Geekomon

Sony Stock Check-up

2007-12-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

My April predictions, 1.3 million PSPs from October to December 30th
VGChartz says...

Console	PSP
America	975,287

Pretty damn close. There's also a Christmas to go for the remaining 400k.
400k is also what i predicted would be the PSP monthly sales after the price change.

Stock predictions. Buy at $49, release at $55.
Yahoo Stock ticker says...

Last Trade:	53.23
Trade Time:	Dec 7
Change:	1.54 (2.81%)

And guess what the market high for these 4 prime months were.
$55 (courtesy of finance.google.com). So if you bought in April at $49, you would have had a 12% rate on your investment. Most mutual funds give 8% return rates. 1000 dollars would make you 120$ for 9 months. Around 14 dollars a month. $5,000 investment would make that $70 a month.

The bad thing about this investment is that it's not really worth the risk for most professional investors. Sony could have pretty much pulled an Enron within 9 months. which is why i thought getting in at september or october would be better. A 4 month wait is safer.

The profit is even better too.
$45 entry. 4 months. That's a 22% ROI. $1,000 nets $250. $62 a month, baby.

Here's the point in all this math. Get in low; Get out fast.

Here's my prediction for the future. Get out of luxury stocks.
No more gaming stocks for the next year minumum. No apparel stocks.
The dollar is so volatile that there's not enough foreign interest to boost any kind of stock. So don't look for foreign interest. Look for local interest.

Any stock company with a government contract is GOLDEN. Services! Services never devalue.
Find out what your local government outsources to the private sector, and start sinking your savings. Personally, i like traffic cameras. Educational services are good, too. Traffic and Education eat the majority of government funding.

Google Desktop Fucks Up

2007-11-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

GDS 5.5 has a really bad error where only enabling web history allows you to access 127.0.0.1. Allowing web history tracking allows GDS to search secure http lines--which i guess includes 127.0.0.1.

Instead of bringing up my latest Super Duper Man videos when i type Duper, it brings up my imdb.com results. Which is a hassle.

Bad Google. The fix is to disable the googlemozilla dll in the components folder of Google Desktop. Hit the link for further instruction. It works but exactly how will GDS get popular when you have to do all this bullshit?

Google should just buy Firefox already. Or make their own browser. Most people could care less about the ability to search their hard drives using a parsing app but this is a super important bug.

Imagine if the same shit happened to Google Search! Or to Google Reader? Since most Google apps are heading for a dual online and desktop implementation, more stuff like this shit is going to happen. And woe be it he who relyeth on Google too much.

Fix this shit, dammit. It irks me to have a dll renamed for no reason.

What's Wrong With WicroWoft

2007-10-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

Over on Major Nelson's blog is a little post entitled...forgot. Something about what's wrong with Microsoft's approach to software and services as opposed to say, Google.

Here's my top 10 list of wrongheaded snafucks.

1. Asking the Public.
For god's sake. "Involve the community." That's a PR move. As if high-ups are going to take any honesty to heart. As if the public has enough information to give insightful answers. You need to be in the company to know where the dirty shit is rolling from. Preferably someone who's worked under every facet of the company. Human Resources? The pretty girl at the front desk?

2. Insecurity.
Stop comparing yourself to Google! Face it. You will never be Google. Just beat Yahoo. Not everyone likes the blank screen Google provides. Some ppl enjoy being spoon fed their info. That's why Yahoo's still in business. The less stuff you make people learn, the better. Bundle shit with your computers. Make language localizations a top priority. Get all Yahoo's business. Solve your insecurity by actually beating someone new. Beating Netscape was a long time ago.

3. A Better Business Model.
Software development supported by ad revenue. That's how Google is kicking everyone's ass. You can't beat FREE! Not only is it free, it's good enough. Offer up Office for free, and make available all the really business oriented features (like replication) as a pay for service. Make integration a paid package too. But offer everything else for free. Lose a chunk of your market? It's already gone anyways. Hell, make Vista free. This probably isn't possible due to business inertia. I suggest you prototype new products and services with this model. Xbox Live, maybe?

4. Simplicity.
7 versions of every software? 4 versions of every service? It's one thing to maximize your profit by your audience but no one's going to read 3 pages of features list. Offer 2 version. Pro and Free. Simplicity isn't just good for the consumers, it's good for the bottom line. How much advertising money does it take for Microsoft to gain a new customer? How are you going to compete against the new age of cellphones and blackberries?

5. Corporate Culture.
Make better decisions. Find good people to make better decisions. And then let them. Prototype, and test a leader. Then give him a project. Give him a timeline. Rinse, Repeat. Do not let a PERSON define success. Let multiple people and if possible, use numbers as a metric. Is the Zune the second most popular player in America? Does it sell at a good price? Is it a fashion statement? If no, J. Allard is not your golden boy. Look elsewhere.

6. Vista
The problem with Vista is that Microsoft doesn't have a retail presence. Fuck making computers. Just own some brick and mortar shop. You will lead by example. Lots of distributors have their own retail outlets. It's a way to control ppl like Micheal Dell who will bow to public pressure. You want to popularize Vista? Well, start selling computers at cost. You exert just enough pressure to light a fire up Dell's ass. You can pull back at any time.

7. Xbox
Do not nickel and dime. Do not charge for things that have been free since time immemorial. Do not charge for online. Do not buy 2nd tier gaming companies. Do not buy Rare. Do not buy Lionhead. Do not buy Peter Molyneux. Buy cheap stuff. In order to do that, you need a good buyer. Someone that knows the business. I suggest someone from Scandinavia. At least two people from the indie scene (people can smell bad programmers from a mile away---'ahh, that guy has time to bathe. fire him.')

8. Start killing bad projects. Microsoft Surface is stupid. Table PC. Dumb.
Start new projects. Not new new but new and profitable. ISP business. Wifi infrastructure. Retail. Don't aim for hotly contested business. Go into several small pools and eat them. Silverlight is a good idea. Adobe is only one fish. Xbox was a good idea. Bad idea now that Nintendo has Iwata. Don't want to step on your developer's toes? Design your software to be compatible with your competitor. It's the same philosophy as having a retail presence. Drive a fire up your developer's ass, saying 'don't make Photoshop so expensive, bitch!' It makes Silverlight an even better idea since it's a platform--all platforms are belong to Microsoft, donchaknow? And if they don't know, make them know. Platforms are expensive to support. Finish killing Sun's Java Machines and then work on Silverlight. Do more little projects. Any software market that has one big fish needs to be controlled. Fuck up Adobe Photoshop. Fuck up Autocad. Fuck up Itunes.

9. Quality Control.
This is a huge endeavor. Do this first before everything else. TQA. Forget all about the six sigma crap and make your own metrics.

10. Even Big companies have weaknesses.
That means you have strengths as well. One, bundle software into your operating system. Get sued? Wouldn't have this problem if Vista was free. But regardless, you can still bundle. Just bundle it with a competitor as well. IE has Microsoft labeled on the ass--that kind of official status beats everything. Two, businesses are still under Microsoft's fiefdom. Use them. Talk with them. Solidify the hold even further.

As for weaknesses: Microsoft has a lot of money. But it aint infinite. Don't waste it on shit ventures. Also, for all it's success, it is still a software company. One product is heavily dependent on a PC market that's slowing down and commodotizing. The other product is being attacked by free products like OpenOffice and Google Writely. Revenue will shrink. Revenue IS shrinking.

But the thing with good solutions is that they are self correcting/fulfilling. This 10th thing is a deadline for the company to start making better products and to focus resources. Fix the first 4 on the list, the others will buckle like dominoes.

Giant Lego man

2007-08-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

"I Want ~~Charles~~ Giant Lego Man in Charge of My Kids"

Oh come on. It's a fricking giant lego man. If this was a Robot, no one would dare fuck with your kids. When i say fuck, i mean literally.

It's a big world. Filled with pedophiles. What? It's true.

Japanese Songs Rock

2007-07-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Chiaki Ishikawa
Little Bird
Bokurano OP ED

Gripping the branch which becomes the guide
Dropping to the foot
Way that child which to the opposite bank is not perplexed,

Those which appear in your pupil
Without thinking that that is everything,
Still while blue picking up the truth which it passes, the profile which you laugh
The pain knowing, as for those which the small feather carries shining
When it just was born it is the all-inclusive wall
The rear form fly away was held

In shower in shade of trees
Lowering breath, the [ru]
Being able to tell calling voice
Until the rain stops, we would like to speak a little

Those which your pupil desires
With this feather which makes the small nest
You will live in order to connect the children who come being born
The loneliness which waives that back
Holding closing, as for this place which slept
Probably it continues to be the vacant seat eternally
You are thought in pride, directly

How the Iphone Avoided Being Ebayed to Death

2007-07-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

The whole iPhone thing is a miracle. Just look at the Wii and the PS3. Two hotly wanted items. Both ebayed to high heavens during the first 3 months. Ruthless speculators with the time to hunt it, holding the devices hostage. Avid Gamers that want the system, forced to pay a premium for its release.

So, how did Apple avoid this?

1. They released it only in America. Easier to plan and control the logistics when all the data is in the same country. Shipping streamlined. Distribution quick. Supply can be quantified

2. They only allowed two retailers. No unscrupulous Toys R US workers taking the devices off the market for Ebay purposes. 90% of the iPhones were retailed through Apple stores = 0% corruption. Demand can be quantified.

3. They pre-planned. Apple talked with Ebay beforehand about how they should quickly take down any iPhone reselling ads. Early speculation halted.

4. They allowed people to buy more than 2. Speculation comes in waves. There are the early spectators who take a lot of risk in the first week/day. Then comes the careful spectators--the bigger wave that usually contains the more successful spectators of the first wave (often using the proceeds from their earlier speculation). By allowing the first spectators to buy two, and then making the speculation go bust, that gives the speculator a negative -1000 in their wallet. An ouch that makes them think twice about trying to speculate again. Snowball anti-speculation effect. Late Speculation halted.

I'm not sure any other company except Apple could have implemented such a top down effort to stamp ebayism of their product. But dammit, it is beauty to behold.

Sony's New Old $179 PSP

2007-04-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the deal. The PSP Price has now been slashed. It went from 250, to 199, to 170. Now, why?

Let's deal in numbers. Let's limit it to 2005-2006 and to the battle between the DS Lite and PSP. Forget the fact that the GBA is still kicking ass with its walking stick.

Numbers
Sony America managed to fight the 9 million DS Lites being sold with a whopping 7 million PSPs. Getting trounced by 2 million is okay. Remember, the PSP is 1.6:1 more expensive than the DS Lite. 7 million PSP units generates enough revenue as 12 million DS Lite units.

In Japan, the DS Lite is winning with by a 7:1 ratio but that's okay too. DS Lites sold 8 million copies.

The point is, in America, the PSP is just as popular as the DS Lite. There's no reason why the PSP needs a 30 dollar price decrease. Not in America or Europe anyways. Worldwide, the PSP as a hardware platform sells just as well as the DS Lite. And selling more hardware isn't going to solve the software attach ratio problem.

Main Point
A redesign is coming, obviously. That's the only reason for a price drop. Let's just use some induction here. If our theory is true, then the price cut on the PSP has to do with how many PSPs need to be cleared off the American shelves before the PSP redesign gets announced.

Narrow the time frame.
November and December are the months where sales are the greatest. Allowing October for announcements, it gives us a maximum range of 4 months for stock to be cleared. Seeing as how PSPs sell at around a 170K units on average, we have 680 or 700K units that retailers are confident that they can sell.

Now for the Prices Vs. Quantity asymptotic charts. The best way to do this is to look at the historic data on price points, similar or competitive products, and its own price decreases. Since the DS Lite is 70 Dollars cheaper than the PSP and sells 2 million more, you can assume that a 30 dollar decrease will follow the same ratio. That's about 850k units. But people don't purchase that way. People purchase using comparison. That's why the PSP was priced at 199 in the first place. Not only was it hi-tech, it was also priced the same as the iPod nano. Sony, if anything, is corporate and predictable. So keep that number weighted.

So 850k increase in PSP sales, 4 months of possible sell time.
212K per month projected increase.

Add them all up and you have 1.3 million PSP units in America that needs to be sold in the prime 4 months. There are 4(Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City) national sellers of electronics in America and it's not farfetched that they would each order a projected amount of 300K units, ie a month and a half's worth backstock.

This assumption is based on my assumption of Sony's need to push out a redesigned PSP before November so that it can have a solidly push out out PSN titles to a PSP 2.0 with a built-in hard drive. Everyone and their puppy knows how important this Christmas is.

Conclusion
Sony's stock right now is at 49$. If you look at the yahoo charts, it's nearing a scheduled nadir cusp. it will probably start steadly rising to 55 dollars, just like how God of War 2 gave the stock a boost. Personally, i think the PSP redesign will bump the price even higher.

You could wait two months, earn 2% on your securities, sell those and dump it into Sony, and sell it at the end of January for the truly unbrave.

Sony's not a good long term buy but it's still a pretty strong brand. But maybe you should buy now. Who knows how fast people'll catch on.

Future in Gaming

2007-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

10 Predictions for the Gaming and PC world. Within 5 years.
1)Microsoft Loses the console war, retreats back to Windows, readies Xbox 360 2.0.

2)Apples loses the personal computing war, retreats back to consumer products and software for Windows. Steve Jobs can't live forever.

3)Playstation owns the hard core gaming world. Casual gaming market balloons up. Nintendo creates a cellphone, and buys Nvidia.

4)Intel capsizes. Microsoft creates their own Processor and Semiconductor company.

5)Playstation loses all their exclusives. Procedural programming methods are popularized. EA capsizes. Old directors lose their prominence. Hideo Kojima's new games tank.

6) In order to combat piracy, more games include hardware in their software. Guitar Villain. Guitar Heroes 4. FBI Fingerprinter DS.

7)DS Advance demolishes PSP 2.0. PSP 3.0 finally includes dual analog sticks. PSP always one step behind DS.

8)PC trends will change. Laptops will become Dual screened. Nintendo starts making more than just electronic games. They get a shitload of money from their outsourcing wii and dual screen patents to the PC industry.

9)Movies become completely greenscreened. The massive competition between the movie and the gaming industry begins. Government starts to crack down on the gaming industry even more at the behest of the MPAA.

10)A Raping Simulator made on a HomeBrew Wii sells 50 million Wii consoles.

How would you change Zelda?

2007-03-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

Let's atomize the requirements.

1) Difficulty. It has to reflect the new market. No hard core Devil May Cry enemies/bosses. No slow dungeon tutorial. Instant action. Make every level, every mini-game, every sub-level a mission ala GTA ala Devil May Cry. You can adjust the difficulty mode for each mission.

2) Control. Remove the shield. Let Link Dual wield. Turn the Wiimote sideways to go into parry mode. Dual wielding creates more combat moves with less button memorization.

3)Combat. Remove all long-range weapons. It's time to replace it with superpowers/magic. Naturally, the puzzles should reflect these powers.

Zelda games are defined by their puzzles, controls, level designs, and gameplay. It all meshes to create an almost gradual slope for the player to go from swordless Link to multi-move super-puzzle solving menu hopping Princess saver.

The next Zelda game should reflect all these core elements. But it should also include something new. Something to invigorate the franchise. Maybe co-op, maybe multiplayer combat, maybe even having Mii's in the villages.

What makes a game Next Gen?

2007-03-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

What makes a game worth that 60 dollar price tag?
It has to be a software leap. By definition is has to be the evolution of previous gen software.

Let's atomize a game to see what needs to evolve.

Texture Mapping - the bumps on a surface. It fools your eyes into thinking a 2D image is made of marble or skin. Current-gen games use normal mapping--basically making a Low Polygon character walk around in the skin of a High Polygon character. Parallax Mapping is the next level technique. It involves doppler effect of light. Textures look bigger closer, smaller farther. Only Crysis and Conan seem to support this extensively.

Light Sources: The problem with Parallax mapping is that it takes a lot of registers in your GPU to use properly. Registers that can be doing more light sources. More light sources, better graphics. You could probably fake it if you had to.

A.I - true AI isn't just a big chunk of If else statements. It should take user tactics, asign a template, respond, simulate, and repeat. Full A.I.

Procedural Assets - Using functions to create assets on the fly instead of pre-compiled. On the fly assets can be modded on the fly. Bullet holes can actually be bullet holes. Not just a 2d texture map repeated over and over again.

In conclusion, what does this mean for games?
A) Wank off to better looking breasts.
B) Multiple Light Sources. Better shadows.
C) AI, single player experience.
D) Procedural will let you create your own characters, buildings, vehicles. It also supposedly lets you generate your own actions by combining others (supposedly).

The hardware needs to be dual+ core Out of Order Cores for AI and a huge L1/L2 cache for procedural. The 360 has 1MB L2 but that's shared between all 3 cores. The PS3 has individual caches but it's non cached (slower) 256 KB with the main PPE with only 512KB L2. Either use a faster PPE with half a gig, or a slower Xenon with a shared Gigabyte. And the only saving point of the Wii in all of this is that it uses an Out of Order single processor but by Chris Hecker's(Will Wright team) admission, the Wii CP can't even lead in the AI department.

So the only truly next-gen platform is your upgradeable PC.

