Jesse

why do people doubt OnLive?

2009-12-31T12:14:00.004-06:00

I don't understand how come so many people think OnLive [Wikipedia] (the cloud-computed gaming environment which promises to run Crysis on its highest settings on a thin client at minimal cost to the end-user, see their short intro video here [OnLive]) isn't [Escapist] going [Slashdot] to work [Joystiq].

If it doesn't work, it won't be because of technological impossibility; it will be because of bad business strategies such as increasing their user base faster than they can lease and implement hardware.

Even Slashdot, normally full of intelligent people, has posts like this one which ends in:

Anyone who believes this is technically feasible, much less economically viable, is fucking *retarded*.

And he got modded +5 Insightful! (This post combined with people's input lag fears make up the majority of naysayers, sprinkled with a few people who are opposed to not actually having the game on their computer.)

Some people are right: 100 ms does matter when playing a multiplayer FPS. But even that is offset by the fact that, between OnLive clients, lag is all but eliminated.

Also, it's much easier for humans to account for visible lag (they press a button, wait 100 ms, and then a shot is fired), which OnLive will give us, than invisible lag (they press a button, a shot is fired, and 100 ms later their enemy may or may not have been hit), one of the current norms in multiplayer FPSs (there are ways around this). Previously, weapons like Quake 3's machine gun made sound effects that helped the player figure out whether they were actually hitting their target.

I think this has an excellent chance of succeeding if the price is right. OnLive probably won't be perfect even if it performs exactly as described, but it looks right for me.

I highly encourage people to watch the 48-minute demonstration video. I, for one, welcome our new cloud-gaming overlords.

OnLive is expected to be released "Winter 2009" which, I guess, includes the first few months of 2010.

illustrated stories from the bible

2009-08-01T12:53:00.004-06:00

Added to my wishlist:

Illustrated Stories From The Bible

wireless fail

2008-05-22T14:25:00.005-06:00

Default settings on Vista for my non-functioning wireless card. It took me a while to trace its non-functionality to this one (fucking) stupid registry setting. Somewhere, someone thought it might be useful that my wireless card wouldn't use DHCP by default.

Moron.

Dilbert: "Prepare to die."

2008-05-03T11:06:00.001-06:00

So Dilbert.com has given users the ability to change the ending of a comic.

Windows Live Gmail

2007-11-28T01:30:00.001-06:00

What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?

Nice. Very nice.

too good to be true

2007-10-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

Okay, so the last guy was trying to steal my money, but I got a laptop that was a little worse for a little better price:

$630

Well, truthfully, quite a bit worse. But now I don't feel as though I'm ripping someone off, so it's all good. :)

Dell Latitude D830

2007-10-08T15:55:00.000-06:00

If all goes well, this is what $680 is going to get me:

Dell Latitude D830
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7700 2.40 GHz 800 MHz FSB
Display 15.4" Widescreen UXGA LCD Panel - 1920x1200 resolution
Memory 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1 GB) 667 Mhz
Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (Up to 256 MB shared)
Hard Drive 160 GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
Network Interface Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet and v.92 56k Modem
Optical Drive 8X DVD+/-RW (DVD and CD Burner)
Wireless Networking Intel 4965 WiFi works with 802.11 a/g/Draft n
Dell 360 Bluetooth 2.1

Sound Integrated Sound W/ Subwoofer
Battery 85 WHr 9 cell Lithium Ion Battery
Warranty 3 Year Limited Warranty, On Site Next Business Day, 24x7 Technical Support
Security Subscription None
Internet Access 6 months Free AOL, AOL for Broadband, NetZero ISP, Netscape ISP
Ports and Configuration IEEE 1394 (firewire)
(3) USB 2.0 Ports
PC Card
Serial Port
SDRAM Configuration: 2 SoDIMM slots DDR2 4 GB Max!
Express Slot
Monitor Output Connection (15 pin)
S-Video Output (7 pin mini-DIN)
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Modem (RJ-11 connector)

Included Software Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0
Windows Media Player 10
DELL SUPPORT 3.0
Image Restore
Dell Owners Manual installed on system
Dell Direct Download

Fuck yeah? FUCK YEAH!

WWGD

2007-06-18T19:58:00.000-06:00

Here is another cool thing from Google -- and the best part is that it doesn't take 7.5 million years to compute.

But we can't give Google all credit this time; Microsoft did it too.

Deep Thought was nothing.

oh Google, what wont you say

2007-06-02T15:49:00.000-06:00

I'm sure many of you have seen this before. But step 3 is just too cool to take the chance that you haven't.

ignore all warnings

2007-05-13T13:44:00.000-06:00

People are idiots. I'm an idiot. But I'm not that much of an idiot.

I wouldn't mind having a satellite navigation system myself. Just know this: Just because my sat-nav told me to...

I wouldn't drive past warning signs into a pool of water deeper than the car.
I wouldn't drive off a cliff.
I wouldn't drive 320 k in the wrong direction.
And I certainly wouldn't drive into the path of an oncoming train.

Test Your Might - Spider-Man 3

2007-03-21T01:45:00.000-06:00

Test Your Might

Go here.
Watch any one of the 3 HD movies.
Reverse engineer the site to the point where you are able to download the video onto your computer (You must be able to do this without the use of QuickTime Pro).

This Spider-Man 3 trailer is all over the internet, so there's no point in asking you to prove your skill.

