Xmas list

I have started a Christmas list on Amazon you can find it here.

There are a lot of other things that i want, but i either can't find them on Amazon, or i can't remember them.

Happy shopping. ^_^

Update: It should take you to my wishlist now, even if you are logged in to Amazon as someone else. If not give me a yell.

Deer-Automobile Accidents

KTVE Region 10 (PSA)

Just so you know:

If a deer comes into the road State Police say you should not swerve. They say they've seen it all too many times the car swerves and hits an immovable object. Police recommend hitting the animal, however if that animal is a horse or cow they recommend you get out of the way.

So the scoring goes: 100pts for hitting a deer, 100pts for missing a cow, and 200pts for missing a horse. Keep me posted on your scores.

Worst quiz answers ever!

The Sun Online (article/list)

Oh, some of them are pretty funny. A couple that are good are:

Paul Wappat: How long did the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel last?
Contestant (after long pause): Fourteen days.

Wood: What "K" could be described as the Islamic Bible?
Contestant: Er...
Wood: It's got two syllables... Kor...
Contestant: Blimey?
Wood: Ha ha ha ha no. The past participle of run...
Contestant: (Silence)
Wood: OK, try it another way. Today I run, yesterday I...
Contestant: Walked?

If you need some funny in your life check out the link.


Update: I forgot to post one on my favorites (it is from the Weakest Link):

Robinson: What insect is commonly found hovering above lakes?
Contestant: Crocodiles.
Robinson: Wh...?
Contestant (interrupting): Pass!

Christmas Lights Set to Music

Amber showed me a pretty rocking video of a house decorated with Christmas lights that flash in tune with a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song. It is way cooler than it sounds. Check it out:

Is that not cool?

LearnOutLoud.com

LearnOutLoud.com (site)

Like to learn things? Then this is the site for you. It has hundreds of video and audio clips of things that you can learn about. I just got done watching part of a lecture that the CEO of Amazon gave about his company. Pretty interesting stuff.

PIFF Week 12 All-Stars

Pos   Player       Pts Team
QB    C. Palmer    18  Rebels
RB    L. Tomlinson 30  Rebels
WR1   T. Holt      7   Pillagers
WR2   C. Johnson   5   &'s
WR3   J. Galloway  4   Snotknockers
TE    J. Shockey   9   Snotknockers
K     M. Vanderjagt12  Steepers
DEF   Carolina     -2  Red Burns
DB    C. Bailey    7   Eldars
DL1   Ja. Taylor   8   Red Burns
DL2   K. Vanden    5   Steepers
Coach Shannon      98% Steepers

Total All-Stars so far:
Snotknockers 19
Steepers 17
Pillagers 16
Rebels 16
Picklers 15
RedBurns 15
&s 14
Kilters 11
Vampirates 10
Eldars 10

THE Jones Soda 2005 Holiday Pack Review

*Update - I have a new review over the 2006 Jones Soda Holiday pack, check it out*

So about two weeks ago at Target I had a grand idea: "Hey let's get that Jones Soda Holiday Pack and have it for Thanksgiving." Well Thanksgiving came, and we tried the sodas.
This is what we think about them. (Warning this post is video heavy, so if your computer is stuck in the 90's, i.e. you have dial-up, you will not enjoy this post as much as the rest of us in the 21st century.)

The fateful day had arrived, Thanksgiving was here and Jones Soda wanted to crash the party. They look innocent enough in the packaging don't they?



Well for some reason we decided to try the worst ones first and work our way towards the good ones... So first up was the Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto soda. This Nicole trying it:


View this clip on Vimeo

Now if you listen closely to the end of the clip you can actually hear me gagging on the soda (we all tried the soda at the same time).

So what did everyone else think of the Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto soda? (p.s. look at Maria's face)


View this clip on Vimeo

Well with the worst (?) behind us we ventured onto the Turkey and Gravy soda. Nicole's mom had the honors of being recorded for this one.


View this clip on Vimeo

I think that "Oh my God" means that she likes it.

By this time I gave up both trying to video and trying the sodas at the same time, mainly because my gag reflex was making it very difficult to hold the camera steady.
Pressing on we tried the Wild Herb Stuffing soda next. So Maria is it good?


View this clip on Vimeo

Is that a no?

Ok, so the three bad ones were done. That's good. Next up we tried the Pumpkin Pie soda.