Donnie Darko

2007-02-01T04:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.locusmag.com/2003/Reviews/Person04_Darko.html

Watch the movie firs. Then read the link and then deem to come back so i can refute him.

Straight to explanations: The whole movie is about limited destiny. You have free will but only through the channel God's give you. That is, choice leads to another choice which hems you into other choices.

A) Darko has time travel ability.
B) Darko knows about certain things like he has experienced them before.
C) Sparrow pretty much catalogues Darko's life and abilities into a book that predates Darko's birth.

The only explanation for everything is that this is not the first time Darko has traveled back in time. In fact, it could be an odd take at the Butterfly Effect or Groundhog's Day. In the movie, his parents, little sister, lover and sister's lover all die. He knew all this! Which meant that this has already happened for him.

What else did he know? He knew that Cunningham was a pederast. He would only know that if some friend of his was molested in Cunningham's kiddy porn dungeon. Either the fat girl or even Gretchen.

Let's say he retained all the memory of time travel. Wouldn't he have to time travel every time he messed up? Let's say he did every single permutation, and each time, someone he loved died. Darko's the type of person to try out every permutation to get the best possible outcome for everyone, not just for Gretchen.

So the only way for him to be sure that there be a more random course of events would be to remove the Observer. That's why you see Gretchen bicycling there. She's not a new girl that just moved in. Her entire history changed. Most likely, everyone that was supposed to die or be harmed were saved because this wasn't a do-over from a pre-rolled die; Donnie killed himself even before the die could be rolled.

He felt it would be too hard for himself so he put safeguards in place so that he would come to the same conclusion but happily.

There is one snafu. Why is Sparrow so important? Or that damn Frank Bunny? Or the water flooding? The flooding created police investigation which delayed the delinquents' heist. Who knows what the delinquents would have done to Sparrow? Which means sparrow, and possibly her gems, are connected to the secret of time travel.

As for Donnie killing himself, that may not be the case. Remember, he brought two bodies with him. Himself and Dead Gretchen. That dead corpse they wheeled away could have been Gretchn. Also, he doesnt need to kill himself to fix the timestream. He just needs to remove himself from his era...maybe to an earlier time, to a time when Sparrow was still a young teacher. Thereby allowing Sparrow to collect or build her time gems and write her treatise on the Philosophy of Time Travel. No no. He prolly already tried that and obtained the same results.

And that's why she had to walk to the mailbox everyday. Because Darko told her to during his many trips through the timeline of his Tangential Universe. She prolly forgot the exact date due to senility.

Selling 1up, EGM and Sister Magazines To The Highest Bidder

2007-01-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

Heard the news? It’s out on every minor blog and gaming site. A few note-worthier ones have refrained from commenting—maybe because they feel that it’s not anyone’s business. But the moratorium can’t be forever. I’ve no inside information but I feel, as a gaming site, we should still cover it. We’re journalists, dagnabbit. Ziff Davis is trying to sell 1up, EGM, and all sister magazines. There. Whew. Someone within the Ziff Davis Empire has finally said it. Out in the open. Like a white banana. How does this news matter to the gaming world? The weakest species are always the first to go in any ecosystem. Think of it as an early warning bell for other magazines, even the ones with healthy subscriptions. But why 2007, right when a possible increase of readership is likely—after all, 3 companies are launching consoles. Let’s pretend we’re Ziff Davis management. Yes, I know. The horror.

Hi, CEO. You overlook 32 websites and 7 gaming publications. Your crowning achievement would have to be 1up.com with about 10 million unique monthly visitors. EGM, 1up Show, and even Retronauts regularly rank among the top gaming podcast charts on sites such as Digg.com and Podcastalley. We’ll just sweep GFW under the rug for now.

But the magazines aren’t doing so hot. In the UK, where the population readership rates are much higher, magazine markets are down by 4% overall. Official Playstation Magazine UK, a past ZD publication, lost 40k of readers in 6 months. Which would explain why OPM was cancelled. Other gaming mags share the same disparaging losses. In the US, a few telltale signs indicating another precipitous readership drop haunt you. Ulcer-inducing. Such as the fact that no one wants to buy your magazines. Not even MTV. And they bought Courtney Love’s reality show.

But surely there’s hope. The Wii has launched. So’s the PS3. Microsoft’s just renewed their commitment to the 360, and unveiled their hideously obvious strategy of taking over the living room. Prospect a future where gaming consoles situate in the trifecta: in casual, hardcore, and Tivo-centric households. More gamers, more readership, more advertising, more profit. What could go wrong?

The problem lies in the fact that Ziff Davis began in 1938 and have always thrived on printed media. There’s a lot of inertia to change. Even though the charts show that 1up is generally on top, the highest online advertising dollars rates are garnered by Kotaku. The younger sites just have better ad rates/systems. For instance, Kotaku has an actual pricing board and layout specifications linked directly on their site to their parent company Gawker. 1up.com refers you to a contact number to a ZD sales rep.

Also, which of the two media gets the breaking stories? Do you shaft your subscribed publication readers? Or do you hamper the website’s ability to cover the news and miff off the online debutantes? The Crossplayer gameplay exclusive was broken on the magazine and barely mentioned at the website, despite the fact that it was a upcoming game from Valve. This swaddling of two sides miffs off, more importantly, the advertisers, both online and offline, who pay for viewership. 30K a printed page sounds dubious when the online medium can swing more viewers for less money. This sounds like a rebuke against printed material in general but it’s not. Most other magazine sites give their magazines the bulk of their content. Vanity Fair, Playboy, Maxim, they’ve made the choice to give their photos exclusively to their printed editions. Newspapers are a different beast. They have a slower and older base that still rely on the Old Media for information. Also, they cost 75 cents for a billion pages. It’s an Itunes-like buy at the grocery store.

So, CEO, choose. The Magazine or the Website?

If you choose the website, you’ll have to settle for 3^rd place, behind Joystiq and Kotaku—sites with vast blog networks that funnel traffic behind them. 1up.com doesn’t exactly have any reputation as a gaming news site either—most of the cover stories are sent to the magazines. Like the 1up Show episode regarding Crossplayer. Selling it to someone else would be easier. But are there any large blog networks left without gaming and PC content? Gawker has Kotaku and Gizmodo. AOL has Joystiq and Engadget. Who’s left? No one, that’s who. The only way Ziff Davis can full exploit their 1up.com success is to create a blog/podcast network akin to the Gawker and AOL model. But in order to do that they have to beef up the content on the 1up site, thereby rendering their magazines obsolete. But moving from simple 30k page rates to the more complex Web 2.0 advertising model is not something done lightly and certainly not the revenue stream you have the most experience in.

Maybe it’s time to change the CEO?

Source:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10526

http://accessabc.com

http://gamegroup.ziffdavis.com/rates

Iphone or Epiphany?

2007-01-10T00:08:00.000-08:00

You do not realize the importance of this product. You may think you do, but you don't. It's not just the mobile phone industry at stake here. It's your laptop's touchpad. It's the mouse. Say goodbye to them.

Let me explain the philosophy of the iPhone to those that failed to see the keynote (infidels).

1) Pinch-to-resize
Anchor your thumb and your index on opposing sides of an image. Now move your fingers together slowly. The image below your fingers will resize depending on how far apart your fingers are.

2)Flick-to-scroll
Let's say you have a PDF open. Now flick upwards. Yes, like a booger. Depending on the direction of the flick, that's where you'll scroll to. Registers speed of flick, et all.

Now imagine these two key features on your computer. Wouldn't it be cool if you could actively reach out to your LCD monitor, hover your fingers over it, wave a magic gesture and have it do whatever you want without greasing up the screen? Imagine a laptop like that.

If this is the iPhone. If the iPhone runs OS X. If the gestures are 100% foolproof. Then Windows will lose 3 markets in the coming year.

Who's going to want a smartphone that doesn't have hover gestures? With a full fledged OS that natively supports it all.

Who's going to want a Tablet PC? A stylus is dead. Long live the hovering finger. It's just so intuitively simpler and efficient that--customers are going to expect hovertures on every mobile device.

Vista. Imagine controlling laptops like this. Dragging, clicking, all on hover. Instead of using the stupid touchpad, i can bring my finger on the Publish Button and jab at the air over it.

Seriously, how are you going to fight this new paradigm? It doesnt matter how many legacy apps you have when this new system of controlling things makes to much sense not to adopt.

It takes a long time for some ppl to learn an app. But if you make every app controlled the same way, the incumbency of your old apps becomes moot. Any OS without Hovertures cannot compete.

Remember, you heard the term Hoverture here first. I'm not greedy. Just pay me a penny every time you say it.

Wii Classic Controller Useless

2006-12-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

The Nintendo Wii.
GameCube Library. Check.
Wii Library. Growing.
Virtual Console. Emulating.

3 Wiimotes+Nunchuk = $180
Except, Wiimotes can't play Gamecube, SNES, or N64 games.
Gamecube controllers can. $24 x 4 = $96

That's a total of $336 on top of the $250 already spent.
$586. And you are going to have to spend this if you want a great game of Smash Brawl or Wii Sports/Play. You could be cheap and not by the nunchuks and it'd still be over 500 USD for the complete works.

And it would weigh just as much if not more than the PS3 from the weight of the combined controllers.

Oh did i forget the classic controller? The redesigned normal controller that has just as many buttons as the GC but refuses to play GC games. What the fuck.

The GC controllers are bigger than the fucking system and tethered to the goram' machine!

And Brawl, a that Wii game doesnt use the wiimote. Are they expecting everyone to buy the GC Wavebirds? Fuck it. What's the point of having a sexy system and using a ugly controller? It's like using the DS Lite with a DS fat stylus.

Argh. Nintendo better make their Classic Controller work with GC games.

Purpose	GameCube Library	VC Library	Wii Library	MIN PRICE	MAX PRICE	XBOX360 PRICE
2 Player	X	X	X	378	398	439
2 Player		X	X	330	350	439
2 Player			X	310	330	439
4 Player	X	X	X	566	626	519
4 Player		X	X	470	530	519
4 Player			X	430	490	519

Min Pricing is done with the least amount of money possible with wireless GC controllers. Max Pricing is the same as Min but with the inclusion of ninchuks. Xbox360 comparative pricing includes the Premium System and the Wireless Controls. Well, 4 player Xbox360 games are a bit less polished than Ninty's but the prices get the point made.

FFXII: Square Does Not Like This Game

2006-11-11T01:05:00.000-08:00

The underlying system of this game is good. But the story, the character design is fucked up. Boy Band.

Jesus, there's save points every 3 feet. The Limit breaks kill bosses faster than Batman. When your party dies, you can just swap out for more people. The beginning of this game was so much better. In the beginning you had to conserve power, choose wise gambits, choose when to use limit breaks, and when one of your teammates died, you damn well better finish the fight or the fight finished you. But then the game decides to give you double the license points and gives you an easy way out at every battle.

This is prolly why the people responsible for XII left the company. Someone, somewhere, decided to combine the worst game mechanics from FF 9 and FF 10 and FF 10-2 and give it to this game.

This is the end of a franchise. Fatal on a fundamental level, the fact is that Square Enix can not recognize a good game anymore.

Movie of the Year: Good Night and Good Luck

2006-10-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

By now, you've heard of Good Night and Good Luck. If you haven't, go see it. Why? Because this movie distills, in poignant frames, what exactly makes America great. It does this by standing the good in stark contrast with the shadows that darken America every odd decade or so.

The shadows of fear.

Fear of Communism quieted the Americans who would otherwise balk at Senator McCarthy's overreaching, unjust and illegal Inquisition. Accusations based on hearsay. Forbidding or limiting the powers of counsel. Civil liberties decided by a closed circuit with closed evidence. Wide powers given to government. Sound familiar? Incredibly, it is a news program, acting as a pulse/idea.conduit for the nation, that finally drums up enough courage to defeat the villainy of the times.

Which is strange because Americans nowadays are familiar with a different breed of news and tv programs. Shows filled with Dane Cook aphorisms and the Jay Leno-style transcripts of non-controversy. Because John Q. Public (and the resulting advertising dollars) don't like uncomfortable things, they don't enjoy being insulted, being told they are wrong, or being shown that not only are there awful things happening, but that they themselves allow it to happen. 'Dancing with the Stars' is much tastier fare, and easier to keep down.

"For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must be faced if we are to survive. I mean the word survive literally. If there were to be a competition in indifference, or perhaps in insulation from reality, then Nero and his fiddle, Chamberlain and his umbrella, could not find a place on an early afternoon sustaining show. If Hollywood were to run out of Indians, the program schedules would be mangled beyond all recognition. Then some courageous soul with a small budget might be able to do a documentary telling what, in fact, we have done--and are still doing--to the Indians in this country. But that would be unpleasant. And we must at all costs shield the sensitive citizens from anything that is unpleasant."
-Murrow

"If we confuse dissent with disloyalty — if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox — if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the. . . confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought."
– Ford Fiftieth Anniversary Show, CBS and NBC, June 1953, "Conclusion." Murrow: His Life and Times, A.M. Sperber, Freundlich Books, 1986

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
-Murrow

"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the Republic to abdicate his responsibility."
-Murrow

Studio 60: A Show that Dares to Insult the Viewer

2006-10-31T04:57:00.000-08:00

Sports Night, West Wing, Studio 60

I dont care who Sorkin is. Sports Night and Studio 60 is practically the same show. Sports Night was genius. It was smart, witty, funny, and quick. It was different. No laugh track.
And it was funny.

Studio 60, however, is the same breed but a different animal. Instead of sports and bylines, its about the stuff comedy is made of. Its about censorship, religion, politics, government, counter culture, racial issues and history. All bound in a 'SNL Within A Show' veneer. It insults everyone and anyone. It starts off by insulting the people that watch the myriad of CSI and Reality shows. After which, the script calls to insult people from Columbus, Ohio. (The state that gave Bush the lead over Gore in the 200X elections)

People guffaw at being insulted. But that's what makes S60 different. It dares criticize the viewer. Are you freaking perfect that you cant stand a bit of critique?

That's why the internet/TV online fans hate S60. They are otakus. Serious fucking otakus who only understand pandering TV shows like Lost or Heroes. Argh. How often do you get a show that insults you? Do you surround yourself with "yes" men?

Jesus Frackin' Christ. If S60 was on BBC, it would make a killing. Because Nielsen Ratings are filled with people (not dumb) that can't read W. Somerset Maugh. Entertainment does not only satisfy desire but it can discuss truths as well.

That's what the Nielsen Public and the Internet Otakus cannot get. I'm never going to write for television, I think. The system only rewards producers of nicotine and not medicine.

Wonder Woman Unofficial Redesign by Mckeevie

2006-08-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

Click on the title link to go to the redesign.

It's eh. There's no ambassador feel to her. Looks like toned down goth chick.

She's wearing normal everyday clothes? Why? Costumes must fit the character. Absurd as it sounds, a dark cape goes with Batman. Red Cape goes with fast flying. Lightning goes with Flash.

Wonder Woman is an Ambassadar and Themyscira's Number One Fighter.

So A) she has a specialty. Lasso. I would make the lasso be able to be turned into a staff.
so B) she sees the President in one second, fights Medusa the next. So her Ambassador costume should be tough themysciran armor, or at least part of one. She can grab her other armaments from her jet when she needs to. Maybe some ablative golden decoration that reveals the armor that was there all along.
C) She is Greek, give her the nose.

Here's what I came up with. Rough sketch. I'm still working on it. Tassels on the cloaks? Hrm.

Top 5 Bad Comic Book Movies

2006-07-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

Batman Begins - The second half, the resolution, the big reveal, totally destroys the realism, the atmosphere, and the focus the first half tried to build. This movie tried to be great and failed.
Blade III - Written and Directed by David Goyer. The prick refused to accept the continuity that Guillermo Del Toro built for him and remade Blade 2. Good grief. Goyer not only does not know how to write, he doesnt know how to direct. David Goyer is the very def. of a fool. He can't even judge his own level of talent.
Spider-man 1 and 2 - Both movies tried to be more but still aimed at the mainstream market. It wanted things both ways. But the core concept that they've built up for Spider-man is at odds with the implementation. You can get past the un New Yorkness of the sets. What you can't do overlook in those movies is the poor scriptwork. The repetition of moments/jokes. Spider-man movies should make ppl cry. The very core of his character is based on personal responsibility and personal tragedy. They skirt around those concepts but they never dare complete it for fear that a graphic nature would offend censors. Utterly commercial.
X-men 1 and 2 - If these movies were Wolverine I and II, then maybe the would be good movies. But X-men denotes a team of people. If the purpose of the movie is to appeal to the mainstream Micheal Bay audience---Sure. I abhor hybrids. Jean Grey didnt sacrifice herself to save her team from the flood. She committed suicide. The refusal of the script to take that step makes this a bad movie.
See No. 4.

That's all i can think of for now.

