Why Jordan is still the best NBA player ever...

"You cannot win a basketball game alone, unless you are Michael Jordan"
- Darvin Ham (Ex-NBA player)

"By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time"
- NBA

Kobe or Jordan?... After Kobe won his 5th NBA title just last week, the debate on "who is the best NBA player ever" was resurrected. Fans of Kobe are claiming that Bryant had already surpassed Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time. This statement had raised the eyebrows of many basketball fans. They don't think that Kobe is great enough to dethrone His Airness, Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant is really an exceptional player. His ability to create and make shot is superb. He has also been a great defender and passer this past years. Kobe is maybe the best basketball player today. But all time? I don't think so.

Jordan is just an unbelievable player. There are a lot of things that separates Jordan from other players. These are the things that made him the greatest of all time. So let's discuss about this stuffs...

Monster Statistics!

As they say, numbers don't lie. Michael Jordan has whopping career averages of 30.1 pts/game, 6.2 rebs/game, 5.3 asts/game, 2.35 stls/game, 0.8 blks/game, 49.7 FG%, 32.7 3pt FG%, 83.5 FT%. His stat line is really unbelievable. Aside from scoring a lot of points per game (he is the no.1 all time in scoring average), he can also pass the ball, grab rebounds, and play defense. Jordan is an all around player. He is excellent at both ends of the court.

Michael Jordan also has 6 NBA championship rings, 5 Season MVP awards, 6 Finals MVP, 1 time DPOY, 14 all star games, 10x NBA 1st team, 9x NBA defensive 1st team, 2 slamdunk titles, 2 Olympics gold medals.

Does his jaw dropping numbers are already enough to be coined as the best? Maybe not. This is just one aspect of his game. In fact, there are players who had almost the same stats as him. Like LeBron James' career averages; 27.8ppg, 7rpg, 7apg, 1.7spg, 0.9bpg. Anti-Jordans are also arguing that he only got those averages because there are no player before that can play defense to him. They are saying that if Jordan played today, he may not be able to put up those stats. Therefore, they believe that Jordan don't deserve the title (greatest basketball player of all time) given to him.

Miraculous Buzzer Beaters

Throughout his (Michael Jordan) 14 seasons in the NBA, Jordan has been able to beat a lot of teams with his heroic game winning shots. Many basketball geeks are saying; "Jordan is the only player whom you can create a top 10 buzzer beaters clip ". One of the most popular game winning shot that he made was against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. This historical shot gave him and the Chicago Bulls their 6th NBA title.

So he is a great clutch player. Is this the main reason why he is the greatest of all time? Hmm... maybe. I think his ability to make shots in the dying seconds of the game is one of the more popular reasons why he was considered as the best. But shooting buzzer beaters are not enough to be dubbed as the greatest of all time. Because there are also a lot of NBA players who can sink game winning shots.

Great combination of talent and skill

MJ is one heck of a talent. High leaping ability, excellent midrange shooting touch, tons of confidence and aggressiveness, sick crossover moves, awesome fade away jumper and a great nose for the ball. His inborn talent combined with hard work made him an unstoppable player. He learned how to use those talent to become successful in the pro league. Aside from winning games, his talent also entertains the crowd. With his high leaping ability, he is able to dunk the ball from the free-throw line. And the crowd loves it.

We can fairly say that his talent and skill level are the reasons why he was tagged as the greatest of all time. There are only few elite players who have the same level of talent as Jordan has. But, I think there is one more reason why he is the greatest of all time.

If he's incredible stats, buzzer beating shots and tremendous talent are not the main reason why he was dubbed as the greatest of all time, then what is the main reason?

Based on my analysis and observations, the ultimate reason why Jordan is still the best NBA, or should we say basketball player ever, is because...

He Came First

If you will analyze the statements above, you will realize that there are players who are equally great as Jordan. They can produce monster stats like MJ, shoot buzzer beaters, and they also possesses great individual skills and talents. But what separates Jordan, is that he was the first player to revolutionized NBA and the basketball game itself. He was the first NBA superstar who can play outstanding offense and excellent defense. Before Jordan, NBA superstars are either great offensive players or tremendous defensive players. None of them was able to play excellent offense and defense at the same time like what Jordan did.

Jordan was the first NBA guard who can block shots in consistent basis. He was the first player to hit those high flying fade away jumpers. And the first player to promote that dunking is a fun thing to do.

