Lawrence Update

After sushi last night, Newgen, Nicole, and I worked on beating Gauntlet, and we did after playing one level for what seemed like hours. After that Newgen and I played NHL Hitz some, then we went to bed.
Today looks like we will be on Mass. Street some, and maybe some other things. Well I am hungry, so we should head off soon.

Yay for food!

Sushi time!

Today has been fun so far. We got up to Lawrence by 3, and since Newgen got off work early we stopped by his house when we got into town. We then looked around the half price book store for a bit and then went to Runza for lunch. After some good bierocks we went around own to get stuff to make sushi. Then we came back to Newgens and I am on my new lap on his internet. So it *is* k-states fault for my internet not working at home.

Op, time to go fix the sushi rice. ja.

So guess what Burger King, Star Wars, and 20q.net has done? Well if you looked at the screen shot above I bet you can already guess. ^_^!

Thanks; Here's Your Burger, Good Delicious! For the link.

Also, since the Star Wars 20q is so cool that I'll tell you now (I want this post to stay the top post) that I will be heading up to Newgen's tomorrow, I'll be brining my laptop, so I may be able to post once or twice while up there, if I can get the wifi card to work in it... And if I don't post up there I'll post when I get back. Also, I will update Project:BSE when I get back, so make sure you get your completed missions posted by Tuesday.

Today after Chipotle we all (sans Jenette) went to go play some disc golf on campus. It was very windy today so there were a couple of times that the disc did not go places where we wanted it to go. One such case is when I threw my disc down a window well in a construction area. It was a pain getting down there and on my throw from the well ended up hitting the orange fence surrounding the construction area.
I get the feeling that playing disc golf on campus is sort of like playing mini-golf.

Today started off with a rousing continuation of the campaign that we (Nicole and I) started playing in last week down at Patch and Crow�s-nest. I played against Coby, a very good player, and got smashed pretty good by him. Nicole played with Ray in a scenario against two other people. Her game was very close, but in the end Nicole and Ray were able to hold off the attack and win the game.

After the game playing we went over to Chipotle to eat lunch/dinner with Aaron, Jenette and Chris. As always it was some good stuff.

Also, another thing that sucks about waiting to post the pics for a while is that I forget the reason why I took a lot of pictures... I guess I will skip forward in my last couple days review to yesterday night.
Last night before some of us watched Return of the Jedi over at my house we went off to Dara�s to grab some slushies. I just wanted to post this picture to show that Jenette had some problems with her Mt.Dew slushie.

While Star Wars was on TV Chris and I played a game of Warhammer. It ended up that my Tomb Kings stomped all over his Lizardmen... but I forgot about some rules dealing with charging while playing and it lead to me killing a couple of his units. I don�t think it would have changed the outcome of the game if I had remembered them, but he defiantly would not have lost so badly.

Lunch surprise, take three.

Back on Wednesday for lunch I gave Chow Mein noodles a shot. I was doing pretty bad lately with Craptastic brand ramen stuff, but for 90-some cents how can I resist trying this stuff? It came wrapped in a kind of crazy package, which I guess is a good thing, because the last stuff came in a normal package and it was far from good. To cook the noodles for this you add some water and cook it in the microwave for 6 minutes and it is done cooking. After cooking all looked well.




So after you get it cooked you add crude oil, or something very similar. This was almost as intimidating as the blue bits in my last ramen adventure. But this time it smelt pretty good, so I gave it all a mix, and you know what?




It was pretty good. The veggies tasted good, the sludge oils stuff tasted really good, and it was the perfect amount of food. I will defiantly buy some more of this stuff in the future.

The worst thing about having a camera that I take around with me is that I get back logged on pictures I want to post, and when that happens my will to post goes down, and then I get even more backlogged on pictures. So, I will try to get caught back up before I head off to Newgen�s tomorrow.

First up is a pic from playing disc golf on campus from last Thursday. Earlier in the week we (Chris, Aaron, and I) devised some knew holes on the campus golf course because the last couple of holes suck. One of the new holes we made was along the library. Next to the library they built a pretty deep hole for fire evacuations from the basement. Anyways, on Thursday Aaron was the lucky winner of a trip down into the moat. I think it actually didn�t turn out too bad for him. (Or at least in the next hole he got 2, which is very good.)

Sock Master's Video Game Controller Family Tree (site)

This is a spiffy site where they have mapped out how console controllers evolved from one another; it is neat to see the progression throughout the years.

Bumperball (game)

This game is a cross between bumper cars and air hockey, it is pretty fun. After playing a couple times I got to level 6. If you get further than that feel free to leave a comment, or if you enjoy the game, or if you just want to say hi, or if you would like to give me money... I like money.

Star Wars: Episode III Easter Egg Hunt

Star Wars (site)

It's tiny, but visible enough to send a warm fuzzy through the hearts of original trilogy fans. In the establishing shot of the expansive Senate docking bays, there's a tiny Millennium Falcon easing into frame. And it's not just a non-descript Corellian freighter; it's on good authority -- namely George Lucas -- that this is the infamous hunk-of-junk before it came into the ownership of either Lando Calrissian or Han Solo.

This article has a lot of little things that you might have missed the first two times you saw the film. Most notable being the Millennium Falcon is in one shot, but there are many, many other little things to look for. So, before you go see it again, check out this page to give you something new to look for.

Blogwise - details about I really don't like the word Blog

Blogwise - details about I really don't like the word Blog (site)

I had forgotten that I registered over there. It's actually a pretty good site. Check it out if you get the chance, or if you get the boredom.