Short Story

2006-06-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2

Long ago, to celebrate the rebirth of the world, a powerful Master of Transformaions held a banquet.
" The first twelve animals of the new land to come across the river will be invited. The banquet will be at first light."
All the animals were elated. To eat at the Master's table was to recieve limitless bounty. The animals camped across the river bank and made their beds.
But the Monkey saw the hunger that lurked in many of his brethren's eyes. He feared a betrayal most foul. He summoned a few of his closest and most powerfulest friends and stood guard against those who would ambush in the night.
And the Monkey's caution had been warranted. Late at night, a battle raged between all beasts. The Wolf had allied himself with many Kafkas. They had decided to wipe out the competetion. Soon, the Twelve that had guarded the night faced off against the Twelve that the Wolf had gathered. The other animals had run off for their magical ability was not as strong as the others.
Dawn approached, and the Monkey knew that should even one of his Twelve taste the fruit from the Master's table, he would able to garner enough power to overpower the Wolf's Kafkas.
And so the Monkey hatched a desperate plan. As dawn came, the fighting became more fierce. The Monkey called the Wolf to fight a duel to end matters once and for all. And so they fought and the Monkey's Staff was knocked asunder. Without the staff, the Monkey was no match for the Wolf and acceded defeat. Such elation did the wolf feel that he did not realize that the Monkey had placed a small creature onto his back. The wolf proudly swam the channel with his Kafkas, their intent to reap the fruits of war. But no sooner did he reach the table of the Master did the Rat jump from the Wolf's fur to snatch the first bite of immortality.
The crumb the Rat devoured not only was delicious but amplified the Rat a hundredfold. The Wolf growled and attempted to strike him. But the Rat repelled the Wolf as easily as one would squat a fly. The Rat opened his mouth and burned a trail of fire in the air. The Wolf and his kafkas ran, tail behind their legs, and escaped into the river. Meanwhile, the Rat stood guard as the Monkey and the rest of the Twelve crossed leisurely over the river, to reap the spoils of their victory.
The Wolf realized that the duel had been nothing more than the Monkey's ruse. The Wolf vowed revenge, and from then on, the Wolf has ever warred the Monkey.

- Song's Midnight Legends and Fairy Tales Vol I xxii

Samsung Engineers have 4-Dimensional Thumbs

2006-06-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

You and me, we're too thumb to understand how ergonomic and innovative these controls are. Samsung and Microsoft. You might think they don't understand consumers. You may think that they've got no creativity. But you'd be wrong. Don't have 4-dimensional thumbs to work this new-fangled keyboard?

4-d thumb accesories, here we come.

Apple's Chief Quits

2006-03-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Apple's Chief Technological Officer Quits.

While Ars Technica references a Daring Fireball post regarding the suspicions and deets regarding the matter, it seems like a puff piece.

There's really not enough information to say why he quit, even though the articles purport that the CTO was biased and impractical. Ergo, he quit because he didnt jibe with the Apple crowd whose employees we all assume to be Gods among Men.

But the fact is that he's a loyal Jobsian. He was the veep at NeXT for gad's sakes. There's only two reasons why a person would quit a successful company.

One; Inside information about an upcoming crash. This doesnt seem likely.
Two; Lack of a future. My guess is that Steve Jobs is grooming someone else to be the future CEO and Tevanian is pissed about it. Understandable.

Three, disagreement about the future of the company. Now this third one is for idealistic workers. Is Tevanian idealistic? He did give up a Microsoft position to go with Jobs. He's a heavy supporter of the Mach Kernel. He wrote the damn thing. He's also big on Unix File System.

Hrm. I dont know. There's no way that this is an innocent departure. The clues seem to be all there. I'll be selling my shares of Apple just in case.

And in any case, you'll prolly see software development slow down from Apple. It'll be really funny if Microsoft fucking buys Apple outright.

Thunderbird 1.5 SMTP with Google No Good

2006-03-25T05:59:00.000-08:00

If you use Thunderbird 1.5 and Gmail's SMTP/POP exclusively, you might notice that stuff is fucking up.

Someone dropped the ball, I don't know who but it got me pissed. Scoured the google group forums for half an hour before i found something usable.

Pop settings. If you aren't recieving mail to your client, go to port 995, check SSL, and use "pop.googlemail.com". Personally, I havent had this problem but others had.

SMTP settings. I couldn't send jack shit. This pissed me off.
Port 587, check TLS, and use "smtp.googlemail.com"

Really, Thunderbird or google really has to communicate more or something. Somewhow I don't think Google favors Thunderbird anymore, and vice versa. No proof, just a feeling.

Microsoft's Origami Site

2006-02-24T19:16:00.000-08:00

Never have i ever seen a more intimidating site design.

Oppressive, totalitarian, and evilish. Do you know the origin of the myth that vampires can't see their reflection. It's not that their reflection doesn't exist. It's that they don't have the capability of looking beyond themselves. Like Microsoft.

Okay, that's enough of my comparing MSFT to the Soulless.

Brrr. That site is chilling.

I really should save the .swf just in case they take the site down. Brr. Scary.

Apple to drop OSX?

2006-02-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

Dvorak's theory is that Apple's going to drop OSX and being nothing more than a Windows frontend.

Exhibit 1) Why is Apple going after rumor sites over things inconsequential?
I agree with Dvorak, Apple is hiding something. But all companies have secrets and it doesn't mean that their going to drop OSX. For one thing, we'd hear about it. There are some hard core nuts in Apple that would prolly quit their jobs over this. Not to mention all the work that's been done porting OSX to x86 chips.

Exhibit 2)Firewire being dropped
Well, the market has chosen USB. It doesn't mean anything other than the fact that USB has gained ascendancy. There's no reason for Firewire anymore. Apple is already in bed with Intel. Might as well go all-in.

Everything else is superficial. Still, Apple does have some real big problems. First of all, the peripherals, applications, and drivers entrench Windows users. It's hard to switch when you have to throw away hundreds of dollars of previous junk. It's a very hard hurdle.

2nd of all, you can't just be a retail store and sell only Apple products. That way lies madness. The taxes, the brick and mortar overhead, the whole thing costs money. Sooner or later, someone is going to come up with a Ipod killer. It's only a matter of time and the level of stupidity of Apple's competitors which, so far, seems infinite. (WMP11? Vista only? What?). And once that happens, your retail stores are gonna look stupid. Specialty stores don't last any more in this world. You need to be big, and serve more constituents than just the 5% Mac ppl. Even without a competitor, ipod sales are going to saturate the market sooner or later--in other words, cash cows aren't infinite.

So what is the point of a retail presence? Convenience. That's the only way to get ppl to overlook the premium their paying to get electronics. So what secret does Apple have that would solve their future troubles? The ace card up their sleeve when they can't rely on a new generation of ipods to boost their year-end profits? What did they give up to keep Office for 5 more years?

There's only one answer. More products. Apple Tivo, Apple HD-DVD player. Apple Phones. Apple Cell Phone Service. Sell other people's phones. SELL OTHER PEOPLE's phones! Sell Windows Mobile Smartphones. As many products as it fits your market. Gain as many market segments as possible before making the big play for the mainstream OS.

When applications become totally online based, the switch to other Operating systems will come much easier. Until then, Apple should just aim to stay alive and pour money into AJAX research. After that, bring out that spreadsheet program.

If i were Microsoft, I would pull Office out of Apple right now.

The Data Manifesto

2006-02-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

10 Commandments for Databases.

1. Each piece of data needs to have metadata. (ie-IDV3 Tags for mp3s)

2. . 8 are all you need. It's a holy number. 8 is the limit of your puny mind. Don't overeach. Don't mess with God/Allah/John Lennon/Taoists. If there had been a Fellowship of the 8, Boromir wouldn't have had so many arrows sticking out of his greedy ass.

3. Lyrics, Album Art, Filesize, Duration, Bitrate, Compression do not belong in metadata. Metadata is supposed to be shared. It is corruptible. Filesize has to do with the file. It IS data. Let the OS determine the data. It's a lot more dependendable than your ass. And Lyrics is a document file. It will have the same Artist/Album as your song. LET your OS handle the linking! What's the point of a computer if it's not automated?

4. The tools to read and write your metadata must not only be free but freely available.
They must be unicode/International. Everyone and everybody must be able to spit on it.

5. Updating meta-data is stupid If your metadata needs to be updated frequently, throw them away. (ie Play counts for music.) . Don't do it.

6. Do not have subjective metadata. (ie Ratings. Sure, Birth of A Nation might be your favorite movie but I don't think you can get Martin Luther King Jr. to agree with you.)

7. Do not overly-depend on any one metadata. Remember. A data item depends on ALL 7 metadata. Otherwise, why have more than one piece of metadata? (ie- "MP3s>Genre Metadata> Acoustic, Rock, Alternative, Emo.."=Stupid. Not only is this metadata stupid, the metadata options are subjective and needs to be updated everytime someone develops a new type of music. It breaks 2 freakin' rules!

8. Do not follow these rules strictly! All rules/formats are stupid. They serve as guidleines to a changing situation. Be prepared to change these rules as it suits the situation. There is one rule though. Faster, easier, better = Good. That is all.

9. You bastard, Pay Attention. See Rule 2.

Apple's New Products: 2006

2006-02-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's going to be a revamped 5g Ipod. It's not going to be totally different or add anything to piss off recent 5gers.

March
It's going to be an all-in-one pack.
At the bottom of the 5G ipod end is an IR port. Remote will be include. Also included will be the proprietary TV-out Standard Def wire. It's going to cost only 50 dollars more.

April 1st
New Ibooks. Completely 64 bit and anyone who's bought a Macbook pro will get a software update making it 64 bit. Also, Apple will come out with additional updates for their Aperture Program that will swallow some of Adobe's functionality, but not all. Also completely 64 bit.
There will be other additional announcements regarding Apple's partnership with Disney. They will be producing Tivo's for Disney's new Cable service. Set in the future.

Socrates' Dialgoues 2005

2006-02-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

Here's where Indietribe discusses the finer points of philosophy with Beatnik. I particularly like this conversation because it so closely mirrors Plato's Republic with Socrates idea that all people are inherently good, or want to be that way.

*Indietribe: eh, people in government aren't as evil indiviually as we all like to think they
are.

*Indietribe: It's just collectively, they have to toe the line, and it creates some stupid
decicsions that become very evil in the long run.

*Obnoxio: yes they are

*Indietribe: their just ppl. They don't want the country to go to hell. Most learned people
who've studied democracy really love the ideals

*@Trelew: Actually politics and corporatations are involved in this sick incestious relationship
that threatens sanity of most normal people

*Indietribe: I know i do. And i'm not even a WASP
*Obnoxio: Trelew knows his shit
*Indietribe: but individually, they want to do the right thing
*@Trelew: :D
*Indietribe: it's just that, in order to survive, they can't

*Obnoxio: Indie I can't beleive how naive you are, you think people are inherently good?

*@Trelew: I think some people have to prove their worth (just as you have to them) before you can consider them good

*Indietribe: yeah i subscribe to the Socrates school
*Indietribe: all ppl are inherently good, they just have been taught wrong.
*Indietribe: That injustice succeeds over justice. That mutual benefit is less than unilateral
gain.

*Obnoxio: and what about the starving babies in the street forced to work as prostitutes?
*Indietribe: the argument is that the evil ppl haven't been educated about the right way to do
things.
*Indietribe: Their ignorance in thinking that society rewards the unjust.
*Indietribe: They don't realize that it damages their mental health.

*Obnoxio: and what about the guy that takes wittle kittens and ties them up in a pillowcase, and throws them in a lake?
*Indietribe: that's why his life is fucked up. Go read the Dialogues.
*Obnoxio: we don't use the F word here Indie

*Indietribe: if society didn't believe in the inherent good, why have a corrections' system?
*lnsight: I wouldn't say the current US justice system is geared towards rehabilitation at all
*Indietribe: that's the only way Superman works as a character, by the way. Because of Socrates
*lnsight: addicts don't belong in jail
*lnsight: they belong in clinics
*lnsight: but some types of addicts they throw in jail until the jails are full and then they do
it some more

*Indietribe: practically it isn't, but philosophically, jails are suppose to rehabilitate. You
know, punishment as a tool for education
*Obnoxio: what about the guys that just smoke mota?
*Indietribe: it's just that the jails are implented stupid
*BeatNik: correction system?
*lnsight: I think there's a great emphasis on punishment
*BeatNik: hahaha
*BeatNik: it's just punishment
*BeatNik: with maybe a dash of rehabilitation
*Indietribe: why do you punish children?
*Indietribe: it's not to see them sad. it's so they don't do bad stuff again.
*BeatNik: sure it is
*BeatNik: people are not inherently good
*BeatNik: the only thing that people are inherently is people
*Indietribe: let's use the debate in the dialogues then.
*Indietribe: alright, what is a happy life?
*Indietribe: if you want to skip this, please read The Dialogues
*BeatNik: or perhaps, neither
*Indietribe: don't people want to be satisfied in life?
*BeatNik: no
*Obnoxio: no most people are happy to be unhappy
*Indietribe: can we safely assume that ALL ppl want to be happy in life?
*BeatNik: people think that they want to be satisfied
*BeatNik: not even close indie
*BeatNik: some people want to be "happy"
*BeatNik: some people want other people to feel sorry for them
*BeatNik: some people want other people to be afraid of them
*Indietribe: they may not know what happiness is. but they know that they want it.
*BeatNik: everyone is different
*Obnoxio: psychic vampires
*Indietribe: happiness is defined differently for different ppl okay
*BeatNik: bingo.. ob knows what I'm talking about
*Indietribe: let's just define happiness as things that make ppl happy
*BeatNik: like, for me, I tell a lot of jokes, an d I like making people laugh
*Indietribe: it may be that unhappiness is what makes ppl happy but the core definition remains the same
*BeatNik: but I also know that it's a form of symbiosis
*Indietribe: Can we go forward on that definition?
*BeatNik: why do you bother talking to other people
*BeatNik: control your part of the conversation but don't be grabbing my steering wheel, control freak
*Indietribe: i'm asking you a question no?
*Indietribe: technically, the ball is on your court.
*BeatNik: no, you're trying to steer the conversation the way you want it to go
*BeatNik: then I'm taking the ball and going home
*Indietribe: that's the Socratic method
*BeatNik: bye
*BeatNik: you ain't socrates
*Indietribe: he asks a series of questions in order to get somewhere
*Obnoxio: wasn't he trying to be the moderator last night too?
*BeatNik: yeah he was too wasn't he
*Indietribe: i'm not socrates but is it a wrong thing to apply knowledge?
*BeatNik: what?
*Indietribe: what are you afraid of? It's just a line of questioning

*BeatNik: dude, the stuff you are saying, if anythign is convincing me that you don't know what
the hell you are talking about
*BeatNik: "all people want to be happy"

*BeatNik: hahahaha
*Indietribe: i know, that's why i backtracked.
*Indietribe: you disagree with that.
*Indietribe: so how do you define a happy life?
*BeatNik: if by disagree you mean "think that it is a laughable oversimplification" then yes
*Indietribe: a template definition. it doesn't need to be exact.
*Indietribe: of course, it's just the first question, it'll build up as the ball gets rolling
*BeatNik: it depends what you mean by a happy life
*BeatNik: I think of myself as an extremely happy person
*BeatNik: in that I find the joy in every situation
*BeatNik: in that even what seem like negative experiences are fun for me
*Indietribe: but you think that this is different for every person.
*BeatNik: yes
*Indietribe: is a happy life = to a healthy life, for you?
*BeatNik: not neccessarily
*BeatNik: I like things like red meat and pasta and cheese
*BeatNik: while this may knock a few years off of my lifespan
*BeatNik: along with the smoking
*Indietribe: i meant, a mentally healthy life.
*BeatNik: I'd rather lose a few years at the end than do without these simple pleasures
*Indietribe: with no pyschiatry-bills on the counter.
*BeatNik: what?
*BeatNik: hell no
*BeatNik: I'm crazy as fuck
*Indietribe: A happy life, does it equal a mentally stable life for your head?
*BeatNik: and loving every minute of it
*BeatNik: shit no
*Obnoxio: no
*Indietribe: Are sick ppl happy?
*Indietribe: woudl they rather be not sick?
*BeatNik: mentally stable = stagnant = dead
*BeatNik: to my way of thinking
*Indietribe: do you feel bad when you are sick?
*BeatNik: no
*BeatNik: I don't mind having the occassional cold
*Indietribe: when you have a cold, does your body show symptoms?
*BeatNik: yes
*BeatNik: but I don't feel sad or bad about it
*Indietribe: would you rahter have it a temporary or lasting condition?
*BeatNik: temporary
*Obnoxio: when my syphilis acts up it shows symptoms too
*lnsight: eww
*BeatNik: but i'd rather have the occassional cold than not*lnsight: must be a canadian thing
*BeatNik: just for a change of pace
*lnsight: canada's that boring eh
*Indietribe: Most ppeole would prefer not to be sick.
*lnsight: yeah that would make sense
*BeatNik: most people are fucking pussies
*lnsight: most people aren't canadian
*Indietribe: but take it that most people would prefer not to be sick.
*Indietribe: so why wouldn't that apply to mental health?
*BeatNik: so, just because most people feel a certain way about something doesn't make it right
*BeatNik: if anything, if most people agree about something I am more likely to question it than
not

*lnsight: there are other reasons against being sick
*lnsight: but um, you're weird
*BeatNik: most people are sheep
*BeatNik: meatbots
*Indietribe: But let's go forward.
*lnsight: yeah ok, you're a rebel with a cough
*BeatNik: being led around the slaughterhouse floor by their gonads
*Indietribe: a happy life for you is one with temporary bouts of insanity but mostly

healthiness in the mind
*Indietribe: this is what you've stated.
*BeatNik: like a slug crawling across a razor blade
*BeatNik: you're nothing but a delivery boy
*BeatNik: sent to collect a bill for grocers
*BeatNik: the horror
*BeatNik: the horror
*Indietribe: now, how does one achieve healthiness in the mind?
*Obnoxio: I prefer random murder and mayhem
*lnsight: sure you do, silver
*Indietribe: you said that joys in everything you do makes your mind stable.
*BeatNik: no I didn't
*BeatNik: I said stability was equal to death
*Obnoxio: especially if it was you
*BeatNik: pay attention if you are going to converse
*BeatNik: stop trying to take the conversation where you think it should go man
*Indietribe: but an unstable mind also leads to death.
*BeatNik: no
*Indietribe: or to actions that are dangerous to society
*Indietribe: more so than a stable mind
*BeatNik: any mind that actually thinks is unstable
*Obnoxio: what xactly is a stable mind
*BeatNik: life is unstable
*Indietribe: so a healthy mind in your terms is unstable.
*BeatNik: yes
*Indietribe: and a unhealthy mind is too stable?
*BeatNik: yes
*Indietribe: we can go forward on taht definition.
*Indietribe: which is more likely to commit crimes?
*BeatNik: a mind that is striviing for stability is inevitably doomed to dissapointment and
failure

*Indietribe: a healthy mind or an unhealthy mind?
*Obnoxio: no we can't
*BeatNik: and eventually freaking the fuck out
*BeatNik: crimes?
*Indietribe: fine, not crimes but adverse effects.
*Indietribe: like depression or symptoms.
*Indietribe: it's the unhealthy, stable one.
*Indietribe: by your definition.
*Indietribe: People usually don't want to be unhealthy or suffer from symptoms, and if they do,
then only temporarily.
*Indietribe: Can we go forward on this statement?

