sports fans that don’t like geeky things. Anyway, it should be all intents and purposes. A Doghouseboxing reader completely butchered the phrase and wrote, “All in tents and porpoises.” That gave me a three-day headache.
  • Mute Point: What’s that? I can’t hear you. You must be making a mute point. Bwahahahahaha!!! No, imbecile, (Don Keefer™) it’s a moot point.
  • Nip it in the Butt: I don’t understand why people get this one wrong. It’s nip it in the bud. If you equate a problem with a flower, then you nip it in the bud before it can bloom into something larger. Saying that you want to nip it in the butt is another way of saying you like to bite ass, which only makes sense if you’re Marv Albert.

Anyway, those are my favorite Internet grammar and usage errors. Kindly leave some of yours in the comments section!

Housekeeping: Comment System Change?

Hello guys and dolls! I’m strongly considering dropping Disqus and going back to WordPress comments. Since the site switched to Disqus, the service has gotten slower and slower. On the other side, WordPress comments have improved. In addition to being able to log in with your old-school RPad.TV account, WordPress comments now allow Facebook and Twitter logins. Naturally, before making a big change like that, I want to get your input. Please, please, please let me know how you feel about changing back. Thanks!

Vaping Diaries #85: EHPro EA Mod Review

The EHPro EA Mod is an affordable mechanical vaping device with surprisingly great performance. It’s a clone of the Electric Angel EA Mod (which some vapers consider a clone of the Golden Greek) with some minor improvements. While the fit and finish aren’t as nice as the Finnish mod it’s based on, the EHPro clone provides better performance for 1/4 of the price. This is the mod that made pay attention to Chinese clones.

What’s in the Kit: The EHPro EA Mod comes in a fairly ordinary box. It’s a clone and I’ve yet to see fancy packaging for a clone. The box comes with a short tube and a long tube to accommodate different batteries (18350 to 18650). Also included is a polishing cloth. One minor nitpick is that the longer tube isn’t long enough to accept an 18650 battery and an Evolv Kick.

Build Quality and Construction: The EA clone is primarily made from stainless steel. The button and contact points are made from gold-plated brass. The gold plating helps the mod’s performance, since gold is more conductive than brass, but users need to treat it gently. Gold is a relatively soft metal, so care must be used when cleaning the contact points. For the price, I was impressed with the materials used.

The mod’s lines are very clean, but the internal machining work is uneven. The threads are decent, but could have been smoother. One of the tubes in my kit had shavings around the threads, which is just sloppy. The overall build quality is good, but not great, which is acceptable for the product’s price.

Ergonomics and Design: The EA clone has a side-mounted firing button placed at the bottom of the mod. I like this type of button placement as the mod’s weight is distributed evenly through your hand, but some vapers don’t like hitting the firing button with their pinky finger. The button itself has a slightly better feel and is easier to take apart for maintenance than the one on the original EA Mod. Most importantly, it didn’t misfire once. I found the mod very comfortable to hold and the button action quite smooth, but that’s subjective.

The mod uses a floating pin, allowing atomizers of various sizes to sit flush. I had no problems with various direct-dripping atomizers, clearomizers, carto/tanks, and rebuildables I used with it. This is a very easy mod to work with in my experience. However, some users have reported that the floating pin is too long and can’t get their atomizer to sit flush.

Performance: The EA clone’s low voltage drop was quite surprising. It’s very, very good — much lower than the original’s. This mod hits hard and delivers true power. If performance is your chief concern then you’ll be quite happy with this mod. I had average expectation’s for the clone’s performance and was pleasantly surprised by what it delivered.

Verdict: While it doesn’t have the craftsmanship of the original, the EHPro EA Mod offers superior performance. If you’re just starting out with mechanical mods then this is a great choice. It’s also a fantastic option for experienced vapers that want a backup device or one that they’re not afraid to beat up. With online prices ranging from $50 to $60, this EA clone is a sweet value. You get great materials and decent build quality in a mod that performs as well or better than those that cost four times as much.

Random Thoughts on The Newsroom Season 2, Episode 4

Things are moving fast in The Newsroom. A lot happened in s2e4, so let’s jump right into it.

The Return of Dick Don: After getting Sensitive Don, Passionate Don, and Jar Jar Don in the first three episodes of the show, I was starting to wonder if the lovably roguish Dick Don (DD) was gone for good. In episode four, DD made his return, but it wasn’t as triumphant and glorious as it could have been. Before I get to that, let’s go over some DD highlights. Continue reading “Random Thoughts on The Newsroom Season 2, Episode 4”

How Long Will Alex Rodriguez Be Suspended For?

It should be a glorious day for fans of True Yankees™. Today is (supposedly) the day that Major League Baseball doles out suspensions for performance-enhancing drug use tied to the Biogenesis clinic. New York Yankees village idiot and third-baseman Alex Rodriguez should be getting more than the standard 50-game suspension. Estimates range from 150 games to a lifetime ban.

In addition to using PEDs supplied by Biogenesis, Rodriguez is (supposedly) getting extra punishment for interfering with MLB’s investigation and recruiting other players to the clinic.

