My Nerdiness

Ebay

2010-12-27T23:43:00.002-07:00

So now my N64 is listed on ebay. Hopefully it will all sell. If it all goes for list price then I will have enough to cover the Wii and hopefully a game. If it goes for more, then I can look at other controllers and extra games.

To all you Wii owners out there, any suggestions. I am particular to Mario and Zelda games, but I would also like to get a Mario Party and Mario Kart. Any other really cool ones out there?

N64

2010-12-20T18:11:00.002-07:00

So then...I have the N64 from when I was a kid. I don't play it, and have decided that I will sell it and use the moneys to get a Wii. Currently I have:

-Nintendo 64 system w/ wires and expansion pack

-4 controllers ( Gray, Green, Blue and see through Green)

-3 Controller memory cards

-1 gameboy transfer thing

-1 gameshark

-20 games:

The World is Not Enough

Perfect Dark

Super Mario 64

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Mario Golf

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

Golden Nugget

Bio Freaks

Mario Tennis

Track and Field 2000

Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer

Dr Mario 64

NHL 99

Rampage 2

Turok: Rage Wars

1080 Snowboarding

Kirby 64: Crystal Shards

Goldeneye

NFL Blitz 2001

Most of them still have their instruction books with them. I also seem to have some of the game guides too.

Time for Super Mario Facts

2010-09-18T21:50:00.000-06:00

1. Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and appeared in the game designer's first ever title, the 1981 arcade platformer, Donkey Kong. Miyamoto was hired as a graphic artist by Nintendo in 1977, and was given the task of designing a game after several of the company's early coin-ops had failed to make an impression on the lucrative arcade market. Donkey Kong was created using the hardware behind an older arcade title named Radar Scope, which sunk without a trace in the US. Miyamoto ditched the shooting theme and added an ape and rolling barrels. Success naturally followed.

2. Mario was originally known as Jumpman. However, when Nintendo's US office were trying to think of a better name in time for the American release of the game, they were interrupted by their landlord Mario Segale, after whom they christened the character.

3. Mario was originally a carpenter, not a plumber. He's also appeared as a doctor in the 1990 puzzle title Dr Mario and its sequels.

4. The look of Mario is all about the graphical limitations of the hardware at the time. He has a hat, because realistic hair was difficult to portray, a moustache to accentuate his nose, and dungarees to make his arm movements more noticeable. In Super Mario Bros, he wears a brown shirt below his overalls – a look that was swiftly abandoned.

5. Donkey Kong Jr, the 1982 sequel to Donkey Kong, is the only game in which Mario officially stars as the antagonist. He has trapped poor Donkey Kong in a cage and the ape's son must rescue him. In the game's promotional material, Mario even gets a specially twirled moustache, highlighting his evil nature.

6. In contrast, Bowser, the key antagonist of the Super Mario Bros series, has also appeared as a good guy. He helps Mario in the 1996 title Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

7. Super Mario Bros was preceded by the 1983 arcade platformer, Mario Bros. Designed by Miyamoto and Game Boy-creator Gunpei Yokoi, it's set in the New York sewer system and introduces Mario's brother Luigi.

8. Bowser was originally sketched as an ox by Miyamoto, but his drawings were misinterpreted by animator Yoichi Kotabe as a turtle. The duo worked together on the latter idea and the Bowser we know today was born. He's definitely a turtle, though, and not a dragon as some assume. (More here.)

9. The naughty version of Mario – Wario – first appeared as a nemesis in the Game Boy title, Super Mario Land 2. He was designed by Hiroji Kiyotake, who also created Samus Aran, the heroine of the Metroid series. Wario's name blends Mario with the Japanese adjective 'warui' meaning evil.

10. The first Super Mario Bros game has sold 40.24 million copies, although that figure is skewed by the fact that it was bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System console. It was until recently, however, considered the best-selling game of all time. It has been pushed into second place by Wii Sports on 41.65 million units.

11. Super Mario Bros was the first game to be set in Mushroom World, Miyamoto's long-running and ever-evolving fantasy kingdom. When Mario 'eats' a super mushroom he grows in size and ability. Miyamoto denies that he was influenced by Alice in Wonderland, and instead claims the idea came from enchanted foodstuffs in myths and folklore.

12. In the 1984 Nintendo Entertainment System game Golf, Mario made his first appearance in a sports sim. Kind of. The original character merely resembled Mario, while the later NES Open Tournament Golf specifically featured Mario as a golfer. He appears on the cover in red and white striped overalls, with a blue starry shirt. An awesome outfit.

13. Nintendo composer Koji Kondo provided the iconic soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. The main theme, known as 'Ground Theme', is one of the most recognisable pieces of game music ever recorded. The tune remained in the Billboard ringtone charts for 125 weeks and has been performed in concert by live orchestras. (More here.)

14. The original Super Mario Bros 2 was designed as a tougher version of the first game and released to support the Famicom Disk System, a new add-on for the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was considered too difficult for Western release, though, so the US and Europe got a tweaked version of the 1987 title Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic instead. The game was hastily refitted with Mario characters in a sort of digital cut-and-shut job. In 1993, the genuine SMB2 was finally released in the West as Super Mario Bros: the Lost Levels, part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection.

15. A Q Score survey in the early nineties revealed that Mario was more recognisable to American children than Mickey Mouse.

16. Footage from Super Mario Bros 3 appears in the climatic scene of appalling 1989 movie, The Wizard, about an emotionally withdrawn gaming champion. As this was the first chance that US Nintendo fanatics would get to see the game, the movie effectively acted as an advert for the release.

17. The new Chain Chomp enemies in Super Mario Bros 3 look like steel black balls with razor sharp teeth. They were inspired by an incident in Miyamoto's childhood when a neighbour's dog chased the terrified genius, before it was yanked back by its chain.

18. Elsewhere, the Whomp characters from Super Mario 64 were inspired by a mythological being known as the nurikabe, a 'wall ghost' that misdirects or impedes travellers at night.

19. ...and the versions of the ghostly Boo enemies found in Super Mario 64, are based on the wife of the game's co-designer Takashi Tezuka. As Miyamoto explained in an interview with Nintendo Power magazine: "Mr. Tezuka got an idea about putting his wife in the game. His wife is very quiet normally, but one day she exploded, maddened by all the time he spent at work. In the game, there is now a character who shrinks when Mario looks at it, but when Mario turns away, it will grow large and menacing."

20. Released in 1989, the Game Boy title Super Mario Land was the first major Mario game to be developed without Miyamoto. Producer Gunpei Yokoi didn't do too badly however: the game shifted over 18 million copies. The game also introduces a new female character, Princess Daisy, replacing Mario's usual love interest, Princess Peach.

21. The 1993 movie, Super Mario Bros, was Hollywood's first attempt to create a video game tie-in. Starring Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper it was a critical and commercial failure, which conspired to give the game a darker, more adult veneer. Apparently, Dustin Hoffman was interested in the role of Mario as his children were fans of the game.

22. Since 1995, the voice of Mario has been provided by American voice actor Charles Martinet. He also voices Wario and Luigi.

