Introducing Oro Borios.
We'll have to see how it works out. I'll send an update eventually, but I think the page speaks for itself.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Twittering Towards Extacy: You Can Use Twitter For That?
Introducing Oro Borios.
We'll have to see how it works out. I'll send an update eventually, but I think the page speaks for itself.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Hot Shit Of The Week - Eggnog Glug Glug 2009 Edition
In between weekend parties I've been scouring the internets hard to find some really good stuff for this week. It takes a lot of deliberation to find just the right hot shit, and I'm still trying to find the right tone and voice for the feature. For the most part Hot Shit Of the Week stays on the up and up. It is here to show the best, not snipe the worse. Old School Hot Shit will be an occasional separate single post, probably mid-week. It is naturally snarky feature so Hot Shit Of the Week will be more positive from now on.
First Up: Google Reader
I am convinced that one day Google is going to turn evil, and while it is entirely possible that day has already come you can't fault a company for having good products, especially when those good products are buck naked free.
When it comes to technology, some people will say there are enthusiasts and luddites. I tend to think it isn't that simple. The choice of when to adopt any new technology isn't a yes-or-no-one-size-fits-all question. You can be way ahead of the curve, but a lot of the time that means you'll spend far too much time dealing with the early adopter's growing pains. RSS is one of those technologies where I was certain it was going to take root eventually, but didn't adopt until it had already gone main stream. I've used a number of RSS solutions, but Google Reader is the best compromise of features and simplicity I have found. It makes a great solution alone, or in combination with a good desktop application.
One of the things that was always a pain in desktop RSS applicaitons was keeping a collection of subscriptions in sync cross multiple computers. The better clients had export/import features, but with Google Reader that isn't neccesary. You can manage your subscriptions centrally and there is only one feed to configure on each client no matter where you go. The sharing and starring is also a really nice feature. Combined with some other hot tools I'll be talking about in future weeks, Google Reader is what makes Hot Shit possible. I can star something I find and then when I'm ready to complie a list of Hot Shit it's right there.
Next Up: Cute Overload
Who doesn't love good clean humor? Now maybe I'm just getting old, but I can't help but wince a little with the moden movement in humor. Sure rude, irreverant, and even sacrelegious gags are funny now and again but some where around 1997 things got a little out of hand and over a decade later they are just getting worse.
One breath of fresh air amidst all these fart and Jesus jokes is Cute Overload. It's like Breaking Bad News With Baby Animals, without the bad news. Every day cute images come flooding in, some of which are also quite humorous. I can't say that they have ever made me ROTFL, but often a chuckle or smile. I'll take a guilt free chuckle over a cheap Lolercopter any day.
Moving Along: Bento!
Why should the Japanese have all the fun? If I did New Years resolutions, mine would be to make my lunch more often. I don't (do resolutions), but really do hope that in the future I do (make my lunch).
Not that I'd have time to be this creative with my lunch, pretty much ever, but the bento artist at Anna The Red's Bento Factory is a truely genious source of inspriation. You always have to wonder how edible some of the creations are. Some are totaly convincing.. others you just have to wonder what some of the detials are made of.
I'd also feel bad while eating it...really bad...as I ate the whole thing. I think the phrase, "Nom Nom Nom." is fitting.
Finally: Web Designer Depot
Now normally I don't go for sites like this and it is definately special interest, but I found this site through a friend on Google Reader and it is a good mix of web design showcase, web industry tips, and just generally interesting links.
The down side to Web Designer Depot is they tend to post very LONG articles. Sometimes they break things with their ginormity.
The semi-eclectic feel of this blog is great. It has a focus, but switches things up a bit each week. There is something to be said from following a formula, but I think we can all learn from a good directed sense of aventure in writing.
First Up: Google Reader
When it comes to technology, some people will say there are enthusiasts and luddites. I tend to think it isn't that simple. The choice of when to adopt any new technology isn't a yes-or-no-one-size-fits-all question. You can be way ahead of the curve, but a lot of the time that means you'll spend far too much time dealing with the early adopter's growing pains. RSS is one of those technologies where I was certain it was going to take root eventually, but didn't adopt until it had already gone main stream. I've used a number of RSS solutions, but Google Reader is the best compromise of features and simplicity I have found. It makes a great solution alone, or in combination with a good desktop application.
One of the things that was always a pain in desktop RSS applicaitons was keeping a collection of subscriptions in sync cross multiple computers. The better clients had export/import features, but with Google Reader that isn't neccesary. You can manage your subscriptions centrally and there is only one feed to configure on each client no matter where you go. The sharing and starring is also a really nice feature. Combined with some other hot tools I'll be talking about in future weeks, Google Reader is what makes Hot Shit possible. I can star something I find and then when I'm ready to complie a list of Hot Shit it's right there.
Next Up: Cute Overload
One breath of fresh air amidst all these fart and Jesus jokes is Cute Overload. It's like Breaking Bad News With Baby Animals, without the bad news. Every day cute images come flooding in, some of which are also quite humorous. I can't say that they have ever made me ROTFL, but often a chuckle or smile. I'll take a guilt free chuckle over a cheap Lolercopter any day.
Moving Along: Bento!
Not that I'd have time to be this creative with my lunch, pretty much ever, but the bento artist at Anna The Red's Bento Factory is a truely genious source of inspriation. You always have to wonder how edible some of the creations are. Some are totaly convincing.. others you just have to wonder what some of the detials are made of.
I'd also feel bad while eating it...really bad...as I ate the whole thing. I think the phrase, "Nom Nom Nom." is fitting.
Finally: Web Designer Depot
The down side to Web Designer Depot is they tend to post very LONG articles. Sometimes they break things with their ginormity.
The semi-eclectic feel of this blog is great. It has a focus, but switches things up a bit each week. There is something to be said from following a formula, but I think we can all learn from a good directed sense of aventure in writing.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Hot Shit Of The Week - So it is December Now 2009 Edition
With November, NaNoWriMo, and a heck of a lot of Turkey out of the way it is time to look towards the holiday season. While you're busy running around present shopping, or dealing with the other nuts out there present shopping please keep in mind that studies have shown materialism results in very poor satisfaction and quality of life. What does to lead to satisfaction? Research shows activities that generate life experiences are a significant contributor to feelings of satisfaction. That is what Hot Shit Of the Week is about, helping you find things that will help you create positive life experiences on a shoe string budget.
First Up: Print and Play Games
Board games are fun, and while a thoroughly tested and professional produced game can be great there is something to be said about free. Board game geek has a great collection of downloadable "print and play" games. They range from simple to involved, and players can simply use black and white print outs on cheap paper stock for some of these games. Others require a little more time investment. Any of the games using cards work better if placed in a plastic card sleeve (you can get hundreds of these sleeves for less than a couple of bucks from some merchants) and enforce with a playing card, or some other thick paper stock.
The boards might require glue, and for the more die-hard fans a color print out is nice. The nice thing about this return to home-made gaming is that players can put as little or as much investment into their playing sets as they want. Long live the days of house rules and creativity.
Next Up: Know Your Meme
I get told a lot by friends and coworkers that follow me on Twitter or that I'm connected to on Facebook that they often have no clue what the hell I am talking about. Sometimes it is just because I'm being random. Other times it is because I'm talking about something technical. More often than not however I'm talking in a totaly different language that looks like English, but isn't.
It's Inglish, the language spoken by leets all over the world that know a lot more about what is going on than most of you sorry people. Unfortunately there are no books on learning Inglish, it is a living and very fast moving language. Some sites like "urban dictionary" and "encyclopedia dramatica" are a good way to brush up on your Inglish but they are not for the faint of heart. Fortunately there is now a work safe site with quality controlled content to help you get ahead in life: Know Your Meme.
Now, I will say that no single web site is going to get you well versed in Inglish. You'd have to read the whole Internet to do that, and there are some pretty damned scary places out there. You can however significantly improve your cool factor, no caps lock required, and this is one site that will help you do that without permanently scarring your retinas.
And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Fun
I have to say that things were starting to look bleak back in 2008. It was a horrible year for the economy, but it was an even worse year for gaming. 2009 has started looking up a bit. Still a lot of games with high-profiles have had one critical flaw: they lack fun.
Graphics are important, I'm not going to lie and pretend I don't totally spaz out when I see an awesome looking game. Graphics and sound play a very important role in keeping players engaged in a game. They are important. What is more important however is a sense of novelty and fun, and that can only be maintained if you properly apply challenge. With game companies laying staff off left and right, and the utter crap that has infested the game industry in the past few years one really has to wonder: "are these companies really getting rid of and hiring the right people?"
The differentiation of games by challenge level has become a bit of a theme in 2009, the most blatant example of which was Demon's Souls which touted a ridiculous difficulty level. A lot of other casual games, with either low challenge levels or a variety of challenge options have surged. It isn't enough for gamers to be fragmented by genre, they now apparently need to be divided by factors like time investment and willingness to hit their head against a wall.
The key factor here is enjoyment. Even my spouse, who really isn't a gamer, will play Farmville, Cafe World, and now Island Paradise for hours on end. Game makers are finding new ways to bring in non-gamers. That is great. I suspect we will see more of the same for years to come. NC Soft has a very exciting looking MMO in the works, Squeenix is working on their next big MMO, and pretty much every genre of game is making a come back as developers rediscover new avenues for old niches. The lines are blurring, this is an exciting time.
The biggest thing that I can't stress enough is stick to your guns when it comes to games. If it isn't fun, don't be suckered by anything else. Try games out before you buy them if you're not absolutely sure it'll be worth it. Don't reward game companies for delivering a polished turd unless that is what you really wanted.
Finally: Pattern Cooler
One of the nice things about slacking off (about posting to this blog anyway) for a whole month is that it gave me time to generate a nice backlog of links to work from. Some of the sites, especially ones that are aggregation of hot shit, cause my anti-virus software to be not too happy. Instead of sharing those directly I may start generating my own resources, but that is a project that goes a bit beyond simple blogging. Don't get me wrong, blogger is nice and all, but it isn't really the best tool for heavy duty finesse.
This week's final resource is one that didn't make my virus protection throw a fit, and it is a neat little resource for generating background images: Pattern Cooler. You can choose from a wide variety of starting patterns (166 currently) and alter the colors, alter the colors and zoom, and then generate your own custom background. Not as cool as being able to use desktop image applications to generate your own background, but some of the designs are neat none-the-less.
