this place is when i want to write - will this be daily?.., no but it'll be updated bi-weekly or whenever, This will be random hub of my thoughts, some practical and useful, other times silly and funny - dont expect alot, below are shortcuts to get to specifc part - enjoy
Getting sidetracked, back to Artist vs TMNT. This was huge, and even now, I personally think it still holds up. If you’re as old as me, you will recognize Rhett and Link -> Good Mythical Morning and Ian and Anthony -> SMOSH.
if you don’t know, here’s a quick summary:
SMOSH: Made in 2005, it was one of the earliest YouTube sensations with their sketches and parodies. But in 2017, Anthony left SMOSH to pursue solo projects, while the brand continued under Defy Media. In 2018, Defy Media shut down. However, Rhett & Link’s company, Mythical Entertainment, acquired SMOSH in early 2019. Nothing too significant until June 2023, when Anthony returned to SMOSH, reuniting with Ian and regaining full control over SMOSH.
Heres some of their videos if interested:
Good Mythical Morning: Good Mythical Morning (GMM) is like a talk show created by Rhett and Link. They launched GMM in 2012 as part of their broader YouTube channel, Rhett & Link, which featured comedy, challenges, and experiments. Over the years, Rhett and Link expanded their brand by founding Mythical Entertainment, a media company that bought SMOSH and sold it back to Rhett and Link, as I previously said.
Heres some of their videos if interested:
Anyway, these four giants on YouTube on another huge channel were like the Avengers: Endgame of YouTube. After the introductions, the beat is perfect; the bass and the flow—chef’s kiss. The verses are written so well; the charm and commitment they had for this video are great. Don’t take my word for it; look at the stats: 100M views.
Here are some of the comments:
“Literally the strongest opening verse in ERB.”
“The only flaw in this masterpiece is that it’s not long enough.”
… another huge channel for their weird how-to “tutorials.”
The Artist
Now, I could go into depth and research how these verses are amazing…and I am. But let’s start with Raphael (Anthony) – “deemed by the pope,” (gestures sign of the cross → straight into a thrusting motion) “and boned 'til I croaked.”
There is a famous story about Raphael’s death being linked to his wild sexual activity. However, since this is history, it could all be exaggerated or not true.
Giorgio Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists, claims that Raphael died from a fever caused by excessive lovemaking. According to Vasari, Raphael hid the true cause of his illness from his doctors, leading them to treat him incorrectly with bloodletting, which worsened his condition and ultimately led to his death.
I don’t know what the true cause of death is—but some point to pneumonia, syphilis, or a respiratory disease.
Then he references Shredder, like the villain of TMNT, but afterwards he drops another peak bar, “I should pass it up to my man on the ceiling,” referencing Michelangelo (Ian), because he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (you know, the Creation of Adam).
*Sistine Chapel*
But funny enough, historically, they had a fierce rivalry. So for Raphael to say “passing it to my man on the ceiling” like he is his bro—just to team up against the Ninja Turtles—is a crazy idea.
Michelangelo follows up with, “I’m a rap god, and you can’t quite touch me,” obviously referencing Eminem, but also referencing his art on the Sistine Chapel—cause in the painting of Adam and God – their hands or fingers aren’t touching, symbolizing the gap between God and man. Then he says, “This battle's your Last Judgment, trust me!”—because he painted “The Last Judgment,” aka the coming of Jesus and the final and eternal judgment.
*The Last Judgement*
Then it ends with, in unison, “You beat the Foot, but it won't go well when you catch an Italian boot to the half shell!” a mocking line of the TMNT theme “Heroes in a half shell.” It also implies that the Turtles were able to defeat the Foot (Shredder's army, basically), but will still fail under the artists’ boot. Also, the country itself is famously shaped like a boot.
TMNT
> this sounded like shit, but I have to appreciate the costume design, which was based on the original Jim Hensonlive-action films, as well as the effort required to actually move in them. The lyrics also had hidden meanings just not as cool.
*Jim Henson and Leo (Costume he made/designed)*
Leonardo says, “Get back in your floppy helicopter, fly away!” cause Leonardo (artist) designed his version of a helicopter, but this was a jab at him cause Leonardo’s engineering designs were “flops”.
This is followed by Raphael saying, “Put you back in school with the tip of my two sai,” because the other Raphael (the Renaissance artist) made a fresco called the School of Athens. These are good references, but not strong bars.