View this clip on Vimeo

The bad thing is, I think "That's like really bad Jell-O" is a complement for it, because I think, so far all the other reviews have been "puke". Nicole, any additional thoughts?


View this clip on Vimeo

So is that half a star out of four?

Well finally we came to the one soda that couldn't miss, Cranberry soda. Unfortunately by this time even the smell of carbonation was associated with wanting to hurl, but we forged ahead.


View this clip on Vimeo

Do we have a winner? The comment of "That one is not *that* bad." I think gives it the title of the "best" soda from the pack. Congratulations Cranberry Soda you win!

So to recap:


View this clip on Vimeo

So if you are in the mood for some "yucky fun" go ahead and pick up the Jones Soda 2005 Holiday Pack. You won't be disappointed.

Thanksgiving Recap

Since last time....

On Saturday my dad and his girlfriend came down to Garden from Colorado for Thanksgiving at my mom's house. (Shadow came as well)



After a very good second thanksgiving lunch a couple of us went out into the front yard to play football for a bit. Although I was outnumbered I was able to still cover both Bredon and Trevor fairly handily. (I think it was solely due to my will to win :D )


After just hanging out at the house for the afternoon, Andy came over and we went out to meet the one and only El Charro. (Let me tell you he makes a real good burrito.)


After El Charro a couple of us went over to Andy's go sit around the fire bowl that he had in his backyard. Let me tell you, they are very nice to have on a chilly evening. (I'm not really sure what is up with Jenette in this picture.. but I think it is making Nicole and El Charro laugh.)


We were out at Andy's until midnight, so when we got back we just went to bed.
Today, after a traditional Sunday lunch (roast), we all left to come back home to beat the storm. It looks like we left at the right time, just before it started to snow in Garden, but we were able to miss the tornados that they had up here around Manhattan. When we got here Nicole and I ate pizza.

So in conclusion: I had a good Thanksgiving.

Pre-Thanksgiving Part II

Today was spent just going around places. We went to a couple of furniture stores in Wichita then we came down to Garden and went to Hastings. After Hastings we all played some Game Cube and now Nicole is finishing up a level in Pikman 2 before we go to bed for the night.

I need to get to bed so that i can be rested for another Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Night

Thangs-givin

What is the definition of good Thanksgiving entertainment? (answer pictured below)

In other news Jerry and Jayme got a cute new Lab mix called Amber. (Sorry Amber)

Happy Turkey!

I hope you are having a good Thanksgiving. We (Nicole and I) are having a good time at Nicole mom's house. There are a couple of new things around, and i'll post a pic or two later today. Rock on.

Turkey Break

A couple of fun games for your Thanksgiving break:


FreshGames: FreakOut online (game)

Freak out is a “black out” style game where you divide the board up tring to clear off they playing field when there are balls bouncing all around. It is quite fun and adds a couple of twists to the old game play.




FreshGames: Cubis 2 online

Cubis 2 is an update to the old game Cubis. The game play is simple and fun where you try to get three cubes of the same color touching. Cubis 2 has many different types of Cubes to use which make the game fun to play.

Both games are good time wasters. Just what you need, I know. ^_^

PIFF Week 11 All-Stars

Pos   Player       Pts Team
QB    B. Leftwich  18  Pillagers
RB    L. Johnson   26  Picklers
WR1   C. Johnson   9   &'s
WR2   D. Driver    8   Eldars
WR3   R. Swinton   7   Vampirates
TE    Da. Clark    7   Pillagers
K     N. Rackers   9   Picklers
DEF   Chicago      10  Rebels
DB    C. Carr      2   Steepers
DL1   D. Burgess   6   &'s
DL2   K. Vanden    3   Steepers
Coach Davin        95% Pillagers

Total All-Stars so far:
Snotknockers 17
Picklers 15
Pillagers 15
Rebels 14
Steepers 14
RedBurns 13
&s 13
Kilters 11
Vampirates 10
Eldars 9

Fischer taken to hospital after having seizure on Red Wings bench

NHL.com - News (article)

Red Wings defenseman Jiri Fischer had a seizure on the Detroit bench late in the first period of Monday night's game against the Nashville Predators and was listed in stable condition at a hospital.
Fischer was given CPR at the bench and a defibrillator was used before the 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic was removed on a stretcher. The game was called off with no makeup date immediately announced.