First Up: Print and Play Games
The boards might require glue, and for the more die-hard fans a color print out is nice. The nice thing about this return to home-made gaming is that players can put as little or as much investment into their playing sets as they want. Long live the days of house rules and creativity.
Next Up: Know Your Meme
It's Inglish, the language spoken by leets all over the world that know a lot more about what is going on than most of you sorry people. Unfortunately there are no books on learning Inglish, it is a living and very fast moving language. Some sites like "urban dictionary" and "encyclopedia dramatica" are a good way to brush up on your Inglish but they are not for the faint of heart. Fortunately there is now a work safe site with quality controlled content to help you get ahead in life: Know Your Meme.
Now, I will say that no single web site is going to get you well versed in Inglish. You'd have to read the whole Internet to do that, and there are some pretty damned scary places out there. You can however significantly improve your cool factor, no caps lock required, and this is one site that will help you do that without permanently scarring your retinas.
And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Fun
Graphics are important, I'm not going to lie and pretend I don't totally spaz out when I see an awesome looking game. Graphics and sound play a very important role in keeping players engaged in a game. They are important. What is more important however is a sense of novelty and fun, and that can only be maintained if you properly apply challenge. With game companies laying staff off left and right, and the utter crap that has infested the game industry in the past few years one really has to wonder: "are these companies really getting rid of and hiring the right people?"
The differentiation of games by challenge level has become a bit of a theme in 2009, the most blatant example of which was Demon's Souls which touted a ridiculous difficulty level. A lot of other casual games, with either low challenge levels or a variety of challenge options have surged. It isn't enough for gamers to be fragmented by genre, they now apparently need to be divided by factors like time investment and willingness to hit their head against a wall.
The key factor here is enjoyment. Even my spouse, who really isn't a gamer, will play Farmville, Cafe World, and now Island Paradise for hours on end. Game makers are finding new ways to bring in non-gamers. That is great. I suspect we will see more of the same for years to come. NC Soft has a very exciting looking MMO in the works, Squeenix is working on their next big MMO, and pretty much every genre of game is making a come back as developers rediscover new avenues for old niches. The lines are blurring, this is an exciting time.
The biggest thing that I can't stress enough is stick to your guns when it comes to games. If it isn't fun, don't be suckered by anything else. Try games out before you buy them if you're not absolutely sure it'll be worth it. Don't reward game companies for delivering a polished turd unless that is what you really wanted.
Finally: Pattern Cooler
This week's final resource is one that didn't make my virus protection throw a fit, and it is a neat little resource for generating background images: Pattern Cooler. You can choose from a wide variety of starting patterns (166 currently) and alter the colors, alter the colors and zoom, and then generate your own custom background. Not as cool as being able to use desktop image applications to generate your own background, but some of the designs are neat none-the-less.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Prodigal Blogger Returns
OK, so I am man enough to admit when I have fuxed up.
All November I could have been posting, but no. I decided I was going to NaNoWriMo. Well guess what?
Hell yeah. 50,000 words isn't anything to snuff at either. Now I am not saying that I have the next Harry Potter on my hands, but I think the manuscript has some potential. Granted, it'll take another month's worth of editing to get it to that point. Right now, I don't got that kind of time. I got a blog to run.
All November I could have been posting, but no. I decided I was going to NaNoWriMo. Well guess what?
Hell yeah. 50,000 words isn't anything to snuff at either. Now I am not saying that I have the next Harry Potter on my hands, but I think the manuscript has some potential. Granted, it'll take another month's worth of editing to get it to that point. Right now, I don't got that kind of time. I got a blog to run.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Hot Thanksgiving Shit of the Week
Because I didn't want to leave our readers w/o any sort of shit to stew over for this week; I present a fun Will It Blend!?
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
404 - Hot Shit Not Found
No time to post Hot Shit of the Week now. Life is crazy and I'm trying to get caught up in my NaNoWriMo. Please accept instead this bouquet of pugnolias and my apologies instead.
Thx,
The management on the run from clowns that eat people with bad time management skills.
Thx,
The management on the run from clowns that eat people with bad time management skills.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Hot Shit of The Week - Cold, Wet, Dreary November 2009 Edition
With the holiday season fast approaching, it warrants note that for the most part HSOTW does not focus on commercialistic products. Sure, we will plug a really good deal from time to time, but "cheap/free" is one of our main criteria for hot shit.
Also, there won't (likely) be a HSOTW next weekend. I'll be at MACE, and you can bet at least one of the entries for the following week will be a board/card/non-electronic game of some kind.
A final note, we're going to drop one item from the weekly regiment. Five hot shits every week is just a little much considering all the disappointments out there. Some weeks will have an "Old School Shit" and others will have a "Moving Along" segment.
First Up: Library Thing
If you don't love books, there is something wrong with you. Sure, Kindles are fine. Ebooks... OK, but when it comes to books there is a clear distinction between the physical item and the electronic. Video media in its many forms illustrates this distinction quite well. It makes significantly less difference to many if they own the DVD, or get it through Netflix. If the content is available ownership often seems secondary. While it is sometimes the case that people will signify with their video collection, it is still quite a bit more common to see books performing this role.
Out of all of the options for online management of books, Library Thing has a number of features that put it a cut above the rest. It is highly portable and inter-operable, has tons of community features, and is the place-to-be for book lovers. The main reason one might pick a different locale to catalog their collections is the limitation on the free account. 200 titles is a bit of a show-stopper, but fortunately the site offers lifetime memberships and at really reasonable rates.
Next Up: Picture Is Unrelated
Of all the blogs that I frequent, few pick-up or ruin my day quite as much as Picture Is Unrelated. This site regularly features irregular images ranging from mildly perturbing to majorly disturbing. There does seem to be a little less emphasis at this site on "genuine" images, meaning those that are un-photoshopped, but the vast majority are either sincere or well done enough that they allow for at least a few seconds of mental breakdown.
For the most part these are singular rips in space a time, but some can be tracked via other sources to actual real world phenomena, such as the "telephone sheep" of this past week. Quick, easy, and usually painless: it is sites like Picture Is Unrelated that truly embody the New Internet.
Moving Along: Rather Good Stuff
On the subject of WTF, there are a number of rather good YouTube videos out there by Rather Good Stuff. When I say "out there", I mean it literally. These are the folks you may remember from a few years back with the oddly irritating Quiznos Commercials. Really, many of their videos are hit or miss and the content appropriateness is also all over the radar. Still, there are a number of videos they have released that are cute and broadly age appropriate. There are also a number of very un-funny duds.
If you need a few random videos to round out a party playlist (as I did) then you might just find what you're looking for here.
Finally: EyeMaze
It should be no secret I like indie games. EyeMaze however takes this love to a whole new level, and in part because the designer was doing it way before it was "cool". The Grow series of games at this site has been a shining example of simple game design. Always a welcome distraction, it is a happy day when a new game is released at EyeMaze. Fun knows no barriers here, not even language. Perhaps game publishers could learn a thing or two and stop trying to artificially divide players into locked regions.
Also, there won't (likely) be a HSOTW next weekend. I'll be at MACE, and you can bet at least one of the entries for the following week will be a board/card/non-electronic game of some kind.
A final note, we're going to drop one item from the weekly regiment. Five hot shits every week is just a little much considering all the disappointments out there. Some weeks will have an "Old School Shit" and others will have a "Moving Along" segment.
First Up: Library Thing
Out of all of the options for online management of books, Library Thing has a number of features that put it a cut above the rest. It is highly portable and inter-operable, has tons of community features, and is the place-to-be for book lovers. The main reason one might pick a different locale to catalog their collections is the limitation on the free account. 200 titles is a bit of a show-stopper, but fortunately the site offers lifetime memberships and at really reasonable rates.
Next Up: Picture Is Unrelated
For the most part these are singular rips in space a time, but some can be tracked via other sources to actual real world phenomena, such as the "telephone sheep" of this past week. Quick, easy, and usually painless: it is sites like Picture Is Unrelated that truly embody the New Internet.
Moving Along: Rather Good Stuff
If you need a few random videos to round out a party playlist (as I did) then you might just find what you're looking for here.
Finally: EyeMaze
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Hot Shit of The Week - Unseasonably Hot October 2009 Edition
It's been a great month and the hot shit just keeps on coming. To start out this week's post I thought it might be good to explain the process used to determine what constitutes hot shit. There are three simple rules:
First Up: Hey Ash Whacha Playin'?
Love'em or hate'em, Destructiod has some pretty good content. If it wasn't such a chaotic site, Destructiod might even be a good alternative to the game-site-I-hate-to-use-but-pretty-much-have-to, IGN. Excessive poop humor and findability aside, Hey Ash Whacha Playin'? is a great video series starring an oppositionally defiant female gamer and her brother. If I thought my parents would buy me something from online, this would definitely be on my Christmas list.
As with most web series the episodes are short and of variable length. Comedy is spotty, but they do a great job of building on the gags. Poop humor gradually becomes actually funny. There is an occasional dud, but my harshest criticism is over use of foul language which doesn't really do much to add to the comedic effect. Hey Ash is a charming and clearly an indie production unlike a number of other semi-/para-/quasi-professional web series out there.
The biggest challenge in being a fan of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin' is finding episodes and figuring out what order they are best watched in. Eighteen dollars seems highly reasonable for their DVD release, but not having purchased it yet I can't say that with any certainty.
Next Up: Fat Princess
While you might never see an Xbox exclusive game make it onto the Hot Shit list, that is not because there are no such titles that deserve it. It is because I don't own an Xbox, I'll never own one (unless someone is feeling generous), and I very rarely have the opportunity to play on someone else's. Techno-political issues and politically correct game concepts aside it is great to see developers that work really hard to provide a good online multi-player experience like the kids at Titan Studios.
Earlier this week details for the 1.03 patch were announced. This update comes almost three months after the US release and includes a number of attempts to fix social and technical issues with the online multi-player. Designing games with online competitive ranking is hard. There are always going to be rude-ocd-wankers out there that will use every cheap-ass bug in the game and play the system to boost their score while sucking the fun out of it for the rest of us. It is the kind of thing that impossible to eliminate, but Titian is doing a really good job of addressing it and some of their solutions are down right creative.