23. The Wii hit Super Mario Galaxy was inspired by a tech demo known as Super Mario 128 shown at the Nintendo Space World event in 2000. The demo showed dozens of teeny Marios walking around on a slightly curved surface. During the Gamecube era Galaxy designer Yoshiaki Koizumi thought that entirely spherical levels would make an interesting environment for Mario, but Miyamoto was apparently unconvinced at first. Finally, Koizumi showed off several test levels and the project was greenlit for Wii.

24. The Super Mario bros series is in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful gaming franchise of all time. It now boasts global sales of over 240 million units.

25. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games

Video Games

2010-09-08T21:35:00.002-06:00

So I was listening to some podcasts about video game history. Of course now I must get back to reading my video game history book. Some brief highlights, first home console came out in 1972 (yeah...thats right). Video games had about 10 really good years. Then CRASH!!! (by the by...ET games are buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, of course they drove over them with a steam roller and then covered it in cement) Of course there were a whole mess of consoles, they went through about 3 generations of systems in that time, so about every 3 years you had to buy a new system (think about the PS2, it is still selling new systems). And when you adjust for inflation the game systems were as expensive or more so than the current systems.

But...in addition to the mass of consoles and replacing them every few years, 3rd party companies were permitted to write any game they wanted to make and sell, so there was a whole flood of poorly designed and programmed games. So in 1983 the home game market went under. It wouldn't be till 1985 that Nintendo would lead the market back from the dead.

Yeah...I'm a nerd.

Summer Movie Season

2009-05-03T10:35:00.004-06:00

Well, the summer movie season is upon us.

This week was Wolverine. Was pretty good, I'm not that into the X-men stuffs. I have seen the movies, but never really followed the comics. But I did enjoy the movie.

Next week is Star Trek

I have been getting more and more into Star Trek and so I have been looking foward to this. Its a little disturbing that they are very much pushing "Forget everything you know" and "Not your father's Star Trek". So hopefully they don't muck up things too much.

Week after Angels & Demons

Looks to be interesting. DaVinci code was good.

Following week: Termination Salvation

More Terminator, recently we watched the 3 movies that are out last weekend. Plus while on TDY I watched season 1 of the Sarah Connor Chronicals. So I am looking foward to this one.

Also that week: Night at the Museum 2

Looks funny, should be a good one to catch.

And the last week of May: UP

Gonna go see this one with the Troop, so it will be a different set up then the other movies for this summer.

Then the next June: Transformers 2

Not that I am really into Transformers. However a good chunk of it was filmed out here. So it should be interesting to watch for that.

Onto July: Public Enemies

Mob Movie about Dillinger. Johnny Depth and Christian Bale. Haven't heard much about it, but could be interesting.

That week is Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Part 3 of the Ice Age movies, been a while since the last one, but looks to be a fun one.

The following week: Hurt Locker

Limited release, its about a bomb squad in Baghdad. Looking into more, since this is the first I've heard it I may have to do research.

And the next week: Harry Potter

I've seen the others, so I suppose I will go to see this one too.

And into August: GI JOE

Real American Hero! And now you know... and knowing is half the battle.

Skip a week: Inglorious Basterds

Waiting till it comes out on DVD. But could be interesting.

And that should just about finish out the Summer Movie season.

Terminator and Time Travel

2009-04-11T17:36:00.003-06:00

So in the first Terminator movie a Terminator and a human travel from 2029 to 1984, one to protect Sarah Connor and one to kill her. At this point Judgement Day (nuclear holocaust that wipes out most of human life) is set for August 29, 1997. Now, since Sarah lives and John is born this still is the case. Now it would get tricky if the terminator had killed Sarah. At that point John would never be born and then wouldn't lead the resistance, but then the terminator wouldn't jump back through time, meaning Sarah would be alive and so would John.... Oh then you have the thought that Kyle (from the future) is John's dad. He doesn't know that, John will learn of it, but still, might be why John sends Kyle back when John gets to that point in life. Also the terminator's remains are found by Cyberdyne to first make the terminator. No problems here, so we will move on.

Terminator 2. Judgement Day is still set for 1997. But more terminators come back from 2029. Here is the first problem. Only living tissue can travel back in time, so the terminators can travel since they are living tissue over a metal endoskeleton. But the new terminator is mimetic polyalloy; which is liquid metal, which by the established laws for time travel we know can not work. Now then, they manage to destroy Cyberdyne's research and in doing so they can stop Judgement day. Now here is where we run into problems. Upon destruction of the research if Judgement Day had been stopped the terminators should have immediately disappeared. Now if Judgement Day had not been stopped an only moved back, the Terminator should know immediately. We don't find out until the next movie....

Terminator 3. Again, terminators from the future, this time they follow the rules for time travel, things are good. We learn that Judgement Day has only been pushed back, now until July 25, 2004. Sarah Connor has finally died, and John is on his own. We learn John dies in 2032, by a Terminator and his wife sent it back to guard him. At the end of the movie we find out that Judgement Day happens, though John and his future wife are safe in a bunker.

Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now we go back to 1999 and a terminator comes to protect John and Sarah and jumps them to 2007. We have clearly left the 3 movie and changed random things. I've read some things that say this is an alternate reality or perhaps and alternate timeline. Now with all of the time traveling anyone who has seen Back to the Future will know that many alternate timelines exist. So we can let this go.

The big problems come from T2. How can a liquid metal that can take the shape and appearance of things pass back in time when we have been told that only living tissue can pass through time? Shouldn't the T-101 have mentioned, by the way you didn't stop judgement day? And then why did it have to destroy itself, since by the fact that it still existed clearly the technology is made and it could have stuck around to protect John.

Ain't time travel fun?

Digital Transition

2009-02-08T20:14:00.002-07:00

Are you confused about the Digital Transition? Probably not. Or you weren't but thanks to the Government we have taken care of that.

In 2005 Congress decided to switch from analog broadcast to digital, not cause it has better picture, but cause we wanna use the spectrum for other things. It turns out, despite the beliefs of at least 1 person I know, we can not actually just make more frequencies. So in 2005 there was a date set, 17 Feb 09. On that date TV stations would have to switch to digital broadcast.

You probably new it was happening. There have been commericals on for quite some time now. If you didn't know, you probably don't watch TV in which case you will be unaffected. In early 2008 the government started this whole coupon thing so they would help you pay for a converter box. Of course, being a government program it got backed up and bogged down. So apparently there are some people that didn't get their coupon. Some people are just putting it off.

But back to this switch business, full power stations are switching, so if you watch a full power station you need to do something to ensure you can get the digital signal. If you watch a low power station or a community station or a booster station they will still broadcast. If you have cable or satellite, you probably don't have to do anything. If you have a new tv, you don't have to do anything.

Here is where the government steps in to save us from.... the government. In order to let the last few people who haven't gotten around to getting ready yet the government came up with a plan to push back the date. The senate ok-ed it, the house voted it down, then later changed their mind and ok-ed it as well. So the president will sign it and it will become law.

