Dec 31, 2012
Dec 25, 2012
TIL: Skijoring
Last week at work one of my coworkers suggested we go cross country skiing. In one of the maps, they mentioned skijoring. Looks fun and dangerous.
Dec 24, 2012
Dec 23, 2012
Custom lego designs
Sad, that Lego stopped offering purchase of custom designs. I thought this was a great idea, fitting with the "long tail" economics and personalization of Web 2.0.
Scout 2012-04
Messed up at CBS
Why would CBS run 4 hours of paid programming locally instead of the Packers-Titans game? Why would the NFL and CBS make it so difficult? This is the second game this year where we can't get local coverage.
AFOS: Not a One-Hit Wonder
I have to disagree with Carrie Keagan's assertion on VH-1's one-hit wonders. Even according to the insider definition of having top 40 on the top 100 hits, A Flock of Seagulls had 3 in the top 40 of the Billboard 100.
Dec 21, 2012
The Hiss of Data
From on the Mn SWF mailing list:
This article The Hiss of Data discusses fantasy user interfaces (FUI), both from a cyber video and audio perspective.
What is lacking in my current experience is focused audio signals. It is calm, at least, to only have the Operating system sounds, but, sometimes, it would be nice to have notifications from different browser tabs - the Jenkins build is complete." Of course this would require audio output which my work workstation lacks unless I jack in my headphones, so all those signals might be for not.
Windows 8 + UI Four C's
An angry rant, but some good talking points. I feel his pain when the "charms menu" suddenly appears; when trying to determine where to find something in the new interface (like setting up a Wireless Network) and abort to old Windows interface or Agent Ransack; or the whole Mondrian Metro interface of randomly placed squares as an organization paradigm.
- Control
- Conveyance
- Continuity
- Context
My ideal interface for an OS would be Android with easier to use copy and paste functionality so I could actually produce content from it.
I love the speed of my Asus Win 8 machine. I enjoy the touchscreen for scrolling and card games. But it's definitely a wierd incohesive beast right now.
Here are the UI guidelines from Microsoft.
Dec 19, 2012
Why can't HTML5 simply wrap text?
It'd be great if modern HTML5 semantics understood basic 1989-era multicolumn linked text like Aldus PageMaker did.
CSS3 extensions show some promise. CSS3 hyphenation only works in some browsers, but uses language to determine hyphenation.
Dec 18, 2012
Top Chef Unibrow
Why is the Top Chef unibrow guy so hypercritical of everything? His comments are gross, his attitude is basal and his unibrow is unsanitary.
Dec 17, 2012
"...the whole nation is degraded...
Not by plan, saw the movie Bobby last Friday night. The quote in the movie is fitting for the tragedy of that time as well as the present:
This is a time of shame and sorrow It is not a day for politics I have saved this one opportunity to speak briefly to you about this mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.
It is not the concern of any one race The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed No one - no matter where he lives or what he does - can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed And yet it goes on and on.
Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by his assassin's bullet.
No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.
Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence - whenever we tear at the fabric of life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.
"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, “there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."
Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire weapons and ammunition they desire.
Too often we honor swagger and bluster and the wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach nonviolence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some looks for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear; violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.
For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is a slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all. I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies - to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community, men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear - only a common desire to retreat from each other - only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is now what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of human purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of all. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.
Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanish it with a program, nor with a resolution.
But we can perhaps remember - even if only for a time - that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short movement of life, that they seek - as we do - nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Surely this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our hearts brothers and countrymen once again.
-Robert F. Kennedy, Cleveland City Club, April 5, 1968
More quotes from RFK here.
Dec 4, 2012
V'ger
I heard this story on the Current this morning, Voyager onto the space highway. The woman on the radio station morning show joked about how the Federation officers in the future all believed it was V'ger because of a bit of dirt over the name.
Then tonight, we started watching another Space 1999 episode: Voyager's Return. In this episode, which clearly predates Star Trek:TMP, Voyager returns to mankind complete with additional knowledge, and a drive that causes potential trouble for humans. This Voyager apparently has an inside from within which a pilot can sit spaciously.
Dec 3, 2012
Dave Prowse
Dave Prowse (aka the body of Darth Vader) plays a Doctor Who-like monster in Space 1999: The Beta Cloud.