Skill level: Easy

choose your destiny

2007-02-28T01:00:00.000-06:00

Test Your Might

Go here.
Watch awesome embedded video (might not be compatible with Firefox).
Reverse engineer the site to the point where you are able to download the video onto your computer.
Give proof of your skill.

Ways of showing proof include uploading (privately) the video to YouTube or Google video. Legally, you probably aren't allowed to upload the video publicly.

Flawless victory.

Skill level: Hard

plane overflow!

2007-02-20T23:06:00.001-06:00

I know that Air Canada Jazz uses touch screens... Perhaps next time I take a flight I can... uh... validate this story.

How to crash an in-flight entertainment system
By Hugh Thompson

One of the most interesting examples of a software "abuse case" came to me rather abruptly on an airplane flight from Las Vegas to Orlando in mid 2005.

Each seat in the airplane had a small touch screen monitor built into the head rest of the chair in front, and on this particular airline, passengers could watch a variety of television channels and play a few simple games. One such game looked remarkably similar to the classic strategy game Tetris, where players use their skills to manipulate falling blocks on a screen to try and form horizontal lines. I'm a big fan of Tetris; for a few months in 1998 I was borderline obsessed with it. I would start looking at everyday objects and start mentally fitting them together with other tings in the room to form weird line configurations. One of the options on this particular airborne version of Tetris was to alter the number of blocks one could see in advance on the screen before they started falling.

To give myself the biggest advantage in the game, I pressed the + control as many times as it would allow and got to the maximum value of 4. I then put on my "bad guy" hat on and asked: How *else* can I change the value in this field? Near my armrest was a small phone console; you know, the one where you can make very important calls for a mere $22 per minute. I noticed that the phone had a numeric keypad and that it also controlled this television monitor embedded in the seat in front of me.

I then touched the screen in front of me to highlight the number "4" in the options configuration shown in Figure 1. I tried to enter the number 10 into that field through the phone keypad with no luck: it first changed to the number "1" followed by the number "0". Frustrated, I then made the assumption that it would only accept single digit values. My next test case was the number "8"; no luck there either, the number didn't change at all. I then tried the number 5: success! '5' is an interesting test case, it's a "boundary value" just beyond the maximum allowed value of the field which was '4'. A classic programming mistake is to be off by 1 when coding constraints. For example, the programmer may have intended to code the statements:

0 < value < 5

When what actually got coded was

0 < value = 5

I now had the software exactly where I wanted it, in an unintended state; the illegal value 5 was now in my target field. I then turn my attention back to the screen and hit the + button which, to my complete surprise, incremented the value to 6! Again, an implementation problem, the increment constrain probably said something like "if value = 4 do not increment." In this case, the value wasn't 4 but 5 so it happily incremented it to 6! I then continue to increment the value by pressing the + button until I get to 127 and then I pause for a moment of reflection. 127 is a very special number; it is the upper bound of a 1 byte signed integer. Strange things can happen when we add 1 to this value, namely that 127 + 1 = -128! I considered this for a moment as I kicked back a small bag of peanuts and in the interest of science I boldly pressed the + button once more. Suddenly, the display now flashes -128 just for an instant and then poof...screen goes black.

Poof...screen of the person next to me goes black.

Screens in front of me and behind me go black.

The entire plane entertainment system goes down (and thankfully the cascading system failure didn't spill over to the plane navigation system)!

After a few minutes of mumbling from some of the passengers, a fairly emotionless flight attendant reset the system and all was well. I landed with a new-found respect for the game of Tetris and consider this to be the most entertaining version of it I have ever played.

http://blogs.csoonline.com/node/151

made of meat

2007-02-20T22:51:00.001-06:00

THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
by Terry Bisson

"They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"Meat. They're made out of meat."

"Meat?"

"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."

"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"

"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."

"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."

"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."

"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."

"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they're made out of meat."

"Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."

"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?"

"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."

"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."

"No brain?"

"Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat! That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"So ... what does the thinking?"

"You're not understanding, are you? You're refusing to deal with what I'm telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat."

"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"

"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"

"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."

"Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."

"Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?"

"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual."

"We're supposed to talk to meat."

"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.' That sort of thing."

"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."

"I thought you just told me they used radio."

"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."

"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"

"Officially or unofficially?"

"Both."

"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."

"I was hoping you would say that."

"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"

"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"

"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."

"So we just pretend there's no one home in the Universe."

"That's it."

"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You're sure they won't remember?"

"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."

"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."

"And we marked the entire sector unoccupied."

"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"

"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."

"They always come around."

"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ..."

the end
http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html

Harper's speech on Israel, Feb 07/07

2007-02-08T01:41:00.000-06:00

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you, Linda, for that kind introduction, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for that very warm welcome.

I’m very pleased to join with the CIJA family of agencies this evening.

On behalf of Canada’s New Government, I’d like to thank you for helping to strengthen both Canadian civil society and the long-standing friendship between Canada and Israel,

Not to mention your encouragement of the Jewish community's full and active participation in the political process.

It’s a great honour, therefore, to be able to once again address this biennial gathering.

Now friends, I’m going to be brief in my remarks tonight, as the message I want to convey is clear, direct, and concise.

Over the past year, we got a pretty sharp reminder that it’s one thing to offer supportive words to Israel when it’s convenient, and quite another to stand firm in its hour of need.

