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?

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...

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...

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.

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?