Vikings Fashions
Do those nametags look very temporary, like they could be unstitched and replaced midgame?
Dec 2, 2012
Windows 8 Metro
Not a fan so far of the Windows 8 and Metro interface. I like the grids most touch interfaces use, where the grids are regular and reasonable layout configuration. Metro's horizontal flow is not as efficient for finding apps as is the Android interface. I'm also not liking applications that think they do not need menus anymore. Take the Microsoft Applications that have come out recently - Office, and the apps delivered with Windows 8 - Spider solitaire does not have configuration menus, so where do you configure the application? Back on the main metro interface next to other apps.
How Beautiful
Tracked down this song from the Spirit and Song book last week. How Beautiful by Twila Paris: midi
1. How beautiful the hands that served
the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
the long dusty roads and the hill to the cross.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful
is the Body of Christ.
2. How beautiful the heart that bled,
that took all my sin and bore it instead.
How beautiful the tender eyes
that choose to forgive and never despise.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful
is the Body of Christ.
Bridge
And as he laid down his life,
we offer this sacrifice
that we will live just as he died:
willing to pay the price,
willing to pay the price.
3. How beautiful the radiant bride
who waits for her groom with his light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
the fruit of pure lives so that others may live.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful
is the Body of Christ.
4. How beautiful the feet that bring
The sound of good news and the love of the King.
How beautiful the hands that served
the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful,
how beautiful,
how beautiful
is the Body of Christ.
Nov 30, 2012
Nov 29, 2012
Quickmeme: Driving
Most of the time when someone recklessly passes me on the way to work, this is how I feel when I see them next to me at the light.
Or this guy, when we're locked in traffic, whose cost of time exceeds the life value of his fellow drivers:
Added this meme caption:
Similar:
Nov 27, 2012
The Infernal Machine
Just saw The Infernal Machine, one of the better miniatures-based episodes of Space 1999.
Gwent
"I am companion." - played by Leo McKern who also was one of the number twos from the Prisoner.
My wife found this Top 10 List. We're going to work our way up the list. I don't know if I would put any of these anywhere even near a Blakes 7 or Babylon 5.
- Earthbound - Toy spaceship crash lands. Saruman 30 years ago still looks and sounds like Saruman today. Robin Hood is an angry angry space scientist.
- Dorcons - Nice spaceships, overacting inhabitants.
Nov 26, 2012
Open Source Projects
SourceForge
Here is a set of links to some projects I've worked on, more for my interest in having the links at my fingertips.
Github
Nov 25, 2012
Friends: The One Where Ross Got High (1999)
Joey Tribiani: "What's not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good!"
The Cellar
Our youngest son has a fear of going into the basement on his own. It's not a rational fear. I'd more more frightened of going outside in the cold, where you could get locked out. There are no locks to the basement. Of the rooms in our house, the basement has the best carpeting. There's no monsters there. There are lights all the way down. Of the basements of people in our family, ours feels the least scary. But maybe subconsciously, or via english to genetic transposition knows of this story.
Nov 23, 2012
Lexx
We've been watching this series, Lexx. I found out about it by perusing the tv series section at Target. I wouldn't recommend watching this show except if you just want to have another ota to share with friends at sci-fi conventions. It's a perverse, off-channel, Canadian/German sci-fi series, in a slimy underworld expansive future far from the lofty expectations of ST:TNG. There is a dead assassin, a half-human/lizard love slave, a robot head (just the head), and a basal maintenance guy in a Joel Robinson-style maroon jumpsuit. The Lexx spaceship is organic, but not clean and futuristic like the Vorlons in Babylon 5, more like being inside of a farm animal replete with strange walls, fluid ports, and squishy controls. It's saving grace is that it has the power to slice a planet with its Kinsu energy weapon.
The Lexx
Whitman Press Out Books
I remember going with my family as a child to the Dayton's Holiday show, and finding a bunch of these books... Whitman's press out books. Some are still for sale.
Nov 6, 2012
Edgar Allen Hoover Quote
Here is a quote from President Hoover on engineering. He was a geologist, worked in mining, commerce, advanced radio and efficiency in government. His misfortune of ascending to the presidency just prior to the Great Depression ruined his chance in history to make good on his campaign promises.
"It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned...
On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope. No doubt as years go by the people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts hs name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people's money . . . But the engineer himself looks back at the the unending stream of goodness which flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants."