Last summer, when Israel came under attack from terrorist groups, this government stood against those organizations and their objectives, and we stood with our friend in the democratic family of nations, the state of Israel.

We stood by the commitment I made at your last dinner. When it was not popular to do so, we stood and told the truth.

Israel had a friend when it mattered, and that, my friends, is the only thing that really counts.

Because a battle between a democratic state and terrorist groups who seek to destroy both it and its people is not a matter of shades of grey – it is a matter right and wrong.

Now friends, just as our government supports Israel’s right to defend her borders and her population, so too do we support a fair and just future for the Palestinian people.

And I know this is something you support as well, because each of us in this room tonight has a strong reverence for human dignity, and that’s why Canada’s New Government supports the creation of a viable, democratic Palestinian state that will live peacefully beside a secure, prosperous Israel.

The road to this much-needed state, however, will not be paved with the blood of innocent victims of terror. It will only be achieved through negotiations carried out in good faith by serious players who actually desire peace, and we sincerely believe that peace is what the majority of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians truly want.

And that’s why we’re going to continue standing up against the terrorists, extremists, and fanatics who eschew peace and stability while embracing violence and chaos.

And when faced with such threats, Israel will always have a steadfast friend in Canada’s New Government.

Thank you.

Shalom.

God bless Canada.

ship of fools

2007-01-21T21:05:00.000-06:00

SHIP OF FOOLS
by Ted Kaczynski

Published by OFF! Magazine, a zine produced by students at SUNY Binghamton and edited by Tim La Pietra.

Once upon a time, the captain and the mates of a ship grew so vain of their seamanship, so full of hubris and so impressed with themselves, that they went mad. They turned the ship north and sailed until they met with icebergs and dangerous floes, and they kept sailing north into more and more perilous waters, solely in order to give themselves opportunities to perform ever-more-brilliant feats of seamanship.

As the ship reached higher and higher latitudes, the passengers and crew became increasingly uncomfortable. They began quarreling among themselves and complaining of the conditions under which they lived.

"Shiver me timbers," said an able seaman, "if this ain’t the worst voyage I’ve ever been on. The deck is slick with ice; when I’m on lookout the wind cuts through me jacket like a knife; every time I reef the foresail I blamed-near freeze me fingers; and all I get for it is a miserable five shillings a month!"

"You think you have it bad!" said a lady passenger. "I can’t sleep at night for the cold. Ladies on this ship don’t get as many blankets as the men. It isn’t fair!"

A Mexican sailor chimed in: "¡Chingado! I’m only getting half the wages of the Anglo seamen. We need plenty of food to keep us warm in this climate, and I’m not getting my share; the Anglos get more. And the worst of it is that the mates always give me orders in English instead of Spanish."

"I have more reason to complain than anybody," said an American Indian sailor. "If the palefaces hadn’t robbed me of my ancestral lands, I wouldn’t even be on this ship, here among the icebergs and arctic winds. I would just be paddling a canoe on a nice, placid lake. I deserve compensation. At the very least, the captain should let me run a crap game so that I can make some money."

The bosun spoke up: "Yesterday the first mate called me a ‘fruit’ just because I suck cocks. I have a right to suck cocks without being called names for it!"

It’s not only humans who are mistreated on this ship," interjected an animal-lover among the passengers, her voice quivering with indignation. "Why, last week I saw the second mate kick the ship’s dog twice!"

One of the passengers was a college professor. Wringing his hands he exclaimed,

"All this is just awful! It’s immoral! It’s racism, sexism, speciesism, homophobia, and exploitation of the working class! It’s discrimination! We must have social justice: Equal wages for the Mexican sailor, higher wages for all sailors, compensation for the Indian, equal blankets for the ladies, a guaranteed right to suck cocks, and no more kicking the dog!"

"Yes, yes!" shouted the passengers. "Aye-aye!" shouted the crew. "It’s discrimination! We have to demand our rights!"

The cabin boy cleared his throat.

"Ahem. You all have good reasons to complain. But it seems to me that what we really have to do is get this ship turned around and headed back south, because if we keep going north we’re sure to be wrecked sooner or later, and then your wages, your blankets, and your right to suck cocks won’t do you any good, because we’ll all drown."

But no one paid any attention to him, because he was only the cabin boy.

The captain and the mates, from their station on the poop deck, had been watching and listening. Now they smiled and winked at one another, and at a gesture from the captain the third mate came down from the poop deck, sauntered over to where the passengers and crew were gathered, and shouldered his way in amongst them. He put a very serious expression on his face and spoke thusly:

"We officers have to admit that some really inexcusable things have been happening on this ship. We hadn’t realized how bad the situation was until we heard your complaints. We are men of good will and want to do right by you. But – well – the captain is rather conservative and set in his ways, and may have to be prodded a bit before he’ll make any substantial changes. My personal opinion is that if you protest vigorously – but always peacefully and without violating any of the ship’s rules – you would shake the captain out of his inertia and force him to address the problems of which you so justly complain."

Having said this, the third mate headed back toward the poop deck. As he went, the passengers and crew called after him, "Moderate! Reformer! Goody-liberal! Captain’s stooge!" But they nevertheless did as he said. They gathered in a body before the poop deck, shouted insults at the officers, and demanded their rights: "I want higher wages and better working conditions," cried the able seaman. "Equal blankets for women," cried the lady passenger. "I want to receive my orders in Spanish," cried the Mexican sailor. "I want the right to run a crap game," cried the Indian sailor. "I don’t want to be called a fruit," cried the bosun. "No more kicking the dog," cried the animal lover. "Revolution now," cried the professor.