*BeatNik: you say things like this as if you understand people
*BeatNik: I don't think you understand people
*Obnoxio: no we should in fact reverse
*Indietribe: i'm just aggregrating all the data said so far
*BeatNik: I don't think you really even understand yourself
*BeatNik: you're a robot
*BeatNik: trying to fit everything into little slots
*Indietribe: i think your apprehension comes from our discussion of the generality
*Indietribe: let's just discuss you.
*Indietribe: You don't want to be unhealthy for a long period of time.
*BeatNik: I think you also use big words as a kind of magical armour
*Indietribe: whether in the mind or int he body, truth?
*BeatNik: "oh no they are getting close to my secret hiding place! GENERALITY!!! APPREHENSION!!

ABRACADABRA!!!"
*BeatNik: hahhaa
*Indietribe: I'm not here to show you up.
*lnsight: those are big words?
*Indietribe: this line of questioning wasn't devised by me.
*Indietribe: blame socrates
*BeatNik: then what is your motivation?
*lnsight: I do
*lnsight: I piss on his grave daily
*Indietribe: to build from a kernel of knowledge and introduce you to the socratic method.
*BeatNik: see, that's something I can believe
*BeatNik: what insight said
*Obnoxio: let's talk about hippocrates instead
*Indietribe: we were discussing Socrates' idea that all ppl are inherently good.
*BeatNik: but if you are saying that you are doing this to help me you couldn't possibly be more
full of shit

*Indietribe: the next line of questioning has to do with does a healthy mind equate with a
healthy life.

*Indietribe: and then, you could prolly derive the rest of the argument from that.
*lnsight: well the problem with trying to adapt a dead guy's interrogation
*lnsight: you have to be flexible
*BeatNik: you are like an assembly robot in a car factoty
*BeatNik: factory
*lnsight: beatnik has ADD, What Would Socrates Do?
*lnsight: Socrates would give up
*Indietribe: because a healthy mind = healthy life, people, if they realize that vices cause

unhealthiness would stop doing that. Because in the long run, it causes them symptoms like
depression.

*BeatNik: and the rest of the people in the hub are the people who have accidentally wandered
into your path

*Indietribe: so satisfying your greed actually hurts you.
*lnsight: Socrates would be like "bring on the hemlock!"
*BeatNik: and we're just trying to get to the lunch room
*BeatNik: but you are trying to weld us
*BeatNik: and the sad thing is that you think that you're trying to help us!
*vaporizor: hemlock straight up goes down easy

*Indietribe: so if eveyrone was educated in the Socratic way, then you would realize that being
good is beneficial. So all ppl are inherently good because it's in theiir best interest to be
good.

*Indietribe: to do otherwise would be akin to ingesting poison. Even if it satisfies a momentary
desire such as greed or lust

*BeatNik: yes, because people ALWAYS behave in the manner most consistent with their best
interests

*BeatNik: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*Obnoxio: this is patently false Indie and reprehensible that you would waste our time like this
*Indietribe: i was going to go into the whole Dialogues debate with you guys but I don't
necessarily have the philosophical chops to carry it off.

*Indietribe: not without help anyways
*BeatNik: peoples decisions are generally speaking not based on logic

*whybother: all ppl are not inherently good although all people do posses the inherent ability
to be good

*BeatNik: they are generally based on feelings
*BeatNik: feelings are not logical
*Indietribe: we could also dicuss that statement.
*Obnoxio: I have noticed that the dumber a person is the more emotional they are
*Obnoxio: which is also why women are subpar to men
*Indietribe: because the veracity of that statmeent doesnt matter.
*lnsight: how true, hell with women
*BeatNik: eh.. I wouldn't say better or worse, just a different style of decision making
*Indietribe: people are inherently good but they have to be educated to discover that about
themselves.

*Obnoxio: they are good for fornication though
*Indietribe: by that education, you've already tried to make man more rational, and less
dependent on emotional decisions
*BeatNik: men lean more towards reason, women lean more towards emotion, but neither one is more correct in any objective sense
*Obnoxio: what do you mean by education
*Obnoxio: since when is opinion education?
*Indietribe: education, such as the debate we were having.
*Indietribe: starting from the definition of a healthy life onward
*BeatNik: because a reasonable decision is only correct when being analyzed from a framework of reason
*Indietribe: you start with the fact that you know nothing then work up some axioms, then derive from then onward.
*BeatNik: hahaha, you probably believe in an objective reality too, don't you
*Obnoxio: the current Crisis is the fault of James Robinson
*BeatNik: you big silly
*Indietribe: what else i subscribe doesn't factor into the conversation.
*BeatNik: stop talking like that you are very bad at it and it's starting to anger me
*whybother: Mr Mcgee dont make him angry you wouldn't like him when he's angry
*Indietribe: So enlighten me. Are you saying that men want to be unhealthy for long periods of
time?
*BeatNik: you're just a fat kid sitting with his mouth open at the end of a chocolate assembly
line
*Indietribe: Once they realize thier vices cause them mental unhealth, do you think they would
be so eager to pursue them?
*Indietribe: We are all students here. Please enlighten us.
*BeatNik: you aren't a student
*Obnoxio: do you think an addict even thinks about that or do you think he/she is thinking about the next fix?
*BeatNik: you're an ignorant arrogant punk
*Indietribe: fine, lovers of knowledge, then.
*lnsight: lovers of comics and cartoons
*lnsight: :-)
*BeatNik: parroting the words and methods of his betters without actually understanding them
*Indietribe: Please show me the error of my ways.
*lnsight: let's face it, we're mostly here for the picture books
*BeatNik: you're like a cardboard cutout of a traffic guard
*BeatNik: and behind that flat piece of cardboard is nothing but a bunch of snails and slugs
*Indietribe: alright, let's discuss the obnoxio hypothetical situation.
*Indietribe: not so hypothetical, but it's something to go on.
*Indietribe: Does an addict lead a happy life? Of course not.
*BeatNik: have you ever been an addict?
*Indietribe: Does his addiction destroy his place in society? damage it?
*BeatNik: what the hell do you think addiction is?
*Obnoxio: depends on what they are addicted to
*Indietribe: Beatnik, are you saying that being a crack addict actually benefits him?
*BeatNik: it's liking something so much that you would do anything for it
*Indietribe: let's use crack as an example, is that fine?
*BeatNik: not at akll
*BeatNik: all
*BeatNik: i'm not saying that liking something has anything to do with what's good for him
*BeatNik: and in that same vein
*Indietribe: we're talking about crack addiction here.
*Obnoxio: you don't use crack in your veins you smoke it
*BeatNik: what makes someone happy, in general, is not neccessarily what is best for him
*Obnoxio: tell that to a twinkie eater
*Indietribe: yes but they aren't seeing things in the long run.
*BeatNik: but the point is, you can't even be honest enough to admit that you are going on and
on and on about this shit primarily to feed YOUR EGO

*Indietribe: but let's go back to the crack addiction.
*Indietribe: let's see where it goes
*BeatNik: no you go ahead
*BeatNik: I'm going over there
*BeatNik: bye!
*Indietribe: that's unfair, you say such a illustrious point but you don't stay to process it
wiht us.
*BeatNik: what is this US shit?
*BeatNik: there is no US
*BeatNik: there's YOU
*BeatNik: there's me
*BeatNik: theres other people
*BeatNik: but you speak for no us
*Indietribe: I can't process it as fast as you. I need to build up on prior knowledge.
*BeatNik: what's to process?
*Indietribe: What makes someone happy, in general, is not neccesarily what's best for him.
*Indietribe: that's a huge statement. And I completely agree with it.
*BeatNik: it's not that huge of a statement, it's an obvious fact
*Indietribe: because it's happiness in the moment and fleeting.
*Indietribe: The repercussions are sometimes far worse.
*Indietribe: which is why education comes in play. So that ppl can see the repercussions of
vicious or evil actions.
*Indietribe: not just the temporary benefit.
*BeatNik: ...
*Obnoxio: lobotomy
*BeatNik: I'm gonna go play some video games
*Indietribe: alright. it's not entirefly fruitless. We've already agreed that "Momentary
happiness through vices does not lead to a healthy life."
*Indietribe: laters.

*NekoSama: Wow.

*BeatNik: no
*BeatNik: you've agreed that
*BeatNik: I said that what makes someone happy, in general, is not neccessarily what is best for him
*BeatNik: but then again
*BeatNik: what is PHYSICALLY bad for him might be exactly what he needs, mentally or emotionally
*BeatNik: it's all a trade off
*BeatNik: it's a balancing act
*BeatNik: but the point is
*Indietribe: so there's a situation where being addicted to crack is what a person needs?
*BeatNik: if you are trying to sit down and plan a perfect life for yourself you're going to end
up miserable
*BeatNik: the only way to be truly happy is to stop worrying about stupid shit all the time and
just mellow the fuck out

*BeatNik: now mellow the fuck out
*BeatNik: go have a pop tart or something
*BeatNik: jesus
*Indietribe: you must realize that i'm not as smart as you. I can only process one idea at a
time. I would like to discuss your physical statement.

*Obnoxio: how can a statement be physical?
*Indietribe: i cannot think of any situation where having a crack addiction is anyway beneficial
to a person. mentally or emeotionaly.
*Indietribe: *BeatNik: what is PHYSICALLY bad for him might be exactly what he needs, mentally or emotionally

How to Remove Yahoo's Hooks

2006-02-04T00:29:00.000-08:00

When You install Yahoo IM, you get a whole bunch of shit. They ask you if they want to use their search engine in a host of other products. God forbid you say yes.

Because, then, they hook you.

Here's what I mean.
"Search Web for 'highlighted text'" is a firefox functionality i use a lot. It's good for fact checking articles. Red-tailed Chipmunk Sex. Hey. It's entertaining.
Here Lies The Rub.

Usually searching would default to google. But Yahoo has a long horn and shoes in ungraciously. YSE takes over; worse yet, it doesn't even spit out results.
I) So here's the fix
1) location bar, go to about:config
2) filter out browser.search.defaulturl
3) Change it to http://www.google.com/search?lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
lr means language restrict, and ie and oe tells the client to expect utf8 input and output. I have no idea why. Not to mention that ie and oe are deprecated google query funcs. Someone email me with a better one.

II)
Secondly, it also makes your location bar use yahoo.
Click on the link to get the instructions on how to frak it off. Just in case it's not there, i'll paraphrase it for you.
1) Go to location bar, type about:config
2) Filter keyword.URL
3) modify to google's feeling lucky result
http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q=
It just tells the result to go to google, look at "button I" which is labeled I'm feeling Lucky, then with &q to end the query.

Crap i wasted an hour of my life because of Yahoo. Another reason why Yahoo's motto is We're Nothing But a Bunch of Dirty Tricks.
By tricks, i mean that they're prostitutes.

Random Art

2006-01-22T02:41:00.000-08:00

Iron Spider-man
I really need a scanner.

10 Commandments of the Forum

2006-01-21T00:31:00.000-08:00

1. Thou shall not post one line.
2. Thou shall not use CAPS LOCKs on every word.
3. Thou shall maul language. (No l337 Speak.)
4. Thou shall not beg for gifts, money, or uploads.
5. Thou shall not resort to flaming, to name calling, or to racism.
6. Thou shall not post redundantly, too frequently, or unnecessarily.
7. Thou shall not troll.
8. Thou shall not attempt anything that afflicts the forum from functioning efficiently.
9. Thou shall make intelligent posts.
10. Thou must not have a bandwidth/real estate hogging signature.

So have I spoken.

Google Sued by US Gov.

2006-01-19T23:47:00.000-08:00

I linked to digg because the comments there are worth reading...well, some of them.

Google is being sued for not giving up it's search histories. The Justice Dept wants the search histories so that child pornography can be more easily prosecuted.

You might think it's nothing. It's just search histories. It's not what their asking for. It's HOW their asking it. They threaten companies with subpoenas to do what they want. This is just wrong. And it's Google their suing. Google, for christ's sake. Google is the Transcontinental Railroad of the 21st Century. Google, among a handful of other American companies, is one of the few remaining things Americans can feel pride at. An American need only look at their logo and say, dammit, that's progress. And the Justice Dept has the gaul to sue Google? Because their protecting the people?

Bullshit. The last time something like this happened, it was the McCarthy Era, and many people, companies, institutions were destroyed or blacklisted just because they didn't kowtow along. This isn't the Cold War. We must not suffer yet another Red Scare.

If Ever There was a Time to Care about Something Other than Yourself, it is Now, Here, and This.

Email your representatives

Dear X,
Please impeach Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the Department of Justice. His use of the subpoena as a tool for forcing companies to comply is nothing short of blackmail. I refer to Gonzales vs. Google inc
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=arCWSKEPoJaE&refer=top_world_news) This is a misuse of power, and unconstitutional. There is absolutely no reason a subpoena is needed. What's the point of asking someone for help if they can't say no?
This is not the way to go about things. Not by threats and scares. Not by McCarthyism.

Sincerely,
Concered Citizen

The House of Representatives can impeach federal officials. Get your church to do it. Or your student union. Or just email it yourself. Just do something.

How I use Google Desktop?

2006-01-17T22:56:00.000-08:00

1. Have Computer in all rooms of House.
2. Have Podcasts across several computers.
3. Downloads 1/07/05 in Bed Computer
4. Downloaded 1/o8/05 in Kitchen Computer
5. Downloaded 1/09/05 in Living Room PC

Google Desktop indexes all my computers.
Google GDSuite takes the GDS index and allows me to do boolean on it.

It's like Apple's Spotlight across a network.

Cons: Memory Hog. Indexing is not instantaneous.

(My system is an AMD64 3000+ with 1 gig of ram and an x800xl. It's not top of the line but it's pretty damn good. Watching a vidcast on Itunes while doing a GDS search makes the CPU choke. I think i also have Azureus on. And a movie running on BSplayer. Still, GDS and Itunes and Azureus are the big culprits.)

The Killer Angels by Micheal Shaara

2005-12-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

BOLDED TEXT IS QUOTED FROM SUN TZU's ART OF WAR
Why is this a good book? It's based on research, on papers, and not melodrama (Grant's Memoirs are stupid). It's just the author's guesses based on the personality of the generals which is based on memoirs, letters, and reports.

Why exactly did the Confederacy invade US?
Why was Gettysburg the bloodiest battle?

First of all, Grant was besieging the Mississippi. That River was what Sherman used to supply his romp in the South. So Lee was desperate for a checkmate. But that still doesnt really excuse him.

Now why was Gettysburg the bloodiest battle? Because it was desperate ground. If you've read Sun Tzu, desperate ground is where your back is against a wall and there's no retreat, or room to maneuver. Here's the map of the first day.
Confederate Red. Union Blue.

You see that line that faced Hill? Hill's got around 10k men, that's about 2 Brigades. The Union guy that happened to be there is Buford and he ONLY has 2.5k men. Keep in mind that the Confederates are not in Virginia. This is Far Ground for the Conf. invaders. Long supply lines. Undefensible positions. Hostile natives. Enemy Knows Their Ground. In other words, anything that stalls the Confederate Army is bad.