To boot the official word is that the 1.03 update will include, for free, the New Pork map which has set the Fat Princess community a buzz. There is still no word on when for-pay content will be added to Fat Princess, but this is a case where free is infinitely more fun than paid.
Fat Princess is currently one of the more expensive PSN download only titles at $14.99 US. It is however worth it. The solo play is very fun and disappointingly short, but provided you have a good Internet connection the online play can make it well worth it.
Moving Along: Passive Aggressive Notes
First oppositional defiance and now passive aggressiveness? This week's hot shit sure is chocked full of social disorders. Passive Aggressive Notes is another in a long line of recommended blogs you'll see here in Hot Shit of The Week. Some of the material there is weak, but it is a lot harder to prove a fake passive aggressive note (PAN) than a photo shopped image. The humor also often requires some shared social experience.
Passive aggressive behavior is much more funny if it relates to something one has dealt with personally. Most of the notes follow common situations: retail stores, roommates, dating. The real gems are the ones that make you wonder just how pathological people can be before they are labeled insane.
And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Timing
It is critical in comedy, in business, in life: It's Timing. Don't be too early or you're wasting time and likely resources, but don't be too late because that is just a missed opportunity. Timing is also about appropriateness. If you start a slow clap at the wrong time, you're going to look like an idiot. You can't bring back old fads too early either.
Here are some things everyone can brush up on to improve their timing skills:
The running head start - People that try to go from zero to sixty instantly often wind up flat on their face. If you want to look like a pro, practice. The clever thing to do is find ways to practice in a value added way, without looking like a fool.
Know your windows - With timing there is a window of opportunity. Sometimes it is like Rock Band: the closer to optimum the better. Other times it is like Blackjack and you either hedge our bets or play it safe with good enough. More often than not however it is just better to make it somewhere in the window while balancing other commitments. Avoid sweating the details whenever possible.
Under commit, over deliver - It can be hard to sell a course of action that looks padded, but a good start is to hold your cards close. Don't give away all of the aces. Who ever it is you're trying to impress, they will be more pleased with a pleasant surprise than slipping deadlines. Without slack, there is no control over timing.
Finally: More Indies, Indies, Indies, Indies
There are commercial games, indies, and then Real Indies. Don't get me wrong. I am very exicted that full-scale indie-feeling games are being released commercially. It is like bread and butter: commercial games are the bread and indie games are the butter. When the two come together it is SOOOOO GOOD.
On the other hand, sometimes you just want butter. Free games are not indie games. Some of them are just commercial games that lacked that certain something or were made for the sole purpose of pushing paid advertising and drawing potential convertible customers. Real indies are a whole-nother innovative breed. Today I Die, and the other games at Daniel Benmergui's Ludomancy are a great example of really-really indie.
To add to this, it really feels like we are on the creative cusp where more people will be empowered to go from entertainment consumers to entertainment producers. It is a really exciting place to be.
- No hype. To be hot shit worthy, something has to be substantially available.
- Cool, Useful, Hilarious, Cheap/Free, or Entertaining: pick two.
- It's only geeky if you're ashamed of it. It's only a fad if you stop caring about it.
First Up: Hey Ash Whacha Playin'?
As with most web series the episodes are short and of variable length. Comedy is spotty, but they do a great job of building on the gags. Poop humor gradually becomes actually funny. There is an occasional dud, but my harshest criticism is over use of foul language which doesn't really do much to add to the comedic effect. Hey Ash is a charming and clearly an indie production unlike a number of other semi-/para-/quasi-professional web series out there.
The biggest challenge in being a fan of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin' is finding episodes and figuring out what order they are best watched in. Eighteen dollars seems highly reasonable for their DVD release, but not having purchased it yet I can't say that with any certainty.
Next Up: Fat Princess
Earlier this week details for the 1.03 patch were announced. This update comes almost three months after the US release and includes a number of attempts to fix social and technical issues with the online multi-player. Designing games with online competitive ranking is hard. There are always going to be rude-ocd-wankers out there that will use every cheap-ass bug in the game and play the system to boost their score while sucking the fun out of it for the rest of us. It is the kind of thing that impossible to eliminate, but Titian is doing a really good job of addressing it and some of their solutions are down right creative.
To boot the official word is that the 1.03 update will include, for free, the New Pork map which has set the Fat Princess community a buzz. There is still no word on when for-pay content will be added to Fat Princess, but this is a case where free is infinitely more fun than paid.
Fat Princess is currently one of the more expensive PSN download only titles at $14.99 US. It is however worth it. The solo play is very fun and disappointingly short, but provided you have a good Internet connection the online play can make it well worth it.
Moving Along: Passive Aggressive Notes
Passive aggressive behavior is much more funny if it relates to something one has dealt with personally. Most of the notes follow common situations: retail stores, roommates, dating. The real gems are the ones that make you wonder just how pathological people can be before they are labeled insane.
And Before I Forget: Old School Shit - Timing
It is critical in comedy, in business, in life: It's Timing. Don't be too early or you're wasting time and likely resources, but don't be too late because that is just a missed opportunity. Timing is also about appropriateness. If you start a slow clap at the wrong time, you're going to look like an idiot. You can't bring back old fads too early either.
Here are some things everyone can brush up on to improve their timing skills:
The running head start - People that try to go from zero to sixty instantly often wind up flat on their face. If you want to look like a pro, practice. The clever thing to do is find ways to practice in a value added way, without looking like a fool.
Know your windows - With timing there is a window of opportunity. Sometimes it is like Rock Band: the closer to optimum the better. Other times it is like Blackjack and you either hedge our bets or play it safe with good enough. More often than not however it is just better to make it somewhere in the window while balancing other commitments. Avoid sweating the details whenever possible.
Under commit, over deliver - It can be hard to sell a course of action that looks padded, but a good start is to hold your cards close. Don't give away all of the aces. Who ever it is you're trying to impress, they will be more pleased with a pleasant surprise than slipping deadlines. Without slack, there is no control over timing.
Finally: More Indies, Indies, Indies, Indies
On the other hand, sometimes you just want butter. Free games are not indie games. Some of them are just commercial games that lacked that certain something or were made for the sole purpose of pushing paid advertising and drawing potential convertible customers. Real indies are a whole-nother innovative breed. Today I Die, and the other games at Daniel Benmergui's Ludomancy are a great example of really-really indie.
To add to this, it really feels like we are on the creative cusp where more people will be empowered to go from entertainment consumers to entertainment producers. It is a really exciting place to be.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Hot Shit Of The Week - We Survived Half of October, Where It My Candy? 2009 Edition
Halloween is getting pretty close, not to mention the end of the year. It is kind of exciting to think about how things will go in 2010 what with people getting Google Wave invites and all. Few things are more exciting than watching people type to you in real time! You could be using that time to multi-task: either getting real work done or plowing your fields in Farmville. But hey, we all know how overrated multi-tasking it over rated. I think once I do get into Google Wave I'll probably type all my responses to people in a different window and cut paste, really blow their minds.
First Up: Making Anything "Micro"
So we've covered "micro-Blogging" with Twitter, but there are so many more things in life that need to be shrunk down because we just can't handle it: like the plight of people less fortunate than us. No more sending money to Sally Struthers for me! Now there is Kiva. This is a great way to help other people, and you get to keep giving because Kiva is a communal loan. The people you help get what they need and pay back the loan so it can go to help others.
And even better, you pick where it all goes. This is a convenient, online, non-socialist, and to help out people all other the world. And it real helping, not Farmville friend helping. Thanks Micro-Fairy, that is more more thing that can productively be integrated into my busy lifestyle.
Next Up: Raindropmemory
Here at SWML we are very proud of our month long tradition of pointing out some of the great creative talents on the internet. This week's Hot Shit includes a very talented graphic artist from Deviant Art: Raindropmemory. This guy is a great illustrator, but he's done some icon sets that are truly outstanding, including a fantasy/rpg themed icon set, Legendora, that quite frankly rocked my socks.
There is a lot of versatility in RDM's style. It is soft, warm, and friendly with a heaping spoonful of playfulness with texture. I'm definitely keeping my eye on this deviant artist. Hopefully there will be more great art and icon sets to come.
Moving Along: Hack A Day
There are lots of RSS feeds that people need to know about. Some of them are funny, some are informative, and some just have occasional jems that are just too neat. Hack A Day is one of the later. From old school to new wave, these guys are all over the technology map. The hacks range from emulation, to basic generation of electricity, and even things with no electronic parts what so ever. To top this off this blog posts multiple types a day typically so there is a constant stream of neat information.
It is not uncommon that they go on particular tangents from time to time, like RFID, or micro-bots, but most geeks can at least appreciate these even if they are a little less awe inspiring. Some of the things are practically do it yourself. Many are probably beyond the casual hacker's ability, and some are clearly "do not try this at home". All in all, Hack A Day is the coolest geeky how-to source.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Being On Top Of Shit
One of the great things about the Internet is people will practically read your mind and do what you want about 25% of the time. This saves a lot of time and effort, so long as you know how to use Google, or troll the right forums, just happen to subscribe to the right RSS feeds.... *wink*
You can imagine my delight when someone shared this gem: Dozens and Dozens of decent-to-good freeware games and links to many many more. We've all seen them, and most of us are lucky enough to have friends that share cool things like this with us. So if you want to be in the know, here is our SWML Twelve Step Process to never being bored again:
Finally: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
Ok, I admit this one is a bit weak. It IS funny in parts and it is a great find. Hulu is a great source for all kinds of things like this. Is has a good sense of meta-theatrics, it is cute, and it has Neil Patrick Harris so it has to be pretty good.... it's DR. HORRIBLE'S SING ALONG BLOG. There is a 90% chance this is well worth 45 minutes of your life.
And is if just me or is Doogie Howser getting OLD? I mean he's only 6 years older than I am so I hope I age a little better. Is he trying to catch up to House? The mind boggles.
So until next time, try to keep up! Hope everyone gets their Google Wave invites!
First Up: Making Anything "Micro"
And even better, you pick where it all goes. This is a convenient, online, non-socialist, and to help out people all other the world. And it real helping, not Farmville friend helping. Thanks Micro-Fairy, that is more more thing that can productively be integrated into my busy lifestyle.