The captain and the mates huddled together and conferred for several minutes, winking, nodding and smiling at one another all the while. Then the captain stepped to the front of the poop deck and, with a great show of benevolence, announced that the able seaman’s wages would be raised to six shillings a month; the Mexican sailor’s wages would be raised to two-thirds the wages of an Anglo seaman, and the order to reef the foresail would be given in Spanish; lady passengers would receive one more blanket; the Indian sailor would be allowed to run a crap game on Saturday nights; the bosun wouldn’t be called a fruit as long as he kept his cocksucking strictly private; and the dog wouldn’t be kicked unless he did something really naughty, such as stealing food from the galley.

The passengers and crew celebrated these concessions as a great victory, but the next morning, they were again feeling dissatisfied.

"Six shillings a month is a pittance, and I still freeze me fingers when I reef the foresail," grumbled the able seaman. "I’m still not getting the same wages as the Anglos, or enough food for this climate," said the Mexican sailor. "We women still don’t have enough blankets to keep us warm," said the lady passenger. The other crewmen and passengers voiced similar complaints, and the professor egged them on.

When they were done, the cabin boy spoke up – louder this time so that the others could not easily ignore him:

"It’s really terrible that the dog gets kicked for stealing a bit of bread from the galley, and that women don’t have equal blankets, and that the able seaman gets his fingers frozen; and I don’t see why the bosun shouldn’t suck cocks if he wants to. But look how thick the icebergs are now, and how the wind blows harder and harder! We’ve got to turn this ship back toward the south, because if we keep going north we’ll be wrecked and drowned."

"Oh yes," said the bosun, "It’s just so awful that we keep heading north. But why should I have to keep cocksucking in the closet? Why should I be called a fruit? Ain’t I as good as everyone else?"

"Sailing north is terrible," said the lady passenger. "But don’t you see? That’s exactly why women need more blankets to keep them warm. I demand equal blankets for women now!"

"It’s quite true," said the professor, "that sailing to the north imposes great hardships on all of us. But changing course toward the south would be unrealistic. You can’t turn back the clock. We must find a mature way of dealing with the situation."

"Look," said the cabin boy, "If we let those four madmen up on the poop deck have their way, we’ll all be drowned. If we ever get the ship out of danger, then we can worry about working conditions, blankets for women, and the right to suck cocks. But first we’ve got to get this vessel turned around. If a few of us get together, make a plan, and show some courage, we can save ourselves. It wouldn’t take many of us – six or eight would do. We could charge the poop, chuck those lunatics overboard, and turn the ship to the south."

The professor elevated his nose and said sternly, "I don’t believe in violence. It’s immoral."

"It’s unethical ever to use violence," said the bosun.

"I’m terrified of violence," said the lady passenger.

The captain and the mates had been watching and listening all the while. At a signal from the captain, the third mate stepped down to the main deck. He went about among the passengers and crew, telling them that there were still many problems on the ship.

"We have made much progress," he said, "But much remains to be done. Working conditions for the able seaman are still hard, the Mexican still isn’t getting the same wages as the Anglos, the women still don’t have quite as many blankets as the men, the Indian’s Saturday-night crap game is a paltry compensation for his lost lands, it’s unfair to the bosun that he has to keep his cocksucking in the closet, and the dog still gets kicked at times.

"I think the captain needs to be prodded again. It would help if you all would put on another protest – as long as it remains nonviolent."

As the third mate walked back toward the stern, the passengers and the crew shouted insults after him, but they nevertheless did what he said and gathered in front of the poop deck for another protest. They ranted and raved and brandished their fists, and they even threw a rotten egg at the captain (which he skillfully dodged).

After hearing their complaints, the captain and the mates huddled for a conference, during which they winked and grinned broadly at one another. Then the captain stepped to the front of the poop deck and announced that the able seaman would be given gloves to keep his fingers warm, the Mexican sailor would receive wages equal to three-fourths the wages of an Anglo seaman, the women would receive yet another blanket, the Indian sailor could run a crap game on Saturday and Sunday nights, the bosun would be allowed to suck cocks publicly after dark, and no one could kick the dog without special permission from the captain.

The passengers and crew were ecstatic over this great revolutionary victory, but by the next morning they were again feeling dissatisfied and began grumbling about the same old hardships.

The cabin boy this time was getting angry.

"You damn fools!" he shouted. "Don’t you see what the captain and the mates are doing? They’re keeping you occupied with your trivial grievances about blankets and wages and the dog being kicked so that you won’t think about what is really wrong with this ship --– that it’s getting farther and farther to the north and we’re all going to be drowned. If just a few of you would come to your senses, get together, and charge the poop deck, we could turn this ship around and save ourselves. But all you do is whine about petty little issues like working conditions and crap games and the right to suck cocks."

The passengers and the crew were incensed.

"Petty!!" cried the Mexican, "Do you think it’s reasonable that I get only three-fourths the wages of an Anglo sailor? Is that petty?

"How can you call my grievance trivial? shouted the bosun. "Don’t you know how humiliating it is to be called a fruit?"

"Kicking the dog is not a ‘petty little issue!’" screamed the animal-lover. "It’s heartless, cruel, and brutal!"