Kinda scary.
I have heard from other places that it also involved a stick to the throat.

Hockey and whatnot.

So.
Hockey went fine. On Saturday we kicked off the weekend playing Truman, who we lost to 10-1. Next we played SLU. Yeah that sucked. We lost 10-0 in the worst performance of the season (not score-wise mind you, I mean we all played pretty crappely (Crappely: the –ly form of the word crap. Def: to perform as good as crap looks. Example: K-State played Crappely against SLU on Saturday). After the game we all headed back to the motel where we had a pizza party furnished by Zack’s parents for is 19th birthday. Zack’s parents are some of the nicest people I have met (Zack’s pretty cool too). After some pizza-ing Nicole, Jenette, and I headed up to our room and we watched the Oregon/Oregon State game and then went to bed.
On Sunday our first game was against SIU-Carbondale. We lost to them 4-2, but if we would have been sharper we should have been able to beat them. Ironically this game, which is the closest game of the season for us, so far, was the most frustrating game. We didn’t play bad, but we should have played better. After the SIU game we played SLU again, we ended up losing 7-1 but the game was *much* closer than the score, and we almost played better than they did. (Seriously it is amazing how we don’t get bounces. If the puck gets deflected by someone else it always goes in the net, if we deflect it, it bounces around a bit and lands behind the goalie, somehow without crossing the line. Grrrr.)
We were out of St. Louis by 12.30 and we made it to Lawrence by 5 or so. There we met up with Newgen and ate at Montana Mike’s for dinner. It is actually a pretty good place to eat at, and you get more than enough food there.
The rest of the weekend was uneventful, and we ended up going to bed rather early last night.
Today I have been grading tests from the morning until 2.30 this afternoon. (Aaron stopped by Radina’s and at brunch with me.) The tests went good overall and I had more A’s than any other grade on it.
Now I am tired and I think I’m gonna head home soon.
So there.

Monday tests

I'm back from hockey. But right now i need to eat some breakfast, and then I'm off to school so that I can get my tests graded before tomorrow (actually to my office and then to Radina’s). I'll have a better update later today when I get finished grading my tests.

Well, if anybody wants to have some coffee I'll be at Radina's from 7.30 until 12 or 1.

Off to hockey

Welp, I heading off to hockey, I'll post about it tomorrow.

Vault, Coming Soon!

VaultKicks.org (article)

VaultKicks.org has received official word from Coca-Cola North America that Vault and Vault Zero, a sugar-free version of Vault, will launch nationally in February 2006 in convenience stores, supermarkets, mass retail, and other locations.

Does Vault = Surge?

We will see soon.

50%

You know what is a funny feeling? Having a 50% chance of having someone you know be dead:

Student found dead in home

Jonathan Micheal Wood, freshman in horticulture, was found at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday inside his home after the RCPD was notified of an unattended death. An investigation by detectives and the Riley County coroner revealed the probable cause of death was suicide by hanging, Grubbs said in the release.

Just to see how many Jon Woods there are at K-State I get this.

So there are two, both are freshmen, and both have the middle initial of M.
I would guess that Johnnie isn't in horticulture, but I don't know that for sure.

I'll guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow up at St. Louis...


Update: I looked up Jeremiah’s address and it is the same as the other Johnnie, so I would say that 'our' Johnnie is ok. Good deal.

Cornstarch fun.

I think I linked to this video a year or so ago, but now it is on YouTube, so I can embed the video here on the blog.

...Cornstarch is really weird...

Regents approve name change

Kansas State Collegian (article)

K-State coach Bill Snyder will coach the final game of his 17-year career at a stadium that will bear his name Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Kansas Board of Regents unanimously approved the immediate renaming of KSU Stadium to the Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium. Snyder announced his retirement as the coach of the Wildcats Tuesday.

It sucks that I can't go to the game.

Vegeterian & Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

juiceenewsdaily (article)

I wasn't gonna post it but this made me smile:

Here are some questions you may be asking yourself as you consider your situation at Thanksgiving, one of the most clearly meat-influenced holidays on the American calendar.
Why is this guest vegetarian? There are many reasons to follow a vegetarian diet, ranging from deeply considered, long-held personal beliefs, to a doctor's instructions, food allergies and intolerances, or simply a son's or daughter's rebellion.