Next Up: Raindropmemory
There is a lot of versatility in RDM's style. It is soft, warm, and friendly with a heaping spoonful of playfulness with texture. I'm definitely keeping my eye on this deviant artist. Hopefully there will be more great art and icon sets to come.
Moving Along: Hack A Day
It is not uncommon that they go on particular tangents from time to time, like RFID, or micro-bots, but most geeks can at least appreciate these even if they are a little less awe inspiring. Some of the things are practically do it yourself. Many are probably beyond the casual hacker's ability, and some are clearly "do not try this at home". All in all, Hack A Day is the coolest geeky how-to source.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Being On Top Of Shit
You can imagine my delight when someone shared this gem: Dozens and Dozens of decent-to-good freeware games and links to many many more. We've all seen them, and most of us are lucky enough to have friends that share cool things like this with us. So if you want to be in the know, here is our SWML Twelve Step Process to never being bored again:
- U need teh Internets. No internets? How the hell are you reading this blog?
- Find a forum of like minded gamers. It is recommended that you avoid Digimon Cults.
- Subscribe to some RSS feeds.
- If you have real life friends, find out what online communities they go to and team troll with them.
- Try to keep up. Most online forums have tools to help you track conversations and _search_.
- Get smarter, learn the tools of your RSS aggregator. What? It is called Google Reader.
- Google, also good for _search_.
- Make sure you keep those connections with real life friends. What good is staying on top of trends if you can't show off at parties or other social gatherings?
- Occasionally sluff off dead weight: sites/feeds/friends/interests that are just not cutting it any more. No matter how good you get you're never going to be able to stay on top of things if you get stretched too thin.
- Sit back, relax, and enjoy getting almost everything online for free. This does not include downloading stuff illegally.
- Pay bills, because if you don't there won't be any Internet. You don't want to be that homeless person that practically lives at the library because it is the only window into the ether.
- Devalue anything/anyone that doesn't have a URL. Everything MUST have a URL, even if it is one you created.
Finally: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
Ok, I admit this one is a bit weak. It IS funny in parts and it is a great find. Hulu is a great source for all kinds of things like this. Is has a good sense of meta-theatrics, it is cute, and it has Neil Patrick Harris so it has to be pretty good.... it's DR. HORRIBLE'S SING ALONG BLOG. There is a 90% chance this is well worth 45 minutes of your life.
And is if just me or is Doogie Howser getting OLD? I mean he's only 6 years older than I am so I hope I age a little better. Is he trying to catch up to House? The mind boggles.
So until next time, try to keep up! Hope everyone gets their Google Wave invites!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Hot Shit of The Week - Crap I Procrastinated Again October 2009 Edition
This is supposed to be a weekend thing, but it is technically now Monday. Oh well. Life gets busy and shit happens. Even Hot Shit. A lot of our first posts are not very timely things. I'm hoping to make things more recent-only shits soon, but for now there are so many great things to catch up on, so here we go TRY TO KEEP UP!
First Up: Topless Robot
There are a lot of more well know blogs I follow, and at some point I will be posting about all of them, but I wanted to share a less well known but really entertaining blog first. Topless Robot is a daily dose of really geeky news, and they almost always post something really interesting at least once a day.
From cartoons and comics to sci-fi and fantasy, this is a throughly geek entertainment focused blog. It isn't too negative or angsty (unlike here) and it isn't too fan-boy. Nice, well rounded, all around nerdy.
Next Up: FUCKING TWITTER
I don't normally advocate a specific technology, and if there was anything as awesome in competition this would not just be about Twitter.
Now it isn't the 140 character, bullshit that I love. Sometimes I want 145 characters! or 148! What I love is the API and SMS integration. Twitter updates my facebook. I can track multiple twitter accounts with things like Gwibber and Brizzly (the jury is still out on Brizzly). I can follow the people I really care about on my cellphone, and even update my Twitter AND Facebook from my totally cheapass featureless cellphone.
Twitter has a ways to go to be really mass market friendly. It isn't quite an IM solution, and it isn't Facebook (thankfully). I don't buy into the micro-blogging notion. It is really more of a status-update-semi-public-chat system. I don't quite know what Twitter is, but I've been using it for over a year now and I LOVE IT.
Moving Along: Internet TV, esp. Fullmetal Alchemist
I told my mom (no I don't live with her, I visit monthly) when Funimation first started airing Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood episodes, online, subtitled, the same week they air on Japanese TV, that it was about the best thing that could happen to me. She thought I was either being silly or exagerating. I am full on serious. It is great that we are getting this pretty well done version of one of my top 5 favorite stories (and the number one on going story) so close to real time. It is an affront to so many things that I really don't like.
Granted, I am NOT A FAN of Funimation personaly. It is more of a love-hate thing. Funimation does things that are really dumb and piss me off, but it is clear they are trying to make fans happy in the process of taking their money hand over fist. So few companies even try. I am not, however a fan of modern fan-sub culture. I am also not a fan of the commercial ignorance that has lead to the wide spread success and dare-I-say neccessity of fan-subbing. Region controlled media is on its death bed. LET IT DIE. It is backwards. I lothe people that embrace the illusion of control. Demon be gone!
...and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is pretty cool too. I am really hoping that we are not headed for a grind-filler fest. The pace is slowing. I can FEEL it. I have charted the time line between the anime and manga in my head. I dread it.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Check Your Shit
Let me just say that I am fully glad to live in these complicated times. Sure it is a bloody violent world out there, and people all over the worlds are total douche bags, but there is one thing that makes me very happy: AUTO-SAVE and ONLINE BACKUPS. If you are a programmer, or involved with any kind of "product" you need to CHECK THE FUCKING SHIT YOU ARE SELLING/PUSHING and make sure it is Y2009 compliant. If you won't have auto-save, you are an ass wipe.
Now my friends at Blogger and Google, THEY GET THIS SHIT. They have auto-save, and they do a pretty damned good job of letting me know when it IS and IS NOT working. I have sadly been using some other programs for things like E-mail and Blogging because either my job doesn't give me much choice, or I'm trying to be a good boy and play ball with other people.
I've also been having a hell of a time trying to keep my shit in order. I love using Tomboy, but the syncronization feature is just plain gimped and lame. A friend of mine('s husband) suggested Dropbox and OMG, it is spot on. It is Lots of Copies Keeps Things Safe (LOCKS) done right! I fully expect that I will be getting the paid version with more quota one day, but the free version has made me a very happy person.
Finally: Hot Topic
Yeah it is a bit cliche, but these guys have the best tee shirts and occasionally other novelty wear. I will buy cool things online when I don't have a choice, but I guess I am one of the few people guys that dislikes shopping online, but they have a pretty kick-ass online store too.
Hot Topic Link. OMG PLEASE TOTALY IGNORE THAT NEW MOON CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE> SRY! Also please ignore the stupid Java technology they use to run their store front. Yikes, someone needs to learn how to properly configure Tomcat.
Virtual shopping hang ups aside, a few months ago they had really awsome gothy kilts for guys. There is a constant supply of video game and cartoon related merchandise as well. This week the big find was Battle Toads! Sadly they have abetter more awesome selection for the girls than for guys, but stalking their clearance rack is my second favorite shopping activity next to Target's clothes and electronics clearnance.
Until next week, keep it hawt!
First Up: Topless Robot
From cartoons and comics to sci-fi and fantasy, this is a throughly geek entertainment focused blog. It isn't too negative or angsty (unlike here) and it isn't too fan-boy. Nice, well rounded, all around nerdy.
Next Up: FUCKING TWITTER
Now it isn't the 140 character, bullshit that I love. Sometimes I want 145 characters! or 148! What I love is the API and SMS integration. Twitter updates my facebook. I can track multiple twitter accounts with things like Gwibber and Brizzly (the jury is still out on Brizzly). I can follow the people I really care about on my cellphone, and even update my Twitter AND Facebook from my totally cheapass featureless cellphone.
Twitter has a ways to go to be really mass market friendly. It isn't quite an IM solution, and it isn't Facebook (thankfully). I don't buy into the micro-blogging notion. It is really more of a status-update-semi-public-chat system. I don't quite know what Twitter is, but I've been using it for over a year now and I LOVE IT.
Moving Along: Internet TV, esp. Fullmetal Alchemist
Granted, I am NOT A FAN of Funimation personaly. It is more of a love-hate thing. Funimation does things that are really dumb and piss me off, but it is clear they are trying to make fans happy in the process of taking their money hand over fist. So few companies even try. I am not, however a fan of modern fan-sub culture. I am also not a fan of the commercial ignorance that has lead to the wide spread success and dare-I-say neccessity of fan-subbing. Region controlled media is on its death bed. LET IT DIE. It is backwards. I lothe people that embrace the illusion of control. Demon be gone!
...and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is pretty cool too. I am really hoping that we are not headed for a grind-filler fest. The pace is slowing. I can FEEL it. I have charted the time line between the anime and manga in my head. I dread it.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Check Your Shit
Now my friends at Blogger and Google, THEY GET THIS SHIT. They have auto-save, and they do a pretty damned good job of letting me know when it IS and IS NOT working. I have sadly been using some other programs for things like E-mail and Blogging because either my job doesn't give me much choice, or I'm trying to be a good boy and play ball with other people.
I've also been having a hell of a time trying to keep my shit in order. I love using Tomboy, but the syncronization feature is just plain gimped and lame. A friend of mine('s husband) suggested Dropbox and OMG, it is spot on. It is Lots of Copies Keeps Things Safe (LOCKS) done right! I fully expect that I will be getting the paid version with more quota one day, but the free version has made me a very happy person.
Finally: Hot Topic
Hot Topic Link. OMG PLEASE TOTALY IGNORE THAT NEW MOON CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE> SRY! Also please ignore the stupid Java technology they use to run their store front. Yikes, someone needs to learn how to properly configure Tomcat.
Virtual shopping hang ups aside, a few months ago they had really awsome gothy kilts for guys. There is a constant supply of video game and cartoon related merchandise as well. This week the big find was Battle Toads! Sadly they have a
Until next week, keep it hawt!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Cold Shit of the Month
Because I never come up with interesting topics (or that often)....
Following up on You Are Truth's post about avatars, it would seem that you may have to follow a dress code for your avatar when at use in the office.