*Leonardo's Idea of a flying device or helicopter*
But the final part of video gives us two BANGER – starting with Donatello. “Uh, Dona-tell me who you are again, dude, 'Cause I don't Gattamelata clue what you do.”
Donatello is mocking the artist Donatello for his insignificance - For context, out of all the artists, Donatello is the least well-known. while also referencing the 1453 statue of Gattamelata sculpted by Donatello.
*Statue that Donatello sculpted the "Gattamelata"*
> Finally, I want to point out the line, “You guys draw more dicks than New York Pride,” which is kind of self-explanatory….
NOW FOR STEVE JOBS VS BILL GATES
> THIS IS MY SHIT, GET READY FOR THIS.
Steve Jobs
"Let me just step right in, I got things to invent"
> Not even 5 seconds in, Steve Jobs interrupts the announcing, starts with “Let me step right in, I got things to invent.” If you don’t know, Jobs was known for his impatience. Also fun fact This is the first time in Epic Rap Battles where the introduction is interrupted, enforcing Steve Jobs' impatience.
> Honestly, already peak—
“Fortune 500 'fore you kissed a girl” – a quick history lesson Apple entered Fortune 500 (a yearly list of the 500 largest companies in the United States based on their total revenue from the previous fiscal year.) in 1983 at #411 AFTER ONLY 5 YEARS OF EXISTING. It was the fastest-growing company in history. But also Jobs was saying that Bill hadn’t even kissed a girl by that time.
“And the GUI that Melinda uses” - Melinda is the wife of Bill Gates, he mentions a GUIwhich is the Graphical User Interface – which goes back to Apple’s history because the Apple Macintosh “Lisa” computer was the first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI) even if it was a failure, he sales of the computer not the GUI.
Also if your curious the reason why it was “Lisa” it was named after Lisa Brennan (Steve jobs daughter) - whom he refused to acknowledge at first. If you are more interested you could watch the Steve jobs film with the one with Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels -- yes Seth Rogen and the guy from Dumb and dumber – it covers this part and other parts of Steve's life during that time. But it was also a acronym, [Local Integrated Systems Architecture].
But back to GUI - later Microsoft Windows would soon adopt the GUI as their user interface, making it the new thing for computing.
*this is a LISA (just in case you couldnt see the name*
“I need to bring up some basic shit- why did you name your company after your dick?” - for me I think they used the word “basic” on purpose because BASIC stands for = Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
Which Apple used a version of it called Applesoft BASIC, the version that shipped with the Apple II, was programmed by Microsoft (by Bill Gates himself, actually) - so Steve saying it was shit. But also goes into the next verse “-why did you name your company after your dick?” STEVE WAS “POINTING” THE OBVIOUS OF WHY ITS CALLED MICROSOFT - OH MY DAYS -- SUCH WRITING
> This was a lot to unpack—like this was the most well-made and written one they did personally, and this is only Steve’s first verse without even bringing Bill Gates in yet.
Bill Gates
"You blow jobs" - -Self-explanatory.
“With your second-hand jeans and your turtleneck” mocking his style because we only seen him wear black turtlenecks and jeans with some new balances shoes - One, Steve Jobs wore a black turtleneck every day because “wanted to reduce the number of decisions he had to make in the morning” could've also been a signature style. Two, Steve Jobs was also inspired to wear the same outfit every day after visiting a Sony factory and noticing how all the employees wore uniforms - This verse also goes with the title of Jobs being a “hipster”, - and if you really want to push it the line could also references Jobs being adopted - “second-hand GENES.”
“I'll drill a hole in the middle of your bony head” bony could mean skinny - which could mean a couple of things – he was very skinny due to his unconventional eating style and usage of drugs. – He spent time in India on a ‘spiritual journey’, was into Buddhism and meditation, and referred LSD usage to be “a positive life-changing experience.” – Take with that information however you want. This was all taken from HIS book again by Walter Isaacson (highly recommend it) -- a lot of fasting and living a minimal lifestyle to the extreme. This could also a reference to the cancer that killed Steve Jobs, which had eventually spread to his brain as well.
> So far great bars but like prevouisly done I’m jumping to the most interesting verses - back to Bill Gates
*old picture of both Steves (Jobs and Wozniak)*
“Well, Steve, you steal all the credit for work that other people do. Did your fat beard Wozniak write these raps for you, too?” - Jobs' success mostly started from Steve Wozniak’s hard work, while Jobs was just steering the business. He designed the hardware, circuit board, and operating system for the Apple I, wrote the code for the Apple II, among many other things in Apple’s early history that Jobs took the credit for while it was really Woz who did much of the work in the partnership.