"Alright then," answered the cabin boy. "These issues are not petty and trivial. Kicking the dog is cruel and brutal and it is humiliating to be called a fruit. But in comparison to our real problem – in comparison to the fact that the ship is still heading north – your grievances are petty and trivial, because if we don’t get this ship turned around soon, we’re all going to drown.

"Fascist!" said the professor.

"Counterrevolutionary!" said the lady passenger. And all of the passengers and crew chimed in one after another, calling the cabin boy a fascist and a counterrevolutionary. They pushed him away and went back to grumbling about wages, and about blankets for women, and about the right to suck cocks, and about how the dog was treated. The ship kept sailing north, and after a while it was crushed between two icebergs and everyone drowned.

© Ted Kaczynski, 1999

http://www.sacredfools.org/CrimeScene/CaseFiles/S2/ShipOfFoolsStory.htm

with great power comes great responsibility, Multiverse

2006-12-08T14:04:00.000-06:00

Apparently... Multiverse is coming out with a new MMORPG.

This one is called Firefly. Yes, Joss Whedon's Firefly is being adapted to the PC by a company that isn't even a developer. But the company makes tools for creating games, and they'll be hiring a developer to do the work; Multiverse will take a cut of the developer's revenue.

Expect something tangible as early as 2008.

Fans around the world and I will probably be pretty passionate about this game and the developers will have to use bullet-proof cars to do their daily commuting if they mess this one up... ;)

If this is anything like Eve Online with ground characters, I'll play it, and if it's anything like WoW-style playability, I'll spit on it and grind it into dust with my heel, before apologizing profusely for the blasphemy.

higgledy-piggledy is a word ya know

2006-12-03T21:33:00.000-06:00

This meteorite, approximately 4.5 billion years old (the age of our Sun and solar system), is not that important.

What IS important is the organic matter inside the meteorite, which is apparently older than the meteorite itself.

From the National Geographic article:
"What's really striking about this is that these globules clearly could not possibly have formed where [the meteorite] itself formed," Messenger said.

"Under those extreme conditions the air that you'd breathe would be solid ice. You would never find those conditions in the asteroid belt or anywhere close to the sun."

. . .

The meteorite likely formed in the outer reaches of the asteroid belt, but the organic material it contains probably had a far more distant origin.

Keep in mind that organic != life. But it's a possibility that could explain the origins of life on Earth. That, of course, or some sort of omnipotent being who looks like a ape and decided to create beings all higgledy-piggledy in His own image, because He's just that self-centered and confused.

"Will We Even Be Able To Play Half Life 2?"

2006-12-03T20:53:00.000-06:00

Some people asked me to post a link to this, so here it is:

An entire thread devoted to figuring out whether monitors will be able to handle the latest games.

What more can I say?

another nd post

2006-11-15T22:41:00.000-06:00

This was done in response to someone "beating" my record on Narbacular Drop:

Click here for hi-res version.

I say "beaten" in quotations because he basically cut off the first two seconds of his video to beat me. How much did he beat me by? Two seconds. That said, I had to make a new speed run because even then, this meant someone had matched me.

So ha.

...

Back to homework now, I guess.

glimpse

2006-11-14T02:03:00.000-06:00

This isn't meant to be interesting for anyone but me, but hey, if you like it, that's good!

4457 pictures, 10 days.

Music: Blue Man Group - Drumbone

Tools used (freeware): Microsoft Webcam Timershot, Google Picasa2, VirtualDub

using Linux

2006-10-12T19:28:00.000-06:00

Okay... Everyone knows about Linux. A lot of people even like Linux. But who in 7 hells actually uses it?

Well, I do, now. And I can literally uninstall it in 5 seconds if I wanted to. How?

Take a look:

As you can see, I'm running it from inside Windows. I've dual-booted Linux in the past, and you know what that entailed? Partitioning my hard drive. I don't know about you, but I hate segregating. It's virtually racism.

... Applause for the pun? No? Okay, I'll continue.

So who would want to use Xubuntu? Here's what Xubuntu is:

"Xubuntu is a complete GNU/Linux based system with an Ubuntu base. It's lighter, and more efficient than Ubuntu with GNOME or KDE, since it uses the Xfce Desktop environment, which makes it ideal for old or low-end machines, as well as thin-client networks."

No visual tricks or doohickeys or anything like that. I can even have Xubuntu running while I'm playing a game, while it only takes up 90 megabytes of RAM (not that I would, but I'm just saying...).

Here are the pros:

No partitioning of disks!
If you don't like it, delete it!
Boot time is faster than if you installed in natively!
You still have Windows!
Making Virtual PC full screen makes it feel as if you are on a Xubuntu machine.
If you aren't familiar with the benefits of the Ubuntu Linux, go here.
Browsing the web can't possibly be safer:
1. It's Firefox
2. It's Linux
3. Even if a virus manages to screw all that up, your Windows can NOT be affected outside the Virtual Machine. 1337.

And the cons:

Does not include a source compiler unless you use alternate install CD.
A few of the games that ship with Ubuntu need to be installed... which is a really easy thing to do in Linux.
Takes up 128 MB of ram to run comfortably... OMGWTFBBQ!

If you've ever wanted to try Linux, but wanted to keep Windows, and didn't want to partition your disks (partitioning disks is potentially dangerous... it killed my sister), I definitely recommend Microsoft Virtual PC with Xubuntu. Both are free downloads. If you aren't that computer savvy, then this couldn't be any safer: You simply cannot mess up your computer while installing this. It's safe, secure, and fast.