Stay with me here.... The orginal date was 17 Feb 09. All the commericals currently on TV say its coming 17 Feb 09. The countdown clocks in stores are counting down to 17 Feb 09. Now the date will be sometime between 14 Mar and 12 Jun. Though some stations may switch on 17 Feb, or earlier. So the government can just choose a new date, and then when people aren't ready they can push that one back too.

I say stick the 17 Feb 09 date. If people aren't ready or haven't gotten the equipment as soon as they release they don't get tv on 18 Feb they will run out and buy new TVs and pay extra to have them installed for prime time viewing on 18 Feb.

Computer Sounds

2009-01-25T15:23:00.002-07:00

So then.. we'll start off with the good news. The desktop has returned and it is once again set up. Looks like I'll just be running a single screen on it, but I'm ok with that. Its funny though, when I turn on my two external hard drives it thinks that I have 4 hard drives on there. Still can't get the webcam functioning, but I haven't really played with it that much. As it turns out there was a motherboard failure. So that is all fixed up.

Now both of my computers run vista. So it looks like I will not be playing Monkey Island for a time. However I think that I am gonna play with the laptop and get Civ IV on there. Then I will have some fun playing that. Hooray Civ!

As the title says this is a long way to get to talking about computer sounds. Well, as you may know, my laptop says "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that" when it shuts down. Now with the desktop I've moved to more sounds. Now that is the quote if you log off. Now if you shut down windows Spock will say "Illogical" or if you empty the recycle bin you will hear a tribble. When you log on Scotty says "Hello computer". Now I don't have to greet the computer every time. So yes, I have had some fun with this.

Couple Things

2009-01-10T10:26:00.002-07:00

So then... it seems that there is a new best selling video game of all time. For the longest time it was Super Mario Brothers on the NES. Now I will point out that this is based on number of games sold, not amount of money made. GTA IV made something like $500 million its first week and sold something along the lines of 8.5 million games. Now, the orginial Super Mario Brothers sold approximately 40 million games.

But now the title of best selling video game of all time belongs to Wii Sports. It has sold 40.24 million copies. Now yes, most of them are because unless you are in Japan or South Korea the game comes with the console so you don't have to go out and buy it. But that was true for Super Mario Brothers atleast for a while.

Now, lets take a look and the top 10 Best Selling Video Games worldwide:

1.Wii Sports (Wii)

2. Super Mario Brothers (NES)

3. Pokemon: Red, Green, Blue (GB)

4. Tetris (GB)

5. Duck Hunt (NES)

6. Pokemon: Gold/Silver (GB)

7. Nintendogs (GB)

8. Super Mario World (SNES)

9. Wii Play (Wii)

10. Super Mario Land (GB)

Now, I have to say, congrats to Nintendo as they control the list of best selling games, but then again they kind of re-invented the home gaming system world wide. And for fun here are the top sellers on some other consoles:

Atari 2600: Pac-Man (7 million sold)

Xbox: Halo 2 (8 million sold)

Xbox 360: Halo 3 (8.1 million sold)

Sega Genisis: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6 million sold)

Playstation: Gran Turismo (10.85 million sold)

PS2: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (12 million sold)

PS3: Metal Gear Solid 4 (4.33 million sold)

Moving on, why does everyone want to push back the digital transition day? Congress mandated it in 2005. And right now according to the Washington Post 6.8 percent of the 114 million homes that use over the air broadcast aren't ready. Now consider the number of people that live in this country and then consider who isn't reay. And its not cause they don't know, its cause they are lazy. Pushing the date back will merely help them put it off longer. Switch it on Feb 17 and Feb 18 they will help the economy by running out and buying the converter box or a new tv.

Observatory

2008-12-28T04:35:00.002-07:00

So then, consider if you will...

Stella and I have taken a trip to an observatory out here. Yes, with the looking at stars and such. That is the kind of nerds that we are. What is even cooler, we are not just doing observing, we are doing imaging. Now, we are beginning in this whole CCD camera thing so we have the easy set up. Normally you would have to do 3 exposures to get color images on the bigger set ups, but this is the starter one where you get it done in one exposure so you can have a color image. Now we aren't just pointing it at the sky and going "snap" color photo. That would more be the method of some of my DSLR astrophotography. Haven't really done much on this trip, since last night was windy/cloudy/snowing. But I will undoubtedly do some more of that method eventually.

First you have to locate the object that you wish to image. This is done through some cool software and then you get to tell the telescope to point in that direction. The telescope rotates and you are ready to begin. You then tell the camera to take an image or series of images of varying lengths. We took a few 15 minute exposures that stand alone, but we have also been taking a range of exposures and stacking them. I have been taking between 5 and 30 minute exposures to stack together.

After you have taken the picture, you have to open CCDOPS and remove the hot and cold pixels. This is from temperature regulation of the chip, but it is an easy thing to fix, just a few clicks in the program. After you have all of the pixels cleaned up you stack the images and then you are ready to save them for photoshop.

Now in CCDOPS you open the picture, its in black and white and you can see that you have a picture of an object in the sky. But when you open it in photoshop basically you have a black screen looking back at you. You then have to play with curves and levels and saturation and all. Stella has been working this end of the process. But it is cool to watch her go from a blank screen to an amazing image of a deep space object. After its done in photoshop it is done and saved.

Don't worry, these will find their way onto my photoblog so that you can be all amazed. And feel free to show your friends and brag that you know the imager of the images being shown.

Just a few things

2008-12-22T10:34:00.004-07:00

First off... 8-bit Christmas, Nick, you want to check this one out:

http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-games/8-bit-jesus-full-album-release/

Next off, a Garmin commerical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHTi2aZ4H90

"One for a viking, out for some hiking, find the village, he will pillage"

It may not be the Rockettes....:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weGTZ5VXR4s

Since I'm at youtube anyhow...:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mal6XbN5cEg

Finally the story of Santa:

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/12/alt-text-vide-1.html

Hope you enjoy.

Some Computer Notes

2008-11-22T10:55:00.002-07:00

So as noted in the other blog Stella's computer is acting up again. Her plan is to get a mac, which should work out. Right now her laptop is being very odd. Like it just booted up, and then decided it would shut off. Its plugged into the wall, so it has power and such. It is just odd.

Speaking of computers that just won't boot, the newer desktop is getting ready to be shipped back to Compaq for them to see if they can make it run. They kept sending me links to solutions to get the darned thing to boot, and it continously didn't boot. So since it is under warrenty they should be fixing it or sending me a new functioning computer.

Now the old desktop, the one that got me through college and then stopped living this past summer, well, I have orderd a case so I can convert its old harddrive to an external harddrive so I can recover the stuff on there. Then in the future I can order a TB internal and switch it out so that its an external. Then there will be much storage space. After that I will probably pull the cards I wanna keep from it and then see where I can take the rest of it so that it can be properly disposed.

Luckily my laptop continues to function, even though it is a Vista based machine. Though I still believe that the most computing power in the house lives in the PS3.

I think that should wrap up these notes, I will end the post and wish you all well.

Little Big Planet

2008-11-12T18:44:00.002-07:00

Ok, so I rented Little Big Planet and it is a lot of fun. I haven't really gotten to experience all of it, but the levels I've played have been really cool. Stella played a few with me and she enjoyed it as well.