You know who I'm talking about ^_~.

Anyways, there are some good looking recipes in the article, maybe worth a try if you are gonna be hungry even though there is a wonderfully succulent turkey right in front of you come the 24th.

Is having a child -- even one -- environmentally destructive?

sfgate.com (article)

"We can't be breeding right now," says Les Knight. "It's obvious that the intentional creation of another [human being] by anyone anywhere can't be justified today."
Knight is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, an informal network of people dedicated to phasing out the human race in the interest of the health of the Earth.
"As long as there's one breeding couple," he says cheerfully, "we're in danger of being right back here again. Wherever humans live, not much else lives. It isn't that we're evil and want to kill everything -- it's just how we live."
Knight's position might sound extreme at first blush, but there's an undeniable logic to it: Human activities -- from development to travel, from farming to just turning on the lights at night -- are damaging the biosphere. More people means more damage. So if fewer people means less destruction, wouldn't no people at all be the best solution for the planet?

This sounds like a good plan. The environmentalist wackos can stop breeding to leave the normal humans to live. Unfortunately if people actually start thinking this way, which wouldn't surprise me... they need things to hate, they will start being terrorists.

Is so hard for people to be normal? Maybe it is in San Francisco.

Sony Shoots Down PS3 DRM Rumors

Neoseeker News (article)

Sony sez:

"I would like to clarify that this is false speculation and that PlayStation 3 software will not be copy protected to a single machine but will be playable on any PlayStation 3 console."

That is good to know, but with Sony being uber retarded in the music front I don't know if they deserve my money.

We'll see in about a year...

I...n.......t....e...r.....n...e..............[time out error]

That’s the way the internet has been rolling around these parts for the last couple of days. So with a morning free today I tackled the job of trying to get it fixed. I called HomeStar, but to my surprise they have a new underling working there called Mike. He asked if I did everything possible, and I already had. The problem stumped him... well I guess I should explain the problem...
The problem started Sunday afternoon, the internet went out, which isn't all that surprising, since it does that about once a month here. Anyways, I tried to fix it, but to no avail. I figured that it would fix itself in the morning. Well it did, sort of. I could connect to the internet, but at a very very very slow speed, as in, it would take 30 seconds to load the front page for Google, and all other pages would time out. Also I could connect through Y! Messenger, which made it that much more frustrating since that meant that the internet was working to some degree. So the internet has been like that since Monday morning.
Anyways, so i called up Mike, and he had no idea what was going on, he called HomeStar, and he said it was spyware and to bring the computer down there. I knew it wasn't spyware, so I left the council of them without a solution.
I got fed up and almost resorted to reformatting my hard drive, which I really don't want to do. But before I reformatting I pulled out my compy and disconnected everything that didn't need to be plugged in, and I gave the cable modem un-split cable access. Guess what? The internet worked. Bah!

It turns out that the latest Internet outage messed up my splitters, so I had to go find a configuration that works for the internet and the TV and the same time. Now, I HAD done this before, because the splitter almost always is the problem, but I had tried to fix it during the K-State internet outage, and so I had thought that wasn’t gonna work this time... Ah, I like spending 4 hours to get something really simple done... :P

Oh, well I guess I at least got my files backed up for the seemingly inevitable reformat of the hard drive, and I did figure it out on my own.. I guess that is a plus. Oh well, I need to eat some lunch so I can be off to school. You get a cookie if you read through this whole post (and it doesn't count if you read this part first and then read the post ^_^).

Ah the joys of the internet.

A Black Cultural Fiction?

Sports Filter (article)

Toronto Raptor Eric Williams is pitching a new line of merchandise from his company, Eric Williams Apparel. The first product line is a series of urbanwear dedicated to "Black League Basketball" that existed from 1920-1940. The problem? Most historians agree the league never existed.

It's not that bad to make a product and give it a "history". But you can not claim it to be true when it isn't. That's just plain dumb.

Edit: A better article about it is here.

From the above article:

"These logos had to come from somewhere," Williams says. "Whether there was a league or not those logos ... that's still nice to represent the 'hood or whatever it was. Those were all the inner cities. (Whether it was) an interim league or a professional league, those leagues and those logos, to me they sound like they exist. The story sounds good to me so I'm rolling with it."

Truth? bah! It sounds good, so it must be true...