One consistent rumor is that A-Fraud’s team is negotiating with MLB, but the two sides are far apart. Allegedly, commissioner Bud Selig wants A-Roid out of the game until the 2015 season, but the player’s camp believes that’s too harsh. Personally, I hope he gets banished to Neptune.

How long do you think Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for? What do you think is a fair punishment? Wouldn’t it be cool if the Yankees could trade Rodriguez to a Japanese team for several crates of ramen? Hopefully Selig’s ban-hammer is more powerful than Mjolnir!

Texas Rangers Matt Garza Attacks Opponent’s Wife…on Twitter

Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Garza is known for his fiery competitiveness. Against the Oakland A’s last Saturday, he was…displeased when opposing pitcher Eric Sogard laid down a squeeze bunt on him in the 7th. It was Sogard’s second successful bunt of the game and one of several made by Oakland. Garza pretty much sucks at fielding bunts and was frustrated. After the game, he took to Twitter to lay into Sogard and his wife, Kaycee Sogard. Check out some of his rant in the image above.

Yesterday, he issued an apologetic statement that wasn’t much of an apology. Here’s a snippet via ESPN:

I let my competitive spirit cross outside the lines, and that shouldn’t happen. I let my passion, my fire carry over, and that’s not how this game should be played. And for that I apologize to the Sogards for anything that was said through my Twitter.

Misogynistic tweets aside, there are several things that are funny/sad about this. First, it’s amusing that Garza believes that competitive spirit, passion, and fire are reasons to act like an immature dick. Second, it’s hilarious that he feels so macho about blasting an opponent’s wife on social media. I’m sure all of you have encountered Internet tough guys over the years, but a professional athlete that’s an Internet tough guy picking on a woman?!? That’s just lame.

Source

Vaping Diaries #84: Janty Ludo’s, RY4-X, SE555 Review

Here’s a review of three e-liquids from Janty, best known as the creators of the original eGo e-cigarette and the RY4. Ludo’s, RY4-X, and SE555 are covered in this article. The first two juices are based on two of the excellent RY4s I covered in Vaping Diaries #82, while the other is Janty’s take on a popular artificial tobacco flavor. Here are the flavor breakdowns and steeping notes.

Ludo’s: This juice is named after Janty’s president and founder Ludo Timmermans. It’s based on the company’s DK RY4, which is my favorite artificial RY4 on the market. The first thing that hits you is mint, followed by the excellent DK RY4 flavor (neutral tobacco + caramel + vanilla), and topped off by a coffee after taste. It’s a very interesting and complex juice, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Personally, I loved the striking blend and found this juice to be the most enjoyable of the three covered. Some of my friends found the mint overpowering and didn’t care for the coffee note…but I (respectfully) think they’re nuts. This is a great juice.

RY4-X: If you took Janty’s Classic RY4 and cranked the tobacco up to 11 then you’d have RY4-X. To me, the unique tobacco flavor and great balance is what makes Classic RY4 so excellent. While this is certainly a very good juice, turning up the tobacco actually made RY4-X less enjoyable to me than Classic RY4. My personal preference is for naturally-extracted tobacco, so if I want a tobacco-heavy RY4 then I’ll go for something like Goodejuice’s GJ4. Again, this is a very good juice, but the balance of Classic RY4 is what makes it great and that’s out the window with this juice. If you’re a fan of lab tobacco flavors and want a bit of sweetness to round things out then you’ll probably like this one.

SE555: Many vendors have e-liquids based on State Express 555 cigarettes. They’re almost always sweet tobaccos with a touch of nuttiness (the fruit variety, not the mentally unstable variety). Janty’s RY4 is a good 555 e-liquid, but it’s not as distinct as the two RY4 variants above and it’s comparable to many 555s that are available. At $15.95 for a 20ml bottle, the online price is expensive. You can find 555 e-liquids that are just as good or better for a lower price.

Steeping Notes
On the advice of Wlad from Ahlusion, I’ve been trying a new steeping method starting December 27, 2012. When the e-liquids arrive, I leave them uncapped for five minutes. Previously, I left them uncapped for about two days. After the liquids are given a few minutes to oxidize, the caps are put back on. The bottles are shaken every day for at least two weeks before vaping.

DK Ludo’s
House PG/VG ratio, 11mg nicotine
Uncapped: April 24, 2013 7:12PM
Vaped: May 14-June 15, 2013

Classic RY4X
House PG/VG ratio, 11mg nicotine
Uncapped: April 24, 2013 7:12PM
Vaped: May 14-June 15, 2013

DK SE555
House PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: April 24, 2013 7:12PM
Vaped: May 14-June 15, 2013

Review Process (Updated February 17, 2013)
RPad.TV e-liquid reviews focus on the flavor of the e-liquids, since throat hit and vapor production can be altered by the PG/VG ratio and nicotine level selected. Each juice is vaped over a period of days in an atomizer, a cartomizer/tank setup, and a clearomizer. The exception is naturally-extracted tobacco (NET) juice; since those are known to clog up cartomizers quickly, those are vaped in atomizers and clearomizers.