So for now I'll keep this short, but I'll write more on it later.

The Force Unleashed

2008-11-05T16:49:00.002-07:00

OK then...

I rented the force unleashed and have been playing it for a bit. Mostly I rented it cause I wanted to rent Little Big Planet and they didn't have any copies so I picked up this one, cause I have been curious to see how it is. However I can say that while it looks very good (amazing how they can make a video game look that good and the new clone wars movie looks like crap), the game is rather repetitive and gets dull. Basically you waltz through a level swinging your light saber randomly (cause there doesn't seem to be a good aiming system) then zapping lighting at people. Then you get to the boss where you swing your light saber and zap lighting at one guy instead of a level full of guys and the background doesn't change.

More and more I am becoming increasingly less accepting of anything new that George Lucas puts out with a Star Wars title on it. I am still willing to buy the original trilogy on Bluray provided I get the theatrical cuts, but beyond that there must be a really good reason for me to support any new Star Wars stuffs.

So yes, I've said it before, I hope I don't have to say it again, leave Star Wars be, if you take 20 years and craft a truly good story and make that a movie, I might go see it, otherwise I'll be ignoring it.

Twitter

2008-10-26T19:19:00.002-06:00

So for updates on what I'm up to I am working on twitter. My twitter can be viewed here. It should allow me to keep things more up to date then on just the blog. The blogs will remain up for random ideas and thoughts like the last couple posts that are up, but the twitter will be more a running log of what is going on.

This blog will stay as it is, the photo blog will still feature photos. But we will see how this new set up goes.

Excel Music Video

2008-10-24T20:11:00.003-06:00

Ok...
So this week has been wild. First I learn that scotch tape can produce x-rays. Yes, you read that right, but just once more so it sinks in SCIENTISTS FOUND A WAY TO PRODUCE X-RAYS FROM SCOTCH TAPE!!! Oh, yes, I mean you have to have a vacuum and all, but really. Who goes about peeling scotch tape in a vacuum, who is that bored and how much of a government grant were they playing with to get this to this point? You can read more about it here.

Now, while we are speaking of bored, why not a way to spend some time. Bored at the office? Well thats ok too! Apparently AC/DC decided to release a music video via Excel. So now you can download it and watch at work. Of course you can watch the youtube video, but then where would the fun in that be. So go here, download, watch it in Excel. Its kinda cool to think that its possible to make a music video in such a format.

Well, I think that will wrap it up for now.

Stella's Laptop

2008-10-18T20:29:00.000-06:00

Well, it would seem that Stella's Laptop is struggling to continue living, the thing seems to be stuffed with viruses or spyware or such. I am currently battling with it. Wish me luck.

PhotoSynth

2008-10-18T18:41:00.003-06:00

So then... I have come across an interesting application on the web. It is called Photosynth. Basically what it does is analyzes a bunch of photos, determines where they overlap and then kinda sticks them together to make a virtual tour-esque set up. Now then, for starters you need to go to their website and sign up and download a program to see them. You can find it here.

Now, I'm currently playing with one. I'm trying out a set up of Stonehenge (building a henge are we?). So first off you can gaze upon some photos here. Then once you have enjoyed them in single photo form you can look at my synth.

It is found here. (You may have to be signed in to the site to see it, it also seems ya have to download the viewer.)

Also, you can check out our living room. That one is found here. If you look you will notice that the tv show keeps changing and Bernoulli pops in and out at different places.

I had to post of this one, cause, well, it would seem that no one else posts anymore.

LHC

2008-09-14T08:09:00.003-06:00

For more then 20 years now scientists have been working on the Large Hadron Collider. Just a few days ago on the 8th of September they finally turned it on. And so far it has yet to produce a black hole and destroy the planet, which is good. Basically they are trying to determine some things about how the universe operates, how its made up, so we can better understand things. You know, simple stuff, antimatter and the like.

Anyhow, I know its a few days after turn on, but I have a few things for you to enjoy. First off we have a comic from the nice folks at xkcd. You can see it here.

Next up we have a way for the modern kids to understand some science by trying to explain it through a popular music genre. You can go here and watch it.

And finally if you want to visit the official looking website and learn about it, go ahead and look here.

Its great when we use science to smash things open.

Set Back

2008-09-07T13:15:00.003-06:00

So there has been some minor set backs to things. Yesterday when I tried to boot up my computer it died on me. Now granted it was about 7 years old and had been moved around a lot. It was running slow and I had wanted to get a new computer for a while now. So we set out to get a new computer.

Last night we brought it home and set it up. I was installing some stuff like firefox and office and shut it off for the night. Then I couldn't get it to load up again. If the power cord is attached the fans will run, but I can't get it to begin to boot up.

I went to the compaq website and ran through their trouble shooting options and have sent them an email to try to get more information about this. So right now I'm running off of my laptop.

I will get more stuff up when I can

Stand Back!

2008-09-04T20:32:00.002-06:00

I'm going to try science!

Posts are coming.

This could be dangerous.

Random Games

2008-08-29T12:27:00.002-06:00

So then....

I am still playing Mario 64 DS, and I have now gotten 50 stars (yay half way) and unlocked all the characters. So that is a plus. Its a bit annoying being stuck with the control pad instead of a joystick like the 64 had, but oh well. It still works out.

As far as consoles go, I haven't had much time to play, but I intend to do some of that this weekend. Still playing GTA IV, but it doesn't really hold that much excitment any more and I am considering selling it back, cause, well... I don't play it that much. Lego Indy is fun, but it is basically Lego Star Wars again, and while it is cute and such, I'm not sure that it has inspired me to want to get Lego Batman. I mean, if I had kids, yes it'd be a grand game for them.

I think that I would like to see about getting that Viking game, it was fun and I should be able to get it used so that is a plus. Also I am thinking that the Force Unleashed game should be worth a look. Bioshock is coming to the PS3 and I'd like to rent it and try it, I've heard some good things about it.

In long range plans I would like to get a Wii. There are good group games like Mario Party and Smash Brothers for it. I don't regret getting my PS3, if nothing else it has been worth it as a Bluray player, but I have found some games on it that I have been enjoying. I played Blazing Aces on my friends Wii and found I like the control set up on the PS3 more, so I would have versitility, which is nice. Plus, I would like to get Mario Galaxy and the new Zelda games. Cause come on, what other games have the history of Mario and Zelda.

As far as computer games go... Well I think I may be out of that arena for a while. My computer is now too slow to play most games that come out and I would need to upgrade it before I can go on with the computer gaming, but I think that it is a better current plan to keep with consoles.

Finally I think I may pick up the Zelda game for the DS. Since I will be traveling again it would be good to have a change from just Mario. But for now, I will sign off.

Super Mario 64

2008-08-22T16:26:00.004-06:00

I have to say, this may be the best Mario game. I now have it on DS, which has some slight tweeks and actually looks better then on the console. It is grand to play it again, but I will just leave you with that thought for now.