Choosing amount of RAM for Xubuntu:

One way of deleting Xubuntu once you've screwed it up:

That, in the above picture, is a virtual hard drive, and I can install as many operating systems as I want to it. Buahaha.

Future post: Using Virtual PC with Ubuntu, since I haven't actually tried it yet (with Virtual PC) and probably should before I continue talking about how great Xubuntu runs on VPC.

this is like... asking for a celeron and getting a core 2 extreme...

2006-09-28T22:28:00.000-06:00

For those Computer Science students who haven't checked this out... Let's just say you're missing out.

Hello, legal copy of Windows. I don't believe we've met?

second life

2006-09-23T00:13:00.000-06:00

It is now possible to join Second Life without a credit card, so that is what I did recently.

My Satyr.

My first interaction happened to be with the SCP (the Second Life Police) while they were interrogating a girl named Aferdita:

[21:54] Billyjack Zuhal: Leave now Ridado.
[21:54] Momma Berjis: Hello Ridadao
[21:55] Momma Berjis: Ridado we told you to leave and you didn't
[21:55] Momma Berjis: You are interfering with SCP affairs.

Just because I didn't leave when they were interrogating this girl made them put a tube of metal around my guy and so that I couldn't escape. So I tried to run around inside the chamber, looking for a way out.

[21:56] Momma Berjis: Ridado plz calm yourself you are in a cleansing chamber.
[21:56] Me: I feel cleansed!
[21:56] Me: SAVE ME! SAVE ME~
[21:56] Momma Berjis: If you remain still you will be let out automatically.

Why would I stay still? I was stuck in a chamber for God's sake!

[21:56] Me: waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
[21:56] Momma Berjis: Aferdita you may go
[21:56] Momma Berjis: Ridado is the problem.
[21:57] Me: AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[21:57] Billyjack Zuhal: Ridado
[21:57] Billyjack Zuhal: Please, remain quiet or we will remove your ability to talk.
[21:57] Me: LMAO
[21:57] Momma Berjis: Okay thats it.
[21:58] Me: lol
[21:58] Momma Berjis: tsk tsk tsk
[21:58] Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
[21:58] Momma Berjis: I am sending a report to SCP HQ.
[21:58] Momma Berjis: HMMM they are busy.
[21:58] Momma Berjis: I'm going to try Linden Affairs.
[21:58] Me: Who are you guys, anyway?
[21:58] Billyjack Zuhal: SCP
[21:58] Me: Who's that?
[21:58] Momma Berjis: Second Life Police
[21:58] Me: Ah.
[21:59] Momma Berjis: okay I sent a report in for a Mr.Ridado Serapis
[21:59] Me: For moving around in a chamber mathingy?
[22:00] Momma Berjis: No
[22:00] Me: I have no clue what's going on.
[22:00] Billyjack Zuhal: We asked you to leave becuase you were interfering with SCP affairs. You refused to and therefore you are now being contained.
[22:00] Me: I did? You did?
[22:00] Billyjack Zuhal: Yes, we did.

By now, I had found a way to break out of the metal chamber. Apparently I had already broken three different rules in the Second Life universe.

[22:00] Momma Berjis: 1.Violation of SCP affairs
[22:00] Me: I wasn't even paying attention
[22:00] Momma Berjis: 2.Leaving without permission
[22:00] You: I thought you guys let me out
[22:00] You: What if I had just flown away?
[22:00] Momma Berjis: 3.Unsuitable behaivor
[22:00] Me: Oh
[22:00] Me: How I'd do that
[22:00] Momma Berjis: If you read the Terms and Agreemetns you would have seen under section 3 all that I just said
[22:01] Me: Ah.
[22:01] Me: Mmkay.
[22:01] Billyjack Zuhal: We would have decativated your account immedietly.
[22:01] Me: For what?
[22:01] Billyjack Zuhal: Running away from us.
[22:01] Me: Ah... lol... I didn't even know
[22:01] Billyjack Zuhal: Ridado, I don't see you as registering a credit card with us, why?
[22:02] Me: I'm finding this hilarious, even if this is serious
[22:02] Billyjack Zuhal: This is serious.
[22:02] Momma Berjis: That is too bad.
[22:02] Me: Because I don't have a credit card
[22:02] Billyjack Zuhal: It is ok, I was just curious.
[22:02] Billyjack Zuhal: Ridado, we sent in a report of you to Linden Affairs.

*silence*

[22:02] Me: So... You guys like music?
[22:02] Billyjack Zuhal: Do not try and seduce us.
[22:02] Me: Ah. Cool.
[22:03] Momma Berjis: It should take about 3 mins to process.
[22:03] Me: I see.

*silence*

[22:03] Me: ... What am I being reported for again?
[22:03] Billyjack Zuhal: Excuse me.
[22:03] Billyjack Zuhal: I have to deal with something, Colonel Berjis, hold him.
[22:04] Me: Yes. Don't let me go. That would be most serious.

By this time I had escaped around 5 times, after which I would then calmly sit in front of them, and allow them to put me back in the jail thingy so that I could break out again.