I think I might change my signatures on my outgoing emails to:

And remember:
Pirates beat Ninjas
Ninjas beat Vikings
Vikings beat Pirates
Plan accordingly.

My powers fail me

Probably the most frustrating thing I have done in many years is trying to network my main computer with my 'new' laptop. After getting the network to work, I set forth trying to get them to share the internet. And, yes it is possible, even working under one IP Addy and no additional hardware. But I think that it is past my stills of just playing around, and unless I really sit down and work on it, it will not get done with out a router (which should take about five minutes to get working). It is just that every time I do something, everything else blows up where I lose my LAN connection, or the internet to my main computer, so alas, I have decided that unless a router appears magically, the lappy will not have the internet while I am at home. Oh well.

7up offers suborbital space trip

MSNBC.com (article)

When SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize last October, the marketers behind the Diet 7UP soft drink said they would give away the "first free ticket to space" — and this week, the contest has begun.
The grand prize is a suborbital trip to the fringe of space, on a yet-to-be-flown craft that's based on SpaceShipOne technology. Why SpaceShipOne? Because the giveaway deal is being put together through the auspices of the X Prize Foundation.
"One of the rules that the [X Prize] teams signed onto in their master team agreement was that the X Prize Foundation would have access to some of the early seats at the going ticket price," Peter Diamandis, the foundation's chairman, explained.

Is this really a prize? Did you watch the documentaries about SpaceShipOne? They looked very surprised that no one was killed doing it, and so even if I win this contest, I think I’ll be giving the prize to my enemies rather than my friends.

And enemies, if you are reading, I still don't like you.

Link to 7up's page about the contest.

Coffeeshop Turns off Wi-Fi on Weekends

Wi-Fi Networking News (article)

Worse than just the sheer number of laptop users, Strongin noted, is that many of these patrons will camp six to eight hours—and not buy anything. This seemed astounding to me, but she said that it was typical, not unusual. The staff doesn’t want to have to enforce the cafe’s unspoken policy of making a purchase to use the space (and the Wi-Fi), and on the occasions that they approach a non-buyer about a purchase asking, “Can I get you a beverage?” the squatter often becomes defensive, explains they’ve bought a lot in the past or just the day before.

They say that now that they have turned off the wireless on the weekends that are making much better profits on the weekends. I think that it is good to get back to your roots, especially when you'll make more money. But the shop should have been a little bit more forceful with the people that don't buy anything, I mean this is a capitalistic society, do the squatters really except the shop to give the wi-fi for free?

Doctors' kitchen knives ban call

BBC NEWS (article)

A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.
They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.

Look, people that want to kill other people are going to do it one way or another. I doubt guns are very available in England, so the next weapon of choice is a knife, and if you take pointy knifes away and then they will kill with baseball bats (or maybe the cricket bat things in England). What they should do is just make killing people illegal and just punish those people. Instead of punishing everyone else who can handle a knife/gun/car/whatever else you can possibly kill some one with.

Nintendo on the TV?

Today has been spend getting my new laptop useable, such as getting emulators on it and then running the video through the TV, so that i can play Nintendo on the TV, just like the old days. I also am working on getting Winamp working so that it goes through the stereo. But first I need to get some cords.

Will Wright Presents Spore... and a New Way to Think About Games

Will Wright is to video games as what Einstein was to science. In Will Wright's new work, Spore, you are a life form that evolves all the way to being able to cruse the galaxy. Wait, that doesn't sound that impressive... wait, his games never do, but they always end up being awesome. :)

Seriously, this game will revolutionize the way developers think about games. He lets players make all the content, while he works on developing an engine that can handle anything that the players can throw at it. Also, each 'level' of evolution brings about many new things to do. It is brilliant. Brilliant I say.

If you don't believe me read an article by Game Spy about it. I really hope this game gets made, and by the looks of it, they have already spent a lot of time working on it. So hopefully it will be coming out soon. Then I too can make my own creatures that can demolish other planets...
(I stole the original story form avoision)

PS3 Price Revealed?

ign.com (article)

According a an article published in the May 17th edition of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, the PlayStation 3 could be one of the most expensive mass-market videogame consoles ever created. Officials from Sony apparently told the newspaper that PlayStation 3s would sell in Japan for "less than 50,000 yen each." That translates to about $465 US dollars.

$465, ouch. I was hoping to see it go for $399, but if they do put a 4 in the hundreds place I think it will turn many buyers to Xbox 360 even if it is not as good. (I would guess by the time the PS3 launches the Xbox 360 will have a price of $299.)

I hope Sony can bring down the price some, or else the console war will not have a clear cut winner as I first expected.

How to fake fingerprints

Chaos Computer Club (article)

It's not that useful now... but in fifteen years you might want to remember that I have this here.

Dominos in Half Life 2

ZippyVideos (video)

Some one spent a lot of time setting up a lot of things in Half Life 2 all to be knocked over like dominos. It is pretty impressive.

The other event of the day was Super Tennis. Super Tennis is a cross between regular tennis and volleyball. There are three or four players a side, with each side getting to hit the ball three times before it must go over. The ball may bounce once, and the bounce can be after you hit it (as opposed to the normal tennis rules), also a player may not hit the ball twice in a row, even if it hits the ground in between hits. Serves may not be hit back right away; they must bounce or be hit to another player before it goes over the net. And you use the lines for doubles. Needless to say Super Tennis (or Tennis of the Gods) is FAR superior to normal tennis (or Peasant Tennis), and when I am ruler of the world I shall send forth a decree that requires all Lords and Maidens to be well versed in the art that is Super Tennis.
I must rest now.