Did you know Hoover created his own variation of volleyball, Hooverball?
"It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned...
On the other hand, unlike the doctor his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope. No doubt as years go by the people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts hs name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people's money . . . But the engineer himself looks back at the the unending stream of goodness which flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants."
Did you know Hoover created his own variation of volleyball, Hooverball?
Electoral College 2008
Deja Vu?
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)
Differences: Nebraska, Indiana, and North Carolina 2012.
Wrath of the Math article.
Nov 5, 2012
Miami Heat
Last week, we released the Miami Heat ring site, which had a sizable mobile implementation based upon 1) media queries, and 2) user agents.
Nov 4, 2012
Joel Hodgson at the Pepitos Parkway Theater
Saw Joel Hodgson last night at the Pepitos Parkway Theater after seeing an article in the City Pages. The theater was packed.
Pepitos Parkway Theater
Joel Hodgson
The night started off with a view of "Project Popcorn": a Russian knockoff of MST3K. The lighting, orientation, everything are ripped off from MST3K's opening sequence
проект попкорн
It was humorous and inspirational. He talked about his creative history, starting from his magic act, ventriloquism catalogs, making puppets, his comedy act, and eventually how he met and created MST3K. He showed slides and closeups of very odd and scary bits from record albums, ventriloquism catalogs, magic catalogs.
Albert the Alley Cat
Inspiration from a John Elton cover
I got to see him several times last night. I mentioned I was from Wisconsin and was fan #12 from the MST3K club. Somehow that inspired him to ask if I was a Packers fan. One of his friends from WI was there and brought cheese curds for him. Later my wife and I went up afterwards to get an autograph and he remembered me and I got to ask my question, "How do you stop riffing when you're watching a movie with your spouse?" He responded, he doesn't riff when he's not working.
Joel Hodgson's Senior Portrait
Nov 3, 2012
Javascript Mathematics
Cool Javascript experiments
- Article that I found this in.
- Coffee Physics on github
- Ex. Muscular Hydrostats
- Ex. Polygon Subdivision
Oct 26, 2012
Oct 20, 2012
Alex Clare - Too Close
Microsoft's commercials turned me on to this song, but you still can't get me to love IE9.
Oct 16, 2012
Muse
Madness
I usually end up fast-forwarding over the music on Saturday Night Live but last week was an exception. I really liked Muse and the bass guitar player's multi-touch.
Supermassive Black Hole
Uprising
Oct 10, 2012
Oct 8, 2012
Oct 5, 2012
HTML5 Notes
http://www.intertech.com/materials/Other%20Classes/Complete%20HTML5/
http://mobilehtml5.org/
http://www.maxthon.com/
http://www.coffeecup.com/free-editor
http://aptana.com/products/studio3/download
http://maqetta.org/
http://css-tricks.com/which-responsive-images-solution-should-you-use/
http://download.aptana.com/studio3/plugin/install
http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/single-page.html
http://modernizr.com/download/#-fontface-backgroundsize-borderimage-borderradius-boxshadow-flexbox-hsla-multiplebgs-opacity-rgba-textshadow-cssanimations-csscolumns-generatedcontent-cssgradients-cssreflections-csstransforms-csstransforms3d-csstransitions-applicationcache-canvas-canvastext-draganddrop-hashchange-history-audio-video-indexeddb-input-inputtypes-localstorage-postmessage-sessionstorage-websockets-websqldatabase-webworkers-geolocation-inlinesvg-smil-svg-svgclippaths-touch-webgl-shiv-cssclasses-addtest-prefixed-teststyles-testprop-testallprops-hasevent-prefixes-domprefixes-load
https://github.com/Modernizr/Modernizr/wiki/HTML5-Cross-Browser-Polyfills
http://gsnedders.html5.org/outliner
http://wiki.csswg.org/spec/vendor-prefixes
http://css3test.com/
http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/
http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_ref_colormixer.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colors.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_websafe_fonts.asp
border-radius.com
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria.php
polyfill
http://code.google.com/p/html5shiv/
?trust client side
cookie, hidden, url, flash?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/784929/what-is-the-not-not-operator-in-javascript
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/IndexedDB
https://developers.google.com/chrome/whitepapers/storage#temporary
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/offline.html
notify user which mode
javascript:alert(window.navigator.onLine)
https://github.com/balupton/history.js
http://balupton.github.com/history.js/demo/
http://www.mobilexweb.com/emulators
http://detectmobilebrowsers.com/
http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-mediaqueries/
http://zeptojs.com/
http://codiqa.com/
http://www.axure.com/
http://www.appcelerator.com/
http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller/index.php
http://www.resizemybrowser.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_2
http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody
http://handbrake.fr/
http://hsivonen.iki.fi/doctype/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6529728/html5-doctype-putting-ie9-into-quirks-mode
http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/
http://code.google.com/p/svg-edit/
http://code.google.com/p/jessyink/
http://kineticjs.com/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/gg193983(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.createjs.com/#!/CreateJS
http://www.createjs.com/#!/EaselJS
http://playground.html5rocks.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscape/files/inkscape/0.48.3.1/
Sep 29, 2012
Sep 25, 2012
Who to Ballantyne
Doctor Who's Power of three seems to be borrowing a design concept of Tony Ballantyne's Capacity's Schrödinger boxes.