I suppose this isn't to be unexpected; especially if you consider the kinds of things that some people will pick for their icons. Lets just hope that the various companies out there recognize that there's a degree of creativity to them and are designed to represent that individual's tastes.
I had heard long long ago (well maybe not that long ago) that there were some plans to try and make avatars able to cross more boundaries. In other words you're avatar designed in WoW would be able to interact with one in Second Life, or IMVU.... Scary thought, maybe all those 3D modeler's out there will be able to freelance work out to design your unique look.
Just some food for thought!
Following up on You Are Truth's post about avatars, it would seem that you may have to follow a dress code for your avatar when at use in the office.
I suppose this isn't to be unexpected; especially if you consider the kinds of things that some people will pick for their icons. Lets just hope that the various companies out there recognize that there's a degree of creativity to them and are designed to represent that individual's tastes.
I had heard long long ago (well maybe not that long ago) that there were some plans to try and make avatars able to cross more boundaries. In other words you're avatar designed in WoW would be able to interact with one in Second Life, or IMVU.... Scary thought, maybe all those 3D modeler's out there will be able to freelance work out to design your unique look.
Just some food for thought!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Hot Shit Of The Week - Kicking Off October 2009 Edition
Each week, Stuff White Mages Like endeavors to link you the hottest things you may not know about, but probably should. These discoveries run the gamut of geekdom: games, trends, merchants, and intertainment (internet/entertainment). We tend to focus on things that are free or significantly under hyped. If you find something that is Hot Shit, we'd like to hear about it.
First Up: Downloadpedia
Need to find a particular piece of FREE software, but don't want to stare at a billion ads for sponsored commercial software you definitely DO NOT WANT? Downloadpedia is one such source. They have a large repository of links to genuinely free software and include good commercial software, but don't push it.
As with any *pedia you have to consider the legitimacy of any community submitted information, and as with any software downloading anti-virus is a must. For those that want a quick searching experience, there is always Google. For everyone else wanting a little more certainty and third party opinion in their initial result set, there is Downloadpedia.
Next Up: Cloud
No, we are not talking about cloud computing. This is the spiritual predecessor to the PS3 hit Flower, developed by the same core team prior to their contract with Sony. Cloud is a free windows game download that takes you on a short adventure up into the sky. It is pretty easy to see where Flower got a lot of its style and ambient feel from. The cut-scene visuals and music are highly reminiscent (or technically preminiscent) of the more well known title.
Cloud does have its quirks, namely the mechanics and control scheme are not as smooth as Flower. It is also quite short with only four story mode levels. The games mechanics are more involved than Flower, but not completely explained to sufficient clarity within the game. There is a lot of potential in the mechanics, but they are not as rich as one might expect from a commercial game and not a simple as in Flower. It does have an edit mode, and the level data saves to a reasonably clear XML file format, so there is definitely cult community potential (though admittedly low due to the aforementioned shallowness of mechanics).
Moving Along: Ubuntu
So, I do apologize to the multitudes of people out there that know of or use Linux. This isn't exactly news to many of you. Sadly there are too many people out there who have only vaguely heard of this "Ubuntu" thing, so please allow me to enlighten. Ubuntu is a free operating system that includes a wide variety of free software packages to do all the things many people just assume you have to pay for. It is not the only free solution, it is quite simply the solution that I have found to most consistently work for me out of the box or with the least troubleshooting. Out of all of the flavors of Linux, Ubuntu has caused me the least frustration.
That having been said, free is not for everyone. I also have a (1) Windows computer because there are just some things a guy needs Windows for these days, unfortunately, such as gaming. Sure, I could fight endlessly with emulation to play games made for Windows on Linux, but that is a level of obsession I'm just not at. I also have an (1) Intel Mac because I have yet to find that single piece of software that can do what Omnigraffle does as well for Linux. Rest assured, the day will come when those computers too will be formatted to install Linux, hardware life-span permitting. The real strength of Linux is it gives new life to old hardware. If you bought a computer for Windows XP and you're frustrated because it runs Windows 7 ridiculously slow, you might want to consider: a new computer for Windows 7, installing Ubuntu on the old computer, or both. The computer will likely feel faster on Ubuntu than it ever did with any Windows product.
There is a new version of Ubuntu coming out this month. I would personally recommend not downloading it the first day, or week, or even month later. Get the current (9.04) version if this is your first Linux experience. For many of the things most people want to do, Ubuntu has very easy GUI interfaces: Installing additional free and community supported software, system configuration, and security updates to name a few. Ubuntu can dual-boot, but there is always the risk that it will hose an existing boot configuration or will be hosed by something Windows or Mac OS does.
Linux has long been lumped in with DOS and Unix as a technical person's operating system. To a waning degree, it still is. Modern Linux is highly graphical in nature and it is increasingly becoming user friendly. I know people that have run screaming from Linux back into the folds of commercial software, but I've heard many more success stories than failures. It is mostly about finding the arrangement that is right for you. Likely, quitting commercial software cold-turkey isn't a reasonable expectation for most.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Plays Well With Others
One of the things that gets deemphasized a little too much these days is Multi-player. This is true in video games, but I'm also speaking metaphorically. Now it is also the case that relying on multi-player too much is equally lame. MMOs where you can't solo are a prime example. There is something to be said for self-sufficiency.
It is important not to lose touch with multi-player in everyday life. There are some really bad technologies and social constructs out there that try to force people into solo play. Don't let it happen, LFG (look for a group). When people are not cooperating, someone is going to have to take the initiative to start a group effort. Game Theory shows that these acts of leadership, which can be costly to the individual, are essential to improving long term success.
Finally: Face Your Manga
This one certainly isn't new, but I have yet to find a better source for an online face-proxy avatar. Sometimes you just don't want to use your real face. You could 'fair-use' someone's copyrighted image. If you're talented enough you could even come up with your image. For everyone else, there is Face Your Manga. This quick and easy Flash application will produce an anime looking face for you in no time, and send it to you in e-mail. I'd certainly recommend having it sent to an e-mule account since there is no telling what they do with the e-mail addresses people give them.
Face Your Manga is built on real proven technology. People respond better to cartoon images than most semi-realistic 3D renderings of the human face *cough second losers*. If you want to avoid that uncomfortable uncanny valley, a cartoon image is what you want.
First Up: Downloadpedia
Need to find a particular piece of FREE software, but don't want to stare at a billion ads for sponsored commercial software you definitely DO NOT WANT? Downloadpedia is one such source. They have a large repository of links to genuinely free software and include good commercial software, but don't push it.
As with any *pedia you have to consider the legitimacy of any community submitted information, and as with any software downloading anti-virus is a must. For those that want a quick searching experience, there is always Google. For everyone else wanting a little more certainty and third party opinion in their initial result set, there is Downloadpedia.
Next Up: Cloud
Cloud does have its quirks, namely the mechanics and control scheme are not as smooth as Flower. It is also quite short with only four story mode levels. The games mechanics are more involved than Flower, but not completely explained to sufficient clarity within the game. There is a lot of potential in the mechanics, but they are not as rich as one might expect from a commercial game and not a simple as in Flower. It does have an edit mode, and the level data saves to a reasonably clear XML file format, so there is definitely cult community potential (though admittedly low due to the aforementioned shallowness of mechanics).
Moving Along: Ubuntu
That having been said, free is not for everyone. I also have a (1) Windows computer because there are just some things a guy needs Windows for these days, unfortunately, such as gaming. Sure, I could fight endlessly with emulation to play games made for Windows on Linux, but that is a level of obsession I'm just not at. I also have an (1) Intel Mac because I have yet to find that single piece of software that can do what Omnigraffle does as well for Linux. Rest assured, the day will come when those computers too will be formatted to install Linux, hardware life-span permitting. The real strength of Linux is it gives new life to old hardware. If you bought a computer for Windows XP and you're frustrated because it runs Windows 7 ridiculously slow, you might want to consider: a new computer for Windows 7, installing Ubuntu on the old computer, or both. The computer will likely feel faster on Ubuntu than it ever did with any Windows product.
There is a new version of Ubuntu coming out this month. I would personally recommend not downloading it the first day, or week, or even month later. Get the current (9.04) version if this is your first Linux experience. For many of the things most people want to do, Ubuntu has very easy GUI interfaces: Installing additional free and community supported software, system configuration, and security updates to name a few. Ubuntu can dual-boot, but there is always the risk that it will hose an existing boot configuration or will be hosed by something Windows or Mac OS does.
Linux has long been lumped in with DOS and Unix as a technical person's operating system. To a waning degree, it still is. Modern Linux is highly graphical in nature and it is increasingly becoming user friendly. I know people that have run screaming from Linux back into the folds of commercial software, but I've heard many more success stories than failures. It is mostly about finding the arrangement that is right for you. Likely, quitting commercial software cold-turkey isn't a reasonable expectation for most.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit - Plays Well With Others
One of the things that gets deemphasized a little too much these days is Multi-player. This is true in video games, but I'm also speaking metaphorically. Now it is also the case that relying on multi-player too much is equally lame. MMOs where you can't solo are a prime example. There is something to be said for self-sufficiency.
It is important not to lose touch with multi-player in everyday life. There are some really bad technologies and social constructs out there that try to force people into solo play. Don't let it happen, LFG (look for a group). When people are not cooperating, someone is going to have to take the initiative to start a group effort. Game Theory shows that these acts of leadership, which can be costly to the individual, are essential to improving long term success.
Finally: Face Your Manga
Face Your Manga is built on real proven technology. People respond better to cartoon images than most semi-realistic 3D renderings of the human face *cough second losers*. If you want to avoid that uncomfortable uncanny valley, a cartoon image is what you want.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday Lunch Fun With Anagrams
This week: The News and Observer :D
Bad Never Worsens
Bad Verses Renown
New Snore Adverbs
Brave News Drones
Ow, Never Send Bras
Owns A Verb Sender
Never Warned Boss
Never Adorns Webs
Never Bored Swans
Never Browned Ass
Sends One Verb War
Adverse Newborns
Bored News Ravens
Warns Bee Vendors
Red New Snobs Rave
but my personal favorite:
Rewoven Drabness
Bad Never Worsens
Bad Verses Renown
New Snore Adverbs
Brave News Drones
Ow, Never Send Bras
Owns A Verb Sender
Never Warned Boss
Never Adorns Webs
Never Bored Swans
Never Browned Ass
Sends One Verb War
Adverse Newborns
Bored News Ravens
Warns Bee Vendors
Red New Snobs Rave
but my personal favorite:
Rewoven Drabness
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Hot Shit Of The Week - Wake Me Up When September Ends 2009 Edition
So I'm sitting at home, trying to save a bit of money when it occurs to me there are probably a lot of people out there doing the same thing. Being the considerate person I am, it seemed only logical to share the best things I found this week before going off and playing Champions Online.