Today I did two things beside work on the network. The first was BW3s (as is always the case on Tuesday). They have a new sauce, Honey BBQ, which is worth checking out if you live near a BW3s. I think Amber won the Mini Six (?) and I know Nicole won the showdown. A good time was had by all, but Lance did not come, since he is apparently out of town, so no good time for him.

Amber saves the day.

Finally we got the two computers to talk to each other. Amber had me add something or other to the laptop, and I had my computer look through the LAN instead of the Firewire, and poof it worked. The laptop still can not get to the internet, but i'll blame that one on K-State for now. I may give Homestar a call tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions (I swear he works down there). So today from 11am to 1.30am I worked on connecting the two computers, with breaks of BW3 and Super Tennis in between, and finally it is done. Yay!

Thanks to all that helped (Amber and Aaron)!

The Networking Riddle

They say that networking two computers is easy; they say that there shouldn't be any problems with it. But if you actually try to network them, it doesn't happen.

bah!

penalty stroke?

Yesterday (Sunday), by the time I woke up it was about 1, which was when the campaign down at Patch and Crow’s Nest starts. So Nicole and I gathered up our miniatures and trotted on down there to go see how things were going to shape up. Ray (another Stat guy) is running the campaign and there are a total of six players playing in it. He split all the players into teams and so Nicole and I are on the same team. The first part of the afternoon we made our army lists, and worked out our territories on the campaign map. The second half of the afternoon Nicole and I played against two other guys, whose names I can’t remember at the time. Nicole and I ended up winning the game although both of our armies were routed. A fun time was had by all. It looks like Ray is really happy to have everyone turn out for the campaign that he is doing, and I hope that Jenette and Chris can get enough miniatures painted to join in.

For the rest of yesterday Nicole and I went shopping and made dinner. Sleep soon followed. Today has seen me wake up at six with Nicole, play some Sims2, then completely crash until Nicole got home from school. Then we ate some dinner, and I went off with Aaron, Chris and Jenette to go play some Frisbee golf around campus. Nicole stayed home to work on grading. Nothing too exciting happened while playing Frisbee golf.




Oh yeah, besides me throwing my disc onto Anderson (One of the biggest roads in Manhattan). Luckily after a bit there was a break in the traffic where I could run out to throw the disc from there (I’m not gonna take a penalty stroke unless I absolutely need to). I got a five on the hole, which was one of the worst scores I got all night, but I think it could have been worse. (Thanks Aaron for taking the pic.)
After we made our way through the course I came home and I have been playing on the computer ever since.

I like the summer.

After the game we all stopped by Sheridan’s Frozen Custard to say hi to Nicole’s sister Jayme (we also wanted to have a post game ice creaming). Jayme seemed like she was doing fine, and she said Jerry is doing well with his job. We also got some custard, and let me tell you, Sheridan’s as many times better than Shake’s. So I propose that we make the Shake’s that they just built here be a Sheridan’s instead. Who do I need to call to make that happen?

How was the game? It was great if you like one sided games where the Koyotes stomp all over their opponents. The final score was 62 to 27. Not really ever close. We did see Ralph Adams there (The owner of the APFL / Koyotes / other teams (???)).
I was not really impressed by Landon Arena. For hockey it is fine, but for football it just felt run-down, I guess that is why they are gonna either renovate it, or build a new arena. All in all it was a good time, but I wish the team could mount a better game against the Koyotes.

We were able to go onto the field after the game for long enough to accomplish mission #11 (+450 BSE points). And that will make anyone happy.

On Saturday Nicole and I woke up around noon, which just gave us enough time to call Jenette and Chris to see if they wanted to go down to Wichita for the Koyotes game. They agreed and we were off. Before the game we ate at Macaroni Grill (+100 BSE points, Mission #99). As always the food was very good, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Oh, I guess the bathroom had E Foam (or was it E Soap??) as their brand of foaming soap, an important note to remember.

My weekend in pictures:

On Friday night we all (Me, Cole, Jenette, Chris, Amber and Aaron) went to Radina’s for some coffeehouse action. Like always I got their awesome chai tea. I also got the laptop that I bought from Amber after our drinks were gone. The rest of Friday night was spent playing with the new laptop in one way or another.

Adventures in GC and beyond

Adventures in GC and beyond (audio)

My sister, Michelle, is currently away to New York (city) on a school trip. This is her first post via cell phone. Hopefully she will have more posted throughout the week. So if you want to hear what a Kansan thinks about New York check her site throughout the week, hopefully she will have some delightful insights.

Brighthandle Alfa Handle - Trendir (site)

Designed by Alexander Lervik, the Brighthandle communicates with colored light. The Alfa Online model changes its light from Green to Red when the room is occupied (activated by the thumb turn).

It has been awhile since I have posted something that I am gonna put in my future house. This would be great to have on bathrooms. I would like some blue ones for around my house as well. When I get my house, I will install these and I’ll post some pics... but I wouldn't wait around for the pics, might take awhile. :)

Unfortunate Star Wars Costumes

capnwacky.com (site)

Here are a bunch of people in Star Wars costumes, with commentary. The commentary makes it funny.