Sep 22, 2012
Patatasteak or Steak and Potato Game
This guy's blog looks like a crossover Mr. Potato / Fairy Meat game. I like how it looks like if you lose a sense organ, you have to wear vision-blocking goggles or hearing-blocking earphones.
MSTRKRFT
Love in this Club
VUVUVU
Street Justice
Easy love nice song, video is over, over-the-top though.
Essential Mix
VUVUVU
Street Justice
Easy love nice song, video is over, over-the-top though.
Essential Mix
Aug 18, 2012
The future
Optimism for the future, it's congagious. I'm usually stuck somewhere between fearing and hoping for the future. Byron Reese is betting on the positive side. He has an interesting timeline of past and future based on Science Fiction, though incomplete, something I've thought about creating to compare a lot over time, especially with regards to the browser wars and Mac-vs-PC delaying the AI of 2001, and the far-fetched expectations of Popular Science futurists.
Aug 10, 2012
Twist of Fate
Saw Twist of Fate last night at the MN Fringe festival, Mixed Blood theater. I especially liked the organic use of motion and people to create scenery and effects.
Shows the different kinds of life experiences between growing up in the US versus a refuge camp, how people of good intentions can come together, and skilled youth actors that have a bright future.
Aug 4, 2012
Jul 23, 2012
1970s Sci-Fi
1970s Sci Fi was a weird place. This weekend we caught up on Zardoz and Space 1999. Both entirely bizarre. This Blakes 7 book I read referred a lot to how set pieces and themes for B7 were borrowed from Space 1999. I just don't see Martin Landau and Barbara Bain as being very exciting heroes. Martin is one of those British actors with really wide lips that kept showing up in BBC's the Avengers.
Looking around, found this image of a 1999 playlet I used to have as a kid Space 1999 adventure playlet.
Also found this image of a viper cardboard playset. This was supposed to be a Colonial Viper, but the controls were like Knight Rider, not a joystick.
Not sure if it's worth trying to build this, but here's a $100+ model kit
Jul 13, 2012
Constructing a Wind Turbine
Ever wanted to see how a wind turbine is built? Here is a time-lapse video of one being built from the U of MN.
And here's a video of what it looks like inside/atop a wind turbine.
Jun 20, 2012
Angry Birds Tic-Tac-Toe
A game designed by Preston (6yrs). I helped with the JS and CSS.
Angry Birds Tic-tac-toe.
Jun 14, 2012
Бене Гессерит Литания против страха
Я не должен бояться. Страх убивает разум. Страх немного смерти, которая приносит полное уничтожение. Я лицо моему страху. Я позволю ему пройти через меня и через меня. И когда она прошла мимо меня получится внутренним взором видеть свой путь. Когда страх прошел не будет ничего. Только я останусь.
- Бене Гессерит Литания против страха
EON - Fear
EON - Spice
- Бене Гессерит Литания против страха
EON - Fear
EON - Spice
First Avenue Videos from the Early 90s
Front 242 - Headhunter
Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
Siouxie and the Banshees - Kiss Them
Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
You can't go against nature, because when you do, it's part of nature, too.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
The KLF - 3AM Eternal (full)
Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
Siouxie and the Banshees - Kiss Them
Love and Rockets - No New Tale to Tell
You can't go against nature, because when you do, it's part of nature, too.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On
The KLF - 3AM Eternal (full)
Jun 12, 2012
Jun 10, 2012
светло-зеленый фонарь в
В яркий день, в черной ночи, Не зло, избежать моих глазах Пусть те, кто поклоняется сил зла, Остерегайтесь моей власти, светло-зеленый фонарь в!