Snyder to retire today

Kansas State Collegian (article)

Coach Bill Snyder will coach his final game at K-State Saturday against Missouri.
Snyder, K-State's all-time winningest coach with a 135-68-1 record, is expected to announce his retirement at today's 1 p.m. press conference, the Web site www.gopowercat.com reported Monday night.

Snyder came to K-State in 1988 and inherited a program mired in a 27-game winless streak that would stretch to 30 games. The Wildcats were widely known as one of the worst programs in college football, which prompted Sports Illustrated to name the football program "Futility U."

What Snyder did at K-State has since been regarded as the greatest turnaround in college football history.

Half of November

Its cold outside, and it is snowing...

fun. ^_^

PIFF Week 10 All-Stars

Pos   Player       Pts Team
QB    P. Manning   17  Steepers
RB    S. Alexander 29  &'s
WR1   C. Chambers  8   &'s
WR2   H. Ward      7   Vampirates
WR3   L. Fitzgerald7   Rebels
TE    Da. Clark    3   Pillagers
K     J. Elam      9   Eldars
DEF   Carolina     15  Red Burns
DB    C. Carr      4   Steepers
DL1   S. Rice      7   Pillagers
DL2   Ja. Allen    5   Pillagers
Coach Lance        92% Red Burns

Total All-Stars so far:
Snotknockers 17
Picklers 13
Rebels 13
RedBurns 13
Steepers 12
Pillagers 12
Kilters 11
&s 11
Vampirates 9
Eldars 8

Thanksgiving fun?

You bet.

Thanks Jones Soda (click for flavors)!

periodic philosophy

A friend (?) of Amber's had a pretty good post on his (?) blog. He says:

Education should be a privilege of the willing, rather than a requirement of the entire population. Or, simply put, only those who desire an education should be allowed to have one. So, who's allowed to acquire an education? Well, anyone... so long as the express a desire. [...]

Parents need to take more responsibility for their children, and rely less on extra-familial forms of guidance and supervision. I don't have a good solution to this problem, but I can think of a number of great of examples of how this gets screwed up.

1-Problem: (pertinent example) Kid buys violent video game. Parents get bent out of shape about the content of the game, lobby the government to do something about the content of the game.
1-My Opinion: DO NOT f****** ruin the fun for me because you don't like the game. Get your goddamn head on straight and DON'T LET YOUR KID PLAY A VIOLENT GAME!! PROBLEM SOLVED!
2-P: Kid sees porn on the internet. Parents are upset, lobby the government for tighter controls on internet content.
2-O: Why is your kid browsing the internet without supervision? Apparently the ever-imminent danger of your child finding porn is not a concern for you until it actually happens. You're an idiot, and you should be shot.
3-P: Kid has to learn about some sensitive subject in school (I'm not trying to be clever here, it could be any number of things... study of religions, evolution, race relations, etc.). Kid bitches to parents about this stuff. On thing leads to another....
3-O: What, you seriously think hiding your kid from the world is going to help him get through life? Again, you should be shot.

[...]

Organized religion must be eliminated.

think of a pressing issue in the world. Any issue at all. Chances are very good that:

1. Organized religion caused it
2. Organized religion is exacerbating it
3. Organized religion will eventually exacerbate it

Terrorism? Mostly Islamic fundamentalist whackos. Debate over science standards? Mostly Christan fundamentalist whackos. Perpetual war in Israel? Muslims and Jews can't get along, simply because they're Muslims and Jews.

Although I disagree with some of the stuff about Organized Religion, overall the whole post is a pretty good read.

And now I must meet with the other GTAs.

Mmmmmonday.

It's not even 8 and I am up (and at school). :P

Actually it is of my choosing. I decided to get up with Nicole this morning so that I can get my reports graded, and what better place to do that then at Radina's? So if you are in the Manhattan area I will be at Radina's from 8 - 12 (and possibly later) today. Stop on by and have a chai with me.

(‘Chai’ must be a newfangled word because Word doesn’t have it in the dictionary, although it apparently does have ‘newfangled’…)

Indian Food.

For dinner tonight we ate Indian food. Raj (my officemate) bought Nicole and I tickets to the India Student Council’s dinner thingy. There was a pretty wide variety of food there; most of it reminded me of Ethiopian food. It was pretty good though. And there was a fair amount of people that went to it (~300 people I would guess, the picture is from the end of the first shift of people, by the time the second shift arrived this hall, as well as another adjoining hall, was packed. )
Good times.

