Pavlov in my Ringtone (Audio Conditioning Experiment)

Earlier today, I was playing around with the ringtones and other stock sounds on my cellphone.  The current tones and sounds I use for calls and messages are ones I've since imported (for calls, I use "Type A" from Tetris and texts are signaled with Navi's "Hey! Listen!" from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time).  When I got to my own tones after listening to the stock files, I noticed something: in the back of my mind, I could still hear the sound of the cellphone vibrating even though it physically wasn't.  During a regular call or text, my phone will both chime and vibrate, but now my mind was filling in the absent sound of the vibration.  It is as if you are listening to a song you know well with one working headphone and your brain fills in what the second headphone can't (eg: missing harmonies, drum progressions, et cetera).  All the same, this got me thinking about human conditioning.  How much combined stimuli of the phone's ringtone and vibrations were required before my mind tied the two together to a point where my mind will involuntarily create one in its absence?

If my mind was conditioned to create a sound, how difficult would it be to break that conditioning?  With that, I switched the vibrate feature of my phone off to see if that would do it.  If that does not, I will switch my ringtone (I did not "hear" the vibration on the other tones).  Interestingly enough, I can play Teris and Ocarina of Time and listen to their music and sounds without thinking my cell phone is vibrating.

I am doing this experiment more out of curiosity to see how long it will take for my mind to disassociate the ringtone from the vibration.  I am not tying this to phantom phone vibration as that phenomena is more tactile and mine is auditory, though I imagine correlations could be drawn (the ubiquity of cell phone vibrations in society, et cetera).  But I digress, my phone is no longer set to vibrate (first time in years) and I am curious to see what will happen.

Big Lots DVD Bin (aka The Chili Bucket)

Years ago, a friend and I would look through the bin of $5 DVDs at Wal-Mart which we affectionately called "The Gravy Bowl".  The idea was that swimming amongst wave after wave of crappy DVDs (ie: gravy) were a few cinematic gems worth owning.  Even some of the other customers who dug through the bin moved DVDs aside with their arms in a swimming motion.  The activity was less about ownership of movies and more about the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of discovery, searching for that celluloid diamond in the rough (eg: Blazing Saddles; The Goonies; et cetera).  However, with the advent of Netflix, my time diving into the Gravy Bowl decreased considerably.  With a library of cinema and television at my fingertips, I found less incentive to hunt for the classics.

One night very recently, my girlfriend and I decided to go to Big Lots and look at their DVDs.  We had gone there a few months ago to buy some DVDs for a Secret Santa exchange.  Big Lots is a store that buys excess or unsold inventory from other stores and sells it at a discount.  My girlfriend made the comment that their DVD bin was the Chili Bucket, the place where DVDs that didn't sell the first time have been repackaged and are placed on the shelf (hehe, I love my girlfriend).

We looked around for about fifteen minutes and found some oddities.  Some of the titles we found were Hollywood blockbusters in Spanish with English as the second option (great way to learn the language, I might add.  Office Space helped me pass an exam once).  There was not a lot of variety to the selection, unfortunately, but there was enough there to rekindle a little of the hunting spirit.  In the end, we walked out with three movies...

Eleven dollars worth of chili.

Men in Black, Interview With The Vampire, and America's Sweethearts.  We paid a grand total of eleven dollars for these DVDs (MiB was five alone).  All in all, not bad.  We drove home to watch Men in Black, one of the few movies we searched for and could not find on Netflix.  However, when we opened the case, we discovered something interesting...

There's a "Disc Two"?

The DVD had been completely repackaged!  Someone had taken the movie out of a two-disc set and packaged it for a budget DVD (well, reuse and recycle, right?).  All the same, it reinforces the idea that the chili bucket is the place where unsold DVDs are given a second chance, albeit with a few trimmings here and there.

We had found other movies we each wouldn't have minded owning but had to leave behind due to our budget.  Maybe next time when we have a little more money, right?  While looking through the chili bucket is not as exciting as swimming through hundreds of DVDs at Wal-Mart's gravy bowl, the experience was worthwhile enough to warrant at least taking a gander whenever we go shopping at Big Lots.

Running with Shakespeare

I am playing Falstaff this summer in a community theater production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor".  This is my first lead role in a Shakespearean play (let alone any play)!  I have already started learning lines and doing basic character development (psychology, motivations, et cetera).  Even though I'm an amateur (a case could be made for semi-professional though), I want to do this role the best that I can.