Kevin Rose leaves G4

kevin rose dot com (blog)

After several weeks of lawyer negotations with G4, they have agreed to release me from my contract. Friday May 27th 2005 marks my last day on the G4 network.
I’m leaving G4 so that I can focus on what I love most, in-depth tech content. Starting with today’s premiere release of our new tech HOW-TO show ’Systm,’ we will begin to build a network of technology television programming from the ground up. While Systm and thebroken will be our two flagship shows, in time, we hope to add more shows to the schedule with former TechTV cast members you all know and love. All episodes will be released free of charge, in a variety of formats (Theora, Xvid, WMV, H.264, PSP), wrapped in RSS (for vidcasting), and liscensed under the Creative Commons.

As long as the shows he goes on to make are quality, I think this is a good move for him. G4, after eating TechTV, stopped being tech based and has gone from computers to games to cars (why?). Besides Attack of the Show, G4 is pointless, and unless they can bring in a new host that i want to watch, AOTS is probably going to suck now as well. Besides, you can get all of their news here, or at least by reading my site, boingboing, blogsnow, and milkandcookies (that will get you about 85% of what they talk about in the show).

Today Systm comes out, so i'll check it out and tell you how it is.

Americans look to Jesus for diet

BBC NEWS (article)

Don Colbert, a Florida doctor, believes asking yourself "What would Jesus eat?" is the best way to stay fit, slim and trim.
In his book, which gets its title from this question, he explores some of the Old Testament dietary laws and looks at foods mentioned in the Bible.
He says: "If you truly want to follow Jesus in every area of your life you cannot ignore your eating habits.

Marketing guy 1: "What area of the market have we not touched with all of our dieting plans?"
Marketing guy 2: "What about those Catholics that think salt formations are Mary? They seem to believe in anything."
Marketing guy 1: "Sir, I think you just got yourself a raise, we will make millions on this, millions."

wahoo

Crimson FX

Naked Software (site)

No its not porn.

Crimson FX is an effect generator for Quicktime movies and DV streams designed to make adding laser and light blade effects (and possibly other effects) as easy as possible.

I have a movie of a bunch of people having a light saber battle outside of the movie theatre from Wed night... I might use this program to add sabers into it... could be fun. If i do it i'll post it here.

p.s. I am gonna be gone for the rest of the day to go watch the Kansas Koyotes play the Wichita Aviators down in Wichita. You may want to check up though since i do have wifi capabilities.

New 'puter

Right now i am sitting on he steps of Java (coffeehouse in Manhattan). I can now access the internet from my awesome new laptop from Amber. Just tiring out el internet.

Rock on.

The Love of Little Pickles

I just read through a very good blog called The Love of Little Pickles. She has a good sense of humor, for example:

I bought an apple slicer so that I can save the energy required to physically slice apples for more imperative tasks, such as crossword puzzles, or napping. The dilemma with this is that the slicer needs to be washed after use and now that I've been spoiled, I can't go back to a life where I was forced to eat uncut apples. So then the slicer sits in the sink for weeks while I wait for the Enchanted Dish Fairy to clean it for me, and my apples go to waste.
Why don't I just slice the apples myself whilst I wait for the slicer to be cleaned? Don't be IMPRACTICAL! Cut the apples MYSELF? Why do you think I BOUGHT the slicer?
The profundity of my laziness amazes me sometimes.

I will be checking up on this blog frequently, and it may even appear on the side bar. (Crazy, I know.)

AOTS - Star Wars Powers

Here is the clip from Attack of the Show, that I was talking about sometime (don't remember when), when they all have Star Wars powers. If you like the Star Wars you'll like the clip.

ESPN.com - NHL Index

I am glad to see that only 50% of people think that fighting affects their interest in hockey. Hockey is always portrayed as a semi-pro boxing league by those that don’t watch the sport, and I think that some fans are just fans because of the fights. I personally think that they are a good thing in general, but they are not vital to the sport.

On another not the WHA is supposed to start their tourney today, but all is quiet over there, so I have my doubts.

Finney County/ Garden City GIS Department

FCGC GIS (site)

I was stumbling around on the internet, and I found this web page. If it's nothing special to you, let me tell you that Andy is now the head of this department. If this still doesn't impress you let me tell you that I graduated with Andy, and he is one cool guy.

There now everyone should be impressed with this find. ^_^

'It's A Viable Fuel'

komo news (article)

Chances are you've heard of soybean-based "Biodiesel" but the high price per gallon may have kept you away. But now the nearly emission-free fuel is finally competitively priced.
About 2,000 people in the Seattle area fill their diesel engines with Biodiesel, but that number could easily double this summer. New filling stations, like one behind University Village in Seattle, are popping up all over.
"I think it's time people have a different choice, it's a viable fuel," says Tom Marier of Laurelhurst Oil.
But Marier has another reason to try Biodiesel: the price. Right now, you're paying about $2.79 for a gallon of diesel in the greator Seattle area. The price of Biodiesel at this station is $2.96 per gallon.

If I lived in Seattle and I drove diesel I would buy biodiesel. Since it is so competitively priced and most (all?) of the money from production and distribution stays in America it is worth paying a little bit more. Also there is that ‘good for the environment’ stuff to, another plus.
I hope that this idea spreads because this would be a welcome alternative to normal gas from the Mid-East.

Lake disappears, baffling villagers

Yahoo! News (article)

A Russian village was left baffled Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

"It is very dangerous. If a person had been in this disaster, he would have had almost no chance of survival. The trees flew downwards, under the ground," said Dmitry Zaitsev, a local Emergencies Ministry official interviewed by the channel.

Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

"I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us," said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house.

What? I mean what? Ummm...what?
First off this is strange and all... but "America has finally got to us"? What does that mean? Do people really think like that? What is going on? Do peasants in other countries think that we are some sort of evil God-like country that zaps lakes for fun? I really hope that this kind of thinking isn’t widespread, or my feeling that the US is superior to the rest of the world may be on good footing.
Just kidding UK, Canada, Japan, Aussieland, and to some extent Mexico, you’re all cool.

US says no billboards in space

ABC News (article)

...For instance, outsized billboards deployed by a space company into low Earth orbit could appear as large as the moon and be seen without a telescope, the FAA said. Big and bright advertisements might hinder astronomers.

Usually I am against the government saying no to something, especially when the FAA doesn't really have the authority to enforce such a law. But really, I think billboards in space, which can be seen by the naked eye on earth, should not be allowed.

Panda Express at Kansas State University

monster.com (site)

Learning from Amber, I checked up on monster.com to see what was hiring in Manhattan (and thus moving in), so far this is the best one, Panda Express for K-State. Hopefully this is a sign that the Union has given up getting crap for food and has moved to getting some real restaurants in the food court. I hope I hope.

Mission #4 Completed!

Project: Best Summer Ever: Mission #4: Beat a Super Nintendo Game. (600pts)

Well it took me a long time, but I beat Aerobiz, the game that I rented many times when I was in high school, but i could never beat. The ending isn't all that great, but the game was fun. It was a good use of a night.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies (site)

I have been looking around for what other people have said about Episode III, and when I went to the Yahoo movies page, as was greeted with a feature that I have never noticed before. It tells me whether or not I would like the movie, and for Star Wars III it says I would. Good guess Yahoo. ^_^

Patch and Crow's Nest

Patch and Crow's Nest (site)

Chris has pointed out that the bestest gaming store in the world, Patch and Crow’s Nest, now has a website... it's nothing that great, but worth mentioning.

My Lunch in Pictures (again) -or- Will I Ever Learn?

Well when I bought the Mandarin Broccoli noodles I also bought some Sesame Miso noodles as well. I was kinda getting hungry around lunch time, so I thought to myself “you know the Mandarin Broccoli noodles couldn’t have been that bad... maybe it was just a bad flavor, I’ll give the Sesame Miso noodles a try.” So without regards to my previous warnings, I went ahead and made it for lunch.



After pouring the hot water into the cup I let it sit for a couple of minutes like you are supposed to. This time I was rewarded with good smells, well actually it just smelled like normal ramen, but compared to last time it smelt great. So after waiting for the noodles to rehydrate I opened it up.



“Screw that!” I said out loud, as I saw the top of the noodles covered with blue (!?!) chunks of something. It wasn’t mold, and as far as I can tell they were meant to be in there.
If there is one thing I have learned about food it is that blue is not a color any natural food. Red, yes. Purple, eh sometimes. Blue, no. There was no way I was going to eat that stuff. So what did I have for lunch?



That’s right, frozen leftover Pizza Hut pizza, yeah baby! There aren’t any blue chunks in that stuff.

E3 2005: Civilization IV

ign.com (article)

ign talked to some of the guys down at Firaxis about Civ IV.

IGNPC: What about the new religion system? That sounds really promising. How does it work in the game?
Barry Caudill: The first Civilization to discover a technology attached to the founding of a religion will establish a holy city for that religion and it will begin to spread, although slowly. To speed up the process, you can create missionaries and send them out to try to convert other cities. Also, just like the Civics, AI leaders may try to get you to convert to their religion.

The game looks promising, and it is expected to be out by this Christmas. It doesn't look to be as big of a change as it was from II to III, but still I am looking forward to it. If you like Civilization, check out the interview.

Give Your DVD Player the Finger

Wired News (article)

Researchers in Los Angeles are developing a new form of piracy protection for DVDs that could make common practices like loaning a movie to a friend impossible.
Here's how the system might work:
At the store, someone buying a new DVD would have to provide a password or some kind of biometric data, like a fingerprint or iris scan, which would be added to the DVD's RFID tag.
Then, when the DVD was popped into a specially equipped DVD player, the viewer would be required to re-enter his or her password or fingerprint. The system would require consumers to buy new DVD players with RFID readers.
Gadh said his research group is trying to address the problem of piracy for the movie industry.

Yeah, this is a good idea... because If they were to do this, it would free up more money for me to buy PS3 stuff rather than movies. Despite what movie studios think, I do not have to buy their stuff, and if they want to make their crappy DVDs, go ahead, I can spend my money in other places.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Reviewed

I will try to review the movie without giving too much away. So where do I start? How about this: the movie rocked. It did not spend it’s time fumbling around with badly written dialogue, like the first two movies had done, every thing seemed quick and to the point. It’s not to say that there weren’t some awkward lines but they were few and far between. Another huge plus was, I think, only one line that Jar-Jar had. The less you see of him the better. I was very glad to see that Anakin’s switch to the dark side, was clear cut, and by the end of the movie there is little love left for him, this makes the transition to the original three movies the have the same feeling as before, were we still go into Episode IV (A New Hope) not liking Vader at all.
Likewise, the movie did a very good job of tying up all the links from the first three movies and the original three movies, and at the moment I can not think of anything that they left out. Well, I guess the one big hole they did leave is talk about a rebellion, but that is really out of the time frame of this movie. And what is good about leaving that alone is that it gives Lucas and Co. the hole they need to make a TV series like there has been talk about.
All in all, this movie was a very satisfying close to the Star Wars movies. I had no shred of disappointment after leaving the movie, as I had after the first two. Granted having two movies to basically set up for this one to hit a homerun makes it a bit easier to make a good third move, but none-the-less it really was good.
Thank you George Lucas for saving the Star Wars franchise with this last movie.

