The Boxxy Paradoxxy

The mystery behind the internet phenomenon, Boxxy.
Once upon a time, there was a girl who referred to herself as lonelygirl15. Her intriguing videos detailing her life captivated the YouTube audience and she became an internet sensation. It wasn't until later when it was revealed that she was an actress and her whole lonelygirl15 persona was completely fabricated with all the videos directed and edited professionally. Although she was able to move to the silver screen for a while, YouTube has been eagerly awaiting a new lonelygirl15. In comes Boxxy. Her crazy antics and total randomness sparked a wave of love and hate especially on 4chan. Seemingly out of nowhere, Operation Valkyrie attempted to simultaneously halt the spread of Boxxy, spam her and her friends, and find out what is her true identity. These are my findings summarized from the Boxxy Dox.
Boxxy is also known as moldylunchbox and boxxybabee (possibly bellflower_priestess as well). She was a casual Gaia Online user where her friends Pocky and 4DM1RALAWESOME hung out. Boxxy's real life name is Catie and Pocky is presumed to be a long time Indian friend from school named Priyanka. Since her internet fame boom, she has since changed her Gaia Online name from M o l d yLunchboxx to mule372 and, most likely, does not login frequently if at all anymore. Little else is 100% known about her including last name, age, phone number, or address. The investigation into Boxxy is still ongoing and this post will be updated when new information has been confirmed.

UPDATE: Boxxy is 16 years old and lives in Roseville, California. She is presumed to attend Woodcreek High School. Her YouTube account, boxxybabee, has been hacked, possibly by another anti-boxxy group called the CBCR whose purpose is to make sure boxxy never releases another video.

That Would Be So Sweet

Things that would make the world a cooler place.
Have you seen any of Improv Everywhere's videos? I especially like Frozen in Grand Central. What they do is pretty awesome just because it's something unexpected that takes you out of your little bubble where you spend your time isolated from anyone new and you suddenly realize that there are moments outside of what you're used to. Events like these turn your average, everyday into something interesting and interactive. It makes you feel like you're in the largest hands-on museum but instead of just a building you have the whole world to experience; you just have to make it happen. I feel like we're lacking in fun interactions with one another and the following is a list of things that would help this problem:

• Neighborhood Social Network - Technically, there was a site called FatDoor that was exactly like this but it wasn't successful enough. I would love to see every neighborhood have a website where neighbors could chat, plan events, buy/sell items, and just have fun with one another. I don't even know who lives two doors down from me.
• The Game - Maybe you've heard of this where everyone is already playing "the game" and the object is to not think of "the game" which you lose and must say aloud that you lose whenever you remember "the game." Basically you have to forget that it exists. I wish everyone would want to play this because it would be fun to set off chain reactions of people shouting "I lose!"
• Breaking Out into Song and Dance - Come on, you've all seen at least one movie where suddenly everyone is sucked into singing in harmony and moving to perfectly synchronized, choreographed dances at a seemingly random time. Wouldn't that be sweet if that happened even if it was just once?
• Global Scavenger Hunt - Actually, there is such a thing as GeoCaching but hardly anybody seems to know it exists. You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to discover someone has hidden a container of surprises right in your area that you can search for, add to it, write a message, or be inspired to hide your own treasure.
• Life Swap - Like Wife Swap only everyone does it. People get stuck in a rut far too easily and I think switching lives with another person for a week or even for just a day would put one's life in perspective so that they can appreciate what he/she has or get a feel for how others go about their typical day. They should make this an international holiday.
• Congressional Idol - Politics are pretty dull but they don't have to be. I mean they have a show for everything else, why not have a show where you can vote on actual laws like a real Democracy. Although you'd have to have some sort of registration system to keep out the ones who have no idea what they're doing but I think it would give power back to the people.