Today, there are NBA superstars who could also play excellent offense and defense like MJ does. They are LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant. But they still cannot dethrone MJ as the greatest player of all time. Because there is nothing special about them. People already saw Jordan doing those crazy stuffs that they are doing today. People only enjoyed watching them because they remember Jordan with those players. Fans were delighted to watch again those great moves that Jordan already did before.

Until they can show something incredibly new in the league, maybe that's the only time they can beat Jordan as the greatest player of all time.

If you would ask me who could be the next MJ, I will pick LeBron. He has the same talent and skill level of Jordan. And with his unbelievable physical attributes, he could revolutionize the game like what Jordan did. He is the first NBA player who can play almost all of the positions. From point guard, to power forward. He is a massive, wide bodied 6'8" guy who has strength of a center, and speed of a point guard. If he can win some championship rings, then he may be able to beat Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time.

Nokia 5230 Review: Full specifications and more

Nokia 5230 is a s60v5 (symbian^1) touchscreen phone from Nokia. A very good phone with a very low price. We could say that 5230 is a downgraded version of 5800 Xpress Music. They look pretty much alike.

5230 is the first s60v5 and touchscreen phone that I had ever used. And its really a great phone! All the stuffs that you need from a phone are in 5230. A high-speed connection, a camera, send/receive e-mail, great games and applications, massive storage memory, a good video and audio player, call and text, etc...

After 2 months of using this phone, I decided to create this review so I could share to you how good this cheap phone is.

The Specs:

Network: GSM, EDGE, UMTS (3G/3.5G)

Screen: 320x640 resolution, 3.2" TFT resistive touchscreen w/ 16Million colors and a widescreen format (16:9 aspect ratio)

Memory: 70MB Internal storage memory, 128MB RAM, upto 16GB microSD flash memory storage

Entertainment: stereo FM radio, visual radio, MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV video player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA music player

Camera: 2MP still camera, 640x480 @30fps video camera

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 w/ A2DP, 3.5mm AV jack, microUSB 2.0, GPS w/ A-GPS support

Processor: ARM 11 434MHz processor

Battery: BL-5J Li-Ion 1320mAh battery

Talk time: 7Hrs (2G), 4.5Hrs (3G)

Standby: 432Hrs

Misc: accelerometer for auto rotate, proximity sensor for auto off

Pros:

Price to Quality Ratio

- 5230 is one of the best phones in the market in terms of price to quality ratio. A phone with those kind of specs (read the specs above) at a price ranging from $140 to $170 (Php6.8k-8.2k), it may be the best bargain available in the market today! This phone is really great for those low budget people. You can now own a high tech phone and look good without spending a lot of money.

Great for movie/video lovers!

- With a 3.2", 16:9 widescreen display, 5230 is really a great phone for watching movies. The phone can play DVD quality movies (640x480 @30fps). So you don't have to resize your DVD movies, just convert it and its ready to go! 5230 can't play HD videos (720p or 1080p). But who cares? Why would you try to play a 1920x1080 clip in a 640x320 display if it will not affect your viewing experience? At first, you will think that a 1080p video will be clearer and brighter than a 480p clip. Yes this is true. But it is only applicable for high resolution display. The resolution of the phone is fix. Meaning, your 1080p video will just be displayed as a 640x320 clip. So there will be no difference at all. You will just be wasting your disk space for those HD vids. The default video player (RealPlayer) of the phone has a good feature of stretching videos. Your 4:3 video, or low quality video will be stretched when played, filling the whole screen with moving images and removing those annoying black spaces due to the resolution disparity of the video and the display. So it's really fun to watch movies with this phone.

Accelerometer equals more fun!

- Accelerometer is really not a necessity. But it gives the user additional reason to love this phone. It's really fun to watch your menu automatically rotate every time you flip your phone from portrait to landscape position. There are also a lot of accelerometer based games for s60v5 phones. Like Raging Thunder. An interactive 3D racing game that lets you feel like you're really driving the car! You can drive the car left or right by just twisting your phone left and right. It’s pretty difficult to control the car, but I enjoy it. I feel like I'm using a real steering wheel to drive the car!

High speed internet connection

- The phone has 3.5G connectivity. Also known as HSDPA with a max speed of 3.6Mbps (450KBps). This phone is even faster than the basic broadband connection (only upto 384Kbps) that we are using in our home. Because of this connection speed, streaming youtube videos and downloading big files is not a problem.