- Basically the real engineer and looking an opening inside old apple products is amazing, and I could go into depth for how these machines were made and the hobbyist view on it but there's so many videos or articles that explain it so much better- , he also made a book not as big as Steve’s but a great read nun-the-less iWoz
BACK TO JOBS
“Ooh, everybody knows Windows bit off Apple” - The Apple logo (1977-current) also has a bite taken out of it -- duh – but he implies that Windows took the bite of the logo --
It was also thought that the bite is connected to the story of Adam and Eve. The apple would represent the “forbidden knowledge” that should “enlighten mankind,” But this has been proved false but still cool story.
But like what I might’ve said previously this also refers to the history of the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI).
Another quick history lesson:
In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft for copyright of the LISA and Apple Macintosh GUI. The court case lasted 4 years before almost all of Apple’s claims were denied on a technicality. Microsoft and Apple apparently entered a final, private settlement of the matter in 1997, a whole 9 years almost 10 years or a decade.
“Let's talk about doctors, I've seen a few. 'Cause I got a PC, but it wasn't from you” - now I’m sorry for those people who lived under a rock but Steve Jobs died from pancreatic cancer, so he did get a type of “PC,” . Its also said that Steve Jobs refused to see a doctor and tried several alternative methods.
“Now, excuse me while I turn Heaven a profit” -- nothing to special just saying he will make profit out of heaven after death.
The death of Steve Jobs (2011) was huge, because at that time because he did a lot, not only Apple but Pixar. you know that studio that gave us great movies like Wall-e, Cars, Bugs life, UP, Monsters INC - etc, you know that Pixar. He saved and helped take the first step into computer animation…
> *Phases out of existence while doing his iconic pose* —Oh, wow, Oh, wow. That's all I got to say
*this is the steve jobs pose*
> cuts to Bill Gates
“The whole world loved you, but you were my friend” - Even though they had a rivalry, they did a lot of good business and were actually good friends, somewhat… they respected each other because they were both founders of the future of computing.
I'm a boss! I own DOS! – DOS stands for Disk Operating system, it basically allows users direct access to the computer's hardware, memory, and files.
So in the 1970s ,when Microsoft introduced Windows (GUI) for the DOS and their version was called MS-DOS, so tehincaly he is write he OWNED DOS but just his version - cause theirs others types of DOS’s. Crazy to know that Windows had evolved since from being a GUI program running under MS-DOS to a full independednt OS.
“Your future is my design!” - *He is pointing into the camera* He is saying that the future of the human race will follow what he designs.
I'm a god! Own Xbox!
Self-explanatory, Microsoft made Xbox in 2001 and still releases consoles - for now… cause I believe they will be dropping out of the console focus
> Then HAL9000—yes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the villain HAL9000— he comes out in this rap battle, he represents the Linux community—what a shoutout. I think this is the nicest depiction of what the Linux community “looks like” and not just the typical fat basement dweller or high school computer geek.
HAL9000
"I'm sorry, Bill. I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
> These are HAL9000 last verses in the video.
"So go ahead, try to Turing test me" – The Turing Test is a method for evaluating a machine's ability to think like a human. Those test are interesting also like those “prove - your not a robot”, which they could solve funny enough, but they way it checks is the movement to get to the “confirm” button or the time it takes.
So the difference between you and a robot is not only that your made out of meat and “conscious” but its your movement and how fast you process the action.
“I stomp on a Mac and a PC, too”
*above is the symbol of GNU which is an antelope or a WildeBeest, and they happend to both have the same name so it worked out*
“I'm on Linux, bitch, I thought you GNU” –
>amazing - I thought you “GNU.”
GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix" and is a free, open-source OS and collection of software. GNU was mass collaboration project announced by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983. But we cant talk about GNU and not talk about Linux (briefly).
Linux is a family of OS Unix-like operating systems. Which first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. – Relatively small at first, but grew into a huge community which has their own communities within communities, if that doesn't tell you how huge that is heres another way to describe it \/\/\/
> So that's my view and a small breakdown of two of my favorite ERB videos.
WHO WON, WHO’S NEXT, YOU DECIDE, -- okay bye.