Craigslist: What You're Looking For

Free online classifieds site Craigslist can help you find or sell just about anything in a flash.
I love craigslist. I think it's simple yet so functional but I haven't really used some of its features until now. When I ask others about craigslist I get one of two responses: craigslist is great and what's craigslist? A lot of my friends aren't computer literate like I am which is probably why they're my friends. It's hard to embrace craigslist because at first look at the site you're like "what the hell's this?" But once you get some guidance on what it can provide you'll be amazed at what it can do. In April, my family had a subdivision sale and we always advertised by putting signs at the entrances to the sub and paying $50-100 for a small note in each local paper which usually brings a decent turnout. This year, I suggested we use craigslist too. On the day of the huge garage sale, there were calls every hour asking directions to our subdivision from all over the place even in the heart of Detroit. It was apparent to all of us that there was way more people then we've had before. Normally, our family would have made about $400 in profit (we have a lot of stuff to sell) but after using craigslist we made almost $900! That's the power of craigslist. Just yesterday we posted our wooden playset on Craigslist and within two hours of publishing the post we got an urgent call basically saying "SOLD!" He came over the next day and gave us the money. Now he just has to take it apart and haul it away. My parents were shocked at the results. Suddenly I have a list of things to put up on craigslist. In all, if you want to sell something, buy something, find a job, find romance, have a laugh, or get free stuff then go to craigslist first.

MOAR NINTENDO!

Despite it's success, Nintendo needs to step it up.
I'm sure you're at least aware of Nintendo's huge hits, the Wii and the Nintendo DS. But even though the DS is still selling well fours years after its first release and the Wii system is still hard to find anywhere, Nintendo hasn't been satisfying the masses as pointed out by Wii Fanboy. First of all, both systems have totally revolutionized how most of us live now and that's no joke. Both systems are easy to use, fun, and cheap. It's a killer combination. Because the Wii offers gamers the chance to move rather than button-mash Nintendo has increased its demographic to nearly anyone. They're putting Wiis in physical therapy centers and retirement homes because it's great, fun exercise for them. I mean, my 90 year-old Grandpa has a Wii! You can surf the net, check the news and weather, and interact with other players in a safe environment on the Wii. The DS is similar in that you can also surf the web, chat with other players, and just about run your whole life with its fantastic line of games. My Weight Loss Coach, Brain Age, My Spanish Coach, Flash Focus, and Cooking Guide (UK) are just the beginnings of how the DS is going from game system to life system. But, like I said, people keep demanding more so I've come up with a list of things Nintendo needs to improve on.

• Wii storage shortage - after a few games saves, channels, and Wii Wares installed on your Wii you've suddenly run out of room to put it all! Most have suggested playing straight from an inserted SD card but we'll see how they solve this problem.
• Cooking Guide (USA) - for some reason this game is predicted to only sell well in Europe but I think they need to give North America a chance and offer it here. I would certainly buy it in a heartbeat and I'm sure others would too if they saw its potential.
• Balance board games - Sure the Wii Fit is an enormous success but I want to do more with my $90 dual-scale accessory than just yoga. I want my moneys worth!
• DS Novel - If I want to bring a few books with me while I travel and I'm already going to take my DS why not combine the two by packing a bunch of classic literature pieces on a DS cartridge?
• Animal Crossing Wii - The Gamecube version was like The Sims on crack but the Wii is lacking it's own version and if they make one it's going to be ten times better than its predecessor.
• Pokemon Platinum - For a company that comes out with 100 new characters and not one, but two new games about them practically every year it sure seems strange for them to be so late on one of the most anticipated Pokemon titles for the DS.
• New Wii colors - The DS has about a 1,000 different colors and designs yet the Wii just has plain ol' white. What gives?
• My (insert language here) Coach - It's great that we have French and Spanish and English in Asia, but what about the other 500 languages in the world? I'm looking forward to My Chinese Coach myself.
• More DLC, please - So far, the downloadable content (DLC) for the Wii has been slow and not all that great. I'm sure once they fix the storage problem the Nintendo servers will crash from all the downloads.
• DS redesign - This is why I still have my Original Style "Phat" DS. The Lite is great and all but I know the next system version will be twice as good.
  

List of Funny Sites

A growing list of websites guaranteed to make you smile.