Mario

2008-08-17T13:55:00.002-06:00

Ahh, our good friend Mario. Short, portly little plumber. Mario is from the Mushroom Kingdom, which happens to be in a world that is not quite ours. This will make telling his story a little more difficult, as there is currently not a set dating system for the Mushroom Kingdom. But once you over look that, the story can be taken fairly easily.

Mario knew adventure from a very young age. As a baby he had a quest to find his lost brother Luigi. This was accomplished with the help of a gang of Yoshis. It would seem that Bowser had captured Luigi while he and his brother were being taken by stork to their parents. Luckily though Mario with his help was able to find his brother and rescue him from Bowser.

After this incident life became quiet for a while. Mairo and Luigi were able to grow up, one would assume peacefully, in the Mushroom Kingdom. During this time is most likely when the brothers meet their Wario and Waligi, who are constantly trying to one up the Mario Brothers. Also during this time it is likely that Mario meets Princess Peach Toadstool, who becomes the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario's love interest, as well as her servant Toad.

At some time, most likely as a teen, Mario gets a pet ape who he names Donkey Kong. Mario gets a job as a carpenter and is going out with Pauline. However Mario does not treat his pet well, perhaps because a gorilla is not a good pet for a teenager, or perhaps because he is spending most of his time with Pauline, which also leads him to fail at carpentry. But for whatever reason Donkey is not a happy Kong and breaks free, he kidnaps Pauline. This leads Mario on a fight to save his girlfriend from his pet. While in the end he rescues Pauline, she leaves him shortly after this incident. Once again, the reasons aren't clear, it could be that he is rather cruel to his pet and she does not want to be kidnapped again, it could be that he seems to be a failure at carpentry and isn't going anywhere, or it could be that he is becoming more and more interesting in the Princess and less interested in her.

After Pauline leaves him, Mario grows anger and takes this aggression out on Donkey Kong. Donkey is locked up and treated very poorly, but at some point Donkey had a son. Well Junior finds out what has happened to his father and sets out to save him. Of course Mario doesn't want any part of this and does his best to stop the young ape, but in the end Junior saves his father and the two return to Kong Country, but that is another story.

Mario falls into depression, his girl left him, his gorilla left him, the girl of his dreams is busy being a princess. Mario sinks into his depression more and more. Finally his brother gets a hold of him and convinces Mario to come live with him. Luigi has a simple life as a plumber and soon trains his brother in plumbing. Mario starts to work his way out of his depression and enjoys his life with his brother. They enjoy playing in the sewers where they find an endless infestation of crabs, flies and turtles (yes in the Mushroom Kingdom there aren't gators in the sewers, there are turtles).

Soon Mario learns that his dreamgirl has been kidnapped by Bowser. He convinces his brother that they must set out in order to save the Princess. Once again Mario is out on adventure. With the help of his brother and their knowledge of the plant life in the Mushroom Kingdom they are able to to rescue Peach from Bowser. Mario and Luigi become well know and finally Mario has caught the eye of Peach.

Infact in his next adventure he convinces Peach and her servant Toad to join him and Luigi while they fight the evil frog Wart, since he has invaded Subcon, which is most likely a bordering nation to the Mushroom Kingdom. Wart is over thrown and peace is restored to Subcon which builds the relations between the two countries.

Of course this leads to Mario being known as a hero all over the land. Soon he is called to Sarasaland to save Princess Daisy. She was captured by Tatanga, who is a spaceman. By this point adventure has become second nature to Mario and is frequently going out on them or going to meet his fans, of course this leads Luigi to take care of the business. Again Mario rescues the Princess, all in all it is not a bad life from Mario's point of view, known all over the land, constantly meeting Princesses.

Mario and his friends also begin a go-kart league that becomes know all over the Mushroom Kingdom. Many of Mario's friend, as well as some enemies work their way into the circuit as drivers. These races become some of the most well known events that happen in the Mushroom Kingdom. This may be due to the fact that there isn't much in the way of sports or entertainment in the land.

But while he is enjoying all the fame that he has collected, Bowser returns to the Mushroom Kingdom and again abducts Princess Toadstool. Mario convinces his brother to leave the plumbing business while they set off to save the Princess once again. Again Bowser finds that he can not best the Mario Brothers and Peach is safe again.

At this point Mario and Luigi settle back into the plumbing business. Mario is found most nights at the local cafe regaling the children of the Kingdom with tales of his adventures. It is also around this time the brothers try to expand their business into Brooklyn. While it lasts for a short while, the supply problems of having 2 shops in 2 different worlds become too much and the Brooklyn shop is closed.

Of course with their frequent travel to Brooklyn Bowser is able to again capture Princess Peach (who one would have thought would have by this point gotten better body guards) and is able to take her off to Dinosaur Land. While again on a quest to save Peach, Mario is reunited with an old friend, Yoshi. Yoshi happily agrees to save the Princess. Again Bowser underestimates the Mario Brothers and they prove victorious. They all return to the Mushroom Kingdom thinking they will be at peace.

While Mario returns and enjoys his life of plumbing/rescuing princesses/racing go-karts, the amazingly presistant (or stubborn) Bowser returns for another try. Again he captures the Princess and Mario sets off to rescue her. And again Luigi is left to do the plumbing alone. Not surprisingly Mario is able to best Bowser yet again and save his sweet Princess.

Now after this adventure Mario feels that he has had about enough of the Princess saving and decides to take up golf. He is able to set up a Pro tour, with mostly his racing friends. They still race their go-karts, but now Mario realizes that there is money to be made in professional sports. He soon convinces his racing fans that in addition to golf they should take up tennis. The people of the Mushroom Kingdom flock to all of these events, again due to the lack of other entertainment in the land. Mario also decides that with the moves he has learned on his quests a fight club could also be a profitable venture. And it turns out he was right, as it draws more contenders then any of this other events. This may be because it is the only one that he has opened to more then his racing competitors.

But Mario is in for some trouble. He was out and about and was checking out a haunted mansion. But he finds himself trapped in a painting. This may be due to his last quest had him jumping through painting to go to different lands trying to save the Princess, or he might have just gotten a bad mushroom. But Luigi has to set out to free his brother. Now after this ordeal Mario decides that it is time for a vacation. Since he has never actaully taken one before he lets his travel agent pick the spot and he convinces Peach that they need to get away from it all. Which she agrees to, most likey hoping Mario will finally propose to her.

However when he gets to the Isle Delfino, where his travel agent sent him, it turns out someone who looks just like him had been running around trashing the place. So he is made to clean the island to clear his name. All the while Peach hits the beach to work on her tan. But she is kidnapped by the imposter Mario. The true Mario does managed to clean the island and save his girl. After all that they head back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

But of course there was not peace there. Bowser had plenty of time to plot. This time he kidnapped Peach and took her into space....

1. www.themushroomkingdom.net
2. www.wikipedia.org

Mario a Communist?

2008-08-16T20:42:00.000-06:00

So if you search the web you will find many sites and articles that claim Mario was in fact a communist. But the simple fact is no, he is not, but still lets go ahead and look into some of their arguments.

First off is his color scheme. Now you have to remember that he started his live in the 8 bit world. So its not like there were a lot of color choices, but there were in fact some. And if you look into things he started off as the abusive owner of Donkey Kong.