(The pic above is a scene from the movie.... or two guys having a light saber duel in the parking lot while waiting to get into the movie... you can decide which one it really is.)

Mission #3 Completed!

Project: Best Summer Ever: Mission #3: See Star Wars Episode III. (350pts)

With minutes to spare (until 9pm) I got into the line for the third Star Wars movie. Already in line was Jenette, Chris Amber and Aaron, and soon to join was Rzan, Steph, Davin, Katie, Matt Baker, and Annie. We ended up fairly close to the front of the line, say 100th or so, and by the time the they let us into the theatre there had to been at least 400 people in line. (Jenette has pics of the end of the line, maybe she will share them.) Since we got into the line fairly early we were able to get a good seat for the movie. So how was it? Check out the next post... or I guess you might have already read the review if you read this after my post about the movie... anyways +350 points of the Best Summer Ever for today.

Flash / Tiny Plaid Ninjas 1 (flash)

Here is the first Tiny Plaid Ninja flash.
Have at you!

eigelb.at - Paul Schmidinger - JFindIt (game)

Finally I have found a new game to play. In JFindIt you try to find what is different between the two pictures. There are five differences in each level, and the levels get harder and harder as you go. It’s a good game and so simple too. Check it out.

(p.s. my high score so far is 48,575)

PS3 and 360 battle it out in the specs department: what in the world do they mean??

Gamesblog (blargticle)

This is a very good review of the PS3 and Xbox 360. It gives me a little more hope for the Xbox 360, but still I can't say that it is better than a PS3. If you want to know how they stack up against each other check it out.

Eastern Standard Tribe

Cory Doctorow (site/book)

I think this will be the book that I attempt to read in three days. Its author is one of the guys who writes for boingboing. If you want to check it out he has the book available for free to download. But if I do try to read it, I’ll buy it instead.

'Vocabularians' submit top unlisted words

CNN.com (article)

The editors of Merriam-Webster dictionaries got more than 3,000 entries when, in a lighthearted moment, they asked visitors to their Web site to submit their favorite words that aren't in the dictionary.
First place went to "ginormous" -- bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous -- followed by "confuzzled" for confused and puzzled simultaneously, and "whoot," an exclamation of joy. A "lingweenie" -- a person incapable of making up new words -- placed 10th.

Ah, I remember it well the first time I heard the word ginormous, it was Battle Bots, and it was funny. Now I use it regularly, and the word enormous sounds kinds weird to me.
Three cheers for made-up words!

Cambodian Midget Fighting League T-shirts

(front)


(Back)

I have noticed that more and more people are reaching my site looking for Cambodian Midget Fighting League t-shirts, but I couldn't find any place that sold them, so I solved that problem. ^_^

G4 coverage of E3 reviewed by M3 <---(me)

Well I just got done watching G4's coverage of E3. And this is what I have to say; Xbox 360, you have to do something soon or you are already dead. Seriously.

After watching the game previews for Xbox 360 and for PS3, the Xbox pales in comparison. The PS3 games look great, while the Xbox 360 stuff looks like Xbox games now. They are hardly comparable.

Now Sony claims that they were all in-game footage, which to me seems doubtful, but if they are Xbox still needs to claim that they are not to save some face. Because it really looks like the PS3 is going to blow the Xbox 360 out of the water.

So, needless to say I am gonna buy a Play Station 3 as soon as it comes out. And have two HD TV's on hand... some how...

Mission #28 Completed

Project: Best Summer Ever: Mission #28: 150 hits in one day. (500pts)

This came as a surprise... I think the combination of posting a fair amount lately on my blog, plus still getting some Cambodian Midget Fighting League traffic, plus the growing popularity of Project:BSE made it so that I didn’t have to really try for 150 on this site.

But I’m cool with that. +500 points for me ^_^.

Mission #99 Completed.

Project: Best Summer Ever: Mission #99: Eat Out. (50pts)

Tonight we went to BW3 as we always do on Tuesday night, but this time i got BSE points for it. Rock on.

My lunch in pictures:

Mandarin Broccoli noodles, that sounded like a fine lunch. I got it from Dillion’s a while back and I had just remembered that we had them. I noticed that the name of the brand was Fantastic. “dude” I thought to myself “this is gonna be the best lunch ever!”



After making the noodles, I was a bit let down... it kinda looked gross, and they didn’t smell all that good. But I was again reassured by the brand name of Fantastic, so with great hopes I started to eat.



And that’s where they belong. They are NOT Fantastic, they are not even good. If I was naming the company I would name it Eh at best, or maybe Crap-In-A-Bowl. If you liked the taste of overwhelming old cooked broccoli then you would love this, but alas I do not. So I would avoid this, unless you feel your trash is too empty.

Last night when Nicole got home we ran out to Chipotle to grab some dinner. It was good stuff, and the place that we sat had good lighting, so I was able to take a couple good pics. So in conclusion; Chipotle is good.

Project: Best Summer Ever; 100 missions!

Project: Best Summer Ever (site)

I added 15 new missions to the Best Summer Ever site, this brings the total up to 100 missions. I can now slow down posting new missions, so look for a new mission to be posted once every-other day or so from now on.