[22:10] Me: So...
[22:10] Me: What's up, guys?
[22:10] Me: Am I allowed to leave?
[22:10] Me: Or should I just wait
[22:11] Me: Or have people forgotten about me?
[22:11] Me: Cuz that would make me sad.
[22:11] Me: *sips pop*
[22:11] Billyjack Zuhal: Ridado.
[22:12] Me: Billyjack.
[22:12] Billyjack Zuhal: If you are talking, we can not hear you because we have taken away your ability to speak.
[22:12] Billyjack Zuhal: Only you can see it.
[22:12] Billyjack Zuhal: Ridado
[22:12] Billyjack Zuhal: Stop trying to escape.
[22:12] Billyjack Zuhal: You will not receive your ability to talk.
[22:13] Billyjack Zuhal: Stop trying to escape.
[22:13] Billyjack Zuhal: It just makes things worse.
(I broke out again around here)
[22:14] You: SORRY
[22:15] Billyjack Zuhal: ...

At this point, I was laughing my ass off. Their little jail wasn't very effective. However, something told me that I should not break out again if I wanted to keep my account. So I tried to keep calm. And then I found out that I could wear pieces of furniture the same way I could wear clothing... So I dressed up as the Green Giant and attached furniture to my body. I think it was attaching a cabin to my elbow that made them go over the edge.

See that bit of green in the middle? That's me.

Keep in mind that these people are moderators.

[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: ridado
[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: you cunt fuck
[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: you are such a dumbass
[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: you dont understand shit
[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: you must be like 10 or some shit
[22:16] Billyjack Zuhal: we say cooperate and your like OOO NOOO WTF LOL I CANT IM GREEN OMFG

Then Billyjack let me out of the jail and flew away. So I was left there with Momma Berjis, dressed as the Green Giant, with random household furniture attached to my body.

I looked at him. I wondered if Billyjack had also given back my ability to speak.

[22:17] You: Okay.
[22:17] You: Can you hear me?
[22:17] Momma Berjis: maybe
[22:18] You: Cool.
[22:18] You: I'm a house.
[22:18] Momma Berjis: ur a fag

And then Momma flew away as well.

Needless to say, I reported both of those moderators. They hurt my feelings.

oops

2006-09-17T21:53:00.000-06:00

Afterwards, I realized I couldn't delete the aliases.

take back what you said about us being violent or we shall DESTROY YOU

2006-09-17T02:57:00.000-06:00

On September 12, 2006, in a lecture on "Faith, Reason and the University", Pope Benedict quoted the opinion of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

In response, angered Islamic communities have responded by violence, attacking two Catholic churches, one Anglican church, and two Greek Orthodox churches in the West Bank and Gaza with "guns, firebombs and lighter fluid, leaving church doors charred and walls scorched by flames and pocked with bullet holes."

"Ha," say the Muslims. "We sure proved him wrong."

steam, circuits, and music

2006-09-05T00:32:00.000-06:00

Steam-powered "Steampunk" robot by I-Wei Huang... Imagine this thing 1000 times larger, coming through the hills as they do in animes.

Also, check out this story on an artificial intelligence that creates complex and pleasing pieces of music.

sunday bloody sunday by George Bush

2006-09-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

By "Dunno!"

He's actually pretty good.

for those who like to sing their sorrows

2006-08-31T16:27:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of IFILM.com

"This real life choir from Finland harmonizes their complaints about life, love and everything in between."

this summer, a movie trailer, THIS SUMMER!!

2006-08-27T18:46:00.000-06:00

From Something Awful

Originally recorded using posts from a thread that's about two years old.

top 10 best and worst shows on primetime network tv 2004-2005

2006-08-21T13:34:00.000-06:00

Top 10 Best and Worst Shows on Primetime Network TV 2004-2005

Why is it I find so many of my favorite shows on the "WORST" list? :D

its amazing what you can learn when you look at it from "their" point of view

2006-08-15T13:01:00.000-06:00

The truth about Jews and the American film industry.

My mom once forwarded to me a joke about a Jewish man reading an Arab newspaper. When asked why he was reading the newspaper by a Jewish friend, the first man replied that reading Jewish newspapers made him sad, because they were about the suffering and poverty that occurs in Israel. However, in the Arab newspapers, the Jewish people own Hollywood, the film industry, and the Western World's banks.

getting pregnant

2006-08-04T17:41:00.000-06:00

From whitestkids.com

"I can't read it, what does it say?"

how a pc explains net neutrality.

2006-08-04T15:39:00.000-06:00

From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"Oh, okay... Right... *sigh*... I'm a PC."

pervert reporter :D

2006-08-01T18:18:00.001-06:00

By Colin Firth
Video courtesy of boreme.com

smothered

2006-07-31T15:26:00.000-06:00

According to the BBC "the prisoner Hezbollah wants most" is Samir Qantar. On April 22, 1979, Qantar murdered 28-year-old Danny Haran and his 4-year-old daughter and caused the death of another Haran daughter, age 2. Haran's widow, Smadar Haran Kaiser, describes the crime (she transliterates the murderer's name as "Kuntar"):

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border.

Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer.

As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat.

They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

The BBC gives a rather more sanitized account of the crime: "Qantar . . . attacked a block of flats in Nahariha in 1979, killing a father and his daughter."

Narbacular? what the heck does that mean?

2006-07-22T12:25:00.000-06:00

What has Jesse been up to? Quite simply, Narbacular Drop:

The premise of the game is that you can create two portals, a red and a blue one, to go through the game. If you enter the blue portal, you will come out the red portal, and vice-versa. As you can see in the above picture, I ran into the wall and was shot into the air because my other portal was on the ground. I also placed a portal on the ceiling and made a portal under the box, and the box came out of the ceiling.