Jun 8, 2012
Jun 6, 2012
Jun 5, 2012
Lockout
This looks like it would have been great fricken' awesome to see in a theater.
In keeping with the trend for movie previews to use a resonated loud square synth half note - half rest pattern.
- Official Trailer:
- Beatdown version:
You're the priestess I must confess
I'm packed and I'm holding
I'm smiling, she's living, she's golden
And she lives for me
She says she lives for me
Ovation
She's got her own motivation
She comes round and she goes down on me
And I make her smile
It's like a drug for you
Do ever what you want to do
Coming over you
Keep on smiling, what we go through
One stop to the rhythm that divides you
And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
And I come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give them the games we play, she said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
The sky it was gold, it was rose
I was taking sips of it through my nose
And I wish I could get back there
Some place back there
Smiling in the pictures you would take
Doing crystal myth
Will lift you up until you break
It won't stop
I won't come down, I keep stock
With a tick-tock rhythm and a bump for the drop
And then I bumped up
I took the hit I was given
Then I bumped again
And then I bumped again
How do I get back there to
The place where I fell asleep inside you?
How do I get myself back to
The place where you said
I want something else
To get me through this
Semi-charmed kind of life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
I believe in the sand beneath my toes
The beach gives a feeling
An earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows
And the four right chords can make me cry
When I'm with you I feel like I could die
And that would be all right
All right
When the plane came in
She said she was crashing
The velvet it rips
In the city we tripped
On the urge to feel alive
But now I'm struggling to survive
The days you were wearing
That velvet dress
You're the priestess, I must confess
Those little red panties
They pass the test
Slide up around the belly
Face down on the mattress
One
Now you hold me
And we're broken
Still its all that I want to do
Feel myself with a head made of the ground
I'm scared but I'm not coming down
And I won't run for my life
She's got her jaws just locked now in smile
But nothing is all right
All right
I want something else
To get me through this life
I want something else
I'm not listening when you say
Good-bye
Jun 1, 2012
Svengoolie
Last week saw my first Svengoolie. He's a punning slapstick commentator that brings out some good humor between commercials.
May 29, 2012
May 24, 2012
French Metric Time
I never knew about the French Republic Calendar. This is like the future metric time I used to talk about in the 2000s.
The Soviet Calendar reminds me of Zamiatin's Time Table, in a mechanized world.
Perhaps all this renewed interest in time comes as a result of watching In Time on Red Box last night.
May 23, 2012
Publishing history, present, and future
This related to digital and electronic publishing. A really good read.
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/publication-standards-part-1-the-fragmented-present/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/publication-standards-part-2-a-standard-future
May 18, 2012
May 17, 2012
MIT Media Labs' Makey Makey
Makey Makey is a cute idea for making your own input devices out of anything.
May 15, 2012
Apr 18, 2012
Multi-threaded Junit Testing
Looking at using Ricken's thesis for an example testing multi-threaded issue.
Revision: 04/19/2012 - looking at using concurrentunit instead.
Apr 10, 2012
Apr 9, 2012
Student Financial Resource Center Financial Aid Scam
This came in the mail today, from the Student Financial Resource Center. It is a scam however, so look out.
Apr 5, 2012
Mar 26, 2012
Mar 25, 2012
Audrey Gallagher
W/TyDi: You Walk Away
W/Armin Van Buuren: Hold on to Me
To dream is a gift
To love is divine and
I won't bring you down
W/John O' Callaghan: Big Sky
W/Armin Van Buuren: Hold on to Me
To dream is a gift
To love is divine and
I won't bring you down
W/John O' Callaghan: Big Sky
Mar 24, 2012
Cash out
Everyone I know. Goes away in the end. You could have it all. My empire of dirt.
Back beat the word's on the street that the fire in your heart is out.
Mar 18, 2012
Richard Biggs
Today would have been Richard Bigg's birthday. I'd go on walkabout in his honor if I wasn't so sick right now.