For the cardio portion of 5BX, I have elected to run.  At this point in the program, I need only run half a mile.  So far, my average running time is a little over four minutes, which would pass at the A+ level for chart one (to "pass" at my current level of D+, I need to run it in seven).  Still, I know if I am going to succeed at higher levels, I need to find other ways to push myself and improve.

I have been reading about boot camp experiences lately.  One thing that struck me as interesting was that recruits have to yell their count out loud during push ups or other exercises, which trains the body to work more efficiently with less oxygen.  I already count out my reps during the other four execises of 5BX (not necessarily yell them.  I have neighbors), but I wanted to do something for the running portion.

During yesterday's run, I started reciting lines for Falstaff out loud (or at least ones I thought I had commited to memory).  Not only did it become a test of physical endurance, forcing my body to work with less oxygen, but also a mental test, trying to focus on lines I need to have memorized by June.  When I ran out of lines, I switched to Trinculo's first monologue from "The Tempest".  Before I knew it though, I was already twice around the track.

At the end of the run, I did not get as fast a time that I usually get (I still would have passed on the A+ level), but it was actually a lot of fun.  I was neither out of breath nor terribly exhausted afterward and, if nothing else, doing this reinforced scenes I know well and others that need work (and there are a lot of them).  On the plus side, a good indicator of pace is whether you can talk out loud during a run.  If Falstaff is going to be fat this summer, the theater may need to get him a special suit.  So if you see someone running on track two speaking in Elizabethan English, that might be me.

5BX and Lent

For Lent 2016, I gave up video games.  I am no longer a practiciing Catholic, but I felt it was time for me to take a break and focus on other things in life.  With that, my Wii Fit U activity has been suspended.  In the meantime, I have rediscovered 5BX (short for five basic exercises).  The 5BX regime is an exercise program developed by Dr. Bill Orban for the Royal Canadian Air Force.  The notable things about this program are it only takes eleven minutes per day to complete and does not require any specialized equipment (particularly great for pilots stationed in remote bases or anyone with limited time or access to a gym).  The participant starts at the lowest level of the first chart and progresses his or her way up to a level appropriate for his or her age (I am 31 years old, so my endgoal is Chart 4, Level C+).  As one progresses through the program, the fitness demands increase, either requiring more repetitions per exercise in the time limit or the exercises themselves becoming more difficult.

The regime starts with two minutes of a stretching activity (essentially the warm-up period), followed by one minute of ab exercises, one minute of back strengthening exercises, a minute of push-ups, concluded with six minutes of cardio.  The final exercise may be substituted with either a run or a walk that must be completed within a time limit.  It must be said that later levels of ab exercises can cause back problems.  Doing modern crunches or holding a plank formation may be substituted.

The program is no longer in use by the Royal Canadian Air Force.  However, a quick Google search can bring up lots of resources for the program, including free .PDF files of scans from the old booklets!

I try to work out the entire two minutes or one minute required for each exercise instead of just doing the required reps and stopping.  I also do the running option for my cardio (the school I work at has a track which I run on during my free time.  On weekends, I go to the park and run).  Today is my eighth day of doing 5BX and I am impressed with what I am seeing.  Progress seems slow, but with my back injury from a few years ago, I want to take my time and make sure I can comfortably do the routine before moving on to higher levels (my age dictates that I spend at least four days at each level before progressing).  The exercises are controlled and paced in Wii Fit U, contrasted with 5BX in that it's a daily physical fitness test where I push myself to do my best.  It will be interesting to see how I do in Wii Fit U after Lent is over...IF I don't want to give up 5BX.

Here is a great link to get started with 5BX.  As always, consult a physician before starting an exercise program.  http://fit450.com/HTML/5BX_Intro.html

RCA Viking Pro 10.1 (2015) Review

Last Christmas, I received the RCA Viking Pro 10.1 from Wal-Mart.  While RCA isn't exactly renowned for their Android offerings, my family had decent luck with the devices (one tablet has lasted nearly two years!), so I decided to give the device a go and see what I could do with it.  This is my first Android device, so I am not going to pretend to know every iota and inch of what the platform is capable of, nor am I able to compare it to other, arguably more capable, devices (eg: Samsung; LG; et cetera).  But I digress, here is my review of the RCA Viking Pro 10.1: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good