Next up is that Mario is trying to over throw King Koopa. Now, Bowser may have appointed himself king, but it would seem that he is imposing his will over the Mushroom Kingdom by force. It would seem that Princess Peach's parents would be the true ruling, so here you have an imposter to the crown taking over and setting up his own troops to rule by fear and threats. He has stationed his troops all over the Mushroom Kingdom in order to oppress the people. So you have a story similar to Robin Hood.

At the end of each level in the Super Mario Brothers game you lower the flag of Bowser and raise your own flag. Now the flag you lower could be a peace sign as many people say, but then again, it could be a skull. Now based on the ways that Koopa seems to rule it is more likely that his flag is a skull. And while Mario does raise the flag with a red star, perhaps this was the flag of the true ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom.

So it seems that Mario is a hero that is trying to restore the correct ruler, rescue the Princess (daughter of the true ruler). So he is not trying to bring power to the people, he is trying to kick out the self imposed ruler who has seized control and terrorized the people. He does not share the wealth he accquires on his quest with the masses, he hoards it all for himself. Mario can't be a communist. He is not concerned with the masses, he probably has hopes that the rightful ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom will make him a lord.

But just for fun, check out this cartoon.

Don't see Star Wars

2008-08-15T22:35:00.005-06:00

So Star Wars continues its long slow death. Way back in a simpler time Star Wars was released. It was an amazing movie and it was followed by some amazing sequels. It was made even though no one believed in it, they made up technologies in order to complete the movie. It was not a huge movie with a limitless budget. It rocked.

It continued to be a huge thing for about 30 years. People would re-watch the movie on VHS, there were always toys and games. Everyone knew it, many many could quote the entire trilogy. Lucas was making a mint on a movie that came out 30 years ago, which isn't a bad place to be. Had it been left as it was undoubtedly people would have introduced it to their kids and it would have continued to keep churning out money.

But this wasn't enough. George Lucas decided that he wanted to tweak a few things. Now instead of doing this with a director's cut put out on video he came up with the Special Edition and put it in theaters. This was the first knife in Star Wars that would start its death. New graphics were added. While many people went to see it in theaters and many people got it on VHS, it was hard to not see the original version that people had grown up with.

Then came the prequels. Major Suckage! But good old George continued to push through them, because there was money to be made. This time instead of the driving force being to tell a story it seemed that main purpose was show off all the new graphics that ILM could pull off now. While there was the promise of an awesome episode 1 what came out was was garbage. The same story followed with episode 2. It was an experiment in how digital you could get while filming a movie. Finally episode 3 came out, a movie that seems to have been shot entirely on green screen.

While yes, the graphics looked cool. But didn't someone say that a special effect is just a means of telling a story? Oh wait... wasn't that George? Way to go buddy. Well, on the other hand he did make millions off of what basically boiled down to a couple hours of special effects. But there was money to be made.

And yes, there were toys and games and tie ins. Cartoon Network put out an animated show, old animated cartoons were released. Money was made cause Star Wars was cool, even though it was dying as money was paid to keep getting a piece of it. And yes, I do own the 3 new movies, mostly for the sake of having the whole set of them. The best thing that I did was purchase the dvds that had the theater version of the orginal movies (With the Ewok song and all).

And now... Now we have another movie in theaters. This time its animated and just as crappy as ever. Had this been a fan creation, just someone with nothing better to do in there spare time it would have been cool. But to think that this was people's jobs? It was just sad, I recommend not going to see this one.

And George, should you happen to read this.... If the goal is to just make money, go ahead, do a full out release of that Holiday Special. I mean, you've already gotten this far down, at least that had the first appearance of Boba Fett. Otherwise, please stop and back slowly away from Star Wars and hopefully all of Hollywood. I'm sure that you have more then enough money.

And one last line... Han Shot First.

Study of Console History

2008-08-14T16:16:00.002-06:00

So if you couldn't guess from the last post I'm doing a bit of study of the history of gaming consoles, mostly just for fun and enjoyment. Currently I'm reading a book on the History of Nintendo, which so far has been quiet interesting.

As a random fact, the code name for the Atari 2600 when it was being made was Stella. (I thought of you honey).

Well, I suppose that at some point there will be some more posting about games and consoles and the like, I know that you will all be excited for that.

Video Game History

2008-08-11T19:51:00.003-06:00

So just for reference here is a bit of history of home video game consoles. We won't talk so much about computer games, that would only add to this. So then lets begin.

We will start in 1972 (before I was around), Magnavox released the Odyssey. And it did alright, then Pong showed up. This is when people noticed and we got the Odyssey 100 and Odyssey 200. And that was basically generation 1 of video gaming.

Generation 2 began roughly in 1976. It was the early time of 8 bit gaming. This is the period that gave us the Atari 2600 and the ColecoVision. It also saw the release of the first hand held consoles with changeable cartridges. Also this is when games like Donkey Kong, Frogger, Space Invaders adn Pac-man arrived. Also it saw the crash of 1977 (older systems where sold cheap, flooding the market, Atari and Magnavox survied), the rebirth (many more companies released consoles, Atari continued to dominate) and the crash of 1983 . Due to the cheap systems on the market, the flood of poor quality games and the fact that more and more people began to own computers, the video game market nearly died. Many companies filed for bankrupcy.

Of course this opened the way for Nintendo to come to the states and in October of 1985 they release the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The NES managed to survived because of a lockout chip which meant that they were able to control the games that came out on there system. This meant there wasn't the flood of cheap games and they were able to stay healthy as a company. This is also when we got the first appearance of SEGA, but there system failed to do much in the states, so mostly this generation of video games is known for the NES and Super Mario Bros. (It also happens to be where I entered gaming, though I kinda played around with some Atari stuffs).

Now then, as you can guess next came generation 4. Sega came out with the Genesis and to answer Nintendo release the SNES (Super Nintendo Enteratainment System). This closed out the 80s and brought gaming into the 1990s. Also Sega put out the Sega CD. And the 4th generation upgraded us for 8 bits to 16 bits. And with Sega being around it started some console wars. Now there were some other, smaller systems out there, but Nintendo and Sega were the big dogs. And Nintendo kept its lead as this generation closed out.

To start out the 5th generation Atari brought out the Jaguar and then there was the 3DO. These both used CDs and were much more powerful then the SNES and the Genesis. But they also didn't come close to selling as well. Due to cost and difficulty to program for them they were canned in 1996. To really get this generation going Sega put out the Saturn, a CD based system with dual chips, however it only lasted until 1998. A new comer named Sony released the Playstation (which would later be the PSone). This was orginally going to be a CD addon to the SNES. Nintendo put out the Nintendo 64 (N64). It was the only cartridge based system of the generation, but it still made enough money for Nintendo to remain on the top of the pile.