Cons:

Finger burning text input method

- This is the worst part of using 5230, the extremely difficult text input method. The phone has three input systems, a T9 virtual keypad, a full QWERTY virtual keyboard and a hand writing recognition system. Among the three input systems, the T9 virtual keypad is the easiest to use. Hmm.. maybe "easiest" is not the right term to use. "least difficult" is a better fit. All the three methods are difficult to use. Even my slim fingers are having a hard time typing text using both T9 and QWERTY virtual keys. I always hit the keys that I don't suppose to press. Example, instead of typing the word "meeting", most of the time I mistakenly typed it as "mooting". Instead of pressing "3" four times so I can input two "e", my fingers are hitting the "6" when using the T9 keys. The QWERTY keyboard is even harder to use. Since the keys are laded out smaller than those of T9. Using stylus instead of fingers is not a bad idea. It will lessen your errors, but it will also decrease your typing speed. The handwriting recognition system is also difficult to use. The phone cannot distinguish which is a letter, a symbol or a number. So you must check first the number mode if you want to write a number, and the symbol mode to input symbols. This is really bad. Especially if you will consider the handwriting recognition system of other touchscreen phones that can directly determine if you are writing a letter, number or symbol. Another issue of the handwriting recognition of the 5230 is its slow response. There is a split second delay before it display what you are writing. This problem causes you to lose your rhythm in writing. Maybe its better if Nokia put a real keypad on 5230 just like N97.

Camera issues

- 5230 has a 2MP still camera. A 2MP camera is not bad, but based on the trends today, people are expecting a higher resolution camera from their phones. The bigger issue for its camera is its lack of flash. The phone doesn’t have any kind of flash for its camera. Without flash, users are limited only to capture pictures in bright well litted areas. The phone's camera is useless during the night or in dark places. This is not the phone for you if you love taking pictures in an evening party. Another camera issue for this phone is that, it doesn’t have a secondary camera. You cannot make video calls with this phone, or make it as your mirror.

No Wi-Fi

- You can use this phone to browse the internet even without wi-fi. It can load the pages very fast with its HSDPA connection. But surfing the net with the use of wi-fi is still different. First of all, surfing with wi-fi connection is absolutely free! No data charges and its available almost anywhere. 3.5G connection is maybe faster than the wi-fi connection available in your area. But it can cost you a lot.

Soft speaker volume

- The phone has only one loudspeaker (I tell you, it's not really loud) placed on its left side. It can produce 3D audio effect. But its output sound is really soft. Your metal song will sounds like a mellow song when played through the phone's speaker. I compare it with my N70; 5230's speaker is maybe just 70% of the power of my N70's speaker.

The Verdict:

If I am going to grade this phone from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I will give it a passing score of 7. The phone may lack some in demand features, but I tell you, everything an average user need, is in this phone. No need to spend extra pennies for those features that are really not so important.

I highly recommend this phone for those money deficient guys like me. You will surely enjoy every cent that you spent to buy this phone. 5230 is a straight forward phone. It will directly cater your mobile needs without those extra nonsense stuffs.

But if you are a wealthy person, it is better to buy a higher end touchscreen phone. Like N97, X6, or even N8. They have more features than what 5230 have. These extra features are really fun to use. Maybe not a necessary one, but it’s good to enjoy what our current technology can bring to us.

2010 NBA Finals Review

At last! After 7 grueling games, the Los Angeles Lakers emerged as the 2010 NBA Champions! Winning their 16th title.

It was a hard fought series. Neither teams turned away from the challenge. But there can only be one team that will be crowned as the champion. And this time, it was the Lakers. Back to back wins for their back to back championships.

Phil Jackson continued his streak of winning a playoff series after winning the first game. On the other hand, the Celtics' streak on protecting a 3-2 series lead and beating the Lakers in every Game7 of finals was finally stopped.

So let's take a look back on what happened in every game of the series.

Game1 (LAL 102 - BOS 89): Bryant played like a real MVP

First game of the finals, first blood for the reigning champs.

Game1 was a very physical game. In just 27 seconds of play, Peirce and Artest got entangled with each other and looked like they want a royal rumble! This scenario garnered them double technical fouls.

The whole game was rough and harsh. But the Lakers was able to survive, as they showed more energy and hustle than the Celtics. Lakers made Boston looked like a very old team.