First up: Droplitz on PSN (for PS3) temporary price cut to $4.99
For the price of two slices of pizza, you could be enjoying a NON-FATTENING game. Droplitz is YATLG (Yet Another Tetris Like Game) where you spin tubes to conserve water. You have to connect downward facing water sources at the top of the screen with upward facing receptacles. As time passes your water supply depletes, as you progress the depletion happens faster. When connections are made, more water is earned. Extra points and additional water are rewarded for making multiple connections.
The game debuted on the Play Station 3 this summer, and while it may be worth the regular price of $9.99 it is most definitely a bargain while this deal lasts. The only complaint I have with this title is the disappointing lack of any multi-player. It does lack a sense of purpose, but then again it is YATLG. Kind of goes with the territory.
Next Up: 8 Bit PWNY Club
This is shaping up to be a rather amusing nugget from the fertile grounds of Weebl's Stuff. There are two episodes now, and assuming Hot Shit Of The Week takes off you'll see more posts of this show in the future. Pixelated characters are all the rage right now, and this show is hosted by 3: Daze, Spader, and Cookie. The first episode explores Toilets in Gaming History, the Top 5 to be exact. Sadly, as with everything these days when they say "Gaming" they mean only Video Games. That oversight aside it is a very amusing show and I look forward to future episodes.
Moving Along: The Guild
Is heating up in its 3rd season. While I am a little disappointed that Microsoft appears to be a sponsor, the show is none-the-less amusing and has evolved quite nicely from the rockier first season to a very well done second season. The episodes are short, in the time it takes to watch a whole commercial laden TV comedy show, you could be watching a whole season of The Guild.
Codex, AKA Cid, is a socially-challenged MMO player with strong ties to an equally challenged Guild of fellow players, Knights of The Good. Drama runs rife in this band of geeks. It's quirky, amusing, and an odd mixture of professionally produced entertainment with a non-traditional format.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit
Each week, I'll also be sure to include something Old School. This week it's MANNERS. Now, we live in an incresingly multi-cultural world. With that in mind it is extremely important to not jump to conclusions with interacting with other people.
I am not aware of any cultures where it is considered appropriate to DIG IN YOUR PANTS while someone is trying to have a conversation with you, most specifically in the professional setting. I think that it is great for people to be themselves, but there has got to be some line drawn somewhere. Please take a moment to reflect on your interactions with other people. We all have room to grow.
It is also important to overlook things. We all make mistakes, and it can be hard to see our own shortcomings. If you want the people around you to have better manners the best you can do is set a good example. That and leave fun passive aggressive notes.
Finally: My Crooked Smile
This week's music suggestion is Samm Neiland's My Crooked Smile. I especially like Superhuman and Crooked Smiles, but overall there is a lot of promise in his music. It is a little edgy, and not pretentious. There isn't much to go on with just four songs and certainly has room to grow, but let's hope there is more from this artist to enjoy in the future. It is really refreshing to be able to find genuine talent outside the force-fed commercial sources. Yay Internet.
Until Net Week:
If you find anything HOT, please share. Comment here, or send a Twitter D-or-@ message to YouAreTruth on twitter.
First up: Droplitz on PSN (for PS3) temporary price cut to $4.99
For the price of two slices of pizza, you could be enjoying a NON-FATTENING game. Droplitz is YATLG (Yet Another Tetris Like Game) where you spin tubes to conserve water. You have to connect downward facing water sources at the top of the screen with upward facing receptacles. As time passes your water supply depletes, as you progress the depletion happens faster. When connections are made, more water is earned. Extra points and additional water are rewarded for making multiple connections.
The game debuted on the Play Station 3 this summer, and while it may be worth the regular price of $9.99 it is most definitely a bargain while this deal lasts. The only complaint I have with this title is the disappointing lack of any multi-player. It does lack a sense of purpose, but then again it is YATLG. Kind of goes with the territory.
Next Up: 8 Bit PWNY Club
This is shaping up to be a rather amusing nugget from the fertile grounds of Weebl's Stuff. There are two episodes now, and assuming Hot Shit Of The Week takes off you'll see more posts of this show in the future. Pixelated characters are all the rage right now, and this show is hosted by 3: Daze, Spader, and Cookie. The first episode explores Toilets in Gaming History, the Top 5 to be exact. Sadly, as with everything these days when they say "Gaming" they mean only Video Games. That oversight aside it is a very amusing show and I look forward to future episodes.
Moving Along: The Guild
Is heating up in its 3rd season. While I am a little disappointed that Microsoft appears to be a sponsor, the show is none-the-less amusing and has evolved quite nicely from the rockier first season to a very well done second season. The episodes are short, in the time it takes to watch a whole commercial laden TV comedy show, you could be watching a whole season of The Guild.
Codex, AKA Cid, is a socially-challenged MMO player with strong ties to an equally challenged Guild of fellow players, Knights of The Good. Drama runs rife in this band of geeks. It's quirky, amusing, and an odd mixture of professionally produced entertainment with a non-traditional format.
And Before I Forget: Old School Hot Shit
Each week, I'll also be sure to include something Old School. This week it's MANNERS. Now, we live in an incresingly multi-cultural world. With that in mind it is extremely important to not jump to conclusions with interacting with other people.
I am not aware of any cultures where it is considered appropriate to DIG IN YOUR PANTS while someone is trying to have a conversation with you, most specifically in the professional setting. I think that it is great for people to be themselves, but there has got to be some line drawn somewhere. Please take a moment to reflect on your interactions with other people. We all have room to grow.
It is also important to overlook things. We all make mistakes, and it can be hard to see our own shortcomings. If you want the people around you to have better manners the best you can do is set a good example. That and leave fun passive aggressive notes.
Finally: My Crooked Smile
This week's music suggestion is Samm Neiland's My Crooked Smile. I especially like Superhuman and Crooked Smiles, but overall there is a lot of promise in his music. It is a little edgy, and not pretentious. There isn't much to go on with just four songs and certainly has room to grow, but let's hope there is more from this artist to enjoy in the future. It is really refreshing to be able to find genuine talent outside the force-fed commercial sources. Yay Internet.
Until Net Week:
If you find anything HOT, please share. Comment here, or send a Twitter D-or-@ message to YouAreTruth on twitter.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Exploring the ZEN LIKE DETACHMENT to my life.
So,
I renewed my paid live journal account for another year. I'd like to think that eventually I will find a way to justify the cost. I've been using another blog place for more work/discipline related entries. Posting there is also sporadic, but more consistent than at Live Journal. Part of the issue is again spreading myself too thin (multiple blogs), but also not having a clear idea of what I want to accomplish with that blog.
So, among other things, the reason I'm posting today is I went to visit my uncle in the hospital this weekend. He had an aneurism almost two weeks ago. No one bothered to tell me, until I called a couple of days ago to let my parents know I was going to visit this weekend. I made as minimal a deal as minimal a deal as I could about the lack of communication. I think that this clearly illustrates where I get my challenges in being a thoughtful and proactive communicator from. (That would be my family).
We go to the hospital last night and the parking deck at Duke has the FULL sign up. My dad didn't see the less than obvious signs directing us to overflow parking so I had to try and point those out and convince him that might be the way to go. It didn't help that some jerk in a Taxi was sitting in the only unblocked-off entrance. Had he not been there we might have discovered that we actually could have gotten in, and allowed my dad to drive around hunting for a spot as he is so fond of doing.
After some frustration I managed to direct him to follow the signs, but the overflow parking involved a little too much walking for his taste, so he apparently decided visiting my uncle was unattainable at that point and proceeded to take us to dinner instead.
Now my parents know that I don't like Barbeque all that much, and by "know" I mean they have a completely inadequate understanding of the complex nature of my like-dislike relationship with pork. My dad is someone with very polar likes and dislikes, and my mom has dealt with that for so long that she has forgotten that not everyone is such a picky eater. It doesn't help that my brother too is a bit more like our dad than he likes to admit. I have been working to improve my relationship with food for a while now. I try new things unapprehensively for the most part. I liked food a little too much for a while actually. I am at the point were it is hard for me to have a true love-hate relationship with anything because that would require caring more than is neccesary, and I've learned not to do that so much these days.
I actually do like non-pork Barbeque, and in the past year I have even been known to like Eastern North Carolina style pork Barbeque if it is fixed right. My parents don't really get this concept and since communication isn't a forte in our family I am not going to even attempt to explain to them the complexity of my preference, since the preference is highly inconsequential. My mom was worried that I wouldn't want to eat where dad was taking us and I figured it would suffice to say that it was 'fine'.
So we got to this place, which is actually a highly reputable Barbecue hole-in-the-wall that many Durham, if not North Carolina natives will be very familiar with. There was a bit of a line to get in, but nothing outrageous. We sat down and I couldn't find an option on the menu that included their Barbeque with other things I wanted to eat, (I am still not fond of most North Carolina "Slaw", which is a popular side with Barbeque) which I thought would be a good way to demonstrate that I will eat Barbeque/pork to my parents. I got a different combination plate, and I will say that the food was sufficiently mediocre to put me off. Apparently my parent's dinner wasn't up to par either.
But it was edible, so I ate it.
We went back to the hospital and had better luck with parking, much better. The signs were still up, but no morons blocking the entrance. Of course, we arrived just as Duke was having their "Quiet Time" by the time we got back. I had brought my laptop to get some work done while my parents drove over and in the even there was waiting. My step-aunt was holding out pretty well. On the up-side I got nearly a full hours worth of work in and I got to scoff at the content of a "Wed Development Professional" magazine that was there in the lobby.
My uncle was doing well considering. He wasn't completely lucid, and couldn't respond to introspective questions. He did recognize people. This is where my Zen like attachment kicked in. I realized how much more I look like my dad's side of the family when I am clean shaven. Normally I attribute my appearance mostly to my mom's family. I could totally see myself in the future, laying in that hospital bed after having a stroke, or aneurism, or something similarly severe. I'm totally OK with that. It is going to happen, assuming I don't die from what sent me to the hospital to begin with.