The last three missions posted are fairly easy to do, so you may want to check them out to get your point totals off of zero. In fact, I will be doing mission #99 in about an hour and a half.

Dare I say Ramen?

A few of things,
First I got my VISA bill yesterday, and they said I paid my bill late. I always pay my bills as soon as I get them, so I gave them a call. They were very nice, and waved the late fee plus they waved the service charge. That’s $60 that I didn’t have to pay. So once again VISA proves that they are one of the best companies in the world.
Secondly, I just got back from picking up contacts and getting new lenses in my glasses. Man it is strange to see this good again.
Thirdly, I am really hungry, so I am going to make something to eat.

Optical Illusions Etc... (site)

Well I was looking around for something fun to post, and this is it.
The blue squares on the top of the left cube are the same color as the yellow squares on the top of the right cube.

How crazy is that!

(p.s. I checked, and it is true. Check it yourself by placing a whole bunch of sticky notes on your computer.)

Tiny Plaid Ninjas 2 (Flash)

It has been awhile since i have posted a Flash cartoon here. So without further ado here is Tiny Plaid Ninjas. (There are three different endings, watch them all!)

Super Water Kills Bugs Dead

Wired News (article)

The solution looks, smells and tastes like water, but carries an ion imbalance that makes short work of bacteria, viruses and even hard-to-kill spores.

If this water does the stuff that it reports, it seems to me like it would be a revolution in medicine. Check out the article.

PlayStation 3 announced for 2006

GameSpot (article)

A couple of days ago Xbox announced its platform, today PlayStation announced theirs. Let’s see how the PS3 looks.

Sony also confirmed the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray discs as its media format. The discs can hold up to six times as much data as current-generation DVDs. It will also support CR-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R formats. Sony also confirmed that the machine will be backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation. It will also have slots for Memory Stick Duo, an SD slot, and a compact flash memory slot. It will also sport a slot for a detachable 2.5-inch HDD, somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's. Sony did not mention if the drive would be standard.

Everything looks good here. By Sony going with Blu-Ray that format gets a boost to its prospects (the other competing format is hologram discs) that Blu-Ray will win the format war. Also it is good to see that the PS3 will take Compact Flash, one because CF has 2gig of storage space, which is a good chunk to be able to save on to, two because having a CF slot makes the hackablility of the PS3 much easier, and three I just got a camera with CF so I like all the help I can get to keep that format around. Also I read somewhere else (i think ign.com) that the hard drive was 160gig... but I can't access the article right now, but if that is true that will hold a lot of saved game stuff.

Sony also unveiled the PS3's graphics chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision and 1080p resolution--some of the highest HD resolution around. The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. It also has more than 300 million transistors, larger than any processor commercially available today. It will be manufactured using the 90nm process, with eight layers of metal. The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards, which would cost roughly $1,000 total if purchased today.

On the G4 coverage of E3 today, they were discussing if computer gaming was getting killed by console gaming. At least in the graphics department the PS3 will beat my computer, and probably the computer I buy next as well.

Speaking of video, Sony Computer Entertainment's chief technical officer Masa Chatani was on hand to show off the PS3's panoramic video functions. Since the console has two HD outputs, it is can be hooked up to two side-by-side HDTVs to projecting video in a 32:9 extra-widescreen format (think Cinemascope in your living room).

So the Xbox does HD, the PS3 does HD twice... spiff.

Out of the box, the PS3 will have the capability to support seven Bluetooth controllers, which can be used for nearly 24 hours before they require charging. It will also have six USB slots for peripherals: four up front and two in the back. As rumored, it will also have Wi-Fi connectivity to the PSP, which can be used as a remote screen and/or controller.

Seven wireless controllers!?! Man that will make some fun sleepless nights... I don't even know if I could get seven people together to play PS3 all at once. Seven, jeez.

Dr. Richard Marx, the inventor of EyeToy, was on hand to show off the PS3's wireless HD IP Camera. The demo recalled rumors that the machine will have Minority Report-esque motion-sensing capabilities. Marx held two small cup-like objects in his hands, which moved the cups on the screen in real time.

Could the next EyeToy be the first large commercial version of augmented reality games? Let's hope so.

Sony also emphasized that the PlayStation 3 would have similar online connectivity and services as the next generation of Xbox Live. Calling it "an always on, always connected device," Chatani said the PS3 would be constantly in touch with a "PlayStation World" network "fundamentally based on a on community, communication commerce, and content." He said that subscribers could "exchange unique characters and items through the network," much like Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace.

The last thing that Xbox has going for it is that Xbox Live will be free on the weekends. If Sony matches this then the Xbox will have some serious catching up to do to keep up with the PS3. Let’s face it, the Xbox already has some catching up to do.

In almost every aspect the PS3 looks better than the Xbox, and it is looking more and more that the Xbox is only next gen 0.5 where PS3 is actually the next gen. (They debated this for a bit on G4). But, really, if Microsoft does not answer the PS3's call of awesomeness, Sony may be king of the consoles once again.

Although, Nintendo is expected to say something about Revolution sometime this week, we'll see how that turns out. Somehow I doubt it will beat PS3 prospects...

BSE update.

Project: Best Summer Ever (site)

The best summer ever is off to a good start, you can see the updates over at the site. I have posted 10 new missions, which brings the total up to 85 missions to do. Only 15 more for me to write until I can start to actually to something else. ^_^
But right now its dinner time.