RIP Richard Biggs, your portrayal of Babylon 5's doctor Stephen was the most human doctor on television. He cared not only for humans, but aliens. Never putting other beings into another category, he loved people and aliens, worked hard (too hard at one point), and had honest feelings that he brought to the screen well.
RIP Richard Biggs, your portrayal of Babylon 5's doctor Stephen was the most human doctor on television. He cared not only for humans, but aliens. Never putting other beings into another category, he loved people and aliens, worked hard (too hard at one point), and had honest feelings that he brought to the screen well.
March Art
Completely sick staying home on a beautiful day outside. But here's some artwork.
Purple Sky
Glass Domed Cliff Home
Purple Sky
Glass Domed Cliff Home
Mar 9, 2012
Trilling bells
Trevor had an assignment to use the word trill in a sentence. He said he was, "trilling jingle bells". Can that be done? This blog suggests you can.
Mar 1, 2012
Real Ford Drivers
Real Ford Drivers.
Really Surprised.
Completely Authentic.
No, Really Why Would We Kid?
Oh sorry, lame commercial.
Really Surprised.
Completely Authentic.
No, Really Why Would We Kid?
Oh sorry, lame commercial.
Feb 25, 2012
Lou Zocchi on Dice
These are interesting videos on dice-making by Lou Zocchi, whose starships got me into Star Fleet Battles, which got me into more gaming. I got him to sign one of my dreadnoughts at Gen-Con-Milwaukee.
Polishing and how it affects corner radius:
Polishing and how it affects presentation:
"Fresh oats cost more than used oats even though the used oats have only passed through the horse one time" - Lou Zocchi.
Both are from his site, gamescience.com
Here is his patent for a Braking System for Dice.
Polishing and how it affects corner radius:
Polishing and how it affects presentation:
"Fresh oats cost more than used oats even though the used oats have only passed through the horse one time" - Lou Zocchi.
Both are from his site, gamescience.com
Here is his patent for a Braking System for Dice.
Game Crafting
It looks like self-publishing of games might now be a reality. This is a pretty neat site I ran into, Matt Worden was using it for his Jump Gate game.
Here he his in a video for the Game Crafter:
[edit] We ended up getting Space Mission which he described as a European published variant of Jump Gate.
Feb 24, 2012
Liberation: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Blake’s 7
Started reading this book by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore. It does seem more interesting than the Muir edition, having access to previous scripts and working in sociology into the comparisons.
Stevens, Alan; Moore, Fiona (2011-04-27). Liberation - A Complete Guide to Blake's 7 (Kindle Locations 8-16). Telos Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Stevens, Alan; Moore, Fiona (2011-04-27). Liberation - A Complete Guide to Blake's 7 (Kindle Locations 8-16). Telos Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Feb 23, 2012
Blakes 7 RPG
I'm thinking it would be interesting to run a Star Trek RPG in the Blakes 7 universe for a Con. Same rules, other side. Similar group, different events.
Here are some ideas:
Here are some ideas:
- my blakes 7 script log
- Unisystem rules
- Main Characters
- Blakes 7 Online
- Play Aurons as Vulcans, without the pointy ears.
Feb 22, 2012
CQRS
Interesting reading if you are a services coder.
* http://martinfowler.com/bliki/CQRS.html
* http://codebetter.com/gregyoung/2010/02/16/cqrs-task-based-uis-event-sourcing-agh/
* http://martinfowler.com/bliki/CQRS.html
* http://codebetter.com/gregyoung/2010/02/16/cqrs-task-based-uis-event-sourcing-agh/
Feb 21, 2012
My Valentine's Present
I don't really need gifts for Valentine's Day as my wife makes every day Valentine's Day. She bought me a one-of-a-kind game, Space Mission by Matt Worden. He spoke with me a couple times about the game at the Con of the North. He actually has two games and this was more interesting artistically. He thought it might be too advanced for younger players. The box said 10+, but we played at home and Preston, 6, won.
I mentioned how I had made a hex tile game, Manifest Destiny and in describing it to him, he suggested that I check out Terra Prime. It looks interesting. My tiles were actually large hex tiles made up of smaller hex tiles though, I wonder if that could be adapted to theirs.