This isn't the first time this uncle has been in the hospital. He had a heart-attack several years ago. We'll just have to see how he recovers.
Of course last night I had an odd dream, the only part I remember clearly about it was the part where I was looking at this large grid of squares. Some were empty and some were things I had done, or were things I am apparently supposed to do in my life.
For the rest of the weekend I get to try and ignore the Nascar my dad has going on the TV, and try to figure out the best way to use live journal to who knows what ends. All while I work on other things, which are progressing slowly, but well I suppose.
I renewed my paid live journal account for another year. I'd like to think that eventually I will find a way to justify the cost. I've been using another blog place for more work/discipline related entries. Posting there is also sporadic, but more consistent than at Live Journal. Part of the issue is again spreading myself too thin (multiple blogs), but also not having a clear idea of what I want to accomplish with that blog.
So, among other things, the reason I'm posting today is I went to visit my uncle in the hospital this weekend. He had an aneurism almost two weeks ago. No one bothered to tell me, until I called a couple of days ago to let my parents know I was going to visit this weekend. I made as minimal a deal as minimal a deal as I could about the lack of communication. I think that this clearly illustrates where I get my challenges in being a thoughtful and proactive communicator from. (That would be my family).
We go to the hospital last night and the parking deck at Duke has the FULL sign up. My dad didn't see the less than obvious signs directing us to overflow parking so I had to try and point those out and convince him that might be the way to go. It didn't help that some jerk in a Taxi was sitting in the only unblocked-off entrance. Had he not been there we might have discovered that we actually could have gotten in, and allowed my dad to drive around hunting for a spot as he is so fond of doing.
After some frustration I managed to direct him to follow the signs, but the overflow parking involved a little too much walking for his taste, so he apparently decided visiting my uncle was unattainable at that point and proceeded to take us to dinner instead.
Now my parents know that I don't like Barbeque all that much, and by "know" I mean they have a completely inadequate understanding of the complex nature of my like-dislike relationship with pork. My dad is someone with very polar likes and dislikes, and my mom has dealt with that for so long that she has forgotten that not everyone is such a picky eater. It doesn't help that my brother too is a bit more like our dad than he likes to admit. I have been working to improve my relationship with food for a while now. I try new things unapprehensively for the most part. I liked food a little too much for a while actually. I am at the point were it is hard for me to have a true love-hate relationship with anything because that would require caring more than is neccesary, and I've learned not to do that so much these days.
I actually do like non-pork Barbeque, and in the past year I have even been known to like Eastern North Carolina style pork Barbeque if it is fixed right. My parents don't really get this concept and since communication isn't a forte in our family I am not going to even attempt to explain to them the complexity of my preference, since the preference is highly inconsequential. My mom was worried that I wouldn't want to eat where dad was taking us and I figured it would suffice to say that it was 'fine'.
So we got to this place, which is actually a highly reputable Barbecue hole-in-the-wall that many Durham, if not North Carolina natives will be very familiar with. There was a bit of a line to get in, but nothing outrageous. We sat down and I couldn't find an option on the menu that included their Barbeque with other things I wanted to eat, (I am still not fond of most North Carolina "Slaw", which is a popular side with Barbeque) which I thought would be a good way to demonstrate that I will eat Barbeque/pork to my parents. I got a different combination plate, and I will say that the food was sufficiently mediocre to put me off. Apparently my parent's dinner wasn't up to par either.
But it was edible, so I ate it.
We went back to the hospital and had better luck with parking, much better. The signs were still up, but no morons blocking the entrance. Of course, we arrived just as Duke was having their "Quiet Time" by the time we got back. I had brought my laptop to get some work done while my parents drove over and in the even there was waiting. My step-aunt was holding out pretty well. On the up-side I got nearly a full hours worth of work in and I got to scoff at the content of a "Wed Development Professional" magazine that was there in the lobby.
My uncle was doing well considering. He wasn't completely lucid, and couldn't respond to introspective questions. He did recognize people. This is where my Zen like attachment kicked in. I realized how much more I look like my dad's side of the family when I am clean shaven. Normally I attribute my appearance mostly to my mom's family. I could totally see myself in the future, laying in that hospital bed after having a stroke, or aneurism, or something similarly severe. I'm totally OK with that. It is going to happen, assuming I don't die from what sent me to the hospital to begin with.
This isn't the first time this uncle has been in the hospital. He had a heart-attack several years ago. We'll just have to see how he recovers.
Of course last night I had an odd dream, the only part I remember clearly about it was the part where I was looking at this large grid of squares. Some were empty and some were things I had done, or were things I am apparently supposed to do in my life.
For the rest of the weekend I get to try and ignore the Nascar my dad has going on the TV, and try to figure out the best way to use live journal to who knows what ends. All while I work on other things, which are progressing slowly, but well I suppose.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Favorites
So roughly a week ago I picked up Chrono Trigger DS. I had avoided getting the game for a long while for the simple reason that I had played and beaten it so many freaking times that it seemed silly to re-purchase it. But buyer's impulse + I'm-never-going-to-hook-up-my-SNES-again combined (insert Dual Tech joke here) to get me to pick it up.
It's amusing and yet also disappointing to play this game again. And ironically, it's both for the same reason: I have played and beaten this game so many times I know it near exactly by heart. So on one hand it's funny that even after all these years I still recall every strategy, every chest location, every puzzle solution. However, on the other it does take some of the enjoyment out of it. Hell, I can recall where every enemy encounter occurs.
The game does have some new content, though it does fall short a little. Easily the best part of the new content is the final boss fight that is unlocked after completing the second optional set of dungeons. It is a) surprisingly difficult compared to the rest of the new content, as even with characters in the late 60s the boss was doing significant damage (and he's fast too), and b) makes a very clear connection to Chrono Cross. Hell, Square-Enix even created some new sprites for the final boss and the scenes before and after, which is nice considering all the other "new" enemies are simply re-colors.
Overall? Well it's still Chrono Trigger. Nothing's going to cause it to be bad, that's for damn sure. The new content is mostly a "do once, never do again" type of thing, but since the replay value of CT is mostly the extra endings, that's not a big deal. Ultimately I can always have the unrealistic yet somewhat pleasant hope that this is just one more sale that might convince Square-Enix to give another thought to Chrono Break (or whatever it would be called).
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
This Is the New That, Everything You Know Is Wrong, Things Are Completely Different Now Because We Say So, and Other Such Popycock
Today I went to a presentation put on by two very intelligent and well meaning industry professionals, arranged by similarly intelligent and well meaning coworkers, and was completely disappointed. It is hard to say exactly when things went wrong, but sometime before Y2K hit it seems like a particularity insidious strain of nonsense took root.
Things are constantly changing. I get that, but when exactly did it become news? As I was sitting through the presentation, on Search Engine Optimization, I got an odd feeling like I knew this material. On the bus back to main campus it dawned on me that it seemed really similar to a web strategy proposal I had written for my previous employer over two years ago. None of the ideas were new, and yet these "gurus" were spouting the same things off to a reasonably captivated audience like it was leading-edge information. I twittered about it, and later when I went through my old files I found that I was right. Several of the attendees tweeted about how "interesting" it was. I don't know if I was the only cynic, but on the surface at least I think everyone else was at least putting up a good front unless they really bought it.
Given the time frames, the ideas are at least three years stale. My proposal was from 2007, and I'd started working on it in late 2006. Very few of the ideas put forth were original, they had been gleaned from more groundbreaking work which had to have been at least a year in the making when I found it. Change is not profound, let it go.
I try to not encourage my own ego too much, but if I'm that far ahead of the curve then clearly I'm in the wrong group of peers. I've been working really hard to curtail my judgmental nature lately, but there are days when I feel like I am back sliding... like when I describe a person as "being like a puppy". You know, the puppy you think you want until he chews everything up, and you realize they don't come pre-house broken. I know that I make mistakes too, but cleaning up after other people constantly is bound to make one cynical at some point. Its kind of hard to be an IT Rockstar when you're also having to be an IT Janitor.
So if you find yourself in a meeting and wonder why people are so amazed at the most obvious thing, don't feel alone. I'm sure there are times when I find things to be totally and indescribably awesome when in fact they are really nothing special. I'll just try to keep smiling when other people are impressed and not ruin it for them.
Things are constantly changing. I get that, but when exactly did it become news? As I was sitting through the presentation, on Search Engine Optimization, I got an odd feeling like I knew this material. On the bus back to main campus it dawned on me that it seemed really similar to a web strategy proposal I had written for my previous employer over two years ago. None of the ideas were new, and yet these "gurus" were spouting the same things off to a reasonably captivated audience like it was leading-edge information. I twittered about it, and later when I went through my old files I found that I was right. Several of the attendees tweeted about how "interesting" it was. I don't know if I was the only cynic, but on the surface at least I think everyone else was at least putting up a good front unless they really bought it.
Given the time frames, the ideas are at least three years stale. My proposal was from 2007, and I'd started working on it in late 2006. Very few of the ideas put forth were original, they had been gleaned from more groundbreaking work which had to have been at least a year in the making when I found it. Change is not profound, let it go.
I try to not encourage my own ego too much, but if I'm that far ahead of the curve then clearly I'm in the wrong group of peers. I've been working really hard to curtail my judgmental nature lately, but there are days when I feel like I am back sliding... like when I describe a person as "being like a puppy". You know, the puppy you think you want until he chews everything up, and you realize they don't come pre-house broken. I know that I make mistakes too, but cleaning up after other people constantly is bound to make one cynical at some point. Its kind of hard to be an IT Rockstar when you're also having to be an IT Janitor.
So if you find yourself in a meeting and wonder why people are so amazed at the most obvious thing, don't feel alone. I'm sure there are times when I find things to be totally and indescribably awesome when in fact they are really nothing special. I'll just try to keep smiling when other people are impressed and not ruin it for them.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thank you for calling. Good Bye. *click*
The state department aggravates me. I applied for a passport over a month ago, the check has cleared the bank, and yet, I still have no passport. According to all of their automated information it should take "7 to 10 business days" for the application to show up online. After about two weeks no information about my passport shows up on their website, 4 weeks later, their website is "temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance," and has been for the past week...... Beg your pardon? A week for routine maintenance tells me that there's something else going on guys....