Eight Ways to Win an Argument

Schopenhauer (article)

I like to argue. That is because I like to be in pursuit of the truth. Other people like to argue. That is because some of them what to be right at all costs, even when they know they are wrong. I don’t like them.

I think that all my beliefs are correct. If they are not correct, I will change them. This means that if I am shown wrong, I must modify my beliefs. So when arguing I am not arguing to make you believe what I believe, it is usually to see why you believe what you do, because if you have a good reason to believe such things it is worth wile for me to consider it. I argue to find the truth. Some others don’t.

This article is a guide on how to win arguments, and it will tell you how to win an argument. It has such helpful tips such as:

26. A brilliant move is to turn the tables and use your opponent's arguments against himself.
Example: Your opponent declares: "so and so is a child, you must make an allowance for him."
You retort, "Just because he is a child, I must correct him; otherwise he will persist in his bad habits."

But there are also tips on how to argue dirty:

38. Become personal, insulting and rude as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand.
In becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn your attack on the person by remarks of an offensive and spiteful character.
This is a very popular technique, because it takes so little skill to put it into effect.

I hate when people argue like this. *They* are the “close minded” ones. When they see that they will lose, they do not change their opinion, or step back from the argument to think, they become crybabies. I HATE arguing with these kinds of people, I have tried to stop arguing with those that do not argue to find truth, but instead try to win at all costs.

It is worth looking at the list, so that you can recognize when someone is not arguing to find the truth, but arguing to win the argument. And if you find yourself every arguing with someone who is arguing dirty, I encourage you to stop the argument as soon as possible.

Mission #69 Completed!

Project: Best Summer Ever: Mission #69: Visit a family member more than 50 miles away. (500pts)

Doing stuff back in Garden (see the many posts below) helped me complete the first mission of the Best Summer Ever.

All-in-all the trip was fun, and it was nice to see everyone. I actually wish i could have stayed longer to do more stuff down there, but Nicole had to come back, since she had to teach today.

Oh well, 500 points down, 29500 more to go. :)

On Sunday we had a graduation party for Jenette and Chris (grad from K-State), Maria (from GCHS), and for my mom who got a masters from Newman. There were a lot of people that came by and we had all the normal graduation food, plus sandwiches from Adam’s Rib (the best BBQ in Garden City). Somary dropped by, and she brought with her kid Ashley. Ashley and Ava had fun playing with each other, as you can see here. After the party, we stopped over at Nicole’s mom house to say goodbye, and then we headed back up here, arriving at midnight.
Today I have not done much except for sorting through the pictures. But I do need too much on some leftover pizza survivors from Friday night.

Since the community college and the high school share the same football field the city finally raised the funds to improve the football field. Now we have awesome field turf. (Like k-state’s field, although Garden’s seemed a bit squishy-er, but it could just be newer.) It is improvements like this, that the city is starting to do, that is making Garden stand out a bit more that the other cities in western Kansas. (The reason this helps is because events, such as marching band competitions, are now held in Garden instead of switching between cities.)

(In the picture is Michelle giving some love to the end zone.)

(The housing and dining service guys just changed the battery in my smoke detector. I don’t have to listen to the stupid beeping anymore.)

After graduation we took a lot of pictures out on the field. Here is one on Nicole’s mom and sisters.

We basically went strait to the stadium when we got to Garden, and we made it just a little before the grads started to walk in. As far as I know this is the first time that they had graduation at night, and it was much nicer than having it in the day time when it is so hot. The graduation ceremony was good, and alot of the speeches by the elders, and the youngins had a very pro-Garden City vein in them. A am glad to see that because Garden City is *by far* the best, and biggest city in western Kansas (although I haven’t been to Hays in awhile, Amber makes it seem like hell, so I’ll say Garden is better than Hays), and everybody always seems to disown being from there. But I think that the city has been working on improving itself some, and at least to me, the kids are starting to be proud to say that they are from Garden. I am glad to see that.

When everyone was found we all headed over to Jenette and Chris for their graduation party. We brought our monster disc and played with it some while all the old’ns talked inside (boring ^_^). Soon after lunch was finished Nicole, Michelle, and I left so that would could make it down to Garden City for Maria’s (Nicole’s sister) graduation.

After graduation there were swarms of people. We were just glad to be able to find each other.

On Saturday morning, bright an early, was Chris and Jenette’s graduation. The ceremony took awhile, but I guess it wasn’t too bad; there were just a lot of names to call off.

When we got back home from Walsmart we broke open the junk and played with some of it. We took the monster disc and squirmy wormy out back and played with them for a bit. We took some pictures, but the ones of the monster disc did not turn out, mainly because it did not emit light. However the squirmy wormy did emit light, so we got a couple good pics of playing with it.

After Pizza Hut, Nicole, Michelle and I headed over to walsmart to get some supplies. We picked up some graduation gifts for Chris and Jenette, and bought a bunch of stuff to mess around with. Most notable is the 20Q ball, it kept me entertained for along time while in the car going to and from Garden.

My weekend; In pictures.

On Friday night everyone converged on man Happenin’ for Jenette and Chris graduation. Chris family decided to eat at Pizza Hut down in Aggieville, so we enjoyed a nice evening of pizza slaughter. My dad, Michelle, and my uncle Randy made it up here not too long after we started to eat, and then Aaron stopped by. Good times.

The people in this picture are (L to R): Audrey (Chris sister), Ava (Audrey’s kid), my dad, my uncle Randy, and Chris is head banging or something.