• Cyanide & Happiness - This webcomic on explosm.net has some of the best crude and inappropriate jokes I've ever read. It's tough to predict where the punchline is going which makes it so original.
• Not Always Right - You think you've witnessed some of the stupidest conversations between customer and employee? You haven't heard nothin' yet.
• I Can Has Cheezburger & I Has A Hotdog - How do you make a picture of a cute cat, dog, or other animal funny? Add poorly spelled captions.
• My Roommate Is Such A Dick - We've all had a house guest at one point that drove us insane so now you don't have to feel like you're the only one with roommate issues when you read these funny letters. Although it hasn't been updated in a while, but maybe you can change that by submiting your own story.
• Zero Punctuation - This is for the video game freaks who want the honest, uncensored truth about their next potential purchases before playing them first.
• Funny or Die - Unlike most "funny" video sites, Funny or Die leaves the hilarity levels up to you where voting determines whether a video is so funny that it is deemed immortal or be so bad as to never see the light again.
• Computer Stupidities - Similar to Not Always Right but it's mainly for computer geeks who can understand the absolute idiocy of PC users. If you have trouble figuring out any part of your computer then it's best to keep away from this site unless you want to be embarrassed by reading a situation that sounds familiar to one of your own experiences.
• Pun Of The Day - Ah, good ole dry humor. Some of the phrases are pure gold while others....what's the total opposite of pure gold?
• Quote Database - Bash.org brings you the best quotes ever to come up in IRC chats. A bunch of them are so funny that you'll have to take a laughing break between each quote.

Feel free to criticize what I've listed or add your own funny links in your comments, but keep it appropriate.

No Hoodies Makes No Sense

Four year old told to remove hoody for "security."
This no hoody policy schools and public buildings are picking up is pissing off a lot of people including me. When I went to high school, white honor roll students who have never broken a single rule were being told to take off their hoodies because it was violating dress code. Yet other students were allowed to wear hats, caps, visors, and other crazy head gear any way they liked. In a recent scenario BBC tells us that a mother is outraged at such a ridiculous order to have her young daughter take off her hoody for "security" reasons in a family arcade. The mother points out that it's just plain stupid to have her daughter's hoody removed when there are others with hats on all over the place. This brings me to my final point: in order to be fair to everyone, either ban all fashion oriented head gear or allow them all.

Tumbleblogging?

New "just write" trend in blogging: Tumbleblogging.
Thanks to Telegraph, I'm turned on to tumbleblogging. It's like writing your thoughts as they come to you and then publish these raw notes in a blog. It's not terribly exciting, but at least they're trying to give a face-lift to blogging. You might want to give it a try even if you just use notepad instead of publishing every single time you write. The most effective way to do tumbleblogging is to have a pda or smartphone so that no matter where you are you can jot down your thoughts as they come to you. It's probably not the right thing for everyone but anyone who usually has eventful lives might enjoy this new craze.

Top 10 Board Games

Key: 5-high 1-low
P - playability: how long you can play it over and over until it gets boring or you already know all the answers
L - longevity: how long one games lasts
F - fun: how exciting a game can be considering all age groups
D - difficulty: how complicated the instructions are and how hard the game is when being played

10. Scrabble - It's not for everybody but it's the only game besides Boggle where you can really show off your vocabulary. P-2 L-4 F-1 D-5
9. Clue - Nothing says kid's game like murder. Hint: it's always Miss Scarlet or the Colonel. P-3 L-3 F-4 D-2
8. Life - Education, a career, marriage, a house, and a family. This game has it all. P-4 L-4 F-4 D-3
7. Risk - World domination has never been this popular. P-3 L-5 F-3 D-5
6. Monopoly - This classic game has so many versions out that there's bound to be one that you like. P-4 L-5 F-4 D-5
5. Whoonu - This Cranium card game is meant for kids, but it's a great way to get to know people's interests. You can play likes, dislikes, or you can try neutral. P-4 L-1 F-5 D-1
4. Cranium Conga - It may not have a single board to play on, but boy this game is fun for everyone. P-4 L-2 F-5 D-2
3. Pictionary - Sure you might get angry at your partner, but this game allows any large number of people to play. P-3 L-5 F-4 D-3
2. Cranium Turbo - Pop culture has never been this fun and there's always an activity that you're good at which makes this game perfect for anyone. P-3 L-4 F-5 D-4
1. Scattergories - Everyone wants to play this word game because it's simple fun and the possibilities are nearly endless. P-5 L-3 F-4 D-2

Top Pick:
Whoonu - It's so simple, quick, and perfect for anyone that it's probably the best game to have in anyone's home. I know it's not a true board game but it's so much fun!

Train Your Brain

Keep your mind sharp with BrainReady.
Have you heard of Brain Age, the hit video game for the Nintendo DS that calculates your brain's age with different challenging activities and math games? Well BrainReady is very similar but you don't need the DS! It offers audio podcasts, what foods to eat to maximize brain power, and a printable worksheet that helps "turn back the clock on the damaging effects of aging." The 15 minute worksheets are especially helpful because they are most like Brain Age where they focus on the prefrontal cortex which is most important for quick thinking and simple calculations. You must give BrainReady a try.

