Wobbuffet!

Today I want to talk about one of my most favorite pokemon: Wobbuffet.

First of all, I love its appearance. I can’t help but chuckle every time I see a wobbuffet.

Also, in the Pokemon games, Wobbuffet may be the cheapest Pokemon to use in the game (and that’s why I like using him :p). His standard move-set consists of:

Counter

Mirror Coat

Encore

Safeguard

Counter and mirror coat deal back twice the amount of damage after a physical and special attack respectively, and when paired with wobbuffet’s vast pool of hit points, will allow wobbuffet to deal massive amounts of damage. My level 30 wobbuffet actually KO’d my friend’s level 100 rhyperior using counter. If the opposing player decides to use a non-damaging move instead of attacking at the risk getting countered, i.e. swords dance or screech, encore will force the opponent to repeat that move for 2 to 5 turns and allow you to safely switch to an offensive Pokemon while the other Pokemon is stuck buffing stats. Safeguard prevents status effects on wobbuffet, so poisons and burns will not affect wobbuffet either. Finally, wobbuffet’s special ability prevents the opposing player to switch pokemon.

The only options to beat wobbuffet are to either keep attacking (which may result in the loss of a couple of your own pokemon) or whirlwind it away (but it is still free to switch back in). The last option is to send in a second wobbuffet, which will result in a draw since neither Pokemon can deal damage or switch out.

Wobbuffet is the most difficult Pokemon to kill and is therefore banned from standard competition, but I still like aggravating my friends at home :]

From Asteriods, to Zelda Pt.5, The Top 5 Series!

Welcome back FATZ readers. Normally I would discuss some aspect of the choices that go into making video games, however this week I want to change this up a bit. This week it’s going to be a little more personal and talk about some of series I really enjoy and why. So I proudly present the FATZ top five favorite video game series!

#5: The Fallout Series from Interplay and Bethesda Softworks. Set in a post apocalyptic world based about society in the 1950’s  view of the world of tomorrow. It’s a FPS/RPG meaning it is a both a first person shooter and role-playing game. I personally enjoy this series because of the deep history and choices available through the story. I recommend Fallout 3(360,PS3,PC) because it’s a bit easier to acquire and get into than the first two, but all three are great.

#4: Star Ocean Series from Tri-Ace. Known as the space opera, this series is set in outer space after humans have left Earth because of nuclear war. I enjoy it because of its deep story and character development. These is definitely not the type of  games you beat in a weekend. However the journey is worth it. I recommend any game from the series as they are all still easily found.

#3: Kingdom Hearts Series from Square Enix(formerly known as Squaresoft). This series creatively combines both the world of Disney characters and movies with the worlds of Final Fantasy. At first I was very skeptical about this idea, my favorite video games being mashed with Disney. However after playing ten minutes I was hooked. There is a deeper story than there appear as well a lot of lighthearted elements. This one you need to pick up the first Kingdom Hearts(PS2) or else you’ll be lost.

#2: The Elder Scrolls Series from Bethesda Softworks. This is a fantasy RPG with deep character customization and a huge open world full of secrets to explore. What make this series great is the absolute freedom you have in creating and molding your character. Another thing is that you are never tied down to anything you are free to do whatever you want whenever you want. I recommend starting out with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion(360,PS3,PC), easier to acquire and get into.

#1: The Final Fantasy Series from Square Enix(formerly known as Squaresoft). This series has been around longer than I have and it’s still going strong. What started as one last attempt ended up becoming one of the biggest names in gaming. There is so much I could write about why I love this series but I doubt you want to read it all. There are so many great memories of these games that can’t even be described, it’s best you find your own great memories. I can’t recommend one game above the other as they are all stand alone games, find one try it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Well that raps up the top five edition of FATZ, till next week happy gaming readers!!

This week I am playing: White Knight Chronicles(Ps3) and Borderlands(Xbox 360)

The New Winter Queen

I think many of you are enjoying the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games at the height. I have been a big fan for winter sports events such as ice hockey and speed skating. However, some people may say that the pick of the winter sports is Women’s Figure Skating since its beauty and elegance. Also, they even call the winner of the event as the Queen of Winter.

Last night, the new winter queen appeared at the ice-rink in Vancouver. Her name is Yu-Na Kim; she is the first South Korean to get medal in figure skating of winter Olympics, while making a new world record. Because the performances Kim made were literally perfect, she got a score as 228.56 to overwhelm any other competitors. That is even close to men’s Olympic scores. She became the first female skater to achieve “grand slam”, winning the World Grand Prix Final, Four Continents Championships, World Championships and the Winter Olympics.

I do respect not only her success, but also struggling Kim has done for many years. She deserves it. Moreover, I want to share this indescribable pleasure with you.

Futuristic!

Do you remember one episode of The Simpsons where Marge installs a robotics based interior in her house and the whole family gets terrorized by it? That episode is called “House of Whacks”, and it is part of a “Treehouse of Horror XII.” Imagine that the house is alive and it will overtake your family one day. Isn’t that creepy? Although this may all sound very crazy, people are actually willing to live in a so-called more “comfortable” home; the ones that are robotic and does everything for you. Take a look at this photo of The Simpsons episode.