NFL Reaches Agreement to Return to L.A.

Yahoo! News (article)

he NFL and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on terms to bring a team back to the Los Angeles Coliseum. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the announcement Thursday on the steps of City Hall. But he didn't identify a potential tenant or speculate when Los Angeles might get the team.
He also spoke positively about a team playing at a facility proposed for the Angel Stadium parking lot in Anaheim and didn't rule out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena as a possible home field, either.

So L.A. looks like they will be getting a team, possibly two. This is how will it work out (Or at least how I see it happening):
Saints and Cardinals move to LA, New Orleans will be guaranteed an expansion spot in the near future. The new New Orleans team will expand with either Mexico City or San Antonio, but San Antonio will win out in the end, and then there will be a second round of expansions to put a team back in Arizona and one down in Mexico City. Leaving the NFL with 36 teams by 2012.

You heard it here first.

Goghlines

goghlines : Built with Processing (flash)

This is a very spiffy flash that draws Van-Gogh like paintings. The painting is always changing, which is what is really cool about it, so my pic above of it doesn't do it justice. You should check it out so you can see it in motion.

Extra Extra!

This just in: In a quasi-scientific study it was found that there was no statistical significant difference in the preference of taste between Pringles Sour Cream and Onion and Lay's Stax Sour Cream and Onion chips.

Details on 9 news...

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study (article)

It has long been suspected that the government has been using satellites to read and control the minds of certain citizens. The use of aluminum helmets has been a common guerrilla tactic against the government's invasive tactics [1]. Surprisingly, these helmets can in fact help the government spy on citizens by amplifying certain key frequency ranges reserved for government use. In addition, none of the three helmets we analyzed provided significant attenuation to most frequency bands.
We describe our experimental setup, report our results, and conclude with a few design guidelines for constructing more effective helmets.

Haha! So if you fear the government is spying on you, do NOT wear an aluminum hat!!! It only helps them spy on you! (The theory of wearing an aluminum hat to block brain signals must have been a big project by the government so that they could actually read your thoughts better!)
It’s time to move on to the new theory of cat-on-the-head to block the signals. (If you do this, please send pics, I'll post em. ^_^ )

ShoOot

ShoOot by Tonypa (Game)

ShoOot is a game where you shoot the circles. It is very easy and very addictive. Good good stuff.
(I know, I know, two posts in a row about games, what have I become? I should be complaining about the RIAA or saying how something should be like something else...)

Ringmania

Ringmania (game)

Ringmania is a simple game where you try to get three colors to touch so the go away. Even though I have seen many games with this mechanic, this one is just better than the rest. I donno why.

Go, play.

How to spot a CD that has Rootkit

If you are in the market to pick up a new CD (I urge you not to do it, but if you must…) you should read over this to learn how to spot CDs that will infect your computer with Rootkit. For example:

Tip-off #1: on the front of the CD, at the left-most edge, in the transparent "spine", you'll see "CONTENT PROTECTED" along with the IFPI copy-protection logo. A few photos make this clearer.

PlayStation 3 Blocks Used Game Use

News at SPOnG.com (article)

The PS3 is going to be the coolest gaming system ever (until the PS4). And there is no way that I am not gonna get one when they first come out. There is nothing that will stop me...

In related news, rumour flared overnight that the PlayStation 3 would prevent the use of used software, with technologies patented by SCEI’s Ken Kutaragi and team set to read, store and delete security codes on a per-disc, per machine basis.
Registered with Japan’s patent office, the concept would see each game disc individually encoded. Upon being played for the first time, the host hardware would store then delete from the disc the security codes required for registering the software with the console.

No wait... not being able to buy used games, or even play my games on someone else's system? That would stop me from getting one.

Hint for Sony: Don't be stupid!

THE Phantom

So Michelle:

This is the guy who played the role of the Phantom for the longest in the show's history. He and a pianst are touring around and they did a community concert here [at Garden City].

So the Thespian club had him sing a couple of songs and the such:


View this clip on Vimeo

Good stuff.

Party Taco!