10/16/24
11/19/24
Dying or weird TLDs
This isn't a a death of ALL TLD's, The internet isn't switching to a new platform, This is just some news and history of weird or promient ones such as .io address or .ooo and even .duck
A TLD stands for "Top-Level-Domain", and helps identiy the "nature" of a site like if it's .cooking, you can assume its about cooking or .org, its from a organization
Everyone knows ".com" and ".net", ".edu" etc but I want to talk about some unique ones starting with like ".cool" owned by Identity Digital or Donuts, which has access to ".center", ".international", ".support" for the more serious side they also own ".casino", ".dog", ".bingo", ".exposed", ".fail", ".black",".ninja", ".pink" and ".wtf" and going more into it they own colours like ".red"
But on a more serious note, I understand more specific ones like ".dog" maybe animal hospital uses or ".wtf" since it's funny haha but if you use the TLD ".NINJA" - WHAT ARE YOU SELLING UNDER THAT NAME- ARMOR PLATES, SWORDS, NINJA STARS?
the "io" TLD
Now a more famous one is ".io" which is owned by the British Indian Ocean Territory, surprisingly the people that use it don't live in any of the Indian Ocean territory but it's used because it could be interpreted as Input Output/IO, which is a concept in computing that describes how computers communicate with the outside world. Which is something only some people can appreciate. Github a popular platform that holds projects uses the ".io" TLD but a more common use of the ".io" TLD is A specific game called Agario, which is a very popular game still after 9 years now from writing this. If you want more about Agario here:
There's some talk, about how this TLD is going to be "removed" and how the restrictions are going to be enforced but that brings in issues since so many different groups use the io tag that isn't developers but huge companies like IBM, Ford, and Microsoft since they bought Github for like 7.5 billion - so I don't expect a huge migration to a new TLD, Once it's on the internet it's there forever, but later there are going to be examples of some forgot or dead TLD's - but I think it's just bait and nothing will change
it's a great video and channel
some real Dead TLDs
Now for a dead TLD the ".yu" WAS for the country Yugoslavia - but the reason why it ceases to exist now is because it USED to represent Yugoslavia which was "united" (forcefully) under one regime until AFTER WW2. Long story short history were a lot of factors why it fell but the main ones were the death of Josip Broz Tito (the communist leader), a weak government, a lot of violence, economic decline, and the decline of communism and wanting independence in eastern Europe.
you don't know Yugoslavia is now modern-day - Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia, I MIGHT BE MISSING SOME.
Some other TLDs that are dead -> ".dd" for East Germany, ".cs" for Czechoslovakia, which is kinda disappointing because it has cs which could've meant we didn't get "computer science" or "customer service" and ".zr" for Zaire, ".yd" for South Yemen).
the .su tld
The TLD ".su" tag, if you don’t know was designed for the Soviet Union, You see the dictatorship/socialist party that was originally inspired by German philosopher Karl Marx which had the idea of making everyone equal because of the different levels of class struggle and how the underclass should rise against the bourgeoisie if it gets awful and share cooperative ownership rather than private, which would benefit everyone rather than making the gap between the rich and poor larger. That was taken and spread like wildfire in the First World War in Russia with the help of John Lenin after being exiled from Russia and sent to Switzerland and getting back with German aid -- Germany sent him back intending to cause trouble which he did.
Other party members with Lenin like Trotsky caused Russia to pull out of WW1 and caused an inner revolution after a while Joseph Stalin who was originally a spy to stop this movement joined the party and started his new career from there, now known for being the future of the organization, and after Lenin died the powershift to joesph strain which he immediately jailed/deported /killed any of his opponents and even lose members like Trosky. Then the idea morphed into a form called Stalinism which mostly lost sight of the original idea. Then after a while, new leaders were put into place after Stalin's death and “De-Stalinized” which were reforms to undo what he messed up.
In 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev was the last leader the soviet union had before it dissolved only a year later but that's when the TLD of ".su" was made even after the Soviet Union dissolved it still exists now. Now run by the RIPN (Russian Institute for Public Networks) the TLD has become public and was exposed for anyone to use. Many groups have created a new history for this TLD- cybercriminals/hackers and scammers- but that doesn't mean all ".su" sites are horrible.
Trust me you dont notice how many sites have .su until you are bored one day and look
But the reason why this was created was that in Europe a new set of internet domains was created like ".pl" (Poland) and even Russia itself had a new one instead of the ".su" domain it called ".ru" or ". PФ" which they still use.
Weird how this started because I was trying to get myself a TLD and just something but looking more into it, definity worth it and will write more later....