Although it may be fearsome, and not well prepared yet, the houses these days are advancing more and more into automated technology as shown in the cartoon. Even in the movie Wall-E, the spaceship, where they live, is controlled by an automated computer system which eventually tries to take over. People live in comfort, but people cannot get rid of the fear that they have for technology. I wonder how fast the technology will advance to make living more comfortable for people? Personally, I like the idea of  robot based house, but not the AUTOMATED robot house. That seems just a bit creepy don’t you think?

The Continuing Health Care Battle

The battle over health care reform is still going on in Washington, as the Senate and House of Representatives are still debating over many issues. According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=3092&query=home) the main issue that has stalled health car reform is economic, in the fact that U.S. might not be able to control costs. Since this financial issue has come up and is over debate constantly, it continues to stall the production of health care reform which has been sitting in congress for some time already now. When I saw this part of the article I thought to myself, why can’t we just control costs now and then work to reform the rest of health care later. But in the article, it addresses the inability of just trying to fix cost on its own without worrying about expanding coverage. “it is not feasible to tackle costs without tackling coverage.” So, this makes me worry even more as it will take congress even more time to sort out all the problems at once because there isn’t time to fix one part and then later go back and fix the other. I believe in our congress’s ability to eventually come up with a bill that will not only be financially stable but able to provide adequate health reform.

Greek Profiteering?

          Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be looking into investment bank Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms.  Goldman Sachs and others face accusations of using certain financial instruments in order to profit in the event Greece defaults on its national debt.

          Many believe, such as Senator Chris Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee, that such speculative behavior is counterproductive and wrong.  A large bet that Greece will fail to pay its loans would serve to destabilize the nation even further, as Greece has already seen massive unrest and constant rioting in recent weeks.  These fears are not unfounded.  Greece and much of the European Union have thickly intertwined economies.  A financial disaster resulting from a Greek default would send ripples through the economies of countries like France or Germany.  Some even argue that a Greek collapse would cause a domino effect on the already weakened global economic system and may even be felt here in America.

          We cannot be sure about any of the effects of such a complex occurrence, but this situation serves as another context for the ever present battle between free enterprise and traditional American capitalism and big government regulation.  This battle, which has been so controversial lately, may well finally have a verdict in the fall.  The Congressional mid-term elections, more than anything else, will serve as a referendum on the big government ideal that has come to be the essence of the Obama administration to date.

Eradication

Last month the American Association for the Advancement of Science met for their annual meeting. One topic covered in the gathering was the eradication of HIV/AIDS in the world. The plan called for about 3 decades of advancing science and new drugs distributed throughout the world.

This new technology and science is to be pulled from researchers and organizations both locally and international. For example, they turned to the South African Center for Epidemiological Modeling and Analysis. SACEMA has a lot of research in the field of HIV and is a huge proponent of this eradication movement.

The goal for eradication includes drugs that are being developed to take away the “contagiousness” of the disease as well as a huge campaign towards education. If either one of these is even partially attained, the battle against this epidemic would be so much closer to complete from today.

While HIV has been on the mind of epidemiologist for years, hopefully more publicity like this can give it more publicity and raise awareness to get the rest of the world, both scientific, governmental, and average, everyday people towards the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Travis the Destroyer of My Car

Hello once again! Click here to see the next adventure of Travis! Thanks and have a great week!

persuasion complex

Why are humans of the female persuasion so complex?!

There are certain personality traits that attract females to males that someone would not want in a relationship. Everyone knows the old saying  that girls always want a bad boy. The thing is, when the girl gets the bad boy, she wants to change him, because those people are generally ” not boyfriend material”

So, when we think about this logically, it makes no sense.
Girl falls for boy
Girl is unhappy with the boy’s personality
Girl tries to change boy

Path 1                                                                  Path2
Boy changes for Girl                               Boy refuses to change
Girl breaks up with boy                         Girl breaks up with boy

When the girl changes the boy, its not the same person that she fell for, so problems occur, leading to the end of a relationship. Why do girls do this? The girl changes the boy into a nice boy, thus making him finish last, so the saying goes, and the cycle repeats again with a new person. Conversely though, if the boy doesn’t change, the girl gets angry which leads to an inevitable breakup.

So i have come to the conclusion that any girl that tries to change you is just a humongous trap. There is no winning in romance. Pop culture and media have hopeless romantics lost in a daze about what is realistic and what is not.

also, something to think about :

What happens when pinnochio says ” My Nose Will Grow”?

His nose grows when he lies.
If he says his nose grows, and it does, that means hes telling the truth.
But when he tells the truth, his nose doesnt grow.
WHAT HAPPENS!?

Finally! Heinz reinvents ketchup packets

Throughout my entire life, I have struggled opening these packets, ripping them from the ends with the jagged cutouts, risking stains on my shirt or pants from over ripping or having to reopen at least  four packets to satisfy my taste buds.

Now those days are over since these darn ketchup packet gets a brand spanking new makeover and the days of me struggling to open the old packets are over!

After 30 years Heinz company has decided to redesign their totally awesome ketchup packet. These bad boys can be opened not one but in two ways!  One end of the ketchup can be ripped and served on your delicious burger or whatever your heart desires! But the cool part is that the the other end can be opened and can be used as a dunking container for fries or nuggets. Plus each packet contains three times as much ketchup compared to the old packets which means three times the yummy nom noms for you!

I can’t wait till these bad boys come out to my local fast food restaurants 😀 No longer will I need to constantly rip open a new packet whenever I need more ketchup or having those greasy fingers and not being able to open them.

Hopefully in the near future other sauces will adopt this amazing design since I would love to conveniently dress my delicious food!