Aside from extra energy that the Lakers displayed, they also shoot the ball better than the Celtics especially on the 3pt area. The Celtics struggled to shoot from outside converting only 1 basket out of 10 attempts, as compared to Lakers' 4-out of- 10 3pt shooting.

The Lakers also dominated the boards. Outrebounding the Celtics, 42 to 31.

The main highlight of the game was Kobe's great all around play. Scored 30pts, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 6assists, also with one block and one steal. Bryant also got help from Gasol. Pau had 23pts and 14rebs on Game1.

Best Player: Kobe Bryant - 30pts 7rebs 6asts

Game2 (LAL 94 - BOS 103): Ray Allen was smoking hot from outside

Allen for three! Allen for three!. . . (Repeat up to 8 times)

The Lakers might want to wish that a basketball game don't have a first half, as Ray Allen exploded for 27pts in the 1st half alone. He also shot seven 3-pointers in the 1st half, tying the finals record for most 3-pointers made in a finals game (Kenny Smith and Scottie Pippen are the two other players able to do this feat..).

In the 3rd quarter, Allen made another 3-pointer to set a new finals record with his 8th 3-pt shot made. But it was his last made 3-pointer as the defense tightened up on him.

Allen finished the game with 32pts 3rebs and 2asts.

Aside from Allen, the Celtics also got a big lift from Rajon Rondo. He had a triple-double game with 19pts 12rebs and 10asts. It was a badly needed help for the Celtics as Pierce and Garnett both struggled.

The Celtics were able to bounce back after an awful shooting Game1. And they were the first team to beat the Lakers at home in this year's playoffs. The Lakers were 9-0 at home before Game2.

Best Player: Ray Allen - 32pts 3rebs 2asts

Game3 (LAL 91 - BOS 84): Fisher spoiled Celtics' homecoming

The Fisher caught another big fish!

Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.! The crowd of TD garden was so loud and proud especially on the first few minutes of the game. The Celtics started the game with a 12-5 lead along with a couple of nice alley hoop plays from Rondo to Garnett.

But not for long, as the Lakers started to play excellent at both ends of the court, while the Celtics keep on building bricks. After a scintillating Game2, Allen struggled in this game missing all his 13 shot attempts. It was only Garnett who had a fine shooting night for the Celtics.

After a slow start, the Lakers were able to build a 17pt lead, 37-20, midway through the first half. But in the 2nd half, the Celtics were able to caught up and made the game more exciting.

It was a neck-to-neck battle in the 4th quarter until Fisher exploded! Fisher scored consecutive baskets near the end of the quarter to give Lakers some breathing room. He is crushing the defense of the Celtics. Driving to the basket and making difficult shots.

Fisher's late game heroic was too much for the Celtics. And it helped the Lakers escape with a victory. Leaving Celtics' fans silent and disappointed.

Best Player: Derek Fisher - 16pts 3rebs 1ast

Game4 (LAL 89 - BOS 96): Big Baby Davis, baby no more...

Shrek (Glen Davis) and Donkey (Nate Robinson) to the rescue for Celtics!

Game4 was a very tight fight until the end. Once again, the Lakers played excellent game on Celtics' home court but this time, they failed to get the win.

It was the Celtics' bench who pound the Lakers in the 4th quarter. Specially Davis and Robinson. Their duo made a combined score of 30pts.

With Bynum out of the court, Glen Davis dominated the paint. Scoring bunches of layup, grabbing rebounds and just a great defensive presence inside.

Meanwhile, aside from scoring 13pts off the bench, Robinson helped the Celtics to win by injecting tremendous amount of energy to the Celtics’ players and fans.

It was a hard earned victory for the Celtics. But it was a very important win since they were able to prevent a 3-1 series deficit. Instead, they were able to tie the series at 2-2.

Best Player: Glen Davis - 18pts 5rebs 2stls

Game5 (LAL 86 - BOS 92): The Truth was finally revealed

Celtics, saving the best for last.

Game5, last NBA game on TD garden for the season, and the Celtics make sure that it would be a memorable one. They beat the Lakers for the second straight game and took a 3-2 series lead. One win shy for their 18th NBA title.

After four games of waiting, at last, "The Truth" Paul Pierce has finally exploded. Pierce scored 27pts had a shootout contest against Bryant in the 3rd quarter of the game.