Here, I can be seen trapping some frog dude in a cage by making a portal in the cage, and then creating a portal under him. He fell sideways into the cage.

The game's official website (which sometimes exceeds its bandwidth limit for the day) can be found here. If you cannot download the game from there, you can download the game from here.

Thanks to Kum for showing me Valve's new game, Portal. The makers of Narbacular Drop are working with Valve to create Portal, which is how I found this game.

By the way, I have the world's fastest time to beat the game: 1:28. Second place is 1:45. I emailed my run to the website admin, but if it fails to show up there in time, just ask and I can email it to you. However, please play the game through before you watch my or anyone's speed run, as there are spoilers for how to beat the levels.

***EDIT: My fastest time is now 1:11.

Restore Marriage Canada! Newsletter

2006-07-06T12:22:00.000-06:00

Restore Marriage Canada! Newsletter

Does this make anybody else shudder? I opted in to their website newsletter so that I could stay informed of what they were up to.

It's about Harper's decision to allow Parliament to consider whether to take another look at same-sex marriages:

"What this means in the simplest terms is that if this measure passes Parliament, then we will still have a showdown over marriage itself at some future time. But if it fails, it is unlikely that Parliament will consider restoring traditional marriage in Canada until the damage to the very fabric of our society is obvious. By then, it will be too late to reverse that damage.

And make no mistake. Unless we restore traditional marriage, that damage to our society is inevitable."

Sometimes, I feel as if I'm the only person that considers this ordeal to be a question of human rights... But at least all you intellectuals that read my blog are on the same wavelength with me here. [Cuz you guys aren't idiots]

What REALLY bugs me is black people or female people that oppose the same-sex marriages. Isn't it obvious to them that they'd be slaves or unable to vote if they had the same mindset a few decades ago?

hope is emo

2006-06-25T23:30:00.001-06:00

By Crista Flanagan

DIE HOPE!

500 gigahertz? lara croft's boobs for a major rendering upgrade!?

2006-06-22T16:00:00.000-06:00

From Popular Mechanics

Yes. The chip above, from IBM, contains 500 GHz of raw CPU power. I want that thing in my pants. And then in my computer; what a sexy piece of technology.

More:

500 GHz - 500 000 000 000 cycles per second; this thing is over 150 times the speed of your computer, averaging just over 1 000 000 fps in Doom 3 when running SLI. (I might have made that up)
To run at these speeds, the chip has to be cooled to 4.5 Kelvins. Bummer? Not really; the chip still runs at 350 GHz when at room temperature. I can live with that... I guess.
Chip can theoretically support 1 THz (terahertz), or 100 GHz, even at room temperature. Dude.

Here's a movie for those of you who like those moving pictures.
(You will be directed away from the site)

another jesus christ post

2006-06-19T00:10:00.000-06:00

Warning! Do not look at the picture below if you won't like it!

By Jeff MacDonald

"One of the points of the recent 'Capitalist Pig' comic was this: How many of you thought, 'Why are those people getting so worked up over that [Muhammad] comic? It's only a comic, we Christians wouldn't have done that, no way.'" - Jeff MacDonald

It's true, Jeff. So true.

white ninja has weird feet

2006-06-18T23:51:00.000-06:00

By White Ninja Comics

Saskatoon's most well known comic. Actually, Saskatoon's most well-known anything.

jezze izza cat!

2006-06-13T20:56:00.000-06:00

By Jesse

Today, my best friend finally decided to put his foot down and discontinue playing WoW. He smashed his WoW CD's, uninstalled the game, and gave his account to a friend who changed his password for him.

I congratulated him. He thanked me.

The next words out of his mouth were, "So now I'm playing Heroes of Might and Magic 3! What a kick-ass game!"

whee!

2006-06-12T22:04:00.000-06:00

Probably by getfirefox.com

See? Even Microsoft Internet Explorer is excited about the Nintendo Wii.

lol... tasteless humour...

2006-06-07T22:33:00.000-06:00

By Javier Prato

This is pretty ironic... :D and no, I'm not just posting this because I'm Jewish. And no, I'm not endorsing this kinda stuff. And no, I don't think Natalie Portman is all that attractive.

One of the above sentences is a lie.

AMV Hell

2006-06-07T22:26:00.000-06:00

By www.amvhell.com

Just because I'm a fan of Kirk. ^_^

play faster, trumpets! faster! muahahahaha!

2006-06-04T04:37:00.000-06:00

From Nintendo.com

The part that makes me want a Wii, odd as it may be, isn't Mario, Link, or Samus. It's the conducting 'game' that has me interested.

good thing im so photogenic

2006-05-30T23:01:00.000-06:00

From hlcomic.com

If you've played through Half-Life 2 and haven't read Christopher Livingston's "Concerned" yet, you're missing out.

March 30, 2006 (by "clates")

2006-05-29T00:16:00.000-06:00

By clates, powered by vimeo.com

Taken in Burnaby, BC, Canada.

the real reason to make "the switch"

2006-05-26T02:29:00.000-06:00

From ellenfeiss.net

This was a real commerical produced by Apple. It was pulled from the air shortly after publication for drawing "the wrong kind of attention" to their product.