When I was shopping for a tablet before this one showed up on my doorstep, I knew I wanted it to be at least as big as an iPad's (9.7 inches).  The device's 10.1 inch screen definitely fulfilled that requirement.  The pixel density, although not the best compared to other models, is adequate to my needs.  This device comes with Android 5.0 Lollipop.  While it's not the latest and greatest (6.0 Marshmallow is out), one is able to run many of the latest apps on the Google Play Store.  The 1.4 ghz quad-core processor makes running programs quick and convenient.  On the other hand, it only has 1GB of RAM which is considered on the lower end of the tablet pecking order.  In its defense though, it's not terrible either.  So long as you don't have a lot of programs running at the same time, the tablet can be quick (put it another way, if a horse doesn't have a lot to carry, it can run faster).  As I am a fan of Humble Bundles, I am happy to say that many of the programs offered throughout the years are compatible with this device (it's great getting a device and already having over a hundred games for it ready to go).  One thing that suprised me was the USB A port.  This was baffling as other Android devices I've seen typically only ship with a USB-mini port, but this one shipped with both the full sized port and the micro-port (the latter is ONLY used for charging though).  With this full-sized USB port, one is able to plug in a mouse or a gaming controller and use them with the tablet to either play a game, navigate, et cetera.  The tablet comes with 32GB of flash memory with support for up to 64GB more (though I can confirm 32GB more as that's the card I am using).  The device comes with a keyboard which attaches itself to the bottom of the tablet without the need of a USB or Bluetooth connection.  The tablet and keyboard and fold together and close like a laptop, offering some protection for the screen (though I would still recommend getting a case).  The buttons on the keyboard are a bit small for my hands (especially when compared to my laptop), but it's actually really responsive and will do in a pinch if somehow your laptop is unavailable.  Throw in a USB mouse and you might have the workings of an okay laptop.

The Bad

One thing I got excited about with the Android platform over iOS is being able to easily transfer files from my computer to the device via drag-and-drop (it gets complicated trying to transfer files from Lubuntu to an iPod Touch).  However, I am unable to do so with this tablet.  The box for "USB Computer Connection" is greyed out and the device will not go into USB mode upon connecting to a compuer (Windows OR Linux).  I have also tried activating Developer Mode, but no luck with the USB connection.  As the OS is Lollipop 5.0, I understand there were some bugs that came with this iteration of Android.  However, when I plug the device powered off in my PS3, the system will say there's an unknown USB device connected, so I know the hardware's guts are working.  I've contacted RCA Customer Support for help, but the last piece of correspondence suggested they were looking for an answer, so we'll see...  The one speaker on the entire device is located on the back of the machine and it isn't particularly loud.  For that, I suggest investing in some speakers or headphones (Pro-Tip, hold your tablet with the palm of one of your hands cupping over the speaker to get a little more sound out of it).  Another thing that I'm not particularly hot on is the camera.  There are two on the device, one in the front and one in the back, but neither are truly anything special.  The front is a VGA camera (which is okay for Skype or chatting), but the back is only 2MP which is what my current three year old non-smartphone has.  The only thing the tablet has over my phone's camera is a zoom feature.  However, I digress, these things are considered luxury items (you don't "need" a camera to have a tablet) and RCA caters more to the budget conscience consumer, so sacrifices were made in order to keep costs down.  While the keyboard streamlines and makes productivity on the device more enjoyable, the mousepad contained within isn't up to par with the rest of the device (slow responsiveness, if any at all).  The battery doesn't last for more than an afternoon of work, so be prepared to use this device sparingly or be tethered to an outlet.  Lastly, the overall build quality of the tablet isn't the best.  While the device has some heft to it, the exterior feels cheap and plasticky.  When my 3DS XL feels like a better build, there is a problem.

The Ugly

Overall, is it a bad tablet?  Absolutely not!  While I admit that I am still learning the ins and outs of the Android platform, I'm really happy being able to learn on the RCA Pro Viking 10.1".  I've played with a few other Androids before (eg: my girlfriend's old Virgin Mobile phone), but this is the first device I can truly call "mine" and tinker with.  There are a some short comings, the most damning one of all is the lack of "drag-and-drop" (which, like I said, is likely a software issue which I hope will be addressed in a future update), but there is a lot of good to be said about this device.  I love that I can write blogs, do spreadsheets (albeit a bit clunky), and about 95% of what I can do on my laptop (while saving a LOT of energy, no less).  While I doubt RCA will be able to compete with the likes of Samsung as far as quality, this is still a good tablet for what it's worth.

**Three and a half stars our of five.  You get what you pay for, but what you get is pretty good.**