Don't Be Afraid, It's Just RSS

View new stories and posts from your favorite sites all in one place.
It's surprising to me that so many people haven't discovered or fully understand RSS. If you have a lot of websites or blogs that you like you don't have to go to each one looking for updates. With RSS all the updates come to you. It's very simple:

1. Find and click an RSS feed symbol (usually orange or blue) whenever you want to be notified as soon as something new is posted on a site that you like.
2. Now, using Google Reader, which is the easiest out of all readers to manage, you can be informed of any updates that occur on that site just by having a google account.
3. Go nuts by clicking RSS symbols on all your favorite sites and if you don't want them in Google Reader any more then you can just click "unsubscribe" under "Feed Settings."

That's all you need to know! Now of course you could use other RSS readers but the best thing about using the google version is that with the same account you can have email with Gmail and a calendar with Gcal and all the other benefits that come with google.

"Ultimate Video Search Engine"

Find a video with one easy search.
Calling your site the "ultimate" is pretty bold, but the Gujam video search engine can really back up their claim. It's exactly like google with a simplistic design and results page but it searches video sites like YouTube, Veoh, The Daily Motion, Meta Cafe, and many more. Now you can easily find videos from lonelygirl15, as pictured above, with ease. If you don't find the video you're looking for with Gujam then it just doesn't exist.

HD Internet TV

Find, download, and watch episodes from hundreds of free channels.
Comedy Central, National Geographic, Ask a Ninja, and much more all make up miro. It's exactly like video podcasting with iTunes only with miro you get to search and download Youtube videos too. Another great feature on miro is that after you download a video and watch it you can save the video forever or there's an expiration date that deletes it in a few days so that you'll have room later for more downloads. But you don't have to limit videos to those that you find on the channel guide, you can even use miro to organize any other video that you have all in one easy to manage program.

Ask and Answer

Anonomously ask any question and then answer someone else's with QuestionSwap.
Have you ever wanted to know why some people are republicans? Or wanted to read a funny story about someone? Or perhaps you wanted to ask a person something so random that you'd think you would get an odd look from him/her? Then why not ask away on QuestionSwap where you can type pretty much anything and get a response from someone around the world then answer theirs. Do you think that's a good use of your time? Just ask someone that very question on QuestionSwap! After a while you'll see why it's so fun, although you can get addicted.

Just One Click to Find Sites You Like

View websites based off your interests with StumbleUpon.
It's never been easier to surf the web. If you enjoy sites with science, humor, videos, hacking, or anything else you can think up, StumbleUpon will show you sites that people have labeled as such. It's simple to sign-up, download (firefox) or download (internet explorer), and use StumbleUpon. Once you have the toolbar installed all you have to do is check the topics you want to see, click the Stumble! button, and then you're taken to a site that other users with similar tastes have liked. You can then select if you liked it or not by clicking the thumbs up or down buttons and then click Stumble! again to be taken to a new site. If you suddenly discover a really good website that no one else has, then click "I like it!" to label the site and give a quick review so others can enjoy it too. At any time you can click on the Favorites button to see all the sites that you visited while using StumbleUpon. It's just that easy to use, but be careful, it's VERY addictive.

Futurama Returns!

HALLELUJAH! After years of fighting for its return, Futurama is making a comeback on Nov 27th.
Futurama was another animated series by Matt Groening that started a few years back when his regular series, The Simpsons, was at a really popular state. Futurama was, dare I say, better than The Simpsons because the jokes were fresh, the characters were new, and the situations got crazier. Well for some reason it was canceled and lots of fans were bummed to the point of petitioning for the network to bring it back. Now with The Simpsons movie out, the save Futurama project was revived and they listened. According to The Animation Blog, Futurama will be put into four movies and then later split up into episodes to air on Comedy Central for a new season.

Real Life Treasure Hunt

Hide or find treasure world wide with Geocaching.
Haven't you wished that life was more like a treasure hunt game? Well, it has been since 2004! There are millions of hidden items all over the world and possibly in your backyard. Sign-up for Geocaching at their website and you can search for treasure, like the one pictured above, people have hidden near you.
When I searched for stuff near me there were 10 treasures in a 3 mile radius around my house! I couldn't believe it! Go ahead and try it out for yourself.