On the way back from St. Louis we stopped at a gas station that had a Taco Beuno (pronounced as if the B was silent, i.e. Taco Wayno). Anyways, I was very pleased to find that Taco Beuno had an item called a “Party Taco”. Now, you know me, I am a sucker for ‘party’ food, so even though I wasn’t exceedingly hungry I still had to get it.
Let me tell you I was very happy with my Party Taco. We hung for a good 15 minutes chatting about how Taco Bell has nothing on the Wayno. But as it is with all the party food, I had to eat it in the end. And you know what? It was pretty good. Beuno even. Taco Beuno knows how to rock my mouth, and throw a good party taco.

Here I am giving a high-five to my Party Taco.


Keep it real
~Wayno style.

Spun

I was looking around the Jones website, and found a music player. The first song that was played was by Spun, they are pretty good. See:


Edit: Well crap, Blogger really doesn't like music players in posts... Just go checkout their website for free music to download.

Re-Edit: Ok it works again (for me). So in conclusion it may or may not be there for you to listen to. Good luck.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a website that puts expired copyright books on the internet. Which is fine, if you like reading stuff on a computer, or want to pay more to print the book out than it would cost to just buy it in the first place.

But I have found something else that they are doing: turing these books into audio books. Now if you want an audio book for a trip, just download the chapters and burn them onto CD. Viola, (almost) instant trip entertainment.

Now that is really useful.

PIFF Week 9 All-Stars

Pos   Player       Pts Team
QB    P. Manning   17  Steepers
RB    L. Tomlinson 29  Rebels
WR1   M. Harrison  10  Snotknockers
WR2   R. Wayne     7   Eldars
WR3   S. Smith     7   Snotknockers
TE    J. Shockey   5   Snotknockers
K     N. Rackers   12  Picklers
DEF   NY Giants    4   Pillagers
DB    T. Polamalu  8   Rebels
DL1   K. Edwards   5   Picklers
DL2   J. Abraham   3   Vampirates
Coach Pickle       98% Picklers

Total All-Stars so far:
Snotknockers 17
Picklers 13
Rebels 12
RedBurns 11
Kilters 11
Steepers 10
&s 9
Pillagers 9
Vampirates 8
Eldars 7

I have no hockey pics to post, but maybe Chris could make a short highlight movie from the stuff that he recorded...

Anyways, on the way back from St. Louis we stopped at a gas station that had a Sonic attached to it, what was strange was that you had to go inside to order and get your food.

Back

We are back from hockey. We did ok, we didn't win any games, but we didn't suck as much as we did last year.

I need to go take a shower, after that if I am motivated I'll post a pic or two.

Off to St.L

We are off to St. Louis for the first weekend of hockey. I'll have a picture or two when we get back.

Kurt Halsey

It has been awhile since I have seen an artist that I like as much as Kurt Halsey. He draws very simple, yet very emotional things.

I like.

World of Warcraft hackers using Sony BMG rootkit

AppScan (article)

Follow-up from last night and from Sony's Rootkit:

Want to cheat in your online game and not get caught? Just buy a Sony BMG copy protected CD.
World of Warcraft hackers have confirmed that the hiding capabilities of Sony BMG's content protection software can make tools made for cheating in the online world impossible to detect. The software--deemed a "rootkit" by many security experts--is shipped with tens of thousands of the record company's music titles.
Despite making a patch available on Wednesday to consumers to amend its copy protection software's behavior, Sony BMG and First 4 Internet, the maker of the content protection technology, have both disputed claims that their system could harm the security of a Windows system. Yet, other software makers that rely on the integrity of the operating system are finding that hidden code makes security impossible.

Brilliant!

Project Entropia

Project Entropia (game)

Follow-up from game night:

Project Entropia is a virtual universe with a real cash economy. It is set on the distant colony of Calypso, the first habitable planet mankind has ever found. The players take the roles of colonizers that strive to build a new world together, under the threat from various enemies that wants to destroy the colony.
What does this mean?
It means that Project Entropia is a large multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The normal way such games operate is by purchasing the client software in a store and then pay a subscription fee every 30 days, while the internal game economy is just that –- a game economy.
Project Entropia does the opposite! The client software is free to download over the Internet and there are no subscription fee associated whatsoever. The real cash economy means that the internal Project Entropia economy is linked to the real world economy, by using a currency called the Project Entropia Dollar (PED), which have a fixed exchange rate to the US Dollar (10 PED equals 1 USD).
You as a player use PED to acquire virtual land and equipment in Project Entropia to invest in your avatar’s (Player representation in the virtual universe) growth and abilities. A unique aspect of Project Entropia is that a player may elect to transfer PED back into real life currency, thereby enabling them to earn real money while playing an online computer game.