During the 3rd quarter, Bryant scored 19pts for the Lakers who don't have another threat to help Bryant against the rampaging Celtics. At the other end of the court, Pierce contributed 11pts for the Celtics.

Bryant was the only Lakers starter to have a good game. The lost was really attributed to the lack of help that Bryant got from his teammates.

The Celtics also shot the ball very well. Converting 56% of their attempts. This is the reason why they won the game despite of committing 16 turnovers.

Best Player: Paul Pierce - 27pts 2rebs 2asts

Game6 (LAL 89 - BOS 67): Job well done for Bryant and company

Ahh... Home sweet home...

After a disastrous Game5 performance, Bryant's supporting cast came up with a huge game on their home court for the Game6 of the 2010 NBA Finals.

Game5 was a one-man show for Kobe after scoring 38pts while the rest of the team only able to put up 48pts. Game6 was a different story. Kobe got a lot of help from his teammates especially Ron Artest, who finally got rid of his shooting slump.

Artest scored 15pts, thanks to his hot start, scoring a couple of 3-pointers during the 1st quarter. Vujacic was also a surprise contributor scoring 9pts after averaging just 2pts for the series.

With a lot of help coming from his teammates, Bryant and the rest of the Lakers was able to massacre the whole Celtics. Limiting the Celtics to only 67pts, the 2nd lowest output in a finals game, next only to Utah's 54pt performance in the 1998 finals. The Lakers also able to built the biggest lead for the series, a 22pt margin when the scores are 49-27 in the 2nd quarter. Lakers also outrebounded the Celtics, 52 to 39.

Game6 was a nightmare for Boston. Aside from blowing out the game, they also lost their starting center Kendrick Perkins with a strained knee.

Best Player: Kobe Bryant - 26pts 11rebs 3asts

Game7 (LAL 83 - BOS 79): Back-to-Back wins equals Back-to-Back championship

Defense wins championship. . .

Game7 is an ugly game in terms of offense. Both teams only scored combine points of 162. One of the lowest in NBA Finals history.

Although it’s a low scoring ball game, the excitement was never absent. Tough defense were showed by both teams. Incredible blocks from both ends, swift steals, emphatic rebounds and just tremendous hustle by all the players.

In the early part of the game, it was the Celtics controlling the game. Limiting Gasol and Bryant to only 18.75% fieldgoal shooting in the first half. Despite of horrible shooting by the Lakers, the Celtics were only up by 5pts in the half. The main reason was Artests' fine shooting in the first half.

It was Artest who keep the Lakers afloat despite of their woes. He scored well, defended Pierce excellently and he's overall hustle. He even hit the most important 3-pointer of the game. He assumed the scoring responsibility for the Lakers since Kobe and Pau struggled in the first three quarters.

Without Perkins on the lineup, the Celtics had a hard time rebounding the ball. They were dominated by the overwhelming length advantage of the Lakers. Shorthanded at all, Celtics were still able to give Lakers a good hard fought game.

Best Player: Ron Artest - 20pts 5rebs 1ast

Girls' Generation a.k.a. So Nyeo Shi Dae (SNSD)

(Update: Try to read my new article Why SNSD is so addicting)

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Girls' Generation (their official international name) is a Korean girl group composed of nine cute and talented girls. Their fans usually call them as SNSD (acronym of So Nyeo Shi Dae. The Korean term for Girls' Generation).

The girl group officially debuted on August 5, 2007 (the date when they first perform in front of the public). The SM Entertainment (a Korean talent agency, producer and publisher who formed the SNSD) used a unique way to introduce this group in Korea. One member per day were introduced (a sort of. Actually only teaser of them were showed) to the Korean viewers. The first member introduced was YoonA on July 6, 2007. And the last one was Sunny on July 14, 2007. The name of the group, Girls' Generation, was revealed on July 16, 2007.

The members of the group are; Taeyeon (leader), Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun (youngest). Below are the girls’ profiles:

Taeyeon

Real name: Kim Tae-yeon

Birth date: March 9, 1989

Height: 160cm (5'3")

- Taeyeon really deserves to be the leader of the group. Not just because she is the oldest, but she also has the most powerful voice and incredible singing talent. She might not be that great as a dancer, but her outstanding singing skills makes up for it.