The 6th generation only saw bigger names putting out gaming systems, it also saw the switch from CDs (or in Nintendo's case cartridges) to DVDs (a whole 9 gigs of storage). This would allow for more information and more impressive gameplay as well as longer load times. Sega offered the dreamcast for this generation of gaming, it would be the end of Sega systems and the first that they would discontinue. Sony released what has so far been the best selling system of all time, the PS2. With the switch to games on DVD Sony allowed their system to play movies as well as games. Nintendo finally switched to an optical system, but went with a smaller size disc which would mean no watching of movies on the Gamecube. And then Microsoft entered the fight with the Xbox, which ended the need of memory cards by having a hard drive in the system. It was big and bulky, but it was carried on by Halo.

Now, in 2005 we entered the 7th generation of video game consoles. This era brought much more internet connectivity, High Def graphics, and wireless controllers. Microsoft ushered in the new era with the Xbox 360. Now to be the first system out Microsoft opted to stay with games on DVD, which limited the space for the game. Also they ended up with some issues with the system failing to work. But more Halo arrived and fixes were made. Sony brought out its third generation of system in the PS3. They waited to get the ability to play Bluray, which allowed for much, much more room on the disc. It also boasts quite an impressive processor. However this meant that it was more difficult to program for. Now eventually it will mean that the system will be able to do great things, however now it is still waiting for programs to exploit the system. And Nintendo presses on. They did make the decision to not try to compete directly with the other two and have aimed their system at more of a family based system. While they don't deal in High Def, they have a motion sensitive system for the controls.

Web Comics

2008-08-11T19:21:00.002-06:00

So I have started reading some webcomics. I would like to recommend this one. It has lots of very funny comics. Also I tend to read Air Force Blues. But that might be cause of my job. Anyhow, this is a short post, but if you were to stumble across any various webcomics let me know.

Sudoku

2008-07-24T13:04:00.002-06:00

From http://xkcd.com/74/ Don't struggle with it for too long.

Dear Windows Media Center

2008-07-08T16:22:00.002-06:00

Dear Windows Media Center and all those interested,

Are you off your nut? It seems that you feel you need to open every time a disc is inserted into the laptop. You are not the choice player, I've told you this. You also seem to have an identity crisis. We are region 1 types. You see, you were acquired in region 1. The DVDs I watch were acquired in region 1. Yet about 90% of the time you seem to believe yourself to be from some strange region. Please knock this off. Infact, just make life simple and don't open.

Signed,
Skrazynerd

Some New Stuffs

2008-07-02T11:23:00.003-06:00

Well now. It seems that there have been a couple new programs that I've pulled up to start using. First off we'll talk about Firefox 3. They put out there new edition and I can say that it is now on both of my computers. It is quite nice. At first you may not notice the differences, but after you play with it some it starts kicking more ass.

Now then, I have also found a few plug ins that I am liking. First off is personas for firefox. It currently looks like my header and footer is wood paneling. There are a bunch of different options, but this one works for me. Also I set up foxmarks. Now I just need to set it up on the home computer. It stores bookmarks and such so I can get to them from any computer once I sign in. Now I will be able to access my booked marks sites from the desktop even when I'm traveling.

The other software that I'm playing with is Dreamweaver. I am working on building a website for Stella. As it turns out currently I'm not overly knowledgable on it, so there is much learning going on. However hopefully things will start working out well for it.

Dash it all, now you've done it

2008-06-30T10:43:00.002-06:00

You are confusing the Star Wars trek with the Star Trek wars!

Any how, as you may gather from my photo blog, I got to go to Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios. This was quite a good time, many peoples in costumes and all. There are some more pictures which will be coming along in good time. Many thanks to my wife who put up with me being a nerd and wanting to see everything. It was a very good time.

Now, as you may or may not know, I've been picking up Star Trek as well. Its been happening for a while now. But I currently have season 1 of The Original Series (TOS). Which I have been watching out here, mostly cause I've found that I'm not all that big into the current TV, especially that which has been coming on during the day.

Ahh, for a simpler time, when command wore gold, klingons were the enemy and women were green.

Networks

2008-06-17T18:58:00.002-06:00

So I am in the process of learning about building a home network. The plan is to have a wired set up in the office for linking some computers, but to also have wireless capability. I want to set up a server to store photos and music and the like.

Now, I'm working on wireless-G. I currently have this capability. I can use the laptop about the house and also fire up the PS3 on the wireless which is quite nice. I'm running all that fun encryption stuff to keep peoples from piggy backing on my network to slow it down.

I have multiple user accounts currently on this computer. Its a temporary measure, until we get Stella set up with either her own computer or get her a new one. Once that happens is when the real networking will begin. It would be quite convenient to have a server set up to locate pictures and musics and various files on (the calendar, the amazing movie database).

Also I'll need to find a print server so that I can get some printing down off any computer in the set up. I'd like to work mostly with Linksys, cause I like them and they seem to work for me.

Anyhow, I think that will be it for now. Should any of you know of some good resources for this please leave a comment.

Movies and Games and Such

2008-05-11T16:42:00.002-06:00

Alright, first off, Yes, in case you are still unaware I do have GTA IV. I have been playing it, it is fun. Note that I have no urges to go out and drive like an idiot, steal cars or shoot people. The evils of the video game have not yet got me. I must say that it looks really amazing, and the soundtrack and such is cool. I preferred the music from Vice City, but the Russian Punk station is cool.

Next off we'll launch into the movie category. I have seen several this weekend. Friday night I was going to see Iron Man, but since the jackalopes unplugged the theater I ended up seeing 3:10 to Yuma, which was a good movie. It seems there have been a lot of westerns coming out lately. Anyhow, I'm not sure that it is worth buying, but it was a good movie to watch.

Then yesterday I rented some movies and watched a couple. First off was Alien vs. Predator Requiem. I can say that I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't all that impressive either. So yeah.

Then was Charlie Wilson's War, which I thought was really good. I think that will be one that I will end up owning. I am kinda interested now in looking into it a bit more and seeing how the movie differs from actual events and the like.

We went back to the theater and saw Iron Man which was really cool. Probably one of the best movies adapted from a comic book that I've seen. Also the whole thing was a big AFMC commercial. Which was kinda cool to see.

And then today I ended up watching The Kingdom, which was interesting. It was good. Its one that I had heard was good from a number of people, so I ended up watching it.

Finally this weekend I watched Transformers. Yes, I had not seen it until today and I have to say, I really wasn't impressed. I mean, the CG looked good and all. But with everything that I had heard about the movie I felt kinda let down. It just wasn't all that good. So yeah, definitely not one that I would end up owning.

And now into upcoming movies. In case it was unclear to anyone, I am excited to see the new Indy movie. They had a new preview of it before Iron Man and I was quite excited. Also they had a new preview for the Dark Knight, which I'd also like to see. Oh, and then there is Get Smart.

As for video games there is the Lego Indiana Jones game coming out which I plan on getting and the Force unleashed. Perhaps that new Guitar Hero business as well.

Keyboards

2008-05-10T17:18:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I want to get a new keyboard. My top priority is to get one with media controls. Every time that I end up using my laptop and then switch back to the desktop I want to have those skip and pause buttons. The volume is nice but mostly skip and pause is what I want to have. If I can pull off that I'd also like to get one of the ergonomic keyboards, kinda split and all.