It is a neat idea, as anyone can play since it is free, and if you are good at it you could make real money at it. So I think it's worth checking out. Somebody recently bought a new space station in the game for 100,000 US dollars, which is crazy that someone would invest that much money into it. At the least I'll check up on this from time to time to see how things are going.

Oh that Thursday

I am currently sitting at a spifftacular new computer in the stat lab. It is pretty nice (i.e. it doesn't suck like the rest of the computers...).
Just thought you would like to know.

p.s. spifftacular is now in the new computer’s dictionary.

Update: There are actually three new computers in the stat lab, rock on!

Row as Christmas lights renamed

BBC NEWS (article)

A decision to call Christmas lights "Winter Lights" in south London has been condemned as showing a "total lack of respect" for Christians.
Mr Gentry, a Conservative member of the joint Lib Dem-Tory controlled borough, told the BBC it went against efforts to promote respect for all faiths.
"The idea that, in some way, the religious festival of Christmas is offensive to others is just daft - I have never heard a single person who's said that."

Good to hear.

More MAD fun...

Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

Mark's Sysinternals Blog (blargticle)

Long story short: This guy is testing a program that looks for hidden malware. He finds some on his computer, thinking it’s an error because he is very careful about what he does with the computer, he does some searching about what the malware is, and where he got it. It turns out that the malware is from a copy-protected Sony CD, which, under the banner of DRM, was installed onto his computer. He notices that the license agreement with the CD never says that anything like this would be installed, and what is worse is that the program checks on the media 8 times every second, thus using up about 2% of his processing power, *even when he does not have the CD in the drive*. He gets very frustrated that a music CD installed malware on his computer, without his consent and that it uses a fairly large chunk of resources even when it is not needed. He gets further frustrated that there is no way to delete the program included on the CD. So he uses the original malware detection program to delete the program (he couldn't even get around to it from the SafeMode because Sony has it boot even then (!!!)). But all is not well after the deletion of the program, Sony wrote the program so that if you delete the DRM program off your computer you lose the ability to use your CD drive. (Pause for a second, and think about that one... Sony installed a program on your machine without your consent and then if you delete it you can't use ANY CD in your computer.) Luckily this guy is very computer savvy and was able to restore the CD drive functionality, but it is not something that the normal person would be able to do.
He concludes:

The entire experience was frustrating and irritating. Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall. Worse, most users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files.

In short copy-protection has *already* gone too far, not just in theory but in reality now. My advice to you is to not buy copy protected CDs, at all. And if you must **DO NOT** run them on your computer.

It's a $10 music CD... jeez, and lawmakers let these guys tell them what to do about the movie/music industry... I'm doubt Sony is looking out for me... or even the artist.

PIFF week 8 All-Stars

Pos   Player       Pts Team
QB    J. Plummer   22  Steepers
RB    C. Dillon    16  Eldars
WR1   J. Mathis    9   Red Burns
WR2   S. Smith     9   Snotknockers
WR3   T. Owens     8   Rebels
TE    A. Gates     13  Kilters
K     J. Feely     12  Kilters
DEF   NY Giants    9   Pillagers
DB    J. Azumah    4   Picklers
DL1   B. Berry     6   Picklers
DL2   Br. Young    5   Steepers
Coach Shannon      91% Steepers

Total All-Stars so far:
Snotknockers 14
RedBurns 11
Kilters 11
Rebels 10
Picklers 10
&s 9
Steepers 9
Pillagers 8
Vampirates 7
Eldars 6

Two More Moons Discovered Orbiting Pluto

SPACE.com (article)

Two small moons have been discovered orbiting Pluto, bringing the planet's retinue of known satellites to three and leaving scientist to wonder how it could be.
The newfound moons orbit about 27,000 miles (44,000 kilometers) from Pluto, more than twice as far as Charon, Pluto's other satellite. They are 5,000 times dimmer than Charon.
Preliminary observations suggest they are in circular orbits around Pluto and in the same plane as Charon, said Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Write your local scientist: "Pluto is a planet"