Why did Buford choose Willoughby Run? Rivers are good. This is Dangerous Ground for the Confederacy. The Invaders MUST slow down here. Sun Tzu says that you let 1/2 the invading force cross before you start firing. His explanation is that this not only splits the enemy in half, you also use the enemy's own forces to cut off their retreat. I think this needs to be changed. Artillery has a very long arm. Their reach means that 1/4 of an army's firepower can already fire at you. Which is especially dangerous for Buford with his numerical inferiority. But the theory is still sound, it's just the definitions of what constitutes the point of contact. Here's what Buford did.

Hill didn't have any scouts, so he sends 2 regiments from Heth's brigade to investigate the earlier scout reports of Union movement. They didn't know what the hell was on the ridge. Neither side has artillery at the moment. So Sun Tzu's tactic works perfectly here. Buford's 2k men are horse riders, so he can rout them after he gets Heth's brigade to retreat. The prisoners tell him how many men Hill has. If 10k men is here then Lee's center has to be nearby. If that's the case, then Harrisburg is their target. Lee now knows he's been spotted by Buford so he has no choice but to take Gettysburg and forgo his original route. If he had forged on to Harrisburg, he exposes his flanks to whatever reinforcments Buford has already requested. If Buford had been defeated on his Macpherson Ridge, if Hill had been fast to rush his 2 brigades, then Gettysburg would have destroyed Reynold's division. Lee. would have stationed Longstreet and Ewell with 30K men to hold Gettysburg, while he marched with the rest of his 45k men unopposed toward Washington. Stuart and his 4k calvary would arrive on the 3rd, and only be effective on the 4th. So if Hill won on the 1st, they could have held out the arriving Reynold's men on the 2nd, with reinforcements coming from Stuart's 4k calvary on the east, and Lee's center on the west.

By that time the war would be over. In real life, this strategy was not adopted. Lee wanted to draw (Union Commander)Meade's forces out in the open, deliver a crushing defeat, forcing Meade to divert the troops he gave to Grant to protect the capitol.

But it all turned to shit when Buford held out against Hill's artillery. He only needed to last the night. Reynold's came up, reinforced Buford's position with artillery. On the 3rd, everyone was in play, and the Union used the roads to create a line of operation circling Little Round Top as the center. No apparent weaknesses and only slightly smaller than the Confederate Army. But there is Confederate calvary cutting off the Union retreat. This is mortal ground. One, it means that Union can die here. Two, because of this, the Union soldiers fight with one mind, with one strength. They are desperate. Desperate troops with no retreat is like a cornered mouse. Very powerful. Sun Tzu .

Here's when Lee sent his man Pickett to charge the Union, causing Pickett's division 70% losses. Pickett survived but he didn't speak to Lee for a long, long time. He was quoted to saying,"That man destroyed my Division."

For further reading, read Chapter 11: Ground of Sun Tzu's Art of War

P.S. Sorry for the long windedness. Next week, i'll be comparing 1862 Baron Jomini's Art of War to Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Geekomon Becomes Different!

2005-12-17T23:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not really interested in the comics industry. Or Tech. Or Asia. Or Scifi.

What am interested are the tomes that write about them. So, I'll be writing current event stuff, like little observations such as the best place to put a bunker in America.

Prolly, I'll be reviewing some Jane manuals and talking about other books i've read regarding war technology.

Oh yeah, Memoirs are Stupid. I've yet to read a memoir from a general that has anything important to say. There's a reason why West point doesn't use memoirs in their curriculum.

That's because they talk UTTER bubkis.

I'll be reviewing 3 books next week, all with a Civil War Motif.

I've already finished with Killer Angels and it's amazing.

Wikifaith

2005-12-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yes that's right. Wikifaith. In case you don't know, Christianity has been strutting its feathers alot recently. There's intelligent design. There's the Irreducible Complexity Theory (freaking circuitous logic. IC was created just to support ID. Frak, you learn how to disprove this in Algebra proofs. That's why the Peano Axioms were created in the first place.)

And now, Narnia.

Now, hear me out. Narnia's just a movie, I hear. But have you read the books? Completely through? Well, their pretty transparent. It's against secular education. Calling parents by their first name. Against skepticism. And...the last Book is almost too dificult to read because it practically calls out for a Crusade against the Calormen.

And then it struck me. Religion should be open source. I mean, why not? Truth is being made open source. Look at wikipedia. There's no reason the same thing can't be done for religion.

So, in the next few months, I will be studying how to create a wiki. A religion is nothing more than a set of guidelines that, if followed, lead to a healthier life.

It'll be on topics such as marriage, justice, virtues, and sins. But since it's a wiki, it'll be fluid enough to incorporate the latest advances in technology. For instance, is incest still a taboo if genetic manipulation can prevent inbreeding?

Imagine.

Movie Review: HP and the Goblet of Fire

2005-11-21T04:14:00.000-08:00

SPOILER ALERT
If you're lazy, I'll just straight out and tell you that this was an enjoyable piece of fluff catered to HP fanboys. The movie can't really stand on its own. All the structures and basic plot points have been edited away. But the average person will still like this film because A) it's funny and B)lots of action. WAIT FOR THE EXTENDED DVD, son.

Now for the meat. The story is mainly a mystery. Who entered Harry into the Questathon?
Since the Questathon is dangerous, someone must be USING THE QUESTS TO KILL HARRY. Now this in turn, gives us suspects. Enter the RED HERRINGS. Which then goes on and on, until the 3 quests of the Questathon is over, and the big plot twist reveals that the initial assumption was misleading, as well as wrong. Just so happens, the Bad Guys didn't aim for the quests to do Harry in--in fact, they wanted him to win the damn Questathon. And there are various clues in both the movie and the novel to lead you Sherlockly to this conclusion. It's not a bad story.

However, here's the rub. Everytime the movie runs into the important parts, some magical idea vacuum comes in and edits it all away. The primary assumption that a Bad Guy must want the quests to kill Harry is not emphasized. What use is the inclusion of the many Red Herrings without the necessary Misleading Assumption?

And since this primary assumption was bypassed, the secondary deduction was also missing: there's an infiltrator inside Hogwarts with unfettered access to the cup.
This is super important because both the RED HERRING part and the PLOT TWIST part both depend on this secondary deduction. If you aren't going to put the misleading assumptions/deductions in, why the hell are nearly all the RED HERRINGS in place? It'll not make sense to those whom've never read the book.

Having said all this, I'm looking forward to the DVD extended version of this film. We are looking at the death of modern cinema as we know it. Seriously, it is super stupid to have theatre releases. Blind Tradition = Slow Death.

Free Song! Come Alive!

2005-11-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

Pick of the Week
"Come Alive" By Steadman

I rather like this song. Unfortunately, after perusing their extensive catalog, this seems to be the only rhythm i enjoy. I'm a sucker for piano/guitar accoutrement.

Here's a list of free music you've prolly never heard of.
Streamed
"Come Alive" By Steadman (Guitar, Processing, Definite E. Keyboards.)

Stanford thru Itunes (Link)
"Microwave Meal" By Matthew Sluis (Solo A. Guitar)
"Wintertime" By Chris Ayer (Solo A. Guitar)

Podsafemusicnetwork
"The Scene" By Ann Lynn (A. Guitar,slight kybrd/bass?, drums)
"ABCD Puppies" By TheBjam (E. Guitar, Drums, kybrd?)

Sony Rootkit

2005-11-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

By now, you've heard that Sony's recently protected their CDs but autorunning it with a evil program. Said Evil Program hides itself, passes information to a Sony Server, and hides itself by modifying your OS's kernel--kindah like a virus modifying your brain's dna. Beyond my power to remove. Beyond anyone who doesn't hack regularly. Well, maybe you could. Get a blank computer, back it up, install the Sony CD, and then copy/paste everything from your back up and see which files get mismatched. Or something like that.

The thing is, if Sony will do this to its CDs, what qualms would they have with actual .exe's they ship out? ConnectStage music organizer and Everquest, for example.

A lot of people are calling for a mass boycott. Not just people but geek people. The kind that goes out and buys PSPs, PS3s, and the like.

Here's the thing though. Why should Sony's evilness stop you from buying a Playstation 3? It's one thing to not trust their software, and another thing to try and punish the company for being an ass.

I wanted to hit someone too when I heard about the whole Sony Rootkit thingie but, after calming down, I realized that it was Sony's software I mistrusted and not the hardware. Unfortunately they haven't done much in recent years except launch the PSP and the upcoming PS3. Still them products are some good gaming tech with, more importantly, an legacy library of decent games. Shouldn't that be the criteria for buying a console? Merit is merit despite how deplorable the ethics of someone. Ogling a beautiful model in a Variety ad gives her even more money for her heroin addiction. So?

As long as it's the best ass money can buy, i could care less if that ass kills puppies, rapes dogs, or eats coyote dung.

Why do Cows Chew Stuff?

2005-11-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

One day, during a borement(Boring moment) I wondered why cows chew stuff. You know, whether on straw like Huckleberry Finn, or a pile of grass a underaged Chinese farmer handed to him.

Turns out, cows chew their food. Not only do they chew their food. They chew regurgitated food, otherwise known as cud. It's because they are herbivores, and in order to survive on plants they need to be more efficient in absorbing the energy.

A cow has four stomachs, and the opening between them gets progressively smaller. They therefore need to break up their food more than once in order to get it through their biological filter system.

And then I thought, well, rabbits are ruminants too. They don't have four stomachs. Why don't I see them chewing cud?

That's cuz they eat shit. No, literally. When the food reaches their anus, it gets turned into a soft pellet. Their internal systems then suck this pellet back out and places it back into their mouth for further eating. It's all internal so it's not as sick as you think. Coprophagy is what it's called.

So, if you're going to be Vegan, friggin, cook your vegetables first. If you live on salad, you won't be able to survive. You'll have to eat shit.

Funny Picture

2005-11-02T00:39:00.000-08:00

Come on. Say you're not grinning. I dare you. Perjure.

Top Monkey: Let me do this quick!

Low Monkey: Don't be so rough!

Anime I'm Watching

2005-10-31T20:54:00.000-08:00

Saikano- Lots of death, with tragic romances left and right. I'm not a romantic buff but children screaming/dying is always emotionally great and makes for good watching.
I'm really enjoying this. Surprisingly good.

Mushishi- Relatively new anime. So far, I can safely say that this will either be episodically sucky or super great. The animation is great and so is the Mushi/spirit mythology. Japanese X-files only with Nature as magic. Don't know whether this is great but the stories so far are interesting and varied. Then again, this could be another Hundred Stories which was a huge dissapointment.

Blood+A different spin on Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with Brian Lumley crossed with Vampire Hunter D set in modern times. Eh. It's not a great anime. it's not a bad one either. Just not interesting enough. It's a vampire hunting girl. The premise isn't rocket science, you know? No mythology whatsoever. I would stop watching this except the art is pretty good. Morphing biomass vampire flesh is great.

Shakugan no ShanaVery very promising. Stephen King's Langoliers mixed with a little Noein and a little nihilism. Shonen. But good Shonen. The first 3 episodes are very good but then again, you have to be careful with Shonen. They usually start sucking at episode 20. Not every shonen can be Future Boy Conan.

Surface: Best Scifi Since BSG

2005-10-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

Okay. Here it goes.

Surface from NBC studios maybe a drama that rivals Lost. Wait. In some ways it's a helluva lot better than lost. Here's a synopsis of what happened so far:

-Free Willy Story with the Killer Dolphin being a baby monster
-New Species that swims in Lava
-Scientists that discover the Monster's secret gets Offed by Government.
-Enter heroic civilians who, thru fate, forced into a corner with nowhere to go, must prove the existence of the Subterranean monsters.

All these stories are entertwined, too. In a meaningful way. Masterful storytelling even.

The characters aren't Kate Moss gorgeous but then again, they don't sniff cocaine. They grow on you.
In fact, they GROW. Wax heroic even. To the point where they look damn fine.

I've just finished 6 episodes of Surface, and I find myself trying to catch it on TV.

Now that's allure.

Did I mention that the producer is David Greenwalt? Produced Angel, Buff, worked with Joss Whedon. I knew there was a reason why Surface was so unusually good. If David Greenwalt doesnt gain success with Surface, it would really be a damn shame.

Why Microsoft is Bad

2005-10-21T01:14:00.000-07:00

Because if Microsoft was good, software technology would be far greater than what it is now.

If you look at the hardware side of things, everyone's moving forward, getting low power chips out, advancing both RISC and CISC architecture, and getting ready for Beehive computing.

If you look at Windows, you get nothin'. Even the stuff that's coming down the pipes don't seem to sync with the future.

Look at the markets. Food. RFID. Army. Friend and Foe recognitions systems. AEGIS. Google Earth. Japan. Robots.

What links all these technologies together? They all need object recognition. Software that can do spatial mathetmatics. Calculate the distance their looking at, while taking in perspective.

Here's what I mean, say your on a desert road. How does the highway look to you? does it seem narrower farther away? Sure? But is it really narrower? No! The road is standard width.

I don't really care about voice recognition. Not to mention it's so hard.
Object recognition is doable and 10x more important.

After all, I can see you before I can hear you. Unless your behind a corner. Yeah yeah. Screw you too.

MS says Africa Doesn't Need Free Software

2005-10-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

zdnet link

Jesus frackkin christ. Read the article. Or not. It's kinda dense. Let me sum it up for you. They think that Africa's barrier to the Information Age is directly tied to the lack of expertise and not the high cost of software.

Now, any government competing globally needs FASTNESS. In everything. Roads, information. Now, who builds, owns, levys and traffics the highway infrastructure?

The Government.

Now who builds the system, maintains, structures, the information?

I hope to god Africa is smart enough to use Open Source Software to do their smartjumping to the Information Age. How are you going to give U.S. the finger when an U.S. company owns your computational power?

Have you ever read Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep?

Africa, be careful of the High Beyond and the recipes you find. Powers are rarely friendly.

Smallville: Aquaman Hah!

2005-10-19T02:16:00.000-07:00

I've got to hand it to Smallville Season 5. It's actually getting better! And it only took them 5 years to do it!

Although, I have to say this:

Does this guy look like Aquaman to you? I'm not judging his face or anything--god knows I can't tell a horse from a mule--but there's something not right about him. Ever seen the movie Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey? They must go to the same hair salon.

Ugh.

2005-10-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

I just finished tiki bar video podcasts which is like a Children's Show--except it teaches you how to mix drinks.

But IT's also funny as fucking hell. And Lala is hot.

Off the top of my head, they teach how to make a Trapdoor, a Margarita, and a Something.

Margarita
Shaker with ice with 2 half wedges of squeezed lime.
2 oz Gold Tequila
.5 oz White Tequila
3 oz Lemon Cordial
.5 oz Triple Sec
splash of Orange Curacao.

Serve cold and with salt.
One way to remember drinks is to categorize them. Have a tree where you have group tequila drinks, gin and rum drinks, and straight up drinks with a column for drinks that are served cold.

There's a simple one they made that consisted of 2 oz scotch, 2 oz brandy, and 5 oz of lemon juice. Fucking gets you wasted mad quick.

It's good to test out the memory once in a while.

Itunes link: tiki bar podcast

Thanks to Adam at MACCAST.COM for introducing this great vidcast their podcast.

Ultimate X-men: Oh how the mighty have fallen

2005-10-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'd like to say that UXM written by Vaughn sucks. I don't have any reason. Actually I have several, but they'll all seem weird.

Maybe it's because I can't remember a single Vaughn plot in UXM.
Or maybe it's because it's an endless parade of new characters who are not that different from 616 Marvel. Or maybe because the whole book forgot it's general theme.

For someone who wrote Runaways, Y The Last Man, and Ex Machina, how could he write such utter shit? I'm thinking that it's a mandate from editorial. If that's the case, I don't think Mr. Replacement Kirkman will fare any better.

Come on. Bring back the novel concepts. Divergent histories. And stop using a single style. The early issues of UXM had really interesting art. From cell shading to semi-realistic to plastic.

Gorsh. This is why I don't recommend comics to friends. The quality always turns to shit after a while.

The Shining: A vignette by Bunnies

2005-10-17T01:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a flash movie summarizing The Shining movie. (jack nicholson stephen king? you know.)

Only it's in 30 seconds.
Only it's reenacted by bunnies.

HERE, don't say i never gave you jack.

HERE's another one.

New comics I hate vs. I love these Bitches

2005-10-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Caveat Emptor: All these books are relatively new. So take it in context that I can only judge them by what's out.

Northwest Passage #1- Good stuff. English exploration stuff. Reminds me of Scott Card's Hatrack River coupled with a lot of Lewis and Clark. The best part of the book was the Hero's oratory on complacency and how the Company was in a rut because it wasn't exploring anymore. Success and safety builds complacency. Complacency means: Tortoise wins. Very good theme. Also, many parallel subplots, which means: Good story. Very Promising.

HoM - after reading all 7 issues of this mini, i can safely say that i'm underwhelmed. Totally underwhelmed. It's this Chaos Magic premise that's insane. The whole Marvel mutant world is built on the tension between humans and mutants. If you are going to destroy 96 percent of the mutants in the world, would'nt it be better if the USA declared war on these folk? Internment camps, furnaces, etc etc. That's a helluva lot more believable than chaos magic. No one likes Deus Ex Machinas. Bendis is still a good writer/director/framer but this Marvel megaevent is nothing but a stopgap response to Identiy Crisis. Marvel is good because it lets its writers have more power than the editors. That = better stories than DC. I hope they return to their bread and butter. Having said that, the writing is still pretty sharp. Interesting characters, good art, nicely organized panelling-->Doesnt matter how pretty your pig smells. It's still a pig.

