a hshieh blog.

Click on the thumbnails to access their appropriate pages and download, print, papercraft.

In 1996, Stanford officially stated that it didn’t care about college rankings. This year, it changed its stance.

Leland Stanford Junior University, my wonderful school that is certain it is better than everything and everyone else, finally has some claim to its name, consistently beating out almost all other graduate schools in almost every category in U.S. New’s 2009 Top Graduate Schools list. Also, according to Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s international university rankings, Stanford ties this year with Harvard for the first time.

Dominating everything except medical school (in which Stanford placed 8th), Stanford ranked first in more categories than any other school; tying with Harvard and MIT in several categories.

(more…)

Pokémon movies come every summer, but who would have thought that this one would have been a good one? The new movie was recently released: 劇場版ポケットモンスター ダイヤモンド+パールギラティナと氷空の花束 シェイミ (rough translation: Pokémon Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Giratina and the Frozen Sky’s Bouquet: Shaymin). I will admit straight out that I cried very much watching this tear-jerk of a movie. Not only were Sheimi’s (a.k.a Shaymin) evolutions shown, but the audience was awarded with amazing fan-swag (see image above), including the very appropriate and necessary tissues which are labeled “Arigatoudesyu!”, “Sankyuu!”, and “Arigatou!” based along with different photos of Sheimi in its different forms.

Unfortunately, since the copy I watched was a random in-theatre recording posted in an iPod Linux forum. Should I ever get the chance, however, I will be the first person in line for Pokémon paraphernalia.

Found these whilst perusing the web. Looks like I have a new hobby to work on!

I’m really into deep sea creatures-they’re super cool, with their crazy, out-of-this-world alien looks and crazy designs. I had been meaning to ask for a while now, but today, I finally found out the name of the above animal. “Grimpoteuthis”.

Wikipedia, the guide to all that is right and correct in the world, told me, with extreme pronoun usage:

“[Grimpoteuthis] are benthic creatures, living at extreme depths: 300-400 meters, and are some of the rarest of the Octopoda species. They can flush the transparent layer of their skin at will, and are pelagic animals, as with all other cirrate octopuses, and unlike many other incirrate octopuses.

They hover above the sea floor, searching for worms, bivalves, pelagic copepods, and other crustaceans. They move by pulsing their arms, shooting water through their funnel, or by waving their ear-like fins. They can use each of these techniques separately or all simultaneously. The males and females are different in their size and sucker patterns. The females lay eggs consistently, with no distinct breeding season.”

All I can say is: I want to eat it.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/CSW88qCqZMg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Iliza Shlesinger, the potentially violent, vulgar, and equally awesome comedian is coming to Cincinnati, of all places.

Perhaps the irony of her being in Ohio is her entire act. Anyway, I’m looking forward to her performance!

I hosted a nice little Facebook Developer’s Garage for Facebook Cambridge group this summer on the Pforzheimer balcony in the Harvard Quad. It was great fun, and I met a lot of interesting people.

(more…)

When Nintendo announced the Wii, we all thought, “pretty system, terrible name.” But due to the idiocy and law-suit loving American public, the Wiimote soon got a nice, gigantic, rubber covering to keep people from continuing to be a danger to themselves.

(more…)