Jessica

Real name: Jessica Jung (korean name: Jung Soo-yeon)

Birth date: April 18, 1989

Height: 163cm (5'4")

- Jessica is one of my favorite members of the group. She's so cute; she even looks like a Barbie doll with those blonde hair. Aside from her looks, her voice also stands out. She has a very unique cute voice. She can also reach high notes.

Sunny

Real name: Lee Soon-kyu

Birth date: May 15, 1989

Height: 158cm (5'2")

- Sunny is considered by most SNSD fans as the cutest among the group. Not just because of her height (she is the shortest at 158cm) but also of her cute smiling eyes (yeah! her eyes can smile. ^_^..). She is also one of the underrated singers on the group. But she showcased her ability to hit high notes (but still able to control her voice) in their latest songs Forever and Star Star Star.

Tiffany

Real name: Stephanie Hwang (Korean name: Hwang Mi-young)

Birth date: August 1, 1989

Height: 162cm (5'4")

- For me, Tiffany has the most beautiful eyes among the 9 girls. She has innocent (maybe not so innocent) looking teary eyes. I always melt every time I look into her eyes. She is also the most hated member by the anti-SNSD fans. It is because of her weird attitude that she might developed while growing up in America. I read her personal note on their Oh! Album, and based on that, I can say that she is just misunderstood by the fans. She is a good, god fearing girl.

Hyoyeon

Real name: Kim Hyo-yeon

Birth date: September 22, 1989

Height: 160cm (5'3")

- Hyoyeon is one of the best dancers on the group (neck-to-neck battle with Yuri). She only sings short lines on their songs. And maybe this is the reason why she is the least favorite of the fans.

Yuri

Real name: Kwon Yu-ri

Birth date: December 5, 1989

Height: 167cm (5'6")

-Yuri is considered by most SNSD fans as the hottest and sexiest member of the group. I'm pretty sure your jaw will drop when you see her move those sexy body of her. Aside from being an excellent dancer, she also has decent voice quality.

Sooyoung

Real name: Choi Soo-young

Birth date: February 10, 1990

Height: 170cm (5'7")

-Choi Sooyoung, the girl I love to call as lean and mean because of her height and skinny body (but there are circulating news that she is starting to gain weight). Sooyoung used to live in Japan before. Maybe this is the reason why she looks more of a Japanese girl than a Korean, especially with those short hair. Just like Hyoyeon, she also sings few lines on their songs.

Yoona

Real name: Im Yoon-A

Birth date: May 30, 1990

Height: 166cm (5'5")

-Yoona is technically the most beautiful girl on the group. If you are a first time viewer of their music videos, I am sure that she is the one you will first notice. Her look is just outstanding. Not a typical small eyed korean girl. I don't know, but her beauty captured the heart of most of the SNSD fanboy. She also has the talent. A great dancer and singer. She can also act!

Seohyun

Real name: Seo Ju-hyun

Birthdate: June 28, 1991

Height: 168cm (5'6")

- Seohyun the maknae (korean term for the youngest member of a group or family).! If Yoona captures attention with her outstanding beauty, Seohyun will make you crazy with her cute lovable face! Those poppy cheeks and wide open eyes are perfect! She is my most favorite member of the group. Angelic face with angelic voice. Urgghh.. I really want her to be my wife.. :)

The difference between Fruits and Vegetables

(Note: this topic may look nonsense for others. But I think it is important for all to distinguish what is a fruit and what is not, since we encounter them in our daily living.)

When I was a young boy, I thought I already knew what's the main difference between fruits and vegetables. I can easily tell what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. Until my 5th grade teacher told me that carrot is a fruit. I was skeptical about what she said. Because ever since I first encountered carrots, I always categorized it as vegetable.

After that incident, I started to research on how to tell what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. But I cannot find the answer that I am looking for. Internet was not that popular during those times (early 2000), books and other written materials are my only reference. I got tired of searching for the truth that's why I stopped researching.

Last year, someone challenged me to prove that a cucumber is a fruit and not a vegetable. I was up to the challenge and tried researching again. But this time, Google is there to help me. I found a great explanation on how to tell fruits apart from vegetables.

So the first thing that we should know is that the term vegetable does not exist on science. The only parts of a plant are roots, trunk/branches, flower, leaves and fruits - no vegetable. So how come the term vegetable was used on the parts of a plant that is edible?

Vegetable is considered as a "market term". Market people (both seller and customers) uses the term vegetable for those parts of plant (excluding fruits) that can be eaten fresh or cooked. Vegetable is also used for those fruits that are non-citrus, not sweet, or fruits that are being cooked.