But of course that's not the worst part, you're instructed to call them if you don't see your passport show up after two weeks, when you call you of course get harassed by the automated system at least twice (possibly more often) to check things online (which are down), and after navigating the fun maze of menus, you get to wait about for a customer service representative. I have yet to speak to one of these alleged humans at the other end of the line; shortly after being put on hold (about 5 seconds), you are told that "all customer service representatives are busy assisting other callers, please call back at a later time." *click*
AGGGGH!!!! That's more frustrating than waiting on hold! You might as well have told me that everyone else that did manage to get through (if that's even possible) are more important than me!
But of course that's not the worst part, you're instructed to call them if you don't see your passport show up after two weeks, when you call you of course get harassed by the automated system at least twice (possibly more often) to check things online (which are down), and after navigating the fun maze of menus, you get to wait about for a customer service representative. I have yet to speak to one of these alleged humans at the other end of the line; shortly after being put on hold (about 5 seconds), you are told that "all customer service representatives are busy assisting other callers, please call back at a later time." *click*
AGGGGH!!!! That's more frustrating than waiting on hold! You might as well have told me that everyone else that did manage to get through (if that's even possible) are more important than me!
Friday, March 27, 2009
12 years, 4 versions, one thin shred of patience
It's interesting sometimes the complete utter nonsense I find myself doing in my job. And I don't mean dealing with retarded problems or stupid customers. Stupidity and nonsense have a complicated relationship that even imaginary mathematics could never properly illustrate, but that's not to say that one cannot occur without the other. They can. They do.
When you're accessing four different machines from your own, that's a kind of nonsense. Funny nonsense, but still nonsense. When you experience running a virtual machine from another machine that you're accessing over remote desktop connection from your own machine, then you'll know nonsense. It's a moment where you sit and the only thought in your mind is, "what the hell?" And it's not like dealing with stupidity or even nonsense born out of stupidity. That sort of thing makes you mad, frustrated, or even just numbs you. Real nonsense is that moment of clarity where you realize that whatever you're doing or just did is completely absurd, and not because of something you or someone else did. It just is.
My current foray into nonsense-world is what inspires the title for this post. Consider the following:
1) A license manager software that is 10+ years old and made for Windows NT Server and Windows 3.11 and 95 clients, being set up for 2) the latest version of a particular research software, released in late 2008, installed on 3) a virtual machine running Windows Server 2008 4) that I am accessing by Remote Desktop Connection, 5) and which requires a USB license dongle 6) that is connected to a completely different server 7) located in a different building on a different campus 8) that I am accessing over the network 9) via a piece of software that creates a virtual USB hub and shares the dongle to that virtual hub.
Short version, I'm installing a 12 year old license manager on a Windows platform that is ~4 versions beyond it on a machine that technically doesn't exist using a usb device that technically is not connected to it.
...the hell?
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Pointless to complain
but...
In a way it's bad enough eating a chocolate rabbit. But today I saw a chocolate cross. And somehow that just seems really weird, if not somewhat wrong...
Monday, March 2, 2009
Dancing that fine snarky line.
So tonight I got an e-mail from a self-professed "thought leader", you know, one of those "professional bloggers". This is someone who was in some way-shape-or-form upset by a post I made in response to a post on their blog. Not a comment on their blog mind you, a post in a totally different space on the Internet. It is always fun when random personalities on the Internet collide, kinda like a really no-hold-barred Brownian Motion. One of the nice things about being human is you get to deal with all kinds of people, people with very different values than your own.
My post was mildly snark and mildly serious, and pointed out the very subtly snarky nature of this contractor's critique of certain academic web sites. Apparently my meta-snarkiness was not well received.
While people are learning whole new ways to be ashamed of their fellow man on the Internet, WRAL.com "user comments" (or any just about any "news" site's comments for that matter) being a prime example, I am finding new way to appreciate and celebrate the diversity of our species. My primarily medium is snarkyness.
Van Gogh had oils, Michelangelo had stone, I've got snark. One day I hope to hone it down to a fine point, the mightiness of which the pen nor the sword has ever known. From the early days as a Monkey Island playing tween, the application of wit to social interaction has fascinated me. I think I still have a long way to go. The Internet is a crude medium still.
Snark and anonymity do not go hand in hand. If you have no credentials, best not to waste your breath. That having been said, snark is a lot a lot like lighter fluid. You'd better know what you're doing. Practicing under the veil of anonymity is probably best. When the time is right, like any artist, you need a proper Coming Out.
I am just finally at the point that I think I'm ready for my coming out. I've long stated that one of my career goals is to become a quirky campus personality. I consider my participation in a formal diversity training program to be my "finishing school". This isn't South Park. Snark as a career has to be brandished like the Bushido blade. If you fuck up, it's seppuku for you! I think snark has been used for enough evil on the Internet and in popular culture. Time for it to be used for some good.
Through grinding on a few of these "professional bloggers", the kind that like to use track-back like it is some sort of lame weapon of shame, I've gained a couple of levels in Snark Knight. It makes a particularly brutal combo with WHM sub-class. A few more levels won't hurt though...
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Trip the stupid fantastic
I don't really get mad at Microsoft much anymore, because honestly it's not worth the trouble, but...
You take an Xbox 360, and a Windows machine with Windows Media Player 11, and you can share media from your computer to your Xbox. Music, movies, and so forth, and you're pretty good so long as the 360 can recognize the file format. And a kudos to Microsoft, because in one of the more recent Dashboard updates, they gave the Xbox the ability to play .mp4 files, which can be used for HD quality! Alright!
Oh but hey, Windows Media Player CAN'T! So since Windows Media Player is sharing your .mp4 files, it can't share what it can't recognize! Fantastic!
But ok! Supposedly Zune software can do it. So, I download! I install! I try!
FAIL!
Hell, Zune software can't share anything! Not even the .avi files I was sharing with WMP11. Oh yea, that worked great. So, back to Google. I search, and with luck, I find another answer. And I try it, and hey! it works! By a small tweak, Windows Media Player is able to share .mp4s to my Xbox. And how, you ask, is this possible?
FILE.mp4 => (rename!) => FILE.wmv
Bloody fantastic Microsoft. Great job.
You take an Xbox 360, and a Windows machine with Windows Media Player 11, and you can share media from your computer to your Xbox. Music, movies, and so forth, and you're pretty good so long as the 360 can recognize the file format. And a kudos to Microsoft, because in one of the more recent Dashboard updates, they gave the Xbox the ability to play .mp4 files, which can be used for HD quality! Alright!
Oh but hey, Windows Media Player CAN'T! So since Windows Media Player is sharing your .mp4 files, it can't share what it can't recognize! Fantastic!
But ok! Supposedly Zune software can do it. So, I download! I install! I try!
FAIL!
Hell, Zune software can't share anything! Not even the .avi files I was sharing with WMP11. Oh yea, that worked great. So, back to Google. I search, and with luck, I find another answer. And I try it, and hey! it works! By a small tweak, Windows Media Player is able to share .mp4s to my Xbox. And how, you ask, is this possible?
FILE.mp4 => (rename!) => FILE.wmv
Bloody fantastic Microsoft. Great job.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Deep and Pretty Things
By now, most serious gamers have at least HEARD about a game called Flower. It's just under $10 on the PlayStation Store and I must say it has got to be the best $9.99 I have spent in a while, much like the LittleBigPlanet MGS Level pack was the best spent $5.99 and Linger In Shadows was the best spent $2.99.
The basic jist of the game is you're a flower petal blowing in the wind. I know, it sounds a tad lame. The fact of the matter however is this is one of the most deeply impactful games I have played. It is relaxing and surprisingly engaging. There is a however a hitch. Flower has a twist, and giving it away ruins the effect.
While Linger in Shadows is fun experience, but more fun to share with other people, Flower is the exact opposite. It is a little too involved and personal to simply hand the controller over to some one and watch. I can't write the words DEEP and PERSONAL enough times in this post. Oh yeah, and PROFOUND.
With Nobi Nobi Boy, and some other really promising releases on the verge for PSN, Sony is looking like a much stronger contender in 2009 than 2008.
On the one hand, what took you so fuqing long Sony? On the other, I'm glad Sony and it's third parties are finally ready to start representing. Welcome aboard.
Flower is not a technically mind blowing game. It has excellent graphics and a great sound track, but the underlying mechanic is so remarkably simple that one might wonder why in the world it took so long for the game to come out. It has been in production since at least before TGS in 2007.
The reason is, Flower's merits lie in a carefully crafted experience. Like writing a truly profound book, these things take time.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance for getting this game it you have a PS3. Granted, there are going to be some people that are terribly unimpressed with it, but for the most part these are people with some level of severe brain damage and a two digit IQ.
PS. WHY THE HELL IS BLOGGER DELETING MY PERIODS?
The basic jist of the game is you're a flower petal blowing in the wind. I know, it sounds a tad lame. The fact of the matter however is this is one of the most deeply impactful games I have played. It is relaxing and surprisingly engaging. There is a however a hitch. Flower has a twist, and giving it away ruins the effect.
While Linger in Shadows is fun experience, but more fun to share with other people, Flower is the exact opposite. It is a little too involved and personal to simply hand the controller over to some one and watch. I can't write the words DEEP and PERSONAL enough times in this post. Oh yeah, and PROFOUND.
With Nobi Nobi Boy, and some other really promising releases on the verge for PSN, Sony is looking like a much stronger contender in 2009 than 2008.
On the one hand, what took you so fuqing long Sony? On the other, I'm glad Sony and it's third parties are finally ready to start representing. Welcome aboard.
Flower is not a technically mind blowing game. It has excellent graphics and a great sound track, but the underlying mechanic is so remarkably simple that one might wonder why in the world it took so long for the game to come out. It has been in production since at least before TGS in 2007.
The reason is, Flower's merits lie in a carefully crafted experience. Like writing a truly profound book, these things take time.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance for getting this game it you have a PS3. Granted, there are going to be some people that are terribly unimpressed with it, but for the most part these are people with some level of severe brain damage and a two digit IQ.
PS. WHY THE HELL IS BLOGGER DELETING MY PERIODS?
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