Infinite Crisis #1 - Death, war, shit hitting the fan. I don't really know everything that's going on but hey, physical war and death of superheroes is awesome. Plus the Lex thing is awesome. DC is suppose to be about grand, sweeping, Dragonball style epics. Their superheroes are built with too much power to support any other type of story. IC #1 epitomizes all that is good about DC.
Unlike Worlds at War, the deaths in IC1 are graphic, and brutal. Realistic. Did I mention how stupid Worlds at War was?

Villains United - Possibly the only Countdown mini worthy of it's cover price. Taken as a whole, this is a rollickin' good read. Deadshot and Catman = Deadpool and Cable. That's high praise. The ending was nice, and the overall plot wasn't hackneyed. Everything made sense. Not only did it clink, it also built up several characters. Remember, these are second tier characters Gail is working with. She's actually given them life. And life means sales. Sales means popularity. Popularity means movies. Movies means DVDs. DVDs mean money. Gail needs a raise. And Birds of Prey needs to be canceled or turned into porn.

Uncanny X-men #464-#465 - You know, Chris Claremont and Scott Bachalo make a good team. Chris can write all these little useless Byrne captions and Scott can draw interesting pictures that make these Claremont explanations useless. Hey, anything that makes you not need to read Claremont exposition is A+. Of course, you've got to give Chris a coin or two for putting a DC world toppling spin into X-men. Bachalo, you should ask for a raise immediately. Your practically writing Uncanny by yourself.

Marvel Team-up #13 - I have to confess. I think Robert Kirkman knows his trade better than most people in the business. He KNOWS what he's doing. I have no idea why the Savage Critic doesn't like Team-up. This is fun, smart, and thinky. All his stuff is. I guess there's two schools. Robert Kirkman is manga good. Laters. (I'm not a big fan of tech jacket or battle pope though)

2004-2005 TV baskets

2005-10-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

Dropped: House M.D., Grey's Anatomy

Following: Numb3rs, Gilmore Girls, Boston Legal

Dogshit: Threshold, Smallville (just too inconsistent), Supernatural
(I thought the first year of Angel was dogshit too but it turned out to be a pretty good series. So take it as you like.)

New Stuff: Surface, Rome

P.S. David S. Goyer produces Threshold--Ah, now i know why I don't like it. I recognize David stink everywhere.

David Goyer: I'm not the only one

2005-10-06T01:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not the only one who does'nt like David Goyer.

Well, I don't hate him. I..what's a stronger word for hate? He's the embodiment of the broken dream. Someone who's in the art to make the quick buck. While sure, it's pragmatic to stick up your ass for someone to push money into, it doesnt feed the soul and it sure as hell shouldn't be respected. I still can't get over that ipod product placement in Blade Trinity. Or his love for slow-moes. And his demarginalization of Wesley Snipes.

That Blade Trinity movie showed his true colors. Thank God, Christopher Nolan was there to save Batman Begins. Why do the good writers get saddled with the piss poor directors, and the crappy, dishonorable ones land the Big Fish?

here's some of the dislikes of Goyer summed up succinctly.
superherohype forum hate on Goyer

You know, if he really respected the material(comic/geek), he would have Joss Whedon status. Come on, he wrote a comic, helmed the Blade franchise, and did the best Batman film to date(I dont like Batman Begins but it is the best one to date)

He's a poser. He's a Hollywooder. My umbrage with him is that he won't admit his own mistakes. Look at Kevin Smith! He's not a great writer. He's a pretty decent one though, plus he's Mark Twain funny (that's a high compliment). He ADMITS his mistakes. Like Jersey Girl. Which did disastrous in the theatres. You see, he admits it was wrong to cast Ben Affleck in the role. The nepotism was a wrong move.

To this date, Goyer has not admitted that it was entirely wrong of him to train his basic directoring skills on a paying public. I doubt Goyer even did storyboards or pre-production on Blade Trinity. When you write the script as you're filming it, that's not skill, that is poor planning, sloth, and hubris.

Goyer is going to fucking ruin Flash. The only people online that support him are under his pay. Because that's what Hollywooders do. Hire shills. Come on. Deep in your geek hearts, you've seen David Goyer before. Straight up 100 percent snake oil salesman. Except without the talent.

Movie, TV: Recommended

2005-10-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

(The Big Damn Movie)
Serenity was pretty good. It ran 1:49 minutes but after it ended, i wanted more. Any firefly is better than no firefly, I guess, as Tycho at Penny-arcade.com so succinctly puts it. My problem with it was the certain smirky bits that were in it. Almost as if the humor needed laugh tracks. Like drum roll, and a light flashes above the theatre to say: "please insert laugh here." The plot though, is excellent. Someone cut the wrong scenes in the editing room.

Once again, the plot is excellent. Orson Scott Card likes the movie. I like the movie. Sci fi people will like the movie. Everyone will like the movie.

NEXT!

New TV Series

Over at Geek speak radio, they were talking about the new scifi shows. Out of all those shows, the only good scifi was Surface which is like Morlocks and 20,000 Leagues all mixed up in one. It grows on you. As a show, it's structured very well.
Good plot, good directing, good sfx but the cast---well, they don't seem to wear their clothes well.

Stay away from Bones or Threshold. Very transparent attempts from people who want a long lasting job.

One day, The Writers said, "How can I get a studio to pay for enough episodes to send into syndication?"

Two days later, these shows start popping up.

NEXT!

Returning TV series

Okay, I don't like Smallville. I think it's shit. No story. Super stupid teen melodrama with an overaged cast. Micheal Rosenbaum is a great Lex though. Season 5 must have a new writer because it's actually interesting.

I use to watch Grey's Anatomy but now it's blah. The premise isnt strong enough. There's no major problems in it for Grey to resolve. Same thing with House--what happened to the evil Vogel? Heroes are useless without villains.

Numb3rs though, works in a Law and Order level. But either get rid of all the relationship stuff or put more in. You cant have it both ways. The main protag was Mr. Universe in Serenity, woot.

That's about it.

Upcoming Movies: Serenity

2005-09-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Firefly is coming.
Well Firefly: Serenity, the movie version of Joss Whedon’s TV creation. Harlan Ellison will prolly have a fit that I capitalized tv…

Anyways. It’s good. It’s awesome. Here’s some few bits of information regarding Serenity.

Vids:

River Tam Sessions
The premier

Most of this stuff is from Whedonesque. I just collated it. If you like the vids, then you’ll prolly read the interviews. And the further vid/interviews. Mark your calendars, September 30. Vive le’ Revolucion!

WinMX Dead. WTF is WinNY?

2005-09-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so WinMX is dead. How are you going to get the Japanese/Korean/Chinese songs that you love/crave? Itunes Music Store isn’t even up in Korea/Hong Kong and Sony’s being a bitch about their products so…I do not condone piracy. In hopes that the RIAA will shut these bastards further, I will now explain how to get Japanese songs via Winny.

Don’t throwaway your WinMX just yet either because it’s got Open Nap which means Nodes. With a little bit more sweat, you can do whatever you were doing before WinMX died. No, I don’t meant that. Get your hands away from your pants.

GETTING WINNY SETUP

Step1: Download the Bitch.
Go download Winny from http://nyar.under.jp/index.php. If you’re scared, go to wikipedia. It’ll link you to the English version 66. Now if you go to the links section of that page, you’ll get to nynode.info which is nyar.

I tried all 3 versions. 66, 71 and the latest. So far only 71 works well.
So get 2.71.

Step 2: Install/config. Put in the Nodes.

Okay, you’ve got this zip file. Oh my god! What do I do? You unzip it. Put it in C:\Winny or something. You might want to do some regional settings to make your OS Japan friendly. Make a shorcut to the winny.exe.
You should see a UI with a black screen—very winmx-ish.

It’s in Japanese! What will I do? Google is your friend. Go to this site uguu. It’ll explain what you need to do.

Go to the Config Button.

Go to the Bandwidth and pick out your speed.

Go set your port.

Die of cancer.

Now set your Down folder and Up Folders to whatever you want. You can skip this if you want.

Now go to your winny folder. Make a Noderef.txt. Capital N.

Google some nodes. “winNY node” brings up a few hits. Should look like this. I use peerto’s nodes.

@kdjfklsjfalsfjldsjfslkdjfskdfj
@kdfjlsadjflksfjsklfjsklfjsklfjs
@232342343242343242343
Copy and paste this to Noderef.txt in your winny folder. Node reference, you dig?

Go type something in the Keyword search bar. If you don’t know where it is, go look at the uguu link again.

Congrats, it’s a boy. It also wouldn’t kill you to learn a bit of Japanese. Stuff like Close, Apply, Delete, Stop and “How much for A Blowjob” is useful. Ikura…blowjob des ka?—hah.

How to set up WinMX with Open Nap

There’s plenty of English Tutorials out there. What do you need me for? I don’t really like the OpenNap limitation either. It’s not exactly nodular. More like hubular. Those aren’t words by the way.

Anime Review: Full Metal Panic 2nd Raid

2005-09-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

The short of it:

Chidori- one of the century's Whisperers/Einsteins, they are living manuals of future technology.

two factions want her. Either dead or working for them

Mechas are made by whisperers so BATTLE

Enter Hero: Sagara Bodyguard and soldier of one of said factions

The long of it:
I don't know whether this is a serious foray into scifi fiction, fanservice, or mecha anime.

There's already 9 episodes and they still dont explain wtf the Mithril Organization is. Who funds it? Why are they the good guys? What makes them the good guys? Why are the bad guys insane? Why can't their be intelligent, and normal bad guys?

It reads like really bad romanticized fan fiction. Just very kiddy stuff. Like A dislikes B because of his dirty fingernails. G is evil because he sucks, nyuh.

And the Arm Slave stuff. It's gundam. It's mecha. Why call it fraggin arm slaves? Why not use real world terminology? In the real world they would be part of the armored divisions. Why set it in the present world, with modern day aircraft carriers, contemporary clothing, and war tech if you are just going to spew made up shit. And what's with the bullshit Lambda drive technology. Ooh, it's a wish fulfillment drive--in a fucking mecha?

So here are the faults.

1) If it's a serious anime, it has too much fanservice. (four or five shots of fanservice in the whole series, admissable. But with more--Why the fuck do you need to pan Chidori's panties 2 times in a space of 5 frames?

2) If it's a fanservice anime, it has too much scifi gobbledeegook.

3) The scifi gobbledeegook is done with little research, thereby undermining the whole basis of the world. No foundation to be credible upon.

4) The designs are weak. The mechas are designed for the miltary, not to be power rangers.

I don't know what target audience this anime is aiming for.
I mean, it isnt getting my vote.
It doesnt have enough fanservice/porn to get Jascii.net's vote.
Who the fuck does it want to entertain? It's like a 10 year old wrote and directed it.

McDonald's Adventure

2005-09-20T01:59:00.000-07:00

I did something bad today.
On one of my many nightly trips to the airport to get frozen fish—yes, frozen fish, craps, snails, and frogs (stop interrupting me)—I happened to be hungry. Famished. So I said: Mcdonalds. And the driver says: Sure.

As we edged toward the take-out window, I realized something strange. WE DIDN’T ORDER anything. So I made a corporate decision. I took someone else’s order.

Now, it’s very very bad of me to do that. It inconvenienced everyone behind me. Which is funny because of the domino chain wrong-order effect.

In my defense, the clerk should have---well, hehe. Nothing since it was totally my fault! But it sure was funny! Yeah, we jetted out of there toot fast.

TUAW TOP TEN

2005-09-17T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well, No Ipod Nano for me.

TUAW's picked their top ten. Their using grammatically correct sentences as guideline. No loose talking. So even though some of the entries are boring, they are at least grammatically correct.

So me and Mario are out of the running. I mean, Mario and I.

Gorram frakkin' TUAW. Sniff. Ah wan' wun of dem Ipod nanoes. Ain't no one in dem right mind woudn't wan' wun. Sho' is a pretty lil fing. Loike me Pa used tah say, before he shot hisself proper: "Yah ain't lucky, son. Frem the day yah was born, ah says, 'Doctah, don't worry about hurtin' him none. He's already got one goram awful life ahead o hisself, be a kindness if by chance yah shook him to death early on'. An' that's whoi ah named yah Richard. Short fer Dick, yah ken? Screw otha folk befo' dem folk can and yah'll survive. Otherwise, be the right time to be digging a nice grave fer yerself." And then he took another swig of moonshine and beat me withing 3 inches of life.

I'm lying by the way.

Who do you think has the better post anyways?

Mine

Marios

Engadget Contest Winners Announced!

2005-09-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Two words. Fugly.

There's more at the engadget site. None of them are any good. Maybe this one is okay.
I would have made him wear more Uncle Samish clothes. Maybe the jacket and the hat. Although, i dont think this is international enough.

I was going to do one but i couldnt learn Adobe CS 2 vector art in time.

My first idea was a Huge e with teeth, with a robotic monocle in the center of the e.

My second idea was Blueprints for an Engadget radio tower with the E as a broadcasting tip.
-Or a death ray.

My third idea was a Batman Console with the screens flashing the logo, and a small cat on the chair. The Engadget Cat. Totally brand new logo for engadget modeled on a cartoon i saw where someone drew Schroedinger's cat. Literally.

My fourth idea was to draw up a chinese font and put it on a coat of arms.

(Picture the crest in the center, bigger, a white overlay instead of printed, and a dark blue thin cotton shirt instead of gray)

Kinda like this but with the guards as "I, Robot" robots. The shield( white outline) is kept, separated into four parts, 2 e's mirror imaged on the 4 parts. So a white E (inside the shield, centered on a blue background) on quadrant II, the waves (blue on a white background) on quadrant I, heading right. On quadrant III, white background, blue waves, heading left, and on quadrant IV, an inverted white e with a blue background. On and below the shield are 2 banners: engadget.com on the bottom and chinese on the top banner. 安子達 That's the Chinese way of saying Engadget. The shirt would be totally blue with a rougher type of cotton as the crest. That way, when you run your fingers through the crest, it feels like rough skin because it's smooth, then rough, smooth then rough. And when the white overlay starts to peel, it does so by patches. The thing becomes pockmarked like gravel. It makes it look even more ancient and worn. This is a good thing. Vintage style. This one is plagiarized from a Oxford University T-shirt I had that got lost in the wash. Oxford doesnt have it anymore. It was in created in 1977 or so, back when Oxford had some taste.

The 1st idea was what I planned to submit though. The last one was unfeasible because a T-shirt with a white overlay is a tad more expensive than just laser printing it.

Anime Review: Gundam Seed Destiny

2005-09-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Awful.
What's the criteria? If you like stuff like 08th MS team, and Giant Robo (only episode 4, 5, 6, and 7) then you prolly will hate GSD.

For one thing, the character designs are shoujo. Tall Lanky girly boys that screams "essence of hermaphrodite." Gundam designs that are half Gundam Wing, half Power Rangers. No military research or logical streamlining of the mechas. A lot of Gundams have a sort of internal logic to their design. The F-91 series were all inspired by Roman armor. The GP-X series was designed by a real engineer. The V series are tranformable and therefore, clonky looking but all the mechas were uniformly clonky.

In GSD, it's a hodgepodge of design themes and concepts. That's why the colors are so garish. I love to draw mecha. That's one of my hobbies. I even draw Gundam Wing and I don't even like Gundam Wing that much. GSD mechas are just--they don't make a bit of sense. Lots of vestigial parts that have no function.

/rant.

I should draw one of the GSD robots just to show you what I mean. Hold up.

Happy Birthday, Richard!

2005-09-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you know this but I'm not the only poster. It's Richard's birthday! Everyone wish him lots of luck.

Richard: That's not blogworthy.

Mario: Look, you use the word blogworthy one more time and I'll beat you with this log here.

Richard: Yeah yeah. And throw away your damn logs already. It's cluttering up the room.

Mario: Neveeeeerrrrr!

Smoking Cigarrettes 101

2005-09-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

Why is smoking bad for you?
Sure, it causes cancer. We KNOW that.

But why do soldiers do it? Why do people continue to do something that they know will have long term detriments?

There has got to be some benefit involved.
It cant be all peer pressure.

So google ‘benefit’ and ‘nicotine’. You’ll get several articles on the therapeutic effect of nicotine as well as certain experiments that’ve been performed with soldiers. I leave the googling to you because even if there’s a wealth of information out there, the surest way to know shtuff is try a stick yourself. Maybe before a big showdown against an enemy regiment. Or company meeting.

As for me? I don’t smoke. I don’t want to have to depend on drugs to keep cool. But I will if it becomes necessary, and then, when I do, the effect will be maximized since I haven’t built a resistance to ‘em. I have the same stance on antibiotics.

Seven Versions of Windows Longhorn

2005-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Yes. Seven frakkin' versions. While it might seem insane, know this. Their are seven departmental chiefs in Redmond. Their is also a growing need to compete with free or low cost operating systems in countries like China or Africa.