So here's the real deal:

Some fruits are vegetables, Some vegetables are fruits.

Got confused? I found a technique so you won't be confused. All you need to do is to be able to distinguish what a real fruit is. Why? Because if you knew that an edible part of a plant is not a fruit, you can automatically consider it as a vegetable.

So how can I determine if its a fruit? So simple, look for a seed. All fruits have seed. So if you're eating a fleshy part of plant that has seed, then its a fruit! All you need to do now is to know if that fruit is considered as vegetable in the market.

Let's go back on the cucumber challenge. I was able to prove to him that cucumbers are fruit. Because it is a fleshy part of the plant with seeds inside. Technically speaking, I am correct and he is wrong. But we could also consider him right for stating that cucumber is a vegetable. Like what is stated above; fruits that are non-citrus, not sweet or fruits that are being cooked are considered vegetable. We can really classify cucumber as a vegetable.

The 1080p Full HD format: A simple explanation

The 1080p standard for video has been around for quite some time now. But still, there are a lot of people who don't know the real idea about this breakthrough. Specifically, the meaning of the mysterious letter "p".

Most of the web people (beginners and average users) defines "p" as PIXEL. This statement is wrong, but somehow is accepted by the web community. They accepted this, because a 1080p video does have 1080 vertical pixels. A full HD video has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. So defining the "p" as pixel, is not a bad idea.

If the letter "p" don't stand for pixel, then what does it really mean?...

The real meaning of "p" on 1080p (same as on 720p) HD video is PROGRESSIVE. It is derived from a TV technique called Progressive Scanning. To fully understand the significance of the word PROGRESSIVE in HD technology, I think it is better if we would briefly discuss the idea of standard definition TV (SDTV).

Our old TV sets (SDTV) uses a technique called INTERLACING to display images. It has 480 horizontal active scan lines and another 45 horizontal scan lines which serves as buffer. Interlacing is a system where the TV displays the odd number scan lines first (1 - 479. It will take 1/60 seconds to be done), before it displays the even number scan lines (2 - 480. It will also take 1/60 seconds to be done). If you notice, the total time it takes for SDTV to display an image is 1/30 seconds. Therefore, it has a framerate of 30 frames per second.

On a full HD TV, as stated above, uses Progressive Scanning. This technique displays all the 1080 horizontal scan lines progressively. Meaning it start with the number 1 scan line then followed by 2,3,4....1080. And it only takes 1/60 seconds to display all of the 1080 horizontal scan lines. Having twice the speed of a SDTV. So how does this speed improve the quality of the image being displayed?...

The answer is very simple. It makes the image brighter and more stable. The standard frame rate of a video, HD or SD, is 30 frames per second. Since HDTV can display all the scan lines in just 1/60 seconds, and we only have 30 frames to show every second, the HDTV displays the same image twice to occupy 1/30 second period. And this process helps the stability and brightness of the video.

Now we already knew what does ”p” means on the term 1080p, we will now discuss the characteristics of a full HD video.

The amount of scan lines that a full HDTV has, 1080, helps solve another issue of the SDTV - poor video quality on huge screens. Try to watch a video on a 21" SDTV and a 42" SDTV. You can notice that the video displayed on the 21" screen looks great. So clean and clear. But on the 42" screen, the image looks dull and somewhat rough (you can see disturbing small squares on the image). This is because of the huge scan lines and slow scan rate.

Another characteristic of a full HD video is its 16:9 aspect ratio. It gives the viewer a more theatrical look for the video and adds more dimension to the viewing experience of the audience.

So we’re almost done discussing the full HD format. There’s one thing left, just a little clarification. On the second paragraph, I mentioned the line “1080 vertical pixels”. While on the latter part of our discussion, I also mentioned the line “1080 horizontal scan lines”. You might be confuse with this contradicting statements. But this two statements are both true! Look at the picture below for the explanation:

Did you get it?

Welcome to Amps4u!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog.

The main reason why I put up this blog is to share to everyone all the information and knowledge that I knew, which seems to be interesting to learn to. In this blog, I am not the only one who will share informations. You guys are also encouraged to share what's on your mind!

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I think my introduction to my blog is done. All the things that you must know about my blog were already posted above. So.. that's it! Hope you enjoy your stay here! MABUHAY!!!