I mentioned how I had made a hex tile game, Manifest Destiny and in describing it to him, he suggested that I check out Terra Prime. It looks interesting. My tiles were actually large hex tiles made up of smaller hex tiles though, I wonder if that could be adapted to theirs.
Feb 18, 2012
Twilight Imperium: Rex
Got to play a couple games today at Con of the North, Runebound: Frozen Wastes, and Fantasy Flight Games was demoing Twilight Imperium - Rex: Final Dates of an Empire. Supposedly the latter is like an out-of-print, hard-to-find Dune board game.
I could see Trevor getting into Rex but I'm not sure I could get others to like it.
In both games I had some trouble getting the nuances of all the rules, didn't figure out the strategy right away. I hope tomorrow goes better.
Also, the play tester/referee received a copy of Space Assault, which sounds like a quick one-scenario Star Fleet Battles, while we were playing. It looks interesting nonetheless. It looks like you can order a copy from Print Press.
I could see Trevor getting into Rex but I'm not sure I could get others to like it.
In both games I had some trouble getting the nuances of all the rules, didn't figure out the strategy right away. I hope tomorrow goes better.
Also, the play tester/referee received a copy of Space Assault, which sounds like a quick one-scenario Star Fleet Battles, while we were playing. It looks interesting nonetheless. It looks like you can order a copy from Print Press.
Feb 13, 2012
Feb 10, 2012
The 90s Pure and Simple Every Time
The Lightning Seeds - Pure
Soup Dragons - Free
Enigma - Mea Culpa
Jesus and Mary Chain - Far Gone
Soup Dragons - Free
Enigma - Mea Culpa
Jesus and Mary Chain - Far Gone
Feb 7, 2012
Another Earth add...
Another one for the Another Earth goofs page is: completely violates celestial physics understanding, when the other earth starts to get close enough that it's larger than the moon, some severe disruptions are going to occur.
Feb 3, 2012
Feb 1, 2012
Gradle
Today I looked at Gradle, a tool for building projects similar to ANT/Maven, based on groovy. Spring 3.2 will be built using this.
This is the gradle manifesto: Make the impossible possible, make the possible easy and make the easy elegant.
This is the gradle manifesto: Make the impossible possible, make the possible easy and make the easy elegant.
Jan 31, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
Jan 27, 2012
Java Comparators
BeanComparator
Collections.sort(catalogs, new BeanComparator("publishCatalogName"));
Note: you should check if the performance hit is worth it, since it uses reflection, you might be taking a hit.
ComparatorChain
comparaterChain.addComparator( new ReverseComparator
(new BeanComparator("age") );
Allows you to chain existing comparators together.
Similar comparators from apache
Collections.sort(catalogs, new BeanComparator("publishCatalogName"));
Note: you should check if the performance hit is worth it, since it uses reflection, you might be taking a hit.
ComparatorChain
comparaterChain.addComparator( new ReverseComparator
(new BeanComparator("age") );
Allows you to chain existing comparators together.
Similar comparators from apache
Corporate Aerial Drones
In this LA Times article, it is like the corporate aerial drones in Tony Ballantyne's recursion model are going to be a reality sooner rather than later.
If politicians were readers of science fiction, they'd be ahead of the curve, instead of propped up with information from corporate lobbyists. The problem is there are no lobbyists for futurists who can see ahead of the curve with a memory for what is evil for society and strive to prevent those situations from becoming reality.
If politicians were readers of science fiction, they'd be ahead of the curve, instead of propped up with information from corporate lobbyists. The problem is there are no lobbyists for futurists who can see ahead of the curve with a memory for what is evil for society and strive to prevent those situations from becoming reality.
Jan 25, 2012
Jan 21, 2012
Jan 18, 2012
SOPA/PIPA
SOPA could tragically disrupt the internet by bogging down a free-flowing system of e-commerce with crippled or removed sites littering the landscape of consumer purchases. At a time when the economy is at a low, it is unreasonable to be injecting bills into the US which only damage online commerce, education, and the free flow of ideas online. There are already enough laws giving police powers, it is time to roll back some of those in the interest of preserving an enlightened democracy. There are two futures that bridge from this decision : one run by corporations in a fascist like state or one where people have liberty and freedom. Don't let a few troublemakers ruin the internet for the rest of us. I encourage you to block SOPA and PIPA, and get back to work on endeavors that create jobs, promote American ingenuity, and benefit the welfare of the people.
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