Also I've been looking at those fingerprint readers for the computer. It would be really cool. I nearly picked up one the other day. However right now most of my money is being diverted from toys, so I didn't end up getting it.

Anyhow, its been a movie weekend, played a little GTA IV. So far since the weekend started I have seen 3:10 to Yuma, Alien vs. Predator Requiem, and Charlie Wilson's War. As long as the theater is actually working tonight I'll be watching Iron Man and then I also have The Kingdom and Transformers rented, so I am planning on watching them as well.

I'm sure that there will a post later on this weekend about all these movies, so I will let you wait till then.

GTA IV

2008-05-02T14:37:00.001-06:00

Ok, I did get the game at midnight. I've gotten to play it. It looks amazing. No, I have not gotten to spend hours on end with the game, but it is really cool. Reading more and more about it, it is a very extensive work of art. Any how, I know I've done a bunch of short posts, at some point I'd like to be able to sit down and do some long ones too. But until then, I wish you all well.

Midnight Release

2008-04-28T22:44:00.002-06:00

So yes, I am staying up to midnight to get GTA IV. It looks like it will just be a fun game that I can goof off in and blow off some steam. Also it apparently has multi payer stuffs in it and all. I'm sure if you do a search online you can find more info about all the details.

Also, I will probably end up with the special edition. Now yes, I realize that it costs 90 bucks. However they are doing a sale so it will cost 60 this evening/morning. And to make things better I have something like 41 bucks on a gift card to Hastings along with a 5 dollar coupon. Meaning that I will only really be paying about 15. So for a 90 dollar game paying 15 ain't that bad.

I will no doubt post something else about it here. And I know that some people might say that I'm a nerd or a dork for going to a midnight game release, but you know what? I don't really care. I've accepted who I am and can embrace it.

Cars

2008-04-27T19:31:00.003-06:00

So I was driving back from Albuquerque today. I had an idea. You see, we already have cruise control, now we just need a steering control. They can make Lego robots that will follow a line, so why not put one sensor on each side of the front of the car. You could have them track the lines and stay in that lane. Set your speed and then just watch. You could even put a forward looking sensor to alert you to anything that you are approaching.

Any how, just a short thought. Now is time to relax since I'm a bit tired.

Vista sucks

2008-04-26T20:50:00.002-06:00

I would like to say that Vista sucks. It really really sucks. Unfortunately it is loaded on my laptop. I am working on making it more like a usable operating system. Should any of you know of a good place to look up how to get Vista running smoother please let me know.

Anyhow, as I am tired I will have to complain more later. Grumble.

Apple

2008-04-18T16:25:00.003-06:00

So a lot of people are using Apple stuff, either the computers or the little pods and the like. I can safely say I am not a pod person. Now, before I go on I must say that if you are manly dealing with graphics or the like yes, an Apple computer isn't bad. In fact at most schools that I've seen the art departments tend to use Apples. This is actually the main reason I've dealt with Apples.

Now you see, I grew up with a PC. We got our first family computer when I was young. It had the old screen where you pretty much had black white and green, most everything was text based, you ran programs by knowing the exact command to give in DOS.

C: DOS
C:DOS: RUN
Run DOS Run

Anyhow, thats where I started dealing with computers. As a kid they had some computers in school and we always had a computer at home. I remember the 5 1/4" disks that were actually floppy and all.

Well, I have to say that the old Apple computers that were around at that point weren't that bad at all. Though in many ways they were similar to the PCs that were out. In fact in 1984 they put out a commercial saying that they would be different then IBM. It was a very famous commercial. If you need to brush up, you can check it out here.

Toward the end of the 1980's Apple was doing good, but things changed. Apple tried to keep up but didn't really manage that well, until they came back in 1998 with the iMac, and then in 2001 they let out the iPod. That is when it started.

There are 2 big things here. The first is that the ipod became huge. By 2004 Apple sound 8.2 million ipods. Everyone wanders around with their pod. And its great... for Apple. To play with your pod you have to use Apple's itunes. When you buy music on itunes you can listen to it on itunes or your pod. I've heard my friend complain that there is trouble trying to move a pod from one computer to another when you switch your computer. Pretty much Apple lets you borrow some music to listen in on your pod. And everyone should do it. Think back to that commercial, Remember when they said 1984 wouldn't be like 1984? Well maybe 1984 wasn't, but 2004 was. Pod people get to be nameless and faceless under Apple. And Apple will let you know, think about those pod commercials. The person is blacked out so you see an outline, and then they are sure to show you the pod. Apple would like you to know that you don't matter, but the pod does. Here is another little commercial to let you check out.

The next big thing is that Apple decided that the entire computer should be sealed up in a box. Your screen, your drive, your processor. You aren't allowed to touch it. When it is time to upgrade, its time to upgrade everything. I pop my case open to upgrade each component as I like. If I need a new video card to play a game I open the case and put in a new video card. I don't have to buy a whole new computer. The joys of having a PC.

Oh, and those Mac and PC commercials brought up another good point. They have one on their website where they convince the PC its not his fault because not everything comes from the same source. Its called breakthrough, go watch it. Now lets think about this. Apple is saying they are better because everything comes from one source. Meaning they are the only source for Apple stuff. Meaning that they can release what they want, not what you want. They can charge as much as they want, and either you pay the price or don't get it. Where as if you have a PC you have plenty of suppliers, they compete to put out what you want. The lower prices so you buy theirs and not the other suppliers. But Apple doesn't care about you, they care about Apple.

Now, Apple also claims that it doesn't get viruses, doesn't freeze and doesn't crash. I had to sure Macs for 1 class in college. 1 semester, thats it. And the Macs froze up. I got to talk with the guy who was responsible for them. He told me that he had seen them freeze and crash. It is just a computer, those things happen with a computer. As far as viruses, there haven't really been any for Macs yet. Macs also haven't been targeted. Apple computers run an OS. An OS is made of code. If you spent enough time looking at it you could develop a virus for a Mac.

Anyhow, I will stick with my PC. It works.

Mole Day

2008-04-13T19:02:00.002-06:00

Well it seems there is a website and some agenda for mole day to be on 23 Oct. From 6:02 am to 6:02 pm. Seems mighty backwards....but oh well.

www.moleday.org

A few dates to remember

2008-04-13T17:36:00.002-06:00

Greetings! Yes, it is a blog for my nerdiness to live at. I will put up world 1-2 of Super Mario Brothers at some point. There will also most likely be some other random posting like laughing at sitting in an S-0rbital. But for now, you should mark your calendars!

14 March - Pi Day (try to eat your pie at 1:59)

25 May - Nerd Pride Day (so it started in Spain of all places, but I think that we have plenty of nerds around here, so let's try to get the word out)

25 May - Towel Day (Don't Panic)

The next square root day won't be till 3 March 09.

And finally for Mole day, which is altogether a rather troublesome day. It would seem that some places in the States celebrate on June 2. Other places in the States celebrate on October 23, so they can do school stuff with it. I hold that we should go with most of the rest of the world and celebrate on 6 February.

Now, should you have any questions or such on any of these, let me know.