So there's Starter which is their foray into low budget emerging PC world. (They have to offer cheap ass OSes because there's no way China's paying 300 dollars per OS per box.)

2 Versions of Home. Home and Home Premium
A Basic Pro Edition. A Small Business and a Enterprise. More like Plugins
And there's Ultimate, which is the fully featured OS.

Here's the link to the Ars post that talks about Microsoft's new insanity. You should check the comments section too. Lot of Microsoft PR people trolling around.

Come on. You do know why the Apple removed the iPod mini when they introduced the iPod nano, right? I thought Microsoft was supposed to be good in business...

I can understand the Starter Edition. But 2 versions of Home? 3 versions of Professional? And a Extra one called Ultimate? It's one thing to maximize your profits by realizing the price point of multiple target markets, and it's another thing to fragment your market so that they have to buy multiple Windows OSes in order to function.

Ars Technica Destroys iPod Nano

2005-09-12T03:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s something I thought was utterly stupid but yet brilliant at the same time.

Ars Technica’s Nano Review

Ars Technica decided to road-test the new iPod Nano. Now, far be it from me to suggest to the Powers That Be on the proper way to test appliances, but, as far as I’m concerned, RUNNING IT OVER WITH YOUR CAR is not an IEEE approved procedure!

Goram. It was a black Nano, too. Frakkin’ idiots. (Having said all that, the demolition test was pretty funny, and a brilliant stunt.)

However, some decent diagnostics on the nano would have been appreciated. You know, before yah smashed it into non-controvertible pieces.

Battery type and how many read/write cycles on the thing. You know, how many times can I charge/read/write from the thing before it dies out.

-dun out

Google PageRank: Miserable Failure

2005-09-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Go. Google 'miserable failure' in your Firefox searchbar.

Click on the first link you see.

It's linked to George Bush Jr. biography.

Ah. It's funny because it's true.

Podcast PSA: Skepticality : Prayers and Thoughts and Many Hearts

2005-09-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure if you know who Derek + Swoopie are—Well, you should. They’re a couple of VERY popular podcasters. They do a nice little show called Skepticality where the message can be summed up, “Don’t take stuff at face value.” It also helps that they sound like very decent people. For example, I’d buy pharmaceuticals from them.

Be a skeptic and get proof. And it’s a real interesting topic. Mostly because they’ve got a wonderful team writing for them. Mostly because their real people talking about stuff that interests them.

Unfortunately, however, Derek is sick. BNA, a form of brain aneurysm or cyst. Very bad stuff.

I hope it’s recoverable but by the tone of Swoopie’s PSA on his condition, it doesn’t look too well.

Damn, that sucks. A thousand wishes from a thousand fans across a thousand wires of broadband, Derek. I’d like to think God’s (in all his various incarnations) an avid Skepticality listener, too.

FREE Ipod Contests & September Apple Keynote Review

2005-09-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

Two Contests.

Contest 1 where you have to blog about your 10 favorite TUAW posts, and then post your blog link that you've done so.

It's not a bad contest. Very accessible.
Everyone and their dog will prolly want to join it.
The Prize: A IPOD nano.* REMEMBER TO POST YOUR BLOG LINK TO THE COMMENTS SECTION IN THEIR CONTEST POST. Just click here to go to their permalink.

Contest 2 where you have to get unique hits linking to them..

Ilounge wants to espouse their IPOD FAQ on people. Don't know why. Normal blogs will prolly never win. Good thing their are booby prizes. Various ipods. Just put a banner on your blog. It doesnt hurt. Prizes are Shuffles and Ipods, 'fter all.

Here's the Banner you've got to put on your Blog/Site.

or the text equivallent:

<a href="http://ilounge.com/blogthebook/"><img src="http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/muikano/te/125x125freeipodbook.gif" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com" ></img></a>

*Here's the link to the particulars of the contest for those that still don't understand the particulars.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Addendum: Don't know about you folks, but I'm SICK of hearing about Sept. Apple Keynote. Multiple posts on the same keynote when it's nothing but 3 product launches. It's a keynote but it's doesnt deserve this much attention. I mean, the X-server and Apple/Intel keynotes were phenomenal news--ah, never mind. On with the product launches.

MOTOROLA ROKR
Uninspired interface. Bleh. Apple isn't techno superiority, it's usability/design superiority.

IPOD NANO:
Flash device. It's actually pretty sexy and fully featured. I like the keylock implementation. (link:iLounge Gallery.)

ITUNES 5.0: Very minor but nice updates. (link: itunes 5 feature review)

Makes Itunes load-up on Windows XP much faster. Check.

Destroys compat. w/Badfruit.com. "Itunes is only for Ipods!" yells Mr. Jobs. Check.

Forces upgrade to Q7 or I5 won't work. Check.
*Streaming codec in Quicktime 7 for Windows needs a lot of cpu power. 0.8-1.0 ghz won't be able to support it. Maybe if you have specialized instructions sets like SSE3, you could. Maybe.

Apple Keynote 2005: Blah

2005-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hrm.

So that was the Apple Keynote. Hrm. Methinks the Steve Jobness is losing power on his Reality Distortion Field Crystals.

That last one really sucked wads, dinnit?

Come on.
Showcase a phone that was suppose to be out months ago. Check.
Wipe out the most popular ipod machine. Check.
Force a buggy version of Quicktime 7 down the throats of Itunes 5. Check.
Introduce Harry Potter Ipod version, codename Gimmick. Check.
Introduce a 4gb flash player. Check.

I mean, all this stuff is good and all but come on. Where’s the cool stuff that was promised? Golly. Itunes is a finely tuned prog though. It’s very very good.

I swear to god, sometimes I think Apple hates and fears the word ‘solid-state’. They also hate the word NIMH battery. What I wouldn’t give for a Ipod nano that ran on AAA…

Hurricane Katrina Update

2005-09-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

I got this from this mrbarret.com

Here’s the link

It’s quicktime. Fast becoming my favorite online movie clip format.

Anyways, it’s about the disaster in New Orleans. While YOU may be unaffected, it calls to think—wow, what if something as catastrophic as this happened to my city? How would the government respond? As you can see by New Orleans, the answer is: not very well. If at all, even.

There’s been reports of rapes and murders and all sorts of Lord of the Flies stuff. And while that boggles the civilized mind, it makes a sorta weird sense. After all, when there’s no order, there’s chaos.

Warrenellis.com had some of the pictures of a white guy getting beat up. Don’t start a racial war with your black neighbors because of this. I’m sure the same thing would have happened to a black guy had the light colored folk’ve been the majority in the Superdome housing them poor, sapless Louisiana refugees.

It’s just human nature folks. Nothing more. Nothing less. You tend to forget that you’re American when you’re hungry, exposed to the elements, and with no indication that support is on the way.

And by the way, and this is a certifiable fact, the military has turned away Red Cross from helping Louisianites. Because of the violence and the looting and the general panic that’s ensuing. You know, kinda like the drowning man can kill the lifeguard draggin him. Same difference.

So why are you still donating to Red Cross?

Crazy Greedy Sandisk Makers Put Out FM Transmitter

2005-09-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

I have a Sansa, yes I do. I want to ask one thing. Why sell this FM Transmitter when a large part of your existing users are UNHAPPY with the software support of this device? Asswipes. Also, how are they going to power the Sansa from the car lighter? There's no dedicated 2 way power/data port. It's just a AAA battery with a audio jack. That's all this mp3 is. No DC out. No Data Out.

End Picture Dump

2005-09-02T03:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of a chair I drew at an airport. I touched it up a tad with charcoal.
Posted by Picasa

2005-09-02T03:49:00.000-07:00

Here's something from a failed design for a mantou production bag. The mascot if you will. The avatar in my blog is the same character, mind you.
Posted by Picasa

2005-09-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

I like this one. Not anatomically correct for having a Iron Man-like Armor but I like it. Especially the legs and the joints. I spent a lot of time thinking of the joints.
Posted by Picasa

2005-09-02T03:47:00.000-07:00

Here's another from the archives. Notice the kneecaps. 3 rotating balls as kneecaps. Very DC design. Sortal looks like Rocket Red. Old Old pic.
Posted by Picasa

2005-09-02T03:44:00.000-07:00

I'm using Picasa! Google, you ass. Stop trying to take over my desktop! Google Suite Apps are like the iLife of Apple. Awesome. Picasa is a full fledged product unlike GDS. Very useful.
Posted by Picasa

Google Review: Google Desktop Search and A little Art

2005-09-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

Here’s my review of Google Desktop Beta
Email
The plugin is decent but the limit of one email is laughable. My dog, for instance, only has a Hotmail account since he doesn’t have opposable thumbs. Myself, I have seven. Accounts not dogs. The Thunderbird e-mail client laughs at this dinky plug-in.

Scratch Pad and Todo list
This is useful,useful, useful. The whole GDS can prolly rename itself this by the way.

Quick View
Totally useless and inaccurate. It would have been much better if it aped my quick launch bar with user definable categories…instead it’s a shuffle of links—half of which I’ve never even heard of, much less frequently use.

I do use gdTunes which is like the Winamp plugin but with less memory hogging and a bigger area—it’s just a miniplayer that autohides like the Start Bar. Supremely useful—but unfortunately still lacking in a few features. I want a volume and step up control on it dammit. It’s basic shit!

There’s also weather. Yawn. What makes this different from Yahoo’s Konfabulator and Apple’s Dashboard? Well, the Google Desktop Search and by connection, it’s Photos plugin.

It’s basically a poor (PC) man’s Spotlight. Spotlight, as you well know, is Apple’s baby, their file indexer for Tiger OS X. Since spotlight was built from the kernel up in OS X, it’s considerably faster, indexes recently added files in good time, supports filtering and—goddamn it, it’s just better.

But seeing as how Vista’s late, not 5 minutes late, mind you, but late like a baby with a 5-year gestation period, this is the best PC users can afford.

Sigh. Oh wait, I promised you guys a picture. Here’s my rendition of the 5th Robin. Don’t mind the long arms. I like to make the arms longer so I can shrink them digitally later.

Windows Vista 7 Versions: Start Weeping

2005-08-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista is coming out with 7 different versions. I got confused just writing about it. There’s a Starter Version, for 3rd world countries—or New Orleans. Take your pick. They split XP Pro into something called SE and EE. Then there’s the Ultimate Edition. Then there’s Home and Home Premium.

It’s most likely that MS is wanting to bring their outer products back into the core fold. Like their Media Center PCs with Windows Media Center, they’ll rename to Vista Home Premium. Windows CE? Starter Vista. Windows Server? SE or EE. It’s business overcoming the need to be a product. Some idiot buyer is going to buy an OS flavor that doesn’t suit him, waste sixteen hundred dollars on upgrades, buy a gun, and kill Ballmer/Gates…shhh…exnay on the lanpay.

I thought the next generation of OSes was supposed to be BETTER than the old ones? OSX86 needs to come now!

Link

2005-08-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

Link

This is why I have Apple Stock. Oh come on. Is this not the coolest thing for a corporation to…wait. While I believe it’s in Apple’s best interest to gain marketshare by educating the young, it’s another thing to create an entire secondary school for that purpose.

For some reason, it gives off death smells. Like Steve Jobs is in a rush to leave a legacy. Like he has only 4 years to live or something.

I don’t get why more rich ppl don’t build schools. It’s like building a fraternizing, little army from the baby up.

Don't get traced: How to Cloak Your IP Via Proxy

2005-08-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

Now, we’ve all been banned from forums, IRC chans, and/or DC hubs before. Usually, it’s a temporary thing, for a minor infraction.

But…what if an op disagreed with your views on abortion? An op disagreed on your views about the way government should be run? An op disagreed with your Platonic utopian ideologies—well, to cut it short, don’t stir the pot in hubs. You’ll only get burned, flamed, then banned.

So, while these forums act like their all technorati to the extent of calling themselves the Scene, it’s not really a place for disagreement or skepticism. IE, don’t expect intellectual discourse.

But if you’ve fallen into that trap and are too impatient to wait for you temp ban to disappear—here’s what you do.

Windows XP Only
Ingredients/Programs

www.your-freedom.net proxy forwarding program
A SOCKs capable client such as DC++, MIRC or whatever.

Steps

Install YF

Run the Config, the main purpose here is to get a YF account and get a server list.

Run Your Sock capable client

Go to the client’s settings and look for something to do with socks.

       Address: ________   Port: _________
Should be something like the above.

       Input these into the blank lines.
  Address: localhost___      Port: 1080

Well, the port depends on what you configged your YF to be but by default it is 1080.

Now connect to your chan/hub/whatever.

Your ip in this client is the ip in your proxy.

Done. Now go away.

Podcast Review: President's Weekly Address 8/27/05

2005-08-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

excerpt:

During the past two weeks, Prime Minister Sharon and the Israeli people took a courageous and painful step by removing Israeli settlements in Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. I congratulate the Prime Minister for his bold leadership.
Now that Israel has withdrawn, the way forward is clear. The Palestinians must show the world that they will fight terrorism and govern in a peaceful way. We will continue to help the Palestinians to prepare for self government and to defeat the terrorists who attack Israel and oppose the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian state.

DOESN’T BUSH KNOW THE PARALLELS PPL ARE DRAWING FROM ISRAEL’S WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA? FOR INSTANCE, GET OUT OF IRAQ MAYBE?

excerpt:

The terrorists are trying to stop the rise of democracy in Iraq because they know a free Iraq will deal a decisive blow to their strategy to dominate the Middle East. But the Iraqi people are determined to build a free future for their nation, and they are uniting against the terrorists.

COLOR ME CONFUSED, BUT THAT LITTLE STATEMENT IS JUST A BIT MUCH. DOESN’T A FREE IRAQ DEAL A DECISIVE BLOW TO THE AMERICAN STRATEGY TO DOMINATE THE MIDDLE EAST?

commentary:
Look I’m all for invading Iraq. I mean, it had to be done some day. I mean, you can’t piss off a Middle Eastern country forever. Better to slit their throats now than have them atomic bomb you later. But if you can’t win thoroughly—which the Americans have shown that they can’t---then you make peace. You can’t fight China, the Middle East, and the last dying remnant of communism that is North Korea all at once. And certainly not by yourself.

Well, you could try. And you could die. Very, very hard.

Anyways I thought, this Potus Podcast was especially weird since he was using words like domination and strategy and power in a reflective way. Saying that it was the enemy doing these things when we’re practically doing the same thing but from the flip perspective.

Don't get me wrong. Governments aren’t supposed to be honest. They’re supposed to keep the citizens safe, healthy, content, and fed. But for god’s sakes, don’t sound like a dick when you do your governin’, governor.

Battlestar Galaciata 2x06 Home pt 1

2005-08-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

For those that haven’t seen this episode, or care about BSG, I’m gonna apologize beforehand.

I don’t know. I’ve just listened to the BSG 2x06 commentary and while Ron Moore means well—there’s several ugly spots in the directing of the Sixth Episode.

Granted, another guy directed it but still—there’s a bunch of stuff in that episode that didn’t sit right.

Why did Apollo kiss Starbuck? The thing with them is that their history and Starbuck’s penchant to infidelity keeps them apart. And there were nothing in the previous episodes that would give Apollo any reason to kiss her in the mouth.

And if Apollo kissed her in the mouth, why did he recant his ‘I love you’ statement?

Why are civilians going on a military mission? I understand Rosalyn and Elosia going but the Councilman and Evil Sidekick shouldn’t have been allowed to drop down on planet Whatever.

Why was there a Bug eyed view of Adama as he made his choice of reuniting the fleet, or leaving Rosalyn and her cohorts by themselves? It was very Alienish. I half expected him to be attacked by a man wearing a silicon costume.

And why does Adama allow Dualla so much leeway, what with the touching of hands and stuff. I mean, sure, she’s the communications officer but there’s no backstory of why she can do this.

These may be nitpicks but I doubt it. The whole episode felt a little off. Different choice of camera views and other little things. Disrupted the general flow of the story a bit. I did like the George birch arc, although I wish that the original plot had been kept. George Birch’s error made horrific by a death. Adama’s subsequent guilt. A good leader makes good decisions but should also try to fix/weather his bad ones as well.

Gaming Review Pt 2: FPS BF2 vs CS

2005-08-26T04:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I recant. I do Reviews too early. Like Guild Wars, I may have jumped the gun with Battlefield 2. The helicopters are way too powerful on some maps. Planes are hard to counter too but it doesn’t matter since they can’t cap flags. Copters on the other hand are crazy hard to take down by yourself. Not only that, they can heal themselves. That’s my only problem with the game so far though. Plus the respawn times. People respawn too quickly. They should double respawn times. Or do away with the ticket thing altogether.
Seriously, it takes all the danger and adrenalin out of the game.

That said, I’m prolly going to get counter strike. It’s a lot more adrenalin-thumpin.

On a side note, here’s a picture of a shrimp being boiled alive.

Comic Character 1: Mr. Canada

2005-08-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

Here’s a few pictures I drew during my 2-hour clerkin’ dayjob.

For some reason, the guy in the picture is Canadian. I think Canada is a funny word. I mean, it’s a huge country, it’s French, and it’s supposedly socialist---But 75 percent of the land is like frozen-over unlivable hell, only a couple of cities have modern infrastructure, the Canadians there don’t even speak French, and lastly, the entire city of Toronto could be called Little Hong Kong. Awesome. And to top it off, it has legalized marijuana. Any Congregational Political system that allows itself to legalize marijuana is all right in my book. Hell, fraggin marijuana is a helluva less addictive, has less side effects, and the people have been using it for hundreds of years.

I’m not knocking pharmaceuticals. They are good for major shit like infections and the like. But come on. What kind of cure makes you choose between chronic pain and chronic bowel sickness?

The only side effect I’ve gotten from hash was a hankering for pure peanut butter. Wait. That’s not true. There was the Morning After Daze. The 4 minute Whooping Cough. And Wonder Woman.

Okay. I’m out.

I am So Going to Buy this

2005-08-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to say anything. You have to be Mormon not to like this thing. No offense to Mormons, though. I'm a big fan of polygamy.

Podcast Review: One Good One Bad

2005-08-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Nerdblurb.com is not really that informative. But it’s funny. It’s kinda like if Abbot and Costello were slashdotters and technogeeks.

Super ultra funny.

Wehatetech, however, sucks awful. They pretend too much to be geeks. In fact, they feel a bit corporate.

Recommended:
www.nerdblurb.com

Decommended:
Wehatetech

Gaming Review

2005-08-20T03:24:00.000-07:00

Battlefield 2. Well, I haven’t played the first one but it sure is a lot of mindless fun. In CS, there’s a bit of skill involved. In Battlefield, it’s a lot more By Consensus. For instance, a team consisting of a majority of average players will fulfill their objectives faster than a team with just two or three superstars. In fact, these superstars will actually get killed faster.

So I’m at odds here. Should I get frantic mouseclicking carpal inducing superstar based CS or Battlefield 2?

Who am I kidding? I’m getting both. Cough.

GWBJR POTUS Podcast

2005-08-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

I’m listening to the President’s podcast. Which is pretty good. I mean, I don’t like the man but fireside chats and weekly reports to the people are a GOOD idea. After all, a good government is an employee to the people. And as an employer, I demand progress reports.

But the guy has really bad speech writers. I mean, enemies of ‘freedom’? What the hell does that mean? ‘We shall help the Iraqi’s defend their country’—wait, didn’t we just occupy them?

If John Kerry wasn’t such a dork, Bush Jr. would have never won. What president takes a 5-week vacation during a war? For gad’s sake.

Who did I vote for? I voted for Bush. Why? Cuz Kerry didn’t really explain his health plan, or his social security plans. Nor did he explain how he was going to solve the outsourcing problem America faces. Well he did, but I don’t care for shit like unions and his simple measures. You can go online and google Kerry’s plans but that’s a big hassle. I can sum it up in a word. Conservative.

Strangely enough, Bush was the one with the more capitalistic view on the economy but his shit is really bullshit right now. Importing stuff from china is such a hassle now. Japanese Camry’s are now almost as expensive as BMWs. For god’s sake, it’s fraggin Camry’s.

Incidentally enough, my older brother would have voted for Bush too but for entirely different reasons. He looks ‘mean.’ Which is true. I mean, he’s got one hostile western cowboy demeanor to him. But is Andrew Jackson the type of chief that USA should be lookin’ fer, or a Bismarckian one, one that can fuck up fuckers without getting dirt on our shoes—you know, from the digging of the mass graves.

Argh. Richard Dun out.

Testing a Msft Word Plugin

2005-08-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Testing Blogger For Word

I am Testing BFW, so there’s nothing interesting of note.

Supposedly, this Blog plugin from Google will post from my Microsoft Word document to my Blogger site, directly, without preamble and gufferhocky.

(On second thought, I have been making a lot of comics at the clerk job recently so maybe I’ll post the black and whites up. Maybe. After I touch em up a lil.)

Here's the site for the Word/Blogger plugin.
http://buzz.blogger.com/

Firefox Help

2005-08-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the Problem.
It's a complete waste of space to copy your settings.

Number one, the minute you change your settings on one computer, you have to change it on the other.

Number two, there's no documentation so the installer/human has to be the de-installer. This manual business is flaky cuz who knows what the program has done to the registry since then. Porting Firefox is also flaky when it comes to java. A Firefox port will close automatically if Java isn't reinstalled.

Here's what I want

While I know that it's stupid to share settings via one location, networks are far too unreliable for that, and you never know who might be snooping. Encrypting it keeps it somewhat safe but when it comes to browsing, fast is better than safe.

So Here's What I Want.
Auto-Syncing.

Say I'm on MainPC and I've just found an extension called Pornfinder. I hit search and the extension plops 10 or so links into a folder called Pornlinks in my bookmarks.

Here's the magic. I go to the bathroom to jerk off. Fuck! Amnesia! No jerkoff image! Luckily, my MM20 Sharp is nearby...damn! Only 20gb of storage! I don't put any porn here! Where's my links? Shit! No links! What do I do?

Autosync with the MainPC and grab any new data off it. Any new extensions would be added, any deleted extensions subtracted. Any new bookmarks, changes to css, mods, etc.

Anybody know how to do this? I think java might have to be used because I'd like to have it cross platform--then again, how are you going to access an app without using the api that they give you?

Plus how do you manage the network permissions and stuff? This is beyond my ability to accomplish but I would gladly pay someone to do a template of this for me. If not cross platform then at least for X Windows.

How To: Spot a Bullshit Review

2005-08-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt of the Sandisk Sansa review over at....wtf were they called?

News Update (6/23/05): SanDisk has informed me that a new firmware update will soon be available at their website allowing users to create a single playlist in their Sansa e100 series MP3 player. The modern age of user programmable firmware updates is wonderful. We are looking forward to seeing it.

- Kevin Nakano

Now the funny thing is the stuff in bold. Firmware update as of 7/16/05. Zero. Big fat Zero.

Now the other funny thing is the phrase 'user programmable firmware updates'.
Let me whip my Sansa SDK out...oh wait a minute, that's right! It doesn't fuckin' exist!

I'm calling bullshit on this one. In my country, we call these websites 'shills'. And then we stone them. When I say stone, i don't mean with granite, what with the heavy lifting bad for my back and all; I mean, we wall them up, Edgar Allen Poe style.

Design a T-shirt, Asshole.

2005-08-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

Engadget has a new contest.
LINK: CONTEST
Guess what it is.
Ah, Asian Cow-Tipping. Why Asian Cows? Because they're mad diesel. You might never have seen one but their mean as hell. They aren't gigantic but their muscular. They also have this half-glare that...mmmm...tasty beef---wait, where was I?

Design a T-shirt contest!

The due date is the 28th of the 8th month of 2005-->that's next week from today, btw.
So get cracking. You get a cool mp3 phone so it's a prize worth at least one hour of your creative talent.

I'm not very creative but I am a big cheater.
Sun Tzu Bingfa #1: Know your ~~enemy~~judges.
Here's what Peter Rojas looks like.

Here's a pan of Peter and his sidekick, Ryan Block (hah, yeah, and richard dun is my real name. Pshaw.)

Remember. Judges are human. And subjective. Thank god. God knows I hate creative people.

How To: Travel with Your Firefox -Windows XP

2005-08-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

FOR WINDOWS XP
What I want to do:
Fraggin install all my extensions, all my preferences, all my passwords to shitty forums I'll never EVER remember, all my bookmarks and all the MODs I've made to MY Firefox, on any box. Without the hassle.

Now, I'm sure you've seen Templeton's vbs rollout over at FFDEPLOY.
I could never really get FFDeploy to work because:
1. I dont admin a network or need to roll out more than 10 computers at a time.
2. I don't have the necessary tools to remotely call out vbscripts.
and 3. His shit gets a bit complicated.

SO FOR ALL YOU BASTARDS WHO ONLY NEED TO PORT FIREFOX ON JUST ONE COMPUTER: HERE.

Here's what I did to port my extensions from my Old computer to the New computer.

STEP1:
Go to your Program Files and Grab the entire C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
Winace this up and call it ::PROGRA::

Step 2:
Go to your C:\Document Settings\[Your User Name]\Application Data\Mozilla
Grab everything here, ace it up and call it ::APPLIED::
-So Now you have two folders, Mozilla Firefox in your PROGRA and Mozilla in your APPLIED

STEP 3
Put PROGRA and APPLIED in the new computer. Whatever Directory you want them in. Doesnt matter. Just remember where you put them though.

STEP 4: THE LAST PART
-Go to (the drive you want to port FF on, no shit):\Documents and Settings\(name of your login)\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\(your active profile name)\chrome\chrome.rdf
-search and replace any of your old links so that it'll point to your APPLIED location.
Per ejemplo:
Original->baseURL="jar:file:///X:/Documents%20and%20Settings/XXX/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/XXX.default/extensions/
New->baseURL="jar:file:///Y:/Documents%20and%20Settings/YYY/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/YYY.default/extension/

X and Y don't matter. Just make the new computer know where to find the new location of the .jar files. If you don't change the rdf file correctly, you get no formatting; it just looks like a big vbscript window with mashed up words like "File" and "Edit" all jumbled in one corner.

That's about it for Windows XP. Of course, what this does to your registry, I've no idea. As such I recommend you uninstall firefox before you install FFOX the Geekomon way.

Or you could do it the correct way, the FFDeploy Way with all the SFX and VBS and nice auto detecting of your the login names n'stuff. The general idea is the same though. Point the program to where the extensions are. The program will generate all the memory shit later.

Here's a piture of my firefox:

Podcast News: Nerdblurb

2005-08-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

One of the podcasts that I listen to--site: Nerdblurb--had this really funny podcast news I wanted to share.

They talk about games, technology, Apple News, and almost all things that are happening in the Old Religion of Geek-In-Front-Of-Computer-and-Playstation-ism.

So they said--hahahah-that---oh man it's funny. Go to MSN.com and do a search for 'gay nerd'--hahah, the very SECOND entry is NERDBLURB.com.

Hahaha. Mad funny. A side effect of making gay jokes(not vindicitive, biting ones but harmless, poking fun ones.) is that MSN will give gay traffic to you.

Hey, any traffic is good traffic.

Engadget Iced Out Gadget Contest Entry

2005-08-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here's my iced out engadget entry.
The contest is to hip-hop or cool-ize or put diamonds on your tech gear.
Exploiting old people is still funny right?

Comic News: House of M #5 and a Random Drawing

2005-08-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

This post is meaningless. Let me draw something nice so people dont get bored. Below the picture is a rant on House of M

Why review this issue? Because this issue makes HoM less empty. Not by much. You know that everything will return to status quo but then again, American comics epitomize inertia. Hippopatumus/sperm whale inertia. Never-changing fluff.

Like I said before, reviews are subjective. And if you're slightly racist, and honest to the fact that no one can go through life without being slightly racist (xenophobia is built into all humans. Deny it, ignore it, but how often do you review your own life to notice your fears, shitbag?), then you'll fit right into my basket of reading materials.

In this recent House of M #5, Bendis decides to awaken the heroes. Everyone's pissed off and Spider-man gets the full treatment of grief and 'don't fucking do this to me again.' After all, Bendis did resurrect his first love, gave him a son, enabled him a successful career, and made him loved by everyone, which is what he(and most everyone) desires in life--but then took it all away. Kindah like a spin on the For the Man Who has Everything story coupled with the Tragedy Device. And it's a great device. The same device that was used in the story where Batman's parents get scooped from their coffins and dangled over an open fire. There are times where it doesnt carry too well--in Ennis' Punisher, Ennis had Cavella piss over the Castle family graves--and there are times where it does.
It didn't work with Punisher because Ennis had already established that the Punisher was a fucked up war veteran--not the Marvel definition of hero. He just likes killing. And his family's death was only an excuse for him to do what he'd've eventually do in the first place. Left to his own devices, he might have as well killed his own family himself--that's my take. Any other take makes him un-unique.

Anyways, House of M may just be readable just because of issue #5 alone. Regardless of the comparison between Marvel's HoM vs DC's Crisis, comic books are comic books. It's never going to write about the political climate, or attempt to influence the masses. That'd be too HOT. The last time the comic industry did that, the government bankrupted them, raped them and submitted them to a Comics Code. So take it as it is. Just fluff.

Well written fluff. But fluff nonetheless. Like that dog at Cicero with the pink collar and the master with the fake breasts. Big, bombastic, eye-catching but so out of place and unreal that it reminds you of a Picasso painting. And Picasso makes you throw up.

You know, i think I'm going to stop reviewing American comics. It's hardly worth reviewing nowadays. I havent read a single good book since Transmetropolitan and Hitman. Ah well, got to read something.

BIG FROG ON STREET NEWS

2005-08-12T00:25:00.000-07:00

ENGADGET CONTEST

Okay, get out your photoshop, your illustrator, your favorite 3d fixer upper, as well as maybe your wacom tablet.

It's time to bling bling your gadget gear, send it in to the ~~Best Buy whores~~ Engadget folks, and get a PSP plus 10gb of free webspace.

Your mouth is fucking watering right now, isnt it.
Mine is. I want that free 10gb of free webspace...

Stupid Patent Idea 1: Ding!

2005-08-09T04:31:00.000-07:00

Someone should patent the frequency and modula of the elevator ding.

I mean, all elevator's use it. It has a specific function--tells you that you've arrived.

Come on. Unless there's already a patent for it.

Movie Review: Charlie and the Chocalate Factory

2005-08-09T03:08:00.000-07:00

You know, movie reviews are like peanut butter.
It's brown and it looks like shit, and it makes you fat.
Wait a minute.

Anyways, I really liked this movie. Tastes are subjective but then I'm very specific/passionate about what I like, and rather ascorbic/acerbic to stuff like David Goyer.

What I really do like about this movie is that it's simple. It's got a message. It's like Big Fish, another Burton film--but it also shares the same problems. There's bouts of stuff in the film that dont really klink well. Sure as hell, movies dont need to explain every little detail or kinky artifice but it's like peanut butter: Once God declares peanut butter to taste like peanut butter, it should also smell like peanut butter and not like old people. Unless you raid the fridge of a retirement home. Then it smells like Death and Registered Nurse urine.

The Physics must be obeyed, even if it is crazy monkey nonsense physics.

I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie and the Chocalate Factory. Little children might not like it. Because little children 1. Scare Easily, 2. Get Confused Easily, and 3. Don't like it when they get made fun of.

Also, this film could have easily been named Micheal Jackson and the Neverland Ranch.

And I totally disagree with the message in this film.

Day 3 of M-ATX: Blue Screen of Death

2005-08-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

Blue Screen of Death
Never update windows. NEVER.

This is actually a good BSOD. It's going to the doctor for a skin rash and then discovering that you have an early onset of melanoma-->You caught it early!.
The computer runs much smoother now.
I NOW know why ppl partition their drives. Just good for organizing.

NEW Red Powercolor 9250. I like it a lot. Vivo. Nice graphics, lots of chips on it. And it's red. Sniff.

The Old Geforce FX esta super dead 5 year card. It still works it just makes your screen look like a zebra. Fan's dead too.

Serenity News: Crazy Nate

2005-08-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Nathan Fillon is like the action hero comedian/Buffy hero. The guy walks, talks and acts like something out of a Buffy episode. Which may be the reason why Whedon employs his crazy ass. Admirable, talented but fraggin' crazy nonetheless.

He recently went to Warp 1 comics in Canada and someone--Darryl--tried to over charge him 3x the cover price. Which is the employer's right. And it is also the employee's right to go buckwild over this. So Nathan asked the fans of Serenity/Firefly to boycott Warp1...

Mad GEEKY if you ask me. But then, this fucking blog is called Geekomon.

On Whedonesque.com there's a whole diatribe about it. Here's an excerpt:

There is a fire that burns within the hearts of Browncoats. Cross them at your own peril. This is one thing I've learned in the past three weeks.
I posted a call to Browncoats to boycott a jerk. The results have been hilarious, I think we can all agree. However, my brother gave me a call, and has concerns about how far it's gone, and I think he may be right. Let's look at the pros and cons.

Pros- Comic book guy exposed. Lost some business as a result.
Cons- Employees at his store are getting flak they don't deserve. As a matter of fact, there were a number of employees who were kind and helpful. My pal Mark says he gets great service from the very same guy.
Pros- The comic is incredibly popular! All these folks trying to get ahold of it is amazing and bodes well for the movie.
Cons- There are two similar stores in Edmonton, Warp 2 and 3, that are not affilliated with Warp 1 for the same reasons I don't I like 'em. They, too, are losing business.
Pros- Happy Harbor is getting extra business. Browncoats are ordering their comics from Canada, just to support them. (Which is the most incredible thing I've ever heard of.)
Cons- I'm starting to feel like a dick. I just wanted to boycott the fella, and now he's being tortured.
Pros- Funny stories of other comic store owners getting into business because they didn't like that same fella. Trevor from Saturn Comics got banned from Warp 1 at age 14. As I understand it, his offence was asking where the Hulk comics were. Now, with his own store, he banned Darryl.

Man, I've seen this before. On MIRC and on DC++ hubs. It's called OP wars.
If you understood that joke, i feel sorry for you cuz it's super geeky.